Author: Trafficblast

Executives from Epic Games, the makers of Fortnite, and mega-publisher Electronic Arts, appeared in a United Kingdom government committee meeting today where they got grilled by lawmakers over loot boxes and microtransactions in their games.

The game executives, which included EA vice president of legal and government affairs Kerry Hopkins and EA UK Country Manager Shaun Campbell, as well as Epic executives Matthew Weissinger (director of marketing) and Canon Pence (general counsel) spend more than two hours answering all manner of questions about their games and how they handle loot boxes and microtransactions.

In one particularly interesting breakout, Hopkins says she sees loot boxes not as gambling, but instead as “surprise mechanics.” This is similar to things like toys that come with surprises such as Kinder Eggs and Hatchimals. You can watch the breakout segment in the video embedded above.

She also described EA’s loot boxes–which are most popular and prominent in EA’s sports titles with the Ultimate Team mode–are “quite ethical.” She added that EA believes loot boxes do not constitute a form of gambling, as gambling commissions around the world have already said. People enjoyed being surprised, and this is no different in video games with loot boxes, she said.

The executives from both EA and Epic also confirmed during the committee meeting that neither company works with psychologists or behavioural scientists to understand the mental state of the player.

Fortnite’s executives added during that they were taken aback by Prince Harry’s comments about Fortnite being addictive. They also discussed how they are not interested in maximizing profit in the short-term but instead they aim to offer microtransactions that are “generous” and “sustainable.”

You can watch the entire broadcast here, and you really should to get a full and complete idea about the context surrounding their comments. It is a fascinating examination of loot boxes, microtransactions, and other topics that is well worth a watch for people interested in these subjects and hearing from two of the biggest companies in gaming.

Earlier this year, the UK government announced it would launch an investigation into things like loot boxes, as well as game addiction and more, and this hearing was one part of that. This was only an oral evidence session, so it remains to be seen if any legislative action will take place.

Season 2 of Apex Legends is just around the corner. The new season of Respawn’s battle royale game kicks off on July 2, and as EA revealed during E3 2019, it’ll introduce a new playable character to the game, as well as new skins, other cosmetics, and a few new weapons, which we’ve now learned some more details about.

In a post on Reddit, Respawn’s principal weapons designer on Apex Legends, Sean Slayback, discussed some of the weapon changes coming in Season 2, starting with the L-Star LMG–a returning weapon from Titanfall. The L-Star fires slower projectiles than other guns in the game; however, these projectiles are also much larger than normal, allowing players to get good hits in even if their aim isn’t completely accurate.

Respawn warns the L-Star will also overheat if you hold the trigger down too long; when this happens, the gun’s lens will break and need to be replaced. The developer says this process “takes some time,” so you’ll need to be careful using the weapon. The gun also comes with a limited supply of ammo, and you won’t be able to find additional rounds for it, so once you’ve run out, you’ll no longer be able to use the gun.

Beyond the L-Star, Respawn is also introducing two new hop-ups to the game in Season 2. The Disruptor Rounds are compatible with the Alternator and RE-45, and they dish out more damage to shielded enemies; the Hammerpoint Rounds, on the other hand, can be used with the P2020 and the Mozambique, and they deal increased damage to unshielded foes. Respawn is also adding new Energy Mag attachments for the Havoc, Devotion, and Triple Take guns.

Additionally, Season 2 will introduce a new set of gold weapons in King Canyon; Respawn says the full list of these will be shared in the Season 2 patch notes. The developer is also making some other balance tweaks to the Arc Star and adjusting ammo stack sizes. You can read more details on Reddit.

Season 2’s new Legend is Wattson, a young technology prodigy who can lay down electrical walls and pylons. Like Fortnite, Season 2’s Battle Pass will also be challenge-based, and Respawn is adding a new competitive Ranked mode. Season 2 is still a couple of weeks away, but ahead of it, dragons have started appearing in the game, potentially heralding some kind of world event ahead of the new season.

Having issues signing into Xbox Live right now? It’s not just you. Microsoft has confirmed the service is down and suffering from issues right now, often producing the error code 0x87DD0006. This could mean you’re unable to get online or play games on Xbox One, PC, and any other devices that rely on Xbox Live. These problems have lasted for several hours now, and we don’t yet know how soon a fix might be implemented. [Update: Microsoft says it’s beginning to see improvements, so you might now have luck getting online.]

The news was confirmed on the Xbox Support Twitter account, which initially acknowledged reports of sign-in issues before delivering a more recent update that states, “We’re currently still investigating error code 0x87DD0006 when attempting to sign into our services across devices, we appreciate your ongoing patience. We’ll update again here, as well as our status page, when we have more info.”

The status page referenced in that tweet has slightly more encouraging news, stating, “We believe we have identified the issue causing some members to have problems signing in to Xbox Live. Thanks for your patience as the team works to resolve the issue.” That update was posted at 1:58 PM PT.

The page identifies the issues as impacting Xbox Live’s “core services,” which includes things like the ability to sign in–which is obviously essential for doing anything that relies on Xbox Live, such as playing games online or even accessing certain online-only games, like Fortnite: Battle Royale and Destiny 2.

There’s no word on when Xbox Live will come back online. We’ll update this story when more details are shared. In the meantime, catch up on all the recent Xbox One news.

E3 was a good week for retailer GameStop. The company announced that it saw a 63 percent uptick in pre-orders during the week of the big show covering titles that were announced or shown off more at the event.

Now, the retailer has released a list of its Top 10 Most Pre-Ordered Games coming out of E3. Although it didn’t have a proper showing like in previous years, Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was the No. 1 most pre-ordered game at GameStop. Rounding out the top five at GameStop were Pokemon Sword/Shield, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Cyberpunk 2077, and Borderlands 3 in that order.

Other titles making the list included The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening for Nintendo Switch, as well as Apex Legends developer Respawn’s new Star Wars game, Jedi: Fallen Order, along with Gears 5, Super Mario Maker 2, and Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled.

You can see the full Top 10 list below.

Top 10 Most Pre-Ordered Games At GameStop After E3

1. Call of Duty Modern Warfare
2. Pokemon Sword/Shield
3. Final Fantasy VII Remake
4. Cyberpunk 2077
5. Borderlands 3
6. Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
7. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
8. Gears 5
9. Super Mario Maker 2
10. Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled

There aren’t many or any surprises in this list, but what stands out to you? Let us know in the comments below!

New game consoles from Microsoft and Sony are in development, but the head of Bayonetta developer Platinum Games is not all that excited by them, apparently. Studio head Atsushi Inaba told Video Game Chronicle that the new systems, the PlayStation 5 and Project Scarlett, are “more of the same.”

“It’s OK. And by that I mean, I’m sure that things will move faster, graphics will be better and maybe it will be easier with less wait times… that’s good for the consumer,” Inaba said. “But it’s more of the same, quite frankly, compared to previous generations. It’s nothing that’s disruptive or super innovative, if you ask me.”

Inaba went on to say that in the past, game consoles formerly featured “custom chips” that were not possible on PC. But today? “Now you look at it and they’re just grabbing stuff that already exists,” Inaba said.

He pointed out that the Nintendo Switch uses the Tegra chip that was used in other systems before it, even if it was updated or changed in some ways. The PS5 and Project Scarlett, meanwhile, feature custom chips from AMD. We don’t know all the specifics yet about each console, but both companies have said their new systems will offer things like backwards compatibility, ray tracing, and faster load times, while they will also apparently feature faster load times thanks to solid-state drives.

Inaba said he’s more excited about cloud gaming instead of “stuff that kind of already exists but has been repurposed to a certain degree.”

“That’s why for me, things like cloud platforms represent innovation and something very, very different–they’re platforms that excite me and where I feel there is a lot more innovation happening,” he said.

Project Scarlett is launching in Holiday 2020, while Sony’s PlayStation 5–which has only been revealed at a high-level–is said to also release around that time.

Platinum is currently working on a number of projects, including Bayonetta 3 which is coming to Nintendo Switch.