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'Fortnite' winds down season nine with a giant-sized battle
Epic is still finding ways to mark Fortnite's season transitions in grand style. The studio just finished a "Final Showdown" event for the end of season nine that interrupted the battle royale with a brawl between a giant monster and an equally massive robot defending humanity. It's not a spoiler to say the robot won (there wouldn't be much of a game otherwise). As usual, though, the victory left the map irrevocably changed -- you can view the aftermath in the clips below.
'PUBG' update brings destruction and better visuals to the original map
Erangel, the map in which the battle royale craze truly began in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, is getting a major overhaul for season 4. PUBG Corp said the update brings Erangel in line with more recent maps, adding new buildings, revamping terrain and improving graphics.
'Apex Legends' will pit cheaters against each other
Respawn may have a particularly poetic way to exact justice on Apex Legends cheaters: give them a taste of their own medicine. The studio has revealed that its anti-cheating efforts will include matchmaking between detected cheaters and spam accounts. Their aim bots and hacks won't be much fun if they're playing against similarly dirty competitors.
'Fortnite's' latest weapon lets you summon air strikes with a grenade
Epic Games has added Air Strikes to the Fortnite arsenal. With the weapon, you can launch a canister of colored smoke into an area and summon a hail storm of fire from above. You'll find the canisters in floor loot, chests, supply drops, vending machines and llamas. Once a canister is launched and comes to rest, 20 missiles will appear about 120 meters above the smoke. Each missile has an explosion radius of 3.5 meters, and each missile deals damage to players and structures.
‘Tetris 99’ will get an offline multiplayer mode later this year
Nintendo has been slowly expanding how and where you can play Tetris 99. In February, the company released the battle royale game as an online exclusive for Switch. A few months later, Nintendo offered downloadable content, so users could play the game offline. While you could still battle against opponents, offline you were forced to duke it out against bots. Now, it looks like that's going to change. Nintendo appears to be planning an offline multiplayer mode.
'Stranger Things' x 'Fortnite' crossover adds a couple of skins
Netflix's release of Stranger Things 3 has brought along an unprecedented number of marketing tie-ins, which include a link to Fortnite. Some familiar-looking teleporters popped up in the game's mall area yesterday to join already-included Scoops Ahoy ice cream powerups, and tonight Epic announced the full details of their crossover. Unfortunately, unlike the Avengers: Endgame and John Wick collaborations, there doesn't appear to be any kind of new limited-time game mode. Instead, as expected, there are a couple of new skins available allowing players to take on the appearance of Chief Hopper or the Demogorgon (that cost 1,500 and 1,200 "v bucks" respectively), plus a "Vines" weapon wrap. If anything else appears in-game, let us know -- but no spoilers, not everyone has finished season three yet.
Fan-made 'Mario Royale' pits you against 74 speedrunners
The battle royale craze has invaded the Mushroom Kingdom, albeit unofficially. A programmer and video game streamer going by the handle Inferbro has hacked together a web-based multiplayer version of Super Mario Bros. that challenges up to 75 people to finish the first stage of the classic game as quickly as possible. The fittingly named Mario Royale is available to play online via the web right now, but you better get a few runs in while you can. Nintendo isn't known for playing nice with fan-created games using its characters.
Fortnite's latest item lets you throw health at your teammates
Never a week goes by without Epic Games adding something new to Fortnite. In the past month alone, we've seen the Storm Flip, Proximity Grenade Launcher and even an Air Jordan 1 collaboration. As you'd expect from a Battle Royale game, most of the new items are destructive, designed to damage your opponent(s) and ensure you're the last person standing. Today's update, however, concentrates on another important aspect of the game: healing.
'Fall Guys' is a mini-game battle royale with up to 100 jelly-bean dudes
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is what happens when indie developers watch too much reality TV. The new title from Mediatonic takes some of the most ridiculous network game-show obstacles courses, throws in some squishy alien creatures, and puts it all online. So far, Fall Guys features a "race through the right doors" mini game, a round where players have to steal and keep their tails, and a furious run up a mountainside filled with spinning and rolling obstacles. It's all incredibly cheerful, for a fiercely competitive game.
'Fallout 76' is about to be a lot more like 'Fallout'
Back in February, Bethesda detailed its plan to revitalize Fallout 76 in 2019. After all, it's no secret that the developer's shared-world action RPG is in desperate need of improvement, having been plagued by a number of serious issues since it launched in November of 2018. And today, at its pre-E3 2019 event, Bethesda revealed the next major update for Fallout 76: Wastelanders, which it says will "fundamentally change the game." The biggest difference is the addition of non-player human characters, a feature that's going to make Fallout 76 feel a lot more like Fallout, thanks to a new main quest as well as choice and consequence scenes. You'll also get new weapons and gear, naturally.
'Apex Legends' second season debuts July 2nd with an engineer character
There's finally some concrete details about the second season of Apex Legends, and it's heartening news if you're either a defensive player or particularly competitive. The next phase of the game will add Wattson, an engineer character who thrives on defensive play. She can set up energy fences to guard must-have territory, and unleash an ultimate ability that shoots down airborne projectiles like bombardments and arc stars.
ESPN launches an esports event series, starting with 'Apex Legends'
ESPN is about to expand its fledgling esports strategy in a very noticeable way. The broadcaster has launched an EXP esports series that will bring competitive gaming to its events. They'll typically include a variety of games with collegiate, pro and pro-am formats. You'll have to watch online if you want to tune in live, but there will be "tape-delayed" highlights show on ESPN and other ABC TV channels after the fact.
Snapchat's battle royale game is out now
Snapchat is getting in on the battle royale craze with Tiny Royale, which you can play right now. The Zynga-developed top-down shooter expands the lineup of available multiplayer Snap Games.
'Apex Legends' will keep players busy with daily and weekly challenges
Respawn has a straightforward way to keep its hordes of Apex Legends players coming back: it's borrowing a page from other battle royale shooters. The studio has teased Season 2 Battle Pass plans that will include daily and weekly challenges to speed up your progression. While there aren't specifics of what they'll entail, Respawn is trying to avoid "wacky" challenges that force you to play in odd ways. And don't panic if you have to skip Apex while on vacation -- you can finish earlier weekly challenges when you get back.
Next 'Apex Legends' update addresses audio issues
Since the explosive launch of Apex Legends and its deliberately quieter evolution over the last few months, the game is still dealing with some annoying issues. According to the team at Respawn, an update coming to all platforms next week will target some audio problems that caused sound to drop out, or repeat when it shouldn't, and also increases the volume of close enemy footsteps so that maybe you can avoid getting third partied for once. Other audio tweaks include a reduction of Wraith's kunai knife sound that was annoying for some people, while sounds from character select through dropping in have seen their volume drop, and the music that plays for winners is getting louder to let all your neighbors know they're in the presence of a champion. Respawn is also still tweaking some hitbox issues, and dealt with a very specific crash bug that could occur on Intel-powered PCs. You can check out their post for the full changelog, however any word on exactly when it will arrive is still TBA, and news about what players can expect in season two will have to wait for the EA Play event in June.
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.
One of the most popular areas in 'Fortnite' is no more
As much as Epic might like to mess with Fortnite's environment, Tilted Towers has remained sacrosanct. It's not hard to see why -- it's widely considered the most popular drop spot in the game, and it's where you go if you're determined to score good loot quickly (or are just itching for a fight). However, you'll have to say goodbye. The culmination of a weeks-long in-game vault event has destroyed Tilted Towers, leaving the urban battle virtually unrecognizable. In other words, millions of gamers will suddenly have to switch their play styles -- they can't just choose to "drop Tilted" and expect an instant brawl.
New 'Call of Duty: Black Ops 4' season adds a sword-wielding specialist
Treyarch and Activision are determined to keep Black Ops 4 lively in the face of stiff competition. They're debuting a new season ("Operation Spectre Rising") on April 30th, and you can expect a steady stream of updates that might just be meaningful. The centerpiece on launch will be the return of Spectre, a sword-brandishing Specialist. As you might guess, his focus is on agility -- he can roll and otherwise do his best to get up close and slash his opponents. In Blackout, you have to discover him as a "Spectre stash" that switches your character and gives you a distinct edge over your rivals.
Epic pulled the Siphon from 'Fortnite' after it frustrated most players
Epic has to walk a fine line between courting the Fortnite esports crowd and satisfying the bulk of its audience, and that's particularly apparent today. The developer has explained that it pulled the Siphon (a feature that gave health and shields after kills) from core modes when "players at large" were quickly turned off by it. It was meant to keep Pop-Up Cup tournaments exciting by rewarding aggressive play, but it also left all but the top 10 percent of players feeling disenfranchised. The 90 percent of less proficient players became "more frustrated and played less," Epic said.
