Author: Trafficblast

Innersloth’s Among Us has launched on Xbox Game Pass for PC and will come to Xbox Game Pass for Console in 2021.

The announcement was revealed in an amended post on the Xbox blog, which reflected the imminent launch of the game on the PC version of the Game Pass service. If you subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you’ll be able to access Among Us on PC now and then on console when it launches in 2021.

HEY UH YEAH SO
@XboxGamePassPC – out now!!
Among Us on @Xbox consoles in 2021!!

xbox, we cannot wait for you all to join us as crewmates. you can hold our hand as we go into electrical together.

all info: https://t.co/1fro4e4fb0 https://t.co/fWY7fL9TPx

— Among Us (@AmongUsGame) December 17, 2020

Innersloth followed up with a tweet from the official Among Us account, noting that the game will arrive “on Xbox consoles in 2021”. The wording there suggests it will come to the Xbox One and Xbox Series family of consoles when it launches next year.

In other Among Us news, the game launched on Nintendo Switch earlier this week as part of Nintendo’s Indie World presentation. Players have already found a glitch that lets them access the Airship map early on Nintendo Switch, even though the new location is set to launch at some point in Early 2021.

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Steve Buscemi is bringing together a whole host of his celebrity friends and fellow comedians for a two-hour live fundraising event to raise money for Friends of Firefighters – a charity that was founded following 9/11 to support active and retired FDNY firefighters and their families.

The Fireside Chat with Steve Buscemi will feature several celebrity guests, including Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Judd Apatow, Julie Bowen, Dan Bulla, Tim Herlihy, Kevin James, Tim Meadows, Colin Quinn, Jackie Sandler, Rob Schneider, Kenan Thompson and more for an intimate evening of casual conversation and a celebration of the incredible work of firefighters.

The star-studded charity stream will be raising money through Tiltify, and can be watched live directly on IGN.com and via IGN’s YouTube, IGN’s Facebook, IGN’s Twitter, or IGN’s Twitch platforms on Tuesday, December 22nd at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET.

[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/02/18/7-great-comedies-that-critics-hated”]

Audiences will have the opportunity to participate in the event and interact with the celebrity line-up throughout the live stream, where the guests will be discussing their movies and answering some of the donor questions that are submitted. There will also be a few surprises mixed into the two-hour chat, with viewers being given the chance to win various items by donating to the campaign.

This is the second charity stream that Steve Buscemi is participating in this month. The actor (and former firefighter) is also featuring as a guest on The Sopranos’ virtual holiday reunion, together with David Chase, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Robert Iler, Drea de Matteo, Vincent Pastore, Steve Schirripa, and Jamie-Lynn Sigler in support of Friends of Firefighters.

[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=the-25-best-comedies&captions=true”]

[poilib element=”accentDivider”]

Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Epic Games has launched its latest seasonal event in Fortnite: Battle Royale, and as you might guess from the name, it’s a winter-themed one. Operation Snowdown brings new activities and free rewards for all players to take part in and earn from now until January 5.

During Operation Snowdown, the NPC Snowmando will offer quests with a variety of new seasonal rewards, such as the Frosty Globes pickaxe, Shield Surprise back bling, and more gliders and wraps, plus another back bling and pickaxe. You can get a peek at some of these in the image below. There are also new and returning skins/outfits to purchase on the Fortnite item shop. Everyone can also now claim the Sing Along emote, which causes you to pull out a book and begin caroling, for free from the item shop–if you purchased it previously, you’ll get your V-Bucks refunded.

Gallery

While you’re playing, you’ll also encounter new tools to get the job done. There are custom X-4 Stormwing planes that are wrapped in Christmas lights, special Chiller grenades, Sneaky Snowmandos (which disguise you as a snowman), and “Snowmando-wrapped presents.”

Alongside all of this, there will be a mix of new and returning limited-time modes. Shockwave is a new mode where players try to bump into each other to send enemies flying into the storm, which deals extra damage–it sounds a bit like a sumo-style competition. Pickaxe Frenzy will be available as an LTM, and Air Royale will make a return. These modes will be on a rotation, although the Snowdown Shuffle playlist will allow you to play one of these at random.

It sounds as if you shouldn’t expect any other major Fortnite updates for the remainder of the year, as Epic’s announcement of this event notes that the development team is “tak[ing] off for the holidays.” Earlier this month, Fortnite on PC got a new Performance mode to help it run on lower-end hardware, while PS5 and Xbox Series X players got 120fps support. Epic also launched the new Spy Within mode that is basically Among Us.

Indie developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has been aiming the ambitious Stardew Valley 1.5 update for this year, but if you’ve looked at a calendar lately you know there’s not much of this year left. But fret not, fellow farmers: Barone says he may still be able to release the update this year on PC.

In answering a fan on Twitter, Barone said it might come out on PC this year, though console players will still have to wait for early 2021. This was only a “might,” so it seems he may still be working through some last remaining bugs and polish, as he said in November.

Previously, Barone has said that most of the new content is aimed at endgame players who have developed their farms, though there will be new features that players will be able to enjoy if they start from the beginning too. At least one new feature is split-screen cooperative play, which may support up to four players depending on the platform. Barone also teased a new door in the back of Willie’s shop, but where it goes or what it does is unknown.

Stardew Valley was based on classic Harvest Moon games, and it has sold more than 10 million copies to other farming fans.

The much-anticipated next-gen update for Control: Ultimate Edition launches in February, developer Remedy Entertainment has announced. This will bring technical enhancements to the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game; as it stands, those platforms can only play the existing, backwards-compatible version of the hit sci-fi action game.

This update offers two different graphics settings to choose from on next-gen hardware. Performance mode offers 60fps gameplay, which–if it’s able to stay locked–would come as a very welcome addition given the frame rate inconsistencies of playing Control on last-gen hardware. The alternative is Graphics mode, which drops the frame rate to 30fps but introduces ray tracing features.

The brief video above demonstrates the two running on PS5, with the silky smooth frame rate of Performance mode looking quite nice–although it’s shown in a scene without any combat or effects that might put a strain on the hardware. It also quickly shows off the implementation of ray tracing, which will at the very least involve ray-traced reflections based on what we see. It’s a stark contrast to see the windows shift from milky panes to offering such accurate reflections, but it’ll be up to you to decide whether you prefer ray tracing or a higher frame rate. Fortunately, it looks as if you can flip between the two from the in-game settings menu without having to restart.

Remedy will launch the digital version of Control: Ultimate Edition on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on February 2, 2021, followed by the physical version on March 2, 2021. If you own the existing version of Control: Ultimate edition, you’ll be able to upgrade for free. However, owners of the base game–even those who have also purchased the DLC, meaning they have everything in Ultimate edition–will not be eligible for the upgrade.

Control was one of 2019’s best games and has since expanded with a pair of DLC expansions, The Foundation and AWE, both of which are included in Ultimate edition.

Gears Tactics released earlier this year on PC and just last month on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One. Since launching on console, it’s practically always been on sale for 50% off. But Amazon’s current deal discounts Gears Tactics to its lowest price yet for a limited time. Right now, you can grab a digital copy of Gears Tactics for only $20. The code is cross-platform and works on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.

As this is an Amazon deal, there’s no telling how long it will be available. However, it seems unlikely we’ll see Gears Tactics discounted to a lower price any time soon, so if you’re interested in the game, we’d suggest snagging this deal as soon as possible. It’s worth noting that Gears Tactics is available on Xbox Game Pass, which may partially explain the steep discount so close to release.

The fast-paced turn-based strategy game earned an 8/10 in GameSpot’s Gears Tactics review. “Though Gears Tactics wears itself a little thin by the end of its protracted campaign, the rush of pulling together a victory from the jaws of defeat carries an exciting, chaotic energy,” critic Mike Epstein wrote. “Unlike most strategy games, playing well doesn’t necessarily make you feel like a mastermind, so much as though you’ve cheated death. Every successful plan, even a last-ditch effort, feels like a small stroke of genius. That’s no small feat.”

If you’re looking for more games to play on Xbox Series X|S or Xbox One during the holiday, make sure to check out the Xbox Store’s Countdown Sale, which features more than 800 games. PC players should also take a peek at the Epic Games Store’s Holiday Sale and GOG’s Winter Sale.