Tag: First-person shooters

Let’s Clear Up Those Halo Battle Royale Rumors

[ad_1]

Over the January 13-15 holiday weekend, a rumor spread about the cancellation of an untitled and unannounced Halo battle royale, codenamed Project Tatanka. It all started with a few off-hand comments on a January 13 stream of the XboxEra podcast, in which the three hosts (Jon Clarke, Nick Baker, and Jesse Norris) discussed speculation that the project was canceled. The story spread like wildfire, with multiple outlets pointing to Baker as a source, prompting XboxEra to publish an article clarifying the situation and reiterating that this is little more than a rumor.

Take A Tour Through Halo Infinite’s Newest Arena Maps

So what’s actually going on? Is a Halo battle royale in development? Is it canceled? Do we even need such a thing? Let’s get into it.

Is Project Tatanka a Halo battle royale?

The existence and development of this mysterious Halo battle royale is itself a rumor—back in April 2022, Halo support studio Certain Affinity (which has built maps for both the Call of Duty and Halo franchises, among other things) announced it was “deepening” its relationship with Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries. Certain Affinity did not announce exactly what that “deepening” entailed, but did say that the studio was “entrusted with further evolving Halo Infinite in some new and exciting ways.”

In a September 2022 interview with VentureBeat, Certain Affinity’s chief operating officer Paul Sams doubled down on the tease, saying “The biggest thing we’re doing that’s public right now, for more than two years now we’ve been working on Halo Infinite doing something that—they’re very prescriptive about what we can say. But we’re doing something unannounced, and we’re doing lead development on that unannounced thing, from conception and design.”

In January of last year, Bloomberg reported that the unknown project was code-named Tatanka and “started off as a battle royale but may evolve in different directions.”

Despite all of this, there has not been an official announcement regarding what Certain Affinity is working on, and no confirmation that Tatanka is a Halo battle royale. Xbox Era’s Clarke told Kotaku via email that the publication was “stunned it’s a story at all really. Kotaku reached out to Certain Affinity for a comment; they declined to supply one.

Some may wonder: Can you cancel a game that was never announced? But I’m wondering: Does anyone want a Halo battle royale?

Image: 343 Industries

Is a Halo battle royale a good idea?

There are already two Halo Infinite game modes that are reminiscent of a traditional battle royale: the now-defunct Last Spartan Standing, a free-for-all elimination mode featuring 12 players battling it out on Big Team Battle maps; and the latest game’s version of Big Team Battle, which ups the player count from 8v8 to 12v12. Last Spartan Standing gave players five lives before permanently eliminating them from the game, but it always felt too small for the larger Big Team maps, and the playlist was replaced with Team Doubles four months after its debut. It hasn’t been back since. And the Big Team Battle mode isn’t anything like a battle royale save for its size.

The features that make Halo games special are exactly what make them the anti-BR: incredibly strong weapons and subsequently strong player-characters, an impressive, bombastic sandbox with limitless potential, and absurd vehicles that can make or break a match. None of that is poised to translate well into a battle royale mode, which drops a hundred or so players into a massive map (far bigger than anything we’ve ever seen in Halo Infinite), with either their bare hands or a shitty pistol, and demands they scurry about like rats until they find any weapon to sustain them in the warzone. Imagine you drop into a Halo battle royale and immediately find the rocket launcher? It’s game over for everyone else.

So no, I don’t think a Halo battle royale is a good idea. Iterating on what makes Halo so special and consistently updating Halo Infinite is what will keep this franchise alive—not aping whatever is the hot commodity in gaming at the moment. But who am I, anyway? I’m just an adult woman who got hardcore into online gaming with Halo 3 and who spends her spare time playing battle royales—how much does my opinion matter, right?

[ad_2]

Alyssa Mercante

Source link

January 16, 2024
Kotaku’s Weekend Guide: A Turn-Based Crime RPG And First-Person Shooters

[ad_1]

Screenshot: Buckshot Software

Play it on: Windows
Current goal: Dive into the second chapter

Having written up a bunch of fantastic boomer shooters for the site, I was reminded that the team behind the as-yet-unfinished Project Warlock II had added an awful lot of content to its Early Access build since I’d last played. In fact, previously it had only been a single, fantastic level. It’s now two full chapters, each made up of a pile of enormous, sprawling, open levels to tear around.

I’m so glad I’ve gone back to it. This is a screamingly fast FPS game, where you move like an ice cube skidding across a kitchen floor, facing down dozens of enemies at a time. What makes it feel different from the many other retro-FPS games is the sheer scale of the levels, which are far more open than the genre normally offers. Think of those times you got to go outside in the original Unreal, but far more densely packed with enemies, secrets, and loot.

Those secrets are a blast to find, and worth pursuing too, since they offer tokens for upgrades in the betwixt level zone. There are three different areas you can upgrade, with each weapon possible to adjust in two different ways (one shutting down access to the other), and then this upgrade boosted. Then there are affinities to improve, such as whether you want to improve your melee talent, firepower, or indeed your power with fire—you gain spells that let you do things like blast torrents of fire from your palms. And finally you can then specialize even further with—er—VHS tapes you can buy when you’ve increased your ability in a specific attack style, that enhance them in specific ways.

This is all then taken back to the next level, where enemies that were previously boss-like can now appear in gangs and be quickly taken care of. In this, it reminds me of the excellent enemy handling in the original Serious Sam. My plan this weekend is to get stuck into the second chapter, that has a whole other player character, with their own set of skills, perks, spells and weapons. — John Walker

Try out Project Warlock 2’s free demo on Steam

Neo-retro vibes of the “boomer shooter” variety got your interest? Good news: You can download a free demo of Project Warlock 2 to get shootin’ like it’s the mid ‘90s all over again

[ad_2]

Claire Jackson

Source link

January 12, 2024
Overwatch 2 Gets A Game Mode No One Asked For This Weekend
[ad_1]
Image: Blizzard
This upcoming weekend, January 12-14, embattled hero shooter Overwatch 2 will replace its popular Quick Play mode with Quick Play: Hacked, a lightning-fast version of the main game inspired by hacker character Sombra. Arcade and Competitive mode will not be affected by this change.

This Modern Warfare 3 Gameplay Feature Spices Up A Weak Campaign

According to Blizzard’s blog post announcing the new mode, this is the first in a planned series of Quick Play: Hacked events going forward. “We want to explore new and fun ways to change core Quick Play gameplay. Changes will happen periodically and only for a limited time,” the blog post reads.

Read More: Overwatch 2 Left A Trail Of Broken Promises In 2023

Here’s what Quicked Play: Hacked will entail:

Respawning times are now 75 percent of their original time

Payloads in Escort and Hybrid maps will move 60 percent faster

Taking control of the Objective Point in Hybrid is 40 percent faster than normal

Taking control of the objective point in Control is 40 percent faster than normal, and scoring the capture progress percentage is 80 percent faster

Taking control of the objective point in Flashpoint is 20 percent faster than normal, and scoring the capture progress percentage is 40 percent faster

When you play an Escort, Hybrid, or Push map, the initial match time has been reduced to 70 percent of the original time, and any time extensions are also reduced to 70 percent of the total time added

These changes only apply to all players who play in Role Queue and Open Queue Quick Play modes during the duration of the event and will return to normal after January 14. Competitive Play and Arcade modes are not affected by these changes

Blizzard’s choice to replace Quick Play entirely has been met with some intense feedback from fans, as it’s a go-to mode for so many Overwatch 2 players. Quick Play is where they go to try out new strategies, practice new heroes, and hone their skills without the pressures of Competitive mode. Personally, I never play it, because I’m a masochist and like to try (and fail) to juice my rank every time I boot up the game. But removing Quick Play entirely means robbing a core chunk of your playerbase of the only way they play a game. Blizzard seems to have anticipated some blowback, as the blog post asks and answers a question about not including Quick Play: Hacked in the Arcade mode.

The Arcade is meant for game modes that typically only play one specific map type (like Assault) or completely different ways to play Overwatch. The Quick Play: Hacked changes affect the core gameplay of our main mode, while still aiming to bring a more balanced play experience that is unique from the traditional ruleset.

Is that a satisfying answer for the legions of Overwatch 2 players who have stuck around through the shift to 5v5, the sunsetting of Overwatch 1, the adoption of a free-to-pay model with predatory pricing, or the gutting of its promised PvE mode? You tell me.
[ad_2]

Alyssa Mercante

Source link
January 11, 2024
New Call Of Duty Gun Has A Delightfully Annoying Easter Egg

[ad_1]

The newest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Warzone bundle includes an SMG that features a silly animation that references the annoying “Update Requires Restart” message players commonly encounter when trying to boot up either game. Just be prepared to spend $20 to get this new gun.

This Modern Warfare 3 Gameplay Feature Spices Up A Weak Campaign

Call of Duty games released in the last few years have frustrated fans with a prompt asking them to restart the game due to an update. This message often appears before jumping into the main menu. While on console this restart might only take a few seconds, PC players might have to wait a minute or more before they can start playing. It’s been a problem since at least 2020 and is still a thing in MWIII and battle royale spin-off Warzone. The message has become so ubiquitous over the years that it has become a meme within the CoD community. And Activision is ready to laugh at itself while taking some money from you, too.

On January 5, the “Insert Coin Mastercraft” cosmetic bundle appeared in MW III and Warzone’s in-game stores. While the bundle includes a bevy of cosmetics—including a new ‘80s-themed outfit, loading screen, and player emblem—The Arcade Rhythm submachine gun is the coolest part of the pricey pack.

That’s because if you inspect the weapon, you’ll be treated to your soldier bringing the SMG up to their face, trying to log into Call of Duty by mashing a button, and then being greeted with the annoying update prompt. This leads to the soldier bashing the gun in frustration, which likely mimics how many CoD players have reacted to the prompt.

I’m not a Call of Duty player anymore these days, but I’ll admit that it’s nice to see this franchise, which is usually so damn serious, make fun of itself. Plus, the Arcade Rhythm SMG comes with a neat pixel-death effect that basically de-rezzes everyone you kill, Tron style. And it even features pixelated muzzle smoke, which is a nice touch.

Once again Call of Duty keeps tempting me with cool retro video game skins and weapons, like that Doom shotgun from last year. And once again I have to hold strong. I’m already spending too much money on Fortnite. I can’t afford another battle royale in my life.

.

[ad_2]

Zack Zwiezen

Source link

January 5, 2024
Gay Call Of Duty 'Ship' Makes Fanfic Site’s Top Ten

[ad_1]

Some of you may be surprised that a gay Call of Duty ship is in the top ten of fanfiction site Archive Of Our Own’s annual, unofficial roundup, but I’m not. Not long after the 2022 release of Modern Warfare II, a bevy of TikToks bimbofied Call of Duty character Simon “Ghost” Riley, who is only ever shown in-game wearing a full face mask with a skull emblazoned on it. The baby girl-ification of the decidedly masculine character led to a massive increase in Archive Of Our Own (AO3) stories shipping Ghost with fellow hard-boiled military man, John “Soap” MacTavish.

This Modern Warfare 3 Gameplay Feature Spices Up A Weak Campaign

According to the roundup, which ranks the pairing tags with the “greatest gain in total fanworks” posted to AO3, the two potential lovebirds are the sixth-most popular ship on the site, and the second-most popular from the world of gaming, falling behind only Genshin Impact’s Kaveh and Alhaitham. The next gaming ship on the list? Baldur’s Gate 3’s vampire hottie Astarion and the player-character Tav. Check out the entire list below.

As you can see, Good Omens’ angel and devil duo Aziraphale and Crowley top the list, likely thanks to the performances from Michael Sheen and David Tennant in the Amazon Prime series based off of the Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett book of the same name (they were 30th last year). In second place, we’ve got a tried-and-true ship: Harry Potter’s Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, followed by Dazai Osamu and Nakahara Chuuya from the Bungou Stray Dogs manga. In fourth place, the holdovers of 2022 stand strong: Stranger Things’ Eddie Munson and Steve Harrington, though they’re down from their first-place ranking in 2022. The newest addition to the AO3 rankings is Genshin’s fifth-place spot, which is rather impressive, and then there’s our Call of Duty Task Force 141 boys, who jumped up a whopping 75 spots this year—and I think I know why.

Call of Duty’s Ghost and Soap, in love

Late last year, Ghost became such an iconic character for shippers and ThirstTok fans that even wildly popular influencer Brittany Broski (you may know her as Kombucha Girl, though she has long since grown beyond that moniker for me and millions of others) was openly pining for him on the social media platform. In September of this year, Broski bought herself a Cameo (a personalized celebrity video you can purchase for yourself or a really funny birthday present) from former Ghost voice actor Jeff Leach, who offers videos of himself wearing full Ghost cosplay for $99. The subsequent clip of her watching her personalized Cameo almost sent me into orbit.

Though it may initially seem like there’s several degrees of separation between the inherently masculine and bombastically bro-y Call of Duty series and very graphic, gay fanfic, AO3’s 2023 roundup is here to dispel your disbelief. I did a cursory glance to see what kind of content was on offer and found comics depicting Ghost as an actual ghost who provides emotional support for a very-much-alive Soap, a story where you’re a new recruit to Task Force 141 and the masked man piques your sexual interest, and one where Soap’s aunt brings home a new SAS boyfriend for Christmas who turns his attentions to her nephew instead. The Ghost content is either deliciously raunch or adorably sweet, but almost all of it is very, very gay.

The layered, complicated connections between the military and LGBTQIA+ people has a long and messy history, but clearly something about Ghost and Soap is clicking with fanfic writers across the world. Are there any other additions to this year’s list that surprise you?

Correction 01/02/2024 at 4:00 p.m. EST: It’s Michael Sheen in Good Omens, not Martin.

[ad_2]

Alyssa Mercante

Source link

January 2, 2024
The Week's Hottest Gaming Takes, From The Game Awards And Fallout To GTA 6

[ad_1]

It was a big week for the scantily clad at Kotaku this week, with both GTA 6 and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth giving players plenty of skin. We’re also feeling very excited about the new Fallout show, but decidedly less enthusiastic about the minimal focus on the actual awards at this week’s Game Awards.

Grand Theft Auto 6 Comments: A Dramatic Reading

These are the week’s most interesting perspectives on the wild, wonderful, and sometimes weird world of video game news.

God I Hope My Xbox Series S Can Run GTA 6

Gif: Rockstar Games / Kotaku

Grand Theft Auto 6 looks gorgeous. Unless its debut trailer this week was faked, it might end up being one of the best-looking games of this console generation when it comes out in 2025. By that time, my Xbox Series S will be five years old. I shudder to think of that sleek little white box trying to play Rockstar Games’ latest open-world blockbuster. – Ethan Gach Read More

The First Hours Of Ubisoft’s New Avatar Game Are Gorgeous, Fun, And Empty

Screenshot: Ubisoft

I’ve played about six hours of Ubisoft’s new Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora and my big takeaway is that Avatar sickos will love this game, Far Cry Primal fans will get a kick out of Ubisoft returning to this formula, and everyone else, well… uh…dang, the game sure is pretty, huh? – Zack Zwiezen Read More

GTA 6 Proves 2023’s Best Video Game Trend Is Here To Stay

An intimate moment in GTA 6.
Screenshot: Rockstar / Kotaku

Good news, everyone! Unless you’ve been living in a monastery, you’re likely aware that 2023 is the year that video games got horny again. And no, I don’t mean tastefully Hades frisky, I mean Leisure Suit Larry and Night Trap levels of unhinged lust, the likes of which “mainstream” gaming (whatever that means) hasn’t seen since the 1990s. – Jen Glennon Read More

The Fallout TV Show Trailer Is Melting Away My Skepticism

Screenshot: Amazon

Historically, TV and film adaptations of video games don’t have the greatest track record. The last few years, however, have started turning that around. Pikachu, Sonic, and Mario have all starred in successful movies, and earlier this year The Last of Us got a proper prestige adaptation that certainly left a mark on fans. – Claire Jackson Read More

The Game Awards Needs To Drop The Act And Just Become Winter E3

Screenshot: The Game Awards / Kotaku

And so that’s that. The Game Awards 2023 are over. 32 awards were handed out over three and a half hours. You might think, with that much time to spare, the show took its time and truly celebrated all the creators and games nominated for what the show calls “Gaming’s Biggest Night.” Nope. Instead, more so than before, the show sped through them at a rapid pace, making me wonder why it still pretends to be an award show at all. – Zack Zwiezen Read More

Hope For A Final Fantasy Tactics Remaster Springs Eternal

Image: Square Enix

Final Fantasy Tactics is one of the best games Square Enix ever produced, and it’s not available anywhere on modern consoles or PC. A remaster is an obvious way to fix that problem, and it seemed like all signs were pointing to one getting announced any day now. So it’s an especially cruel twist of fate that the original game’s director, Yasumi Matsuno, keeps toying with fans’ emotions about whether a remaster is actually happening or not. – Ethan Gach Read More

Cyberpunk 2077′s Romance Update Is Sweet, But Underlines A Big Problem

Screenshot: CD Projekt Red / Kotaku

Cyberpunk 2077 is in a pretty good spot these days. After a dumpster fire of a launch, the next-gen update, 2.0 patch, and Phantom Liberty expansion have gotten CD Projekt Red’s open-world RPG to a respectable state. The 2.1 patch that launched this week adds a nice little bow to the game as its “last big update.” It has long-requested features like a working subway you can take across Night City, and it also lets V, its mercenary protagonist, spend a little time with their lover in their apartment. The results are an adorable stay-at-home date with your paramour, but for as sweet as it is, these hangouts underline something that felt left out of the Cyberpunk 2077 redemption arc: the romance. – Kenneth Shepard Read More

Rockstar Is Really Good At Making GTA Trailers

Image: Rockstar Games / Kotaku

The first trailer for Rockstar’s next Grand Theft Auto game, likely to be named GTA VI, comes out December 5. What can we expect the trailer to reveal? Well, based on Rockstar’s past GTA trailers, which are fantastic, there’s a pattern that can help us predict what we might see during GTA VI’s official debut. – Zack Zwiezen Read More

The 11 Best Video Game Sequels, According To Kotaku Readers

Image: BioWare / Bethesda / Capcom

Earlier this week, we asked you all to give us your choice for the best video game sequel. Any sequel would count and everyone was free to suggest any game they wanted, no matter how old, obscure, or divisive. And we tallied up all the answers, crunched the numbers, and figured out your top ten sequels. – Zack Zwiezen Read More

2024’s Best Minigame Is Already Here

Sultry singlets everywhere, oh my!
Screenshot: Sega

The secret is out: the Yakuza / Like a Dragon series has great minigames. Whether you enjoy playing retro arcade brawlers like Virtua Fighter, dumping dozens of hours into becoming a real-estate tycoon, or chatting up bodacious babes at the hostess club, Sega’s goofy action series has plenty of pleasant timesinks to wile away the hours. Though it’s still several weeks away, it’s already clear that the upcoming Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is no exception to that rule. – Jen Glennon Read More

[ad_2]

Source link

December 10, 2023
The Week's Biggest Gaming News, From GTA 6 To The Game Awards

[ad_1]

Gaming’s biggest night has come and gone, and perhaps the biggest surprise of all was just how little time devs were given to thank their family, fans, and recently deceased colleagues during their acceptance speeches. But before that, we finally got our first in-depth look at Rockstar’s GTA 6, the most anticipated game in a decade. Here’s your cheat sheet to the week’s biggest news.

Grand Theft Auto 6 Comments: A Dramatic Reading

GTA VI Confirmed Next-Gen Only, Skipping PC At Launch

Screenshot: Rockstar Games / Kotaku

Rockstar Games has confirmed that, at least at launch, the company’s long-awaited open-world crime sim, Grand Theft Auto VI, will launch on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 only, with no mention of a PC version. – Zack Zwiezen Read More

10 Years Ago, An Underrated Zelda Game Paved The Way For Tears Of The Kingdom

Screenshot: Nintendo

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is often heralded as one of the best adventure games of the past 25 years. With the nefarious Ganon once again scheming to conquer the land, it’s up to Link to traverse through time, space, and yet another aggravating water temple to save the Kingdom of Hyrule. While the epic for the N64 is celebrating a major birthday this year, inspiring tribute mash-up videos and social media celebrations, another classic Zelda title is quietly celebrating a major milestone of its own. – Jen Glennon Read More

Steam’s Most-Hyped Zombie Game Is Out, And It’s A Dumpster Fire

Image: Fntastic

The Day Before kicked off 2023 as one of the most wishlisted games on Steam. Now, after endless controversies, the self-proclaimed open-world survival-horror MMO styled after The Last of Us is finally in Steam Early Access, and it’s getting panned. The first players to lay hands on the much-hyped zombie shooter are sharing footage of game-breaking glitches and leaving thousands of negative reviews. – Ethan Gach Read More

Return To Vice City In 20 Glorious Images From GTA 6

Screenshot: Rockstar Games / Kotaku

We knew it was coming. Heck, we knew it was mere hours away. But Grand Theft Auto VI is finally, truly happening for real, and we just got our first official glimpse of the game, thanks to Rockstar Games. – Jen Glennon Read More

Overwatch 2’s Latest Mercy Skin Sparks Fan Backlash

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Overwatch 2 season eight begins today, December 5, but Blizzard showed off its new skins, events, and latest tank hero, Mauga, before kick-off. And the sentiment from players about the skins for season eight has been mixed—Baptiste’s formal wear is a standout, but it’s sandwiched between some real stinkers and an unremarkable Mythic Skin. But one cosmetic has stood out for all the wrong reasons: Mercy’s Year of the Dragon event skin. – Kenneth Shepard Read More

Everything We Saw At The Game Awards 2023

Screenshot: The Game Awards / Kotaku

2023’s The Game Awards just wrapped. Did you watch it? Well, no worries if you missed it (or had something better to do) as we’ve rounded up every major game trailer and world premiere you could want to watch in a single sitting. So if you’re looking to check out a new trailer or catch up on all the games that were announced this year, you’re in the right place. – Claire Jackson Read More

Alleged New GTA 6 Leak Is Already Causing Pandemonium

Image: Rockstar Games / Kotaku

A seven-second TikTok reverberated across the internet over the weekend, after it claimed to show the “first look” at in-game footage of a city in Grand Theft Auto VI, the open-world blockbuster whose official trailer is just a day away. Frantic speculation about whether the footage was real or not ensued, including unverified rumors that the leak involved a Rockstar Games developer’s own kid. – Ethan Gach Read More

Report: Bungie Will Lose Independence Within Sony If Destiny 2 Fails Financial Goals

Image: Bungie

While Sony acquired Destiny 2 maker Bungie for $3.6 billion in 2022, it repeatedly claimed the creator of Halo and other hits would remain an “independent subsidiary.” Now IGN reports that if Bungie’s sci-fi MMO keeps failing revenue targets, Sony could dissolve its existing board of directors and take full control of the roughly 1,100 person studio. – Ethan Gach Read More

Sega Exec On How Cloud-Based Services Are The New Game Demos

How Cloud-Based Services Are Like The New Game Demos

The creative director of the studio behind Sonic Dream Team shares his thoughts on the future of mobile gaming

Every Change In Cyberpunk 2077‘s Last Big Update

Image: CD Projekt Red

After a long and tumultuous road, Cyberpunk 2077 appears to be getting its final major update today. The sprawling patch includes a new ridable metro system and more romance options, as well as a host of other tweaks, changes, and additions. Unless it ends up breaking something big in the game, consider patch 2.1 Night City’s last overhaul until Cyberpunk 2 arrives a decade or so from now. – Ethan Gach Read More

[ad_2]

Source link

December 9, 2023
Destiny 2 Players Are Roasting Its New ‘Starter Pack’ [Update: Bungie Deletes It]
[ad_1]
The hardest thing about Destiny 2 is getting any of your friends to play it. Fans of Bungie’s ambitious and imaginative sci-fi shooter have long hoped for a simple on-ramp that would make it easier to get lapsed players and newcomers back into its universe. Destiny 2’s new “Starter Pack” might sound like exactly that. Instead, it’s a pricey bundle of random items that fans can’t stop dunking on.

Diablo IV – Bear Bender Build

Season of the Wish went live today with an exciting trailer and new missions revolving around collecting dragon eggs to win over an old enemy. But players also quietly noticed a new DLC add-on on PSN, Xbox, and Steam that went live alongside the latest update. It’s called the Destiny 2 Starter Pack, it costs $15, and it’s one of the more ridiculous microtransactions I’ve seen. Contrary to what its name might suggest, the Starter Pack does not include any expansions, missions, or story content. It’s just a random assortment of stuff meant to “supercharge” players’ arsenals. Here’s what’s included:
- Traveler’s Chosen
- Ruinous Effigy
- Sleeper Simulant
- Exotic Ship
- Exotic Sparrow
- Exotic Ghost Shell
- 125,000 Glimmer
- 50 Enhancement Cores
- 5 Enhancement Prisms
- 1 Ascendant Shard
Image: Bungie

Those first three items are all old Exotic weapons that have been in the game since 2019 or before. They are mostly fine but only synergize with specific builds and can all be acquired from the Tower kiosk without too much fuss. The ship, sparrow, and ghost shell are purely cosmetic and completely dependent on personal taste. In my opinion at least, the ones in the Starter Pack are far from some of the game’s better designs.

The materials, meanwhile, are pretty stingy. Glimmer is Destiny 2’s main in-game currency, earned by doing anything and everything. Cores, prisms, and Ascendant Shards (what players lovingly call “golf balls”) are for focusing engrams, rerolling gear, and crafting new items, none of which is particularly helpful for new players, nor very meaningful in the quantities offered. It’s not even enough to fully masterwork a new piece of armor. It’s a bizarre array of accouterments to buy for more than the cost of an entire season of the game.

“I’d say this is pay to win, but really it’s just a waste of money,” wrote one player on the Destiny subreddit. “Pay to lose.” Another wrote, “This is pathetic. 3 mid exotics, a few crap cosmetics and some materials is not worth that much. A real starter pack would be guns and old DLCs.”

There are three broad obstacles to players getting back into Destiny 2. The first is that most of the story is no longer in the game due to content vaulting. The second is that Destiny 2’s “New Light” campaign remains pretty barebones and offers no real direction with end-game activities. And the third is that despite ostensibly being free-to-play, all of the expansions are paid and unlocking access to everything is still quite expensive. Shadowkeep, the underwhelming 2019 expansion, is still normally $25. The Starter Pack just adds to the noise, confusing players with misleading descriptions like “Fly between destinations in your new Exotic ship.” Narrator voice: Exotic ships are just custom loading screen animations.

The Starter Pack also comes in the context of layoffs at Bungie amid the delay of 2024’s The Final Shape expansion and reported revenue shortfalls. At a time when the studio is apparently desperate for money, the $15 bundle just underlines the gulf between players and whoever is leading Destiny 2’s monetization strategy. It’s one thing to milk whales, but as Destiny 2 players are pointing out, the new Starter Pack seems squarely aimed at taking advantage of new players who won’t know any better. In the words of one of them, “This is some mobile game shit.”

Update 11/29/2023 6:09 p.m. ET: Bungie appears to have removed Destiny 2’s controvertial Starter Pack from storefornts, including Valve’s storefront. “Notice: Destiny 2: Starter Pack is no longer available on the Steam store,” reads an update on the Steam listing. PlayStation Store listings, meanwhile, return error pages.

Screenshot: Valve / Kotaku

In addition to roasting the microtransaction on social media and Reddit, some players had also attempted to review-bomb the bundle and change the Steam tags for it to things like “psychological horror.”
[ad_2]

Ethan Gach

Source link
November 29, 2023
A Decades-Old Glitch In Half-Life Has Finally Been Fixed
[ad_1]
A new update for Valve’s first game, 1998’s beloved first-person shooter Half-Life, has fixed an old, small, and annoying animation glitch found in one of the game’s most memorable levels. And fans, myself included, are very excited about it.

Stray Almost Feels Like A Modern Valve Game

The original Half-Life has plenty of memorable moments throughout its campaign. But one of the most famous has to be chapter six, “Blast Pit.” In this level, players are introduced to a big alien tentacle in a still-impressive set piece in which it crashes through a window in a missile silo and drags away a helpless researcher. However, for a very long time now, an animation glitch has made this moment look wonky and broken.

VideoGameCinema / Valve

Last week, Valve released a large 25th-anniversary patch for Half-Life that added in old cut content and new maps, fixed numerous glitches, and even made the game verified on Steam Deck. It was a great patch! However, even after that big update, the Blast Pit animation bug remained. Even after two smaller patches were put out by Valve to fix some minor issues created by the 25th-anniversary update, the Blast Pit bug was still in the game. It taunted players, myself included, who went back to replay the game for the 100th time. A developer who worked on Half-Life even recently commented on the broken animation and joked that it needed to be fixed. And now it finally has after many, many years.

On November 22, Valve released another small patch for Half-Life designed mostly to fix a few more problems the big update introduced. And in the patch notes, I spotted a note that caught my attention:
Fixed timing for the sequence where a tentacle grabs a scientist in Blast Pit.
Could it be? Had Valve finally fixed this tiny error that had lingered for decades at this point? I quickly hopped into Half-Life, loaded up Blast Pit, and watched that helpless scientist get grabbed and pulled away. But this time, he was actually connected to the tentacle and not floating multiple feet in front of it. I might have whispered, “Wow.”

Over on the Half-Life subreddit, players are also celebrating the fixed animation. “Those crazy bastards did it,” one user replied. “That little bug annoyed me so much for some reason, so I unironically consider Half-Life a better game now that it’s finally fixed lol,” posted someone else.

While I’m happy Half-Life is getting so much love from Valve right now in the form of all these updates and fixes, I’m also curious as to why. Sure, it’s the game’s 25th anniversary, so it makes sense to update it.

But things like this make it feel as if a group of devs, or maybe even just one Half-Life superfan within Valve, are on a mission right now, just digging into the game and fixing long-standing bugs. And Valve seems to be okay with it. And you know what, I’m okay with it, too! I salute whoever is responsible for improving Half-Life all these years later.

.
[ad_2]

Zack Zwiezen

Source link
November 22, 2023
Modern Warfare III Is Currently The Worst-Reviewed Call of Duty Ever

[ad_1]

Image: Activision

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (no, not the 2011 shooter of the same name without the Roman numerals) just launched, and it’s had an interesting few days. On top of having what many are saying is one of the series’ worst campaigns and getting review-bombed by the public, Sledgehammer Games’ latest entry of Activision’s franchise is on track to be the series’ worst-reviewed game in its 20-year history.

Why The Hot New Redfall Gameplay Trailer Left Us Feeling Cold

As pointed out by VGC, Modern Warfare III is sitting at a middling 50 out of 100 on review aggregate site Metacritic, putting it a whopping 23 points below the average review score of 2021’s Call of Duty: Vanguard, which previously held the worst-reviewed title with a 73. Metacritic is based on average critic scores, and MWIII has 33 reviews as of this writing—given that the game is just a few days old , more reviews are likely. But the user score is an abysmal 1.5 on a scale from 1 to 10—some of which may be from review-bombing, as player reviews are likely dropping a 0 or 1 score to voice their grievances, but overall, the sentiment around Modern Warfare III is an all-time low for the series.

Buy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III: Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop

Kotaku doesn’t score games in our reviews, but we do have Modern Warfare III campaign impressions, in which Claire Jackson called it “at best a net neutral experience that feels rushed, and a boring waste of charismatic characters at worst.” All of this comes after reports that Modern Warfare III’s development was rushed to get the game out in 2023 after alleged mixed messaging from management about the scope of the project.

If you’re at all confused about what’s going on with Call of Duty’s Modern Warfare subseries because you thought Modern Warfare 3 came out a decade ago, check out this handy explainer.

[ad_2]

Kenneth Shepard

Source link

November 13, 2023
Report: Devs Worked Nights And Weekends To Rush Modern Warfare III Out

[ad_1]

Image: Activision

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III’s single-player campaign was panned by critics when it released early on November 2. Reviewers hit it with low scores and said it felt short, rushed, and incomplete. Now Bloomberg reports that the game was rushed out in half the time of a normal Call of Duty sequel, with devs working nights and weekends to meet Activision’s annualized sales goals.

Why The Hot New Redfall Gameplay Trailer Left Us Feeling Cold

According to Bloomberg, the game was originally pitched to Sledgehammer developers as an expansion to Modern Warfare II that would focus on missions based in Mexico instead of the series’ normal globetrotting set-pieces. In the summer of 2022, however, Activision executives apparently rebooted the project as a full-fledged sequel about the Modern Warfare II villain Vladimir Makarov. The company needed to fill the gap left by an apparent delay of Treyarch’s next Call of Duty game, and reportedly decided against simply taking a year off from the blockbuster’s annual release schedule.

Read More: Modern Warfare III’s Campaign Mostly Sucks

A spokesperson for Activision denied this, however. Sledgehammer Games studio head Aaron Halon told Bloomberg in an interview that the developers who thought Modern Warfare III had originally been planned as an expansion were simply confused because it was a “new type of direct sequel,” despite the PlayStation 5 version of the game appearing as DLC on the trophies menu and asking some players to insert the Modern Warfare II disc.

But more than a dozen current and former Call of Duty developers told Bloomberg that Halon’s take “conflicted” with what they were initially told. Some of them also seemingly worked nights and weekends to try and get Modern Warfare III out on time, despite the game only having half the development time of a normal Call of Duty sequel. “They felt betrayed by the company because they were promised they wouldn’t have to go through another shortened timeline after the release of their previous game, Call of Duty: Vanguard, which was made under a similarly constrained development cycle,” Bloomberg reports.

Call of Duty has made billions for Activision, but the series has a long and increasingly-well-documented track record of burning out its developers. One of the big questions facing the franchise now that Microsoft owns it (after recently closing its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard) is whether it will continue the seemingly unsustainable development cycles or let the blockbuster take a year off for the first time in decades.

[ad_2]

Ethan Gach

Source link

November 9, 2023
Here’s When You Can Start Playing Modern Warfare 3 Multiplayer And Zombies
[ad_1]
Image: Activision
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is out November 10 and almost everything about it is unnecessarily confusing to figure out, from when it goes live to what it includes. Even the name is a labyrinth to untangle. Here’s when you can get started unraveling its violent mess of content and file installations for yourself.

Take A Tour Through Halo Infinite’s Newest Arena Maps

When do Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer and Zombies go live?

Image: Activision

Modern Wafare 3‘s multiplayer releases on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4 beginning on November 9 at 6:00 a.m. ET for those who live in New Zealand. If you’re on Xbox, you can set your region to that in the settings menu and begin playing. According to the Activision blog, everyone else will have to wait until the game is officially live in their region:

Sydney – 4:00 p.m. AEDT on Nov. 9

Tokyo – 2:00 p.m. JST on Nov. 9

London – 5:00 am. GMT on Nov. 9

Los Angeles – 9:00 p.m. PT on November 9

New York – 12:00 a.m. ET on Nov. 10

Read More: Modern Warfare III’s Campaign Mostly Sucks

On PC, the game will go live everywhere at the same time. That’s midnight on the East Coast or 9:00 p.m. PST on the West Coast, whether you’re playing on Steam or Battle.net.

What does Modern Warfare 3 include?

Believe it or not, Modern Warfare 3 includes the brief single-player campaign, multiplayer mode, Zombies, and seasonal content. Everything is now downloaded through the Call of Duty HQ launcher and Modern Warfare 2 items carry over to it and into Modern Warfare 3‘s multiplayer.

Multiplayer will include the following modes: Domination, Ground War, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Team Deathmatch. It will also bring back 16 Modern Warfare 2 maps from the original 2009 game. Zombies, meanwhile, won’t be round-based. Instead, it will be a PvE open-world mode with up to eight teams of three players each.

At launch, Modern Warfare 3 will have a pre-season pass that lets you earn unlocks up through military rank level 55. The game’s full first season 1 won’t go live until sometime in December. When it does, the game will get three additional maps and cross over with Warzone 2.
[ad_2]

Ethan Gach

Source link
November 9, 2023
You Should Buy The OG Halo Instead Of The Pricey Infinite Skin

[ad_1]

Though Halo Infinite might be drawing folks back with its expanding map diversity and new customization options, the in-game cosmetics shop is still rubbing fans the wrong way. A recent skin intended to be a tribute to the very first Halo game, 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved, is drawing a bit of attention not for its looks, but because it’s currently twice the cost of the entirety of Halo: Combat Evolved (see on Amazon).

Take A Tour Through Halo Infinite’s Newest Arena Maps

Though The Master Chief Collection played around with free, live-service quirks like seasons and battle passes, Halo Infinite marked the series’ first full shift, with a free-to-play multiplayer augmented by microtransactions and season passes, to a live service title. That shift, among other things, hasn’t been very popular with the community, particularly where it concerns pricing of in-game cosmetics. That discomfort continues with the Mark V Halo: Combat Evolved skin, which feature Master Chief’s original armor design and colors.

Read More: Halo Infinite May Have Just Begun Its Renaissance
Buy Halo: Combat Evolved: Amazon | GameStop

“For half of the price of the new bundle” a Reddit thread on r/Halo starts, “you can buy the entirety of [Halo: Combat Evolved], the game it’s from, on Steam.” The bundle costs 2,200 in-game credits. That boils down to about $20. As you can buy Halo: CE for just $10 a la carte on Steam, that’s more than double the cost of Master Chief’s premiere game.

So in theory you could buy two copies of Halo: Combat Evolved on Steam, one for you and another for a friend to play cooperatively in one of the most influential first-person shooters of the 21st century. I assure you, that’ll be a lot more fun than a skin.

But the price isn’t the only thing that’s annoying. Were it so easy.

In Halo Infinite, player skins are divided up into “cores,” each core representing a certain style of armor from the Halo universe; the “Mark V [B],” for example, is based on the design from 2010’s Halo Reach. Each core has its own set of helmets, chest plates, shoulders, armor colors (referred to as armor “coatings” in-game), and more.

Frustratingly, you can’t customize the individual parts across different cores. That changed a little bit with season five; you can now use helmets, visor colors, and some coatings across different cores. The problem is that the Mark V suit isn’t a core, but rather an armor “kit” for the Mark VII core; you’re far more restricted in how you can customize the set. You can’t even stick the helmet on other designs. The gold visor is cross-core compatible though, as well as green coating—though about that…

While the Mark V’s specific armor coating is usable across cores, some players are pointing out that the certain shade of green is almost identical to the free green coating that comes with the game. Yes, the “Cadet Sage” armor is ever so slightly darker, but at the pace of action Halo Infinite usually goes, it’s not like this looks wildly different during gameplay.

So yeah, go play Halo: Combat Evolved if you haven’t. The gameplay is aging a bit, but it’s an essential first-person shooter campaign of the modern era if there ever was one.

[ad_2]

Claire Jackson

Source link

November 8, 2023
Hitman Devs Had To Convince James Bond People Their 007 Game Wouldn’t Be Another Shooter

[ad_1]

Image: Nintendo / Eon Productions / Rare

We’ve known for some time now that IO Interactive, the studio behind the fantastic Hitman games, is working on a new James Bond game. And while that team seems like a perfect match and a new Bond game seems long overdue, according to IOI, the team had to assure the folks who own the spy franchise that it wasn’t going to make another FPS in order to convince them to hand over the rights.

Why The Hot New Redfall Gameplay Trailer Left Us Feeling Cold

GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64 is one of the most famous and beloved video games in history. It popularized FPS games on consoles, sold over eight million copies, and led to dozens of similar James Bond FPS games. I’d argue the games helped grow the franchise’s audience. With all that said, you’d think Eon Productions—the folks who own the Bond franchise—would be excited about a new game based on its popular spy. But according to the devs behind it, that wasn’t the case—and you can blame GoldenEye for that.

In the newest edition of Edge magazine, as reported by GamesRadar, IO Interactive co-owners Hakan Abrak and Christian Elverdam talked about the still-in-development 007 game, detailing their vision for the project. But the two also explained that it took a lot of convincing to get Eon Productions to sign off on the project, as the Bond owners didn’t want yet another “action-oriented” FPS.

“Our impression was clearly that [at the time] they were not looking for a game,” said IO Interactive CEO and co-owner Hakan Abrak. “And I think it’s fair that they might not have been super-happy with some of the later games.”

The co-owners of IO Interactive pitched Eon Productions on a James Bond game that was less GoldenEye and more about being a globe-trotting, stealth-oriented spy. Elverdam explained that its pitch to Eon focused on how its 007 project would be about getting in and out of a location without causing much collateral damage or engaging in violence unless needed. In other words, IO Interactive’s project won’t be Bond running down endless corridors carrying 20 guns and shooting everyone he encounters, which is how I would describe the vast majority of 007 games made in the last 20 years. Instead, it sounds like it will play a lot more like the Hitman games, where violence is often a last resort and stealthy gameplay is king.

Elverdam told Edge that this approach “helped [IO Interactive] convince Eon that there’s a sophistication in how we treat the agent fantasy.” This seems to have been enough to get the green light and let IO make its Bond project. And honestly, after playing far too many Bond shooters, I can’t wait for a more stealth-oriented spy game. I’ve said before that IOI is the best developer to make a modern 007 game and I can’t wait to see what the studio is working on when it finally reveals more about Project 007.

.

[ad_2]

Zack Zwiezen

Source link

November 7, 2023
Xbox Startup Screen Is Now Full-Page Modern Warfare III Ad

[ad_1]

Screenshot: Microsoft / Activision

If you fired up your Xbox today, you might’ve seen something you didn’t expect: A darn full-screen advertisement for the latest Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare III. Though Microsoft has done this before with exclusives like Starfield, it’s already rubbing some gamers the wrong way.

Why The Hot New Redfall Gameplay Trailer Left Us Feeling Cold

Though 2023’s Modern Warfare III isn’t technically coming out in full form until November 10, those who want to get in on the campaign can do so right now by pre-ordering any edition of the game. So while that early access period might be enticing for those eager to follow the story of Task Force 141, it’s far from a universal desire, making the full-screen Call of Duty ad on Xbox’s start screen feel intrusive. The Modern Warfare III marketing blitz comes just weeks after Microsoft wrapped its acquisition of CoD’s publisher, Activision Blizzard.

Screenshot: Activision / Kotaku

“Fight against the ultimate threat. Play the Campaign now,” the ad starts. Players are then given three options: “Buy Now,” “Get the Vault Edition Upgrade,” and “Exit.” While it’s not uncommon to see ads on consoles, a full-screen one that greets you the second you fire up your box is unusually aggressive.

“Don’t hit me with ads that take my whole screen when I paid $500 [for] your machine,” reads one post on X (formerly Twitter).

“This really is my push factor in building a proper PC,” reads one Reddit comment in reference to the ad. Though, as many were quick to respond, Windows (also owned by Microsoft) is far, far, far from an ad-free experience. Even after configuring much of the OS’s tendency to harass you with ads for Game Pass or Microsoft 365, it’s not uncommon to see other ads or unwanted pop-ups appear. The year of the Linux desktop can’t come soon enough.

It’s frustrating when a machine you spend hundreds of dollars on doesn’t feel like it’s totally under your control. But who knows, maybe a decade from now, people will get nostalgic over the CoD ad from 2023 that greeted them upon starting up their Xbox.

[ad_2]

Claire Jackson

Source link

November 2, 2023
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III Is A Massive Install

[ad_1]

Call of Duty filesizes are completely out of control. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, the latest in the long-running military FPS franchise recently acquired by Microsoft, consumes over 200GB of storage on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S when you add up everything it contains. The new Call of Duty HQ download manager alone is itself a roughly 50GB install.

Why The Hot New Redfall Gameplay Trailer Left Us Feeling Cold

Call of Duty games have had massive digital footprints for a while now. We complain about them every year. Things were particularly bad with 2020’s Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War, which ate up a staggering 255GB on PS5 after all its content packs were installed. It seemed like video game filesize inflation slowed down for a bit afterward, but with Modern Warfare III the hit shooter is back to eating up anywhere from a third to half of players’ “next-gen” SSD drives, according to IGN.

Activision tried to explain why this is happening on X (formerly known as Twitter) today. “In preparation, we would like to provide an update on file sizes which are larger than last year,” the company tweeted. “This is due to the increased amount of content available Day 1, including open world Zombies, support for item carry forward from #MW2, as well as map files for current Call of Duty: Warzone. (Note: as part of our ongoing optimization efforts, your final installation size will be actually smaller than the combined previous Call of Duty experiences).”

While it makes sense that all of Modern Warfare III’s map packs, modes, and cross-over content with Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2 would add to the final filesize, Activision’s explanation still doesn’t still doesn’t make clear why players can’t simply download the single-player campaign that came out in “early access” today without messing around with the rest via a convoluted, 50GB launcher.

In theory, Call of Duty HQ is supposed to make MW3’s nearly 235GB footprint easier to manage by streamlining how players pick and choose what content to download and install. In practice, however, many fans seem to think it’s a huge pain in the ass. Warfare 2 players have already had to put up with it for months now, with PC Gamer calling the interface, “a real mess of data management.” Being required for Modern Warfare III hasn’t won the launcher any more supporters.

“Call of Duty HQ system seems way too complicated for casual players,” tweeted Charlie Intel co-founder Keshav Bhat. “The amount of posts I have seen asking how to install [the] campaign or where to find it is insane.”

Plus, if the total size of MW3 is already over 200GB, it’s likely to get even bigger in the months ahead as Activision rolls out additional content, including remastered Modern Warfare 2 maps. I’m looking forward to when Call of Duty HQ gets its own overhaul, requiring players to install a massive patch to fix the massive installer.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III’s multiplayer mode goes live November 10.

[ad_2]

Ethan Gach

Source link

November 2, 2023
Payday 3 Devs Apologize Again For Missing Major Update

[ad_1]

Image: Starbreeze Studios

Payday 3 devs have extended their apology tour that began back in September, when Starbreeze Studios CEO had to apologize for the state in which the co-op heist game launched. The always-online bank robbery simulator suffered from major server and matchmaking issues that were fixed a little over a week after launch, but the game still needed another major patch to fix some of its remaining major issues (particularly quality-of-life stuff). The team is now apologizing for going radio silent in the absence of said update.

Why The Hot New Redfall Gameplay Trailer Left Us Feeling Cold

An October 25 post on the official Payday website attempts to “lift the curtains a little” and let players know why the major patch, which was initially promised to arrive in early October and bring with it over 200 improvements, isn’t yet here. “We’ve been quiet over the last few days, and for that we apologize,” it reads. “It’s not easy to communicate when we have not been able to offer any updates on the one big topic that’s on everyone’s mind right now: When are the patches coming to Payday 3?”

Read More: Payday 3 Devs Explain Terrible Matchmaking Issues

The post promises that the team is still working on the upcoming patch, before getting into the true cause of the delay: Starbreeze Studios’ update pipeline.

The reason it has taken so long to get this first patch is very long and complicated, but the short version is that we discovered critical errors with our update pipeline shortly after the game releases. There was a significant risk to player progression being wiped if we didn’t address this and ensure a solid test environment.

The issue is so prominent that the team can’t “consistently deliver patches” in the game’s current state, which means new content has to wait, as well—though the blog does promise that there will be “free content updates for the game before the end of the year.”

Though Payday 3 boasted an impressive 90,000 concurrent players on Steam shortly after its September 18 launch, those players were quickly inundated with the now-infamous double “matchmaking error” screen. Since the game requires players to have an internet connection even if they’re playing solo, the server issues rendered it unplayable for many.

As Kotaku reported on September 25, the cause of the matchmaking issues were twofold: “a technical issue made things bad right out of the gate” but “a faulty update on September 24 by a third-party online services partner broke things all over again.” It’s unclear what is the cause of the current flaw in Payday 3’s update pipeline.

Kotaku reached out to Starbreeze for comment.

[ad_2]

Alyssa Mercante

Source link

October 25, 2023
Former Call Of Duty Champion Apologizes For Homophobic Slur [Update: Now He’s Said The N-Word]

[ad_1]

Doug “Censor” Martin got heated and started flaming his teammate during a recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Twitch stream. Things got so bad that he eventually called the other player a “f*****.” The former two-time national Call of Duty champion immediately took to social media to apologize.

Why The Hot New Redfall Gameplay Trailer Left Us Feeling Cold

Censor was streaming Modern Warfare 2 on his 283k-follower Twitch channel on October 16 when a particularly bad match saw him begin to berate one of his teammates on the open mic chat. “I don’t respect you period you suck dick at the game bitch fuck off p****,” Censor said during a clip of the stream shared online.” “Unfollow me on social media too you little fucking f*****.”

The current Boston Breach Call of Duty League team captain took to Twitter later that night to apologize. “I have to be honest with myself and say this now,” he wrote in a tweet sent at around 1:00 a.m. “If I was to wait, this wouldn’t feel right. If you understand I appreciate you, but if you don’t I understand too. Either way, I know this is the only way I want to move forward.”

The Call of Duty content creator, who first made a name for himself by winning the 2011 MLG National Championship for Black Ops, tried to explain himself further in a short video attached to the tweet. “I slipped up and I said a word I shouldn’t have said,” Censor said. “I let someone get under my skin and I said the F-word. I’m not proud about it. I’m not happy about it. I’m definitely disappointed in myself about it because regardless of what anyone is gonna think it’s absolutely not something I stand for or something I say in my private life ever.”

Online gaming chats are a well-known bastion of toxicity where the tenor can range from heated trash talk to explicit slurs and hate speech. Call of Duty is no different, and live chat in its online matches can often be one of the worst examples, in part due to the sheer breadth and depth of people who buy and play it every year. Censor, a long-time pro who recently suggested Modern Warfare III could be the best Call of Duty ever and is currently aiming to be the oldest Call of Duty world champion ever, said he hopes none of his fans think it’s okay to use homophobic slurs just because they saw him do it.

“That’s not okay, it’s not right, it’s just wrong,” he said. “If you feel some type of way about it I am sorry because it’s the truth.”

Update 10/23/2024 3:04 p.m. ET: Last week, Censor also said the n-word while arguing with a random player online. He didn’t release another apology, but his channel was temporarily banned from Twitch today. It’s unclear if the ban is for one of these incidents or a seperate one, or how long it will last.

[ad_2]

Ethan Gach

Source link

October 23, 2023
Take A Tour Through Halo Infinite’s Newest Arena Maps

[ad_1]

Read more…

[ad_2]

Eric Schulkin

Source link

October 12, 2023
Redfall Finally Gets 60fps Mode On Console In Its Biggest Update Yet

[ad_1]

Image: Arkane / Bethesda

After months of silence, vampire shooter Redfall is receiving its biggest update yet following a disastrous launch back in May. The second big patch will add the Game Pass multiplayer game’s long-awaited 60 frames-per-second mode on Xbox Series X/S, as well as a host of gameplay improvements and bug fixes.

Why The Hot New Redfall Gameplay Trailer Left Us Feeling Cold

“Today’s update brings Performance Mode to Xbox Series X/S, stealth takedowns, a bevy of new controller settings, and a lot more changes to Redfall,” the development team wrote on Bethesda’s website. While the 60fps mode is the biggest addition, a raft of accessibility features and improvements to stealth gameplay and aiming sensitivity are also welcome changes. Whether it’s enough to begin addressing some of the deeper disappointment around Redfall’s lackluster enemy encounters and unfulfilling progression system remains to be seen.

Redfall was panned by many critics and players when it launched earlier this year. Expected to be the first-party blockbuster that would end Microsoft’s drought of console exclusives, it instead failed to live up to the months of marketing hype that preceded it. In addition to bugs, performance issues, and complaints about the core gameplay loop, it also launched on the “next-gen” Xbox Series X/S with a “next-gen” price tag of $70 but without the 60fps performance option that players on PC would have access to.

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer apologized for the situation at the time, but a report by Bloomberg later revealed other issues underlying the game’s rough development. Made by Arkane, best known for immersive sims like Prey and Dishonored, Redfall was instead an online multiplayer game that at one point was planned to include microtransactions as part of a push by parent company ZeniMax into live-service monetization. While those features were stripped out, a lack of development resources and constant turnover reportedly made it hard for the studio to deliver on Redfall’s confusing blend of genres and gameplay mechanics.

Recently, Bethesda marketing head Pete Hines said in an interview that despite the harsh reception, Redfall wouldn’t be abandoned. Instead, he expected new players joining Game Pass a decade from now to give the game a shot and enjoy it thanks to ongoing post-launch support. With Cyberpunk 2077‘s recent 2.0 victory lap after a botched release, many are wondering if Redfall can pull of something similar, or if Microsoft will pour the money into it required to make that happen.

If it does, it will still have a big uphill battle to fight. The game only has a few dozen players on Steam at any given moment. Still, Redfall’s second update is a start.

[ad_2]

Ethan Gach

Source link

October 6, 2023