Author: Trafficblast

The God of War reboot for PlayStation nearly cut Atreus, and now game director has confirmed that there were discussions about doing away with the main hero as well. In an appearance at Gamelab in Spain this week, Barlog said people were telling him that Kratos had to go.

“Early in discussion, people were saying we had to get rid of Kratos,” Barlog said, as reported by Eurogamer. “It was like, ‘He’s annoying, he’s done.'”

Barlog went on to say that Kratos was purposefully designed at the start of the series to be unlikeable. Some people on the team thought it was time for him to go, Barlog said. Developers suggested they create a new protagonist.

In the end, Barlog got his way in part because he came up with a story about Kratos’ evolution and rescuing himself from his dark desires.

Kratos does star in the new God of War for PS4, and his relationship with Atreus was among the most meaningful and interesting elements of the title. “It took a lot of convincing to make them think it was a good idea,” Barlog said about bringing Kratos back.

As we already knew, some people at Sony Santa Monica also wanted to cut Atreus as well. Barlog said it came down to budget concerns, with animators and programmers finding it difficult to “make sense of” Atreus’ part in the story, according to Eurogamer. Barlog said he went as far as to write another story without Atreus “as a back-up.”

God of War launched in April 2018 and it was a smashing success; by Sony’s latest count, it has sold more than 10 million copies. Despite its massive success, there are no expansions coming.

For more on God of War, you can check out the GameSpot Audio Logs episode where Barlog breaks down one of the most impactful scenes that almost didn’t happen. Check it out in the video embed above.

Call of Duty: Black Ops developer Treyarch has responded to a Kotaku report in which numerous developers reveal what they describe as a brutal work environment. Studio heads Dan Bunting and Mark Gordon released an email to staff in the wake of the report, informing employees that they are planning “significant improvements” for work-life balance.

The email goes on to state that Treyarch plans to improve working conditions through “better project planning, streamlined production processes, and rigorous decision-making timelines.” Bunting and Gordon added that they are committed to “increased transparency.”

The studio heads encouraged developers to speak with their managers if they have concerns, and if that doesn’t work, they should reach out to Bunting and Gordon.

“Game development is a wildly complex art and it requires a diverse set of people and skill sets to do it successfully. It’s important for all of us to foster a studio culture that treats all team members with respect,” the pair said.

In the report, which is titled “The Human Cost Of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4,” numerous current and former developers shine a light on how Treyarch’s contract employees, in particular those working in quality assurance (QA), say they are treated as second-class.

The developers say they are informed not to speak with developers from other units and that they have to park in a separate parking lot. They also reported working extended hours; around 70 hours per week.

In addition to complaints about crunch and general workplace conditions, the report reveals key details about the development of Black Ops 4. It’s reported that management decided to cancel the game’s campaign mode in early 2018. This was a tough blow for the developers, as their previous game, Black Ops 3, reportedly saw a big shift in direction, too; a planned open-world design was dropped in favor of a standard linear story.

Black Ops 4’s campaign was to feature a new spin on co-op and multiplayer with two players fighting against a pair of other human characters. One example of a gameplay scenario is one side would try to protect a journalist with the other side trying to kill them.

With the campaign mode canceled, Treyarch decided to release its own spin on battle royale in a mode that would go on to be known as Blackout. Development on the battle royale mode reportedly did not begin until nine months before release. “That mode came together by the seat of its pants. It’s kind of a miracle that it did,” one developer said.

In a change to the normal Call of Duty development schedule, Treyarch is said to be developing 2020’s Call of Duty title which is believed to be a new Black Ops title set in the Cold War. According to Kotaku, other Activision studios Raven Software and Sledgehammer were lined up to take the lead on a Call of Duty title set in Vietnam, but management decided to put Treyarch on the game as its lead and make it a Black Ops title. The title is said to launch in holiday 2020 as a cross-gen release for current and next-gen consoles.

2019’s Call of Duty game is Modern Warfare from developer Infinity Ward. It’s a soft reboot of the series, and it launches at the end of October on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

A new challenge for Fortnite: Battle Royale players is now available as the 14 Days of Summer event rolls on. Like the first challenge, this involves another summer-themed objective: Epic Games asks you to bounce a giant beach ball in different matches. Here’s where to go to find the locations of the giant beach balls and what to do once you reach one.

Keep in mind, you have the full duration of the 14 Days of Summer event (available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS, and Android) to complete these challenges. Despite the name, it will be available in Fortnite for about three weeks, wrapping up on July 16.

Where To Find Giant Beach Balls – All Locations

We’ve discovered three different giant beach ball locations on the map. You’ll be able to see the ball from a far distance, so if you head to the general area you shouldn’t have much trouble tracking one down. You can see the locations and a map below, or check out the video guide above for a walkthrough on how to complete the challenge.

• On the border of D3/E3, south of The Block
• Western part of F6, southwest of Dusty Divot
• On the border of H7/I7, northwest of Paradise Palms

How To Complete The Giant Beach Ball Challenge

As with beach parties dancing challenge, this is simple in theory–all you have to do is make contact with a giant beach ball. But also like the preceding challenge, you’re given zero indication of where to find these giant beach balls or even how many there are. When you do happen upon one, there won’t be any uncertainty–they are quite large, as advertised–and all you have to do to receive credit is run into the ball. That should trigger the pop-up notification letting you know you’ve progressed the challenge.

Particularly if you’re attempting this right away, you’re likely to run into a lot of other people doing the same thing. They could be hostile, or you might find other players camping the area in search of some easy kills. Fortunately, you can complete each step of this challenge without actually landing. As you’re descending with your glider, you can move into the ball and register progress before your feet touch the ground. That should make it a little easier to complete the challenge before you’re killed.

You’ll need to bounce a total of five beach balls to finish the challenge. As the challenge text notes, you have to do this across different matches, so you’ll need to play at least five rounds to get this done. However, you can keep returning to the same beach ball location over and over from match to match.

Giant Beach Ball Challenge Reward

Finishing the giant beach ball challenge will earn you an Uncommon rarity loading screen called Soak It Up that shows various Fortnite characters lounging on the beach. This is also one step toward earning the Smoothie back bling, which you’ll get for doing all 14 challenges from the 14 Days of Summer event, which kicked off with the release of Fortnite’s 9.30 content update patch. You can get a look at the smoothie in the hands of the character on the right side of the loading screen above.

14 Days of Summer Challenges

Annapurna Interactive has announced What Remains of Edith Finch is coming to the Japanese Nintendo Switch eShop on July 4. As the announcement lists that the English version will be supported, it can be assumed the port will be released worldwide. However, that hasn’t been officially confirmed. Regardless, the Switch can access multiple regions, so even if the port remains exclusive to Japan, you’ll still be able to buy it.

According to Japanese Nintendo, What Remains of Edith Finch will release on Switch in Japan for ¥2,200, which is just over $20 USD / £16. The game requires a 2.2 GB download.

What Remains of Edith Finch is one of the best games of 2017, receiving universal critical praise. You play as the titular Edith Finch, who returns to her family home after her mother’s death. Over the course of the game, you visit the rooms of each member of Edith’s family–all of whom are deceased–to learn about the lives and ultimate demise of each person. You also begin to unravel the truth behind the curse supposedly haunting the Finch family, which dictates that only one member of each generation will live a normal life. All the others are doomed to die in a strange or unusual way.

In GameSpot’s What Remains of Edith Finch review, Justin Clark gave the game a 9/10, writing, “Developer Giant Sparrow managed to strike the delicate balance between joy and sorrow in 2012’s The Unfinished Swan, but What Remains of Edith Finch transcends even the latent sadness of that game, finding the beauty–even sometimes the fun–in what’s always fundamentally a tragedy. It’s not often that a game’s plot slips past the bitterness of grief to finally get to the acceptance, but that’s the triumph in What Remains of Edith Finch. Ultimately, if the game has any resemblance of a moral, it’s that the bravest, most beautiful thing every one of us does is choose to keep going, despite knowing what’s coming.”

If you just cannot wait until next week and want to buy What Remains of Edith Finch right now, the game is 55% off during the Steam 2019 Summer Sale–which continues through July 9. You can see the game’s discounted price in the US, UK, and AU below.

What Remains Of Edith Finch Steam 2019 Summer Sale Prices