Fallout 76 is undergoing server maintenance for its huge Update 16, which is coming to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One today. The patch, under 3GB on PC and approximately 8GB on consoles, introduces a variety of changes and tweaks to the online-RPG. These include providing more map choices for Nuclear Winter, implementing a true solo mode for Private Worlds, and more.

Update 16 features new maps for Fallout 76’s battle royale mode, Nuclear Winter. The Forest map is returning alongside Morgantown, giving you more options for where to do battle. Further, the new patch provides you the option of map selection, letting you choose where the battle takes place before the start of each match.

Another option provided by Update 16 is a dedicated solo mode for Private Worlds. There are two means to play Private World servers now. “Team Only” lets you join a private server with an already-formed team or by yourself. “All Friends” works like Private Worlds now and it gives your friends the ability to jump into the server you’re on.

Elsewhere, Update 16 also addresses a plethora of bugs and aims to stabilize performance. These include fixing issues with the Pip-Boy, preventing corpses from disappearing shortly after death, changing how you use jetpacks, implementing “multiple improvements for server performance,” and more.

Check out the full patch notes for Fallout 76’s Update 16 below.

Full Fallout 76 Update 16 Patch Notes

General Updates

• Celebrate the Holidays with the Scorched!
  • Starting December 12, some of the Scorched will be spreading merriment this holiday season by dressing up in their most festive attire and wrapping presents. Take down these “Holiday Scorched” and they will drop Holiday Gifts for you to unwrap.
  • Open a Holiday Gift it to see what the Scorched have given you, which may be anything from crafting components to aid items, or even rare plans.
  • Holiday Gifts can be low, medium, or high-quality, and the higher the quality of the Gift, the better the chances for rare loot.
• Craft Your Own Holiday Gifts!
  • Be sure to check in with your favorite Vendors around Appalachia during the Holiday Scorched event, because they are selling Wrapping Paper that you can use to craft Holiday Gifts of your own to give to others.
  • Holiday Scorched Event Dates:
    • Start Date: Thursday, December 12 at 11:00 a.m. ET
    • End Date: Thursday, December 26 at 12:00 p.m. ET

Atomic Shop

• Now until December 31, you can bring a little holiday cheer to your C.A.M.P. by unlocking a free Santatron Collectron Station in the Atomic Shop.
  • Build the Santatron Station in your C.A.M.P. and your jolly Santatron bot will wander the nearby area to look for toys, candy, and other items for you.You will still be able to build and use your Santatron even after it has left the Atomic Shop, so be sure to claim yours before December 31.
    • While the Holiday Scorched event mentioned above is active, Santatron will also occasionally find a Holiday Gift of random quality.
    • Any items Santatron finds will be placed into the container attached to its Station, and you can collect them from there.
    • Players who also own a Scavenger Collectron Station can switch their Santatron to hunt for the items the Scavenger bot normally finds, and vice versa. However, only one type of Collectron Station can be built at any given time.

Challenges

• In response to community feedback, we have revisited many of our existing Challenges in order to make them more player-friendly and remove others that had too many requirements.
  • We have also updated our Daily and Weekly Challenges so they are more straightforward, simpler to complete, and to help them feel like they are part of the core experience of the game.
  • These changes will take effect starting January 1, 2020.

Sound

• Music:
  • New Holiday tunes have been added that will play while you browse the Atomic Shop.

User Interface

• Private Worlds: Following community feedback, we have added a new button to Private Worlds mode on the Play Screen so that Private World owners have more choice in how friends can join their World.
  • Item Transfer:
    • It is no longer possible to transfer items into a dead enemy’s inventory. The button can be toggled between “Team Only” and “All Friends.”
  • Team Only:
    • When “Team Only” is enabled, only the Private World owner and players they have already formed a team with can enter the Private World.
  • All Friends:
    • Switching to “All Friends” will allow any players on the Private World owner’s friends list to enter the Private World.

Nuclear Winter Updates

• Vote for Your Map of Choice
  • After receiving requests from Overseer Candidates who would like more choice in map selection, we have added the Flatwoods map back to Nuclear Winter and Candidates can now vote for the map they want to play on during the upcoming match.
  • Map voting begins at the start of each match while Candidates are in Vault 51.
  • Once voting starts, you can press the Map button to open the new voting interface and make your choice.
    • Your vote cannot be changed after it has been cast.
    • The map that receives the majority of Candidates’ votes will be selected for that match. In the event of a tie, ZAX will choose the Map randomly.

Happy Holidays, Candidates!

• Halloween-themed challenges Are Back
  • It’s the Nightmare Preceding Christmas and our Halloween-themed Nuclear Winter challenges are making a comeback for a limited time.
    • All six challenges and their cosmetic rewards will be available at once. You can also pick up right where you left off, because any progress you made toward completing them in October will be preserved.
    • Nightmare Preceding Christmas Challenge Dates:
      • Start Date: Wednesday, December 11 at 7 PM ET
      • End Date: Monday, December 16 at 7 PM ET

Unlock Festive Cosmetics With Six New Christmas Challenges

• We’ve added six new Challenges and themed cosmetic rewards for the holiday season that will begin appearing in the Character Challenge menu next week.
  • One new challenge will appear each day until all six are available. However, before you can begin earning progress toward any given Challenge, you must first complete the Challenges preceding it in order.
  • Rewards include wrapped presents for your C.A.M.P. from ZAX, Wrapping Paper Hunting Rifle Paint, a Snowflake Metal Armor Skin, a new outfit, and more, so start racking up Overseer XP to claim them while they’re available.
  • Christmas Challenge Dates:
    • Start Date: Tuesday, December 17 at 7 PM ET
    • End Date: Monday, January 6 at 7 PM ET

A More Festive Vault

• Even ZAX is getting into the spirit of the season, and has adorned Vault 51 with holiday decorations for Candidates to enjoy before they engage in the merciless Overseer selection process.

Matchmaking

• We’ve updated Nuclear Winter so that the Storm will now automatically constrict the starting area to account for the number of players that begin a match .
  • When this occurs, the Storm will not deal increased damage at the start of the match, even though the playable area is smaller.
  • This will help encourage combat from the beginning of a match and reduce time spent hunting for other Candidates. It will also make for a quicker match overall, so that you can requeue to find a better match.
  • We made these changes so that players can spend more time on the battlefield, less time in the matchmaking queue, and get to the fun more quickly in cases where creating a full match may take longer than expected.

Sound

• Deployment Selection:
  • A sound effect will now play to notify Candidates that Deployment Selection has begun.
• Emotes:
  • Inside Vault 51, Emote music and sound effects will become quieter or stop playing the farther a Candidate moves away from someone who uses an Emote.
• Overseer Tickets:
  • New sound effects have been added that will play when earning or spending Overseer Tickets in Nuclear Winter.

User Interface

• Tutorials:
  • New tutorial entries have been added to the Terminals in Vault 51 that offer instructions for the Choose Your Perks, Color-Coded Item Rarity, and Map Voting features.

General Bug Fixes

Art and Graphics

• Graphics:
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the Pip-Boy light to flicker when turning it on or off.
  • The electric visual effects for The Invader no longer appear black when previewing the weapon at a Workbench.
  • Fixed a hole in the neck portion of the Makeshift Ronin Helmet.

C.A.M.P., Crafting, and Workshops

• Artillery Piece:
  • Smoke Grenades can now be looted correctly from the container attached to the Artillery Piece.
• Lights:
  • The Light Bulb Letters Set has been moved to the Lights section of the Build Menu.
• Outfits:
  • Ranger Armor Outfits no longer appear craftable in Workbench menus if the owner lacks the materials required to craft them.
• Refrigerator:
  • Toxic Soot Flowers and Frog Legs can now be correctly assigned to Refrigerators.
• Signs:
  • Adjusted several Warning Signs that previously counted toward the maximum Light count in the C.A.M.P. budget.

Combat

• Stagger Locks:
  • Added mitigation for an issue in which ranged enemies could repeatedly cripple a player’s limbs, causing multiple stagger animations to play back-to-back.
    • Please note: While this issue is now much less likely to occur, it is still possible that you may encounter it. We are investigating a more complete fix for a future update.

Enemies

• Corpses:
  • Enemy corpses no longer sometimes disappear shortly after death.

General

• Exploit:
  • Implemented multiple fixes to address exploits that could be abused to create an unfair advantage
  • Addressed an exploit related to the Purveyor.

Items

• Jet Packs:
  • No longer activate automatically when performing a normal jump. To activate a Jet Pack, players must release the jump button and then press it again.
• Legendary Weapons:
  • Reloading a weapon that has the “+250 Damage Resistance While Reloading” legendary effect no longer negates the effects of that weapon’s primary legendary attribute.
• Ranged Weapons:
  • Fixed a rare issue in which, under specific circumstances, a player’s ranged weapons could emit a continual humming sound.
• Loot Bags:
  • Loot Bag skins now remain equipped when returning to Adventure Mode after a Nuclear Winter match.
• Outfits:
  • Glasses can now be worn while the Turkey Mascot head is equipped.
• Targeting HUD:
  • Fixed an issue that could prevent players from crafting the X-01 Targeting HUD for their Power Armor.

Localization

• Patch 16 brings a large wave of fixes for localization bugs across all aspects of the game for our players around the globe who play Fallout 76 in languages other than English.
  • This includes fixes for untranslated, partially translated, and mistranslated text in-game menus, item names and descriptions, notifications, Terminal entries, Holotapes, Quests, Objectives, Subtitles, and more.
  • In addition to this set of fixes, we plan to address many more localization bugs with the Wastelanders update next year.

Performance and Stability

• Performance:
  • Implemented multiple improvements for server performance.
• Stability:
  • Addressed multiple issues that could result in a server crash.
  • Fixed a server crash related to Player Vending Machines.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the game to crash on Xbox One.

Quests and Events

• First Contact:
  • A quest target now appears correctly at Pennington’s location during the First Contact quest.
• Miner Miracles:
  • Players under level 25 who have acquired the Miner Miracles quest no longer receive a pop-up message about the quest’s level requirements every time they log in.
• Monster Mash:
  • After joining Monster Mash, the optional objective to “Use the SMART Vending Machine” will no longer appear over the player’s Survival Tent on the Map.
• Officer on Deck:
  • Fixed an issue that could prevent players from progressing past the “Speak with MODUS” objective.

User Interface

• Main Menu:
  • On Xbox, switching User Accounts after reaching the Main Menu no longer causes error messages to appear.
• Scrapbox:
  • Fixed an issue that could cause the yellow selection bar to appear twice in the Scrapbox transfer menu.
• Scrap Kits:
  • The prompt that appears when using a Scrap Kit has received updated wording to clarify that Junk which does not scrap automatically will be placed into the Stash.
• Turrets:
  • Corrected placeholder text in the names of the Halloween Machine Gun Turret and Halloween Heavy Machine Gun Turret in C.A.M.P. Build menus.

Nuclear Winter Bug Fixes

C.A.M.P.

• Build:
  • The Scavenger Collectron Station is not useable in Nuclear Winter and will no longer appear placeable in C.A.M.P. menus.

Combat

• Exploit:
  • Addressed an exploit that could allow players to remain in Stealth longer than intended.

Items

• Bobbleheads:
  • The description text for Bobblehead: Unarmed in Nuclear Winter now correctly states that it increases damage and no longer displays an incorrect percentage.

User Interface

• Player Names:
  • Are now correctly displayed during Nuclear Winter matches, even if the “Show Other Players’ Names” setting is turned off.
• Spectator Mode:
  • Updated the “Changing Spectator Target” text that appears in Spectator Mode to “Finding Spectator Target.”
• Subtitles:
  • Corrected subtitles that did not match the voiceover for holotapes found in Vault 51.
• Subtitles:
  • Corrected a typo in the subtitle for one of ZAX’s voice lines.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fallout-76-update-16-coming-for-pc-ps4-xbox-one-fu/1100-6472072/

After a few months of invitation-only testing, digital store GOG has now launched an open beta for GOG Galaxy 2.0, which aims to solve one of PC gaming’s biggest problems. The brand-new game client is more than just a way to download and launch games purchased on GOG.com, as it also introduces a way to import all of your game libraries, friends lists, and achievements from loads of different store clients so you can access it all in one place.

GOG Galaxy 2.0 lets you link accounts from GOG, Steam, Epic Games Store, Uplay, and even Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, with the latter two serving as ways to organise your console libraries and view your friends lists. You can manually add games from outside of these stores, too, and there are also user-made plugins supporting more stores and emulated console games. GOG Galaxy still requires you to have each of these clients installed if you want to make full use of them, so it doesn’t quite remove all of the clutter associated with having so many clients on one PC, but it’s a handy way of consolidating all of your game libraries and friends lists in a single place. It’s entirely optional as well if you still prefer to download and play GOG games as standalone DRM-free installers.

You can head over to the GOG Galaxy website if you want to test out the open beta for yourself.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/you-can-now-try-gog-galaxy-20-which-solves-one-of-/1100-6472069/

Untitled Goose Game debuted on PC and Nintendo Switch, but we recently got indication it would be expanding to PS4 and Xbox One before the end of the year. That was confirmed during Sony’s State of Play, with a PS4 release date announcement of December 17.

Developer House House hasn’t detailed yet if that same release date applies to the Xbox One version.

The news was announced with a short trailer featuring the meme-favorite goose stealing the groundskeeper’s keys from the first stage and chucking it in the water alongside other gathered treasures. Why would a goose do such a thing, you ask? Because geese are horrible monsters, the game answers.

House House had previously stated interest in bringing the game to other platforms, including PS4 and Xbox One, and possibly even mobile devices. The game’s release on Switch and PC led to a flurry of fandom for the comedy game, which you can now immortalize with Goose merch.

“The important thing is that Untitled Goose Game is a hoot,” James O’Connor wrote in GameSpot’s review. “It’s a comedy game that focuses on making the act of playing it funny, rather than simply being a game that features jokes. Wishing that it was longer speaks to how much fun I had with it. 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-spreading-mischief-to-ps4-next/1100-6472067/

The creation game Dreams is coming to PlayStation 4 next year, and as announced on Sony’s last State of Play of 2019, it has a very sweet release date. The game will release on February 14, aka Valentine’s Day.

Dreams has been available in early access since earlier this year, marking an early beta that has allowed Media Molecule to introduce new creation tools while also cultivating a small community of creators. Dreams’ tools are extremely flexible, which is why the trailers for the game always look like it’s for a few dozen different games.

Dreams was first announced in 2013, so it’s been a long time coming for next year’s release. It’s incredibly ambitious, and Media Molecule hopes it will be used as a platform that grows beyond its own scope.

Media Molecule’s previous series, Little Big Planet, also had a flexible suite of creation tools, though it was mostly made to support platformers like the main campaign. Still, the creative minds of the player community pushed those tools to their limit, using the strings-and-pulleys to create complicated stages as well as out-of-the-box-thinking ideas like a functioning calculator.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps4-creation-game-dreams-has-a-release-date/1100-6472066/

After more than a year of silence, developer Platinum Games has provided a minor update on its upcoming action game, Babylon’s Fall. While no release date has been revealed, the studio confirmed more information will arrive next summer, as well as giving a first-look at some gameplay.

Babylon’s Fall is an action-adventure game by Platinum Games, the studio best known for titles like the Bayonetta franchise, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, and the Nintendo Switch-exclusive Astral Chain. The developer showed some gameplay during Sony’s final State of Play for the year, which you can watch below.

The first and only time we saw Babylon’s Fall was during E3 2018, where Platinum Games announced the title during Square Enix’s presentation. The teaser video didn’t show any gameplay, but it did provide insight into the game’s lore. Babylon’s Fall is expected to launch on PC and PlayStation 4 at some unspecified date.

In other Platinum Games news, a Bayonetta and Vanquish bundle is headed to PS4 and Xbox One on February 18. The package, which leaked via a Microsoft store listing, will include remasters of the two titles. The games will run at 4K / 6FPS on PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, and you can pre-order the $40 set now.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/babylons-fall-gets-new-gameplay-trailer-during-sta/1100-6472062/