Author: Trafficblast

More than a month after it was officially announced, Grand Theft Auto V‘s new Diamond Casino & Resort is open for business. The long-awaited casino is now live in GTA Online on PS4, Xbox One, and PC as part of the game’s latest update, which also introduces a wealth of new clothing options, vehicles, bug fixes, and other tweaks to the online mode.

Located on the corner of Vinewood Park Drive and Mirror Park Boulevard, the Diamond Casino & Resort is a new facility where you and other players can enjoy the nightlife. The casino floor features all of the activities you’d expect to find in this type of establishment, including Three Card Poker, Blackjack, Roulette, and Slot Machines, with some enticing prizes at stake, including some new “high-end” vehicles.

Additionally, high rollers can purchase a penthouse at the Diamond Casino & Resort, which can then be customized to your liking with a media room, spa, garage space, and other options. Those who purchase a penthouse will also gain “VIP” access to certain areas of the casino as well as a new storyline involving the Diamond family. If you have a Twitch Prime account, you can score a penthouse for free if you link your accounts by the end of July 19. More details can be found on Rockstar’s blog.

Alongside the Diamond Casino & Resort, the latest GTA Online update adds seven new vehicles to the game: the Truffade Thrax, Obey 8F Drafter, Weeny Issi Sport, Vapid Caracara 4×4, Annis S80RR, Enus Paragon R, and the armored Enus Paragon R, which can be unlocked by completing the new casino story missions. Rockstar says more than 400 pieces of clothing and artwork for your penthouse will also be available through the casino store, and new collectible playing cards can be found hidden across Los Santos. There are 54 in total, and each one you collect will reward you with RP and Chip bonuses.

Rounding out the update is a litany of bug fixes and stability improvements. You can see a portion of the patch notes, courtesy of Rockstar, below. For more details on the Diamond Casino & Resort update, check out Rockstar’s new blog post.

GTA Online Diamond Casino & Resort (Title Update 1.47) Patch Notes

New Content – PS4, Xbox One, PC

• The Diamond Casino & Resort has been added to GTA Online. The Diamond Casino & Resort is a shared location for players to enjoy together. The Casino offers a wide range of activities and provides multiple Guest Services for players to use.
• The Casino Penthouse has been added to GTA Online. Players can purchase a Casino Penthouse from The Diamond Casino & Resort website and can be customized with a choice of optional extras such as a media room, a spa, a private dealer, garage space, and much more. The Penthouse also provides owners with a VIP membership that gives access features including with new Casino Story Missions, Freemode Missions, and two new arcade games.
• Hidden Playing Card Collectibles have been added to GTA Online. Players can find these Hidden Playing Card Collectibles scattered around Los Santos and collect them for a reward. Collectibles progress can be tracked by using the new ‘Collectibles’ option in Interaction Menu.
• Seven new vehicles have been added to GTA Online:
  • Truffade Thrax
  • Obey 8F Drafter
  • Weeny Issi Sport
  • Vapid Caracara 4×4
  • Annis S80RR
  • Enus Paragon R
  • Enus Paragon R (Armoured)
• Over 400+ items of clothing and artwork for the Penthouse will be made for sale for Male and Female characters in the Casino Store that rotates items weekly
• New Races have been added to GTA Online
• Six new player actions have been added to GTA Online:
  • Cut Throat
  • Cry Baby
  • Stinker
  • Shadow Boxing
  • Karate Chops
  • The Woogie
• New Daily Objectives have been added to GTA Online
• Eleven new Awards have been added to GTA Online

New Features & Updates – PS4, Xbox One, PC

• Updates have been made to the ‘Passive Mode’ option in GTA Online:
  • Passive Mode can now no longer be active when using a weaponized vehicle
  • A Passive Mode cooldown of 2 minutes is now in place for players who have just killed another player
  • Players now must wait 5 minutes before they can activate Passive Mode again after disabling it
  • Players now must wait 30 seconds before they can disable Passive Mode after activating it
• Updates have been made to the ‘Go Ghosted’ option in GTA Online:
  • The ‘Go Ghosted’ option is now available to players after 2 deaths instead of 3
  • The length of time players remain ghosted to each other has been increased from 2 minutes to 5 minutes
  • The window of time for consecutive kills to count has been increased from 5 minutes to 10 minutes
• Updates have been made to Daily Objectives in GTA Online:
  • A number of PVP related Daily Objectives have been removed
  • The first Daily Objective in the list will now be the same for all players each day
  • The cash reward for completing the Daily, Weekly, and Monthly streaks has been increased
• A new ‘Services’ option has been added to the Interaction Menu that allows players to view and change options for all large vehicle properties such as:
  • The Terrorbyte
  • The Avenger
  • The Mobile Operations Center
  • The Galaxy Super Yacht
• Updates have been made to Series in GTA Online:
  • ‘Featured Adversary Mode’ has been renamed to ‘Featured Series’
  • Target Assault Series has been removed
  • Each Series type now only has one trigger on the map
  • Several help text entries regarding existing Series have been removed
  • Updates have been made to Series help text appearance rates
• Player Elevation Indicators are now present in all Instanced Content such as Adversary Modes, Heists, etc.
• Time Trials now pay out $100,000 upon successful completion
• The Stone Hatchet has been added to Creators
• The Declassee Impaler is now purchasable on the arenawar.tv website
• Arena Traps have been added to the Arena Creator
• The Race type of Arena War Races are now forced into being a ‘GTA Race’
• Players can now use the laptop in their Arena Workshop to see all of the Sponsorship Tier unlocks they have been awarded The Nightclub popularity gained for completing a Nightclub Management Mission has been increased from 10% to 25%

Sega has announced it is bringing one of its best PC games of 2018 to consoles. Two Point Hospital, the spiritual successor to Theme Hospital, is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in “late 2019.”

The game will come to those platforms both physically and digitally, and the new versions will include all the updates and new features the PC edition received after launch. That also means the game’s two expansions, Bigfoot and Pebberley Island, will be packed in. Pricing has not been announced.

Our critic, James Swinbanks, enjoyed the management sim and awarded it an 8/10 in GameSpot’s Two Point Hospital review. “It’s remarkable that it’s taken so long for a spiritual successor to Theme Hospital to show up, but now that it’s here, it feels like it’s been well worth the wait,” he wrote.

“The exaggerated, cartoon look and relaxed approach to management make it inviting enough for most players, while the deeper aspects of its economy are enough to keep seasoned players engaged. Two Point Hospital not only re-works an old formula into something modern and enjoyable, it also iterates on the classic brand of irresistible charm and wit, making something that’s truly wonderful.”

Fortnite has rolled out its 9.41 content update patch with loads of new goodies. The centerpiece is the new storm-tracking rifle, but you’ll also find some special celebration items alongside the balance changes and tweaks.

Specifically, Epic has added birthday presents and a birthday cake to celebrate Fortnite’s second birthday. The presents are legendary items, and opening them up will give you some surprise loot to commemorate the occasion. The cake will restore some health and shield. The update also adds new Overtime challenges.

Creative Mode has added movie set prefabs and highlighted a community-created Prop Hunt LTM. Save the World mode got updated with a new Pulsar 9000 sci-fi shotgun.

One larger-scale feature is a new picture-in-picture feature for viewing matches. Epic points out that you can use this to watch the Fortnite World Cup Pro-Am and Finals while also playing the game.

This all follows a mech vs monster showdown that took place in-game over the weekend. As usual this made some big changes to the map, which will probably come into play as the game prepares to cycle over into Season 10, which could be coming fairly soon. Check out the full patch notes below.

Fortnite v9.41 Content Update Patch Notes

Battle Royale

What’s New?

Storm Scout Sniper Rifle

Stay one step ahead of the Storm by scoping in to see it’s next location!

Birthday Presents

They say the best gifts are surprises. Open up these Legendary items commemorating Fortnite’s second birthday to see what loot awaits.

Birthday Cake

Celebrate another year of Fortnite with some Birthday Cake! Find this sweet treat around the map and get some Health & Shield.

Weapons + Items

• Storm Scout Sniper Rifle
  • The scope on this sniper rifle contains an embedded weather map that displays upcoming storm circles before they are revealed on the minimap.
  • Available at Epic and Legendary Rarities.
  • Damage: 81/85
    • Headshot: 202/212
  • 1.1 Rounds per second.
  • Uses Heavy Ammo.
  • Reload Speed: 2.84s/2.7s.
• Birthday Presents
  • Available in Legendary Rarity.
  • Can be found from Floor loot, Chests, Vending Machines, Supply Drops, and Llamas.
    • Not available in Arena and Tournament playlists.
  • Presents have six possible packages of loot.
• Birthday Cake
  • Found around various POIs.
    • Not available in Arena and Tournament playlists.
  • Grants 5 Health and 5 Shield.

Gameplay

• Overtime Challenges
  • Unlock rewards and gain XP with the Season 9 Overtime Challenges. Jump in-game now for more details!

UI

• PiP (Picture-in-Picture) Streaming
  • Drop into the Fortnite lobby to begin your viewing of the Fortnite World Cup Pro-Am and Finals… while playing the game! Get wins while you watch your favorite competitors do the same. For more information, check out our blog.

Creative

What’s New?

Movie Set Prefabs

Lights. Camera. Action! Set the scene for the next blockbuster using the Movie Set prefabs and galleries.

Prop Hunt LTM

Face off in a thrilling game of hide and seek with a twist. Play StrayKite’s Prop Hunt game as an LTM!

Gameplay

Bug Fixes

• Players can now edit pre-built structures during a game.
• Coins are no longer disappearing while in Create mode after finishing a game.

Prefabs & Galleries

• 4 New Movie Set Prefabs
  • Movie Set Warehouse
  • Movie Set Helicopter Crash
  • Movie Set Docks
  • Movie Set Ceremony
• 3 New Galleries
  • Movie Set Gallery
  • Movie Set Prop Gallery
  • Nature Tree Gallery B

Weapons + Items

• Storm Scout Sniper Rifle
  • The scope on this sniper rifle contains an embedded weather map that displays upcoming storm circles before they are revealed on the minimap.
  • Available at Epic and Legendary Rarities.
  • Damage: 81/85
    • Headshot: 202/212
  • 1.1 Rounds per second.
  • Uses Heavy Ammo.
  • Reload Speed: 2.84s/2.7s.

Save The World

What’s New?

Pulsar 9000

Ready… Aim… PLASMA! Unleash piercing plasma shots on the Husks with this new Sci-fi Shotgun.

Weapons + Items

• Pulsar 9000 added to the Weekly Store.
  • Energy shotgun that shoots large rings of plasma. Shots pierce enemies!
  • Available in the Weekly Store from Wednesday, July 24th at 8 PM ET until Wednesday, July 31st at 8 PM ET.

Microsoft is launching a new streaming service, currently codenamed xCloud, in public trials this October. The company has now shown off more of how it works and talked about the service at a high level. xCloud, or whatever name Microsoft ends up giving it, allows you to stream high-end games to your phone or presumably a variety of other internet-connected devices.

The games themselves run from datacenters that Microsoft operates around the world. In a new Fortune video, Xbox streaming boss Kareem Choudhry showed off the actual guts of the server rack that powers xCloud games. The core innards of eight Xbox One S consoles are fit into a 2U rack unit that was specifically designed for a data center.

The racks are physically located in 13 regions around the world, Choudhry said. You can see it for yourself in the video below, beginning at around 1:45.

It’s not the flashiest of reveals, but it’s neat to see the guts of how something as broad and ambitious and technically demanding as xCloud operates in a way you can see with your eyes.

Also in the video, Xbox boss Phil Spencer talks about how Microsoft does not expect cloud gaming to really take off anytime soon. Instead, the version of xCloud launching this year in public trials is seemingly being positioned as a foundation on which to build the program over the years. Spencer specifically said the groundwork being laid today will support xCloud for a decade to come.

He also talked about Microsoft’s ambition for game-streaming to reach more people around the world over time than traditional gaming has been able to thus far. The thinking is that by removing the need to buy a console, Microsoft can reach a much larger population of gamers. As Microsoft has said time and again, consoles aren’t big-time money-makers–it’s software and services that bring home the bacon. With xCloud, seemingly every phone in the world is a potential Xbox Live subscriber, and that could become an incredibly lucrative opportunity for Microsoft if it pans out.

That being said, Microsoft continues to develop traditional consoles and it will for a long time to come. Microsoft’s efforts into streaming are meant to complement the traditional console-based experience, not replace it. For Microsoft, it is all about giving people an option of how they want to play. Microsoft’s next home console, Project Scarlett, launches in Holiday 2020.

xCloud’s public trial launch in October is just ahead of when Google’s own streaming service, Stadia, is pegged to debut in November.

For a long time now, Guardians of the Galaxy actor Dave Bautista has made it known that he wants to play Marcus Fenix in the upcoming Gears of War movie. The actor has now commented on how that campaign is going; it’s not looking good.

Bautista said on Twitter that Hollywood is “listening” to his campaign to play Fenix, but “they could give [a f**k]!” he said. “Believe me when I say I’ve tried everything to make this happen,” he said.

In June, Gears of War boss Rod Fergusson said he agrees that Bautista “would be awesome” in the role of Marcus Fenix. However, he said he wields no power over casting decisions. Not only that, but there are no plot details available yet for the movie, so it’s not even confirmed that Fenix will be in it.

Whatever the case, Fergusson said it’s exciting that someone of Bautista’s caliber is interested in being in the Gears of War movie. Fergusson went on to say that the movie’s producers have told him that actors have reached out seeking roles in the movie. He teased that people you wouldn’t necessarily think about have inquired about roles.

The Gears of War movie has been in various stages of development for 12 years already. The Lord of the Rings studio New Line Cinema purchased the rights to make a movie based on the game originally back in 2007, but in October 2016, Microsoft confirmed that the Gears of War movie was in the works with Universal Pictures.

The Gears of War movie has gone through multiple writers. In June, Fergusson confirmed that a new draft is currently being written, though he didn’t say who the writer is. F. Scott Frazier (xXx: Return of Xander Cage) was hired to write a draft of the script in November 2018.

No director has been announced for the movie. The late Tony Scott, who directed Top Gun and Man On Fire, reportedly wanted to direct the Gears of War movie.

The next Gears of War game is Gears 5, which releases in September for Xbox One and PC. The game’s first multiplayer tech test was held over the weekend, and the second one kicks off on July 26. Keep checking back with GameSpot for more.