Epic Games has teased that Thor may be coming to Fortnite as part of Season 4, while rumours swirl that the entire season may be Marvel-themed.
The Fortnite account tweeted out a short clip with the god of thunder overlaid on the game’s logo, as well as a release date of August 27th, 2020. A massive Marvel branding sticker appears underneath the art, suggesting that this promotion extends beyond Thor, and may incorporate more superheroes into the game as the season progresses.
Earlier this week, Fortnite news account HYPEX tweeted that they had heard from a trusted source that Season 4 may be Marvel-themed, suggesting that “Thor & his hammer are gonna be cosmetics.”
Now that the rumour has been made official, HYPEX has teased a number of details about Season 4, claiming that it will feature a “Marvel/Thor Point of Interest,” a Wolverine skin and comic book pages for players to collect, hidden throughout the Fortnite map.
Back in July, Square Enix revealed a Marvel’s Avengers x Fortnite crossover, which offered a pickaxe cosmetic resembling Hulk’s smashing hands to player who finished a set of challenges in the Marvel’s Avengers beta. It’s not clear yet whether this is wrapped up with the wider Marvel promotion, but we’ll be sure to hear more when the Season 4 launch date arrives.
Gamescom 2020 is going virtual this year when it runs from August 27-30, and Ubisoft has confirmed that it’ll be there as part of the Indie Arena Booth Online 2020. Ubisoft has games from 13 Canadian and German indie studios that they’ll be presenting as part of the Ubisoft Entrepreneurs initiative. Introduced in 2017, Ubisoft Entrepreneurs has supported indie studios with access to learning exchanges, equity, and funding. The games that will be presented at the Indie Arena Booth include winners from the 2019 and 2020 editions of the Ubisoft Indie Series in Ontario.
“We’re dedicated to sharing our own experience to benefit up-and-coming techno-creative companies and are convinced that thriving indie developers are an essential part of the video game ecosystem,” said Karsten Lehmann, Public Affairs Director at Ubisoft German Studios, in a press release. “Ubisoft is a huge fan of the work being done by these indie developers, and we are extremely proud to support indie studios by showcasing their amazing work at the first Indie Arena Booth Online.”
You can read the full list below of which games will be on show:
Ubisoft games at Indie Booth 2020
For more on Gamescom including when it begins exactly, how to watch, and what to expect from Europe’s largest annual games event, don’t forget to check out GameSpot’s handy guide to this year’s show.
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The final beta weekend for Marvel’s Avengers is now live on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Unlike previous beta trials, this weekend’s is open and free for all players on every platform–you don’t need to pre-order the upcoming superhero adventure to gain access.
The open beta will be available from August 21 to 23 and includes four of the game’s single-player campaign Hero missions, three HARM room challenges, four War Zones, and five Drop Zones. The latter two can be played solo with AI companions, or cooperatively in groups of up to four players.
Developer Crystal Dynamics recently announced that this weekend’s beta will include updates 1.4.0 and 1.5.0 on PS4 and Xbox One, and 26.1 on PC. The latest console update includes fixes for reported crashes, a rare issue where players would lose certain gear, improvements to vaulting, a decreased amount of motion blur during sprint and flight, and many more. Update 26.1 on PC includes many of the same fixes, while also addressing PC specific problems to improve severe stutter, lag, irregular performance, and issues with the Dynamic Screen Resolution feature.
PS4 and Xbox One players who link their Epic Games and Square Enix Members accounts before completing the beta’s three HARM room challenges will also earn a Hulkbuster axe in Fortnite. This weekend is also the last opportunity you’ll have to find the beta’s secret mission.
Epic Games is continuing its PR campaign against Apple and Google to garner public support for its antitrust suit. The company has announced the Free Fortnite Cup, a special tournament offering exclusive gear.
The tournament will take place on Sunday, August 23. To take part, just navigate to the Compete tab and then drop into the tournament using the “#FreeFortnite Cup” playlist. You’ll compete in up to 12 Solo matches, earning points for play. You’ll get 1 point for every three minutes spent on the island, 1 point for every elimination, and 10 points for every Victory Royale.
Earning 10 points or more will earn you a Tart Tycoon outfit, and the top-scoring 20,000 players globally will win a real-life hat emblazoned with the “Free Fortnite” slogan. The company is also giving away various hardware as part of the promotion to the top 1,200 players. Those include Alienware laptops, Galaxy Tab S7, OnePlus8 phones, PlayStation 4, Xbox One X, and Nintendo Switch systems.
Epic Games sparked the legal battle by selling packs of V-Bucks, Fortnite’s in-game currency, in a manner that circumvented Apple and Google’s own marketplaces. That prompted both companies to remove the game listing from their stores, to which Epic quickly responded with its lawsuit. You are still able to play the games on your mobile devices, but Epic claims Apple has retaliated by threatening to remove use of Unreal Engine for developers.
Following a deep dive into NBA 2K21’s gameplay tweaks last week, 2K Sports has dropped new details about the changes coming to the card-collecting MyTeam mode. Seasons, which aren’t all that different from the ones we see in popular multiplayer shooters, will be introduced in this year’s iteration alongside new ways to acquire and modify cards. Check out all of the changes below. And if you’re looking forward to NBA 2K21, you can download a free demo starting today on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch ahead of its September 4 launch.
Seasons will be free
MyTeam’s new Seasons feature will be free for everyone, so you don’t need a paid pass to reap the rewards. 2K says seasons will last about six weeks, with daily, weekly, and entire season objectives in place to work towards, which will further incentivize keeping up with your MyTeam. Season 1’s ultimate reward will be a Pink Diamond Steph Curry.
Within MyTeam, Triple Threat will be updated throughout each season to dole out rewards. New vault prizes will be available, including one Diamond card that will ask you to earn 300 wins–a lofty task. This time around, MyTeam will look to reward those who stick with Triple Threat throughout the year by keeping the rewards coming with each passing Season.
MyTeam seasonal rewards
Evolution cards come with more choices
To give the player more choice over how they construct their team to fit their style, Evolution cards have a branching feature that alters stats based on your chosen path. Additionally, 2K Sports has confirmed that badges are making a return in 2K21 after not appearing in 2K20. Badge cards span across Bronze, Silver, Gold, and even Hall of Fame varieties–though 2K says Hall of Fame badges are difficult to come by.
Next-gen versions of 2K21 for PS5 and Xbox Series Xwill have unique badges as well, giving players something to look forward to as they upgrade.
MyTeam card evolutions
MyTeam progress transfers from current to next-gen
MyTeam progress will transfer to next-gen, provided you’re jumping from Xbox One to Series X or PS4 to PS5. Your card collection as well as Virtual Currency progress will move to next-gen versions, so you don’t have to worry about starting over later this year.
New weekend game mode dubbed MyTeam Limited
Joining MyTeam Unlimited is a new Limited game mode available from Friday to Sunday each week. In MyTeam Limited, you’ll play in 5v5 matches against other players, with the end goal of chasing Championship Rings. Every week, 2K Sports will add a new Championship Ring to MyTeam Limited, which you can earn by winning a match. From there, you can choose to keep the prize or trade it for a mystery reward.
MyTeam Limited ties into Seasons as well. Before a new season starts up, you can exchange the rings you have accumulated for a prize–the more rings you collect, the better the prize you’ll get.
MyTeam Limited
MyTeam Unlimited has also received a makeover, making it a deeper and more feature-rich mode to test your skills against real opponents. MyTeam Unlimited has nine differentiated leagues, each of which features up to 12 games (if you keep winning). Each league has different requirements to progress, with the first only requiring three wins. If you make it to the final league, you’ll have to win every game in order to win an exclusive Galaxy Opal prize. MyTeam Unlimited progress will reset–along with the rewards–at the end of each season.
Swap cards at The Exchange
The Exchange is a brand-new feature in MyTeam that allows you to swap cards you no longer want for new cards. Trading has conditions attached to it, with requirements for how high a card must be rated to turn it in. It sounds like what you receive in return will be unknown to you when you press the button, but 2K Sports promises that some great (and exclusive) cards will be found in The Exchange.
MyTeam The Exchange
Meet the Idols Series Collection
Replacing the Prime series as the most sought-after card collection in MyTeam, the Idol Series Collection will feature some of the best and rarest cards in the game. 15 cards make up the collection, including both current stars and NBA legends. The cards are divided into three sets of five, and if you collect a full set, you’ll earn a unique reward. Obtaining the first five cards will net you a Galaxy Opal card.
Flip over cards, win rewards
Ascension
MyTeam is getting a new rewards mini-game dubbed Ascension. Essentially, throughout your MyTeam journey, you can flip over cards on the rewards board, which is split into three tiers with one prize each. As you flip cards, you’re hoping to find Ascension cards, which bump you up closer to the top. Manage to find the best prize on the top tier and you’ll get a valuable card. You only get a finite number of chances to successfully find the cards you need to keep going on each run. 2K promises that the best reward will change with each new season.
Pre-order bonuses could yield rare cards
Anyone who pre-orders the standard edition of NBA 2K21 will receive 10 promo packs to open when you start MyTeam. Each pack comes with one NBA player, but you will also have the chance to pull rare cards right out of the gate.
For more on bonuses, editions, and the next-gen upgrade, make sure to check out our NBA 2K21 pre-order guide.
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is a hugely competitive game, but not one, necessarily, built with esports in mind. Consequently, the first (unofficial) Fall Guys tournament, which is set for next week and will be an event hosted, should be interesting.
Esports player and speedrunner “GrandPooBear” has announced Fallmania, a “series” of events that will culminate in one streamer taking home a $5000 prize. Interested streamers are free to sign up if they want to be considered for the tournament.
Fallmania is set for August 27. Since there’s no second place in Fall Guys, the competitions will be winner-takes-all.
It’s not yet clear how many rounds will be played, or just how much money is up for grabs–but it seems that each winner will be able to claim $5000.
The very best player out there has been marked with a briefly exclusive costume–although they have not identified themselves as of yet. Perhaps they’ll enter the competition.
If you want to claim your own crowns in Fall Guys, here’s our beginner’s guide.
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Netflix’s The Witcher is coming back for a second season, and production recently resumed–ahead of schedule–following a delay related to COVID-19.
Lead actor Henry Cavill, who plays Geralt on the show, has now shared an image from the set. Posted to Instagram, the picture shows the actor in his makeup chair. There is nothing unusual about that, but Cavill shared that the costume department made a slight change to his outfit for the sophomore season. Cavill will no longer wear a bald cap beneath his ivory locks. This year, he’s been outfitted with some kind of special equipment that doesn’t sound like very much fun to remove.
“No bald cap this year. Just pounds of two types of medical tape and some glue…. Removal is a joy,” Cavill said. “Jacqui and Ailbhe here, though, have the deft touch of angels. Jacqui more so an Angel of Vengeance, but that’s all part of her charm.”
Cavill also noted that he and the rest of the cast and crew are working on The Witcher Season 2 under strict health and safety guidelines due to the virus. “All of us are Covid cleared and bubbled. We get tested twice a week up here in Kaer Morhen!” he said.
Showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich previously stated that Season 2 would appear sometime in 2021. “We don’t want to rush the product,” she said in January. “That doesn’t benefit anyone.” Hissrich has also suggested that the story of The Witcher Season 2 will be easier to follow than that of Season 1, which was spread over different timelines. “The story will be much more linear, now that the three characters’ stories have started to intersect,” she explained.
In addition to Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Netflix’s The Witcher stars Freya Allan as Ciri, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, Eamon Farren as Cahir, and Joey Batey as Jaskier. It’s based on the book series by Andrzej Sapkowski, which in turn inspired the popular video game series.
Today you can score an Alienware Area 51m, Dell’s flagship gaming laptop, for over $2000 off. That’s an amazing deal that won’t last very long. It’s even equipped with one of the best desktop – not laptop – Intel processors you can get. In other news, the Nintendo Switch gaming console is finally back in stock on Amazon, although inventory seems to be limited. The Ring Fit is also back in stock on Amazon and better yet, it’s even been discounted by $10. Finally, Microsoft Flight Simulator is out, and it’s available on Xbox Game Pass for PC. That means you can play it for only $1 if you’re a new member, or $5 if you’ve already signed up before.
______________________________ Eric Song is IGN’s deal curator and spends roughly 1/4 of his income on stuff he posts. Check out his latest Daily Deals Article and subscribe to his IGN Deals Newsletter.
The next open beta for Marvel’s Avengers is coming up this weekend, starting August 21 on all platforms, and there will be a series of updates and improvements this time around.
The new open beta will include updates 1.4.0 1.5.0 on PS4 and Xbox One, developer Crystal Dynamics announced in a blog post. The updates include fixes for crash scenarios and improvements for the vaulting mechanics. There is also now an option in the settings to adjust the camera shake sensitivity, while the amount of motion blur has been decreased when you’re sprinting and flying.
The 1.5.0 update specifically fixes a problem that could cause players to lose gear, while even more crash fixes are included with the latest patch. You can see the full patch notes for 1.4.0 and 1.5.0 below. The PC patch notes will be announced later.
The latest Marvel’s Avengers open beta begins August 21 and runs through the weekend, ending August 23, and it’s open to everyone across PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
The beta content includes four single-player missions, three HARM room challenges, four War Zones, and five Drop Zones. Those who connect their Square Enix and Epic Games accounts and complete certain objectives can earn a Hulkbuster axe in Fortnite.
In a news release, Crystal Dynamics boss Scot Amos said the previous beta weekends for Marvel’s Avengers attracted “millions” of players who tallied “tens of millions” of hours of gameplay.
Marvel’s Avengers will be released on September 4.
Marvel’s Avengers Open Beta Patch Notes
Beta Update 1.4.0 – PS4 and Xbox One
Added an option in Settings to adjust Camera Shake Sensitivity
Decreased amount of motion blur during sprint and flight
Multiple improvements and optimizations made to matchmaking
Changed default settings to wide combat camera distance, heavy targeting assistance and matchmaking disabled
Improvement to vaulting
Fixed several reported crashes
Fixed issue with multiple Super Heroes spawning
Decreased delay of loot drops
Save game optimizations
Beta Update 1.5.0 – PS4 and Xbox One
Fixed rare issue of players losing certain gear
Additional matchmaking improvements
Rare crashes fixes
Moved Enable Matchmaking prompt to occur after the War Table is unlocked
Added a link to 1st Party store to main menu
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In discussions of next-gen consoles, I often see the questions pop up: “Why would I get an Xbox Series X if I have a good PC and Game Pass?” or “I’m fine with the Xbox One X, why would I jump to a Series X?” Well yeah, why would you? Xbox, as a brand, kind of doesn’t care if that Game Pass subscriber with a beefy PC buys the next console–that person is already in the Xbox ecosystem. And if you’re cool with your One X, you’re still buying games and likely subscribing to Xbox Live and/or Game Pass services as well.
On the show, Spencer said, “‘How many consoles do I sell versus how many consoles does another company sell; Sony, or Nintendo, or other companies back in the day?’ That’s not our approach. If that was our approach, we wouldn’t put our games on PC. We wouldn’t put our games on Xbox One. We wouldn’t do xCloud and allow people to play games on their phones.”
Phil Spencer has been consistent and vocal with this messaging, because it is the future of Xbox. Microsoft’s goal isn’t to get everyone to buy a specific piece of hardware, the goal is to permeate everyone’s devices with gaming under the Xbox umbrella. The Xbox Series X will just be the top-tier option, if you want it. If not, well, there are several other ways to play Xbox games.
Before the Xbox Series X was even revealed, we spent some time with Spencer to get his detailed thoughts on running the Xbox brand. In our profile, he told us, “The number of people that are actually buying a console every generation isn’t growing dramatically, if at all.” He continued, “At one point you have to recognize that you can’t just lead with one device. You can’t just say, ‘Here’s an Xbox. I’m going to go sell this device to every single person and that’s what they’re going to play on.’ That just doesn’t work.”
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has been taking the Xbox brand in a new, consumer-friendly direction for quite some time now.
In many ways, Microsoft is letting the Xbox Series X speak for itself. By all accounts, it’s a technological marvel that’ll act as the best possible Xbox console available when it comes out. “I want to have a great experience on the television and I think Xbox Series X is absolutely going to deliver that,” Spencer assured. As Microsoft has revealed more about the Series X’s technical prowess, that seems to be the case–the Velocity architecture, the cooling system, quick resume, native 4K resolution, 8K and 120Hz capabilities, and that ultra-fast SSD that can even surpass what’s on the market for high-end gaming PCs. There’s enough there to justify the existence of the Xbox Series X, but not everyone needs or wants that to play games.
As we inch closer to launch and dive into more comparisons between PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, it’s important to keep in mind exactly what the Xbox brand is aiming for and how it defines success.
“We want you to be able to use Game Pass across any screen you want to play on, and that would be our long-term goal. It’s not about playing on any one individual screen,” Spencer said on the talk show. He’s made it clear, too, that Microsoft is still playing the numbers game, just a different one: “How many players are playing, how many games are they playing, are they enjoying those games, how many friends are they playing with? That’s our approach for Xbox and getting people on board.”
Keep in mind that console manufacturers notoriously sell units at a loss, and make their money through game sales and subscription services. And since that’s the case, it’s really smart that Xbox is doubling down on the latter, and widening the pool of people who have the opportunity to buy into those things. But it’s not all rainbows and sunshine quite yet.
Xbox head of marketing Aaron Greenberg indicated that Game Pass isn’t a huge money-maker right now, saying it’s “not a big profit play.” Rather, it’s again, playing the numbers game in a different way. “When people feel like you’re over-delivering on value, they want to not only continue to use your service, but they want to tell their friends about it. The most powerful marketing is word-of-mouth,” he said. And it’s pretty easy to get your friends on board if they’re not bound by having to buy the latest and greatest hardware if they don’t want to. Greenberg assured that they’re not worried about the short-term, and said, “Ultimately, we think long-term, that’s the right thing for the business and will have long-term benefits for us.”
Xbox has made it a point to bring all its first-party games to PC because it wants you to buy those games, or subscribe to Game Pass to get access. In that regard, I guess there’s no true Series X exclusive, but Microsoft also isn’t playing that game anymore either. For example, an upcoming title called The Medium will not be coming to Xbox One by virtue of it taking advantage of Series X-specific hardware capabilities, but it will be available on PC. This suggests that, eventually, the Xbox One platform would be phased out, but by many accounts, an entry-level type of Xbox Series console is on the way–the rumored Xbox Series S. And when Xbox One owners do want to make the jump, they’ll have their entire library to bring along with them via Smart Delivery or the fact that Xbox has made a concerted effort to make nearly every major game backward compatible.
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Halo Infinite Gameplay Demo | Xbox Games Showcase 2020
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As we inch closer to launch and dive into more comparisons between PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, it’s important to keep in mind exactly what the Xbox brand is aiming for and how it defines success. Sure, Xbox won’t have Halo: Infinite as a system seller at launch, but the metrics for success aren’t just console sales anymore. Halo: Infinite is coming to PC and Xbox One too, so getting you to play Halo: Infinite in some form is the goal (even through its free-to-play multiplayer model), and will be for any of Xbox’s big games. If you want to do that on the Series X or any other capable device, Xbox is leaving that up to you. As Spencer said, “Access to games, access to your friends and the community–we want people to feel like they’re a member of Xbox and that membership isn’t about one device, it can be on multiple devices.”
Microsoft’s flagship gaming platform isn’t necessarily the Xbox Series X, hell, it may not even be a console–it very much looks like it’s Xbox Game Pass, which is on any Xbox console or PC, and will eventually be on phones via xCloud. It’s time to stop looking at the Xbox Series X like it’s supposed to be Microsoft’s savior or that the Xbox brand is putting all its eggs in that basket with a future riding on console sales. That’s not Xbox’s game. It’s evident how they’ve structured their ecosystem, and it’s evident in the way they’ve communicated it.
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