Page 648 – MP1st

Home > News

Star Wars Jedi Survivor Easter Egg Has You Squeezing Through a Crack for 2 Minutes Straight to See Something Bizarre

by Alex Co

April 29, 2023 6:30 pm in News

It’s quite normal for video games to have hidden secrets and Easter eggs that can be unearthed by players just by randomly going through the game. It seems that logic applies to Respawn Entertainment’s latest title as well, as a Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Easter egg has been spotted, and it’s quite the odd one.

This Jedi Survivor Easter egg can be spotted Koboh’s Harvest Ridge area and it involves a LOT of squeezing through cracks! By that I mean, you’ll have to spend literally two minutes of just squeezing through an area to see something bizarre.

I told you it was weird, didn’t I? With the game only out a few days, there’s a chance that more Easter eggs will surface, though I doubt it will be as odd as this one.

Go check out our review of Jedi: Survivor where we state, “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a fun action game and a worthy follow-up from Respawn, just be prepared to fight some of its tech issues along the way.”

More Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Reading:

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > Features

The Division 2 Interview – Ubisoft Massive Talks About Year 5 Support

by Alex Co

5:35 pm in Features

In case you didn’t know, Ubisoft revealed recently that The Division 2 would be getting a full year of support this 2023 with Year 5. Before its initial announcement, MP1st had the opportunity to talk to Creative Director Yannick Banchereau about The Division 2 Year 5, where we also asked about crossplay, why it took this long to see a proper Splinter Cell crossover event and more.

Related Reading: The Division 2 Year 5 Roadmap Revealed With S1 Starting in June; New Story DLC Incoming in Season 4

MP1st: Will we ever see a native PS5, Xbox Series X|S version of The Division 2?

Banchereau: That’s unlikely because if we really wanted to take full advantage of those, since we only have one version of the game that is available on all platforms, taking full advantage of those would mean that the game would no longer be available on the old generations.

We still have a lot of players that play on all generations and we are not ready to leave them behind and ask them to upgrade. Right now we are trying to make sure every time we add something, it still runs smoothly on the old gen as well.

MP1st: Interestingly enough, a lot of people (ourselves included), thought that The Division 2 wouldn’t be getting any more major content drops esp. after the studio planned for Title Update 12 to be the last major update, and then started re-releasing season reruns in 2021. Then the State of Game devstreams ending as well, and add in how Massive is now doing a big Star Wars game, can you explain what happened and how we’re pivoting now to a full Year 5 support?

Banchereau: It’s crazy when you think about it, huh? That’s the beauty of it. It’s been quite a real rollercoaster because Yes, the plan was after update 12, at the end of 2020, the plan was to, to stop supporting the game. Because as the question mentions, we started working on the Star Wars game, we have the avatar game. Everybody’s very busy at Massive and the idea was that we just need the people on those projects.

It wasn’t because The Division 2 was bad just we need the people on the other projects. You know what happened is the game remained successful and probably more successful than we had anticipated after the release of Warlords of New York, and the different seasons. So that allowed us to kind of resume the conversation internally of maybe we should keep going.

Really, everybody wanted to, but the main challenge was that we need people. The people we had on the project have moved on to our projects and we can’t just recall them and say, come back to the division. That was the main challenge for us, was finding a team and we did that in Ubisoft Bucharest.

Since then it’s been a great collaboration between Massive Ubisoft Bucharest. What we’re seeing in year five now, it is the real result of it. The time we took to Ubisoft Bucharest for them to learn the engine, learn the game, us learning to work together in a way where we are flexing our muscles of running a live game.

We learned a lot with Year 4, which was our first real year of content after we started, we resumed production. And I think year five is where you’re going to see the real results of, now we have a full team, but is experienced but knows how to build things in The Division 2.

This is the full year, real full year of content that we’re going to be doing on The Division 2. It’s really exciting to see where we are today, compared to what could have been.

MP1st: Will we see the State of Game devstreams return as part of Year 5?

Banchereau: If you know the division and I’ve been part of those streams for a very long time, I would love to. But there’s a lot of questions with State of game in terms of how do we keep it relevant on a weekly basis. We struggled with that in the past.

Just the shared time it takes to prepare. So it takes a full team dedicated to make it happen. I would love to, but it’s ultimately not my decision. That’s going to be depending on the people that are running community and communication.

If they want to do that and if we really see a demand for it, maybe then we should look at it. But so far it’s not planned.

MP1st: We can’t not ask this: but will we ever see crossplay make its way into The Division 2?

Banchereau: That would be very hard. Unfortunately the truth of it is that it’s not the way our online infrastructure was built. It was built before cross play became a reality in the industry and allowing it would mean rewriting and redoing everything and retroactively touching players accounts and how they’re connecting to the game. There’s a lot of risk and a lot of heavy work there and it’s very unlikely that this would ever happen.

MP1st: How will Year 5 of The Division 2 tie into Heartland? Or will the two just be separate titles that you don’t see players bleeding into each other? (Outside of the items you can earn for playing the different Division games).

Banchereau: Our ambition is and that is why we are talking about The Division as a franchise, we want people to play whichever game they want. We want people to find whatever experience they want and if they want to play several games like Heartland and The Division 2. That’s great, we are going to make sure that they are rewarded for it and for us, what matters is that regardless of which Division game you play, you are a Division player to us.

You are going to be rewarded and you’re going to get incentives to connect into one game or the other. We are very connected to the Heartland team because we know Red Storm and we’ve worked together for a very long time. We have a lot of ideas and hope some things we could do together.

We will be working hand in hand for sure.

MP1st: Descent is mentioned as a rogue-lite mode, which is something I don’t think we see often for shooters. What was the thought process behind offering it as the big Year 5 Season 1 content drop?

Banchereau: What we wanted with Descent was to give another chance for players to experience a power progression fantasy, which is something that for a lot of our players, they haven’t experienced in a very long time because you get that in The Division and that’s one of the great fondest memories that a lot of people have playing The Division is the progression part level 1 to level 40 and getting the gear and all of those things. But for a lot of our players that year in the past and have been max level and maxed out on gear since then.

They haven’t experienced that power progression fantasy, so that was the idea of The Descent initially was to put a game mode out there that basically takes away their gear and they’re going to have to work towards becoming powerful again within the game mode.

Of course, they get everything back when they leave the game mode. When we started writing down the design, it became clear about the rogue-like general. The biggest inspiration would come, from there how do we create mechanics that are interesting because we didn’t want it to be just you start with no gear and then you’re going to start dropping items and your gray quality, green quality and blue quality and basically duplicate what you have in the game that wouldn’t be interesting. We thought what makes it more interesting is what if we allow players to create combinations, gear mechanics in a different way compared to what the rest of the game offers. So it’s not just about becoming powerful and regrind the same things, it’s allowing players to experiment and play with the mechanics of the game in a way the rest of the game cannot allow them to do.

MP1st: We know it might be a little too early to talk about it, but can you give a tease on how The Division 2’s endgame will change in Season 4?

Banchereau: We are looking at when you play The Division 2 and when you play a lot of very content, heavy life games that there’s always that moment when you’re a player you start, you learn the game, you learn the tropes, you play the story and then end the game begins and that’s usually very daunting and that suddenly the whole thing opens and you get lost. The main ambition behind that change, revamp, is to create an end game that is going to be more welcoming to new players. So doing a better job at introducing new mechanics and introducing new modes and experiences. Really trying to give purpose to each one of them, so it’s not just I want gear so I can either play Countdown or play main missions, or I can play Manhunt and everything gives the same rewards. It’s trying to find ways so that there’s a reason why you would play this versus that depending on what you’re after.

In terms of cadence and how we are connecting all seasons, you can expect a big overhaul of seasons with season four and how seasons are built and how seasons are rewarding players. It’s really about the general structure of it. Why do we come back to the game? What do you do when you come back? What kind of rewards are you after? And really trying to have something that takes all of those pieces and reconnects them in a way that makes a bit more sense compared to what we have now.

MP1st: Why did it take this long to make a proper Splinter Cell crossover with the game? Aside from Easter eggs, fans have been asking for it for quite some time if we’re not mistaken.

Banchereau: I don’t know why it took so long but the opportunity we saw here is that Descent is an NSA space and you’re going into an NSA research center. We started thinking about any NSA and immediately of course our thoughts are going with Splinter Cell. That was kind of a fun thing for us to do, to try and to hit at it and to play with references. That’s why you have the color green and these kinds of things in The Descent. From there we thought, okay well a Splinter Cell can also be a fun thing and we wanted to add a Splinter Cell outfit which we know a lot of people have been wanting for a very long time.

I don’t know why it took so long but it’s more like when we did, it sounded like a great opportunity to bring in some Splinter Cell elements into The Division.

MP1st: With Heartland in testing and seemingly set for release soon, does this mean The Division 3 isn’t in development or is Heartland in effect, The Division 3?

Banchereau: Heartland is its own thing and they’re working on Heartland. We’re working on the Division 2 and that’s the focus of each of those teams (Basically a no comment)

MP1st: Does the dev team have a primer of sorts for those returning to the game after a long break? Or what about for those entering the franchise for the first time?

Banchereau: As I mentioned, we hope a lot of people will come back and a lot of people will start the game. Seeing how it’s being supported and how ambitious we are with our plans.

We want to make sure that players coming back or experiencing the game for the first time,experiences are something that is welcoming where we’re really onboarding you to teach you all the right things. We are definitely taking over to heart and, that’s one of the main drivers, as I mentioned earlier, that’s one of the main drivers behind the end game change, the end game restructuring that we’re going to do in season four.

So absolutely, we are aware of that and that’s going to be one of the real focuses of Season 4.

Related Reading:

Tags: Massive Entertainment The Division the division 2 Ubisoft Yannick Banchereau

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

Minecraft Legends Review – Not Quite a Legendary Hybrid

by Vitor Braz

3:28 pm in News

Minecraft is the kind of household name that most studios would ever dream to achieve. Now in the hands of Microsoft, it keeps on going strong and has spawned the acclaimed dungeon crawler Minecraft Dungeons in 2021. It is back with a vengeance for another round of blocky action adventures in Minecraft Legends, an action strategy game where building and tactical combat collide, all with the usual mix of resource gathering and that warm creeper familiarity. But is this a take that will conquer fans and naysayers alike, or a flat attempt at spreading the franchise’s grasp?

The Overworld is Your Oyster

This Minecraft spin-off banks on the trademark pixelated visuals to take you in an adventure where you roam the land recruiting units and saving villages from piglins. You start by picking one hero from the meager and inconsequential range of free skins – there is not a hint of a class system here and you can switch skins anytime you want – and then you are taken to the tutorial. Going through the basics of resource gathering, building structures, and commanding troops into battle, the UI is far from being a tactical commander’s dream.

Featuring a combination of hot bar icon selections mixed with right and left mouse button presses, sometimes simultaneously, it can take a while to get used to it as you fiddle with resource gathering selection and building placement. Even more keys get into play when troops are involved, but the outcome is never satisfactory enough and quite far from the enjoyment and tactical complexity that you get from a true real-time strategy game. Feeling more like a compromise that fails to appease both casual gamers and diehard veterans, the UI often gets in the way of any amusement.

The bulk of the game revolves around exploring the world and rescuing villages from the piglin occupation, unlocking the useful fast travel option and earning more resources. At night, when the piglins attempt to raid another village, you must do your best to thwart their plans and free the various villages, and the gameplay loop doesn’t expand much more beyond this. Take your trusty stead through miles and miles of land, discover new biomes and additional resource types, build superior types of troops and structures, and you may occasionally stumble upon creepers and other units that you can recruit to your cause, even if only temporarily.

The battle system is tremendously simpleminded and repetitive. Your role in combat doesn’t extend beyond swinging your weapon and doing circles around the enemies or structures, while sending your units to an objective doesn’t have the precision and effectiveness that it should, further complicated by the option to send one unit at a time to focus on a specific target. Furthermore, the rally system doesn’t work as expected, forcing you to get in a very small radius to call your units; move a little bit farther and they will stand there, inert, ignoring your cry for help, a stone’s throw away. It’s the type of micromanagement that even casual players could do without, feeling like an afterthought.

The chaotic base conquering brings some potential for heated and deep tactical battles, but the outcome is lamentably middling. The time it takes for you and your army to take down a single structure is extremely drawn-out, to the point of boredom sinking in; controlling your units amidst all the turmoil becomes a messy affair, as you struggle to find who is who and how to make them focus on an enemy or building, despite your best efforts. There was so much potential for creative units that would allow for clever approaches such as digging tunnels, climbing walls, and the like, but everything feels linear and numb. The result is that combat isn’t fun or tactical enough to make you long for the next village raid, something that is at the core of the campaign mode (played either solo or in cooperative mode), and a sense of monotony quickly creeps in, keeping with the famed creature from the series.

The multiplayer mode could slightly change the fortunes of the game, but it is prone to disconnections, you can’t swap teams to party up with friends, and a ping system is sorely lacking. While having friends to battle with and against is always a good thing, it doesn’t disguise the fact that the gameplay isn’t fun.

Marketplace Legends

As expected, Minecraft Legends comes fully equipped with a marketplace filled with skins and textures, along with monthly episodes called Lost Legends. The first one called The Portal Pile and is available for free, but it’s likely that the subsequent releases ask you for some of those precious minecoins. This specific adventure is a generic horde mode where piglins spawn from three portals and you must protect your village during 20 waves of increasingly difficult attacks, progressively unlocking defensive structures. In the end, it’s close to what you do in the campaign, and hopefully the next episodes will display some extra creativity.

Minecraft Legends isn’t a bad game; the issue is that it doesn’t excel at any of the genres that it attempts to tackle. In terms of construction, it doesn’t hold a candle to the possibilities of the original, and to be fair that isn’t quite the aim here – still, it could do a lot more than it currently does; as a tactical warfare game, it’s a simplistic and yet occasionally convoluted take offering slim options to engage in deep and meaningful combat, instead ruling by numbers and basic unit expertise that won’t get your commander juices flowing. Conqueror’s Blade is one of countless examples that perform this art of war in superior ways, balancing complexity with fun in a rewarding way.

Too shallow for players looking for a challenge and too complicated for younger players, creativity is mostly absent in this spin-off. Minecraft Legends may retain some of its original blocky charm, but the fun aspect was lost somewhere along the way, being replaced by repetitive gameplay and frustrating unit control woes.

Score: 6/10

Pros

Pleasant Minecraft vibes
A concept that had some strengths
Multiplayer battles occasionally chaotic in a good way

Cons

Shallow building and battle mechanics
Convoluted UI
Lacking a touch of the creativity that made the original a hit

Minecraft Legends review code was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.

Tags: Blackbird Interactive Minecraft Minecraft Legends Mojang Review Xbox Game Studios

Vitor Braz

Home > News

NHL 23 Update 1.71 Slides Out for HUT Heroes Fix

by Alex Co

April 28, 2023 11:29 pm in News

EA has pushed out NHL 23 update 1.71 on all platforms, and this brings a short list of fixes to the hockey sim. This patch also includes a small piece of new content as part of a co-marketing effort by EA. Read on for what’s new in the patch notes.

NHL 23 Update 1.71 Patch Notes:

The announcement from EA mentions the following fixes:

🔧 Fixed an issue where HUT Heroes player items were not displaying the proper information

That’s the lone fix that was mentioned. However, also announced is new gear to tie-in to the release of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (another game published by EA and developed by Respawn Entertainment).

New #StarWarsJediSurvivor gear is LIVE now in #NHL23! ⛸️

Play the new game now 🎮
➡️ @EAStarWars pic.twitter.com/6NTTKWWgTT

— EA SPORTS NHL (@EASPORTSNHL) April 28, 2023

If you’re curious what we thought of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, read on for our review here where we state, “While there are tech issues (a lot, to be honest), Survivor is still a very fun game. There are bosses to vanquish, people to help, and even if the story isn’t the strongest part of the game, you’ll still want to finish it just to see how it plays out.”

Once a new NHL 23 patch is out, we’ll let our readers know.

Tags: NHL NHL 23

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

New League of Legends Dev Update Reveals Jax Visual Rework, New Game Mode Teaser, and More

by Carlos Perez

7:30 pm in News

Riot has released another League of Legends dev update featuring senior dev leads Jeremy “Brightmoon” Lee, Andrei “Meddler” van Roon, and Ryan “Reav3” Mireles. The video goes over Riot’s current plans for various systems in the game, as well as content updates. The newly revealed bits of info include a Jax visual update announcement and a sneak peek at the new game mode.

More MP1st Reading: Respawn Boss Confirms “Other” Star Wars Project in Development at EA

You can watch the full dev update video below:

Here’s a consolidated version of everything mentioned in the video:

Midseason Ranked Reset – Player ranks will be partially reset this July, bringing various game changes to the game. (More info here)
Itemization Overhaul – The midseason update will include changes to various items, and the results of those changes will affect how Riot rebalances items again in the next Preseason. (More info here)
Ivern Midscope Update and Buff Sharing – Both the Ivern midscope update and the Red and Blue Buff sharing mechanic will hit live servers at around midseason.
Player and AI Bot Updates – Player bot accounts have been mass banned, and Riot plans to improve the AI bots for new and veteran players alike. (More info here)
Emote Wheel Expansion – The emote wheel will be getting 9 slots instead of 5 with other improvements to the system.
Voice Line Fixes – Around 4,500 voice lines that previously did not work as intended will be fixed over time, with a third already completed.
New Champion Roadmap – Further hints surrounding upcoming Darkin assassin champion Naafiri and teases for other upcoming champions have been released. (More info here)
Jax Visual Update – Jax will be receiving a visual update to bring him to modern standards. The Skarner rework has been pushed back to early 2024.
2v2v2v2 Mode Teaser – New concept art for the upcoming 2v2v2v2 mode has been released, featuring a new map. The event will go live during a major summertime event.
MSI Reminder – The devs remind players that the Mid-Season Invitational is coming soon, with the event starting this May 2.

With Riot announcing various changes and updates to the game, players will have much to look forward to in 2023 and beyond.

Tags: League of Legends Riot Games

Carlos Perez

Home > News

Sonic Frontiers Sales Reach Over 3.2 Million Units, With 8 Million Unit Sales Across Sonic IPs

by Carlos Perez

6:57 pm in News

Sonic Frontiers, the open-world Sonic game released by Sega last November 2022, has apparently reached over 3.2 million units sold, according to the company’s most recent fiscal year report ending in March 2023. The Sonic Frontiers sales figure was mentioned alongside a slew of other information pertaining to the company’s other IPs such as the Persona series.

Related Reading: Rumor: Persona 3 and Jet Set Radio Remake Footage Surfaces Online

Sonic Frontier’s 3.2 million worldwide sales are just part of the company’s overall unit sales for the Sonic franchise, with an even larger recorded number of 8.15 million units sold across all Sonic IPs. For reference, Persona 5 Royal sold over 1.7 million units worldwide, with 3.27 million units sold across all Persona titles.

The report also goes on to mention Sega’s plans for the Sonic franchise in the company’s attempts to expand Sonic’s “brand awareness.” It lists the various planned Sonic-related initiatives for 2023, including the development of the third Sonic movie, the development of an “original TV series to be distributed in Paramount+,” and the release of a new Sonic title in “Sonic Origins Plus.”

The recent acquisition of Rovio by Sega was also discussed in the report, with both companies looking to offer support to one another. Sega will cooperate with Rovio to deliver live-service mobile games, whereas Rovio will receive help from Sega to launch their IPs across multiple platforms.

Source: Sega Fiscal Year Financial Report

Tags: Sega Sonic Sonic Frontiers

Carlos Perez

Home > guides

Unofficial Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Performance Fix Improves Experience

by Alex Co

6:33 pm in guides

For those playing Star Wars Jedi: Survivor on PC and running into issues, you’ll be glad to know that we don’t have to wait for Respawn to release a patch to help make the experience better. This unofficial, user performance fix for Jedi: Survivor seems to have done the trick somewhat.

Thanks to Reddit user SpicyMemeSyndrome’s testing, multiple gamers from the Fallen Order subreddit have confirmed that the fix below works, and based on our own testing, we saw a huge performance boost as well. Having said that, remember that your mileage may vary, so don’t expect this to be the one solution to the game’s tech issues.

Unofficial Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Performance Fix:

(10600k OC @ 5GHz, 3080ti 12GB, DDR4 32GB)

Per SpicyMemeSyndrome – Before these changes I was getting ~55fps and with lots of stuttering… After making these changes I am getting up to ~105fps in smaller areas and ~80fps in larger areas… Regardless of the frame rate I’m getting, the game is WAY smoother and looks MUCH better!

Note, there are still some catches when loading occurs in large areas, but these are very brief and infrequent.

Enabling ReBAR (Nvidia profile inspector)
In GameUserSettings.ini (appdata/local/swgame/…): setting antialiasing to 0 (low)
setting resolution quality to 100%
changing any screen height/width variables to display resolution (1440p in my case)
changing any fullscreen variables to 1
setting desired screen height to True

(All other visual settings were set to 3 (epic), might need to be less aggressive with older hardware)

Making GameUserSettings.ini as read only because the game seems to want to change resolution quality to 50%
In Nvidia control panel: enabling anisotropic filtering
setting antialiasing settings to override, 8x, and super sampling (might need to be less aggressive with older hardware)

Once in-game:

setting FSR to quality (not a fan of fsr but it gets the best result for me)
turn off ray tracing

Done!

For those unaware, the game’s tech issues are rampant enough on PC that the game has been review bombed on Steam. However, even console gamers aren’t spared of these tech issues as well, which is something we noted on in our review of the game.

More Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Reading:

Tags: Respawn Entertainment Star Wars star wars jedi survivor

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

Nintendo eShop NIS America and Square Enix Sales Now Live; Here Are All the Discounts

by Carlos Perez

6:10 pm in News

The Nintendo eShop’s running a couple more sales promotions, and this time we’ve got deals for games from two publishers in NIS America and Square Enix. These include games such as The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero, Final Fantasy 7, and Final Fantasy 8 Remastered, among many other titles. Nintendo eShop NIS America and Square Enix sales will be live until May 7 and May 8 at 11:59 PM PT, respectively.

Related Reading: Nintendo Indie World Showcase Recap: Blasphemous 2, FNAF: Security Breach, Teslagrad 2 & More

Here’s the full list of games on discount, separated by publisher:

Nintendo eShop NIS America and Square Enix Sales

NIS America Sale

(Direct Nintendo eShop Link)

With a total of 41 titles on sale, you can nab all sorts of games, including games from the Disgaea series, Prinny Presents NES Classics, Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha and Bravo, and The Legend of Heroes series, among other titles. Discounts range from 10% all the way up to a whopping 90%.

Square Enix Sales

(Direct eShop Link)

There are 44 Square Enix games on sale at the moment, with many popular titles that JRPG fans may be familiar with. These include various games from the Final Fantasy franchise, such as Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 8 Remastered, and even spin-off titles such as Chocobo GP and Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon EVERY BUDDY!. You also have games from the Kingdom Hearts and Dragon Quest series as well as various other titles.

Which games are worth getting? Leave a comment below and let us know. For more digital game deals, check out our Deals page that gets updated every week.

Tags: Deals Nintendo Nintendo eShop nintendo eshop sales NIS America Square Enix

Carlos Perez

Home > News

Respawn Boss Confirms “Other” Star Wars Project in Development at EA

by Alex Co

5:39 pm in News

While Respawn Entertainment just released Star Wars Jedi: Survivor today, it seems there might be more Star Wars stuff on the way from Respawn’s parent company EA.

Related Reading: Respawn CEO Would “Love” to See Titanfall 3 Happen, But “It Has to Be the Right Thing”

This was hinted at by Respawn Entertainment boss Vince Zampella where he was asked to give an update on how things are going at Respawn, DICE and Ridgeline Games. For those who didn’t know, Zampella was tasked to oversee the entire Battlefield franchise back in 2021.

Zampella: Things are going great. Apex [Legends] had a ton of competition last year. We weathered through that. This season did really well. We have another season coming out fairly soon. We’ve got stuff in development we’re not talking about. Some other Star Wars stuff too, which is exciting.

Could this “other” Star Wars stuff be a game? Maybe DLC for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor? We don’t know for sure, but it does confirm that something Star Wars-related is brewing at EA. For reference, the last few EA Star Wars games were Star Wars: Squadrons (2020), Star Wars Battlefront II (2017), and Survivor’s predecessor Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (2019).

What do you hope to see in terms of EA-published Star Wars games? Perhaps Battlefront III? Or maybe a new franchise using the Star Wars IP? Leave a comment below and let us know.

Source: Barron’s (login required)

More Star Wars Reading:

Tags: Respawn Entertainment Star Wars Vince Zampella

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

The Long Dark Update 2.16 Rolled Out for Fixes This April 28

by Alex Co

4:57 pm in News

Hinterland has pushed out The Long Dark update 2.16 on consoles this April 28, and this brings another round of bug fixes to the game. Read on for the official patch notes and details straight from the devs.

The Long Dark Update 2.16 Patch Notes:

Hello Community,

We have just released our v2.16 (113628) Hotfix for THE LONG DARK (including Survival Edition) and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY on Xbox and PlayStation. Please note that WINTERMUTE’s version number has not changed. This update enables the Tale from TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY to be played on Interloper. Details on these changes can be found in our latest Dev Diary found here.

GENERAL

[SURVIVAL] Enables TALES content in Interloper.
[SURVIVAL] Using the Handheld Shortwave Interloper players are now able to locate Trackable Hidden Caches, which will provide loot that is also balanced for Interloper.
[SURVIVAL] Players are now able to find the Handheld Shortwave at the Airfield’s Control Tower and start the Signal Void Tale, while playing in Interloper.
TALES will be accessible via your existing save and do not need to start a new Survival save in order to get these changes
The bunkers discovered in Signal Void have been adjusted to provide less loot on Interloper
A few extra Transmitter repair supplies will be newly available in Interloper to ensure the initial repairs are possible (applies to both existing saves or new)

You can bookmark our coverage of the game via The Long Dark game hub.

Source: Hinterland Forums

Tags: Hinterland Games The Long Dark the long dark update

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Broken HDR Workaround for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S

by Salman Haider Zaidi

3:42 pm in News

Respawn and EA’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order sequel is an incredible experience, but unfortunately, a host of performance and hardware issues on all platforms at launch are keeping the title from being enjoyed it to its full potential. In particular, the HDR function is broken on console platforms, significantly worsening the game’s visuals if enabled. However, a potential Star Wars Jedi: Survivor broken HDR workaround has been discovered that fixes the feature’s functionality to a large degree, at least for now. Read on for the steps to use the workaround on both PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Related Reading: Star Wars Jedi: Survivor – Which Skills to Get First (and Most Important)

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Broken HDR Workaround:

PS5:

Navigate to the PS5’s “Settings” menu
Head to “Screen and Video” > Video Output > Adjust HDR
Increase the brightness to the maximum on all three stages
Launch Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Navigate to Settings > Visuals > Color & Brightness > HDR Brightness
Set HDR Brightness to 20 and HDR Black Point to 5

Xbox Series X|S:

Navigate to the Xbox Series X|S “Settings” menu
Head to “HDR Game Calibration”
Hit Next, ignore the “Minimum Luminance” screen, and hit Next again
Set “Maximum Luminance” to the maximum brightness possible
Launch Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Navigate to Settings > Visuals > Color & Brightness > HDR Brightness
Set HDR Brightness to 50 and HDR Black Point to 25

While the steps may seem counterintuitive, using the workaround significantly improves image quality while HDR is enabled on both the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game. You can check out the results for yourself below:

While the game’s many performance and technical issues remain currently unaddressed, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is available to play now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. Check out our review of the title (in which we found it “a very fun game” despite the issues) as well as our arsenal of guides which should make your journey on Koboh much easier.

Tags: EA Electronic Arts Respawn Entertainment star wars jedi Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order star wars jedi survivor

Salman Haider Zaidi

That's a nice argument, Senator.

Home > News

Battlefield 2042 Season 5 Quality of Life Changes Preview Revealed by DICE

by Alex Co

2:55 pm in News

In case you didn’t know, Battlefield 2042 support won’t be ending in Season 4, as DICE has confirmed that development of Season 5 is already underway. Curious what’s incoming for the new season? DICE has revealed the Battlefield 2042 Season 5 quality of life (QoL) changes incoming for players.

Battlefield 2042 Season 5 Quality of Life Changes Preview:

Stay tuned throughout May for news on #Battlefield 2042 Quality of Life changes coming in Season 5:

🔫 Evolving Vault Weapons
⚙ Vehicle Loadout Rework
🛡 Improving Dozer & Irish
🪖 Squad Management & Squad Orders

There’s no release window for Season 5 just yet, though DICE has confirmed that more news for the upcoming season is dropping this May. Outside of the QoL changes, no further details on what new content will be incoming aside from the confirmed new map. But I’d wager we can expect new weapons, new Vault Weapons and new cosmetic items are all part of it.

While there’s no announcement by EA, a “Year 2 Upgrade” for the game has surfaced on Origin last month, which seems to indicate we’ll be seeing another year of support for the shooter.

Source: Battlefield (Twitter)

More BF2042 Reading:

Tags: Battlefield Battlefield 2042 DICE

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor PC Performance Issues Result in Review Bombing; EA “Aware” Game Isn’t Up to Par

by Carlos Perez

2:27 pm in News

While Star Wars Jedi: Survivor received plenty of positive critical reviews during its launch, the PC port of the game has been riddled with issues that have rendered the sci-fi action title nearly unplayable outside of the best setups, with performance problems on even some of the beefiest PC rigs. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s PC version issues result in terrible framerate drops and stuttering, which severely impacts the gameplay experience for players.

Quite a few dissatisfied users have taken to social media to raise awareness of the issues, including prominent online figures such as game reviewer Skill Up. Here’s the tweet:

It struggles to maintain 40 fps on a 2080ti/3700x and my 4090/5950x cannot maintain a solid 60 fps. There’s also a game breaking audio bug atm that ruins every cutscene. There’s a PC patch planned for the 28th. Recommend waiting until the impacts of that patch are confirmed.

— Skill Up (@SkillUpYT) April 26, 2023

Even using an RTX 4090, Nvidia’s most powerful 40 series GPU, Jedi Survivor struggles to stay at 60 FPS. PC players with a 2080Ti setup won’t even reach 40 FPS at times, either. When asked about what sort if issue may be causing it, the YouTuber claimed that “CPU and GPU utilisation almost never go above 30%” while the game is running.

CPU and GPU utilisation almost never go above 30% on my 4090 machine. Very borked

— Skill Up (@SkillUpYT) April 26, 2023

The PC issues plaguing the game has become so prevalent that it has led to players review-bombing the game. Currently, it’s sitting at a “Mostly Negative” review status across 3,144 reviews on Steam. Only 38% of those reviews are positive, which means that the remaining 62%, or over 1900 of them, are negative.

Fortunately, EA and Respawn Entertainment are aware of the issue, with a recent statement that further goes into the performance problems plaguing Jedi Survivor.

A note from the Jedi Team on the PC version of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor pic.twitter.com/C3bp78VICr

— EA Star Wars (@EAStarWars) April 28, 2023

The tweet highlights a couple of particularly noteworthy issues, including chipsets running poorly on Windows 10 due to them being designed for Windows 11, and high-end GPUs getting bottlenecked by lower-end CPUs. The Star Wars Jedi team is keen on swiftly addressing these cases. The statement goes on to mention that finding solutions will take time due to significant testing requirements to ensure no further problems are introduced.

While the PC version of Jedi Survivor is probably something you can’t fully enjoy just yet, it’s still a really solid action-adventure title, especially if you’re a Star Wars fan. Check out our review of the game here.

Jedi Survivor isn’t the first PC version of a game to run poorly on PC. Two other noteworthy titles with poor performance that were released earlier this year include the monster-hunting game Wild Hearts and the PC port for The Last of Us Part 1.

Tags: EA Respawn Entertainment Star Wars star wars jedi star wars jedi survivor star wars jedi: survior

Carlos Perez

Home > News

Microsoft Cloud Remedy Entitled It to All Activision Cloud Gaming Revenue, Reveals CMA

by Salman Haider Zaidi

1:23 pm in News

Having officially blocked the Microsoft-Activision deal this week, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has revealed that the Redmond corporation’s proposed cloud remedy involved it retaining all revenue from Activision games on rival cloud gaming services, essentially turning its competitors into customers.

Related Reading: Microsoft-Activision Deal: CMA’s Decision “Is Far From the Final Word,” Says Bobby Kotick

Despite earlier having conceded that the Microsoft-Activision deal was “unlikely” to hurt console gaming competition in the UK, the CMA surprisingly made the decision to block the deal on Wednesday on the basis of unresolved cloud gaming concerns. In its full report, the UK regulator highlighted several key flaws with Microsoft’s modified cloud remedy (which the latter proposed to address the CMA’s initial concerns).

Noting an undisclosed third party’s concerns, the CMA revealed that the modified cloud remedy did not require Microsoft to license Activision’s games to all willing competitors, or even to any MSG services at all. Further, the modified cloud remedy entitled it to all revenue from Activision games on rival services, including the initial purchase in the case of BYOG services (GeForce Now), as well as all in-game purchases. This would essentially turn Microsoft’s rivals into its customers instead:

The modified Microsoft Cloud Remedy would entitle Microsoft to retain all revenue from sales of Activision games, in-app purchases, and any other future game-related transactional revenues – as a result, cloud game streaming services would not become rivals to Microsoft’s Game Pass Ultimate, but rather, they would become Microsoft’s customers, with only the ability to stream Activision games and send all the associated revenues to Microsoft. This third party told us that this would be unattractive for any cloud game streaming service, including BYOG operators like NVIDIA, which are the only operators that would benefit from the modified Microsoft Cloud Remedy should Microsoft decide not to license Activision games.

Additionally, the third party disclosed to the CMA that Microsoft’s proposal did not include any feature or technical parity obligations either. Even if the mentioned party is not Sony, it is likely that these reasons led the Japanese console manufacturer to refuse Microsoft’s 10-year cloud access agreement, though this is just speculation on our part.

The revelation provides significant credence to the CMA’s decision and the reasoning behind it. However, it is unknown if the decision will hold given Microsoft and Activision Blizzard’s intent to appeal.

Source: CMA

Tags: Activision Activision Blizzard Call of Duty Microsoft Microsoft Gaming Microsoft-Activision Deal Xbox Xbox Game Pass

Salman Haider Zaidi

That's a nice argument, Senator.

Home > News

New Destiny 2 Xur Location Today April 28, 2023 (And What Xur Is Selling)

by Salman Haider Zaidi

1:00 pm in News

The enigmatic Xur has returned this Friday with a refreshed inventory of Exotics, Engrams and Legendary gear. If you’re wondering where the vendor is holed up this week, look no further: MP1st’s new Destiny 2 Xur location today, April 28, 2023 post details his both location and his arsenal of valuable offerings below.

New Destiny 2 Xur Location Today April 28, 2023 (And What Xur Is Selling):

Related Reading: New Destiny 2 Weekly Reset April 25, 2023 and Eververse Inventory

Xûr, Agent of the Nine

A peddler of strange curios, Xûr’s motives are not his own. He bows to his distant masters, the Nine.

Location

European Dead Zone (Winding Cove), Earth

Exotic Weapons

Name	Type	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4
The Prospector	Heavy Grenade Launcher
Hawkmoon	Kinetic Hand Cannon	Corkscrew Rifling	Opening Shot	Heavy Grip
Dead Man’s Tale	Kinetic Scout Rifle	Full Bore	Light Mag	Vorpal Weapon	Composite Stock

Note: Fixed perks on weapons are not displayed

Exotic Armor

Name	Type	MOB	RES	REC	DIS	INT	STR	Total	Cost
Lucky Pants	Hunter Leg Armor	15	3	16	14	15	2	65	23 Legendary Shards
Armamentarium	Titan Chest Armor	7	17	10	15	7	9	65	23 Legendary Shards
Starfire Protocol	Warlock Chest Armor	14	10	10	16	11	2	63	23 Legendary Shards

Exotic Ciphers

Name	Description
Xenology	Complete Vanguard playlist activities, or win matches in Crucible or Gambit. Extra progress is awarded for more challenging activities and for succeeding with clanmates.

Engrams

Name	Description	Cost
Exotic Engram	An engram with a predestined outcome. Contains a new Exotic if any of the possible rewards remain to be collected. Preview contents for possible rewards.	97 Legendary Shards

Legendary Weapons

Name	Type	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4
Under Your Skin	Energy Combat Bow	High Tension String // Natural String	Carbon Arrow Shaft // Helical Fletching	Archer’s Tempo	Successful Warm-Up
Judgment of Kelgorath	Energy Glaive	Ballistic Tuning // Lightweight Emitter	Alloy Magazine // Appended Mag	Immovable Object	Incandescent
Blast Battue	Heavy Grenade Launcher	Countermass // Linear Compensator	Proximity Grenades // High-Explosive Ordnance	Threat Detector	Snapshot Sights
Vulpecula	Kinetic Hand Cannon	Arrowhead Brake // Hammer-Forged Rifling	Tactical Mag // Extended Mag	Outlaw	Adagio
Lonesome	Kinetic Sidearm	Fluted Barrel // Smallbore	Ricochet Rounds // Flared Magwell	Rapid Hit	Swashbuckler
Enigma’s Draw	Kinetic Sidearm	Tactic SAS // Target SAS	Extended Mag // Ricochet Rounds	Grave Robber	Rapid Hit
Friction Fire	Kinetic Submachine Gun	Corkscrew Rifling // Smallbore	Tactical Mag // Steady Rounds	Killing Wind	Unrelenting

Note: Fixed perks on weapons are not displayed

Legendary Armor

Name	Type	MOB	RES	REC	DIS	INT	STR	Total	Cost
Midnight Exigent Gauntlets	Titan Gauntlets	12	13	7	9	16	2	59	50 Legendary Shards & 1000 Glimmer
Midnight Exigent Plate	Titan Chest Armor	15	7	9	17	2	9	59	50 Legendary Shards & 1000 Glimmer
Midnight Exigent Mark	Titan Mark	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	50 Legendary Shards & 1000 Glimmer
Midnight Exigent Helm	Titan Helmet	9	13	7	6	14	9	58	50 Legendary Shards & 1000 Glimmer
Midnight Exigent Greaves	Titan Leg Armor	13	2	16	7	20	2	60	50 Legendary Shards & 1000 Glimmer
Yuga Sundown Gloves	Warlock Gauntlets	7	19	2	7	2	20	57	50 Legendary Shards & 1000 Glimmer
Yuga Sundown Robes	Warlock Chest Armor	8	2	22	12	9	6	59	50 Legendary Shards & 1000 Glimmer
Yuga Sundown Bond	Warlock Bond	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	50 Legendary Shards & 1000 Glimmer
Yuga Sundown Helmet	Warlock Helmet	6	10	16	12	6	10	60	50 Legendary Shards & 1000 Glimmer
Yuga Sundown Boots	Warlock Leg Armor	14	9	8	15	6	9	61	50 Legendary Shards & 1000 Glimmer
Abhorrent Imperative Grasps	Hunter Gauntlets	10	15	7	9	2	16	59	50 Legendary Shards & 1000 Glimmer
Abhorrent Imperative Vest	Hunter Chest Armor	10	12	6	20	9	2	59	50 Legendary Shards & 1000 Glimmer
Abhorrent Imperative Cloak	Hunter Cloak	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	50 Legendary Shards & 1000 Glimmer
Abhorrent Imperative Mask	Hunter Helmet	8	2	22	8	23	2	65	50 Legendary Shards & 1000 Glimmer
Abhorrent Imperative Strides	Hunter Leg Armor	2	16	12	12	8	13	63	50 Legendary Shards & 1000 Glimmer

What’s a Xûr?

Xûr, Agent of the Nine, is a strange vendor who randomly appears in a Public Sector on one of the Worlds. Xûr sells Exotic equipment and only takes Legendary Shards in exchange for them.

TL;DR: He’s the Santa Claus of Destiny and every weekend is Christmas. Sometimes he brings you what you want, sometimes he brings you coal. Mostly it’s coal.

When does Xûr visit?

Xûr visits every Friday at 17:00 UTC and departs at Weekly Reset (Tuesday 17:00 UTC). If you would like to see all the live conversions of Time Zones, please follow this link here.

Thanks, Reddit!

Tags: Bungie Destiny Destiny 2 Destiny 2 Xur Destiny 2 Xur Location Xur

Salman Haider Zaidi

That's a nice argument, Senator.

Home > News

Twisted Metal TV Show Trailer Features Cars, Guns and Anthony Mackie

by Alex Co

12:25 pm in News

If you liked HBO’s The Last of Us, there’s another Sony PlayStation game that’s set to air as a TV show soon and it’s none other than Twisted Metal! Airing on Peacock this July, check out the Twisted Metal TV show trailer.

Twisted Metal TV Show Plot Synopsis:

Synopsis: Twisted Metal, a half-hour live-action TV series based on the classic PlayStation game series, is a high-octane action comedy, based on an original take by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick and written by Michael Jonathan Smith, about a motor-mouthed outsider offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. With the help of a badass axe-wielding car thief, he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck.

As you can see in the trailer, the TV show stars Marvel Cinematic Universe mainstay Anthony Mackie, and Sweet Tooth seems to be confirmed as well. The series will debut on streaming platform Peacock this July 27.

For those not familiar with the vehicular racing franchise, it debuted back on the PS1 in 1995. It quickly rose to prominence as one of Sony’s first original IPs, though it’s been on hiatus ever since the last game simply titled “Twisted Metal” was released in 2012 on the PS3. While we are getting a TV show, a rumor surfaced back in 2021 that a revival of the game is in development at Lucid Games (Destruction AllStars).

Tags: anthony mackie peacock PlayStation Twisted Metal twisted metal tv show

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Release Date Reaffirmed for This Year by Sony

by Salman Haider Zaidi

12:05 pm in News

In its earnings call for fiscal year 2022-2023 conducted today, Sony has reaffirmed that the Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 release date will fall during the current fiscal year 2023-2024. This is in line with Insomniac Games’ repeated commitments for a Fall 2023 launch for the hotly-anticipated title.

Related Reading: PlayStation Store “Golden Week” Sale Kicks Off, Over 400 Items Listed

Hot on the heels of the revelation that the PS5 has outsold the PS4 in a comparable post-launch time period, Sony revealed today that its massively-popular current-gen console has surpassed 38.4 million units sold since launch. With console record-breaking Q1 shipments of 6.3 million units, an ambitious Sony is aiming to sell 25 million PS5 units during the current fiscal year, breaking all previous PlayStation sales records.

The accomplishment of that goal is to be facilitated by the launch of Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man sequel, which officially only has a vague “Fall 2023” release window. Sony has now reaffirmed that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s release date will fall during the current fiscal year during its earnings call:

We are also planning to release a major title, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, this fiscal year, and we aim to continue creating new IP, rolling out catalog titles for PC and strengthening live game service development.

Given that FY 23-24 ends next March, that could possibly mean that the game may just as well launch early next year, but Insomniac’s reiteration of a Fall 2023 launch as well as Venom voice actor Tony Todd’s claim of a September 2023 release all but confirms that the game will indeed launch in the fourth quarter of this year.

As the sequel approaches release, the original Marvel’s Spider-Man and the Miles Morales expansion are both enjoying resurgent popularity through their PC ports. If you’re looking to get into the franchise now, check out our review of the original game where we found that it “nailed Spider-Man on every front.”

Source: Sony

Tags: Insomniac Games Marvel's Spider-Man Marvel's Spider-Man 2 PlayStation PlayStation Studios PS5 Sony Sony Interactive Entertainment

Salman Haider Zaidi

That's a nice argument, Senator.

Home > News

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Sales Have Surpassed Over 1 Million Units Sold With 3.8+ Million Players

by Salman Haider Zaidi

11:23 am in News

Less than two months into the game’s release, Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo have announced that Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty sales have now surpassed over a million units sold. The game’s playerbase now exceeds over 3.8 million players across all platforms, including a significant number of players on Xbox Game Pass.

Related Reading: Wo Long Update 1.007 Adds New Features and Weapon Adjustments This April 28

Check out the announcement below:

https://twitter.com/WoLongOfficial/status/1651784272792133632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1651784272792133632%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=

Team Ninja’s spritiual successor to its Soulslike Nioh franchise follows a militia soldier as they fight to protect Han Dynasty China from corrupting supernatural forces during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. The game features a polished parry-based combat system with an extensive elemental magic system in combat, and lets players recruit legendary Three Kingdoms-era Chinese heroes such as Zhao Yun, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei as combat allies.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is available now on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Xbox Game Pass (including Xbox Cloud Gaming). The upcoming DLCs Battle of Zhongyuan, Conqueror of Jiangdong, and Upheaval in Jingxiang remain in development, and can be purchased together as part of the Season Pass. If you’re wondering whether or not to pick up the game, our review of the Sekiro-like title where we found it “an entertaining game to play” – though still in the shadow of Nioh’s greatness – should make that decision easier for you.

Tags: Koei Tecmo Team Ninja wo long: fallen dynasty

Salman Haider Zaidi

That's a nice argument, Senator.

Home > News

Omega Strikers Review – Brutal Sports Hockey

by Vitor Braz

10:37 am in News

The many shades of future range from dystopian to post-apocalyptic, but one thing we know for sure is that there won’t be a shortage of futuristic sports for the demanding masses. Omega Strikers is Odyssey Interactive’s take, not skimping on the brutality but making it friendlier than in other games such as Speedball 2, thanks to the anime characters and moves – it’s the Oliver and Benji of foot brawlers, a feast of special abilities and clashes where the core is often ignored in favor of a good old scuffle. It’s also free-to-play, so there’s nothing preventing you from giving it a shot.

Anime to the Core

Developer Odyssey Interactive is comprised of former staff from Riot Games, something that is telling of their ability to create a varied and appealing roster. The athletes in this game are called Strikers and the selection is infinitely catchy, with an art style that would fit perfectly in League of Legends, if we ignore the universe differences. It’s very colorful, most Strikers ooze personality and come with some extensive personal lore to sink your teeth into, but ultimately your choice will be based on their abilities and who you deem more suited to your playstyle.

With 15 Strikers in total, this eclectic bunch includes a shy witch, a virtual assistant gone rogue, a cute green alien, a gigantic bear-like creature, and more, offering a diverse range of weaponry, from swords to rifles, rockets, chains, or magical spells. The base kits can be quite unique and getting to learn each one to the core is a challenge that may take a while, but it surely is a rewarding one.

Only a few Strikers are available at the beginning, but you can purchase more from the store with in-game currency that you earn as you play. Thankfully, Omega Strikers is as fair as free-to-play games can possibly be, allowing you to get them without reaching out to your wallet, and avoiding any sort of potential paywall that could make players outraged. On the other hand, cosmetics such as skins, emotes, and effects ask for two other types of currency, being entirely optional but the expected way to support development, along with the traditional battle pass.

A 3v3 foot brawler at heart, Omega Strikers is a game about knocking the core – a futuristic and larger than life hockey puck – into the opponent’s goal through any means possible. The normal strike will knock it around the arena, but each Striker has several unique abilities that may be used to move the core, attack the rivals, or provide some welcomed buffs to teammates. There is no referee in sight, so any strategies are welcome, even pushing your opponents out of the arena to keep them away from the match for a few valuable seconds.

Despite the apparent simplicity, Omega Strikers does have quite a few mechanics at work. The very character kits can make for some interesting showdowns, but other things such as goal barriers, staggered enemies, knockback resistance, and goal arc buffs are just some examples of factors that come into play.

A typical match runs for a few minutes, guaranteeing brief fixtures that don’t overstay their welcome. There’s overtime if no one scores for a while, something that is possible as everyone gets a little bit too excited about trying their abilities on each other’s anime faces. Or you may want to pay close attention to a Striker you have been looking forward to unlocking, hoping to execute the same moves as you see your teammate or opponent doing.

Brawl Hockey

The first impression may not be a flawless one, as your character movement seems to be on the slow side. It does take a bit of practice to get into the gist of it, but in a matter of minutes you will be accustomed to the pace of the game and start exploring everything it has to offer. Aiming shots isn’t as intuitive as expected, so you should expect plenty of rebounds and accidental goals to happen.

A cliché it may be, but the “easy to learn, hard to master” motto fits nicely here. You may play the game just for fun every now and then, but it’s easy to see it becoming a go-to sports for die-hard players who will dig deep into every variable of it, especially considering that Omega Strikers is extremely open to teamwork and is only as chaotic as the players want it to be. The various arena hazards spice up the matches, and you will have to go in with friends or hope you are matched with players of a similar level.

Omega Strikers is a fun mix of air hockey and brawler that doesn’t reinvent the wheel, as anyone familiar with classics such as Speedball 2 or Brutal Sports Football would tell you. But it is an accomplished and engaging take on futuristic sports that will provide you with many hours of entertainment, for as long as the player base stays healthy. Being free-to-play and without the burden of strict paywalls, nothing is preventing you from heading into the arena and show that lovable goofball Dubu who’s the new kid on the arena.

Score: 8/10

Pros

Casual fun but also competitive
Easy to learn, hard to master
Colorful and diverse roster

Cons

Seems somewhat slow-paced at first
Matches can be often chaotic

Omega Strikers review code was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.

Tags: Odyssey Interactive Omega Strikers Review

Vitor Braz

Home > News

Wo Long Update 1.007 Adds New Features and Weapon Adjustments This April 28

by Alex Co

7:41 am in News

Wo Long update 1.007 is out now on all platforms this April 28 and this adds a few new features, and ushers in a huge list of weapon changes and bug fixes. Read on for the official patch notes straight from Team Ninja.

Wo Long Update 1.007 Patch Notes for April 28:

All Platforms

Additional Features

Added a function allowing players to carry over their Battle Flag and Marking Flag progress when returning to a previously completed battlefield.
- This option can be enabled or disabled via the Travel menu by choosing which battlefield to return to.
- When enabled, some of the shortcuts such as doors and ladders will have been unlocked by default.
Added diagrams to the Learn Wizardry Spells screen, Set Wizardry Spells screen, and “Five Phases Affinities” under Tutorial allowing players to better understand the affinity between each of the Five Phases.
Added functions to the Online Lobby, Recruit, and Recruit Allies screens allowing players to part ways with companions.
Added Five Virtues to the Tutorial screen in the Documents menu.

Adjustments

Deflect

Made upwards adjustments to the shrinking of the Spirit Gauge’s lower limits and downward adjustments to the Spirit damage dealt upon successfully performing deflect.

Weapon Categories

All Weapon Categories	Optimized the timing at which players can activate deflect to cancel the recovery sequence after attacks. Increased the Spirit damage dealt with Spirit attacks. Decreased the boost in Spirit attack power when Spirit is high.
Straight Sabre	Improved the turnaround between normal dash attacks.
Curved Sabre	Improved the turnaround between normal dash attacks.
Sword	Improved the turnaround between normal dash attacks. Shortened the startup sequence of normal attacks.
Glaive	Shortened the startup sequence when activating a follow-up Spirit attack after a normal attack.
Halberd	Increased the movement distance of the first swing of normal attacks. Shortened the recovery sequences between normal attack combos. Increased the movement distance of the follow-up Spirit attack after a normal attack, and optimized the hitbox.
Spear	Increased the movement distance of the first swing of normal attacks.
Slashing Spear	Shortened the recovery sequences between normal attack combos.
Staff	Shortened the recovery sequence after normal dash attacks.

Martial Arts

All Martial Arts (except Thunderous Impact and Tigertail Lash)	Increased Spirit damage dealt.
Lightspeed Gust	Shortened the startup sequence. Increased the speed and range of the thrust. Reduced the openings in defense after attacks.
Meteoric Strike	Improved the turnaround between attacks.
Dawning Sky	Made adjustments so it is possible to perform an Aerial Skill after jumping.
Starlight Blade	Shortened the time it takes to build up energy. Shortened the startup sequence.
Cosmic Syzygy	Shortened the startup sequence. Increased the speed of the thrust. Increased the speed of the backward leap upon successful hits. Added sound effects to signify the timing for additional input. Added a visual effect for successful attacks. Reduced the openings in defense after attacks.
Gouging Star	Adjusted the hitbox. Adjusted hit stop.
Whirlwind Advance	Increased the movement distance of the first swing.
Violent Sandstorm	Shortened the startup sequence. Adjusted the speed of consecutive attacks.
Ill Wind	Reduced the openings in defense after attacks.
Thunderous Impact	Adjusted hit stop. Decreased Spirit damage dealt.
Shimmering Sun	Shortened the startup sequence.
Looming Cloud	Increased movement distance during secondary action. Adjusted pushback.
Mongrel’s Rampart	Added an active hitbox accompanying the thrust. Reduced the openings in defense after attacks.
Prancing Dragon	Shortened the startup sequence. Adjusted the timing of the transition to the secondary action. Increased the swing speed of the weapon. Reduced the openings in defense after attacks.
Dragon Flash	Adjusted hit stop.
Python Turnover	Adjusted pushback. Adjusted the hitbox.
Panther’s Grit	Adjusted pushback.
Emerging Dragon	Shortened the startup sequence. Increased movement distance upon successful attack. Made changes so that the enemy is thrown down by a successful attack. Added a visual effect for successful attacks.
Tigertail Lash	Shortened the startup sequence. Shortened the distance of the backstep at the beginning. Increased the distance of the subsequent forward movement. Decreased Spirit damage dealt.
Fanning Peacock	Adjusted the hit intervals.
Falcon Strike	Shortened the startup sequence.
Stag Hunter	Added an active hitbox accompanying the swinging movement. Shortened the startup/recovery before swinging down.
Soaring Phoenix	Made it possible to launch a secondary attack in midair after the first attack hits.
Feasting Ursine	Shortened the startup sequence.
Nightbird Spin	Adjusted pushback. Adjusted the hitbox. Removed damaging capabilities upon retrieving the weapon.
Horn Strike	Shortened the startup sequence. Made changes so that the enemy is thrown back when hit with the upward swing. Made adjustments so it is possible to perform an Aerial Skill after jumping.
Plummeting Ape	Reduced the openings in defense after attacks.
Serpent’s Torment	Shortened the startup sequence. Increased the movement distance at the beginning. Reduced the openings in defense after attacks.
Marching Dragon	Shortened the startup sequence. Adjusted the speed of flurry attacks. Shortened the recovery sequence while transitioning to the finishing blow.
Parting Grass	Shortened the startup sequence. Reduced the openings in defense after attacks.
Heaven Divide	Made changes so that players withstand enemy attacks (excluding Critical Blows) while their Qi veins are active.
Mountain Strike	Reduced the openings in defense after attacks.
Rising Tides	Shortened the startup sequence. Increased the rotation speed. Adjusted the timing of the transition to the finishing blow. Made changes so that the enemy is thrown down in the final stage of the attack.
Mountain Buster	Shortened the startup sequence. Adjusted the speed of flurry attacks. Expanded the area of effect of the final shock wave.
Undercurrent Sprint	Adjusted pushback. Shortened the recovery sequence while transitioning to strike. Reduced the openings in defense after attacks.
Rock Crash	Adjusted the hitbox while falling.
Boulder Glide	Changed the shock waves into Stone damage.
Sea Split	Shortened the time it takes to build up energy. Adjusted the intervals between stages of building up energy. Shortened the recovery sequence while transitioning to strike.
Heaven Reversal	Increased the movement distance of each sequence.
Skyward Evergreen	Increased the movement distance. Made adjustments so it is possible to perform an Aerial Skill after jumping.
Endless Flowering	Adjusted the fastest possible timing for the transition to the final sequence. Increased the movement distance.
Sudden Tornado	Shortened the startup sequence.
Waving Willow	Shortened the startup sequence.
Thorn Cleave	Shortened the startup/recovery sequence.
Crescent Gale	Made changes so that the player can move in any direction during activation. Reduced the openings in defense after attacks. Adjusted pushback.
Blossom Stream	Made changes so that this Martial Art technique consumes Spirit in every frame, rather than only in certain frames during flurry attacks. Reduced Spirit consumption of flurry attacks. Made changes so that the barrage of hits ends when Spirit is depleted.
Falling Leaf	Shortened the startup sequence. Increased the movement distance.
Falling Leaves	Shortened the startup/recovery sequence.
Scattered Leaves	Improved visibility.

Wizardry Spells

Barbed Conductor	Reduced Spirit consumption.
Scorch Sweep	Reduced Spirit consumption.
Scorch Stream	Reduced Spirit consumption.
Scorch Spinner	Reduced Spirit consumption.
Frozen Arrow	Reduced Spirit consumption.
Force Blow	Reduced Spirit consumption. Increased attack speed. Increased Stone accumulation when landing hits.
Bursting Fireball	Made changes so that the spell effect does not manifest if the projectile is successfully deflected.
Venomous Discharge	Made changes so that the spell effect does not manifest if the projectile is successfully deflected.
Venom Snare	Made changes so that the spell effect does not manifest if the projectile is successfully deflected. Increased Toxin accumulation when landing hits. Extended intervals between the moments when damage is received over time. Reduced Toxin damage.

Bosses

Zhang Rang	Made adjustments to the AI. Made changes to his actions at the start of the battle. Added more attack combo patterns. Changes specific to re-summoning of clones: Made adjustments so that the re-summoning would take place even if there are some clones remaining. Zhang Rang no longer re-summons his clones more than once per battle. Reduced damage dealt by lightning attacks to a wide area of effect. Adjusted how far the player is pushed back when hit by the tornado attack. Extended the amount of time between the indicative effect before the strike and the actual strike during consecutive lightning attacks. Shortened the duration of the ball of lightning. Fine-tuned his behavior accordingly. Changes specific to the real Zhang Rang: Increased Spirit damage dealt. Increased Spirit recovery speed to make it equivalent to that of other characters. Extended the time before his Spirit starts recovering. Slightly reduced the maximum amount by which his Spirit Gauge’s lower limit can be reduced. Changes specific to clones: Slightly increased HP damage received. Reduced HP damage dealt. Reduced Spirit damage received. Slightly increased Spirit recovery speed. Reduced the maximum amount by which their Spirit Gauges’ lower limits can be reduced. Adjusted the lock-on camera. Made other minor adjustments.
Taotie	Made adjustments to the AI. Reduced Spirit consumption of Critical Blows. Made adjustments to the durability of hardened parts to make it easier for part destruction to occur. Extended the time before its Spirit starts recovering. Increased Spirit recovery speed. Reduced HP damage received. Reduced Spirit damage received. Increased the amount of Spirit recovered when Taotie lands attacks. Changes specific to the first phase of the battle: Added one additional fireball attack and expanded the area of effect. Fixed a bug that prevented some hits from landing. Changed targetable parts to torso, right hoof, and left hoof. Added a sequence in the second phase of the battle that involves its parts recovering from damage. Improved the efficiency of Critical Blows in the second phase of the battle. Adjusted the lock-on camera. Made other minor adjustments.
Demonized Xiahou Dun	Made adjustments to the AI. Adjusted the lock-on camera. Made other minor adjustments.
Demonized Lu Bu	Made adjustments to the AI. Slightly increased Spirit recovery speed. Extended the time before his Spirit starts recovering. Adjusted the timing before the transition to the latter phase of the battle. Made other minor adjustments.
Yan Liang & Wen Chou	Increased Morale Rank. In Path of the Crouching Dragon: 12 In Path of the Rising Dragon: 14 Increased the amount of Morale Points earned by attacking Yan Liang and Wen Chou using actions that consume Spirit. Reduced the amount of Morale Points earned by attacking minor enemies using actions that consume Spirit prior to the battle against Yan Liang and Wen Chou. Slightly increased Spirit recovery speed. Extended the time it takes for Spirit recovery. Increased Spirit damage received.
Demonized Yuan Shao	Made adjustments to the AI. Added more attack combo patterns. Reduced HP damage received. Reduced Spirit damage received. Added ice projectiles to the step action sequence. Adjusted the impact position of ice projectile attacks.. Adjusted attributes of two types of actions that involve generating icy pillars. Reduced damage received when elemental attacks hit the shield. Made other minor adjustments.
Yu Ji	Made adjustments to the AI. Reduced HP damage received. Slightly increased Spirit recovery speed. Extended the time before his Spirit starts recovering. Reduced the amount of Morale Points obtained in battle.
Embodiment of Demonic Qi	Made adjustments to the AI. Added more attack combo patterns. Made overall adjustments to defense, Spirit, and attack power. Made it easier for part destruction to occur. Adjusted the lock-on camera. Changed targetable parts to head and torso. Reduced Spirit consumption of Critical Blows. Made adjustments to smooth out the movements when downed or during recovery. Slightly reduced the speed of lightning pillar attacks. Added a tracking ability to one of the fireballs in the fireball attack. Changes specific to poison bog attacks: Decreased the number of bogs generated. Adjusted the timing between the warning before the strike and the actual strike during bog attacks. Shortened the attack activation duration. Changed the reaction when attacks hit. Slightly reduced the height at which pillars are generated and adjusted the fall speeds for icy pillar attacks. Shrank the hitbox for Critical Blows using balls of Demonic Qi. Made other minor adjustments.

Other

Revised the conditions for online matching and improved certain conditions that made it difficult to match.
Improved action synchronization in environments with significant online delays.

Major Bug Fixes

Fixed crash-prone situations that occurred in certain environments.
Fixed a bug that allowed players to go outside the bounds of the current stage from certain locations in some stages.
Fixed a bug allowing enemies to be hit with attacks through certain walls in some stages.
Fixed a bug that would increase the amount of Spirit that could be obtained while in High Spirit.
Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause Fatal Strikes against Zhupolong to fail if performed from certain directions.
Fixed a bug in which players granted the positive effect Lion’s Roar from the Wizardry Spell Lion’s Roar were rendered impervious to damage from Fatal Strikes.
Fixed a bug causing the duration of positive and negative effects to decrease while the game was loading, including the period prior to boss fights.
Fixed a bug in which the BGM for the second phase of the fight against the demonized Sun Jian would not play correctly.
Fixed a bug in which some of the Shuigui would not respawn when restarting in the main battlefield “Darkness over the Hanshui River.”
Fixed a bug that caused the Morale Ranks of minor enemies to be elevated to the equivalent of bosses in the sub battlefield “Massacre of Meiwu Fort” in “Path of the Rising Dragon.”
Fixed a bug that caused the game to show an interface notifying that the player acquired arrows/projectiles when the special effect Ammo Replenish upon Fatal Strike was activated, even if they possessed the maximum number of projectiles.
Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause Baishe’s movements to cease during multiplayer sessions.
Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause the information above guest players’ heads to disappear from the host player’s screen during Recruit sessions.
Fixed a bug that would cause the Titles Obtained rate in Battle Summary to be stuck at 99%, even though all Titles had been acquired.
Fixed a bug in which damage values for ballista attacks were reflected in the damage values recorded in Battle Summary.
- After applying the update, the value for Highest Damage Dealt in Single Attack will be reset.
Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause the copyright to appear twice when taking pictures in Photograph mode.
Fixed a bug that prevented equipment weight from being taken into account for jumping and landing action sounds.
Fixed other minor bugs.

Steam®/Microsoft Store Versions

Major Bug Fixes

Reduced the processing load in environments using CPUs with a large number of cores.
Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause the mouse cursor to appear while using the pad to perform UI operations, even though the mouse was not being moved.

For more on Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, make sure you bookmark our game hub for it.

Source: Team Ninja

Tags: Team Ninja wo long: fallen dynasty

Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.