Month: May 2019

Fortnite is now in Week 10 of Season 8 and we’re quickly approaching the end of the season. Before we get there, however, there are Battle Stars to be earned. You’ll need these to level up the Battle Pass and get some of the cool cosmetics, so if you’ve got your eyes on a particular item you should make it a point of doing this week’s challenges and finishing up any existing ones from previous weeks.

In Week 10, players will need to launch themselves through three flaming hoops using a cannon (guide here), complete a multi-stage harvesting challenge, and then take out enemies in either Tilted Towers or at The Block.

If you’ve spent V-Bucks on a premium version of the Battle Pass, there are a few extra challenges to do. The first of these asks you to deal damage using rifles. Once that’s done, you’ll also need to find the map signpost in Junk Junction and follow it to the treasure (guide here). Volcano Vents are also back this week, and you’ll need to deal damage within 10 seconds of landing after using one. The final challenge in the premium Battle Pass section asks you to simply take out a couple of enemies from closer than 5m away. Take a look at the full list of challenges below.

Free

• Launch through flaming hoops with a cannon (3) — 5 Battle Stars
• Stage 1: Havest Wood in a single match (500) — 2 Battle Stars
  • Harvest Stone in a single match (400)
  • Harvest metal in a single match (300)
• Eliminate opponents at Tilted Towers or The Block (3) — 10 Battle Stars

Premium

• Deal damage with an Infantry Rifle or Heavy Assault Rifle (500) — 5 Battle Stars
• Stage 1: Search the treasure map signpost found in Junk Junction — 2 Battle Stars
  • Follow the treasure map signpost in Junk Junction
• Deal damage within 10s of landing after using a Volcano Vent (100) — 10 Battle Stars
• Eliminate an opponent from closer than 5m away (2) — 10 Battle Stars

Fortnite update 8.51 is available now and its biggest new addition is the Shadow Bomb. This little item allows players to sneak around undetected and move faster, but makes it so you can’t attack, build, or loot while under its effects. You can read more about the Shadow Bomb and the other tweaks the update makes in the Fortnite update 8.51 patch notes.

Fortnite Season 8 continues apace, with another new set of challenges available on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch, and mobile devices. Usually the majority of these tasks are simple enough to understand and can be completed through the regular course of playing a handful of matches. Others require a little more nuance and knowledge of where to go, or in some cases, aim. One of this week’s challenges has you fire yourself out of a cannon through flaming hoops like a circus performer.

To complete the mission, just find the three flaming hoops scattered across the map and fire yourself out of one of this season’s pirate cannons to reach them. You can go hunting across the map yourself, but we’ve outlined their general locations below if you want a shortcut. In broad terms, you can find them near Lazy Lagoon, near the giant volcano, and by Salty Springs.

Lazy Lagoon – The Lazy Lagoon hoop is floating above the pirate ship, and accessible with the cannon facing the ship. You’ll need to aim quite a bit higher than the hoop for the arc of your shot to reach it, though. Try lining up your shot with the top of the volcano.

Giant Volcano – From there, you’ll be well positioned to run to the south of the volcano and use the cannon in the pirate camp there to aim for the flaming hoop. You don’t need to aim as high this time, so just slightly above the hoop will be enough to hit your target.

Salty Springs – Finally, head for the pirate camp outside of Salty Springs, and make sure to break the wooden obstruction that’s blocking your shot. As in the last shot, aim just slightly above the hoop to make it through.

This new set of challenges accompanied the game’s 8.51 update, which includes bug fixes along with a new Shadow Bomb item that makes you temporarily invisible to enemies. While you’re invisible, you also get enhanced speed and double jumps for extra mobility. You can also still take part in the ongoing Avengers Endgame LTM, which lets you equip some special superheroic weapons and earn themed rewards.

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Borderlands 3, like many other big games, will let you pay money to buy extra content beyond the initial purchase price. Speaking today during the Borderlands 3 reveal event, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford stressed that Borderlands 3 will steer away from the “microtransaction-y, free-to-play kind of stuff,” according to PCGamer.

That being said, the game will let you pay extra money to buy cosmetics, like skins and heads, that do not affect gameplay, Pitchford added. This could be considered a form of microtransaction, but Pitchford said again that Borderlands 3 aims to steer clear of “that free-to-play junk” when it comes to microtransactions. “We’re not doing any of that free-to-play junk. There’s not going to be any microtransactions, there’s not going to be any of that nonsense,” he said.

Borderlands 3 creative director Paul Sage said skins, heads, and other cosmetic items can be purchased with real money but they won’t lead to a pay-to-win situation and that Borderlands 3 overall is not designed as a games-as-a-service title.

Sage told Game Informer, “We’re selling cosmetic items, but we’re not going to nickel and dime players. DLC will come down the line, but the game won’t have anything excessive.”

A spokesperson for Borderlands 3 publisher 2K Games told USGamer about the game’s microtransactions, “Players will have the option to purchase certain cosmetic items like character, vehicle, and weapon skins, but none of these purchases would be considered pay-to-win or impacting on the gameplay, like weapons or actual gear.”

Additionally, Borderlands 3 will receive multiple expansion packs over time that will also be paid, just like Borderlands 2. At least four story campaign add-ons with new missions and other extras are included with the Borderlands 3 season pass. We also learned today that Borderlands 3 has no loot boxes.

Borderlands 3 launches on September 13 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Read next: Borderlands 3: You Can Totally Play Solo, And It’s Pretty Great

The PlayStation 5 is coming. While it hasn’t been officially announced by Sony as of yet, system architect Mark Cerny recently began talking about it.

One of the first things we learned is that the next-generation console will feature an AMD chip. AMD CEO Lisa Su recently discussed the company’s partnership with Sony, saying the chip will help power the PlayStation 5’s “special sauce.”

“We are so honoured and proud to be part of Sony’s next-generation PlayStation,” Su told Jim Cramer. “This has been a really long-term partnership with them. We love gaming. We think gaming is a really good secular growth market. What we have done with Sony is really architect something for their application, for their special sauce. It’s a great honor for us. We’re really excited about what the next generation PlayStation will do. And happy to be a part of it.”

The AMD chip in the PS5 that has a CPU based on the third-generation Ryzen. It has eight cores of the seven-nanometer Zen 2 microchip. Additionally, the AMD chip in the PS5 enabled 3D audio, a key part of helping players become more immersed, according to Cerny.

AMD is also working with Google on their new streaming service, Stadia, while Su also previously spoke about working with Microsoft on a new console. This may be one of the new Xbox consoles Microsoft has in the works that could be announced at E3 this year.

The PlayStation 5 will have an “appealing” price point for its specs, according to Cerny, but there is no word on specifics as of yet. The console will also support backwards compatibility for PS4 games. Other features include a solid-state drive, and the potential to support 8K resolution. You can read up on all of the technical specs we know so far.

As for a release date, the PlayStation 5 is not launching during Sony’s current fiscal year, which means it will not arrive until after March 2020.

Microsoft recently updated its “Community Standards for Xbox,” and it is good to see a company as big as Microsoft take a hard line against nasty behaviour online. One section of the document pertains to “acceptable trash talk,” and Microsoft provides some funny-sounding examples.

But before we get to that, Microsoft wants to make clear that hate and harassment have no home on Xbox. “To make Xbox Live a place where everyone can hang out, and to prevent people from feeling uncomfortable or unwelcome, we all need to be stewards,” Microsoft says. “This means more than just not harassing other players–it means embracing them. It means saving those unsavory jokes for people you know will enjoy them. It means taking particular care for others while you play, keeping in mind how they might interpret your content.”

Microsoft said it understands that gaming competition is at the heart of many online experiences, and some multiplayer matches can “get heated.” Some “trash talk” is acceptable on Xbox Live, Microsoft says, but it becomes a problem when it transitions to harassment.

Microsoft officially describes trash talk as: “Any lighthearted banter or bragging that focuses on the game at hand and encourages healthy competition.”

Harassment, meanwhile, is defined by Microsoft as: “Any negative behavior that’s personalized, disruptive, or likely to make someone feel unwelcome or unsafe. To qualify as harassment, the behavior doesn’t have to be drawn-out or persistent. Even a single abusive message could harm someone’s experience. Know when to draw the line, when to back off. Know and respect the other player.”

To make its point clearer, Microsoft provided examples. Here they are, as written by Microsoft (via Kotaku AU):

Acceptable trash talk includes

• Get destroyed. Can’t believe you thought you were on my level.
• That was some serious potato aim. Get wrecked.
• Only reason you went positive was you spent all game camping. Try again, kid.
• Cheap win. Come at me when you can actually drive without running cars off the road.
• That sucked. Get good and then come back when your k/d’s over 1.

Going too far looks like

• Get . Can’t believe you thought you were on my level.
• Hey , that was some serious potato aim. Get wrecked, trash.
• Only reason you went positive was you spent all game camping. KYS, kid.
• Cheap win. Totally expected from a .
• You suck. Get out of my country–maybe they’ll let you back in when your k/d’s over 1.

In terms of enforcement and consequences, Microsoft says it will temporarily suspend people in many cases. “We know people make mistakes, and we believe lapses in judgment can be significant opportunities for growth,” the company said.

Players who are found to have violated the Xbox Community Stands may face temporary suspension of access to “features that are most closely associated with the problematic behavior.” For example, you may be temporarily restricted from playing games online, sending messages, communicating over voice, or broadcasting gameplay, among other things.

People who repeatedly behave badly may be permanently suspended, with access to all game licenses and other content revoked forever. It sounds like you’d have to be a huge jerk to get banned. “We may permanently suspend a profile or device if we can no longer trust it due to a severe violation, or if our attempts to correct repeated negative behaviors are unsuccessful,” Microsoft says.

You can read the full Community Standards For Xbox document here.