With the Shadowkeep expansion to Destiny 2, developer Bungie made it possible to reach all-new heights in terms of players’ overall Power level–the measure of a Guardian’s strength based on their equipment. The addition of the Seasonal Artifact in the current season allows you to keep climbing beyond the gear Power cap of 960. Now, one player has reached another Power milestone, one that has some serious implications for Destiny 2’s ongoing story.

This week, streamer Bagel4k pushed his Power level up to 999 thanks to the Seasonal Artifact, which allows you to keep gaining in Power endlessly by accruing experience points from completing activities and turning in bounties. That’s impressive from a sheer gameplay standpoint–it takes 1.5 million experience points to gain one point of Power from the artifact, and the push to get your gear up from 950 to 960 is so tough, Bungie is patching the game later this week to make that final climb a little easier. (For context, it takes 100,000 points to unlock each new level of Bungie’s new Season system.) But 999 Power is also very significant to the story of the Forsaken expansion’s endgame area, the Dreaming City.

For context, the Dreaming City is currently cursed to continually repeat a three-week timeloop, thanks to the machinations of a powerful Hive leader called Savathun. Despite completing the Last Wish raid in the Dreaming City and its high-level dungeon, Shattered Throne, Guardians so far have been unable to break the curse. But there was some suggestion that hitting 999 Power would be the secret to ending the Dreaming City’s torment. According to one of Destiny 2’s lore books, Truth To Power, reaching 999 Power and completing Shattered Throne would allow players to finally kill Savathun’s daughter, Dul Incaru, and end the curse once and for all.

As Bagel4k discovered, however, that’s apparently not the case–at least, not yet. Despite Bagel4k’s efforts, the curse endures. Bungie acknowledged the situation in a blog post titled “On the Power Climb,” which not only pays some tribute to Bagel4k, it functions as a story point as well.

The blog post mixes Bungie’s voice in acknowledging Bagel4k with some secret messages from Savathun herself. Though there isn’t much in the way of details, the post suggests that perhaps Guardians’ efforts to break the curse are actually part of Savathun’s whole overall plan. That’s sort of Savathun’s whole deal–she embodies an ideal of cunning. And the lore suggests that everything players have done in the Dreaming City up to now hasn’t actually helped to stop Savathun, but were actually actions manipulated to help her achieve her goals of gaining ultimate power. All the enemies we’ve been killing over and over in the Dreaming City have been feeding Savathun, and that’s what the timeloop curse is all about.

Bungie has said that the four seasons that make up the third year of Destiny 2’s content will tell an ongoing story that started with Shadowkeep, but most of the threads from Year Two–concerning the Dreaming City, the entities known as the Nine, the enigmatic new character called the Drifter, and more–are still hanging. Shadowkeep advanced things a bit in a different direction concerning the Hive, but it all goes back to Savathun. We can guess from Bagel4k’s exploits that Bungie isn’t quite ready for the story of the Dreaming City to end, nor to tell us what it all means, just yet.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/destiny-2-turned-a-big-player-accomplishment-into-/1100-6471236/

A lot of big companies are getting into gaming with their own streaming services, including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and others, but don’t expect Netflix to follow suit.

Speaking at the DealBook 2019 event, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings confirmed that the company has no plans to enter that market. Instead, Netflix is spending its time focusing on highly compelling TV shows and movies that will encourage people to put down the controller and boot up Netflix.

“No,” Hastings said when asked if Netflix might make a game-streaming service. “We’re really focused on doing incredible series and films and unscripted.”

Earlier this year, Netflix said the company competes more with Fortnite than HBO when it comes to entertainment usage. There are a finite number of hours in the day, and even fewer that people can spend consuming entertainment, so Netflix sees Fortnite as a competitor in that regard.

“There are a lot of other things people do to entertain themselves, including Fortnite. And the original quote was that we compete with Fortnite more than we compete with HBO. Fortnite gets a lot more hours of viewing,” he said at the event today. “Ultimately it’s about competing for those hours of viewing. But we don’t compete with Fortnite better by doing something like [a streaming service] because we’re not very good at that. We compete by doing the most amazing TV shows you’ve ever seen so you put down Fortnite and you come to watch our shows.”

In 2011, Netflix announced plans to offer Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii games for rental by mail, though it scuttled these plans not long after announcing them. At the time, the company said it was “still considering” offering games to rent by mail but this never happened.

In the initial Qwikster announcement, Hastings himself spoke about how enthusiastic the Netflix audience was for games. “Members have been asking for video games for many years, and now that DVD-by-mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done,” he said.

The next major new game-streaming service to launch is Google Stadia, which is primed to launch on November 19 in the US.

For more on what’s new on Netflix in November, check out this roundup of all the new TV show and movies on Netflix.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/netflix-wont-make-a-game-streaming-service-were-no/1100-6471234/

Though Blizzard lessened Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai’s punishment following the overwhelming backlash, some Hearthstone developers thought the company’s handling of the professional player was “too harsh.”

In an interview with Kotaku at BlizzCon 2019, game director Ben Lee wished Blizzard took better care of the Blitzchung situation. “The initial decision was too harsh. Absolutely,” Lee said. “Definitely should have taken more time to consider something more reasonable, but we can’t take that back.”

While creative director Ben Thompson ultimately supports Blitzchung’s right to free speech, the Hearthstone developer felt a professional tournament wasn’t the place to express those views.

“Of course I celebrate–as we all do to some extent or another–free speech. You should be able to say what it is you want to say,” Thompson said. “I also understand what [Blizzard president] J. Allen Brack himself addressed in his own internal communications and later on to the world at large, which is that being able to speak your mind and say how you feel from a personal level is always and should always be a welcome thing. Doing so from a platform very much not your own and done from a voice not your own to take control, so to speak, or on behalf of another is not free speech. That is on behalf of something that’s not yours to do with.”

Blitzchung was initially banned for one year and lost all of his prize winnings after expressing support for democracy in Hong Kong during a post-match Hearthstone Grandmasters interview. Blizzard received widespread criticism online and from protesters, to which the company responded by reducing Blitzchung’s ban to six months and giving back his thousands of dollars in winnings.

“We’ve had a chance to pause, to listen to our community, and to reflect on what we could have done better. In hindsight, our process wasn’t adequate, and we reacted too quickly,” Brack said in a statement. “We want to ensure that we maintain a safe and inclusive environment for all our players, and that our rules and processes are clear. All of this is in service of another important Blizzard value–Play Nice; Play Fair.”

Brack addressed the controversial decision during BlizzCon’s opening ceremony, stating the company failed to adhere to its principles. “We moved too quickly in our decision making, and to make matters worse we were too slow to talk with you,” Brack said. “We didn’t live up to the high standards we really set for ourselves, and second, we failed in our purpose. I’m sorry, and I accept accountability.”

Hong Kong has seen several protests in recent months. A protest also occurred at BlizzCon, where participants demonstrated outside the Anaheim Convention Center venue on November 1.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/hearthstone-devs-felt-blitzchungs-punishment-was-t/1100-6471229/

Disco Elysium has released to near-universal critical acclaim, delivering a story-driven detective RPG where your character is trying to solve a murder investigation while suffering from alcohol-induced amnesia. One of the game’s more noteworthy features is the Thought Cabinet, an inventory system that allows you to unlock benefits from internalizing certain thoughts. Apparently, it wasn’t always so beneficial.

“The original effects of the Thought Cabinet projects were to be more negative,” Disco Elysium lead writer Robert Kurvitz said, according to VG247. “Oftentimes you would get straight up curses.” Developer ZA/UM shifted gears on the Thought Cabinet in order to inject a little positivity in an otherwise fairly bleak story–redesigning the feature to showcase the thoughts the detective was mulling over, instead of obsessions warping their mind.

Kurvitz believes that humans can sometimes become too preoccupied with the notion that our ability to think is ultimately one of our biggest downfalls. In Disco Elysium, the protagonist’s Thought Cabinet was redesigned to reflect the notion that, though human thoughts can be bad, they can also be a saving grace in dark, difficult times–a lifeline to keep people grounded. “Sometimes when I’m overwhelmed by negative emotions, I like to go on Wikipedia,” Kurvitz said. “Read an article on Sir Francis Younghusband, Pleistocene megafauna, whatever. It’s not only torturous to think–to be the kind of animal us humans are. It is also an absolute pleasure and a privilege.”

Disco Elysium is the 16th game in GameSpot’s history that the website has given a 10/10 review score. In GameSpot’s Disco Elysium review, David Wildgoose wrote, “Disco Elysium is a mad, sprawling detective story where the real case you’ve got to crack isn’t who killed the man strung up on a tree in the middle of town–though that in itself, replete with dozens of unexpected yet intertwined mysteries and wild excursions into the ridiculous, is engrossing enough to sustain the game. Rather, it’s an investigation of ideas, of the way we think, of power and privilege, and of how all of us are shaped, with varying degrees of autonomy, by the society we find ourselves in.”

Disco Elysium is currently only available for PC. Console ports for PS4 and Xbox One are scheduled for 2020.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/one-of-disco-elysiums-more-noteworthy-features-was/1100-6471226/

Nintendo held a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct earlier today, where the company showed off the newly-released fighter, Terry Bogard. Alongside several other Fatal Fury cameos, series creator Masahiro Sakurai confirmed that the kunoichi Mai Shiranui won’t appear in the family-friendly brawler.

A few Fatal Fury characters will make an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the game’s new King of Fighters coliseum-style stage, including Geese Howard, Joe Higashi, and more. After showcasing all the cameos, Sakurai said Mai isn’t included because “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is for good boys and girls of many different ages, so we decided not to feature her. Please forgive us.”

Mai is known for her busty figure and skimpy outfit, alongside her fighting prowess. Sakurai’s light-hearted explanation is a soft way of saying Mai isn’t age-appropriate.

While Mai may not become a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Terry is there to represent Fatal Fury. His Challenger Pack is available today for $6 USD. He’s also part of the game’s $25 Fighter’s Pass, which includes Persona 5‘s Joker, Dragon Quest‘s Hero, and the titular characters of Banjo-Kazooie. The Fighter Pass still has one final character to release; however, Nintendo confirmed that more post-launch fighters are on the way even after the Fighter’s Pass wraps up.

Nintendo also shared the patch notes for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s 6.0 update. The new patch includes adjustments to fighters, support for upcoming Amiibos, balance tweaks, and more.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/smash-bros-ultimate-is-too-wholesome-to-include-on/1100-6471225/