“Realistic” World War I multiplayer FPS, Verdun, has received a brand-new update on Xbox One. The update, billed as more of a remaster, is available for free to all owners of the base game, and it comes with an assortment of changes and enhancements to the original experience.

Developers M2H and Blackmill Games released the patch notes for this Verdun Xbox One remaster, which can be viewed below. In addition to the patch notes, the two studios also put out a featurette, below, going into detail about the various changes available in the free update. These include improvements to the user interface, audio, graphics, controls and settings, and more.

Visual improvements aren’t all that is in Verdun’s free remaster update. The game also comes with new content, such as a brand-new map, additional squads and weapons, support for up to 24 AI players, and more.

Verdun has been around for a few years now. It first launched on Steam in April 2015, then made its way to PS4 in August 2016 and jumped to Xbox One in March 2017. We scored Verdun a 6/10 in our original 2015 review, saying, “Verdun somewhat succeeds in its lavish goal, but its road to glory is lengthy still. Until then, it sits on the edge of the line, waiting for the rallying cry.”

Full Verdun Xbox One Remaster Patch Notes

Major Additions/Improvements

• New Map:
  • St. Mihiel
• New Squads:
  • ANZAC & Tirailleurs Sénégalais
• New Weapons:
  • Webley Fosbery, Entrenching Tool, Senegalese Machete, Pétard Explosive, OF1 Grenade, Berthier “Sénégalais”
• Frontlines Bot support:
  • 24 players
• Updated graphics with improved weapon & character art, animations and shading
• Completely revamped UI with new features such as the spawn map and overview map
• Completely revamped sounds with higher quality and more authentic sounds and effects
• Improved controls to make it more responsive and allow for more customization
• New localizations:
  • Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Brasilian Portuguese, Turkish, Polish
• Added a prestige system to the game. When you reach level 100 you can choose to prestige in your account screen and gain a new prestige rank, level & icon
• Added a new and improved tutorial system with tooltips and an intro video about Frontlines
• Added bullet penetration mechanic
• Added team damage penalty to all game modes e.g. hitting a friendly player will now give you a 10 point penalty
• Added map voting at the end of a match. You can pick between two maps. When the time is up, the voting results will be displayed
• Networking improvements:
  • Smoother and more accurate movement
• Overhauled the squad leveling system:
  • Every user now has a squad-level per squad, these levels combined will form the total squad level. For older squad levels we have a legacy system in place
• Added various improvements to prevent spawn killing
• Improved death cam
• Added first-person gas choking animation
• Better match up between the third- and first-person animations
• Added more custom match options
• Added better match balancing measures to prevent unbalanced games
• Barbed wire no longer kills but slows down and injures the player
• Prone/MG deployment improvements
• More stamina:
  • You can now sprint for 100 meters
• Various level fixes and improvements
• Added more options to customize HUD and controls
• Improved ragdolls
• Putting your gasmask on or off is now interruptible
• Added end game camera animations
• Weapons now have full accuracy through iron sights.
• Added recoil kick to LMGs
• Suppression effect is nerfed
• New medal:
  • “Most binoc kills”
• [X1 Only] Adjusted “Extreme Headhunter” and “Do you even die” achievement requirements
• You can now abort reloading by firing
• Rebolting can now be canceled by melee
• New Frontlines rule based on community feedback. Both defenders and attackers may no longer be further away than 2 sectors from the currently contested sector
• The game will now switch to a better host faster
• Various loadout adjustments based on community feedback
• Various weapon stats adjustments based on community feedback
• Tweaked aura sizes based on community feedback
• Adjusted call-in cooldowns based on community feedback

Bug Fixes & Smaller Improvements

• Squad Defense no longer AFK kicks you if you are dead
• Improved backward and sideways crawling animation
• “Most kills of higher rank” medal is now “Most kills of higher or equal rank”
• Ragdoll fingers are no longer always in the trigger position
• Reduced possibility of big rotations happening when you attack someone in melee
• We now show network stats if they are not healthy values. It shows:
  • Host migration, jitter, ping, and packet loss
• Reduced all command order cooldowns to 5 seconds
• Fire now damages players. Affected maps:
  • Flanders, Champagne
• Fixed deploy widget sticking around when switching to a different specialization
• Fixed first person hiccups when shooting and moving with MGs
• Removed blending during weapon swap/draw to prevent weird weapon spins
• Adjusted timing of sighted stance animations to better fit the in-game speed
• Third-person swap/draw time now matches first-person
• Third-person reload animation matches first-person animation more closely
• Better match up between the third and first-person animation status of recharging rifle
• Better match up between the third and first-person animations status of sighting a weapon
• Better animations when you are sighted and the player switches stance
• Third-person melee animation speed now always matches first-person melee animation speed
• The pitch of your third-person weapon model now matches the first person pitch more closely
• Your gun will now always move a bit when holding breath while walking
• Recharging/bolting of first/third person is now synced better
• Third-person reload now always has the same duration as first-person reload
• Third-person reload will now stop when bashing during the reload
• Gasmask overlay is no longer visible after the end of the match
• No more melee suppression through walls
• Going prone on a hill doesn’t cause skewed characters anymore
• Guns block your view less during sprinting over rough terrain
• Team kills will no longer give you a kill on the scoreboard and add progress towards achievements
• You will no longer miss the spawn during a MC switch when the timer is just about to hit 0
• You can no longer deploy a MG while jumping
• You can no longer aim after pressing jump
• Melee shock should only be caused by running people with melee weapons. Also, it shouldn’t trigger unless the enemy and victim are facing each other
• Fixed a bug where Squad Defense wins would count toward ‘highest multi-kill’ stat instead of a winning streak
• Grenade Training 3 now correctly gives extra score
• Repeating weapon types will no longer spawn another case when the reloading/recharging has been interrupted and a case has already been ejected
• Fixed health regen delay being 0 during first player life
• Fixed animation glitch when starting sprint during weapon unsight
• Grenade throw time tweaks
• Fixed gas effect staying longer than the visual
• When not spawning on a player, you will now look in the correct direction on spawn
• Added an option to enable manual reloading, so you won’t reload your gun when trying to shoot without having loaded ammo
• Increase stab/bash range so you no longer have to crouch to hit prone targets
• Remember mini-map zoom setting between maps
• Near order points adjustment:
  • Non-NCO still get 15 points when killing near an order, NCO now only gets points for each squadmate that actually follows the order. This prevents NCO to just use the order for itself and to encourages placing better orders
• Teamwork points adjustment:
  • When making a kill in the squad aura, you now get 5 points per other squadmate that is also in the aura.
• No longer allow a 1 man squad to create a new match in Frontlines/Maneuver (unless there are no active matches). This prevents sharded matches. Users are encouraged via chat warning to change squad setup or use “Play Now” instead.
• Fixed MG deployment indicator staying after dying
• Fixed a case of retreat bonus not being triggered
• Frontlines:
  • Fixed a case that let players spawn on NCO who is in a ‘desertion’ area
• Made ammo crates always refill full amount of grenades in Squad Defense
• Fixed Engineer and Sentry squad being able to spawn in ‘No Mans Land’ and verified that they now do allow spawning when they are supposed to.
• Improved melee by allowing more trade-kill grace time
• Fixed a case where you could get stuck in ADS & ‘This report’
• Fixed a case where ladders were often not detected by making ladder collisions not affect movement. This improves some ladders that were not climbable
• Made movement up a slope as a fast as moving on flat terrain
• Fixed an issue where auto-balance triggers with a one player difference
• Fixed weapon snapping when firing a full auto weapon and toggling ADS at the same time
• Fixed rifle snapping when changing stance during reload
• Reduced instances of weapon snapping from and to ADS
• Added a trigger audio when firing a gun without ammo
• Peep sight edits for P17/14, Lewis and Bar. Their sights are now smaller and less obstructing
• Fixes in upper/lower body third-person animation timing/transitions to counter characters “dabbing” when sighting/unsighting.
• Made reinforcing bars on German gas mask (somewhat) transparent. This makes the German gas mask more on par with the Entente variant
• Various improvements to bayonet stabbing:
  • Bigger hit radius, faster damage application, no more locking on teammates when friendly fire/team damage is enabled
• In team-based matches, a player spawn penalty is applied only when the player’s team is winning or when the teams are tied
• You can no longer (accidentally) call-in abilities outside the map
• Your arms/weapon react to strafing and moving backward
• Fixed a case where a jump-like animation occurs when quickly ADSing after shooting
• Frontlines:
  • Defending squads will now be spread out in the defending sector before the start of the match
• Spawn protection against explosions (artillery/grenades) raised from 2 to 4 seconds as artillery/grenades can be in progress during your spawn
• Fixed an issue where bayonet stats differed, stats for all bayonets should now be the same
• Artillery projectiles are now removed if the owner leaves or changes faction. This prevents team killing by changing faction after calling in artillery.
• Increased the time you have to retreat to another sector in Frontlines.
• Preventing spawning in sectors that are about to be captured if you are a defender.
• Flamethrower damage is more consistent
• Third-person character now matches the first person vision more closely when a player goes prone. Reduces invisible prone issues when not deploying
• Improved gasmask checking on spawn, should resolve the ‘spawning in gas’ issues
• Reduced bouncing on downward slopes, you now stick better to the terrain
• Explosions & rifle shots cause body parts to have a force applied instead of merely dropping to the ground
• NCO artillery call-ins are now also shown on the map to friendlies
• Allow reload actions directly after inserting a stripper clip to be canceled
• The ability to switch role while under attack or dead is added to Squad Defense
• Fixed a bug which caused the height of the third person character model not matching the first-person model (mostly noticeable when prone)
• Fixed a bug where revolver per shell reloads could not be canceled by pressing the fire button
• Improved arm movements when moving, crouching, lying prone for some weapons
• Various smaller bug fixes and improvements

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ww1-fps-verdun-on-xbox-one-gets-free-remaster/1100-6471959/

Red Dead Redemption 2 is now available on Steam, and it comes with all the graphical and technical enhancements the studio made for its PC debut last month. These include updated visuals, higher quality lighting effects, improved textures, and more.

Rockstar confirmed Red Dead Redemption 2’s Steam launch will feature platform-specific support, such as Steam Achievements, Steam Chat, and Steam Broadcast functionality. Further, the Steam version also includes the new features added to the game’s PC version, like the added Photo Mode, Bounty Hunter Missions, Gang Hideouts, Treasure Maps, and more.

You can pick up the standard edition of Red Dead Redemption 2 on Steam for $60 USD. Of course, there are two other editions available for purchase on the digital storefront. The $80 USD Special Edition includes exclusive story mode content, gameplay bonuses and boosts, the Nuevo Paraiso Gunslinger Outfit, and more. Red Dead Redemption 2’s Ultimate Edition, which retails for $100 USD on Steam, features everything in the Special Edition and more, like additional online content and the Black Chestnut Thoroughbred.

Red Dead Redemption 2 Steam Requirements

Minimum

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 7 – Service Pack 1 (6.1.7601)
• Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K / AMD FX-6300
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 2GB / AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 150 GB available space
• Sound Card: Direct X Compatible

Recommended

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10 – April 2018 Update (v1803)
• Processor: Intel Core i7-4770K / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
• Memory: 12 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB / AMD Radeon RX 480 4GB
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 150 GB available space
• Sound Card: Direct X Compatible

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/red-dead-redemption-2-is-now-available-on-steam/1100-6471954/

Epic has rolled out a new set of challenges in Fortnite. Week 9’s batch is called Chaos Rising, although like previous sets, there isn’t much of a theme running through the challenges, so you’ll be doing various tasks like skydiving through rings and using ziplines. One of the trickier challenges in this batch asks you to dance at a green steel bridge, yellow steel bridge, and red steel bridge. If you’re not sure where those are located, we’ve put together this guide to show you where to go.

Where Are The Green Steel Bridge, Yellow Steel Bridge, And Red Steel Bridge Locations?

As the challenge states, you’ll need to find three different colored bridges for this mission. Given how many waterways there are around Fortnite Chapter 2’s new map, this can be a daunting task, especially if you’re not already familiar with the island’s layout, so we’ll tell you where each one is located to save you some aimless searching. If you need more help finding them, we’ve also marked where all three bridge locations on the map below.

• Green steel bridge — southwest of Frenzy Farm
• Yellow steel bridge — directly east of Misty Meadows
• Red steel bridge — south of Pleasant Park.

How To Complete The Challenge

Once you know where to find the three bridges, completing this challenge is simply a matter of making your way to each one and using a dance emote while standing on them. Fortunately, you don’t need to visit all three bridges within a single match to complete this challenge, so the quickest way to finish the mission may be to dance at one, get eliminated, jump into a new match, dance at another, and repeat the process until you’ve check off all three.

This is the ninth weekly set of challenges Epic has rolled out in Fortnite Chapter 2. It’s unclear just how many more the developer has in store; the season was originally scheduled to end this month but has now been extended into February. In the meantime, if you need help completing any tasks from earlier in the season, you can find all of our maps and guides in our Fortnite Chapter 2 challenges roundup.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fortnite-bridge-locations-where-to-dance-at-green-/1100-6471944/

Update 16 is set to arrive for Fallout 76 on Tuesday, December 10. The latest patch will add more choice to Nuclear Winter Maps, introduce a true solo mode for Private Worlds, feature new festive-themed events, and offer a free trial weekend.

In Fallout 76’s battle royale mode, Nuclear Winter, The Forest map is returning alongside Morgantown, with players given the option to vote for which map they want to play before the start of every match. This has been a highly requested feature ever since the launch of Morgantown.

Another requested feature has been the option to play Fallout 76 solo using its Private Worlds. Update 16 is adding two options to its private servers: “Team Only” and “All Friends.” The former lets you join a private server with those you’ve already formed a team with or, alternatively, you can join one alone. “All Friends” works just like Private Worlds do now, allowing anyone on your friend’s list to hop into the server you’re playing on.

Festive Scorched enemies come bearing Holiday Gifts.

With the holiday season upon us, Fallout 76 is also getting into the spirit with a Holiday Scorched Event that runs from December 12 to December 26. During this period, Scorched enemies will appear in the game dressed in festive attire. Spot them, or hear their jingle bells, and you’ll be able to hunt them down. Each one you kill will drop a Holiday Gift for you to unwrap, including low-, medium-, or high-quality items that range from a lump of coal to rare plans and recipes.

For a limited time after Update 16 releases, you’ll also be able to claim a free Santatron bot from the Atomic Shop. Build it in your C.A.M.P. and the Santatron will roam the nearby area, collecting treats like candy, toys, and coal. During the Holiday Scorched Event, it will also occasionally give you a Holiday Gift.

Those that missed Fallout 76’s Halloween-themed event will have a chance to complete the challenges and earn its rewards again, too. The event has been repackaged as the Nightmare Preceding Christmas and will run from December 11 to December 16. Following this will be a Christmas challenge from December 17 to January 6, offering a set of six new Christmas-themed Nuclear Winter challenges and cosmetic rewards.

If all of this sounds appealing, Fallout 76 will also have a free trial weekend from December 12 to December 16 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, so you can try it out for yourself. There will also be a Double XP event active during the same weekend.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fallout-76-update-16-arrives-next-week-with-solo-p/1100-6471947/

Ah, yes. The personal computer. Always at the cutting edge of whatever’s happening in the world of video games. Pushing the boundaries with new technology, while almost always being the best place to play multiplatform games.

2019 was definitely an interesting year for PC gaming. You might assume that the space is largely detached from what the console folks are doing, and in some respects, especially on the technological side, you’re right. PC games have access to big new leaps almost as soon as they happen.

But if we just consider the PC as a platform where you play the latest video games, the landscape had a ton of similarities to that of the consoles in 2019. All of this is to say that, as I looked back on the big PC milestones for the year, it felt very transitional without any earth-shattering moments.

We weren’t biding our time for new hardware, but we did see a lot of distribution platforms and games publishers sorting out their arsenal, a hit new genre get birthed, and a bunch of new VR hardware come to market. Hopefully, when 2020 gets underway, all of this stuff will hit full speed, and only then, when all the good ideas take hold and the chaff falls away, will we be able to see how the next generation is defined. But for now, let’s reminisce.

Epic Game Store Grows And Grows

You might have opinions on Epic Games getting into the digital distribution market and taking on Steam. They’re taking games away from Steam! It’s just a big ruse to get people to play Fortnite! Something about China, maybe! But Tim Sweeney does not care what you think, and 2019 saw the Epic Store obtain exclusivity to a number of big-budget and independent games, keeping them away from Steam–a move Valve called “unfair” to consumers in regards to games that were already marketed on their platform). This includes stuff like Metro: Exodus, The Outer Wilds, The Outer Worlds, The Division 2 (in fact, all of Ubisoft’s games in 2019 became exclusive to the Epic and Ubisoft Store), Control, Shenmue III, among many, many others.

It’s caused a lot of commotion in a frustrated, vocal portion of the PC gaming community. And it’s put independent developers in a dilemma about how to best make what they do viable. Some consumers see the acquisitions as a hostile action, but with Epic’s ongoing offer to provide users with free games twice a month, and their notable transparency when it comes to revenue sharing and the development of their platform (they have a public development roadmap), the company is seemingly continuing to position themselves as the good-guy underdogs next to Steam. How that shakes out in 2020 is something we’ll be watching with great interest.

Steam’s Offering Grows Too

Not to be outdone by all of the big acquisitions of the Epic Store, Steam also picked up some significant partners in 2019. Once Bungie broke up with Activision, Destiny 2 made the jump from Blizzard’s Battle.net to Steam. Microsoft loosened their grip on their biggest first-party franchises in a move that helped increase their presence on PC–all the Halo games were made available on Steam, Gear 5 launched on the platform too, and State of Decay 2 is coming next year.

In a similarly surprising move, Electronic Arts also loosened its grip on a number of PC games, meaning many titles that were previously only available on their Origin storefront were brought to Steam, including their latest release, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order–which also made its way to the Epic Game Store.

We Got Those Subscriptions Now, Too

Of course, some might say the moves made by Microsoft and EA were only made to draw attention to the value that their new subscription services provided. Microsoft’s increasingly popular Xbox Game Pass for PC launched during E3 2019 and has continued to provide access to over a hundred games for a relatively low subscription fee–$5 USD as of writing. Xbox Game Pass for PC includes new releases like The Outer Worlds and Gears 5, as well as a number of PC-exclusive titles like Hearts of Iron IV and Imperator: Rome from Paradox Interactive.

EA already had Origin Access on PC of course, but in 2019, it doubled-down with its Premier tier for the launch of Anthem and Apex Legends earlier in the year, as well as Jedi Fallen Order last month. Not to be left out, Ubisoft also launched Ubisoft+, which gives you access to the entire publisher’s catalogue, including DLC and expansion packs. There is an increasing number of ways for PC owners to consume games–almost too many–but it’s great to see so much competition and choice.

Yet Another New Genre Spawns

Remember how the MOBA genre spawned from a user-made custom map in Warcraft III, and then went on to be one of the most popular video game genres worldwide? Well, what if I told you that in Valve’s Dota 2 (the standalone game born out of the original Warcraft III DotA map) there was *another* user-made custom map that got so popular it spawned *another* hugely-popular genre and subsequent standalone games?

Say hello to the Auto Battler genre, conceived in January 2019 from the Dota Auto Chess mod by Drodo Studio. Its three major standalone competitors are Dota Underlords from Valve, Teamfight Tactics from Riot Games, and Auto Chess from Drodo themselves–games born from a mod for a game that was also born from a mod.

The concept is built around drafting units and positioning them on a battlefield, where they’ll fight the units from other players automatically until a victor emerges. There’s a depth of strategy in drafting, positioning, unit synergies, the metagame… it’s a whole thing that I don’t have the space to get into right now. But it’s compulsive, it’s massively popular, and like the MOBA and battle royale genres before it, it’s already spawned a ton of imitators. Good job, PC gaming!

We Got Those Exclusives

But hey, the PC doesn’t just have games from a brand new genre to flaunt–plenty of 2019’s fantastic PC exclusives came from old, boring genres too! We’re talking about things like the transcendent RPG Disco Elysium (though it’s coming to consoles in 2020); the greatest Total War yet, Three Kingdoms; and World of Warcraft: Classic, which seemed to surprise a lot of people.

That’s not to mention the countless gems still in Early Access–some of my favourites include Supergiant’s Hades, Risk of Rain 2, Subnautica: Below Zero, and Totally Accurate Battle Simulator. And there’s still more to come! At the time of publishing, Phoenix Point, the tactical strategy game from X-COM creator Julian Gollop, has just released, and Mechwarrior 5 will be out the following week.

PC gamers also leave 2019 with a few big names to look forward to in the future. Diablo IV, the next iteration of Overwatch and Cyberpunk 2077, are all on the top of the list, despite being multiplatform titles. And finally, a new entry in the highly-regarded and elusive Half-Life series, Half-Life: Alyx, was announced for a March 2020 release. There’s a catch with that one, though.

VR Hardware Steps Up

Next year’s Half-Life: Alyx will be a VR-only title, which has at least some folks thinking about obtaining themselves a VR headset. Well hey, guess what? 2019 was a particularly busy year for new VR hardware from the three major players in the space–Oculus, HTC, and Valve themselves.

Oculus released their new PC-powered headset, the Rift S, with room-scale tracking that doesn’t need external sensors (inside-out tracking) and new versions of the Oculus Touch gesture controllers. They also released the Oculus Quest, a completely wireless and standalone VR headset that can run games without the need to be connected to a PC by also utilizing inside-out tracking, and now also gives you the option to connect to a computer by using the recently-released Oculus Link beta.

HTC released the successor to the high-end Vive, called Cosmos, which also features inside-out tracking, new motion controllers, and a flip-up goggle design. Meanwhile, Valve launched its own VR headset, the Valve Index. This high-end headset boasts superior visual quality and gesture controllers (which track each individual finger), but oddly forgoes inside-out tracking in favour of using additional cameras to track positioning like the previous version of the Vive.

A variety of new, quality headsets to choose from is exciting, but the real question is: does VR have the compelling software to support it yet? For most people, the answer is still no. If you’re already deeply invested in the space, there are a lot of exciting experiences to keep you occupied–No Man’s Sky: Beyond, Pistol Whip, and Falcon Age were some of our highlights for this year. But is there a game you just have to run out and buy a headset for? Valve is probably hoping for Half-Life Alyx to be just that.

Other Matters, In Brief

• As is tradition, Valve’s annual Dota 2 tournament, The International, once again broke the record of the largest prize pool in esports history, despite the Fortnite World Cup setting a new record the month prior. The final prize pool total for The International 2019 was $34,300,000–almost $10 Million more than The International 2018.

• After Valve’s Steam Link hardware was discontinued and run out at trivial prices during Black Friday 2018, Valve has now discontinued the Steam Controller, running out the remaining stock during Black Friday 2019

• Red Dead Redemption 2 finally got a PC release

• With the introduction of Nvidia’s RTX 20-series line of graphics cards last year, real-time ray tracing is slowly introduced into a few big-name titles–Control, Metro Exodus, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and Wolfenstein: Youngblood were the notable examples, though they tech still requires demanding hardware specifications to utilise it.

• GPU manufacturers Nvidia and AMD both release new high-performing graphics cards at more affordable, mid-range prices. The Geforce RTX 2060/2070 Super are enhanced versions of their base models; the Radeon RX5700/5700XT are a new line of cards built under the new Navi architecture. Both ranges perform admirably well against their top-of-the-line relatives, but sit in the attractive $350-500 USD range.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/pc-gaming-and-vr-2019-report-card-forging-ahead-as/1100-6471808/