Month: August 2019

Borderlands 3 is almost here; it releases for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on September 13. The game will mark the return of many characters from the previous installments (including Tales from the Borderlands), like Lilith, Mordecai, Brick, Tiny Tina, Moxxi, Claptrap, Vaughn, Rhys, and more. It will take place on multiple worlds rather than just Pandora. And to mollify anyone worried it might stray from its loot-shooter roots, Gearbox also says the game will contain over a billion guns.

If you’re ready to preorder Borderlands 3, you’ll want to know what editions are available, what preorder bonuses to expect, and where you can buy it. We have you covered below.

Preorder Borderlands 3 Standard Edition

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Ubisoft executive Chris Early, who is the VP for partnerships and revenue at the Assassin’s Creed company, has spoken up to share his thoughts on Steam. Speaking to The New York Times, Early said the company’s business model, as it stands today, is unworkable.

“It’s unrealistic, the current business model they have. It doesn’t reflect where the world is today in terms of game distribution,” he said.

It’s not completely clear what part of Steam’s business model Early is speaking about. It may be in reference to the revenue split that Steam offers. Steam typically keeps 30 percent of game sales, with 70 percent going to developers/publishers. By contrast, the Epic Games Store offers much more to the people who make games; on the Epic Games Store, 88 percent of revenue goes back to developers.

Given Early’s comments, it’s not hard to understand why Ubisoft elected to release The Division 2–one of the company’s biggest games of 2019–on the Epic Games Store instead of Steam. The Division 2 was also released on Ubisoft’s own Uplay store, and sales of the game there grew 10X after the decision to bypass Steam.

It’s not clear if Ubisoft will have a strict “no Steam” policy with its future releases. One of the company’s major upcoming games, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, will also not be sold on Steam.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney is also quoted in the story, and he spoke about how game stores are known to “extract an enormous portion of game industry profits.” As such, they are “ripe for disruption,” he said

Super Meat Boy developer Tommy Refenes is quoted as well. He talked about how he believes the video game business needs better systems for buying and selling games. “The only way we’ll get it is if companies with tons of money are innovating and trying to outdo each other,” he said.

The full story is fascinating and well worth a read.

For what it’s worth, Epic has stated it will change its policy of chasing exclusives if Valve reduces the cut it takes from game sales on Steam.

From budget to bonkers, Intel and AMD, we’ve rounded up the best mATX motherboards for your next PC building project.

We all love our mouse and keyboard, but it’s not ideal for all situations. For those of you need a gamepad, so here’s our list of the best PC gaming controllers.

Ubisoft has announced the PC specifications for Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, while the publisher has also detailed some of the graphics options that players will have access to.

You can see the full PC specs below, covering Breakpoint’s minimum, recommended, ultra, and elite settings. It should help you get an idea for if your computer is able to run the upcoming game.

PC players are promised “full PC optimization,” and this includes uncapped frame rate, support for ultra-wide and multi-monitor setups, and eye-tracking with tobii, and more.

Breakpoint launches on October 4, but Ubisoft is inviting people to play early with a closed beta that starts on September 5. The beta is available on all platforms–PC, Xbox One, and PS4–but you need to pre-order or sign up for Ubisoft’s new service, Uplay+, to get access.

The Walking Dead actor Jon Bernthal plays a villain in Breakpoint named Cole Walker, and you can see more of him in the trailer embedded above. Ubisoft has said it plans to support the game for “years” after launch.

In other news, Breakpoint will release exclusively on the Epic Games Store for PC, not Steam, in case that matters to you.

PC Specifications

Minimum – Low Setting | 1080p

• OS: Windows 7/8.1/10
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 1200/Intel Core I5 4460
• RAM: 8 GB
• GPU: AMD Radeon R9 280X/Nvidia Geforce GTX 960 (4 GB)

Recommended – High Setting | 1080p

• OS: Windows 7/8.1/10
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600/Intel Core I7 6700K
• RAM: 8 GB
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 480/Nvidia Geforce GTX 1060 (6 GB)

Ultra – Ultra Setting | 1080p

• OS: Windows 10
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700X/Intel Core I7 6700K
• RAM: 16 GB
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT/Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080

Ultra 2K – Ultra Setting | 2K

• OS: Windows 10
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700X/Intel Core I7 6700K
• RAM: 16 GB
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT/Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080

Elite – Ultra Setting | 4K

• OS: Windows 10
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X/Intel Core I7 7700K
• RAM: 16 GB
• GPU: AMD Radeon VII/Nvidia Geforce RTX 2080

Graphics Options:

• Full PC optimization
• 4K resolutions
• Uncapped frame rate
• Ultra-wide and multi-monitor support
• Fully customizable controls
• AMD FidelityFX
• Discord integration
• Gameplay and menu eye tracking with tobii

Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi is in discussions to play a role in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. That’s according to a report from Deadline, which states that he’s in discussions but doesn’t have any information on the part he’ll play.

The New Zealand movie-maker has strong acting chops, as he was memorably hilarious as Viago in his own 2014 movie What We Do in the Shadows. He also played the scene-stealing Korg in Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Endgame.

According to Deadline, there is a table read for The Suicide Squad scheduled for September 11, with production on the film expected to begin on September 23. The movie hits theatres on August 6, 2021.

Waititi is certainly keeping busy. In 2019 so far, Waititi reprised his role as Viago in the What We Do in the Shadows TV series this year, while he also plays Adolf Hitler in his own movie, Jojo Rabbit, which is scheduled to premiere in September. Additionally, he directed an episode of the Star Wars TV show The Mandalorian that is set to premiere in 2019. It was announced at San Diego Comic-Con this year that Waititi will come back to direct the next Thor movie, Love and Thunder, which is due in 2021.

This news about Waititi joining The Suicide Squad comes not long after it was also reported that Nathan Fillion was also cast for a role in the DC action movie.

The new Suicide Squad movie is a “total reboot,” and not a sequel to David Ayer’s 2016 film. Gunn wrote the script and will direct the movie. He reportedly signed on to the movie in the midst of his fallout with Disney, though Gunn has since been re-instated to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

The 2016 Suicide Squad received mixed reviews, but it was a huge commercial success. It made more than $746 million worldwide, and it won an Oscar for Makeup and Hairstyling.

The new movie stars a number of actors from the original, including Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, in addition to newcomers like Idris Elda, David Dastmalchian, and Steve Agee.