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New Fallout 76 Expansion Delayed, But Not For Very Long
Bethesda has announced the first piece of its three-part 2019 roadmap for Fallout 76 is delayed. Don’t worry, though, it’s only been delayed by a day.
“We are moving the release of Wild Appalachia back one day on all platforms,” Bethesda tweeted. “We just need a little more time to brew. Experience the new quest, crafting station & much more starting now on March 13.” Wild Appalachia was first announced on Fallout 76’s 100 day anniversary, alongside the game’s two other major follow-up expansions for 2019, Nuclear Winter and Wastelanders.
Wild Appalachia includes two new quests and a game mode, as well as several features. The two quests, titled Shear Terror and Ever Upwards, offer new stories for you to pursue, with the former focusing on mythical monsters and the latter having you join the Pioneer Scouts and earning merit badges. The new game mode, called Survival, is a PvP variation of Fallout 76’s Adventure mode. Of all the new features, brewing and distilling your own Nukashine recipes is the most notable, but the expansion also includes a means for exchanging unwanted legendary gear for new legendaries and setting up your own store for you to sell items to other players.
Fallout 76’s two other 2019 expansions are scheduled for much later in the year, with Nuclear Winter launching in the summer and Wastelanders in the fall. Nuclear Winter unlocks a new Legendary status and abilities for players who are level 50, and opens up Vaults 94 and 96 as challenging Raids for you to tackle with your friends. Wastelanders introduces “a tale with true choice and consequences” that includes a new main quest, factions, events, and features.
In our Fallout 76 review, Edmond Tran wrote, “Bethesda has stated it intends to continue supporting the game for a long time, but at launch, Fallout 76 is a poor experience. There are echoes of the series’ admirable qualities, but look past that facade, past the cute Vault Boy animations, past the familiar radio tracks, and you’ll find no heart–just an inconsequential wasteland doomed to be nuked over and over again.”
from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-fallout-76-expansion-delayed-but-not-for-very-/1100-6465501/
Call Of Duty WW2 Boss Says He Pitched Activision A New IP And They Said No
A former Activision creative higher-up pitched the company on a new IP, but the Call of Duty publisher didn’t go for it. Glen Schofield, the Dead Space co-creator who later established Call of Duty: WWII studio Sledgehammer Games, spoke about this in a new interview for what appears to be the first time.
“Did a little prototype for them–they didn’t go for it, but they should have,” Schofield told Game Informer.
Schofield pitched this new game–which he didn’t share any more details on–after he left Sledgehammer to take a position at Activision HQ. Sledgehammer’s other founder, Michael Condrey, moved to Activision corporate as well. Schofield teased that Condrey was working on “something” for Activision, while he was spending his own time working on “new game ideas.”
Schofield didn’t say why Activision vetoed his new game idea, and we’ve reached out to the company for comment but haven’t heard back. Whatever the case, Schofield talked about how making new IP is a challenging task. Activision Publishing, which is a part of Activision Blizzard, publishes franchises like Call of Duty, Spyro, and Crash. One of its highest profile new IPs was Bungie’s Destiny, which it published until the companies broke up but never owned outright as Bungie always held the IP rights.
With new IP, companies basically start from the bottom, with the the likelihood of strong return-on-investment potential seemingly not as high as it would be for an established series.
“It’s hard to get a great new IP going, and you’ve got to put time and money and effort into these things,” Schofield said. “We put time and effort into it, and some money, and it just didn’t work out.”
Schofield announced in December 2018 that he was leaving Activision. He left the company with no new job lined up, and that’s something he never thought he’d do. But with Activision not greenlighting his new IP, he said it was the right time to try something new.
“Not seeing the project greenlit–it was time [to leave Activision],” Schofield said. “There’s nothing bitter; everything about my years there were really good. I really enjoyed them. I never thought that [I’d] leave a place without a gig, right? I never thought about that. But nowadays I see why.”
Schofield is now taking meetings for new jobs, and he said he plans to do more networking at the Game Developers Conference later this month in San Francisco. As for Condrey, he landed a high-profile job heading up a new 2K development studio in Silicon Valley.
It’s been tough times at Activision Blizzard of late, as the company recently cut around 8 percent of its workforce in a downsizing that reportedly affected around 800 people.
from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/call-of-duty-ww2-boss-says-he-pitched-activision-a/1100-6465500/
Nintendo Switch’s Next Splatoon 2 Event Has A Neat Gimmick
Nintendo is holding a new Splatfest event in Splatoon 2 this weekend. The 24-hour competition kicks off on Friday, March 15 at 9 PM PT (12 AM ET on March 16), and as usual, it asks players to represent one of two opposing teams in Turf War. This time, however, you’ll be able to face off in special outfits.
The theme for this month’s Splatfest is knights vs. wizards. As always, players will choose one of the two sides from the Splatfest terminal in the game’s main plaza and try to rack up as many wins for their team as possible during the event. However, unlike previous events, you’ll be able to dress like your team of choice if you have the appropriate gear.
During each Splatfest, once you’ve chosen a side you’ll receive a special in-game t-shirt representing your team. You’re able to equip any headgear or footwear you own during the event, but you typically cannot change your t-shirt until the Splatfest has concluded.
This time, however, if you wear headgear and boots from the Steel or Enchanted lines–which are unlocked via the Octoling Boy and Octoling Girl Amiibo figures, respectively–your Splatfest shirt will automatically change to match, letting you battle it out in full knight or wizard regalia.
Ahead of the Splatfest, Nintendo recently rolled out Splatoon 2’s 4.5.0 update. This patch primarily makes balance adjustments to a range of weapons, most notably nerfing several Sloshers and buffing a handful of Blasters. You can read the full patch notes for the 4.5.0 update on Nintendo’s support website.
from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-switchs-next-splatoon-2-event-has-a-neat-/1100-6465497/
