Category: Games

During today’s Oculus Connect 6 presentation, developer ILMxLAB has announced that Vader Immortal: Episode II is out right now. In a press release, publisher Oculus Studios confirmed that the game is available on both Oculus Quest and Rift for $10 USD, with cross-buy between the two platforms enabled.

Episode II continues where Vader Immortal: Episode I left off, with you back in control Darth Vader’s new recruit. In this episode, Vader will teach you the Force as you embark on a quest to uncover the secrets of Mustafar and “battle thrilling new Star Wars creatures.” Episode II also features Lightsaber Dojo II, a standalone training mode where you can improve your proficiency with both the Force and your trusty lightsaber.

Senior producer Alyssa Finley spoke a bit about Vader Immortal during the presentation. “At its core, Vader Immortal allows audiences to explore one central question: what would it be like for you to be a hero in a Star Wars adventure, and learn firsthand about Darth Vader’s mysterious plans?” she said. “We can’t wait for audiences to continue their journey with Episode II.”

Vader Immortal is a three-part canonical Star Wars story, sitting between the events of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It’s written by David S. Goyer, who wrote The Dark Knight trilogy and is also currently working on the Secrets of the Empire VR experience.

Mario Kart Tour is available now, bringing the classic Nintendo franchise to mobile devices. But its multiplayer options can be a bit confusing. Can you add friends? Can you play with your friends? Why aren’t those the same thing? Aren’t you already playing multiplayer anyway?

For starters, you are able to add friends. That option can be found in the Friends section of the main menu, and it will pull suggestions from your Nintendo, Facebook, or Twitter accounts if you link them to the game. However, this feature is limited to comparing your rankings against friends. You can’t play against them, and a “Multiplayer” feature is grayed out in the main menu with a promise that it is “Inbound!”

Compounding the confusion is the fact that the game is online-only, and you appear to be playing multiplayer against strangers all the time. But Nintendo has confirmed to GameSpot that it only has single-player features at launch, so your opponents are actually bots with player-like usernames. Regardless, you cannot pause races, and the game performs a network check upon starting a race as if it’s seeking online opponents. Nintendo declined to comment on when multiplayer is coming.

There is one way to compete with your friends, albeit indirectly. Once you open up Ranked Cups–the first of which is the Koopa Troopa Cup, the fourth available Cup–you’ll be racing to achieve a ranked score against random opponents. That score entitles you to extra rewards like bonus rubies or coins after the week-long scoring period. The ranked score menu has a Friends tab, where you can compare your score to your friends. That appears to be the only way to compete with friends for the time being.

Mario Kart Tour’s first event is live now, offering Pauline from her revival in Super Mario Odyssey and Musician Mario as bonus characters. It’s free-to-play, but the monetization hooks are surprisingly aggressive, implementing both gacha mechanics and a Battle Pass-like subscription.

All September long, IGN is highlighting the best TV coming your way in the 2019-2020 season. Today we’re introducing ourselves to the cool, cunning Dex Parios, Private Eye. Played by How I Met Your Mother and the MCU’s Cobie Smulders, Dex tracks down crooks and busts open cases on ABC’s Stumptown, which premieres Wednesday, September 25. Based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth, Stumptown follows Dex, an ex-solider, as she tries to get out in front of a gambling debt by agreeing to take on tricky P.I. jobs with no formal training. I spoke to Stumptown creator Jason Richman about why Smulders was perfect for the role of Dex and what type of changes he had to make to the source material. Plus, we’ve got an exclusive first look at the opening scene of the show translated into comic book form, plus a video of the scene itself for comparison.

Continue reading…

Like clockwork, Epic has rolled out a new patch for Fortnite: Battle Royale. Today’s v10.40 update is now live on all platforms, and it introduces another new Rift Zone to the game, kicks off a new limited-time mode called Zone Wars, and makes a handful of weapon and item adjustments. Here’s a look at the patch notes.

First, a Rift Zone has transformed the dilapidated neighborhood near Pleasant Park into Starry Suburbs. Not only has the area received a makeover, shooting stars now also frequently land there. According to Epic, you can destroy these stars to get “powerful items,” including a “never-before-seen weapon.”

A new solo LTM called Zone Wars is also now underway. Epic describes it as “a simulation of the end-game scenario in Battle Royale–but with a condensed moving zone.” There’s also a new playlist called The Combine, which challenges you with reaching the end as quickly as you can while destroying targets.

Rounding out this week’s patch is an assortment of weapon tweaks. The Explosive Batarang from the Batman crossover event now has an audio visualizer icon for proximity beeping, and Shield Bubbles now bounce off other players when they’re thrown at them. The Bouncer trap has been unvaulted as well; you can find either in supply drops, Vending Machines, llamas, or as floor loot.

The patch also implements Epic’s previously announced matchmaking changes, so the game should now do a better job of matching you up with players of a similar skill level. As part of these matchmaking changes, Epic will be introducing bots to the game starting next season.

Finally, with Season 10 nearing its end, Epic is holding a double XP weekend in the game. From September 27-30, you’ll earn twice as much XP as normal for each match you play, helping you power through the last few tiers of the Battle Pass. If you need help mopping up any remaining challenges as well, be sure to check out our full Season 10 challenges guide.

You can see the patch notes for Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode below. Creative and Save the World modes have each also received some new content with this week’s update. You can read the full 10.40 patch notes on Epic’s website.

Fortnite: Battle Royale 10.40 Patch Notes

Limited-Time Modes

Zone Wars

Team Type: Solo | Respawning: Off

A simulation of the end-game scenario in Battle Royale — but with a condensed moving zone! Eliminate the competition as you avoid the Storm closing in. Randomized spawns and inventory items make each round unique.

You can queue with up to 15 friends.

• Zone Wars: Colosseum
  • Created by Jesgran.
  • Become the ultimate gladiator in a Colosseum-like island. This open-style island demands quick building.
• Zone Wars: Desert
  • Created by JotaPeGame.
  • Make your way through a small desert town to the final circle. A diverse set of weapons and mobility allow for unique gameplay and lots of replayability.
• Zone Wars: Downhill River
  • Created by Enigma.
  • Stay out of the storm as you move downhill through a river in this original-style Zone Wars island. Community launch pads and a consistent Storm path allow for familiarity after a few rounds.
• Zone Wars: Vortex
  • Created by Zeroyahero.
  • This island puts a unique twist on Zone Wars with its mountainous terrain to traverse. The elevation change from zone to zone can be quite drastic!

Weapons & Items

• Explosive Batarang
  • Added an audio visualizer icon for proximity beeping.
• Shield Bubble
  • Shield Bubbles will bounce off other players when thrown at them.
• Unvaulted
  • Bouncer
    • Rare trap.
    • Drops in stacks of 3.
    • Found from Supply Drops, Vending Machines, Llamas, and Floor Loot.
    • Can be placed on floors, walls, or ramps/stairs.
    • Provides a jump boost in a direction perpendicular to its placement.
• Enabled the Batman Grapnel Gun and Explosive Batarang in Arena and Tournament playlists.

Bug Fixes

• Resolved an issue in which the Health bars of vehicles would not display.
• When a Junk Rift object hits a player wearing a Bush, it will no longer damage the player instead of the Bush.
• Using a Grapnel Gun to enter a Rift Zone will no longer prevent players from moving around while skydiving.
• Resolved an issue in which players could deploy a Glider while in prop form.
• Being in prop form no longer prevents players from being affected by the Explosive Batarang’s homing.
• Explosive Batarangs will no longer float in the air after the object they are on is destroyed.
• Resolved an issue in which the Zapper Trap would not deploy at the location of the placement preview.
• Shield Bubbles attached to a Supply Drop will no longer disappear after the Supply Drop is destroyed.
• Shield Bubbles can no longer prevent fall damage.
• Shield Bubbles can no longer become stuck in the air.
• Resolved an issue in which Shield Bubbles would not attach to a vehicle when thrown by a player riding the vehicle.

Gameplay

• Double XP Weekend!
  • Make this weekend double the fun. From Friday, September 27 at 9 AM ET to Monday, September 30 at 9 AM ET, you’ll earn double the XP for the matches you play.
• Matchmaking
  • We’ve introduced improved matchmaking logic to core modes.
    • Players are now more likely to match with those of similar skill.
    • As players get better, so should their opponents.
    • We will slowly roll this out to core modes in all regions as we test and monitor how it performs.
    • Please see our blog post for more details.
• New Sensitivity and Aim Assist settings on controllers.
  • For the details of these, please refer to our blog post.
  • Note: When using the new Aim Assist settings, crosshairs turn red while pointed at a target that is within effective range, which is anytime before damage drop-off is applied.
• The Combine
  • This new playlist is a great way to get familiar with the controller setting improvements mentioned above!
    • Though The Combine is useful for this purpose, it can also be played using “Legacy” controls, mouse + keyboard, or touch.
  • The goal in this playlist is to reach the end as fast as possible while eliminating all targets along the way.
    • There are leaderboards that allow you to compete for the fastest time with friends or other players.
      • Each leaderboard provides options to sort times by your preferred input device.
• Starry Suburbs
  • A Rift Zone has brought back the ruined neighborhood near Pleasant Park. However, the Rift Zone has given it a homeowners’ association — it’s a nice place to live now!
    • The neighborhood is actually so nice that shooting stars make it their destination. Crush the stars to access powerful items, including a never-before-seen weapon!
• Moisty Palms
  • Players can now use the crouch input to exit prop form.
• Hitmarkers no longer display on teammates.
• Removed the Reset Camera control bind.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where players could use infinite sprays while in a Rift Zone.
• The building piece choice no longer resets to the wall option when players using a controller have the Reset Building option turned off.

Audio

Bug Fixes

• Resolved an issue in which the sound of a Chest would continue after a player opened the Chest.
• The “Where is Matt” Emote music no longer restarts after every loop.

UI

• The Controls Help option, a menu option meant only for mobile platforms, is no longer present on other platforms.
• The Building Edit option is now located in the Building section of the Input settings rather than the Misc section.

Bug Fixes

• Match stats no longer clip off-screen during a Victory Royale celebration.

Replay

Bug Fixes

• The “You are in the Storm” warning no longer displays multiple times when switching spectated players.
• The Shield Bubble’s sound effects no longer behave improperly when players scrub a replay.

Mobile

• Added a 2x multiplier for the Edit/Building sensitivity settings.
• Clarified Look Acceleration Strength tool tip.
• Toggle Targeting is set to on by default.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a crash when exiting the Battle Bus on lower-end iOS devices.
• Fixed a crash when switching to Presets with Custom Fire selected in the Fire Mode selection screen.
• The Fire Mode button in the Settings menu will reflect the currently selected Fire Mode.
• Scoped Assault Rifle crosshair now loads on first ADS.
• Players will be able to edit or destroy a floor piece when placed in a 1×1 pre-structured building.
• Players won’t be shot through player-built stairs when crouched beneath them.
• Friend Requests menu won’t display duplicate confirmations.
• Players will now be able to lock in place as a prop in Moisty Palms without HUD Layout alteration.
• Vending Machines will grant the currently displayed item using the dedicated button.
• The Edit with Touch function will now reset when pressing Reset in the settings.
• Push-to-Talk button won’t display a white square when pushed.
• Blueprint will be visible when deploying a Prefab or Gallery with the Retro filter active.
• Selecting Block and Report won’t result in a duplicate blocked user in the Blocked list.
• We’ve made graphical improvements to the following:
  • Bunnymoon Outfit
  • Axiom Outfit
  • Neo Versa Outfit
  • Infinity Outfit cape
  • Outfits with Jonesy as base model
  • Standard Issue Back Bling
  • Full Tilt Emote
  • Barrels in Dusty Divot
  • Floating Island

Recap

• From server on September 19
  • Improved Storm logic to better avoid Final Storm Circles occurring at the POIs specified in the v10.31 Patch Notes.
• From hotfix on September 19
  • Reduced the dance duration of Taco Time by half.
• From server on September 20
  • Resolved an issue involving the “Deal combined damage with your squad or duo” Team Spirit objective not tracking progress in Team Rumble.

Destiny 2‘s break with Activision also means a break with its Battle.net launcher, so the game is finally coming to Steam. The release will accompany the launch of the Shadowkeep expansion on October 1, but in the meantime you can get your dropship ready by pre-loading the game now on PC.

Bungie announced the pre-loading on Twitter and said to stay tuned for more info on exact launch info. The game’s community manager added that you need to do a fresh install even if you already have the game on Battle.net, so you should make a new directory and don’t copy over any of the files.

Destiny 2 will also be free-to-play with its New Light version, so you can download the game on Steam for free even if you’re brand new to it. You can even pre-load the F2P version. If you already own additional content, that will migrate over too. Transferring to Steam requires a few extra steps, so read up on our tips for getting ready for Shadowkeep’s release for more on what you should be doing over the next week to prepare.

Shadowkeep is the latest big expansion to Destiny 2 since Forsaken, and includes a new loot crafting system, some new story threads to follow, and a ton of new features.