Month: February 2020

The indie Diablo-like Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem had a big launch on Steam, but quickly hit server issues and other launch hiccups. The studio has now delivered a promised hotfix, which addresses some of those problems along with several other bugs.

In an update posted to Steam, Wolcen Studio thanks the audience for its patience with the admittedly rocky launch, including a data loss issue that occurred last week. It says it is halting its previous approach to hotfixes to prevent another data loss issue, and instead it will slow the pace of fixes and coordinate with partners more carefully. As a result, in the future it will cap server capacities and only push out one patch per week.

This week’s patch, version 1.0.4.0, fixes an issue that would prevent offline characters from being saved, along with several other bugs. It states that it fixes an issue regarding network load and unretrieved data, but it’s clear Wolcen Studio still feels it has a lot of work to do. In a future patch, it plans to make more bug fixes, including issues with the Act 1 and Act 3 bosses, a Korean language option, and PTBR localization selection.

Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem 1.0.4.0 Patch Notes

General

• Fixing a crash on connection(Checking game version) if a player starts an endgame “transmutation forge” project.
• Fixing an issue allowing players to have more passive skill nodes activated than their total points would allow.
• Fixing item duplication via chest panel issue (offline).
• Fixing stackable items duplication.
• Fixing invalid sell price on stacked items.
• Fixing an issue that caused a chest panel deletion when changing acts.
• Fixing item deletion when exiting the game while dragging an item from the inventory.
• Fixing an issue causing players to fall from act 1 boss’ platform while using Warpath.
• Fixing an issue causing crafting reagents to ignore lower tier gems when selecting magic effects.
• Fixing an issue preventing DOT damage bonuses to be displayed in the character sheet detail panel.

User Interface

• Fixing an issue making items on the ground hard to pick up depending on the framerate.

Active Skills

• Fixing an issue preventing summoned minions bonuses to work.
• The Wealth Omens cannot be possessed by Parasite anymore.
• Fixing an issue preventing Livor Mortis damage redirection to work.
• Fixing an issue causing Livor Mortis damage redirection to invalidate player magic effects.

Engine

• Fixing an issue preventing offline characters to be saved.

Network

• Fixing issues regarding network load & unretrieved data.

Quests

• Fixing an issue to prevent player from going to Helmshire before talking to Valeria during “Dawnbringer”
• Fixing two soft-locks preventing players to go in the Monolith
• Remove double objectives while exiting Battlefield Overlook during “Infiltration”
• Fixing progression issue in Cell-F Ramparts during “The Gates of Fury”
• Remove quest FX on Sirkis’ cutscene during “The Bane of the Storm”
• Improve Edric and Val’s stability during “Children of Heimlock”
• Improve behavior of the fast travel tutorial during “Meet the Purifiers”
• Improve transition from gameplay to the last cutscene during “Children of Heimlock”
• Improve clarity of the objectives on quest “Chasing Val”
• Improve script of the quest “Chasing Val”
• Improve script around Zima’s dialog during “Creeping Shadows”
• Fixing a wrong dialog portrait displayed during “Children of Heimlock”
• Fixing an issue preventing players from talking to Zima in act 2.
• Fixing an issue preventing players from progressing further during act 2.

Monsters

• Fixing a bug allowing Eos “Dawn’s pious striker” to kill certain story bosses under 15% of their max health when used in combination with “Sudden Death”.
• Fixing an issue with the Endgame special boss preventing loot to drop upon death.
• Fixing an issue with the Endgame special boss that sometimes didn’t have the right level.

Items

• Replacing the bonus to “health on this item” on Purifier’s Statement unique spaulder by a “maximum health” bonus. Existing items will be rerolled.
• Fixing the “additional stamina points” magic effect on boots being unable to roll on high level items.
• Fixing the Macksfesten Enneract cosmetic mismatch that made it appear as an unknown weapon and without any mesh.

Gate of Fates

• Fixing a bug with Child Of Fury node “Blistering Embrace” and “Shattering Strike”. They didn’t work properly.
• White Arrow node “Acute Tracking” now allows for a maximum of 10 “Cold Blooded” points, up from 5 maximum points.
• Siegebreaker node “Secure Parry” now gives 0.1% Health Regeneration per “Inexorable” point down from 10% Health Regeneration per “Inexorable Point”. Percentages are hard.
• Siegebreaker node “Bane of Tyranny” now has its correct value too ! Your Damage is now increased by +0.5 multiplier by your equipped Shield’S block chance instead of 50. Again.. percentages are hard !

Aspects of the Apocalypse

Aspects of the Apocalypse balance: we reduced their duration and increased their damage in order to make these forms more impactful in comparison with non-Apocalypse damage per second.

Base damages of all Aspects of Apocalypse skills have been increased by 60%.

Aspect of Dawn:

• Immaculate Score: increase cost from 5 -> 40
• Immaculate Score: increase damage multiplier by 100%
• Dawn Choir: increase cost from 10 -> 60
• Dawn Choir: increase damage multiplier by 300%
• Will of the Protector: increase cost from 20 -> 60
• Hammer of the Aurora: increase cost from 20 -> 100
• All-Cleansing Light: increase cost from 100 -> 20

Aspect of War

• Frenzy attack: increase cost from 5 -> 40
• Frenzy attack: increase damage multiplier by 100%
• Charge of the First warrior: increase cost from 20 -> 60
• Charge of the First warrior: increase damage multiplier by 200%
• Unfliching Assault: increase cost from 10 -> 20
• Scorching Obelisk: increase cost from 20 -> 100
• Strife of Baäpheth: increase cost from 100 -> 200

Aspect of Infinity

• Biorhytmic Missiles: increase cost from 5 -> 40
• Biorhytmic Missiles: increase damage multiplier by 150%
• Parallel Convergence: increase cost from 10 -> 40
• Parallel Convergence: increase damage multiplier by 200%
• Calamitous Paradox: increase cost from 20 -> 150
• Calamitous Paradox: reduce the bonus damage per Point of Entropy by 70%.
• Calamitous Paradox: increased cooldown from 5 -> 10 seconds
• Inevitable Obsolescence: increase cost from 20 -> 100
• Inevitable Obsolescence: reduce damage multiplier by 20%.
• Spatial Warp: increase cost per second from 25 -> 40
• Spatial Warp: reduce max duration of the last phase from 5 seconds -> 3 seconds.
• Spatial Warp: reduce damage multiplier of the first phase by 50%.
• Spatial Warp: reduce damage multiplier of the second phase by 33%.
• Spatial Warp: reduce damage multiplier of the last phase by 25%.

Aspect of Flesh

• Boneblade Incisions: increase cost from 5 -> 40
• Boneblade Incisions: increase damage multiplier by 100%
• Bone Shuriken: increase cost from 20 -> 40
• Bone Shuriken: increase damage multiplier by 100%
• Eviscerating Flurry: increase cost from 20 -> 50
• Eviscerating Flurry: increase damage multiplier by 100%
• The Ungering Flesh: increase cost per second from 20 -> 50
• The Ungering Flesh: reduce damage multiplier of the final hit by 40%.

Miscellaneous

• Added “Feeding Swarm” enneract in the quest reward when you talk to Demetra for the first time.
• Fixing a generation issue on some Maps and Reverie incense leading to the wrong area (ex: expedition with more chests that don’t have any chest).
• Fixing some rare occurrence of the Offering Shrine to be unable to generate valid objects at a low character level.

Audio

• Restored missing sound effects, ambiance and music across the game.
• Some performance gains from optimisations to environmental audio.

Localization

• Changed the name of Concealed Pistol, it’s now named Radiant Pistol
• You can now fast travel instead of fast tavel.
• Removed the double occurrence of “Rogue” in the Siegebreaker “Salvatory Anchor”
• Added missing localization for some error messages.
• Fixing some typos in dialogues.

The past few years have been turbulent for GameStop. A combination of increasing digital sales and stores like Walmart and Amazon aggressively lowering their prices on new video games has seen a drop in consumer interest in the 36-year-old video game-focused retail chain. It’s taken a toll.

In March 2017, GameStop announced plans to close 150 of its 7,500 stores. Speaking about the closures, Rob Lloyd, GameStop CFO at the time, said, “As we continue the transformation of GameStop, part of our diversification strategy is to rationalize our global store footprint to ensure we have the right mix of stores and merchandise that meets our customers’ needs.” That year, global sales for GameStop dropped by 13.6%.

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The problems didn’t stop there. In November 2018, GameStop reported a third-quarter loss of $488.6 million, which led to rumors of a buyout. As a whole, the company lost a record $673 million in 2018. A few months later, GameStop announced it was no longer pursuing a buyer, and the company’s stock dropped to its lowest value in 15 years.

2019 saw the company hire new CEO George Sherman, who held previous leadership roles at Advance Auto Parts, Best Buy, Target and Home Depot. Before he joined GameStop, Sherman was the CEO for Victra, a retailer for Verizon Wireless products.

After Sherman took over, the shakeup continued, as the company announced it would lay off 50 regional leaders. Finally, it announced the closure of another up to 200 “underperforming” stores worldwide last September. If you live in the United States, it’s possible you’ve seen doors closing in your neighborhood.

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GameStop has taken action to try and reverse its downward trajectory. In 2019, it announced a new strategy to “reimagine” its stores with a “unique layout and purpose that appeal to gamers.”

“From store concepts that offer competitive sessions in home-grown e-Leagues to locations that sell strictly retro gaming software and hardware, GameStop will pilot the new store concepts in a select market to present something new to players both old and new”, read the announcement at the time. Last September, a store in Oklahoma showed the first fruits of GameStop’s labors, with a video tour of a new GameStop store design that included sofas, televisions with consoles hooked up, and areas to play tabletop games.

It’s a lot to happen to the retailer in a short space of time. Amidst all of the changes, store closures, and financial losses, it’s also a turbulent time to be a GameStop employee. I spoke with multiple employees across different stores to get their take on their working conditions, the mood inside the GameStop machine, and where they think the brand’s future is heading.

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Working at GameStop in 2020: Anxiety, Stress, and Low Morale

With so many changes happening within the company, most of the GameStop employees I spoke to said that morale at their stores is very low. Specifically, after last year’s announcement regarding the store closures, many employees said they are worried about the future of their stores, and their jobs. [poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=%22Even%20rude%20people%20laughing%20about%20it%2C%20like%20people%20losing%20their%20jobs%20was%20a%20comedy.%22″]

This worry has been exacerbated by a flippant attitude from the general public. “We had customers come in every single day, several times a day asking about it or worried we were closing. Even rude people laughing about it, like people losing their jobs was a comedy. It was unnerving,” said one employee, who we’ll call Natalie.

“When the press announced last year our earnings call discussed closing 200 stores, multiple guests daily came in asking when and if we were closing,” said one manager, that we’ll call Sandra.

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Sandra said she knows her store is performing well, so it was particularly hard to deal with the constant questions around store closures. “I read the news and finances but my whole staff doesn’t, so for a lot of them this caused a lot of anxiety and stress.”

“So imagine morale during holiday, our busiest time, if people asked you every day if you would have a job tomorrow, despite knowing your lease is fine and your store is fine. Or worse, being in the minority of stores who weren’t.”

I was told by some employees that GameStop corporate has made attempts to alleviate concerns. Specifically, multiple employees said they were told that only stores in close proximity to other stores in the same area would be closed.

But at some locations, I was told by employees that corporate had taken a more defensive stance. Instead of alleviating concerns, it had instead put the onus on staff to turn things around, demanding more work and better results.

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A New Push for Smartphone Trade-Ins

Specifically, every current employee that I asked said that the current focus is smartphone and technology trade-ins, and the policy is being heavily enforced by newly-hired management. “Many of us lost bosses and peers and had them replaced with more competitive and less empathetic leadership,” said one manager — we’ll call him Peter — who has been with the company for 14 years. [poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=%22Many%20of%20us%20lost%20bosses%20and%20peers%20and%20had%20them%20replaced%20with%20more%20competitive%20and%20less%20empathetic%20leadership%22″]

This focus is obvious from a consumer standpoint. I recently called my local GameStop and was greeted with, “this is GameStop, where we give you cash for your old smartphones. How can I help you?” The smartphone trade offer is also prominently featured on GameStop’s trade offers page.

Employees said they face extreme pressure to meet specific goals for smartphone trade-ins. The goals I heard varied from getting seven trade-ins throughout the week to five to 10 trade-ins on a single Saturday, depending on the store.

One employee who left GameStop recently said they were told their store wasn’t meeting those goals, so their store manager received coaching from the regional manager. Employees heard that their store manager’s job was at risk if the coaching did not lead to a rise in trade-in numbers. These stories have trickled down through more than one GameStop location, with Natalie telling me, “we heard about someone getting fired for not getting enough phone trades.”

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The pressure to convince people to trade in their phones has made some employees uncomfortable. “The tactics, especially the tech trades and PowerUp rewards memberships, feel like we’re shoving it down people’s throats,” one employee we’ll call Jack said. [poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=%22The%20tactics%2C%20especially%20the%20tech%20trades%20and%20PowerUp%20rewards%20memberships%2C%20feel%20like%20we’re%20shoving%20it%20down%20people’s%20throats%22″]

There’s also a general skepticism around its effectiveness. “It’s not [working], at least in my district,” one long-time employee said, who we’ll call Victor. “Most of us are really struggling to get trades in.”

Victor told me that an assistant store leader bragged about trading in their own phone in order to reach the required number of tech trades for the week.  “It’s actually quite sad,” he said.

Many employees said that a sudden laser-pointed focus from upper management is merely history repeating. “Our very big, ‘nothing-else-matters’ focuses come and go every year,” Peter said, “sometimes even more frequently than that.” Those who shop at GameStop are probably familiar with store associates constantly pushing preorders, upgrades, Pro memberships, Game Informer subscriptions, and so on. The tech trade initiative is simply the latest thing, another means towards raking in instant, unsustainable short-term profit.

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Where Do Employees Think GameStop is Heading?

Employees I spoke to generally don’t feel great about the future of GameStop. Throughout our interviews, they frequently referenced retailers that are long-gone, like Radio Shack, Hollywood Video, and, of course, Blockbuster.

“Let’s look at Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, for example,” Jack said. “Good things don’t last forever, and those two companies are just prime examples of what happens when the times change.”

“Corporate is clearly struggling against digital game sales, and I’ve seen it firsthand in the store,” Victor said. “[GameStop] is clearly on its way out, down a painful route.”

It’s not all doom and gloom. Many feel the impending release of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X this holiday season could turn GameStop’s successes around.

“[The next-gen launch] is very important due to the fact that profit has been on the steady decline since the holiday boom ended, and the ‘dry season’ begins until August or September,” Victor said. “I’m sure they’re hoping it’ll stabilize what is clearly turning into a turbulent year. “

Other employees don’t think next-gen is the only life raft for GameStop, citing the upcoming experimental social stores in its long-term survival plans.

“I wish they would set up more stores like that sooner,” one employee, who we can call Sally, said. “At least at my store, we get a handful of regulars that just kind of hang out in the store for an hour or two. So it’d be nice for them to have something to do.”

That GameStop is experimenting with new ideas instead of retreading old ground was generally embraced among the employees I spoke to. “I think a lot comes down to ability and willingness to evolve,” Sandra said. “We have a new CEO who is more aggressive than any of the leadership for the past decade-plus has been. They’re examining every inch of the business and making hard decisions. I think he has a vision in mind.”

Sandra added that the company has a leadership meeting in a few months, where she anticipates the mindset and goals will become clearer.

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And despite the uncertain future, many employees I spoke to stressed how much they still love working with their teams, and are ready to face the future of GameStop together.

“I love working at GameStop, I love my team and the regulars especially,” Jack said. “I’ve wanted to work at GameStop since I was 15 years old when we used to do midnight launches for the new Call of Duty. What I don’t love is corporate.”

Reached for comment on this story, GameStop’s corporate office provided the following statement:

“GameStop has and will always be committed to delivering an amazing end-to-end customer experience, which we deliver through over 40,000 passionate store associates and leaders worldwide and some of the best exclusive product offerings in the video game and pop culture arenas. As the video game industry is evolving, so are we. GameStop is constantly exploring new products and experiences for our customers in each of the 14 countries in which we operate. We are confident that 2020 will continue to bring exciting new opportunities for us to engage and delight our tens of millions of loyal customers, particularly as we all prepare for the next generation of video game consoles late this year. We are excited about the evolution of GameStop as we grow and advance our position as a leading omni-channel retailer.”

Note: Portions of these interviews were edited for clarity and to maintain employee anonymity.

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Logan Plant is a News writer and Production Assistant for Nintendo Voice Chat at IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Temtem, the early-access PC Pokemon-style MMO, has recently received a major update that expands the endgame. Update 0.5.12 introduces a new arena, the Saipark, which operates a lot like the iconic Safari Zone in the original Pokemon games, Red and Blue. The Safari Zone let you wander around and capture Pokemon without battling them, many of which could only be found within the zone’s boundaries. Temtem now has a similarly special place that is a bit different from the rest of the game.

The Saipark, which is available to endgame players, is a natural reserve that will house two different species of Temtem each week. These creatures will have special features–they have a higher chance of being Luma, or might have egg moves or guaranteed minimum SVs.

Players will need to buy special Temcards for the park, called Saicards. These will expire by the end of the week, and only work within the park. There’s a fee involved in entering the park, and each time they buy cards over the week the price will go up. It’s a good way for players who have put a lot of time into Temtem to capture some interesting critters.

A Player’s Vault has also been added to the game, which can be access from a big Temporium and can be used for additional storage. You can keep your items in the vault between resets, and items redeemed through promo codes will now go directly in there.

Many other changes were introduced in the patch, too–here’s the full list.

Improvements

• Stat stage modifiers have been reworked to speed up the animations. Instead of having an animation per stat change, all stat changes for a Temtem are now unified in the same animation.
• The Pick&Ban screen now maintains the proper color based on which player is the first (blue) and which one is the second (orange). Previous to this change, every player would see themselves with the color of the first player.
• The Competitive battle screen now displays the speed arrow holder.
• The Battle screen will now display separately the Temcards for each player while they are on a co-op party.

Balance

• Reduced overall Luma rate from 1 / 6000 to 1 / 8000.
• Reduced the overall selling price of items from 70% to 50% of their value. Sellable-only items are not affected by this change (silicons, crystals, and sea salts).
• Telomere Hacks will now reduce the affected Temtem fertility by 1 (if the Temtem doesn’t have any fertility left, the SV addition will be applied anyway and the fertility reduction will be ignored).
• Swapped some of the tint items that could be found as pickables for other more useful items during the campaign.

Fixes

• Fixed being able to get out of the Quetzal’s Dojo puzzle.
• Fixed several co-op stuck situations in battles.
• Fixed getting stuck in the prison quest while on co-op after a disband.
• Fixed quest not progressing after picking items while on a co-op party (or after the party is disbanded).
• Fixed not being able to see the actions for the co-op partner while having severe lag.
• Fixed a visual bug in the stamina bar when quickly hovering a technique before using it.
• Fixed players seeing their friends with their old cosmetic items after a reset.
• Fixed getting stuck inside tables after disconnecting while seated near it.
• Fixed getting stuck while reading a dialog and your co-op partner disbanding.
• Fixed getting stuck in Omninesia’s Lift after a player disbands the co-op party.
• Fixed (hopefully) character reset not properly working and leaving players with an empty character and getting stuck in some interactions (getting a starter, going into a battle…).
• Fixed incorrect camera angle after knocking-out a Temtem with Haito Uchi.
• Fixed incorrect behavior when releasing a Temtem and capturing a new one in the same turn.
• Fixed getting stuck behind some NPCs.
• Fixed Raican’s Prideful trait triggering only once when knocking-out two Temtem at the same time.
• Fixed Coat’s missing icon.

Temtem had a slightly rocky launch, but its initial issues have largely been resolved. It’s an interesting game–and one that Pokemon could learn some things from.

Empire of Sin, the strategy game for PC and consoles that was due in spring 2020, has been pushed back a bit. The game will now arrive later this year, in the fall, so that developer Romero Games can take more time to get the game right.

The announcement of the game’s delay came through Twitter from Brenda Romero, the game’s director. She thanked the game’s followers for their support, and explained that they were choosing “quality over speed.”

The game, which was announced during Nintendo’s E3 2019 presentation, is set in 1920s Chicago. It charges players with building a crime family capable of taking down the other 14 families in the city.

The game promises tactical XCOM-style turn-based combat alongside other strategy elements, as you build up your reputation, your influence, and your cash and weapon reserves over time.

Romero Games is an independent studio run by Brenda and John Romero. It is the ninth studio established by John Romero, and this will be the studio’s first game for consoles.

A movie based on Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series has been in the works for more than a decade already, but now it seems the film is finally happening–for real this time.

Tom Holland, who will play a young Nathan Drake in the film, told IGN that he will start shooting the movie in about four weeks, which would be sometime in March. He said the stunt team has already begun planning the action sequences for the movie in Berlin, and there should be many bombastic sequences if the film is anything like the game series. This is all happening despite the fact that Sony has yet to confirm a director for the movie (more on that later).

Holland confirmed that some of the Uncharted movie will be filmed in Berlin, while he and co-star Mark Wahlberg (Sully) will travel the world to capture other scenes for the movie. The video game series also saw Drake and Sully globe-trotting.

The actor also said that a lot of the inspiration for the Uncharted movie was taken from Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, which Holland said he played and particularly enjoyed. However, the Uncharted movie will tell a new story that is not directly inspired by or adapted from any of the games. A section of Uncharted 3 played out in a flashback where you play as a young Nathan Drake who meets Sully for the first time.

Overall, Holland described the Uncharted movie as a “young, fresh take” on Drake.

“We didn’t get to meet [Drake] all that much when he was younger,” he said. “But it’s a pretty awesome movie. It’s global. We travel the world. We see some amazing place. And Mark Wahlberg and I are going to have a great summer together.”

Holland also shared an interesting story of how he became attached to the Uncharted movie in the first time. He said he was sitting down with Sony Pictures boss Tom Rothman one time chatting about video games (you know, as you do), and Rothman said to Holland, “Why don’t you play Nathan Drake?” Holland said he didn’t need much convincing.

“I would do anything to play Nathan Drake. Please, that would be amazing,” Holland said he remembers saying to Rothman.

Sony has officially hired six directors for the Uncharted movie, and all of them have quit. Sony is now reportedly eyeing Zombieland and Venom director Ruben Fleischer for Uncharted. If shooting is indeed set to begin in March, we would expect Sony to officially confirm Fleischer as the director sooner rather than later.

If all goes to plan, the Uncharted movie will release in theatres on March 5, 2021. There is no word yet on a supporting cast for the film, but those details should come to light soon.

As for the Uncharted video game series, 2017’s Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is the most recent entry in the series, following Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End in 2016. No new games have been announced, and developer Naughty Dog’s next release is The Last of Us: Part II, which is due for release in May. Even though Naughty Dog is finished with the Uncharted series and Nathan Drake’s story is over, the developer says a different studio could come in to make Uncharted 5.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will have a special 90s-themed tournament this weekend that will limit the range of fighters available to those who debuted in the 90s. The available stages will also be pulled from 90s games.

This will disqualify plenty of fighters and stages who were first introduced before or after the 90s, but you’ll be able to use Sonic, Pikachu, Cloud, King K. Rool, Mewtwo, Sheik, Ridley, and many others. A full list has not been made available, but long-time Nintendo fans can look forward to representing their favorite games of the era.

Players will be able to unlock Spirits, depending on their performance in the tournament. It begins on February 21 (in Japan, at least–start time will vary depending on your timezone), and will run for three days.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate recently wrapped up a Cuphead themed event, and will be part of the Evo 2020 lineup. The game has sold an incredible 17.68 million copies.

The original Super Smash Bros. is, itself, an iconic 90s game, releasing in 1999. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the fifth mainline game in the series.