- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: Monster Hunter: World - Iceborne has now arrived, though not without a couple of nasty issues that will need to be resolved over the coming weeks.
[Update]: To help new players reach the Iceborne expansion as quickly as possible, Capcom has now released some incredibly powerful catch-up gear to the PC version of Monster Hunter: World!
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is set to arrive this September 6th for consoles, while the PC version will be coming at some point in January. In terms of content, Iceborne will bring with it a massive new region to explore, a whole bunch of new weapons and armor to toy around with, a new and most likely cheesy story to experience, and as you might expect, a boatload of new and returning monsters to slay!
So if you're wondering what these monsters might look like, as well as what their combat style is all about, you might be glad to hear that Capcom has now released a preview video highlighting a ton of them. Have a gander, it's a pretty exciting one:
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: After many delays, Dying Light 2 has now finally arrived onto PC and consoles!
[Update]: Dying Light 2 has been delayed from its spring 2020 release date in order to secure enough time for polishing.
Dying Light 2 will be coming in spring 2020, bringing with it a variety of improvements over the original. Besides simply having smoother gameplay and better visuals, Dying Light 2's campaign will focus a lot more on choices and consequences. As a result of this shift, the Dying Light 2 campaign will be a fair bit shorter than the original's, though replayability will be significantly higher as many of your choices will result is the campaign going off in an entirely different direction.
If you're wondering just how all of this translates into gameplay, allow me to share with you the recently posted and developer-guided gameplay demo. It doesn't exactly go into as much detail as I would like, but it's still a pretty darn interesting preview to check out. Have a gander:
- By Ash
- in News
After spending a fair bit of time in beta, Crytek's PvE/PvP hybrid Hunt: Showdown has now been officially released. So if you're up for hunting a whole bunch of dangerous monsters, as well as fighting against your fellow players in order to actually claim your bounty, Hunt: Showdown might just be up your alley. It certainly is an interesting mix of gameplay styles.
Besides the premise itself, the one thing that makes Hunt: Showdown really stand out is the atmosphere. With excellent sound design and relatively slow paced action, Hunt: Showdown can be surprisingly immersive for a PvP focused game. So much so that I'm a bit disappointed it isn't an entirely co-op focused monster hunting game instead. Now that would be spectacular!
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: World of Warcraft: Classic is apparently so popular that Blizzard has now greatly increased the population cap on all realms in order to combat extreme queue times.
After what feels like an eternal wait, World of Warcraft: Classic has now released in full. However, getting to actually play it is not exactly a simple task. Most of the servers currently have queue times exceeding two hours, with the bigger servers sometimes even doubling that. As it turns out, WoW Classic is just a little bit more popular than Blizzard initially expected!
So while I unfortunately cannot speed the queue up, I can help you pass a bit of time by sharing the recently posted developer video. It's essentially a group of the original developers messing around with WoW Classic and discussing some of their creations and favorite experiences. Have a gander, it's a pretty fun video:
- By Ash
- in News
While Assassin's Creed Odyssey is pretty fun on its own, it is The Fate of Atlantis DLC that has made it one of the most enjoyable Assassin's Creed games out there. So if you would like to see what all of the fuss is about, I'm glad to say that Episode 1: Fields of Elysium is entirely free to grab until September 1st.
All you have to do is head on over to the Ubisoft website, choose the platform of your choice, and you'll be good to go after a bit of a download. Naturally, you will need the base version of Assassin's Creed Odyssey in order to play the DLC, but even if you don't own a copy, worry not as it's currently 50% off on Steam!
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Role Queue has now been officially released for both Competitive and Quick Play!
A little while ago Overwatch has received what is likely to be one of its most impactful updates ever - a brand new main tank called Sigma and the long-awaited introduction of Role Queue. As you might imagine from the name alone, Role Queue made it so you can queue as any (or all) of the three roles and guarantee you'll end up in balanced matches with exactly two supports, two tanks and two DPS. Best of all, each of your roles has a separate matchmaking rating, so you're pretty much always going to play with people that are around your skill level!
Naturally, given the severity of these changes, there is still quite a lot the community doesn't understand about the new Role Queue system and the intent behind it. In order to clarify some of this, as well as dispel some of the most prevalent misconceptions, Blizzard has now released a lengthy developer update on Role Queue.
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Dota 2 has now added Snapfire and Void Spirit, alongside a staggering amount of balance changes and tweaks.
Dota 2's absolutely gigantic The International tournament has now concluded, and while I can't say much without spoiling things, the finale sure was a sight to behold! Besides the games themselves, Valve had one more reason for people to get excited about The International - the reveal of two brand new heroes!
Since saying anything about the two heroes would potentially ruin a bit of the surprise, allow me to simply share with you their recently posted cinematic trailers. Have a gander, they're quite fun:
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: Blizzard is adding fresh and greatly enhanced World of Warcraft: Classic servers on October 5, 2021!
[Update]: The latest developer video offers a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of WoW Classic and some of the favorite memories of the original developers.
If you ever needed proof that there is a lot of interest in World of Warcraft: Classic, all you need to do is try and actually play it. Ever since it released the queue times have been enormous across the board, with both of my servers having queues that go well beyond three hours!
However, once you do manage to get through the veritable sea of people, it's relatively smooth sailing as the servers appear to have calmed down since the initial rush. You'll still likely face stiff competition for even the simplest of quests, but most of the lag and server instability is thankfully a thing of the past.
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Valve has now released a preview for Dota Underlords's "Big Update" which will accompany the full release.
Unlike most other Valve games, Dota Underlords has enjoyed an extremely fast update schedule. New features are being added patch after patch, heroes are frequently shuffled through the power tiers, the balance is almost constantly shifting, and naturally, the groundwork is being laid for a whole bunch of cosmetics to enter the scene.
As such, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to hear that Valve has plenty of other interesting new additions planned for both the current Season 0, as well as the upcoming Season 1. Here's a brief rundown of what Valve has announced so far:
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: World of Warcraft: Classic is apparently so popular that Blizzard has now greatly increased the population cap on all realms in order to combat extreme queue times.
[Update]: I'm happy to say that World of Warcraft: Classic has now been officially released and that the servers are practically overflowing with players!
World of Warcraft: Classic's character creation and name reservation service has gone live a little while ago, and as you might imagine, quickly resulted in all of the available servers getting filled to the brim. Blizzard has quickly responded by opening up new servers and urging players to swap around, but even so, the servers are currently looking extremely overcrowded across the board.
In order to address this, as well as to avoid unbearably long queue times, Blizzard has now announced that they will be opening up a whole bunch of new servers on August 26th. These servers will be going live slightly ahead of WoW Classic's full release, and since the current character creation limit will be getting removed, you should have plenty of time to pick and choose your favorite names and get ready for when the doors finally swing open.