World of Warcraft has just launched a $90 auction-house carrying dinosaur mount
- By Ash
- in News
In what is quite possibly the biggest 'microtransaction' I've ever seen, Blizzard has just launched the brand new "Trader’s Gilded Brutosaur" mount onto the World of Warcraft store at a very humble $90 price tag! And what do you get for that much money? A giant dinosaur that offers you easy access to both the auction house and mailbox.
Funnily enough, this isn't the first time they've done this. Back in Battle for Azeroth Blizzard released a limited time 5,000,000 gold mount that only gave access to the auction house. There was no direct way to pay for it with cash either, though if you wanted to buy WoW Tokens and then convert them to gold, the mount would've taken you around $500.
Helldivers 2's next Warbond is coming October 31st with a heavy SMG, plasma pistol and unflinching armor
- By Ash
- in News
Now that they've sorted out most of the major issues, it looks like the Helldivers 2 team is finally able to once again focus on releasing new content. And so, the next premium Warbond will be launching on October 31st with three new weapons, two unique armors, a new booster, as well as the usual assortment of cosmetics.
The first weapon in line is the SG-20 Halt: a pump-action shotgun that can switch between stun rounds and armor-piercing flechettes. It's longer-ranged counterpart is the heavy SMG 32 Reprimand which, as you might imagine, packs quite a punch though shoots a bit slower than the previous SMGs. The final weapon is the PLAS-15 sidearm. This plasma pistol can either be shot semi-auto style, or charged for a period of time in order to deliver a more powerful punch. By the looks of things this charged attack can stagger even heavy devastators, so it should be quite a nice backup if you like running lighter primaries.
MTG Arena has banned the contentious Leyline of Resonance in best-of-one Standard
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: MTG Arena will be getting the entirety of competitive Pioneer on December 10th, 2024!
[Update]: All of Magic: The Gathering's future cross-over sets will be legal in every format.
If you've been playing Standard for the past couple of weeks you're probably well aware of just how omnipresent the Leyline of Resonance 'combo' decks are. They're fragile and fold to early removal, sure, but if you stumble for even a single turn it's very easy to find yourself getting hit for over 20 damage.
Much like Tibalt's Trickery from a few years back, Leyline of Resonance creates some very boring games where the player using it either wins or loses within a couple of turns - almost like deciding the match with a coinflip. Unsurprisingly, this very quickly put it on Wizards of the Coast's ban radar, though since the set had only just released at the time of the last announcement, they figured they'd give it a little bit more time to see if the meta can self-correct.
Factorio's Space Age expansion has added new worlds, giant worms and even better trains!
- By Ash
- in Indie Games
Factorio is one of those games where getting started is quite tricky given its complexity, yet once you do get comfortable it's also a game where you can easily lose hundreds of hours feverishly trying to optimize your ever-growing and all-consuming factory. And I should know, because I'm exactly that man! However, don't take any of this as a complaint because Factorio is a great game, and it has just become even greater!
Thanks to the freshly launched Space Age expansion you can now shed the shackles that bound you to the biter-infested world of Nauvis and explore four unique new planets. The new sights include desolate wastelands, multi-colored swamps, volcanically active hellscapes and their frozen counterparts. As you might imagine, each world brings with it its own unique challenges, potential flora and fauna, as well as a plethora of unique resources or opportunities to exploit.
The Steam Next Fest has now arrived with hundreds upon hundreds of free demos for upcoming games
- By Ash
- in News
As you might guess from the name alone, the Steam Next Fest is week-long event celebrating upcoming games, with the focus generally being on unique and interesting indie games. Most importantly of all, many of the participating games have free demos available for the duration of the event, so if you're looking to get into a new genre or just try out a game you've been keeping an eye on for a while, this is the perfect time to do so.
On the other hand, if you're not sure where to even begin, allow me to share with you a couple of stand-outs from various genres that I found rather fascinating, even if some are a little bit unpolished at the moment. Here they are, in no particular order:
A Way Out and It Takes Two team will be revealing a brand new game soon
- By Ash
- in News
In an era where games are often either singleplayer or some sort of live service ordeal with thousands of players everywhere, Hazelight Studios stands as one of the last few bastions of true co-op focused gaming. And considering how both of the team's 'recent' games, A Way Out and It Takes Two, have ended up being nothing short of amazing, it's hard not to cheer for Hazelight.
Now that you know where I'm coming from, I hope you realize just how excited I am to announce that Hazelight will soon be revealing a brand new game! It's also not going to be a sequel to either of their previous games, but rather a brand new IP!
MTG Arena's Alchemy: Duskmourn mini-expansion has added a fresh batch of horror tropes
- By Ash
- in News
[Update #2]: All of Magic: The Gathering's future cross-over sets will be legal in every format.
[Update]: MTG Arena has banned the contentious Leyline of Resonance in best-of-one Standard!
As with all of the Alchemy mini-expansions, the freshly released Alchemy: Duskmourn has now arrived with 30 new cards to muck around with. The new cards not only slot in well with the horror, enchantment and manifest themes of the main set, but many of them also share creature types with Bloomburrow's critters which gives them a lot of flexibility.
Furthermore, I feel like this Alchemy set has been the most spot-on in terms of power level. Nothing really stands out as being particularly obnoxious to play against, and there's only one card I would consider somewhat mediocre, and that's a mythic! Everything else, from the creatures to the enchantments, I can easily see being played in some sort of deck. So whoever designed both these cards and Duskmourn itself, hats off as you did a great job!