Destiny 2‘s Annual Pass followed its Forsaken expansion with some solid new ideas for the game. Each one introduced new activities and loot, as well as slow-drip stories that expanded on both elements of Forsaken and the game world in general. It was a change of pace for how Bungie tells the game’s story, and it sounds like when the Shadowkeep expansion arrives, Bungie will push that envelope even further.

That’s according to new details in a blog post from director Luke Smith, which outlined a little more of how the new season system works in the third year of Destiny 2. First and foremost, Bungie is introducing a Season Pass system similar to that of Fortnite and Apex Legends, which will provide a steady stream of rewards both for those who buy the season’s $10 content pass, and for free players, as well.

Smith also elaborated on Bungie’s new approach to seasons, which will include limited-time content and events that will only exist during those seasons. That’s partially to deal with technical limitations on the game–as Smith pointed out in his Director’s Cut blog posts detailing changes coming in Shadowkeep, Destiny 2 can’t continually add new activities each season that become part of the game forever (as it did with the Annual Pass). In order to keep the game from growing out of control, some of those activities have to get phased out.

But Bungie’s focus with Shadowkeep and beyond are also trained on enhancing the storytelling going on in the game. The idea is to make players feel like they’re taking part in an evolving story in Destiny, rather than just running through a new slate of story missions every few months when content expansions drop. The “evolving world” approach to Destiny means seasons will have complete arcs that unfold over the course their 10-week existence.

Along the way, you’ll see new cutscenes and pick up new loot, but once the season ends, the activities and story beats that came with it will disappear from the game. There’s a caveat, though: Loot that’s only available as part of a specific season will remain in the game and will be accessible from other activities, so you’ll be able to get a season’s specific armor, weapons, and other gear even if you missed grabbing it during the actual events. Those items won’t be available right away, however, so there’s still an impetus on players to get the stuff they want during the events and story moments when it’s relevant.

Smith detailed the way new seasons might play out with an example using the Black Armory, the first season of Destiny 2’s Annual Pass from 2019. In his (fictional) example, the season might kick off with a timer counting down to the arrival of Ada-1, the character at the center of the season’s story. That could present players with a timed event in the Tower that showcased Ada’s arrival and a cutscene introducing the season, before you’d then start working with Ada to accomplish the story goals of the season.

Over the course of the season, Smith wrote, you’d see things change as you accomplished more and more of your goals. Ada’s area in the Tower would morph as her Black Armory operation became more stable, and new story bits–like an interaction between her in the Drifter–would take place along the way. As the season went on, Ada’s conversation with the Drifter would naturally start to set up the next season’s story (in this example, it’d be the Season of the Drifter) as the current season wound down. At the same time, you’d notice Ada starting to pack up her operation over the last few weeks of the season, before finally departing from the Tower altogether. At that point, the story that had been developing with the Drifter would take over, with more cosmetic changes and new cutscenes to draw you into it.

Eventually, you’d also hear from other characters, like Banshee-44, who would explain that Ada left behind schematics for the guns you could earn from the Black Armory–and that you could now obtain them from him.

That was a fictional example, but it also gives a clear picture of what Bungie is thinking in terms of how new content and stories will unfold in Destiny 2. Bungie wants to make these story moments and activities more of an event that players experience together and then reminisce about, rather than things that hang around in the game forever (and eventually lose their luster).

The first season that’ll see those changes in storytelling is the Season of the Undying, which launches alongside Shadowkeep. But as Bungie explained to us at Gamescom, Undying and Shadowkeep are separate things. The best way to understand it is that Shadowkeep tells a story about the Hive’s activities on the moon; the Season of the Undying is the story of the Vex’s response.

Though Shadowkeep and the Season of the Undying are separate things, Undying will be included in the $40 Shadowkeep price tag. There are three additional seasons planned for Destiny 2’s third year, with the Season of the Dawn following Undying. Each new season will include some elements players can access for free, but to get the full smattering of new content, you’ll need to drop $10 on Destiny’s upcoming new Season Pass for each one.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/destiny-2s-new-seasons-will-change-the-game-world-/1100-6469500/

Pokemon Masters is a broad collection of famous trainers from throughout the Pokemon series–representing both the games and anime. Much of the collection aspect is a traditional mobile gacha-style game, where you trade in-game currency for a randomized spin that will earn you a Sync Pair–one Trainer and their partner Pokemon. But if you have your eye on one Sync Pair in particular, that’s where Scout Points come in.

Scout Points are earned by Scouting, otherwise known as purchasing new Sync Pairs. If you obtain the maximum number of Scout Points within a given time period, you get to choose any Sync Pair that is currently available through Scouting. It’s the sure bet to get the 5-Star team you’ve had your eye on.

However, it doesn’t come cheap or easily. The Scout Point Max, which you have to reach to get your pick of the litter, is set at 400 Points. You earn 3 Scout Points for each standard Sync Pair Scout you use (300 Paid or Unpaid Gems apiece), and 1 Scout Point for each Daily Discount you buy (100 Paid Gems). To earn 400 Points, you would need to purchase 134 standard scouts, or almost that many with a few Daily scouts mixed in.

Also be aware, the launch period offers a special bundle, exclusive to Paid Gems, with a guaranteed 5-Star Sync Pair in the bunch. This bundle does not grant any Scout Points.

134 standard scouts at 300 Gems apiece would cost you slightly more than 40,000 Gems, the in-game currency. Even the highest level of in-app purchases is 9,800 Gems for $80. Suffice to say, you would have to spend quite a bit of real-world money to earn enough Scout Points all at once.

To add another layer of complexity, Scout Points reset at the end of each Sync Pair Scout Event. The launch event ends on September 3, roughly a week after launch. Future event resets may last longer.

Earning so many Gems in a single week seems unrealistic, and buying your way in is prohibitively expensive. But while Scout Points expire, Gems don’t. If you really want one Sync Pair in particular, you may need to exercise a good deal of patience and gather Gems over the course of several weeks–and then blow them all at once to earn your Scout Points.

In the meantime, if you’d like to focus your energy on the team you already have, read up on how Evolutions and Mega Evolutions work in Pokemon Masters.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/pokemon-masters-what-are-scout-points-and-how-to-g/1100-6469490/

Bungie continues to detail the major changes coming with the start of the third year of Destiny 2 and the launch of Shadowkeep, its next expansion. We already knew Bungie was overhauling the premium Eververse Store and the various cosmetic rewards you receive from it. Now we have a better idea of how you’ll earn a lot of the rewards that used to come from Eververse, as well as some other cool gear, in the game’s upcoming new seasons.

In a new blog post, director Luke Smith outlined the new Season Pass system coming in the next year of Destiny. In the current Destiny 2 year, players purchased an Annual Pass, which included three new seasons of content–including new activities and stories, new Exotic weapons, and new cosmetic gear. In Year 3, you’ll purchase a Season Pass for each new season for $10 a pop, and it’ll function a lot like the Battle Pass system used in Fortnite or Apex Legends.

Starting with the Season of the Undying, which launches as part of the $40 Shadowkeep expansion (and is included in the price), you’ll now work on a Seasonal Rank, which looks exactly like the Battle Pass in Fortnite. As you complete activities and bounties, you’ll earn points toward your Seasonal Rank, whether you paid for the Season Pass or not. Increase your rank and you’ll regularly get new drops that include two Exotic weapons, new finishers, emotes, and armor. You’ll get more rewards faster if you pay in–including an Exotic weapon with your first Seasonal Rank–but there are several rewards you can get even if you play without paying using Destiny 2’s free New Light version.

The system doesn’t sound too different from Destiny 2’s old seasonal engram system, which provided random drops to paying Annual Pass players throughout each season as you leveled up your character over the game’s level cap. The difference here is that drops won’t be random, and that there’s a path for players who don’t buy in. There are 100 levels to earn in each Season Pass, Smith wrote, and Bungie is planning to let you buy ranks toward the end of the season if you’re lagging behind and want to catch up on some rewards you don’t have time to earn as you play.

Here’s the rundown Smith provided about the free and premium tracks in Shadowkeep and Season of the Undying.

Premium Season Pass Includes:

• New seasonal activity, the Vex Offensive, which includes:
  • Four Legendary Weapon drops
  • Additional weekly and daily bounties
  • Additional weekly challenges with powerful rewards
• A new weapon quest for an Exotic Bow, Leviathan’s Breath
• A new Exotic Hand Cannon, Eriana’s Vow
  • Awarded at Rank 1
• Three seasonal Legendary armor sets (one for each class)
  • All sets unlock at Rank 1
• Three universal ornament armor sets (one for each class)
• Exotic weapon ornament for Eriana’s Vow
• Two Legendary weapon ornaments
• New finisher
• Exotic emote
• Exotic ship
• Everything on the free tier, but quicker

Free Season Pass Includes:

• Eriana’s Vow
  • Awarded on Rank 35 of the free track
• Three seasonal Legendary armor sets (one for each class)
  • Collect a complete set during the first 25 ranks of the free track
• Two Legendary weapons
• Best of Year 2 Bright Engrams
• Glimmer and upgrade modules

All Players Get:

• Patrolling the Moon destination
• The opening mission of Shadowkeep
• Two new strikes
• Crucible Updates (which I discussed in [link to previous Director’s Cut])
• Two returning PvP maps from the D1 era—Widow’s Court and Twilight Gap
• Elimination in Crucible Labs
• Armor 2.0 build customization
• Eye of the Gate Lord Seasonal Artifact
• New finishers
• Two new pinnacle weapons: one for Gambit and one for Crucible

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/destiny-2-seasons-are-getting-a-fortnite-style-bat/1100-6469487/

Fortnite‘s Season 10, Week 5 challenges are now live on all platforms, which means Battle Pass holders have a new assortment of tasks to complete and Battle Stars to earn. This week’s batch of challenges is called Blockbuster, a callback to Season 4 of the battle royale game, which was loosely themed around movies and superheroes.

Fittingly, this week’s missions revolve around the most notable elements from that season. One tasks that may give you some trouble asks you to land at a run down hero mansion and an abandoned villain hideout. These can be tricky to find if you don’t know where to look, so we’ve put together the guide below to help you complete the challenge.

Where Are The Hero Mansion And Villain Hideout Located?

As the challenge says, you’ll be looking for two specific locations for this challenge, and they’re on opposite ends of the island. The run down hero mansion can be found near the easternmost edge of the island, southeast of Lonely Lodge; the villain hideout, meanwhile, lies northeast of Snobby Shores–if you’re a Fortnite veteran, you’ll remember it as the site where the rocket launched toward the end of Season 4.

How To Complete The Challenge

To clear this mission, you simply need to visit the two specified locations. Given that they’re so far apart from each other, the easiest way to do so will be to land at one, get eliminated, then jump into another match and land at the other. Once that’s done, you’ll earn 10 Battle Stars and unlock another Blockbuster challenge.

Like other Season X missions, there’s also a more difficult Prestige version of this challenge, which asks you to search chests at the hero mansion or villain hideout. You need to search seven of these in total to complete that task, so simply head to either area and loot as many chests as you can. You can find tips and guides for this season’s other challenges in our Fortnite Season 10 challenges roundup.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fortnite-where-to-land-at-run-down-hero-mansion-an/1100-6469478/

At PAX West, Epic Games announced a new round of exclusive titles coming to its store. This announcement includes eight more indie games that will launch exclusively on Epic’s digital storefront.

Airborne Kingdom is a fantastical city management sim that has you manage your resources like food and housing while also maintaining the lift of your society above the clouds. The Alto Collection brings together Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey. The Eternal Cylinder has you controlling a herd of creatures on an alien world. Manifold Garden is a mind-bending first-person exploration game.

No Straight Roads is an audio-inspired action game that takes you to Vinyl City to defeat the EDM Empire. Ooblets is an adorable gardening sim game with Pokemon-like battle mechanics. Superliminal is a first-person puzzle game that uses forced perspective to trick your eye as you manipulate objects. Finally, Wattam is a game physics playground.

Each of the games are showcased in a trailer. The announcement did not detail any timed exclusivity periods.

Epic Game Store exclusivity has been controversial at times, including for this round of games. The developers of Ooblets received hateful messages after announcing its Epic Store exclusive status, and other games had been regularly review-bombed on Steam before Valve rolled out an anti-bombing feature.

Meanwhile, Epic is continuing to roll out free games regularly, with two great additions in the current rotation.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/epic-games-store-announces-eight-more-exclusives-a/1100-6469481/