Pokemon from the Hoen region are about to find their way into our world with the rollout of pocket monsters from Generation III in Pokemon GO. Over the next few weeks, Niantic will make 50 different monsters from Ruby and Sapphire catchable in the augmented reality game.
Also coming to Pokemon GO for the first time is real-world weather that will affect gameplay. No longer will it be pouring rain on your virtual self while back, in reality, it is bone dry. Weather in POGO won’t just be cosmetic either, it will change which monsters you might find in the wild as well as other factors like combat power and stardust.
Here is what Niantic’s official press release said about the upcoming weather feature:
“For the first time in an augmented reality mobile game, the real-world weather will now be a factor in the gameplay experience. As Trainers are exploring the world around them in search of Pokémon, the current weather in their vicinity will be visible on the in-game map. The real-world weather around Trainers will impact the gameplay of Pokémon GO in a variety of ways that include changing Pokémon habitats and where they can be found, increasing Combat Power, and earning more Stardust after catching a Pokémon.”
Is the addition of monsters like Torchick, Mudkip and Swablue enough to keep you playing? Pokemon GO might not be the mega-smash success it once was back in the summer of 2016 but millions of Pokemon trainers still log in daily to catch them all!
Get ready for the promotional crossover you didn’t know you needed in your life – Director of Nier: Automata Yoko Taro alongside the Director / Producer of the upcoming Tiny Metal Hiroki Yura, promoting the upcoming December 21st release of Tiny Metal on PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC.
It is clear from the get-go that Yoko Taro didn’t play more than 5 minutes of the tutorial, as he states as much several times throughout the 2-minute video. When asked to comment about the soundtrack, Taro unabashedly admits that he couldn’t really hear it during his brief gameplay session but promises that it must be amazing. To be honest, I’m not discouraged or even criticizing Yoko Taro here, this is exactly what I would expect from a crossover promotion featuring the director of Neir, and I love every second of it.
Tiny Metal takes cues from Nintendo’s long-abandoned Advanced Wars franchise and seems to be an unofficial spiritual successor to it. It was recently delayed from its intended late November release date to the upcoming December 21st release window.
Looking for something to play over the holidays but don’t have a huge budget? Thanks to Ubisoft’s yearly free games giveaway you won’t have to wait for Boxing Day sales or the Steam Holiday Sale to snag a few games. For $0 Ubi will be giving away 2007’s World In Conflict and the Soviet Assault expansion between now and December 11th. Miss out on the critically acclaimed Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag? It’ll be free on U-Play between 11th and the 18th. All you have to do to claim these free games is visit Ubisoft’s official Holiday Play Days web site or sign into the U-Play launcher on PC.
World In Conflict was originally released in September 2007 and recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. The Soviet Assault expansion followed two years later in 2009. Both were developed by Ubisoft owned Massive Entertainment, whose most notable achievement recently was the 2016 release of Tom Clancy’s The Division. Multiplayer for World In Conflict and Soviet Assault was discontinued in 2015 but was revived by passionate fans earlier this year.
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is the pirate-themed sixth console entry in Ubisoft’s 10-year-old stabbystabby series, originally released in 2013 on PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS4 and Windows PC.
Development duties for Black Flag were split between Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Singapore. It also received a stand-alone add-on titled Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry, which is not included in the base game.
Here are the minimum specs for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.
Minimum System Requirements
Operating System: Windows Vista SP or Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8 (both 32/64bit versions)
Processor: Intel Core2Quad Q8400 @ 2.6 GHz or AMD Athlon II X4 620 @ 2.6 GHz
RAM: 2GB for Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 or AMD Radeon HD 4870 (512MB VRAM with Shader Model 4.0 or higher)
DirectX: DirectX June 2010 Redistributable
Disk Space: 30 Gb
Sound: DirectX Compatible Sound Card with latest drivers
Peripherals: Windows-compatible keyboard and mouse required, optional controller
Recommended System Requirements
Operating System: Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8 (both 32/64bit versions)
Processor: Intel Core i5 2400S @ 2.5 GHz or AMD Phenom II x4 940 @ 3.0 GHz or better
RAM: 4GB or more
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 or AMD Radeon HD 5850 (1024MB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0) or better
As well, here are the minimum specs for the decade’s old World In Conflict.
Minimum Requirements Supported OS: Windows Vista / Windows XP (only) Processor: Single-core 2.0 GHz or faster (2.2 GHz for Windows Vista) / Dual-core Intel or AMD RAM: 512 MB (1 GB for Windows Vista) Video Card: 128 MB video RAM, DirectX 9.0c-compatible (NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX, ATI Radeon 8500, 9200 not supported) Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c-compliant sound card DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (included on disc) DVD-ROM: DVD-ROM drive Hard Drive Space: 8 GB Peripherals Supported: Windows-compliant keyboard and mouse Multiplayer: Broadband connection with 128 kbps upstream or faster
Recommended Requirements Supported OS: Windows Vista / Windows XP (only) Processor: 2.5 GHz or faster RAM: 1 GB (2 GB for Windows Vista) Video Card: 256 MB video RAM, DirectX 9.0c-compatible Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c-compliant sound card DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (included on disc) DVD-ROM: DVD-ROM drive Hard Drive Space: 8 GB Peripherals Supported: Windows-compliant keyboard and mouse Multiplayer: Broadband connection with 128 kbps upstream or faster
Capcom’s blue bomber will return late next year with the surprise announcement of Megan Man 11 for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. Sporting a striking modern visual style that sees Mega Man with a new slimmer profile, as well as an overhaul of the overall aesthetics of the long-running franchise. Gone are the NES style retro pixel style featured in Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10. In theirplace is a visual style that marries the large proportion and colorful pallet of classic Mega Man games with current generation 3D graphics.
Announced during the Mega Man 30th Live-Stream, MM11 isn’t the only new title staring Dr.Light’s greatest creation coming to the Nintendo Switch. The previously released Mega Man Legacy Collection and Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 will find their way to Nintendo’s first hybrid console. Both of these collections will hit the Nintendo tablet in the Spring of 2018. Mega Man X, the futuristic SNES spin-off series will see all 8 titles in that franchise released on Switch sometime during Summer 2018.
Also dropping next summer will be extensive details surrounding Mega Man 11 before the game is released during the second half of 2018. It seems that things just went from “Capcom has abandoned Mega Man” to “crank the hype level past 11” in the span of a single live stream.
Check out the official trailer, official concept art and several HD screenshots in the media gallery below.
Destiny 2 developer Bungie canceled today’s promotional live stream for the upcoming Curse of Osiris DLC and instead addressed several of the concerns that the community has had. There’s been a lot of activity both within the Destiny 2 subreddit /r/DestinyTheGame and within the gaming enthusiast press surrounding the tacit XP throttling that Bungie was doing under the hood; as well as the subsequent doubling of XP required to level up once throttling was removed.
Regarding Experience Points
The devs admit that the newly introduced 160,000 XP requirement per level is too high to grind some activities and that Bungie are collecting data so that they can make further adjustments faster. More communication with the community about the inner workings of experience point in the future was also promised towards the end of the XP Points section of today’s blog post.
“We were able to disable the system with a server-side change, but a new solution is now needed to rebalance XP in Destiny 2. We have begun that work, and will continue to provide updates to you about timelines and specifics…We already see that the newly adjusted 160K XP per level value means that leveling is too slow for some activities, and we have begun the process of collecting data and recalibrating XP earn rates to improve them as quickly as possible.”
New Rarity For Weapons: Masterwork
A brand-new tier of rarity for weapons beyond Legendary and Exotic is being added to Destiny 2 with the December patches, called Masterwork. This new class of rarity will have kill tracking as a baseline feature and will generate orbs for allies and the player upon scoring kills. Destiny 1 veterans asking for the return of randomized bonuses will be happy to learn that re-rollable Masterwork Traits are part of this new rarity. Unlike the traits in Destiny 1, Guardians won’t be fully healed or receive massive amounts of sniping damage like some D1 weapons provided but they should help differentiate the Masterwork weapons from regular legendaries.
Here are some of the features of Masterwork weapons as provided by Bungie’s blog:
Masterworks will have a few advantages over the baseline Legendary weapon:
Track and display the number of kills with that weapon (with choice between total count or Crucible-only count)
Generate orbs for you and your allies on multi-kills
Add weapon stat bonuses that are selected randomly from a small pool and are re-rollable
Masterworks drop from any source of Legendary weapons for characters above 250 Power
Unwanted Masterworks can be dismantled into materials that can upgrade an existing Legendary Weapon into a Masterwork
Raid and Trials of the Nine Weapons will have a very high chance to be Masterworks
We have future plans to extend Masterworks to other gear and expose your kill counts in more places (e.g. Crucible kill screen)
Vendor Changes
Quality of life updates for Destiny 2’s various vendors is another big focus with the December 5 and December 12th patches. Once completing the game Guardians will be able to purchase exotic quality engrams for legendary shards. Common tokens that drop in all of the major hub worlds are having their drop rates increased by 100%. Also of note are changes to Xur – he will now decrypt exotic level engrams and once per week players can purchase a single Fated Engram that guarantees them an exotic weapon or piece of gear they don’t already own. Also returning from Destiny 1 is the “Three of Coins”, which has been simplified from its initial incarnation. The three of coins will boost the chances of finding an exotic for 4 hours and can be purchased from Xur during weekends.
For players chasing a world Legendary or looking for Masterworks, Master Rahool will sell some of his rumored hoard of Legendary Engrams for Legendary Shards
Common quality Destination Resource Tokens will have their drop rates increased to 100%, and values per Token increased as well (by 50% for common quality Tokens and 250% for rare quality Tokens)
For players wanting to clear some Mod inventory space, Rare quality Mods will dismantle into Gunsmith Materials and have a chance to produce Legendary quality Mod Components
Every week, you’ll be able to acquire one of the new Fated Engrams using Legendary Shards from Xur that will decrypt as Exotics that aren’t already in your collection
A simpler Three of Coins that boosts Exotic drop rates from any source for 4 hours
So Much More
I highly recommend that any interested guardians (or potential guardians) head on over to Bungie’s recently released blog post and read all of the changes coming to the game themselves. Some of them are minor, like being able to dismantle mods at the gunsmith. Other changes, like the introduction of Masterwork weapons and changes to tokens, are going to have a much larger impact on Destiny 2’s end game.
Is all of this enough to sate the hardcore fans who want D2 to be their forever game? I’m not sure. What I do know is that aside from the December 5th and 12th quality of life updates, Destiny 2 is also going to get a whole lot of new content with the release of Curse of Osiris on 5th alongside the first patch.
Over the weekend I noticed that Capcom’s brand new mobile version of the classic Puzzle Fighter franchise had finally launched on iOS in Canada, giving me the opportunity to finally try it out for myself. As with any free to play title, I was weary of the specter of constant microtransactions, loot boxes and RNG paywalls. Puzzle Fighter is a surprisingly fun little diversion in spite of its monetization and questionable art direction.
Puzzle Fighter dates back to the 1996 PlayStation Original that featured adorable chibi sprite versions of Street Fighter II fan favorites like Ryu, Chun-Li and E Honda who battled each other using a tacking block mechanic, not unlike the one found in SEGA’s Columns. Puzzle Fighter for mobile retains this gameplay – asking players to stack together similarly colored gems, which then combine into larger crystals when stacked in formations of at least four. Players then must use a special glowing power-up that randomly spawns in place of a brick combination to eliminate lines/squares of colored bricks to pull off an attack against their opponent. Once a player’s health reaches 0, that’s it the round is over – no best of 3 here.
Unlike the ’96 game, 2017’s Puzzle Fighter is primarily focused on real-time competitive rankings. After completing a very basic tutorial that explains the game’s mechanics, players are given one free fighter (mine was Ryu – and judging from those I’ve played online this is probably going to be yours too) and taught how they can level up their fighters using gold earned at the end of matches. In total there are 11 different rankings ranging from various incarnations of Bronze, Gold and Silver and the game will allow you to freely try out a placement match in any rank.
Offline missions are available, but they come at a cost – cooldown timers. Players are allowed to partake in up to 3 matches before being asked to wait a staggering 10 hours for their freebies to reset. Collecting characters and move-sets are also conversely locked behind paid RNG chests which can only be earned through real money purchases. Winning a round in the online mode will grant a player a free trip to E Hond’s restaurant where he is ready to serve up a dining boat of RNG flavored loot. These dining boats of RNGness are said to be able to contain characters but I haven’t come across this – only earning moves and gold so far. Puzzle Fighter isn’t’ limited to just the Street Fighter franchise either, I had one offline mission reward me with Frank West from the Dead Rising franchise.
I’m having a lot of fun with Puzzle Fighter but I wish its free to play cooldowns and character rewards weren’t paywalled behind RNG loot boxes and Dragon Boats. Mechanically the game is fun and providing unlimited online mode for free players was a wise decision, I’ve lost more than a few hours at a time to Puzzle Fighter in the past few days. It’d be nice to be able to directly purchase the characters I would like or save up enough gold by playing online. Paid RNG loot boxes are manipulated and something I have a hard stance against. If you want to try Puzzle Fighter casually without putting in money, there’s a fun experience to be had. Just watch out for RNG Gacha.
Square Enix has officially launched the Windows PC and PlayStation 4 port of Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Available exclusively through online retailers like Steam and the PlayStation Network, Star Ocean: The Last Hope takes all of the content from the 2009 original, adds all the extras from the 2010 PS3 release and gives it a touch-up thanks to brand new assets + support for up to 4K resolution.
In addition to a 10% launch discount, Square is offering PC players a free “mini soundtrack” featuring select tracks from the game for those who purchase before December 12th. PlayStation owners have until January 8th to secure their digital bonuses which include a Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope PS4 theme and 12 profile avatars. The 10% launch discount will be discontinued on all platforms after December 12th however.
In less than two weeks guardians from all around the solar system will be able to partake in the brand new content contained in Destiny 2‘s first expansion Curse of Osiris. Publisher Activision held a live stream a few days ago that outlined all of the new activities that await protectors of earth’s last city who are looking for something new to do.
The largest public event ever within the Destiny franchise will call Mercury home, the stream revealed. Unlike other public events, Mercury’s will have multiple stages and players will need to progress through a series of objectives before receiving their loot. First up is the task of killing all of the gate-keepers who drop the keys needed to progress through the various islands of Mercury’s public event. From there, guardians will hop from island to island in order to achieve their objective. Activision was very clear that this isn’t solo content. If you don’t have someone to play with, the game will help match you with another guardian.
Players from Destiny 1 might remember The Lighthouse, since its last appearance some changes have occurred. At The Lighthouse, Brother Vance will dispatch players on new activities that will help them solve the mysteries that await them on the surface of Mercury. End-game weapons will be available from within The Lighthouse as well, thanks to the assistance of a Vex “weapon wall”.
Strike Missions will once again be woven into the overall narrative experience found in Curse of Osiris. Rather than simply receiving authorization to begin strikes, as happens in the vanilla D2 campaign, Strike Missions will have their own story components that will expand and service the larger narrative.
Last up was the Infinite Forrest, a complicated Vex structure that is able to mimic the state of Mercy in the present, past and possibly even predict its future. Providing guardians with procedurally generated content, the Infinite Forrest will be different every time that they set foot within it. Enemies from all of the combat factions can be recreated within the Infinite Forrest and each segment of Infinite Forrest encounters have been handcrafted so that they live up to Bungie’s level of polish.
Want to watch the Curse of Osiris Livestream for yourself? Check it out below.
Capcom’s latest fighting game is getting a free weekend taking place tomorrow, November 24th through Monday the 27th. To take part in this online-only trial run of Marvel Vs Capcom: Infinite players must have an active PlayStation Plus subscription.
Here is the official announcement as it was made on the Capcom-Unity blog:
FREE MULTIPLAYER DEMO WEEKEND: 11/24 – 11/27
For those wanting to try Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, we have some great news for you! We’re hosting a free versus demo weekend from November 24 at 8am PST to November 27 at 8am PST, only on PlayStation 4 for PS+ members. All 30 launch characters will be available in this demo!
Alongside the announcement of the free trial multiplayer weekend was confirmation that Venom, The Winter Soldier, and Black Widow would be joining the roster of fighters on December 9th. Each of these new combatants also has their own unique alternate costumes Anti-Venom for Spider-Man’s nemesis, James Barnes Costume for The Winter Soldier and Cosmonaut outfit for Black Widow.
Nintendo is going to unleash possibly the largest post-release update to Splatoon 2 tomorrow that brings with it new stages, an increased level cap, holiday themed weapons and so much more.
Like with previous content drops the four brand new stages won’t be immediately available once tomorrow’s patch goes live. Instead they’ll be drip fed to players over the course of several weeks to give Squid Kids something to look forward too through the early winter. Splatoon 2’s first brand new stage is the shopping mart styled MakoMart which will go live on Black Friday, November 24th. Walleye Warehouse and Arowana Mall will make a return from the original Splatoon on Wii U sometime in the future.
Other quality of life improvements coming to the game include the ability to swap out weapon and clothing loadouts between matches without having to exit the lobby screen – in my opinion this is one of the biggest ones. While going back to Inkopolis Square is fun, especially to look at the memes, it does break the flow a bit. For all those max level squids out there, the maximum ranking is being increased to 99 with this patch as as well.
With over 140 pieces of gear coming in tomorrow’s patch – which include some fashionable new winter gear and a new mode coming in the December Patch, it looks like there is a lot of life left in Splatoon 2!
Check out some screen-grabs from the trailer below, as well as Nintendo’s official descriptions of the major additions coming with the November and December updates.
Some action shots from inside the shopping center map. Get your black friday deals on fresh INK!
You have to have the latest black & white filter to STAY FRESH
Check out some of the brand new apparel coming with tomorrow’s update:
Official Nintendo Provided Patch Notes:
Nov. 23 Update
Four New Battle Stages: While four new battle stages are coming to Splatoon 2, they won’t all be available immediately after downloading the update. Like with previous additions, the stages will roll out over the subsequent weeks, giving players new surprises as they play throughout the holiday season and beyond. The first new battle stage, MakoMart, will be available to play on Black Friday, Nov. 24, with Shellendorf Institute, Walleye Warehouse and Arowana Mall coming soon. The new MakoMart stage is a giant superstore-style stage, so what better time to play than on Black Friday! Shellendorf Institute is new to the series, while Walleye Warehouse and Arowana Mall are popular stages returning from the original Splatoon game.
New Salmon Run Stage: Fan-favorite multiplayer mode* Salmon Run is getting a new stage. After downloading the update, Salmonid Smokeyard will be added to the stage rotation. In Salmonid Smokeyard, a wide gap on the beach divides two upper platforms, with fan lifts being the quickest way to traverse the two platforms. Teamwork is required to use the fan lifts effectively.
New Gear: Approximately 140 pieces of gear are being added to Splatoon 2. These include shoes, headgear and clothes, like a motocross mask, and additional winter clothing (perfect for the cold weather!), as well as returning items from the original Splatoon game.
New Battle Music: Two new bands have been gaining popularity in Inkopolis! The punk-flavored Bottom Feeders and classically trained avant-garde-style Ink Theory are contributing new songs to the already music-rich game.
New Hairstyle: When customizing an Inkling, four new hairstyles will be available to choose from – two each for female and male characters.
Higher Level Caps: Currently, players are maxed out at Level 50. After downloading the update, the new maximum level will be raised to 99. If players talk to Judd when they reach Level 99, they’ll have the option to reset their level display to Level ★1 so they can continue raising their level.
New amiibo Functionality: Tapping a compatible amiibo figure after the update will let players take and share in-game photos in preset locations in Battle Stages, in addition to being able to take photos in Inkopolis Square. Players can also add fun filters to their images.
Convenient Gear Swapping: Players that want to change gear between battles in Regular Battle, Ranked Battle and Splatfest Battle (Solo) won’t have to exit to the lobby anymore! After downloading the update, gear can be swapped out without leaving the match room, making it quicker to get back to splatting. For Regular Battle, this also means players can play the next battle with the same players.
Mid-December Update
Clam Blitz: In Clam Blitz, competing Inklings are tasked with collecting clams scattered around the stage. After one is picked up, the clam follows the player. The objective is to throw the clam into the basket near the opponent’s base. The first team to score 100 points wins! But, of course, this being the fiercely competitive world of Splatoon 2, things are not as easy as they seem. The baskets are protected by a barrier, which much be destroyed first. After collecting 10 clams, the player will earn a Power Clam. These super-powered clams are the key to breaking the barrier, so strategy will definitely be involved in which clams are used to destroy the barrier and which are used to earn points. Not to mention the extra-satisfying opportunity to steal opponents’ clams by splatting them…
Dauntless is an early access online monster slaying, title not unlike Capcom’s own Monster Hunter, series that offers players the chance to take down larger than life enemies using a variety of different weapons.
The War Pike is a brand-new weapon type coming to the game with this December’s Sharpen Your Skills update. As a polearm the War Pike brings a bit of a difference in terms of gameplay mechanics for seasoned hunters out there who might be sued to the other four weapon classes. Instead of memorizing specific sets of inputs to maximize damage the War Pike allows players to chain basic and heavy attacks together for seamless interwoven combat. As slayers successfully land successive hits their special meter will fill, allowing them to pull off devastating finishing moves. Once a finishing move has been earned it can be stored as a “charge” for use later on, this is especially useful when playing as a party and coordinating strategy together.
Over on the official Dauntless blog you can read all about how the War Pike works, its role in group content and how it differs from the other four weapon types on offer.
Dauntless is currently in a paid closed beta available through random key give away or through a $39.99 USD “Founder’s Pack”. It is expected to enter open beta, and eventually fully supported free to play launch, sometime in 2018.
Version Reviewed: Nintendo Switch. Published By Microids and Developed By Eden Games
In the eight months since release, the Nintendo Switch has seen a fair share of racing titles released for it. Yet despite the multiple futuristic zero-g racers, Nintendo’s own mascot kart racer and at least one top-down classic arcade style indie, one racing genre have gone completely unrepresented – the realistic racing sim featuring real-world cars. Enter Gear.Club Unlimited, an enhanced port of a mobile free-to-play title featuring over 30 licensed vehicles from top manufacturers and 400-course variations (!!). Rev up your engines for my review-in-progress of this surprisingly fun realistic ride.
The goal in Gear.Club Unlimited is to win race circuits and special events to amass a vast fortune of virtual credits to fill their garage with the highest-grade performance cars available. Cars are graded using a combination of letter “Class” and numbered “SubClass” – starting the game with a simple stock “A-1” class vehicle after the first initial half an hour or so the dealership for the second class “A-2” becomes available. Bringing an “A-1” into an “A-2” event is advisable and requires the purchase of an entire second vehicle to progress throughout the ladder of available challenges.
Progressing through the vehicles in this fashion – about 4 at a time per “subclass” – doesn’t feel like a hindrance but rather a steady form of progression. After upgrading the initial “A-1” type vehicle to its’ first set of limits, switching things up with a faster subclass of car within the same type can feel refreshing while still giving reason to go back to previous vehicles once more options have been unlocked or more credits amassed.
Gear.Club Unlimited presents drivers with a series of themed challenges based not just on the main class/sub class of a vehicle but also the various locales. One particular set of challenges may have you racing along seaside ports in a warm California-like climate while another will another circuit might present mostly night courses. These courses can often look their best during the daylight driving sections when lens-flare strikes just over the roof of the car as you make a hairpin turn. Each course has its own unique layout and varied background objects like buildings, houses and set pieces to help complete the illusion that you are racing down populated metropolis streets. Play close enough attention and you might notice that some courses might reuse sections of tracks, background objects or may be simply reversed or night-time versions of previously played courses entirely. This is certainly understandable when considering the amount, of course, variation Gear.Club Unlimitedis providing players, expecting 400 completely unique course variations for a budget price would not only be unheard of but also an unrealistic expectation.
The exterior bodies of the cars featured in Gear.Club Unlimited is quite detailed with realistic reflections from the sporty contours make up their designs. Vehicles from famous manufacturers like DODGE have their own feel – features like the instantly recognizable boxy chassis of a Challenger or the distinctive front grill of the Mustang GT 2015, even if familiarly with cars isn’t your forte (I’m certainly no car buff and these two models still stood out to me). The interiors of each car are also well represented, even if you’ll never see them when racing. When viewing cars in the tuning shop or at the dealership, players are able to spin them in 360 degrees, pan out the camera and even up the passenger doors, front doors and engine hoods to get a peek at the inner workings. Details like this just scream out for a photo-mode where players could turn off the HUD, pause the racing action or take a moment to rest ion the dealership and compose custom screenshots. Sadly, the launch version of Gear.Club Unlimited is missing this feature, which is standard in most AAA racing titles, although it isn’t too common to find such extras in budget racing titles so perhaps that explains its exclusion.
Around The Corner To The Finish Line
I haven’t quite crossed the finish line in terms of content within Gear.Club Unlimited, certainly not enough to make a final judgment on how the game’s upgrade and progression pan out in the later “C” and “D” grade cars. The majority of my time with Gear.Club Unlimited this past weekend was spent entirely in the handheld mode where the game performs at a rock solid 30 FPS at least and with Airplane Mode enabled lasted an entire day while out and about. Over the next few days, I am going to work on unlocking the last two tiers of cars, experiencing the online multiplayer and split-screen local multiplayer on a larger television before reporting back with my final thoughts and verdict.
Gear.Club’s publisher provided Broken Joysticks with an early review copy of the game for consideration on Nintendo Switch. The aproximate retail value of this title is $49.99 CDN when purchased digitally.
Tiny Metal a Japanese developed turn-based strategy game heavily inspired by Nintendo’s own Advanced Wars series has been delayed and will no longer be releasing tomorrow. Fans looking forward to some chibi tactical strategy on PC, PS4 and Nintendo Switch will have to wait until the game releases on December 21st.
The official announcement was made on the Tiny Metal twitter account and was originally posted in Japanese. Roughly translated for clarity it states:
“[TINY METALdelivery delay announcement] decided today, [we] determined to postpone the delivery [until] 12/21. We look forward to the release we apologize.”
Tiny Metal passed through Steam’s Greenlight program back in September of 2016, which is when the developers also raised over $32,000 to bring the project to life. The final version of Tiny Metal is expected to include a 10-hour single player and according to the Canadian Switch e-shop will be priced at $24.99 CDN.
Nintendo’s own Advanced Wars series began in 2001 with its titular entry and would also see two sequels on the Nintendo DS – Advanced Wars: Dual Strike and Advanced Wars: Days of Ruin. It has been a number of years since we’ve had an original entry in the now dormant franchise with the most recent activity being a re-release on the Wii U E shop in 2014.
Daybreak Studios’ long running battle royal title H1Z1 (formally H1Z1: Just Survive) received a major update late last week that adds a brand-new combat focused map called Combat Zone, new daily challenges and a whole lot of miscellaneous bug fixes / quality of life improvements that may help players climb the ranks and be the last one standing.
Combat Zone differs from the regular wide open forest area map in a number of ways: first and foremost there is no parachuting into position. Instead all players start already on the ground with a full loadout of equipment, so there’s no more rushing to find a shotgun, pistol or rusty work.. You know whatever happens to be lying around. Combat Zone also has a smaller size (2KM by 2KM) with a reduced player count of 56.
Also added in the November 17th update to H1Z1 are daily challenges which provide players with tasks of varying difficulty. They’ll come in three different flavors – Easy, Medium or Hard. One challenge can be discarded per day and daily quests do not need to be completed within a single match.
Read the full patch notes including details surrounding the quality of life improvements after the video break.
New Feature: Combat Zone
This is an all-new game mode designed for practicing combat mechanics.
Spawn in with a full kit ready to go.
Respawn after death, no parachuting.
Game takes place on a small, more intimate map that highlights various elements of The Arena.
Max number of players per game is 55, and games end after one hour.
New Feature: Daily Challenges
We’ve added a Daily Challenge system to the game which primarily rewards Skulls. You’ll be given three Challenges per day; one easy, one medium, and one hard (harder Challenges reward more Skulls). You’ll be able to discard one Challenge per day and get a replacement. Challenges don’t necessarily need to be completed in a single match and won’t be replaced until you complete or discard them.
A few examples of Daily Challenges:
Halfway There – Place in the top 75 of a Solos match (easy)
Domed – Destroy 10 helmets worn by other players (medium)
One Shot. One Kill. – Kill an opponent with the .308 Hunting Rifle (hard)
With the introduction of Daily Challenges, the Bounty System has been removed and the Skull Store has been updated[www.h1z1.com] with several awesome new rewards including the first ever animated Helmet!
Combat & Gameplay Tuning
We’ve made a number of weapons adjustments based on player feedback.
Slightly decreased AR-15 recoil reset time to give the user more responsive 2-taps.
Reduced AK-47 fire rate to help alleviate close-quarters spammability.
Added a fixed, non-rotating pattern for Shotgun blasts including a center pellet.
Shotgun damage and fall-off damage have been increased to increase its close-quarters reliability.
Bullet drop has been reduced for pistols and rifles. The values are now much closer to what they were before the Combat Update in August
In addition, there are several quality of life gameplay improvements in this update.
Fall damage should be significantly more consistent now. Height is now the only determinant of fall damage, so forward velocity will not affect you. You should also no longer take 1-2 points of damage randomly when running and jumping over small objects.
Explosive arrows are now very effective against vehicles.
It is now possible to loot while reloading.
The fifth passenger in a vehicle can now reload and shoot (careful!).
Fuel is now consumed slightly faster than before when using turbo boost.
Match Pacing & Tuning
First safe zone is now revealed after 45 seconds, instead of 2 minutes.
Gas begins moving after 2 minutes and 15 seconds, instead of 4 minutes and 30 seconds.
First phase Gas moves slightly slower over 5 minutes and 27 seconds, instead of 5 minutes.
The first phase will be 2 minutes and 30 seconds shorter but it should be easier to outrun the gas in a vehicle.
The toxicity mechanic has been removed.
The gas mechanic has had its damage retuned due to the removal of the toxicity mechanic.
The airdrop plane and drop itself now move slightly faster.
The loot distribution system has been tuned on a per mode basis. Item spawns have been increased in Duos by approximately 15%, and Fives by approximately 25%.
Slightly increased AR-15 spawn rate.
Slightly decreased AK-47 and Hellfire 4-6 spawn rate.
Slightly increased Medkit spawn rate in residential areas.
Increased crossbow spawn rate and decreased long bow spawn rate. There will be roughly the same number of total bows (including both types) as before.
The next update to id Software’s competitive shooter, Quake Champions is set to arrive sometime before the holidays. In a livestream last week developers from id outlined a lot of the bigger changes coming to the fast-paced arena shooter with the next update. Players can look forward to the reveal of a brand new playable Champion, increases to health and armor for better player uptime and a major adjustment to how the Tribolt weapon works.
Below is a brief summary of the changes mentioned in the stream based upon community input. Please note that this is a summary only and not official patch notes from id or anything like that.
December’s patch should include:
Customizable crosshairs with different color options.
2 Vs 2 Team Deathmatch support.
Small armor packs will respawn faster.
The inclusion of a currently unrevealed champion.
Tribolt’s rounds will no longer explode when hitting the ground. They will instead stick to walls and detonate as if they were proximity mines, giving players area of effect control.
All champions will receive an armor/health increase to allow for longer survivability.
Player selections for starting weapon (shotgun / nailgun / machinegun), as well as their preferred datacenter, are now saved client side.
Anarki and Slash max speed reduced slightly.
Doom Slayer’s berserk ultimate ranged reduced.
Frames per second cap will officially be supported, alleviating issues with game upload speeds being tied to high framerates.
A new, smaller map, similar to Lockbox coming for Duel Mode.
Capture the Flag supporting coming in 2018.
Character mesh/hitbox fixes coming in January or Feb 2018.
Quake Champions was released this past August from open beta into paid Early Access. Since then the game has struggled a bit, especially with the previous October Update which brought significant performance issues early on that were fixed with a series of hotfixes throughout last month.
December’s patch will bring a new injection of content with the new duel map, small group TDM support and Frames Per Second tied to upload fix. Hopefully, this will entice some new players as well as those who might have left the game to come back and check it out.
Quake Champions is expected to enter free to play sometime in 2018, it is currently available to play for free on the Bethesda Launcher for anyone who participated in the Closed or Open beta phases. According to Steam Charts Champions averages about 550 players per hour during any given 24 hour period.
