DayZ 1.0 has now officially launched on Steam alongside a free weekend
- By Ash
- in News
After nearly five years in development, DayZ has finally transitioned from Alpha to Beta back in November. So if you expected the same sort of story to play out during its journey from Beta to full release, I'm afraid you would be quite wrong as DayZ 1.0 has just officially launched onto Steam!
There doesn't appear to be a list of what exactly has changed between Beta and release, so if you're curious about what DayZ currently looks and plays like, you should check out the recently posted launch trailer. Have a gander:
MTG Arena has been updated with ranked play, while the planned reward nerfs have not gone through
- By Ash
- in News
After quite a few previews, MTG Arena has now finally received its long-awaited ranked play update! As you might imagine from the name alone, you can now queue up for competitive best-of-one matches, face off against increasingly better players as you progress through the ranks, and naturally, snatch some rewards at the very end of the month-long season. It's not exactly the most exciting mode around, and the rewards themselves aren't anything special, but it's a pretty solid starting point for a game that's still in beta.
More importantly, the recent and absolutely massive reductions to event rewards have thankfully now been reversed. The events are still going to get nerfed in the future since the developers are planning to remove the chance to get duplicate cards, which is fair enough, but they have wisely decided to postpone the nerfs for the time being. So if you're looking to build up your collection, do make sure to use this time to play some Constructed Events. They're both fun and highly rewarding!
Blizzard is greatly slowing down Heroes of the Storm development, as well as canceling its esports events
- By Ash
- in News
If you're a fan of Blizzard's MOBA Heroes of the Storm, I'm afraid I come bearing bad news. According to a recent developer update, Blizzard will be greatly slowing down development on Heroes of the Storm, while the Heroes Global Championship and Heroes of the Dorm esports events have been straight up canceled.
"Despite the change, Heroes of the Storm remains our love letter to Blizzard’s worlds and characters. We’ll continue actively supporting the game with new heroes, themed events, and other content that our community loves, though the cadence will change," reads the lengthy blog post. "Ultimately, we’re setting up the game for long-term sustainability."
World of Warcraft's long-awaited Tides of Vengeance update has now arrived to the live servers
- By Ash
- in News
After spending quite a few months on the test servers, World of Warcraft's long-awaited Tides of Vengeance Update has now finally arrived. It brings with it unique questlines for the Horde and the Alliance, Darkshore as a new Warfront with its own equipment sets and rare bosses, a variety of mounts and toys to collect, greatly improved Island Expeditions, Heritage Armor and unique storylines for both Dwarves and Blood Elves, and the list goes on for a while.
If you're wondering what all of this might look like in-game, allow me to share with you the recently posted patch overview. It's not exactly detailed, but it should give you a decent idea of what you're getting yourself into:
The Witcher series' Geralt will soon be joining Monster Hunter: World as a playable character
- By Ash
- in News
While he may constantly complain about portals, Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher series sure likes to travel with them. He just recently made a grand appearance in Bandai Namco's Soulcalibur 6 as a guest character, and soon he will be doing the same in Capcom's Monster Hunter: World as well!
While the details are few and far between, I can tell you that Geralt will come with unique quests that blend The Witcher 3 and Monster Hunter: World's gameplay styles, brand new voice acting to help tie the two series together, as well as a variety of new equipment and combat moves to mess around with. How extensive these quests will be, I'm afraid I don't know, but smacking around Elder Dragons with Geralt sure sounds like a good time!
Vermintide 2's modding tools update will allow players to create their own maps and enemies
- By Ash
- in News
While it may have stumbled shortly after launch, the future of Vermintide 2 is currently looking quite bright. The recent Update 1.3 rebalanced pretty much all aspects of gameplay, from weapon balance to AI behavior, while the freshly launched Back to Ubersreik DLC brought in a whole bunch of new content, including a secret new game mode!
If you're looking for even more content, however, you'll be glad to hear that Fatshark has now announced a massive update to the modding tools. As expected, the details are few and far between, but according to the latest developer stream the new tools will allow players to create levels, retexture both models and environments, as well as create entirely new characters or enemies!
Overwatch's Winter Wonderland event has now arrived alongside Doomfist and Brigitte nerfs
- By Ash
- in News
After quite a few teasers and previews, Overwatch's third annual Winter Wonderland event has now arrived. As you might expect, it brings with it festive versions of numerous maps (including the newly spruced up Blizzard World), all of the previous Winter Wonderland cosmetics and voice lines, Mei's Snowball Fight and Yeti Hunt game modes to mess around with, and naturally, a variety of new skins to collect.
If you're interested in what these skins might look like, you'll find a collection of their previews over at my previous Overwatch article. On the other hand, if you prefer the much shorter version, you can also check out the recently posted teaser trailer. Have a gander: