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Respawn will ban 'Apex Legends' players who mooch on their teams
Ever dealt with a teammate in an online game who was clearly there just to leech on your success? You might not have to in Apex Legends. As part of a broader update on its plans, Respawn has warned that it will issue temporary bans to players who piggyback -- that is, mooch off the success of their teammates without participating in matches. The policy won't take effect right away, but it could result in permanent bans in "extreme cases."
'Apex Legends' is coming to mobile devices
How will Respawn and EA keep Apex Legends' momentum going? Do what Epic did, apparently -- bring the game to phones and tablets. As part of a call discussing its latest quarterly earnings, EA said it would release versions of the Titanfall-based battle royale title for mobile devices. There weren't specifics about platforms or release dates, but it's safe to say Android and iOS have made the short list.
‘Apex Legends’ bans 770,000 cheats
Just over a week ago Respawn announced that it's taking a stronger stance against cheating in Apex Legends. Today, it revealed that it's blocked 770,000 players, 300,000 account creations and 4,000 cheat seller accounts. The company says this is just the beginning of its battle to takedown cheats.
Respawn spaces out 'Apex Legends' content updates to avoid crunch
Now that Respawn has released its first Apex Legends Battle Pass and is otherwise settling in, it's outlining how it will handle Apex updates going forward -- including what it won't do. In the lengthy status post, the company's Drew McCoy stressed that his team would make the battle royale game feel "alive and thriving," but wasn't going to pursue updates so aggressively that it required crunch time that could prompt "burnout or worse." In other words, he'd rather a new feature take longer than jeopardize health or the quality of the output.
'Apex Legends' update makes its big boys harder to kill
Respawn technically addressed the overly large hitboxes of some Apex Legends characters with a recent update, but that didn't work as well as expected. The developer has a simple solution, though: make those beefier characters harder to kill. A version 1.1.1 update to the game has bestowed Gibraltar and Caustic with a "Fortified" perk that reduces incoming damage by 10 percent. Gibraltar's Gun Shield is slightly stronger, too. While neither change is enough to throw caution to the wind, you might be more inclined to play if you can better serve as your team's bullet sponge.
The FTC will hold a public workshop on loot boxes in August
The Federal Trade Commission pledged in November to investigate loot boxes, and it's set out the timeline for the first steps in the process. It will hold a public workshop on August 7th to look into consumer protection issues linked with them.
'Fortnite' takes a cue from 'Apex Legends' with respawn points
If it wasn't already evident that Epic is concerned Apex Legends might cut Fortnite's momentum short, it is now. Epic is preparing an update that introduces Reboot Vans, a not-so-subtle parallel to Apex's revive stations. Should any of your squad mates meet a premature end, you can pick up their Reboot Cards (aka banners in Apex) and head to one of the vans to bring them back to the fight, so long as it hasn't been used too recently. Resurrected players won't have any gear, and you'll want to clear out quickly due to the attention-getting light and noise -- but at least your teammates won't have to sit idle if you're determined to finish the round.
'Apex Legends' fix restores the progression you lost
If you fired up Apex Legends after the 1.1 patch on April 2nd only to panic as all your progression was nowhere to be seen, don't panic -- it's back. Respawn has fixed a mistake on its end that moved players to servers that didn't have their persistence, making it look as if all their progress had been erased. Everything you did up until the moment 1.1 went live should be intact, and any currency will revert back to the pre-fix state.
'Call of Duty: Black Ops 4' gets a second battle royale map tomorrow
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's Blackout battle royale mode is about to get a new map. The second arena in which players will duke it out for supremacy is Alcatraz. The map hits PS4 tomorrow and will arrive on other platforms later.
What we played in March
Welcome back to Engadget's Gaming IRL, a monthly segment where we run down what our editors are playing. And basically, we've been dying a lot in Apex Legends. We're also catching up with Spider-Man on the PlayStation 4, and Just Cause 3 from 2015. There's no shame in bringing up older games -- I bet we've all got a mighty large backlog to work through. We'd also love to know what you've been playing, shout out in the comments below!
'Apex Legends' has banned 500,000 accounts for cheating
Apex Legends season 1 is now underway, and beyond the updates previously Respawn had revealed would be included in today's patch (including a new character, balance changes and character hitbox fixes), it revealed 499,937 accounts have been banned for cheating so far. You'll have a better way to report cheating and abuse, which you can do from the spectate view after your character dies or from the Squad tab.
'Apex Legends' Battle Pass and new character Octane arrive tomorrow
Apex Legends has exploded in popularity since the battle royale game arrived last month, and EA and Respawn aren't wasting much time in making the first seasonal Battle Pass available. The Wild Frontier pass arrives March 19th for 950 Apex Coins ($9.50). If you buy it, you'll unlock three themed character skins immediately, for Lifeline, Wraith and Mirage. You can earn more than 100 additional rewards each time you level up, including weapon skins, banner frames and XP boosts.
Vehicular battle royale 'Notmycar' hits Steam on April 5th
If you're fed up of dying too quickly after dropping into a Fortnite or Apex Legends match, another battle royale game with a fresh twist is on the way -- one in which you might be able to get out of dodge fast when a massive firefight goes down. The battle royale fundamentals are all present in Notmycar: you'll drop from a plane onto an island, race around to pick up guns and gear and fight to be the sole survivor as the playable area shrinks. The main difference here is that instead of running around and building structures, you play as a car.
EA debuts eSports studio with Madden NFL 19 Challenge
EA is moving deeper into competitive gaming territory by opening an eSports broadcast studio. There are two main studios: the competitive area and a player lounge. The former includes 360-degree sets, spectator cameras and media and audience seating. The player lounge is styled like a New York loft and is kitted out with robotic cameras and directional microphones. The facility also has a control room, a green screen area and a four-person analyst desk.
EA reportedly paid Ninja $1 million to stream 'Apex Legends'
It's no secret that EA paid top streamers to promote (and to some extent, influence) Apex Legends, but how much did those streamers make? In one case, it might have been quite a lot. A Reuters source claimed that EA paid Ninja (aka Tyler Blevins) a cool $1 million to play the game on February 5th. He might not have been obligated to play for long, either. An EA spokesperson told Kotaku that any streamed gameplay after "midday" on February 5th was "completely organic" -- that is, they wanted to keep playing.
'PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' loses PlayerUnknown
The man who pioneered the battle royale sensation is moving on from the game that bears his name. Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene is leaving PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds to work on a new division within PUBG Corp. He's moving to Amsterdam from Seoul to lead PUBG Special Projects, though still retains some ties to his namesake game, on which he'll be a consulting creative director.
After Math: It's the circle of tech
While most of us now need Buzzfeed quizzes about "things only '90s kids would recognize" to remember what a Blockbuster is, the franchise's inevitable demise is still something to be commemorated -- if only by finally returning that VHS copy of Batman Forever you've been holding onto. But even as some companies fade into oblivion, others flourish in the market spaces left over. Here are a few from this week.
‘Apex Legends’ update attempts to balance its most powerful weapons
It's the stuff of nightmares. You're looted out of your mind, there are only two squads left standing, and you get double-tapped from the other side of the world by a Wingman-wielding Pathfinder. Well, you can sleep soundly now sweet Lifeline, because the first Apex Legends balance patch has dropped and the inevitable has occurred: The Wingman's been nerfed. Specifically, the pistol's maximum rate of fire has been reduced, and the Skullpiercer attachment doesn't increase headshot damage by quite the same degree anymore. Also, when firing wildly from the hip in moments of sheer panic, the Wingman is less accurate and bullet spread takes longer to settle after your frantic volley (assuming you won the firefight in the first place).
'H1Z1' has a new name and old mechanics
H1Z1 got somewhat left behind as rival battle royale games like Fortnite, Apex Legends and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds exploded in popularity over the last year or so. Its player numbers dwindled and the H1Z1 Pro League didn't even finish its first season due to a lack of interest. Back in September, a different development team took over as Daybreak Game Company revealed the title would be renamed Z1 Battle Royale (or Z1BR). The rebranding is now official as of today, as a wealth of updates arrive in a major patch.
Mixer highlights the top 'Apex Legends' streamers with new leaderboards
Apex Legends has grown its player base at lightning speed since it appeared almost out of the blue in February, citing 50 million players after just over a month since release. It's not much of surprise, then, that livestreaming platform Mixer has just added it to its HypeZone, a dynamic stream that showcases the players mere moments away from achieving victory in different games, which includes the likes of Fortnite, PUBG and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.
