- By Ash
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These days it's not exactly uncommon to see big games change their release dates. After all, anything can happen during development, and sometimes it's just neccesarry for a team to take an extra few months in order to get everything as polished as it can possibly be.
What is incredibly rare, however, is having a game's release date pushed forward, yet this is exactly what's happening with Metro Exodus. Instead of the previously announced February 22nd release date, Metro Exodus will now be arriving on February 15th for both PC and consoles. Not exactly a massive leap, but it's still nice to see that the development on Metro Exodus has gone so well they felt comfortable pushing it forward at all.
- By Ash
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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:
- By Ash
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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!
- By Ash
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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."
- By Ash
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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:
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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!
- By Ash
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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!
- By Ash
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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:
- By Ash
- in News
[Update]: Today's patch has been delayed due to overwhelming criticism. More information will be coming "soon".
MTG Arena devs have just released their State of the Beta update, and to say it has caused a bit of a controversy would be a gigantic understatement. To start off with the positives, it is worth mentioning that today's update (December 13th) will bring with it the first iteration of a ranked systems. You'll be able to compete against other players in best-of-one matches, progress through various leagues, and eventually earn a couple of card packs and some gold for your troubles. Not exactly innovative or particularly rewarding, but for anyone looking for more competitive matches, it's certainly a step in the right direction.
The changes to the constructed best-of-one and best-of-three events, however, are unfortunately just terrible, and I do not use those words lightly. Both events will now cost 600 gold to enter and will reward exactly the same prizes, meaning that playing best-of-three matches is going to take more than twice as long for absolutely no benefit. This alone would be bad enough, but I'm afraid it gets worse.
- By Ash
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After spending a rather long time on the PTR servers, World of Warcraft's Tides of Vengeance update will finally be arriving to the live servers later today. You can expect to see a brand new questline detailing the ongoing war between the Horde and the Alliance, a new Warfront set in Darkshore, as well as Faction Assaults that alter World Quests and provide a variety of new rewards.
If you're more of a PvE player, worry not as this update will also bring in some sweeping changes to the often bemoaned Island Expeditions. The rewards will be getting increased, you will be able to purchase certain items with currency you receive just by playing, enemy spawn rates and positions will be adjusted, and perhaps most importantly of all, the previously bizarre rules for item drops will be removed and you will now only need to win the round for a chance at cosmetic items. I have no idea if these changes will make Island Expeditions any more popular, but it's certainly a solid step in the right direction.