Month: January 2019

In 2018, former Hearthstone director Ben Brode and several of his coworkers left Blizzard and founded a new company, now known to be called Second Dinner. The indie studio has announced that it’s begun work on its first title, and it will be a Marvel game.

Second Dinner has received a $30 million investment from NetEase, which will go towards supporting the studio as it develops this first game. Second Dinner has not revealed details about the Marvel game; however, an announcement video did reveal that the studio has been working on the title for six months and already has a working prototype.

The new indie studio is currently composed of Hamilton Chu, Ben Brode, Mike Schweitzer, Yong Woo, and Jomaro Kindred, who each had a hand in creating Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. Several of their resumes include other games as well, such as Halo 2 and Diablo III.

Marvel had a pretty good 2018, especially in terms of video games with the release of Spider-Man on PS4–one of our favorite games for the year. However, the company saw huge success with its movies as well, with both live-action films like Avengers: Infinity War and animated ones like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse receiving wide-spread critical acclaim.

Looking forward, 2019 sees the release of the long-awaited Avengers: Endgame as well as Captain Marvel. The writer for the Ms. Marvel comic is also stepping down and passing the series off to someone new, who’s creating a new story for Kamala Khan called The Magnificent Ms. Marvel. A sequel to the beloved Ultimate Alliance video game franchise, titled Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, is also coming out. And even though we haven’t heard anything about it for a while, there’s still Square Enix’s Marvel game, codenamed The Avengers Project, to look forward to.

Following the Christmas-themed Starlight Celebration, Final Fantasy XIV‘s annual Heavensturn New Year event is back again on PS4 and PC. The festivities are underway from now through to January 15, giving players until then to take on seasonal quests and earn some New Year gear.

To participate in the Heavensturn event, you’ll need to have a character that is at least level 15, then speak to the Inoshishi Bugyo, who can be found in the upper decks of Limsa Lominsa. It appears the residents of the city are unaware of the festival, so you’ll need to help him drum up some interest and sell his rice cakes.

After completing the event quest you’ll be able to earn two different styles of the Inoshishi Kabuto helmet, which features an adorable piglet sitting on top to commemorate the Year of the Pig. You can also get a new seasonal piece of furniture for your home: the Boar’s Head Kadomatsu. Certain items from previous Heavensturn events can be purchased from the seasonal shop as well.

In addition to Heavensturn, a new update is on the way to Final Fantasy XIV very soon. Patch 4.5, A Requiem for Heroes, is scheduled to drop on January 8, and it’s set to introduce a load of new content to the game, including a new main scenario, side quests, and a dungeon.

On top of that, Patch 4.5 will bring a new job class: the Blue Mage. You’ll also be able to acquire new mounts and minions, such as an adorable fishing otter, as well as new hairstyles, emotes, and custom deliveries, among other things. You can read more about the upcoming patch on the official Final Fantasy XIV website.

We’re partway through Season 7 of Epic’s hit battle royale game, Fortnite, and there’s a new batch of challenges to complete on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices. Clearing these missions earns you Battle Stars that, in turn, level up your Battle Pass and unlock the new Season 7 rewards. There’s an added incentive to complete all of the challenges from a given week, however: you’ll also clear a related Snowfall challenge, which will net you a special loading screen that features a clue to the whereabouts of a free item.

The item in question will either be a Battle Star–which levels your Battle Pass up by one tier–or a Banner–which can be used as a profile icon–depending on how many weekly sets of challenges you complete. If you finish five weeks’ worth of missions, you’ll be able to get the former. But first, you’ll need to find it.

Fortunately, the loading screen you receive for completing the Week 5 Snowfall challenge will point you in the right direction. As you can see below, the screen features Trog–one of the new skins introduced to Fortnite in Season 7–having a little tea party inside a snowy cave. If you look in the top left-hand corner of the image, however, you’ll be able to spot a Battle Star just above the wooden hut in the background.

The cave depicted in the loading screen is located in the southwestern portion of the map, in quadrant B9 between Frosty Flights and Happy Hamlet. Glide to the area at the start of a match and you’ll find a hole leading to the aforementioned cave. Enter it, and you’ll spot the Battle Star exactly where it was teased: atop the wooden hut. Use the stairs to reach the roof and collect the Battle Star to level your Battle Pass up by one tier.

As usual, this Battle Star won’t appear for all Fortnite players. You’ll first need to complete five weeks’ challenges and unlock the corresponding loading screen before the item will show up in the game, so you won’t be able to simply go to the right place and collect it if you haven’t put in the necessary work. If you need more help finding the Battle Star, you can watch us collect it in the video above to see exactly where it’s located.

There are still a few weeks remaining in Season 7, which means you still have plenty of time to complete this season’s challenges and unlock its new rewards. You can find tips for all of this season’s trickier missions in our complete Season 7 challenge guide. You can also find the whereabouts of Season 7’s other free Battle Stars and Banners using the guides below.

Fortnite Season 7 Snowfall Challenge Guides

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Nintendo is doing a very un-Nintendo thing on the Eshop this week. Instead of keeping its exclusive titles at a rigid $60 price point, it’s discounting them between now and January 10 as part of a New Year’s sale. These are games that rarely get the discount treatment, so if you’ve been holding off on titles like Octopath Traveler and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, now is a great time to buy. A bunch of other games are on sale this week as well, so let’s take a look.

As for those exclusives, you can get Arms, Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, and Octopath Traveler for $42 each. That saves you a cool $18 on some of the most sought-after Switch games around. (For those who prefer physical versions, Target also has these games on sale for the same price).

But this week’s sale is bigger than just those titles. You can save lots of cash on a swath of other games as well. Mega Man Legacy Collection, which bundles the core series’ NES installments (games 1-6), is on sale for $11.25. You can solve murders in 1940s California in LA Noire for $25. And if you’d like to take over the world, Sid Meier’s Civilization VI lets you give it your best shot for $45.

Other notable discounted games include Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle, which comes with seven arcade games from yore, on sale for $16. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, which includes the core game and two expansions–and will be getting the King of Cards expansion for free this year–is discounted to $20. Sonic Mania is down to $15, and the digital version of the tabletop game Carcassonne is on sale for $16.

You’ll find more of our picks below, or you can check out the whole list of deals here.

Microsoft might be rolling out new upgrades to its Xbox One controller in the future. The company filed two patents for its controller’s triggers back in June 2017–the first for triggers with an input device with linear geared feedback and the second for triggers with motor-driven adjustable tension–and both were granted in December 2018.

Together, both patents focus on providing greater feedback when pulling the trigger on an Xbox One controller, which should increase the level of responsiveness in games where the triggers are used for action-specific tasks, like shooting or running. Both patents only include a diagram of the Xbox One controller, but if these upgrades were to roll out, Microsoft would potentially implement them in Xbox One Elite controllers as well. Windows Latest, which first reported on the patents, theorized these designs might also be for entirely new controllers instead of upgrades to existing ones.

In 2018, the Xbox One faced another year without many noteworthy first-party console exclusives. However, Microsoft did take steps to improve how people play games with release of both the Xbox Adaptive Controller and mouse and keyboard support for the console. Games Pass also now allows people to play all first-party titles on the day they release for a fraction of their combined retail cost. Between that service, Games With Gold, and EA Access, Xbox One supplies players with a game library of hundreds of digital titles. So, all in all, it wasn’t all that bad of a year for Xbox One.

Looking ahead, there are a bunch of games coming to Xbox One in 2019. Plenty of them release early in the year, such as Crackdown 3 and Anthem, but there are others, like Doom Eternal and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, scheduled for later. It’s not all triple-A titles in 2019 either, as Xbox One sees the release of smaller games like Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and Indivisible as well.

After making her debut during the “Elseworlds” Arrow-verse crossover, Batwoman is ready to take center stage. The CW has officially ordered a pilot for the potential spin-off series, which will see Ruby Rose (The Meg) return once again in the title role of Batwoman/Kate Kane.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Batwoman pilot will be directed by David Nutter, who has previously directed episodes of Arrow, The Flash, and Game of Thrones. Caroline Dries serves as showrunner on the project with Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Geoff Johns executive producing.

Batwoman’s Arrow-verse debut in “Elseworlds” also introduced Gotham City for the first time on The CW, as well as Arkham Asylum and a few interesting characters that could potentially return at some point. At the moment, however, only Rose has been confirmed as appearing in the pilot.

In the Arrow-verse, Kate Kane has been revealed as the cousin of Bruce Wayne. After Wayne/Batman left Gotham, she rose up under a cowl of her own as Batwoman in an attempt to save her city from collapsing. The “Elseworlds” crossover planted seeds for what could eventually some plot details for the spin-off series, including Kane’s revelation that she’s launching her own real estate development firm.

It’s important to note that the pilot order does not mean a series will happen, just that a first episode will be made. However, when GameSpot and TV Guide teamed up to discuss the possibility of a Batwoman standalone series, the decision was unanimous that it’s something that needs to happen. Now the waiting game to see if it gets ordered to series for the fall begins.

CES is almost upon us, ushering in the year’s biggest event for the consumer tech industry. We’re bound to see lots of announcements that impact the game industry, along with broader tech trends and innovations. Read on for all you need to know before this year’s event kicks off.

What is CES?

CES, once an acronym for the Consumer Electronics Show, is the showcase of the latest technology innovations going back 50 years. The show includes a broad range of tech fields, so while it includes video game topics and technologies like esports, VR, and mobile devices, it is just as focused on the wide array of tech including cryptocurrency, smart homes, and self-driving cars.

The show was sporadically held for several decades before switching to an annual format. Various formats of the show have been held in cities like New York and Chicago, but now it has settled on Las Vegas as its home locale.

When and where is CES?

CES is traditionally held in early- to mid-January every year. CES 2019 will take place January 8-11. It is based on Las Vegas, but the conference is spread out among several different venues throughout the city. For that reason, CES officially recognizes three separate blocks of venues as distinct parts: Tech East, Tech West, and Tech South.

Tech East encompasses the Las Vegas Convention Center, and the Westgate and Renaissance hotels. Tech West includes the Sands Expo, Venetian, Palazzo, Wynn, and Encore hotels. Tech South takes place in the Aria, Park MGM, and Vdara.

How do I attend CES?

CES is a trade event, and access is restricted to registrants who can submit credentials that prove their affiliation with a consumer tech industry. Applications are not approved on-site. Even with proper credentials, passes cost $300, $900, or $1,700 depending on the style of package.

What events are planned for CES?

This year’s event will include keynote addresses from LG, IBM, Verizon, AMD, along with general keynote topics on The New Mobility Revolution and New Frontiers in Mobile. The Consumer Technology Association, which puts on the event, will also host its own State of the Industry address. The event is also planning various “Supersessions,” talks from tech leaders and influential figures outside of the keynote label.

Separately, several companies and partners are holding their own events throughout the various venues. You can check the full schedule for all the events. Plus the show floor itself has booths for tech professionals to explore current trends.

Can I watch CES remotely?

Several of the large tech companies like Samsung and Sony host livestreams of their own talks or keynotes, as they debut new products or talk about future plans. Separately, the CES YouTube page puts up videos of several talks a few months after the event.

Prior to CES 2019, HTC tweeted an image of some of the new VR gear that it’s bringing to the tech event. All of the products are boxed away in their cases, so it’s still a mystery as to what HTC will be announcing.

In the tweet, there are some hints–both in the image and the accompanying text–that shed some light on what might be announced though. The tweet refers to the new announcements as “gear” so HTC is probably focusing on Vive hardware reveals for CES this year. And although HTC blurred the logos on the cases in the image, they’re not completely ineligible. CNET believes one of the cases says “Vive Port” and another reads “Vive Gloves” or “Vive Cloud.” We’ll have to wait for CES to find out for sure, however.

First held in New York City in 1967, CES became an annual Las Vegas event in 1998. Usually a series of presentations for upcoming technological and electronic products, CES covers everything from 3D printing to robotics. As seen at CES 2018, the event has become a great place to try out the latest in PC tech, test VR headsets, and experiment with new ways to play retro games.

CES 2019 will be held January 8-11.

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