Fortnite
The latest Fortnite news and reviews on the online game developed by Epic Games.
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Hey Nintendo, where's 'Metroid Prime 4'?
If you've been patiently waiting since last year's E3 conference for the reveal of the new Metroid Prime 4 game, we're sorry. The hotly anticipated next iteration of Samus Aran was nowhere to be seen during Nintendo Direct, the venerable gaming company's main announcement video that broadcast live this morning.
'Fortnite' comes to Nintendo Switch today
The rumors were true: Fortnite has arrived on the Nintendo Switch. As of 1PM Eastern, you can play Epic Games' battle royale shooter at home or on the move using the same console. It looks to be up to date, too, including newer Season 4 features like shopping carts. If you've been dying to play Fortnite away from home but want more than touchscreen controls, you just got your fix.
All signs point to 'Fortnite' launching on the Switch
Since its launch last September, Fortnite has already appeared on PS4, PC, Xbox and your iPhone, but it's not stopping there. Rumors suggest a NintendoSwitch release, soon — which would go nicely alongside that Android port we've been promised this summer. First up, a leaked E3 document from 4chan yesterday outlined a showroom display for Nintendo's hybrid console lineup that includes Fortnite (alongside Mario Tennis Aces, Dragonball FighterZ and several more titles). Kotaku sources backed up the claims, and then hours ago Fortnite made another appearance, this time on the Korean game ratings board (GRAC), headed for the Switch once again. The filing doesn't give that much away, yes there's cartoon violence and in-game purchases, but you knew all that already, right?
'Fortnite' gets its first vehicle: Shopping carts
For all of the things that Epic Games has delivered in its weekly Fortnite updates, vehicles have not been one of them. While both PUBG and H1Z1 already allow players to hop in a car and fast-travel across the map, Fortnite has relied on items such as Hop Rocks and Jetpacks to give gamers an advantage over their opponents. However, Epic Games isn't shy when it comes to testing out new ideas, so today it finally gave players their first taste of transportation in the form of 'shopping carts.
'PUBG' creators sue Epic Games over 'Fortnite' battle royale mode
The developers of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds haven't been shy about accusing Epic Games of riding their bandwagon with Fortnite, and now they're taking legal action. Bluehole's PUBG Corp has confirmed that it sued Epic in South Korea this January for allegedly violating the studio's copyright with Fortnite's Battle Royale mode, particularly its interface and in-game items. Epic has declined to comment, but it's safe to say the situation is... complicated.
'Fortnite' is a big money maker for PlayStation
Apparently, people really like to spend money on Fortnite even though it's free. On an investor call today, PlayStation head John Kodera was asked about a sudden increase in network sales. This was at the same time as the Fortnite launch on PS4. Kodera confirmed that the timing was not a coincidence.
Official 'Fortnite' tournaments will offer $100 million in prizes
When Epic Games revealed its first, albeit limited-time, Fortnite ranked play mode last week, it promised more details on competitive play would arrive soon. We now know a little more on Fortnite's future in the professional ranks -- Epic is pumping $100 million into tournament prize pools in the game's first year as an eSport.
'Fortnite' makes its Android debut this summer
You knew it was just a matter of time. Just weeks after Fortnite launched on iOS, Epic has confirmed that its battle royale title (and really, cultural phenomenon) is coming to Android sometime in the summer. There's not much more to say at this stage, but it's safe to presume iOS' touch-native interface will carry over. And crucially, it should reflect some lessons learned since the mobile game arrived to ruin people's productivity.
‘Fortnite’ adds first taste of ranked play with 'Solo Showdown'
Fortnite fans who have been anxious to find out how they truly measure up against the competition can do so right now with the game's first attempt at ranked play in a limited-time event. Epic Games also teased an announcement on competitive play for next week, so this seems like a dry run for a more substantial ranked mode and, eventually, a formal professional scene.
Discord nearly tripled its user base in one year
If it wasn't already evident that Discord is becoming a staple of playing (and watching) games, it is now. The chat platform is marking its third birthday this week with word that its user base has nearly tripled in the space of a year, jumping from 45 million in May 2017 to 135 million today. About 19 million people use it every day, and as many as 8.2 million people have used it at the same time. That kind of growth rate would be impressive for most any messaging service, although it's not entirely surprising -- it happens to be in the middle of a perfect storm of circumstances.
'Fortnite' is bringing Thanos to its cartoony battle royale
If you thought Avengers: Infinity War was the ultimate pop-culture mashup, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has another cameo up its sleeve. Franchise villain Thanos will make a limited appearance in Fortnite: Battle Royale starting May 8th, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Recommended Reading: The 'Stories' invasion won't relent anytime soon
Why 'Stories' Took Over Your Smartphone Ian Bogost, The Atlantic Snapchat may have created the monster, but in nearly every social (and some not-so-social) app you fire up, you'll be greeted with a feed of Stories. In fact, Facebook says the format is on pace to be more popular than a primary feed as the preferred way to share updates. The Atlantic explains how the ephemeral format took over your phone and why it isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
Blizzard and Epic take 'Overwatch' and 'Fortnite' cheating very seriously
Game-makers have had a field day making examples out of cheaters the past few weeks. Most recently, a pair of Overwatch hackers were charged in South Korea as a result of a year-long investigation by the region's police. Working with Blizzard (translated), the Seoul National Police Agency Cyber Security Department arrested a baker's dozen hackers total, according to Kotaku,
'Fortnite' update delivers destruction, new areas and meme emotes
Fortnite Season Four is here, and Epic Games has delivered in a big way. After teasing a spectacular comet crash at the end of the previous season, today's update sees much-loved areas of the map destroyed, new ones added and players bestowed with tonnes of new skins, emotes and in-game items.
Pro gaming team signs 13-year-old ‘Fortnite’ player
Among the four members making up pro gaming organization Team Secret's new European Fortnite squad, one stood out: 13-year-old Kyle "Mongraal" Jackson. Almost immediately after the team was introduced today, news outlets jumped on Jackson's youth. Even if he may not hold the record (some say the then-12-year-old Jun "TY" Tae Yang was picked up to play StarCraft in 2006, noted Cybersport.com), the Fortnite ace is one of the youngest ever signed to pro team.
'Fortnite' is coming to China
The popular battle royale game Fortnite is coming to China, thanks to a partnership between its creator Epic Games and Tencent. The Chinese tech giant, which owns over 40 percent of Epic, will handle distribution and publishing. Tencent will reportedly spend $15 million on Fortnite in China on marketing to its domestic playerbase and clamping down on piracy and illegal clones, the latter of which is a problem in the country.
Ohio university offers the first 'Fortnite' eSports scholarship
Ohio's Ashland University's new eSports program will be the first in the US to offer player scholarships for the wildly popular battle royale game Fortnite. They plan to field a four-player team alongside squads for Overwatch and League of Legends when the program debuts in the collegiate eSports landscape next fall.
'Fortnite' is back online after a day-long blackout
The popular game Fortnite is finally playable across all platforms after a server outage and emergency update took it offline for almost a day. According to a Reddit post by a company employee, a "critical failure with one of [the] account service databases" made the login and matchmaking systems unstable. But for their trouble, Epic Games is giving players of both the game's battle royale and tower defense modes free in-game loot.
'Fortnite' has been down for hours, but don't tell Twitch
Yesterday Epic Games delivered the big 3.5 patch for its popular battle royale game Fortnite, but within hours users started having trouble logging in. Around 6 PM ET yesterday the servers went down for good, and later the team tweeted "We're bringing the servers offline for emergency maintenance. We apologize for this inconvenience. We currently have no ETA on when servers will be back up." The game's status page has been updated several times since then referring to a database problem, but there's still no word when it will be back up. With the outage nearing half a day, anxious gamers worldwide have been itching to get back to the action, not to mention the many people who live stream for others. As of 3 AM ET, the Twitch category for Fortnite showed nearly 50,000 viewers, who were mostly watching archived replays or streamers just hanging out chatting. Record holding streamer Ninja logged out after averaging 80,000 viewers even during the outage. So if you're still up, let us know how you're dealing with the down time. Are you heading back to PUBG, watching old archives or just finding something else to do entirely? Update: After nearly 24 hours, Fortnite is back up, albeit without the new 50v50 mode.
'Fortnite' update adds instant fort-building grenades
As Fortnite continues to pick up new players across various platforms, Epic Games has consistently deployed new updates to keep the game fresh and free from game-breaking bugs. Earlier this week, we saw the team introduce new space-themed skins, complete with NASA-like space shuttle gliders, but we've had to wait until today to see some of the new in-game items. The most notable inclusion is the Port-A-Fort, a new epic drop that will instantly deploy a three-story fort made from metal.
