This year has already been a treat for World of Warcraft fans with the launch of the captivating introductory chapter of the Worldsoul Saga; The War Within. However, that’s not all Blizzard has in store for fans in 2024. Mark your calendars for November 23 because Blizzard is already gearing up to celebrate the monumental 20th Anniversary of World of Warcraft.

In honour of this incredible milestone, Blizzard has unveiled a special 20th Anniversary In-Game Event Preview packed with exciting new content and surprises, including new activities, rewards, and more you won’t want to miss. Check out the preview here:

The Anniversary Celebration will unfold in-game throughout November and December, offering players a couple of months to enjoy an array of new events and activities including:

• Earn and spend a new currency— Bronze Celebration Tokens— to spend on new items for your collection.
• Engage in the Blackrock Depths Raid dungeon
• Collect Iconic Tier 2 transmog appearance sets
• Go Timewalking through Classic World of Warcraft Dungeons
• Earn a New Mount, Blizzard Employee Service Award cosmetics, and More
• Celebrate with an expanded event at the Caverns of Time
• Join Chromie on a new time-bending adventure with the Codex of Chromie
• Discover new secrets and solve them with Guest Relations
• Defeat Party-Crashing World Bosses including the Sha of Anger and Archavon the Stonewatcher
• Go back for some PvP revenge during Korrak’s Revenge in Alterac Valley
• Celebrate 30 Years of Warcraft with Warcraft III themed back appearances on the Trading Post

While the Anniversary Celebration event patch (11.0.5) does not yet have a confirmed release date, keep your eyes peeled for further updates as we approach World of Warcraft’s 20th birthday. This milestone promises to be an unforgettable experience for all fans, marking two decades of epic adventures and cherished memories in the world of Azeroth.

The post The World of Warcraft 20th Anniversary Celebration Preview Will Bring A Heap Of New Things To The Game appeared first on Press Start.

Season 7 of Warcraft Rumble is well underway with new units, events, boards and more.

During our recent adventures at Blizzard HQ in Irvine, California, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Art Director Jeremy Collins and Senior Game Designer Brendan Farrell from the Warcraft Rumble development team to chat about the current state of the game and what’s new this season. In particular, we learned about the most recent addition to Rumble’s ever-expanding collection of minis: the Cenarion family.

When designing the Cenarion family, the Blizzard team wanted to give players lots of new strategies to explore but also wanted to bring in some of the magical forest vibes familiar to World of Warcraft players who have explored the home of the Cenarion Circle, Moonglade. We asked the developers to tell us a bit more about the concept of Rumble families at large:

Brendan Farrell: When the rumble first started, there was only one family, and we had a collection of only five or six minis. A lot of them are still in the game, like the Gnoll, the Gryphon Rider, the Troll, and the Kobold – they were the original family. As the game started more built out and we built more of these minis we felt it would be appropriate to have them these sort of buckets. In classic World of Warcraft, there’s Alliance and Horde, and we thought there’s more variety here.  There’s more room for strategy and building out these different armies so that’s where the first five families came from. We had Alliance, we had Horde, Blackrock, Undead and Beast. There is so much in the Warcraft universe to pull from and put into Rumble, and I feel like we’ve only tapped 2% of what could be.

Philosophically, whenever we’re thinking about adding a mini or a family to the game, we’re thinking firstly, what’s missing in terms of the World of Warcraft lore, what haven’t we yet represented? Then what does the game, and what do players need strategically? What family or minis would add to the diversity that is already there? Rather than just tuning existing minis, buffing and nerfing, we’d rather introduce new tools to shake up the meta.

That’s kind of where the idea of Cenarion came from. We asked, ‘What is missing from our kit?‘. Cenarion is all about sustainability, building these big pushes, and using the duality of the Druid. Almost all of the Cenarion minis have some sort of utility; they can do more than one thing. Cenarion was a pretty common request from a lot of the team and a lot of the players. Even if they didn’t ask for the family by name, they asked for a lot of the characters that would easily fit into the Cenarion family.

Jeremy Collins: With a phone, you have a limited amount of screen space, so it’s very important to us in Art to make sure that at a glance, you can see a unit and know who that unit is. A lot of the gameplay is joyful chaos; something good is happening in this lane, but something bad is happening in that lane, and you’re constantly jockeying your attention between different places – because of that, we are very intentional about making sure that the characters we design have only have two or three major colour blocks so that when you’re in the middle of the battle and you see green and red, for example, you know that it’s the Warsong Grunt. We don’t want to overcomplicate the design of things.

One of the most exciting aspects of any Warcraft Rumble update is the introduction of new minis. It’s always fun to see familiar and often beloved residents of the Warcraft universe adapted to Rumble and turned into a mini via a process that the developers unofficially refer to as ‘Rumble-fying’.  With the addition of several new Cenarion family minis this season, we asked Brendan and Jeremy to tell us about the process of Rumble-fying and some of the minis they’ve had the most fun with over the years.

JC: The first really Rumble-fied character  we ended up making was the Kobold. There’s just this magical moment when you’re creating a mini where you’ve talked so much about the design, you’ve created so much concept art, but the character isn’t modelled yet. Somewhere along the pipeline we write the script for the character and then we’ll record it in a VO session and for me, it’s that moment when the mini really comes alive.

We had this amazing voice actor who played Invader Zim, who played the Kobold, and he just started going ‘money, money, money‘ and all the stuff you hear in the game right now, and it was a moment for me where I was like ‘oh my God, this character is real now’. Then, once you pair that up with the model and the animation and the rig, and everybody adds their piece, it’s just this edifying experience.

Here are some of the recently Rumble-fied Cenarion minis you can add to battle this season:

Cenarius

The Cenarion family is named after one of Rumble’s latest leaders, Cenarius. He’s a demigod with an Area of Effect (AoE) healing utility for allies and an AoE root for crowd-controlling enemies.  He’s all about control of the battlefield, sustain and buying time to build pushes.

• Deploy Cost: 5 Gold
• Health: 600
• Healing: 28 health every 1.5 seconds
• Damage: 120
• Root Duration: 3 seconds
• Traits: Brambles, Tranquility, Elemental, Resistant, Healer

Onu

If Onu looks familiar, it might be because you’ve already fought him in Darkshore. However, you can now add him to your mini collection. Onu is going to open up a lot of new strategies and play styles with his unique kit. Despite his slow movement speed, he supports other minis that push ahead and protect him while offering a mobile deploy zone for friendly minis. This deploy zone blocks enemy deploys, grants double damage on the first attack and even persists for a short time after the towering tank’s death.

• Deploy Cost: 6 Gold
• Health: 3000
• Damage: 190
• Traits: Safe Arbor, Tank, Vulnerable

Ancient of War

“The designers were like ‘oh, we need a tank character, but we have this cool idea where you have to spend your gold to play it – you can spend a little of it or you can spend all of it, and depending on how much you spend, the size of the tank gets bigger or smaller,’ and we were like, ‘That’s a great idea’. There are characters in Warcraft that can fit that mould. You don’t want to see a thin, spindly character in that role because, visually, it doesn’t work, and that’s how we ended up going with the Ancient of War,” – Art Director, Jeremy Collins

Ancient of War is a tank with some interesting mechanics; its physical size, health pool and attack power is determined by the amount of gold you have on hand to spend summoning it. It can be utilised in battle in a few ways, to drive a strong push or as the last later of defense, making it a flexible and versatile mini to add to your collection.

• Deploy Cost: Consumes all current Gold
• Health: 850 (1 Gold) – 3770 (10 Gold)
• Damage: 60 (1 Gold) – 267 (10 Gold)
• Traits: Surge, Tank, Armored

Moonkin

The Moonkin is a ranged damage dealer useful in single and multi-target encounters. It alternates between a single strike and an AoE attack, similar to the Chimaera, but the Moonkin will typically pursue the same target until it dies.

• Deploy Cost: 4 Gold
• Health: 450
• Moonfire Damage: 165
• Hurricane Damage: 80
• Traits: AOE, Elemental

Bog Beast

The Bog Beast is a low-cost tank, and in addition to its good looks, this mini gains a 30% boost to all healing received, making it a hardy unit that can maintain a push during dicey encounters.

• Deploy Cost: 3 Gold
• Health: 1100
• Damage: 165
• Traits: Tank, Resistant

Warcraft Rumble is free to play and available on Android and iOS devices.

The Author of this article travelled to the USA as a guest of Blizzard.

The post We Spoke To The Warcraft Rumble Devs About What’s Coming To The Game appeared first on Press Start.

During our time in Irvine, California, visiting Blizzard HQ, we had the opportunity to sit down with Associate Design Director Maria Hamilton and Lead Prop Artist Jordan Powers to chat about World of Warcraft’s latest expansion, the War Within. In particular, we learned about the expansion setting, the brand-new zone of Khaz Algar. We discussed the development team’s goals, design processes and what to expect when players descend and discover the incredible expanse below the Azeroth’s surface. 

For new and returning players, can you introduce the new Zone and how it fits into the existing World of Warcraft and the new expansion, the War Within?

Maria Hamilton: So, Khaz Algar is this area off the coast of Pandaria and Kalim Dor, sort of in the southwest corner of our World Map. It has been isolated for a very long time. A very, very long time. 

The first creatures we meet in Khaz Algar are the Earthen, who we’ve met before. These Earthen have been isolated; they’ve been here since they were given edicts and told by the Titans what to do before they left. Since they left, these Earthen have been trying to follow the Titans’ instructions as faithfully as possible, but time has caused their society to fracture a bit. There are Earthen who want to follow the Titans, but there are some who want to do their own thing, and there are others who are just frantically trying to keep the machines going, and they are struggling as a group.

So, the Isle of Dorn is the first Zone with the City of Dornogal, and we will be mainly based out of there.

Jordan Powers: The Zone directly beneath Dornogal is the Ringing Deeps, and this is the first step that players will take underground as they venture deeper and deeper into the War Within. This is a beautiful zone; openings in the cavern ceiling unleash these God Rays and make these beautiful cenotes into lush mineral pools and whatnot. 

It’s a cool juxtaposition next to the heavy industry that takes place here, where the Earthen have their big Titan machines.

We encounter a variety of cultures and characters down here. Of course, one of the returning fan favourites is the Kobolds. They’ve been around since World of Warcraft Vanilla, and fans are going to be really excited to dig deeper into the stories that we have woven for them.

Directly beneath that is Hallowfall.

MH: Hallowfall is pretty cool because the Ringing Deeps are a little tighter and resemble more natural caverns, but as you come into Hallowfall, it’s just this huge, vast cavern that opens right up; you can barely see the boundaries of the walls.

A huge crystal embedded in the ceiling projects down shining light but occasionally goes dark. When it does, it becomes very dangerous and horrible things come out of the endless sea stretching into the distance.

The airships are one of the most notable things as you enter this Zone. You have to wonder why there are airships so far underground – which is good because we want you to wonder and ask questions here.

In Hallowfall, you’ll find the City of Mereldar, where the Arathi live and where they have been engaged in this ongoing war with the Nerubians. The Nerubians have been attacking non-stop, and the Arathi have been trying to push them back, but the Arathi are few, and the Nerubians are many, so it has been a serious battle for them, and they are getting worn down and getting tired.

From there, we go down into Azj-Kahet.

JP: Azj-Kahet is really the big pay-off that fans have been looking for in regards to the Nerubians, an older race that we encountered back in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. 

This is their civilisation and their city that we get to explore, so there are a lot of cool opportunities for us to not only give a nod to the ones that we encountered in WOTLK but also shed new light on how they live as a society, the different echelons of their culture. Things that we weren’t able to explore in previous expansions, we are able to explore now. 

It is a vast city that feels otherworldly and has dark elegance. It’s full of fun, cool stories and lots of creepy crawly things, and we think players will be really excited to explore this place.

When designing the new expansion,  where did you start, and what were your goals from the beginning?

MH: We’re in the first chapter of the World of Warcraft Worldsoul Saga, so we’re setting things up for that larger story arc. We’re also telling a story within the War Within that should feel and be satisfying by its conclusion. 

The first thing we thought about is ‘what are the important pieces that we need to see using that runway and across the entire Saga?’ What were the cultures? What were the creatures? What art kits would we need? How would we build this descent into the Earth?’

There was a lot of pre-production creative thinking and visual development, which included some amazing art made by our artists. Sometimes we have one idea and somebody will show up with a painting and we’ll be like ‘oh, nope! We want that, that’s better!’ and there was a lot of that going on as we talked about how we would build this out and where we wanted to have our moments of surprise and delight. I can tell you that vista, as you come into Hallowfall for the first time, we have a painting of that, and when we first saw it, we went, ‘Let’s do that!’.

Early on, there was a lot of inspiration and conversation about narrowing down the story and figuring out what kind of structure we wanted. For the art processes themselves, they do a 2D map, and once they like the layout, they’ll go to 3D, and then it gets artsy and fancy. Jordan can tell you about that.

JP: Everything we do in World of Warcraft is a team effort. It’s a very creative and collaborative process, and a lot of those early talks that Maria mentioned start with a lot of ‘hey wouldn’t it be cool if…’ and ‘Yeah, it would be cool if…’ and then we explore that.

Our amazing visual development team creates these beautiful concepts that fuel our discussions about what we’re doing and where we’re going and the themes and stories we want to tell. 

When designing a new continent, do you already know how many Zones you want to include?

MH: We experiment a bit. We tend to target a certain amount, but sometimes it doesn’t feel right. A couple of our Zones, during early development, change size or parts of one might get moved to another one when there are times that we go, ‘That’s an amazing space, but you know what, this other area needs it more’.

Now that we have Skyriding, we have to consider how players traverse space and how quickly they can do so because that also contributes to how long or deep we want the zone to be. 

Generally speaking, it’s not so much a count of zones as it is a 

Dragonflight was huge, the largest we have ever done, and it was pretty hard to fill all that space. We’ve been trying to find the right sizes to make it exciting and fun to fly through, but at the same time, we need to fill it with interesting activities.

JP: From an art perspective,  it’s a very organic process. We have different biomes that we want to fit into each Zone, but there are times when we plan for a certain number or types of biomes in a Zone, and it’s really cool, but it feels too cramped, so we’ll pull it aside for another Zone or see if we can use the same themes to balance out a different area.

Can you tell us more about the process of designing the defining elements and unique visual essence of each Zone?

JP: We have broad strokes whenever we’re designing things. We have a big picture of what we’re trying to achieve collectively. As the World Art Team, we make a list of biomes and a bestiary of the types of creatures that occupy each of them.

How did the Isle of Dorn become the introduction point for the War Within?

MH: We wanted to start you with something more familiar because we want you to be increasingly surprised as you go down. 

Isle of Dorn is the most normal of our Zones, and when we go down to the Ringing Deeps, you are maybe surprised by the lush greenery and the cenotes – you probably expect the heavy industry, but it’s still interesting and exciting because it’s Titan Works and that’s cool. Then you go down to Hallowfall, and it’s like, ‘What is going on here?’ it’s very surprising, with airships and ocean and crystals that change colour. It’s weird. When you go down to Azj-Kahet and it’s like ‘Wait a minute, there’s a spider city down here that’s been hidden for a really long time?’

We were intentionally going for a more familiar to less familiar vibe and an increasing feeling of danger as you go down. 

What about your personal favourite areas or experiences and elements in those areas?

MH: Oh wow, how do you choose? It’s like picking a favourite child.

JP: For me, it’s got to be Hallowfall. Mereldar is so cool, there’s giant DaVinci-esque machinery going on, there are airships, there is a lot of lore for players to discover and Easter Eggs that we’ve sprinkled throughout the art to support those bits of lore. Every area of New Mereldar just feels lived in, it feels alive and I think that’s a real triumph. I’m really proud of that.

MH: I really like Hallowfall as well, but I’ll go with Azj-Kahet. In Azj-Kahet we have this concept of a city that has built upon itself for generation after generation after generation. As you go down underneath the City, you see the decaying ruins of what was there before and I like that feeling of ancient past and danger down there. It’s not great for people who are afraid of spiders – though we do have an arachnophobia mode – there are places where there are just holes that creepy things come out of, and there are pits you can fall into where there are spiders. It’s just a hit of creepy horror and I think the artists have done a phenomenal job in creating that atmosphere. 

We have these blooms, odd, almost alien-looking flowers down there, that are interesting shades of magenta that go well with Nerubians. When you think of Nerubians, you think of purples, magentas, burgundy, and those kinds of colours, so we’ve got that in the foliage as well, and I really like the vibe.

There are some beautiful places in what is essentially a terribly creepy place.

The World of Warcraft development team is notoriously on the pulse of community feedback. Have you had any particularly interesting or unexpected feedback so far?

MH: You’re right; we’re listening to feedback very much. We do a great deal of collection of that and it gets sent out in regular reports to our team so that we can get both anecdotal statements people are making as well as a variety of statistics around different things, for example ‘a lot of people are dying in this spot, it seems like trouble’ or ‘not many people are taking this path,  they’re taking that path’ and other things like that that are very helpful to us.

We expected the big reaction we’re getting for the Hallowfall and its crystal. We’re enjoying hearing people geek out over moments in Ringing Deeps. The Kobold Village in particular, has inspired a fair bit of feedback because of course, it’s all about candles and wax, so the idea that there are big brutish Kobolds with bigger candles and the Candle King has a snuffer that he carries around to snuff out people’s candles.

I don’t know if I was expecting people to be so enthused about Azj-Kahet to be honest. It’s creepy, and that’s not everybody’s cup of tea, but players seem to really like it. 

When the story takes you through there, we’ve got some humour that I think helps lighten the mood a little bit, which is good because there are some very scary optional stories there, too.

JP: From an art perspective too, we always try to keep a pulse on feedback. One of the big things we’re mindful of when we get these reports that Marie mentioned is player navigation. Often, we’ll work on a Zone for an extended period of time so we’ll have the luxury of knowing where everything is, but players don’t always have that, so we get feedback to brighten certain assets or make landmarks easier for players or more distinct. We always try to be mindful of those sorts of things and address feedback where we can.

MH: One really good example is that our Zones are stacked, and because it’s contiguous, there isn’t a load in between. Sometimes, when you’re trying to go up or down, the transitions between Zones are less clear than you might expect, and it might not be obvious where exactly you need to go to leave a Zone. For this expansion, we had to improve our map so that it was easier for players to look at it and know how to transition between different Zones.

World of Warcraft: The War Within is available now via Battlenet for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. You can access World of Warcraft and WoW Classic, including Cataclysm Classic, Season of Discovery, and Hardcore Realms with a single subscription. Purchase the War Within separately to journey through never-before-seen subterranean worlds of Khaz Algar, investigate the malevolent plans of the Harbinger of the Void, and deliver justice upon the servants of the Shadow.

The Author of this article travelled to the USA as a guest of Blizzard.

The post We Spoke To World of Warcraft: The War Within Devs About All Things Khaz Algar appeared first on Press Start.

The first major expansion for Diablo IV launches on October 8th, 2024, and ahead of the official release date, we learned everything there is to know about Vessel of Hatred and the expansion’s new class, The Spiritborn.

Recently, we had the exclusive opportunity to visit Blizzard HQ in Irvine, California, for an in-depth, hands-on session with the Spiritborn and Vessel of Hatred. We came away incredibly eager to get into the new expansion when it goes live later this year.

Introducing the Spiritborn

Despite a widespread demand for adding a classic sword-and-board class like the Paladin or Crusader from previous games, the developers at Blizzard have chosen a different and distinct path. Committed to pushing the boundaries of the iconic Diablo universe, they’ve introduced the Spiritborn, a class that promises to imbue the critically acclaimed game with fresh combat, gameplay dynamics, visuals and more.

Originating from a mysterious and ancient civilisation deep within the perilous jungle region of Nahantu, the Spiritborn are apex predators, deeply connected to the spiritual and natural elements of the region they call home.

During our hands-on session, we were free to explore Nahantu through one of four pre-built level 30 Spiritborn characters.

Welcome to the Jungle

Almost right away, I was struck by how different the environment felt compared to the existing Diablo IV aesthetic. Whereas Sanctuary has long been characterised by its brooding, blood-red hues and oppressive gothic architecture, Nahantu envelops players in an environment defined by its rich, vibrant greenery. The jungle is a sprawling tapestry of dense foliage, towering ancient trees, and a labyrinthine network of overgrown paths. The sunlight that filters through the thick canopy creates dappled patterns on the forest floor and exposes the thicket, teeming with exotic and unfamiliar flora and fauna.

It’s undeniably distinct from the base game’s familiar dreary ruins and hellish landscapes, offering a novel and attractive backdrop for the game’s next narrative-driven chapter.

Early Gameplay

The Spiritborn class operates around the unique concept of Spirit Guardians. Players use the Spirit Hall to choose a primary and a secondary Spirit, each offering distinct abilities and passive skills. For example, choosing the Jaguar as your primary Spirit imbues all your skills with Jaguar attributes and grants a passive ability that deals additional damage with every fourth direct hit. The secondary Spirit provides supplementary passive benefits; the Centipede, for example, can heal a percentage of your maximum life for each recently poisoned nearby enemy.

The versatility of the Spiritborn class is genuinely exciting and impressive. You can select the same Spirit for both primary and secondary roles or mix and match between the four available Spirits. Regardless of your choice, you can still integrate abilities from all four Spirits into your skill customisation, allowing for countless build possibilities. This customisation opens up extensive opportunities for players to experiment with different skill combinations and synergies, potentially reshaping meta gameplay and PvP strategies.

My three-hour exploration with the Spiritborn began with the pre-configured Jaguar build, but my curiosity soon led me to experiment with other Spirit Guardians. Each dungeon and challenge provided a new opportunity to visit the Skill Tree, testing various Spirit combinations to see how they could be tailored to suit my playstyle and any upcoming battles. The depth of customisation available encourages players to continually refine their approach, especially when gearing up for significant encounters. I had the most fun with one particular configuration: a build centred around the Jaguar as the primary Spirit and the Centipede as the secondary Spirit. This combo offered a dynamic and powerful playstyle that perfectly suited my natural affinity for fast-paced, intense melee combat with the added bonus of area-of-effect capabilities and enduring damage over time.

With the Jaguar as my primary, my Spiritborn became a relentless force in close-quarters combat, utilising a suite of abilities that delivered rapid, repetitive and increasingly damaging melee attacks that reflect the Jaguar’s hallmark speed and ferocity. Unleashing a flurry of violent swipes, the Jaguar’s unique passive ability further enhanced this aggressive style with the fourth direct hit with a Jaguar skill triggering additional slashes, dealing 100% of the damage of the previous four strikes. This effect ramped up the damage output and created a visually striking chain of attacks that felt as satisfying as it was effective.

I paired the Jaguar with the Centipede as my secondary Spirit, which introduced a complementary layer of tactical depth and created a different spectacle, introducing glowing auras and eerie creepy crawly visuals to the screen. One of the standout features of the Centipede is its ability to inflict lingering poison damage. Using the Centipede’s skills, I could lay down venomous fields that poisoned enemies over time, gradually sapping their health as they remained in the affected area. This increased my overall damage output and facilitated more strategic engagement. Watching enemies stumble into my toxic traps, I felt more in control of the battlefield than with the chaotic intensity of the Jaguar alone. This approach allowed me to deal significant burst damage while wearing down enemies over time, making it highly effective in solo bosses and large encounters. It delivered a thrilling and dynamic gameplay experience that kept me engaged throughout the session, and I couldn’t believe how quickly three hours had passed by the time it was over.

Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred is already proving to offer a new flavour of D4 gameplay, brimming with new gameplay potential. The Spiritborn’s new suite of mechanics offers a fresh and dynamic experience that’s sure to give the game a shot in the arm when it arrives in October.

Spiritborn is exclusive to Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, available October 8th, 2024 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC via Battle.net or Steam.

You can check out our full review of Diablo IV here, where we scored it a massive 9/10 by saying, “Diablo IV is an unquestionable win for Blizzard and one of their foundational franchises when it needed it most. An unrelenting commitment to vision, redefined Sanctuary, never-ending player progression, and excellent boss fights are just a few of the reasons Diablo IV isn’t held back by uneven pacing and recycled content.”

The author of this post travelled to California as a guest of Blizzard.

The post Diablo IV: Vessel Of Hatred Hands-On Preview – Unleashing The Spiritborn appeared first on Press Start.

To celebrate the launch of Hearthstone’s Perils in Paradise, we sat down with the developers at Blizzard HQ to learn everything there is to know about the new expansion.  Perils in Paradise is Hearthstone’s 30th expansion, and it comes with 145 brand-new cards when it launches this Wednesday, July 24.

Pack your bags for a trip to the beautiful Spiral Isle as Perils of Paradise takes Hearthstone players to Azeroth’s most exciting new getaway, the Marin. After years of adventuring, fan favourite scoundrel Marin the Fox has found life’s true treasure: a little slice of Paradise. He’s opened up a new resort, and everyone’s invited. It has sightseeing Tourists, Locations you’ll want to visit, again and again, fancy Drinks, and a few scoundrels and scallywags.

“We all know what it’s like to have great vacations or sketchy vacations and in this case, there’s pirate’s everywhere, it’s a pretty sketchy vacation,”

– Tyler Bielman, Game Director

New Keyword: Tourist

While building your deck, including a Tourist adds the deckbuilding interface of a second class’s cards from Perils in Paradise, allowing you to mix any number of those cards into your deck as though you were playing that class as well. Each class has a Legendary Tourist, and each Tourist gets to visit a particular specified class. No vacation hopping—you can only put one Tourist in your deck at a time. We asked Game Director Tyler Bielman to share his excitement about the expansion’s unique new feature:

“The Tourist mechanic is pretty incredible,” enthused Tyler Bielman, “It is the first time you can build truly two-class decks. You have a card in each class that gives you access to the cards from another class from this set that you can then bring in. The dual-class experiments that we have done in the past have always been a little bit diluted because if we make a dual-class card, it has to feel a little bit like Class A and a little bit like Class B, and it comes off as somewhat compromised.  This is truly a two-class deck you can build, and that feels pretty different I think it’s going to lead to a very exciting meta where you’re going to see archetypes that have never existed before and combinations of things that are unexpected. I think it has a chance to be a really fun opening stage of the meta.  We’re really looking forward to that,”

Tasty Drinks

Perils in Paradise introduces six new refreshing Drink cards – each Drink is a spell that comes with two refills, allowing it to be cast multiple times for more flexibility with your Mana and card effects. You may recognise this mechanic from previous cards like Bunch of Bananas and Barrel of Monkeys.

Location, Location, Location

Special location cards can re-open immediately when you meet certain conditions – typically after playing a Location card, you have to wait two turns before you can use them again. Perils in Paradise, however, introduces new cards like Hiking Trail, which can be used immediately after gaining armour or Parrot Sanctuary, which can be used again after playing a Battlecry Minion.

During our time at Blizzard HQ in Irvine, California, we also met with the Diablo IV team to learn about the all-new Spiritborn class. You can read more about the new class and upcoming expansion, Vessel of Hatred, right here.

The post Pack Your Bags For Hearthstone: Perils In Paradise appeared first on Press Start.

Earlier this week, we shared that EA Sports FC 25 will launch on September 27th for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.

Further details have emerged, including the highly requested addition of a fully featured single-player career mode for women’s football. For the first time in the franchise, EA Sports FC 25 players can create a manager or player career in one of five major women’s football leagues; England’s Women’s Super League; the United States’ National Women’s Soccer League; France’s Division 1 Féminine; Spain’s Liga F and Germany’s Frauen-Bundesliga. Players will also be able to retire their women’s pro players and cross over to a men’s league as a coach. According to the developers, big licenses are a calling card of EA Sports’ flagship titles, and as a demonstration of their commitment to full parity, this was an essential part of equality in the women’s career mode treatment.

Game design director Pete O’Donnell had this to say, “The key thing that we wanted to do was present the women’s career authentically, and make it feel like it really was, not just like ‘men’s career with women players,”

EA Sports FC 25 will be the second team sports game to fully establish a women’s career mode after NBA 2k21 introduced “The W” for the WNBA. Since then, the mode has evolved into an independent mode with its own unique features.

In an effort to reflect the reality of women’s football, the women’s career mode emphasises grassroots and academy football, which play a huge role in developing talent for parent clubs. For the first time in the franchise, the youth academy component of a manager’s career will also include playable events for both women’s and men’s careers.

Interestingly, women’s careers will have unique financial models which have been developed in close consultation with experts in women’s professional football, including former Gotham FC midfielder Nicole Baxter and 2007’s World Cup winning goal scorer for Germany, Simone Laudehr – both of whom are employed by EA Sports. “The key kind of differences, within women’s football, is the finances,” O’Donnell said. “They’re managing tighter budgets, they’re negotiating a lot shorter contracts, and women’s football is a lot more people moving at the end of contracts when they’re out of contract, adapting to different salary structures, and the realities of smaller transfer portals,” he continued.

As a result, the contract negotiations for top women’s players are a lot more competitive. This, said O’Donnell, helps the women’s career mode feel distinct, encouraging players to consider and meet wholly different challenges.

While a women’s career mode may not appeal to some, this is an exciting and long-awaited breakthrough for many. In Australia, women make up more than 22% of the participation base and this number is expected to rise closer to 50% by 2027. During the 2023 Women’s World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand, the Matilda’s clash with England’s Lionesses attracted a national average audience of 7.13 million viewers, hitting a peak of 11.15 million concurrent viewers at one point during the live broadcast. In April 2024, the 2023–24 A-League Women season set the record for the most attended season of any women’s sport in Australian history.

There is simply no denying that the addition of women’s career mode to the latest instalment of the EA Sports FC franchise is not only a commercially wise and socioculturally attuned step for EA Sports and sports games across the board but an essential and obvious decision.

As a football player, manager, and women’s football fan myself, I’m looking very forward to testing out this new feature… unless my player gets transferred to Tottenham.

The post EA Sports FC 25 Is Adding A Women’s Career Mode For The First Time appeared first on Press Start.

Last week, we had the pleasure of joining the Diablo IV team at Blizzard HQ for an exclusive Class Preview Event. During our visit, we got to hear directly from the game’s leads, enjoy hands-on experience with the Vessel of Hatred expansion and learn everything there is to know about the highly anticipated new class, Spiritborn.

Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred

Vessel of Hatred is Diablo IV’s first expansion and continues the main title’s narrative. The expansion is centred around the story of Mephisto, one of the three Prime Evils, known as the Lord of Hatred and who also happens to be Lilith’s father. Set in the Torajan Jungles, players will be led to the southernmost parts of Sanctuary to explore a familiar location in an all-new way. Kurast, one of the expansion’s primary locations, was also featured in Diablo II, but according to developers, decades have passed since players have seen this ancient city, and a lot has changed since then.

Introducing Spiritborn

Vessel of Hatred introduces an all-new class to the Diablo franchise that intimately ties into the unique themes of the new expansion. This new class, known as the Spiritborn, is a distinct melee class that combines an array of martial arts with spectacular spiritual evocation to produce a dynamic, high impact and fun combat experience unlike anything Diablo has seen before.

The Spiritborn are an ancient people native to the jungle region of Nahantu who have been called to endure the Trial of Mist, a gruelling days-long test of intrinsic skill and fortitude. Young Nahantu natives begin this trial in the hopes of learning to open their “sight” and becoming Spiritborn, but due to the dangerous nature and intense demand of the tasks involved, only a few succeed. During the Trial, the Spiritborn experience a consuming metamorphosis, shedding their past selves in exchange for passage to their Spirit Realm self, believing that their spirit will be reborn as a powerful animal guardian.

When discussing the origin of the Spiritborn, associate narrative designer, Eleni Rivera-Colon shared that the Vessel of Hatred development team drew inspiration from many different world cultures. Their goal, explained Rivera-Colon, was to build a distinct community-based culture that felt fresh.

Spiritborn Gameplay

Agile and adaptable, the Spiritborn is an energetic and powerful class that uses glaives, polearms and quarterstaffs to shift between physical and elemental attacks and abilities, using Vigor as its primary resource. A key component of the Spiritborn’s skillset is their ability to call upon Spirit Guardians that can transcend the veil of the Spirit Realm and impact the battlefield with dramatic and visually stunning powers.

The Spiritborn embraces four ethereal Spirit Guardians that influence and tailor their unique playstyle:

• Jaguar: Utilising hyper-aggressive fire attacks, the jaguar is characterised by repeated, high-speed blows that ramp up in lethality. The jaguar’s incarnate skill is Ferocity which is a stacking buff that increases attack speed and can reduce cooldowns.
• Gorilla: The gorilla excels in physical attacks and defensive skills, shrugging off incoming damage by focusing on mitigating and blocking abilities. The gorilla’s incarnate skill is Resolve which can be stockpiled to provide additional damage reduction.
• Centipede: The centipede focuses on poisons and debuffs, draining the strength from its goes with poisoning damage over time and disruptive crowd controls.
• Eagle: The eagle offers high mobility skills and lightning-based attacks. Its mechanical focus is increasing movement speed and amplifying evade.

Described by game designer Bjorn Mikkelson, the Spiritborn class fantasy is heavily driven by martial arts and the underlying virtues that each of the Spirit Guardians represents. These two concepts are naturally intertwined with one another with the virtues of the Spiritborn community manifesting as unique Spirit Guardians, and those Spirit Guardians subsequently influencing the fighting style of the Spiritborn who summons them. This, said Mikkelson, is a direct reference to real-world martial arts, the various fighting styles and the idea of redirecting energy in different ways to enhance combat.

The all-new Spirit Hall enables players to select a primary and secondary Spirit Guardian from the above. Each selection offers a unique Spirit-based bonus and the ability to customise the combat, mobility, and visual thematic style of your Spiritborn character. You can further individualise your Spiritborn character with new legendaries and unique associated with the new class.

Spiritborn is exclusive to Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, available October 8, 2024 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC via Battle.net or Steam.

You can check out our full review of Diablo IV here, where we scored it a massive 9/10 by saying, “Diablo IV is an unquestionable win for Blizzard and one of their foundational franchises when it needed it most. An unrelenting commitment to vision, redefined Sanctuary, never-ending player progression, and excellent boss fights are just a few of the reasons Diablo IV isn’t held back by uneven pacing and recycled content.”

The post Into The Wild With Diablo IV’s New Class: Spiritborn appeared first on Press Start.

Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred is scheduled to launch in October of this year and will feature the highly anticipated new class, the Spiritborn. Ahead of the expansion’s release, Blizzard is hosting an official Spiritborn Reveal Stream on Friday, the 19th of July, at 4:00 am (AEST), and you can watch it right here:

During this special live stream, community director Adam Fletcher, game director Brent Gibson, associate narrative designer Eleni Rivera-Colon, art director Nick Chilano, and game designer Bjorn Mikkelson will share details about the Spiritborn’s story, art, design, gameplay and more with the public for the very first time. There will also be a Q&A segment at the end of the stream for players to field their questions directly to the Vessel of Hatred team.

Following the Spiritborn Reveal Livestream, we’ll also be sharing exclusive interviews and exciting details from our trip to Blizzard HQ to play test the Spiritborn!

We gave Diablo IV a huge 9/10 in our review, saying “Diablo IV is an unquestionable win for Blizzard and one of their foundational franchises when it needed it most. An unrelenting commitment to vision, redefined Sanctuary, never-ending player progression, and excellent boss fights are just a few of the reasons Diablo IV isn’t held back by uneven pacing and recycled content.” We also spoke to the Vessel of Hatred development team about the upcoming expansion during our time at BlizzCon 2023, and you can read what Expansion Director Tiffany Wat and Associate Game Director Joe Piepiora had to say about the game’s exciting first expansion right here.

The post Watch The Diablo 4 Spiritborn Reveal Livestream Here appeared first on Press Start.

Blizzard Entertainment has partnered with CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice stores to bring an awesome new Diablo IV collaboration to fans across the world, including Australia and New Zealand. The partnership includes two brand-new themed drinks, exclusive merchandise and in-game items available at select stores across the ANZ region until November 26, 2023.

According to CoCo reps, this marks a significant moment in the bubble tea industry, since it’s apparently the first time a boba tea brand has teamed up with a major gaming brand for a collaboration of this calibre.

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Blizzard is no stranger to weird and wonderful Diablo IV collaborations, including this PC infused with real human blood and this devilishly sexy collection from SteelSeries. However, the Diablo IV x CoCo collab is the first new collaboration we’ve seen since BlizzCon 2023, where we were nothing but short on exciting news and announcements for Blizzard Entertainment’s beloved franchise.

If you’re interested in learning more, you can read our interview with developers, where we discussed Diablo IV’s upcoming expansion Vessel of Hatred, due in 2024. If you’re still looking for reasons to dive into Diablo IV, you should probably check out our review here, where we awarded it a stellar 9/10.

Here’s what CoCo has to say about each of these new flavours:

Frozen Orb

Frozen Orb features a mango green tea base with coconut jellies and blue curacao-flavoured sago pearls, crowned with a layer of cola, exciting your tastebuds with icy enchantment.

Lilith’s Advocate

Lilith’s Advocate is a creamy milk tea infused with strawberry sauce and chewy tapioca pearls, evoking Lilith’s captivating essence.

Reward yourself by ordering any CoCo x Diablo IV themed drink to receive in-game rewards, plus the following at select stores:

Diablo IV is one hell of a good time and is currently in its vampire-themed second season, Season of Blood. If you have a persistent internet connection, you can play Diablo IV PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC via Battle.net or Steam.

The post Diablo 4 Has Launched A New Drink Collaboration With CoCo Tea appeared first on Press Start.

We had the pleasure of sitting down with Diablo IV’s Expansion Director Tiffany Wat and Associate Game Director Joe Piepiora to chat about Blade, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a little bit of Diablo IV, including the recently announced Vessel of Hatred expansion.

Diablo IV’s first expansion is called ‘Vessel of Hatred‘. Can you tell us a bit about the meaning of this title?

Tiffany Wat: As you know, Mephisto is the Lord of Hatred, and at the very end of the main campaign of Diablo IV, Neyrelle [one of the characters from the main game] is leaving, sailing away with the Soulstone and Mephisto is trapped inside. In the teaser that we showed during the opening ceremony, that creepy voice you heard belongs to Mephisto. So, she’s carrying him inadvertently trapped in that Soulstone and he is constantly battling to get out of it and is influencing Neyrelle every step of the way. So, the Soulstone is the Vessel of Hatred. That’s where he is trapped.

We’re very excited to see what happens with him. If you’re a fan of Diablo II, you’ll recall that in Act III of the game, you actually fight Mephisto, so it’s exciting to pull from that nostalgia. I call them the Pesky Prime Evils, they like to come back – just when you think you’ve defeated them, they come back. Mephisto is my favourite Prime Evil – no offence to the others, but his story is fascinating. He’s the father of Lillith, which is really cool because, obviously, she was a main character in the campaign, so it’s just exciting to see what’s next.

Vessel of Hatred’s setting is quite unlike anything we’ve seen in Diablo for a while. Can you tell us more about it?

TW: Yeah, it’s very cool to be able to bring new flora, new fauna and a new colour palette to Diablo IV. In the preview, you saw those lush jungles – in the main game, we have lots of awesome gothic architecture, even though we have areas like desert regions that bring the world to life with different colour palettes. I’m just so excited to see that green and to dive into these lush green forests and see some of the new denizens, new demons and other creepy stuff that we’re going to fight.

Did the community’s love for Diablo II and now Diablo II: Resurrected impact deciding where to set Vessel of Hatred?

TW: One of the core pillars of Diablo IV is to embrace the legacy of the Diablo franchise, and Diablo II: Resurrected was a way to bring that world back – because, as you said, it’s a very beloved game. So, a lot of things really came together for us as we wanted to continue building out the continent, and Torajan is the next region that we’ll explore. Torajan – which we now know as Nahantu – is originally where Mephisto was imprisoned in Diablo II, so it was the perfect tie-in because of Lillith, with Mephisto being her father. I think for us, being able to honour the legacy of the third Prime Evil, who hasn’t really had his own game. It was just the perfect combination to bring it all together. Being able to tell a new story and embrace that legacy was the perfect marriage.

How long has the expansion been in production, and when did you know exactly which direction you wanted to take it in?

Joe Piepiora: When we started out in the world of Diablo IV, as Tif said, we wanted to embrace the legacy. We want to make this massive, continuous world of Sanctuary. In the land mass, we have hit so much of the Eastern Continent already – to Tif’s point earlier – so much of that is sort of like Eastern European, Gothic architecture.

One of the cool things now is that when you see points of the map when looking at manuals from the older games, you’re able to go to those places in Diablo IV, and we’re able to fill in the corners that you haven’t really had the chance to touch in-game previously. Being able to go to Nahantu and really go through it is really exciting, so when we’re thinking about the game early on, we were imagining, ‘where else are we going to want to go eventually?‘ – and we’re not the first Diablo team to think about where we want to go in the world, but that’s the whole idea, it’s fun to embrace the legacy, dive back into spaces and start filling the map.

I don’t know if we’re going to go to every single corner of Sanctuary ever but we need to hit these places that are so important to the story, especially those important to Diablo II and Mephisto.

Are there any locations within Nahantu that you’re particularly excited for fans to experience?

TW: So, in Diablo II, Act III you arrive at the Kurast Docks, and that’s actually a location that we get to revisit, which is really exciting. Seventy-two years have passed since the events of Diablo II, so to see what has happened to the denizens of Sanctuary in that town in that time is super exciting for us. Also, the ziggurat that was shown in the teaser is another place that we get to explore and see what’s going on down there. Where is Mephisto, and what is he up to? We also get to return to Travincal, which is the original prison of Mephisto when the Horadrim imprisoned him in Diablo II – that’s where you go down, and he breaks free, and you get to fight him.

We know there’s a new class coming to Vessel of Hatred. You’re not able to share the details yet, but can you tell us about how the team selects a new class to introduce?

JP: We’re always excited to explore new and old ideas from previous games and think about what’s really resonating with us. When we’re thinking about new classes in Diablo IV, we start with thinking about ‘what are the iconic fantasies that players want to be able to re-experience?‘ these experiences that they’re familiar with because, again, we want to really embrace the legacy and ‘What are the really cool classes that we want to bring back that have strong fantasies?‘

We’re not done with existing classes. There are things that we can add to these classes over time, which means that if we’re going to add a new class to the game, we want it to feel like it has a different fantasy and like it has a place to grow – not just the fantasy but the mechanics of it. ‘We ask, what does it do that makes it different from a necromancer or a druid or this or that?’ We want to feel like it has a niche for players who want to go and experience a different class in a different way. Whether it’s making a new class or an old class returning, wherever we end up going we are fuelled by how we see players interacting, what they’re asking for and how they’re playing the game.

What classes are you currently playing?

JP: This season, I’m playing a firewall sorceress, and I’m having a blast. That wasn’t a pun, but I guess it kind of works; they have fireball.

TW: I’m playing a hardcore necromancer because I haven’t played a hardcore character yet in Diablo IV, so I figured now is the time. I also have a normal rogue because I have so much fun with rogues, even though in Diablo II, I was definitely a sorceress.

JP: In Season 2, it’s so much easier to progress and level up, so I’m excited to get my second character online. I played a rogue all through last season, and now, this season, I’m going to finish off my sorceress soon and probably dive into an army necromancer, load it up with vampire powers and get through all of the seasonal activities. This is such an interesting question because we both play what feels like an endless number of characters, so now I’m thinking, what kind of player am I? I used to be a barbarian player before anything else.

TW: That’s the magic of Diablo and the seasonal system because you have the opportunity to try something new all the time, and with the increased player experience buffs, you get to play multiple characters in one season, and it really inspires me to experiment with both new classes and new character builds all the time.

Speaking of the Season of Blood – how do you go about coming up with a theme for each season?

JP: Every new season we think about a theme that is interesting, feels universal and is evocative for the player, and it’s exciting. Season of Malignant, there’s this inky, dark, malignant disease that is corrupting Sanctuary. It’s ripping out hearts, it’s corrupting things completely, it’s out of control, and these are bloodthirsty monsters. It was a pretty fun theme.

When we went into Season 2 we wanted the player to feel like they were getting power in a different way, and we wanted to feel like they were becoming dark, like they were embracing something dark about themselves. That’s cool, and what else is cool? Blade. You’re the daywalker. You’re going to take vampire powers and use them against vampires. Now that I’m sitting here talking about it, it sounds so stupid to say, but in some ways, it really is that simple. We look at how that can work – we can have corrupted other heroes who become Bloodseekers who are now serving Lord Zir, but then why are they corrupted but not you? Well, you have Lillith’s blood in you, so your adventure is different; you have different powers. It’s a cool dark theme for a cool dark season.

TW: Sarah Michelle Gellar happened to be available.

JP: Sarah Michelle Gellar happened to be available, so we had Buffy the Vampire Slayer do some stuff for us. Diablo is incredible.

Diablo IV is in its second season, Season of Blood, which you can play on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC via Battle.net or Steam.

You can check out our full review of Diablo IV here, where we scored it a massive 9/10 by saying, “Diablo IV is an unquestionable win for Blizzard and one of their foundational franchises when it needed it most. An unrelenting commitment to vision, redefined Sanctuary, never-ending player progression, and excellent boss fights are just a few of the reasons Diablo IV isn’t held back by uneven pacing and recycled content.”

The post We Spoke To Blizzard About Exploring New Territory In Diablo 4’s Vessel Of Hatred Expansion appeared first on Press Start.

Diablo IV hit shelves in early June of this year, fewer than six months ago. During BlizzCon’s 2023 opening ceremony, however,  fans were surprised when the developers announced an upcoming expansion due next year.

You can watch the announcement trailer below:

Vessel of Hatred is Diablo IV’s first expansion and continues the main title’s narrative. The expansion is centred around the story of Mephisto, one of the three Prime Evils, known as the Lord of Hatred and who also happens to be Lilith’s father. Set in the Torajan Jungles, players will be led to the southernmost parts of Sanctuary to explore a familiar location in an all-new way. Kurast, one of the expansion’s primary locations, was also featured in Diablo II, but according to developers, decades have passed since players have seen this ancient city, and a lot has changed since then.

We also know that Vessel of Hatred will introduce a new class to Diablo IV, but the studio hasn’t shared any details yet. What they did confirm, however, is that the class is genuinely unique and has not been featured in a Diablo title before, and they added that it would tie into the overall theme of the expansion.

This is very exciting news for Diablo fans, current and returning, and an excellent opportunity for new players to start their adventuring in Sanctuary for the very first time. Diablo IV is in its second season, Season of Blood, which you can play on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC via Battle.net or Steam.

We have Diablo IV a huge 9/10 in our review, saying “Diablo IV is an unquestionable win for Blizzard and one of their foundational franchises when it needed it most. An unrelenting commitment to vision, redefined Sanctuary, never-ending player progression, and excellent boss fights are just a few of the reasons Diablo IV isn’t held back by uneven pacing and recycled content.”

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You’d be forgiven for letting Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew fly under your radar. An isometric real-time tactical stealth game developed by Mimimi Games, the folks behind Desperados III and Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, it’s certainly not commanded the most attention since its release last week but it’s one that’s absolutely worth a look-in.

Shadow Gambit takes place in a supernatural version of the Golden Age of Piracy, across a mysterious chain of tropical islands known as the Lost Carribean. Aboard the Red Marley, a sentient ghost-ship that talks, you play as Afia Manicato, an undead pirate tasked with reviving the lost souls of your crew using the magic of the legendary Black Pearls.

Led by the disembodied soul of the ship’s spectral skipper, Captain Mordecai, you hop from island to island in search of lost treasure. In pursuit of the Captain’s fortune, you’ll have to face the Inquisition of the Burning Maiden, who have taken over the region with deadly force. Using your arsenal of unique magical abilities and combat skills to infiltrate enemy fortresses and outsmart armies, you progress through the game by recovering ancient relics, reviving crew members and uncovering clues to lead you ever closer to Mordecai’s stash. 

The overarching narrative provides context for your main missions though there is a range of side quests, challenges, and character-related stories to follow in between. After selecting a mission at the map table, it’s time to choose your crew members. New crew members unlock as you progress, and each of them has a set of distinct abilities you can use to reach your goals. Next is picking a spot to dock your ship. This is a crucial decision because each mission takes place on an open region map with multiple ways to approach and plot your path to the exit.

Once you have anchored the Red Marley, the adventure begins. From the dock, you can choose any number of paths, interact with the environment, use your character’s skillset and loadout and take advantage of specific enemy weaknesses to overcome the Inquisition’s settlement. Missions primarily focused on stealth and strategy, but the sheer number of options available means that each island is a playground open for the player to experiment with.

A core aspect of experimenting in Shadow Gambit is the game’s “memory” mechanic. With a quick button click, Captain Mordecai takes a spectral snap-shot of your current state and saves it as a memory. If your plan of attack goes to shit, if you’re suddenly spotted or if you make another fatal error, you can quickly reload a memory and try again. As somebody who does not have a lot of experience with the stealth genre, I really appreciated this feature. It meant that I could test out interesting but risky strategies without tanking the progress I had already made.

Despite my lack of experience with “stealth strategy,” I still found the Shadow Gambit’s core gameplay easy enough to grasp. The control scheme seemed somewhat clumsy at first, but after conquering my first mission, I found that switching between characters, skills and making sure to capture memories at just the right time came naturally to me. If you don’t take to new mechanics and control schemes easily, a rich tutorial system is in place to help you master the basics and learn more advanced techniques. Captain Mordecai will conjure an optional tutorial level and challenge room for new character abilities and universal mechanics. Here, you can learn the ropes, refine your skills against simple enemies and put them to the test with frequent tips from the Captain along the way.

Successful completion of missions is a very rewarding experience. Though I think the game could benefit from some additional loot, I still felt notably satisfied each time I ticked a goal off of my to-do list. Depending on your difficult settings and your familiarity with the stealth genre Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew will provide you with at least 30+ hours of gameplay with plenty of replayability so that you can test out new paths and new tactics for each mission.

I don’t think I would have felt quite as invested in my performance at the end of each mission if I hadn’t been so enamoured by the game world of Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, however. While not groundbreaking nor breathtaking by any stretch of the imagination, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is a stunning game with a very charming art style that generates a rich and encompassing fantasy world that feels spooky and magical but oddly grounded at the same time.

Despite characters such as Suleidy, the half-plant ship doctor, or Quentin, the headless treasure hunter being so boldly bizarre, the characters’ exceptional voice acting, in-depth backstories, and quirky personalities made them feel authentic and compelling. However, I would have liked to have seen more diversity and detail in the Inquisition. The game hints at some interesting lore but never quite provides enough detail. Ultimately, the Inquisition felt fairly lifeless and repetitive. There are several different enemy models with different attributes, titles and roles, but the majority of enemies are visually similar and lack personality. The contrast, I found, was particularly obvious because of the level of effort put into the dialogue and lore attributed to the crew of the Marley Red.

Overall I had a great time with Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew and will definitely be more inclined to pick up other stealth-strategy titles in the future. I had no performance issues with the game during my playthrough on the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, either. Each mission is decently replayable, particularly if you want to achieve a better result or lower completion time. Still, I don’t think I’m in a hurry replay the entire game – at least not for a while.

If you are, like me, pretty green when it comes to stealth strategy games, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is an excellent introduction to the genre that may even convince you to dive into some of Mimimi Games’ other titles. If you’re a seasoned stealth master, the generous number of difficulty options are sure to offer you an appropriate level of challenge in the somewhat spooky but seriously fun, colourful and often comedic world of the Lost Carribean.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is available now on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S and PC. You can also download a free demo of the game for PC right here.

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Announced during the Xbox Games Showcase last month, The Legend of Monkey Island is the latest collaboration to feature in Sea of Thieves. Starting on July 21, instalments of The Legend of Monkey Island will release monthly, exploring an all-new Tall Tale featuring beloved characters (and voice actors) from the original franchise.

Your adventures will have you meet Guybrush Threepwood, his beloved Elaine, the dreaded ghost captain LeChuck, Murray the Demonic Talking Skull and more iconic characters. Taking a break from the Sea of Thieves, you’ll visit freely explorable versions of Mêlée Island and Monkey Island, solving puzzles reminiscent of the original franchise, meeting weird and wonderful new characters and reliving the iconic nostalgia-soaked series from a new perspective.

Three Tall Tales comprise The Legend of Monkey Island in Sea of Thieves, built in collaboration with the original developer Lucasfilm Games and free-to-play for all players.  

Ahead of launching the first instalment, Xbox invited us to sail into the Sea of Damned and drop anchor at Mêlée Island for the first time. 

First and foremost, it’s worth noting that this expansion is for more than just fans of the Monkey Island franchise. No prior knowledge is required, and the new Tall Tales offer something for everyone. This standalone experience offers plenty of background to the Monkey Island history, ensuring every player can follow along and enjoy the adventure.

The Tall Tale begins with a ghostly monologue from the disembodied voice of Guybrush Threepwood, introducing himself and his pirate legend. There’s an eery threat looming over the Island; of course, it’s up to you to figure out what’s going on and fix it. Sailing into the bay, I felt like I was on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney and overwhelmed by nostalgic whimsy as my Sloop neared the island of Mêlée. Excitedly, I leapt off the deck and onto the dock, forgetting to anchor. As the bow of my ship crumbled, my belongings floated to the ocean’s surface, and I found myself on the doorstep of a familiar place, The Scumm Bar.

From the get-go, it was evident that Rare has put enormous effort and care into recreating the environment from the original 2D games. Mêlée Island is beautifully rendered and designed to feel like a living and breathing world. As soon as you dock, you are free to explore the available areas of the island and complete a handful of puzzles and tasks for a colourful cast of characters that all intersect to help you progress. 

These puzzles are just plain fun. The Tale requires a little bit of critical thinking to analyse dialogue and other context clues but it never felt unnecessarily complex or time-consuming. The momentum never dragged, I didn’t have to do too much backtracking and overall, I felt rewarded whenever I was struck by an ‘aha’ moment or came across exactly what I needed to succeed.

The Sea of Thieves collaboration with The Legend of Monkey Island is nothing groundbreaking but it is very entertaining and I am already looking forward to the next chapter. You can enter the Tall Tale with your crew, but I think this expansion (at least the first instalment) is better as a solo experience.  There is so much to explore and so many nuanced references to the original franchise to discover, I encourage players to set a steady pace and take the time to immerse themselves in the rich world that Rare has built.

Sea of Thieves is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC via the Xbox App and Steam. It’s also included in the Xbox Game Pass subscription for players on both console and PC.

The first instalment of The Legend of Monkey Island is available on all platforms, free to all players now, so go check it out!

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In an unexpected announcement today, Blizzard revealed that their games will be available via Steam for the first time ever. Battle.net has been the exclusive home of Blizzard games for PC players for decades.

Over the years, the platform has evolved to align with burgeoning technologies, capabilities, and community expectations. An aspect of these expectations, echoed by Blizzard’s good pals at Xbox, is breaking down barriers between gaming communities. Enlivening this, Blizzard will roll out selected PC titles on the Steam platform in the coming months, starting with Overwatch 2 on August 10, 2023.

The game’s Steam page is live now and available to wishlist right here. Blizz representatives say this is about more than just Battle.net or PC players. The initiative is part of the studio’s sweeping endeavour to share their games with players around the world, making Blizzard titles as easy as possible to access and play. An essential part of this, says the studio, is allowing gamers to experience the Blizzard universe with friends, old and new, regardless of how they choose to play.

“It’s our goal at Blizzard to listen to players and try to exceed their expectations in everything we do,” says President of Blizzard Entertainment, Mike Ybarra. “Gamers and developers are both going to benefit from Overwatch 2 coming to Steam,” added Gabe Newell, the President of Steam Developer, Valve. “Gamers will have another platform where they can play a beloved game that utilizes the capabilities of Steam, and developers will benefit from the effects of having the talented team at Blizzard helping us evolve our supported features and functionality for Overwatch 2,” he continued.

Initially launching in October 2022, Overwatch 2 is a free-to-play team-based hero shooter. It supports cross-play and cross-progression and is currently available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Overwatch 2’s availability on Steam is in addition to and not replacing Battle.net, so existing players can continue with no changes required if they prefer to stay on the game’s original platform.

Players using Steam will have access to features of the platform while playing Overwatch 2, such as Steam achievements, their Steam friends list, and the ability to invite them to play in-game. Regarding what’s next, Blizzard has promised to share details about other games coming to Steam “when the time is right”.

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The World of Warcraft team is gearing up for the biggest content update since Dragonflight launched late last year. 10.1 Embers of Neltharion is an exciting new patch that will introduce a whole new zone, a new raid, a new season of Mythic+ dungeons, cross-faction guilds and much much more. Ahead of the launch on May 2nd, 2023, we sat down with Game Director Ion Hazzikostas and Lead Quest Designer Josh Augustine to discuss little cowboy hats, snail racing and some other pretty cool stuff as well.

This is the biggest Dragonflight update since the game launched late last year – can we expect the timing of major updates to follow a pattern or is it dependent on other, less predictable factors?

Ion Hazzikostas: This is our first major content update and brings with it an entirely new outdoor zone, a new dungeon season, a new PVP season, a massive raid to explore and more. I think these big updates have generally been considered the mainstays of past World of Warcraft expansions. The thing we’re doing differently this time in Dragonflight is we’ve had two updates already and as we laid out in a roadmap at the end of last year, we always want to have there be something just around the corner for players. There’s always something that has just gone live, something that is on our playtest realm, something we’ve just announced. There’s a wide range; big, small, serious, competitive activities, lighthearted activities, cosmetic pursuits – whatever you as a World of Warcraft player want to chase, there’s something new lurking around the corner.

As you mentioned, one of the most exciting features of the update is the new zone, Zarelek Cavern. Can you tell us a bit more about it?

Josh Augustine: Yeah, I’d love to talk about Zarelek Cavern, there are a lot of fun new activities down there.

The campaign that kind of takes us down there is really exciting.

You head down with the Black dragons and they’re looking into an Neltharion’s past. He was a former leader of the Black Dragon Flight that became corrupted and so wrestling with the history and what does it mean to be a Black Dragon? What is that future going to be? Do they want to choose a new direction? On the story side, I’m really excited about the opportunities there and for the Dracthyr to wrestle with what they find down there.

During the endgame, there are a lot of new, fun things in the zone. One of the things we’ve enjoyed doing in Dragonflight is faction activities. So when you meet the Tusk, you have the feast with them, when you meet the Maruuk Centaur, you go on hunts. When you meet the DragonScale Expedition, you go rock climbing. When we were looking at the Niffen, the new group of mole people that we meet underground there, we had a lot of fun exploring, like, “What’s gonna be their fun new gameplay and game activity? What is it? What do these people bring to the table that’s uniquely them and uniquely cool about them?”

The Niffen are adorable, can you tell us a bit more about them and the inspiration for them? 

JA: It’s a fun process with the whole team. We start early on with the narrative and the art team jumps in on what could be down here. What could they look like? You know, there’s tons of iteration that goes on there on the design side. That’s where we get a lot of our inspiration. I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but they have fun little cowboy hats as well, right? So like, you see that in the artwork and immediately we can come up with a hundred ideas of rewards or activities and stuff we could do.

We also have a quest designer on the team named Laura, who loves rats and she has a bunch of pet rats. She wrote this document about like, rat social structures and how they compete for Alpha Dominance and brought that to the team and it inspired ideas about these different aspects of the culture. That’s one of the things I love, working with a new culture like this, there are opportunities for everyone on the team to jump in and leave their mark on what it becomes.

Do you have a favourite quest or quest line that you tell us about?

JA: Absolutely. I’m gonna cheat a little bit here because it’s not technically a quest line but there’s a new activity called Sniffen Seeking, which is an adorable name on its own. Basically, you meet a Niffen in town who’s sad because Niffen love to go digging underground, searching, exploring, and finding new treasures but they always use the buddy system, ’cause you need to be safe underground. He’s sad because his buddy can’t go diving with him anymore. You, the player, look like a potential new dive buddy,  so you get to go on your first dig with him and it’s a lot of fun. It’s almost like an escape room kind of feel.

You get in there, there’s a treasure, there are tools, and you can pick them up and uses your buddy’s super sniffer nose to smell out clues. It’s all about finding the prize and figuring out how to use the tools to get it. Along the way you meet your buddy’s friends in different caves, you see their reaction to him and how he interacts with them and you just kind of get to know him and just fall in love with him throughout the whole feature. That’s my absolute favourite.

Yeah, that sounds really cool and very different. You know, you’re fighting epic world bosses on one side and then just helping out this little guy in the meantime.

JA: Yeah! That was some of the fun of going through the iterations. We’re always looking to make faction activities special and something new. We don’t want it to just be like go kill twenty things again. So we went through a lot of iteration with that, getting feedback from people on the team, then on PTR. It’s really fun to find new gameplay types in WoW.

On the other side of gameplay, there’s a new nine-boss raid, can you tell us a bit more about that? 

IH: Sure. So, the raid is called Abberus, the Shadowed Crucible and it’s in the ancient underground laboratory research facility of Neltharion, the former Black Aspect who later became Death Wing and ravaged Azeroth during the Cataclysm expansion. We’re returning to a place that shaped the future of all Dragon Kind and all of Azeroth.

The Dracthyr, the Dragon Aspects, everyone has a reason to seek our Aberrus because it contains powerful secrets about the origins of Dragon Kind and their purpose in Azeroth. When creating this raid, the team was inspired by past Black Dragon raids that old-school World Warcraft fans may remember from all the way back in Classic. Black Wing Lair was the second big raid zone ever introduced to the game.

It was a similar laboratory that was the home of Nefarian who was Neltharion’s son. This is sort of just a styled up to 11, super modern version of that with the same general vibe of tinkering with forbidden experiments and secrets. It’s just a really fun space to explore.

Do you have a favourite boss from the raid?

IH: One of the bosses you fight is actually an Echo of Netharion himself, who we knew as Death Wing. I think something we’ve seen across the Dragon Isles is the ability for these powerful dragons that may have faded from this world to leave behind echoes of their consciousness that we can interact with, so of course in Netharion’s laboratory, we’re gonna find one of him.

I mean, I’m not gonna lie, it’s an excuse just to get to fight Neltharion who has long been dead otherwise. It’s just a really cool look at a very charismatic and interesting character.

JA: I’m a sucker for the story, I love the end fight. Not necessarily for the fight mechanics itself, but the things you learn and how the characters react, I love that.

Onto Mythics. We have a new rotation of Mythic+ dungeons. What goes into picking which older dungeons go into rotation?

IH: That’s a great question. It’s something we’re doing really for the first time, this is the first season in the middle of a of a WoW expansion that will have an all new pool of dungeons; four new dungeons from Dragonflight, plus four older ones.

I think the team was looking for a mix of thematics. Neltharion’s from the Legion expansion was a very natural fit in this expansion, we gotta do that one. For the others, it’s about fleshing out the range of layouts, hazing, aesthetics. Dungeons could be more linear, they can have different numbers of bosses or they can have branches or hub and spokes layouts. I think recognising that we’re asking players to spend tons of time across this pool of eight dungeons over the course of the season, we want as much variety in setting everything from the colour palettes to the mechanics.

We’re looking to figure out what helps complement what we already have as we flesh out the rest of the set. That actually led the team to pull in the oldest dungeon we’ve ever used in Mythic+, which is the Vortex Pinnacle dungeon from all the way back in Cataclysm with some updates to adapt it to the modern system.

Do you have a favourite of the new Dungeons?

IH: It’s a good question. Probably I think, Brackehide Hollow. It’s a dungeon that was very, very difficult, arguably, notoriously difficult right when Dragonflight launched. I know some folks were dreading seeing it come back into the season two rotation but we’ve done a lot of work on it to smooth out some of the rough edges and pain points and I think gonna be a great example of modern dungeon design.

Players will be able to complete it in Cross-Faction Guild from now on and a lot of people are excited about that. Why was now the right time to launch this feature?

IH: To be honest, it’s the soonest we could get it in players’ hands at a high level of quality. It’s something that we started thinking about after we rolled out Cross-Faction instance gameplay last Summer, late in Shadowlands, and allowed players to play with their opposite faction friends in dungeons and raids for the first time.

We quickly heard, ‘Hey, this is awesome, but I raid with my friend’s Guild and I can’t access their Guild repairs. They’re making jokes in Guild Chat, and then they have to repeat them for me because I can’t hear them‘ and so on and so forth and so that led us to start asking, what would it look like? What would it take for us to allow friends to join each other’s guilds across faction lines? One of the quirks of navigating this entire space is that we are swimming upstream against 20 years of precedent in history that were designed to work the other way. So we just need to make sure that we’re, checking everything, fixing bugs making sure all the logic works and also so that we’re moving conservatively, but steadily in the direction of tearing down barriers that prevent friends from playing with each other and making faction more of a choice about personal identity rather than who you can and can’t play with.

Another thing from the technical side is that you’re introducing the gear upgrade system. We’ve heard a lot about how that’s gonna work. I’m just wondering from a game direction side of things, when did you decide that you should look into this gear upgrade system, and why?

IH: This is actually something that started out as a pitch from a great designer on our rewards team. She was looking at the landscape of what we were laying out as we prepared for Dragonflight before the expansion had even shipped. It had different currencies involved in upgrading different sorts of items and different parallel paths and if you got this item from this vendor in the outdoor world, you needed this currency to upgrade it. If you got that one, you needed that currency. So, if you got something from a dungeon, well then you should get valour and if you were a raider, too bad, you don’t get to upgrade your things at all.

That naturally got us thinking surely there’s gotta be a better, more elegant way to do this – a way of not having so many different currencies, of unifying these progression tracks like a grand unified theory of item upgrading that also gives raiders the ability to access to the same progression as others.

Originally we talked about doing something like this for Dragonflight at launch, but that was a terrifying idea given the ambitiousness of the system and the time remaining at that point.

We wanted to give it a shot, so we kind of planned it around our first big content update from the ground up. The theming is definitely very much tied to this update but we’re not trying to make any secret of the fact that if this works well and is well received, we would likely evolve and enshrine it as a more permanent part of how the game works.

The goal is just more flexibility and while it’s a lot of change upfront and if you read the blog, it’s a lot of words. It’s ultimately more simple than the different upgrade tracks for different items depending on where they were retained.

What are you most excited for people to see, experience and explore in Embers of Neltharion?

IH: For me, I think it’s what comes next in the story. The community is so adept at figuring everything out. Everything is pored over and data mined and guides are written and everything is laid bare before it reaches players’ hands.

One of the exceptions is our story. We’ve tried to do what we can to keep the surprise around our big narrative moments, around cutscenes, and cinematics. The things that are going to set up in a big way, what comes next for the story. So much care has gone into crafting Dragonflight’s story, it’s just really exciting for the team and everyone who’s worked on it and touched it to see players experience that together in real-time.

Seeing that unfold is gonna be a really fun part of the next couple of weeks.

JA: Yeah, I mean, that’s a good answer, but I’m gonna go even more specific. I’m really excited about Fyrakk. His name isn’t in the title of the content update but he is a big deal. He’s the big fire dragon in the cinematic.

There are really fun moments with him during the campaign where you get to see him powering up in an area and not really even paying you attention because you’re not even worth the hassle – there are some fun little touches too, where if you emote at him, he’ll do something back at you. There are a lot of fun things like that.

Then on the surface, we have Fyrakk assaults where he’s gonna be blazing through. I love those times when we pay homage to the great moments in the World’s history, like that Cataclysm pre-patch event where he and Death Wing went through and torched everyone. We’ve got a mini version of that. I’m just in love with Fyrakk and so I’m excited, I think this is gonna be his content update.

We’re running out of time but this is a little callback to something you said earlier. You mentioned cowboy hats, and I just have to ask, is that tied to the snail racing?

JA: Oh, I’m so glad you asked me about snail racing. I can fill the rest of the time talking about snail racing, don’t worry. Yeah, so snail racing, it’s one of those features that when we knew the Drogbar were coming back, we wanted to – kind of like what we just mentioned, pay homage to the history of the World. So we were looking at like, what is something that players loved about Drogbar?

So of course we’ve got plenty of weightlifting and all that kind of stuff too, but like the snail race was something we wanted to do a callback to. We kind of just handed it to a designer, like, ‘Hey, we know we wanna do snail racing. You wanna figure out something that could be fun?’ and they just ran with it.

It’s one of those things you see in the game and can just tell the designers were having a lot of fun making it. There’s way too much detail, they went way too far in depth. The designers turned it into a social event, where the race starts publicly for everyone. You can choose which snail you wanna root for and then all the players who are rooting for that snail can get treats to throw at ’em to like speed ’em up or you can throw rocks or something to block the other snails. Then you have randomised events where maybe a spectator NPC gets angry and runs out and starts attacking one of the snails or whelplings swoop through and burn everyone in the course. It just became this big social activity where everyone’s working together and then if you get your snail to win, everyone’s cheering and you get the little check mark on your achievement to get all the snails. It’s just super fun. It’s one of those things that I love about the work we get to do on the quest team because we help populate the whole outdoor world.

Quests are awesome but the thing that makes Warcraft, Warcraft for me is those little details out in the world where there’s no reason this thing has to be here, right? But you get this fun little story. That’s the little stuff that makes the world feel real and lived in.

So yeah, snail racing.

I can’t wait to get my guild into snail racing!

JA: Oh yeah. I’m gonna give you a bonus here too. Snailys is a daily set of quests but we call ’em snailys because…snails. You get a snail mount! You go through a series of quests but I love the twist we did on it this time. We’ve done a series of quests to get a mount several times now and we’re always looking for a twist. So, we have a snail and snails move really slowly, right? So we give you the mount immediately but then your series of quests slowly make the snail faster and faster until you get it up to regular mount speed. So there’s just a lot of fun in there. I love snails.

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is available exclusively on PC via Battle.net and requires an active subscription. Patch 10.1 Embers of Neltharion goes live on Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023, and is available for World of Warcraft players who own the latest expansion.

The post World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Interview – Digging Into Embers Of Neltharion With The Lead Developers appeared first on Press Start.

Ubisoft’s brand new online arena shooter, XDefiant, is celebrating the launch of its first crossplay test today and you can register to join in on the fun right now!

Want to know how you can get access to the XDefiant Closed Beta?

Let us break it down for you so you can get into the action! ? pic.twitter.com/rQMhusi6X6

— XDefiant (@PlayXDefiant) April 13, 2023

This test will have no NDA, meaning that players can discuss their experiences with each other, write about first impressions and share video content showcasing gameplay.

• Starting – April 14th @ 3 AM AEST
• Ending – April 23rd @ 4 PM AEST

The closed beta period will introduce Ranked matches and feature five game modes – Escort, Zone Control, Domination, Occupy, and Hot Shot – as well as four playable factions and all 14 maps that will be available at launch. It will also include access to the game’s full launch-day loadout options, which include 24 weapons, 44 attachments, and five explosive devices. Player, weapon, and challenge progression will be available during XDefiant’s closed beta but there are 10 exclusive cosmetic items you will be able to keep, including the XD Style emoji, MP7 Graffiti weapon skin, and more.

You can also unlock the “Violet” D50 Pistol Weapon Skin and “Violet” MK 20 SSR Weapon Skin by watching partnered and category streams on Twitch during the Closed Beta.

Other Ways to Play

Aside from registering for a chance to play XDefiant’s closed beta above, you can also tune into Twitch Streams including Ubisoft’s XDefiant Showcase (starting at 3 am AEST) to earn game access drops.

XDefiant is Free-to-Play and will be available on all platforms including Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, PlayStation 4|5 and Windows PC.

The post The XDefiant Beta Is Live Now, Here’s How To Play appeared first on Press Start.

XDefiant is the upcoming multiplayer first-person arena shooter from the team at Ubisoft San Francisco and it’s launching later this year, free-to-play on all platforms including Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, PlayStation 4|5 and Windows PC.

XDefiant is a constantly evolving experience that combines the lore of the wider Ubisoft universe into one with a growing collection of maps, weapons, and game modes to enjoy. Gameplay is focused first and foremost on gunplay, according to Ubisoft San Francisco, led by Executive Producer Mark Rubin (ex Infinity Ward) and Creative Director Jason Schroeder. The title has been a work in progress for over two years and many early play testers are apparently praising the fast-paced competitive action game, calling it Ubisoft’s answer to the Call of Duty franchise.

At launch, you’ll have the choice to play as five unique factions inspired by Ubisoft’s biggest characters and worlds – The Wolves (Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon), Echelon (Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell), and the Outcasts and Cleaners (Tom Clancy’s The Division). Whether it’s the spies of Echelon with their Sonar Goggles ability, or DedSec with their ability to hack opponents’ gadgets, each faction has its own set of unique skills you can use to turn the tide of battle.

Matches will take place across a variety of maps, both all-new and beloved, inspired by locations from popular Ubisoft worlds featuring 6v6 arena battles and objective-based game modes like Team Deathmatch, Domination, and Escort.

Linear Modes

Attackers and defenders contest shifting objective points in Zone Control and push a package in Escort.

When a round begins, players choose a faction each with their own set of unique traits and abilities. They can then arm their Defiant with primary and secondary weapons, attachments, and a unique device to complete their personalised loadout. Loadouts can also be altered while respawning, so players can adapt to the battlefield and outplay their enemy.

Ready to Play?

Click here for more details on how to join in on the action during XDefiant’s upcoming playtest.

The post XDefiant: Everything You Need To Know About Ubisoft’s Brand New Shooter appeared first on Press Start.

Season Four of Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch 2 begins on Wednesday, 12 April at 11 am AEST, and you can unlock the game’s newest hero, Lifeweaver.

Introducing Lifeweaver

Born Niran PruksaManee (meaning Jewel of the Forest) Liveweaver is an entrepreneurial Thai scientist who uses his unique biolight technology to heal. Despite being on the run from the Vishkar Corporation, Lifeweaver is determined to share his skills and make a positive difference to those around him.

Lifeweaver is the first hero from Thailand, and his debut will coincide with Songkran, the Thai New Year’s national holiday on April 13th.  He is also the first openly pansexual Overwatch hero. According to the developers, World of Warcraft’s Druid class heavily inspired Lifeweaver’s design.

Lifeweaver Gameplay

Lifeweaver is a support character with 200 HP, zero shields and zero armour. He has a surprisingly large hitbox, equivalent to Junkerqueen or Rammatra, despite his relatively small health pool. The new support has a fairly unique kit, and paired with his low HP and lack of defensive abilities, we think Lifeweaver will take some time for even the most seasoned Overwatch players to master. For those eager for the challenge, we’ve provided a better look at Lifeweaver’s abilities below.

Passive – Parting Death

On death, Lifeweaver drops a lotus blossom that heals the first hero to pick it up. If an ally picks it up, they receive 250 HP but if an enemy picks it up, they receive only 75 HP.

Primary  Fire 1 – Healing Blossom

By holding down the primary fire button, players charge a healing burst that heals a targeted ally on release. It takes 1 second to fully charge the burst, which can target allies up to 30 meters away and through barriers. A fully charged Healing Blossom provides 10 health points, but casting results in a 25% reduction in movement speed, so Lifeweaver players will have to choose their timing wisely.

Primary Fire 2 – Thorn Volley

A single click of the primary fire button ejects a burst of projectile thorns, dealing 5 damage each. This ability takes 1.5 seconds to manually reload but automatically reloads while Healing Blossom is in use.

Ability 1 – Petal Platform

Lifeweaver lobs a platform onto the ground that can lift allies and/or enemies into the sky. The platform stays afloat for 9 seconds unless destroyed by Lifeweaver or an enemy hero.  The Petal Platform has 400 HP and though it’s not specifically designed for this purpose, it can also be used as a shield or to block a line of sight.

Ability 2 – Rejuvenating Dash

This ability provides Lifeweaver with a small horizontal dash (maximum distance of 6.15m) that also heals him for 25 HP.

Ability 3 – Life Grip

Life Grip allows Lifeweaver to directly pull an ally to him. While in Life Grip, your teammate is protected from damage and crowd control, but won’t cleanse any debuffs. This ability can be used to pull allies out of stuns and slows, such as Graviton Surge, Gravitic Flux, Chain Hook and Charge. It cannot pull enemies through terrain-like defences such as Mei’s Ice Wall.

Ultimate Ability – Tree of Life

Lifeweaver’s ultimate ability summons a massive healing beacon, planting a beautiful, blossoming tree of life. When it sprouts, the Tree of Life heals all allies within 12.5 metres for 150HP. It lasts 15 seconds and provides an additional 50 HP per 1.75 seconds to allies in range until it despawns or is destroyed.  Tree of Life requires a line of sight to heal and can be interrupted by terrain defences like Ice Wall.

Season 4 starts next Wednesday, 12 April at 11 am AEST. Overwatch 2 is free-to-play on all platforms, including Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4|5, Nintendo Switch and PC via Battlenet. You need an internet connection to play Overwatch 2, but won’t need an active online subscription.

The post Overwatch 2’s Newest Hero Lifeweaver Debuts Next Week appeared first on Press Start.

Late last year, Blizzard revealed the official launch date for Diablo IV on June 6, 2023. Today, they’ve announced official dates for the highly anticipated Diablo IV Early Access and Open Beta.

For those who already have Diablo IV on pre-order, you’ll be able to test the game first on all platforms from Saturday, March 18 through to Tuesday March 21.
The following weekend, an open beta will be available for everyone from Saturday March 25 through Tuesday March 28.

Previous play tests of the game have been focused primarily on end-game content. This play test, according to Blizzard, allows players to experience a deep look into the early game including the Prologue and Act 1 with a level cap of 25. We got to preview this portion of the game in early December last year, you can read all about our experience and first impressions right here.

For those of you eager to hear more about Diablo IV ahead of the beta, Game Director Joe Shely will be joined by Lead Systems Designer Meng Shong and Lead World Designer Art Peshkov for a developer update live on Twitch and Youtube, on Wednesday, March 1 at 6: 00 am AEDT. It’s a bit of an unfortunate time slot for Aussie viewers, so following the live stream, Blizzard will be publishing a blog post recap. You can read also read our interview with Lead Class Designer Adam Jackson and Producer Ash Sweetring right here.

Diablo IV launches on June 6, 2023, on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC. Amazon currently has the cheapest pre-order at $79 with free shipping.

The endless battle between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells rages on as chaos threatens to consume Sanctuary. With ceaseless demons to slaughter, countless Abilities to master, nightmarish Dungeons, and Legendary loot, this vast, open world brings the promise of adventure and devastation. Survive and conquer darkness – or succumb to the shadows.

The post The Diablo IV Beta Is Coming Soon And Here’s How To Access It appeared first on Press Start.

Season 8 of Sea of Thieves washed ashore late last month, and to celebrate, we sat down with Creative Director, Mike Chapman, to discuss the brand-new PvP system, factions and more ways to become a pirate legend.

You can watch the Season Eight content update trailer below:

How does group PvP differ from solo PvP?

Mike Chapman: As part of Season 8, players can choose to matchmake solo or as part of different crew sizes relevant to each ship. If players choose to play solo on a Sloop, we will only ever match you with other solo Sloop players of an opposing faction. Players can choose to play with one other person on the Sloop as part of a duo crew, but again, it will only ever match you against another duo crew, ensuring that the capabilities of each crew and how they can divide roles remain fair. This then scales to three-player crews, playing on the Brig and four-player crews on the Galleon. The only exception to this is when players chain four wins back to back – this will bestow Champion status upon that ship, with associated bonuses and visual effects on the ship figurehead, while also allowing Sloop and Brig Champions to enter ‘hard mode’ whereby they can match against bigger ship and crew sizes.

What measures has the team taken to balance the new PvP system?

MC: Balance between crews has been a major area of focus for the team. From skill-based matchmaking and curating the size of the battle area, to ensuring that we separate players at the end of the PvP encounter, our focus has been on ensuring that the fights remain as fair as possible. We were keen to ensure that progress was primarily earnt through PvP gameplay rather than falling back on alternate ways to play using other mechanics in the game. We’ve also been working alongside both our Sea of Thieves insiders and partners, taking feedback and suggestions on how to improve the mode while it was in development.

From ensuring that we minimise potential exploits to ensuring that progression felt satisfying and rewarding, we’ve put a lot of effort into making the Season 8 features integrate as seamlessly as possible into the rest of the game, including new Ship Captaincy alignments and new ways to progress as part of the Emissary system. However, now that Season 8 is live, we’re already taking feedback from the broader community in terms of weapon and supply balance, so the adjustments to balance will continue, along with improving the matchmaking system to ensure players are more likely to experience thrilling encounters as fast as possible.

Can you tell us about the new Faction system?

MC: There are two factions that we’ve added in Season 8, representing the Pirate Lord through the ‘Guardians of Fortune’, and  Captain Flameheart through ‘Servants of the Flame’. Players can progress in each faction by earning allegiance based on winning ship battles in their name. All Sea of Thieves players will see a new item, the ‘Hourglass of Fate, ’ added to each ship they choose to play on. Players can spin the hourglass to choose to play for their chosen faction, and by doing so, they opt-in to being matched in PvP battles. Players can choose to sail around and collect treasure on their ship for their chosen faction, earning scaling tiers of allegiance based on successfully defending their ship from opposing faction ships who may hunt them down and will burst out of the water next to them.

Alternatively, players can go on the hunt themselves by unfurling the War Map and voting to seek out an opponent before seeing their ship dive below the waves, revealing stunning sights as their ship glides below the waves underwater as part of seamlessly matchmaking them with an opponent. Players can earn streaks of wins, with four wins earning players the status of a Champion Ship, making them an attractive target to anyone who encounters them emergently in the world. Players who progress to level 100 as part of the Guardians of Fortune, as well as being a Pirate Legend, will unlock the Faction Hideout, where they can receive Athena’s Blessing, granting players the ghost curse to use with their character.

Players who progress to level 100 and Reapers Bones level 75 will unlock the Reaper’s Lair, a fiery labyrinth of underground tunnels where they will receive the skeleton curse. Playing as a skeleton also brings new customisation options, such as changing your skull, upper body, and lower body and your bone colour. Players can earn additional allegiance levels beyond level 100 that come with extra rewards and bragging rights.

What was the inspiration for the opposing factions?

MC: Alongside the new PvP matchmaking and faction progression, we were keen to wrap it with a sense of storytelling and roleplay. Having factions based around our chief good and bad characters and what they stood for felt like it would amplify the feeling of fighting for a cause. It also felt like unlocking new locations, which frankly are absolutely stunning and evocative, along with the new highly desirable curses, would make engaging with the new features feel rewarding and meaningful. Our focus was to create that feeling of ‘one more go…’ through thrilling PvP gameplay while also presenting it beautifully in a way that expanded the world-building of Sea of Thieves.

Do you have plans to add additional factions in the future?

MC: We don’t have any specific plans at the moment, but we’ve certainly talked about it a lot. What’s great about Season 8 is that it could also serve as a platform for further expansions in the future. New rewards, new customisation options and new factions are all possibilities now we’ve established the core fundamentals.

Which faction do you see yourself more personally aligned with?

MC: I adore the look and feel of the Servants of the Flame. The Reaper’s Lair is stunning, and the skeleton customisation options are a wonderful addition to how you can express what you’ve done in Sea of Thieves. That said, I personally side with the Pirate Lord and his Guardians of Fortune. The crew bond and the thrill of sharing adventures with friends as part of a truly free pirate life is what the game is all about to me.

How did you use community feedback to perfect the new PvP system?

MC: Not only did we discuss and take feedback from Sea of Thieves insiders and partners, we also started a dialogue with our partners, specifically much earlier than we ever have before. Anything to do with PvP and the meta of combat needs to be balanced with such fine care, so seeking out players who are experts engaging with this aspect of the game was the perfect way to collaborate. We iterated and perfected so much more than we would have done, and given the complexity of what we’ve added in Season 8, on the whole, it’s landed incredibly well with players. Nothing beats releasing to a full-scale audience, but we’re in much better shape than we would have been if we hadn’t had the help and advice of some of our most committed players.

What are your favourite faction rewards this season?

MC: Definitely the new Faction Hideouts and the Ghost and Skeleton Curses. I genuinely believe that the new environments are some of the team’s best work – you can see and feel the experience of us continually expanding the game over the last five years. I’m especially proud that we’ve finally added these new Curses but as part of the new faction gameplay to the extent that they feel like a critical part of the world and what you can achieve.

Do you have plans to add special PvP events to the game in the future?

MC: We’re always careful not to upset the delicate balance of the shared world, but the fact that we have ways to connect like-minded players who opt into PvP after Season 8 will really open up the possibilities for how we could run some thrilling PvP events in the future.

Sea of Thieves is free-to-play with Xbox Game Pass and is available exclusively on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Windows and Xbox Game Cloud.

The post Sea Of Thieves Interview – We Deep Dive Into Season 8 With Rare appeared first on Press Start.

We were fortunate to spend our week with a private test build of Diablo IV. With over ten hours of gameplay under our belt, we sat down with members of the design team to discuss their highly anticipated game. After sharing my high praise and enthusiasm for the title, I asked Lead Class Designer Adam Jackson and Producer Ash Sweetring about new features, Diablo IV’s live service model and what to expect from the ongoing development roadmap. You can read what the team had to say in our full interview below.

For members of our audience who may be unfamiliar with Diablo, in your opinion, what is it that makes the franchise so compelling?

Ash Sweetring: My personality, it’s not quite the personality you’d associate with something like Diablo, right? That kind of draws me closer to it. That dark essence just makes it so alluring. Then the way we are able to tell stories contributes to the want for people to know what’s going on. It’s almost like a secret that everybody wants to be a part of. That’s one of the biggest pull factors for me. Diablo just does such an incredible job with storytelling and really jumping into the lore. It’s fascinating. There’s always more and more than you can find and pick up on and that personally interests me and catches my eye.

Adam Jackson: I’d say there are two things that make the Diablo franchise and Diablo games, in particular, very compelling. The first one, like Ash mentioned, is this really rich history and story. It’s just a world that you can get lost in, especially in Diablo IV. This is the first time we’re introducing Sanctuary to players in a way that they can just go around and explore and find things and talk to people and get to know the world and story. We have such a deep and long history with this franchise, and if you just want to get lost in another world, this is a really cool way to do that.

Second, I’d say that Diablo is really separate from everything else in the deep systems and gameplay mechanics that you have. If you want to have a fantasy like, ‘I’m a Barbarian‘ or ‘ I’m a Sorcerer in this dark world, and I just want to go and do cool things‘, as that class, you can do that. Not only can you do that, but the way our gameplay and combat systems and everything work, you can do that for a really long time, and you can do it over and over again, exploring different fantasies and ways to play. The mix of that with the storytelling elements is why, I think, this franchise has lasted for so long and is so compelling for so many people.

What have you learned from other installments, including Diablo Immortal, that has helped shape D4?

AJ: So much. There are so many lessons that we’ve learned along the way. If you think way back to when we made the original Diablo games and the way they’re consumed and designed has changed significantly over the years. Back then, a lot more people just wanted to play by themselves, and that was the only way they played. There was a lot less information available, whereas now, you know, the internet just finds things out because there are so many people that are excited about different things that come out. Not just within the Diablo franchise, but I would say Blizzard as a whole in the gaming industry has changed in so many interesting ways. We’ve grown and had to design things with far more of a fine-toothed comb because players just consume this stuff so fervently.

There are just so many lessons we took from our other titles. Like in Diablo II, I think we really learned about class fantasy and how important that is. People want to make a character and feel like, ‘I want this to be me, I want to have that experience and be a part of that story‘. Then Diablo III and even Diablo Immortal taught us a lot about combat and how to make moment-to-moment gameplay decisions. We learned the importance of that and how to make that feel really good for the player.

I think Diablo IV marries the best of both worlds here, we’ve got this really dark fantasy, really good world-building and class fantasy. We’ve also got the combat and the scariness of the monsters in the world. We took a lot of the best of all of our previous titles and put them into this one.

There are a few little changes to gameplay that I’m really enjoying, things like the evade ability and no longer having to Tetris inventory items. Can you tell us about any other tweaks to gameplay that you particularly like?

AJ: Evade is the big one. We’ve talked about that a lot lately. The ability to have that snappy movement in combat is something the class team is really proud of. There are a lot of quality-of-life things that are unique to our game, like when you open your map, you can put a little pin down, and it’ll tell you where to go without having a complete overlay so that you’re not really seeing your character most of the time. The town portal can now be used all the time, that’s a recent change we made to our game that is a little bit more convenient so that you have to worry less about inventory management.

AS: There’s the emote section, that’s something new that we’re adding to the game. Then traversals, where a player can actually hang or leap or slide between different platforms. That has been really fun to play with. In general, I totally echo Adam, and because we have so many quality-of-life improvements, it’s kind of hard to list them all. I think what is important there is that they’re noticeable when you’re playing. It’s one thing to have a quality-of-life action taken on a game, and you don’t really feel or emphasize it at all, really. The Diablo team took a lot of liberties in making sure that those quality-of-life experiences are actually noticed by the player inside of Diablo IV.

Yeah, I was in a dungeon last night and came to the end of a path like – okay, can’t go that way, which way do I go? Then realised I could climb up the wall that was blocking me.

AS: They have been really fun to design. It’s incredible how many teams have a say in those types of mechanics right up front. Behind the scenes, so many different teams are involved with small actions like that, and it’s really great to see them all come together with such a great result.

It makes exploring feel really seamless and action-packed because you’re always in motion. I’m really enjoying the test. Can you tell us anything about public testing?

AJ: At this time we haven’t really announced anything about dates or public testing. We’re going to be coming out next year, but no announcements yet for public testing.

We’ve heard a lot about the new shared world experience. For players that aren’t as keen or maybe feel more immersed in a solo adventure, will there be options to dilute how many other players you see in the world?

AS: I am that exact player you’re referring to. I’m very shy, and I’m awkward, and the moment you show me ‘hey, here’s the mic button’ I kind of panic. I don’t want anything to do with that. This and PvP, which is something we’re introducing later, is a mechanic that is so important to the game, but we wanted to make sure that we included the liberties of making sure that every single type of playstyle and player is acceptable in the game. We’re considering people like me who would rather just get lost in some side content for hours, enjoy some dungeons, and look at the horrifying monsters that I don’t want to hang around for too long.

There’s also that hardcore sense of satisfaction you’ll get as a seasoned Diablo player because you’re not gonna be missing out on any of that content. We’ve dedicated more time to make sure that we satisfy the needs of both of those different players and everyone in between. I think that’s something really special about Diablo IV because it’s really unique, and you can feel it.

Will there be an offline mode, or does the shared world require a persistent internet connection?

AS: An internet connection is absolutely necessary for Diablo IV. We won’t be supporting any offline at this time.

You mentioned Diablo IV’s “return to darkness” during the brief. Can you tell us a bit more about that and any inspiration or source material that has inspired you, personally or your team?

AJ: Really, I think a lot of our source material comes from our older games. As a team, we knew that we really liked that tone, especially in Diablo. You’re out there, you’re alone, and you can’t even run. You’re walking around these tiny caves and dungeons, and the world is closed in and scary and dark. We wanted to really go back to that gothic horror sense of the world. Diablo II had a decent amount of it too, but we’ve gone a little bit lighter over time. This was kind of us resetting and being like no, we wanna go back there. That was really cool, we thought it was really awesome.

The fantasy, the visuals, the art, the gameplay, there’s a lot more to it than just – oh, it’s a dark game. There are a lot of ways that you can make that happen, and some of the more exciting ways that maybe you wouldn’t think of are the way we translated that into combat. The evade button came from wanting monsters to be scarier and more threatening, and if everyone has an evade button, that means we can do that. A lot of people think oh, an evade button makes me more powerful, but we don’t see it that way. The way we see it; evade means that we get to make players more scared of the stuff that we could do to them because we know they have this ability.

There’s a lot that went into it, but I really think the biggest thing was just us wanting to go back to our roots a little bit and explore the world of Sanctuary. This being an open-world game means we can go to that dark theme way more than in our other titles, where you couldn’t really explore the world in this way. We thought, if we’re going to let people see Sanctuary, we want to really show Sanctuary the way it was meant to be seen.

AS: One of the cool things about working with a team as talented as we have is that they’re able to have an idea in their head and equally pool reference material and scour the internet for all sorts of things and also just able to brain game these ideas that are just horrific and terrifying, and then we’re able to bring those to life and fit them in a way that is so compelling in our story and fit our needs in general. It’s so incredible to be able to work with people like that and to actually see the gears in their heads turning as they’re going through from concept to interaction and everything in between.

Really, Diablo IV isn’t for the weak of heart and it’s going to be a game that we will say you probably shouldn’t play with your children. It’s going to have a lot of different horrors and gothic aspects to it. It’s a shocking story, really. I think that is a good way to describe it. It’s very shocking but in the most tasteful way possible. It pulls you in and keeps you wanting more and more. We’ve harnessed that energy, we understand it, and we want to give more of that to the players.

When designing dungeons, how do you keep them fresh?

AS: That’s a great question. We’re constantly looking in comparison to what we’ve already done, what we’ve experienced before and opportunities that the player hasn’t had yet or hasn’t been introduced to. In particular, tile sets. Tile sets describe what we use in order to build each of the dungeons.  It gives them character, it gives them style, and it really art-ifies the scene. We have put so much time into ensuring that the assets and the tile sets that we’re putting together for the immersive experience inside the dungeon is different each time you go in. Each time you enter the dungeon, it’s going to be a random experience, it’s going to be different every time you enter, so it’s going to really immerse you.

One of the things the team has found especially helpful is having an idea in mind and then bringing it to the table for the rest of the artists to consider. That way, we’re all kind of piecemealing off of each other’s ideas for a much larger concept that we’re able to bring together in such a beautiful way. One of my favourite tile sets, in general, is a crypt scene. It’s really grungy and dirty, and you actually feel grungy and dirty when you’re inside it. I think that hits the nail on the head; if you’re able to depict the way you want a player to feel with something visual like that, I think that’s a really good sign.

Roughly how many unique dungeons are in Diablo IV?

AS: That, I’m going to hold in for ourselves here, but we have publically released that there will be at least 120. I won’t go into any further detail than that.

Earlier, you emphasised players being able to play Diablo IV the way they want to play and feel like they have control and autonomy over who their character is. How has that idea influenced the design of classes and class builds?

AJ: Significantly. I could for hours on this, and I have with my team many times. From the ground up, this is probably the most important thing we think about when designing classes. We have certain pillars on our team of the way we think and the questions we constantly ask ourselves whenever we’re like ‘hey, I wanna do this’. We ask, what about all of these things that we care about? We’re constantly challenging ourselves in that way. To give you an idea of a couple of things that we think about and why this core theme comes up in so many different ways is that one of our pillars is that we want to deliver the fantasy of our classes.

When you pick a class, say a barbarian, there are a lot of fantasies that we could attach like I’m strong, I’m physically powerful, I can get mad and do things. They’re basic concepts, but then we add our own fantasies on top of that. Out of the fantasies that you would expect to play when you log into the game, we created ideas like the Berserking Barbarian where you’re really mad, and you want to keep that buff up all the time or the master of weapons where you’re swapping between different weapons and really tactical and just this beast that’s mowing through enemies. We’re thinking of the way that we expect players to want to play, and then we make sure that we’re delivering that via gameplay and the different builds that you can create within those fantasies. Checking boxes that we know players are going to want.

The Sorcerer is a little different, you have a lightning skill, a fire skill and an ice skill. Right away, you’re thinking about casting using all of these elements and ‘what fantasies we would want to deliver?‘. Then we hook up different gameplay mechanics and ways to build. The tricky part is making sure that within a single fantasy, there are multiple ways to play. I don’t want my fire Sorcerer to look exactly the same as yours. That’s a whole other challenge to overcome. We put destinations for players, with these fantasies, with the ways they want to play, and then we create multiple roads to get there. You’ll notice that in the skill tree, every single skill in the game has two exclusive choices so that you can customise that skill for you. Individually, that’s already neat, but when you can do it across six skills on your action bar, that’s a lot of different ways that you could potentially build your fire Sorcerer, for example.

On top of that, we have legendary items that further enhance and change the customisation. We have over a hundred legendary powers in the game that can change the way you play. The combination of these different things means that even though you and I might be playing the same general fantasy, what we care about, how we play, how we engage in combat, and the stats we prioritise could be completely different. That’s where we really want to sell this idea that Diablo IV really is your very own character, and you can make it the way you want. There are a whole lot of ways to make it successful and make it feel interesting.

What goes into ensuring the classes and their builds are balanced to avoid the formation of a meta?

AJ: Yeah, that’s a great question – that’s the eternal problem for game designers, right? I would say expecting perfect balance all the time is a fallacy. It doesn’t really happen in any game. Our players, the way they consume content, they’re just too smart nowadays. Even if something is 0.001% better, a lot of players are still gonna flock to it. So we’re not making our goal that everything is exactly the same because it’s just too big of a game. When it comes to balance, so we have three different core things that we care about. The first is within a class we have certain ways that we present that class to players and those should be relatively equal to each other in power, as close as we can get. We do care about that because we want builds to be competitive with each other. It won’t be perfect but it’ll be close enough that we think they will be competitive.

Then we zoom out, and then between different classes, we want them to also be competitive. So the Sorcerer should be competitive with the Barbarian as a whole package. The minimum bar that we expect to hit and where we would consider it a failure if it didn’t is that every single class should be able to complete the main campaign, and they should be able to complete all of our end-game content up to the most difficult in the game. A player should be able to do that with the power level that every class and every main spec within a class has. If we’ve hit that bar, we think we’re good enough.

Now, when you get to the super top end of players, like the 0.001% of people that are super into min-maxing, we’re not expecting them to go with that. This is okay because we plan to support this game for a long time, we plan to be patching the game and fixing things when something inevitably becomes too powerful. We are going to go in, and we are willing to make changes and adjustments so that gameplay stays fresh.

Can you explain how Diablo IV’s open world differs from previous Diablo titles?

AJ: It’s a totally different experience. All of our older Diablo games had very set areas, maps and places that you could go. The dungeons that you could explore, sure, they were individually randomised inside, but you only had so many areas, and you didn’t really have the ability that we have in Diablo IV to really get to know the townspeople and interact with them and just go wherever you want. In an open-world setting, we’re able to tell the story of Sanctuary in a way we never could before. Before, it was very much on rails. You go through Act I, Act II, Act II – there’s this pre-set thing that happens.

We still have the main campaign where that is true, but there is so much more stuff in the world to do. There are so many people to talk to, more events and progression features and little things that you can find in the world that can make your character more powerful. We were never really able to do that successfully in the past, I think, to the extent that we can now. It’s a large game changer, the way we’re able to present the world of Sanctuary to players.

Diablo IV also adds extended character customisation to the franchise for the first time. Should we expect to see more character customisation options on launch or down the track?

AJ: We’ve gone through a lot of painstaking work to make sure that character customisation is as robust as possible. I can’t really give anything away, but the list of things that we would like to do is very long, and we’re always adding more stuff. It’s one of the nice things about having this game as a live service. There are so many ideas that everyone on the team has like – ‘wouldn’t this be cool?’ and we’re definitely putting a ton of those into the launch version of the game, but we’ve already got a backlog of stuff that we want to do that we already know is going to be cooler, so we’re leaving space.

The players kind of control the content of the game a little bit too, right? We don’t just build a game by ourselves. Diablo IV isn’t Blizzard’s first rodeo when it coms to building a live service game. the team has a ton of experience making games and making them with the community over a long period of time. We’ve done it with World of Warcraft, we’ve done it here and in Overwatch and Hearthstone. You name it. We’ve done this before. A lot of what we decide to prioritise will be based on player feedback. If they really want some type of feature, we can decide we’re going to do that first before all of the other things that we care about because we know that the players really want that and we’re willing to do that.

AS: I think that’s a part of growth. We want to continue iterating and making Diablo IV the best product possible. There are always going to be opportunities for us to look back and ask, ‘how can we improve this? What can we do better? What are people asking for? What are our needs and what are our wants at this time?‘ It’s a constantly moving flux of things that we want to do. We’re always looking into what we can do and what we can improve.

That’s all very encouraging, I am, as I’m sure you are, excited for other people to experience this game now.

AS: We’re really excited, and it’s fun to hear the enthusiasm of everybody else. The devs are beyond excited, and we’re so eager to just get this into your hands and share the fun that we’re all going to have. We’re very excited.

AJ: We’ve been hiding in this black box in the back quarter of the room working on all of this, and we’re finally ready to release it to the world.

Diablo IV will officially launch on June 6, 2023, on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC via Microsoft Windows. You can read our detailed preview of the title here and qualify for access to the Early Open Beta by pre-ordering the game right here.

The post Diablo IV Interview – Gore And Glory In Diablo’s Return To Darkness appeared first on Press Start.

After playing Diablo Immortal for an obscene number of hours earlier this year, I was fully prepared to accept Diablo IV into my life as a glorified extension of its predecessor, Diablo III.

It has been a staggering ten years since Diablo III’s initial launch. Since then, Blizzard Entertainment has produced a reasonably well-received expansion, a ground-up remaster of Diablo II and its first-ever Diablo mobile game in Immortal. Despite the attractive catalogue of titles on offer we haven’t seen anything groundbreaking from the 25-year-old series in, well, almost twenty-five years.

That’s not to say that Diablo is without its merits. It’s a fantastic franchise, and I won’t argue with anyone who claims that Diablo II changed the face of the ARPG genre, but it feels like the tried and true formula has rarely dared to overstep its comfortable boundaries, and as a fan of the series I often find myself wanting more. When approached to play test Diablo IV, I anticipated a deeply familiar experience characterised by a cautious step into a new generation. I imagined some moderately updated graphics and, of course, a new storyline, but expected Diablo IV to be noticeably void of that shiny veneer a highly anticipated sequel should possess.

I was wrong.

Even in the early stages of testing, it’s clear that Diablo IV is ushering in an exciting new era for the franchise. It feels like a combination of the very best elements of previous Diablo titles with a funky new hat on.  I’m confident that long-term fans and new players alike should be buzzing with well-earned anticipation in the lead-up to this game’s release.

I’ve spent just under a week with this private test build of Diablo IV, and wanted to share why I cannot wait for the full release sometime next year in 2023.

NOTE: I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, describing game mechanics and general features while avoiding plot points, named characters and locations. Also, Diablo IV features more blood, gore, intense violence and horror than previous titles, so please keep that in mind if you’re easily triggered by these themes.

In recent years, Blizzard has put a lot of effort into delivering player fantasies and ensuring that players have what they need to express themselves in-game. As a part of this, Diablo IV has character customisation options never before seen in a Diablo title. As expected, you start off by picking your character class. During the Beta, you can select from a Barbarian, a Sorcerer or a Rogue though Necromancers and Druids will also be available at launch. After selecting your class, you can choose your face and body, change your hairstyle and facial hair, add tattoos (or markings made in fresh blood), jewellery and makeup and choose colours for all of it, even your eye colour! The options are fairly limited, especially when compared to games like Baldur’s Gate III, but I still managed to get sucked into it for a good twenty minutes before actually starting the game.

From there, your freshly customised character is launched into a stunning cutscene, marking the start of the prologue. Cutscenes are another new addition to the Diablo formula, and the main storyline is adorned with impressive cinematics that bring the world of Diablo IV to life.

Seeing characters in such great detail highlighted how difficult it was for me to connect to characters in previous Diablo titles. For the first time, I felt like I could see NPCs as people rather than superficial shells for the extended lore I had discovered through dialogue or written in tomes.  Outside of the cinematics, detailed character models and dynamic animations generate a new sense of immersion in populated zones. In the first town you come across, there are soldiers playing games to pass the time, conversations taking place in all corners of the settlement, and stray animals wandering the streets. When you interact with vendors, the transaction window features a living portrait so you can see their expressions and the details of their faces. Combined, these simple features made the NPCs of Sanctuary feel like living, breathing characters instead of tokenistic space fillers.

Diablo IV features an all-new open world that scales with character level, allowing players to explore at their leisure. Instead of being divided into separate Acts, the main storyline of Diablo IV will take place across five distinct regions, each with a variety of zones and major landmarks. Admittedly, this didn’t feel any different to other Diablo titles early in the game. Only once I had progressed past the introductory quests did I realise I was free to do whatever the Hell*  I wanted, such as ignoring the story entirely in favour of finding the spookiest place on the map.

One reason you might want to do this is for harvesting. Yes, harvesting, another new addition to the Diablo series. You can now gather materials like berries and ore when you’re not busy slaying brutish beasts and evil incantations. Artisans can then use these materials to make powerful potions or equipment for you. Since items are and have always been a pillar of the Diablo series, I thought this was a cool way to add to the loot system without uprooting it too much.

*It’s a Diablo joke, okay!

While conquering the main storyline or traversing the open world, you may find some events and encounters that are surprisingly macabre. Blizzard acknowledged that Diablo III was a notable departure from the traditionally grisly tone of the Diablo series. D3 opted for a more vibrant version of Sanctum, with more whimsical enemy models and fewer opportunities for slatherings of gore. From the get-go, it’s clear that Diablo IV is not for the faint of heart and has no intention of catering to the general audience. Returning to its roots it is gruesome, it is gory, it is ghastly, and I fucking love it. As a seasoned horror fanatic, I felt invigorated by the tone set by the opening cinematic and pleased to discover that it’s a consistent theme throughout the game.

The world is dark and gloomy and obviously miserable for the inhabitants, but it doesn’t necessarily feel that way for the player. Instead, the dreary environments help to build the atmosphere and maintain immersion in the game world in a way that can keep you hooked for hours. While playing, I felt truly invested in my character, the characters I was meeting along the way and the overarching narrative. My only gripe with the plot of Diablo IV is that after this preview, it’ll be months before I get to continue it.

I would also like to add that despite the sombre nature of the game world, Diablo IV is absolutely gorgeous. The graphics are incredible. From the lighting to the texture detail, the fluid animation and imaginative enemy and environment designs, this game looks wicked. I cannot overstate that enough. By no means does the drab colour palette or gothic art style impede on how beautifully designed the world is. Even while trudging through expansive fields of thick snow, it didn’t feel like a lifeless, repetitive environment at any point. While easily missed, the amount of fine detail is well thought-out by the game’s artists and contributes to a visually appealing environment that is easy to engage with, even during lulls in the action.

My first impression after jumping into Diablo IV’s gameplay is that it feels familiar but fresh. You still have a set number of abilities that you can bind to your action bar, and you can still bust open crates and barrels for coin and loot when you’re not cracking skulls, but there are a couple of distinct differences, all of which are pretty great.  For example, you can traverse environmental obstacles by gliding across certain surfaces, crouching under low ceilings or climbing up walls. Diablo IV has introduced an evade button as well. If you haven’t played a Diablo game before, I may sound a little over-enthusiastic about this but trust me, it’s awesome. On a relatively forgiving cooldown, you can now perform a quick dash, regardless of your character class, to dodge attacks or escape a mob of enemies. It’s a simple enough feature, but these minor adjustments to the formula make gameplay feel more fluid and action-driven and enhance the overall experience.

Combat feels awesome, and the ability to evade only adds to this. There is a sense of danger when approaching a mob of enemies, and I realised early on that I was foolish to bring the confidence I had earned with my overpowered Diablo III Necromancer to the world of Diablo IV. Your abilities do feel appropriately powerful but they won’t go as far as allowing you to steamroll across the map. Even in the early game, enemy encounters are far more punishing and require more tact, something I didn’t realise I missed until I faced a particularly challenging mini-boss and even died a couple of times on the way to beating him.

Much of this sense of power comes from your skills. To enhance or add to your standard abilities, you can spend points in the extended talent tree to customise your build to suit your playstyle. This system encourages players to get creative with synergising their skills without forcing them to read pages and pages of min-maxing guides to construct a viable build for their preferred class. It’s not perfectly intuitive, and I imagine that most players, like me, will still want to read at least some of what the experts have to say about certain skill paths, but in its current iteration it remains simple enough for anyone to pick up and have fun with without feeling like they’re missing something. It also means that you can play two characters of the same class but customise them to feel completely different during combat.

Despite my earlier diatribe, Diablo IV is unmistakably Diablo-esque in feel and appearance, and nobody should be fooled into believing they are playing anything but a classic Blizzard banger. Still, the developers have made great strides in ensuring that this new entry honours the legacy of the Diablo franchise while shaking it up just enough to meet the expectations of the modern gamer. Player autonomy is a clear focus in this new title, and allowing players to enliven their unique Diablo fantasies and play the game the way they want to play it is at the forefront of this. As such, Diablo IV is the first in the series to be built for both PC and console and offers a range of accessibility options to suit the needs of most gamers.

I honestly believe Diablo IV will go a long way to please long-term fans of the series and still be a great starting point for lapsed or new players. At its core, Diablo IV is a fun, fantasy-driven experience with a lot to offer to those who are open to the genre.

The post Diablo 4 Hands-On Preview – A Grisly But Gorgeous New Start For The Series appeared first on Press Start.

If you’re not up to date with the surprisingly extensive lore of Fortnite, you might be wondering why you can’t play the game right now. Simply put, Fortnite’s next major content update is on the way, and servers are down while the developers prepare for it. Slightly less simply put, the whole map exploded after a big shiny weirdo smashed it to pieces, and now you have to wait for Brie Larson to put it back together.

Confused? Let me give you some context…

Early this morning, Fortnite concluded Chapter 3 with a huge and particularly strange finale event dubbed “Fracture”. The conclusion of this event introduced Chapter 4, Season 1, which will go live later today.

There's no certainty in how long it'll take… but the Island needs reforging and assistance is required.#FortniteFracture pic.twitter.com/oEyP4iVv2Y

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) December 3, 2022

The Finale

During the event, players were divided into groups on individual floating islands decorated only with a handful of lawn chairs, a campfire and an old-school TV displaying a countdown timer. When the timer reached zero, the event started with a cinematic cutscene featuring The Herald.

The cinematic portrayed The Herald, a recently introduced villain, leading a chrome tornado attack against the island. After it appeared that had been defeated momentarily, The Herald returned as a giant chrome version of herself, turning the entire map and all of its inhabitants into chrome before shattering the whole thing in a single seismic explosion. Players in the event then found themselves floating alone among the remnants of the island.  While players became tethered and drawn into the Zero Point, audio dialogue between The Paradigm and AMIE revealed that as a result of the blast, everything is way off course and far, far from home. After reaching the Zero Point, players were re-grouped on a new set of floating islands and tasked with finding ‘zero fragments’ by completing various quests like interacting with strange trees, locating matching lawn flamingo props and throwing chickens into the void.

This painfully lacklustre portion of the event lasted around forty or so minutes before another cutscene, the official cinematic trailer for Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1.

In this, The Paradigm (played by Brie Larson) uses the zero fragments collected by the players to piece together the remnants of the shattered map and forge a new one. The end result is the Chapter Four map, pictured below.

What now?

You’ll be met with a “New Beginning” if you log in now. You’ll find your character patiently seated at a campfire, with the new map visible in the distance. You can’t move or interact with anything, but various structures, debris and other items occasionally float past, hinting at what will come when servers go live.

?? https://t.co/JDs425oFNs

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) December 3, 2022

Unfortunately, we don’t know exactly when Fortnite Chapter 4 will officially go live. Leakers have suggested that there will be a maximum of 12 hours of downtime, so we expect it to be available for Aussies later this evening.
In the meantime, we’re expecting another new trailer, and we’ll keep you updated as we near the live launch of Chapter 4.

The post Our First Look At Fortnite Chapter 4 After Season 3’s Epic Finale appeared first on Press Start.

On November 29th, World of Warcraft will take to the skies in an all new expansion, Dragonflight.

The dragonflights of Azeroth have returned, called upon to defend their ancestral home, the Dragon Isles. Surging with elemental magic and the life energies of Azeroth, the Isles are awakening once more, and it’s up to the heroes of World of Warcraft to explore their primordial wonder and discover long-forgotten secrets. Included in this expansion is the all new Dracthyr Evoker, WoW’s first ever race-and-class combination. Players are also invited to master the art of dragonriding by bonding with the Dragon Isles Drakes, unique, customisable mounts that can be truly made your own.

You can watch the Dragonflight launch cinematic below:

Ahead of World of Warcraft: Dragonflight’s official launch on Tuesday, we sat down with production director Patrick Dawson and professions director Eric Holmberg-Weidler to chat about the brand-new expansion.

First and foremost, launch day is just around the corner; how are you feeling? What are you most excited about?

Eric Holmberg-Weidler: I personally think I’m most excited about dragon riding. It’s such a game changer; this new form of mobility where you can jump on your totally customizable Drake and, you know, flap up into the air and glide across the world at higher speeds than you’d ever get to before. There’s this really cool progression of collecting glyphs around the world to gain new abilities and gain more vigor which is the sort of stamina that lets you use your dragon-riding abilities. It just feels so good to fly around the world and see it from above at those speeds. It really changes the gameplay. For levelling, where you know you don’t have to mount up on your horse and ride around, you can actually glode to different areas and things like that. If you’re looking for treasures, you might find one up on a cliff, and you can fly up and get it. I particularly have a focus on professions, and it has a really big, big impact on gathering. We’ve been able to have fun placing ore or herbs up in the spires and on cliffs and in all kinds of other places. It adds a lot of fun to the dragon riding skill where you can flap up and then try to land on an interesting spot. If you have the right talent, you can get vigor back more quickly so you can jump off and back on and into whatever your next activity is and it’s super fun.

Patrick Dawson: I think, for me, it’s a combo, really, of the Dracthyr Evoker – the new race/class combo – I’m really excited about that. That is just hitting that iconic feeling of dragon fantasy in how that plays. There are also some new features incorporated in that, like empowered casts, which is your ability to vary the amount of time you spend casting a spell. Based on how long you cast the spell for, it could deal more damage or healing, potentially hit more targets or spread out in a wider code. There are lots of difference mechanics involved in that, and that’s a new thing, we’ve never really done that before. Also, the fundamental return to the talent system. All classes are going to play a little bit differently now, and they are super customisable. That’s already out now and the feedback has been tremendous. People feel that they can just really customise their class to their own needs now.

Regarding the empowered casting mechanics, can you see that being used for other classes in the future?

PD: Yeah, I think that’s an interesting idea. I think we were really dedicated to getting this right for the Evoker first and getting feedback on it before we expand it to other classes, but I think there is an opportunity there. New abilities and skills and things that people can do using empowered casting in the future. We don’t have anything specifically designed yet, there aren’t any empowered casts that exist in the game outside of the Evoker today, but it could be something we expand in the future.

You mentioned player feedback – what has the player feedback been like so far?

PD: We’ve had a lot of player feedback on talents. It has been really good for us to be able to hear what the players think and what they want. We did a lot of iteration on that, and in fact, we opened a lot of direct communication with the community so that we could understand what is going on. We explained our reasons for this too, which created a really good dialogue that led us to this wonderful system that we have today. It wouldn’t have been possible without the players giving us that feedback. I think another cool example is feedback about the user interface. We made changes to update the UI to something a little more modern. When we started out, we had a few widgets on the screen that were movable with our edit mode and then everyone just kept requesting more and more to a point where now you can move almost everything on screen. There are still a few things left to do that we’ll add in future content updates, but we’ve already made a lot of changes to what can be done differently. Things like grid mode and snap to grid, were both hotly requested featured by the community.

Can you tell us anything about future developments for the Dracthyr? Future classes, if any?

PD: For Dracthyr, we really wanted to make a class that hit the dragon fantasy of this expansion. That’s why we have chosen a class that is a mid-range spellcaster. We haven’t added a ranged DPS since the start of World of Warcraft, and it seemed like a really great opportunity to do that. The class is for damage and healing, they have those two specs. We really wanted to lean into iconic dragon abilities like breath attacks or claw attacks which is why mid-range felt better. In terms of future classes, I think it depends on what makes sense during the story we’re telling and the development we’re telling. When you look at this one, it makes a lot of sense to have Dracthyr in a dragon expansion like demon hunters during Legion made a lot of sense too. It’s pretty rare that we add new classes to the game, but when we do, we want to make sure that they really fit the lore and the fantasy and also what players want and expect from a new class.

There are trillions of customisation combinations for Dracthyr – will we see the technology that has allowed you to do this in other areas of the game, other races and classes?

EHW: As far as the specific technology goes, we have definitely been trying to lean into customisation as much as possible, and we’ll be looking for more opportunities there. I think another example of the massive amount of customisation we’ve delivered in Dragon Flight is the customisation for drakes for dragon riding. I don’t know the exact number, but between the four drakes and all the different customisable crests, wings, saddles, armour, colours and things like that, there is a massive number of combinations, and it feels great to be able to deliver that level of customisation to players. I think it really helps build their identity for whatever it may be through their class or their mount or whatever it may be.

PD: Just to add to that too. I think when I look at customisation in World of Warcraft, it didn’t start with Dracthyr. We actually made a really big push in Shadowlands and maybe even a little bit before, allowing more versatility for all race customisations, whether it be skin tone, hair colour or tattoos. We’ve added quite a bit of player customisation for all races and we continue to look for opportunities to expand that. I don’t think we’re going to go quite to the level we did with Dracthyr because that’s pretty insane, but we also had both the Visage form and the Dracthyr form to work with on that, so there was a lot of opportunity for advanced customisation.

Looking specifically at the all-new professions system, when did the team officially decide that now was the time to revamp it?

EHW: It was early on in Dragonflight, I had just joined, and Ion [Hazzikostas, Game Director] told me, ‘we really want to revamp professions and make them super awesome’. Really, the goal that we were aiming for there was to really let you identify with your chosen profession. We want to really deliver on that fantasy of being a blacksmith or a scribe or any other profession you may choose and let you do all the things you might expect a fantasy-oriented smith to do. Also, to have that level of customisation that lets you stand out from every other blacksmith that may be in your realm or your guild or in your social group. That’s where it all started. We really want to deliver on that fantasy because players have loved professions since the launch of the game, and there have been a lot of different iterations of them. The opportunity to really lean into them and let players dig deeper and make it a bigger part of their identity was just a really great one so we wanted to jump at it for Dragonflight. I’m really looking forward to it.

I’ve been playing a lot of Amazon’s New World recently, and in my particular server, there is a character named The Jewellery King because he is the best guy to go to for jewellery crafting and will make jewellery for anyone. I can see that sort of thing really coming to life in Dragonflight.

EHW: Yeah! That’s definitely one of our dreams. The specialisation, in particular, allows you to pick some small aspect of your profession and get really good at it. We’ve also added quality to the system where as a gatherer, you can get higher quality reagents and then if you’re a crafter, you can craft those into other secondary reagents of a higher quality that eventually turns into really high-quality gear that gives you more item level or stronger potions. Being able to specialise in these different areas means you can really stand out. To pick a really niche role, you might want to be the alloy crafter on your server and that’s going to be your thing. Maybe it’s not as cool for other people to do but you think it’s really neat and you can make a ton of gold doing it so you get to feel like that’s a part of your identity.  If you’re in a guild and you guys have three blacksmiths or three tailors, and you split up like – I’m going to be really good at making Chronocloth gear, which is special Bronze magic imbued tailoring gear and someone else is gonna do AzureWeave and then someone else is going to get really good at gathering the cloth and things like that so you work together to build and be able to supply your guild and everyone else on your realm with all of this awesome stuff.  So, letting you have that identity is something really important and exciting for the new system.

Was it challenging to balance that system? To ensure that professions are accessible to everyone but that the true masters of their craft really stand out?

EHW: One of the coolest things about professions is that almost everyone has their two professions plus, they may or may not do cooking and fishing, but almost everybody does at least a little bit. Even before the update, you could spend a lot of time or a little time on it. We made it a very explicit goal with this new system so that, say, you’re familiar with the professions system for the last fifteen-plus years – we didn’t want the new system to be this alien thing that was sort of scary and would chase you off. We intentionally kept the system working in a familiar way. You get in there, you still learn recipes, you still craft from recipes to gain skill, you still hit the craft button and make your items or you know, click on a herb in the world and gather it. The base works the same but there’s all this added depth now. There are stats and gear that you can acquire to make yourself better, and there is skill and quality that all matter if you want to get into it, but it is also kind of ignorable if you want to just make a thing and have it be useful. We specifically tried to make it so that the items you make, whether you lean into it and try to be a really in-depth crafter or if you don’t, there are always going to be very useful items.
For example, if you’re a leather worker and skinner. While you’re levelling, we went out of our way to make sure that you learn really useful recipes for yourself early on and that the item level that you can craft is very competitive with everything else your finding. Right out of the gate you can probably craft at least one piece that’s kind of equivalent to what you would find if you were level 65, but you’re only level 60, it’s going to last you for a while which makes it worthwhile to do. On top of that, we’re now giving you some experience the first time you craft every recipe to help compensate for say, the time it might take you to go visit your trainer or gather reagents and things like that. A lot of players are in a rush to get to the max level and we also want to encourage players to be professionals at the same time. So, we’re sort of rewarding your time for that, both in gear and experience, so that you’re actually making progress toward what you’re going for anyway.

For our key-pushers out there, can you tell us about the new Mythic+ affixes?

PD: Yeah, there are two that are going away; Necrotic and Inspiring. We’re giving them a little break. We’re also adding a new one called Thundering. This is the season affix, and it’s intended to give you a little bit of a benefit for your party members by coming together, like a positive and negative charge. You have to find a player with the opposite charge within a certain amount of time and failing to do so means you’ll get stunned for eight seconds – so you don’t want that. You want to come together, but you also need to maximise your time apart so that you can deal more damage and do more healing.

We’re trying something new this season. In previous expansions when we’ve done Mythic+, we’ve opened the full suite of dungeons in the first season. This time we’re doing just four of them. We’ll have four Dragonflight dungeons and the remaining four are a mixture of dungeons from Legion, Warlords and Mists; Halls of Valor, Court of Stars, Shadowmoon Burial Grounds and the Temple of the Jade Serpent. Then for season 2, we’ll add the other four Dragonflight dungeons and pick other dungeons that will go alongside those. That way, you won’t just learn one route or one dungeon and continue doing that season after season. You’ll get a little bit of variation in gear and in choice, so that’s really cool.

You’ve returned to the need/greed looting system. Can you tell us a bit more about how that works and why you decided to return to that format?

PD: It’s actually almost three tiers, it’s a little bit invisible to people. There is a need role for your main spec, so whatever spec you have selected, if you roll need for an item for that spec, you’ll get a priority roll. If you roll need and it’s an off-spec item, you’ll be in the second bucket of people that are rolling against each other for an off-spec item. Then you can roll greed on items you would want for transmog or a side-grade or something of that nature, and you roll in that third bucket.

It provides a little more opportunity for players to sort of move gear around. We’ve removed the restrictions on having an item of a certain level to trade, that’s one of the things that personal loot had in it that a lot of people were upset with. We’re just trying to give more freedom and choice to players, especially raid teams or guild-based teams. That’s the idea behind it, but we wanted to keep it fair and make sure that even in a LFR [Looking for Raid] situation you still have the opportunity to get some great gear.

Speaking of guilds. Are you looking at adding cross-faction guilds? What has the reaction to cross-faction activities been like so far?

PD: So far, a lot of positive feedback. People seem to really like it. They like that they can do content with their friends from another faction, whether it’s Mythic+ or PvP. Another change we made with the latest update for Dragonflight is multi-faction tap. In the past, when you would be in the open world just questing or adventuring, if a player from another faction hit something that you wanted to hit, it would turn grey to you, and you wouldn’t be able to get loot or experience from it. Now, that’s no longer the case, it will only turn grey if it has exceeded the tap limit for the creature. If you’re in different factions, you still get to work together to defeat the creature, and you both get loot now. So, that’s a step toward a little bit more cross-faction play.

I have heard requests for cross-faction guilds, the community has asked for that a little bit. I think that’s something we will need to discuss and see what the next steps are in terms of where we want to take the cross-faction system.

EHW: We’re definitely trying to follow that philosophy with other new features as well. For instance, the new crafting order system lets you make a request for someone to craft something for you and then have that crafter make it and sent it to you in the mail. That’s completely cross-faction. That’s just another example of making things that make a lot of sense to be cross-faction right now.

This will be the last time we hear from you before the big launch – anything else you would like to add?

PD: I just hope you have a blast in Dragonflight. There’s a lot of stuff to do, even before launch; whether it’s creating an Evoker or previewing the Uldaman [Legacy of Tyr] dungeon. There’s a lot of stuff you can play and have fun with right now, but November 28th, wow, that’s going to be a great day. I can’t wait to get in there and start to form a dong with my dragon, ride my drake and explore a new area.

EHW: I totally agree, I’m excited for everyone to get in there and get to play Dragonflight. It’s such a beautiful world, the zones are gigantic, and they’re coming alive with elemental magic. It’s just such an amazing place to explore and sink your teeth into and go on adventures and little side quests that are scattered all around. You can participate in the big story as well as these little cool things that you can find across the land that makes you feel like an adventurer, there to help in the world.

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is the ninth expansion of the series and goes live at 10 am AEST on the 29th of November. You can download the pre-patch to prepare for launch day right now.

The post World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Interview – Taking The Series To New Heights appeared first on Press Start.

Last week, members of Full Circle sat down to discuss the status of Skate. During the round-table, the project leads shared their thoughts on the project and shared some new playtest footage.

You can watch the full episode below:

Skate. will be the fourth title in the franchise of the same name and is currently being developed by Full Circle. Full Circle is a Vancouver-based studio led by the former Head of Xbox Live, Daniel McCulloch. The creative team is led by Deran Chung and Cuz Parry, who helped create the Skate franchise and have worked on each major title since.

In the episode, creative director, Cuz Parry, explains that though the team are honouring the foundations of the old games, players should not expect a “copy-paste” experience in the new Skate.

Lead Gameplay Designer Ryan Pelcz continued the discussion. He explained that Full Circle is evolving the mechanics, the engine and the technology to create a reimagined experience that still feels like a Skate. game. One of their key goals is to add more player agency, more player control and explore more possibilities and self-expression within the game world. Pelcz added that the team also wants to make it look better than ever.

A new focus for this entry is off-board gameplay. This, says Pelcz, centres around exploration and allowing players to reach new areas and do new and more creative things. Anything they are adding in this regard is to amplify what a player can do with their skating. They hope that this will create more possibilities for skateboarding and more opportunities for fun.

You can check out some highlights from recent playtesting:

We’re back with highlights of our second skate. insider play test. ?
If you want to become a skate. insider register at https://t.co/zTxV7wU55J now! pic.twitter.com/xphqC9IMFQ

— skate. (@skate) November 18, 2022

We don’t have a release date or anything like it for Skate. yet. However, we know that when it eventually launches, it will be free to play on all platforms.

The post New Skate Gameplay Footage Looks Awesome In This Update From The Developer appeared first on Press Start.

Krispy Kreme South Australia and Xbox ANZ have teamed up to give away 10 x Xbox Series S consoles and 100 x 3-month Game Pass subscriptions to lucky doughnut lovers across the Festival State. They’ve also launched an awesome limited edition green doughnut to celebrate the collaboration, topped with the signature X Sphere logo and stuffed with a chocolate brownie filling.

Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time we’ve reported on gaming-themed doughnuts this year. We can’t help but wonder if Krispy Kreme SA was inspired by Donut King’s PlayStation promotion back in April.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Krispy Kreme South Australia (@krispykremesa)

Xbox limited edition doughnuts are available from participating Krispy Kreme and OTR locations across South Australia until December 6th, 2022.  The competition is open to SA residents over the age of 16 that are members of the official OTR app. We’ve got the details for you below:

1. Download the OTR App from either the Apple App Store or Google Play as found on the App Store or Google Play Store onto their compatible device;
2. Register their details via the OTR App with a valid email address or via Facebook as directed within the OTR App; and
3. purchase a Krispy Kreme Xbox Doughnut from any of the Promoter’s OTR and Krispy Kreme stores displaying advertising for this promotion (“Participating Venues”) and have their OTR Rewards barcode in the OTR App scanned at the time of purchase.

You can enter as many times as you like and will receive one valid entry for every 1 Xbox doughnut purchased during the promotional period. You can read the full terms and conditions here.

The post Krispy Kreme SA Is Selling Xbox Donuts And Giving Away Consoles appeared first on Press Start.

In early 2021, Laura Miele, the Chief Studio Officer at EA, officially announced the development of Sims 5. More than a year later, the game’s developer, Maxis, first gave fans a look at The Sims 5 during the Behind The Sims Summit. During this presentation, the developer revealed a few minutes of gameplay, focusing on showing off all the features coming to the game’s build mode. Maxis also revealed that though the project is in its infancy, it would provide early access to the software to small groups over time.

Today, a since-deleted account posted 11 photos on Reddit from what they claim is early access to The Sims 5.

https://twitter.com/centralsimmerML/status/1591043035370262528?s=20&t=yT6YxFnZBQ1wMboVVcDHIQ

The images from the supposed playtest appear to match the early footage shown at the Summit, lending credence to the leak’s authenticity. “This play test mostly was focusing on the new building and furniture features,” the post’s author commented in the thread. “It had four preset studio apartments for you to mess around in or an empty one for you to build in. There were no sims in this at all.” they continued. This may disappoint fans of the Sims franchise. It’s worth reiterating, however, how incredibly early in the development process this game is.  It’s no surprise that the demo is barebones and lacks exciting features for now.

We’ve seen this recently with the pre-alpha footage of EA’s Skate, which leaked earlier this year. Following the leak, fans of the franchised criticised the developers for the quality of what they saw in the leaked footage. There were complaints about everything from basic models to missing textures. This is despite the likelihood that the build was primarily focused on physics and motion fluidity.

Regardless, this marks an exciting time for Sims fans. The Sims 4 launched in 2014, meaning that fans have been waiting for a new Sims game for close to a decade. If you’re feeling nostalgic about the franchise, the Sims 4 is now free to play on all platforms, you can read more about it here.

The post The Sims 5 Early Access Screenshots Have Already Leaked appeared first on Press Start.

Last year we reported that Remedy Entertainment had signed a deal with 505 Games to complete two new games. Today, the developer has just announced that one of these titles is the sequel to 2019s award-winning action-thriller, Control.

We have signed an agreement with 505 Games to co-develop and co-publish Control 2, a sequel to Control. Read the announcement: https://t.co/UD1iFHvCeH

This is a very exciting moment for us! Mikael Kasurinen, Game Director of the franchise, tells more: https://t.co/KJCHIWgBlU pic.twitter.com/TuTEMr1tjv

— Remedy Entertainment (@remedygames) November 11, 2022

Remedy has signed an agreement with international publisher 505 Games to co-develop and co-publish the sequel, Control 2 (formerly known as Codename Heron). The project is in concept stage, and the initial development budget currently sits at EUR 50 million. Remedy Entertainment will retain ownership of the game’s intellectual property. Development, marketing, post-launch investments and future net revenues will be evenly divided between 505 Games and Remedy.

“We are excited to deepen our cooperation with Remedy and continue the success story of Control together. Since its launch in 2019, Control has sold over 3 million copies,” said Rami and Raffi Galante, co-CEOs of Digital Bros Group/505 Games. “Control is the biggest investment 505 Games has ever made, so it has a special place in our hearts. We are grateful to the whole player community that has made Control such a long-lasting and loved game, and are even more excited to bring out Control 2,” they continued.

In mid-2021, Remedy announced that they had outlined high-level collaboration terms with 505 Games to secure a bigger-budget game. “I’m now proud to confirm that the bigger-budget Control game, also known as Codename Heron, is Control 2, a full-blown sequel to our award-winning game Control,” says Tero Virtala, CEO of Remedy.

The game will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. It will be built on Remedy’s proprietary Northlight® engine and tools. Remedy will publish the game on the PC platform, and 505 Games will publish it on the console.

We’ll keep you posted on any major updates to the development process!

The post Control 2 Is Officially In Development With A New Publisher appeared first on Press Start.

There is just a little over a month to go before the release of The Witcher: Blood Origin, the highly anticipated limited prequel to The Witcher. Ahead of the series launch, Netflix has released an all-new teaser trailer, which you can watch below:

Set in a medieval-inspired world on a fictional landmass known as The Continent, The Witcher is Netflix’s television adaptation of the beloved high fantasy book series of the same name by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. The series follows the story of Geralt of Rivia, a solitary magical monster hunter, Crown Princess Ciri of Cintra, and the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg, exploring formative events at different points in their lives before merging into a single timeline.

The Witcher: Blood Origin tells a tale lost to history: the creation of the prototype Witcher. Set 1200 years before the main series, Blood Origin centres around the events that led to the pivotal Conjunction of the Spheres. During this cataclysmic event, the worlds of monsters, men, and elves merge to become one. We’ll also meet Scian, the last survivor of an Elven tribe whose mission is to retrieve a blade stolen from her people. We don’t know much about the plot but can only hope it will measure up to the all-star cast, including action star and acclaimed stunt performer Michelle Yeoh and comedian Dylan Moran.

The Witcher: Blood Origin is a four-part limited series that premieres exclusively on Netflix on December 25th, 2022. We don’t have an exact date, but Season 3 of the Witcher wrapped in early September, and we expect it to debut during the Northern Hemisphere’s Summer in 2023. Netflix has already renewed The Witcher for a controversial season 4. Byron Bay’s Liam Hemsworth will replace leading actor Henry Cavill as the series’ titular character, Geralt of Rivia.

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To celebrate the sixteen-year anniversary of the franchise, Netflix has announced that it is is partnering with The Coalition to produce a slate of Gears of War adaptations. The streaming giant is starting with a live-action feature film, followed by an adult-oriented animated series.

During the announcement, Netflix suggested that there would be “potential for more stories to follow” but did not go into any further detail on additional productions.

Gears of War was released 16 years ago today and to mark the occasion, Netflix has partnered with The Coalition to adapt the @GearsofWar video game saga into a live action feature film, followed by an adult animated series — with the potential for more stories to follow! pic.twitter.com/3zInFSnUu4

— Netflix (@netflix) November 7, 2022

With the likes of Bioshock, Horizon Zero Dawn and Assassin’s Creed shows/movies already announced for Netflix, it’s clear they’re targeting gamers and these stories in a big way on the platform.

Gears of War is a cooperative third-person shooter that was originally launched in 2006 as an Xbox exclusive. Today, the game has sold over 40 million copies, securing its place as one of the most beloved longstanding franchises in gaming history. Gears of War takes place on the planet Sera, a world not unlike our own but with a few distinct differences. Namely, the presence of a subterranean reptilian hominid species known as the Locust Horde.

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Yesterday, we reported on Blizzard revealing Rammatra, a new tank hero coming to Season 2 of Overwatch 2. In this, we described how Blizzard aired an animated short about Rammatra’s origin story but didn’t feature any in-game or gameplay footage of the new hero. We also mentioned that despite their eagerness to share the new tank with us, Blizzard remained pretty tight-lipped about Rammatra’s unique abilities, pending a big unveiling in the near future.

Less than twenty-four hours after Blizzard’s official announcement, however, several leaked in-game images have popped up in various corners of the Internet, and as expected, eagle-eyed fans are using these images to deduce the details of Ramattra’s ability kit.

Overwatch 2 New Hero Ramattra Gameplay and In-game Look ?

New Hero Ramattra Season 2 Coming December 6! #Overwatch2 pic.twitter.com/JyZTol8xiO

— Naeri X ??? (@OverwatchNaeri) November 5, 2022

So, without further adieu, let’s get into some of the most likely or at least most interesting theories so far.

HERO STATS

Let’s start with an easy one. We can see pretty clearly from the images that Rammatra has a health pool of at least 450. We can also see 150 additional armour points that presumably only apply when he is in Nemesis form.

Ability 1

Fans speculate that his first ability is a form shift. This ability allows Rammatra to switch from his standard Omnic form to a bigger and more aggressive juggernaut-like form called Nemesis. In Omnic form, Rammatra uses his staff, most likely to deal ranged damage and maybe to apply a defence buff to heroes on his team.

Ability 2

Rammatra’s second ability, shown above, is more difficult to decipher. However, most Overwatch theorists seem to agree that this ability, referred to as “Vortex”, looks like a trap. This trap could be an area of effect where enemies are stunned, rooted, slowed, or confined for a short time. It’s also been suggested that it may prevent them from using abilities other than primary fire and ground airborne heroes like Pharah or Echo.

Ability 3

This ability may depend on whether Rammatra is in Omnic or Nemesis. In Nemesis form, it looks like the ability puts Rammatra into a defensive stance, blocking enemy attacks so that he can push a point or penetrate enemy lines. This would effectively turn Rammatra into a battering ram, and will be great for tanks with a more aggressive playstyle.

Ultimate Ability

When we spoke to the developers earlier this week, they warned us that Rammatra’s ultimate ability is not something to take lightly. When in his Nemesis form, Rammatra bolsters his size, Hulkbuster style, increasing his defences to assault the enemy line. We don’t have official information about his ultimate ability, but we know that he has to be in Nemesis form to use it. Looking at the leaked images, it appears that his ultimate could be a charged melee strike, perhaps something similar to Reinhardt’s Earthshatter.

Of course, this is all speculative at this stage, and we’re unlikely to know exactly what we’re in for until Blizzard themselves lift the lid on their new tank. Still, it’s exciting to score an early look at Rammatra’s awesome in-game character model and fun to surmise what might be in store for the Null Sector leader.

Rammatra is coming to Overwatch 2 on December 6, 2022, the first day of Season 2. Overwatch 2 is free to play and available on Xbox Series X|S, Playstation 4/5, Nintendo Switch and PC via Battlenet.  Click here to learn more about Overwatch 2’s battle pass tiers, seasons and hero unlocks. If you want to know what we thought about Overwatch 2 when we played it last month, you can read our full review here.

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It won’t be news to any of our avid eSports fans that the Overwatch League 2022 playoffs took place in Anaheim this afternoon.  During this year’s competition, Dallas Fuel conquered San Francisco Shock in a heated Grand Final, earning themselves the title of Overwatch 2 World Champions.

Fans anticipated that Blizzard was going to announce something during today’s event. Many speculated that they might reveal Mauga, an old friend of Baptise and a heavy assault soldier associated with Talon.

Fans were on the money expecting a new hero, but in place of Mauga, we were introduced to Rammatra, an all-new tank hero.

You can watch his origin story below:

Rammatra will join the Overwatch 2 roster during Season 2 on December 6, 2022. Ahead of today’s reveal, we sat down with members of the development team: Dion Rogers, Art Director, Alec Dawson, Lead Hero Designer and Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie, Lead Narrative Design, to learn more about this upcoming hero.

Introducing Rammatra

Rammatra is an Omnic, an artificially intelligent automaton designed explicitly by humans for militaristic purposes. Following the Omnic Crisis, Rammatra retreated to the Nepalese mountains to study the peaceful teachings of Tekhartha Mondatta at the Shambali Monastery. At the Monastery, Rammatra and Zenyatta were like brothers. However, having witnessed the human atrocities against Omnics during and after the Crisis, Rammatra could not remain idle and abandoned the Monastery.

Presently, Rammatra is a leader of Null Sector, a militia organisation formed in response to the harsh treatment experienced by Omnics.

We don’t know if Rammatra’s involvement with Null Sector strained his relationship with Zenyatta. Art Director Dion Rogers suggests playing the two characters in the same match to prompt lore-rich dialogue lines to help piece together the Rammatra’s full story.

Blizzard held back on sharing too much about Rammatra’s gameplay pending a big reveal, but after chatting with the team, we’re intrigued and eager to learn more about what the new tank will bring to the battlefield.

Playing Rammatra

Rammatra is playable as a tank and can shift between two forms on the battleground. We know that heroes like D.Va and Bastion can also transform during combat but developers insist that Rammatra’s form shift is unlike anything we have seen in Overwatch before.

While in Omnic form, Rammatra uses his large health pool to stay up and his staff to protect his team.  He is expected to be used for a poke composition while in this form. A poking composition refers to a comp that deals damage to the opposing team from mid to long-range without committing to a big fight. Poking the enemy team weakens them before a brawl and can bait them into using their abilities and blowing their cooldowns.

Rammatra is also a keen inventor, and according to developers, even tinkers with his own robotic build, and as a result, he can transform into what is known as his Nemesis form. While in this form, Rammatra bolsters his size, commanding his team and intimidating his opponents with a hulk-like demeanour. In Nemesis form, Rammatra compliments a more aggressive playstyle to push a point or penetrate enemy defences.

We don’t know much about Rammatra’s other unique abilities yet, but Blizzard assured us that details are coming soon. In the meantime, Blizzard boasted his other utilities and mentioned that aside from being big and scary, his punch can pierce enemy barriers and his powerful ultimate ability is universally described as terrifying.

Overwatch 2 is free to play on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch and PC via Battlenet. If want to know more about Overwatch 2 or just like how we write about stuff, you can also check out our review here.

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Earlier this week, Overwatch 2 developers apologised for what they called a rocky start, but the game has remained plagued by misfortune after misfortune since, seriously harming the free-to-play’s reputation, less than a week after its official launch.

It started with a pair of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks that prevented players from joining active servers during the launch because they were already populated to capacity by malicious traffic. This caused prospective players to sit in queues for hours and hours, sometimes behind tens of thousands of other players, while others failed to connect to Overwatch 2’s online services entirely.

Meanwhile, many players who had successfully managed to bypass the absurd queues experienced missing or mistakenly locked cosmetics, inaccurate match history data and buggy cameras; issues that fans feel should not have made it all the way to launch day.

Finally, on the list of unmitigated Overwatch 2 related pain in the ass; Blizzard’s new security requirements. During the login process, players were required to provide a mobile number to correspond with their account to, in Blizzard’s words, help cut down on ‘both cheating and disruptive behaviour’. This new two-factor authentication process, however, caused a serious barrier for players who were rejected for using pre-paid mobile service providers and for players who don’t have an active mobile number at all.

Fortunately, the profound backlash from players means that Blizzard has since scrapped the whole phone number thing entirely and is working, seemingly around the clock, to fix the other issues that have been disappointing and frustrating players since day one. While it has evidently been somewhat of a dumpster fire of a launch, it is worth noting that millions of players have been able to log into Overwatch 2 and that many of them are enjoying the reinvigorated format and new playable characters.

In a post on Blizzard’s forums, the company said: “First, we want to apologize to our players. We expected the launch of Overwatch 2 to go smoothly. We hold ourselves to a higher standard and we are working hard to resolve the issues you are experiencing.”

You can find a full list of the issues they’ve already noted and what they’re fixing HERE.

We spent some time with Overwatch 2 before its launch, applauding the new maps and game modes but addressing the lack of innovation in a title that feels a lot more like a major update than a sequel. You can read the full review right here.

The post Blizzard Has Apologised For Overwatch 2’s Botched Launch appeared first on Press Start.

Overwatch 2, the sequel to Blizzard Activision’s beloved 2016 team shooter, will officially launch on October 4, 2022 and will usher in a new era for the game. Firstly, Overwatch 2, unlike its predecessor, will be entirely free to play, with enabled cross-platform gameplay and progression. In addition, Overwatch 2 will be moving into a seasonal model where new content will be delivered to the game every nine weeks to mark the start of a new season.

OVERWATCH 2 SEASON 1

Each season will feature new experiences and new ways to play, including either a new hero or a new map, alternating between seasons. Each season will also come equipped with a new Battle Pass with more than 80 unlockable tiers of cosmetic items. This means that Overwatch is officially getting rid of loot boxes, and instead, you can use the brand new in-game shop to spend your Overwatch Coins and unlock featured cosmetics that rotate each week. Season One’s featured cosmetics will host a cyber punk theme, while future seasons will host a myriad of different themes, yet to be announced.

The Shop will also feature what Blizzard is calling a “Just For You” section that offers personalised items based on what you prefer to play and equip in-game as well as rotating bundles to celebrate special occasions and moments in the community.

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The Battle Pass is free for everyone, but you can choose to upgrade to the premium Battle Pass to unlock premium tier rewards. It’s worth noting that while some items will only be available via the premium Battle Pass track, such as XP boosts and mythic hero skins, new unlockable heroes will always be earnable through the free Battle Pass track. If a player misses the opportunity to unlock a new hero via the Battle Pass, Blizzard has assured us that there will be other ways to access that character in the future, though we don’t have the full details just yet. To read more about Overwatch 2’s newest character Kiriko, click here.

Battle Pass progression is pretty predictable; players must earn XP to increase their Battle Pass tier and access additional rewards. Aside from winning matches and playing the game a whole hell of a lot, players can also earn XP by completing challenges; daily challenges, weekly challenges, seasonal challenges, competitive challenges, ongoing challenges and challenges that are specific to each playable hero.

The Overwatch 2 Premium Battle Pass costs 1000 Overwatch Coins or the equivalent of A$14.95 but is already included in the Overwatch 2: Watchpoint Pack for those who have pre-ordered it. Overwatch 2 launches on October 4, 2022, on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4/5 and PC via Battlenet.

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Earlier this week, we caught up with the Overwatch 2 team to discuss what they have in store for the game’s official launch next month on October 4, 2022. One of the most exciting announcements to come out of this session was introducing a new hero, Kiriko, described by art director Dion Rogers as a ‘support ninja’.

Kiriko’s character design draws on the concept of the traditional Miko, a Japanese shrine maiden, but also the concept of a ninja. According to narrative designer Kyungseo Min, she learned healing abilities from her grandmother and how to be a badass fighter from her mother, who also trained the Shimada brothers, Genji and Hanzo. As the guardian of Kanezaka, Kiriko bridges these two polar sensibilities together in her support role on the battlefield, providing healing buffs with her Ofuda and ranged damage (including crit. hits) using her kunai.

Developers have said that Kiriko was specifically designed to embody the spirit of the new 5v5 Overwatch gameplay. With her offense-driven support build, players are encouraged to embrace the fast-paced nature of the battle and to face the challenge head-on with a sense of power and confidence without feeling unbalanced or OP.

You can check out the details of her abilities below:

Overwatch 2 is free-to-play and launches on October 4, 2022, via Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4/5 and PC via Battlenet. You can purchase the Overwatch 2: Watchpoint Pack for $59.95 to receive immediate access to Overwatch: Legendary Edition as well as a Season 1 Premium Battlepass, 2 legendary hero skins, 2000 VC and an exclusive player icon for Overwatch 2 on launch day. To learn more about the Overwatch 2 Battle Pass, check out our deep dive here.

The post Overwatch 2’s New Hero Is Called Kiriko And Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Her appeared first on Press Start.

Earlier this year, Xbox announced that it was working with Discord to provide an update to in-game communications aimed at improving and streamlining the user audio experience. Starting today, Discord Voice is now available on all Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One Consoles.

Do you hear that? That's the sweet sound of @Discord Voice available on Xbox ? https://t.co/sp1tTMrejs pic.twitter.com/r8HTOyzuSr

— Xbox (@Xbox) September 13, 2022

With this update, Xbox players can now chat with anyone on Discord via voice channels or group calls directly from the console, making it easier to connect with friends on mobile, Xbox and PC. The update also features an on-screen overlay that lets you see who is in the call and who is speaking while you are playing on your console. You can also adjust the sound and switch between Discord Voice and Xbox game chat on the fly via the app settings.

To get started, head to the Discord mobile app and link your Discord account to your Xbox. You’ll need to do this step even if you’ve linked accounts before. After that, you can join any Discord voice channel or call and transfer it to your Xbox.

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Earlier this year, Blizzard Entertainment announced the ninth expansion for World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft: Dragonflight. Scheduled for official release in December 2022, Dragonflight has just entered into Alpha testing status so we sat down with Game Director Ion Hazzikostas to have a chat about what to expect from this exciting new chapter of the World of Warcraft.

What has the reaction to Dragonflight from the World of Warcraft community been like?

The team is certainly pleased and excited by the reception. You know, one of the most nerve-wracking moments as a developer on World of Warcraft is that moment when we pull back the curtain and share our expansion concept with the world because at that point, we’ve probably been working on it for a couple of years and if the fundamental idea isn’t landing like we hoped it would, it’s too late to change it. So, when we set out to create Dragonflight, we knew we were returning to Azeroth, and we wanted to deliver a high fantasy expansion, something inviting that returns to the vibes of exploration and discovery, not a big universe-ending threat looming, right from the start – and of course, who doesn’t love dragons? 

When we were able to share the cinematic and the framing of the expansion back in April, we were really excited by the reception, and we’re even more excited this week to be able to pull back that curtain fully and really invite the world in to see what we’ve been working on, explore these worlds, mess around with the talent systems, see our other system revamps and more.

It’s very early in testing but so far,  have you had any interesting or surprising feedback?

The community as a whole is going to see Alpha tomorrow, but we’ve been trying to start the feedback process for some of our systems changes as early as possible. We began publishing comprehensive talent blogs for some of our revamped talent trees over a month ago, and again, it was one of those things where we knew it was a risky change; we knew we were making a pretty drastic change to something that is fundamental, which is the class and the spec[iaslisation] that players view our whole world and interact with the world through. We’ve been very happy to see positive initial reception; people in the community putting together talent calculators and people exploring theory crafting and exploring what their dungeon build might be versus what they’re going to PvP with.

Also, giving us really valuable feedback about choices that felt either lopsided or frustrating can allow us to begin that process of iteration even sooner. As we open up Alpha we’ll have more of these trees playable hands-on and over the course of the next months, we’ll get all of the remaining ones testable. So, we can’t wait to just get that ongoing dialogue during our Alpha and Beta period to just really make the [talent] trees everything they can be. 

We last spoke to the Dragonflight team in April, have there been any major changes or surprises since then?

Things have been proceeding according to plan, and I’m incredibly proud of the team as a whole for pulling off with as many variables that go into game development these days. This is the week that we had circled months and months and months ago for when Alpha was going to begin and when we were going to be able to share everything with the world and here we are and it’s happening. We can’t wait to move on to the next phase and begin to dig into the specifics of our systems changes, new rewards, zones we’re building, dungeons and raids and more. That key process that occurs over the course of Beta where we’re getting tons of feedback while things are still malleable enough to make major changes is one of the most exciting and gratifying parts of the entire development cycle and it’s right around the corner.

In the lead-up to the new expansion will any of the older content become easier to finish or more accessible to players who aren’t up to date?

We’ve loosened the requirements for allied races significantly already but we’re not planning to further adjust that. We’ve removed the reputation requirements and the repeatable content that was required to unlock them. Now it’s more just a single campaign questline that you have to play through for a given zone or another piece of content which really in a sense takes the place of what the starting experience for that race might be since they start at a higher level and they don’t have a traditional starting experience. In general, with updating World of Warcraft, we’re always trying to strike a balance between maintaining the investment that players have in their characters and fulfilling and catering to people who have been playing for a decade and are looking for something new while keeping things approachable and accessible and having a smooth on-ramp onto the latest experience.

So, the updates we made to our new player experience in Shadowlands are going to continue and as we slightly iterate and polish players are going to be able to pick up World of Warcraft for the first time, play through the Horde and Alliance themed Battle for Azeroth experience and then move on directly into the Dragon Isles at level 60 once Dragonflight launches. They’ll be equipped to understand the story, understand the story and the stakes and the systems in front of them. Dragonflight is a fantastic time to pick up World of Warcraft whether you are returning after some time away or picking it up for the very first time. 

What was the main motivation for revamping professions in Dragonflight?

Frankly, I feel like and the development team feels like professions have had so much unrealised potential over the last 10+ years in World of Warcraft. There is a fantasy there, that in some ways we came closest to fulfilling back in Classic 17 years ago, where you could be the blacksmith on your server that had the Arcanite Reaper plans and other people would seek you out because they knew that you had put a lot of time and effort into becoming a master smith. You’d skilled up, you’d collected rare recipes and you’d log on and get whispers from people who knew ‘oh that person’s a great blacksmith’ the same way someone else could be the most fearsome duelist on their server or a terror on the battlegrounds, you were a smith or you were an enchanter who had the rare recipes. Over the years, I think that has become a bit more homogenised where most crafters have the same things as each other.

The impetus in Dragonflight’s profession revamp was really, how can we make being a crafter a part of your identity? How can we make it have that depth that is there for people who want to engage in it and who want to differentiate themselves from other crafters of the same type and be able to say this is my playstyle, I am a blacksmith and this is a big deal. We don’t want to force everyone down that path if they’re not looking to do it. If you’re just wanting to gather herbs and mix potions for your raid, that’s still going to work as it has but if you want to become a specialist and be able to make the best thing of a certain type there is a tremendously deep system there that leverages our new work order system that can allow players, I think for the first time, to make gear that is on par with the best stuff out there without undermining the value of the other stuff that is out there.

We don’t have to worry about making raid gear irrelevant or dungeon gear irrelevant because in many cases, you’ll be taking something that somebody has earned from a raid that is bound to them that they can bring to you as a blacksmith to refine for them. They have to work with you, as a player, to get a portion of the materials and you have to contribute your expertise and refinement specialisation as a master smith or tailor or whatever else and then that product is one of the strongest items in the game. That’s an exciting part of the core fantasy and we can’t wait to get this whole system into players’ hands and see how they play with it.

What are some of your favourite Dracthyr customisation options? How do you feel about the character creator side of things?

We are just tremendously excited across the board, the character art team, our animators, and everyone just raised the bar here for what character creation and customisation can be. It has been fun watching people sit down to check out Dragonflight to find out that thirty minutes later they haven’t logged in yet because they’re still tinkering with their Dracthyr. When you create your Dractyrh for the first time, it could literally be just your Dracthyr. The odds are pretty decent that you will have made one that is literally unlike any other Dracthyr played by any other person in the world. There are as many possible Dracthyr combinations as there are grains of sand on all of the beaches in the world and then some and that’s pretty darn cool. I think looking forward, of course, we want to learn from the technology improvements here and what we’ve gained from delivering the Dracthyr and apply that to other races. I think that really is the focus. In general, we’ve been working through Shadowlands, in particular, to improve character customisation and give players more ability to express themselves and their identity in World of Warcraft and in Azeroth. Something we’re excited to be moving towards is more gender options as we’re offering character creation, so instead of male or female we’re seeing body types one and two, you’re able to choose voices for characters irrespective of body type, that’s just another one of these ongoing steps that the team is excited to work towards.

Can you tell us anything more about plans to expand the options for other races as well?

The body type options I just mentioned are going to be available for all existing races. The twenty-five different sliders you can toggle are Dracthyr only right now but character customisation improvements are an ongoing project, we’re never going to say that we’re done there, we know that there is no such thing as too much when it comes to options and variety in how you can express yourself in Azeroth. For a lot of players, making sure they have an on-theme name for their Dracthyr is very important heading into the expansion. Have you seen any particularly good Dracthyr names that you would like to share?If I said the best ones that would be unfair because then they would just get snatched up straight away and we want to keep the marketplace of names fair and equal but it’s definitely fun looking at all of the puns and placeholders since we announced back in April.

Do you have a particular Dragonflight that you feel especially aligned to or even a particular colour that you’ll go-to for your Dracthyr? 

I think I’m going to go with Bronze, the Bronze Dragonflight has always been, to me, the most interesting of the WoW Dragonflights. I think it’s really fun to delve into more of what they’re about over the course of the story in the Dragon Isles. The zone of Theldrasis, which is coming up a bit later on in our Alpha testing plans in a few weeks, will really focus on the bronze  Dragonflight theme. As we’ve seen in the past, where the Bronze Dragonflight is, the Infinite Dragonflight is not too far behind so that’s another fun story that we’re excited to visit in Dragonflight. 

As we get closer to open testing and the official launch of Dragonflight, what are you most excited for WoW players to experience?

Dragon riding for the very first time. I think the very first time is something I’m looking forward to, the team is looking forward to, we’re looking forward to on-stream reactions and if you’ve played World of Warcraft for a long time you’ve got a sense of what the engine is capable of and how moving around the world has felt in the past – Dragon riding takes that to a whole new level and it’s awesome and I can’t wait for everyone to experience it.

So, your approach to testing is a little bit different this time around. Can you tell us a bit about that?

The way Alpha is going to work this time around is that we wanted more focused testing and in past expansions sometimes we would launch Alpha and then weeks might go past before new content is added to it just based on how our internal builds were tracking and what was becoming ready. This time around we have an action-packed lineup coming this Summer. The first zone that is being tested right now is Azure Strand and right around the corner we’ve got the Forbidden Reach, the Dracthyr starting experience and then moving onto Waking Shores and then it’s like each new build, each new phase of our Alpha will have a new zone that we’re going to focus feedback on and we’ll take the other zones offline. That’s to preserve the mystery to some extent and to avoid overexposure to the story. We’ve heard a lot and learned a lot from our players over the course of recent Shadowlands testing that there’s a lot to be said for keeping some sense of surprise and mystery when it comes to exploring a new world.

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is the ninth expansion in the enormously popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft. Dragonflight is scheduled to release in December of 2022, exclusively on PC via the Battlenet app and is available for pre-order right now.

The post The WoW: Dragonflight Alpha Kicks Off This Week And It’s A Wild Ride: An Interview With The Game Director appeared first on Press Start.

Fallout: London is an ambitious DLC-sized modification designed by fans for 2015’s Fallout 4. This highly anticipated mod stands apart from others and offers an entirely novel experience set in a post-apocalyptic London featuring derelict underground Tube lines and stations as well as a ruined Tower Bridge, Houses of Parliament and more, including Paddington Bear’s post-nuclear war cousin, Mr Picadilly. You can check out the brand new trailer for the epic upcoming mod below:

In Fallout: London, the player is invited to explore a world distinct from the Americana of the mainline games, experience pre-war European history and the effects of the Resource Wars on the class-structured society of pre-war Great Britain. This project began at the end of 2017 when a small ground of professional and amateur developers banded together to create a unique experience for the Fallout 4 community. What started as a small quest mod for the game has now become an extensive and exciting large-scale production with a world space comparable to the size of Fallout 4’s third add-on, Far Harbour.

With members all over the globe, including Australia, the Fallout: London development team is very excited to launch the mod sometime in 2023, though we don’t have an exact date yet.

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Ingenius modders have discovered parts of the code for the beloved 2004 sci-fi classic, Half-Life 2 disguised in the Portal Companion Collection that recently launched on the Nintendo Switch. It’s still a work in progress but from this, a self-proclaimed “Switch Tinkerer” known as OatmealDome has managed to get the game running, albeit with a few caveats.

“I managed to load Half-Life 2 in the Switch version of Portal 1!” writes OatmealDome. “It kinda works: the game occasionally crashes, some maps are impossible to progress in, NPC animations are bugged, saves don’t work, and world cameras don’t spawn correctly.” they continue. It’s worth noting that finding some leftover Half-Life 2 code is not entirely unexpected since Portal was essentially developed as an extensive mod for the game but it is strange to find Half-Life 2 specific models, NPCs, soundbites and more, according to OatmealDome.

OatmealDome is currently hard at work improving their mod but we still have hopes that Valve will one-day port Half-Life 2 for official release on the Nintendo Switch one day. Until then, if you want to play Half-Life on the go, the Ayo Neo Next might be your best bet. You can read more about the powerhouse portable right here.

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Earlier today the servers for Overwatch 2’s official open BETA went live for players on PC, Xbox and PlayStation. The public BETA will continue for three weeks, allowing players to play the new map and try out a new character; the Junker Queen, until July 18th.

Everything coming to #Overwatch2 Beta on June 28

? PC & Console
? Junker Queen
? New Hero looks
?? New Map: Paraíso [Hybrid]
? 5v5, Hero Reworks, Push & more

? Beta Opt-in https://t.co/NI3CMA17PV pic.twitter.com/OVkksyK6nY

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) June 17, 2022

The developers have provided an in-depth look at their existing goals for the BETA for those who are interested, covering everything from their game design and balance goals to how they hope to continue communicating with the Overwatch community before the game’s official launch later this year.

HOW TO GET ACCESS TO THE OVERWATCH 2 BETA

1. Go to the Overwatch 2 beta site right here.
2. In the top right corner, log in to your Blizzard Account.
3. At the bottom of the Overwatch 2 beta page, choose your platform (and region for PlayStation players).
4. Then hit Request Beta Access.

Players can also purchase the Watchpoint Pack for $59.95 for guaranteed access. In addition to beta access on day one, you’ll also get two legendary character skins, a unique player icon and enough virtual currency to buy the first two premium battle passes available for 1000 VC each.

HOW DO I PLAY THE OVERWATCH 2 BETA

If you have already opted into the BETA and have been selected for testing your Battlenet account will be ready to install the BETA.

1. Log in to your Battle.net account and navigate to Overwatch on the game launcher.
2. In the bottom left, click the Game Version drop-down.
3. Select Overwatch 2 Tech Beta to install.
4. When the download is complete, hit the blue Play button to start.

If you are playing on a console, you will have received a code for your preferred platform and can redeem it via your console’s digital storefront.

Overwatch 2 officially launches in early access on October 4, 2022. The game is free to play and available on PC via Battlenet, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and Nintendo Switch with cross-platform play and cross-platform progression.

The post The Overwatch 2 BETA Is Officially Live And Here’s How To Get Access appeared first on Press Start.

Ahead of the game’s launch on June 3rd, 2022, we sat down with art director Hunter Schulz and senior content designer Scott Burgess to chat about the launch of Diablo: Immortal, the decision to bring the game to PC and what we can expect from the future of the game.

You recently announced that Diablo: Immortal would be coming to PC as well. What prompted the decision?

Scott Burgess: Right, so this is something that shortly after we announced Diablo Immortal, obviously there was feedback that there was a desire to see Diablo Immortal on PC, and as we built the game further, we fell into that mindset as well where we agreed that it just feels like a game that feels natural not only on the phone but on the PC as well. Then we also concluded that players are going to be playing Diablo Immortal on emulators – they’ll be playing on PC anyway- so rather than have them play on an emulator that they find through a third party, we would just make a polished version of the game and provide that on Battlenet.

Would you say Diablo Immortal is more closely tied to Diablo II or Diablo III? How do you think Immortal stands apart from each of them?

SB: I think, as far as tone and gameplay, it would be right in the middle. The real thing that differentiates Diablo Immortal from the other two titles is that first, it’s a game that was developed for mobile. So that means that there are a lot of features that are mobile-centric, and that includes quick playtime sessions to jump in, intuitive controls that work on your phone, and it includes the ability to play anywhere and everywhere. It’s also a very social game, in comparison. We have a lot of features that are oriented toward playing with your friends, and with your clan. We have a large in-game PvP system which we call the Cycle of Strife which is really fun. It’s definitely a unique  game in its own right.

What do you like about using touch controls versus controller and mouse?

SB: Personally, I think the touch controls are fantastic. I have a controller that I use on occasion, but there are a lot of times when I’m like, ‘you know what, touch controls are so intuitive and natural that I’m going to forgo the controller right now and play the game without it.

Hunter Schulz: Just to add to that, I think the first thing I noticed when I picked up the game was just how intuitive the controls are and just how they make a lot of sense, like a natural evolution for an ARPG. You’re able to control your skills in a different way; there’s a bit more nuance in how you feel your way through the game, so I think it makes a lot of sense for it to come to mobile and to use a mobile device with a touch screen.

Storywise, should we expect Diablo Immortal to bridge the gap between Diablo III and Diablo IV?

SB: So, Diablo Immortal lies in between Diablo II and Diablo III; it’s going to take place in the aftermath of the destruction of Mount Arreat and the Worldstone. Basically, the story revolves around the idea that there’s all of Sanctuary littered with  Worldstone shards which are all incredible powerful conduits of energy that are also corrupted, so villains all over the world are using these, looking for these stones to enhance their power and cause destruction. So, we’re obviously going to make sure that the plot works with the existing games in that we have narrative concepts that line up and reinforce Diablo III and Diablo IV down the line, but it’s its own story in its own right. It’s a very fun and unique story that isn’t just about bridging the gap as it is about following the story of these Worldstone shards and facing the baddies that arise with it.

What lessons has the team learned from Diablo 3 in developing Immortal?

HS: There are some obvious sort of cues that were taken from Diablo III. I think from the outside, there is a certain style- there’s a different style between Diablo Immortal and Diablo III, but there are also some similarities and that kind of stem from the idea of readability and making sure the game holds up, even more so for Diablo Immortal than it would for Diablo III. So these sort of bolder shapes, these bolder colours even, we tried to use those to make sure that the game was very clear, that the designs were clear and that the gameplay was clear as well. So, I think that any sort of game you can look at it and try to pull positives out of it to use to your own benefit, in a way, as a design tool and so- I didn’t work on Diablo III, but I’ve certainly seen it, and I think there’s a lot of things that we took note of and that we applied.

Have or will any changes be made to dungeon scaling to make it possible for players to run them solo?

SB: So, our current plan is to have dungeons solo-able on normal mode, but we believe that dungeons are more fun when playing with friends, and so we are leaning into the social aspect on Hell and above. You know, that said, we’re also going to make sure that we learn from Beta, and we have put more resources into the party-finder system so that it’s going to be easier and quicker to find players to play within dungeons.

What does Diablo Immortal’s endgame offer?

SB: As with other Diablo titles, the end game is where the game really begins. First off, we’re going to have a great end zone to culminate with the story of the launch. So, that is a place called the Realm of Damnation which is a version of the Burning Hells that we haven’t seen before. It’s got a lot of unique tilesets that are really interesting and exciting, and we have a unique dungeon in the area called the Pit of Anguish which is like a deeper level of Hell where a giant monster roams and is consuming everything that it comes into contact with. Then beyond that, once you reach Hell level and above, we’re going to have Heliquary raids that you can do with your friends, which are eight person raids against an ancient evil, we have the Cycle of Strife which is a large faction-based PvE system, we have paragon levels that you can continue to level beyond max level, and we also have side quests that are going to be endgame then in each zone we have zone events, and we got loot and more loot as well.

HS: Then there’s what comes after as well in the story. The end game is not the end of the game. It’s just sort of a pause before the next content comes out. Even if you’re not big into end game activities, there will be more gameplay and more story to unfold.

Is it possible to play Diablo Immortal on a Macbook via the iOS app?

SB: I believe that technically, people can be able to use emulation technologies if they really want to, and we do not plan to somehow prevent that from happening.

Do you think we could ever see Diablo Immortal on the Nintendo Switch?

SB: You know, give it a lot enough time, and it might be possible, but this is not something that we’re currently working on.

A lot of Diablo fans are concerned that paid services in the game will generate an unfair advantage, essentially rendering Diablo Immortal a free to play but pay to win game. How are you working to prevent this and make the game enjoyable for everyone?

SB: So, when I was playing Beta, I played the entire Beta without spending a single dollar. That was my goal, and I was able to keep up with World Paragon, I was in one of the top Dark Houses, I was often the MVP in the battlegrounds, and then I had colleagues that also didn’t pay a dollar, and they were in the Immortals. I also want to say it’s important to remember that there is no paywall, this entire game is free. The entire story, all of the zones, all of the dungeons, all future content is going to be free, so you’re going to have a blast playing Diablo Immortal without paying a dime.

Can you share any data collected from the beta testing phase, like what class most people are playing or how long their Immortal sessions typically last?

SB:  Yeah, we definitely saw a lot of necromancers which made sense because they were new to the Beta and necromancers have always been a very popular class, so I’m sure that a lot of players really wanted to try that out. We also saw a lot of other classes being played, and it’s actually something that we’ve been very happy with, with the pretty even distribution of players across all classes. Another thing we saw, you mentioned the time period of play, we saw a lot of players playing in short bursts, and we saw a lot of players playing for hours at a time, and this is very exciting because this is exactly what we designed Immortal to be played. We wanted to make sure that we had quick content that you could get into, like if you’re on your way to work- hopefully, you’re not driving, but if you’re commuting, you can jump in for a few minutes of play and then after work, if you want to unwind on the couch for a few hours, we have enough content to keep you entertained.

What classes are you currently playing on Immortal, and why?

HS: I like the Demon Hunter –  I mean, there’s something  I like about them all, but I think the Demon Hunter really taps into the mobile controls, not better than other classes, but I think the game experience is something much different than I felt in other games. Being able to keep your distance, to kite, to move your way around the enemies and fire at them and then swing over their head, it’s just an acrobatic, fast-moving class, and you’re much more mobile, and I like that. I want to see the world and I want to move around, and I want to bring the enemies with me instead of just planting my heels into the mud and then swinging away. So, that was my favourite class from the get go, and I think it still is.

SB: I keep going back and forth with which class I choose, and it might come down to the day of launch on that character selection screen, but right now, I’m leaning toward the barbarian. I usually play the berserker class that just jumps into groups of enemies and swings without worrying about what my health bar looks like, so why stop now?

What else would you like to say about Diablo Immortal?

HS: One thing to remember is that this game is massive. That is something that I think is overlooked a lot of the time – you know, like, oh, it’s a mobile game, so it’s something that is, in essence, smaller than other Diablo games just because it can fit in the palm of your hand, but this is not true. There are a lot of maps in our game that are actually bigger than these same zones in other games, so I think for the players who are already familiar with Diablo when they get into it, I like to think that they’ll be surprised by how much world there is. From my perspective, that’s what I’ve always loved about Diablo is the lore and the world and being able to experience that, and this is very much on par with delivering what you’d expect from a Diablo game. You just get into it, and you find all of this story, and you’re taken to all these different parts of Sanctuary, and it takes a long time to actually get to the end, which is cool. Then when you get to the end, it’s not even over. That’s where I’m at now, too, is creating new content. I think as an artist, you’re always looking ahead to the next thing that you’re going to design out and the new concepts, and I’ve been working with Scott and the lore team, trying to see how the puzzle pieces fit together. So yeah, there’s more to come.

Is there anything you can share then on post-launch content? 

HS: There’s a lot.

SB: Yeah, we have a lot planned. We’re planning for the long term years in advance, and we’re planning on releasing content on a very regular basis.

HS: It won’t be your traditional expansion pack drop that happens in a year or two years, we want to be much more frequent with it, and again, as I mentioned, we’re in the process of developing that future content right now to ensure that the stream is as steady as we can make it.

SB: And it’s all going to be for free!

Diablo Immortal is out now and is available exclusively on iOS and Android devices and PC via the Battlenet launcher. You can read more about the game and sign up for pre-registration right here.

The post Diablo Immortal Is Bigger Than You Think: An Interview With The Development Team appeared first on Press Start.

Earlier today Blizzard announced the details of a brand new upcoming mobile game, Warcraft: Arclight Rumble. Warcraft: Arclight Rumble is what the developers call an action strategy game based on the Warcraft and is the very first Warcraft game designed from the ground up exclusively for mobile platforms. Following the initial reveal, we sat down with game director Tom Chilton and senior 3D artist Justine Hamer to discuss all things Arclight, including the developer’s inspiration, core gameplay modes, art style and visual design and what to expect from the Warcraft: Arclight Rumble experience.

There was a lot of information in that short trailer we just saw. What is the elevator pitch for this game? 

Tom Chilton: I mean, in some ways it’s a new genre, right? In that it’s an action strategy game that uses real-time combat yet in a game that is very much focused around strategy through a PvE campaign that is supplemented by a variety of different things, you know, dungeons, raids, other sorts of PVE game modes, co-op but also PvP. So in many ways, the core gameplay where you drop your troops and they, march down the field and you combine your troops into armies- it hasn’t really been done in a PvE sort of scenario before, at least not to a high degree. So that, in a lot of ways, really kind of makes Arclight Rumble a new unique experience.

What inspired the team to develop a mobile game? 

TC: Well, in a lot of ways, it was kind of being inspired by playing a variety of different mobile games that existed, going all the way back to, you know, I got super into playing Puzzle & Dragons for example around 2013 when it came to North America. I played that for several years and spent a lot of time and had a lot of fun in that game. That was what sort of first planted the seed for me in a lot of ways like, ‘oh, wouldn’t it be cool to do a PVE progression game that is based in the Warcraft universe’ and then spent some time trying to think about what that would be. Really, this project started several years later once we had really kind of identified what the fundamental combat mechanic would be, so it was really sort of blending inspiration from different games, like Puzzle & Dragons, Clash Royale and other games that are out there to really kind of come together with what this game is.

Blizzard Games are probably one of the hardest to get right in terms of welcoming new players but also pleasing players that have been familiar with the Warcraft franchise for 20-30 years. Was the core idea for Arclight to bring newcomers into the Warcraft franchise?

TC: I think in a lot of ways, really it’s a combination thereof, right? We feel like there’s a healthy combination of Warcraft fans that have either played World of Warcraft or the older real-time strategy series or Hearthstone and are just kind of looking for a fun new Warcraft experience. Then there’s also, I believe, a large audience of mobile gamers out there that are just kind of craving high-quality experiences and ones that don’t necessarily require any prior knowledge of World of Warcraft or any of the other Warcraft games. This is a game that very much stands on its own and kind of brings people into the universe in a new way. It introduces characters that you don’t need prior knowledge of to really understand what’s going on in the game. It doesn’t lean on any sort of narratives that happened in prior games since it’s very much standalone. We think of it as a game that is played within the Warcraft universe. If you saw the cinematic, it’s this character in Azeroth walking up to this game machine and putting in a coin and playing this game machine that exists within the Warcraft universe. So, to do that, you sort of imagine that it’s very much this self-contained thing, and it’s not creating canon lore in and of itself other than the existence of the game machine within the world.

There are a lot of characters and areas that fans will be familiar with but stylistically it’s probably a little bit different than what fans are used to. We would love to hear a little bit about the process of recreating some of these environments and characters for this game specifically.

Justine Hamer: So, a lot of people on the art team are huge Warcraft fans, we’ve got people who play [World of Warcraft] Classic, I cut my teeth playing Warcraft III by installing it on the computers at my high school so there was a lot of bringing a love of the series into the creation of Arclight.  We were taking this idea of a sort of “pinball approach” like each map is a coalescence of the things that we love about each zone from the World of Warcraft. In Westfall, we’ve got the gorgeous deep, rich oranges that you are so familiar with and these massive vultures that are going in to absolutely mess you up. It’s sort of like a perfect core sample of each zone and what makes it so exciting and so vibrant to explore. With the characters, we wanted to talk about the heroes and the villains that are familiar but we also wanted to get into some less known or less appreciated. So, we’ve got Princess the Pig from Elwin in one of the first levels that you go up against. She’s got a fantastic new model and she’s got so much character in her animations and we sort of wanted to carry that spirit through the rest of the game as well.

Is the team expecting there to be enough depth here for hardcore Warcraft fans to jump into? We assume the game is easier in the earliest stages and easy for anyone to pick up but then as you progress it becomes harder and more demanding.

TC: definitely, it becomes devilishly challenging as you continue. We’ve gotten fantastic feedback internally from within the company about the way the game ramps up and develops different mechanics for the players. The player learns more and more about the game as they continue and strategies build on each other. A lot of people find themselves coming up with different strategies based on the collection and the armies that they have. You know, different solutions to different problems. There isn’t really a one size fits all type of solution to any given map or boss or whatever. We’re certainly excited for players to check that out and I think they’ll find that the gameplay is extremely deep. The amount of strategising that you can do and the personalisation of your armies as far as choosing different talents for each one of the minis that you have and all of those sorts of things really add up to a very, very deep experience.

What have been some of the main challenges during development?

TC: First there was the translation of the art style and even then once we felt like ‘oh, it would be really cool for this to be a game machine‘ and it’s based around minis and things like that, there was still the actual translation of all of the things with all of the actual detail that they have in a fully rendered PC game world. To distil that into mobile in a way where it still retains all of the fundamental characteristics yet is still very readable, was one of the early challenges. Another early challenge was just trying to figure out how to scale up in a way where we could build the number of maps that we felt we would need to build. Very early on we felt like this game was going to be very aggressive in terms of how much content we were going to need but it had never really been done before so we didn’t really know how long it would take to make a map in this game and how many props would we have to make to build out a map and how are we going to represent these different points of interests – and all of these sorts of questions that were very challenging to figure out how to do and then how to scale up where we needed to scale to.

Did you work with either the Diablo Immortal or Hearthstone teams to get some insight on mobile development and what worked and what didn’t in beta testing and throughout?

TC: Yeah, there were definitely some things that we were able to learn from each – for an example, Hearthstone was also built on the Unity platform so even though the fundamental way that our servers work, based on the real-time nature of our game versus the turn-based nature of theirs, it’s very different but there was still a lot of things that we were able to learn about how to structure things. With Immortal, they are using a different engine because it was an engine developed by NetEase, so there are a lot of different experiences there but at the same time we’ve been able to learn some things from their processes so far like their announcement, the beta, the alpha tests – in the different learnings they’ve had and the data they’ve gathered we’ve been able to take some of that and adapt it in ways that are right for us.

We’ve already seen that Diablo: Immortal is coming to PC. Has that idea been toyed with at all for Arclight? We’ve talked a little bit about this already but how different is it to develop for mobile versus PC?

TC: Yeah, it really is very different with interfaces and touch versus keyboard and mouse et cetera so there are definitely a lot of considerations and you know, we built it for the phone first and foremost and then kind of go from there. We have loosely talked a little bit about if we would do a PC version of it but we don’t know yet. We’ll have to wait and see. A lot of that will be driven by what players really want, we do think that some players will create emulators and things like that and that’s probably fine but do they want us to create an official version of it? Maybe, we’ll wait and see. If there’s enough demand for it then we would consider it.

JH: All of the maps are built to a very specific intended screen size because obviously, we didn’t want to put more assets into the game than need be. So, it’s not really intended for a widescreen.

TC: That is a core difference between ourselves and [Diablo] Immortal as far as translation goes. Immortal being a landscape game, the way the game is designed carries itself over visually a little bit more than a game being portrait.

Does that mean this is a phone only game instead of say a tablet game?

TC: Tablet tends to port over very well both for control reasons and then also they are similar in a lot of other ways. The aspect ratio is a bit different for sure but it’s not quite as drastic a difference.

There are over 70 available maps in the game, we’d love to hear a bit about some of your personal favourites.

TC: So, we have a map that has an Alchemist boss where she throws potions at different parts of the screen and there are three different points of interest that can be captured and there are little alchemists sitting on top of each one of them and they give you different effects based on which point of interest they are on. You have to then figure out which buffs you want to capture and which ones you want to deny the enemy army. That one is extremely novel and interesting. Every single map is so different and unique, whether you go from the Devilsaur boss that is destroying the map as she stomps her way through it and eventually she gets to your base and obliterates it. So, you’ve got to kill her before she gets to your base. Then, you know, maps that have a lot more intercut, overpass kind of setups and are a lot more three-dimensional. That would be somewhere like Freewind Post, located in Thousand Needles which is just really scenic looking because you’re on these huge spires and you see down below and stuff so for just visual coolness, that one is really high on the list. I could just go on for the entire interview.

JH: Yeah, working on Cairne [Bloodhoof] was one of my favourite maps to work on just because I think that is the best for showing the capability of 3D to create this really cinematic parallax that’s happening between you seeing all the action that’s happening on top of the spires and these clouds are moving before and it’s very inspiring.

You mentioned that there is not a lot of story tied into other Warcraft games but we assume there is a lot of lore and fan service that most hardcore fans will recognise throughout all the different maps and minis?

TC: Yeah, absolutely, there is a ton of loving care that went into the translation of a lot of these characters and every boss had a little tidbit of text associated with it and their animations and personalities and things like that. So for sure, fans of the Warcraft universe will recognise a lot of things and probably chuckle to themselves about certain things.

JH: We definitely wanted to hearken back to like, I’m thinking of the stuff we’ve put in the Dead Mines, working on the Cookie map we’ve given him a sort of sushi conveyor belt behind him and he’s dishing out buffs to his allies and that was a lot of fun to work on.

In terms of content rollout, it was mentioned that there are going to be weekly challenges but with the core experience, is everything there on day one or are there new maps rolling out or new characters? 

TC: There is an enormous amount that is there on day one but we do know that we’ll be supporting the game for years to come and so there will be more than continues to roll out and that can take the form of additional campaign maps, new dungeons, new raids, new game modes and all sorts of different stuff.

We assume there will be a beta before any official release?

TC: That’s right, we’re testing some final pre-beta builds at the moment and as those get to the point where we feel like they are fitting for a public beta release then we’ll be able to do that. We just don’t know the exact date for that yet but it will be coming very soon.

Warcraft: Arclight doesn’t have an official release date just yet but over at Press Start we are currently enjoying a technical test and hope to share our impressions with you soon!

The post We Sat Down With Blizzard To Chat About Warcraft: Arclight Rumble appeared first on Press Start.

Like many others, I have fond memories of playing Warcraft III on a crappy old desktop computer, I’ve been playing World of Warcraft for over a decade, I can’t resist jumping into each new Diablo III seasons and I have spent more hours in Overwatch than I care to admit. When I heard that Blizzard was announcing a mobile game, however, I wasn’t particularly excited about it. I have dabbled in Hearthstone on various occasions since its release but I have never managed to get sucked into it in the way that I have been completely consumed by Blizzard’s other titles. Prior to the announcement of Warcraft: Arclight Rumble, my general feeling was that unless it was a mobile version of the original Warcraft RTS, I wasn’t going to buy-in.

After a few days with the new title, however, I can humbly admit that I was wrong. I was wrong to jump to conclusions so swiftly, I was wrong to judge the mobile platform so harshly and I was wrong to assume that I wouldn’t enjoy Warcraft: Arclight when it is a whole lot of bloody good fun.

Before I get into the nuts and bolts of the game, it’s essential to talk about what Warcraft: Arclight Rumble actually is because while it feels familiar in many aspects, it’s also totally different to anything I’ve played before. Almost as if Blizzard has constructed a Frankenstein’s monster (or Abomination if we want to stick exclusively to Warcraft lore) of mechanics from tower defence, MOBA and RTS titles, Arclight Rumble is a frantic action-packed strategy game that incorporates role-playing elements and real-time combat. Warcraft: Arclight Rumble is a coin-operated pinball-esque arcade-style game that exists in the world of Warcraft and is popular among the folk of Azeroth. Fortunately, we don’t have to head to the nearest Azerothian tavern to play it, we’ve got it all in the palm of our hand on both iOS and Android-powered devices.

The gameplay begins with an army of six troops of your choosing, with each troop boasting its own set of traits and abilities, strengths and weaknesses and combat type. These troops are represented by beautifully rendered digital tabletop miniatures and a unique art style that puts a new spin on well known and beloved Warcraft figures. Troops can be melee, ranged or flying, they may operate in squads of four like the Alliance Footmen or solo like the ranged Blackrock Pyromancer. They may also possess a combination of combat styles and battle traits, for example, the Mountaineer is a ranged blunderbuss wielding dwarf with a tanky bear companion that he can heal during combat. You can also add various spells to your army, healing spells, damaging spells, spells that provide your troops with certain buffs or spells that change the nature of their area of effect.

The key here is to construct the perfect army from your personal collection of troops and then select a hero leader with additional buffs and abilities to guide them to victory. Once you have your army set up, the battle begins on a unique map in one of the many regions of Kalimdor or the Eastern Kingdoms. You and your army will face off against various bosses from the Warcraft universe but you’ll have to navigate the distinct mechanics of each boss and each map in order to triumph.

One of my favourite maps so far is Raven Hill Revenant in Duskwood where you fight renowned necromancer Morbent Fel. Morbent Fel has a magic barrier that can only be dispelled by a priest. You cannot attack the boss until his shield is down so while you are battling the waves of undead troops he sends your way, you also have to defend the Priestess, an NPC who regularly spawns to aid your plight.

During gameplay, you gather gold either passively over time or by sending kobold troops to mine for you. You need this gold in order to spawn your troops which each cost a different amount of gold, depending on the complexities of their abilities. Once you spawn your troops, you can send them down multiple lanes, overpasses and underpasses, which vary between maps, with the ultimate goal of reaching and hopefully obliterating the boss. On the way, however, you have to face other troops, traps and other environmental challenges that become increasingly difficult as you progress through the game.

Each win rewards you with coins that you can then spend in the in-game store on additional XP for your troops or entirely new troops, spells and leaders. The items available in the store regularly cycle but you can also trigger a cycle by buying new items. Winning matches, completing quests and engaging with the in-game store all award you with XP used to increase your Player Level. When you increase your Player Level, you unlock new game modes and features and receive a bunch of coins and XP for your troops. You can also purchase coins with real-life currency with a limit of one coin pouch (500 coins) and 2 coin chests (800 coins) per week.

Overall, I have really enjoyed my time with Warcraft: Arclight Rumble so far. It feels a little bit like a single-player League of Legends experience with a twist and the benefit of the gorgeous Warcraft universe which I have always loved. This is a great game to pick up on the go, during your commute to work, during your lunch break or instead of scrolling your Instagram feed before bed. It’s very easy to pick up and jump in and out of but the ramping difficulty level keeps the challenge of gameplay feeling novel and engaging.  I would love to see this game connect to other Warcraft and Blizzard games, offering, for example, exclusive pets or mounts in World of Warcraft, cosmetics in Diablo or loot boxes in Overwatch for completion of certain quests or dungeons. I imagine that would do a lot for the longevity of the game with hardcore Blizzard fans like myself but in the meantime, it’s still a fun little time killer that I don’t expect to put down for a while.

Warcraft: Arclight Rumble does not have an official release date yet but is expected to enter beta soon, exclusively for iOS and android mobile devices.

The post Warcraft: Arclight Rumble Hands-On Preview – Frantic Fun On The Go appeared first on Press Start.

Not long after the official release date for Diablo: Immortal was announced, Blizzard has shared details of another upcoming mobile game, this time, unlike anything we’ve ever seen from the company before. Warcraft: Arclight Rumble is a genre-defining action RPG strategy title set in the Warcraft Universe and exclusive to the mobile platform.

In Warcraft: Arclight Rumble, players assemble digital tabletop miniatures into armies consisting of six troops and one army leader to defeat powerful foes in the many regions of Azeroth. The gameplay mechanics are easy to learn but difficult to master as Arclight challenges players to devise the perfect team based on their own troops’ strengths and their enemies’ weaknesses. With a variety of minis to choose from, everything from beloved Warcraft universe heroes and villains to well-known monsters, beasts and spells, players are spoiled for choice and the available combinations are essentially endless.

The goal of the game is to defend your tower from offensive troops while strategising multi-lane combat in order to take down the opposing army’s leader. Each army and each leader has different skills and buffs available to them, so players must choose wisely to balance their offence and their defence successfully. The game has a huge single-player campaign consisting of more than 70 unique missions with additional weekly and monthly quests, dungeons and epic raids. You can also play against other players online or cooperatively with friends or guildmates.

Warcraft: Arclight Rumble does not have an official release date just yet but is currently undergoing technical testing and will be available to the public via beta soon. To register your interest, you can visit the official website right here.

Warcraft: Arclight Rumble Hands-On Preview – Frantic Fun On The Go

We Sat Down With Blizzard To Chat About Warcraft: Arclight Rumble

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Earlier this week, Blizzard announced the ninth expansion for their enormously popular MMORPG World of Warcraft. Through a live-streamed presentation which you can watch right here, we were introduced to a stunning new dragon-themed foray, World of Warcraft: Dragonflight.

Following the official reveal, we sat down with Senior Game Designer, Jackie Wiley to discuss the reveal, look back on the lessons learned from past expansions and find out what to expect from World of Warcraft: Dragonflight.

What were some of the main sources of inspiration for Dragonflight?

Dragonflight is all about a return to Azeroth, and new beginnings. Dragons are a fantasy staple, but WoW dragons are super unique. They’ve always been a core part of our lore, but the Dragon Isles themselves have always been a mystery. At its core, this expansion is about discovery and exploration. The folks making the trek for the Alliance and Horde are researchers and explorers. The dragonflights have gone through tough times over the course of the Warcraft saga, as which we’ve seen first-hand in dungeons and raids; we want to take this chance to deal with the outcomes of the hardships they’ve faced and look forward to what the dragonflights can be in the future.

What are some of the major lessons learned from Shadowlands?

Shadowlands has a special place in our hearts, and we’ll always love the characters we met there. From a narrative standpoint, we wanted to return to our roots and tell a Warcraft story grounded in Azeroth after exploring the realm of death. In terms of game systems, we’ve taken a lot of lessons from previous iterations of critical systems. The new talent trees are inspired by a new generation of players moving through the talent trees in WoW Classic, as well as our “borrowed power” systems from past expansions. These, combined with our current thinking with regard to game design, have resulted in a new iteration of talent trees that we are excited about—and look forward to expanding upon in the future. The new talent trees, along with the professions and UI revamps, are a great opportunity for us to invest in our evergreen systems, and make for ourselves a fresh foundation to build upon in the future.

How do you think will Dragonflight appeal to new players? 

I think Dragonflight is a great time for new players to jump in. The changes we’re making to the talent system means that every level-up will feel meaningful, which makes for a more engaging and rewarding early game. I also think the refreshed HUD UI will help new players tailor their game experience in really helpful ways, all without having to figure out third-party addons. Factor in the Exile’s Reach new player experience introduced in Shadowlands, and now might be the best time ever to jump into WoW.

What are you personally most excited for players to see and experience in Dragonflight?

I’m (of course) most excited for players to explore the stories, characters, and cultures of the Dragon Isles, but I’m also super excited about the professions update! I always pick up professions on every single alt I make and level them up as I move through the world. My main is a Dark Iron paladin and being a blacksmith is truly part of her identity, so I’m itching to get my hands on the new professions gameplay with her. Players will be able to earn specialization points to improve their crafts – maybe my main will become an awesome armorsmith, then specialize further in making giant WoW pauldrons – allowing them to increase their skills such as crafting speed, item stats, and more. I see myself spending days hanging around in the professions hub in the main city, Valdrakken, leveling up my blacksmithing and fulfilling orders from our new work orders system. Players will be able to put resources up, including even soulbound resources, and ask for a crafter to make them a recipe that they want or need.

Do you have a rough figure for how many customization options and combinations are available to our personal drakes?

It’s honestly too many to count… I wouldn’t be surprised if no two drakes are the same. There are four body types that players will unlock as individual mounts during their leveling experience through the four main zones—including two familiar ones as well as two new models. These are the drake, the proto-drake, the wilderdrake (which is like a wyvern), and the velocidrake (which is inspired by pterodactyls). Each mount has a suite of colors, saddles, armor, and unique customizations. For example, the proto-drakes have a variety of different head shapes that drastically change their appearance, the wilderdrakes have big fluffy manes you can unlock, and the velocidrake can have antlers. Players will be able to chase these customizations and unlock them by doing various activities throughout the expansion. They’re all cosmetic, so you can make the drake of your dreams to explore the Dragon Isles with.

Can we ride our drake in other zones?

Right now our focus is on the Dragon Isles. These zones have been built with dragonriding in mind, starting from the Waking Shores all going all the way through the expansion. We’re looking forward to feedback from players about this new, dynamic form of locomotion.

What was the main motivation for rehauling the UI?

Can you believe our heads-up display (HUD) has stayed the same for 18 years? We all have a special place in our hearts for this default UI, so we worked hard to modernize the HUD while keeping its charm. Our new HUD removes clutter to increase gameplay space for players while focusing on the important things, such as the minimap and unit frames. We also wanted to take this opportunity to give players the ability to customize their UI the way they want, and edit mode lets us do just that. Do you want your mini-map to be on the bottom center of your screen? What about your action bars on the left-hand side? We’ve got you! We also added the ability to save your UI based on your spec, so if you’re healing, for example, you may want your raid frames to be bigger so you can keep your guildmates topped off. This is just the beginning of a series of updates we want to make over time to our UI. We knew that updating the HUD was a crucial first step in making the game more accessible and wanted to start this effort off on the right foot. And yes, you’ll still be able to use the gryphons if you want, as well as wyverns for some Horde representation!

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight does not have an official launch window yet but you can already sign up for the opportunity to test it in beta when it becomes available right here.

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Though we’ve fad a few morsels of updates here and there since Skate 4 (officially branded as Skate.) was officially announced back in 2020, we haven’t actually seen much from the development perspective. This changed today when a random clip was posted to (and since deleted from) Odysee.com, showcasing some pre-alpha footage of a textureless skater in a textureless environment running around, emoting, front flipping and even landing a couple of actual tricks on his skateboard.

This is Skate 4 pre-alpha footage. This is in line with what I've heard about where the game is at from multiple people. They're trying to get the feel right, which is probably the most important aspect of a Skate game. https://t.co/AXNV2Agk6z pic.twitter.com/nUINhghxLg

— Grubb (@JeffGrubb) April 20, 2022

Despite the strange watermark, this is the best look we’ve had at Skate. gameplay so far and though it has been stripped back to the very basics, it’s still looking pretty bloody good. The movement appears fluid, the tricks look good and natural and it seems like the motion capture techniques the development team have been using are really paying off.

We don’t expect to see Skate launch in full anytime soon but it’s still nice to know that it truly is in development and that bit by bit it is coming together. This is a highly anticipated game that has been incessantly requested by fans for over a decade so we can only hope that it lives up to expectations when it does eventually start shipping at some unknown point in the future.

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World of Warcraft is returning to Azeroth in its upcoming major expansion, Dragonflight. In Dragonflight, players are invited to visit the Dragon Isles, tame their very own rideable (and very customisable) drake and even play as a dragon themselves with the all-new race/class hybrid, the Dracthyr Evoker. Though the next chapter of World of Warcraft doesn’t have an official launch window just yet, Blizzard have already assured players that it will enter the alpha testing phase soon. You can watch the cinematic announcement trailer below:

Where are the Dragon Isles?

The Dragon Isles are the ancestral homeland of the Dragonflights, the ancient keepers of Azeroth. The Dragon Isles are a lush and magical place, consisting of five distinct zones; the Waking Shores, the Ohn’aran Plains, the Azure Span, Thaldraszus and Forbidden Reach.

Who are the Dracthyr?

A dragon-themed expansion wouldn’t be complete without a playable dragon race; enter the Dracthyr.

As a hero class, Dracthyr characters start at level 58 but are bound to a single exclusive class, the evoker. Evokers can play as either ranged damage dealers or healers via the following specialisations:

• Devastation — A ranged DPS specialization that mainly focuses on the magic of the red and blue dragonflights to harm foes from a distance with a variety of concentrated spells and powerful breath attacks. If you ever wanted to unleash your inner Onyxia, this specialization may be for you!
• Preservation — A healer specialization that largely utilizes the magic of the green and bronze dragonflights to heal allies with breaths and even rewind time on wounds themselves.

They also have a set of unique skills such as the ability to glide (like demon hunters) and Empowered Abilities which increase in power depending on how long the player keeps their keybind pressed.

Players will be able to customise both the dragon and human versions of their Dracthyr character with an extensive

For a chance to enter testing when it becomes available, visit the official website and opt-in for beta.

Can I ride the dragons?

Hell yeah! Dragon riding will play a huge role in getting around the Dragon Isles and will be introduced to Dragonflight as a new, upgradable skill. Dragon riding allows you to defy gravity on your very own, fully customisable drake who can soar through the skies or dive bomb to the ground at your command.

What else is coming?

Aside from all of the dragon-themed goodies mentioned above, the new expansion will also launch a whole bunch of overhauls that, according to the development team, have been a long time coming.

• Firstly, we’ll be looking at a new talent system that is more reminiscent of the original talent tree system of old. We got to take a look at the talent tree for Druids, which you can check out for yourself below.

The new system also allows you to save different layouts so that you can hot-swap them for different types of content, for example, one build for competitive PvP and another for raiding.

• The professions system is also getting a major update, most notably with the addition of crafting orders. Crafting orders allow players to request specific items from crafters by providing them with the materials and a paycheck. You will even be able to commission other players to make Soulbound items for you.
• The UI is also getting a facelift (pun intended) with Dragonflight introducing the ability to customise and rearrange the elements of the interface to better suit your needs and preference. With this comes a bunch of updates to improve functionality, and accessibility and revitalise UI artwork in the process.

We don’t have an official launch window for World of Warcraft: Dragonflight just yet but since Shadowlands is swiftly wrapping up, we should hope to see the new expansion in late 2022 or early 2033. For now, you can opt in to beta testing when it becomes available by visiting the official website right here.

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UPDATE: The Classification review board has confirmed that it has overturned the Classification Board’s decision to ban RimWorld, the latest game to be banned in Australia. The decision was overturned by a four-member panel. The game will now be rated R 18+ (restricted) with the consumer advice high impact themes and drug use.

A four member panel of the Australian Classification Review Board have today unanimously voted to rate RIMWORLD R18+ (High impact themes & drug use). @DoubleElevenLtd originally had it banned on Feb 28. @TynanSylvester pic.twitter.com/Mgh8Fop4dS

— Refused Classification (@RefusedC) April 20, 2022

The full statement can be found below:

A four-member panel of the Classification Review Board has unanimously determined that the computer game, RimWorld, is classified R 18+ (Restricted) with the consumer advice Highimpact themes and drug use.

In the Classification Review Board’s opinion Rim World warrants an R 18+ classification
because the themes and drug use have a high impact. The overall impact of the classifiable
elements in the game was high. The Review Board also considered the appeal of the game to be skewed to an adult audience

The game includes fantasy drug use, but in the Review Board’s opinion, the game mechanic
ultimately provides disincentives related to drug-taking behavior, to the point where regular
drug use leads to negative consequences such as overdose, addiction, and withdrawal.
Players may choose for colonist pawns to consume drugs in certain scenarios, but this
greatly hinders player progress, as characters will succumb to addiction and must deal with
long-term negative impacts of their drug use. The drug use is depicted at a distance through a
top-down perspective, in a highly stylised, simplified form. The game also contains high
impact themes that are justified by the context of colonists surviving in an inhospitable fantasy world.

Computer games classified R 18+ are legally restricted to adults. Persons aged under 18
years cannot purchase computer games classified R 18+. Some material classified R 18+
may be offensive to sections of the adult community. Consumer advice is additional information about the main content of a computer game which is intended to help consumers decide if they want to view this type of material.

The Review Board convened on 20 April 2022 in response to an application from the original
applicant, Double Eleven, to review the decision made by the Classification Board on 28
February 2022 to classify RimWorld C (Refused Classification).

In reviewing the classification, the Review Board worked within the framework of fin National Classification Scheme, applying the provisions of the Classification (Publications, Films and
Computer Games) Act 1995, the National Classification Code and the Guidelines for the Classification of Computer Games 2012. This is the same framework used by the Classification Board.

The Review Board is an independent merits review body. It makes a fresh classification
decision upon receipt of an application for review. This Review Board decision takes the place
of the original decision made by the Classification Board. The Review Board’s reasons for this decision will appear on the Classification website when it is available.

Despite the fact that it has been available on Steam since 2013, colony building space simulator RimWorld has just been removed from sale in Australia after the console version was refused classification.

As noted by Kotaku, the game recently went up against the Australian Classification Board due to a potential physical console release in the near future. As a result, the Board has decided to make it illegal to sell the game in Australia based on the manner it deals with  “matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults”.

Developer Ludeon Studios did not expect the Board’s decision to impact the sale of the game via Steam ” because in previous similar cases, as with Disco Elysium for example, an RC rating on a console version did not affect the availability of the PC version on Steam,” they explained in a recent news post. Unfortunately, however, RimWorld has completely vanished from the Steam digital storefront in Australia though previously purchased copies still remain in their respective owner’s libraries.

The entry for #Rimworld looks to be missing from the Australian National Classification Database. The applicant, @DoubleElevenLtd, had their submission Refused Classification on Feb. 28. It appears to have been removed on March 3. If anyone can still find it, then let us know. pic.twitter.com/uUj6SD6Alq

— Refused Classification (@RefusedC) March 4, 2022

“I’m sorry this news was so sudden and for anyone who is frustrated by this“, Ludeon Studios writes. “We are working to resolve this situation and make RimWorld available to everyone again as soon as possible, but we don’t yet know what that might require or how long it may take.”

RimWorld is still available for sale directly through the official website right here but at least for the time being, it seems like any hope of a physical and/or console launch of the game for Australian players has officially been dashed.

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Earlier today, Blizzard hosted a live stream, revealing the upcoming expansions for both World of Warcraft and World of Warcraft Classic. As easily predicted, Classic is revisiting the Wrath of the Lich King but as heavily rumoured, WoW will be transitioning from the Shadowlands and into the Dragon Isles in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight.

We don’t have an official release window for the upcoming expansion but we hope to see Dragonflight toward the end of 2022 or early 2023 as the current expansion, Shadowlands, comes to a conclusion.

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With World of Warcraft: Shadowlands reaching its conclusion, Blizzard is gearing up for the next major expansion with a live stream reveal tomorrow morning. You can watch the live stream on YouTube or Twitch at 2 am AEST or right here with us:

In the past, WoW expansions have typically been delivered every two years. Since Shadowlands launched in November of 2020, it is very possible that we may see this new expansion sometime later in 2022. That said, however, the recent addition of a new Mythic Keystone season, as well as some repurposed dungeons to mix things up, suggests that Blizzard may just be hanging onto Shadowlands for a little longer than originally anticipated.

I suppose we will have to see when the title of the upcoming expansion is officially revealed tomorrow, April 20th at 2 am AEST.

The post The Next World Of Warcraft Expansion Is Getting Revealed Tonight And Here’s How You Can Watch appeared first on Press Start.

Overnight, Fortnite has launched an all-new story trailer detailing the events of chapter 3 of the game’s Season 2, known as “Resistance”. You can check it out in full below:

In the trailer, we see that IO commander Dr Slone has a mysterious new device that wields power to wipe out all player-built structures from the map. I think it would be pretty cool if this were the sort of device that players could find and use in-game during a match, but instead, the appearance of the device has led to a much more drastic turn of events…building in Fortnite has now completely vanished. Yep, without the ability to build structures from scrap, players will now have to focus on utilising the weapons and tools and their disposal, as well as the new movement mechanics (namely parkouring and mantling) in order to best their opponents and survive the Battle Royale.

The absence of building will make the first week of chapter 3 extremely interesting, in my opinion, as long players will no longer be able to rely on strategies they will have been refining for months or even years. Many players are looking forward to the new Chapter, predicting that it will level the playing field (quite literally) between seasoned players and players who are familiar with the FPS or Battle Royale formula but have yet to master the building aspect of the game.

Chapter 3, Season 2 has already commenced, and you can log in now to check out the new storyline, features and more, including the addition of Dr Strange to the current Battle Pass.

pic.twitter.com/BADuu3pwCF

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) March 20, 2022

In addition, if you’re thinking about investing in the Battle Pass, it’s worth noting that Epic Games will be donating Fornite’s proceeds to Ukraine for the next two weeks to assist with humanitarian relief efforts.

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Earlier today we received an update from the Blizzard team, explaining that Overwatch is evolving and that one of the first steps in this so-called evolution is increased communication and a consistent cadence of updates for the Overwatch community. As such, Blizzard announced that they are changing their release strategy for Overwatch 2 by “decoupling” the PvP and PvE elements of the game. Essentially, PvP for Overwatch 2 will launch first while the team continues to work on PvE.

You can hear more about this from Game Director Aaron Keller in the most recent developer update, below:

Closed alpha testing for Overwatch 2 PvP begins today in select regions and includes Blizzard employees, Overwatch League pros, and a few other select groups to help Blizzard prepare for wider testing.

Following this, the first beta test for all regions will take place in April, exclusively for PC players. This closed beta will include a larger group of testers who we will be asked to provide gameplay feedback. The goal for this phase is to test new features, content, and systems before stress-testing the servers with a wider player base in future Beta tests.

This first PvP Beta will include the most significant release we’ve had since launch including:

• New Damage Hero: Sojourn
• New Game Mode: Push
• 5v5 Multiplayer
• Hero Reworks
• 4 New Maps

You can sign up to request access to the Overwatch 2 PvP Beta 1 now on PlayOverwatch.com. Players will be granted access in phases, and Blizzard will add more and more players as they progress through the upcoming beta phases. Blizzard will also be sharing regular updates about what to expect in this first beta in the weeks leading up until its launch.

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Earlier today Microsoft provided details on its upcoming system update for Xbox consoles. Notably, the update will allow players to pin select games to the Quick Resume feature and organise them into a priority list that sits at the top of the ‘Groups’ tab in ‘My Games and Apps’. In my opinion, Quick Resume is one of Xbox’s finest features, allowing players to jump in and out of multiple games seamlessly without having to save, find a checkpoint or reload – instead, players can pick up right where they left off without fussing around with any pesky main menus or loading screens.

We've got some catching up to do!

Check out our March updates, including pinning up to 2 games in Quick Resume, controller Share button remapping, and more: https://t.co/PxDsSMgBMw

— Xbox (@Xbox) March 9, 2022

In addition, players can also now remap the share button on their Xbox controller to perform a number of different functions including muting the television, changing the volume, playing/pause media, sending a message or accessing the quick settings menu.

Finally, Xbox has launched an all-new audio setup wizard aimed at audiophiles. This new setup will allow players to alter the settings of their HDMI devices and enable Dolby Atmos for home theatre, DTS:X for home theatre and other high-end audio formats for compatible platforms.

XBOX SERIES X’S MARCH UPDATE FEATURES

Pin to Quick Resume

Quick Resume is powered by the technical capabilities of the innovative Xbox Velocity Architecture in Xbox Series X|S. It lets you seamlessly switch between multiple games and resume gameplay instantly from where you left off. With this update, you can now pin up to two games in Quick Resume on your Xbox Series X|S consoles. Your pinned games will only drop out of Quick Resume if you manually remove them or if a game takes a mandatory update.

Anywhere you see your Quick Resume group, you can select a game, press the Menu button, and choose Pin to Quick Resume. If you already have two games pinned, you’ll be asked which pin you want to replace.

Xbox Wireless Controller – Share Button Remapping

The Share button on the Xbox Wireless Controller lets you take a screenshot by tapping it or record a video clip by holding it down for a couple seconds.

If you like to customize, you can now remap the Xbox Wireless Controller Share button and assign a wide range of custom actions. The updated Xbox Accessories app unlocks new button remapping actions for Xbox accessories, including Share button remapping for other actions like mute TV, open friends list, open achievements, and many others. The ability to redefine your controller actions also provides a way to easily enable assistive technologies for gamers with disabilities. Elite Series 2 Controllers, Xbox Adaptive Controllers, and other devices have some new actions as well. See the full list of actions and all available button remapping in the Xbox Accessories app.

Xbox Device Firmware Updates

The latest Xbox controller device firmware is now available on your console or Windows PC. This release includes fixes and updates that deliver performance improvements to Xbox One controllers with Bluetooth support, Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2, and Xbox Adaptive Controllers.

New Audio Setup Wizard

Now you can use a new guided audio setup wizard for your HDMI devices, available in Settings under General > Volume & audio output > Audio setup. The audio setup wizard lets you test and verify your HDMI audio format, test all your speakers connected to your Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles, and configure the best possible settings for your unique A/V setup.

The post The New Xbox Series X System Update Has A Bunch Of Cool New Features appeared first on Press Start.

Earlier this week we reported on Lost Ark rocketing to the top of the Steam charts, boasting an impressive 1.3 million concurrent players during its debut in the Western market.  After scheduled maintenance, today, Lost Ark announced that they would be adding new servers in Europe to reduce painful queue times. In response to this announcement, one Twitter user asked the Lost Ark team whether they planned on adding servers to the OCE region for the benefit of Aussie players…

Players in these regions are still able to play the game but unfortunately, we have no current plans to add dedicated servers for OCE or SEA.

— Lost Ark (@playlostark) February 17, 2022

…to which Lost Ark disappointingly said…nope.

This is an unfortunate blow to players exploring the realm of Arkesia from down under since most of us have been doing so while suffering upwards of 250 ping, making end-game PvP content almost unplayable. According to Lost Ark community reps, the primary owner of the game Smilegate RPG has not given Amazon the legal rights to publish the game in Australia, blocking the publisher from generating dedicated servers in our region.

Despite this, local players are banding together to capture the attention of Amazon Game Studios with a petition that has already managed to gather over 1600 signatures. In the meantime, it seems like the North American server “Valtan” has become a pseudo-OCE server, with ANZ players using the official Lost Ark forums to encourage other players from the region to join them there.

The post Lost Ark Won’t Be Adding Australian Servers Any Time Soon appeared first on Press Start.

Despite a messy launch for Amazon Game Studio’s Western release of Lost Ark on Steam, the game has soared to the top of the charts. With more than 1.3m players online during launch, Lost Ark has beaten both DOTA 2 and CS:GO to set the 2nd highest concurrent players record of all time behind PUBG’s 2017 record.

Lost Ark has nearly 1.2 million people playing it right now on Steam, and 650,000 viewers on Twitch. That’s 24 hours after a launch in the West, thanks to Amazon Games working with Smilegate RPG to localize and translate the MMO pic.twitter.com/PnQNbv87Th

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) February 12, 2022

These incredible numbers came after the official Western launch of the game was delayed due to server deployment issues. Despite this, it only took Lost Ark a handful of hours to rocket toward the top five all-time concurrent player count, pushing another one of Amazon Game Studio’s titles, New World, down to #6 on the list.

Lost Ark is an isometric ARPG MMO developed by Tripod Studio and Smilegate RPG. It originally launched in South Korea in December of 2019 with additional releases in Russia and Japan in 2020. on February 11, the game launched on Steam as a free to play title for North America, Latin America and Europe, with players from Australia and New Zealand joining in, despite an unfortunate lack of OCE based servers. The game is primarily focused on PvE exploration but features PvP elements as well. Players start by choosing one of 5 classes and then picking an additional advanced class to suit their playstyle before setting off on an adventure in pursuit of an artifact known as the Ark.

You can download and play Lost Ark for free exclusively through Steam on Windows PC.

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According to Bloomberg, Rocksteady’s upcoming action-adventure game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has been delayed until 2023.

Just a few weeks ago the CEO of WarnerMedia, Jason Kilar, Tweeted about the company’s plans for 2022, including the delivery of a “full slate of highly anticipated games”, though it’s worth noting that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was left out of this thread.

This mission, this strategy continues in ‘22 with a sense of urgency: launching HBO Max in many more countries this quarter and the balance of the year, launching CNN+, delivering of a full slate of highly anticipated games. 10/x pic.twitter.com/CY5jYAhxU5

— Jason Kilar (@jasonkilar) January 26, 2022

Originally announced at The Game Awards in 2021, Kill the Justice League is set in an open world based on Metropolis in the universe that has previously been established by Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham series. Taking place sometime after the events of 2015s Arkham Knight, Kill the Justice League features four playable characters from the beloved DC universe; Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, King Shark and of course, Harley Quinn. When playing solo, you can switch between these four characters at will but the game also features a four-player cooperative mode with each player controlling one of the anti-heroes mentioned above.

It’s a shame, given how long it has been since we have seen a new game from Rocksteady Studios, a highly reputable and critically acclaimed studio that has done particularly well with adapting one of DCs most beloved heroes. Unfortunately, however, no studio is immune to the impacts of the pandemic and according to reports, Warner Bros. has been facing development challenges and production problems that had forced the company to push back many of its impending projects.

It’s said that Gotham Knights and Hogwarts Legacy will still release in 2022, as well as Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga so it’s still set to be stacked year for WB.

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The next couple of months will be absolutely stellar for PlayStation owners, with Horizon Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7 and Sifu all launching in succession. PlayStation players can add another exciting title to this already incredible line-up now that GhostWire: Tokyo is expected to release on March 25, 2022 or March 22nd if you buy the Ultimate Edition of the game. On top of that, we’ll see a bit more of the upcoming title during a special presentation at 9 am AEST on Friday, February 4th. We’ll also have a preview up for the game around this time.

Ghostwire: Tokyo update! See new gameplay and behind-the-scenes details in a special presentation from Bethesda this Thursday at 2pm Pacific: https://t.co/qTfvK9oYdJ pic.twitter.com/GPcTmNQ5A5

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) February 2, 2022

GhostWire: Tokyo is an upcoming action-adventure title developed by The Evil Within’s Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda Softworks. As we would expect from Tango, the game has a rather eerie paranormal twist. The protagonist, Akito, uses his supernatural powers to defeat ghosts and spirits haunting Tokyo after nearly all of its citizens have mysteriously vanished. GhostWire: Tokyo is played from a first-person perspective, and though it shares a horror theme with The Evil Within series, GhostWire has been described as more of an action-adventure, with physical and spell casting combat inspired by the ritual of hand gestures used by some Japanese martial artists, known as Kuji-Kiri.

GhostWire: Tokyo will launch exclusively on the PlayStation 5 and Windows 10 PC on March 25, 2022 (or March 22nd for Ultimate Edition owners). This title is a timed console exclusive, and Phil Spencer of Xbox has confirmed that we should expect to see the title on the Xbox platform at least one year after its initial release.

The post GhostWire: Tokyo’s Release Date Has Been Revealed With New Gameplay Coming Tomorrow appeared first on Press Start.

Aussie based startup UPSpec gaming has just published the final launch trailer for their upcoming portable Series S display, the xScreen. You can check it out below:

The xScreen originally launched via Kickstarter campaign in July of 2021 and swiftly reached its AU$13,000 goal within just twenty minutes, eventually landing on a whopping $AU145,118. The xScreen is a fully integrated folding screen that seamlessly attaches to the Xbox Series S, using the console’s existing onboard inputs. The xScreen doesn’t require any additional samples and uses just the Xbox’s supplied figure 8 cable.

Key features include:

• 11.6″ IPS screen which is the largest screen size available to fit within the Xbox Series S footprint
• 1080p 60hz resolution, a perfect match for how most games are optimised for the Xbox Series S
• Integrated stereo speakers
• Built-in controls for screen settings and volume
• Cable-free attachment solution – only original Xbox power cable required
• Optional cross-hair overlay for use in FPS games
• HDMI-CEC Xbox power off function on screen close to prevent overheating
• Ability to swap coloured latches (optional accessory)
• Optional “stand-mode” orientation using stand feet (optional accessory)
• Custom carry case enables the transport of everything you need in the smallest possible form factor (optional accessory)

New features announced in the above trailer include the option to turn on a crosshair overlay for first-person shooters, allowing you to customise your on-screen crosshair with the touch of a single button and built-in sensors that allow you to turn off the Xbox when you close the screen.

No problem ?. Here are some photos of it in action in-flight. pic.twitter.com/v7b0C1oZ0q

— UPspec Gaming ? xScreen for Xbox Series S (@UPspecGaming) January 15, 2022

You can pre-order the UPspec Gaming xScreen right here for USD$249.99 with free shipping and check out the various accessories also available for the device, including an all-encompassing carry case with a convenient and sleek design. The xScreen is expected to ship late February and works exclusively with the Xbox Series S.

The post The Epic Aussie Designed Portable Screen For The Xbox Series S Just Got Some New Features And A Launch Trailer appeared first on Press Start.

Mid last year, Sony announced that it had made a minority investment in Discord weeks after it reportedly declined an acquisition offer from Microsoft. Now, more than six months later, Discord has confirmed that it will start to gradually roll out support for users on PlayStation consoles over the coming weeks.

PlayStation x Discord

We’re gradually rolling out the ability to link your PlayStation Network account to share what games you’re playing. Learn how to connect your account here: https://t.co/Jbgx7zWEVW pic.twitter.com/mZFxOwjlVS

— Discord (@discord) January 31, 2022

“If you’ve ever connected your Discord account to another service that allows you to display your activity, it works similarly here: once your Discord account is linked, the game you’re currently playing on either PS4 or PS5 will be shown as your activity, just like that!” explains Discord in their official blog post, “You can even opt to display your PlayStationNetwork online ID on your profile so your Discord friends can add you and tag along. It’s especially great for knowing if your friend is currently playing a game that supports cross-play on another platform.”

At the time of writing, I was able to link my PlayStation Network account to my Discord account using the simple instructions provided by the blog post but apparently, it isn’t available to everybody just yet. Check back later in User Settings > Connections if it’s not there for you at the moment.

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Developer Techland took to Twitter earlier today to request that those who have already managed to score an early copy of Dying Light 2 wait until its official launch on February 4 before playing it. It appears that copies are appealing out in the wild

That being said, we kindly ask you to wait until Feb 4th as by that time you’ll also get access to all improvements and fixes we’ve implemented within last weeks and will introduce with the day 1 patch. That’s the way to experience Dying Light 2 the way it’s meant to be played.

— Dying Light (@DyingLightGame) February 1, 2022

One Twitter user responded to these Tweets, expressing their concern about the game running on the base PlayStation 4. Lead User Experience Designer Marcin Surosz promptly responded to the Tweet, assuring fans of Dying Light that “the game will run fine,” going on to say that “Last few weeks always mean a BIG push from the developers who want to squeeze EVERY LAST BIT of optimisation and fix as many bugs as possible. We want you guys to have the best experience on the release day,” to ease players who remain in fear of a bug-riddled mess of a launch, reminiscent of Cyberpunk 2077.

We speculate that the main reason for this concern is due to the several delays in Dying Light 2’s development history. Originally announced at E3 in 2018, the game was initially slated for release in Spring of 2020, then for December of 2020 before it was delayed for a final time until its official launch date, February 4, 2022. While the open-world zombie shooter will be launching on February 4 on PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, Techland announced that the Switch version of the game has been indefinitely delayed but will be launching sometime within the next six months.

Dying Light 2 is out this Friday. The cheapest copy is currently $69 on Amazon. 

The post Dying Light 2 Copies Are In The Wild But Techland Doesn’t Want You To Play Yet appeared first on Press Start.

This month’s additions to the PlayStation Plus lineup have officially arrived and are available for you to download and play right now. If you’re a member of Sony’s paid subscription service, you’ll have access to:

• UFC 4 (PS4)

• Planet Coaster: Console Edition (PS5)

• Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-Shot Adventure.

Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep is an interesting one and certainly something to jump into if you plan on playing its successor, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands when it launches on March 25, 2022. Originally launched in 2013 as DLC for Borderlands 2, Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep invites players to smash skeletons, defeat dragons and battle giant golems in a standalone fantasy campaign, reminiscent of traditional tabletop RPGs. You can choose from a roster of six unique vault-hunters, each with their own set of signature abilities and powerful builds that will allow you to blast through treacherous forests, spooky crypts and fearsome forts in pursuit of mountains of magical loot and more.

Follow the links above to download each of the free titles available this month and click here to check out the PlayStation Plus exclusive discounts also available with your subscription.

The post You Can Download February’s Free PlayStation Plus Games Now appeared first on Press Start.

Earlier this week, Rare hosted a special event, revealing a whole heap of brand new features for their enormous action-RPG MMO, Sea of Thieves. The update will introduce two massive new mechanics that focus on storytelling and progressing the overarching lore and narrative. You can watch the entire 2022 Preview event below:

Following the presentation, we sat down with Executive Producer Joe Neate to chat about Season 6 of Sea of Thieves and what the team over at Rare has in store for the rest of 2022.

For readers that are unfamiliar with the game or haven’t played in a while, how would you describe the Sea of Thieves experience to them?

Joe Neate: Sea of Thieves is a Shared World Pirate Adventure, where you can live out your pirate fantasies on the seas. Growing and evolving for nearly four years, there has never been a better time to venture onto the seas. Whatever your motivation, you will find it catered for in Sea of Thieves. The progression system is also based around cosmetics, with no power progression limited who you can play with. This means you can join now and play freely with friends who have been playing since the start.

You mentioned that players would work together to solve Mysteries inside and outside the game. Can you elaborate a bit more on the ARG side of things?

JN: Players will work to solve mysteries both in and out of the game, but elements outside of the game will feel totally on tone & related to with what is happening in-game. We have experimented with teases in this style with Duke’s runes leading up to the reveal of A Pirate’s Life, and even recently ahead of our Adventures/Mysteries reveal some of our keener eyed players have been able to piece together what’s coming up, with our Christmas song even having a clue in it! We are going to be more cryptic and devious with Mysteries though, for sure!

What are you looking most forward to the players experiencing?

JN: We are so incredibly excited to be entering into this new phase of the live service for Sea of Thieves. Regular Adventures and Mysteries making the world move forward, feeling dynamic and alive whilst still adding cool new features and mechanics with Seasons is going to be AWESOME.Q: You mentioned using movies, novels and television serials to research a broad spectrum of storytelling methods.

Are there any particular pieces that have especially inspired the team while working on the ongoing narrative?

JN: Ha. One of our internal powerpoints referenced Phil Mitchell’s death in Eastenders, as well as who was H in Line of Duty. We see these as great examples of mysteries that get people talking and speculating, but I’m sure everyone has their own examples. TV series like Lost and Westworld are also great examples of shows that get people really trying to figure out what’s really going on.

How often should we expect to see episodes of the new Sea of Thieves developer podcast popping up?

JN: We hope to do this every 6-8 weeks, but as our regular community now, we aren’t the best at sticking to an exact schedule. Having said that, we LOVE podcasts and that longform dialogue with the community, so we will continue doing them as long as we have stuff to talk about!

Can you tell us anything more about the Community Day scheduled for March?

JN: This is an idea that came directly from our Community team and is all about celebrating the community in fun and social ways. We love our community, and we wanted to do something they could get involved in that would allow them to have fun together and celebrate each other.

We noticed that “new social options for crews” was listed on the roadmap for this year. Can you tell us anything more about that and what we can expect?

JN: We’ve been purposefully cryptic with our season descriptions so that we can surprise and delight our community nearer the time, so I can’t expand on this one yet, unfortunately…

Arena is closing during season six. Does the development team have any plans for other PvP driven content or modes?

JN: It was a really difficult decision to close Arena, and we know that one of the many motivations of our players in Sea of Thieves is that desire for combat and to prove themselves on the seas. As we look to future season headliners, we definitely have plans to help scratch that itch in Adventure…

? The Sea of Thieves 2022 roadmap ?

Raise the anchor, drop sails and chart a course for a year of Adventures, Mysteries and stories to remember! Learn more about our plans in the Sea of Thieves 2022 Preview Event: https://t.co/HKYue5dzLM #SoT22 pic.twitter.com/LseNyxcGEY

— Sea of Thieves (@SeaOfThieves) January 27, 2022

Sea of Thieves is a first-person action-adventure MMO game developed by Rare Ltd. and published by Microsoft Studios. Season 6 is scheduled to set sail on February 17th, 2022 and is available on Xbox, Windows 10 and PC via Steam. You can check out the game’s ambitious collaboration with Disney in the Pirate’s Life update right here or learn more about the game in general by reading our coverage on all things Sea of Thieves right here.

The post A New Season Of Sea Of Thieves Is On The Way And We Caught Up With Rare To Chat About It appeared first on Press Start.

On February 1st, the Year of the Tiger will officially commence and to celebrate this year’s festival, Steam is hosting a Lunar New Year Sale.

There are hundreds of games and DLC items on sale, so to make it a bit easier for you to digest, we’ve listed some of our favourite bargains below. You can also check out the rest of the Lunar New Year Sale right here until 10 pm on February 3rd AEST.

• Back 4 Blood $53.97 down from 89.95 (40% off)
• Borderlands 3, $22.48 down from $89.95 (75% off)
• Civilization VI, $13.49 down from $89.95 (85% off)
• Disco Elysium – The Final Cut $22.78 down from $56.95 (60% off)
• Resident Evil Village, $47.47 down from $94.95 (50% off)
• Red Dead Redemption II, $44.97 down from $89.95 (50% off)
• SekiroL Shadow’s Die Twice GOTY Edition, $44.97 down from $89.95 (50% off)
• The Sims 4, $5.99 down from $49.99 (88% off)

The Lunar New Year Sale is now live!

From now until February 3rd, 10am Pacific, explore the store, browse deals, and claim free stickers!https://t.co/4TuWeBVo1O pic.twitter.com/6QOdRl2YRg

— Steam (@Steam) January 27, 2022

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Earlier this morning, Blizzard revealed that they are currently working on a “brand new survival game for PC and console” that will be set in an all-new universe unrelated to any previously released properties from the developer. The announcement came in the form of a call to arms on the recruiting section of the developer’s website, seeking various positions in the art, design and engineering departments for what has only been referred to as “Unannounced Survival Game” so far.

We’re building a survival game in an all-new universe.

Join us in writing our next chapter: https://t.co/yf7W5p9ERQ pic.twitter.com/vWtkDYh1kX

— Blizzard Entertainment (@Blizzard_Ent) January 25, 2022

“Blizzard is embarking on our next quest,” read the advertisement, “We are going on a journey to a whole new universe, home to a brand-new survival game for PC and console. A place full of heroes we have yet to meet, stories yet to be told, and adventures yet to be lived. A vast realm of possibility, waiting to be explored. Every story needs a teller. And every world needs builders. What if that could be you?”

“For thirty years, Blizzard has been creating universes for millions of players around the globe. This requires a diverse team of developers willing to lend their voices, to listen and to be heard. That is our mission. Do you like survival games? Do you want to join a collaborative team of experienced developers at the early stage of a new project in a new world…and help write the next chapter in Blizzard’s story? This is your call to adventure. Will you answer it?” it reads before going on to list the positions that are currently being sought after by the project’s team.

After Blizzard officially published the announcement, Head of Blizzard Entertainment Mike Ybarra posted this Tweet, making it clear that the project’s development is already well underway.

I’ve played many hours of this project with the team and I’m incredibly excited about the teams vision and the brand-new world it presents for players to immerse themselves in together. Join us to help make it a reality! https://t.co/pLhijX2Li9

— Mike Ybarra (@Qwik) January 25, 2022

This “Unannounced Survival Game” is Blizzard’s first all-new property since they launched Overwatch in 2016. Though they are no stranger to fantasy and sci-fi world-building, this is the developer’s first foray into the survival genre.

This news comes just a week after Microsoft announced its intentions to acquire Blizzard-Activision in one of the most significant transactions in gaming history, which we also talked about on our podcast.

The post Blizzard Has Announced An All New Survival Game appeared first on Press Start.

Earlier today, Skybound Entertainment announced that a sequel to the 2020 VR game The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is already in development.

It wouldn’t be our second anniversary without a surprise. Hold on to your heads, tourists, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution is coming. ? #TWDSS #secondanniversary #Chapter2 #Retribution pic.twitter.com/ajibDagmKP

— TWD Saints & Sinners (@WalkingDeadVR) January 24, 2022

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution doesn’t have an official release date just yet, but the developer has confirmed that it will be a new chapter of the Tourist’s story, confirming that it will be a continuation of the original protagonist’s journey. This news also comes after the developer Skydance Interactive announced that the original Saints & Sinners had recently surpassed $60 million in revenue since it launched in January of 2020, making it one of the best selling VR games to date. We’re hopeful that we might see Chapter 2 arrive in time for the launch of the PlayStation VR 2, which Sony revealed just a few weeks ago. You can check out the full specs for the PSVR 2 right here.

The post A New The Walking Dead VR Game Is On The Way appeared first on Press Start.

Much to the surprise of fans, it seems like Nintendo has actually been working on its N64 emulators after fans reacted critically to the messy launch of the Switch Online Expansion Pack in October of last year. Earlier this month we reported that Banjo-Kazooie would be joining the classic lineup of titles in the Expansion Pack and it seems like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time got a surprise update on the very same day.

[NSO – Nintendo 64]

It seems the water in the now-infamous Water Temple room has been fixed in the latest update? I think the fog is still missing, though.

Haven’t checked the rest of the game to see if any of the other issues have changed, but this is promising. pic.twitter.com/wcoG3hIxu2

— OatmealDome (@OatmealDome) January 21, 2022

The actual result of the update, pictured above, isn’t particularly exciting but what it suggests for the future of Nintendo emulation is a big relief for classic Nintendo fans. Nintendo is currently using the NSO N64 emulator, an emulator based on the one that was used for the Wii U Virtual Console. In an effort to make more games function on the Wii U console, Nintendo decided to remove certain graphics display functions and in the process, some graphics emulation was severely degraded or in some cases totally broken. What we’re seeing now, however, is that Nintendo appears to be actively going back into the original code, cleaning it up and providing genuine fixes to issues with the emulator. According to one source, Nintendo has been

Last week, we reported that The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask would be the next title to launch as a part of the subscription service’s classic vault. With this new information, emulator fans are optimistic that the relatively small adjustments made to Ocarina of Time might suggest future fixes and improvements to the title as well as upcoming releases and notoriously buggy games such as Paper Mario and Yoshi’s Story.

We’ll keep you posted as we see more of these changes over the months coming up, and hopefully Nintendo are indeed working on some improvements across the board.

Cheers, Kotaku! 

The post Zelda: Ocarina Of Time Has Been Updated For Nintendo Switch Online Meaning Nintendo 64 Emulation Improvements Might Be Coming appeared first on Press Start.

Though you won’t find it advertised on your console’s home screen, Microsoft has just launched a dedicated backwards compatible sale, slashing the prices of more than 100 Xbox 360 and OG Xbox games by up to 85% in some cases. You can check out the full list of games available through the Back Compat Sale right here but we’ve also included a list of some of our favourite items below.

• Bully: Scholarship Edition – $8.18 down from $20.25
• Grand Theft Auto IV – $13.98 down from $39.95
• Mafia II: – $12.61 down from $50.45
• Red Dead Redemption – $16.64 down from $50.45
• Red Faction: Armageddon – $7.75 down from $50.45
• Saints Row – $2.24 down from $14.95
• Saints Row 2 – $2.24 down from $14.95
• Saints Row: The Third – $3.06 down from $20.45
• Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell – $3.06 down from $20.45
• Sid Meier’s Civilization: Revolution –  $12.61 down from $50.45
• Skate – $8.18 down from $20.45
• Skate 3 – $7.48 down from 29.95
• The Darkness – $5.99 down from $29.95
• The Darkness II – $13.99 down from $69.95
• Tomb Raider: Anniversary – $4.49 down from $29.99
• XCOM: Enemy Within – $13.99 down from $69.95

All of the included titles are playable on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S and even though some of them are already available on Game Pass, at such a low price, they’re probably worth adding to your library anyway.

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Earlier this week we published a report discussing rumours of internal turmoil and setbacks that would likely lead to a delay in the game’s 2022 release window.  According to a blog post published on the official Harry Potter universe, Wizarding World, however, the highly anticipated Hogwarts Legacy is still slated for release sometime this year, despite the recent rumours suggesting otherwise.

“The Hogwarts Legacy video game will be arriving this year 2022 is also the year when the highly anticipated console game from Warner Bros. Games’ Portkey Games label, Hogwarts Legacy, is set to be released. Developed by Avalanche Software, this action RPG allows players to be at the centre of their own adventure set during the late 1800s wizarding world. From learning powerful spells and brewing potions, to honing combat skills and taming magical beasts, this game will allow players to experience the magical world as a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry like never before as they determine the fate of the entire wizarding world.”

In addition, trusted leaker AccountNGT has taken to Twitter to insist that any issues potentially going on behind the scenes are not enough to delay the upcoming RPG and that it is indeed, still on track for a 2022 release.

https://twitter.com/AccNgt/status/1482680623173152771?s=20

Finally, in a Twitter thread showcasing Warner Brothers published games launching in 2022, WB Brazil’s official Twitter account shared this:

A Hogwarts de 1800 está de portas abertas para você em #Hogwarts Legacy, um #RPG de ação em mundo aberto na mais famosa escola de magia e bruxaria do mundo. Qual vai ser o seu legado? pic.twitter.com/YSiJdE66hW

— Warner Play (@WarnerPlayBR) January 17, 2022

[“Hogwarts of the 1800s is open to you in #Hogwarts Legacy, an open-world #RPG action set in the most famous school of magic and witchcraft in the world. What will your legacy be?“].

Hogwarts Legacy is an upcoming single-player action RPG developed by Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros. Interactive. The game is slated for a 2022 release and will be available on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Windows.

The post Hogwarts Legacy Still Seems Scheduled For Release In 2022 appeared first on Press Start.

Earlier this morning, Netflix announced that The Cuphead Show!, the animated series based on StudioMDHR’s run-and-gun cult classic, Cuphead: “Don’t Deal with the Devil”, will debut on the streaming service, February 18, 2022. You can watch the brand new trailer below:

Based on the award-winning game, The Cuphead Show! follows the misadventures of the impulsive Cuphead and his pliable brother Mugman. Each of the 12 episodes scheduled to launch mid-February will run for around 12 minutes apiece and combine Fleischer-Esque sass with slapstick antics and mildly dark humour. The game’s creators, brothers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, have signed on as executive producers on the series, with the episodes directed by Spongebob veteran Adam Paloian and Disney’s Clayton Morrow.

Netflix has also launched a companion site called Cuphead Countdown where you can help Cuphead and Mugman fight the devil and free souls to get your hands on some exclusive digital content before the show’s official launch next month.

Hellooooo beautiful world! Cuphead here, and I've got Mugman with me. We just discovered a secret way to recover stolen souls from the Devil who is keeping our new show hostage. We need your help!#Cuphead #TheCupheadShow pic.twitter.com/GzGYsKsCJg

— Cuphead (@CupheadShow) January 18, 2022

Cuphead: “Don’t Deal With the Devil” is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch, PC and Mac. You can also check out our review of the 2017 game right here.

The post The Cuphead Show! Got A Brand New Trailer And Release Date appeared first on Press Start.

Over the last couple of years, we have seen Xbox evolve and expand its products and services by acquiring various developers and studios under the Microsoft Gaming umbrella. In a stunning and exciting move, Microsoft has confirmed its intent to acquire triple-A publisher Activision Blizzard in an all-cash deal valued at USD 68.7 bn. According to Microsoft, this acquisition will make it the “third-largest gaming company by revenue” behind Tencent and Sony.

Today is a historic moment. We are excited to announce that the world-renowned franchises and talented people at @ATVI_AB will be joining Team Xbox! ?

Full announcement details here: https://t.co/RwF0QgXVwE pic.twitter.com/jIXuYCcndG

— Xbox (@Xbox) January 18, 2022

Once the transaction between the two companies has been complete, Xbox plans to offer as many Activision Blizzard games as possible within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass. This includes new and upcoming titles as well as titles from Activision Blizzard’s incredible history across all of its brands such as Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, Beenox, Demonware, Digital Legends, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, King, Major League Gaming, Radical Entertainment, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob and Treyarch.

Phil Spencer had this to say on the matter, “The fantastic franchises across Activision Blizzard will also accelerate our plans for Cloud Gaming, allowing more people in more places around the world to participate in the Xbox community using phones, tablets, laptops and other devices you already own. Activision Blizzard games are enjoyed on a variety of platforms, and we plan to continue to support those communities moving forward.”

We are joining the @Xbox family.

Learn what this means for our iconic games and player communities: https://t.co/abPxlb37kA pic.twitter.com/Z8sVgsjScz

— Activision Blizzard (@ATVI_AB) January 18, 2022

It is worth noting that this acquisition follows a tumultuous year for Activision Blizzard, which has been blighted by lawsuits alleging discrimination and mistreatment of women in the workplace, forcing the company to terminate problematic employees and expand its ethics and compliance team. These allegations and subsequent lawsuits have seen Activision Blizzard’s shares fall almost 30% since it was sued by the State of California in July of 2021, making it an attractive target for acquisition. Without mentioning the scandalous circumstances specifically, Spencer assured Xbox fans that as a company, Microsoft is committed to pursuing “inclusion in every aspect of gaming, among both employees and players,” a reassuring statement that continues, “We deeply value individual studio cultures. We also believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect. We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment. We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard.”

As previously mentioned, we can only speculate until the transaction has officially concluded. Still, there is no denying that this, indeed one of the most significant dealings in gaming history, is an exciting one. We assume (or at least hope) that it will be similar to Xbox’s recent acquisition of Zenimax-Bethesda. If this is the case, we will see most Activision Blizzard titles become available via Game Pass almost immediately, with promises to add upcoming releases to the subscription service as soon as they launch. It would be great to see games like Call of Duty and Overwatch added to the Game Pass library, but more importantly, we would like to see an improvement in the workplace culture at Activision Blizzard, so that employees feel safe, seen and empowered.

The post Microsoft Is Officially Buying Activision Blizzard appeared first on Press Start.

It looks like Sony could be planning to release a new PlayStation controller for use with mobile devices. Originally reported by VGC, a patent for a Dualshock-style design was recently filed by Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Japanese division. The patent describes the hardware, similar to the Backbone One,  that would fit onto either side of your mobile device, using the screen of your phone as a display in the middle.

It’s interesting to see that the design is based on the PlayStation 4’s Dualshock, rather than the more recent DualSense controller, designed for the PlayStation 5.  According to the patent, the two grips are connected by “a shaft portion that can be tilted by the user,” and that detects the tilting direction and amount of tilting force, likely to accommodate the gyroscopic features used in some mobile games and apps.

Given the recent introduction of Xbox’s Cloud Gaming service across all regions, it’s not entirely surprising that Sony would want to get in on the action with hardware of their own that could be used to stream Xbox games. That said, it’s also possible that Sony is getting ready to launch their own mobile titles since Sony Head Jim Ryan has already confirmed that he wants PlayStation to be enjoyed by an “almost limitless audience” and that he would like to bring Uncharted, God of War and other Sony exclusive franchises to mobile platforms.

“We have been thinking about how players enjoy our content and have had some early success with experimenting with mobile games and apps to provide more choice to gamers,” said Ryan in a recent interview, “Mobile is just one of the areas we are exploring to reach millions of gamers beyond our platforms.”

At the time of writing, Sony had not commented on the patent.

The post PlayStation Looks To Be Creating A New Mobile Controller appeared first on Press Start.

According to a Tweet thread published by noted Battlefield leaker and freelance writer, Tom Henderson, Star Wars: Battlefront 3 was a pitched title from DICE but was ultimately rejected by EA due to the cost of licensing the Disney owned IP.

Battlefront 3 was a pitched title from DICE, but ultimately, the title was shot down by EA due to licensing costs.

“It got turned down because it takes 20% more sales to make the same money”, said one past developer.

— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) November 20, 2021

The thread goes on to explain that although DICE is not currently working on Battlefront 3 but is instead working on yet another Battlefield title. There are, however, two other Star Wars titles currently in development over at EA. According to Henderson, these titles are story-driven single-player experiences, likely more consistent with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order than with the Battlefront series. We may even see a sequel to 2019’s Fallen Order announced sometime next year. In addition to issues with licensing costs, Henderson contends that the development of Battlefront 3 is even more unlikely since several key developers that worked on previous Battlefront titles have since left DICE, including creative director Dennis Bränvall and core gameplay designer Christian Johannesé.

Finally, Henderson makes it clear that although a new Battlefield title is already in development, the work that has already been put into this title did not take away from the development time of Battlefield 2042 which launched just yesterday, Friday the 19th of November, 2021.

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Just yesterday we published our preview of Halo Infinite’s campaign, which you can read right here, after spending a week playing it. So far, it’s been a great experience but players will have to wait to share this experience with mates now that developer 343 Industries has announced that campaign co-op and Forge custom game mode won’t be launching until May of 2022.

In speaking to Eurogamer, Head of Creative at 343 Industries, Joseph Staten explained that due to the recent extension of Halo Infinite’s inaugural multiplayer season, the release of campaign co-op and Forge modes have subsequently been pushed back beyond their initial planned release window.

“At the time that we talked about campaign co-op and Forge I said our goal is to ship campaign co-op in Season 2 and our goal is to ship Forge with Season 3,” said Staten, “Yes, we are extending Season 1. So our goal still remains what I said before, which is to ship campaign co-op with Season 2 and Forge with Season 3. But those remain goals. Those remain targets. And we can’t commit to any hard dates right now, because as we’re seeing with this multiplayer beta, other things might move up in the priority stack for us,” he continued.

This may come as a disappointment to fans who were hoping to jump into the campaign with a buddy as soon as Halo Infinite officially launches on December 9th of this year but it should also encourage fans to know that 343 Industries is balancing its priorities carefully and making sure that they manage to deliver a game that meets the expectations of its long-term supporters.

“If it turns out that our progression system just isn’t working the way that we intended, if we need to move some of these bigger rocks sooner, then we as a team will make those decisions and will clearly communicate to our fans why we’re why we’re doing certain things. It’s going to be a constant challenge to address some of those bigger rocks that I know players have completely legitimate feedback about,” Staten said. “But we’ve got a couple big things that we still have to deliver to fans: campaign co-op and our Forge toolset are really big promises that we’ve made that we need to make good on,” explained the Head of Creative, touching on 343’s ongoing commitment to its fanbase at large.

Fortunately, you can still enjoy Halo Infinite with your pals via the game’s free-to-play multiplayer mode which launched early during Xbox’s 20th Anniversary celebrations last week. You can read more about the surprise launch and how to download multiplayer mode right here.

Halo Infinite releases on December 9, 2021, exclusively on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC and will be available on day one via the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

The post Halo Infinite’s Campaign Co-Op And Forge Modes Have Been Delayed Again appeared first on Press Start.

Geoff Keighley has announced the official nominees for the Game Awards 2021, which will be streamed live on December 9, 2021. Bethesda’s Deathloop received the most nominations of any game this year with a total of 9, including a nomination for Game of the Year. Xbox/Bethesda amassed the most nominations overall with a whopping 20 noms compared to Sony Interactive Entertainment’s 11 nominations and EA/Square Enix’s 10 nominations, making it pretty clear that the partnership between the two heavy-hitting brands has almost certainly paid off.

You can watch the nomination special below, or keep scrolling for the full list of this year’s nominees. It’s important to note that Press Start were on the judging panel, so we did play a part in these games being nominated.

#TheGameAwards Nomination Special – Live Announcement! https://t.co/knKq585871

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) November 16, 2021

Here is the full list of nominees:

Game of the Year

Recognizing a game that delivers the absolute best experience across all creative and technical fields.

• Deathloop
• It Takes Two
• Metroid Dread
• Psychonauts 2
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Resident Evil Village

Best Game Direction

Awarded for outstanding creative vision and innovation in game direction and design.

• Deathloop
• It Takes Two
• Returnal
• Psychonauts 2
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Best Narrative

For outstanding storytelling and narrative development in a game.

• Deathloop
• It Takes Two
• Life is Strange: True Colors
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
• Psychonauts 2

Best Art Direction

For outstanding creative and/or technical achievement in artistic design and animation.

• Deathloop
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• Psychonauts 2
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• The Artful Escape

Best Score + Music

For outstanding music, inclusive of score, original song and/or licensed soundtrack.

• Cyberpunk 2077
• Deathloop
• Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
• The Artful Escape

Best Audio Design

Recognizing the best in-game audio and sound design.

• Deathloop
• Forza Horizon 5
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Resident Evil Village
• Returnal

Best Performance

Awarded to an individual for voice-over acting, motion and/or performance capture.

• Erika Mori, Life is Strange
• Giancarlo Esposito, Far Cry 6
• Jason E. Kelley, Deathloop
• Maggie Robertson, Resident Evil Village
• Ozioama Akagha, Deathloop

Games for Impact

For a thought-provoking game with a pro-social meaning or message.

• Before Your Eyes
• Boyfriend Dungeon
• Chicory: A Colorful Tale
• Life is Strange: True Colors
• No Longer Home

Best Ongoing Game

Awarded to a game for outstanding development of ongoing content that evolves the player experience over time.

• Apex Legends
• Call of Duty: War Zone
• Final Fantasy XIV Online
• Fortnite
• Genshin Impact

Best Indie Game

For outstanding creative and technical achievement in a game made outside the traditional publisher system.

• 12 Minutes
• Death’s Door
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• Inscryption
• Loop Hero

Best Mobile Game

For the best game playable on a mobile device.

• Fantasian
• Genshin Impact
• League of Legends
• MARVEL Future Revolution
• Pokemon Unite

Best Community Support

Recognizing a game for outstanding community support, transparency and responsiveness, inclusive of social media activity and game updates/patches.

• Apex Legends: Escape
• Destiny 2: Beyond Light
• Final Fantasy XIV Online
• Fortnite
• No Man’s Sky

Innovation in Accessibility

Recognizing software and/or hardware that is pushing the medium forward by adding features, technology and content to help games be played and enjoyed by an even wider audience.

• Far Cry 6
• Forza Horizon 5
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• The Vale: Shadow of the Crown

Best VR/AR Game

For the best game experience playable in virtual or augmented reality, irrespective of platform.

• Hitman III
• I Expect You to Die 2
• Lone Echo II
• Resident Evil 4
• Sniper Elite VR

Best Action Game

For the best game in the action genre focused primarily on combat.

• Back 4 Blood
• Chivalry II
• Deathloop
• Far Cry 6
• Returnal

Best Action/Adventure Game

For the best action/adventure game, combining combat with traversal and puzzle solving.

• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
• Metroid Dread
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Resident Evil Village
• Psychonauts 2

Best Roleplaying Game

For the best game designed with rich player character customization and progression, including massively multiplayer experiences.

• Cyberpunk 2077
• Monster Hunter Rise
• Scarlet Nexus
• Shin Megami Tensei V
• Tales of Arise

Best Fighting Game

For the best game designed primarily around head-to-head combat.

• Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles
• Guilty Gear -Strive-
• Melty Blood: Type Lumina
• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
• Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown

Best Family Game

For the best game appropriate for family play, irrespective of genre or platform.

• It Takes Two
• Mario Party Superstars
• New Pokémon Snap
• Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
• WarioWare: Get It Together!

Best SIM/Strategy Game

Best game focused on real time or turn-based simulation or strategy gameplay, irrespective of platform.

• Age of Empires IV
• Evil Genius 2: World Domination
• Humankind
• Inscryption
• Microsoft Flight Simulator

Best Sports/Racing Game

For the best traditional and non-traditional sports and racing game.

• F1 2021
• Fifa 22
• Hot Wheels Unleashed
• Forza Horizon 5
• Riders Republic

Best Multiplayer Game

For outstanding online multiplayer gameplay and design, including co-op and massively multiplayer experiences, irrespective of game genre or platform.

• Back 4 Blood
• It Takes Two
• Knockout City
• Monster Hunter Rise
• New World
• Valheim

Content Creator of the Year

For a streamer or content creator who has made an important and positive impact on the community in 2021.

• Dream
• Fuslie
• Gaules
• Ibai
• TheGrefg

Best Debut Indie Game

For the best debut game created by a new independent studio.

• Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• Sable
• The Artful Escape
• The Forgotten City
• Valheim

Most Anticipated Game

Recognizing an announced game that has demonstrably illustrated potential to push the gaming medium forward.

• Elden Ring
• God of War: Ragnarok
• Horizon Forbidden West
• The Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Starfield

Best Esports Game

For the game that has delivered the best overall esports experience to players (inclusive of tournaments, community support and content updates), irrespective of genre or platform.

• Call of Duty
• CS:GO
• DOTA2
• League of Legends
• Valorant

Best Esports Athlete

The esports athlete judged to be the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021, irrespective of game.

• Chris “Simp” Lehr
• Heo “ShowMaker” Su
• Magomed “Collapse” Khalilov
• Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
• Tyson “TenZ” Ngo

Best Esports Team

Recognizing a specific esports team (not the full organization) judged the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021.

• Atlanta FaZe, Call of Duty
• DWG KIA, League of Legends
• NAVI, CS:GO
• Team Spirit, DOTA2
• Sentinels, Valorant

Best Esports Coach

The esports coach judged to be the most outstanding for performance and conduct in 2021.

• Airat “Silent” Gaziev
• Andrey “ENGH” Sholokhov
• Andrii “B1ad3” Horodenskyi
• James “Crowder” Crowder
• Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun

Best Esports Event

Recognizing an event (across single or multiple days) that delivered a best-of-class experience for participants and the broadcast audience.

• The International 2021
• 2021 League of Legends World Championship
• Valorant Champions Tour: Stage 2 Masters
• PGL Major Stockholm 2021
• PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2020

If you want to vote for your favourite games, publishers, creators or artists above, click this handy link here to visit the official Game Awards site before the event streams live from the Microsoft Theatre next month. We’ll make sure to keep you up to date on when and where to watch The Game Awards locally, so keep an eye out for our guide closer to the event.

The post The Game Awards 2021 Nominees Have Been Revealed appeared first on Press Start.

If you haven’t already given it a try, you’ll be able to download and play Call of Duty: Vanguard multiplayer for free this weekend, without having to purchase anything from the game. Free access goes live on all platforms at 5:00 am AEDT this Friday, November 19th and will run until November 23rd.

During this long weekend trial, players will get full access to all of the features that are a part of Vanguard’s multiplayer, including the ability to test and level up over three dozen weapons with a dozen operators on 17 different core maps, including Champion Hill and Shipment, which returns for the first time this weekend.

Through this trial, you get a taste of what Vanguard has to offer, though purchasing the game will give you access to the action-packed campaign as well as the beloved Zombies mode. If you’re not ready to take the plunge with the full game just yet, can read more about what we thought of Vanguard’s other modes in our official review of the game right here.

Call of Duty: Vanguard is available on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC exclusively via Battle.net and you can enjoy the free weekend on any of these platforms.

The post Call Of Duty: Vanguard Multiplayer Will Be Free To Play This Weekend appeared first on Press Start.

Earlier this morning Xbox celebrated its 20th Anniversary with a celebration live stream broadcasted around the world. As a part of the event, Xbox partnered with The Sydney Youth Orchestra and Gamilaraay man, Paul Glass, to produce a uniquely Aussie performance inspired by the beloved Halo series which you can watch below.

“Australia has always had a deep love for Halo and Xbox, so it’s been great to not only celebrate the 20^th anniversary of this brand and iconic franchise, but the upcoming launch of Halo Infinite on December 9.” said Tania Chee, Xbox Business Lead for ANZ. The stunning performance took place on Gadigal Land in the Royal Botanic Gardens with Sydney Harbour providing an absolutely gorgeous backdrop to the moving piece.

If this wasn’t exciting enough for you, Halo Infinite’s multiplayer launched today. You can learn more about that HERE. 

The post Xbox Celebrated Halo’s 20th Anniversary With A Stunning Aussie Performance On Sydney Harbour appeared first on Press Start.

To celebrate 20 years of gaming on their consoles, Xbox has added over 70 new titles to their backwards compatible games lineup, making them playable on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. These games will benefit from the modern hardware with auto supported HDR and enhanced resolution.

Celebrate 20 years of Xbox with the titles that defined it.??

Play 70+ newly added classics on modern Xbox hardware with backwards compatibility now: https://t.co/U5s5orXmcj? | #Xbox20 pic.twitter.com/wHtlFdl8Fr

— Xbox ANZ (@XboxANZ) November 15, 2021

“Xbox is also defined by a passionate community that has been with us for every step of our journey – a community that continues to help shape our future. You asked for more games to be added to the backward compatibility catalogue, from top-tier blockbusters to cult classics. And we heard you.” wrote Xbox, confirming that top requested fan favourites including the Max Payne series, the F.E.A.R. franchise, Skate 2 and original Xbox games including Dead or Alive Ultimate and Star Wars: Jedi Knight II would finally be added to their already expansive backward compatible library.

ALL OF THE NEW XBOX/XBOX 360 BC GAMES ANNOUNCED

Below is a full list of all of the brand new backwards compatible Xbox games:

• 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
• Aces of the Galaxy
• Advent Rising
• Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom
• Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Make the Grade
• Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Burning Earth
• Bankshot Billiards 2
• Beautiful Katamari
• Binary Domain
• Black College Football Xperience: Doug Williams Ed
• Cloning Clyde
• Conan
• Darwinia+
• Dead or Alive Ultimate
• Dead or Alive 3
• Dead or Alive 4
• Death by Cube
• Disney Universe
• Disney’s Chicken Little
• Elements of Destruction
• F.E.A.R.
• F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
• F.E.A.R. 3
• F.E.A.R. Files
• The First Templar
• Gladius
• Gunvalkyrie
• Islands of Wakfu
• Lego The Lord of the Rings
• Manhunt
• Max Payne
• Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
• Max Payne 3
• Mini Ninjas
• Mortal Kombat
• Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
• MX vs. ATV Alive
• MX vs. ATV Untamed
• NIER
• Novadrome
• Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee
• Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad
• Otogi: Myth of Demons
• Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors
• The Outfit
• Outpost Kaloki X
• Quake Arena Arcade
• R.A.W. – Realms of Ancient War
• Red Dead Revolver
• Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
• Ridge Racer 6
• Rio
• Risen
• Risen 2: Dark Waters
• Rock of Ages
• Sacred 2: Fallen Angel
• Scramble
• Screwjumper!
• Secret Weapons Over Normandy
• Skate 2
• SpongeBob SquarePants Underpants Slam!
• SpongeBob’s Truth or Square
• Star Wars Starfighter: Special Edition
• Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars
• Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
• Switchball
• Thrillville
• Thrillville: Off the Rails
• Time Pilot
• TimeSplitters 2
• TimeSplitters: Future Perfect
• Toy Story Mania!
• Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment
• Viva Piñata: Party Animals
• Warlords

A number of these games have also been FPS boosted to 60FPS as well as existing ones. These include FEAR, FEAR 3, Nier, Gears of War franchise, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Dragon Age: Origins, Dead Space 2 & 3, Alan Wake and Sonic Generations.

You can play these games today if you own them on disc or digitally, and the vast majority can be purchased digitally by new players in the Microsoft Store starting later today.

The post More Than 70 New Backwards Compatible Xbox/Xbox 360 Games Have Been Announced appeared first on Press Start.

Rumours regarding a surprise Halo Infinite announcement during this morning’s Xbox Anniversary Celebration stream started to surface last week and we can now confirm that you can now access Halo Infinite’s multiplayer right now.

In honor of Halo's 20th anniversary, your Spartan journey officially begins today. Dive into Season 1 of #HaloInfinite, in the multiplayer beta starting today on Xbox and PC!

? https://t.co/WUyHTqp6yp
? https://t.co/uCxf7tYDV4 pic.twitter.com/k28WPYTqAO

— Halo (@Halo) November 15, 2021

You can download Halo Infinite Multiplayer on your Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S or Windows 10 PC simply by heading over to the Xbox Store and clicking on the Halo Infinite download link. This is free to play for all Xbox owners, regardless of if you have Xbox Game Pass or not. If you’re reading this from your desktop, here’s a handy link to the download page right here. It’s worth noting that Xbox fans are going to be trying to access the game in hoards right now so if you’re experiencing any technical issues, be patient and try again later.

Halo Infinite multiplayer is free-to-play and will feature seasonal updates that evolve the experience over time as well as unique events, additional modes and maps and community-driven content. As previously revealed, Halo will return to its roots in Arena with on-map equipment in a 4 v 4 setting. As well as this, Big Team Battle will embrace the full spectrum of the Halo sandbox by inviting players to create endless combat possibilities by mixing and matching all of the weapons, vehicles and equipment from the game as they face each other in a clash on an epic scale.

Halo Infinite officially launches on December 9, 2021, exclusively on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Windows 10 PC. You can also play Halo Infinite’s campaign on day one as a part of the Xbox Game Pass subscription.

The post Halo Infinite’s Multiplayer Is Available Right Now appeared first on Press Start.

To celebrate Ubisoft’s 35th anniversary, they’re giving away The Assassin’s Creed Chronicles Bundle as a free download on PC via Ubisoft Connect until November 12th, 9:00 pm AEDT. The bundle includes Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India and Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia and takes you on three distinct adventures featuring three legendary assassins under one creed.

You can grab the games HERE.

Celebrate Ubisoft's 35th birthday and get the Assassin's Creed Chronicles Trilogy free from Ubisoft Connect PC ??

— Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) November 9, 2021

In Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, play as Shao Jun, employing close-combat martial arts, a powerful Kian Sword or her unique hidden shoe blade to take out enemies and avoid detection. Then meet a smart and charming assassin in Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India, using new subterfuge to disguise and loot while using the curved blade or circular chakram to deal incredible damage. Finally, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia invites you to embody Nikolai, a sniper with a silenced rifle who detonates mines from a distance or uses his bayonet to get up close and personal with his targets.

As well as this free offer, Ubisoft is also celebrating its anniversary with a huge sale, including popular franchises such as Ghost Recon, Farcry and Rainbox Six with discounts up to 75% off.

The post The Assassin’s Creed Chronicles Trilogy Is Free On PC Right Now appeared first on Press Start.

Earlier today, Fortnite suspended the sale of any Travis Scott related content following the concert tragedy that left eight dead and hundreds more injured. For those that are unaware, a deadly surge took place at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival that took place in Houston last Friday. During Scott’s headlining performance, a panic broke out as thousands of concert-goers rushed to the front of the stage at the sold-out venue.

Fornite’s “Out West” emote which features audio of Scott’s song of the same name was originally on sale to coincide with the Astroworld Festival but has been suddenly pulled from the in-game item shop. According to a report originally published by The Verge, Epic has declined to comment on the matter.

#Update: @FortniteGame has removed a @trvisXX emote – which includes an audio snippet of "Out West". The emote was deleted from the game's item shop. Emotes are dance moves or actions characters can perform in the online game. #canceltravisscott #TravisScott #Fortnite pic.twitter.com/aqNPrgJOik

— Tyler Beltz (@TysTakeDaily) November 9, 2021

It has come out that the rapper is being sued by at least 35 plaintiffs on the grounds of gross negligence following his alleged failure to adequately respond to the danger before it turned deadly. Interestingly, this is not the first time Scott has faced legal action after a concert. In 2018, he plead guilty to a public disorder charge after he was accused of inciting a riot and endangering the welfare of a minor by encouraging concert-goers to surge during his set in the U.S state of Arkansaw.

Scott has since promised to cover the funeral expenses of those who were killed during the event last Friday and has also announced a partnership with BetterHelp, an online therapy service that will offer one month of counselling to those impacted by the tragedy. Despite these arguably tokenistic efforts, concert-goers have made it quite clear that Scott’s inaction is too little, too late and that his failures, paired with inadequate security and medical services are to blame for the disaster that took place in Houston just days ago.

At this time, it is unclear whether the “Out West” emote or any other Travis Scott related content will return to Fortnite’s in-game store, though as of writing, existing Travis Scott content is still being used by those who purchased it before today.

Our hearts go out to the victims of and anyone impacted by this preventable tragedy.

The post Fornite Has Stopped Selling The Travis Scott Emote After Deadly Concert Disaster appeared first on Press Start.

As reported by VGC, An anonymous hacker has apparently managed to leak the entirety of Twitch, including its source code and information regarding user payout data.

https://t.co/7vTDeRA9vt got leaked. Like, the entire website; Source code with comments for the website and various console/phone versions, refrences to an unreleased steam competitor, payouts, encrypted passwords that kinda thing.
Might wana change your passwords.

— Sinoc (@Sinoc229) October 6, 2021

This news has come in the form of a post on the notorious message board 4Chan where a user posted a torrent link for 128GB worth of internal Twitch data including:

• The entirety of Twitch.tv including comment history
• The mobile, desktop and video game console Twitch clients
• Various proprietary SDKs and internal AWS services used by Twitch
• Additional properties owned by Twitch including IGDB and CurseForge
• An unreleased Steam competitor from Amazon Game Studios
• Twitch SOC internal red teaming tools
• Creator pay-out reports from 2019 onward

Yikes. Twitter users that have downloaded the data have also claimed that it includes encrypted user passwords and though we can’t verify this for certain, it might be worth changing your password or adding two-factor authentication to your account if you haven’t done so already. Another interesting feature of the data is the presence of Unity code for a game called Vapeworld. From what we can tell, this appears to be a chat software based on Vapor, the code name for Amazon’s unreleased Steam competitor.

According to the original poster, who may have attained the data as early as Monday, the intention of this leak was to “foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space” because “their community is a disgusting toxic cesspool” but we’re not convinced that leaking people’s private information is the ideal way to go about this. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how Twitch responds to this in the coming days, if they choose to publish a public response to the hacker at all. For now, we imagine it’s going to be a pretty rough week at Twitch HQ.

UPDATE: One anonymous company source told VGC that the leaked Twitch data is legitimate, including the source code.

Internally, Twitch is aware of the breach, the source said, and it’s believed that the data was obtained as recently as Monday.

— VGC (@VGC_News) October 6, 2021

The post All Twitch Data Has Apparently Leaked Including Encrypted Passwords And Pay-Out Information appeared first on Press Start.

New World? More like Queue World! Last night Amazon’s highly anticipated debut, New World officially launched its servers but became quickly overwhelmed by the number of players trying to log in for the first time. As a result, tens of thousands of players spent their evening in ridiculously long queues, starter zones were unpleasantly overpopulated and sadly, players decided to take out their frustrations on the game’s Steam reviews section.

https://twitter.com/SquadMonkey115/status/1442878044310589444?s=20

I jumped in to play with a group of friends last night but we were quickly divided by our contrasting queue times. There was only a couple of minutes between our log in times but ultimately that meant that one of my friends got in almost instantly while another had to wait for over an hour which I considered enviable since I was #9181 in line with an expected wait time of over thirty hours. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one, evidenced by the thousands of Tweets published across the globe last night, mostly lamenting about the insane queue times.

Much appreciated. I got the "Unable to Connect to Server" error after waiting 5hrs to log in. This is the queue I'm stuck with now. My original queue position was 3,000. pic.twitter.com/9M6tfXHLZ0

— aTeacupDragon (@pencil_fox) September 28, 2021

What made it worse is that players experiencing bugs either in-game or by disconnecting from the launch client were sent to the back of the queue once they attempted to restart the game. Ouch.

LMAOOOO New World Queue looking might fine. pic.twitter.com/htnx8MQEXt

— Gabz ??? (@gabszters) September 28, 2021

It’s worth stating the obvious here: launch day for any game is never perfect. Still, we thought that due to the fact that Amazon happens to own most of the servers that power our beloved internet, this issue might have been on a smaller scale, if it indeed cropped up at all. Unfortunately, however, Amazon set the maximum number of players for each server at 2000 while the game itself already has more than 650,000 players. At the time of writing, I decided to try logging in once more to see if the queues were any better, only to find that my server is currently under maintenance. As it turns out, Amazon is swiftly working to reduce queue times by adding up to 28 new worlds to overpopulated regions.

Read an update regarding New World Launch #NWstatus

? https://t.co/KklxZUYlzf pic.twitter.com/5czKf72Tbw

— New World (@playnewworld) September 28, 2021

New World is available exclusively via Steam and had previously been tipped to become one of the biggest games of the year after multiple successful beta testing phases, including one phase that peaked at 200,000 concurrent users. Whether or not the game’s popularity withstands the heartache of multiple delays and a disappointing launch day is yet to be seen but all things considered, it still looks like Amazon’s New World is one to keep an eye on.

The post New World Players Are Frustrated By Lengthy Queue Times To Play The Game appeared first on Press Start.

It has been over two decades since Diablo II first launched on the PC in the year 2000. Now, Vicarious Visions is bringing the beloved classic back from the dead with Diablo II: Resurrected, a full remastering of the timeless ARPG and its epic expansion, Lord of Destruction. To celebrate the game’s launch on September 24th, we sat down with principal designer, Robert Gallerani and project lead, Michael Bukowski to discuss the development process, community feedback and what an honour it has been for their team to work on such a revered title in video game history.

For a lot of Diablo fans, this may be their first experience with Diablo II. What advice do you have for seasoned Diablo III players who will be playing Diablo II for the first time?

Robert Gallerani: So this is actually a really big question we asked ourselves because you’re right. We have two groups of people, well actually, three. We have people who, as you said, may not have even been alive when this game first came out and they know Diablo III, they might have heard people talk about Diablo II. We’ve then got people who grew up with Diablo II and absolutely love it but then haven’t played for a while. Then you actually have a group of people who never stopped playing like they are literally still playing Diablo II to this day and hopefully when this game comes out, they will be playing one in the morning and the other one a couple of hours later. So, I think advice for new players is to come into this like this; this is a milestone in history. Understand that there’s already a really great community out there that you can absolutely take part in.

We really loved seeing even in the Alpha and the Beta, the old guard welcoming in new people. You see new streamers who are like, ‘wait, how do I even do this thing?’ and they’re like, ‘yeah, you’ve got to equip arrows if you want to use your bow, and you already used your town portal, so you don’t get that ability anymore’, like, just kind of learning how the old game worked. That’s actually a good thing because we already have Diablo III, right? and we’ll have Diablo IV and we have Diablo Immortal so this is kind of like a ‘back in my day‘ game. We did try to add a lot more onboarding, so we didn’t change the core game but you know, things like retitling how you get into the game, allowing you to invite people straight into a game rather than having to use a lobby, more helpful help screens, things like that.

Continuing on from that point, what other sorts of accessibility features have been added to the game since its original release?

Michael Bukowski: I mean, I think the most exciting thing is the controller because it sounds kind of crazy. It’s a PC game that was exclusively designed for mouse and keyboard. We knew we wanted to bring the game to consoles, we knew that we wanted to be able to have something that is accessible to a much larger audience and that meant controller.  I think that was one of the most interesting and kind of surprising adds to the game was actually being able to play with the controller and thinking about how to bring a nostalgic feel to something that never, ever existed. That’s something that I’m really proud of and I know Rob is too because there was a lot of time and energy spent on making the controller feel really well.

RG: Yeah. I think that just to kind of rattle off some, I think “shared stash” is going to go really, really far. Just the ability to take something from one character and give it to another. In modern action RPGs, there’s a concept of a soul-bound item where it’s like, “oh, I got this item, and only this character can use it” and that’s why you can have things like personal loot and lots of other things like their systems are built that way. In Diablo II an item is an item; you could literally use an item for 15 years on one character and pass it down to another character, and they’re like, yeah, sure, go ahead, you can do that so long as it’s a hardcore that can give to a hardcore and things like that. So that, I think, will be a huge burden off of people who used to throw stuff on the ground and log out and log back in and hope the stuff is still on the ground. Auto gold pick up is a pretty big one, you just have to click it on. You had to click on all the gold before and you don’t have to do that anymore. The fact that you can toggle item names. I know that sounds really simple but it’s literally the thing that your pinky [finger] would do for the entire game. You’d hold on to the key to see item names. So that you can now toggle off and just a lot of little things that we expect from a modern game like colour-blind filters, larger font sizes, more languages. Those are just things that the original game never had.  I think that a lot of people when they play them, they’re not even going to know the original game didn’t have them, like, item comparison. It’s like, “oh, yeah, just hold the button and I can compare this with the thing I have.” It’s like, no, you used to have to use something called paper and pen, right?

It’s definitely going to be a different experience for a lot of seasoned Diablo II players. I’ve got a friend in my World of Warcraft guild who has been playing Diablo since day one and has never stopped. He was asking me about Diablo II and I was telling him that his mind was going to be completely blown. He was like, “Oh, do I need it? You know, I’ve played Diablo II already,” and I was like, not like this, though.

RG: Yeah, especially for people who are, like, super intimate with the original game, you can zoom in at any moment, you can toggle at any moment so it’s kind of like rediscovering it again. You’re like, “Oh, yeah. I’ve walked past this dungeon 9 million times”, but now you’re like, “Wait a minute. Is that really what it was?” I think that’s where you get a lot of really fun excitement from people who feel like they’re like, well, I’ve already played the game, right?

You mentioned controller support before. This is the first time Diablo II has ever been available on console. Which console provides the best Diablo II experience?

RG: Well, it really depends on the player, right? So if you’re someone who likes to play on the go it’s the Switch, because that’s portable. If you want a giant flat-screen TV and to sit down in the back of your couch, you definitely would want your current-gen high-end Sony or Microsoft. The cool thing is that they even have cross-generation play in between them so when it comes to the console preference, it’s really like, what is your favourite and that kind of is the one that’s right for you. We tried not to be the limiter of how you could play the game, which is why we really are happy with cross-progression.

Do you know when cross-platform progression will go live?

MB: Cross progression will be there on day one, so you’ll be able to if you have a copy of the game on PC and console or Switch or something, you’ll be able to start your characters, play online in one place and then switch over and play them in another.

How did Blizzard decide to remaster Diablo II instead of the original Diablo?

RG: So really, with that, I’m going to actually reference what we did with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 and it really boils down to; when you think of the old Diablo, what do most people think of? Don’t get me wrong, Diablo One is absolutely the start of the amazing but I think Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is really kind of the one that I think people fondly remember the most. It was kind of like we did with Tony 1 + 2  where it’s like, people really remember this kind of in-between of Tony 3 and Tony 2 because we took moves from there. So, as much as we’re saying, we’re remastering and replicating the game one to one, because we’re adding so much more fidelity, we have to fill in an awful lot of gaps. What we’re really trying to do is recreate what people remember the game was, which is a much harder thing to do than recreate just what it really was. So just from the fans, from the community where we saw the most activity, people still play Diablo, don’t get me wrong, but the most active, die-hard groups play Diablo II: Lord of Destruction.

Is there any plans to remaster Diablo in the future?

RG: There’s always room for that. Let’s make sure we got this one right first, and then we’ll talk about that.

Are we going to see any new campaign content for Diablo II: Resurrected or are you going to stay true to the original title and its DLC?

MB: I mean, right now, our focus is getting to launch. Our focus has been just making sure that we get this right. Then once the game releases, we’re going to be looking to see how people react, and we’ll have to make plans from there.

Will Diablo II: Resurrected have a seasonal rotation like Diablo III?

RG: So yeah, so in D2 they call it “Ladder” but it’s the same thing and what we’re doing is we’re not actually releasing Ladder on day one. The reason for it is that we really want to make sure that – I know that for every new game that comes out day one is flawless and we’re totally going to have that but we want to make sure that when Ladder comes out that everyone gets the most fair start. Ladder is really a race to level 99 and if your first couple of days are not perfect, we want to make sure that everybody has the most fair experience with that. So our Ladder season is not really Ladder 1 because Ladder has been going on for 20 years now but Ladder on Resurrected will start shortly after launch and then it will repeat just like regular seasonal content that you see in Diablo III. Currently, in the live Diablo II, the original Diablo II, the Ladder season lasts six months and we are revisiting how long that goes. If you look at D3, their Ladder season is 3 months but the amount of time that it takes to get to level 99 in Diablo II is a much longer grind so we probably wouldn’t adopt that but do we go shorter than six months? That’s something we’re still playing around with.

What are your favourite character classes and why?

MB: I like to play with the Sorceress mainly. Especially with the new game and the lighting and everything, it’s so satisfying to watch Chain Lightning. Chain Lightning everything.

RG: Everyone loves Sorceress. Fun fact, statistics show that most everyone loves the Sorceress and in fact, when we finally got VFX in the game we were doing a review and we started playing the Sorceress with fire wall and lightning and it was like twenty minutes later and we were like “Oh crap, we were having a meeting!” but actually I think that with controller player, I’ve switched to liking Amazon the best because it’s very, very easy with just the click of a thumbstick to toggle between the weapons. Because I can go between Bowazon versus my javelins and the ability tray we actually allow to flip so you can have a setting where if you change weapons, it changes your whole ability loadout. So doing that, it’s just like “okay, I can run in, stab, stab, stab and run out, shoot, shoot, shoot,” and I just feel so much more mobile than I did before.

So you’ve switched over to the controller? That’s really interesting.

RG: I can’t admit that I’ll get in trouble! No, I think it’s the biggest compliment. We would take the game and we would give it to like diehard PC Diablo II fans and they swore by keyboard and mouse and when we would let them play with the controller you could tell they were trying to find a reason to hate it and they’re like, I actually kind of like it. Don’t get me wrong, there are certain things that handle a little bit differently with a controller versus with a mouse. There’s just a level of granularity that you can’t get because you don’t have a cursor, right? but there are also other things that you kind of make up for, like just overall mobility, the ability to trigger more things at once, you don’t have to remap – so it’s trade-offs but it’s a different experience, I like it.

What were some of the biggest challenges the team faced during the development process?

MB: There were a lot of challenges with regard to just figuring out how to make this old game still feel like the old game but also feel like a new game and resisting the temptation to change it too much. We had lots and lots of discussions about whether or not we should retain some elements and anywhere we added something, we usually add a way to turn it off. I think auto-gold was one of the very first things that we added in. When you go to play it, it just feels really good but to be honest, we weren’t even really sure in the beginning. It was like, okay, we should add this but is it going to feel right or not?

We have people on the team who come from that hardcore Diablo II space and we also have people on the team who are more modern who come from more of a Diablo III kind of world and then we have people on the team to whom ARPGs are somewhat new. So, getting all of the perspectives in the same meeting room and making sure that we were respecting all of the different audiences that we want to be able to enjoy the game.

RG: Yeah, I mean there are no hard and fast rules with how to modernise something because for some things it’s like no, this has to be exactly the same, it has to have the same bug, it works the exact same way and then with others it was like actually, no, it was about reading all of the forum posts and what the community feels and what we can do now with modern technology. It’s not like we’re instantly trying to create the game the day it had come out because twenty plus years of patches and tweaks and how the internet works have changed over the years. So what we’re targeting, most of it is the last patch that came out but a lot of people were like ‘oh, why has this changed?’ and we’re like, well actually that changed in 2018 but it wasn’t what people remembered. So yeah, literally every single one was a conversation about what we wanted to do and hopefully, we got as many of them right as possible.

What are some of the most interesting community feedback you received during the testing phases?

RG: The number of people that wanted us to add a clock was insane. We got a bunch of feedback from the tech alpha- and first off the feedback was super constructive, which I don’t know if you’ve been on the internet lately but usually when you’re like, “Hey, how is this thing?” You get feedback like, “it’s dumb” and you’re like, oh, well we’ll just enter in a task to make it not dumb no, these were things like “the lightning could be bluer or this fireball should be thicker,” and we’re like, oh, well, holy cow, yeah, we can totally do that but of all of the quality of life features that people requested a clock was almost at the top. We’re like, well, you got like half an hour? Okay, cool, there we go, we added a clock and I still to this day, I’m like, I dunno why everyone wants a clock! I’m like, don’t you have other clocks? but, okay. We did also see a significant number of people who kind of just asked for more content and as much as that excites us, that’s kind of not what we’re targeting on day one. You know, you see a lot of people being like, oh, where are the new Runewords? And where are the new items? And where’s your rebalancing? Hold on. I’m like, I’m really glad you’re confident that we’re going to ship this game perfectly and that it’ll be exactly what you remember but that  [additional content] just wasn’t our goal, you know, not, not right out the gate.

Finally, this is a huge accomplishment for your team – What are you most proud of?

MB: I mean, for me – this is maybe a cheesy answer. I’m most proud of the team. I think for me, it has been an incredible experience to work with such talented people on this game and to have the opportunity to bring such a classic title back for so many new fans as well as the old fans that have been playing it for so many years. It has been a real honour and it has been a special project, at least for me. So I know it’s the cheesy answer but it’s the truth.

RG: Now I can’t give that answer! For us, I feel like we treated people’s nostalgia and childhood with the respect that it deserved. There is still a whole lot of pressure on us to do it right and I hope we made most of the right decisions. I hope where some people feel that we got it off, they understand where we’re coming from. It was a huge honour to get to work on something like that that is so important to so many people and so I think we did it justice. I think we treated it like a classic car; like yeah, we probably shouldn’t make it run on lead gas anymore but you couldn’t take a classic Mustang and just be like oh, it’s all plastic now. It’s like no, you have to have a certain respect for it and even now when it comes to that respect there’s humility. We aren’t even the experts, there are people who know every monster, every drop rate, everything out there and it’s like, I’m not going to claim to know it all – I could go and look it up and I could do that for the entire duration of this project and I still wouldn’t know as much as the community knows. So I think we struck the right balance where we were like look, we’ve been entrusted as the keepers of this and hopefully we did it good so that it’s ready for the next twenty years but that’s all we were. So yeah, I’m proud of that, I’m proud that we did that.

Diablo II: Resurrected launches at 1 am AEST, September 24th, 2021 on PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X and Nintendo Switch with cross-progression between platforms available on day one. You can also purchase the Diablo Prime Evil Collection which comes with Diablo II: Resurrected, Diablo III + expansions and a bunch of additional cosmetic content exclusive to this bundle.

The post We Spoke To Vicarious Visions About Giving Diablo II: Resurrected New Life appeared first on Press Start.

Earlier this year, Blizzard announced the Diablo II: Resurrected Open Beta test, scheduled sometime before release in September 2021. Today, we finally have all of the details for the upcoming Beta, including when we’ll get to try it out and how they can score early access.

The road to launch begins.

? Early Access Beta: 8/13 – 8/16
?? Open Beta: 8/20 – 8/22
? Launch Day: 9/23

? https://t.co/FXox59Pt6d pic.twitter.com/S8VQ2UWUDl

— Diablo (@Diablo) August 10, 2021

• Early Access weekend: From 14th August (3:00 am, AEST) – 17th August, fans who have pre-ordered Diablo II: Resurrected or the Diablo Prime Evil Collection (Including Diablo II & III) on any platform will have access to the game early
• Public Open Beta: From 21st August (3:00 an, AEST) – 23rd August all players will be able to experience the Diablo II: Resurrected Beta by downloading the game on their preferred platform with access to cross-progression between all devices.

Both phases of the upcoming Beta will include two extra classes for players to test out; the divine Paladin and the shape-shifting Druid. The original classes, Barbarian, Amazon and Sorceress will also be playable during this time, of course.

The Open Beta is limited to the first two acts of the game (to avoid spoiling the full experience!) but there won’t be any level cap so players can keep levelling and experimenting with different builds throughout the whole Beta period. The Open beta will also feature online multiplayer, allowing up to eight players to join forces in the battle or duel each other in PvP combat.

Developed by Vicarious Visions, Diablo II: Resurrected is a stunning ground-up remaster of the quintessential action RPG Diablo II featuring up to 4K (2160p) resolution and Dolby Surround 7.1 audio on PC. Diablo II: Resurrected will officially launch on September 24th, 2021 on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4/5 and PC and is currently available for pre-order now on all platforms.

The post Diablo II: Resurrected Open Beta Dates Have Been Revealed appeared first on Press Start.

It’s no secret that trading cards are currently experiencing a massive renaissance, with the Pokemon Company reporting a phenomenal 3.7 billion Pokémon cards during the financial year 2020-2021. As many Millenials evolve into first-time parents, some of them are re-discovering Pokemon and Digimon, reliving the fond memories of their childhood and sharing the joys of collecting with a new generation of Pokemon trainers, Digi tamers. The enormous popularity of trading cards isn’t just about heart-warming trips down memory lane or even hitting the jackpot with rare cards, as evidenced by this ridiculous (albeit unfortunate) report from the South Australian Police Department earlier today.

Gotta catch 'em all! Five people arrested over trading card theft in Adelaide https://t.co/gdwtrxVZSj pic.twitter.com/eUZ2YbyKhV

— South Australia Police (@SAPoliceNews) August 11, 2021

According to SAPOL, five individuals have been arrested in connection with a break-in and theft at a gaming store located in Adelaide’s CBD. The burglary occurred sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning and the group took off with a large number of rare Digimon trading cards as well as a few brand new board games. In a stunning act of senselessness, one of the suspects returned to the very same store around lunchtime on Tuesday to inquire about the value of the stolen cards.

Staff at the shop called the police and the suspect then led officers to a nearby home where they found a majority of the missing cards and games as well as two additional suspects. Taking the phrase ‘return to the scene of the crime’ to an absurd level of literalism, another member of the group returned to the shop a few hours later, also with the intention of valuing and selling the stolen cards. Incredible.

A 41-year-old Belair man, a 30-year-old Adelaide woman, a 28-year-old Adelaide man, a 28-year-old Seaton man and a 41-year-old man of no fixed address have all been charged with offences including serious criminal trespass, unlawful possession and theft by receiving. A sixth person is still being sought by police.

The post Five People Have Been Arrested After Trying To Sell Stolen Rare Trading Cards Back To Their Original Owner appeared first on Press Start.

Microsoft is currently in the process of testing an all-new “Night Mode” with features designed to provide some added comfort for your after-hours gaming sessions. According to the Xbox Insider Release Notes, Alpha Skip-Ahead can already begin testing these new features that include the ability to dim and filter their screen, as well as dim their console & controller LED brightness.

The optional blue light filter is aimed at theoretically reducing eye strain by limiting the amount of blue light emitted from your screen, which can inhibit the production of melatonin, the hormone that induces sleep. In addition, you can also temporarily disable HDR with night mode to avoid high contrast and bright images which can also have a negative impact on sleep patterns. You can toggle these features manually but you’ll also have the option to schedule them either at fixed times or to coincide with sunset and sunrise based on your location.

this Xbox night mode has an impressive amount of customization. Microsoft has really put a lot of thought into this pic.twitter.com/BVvUrBe9SH

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) August 6, 2021

Xbox “Night Mode” is currently only available to Xbox Insiders within the Alpha Skip-Ahead ring but is likely to become available to other Insiders in the near future. A public release may, however, be a little while away as we’re sure Night Mode presents a set of highly desired features that Microsoft will want to perfect before its official launch.

The post The Xbox Series X Is Getting A Night Mode appeared first on Press Start.

Earlier today, Epic Games announced that Fortnite’s next big in-game concert would be headlined by pop goddess Ariana Grande. Starting next week, Ariana will be headlining a series of concerts as a part of the Fortnite “Rift Tour” which will take place over the span of a three-day period between August 7-9.

Excuse us, Ariana is coming!

Fortnite Presents the Rift Tour featuring @ArianaGrande kicks off August 6 at 6 PM ET #RiftTourhttps://t.co/1ljUFig39F pic.twitter.com/GDCnr24Wh9

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) August 1, 2021

ALL THE AUSSIE TIMES

• Saturday, August 7th – 8 a.m. AEST
• Sunday August 8th – 4 a.m. AEST
• Sunday, August 8th – 2 p.m. AEST
• Monday, August 9th – 12 a.m. AEST
• Monday, August 9th – 8 a.m. AEST

Epic recommends arriving in-game at least 60 minutes before the show is scheduled to start, noting that the Rift Tour Playlist will go live 30 minutes before each performance.

Before Ariana’s first performance on Saturday morning, Fortnite players can already start unlocking exclusive Rift Tour rewards right away. If you log in before August 7th, you can unlock “Before the Tour” rewards including the Cosmic Cuddles Loading Screen (Art by Delicious Design League), Rift-sterpiece Spray and the Cloudy Kitty Emoticon. In addition, Epic has assured fans that there is more big news on the Rift Tour coming tomorrow, so stay tuned!

The post Ariana Grande Is Headlining The Next Fortnite Concert appeared first on Press Start.

The Tokyo Olympics officially started last night with an incredible four-hour long opening ceremony to celebrate. The Parade of Nations had mask-wearing athletes from each of the competing nations (including the IOC Refugee Olympic Team) march through the Olympic Stadium and to our surprise, they were accompanied by an orchestra playing music from some of the most iconic Japanese games and franchises of all time.  The Parade kicked off with the birthplace of the ancient Olympics, Greece marching to the sound of “Overture: Roto’s Theme” from Dragon Quest.

Much of the amazing music we'll hear during the Olympics opening ceremony march are famous video game themes! Love it https://t.co/E5DAdMAw6i

— Michael George (@MikeGeorgeCBS) July 23, 2021

Shortly after, the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, first conceived for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, marched to the sound of pure victory from Final Fantasy’s beloved soundtrack.

Japan bringing back softball and now this?!? Let's go Tokyo! https://t.co/eQmjDcMkcN

— Chris "ChanmanV" Chan (@ChanmanV) July 23, 2021

The nerdy (I say this affectionately) side of Twitter erupted with commentary celebrating the marriage of the world’s most important sporting event with video games and pop culture with some Twitter users commenting that they were more interested in watching the Olympic Games than they had ever been before. Nice one, Tokyo! We’d recommend watching the Opening Ceremony for yourself and seeing how many iconic songs you can name but if you don’t have four hours to spare today, we’ve included a handy cheat sheet of all the featured songs in order below.

• Dragon Quest “Overture: Roto’s Theme”
• Final Fantasy “Victory Fanfare”
• Tales of series “Sorey’s Theme – The Shepherd”
• Monster Hunter “Proof of a Hero”
• Kingdom Hearts “Olympus Coliseum”
• Chrono Trigger, “Frog’s Theme”
• Ace Combat “First Flight”
• Tales of series “Pomp and Majesty”
• Monster Hunter “Wind of Departure”
• Chrono Trigger “Robo’s Theme”
• Sonic the Hedgehog “Star Light Zone”
• Winning Eleven (Pro Evolution Soccer now known as eFootball) “eFootball walk-on theme”
• Final Fantasy “MAIN THEME” –
• Phantasy Star Universe “Guardians”
• Kingdom Hearts “Hero’s Fanfare”
• Gradius (Nemesis) “01 ACT I-1”
• NieR “Song of the Ancients”
• SaGa series “The Orchestral SaGa – Legend of Music”
• Soul Calibur “The Brave New Stage of History”

Another nod to Japanese pop -culture that you might notice along the way is that the placards stating the names of each marching delegation were inspired by the speech bubbles featured in manga. The clothes of the assistants holding these placards also featured various manga motifs, adding another extra layer of geeky charm to this year’s beautiful event.

The post The Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony Had A Beautiful Musical Tribute To Japanese Video Games appeared first on Press Start.

Announced earlier today, Battlefield Portal is a brand new content hub featuring  7 maps from Battlefield 2042’s All-Out Warfare in addition to 6 classic maps from previous games that have been optimized for next-gen quality and graphics. Via the Portal, Battlefield players will be invited to create their own custom content and imaginative experiences using detailed designer tools.

To learn more about Battlefield Portal, we sat down with Dustin Wiebe, senior design director at Ripple Effect Studios, to chat about this exciting new game type for the franchise, the process of selecting maps and what we should expect from the upcoming creator experience.

How did the idea of Battlefield Portal come about? Was this something that the audience had requested over time?

DW: I think it came from a few places, actually. I mean, the first is,  there have been custom games inside of Battlefield for quite a while now. So, you know, it’s not a stretch or a leap to see why it would have transitioned the way it did. The reality is, this didn’t start out like that. It started as a love letter to fans, the initial goal was to recreate some of the classic experiences, namely 1942, Bad Company two, Battlefield 3 and then we’re sitting there, we’re looking at the amount of effort and all those great assets and all these things you could do and then we’re looking at this wider game saying, “wouldn’t it be amazing if we could actually take all of that stuff and like, actually play with it inside of the 2042 maps?” and we’re like, yeah, that’s that sounds great. Let’s do that. Then eventually we said well if we’re gonna do this, let’s do this. We started investigating what would it take to really just give players the power to build their own Battlefield effectively. If there are things that people like or dislike, and say, “Ah, the game would be so much better if we just took out x”,  it’s like, okay, do it, you have the power now, so, have fun with it. We hope to be pleasantly surprised by the types of things that the community is going to build.

Why were was 1942, Battlefield 3 and Bad Company 2 the games that were chosen? Were they just immediately the obvious ones that the team wanted to go with?

DW: 1942, for sure. I mean, that’s really where it all started. I don’t know about you, but how long has it been since any of us have played 1942? And so that that was just a shoo-in. Then it got a lot harder after that. You look at all of these amazing experiences and we didn’t want to release anything that was just released, just around the corner, and we wanted to focus a little bit more on “what are those experiences that people maybe haven’t played in quite a while?” and of those experiences, which are the ones that are most longingly remembered by fans. So that really brought us to Bad Company 2, and Battlefield 3. They just kind of rose a little bit above the others. Then, of course, you start the painstaking process of figuring out, well, what maps? what weapons? what experiences do you bring forward in those games once you kind of settle on it? So that was not something we did lightly, it took a while. It was a lot of really fun debates and also looking at player data as far as you know, what were the most fan favourite maps or modes or experiences? What did the data tell us? So it was a bit of emotion, a bit of nostalgia, and a lot of data.

https://youtu.be/8DHpMQq3YHw

There are six maps at launch from three iconic games.  Was it data? Was it just making sure there was the variety? Or was it just a combination of those things to land on the six that you chose?

DW: It was data, for sure and it was also making sure we had the variety. It doesn’t make sense to pick just desert maps, for example, you want the variety. When we think about it through the lens of a builder, well, then you also want to make sure that builders have choices on; “I want to make this like really cool game mode that makes a lot of sense in the snow, but doesn’t make sense anywhere else,” Right? So giving them a lot of flexibility and the choice to take what we’ve made and then make something completely different from it.

How much work has been done to bring these maps up to modern standards? The maps in 2042 are unlike anything we’ve seen in Battlefield in terms of scale and the crazy things going on. So, I guess your first question is how much work has been done? And is there a lot of contrast between the newer maps and the older maps?

DW: Well, I can speak for the Portal map specifically. It’s a scale, right, so Battlefield 3 probably had the least amount of work to do because it was already fairly modernized, I would say. So we didn’t have to put as much effort into some of those maps. 1942, however, it practically predates cover, when you think about it. There was no sprint, there was no cover and so there’s a lot of work to do. On the flip side, you want to modernize it, but you want it to feel exactly the same and so they’re completely at odds with each other. That’s where it took a while for the team to really nail down exactly where the sweet spot was between the two.

For someone that maybe doesn’t want to build and just wants to play on these old maps, like, what will that experience be like?

DW: I would hazard a guess that like 90% of players just want to play but it’s that 10% that fuel the system, they keep the engine turning. The number one thing for us was to think about this, as experiences first, not tools. We didn’t set out to build the best tools, we set out to enable players to build the best experiences. To do that, we needed to think about how to surface those experiences for people. That’s really going to come in two forms; there’s going to be what we call the “featured experiences” page, which is the landing page and they are the three or four experiences that we want to highlight to the community as the must-play experiences. Then they can choose and they can matchmake into those and they can play with them and it will spin up infinite numbers of servers to supply that demand. Or they can choose to go the community route where they say, “well show me what are all the community hosted experiences out there”, and they can play the community built games.

Meanwhile, what we’re doing as developers is we’re going through those community experiences day in and day out to find the true nuggets, to find the cool things that people have built so that we can spotlight them. I think Christian [Grass, general manager of Ripple Effect Studios] mentioned that earlier; when we spotlight something, we take it out of the community games, and we put it up on the front page, we highlight the builder and it’s their moment of fame, to have their experience promoted basically for the world to play for a duration of time, maybe it’s three or four days. Meanwhile, as developers, we’re also looking for ways to change up those featured experiences. So, at launch, you know, you’ll see 1942, Bad Company 2, Battlefield 3 and then maybe the next week, we might do a Battlefield 3 versus 1942 experience and maybe we make it lopsided so there are only 10 Battlefield 3 three soldiers against 80 1942 soldiers and things like that and have had a lot of fun with it and create some new and interesting ways for the non-builders to just constantly come back every week knowing it’s going to change. It’s going to be different stuff to keep them engaged and playing.

We’d love to know more about the creator experience. We saw the PC creator experience on the web, is the console creator experience the same? 

DW: So it’s all done on the web. You log in with your EA credentials, you get into the web and anything that you create, the moment you go onto the console, whatever you’ve created is going to be there,  so that you can just go and play. Now if you’re a console player, and you don’t want to go and build something on the web, there is also the URL that you can select or a QR code and if you just hold up your phone or your tablet, it will actually bring it up and you can just build it right then and there. So that you can basically build on whatever device that you have available to be used. Then the other thing that we’ll have is a bunch of pre-made featured experiences I was talking about if you just don’t want to go and build, you don’t want to go to a website, you just want to go and you want to create an experience. Well, there’s all these pre-made experiences that we’re going to have right there. So on the console, you can just select it, launch the experience, and you’re playing and other players can choose to join you or you could host it against AI.

Was it hard to create something that allowed for a high level of customization, but would still appeal to a lot of gamers?

DW: Yeah, that’s a slippery slope, isn’t it? The way I like to think about it is if I don’t want to scare anybody away, I’d like to introduce it in a manner where it seems very familiar for anybody who has ever made a custom game in Battlefield. When you go in, there are a few settings, you can choose your mode, 90% of it can be built by people that don’t need to touch the logic editor. They can go in, they can use sliders, and they can make some pretty crazy stuff. Let me tell you the things that the team has built, just using sliders and mutators and things like that is insane. Then you got the cliff, right, which is what separates the casual builders from the advanced builders and that’s where you get into the logic editor. I was able to learn and pick things up pretty quickly,  I could make a new rule and give everybody health on kill immediately and bam, it just works. That’s the difference of using that block style visual editing where it makes sense and if you watch a few tutorials, and you watch how somebody plays, or you use an example template that we’ve created, you can actually start to figure out pretty quickly how this thing works. So maybe it was intimidating at first but after you put a little bit of time into it, it’s surprising how quickly you can pick it up and do some pretty cool stuff.

What is the craziest thing you’ve seen so far? Anything that has just blown your mind and felt like something that everyone would want to play on day one?

DW: So it’s actually an experience we played just the other week. It’s an infection gun game and so you know, either you’ve played infection mode, where you know, it’s the last man standing, or it’s gun game where you rotate through guns, but somebody had created a gun game infection mode. So it’s a team deathmatch, one team, most of them start off playing gun game and every time they get a kill, they cycle through the guns. However, on death, they swap to the infected side where they’re no longer playing gun game. They’re these crazed mechanics with drills, that’s all they got is just drills so they’re running around trying to drill you to death but they have super speed, and things like that, so they’re really, really fast. So, you got one team playing gun game, you got one team who’s growing over time becoming the crazed mechanic infection mode, until there’s of course, the last man standing who wins the gun game. So even taking examples of what you’ve seen in the past and being able to mash them together in unexpected ways, is starting to highlight some of the power that we’ve seen so far.

Battlefield Portal is a love letter to fans of the franchise and long-term players alike and will be available with the launch of Battlefield 2042 on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, October 22nd, 2021.

The post We Spoke To The Battlefield Portal Design Director About The Endless Possibilities The New Mode Brings appeared first on Press Start.

Earlier today during EA Play Live, developers announced that Battlefield 2042 will come equipped with an exciting new game-style called Battlefield Portal. Battlefield Portal will be available alongside the launch of Battlefield 2042 later this year and will incorporate the 7 new maps from Battlefield 2042 as well as 6 classic maps, optimized for ninth-gen performance and graphics from games such as Battlefield 1942, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 3.

THE BATTLEFIELD PORTAL MAPS

• Battle of the Bulge and El Alamein from Battlefield 1942
• Arica Harbor and Valparaiso from Battlefield: Bad Company 2
• Caspian Border and Noshahr Canals from Battlefield 3

BATTLEFIELD BUILDER

In addition, Battlefield Portal is introducing an unrivalled custom content creation experience, allowing players to generate new and unique Battlefield experiences with the entire Battlefield toy box at their disposable.  These experiences can be shared with the community through a web-based platform (also available on smart devices) for both console and PC players.

Customizable features include:

• Maps – Pick from the selection of 13 available maps
• Modes – Choose from a range of game modes, whether it be more established modes like Rush or Conquest, or starting with something completely custom
• Mode Settings – Fine tune various details within the mode including:
• Factions – choose which soldiers, weapons and vehicles can compete on the battlefield
• Mobility – Toggle players’ ability to aim down sights, go prone and more
• Visibility – Toggle Heads’ Up Display and minimap visibility for players
• Arsenal – Restrict weapons, Specialists, gear and vehicles that players have access to in matches
• Scale – Adjust the balance of each battle by controlling the max number of players in each team as well as which weapons they have access to
• Team Select – The ability to put different teams and eras of soldiers against each other
• Weapon/Gadget/Vehicle Restrictions – Fine tune which soldiers should be available from eat faction, which weapons and attachments they can use, which vehicles are available and how to access them
• Settings – Players can use these to refine the experience they want to make, toggling options like core game mode rules, soldier settings, vehicle settings and UI settings
• Logic Editor – Additional options to cater to unique experiences, allowing players to define rules, set victory conditions, team scale and specific in-game events

OFFICIAL EXPERIENCES

At launch, Battlefield Portal invites players to re-live some of the greatest moments in the history of the franchise with signature gameplay experiences reimagined for ninth-generation performance.

COMMUNITY EXPERIENCES

As well as official experiences, players will be able to share their custom Battlefield Builder creations with each other. It’s as simple as finding a game that interests you by browsing a rotating series of featured experiences build by the Battlefield community.

Battlefield 2042 will be available on October 22, 2021, on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 with an open beta launching in September for players across all platforms.

The post Battlefield Portal Will Bring Remastered Iconic Maps From Battlefield 1942, Battlefield 3 & Bad Company 2 To Battlefield 2042 appeared first on Press Start.

Earlier today, Twitch announced that it would be adjusting the price of subscriptions (including existing subscriptions, new paid subscriptions and gift subscriptions) across the ANZ and Asia-Pacific regions over the next week, to better align with the local costs of living and to assist creator growth and revenue in the long term. According to Twitch, since they adjusted the cost of subscriptions in Mexico and Turkey in May, to better align with local living costs, viewers have been gifting up to five times the average number of subs. This is a trend, says Twitch, that they are keen to replicate in our local market.

Below is a partial list of the Tier 1 subscription price changes for Australia and New Zealand, expected to come through sometime this week:

In addition, to help creators adapt to the new pricing without sacrificing their short-term sub revenue, Twitch is launching a 12-month program that guarantees a set level of revenue for eligible streamers. This is a fantastic initiative from Twitch to level the playing field, allowing for more people to comfortably support their favourite creators no matter where they live. For more information on the expansion of Twitch’s local sub pricing model, you can read the full blog post right here.

The post Twitch Has Lowered Australian Subscription Prices appeared first on Press Start.

It probably comes as no surprise that after Valve opened up pre-registration for the upcoming Steam Deck over the weekend, scalpers were straight onto it. Spotted on eBay, some scalpers are marking the handheld device up to USD$5000. Despite Valve’s admirable efforts to combat scalpers, unfortunately, the USD$5 ‘reserve now’ fee was simply not enough to deter what appears to be hundreds of re-sellers.

Holy shit. Those #SteamDeck scalper prices! pic.twitter.com/gaWdm6S1rc

— Rhonda Cox (@Level99RedMage) July 16, 2021

The demand for the Steam Deck appears to be a lot higher than Valve expected. As such, they’ve recently had to adjust the availability of the upcoming device which doesn’t yet have a certain delivery window. Valve is planning to start sending out order invitations later this year, which means that realistically, the device could ship any time after that. Before the delivery window disappeared, shipping had quickly slipped to Q3 2022, which is quite insane.

It’s worth noting that this doesn’t really affect us just yet. The Steam Deck has not been made officially reservable in Australia and at this stage, we’re not quite sure when it will be available to customers down under. While we wait for official news on how to get our hands on the device, you can click here to read more about the Steam Deck’s impressive specs as well as the difference between upcoming models.

The post The Steam Deck Is Already Being Sold By Scalpers For Ridiculous Prices Overseas appeared first on Press Start.

Media giant Netflix is looking to add video games to its already enormous entertainment offering, even as early as within the next year. According to a report first published by Bloomberg, Netflix recently hired Mike Verdu, previously the vice president of augmented reality and virtual reality content at Facebook, to serve as VP of their game development division.

Netflix first hinted at a possible foray into the realm of video games with the release of Stranger Things: The Game, a mobile title based on the cult hit franchise in 2019. Since then, Netflix has dropped various hints about the impending expansion, including naming Fornite as its biggest competitor during a letter to shareholders and the addition of interactive films such as Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not To Steal. According to insiders, Netflix will begin building its gaming division in the coming months and has already started advertising for game-development related jobs on its website. Business intelligence analyst Geetha Ranganathan had this to say:

“This is a natural extension of its Netflix’s content strategy, allowing it to mine intellectual property from popular shows like ‘Stranger Things.’ Though it may not generate much additional revenue, it will help deepen engagement and increase the service’s appeal and pricing power. Don’t expect this to be a turning point, but it shows that the company will explore new formats to increase time spent on the platform.”

If you’re not quite sold on the idea of Netflix gaming, the good news is that the company doesn’t plan on charging extra for the additional content, though this may change closer to the actual launch of the service. We now have subscriptions for everything, from groceries to dental care, TV and movies, imported goods and even monthly murder mysteries. Thus, with the overwhelming and continued success of the subscription service model, it’s not entirely surprising that Netflix would choose to look into broadening their horizons and perhaps taking a page out of Microsoft’s book with Game Pass reaching over 18 million as of late January 2021.

The post Netflix Is Apparently Creating Games To Add To Its Streaming Service appeared first on Press Start.

Crowdfunded in less than twenty minutes, the xScreen for the Xbox Series S is a game-changing peripheral that will allow Xbox players to play anywhere with a laptop-like gaming experience. Designed by Aussie start-up UPspec Gaming, the xScreen is a compact 11.6-inch 1080p screen that attaches seamlessly to the Xbox Series S console.

This creates a single cohesive unit that can be easily transported and used anywhere with access to a power outlet. The device also matches the aesthetics of the console, converting the Xbox Series S into a stylish laptop form factor without compromising access to the power supply or storage expansion slot on the back.

Weighing only 695g and sized to fit the Series S when closed, the conservative design of the xScreen ensures that it can be easily transported in any standard backpack when attached to the console. In addition, because the screen itself is powered via USB and HDMI, the only cable necessary is the original figure-8 power cable that came with your Xbox Series S.

The $13,000AUD Kickstarter goal was swiftly met by over 250 backers in just twenty minutes earlier today but there are still early bird rewards available for prospective backers. Starting at $249AUD, you can pick up a bundle including one screen as well as exclusive green latches. This price, however, excludes shipping.

Click here for more information on the campaign and to support the project.

The post This Xbox Series S Screen Is A Super Clever Aussie Invention appeared first on Press Start.

It looks like original concept art for Netflix’s upcoming Sonic Prime has leaked ahead of its 2022 premiere. According to dedicated Sonic the Hedgehog news source, Tails’ Channel, the concept art was first published by artist Patrick Horan as a part of his online portfolio. The images have since been removed from the original source but not before they were saved and shared:

https://twitter.com/TailsChannel/status/1407583400702091266?s=20

Announced in early 2021, Sonic Prime is a 24-episode family-friendly adventure that is currently in development at WildBrain’s Vancouver studio. Alongside Horan, Betty Kwong (Ninjago and The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special) and Nicholas Kole (Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time and Spyro Reignited Trilogy) are also working as designers on the upcoming show, which is scheduled to premiere exclusively on Netflix sometime next year.

The post Our First Look At Sonic Prime Has Come From Leaked Concept Art appeared first on Press Start.

For the past several months, Microsoft has offered Xbox players full refunds on Cyberpunk 2077 via the Xbox Live store but due to recent updates, this will be changing soon.

We will be returning to our standard digital game refund policy for Cyberpunk 2077 on July 6th for both new and existing purchases. For more policy details, go to: https://t.co/HDp52FoKc1

— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) June 22, 2021

When the highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 finally released in late 2020 after multiple delays, it did so with a monumental number of bugs and performance issues. Sadly, there were enough problems to make it one of the most tragically memorable launches in gaming history. In response to the debacle, Sony almost immediately pulled the game from its digital storefront. Physical retailers like EB Games and JB offered full refunds even on collector’s editions and developer CDProjektRED promised to help early adopters organise a refund if they weren’t satisfied with the game’s underwhelming performance. Though Microsoft continued selling the game, they expanded their digital purchase returns policy for the game, offering full refunds, no questions asked.

Now, due to the number of updates and improvements to the game since launch, Microsoft will be returning to their standard digital return policy for Cyberpunk 2077 on July 6 for both new and existing purchases. This means that all sales of digital game products are considered final and eligibility for refunds will be determined based on time since the date of purchase, time since release, and individual use of the product.

Players on Xbox One consoles, especially, should take note of this. Microsoft continues to offer the warning; “users may experience performance issues when playing this game on Xbox One consoles until this game is updated” via the Cyberpunk 2077 store page, where the game remains listed at full RRP.

Microsoft’s decision was announced not long after Sony announced that Cyberpunk 2077 would be returning to their digital storefront. Similar to Xbox, the PlayStation product listing also advises that the game is not recommended for base PS4 consoles, stating that “Users continue to experience performance issues with this game. Purchase for use on PS4 systems is not recommended. For the best Cyberpunk experience on PlayStation, play on PS4 Pro and PS5 systems.”

The ninth-gen version of Cyberpunk 2077 is slated for release in the second half of 2021, though an official launch date has not been specified. We’re not holding our breath for a launch in the near future, due to the number of delays the original game experienced but we’d definitely recommend waiting for this version of the game if you’re playing on the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S which are currently running optimised versions of the game designed for the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X.

The post Xbox’s Cyberpunk 2077 Refund Policy Is Ending appeared first on Press Start.

Xbox has announced a brand new line of Xbox Monitors that are all about putting Xbox Series X compatible features such as HDMI 2.1 at the forefront. There’s a few of these monitors that have been announced, with each coming under the ‘Designed for Xbox’ banner, but the main one is the brand-new edition of the ROG Strix XG43UQ, specifically enhanced with Xbox players in mind.

First showcased earlier this year, the ROG Strix XG43UQ is a 43-inch 4K UHD monitor equipped with HDMI 2.1 and HDR. Now with official Xbox certification, the monitor features a built-in Xbox specific mode that delivers optimum colour, contrast and hue performance when paired with Xbox Series X and S consoles.

Introducing the ROG Strix XG43UQ Xbox Edition.

The ROG Strix XG43UQ Xbox Edition includes a built-in Xbox mode and Console mode to enable the very best visuals when paired with Xbox Series X or S.

See this highly-tuned hardware from #ROG and @XBOX at https://t.co/fo82jU0jM8 pic.twitter.com/t91GlbgeHH

— ROG Global (@ASUS_ROG) June 22, 2021

The monitor isn’t just for Xbox players, of course, it can also display up to 4K 144 Hz visuals when powered by the latest graphics cards from the NVIDIA RTX30 series and the AMD RX5700 range or higher. It also features a matte finished, anti-glare panel which is excellent for gaming but also works just as well for watching movies or getting work done. There is also no need to worry about extended sessions on the XG43UQ which features the ASUS Ultra-low Blue Light filters to prevent eye strain while also reducing onscreen flicker to give you a more comfortable experience.

For a detailed breakdown of specs and features of the ROG Strix XG43UQ Xbox Edition head over to the official info page right here. We’ll keep you updated on the official launch date and local pricing as soon as we know more.

The post Xbox Has Announced Several “Designed For Xbox” Monitors Including The New ROG Strix 43″ Xbox Edition appeared first on Press Start.

During their presentation at E3 last week, Microsoft announced the ultimate pirate cross over; a huge new Pirates of the Caribbean themed expansion coming to Sea of Thieves on the 23rd of June, 2021 AEST. Unfolding across five brand-new Tall Tales, A Pirate’s Life invites players to join the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow in an epic quest to save the Sea of Thieves from the diabolical Davy Jones. In this free update, you’ll explore brand new destinations, uncover secrets and battle surprising enemies that are bound to feel familiar to fans of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise and the Disney theme park attraction.

As of right now, Sea of Thieves players can head to Castaway’s Camp to start an all-new adventure in the game’s brand new expansion: A Pirate’s Life, launching June 23rd on Xbox and Windows 10 PC and you can watch the official trailer below:

We sat down with Creative Director Mike Chapman and Lead Designer Andy Preston and heard from Executive Producer Joe Neate from Rare to chat about the newly released expansion as well as how the developer’s collaboration with Disney came to be, what it was like to work with the entertainment giant, what we can expect from Sea of Thieves in the future and more.

Collaborating with Disney is a huge and exciting new venture for the game. How did the partnership come about?

MC: So Disney reached out to us around the time of E3 in 2019, they approached us as Sea of Thieves fans, essentially like “we’re fans of the game, we spotted it in 2016  when you guys started talking about it at E3 shows, we’re big fans of the studio, we love what you’ve done with it and just want to say first that we’re huge fans of the game,” which is like, Andy  [Preston]’s a Disney fan, and I’m a Disney fan and to hear that from a Disney team is like, “okay, we can walk out on cloud nine, nothing else needs to happen“. You’ve ticked a box, it’s wonderful to get that recognition. The real kind of quote, which kind of made the year was the wish that they had, like “We’ve always wanted to do something with Pirates of the Caribbean. We looked at your game, we looked Sea of Thieves and we essentially want to do something like that. So, with how hard it is to build teams and to build something of that scale, why don’t we just work with you?” So the idea here of ‘let’s not do something small, we’re open to doing a full integration’ and then we left it at that.

So, E3 2019, we left that meeting, just like “We talk the same language, we’re creatively aligned, we’ve both got love for each other’s worlds“, and then it was like a door had opened, where do we want to take it? The following August, the same team that we met came over to Rare, so they came to the studio and it was just a like a let’s have a working session, let’s explore the idea a bit more, but also being us and being ambitious, we actually presented a presentation to them about a series of what-if scenarios; how we could bring their world and characters to Sea of Thieves in an authentic way. So we went through some different kinds of concept images, and they were absolutely blown away. The key thing, which was amazing at the time, was that nothing seemed to be off the table. We were keen to kind of push on the boundaries of what we could do to create something really surprising. And they seemed incredibly open to it.

How did you manage to keep such a huge project a secret and from leaking?

MC: I mean, we have our Insider Program where we’ve still been releasing content as part of our seasons and as part of our updates, so we’ve had to basically maintain these two versions of the game because part of the risk is if any of the Disney content ends up in the build there are things called data miners and they can discover code names and basically piece it all together. So, just from the build itself and how fans of Sea of Thieves and players of Sea of Thieves engage with it, that’s one key area that we have to be so careful with. So, all of these characters have been codenamed. We spent the initial part of the development, referring to them as code names and Disney would be called Dreamland, to make sure that it didn’t get out accidentally.

Then even within internal teams at Xbox, it’s just been a really closed group of people. The last thing I’ll say is just that when we had the creative pitch, we love that idea of just coming out of nowhere with it because it’s kind of unexpected but when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Just this idea of surprising and delighting people, you know, a bit of showmanship of coming out of nowhere. I love that idea of surprising people, especially Sea of Thieves fans, that have been with us for so long, to just like, knock them out of the park with this. It’s been wonderful to be able to keep it secret and the reception so far has been mind-blowing.

AP: It came with its own set of challenges because we’re obviously working from home for the first time, due to the global pandemic. Rare has been phenomenal at supporting the team, getting everyone their equipment from home, making sure everyone feels at ease with how they’re continuing doing their work, which has just been unbelievable- but problems that were so simple in the office, like, “Let’s sit down together and play the game together, and let’s review the content and, you know, provide feedback about animations, or about level design or about how, how the characters look, or how the stories go”, they all become a little bit more complex because we need to start using new methods to share and review the game like doing that over calls with our big big teams and recording videos of footage, and then time stamping and critiquing certain parts of it.

But like Mike said, We codenamed everything, we actually didn’t put this out to our Insiders either. We have an internal insider program for Sea of Thieves where most of our content, we push out to a group of insiders who have access to early stuff, and they can provide the development team with feedback on features, on balance on mechanics, which has been a huge resource for us when building out all of these content updates. But with this, we had to selectively put bits out to try and not give it away like we put the Phantoms AI out there with no context. So it was very, very strange for them, I think, to play the new AI threats like “Yeah, these are cool, but WHY?” and it’s like, oh, you’ve got to bite your tongue and not say what the bigger picture behind this release is. I think, all in all, it was all worth it for that moment, like Mike said. E3 last week when we just dropped the trailer and then just seeing everybody’s reaction. A bunch of the team just watched for about half a day, just the trailer reactions on YouTube where people have just sat there when Jack Sparrow is revealed, and then a second bump again, when Davy Jones is revealed a bit later in that trailer, it just fills you with energy again, as a developer. It’s just amazing.

Jack Sparrow is such an iconic character. Who is the voice actor that will be playing the role in the upcoming expansion?

Joe Neate: So it’s Jarred Butler, the actor that plays Jack Sparrow.  We worked with Disney character voices really closely to make sure that, for all of the characters, that we capture the real feel and the sound and the characterisation that everybody knows and loves from the Pirates of the Caribbean universe.

We caught a glimpse of Davy Jones in the announcement trailer. How did you decide to include him as the primary antagonist? Should we expect to see any others on June 22nd or in the future?

MC: Yeah, I mean, great question. I mean those kinds of questions are exactly what’s turning your mind thinking about this. Looking across the five movies looking at the attraction, what elements do you take that makes sense as part of an original story? Davy Jones makes sense for a lot of reasons. Fundamentally, this was so perfect. Fundamentally the role he performs; you go to Davy Jones locker when you die. He demands servitude aboard his ship, the Flying Dutchman. It’s a big part of the movies, but also Sea of Thieves had Krakens in before. It is a world where nautical legend comes to life, so Davy Jones even before Pirates of the Caribbean, is a legend that you hear them talk about in the original attraction. So, the idea of bringing that legend to life in Sea of Thieves, and by him coming to the Sea of Thieves is that he wants to destroy our Ferryman and to create a locker in the Sea of Thieves. We’ve got a fundamental story here where the Sea of Thieves is threatened and you team up with Jack [Sparrow] to ultimately save The Pirate’s Life,  so it made sense, for a lot of reasons. Above all else, what a fantastic bad guy anyway, what a wonder, like probably my favourite. I think he is so wonderfully played, do iconic in his look, the music that accompanies him is fantastic. He just did such a fantastic kind of adversary for Jack.

Apart from Captain Jack and Davy Jones, which other Pirates of the Caribbean characters will appear?

MC: So, alongside Gibbs, there are other crew members from the Black pearl. If Jack got to the Sea of Thieves, presumably he’s come on the Black Pearl so his crew has accompanied him. This isn’t really a spoiler but there’s Anamaria from the first movie, there is also Scrum who was introduced in the fourth movie alongside Gibbs and there are other Pirates of the Caribbean characters from the movie but also from the attraction that you will see but there will be spoilers if I tell you which ones.

How will progress work? Will players be able to start the campaign, finish a session and then pick it up from where they left it at a later time?

AP: Yeah, we’ve added in a system very recently in Sea of Thieves where when you play these cinematic quests, the Tall Tales, we have a new checkpoint system in, so you don’t have to play it in one sitting. You can do that if you want to, if you have the time and you’re swept away with the story, you can, you can totally play it through in one sitting. We have discrete checkpoints throughout each of the Tall Tales to make sure that when you’ve done a sizable chunk it saves that checkpoint as a voyage. Then players are safe to quit out of the game and the next time they load it up, whenever they’re free, they can put that voyage back down on the table, vote on it, and then carry on from where they left off.

Does the content scale depending on how many players are in a crew?

AP: I mean, that’s something that we’ve kind of honed in more and more, I would say as we’ve built out these Tall Tales. You want everyone to have that same consistent experience but obviously, the number of players and the skill of those players directly influences the difficulty or the ease of getting through combat encounters within the experience. So, we have like things going on behind the scenes that look at the difficulty of the enemies that you face and the number of enemies that you face and that all naturally kind of scales based on the number of players that you have inside your crew, with the aim of trying to make it feel like one consistent experience, no matter whether you play it on your own, or whether you play it with like a full-sized crew.

MC: Yeah, definitely a big focus for us, like, ‘Today, we’re gonna do a solo balanced test, or yeah, we’re gonna do two-player or let’s do a full crew test,’ so each one is kind of a different balancing challenge. Like for solo, you don’t want to remove all of the enemies because then you haven’t got that cinematic flair with all of those set pieces, so you just got to take it on its own merits. But this [A Pirate’s Life]  is completely playable solo but if you play with more players, by virtue of the fact that you’re sharing it with other people, you’re going to get an enriching experience as well.

If you start the campaign with your crew are you able to finish it solo and vice-versa?

AP: Yes, you can start solo and invite them during play or you could start the adventure solo quit out and then go to pick up from where you left off and invite people in. It’s very flexible in terms of who you want to play with and how you want to experience those stories.

How long will the campaign take to complete?

MC: Honestly, every time I answer that question I massively underplay it because I’m always imagining how long it would take me having played hundreds of hours. I would say, to play them through, all five tales, end to end, just doing the core critical part of the story,  it could be anywhere from 8-10 hours for players. It is a real sizable campaign and epic original story that we’ve created here. I think if you want to get all of the rewards for the tale and discover all the lore, it will take a lot longer. Some of those side quests are quite involved, it’s a lot of new content we’re adding in A Pirate’s Life.

Should we expect to see more cameos and features from other characters in the pop culture universe in the future?

MC: I think anything’s possible. I hope it’s come across in what we’ve talked about and what you saw in the showcase that it just comes down to the story. We’ve got to unlock the right story and have it makes sense because it’s content that we want to exist in Sea of Thieves for as long as people are playing it. So, it’s got to get over the honeymoon period and then become a consistent part of the game and become a beloved part of the game forever. So, it has to internally work with our world. So, there are undoubtedly other ways we could do that but yeah, I think it has to be the right story.

Does the team have a rough idea of how much longer you plan to keep working on this title?

AP: No, not really. Sea of Thieves is bigger than it’s ever been. The team’s bigger than it’s ever been. It’s more popular, there’s more awareness about a game. There are lots of people out there that truly love what we’ve built, which is incredible, having worked on it for so long. So, I believe in and I know Andy does, it definitely brings something unique and it’s definitely a unique experience and it definitely makes you feel things that no other game does. So, we just want to keep expanding this game and it’s a fantastical pirate world,  I don’t think we’re ever going to run out of ideas to keep enriching this world.

Do you plan to shift development to a sequel at some point?

MC: No, no plans about that. The plan is to just keep enriching the existing world. I mean, it’s got so rich now since our original launch in 2018 and And this feels like another phase of Sea of Thieves that we’re heading into this big, impactful partnership. So, no, we’re still looking at just enhancing this core experience and the whole as you know, the way progression works like anyone can join Sea of Thieves and play with people. That has been there since the start. So we just want to keep growing the community and the love they’ve got for the game.

Can you pat the doggo from the trailer?

MC: Yes! You do pet the dog and take the keys from his mouth in the very first tale. We couldn’t not have that in there, could we? It wouldn’t be complete without it.

Sea of Thieves is available on Windows 10, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and is included as a part of the Game Pass subscription on all platforms. Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s life is a free update coming to all platforms on June 23rd and all players, including brand new players, can get straight into the action on day one without any requisite experience.

The post Sea Of Thieves’ Pirates Of The Caribbean Update Is Out And We Chatted To Rare About The Huge Crossover appeared first on Press Start.

Earlier this week, chapter 2 of Fortnite’s season 7 launched, trading its primal theme for an all-new alien invasion and adding some kooky new cosmetics for fans to unlock. One of the most exciting and admittedly most surprising is the addition of Rick & Morty’s Rick Sanchez.

It’s the guy from #Fortnite pic.twitter.com/4BAYRbhMhF

— Rick and Morty (@RickandMorty) June 8, 2021

HOW TO UNLOCK RICK IN FORTNITE

Rick is on the final page of the chapter 2 season 7 battle pass which comes equipped with a fun new progress system that allows you to choose your own rewards. Instead of cosmetics being tied to certain levels, you’ll earn Battle Stars when you level up. As you earn season levels and claim rewards, more pages of the Battle Pass will unlock, offering new reward options to choose from.

There are two different ways that players can use this system to unlock Rick:

• By reaching level 90 of their battle pass OR
• By claiming 89 battle pass rewards to access page 10.

Once you’ve unlocked page 10, it costs just 9 Battle Stars to permanently unlock the Rick Sanchez skin. After that, you can also unlock Toxic Rick, an extra style option for Rick. This one is a little more taxing, however. You’ll need a hefty 20 Battle Stars to purchase Toxic Rick but before you can access him, you’ll need to have already acquired 105 additional rewards across the Battle Pass.

Alien forces have invaded the Island while Doctor Slone leads the Imagined Order against them.

Team up with Guggimon, Rick Sanchez, Kymera and more as the cosmic war rages.

Jump into battle in #FortniteInvasion pic.twitter.com/BuuhnRNY3Q

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) June 8, 2021

Chapter 2 of Season 7 is live now, with a mysterious alien army invading the island. Under the direction of Doctor Sloan and equipped with brand new weapons such as the Kymera ray gun, players will face aliens and flying saucers alike to seal the fate of the island for better or worse.

It’s absolutely no secret that Fortnite is adding character after character from all tv, movie, gaming and sporting franchises. It’ll be super interesting to see who they add next as Fortnite shows absolutely no signs of stopping.

The post How To Unlock Rick Sanchez From Rick And Morty In Fortnite Season 7 appeared first on Press Start.

On June 2, 2021, World of Warcraft Classic players will have the opportunity to return to the Outland for the very first time since 2007 in the brand new classic expansion, Burning Crusade Classic.

We sat down with lead producer Holly Longdale and production director Patrick Dawson to chat about the upcoming launch, new features and how the team has used modern technology to breathe new life into a beloved expansion while remaining true to its original vision.

Burning Crusade launched over a decade ago which means that this will be a first-time experience for many World of Warcraft players. What are you most excited for those players to see?

Holly Longdale: For me, the journey through the Dark Portal, of course. That’s going to be a huge moment and the entire team is very excited about reliving that adventure again, but also going from Azeroth into this, you know, otherworldly experience that’s very deep and rich. Not just its lore but the visuals. It’s just a staggering experience. I’ve been replaying it myself on beta and I’m so excited for everyone to get in there and see it, it’s gonna be great.

Patrick Dawson: Yeah, for me, I think Burning Crusade represented some of the most iconic villains in the history of World of Warcraft. I mean, if you look behind me, we have Illidan Storm Rage who you get to actually fight against. There are some amazing boss encounters that existed then. Lady Vashj, Kael’thas Sunstrider, Archimonde, the list goes on and on. These are some of the most memorable fights in the history of World of Warcraft, and you get to experience them again as if they were relevant at that time because they are. They are legit, hard fights again. So that, to me, is something that new players can look forward to.

When Burning Crusade originally released, it received phenomenal critical reviews and was praised for just about every aspect. Is that intimidating or inspiring when it comes to delivering it to a 2021 audience?

HL: We’re ready to go for round two!

PD: Yeah! We set the bar high for ourselves, we’ve done that ever since we released World of Warcraft, so the bar is high. We know that but hitting that is something we absolutely expect to do.

We’re committed to delivering a fantastic player experience to everyone who jumps in and we’ve done a lot of work to make sure that that’s possible. In fact, one of those things that I really like about what we did that’s a little different is offering the Dark Portal pass, which is a way for players to get in if you haven’t played before, and you’re worried about catching up. You can just get in right alongside the rest of your friends and go for the Dark Portal alongside them as a level 58 character.

That way you don’t miss out on that awesome moment.

We understand that Classic is designed to stay true to its original form but with new technology available in 2021, have you been able to implement anything that enlivens the original vision but just couldn’t be done in 2007?

HL: So of course, there’s this archaeology with Burning Crusade from 2007. We took all that data and put it in a modern engine and in the modern backend, so we’re using modern technology. So this is going to allow us, for moments like the Dark Portal, we’re going to be able to get five times the number of people in that area than you could in 2007.

And, of course, we’re going to have all the bug fixes that came towards the end of Burning Crusade. But at the same time, we’re rolling back the content to make sure that it’s as difficult as it was, and as challenging as it was, when it first released. So there’s a lot of archaeology and making sure it feels right. We do have what we call a reference client, which is what the game was like, originally in 2007. We’re constantly comparing to make sure we’re getting it right.

It’s definitely a labour of love to make sure we’re getting it right but also taking away some of that friction and some of the pain points and things that may not have been perfected back then. But, of course, the team then, and Dawson was there at the time, they would have loved to have done that then. So, we’re being very selective about what we do make adjustments to but we’re making it stay true to that nostalgia and have it be an authentic experience that people remember.

Players will be prompted to decide whether to keep their characters on their current server or transfer them to a classic exclusive server. Do you have data about what percentage of characters are World of Warcraft Classic and which will be shifting to Burning Crusade?

PD: It’s a little early to say, we just released our pre-patch where we now have two new environments just a week ago. So we’re still seeing how players are going to spend their time. That’s the important thing, is to figure out where they’re actually spending their time.

You may have a character in Classic, you may have one a Burning Crusade, and you may spend your time predominantly in Burning Crusade. I’d say right now Burning Crusade Classic, the pre-patch has a lot of things for people to do. So, my expectation would be most people would be spending a lot of time there. There may come a time when that’s less true and Classic starts to have another wave of popularity. You know, ultimately, we’re just committed to supporting both communities. We want them to be vibrant and welcoming to play for anyone.

Obviously, the development process of any game has its fair share of challenges. Can you tell us about any challenges particular to Burning Crusade that cropped up during production?

HL: I mean, as with anything you’re doing in technology, there’s you know, surprises here and there. Dawson’s definitely a pro at that. Mostly, it’s just this passion and attention to detail on the team’s part to make sure we’re getting it right.

[There’s] some weird stuff, like when you’re taking 2007 data, and technology and putting it on a modern system, sometimes it doesn’t read it quite as well as you think and you get Draenei with pink hair and, you know, some oddball stuff happens but it’s honestly the community on beta and they keep giving us feedback and letting us know that some things may not match up. We’re completely dedicated to continuing, as we always have on World of Warcraft, to deliver the best experience we can.

But yeah, there’s that’s the wonderful thing about game development is you know, players will always surprise you either with what they find, or you know, what’s discovered. So it’s a daily journey, right?

New starting areas, new races for each faction, a new soundtrack. Burning Crusade introduces a lot of brand new content. Is there a particular facet of the expansion that you are especially fond of on a personal level? My first ever World of Warcraft toon was a Blood Elf, so even though I’m an Alliance player now, I still feel a certain affection for them.

HL: Fel Reaver. I mean, you only need to hear it and then when you see it, they’re both pretty terrifying.

My tenant in World of Warcraft, since you know, I’ve been playing since vanilla, or since it launched, my rule — and I believe for me World of Warcraft is the only game where this is true — is anywhere I go, I look up because I love art, I love game art.

Anywhere you go in the world and you look up there’s detail, there are things that an artist is painstakingly taking care of and has thought of. So you get a truly immersive experience. And you get to live in that world. And it’s all around you. So, that’s one of my rules. And I love it. I’m usually left behind in dungeons because I’m looking around and looking at the detail and what’s been painted. I’ve always loved it. It’s perfectly magical for me.

PD: Yeah, I could probably go on for hours about this topic. I’ll just sum up a few things that I’m really really looking forward to. For me, the arena system is something that I really remember fondly I was a very avid PvP-er — or actually still am.

But I remember when Burning Crusade came out. Finally, we got to do an organised version of PvP, rather than just the battlegrounds. I got to go in with my team and have some fun there. There are other things like attunements that are fun, I really had a great time, not just running through them, but running my friends through them as well. Another one is I mentioned the boss fights earlier. But Kael’thas specifically is one of my favourite boss fights we ever have done in World of Warcraft and learning the phases one at a time, working through that encounter with my friends was something that was truly marvellous.

So as I said, I probably could go on and on for a long time here. But those are just a few of the highlights that I can’t wait to see.

HL: I will say one thing I love is that I have to read. In Classic, you have to read and I read every quest because like in Blad’s Edge [Mountains], I would have no idea where I was supposed to go if I didn’t read the quest. And I love that, I get really immersed in what’s happening with the story.

One of my greatest joys right now is I’m obviously reading everything so I can to see how the community is feeling about Burning Crusade and I’m seeing a lot of photos of now dads with their kids and moms with their kids playing and getting ready for Burning Crusade. It’s fantastic.

You mentioned difficulty before. Raid content was notoriously difficult in early expansions, has that changed at all with Burning Crusade Classic?

PD: Yeah, well, we’re not releasing them with any sort of unfair bugs. Like there were some things that caused class balance issues or maybe didn’t work the way that we wanted. We’re not going to make them hard in that way. We don’t want to make it unfun or unfair.

So, all those things that that we fixed over time will continue to be fixed. It’s really the tuning that’s more difficult. So the amount of health, the amount of damage they do, that’s all gonna exist in the pre-nerf state. And yeah, it might be intimidating, I think but I do think there are some raiders that are on the cutting edge that really are hungry for that. And there are others who maybe are not quite wanting to do that level.

I think in that case, what we do is we take a look over time and in maybe a month, or two months, we decide to go back and look at that and say is that the right numbers for today? Every guild that wants to do the competitive thing and beat it so let’s take a look. And just like we did in Burning Crusade, we look at maybe we should lower some of the health and damage numbers to make it so that more people can accomplish these goals and still keep it hard, but maybe not quite so cutting edge.

You mentioned that with modern technology you can have up to five times the number of players going through the Dark Portal at once. Do you expect this technology to help combat lag and realm queues on launch day?

PD: Well, it’s always a tricky balance right? Our goal is to get as many players playing as much as we can. However, if you get just an enormous amount of players, the server can’t support that in terms of a community. So, we use queues to make sure that we can balance that out in an appropriate way. It helps guide players to a server that maybe would be a little bit more comfortable for them.

In terms of the community, you can always join and play with your friends. And if you want to sit in, hopefully, what will be smaller queues, you can do that if there’s a specific server you want to play on. The queues are meant to encourage a more even distribution so that we don’t have a few mega servers. But in terms of the experience, we want to make sure we have a fairly lag-free, responsive, stable experience for our players to play in. And the technology has come so far in the past fifteen years that yes, as Holly mentioned, we are absolutely taking advantage of that to make sure we can deliver that to our player base.

World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic is currently in pre-launch patch status and available for beta testing.

The full expansion will launch at 8am on Wednesday, June 2 2021 AEST.

If you already have a World of Warcraft subscription, you’re already entitled to access to World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft Classic and World of Warcraft Burning Crusade Classic. But if you’re checking it out for the first time, you can learn about subscription inclusions and offers, and jump in with the other champions of Azeroth right here.

The post We Spoke To Blizzard About How Burning Crusade Classic Is Bringing The Best Of The Original Back To Life appeared first on Press Start.

Originally spotted by a Twitter user, it looks like Sony have registered a trademark for the previously Xbox exclusive action-adventure shooter, Sunset Overdrive.

https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1389517716764176388?s=20

Sunset Overdrive was originally released exclusively on the Xbox One in 2014, developed by Insomniac Games and published by Microsoft Studios. The Sunset Overdrive I.P. is still owned by Insomniac which was acquired by Sony in 2019 after the developer launched the ridiculously popular Marvel’s Spider-Man on the PlayStation 4.

By registering the trademark it means that Sony is maintaining the game’s patent but doesn’t necessarily indicate that they are actually going to do anything with it. Leaks that have shown up in response to this news suggest that Sunset Overdrive: Refreshed Edition for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 are slated for Q3 or Q4 of this year but at this stage, it’s all merely speculation.

The post A New Sunset Overdrive Trademark Just Got Registered By Sony appeared first on Press Start.

Ubisoft announced that developers at Red Storm are hard at work on Tom Clancy’s The Division Heartland, slated for release later this year or possibly in 2022.

Ubisoft didn’t provide much more than that, unfortunately, but we do know that it’ll be a standalone title that won’t require experience or familiarity with previous titles in the franchise. It’ll be available on consoles, PC and cloud streaming services but we don’t yet know exactly what it’ll look like – whether it will be a battle royale, an action RPG or otherwise is still yet to be announced.

The world of the Division is set to expand!

Read more about The Division Heartland an upcoming free-to-play game, the Division movie and more!

— Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) May 6, 2021

If you’re keen on testing the game at some point, Ubisoft didn’t tell us exactly when it’ll be available but they did tell us where you can find the registration form on their official website right here. It’s pretty simple, all you have to do to enter the chance to test Heartland is select your preferred platform, login to your Ubisoft account and click register.

Ubisoft slipped in another announcement, stating that there will also be a new Division game launching on mobile at a later date but they didn’t say any more than that.

The post The Division Heartland Is A Brand New Free-To-Play Game appeared first on Press Start.

Nintendo fans will finally be able to drop into the stunning Tony Hawk’s 1 + 2 remaster when the game launches on Nintendo Switch on June 25th 2021. This is the very first Tony Hawk’s title to launch on the Nintendo Switch but hopefully not the last for fans of the franchise keen to flip, grab and grind on the go.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is a faithful reimagining of the first two Tony Hawk’s titles complete with most of the original soundtrack and a few brand new songs to jam to. It’s the fastest-selling title in the 20-year-old franchise and features heavy-weight skate legends and pros including the Birdman himself, Steve Caballero, Andrew Reynolds, Nyjah Huston, Leo Baker, Leticia Bufoni, Aori Nishimura, Lizzie Armanto and homegrown Shane “Nugget” O’Neill.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is already available on Xbox One, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4/5 and PC via the Epic Games store and you can pre-order the game for the Nintendo Switch online and from select retailers right now.

The post Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 Finally Has A Release Date On Nintendo Switch appeared first on Press Start.

With only a week to go before the launch of Mass Effect Legendary Edition, an all-inclusive remaster of the original Mass Effect trilogy, we were hoping to hear a little bit more about the upcoming title before its official release on May 14, 2021. Fortunately, EA answered our prayers via a recent developer updated posted on EA’s official website, detailing the game’s performance benchmarks on new consoles.

Console players can toggle between two gameplay modes at any time on all platforms:

• Favour Quality prioritizes achieving the highest visual fidelity possible in exchange for a lower target framerate.
• Favour Framerate prioritizes the highest framerate possible by scaling native resolution and reducing some graphical features.

The biggest change between the two next-gen consoles is the fact that the game can run at 4K/60FPS in favour quality mode on the Xbox Series X but only 4K/40 on the PS5. Likewise, in favour framerate mode, it can run at 120FPS on Xbox Series X (at 1440p) but only 60FPS at the same resolution on PS5. This is due to how both consoles handle backwards compatible games, with more work being required to improve PS4 games for the PS5.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition launches on May 14, 2021, on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4/5 and PC via EA’s Origin and Steam.

The post Mass Effect Legendary Edition Will Run Better On Xbox Series X Than PS5 appeared first on Press Start.

The Epic v. Apple trial commenced on Monday and it looks like things are already heating up between the industry giants as they go head to head in a legal battle over Apples “oppressive” app store policies. We’re not going to cover the trial in its entirety but we do think it’s worth discussing some of the surprising revelations to have come out of the trial so far.

The following are based on testimony and documents that have been submitted to evidence and provide some interesting insight into not only the inner workings of Epic and Apple but some other relevant companies as well.

Sony Really Didn’t Like Crossplay

According to documents submitted as exhibits in the trial, Epic Games had pleaded with Sony for months before they made the final decision to block cross-platform play in Fortnite on PlayStation consoles.  The exhibits reveal that Epic went out of its way to accommodate Sony, offering exclusive branding collaborations, PS+ bonuses and even an extension on Sony’s Unreal Engine 4 license company-wide. Despite Epic’s efforts, however, Sony remained unwilling to play ball with the developer/publisher in order to offset a potential loss in revenue.

Sony didn't want everyone to see its confidential crossplay policy document. It seems like the court may have accidentally released it yesterday https://t.co/8ZZYjUsNwk pic.twitter.com/He6ofKQoHN

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) May 4, 2021

Tim Sweeney's email to Sony's Phil Rosenberg about Fortnite crossplay for PS4 is worth a read. "Friends are being torn apart by Sony's segregation of players on competing platforms," says Sweeney. pic.twitter.com/it9yMNssTd

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) May 5, 2021

An email correspondence reveals that Sony came up with a clever, albeit unorthodox way to enable cross-platform play without sacrificing their profits. Simply put, Sony suggested a cross-platform revenue share, meaning that publishers are required to pay Sony a royalty whenever PlayStation players contribute more than a certain percentage to the bottom line of a cross-platform game. As well as this, Sony requires that publishers disallow players from transferring their virtual currency to or from a PlayStation account and that there must be a setting available to disable all cross-platform interactions. The CEO of Epic Games, Tim Sweeney testified that Sony is the only platform that requires compensation for enabling cross-play on multiplayer titles.

Microsoft applauded The Last Of Us Part II

Revealed in an internal document, Xbox said that “The Last of Us Part 2 is the exceedingly rare video game where what it accomplishes in moving forward the art of narrative storytelling in video games as a medium ultimately outweighs whether or not everyone ‘likes’ it or even if everyone has ‘fun’ playing it”.

They also went on to say that the gameplay is a notable improvement on the first game, but that Naughty Dog still can’t seem to make decent gun combat in games.

Microsoft has never earned a profit on the sale of an Xbox console

“Has Microsoft ever earned a profit on the sale of an Xbox console?” lawyer asks.

“No,” Wright says.

— Adi Robertson (@thedextriarchy) May 5, 2021

We learnt about Xbox console timed exclusives

the first exhibit in Microsoft's testimony is the slide deck we reported on the other day, revealing some exclusivity deals. All of the 2021 Xbox game releases are [redacted] https://t.co/N06gUpQcZj pic.twitter.com/vzOgrUReEj

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) May 5, 2021

It’s Costs A Lot Of Money To Deliver Free Games Every Month

Admittedly, this one might be stating the obvious but it’s still interesting to see a breakdown of exactly how much these free titles cost Epic Games.

Want to know how much $ the devs of those 'free' Epic Games Store games got, & how many copies were grabbed? Here's the first 9 months to September 2019. ? pic.twitter.com/5hkLb1VEjj

— Simon Carless (@simoncarless) May 3, 2021

The entitlements column refers to how many individuals actually added these titles to their account during the free-to-play period. I think it would be interesting to see the percentage of players that actually played these games as well, as I’m sure we’re all guilty of hoarding free or cheap titles without ever actually touching them.

Naruto, Metroid and The Hunger Games Are Just Some Of Epic’s Scrapped Fornite Collaboration Ideas

An in-house presentation leaked as part of the court proceedings revealed a whole bunch of previously unannounced, delayed and scrapped plans for Fortnite collaborations. LeBron James, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and the New Orleans Pelicans’ Zion Williamson are among the sports stars mentioned in the presentation while other upcoming skins include Naruto Uzumaki, Katniss Everdeen, Kill Bill’s The Bride and Die Hard’s John McClane. At this stage, it’s difficult to tell which of these concepts have since been scrapped and which are still in the works but it’s still interesting to see the marked range of I.P.s included by Epic, making it obvious that they’re not interested in bottlenecking their player base.

Supposedly There Was Going To Be Another Collab Within Fortnite Samus Aran X Fortnite, It Will Either Release Or Not. pic.twitter.com/BADhEIurrb

— Kimchi – Fortnite Leaks & News (Following Back)? (@FortniteFN_BR) May 3, 2021

Rocket League Is Set To Get Some Big Updates

According to a document, it looks as though Rocket League is set to come to next-gen and it looks like in addition to Rocket League Sideswipe, a proper version of Rocket League is coming to mobile later this year.

another Epic Games document reveals it could be planning some big Rocket League updates:

• next-gen client across all platforms, including mobile
• full cross-progression between mobile, PC, and console
• crossplay between mobile, PC, and console pic.twitter.com/8BHyK5qSQg

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) May 3, 2021

Microsoft really don’t want anyone knowing how much the Xbox business makes them

LOL at this specific redaction (from the Epic v. Apple trial). I wonder how Nintendo/Sony feel about this info being out there pic.twitter.com/PPYNkPrFMo

— Kyle Orland (@KyleOrl) May 5, 2021

Walmart Has Been Working On A Top-Secret Streaming Service

An unintentionally leaked marketing deck directly from Walmart has revealed their plans for the launch of an all-new cloud streaming service known as Project Storm. The service will apparently run on Windows and has plans to support both Fortnite and the Epic Games storefront. VP of Epic, Mark Rein, detailed his experience with a Project Storm demo in an email to one of his colleagues and described playing on an Android phone with an Xbox controller as “like playing on a PS4 and superior to playing on Android or iOS”. Further, he explained that during the demo he was able to seamlessly transfer gameplay from the mobile device to a laptop device instantly in real-time and said it was better than playing on the most expensive Microsoft Surface Pro laptop.

Rein concluded his unofficial demo review by explaining that Walmart will also be selling a super cheap clip for you to attach your mobile device to your controller of voice and with the inclusion of a little kick-stand, he said it was “more comfortable than playing on a Nintendo Switch”.

The document then transitioned into Walmart’s confidential pitch which includes a particularly interesting section about consumer awareness and acquisition.

It’s hard to tell from the deck alone (which was pitched in early 2019) whether or not FaZe, Ninja and E3 were actually in talks to endorse Project Storm or whether it was merely aspirational. Regardless, it’s an interesting pitch and there’s no denying that a heavy-hitting lineup like this would definitely help launch the new service.

More is set to come out of the coming days, so we’ll keep you posted.

The post All The Interesting Things We’ve Learned From The Epic Games v Apple Trial appeared first on Press Start.

It has been almost two decades since I first played Diablo II, sitting at my next-door neighbour’s old hand-me-down PC. We spent countless hours in the world of Sanctuary after school and on weekends, but after playing Diablo II: Resurrected during the Alpha test over the last three days, I realise that there’s a lot about the game I’d completely forgotten about and still a lot left that I am yet to learn about the game. 

Firstly, I can’t overstate my opinion that the developers have done more than just give Diablo II a fresh coat of paint. Resurrected doesn’t feel like a remaster, it feels like a reimagining, more like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 than Warcraft II Reforged. It was obviously immediately that Vicarious Visions have put their heart and soul into bringing this beloved classic back from the dead for veterans and new players alike.

[twenty20 img1=”123833″ img2=”123834″ offset=”0.5″ before=”Original Graphics” after=”Remastered Graphics”]

Diablo II: Resurrected feels familiar but fresh and the shiny new 3D graphics exclusively enhance the Diablo experience without tarnishing the game’s legacy nor feeling like a Diablo III reskin. With just a single tap of the ‘G’ key, you can switch between the original graphics and the Resurrected update and I don’t think the difference between them really sank in until I tried this feature for the first time. I was truly blown away.

Having played the majority of Diablo III on my Nintendo Switch, I was pleased to see that Resurrected has added controller support to Diablo II. I still spent the majority of my time in the alpha on keyboard and mouse (perhaps I’m more of a traditionalist than I thought) but there are a few features of controller mode that I really liked. Button mapping is automatic and gives you a lot more freedom when it comes to combat. Instead of being limited to two active attack buttons and then having to assign your abilities to different F*-keys, you can use the face buttons, triggers and even assign modifier buttons to have all of your attacks and abilities on hand at any given time.

Sadly, there isn’t an equivalent mapping scheme available for keyboard and mouse users yet but since most PC users have a suite of macro keys or additional mouse buttons to choose from, I can see the binding options being redesigned or updated in the future. The other bonus of playing with a controller is the auto-sort feature for your inventory. Good, God, this is a brilliant tool. Seasoned players will know that in Diablo II, your inventory is not limited by weight or capacity, it’s limited by how you organise its surface area. The auto-sort button instantly optimises your bag space, a necessary process that can sometimes feel a little tedious on the keyboard and mouse.

The addition of controller support and accessibility features (low vision mode, colour blindness settings, subtitles customisation, etc) certainly help Diablo II transition into the realm of current RPGs but don’t be mistaken; much of the game is still firmly rooted in the early 2000s.

The lack of instruction and clear direction may be confusing or even frustrating for new players who are used to tutorial sequences or instructional pop-ups. Having played a decent amount of Diablo III, I felt comfortable enough to follow my instinct but even then, I found myself doing things out of order or missing things completely. I discovered fairly quickly that some items just straight up will not tell you what they’re for or how to use them, which is something we don’t see in games all that often these days.

The lack of instruction isn’t the only aspect of the game that simply refuses to hold your hand. Dying in Diablo II is much more unforgiving than it is in Diablo III and I learned the hard way not to get too cocky if I found myself surrounded by enemies on all sides. When your character is slain, you lose your equipped gear and your gold. You can recover most of your gear by returning to your corpse but sadly, some foul creature may have already nicked off with your gold by then.

Though the punishment can sting a little at times, it has the benefit of making in-game choices feel much more important than they do in Diablo III. I found myself spending far more time analysing the specs of gear, carefully selecting gems to socket for additional stats and playing to my character’s class advantages to get the extra edge on enemy units. As a result, successful fights were all the more rewarding and I felt a genuine sense of triumph and perhaps relief after surviving particularly taxing boss fights. In my opinion, the proportionate highs and lows are key to any gaming experience that hopes to engage its players. 

I’ve had a great time with Diablo II so far, and am definitely sad about the Alpha ending. Whether you need a dose of nostalgia from an old classic, you’re an Diablo III fan ready to try it for the first time or just looking for something new to play, Diablo II: Resurrected is an extremely promising remaster that has already demonstrated its many irons in the fire, so to speak.

The post Diablo 2: Resurrected Brings An Old Classic Back From The Dead And It’s Bloody Brilliant appeared first on Press Start.

To celebrate their recent acquisition of Bethesda and the subsequent launch of Bethesda titles on Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft is giving away a set of gorgeous custom Xbox controllers. The set of seven extremely limited edition controllers includes designs from DOOM, Fallout, The Evil Within, Elder Scrolls, Dishonored, Prey and Wolfenstein and you can check them out below.

May we interest you in these custom @Bethesda controllers? Just RT with #BethesdaSweepstakes for a chance to win!

Ends April 16, 2021, at 7pm PT | Rules: https://t.co/4KBHC0eywp pic.twitter.com/uHbyUnpdEb

— Xbox (@Xbox) March 29, 2021

Aussies over the age of 18 are eligible to win this epic prize package including all seven controllers and the picture Bethesda controller case. All you have to do to enter is follow the official @Xbox account on Twitter and retweet the Tweet above with the hashtag #XboxBethesdasweepstakes. Entries are limited to one (1) per person and per Twitter account and you must remain a follower of the official Xbox Twitter account during the sweepstakes period.

The competition officially ends on Saturday, 17th of April 2021 at 12 pm AEDT and potential winners will be contacted by Xbox via Twitter on this day!

The post Xbox Is Giving Away Incredible Bethesda Themed Controllers To Celebrate Bethesda Joining Xbox Game Pass appeared first on Press Start.

Over the last few years, Microsoft has been hitting home run after home run with mergers and acquisition.

They’ve formed exclusive partnerships with heavy-hitting studios like Bethesda, Ninja Theory and Rare but now, it seems, Microsoft is batting in a new direction. According to a report by Bloomberg, Microsoft’s latest acquisition may just be the massively popular voice-chat and instant messaging service, Discord.

We’ve learned that rumours of a possible deal between the two companies started early this week and it could come to a conclusion relatively soon. Apparently, Discord reached out to a number of potential buyers and one of the companies at the top of that list is Microsoft with a bid for over USD $10 billion.

If the offer is accepted and the deal goes through, it’s likely that this will be an exclusive acquisition by the tech giant. We can’t know for sure what that means for the future of Discord at this stage but it’s certainly an interesting and logical partnership in our view.

This news follows comes not long after the announcement that Xbox Live will be rebranding as Xbox Network and we can’t help but wonder if the two events are connected in some way. “The update from ‘Xbox Live’ to ‘Xbox network’ is intended to distinguish the underlying service from Xbox Live Gold memberships,” said a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge and it’s easy to speculate that that Discord for Xbox might be included in the free services provided by Xbox network, if the deal works out.

The post Microsoft Is Apparently In Talks To Acquire Discord For More Than 10 Billion Dollars appeared first on Press Start.