Update: Bungie has replaced this week’s Nightfall Strike due to issues players were experiencing with Exodus Crash. For the remainder of the week, you can try your hand at the Nightfall version of Pyramidion. Along with that change, there are also new modifiers in place: Timewarp: Zero Hour (which prevents you from extending the time limit) and Torrent (increasing the rate at which your skills recharge).
Original Story: Every seven days, Destiny 2’s weekly reset changes a bunch of variables within the game, from the activities on offer to the rewards available to the items on sale in shops. This week’s Nightfall Strike, Exodus Crash, is set in Arcadian Valley, while Eververse have some new gear on offer.
Two modifiers are active in Exodus Crash this week, one of which again offers a way to earn additional time. Timewarp: Rings presents a set of large white circles throughout the mission for you to jump through; each one provides an additional 30 seconds of time to finish the Strike. The other modifier, Prism, rotates through each of the three elements, with the chosen element doing additional damage (and the others doing less than usual). Following the release of a Destiny 2 update last month, this now functions correctly, as the message indicating the chosen element no longer lasts for just a brief moment. Additionally, an on-screen effect helps to highlight when the element changes from one to the next.
In terms of Challenges, Speed of Dark is active as always, which requires you to finish the Strike with at least five minutes remaining. Unbroken tasks you with completing the Strike with fewer than three deaths. And finally, Faster Than Lightning asks your Fireteam to kill nine Shanks with melee attacks before defeating Thaviks.
Exodus Crash in Arcadian Valley has a recommended Power level of at least 240. If you haven’t made it to that point, you may want to consider waiting until after you’ve raised your Power level before grabbing the Nightfall reward, which is Powerful gear. This Nightfall will be available until Destiny 2‘s next weekly reset, which occurs at 2 AM PT / 5 AM ET / 10 AM BST / 8 PM AET on Tuesday, October 24.
Away from the Nightfall Strike, you can grab a new bundle from Eververse. Costing 2000 Silver, the legendary Golden Sevens bundle contains seven bright Engrams, seven shaders, 500 Bright Dust, and a unique Nothing Gold ship. Take a look at the ship for yourself below. [Update: It appears this bundle is no longer for sale on the Eververse store.]
Plenty more has likely changed for the week, with previous resets offering new Milestones, Challenges, and treasure maps to buy from Cayde. Sadly, the weekly reset also means last week’s Iron Banner event is now over. However another event, the Leviathan Prestige Raid, goes live tomorrow, October 18, after it was delayed last week.
Destiny 2’s new winter activity, which is called The Dawning event, has also been revealed. It includes the ability to play hockey at the Farm, and throughout Destiny 2’s playable areas there will also be snowballs you can throw at enemies to do damage. Of course, there’s also new gear. You can see all the details on Destiny 2’s winter event here.
In other Destiny 2 news, Bungie has removed the Monty Python-inspired, high-kicking walk emote. Although the developer hasn’t officially said why this has been removed, it may have something to do with the emote letting players get into some walled-off, unfinished areas.
In just over a week, Mario will embark on one of his biggest–and weirdest–adventures to date, Super Mario Odyssey for Nintendo Switch. As usual, his longtime nemesis Bowser has captured Princess Peach, and to rescue her, Mario will have to explore a number of sandbox-style Kingdoms like in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine.
Things are a little different this time, however. Not only does Odyssey take Mario to some bizarre new worlds such as New Donk City–a metropolitan area inhabited by realistically proportioned people–he’ll be joined by a ghost-like being called Cappy, which inhabits Mario’s cap and in turn grants him the ability to possess other characters and objects.
As odd as all that may sound, however, it certainly isn’t the strangest thing to happen to Nintendo’s iconic plumber in his long and storied career. In the video above, we take a look back at eight of the weirdest moments in Mario’s history, from his questionable Cat Costume in Wii U‘s Super Mario 3D World to his ongoing Olympic rivalry with Sonic the Hedgehog.
One thing you can count on every October, aside from a bunch of big game releases, are developers releasing Halloween-themed updates and events. Halloween is still weeks away, and already we’ve seen a number of such announcements, and some of these events are already underway. [Updated October 19 with official Pokemon Go details.]
With so much going on, it can be difficult to keep track of everything that’s happening. Given that many of these events, such as Overwatch’s Halloween Terror, provide you with a limited amount of time to obtain items you can use year-round, you’ll want to stay on top of how and when you can expand your collection. We’ve compiled a list of many of the Halloween-themed events happening in games this month, and we’ll continue to update this as more are announced. Check everything out below, and let us know what you’ll be playing (as well as any we missed) in the comments.
Pokemon Go
Following leaks that spoiled some surprises, Niantic has officially announced its Halloween plans for Pokemon Go. Sableye, Banette, and other Gen 3 Ghost-types will make their debut, with more creatures from Hoenn coming later this year. During the event, a Pikachu wearing a special hunt can be found in the wild, and a new cosmetic item will be available to players as well. Additionally, bonus Candy can be earned for catching, transferring, and and hatching Pokemon, and your buddy Pokemon will accumulate Candy two times as fast as usual.
Dates
October 20 at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET / 8 PM BST (6 AM AET on October 21 in Australia) until 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM on November 2 (7 AM AET on November 3 in Australia).
Activision will host a monthlong event in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare called Willard Wyler’s Halloween Scream that features several different components. Each week, players will be able to pick up a free Halloween Supply Drop by logging in, as well as a Halloween-themed cosmetic item on each Friday. Halloween gear and loot, such as a zombie-themed Rig skin, will also be up for grabs.
Additionally, Gesture Warfare mode–where you take out opponents by doing things like pinching your fingers–returns for a limited time. Carnage, one of the maps in the Retribution DLC, will be free to all players from October 12 until November 1 in a special playlist that runs only that map and offers double XP. Finally, Boss Battle will allow DLC owners to tackle a different Zombie episode’s final fight each week.
For its second October, Blizzard has brought back Overwatch‘s Halloween Terror event. It replaces the standard Loot Box with an event-specific one, which contains a variety of Halloween-themed cosmetic items. These include both those from last year and more than 50 new ones, such as Legendary skins for Ana, Symmetra, Zenyatta, and McCree. Last year’s Junkenstein’s Revenge event also returns as a special Brawl mode–this is a Horde-style co-op game type where a team of four takes on waves of AI-controlled enemies. New to this year’s version is an endless variant, where you can compete on leaderboards by seeing how many waves you can successfully make it through.
The Coalition is marking Halloween in Gears of War 4 in a variety of ways. As the video above reveals, Friday the 13th marks the return of Skorge, the Locust general who will make an appearance as a skin. Later in the month, players can jump into a special multiplayer playlist that adorns everyone with a pumpkin head, or take part in a special mode called Phantom Dodgeball. The Coalition has also teased “a few extra surprises,” of which Skorge is likely one.
Dates
October 13 (Skorge)
October 27 – TBA (pumpkin heads, Phantom Dodgeball)
Guild Wars 2 brings back the Shadow of the Mad King event this year. This consists of multiple elements, including a decorated version of Lion’s Arch, new armor and weapon skins to collect, and a special jumping puzzle in the Mad King’s Clock Tower. You can also head to the Mad King’s Labyrinth for some limited-time, spooky activities and take part in the Lunatic Inquisition PvP event. Or you can meet up with King Oswald Thorn, who is said to have “deadly tricks up his sleeve.”
Part of Hearthstone‘s Halloween celebration is tied to Fireside Gathering events. Hallow’s End-themed real-life meet-ups will take place over the course of more than a month, and a free Warlock hero (Nemsy Necrofizzle) is available for attending certain ones. She’ll continue to be available even after Hallow’s End concludes.
For those who can’t make it to an event, there’s still plenty happening in-game. For one week, players can get a Whispers of the Old Gods card pack and an Arena ticket just for logging in. The following week, logging in rewards a Knights of the Frozen Throne card pack and another Arena ticket. A special dual-class Arena mode will also be available for a limited time. Here’s how Blizzard explains it: “At the start of every Arena run, players choose a Hero, a Hero Power from another class, and then choose cards from both of those classes in addition to neutral cards. That’s not all though: each of the nine classic Hearthstone Heroes will attend their Arena games in costume!”
Finally, players will be able to take on the Headless Horseman in a special Tavern Brawl. You’ll wear a costume that dictates what cards you have available and grants a passive power that will help you defeat him.
Dates
Now – November 5 (Fireside Gatherings, Dual Class Arena)
October 24 at 9 AM PDT – October 30 at 11:59 PM (Whispers of the Old Gods freebie)
October 31 at 12:01 AM PDT – November 5 at 11:59 PM (Knights of the Frozen Throne freebie)
Heroes of the Storm once again sees its Hallow’s End event, which kicks off this month. However, this marks the first Halloween since Blizzard launched HotS’ new Loot Chest system, which means things work a bit differently than in the past. Like in Overwatch, event-specific chests will replace the standard ones during the event. You’ll earn one with every level up, and at least one of the four rewards inside is guaranteed to be a Hallow’s End item, which includes skins, mounts, sprays, and portraits. Weekly Brawl rewards after October 20 will take the form of a Hallow’s End chest, and these can also be purchased using gems.
Also during the event, you can make progress toward quests that will net you a special spray (by playing two games), banner (eight games), and portrait (15 games). However, Custom Games, Training matches, and Brawls don’t count toward these totals.
The Halloween Horrors content pack update has been released for Killing Floor 2. This introduces a new map that is meant to be set inside the mind (or more precisely, the nightmares) of Boozo the clown. There are new Achievements to earn and two new weapons to use: the Seeker Six (a multi-shot, guided rocket launcher) and the Hemoglobin (which somehow drains enemies of blood). New, limited-time unlocks include face paint and pumpkin helmets. Prize tickets can be earned for free by playing, or you can purchase them; either way, they can be exchanged for new Halloween Horror cosmetics, such as weapon skins. Finally, the King Fleshpound has been added as a permanent member of the boss rotation, and new daily and weekly objectives can earn you in-game cash to spend on cosmetic items.
Minecraft‘s Halloween Spooktacular event is officially underway. This brings special, themed content and activities to official servers for players on Bedrock Engine platforms (which is to say, most versions of the game). Among other things, the Lifeboat server is home to a haunted house parkour course; InPvP has the Haunted Mansion SkyWare map; and Mineplex brings The Pumpkin King, plus quests, flaming pumpkins to fight, and more. You can get a look at what awaits in the video and gallery above.
As part of the Shadow’s Eve event, Paragon players will be able to get their hands on limited-edition chests. These contain regular items and Shadow’s Eve-specific rewards, including skins and banners. Narbash, Wukong, and Yin have received new skins for the event, and each week will offer up a selection of different skins from last year. (These skins and banners are only available during the event.) A special Mega Bundle that includes all of this will be sold from October 24 – November 11; you’ll receive a discount if you’ve already gotten your hands on any of the contents.
Dates
Now – November 1 (Shadow’s Eve)
October 24 – November 11 (Shadow’s Eve Mega Bundle)
The newest patch for Smite brings back the Halloween makeover for Arena mode’s map and the Scary Potion. The latter messes around with players–last year’s version, for instance, would occasionally play a Loki sound effect that made you think you were about to be backstabbed. Additionally, a Halloween chest is for sale that includes things like spooky and themed skins (Trick or Treat Cupid and Grim Reaper Thanatos). Through the Odyssey, there are new Halloween skins you can buy directly, such as Mummified Izanami and Yurei Susano.
Blizzard hasn’t yet revealed its full Halloween plans for World of Warcraft, but we do know that Hallow’s End will return. The event “celebrates the break of the Forsaken from the Scourge,” Blizzard says. “Fun and mischief reign as the Innkeepers of Azeroth give treats, and tricks, to whomever asks.”
Pokemon Go’s Halloween 2017 event is starting in just a few hours, bringing with it the first batch of generation 3 Pokemon. Spooky Pokemon such as Gastly, Cubone, Misdreavus, Houndour–along with Hoenn-based Pokemon like Sableye, Banette, and Duskull–will become common as of 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET / 8 PM BST (6 AM AET on October 21 in Australia). The event lasts until 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM on November 2 (7 AM AET on November 3 in Australia).
Bonuses for the event include double Candy rewards for catching, hatching, and transferring Pokemon, and you’ll be able to grab special boxes–“featuring items such as Raid Passes and Super Incubators”–from the in-game shop. Finally, special, Halloween-themed Pikachu will be out and about, and you’ll be able to grab the Mimikyu Disguise Hat for your avatar to wear.
The addition of Gen 3 Pokemon was leaked earlier this week, when a datamine reportedly uncovered sounds for all species up to #386 (Deoxys, the final Pokemon found in Generation 3). Another leak, showing more Gen 3 creatures and Pikachu wearing a witch’s hat, followed just days later.
After a number of rumors surrounding Generation 3 Pokemon potentially coming to Pokemon Go soon, Niantic has now finally officially confirmed the news, at the same time as revealing its Halloween 2017 event. The company says “a number of Ghost-type Pokemon originally discovered in the Hoenn region” will arrive as part of the event, including “Sableye, Banette, and others.”
The event is scheduled to start on October 20 at midday PT / 3 PM ET / 8 PM BST (6 AM AET on October 21 in Australia), ending at 1 PM PT on November 2. Niantic says the event will see “an increased number of spooky Pokemon such as Gastly, Cubone, Misdreavus, Houndour, and more,” while “special Pikachu” wearing a Halloween costume will also be out and about.
Bonuses for the event include double Candy rewards for catching, hatching, and transferring Pokemon, and you’ll be able to grab special boxes–“featuring items such as Raid Passes and Super Incubators”–from the in-game shop. Finally, you’ll be able to grab the Mimikyu Disguise Hat for your avatar to wear.
Two more Generation 3 Pokemon–Duskull and Dusclops–can also be seen in-game in the trailer above. They, along with Sableye and Banette, are the first Pokemon from Ruby and Sapphire to appear in Pokemon Go. Niantic says the rest of those games’ monsters will arrive in Pokemon Go “starting gradually as early as December.”
The addition of Gen 3 Pokemon was leaked earlier this week, when a datamine apparently uncovered sounds for all species up to #386 (Deoxys, the final Pokemon found in Generation 3). Another leak, showing more Gen 3 creatures and Pikachu wearing a witch’s hat, followed just days later.
The official announcement means Pokemon Go will receive a Halloween event for the second year running. For more, you can check out our roundup of all the games holding Halloween events this month.
A couple of other events are going on now in Pokemon Go. Until October 25, players can share the best AR photos they take in-game for a chance to win cool prizes. The Legendary dogs Entei, Raikou, and Suicune are also available in new regions through October 31. In other Pokemon news, the developer of the mainline series, Game Freak, has explained why Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon aren’t coming to Nintendo Switch.
Following Destiny 2‘s launch on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in September, Bungie’s shooter comes to PC just a few days from now, on October 24. Now, Bungie has announced what players can expect in terms of activities in the first three weeks.
At launch on October 24, players can play the full campaign and Crucible multiplayer mode, while the Nightfall Strike’s normal and Prestige modes will be available, too. Additionally, the Guided games system will be live right away. Destiny 2’s Leviathan raid will be available a week later, starting on November 1, but at this time only normal difficulty will be available. Then on November 3, Trials of the Nine kicks off.
In Week 3, Destiny 2 players can try their hand at the ultra-challenging Prestige mode for the Leviathan raid beginning on November 7. The Guded Games feature will be available on this date as well, so players looking to group up will be able to do so.
If it works the same way as the console version, you’ll want to be Power level 260 to play the Leviathan raid, so the fact that it comes out a week after launch should give you some time to get ready for the challenge.
Destiny 2’s PC version unlocks at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET on October 24. Check out this graphic to find out when the game unlocks exactly where you live.
The PC version is available to pre-load now on PC if you pre-ordered. The game is only available through Blizzard’s Battle.net platform. It’s notable because it’s the first non-Blizzard game to be sold through Battle.net.
Xbox Studios general manager Shannon Loftis is “a little bit confused” over the claims that the Xbox One‘s holiday 2017 lineup of exclusive is on the weak side. Speaking to Game Informer, Loftis said Microsoft has “really good lineup” of exclusives this year. She mentioned titles like PUBG, which will launch on Xbox One before any other console, as well as titles like Forza Motorsport 7, Super Lucky’s Tale, and Cuphead. You need to have an Xbox One (or a PC) to play any of those games this year.
“In terms of exclusives, I’ve heard that rumor and I’m a little bit confused because we have a really good lineup this holiday,” Loftis said. “We’ve got the most popular game on the planet in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds–the Xbox console is going to be the only place where you can play that. We also have Forza Motorsport 7, which every single year reinvents the racing genre and basically owns racing in the video games industry.”
Looking to 2018, some of Microsoft’s big-name Xbox One exclusives include Sea of Thieves, Crackdown 3, and State of Decay 2. “I think it’s pretty good–there’s a huge amount of experiences for people to have,” Loftis said. Crackdown 3 was originally scheduled to launch this year before being delayed to 2018.
Asked if the lineup of Xbox One X-enhanced titles is strong enough to launch a new system with, Loftis again pointed out that the lineup is “incredibly strong,” when you consider that more than 100 titles are getting updated for the new console.
“I think it’s an incredibly strong lineup, especially when you take into account the fact that all of the 100 plus enhancements that we’ve already seen are free to gamers that already own the games, and the backward compatibility program, the continuing exclusives, and the fact that all the blockbusters, like Destiny [2] and Star Wars Battlefront II, are just going to run way better on Xbox One.”
The full interview is fascinating and in-depth. You can read it here. The Xbox One X launches on November 7, priced at $500 in the US. Keep checking back with GameSpot to learn more about the mega-powerful system in the weeks ahead.
A big new update for the Nintendo Switch is out now. Update 4.0.0 adds a number of notable and welcome features, perhaps the biggest of which are video capture support and the ability to transfer data to a new system. It’s a big update.
With the update applied, you can hold down the Capture button and this will record the previous 30 seconds, saving to your album. You can then edit your video and share it to Facebook and Twitter. Supported games include The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Arms, and Splatoon 2. This feature is not working yet for Mario Kart 8. An message in the Switch’s news channel says the feature is supported at Mario Kart 8 Deluxe version 1.3.0, but the current version is 1.2.1. So it sounds like the feature will be unlocked later in the racing game. Nintendo also says “many more games” will add support for video capture in the future.
The other major new feature in the 4.0 update is the ability to transfer user and save data to another Switch. You must have the 4.0 update to do this. And it sounds like this is a permanent migration, so be aware of that. “Once the process is complete, the user information, the associated save data, and the software purchased with the user account that is transferred will no longer be available on the source console,” reads a line from Nintendo’s explanation. Complete instructions on how to perform the data transfer can be found here on Nintendo’s Support site.
Additionally, today’s Switch update adds a number of new user icons for Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild, giving users even more customisation options. Another new feature is the ability to pre-buy and pre-load “certain games” from the eShop. This follows a previous update that added a new eShop tab for games that are on sale.
The new Switch 4.0 update also gives the News feed a new look and a new feature that removes a particular channel’s content from the feed when you unfollow the channel. Another nice, behind-the-scenes feature in this update is “Match Version with Local Users.” As its name suggests, this feature updates everyone’s games to their latest versions, which sounds handy for people who multiple profiles installed on one system.
Finally, the patch makes a change to wireless connectivity. Networks that use TKIP security will now show up as grayed-out instead of being totally hidden.
Up to maximum of the previous 30 seconds will be saved in the Album. You can trim the beginning and end of each clip, and post to Facebook and Twitter.
As of October 18th, 2017, this feature is compatible with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, ARMS, and Splatoon 2
Select from 12 new Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild icons for your user
To edit your user icon, head to your My Page on the top left of the Home Menu > Profile
A pre-purchase option will be available for certain games. This option allows pre-load of the game to your system for quicker play when the game is released.
This feature will be supported by future game releases
News channel updates
The news feed has been updated with a new look.
Unfollowing a channel will remove that channel’s content from the news feed and following the channel again will make it reappear.
Match software version with a group of local users
Everyone’s software will be updated to match the most recent version in the group
All users must be on system menu version 4.0.0 or later to view and join a group
General system stability improvements to enhance the user’s experience, including:
Changed the specification which hid wireless networks using TKIP security from the network search results. Wireless networks using TKIP security will now display in search results as a grayed-out selection instead of not being displayed
The Nintendo Switch console supports WEP, WPA-PSK(AES), and WPA2-PSK(AES). If your router is using a different security type (e.g. WPA-PSK(TKIP)), you will need to change this security type within your router’s settings.
Bungie has announced the next round of server maintenance for Destiny 2. The servers will be down on Thursday, October 19, for a period of four hours.
A post on Bungie’s website explains that the downtime will begin at 8 AM PT tomorrow, at which time you won’t be able to log in. At 9 AM PT, everyone who is still in an activity will be booted to the title screen. The maintenance is scheduled to end at 12 PM PT.
As always, things could change as it relates to the specific timing of the downtime. It could be shorter. It could be longer. As part of this maintenance, you will be prompted to download update 1.0.3.5.
Ahead of Destiny 2‘s release for PC next week, you can now start pre-loading the shooter. As announced previously, pre-loading started on October 18.
Destiny 2’s PC version is available only on Blizzard’s Battle.net platform, not Steam or other digital stores. You can buy the game right here and start pre-loading right away. Of course, Destiny 2’s servers don’t go live until 10 AM PT on October 24, but pre-loading ensures that you can start playing right away come launch.
The game supports 4K resolution, uncapped frame rates, and custom key mapping. PC players can also adjust the field of view and use up to three monitors. There are also quite a few settings to play around with, including anti-aliasing, foliage detail distance, film grain, wind impulse, and motion blur, among many other things.
