Surviving Mars Gets New Expansion This Year, Free Tourism Update Coming Very Soon

Surviving Mars is back in active development, now with Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and Ark: Survival Evolved studio Absraction Games leading the way. More expansive content is in the works, and a free tourism update goes leave on Monday for all players–that “all players” total just so happens to have reached 5 million.

The news was made as part of the Paradox Insider presentation on March 13, which also featured news and gameplay from several of the publisher’s biggest series. The tourism update includes an RC Safari, which arrives from Earth, but you can also make own. You can then set different points of interest on your colony and let visitors explore. Additionally, there’s a hotel feature you can use after completing a research task, as well as a low-gravity amusement park. Depending on the rating tourists give you, you’ll get a certain amount of funds and rewards.

For those willing to pay a little extra, there are some new furnishing and building options available through the $5 In-Dome Buildings Pack. They include new smart apartments, a nursery, medical and security posts, and a TV studio workshop. They were developed with the help of the modder Silva, who has also published files for languages and huge assortment of buildings on their Steam account.

There will also be a full-fledged expansion coming for Surviving Mars later this year. We don’t have a firm date, but we should hear more as we get further into 2021.

“The game is in good hands with Abstraction,” said Surviving Mars product manager Magnus Lysell in the announcement. “We’re humbled by the overwhelming support for Surviving Mars. 5 million players is huge and we can’t wait to share what’s next with all of you soon!”

Call Of Duty: Warzone’s Mara Catches Cheaters On Twitch, Gets Them Banned

Alex Zedra, a gun-focused Instagram model and Twitch streamer–as well as the likeness for Mara in Call of Duty: Warzone–has no love for cheaters in the game. She managed to catch two players using auto-aim tools while she was streaming, and the exposure resulted in a swift ban.

Zedra hosted one of the streamers, who went by the name IcyVixen on Twitch, and she’s seen popping from behind a hill and sniping an enemy almost instantly from a long distance away.

Her partner, who goes by the name BeardedBanger, can be heard in a separate clip bragging about his kill-to-death ratio, as well as how quickly he was becoming partnered on Twitch. His gameplay is even more obviously done through cheating, however, and the clip is extremely vulgar, so we won’t share it here–if you click through the tweet above, you can see it.

Both players appear to have had their Twitch accounts suspended because of the incident. Bragging about your skill level while showing yourself blatantly cheating on a stream is probably not the best idea. BeardedBanger can be seen in previous game sessions auto-locking onto players’ heads so quickly that there is no way it could have been done without software.

Zedra herself was involved in controversy last month when photographer Clayton Haugen accused Activision of copying his own character, Cade Janus, who had also been portrayed by Zedra. He alleged in a lawsuit that Activision used the same makeup artist when it was developing her character for Call of Duty, as well. His post that featured Zedra was from 2018, about a year before she was announced as a Call of Duty character.

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Daily Deals: Gaming Chairs on Sale at Best Buy

This Saturday is all about sitting in comfort. Arozzi Gaming Chairs are on sale over at Best Buy and are a great way to get yourself comfortable while playing a game. We’ve also got a healthy mix of other items, with a great 4K TV discount on offer, plenty of games and let’s not forget the Oculus Quest 2 which is in stock and available.

Arcade1Up Galaga Countercade for $49 (was $129)

Today there’s another big price drop on this bite-sized countercase. Most vendors (and eBay) are selling this for $90 and up. We posted it earlier at $79 and it just dropped another $30 in price. Despite its diminutive size, it’s actually very playable with an 8″ hi-res display, speaker, and full sized joystick and control buttons. Both Galaga and Galaga ’88 come preinstalled.

Daily Deals for March 13

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More Gaming Deals

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Destiny 2: Trials Of Osiris Canceled Yet Again

For the third week in a row, Destiny 2’s Trials of Osiris event has been canceled because of a technical issue. It comes as Bungie looks to curb players engaged in “win trading” by throwing matches on purpose.

The issue this time is, according to Bungie, related to “Fireteam Rejoin functionality,” which certainly sounds like it’s the same problem as before. Trials of Osiris has been available on March 12, but it will not be available through the rest of the weekend.

Typically, it lasts for about four days, giving players the chance to get high-level gear if they can go on a flawless seven-win streak. It’s for this reason that players have been throwing games, letting others have a clear path to victory. It’s unclear how Bungie plans to stop this problem for good.

If you already received access to The Lightouse area via a Flawless card, you are still going to be able to use it this weekend. You’ll also be able to use any of your Trials tokens during this period, so those who already did go on a seven-win streak appear to have lucked out this week.

As per usual, Xur is still available this weekend if you’re trying to get some other powerful gear. You can always get an Exotic engram from him that will turn into an item you don’t already own, making it worthwhile to check back every week.

Destiny 2 players will have to wait a little longer than expected for the game’s next expansion, The Witch Queen, to release. It was pushed into 2022, partially because of the effect COVID-19’s work-from-home changes had on the development team and because Bungie wants to continue making systemic improvements to the game.

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Crusader Kings 3 Gets First DLC Pack March 16

Crusader Kings 3 was one of 2020’s most-acclaimed role-playing games, with system-based story mechanics that allowed for a high degree of player-choice. The game is getting its first DLC pack, and it’s out next week.

It isn’t a full-scale expansion, but the Northern Lords Flavor Pack enhances Crusader Kings 3 with Norse-themed adventurer realms, character art, new music, and 3D models, as well as new decisions and events that should add more variety to your gameplay. The Flavor Pack is also included if you have the expansion pass.

Crusader Kings 3 released about eight years after the previous game, Crusader Kings 2, which itself released about eight years after the original game. In the third game, you can form a Middle Age dynasty and control it for hundreds of years, altering history via familial and political manipulation.

You’re free to begin as one of several different rulers, as well, including a Roman emperor or an Arab caliph, giving you significant replay value should you choose to start a second game. You can even establish a new religious faction, potentially pitting citizens against each other as they fight for power.

Crusader Kings 3’s ambition drew attention from critics, with GameSpot reviewer David Wildgoose praising how its systems work together in our Crusaders Kings 3 review.

“In a sense, Crusader Kings 3 is all over the place. It doesn’t always work perfectly, and at times it really makes you work for it, but there’s something amazing in that any of it works at all. Strategy games can tell interesting stories as their empires rise and fall, but their procedural narratives are rarely as affecting and poignant as they are here,” Wildgoose said.

The Northern Lords Flavor Pack was just one announcement made during today’s Paradox Insider showcase. The publisher promised plenty of news on upcoming games, as well as new trailers, deep-dive gameplay sessions, and interviews.

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EA Disables FIFA Content Granting As It Investigates Black Market Sales

EA has temporarily disabled content granting–the ability for items to be directly given to a player’s account–as it continues an investigation into potential misuse of the feature in FIFA 21 Ultimate Team by an employee for personal profit.

The news comes a short time after the company started an investigation to see if one of its own employees had been granting access to rare cards in FIFA 21 to buyers online for hundreds of even thousands of dollars. The community has dubbed the scandal “EAGate,” and leaked messages appear to show someone–possibly an EA employee–explaining to a buyer how they can send these items to their account for the right price.

Because EA isn’t sure who is behind the black market sales yet, and isn’t even sure if it’s actually an employee or someone who compromised an employee’s account, content granting has been disabled for now.

Content granting is used to give out free items during testing and quality assurance phases, as well as for employees, partners, and athletes at certain periods. You likely don’t fall into those groups, but it’s also used in cases where someone accidentally deletes something or has it removed because of some other issue. Because the feature is completely disabled right now, that means these people will also be left waiting before their problems can be solved.

“We know that the trust of our communities is hard-earned, and is based on principles of Fair Play,” EA said in a blog post. “This illicit activity shakes that trust. We’ve also been clear since the creation of Ultimate Team that items cannot be exchanged outside our game, and that’s key to how we keep our game safe from manipulation and bad actors. This is a breach of that principle, as well–and we won’t let it stand.”