Month: June 2019

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The second major update for World of Warcraft‘s Battle for Azeroth expansion has arrived. Rise of Azshara is now live, and it introduces a wealth of new content and features to the long-running MMO, including new locations, Heritage armor, a mount equipment system, and much more.

Among the biggest additions to the game are two new zones to explore. The first is Nazjatar, the capital city of the naga and the home of the eponymous Azshara, who serves as the final foe in a new eight-boss raid called Azshara’s Eternal Palace. The second new zone is the city of Mechagon. Here you’ll be able to take on a new Mythic-difficulty dungeon called Operation Mechagon, which culminates with a battle against the city’s mad king.

Rise of Azshara also introduces a new type equipment known as Benthic gear, which will help you during your exploits in Nazjatar. As you explore the naga capital, you’ll acquire a new kind of soulbound currency called Prismatic Manapearls. These can be traded for a piece of Benthic gear, which can be further upgraded all the way to to ilvl 425. On top of that, Gnomes and Taurens can now embark on special quests to earn their own Heritage armor.

Another significant change the update brings is a new mount equipment system. This gives you the ability to customize any mount with abilities; for instance, you can now outfit any mount with the ability to walk on water. There are also new Pathfinder achievements to complete; clearing these will allow your mount to fly through Kul Tiras, Zandalar, Mechagon, and Nazjatar.

Beyond that, the Heart of Azeroth system features a new customization option, Essences, which can give your character a variety of different buffs and other abilities. There’s also a new pet battle dungeon named Stratholme and a variety of other changes. You can read more details about the Rise of Azshara update on the official World of Warcraft website.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of World of Warcraft’s launch, and to commemorate the milestone, Blizzard is releasing a 15th Anniversary Edition of the game that comes with a variety of physical and in-game goodies. World of Warcraft Classic is also coming this summer; here’s how Blizzard aims to make the world of Azeroth feel dangerous again.

Koji Igarashi’s recently-released Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has caught the ire of the internet yet again. Following a bug that caused progression issues on other platforms, some Nintendo Switch players are running into performance problems, reporting large dips in frame rate and unstable gameplay. Publisher 505 Games has announced plans to address these issues.

Bloodstained Kickstarter backers received an email from 505 Games’ senior community manager Jason Ryan. Ryan said the team has heard the feedback and ultimately wants everyone “to be able to enjoy the game and have it run smoothly.” To that end, Ryan said resources will be shifted “immediately” to focus on Switch performance and stability.

“Update 1.01 was published to Switch prior to launch to add content and improve performance,” Ryan wrote. “It did not accomplish as much as we had hoped and we need to do more. You can expect a number of small updates that will improve different areas of the game rather than waiting longer for one big update. We will have more details as we dive into the work.”

Ryan didn’t specify what kind of work the team is doing, nor did he clarify when these “small updates” will release for Bloodstained on Switch. You can check out a side-by-side comparison between the PS4 and Switch versions below.

In other Bloodstained news, the game will add multiplayer in a post-launch patch at some unspecified time.

Off the heels of E3 2019, Bloodstained released to very little fanfare. The launch trailer gave an unexpected announcement in the form of a Shovel Knight cameo. Bloodstained is currently on sale for PC if you’re looking for a cheap way to pick up the title.

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Spider-Man: Far From Home continues the journey of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker in theaters on July 2, but in the meantime it’s getting a free VR tie-in experience, which is available right now on Steam and on PSVR. The experience is published by Sony, and developed by CreateVR, who also worked on VR tie-in experiences for Spider-Man: Homecoming and the Ghostbusters reboot. Check out a trailer for the Spider-Man: Far From Home VR Experience below.

Where the previous Spider-Man VR tie-in for Homecoming was more stationary, this experience finally brings one of the essential Spider-Man fantasies into VR: swinging from building-to-building through the streets of New York City. You can choose from one of four outfits that Spider-Man has worn in the MCU and swing through the city, facing off against some giant robot foes. In addition to releasing on PSVR and Steam (for both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift), Sony will be taking the experience to select Regal Cinemas in North America through July 7, running on HP’s Reverb headset.

Spider-Man: Far From Home releases in theaters on July 2 as the first entry in the MCU following the climax of Avengers: Endgame. Tom Holland returns as Peter Parker and Jake Gyllenhaal makes his MCU debut as Mysterio, a classic Spider-Man villain who first appears as an ally, according to the trailers. Check out some of our favorite fan theories about the film while you wait for the VR experience to download.

Another week means a fresh set of deals for PS4 games on the PlayStation Store. This week the headline event is a PlayStation Plus Specials Sale, offering deep discounts on more than 300 games and DLC packs–as long as you’re a member of Plus, the PlayStation service that grants you access to online play.

The lineup of game offerings for sale include a wide array of games, especially ones from Ubisoft. If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on some of the back catalog of Assassin’s Creed, South Park, or Far Cry, now may be the time. You can also catch up with bundles for The Division and Watch Dogs franchises, and the Persona Dancing: Endless Night Collection ($60).

Other standouts include low prices on some Battlefield games and the excellent campaign for Titanfall 2 ($7.50). If you’re more in the mood for a strategy game, Mutant Year Zero ($21) is on sale. You can also pick up Burnout Paradise Remastered ($5) or Dead by Daylight ($15), or get in a more indie mood with Guacamelee 2 ($10). Some deals don’t require Plus, like Monster Hunter World which is going for $20.

See all the weekly game deals in the PlayStation Store, and check out more of our picks below!

• Adventure Time: Pirates of the Enchiridion — $10
• Assassin’s Creed Origin — $18
• Assassin’s Creed Syndicate — $15
• Assassin’s Creed Unity — $8
• Battlefield 1 Revolution — $10
• Battlefield 4 – $5
• Burnout Paradise Remastered — $5
• Dead by Daylight Special Edition — $15
• Dragon Age: Inquisition — $10
• Far Cry Insanity Bundle — $50
• Guacamelee 2 — $10
• Jurassic World Evolution — $25
• Life is Strange Season 2 — $30
• Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden — $21
• Persona Dancing Endless Night Collection — $60
• South Park: The Video Game Collection — $24
• Starlink: Battle for Atlas Deluxe Edition — $40
• Titanfall 2 Ultimate Edition — $7.50
• Tom Clancy’s The Division Franchise Bundle — $60
• Unravel — $5
• Unravel Two — $5
• Watch Dogs Gold Editions Bundle — $30

Fortnite‘s first 9.30 content update is now live, kicking off the game’s 14 Days of Summer event. For the next two weeks, Epic will be rolling out a new limited-time mode and unvaulting an old weapon for 24 hours each day. That’s not all; the game will also offer a new daily challenge to complete, which will net you an exclusive new reward.

The first 14 Days of Summer challenge is live, and it involves dancing at six beach parties. You’ll need to boogie down at six of these beachside shindigs in total to complete the challenge, and they need to be different ones each time; you can’t simply return to the same location over and over. Fortunately, the beach parties are fairly easy to spot; the areas will be decked out with beach chairs, balloons, and other party favors. You can see where these beach parties are located in the video above.

The reward for completing the first 14 Days of Summer challenge is the new Deep End dance emote, which has you doing Fortnite’s take on the famous “C’mon and Swim” dance. We’ll continue to update this list as more challenges go live, so be sure to check back regularly for more guides as the 14 Days of Summer event progresses.

Despite the event’s name, you’ll actually have 21 days to complete the 14 Days of Summer challenges, giving you plenty of time to finish everything. If you do manage to complete all 14 challenges before the event ends, you’ll unlock a special smoothie back bling for your troubles. You can find the full list of all the available challenges thus far below.

As previously mentioned, challenges aren’t the only thing you have to look forward to in the 14 Days of Summer event. Epic is also featuring a new LTM each day; the first, dubbed Splashdown, has you trying to eliminate other players using water balloons. There will also be new outfits and other items for purchase from Fortnite’s in-game shop. You can read more details about the event on the official Fortnite website.

Fortnite 14 Days Of Summer Challenges

• Dance at different Beach Parties (6) — Deep End emote

Toy Story 4 spoilers ahead!