Fortnite Added The Controversial B.R.U.T.E. Mechs To Help Players Who Were Struggling To Earn Eliminations

A new post on Fortnite’s website, credited to ‘The Fortnite Team’, explains why the B.R.U.T.E. mechs were added to the game and the impact they’ve had so far.

The post acknowledges that the mechs have been controversial, but explains that they were added because one of the goals of Fortnite is “to bring players of all skill levels together to have a fun experience where anyone can win.” The random nature of the mechs, which could give any player a massive unexpected advantage, gives less-experienced players a greater chance of racking up eliminations, or even a Victory Royale. “Right now, we know there are players out there who have never had that opportunity,” the post says. They also want to provide “spectacle and entertainment”, which means trying new things and introducing interesting wrinkles.

The post also contains two charts, showing how many eliminations B.R.U.T.E. mechs are typically racking up during a match, both as a number and then as a percentage of total kills.

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These two charts show that the mechs, while significant, are not necessarily dominant in an average match of the game. “B.R.U.T.E. encounters should feel like a unique engagement and not be the dominant experience during a game,” the post says. The B.R.U.T.E. was adjusted slightly in update 10.10, and now has an aiming laser so other players can see where they are pointing. They’ve also been tweaked to spawn less often in competitive Arena modes, hence the much lower percentages we see in the charts above.

Fortnite’s tenth season is likely to run until early October.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fortnite-added-the-controversial-brute-mechs-to-he/1100-6469131/

Yooka-Laylee And The Impossible Lair Is Releasing In October

Playtonic has, in its own cheeky way, announced a release window for Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, the upcoming second game in the series.

The game will release in October, although a specific day within October has not been clarified. The news came via a video tweeted out by the official Playtonic Twitter account, along with the caption “Good things are coming in October…” In a follow-up tweet, the developer said that the music in the original video was from a new Grant Kirkhope track that will be released in full next week.

The new game, announced in June, is a 2.5D platformer created by many of the key talents who were behind the original Donkey Kong Country. It’ll mix platforming and puzzles, and a sidescrolling platforming sections with a 3D top-down overworld. If it’s anything like the original Yooka-Laylee, it’ll be full of retro throwbacks. The game is coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC.

In her 6/10 review of the original Yooka-Laylee, Kallie Plagge said that “despite attempts at modernizing the formula, its style of gameplay is still outdated, and it doesn’t stay challenging or interesting for long as a result.”

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/yooka-laylee-and-the-impossible-lair-is-releasing-/1100-6469130/

These All-In-One Gaming PCs Are Up To $1,000 Off (US)

All-in-one gaming desktops offer convenience and ease when it comes to stepping into the PC gaming world, but they often come with a steep price tag. If you’ve been looking for a good sale, then Corsair‘s latest on its refurbished, all-in-one PCs is worth taking a look at. The PC parts manufacturer has a slew of refurbished PCs that are up to $1,000 cheaper than their brand-new counterparts.

The selection of refurbished PCs includes a GTX 1070, 1080, or 1080 Ti graphics card and come loaded with an i7-8700k, i7-7700k, or i7-7700 CPU. On top of that, they all come equipped with DDR4 RAM, in addition to an SSD and HDD of varying sizes depending on the model. You can take a look at the case each model comes with below.

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See all discounted PCs at Corsair

As for the price range, the most expensive PC comes in at $2,200 USD, down from $3,000, while the least expensive is down to $1,300 from $1,800. You can see a breakdown of their specs at the bottom of this article or check out Corsair’s website for all of the refurbished, all-in-one PCs.

The desktops in this sale are only available for shipping within the United States. Standard shipping comes free with any of these PCs, while express will cost a little extra.

Corsair One Elite – $2,200 ($3,000)

See it at Corsair

  • CPU: i7-8700k
  • GPU: GTX 1080 Ti
  • Memory: 32 GB DDR4-2666 RAM
  • Storage: 480 GB SSD, 2 TB HDD

Corsair One – $1,300 ($1,800)

See it at Corsair

  • CPU: i7-7700
  • GPU: GTX 1070
  • Memory: 16 GB DDR4-2400 RAM
  • Storage: 240 GB SSD, 1 TB HDD

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/these-all-in-one-gaming-pcs-are-up-to-1000-off-us/1100-6469126/

Fortnite Cube Memorial Locations Guide (Season 10 Challenge)

Epic has rolled out a new set of Season X challenges for Fortnite: Battle Royale. This week’s batch of tasks is called Worlds Collide, a reference to Season 5’s tagline, and many of the challenges revolve around elements from that season, such as the infamous purple cube known affectionately by the community as Kevin. The cube has returned–sort of–in one of this week’s tasks, which asks you to visit a cube memorial in the desert or by a lake. Here’s where to find one and how to complete the challenge.

Where Are The Cube Memorial Locations?

There are two memorials to Kevin the cube around the island, both in places the cube visited when it first appeared on the island back in Season 5. The first can be found on a plateau to the southwest of Paradise Palms, where it originally materialized, while the second is located near Loot Lake, which the cube infamously plunged into and transformed at the end of Season 5. We’ve marked down both cube memorial locations on the map below.

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How To Complete The Challenge

Once you know where the cube memorials are located, you only need to visit one of them in order to complete the challenge, so pick your preferred spot and glide there at the beginning of a match for the quickest results. However, if you’re hoping to clear the Prestige version of this challenge, you’ll need to visit both memorials within a single match. Your best bet for that is to start at the desert; if you’re lucky, an ATK will spawn nearby, allowing you to make your way to the other memorial quickly.

You can watch us complete the standard version of the challenge in the video above. You can also find other tips and guides for this season’s trickier missions in our Fortnite Season X challenges roundup. We’ll continue to update that list as the season progresses, so be sure to check back for our latest Fortnite coverage.

Fortnite Season X Coverage

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fortnite-cube-memorial-locations-guide-season-10-c/1100-6469128/

July 2019’s Best-Selling Games Have Been Revealed; Can You Guess What’s No. 1?

The NPD Group today released its monthly sales chart for July 2019, revealing the best-selling games and consoles of the month in the US. There are pretty much no surprises in the report, though there are several notable takeaways and key points to consider.

Starting with game sales, Madden NFL 20 was the best-selling title across all platforms. It is a notable achievement given that the game’s official release date was August 2, just one day before the NPD’s July reporting period ended on August 3. According to the NPD Group, 2019 marks the 20th straight year that the year’s Madden release was No. 1 during its launch month.

No sales numbers of Madden NFL 20 were announced (the NPD report never shares actual sales numbers for any games) but Electronic Arts separately shared some additional insight. The company said it sold more digital copies of Madden NFL 20 during its launch-week than physical ones; that’s the first time in history that’s happened.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses was No. 2 in July 2019; it recorded the highest first-month sales for a Fire Emblem game of all time in the US. Very importantly, digital sales for Three Houses are not included, but whether or not including those would have been enough to unseat Madden as No. 1 is unknown. First-month sales of Three Houses tripled the sales of the previous record-holder, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Three Houses now trails only Fire Emblem: Awakening in terms of lifetime US sales.

Rounding out the top five best-sellers for July 2019 were Super Mario Maker 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, Minecraft, and Grand Theft Auto V. Mortal Kombat 11, which was released in April, sold well again in July (finishing No. 8), and the game remains the best-selling title overall for 2019 so far in the US.

You can see a list of July 2019’s top-selling games at the bottom of this post.

Total spending on games during July 2019 came out to $340 million, which is up 34 percent compared to the same month last year. The big uptick was due primarily to the fact that Madden NFL 20 was released during the July reporting period (July 7-August 3) this year compared to the historical release during the August tracking period.

Looking at 2019 so far, total spending on games has reached $2.9 billion, with Switch and PlayStation 4 (but not Xbox One) seeing sales growth.

Moving to hardware, the Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console platform in July; it’s been on top for months now, and the hybrid consoles is still 2019’s overall best-selling platform over PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (which are relatively much older).

Total spending on consoles in July 2019 dropped 22 percent to $169 million, while total hardware sales for 2019 so far are down 21 percent to $1.5 billion. Every console platform experienced declines in July, and on a year-to-date basis, only the Switch is growing. This is all mostly to be expected, as the PS4 and Xbox One are in the final stages of their lifecycles with next-generation systems expected to release in Holiday 2020. It’s a historical pattern for sales to not only decline over time but especially so when new platforms are announced as consumers hold off their purchases in anticipation of the new boxes coming out.

Total spending on video games–comprising consoles, games, and accessories–amounted to $762 million for July 2019 in the US; that’s up “slightly” from $759 million in July 2018. On a year-to-date basis, total spending fell 4 percent to $6.4 billion.

July 2019 Top Selling Games

  1. Madden NFL 20^
  2. Fire Emblem: Three Houses*
  3. Super Mario Maker 2*
  4. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order*
  5. Minecraft#
  6. Grand Theft Auto V
  7. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
  8. Mortal Kombat 11
  9. Mario Kart 8*
  10. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*

*Digital sales not included

^PC digital sales not included

#Minecraft digital sales on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One included

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/july-2019s-best-selling-games-have-been-revealed-c/1100-6469127/

PSA: Transferring Nintendo Switch Data To A New Console Is A Whole Thing

The new Nintendo Switch with a better battery life is out in the wild–identifiable by its bright red box. A trade-in offer at GameStop makes it relatively cheap to upgrade. But as a number of would-be customers have wondered or pointed out, transferring your Nintendo Switch data can be quite the process, and there’s no guarantee a retailer will cooperate to help you do it.

First, despite the cloud save backup offered by the Nintendo Switch Online service, this isn’t the same as having your entire profile and user data stored on the cloud, and a number of games aren’t compatible with cloud saves. The most foolproof way of transferring all of your data to a new Switch is to use the recommended transfer system, which requires having both consoles along with a number of other implements.

As detailed on the Nintendo Help site, both consoles will need to be updated to system 4.0.0 or higher, and they both need to be connected to the Internet. According to CNET’s Ashley Esqueda, you also need two AC adapters since both Nintendo Switches need to be plugged in. Once you migrate your data from the source console to the target console, you can no longer access the user information, save data, or software purchases on the source console.

In short, this would mean that to pull off the full transfer in a GameStop store, you would need the store manager to allow you to open the new console, plug in both systems, connect to WiFi, perform the transfer, and then trade in the old console toward the purchase of the new one that you’ve already opened. Esqueda found a store willing to allow her to do all this, but your mileage may vary.

Alternatively, you can purchase a new console, go home to perform the transfer, and then bring the old one back for $225 in store credit, or $185 in cash. That makes the deal a bit less appealing, since it requires you to eat the cost for store credit or accept less in trade value.

GameSpot has reached out to GameStop regarding this offer and how customers could more easily make the swap.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/psa-transferring-nintendo-switch-data-to-a-new-con/1100-6469125/

Persona 5 Royal Screenshots feature more Phantom Thieves, Jose, new Third Semester and Palace

Persona 5 Royal Screenshots feature more Phantom Thieves, Jose, new Third Semester and Palace

Several more images and artworks of the newest version of Persona 5

source /news/8835-persona-5-royal-screenshots-feature-more-phantom-thieves-jose-new-third-semester-and-palace

Fortnite Rift Zone Locations: Where To Visit Rift Zones Guide (Season 10 Challenge)

A new batch of Season X challenges has arrived in Fortnite: Battle Royale. This week’s set is dubbed Worlds Collide, a callback to the tagline of Season 5, and its tasks fittingly revolve around objects from that season, such as rifts. One of the challenges asks you to visit a Rift Zone. If you’re not sure where those can be found, we’ve put together this map and guide to help you out.

Where Are The Rift Zone Locations?

Rift Zones were one of the new environmental features introduced at the start of Season X, and they’re capable of transforming an area of the island–as we saw earlier this week, when a Rift Zone reverted Mega Mall to Retail Row following the game’s 10.10 update. There are only two Rift Zones thus far–one at the aforementioned Retail Row, the other at Tilted Town–although more may crop up as the season progresses. In the meantime, you can see where all of the current Rift Zones are located on the map below.

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How To Complete The Challenge

Once you know where the Rift Zones are located, this challenge is simply a matter of going to that area. You only need to visit one of the zones to complete the task, so pick an area, then glide there at the start of a match to clear the challenge. You can watch us do the mission in the video at the top of this guide.

It’s important to note that this challenge is unrelated to another one from the Worlds Collide set that asks you to use a Rift. To complete that one, you’ll need to find a Rift and activate it to warp to a different part of the map. There are several of those scattered around the island; we’ve jotted down their locations below.

  • On a hill east of Pleasant Park, near the Durr Burger head
  • In the middle of Loot Lake
  • On an icy island in the southwestern corner of the map
  • East of the Viking Village, just north of the frozen lake
  • Just north of Paradise Palms

Be sure to also check out our full Fortnite Season X challenges roundup, which we’ll continue to update as this season progresses with additional tips and guides for Fortnite’s trickier missions.

Fortnite Season X Coverage

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fortnite-rift-zone-locations-where-to-visit-rift-z/1100-6469120/

Nintendo World Championships Set To Air On CBS This Month

If you missed the Nintendo World Championships that streamed ahead of E3 2019, then you’re in luck. CBS has partnered with television show ELeague to bring the championship series directly to your TV screen later this month.

The Nintendo World Championship series, which streamed on June 8, will air on Sunday, August 25 at 10 AM PT / 12 PM CST / 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST. Two more episodes of the series will broadcast a couple weeks later on September 7 at 11 AM PT / 1 PM CST / 2 PM ET / 7 PM BST and September 14 at 10:30 AM PT / 12:30 PM CST / 1:30 PM ET / 6:30 PM BST.

This year’s Nintendo World Championships was comprised of three tentpole Nintendo Switch games: Splatoon 2, Super Mario Maker 2, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Each game consisted of set matches and rules where players compete to be crowned the champion. The full, nearly seven-hour livestream can be viewed on Nintendo’s official YouTube channel.

All three titles have received some fairly recent updates. Not long after Dragon Quest’s Hero DLC release, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate saw a new patch that significantly changed many of the game’s fighters. Super Mario Maker 2’s previous 32-level upload limit has been doubled, allowing you to share upwards of 64 levels online instead. Though Splatoon 2 won’t get anymore Splatfest’s for the foreseeable future, the game’s new update introduced a Splatfest option to private battles.

Bringing this year’s Nintendo World Championship series to TV isn’t the first partnership between CBS and ELeague. The two worked together on a three-part Super Smash. Bros Ultimate Invitational 2018 series, which aired in the same year.

Disclosure: CBS is the parent company of GameSpot.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-world-championships-set-to-air-on-cbs-thi/1100-6469124/