Author: Trafficblast

Pokemon Go developer Niantic Labs began its life as a Google subsidiary, but the company spun out in 2015, and reached a new stratosphere of success with the launch of Pokemon Go in July 2016. The San Francisco-based developer is growing still, with a new report claiming the company is working to secure a $200 million round of funding.

According to The Wall Street Journal‘s sources, the further $200 million would raise the company’s total valuation to $3.9 billion. The latest round of funding is expected to be led by venture capital firm IVP, with more money coming from Samsung and aXiomatic Gaming.

There is no word on what the rumoured round of $200 million in funding would go toward at Niantic, but the studio has a new Harry Potter game in the works, in addition to ongoing support for Pokemon Go. The WSJ report says Niantic could be working on games for “other franchises,” but none were named.

Niantic’s new Harry Potter game, Wizards Unite, was initially expected to launch in 2018 but it was later delayed to 2019. Not much is known about the game, but it’s said to use a similar augmented reality set-up that Niantic struck gold with for Pokemon Go.

Pokemon Go is free, and it makes money through in-game microtransactions. While the game might not be as popular as it once was, it still makes a lot of money. In November, the game pulled in $80 million worldwide from its microtransactions on iOS and Android, according to a report from SensorTower.

In other news, Pokemon Go’s latest winter event kicks off this week. Among other things, it lets you earn bonuses, hatch Eggs more easily, and encounter Pokemon from the Sinnoh region. You can learn more about the event in our coverage here.

(Presented by Oculus) In the final episode of the Change the Game VR Charity Challenge, Magnus Beasticus and Lemming go toe to toe in Creed: Rise to Glory to win $100K for charity. Visit vrcharitychallenge.com for more info!

Learn more about our two awesome charities:

Stack Up Website: https://stackup.org/

Take This Website: http://www.takethis.org/

It’s time for another WWE PPV, and things are about to get a bit crazy, as the whole show will contain many matches with tables, ladders, and chairs. While these aren’t typically items associated with a regular wrestling bout, many of TLC’s bouts will contain stipulations allowing them to be used during the evening.

Both Raw and Smackdown have plenty of matches planned for the evening. In fact, there are 12 matches on the card, and chances are that many of these won’t go longer than 10 minutes, since this isn’t one of WWE’s “big four” events of the year and there simply isn’t enough time for everything. There is a good chance this show will be moving a mile a minute.

On the Raw side of things, there is only one match that really makes sense. If you’ve been keeping up with the Monday night series, then you know it has not been good in quite some time. However, Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental Championship should be fantastic. Aside from that, there’s a lot you can probably skip out on since the storylines simply aren’t there.

For Smackdown, TLC is stacked with great matches. To highlight a couple, (The New) Daniel Bryan takes on AJ Styles for the WWE Championship in what should be an instant classic. Also, the Smackdown Women’s Championship is on the line when Asuka, Charlotte Flair, and “The Man” Becky Lynch battle for the title in a TLC match. Again, this should be an instant classic.

This year’s TLC PPV is coming to the SAP Center in San Jose, California today at 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT, with a Kickoff Show beginning one hour prior. You can see the event for yourself on the WWE Network or on PPV through your cable or satellite provider.

Here’s what is currently planned for TLC:

• R-Truth & Carmella vs. Jinder Mahal & Alicia Fox (Finals of MMC Season 2)
• Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton (Chairs Match)
• Buddy Murphy (c) vs. Cedric Alexander (Cruiserweight Championship)
• Elias vs. Bobby Lashley (Ladder Match)
• Finn Bálor vs. Drew McIntyre
• Natalya vs. Ruby Riott (Tables Match)
• The Bar (c) vs. The New Day vs. The Usos (SmackDown Tag Team Championships)
• Becky Lynch (c) vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka (Triple Threat TLC Match For The Smackdown Women’s Championship)
• Ronda Rousey (c) vs. Nia Jax (Raw Women’s Championship)
• Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin (TLC Match)
• Seth Rollins (c) vs. Dean Ambrose (Intercontinental Championship)
• (The New) Daniel Bryan (c) vs. AJ Styles (WWE Championship)

In case you’re not caught up, don’t worry; we put the final results in spoiler blocks. The Kickoff Show begins at 6 PM ET / 3 PM PT.

Kickoff Show

Updating…

A recent Battlefield V patch made changes to the values of the multiplayer game’s time to kill, or TTK. The changes were aimed at helping new players have a better experience, but as you would expect, some people in the “core” Battlefield community understandably took issue with the changes.

DICE created a “core” playlist for the Conquest mode in an attempt to appease veteran fans who didn’t enjoy the TTK changes. But DICE now acknowledges in a new Reddit post that this one playlist was “clearly” not enough to satisfy core fans.

So now, DICE is adding a “Core” version of every playlist, not just Conquest, and these new versions should arrive next week.

Another part of the issue with Battlefield V’s TTK is that DICE apparently did not address the feedback fast enough. “I’d like to apologize for the silence over the past couple of days on the TTK topic. We’ve seen it’s been a big talking point and causing a divide in the community, which was never our intention. We have been listening closely to what you’ve all been saying,” Battlefield community manager Dan Mitre said.

He added: “Changes to the game carrying this kind of weight needs clearer, earlier communication before getting rolled out. We will improve how we roll out updates in the future and respond more quickly when you have questions or concerns.”

DICE made the TTK changes right away was due in part because the developer knows a number of new players will pick up the game for the holidays, and DICE wanted to try to help them have a good experience. “The intent came from us observing that new players are having a very hard time with the game compared to our core players, and we wanted to see if we could improve this over the holidays so more players can have a great time,” Mitre said.

Battlefield games are known for evolving over time based on community feedback and ideas that DICE itself comes up with. “Battlefield V is no exception,” Mitre said regarding how the WWII shooter will grow and evolve in time.

Unlike previous Battlefield games, all of Battlefield V’s expansions are free as part of the game’s Tide of War live service element. The first major post-release expansion, Chapter 1: Overture, is out now, and it adds a new map and the single-player War Story where you play as a member of a German tank division. On a longer timeline, Battlefield V will introduce a battle royale mode called Firestorm in March.

GameSpot’s Battlefield V review scored the World War II shooter an 8/10. The game is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.