It’s been over a year since Rare released Sea of Thieves. To celebrate, the online, co-op pirate adventure is getting a substantial Anniversary Update that’ll introduce a new mode, a new storyline, and more.

The update adds The Arena, a mode where you compete against other crews across six different maps. Competing will net you achievements and items such as commendations, titles, cosmetics, and more, all through the Sea Dogs faction. You can also purchase sets, like the Glorious Sea Dog, from the Sea Dog Tavern in between competitions.

Through the bard Merrick comes The Hunter’s Call, a new company where you can earn commendations and rewards, tattoo and makeup cosmetics, items, liveries, and more for completing hunting, fishing, and cooking challenges. Sea of Thieves will also see a bevy of new wildlife, from unique fish to formidable beasts. Combine their raw meat with the plethora of new, rare fruit to concoct novel recipes.

The biggest part of the Anniversary Update is the new storyline. The Shores of Gold tasks you with investigating a fabled lost island. The storyline brings new gameplay additions, such as collector’s chests and enchanted tools, and you’ll unlock new commendations and rewards upon completion. But you’ll have to battle new Skeleton Lords first.

The Anniversary Update weighs in at approximately 8 GB across all three platforms–PC, Xbox One, and Xbox One X–and addresses a variety of performance related issues as well. You can view the full patch notes below.

Performance Improvements

• Xbox One S Improvements – Performance on the Xbox One S has been improved.
• Improved Loading Times – Time taken to initially load into Sea of Thieves has been reduced.
• Game Stability – Resolved a number of client and server stability issues.

Fixed Issues

Gameplay

• ‘Push to Talk’ functionality now works correctly on Xbox One when set up in Audio Settings.
• Chest of Sorrows no longer fills up a ship when placed on a docked Rowboat that is then detached from the ship.
• When fighting the Kraken, moving into a safe space while it attempts to snatch you up from the ship will no longer cause you to be pulled through the environment.
• If the game is unable to delete your pirate from the front end settings screen, it will no longer cause an infinite loading screen.
• It is no longer possible to interact with items while holding a chest.
• After undocking from a ship-based interactive item, you will now be able to correctly tap the quest radial or item radial to return to the previously wielded item.
• Resolved an edge case where a Closed Crew could become an Open Crew when the crew owner leaves.
• Resolved an issue preventing Xbox One players using a mouse from turning their camera.
• When using the pirate chat radial, closing the second page of the radial without selecting a message will no longer automatically send a message.

UI

• Players with unlocked Commendations for previous Mercenary Voyages will once again see their Commendations in the Reputation pages.
• The Title counts on the Bilge Rats Reputation page will now correctly count the Titles available to players.
• During the new player onboarding tutorial, handing your tutorial chest to another player and having them cash it in for you will no longer leave tutorial messages stuck on-screen.

Audio and Visual

• Waterfall SFX at Plunder Valley no longer cut out.
• Fauna now renders at the correct level of detail when players are in close proximity.
• Shanties now play as expected when played during a server migration.

Environment

• Angled palm trees found in the Shores of Plenty region now render correctly.
• The cannon next to the beacon on Devil’s Ridge can now be climbed into.
• The ship’s flag on the Ferry of the Damned is now correctly attached.
• There are no longer palm leaves stuck to the beach at Mermaid’s Hideaway.
• Players can no longer walk beneath the water on Crescent Isle.
• It no longer rains in the Pirate Legend Hideout at Plunder Outpost.
• It’s no longer possible to get stuck inside rocks at Thieves’ Haven.
• Players can no longer get stuck between the wharf and the tree at Plunder Outpost.
• It’s no longer possible to get stuck on rocks at Ancient Spire Outpost.

Known Issues

• The Arena Tavern Wait Times – During times of heavy server load, crews using Tavern matchmaking in The Arena may experience an extended delay when waiting to begin a contest. To get back into the action quickly, anyone experiencing this issue should leave the Tavern, return to the front end and matchmake into another Arena session.
• Health Bar UI Delays – When regenerating health from cooked food, taking damage may cause the health bar to be delayed in updating.
• Sea Dogs Tavern Purchase Delays – Players who purchase an item from the Sea Dogs Tavern shop shortly before migrating to a new server will not immediately see the purchase in their inventory. The purchase has been successful, but will only be shown when the player returns to the Tavern after their next contest.
• Sailor of Athena’s Fortune Commendation Progress – Players do not receive progress towards the Sailor of Athena’s Fortune Commendation while their crew have both an Athena’s Fortune Voyage and a Tall Tale active at the same time.
• Quest Item Loss in ‘The Shores of Gold’ – Losing the Gold Hoarders Coin during ‘The Shores of Gold’ Tall Tale will not automatically fail the Tall Tale, but your crew will be unable to progress.
• Missing Phrases on Food Items – Some food items show available phrases in the pirate chat radial, but selecting them will not correctly send them to other players.
• Incorrect Ship Flag Icons on Arena Map Table – Following consecutive contests in The Arena, the ship’s map table may show incorrect ship flag iconography for rival crews.
• Extended Black Screen on Loading – In this build we’ve resolved a number of cases where players could be held indefinitely on the black loading screen when returning from the Ferry of the Damned or a mermaid. However, some instances of this may still be present, which we will continue to investigate. If you encounter this issue, please raise a support ticket with as much detail as you can provide.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sea-of-thieves-gets-huge-anniversary-update/1100-6466557/

Last month, Oculus revealed that its next step in VR gaming would be a two-pronged approach: a revision of its original headset with the Rift S and a standalone headset in the Quest. Specs and features had been detailed alongside a Spring 2019 release window and a $400 USD price tag for each package. Now, Oculus has announced that both will launch simultaneously on May 21–pre-orders for Rift S and Quest are now open as well.

The Rift S makes several improvements over the original Rift, a platform that has been out since March 2016. First off, the Rift S has an increased resolution; it’ll display 1280×1440 per eye, 2560×1440 in total, although it now displays in 80Hz (down from 90Hz). Another addition is integrated audio on the headset and a more comfortable, secure headstrap. The biggest feature, however, is the company’s new inside-out tracking technology called Oculus Insight. This negates the need for external motion sensors since there are five built into the headset, capable of full positional tracking.

Oculus Quest (left) and Oculus Rift S (right)

While the Rift S remains a PC-based platform, the Oculus Quest packs everything you need into the one unit. The standalone VR headset is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor–a significant upgrade over the specs of the lesser mobile counterpart the Oculus Go. Quest also features Oculus Insight with four built-in sensors to offer full positional, six degree-of-freedom tracking. It’ll display an impressive 2880×1600 resolution (a bit of a bump from the Rift S), but at a lower 72Hz. Two options for storage space will be available: 64GB at $400 and 128GB at $500.

A pair of revised Touch controllers come with each headset, which reposition the motion sensor rings to be above the face buttons to track better with the new Insight sensors. We’ve spent some time with the Oculus Quest and will have a definitive review on GameSpot soon.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/oculus-rift-s-and-quest-will-launch-next-month-pre/1100-6466549/

Blizzard, the gaming giant behind franchises like World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch, will not attend Gamescom this year. The company said in a statement that it’s not attending the show in Cologne, Germany as part of its “renewed effort” in 2019 to focus on game development.

Blizzard plans to return to Gamescom someday, but it’s not clear when.

“As part of a renewed effort this year to maintain our focus on development, for our current games and our future projects, we won’t have a booth at Gamescom 2019,” Blizzard said. “The show is an important one for the European and global gaming community, and we’re going to miss meeting players in Cologne this year. You’ll still be able to find Blizzard gear in the gamescom 2019 shop area, and we’re looking forward to returning to the Gamescom show floor in the future.”

Blizzard also teased in its statement that it is eager to talk about upcoming, unannounced projects “when the time is right.”

The confirmation of Blizzard dropping out of Gamescom comes just days after the company announced a bigger presence for BlizzCon 2019. The company has even more activities planned for the event, and seemingly as a result, ticket prices are going up.

In December last year, Kotaku reported that Blizzard was undergoing cost-cutting measures to prepare for a “lean 2019.” Operating a booth at a major show like Gamescom is likely no small cost, so dropping out of the show is no doubt saving Blizzard some money.

Gamescom, which is open to the public, is believed to be the world’s largest gaming show. Around 370,000 people from 114 countries attended the 2018 show, according to GI.biz. By comparison, the all-time attendance record for E3 is 70,000 from back in 2005. E3 only just recently opened to the public, while Gamescom has been public for years.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/blizzard-wont-attend-gamescom-one-of-the-biggest-g/1100-6466580/

At a meeting in 2012, long before 40-year-old Omeed Dariani became one of the most powerful gamer managers on Earth, he wrote a single, foreboding sentence in his notebook: “Figure out Twitch.”

These were the halcyon days of video game influencers, a few short years before Twitch started bringing in as many viewers as MSNBC and CNN, and Dariani was brought on board as a senior global brand manager at Sony Online Entertainment to get the company’s massive games library into the hands of an insurgent, enigmatic group of internet creators. Partnerships like that are commonplace in 2019, but in those days, Dariani didn’t have a precedent to work from. He remembers sending hundreds of emails to every streamer he could find, with the hope of establishing some inaugural deals in a brave new world. Dariani was stonewalled, receiving around 10 actual responses. Some video game streamers said they’d play Sony games for $25,000, some said they’d do it for free, and some left their emails unanswered. There was no rhyme or reason, no institutions, no rules.

“The [amount of money people were asking to stream games] was completely random. I was like, ‘What is going on?'” he remembered. A year later, Dariani set up a mixer at PAX and got his answer.

“That’s how I met a couple of our first clients. As I got to know them, they were telling me, ‘Look, it’s really difficult to connect with the companies we want to work with, we don’t know anybody, I’m just a guy who lives in Florida,'” he said. “They didn’t know how to review contracts, they weren’t lawyers or business people, they didn’t know what to charge for anything, they were terrified. … I was like, holy crap. We started doing more deals with content creators, and I saw how often they were getting massively ripped off. [They were] signing contracts where they lost tons of their rights, with the companies taking huge amounts of the money. It really pissed me off. After I left Sony, a couple of them suggested, ‘Hey, maybe you could manage us.'”

Today, Dariani is the owner of the Online Performers Group, which he claims is the first-ever talent management firm explicitly designed for people who record themselves playing video games professionally. Scroll through the clients’ page and you’ll find movers and shakers like CohhCarnage, Ellohime, and Angry Joe. The company promises to unlock promotional opportunities and sponsorships for anyone under its banner, but services also encompass quality-of-life support with taxes and event scheduling.

Omeed Dariani, Online Performers Group

Essentially, Dariani wants to help professional gamers maximize their value while removing as many unnecessary burdens from their plates as possible. The way he talks about it, OPG sounds like a traditional Hollywood power broker. He stocks a huge waiting list of up-and-comers, and many of his new clients are recruited from referrals–just like Creative Artists Agency, William Morris, or any other giant in the representation business.

“Literally five minutes ago I got an email from a content creator looking to be represented,” Dariani said. “They’re probably way too small, but we get about five to 10 of those a day.”

In that sense, Dariani’s goal is to add a baseline of stability to the business of influencer marketing in professional gaming, but he’d also be the first one to admit that there’s still a long way to go.

Feeding Frenzy

It’s been five years since Dariani founded OPG, and today, the idea of “talent management for gamers” has gotten more common and more diversified. The Twitch market is one of the most valuable and desirable bulwarks in stardom; it’s why Respawn Entertainment brought in Shroud as a crucial ingredient for their Apex Legends push, and it’s why Ninja is booking appearances on Fallon and releasing an album with longstanding record label Astralwerks. It’s truly bizarre to live in a world where full-time streamers can be categorized as a part of mainstream pop culture, but what their millions of followers don’t know is how much of that momentum is orchestrated from behind the scenes.

For instance, battle royale wunderkinds Shroud and Ninja have two of the highest-trafficked channels on Twitch, and they’re represented by Loaded, a talent agency built last year by Brandon Freytag, who also takes the reins for other all-stars like Lirik, Summit1G, and AnneMunition. The aforementioned Creative Artists Agency, a legendary firm that names both Jennifer Aniston and J.J. Abrams among its clients, inked a groundbreaking deal with Dr.Disrespect, an FPS streamer known for performing on Twitch entirely in his own WWE-like character, back in January. What about United Talent Agency? It works with League of Legends pros Aphromoo and sOAZ, as well as Angelina Jolie. William Morris? It has mega-YouTuber JackSepticEye.

The feeding frenzy is on, which is funny because, in so many ways, the mainstream media is still trying to untangle how Twitch stardom actually works. A considerable amount of the heavy lifting done by Twitch and YouTube managers and agencies is the negotiating of brand deals for influencers, but that requires the translation of an entire culture for a third-party company outside of the games industry. It’s a problem that Piotr Bombol, the CEO of the Polish gaming marketing agency Gameset, runs into over and over again. His job is to help companies market themselves through gaming influencers, and he’s quickly learned that the old-school calculus of marketing simply doesn’t work in new media.

It’s truly bizarre to live in a world where full-time streamers can be categorized as a part of mainstream pop culture, but what fans don’t know is how much of that momentum is orchestrated from behind the scenes.

“When you’re a brand, and you’re working with an influencer, you’re paying for a result. You want your brand exposed to the community for a specific time, and then you get views or clicks,” Bombol said. “So if you ask an influencer, ‘Okay, let’s do a campaign. We want you to do a couple of videos, with one million views, and 10,000 clicks on the link, the influencer will say, ‘I can’t guarantee you that. I can make the video, but I can’t guarantee you that.’ There’s a risk. And the risk falls on the agency. So the agency says, ‘Okay, we’ll get these results.’ And when you don’t get the results, the agency needs to come to the client and say, ‘Eh, we didn’t make it, but it happens.'”

Dariani reported the same problems. So many brands apply television logic to Twitch; they desperately want to tap into a young, agile scene of gamers, but they have a hard time understanding the value of what they’re paying for. The profit propositions of, say, a Tom Cruise product placement spot were decided upon decades ago. Twitch, though? That’s the Wild West, and a lot of the offers that come across Dariani’s desk are hopelessly out of touch.

“It really comes down to how savvy a company is with Twitch,” he said. “There are definitely times where we have to do a hand-holding process for how things work. A lot of times we’ll have companies say, ‘Can we just have him stream this thing for like 10 minutes?’ Well, on Twitch something that happens for 10 minutes isn’t very meaningful. Or, ‘Could he just tweet about this thing 350 times?’ Well, no, that’s a lot [of tweets]. … Our clients turn down 90 percent of the things that come in, because the company is asking for things that are basically impossible. If you do it, it’s gonna fail, and nobody is going to be happy.”

Piotr Bombol, Gameset

Bombol said he’s searching for a holy grail. Nobody has yet figured out the perfect model to capitalize on Twitch celebrity. Right now, every agency and management firm involved is in an endless troubleshooting phase–figuring out what works, what doesn’t, and constructing all the norms on the fly. In many ways, Dariani thinks things haven’t come much further from the mixer he threw seven years ago, filled to the brim with newly-minted internet celebrities who had no idea how to organize their affairs. “They tend to be a little sharper [now], a lot more cautious about entering into things, but we still see things all the time that scare me,” he said. “We have a contract. It’s a pretty liberal, generous contract, and we still tell people, ‘Please have your lawyer look at this before you sign it,’ … The amount of times that somebody will say, ‘Oh, so-and-so said you were good so I know that you’re good.’ I’m like, ‘Are you kidding? We could’ve put anything in there!'”

Danotage, a streamer managed by OPG, echoed the same sentiment. He said he’s “constantly paranoid about doing something stupid,” and values the chance to have the safety net his management team represents that he can bounce off of if anything goes wrong. “I am able to get honest and useful information on whether it’s crazy, or just crazy enough to work,” Danotage explained. “This has helped me to drive innovation and mature as a member of the internet video game streaming business in a positive and focused direction.”

“This infrastructure for agencies and management offices for streamers is quite bare,” he added. “It is getting better, but like Hollywood, this business is extremely terrifying to most. So in order for people to become more comfortable with the business, I think it is incredibly important to have a broad infrastructure because it should allow shady companies to be held under scrutiny by their peers.”

Nobody has yet figured out the perfect model to capitalize on Twitch celebrity. Right now, every agency and management firm involved is in an endless troubleshooting phase–figuring out what works, what doesn’t, and constructing all the norms on the fly.

Twitch existed for years without a formal network of talent management, so the infrastructure is still racing to catch up. Dariani compares it to the NBA. When a player gets drafted into the league, they’re usually already equipped with an agent and a lawyer, they’re immediately injected into an ecosystem full of public relations professionals, and they have a coaching staff continually looking over their shoulders. All of those forces are built to catch and temper burgeoning celebrity. Those functions just don’t exist for video game influencers yet.

“It even happens in the NBA 2K games!” he exclaimed. “You meet your press handler, you meet your concierge, you meet your support structure that will keep you out of trouble and make sure that you’re fine. And that’s huge for an 18-year old kid who gets a million-dollar check. It’s the same thing if you get cast in a movie. The production company will say to you, ‘If you’re going to be in this movie, you need a manager. Here are 20 guys.’ That hasn’t existed in this industry. People are operating in a vacuum.”

“Brad Pitt didn’t become Brad Pitt all on his own,” finishes Dariani. “It’s mind-blowing to see somebody who has millions of followers that doesn’t have anyone helping them. No matter how good you are, you’re just one person.”

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-trials-of-turning-streamers-into-superstars/1100-6466377/

Mortal Kombat 11 received some criticism for its in-game economy and grind, but NetherRealm has started to address those progression issues with a series of patches. As part of the make-good effort, the studio has also bundled the latest patch with a thank you gift, awarding a big dose of currency to players.

The bundle includes 500,000 Koins, 500 Hearts, 1,000 Souls, and 1,000 Time Crystals. Time Crystals are the premium currency, and so the amount here equals about $10–enough for two of the premium skins. The rest of the currency types are used in the Krypt, to unlock various rewards. It’s only available on PC and PS4 so far, with Xbox One and Switch incoming.

You’ll have to claim the reward through your notifications area. Make sure you claim it by May 6, 2019 at 6 AM PT.

That injection of kash came alongside a big update for MK11. It fixes several exploits and makes changes to matchmaking, but the bigger adjustment for the player grind will be that it’s softened the edges for the Towers of Time. The patch notes say it adjusts the AI difficulty curve for the Towers, tweaked elements like health reductions in high-level Towers or Koin rewards, and adjusted some daily modifiers. All of that seems aimed at making a smoother ramp for players to enjoy the Towers, which were a common criticism among reviews and early player impressions.

“Streamlined mechanics keep the act of fighting furiously exciting no matter what your skill level, and comprehensive tutorials encourage you to dig into the nitty-gritty,” Edmond Tran said in GameSpot’s review-in-progress. “There’s a diverse roster of interesting characters and playstyles, and the story mode is an entertaining romp. The unfulfilling approaches to the game’s dynamic single-player content and progression may feel like they’ve totally whiffed (at least at this early stage), but Mortal Kombat 11 hits where it matters.”

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mortal-kombat-11-community-thank-you-gift-now-avai/1100-6466566/