Author: Trafficblast

The Pokemon Company has cancelled the Japanese launch event for Pokemon Sword and Shield that was due to take place in Tokyo next week. Lead producer Junichi Masuda, and game director Shigeru Ohmori, were both scheduled to appear at the event.

In an apologetic statement, the Pokemon Company cited “operational reasons” for the event’s cancellation.

Both Masuda and Ohmori gave a round of interviews last month, with Sword and Shield’s controversial lack of a National Pokedex being a hot button topic. “There were a lot of discussions about which direction we should take that in,” Masuda explained in an interview with Eurogamer. “Ultimately we felt that, for the overall game, focusing on creating the richest experience we could within that game, leaving the Pokedex as we did was the best solution overall.”

The angry discourse surrounding the National Pokedex’s exclusion has hit a fever pitch this week as Sword and Shield leaks have begun to emerge, detailing which Pokemon would not be returning this time around. The topic has even been dubbed “#Dexit” by fans, in reference to the game’s UK-inspired setting.

There’s nothing suggesting fan anger led to the cancellation of Sword and Shield’s Japanese launch event, but it wouldn’t be the first time a scheduled event was called off due to potential threats. Square Enix was forced to cancel four Starwing Paradox tournaments earlier this year after several death threats were sent to the game’s management team. A man was also arrested by Tokyo police after threatening Square Enix with an arson attack, stating that he would repeat the Kyoto Animation tragedy.

Blizzard recently cancelled an Overwatch Switch launch event in New York City, too. No official reason was given for the abrupt cancellation, but it seemed to stem from backlash the company received due to the actions it took against Hearthstone player, blitzchung, after he voiced support for the ongoing Hong Kong protests.

Pokemon Sword and Shield launches on November 15 for Nintendo Switch.

There’s a gaming mouse war of the scales taking place right now. Glorious PC Gaming Race claims its 58 gram Model O is “the world’s lightest RGB gaming mouse,” but that apparently sounded like a challenge, because Cooler Master has decided to make the world’s lightest mouse by going old school. Dropping the RGB lighting, its MM710 (See it on Amazon) clocks in at just 53 grams. Do you need a mouse whose claim to fame is weighing about the same as 6,400 chicken feathers? Let’s find out.

Continue reading…

There’s a Funko for anyone’s interests, and today’s Amazon Deal of the Day features a massive sale on all sort of different Funko Pop figures. There are figures on sale from Fortnite, Marvel, and Star Wars, but the vast majority of vinyl Pop figures on sale right now are Disney-themed (yes, I know, technically Marvel and Star Wars are Disney but you know what I mean).

Funko Pop Sale: Disney

There are quite a few Disney Funko Pops on sale today, and they tend to skew toward some of Disney’s more recent movies, but there are quite a few from The Nightmare Before Christmas. There’s even a Disney deep-cut, with a pair of figures from The Black Cauldron, which I’ve never even seen, nor do I know anyone who has.

Continue reading…

The third wave of DLC for Fire Emblem: Three Houses is now available, bringing new quests, fresh attire, a sauna and – critically – the ability to interact with animals.

Among the shakeups is the fact Anna is available for recruitment to those who complete a special quest. Meanwhile, the new sauna activity can be found at the Monastery, giving you the option to “add steam” and balance a heat bar.

Nintendo announced the news on Twitter, writing, “Conquer new quests, dress up with new outfits, sweat it out in the new sauna activity, and interact with animals in the Fire Emblem: Three Houses Expansion Pass Wave 3 DLC, available now.” Critically, it’s currently unknown whether “interacting” with animals involves petting.

Continue reading…

Justice Smith and Daniella Pineda are set to reprise their respective roles as Franklin Webb and Dr. Zia Rodriguez in Jurassic World 3.

Collider reports that the pair, who co-starred as the Dinosaur Protection Agency duo in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, will re-join Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard in Colin Trevorrow’s next instalment, which is believed to be going back to basics.

Continue reading…

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare‘s biggest patch yet is out now. The free 8-10GB update adds a host of new content to the game and addresses many of the community’s biggest complaints regarding the multiplayer portion of the hit first-person shooter.

Krovnik Farmland, the third Ground War map, has been added to the frenetic mode’s playlist. There’s also a new 6v6 map called Shoot House that’s now included in the regular multiplayer rotation. If you want an immediate taste of it, however, there’s currently a 24/7 Shoot House playlist that includes Team Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed, and Headquarters on the brand new map. The Hardpoint game mode has also been added to the regular rotation after appearing in numerous CoD games before. Both teams must rush to a “hardpoint” on the map and repel the enemy team to begin earning points. It’s similar to Headquarters, but respawning is unlimited.

In terms of balance changes, claymores have been nerfed considerably. Shooting an enemy claymore is now non-lethal when at full health, and the range at which they trigger, and their damage width, have both been reduced as well. Equipping the E.O.D. perk nullifies their effectiveness even further, clamping explosive damage to a non-lethal amount if you’re at full health.

There has also been a number of audio changes so your position isn’t constantly given away. Footsteps, for example, have been altered so that they don’t dominate the battlefield. Walls and other geometry are now much more effective at blocking sounds, and the footstep volume at distances has been lowered as well. Infinity Ward says its working on another large footstep change in its next update, too, which will make crouch and ADS movement significantly quieter.

Battle chatter has been adjusted so that operators aren’t quite as talkative as before. Enemies will no longer hear when they’ve been called out by the opposition, and enemy callouts have also been tweaked so that they’re never from your operator, only from teammates. The triggers for these callouts are less frequent now, too.

Riots shields are also less of a nuisance now. The shield will now properly go on the wearer’s back when they’re using a throwing knife or thermite. Explosive splash damage is also more consistent, so taking out anyone using a riot shield should be slightly easier.

When it comes to weapons, two of the community’s biggest complaints have been addressed. Both the 725 shotgun and the M4A1 assault rifle have been nerfed. Both have had their damage range reduced, and the latter has had a slight recoil increase. Assault rifles, in general, have seen an increase in their hip fire spread to reduce their effectiveness up close, while movement and ADS speed has been increased when using an SMG. Pistols have an increased damage range as well.

The update also introduces a slew of bug fixes. You can see the full patch notes below.

Update 1.07 Full Patch Notes

• Backend fixes to prevent crashes and improve stability across all platforms, include dev errors, and various performance fixes.

• Fix for a few bugs where some streaks and Field Upgrades were able to be flown out of bounds without penalty. General out of bound fixes were also added.

• Fix for a bug where a player being killed by an enemy with a Variable Zoom Scope would not see the zoom function in the killcam

• Fix for the Semtex warning audio being heard at the same volume whether in a building or outside

• In Headquarters, players were able to place a Tac Insert and respawn when their team owned the point. This has been fixed.

• Fix for various collision issues across maps

• Added UI that shows when XP events are active in playlists menus

• Sprint and Tactical Sprint speeds are now back to speeds in Beta

• Fix for a bug where the progress of the bomb defusal can be seen by the team that planted the bomb

• Fix for a bug that revealed players to UAVs when they fired their weapons, even if they had Ghost and a silencer equipped

• Fixed an issue where if multiple Personal Radars were active on a team, and are both marking the same enemy, only one player would see the enemy on their minimap.

RIOT SHIELD:

Fixed an issue where the throwing knife and Thermite weren’t causing the shield to go on the player’s back when thrown. We’ve also fixed the issue where explosive splash damage wasn’t working consistently. We’ll continue to tune the Riot Shield in future updates.

CLAYMORES:

Detonating an enemy claymore with bullets is now non-lethal when at full health. We’ve also reduced the trigger and damage radius and also reduced the damage width to better match the trigger width.

BATTLE CHATTER:

Removed the ability for enemies to hear when they’ve been called out by the opposing team. We also adjusted the enemy callouts so they are never from your Operator. Enemy callouts now use a more restricted cone at the hip and even more restricted in ADS when calculating whether or not to trigger. We’ll continue to monitor this and make additional tweaks to Battle Chatter in future updates.

MOUNTING:

Slight increase to recoil while mounting.

PERKS:

E.O.D. now clamps damage to a non-lethal amount, assuming the player is at full health

LIGHTING:

Continued updates to player visibility in dark windows and dark areas.

FOOTSTEPS:

We’ve increased the occlusion percentage to filter footstep sounds behind geometry and adjusted the footstep volume at a distance. We have another large footstep change coming in the next update which will make crouch and ADS movement significantly quieter. Stay tuned!

CHALLENGES/PROGRESSION/RANK

Daily Challenges and Active Missions are getting a full sweep of testing and fixes. We’ll have more updates to these systems in future updates.

• Fix for a bug where the Infiltrator challenge was not tracking properly

• Fix for launchers not giving XP when shooting down killstreaks

• Fix for a bug where planting or defusing 5 bombs in Cyber Attack or SnD was not tracking properly

• Camo challenge for “Kills After a Reload” didn’t give the player enough time to acquire a kill, so time has been increased

• Fix for a bug where your XP require to reach the next rank was higher than the value needed

• 725 Shotgun: Increase to ADS and Hip Spread, reduced damage range

• M4A1 Assault Rifle: Reduced damage range, small recoil increase

• Assault Rifles: Increased hip spread to reduce effectiveness up close, less damage at long range for full auto 5.56 rifles

• SMGs: Increased move speed, increased ADS move speed, small reduction in sprint out time

• UZI SMG: Increased damage range

• MG34 LMG: Increased hip spread, damage range reduction, small ADS slow down

• M91 LMG: Increased hip spread, small damage range reduction

• PKM: Increased hip spread, medium damage range reduction

• Pistols: Increased move speed, reduced sprint out time, increased damage range

• Crouch and Prone no longer adjust recoil

CALL OF DUTY LEAGUE

Updated rulesets for CDL competitive modes in private match

CYBER ATTACK

Fix for a bug where a player could use lose their primary weapon and would be unable to see their viewmodel after being revived by a teammate

GROUND WAR

• Pick up Intel!–In the Operations, explore Verdansk to find additional backstory information of Verdansk and the Operators.

• Fix for scoreboards displaying incorrect data

• XP adjustments and general backend fixes

• Various fixes for out of bounds and parachute exploits

• Respawn timer no longer stays on screen after teammates are revived from bleedout

• Fix for issue where the Munitions were not usable after respawning via Gunship

• Fix for losing your weapons when picking up the core

• Achievements can now be unlocked in CP

• Fix for issue where players could spawn with their weapons in the downed state

• Picked up Munitions no longer carry over from match to match. Only the Munitions you purchase with points will.

• When respawning via the Gunship, you will no longer be given the Tank role

• Selecting an Allegiance Operator or Allegiance as a favorite faction will now properly assign the voice of the correct operator

• Operation Headhunter: Fix for a bug where players are not able to lock missiles onto the final boss helicopter

• Operation Crosswind: Adjusted stealth for gameplay

• Operation Paladin:

  • Fix for a bug where there was no UI or indicator of where to go or how to finish the objective after defending the 3rd arms crate

  • Fix for a bug where the default weapon was different than the weapon a player would hold if they were placed in Last Stand

Look, we know you’re expecting Death Stranding chat this week… and that’s exactly what you’re getting. Dale and Joe’s impressions of Kojima’s latest is succulently sandwiched between two beautifully baked slices of wholemeal in the shape of Cardy and Alex’s trials with Modern Warfare’s Spec Ops, and excitement for Overwatch 2.

Go On Name Them makes a glorious return and the Cardy’s Football Manager team is revealed in a podcast climax that the world has never heard the like of, and likely never will again…

IGN UK Podcast #512: We Can Now Talk About Death Stranding

Continue reading…