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Rockstar has rolled out a new batch of content for Grand Theft Auto V. This marks the second week of the Southern San Andreas Super Sports Series, Rockstar’s big season of racing-themed updates for GTA Online. This time, the developer has introduced another pair of new vehicles to the online mode, along with a new selection of in-game discounts.

Two new cars arrive to GTA Online this week. The first is the sleek Pegassi Tezeract, which players can pick up from Legendary Motorsport. It’s joined by the Vapid Ellie, which can be purchased from Southern San Andreas Super Autos. You can take a look at both cars in the screenshots below.

On top of the new vehicles, Rockstar has extended the bonuses you can get from Hotring Circuit, the new multi-lap race introduced in last week’s GTA Online update. Players will continue to earn double GTA$ and RP by playing the mode through April 2. In addition to that, Special Cargo Sales are worth twice as much GTA$ this week, and Bodyguards and Associates will earn double GTA$ salaries.

This week’s selection of discounts is once again focused on vehicles, giving you a chance to save on some new storage facilities. Players can also save on a number of customization parts for their cars, including engines, liveries, spoilers, and more. You can find the full list of discounted items at the bottom of this story.

The Premium Race this week is Steeplechase. Everyone who participates will receive triple RP, while those who finish within the top three will earn a big GTA$ payout. This week’s Time Trial is Del Perro Pier. Players who best the target time will take home a nice GTA$ and RP reward.

This Week’s GTA Online Discounts

Properties

• Fort Zancudo Hangar A2 — 50% off
• Special Cargo Warehouses — 50% off
• Smoke Tree Road Bunker — 35% off
• Arcadius Business Center — 30% off
• Aquarius Yacht — 30% off
• FH-1 Hunter (Weaponized Helicopter) — 30% off (Buy It Now & Trade Price)

Vehicle Upgrades

• Exhausts (including JATO) — 25% off
• Liveries — 25% off
• Engines — 25% off
• Turbo — 25% off
• Brakes — 25% off
• Transmission — 25% off
• Spoilers — 25% off

The biggest update ever for the popular tank-battling game World of Tanks has arrived. The game’s 1.0 version is finally here on PC, some eight years after the game originally launched in 2010. The big-time update promises better visuals, a new soundtrack, and 29 “completely re-worked maps,” as well as one completely new one called Glacier.

World of Tanks developer Wargaming worked on the update alongside computing giant Intel to make the game look and run better. This is in addition to advancements made to Wargaming’s own improvements to its internal graphics engine.

“Update 1.0 improves the baseline technology for the game, introducing the in-house developed Wargaming Core graphics engine,” World of Tanks PC development director Milos Jerabek said in a statement. “Thanks to it, we’re now capable of elevating the entire game and can ensure World of Tanks is a fun and immersive experience for years to come.”

Regarding the soundtrack specifically, Wargaming says this is more dynamic in that every location on a map will have a unique theme based on the specific setting. The soundtrack, which is published by Sony Music, will be available to stream for free.

This just scratches the surface of what’s new in the 1.0 update. Go to the World of Tanks website to see a full breakdown of what’s in the update and why it’s important.

To mark the launch of World of Tanks 1.0, Wargaming is kicking off an event called the Grand Extravaganza. Running from March 29 through April 13, the event lets players compete to win “in-game bonuses” and physical goodies from Intel.

There is no word on if Wargaming is also planning to launch this 1.0 update for World of Tanks’ other versions on console and mobile.

Fortnite is one of the most talked about and played games on the planet right now, and this popularity has of course extended to where people watch gaming footage: YouTube.

The Google-owned video streaming giant has released some statistics on the battle royale’s game YouTube popularity–and they are seriously impressive. For instance, in January 2018, Fortnite had more video uploads related to a video game than anything else. The game also set a record for most gaming videos uploaded in a single month (February 2018), while a streamer hit 1.1 million concurrent viewers playing Fortnite earlier this month. You can see all the big stats below.

Fortnite YouTube Stats:

1. Fortnite had the most global uploads related to a video game in January 2018
2. Fortnite holds the #2 spot when it comes to watchtime related to a video game (as of Feb 2018).
3. Fortnite holds the record for most videos related to the video game uploaded in a single month (globally, February 2018).
4. Last weekend over 100 creators joined a massive Battle Royale in Fortnite and broadcast their play, generating over 42M live views combined.
5. During that event, ElrubiusOMG set the record for biggest single gaming stream from a creator (not an eSports tournament). Streaming from his bedroom, he reached more than 1.1M concurrent viewers

In other news, Fortnite’s newest Starter pack is available now. Available for $5, the add-on gets you the Rogue Agent outfit and the Catalyst Back Bling, along with an allotment of 600 V-Bucks to spend on whatever you want.

You can now purchase the Starter pack on all platforms, including mobile (which remains an invite-only test on iOS). Meanwhile, a new weapon is on the way to the game “soon” called the Guided Missile, though we don’t know when it’s set for release.

Sea of Thieves is immensely popular–and that’s part of the reason why the game is having widespread technical issues. In a developer update, Rare studio head Craig Duncan and executive producer Joe Neate discussed the game’s problems and what’s being done to fix them. They also revealed that the Xbox One and PC game reached 1 million players in its first 48 hours.

“We have seen unprecedented numbers coming in to Sea of Thieves and playing Sea of Thieves. The interest has been insane; the amount of people playing has been mind-blowing,” Neate said.

Sea of Thieves is free for Xbox Game Pass subscribers. Microsoft has not shared any details on how many people bought the game outright versus those who picked it up with a Game Pass subscription. Additionally, Microsoft offers a 14-day free Game Pass trial, and we don’t know how many people are playing Sea of Thieves on that trial. Whatever the case, 1 million players in 48 hours is a huge figure, and it has surely only grown higher still.

In the video, Duncan says an engineer told him that at one point near launch on March 20, some 5,000 people were joining the game every minute. Rare held multiple scale tests for Sea of Thieves before launch, but the live game is seeing 3-4 times more people trying to play during peak times than during the tests. Many of the game’s problems now are scale-related, and Duncan stressed that Rare has engineers working 24/7 to fix the issues and improve the experience.

A massive update for Sea of Thieves dropped today, and it includes various fixes for the game’s online infrastructure. You can see the full patch notes here in GameSpot’s previous coverage.

GameSpot’s Sea of Thieves review scored the pirate game a 6/10. Reviewer Peter Brown said, “Even though it’s hard to wholeheartedly recommend, I like enough of what I see to hold out hope that things will eventually improve as the game continues to be patched and updated with new content.

For more on Sea of Thieves, including some tips for getting started, check out the linked stories below.

[UPDATE] The Sea of Thieves Game Pass issue has now been resolved, developer Rare announced on Twitter. If you still encounter an issue, Rare advises that you try again.

The original story is below.

Microsoft’s Netflix-style subscription service, Xbox Game Pass, has been available for some time now, but it took on new value when the company announced plans to launch its first-party exclusives on day one through the service. That started with last week’s release of Sea of Thieves, but due to a new problem that has popped up, the game isn’t currently playable for Game Pass members.

As long as you have a Game Pass subscription, you can ordinarily play Sea of Thieves on Xbox One or PC in its entirety just like anyone who owns a digital copy of the game. However, players opening the game right now are presented with the same type of message you see when trying to play something you don’t own. “Do you own this game or app?” the error message asks. “If you have a game disc, insert it now. If you bought this online, make sure you’re signed in to Xbox Live. If you don’t have rights for playing it, you’ll need to get it at the Microsoft Store.” This also presents you with the 0x803f8001 error code, which directs you to a support page for this otherwise standard problem.

The issue is currently specific to Sea of Thieves; the Xbox Live status page confirms that Game Pass access to the title isn’t working correctly right now. That page has an unusually terse message stating that the issue is being worked on, and the official Sea of Thieves Twitter account also states as much: “Our team are currently investigating an issue affecting Game Pass players and are working to resolve it as soon as possible. We’ll update you as soon as we can.”

We don’t know how long the issue will persist or if it’s related to the new Sea of Thieves update that was just released. Regardless, it means that Game Pass members are unable to play the game right now. We’ll report back as more details are shared. In the meantime, check out our Sea of Thieves review.

The Strong Museum has announced the 12 finalists for this year’s World Video Game Hall of Fame, including Minecraft, Metroid, Tomb Raider, Half-Life, and Call of Duty. The Strong Museum gaming director Jon-Paul C. Dyson said these games and the other finalists all had an “undeniable impact” on gaming and pop culture and are among the “most influential games of all time.”

The other nominees included Asteroids, Dance Dance Revolution, Final Fantasy VII, John Madden Football, King’s Quest, Ms. Pac-Man, and Spacewar!

The Strong Museum opened public nominations for the World Video Game Hall of Fame, and the organization received “thousands” of entries from more than 100 countries are the world. The winners, which are voted on by journalists and scholars, will be announced on May 3. New for 2018 is the “Player’s Choice” ballot, which lets fans vote on which games they think are most deserving. The three games with the most votes will make up a ballot that will be considered alongside those from the previously mentioned journalists and scholars.

Games are recognized for a number of criteria, including “icon-status,” longevity, and geographical reach, as well as impact on design and development on other games, pop culture, and society. Full details on the criteria can be found on the Strong Museum’s website.

This is the fourth World Video Game Hall of Fame class. You can see the existing inductees at the bottom of this post. They are on permanent display at The Strong Museum in Rochester, New York.

2018 World Video Game Hall Of Fame Finalists

• Asteroids
• Call of Duty
• Dance Dance Revolution
• Final Fantasy VII
• Half-Life
• John Madden Football
• King’s Quest
• Metroid
• Minecraft
• Ms. Pac-Man
• Spacewar!
• Tomb Raider

Previous World Video Game Hall Of Fame Inductees

• Donkey Kong
• Doom
• Grand Theft Auto III
• Halo: Combat Evolved
• The Legend of Zelda
• The Oregon Trail
• Pac-Man
• Pokemon Red and Green
• Pong
• The Sims
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Space Invaders
• Street Fighter II
• Super Mario Bros.
• Tetris
• World of Warcraft

WonderCon is always home to amazing cosplay where fans dress up as their favorite characters from both video game and entertainment properties. And 2018’s iteration of the event was no exception.

We attended the recent event, which ran March 23-25 in Anaheim, CA. We saw people dressed up as everyone from Spider-Man to X-Men’s Colossus to Captain America to Overwatch’s Reaper and so many more. Above, we’ve rounded up many of the best cosplayers we saw over the weekend; be sure to let us know in the comments below which ones were your favorites. And for more amazing cosplay, check out the outfits we saw at New York Comic-Con and BlizzCon.

WonderCon is an annual fan convention that celebrates all things comics, movies, and sci-fi. It’s been going on for more than 30 years, and we already know it’ll be back in 2019. Next year’s event will again be held at the Anaheim Convention Center, where it’ll run from March 29-31.