Riot’s new tactical shooter game, Valorant, isn’t even out of beta and yet the developers are already having to crack down on cheaters. According to Paul Chamberlain, programmer and anti-cheat lead on Valorant, the very first ban has already been issued.
Well it sucks, but today we had to ban our first cheater (and it looks like more bans are on the horizon). I was hoping for a little more time before this fight kicked off but we’re in it now and we’re ready.
Chamberlain says that more bans are on the horizon, with Riot looking to snuff out hackers the moment they pop up in-game. It has only been three days since the closed beta began, but it seems that was enough time for some players to break through the anti-cheat system that Riot developed. The system was designed to weed out the cheaters using an AI that would investigate and monitor players, with the final decision coming from the anti-cheat team.
It is frustrating to see this behavior in brand new games, where everyone should be starting off with the same level of play. Hopefully Riot continues to bring down the hackers as they pop up and work towards eliminating these kinds of players for good.
The Pokemon Company is cracking down on players who are abusing an exploit recently found in Pokemon Shield and Sword competitive play.
The exploit allows players to turn off their Switch at just the right time after losing a match, resulting in them not losing any competitive points or lowering their rank. This is made worse by the fact that the winner in these matches would not receive any points for their victory.
“Currently, we are checking whether some players have been purposefully cutting their internet connections during battle stadium ranking battles and internet-based competitions to manipulate their results,” says the Pokemon Company blog post.
Going forward, those who use this exploit will be excluded from future ranking battles, live battles, or internet competitions. The company may even suspend the user from online Pokemon Sword and Shield content, temporarily or permanently.
Unfortunately, it comes down to threats of bans and consequences from the company in order to make people stop. If the crackdown fails to force players to abandon the exploit and fight fairly, Nintendo will have to step in and patch the exploit out completely. The Pokemon Company certainly has time now with the Pokemon World Championships 2020 being cancelled.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
As the seasons change in real life, Animal Crossing: New Horizons‘ seasons change, too. There are a variety of seasonal events and items, including seasonal DIY recipes you can only get during the right time of year. The beginning of April–or October in the Southern Hemisphere–is Animal Crossing’s cherry blossom season, and just like in real life, it’s unfortunately very brief.
Cherry blossom season runs from April 1 to 10 in the Northern Hemisphere and October 1 to 10 in the Southern Hemisphere. During cherry blossom season, all hardwood trees (not fruit or cedar trees) bloom pink, and cherry blossoms fall around you. You can catch these cherry blossoms with any net to use them in a variety of cherry blossom-themed DIY recipes, all of which you can get from balloons, message bottles, or villagers. They are listed below.
All Cherry Blossom DIY Recipes
Outdoor picnic set (given by Isabelle at the start of cherry blossom season)
Blossom-viewing lantern
Cherry-blossom pond stone
Cherry-blossom-petal pile
Cherry-blossom bonsai
Cherry-blossom branches
Cherry-blossom clock
Cherry-blossom umbrella
Cherry-blossom pochette
Cherry-blossom wand
Cherry-blossom-trees wall
Cherry-blossom flooring
Sakura-wood wall
Sakura-wood flooring
Each of these recipes will appear in your DIY recipes list under the “seasonal” tab, and each of them has a pink background aside from the cherry-blossom pond stone, which has a gray background.
The Freak Show is shocked by the tragic death of Ma Petite but they don’t know the full truth of what really happened to her. Elsa Mars takes her passing especially hard but Ethel isn’t entirely convinced of her intentions. Ultimately, the two have a face-to-face showdown and it doesn’t end well for one of them.
Gloria Mott’s concern for her son Dandy grows even further and she seeks out professional help. Unfortunately, Dandy isn’t a fan of that idea. Dora’s daughter Regina shows up at the Mott mansion and demands to see her mother. By the end of the episode, Dandy kills again and bathes in blood.
Meanwhile, the ladies of the Freak Show team up to help Penny make a stand against her abusive father and, once again, Elsa welcomes a new performer into the group.
The upcoming game from League of Legends developer Riot Games is currently in beta and we’ve put several hours into it. It’s called Valorant, and it draws heavily from Counter-Strike with elements of Overwatch, blending them into a tactical hero-based FPS. Gameplay-wise, Valorant is hitting many of the right notes with gunplay that’s close to CSGO and a roster of Agents with unique abilities that can make or break each round. In terms of structure, it offers a single mode in the beta, a five-on-five round-based demolition mode.
In the video above, we break down our experience so far with the perspective of a long-time Counter-Strike player. Everything from basic strategies, how Agent powers have affected play, and what’s it’s like from a visual standpoint. It may not grab you with flashy animations or impressive presentation qualities, but its gameplay systems seem to be tight thus far.
For more details on the game, including its microtransactions and features outside of gamplay, check out our look at everything we know so far. Valorant is scheduled to release in Summer 2020, so be sure to stick to GameSpot for more coverage of the game.
The release schedule for the MCU Phase 4 films may have been shifted back thanks to the global COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, but the minds behind Marvel’s biggest movies are still hard at work on their upcoming projects. Director Taika Waititi took to Instagram Live to participate in the latest social distancing trend: a live commentary/watch-a-long where he could answer fans’ questions about both Thor: Ragnarok and the upcoming Thor: Love And Thunder, aka Thor 4.
And of course, because it’s Taika Waititi, he also took the time to get in some very hilarious trolling in the form of a fake script (featuring the resurrection of Tony Stark) and some fake (or is it?) concept art of Miek in a new mech-suit.
But first, the comments that definitely (probably) aren’t jokes. Waititi told fans that the script for Love And Thunder is “so over the top now, in the best way,” and that it “makes Ragnarok seem like a very safe film. It feels like we asked a bunch of 10-year-olds what they want to see in a movie and said yes to all of them.”
Considering Ragnarok’s status as one of the most off-the-wall movies in the MCU pantheon, this all seems like a very tall order. But given the rich and oftentimes completely absurd lore behind Thor and his Asgardian friends over in Marvel Comics, it is certainly a promise that could be delivered upon in spades. Here’s hoping for some live-action Beta Ray Bill, AKA alien horse Thor, and Frog Thor, AKA, a uh, frog, with the powers of Thor.
Waititi’s trolling came in the form of a fake script page that we managed to snag a few screenshots of. If you’re having trouble reading, the important bits are Tony Stark saying that he’s back “because science” and that “also, Thanos is back.” This leads to Thor saying “so…we’re assembling again?” To which Tony responds, “Again, again. It’s GO TIME. Everyone who died is coming back. And this time we’re avenging even more than ever. From now on we’ll be known as The Avengererers.”
Seems like a pretty decent premise, if you ask us.
Also among the shared images were what seem to be concept renders of fan-favorite Thor Ragnarok Alien, Miek, wearing both a brand new red-and-white mech suit (complete with ample hips and legs that just won’t quit) and a very 80s business suit. It’s a real day look/night look dichotomy. Waititi then teased that Love And Thunder will also delve deeper into the origins of Miek’s good friend Korg, who was last seen getting absolutely wrecked while playing Fortnite with Thor back in Avengers: Endgame.
Here’s hoping all of this is true.
Thor: Love And Thunder is scheduled for release on February 28, 2022.
There’s no easing into making a competitive game in 2020. Already inundated with games like Overwatch, Rainbow Six Siege, the battle royales, the MOBAs, and the auto chesses, players have plenty of choices, so if you want to present an alternative, it had better be ready for prime time. Bleeding Edge, the new third-person competitive brawler from DmC developer Ninja Theory, doesn’t feel like it’s there yet. There’s plenty of potential: Its four-on-four scrums blend the mashy feeling of an old school beat-em-up with the tactical considerations of MOBAs and hero shooters, setting it apart from anything you’re going to find in popular competitive scenes. However, it suffers from “early days” growing pains that may push players away, rather than draw them in.
Bleeding Edge is a self-described competitive multiplayer “brawler,” but what does that actually mean? Depending on your point of reference, you could call it a “boots on the ground-style MOBA” or a “third-person hero shooter.” It’s an action game where two teams of four fight within the narrative framework of competing in one of two team sports–a King of the Hill-style “Objective Control” scenario and “Power Collection,” a resource-hoarding mode where players need to break energy canisters and return their contents to designated points at specific times. Though the two variants have their quirks, both boil down to dynamic point control. Whether you’re delivering energy or protecting your “hills,” you need to defend a position. If you’re trying to block your enemy from scoring in either mode, you need to take a position.
Both of these things require all four players to work as a team. Though some fighters are better suited for one-on-one combat than others, moving and fighting as a squad is mandatory because the team with larger numbers almost always wins, regardless of skill. Inevitably, each match becomes a series of teamfights for control of an area. In the moment, these battles can feel a bit mashy and sloppy as you rapidly jam on the attack button, but there’s a good deal of strategy involved around creating favorable matchups, combining skills to maximize damage dealt and minimize damage taken, and positioning yourself to avoid wide-reaching crowd control attacks. On top of that, all of the levels present some kind of environmental hazard around one or more of the key points on the map, which can throw a wrench in the gears of the most pivotal moments in a match.
The caveat, though, is that everyone needs to “play their class” as expected. With only four people to a team, having even one person who isn’t paying attention to the objective or using their skills to help the team can drain the fun out of the game very quickly. This turns matchmaking into a bit of a crapshoot. You never know whether you’re going to get teammates who know the score, or will drop everything to start fights, or play the objective too hard and ignore the team. Despite a warning when you turn on the game for the first time that communication is important, only a handful of players used headsets in my experience. While there is an Apex Legends-style ping system that works pretty well for silent players, many players don’t pay attention to it. Even with solid communication options, the rigid demands of the gameplay make it easy for a single uncooperative person to spoil the match for the rest.
When you get eight situationally aware players, though, there’s a lot to love. The characters– their design and balance–are the best part of Bleeding Edge. From the conventionally cool graffiti-artist street samurai Daemon to Maeve, the cyberpunk witch, to Cass, an emo assassin with robotic bird legs, each of the 11 characters in the initial roster has a distinctive and interesting look.
More importantly, they also have a set of abilities that makes them especially well-suited to their specific kind of play. In modern competitive fashion, each character has a unique set of stats and rechargeable special moves that make them useful in a specific context, which really only presents itself when coordinating with your teammates. The characters are broken up into three classes–Damage, Support, Tank–but each character’s approach to the role is unique. For example, Buttercup–a human-motorcycle hybrid–is a Tank made for crowd control: She forces enemies to engage with her by dragging enemies to her with a grappling hook and use an “oil slick” ability to slow them down. By contrast, fellow Tank El Bastardo is slightly less durable but deals more damage thanks to a very powerful standard attack and a crowd-clearing spin attack that will push enemies away from him. It takes a little practice to fully understand those distinctions well enough to take advantage of them, but it’s easy to see how each fighter works.
There’s even a little room for customization: Between matches, you can equip a set of mods–which you can earn by playing with specific characters or buy with in-game currency–to amplify your stats and skills in different ways. If you consider one attack or special ability more important than the others, you can min-max those boons to accommodate your playstyle. Each character begins with a set of default mods, so there is an inherent feeling of trading emphases, rather than building power over time. Customization in competitive multiplayer games is often a fool’s gambit–many games destroy their balance with overpowerful gear–but Bleeding Edge’s mods thread the needle. They’re powerful to punctuate specific skills, without making them unstoppable.
While each character is well-balanced individually, the roster as a whole feels unbalanced at times. Given that you only have four players on each team, it’s easy to get forced into a specific role or even a specific character. With 11 characters (and one more announced fighter on the way), there are a limited number of choices at each position. On top of that, certain characters fill the role better than others. Zerocool, the hacker, is the only pure healer, for example. Unless teammates use the other two support characters in tandem, it’s hard to justify not picking him when playing that role. The lack of choice can be frustrating: In matchmaking, it can make you feel obligated to play as a character you don’t like and may lead to you playing out of character, which isn’t very fun.
We should also address the hyper-intelligent 800-pound gorilla in the room. Bleeding Edge cribs a lot from Overwatch. Though unique and clever, the character designs collectively exude the same faux-Pixar veneer as the Overwatch cast. Then again, they cut it pretty close sometimes. Mekko, the 12th Bleeding Edge character, is a dolphin controlling a giant robot, which sounds a lot like Wrecking Ball, Overwatch’s Hamster in a giant robot. On a technical level, both of Bleeding Edge’s modes feel very similar to Overwatch’s “Control.” Don’t get me wrong: King of the Hill is not unique to Overwatch by any means–multiplayer games have been riffing on the form for years–but the MOBA-esque skillsets of Bleeding Edge’s characters lead you to approach those scenarios with hero shooter tactics.
In some ways, building on the foundation created by other esports works to Bleeding Edge’s advantage. Despite the fact that it’s a new game with a lot of rules and idiosyncrasies to learn, it will quickly feel familiar and comfortable to fans of competitive games because so many of its gameplay elements, from game types to character abilities, are modeled off ideas from other games. No character takes long to learn, which means you’re going to find your groove and start having fun quickly. And, ultimately, Bleeding Edge’s third-person perspective and a roster with lots of melee and ranged fighters distinguishes itself from the rest of the pack. Once you start playing, it’s easy to look past the things you recognize and appreciate the benefits of this new configuration.
Still, for all that Bleeding Edge gets right, it really feels like the game’s “early days.” It’s missing crucial staples of competitive games, like ranked play, which allows you to invest the experience and keeps people playing, long-term. I’d like to believe Microsoft and Ninja Theory will keep tweaking and expanding the game so it can compete with other competitive multiplayer games, but right now it feels like a temporary multiplayer fix for players looking to break up the monotony, rather than the next esports obsession.
The first season of Pokemon Go‘s Go Battle League is underway, and soon you’ll have a way to track how you and other players are performing. Developer Niantic has announced it is rolling out leaderboards for the Go Battle League on Friday, April 10.
The leaderboard update will arrive after the Go Battle League changes formats from Ultra League to Master League. The leaderboard will display the top 500 players along with their teams, rankings, ratings, and total matches. Niantic says the leaderboard will update every day between 8 and 10 PM UTC, and standings will be based on the previous day’s ratings.
To celebrate the launch of leaderboards, Niantic is holding a special Marill event in Pokemon Go this weekend. The event takes place on April 12. You’ll have better chances of encountering Marill the more Go Battle League matches you win between 11 AM and 2 PM local time on that day, and you’re guaranteed to encounter the Aqua Mouse Pokemon as a Basic Reward after your first and third wins.
Additionally, you’ll earn twice the normal amount of Stardust each time you catch Marill during the event, and you’ll be able to complete 20 sets of Go Battle League matches instead of the usual five throughout the entire period. You can read more details about the leaderboard update and Marill event on the official Pokemon Go website.
In the meantime, Pokemon Go’s spring 2020 event has just kicked off. Until April 16, Pokemon like Exeggcute, Chansey, Mareep, Marill, and Torchic will appear in the wild more often than normal. You’ll also have a chance to encounter Shiny Exeggcute, flower crown Buneary, and flower hat Pikachu. The Legendary Pokemon Landorus is also available in Raids until April 21, and April’s Field Research tasks are live.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Heatseeker is a 3v3 limited-time mode where the ball essentially becomes a homing missile. Once a player touches it, the ball “seeks” the opposing team’s goal. The only way to redirect the ball is for it to either hit the backboard or get touched by another player. Be warned, though: each touch–whether by the backboard or another player–causes the ball to gain speed. Heatseeker will run from April 16-20, and you can check out the announcement trailer below.
Psyonix also announced that anyone who logs into Rocket League when Heatseeker goes live on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One next week will receive a free Hypnoteks player banner.
In other Rocket League news, Psyonix dropped a small update across all platforms that tweaks the inventory filters system, allows users to trade in Blueprints for better ones, moves the camera further back and reduces the screen shake intensity for newcomers, and more.
With everyone stuck at home, it can be hard to tell when the week ends and the weekend begins. Thankfully, Microsoft has been holding a ton of free-play periods for Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate users to help us figure out when the heck Saturday and Sunday roll around. The latest features four games: Gears 5, Override: Mech City Brawl, The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, and Hitman: The Complete First Season. And if you want to keep playing the games after this weekend, you can buy them and keep them forever.
Gear 5’s Free Play Days event started earlier this week and continues through April 12. It features the latest update, Operation 3: Gridiron; a new Capture the Flag-style mode; and new maps and characters, including series favourites Augustus Cole and Clayton Carmine. Once the Free Play Days promotion ends, you can buy Gears 5 for $30 or upgrade to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at $1 for your first month to keep playing.
Override: Mech City Brawl and Hitman are both free to play from now until April 13 at 12 AM PT / 3 AM ET. Override is a brawler where you pilot one of 12 mechs against other players online or in the single-player campaign. If you want to keep playing, you can snag Override: Mech City Brawl for only $4.49.
Hitman, on the other hand, is a third-person action game, where you have to take out your targets as creatively as possible and without getting caught. GameSpot’s Hitman review scored it an 8/10 and called it “a brilliant game.” Unfortunately, it’s not currently discounted. You can, however, pick it up at Amazon for only $17.
The last free-play Xbox One game is The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, which has been available for a week now. Thankfully, you can still jump into the popular MMO and wander familiar lands like Skyrim, Morrowind, and Oblivion for free until April 14 at 12 AM PT / 3 AM ET. If you want to keep playing after that, you can pick up The Elder Scrolls Online for $8 or upgrade to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
