Don’t miss the secret locations for every fake wall in Dark Souls.
What Will HBO’s Watchmen Series Be About?
We break down what we know about HBO’s Watchmen series and what’s likely to happen as it expands on the original story.
Win a Beta Code for Battle of Azeroth
We have 500 keys to give away to the upcoming beta!
Solo: A Star Wars Story Disappoints in Box Office Debut
Solo: A Star Wars Story fell short in its domestic and international debut at the box office, opening with an estimated USD$83.3 million.
Despite decent reception from critics, Disney and Lucasfilm’s latest Star Wars effort fell short of their projected $130-150 million target for the four-day holiday weekend. Disney is now estimating $101 million with the additional Memorial Day sales. A minimal $65 million was brought in from international markets, with the UK pulling in $10.3 million and a paltry $10.1 million coming from China.
Italy crisis: Call to impeach president after candidate vetoed
The Five Star Party’s leader attacks Sergio Mattarella after talks on forming a government break down.
Brazil fuel protests: Temer cuts diesel price in bid to end strike
President Michel Temer makes a concession to end a truckers’ strike that has paralysed the country.
Battlefield 5 Has No Loot Boxes
Back in March, there were reports that the new Battlefield game would feature loot boxes in some capacity. As it turns out, that won’t be the case. A representative for Battlefield V publisher Electronic Arts told Kotaku, “I can confirm that there are no loot boxes.”
The rumor was that Battlefield V’s loot boxes would contain only cosmetic items, but the statement makes it sound like there will be no loot boxes whatsoever. The last big Battlefield game, 2016’s Battlefield 1, featured loot boxes, as a lot of games today do.
This confirmation that Battlefield V won’t have loot boxes comes after the uproar over how loot boxes factored into Star Wars: Battlefront II–which was made by DICE, the same team behind Battlefield V. Battlefront II’s loot boxes feature items that can actually affect gameplay, so some thought the game became pay-to-win in some capacity.
Now we know that Battlefield V will have no loot boxes at all, and that is good news for some. The game will still have currency that you can buy with real money, though you can only buy cosmetic customisation items, not anything that actually affects gameplay, it seems. What’s more, Battlefield V does away with the franchise’s Season Pass in favour of giving maps to all players for free.
The move away from loot boxes from EA comes as loot boxes face increased scrutiny around the world from industry groups and lawmakers. Some argue that loot boxes constitute a form of gambling because people pay real money for the chance to get an item they are after. Additionally, many games do not disclose loot box odds, though some do.
Battlefield V launches for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Origin on October 19. It will be available in both standard and Deluxe editions; those who purchase the latter will get access to the game three days early, on October 16.
Additionally, EA/Origin Access subscribers can start playing a trial on October 11, which is notable because that is one day before Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 launches on October 12. Prior to its release, EA will also hold an open beta for Battlefield V later this year.
For lots more on Battlefield 5, check out GameSpot’s roundup feature that covers everything you need to know, “Battlefield 5: Release Date, New Features, And Everything We Know.”
Westworld: What the Return of THAT Character Could Mean
Warning: Full spoilers for the Westworld episode “Phase Space” follow…
“Hello, old friend.”
Yesss. Anyone else excited to see Anthony Hopkins back as Ford? That was really cool beat, right there at the end.
Not that Ford’s been totally missing from the Season 2 mix – as we caught a quick glimpse of his younger self in a flashback and heard his words speaking through various hosts, posthumously taunting William – but having a very present Ford, hidden in a place where he’s likely to reveal some much-needed answers/truths to Bernard, feels like something that’ll help all these Season 2 timelines gel.
Though, we didn’t exactly go traipsing through too many timelines in “Phase Space.” We stuck to the – let’s call it – middle part. One week into the robot uprising, split between four stories and everyone’s halfway journey through this chaotic “awakening.” It was a somewhat middling chapter with not much in the way of stark revelations or huge unveilings, but with Bernard discovering Ford locked away inside his mind – er – ball, it seems like we’re going to peel back a layer or two. Ford may even help clear up Bernard’s total disassociation with time and the endgame, a week from this story, when all the hosts are just junk in the water. Ford clearly led Bernard and Elsie to this point, so he better offer up the goods.
How Wrestling Has Become Entertainment for Everyone
Earlier this year, I attended my first independent wrestling show after a long love affair with the sport, and a growing interest in Australia’s wrestling scene. Standing in the queue, I made idle conversation with a gentleman who soon turned to me in surprise, proclaiming, “You know a lot about wrestling, don’t you?” While he didn’t go so far as to add ‘for a girl’ to his churlish statement, the implication was as clear as his surprise.
Wrestling has long been seen as a sport ‘by men, for men’, an exclusive club dominated by masculine ideals and misogyny. But wrestling, like any entertainment medium, changes with the times, and recent years have seen it blossom into a unique and brilliant art form with stories and characters for everyone. It’s part of the reason why I love wrestling so much.
As Fortnite Popularity Rises, PUBG Dev Admits Its Game Has “Fallen Short”
This time last year, it was PUBG setting the records and getting most of the attention in the battle royale genre, but now Fortnite is dominating in almost every way. Part of what makes Fortnite so appealing is that developer Epic Games updates and the game on a near-constant basis with new content and tweaks, which encourages players to continue coming back to see what’s new and improved. And that in turn gets more people spending money on the free-to-play game’s microtransactions, which have reportedly been incredibly lucrative. PUBG also updates regularly, but now developer PUBG Corp. has acknowledged that the game has “fallen short” in some ways.
In a blog post recently, the studio said it’s been focused on hiring as part of its effort to “invest in [PUBG’s] ongoing development.” Alongside the hiring, the studio is working on new content–like the Sanhok map–and various “quality of life” improvements. On top of this, the studio is working on a “series of aggressive anti-cheat measures” for PUBG. The studio has made strides and the game is generally speaking in a better place now, but it hasn’t all been sunshine and rainbows for PUBG Corp.
“Although we’ve made some meaningful improvements to PUBG, we’ve fallen short in other ways,” the developer said. “Players have rightfully called us out for failing to address complaints about performance, and recently we haven’t done the best job of communicating about the changes we’re making to the game.”
To address this, PUBG Corp. published the first in a series of “Dev Letters” that aim to give the player community and update on what’s been going on at the studio and what they can expect from PUBG going forward.
The full blog post is very in-depth and well worth a read for PUBG fans. In short, the company listed off three main priorities that PUBG Corp. will focus on in the future, and these include performance, server-side optimization, and cheating.
Looking ahead, the new map Sanhok should be available on PUBG’s live servers “before the end of June.” After that, the studio will new vehicles and one weapon that will be exclusive to Sanhok.
“We’ll have a lot more to share about the other goodies coming to Sanhok in the coming weeks,” the developer explained. “There’s so much work we have to do to truly deliver on PUBG’s potential.”
While PUBG may not be as popular as it once was, it remains an absolute juggernaut. It had more than 1.5 million concurrent players on Steam today, which puts it firmly at the top of Steam’s most-played game chart. That number is down from a record peak high of around 3 million. The game is also on Xbox One and mobile where it is also incredibly popular.
For lots more on the battle royale genre, check out GameSpot’s recent feature, “Battle Royale Games Explained: Fortnite, PUBG, And The History Of A New Trend.”