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If you've been away from Monster Hunter: World for a while and you're looking for an excuse to come back, you might be glad to hear that there's currently a couple of events going on, especially on the PC side of things. The past few updates have added new monsters and tempered versions of some of the Elder Dragons, while the latest update has also brought in the rather festive Winter Star event.
Much like the Autumn Harvest Fest, the new Winter Star event has arrived alongside a variety of new quests to complete and items to collect. The Handler has received a new outfit, there's new armor and layered armor to equip your character with, and perhaps most importantly of all, you can now dress up your Palico friend in a charming little snowman costume.
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[Update #2]: Warcraft 3: Reforged has now finally been released, and it's unfortunately a bit of a mixed bag.
[Update]: Blizzard has now revealed that Warcraft 3: Reforged will be released in January 28, 2020!
Warcraft 3: Reforged is set to arrive in about a year, but thankfully the wait won't be all that excruciating as Blizzard has really gone all-in on updating the original Warcraft 3 these past few months. Last time around they rebalanced just about every single unit and hero, while this time they have tweaked some of the outliers and greatly improved how Custom Games are handled.
The Custom Game changes are a bit difficult to summarize, so if you're interested in all of the details you should head on over to the official website. On the other hand, if you're just interested in the latest round of balance changes, here's what you can expect to see:
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If you're tired of the current Hearthstone meta and you're looking for something to help spice up your matches, you might be glad to hear that the next expansion is just around the corner. To be more specific, the overwhelmingly Troll themed Rastakhan's Rumble will be coming to PC and mobile on December 4th.
Much like the last few expansions, Rastakhan's Rumble will offer 135 new cards to collect, Overkill as a brand new keyword to toy around with, as well as a singleplayer event by the name of Rumble Run. Since the cards themselves are by far the most important part of this expansion, I would highly recommend you pay the official list a visit and see what exactly Rastakhan's Rumble has up its sleeves.
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While Total War games have always had diplomacy, in more recent times it has become a nearly meaningless feature. Alliances with the AI rarely result in any sort of coordinated actions, a good portion of the deals are far too basic and easy to break, and most of the time the only way you'll ever be able to get an alliance with someone is by being in a position where you have no benefit from said alliance. Long story short, it's a bit of a mess.
Thankfully, it appears that Total War: Three Kingdoms will be going to great lengths in order to ensure that diplomacy is not only a relevant part of the game, but also one that is fully fleshed out and interesting to toy around with. If you're curious what exactly this entails, allow me to share with you two of the recent previews discussing just that:
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Given the current hubbub about Diablo Immortal and the state of Fallout 76, it would appear that Bethesda has wisely decided to delay their free-to-play and mobile-focused The Elder Scrolls: Blades in order to ensure it launches with as few problems as possible. The exact release date has not been revealed just yet, but according to the brief developer update it will be arriving at some point in early 2019.
If you're currently confused about what The Elder Scrolls: Blades even is, or if you just need a bit of a refresher, allow me to share with you the original announcement video. Have a gander, it'll tell you pretty much everything you need to know:
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The very first episode of Life is Strange 2 arrived a little while ago to almost universal praise, which as you might imagine, has made players quite anxious to get their hands on the second episode. Unfortunately, it would appear that we're all going to have to wait for a little while longer as Dontnod has now announced that Life is Strange 2: Episode 2 will be arriving in January 2019.
"The Life is Strange series is a project close to all of our hearts and one for which we do not want to rush development and thereby fail to meet the benchmark of quality and emotional impact that you, our players, deserve," reads the brief developer update. "This is why we so far have not announced an official release date - we want to ensure that we will be in a position to release something that we are proud of and that you will enjoy and remember forever."
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In an effort to correct some of Fallout 76's problems, Bethesda has recently announced that two large updates will be coming over the course of the next two weeks. The first one will arrive this December 4th and bring with it improvements to boss loot and various quality of life changes, while the December 11th update will work on enhancing the C.A.M.P. system while also adding further bug fixes and tweaks.
The exact details for the December 11th update have not been released just yet, but I am glad to say that Bethesda has now revealed the full patch notes for the upcoming December 4th update. Here's what you can expect to see:
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If you ever found yourself wondering whether all of the various publisher-exclusive storefronts have had a significant impact on Steam's success, it would appear that the answer is yes. The reason I say this is because Valve has just announced that they have implemented significantly better revenue sharing tiers for highly successful games.
So instead of the 70%/30% split that has been standard across Steam since its inception, the new revenue tiers will be 75%/25% for games that have earned more than $10M, and 80%/20% for games that have managed to garner more than $50M. As for what exactly "revenue" includes, Valve has clarified that it's a combination of game sales, package sales, in-game sales, and even Community Marketplace fees.
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[Update]: They Are Billions has now fully released from Steam Early Access alongside a new singleplayer campaign.
They Are Billions is a steampunk strategy game where you have to gather resources in order to build up mighty defenses and a powerful military, all in an effort to stop an innumerable swarm of zombies from tearing through your walls and feasting on all of your citizens. As you might imagine from that description alone, the map layout and the amount of available resources can drastically change you strategy and result in some wildly different gameplay experiences, for better or worse.
With that in mind, I am very glad to announce that the developers have now added a fully fledged Custom Level Editor. So if you're up for creating and sharing your very own maps, or just checking out some of the community-made ones, you should head on over to the They Are Billions Steam Workshop.
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Time and time again Carbine Studios have attempted to breathe new life into WildStar, but unfortunately even transitioning to a free-to-play model did little to help the struggling MMORPG. And now, four years after its original launch, I am saddened to announce that both WildStar and its developers Carbine Studios have closed down their doors for good.
"Carbine would like to thank all of the players who made planet Nexus such a special place over the last four and a half years," reads the brief farewell message. "We will always remember you."