Pokemon Go players have a chance to catch a couple of rare Pokemon this weekend. In addition to the Clamperl Limited Research event scheduled to take place on Saturday, Niantic has also announced a special Raid Weekend, which will give trainers another opportunity to capture the Gen 3 Legendary Latias.
From February 22-25, the Eon Pokemon will make an encore appearance in Raid Battles around the world. Moreover, Niantic says you’ll have a chance of coming across a Shiny Latias–if you’re lucky–during this special Raid Weekend event.
Latias first appeared in Pokemon Go last May alongside its twin, Latios. Niantic says the blue Eon Pokemon will also return for a special Raid Weekend “at a later date,” although it hasn’t yet specified when. You can read more details about this weekend’s event on the official Pokemon Go website.
The aforementioned Limited Research event takes place on February 23. Much like a Community Day, it will only run for three hours, during which time players will be able to receive special Field Research tasks from PokeStops. These will culminate in an encounter with the never-before-available Pokemon Clamperl, which can evolve into either Huntail or Gorebyss.
On top of that, Niantic is holding a special Meltan event in Go. Until March 4, players will have a chance of encountering a Shiny Meltan when opening the Mystery Box. The Gen 4 Legendary Palkia can also still be found in Raid Battles until February 28.
Anthem has been available in early access since February 15, but now BioWare is preparing for the official wide release. The company announced just when the game will unlock for those who have preloaded it, and it will be a rolling start. The official account tweeted that the game will go live on February 22 by midnight in each local time zone. The phrasing leaves open the possibility that some time zones may be able to play earlier.
The progressive rollout may help stave off some launch day troubles that tend to hit online games when players log on en masse. Even the Anthem VIP demo suffered server outages for a short time. But Anthem has already been running relatively smoothly among those with early access.
Origin Access subscribers on PC and EA Access subscribers on Xbox One have both had access to a ten-hour trial, with progress that will carry over into the main game. Origin Access Premier members have unlimited play instead of the trial period. PlayStation 4 owners have no Access program, though that may change soon.
BioWare also just rolled out an extensive day-one patch, fixing up several issues and making improvements before the game becomes widely available. Those include changes to crashing or infinite loading bugs, clearer UI, and other changes.
“Anthem has good ideas, but it struggles significantly with the execution,” Kallie Plagge wrote in GameSpot’s Anthem review. “It’s a co-op game that works best with no one talking; it buries genuinely interesting character moments and puts its most incomprehensible story bits at the forefront; its combat is exciting until you get to the boss fights and find your wings have been clipped. Even the simple, exhilarating act of flying is frequently interrupted by the limitations of your javelin, and you never quite shake that feeling of disappointment–of knowing, throughout the good parts of Anthem, that you’ll inevitably come crashing back down.”
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have gone through many different forms since their debut in the Mirage Studios comic book series in 1984. And each time there’s a new round of TMNT products, the turtles evolve a little bit. Now, in 2019, Playmates has a new toy line based on the newest TMNT TV series, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
At Toy Fair in New York, Playmates unveiled the latest set of TMNT figures. It was a pretty hefty reveal, as you can see below. In this upcoming Spring/Fall 2019 line, the 3.25″-5″ figures will cost $9 each and they all come with their own accessories to fight some crime.
From left to right: Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, Splinter, and April. However, no TMNT set would be complete without secondary characters and villains for the turtles to beat up. Here is what Playmates has planned for 2019.
From left to right: Foot Lieutenant, Origami Ninja, Meat Sweats, Bull Hop, Baron Draxum, and Albearto. These villains are specific to the 2018 animated series, so fans of the classic TMNT cartoon from the ’80s may not recognize them. However, you cannot deny the fact that Meat Sweats is the greatest name for a secondary villain in TMNT history–sorry Rat King.
There were plenty of reveals at Toy Fair last weekend, from Funko to video game action figures to lightsabers you can hit your friends with. Check out the stories below for GameSpot’s coverage of the event.
Following a partial leak of the upcoming Anthem update, BioWare has released a more extensive list of patch notes and released the update. This “day one patch” will be waiting for players who buy the game on its wide release day, but it’s coming several days into the early access period.
BioWare released the official notes on Reddit. While the original list was lengthy, the new one is even more extensive. It lists more than a dozen new changes, along with minor updates and revisions of some of the tweaks that were already on the list. As before, the high-level fixes focus on load times, crash and loading bugs, and challenge tracking. Other improvements include changes to Strongholds, crafting, the UI, and much more.
Anthem went live on Friday, February 15, for players with EA Access on Xbox One or Origin Access on PC. Both offer a 10-hour trial, and Origin Access Premier granted unlimited access. Those players have been experiencing the game without these improvements for almost a week. The full game will go live at midnight on Friday, February 22, in your local time zone.
“Anthem has good ideas, but it struggles significantly with the execution,” critic Kallie Plagge said in GameSpot’s Anthem review. “It’s a co-op game that works best with no one talking; it buries genuinely interesting character moments and puts its most incomprehensible story bits at the forefront; its combat is exciting until you get to the boss fights and find your wings have been clipped. Even the simple, exhilarating act of flying is frequently interrupted by the limitations of your javelin, and you never quite shake that feeling of disappointment–of knowing, throughout the good parts of Anthem, that you’ll inevitably come crashing back down.”
A number of issues have been fixed that were causing players to disconnect or crash
Weapons and gear now have numbers present for modifiers
General Fixes and Improvements
Loot Reveal and Expedition Summary now correctly play during the end of expedition screen.
The gather party mechanic has been made more lenient in a number of situations
At the end of expedition screen players will no longer get stuck on “Recording Victories” or “Skipping All”.
Game no longer hangs in Javelin menu when unlocking the second, third or fourth javelin
During the mission “What Freelancers Do” dying after killing Junkmaw & freeing Arcanists leaves you unable to progress, this has been fixed
Challenges now unlock for players at the correct levels
Fixed some camera issues during cutscenes
Legendary Contracts can now be accepted from the Social Hub contract board
Some enemies have had their shield values decreased
Loot now properly drops for players who are downed
The texture quality on the NPC Prospero has been improved
Final boss of strongholds now drop loot instead of only being shown on the end of expedition screen
Fixed the time outs on echoes and relics to prevent griefing and to handle disconnections properly
Players can no longer fall through the floor during the 3rd trial in the Fortress of Dawn
Completing the tutorial expedition will now show the correct Ranger appearance
After disconnecting, rejoining an expedition will now place you back into a squad if you were in one previously
Corrected an issue where players could not interact with each other in the launch bay in certain circumstances
Corrected an issue during the Mission “Bad Deal” where outlaws won’t spawn, blocking progress
The start of expedition screen has been improved
Addressed a variety of situations where killing enemies does not properly progress world events
Opening a chest now increments Tomb of the Legionnaire progress for all squad members present
Scar snipers can no longer shoot through Storm Shield
Corrected an issue where players would get stuck on the end of expedition screen in some situations
Players will no longer get disconnected if joining the “Finding Old Friends” mission while the cinematic is playing
Addressed a number of situations where players can get stuck on the environment in the launch bay
Increased the damage of the electric status effect
Corrected an issue where the Shield of Dawn could be crafted with less materials then intended in some situations
The Platinum Mission feat now grants completion as intended
Status effects can more reliably be applied to Titans
Fixed loading animations on Marksmen Rifles
Players can now access the Vault from the Forge
Swimming into jellyfish underwater no longer leaves a visual effect stuck on players.
Idle animations will no longer sync up over time in the Launch Bay
Haluk is no longer dual-wielding canes in the epilogue scene
Corrected an issue where players could not interact with each other in the launch bay in certain circumstances
Fixed an issue that could cause players in the launch bay to have identical emotes and be unable to use them
Interceptor melee ability animations will no longer stretch out in certain situations
Corrected an issue where the default Ranger appearance doesn’t preview in the forge in some situations
All animations now play as intended in the Forge
Players can now enter the Tomb of Gwanes while in a party
The default Javelin wear state has been changed from “Dirty” to “Old”
Sentinel Loyalty 2 text no longer incorrectly states that it will lead to a larger vault
Picking up ammo from the ground now properly gives you 30% of that ammo back into both the current magazine and the maximum spare ammo
Fixed a bug where some global (Javelin Icon) inscription bonuses were not being properly applied to the Javelin and other gear/weapons.
Fixed some issues that could cause the Armor Pip count on the UI to break and not display properly
Strongholds
Fixed an issue that would cause a Stronghold server crash after defeating the last boss
Temple of Scar – Players can no longer get stuck in the mined tunnel in the explosives room
Temple of Scar – Players can no longer be blocked from entering the explosives room due to fog wall
Fixed Tyrant Mine so people that join the stronghold in-progress do not end up locked away from their team
Adjusted lighting in Tyrant Mine underwater section to make it easier to navigate to the exit
The Swarm Tyrant will no longer get stuck in the side cave entrances in some situations
Corrected an issue where players would spawn into different areas of the Tyrant Mine in certain situations
Implemented more safeguards to stop players from going AFK in Strongholds
Challenges
Only Masterwork items can now be used to progress Masterwork challenges as intended
Corrected an issue where some Challenges track progress simultaneously instead of incrementally, as intended. (ex: Blast Missile I and then Blast Missile II instead of both incrementing at the same time
Gear and Weapons
After having 1st pilot unlock suit after tutorials, creating a new pilot and going to forge no longer causes load screen hang
Ice damage bonuses are now correctly applied on ice gear
Suit-wide bonuses from inscription are now functioning properly
Players can no longer salvage equipped items
Javelin specific gear and/or weapons are no longer able to be used on javelins they aren’t intended for
Corrected an issue where in some circumstances Masterwork Components do not have any inscriptions
The Endless Siege Masterwork Autocannon no longer displays a damage increase of 0% in its tooltip
Suit-wide specific weapon ammo bonuses coming from infusions are now correctly applied
A Network Error Message no longer appears when opening an item chest in the second tutorial
Colossus shoulder gear will now share the appearance of the rest of the javelin as intended
Deadeye has increased spare ammo 10 -> 20
Cloudburst has had increased damage 16.3 -> 21
Torrent has had increased damage 22.2 -> 28.6
Lightning Strike’s pre-visualization will now accurately depict that the explosion snaps to the ground.
(Ranger) Inferno Grenade base damage 130 -> 175
(Interceptor) Cryo Glaive base damage 20 -> 50
(Storm) Living Flame base damage 50 -> 60
(Storm) Glacial Beam base damage 150 -> 120
(Storm) Arc Burst secondary damage 100 -> 150
(Ranger) Pulse Blast base damage 225 -> 300, and now deals extra damage to Shields (previously did extra damage to Armored).
(Ranger) Blast Missile now properly scales up in damage as the item level increases
(Interceptor) Melee attacks now have some minor resistance penetration
Large Area of Effect abilities will better register multi-kill activities for challenges and medals
Spark Dash functionality has been significantly improved when the target enemy is at a different height (above/below) the Interceptor.
Several gear pieces that had missing primer or detonator icons have been fixed.
Interceptor
Tempest Strike – Detonator Icon
Spark Dash – Detonator Icon
Venom Spray – Primer Icon
Detonating Strike – Primer Icon
Colossus
Lightning Coil – Detonator Icon
Shock Coil – Primer Icon
Flamethrower – Primer Icon
Several improvements have been made to ensure gear use on PC prioritizes turning the Javelin towards the reticle when used rather than casting in front of the Javelin’s current direction.
Javelins
The Colossus javelin is now able to activate its shield more quickly after using an ability or firing a weapon
The Storm javelin now reacts to getting hit when its shields are up
Fixed an exploit that allowed the Storm’s ultimate attack to be used more times than intended
The Colossus exo can now shield and revive at the same time
Interceptor Combo Aura has been increased in power and now has a damage over time component
Ranger melee now has a cooldown when striking in the air
The Target Beacon ability now correctly seeks targets
Spark Dash and Venom Spray now target based on player cursor instead of character facing. This should also improve the travel path of Spark Dash.
The Colossus will no longer be knocked out of the sky in some situations when the attack was blocked by their shield
Combos + Status Effects
Combo indicator icons above creatures now are correctly removed when detonated.
When a Storm detonates an electric status effect the chained electric effect now correctly deals damage.
Combo damage now penetrates resistances
Crafting
Non-Masterwork materials purchased from the crafting store now show as their proper rarity instead of incorrectly showing as Masterwork
A number of javelin components that had different icons for their recipes and the actual items are now the same
The Battle Cry gear recipe now has the correct description
Fixed Spark Beam gear having the wrong description when being crafted
Crafting recipes are now sorted alphabetically
The items in the crafting store are now sorted by type to be clearer
Controls
Additional Mouse and Keyboard control improvements have been made
UI
Some conversations were not popping up the reputation points post conversation completion, this has been fixed
The squad screen now displays the correct information for each player
Fixed a number of issues where subtitles will no longer get stuck on the screen after dialogue has finished as often
Settings should no longer reset upon exiting and restarting the game on Xbox One
Motion blur can now correctly be turned off
The Electric Status Effect now shows scaled damage properly
An option has been added to hide the Squad Member HUD
The edge of the compass will now pulse to indicate enemy locations
A notification has been added in Fort Tarsis if a player’s vault is at the cap of 250 items
On the “Repair the Strider” step of “A Cry for Help” the search radar has been adjusted to correctly lead the player to all 4 tools
Primer and Detonator icons have been added to all Interceptor gear
Corrected a user interface issue where a player’s ultimate would show as available when it isn’t
Toggling the HDR option now properly prompts the Apply Changes button
Player banners should now display correctly
Camera shake slider has been added to settings menu
Players may now track 10 challenges instead of 5
An option to adjust screen boundaries on consoles has been added
Changing a player banner through the banner menu now properly saves the selection
Health, cooldowns, and key bindings now light up on supported keyboards
Players will now receive more clear messaging when a squad is disbanded or are kicked from a squad
Squad leaders will no longer always show as ready
The icon for players in a downed state will no longer appear in cutscenes
Cypher Annotations will now appear for more than one player if they are looking at it simultaneously
Removed mentions of respawning on the player UI when they die in a restricted respawn area
The Player Banner now updates immediately when updated from the squad screen
Fixed a number of situations where a combo will trigger but no combo floating text appears
Pressing esc to pass a notification screen no longer opens up the in-game menu
Quick chat messages will no longer appear from an ignored player
Removed a message from the mailbox which incorrectly stated that messages will be removed after 3 days
A number of inscription icons have been updated to properly reflect whether they are Javelin specific or not
Corrected an issue where players could not change loadout names on PC
Players no longer need to exit and re-enter the forge for loadout names to update
The on-screen VOIP indicator which shows a player speaking will no longer be active if that player is muted
The January sales are over, new games are coming out, and everything’s expensive again. But wait! A big new sale has appeared on the PlayStation Store in Europe, discounting plenty of great PS4 games.
Elsewhere, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is available for 35% off at £39, while Grand Theft Auto V‘s Premium Online Edition is down to £13. The sale also has an extensive list of games available for under a tenner–take a look at the full list of games on sale over at the PlayStation Blog.
February’s free PS Plus games are also available now. This is the last month you’ll be able to pick up PS3 and PS Vita games for no extra cost, but those platforms are at least going out with a bang: Divekick and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots are the final PS3 PS Plus games, along with Gunhouse and Rogue Aces for PS Vita. Divekick also has cross-buy with Vita, and both of the Vita titles have cross-buy with PS4. Finally, February’s PS Plus games for PS4 are For Honor and the 2016 reboot of Hitman.
Media Molecule’s Dreams for PS4 has been in the works for a number of years, but until now the closest we had to a release date was merely a vague “2019.” Now, the developer has confirmed Dreams will launch in early access this spring.
“Early access won’t have everything that the full version of Dreams will, but you’ll get 100% of the same Dreams tools that we have used every day at Media Molecule to make our content,” wrote the company’s director, Siobhan Reddy, on the PlayStation Blog. “As well as fun, deep interactive tutorials catering for all skill sets and levels, and Media Molecule crafted arcade games ready to play and remix. If you joined us during the beta period, you’ll also have your beta creations to return to. Along the way, we’ll be adding more features, tutorials, arcade levels, and assets during the early access period as we build towards the full slate of launch content.”
Reddy goes on to confirm Dreams’ early access version is a limited release, meaning Sony will take the game off sale once a certain number of copies have been shifted. This, Reddy says, is to ensure Media Molecule can adequately listen and respond to player feedback.
The early access edition will launch on the PlayStation Store this spring for US $30 / €30, with UK and AU pricing yet to be announced. A precise release date for the early access version has also not been confirmed, while we are no closer to knowing the release window for the game’s final version.
The Samsung Galaxy S10 is set to release on March 8 and will be the biggest phone release of 2019 to date. All eyes were watching on at Galaxy Unpacked to see the multinational conglomerate that is Samsung unveil their new flagship phone.
What Did Samsung Announce at Galaxy Unpacked?
Samsung announced three new phones: the standard Samsung Galaxy S10, along with a larger version, the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus, and a more affordable verison, the Samsung Galaxy S10E. Samsung also unveiled a foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Fold, but the revolutionary handset is set to go on sale on April 26.
Launching upward off a jungle floor and bursting through a thick canopy of trees, bobbing and weaving your way under a waterfall as you take in the lush landscape below you, is one of the highlights of Anthem. Flight, in these moments, is freeing, serene and exhilarating all at once. But you will eventually have to come back down to earth. When you don’t have a means to cool down in the air, you have to interrupt your flight to cool off on the ground–or else your suit will overheat and send you careening downward much more violently. This is what Anthem is like as a whole: a game where promising moments are bookended by frustration, where good ideas are undone before they can be fully realized.
It can take a while to warm up to Anthem in the first place. In its intro mission, you are a rookie Freelancer–a hero type who battles threats to humanity in mechanized combat suits called javelins. But that brief mission ends in failure, and after a two-year time skip, you’re now an experienced Freelancer. As a result, everyone talks to you as if you know everything about the world, even though much of the game’s space-fantasy jargon is explained only in codex entries. “Shapers,” “Arcanists,” to “silence” this or that “relic”–all the dialogue is structured as if you already know what all these things are, so there’s not even an element of mystery to it. It’s just hard to follow.
The story and overall worldbuilding do a great disservice to the characters, which have elements of what you might think of as BioWare’s pedigree. The main cast is well-acted and genuine, with complicated emotions and motivations that might have been interesting had they been given time to grow. Two characters are mad at you for the events of the tutorial, even though it’s never quite clear why; that bad blood spills over into your relationship with your current partner-in-Freelancing, Owen, and there’s enough believable awkwardness there to make you almost feel bad for him. But because the narrative is so poorly set up, the drama feels unearned, the “emotional” reveals robbed of their impact, and any connection you might have had to the characters just out of reach.
Exacerbating all of this is Anthem’s loot game core, which is simple on paper. After every mission, you return to your base of operations, Fort Tarsis, to talk to people, get new missions, and tinker with your javelins using the loot you picked up from the previous mission. Missions themselves almost universally involve some quick narrative setup followed by flying, completing routine tasks, and plenty of combat (with more brief plot-related stuff thrown in via radio chatter).
But this general structure doesn’t work well in practice. You’re told up front that playing Anthem with others is the best way to play and that you’ll get better rewards in a group, but this means asking your friends to be quiet every few minutes so you can hear a bit of dialogue or to wait patiently while you tweak your loadout. Playing solo is better if you want to take your time and talk to different characters, but doing so can make missions more difficult or tedious. Matchmaking with random people is the best option, since you’ll have people with you for grindy parts but will leave you alone for the story–but even then, it’s easy to lose track of what’s going on, especially if someone in your team is ahead of you and triggering dialogue early.
And no matter what, you’ll have to return to Fort Tarsis after each expedition, which makes for choppy pacing in both the story and the gameplay. There’s no way to change your loadout on the go and no way to just continue on to another mission right away, and there are currently a number of loading screens in between leaving and returning to Fort Tarsis. It’s hard to really get into any kind of flow.
When I finally took the time to talk to NPCs in between missions, I found endearing characters and brief but interesting bits of story spread between them. There’s one girl who just loves animals no matter how dangerous, and she’ll happily tell you all about them; there’s the oldest man in Fort Tarsis, who admits to doing some shady things to earn that title; there’s an old woman whose daughter has been missing for years and might just need some kindness. Though it took some patience to do it, I was glad I stopped to listen to them.
Throughout all of this, combat is the main thing keeping Anthem afloat. There are four types of javelins–Ranger, Storm, Interceptor, and Colossus–that are essentially a soldier, mage, assassin, and tank, respectively. Each plays differently, with a different pool of abilities, and you aren’t locked into the one you start with; you unlock them as you level up. That, combined with a handful of new weapons and abilities after each mission, means that you’re almost always experimenting with new loadouts and playstyles.
I initially picked the Ranger, thinking it would be a good all-around class while I was learning the basics. But the guns alone aren’t enough to make Anthem combat’s exciting; I found a lot of the weapons, especially shotguns, to feel ineffectual. The Ranger’s abilities are pretty straightforward, too–you get grenades and missiles and the like–which left me largely unimpressed with combat in the beginning. But then I unlocked the speedy Interceptor, whose gymnastic jumps and swift melee strikes are incredibly satisfying, and I started to get excited about trying new things in each successive mission.
The Storm javelin became my favorite, though, because it both has interesting elemental abilities and can hover for minutes, not seconds, at a time before overheating. Its assortment of powers lends itself well to getting combos, which result in a satisfying explosion of sorts and a more chaotic battlefield. But more importantly, it’s the only javelin that doesn’t require frequent stops on the ground, and as a result it provides the most dynamic combat–you can go from shooting basic enemies in a hallway to floating above the battlefield, raining down lightning to wipe out five at once while scoping out the area for your team.
Generally, all of the javelins can easily jet out of sticky situations in a pinch or briefly hover in the air to gain the upper hand, and combining movement with your abilities is consistently a good time. But when fighting titans and certain other bosses, there’s a catch; a lot of them use fire attacks that overheat your suit and ground you instantly, robbing the fight of much of what makes combat interesting. You can still use your abilities, but they don’t do much in these fights, and they fall flat compared to the often bombastic impact they have on regular enemies. This extends to the final fight, which is especially underwhelming.
The endgame thus far is to complete high numbers of the various mission types, which amounts to repeating many individual missions. The draw is better gear, but without compelling high-level fights, you don’t have anything to build toward with all that grinding. A post-credits cutscene has the most intriguing plot point in the game and serves as a preview of what might come later on–but right now it’s just a promise, rather than a true incentive to keep going.
It’s worth noting that the early access period saw a number of technical hiccups. Dropped audio, server issues, long loading times, missions not registering as complete–I didn’t have a single session without some sort of problem. A day-one patch aims to iron much of this out, but overall, the poor structure and pacing are a more frustrating problem.
Anthem has good ideas, but it struggles significantly with the execution. It’s a co-op game that works best with no one talking; it buries genuinely interesting character moments and puts its most incomprehensible story bits at the forefront; its combat is exciting until you get to the boss fights and find your wings have been clipped. Even the simple, exhilarating act of flying is frequently interrupted by the limitations of your javelin, and you never quite shake that feeling of disappointment–of knowing, throughout the good parts of Anthem, that you’ll inevitably come crashing back down.
Former EA executive vice president of worldwide studios Patrick Soderlund has announced his indie studio, titled Embark, is beginning development on its first game. In a blog post, Soderlund detailed the type of game Embark is working on.
“Lots about this first game of ours will change and evolve as we progress,” Soderlund wrote. “With that caveat out of the way, I can tell you that it’s a cooperative free-to-play action game set in a distant future, about overcoming seemingly impossible odds by working together.” Embark is using Epic’s Unreal Engine to develop the game.
Soderlund left EA in August 2018, but not before playing a key role in the company’s development of the Battlefield and Star Wars Battlefront franchises, including Battlefield V and Battlefront II. “From his early vision for Frostbite, which has now become a cornerstone for our technology strategy, to being a champion for Players First experiences, Patrick has always ensured we put creative at the center of everything we do,” EA CEO Andrew Wilson said when announcing Soderlund’s departure.
After Soderlund’s departure, there was an internal shakeup within EA, and the company announced a renewed focus for how players consumed its games. “We’re deepening our focus on user experience, and welcoming Jason Wozencroft to our studios to lead a strong, unified UX approach for our games and services,” Wilson said. “And with new games and content playing a vital role in our networked future, the EA Originals and EA Partners teams led by Rob Letts will join our Strategic Growth group.”
