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'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.
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.
‘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).
Treasure hunts have come to 'Fortnite'
Not satisfied with the swashbuckling adventures of Fortnite Season 8? Epic Games has you covered. As part of its first update to the game since things kicked off last week, the company will put you on the hunt for secret pirate bounties thanks to a new item: treasure maps.
'Apex Legends' already has 50 million players after one month
Apex Legends might not be growing at quite the breakneck pace it enjoyed during its first week, but it's still climbing at a very healthy rate. Respawn and EA have confirmed that the battle royale shooter now has more than 50 million total players worldwide after just over a month since the surprise release. They haven't revealed the number of simultaneous players, but its first weekend saw upward of 2 million people playing at the same time.
Respawn will premiere its 'Star Wars' game on April 13th
After years of work, Respawn is nearly ready to show what its Star Wars game is all about. Lucasfilm has announced that EA and Respawn will formally reveal Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order at a Celebration Chicago panel on April 13th. The two are unsurprisingly shy about details, but you'll meet a Padawan who survived Order 66 (the command to exterminate the Jedi) and experience what it's like to live in an era where there are seemingly no Jedi left. You can expect "never-before-released" details of the game, Lucasfilm said, which isn't hard when the game is largely a secret.
'Apex Legends' team plans to fix player hitbox issues
Apex Legends is a success by most measures, but that doesn't mean it's without problems. A Respawn community manager said the developer is aware of and "discussing" multiple complaints that the hitboxes (the invisible shapes that determine whether or not a hit counts) are inconsistent between characters and could give you an unfair advantage. Some Legends appear to have disproportionately large hitboxes that make them easier targets (Gibraltar's is 140 percent bigger than Wraith's, for example). Others, meanwhile, have more precise hitboxes -- you can shoot between the legs of Bloodhound, but trying the same with Pathfinder registers a hit.
'Apex Legends' will make it easier to report cheaters
Apex Legends already has cheaters just two weeks into its existence, and Respawn wants to be sure they don't become too much of a problem. The studio has dropped not-so-subtle hints that it's incorporating a cheat reporting tool in its battle royale shooter, calling it a "very good idea" in a community update. Right now, anyone spotting a cheat has to go through a website and, if possible, record their own evidence. If they can't, they have to report someone's ID and hope for the best.
'Apex Legends' racks up 25 million players in its first week
For a game that was announced and launched just a week ago, Apex Legends is doing well for itself. Respawn has revealed that its stab at the battle royale genre now has over 25 million total players, and had "well over" 2 million simultaneous players during the weekend. That's still a far cry from Fortnite's numbers (Epic's shooter has over 200 million players and 8.3 million concurrent), but it's a huge figure for a title that boasted 10 million players just a few days earlier.
A new 'Titanfall' game is in development
Wait, what? EA has revealed that a new Titanfall game will launch later year, despite developer Respawn confirming that Titanfall 3 isn't in development. "Respawn also plans to launch a premium game this year that is a new twist on the Titanfall universe," Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA said during an earnings call yesterday. "More to come on that in the months ahead." So what is it? Vince Zampella, CEO of Respawn, teased on Twitter: "We are also working on more Titanfall for later in the year (yes, I said the T word). We love being able to experiment in this crazy universe!"
‘Apex Legends’ isn’t ‘Titanfall 3’, and that’s okay
There is no Titanfall 3. Respawn Entertainment producer Drew McCoy broke the news in a Eurogamer interview yesterday, extinguishing any hope that the futuristic mech-shooter could return to PCs and modern consoles. Instead, the EA-owned developer is offering a free-to-play game called Apex Legends. Is it worth your time? Yes, though for reasons you might not expect.
Respawn's 'Apex Legends' battle royale is available now
As was widely expected, EA-owned Titanfall developer Respawn has launched its free-to-play battle royale game, Apex Legends. The fundamentals are pretty familiar: drop into an enclosed map with teammates, gear up with the best loot you can find and take out all the other teams, all while the play area keeps shrinking. What sets the latest entrant into the genre apart from formidable rivals such as Fortnite, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's Blackout mode is its use of character-specific special abilities.
A battle royale game is coming from the creators of 'Titanfall'
Rumors have swirled all weekend of Titanfall creator Respawn developing its own battle royale game, and... well, they're true. Geoff Keighley and pro player Myth have confirmed the existence of Apex Legends, a last-one-standing game to be unveiled and released on February 4th. They're not saying more at this stage, to no one's surprise, but esports consultant Rod Breslau understood it would be a free-to-play game with classes, up to 60 players in total, three players per team and no Titans -- sorry, folks, you won't pilot a giant robot to victory.
Respawn teases realistic VR warfare on Oculus Rift
Respawn Entertainment might be going back to its historic stomping grounds. In virtual reality. A quick tease from the Oculus Connect stage revealed that the team that made Call of Duty is working on what very well may be a VR take on wars of the past. Studio director Peter Hirschmann writes that it isn't Titanfall in VR, nor is it related to Star Wars, the game Respawn is working on for EA. "We really want to depict being a soldier in combat in a more fully fleshed-out and realistic way," CEO Vince Zampella says in the video below. No other details are available (not even a name) but the clip ends with a big "2019." Respawn has had a Rift development kit since at least 2013, so that could very well be a realistic release window.
'Titanfall' returns to mobile as a real-time strategy game
Titanfall 2 might not have been the runaway success Respawn was hoping for, but it has a tight-knit community that love its parkour movement and robot-on-robot warfare. Now, with the help of Nexon and Particle City, the franchise is getting a strategy spin-off called Titanfall Assault. Details are scarce, but the pair is promising fast, real-time player-versus-player combat. You'll be commanding a mixture of pilots and titans, upgrading a virtual "deck" that features both soldier types and tactical, match-shifting Burn Cards along the way. Victory will help you climb the game's leaderboards and presumably unlock cards to tackle higher-ranked foes.
Next 'Titanfall 2' update mostly ignores the Titans
You'd think that any big Titanfall 2 update would revolve around the game's namesake robots, but no -- Respawn wants on-foot action to be the focus next time around. It's preparing a free upgrade whose centerpiece is Live Fire, a six-on-six pilot-only mode. You have just one minute to either eliminate the entire enemy team or hold a neutral flag when time is up. The mode is important enough that there are even two new maps created just for the purpose.
First 'Titanfall 2' DLC includes a no-nonsense skins store
Respawn made it a point with Titanfall 2 to ditch some of the more annoying business models of modern games (such as charging for important add-ons), and you're about to find out how well that works in practice. The studio has revealed that its first downloadable content pack, Angel City's Most Wanted, will arrive on November 30th... and this is not the usual case of charging a small fortune for a handful of extra gameplay. The extension not only gives you a 'new' map (surprise: the original game's Angel City), a new pistol and several titan kits completely free of charge, but introduces an in-game skins store that is the opposite of what you frequently see in other blockbuster titles.
'Uncharted,' 'Firewatch' dominate The Game Awards nominations
The Game Awards show has made it a point to recognize more than just the usual blockbuster hits, and it looks like that will remain true when the 2016 ceremony takes place on December 1st. Geoff Keighley's outfit has unveiled its nominees for this year, and there's a healthy mix of triple-A titles and indies. It won't shock you to hear that big names like Battlefield 1, Doom, Overwatch, Titanfall 2 and Uncharted 4 are up for multiple awards, of course. However, smaller projects like Inside (up for game of the year), Hyper Light Drifter and Firewatch make up a large chunk of the selections.
Titanfall's mobile debut is a 'Hearthstone' with mechs
If I told you Titanfall was coming to smartphones, what kind of game would you envision? A side-scrolling shoot-em-up similar to Metal Slug? A Titan customization tool? Or a portable-friendly strategy game like Advance Wars? Well, I've got bad news. Titanfall: Frontline is none of those. It's a digital card game similar to Hearthstone. But wait! Before you dive back into Blizzard's tavern, hear Respawn out. The company has teamed up with Nexon, best known for the MMO Maplestory, to build out new cards and mechanics that could feel authentic to the Titanfall universe.
