Month: January 2019

Destiny 2‘s latest weekly reset includes new content, and right now, pretty much every hardcore player in the Destiny community is trying to figure out how to access it. Teams are currently investigating a new location called Niobe Labs, where they’re trying to solve an involved puzzle that requires having certain weapons to find hidden symbols, which players have to shoot in a particular order to activate.

Niobe Labs is set to unlock the last new activity of The Black Armory, the latest Destiny 2 expansion. That’s the Bergusia Forge, the fourth and final of the Forge areas where you can craft new, powerful weapons as part of the expansion. Over the last month since the expansion launched, the community has been uncovering and solving puzzles related to the Forges, each requiring a different weapon that’s become available as each new Forge has been unlocked.

With the release of Niobe Labs, it seems we’re dealing with the culmination of all those puzzle-solving efforts, and teams are currently standing in the special room trying to figure out what exactly they have to do in it. On Twitter, Bungie said once one team figures out Niobe Labs, the Bergusia Forge will be unlocked for the rest of the player base–kind of like what happened when new content unlocked after the first successful completion of the Last Wish Raid in the Forsaken expansion late last year.

You can access Niobe Labs and try to solve it yourself if you want, although unless you’re following the progress of the rest of the Destiny community on streams and Reddit, you’ll probably be wasting your time. The room is located in Earth’s EDZ, in the Outskirts area.

As you enter the Outskirts, head south past where the Forge Saboteurs sometimes spawn and cross the bridge toward Sojourner’s Camp. Pass through the camp area (you’ll have visited here during Destiny 2’s original story campaign) and look for a broken metal bridge at the far end. You can cross that bridge to access a gorge, which will lead you to a cave through which you can pass to access the hidden facility beyond.

Streamers like Teawrex, Datto, and Professor Broman are currently broadcasting attempts at solving the puzzle, and progress is being made, at least. You can also track the progress of the efforts on the Destiny 2 subreddit. For those of us who can’t add our genius to figuring out the Black Armory’s final brainteaser, watching and waiting is about all there is to do.

Over the past year Netflix has been increasing its focus on animated content, and there are some high-profile projects set to hit the service. Directors Tim Miller (Deadpool, the upcoming Terminator sequel) and David Fincher (The Social Network, Seven) are the latest names to work a new animated series for the company.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Miller and FIncher will executively produce a series titled Love, Death & Robots for Netflix. It’s an 18-part anthology show aimed at an mature audience that will span several genres, such as sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and comedy. The animation styles will vary too, from traditional 2D to more modern CG styles, and each episode will run from 5 to 15 minutes. While it does not yet have a premiere date, Netflix has released some images from the show. Check them out below:

In a statement, Miller said: “Love, Death & Robots is my dream project. It combines my love of animation and amazing stories. Midnight movies, comics, books, and magazines of fantastic fiction have inspired me for decades, but they were relegated to the fringe culture of geeks and nerds of which I was a part. I’m so f***ing excited that the creative landscape has finally changed enough for adult-themed animation to become part of a larger cultural conversation.”

As the producer of House of Cards, Fincher has been involved with Netflix since the company started producing original content in 2012, and more recently made the acclaimed Mindhunter for the service. Miller has previously worked with Fincher, and created the spectacular animated title sequence for his 2011 movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

In October, it was announced that Guillermo del Toro is working on a new animated movie version of Pinocchio for Netflix, and there are also a further six major animated projects in the works. The company continues to push into this area ahead of the launch of Disney’s streaming service Disney+ next year. Netflix also reportedly plans to launch its own animation studio, which will enable it to make projects in-house without having to outsource much of the technical work to existing animation companies.

The latest weekly reset for Destiny 2 brings the new Niobe Labs content drop for The Black Armory expansion, but with it also comes another Ascendant Challenge. We’ve completed the Dreaming City’s six-week cycle on Ascendant Challenges, which means that this week, we’re back to the beginning. Here’s where to go and what to do to complete the challenge.

As always, the Ascendant Challenge starts out with acquiring the corresponding bounty from Petra in the Dreaming City. You’ll also need a Tincture of Queensfoil, a consumable item you can earn by taking part in certain activities in the Dreaming City (or you can outright buy one). Once you have both the bounty and a Tincture, you’ll head to a Lost Sector, Aphelion’s Rest, which is located in The Strand, just beneath the area where Petra is sometimes found. Using a Tincture will grant you a buff, Ascendance, that allows you to see a Taken portal. This one is located partway through the Lost Sector, atop a hill–it’s hard to miss if you’ve used your Tincture.

Jumping into the portal takes you to the Ascendant Plane’s Ouroborea. There, you’ll have to explore the area to find four different blights. Enter the dome and destroy its core; you’ll know you’ve done it when it disappears and the text “a seal breaks” pops up in the bottom-left corner. Once you’ve dealt with all the blights, you’ll go back toward the center to destroy crystals (whose protective shield has been temporarily dropped). Just beware the knights who will chase you around as you do this–your best bet is to keep moving in a circle, which should let you destroy the crystals without allowing the knights to get too close.

Although the chest is unlikely to have much in the way of worthwhile rewards, finishing the Ascendant Challenge also completes the bounty you picked up from Petra. That rewards you with a piece of Powerful gear that is highly desirable and can increase your level, making this all worth the trouble, provided you’re capable of getting it done. With The Black Armory expansion in full swing, players are back to the gear grind to get to the new level cap of 650.

Although this Ascendant Challenge is not a new one, there is a lot happening in Destiny 2 right now. Niobe Labs means the fourth of The Black Armory’s new Forges to unlock, as well as a new step in the Mystery Box Exotic quest we’ve been tracking since the expansion released last month.

There are actually five new Exotic weapons in The Black Armory to find, four of which we know about (and one of which we can take a guess at). There’s also a lot more happening in January and beyond: Bungie laid out its content calendar for the rest of Year 2, which is pretty extensive.