Ubisoft is celebrating The Division 2’s Episode 2 arrival by offering a free-to-play weekend through Sunday, October 20 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. To take part in the fun on Xbox One, you need an Xbox Live Gold or Game Pass Ultimate subscription. PS4 players don’t need an active PlayStation Plus subscription, though. PC users can download the free trial at either the Epic Games Store or Uplay Store. During the free weekend, The Division 2 is also on sale at the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, Uplay Store, and Epic Games Store.

Episode 2 adds three new endgame missions to The Division 2’s story. It’s available now for Year 1 Pass owners, but it won’t be live for all players until October 22. That means if you improbably marathoned the campaign during the free weekend, you wouldn’t be able to play the missions added in Episode 2. But if you like what you play, you can pick up any of the three editions of The Division 2 for a great price.

Xbox One

• The Division 2 — $21 ($60)
• The Division 2 Gold Edition — $30 ($100)
• The Division 2 Ultimate Edition — $36 ($120)

PlayStation 4

• The Division 2 — $27 ($60)
• The Division 2 Gold Edition — $40 ($100)
• The Division 2 Ultimate Edition — $48 ($120)

PC

• The Division 2 — $21 ($60)
• The Division 2 Gold Edition — $30 ($100)
• The Division 2 Ultimate Edition — $36 ($120)

On Xbox One, the free weekend is part of Microsoft’s Free Play Days. If you’re an Xbox Live Gold or Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, you can also play a pair of 4X strategy games, Stellaris and Age of Wonders: Planetfall, for free this weekend and get discounts on each game should you choose to buy them. Age of Wonders: Planetfall is $40 (was $50), and Stellaris is $28 (was $40).

See Stellaris: Console Edition at Microsoft Store

See Age of Wonders: Planetfall at Microsoft Store

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/one-of-2019s-best-games-is-free-to-play-this-weeke/1100-6470702/

Despite Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order utilizing a “thoughtful” combat system similar to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Respawn does not want for the game to utilize From Software’s traditional one difficulty formula. Instead, Fallen Order has four difficulty levels, and you can switch between them at any point in the game to create your ideal experience.

“What we needed to get right first was the lightsaber,” Fallen Order lead level designer Jeff Magers said, according to PC Gamer. “A lightsaber is, for me at least, the most exciting thing in the Star Wars universe, and it’s kind of the dream to make a lightsaber game. So we really wanted to nail that lightsaber combat first, which to us meant making it feel like [the] powerful dangerous weapon it is. So we started with a Stormtrooper taking one hit, which is difficult in a melee game because a lot of times what feels good in a melee game is hitting a character multiple times.”

In Fallen Order, some enemies can dodge or deflect your attacks, forcing you to swing at enemies multiple times. But regardless of the difficulty, one clean slice will always kill a Stormtrooper. Changing the in-game difficulty will adjust how enemies behave–not give them more health. It’s not a game-changing concept, but it’s still exciting to play.

“So one of our core tenants of the difficulty tuning was not changing the number of hit points enemies have based on difficulty,” Magers said. “On Grandmaster, you can still kill a Stormtrooper in one hit. What we’re tuning is the enemy aggression. We’re tuning the size of the parry window, the difficulty of these abilities to pull off. There’s a really rewarding mastery loop in those higher difficulties.”

On the Story difficulty, Cal takes little damage, you have plenty of time to parry, and enemies aren’t all that aggressive–even if their personality dictates they’re a confident trooper. Go to Jedi Knight and the parry window doesn’t change, but Cal takes more damage and enemies are more aggressive. Jedi Master is where you finally see a bump up in terms of the parry window. Jedi Grandmaster sees boosts to all three categories, forcing you to perfectly time your parries for any chance of holding your own in the fights against highly aggressive enemies that do large amounts of damage.

If you want to pre-order Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, you have less than a month to do so. The game has officially gone gold, so it’s on track to release for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on November 15.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/star-wars-jedi-fallen-order-has-four-difficulties-/1100-6470697/

Blizzard’s controversial decision to punish a professional Hearthstone player for expressing support for Hong Kong protests in a post-match interview already received widespread outcry from several sources, including members of Congress. Now five sitting Senators and Representatives have taken a new step, penning a joint bipartisan letter to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick urging the company to reconsider.

The letter from the office of Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) was co-signed by Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), as well as House of Representatives members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Mike Gallagher (R-WI), and Tom Malinowski (D-NJ). The letter is dated October 18, well after Blizzard partially reversed its punishment against the player, Ng Wai Chung aka Blitzchung. Notably, the letter references the initial punishment rather than the revised one.

“As China amplifies its campaign of intimidation, you and your company must decide whether to look beyond the bottom line and promote American values–like freedom of speech and thought–or to give in to Beijing’s demands in order to preserve market access,” the letter states. “We urge you in the strongest terms to reconsider your decision with respect to Mr. Chung. You have the opportunity to reverse course. We urge you to take it.”

You can read the letter in full below.

The controversy began when Chung spoke out in support of the Hong Kong protesters during a post-match interview. He was subsequently stripped of his $10,000 in winnings and banned from competitive play for a year. This quickly received backlash, with many interpreting the move as conceding to China’s market pressure. In a revised ruling, Blizzard returned the prize money and reduced the ban to six months. Blizzard also stated that it was not punishing Chung for speaking out on Hong Kong specifically.

Since then, Blizzard has also banned a team that protested in solidarity, giving them equal punishment to Blitzchung. That appeared meant to resolve their criticism that they were not given equal punishment for the same offense. Gamers have also called for boycotts of Blizzard’s other games and a protest at BlizzCon, and the company cancelled a planned Overwatch launch event at the Nintendo World Store.

GameSpot has contacted Activision for comment.

Dear Mr. Kotick:

We write to express our deep concern about Activision Blizzard’s decision to make player Ng Wai Chung forfeit prize money and ban him from participating in tournaments for a year after he voiced support for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. This decision is particularly concerning in light of the Chinese government’s growing appetite for pressuring American businesses to help stifle free speech.

Activision Blizzard benefits from China’s growing market for e-sports, along with an investment from Tencent, one of China’s largest technology firms. As you and your company are no doubt aware, the Chinese government uses the size and strength of its economy to suppress opinions with which it disagrees. Last week alone, the Chinese government targeted Apple for hosting an app to help peaceful demonstrators evade repression and the National Basketball Association because one team’s general manager tweeted in support of Hong Kong protests.

Your company claims to stand by “one’s right to express individual thoughts and opinions,” yet many of your own employees believe that Activision Blizzard’s decision to punish Mr. Chung runs counter to those values. Because your company is such a pillar of the gaming industry, your disappointing decision could have a chilling effect on gamers who seek to use their platform to promote human rights and basic freedoms. Indeed, many gamers around the world have taken notice of your company’s actions, understandably calling for boycotts of Activision Blizzard gaming sites.

As China amplifies its campaign of intimidation, you and your company must decide whether to look beyond the bottom line and promote American values–like freedom of speech and thought–or to give into Beijing’s demands in order to preserve market access. We urge you in the strongest terms to reconsider your decision with respect to Mr. Chung. You have the opportunity to reverse course. We urge you to take it.

Sincerely,

Ron Wyden

United States Senator

Marco Rubio

United States Senator

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Member of Congress

Mike Gallagher

Member of Congress

Tom Malinowski

Member of Congress

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/congress-criticizes-blizzards-hong-kong-player-ban/1100-6470692/

Activision has divulged details about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare‘s multiplayer progression system. While it sounds fairly straightforward, developer Infinity Ward has implemented a new way to rank up.

The publisher shared a blog post outlining how player progression works when Modern Warfare launches on October 25 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Modern Warfare will feature two progression tracks: Enlisted and Officer ranks.

Gaining experience–by completing weapon camo challenges, multiplayer matches, special operations and missions, daily challenges, and challenge missions–will increase your Enlisted rank. There are 55 Enlisted ranks to reach, each unlocking new weapons, equipment, perks, field upgrades, and killstreaks. Like previous Call of Duty titles, loadout options are limited until reaching Private IV (Rank 4), which unlocks the customizable loadout feature.

Modern Warfare will feature a brand-new seasonal Officer ranking system. Tied to new seasons, the Officer progression track comes with 100 ranks to go through. A weapon blueprint is unlocked when you reach Officer Rank 1, and each level unlocks a special Officer Challenge. These challenges reward with plenty of experience but also a special Seasonal Ribbon upon completion. Earning 10 ribbons unlocks a special Season Emblem, with every 10 levels changing that emblem. You earn an animated emblem after collecting all 100 ribbons; doing so also nets you another weapon blueprint.

Officer ranks reset with each season, but the achievements, cosmetics, and rewards are unlocked permanently. Enlisted ranks never reset.

Preloading for Modern Warfare is not available on PS4 and Xbox One. PC players will have to wait until October 22.

Activision has laid out its post-launch plans for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, confirming that the first-person shooter will use a battle pass to release additional content. This follows Infinity Ward’s Joel Emslie opting to not implement loot boxes in Modern Warfare.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/heres-how-call-of-duty-modern-warfares-multiplayer/1100-6470686/

Respawn has announced that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has gone gold. The game is now officially ready for launch, just ahead of its November 15 release window on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

After getting a few hours of hands-on with Fallen Order at a preview event, we’re excited. The Star Wars game doesn’t feel like a game changer, but Cal Kestis’ journey as a Jedi Padawan, Fallen Order’s “thoughtful combat,” and the Metroid Prime influences mesh together very well.

Our time with Fallen Order saw Cal travel to several planets–including Dathomir, which has major ties to The Clone Wars animated series characters Darth Maul and Asajj Ventress. Fallen Order will actually allow you to attempt to explore the dangerous planet fairly early on in its campaign, but the native Zebraks–the Nightbrothers–will prove to be overwhelming foes to those who haven’t gotten the swing of the game’s lightsaber combat.

If you’re thinking of pre-ordering Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order for PC, be sure to check out the game’s minimum and recommended PC specs ahead of time to ensure your machine can run the game. We’ve listed both sets of specs below. If you pre-order Fallen Order, you’ll automatically get a new saber color for Cal’s lightsaber, as well as cosmetic items for the lightsaber hilt and BD-1, Cal’s droid companion.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order PC Specs

Minimum Requirements

• OS: 64-bit Windows 7/8.1/10
• Processor (AMD): FX-6100 or Equivalent
• Processor (Intel): i3-3220 or Equivalent
• Memory: 8 GB
• Graphics card (AMD): Radeon HD 7750 or Equivalent
• Graphics card (NVIDIA): GeForce GTX 650 or Equivalent
• DirectX: 11 Compatible video card or equivalent
• Hard-drive space: 55 GB

Recommended Requirements

• OS: 64-bit Windows 7/8.1/10
• Processor (AMD): Ryzen 7 1700 or Equivalent
• Processor (Intel): i7-6700K or Equivalent
• Memory: 16 GB
• Graphics card (AMD): RX Vega 56 or Equivalent
• Graphics card (NVIDIA): GTX 1070 or Equivalent
• DirectX: 11 Compatible video card or equivalent
• Hard-drive space: 55 GB

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/star-wars-jedi-fallen-order-has-gone-gold/1100-6470683/