Author: Trafficblast

Epic continues to hint that some big changes are in store for Fortnite in Season 11. The current season of the hit battle royale game is scheduled to end this Sunday, following an in-game event ominously known as “The End.” It appears that event could lead to an entirely new start for the game, if a supposed leak turns out to be accurate.

Numerous Fortnite players on Reddit and other forums have discovered an image for “Fortnite: Chapter 2” on the Italian App Store that suggests the game will be rebranded and revamped following the end of this season. While not confirmed, rumors have been swirling that the next season of Fortnite would bring an entirely new map, after dataminers discovered a list of new location names within the game’s code.

The name of this weekend’s big event also seems to suggest that Fortnite as players know it will be changing significantly. Further, a recent tweet by the Fortnite Twitter account teases that “The End is near” and shows the Battle Bus leaving the familiar island, playing into the rumors that a new map is coming. You can see the teaser below.

According to the in-game countdown timers, the End event is scheduled to take place at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET on Sunday, October 13. Just what the event will entail is anyone’s guess, but it presumably has something to do with the Visitor. The mysterious character first appeared in Season 4 of the game and built a rocket, which caused a rift to form in the sky. The Visitor returned in Season 10 and is building another rocket at Dusty Depot, so the countdown timers may signal when it will launch.

Ahead of the event, Epic has rolled out one final set of Season 10 challenges for players to complete. A number of these involve tracking down recordings left behind by the Visitor, further suggesting he’ll play an important role in this weekend’s event. You can find maps and guides for the Visitor recordings, as well as this season’s other challenges, in our complete Fortnite Season 10 challenges roundup.

Epic hasn’t yet confirmed when Season 11 will officially begin, but new seasons typically kick off shortly after the previous one begins, so it will presumably start sometime next week. Similarly, the developer hasn’t shared many concrete details on what players can expect from the new season, but we do know one change that’ll happen. As part of its recent matchmaking tweaks, Epic will be adding bots to Fortnite. You can catch up on everything else we know about Fortnite Season 11 so far here.

Apex Legends Season 3: Meltdown introduces a bunch of changes into Respawn’s battle royale game, including a brand-new map, playable character, battle pass, and weapon. The new weapon, the Charge Rifle, has had a pretty major impact on the game, offering a way to deal high amounts of damage from afar. Respawn seems to agree with some of the complaints levied at the Charge Rifle for being too powerful because the developer is planning some weapon balance changes.

On the Apex Legends Trello page, you can see all of the quality-of-life changes that Respawn has planned or is just keeping track of for its battle royale–one of which is balancing changes for the Charge Rifle. Respawn isn’t clear about how the weapon is changing, only that the Charge Rifle balance “is not where it should be” and that adjustments are “incoming.” Respawn typically implements updates for Apex Legends on Tuesdays–like the upcoming Halloween-themed Fight or Fright event–so we could see changes to the Charge Rifle as soon as October 15.

Currently, the Charge Rifle is one of the strongest sniper rifles in the game. So on a large map like World’s Edge, one that encourages long-range encounters, it’s one of the best options you can have in your arsenal. The weapon initially fires a small laser that does moderate damage before shooting a much stronger beam that does considerable amounts of damage. It’s probably one of the best weapons to use if you’re playing as new character Crypto, because its lack of bullet drop and fairly fast fire rate allows you to quickly snipe at opponents you spy with your drone.

Looking through Trello, there are a few other notable changes scheduled for Apex Legends as well. Respawn is planning to implement an option to keep the deathbox UI open while taking damage, for example, allowing you to go back to the way the UI used to work prior to Season 3 if that’s what you prefer.

Perhaps most intriguing is a patch to add the option to spend Legend Tokens to re-roll your daily challenges. Between all three in-game currencies, Legend Tokens are the one that most players have in excess, only spending them to buy new playable Legends. Having the option to use them to get new dailies would be a huge boon for those working through the battle pass who occasionally get challenges tied to characters they never play or don’t own.

A lot of game developers admit that they kind of fell into the job by accident. Some come from tech, some from the movie industry, or maybe even just from being a part of a game’s community. Night School Studio’s Sean Krankel, however, came from the particularly uncommon path of the daytime soap opera.

On this month’s episode of IGN Unfiltered, the Oxenfree and Afterparty developer joins host Ryan McCaffrey to discuss how he worked his way from an EB Games store, through an internship with a daytime soap opera in Los Angeles, and through Disney’s animated films, before making his way into game development.

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When you get together with friends or family, there is something incredibly satisfying about finding a game you all enjoy and diving headlong into it, whiling away the hours with strategy, cooperation, and (of course) backstabbing.

For those hungry for more of that board game action, Walmart is having a sale on tons of great games, including Catan, Mysterium, Dungeons & Dragons, and much more.

Best Deal: Mysterium for $37.93

Take up your psychic powers and collaborate with a ghost to solve the murder at the Warwick Manor. Play as either a psychic medium or an all-knowing ghost in this 2-7 player mystery game.

• Mysterium – Get it at Walmart for $37.93

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For every big-screen incarnation of Batman, there must also be a Joker. Actually, Joker now has the edge thanks to his new, Batman-less origin story starring Joaquin Phoenix as the Clown Prince of Crime. Already fans are declaring Phoenix’s Joker to be one of the all-time best, and awards buzz is building.

But how does Phoenix’s take on Joker compare to classic versions like Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger? Vote in the poll and let us know your favorite big-screen incarnation of Joker:

IGN’s Jim Vejvoda gave Joker a rare perfect 10 score, saying, “Featuring a riveting, fully realized, and Oscar-worthy performance by Joaquin Phoenix, Joker would work just as well as an engrossing character study without any of its DC Comics trappings; that it just so happens to be a brilliant Batman-universe movie is icing on the Batfan cake.”

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Blizzard’s decision to harshly punish professional Hearthstone player Blitzchung has already received criticism from across the political spectrum and game community, and another high-profile personality has joined the chorus with his thoughts: the very first Hearthstone World Champion.

James Kostesich aka “Firebat” won the Hearthstone World Championship in 2014, when the game was just getting started as a competitive esport. He’s still a popular streamer and competes on Team Omnislash. In the streaming show Omnistone, fellow Hearthstone personality Brian Kibler reiterated his previous statement that while Blitzchung definitely did violate the rules, the punishment is too extreme. Kostesich agreed.

“I agree that he’s not supposed to do that. That is definitely, clearly against the rules of Grandmasters,” Kostesich said. “But it’s definitely ridiculous how much he was punished for it. I agree that there’s probably something else going on–they want to make an example of him or something, because it’s just so unreasonable. I think they’re totally in the wrong to punish him that much: absolutely murdering the guy’s Hearthstone career, or attempting to anyway. It’s very sad to see. I wish they would support their players more. Using a player as an example, it doesn’t make me feel good.”

Kostesich’s comments are the latest in a series of sharp critiques leveled at Blizzard, which has included sitting US Senators, competing companies, and even some of Blizzard’s own employees. Kibler has quit his position as a Grandmasters caster in protest.

The incident began when Ng Wai Chung aka “Blitzchung” expressed his support for Hong Kong protests during a post-match interview. Blizzard said this violated its rule against any act that “brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard’s image.” As punishment, Chung was banned from competitive events for a year and forced to give up his $10,000 in winnings.

Kibler and Kostesich say they agree that Chung did actually commit a rule infraction, but it’s the year-long ban and $10,000 at stake that appear too harsh.

Meanwhile, Blizzard fans are still rallying a boycott. Several users on the Hearthstone subreddit have announced they are quitting the game or deleting accounts. Some fans have also called for Hearthstone streamers to quit the game in protest. This prompted at least one popular former streamer, Disguised Toast, to respond that such an expectation isn’t necessarily viable–but he issued a different kind of ultimatum of his own.