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'Destiny' Rise of Iron expansion hits PS4, Xbox One in September
Destiny's next expansion, Rise of Iron, hits PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 20th complete with a new raid, strike, weapons, gear, missions and competitive multiplayer mode. This is the first Destiny expansion to hit current-generation consoles only -- there's no word on Xbox 360 or PS3 releases. Rise of Iron brings back the Gjallarhorn rocket launcher, a weapon that was over-powered in the game's early days but fell off once Destiny entered Year Two. For those who pre-order the new content, the Gjallarhorn comes in an "Iron Black" color, fitting the whole ferrous theme. Rise of Iron also introduces a new social space called The Plaguelands Zone. The expansion costs $30 and requires players own the Destiny base game plus The Taken King.
'Forza' NASCAR expansion puts stock cars on the world stage
In an effort to bring even more racing action to Xbox One, Forza Motorsport 6 is adding NASCAR to its lineup of on-track offerings. With an expansion pack, the title gains 24 cars from the 2016 NASCAR season which you can now use to race on the newly added Homestead-Miami Speedway. There's also a new 10-hour NASCAR World Tour Career mode that lets you put the stock cars on the track in the different series around the globe. The game also gets new multiplayer events and improved drafting and spotting functionality to help you maneuver through the field. If you're looking to take it for a spin, the add-on is available today for $20.
'World of Warcraft' keeps growing with 'Legion' in August
Blizzard will launch World of Warcraft's sixth expansion, Legion, on August 30th, unleashing hordes of hellish beasts and fresh quests into the game world. Legion adds the Demon Hunter hero class, customizable artifact weapons and a new continent called the Broken Isles, among other updates. Pre-orders are live now in two flavors: the $50 Standard Edition or the $70 Digital Deluxe Edition, which includes an adorable demon dog as a pet, the Illidari Felstalker mount, and in-game goodies for Heroes of the Storm, StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3 (all of which are Blizzard properties as well).
Here's how 'Star Wars Battlefront' does Jabba the Hutt's palace
Part of the allure of Star Wars Battlefront is seeing how it translates classic scenes from the movies to the video game world. How will it handle Jabba the Hutt's palace, for example? As of this week, you now have a good answer to that last question. EA and DICE have posted a trailer for the imminent Outer Rim expansion that gives you a solid look at Jabba's home, whether it's the vast sail barge garage or the tighter confines of the throne room. The clip also offers a peek at the volcanic world of Sullust and the two new hero/villain characters, Greedo and Nien Nunb -- Greedo's multi-shot ability looks like it could be a real ace in the hole when you're surrounded by enemies.
'Hard West' is getting some Frankenstein-esque DLC next week
The turn-based tactical shooter Hard West is getting a pretty sizeable expansion soon called Scars of Freedom. If you haven't already played Hard West you can read our preview, but the simplest explanation of Hard West is that it's a lot like XCOM, but with a very rich narrative, a Weird West (think Wild West with demons) setting and a ton of additional gameplay elements.
DraftKings is taking its daily fantasy sports to the UK
While daily fantasy sites DraftKings and FanDuel battle to stay open in the US, the former outfit is taking its games to the UK. Starting today, sports fans across the pond can take advantage of DraftKings' "innovative skill-based contests" to try and win cash. As you might expect, Premier League and Champions League soccer football is getting top billing for the contests alongside 11 other major sports, including NBA, NFL, NHL, UFC and eSports. In fact, DraftKings has a dedicated soccer site to keep you up to date on all the latest happenings. What's more, sports betting is legal in the UK, so the site stands to face less scrutiny there. But it's totally not gambling.
Sprint's delivery service arrives in Las Vegas and six other cities
Sprint continues to expand its in-home sales and service effort, making a trip to its retail stores a thing of the past. The carrier's Direct 2 You home delivery option is heading to seven more cities: Charlotte, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Nashville, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City. This means that if you're in those locales, the in-store experience comes to your home or office to save you a trip. Direct 2 You not only drops off your shiny new handset, but a Sprint employee can walk you through the setup, transferring contacts and answer any questions that may arise. The free service began back in April and is already available in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and other major US cities. Sprint says it plans to take Direct 2 You to even more cities in 2016.
Apple's first stores in India open next month
It's kind of bonkers that Apple doesn't already have a retail presence in India, a country with some 1.25 billion people, but that's the world we live in. For a little bit longer anyway. Cupertino's working to address this by partnering with Tata (yes, them) to put Apple shops inside several Croma stores in the region, according to The Times of India. The current plan is to open by next month's Diwali festival of lights. The Times also reports that because Apple hasn't set up shop on its own because it's been unable meet a mandatory ruling regarding "local-sourcing norms" for a foreign investment in retail.
Check out some gameplay from Destiny's 'The Taken King' expansion
The Taken King is a massive expansion due to hit Destiny on September 15th, bringing new strike missions, three new subclasses (including skill trees), exclusive gear and more goodies. The expansion's new raid, King's Fall, will not be available at launch, but director Luke Smith tells IGN that Bungie has "a plan for when it's going to be available." Smith promises to give fans a heads up before it goes live.
'Hearthstone's' tournament-themed expansion lands August 24th
If you're aching for more variety in your Hearthstone cards, you don't have too much longer to wait. Blizzard has revealed that the game's latest expansion, The Grand Tournament, will arrive on August 24th for both desktop and mobile players. As mentioned earlier, how much it costs depends on both your in-game experience and how many of those 132 new, championship-themed cards you're determined to own. You can buy packs using 100 gold if you're willing to grind through enough matches, while you can spend between $3 to $50 to get two to 40 packs all at once. Just remember to act quickly if you want the pre-purchase set, which offers 50 packs for $50 -- that disappears the moment The Grand Tournament is available.
Bungie apologizes to 'Destiny' players by selling them stuff
At E3 Bungie announced The Taken King expansion for Destiny, and as we explained this morning that didn't go over very well with existing players. One of the main reasons is that, aside from a $40 price for the expansion itself, Bungie made exclusive downloadables that only people buying the complete game as part of a new collector's edition could get. Tonight the developer published an early "Part 1" of its usual weekly update, apologizing for that awkward Eurogamer interview and explaining that existing players can get the new items (three specific class emotes, three color schemes for their armor, and three exotic class items) by shelling out $20 for an upgrade bundle it will put on sale September 15th. That's certainly better than not being able to get it at all -- and cheaper than buying the new $80 CE -- but let us know if that's enough, or if you're still calling BS.
Red Bullshit: How 'Destiny' lost support of its biggest fans
Last week, Destiny developer Bungie was riding high following the reveal of the game's biggest expansion to date, The Taken King. Gamers were excited to learn about the new subclasses, missions, weapons, armor and, most importantly, a new raid focused on Crota's vengeful dad, Oryx. But as E3 2015 wound down, an interview between Eurogamer and Luke Smith, Bungie's creative director on The Taken King, quickly derailed the game maker's momentum and turned Destiny's most supportive players against it. Just two days later, Bungie has inexplicably painted itself into a corner by dropping the ball for a second time. Update: Bungie has responded with an early weekly update -- get the details here.
Uber starts getting serious in the UK
Uber is finally making its move to become an ubiquitous transport service in Britain. For months, the company has been slowly growing with launches in major cities such as Leeds, Birmingham and Newcastle. We've been waiting for the floodgates to open, and it seems that moment has now arrived: last week, the company expanded into Bristol and Sheffield, as well as the smaller towns of Maidenhead, Slough and Windsor. Uber still has plenty of cities left to cover -- it's currently hiring in Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow -- but it marks the start of a larger push to become a widely known and accessible service in the UK. Uber's competition is limited to Hailo, Kabbee and a smattering of smaller startups in Britain, so this is the perfect time for it to cement a market-leading position. Increasing its reach and popularity could also work in its favour as it battles the courts and disgruntled taxi drivers.
Guild Wars 2 is replacing its trait unlock system
Do you like the current unlocking system for traits in Guild Wars 2? If you don't, you're in good company; very few people actually like it. The good news, at least, is that it doesn't appear that it's going to be a problem in the near future. Game director Colin Johanson spoke out recently on the game's forums stating that the pending release of Heart of Thorns gave the team more freedom for discussing future plans and core gameplay changes. With the inclusions of specializations and account-wide masteries, the existing trait system is going to be replaced by a simpler system to ensure that progress and advancement is where the development team wants it for all Guild Wars 2 characters. More updates on how the system will work are promised as the release draws closer, but if you don't like the existing system, you can at least take heart that it's going to be gone before too much longer.
PAX South 2015: The Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns experience
As MMO players surely know by now, Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is the first expansion ever for the ArenaNet MMORPG. In fact, most everyone suspected the announcement thanks to the leaked trademark information. But that didn't stop fans from being excited about it, nor did that bit of information satisfy their hunger. The emcee for the reveal event was none other than voice actor Jennifer Hale, whose voice players might recognize as Queen Jennah's. President and CEO of ArenaNet Mike O'Brien and game director Colin Johanson teased the PAX South crowd of over 1,500 fans waiting in the main theater. But the anticipation for the new expansion started well before anyone even came to the stage.
WoW's new Blood Elves arrive in update 6.1
Our sister site WoW Insider reports this morning that World of Warcraft's Blood Elves, left off the roster of races that received model revamps with the Warlords of Draenor expansion last November, will finally meet their new faces. Actually, it's just the bodies: The male faces aren't entirely done yet and currently share the same facial geometry. "While we're excited to share with you our progress on these new models, I do want to stress that the models, textures, and animations are not entirely finished. Bug fixing and iteration can and will occur, and that's where you come in!" writes Blizzard QA on the US and EU forums, soliciting costructive feedback. MMO Champion has full-size, head-to-toe bikini shots of both the female and male models because of course it does. Also arriving in update 6.1 are class tweaks, new heirloom gear, garrison expansions, follower mission fixes, and the chance to buy (with gold) those followers you missed while questing. The first iteration of the update landed on the PTR in early January; the patch's launch date on production servers has not been announced.
Forsaken World's Freedom Falls expansion coming February 4
Forsaken World's upcoming expansion is called Freedom Falls. When, exactly, is it upcoming? That would be February 4th, according to a Perfect World press release. Said release also tells us that Freedom Falls features a new playable race and class as well as a new high-level progression path called Apotheosis which allows players to "join the ranks of the gods of Forsaken World." New zones include the Land of Origination and the Polar Borderlands region. [Source: Perfect World press release]
Elite: Dangerous maps out update beta schedule, teases expansions
In a development post released today, Elite: Dangerous Executive Producer Michael Brookes laid out Frontier's plans for the game's inbound major updates following the tiny 1.05 patch this morning. Update 1.1 is set to enter beta the first week of February, Brookes says, and will focus on mechanics for player collaboration and route planning. Who gets to join that beta? Currently beta testing will be available for those who already have beta access for the main game. For players participating in the beta tests there will be a separate mechanism for playing so testing does not affect your game and that you can continue to play the retail version as well. Options for players currently without beta access to be able to purchase beta access will be available. Details will be made available nearer the time. Depending on how the update Betas go in test, we expect them to be released to everyone a week or so after the Beta release. Brookes also teased E:D's upcoming paid DLC as well as the multiplayer-focused 1.2 update, the beta for the latter of which is expected in March.
Guild Wars 2's Point of No Return launches today amidst 'Heart of Thorns' expansion rumors
Last week we showed you the preview vid for Guild Wars 2's latest living story update. Today ArenaNet is publishing the full patch, as Point of the No Return has officially gone live. The firm says that "in addition to bringing the Season 2 storyline to its epic conclusion, Point of No Return delivers new gameplay and access to new treasures." Completing the story will get you the Carapace armor set headgear while fighting the Mordrem Vinewrath gives you a chance to loot the Carapace chest, according to the latest GW2 press release. In other Guild Wars 2 news, thanks to a recent ArenaNet trademark filing, clever Redditors have uncovered what they suspect is the name of the game's rumored expansion: Heart of Thorns. Think they're right? We've included the logo below. [Source: ArenaNet press release]
Destiny patch repairs Crota's bum knee
Bungie issued a new patch for Destiny today, primarily providing fixes for issues with the Crota's End raid in the game's first expansion, The Dark Below. As the developer revealed late last week, the update zapped a glitch that allowed players to easily beat the raid boss, Crota, by unplugging one teammate's network cable. The "force quit" by one player previously caused Crota to enter an irrecoverable kneeling state, according to Bungie's patch notes. Additionally, not only does the update fix a "rare case where the Shriekers would not spawn, preventing players from reaching the Deathsinger" enemy in the expansion, but the Deathsinger now has a chance to drop rare exotic gear and materials. The Dark Below launched in December, bringing with it a slew of story missions and three Crucible arenas. The DLC is available for $20 on its own, or as part of Destiny's $35 season pass. [Image: Bungie]
