Author: Trafficblast

Season 9 of Fortnite rolls on with a new batch of content for Epic’s hit battle royale shooter. In addition to the ongoing Downtown Drop limited-time mode, Week 3’s challenges are now available across PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch, and mobile devices. These are your best bet for snagging all the new Season 9 cosmetics, as each task you complete will net you Battle Stars, which in turn will level up your Battle Pass and unlock rewards.

Week 3’s challenges are particularly straightforward, so you shouldn’t have too much difficulty completing them. This is fortunate, because there’s an added bonus for finishing all seven challenges from a given week: You’ll also complete one of Season 9’s Utopia challenges, which will reward you with a special loading screen. These typically hide a clue that points you to a free item hidden somewhere around the game’s map, such as a Battle Star that will level your Battle Pass up by one full tier.

If you’ve finished three weeks’ worth of missions this season, you’ll complete the third Season 9 Utopia challenge and unlock the loading screen pictured below. Per tradition, this screen features a clue leading eagle-eyed players to a free Battle Star. Specifically, the clue is scrawled onto the concrete wall the puppies are standing on; look closely and you can see the sketch of a Battle Star above a stack of cars. You’ll need to go to someplace on the map that resembles the drawing in order to find the item.

If the drawing wasn’t clear enough, you can find a pile of cars like that in Junk Junction, near the northwestern corner of the island. Glide toward the area at the start of a match and you should be able to easily spot the stack of cars. Make your way to the top and the Battle Star will appear. Collect it, finish the match, and your Battle Pass will be leveled up by one tier. If you need more help finding it, we’ve marked the Battle Star’s location on the map below. You can also watch us lead you to it in the video at the top of this guide.

Unlike Week 2’s secret Fortbyte #13, there’s a caveat to be aware of before you can collect this Battle Star. The item will only appear if you’ve complete three full weeks’ worth of challenges, which means you won’t simply be able to go to the stack of cars in Junk Junction and expect to find it unless you’ve done all of the necessary work first. If you need help completing any earlier challenges, you can find guides for all the trickier ones in our full Fortnite Season 9 challenges roundup. We’ll continue to update that with more tips as the season rolls on.

Epic recently rolled out Fortnite’s 9.10 update, which kicked off the aforementioned Downtown Drop LTM, which features its own assortment of challenges to complete and rewards to unlock. Alongside that, Epic introduced the Hang Time bundle, which comes with a pair of Jordan tie-in skins. Other changes the patch made include the addition of Hot Spots–areas on the island where you’ll have a chance to find Rare or better loot–and the reintroduction of the Semi-Auto Sniper Rifle, which is once again available in Vending Machines, chests, and as floor loot.

With the possibility of PS4 and PS5 playing together via backward compatibility, Sony has no plans of leaving the nearly 100 million PS4 owners in the past. Given how much recent attention has been given to PS5 and the fact that Sony won’t be at E3, you might wonder what’s going with first-party games coming to PS4. But Sony has reaffirmed that these exclusives are still headed to the current-gen platform.

“For the next three years or so, PS4 will be the engine of SIE’s engagement and probability, as we seek to keep the existing owner base engaged and delighted and attract new owners from different markets and different demographics,” SIE CEO and president Jim Ryan said during a Sony Investor Relations Day 2019 presentation (via IGN). “In this we will be massively helped by an outstanding roster of new and exclusive games that have yet to be launched.”

Ryan was speaking over a slide at the investor meeting, which featured a graphic (pictured above) with one tile that read “Outstanding roster of exclusive AAA games still to come,” followed by thumbnails of three upcoming PS4 games: The Last of Us Part II, Death Stranding, and Ghost of Tsushima.

This doesn’t rule out the possibility that these games are also released on PS5, but Ryan and the rest of Sony are not ready to cut off the flow of PS4 games just yet.

We recently saw footage of the PS5’s insanely-fast load times, thanks in large part to the system’s newly-equipped solid-state drives. Despite some of the impressive power packed into the system, PlayStation 4 lead architect Mark Cerny told Wired writer Peter Rubin that the PS5 will have an “appealing” price point: “I believe that we will be able to release it at an SRP [suggested retail price] that will be appealing to gamers in light of its advanced feature set.”

Overwatch League, the official competitive scene for Blizzard’s team shooter, is pitting fans against each other to win the honor of topping the teams. The winning team gets to take over the official OWL Instagram account.

From May 27-31, equip an Overwatch League team hero skin and take part in Quick Play or Competitive matches. Each match you complete earns one point for the team you’re representing, and the winning team will be announced on June 3. It all works similar to Splatoon‘s Splatfests, which tie team colors to surveys.

The announcement notes that you must complete a match for your point to register, including overtime. It’s okay if you need to switch to a different hero, as long as you were wearing a team skin at some point during the match. It also doesn’t matter if you’re wearing the Home or Away skin. You can also contribute points on Twitter by tweeting with the #MyOWLTeam hashtag and tagging your favorite team. Blizzard promises that stage three of the event will begin on June 6, but it didn’t specify exactly what that will entail.

This is run concurrently with the middle of the Overwatch Anniversary event, which runs through June 10. As usual that has introduced a bunch of new skins, as well as other cosmetics and rotating brawls. Still, if you’re a fan of the Los Angeles Gladiators or the Philadelphia Fusion, you may want to put aside your Honeydew Mei or Gargoyle Winston temporarily and support the team.

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Humble Bundle has been on a roll with its free game giveaways recently, and the latest limited-time freebie is Jalopy, a simulation game about a man and his uncle on a road trip through Eastern Europe. To claim the game for free, all you have to do is sign up for Humble’s newsletter, and you’ll receive a DRM-free version of the game for Windows PC via email. If you’d prefer a Steam key, you’ll also receive a coupon to buy it for $1 between May 25 and June 1. The offer is only available to redeem for a short time, so claim it soon if you’re interested.

Get Jalopy for free at Humble »

In Jalopy, the player character and his uncle are driving to Turkey, where his uncle needs to be dropped off in Istanbul. A “jalopy” refers to a car that’s old and barely functional, so it’s fitting the game revolves around your car, a Laika 601 Deluxe that frequently breaks down and requires constant monitoring. From the amount of weight in your trunk to the state of the car’s engine, every factor affects how well your car will fare against the difficulties of the road. You can upgrade your car’s parts, but you’ll have to find the money for it first.

“It’s a very good sign for a game when even losing is fun. Even when you find yourself on the wrong side of a bad decision, staring at a broken bridge miles from anywhere with no fuel, in the rain while the sun is setting, you can’t help but laugh,” said Danny O’Dwyer in GameSpot’s video review of Jalopy. “Like a banged-up car, [the game] is challenging, but Jalopy has a wonderful sense of charm.”

There is a story underlining the bizarre road trip taken by your character and his uncle, but it’s best to just dive in and experience what Jalopy is all about for yourself–especially since it’ll cost you nothing to do so for the next couple of days.

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GKIDS, a film distributor responsible for bringing many Japanese anime films to the West, has announced it has acquired the distribution rights to Weathering With You (known as Tenki no Ko in Japan) and will be debuting the movie in the US in 2020. Weathering With You is directed by Makoto Shinkai, best known for directing the critically acclaimed anime films 5 Centimeters Per Second and Your Name–the latter of which surpassed Spirited Away as Japan’s highest-grossing animated film of all time.

“GKIDS is thrilled to be working with Makoto Shinkai and Genki Kawamura on Weathering With You, following their blockbuster hit Your Name,” GKIDS founder and CEO Eric Beckman said in a press release, according to Variety. “We have been huge fans of Makoto Shinkai since his breathtaking 5 Centimeters Per Second, and he is unquestionably one of the top animation filmmakers working today. Weathering With You combines Shinkai’s unparalleled visually beautiful and detailed animation with a riveting emotional story that will be sure to connect with audiences worldwide.”

Weathering With You follows the exploits of Hokoda, a high school student who runs away from home to go live in Tokyo. Unfortunately for him, city life isn’t as grand as he hoped, and he soon finds himself in financial trouble. For some strange reason, the weather is always gloomy as well, with non-stop rain. To make ends meet, Hokoda starts writing in a magazine that deals with the occult and supernatural phenomenon. His life takes a very real, very fantastical turn, however, when he meets Hina, a high school girl with the ability to reverse the rain and make the sky sunny again.

Weathering With You is already scheduled to premiere in Japan on July 19. No exact date has been announced for the US debut, other than early 2020. Like Your Name, the movie will be shown in US theaters in both Japanese with English subtitles and English dub.

Your Name has recently been in the news again as its popularity has inspired Hollywood to create an Americanized live-action remake. The remake is being produced by The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams and its screenplay is being written by Arrival screenwriter Eric Heisserer. A release date has yet to be announced.

It was long expected, but Nintendo finally made it official last fall: A new Animal Crossing game is in the works for Switch. The company announced the news during a Nintendo Direct presentation back in September, after it was revealed that Isabelle would be joining the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster as a playable fighter. And while we didn’t get any more details about the game beyond a vague “2019” release window, the assurance that a new entry was indeed in development was enough to sate Animal Crossing fans, who had been starved for any kind of updates on the status of the franchise.

Animal Crossing for Switch will mark the series’ first new mainline installment since New Leaf, which launched for 3DS back in 2013, six full years ago. Given this long wait for a follow-up, anticipation for the game is understandably high, and with its release still slated for this year, many are expecting Nintendo to pull back the curtain on the title during its E3 2019 presentation next month. With that still a few weeks away, let’s take this time to look back on everything we know so far about the new Animal Crossing game for Switch, and what we can expect to hear about it at E3.

What We Know So Far

Outside of confirming its existence, Nintendo has shared very few details about Animal Crossing for Switch. We know the game is launching sometime in 2019, presumably during the holiday season. The company also described the title in a press release as a “mainline” installment, not another off-shoot in the vein of Happy Home Designer or Amiibo Festival, which suggests it will feature the series’ beloved mix of town management and life sim gameplay elements. It also seems safe to say that everyone’s favorite capitalist, Tom Nook, will return; not only has he been a mainstay of the series since its inception, he was the sole character featured in Animal Crossing Switch’s teaser trailer. In that video, Nook mentions he needs to “make sure everyone has a nice, new place to come home to,” suggesting he’ll once again be the one who provides you with your lodgings in the upcoming title.

What Is Confirmed For E3?

Nintendo typically doesn’t divulge too many details about its E3 lineup ahead of the event, and that certainly holds true heading into this year’s show. All the company has said thus far about its E3 2019 presentation is that it will take place during its traditional time slot–the Tuesday the expo begins at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET–and focus on “Nintendo Switch titles for 2019.” Still, while no games have been singled out specifically, Nintendo has a number of big releases lined up for this year, including Animal Crossing for Switch. While it hasn’t been outright confirmed, it seems likely that Nintendo will use its E3 presentation to officially reveal the first details and footage of the new Animal Crossing game.

What We Hope To See At E3 2019

Given that we currently know next to nothing about the new Animal Crossing game, we’re hoping Nintendo devotes a portion of its E3 Direct to finally giving us a glimpse at the title. Since the game is being billed as a “mainline” installment, it’s safe to say it will feature the usual assortment of activities–fishing, bug catching, fossil collecting, home decorating, et cetera–and life sim elements that have served as the foundation of the series since the beginning. Even with this knowledge, however, there are many unanswered questions about the game. Will it once again place players in the role of mayor, as in New Leaf? What new features will it introduce? And will it incorporate any elements from Happy Home Designer, or even the series’ mobile game, Pocket Camp? Hopefully E3 will give us some answers.

Another big question is what “hook” Animal Crossing for Switch will boast. Each game in the series thus far has introduced some distinctive element to help set it apart from previous installments; in City Folk for Wii, for instance, players could travel to a city area where a variety of shops were located, while the aforementioned New Leaf put players behind the mayor’s desk and let them build public works projects, enact ordinances, and have a greater degree of control over the experience. The upcoming Switch game will undoubtedly have some hook of its own, and Nintendo will make a big deal of it when it does finally unveil the title, be that at E3 or during a different presentation.

Beyond that, we will likely also learn some details about the game’s online features. Multiplayer has been an integral component of the series from the start, and Nintendo will want to use Animal Crossing as a vehicle to further drive Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions. Being able to visit another player’s town is all but guaranteed, but what other activities you’ll be able to do together remains to be seen. In New Leaf, players could gather at a tropical island to take part in tours and minigames–will something similar be featured in Animal Crossing for Switch? And will the game give you new online options, such as the ability to set up a secondary home in another player’s town? One thing is for sure–with Animal Crossing coming this year, it won’t be long until we get a look at the game.