From riding a highway to hell in Thumper to playing Tetris using your whole face, there are some things you can only properly experience in virtual reality. Here are some of the most unforgettable moments we’ve seen on PS VR.
If you’ve played a VR space dogfighting game like Eve: Valkyrie or Elite: Dangerous, you’ll be familiar with the speed at which your jaw descends towards your navel the first time you crane your neck to see the stars.
X-Wing VR Mission turns that feeling up to 11. You’re a rookie pilot escorting a Rogue One VIP when a Star Destroyer closes in to attack. It’s one thing seeing the might of the Empire on a cinema screen, but something else to take on the giant starship and a squadron of TIE fighters by yourself, with only trusty R2 unit to cover your back.
The upcoming desert-themed map for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will be seen in action for the first time next week, with the map’s first official gameplay reveal scheduled to premiere during The Game Awards in the US on Thursday, December 7.
As promised, Bungie has delivered details on where Destiny 2 is headed. Since launch, there have been complaints from the hardcore fanbase about the lack of a real end-game and poor communication from Bungie, among other things. Today’s preview, which took the place of a canceled Curse of Osiris livestream, is meant to address much of this.
Stating that Bungie needs to be “more open,” director Luke Smith and project lead Chris Barrett stated that the studio plans to refocus its efforts on catering to players who want to enjoy the game long-term: “Going forward, Destiny 2’s post-launch game systems, features, and updates are being designed specifically to focus on and support players who want Destiny to be their hobby–the game they return to, and a game where friendships are made. We want Destiny to be a game that fits into your life, providing you with reasons to log in and play with your friends, clans, and families. We want Destiny to be a world you want to be a part of.”
Bungie outlined its plans for two updates coming next month that will start this process. The first of these comes on December 5, alongside Curse of Osiris, with another following on December 12. The studio’s stated goals for these patches are as follows: “Deepen rewards for advanced players; provide more player control over obtaining rewards; make Shards useful by adding things to use them for; provide general quality fixes wherever possible.”
In the December 5 update, new Armor Ornaments will be added for “some” existing armor. These will allow you to obtain a new look for your gear without affecting your Shaders or Mods. Armor sets will have a set of objectives to complete, and doing so will unlock Ornaments for your entire account. These sets will have Ornaments in Season 2, which begins on December 5:
Vanguard Faction Armor
Crucible Faction Armor
Trials of the Nine Armor
Iron Banner Armor
Dead Orbit Armor
Future War Cult Armor
New Monarchy Armor
Eater of Worlds Raid Lair Armor
Also on December 5, there will be changes to how mods are acquired from Banshee. Rare Mods can be dismantled for Gunsmith Materials and “have a chance to produce Legendary quality Mod Components.” Banshee will also sell specific Legendary Mods, including those for Kinetic weapons. The lineup will change daily, with the price being a combination of Legendary Shards and Mod Components. Additionally, Master Rahool will sell Legendary Engrams, which will be one way of obtaining Masterworks (more on those below). Reputation Tokens will now be obtained in greater quantities and in more ways, though the amount of reputation required to obtain an Engram will also increase.
The bigger changes come in the December 12 update. Bungie will introduce Masterworks versions of Legendary weapons; these track and display your kills with that weapon (and can be set to show Crucible kills or total kills), create Orbs when securing multi-kills, and have weapon stat bonuses that are “selected randomly from a small pool and are re-rollable.” That part is particularly important, as a common complaint is that weapon duplicates are effectively worthless in the current game.
Masterworks can be obtained through drops once you hit Power level 250, or Legendaries can be upgraded into them. To accomplish the latter, you can dismantle Masterworks to obtain materials that you’ll then use to enhance a Legendary you own. Bungie notes that weapons from the Raid and Trials of the Nine have a “very high chance” to drop as Masterworks. It also states that there are plans for Masterworks versions of other types of gear, and to add more ways for your kill counts to be displayed, such as on the Crucible kill screen.
The December 12 update also introduces the option to directly purchase Faction armor and weapons for Legendary Shards and Faction Tokens from “most” Faction vendors. The selection will always include each armor slot, while weapons will rotate weekly (for Factions that offer them). These different slots will be unlocked as you claim Engram rewards for each Faction–and any you’ve earned previously will count toward unlocking these.
Finally, Xur will have new items on offer weekly. Fated Engrams can be purchased for Legendary Shards and will decrypt into Exotics that you don’t already own, and there will be a new Three of Coins item for purchase with Legendary Shards. This Three of Coins will be easier to use than that of the first game; here, they’ll simply provide a boost to Exotic drop rates from all sources for four hours. Zavala and Shaxx will both sell some new items, and–in maybe the most welcome change of all–vendors will only have a notification icon when you actually have enough Tokens to obtain an Engram.
Bungie’s post also provided details on the recent Destiny 2 XP controversy, vowing to make further changes. It also reiterated its promise to communicate more effectively, stating, “Going forward, we plan to continue this dialog as openly and frequently as possible. This will be an ongoing process, but one that we are committed to.” The developer also plans to release a podcast this week where it will further discuss the state of Destiny 2. There’s no exact date for when that will arrive, but in the meantime, you can check out some new Destiny 2 Curse of Osiris Crucible maps, or see the full list of announced changes in the December updates and beyond here.
“Our intention was to keep slower-paced activities as rewarding as high intensity grinding without confusing variations in displayed XP values, but the silent nature of the mechanic betrayed the expectation of transparency that you have for Destiny 2,” Bungie wrote its website.
With this system disabled, Bungie said it is now working toward finding a solution to address XP balance in Destiny 2. Work has begun on this effort, and you might notice this in XP levels contained in the code embedded on the Bungie website’s API.
“In a future update, we intend to link these internal and display-only values together for greater consistency, and to ensure that when changes are made they are accurately reflected everywhere we report them,” Bungie said.
As it stands currently, levelling is “too slow for some activities” with the new 160K XP value, Bungie wrote, adding that it’s in the process of looking over feedback and will make further adjustments as needed. XP boosts from consumable items and the 300% bonus you get for being Well Rested are unchanged.
Finally, Bungie said this is just the beginning of the studio’s dialogue with players in the area of XP balance. You can expect to hear more from the studio soon.
This announcement was made as part of an in-depth blog post today titled “The State of Destiny 2.” In it, Bungie talked about the feedback it’s heard from players since launch and discussed what’s changing and why in the upcoming December update.
Starz drama American Gods has lost its two showrunners, Bryan Fuller and Michael Green.
Variety reports Fuller and Green, who are also the creators of the series, are exiting the show due to creative differences with producer FremantleMedia. The pair were said to be pushing for an increased budget for Season 2.
The per-episode budget for the second season of American Gods is reportedly already nearly USD$10 million. There’s no word yet on who might take over for Fuller and Green.
Green is currently working on the Netflix drama Raising Dion and several other TV projects. Meanwhile Fuller, who bowed out as the showrunner for Star Trek: Discovery early on in production, is working on Apple’s Amazing Stories.
Big Little Lies’ Kathryn Newton is set to join the live action Detective Pikachu movie.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Newton is in talks to star as the female lead in the Pokemon film, a journalist named Lucy. The character goes on an adventure with Pikachu and, in the Pokemon universe, even has a Psyduck as a Pokemon sidekick. It’s not known whether Lucy’s Psyduck will show up in the movie.
Stranger Things’ Natalia Dyer, Split star Haley Lu Richardson, and 13 Reasons Why’sKatherine Langford were all reportedly in the running for the role.
Microsoft has announced that it’s “broadening its approach” in the gaming market.
CEO Satya Nadella announced the company’s ambitions in the gaming space during Microsoft’s Annual Meeting of Shareholders (via DualShockers).
“We’re mobilizing to pursue an expansive opportunity in the 100+ billion gaming market,” said Nadella. “This means broadening our approach to how we think about gaming end-to-end. About starting with games and how they’re created and distributed, and how they’re played and viewed.”
Nadella went on to reference services Game Pass and Mixer as a means to promote connectivity among its hardware, and said Microsoft plans to “grow and engage the over 53 million Xbox Live members more deeply and frequently.” He also mentioned the Xbox One X is seeing “incredible response from fans this Holiday season.”
Shin Megami Tensei V is coming to the West on Nintendo Switch, and a new report estimates Pokemon Go has caused 140,000 car accidents across the US!
