Epic Addresses Fortnite Cross-Play Matchmaking Complaints, But Isn’t Changing Anything

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Ahead of Fortnite Season 11, which kicks off in just a few days, developer Epic Games is tweaking the way matchmaking works in the hit battle royale game–although not all of these changes have been warmly received. In particular, many in the community have expressed concerns over the fact the game now pairs players from different platforms together, potentially giving those on certain platforms an advantage.

In a new post on the official Fortnite website, Epic addresses these concerns, although it appears the developer is holding firm on its changes. “With the rollout, we’ve seen a lot of discussion about potentially unfair competitive advantages from pooling players together across platforms and input devices,” Epic wrote. “The new matchmaking system, however, accounts for various skill levels across different platforms and control inputs, and groups players of similar skill levels together.”

The developer continues: “Our goal with the new matchmaking system is to create fairer matches for all of our players, which includes special considerations for each platform. This means that where similar skill exists, players may be paired against opponents from ALL platforms–whether they’re using mouse + keyboard, a controller, or touch input. We are closely monitoring match analytics and your feedback, and we’ll make adjustments to ensure everyone is playing a fair match.”

As part of these matchmaking changes, Epic is also introducing AI bots to the mix beginning in Season 11. According to the studio, these will “behave similarly to normal players” and are intended to help players hone their skills. The better players become, the fewer bots will appear in a match, Epic says.

Season 10 of Fortnite is being extended an extra week; the season will now end on October 13, with a set of Overtime challenges slated to go live on October 8. In the meantime, you can still complete any of other other weekly challenges from this season. If you need help finishing up any outstanding missions, you can find all of our maps and guides in our complete Fortnite Season 10 challenges roundup.

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint Guide – How Blueprints Work And Where To Find Them

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint is a massive game packed with tons of systems and mechanics. It’s a lot to take in all at once, so we don’t blame you if you skipped past Maria’s shop tutorials–which is easy to do early on. As a result, you’re likely to become confused about her most crucial tutorial: how blueprints work.

As you can imagine, not all guns and attachments can be bought at Maria’s shop or even found organically in the world. Instead, you need to search for their blueprints. These investigative mini-quests have you traveling all around Aurora island to secure the ability to purchase some of the game’s better, more powerful guns.

You can generally find blueprints in special chests scattered across Aurora’s various bases and residential districts. But if you’re having trouble, you can clue in on their location by interacting with intel points.

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Once you’ve acquired a weapon or attachment blueprint, you can then buy it at Maria’s shop. It’s as easy as that. There’s no crafting involved–all you need is your hard-earned Skell credits. But don’t fret, they’re just as affordable as the other guns in Maria’s shop. If you grow partial to a particular weapon, though, you’re welcome to re-purchase it with stats adjusted to your current level.

For more Ghost Recon Breakpoint, check out our spoiler-free beginner’s guide. Be sure to check back often in the coming days as we publish even more guides. For everything else Breakpoint-related, read our feature rounding up everything you need to know.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint is available now for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. You can read our most significant thoughts of the full game so far in our early review impressions.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint Beginner’s Guide: Spoiler-Free Tips And Advice

Detroit: Become Human Reaches Big New Sales Milestone, And The PC Version Is Still To Come

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The latest game from developer Quantic Dream is a big success. Detroit: Become Human, which was originally released in May 2018, has now passed 3 million copies sold. Quantic Dream announced on Twitter that the game has hit 3.2 million copies on PS4 globally.

This is just the latest sales milestone for Detroit. In December 2019, publisher Sony announced that the game had reached 2 million copies sold.

Sales of Detroit are expected to continue to grow, as the game is scheduled to launch on PC later this year. The game is releasing as a timed-exclusive for the Epic Games Store.

Quantic Dream worked with Sony for a long time on its big games, including Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit, but the company is going multi-platform for its next release. Heavy Rain was released on PC in June, while Beyond: Two Souls came out for PC in July. Like Detroit, both titles are exclusive to the Epic Games Store through a timed-exclusivity deal between Epic and Quantic.

Detroit tells the story of three androids living in the future and grappling with their sentience. In this future, androids are deeply life-like and interwoven with society, and the game overall was generally well-received. For more, check out GameSpot’s Detroit review.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint Review in Progress

Since Monday, I’ve spent 24 full hours belly-crawling my way across Auroa – the fictional island-chain setting of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint on Xbox One X, most of it with a co-op partner by my side. I can confirm that, during nearly all of that time, I have been having fun with Ubisoft’s latest tale of Ghosts and grunts – though I’ve had to stop and ask myself that question and really think about it a couple of times. Part of the lack of undeniably fun moments is due to the fact that I feel like I’ve played this game already, several times over.

Breakpoint is exactly what I’ve come to expect from a Ubisoft open-world game: lots of progression systems that reward your every move; a big and beautiful open world to run, drive or fly across; and a few dozen outpost bases littered with bad dudes you can takedown in a number of ways. That’s a good thing in that Ubisoft’s open-world formula is so often used because it works well – it’s a good time if you like overlapping progression, constant reinforcement, and collectibles – but also that it feels a bit too familiar and is hard to get excited about. In this particular case, it’s also littered with bugs, glitches, and weird design choices that can halt its momentum right when it seems like it’s going to start picking up speed.

Continue reading…

Ubisoft Removes Some Microtransactions From Ghost Recon: Breakpoint

Ahead of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint’s launch on October 4, Ubisoft has addressed its philosophy towards microtransactions and why it chose to remove some Time-Savers items that weren’t supposed to be available quite yet.

As reported by USGamer.net, Ubisoft took to its forums to discuss in-game purchasable content and how it “aimed at offering a fair and rewarding experience to our players however they want to experience our game, in solo, co-op, PvE or PvP.”

Continue reading…

Destiny 2 | Essence Of Vanity Horned Wreath Location Guide

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Destiny 2 Garden Of Salvation Raid: Start Time And New Trailer

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Shortly after the launch of Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, Bungie released the next trailer showcasing the next raid known as the Garden of Salvation. Bringing players back Destiny 1‘s Black Garden, which closed out the main story of the game, the Vex stronghold that’s between the realms of time and space is home to a new threat that the Guardians will need to take out. This time, Guardians will be bringing with them a full fireteam to face the new menace within.

During the brief glimpse of the raid in the trailer, the enigmatic Guardian Eris Morn offers warnings for the major threat within the Black Garden. Just like in the original game, the Black Garden will focus primarily on the Vex faction, the machine race intent on rewriting history. However, the returning force known as The Darkness will also have a role to play, which was referenced throughout Shadowkeep. Just as with previous raids, your fireteam will encounter several obstacles focusing on combat engagements, puzzles, and even some involved platforming sections.

The raid is expected to go live on October 5, 10 AM PST, and as is tradition, players are currently grinding out loot to acquire more strength for the raid. To participate, you and your fireteam will need to be at least 890 Power. During that launch window, players will go through the new raid blind, and they’ll have to figure out what to do with their comrades. Just like previous launches for Destiny raids, Bungie devs will monitor the various attempts at the raid.

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Groups that can finish within the first 24 hours will get a special emblem, others who finish before October 15 will get to purchase a special raid jacket, and of course, the first clan to finish the raid will get all previously mentioned prizes and also a coveted World’s First championship belt. Other Unlike previous raids, Bungie will introduce a limited time modifier for first-time raiders, which will cap Power at 920. This will ensure players aren’t overpowered for the raid. Also, the exotic weapon Jotunn has been banned from the raid for 24 hours, as it’s been proven highly effective against enemies and bosses.

Garden of Salvation Raid Start Time

  • 10 AM PST
  • 7 AM EST
  • 11 AM GMT
  • 9PM AET

There’s plenty of new loot to acquire in the raid, but in order to participate, you’ll need to finish the campaign and its following missions, along with getting up to 890 Power. If you’re looking for more info on how to get raid-ready, check out our various guides and features highlighting tips and other details about the important things of note.

Destiny 2 Shadowkeep – Deathbringer Exotic Guide

You’ll chase a whole mess of new gear as you work through Destiny 2‘s latest expansion, Shadowkeep. Most of the guns will require searching your way through the moon, gathering special items, and hunting down difficult new Nightmare enemies. To get one of the best guns of the expansion, however, you’ll have to do more.

The Deathbringer Exotic rocket launcher requires working through a pretty lengthy quest with multiple steps, and that quest doesn’t even become available until you’ve completed Shadowkeep’s campaign. The quest will take you all around the moon to complete it, including through its new slate of Lost Sectors, into its new Strike, and through a couple of new missions deep in the Hellmouth.

Check out the video above for a detailed look at everything the Deathbringer quest entails so you can work through it quickly with minimal grinding. You’ll also want to check out our written Deathbringer guide for even more info.

Major Games Writing Award Canceled, Uncharted Dev Calls It “Misguided Slap In The Face”

The Writers Guild of America–the union that represents writers across movies, TV, and video games–has scrapped its video game category for the next edition of the show. WGA has honored video game writing since 2008, so this is a big change–and developers are sounding off about it.

A spokesperson for WGA told The Hollywood Reporter that it will not hand out a Video Game Writing Award in 2020 due to a lack of WGA-covered games. The category may return in the future if the number of video games covered by the WGA reaches a “critical mass,” the group said.

A bigger number of WGA-covered games will lead to a “meaningful award selection process,” WGA said. The five nominees for the Video Game Writing Award for 2018 included Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Batman: The Enemy Within, Episode 5- Same Stitch, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. Sony’s God of War ultimately won the award.

Some of the previous winners included Horizon: Zero Dawn, Uncharted 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and The Last of Us: Left Behind.

To be nominated, a game must feature on-screen writing credits, while credited writers must have already been or applied for membership in the WGA Video Game Writers Caucus. This incurs a $100 fee. WGA said in the past that it also considered games that were not developed “under WGA jurisdiction,” though the new statement specifically called out a lack of WGA-covered titles as one of the reasons the award category is going away.

While the WGA has abandoned its video game writing award, other prestigious awards shows, including BAFTA, still honor video games in multiple categories.

The reaction to this news from video game writers and developers came swiftly and passionately. Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann, who has won multiple WGA Video Game Writing Awards in the past, said on Twitter that he is “very disappointed” by the WGA’s decision to remove the category.

“A misguided slap in the face for writers in games,” he said.

You can see some of the other responses below, including messages from Patrick Weekes (BioWare), Josh Scherr (Naughty Dog), Chet Faliszek (Portal, Half-Life), and others.