Fortnite challenges for Week 7 of Season 6 aren’t particularly difficult. For the most part they involve doing damage to enemies, with one challenge specifically requiring headshot damage and the other being anywhere and everywhere. You’ll also have to search ammo boxes, destroy some trees, munch apples, and take out enemies in a specific location. You can see the complete list of Week 7 challenges for more information on those.
However, one challenge we haven’t mentioned above is a little trickier and most time-consuming than the rest. It’s exclusive to the paid Battle Pass tier, so you’ll need to have that to do it, and involves skydiving through 20 floating rings. That sounds pretty easy, but you’re probably going to have to settle in for a bit of trial and error. What makes this tricky is that, generally, you’ll only be able to do around four rings at a time, so you’ll need to spread it out over multiple matches.
As you float above the island in the bus, you’ll see the rings are immediately visible below. They’re nice and bright, giving you the perfect targets to aim for. You’ll also notice that they cascade downwards in a way that will require some good air control. To actually make it count, you’ll need to be skydiving as you pass through them, but to move from one ring to another while maintaining height and momentum, we recommend switching to the glider. Once you’re close enough, hit the skydive button to go through, and then switch back to the glider to make your way to the next one.
As we said, you won’t be able to get all of them in a single jump, so we recommend playing out the rest of the match to work towards completing the other challenges. Then, once the match is over, repeat the process. Before long you’ll have completed the rings challenge and also made a fair amount of progress on finishing up the others.
If you need help completing the other challenges from the season, check out our full Season 6 challenge guide. If you’re on top of it all and need something else to do, Epic recently rolled out Fortnite update v6.22 and introduced two new limited-time modes. Team Terror, which pits two teams of 32 against each other and throws in some Cube Monsters for good measure. Blitz, meanwhile, is a high-speed version of the standard Battle Royale mode that makes the circle start to close from the outset. It’ll also shrink more frequently than usual, so your matches shouldn’t go on beyond 15 minutes.
In only a few hours playing Just Cause 4, I had summoned an electrical storm to blow up an enemy base (as well as some nearby unsuspecting cows), turned a monster truck into deadly spinning airship, and been thrown hundreds of feet by a tornado after riding it using a wingsuit. I also managed to get struck by my own summoned lightning on more than one occasion–retribution, perhaps, for those cows.
Just Cause 3 was notable at its 2015 release for the amount of creativity and chaos you could create within it–indeed, that was the point. During a hands-on preview for Just Cause 4 in Los Angeles, developer Avalanche Studios demonstrated just how much it has turned up the dial on your capability to wreak goofy, physics-based havoc in its upcoming sequel. Between new, huge weather events and a toolkit for making things move, fly, explode, and snap together, there’s plenty of fun to have in seeing how ingeniously you can combine its many intricate systems, and use them to blow things up.
Creative Destruction
The big driver of the creativity in players’ hands in Just Cause 4 is the expanded grappling hook carried by protagonist Rico Rodriguez. Not only does the grappler still let you zip around the game world or tether objects to make them smash together, you can now add inflatable balloons and tiny rocket boosters to objects, and in greater numbers than in Just Cause 3. There’s also a new loadout menu that lets you define a bunch of parameters about said tethers, balloons, and boosters–like how much lift your balloons have, whether your rockets explode when they run out of fuel, the speed at which your tethers retract, and more. You can flip between loadouts instantly, making it easy to add balloons, rockets, and tethers one after another.
All of that means you get unprecedented control over your grappler abilities, which encourage you to make Minecraft-like contraptions using the physics of the Just Cause 4 world. After taking a monster truck for a spin down the highway, crushing all cars in my path, I hooked it up with some balloons and boosters and turned it into a flying, semi-controllable monster airship.
Of course, poor planning and a misunderstanding of remedial physics caused the truck to spin end-over-end at speeds that probably would have liquefied poor Rico’s internal organs, but once I got the hang of it, I could fly the truck around pretty reliably, then drop it back onto the ground and drive away. You can use those same abilities in combat to do things like turn vehicles into rocket-powered wrecking balls, or just send unsuspecting bad guys floating into the ether for daring to draw down on you.
Ride The Lightning
The capabilities and combinations available in the grappler offer a host of possibilities for getting into serious trouble in Just Cause 4, but the game raises the stakes in a second way: extreme weather. Avalanche showed off its in-game tornadoes at E3 2018, which can ravage the countryside, tearing up things like trees, buildings, and people, and there are also lightning storms, sandstorms, and blizzards to look forward to as well.
Weather is something players both have to navigate and that can used to their advantage, but seeing as this is a Just Cause game, Avalanche has also weaponized some of that weather for your enjoyment, in the form of experimental weapons. We tried a Wind Cannon gun that could blast enemies, vehicles, and objects with tornado-force gusts, capable of literally blowing away tanks and even guard towers; a Lightning Cannon that could fire both a laser-like beam of electricity; and a grenade that created a small-scale lightning storm.
That storm, which spanned a pretty large area and saw lots of lightning bolts arcing down all over the place, is a hilarious agent of chaos even beyond what players might plan. Though it was clear the game somewhat prioritizes lightning striking targets like enemies or explosive objects, the lightning will also go after civilians, animals, vehicles, and even Rico himself.
With all those systems at play, it’s a given that players will come up with weird, novel, and ridiculous solutions to problems and ways to make those systems interact. Giving players that freedom is part of what Avalanche is going for–and even if unexpected interactions create bugs or problems, that’s okay, too.
“When you build systems rather than scripting things, you get combinations that you weren’t expecting,” said Hamish Young, lead mechanics designer on Just Cause 4. Young shared a story about how he managed to drive a car into a tornado in the game, which then carried him out over a river. He managed to get enough speed while the vehicle flew through the storm that he exited on the far side of the water and drove off. Avalanche didn’t plan for tornadoes to work as de facto bridges, but that’s the sort of emergent, interesting situations that building interworking systems can facilitate.
“We kind of have a rule, where it’s kind of okay for the game to ‘break,’ as long as it’s funny,” Young said. “We always try to make sure that, we may not cover every possible edge case, but we try to do enough that if it does break, then at least people are having fun.”
A Different Approach To Story
If there’s a place where Avalanche isn’t doubling down on making things more exaggerated and insane, though, it might be in Just Cause 4’s story. The core, like other games in the series, is that Rico is trying to whip up the people of the game’s setting, an island called Solis, into a rebellion against oppressive rulers. Another motivation, though, is that he’s investigating the suspicious death of his father.
Narrative Designer Ben Jaekle said that with this installment, Avalanche is trying to make its characters feel a bit more realistic, even as they deal with over-the-top situations.
“In Just Cause 4, our approach was to kind of deliver a slightly more grounded experience,” he said. “We kind of wanted to rein in the characters a little bit, and focus on the idea of ordinary, likeable people with heart and intelligence and desires, who are put into a really extraordinary environment where a tornado rips a train off the tracks and throws it at you. So instead of people necessarily making really cheesy jokes about how the train comes flying at you, they might react in a slightly more believable, real way. Which I think makes those moments better, because they feel less cartoony and they feel more real, and therefore more funny. So you’re like, ‘Yeah, I probably would have said that too if a train came flying at my face.'”
Still, if Avalanche’s preview of the game was any indication, there will be plenty of opportunities to fly around Solis, dropping lightning on people and turning tanks into floating death balloons. Just Cause 4 hits PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on December 4.
It’s been exciting times in the world of Fortnite lately. The Halloween event, Fortnitemares, came to a close–and in quite spectacular fashion, with a one-time event that transported players into an alternate world. In the aftermath of the event, Kevin the cube has vanished, and a new land mass has appeared in Loot Lake. The full implications of this remain to be seen, but we expect developer Epic Games will be digging into the mysteries of the new location over the coming weeks. In the meantime, there are challenges to be completed.
At this point all of this should be second nature, but here’s a quick primer for the newcomers: Each week there’s a fresh set of Fortnite challenges for players to complete. By doing so, players earn Battle Stars which level up the Battle Pass and unlocks cosmetic rewards. Some challenges, and thus unlocks, are exclusive to those that have spent money on a paid-tier for the Battle Pass.
This week’s challenges are pretty straightforward. On the free side, you’ll need to get seven ammo boxes in a single match, deal 500 headshot damage to enemies, and–as part of a three stage challenge–deal 300 damage to opponents in a single match. Once you’ve done that, the next stage will reveal itself, and the same goes for the third stage.
For those that have paid for a Battle Pass, you’ll need to do another multi-stage challenge which begins with destroying 50 trees. There’s also a third multi-stage challenge that kicks off with consuming five apples. Other challenges in this tier involve skydiving through 20 floating rings and eliminating three opponents in Pleasant Park.
Fortnite Season 6, Week 7 Challenges
Free
Search 7 Ammo Boxes in a single match (7) — 5 Battle Stars
Deal headshot damage to opponents (500) — 5 Battle Stars
Stage 1: Deal damage to opponents in a single match (300)– 2 Battle Stars
Battle Pass
Stage 1: Destroy trees (50) — 5 Battle Stars
Skydive through floating rings (20) — 5 Battle Stars
Stage 1: consume 5 Apples (5) — 10 Battle Stars
Eliminate opponents in Pleasant Park (3) — 10 Battle Stars
Epic recently rolled out Fortnite update v6.22 and introduced two new limited-time modes. The first LTM is Team Terror, which pits two teams of 32 against each other with the goal of wiping out the opposing side. However, Cube Monsters, the enemies that players had to battle against during the Fortnitemares event, will also be out for blood.
The second LTM is Blitz, which speeds up the Battle Royale formula by making the storm circle start to close in right from the start of the match. On top of that, it’ll shrink more frequently than usual, so matches should last around 15 minutes.
The patch also introduces the new heavy assault rifle. The update also laid the groundwork for new NFL skins that are expected to be out later this week. If you’ve still got outstanding challenges from previous weeks check out our Season 6 challenge guide.
Nostalgia for retro consoles has been growing over the last several years. Nintendo kicked off a wave of plug-and-play style systems with 2016’s NES Classic Edition, and followed up with last year’s equally popular SNES Classic. Now Sony is throwing its hat into the ring with the PlayStation Classic, a small console that includes a collection of 20 original PlayStation games, set for launch on December 3. We spent some time with the system and have early impressions of the hardware, the menu system, and of the included library of games.
If you own an NES or SNES Classic, the PlayStation Classic will be very familiar to you. It’s a miniature version of the original 1994 system, featuring an HDMI port and Micro-USB for power in the back, and a slot for two controllers in the front. The back of the console even features a nod to the first system’s back panel with a non-functioning parallel port cover. The system also features the standard three physical buttons, some of which have been given slightly different uses. The power button does what you’d expect; it turns the system on and off. Just like Nintendo’s systems, the reset button brings you back to the main menu.
However, the open disc button is where things get interesting. The original button on the PlayStation would open the optical disc tray, but it’s now used for games that have multiple discs, allowing you to swap to the next one when prompted to by the game. It’s certainly neat that Sony found a way to emulate the physical act of switching discs, rather then just having it happen automatically. It’s also a nice reminder of how things were back in the day when some games were just too big for one disc.
As for the controllers, the classic Playstation pads now plug in via USB. These are the original gamepads that came before the DualShock, meaning they don’t feature analog sticks or rumble support. We brought one of the original controllers with us for comparison and the classic’s version feels very faithful. It’s just a touch lighter in weight and the buttons feel more clicky, but that’s probably because we are comparing them to a 20-year-old controller that’s seen lots of use. Sony has stated, however, that other devices won’t be usable, and you won’t be able to use the included controllers elsewhere.
It’s somewhat admirable of Sony for wanting to stick to the nostalgia of the original hardware, though you won’t much argument against the clear improvements that Dualshock offered over the original design, and it’s disappointing that we won’t have the option to play with analog sticks or rumble. In fact, without rumble, it will be impossible to fully appreciate iconic moments like the Psycho Mantis fight in Metal Gear Solid. This will be especially apparent when the villain attempts to read your memory card to look for save files from other Konami games–MGS is only one in the collection.
The Lineup
The game select screen features many callbacks to the original PlayStation’s aesthetic, sporting a cool blue background and that memorable rainbow paint splatter behind the text. When it comes to settings, the Classic is very barebones. The system runs at 720p with no options for alternate resolutions or aspect ratio adjustments. There are no borders or filters either–so forget about simulating the scanline look that other retro consoles offer. While scanlines are often a novelty feature for classic game bundles, many of these games haven’t aged gracefully, and an option to place a filter could help make them look less harsh. The PlayStation Classic is designed to just plug in and work with no fuss, which is respectable. Though if you were looking for a bit more control in your presentation, you’re not gonna get it here.
Thankfully, the Playstation Classic has support for save states. When you quit out of a game with the reset button, a suspend save point is automatically created that you can use to pick up where you left off. Unlike the NES and SNES Classic there’s only one suspend save slot and each time time you reset you’re asked if you want to overwrite that save. There are, however, internal memory cards that function like the original system. They even use the same game icons from the classic PS1 memory card interface, which is a great little touch.
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PlayStation Classic – Full Game Line-Up Trailer
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The PlayStation Classic comes with 20 games, and when you consider that there were over 2,500 games released during the system’s 10-year lifecycle, there’s no way everyone’s favorite games would make the cut. Of course, there are big names like Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII, Twisted Metal, Resident Evil Director’s Cut, and even Tekken 3–which all hold up quite well. There are also some neat cult classics like Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, and Wild Arms.
Even with that in mind, we can’t help but be a bit disappointed in the selection, which is missing iconic games like Crash Bandicoot, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and Tomb Raider. Games such as Destruction Derby and Cool Boarders 2 are fine, but they don’t really shine when compared to other classics in the lineup. Revelations: Persona is one of the more niche games in this batch, showing the bizarre beginnings of Atlus’ JRPG series–which easily earns its spot in the collection. Unfortunately, many of these early 3D games haven’t aged well, and your nostalgia is gonna be a big factor in your enjoyment for games like Rainbow Six or Jumping Flash.
Thankfully, in our brief time with the PlayStation Classic, the available games seemed to run as we remember them. Polygonal models hold up when scaled on a modern TV, but the same can’t be said for certain UI and other static images. The rendered backgrounds in Resident Evil suffer and text in Ridge Racer Type 4 is so blown out it can be difficult to read. This isn’t really the fault of the PlayStation Classic but rather further evidence of how poor some of the early games of the 3D era have aged. Again, this is a case where a scanline filter might have helped out.
Overall our early impressions were pretty mixed. The PlayStation Classic does exactly what it’s supposed to do; let you play a limited selection of PlayStation games at 720p over HDMI. However, it does feel a bit barebones, especially with the lack of DualShock controllers. With that said, it certainly did a solid job of evoking that sense of nostalgia when first booting up the Playstation, with the iconic system startup theme bringing you right back to a very special era of gaming.
There’s much more to come for our coverage on the Playstation Classic. Check back with us in the coming weeks for our deep dive with the mini console, where we’ll put it through its paces and test out each game.
Some intriguing and unconfirmed details about the upcoming Breaking Bad movie have come to light. SlashFilm reports that the movie will be a sequel to the beloved AMC TV show that follows Aaron Paul’s Jesse Pinkman in the immediate aftermath of the show’s series finale.
The movie–which may be for theaters or TV–is reportedly being written by Breaking Bad creator/writer Vince Gilligan. The movie will apparently “[track] the escape of a kidnapped man and his quest for freedom,” and Jesse Pinkman is reportedly that man.
Paul is set to return to play Jesse again, and that’s great news considering he did such a wonderful job with the character on the original show.
The ending to Breaking Bad seemingly sets up something more for Jesse specifically. The last we see of Jesse is him driving away into the darkness after escaping the clutches of his neo-Nazi captors. Jesse as a character was one of the show’s best, so it’s exciting and intriguing to think about seeing more of him in yet another Breaking Bad spinoff.
The first spinoff was Better Call Saul, a TV show that focuses on how Jimmy McGill became the scummy lawyer Saul Goodman. That show remains on TV; a fifth season is on the way.
The Breaking Bad movie will reportedly begin shooting later this month in New Mexico, so if that’s the case, you can expect an official announcement to come down soon.
Bryan Cranston, who played Walter White on Breaking Bad, said on The Dan Patrick Show (watch it above) that he hasn’t read the script for the new movie and doesn’t know if he’ll be involved in it. Intriguingly, he teased that the movie may feature a couple of characters whose story arcs were not seen through completion.
Breaking Bad just celebrated its 10th anniversary, as the show originally premiered back in 2008.
