The last few days have been incredibly exciting for Pokemon GO players. Clearly the biggest news was the release of the Research mechanic and the possibility of discovering Mew, but that was just the start. The weekend also saw the rollout of an April Fool’s joke that changed the sightings and Pokedex sprites to 8-bit models. In the midst of all of that chaos, players may have also overlooked the release of a new shiny variant in the mobile AR game....
Pokemon GO fans, get ready for GO Battle League Season 4! Niantic has announced that the new season will begin Monday, September 14th at 1:00 p.m. (PDT). Although Season 4 will be following a league rotation similar to Season 3, Season 4 will see changes to end-of-season rewards, rank progression, and even certain attacks. Season 4 will also be introducing a new activity: the Flying Cup, which will take place during the limited-time Battle Night event....
Pokémon GO players may have noticed a change in their game’s overworld map. This news is due to developer Niantic switching from Google Maps to OpenStreetMap (OSM.). OSM is an open source, editable mapping project, which means it may be changed by any player encountering map-related issues. Furthermore, changes in Google Maps had to wait until the map refreshed before they were noticeable, yet edits in OSM are immediate. While this news seems entirely beneficial at first, it does come with its issues....
The days of ignoring prompts to install the latest version of Pokemon GO are over, as Niantic has officially forced players to download the mobile title’s newest update – a move that has heightened excitement for the new Pokemon set to be introduced to the game. Alongside the forced patch, Pokemon GO developers also refreshed the GAME_MASTER file, which holds code, statistics, and other essential data that the game requires to function correctly....
A video game developer, programmer, and designer creates a version of Valve’s first-person puzzler and shooter, Portal, for his Microsoft HoloLens augmented reality headset. Without a doubt, there are many who are of the opinion that Portal’s inclusion in Valve’s The Orange Box collection not only helped make 2007 the best year in gaming history so far, but also managed reintroduce the fantastic first-person puzzle and platform to a much larger audience thanks to the astonishingly low price of the compendium, which then went on to assist in the justification of its sequel in 2011....
The mobile gaming space is an interesting one at present, as game developers on both iOS and Android work to straddle the line between games designed for touchscreen devices, and shoehorning analog controls into console-style gameplay. Digital analog sticks can never replace an actual controller and button presses, and touchscreen real estate is small enough without fingers blocking the view. That’s the problem PowerA is attempting to fix with the new MOGA Mobile Gaming System for Android smartphones....
There’s no denying that a game’s developer should have a firm grasp on the balancing that goes into a complex and competitive game like Hearthstone. Even so, there’s no way they can anticipate every nuance of a full scale release: this is the realm of the player. For this reason alone, it would make sense that there would be no one better at suggesting tweaks for the game than an active and noted member of its community....
With the launch of the PS4 a little over a month away, gamers are gearing up to make the leap into the next-gen, and ready to discover all the fancy new features Sony’s console will offer. However, it isn’t all good news as far as the PS4’s feature set is concerned, as we have just learned the console will not support one somewhat important peripheral. Despite several improvements over its predecessor — namely a better controller, support for gameplay capture through HDMI, and free automatic downloads — one feature that came standard with the PS3 will not make the jump to the PS4: Bluetooth headsets....
Now that the PS5 is only a week away the hype surrounding the console is building to a fever pitch. Viral videos showing PS5 consoles in warehouses are exploding on social media as retailers prepare to get consoles into their stores for launch day. Sony is also obviously heavily detailing the PS5 now that launch day is right around the corner. Today, the official PlayStation Support YouTube channel put out a helpful video detailing some of the PS5’s most important settings surrounding features like 3D Audio and Rest Mode....
As part of their goodwill gesture for the PSN outages over the holidays, Sony announced plans to extend PS Plus subscribers’ subscriptions by an extra 5 days. Additionally, they promised to give all PSN users, even those unaffected by the server connection issues, a 10% discount on an entire purchase. While some agreed that Sony did not need to offer any goodwill gesture – as they were the victims of several DDoS attacks – the company’s move was welcome....
Ubisoft seems to be taking a leaf out of Blizzard’s book. as the company begins to issue permanent bans to people found cheating, after just one offense. It’s good news for fans of fair play, as Ubisoft has updated its code of conduct for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege to allow for permanent bans of players who are found to be cheating. The developer announced that it intends to ban players after their first offense of breaking the rules through cheating or hacking....
Rainbow Six Siege players have spent the last few months patiently waiting for Ubisoft to complete Operation Health, a previously unplanned drive to increase the overall state of the game in terms of longstanding bugs and server issues. Now that the operation is finally coming to a close, the general Year 2 Roadmap can finally be resumed – and it all starts with Operation Blood Orchid at the end of this month....
Update: Insomniac Games has confirmed the Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart release date to be June 11. Original story follows. One of the PlayStation 5’s most anticipated exclusives, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, has been missing in action ever since its release window was confirmed at Gamescom: Opening Night Live. Insomniac Games has claimed that Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart will release within the PlayStation 5’s “launch window,” and despite not releasing yet, the game has been a major part of Sony’s marketing campaign throughout the console’s launch....
Although it is still trying to find its place among the Battle Royale crowd, Hi Rez Studios’ Realm Royale is quickly finding an audience. However, that audience was none too happy when the developer made a controversial change to the game’s forging system. Previously, players were able to forge class weapons, class abilities, and class armor at any of the forges scattered around the map. However, Hi Rez felt like this led to a quick imbalance and decided to remove the class weapon forge option and relegate the weapons to RNG drops from chests....
Rockstar has developed two of gaming’s most beloved franchises, Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto. Both games throw players into a large open world with great stories, strange side missions, and a myriad of memorable moments players can make for themselves. Bethesda Game Studios has a lot in common with Rockstar, despite being known for very different kinds of game. Like Rockstar, Bethesda has relied on two very well known franchises - The Elder Scrolls and Fallout - at least for the most part....
Whooping Cranes are needed to complete Daily Challenges in Red Dead Online, but if you don’t know where to look it might take you a while to find the birds. While you might be distracted by the upcoming Blood Money update, there’s always still time to go on a little hunting trip. Thankfully, players have been hunting Whooping Cranes for a long old time now, so the best spots have been mapped up and are easy to get to....
Hunting is a means of sustenance, safety, and wealth in Red Dead Redemption 2. When hunting the legendary creatures, the same philosophy applies, but trophies are added to the equation. And if you’re tracking down big game, they don’t get much bigger or deadly than the Legendary Bear. The trick to the hunt is knowing where to go, how to kill it, and what to do after you’ve finished it off....
Red Dead Redemption 2 continues to prove itself to be a game filled with intricate details and Easter eggs that not all players notice, but the ones who do appreciate the little touches designers put on the game. Some of these RDR2 details are cool and reveal lore, while others are just plain creepy. But, this is a game about the dangers of living in the Old West, so some morbidity is to be expected....
Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the most expansive open-world games ever created. With a variety of areas to explore, random encounters with enemies, and a cacophony of procedurally-generated side content, Red Dead Redemption 2 has a lot to offer players by way of gameplay. So much so that even after being out for two years, players are still finding hidden secrets within the game. The world of Red Dead 2 is approximately four times the size of the map featured in Red Dead 1, and is home to some dark secrets....
Over 100 hours, countless emergent moments, and dozens of sunrises later, Red Dead Redemption 2 still continues to impress. While Rockstar Games’ latest is a prequel, it builds heavily on the concepts of the first game and in most cases blows them out of the water. Narratively, mechanically, and even stylistically, this is a version of Rockstar that is mature, ambitious, and exceedingly creative. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a once in a generation type of game and it left me transfixed....
