Marvel Heroes: Mighty Women Loot Box Going Away


Gazillion Entertainment today announced that the Mighty Women loot box will be leaving Marvel Heroes Omega on consoles as of August 24th. In opposite of its PC counterpart, the console version of Marvel Heroes does not sell costumes directly. Instead, the only method to obtain them is to buy into loot boxes which rotate on a periodic basis what is available.

The costumes will presumably be available again at an unknown point in the future.

(Source: Marvel Heroes)

[PSA] Humble 2K Bundle Offers Playstation Games Cheap


The latest Humble Bundle is upon us, and this time around you won’t be excluded just for owning a console, unless your console is the Xbox in which case you’re out of luck. The bundle contains a ton of Playstation 3 games, a small handful of Vita games, and a couple of Playstation 4 games. If you’re looking to pick up the Vita titles, you’re in luck: Both are at the $1 tier. The ultimate prize, of course, is getting XCOM 2 plus all of the other games for a mere $20.

Check out the tiers below. (not an affiliate link). Code scalpers are out of luck, the sale generates bundle keys and does not provide a separate key for each game. Sorry!

$1 or more

  • XCOM: Enemy Unknown Plus (Vita)
  • Civilization: Revolution 2 (Vita)
  • The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (PS3)
  • Evolve (PS4)

Average or more

  • XCOM: Enemy Within (PS3)
  • Bioshock (PS3)
  • Battleborn Cash (PS4)
  • Borderlands (PS3)
  • Borderlands 2 (PS3)
  • Mafia 2 (PS3)
  • Spec Ops: The Line (PS3)

$20 or more

  • XCOM 2 (PS4)

H1Z1: Just Survive Rebrands Itself, Relaunches


Much like the cycle of the moon, one can pretty much anticipate that another H1Z1 rebranding or new direction is just over the horizon. Daybreak Game Company announced today that the survival half of H1Z1, subtitled Just Survive is being further split off from its brother King of the Kill and will completely lose the H1Z1 branding. From today going forward, the game will just be called Just Survive.

In perpetual early access since its initial release of January 2015, H1Z1 has undergone quite a history of changing directions, starting with Daybreak announcing and then reneging on plans for a free to play model, chopping the game into two halves (Just Survive and King of the Kill).

“Our new logo and key art highlight all the aspects of the game that players know and love—from base building and defending, to looting and exploring, and also reflects how Just Survive is developing into a more mature and polished game,” said Ben Jones, Just Survive Creative Director. “Just Survive is about more than just killing zombies, it’s about the player’s survival journey. Re-establishing society isn’t an easy task, and this update introduces a variety of features, like Strongholds, that encourage players to band together through the dangers and tension of post-apocalyptic life while striving to reclaim their world from the zombie hordes.”

The update comes alongside a massive rework of the game’s fundamentals. Players will now start in a guarded military zone which also introduces a currency that can be obtained by selling items to NPCs. The gold will be needed to buy stronghold locations as it is no longer possible to construct a base wherever you want. For more information, check out the trailer below and take a gander at the patch notes on the official website.

[NM] For Honor Exploit Costs Ubisoft $10,000 After Ignoring Major Game Balance Issues


It’s a tale that sounds tailor made for news headlines, but at a recent tournament held by Ubisoft for For Honor, the grand prize of $10 thousand ultimately went to contestants who played, dare we say it, dishonorably. The Hero Series is an effort by Ubisoft to bring players back to its fighting game For Honor, following reports of heavily dwindling population numbers on PC and console. This weekend, the Hero Series held its live finals from Burbank California, broadcast live on Twitch.

Unfortunately the tournament went off with numerous hitches, with players making use of and widely publicizing just how many bugs and balance issues still remain in For Honor six months after launch, including one player repeatedly, from repeatedly using an unblockable charge move to a player taking advantage of a bug to knock down his opponent on a small incline. Viewers criticized the fact that many of the exploits/bugs on display have been an issue ignored for months by Ubisoft, as well as the perceived flippant response from its Creative Director in presenting the champion award. The exploit used to win the tournament, which takes advantage of a bug when a player unlocks from his target on swing, causing his attacks to become unparryable. According to players, this has been in the game since virtually day one.

For a competitive fighting game, For Honor can only suffer from Ubisoft allowing exploits to win the day at its tournament. Since its launch in February, For Honor’s population on Steam has plummeted from an average of 28,000 to an average of just over two thousand over the past month. Ubisoft has referred to reports of a declining user base as “fake news,” despite the public availability of user data for players on Steam.

H1Z1: King of the Kill Releases Producer’s Letter


Daybreak Game Company has released its latest producer’s letter for H1Z1: King of the Kill, detailing upcoming updates to the arena shooter. The combat update, set to hit the test server soon, will improve how weapons handle with a reticle offering an accurate idea of where your bullets will go. In addition, each weapon will be tuned to provide a more specific use at different ranges.

In addition to the weapon changes, new points of interest are being added to the map along with an updated bleed mechanic, a deathmatch mode, as well as a battle royale mode that gives each player the same random weapon with infinite ammo, with no weapons spawning in the map.

Check out the full letter at the link below.

(Source: H1Z1)

Vega+ Will Ship Within The Next 8 Weeks, RCL Threatens Critics


Retro Computers Ltd has broken a three month silence to announce that the long-delayed ZX Spectrum Vega Plus, a classic game system, is aiming for launch within the next eight weeks. In an update posted to backers today on Indiegogo, RCL noted that they have secured the rights to “some of the biggest games in the Spectrum scene,” and that following some delays related to technical issues and other factors, the console should be shipping later this year.

We can also confirm we have secured rights to some of the biggest games in the Spectrum scene, and the final games list will exceed all expectations. We aim to begin shipping the Vega+ to backers within the next 8 weeks, and to follow this immediately with our first shipments to retail.

RCL also took the time to call out parties posting abuse and spreading misinformation online, threatening to publicize the names of those involved. It should be noted that RCL has repeatedly referred to outlets like The Register and The BBC as “fake news” and has not posted any evidence to support their claims, in response to negative coverage of the Spectrum Plus and its repeated delays.

In time, we will be able to publicise in detail what is going on, including the names of those making up the above-mentioned group. But right now, on the advice of our lawyers and related authorities, we have to wait until all various investigations and legal actions have been completed.

Will Retro Computers Ltd meet its new shipping date? We’ll have to see.

(Source: Indiegogo)

[NM] Friday The 13th Cans Team Killing Because Its Community Can’t Behave Itself


Gun Media is removing team killing from Friday the 13th because its community can’t play the game responsibly, the developer announced on Reddit today. In Friday the 13th, one player takes the role of Jason Voorhees while seven others take the roles of camp counselors and try to escape or fight Jason. Or they can act like children and murder each other, which is exactly what happened and happened so often that Gun Media saw fit to take the feature out altogether.

So the biggest thing we’ve heard from our community with the game are issues pertaining to rampant team-killing that has unfortunately been abused by players on all platforms. While the mechanic’s intent is designed to promote life-or-death experiences into each and every game you play, the reality has turned into more of a Battle Royale scenario to a point our team feels a change needs to be made.

So from now on you can’t kill your teammates, well mostly. To prevent people from abusing this by standing in front of the car, it will be possible to kill teammates by running them over. Bear traps will also still do damage or kill but will not cause experience loss.

(Source: Reddit)

QuakeCon Will Showcase 6 Charities


QuakeCon is upon us, and Id Software and Bethesda Softworks have announced that no less than six charities will be present. This year will see presence by the American Red Cross, 1UpOnCancer, Dallas Pets Alive!, Extra Life, nonPareil Institute, and Gamechanger. Attendees will be able to show their support on the convention floor.

“We’re honored to host a variety of charities at QuakeCon this year, giving our attendees more opportunities to support a cause that they really connect with,” said Pete Hines, VP of PR and Marketing, Bethesda Softworks. “Seeing the community band together to support these organizations has become one of the highlights of our show.”

(Source: Press Release)

Gigantic Is Still Here, Starts New Community Events


Gigantic developer Motiga has announced the latest community challenge for players. Gamers have one week to deal 2.1 billion damage to enemy guardians, or face the horrible defeat of not being rewarded a solar flair skin. You’ll have to ask yourself, are you a bad enough dude to kill the guardian and go out for burgers?

COMMUNITY CHALLENGE! You have exactly one week to deal 2.1 BILLION total damage to the Guardians. Up to the challenge?

Gigantic is available on Arc, Steam, and Xbox One.

(Source: Twitter)

Mobile Dominates NCSoft Quarterly Report


NCSoft’s second quarter finances have been released and they are quite a doozy. While sales grew 8% both quarterly and over last year, profit and income both dropped 56% and 66% respectively thanks to increased labor costs and marketing increases. Just how much? 370%, from 5.1 billion KRW in Q2 2016 to 24.1 billion in 2017. Similarly, labor costs jumped 24% and “variable costs” went up 186%, due in part to a 244% increase in royalty payments. Ouch.

On the game’s side of the report, mobile has dominated NCSoft’s revenue reports and has become the largest sector by a wide margin, even against Lineage which continued to drop in revenue thanks to a lack of promotion over the second quarter. Every other title in NCSoft’s library (as noted below) also dropped by some factor in revenue during this period, with the sale of mobile games making up for their shortcomings. The launch of Lineage M, the mobile Lineage port, is also to thank for a drop in Lineage revenue as some players made the jump over to mobile.

Guild Wars 2 is expected to receive a substantial bump thanks to the impending launch of its next expansion. The full report can be found over at the NCSoft website