PSN Just Launched A Major Sale On Hundreds Of Games

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Hold onto your hats, because the PlayStation Store’s latest sale is here, and it’s a big one. Hundreds of games for PS4, PS3, PSP, PS Vita, and PS VR are marked down, and it’s all part of The Great Indoors Sale–a.k.a. more reasons to not leave the house in these final, dreary days of winter. Besides all of the game deals, one-year PS Plus subscriptions are also discounted at just $45 (and membership pricing is rarely that cheap). While the PS Plus deal is available only until March 26, the following game deals are all valid until March 29 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET. And these discounts will be even greater if you’re a PS Plus member.

There are almost too many great games included here to name–but here are the highlights. You can get the complete edition of Horizon Zero Dawn for only $17, along with its amazing DLC, The Frozen Wilds, for $8. Bloodborne‘s DLC, The Old Hunters, is another worthwhile puchase at just $15. Red Dead Redemption is marked down to just $12.89, while Red Dead Redemption 2‘s special edition is $60. Borderlands 2 is down to just $5, The Last Guardian is selling for $14, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight is $42, and The Witcher 3‘s complete edition is only $20. The list goes on and on. And if you’re on a budget, there’s even a handy section for all the cheapest deals–most of them are under $10.

Shop PSN’s Great Indoors Sale »

Because there are literally hundreds of options, check out more of our picks below!

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/psn-just-launched-a-major-sale-on-hundreds-of-game/1100-6465610/

Epic Games Store: Cloud Saves, Achievements, More Features On The Way

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Epic has released a roadmap for 2019, which includes the new features scheduled to appear on the Epic Games Store. The full roadmap can be viewed on Trello, but Epic has issued the disclaimer that the new features listed and the times they’re scheduled for are “subject to change.”

Exact timetables are not provided for each feature, with each one falling into a category of one-three months, four-six months, or long-term (more than six months). In the short-term, Epic isn’t implementing too many major features. The company plans to redesign the Epic Games Store’s website, and add search tools that utilize both genre and tags. The Epic Game Store will also start hosting video, provide an “optimized delta solution” to help developers reduce the size of game patches, support DLC add-ons, and streamline the sign-in process to allow players to “get into their offline games faster.” The one major feature during this window of time is cloud saves support–a long-requested addition from the Epic Games Store community.

You’ll see a lot more community-requested features added in the mid- to long-term. In four-six months, Epic plans on adding user reviews, wish lists, additional payment methods/currencies, player time tracking, and mod support. The Epic Game Store is also scheduled to see improvements to its newsfeed and follow features, as well additional sorting and filtering methods for its game library. In the long-term, the Epic Game Store will support game achievements, direct carrier billing, and a shopping cart. Epic also plans on overhauling the store’s social features as well.

Epic has a few more improvements scheduled for its game store that don’t have any planned date. These include more generalized PC game store features, such as automated refunds and gifting, and specific ones, like an Arabic translation for the store and support for games that released in Korea. Epic also plans to have the Epic Games Store be accessible on Android devices.

Getting these features out the door is important for the survival of the Epic Games Store, as many of them already exist on its number one competitor, Steam. The Epic Games Store has managed to attract an audience by securing several major triple-A 2019 releases, such as Metro Exodus and The Division 2. However, PC gamers have come to expect many of the features listed above, and will probably gravitate back to Steam if all the Epic Games Store can deliver is a few good exclusives.

The Epic Games Store also offers a free game every two weeks. Right now, you can download the indie game Slime Rancher, which is normally $20 USD on PC. Slime Rancher will be available until March 21, when it will be replaced by Oxenfree.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/epic-games-store-cloud-saves-achievements-more-fea/1100-6465613/

Anthem Loot Just Got Better In New Update; Patch Notes Released

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EA has announced the next update for Anthem is now live. This update patches Anthem’s loot system–specifically buffing the drop rates for Masterwork and Legendary items. The full patch notes are listed on EA’s website.

The new update has taken immediate effect on the server-side of Anthem so you don’t have to actually download anything. If you boot up Anthem right now, the update should have already taken effect. Because of the update, drop rates for all Masterwork and Legendary items have been increased on Grandmaster 2 and Grandmaster 3 difficulties. Across all difficulties, Masterwork and Legendary items now have a higher chance of dropping from Anthem’s harder enemies–which includes Legendary and Epic Titans, Legendary Furies, Legendary Acid Ursixes, and Legendary Luminary Elders.

This new update comes out after BioWare community manager Jesse Anderson put together a lengthy response to a Reddit post that expressed concerns with Anthem. “All I’ll say on this is that Anthem is here to stay. Do we have a lot of work to do to fix parts of the game? Yes, and the team is committed to making improvements and releasing new content,” Anderson wrote. Anthem did not have the smoothest launch–releasing to mediocre review scores. BioWare even implemented a patch that accidentally fixed a bug that players wanted to stay in the game. However, BioWare seems to be taking most of the criticism in stride, and has repeatedly released follow-up hotfixes and large scale patches for the game in response to community complaints–which Anderson also pointed out in his Reddit post.

“For feedback, we’ve made a large number of changes based on what players have told us. Not wanting to run to the Forge every time to launch an expedition? We added the ability to launch anywhere in Fort Tarsis, that was because of player feedback. Wanted to visually see loot drop from bosses in Strongholds? Added because of player feedback,” Anderson wrote. “If you are talking about feedback on loot in general…I’ve already said that the team is discussing and that more will be likely be shared in the coming days. I know everyone wants to know when, but I don’t have that answer.” He continued, “Like Chad Robertson said in a tweet, we aren’t happy with where loot is either, so know that it’s high on our priority list.”

In our Anthem review, Kallie Plagge gave the game a 6/10, writing, “Anthem has good ideas, but it struggles significantly with the execution. It’s a co-op game that works best with no one talking; it buries genuinely interesting character moments and puts its most incomprehensible story bits at the forefront; its combat is exciting until you get to the boss fights and find your wings have been clipped. Even the simple, exhilarating act of flying is frequently interrupted by the limitations of your javelin, and you never quite shake that feeling of disappointment–of knowing, throughout the good parts of Anthem, that you’ll inevitably come crashing back down.”

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/anthem-loot-just-got-better-in-new-update-patch-no/1100-6465608/

Where Is Xur? Destiny 2 Location And Exotic Weapons Guide (March 15-19)

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Xur has returned to Destiny 2 once again, and for the second time in as many weeks, the weekend Exotic vendor has new things to offer. Not only does he have another Forsaken Exotic for Warlocks looking to complete their collections, but he’s offering the first Invitation of the Nine, a special bounty that gives new information about Xur’s enigmatic masters.

You’ll find Xur on Titan this week, hanging out in a small shed on The Rig. Head north from the spawn point and check in a small building toward the edge of the platform. There you can purchase Crimson, a phenomenal Exotic hand cannon that fires a burst of three shots at a time. Kills with Crimson heal you, and precision kills refill the magazine, making it a pretty devastating weapon, especially in Crucible. Crimson is a great hand cannon to take with you on the lengthy Crucible grind if you’re working on the quest to get the new Exotic hand cannon Thorn—check out our guide for some handy tips, including where to find the start of the Thorn quest.

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For armor, Warlocks win this week with a Forsaken Exotic after missing out on getting one last week. It’s Chromatic Fire, a chest armor piece that makes precision kills with your Kinetic weapon detonate enemies with elemental blasts. For Titans, there’s Wormgod Caress, a set of gauntlets that increase your melee damage for every melee kill you get, with streaks lengthening the effect’s duration. Finally, Hunters can snag the Orpheus Rig Exotic boots, which gives you more shots in the Moebius Quiver version of the Shadowshot super, and gives you ability energy for every enemy tethered by it.

Here are all the Exotics Xur offers this week and what they’ll cost you:

  • Crimson (Exotic combat bow) — 29 Legendary Shards
  • Wormgod Caress (Exotic Titan gauntlets) — 23 Legendary Shards
  • Orpheus Rig (Exotic Hunter gauntlets) — 23 Legendary Shards
  • Chromatic Fire (Exotic Warlock Chest Armor) — 23 Legendary Shards

You can also buy a Fated Engram, if you can afford it. Dropping 97 Legendary Shards on the item will grant you one Year One Exotic you don’t already have for that character. Xur also offers the Five of Swords challenge card for free, which allows you to add difficulty modifiers that increase your score in Nightfall runs.

Xur is also packing an Invitation From the Nine, a bounty that’s new with the Jokers Wild expansion content. The first one requires players to farm enemies in the Lake of Shadows Strike, and you can expect a new one every week. The goal is to finish off nine of them to earn some special rewards.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/where-is-xur-destiny-2-location-and-exotic-weapons/1100-6465609/

PlayStation Plus Membership Is On Sale For Just $45 Right Now

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If you own a PlayStation console and enjoy online multiplayer games, you’re probably well-familiar with PS Plus, PlayStation’s annual membership subscription that grants access to online multiplayer in games like Overwatch, Monster Hunter World, or Diablo III. While PS Plus membership is usually priced at $60 per year, it’s cheaper than ever for a limited amount of time. From now until March 26, you can sign up for (or re-purchase) PS Plus for only $45 (25% off).

The PlayStation Store is offering this deal as part of its Great Indoors Sale this month, which also features games up to 75% off with PS Plus. So once you snag a membership, you can pick up a bunch of games for even cheaper.

If you’re already a PS Plus member, you’re also allowed to stack subscriptions, so you can still take advantage of the discount and save money in the long-term. Even if PlayStation launches a new console in the next few years (as it’s rumored to), your PS Plus subscriptions will likely be valid on that platform.

Notably, PS Plus is also discounted at third-party retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop, likely to price-match the PlayStation Store’s current deal. So if you prefer to shop at those stores, you can get the same exact deal, and still swing back over to the PlayStation Store for its latest PS Plus game deals.

Besides access to online multiplayer, PS Plus membership comes with free monthly game downloads (March’s free games are available now), better discounts on everyday deals, and online game saves (with 1 GB of online storage for PS4, 1 GB for PS3, and 1 GB for PS Vita).

Buy PlayStation Plus 1-Year membership for $45

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/playstation-plus-membership-is-on-sale-for-just-45/1100-6465606/

The SXSW Texas Steam Sale Has Games Up To 75% Off This Weekend

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As the SXSW Gaming Festival kicks off today in Austin, there’s another way the rest of us who aren’t there can get in on the fun (well, sort of): by heading to Steam. The Texas Sale from SXSW Gaming has kicked off, so now until Sunday, March 17, you can get discounts as high as 75% off on an amazing batch of games. Here’s a quick look at the best deals:

  • Both Borderlands and Borderlands 2 are 75% off right now, and with Gearbox Software teasing an announcement for Borderlands 3 at this year’s PAX East, there’s no better time to dive in and get acquainted with this stellar series. While Borderlands’ standard edition isn’t on sale, its Game of the Year edition is for just $7.49; meanwhile, Borderlands 2 is only $5.
  • On sale for just $3.29, Dishonored is an absolute steal right now. The stealth action game is set in a city struck by plague and full of infected citizens, and your character is an assassin named Corvo, who is pursuing revenge.
  • Prey is marked down 50%, so you can get it for just $15 this weekend. The survival horror first-person shooter is set in a space station that’s been overrun by hostile aliens, and you play as a character named Morgan, who must explore the station and attempt to escape.
  • Packed with adrenaline-pumping action, the 2016 reboot of Doom is marked down to just $15 (25% off) this weekend. Playing as a space marine, you’ll battle your way through Hell while fighting literal demons using a variety of different guns and other weapons.
  • The entire Banner Saga series is on sale too, both individually and with a few different bundle options. The strategy RPG, which is deeply impacted by players’ choices, is set in a world inspired by Viking legends and centers around a war between humans and an ancient race known as the Dredge.

Shop the Texas Steam Sale »

The full list of discounted games:

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-sxsw-texas-steam-sale-has-games-up-to-75-off-t/1100-6465601/

No Man’s Sky Beyond Teases Expanded Online Mode

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Hello Games has announced its next big expansion for No Man’s Sky. The “Beyond” update is slated for this summer and will be free to all players. It was accompanied by a brief trailer showing a hanger, the title, and not much more.

A blog post introducing the update says that Hello Games had planned three large features, and ultimately decided to roll them all into one expansion. Though two of those are remaining under wraps for the time being, the first component the team is outlining is called No Man’s Sky Online. The newly revised online component will allow players to meet up and play together more easily, but the studio cautions that it doesn’t consider this a shift to an MMO. It will remain free for all players, won’t contain microtransactions, and won’t require a subscription (aside from Xbox Live Gold or PS Plus on consoles).

As for the other pieces of Beyond, Hello says it will “talk more about each component when we know we can be precise.”

Last year, No Man’s Sky had a large-scale update called Next that served as a major overhaul, and earned it a spot among our best expansions of 2018. Since then it’s gotten a steady stream of content updates, like The Abyss that added more underwater exploration, and Visions with a host of new biomes, flora, and fauna. Beyond appears to be scaled similarly to Next.

The game has come a long way from its initial release, which was criticized for not quite meeting its lofty ambitions. Part of that was simply not fulfilling some of the promotion surrounding the game, so the blog’s comment about not opening up about pieces of Beyond yet seems as if Hello has learned how to manage expectations.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/no-mans-sky-beyond-teases-expanded-online-mode/1100-6465604/

Apex Legends Scholarship Offered By Massachusetts College

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Apex Legends is doing very well for itself as the newest contender in the battle royale space, and now you can parlay those battlefield skills into a college education. Becker College has announced a scholarship program tied to an upcoming esports event, which will allow top-performing players to receive $5,000 for schooling.

Becker has partnered with Team Genji and Helix Esports for the program. Helix is hosting an Apex Legends amateur tournament in New Jersey in early April, and Team Genji will be on-site to perform analytics. Those who score among the top players at the tournament can claim the one-time scholarship at Becker, if they apply and are admitted to the college. Eligible finalists will be invited to apply, so there will be no ambiguity whether or not you made the cut.

Scholarship recipients will also be given a try-out for Becker’s own Apex Legends team, which will begin competing in Fall 2019. You can read more details and sign up through the official site.

Respawn is planning to launch the first Apex Legends battle pass in March, though it hasn’t given a release date yet. We did get an apparent sneak peek at what it will consist of, though, given an accidental update to the Origin site. That showed a new hero named Octane, and suggested the battle pass will be priced at 950 Apex Coins (roughly $10). Respawn acknowledged that the leak was legitimate, but warned against putting too much stock in information gleaned from data mining.

Meanwhile, the studio banned hundreds of thousands of cheaters, and said it has no plans for a reconnect feature–in part because of its potential for abuse by cheaters.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/apex-legends-scholarship-offered-by-massachusetts-/1100-6465602/

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker Switch DLC Is Out Now; Here’s What You Get

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Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker‘s first DLC pack is out now on Nintendo Switch. The add-on contains five new courses and “18 new challenges,” including some for existing courses.

The Special Episode, as it’s called, costs $6 / £5.39, and each of its five stages are playable in single player or in two player co-op. It should be noted, however, that the DLC is not coming to the 3DS or Wii U versions of Treasure Tracker.

The paid DLC pack follows a free Captain Toad update in February that added co-op and one new stage ahead of time. Those features improved on what was an already an enjoyable game.

In our Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker Switch review, Daniel Starkey awarded the game an 8/10. “Despite a smattering of minor complaints, Captain Toad stands as a pint-sized version of Nintendo’s stellar first party pedigree,” he said. “It’s among the best Mario spin-offs around and a delightful iteration on old ideas.

“The sharper screen on the Switch and addition of about a dozen new areas and modes make this version a strictly better choice, and the short, relatively simple stages of Captain Toad lend themselves to a portable environment. Of course, it also carries with it the weaknesses of its forebear. Even with the bonus content, Treasure Tracker is a bit short. You’re left with the sense that there could be plenty more and that the idea of rotating through levels doesn’t get its full due.”

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/captain-toad-treasure-tracker-switch-dlc-is-out-no/1100-6465599/

Original Halo TV Show Director Explains Why He Left The Series

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The upcoming Halo TV show produced by Steven Spielberg was originally going to be directed by Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt. However, at the end of 2018 he dropped out due to scheduling issues, with Black Mirror director Otto Bathurst taking over. Now, Wyatt has shared even more insight into his exit from the show.

Speaking to Collider, Wyatt said he had to leave the Halo TV show because changes to the production schedule conflicted with his other commitments. He said that in his role as a director, he wasn’t with the project from day one, and as such, he wasn’t in control of the factors that ultimately led to the production becoming extended. Had he been the showrunner, he said he might have been able to stay aboard, he said.

However, with the decision to extend the production by “months if not years,” Wyatt had to step away to do other things. Overall, the version of the Halo TV show that exists today “wasn’t within the framework” for what Wyatt originally signed up for.

The Halo TV show’s showrunner–that is, the person or team who controls the creative direction of a show–is Kyle Killen who previously worked on Awake.

The new director, Otto Bathurst, directed the very first and very shocking episode of Black Mirror before going on to work on Peaky Blinders. He also directed the new Robin Hood movie featuring Jamie Foxx and Taron Egerton.

The Halo TV show will air on Showtime, whose parent company, CBS, also owns GameSpot. The last we heard from network president of programming Gary Levine was that the Halo show is “evolving beautifully with rich characters, compelling stories, and powerful scripts.” Showtime said previously that Halo is the network’s “most ambitious series ever,” and that’s notable given Showtime is behind some massive productions such as Homeland, Shameless, Billions, and more recently the Jim Carrey show Kidding.

Master Chief will feature in the Halo TV show in some capacity, but it remains to be seen if he is the lead, or what other characters might join him. The show is scheduled to begin production later in 2019, and Showtime has ordered 10 hour-long episodes of Halo for its first season.

In other Halo news, Microsoft recently confirmed that Halo: The Master Chief Collection is coming to PC, and it’ll be available on Steam. Additionally, Halo: Reach is coming to The Master Chief Collection on both Xbox One and PC.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/original-halo-tv-show-director-explains-why-he-lef/1100-6465598/