The missions for the second set of pins celebrating Mario’s 35th anniversary have been available for some time, but your chance to obtain the pins based on such games as Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Mario Odyssey may be over unless you have completed expired missions and purchase Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury.
This likely means that most people looking to obtain the newest set of pins won’t be able to, as the most you’ll be able to complete is 12 of the required 15 missions. As of 2/05/21, completing 14 missions is impossible unless you have already completed at least two missions that are no longer available. These include: Splatoon 2 Splatfest Online Challenge, NintendoVS Challenge Cup, BoxLunch’s Super Mario must-haves on Boxlunch, Tetris 18th MAXIMUS CUP, Super Mario Maker 2 Ninji Speedrun Online Challenge, and Super Mario Kart Tour event.
Bear in mind, two of the missions require having purchased Super Mario 3D All-Stars and playing Super Mario Bros. 35, the latter which requires a Nintendo Switch Online paid membership. So, if you are interested in the pins, you’re potentially on the hook for two $60 games plus a $20 membership.
Matthew Adler is a Features, News, Previews, Reviews, and Wikis writer for IGN who is very sad that he can’t get this new set of Mario pins. You can cry with him on Twitter @MatthewAdler and watch him stream cry on Twitch.
During the Final Fantasy XIV announcement showcase, the next expansion for the MMORPG was revealed through a teaser trailer–it’s called Endwalker and it’s set to launch in Fall 2021. You can watch the trailer from the livestream below (be aware that there may be spoilers in the trailer).
The trailer shows the Warrior of Light (your character) walking on the moon of your realm followed by the map of Eorzea being burnt. You then see core character Alisaie fighting against what looks to be a dragon-like monsters as the world around her burns. Her brother Alphinaud, who’s representing the expansion new Sage healer Job, and the Warrior of Light show up to join the fight. There are also teaser shots of the new villain overlooking a flame to represent new “Final Days” and you see returning villain Zenos as well. It appears that the world of Hydaelyn is a lot more than just an Earth-like planet from these shots. The final shot returns to the moon to reveal the new representation of the Warrior of Light who is now a Paladin.
New Jobs
After the trailer, director and producer Naoki Yoshida went to much greater detail about what you can expect from FFXIV Endwalker. The first of which was the two new Jobs–one healer and one melee DPS. The trailer shows Alphinaud sporting the new healer Job–it’s called Sage and uses a set of floating aether-infused knives called Nouliths (a wild Gundam reference for those who are aware). It’s said to be a barrier-focused healer, similar to Scholar. Sages will start at level 70 with no required class prerequisite, but you need at least one other Job at level 70 and you must own the Endwalker expansion.
No details were given about the new melee DPS job, although it will be revealed in May during the digital FFXIV Fan Fest.
What We Know About The Story
Yoshida-san explained the story setup and emphasized that Endwalker is a finale and conclusion to the current FFXIV story arc–an ending to what we know as the world of Hydaelyn, which has been going on since the very beginning of the game. He also said that things would come full circle, describing it as “a new dawn” for the story.
This will be FFXIV 6.0, and as players know, the story usually continues after the expansion. However, Endwalker will have a full conclusion to the conflict between Hydaelyn and Zodiark, and the emphasis on the moon gives us a hint as to where FFXIV goes from here. Yoshida-san emphasized that this is not the end of FFXIV, however. FFXIV 6.1 is already being planned, and will begin an entirely new story separate from what has been built since 1.0 and 2.0.
The Warrior of Light chillin’ on the moon.Alisaie is looking great in the new trailer!
As a setup for Endwalker’s story, the announcement showcase included these statements:
“What were the Final Days that brought the mighty ancients to their knees? To uncover myriad secrets–of Hydaelyn, Zodiark, and deeper mysteries still–the Warrior of Light embarks on a journey to the moon.
“The long-awaited conclusion to the tale of Gods light and dark!
“Curiouser and curiouser…burning questions remain!
“What brought about the Final Days?
“What became of Hydaelyn and Zodiark?
“What will be the Garlean Empire’s fate
“What is Zenos’ and Fandaniel’s aim?
“What is to be found on the moon?”
In Shadowbringers, we saw what the “Final Days” were for the Ascian people, but that may come into greater focus with Endwalker–there have been many allusions to burning the world down ever since the final scene of the 5.3 story. In artwork shown later in the announcement showcase, Garlemald is basically left destroyed and desolate. If you played up to the end of the 5.4 story, you see why this might be the case.
Although Zenos and Fandaniel are featured in this teaser trailer, and that their motivations will be made clear, Yoshida-san said not worry about having a disappointing final villain–Endwalker is said to have a complex story with many surprises. Judging from the biological-organic environments below the surface shown in artwork and the trailer, we’ll find out the true nature of the planet.
Some New Features
Of the new features coming to Endwalker, the level cap is increasing to level 90, as expected. It’s also said to feature “massive” new areas–the new artwork features a lush jungle-like environment with a colorful bustling city in the sky called Radz-At-Han. It’s said to have a similar in size to Eulmore from Shadowbringers. It’s located in the region of Thavnair, which is near FFXIV’s version of Dalmasca. It has a tropical climate and a different culture from the rest of the world’s regions.
It was also confirmed that one of the major regions you’ll be in is Garlemald, the heart of the Garlean Empire. It is absolutely destroyed in Endwalker, however. No further details about it were given.
Concept art for new dungeons was also revealed, all of which were quite different in design. One featured a great ancient-style structure with the environment burning around it, another featured that biological-organic style with alien-like flesh and bone structure making up the environment, and another was a sterile high-tech Garlean facility.
Fans of of Final Fantasy X will recognize a new enemy featured in this expansion: Anima, which has been recreated for FFXIV by the original designer.
Another high-end 8-player raid series was teased–it’s called Pandaemonium, and the artwork features the likeness of the old Ascian adversary, Lahabrea. It will tell a unique and separate story for FFXIV as well.
A new 24-player alliance raid was confirmed. It is said to provide several answers to lingering mysteries about the world of Hydaelyn, which may mean that it’s not going to be a crossover raid series (unlike Stormblood with Final Fantasy XII and Shadowbringers with Nier Automata).
The Trust system, which lets you take core characters into dungeons as AI companions in place of real players, is getting an update–Estinien, who was first introduced in Heavensward, will be an ally of the Scions and available in the Trust system. As for the reason he’s included, we’ll have to see what happens in the story.
Island Sanctuary is an all-new feature in Endwalker, described as a way of “slow living” where you’ll do things like raise animals and cultivate open land on a deserted island. It won’t just be for crafters and gatherers and will be geared toward all players.
FFXIV 6.0 will add a new residential area to expand housing opportunities. This time it’ll be in Ishgard as a way to tie into The Firmament and Ishgard Restoration content. Actual housing won’t be available until patch 6.1, but players can look at plots at the start of 6.0.
A ton of other additional content will come with FFXIV 6.0 such as more role quests, crafter and gatherer quests, Gold Saucer updates, small-scale PvP battles, a new tribe called the Matanga, and more.
Battle System Changes
A few tweaks are lined up for the core battle system in FFXIV. First is the downscaling of values and damage numbers in combat. Through the expansions, damage and attack potency has gradually increased as players got more powerful. However, downscaling is said to help with calculations and prevent overflow and bugs in the backend. Changes will be proportional as to not change how the combat system functions.
This is also said to help with calculations for enmity, which could prevent problems for Tanks. The number crunch will consolidate the flying text for damage numbers and scale down the HP pool for bosses along with everything else.
The changes will come with how player levels and stats increase from level 51 to 80, essentially squeezing the rate at which players get more powerful, which means enemy effectiveness will scale accordingly. Experience points values will be compressed along with the experience points required to level up as well.
Lastly, belts are being removed from the game entirely at the start of the 6.0 update–it’s an armor gear piece, which was actually already removed from your character’s appearance. The 35 inventory slots from belts will be allocated to weapons and rings (15 slots each) with the leftover five being held for the future.
Data Center Travel
Currently, FFXIV players can travel between different servers within their data centers, but not to other data centers. However, the data center travel system that’s coming to FFXIV in the future will allow for these from different data centers to meet up and create parties, though there will be some restrictions.
PlayStation 5 Version Coming
While FFXIV is playable through backwards compatibility, a PS5-specific version is coming soon. It’ll be in open beta starting April 13 this year, and will feature 4K resolution, faster loading times, more detailed visual effects, and an improved frame rate. There will be two options, however: full native 4K resolution or a higher frame rate mode with 1440p resolution. Continual updates to graphics and performance will come out in future patches.
Players who have a registered license for the game on PS4 will be able to upgrade and access the PS5 version for free. No further details were given for how the process will work.
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AHS has had its share of memorable characters, thanks to the performances of the show’s stellar cast. Murder House gave us Constance Langdon. Asylum gave us Sister Jude, Sister Mary Eunice, and Kit Walker. Coven gave us Cordelia Goode, Marie Laveau, Madame Delphine LaLaurie, Queenie, Madison Montgomery, Fiona Goode, and Myrtle Snow. Freak Show gave us Twisty, Chester Creb and Dandy Mott. Hotel gave us Liz Taylor and Sally McKenna. Cult gave us Kai Anderson. But where do they all rank on our lists? Watch the video above to find out!
We’re also going to do more character rankings in the future spotlighting specific actors. Jessica Lange? Sarah Paulson? Evan Peters? Let us know who we should focus on first in the comments!
Looking for a new wireless gaming mouse? Look no further, as we put the most high-end tech and peripherals up against the more budget-friendly options to see which device is most worth their price.
First we have the Razer Naga Pro, a modular wireless gaming mouse featuring three swappable side plates designed across different game genres, hyperspeed wireless technology, over 19 buttons, and a 20,000 DPI. All of this comes in at around $150 USD.
Secondly, on the more fiscally responsible side of these devices, we have the SteelSeries Rival 3 wireless, featuring a 400+ hour battery life, SteelSeries’ “pixel-perfect” TrueMove Air optical sensor, and an 18,000 DPI. This package is going to set you back a much more reasonable $50 USD.But which of these fantastic mice are worth their price?
Apex Legends may be getting something like a campaign in Year 3. Respawn’s battle royale game came close to having something like that with Quest, which initially was a collection of PvE missions in Season 5 before transitioning to comics in Season 6. However, that transition wasn’t a part of Apex Legends’ original roadmap, and Respawn is “not done” with expanding on its interactive storytelling in the battle royale.
“We’ve got many developers here that would have loved to continue doing something like [Season 5’s Quest],” Apex Legends game director Chad Grenier told me as we discussed the battle royale’s transformative second year. “The problem is, well we did the Quest and then we had a lockdown.”
The COVID-19 lockdowns transitioned Respawn into a working from home structure, which forced the studio to rethink how to expand on Apex Legends in Seasons 6 and 7. New content became an issue of priority, and it was decided that the priority of Quest was to deliver on story, not story-focused missions. As such, the mode transitioned into comics–something easier to program into a game than a brand-new campaign. But Respawn hasn’t given up on including interactive storytelling in its battle royale.
“A lot of those people [who worked on Season 5’s Quest] have moved on to work on things for future seasons, to tell a story and bring some new, cool things to the game,” Grenier said. “So, we’re not done doing things like that. We’re always innovating and trying to push things forward. And we’ve got a lot of people on the team that loved doing things like that. So, yeah–I think you’ll be surprised with future stuff coming out.”
Whatever it is, we’re likely to see it sometime in 2021, so during Seasons 9, 10, or 11. In a blog post, Grenier wrote that “later this year, [Respawn] will launch new ways to play the game that take us beyond battle royale,” which suggests Apex Legends won’t just be a multiplayer-focused battle royale game by the time Year 3 ends. Perhaps Quest will be rebooted and once again become a PvE campaign. We’ll just have to wait and see. For now, at least, Season 8 continues the trend of telling Quest’s story through comics.
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Bungie has released a trailer giving us the first look at Destiny 2‘s next content season, the Season of the Chosen. We now have a sense of a new threat facing the solar system in the form of a Cabal force and its new empress, Caiatl.
This is Caiatl’s first appearance in the game, and if you haven’t been following the ins and outs of Destiny 2 lore, you might be a little confused. After all, this will be our third major Cabal villain since the release of Destiny 2 back in 2017, and they’re all related to some internal political struggle in the Cabal Empire that you wouldn’t know about if you hadn’t read various lore entries. Caiatl is new to the game, but her name has been floating around for a while and her presence could have some big implications for past characters and where the Cabal enemy faction is headed next in the story.
Caiatl is the Cabal empress, but she hasn’t been in our solar system this whole time–instead, she was back at the Cabal homeworld. She has ties to the characters we’ve seen so far in Destiny 2, though. Caiatl is the daughter of Calus, the exiled Cabal emperor who spent the last few years hanging around in Nessus’s orbit in his giant spaceship, the Leviathan. She was also an ally of Ghaul, the Cabal leader who deposed Calus and took over his reign. If you missed out on Destiny 2’s vanilla campaign, the Red War, you should know that players walloped Ghaul, and the Traveler woke up and literally annihilated him.
Wait, Why Is Caiatl Empress And Not Calus?
To understand Caiatl’s whole deal, it helps to know a bit about the Cabal. They’re a generally militaristic society with an Ancient Roman theme, and for a while, they were the dominant military force in the galaxy. Then Calus took power in a populist uprising, pushing out the military leadership. Calus’s whole deal was, basically, that everyone should relax and live luxuriously, and the Cabal people really enjoyed that, even if it left the military extremely sour.
So Calus threw his attention at wine, plays, zoos, gladiator contests, and other fun things. All the while, the empire’s military forces worried they were in trouble with a leader who didn’t really care about conquering things. Even Calus’s daughter grew to hate him because of his laissez-faire attitude, which she saw as weakness. Caiatl loved flying and joined the military as a pilot, and that took her to the outer reaches of the Cabal empire, where she apparently saw a bunch of threats she was worried her dad wasn’t equipped to handle.
When Ghaul started planning to overthrow Calus, Caiatl helped. They deposed Calus in an event called the Midnight Coup, but Calus was way too popular among the regular folk for the conspirators to execute him. Instead, they stuck him on the Leviathan and sent him out to wander the universe. And he did, for centuries.
Eventually, the Cabal invaded our solar system, and in Destiny 1, they got wrecked pretty savagely by two main forces: Guardians, the players; and the Hive, led by Oryx, the Taken King. Oryx used his power to “take” people (basically, to reshape them into some kind of dark creature and totally subsume their will) against the Cabal, so they rallied against him and attacked his ship, the Dreadnaught. They also sent a distress signal to the Cabal empire–and that’s what caused Ghaul to invade at the beginning of Destiny 2.
So after Ghaul died, Caiatl named herself empress. Ghaul’s troops, the Red Legion, are scattered around the solar system, but Caiatl is reuniting them. She also encouraged them to capture Calus, but they never managed to do so. When the Darkness and its fleet of pyramid ships showed up at the end of the Season of Arrivals, Calus seemingly bailed from the solar system as well–conveniently right before the arrival of his daughter, who hates him, and a huge batch of Cabal reinforcements.
Why Is Caiatl Here Now?
That’s a good question since Ghaul has been dead for three whole years. The lore suggests things have changed recently back at the Cabal’s home; a conversation between Vanguard leaders Zavala and Ikora Rey and the Reef’s acting regent, Petra Venj, notes that the Cabal are suffering from some kind of frightening disease that seems to have its origin in the Hive.
Last season, the Season of the Hunt, was all about the Hive god of war, Xivu Arath, using a new power to corrupt various other aliens and turn them into “Wrathborn,” an army that served her. That sounds a lot like a Hive disease and could be what’s affecting the Cabal. Also in play is Savathun, another Hive god, who has been hanging around in Destiny 2 since the beginning, executing secret plans and schemes. The lore conversation mentioned above, which comes from the Wild Hunt armor from the Season of the Hunt, suggests the Hive are using the Dreaming City’s Blind Well as a way to send the disease back to Cabal space. That also implies that Caiatl’s arrival could be an aspect of one of Savathun’s nebulous, evil machinations that we don’t yet understand.
In any event, it seems Caiatl is here to fight the Hive and try to help her people back home. That tracks with the trailer Bungie released for the Season of the Chosen, when Caiatl will show up–she tries to create a treaty with the Vanguard to form an alliance against other threats like the Darkness. Zavala doesn’t go for it, so we’ll be at odds with Caiatl to some degree, but it doesn’t seem to be another all-out war like when Ghaul arrived.
And the fact Caiatl offered a treaty at all suggests she needs the Guardians just as badly as she thinks we might need her. Fighting the Hive isn’t easy, as the Cabal have repeatedly learned. So Caiatl is taking a page from her father’s book: Calus enlisted the help of Guardians in the Leviathan raid lairs Eater of Worlds and Spire of Stars, and again in the Crown of Sorrows raid and the Season of Opulence. Caiatl seems to be thinking with the same imagination as her father (she even says in a lore entry that, while she despised all his frivolities, she appreciates the out-of-the-box thinking she picked up from watching so many plays and hearing so many stories).
The trailer for the Season of the Chosen paints Caiatl as a villain, but it seems like she’s potentially a deeper character than that, and we haven’t seen everything there is to see about the Cabal’s plans. This whole season has a theme of “champions” about it (as in two opposing forces sending their best fighters to battle, rather than going into open warfare), which sounds like Guardians are facing off against Caiatl’s forces in small honor battles rather than full-scale warfare. It might be that Caiatl really does want an alliance and is trying to work with Guardians but has to save face and project strength. So she’s putting up her champions to fight against Guardians in Battlegrounds, this season’s new activity, as much to test our mettle as to determine who gets to be in charge of the solar system. Testing players’ mettle and then employing their help was exactly the same play that Calus made, after all.
There might also be more going on here than we’re yet aware of. The trailer for the Season of the Chosen ends with a brief flash of a Scorn enemy and a Cabal ship drifting through space. There’s some lore in the Season of the Hunt that mentions a rumor that Calus was dispatching his forces to capture Scorn–so perhaps we haven’t seen the end of his influence on the situation after all.
Of course, it’s pretty early to speculate, and we might find that we’ve stepped into another war with the Cabal in the Season of the Chosen–whether we wanted to or not. But with Calus gone, Caiatl is the only big Cabal character still around, so it would make sense that she’s here to stay for a while. And like her dad, there might be more to her than just another large alien for us to shoot.
Facepunch Studios has added a new Softcore mode to Rust aimed at a more casual player base.
“A major part of Rust has always been its hardcore, ruthless PvP and will continue to be,” Facepunch Studio’s blog post about the new game mode reads. “But we’re aware that some players want a less brutal experience. Introducing Softcore mode — a new game mode in Rust, aimed at more casual players. Don’t worry, the majority of our servers will still be regular vanilla Rust (hardcore).”
When players are killed in this new mode, half of their inventory can be reclaimed by them at either the spot of their death or at a reclaim terminal, which can be found in Bandit Town and at the Outpost. Players can now spawn at those two locations at any time, provided they’re not flagged as hostile, and now they can only view the contents of a wounded player. The maximum team size has been changed to four, as well, in order to stop large groups of players terrorising individuals.
The update is already live, and this new mode can be found on 10 new servers that launched alongside it. Facepunch Studios says this is just the start of Softcore and that it “will continue to iterate and improve on it moving forward.”
The move may well have come about because of Rust’s recent major uptick in players, seven years after its initial release, after a group of high-profile streamers began to play the game together on a private server started by Offline TV. This led to new popularity for the already-popular survival game and the game saw over 1.3 million concurrent viewers on Twitch in January and nearly 250,000 concurrent players, according to the blog post. While this new Softcore mode is aimed at the “more casual players,” it seemingly doubles as a mode great for players new to the game.
