January 2021

Bungie revealed several changes to the challenge system and weapon balance in Destiny 2 with the upcoming Season 13 in the studio’s weekly blog post.

Starting with the new season, the weekly bounties given by various vendors will be replaced by Seasonal Challenges. These challenges can be found in either the quest log or season pass menus where players will receive between three to 10 challenges each week for the first 10 weeks of the season.

The Seasonal Challenges last until the end of the season, and can only be completed once per account. The new challenges reward with XP, Bright Dust, seasonal currency, or “other interesting items.”

The challenges range from completing specific objectives in various game modes to increasing Power and improving weapons. Some challenges will revolve around seasonal events, and therefore must be completed before the event ends.

Bungie noted that some challenges will require the season pass to complete, but over half of the challenges can still be completed without it.

“Challenges that focus on the Seasonal activity and ritual mostly need the Season Pass to complete, but most of the ritual focused Challenges can be completed without the Season Pass,” Bungie wrote. “Overall, roughly 60% of the Seasonal Challenges do not require the Season Pass.”

The other big change coming to Destiny 2 in Season 13 is weapon balancing between PC and consoles. With cross-platform play slated for sometime in 2021, the studio focused on the disparity of handling between a controller and mouse and keyboard.

The PlayStation 5 launched last November, but months later, it’s still hard to snag one, especially in Japan. Early today, the Yodobashi Camera electrics megastore in Akihabara, one of the biggest in the country, sold a huge shipment of PS5. All hell broke loose.

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Today Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara had a sizeable shipment of new PS5 units for sale, but the situation unfolded in a much less orderly way than expected by the retailer.

As reported by user yonepo665 on Matome, the retailer opened sales in the morning, resulting in an unforeseen situation in which many customers pretty literally assaulted the counter.

You can see what happened below, courtesy of Twitter user Tabata. He mentions that police had to come and check out the situation to restore order.

According to the user, at least part of the crowd included resellers, due to the fact that the store did not have the usual scalper-prevention measures in place.

Incidentally, this happened despite the fact that Yodobashi used a system with limited tickets to prevent overcrowding.

Ori developer Moon Studios alongside publishers iam8bit and Skybound Games pledged to donate five percent of the proceeds from every Nintendo Switch sale of Ori and the Will of the Wisps from December 8-13 to the Rainforest Trust. All versions of the game were included in this program, including collectors' editions sold by iam8bit as well as digital copies. There was originally only a $25,000 guarantee, but that ballooned to $58,000 in proceeds that the companies will now be donating to charity.

The Rainforest Trust is a charity that works toward the conservation of rainforests around the world by establishing protected areas in partnership with local organizations and communities. They have already protected 33 million acres and are working towards securing 50 million more. Thanks to the donation from Moon Studios, Skybound Games, and iam8bit, the Trust will be able to secure another 29,000 acres, which is about the size of Manhattan.

Some new Warframe content is coming to all platforms this February and sometime in or after March, including two new Frames, a Valentine’s Day event, and permanent cosmetics, developer Digital Extremes revealed.

Starting things off in February is Nightwave: Intermission 3. It goes live on February 1 and brings about new acts, reintroduces some past rewards, duplicates protection, and more. Digital Extremes didn’t go into much detail about Intermission 3 during the livestream.

The series of Warframe content continues with the Star Days event, which goes live from February 11-24. The event is centered around debt collector Ticker, whose store will get a variety of themed items such as glyphs, floofs, and other cosmetics. On top of this event, Digital Extremes will enable wings as a permanent cosmetic for all Frames. They are customizable, from wing style to feather color, and ephemeral, meaning they will become transparent to ensure they don’t obstruct viewing angles when players aim down sights.

The LG CX OLED is the best 4K TV for PS5 and Xbox Series X, thanks to its gorgeous display, 4K resolution, and 120Hz refresh rate. The HDMI 2.1-capable 4K TV is expensive, but with all these things considered, it's well worth your time and money. If you're interested, there are a number of great deals that discount the price of the LG CX OLED, including one that comes with a free $400 gift card.

Amazon has the 65-inch LG CX OLED for $2,000--down from its regular price of $2,800. BuyDig has the same deal, but it also has the 77-inch LG CX OLED for $3,300 and it comes with a $400 Visa gift card. Amazon has the 77-inch LG CX OLED for $3,250 after a coupon, but it doesn't come with a gift card or any other bonus. If you go with the Amazon deal, make sure to apply the coupon on the product page before checking out.

Horror fans looking for something to play this weekend should check out The Medium, a brand-new game from Bloober Team that released this week. If you have Xbox Game Pass, you can play it for free on Xbox Series X|S and PC. But if you don't have Game Pass, you can grab The Medium at a discount for PC right now at Green Man Gaming. The Medium is on sale for $38.24 until February 2, and while you're scooping it up, you may also want to lock in your preorder for Resident Evil Village at a discount. Both of these games are Steam keys.

In The Medium, you play as a woman named Marianne who has the power to enter the spirit realm. It earned a 9/10 in our The Medium review for its clever puzzles, engaging narrative, and fantastic presentation. "Eventually The Medium's narrative threads begin to weave together, even connecting to the original goal of discovering Marianne's origins," editor Jordan Ramée wrote. "The promise that everything somehow connects in some unforeseen and fascinating way is a thrilling reason to see the game all the way through."

Robert Macfarlane does not write about video games. Not despite, but because of this, I didn't truly understand why Eric Chahi's puzzley exploration of nature, Paper Beast, initially launched as a VR exclusive until I read Macfarlane's book Underland: A Deep Time Journey. In order to explain how and why this happened, I'll need to begin by introducing you to this man and his truly remarkable, unforgettable work.

Not satisfied with being a fellow in English at Emmanuel College, Macfarlane is also an author, scriptwriter, and - in the true sense of the word - adventurer. His books are primarily concerned with the planet on which we live, and the complicated relationship that we have with it. Underland, as the title suggests, zeroes in on the world below ground that the majority of us will never see; although after reading this book, I feel as though I'm one of the lucky few who gets to experience it a little at least.

Underland is a remarkable thing. Macfarlane's writing has a luxurious texture which melts in the imagination, and coats the mind's eye with vivid imagery. This man has sat me at the bank of a river deep underground; he has held my hand as we navigated alien dunes of jet-black sand hundreds of feet below the human world; we have panicked together as we squeeze through tiny Underland gaps that were never meant to admit a human body; he has given me tours of man-made structures far below sea level designed to contain the most lethal side-effects of our species.

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Left 4 Dead 2 is finally available uncut in Germany, Valve has announced.

Over a decade after Left 4 Dead 2 came out, Valve requested the German authorities re-evaluate the zombie shooter and as a result, the uncut international version is now available in the country.

The German and Australian ratings boards refused to classify Left 4 Dead 2 when it launched in November 2009 because of its violence and gore. Eventually, Valve released a censored version of the game that ditched the dismemberment, pulled blood splatter and made zombies disappear as soon as you kill them. You couldn't see fire on zombies, either.

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Bungie has said it's currently discussing Destiny 2's "3-peeking" issue, but made no promises changes will be made.

3-peeking, or third-person peeking, is the act of forcing the normally first-person camera into third-person, giving PvP players an advantage because they can peek around corners safely.

3-peeking is a long-standing issue in first-person shooters that have some third-person elements, but it's particularly troublesome in Destiny 2's competitive multiplayer. Destiny 2 is a game full of legitimate mechanics that pull the camera back into third-person, including swords and emotes, and some players use this to gain an upper hand in the Crucible, Destiny's PvP arena.

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Call of Duty: Warzone's stim has for some months now caused havoc in the battle royale - and it seems the developers of the game are struggling to get on top of it.

The stim is a piece of equipment that restores health points to your character and refreshes super sprint. It's supposed to help players get out of tough situations, but it has also been used nefariously as part of a raft of troublesome glitches and exploits that just won't go away - despite multiple patches.

The most well-known of these is the infinite stim glitch, which first appeared in October 2020. This glitch lets players use infinite tactical items, thus making it possible to spam healing stims and hide away from other players from within the gas until the game is over.

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This week, a gang of Redditors broke Wall Street for the lolz. Incredible. That story will become a movie someday, like Boiler Room but with far more memes and emojis. It was a trip, that's for sure, but one that's not for me to take. Once I get beyond my 10 fingers, I've reached my mathematical limit. Playing the stock market is an endeavor that would see me out on my ear in double-quick time. Less "Jordan Belfort," more "Homer Simpson selling his stock before the Germans bought the power plant."

Staying in my lane, I've been bouncing between a few games. Nothing out of the ordinary during this quiet period, just some grinding on Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, some fisticuffs on Street Fighter V, and a quick revisit to some old SNES favorites. I'm currently keeping the slate clear as I might have something rolling in for review in the next day or two, so for the most part my gaming time has been spent treading water.

But we aren't here to talk about me, (even though we have been all article), we're here to talk about you. You know how this works - jump into the comments below and let us know what games you've been playing this week, or have lined up for your weekend. It doesn't matter if it's old, new, or simply new to you, you're our fine community, and we love hearing about it. So bring us up to speed, friends.

Have a safe and pleasant weekend, from all of us at Destructoid.

I am a fan of the strange and unusual, so when our Editor-in-Chief Rory Carroll spotted this fascinating story in National Geographic about the Dyatlov Pass incident, he immediately sent it to me. He was right to do so, as this is one of my favorite mysteries and it seems it may have actually finally been solved…

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Cyberpunk 2077 suffers from the same xenophobic tropes as its predecessors

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Listen to the latest Project Sekai song, Color of Drops, by Vocaloid composer 40mP.

The post New Project Sekai Song is Color of Drops by Vocaloid Composer 40mP appeared first on Siliconera.

This week we try to understand how stocks work, learn how one of the best areas in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was made, dunk on a dumb troll, check out what free games are coming to PS Plus, and pick out the perfect Game Boy shaped like a state.

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Epic Games' Fortnite - which is certainly going into overdrive when it comes to pop culture crossovers - seems to be teasing the next franchise headed to the popular battle royale title. And it appears to be none other than '80s toy-line/TV series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.

Fortnite's official Twitter has posted a new video featuring radio intel from Agent Jonesy, where the hero teases the arrival of some new heroes. The message not only makes reference to the incoming characters' "laser guns" and "cool codenames", but tellingly signs off with the iconic catchphrase "And knowing is half the battle", which you all no doubt will recognize as the catchphrase from G.I. Joe's notorious public service announcements.

In particular, Jonesy references an agent that players "will never hear coming", which sounds a hell of a lot like G.I. Joe's resident ninja master, Snake Eyes. The G.I. Joe brand is pretty much a perfect fit for the world of Fortnite, so now it's just a case of waiting to see which characters make the cut. Of course, if Duke, The Baroness, and Cobra Commander aren't part of the entourage, then I'll be very surprised.

Among Us was one of the biggest gaming surprises of 2020 (despite releasing two years earlier) and developer Innersloth even scrapped plans for a sequel to continue working in the original game. This includes updating it with new content, and a brand-new map is in the works. But just when will the new Among Us map release?

The main map that players know in Among Us is The Skeld, a spaceship filled with tasks to complete and plenty of ways to kill your crewmates. There are two other paid maps for the game, but the free Skeld map is what most players have experienced. They'll soon be able to play the game's fourth map--The Airship--which features more than a dozen rooms, new tasks, ladders, and the chance to choose the room you start in.

When is The Airship map releasing?

Innersloth has not given a firm date or even a month for The Airship to release. However, the studio did say it will arrive in early 2021, which means it could potentially be here very soon. It was confirmed during The Game Awards in December 2020.

GoldenEye 007 is one of the best first-person shooters and licensed video games of all time, but because of a complex licensing situation that required several partners--including Nintendo--to come together, we never saw a remaster of the original game. Instead, we got a remake for the Wii several years later, but footage of a canceled Xbox 360 remaster of the 1997 version has appeared online.

Posted by the YouTube channel Graslu00 and spotted by VGC, the GoldenEye 007 remaster footage shows off the entire campaign as well as some multiplayer content. It looks like the game was essentially complete before the plug was pulled, and Xbox chief Phil Spencer said Xbox has "always given up" on trying to get the rights-holders working together to publish the remaster. Rare developed the game, and the studio is now a subsidiary of Microsoft. But Nintendo published the game, and the remake was later published by Activision.

Going in swinging!

The post Nomad: Megalo Box 2 Anime Puts the Gear Back on Gearless Joe appeared first on Siliconera.

Rare's cancelled Xbox Live Arcade remaster of its seminal N64 shooter GoldenEye 007 has been revealed in its entirety with a two-hour playthrough video.

The video below, published on the YouTube channel of GoldenEye 007 content creator Graslu00 (via GoldenEye Dossier), shows the full game played on the OO Agent difficulty in 4k resolution and 60 frames-per-second, with 30 minutes of multiplayer at the end. The footage shows GoldenEye 007 XBLA running on an emulator to achieve the higher resolution.

In 2007 Microsoft-owned Rare developed an HD remaster of its N64 classic to be released on XBLA, but copyright disputes saw the project shuttered. Before this video, only 30 minutes of footage of the game had been released. Now we see the game in all its glory - from its iconic opening Dam level to its final bonus level Egyptian - all with an acceptable framerate!

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Every Pokemon is interesting and worth talking about. I don’t play a ton of Pokemon, but I do enjoy the universe and I love learning more about the creatures in it. So, Here’s Another Pokemon! It’s Sliggoo!

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The Hitman games have always had some weird secrets and Easter eggs. And Hitman 3 continues the tradition, including some truly strange and cool secrets, like a talking hippo, a UFO abduction, and a hidden ending.

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The Medium, a game that only released a few days ago and also launched on Xbox Game Pass, has already managed to cover its production and marketing costs. Now, the future sales Bloober Team makes on the unique horror title will be profit. Not too bad for a game that only released on two platforms!

Shared in the Polish publication Money.pl, Bloober Team said the game's sales have already eclipsed what it cost the studio to develop and promote the game, which is available on Xbox Series X|S and PC.

It's also available on Xbox Game Pass for the platforms, but unlike many other Game Pass titles, it isn't on Xbox One. This makes its profitability even more impressive, as the Xbox Series X|S has only a fraction of the install base as the older console. It's unclear how Game Pass factored into the sales figures or if it managed to turn a profit even before factoring this in. Game Pass has been extremely popular among Xbox users, and with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, they don't need a separate Xbox Live Gold subscription. First-party games such as Gears Tactics and the upcoming Halo Infinite launch on the service the same day they release in stores.

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and everyone’s exploring therapy and drugs

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Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games is continuing to release new videos about the upcoming space simulator.

This week we get a new episode of Inside Star Citizen with a first part focusing on logo creation. Perhaps the juiciest part comes after, with a look at docking stations, homesteads, and development progress on the Hercules Starlifter, the Aegis Redeemer, and the Nova Tank.

The second video is an hour-long conversation with Persistent Universe game director Tony Zurovec, who provided a lot of insight on the new in-game dynamic events that debuted with XenoThreat.

Zurovec reveals that another titled “Nine Tails Lockdown” is coming soon, focusing on the well-known criminal faction trying to lock down certain areas of the Stanton system.

The next Fleet Week will also be a dynamic event, and there are 8-10 planned at the moment, each of which will build upon previous experience and offering new functionality.

We also hear that an update on the Quantum system revealed in 2019 is coming in the next few months.

SimulaM’s upcoming game “I Am Jesus Christ” created quite a stir among the press due to its rather unique nature. Today, the developer revealed a new video.

The video showcases an extensive look at gameplay, including the map, quests, different minigames required to perform miracles, cutscenes, and even battles against demons.

That’s certainly an interesting take on the source material, and you can check it out below.

If you’re unfamiliar with the game, which will come to PC via Steam, you can read an official description below. You can also take a look at an earlier video and at the recent Christmas trailer.

Nioh 2 Remastered will be coming to PS5 in about a week, but you can already watch a nice chunk of it, courtesy of Koei Tecmo.

When I say a “nice chunk,” I mean it, as the published streamed roughly 29 hours of gameplay.

The stream features Japanese content creators Junichi Kato and Mokou who are currently challenging the game, promising to keep going until it’s fully cleared.

They’re not yet done and they’re currently taking a (well-deserved) break, but you can see what they’ve done so far below.

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