Author: Trafficblast

With the release of the Season of the Chosen, Bungie put out a big update to Destiny 2 that made several major adjustments and fixed a bunch of bugs. Not all those changes made it into the patch notes for Update 3.1.0, though–including one that removed an annoying bit of dialogue that’s been plaguing the game since it was first released.

That piece of dialogue comes from Suraya Hawthorne, the Clan vendor in the Tower, and plays every time you complete Hawthorne’s weekly clan challenge. In its This Week at Bungie blog, the developer noted that the dialogue has now been removed. Presumably, all Guardians are currently rejoicing.

The Hawthorne dialogue has been exactly the same since the release of Destiny 2, and even though three years of story advancements have come and gone since then, Hawthorne would still spend quite a while talking about players’ accomplishments from the conclusion of Destiny 2’s vanilla story campaign, the Red War. But the issue wasn’t just that Hawthorne’s dialogue hasn’t been updated in three years–it’s that you would hear it a lot.

Players have been complaining about Hawthorne’s dialogue for a while, because whether we wanted it or not, Hawthorne always had time to explain. Each week, players can complete a challenge for Hawthorne that has you contributing a certain amount of experience points to your clan to help level it up. The challenge is pretty easy to knock out just by playing the game and comes with a solid loot reward, so if you’re playing on any given week, you were probably visiting Hawthorne at least once by the end of it. For players running two or three characters, the result was visiting Hawthorne over and over again most weeks for years, hearing the same dialogue every time.

This isn’t the first time a repeated bit of dialogue has become a thing for Destiny players. Many got so familiar with Zavala’s opening speech for a Destiny 1 Strike, Cerberus Vei III, that it became a meme–and then Bungie joined the joke by turning the speech into a t-shirt.

Destiny 1 also featured the line “I don’t even have time to explain that I don’t have time to explain” from the Exo Stranger. It also turned into a joke that Bungie got in on when it released a gun called No Time To Explain in the Taken King expansion. (The Exo Stranger is back in Destiny 2’s Beyond Light expansion and she’s much more articulate this time around.)

And before that, the line “That Wizard came from the moon!” turned into a joke after it was featured in the game’s alpha. Bungie once again was willing to laugh at itself a bit, printing the line on a t-shirt it sold for charity–but it did also remove the line from the game.

Check out the additions to Update 3.1.0’s patch notes below.

Update 3.1.0 Additional Patch Notes

Rituals

• Removed Hawthorne’s Red War-era dialog when completing her Clan challenge.
• Players can now turn in Gunsmith materials 100 at a time, and Vanguard tokens 20 at a time – enough to get a full rank.

Reputation

• Valor, Glory, and Infamy rank-up banners are now at the bottom of the screen, no longer blocking players from taking actions in orbit when hitting a new rank.
• Valor, Glory, and Infamy values are now available on the main Director screen for the ritual.

Gambit

• Reworked the mote system for more reliable gathering.

Crucible

• Iron Banner
  • Removed Skill Based Matchmaking listing from the Iron Banner tooltip – it has been using Connection-Based Matchmaking, along with the rest of the Crucible, since June of 2020.
• Survival
  • Life count changed from 6 to 4, respawn time changed from 7s to 5s, consistent with ruleset prior to Beyond Light.

New Light

• A Guardian Rises
  • Destroying the Spider Tank during The Divide phase will now progress the directive by 50%.
  • Fixed an issue where veteran accounts that start a new character could not be progress or dismiss some tutorials.
• Schism
  • Fixed an issue where players could jump through a window during the Navota vignette and block their mission progress.
• Cold Boot
  • Fixed an issue for veteran characters playing the New Light quest that would cause the Legendary weapon tutorial to persist through the entire mission.

Risk/Reward (Riskrunner)

• Fixed an issue where players with full Energy weapon inventory slots would have Riskrunner sent to the Postmaster upon pick up.
• The weapon now drops as an Exotic Engram during the mission, allowing players to clear room in their inventories if they wish to pick up their Riskrunner immediately.

Forsaken Campaign

• Fixed an issue where players would see a “Quests Full” message when trying to start the Forsaken campaign, forcing them to find and pick up the quest at the Quest Archive in the Tower before proceeding.

Rocket League‘s latest limited-time event, Lucky Lanterns, is now live. The in-game celebration is themed around the Lunar New Year, and will last until March 1.

Lucky Lanterns adds Heatseeker to Rocket League until February 22. This 2v2 fan-favorite mode sees the ball naturally drawn to the opposing goal of whichever team touched it last, forcing players to react more quickly on blocks. Then, from February 22 to March 1, Super Cube returns to Rocket League. This 3v3 mode hasn’t been seen in Rocket League since 2015, the year the game launched. As its name implies, it transforms the ball into a cube.

Additionally, Lucky Lanterns adds a bunch of Lunar New Year décor to Rocket League. The Forbidden Temple (Day) arena has been redecorated in celebration of the upcoming Year of the Ox. New cosmetics will also be in the store during the event, including the now-painted Paper Dragon goal explosions. Lucky Lanterns will add limited-time event challenges as well, giving you more tasks to complete alongside your weekly challenges.

In the midst of the event, Rocket League is getting a new battle car. The Ford F-150 is coming to Rocket League, though only for a limited-time. From February 20-28, you can buy the Ford F-150 Rocket League Edition for 1500 Credits–the bundle includes the F-150 battle car, Chairman decal, SE wheels, Ford F-150 engine audio, Ford F-150 boost, and Ford F-150 player banner. According to developer Pysonix, the F-150 battle car has the same hitbox as the Octane.

The Pokemon Go Tour: Kanto event takes place February 20, but that won’t be the end of the festivities. Developer Niantic is following that event with a week-long Kanto Celebration, which will give players even more chances to catch Gen 1 Pokemon and take advantage of other bonuses.

The Kanto Celebration kicks off at 10 AM local time on February 21 and runs until 8 PM local time on February 27. Throughout the event, the following Gen 1 Pokemon will appear in the wild more frequently than usual:

• Bulbasaur
• Charmander
• Squirtle
• Weedle
• Pikachu
• Geodude
• Clefairy
• Psyduck
• Slowpoke
• Gastly
• Voltorb
• Magikarp

On top of that, the following Pokemon will appear more frequently when you use Incense:

• Caterpie
• Pidgey
• Spearow
• Poliwag
• Abra
• Seel
• Machop
• Krabby
• Exeggcute
• Horsea
• Goldeen

In addition, there will be event-exclusive Field Research tasks that lead to encounters with Doduo, Magnemite, Diglett, Omanyte, Kabuto, Snorlax, and other Gen 1 Pokemon, while the Legendary monsters Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, and Mewtwo will all appear in five-star Raids. You’ll also have another chance to learn previously Community Day-exclusive moves when you evolve the following Pokemon during the event:

• Evolve Ivysaur to get a Venusaur that knows Frenzy Plant
• Evolve Charmeleon to get a Charizard that knows Blast Burn
• Evolve Wartortle to get a Blastoise that knows Hydro Cannon
• Evolve Pichu to get a Pikachu that knows Surf
• Evolve Eevee and its evolution will know Last Resort
• Evolve Dragonair to get a Dragonite that knows Draco Meteor

You can read more details about the Kanto Celebration event on the official Pokemon Go blog.

The aforementioned Pokemon Go Tour: Kanto event is a one-day paid event that runs from 9 AM to 9 PM local time. Mimicking the original games, the event will be available in Red and Green versions, and the version you choose will determine which Pokemon you’ll be able to encounter in the wild.

The event will also feature an exclusive Special Research task line. Completing this will lead to an encounter with Shiny Ditto as well as unlock a new kind of challenge called Masterwork Research. If you manage to complete that, you’ll earn a chance to catch a Shiny Mew.

In the meantime, Pokemon Go’s Lunar New Year event is underway until February 14, while the game’s Valentine’s Day event is scheduled to run from February 14-18. The Legendary Eon Pokemon Latios and Latias are also back in five-star Raids until February 20.

I’ve always wanted to own my own arcade machine. Ever since I saw the movie BIG. An apt title for sure – the idea that I could one day purchase a cabinet for personal use was big. Huge even, considering the cost and space needed to house such a machine. It’s safe to say that I didn’t get one for Christmas that year. Nowadays, things are a bit different though. And not just because I’m an adult with disposable income.

There are several companies that specialize in producing licensed cabs on a smaller scale. A lot of them, as seen in our Best Arcade Cabinets list, provide solid experiences. Take SNK’s MVSX Arcade Machine – this nostalgia box offers 50 classic games, a decent sized screen, and authentic joystick/button placements. All in a machine that can sit comfortably on a countertop or coffee table.

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SNK MVSX Home Arcade – Design and Features

SNK’s MVSX is a solidly built cabinet. The wood paneling feels sturdy enough to forgo any real damage aside from some chipped paint. Dropping it is still out of the question of course. I just don’t see it shattering if bumped or banged while being moved about.

Actually, I wouldn’t even worry about the paint. The exterior seems to have a glossy finish that’s somewhat scratch resistant; I might have bumped or banged the MVSX when I moved it to my office. It still looks great. The red paneling could’ve used a bit more flair though – I would have loved to see Haohmaru from Samurai Shodown or another classic character envelop a side or two. That said, the box art from multiple SNK games on the marquee was a nice touch.

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Weighing 28lbs, with modest dimensions – the width, height, and diameter sit at 19.5, 25, and 15.8 inches respectfully – the cabinet isn’t as imposing as its full-sized counterparts. This makes finding a home for the machine that much easier. The same thing goes when you add the 32-inch, DIY base. Shipped alongside the MVSX for review, this base helps to complete the arcade aesthetic. It sports glossy red paint, left and right player arrows, and a cool makeshift coin door.

The idea is to mimic what it felt like to stand in front of these MVS (Multi Video System) arcade machines years ago without taking up too much space. And for the most part, it works. Sliding the MVSX into a corner behind my desk, it stays fairly out of the way. I can easily pull it from the wall, allowing two people to comfortably play together. And though your mileage may vary in terms of height – the arcade/base combo is around 5 feet tall – the average person shouldn’t have to bend very far to reach the sticks.

Speaking of controls, the MVSX sports the classic Neo Geo MVS joystick and buttons layout. Those of us who remember the old SNK arcade machines – or were lucky enough to own the console/AES (Advanced Entertainment System) version – should feel right at home. The buttons, moving from red at the bottom left to blue at the top right, slope upwards on the right side of each joystick. They all are positioned in a way that allows players to rest their hands on the base of the cabinet and still be able to easily hit all of the needed buttons.

Most of SNK’s games use this four-button setup, so it shouldn’t take fans long to get back into the swing of things. The controls should resonate with newcomers as well given how they’re customizable. By hitting the Options/Back button, housed at the top of the control panel, you’ll be able to bring up the required menus. Once there, you can change the color-coded A, B, C, and D buttons however you see fit. There are two extra white buttons, below the colorful ones, that can also be customized. This is rather helpful when playing one of SNK’s many fighters; there are times when I prefer my punches and kicks on opposite sides, for instance.

The spacing between first and second player’s controls can be a little tight. You might need to lean a bit so that both people can stand or sit comfortably in front of the machine. But the buttons aren’t close enough to restrict movement. The 17-inch 4:3 LCD display and stereo speakers also help in this regard as players won’t need to crowd each other in order to see or hear what’s going on.

Going back to the control panel, there are other buttons worth mentioning. Lining the top of the panel are the left and right Player Start buttons, Options, Start Game, and volume knob. The Start Game button acts as the insert coin function; you’d press that before hitting Player Start. The Options/Back button brings up an assortment of options, including the ability to swap between arcade and console modes, pick a preferred language, save game states and change image settings to emulate old CRT monitors.

SNK’s MVSX certainly looks the part. It has most of the arcade-like elements one would expect, just in a smaller package. And by utilizing modern software it can be upgraded; a USB port, sitting next to the power button on the back of the cabinet, facilitates firmware updates.

SNK MVSX Home Arcade – Performance

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with the MVSX. Some of that can be attributed to nostalgia – a lot of these games play exactly like I remember. Which is one of the reasons I’m usually hesitant about purchasing a MAME arcade cabinet; the allure is the potential ability to play authentic arcade ROMs. Flaws and all. And that’s what we get with the MVSX. All of the games are licensed by SNK. And unless I’m mistaken, the arcade versions of the games presented here are, in fact, the actual arcade versions.

The MVSX does offer the console versions of their games as well. From what I can tell, most are near-identical gameplay-wise. This shouldn’t be surprising when one considers that SNK’s MVS and AES (arcade and console) games are more or less the same; the Neo Geo AES console was made to replicate the arcade experience as much as possible. So much so that the cartridges were interchangeable. History aside, what all of this amounts to is a collectible aspect. Fans who just want both versions of each game and/or enjoy picking out the little differences between versions – like KoF ’94 running and looking slightly better in MVS mode – should be ecstatic.

The other reason I had a great time was due to the games themselves. SNK has compiled a strong list. There are some questionable inclusions and we’re missing gems like King of the Monsters. The sheer number of fighting games on tap can feel redundant at times; do we really need both Samurai Shodown V and Samurai Shodown V Special? Still, there’s plenty of fan favorites here, with franchises ranging from King of Fighters to Metal Slug, and sports games like Super Sidekicks and 3 Count Bout. There’s even lesser known, yet ultra-rare games like Kizuna Encounter.

Returning to some of these old games was a real treat. All of them looked great, with the 1280×1024 LCD screen producing near pixel perfect images. I especially liked that I could toggle the CRT scan lines. My time with the MVSX wasn’t without its issues though. The main culprit being the buttons. To the touch, they feel great and don’t seem cheaply made. Most of the buttons give a solid “click” when pressed. That said, I did notice a few of them tend to stick more than I’d like. It wasn’t enough to ruin a match; they didn’t hinder my inputs during play. But it was enough to make me worry about their longevity. (Manufacturer Gstone says it hasn’t noticed this issue on any other units, but says it will replace the buttons if the problem does arise on new machines.)

At some point, you’re going to have to replace the buttons. It’s inevitable. That aspect of owning the MVSX (or any arcade machine) shouldn’t come up this early though. And while SNK provides a warranty of sorts, it doesn’t outright sell replacement parts. Meaning that if the buttons get stuck or need replacing after the warranty expires, you’ll have to look elsewhere for new buttons.

Thankfully, the joysticks fared a little better. There were times when a character wouldn’t behave the way I wanted if they had moves with similar inputs, such as Terry Bogard sending out a Power Wave instead of a Rising Tackle in KoF ‘96. The joysticks felt a little loose, which might have led to them misrecognizing my movements. This could also be chocked up to user error as I didn’t have trouble performing complicated moves in other some of the other games.