Hyper Scape is Ubisoft’s new free-to-play entry into the battle royale genre, but–as the developer admits in a blog post–the game has fallen short of expectations. The game was released in open beta in July and officially released on August 11. In the months following, Hyper Scape hasn’t been able to make a big splash or compete with popular contemporary battle royale staples like Fortnite and PUBG.
However, the company is planning to make major changes to the game in order to attract new players and retain existing ones. For making the environment more hospitable to new players, Ubisoft is planning to lower the skill ceiling, provide more training activities, and diversify game modes.
Ubisoft states that the game’s learning curve is too difficult for newcomers and it is currently “too hard to aim, track and consistently damage players, and eliminate them, especially on console.” Regarding game modes, the company also acknowledges that the core game mode, Crown Rush, is “unforgiving.” New aspects such as respawn systems and “deathmatch” style game modes will be added soon. Ubisoft wants to provide players with more match styles and modes that are different from what’s currently offered, and the developer will rethink how to organize Hyper Scape’s limited time modes and how to best balance a split player base across multiple modes.
As for hoping to retain players, Ubisoft wants to establish more medium and long-term goals. In season 2, a Player Ranking system will be implemented. More progression systems will follow. Crossplay will also be implemented soon to provide a larger player pool in the lobbies.
Ubisoft ended its overview on Hyper Scape’s future by stating, “To deliver on these pillars, we are restructuring our development team into a cell-based format, which we have seen our colleagues on Rainbow Six: Siege use to fantastic results. These interdisciplinary cells allow greater focus and autonomy in tackling the work ahead. Each pillar has a dedicated dev cell.”
In GameSpot’s Hyper Scape Review, Jordan Ramée rated the game 6/10 and stated, “Hyper Scape has some great ideas for changing key features and mechanics in a battle royale game, but so far it doesn’t come together into something satisfying.”
Hyper Scape is available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. You can check out Hyper Scape’s mid-season roadmap to see what’s new in the game in October.
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Having already been delayed previously due to COVID-19, the next James Bond movie, No Time to Die, has been pushed back again. No Time to Die’s release date has been officially delayed until next year, with a new date set for April 2, 2021. Although COVID was not specifically referenced in the brief statement, it’s the clear motivation for the delay.
“MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, today announced the release of No Time to Die, the 25th film in the James Bond series, will be delayed until 2 April 2021 in order to be seen by a worldwide theatrical audience,” it was announced on Twitter. “We understand the delay will be disappointing to our fans but we now look forward to sharing No Time to Die next year.”
No Time to Die had been planned to release in just a matter of weeks–it was due out November 12 in the UK and November 20 in the US and elsewhere around the world. Previously, it was due to premiere back in April, but it was among the first wave of movies to see their releases delayed. Whereas some, such as F9, were delayed until 2021 from the start, the new Bond movie was still targeting a 2020 release. Following this latest shift, it will end up being a full-year delay for Daniel Craig’s final outing as the character–assuming it’s not pushed back once again.
The delay doesn’t come as a major surprise given that other films have seen their releases pushed to 2021. Major films that have made it to theaters, including Tenet and X-Men: New Mutants, have not lit the box office on fire as many theaters remain closed or open with limited capacity, and many would-be theater-goers continue to avoid public gatherings. A limited number of companies, including Disney with Mulan, have opted to release their movies digitally, although most have chosen delays in the hopes of eventually debuting in theaters.
MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, today announced the release of NO TIME TO DIE, the 25th film in the James Bond series, will be delayed until 2 April 2021 in order to be seen by a worldwide theatrical audience. pic.twitter.com/NqHlU24Ho3
No Time to Die sees Craig return to the role of Bond once again, where he’ll be joined by returning cast members Ralph Fiennes, Léa Seydoux, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Christoph Waltz, and Jeffrey Wright. Among the newcomers to the cast are Ana de Armas, Lashana Lynch, and Rami Malek, who plays the film’s villain, Safin. The movie is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, who is best known for his work on True Detective Season 1.
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Amnesia: Rebirth is Frictional Games’ upcoming sequel to the highly popular horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent. In a gameplay video, players got the chance to see a preview of Rebirth’s graphics, mechanisms, and tools. Set in the Algerian desert–a marked difference from The Dark Descent’s gloomy castle–the protagonist, Tasi Trianon, explores a broken-down tank in a dusty outdoor setting and a corpse-laden indoor area.
We see the inventory system in action as Trianon grabs a key in the tank. The lighting actions present in The Dark Descent are also here in Rebirth, but with a twist. Trianon makes her way through dark rooms and corridors with matches and needs to quickly light lamps placed in rooms. It also appears that Trianon eventually finds a handheld oil lamp, which certainly makes running away from monsters easier.
As Frictional Games shared on PlayStation’s Blog, the developers wanted to keep the players’ ability to light torches and candles in dark areas in Rebirth, but felt that the tinderboxes in The Dark Descent didn’t fit in the context of Rebirth’s 1930s setting. The change to matches, though slight, does make a difference in gameplay.
“For instance, when you are in a dark tunnel, players need to choose whether to use their precious matches in order to easier find your way or save it for a light source further ahead. Matches will also blow out faster if you move quickly, so the player is forced to slow down and think hard about their next move,” Frictional Games stated. “A match might also go out at the wrong moment – just when you hear menacing footsteps approaching.”
Additionally, instead of The Dark Descent’s sanity system in which darkness and certain visuals made the character collapse and attract monsters, Trianon has a mysterious disease that afflicts her. The more afraid she becomes, the worse the symptoms become. Regarding her disease and the storyline associated with it, Frictional Games said they drew on their experience creating SOMA and exploring in it the human consciousness and what it means to be human.
The increasingly popular reboot-sequel is a hard needle to thread. You have to create a game that hews close enough to the original to make nostalgic fans happy, while modernizing and innovating enough to resonate with new players. Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time balances the two effortlessly. It impeccably preserves the vibrant look and feel of the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy, while integrating new ideas and platforming possibilities. And like the original Crash games, the hybrid of Crash’s old and new ideas will test your platforming skills in interesting new ways.
Like its groan-inducing dad-joke of a subtitle says, Crash 4 is about time… travel. When the villains of Crash’s past open an interdimensional portal, Crash and Coco have to collect a set of quantum masks in order to set things right. As with past Crash games, small exchanges in cutscenes between levels do a lot of narrative legwork. It’s not much of a “story” per se, but Crash and his friends’ charm fills in the gaps and makes you care enough to follow along.
Crash 4’s time-traveling story takes you to all sorts of times and places, including dinosaur-infested jungles, futuristic cities full of flying cars, and sunken pirate ships. Every place you go feels lush, full of color and detail, with a painterly quality that’s simply wonderful to run through. My favorite is the Mardi Gras world, where Crash and Spyro balloons float in the background as you hop over neon-colored flames and trumpet valves. Occasionally, you’ll run through an area and the camera will pull back to let you take in the scenery. The environments never failed to impress me with their visual depth.
The best thing I can say about Crash 4 is that it mostly feels like classic Crash. In my mind, Crash’s signature is in the way the camera moves to create different perspectives from area to area, giving each set of jumps a fresh feel. Sometimes you’re moving left to right, while other times you’re running away from the camera or bouncing straight up from box to box. Crash 4’s long levels are chock-full of carefully plotted platforming sequences, which require quick reflexes and the ability to think on your feet. The dynamic design changes things up frequently, making every level feel winding and unpredictable, with every new set of platforms presenting a surprising, exciting new challenge.
It still feels classic, even as it introduces new mechanics. Once you find each of the quantum masks in the campaign, they will start to appear in levels, giving you access to reality-bending powers such as slowing down time and reversing gravity on the fly. Though none of the four powers the masks bestow are wildly original, they are all used to great effect. Slowing down time at the exact right moment to create a clear path of platforms requires just as much thought and reflexes as jumping and spinning, and sequences with each power come with their own lessons to learn and quirks to master.
In addition, each world includes optional levels that allow you to play as some of Crash’s friends, including Tawna, Dingodile, and Dr. Neo Cortex. Each of the alternate characters have their own skill sets–Cortex, for example, cannot spin or double jump, but instead has a gun that turns enemies into platforms and an air dash. Levels built around these skill sets create even more room for variety; you’ll see new situations and need to approach challenging platforming puzzles differently. The downside is that switching from any of these characters to Crash or Coco, or vice versa, can lead to some muscle memory mix-ups and accidental deaths. It’s a momentary annoyance, but one that creates a slightly bitter aftertaste whenever you play one of these levels, especially during the campaign.
And mastery is crucial. From early on, Crash 4 insists on precision. Many platforming sequences demand you land multiple jumps in rapid succession with perfect accuracy and timing. Sometimes, the difficulty is invigorating–an action-packed puzzle for your mind and fingers. Occasionally, though, it feels as if the game expects more of you than it should. There are times when you’ll land on the edge of a platform and fall to your death, only to wonder whether or not you should have been safe. Those frustrations are fleeting, though. More often, the next success is close enough at hand that you’ll want to keep trying.
Crash Bandicoot 4 captured on PS4
And merely finishing the campaign barely scratches the surface of the experience. Crash 4 is truly a perfectionist’s delight. Each level offers up gemstones and a character skin depending on how many wumpa fruit you find, how many boxes you break, and how few times you die. Each level also boasts a time trial mode and an “N.Verted” mirror level, which not only makes you replay it mirrored, but also with a creative visual filter that may make it easier or harder. The N.Verted levels are especially interesting as they let you see Crash 4’s vibrant levels in a completely different light.
Even more so than playing the N.Sane Trilogy, which literally remade the original Crash games from my youth, playing Crash 4 felt like getting back in touch with the series. It’s an injection of new ideas into now-classic gameplay that surprises and delights, even as it feels like a homecoming. Truly, games like this are why we come running back to long-dormant franchises with open arms.
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Bloodborne was PlayStation Plus’s offering all the way back in March 2018 and is included in the PS5’s upcoming Plus Collection, which grants subscribers a library of backwards-compatible PS4 games on the next-gen console.
Bloodborne is remembered as one of the best PS4 games. It received a 9/10 in GameSpot’s Bloodborne review for its agile and brutal combat, phenomenal creature and world design, and interconnected world that “makes every discovery a wonder.”
“The finest treasures are found within the city of Yharnam and the forests, lakes, and purgatories beyond it,” critic Kevin VanOrd wrote. “I finished Bloodborne in less time than I did Dark Souls II, yet I treasure it more in spite of its few missteps. In death there is life, and in blood, there is redemption. More hyperbole, yes, but for a game this theatrical, only hyperbole will do.”
Next month, we see the remake of From Software’s first PlayStation exclusive launch alongside the PS5. Demon’s Souls is being helmed by Bluepoint Games, which is known for its quality remasters and remakes like Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and Shadow of the Colossus. We recently got our first look at Demon’s Souls gameplay, which showcased zero loading times when warping between zones and the revamped first area.
With the early access release of Baldur’s Gate 3 just around the corner, developer Larian Studios has launched a new account service that it says will control cross-save compatibility for the RPG and all of its future games.
The new Larian Account is a means for Larian Studios to control saves within the cloud on a platform that it owns, meaning you’ll be able to transfer your saves between Baldur’s Gate 3 purchases on Steam, GOG, and Google Stadia. Larian says that this account will also be used to support save transfers on any other platforms Baldur’s Gate 3 launches on (although none have been announced yet).
Your Larian Account will also enable cross-platform multiplayer, though Larian says this won’t be available on the day Baldur’s Gate 3 launches. Any Twitch integration with Baldur’s Gate 3 will also be supported through this new account, which allows you to let your audience make crucial in-game decisions while you’re streaming.
Larian Studios have offered cross-save compatibility in the past, specifically with Divinity: Original Sin 2 across PC and Nintendo Switch. These saves were made compatible through Steam, however, limiting the control the studio had on them. This new account service is still new and growing, but Larian says it hopes fans will help them guide its development in a similar way to the feedback it hopes to get with Baldur’s Gate 3.
October has officially begun, and it’s shaping up to be another busy month for Pokemon Go. In addition to all the October events happening over the next few weeks, a new batch of Field Research tasks is now live. Many of this month’s tasks fittingly revolve around Ghost- or Dark-type Pokemon, which is very fitting given that Halloween is looming just around the corner.
Along with the new Research tasks, a new Research Breakthrough reward is now available. Each time you achieve a Research Breakthrough this month, you’ll get a chance to catch the Bug/Ghost Pokemon Shedinja. To achieve a Research Breakthrough, you’ll need to collect seven stamps. You’ll get one stamp for the first Field Research task you complete each day.
Typically, you can receive Field Research tasks by spinning the Photo Disc at PokeStops. The tasks you receive will be randomly drawn from a larger pool, which is refreshed at the start of every month. You can see October’s Field Research tasks as well as their potential rewards, as compiled by The Silph Road, below.
There are a lot of other events happening in Pokemon Go this month. The Legendary Pokemon Moltres has returned to Raids until October 9, and an autumn event is set to take place next weekend. October’s Community Day is also on the horizon. That event is scheduled for Saturday, October 17, and the featured Pokemon this month will be Charmander.
Pokemon Go October 2020 Field Research
Catching Tasks
Field Research Task
Rewards
Catch 3 Pokemon with Weather boost
Drifloon encounter
Catch 5 Pokemon with Weather boost
Poliwag or Vulpix encounter; 200 Stardust, 3 Razz Berries, 1 Pinap Berry, or 5 Poke Balls
Catch 10 Pokemon with Weather boost
500 Stardust, 6 Razz Berries, 2 Pinap Berries, or 5 Great Balls
The next generation is a little more than a month away, as Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 will launch within just two days of each other. Developers are starting to look into the new hardware specs, but one that already has a launch game coming says the new hardware is a massive upgrade.
Gearbox is publishing Godfall, which is a PlayStation 5 launch game. In a Borderlands retrospective interview with GameSpot, Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford talked about what players can expect from the new generation.
“I always get so pumped when there’s an ability to take a step forward with new hardware and new technology, and anything that’s going to empower us,” Pitchford said. “I think customers will realize how profound of a difference it is to have the throughput capability that these new platforms bring. It’s just absolutely unreal. The leap there with PS5 and Xbox Series X is the biggest leap I have ever seen in the history of console generations. I’m saying, including the leap from 2D to 3D. It’s going to change the way we think about every bit of our experiences.”
Pitchford did caution that it will be “hard to see that in the initial launch titles” because so many of them are ports or games that from the current generation being reimagined on next gen. Even still, he did say he’s looking forward to Borderlands 3 on the new consoles, with increased resolution and framerate. He also teased a new mode coming.
Godfall, which is developed by Counterplay Games and published by Gearbox, is coming on November 12 alongside the PS5. Check out our PS5 preorder guide for more details.
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Nintendo Switch subscription deals are, surprisingly, a lot more simple when compared to the likes of Xbox and PlayStation. Not only is Nintendo Online a lot cheaper than the other platform’s counterparts, but it’s an easy one-step subscription process that doesn’t require too much know-how to jump into.
Xbox is certainly rocking one of the best gaming deals out there with Game Pass, but when you throw Xbox Live and Games with Gold, alongside all those Game Pass titles, there can be some confusion. PlayStation also has PS Plus and PS Now, both of which involve online gaming, and both have a new selection of games every month. Confused yet? Don’t worry it’s not hard to pick up once you get your head wrapped around it.
Thankfully, we’ll just be addressing Nintendo Switch Online in this round-up, including all the best deals out there from all major retailers. If you’re looking for something a little more comprehensive when it comes to the Switch deals, however, then you should also check out the best Nintendo Switch deals, which covers all the current discounts on consoles, games, accessories, and more.
Best Amazon Nintendo Switch Subscription Deals
Nintendo Switch online can bring with it a whole heap of benefits for the average Switch users. This includes Online Play, NES & Super NES, Save Data Cloud, Smartphone app, and exclusive offers for members. But there’s also Switch Online for multiple devices from the same household, otherwise called Nintendo Switch Family.
Online Play and Cloud Saves can be some of the biggest deals when it comes to Switch Online, as cloud saves can save your skin if you ever lose or have to get your console replaced for whatever reason. Plus, playing online with your friends or against new people is an experience all gamers should be a part of at some stage.
Amazon can often enough pack deals from both Switch Online and Switch Family, but if you’re not having much luck at the moment, maybe check out one of the other retailers below. Other than that, give it some time and come back again soon to see if there have been any developments. In the meantime, why not check out all the best Nintendo Switch microSD deals for all those games you’re going to want to play online.
Best Buy is another great retailer to check out when it comes to Nintendo Switch Online and Family subscription deals. Normally it works out at a lot better value if you invest in a 12-month pass rather than buying the smaller subscription deals. These often don’t run up much more that $30 for a family pass, so you won’t be breaking the bank in order to take part in any online activities.
Maybe you’ve invested in Switch Online and now you’re looking to play online against your friends. Well, not all of them might have a Switch, and it’s not the easiest console to come by either. In case you need some help getting them a great offer, head on over to the best Nintendo Switch console deals right now.
GameStop is one of the most iconic gaming shops out there, and we’ve all got a little bit of nostalgia when it comes to popping in-store and grabbing the latest title or console. Not everything is in store these days, however, so we best check out what GameStop has to offer online when it comes to Nintendo Switch subscription deals.
GameStop has got a few more Nintendo Switch deals if you’re looking to check those out as well. You should also consider heading on over the best GameStop video game deals, where all the current offers from the retailer are on show and easy to consume.
Walmart is another great option if you’re seeking out some of the very best Nintendo Switch subscription deals online right now. If you’re looking for more of the latest and greatest discounts at Walmart, then make sure to check out the best Walmart video game deals, and even more Nintendo Switch deals at Walmart.
Nvidia’s RTX 3070 graphics card has been delayed until the end of October in order to ensure there’s enough stock to meet demand.
Originally scheduled to launch on October 15, the graphics card manufacturer has shifted its release date to October 29, most likely in light of the demand for previous 3000 series cards. Nvidia recently issued a statement to apologize for the launch of the RTX 3080, which caused record traffic at many sites and sold out very quickly.
The news was revealed on the Nvidia blog, where a statement was issued on the delay, and what this means for the availability of the graphics card. “We’ve heard from many of you that there should be more cards available on launch day. To help make that happen, we are updating the availability date to Thursday, October 29th.”
Nvidia acknowledges that this may be disappointing for fans eager to get their hands on the new Ampere tech as soon as possible, but added that it was necessary to help meet demand. “This shift will help our global partners get more graphics cards into the hands of gamers on launch day,” the statement reads.
At $499/£469, it’s the cheapest card in the new range, but don’t let that suggest that its specs aren’t something to shout about. According to Nvidia, the RTX 3070 is more powerful than the RTX 2080 Ti, which was the most powerful graphics card on the market ahead of the 3000 series launch. For all the specs, price and release date details for Nvidia’s new range of GPU’s, check out this handy explainer.
