Author: Trafficblast

The final piece of major story-driven DLC for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is out today. Judgement of Atlantis is the third and final episode in Odyssey’s The Fate Of Atlantis DLC, the second story expansion for the Assassin’s Creed game.

Judgement of Atlantis takes place in the underwater city and sees Kassandra/Alexios aid Poseidon. Of every Assassin’s Creed game, comic, and animation to date, Judgement of Atlantis is seemingly the most lore-driven when it comes to the characters that drive the overarching plot of the franchise: the Isu. Also referred to as “those who came before,” the Isu have largely remained a mystery in Assassin’s Creed, despite being one of the most important groups in the franchise since 2009’s Assassin’s Creed II. The previous episodes of The Fate Of Atlantis dealt with Persephone and Hades, but primarily handled the Isu as the god-like beings they’ve always been portrayed as. Judgement of Atlantis dives deeper into the lore behind these figures, revealing their almost human-like history, beliefs, and customs.

Instead of returning to an annual release schedule, Assassin’s Creed took a break after the release of Odyssey in 2018 and scheduled a series of episodic story-driven DLC to primarily release in 2019. Odyssey’s main campaign is broken into three separate storylines, and the two DLC expansions add additional context to two of them. Legacy Of The First Blade takes place within Odyssey’s “Hunt The Cult Of Kosmos” storyline and reveals how those events connect to 2017’s Assassin’s Creed Origins. The Fate Of Atlantis occurs after the “Between Two Worlds” storyline and further explains the Isu’s involvement in the Assassin and Templar conflict.

With Odyssey’s story now officially concluded with the release of Judgement of Atlantis, we can begin to look forward to Ubisoft’s next game in the franchise. Clues in The Division 2 seem to imply 2020’s Assassin’s Creed game will take place in a Viking setting. If true, the game would discount the 2016 leak/rumor that Ubisoft had planned a trilogy of games to take place in Egypt, Greece, and Rome (though getting two out of three isn’t all that bad). Vikings do make sense for topping off this latest trilogy though. Origins and Odyssey are not traditional Assassin’s Creed games in terms of combat and world-building, but both have acted as origin stories for the Assassin and Templar conflict. The Age of Vikings takes place just before the events of the original Assassin’s Creed, so a game in that setting could act as the final piece of the mystery as to how the two groups ultimately formed.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. The game will be included in Ubisoft’s upcoming game-focused subscription service, Uplay+, along with the other 17 mainline Assassin’s Creed games. Exclusive to PC, Uplay+ is scheduled to launch on September 3 with over 100 games.

Nintendo announced a revised Nintendo Switch model sporting better battery life, but that wasn’t the only new piece of hardware it had to reveal. The company also announced two new sets of colors for its Joy-Con controllers: Blue with Neon Yellow, and Purple with Neon Orange.

As usual with Joy-Con sets, the colors pairings represent the left and right Joy-Cons, respectively. Each package will cost $80 at launch, and they’ll be available starting October 4 in the United States. Other Joy-Con colors include Gray, Neon Pink, and Neon Green, and the removable nature of the controllers means they can be mixed and matched. Nintendo has not announced if they’ll be for sale individually, as it offers for some colors.

Nintendo also announced a new model of Nintendo Switch, which boasts up to 9 hours of battery life as compared to 6.5 with the launch model. Other than that improvement, though, it appears identical to the old version, so you may want to read up on how to tell the difference. The revised models will launch in mid-August in the U.S.

A much bigger change to the Switch hardware is represented by the Switch Lite, a smaller and budget-priced version of the hardware that removes the docking functionality to be a portable-only system. That version has its controllers permanently affixed to the body of the console, unlike the standard Switch. However, you could still use separate Joy-Cons for local multiplayer games.

See Blue/Neon Yellow Joy-Cons at Best Buy

See Purple/Neon Orange Joy-Cons at Best Buy

Some links to supporting retailers are automatically made into affiliate links, and GameSpot may receive a small share of those sales.

PUBG Corp. has released a new cinematic trailer for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. The trailer, which can be watched below, showcases the origin of PUBG’s first map, Erangel, and introduces the story behind the battle royale game.

In the trailer, a man recounts the time when he was a young boy in 1965 and his home, Erangel, was bombed by some unknown force. Resolving to live, the boy went on to survive by scavenging for weapons, medicines, and materials until he was the only person left alive on the island. Fast-forwarding to the present day, it’s revealed the matches in PUBG are a series of live-streamed (and possibly televised) battles to the death–similar to The Hunger Games.

These matches are orchestrated by the man, now incredibly wealthy, who designed the battle royale games to be a test for discovering humanity’s true survivors. The trailer ends with the man confirming these are his battlegrounds, identifying himself as the mysterious unknown player in PUBG’s title.

Though PUBG’s maps have hinted towards some sort of overarching narrative, this is the first confirmed lore for the battle royale game. PUBG Corp. hasn’t revealed whether more story-focused trailers will be revealed in the future, but game theorists at least now have a starting point for piecing together PUBG’s backstory.

The new trailer also acts as an announcement for the start date of PUBG’s upcoming season, Season 4, which is scheduled to begin July 24. Season 4 is a massive update for PUBG, completely reinventing Erangel with new visuals, adding parkour movement mechanics, and introducing brand-new weapons, vehicles, and items. There’s a new battle pass to work through as well, and it contains challenges that can be tackled cooperatively with your squad.

Season 4’s start date closely follows a major PUBG update on Xbox One and PS4 that added Apex Legends‘ auto equip weapon attachment features to the console versions of the game. If you want to try out all the changes in Season 4, the patch is currently live on PUBG’s PC test servers. On console, you’ll need to wait for the update to officially launch to play through the changes.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. A mobile port, called PUBG Mobile, is available on Android and iOS devices. Despite being relatively new, PUBG is one of the most influential games of the 21st century for popularizing one of gaming’s most popular subgenres.

Though not a sequel, a new PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds game is in the works. The upcoming game is being developed by Striking Distance, a studio helmed by ex-Call of Duty and Dead Space developer Glen Schofield. Described as an “original narrative experience within the PUBG universe,” the game is still in its infancy. Schofield has hinted the game may not necessarily be a battle royale like PUBG though.

It’s been a busy week for deals as Amazon Prime Day 2019 came and went, offering thousands of discounts and special bundles across every category, including gaming. Prime Day included quite a few noteworthy deals, like a PS4 Pro bundle with Spider-Man and Horizon Zero Dawn for $300 that sold out in a blink, but if you missed your chance to grab a new console, accessory, or specific game on your wishlist, there are still plenty of deals to be had at Walmart and other retailers this week.

Walmart’s Summer Savings event kicked off on Sunday and continues through Wednesday, July 17, offering free two-day (or faster) shipping on all orders over $35. GameStop’s major summer sale, which began a full week before Prime Day and continues until July 20, has some solid game deals, trade-in offers, and collectibles worth checking out. Plus, you’ll find some solid deals still floating around at places like Google Express, so don’t fret if you missed out (or decided to boycott) Amazon’s shopping bonanza.

See some of the best post-Prime Day deals still available below.

Best console deals

Nintendo Switch + Xbox One S All-Digital Edition bundle

$400 ($550 value)

Use promo code GOTURE at checkout to see the price slashed to just $400 on this crazy bundle with the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One S All Digital-Edition (plus digital downloads for Minecraft, Forza Horizon 3, and Sea of Thieves).

See deal at Google Express

Xbox One X (Black)

$314 ($500)

Normally priced at $500, the Xbox One X is on deep discount at Google Express via seller Antonline. In checkout, you’ll see an initial $166 markdown, and once you apply promo code JULY20SAVE, that will increase to $186 off, dropping your price to just $314 (plus tax).

See deal at Google Express

Xbox One X + PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds digital download bundle

$314 ($500)

The same Google Express deal mentioned above also applies to this Xbox One X bundle with PUBG. $314 is a fantastic price for one of the most powerful consoles out there; plus, it doubles as a 4K UHD player.

See deal at Google Express

Xbox One S + game + bonus controller + headset bundle

$300 ($450)

Ready to go all-in on the Xbox One S? This bundle has an MSRP of $300 on its own, so getting a bonus controller and headset doesn’t hurt one bit.

See deal at Walmart

Nintendo Switch + game of your choice + bonus accessory bundle

$329 ($358.96)

Unfortunately, the only accessory left for this bundle is an Ematic Paw Patrol-themed carrying case–but getting the Switch and a first-party Nintendo game for essentially half off is still a good deal.

See deal at Walmart

PS4 Slim + bonus Crystal DualShock controller bundle

$300 ($359.96)

Prime Day saw quite a few markdowns on the PS4 Slim, but the last bundle left is this modest one at Walmart, which basically throws a bonus Crystal DualShock 4 controller in for free.

See deal at Walmart

Best game deals

The good thing about games is that once they get discounted by one store (looking at you, Amazon), they tend to get price-matched by all the major retailers. There are some solid deals still available, such as Kingdom Hearts 3 for $20, Days Gone for $40, and Red Dead Redemption 2 for $30.

• Anthem: Legion of Dawn Edition — $15
• A Plague Tale: Innocence — $35 ($50)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 — $28 ($60)
• Days Gone — $40 ($60)
• Doom Eternal — $49.94 ($60)
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Special Edition — $22 ($39.82)
• Fallout 76 — $17 ($60)
• FIFA 19 — $20 ($60)
• Final Fantasy X/X-2 — $35 ($50)
• Hitman 2 — $30 ($60)
• Metro Exodus — $30 ($60)
• Middle-earth: Shadow of War – Definitive Edition — $15 ($50)
• MLB The Show 19 – MVP Edition — $50 ($70)
• NBA 2K19 — $15 ($60)
• Nier Automata – Game of the Yorha Edition — $24.65 ($40)
• Rage 2 — $40 ($60)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 — $30 ($60)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 Ultimate Edition – Only at GameStop — $49.97 ($100)
• Resident Evil 2 — $38 ($60)
• Spyro Reignited Trilogy — $22 ($39.88)
• Starlink: Battle for Atlas — $30 ($60)
• Tetris Effect — $26.28 ($40.77)

More great deals still available

Aside from games and consoles, there are still plenty of markdowns on controllers, headsets, PC accessories, retro arcade machines, and more–see some of the best deals we found that are still up for grabs below.

Xbox One Phantom White Special Edition wireless controller

$50 ($70)

See deal at Ebay

Street Fighter 2 Arcade Machine

$200 ($300)

See deal at Walmart

GameCube-style Gold or Silver Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch

$40 ($50)

See deal at GameStop

PlayStation Plus: 12-Month Membership

$36 ($60)

See deal at MassGenie

PlayStation Platinum Wireless Headset

$119.40 ($160)

See deal at Amazon

HP 27″ Edge-to-Edge Full HD Gaming Monitor

$140 ($200)

See deal at Ebay

Thrustmaster TMX Force Feedback Racing Wheel

$126.37 ($200)

See deal at Amazon

FastSnail Joy-Con Grips

$13 ($20)

See deal at Amazon

The old adage of “don’t judge a book by its cover” doesn’t just apply to printed matter. When you first see images and screenshots of Dragon Quest Builders 2, it’s easy to write the game off as yet another blocky-building sandbox game. But Dragon Quest Builders 2 is more than just your run-of-the-mill material-gathering, object-crafting, block-laying game. Its virtual community-creating gameplay stands out among the crowd, jam-packed with the warmth, joy, and charm that makes the Dragon Quest series so delightfully memorable.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 begins with your player character, a Builder with the ability to move and create objects, winding up stranded on a strange archipelago. Long ago, these islands flourished with a great civilization–up until a cult called the Children of Hargon gained power, destroying all that existed and forbidding those in its thrall from creating anything new. It’s up to you and your mysterious friend, a snarky, aggressive boy named Malroth, to destroy the cult’s hold on the people and restore these islands to their former glory, one block at a time. Much like how the original Dragon Quest Builders was a take on a what-if ending for the original Dragon Quest, Dragon Quest Builders 2 takes the ending of Dragon Quest II and turns it on its head–but you don’t need to be familiar with that game to get a lot of enjoyment out of this one. (You will appreciate several of the callbacks, though.)

The core gameplay loop in Dragon Quest Builders is immensely satisfying. You have a central island, the Isle of Awakening, that acts like one big sandbox, along with several other islands both large and small that you can visit to gather materials and advance the main story. The larger islands all feature a big, overarching quest to restore a destroyed population center, which you’ll accomplish by completing numerous smaller sub-quests to build facilities, find new materials, help individual NPCs, and explore different areas. Completing these quests rewards you with the gratitude of those you’ve aided, which in turn yields new item-creation recipes, improves the skills of the NPCs at the base, and brings more characters to the area to help with building, farming, mining, and monster-slaying. When you finally complete the lengthy main quest on each of the bigger islands, several of the NPCs will return with you to the Isle of Awakening, eager to aid you in building your own unique city and letting you run absolutely wild with your creative town-building concepts.

Part of what makes this gameplay loop so fulfilling is that doing these dozens upon dozens of small errands for NPCs rarely becomes tedious. The characters you meet in Dragon Quest Builders 2 are lively and full of personality (and funny accents), and helping them out with their needs to receive their heartfelt thanks just feels really, really good. You also get the joy of watching a town transform from a barely-functional series of ramshackle hovels into a thriving community thanks to your persistence and kindness. When you finish a new building or complete a task, the populace gathers around to showcase their elation and shower you with gratitude points–a simple reward that nonetheless feels wonderful to get.

It also helps that the world itself is tremendously fun to explore. The varied settings you encounter in your quest offer a variety of things to discover: towering hills, sandy beaches, secret underground caverns, ancient ruins, waterlogged bogs, and so on. You’ll find plenty to do out in Dragon Quest Builders 2’s expansive environments, and by exploring, you’re amply rewarded with rare materials, optional side quests, some new NPC companions, and even a few simple puzzles that yield nice rewards upon completion. There are even a few randomly generated small islands you can sail out to that offer fresh experiences every time you visit, allowing you the chance to see interesting procedurally-made environments, collect lots of unique, rare materials and bring them all home to build the city of your dreams.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Dragon Quest game without many of the series’ beloved monster designs. While a few non-humans are friendly to you, most of the monsters you encounter are strict adherents of the Children of Hargon and want nothing more than to destroy you and everything you’ve made. You’ll have to fight them off if you want to keep on building. Unfortunately, you’re a Builder, not a fighter, so your combat prowess for a lot of the game feels quite lacking.

As a result, combat winds up being the weakest part of the game. While it’s a marked improvement over the original Dragon Quest Builders, offering you a lot more control over your character and bringing NPCs into the mix to aid you in fighting, it still feels quite bland most of the time–you’ll just run up to enemies, whack them with a few basic weapon strikes, and hope they die sooner rather than later. The NPC warriors that join you on expeditions and when your bases and city need defending are far more useful for fighting off enemies than you are most of the time, particularly Malroth, who is an absolute beast when it comes to monster-mashing. I frequently found myself just waiting for Malroth to whittle down enemies’ health before I went in to finish them off and collect EXP and loot. The boss fights utilize some gimmicks involving your Builder abilities that make them significantly more interesting than normal fights, but they’re few and far between. At least combat isn’t a primary focus of the game, and new abilities and items you build as you progress help with enemy destruction–but combat never really stops feeling like an annoying distraction to what you want to do most: explore and build stuff.

But whatever problems the game has are quickly negated by everything else Dragon Quest Builders 2 does well. Characters are quirky and memorable with wonderfully written dialogue (though they’re sometimes a smidge too chatty), you get lots of cool materials to work with over the course of the game to build and customize your city, and everything, from the controls to the visuals and audio to the interface, feels inviting, engaging, and fun. Occasionally there’s a bit of tiny text that’s hard to read (a problem made worse when playing in handheld mode on Switch), but the vast majority of the time you’ll be too busy building away to care about the game’s small irritations.

Online co-op play opens once you have cleared the game’s first major quest. Unfortunately, while you can’t play the campaign in a co-op session, you are still allowed to build on the Isle of Awakening alongside a buddy or three. Working together to build your island is as fun as playing solo—maybe even more so—and the various customization items you can craft to wear during these sessions add a lot of goofy charm to the proceedings. In our testing, sessions with other players located in North America went smoothly, with few noticeable lag hiccups. If you want to show off but don’t feel like having a virtual block party, there’s also a bulletin board where players from around the world can post, tag, and share screenshots of their creations in-game.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a great game, combining exploration, sandbox-building, questing, and town-management into a delightful package that will gladly suck up your time and put a big smile on your face. It’s the sort of game that you’ll intend to play for a little while, only to find that hours have flown by once you manage to actually put it down. Don’t dismiss this one when you see big square blocks on the box–you’ll be missing out on a very fun twist on an excellent gaming foundation.

After multiple content updates for the 9.30 version of the game, Fortnite developer Epic Games has finally released update 9.40. It is available now on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch, and mobile and re-introduces the Tactical Shotgun. It also makes a number of changes to other weapons, such as reducing the Semi-Auto Sniper Rifle’s zoom while scoped, vaulting the Suppressed Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle, and making the standard Bolt-Action Sniper.

The Tactical Shotgun is available in Epic and Legendary variants from floor loot, chests, supply drops, loot carriers, and vending machines. It has a maximum damage of 83/87. It does 1.5 shots per second and holds eight shells. If you manage to land a headshot with it, there’s a multiplier of 2.25.

The update also makes some changes to other gameplay elements, such as allowing players to automatically pick up a consumable if it is already in their inventory and not maxed out, which is nice quality of life addition. You can see the full list of changes for the Battle Royale mode below, or read the full Fortnite patch notes on the game’s website for further information on what’s new with the Creative and Save the World modes.

Weapon + Items

• New Epic and Legendary Tactical Shotgun.
  • 83 / 87 maximum damage.
  • 1.5 shots per second.
  • Holds 8 shells.
  • Headshot multiplier of 2.25.
  • Available from Floor Loot, Chests, Supply Drops, Loot Carriers, and Vending Machines.
• Semi-Auto Sniper Rifle now has reduced zoom while scoped.
  • This is a Quality of Life change to help improve the usability and feel of this weapon.
• Combat Shotgun changes
  • Reduced Headshot multiplier from 1.7 to 1.5.
  • Reduced the long range effectiveness of the Combat Shotgun
    • Reduced the falloff curve ranges from:
      • 2.44 tiles (unchanged)
      • 4.88 tiles to 4.39 tiles.
      • 9.77 tiles to 6.84 tiles.
      • 19.53 tiles to 11.72 tiles.
  • After observing recent changes to damage falloff, we decided to further reduce its long range effectiveness and alter the curve to fall a bit more in line with other shotguns but still retain its unique flavor.
• Vaulted
  • Suppressed Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle
    • Epic and Legendary variants.
• Unvaulted
  • Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle
    • Rare, Epic, and Legendary variants.

Bug Fixes

• Drum Shotgun now has the correct environmental damage falloff.
• Fixed a bug in which a Launch Pad couldn’t be destroyed by a pickaxe.

Gameplay

• Picking up an item that fills a stack and creates an overflow will no longer result in the currently equipped item being dropped.
  • Instead of causing the currently equipped weapon to be dropped, the overflow will be dropped.
• Players will now automatically pick up a consumable if it is already in their inventory and not maxed out.
  • If the auto pickup fills a stack, the overflow will be dropped.
• A new Glider and Harvesting Tool have been added for Save the World Founder’s Pack owners.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue involving Supply Drone Boxes not being visible after players shoot down the Supply Drone.
• Supply Drones no longer remain stationary after getting stuck for too long.
• Changed Invert “Aircraft Keyboard Controls” to “Invert Airborne Keyboard Controls” in the Options menu to reflect the fact that airborne land vehicles’ controls become inverted in the air.
• Fixed some edge cases involving damage number display rounding down for some shotgun hits.
• Blueprint doors now consistently render when players are building.
• Players can now pick up items more easily when standing on top of them.
• Foot controllers now properly allow players to rotate the next and previous weapon.
• Bushes no longer block players from being healed by a Chug Splash.
• If a player using a Shadow Bomb enters a vehicle, the Shadow Bomb effect will no longer remain active after the effect should have ended.
• The Chug Splash now properly auto-sorts to the rightmost inventory slot when picked up, like other consumables.
• Fixed an issue in which players would experience abnormally slow gliding after using a Rift-to-Go.
• Consumables associated with a bar (Shield Potion, Med Kit, etc.) are now consistently usable by players riding a Zipline.
• Fixed a rare issue involving Shadow Bombs not allowing for wall jumps at certain angles.
• Players can no longer wall jump off of the corn fields while using a Shadow Bomb.
• Players can no longer wall jump off of Slipstreams while using a Shadow Bomb.
• Fixed an issue in which the rings for Fortbytes 4, 67, 70, and 89 would not appear even though the player was wearing the correct cosmetic.
• To prevent players from exploiting the Deep Dab emote, it now has a delay before players are able to shoot after starting it.
• Fixed an issue in which damage done to shields was causing the VFX to appear larger than normal, blocking players’ vision.
• Foot Controller support improvements
  • Switched over to use dead zone and max throttle end points.
  • Better vehicle controls for Quad Crasher.

Competitive

• New Tournament: Xbox Cup (July 20th & 21st) [$1,000,000 in Cash Prizes!]
  • Solo Game Mode
  • This tournament is open to all players on Xbox One and does not require reaching any division in Arena.
  • The prize pool will be distributed across all server regions, with official rules and details released later this week. Check the tournament inside the game client for exact times.
  • Format:
    • July 20th – Round One: All Eligible Players
    • July 21st – Round Two: Top 1500 Players from Round One
• New Tournament: Trios Cash Cup (July 21st) [$1,000,000 in Cash Prizes!]
  • Trios Game Mode
  • Participation in this event requires players to have reached Champion League in Arena play prior to the start of the event.
  • The prize pool will be distributed across all server regions, with official rules and details released later this week. Check the tournament inside the game client for exact times.
  • Format:
    • Single Day Tournament – July 21st
      • Round One: All Eligible Players
      • Round Two: Top 150 teams from Round One
• Players can now choose a flag to display on their career profile.
  • This flag can be selected and changed from a player’s profile.
  • After changing or selecting their flag, players cannot change flags again for 30 days.
  • A player’s flag is visible to others when visiting a player’s profile and on tournament leaderboards.
  • For teams of two or more players, the flag chosen by the majority of the team will be displayed. If there is no majority, the globe flag will be displayed.
  • We are launching with an initial set of 37 total flags. Any additional flags added in the future will be announced in future updates.

Performance

• Improved server performance of Zipline.
• Improved client performance of Chug Jug.
• Optimized the way pickaxes are spawned to reduce the chance of loading issues during the initial skydive landing.

Audio

• Improved enemy footstep volume consistency, and changed volume falloff to logarithmic to make the sound diminish more naturally.
• Decreased volume of a few sounds:
  • Chug Splash explosion.
  • Proximity Launcher explosion.
  • Ambient hum of the Slipstream platforms.
• Added a wall impact audio layer for close quarters combat as an additional warning that an enemy is shooting a structure you’re on the opposite side of.

Bug Fixes

• Wood/stone/metal bullet impacts are no longer silent on Mobile/Switch.
• Revolver equip sound is no longer silent on Mobile/Switch.

UI

• Escape Menu & Social Panel updates:
  • The input action that would bring up either the Escape Menu or Social Panel will now bring up both of them in the lobby and while in a match.
  • A third tab has been added to the Social Panel. It contains all voice chat-related functionalities.
  • The Escape Menu and Top Bar received a visual update.

Mobile

• Added new Edit From Touch setting to enable/disable editing from touches (defaulted to enabled).
• Bluetooth microphones have been enabled to support voice chat.
• The emote wheel buttons are now bigger.

Bug Fixes

• Air Strike shots no longer create large polygonal outlines.
• Fixed an issue involving Pump and Combat Shotguns not correctly firing while Auto-Fire is selected.
• Resolved voice chat issues when joining another player’s party.
• The chest located in the Neo Tilted hotel is now openable.
• Live spectating on mobile will display the spectator’s UI.
• Players no longer remain logged into their account when they close the game.
• Wallet in the Lifetime Refund Screen will now correctly display.
• Leaving the “Show Help” open in the Warm Up stage won’t cause the Button to remain present during the match.
• The “Tournament Region” text in the Compete tab is bigger.
• Map Marker HUD Layout won’t be displayed when in the Battle Bus.
• Emote HUD Layout will be displayed only in vehicles where it is possible to emote.
• Players will be able to rotate cosmetics when using a touchpad.
• The proper SFX will be played when equipping the Revolver.
• Graphical improvement on the Wonder outfit while playing the Llama Bell emote.
• Storm Eye Glider and Storm Bolt Harvesting Tool will display proper VFX.
• Graphical improvement of the Flutter outfit.
• Graphical improvement on the String Lights contrail.
• Lantern contrail will display properly in-game.

Fortnite Season 9 is now reaching its conclusion and, as is tradition, we expect there will be a big event to mark the transition to Season 10. Dataminers have discovered evidence that a large battle between the monster formerly beneath Polar Peak and the giant robot being assembled at the Pressure Plant will kick off in the game on July 20.

Nintendo unveiled a handful of surprises during its E3 2019 presentation, including Super Smash Bros. Ultimate‘s next two DLC characters: the Hero from Dragon Quest XI and the long-requested Banjo-Kazooie. While the bear and bird duo won’t join the roster until sometime this fall, the Hero is slated to arrive this summer–possibly as soon as this month, if a new trailer is any indication.

The video, which was originally titled “Fan-Favorites & Newest Releases – July,” highlights some of the new games and content Switch owners can enjoy this month, from Fortnite Season 9 (which is scheduled to wrap up soon) to July’s big Switch-exclusive releases, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order and Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Interestingly, the video also showcases Smash Ultimate’s new Hero fighter, which seems to suggest he’ll also be arriving this month.

Since the trailer went live, however, Nintendo has tweaked its title to say “Summer” rather than “July,” so it’s possible the original title was either incorrect or it revealed a little more than intended. Given that every other game highlighted in the video is either launching or already available this month, however, it seems safe to say the Hero is on the way soon. You can watch the trailer above.

The Hero’s default look is based on Dragon Quest XI, but his alternate costumes are the heroes from Dragon Quests VIII, IV, and III. He wields a sword and shield for his standard attacks, while his specials are various spells from the Dragon Quest series. For his Final Smash, the Hero is joined by other Dragon Quest protagonists to deliver the Gigaslash.

Hero and Banjo-Kazooie are included as part of Smash Ultimate’s $25 Fighters Pass, which gives players access to all five of the game’s announced DLC character as they’re released. Each add-on fighter also comes alongside a new stage as well as several new music tracks. Individual fighter packs can be purchased for $6. Following Banjo-Kazooie, there are two more DLC fighters in the works for Smash Ultimate, although their identities haven’t been revealed yet.

For several years now, Quentin Tarantino has been stating that his tenth movie as director will be the last. This month’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is film no.9, and there have been rumors that he might also be planning to make a Star Trek film. Tarantino has now commented on whether a Star Trek film–if it happens–would count as his tenth and final film.

In an interview with CinemaBlend, Tarantino discussed the possibility that a Star Trek film might be excluded from his 10-movie plan, because it’s a franchise entry and not an original creation. “I guess I do have a loophole, [if] the idea was to throw a loophole into it,” he said. “Which would be [to go], ‘Uhhh, I guess Star Trek doesn’t count. I can do Star Trek … but naturally I would end on an original.'”

However, Tarantino ultimately said that he would stand by his original decision, no matter what his tenth movie turns out to be. “The idea of doing 10 isn’t to come up with a loophole,” he explained. “I actually think, if I was going to do Star Trek, I should commit to it. It’s my last movie. There should be nothing left handed about it. I don’t know if I’m going to do that, but that might happen.”

Rumors that Tarantino had an idea for a new Star Trek movie first appeared in January 2018. It was reported that he had spoken to JJ Abrams, who directed the first two Star Trek reboot movies, about the possibility of directing it. More recently, Tarantino told Empire that a script based on his initial pitch had been written, and if it happened, his Star Trek movie would be R-rated.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie, and releases on July 26. Check out the first trailer here.