Category: Games

Kate Bishop, Hawkeye’s mentee, is coming to Marvel’s Avengers tomorrow. She brings new combat abilities and a special mission to the cooperative superhero adventure.

“Missing since A-Day, she resurfaces after her investigation into Nick Fury’s disappearance results in her mentor Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye) going missing as well,” reads a post on the official Marvel’s Avengers site. “As she unravels the mystery behind the sudden appearance of time-warping Tachyon Rifts, she uncovers a twisted new plan from AIM, which pushes her to work with the Avengers once again.”

Bishop’s character is equipped with a special arsenal of arrows that can teleport, tranquilize, and explode a target on impact. She can also teleport to different locations on the map, throw a smoke screen, and use special melee abilities.

Players will need to download the latest patch before logging on to play Bishop’s special mission, Operation Taking AIM. Another special mission that continues Bishop’s story will release once Hawkeye is added to the game in early 2021.

Square Enix, the owner of developer Crystal Dynamics, confirmed that Marvel’s Avengers sold below expectations last month. The game has struggled on all platforms, including Steam. Its concurrent player count has consistently been below 2000 players over the past month.

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age: Definitive Edition S recently came to PC, Xbox One, and PS4, but the Switch version still has a feature over all of them–easy portability. Now players who want to jump in to the huge RPG on Switch–or who want to try Dragon’s Quest Builders 2–can do so for slightly less money than before.

Nintendo of America has announced that both games have received a permanent $10 discount, knocking their price down from $60 to $50. This price will seemingly apply both at retail stores and on the Nintendo Switch Eshop.

This means, of course, that picking up both games will save you $20, compared to the previous price. Demos of both games are available if you want to try before you buy.

In GameSpot’s review of the Switch version of Dragon Quest XI, the game earned a 9/10. “If you have been putting off playing this RPG masterpiece, this portable edition is absolutely the way to go–and if you want to revisit it, this version is the perfect excuse to do so,” wrote reviewer Heidi Kemps.

The same reviewer awarded Dragon Quest Builders 2 an 8/10. “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,” Kemps wrote.

If you have an Xbox One or Series X/S, or a PC capable of running it, Dragon Quest XI is also available on Game Pass.

According to former Israel space security chief Haim Eshed, the United States and Israeli governments have been and are in contact with a “Galactic Federation” of aliens.

As reported by The Jerusalem Post, Eshed told daily Israeli newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, that Israel and the US have been in contact with aliens and that these aliens exist as part of a “Galactic Federation.” Eshed, who served as the chief of Israel’s space security program for nearly 30 years and is now a professor, said the aliens and the US have made agreements based on researching and understanding “the fabric of the universe.”

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These agreements include a shared, secret underground base on Mars, where US and alien representatives meet. Eshed said President Donald Trump was “on the verge” of revealing the existence of this galactic federation, but that the aliens stopped him from doing so as they believe revealing their existence would have caused mass hysteria.

Despite what the federation reportedly believes, Eshed said he’s decided to reveal this information now due to how well-respected he is in academia and how much the academic landscape has changed.

“If I had come up with what I’m saying five years ago, I would have been hospitalized,” Eshed said. “Today, they’re already talking different. I have nothing to lose. I’ve received my degrees and awards. I am respected in universities abroad, where the trend is also changing.”

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The Jerusalem Post reports that more information about this revelation can be found in Eshed’s newest book, The Universe Beyond the Horizon — conversations with Professor Haim Eshed, where the professor explains that aliens have prevented nuclear apocalypses and more.

It’s unclear if Eshed has any evidence supporting his claims — perhaps that can be found in his book — but somebody should probably give someone who has experience with galactic federations, like Captain James Kirk, a call…just in case.

For more science, read about the recent detection of possible signs of life on Venus that date back to the 1970s and then read about the discovery of 139 new minor planets discovered at the edge of our solar system. Check out IGN’s list of the 25 best sci-fi movies after that.

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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes where he’ll likely grow more and more existential now that he knows a galactic federation of aliens is out there in space. 

Cyberpunk 2077 is releasing on December 10, and the first reviews and impressions are coming in now. Fans have been eagerly anticipating the game, from The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red, for a long time now–it was first announced back in 2012. But now that it’s out, some fans might want to be wary of how or if they play it, as in its day one form the game has the potential to trigger epileptic seizures.

This news comes from a detailed PSA via Game Informer, where Liana Ruppert has shared her personal experience with the game. “During my time with Cyberpunk 2077, I suffered one major seizure and felt several moments where I was close to another one,” Ruppert writes.

During the game, Ruppert experienced “a lot of red glitching animations,” but due to her monitor’s “eye-saving mode,” this was not as bad of an issue as it could have been. She identifies the game’s clubs and bars as potential “danger zones,” and said that some story moments are “highlighted with a flickering pale blue glitch effect”. Ruppert suggests turning down screen brightness and testing the game’s colorblind options to reduce issues.

Ruppert notes that the game’s “Braindance” sequences are very likely to trigger epileptic seizures for certain players. In these sequences, the player character is fitted with a headset that “features a rapid onslaught of white and red blinking LEDs, much like the actual device neurologists use in real life to trigger a seizure when they need to trigger one for diagnosis purposes.” This triggered a seizure for her, and Ruppert suggests that players with epilepsy should “look away completely or close their eyes” when V puts the headset on.

The full report is worth a read, and is especially important for epileptic players who want to experience Cyberpunk 2077. Hopefully these issues can be addressed in a future patch to make the game safer and more accessible.

GameSpot’s review of Cyberpunk 2077 awarded the game a 7/10. “So much of (Cyberpunk 2077) is superficial set dressing, and there’s so much happening all around you–ads going off at all times, gunfights breaking out in the streets, texts coming in about cars you’ll never buy–that a lot of the game feels superfluous,” wrote reviewer Kallie Plagge. “The side quests and the characters they showcase are the shining beacon through the neon-soaked bleakness of Night City, and they give you room to explore the best the core RPG mechanics have to offer. These are what carried me through an otherwise disappointing experience.”

Destiny 2 is almost ready to launch its huge next-gen update, with improved framerates, loading times, enhanced graphics, and new features. This update, which will will even add an 120fps option for the PvP Crucible, will arrive on December 8 at 9 AM PT. While Destiny 2 has been playable on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S since the systems launched, this update will massively enhance the game on these platforms.

Bungie has detailed Destiny 2 Update 3.0.1, which will introduce numerous changes to every version of the game, but will give the next-gen consoles a huge boost. The game can be played across generations, so for instance PS5 players can still team up with their friends on PS4 after the update.

One thing this update probably won’t do, however, is bring back Trials of Osiris–you’ll have to wait until December 18 for that.

Destiny 2 recently went through some major changes with its Beyond Light expansion, and the game will keep changing and evolving over time. Here’s everything coming on December 8, including the Prophecy Dungeon.

Destiny 2 Update 3.0.1 Notes

Dungeons – Prophecy

• The Prophecy Dungeon will be returning to Destiny 2 on December 8, 2020.
  • This endgame activity is free to all players.
  • Powerful rewards may be earned from each checkpoint once per week.
  • Players may complete the dungeon once per week to obtain a pinnacle-powered reward.
  • Previously featured weapon and armor rewards are available once more.

Destiny Companion App – Bounties

• Beginning next week, players may acquire bounties from Destiny 2 vendors using the Destiny Companion App.
  • Bounties may only be acquired when players are Offline, In Orbit, or in The Tower.
• This will be introduced through a Companion App update, which is planned for December 8, 2020.
  • Stay tuned to @BungieHelp for more on this Companion App update.

New Light – Resolved Issues

• Fixed an issue with the New Light subclass quest where Ikora’s waypoint was suppressed.
• Fixed an issue where veteran players with two characters of the same class were blocked from acquiring their subclasses.
• Fixed an issue where a step on the New Light pursuit was not granting experience.
• Fixed an issue where players who skip the Shotgun chest in the first mission did not receive Special ammo when the Shotgun was granted.

Monument to Lost Lights

• Fixed an issue where the waypoint on the Exotic Archive Vendor continues to flash for players who own all Exotics.

Collections

• Badges and Armor in Collections correctly select player’s class.
• Fixed an issue where the UI would forget which page the player was on after previewing an item in Collections.
• Fixed a bug where some new armor mods had incorrect sources listed in Collections.

Crucible

• Updated the mercy rule for Control and Clash to prevent it from triggering too early in the match.
• Fixed an issue where the “Survivor” medal could be awarded to players who were defeated during the round.
• Fixed an issue where the “Untouchable” medal could not be earned.

Beyond Light Exotics

• Icefall Mantle
  • Fixed a bug where the Icefall Mantle’s description did not mention the slow field it generates when activated.
• Mask of Bakris
  • Improved the readability of the visual effects when another player wearing Mask of Bakris shifts directly toward you.
  • Updated the description string of Mask of Bakris’s perk to correctly describe its damage bonus, which applies only to combatants and affects all Arc weapon damage and all damage against slowed or encased enemies.
    • Additionally, fixed an issue where this damage bonus was applying to players who are slowed or encased in Crucible and Gambit.
• Necrotic Grip
  • Fixed an issue where being killed by the effects of Necrotic Grip would show as being “Killed by the Architects.”