Category: Games

Marvel’s Spider-Man, developed by Insomniac Games, takes the No.1 spot on the UK sales chart for the week ending September 8. According to sales monitor Chart-Track, the PS4-exclusive is the “biggest debut on an individual format since the PS4 version of Call of Duty: WWII.” Spider-Man also has become the fastest selling title staring the Webslinger and the fastest selling Marvel title, beating Lego Marvel Super Heroes by “a big margin.”

Square Enix’s Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age makes its debut at No. 2, ahead of chart mainstay Grand Theft Auto V at No. 3. Following it are F1 2018 at No.4, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy at No. 5, and Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 at No. 6. The other new entry in the top 10 is Destiny 2’s Forsaken expansion at No. 8. Further down, Lego The Incredibles re-enters the top 10, moving from No. 12 to No. 10.

You can read the full top 10 sales chart below, courtesy of UKIE and Chart-Track. Note this table does not include digital sales data, and so should not be considered representative of all UK game sales.

1. Marvel’s Spider-Man
2. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
3. Grand Theft Auto V
4. F1 2018
5. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
6. Pro Evolution Soccer 2019
7. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
8. Destiny 2: Forsaken
9. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
10. Lego The Incredibles

Rocksteady Studios, the developer behind 2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum, has listed dozens of new openings at its UK studio, making reference to a “highly anticipated upcoming AAA title” on new platforms.

ResetEra detailed a listing from the studio seeking a new community manager. The jobs website lists 24 new positions, with nearly all of them making reference to an unannounced AAA title for “next generation platforms.”

Some of the positions are permanent, others are two-year contracts. This may or may not indicate a timeframe in which we might see some sort of announcement.

It’s not clear on exactly what kind of game Rocksteady is working on quite yet. Some positions, like the senior producer and lead scriptwriter, are calling for “broad knowledge of comics, novels, games, cinema, and popular culture relating to video games.” Given Rocksteady’s portfolio, and knowing it is partnered with Warner Brothers, we’re most likely going to see something related to DC comics once again.

Destiny 2‘s Forsaken DLC expansion arrived this week, bringing with it a wealth of new content and changes. A number of adjustments went into effect with a patch released a week prior to Forsaken, but we’re now getting to see exactly what Year 2 is going to be like for Destiny 2.

Whether you’ve already started Forsaken or are just beginning to dive in this weekend, there are some notable tweaks and tips you should be aware of. In typical Destiny fashion, things aren’t always spelled-out in-game, and you can easily shoot yourself in the foot and waste time if you aren’t completely familiar with all of the game’s systems.

With that in mind, we’ve rounded up some key tips you’ll want to be aware of, along with some other advice about how to approach the game and some notable issues the game is currently suffering from. No, it’s not just you–the clan bounties are frustrating right now. Also be sure to check out our Gambit guide for some advice on how to excel in the cool new PvP/PvE hybrid mode, and our Forsaken review-in-progress for our thoughts on the game so far.

Dismantle Old, Unwanted Gear, Items, And Mods

When first diving in to Forsaken, there are a number of tasks you can take care of right away. Thanks to the introduction of new, more desirable gear and the introduction of an expanded Collection, you can feel free to dismantle your old gear and net yourself some Legendary Shards. The Collection allows you to peruse all weapons, armor, sparrows, shaders, and so on in the game. This lets you both see how to obtain things you don’t have and pay to retrieve items you’ve previously gotten your hands on. The exception is Year 2 gear with randomized rolls; you’ll need to earn those and hang on to them if you want to use them. But the bright side is you can now purchase an unlimited supply of shaders and dismantle things like ships and then get them back later.

As for mods, the system has been totally overhauled, and all of your existing mods have been deprecated. That means they’re no longer usable and can be safely dismantled. While you might have some desire to hold on to old gear, the mods are something you have no reason to keep.

Grab Your Bounties Every Day

Another thing to do right away–and every day–is grabbing the appropriate bounties. Zavala and Shaxx at the Tower each offer five daily bounties for Strikes and Crucible, respectively, but you’ll also want to hit up Hawthorne for clan bounties (some of which require you to do things in a fireteam with a clanmate), Tess for a weekly Eververse bounty (you’ll also be able to periodically get additional bounties from her when you obtain an Eververse Bounty Note), and the Drifter for Gambit bounties. (The Drifter is found in the same area as Ikora, hiding in an alleyway to the right of the ramen shop–just crouch under the gate to get to him.) Each location’s vendor, including the Tangled Shore’s Spider, also has additional bounties specific to that area. Grab them as soon as you go somewhere to ensure you don’t waste any effort.

Of course, bounties cost a small amount of glimmer to obtain. If you don’t plan to play Gambit on a particular day, for instance, there’s no sense in grabbing those bounties.

Check Your Challenges In The Director Regularly

Keeping an eye on the Director–that is, your map that lets you view the various locations and activities available to you–is critical for tracking desirable rewards. Raising your Power level to 500 is relatively easy in Forsaken; taking part in story missions, public events, and Crucible/Gambit can earn you Rare (blue) gear that can get you to that point. Getting past 500 is where the grind truly begins. One reliable way of increasing your Power level is by obtaining so-called Powerful gear, which will come with a Power level higher than your current overall number.

Powerful gear is rewarded for completing a number of different challenges. Unlike in the past, where these challenges could be seen by pulling up the “blade” on the left side of the Director, these are now primarily tied to specific locations and activity playlists. Jump into the Vanguard section of the Director, for instance, and you can hover over the Vanguard Strikes playlist to see what you have to do to earn a piece of Powerful gear. Be sure to check out everything in the Director that promises you a reward to ensure you’re earning all of your Powerful gear rewards before the weekly reset, which happens each Tuesday. To make it easy, you’ll see a yellow icon next to any area/playlist that has a challenge available.

Spend Glimmer At Spider

You’ll inevitably hit the glimmer cap of 100,000 at some point; grinding out patrols and public events, in particular, will get you there fairly quickly. Rather than let your further earnings go to waste, be sure to spend that money. The first Tier upgrade on any piece of gear only costs glimmer, so that’s one way to go about it. But with the removal of the old mod system, you no longer have Banshee-44 and his random mods to throw glimmer at.

The vendor you’ll likely want to visit whenever your wallet is full is Spider, the new, Jabba the Hutt-esque NPC you encounter on the Tangled Shore early in Forsaken’s campaign. Alongside the many bounties he offers, he also allows you to purchase a number of items, including planetary materials. While these are now quite easy to come across if you spend time doing patrols and public events, they do serve as the primary source of reputation gains with the respective location vendors and are now used in infusion. If you have no other use for your glimmer, grab a bunch of materials from Spider.

Considering Buying Masterwork Cores Daily

And while you’re at Spider, you may want to buy yourself some Masterwork Cores. These are more valuable than ever; in addition to being a necessary aspect of upgrading an item past a certain point, they’re also sometimes used for infusion, including doing so with Exotics. Obtaining Masterwork Cores can be done by breaking down a Masterwork item, but that of course requires one to drop for you in the first place.

Your alternative is to buy Masterwork Cores from Spider. Alongside the planetary materials mentioned above, glimmer, and Legendary Shards, he sells Masterwork Cores. They cost Legendary Shards, and each subsequent one you buy increases the cost. However, this price resets each day. Provided you have Shards to spare, it makes sense to buy at least one Masterwork Core per day to ensure you have some handy when you need them.

Understanding The New Infusion System

Bungie has overhauled the process of infusion, where you use the power of one item to increase that of another (destroying the more powerful one in the process). This change went into effect just prior to Forsaken, and the overriding point is that infusion is not something you’ll blindly do for every item you get, as in the past. You’ll need to be more thoughtful about what gets infused, as the price has increased, now requiring planetary materials and sometimes Masterwork Cores.

Unlike before, you no longer have to use a weapon or piece of armor from the same slot to infuse something. In other words, a pulse rifle can be infused using a hand cannon; it doesn’t have to be another pulse rifle. But if you use a duplicate of an item, infusion merely costs glimmer. You’ll of course want to be sure which version you want to keep, as the new random rolls system means two of the same weapon or armor can be significantly different (and you may actually want to keep duplicates due to their rolls). But if you’re looking for a cheap way to infuse, using a dupe is the way to go.

Don’t Miss Your New Subclass Trees

Among Forsaken’s additions are new subclass trees. You get your first one through a milestone, New Powers (seen in the blade accessed through the Director), given to you early in the campaign. For this, you have to complete Visions of Light, which are items dropped by enemies with yellow health bars. Collect 100 and it’ll unlock a mission on Io; a milestone notification will pop up when you do so, but it can be easy to miss, so be sure to keep a close eye on it. Complete the mission and you earn a Seed of Light, which is used to unlock your choice of a new subclass tree.

Be sure to think through your choice, because getting your other two subclass trees is not quite as easy or quick. Based on what players have reported, you’ll earn additional Seeds of Light by completing the Blind Well activity, which is unlocked after finishing Forsaken’s campaign. Manage to successfully finish the Blind Well, and a Seed will potentially drop.

Stop Deleting Shaders One By One

Among the many quality-of-life changes Destiny 2 has received recently is the ability to bulk delete shaders. Rather than getting rid of them one by one, you can now visit Rahool (the cryptarch who decrypts your engrams) to delete them five at a time. It truly is magical to see a bunch of awful-looking shaders go away in the blink of an eye. And, as noted above, don’t forget you can now purchase the shaders you do like from the Collection.

Maybe Don’t Get Excited About Xur

Ahead of Forsaken’s release, Bungie made some changes to Xur, including where he shows up. You won’t find him on the map, and he doesn’t just go to whatever place has the current Flashpoint. For his first post-Forsaken appearance, his lineup of items is rather disappointing–two things are the same as the prior week, and none of them are Forsaken gear. He also doesn’t have anything of note other than the standard lineup of one piece of Exotic armor for each class and one Exotic weapon; Three of Coins and the Fated engram are gone (the latter could return, but Three of Coins have been deprecated).

Whether things get better in future weeks remains to be seen; he could always show up for an exciting visit like when he offered Gjallarhorn or the current broken weapon du jour. But based on this first week, you may want to keep your expectations in check.

Known Issues To Be Aware Of

While the launch of Forsaken has been relatively smooth, some players on Xbox One and PS4 have had trouble purchasing a standalone version of the DLC, for instance. Those fortunate enough to be playing have also been experiencing issues, which Bungie keeps track of on its website.

On the less serious (but nonetheless annoying) side, the new clan bounties offered by Hawthorne have not been rotating as they should; instead, the same set has been available every day. Given these bounties are the new way to complete your weekly clan challenge (netting you a piece of Powerful gear), that’s proven to be a hassle because of how many of them have to be done in Crucible.

Other issues of note include the Ace of Spades quest line. The step requiring Gambit kills requires you to kill an invader five times using a hand cannon. Additionally, Bungie is looking into an issue where you don’t get your Oracle Offerings if your consumables inventory is full. To prevent that, Bungie says to ensure you have space in your consumables inventory.