Microsoft’s Xbox One and PC shooter Gears 5 is releasing a new update that addresses one of the biggest pieces of feedback from the community so far.

The new update, which is releasing on October 7, addresses the impact and the nature of flashbangs. Fans have remarked that flashbangs are too powerful, and as such, “it’s time to make some changes,” Microsoft said in a blog post.

“Flashbangs are intended to fulfill the role Smokes used to fill in Gears 2-4 as a way to flush opponents from strong defensive positions and force the fight,” Microsoft said. “This is a critical part of what allows modern Gears to work, but not at the sake of a good gameplay experience.”

The changes coming to Flashbangs will reduced the time the impacted player is blinded to become a “very small window of denied vision.” Specifically, the blinded time is dropping from 1 second to .3 seconds. This will allow the oncoming player a “tiny moment of opportunity to make their initial move.”

“While the stun length remains the same, players will now be able to better react and reposition to incoming fights after taking a Flashbang hit,” Microsoft said.

Another big change coming to Gears 5 multiplayer is that all players will begin matches with one Smoke grenade. “Smokes are integral part of the Gears 5 meta that deny critical vision, allowing for pushes and flanks that otherwise could be difficult in certain situations,” Microsoft said. “To encourage their use more–and potentially reduce the volume of Flashbangs used in a match–players will spawn with a Smoke by default and need to select Flashes when picking their loadout before spawning.”

Another update, coming in mid-October, will make even more changes to Flashbangs. With that update, Flashes will no longer work if the other player is in cover.

“This will make the positioning of Flashbangs far more important in order to flush an opponent from cover. This will reduce instances where opponents can just throw it in carelessly and still get rewarded,” Microsoft said.

Elsewhere in the blog post, Microsoft said it looked into an issue causing players in Europe to suffer with higher-than-normal pings. The team released a “silent” update, and this seemed to have worked. “From initial reports and volume of conversation, this change seems to have dramatically improved the situation for EU players,” Microsoft said. “We know it took some time to get there–longer than any of us would like–and we want to thank you for all your patience as we discerned the problem in our new matchmaking system.”

Microsoft acknowledged that players in other parts of the world, including South Africa, are still experiencing matchmaking problems. The studio said it “found a solution” already, and it will release more information about the fix soon.

In other news, a new Hive–The Wanderer–is coming to Gears 5 with the weekly reset on Tuesday, October 7, while the next Double XP weekend will run for Escape mode October 12-14.

For lots more on what’s new in Gears 5 this week, head to the Gears website. And for more on Gears 5 in general, check out GameSpot’s Gears 5 review and a new feature below.

• I’m Still Waiting On Gears Of War’s Story To Grow Up

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gears-5-update-makes-big-changes-to-flashbangs/1100-6470399/

Apex Legends‘ Lifeline is the third character to receive an heirloom, a special item that gives them a unique melee animation. According to dataminers, the heirloom is a pair of taser drumsticks–which does fit Lifeline very well–but Respawn has not officially revealed what the heirloom looks like. The developer has, however, revealed how you can earn the legendary item.

In comparison to the first two heirlooms, Lifeline’s is probably the easiest to acquire. It’s still expensive though. Like previous heirlooms, you can just randomly get it from Apex Packs. However, during Apex Legends’ upcoming limited-time Halloween-themed event, Fight or Fright, you can earn the heirloom for free if you unlock all 24 event items–12 of which are epic and 12 of which are legendary.

There are three ways to unlock these items. The fastest is through direct purchase, but you can also craft each item or acquire them in the Fight or Fright’s limited-time event Apex Packs. The direct purchase route is going to cost you, as will the crafting route if you haven’t been hoarding the Crafting Metals you’ve earned from Apex Packs. We suggest using those routes if you only want a few, specific items from the event. If you’re going for the heirloom, the less expensive path is through the event Apex Packs (as you’re guaranteed one event item in each one with no duplicates), but that will still set you back 16,800 Apex Coins–about $160 USD.

The breakdown of how much each item costs is listed below.

Direct Purchase

• Legendaries – 1,800 Apex Coins
• Epics – 1,000 Apex Coins

Crafting

• Legendaries – 2,400 Crafting Metals
• Epics – 800 Crafting Metals

Event Apex Packs

• 700 Apex Coins

As expensive as the Lifeline heirloom is, it’s actually cheaper than Bloodhound’s heirloom (which cost 18,900 Apex Coins during the Iron Crown event; about $180 USD) and costs significantly less than Wraith’s heirloom (which never had an event associated to it and has always cost about $500 USD). Once Fight or Fright is over, Lifeline’s heirloom will be added to the pool of normal Apex Packs, making the legendary item as rare as Wraith’s.

This is not our way of saying, “Go out and buy Apex Packs.” $160 is very expensive for a cosmetic item. We’re just providing context. If you desperately want the Lifeline heirloom then, like the Bloodhound heirloom before it, it is more cost-effective to purchase the item during its corresponding event. Once Fight or Fright is over, you’ll need to drop about half a grand or be very lucky.

Fight or Fright begins October 15 and continues through to November 5. From October 25-28, you’ll earn double experience for placing in the top five or winning, making it easier to rank up in the battle pass to earn additional Apex Coins and Crafting Metals–both of which will help alleviate the overall cost of Lifeline’s heirloom.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/apex-legends-how-to-get-lifelines-halloween-event-/1100-6470394/

Season 10 of Fortnite is almost over. This season of Epic’s hit battle royale game is now scheduled to end on Sunday, October 13, after the developer extended the season by an extra week, and it appears the new end date will coincide with some kind of big, world-changing in-game event.

Just what that event will entail remains to be seen, but it will have some major ramifications for Season 11, which will kick off shortly after Season 10 ends. As usual, Epic has been fairly tight-lipped about the upcoming season, but there are some things we know about it or can infer based on what has been happening in Fortnite the past couple of weeks. To help get you up to speed, we’ve rounded up everything we know about Fortnite Season 11 below.

When Does “The End” Event Start?

Just as it does before every seasonal changeover, Epic is holding a major in-game event in Fortnite ahead of Season 11. This season’s event is ominously known as “The End,” and it’s all scheduled to unfold in only a couple of days. According to the countdown timers that have begun appearing all across the Fortnite island, the event will occur at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET on October 13.

What Will Happen During The Event?

At this moment, it’s unclear just what will occur during the event, but it will almost undoubtedly lead to some big changes in Season 11. It will also presumably involve The Visitor, the time-traveling antagonist whose rocket in Season 4 created the giant rift in the sky, precipitating the events that would eventually lead up to this moment.

Like many other elements from Fortnite’s past, The Visitor returned to the game during Season 10. Now known as “The Scientist,” the antagonist is once again building a rocket at Dusty Depot, which will presumably launch once the countdown timers expire. That’s not all; the character seems to have infected Fortnite’s controversial BRUTE mechs with some kind of virus, causing them to explode immediately upon appearing.

When Does Fortnite Season 11 Start?

We know Season 10 of Fortnite is scheduled to end on October 13, but Epic has not yet confirmed when Season 11 will officially begin. A new season of the game typically kicks off immediately after the previous one; however, there have been instances in the past when the new season would follow a couple of days later, so it’s currently unclear exactly when Season 11 will start. It’s safe to say Season 11 will kick off sometime next week, but we’re still waiting on the official timing from Epic.

What Is Changing In Season 11?

One change Epic has already confirmed for Season 11 is the addition of bots. As part of its recent spate of matchmaking changes, the developer is introducing AI-controlled opponents to the game next season. According to Epic, these are intended to help players hone their skills and develop their strategies; the better players get, the fewer bots will appear in their matches, the developer says.

It also appears there are some big changes in store for the island. Dataminers have recently discovered a list of new location names within the game’s code, leading many to speculate that Season 11 may introduce an entirely new map–or at least make some significant changes to the current one. That, however, has not yet been confirmed.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fortnite-season-11-the-end-event-date-new-map-and-/1100-6470388/

There are popular video games, and then there are games that absolutely take over Twitter. From memes to comics to fan art, two 2019 games are particularly big stars in this regard: Untitled Goose Game and Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I’ve seen my fair share of both Untitled Goose Game memes and incredible (or goofy or lewd) Three Houses fan art, but even then, I didn’t expect to see them combined into one perfect series.

Twitter user @parfait1807, an illustrator and my new hero, has imagined Fire Emblem: Three Houses in the Untitled Goose Game universe. In the series, which is currently eight different images, the goose steals Hero’s Relics from both Byleths and all three house leaders, poses for a painting for Ignatz, and runs off with Ferdinand’s wig, which is now canon as far as I’m concerned. You can see the full FE3H x Untitled Goose Game set in @parfait1807’s Twitter Moment.

I also would like to point out that female Byleth’s patterned tights–a contentious feature of her standard outfit–say “HONK” all over them in this universe. That is definitely an upgrade and would get me to consider switching from the school uniform I currently have her dressed in.

If you’re looking for more Fire Emblem, @parfait1807 has posted quite a bit of Three Houses fan art (and jokes) without the goose as well. For more of the goose, be sure to check out our Untitled Goose Game review, in which James O’Connor said: “There’s nothing else quite like Untitled Goose Game; it’s charming and cute despite being mean, and both very silly and very clever. It’s also probably the best non-racing game ever to feature a dedicated ‘honk’ button.”

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/untitled-goose-game-meets-fire-emblem-in-this-ador/1100-6470389/

EA is experiencing a server outage impacting some of its online games including FIFA 20, Battlefield 5, and Apex Legends. In a tweet, the company said it is aware of connectivity problems with its games and is working to address them.

In a follow-up, the company also said some users may be experiencing issues with contacting its help resources, which could prevent players from sending reports. That could be a byproduct of users attempting to send reports, especially since games like FIFA are top sellers in some regions.

The nature of the outage is unknown. Apex Legends players, at least, appear to be getting an error code 100 or 103, which prevents users from signing in to their EA account.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fifa-20-apex-legends-servers-down-as-ea-suffers-co/1100-6470384/