Author: Trafficblast

Welcome to Nintendo Voice Chat! The show kicks off this week with a discussion about IGN’s Game of the Year awards, including the winner for best Switch game. Then, hear the crew’s thoughts on the latest Indie World showcase from Nintendo, which gave us a look at a bunch of upcoming Switch games, including Sports Story, Axiom Verge 2, Streets of Rage 4, and much more. In the news, the panel discusses Shovel Knight’s final expansion, the recent talk about MLB The Show, and more. Then, on Question Block, the panel decides if Nintendo should give Kid Icarus another shot.

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On this week’s episode of IGN’s weekly PlayStation show, Podcast Beyond, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by Brian Altano, Max Scoville, and Ryan McCaffrey to discuss the final PlayStation State of Play of 2019.

The crew tackles the big announcements like Resident Evil 3, Predator: Hunting Grounds’ release date, Ghost of Tsushima’s teaser for a Game Awards trailer, and more. Plus the cast also discusses MLB: The Show’s multiplatform future, Max’s hands-on time with Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, and much more.

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EA has announced a new update for Anthem, which also launches a brand-new winter-themed season called Icetide. The update adds several new pieces of content to Anthem, including environmental changes, world events, challenges, cosmetics, and ways to unlock legendary gear.

“Shaper devices have brought localized ice storms into Bastion, bringing excitement with every glittering snowflake across the region,” EA writes in the update’s full patch notes. “Ice is rare here, but when it arrives, people know that Icetide celebrations will soon follow. Holiday lights shine throughout Fort Tarsis, their bright colors sparkling on blankets of snow.”

Throughout Icetide, new seasonal strongholds will unlock each week–presenting ways of acquiring large amounts of crystals and unlocking Icetide’s seasonal in-game items. Icetide also adds new freeplay time trials, a legendary world event, challenges, cosmetic items, and collectibles.

If you’re hoping to expand your arsenal and unlock more legendary gear, the update makes it easier to do so. Completing daily and weekly challenges will now earn you guardian tokens, which can be offered in tribute at one of the Tombs of the Legionnaires to automatically get a random legendary item that has +5 gear score. The type of item you earn from each tomb is listed below. Additionally, in Grandmaster 3, all legendary loot drops will now begin with a +5 gear score.

New Tomb Of Legionnaires Offerings

• Tomb of Artinia: Legendary Weapons
• Tomb of Cariff: Legendary Gear
• Tomb of Yvenia: Legendary Melee Weapons and Javelin-Specific Components
• Tomb of Gawnes: Legendary Support Gear and Universal Components

The remainder of the update is bug fixes, with most geared towards improving Anthem’s overall stability. Some of the bug fixes are designed to better balance Anthem as well, such as a fix for the issue that was causing the Rainmaker to occasionally deal out damage almost 200% stronger than intended. If you were relying on certain bugs to help you overcome troublesome bosses, you may want to check the patch notes and see whether that option is still available to the build you’re using.

Anthem Update 1.6 Patch Notes

New Features

• Seasonal Themed Strongholds – Each week a different featured seasonal Stronghold will unlock for players—now including score leaderboards. If you’re up to the challenge, compete with other Freelancers for the highest score. Visit the Seasonal Store to exchange your Crystal for War Chests.
• Freeplay Time Trials – Have you ever wanted to put your javelin flight and navigation skills to the test? Join Freeplay, and race through eight time trials that can be found in Bastion. Try to beat our Gold times!
• New Legendary World Event: Icetide Coolant Harvesting – Help the Arcanist harvest precious coolant resources while fighting off the outlaw forces that are trying to steal it from you.
• New Challenges – Explore the Challenges to see vanity rewards! Gain new armor sets, special time trial wraps, and more.
• New Hidden Collectables – Explore the region to find all Festive Wreaths.
• Icetide Cortex Entries – Explore the region to find new story entries to add to your Cortex.
• More Powerful Drops in Grandmaster 3 – All Legendary loot drops on GM3 now drop with +5 Gear Score.
• New Tomb of Legionnaires Offering – New Guardians’ Tokens are granted through daily and weekly challenges. Freelancers can make offerings of a Guardian Token and additional crafting materials within the Tombs of the Legionnaires to gain a random Legendary item. Each tomb grants different items, but all items have a +5 gear score.
• New Seasonal Cosmetic Items – Visit the Featured Store throughout the season for new Icetide-themed cosmetics.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed various crashes to improve stabilization.
• Fixed various texture and lighting scenarios.
• Fixed various art collision issues that allowed players to access unintended areas.
• Fixed various audio issues.
• Fixed multiple breadcrumbing trails appearing in Freeplay. Fast Travel to the Tomb of Legionnaires is now enabled. Map pins have been updated to better communicate the ability to fast travel.
• Added new options to disable various parts of the UI
  • These options are visible under Settings -> Interface -> HUD
• Added a tutorial for the self-respawn feature.
  • You can respawn yourself closer to your squadmates by holding down the R3 button
• The Colossus can no longer become stuck in cages within Temple of Scar.
• The Sunken Cell stronghold mission now correctly appears above the Heart of Rage mission in the journal.
• Resolved an issue causing the Forge Menu to not appear while in the Forge Screen.
• Fixed an issue that allowed the Synchronized Frame to trigger without an enemy being hit.
• The Ranger Combo Augment component craft recipe now displays “Impact Combo Damage”.
• Fixed an issue causing Incremental Archives to not spawn as often as expected.
• Fixed an issue preventing the fog wall from vanishing after the objective is completed in Temple of Scar.
• Forge Icons for Barrage, Garroter, and Stampede have been updated to match the default color scheme of the javelin.
• Increased the health of the generators for the Sleeping Titan event.
• Legendary Fortress of Dawn now spawns its chest and finishes appropriately.
• Fixed an issue where Balm of Gavinicus was incorrectly dealing damage on impact.
• Fixed an issue causing Rainmaker to fire more projectiles than intended.

Innovation is so important to the tech world. Whether its a fresh take on an old product, or an exciting new technology that will shape the tech landscape of the coming years, innovation is the reason the best stuff gets made. These are our nominees for the Best Tech Innovation of 2019.

Click through the gallery above or scroll down the page for the full list!

More Game of the Year Awards

• Best Gaming Tech of 2019
• Best PS4 Game of 2019
• Best Xbox Game of 2019

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While the release of the Square Enix video game Marvel’s Avengers is still months away, fans are being given an early glimpse into this world thanks to a new series of comics. The first of these, Marvel’s Avengers: Iron Man #1, directly sets the stage for the game’s story mode.

Read on to find out how the comic sets up the game, but beware of spoilers for Marvel’s Avengers: Iron Man #1.

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Halo: The Master Chief Collection started its rollout for PC last week with the release of Halo: Reach, and it was a very, very successful launch. The release achieved “monumental” results, Microsoft said in a press release, leading to “record numbers” for the game.

Almost 3 million people played The Master Chief Collection on PC and Xbox One during Reach’s launch week. Additionally, MCC reached the No. 1 position on Steam’s best-seller charts, which represents the highest position for an Xbox Game Studios title on Steam at launch.

MCC was also the most-watched game overall on Twitch on December 3, with viewers collectively watching almost 3 million hours of Halo content during launch week. Microsoft also noted that MCC has a “very positive” rating on Steam after more than 37,000 reviews.

While MCC has fallen out of Steam’s top-seller list, it continues to be popular among users. The game continues to rank inside the top 15 most popular games on Steam by player count.

The PC version of MCC currently only includes Reach. Halo: Combat Evolved will release in early 2020, with the remaining titles to follow thereafter in chronological order: Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and finally Halo 4.

The Xbox One version of MCC already has all those games, with Reach being added on December 3.

Capcom officially pulled back the curtain on its rumored Resident Evil 3 remake earlier this week as part of Sony’s final State of Play broadcast of 2019. The reimagined horror game is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam next April, but in the meantime, it appears this year’s Resident Evil 2 remake is getting some kind of tie-in that bridges the gap between the two titles.

Users on Steam have recently discovered that a new Achievement was added to Resident Evil 2 (via Wario64). The Achievement was first spotted a few weeks ago–well before Sony’s State of Play stream–but it didn’t have a name at the time, leaving many to wonder just what it could be.

As it turns out, it appears the Achievement will tie into the upcoming Resident Evil 3 remake. The Achievement is called Chasing Jill and can be unlocked after you read a letter left behind by Jill Valentine. It’s unclear when the letter will actually be added to the game, but you can see the Achievement for yourself on Steam.

Much like the Resident Evil 2 remake, the reimagined version of Resident Evil 3 makes some drastic improvements to the original. Not only have the visuals been significantly revamped, but the game forgoes the fixed camera angles of the original for a third-person over-the-shoulder viewpoint. You can watch the first Resident Evil 3 remake trailers here. The game also includes the asymmetric multiplayer experience Resident Evil Resistance.

The Resident Evil 3 remake launches on April 3, 2020. Those who pre-order the title ahead of its release will receive the bonus Classic Costume Pack, which features the original design for Jill Valentine and hairstyle for Carlos Oliveira. Capcom is also releasing a $180 Collector’s edition of the game that includes a handful of physical bonuses, such as a Jill Valentine statue and hardcover art book. You can read more in our Resident Evil 3 pre-order guide and our roundup of everything we know about Resident Evil 3 so far.

While it might have seemed like a lackluster year for new gaming tech with Microsoft’s Project Scarlett and Sony’s PS5 not due for release until next year, there were plenty of new devices and peripherals that got us excited. From fully-upgradable gaming laptops to the next generation of virtual reality, here are the nominees for the best and hottest gaming tech we saw this year.

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Warner Bros. has announced the release dates for Matrix 4 and the Flash movie, after a multitude of delays and setbacks for both. Currently slated a few years away, The Matrix 4 (working title) will release on May 21, 2021, while The Flash movie is set to premiere on July 1, 2022.

First reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the untilted Matrix sequel will now release on the same date as John Wick: Chapter 4, both of which star Keanu Reeves. Aquaman’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is set to star in Matrix 4 alongside Reeves, and a handful of other talented cast members — including Neil Patrick Harris in an undisclosed role.

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