While very much an RPG, Cyberpunk 2077 is also a first-person shooter. Furthermore, it’s a first-person shooter with melee weapons. And if you’ve ever played anything with swords in first-person, you’ll know video games don’t have the best history with that combination. It’s something developer CD Projekt Red is very much aware of, and still working on getting just right.
In an interview with VG247, senior gameplay designer Pawel Kapala explained that the studio is not “100% happy” with where melee combat is right now, but believes that in the months leading up to release the team will make the required improvements.
“We’re spending a lot of time trying to perfect that, and we basically, we’re not 100 percent happy, mostly with visual feedback on the hits, on the melee,” Kapala said. “So, we’re still working on it.”
“It wasn’t an easy task, since we basically come from a pedigree of creating TPP games,” he added. “It was also a big part of our development to actually figure out, how do you do melee in a first-person perspective? We’re working on it.”
Kapala also acknowledged that the feel of melee combat wasn’t great in the demo presented to journalists as part of the recent round of Cyberpunk 2077 previews, but notes that it’s “much better than it was”.
First person melee is notoriously difficult, and even accomplished games that use it – such as Dying Light and Arkane’s Dark Messiah and Dishonored games – still don’t always feel quite as natural as swordplay in third-person perspective games. Hopefully weapons like the Mantis Blades will feel satisfying in the launch version of Cyberpunk 2077.
There are new cooperative missions you can initiate from your Galaxy Superyacht, dozens of new vehicles, new Open Wheel race tracks, new Casino Adversary modes, and more.
The 15 new cars are split across three dealerships: four at Legendary Motorsport, five at Southern San Andreas Super Autos, and six at Benny’s. The weekly podium car you can win at the casino has also been changed to a Sheava ETR1 worth $1,995,000.
The images below show all of the new vehicles and their prices, courtesy of Twitter user NuroCitrix.
Elsewhere, Galaxy Superyacht owners can host six new co-op maritime missions, ready to launch from the bridge of your vessel or by calling the captain from your iFruit Phone. You can play solo or invite an Organization for backup as you embark on new adventures through August 19. By hosting and completing all six missions, you will unlock a unique sea-faring outfit.
In total, there are nine new Open Wheel race tracks, from racing across Land Act Dam to dodging turbines in RON Alternates Windfarm. Two new Open Wheel race cars are also included, and Rockstar has made a few improvements to Open Wheel gameplay, including the ability to change tire type when pitting and new visible tire wear and body damage indicators.
The Los Santos Summer Special Update also introduces the Open Wheel Race Creator, allowing you to design and craft your own custom tracks using a bevy of creation tools. There are over 60 new props at your disposal, including racetrack archways, pit-stops, paddocks, and more.
Galaxy Superyacht owners finally have another reason to step aboard.
New Business Battles have also been implemented as part of the update. These revamped competitions take place at new locations across the map and dish out massively increased rewards. You might stage a cooperative assault on an idling aircraft carrier or fight and hack your way through several factories to reach the nucleus and earn bundles of cash. Winning a Business Battle between now and August 19 will earn you the Pink Dot Tech Mask as well.
The Diamond Adversary series brings eight high-stakes modes to The Diamond Casino and Resort, including tense fan favorites like Every Bullet Counts and Slasher, as well as competitive mayhem in Hardest Target and Resurrection. The casino has also added two new arcade machines as QUB3D, which last featured in Grand Theft Auto IV, appearing, along with a game called Axe of Fury.
Aside from new content, the update also makes a few quality-of-life improvements. Lester’s calls have been changed to text messages to reduce spam, requesting a Pegasus Vehicle is more convenient, and it’s possible to return any of your personal vehicles to storage.
Prime Gaming subscribers who have connected their account to the Rockstar Social Club can now earn the latest weekly $200,000 bonus. You can also grab the Vespucci Canals Nightclub location for free, along with access to a special discount that gives you 70% off the Grotti X80 Proto and 80% off the Bravado Gauntlet Hellfire.
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My wife has a pair of Bluetooth noise-canceling headphones, and I borrow them when I travel (which hasn’t happened in a while, but that’s not important to the story). Since acclimating myself to a wire-free music listening experience, it’s really hard to go back to a wired set. Yes, we all had a good laugh when Apple ditched the headphone jack on the iPhone, but now I realize they were actually onto something.
You can free yourself from the tyranny of wires with these high-quality, noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones on sale today at Amazon. These are some seriously excellent deals on some seriously excellent headsets, so if you’re looking for a new pair, now’s your chance.
The Sony headset is being replaced by a newer model for 2020, the Sony WH-1000MX4, which you can preorder now for $349. Personally I’d just grab the deal on the current model, but if you like shiny new things, go crazy.
By the way, the Sony headset tops our list of the best wireless headphones, so of the three models currently on sale, that’s your best bet.
F1 2020 developer Codemasters has announced DLC in honor of former Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher. The Keep Fighting Foundation DLC will be released today on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia, and will include a car livery, podium emote, helmet, gloves, suit and badge. All proceeds from sales of the DLC will go towards The Keep Fighting Foundation.
“It was an honor for the studio to focus on Michael’s record-breaking F1 career for the F1 2020 Deluxe Schumacher Edition,” said F1 Franchise Game Director at Codemasters, Lee Mather, in a press statement. “We are equally proud to support the Keep Fighting Foundation. Many of our players regard Michael as the greatest of all time, and we know the exclusive items will prove incredibly popular.”
F1 2020 also has a Schumacher Edition that can be purchased separately, which features four bonus cars to use in races and extra liveries that can be applied to vehicles in multiplayer events. Considered to be one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time, Schumacher still holds the record for the most World Championship wins.
F1 2020 Keep Fighting DLC
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton recently equaled Schumacher’s all-time record of 155 podium finishes at the Silverstone 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, and is on the verge of matching Schumacher’s World Championships wins.
Having retired from Formula 1 in 2006, Schumacher briefly returned for to the track from 2010 to 2012. In 2013, Schumacher suffered a head injury during a skiing accident and has been in treatment ever since.
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Second Extinction, the dinosaur-shredding first-person shooter that was first unveiled at the May Xbox Series X event, will be released first into Steam Early Access in September. The development team at Systemic Reaction also unveiled War Effort, a new global meta-game that puts a community-centric twist on the game’s three-player cooperative action.
“The War Effort reflects the changes in the ongoing fight against the dinosaurs and ensures you’ll always have to stay on your toes. It’s a highly interactive, community-driven environment for players to fight in, letting us create new content that evolves over time,” said Second Extinction product owner Julianne Harty. “The War Effort is an integral part of how we’ll introduce new dinosaurs, missions, and more as a live service experience, and it’s a feature we’re excited to fully flesh out throughout early access.” As you can see in the trailer above, War Effort tallies the stats of player matches and uses them to alter the threat level for future matches, meaning you’ll take on various challenging levels of dinosaurs.
The development team explained how War Effort works in more detail: “Essentially, the activity of the dinosaurs is constantly monitored and each area gets a Threat Rating – 1 being the smallest, 3 being the highest. These dinosaurs are pretty relentless. If you go squash ‘em down in one area until the threat level drops, they’re going to move to another area and subsequently that threat level rises. It’s like whack-a-mole with claws and gibs.” Furthermore, they added, “This Threat Level adjusts each week, and that is one of the things we’ll be looking into as part of Early Access.For us Early Access is not just about what the community does, it’s about how they do it. How are they coping with certain scenarios? What needs tuning? What do they want tuning? It’s also an opportunity for us to find other ways to kill dinosaurs in other modes outside of missions, like a horde mode, and see what people like. It’s a collaborative process and that is why we chose this route.”
But what exactly do these threat levels mean? “The Threat Level will affect the area’s difficulty first and foremost,” the team said. “If you can shoot straight – unlike me – a Threat Level 1 is probably solo-able; a Threat Level 3 would be only recommended for experienced 3-player teams. That’s where co-op comes into its own – you’re going to need that extra ammo pack from a friend (or random) and you’ll definitely need the odd revive unless you want to roleplay Jeff Goldblum’s final act in Jurassic Park. For higher level areas, this will also impact the difficulty of the enemies you encounter, as well as the activities you can perform. And of course, any areas under the Emergence Event will also change the flavour of the dinos, the environment, the rewards, and even your item effectiveness. It’s important to give players a reason to venture into the depths of our dinosaur hell, so the toughest dinosaurs drop the rarest parts. In turn this dino-loot is exchanged for coveted upgrades.”
Second Extinction is also in development for Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
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Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, catch him on Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.
Dirt 5 has been delayed by a week, and will now launch on October 16.
Codemasters revealed the news on Twitter via the official Dirt account, noting that the game will launch on October 16, 2020 for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, a week later than its original planned release date of October 9.
The tweet notes that those who purchase the Amplified Edition of the game will be able to access Dirt 5 from October 13, receiving three days of early access gameplay.
News: #DIRT5 will now launch on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on October 16, with three days’ early access (Oct 13) for Amplified Edition players.
THANK YOU for all your support and excitement so far – we still have so much more to show you…
“Thank you for all your support and excitement so far,” the tweet reads. “We still have so much more to show you.” Replying to the tweet announcing the delay, Codemasters reconfirmed that a next-gen version of Dirt 5 will land on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X later this year. Players who have already purchased Dirt 5 on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One will receive a free upgrade.
The Hori Split Pad Pro is one of the best Nintendo Switch controllers you can buy, as it equips your Switch with Joy-Cons that feel more like proper console controllers. The analog sticks feel great, the buttons are big, and the D-pad is an actual D-pad. The only version that’s been available so far is based on last year’s Daemon X Machina, but Hori has finally announced three new colours for the Split Pad Pro: Black, Volcanic Red, and Midnight Blue. All three are available to pre-order right now for $50 each and will become available on September 7.
The new colours look great, even the basic Black, which features a translucent shell similar to the Nintendo Switch Pro controller. Other than the colour change, nothing about the actual design has been changed. Thankfully, this is for the better, as the original was already a great way to play games.
Hori’s Split Pad Pro features controller-like buttons and sticks, but they also come with programmable back buttons that you can map to a specific command. Unfortunately, you can only map the back paddles to other buttons on their respective side–you can’t map the left back paddle to any of the ABXY buttons, for example. This doesn’t ruin the experience, however, as the Split Pad Pro is the only thing I use for handheld mode anymore.
This particular controller has been great for games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Dark Souls Remastered, and everything in between. Mapping the back paddles to the tool select in Animal Crossing or even just having the precision of the proper analog sticks and D-pad is highly appreciated. I also haven’t experienced any malfunctions that weren’t fixed by reconnecting the controllers–no Joy-Con drift in sight.
If you’re looking for other options when it comes to making the handheld Nintendo Switch experience better, check out our guide on the best Nintendo Switch grips. There are a number of grips that make the Switch a much more comfortable handheld to play on the go–there’s even one that’ll give your Switch extra battery power when you’re out of the house and away from a power outlet.
M.U.T.E Protocol, the latest limited-time event in Rainbow Six Siege, was deactivated almost as soon as it went live last week due to an exploit that turned players invisible. A hotfix has now gone live to fix the exploit, and M.U.T.E Protocol is back up and available to play.
As a result of its deactivation, the special event’s schedule has been rearranged. M.U.T.E Protocol will now end at 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET on August 24, giving players time to hop in, play the unique mode, and earn new rewards. As compensation for the temporary deactivation, Ubisoft is also granting players who logged into Siege between August 4 (7 AM PT / 10 AM ET) and August 10 (11 AM PT / 2 PM ET) a free collection pack in the next few days. Due to technical limitations, however, challenge progression could not be extended and will instead be reset and reintroduced today.
🤖🤖🤖 Configuring update… 100% complete Reactivating M.U.T.E. Protocol… The M.U.T.E Protocol event is back! Please restart to ensure all the nuts and bolts are in place. Play the special event mode from now until Aug 24th @ 10 AM EDT. pic.twitter.com/KliSmpmyDV
M.U.T.E Protocol transports Siege into the retro-future, pitting robot against robot in a brand new mode. Set on the Tower map, it tasks the attacking team with securing two different areas while the defending team splits their resources in an attempt to stop them.
The special thing about this event is each operator’s use of advanced technology. Attackers are able to switch between operator and drone forms by entering and exiting Observation Tools. While controlling your drone, your operator is nowhere to be seen, and when you switch back, they’ll be where your drone was. Defenders, on the other hand, can use bulletproof cameras to travel digitally. Opening Observation Tools will make your operator enter the network and exiting them will make them appear in front of the last controlled camera, allowing you to navigate the unseen electronic pathways.
The event comes with its own collection of 26 items, featuring exclusive customisation for operator’s Jackal, Lion, Ying, Kapkan, Mira, Mute, Oryx, and Vigil. You can earn M.U.T.E Protocol packs through a special event challenge or purchase packs for 300 R6 Credits or 12500 Renown.
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Activision Blizzard’s latest quarterly revenue report has been released, enabling us to put a dollar figure on the success of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and its free-to-play battle royale spinoff, Warzone. The number is unsurprisingly huge–including a growth of $536 million in year-on-year in-game spending driven mostly by Modern Warfare.
Overall Activision Blizzard saw an increase in in-game spending of $596 million when comparing the three months leading up to June 30 with the equivalent period last year. The large majority of that ($536 million) comes from Activision, while Blizzard saw a $19 million increase primarily driven by World of Warcraft, and King increased by $41 million thanks to the Candy Crush franchise.
Of course, the quarter in question also covers a period where many people worldwide were stuck in lockdown, which resulted in increased spending on games across the board.
Ninjala launched as Switch exclusive back in June, and the free-to-play multiplayer brawler has received updates and free rewards since. Now, in a new update, the game has added a heap of tweaks, additions, and an important change to matchmaking.
Version 2.0, which is live now, introduces worldwide matchmaking, meaning that you’re no longer limited to your region’s servers. “The Ninjala team has recognized that the current matching environment is far from ideal, and has taken player feedback deeply to heart,” the update reads. “In hopes of offering our players an improved matching experience, we have implemented a major update to the matching system.”
After hearing from players that it was frustrating being unable to play with international friends, or at times when few other people in their region are online, developer GunHo has made some changes. “Now that matching has been unified across all regions, we believe it will now be possible to find worthy teammates and opponents at all hours of the day, and that Battle Royale ranked matches will be more rewarding,” the update says.
“In accordance with this change, player ranking–previously broken down by region–will also be unified across the entire world,” it continues. “From this day forward, Ninjala will become a truly global competition.” The matchmaking has received further tweaks to make it easier to find matches.
There have also been extensive tweaks to the game’s weapons, so the full update notes are worth a look if you want to see if your favorite has changed.
Ninjala received a 6/10 in GameSpot’s review. “What we have so far is a solid foundation,” wrote reviewer Steve Watts. “The battle fundamentals are well-designed and unique, and the visual flair is absolutely bursting with personality.”
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