Month: February 2019

Epic Games has begun the process of rolling out Fortnite‘s eighth season, which brings with it gameplay changes and tweaks, as well as a brand new Battle Pass. For those not familiar, the Battle Pass allows players to unlock cosmetics and customization features, provided they play Fortnite to accrue experience and level it up. The Battle Pass has over 100 levels, which means over 100 rewards.

Beyond that, the most notable change in Season 8 is to the Fortnite island. As with previous seasons, Epic Game likes to mix things up by introducing new themes and altering the play space. This time around pirates, ninjas, and creatures from within a newly emerged volcano are all set to tussle over some treasure. Along with the volcano, new locations for Season 8 include Sunny Steps and Lazy Lagoon.

In terms of weapons, there’s a new Pirate Cannon, which can be used to destroy structures from a distance. You can also get inside the barrel of the cannon and launch yourself across the map. The other big gameplay addition is lava, which will deal one damage per touch and will make the player bounce off the surface. There are also volcanic vents that shoot out gusts of hot air that players can use to launch themselves into the sky.

Excitingly, Epic has also introduced Party Assist which, when enabled prior to a match, will allow daily or weekly Challenges to be completed with the help of everyone in your party. In Season 8, daily quests will be automatically claimed and the reward will be delivered once they are done. Check out the full Fortnite: Battle Royale Season 8 patch notes below. You can head to Epic’s website to see what’s new for the Creative and Save the World modes.

Weapons + Items

• Pirate Cannon
  • Push the Cannon into position, take aim, and fire! Alternatively, climb into the barrel and launch yourself!
  • The cannon will fire cannonballs or players a great distance. Cannonballs and players can plow through a number of objects before stopping with a bang, causing damage and knockback to nearby players.
  • Deals 100 Damage to enemies on a direct hit and 50 Damage to enemies within a small radius.
  • Found throughout the environment.
• Vaulted
  • Sneaky Snowman
  • Chiller Grenade
  • X-4 Stormwing
  • Shopping Cart
  • All Terrain Kart
• Updated Hunting Rifle Icon
• Reduced the availability of high tier Assault Rifles
  • Total number of Assault Rifles available remains unchanged
    • Increased chance of receiving a Common quality assault rifle from 48.56% to 56.30%
    • Increased chance of receiving an Uncommon quality assault rifle from 26.83% to 28.15%
    • Reduced the chance of receiving a Rare quality assault rifle from 16.17% to 10.91%
    • Reduced the chance of receiving an Epic quality assault rifle from 7.02% to 3.52%
  • Reduced the chance of receiving a Legendary quality assault rifle from 1.82% to 1.13%

Bug Fixes

• Supply Drops now properly appear on the map.
• If the fire button is pressed while the shotgun cooldown is still active after swapping weapons then the shotgun will automatically fire once the cooldown is over.
• Fixed Clingers causing damage through walls / floors when stuck to a player.
• Fixed players accidentally sticking Remote Explosives onto themselves after applying a Consumable Bush.
• Fixed Legendary/Epic Pump Shotgun pellet tracers and muzzle flash sometimes not replicating to other clients.
• Fixed an issue where players couldn’t use Auto-Run while using a Hoverboard with a gamepad.
• Fixed items occasionally being invisible to some players.

Gameplay

• Added Lava
  • Lava will deal 1 damage per touch and will cause players to bounce off the surface. Watch out!
• Added Volcanic Vents
  • Volcanic Vents will boost players and vehicles into the sky in a gust of hot air!
• Party Assist Added
  • Prior to a match, enable Party Assist on a Daily or Weekly challenge to complete it with the assistance of everyone in your party.
  • Party members are able to provide progress to the selected challenge in addition to yourself.
  • This functionality excludes “fill” players who are added into the party during matchmaking or teammates from large team modes such as Team Rumble.
• Increased Infinite Dab duration from 11 hours to 12 hours in the lobby.
• Cozy Campfire now glows while active when viewed through a Thermal Scope.
• Starting in Season 8, daily quests will be automatically claimed once they’ve been completed.
  • Any Challenges that were ready to be collected will be auto completed and all rewards will be delivered. However, at this time there will be no in-game notification for you receiving these rewards.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where the Lynx Outfit would jitter very badly when playing the original Wave emote in the lobby.
• Fixed an issue where players were able to aim down sights while jumping.
• Fixed an issue where weapons picked up would sometimes be incorrectly unloaded. This would happen if a player looted a weapon dropped by a player immediately after being eliminated.
• Fixed Bush consumable not being destroyed if player takes damage from a great distance.
• Fixed aim assist to work through windows.
• Fixed an issue where players could stop themselves from getting on a Zipline by standing too far behind it and colliding into the ground as they try to enter.
• Fixed an issue where the player couldn’t pick up items dropped around the Zipline pole.
• Fixed an issue where entering a vehicle while ziplining left the fall damage immunity visual effect on the player.
• Fixed auto-pickup of items not working when first landing from skydiving.
• Weapon auto-reloading no longer cancels emotes.
• Fixed an equipped Trap being swapped after dropping a stack of items or after using the last item of a stack of consumables or explosives.
• Fixed equipped traps being dropped when using hold to swap to pick up items.

Limited Time Mode: 50v50

Summary

Two teams of fifty players fight to the finish!

Mode Details

• Each team has a bus, approaching the island from opposite directions. On the map, the friendly bus has a blue outline, enemy has red.
• The map has a dotted line, which indicates the “battle lines” between the two teams. Crossing the line will make running into enemies more likely.
• Farming materials increased 25% over default.
• Chests & Ammo Crates spawn more often than usual, and carry extra ammo.

Limited Time Mode: Close Encounters

Summary

Close quarters combat with Shotguns & Jetpacks!

Mode Details

• Players start with a Jetpack in their inventory.
• The only guns in this mode are the various types of Shotguns.
• The Storm moves in more quickly than normal mid to late game.

Audio

• Above/below footstep improvements.
  • More distinct sound for above footsteps.
  • Tuned the distance at which above/below footsteps travel to be more realistic.
• Improved footstep audio timings when the game simulation is under heavy load.
• Set Down-But-Not-Out alert sound spatialization from the location of the downed player.
• Added stereo sounds for all weapons for those carrying the weapon.
• Added foley audio feedback when crouching and ADS’ing with a weapon.
• Improved Rocket Launcher incoming audio. It now plays an additional warning layer if the rocket is coming towards you.
• Added distant perspective to the enemy glider audio tell.
• Improved damage/elimination audio feedback.
• Added a new shield break sound.
• Improved the “weak-point” hit sound when harvesting.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed in-air wind audio restarting when eliminating an enemy while they’re in mid-air.
• Fixed sniper projectiles not playing impact audio.
• Fixed “Hootenany” emote getting stuck on infinitely.
• Fixed Suppressed SMG sound effect occasionally looping continuously incorrectly.

UI

• Added the ability to access the Patch Notes website from the News Screen.
• Visual improvements made to squadmate names and indicators.
• World Marker Improvements
  • World Markers are now visible in the world when placed close to you.
  • Double-clicking the World Marker hotkey will place a “danger” version of that marker. World Markers placed while aiming with a weapon will also place the danger version.
  • Added 2D UI indicators to the World Markers, making them easier to see through objects.
  • World Markers now have an off-screen indicator and display the distance your character is from them.
  • Placing a World Marker on an item will display that item’s icon and rarity.
  • Placing World Markers remains on the same key for PC and console (KBM: Middle Mouse Button, Controller: D-Pad Left).
    • This button can be remapped to any button you want. Let us know on our social channels what works best for you!
  • Mobile also has a button that can be added to the HUD. Place this button by using the HUD Layout Tool.
• Added filter tabs to the locker for animated loading screens and pets.
• Added a card corner icon for certain types of animated cosmetics.

Bug Fixes

• Fix cases where the Bad Network Indicator would appear at the beginning of the match due to slow loading conditions.
• The Battle Pass / Battle Bundle purchase screen now shows your supported creator if one is set.
• Fixed an issue where the team elimination count was sometimes inaccurate.
• Fixed an issue where eliminations weren’t properly counting when playing in Playgrounds.

Replay

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where scrubbing through a replay could cause the player’s hero model to disappear in the lobby.
• Fixed issue with cosmetic styles not displaying properly during replay playback.
• Fixed elimination damage numbers being inaccurate in replays.
• Fixed weapon firing animations sometimes playing twice in replays.

Mobile

• Added more visual feedback when buttons are pressed.
• Changed gliding/freefalling HUD visibility to be more consistent between mobile/other platforms.
• Player are now able to toggle between crouch and standing states while in build and edit modes.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed bug which caused the lobby background to disappear when closing the Report Player dialog.
• Fixed an issue where trying to switch to build mode and tapping the quickbar at the same time would switch back to combat mode.
• Fixed an issue where attempting to place a trap using a mobile controller made the player animate as if they were trying to open a door several times before the trap is placed.
• Fixed players ability to un-crouch while gliding.
• Fixed action button remaining on the UI during the Battle Bus phase.
• The ‘Resources’ HUD setting now properly shows in-game after making changes on mobile devices.
• Fixed an issue where using touch to edit a structure breaks the ability to continue crosshair editing until the button is pressed again.
• Fixed an issue where dragging an item off the hotbar triggered a double click.
• Fixed an issue where pick up and zip line activation icon’s default position overlapped with the aiming icon.
• Fixed controller art sometimes missing in the Controller Setting screen.

X marks the spot in this cinematic announcement trailer for Fortnite Season 8.

Season 8 brings another big shakeup in the world of Fortnite with new volcanic and jungle locations, a cannonball weapon, and the ability to allow friends to help complete your challenges.

A volcano has emerged from depths of the map, creating a jungle and lagoon in the surrounding areas. In exchange for saying goodbye to Wailing Woods, Lazy Links, and Tomato Temple, two new locations have appeared on the map. Lazy Lagoon and Sunny Steps can be found in the northeastern portion of the map.

A new Pirate Cannonball can be found in different places on the map. Players can position the cannon, aim, and fire a ball to deal 100 damage on a direct hit and 50 damage for anything caught in the radius. You can even throw yourself into the cannon to launch yourself wherever you’d like to go.

Continue reading…

With so many male superheroes taking center stage in Marvel’s biggest films, it’s easy to forget there are literally hundreds of badass super-women in the Marvel Universe. From Gamora to Storm to Black Widow, these incredible characters have become iconic in pop culture, and their popularity has paved the way for more female representation and story telling, which can especially be seen in the latest wave of comic book movies.

With the release of Captain Marvel upon us, there’s no better time than now to shine a spotlight on the incredible superwomen of Marvel and the awesome ladies who cosplay them.

Ms. Marvel

Cosplay by @Kyrramarie

After encountering the Kree hero Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers was accidentally subjected to otherworldly radiation that transformed her into a superhuman warrior. Calling herself Ms. Marvel, she established herself as one of the most powerful and prominent heroes, both as a solo heroine and as a member of the Avengers. She has now adopted the mantle of Captain Marvel for herself with her own MCU movie.

Captain Marvel

Cosplay by @cassidy_kahler

Here’s Carol Danvers in her Captain Marvel get up!

Gamora

Cosplay by @peaches50

The sole surviving member of the Zen Whoberi, Gamora, was saved as a child by Thanos. Through Thanos’ augmentation and training she became a highly skilled and feared galactic assassin. Using her new formidable skills and abilities, she gained the reputation and title of The Deadliest Woman in the Universe.

Hela

Cosplay by @captainkayceecosplay

Hela is the Norse Goddess of Death and ruler of Hel and Niffleheim. She is easily one of the MCU’s most terrifying villains and we’ll never forgive her for what she did in Thor: Ragnarok.

Valkyrie

Cosplay by @miss_laneous

The Asgardian goddess Brunnhilde is one of Asgard’s mightiest warriors and the leader of the Valkyrior, Odin’s choosers of the slain. Known simply as “Valkyrie” outside of Asgard, she is a long-time member of the Defenders and more recently also a member of the Avengers.

Domino

Cosplay by @Uniquesora

Domino is a skilled mutant mercenary who possesses the ability to manipulate probability in her favor, giving the effect of incredible luck. She made her movie debut in Deadpool 2 and we hope to see her again soon.

Psylocke

Know this cosplayer? Email us at cosplay@gamespot.com

British beauty Elizabeth “Betsy” Braddock is a mutant with vast telepathic and telekinetic powers that she can focus into deadly weapons. She is a stealthy martial artist, a former fashion model and longtime member of X-Men.

Nebula

Cosplay by @emjaeadamsond

Nebula was a space pirate who believed that she was the granddaughter of Thanos. She often had conflicts with Starfox and Earth superheroes such as the Avengers. However, when she actually encountered Thanos, he denied having dropped progeny.

She-Hulk

Cosplay by @fitrockstar

After being shot by mobsters, her cousin Bruce Banner (The Hulk) saved her life by giving her a last minute blood transfusion of his own irradiated blood. From that point on Jennifer Walters was able to transform into the Sensational She-Hulk; a recurring member of the Avengers.

Black Queen

Cosplay by @desert_rose_cosplay

Also known as Selene, Black Queen is a New York City Boss of Crime Bosses. She is a mutant and an enemy of the X-Men who’s mutant ability is to literally suck the life out of her enemies. Gross.

Gwenpool

Cosplay by @opalescentteacup

Half Deadpool, half Gwen Stacey, 100% awesome. Gwenpool is a reality-manipulating wannabe hero from a world in which the Marvel universe is just a bunch of comics.

Mystique

Know this cosplayer? Email us at cosplay@gamespot.com

True to her name, the shape shifting Mystique is an enigma. Is she a mutant terrorist determined to bring about the end of humanity, or is she just a misguided mutant with a good heart? Whatever you believe she’s always been a integral part of the X-men movies and a fan favorite for her complexity.

Jean Grey

Know this cosplayer? Email us at cosplay@gamespot.com

Jean Grey was one of the five original X-Men. An omega-level mutant telekinetic and telepath, Jean has gained near limitless powers as a recurrent host of the Phoenix Force. She is known for her many returns from death and as the deceased wife of Cyclops.

Dazzler

Know this cosplayer? Email us at cosplay@gamespot.com

A mutant with the ability to transduce sound into light, which often forces her into reluctant superheroism. She is also a very gifted singer and performer, hence her reservations in donning her uniform.

Negasonic Teenage Warhead

Know this cosplayer? Email us at cosplay@gamespot.com

One of Emma Frost’s students who died on Genosha, Frost clung on to Ellie Phimister’s body until she was rescued. She created a telepathic construct of her known as the Negasonic Teenage Warhead during an assault on the X-Men. Phimister was later resurrected by Eli Bard & sacrificed to Selene.

Storm

Cosplay by @jynxeee

Ororo Munroe is mutagenically imbued with the potent genetic disposition to manipulate the elemental forces that preside over the weather, in addition to other atmospheric phenomena. Having lived through a tumultuous life replete with successes and hardships, Storm; the thief, the princess, the once and future leader of mutant kind has eked her rightful place as one of the most influential women in the world. Her mandate is focused upon the safeguarding of her people, and the protection of Earth.

Wasp

Cosplay by @princesshelicopter

Genetically altered by Dr. Henry Pym, Janet Van Dyne gained the ability to alter her size, fly at rapid speeds and fire bio-electric energy “stings”. Calling herself “the Wasp”, she became Pym’s superhero partner. Later, she became a founding member and the first female member of the Avengers.

Jubilee

Know this cosplayer? Email us at cosplay@gamespot.com

Jubilee is a long-time member of the X-Men and serves as a teacher to Generation X, a group of teenage mutants living at the Xavier Institute. She previously lost her mutant powers and then was turned into a vampire, adopting a baby boy named Shogo and working alongside the X-Men. Most recently, she re-gained her pyrotechnic abilities and was turned back into a mutant when Quentin Quire sacrificed his Phoenix shard to save her life and revert her powers back.

Black Widow and Psylocke

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A former KGB agent Natasha Romanova, better known as Black Widow, is one of the best agents S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever had. She’s a longtime member of the Avengers as well as the leader of the short-lived Los Angeles-based superhero team called the Champions.

Even though the following characters are men in the Marvel comics, we couldn’t help but include a few shining examples of cross-play. Could you imagine how awesome a female Black Panther could be? We sure can!

Black Panther

Cosplay by @alexisvictorious

T’Challa is the Black Panther, king of Wakanda, one of the most technologically advanced nations on Earth. He is among the top intellects and martial artists of the world, a veteran Avenger, and a member of the Illuminati. Using his powers and abilities, he has pledged his fortune, powers, and life to the service of all mankind.

Loki

Know this cosplayer? Email us at cosplay@gamespot.com

Loki is the Jötunn/Asgardian God of Mischief and Prince of Lies, the adopted son of Odin and typically the archenemy of his brother, Thor, as well as the adoptive brother to former Guardian of the Galaxy, Angela. Loki has schemed against Thor and Asgard for ages and his cosmic meddling led to the formation of the Avengers. Recently reincarnated as a teen, he has decided to try to reform, and is now a part of the Young Avengers.

Cable

Cosplay by @ladyauroracosplay

The once-mysterious Cable (a.k.a. Nathan Summers) is Cyclops’ time-traveling son who was infected with the deadly techno-organic virus during his infancy, which he keeps at bay using his advanced psionic powers. At one time a founding member and leader of the militant team called X-Force, previously known as the New Mutants, Cable takes the aimless youths under his wing and whips them into fighting shape in order to prepare them for future threats.

Gambit

Know this cosplayer? Email us at cosplay@gamespot.com

A charming and master thief who joined the X-Men, Gambit possesses the mutant ability to charge inanimate objects with kinetic energy which causes them to explode (in fact, his signature move is throwing kinetically-charged playing cards at his opponents). Gambit is also extremely agile and hypnotically persuasive because of his powers.