- By Ash
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It has been rumored for quite a while now that Microsoft is planning to acquire Obsidian Entertainment (Pillars of Eternity, Fallout: New Vegas, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2), so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to hear that the deal has now gone through successfully. What might come as a rather big surprise is that Microsoft has also suddenly acquired inXile Entertainment (Wasteland 2, Torment: Tides of Numenera, The Bard's Tale IV)!
What exactly this means for the future of both studios, nobody currently knows, but chances are that both inXile and Obsidian will continue on with their previous plans for the time being. After all, Microsoft has had a pretty hands-off relationship with Compulsion Games and their latest game We Happy Few, so I wouldn't be too worried about the future of Wasteland 3. Once the current projects are completed, however, odds are that both inXile and Obsidian will be set to work on Xbox One and Windows exclusive games.
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Unlike some of the previous heroes that have taken an eternity in order to hit the live servers, it would appear that Overwatch's 29th hero Ashe will have a significantly faster journey. She became available on the PTR a mere few days following her big Blizzcon 2018 reveal, and now that the PTR has concluded after only 7 days of testing, it's expected that Ashe will arrive to both PC and console later today (November 13th).
Naturally, none of this has been officially confirmed just yet, but pretty much all of the telltale signs are there: Overwatch is currently pre-loading a brand new update, Tuesday is when Blizzard usually patches their games, the PTR version of Ashe didn't have any noticeable bugs, and perhaps most importantly, the last few heroes were released in a similar fashion. So while I would still recommend being cautiously optimistic, I think it's fairly safe to say that Ashe will be making her debut today.
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If you have a bit of free time and a passion for co-op focused games, you might be interested to hear that Destiny 2 is currently being given away for free. All you need to do is log into Blizzard's Battle.net, accept the gift prompt that appears on the top right of the Battle.net window, and you'll be ready to blaze through hordes of aliens after a rather sizable download.
The only thing you need to worry about is that this offer will expire on November 18th, so do make sure to grab it as soon as possible, just to be on the safe side. You don't even need to immediately install it. Simply register Destiny 2 to your account and you'll be able to download and play it whenever you want.
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Ever since it first launched, Overwatch has enjoyed a continuous stream of updates and tweaks. We have received numerous balance changes, new maps and heroes, new game modes and systems, and with the latest World Cup Viewer, even a brief glimpse at replays and spectating.
While all of these are certainly positive additions that have made Overwatch stand the test of time with ease, they have also unfortunately caused a rather significant drop in performance. This is most noticeable on some of the newer maps like Blizzard World as certain areas can cause your FPS to fluctuate wildly no matter how strong your PC might be. Thankfully, according to the latest announcement from Blizzard, all these problems will soon be a matter of the past.
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Total War: Warhammer 2's Curse of the Vampire Coast DLC has now arrived onto Steam, bringing with it a lovely combination of zombie pirates, crazy vampires, nautical nightmares, and naturally, a giant sea dragon. In gameplay terms you can expect to see four new Legendary Lords to play around with, Lore of the Deep as a new school of magic, upgradeable ships for each of your captains, a new infamy mechanic that ties in with the whole pirate theme, and perhaps most importantly of all, the ability to assemble the Star-Metal Harpoon in order to control the gigantic Merwyrm Amnar!
If you're wondering what all of this looks like in actual gameplay, allow me to share with you two of the latest previews. The first one is the short reveal video for the Vampire Coast faction, while the second one is a significantly lengthier campaign walkthrough. Have a gander, they're both good fun:
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While MTG Arena is without a doubt a great game, it does currently have a couple of really annoying issues. At the very top of this list is something that I was genuinely shocked to hear was missing, and that is the ability to challenge friends to a duel - the most common and enjoyable way of playing Magic: the Gathering. Thankfully, this will not be a problem for long as the developers have just announced that the Direct Challenge feature will be coming this November 15th!
The way it will all work is fairly simple, as you would expect. Both of you will need to have a deck that's at least 60 cards in size, after which you'll be able to battle it out to your heart's content. The only real limitation of the new Direct Challenge mode is that you will not be able to use it to progress your daily quests, for obvious reasons.
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Vermintide 2's recent Big Balance Beta update tweaked, rebalanced or simply reworked just about every single career, enemy and weapon in the game. Given the sheer scale of the changes, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to hear that while the update has greatly improved certain weapons and playstyles, it has also made a bit of a mess with some of the other ones.
In order to correct these issues, as well as bring the Big Balance Beta update one step closer to a full release, Fatshark has now issued yet another batch of balance changes. The list is fairly large so if you're interested in all of the details you should head on over to the official website, but for now, allow me to share some of the more major tweaks:
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Despite playing a crucial part in the Battle for Azeroth storyline, both the Zandalari Troll and Kul Tiran Human allied races are unfortunately still unavailable. While Blizzard has not yet revealed when exactly the two popular races will finally become playable, they have at least now announced which racial traits they will have, as well as what assortment of classes they will have access to.
Since there is no easy way for me to summarize this without making a list, allow me to do just that. So if you're curious about what exactly the Zandalari Trolls and Kul Tiran Humans will be able to offer, I welcome you to have a look:
- By Ash
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I'm sure this won't come as much of a surprise given that the big reveal was accidentally leaked just ahead of Blizzcon, but Hearthstone's next stop will be the Stranglethorn Arena with the Rastakhan's Rumble expansion. As is tradition, the upcoming expansion will bring with it 135 new cards, a singleplayer adventure, as well as a variety of interesting mechanics to toy around with.
For example, you can expect to see new cards with the "Overkill" tag that gives them a special benefit whenever they kill a minion by dealing more than its health in damage. Given that this is a Troll themed expansion, there will naturally be numerous legendary Loa minions to help you turn the tides, as well as a brand new minion type called Spirits that are stealthed for one turn after being played.
- By Ash
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While many people were skeptical when Overkill, the studio behind the Payday series, announced that they are working on a zombie-infested co-op shooter, I must admit I was actually pretty excited as they've already proven they know how to make a fun co-op focused game. After all, zombie shooters might be a bit out of fashion these days, but there's still plenty of unique and interesting gameplay ideas that can be utilized to really stand out from the crowd.
Well, Overkill's The Walking Dead has managed to do just that, but unfortunately it stands out for all the wrong reasons. Despite being in development for quite a few years now, it has just released onto Steam in what I can only describe as an unfinished state. I won't go as far as to call it a bad game, because it really does show potential in a few key areas, but as of right now Overkill's The Walking Dead is not something I would recommend you grab, and especially not for the €50 asking price. A real shame since I was genuinely looking forward to a 'proper' Left 4 Dead 2 competitor.