Author: Trafficblast

Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity Day One Update Out Now

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is out on Nintendo Switch, and a day one update for the game is now live as well. The version 1.0.1 patch adds a Spanish audio option and resolves a handful of game-breaking bugs.

Specifically, the update fixes a couple of issues that prevented players from progressing further in the game in certain circumstances. You can see the full patch notes, taken from Nintendo’s official support website, below.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is the second Dynasty Warriors-style Zelda spin-off from Koei Tecmo, following the original Hyrule Warriors on Wii U (which was ported to Switch back in 2018). The game is a prequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and is set 100 years before the events of the Switch launch game, following Link, Zelda, and the Kingdom of Hyrule as they try to thwart the return of Calamity Ganon.

In addition to Link and Zelda, Age of Calamity features a variety of playable characters, including the four Champions Revali, Daruk, Urbosa, and Mipha, as well as young Impa. Players who have save data for Breath of the Wild on their Switch systems will receive a bonus weapon upon starting Age of Calamity: the Training Sword.

We scored the new Zelda spin-off a 6/10 in our Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity review. “The main reason I dove into Age of Calamity is because I love its world and the history it tries to remember. So for a game to retread them and proclaim to have something new to say when its inspiration’s most striking moments come from what it leaves unsaid is a big ask. But my problem with Age of Calamity isn’t that it fails to live up to that responsibility. It’s that it doesn’t even try. It doesn’t have the courage to see things through,” we wrote.

Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity Ver. 1.0.1 Patch Notes

General

  • Added Spanish audio.
  • Fixed software issues, including the following problems:
    • Fixed issue where proceeding further became impossible after certain operations in the menu screen of the two-player mode.
    • Fixed issue where proceeding further sometimes became impossible when changing characters at a certain point in some of the scenarios.
    • Fixed issue where proceeding beyond the loading screen sometimes became impossible after defeating an enemy with a certain procedure in some of the scenarios.
    • Fixed the issue where the screen display got corrupted and controls apart from the HOME Button stopped responding after certain operations in the materials selling menu.

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Twitch Co-Founder Kevin Lin Leaves Company

Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin will depart from the company. Lin, who served as the popular streaming platform’s COO from 2008 to 2018, made the announcement in a Medium post.

He recounted his experience with Twitch and thanked everybody involved in Twitch’s journey. Lin did not explicitly state what his next career plans were, but instead commented that he will be “spending time with family and loved ones, some sleep and relaxation, some fitness, and of course, a lot of video games.”

Twitch won’t be Lin’s final adventure in the tech sector, however. He stated, “I’m so excited to stretch my curiosity and to continue exploring a world where technology is a positive amplifier in our lives. I will build again. I hope to create something as remarkable as Twitch again, to build with amazing people who will challenge me, and to make the world we experience better.”

Kevin Lin, Emmett Shear, Justin Kan, Kyle Vogt, and Michael Seibel officially rebranded Justin.tv and launched Twitch in its current incarnation in 2011. Amazon then acquired Twitch in 2014 for nearly a billion dollars, an investment that looks to be paying off. Twitch is central to many gaming communities, and a number of popular gaming personalities sprung to fame from the platform. With the pandemic causing people to stay mostly indoors, individuals other than gamers–such as musicians and artists–also turned to Twitch to connect with their audiences. It seems Twitch has more room to grow and can potentially cultivate an even larger user base.

However, Twitch has faced challenges lately and continues to struggle with copyrighted material on the platform. In early 2020, Twitch received a flurry of DMCA takedown notifications over copyrighted audio. Since then, the company wrestled with creating policies dealing with copyrighted audio, and Twitch creators grappled with adjusting as well. More recently, major music institutions are still dissatisfied with Twitch’s solutions, such as Twitch’s Soundtrack Service for streamers, and want the platform to do more. In any case, it appears Twitch’s conflict with certain music industry organizations is far from over.

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Here’s How You Can Track Bug Fixes In Black Ops Cold War

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has had a number of bug fixes since it launched earlier this month. Developer Treyarch wants to keep players in-the-know about changes it’ll be making to the shooter so it’s created a Trello board. Players can check it to see the status of upcoming fixes.

“While this won’t serve as a comprehensive list of known issues (several of which are listed below), we’ll do our best to track the bigger issues of specific interest for the community here,” read a post on Treyarch’s official site. “You can also come here for details on how to report bugs on your specific platform, where to contact Player Support, and when to expect specific fixes to be released.”

The board includes known issues for both multiplayer and Zombies modes as well as general bugs the studio hopes to address quickly. It also has info on previous and upcoming updates as well as info on the Black Ops Cold War roadmap that begins on December 10.

No Caption Provided

Treyarch released a major update for Black Ops Cold War earlier today. The update that originally nerfed everyone’s favorite gun, the MP5, was actually reverted with this latest update. Treyarch said the nerf would “return in an upcoming update.”

A special DLC bundle based on one of the series most notorious maps, Nuketown, is also available right now. You’ll have to log in before December 3 to get it. The DLC pack comes with 10 items that are themed around Nuketown, including a weapon blueprint, weapon charms, and an emblem and a calling card.

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Pokemon Go Brings Back Some Pandemic Bonuses

Pokemon Go has reimplemented a couple of temporary bonuses, developer Niantic has announced. For the next few months, Incense will once again attract more Pokemon when activated, and your Buddy Pokemon will both find more gifts and do so more often than usual each day.

These bonuses were initially implemented in Pokemon Go as part of Niantic’s efforts to make the game easier to play from home amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but they were removed back in October. As the studio explained on the Pokemon Go website, they’re being made available again at least until June 2021.

“These bonuses are temporary, but they will remain in the game at minimum through June 2021,” the studio wrote. “We’ll give at least one month’s notice before they change.”

The studio also says that more bonuses will be available as part of upcoming events, including decreased hatching distance for eggs, increased trading distance, and more 1 PokeCoin item bundles. Additionally, Niantic is currently doling out double XP for catching and evolving Pokemon and other tasks ahead of the game’s big Go Beyond update.

Pokemon Go recently implemented the ability to transfer Pokemon directly to Pokemon Home, and to celebrate, Niantic is holding a new event until November 23. As part of the event, Shiny Slowpoke is appearing in the game, as is Shiny Meltan. On top of that, this month’s second Community Day takes place on November 21. The featured Pokemon this time is Magmar, and any that evolve into Magmortar up to two hours after the event ends will learn the Electric-type Charged attack Thunderbolt.

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Predator Will Be Coming Back For A Fifth Installment

The long-running sci-fi action Predator franchise will be coming back for a fifth installment with 20th Century Studios, according to Deadline. The film’s reported pedigree looks intriguing, as it will be pairing 10 Cloverfield Lane’s director Dan Trachtenberg with Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan writer-producer Patrick Aison. Those names alone indicate a bit of a re-centering on the series after 2018’s previous outing that tried to infuse comedy with brutal action.

Other than that headline news that Predator is once again coming back, details are less than sparse. No information has been revealed about casting choices or plot–so it will be a while before we hear about any big-picture stuff for the upcoming film. Given that the franchise’s other last major release, the video game Predator: Hunting Grounds wasn’t, all that well received (we gave it a 4 out of 10, even with the Arnold Schwarzenegger DLC), it would be reasonable to hope the last few years are a temporary low point for the series. It can only go up from here, right?

The only other clue lingering out there is that Trachtenberg has made it be known that at some point he wants to make a video game, very nebulously indicating that he had started talking about “video game stuff with some people.” But that may also be an indication of what–aside from his background in sci-fi psychological thrillers–the director may bring to this project.

There have also been rumors that Schwarzenegger himself may be interested in reprising his role in a Predator film, if it was done right. It wouldn’t be that far-fetched, given the actor has done the same with the Terminator series, and also the inescapable fact that he’s currently 73.

The Hobbit: 36 Things You Didn’t Know About An Unexpected Journey

Given the vast success of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, it wasn’t surprising that a film series based on The Hobbit was to follow. The Hobbit was writer JRR Tolkien’s first major published work about Middle Earth, and is one of the most-loved fantasy books of all time. Although there was huge interest amongst fans of Jackson’s films to see that story tackled in a similar way, the journey to the screen was not smooth.

Things started badly when in 2005 Jackson sued New Line, who produced the Lord of the Rings movies, for revenue he felt he was owed from those films. It took two years for that lawsuit to be settled, at which point it was announced that Jackson would co-write and produce two Hobbit movies for MGM, with Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo Del Toro helming. For many fans this sounded like a match made in movie heaven, two of fantasy cinema’s greatest visionaries collaborating on one of the genre’s most famous books.

Sadly it wasn’t to be. Problems with the script and financial issues at MGM led to production to be delayed, and in May 2010 del Toro left the project after two years of extensive pre-production work. In October it was announced that Jackson would take over as director, and the first Hobbit movie started production in 2011. Even at this stage the intention was still to make two movies, but ultimately the modest 300-page novel was spread out across three long films, with the scripts written once more by Jackson, and his Lord of the Rings collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

But for all the struggle to get The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to the big screen, there’s little denying that it paid off at the box office when it released in December 2012, with a $1.02 billion worldwide gross. While reviews weren’t as strong as for the Lord of the Rings films, Jackson skillfully slotted fans back into a familiar world, with a mix of returning actors and new faces, and once more using the spectacular landscapes of New Zealand to stand in for Middle-earth.

As with the earlier films, the Hobbit movies have been released on Blu-ray in special editions packed with bonus features. We’ve been back through the extended edition of An Unexpected Journey and checked out the behind-the-scenes material, including a commentary from Jackson and Boyens. So here are some fascinating facts, references, and Easter Eggs about The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. And once you’ve read this, check out our guides to all the things you missed in The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.

Black Friday 2020: Apple AirPods Pro Will Get A Sweet Discount Next Week

We’re less than a week out from Black Friday 2020 and have a pretty good idea of all the deals you can expect. There have been some great Black Friday TV deals and a number of excellent gaming discounts on PS5 and PS4 games and Xbox accessories. One of the best deals, however, is for the Apple AirPods Pro. Starting next week, Walmart will have Apple’s premium Bluetooth earbuds for $169, down from its regular price of $249. The Black Friday deal is valid starting November 25 at 4PM PT / 7 PM ET and runs until November 28.

$169 (was $249)

The Apple AirPods Pro are a great pair of true wireless earbuds, featuring active noise cancellation as well as a transparency mode that lets you hear your surroundings. Both earbuds feature microphones that let you take calls and use Siri as well.

AirPods Pro also boast an impressive battery life, lasting for up to 4.5 hours of listening time or 3.5 hours of talking time, with active noise cancellation and transparency turned off. The included charging case carries up to 24 hours, allowing for about five charges before the case needs to be plugged in.

In addition to the AirPods Pro deal, Walmart is also discounting the Apple Watch Series 3 with GPS. The Apple Watch with 38mm wristband will cost $119, down from its regular price of $200, while the 42mm version will be $149. The 42mm version is good for people with thicker wrists, though you can get a 42mm band on Amazon for cheap and save even more money on this deal.

Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS)

$119 (was $199) | Nov. 25-28

See at Walmart

If you’re looking for more Black Friday deals, check out the best Nintendo Switch deals, the best PS5 and PS4 accessory discounts, and the best Xbox Series X and Xbox One game deals. There are also a number of discounts on PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass that are well worth keeping your eye on.

Steam Adds More Support For PS5 DualSense Controllers

Steam’s latest client beta update added more support for Sony’s new DualSense controller. You could use the DualSense with Steam before this update, but most of its features weren’t included when you synced the new controller up with your PC.

“Added additional support for the PS5 DualSense controller including LED, trackpad, rumble, and gyro functionality,” read the notes from the update. Support for the directional swipe feature was also included.

This is the Steam Client Beta, where Valve tests new additions to their platform, so it’s not available to Steam users who haven’t opted into the beta. We could see official support come to all users soon based off how quickly they’ve added support for the DualSense. Hopefully we’ll see support for the adaptive triggers soon as well.

You can connect a DualSense controller to your PC with either Bluetooth or the USB cable that comes packaged with the PS5. You’ll need to access the Beta Client by heading to the Steam Menu hitting “Settings,” then “Account” and then click “Change” under “Beta Participation.” You’ll then see the DualSense listed as a PS4 controller, which is the correct option. Valve will change that once they make a profile for the DualSense.

The DualSense is one of the best things about the next generations of consoles. It makes Demon’s Souls, a remake of a decade old game, feel like a next-gen experience. Read our full PS5 review for more information on the console and check out our PS5 order guide to learn how you can get one.

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Xbox Series X Controllers Will Work On Apple Devices In A Future Update

According to Apple, you will be able to use Xbox Series X controllers on iPads, iPhones, Apple TVs, and Macs. Apple’s support page updated with a sentence, stating, “Microsoft and Apple are working together to bring compatibility for the Xbox Series X controller to customers in a future update.”

Apple currently supports Xbox Wireless controller, Xbox Elite Wireless Series 2 controller, Xbox Adaptive controller, and PlayStation DualShock 4 Wireless controller.

Getting Xbox Series X controllers to work on Apple devices will make it easier for Microsoft’s xCloud service–a feature that allows Xbox players to stream games to a screen of their choice–to gain greater traction. While xCloud only works on Android devices currently, Microsoft plans to extend the function to Apple devices in 2021. According to The Verge, Microsoft is working on getting xCloud on Apple products by creating a “direct browser-based solution.” xCloud is integrated with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Microsoft’s gaming subscription service, at no extra cost.

DualSense controller compatibility wasn’t mentioned on Apple’s support page, and it’s unknown when the device will be compatible with Apple products. However, according to Apple Insider, iOS 14.3 update included “behind-the-scenes support” for the DualSense controller. With that info and considering Apple’s past support for PlayStation’s DualShock 4 Wireless controller, we can reasonably expect DualSense controllers to work with Apple products at some point too.

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The Best Black Friday 2020 Deals At Target

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2

$25 ($40)

Platforms: PS4/PS5, Xbox One/Series X

Tony Hawk games have been absent for several years now, following diminishing returns and some missteps. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 reminds players what they loved about the skateboarding series in the first place, thanks to a few enhancements that help the originals shine. It has remastered graphics and gameplay tweaks, but mostly it just feels like you remember from the early days of THPS.