Xbox One Gifting Feature Expands To All Games, Comes To PC

The “gifting” feature that launched on Xbox One last year is expanding. Microsoft announced today that digital PC games in the Microsoft Store and downloadable content are now eligible for gifting. At launch, only Xbox One digital games could be gifted. The other big piece of gifting news today is that all Xbox One digital games can now be gifted.

Additionally, memberships to Xbox Live and Xbox Game Pass can be gifted as well. “This feature has been a huge hit with our fans and has made buying presents for friends and family even easier, especially around the holidays,” Microsoft said in a blog post today.

This is what gifting on Xbox One looks like
This is what gifting on Xbox One looks like

To gift a game, on PC or Xbox One, you select “Buy as Gift” on the store page and then provide an email for who you want to send it to. On Xbox One, you can send via Gamertag. The recipient then gets a code, and bam, that’s it.

There are some things to be aware of, however. If the content you want to gift is on sale, you can only purchase two games or items as gifts in a 14-day period.

There is no limit for gifting full-price items. Gifting only works with Xbox One and PC games, not Xbox 360 or original Xbox games. Additionally, you cannot gift pre-orders or consumable DLC such as in-game currency.

Gifting is a nice feature that should come in especially handy around the holidays or at any other gift-giving time. Gifting is not available on PS4.

Fortnite Update Changes The Avengers: Infinity War Mode Again

Epic Games is updating Fortnite again to make changes to the limited-time Avengers: Infinity War mode that features the mega-powerful Thanos and his gauntlet. Specifically, the update will change his attributes to make him more powerful, but also somewhat easier to kill.

Starting off Thanos’ Beam is now deadlier; it does 20 damage instead of 12. Additionally, punch damage is increased from 80 to 100. Balancing this out somewhat is the fact that Thanos’ health now stands at 500 instead of 800.

Regarding these changes, Epic said in a post on Reddit, “Our goal is to allow more folks to truly experience the power of Thanos, while also making you feel powerful when wielding the gauntlet.”

Today’s update also addresses loot drops in the Infinity Gauntlet mode. With the update, only Rare, Epic, and Legendary-level weapons will spawn, which in turn should give players more firepower to help take down Thanos.

The new Fortnite update also makes some general changes, including lowering the height of the battle bus and a bigger storm circle at the start of matches. Additionally, the spawn rate for med kits, chug jugs, and big shields are increased. You can see the full patch notes below.

The new mode, Infinity Gauntlet, launched earlier this week. Thanos was too strong at the start, and Epic nerfed the character right away.

Fortnite Patch Notes:

Thanos Changes

  • Increased Beam from 12 to 20 damage on players.
  • Increased Punch damage from 80 to 100.
  • Decreased health from 800 to 500.

General Mode Changes

  • Reduced height of the Bus when dropping
  • Bigger initial storm circle
  • Less storm damage early game (first 3 storms from 5%/5%/10% per tick to 1%/2.5%/5%)
  • Initial Gauntlet spawn time changed from bus ride plus 30-45s to bus ride plus 120-135s
  • Increased spawn rate of Med Kits, Chug Jugs and Big Shields.
  • Removed spawn of Bandages and Slurp Juice.

Fortnite Drama Is Surrounding One Of Pro Baseball’s Best Pitchers

David Price of the Boston Red Sox, one of the best and highest-paid pitchers in all of Major League Baseball, is currently embroiled in some drama–but it has nothing to do with baseball.

Price, who signed a $217 million contract with the Sox in 2015, plays a lot of Fortnite. He also recently missed a start due to minor carpal tunnel. So of course, people are asking if his gaming habits–he sometimes plays until 2 AM after games–has something to do with it.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora already said Price’s gaming is unrelated to his injury. After all, Price has been playing video games for a while, just like most other people. But when you’re paid more than $200 million, people start to ask these kinds of questions.

There has been so much hullaballoo about Price’s gaming habits, and Fortnite in particular, that Price has now come forward to say he’s not going to play the game when he’s at the ballpark. This is according to MLB.com Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne, who apparently spoke with Price in New York this week during the Sox-Yankees series. In announcing his semi-retirement from Fortnite, Browne said Price is “aware the topic has been a distraction last couple of days.” Additionally, Boston Herald reporter Michael Silverman quoted Price as saying video games had nothing to do with his wrist injury.

While Price may be done playing Fortnite at the ballpark, he may still play at home and in hotel rooms. Plenty of Price’s teammates play Fortnite as well; pitcher Carson Smith is apparently the best of the group. They are so wrapped up in the game that they have to remind themselves to eat.

The Red Sox are neck-and-neck with the Yankees for the best record in all of baseball. Should their on-field performance fall off, you can expect more questions about and criticism of their gaming habits. But until then, here’s to hoping they all get victory royales.

In other Fortnite news, Avengers: Infinity War bad guy Thanos is now in the game as part of a limited-time mode. For more, check out GameSpot’s video above that shows off how and where to get Thanos’ super-powerful gauntlet.

Cobra Kai Renewed For Season 2–Here’s What We Know

YouTube Red has delivered a serious leg sweep with its newest original program, Cobra Kai. The series, which follows up on the movie The Karate Kid nearly 35 years later, just debuted on the streaming service and has already been renewed.

In a press release touting the renewal, executive producers Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg say, “Continuing the Karate Kid saga with YouTube Red has been a dream come true. We are grateful to all our creative partners for giving us the freedom to revisit and expand the LaRusso/Lawrence rivalry. And we are truly exhilarated by the tidal wave of support from fans of this story, both old and new.”

At this point, a release date for the new season has yet to be announced. However, YouTube Red is spilling quite a few details on what to expect from Cobra Kai when it returns.

When can you expect it?

While a specific date has not been revealed, YouTube Red says the new season will arrive in 2019. Production on the series resumes this fall.

How many episodes will be in Season 2?

As with Season 1, the next batch will include 10 half-hour episodes.

Who is returning?

Naturally, William Zabka, and Ralph Macchio will be back as Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso, respectively. Also signed on to return are Xolo Mariduena (Miguel Diaz), Tanner Buchanan (Robby Keane), Mary Mouser (Samantha LaRusso), and Courtney Henggeler (Amanda LaRusso). There’s no word yet on recurring stars like Nichole Brown (Aisha) and Jacob Bertrand (Hawk), but it’s hard to imagine the new Cobra Kai Dojo without them.

What will it be about?

This is where we’re getting into spoiler territory. If you’ve yet to watch the show, stop reading now. But also, what are you waiting for? As GameSpot’s Cobra Kai review will tell you, this is not a show to be missed.

The first season ended with the new Cobra Kai Dojo having won the All-Valley Karate Tournament after Miguel showed no mercy against Robby in the finals. However, the regret on Johnny’s face was clear after realizing the way he trained his students brought pain and defeat to his own son, Robby.

Clearly, Season 2 will continue to deal with the incredibly strained relationship between Johnny and Robby, as the former also likely reevaluates the lessons he learned from his days as a Cobra Kai student. However, complicating matters was the return of Johnny’s sensei John Kreese (Martin Cove) in the season’s final moments.

Johnny previously claimed his sensei was dead. However, he’s very much alive and seems pleased with the dojo’s rise to greatness once again. Could Season 2 lead to a showdown between the student and his teacher? That’s a question that won’t be answered until 2019.

Bethesda Continues Teasing Rage 2

Update: To add more (rocket) fuel to the fire, Bethesda has posted another photo with pink highlights, seeming to shore up the speculation that a reveal of some kind is on the way next week.

Another image posted to the Bethesda Twitter feed includes a rocket shooting into the sky, surrounded by pink-tinted clouds.

The rocket itself is labeled with “5-14,” a seeming confirmation of speculation from the previous Big Ben image that Bethesda is teasing a May 14 reveal. While the images don’t necessarily scream “Rage 2,” they do follow in the footsteps of the Rage Twitter account’s revival, that account’s use of the pink color, and a listing for Rage 2 by Walmart.

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Bethesda Teases A Pre-E3 Announcement Following Rage 2 Listing

Update: Bethesda has shared another teaser image on Twitter, further reinforcing the theories that May 14 will bring some kind of announcement. This one features a rocket firing into space with the numbers “5-14” adorned on the side. It’s clear that something is coming on Monday.

Rage 2 still seems to be a likely candidate, assuming the Walmart listing for it was not an error. The smoke left behind the rocket is the same pink color that was used in Bethesda’s tweets about the Rage 2 listing. Whether that means anything at this point is unclear, but the choice of color between each of these posts is telling. Whether the actual images–the rocket and Big Ben–have any meaning remains to be seen. The original story follows the tweet.

Bethesda appears to be teasing an upcoming announcement with a vague image of the Big Ben clocktower in London, England. A tweet consists only of an image of the tower, with bright pink streaks of graffiti across its face. The Internet is already scouring the image for clues.

Recently Walmart Canada appeared to have leaked several upcoming game announcements, including Rage 2 from Bethesda. The company had an uncharacteristic reaction for a publisher, publicly responding to the leak with gentle chiding. The official Twitter account for Rage made a point of mocking the placeholder image for using the wrong font and incorrect key art. All this is notable because the hot pink paint used for the anarchy logo and notes appear to be similar to the one on the Big Ben clock face. The paint even looks like it could be a partial anarchy symbol.

Also potentially a clue is the time, which is set at 5:14. That could correspond to a date, which would be this Monday. Altogether it seems possible that a Rage 2 announcement of some sort could be coming next week. Whether this would have been the original plan or if the company is just responding quickly to the cat being let out of the bag isn’t clear.

Or, all this could be entirely off the mark and Bethesda is teasing something else entirely. With E3 2018 rapidly approaching, we’ll know soon enough. Bethesda’s E3 showcase is planned for Sunday, June 10 at 6:30 p.m. PT / 9:30 p.m. ET.

New Walking Dead Game Trailer Introduces Another Playable Character

Publisher 505 Games has shared a new trailer for Overkill’s The Walking Dead game. Like the previous two trailers, this new video introduces viewers to another one of the characters who’ll be playable in the upcoming co-op shooter: the elderly Grant.

“Of all the survivors we’ve met so far, Grant may be the best prepared for the apocalypse,” developer Starbreeze said. He is described as “a steely outdoorsman who left city life behind to live out his golden years in the wilderness,” but he returns to a zombie-infested Washington D.C. to find his missing family. You can watch Grant’s character trailer above.

Grant is the third playable hero to be announced for Overkill’s Walking Dead game so far. Previous trailers for the title introduced Maya, a doctor who fills the role of a healer, and Aiden, a brawler-type character. One final playable hero still remains to be announced, although Starbreeze hasn’t hinted at who that could be.

The Walking Dead is a four-player cooperative shooter from Starbreeze subsidiary Overkill, the studio behind Payday 2. It is being developed with the blessing of the original Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, who said he was certain from the first day he saw the project that it was the “co-op action game fans have been waiting for.” Players will need to work together in the game to complete missions, rescue other survivors, and stay alive in the hostile, zombie-filled world.

Overkill’s Walking Dead game has been a long time coming. The title was first announced in 2014, with a planned release in 2016. It was subsequently delayed to 2017 before being postponed again to 2018. The game is now slated to arrive for PS4, Xbox One, and PC sometime this fall.