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Bandai Namco has announced the dates for the upcoming Network Test for Code Vein. As we previously speculated, the test will begin at the end of May and continue into the first days of June.

For the US, Code Vein’s Network Test begins May 30 at 8:00 PM PT / 11:00 PM ET and continues until June 3 at 12:00 AM PT / 3:00 AM ET. In Europe, the test starts May 31 at 4:00 AM BST / 5:00 AM CEST and ends June 3 at 8:00 AM BST / 9:00 AM CEST. Though Code Vein is releasing on Xbox One, PS4, and PC, the Network Test will only be live on consoles. To participate in the Code Vein Network Test, sign-up on Bandai Namco’s website. You’ll receive your Xbox One or PS4 code on May 29, allowing you to preload the demo before the test goes live.

In the Network Test, you’ll be able to play through the opening chapter of Code Vein and try the game’s multiplayer. In Code Vein, you usually travel throughout the world with an NPC companion. If you want, you can also team up with one other human-controlled character for a three-person party. Though Code Vein takes inspiration from Dark Souls—both thematically and mechanically–Bandai Namco’s game does not feature invasions. Multiplayer in Code Vein is entirely supportive.

We played through Code Vein’s opening chapter during a preview event and had the chance to try the game’s revamped Blood Code system. After delaying the game in July 2018, Bandai Namco changed how Code Vein’s build system works. Now, thanks to Code Vein’s eight unique Blood Codes, you can quickly respec your vampiric character with new stats and abilities in seconds whenever you want. Most of the eight Blood Codes are too melee-focused, but a few do provide interesting abilities, such as a teleporting backstab called Phantom Assault.

Code Vein is a perfect example of how Dark Souls has had a lasting impact on the gaming industry. In our The Most Influential Games Of The 21st Century series, Tamoor Hussain wrote, “Dark Souls’ impact on gaming is undeniable. Such is its influence that the term Souls-like has become a genre in and of itself. But describing a game as ‘Souls-like’ can mean so many things, from challenging gameplay to emergent storytelling, or even a distinct sense of place. The fact that the term can be used in such a diverse way to explain facets of action games, RPGs, puzzle games, or even text adventures is the strongest indication of just how important the game was and is to this day.”

A major PC game sale already launched this week in the form of Epic’s Mega Sale, but for those who may prefer to own games on Steam, another major sale just kicked off that you’ll want to keep your eye on. Digital store Green Man Gaming, which sells licensed digital game keys, is celebrating its ninth year in business with a week of flash deals.

A new wave of games will be available every day and stick around for 48 hours, so you’ll want to grab the deals you want quickly. In addition to the discounted games, Green Man Gaming is offering free bonus gifts with certain deals, including DLC and sometimes even a full game or two. All the deals that have been posted so far are for PC and/or Mac, and you’ll have to have a free Steam account to redeem them.

SHOP GREEN MAN GAMING’S BIRTHDAY SALE »

Browse the full offering of deals at Green Man Gaming, and see some of the current deals below! We’ll be updating this story as more deals become available, so stay tuned.

Day 2 deals

(end May 19 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET / 4 PM BST)

Day 1 deals

(end May 16 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET / 4 PM BST)

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As ever, Bungie is continuing to tweak Destiny 2 with balancing changes through live updates, but the next one hasn’t garnered much excitement from fans. With the Season of the Drifter coming to a close at the end of the month, Bungie used a blog post to detail its next slate of changes to the game, and they’re all of the “nerf” variety–weakening some of the game’s most-used, best-loved equipment.

On its blog, Bungie detailed some of the upcoming changes coming with its next content season, the Season of Opulence, which starts on June 4. The new tweaks focus on ratcheting down the power of several Exotic weapons and pieces of armor. According to the post, through the Season of the Drifter, Bungie saw a lot of Exotics becoming “must-pick” items for various loadouts, and the changes are meant to get other items back into the rotation a bit more. Most of the changes focus on players’ Super abilities, which charge up over time but which can be fast-tracked with certain pieces of armor and “Orbs of Light” created by other players.

“Primarily, we’re paying attention to pieces of Exotic armor that grant back Super energy,” the post reads. “We felt they are increasingly becoming ‘must-pick gear choices. Orb generation from teammates is meant to be the best way to accelerate your Super generation. These Exotics are allowing players to bypass this teamwork mechanic by generating a large amount of Super energy without relying on other players’ orbs.”

Exotics like the Skull of Dire Ahamkara helmet for Warlocks and the Ursa Furiosa gauntlets for Titans give Super energy back to players when they use their Super abilities, and under the right circumstances, can almost fully fill up a player’s energy bar–which means they can launch several Supers in succession. That’s great if you’re enjoying wrecking a lot of enemies all at once, but apparently, it’s not really what Bungie is going for.

Several weapons are also receiving nerfs in the update, most notably the Whisper of the Worm. The Exotic sniper rifle currently sports infinite ammo if you can manage to land only critical hits with it on enemies. The change will remove the infinite ammo perk; Bungie says it’s hoping to make other sniper rifles more viable with the change, instead of Whisper being the de facto choice in all circumstances. It’s worth noting that Bungie made this same change in Destiny 1 to Black Spindle, an Exotic sniper rifle that’s very similar to Whisper.

Players haven’t responded too well to the upcoming slate of changes, even though they’re not actually in the game yet. Bungie’s Twitter post pointing to its blog was awash in memes mocking the changes as fans protested the weakening of armor and weapons that have become staples in the game.

It’s worth noting that Bungie hasn’t released the full patch notes for the Season of Opulence update, so there will probably be others to go with these changes that might change how players feel about them. And Bungie is constantly making adjustments to Destiny 2 in order to make weapons, armor, Supers, and abilities more or less viable. It’s very likely we’ll see further adjustments to a lot of these things as the game continues to evolve.

But it’s undeniable that much of the Destiny community is pretty upset with Bungie’s upcoming changes, with some even threatening to defect before the next content drop. That seems like a major overreaction, but Destiny has a pretty vocal community, and Bungie often talks about how much it’s paying attention to what players want. The question now is whether the developer responds to those complaints, and how it might do so.

Developer Ubisoft Montreal has taken it upon itself to address issues facing the online tactical shooter, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. In a tweet, Siege’s official Twitter account announced that, as it works on fixes (which include addressing exploits to claymores and shields), the defensive operator Clash has been disabled.

“Over the past few days, we have been working to address the issues presented from exploits surrounding Clash, IQ, and Deployable Shields,” a blog post on the official game’s website reads. “These combined issues touch on core systems of the game, and will therefore take longer than we consider acceptable to address. We are currently expecting fixes prepared by next week.”

According to Ubisoft, more details will arrive on Tuesday, May 21. Until then, a server-wide update will disable Clash, deployable shields, and claymores. It was scheduled to go live yesterday, but “due to unforeseen circumstances, console deployments for the Clash removal” will land sometime today, May 17, the Rainbow Six Siege Twitter account wrote.

The post concludes by saying the team is hard at work improving their reaction speed to such widespread issues. “As such, our team will develop a more thorough outline for how we should respond to these situations moving forward, with the ultimate goal of improved reaction speed,” it said.

Two new operators were recently announced for Rainbow Six Siege: Nokk and Warden. The two are part of the upcoming Operation Phantom Sight expansion, which will be revealed on May 19 during the Pro League Finals in Milan (which takes place May 18-19).

The game’s recent update reverses friendly fire, a system designed to punish griefers by dealing the damage to them instead of the teammate getting shot. Players will get a brief grace period, but afterward, the damage will be dealt in reverse. So any damage done by primary and secondary weapons, as well as most unique Operator gadgets, will hit the griefing player instead of the innocent teammate.

Ubisoft has released a second teaser trailer for its upcoming Rainbow Six Siege Operation Phantom Sight expansion. This video shows off Phantom Sight’s second Operator, Warden. Warden’s real name is Collinn McKinley and he’s one of Team Rainbow’s older Operators with 30 years of career experience.

In the new trailer, which can be watched below, Warden is identified as a Defender. After a brief shot of a watch that reveals Warden’s ties to both the Secret Service and Team Rainbow, the video transitions to a shot of Warden slowly walking forward as his glasses glow blue. We see glimpses of what Warden sees, which appear to be the possible actions an enemy can take. Regardless of what his glasses do exactly, they seem to be connected to his watch as both gadgets glow with the same luminescent blue.

“Hailing from the state of Kentucky, McKinley rose through the ranks of the Marines before he found his calling for close-protection detail in the Secret Service,” Ubisoft wrote in a blog post. “He demonstrated his skills distinctly when he led the Secretary of State to safety, during an attack where hostiles outmaneuvered all prior planning.”

After learning Phantom Sight’s other new Operator, Nøkk, could use her HEL device to turn invisible and hide in the shadows, we theorized–based on Phantom Sight’s initial yin-yang symbol teaser–that her counterpart would use a gadget designed to find or illuminate the position of Attackers or traps. It seems like that theory is correct, though Ubisoft hasn’t explicitly stated what exactly Warden’s Glance Smart Glasses do, only that they “reflect the nature of his natural talent, to see what most cannot in order to gain the upper hand in any given situation.”

From May 18-19, Ubisoft will host the Rainbow Six Siege Pro League Finals in Milan. On May 19, the developer plans on revealing all the new content and in-game changes coming to Siege in the Operation Phantom Sight expansion, including breakdowns of both Nøkk and Warden.