Category: Gamespot

The next Final Fantasy XIV event is set to begin soon. Square Enix has announced that the game’s annual summer festival, the Moonfire Faire, will return next week, on August 8.

The event kicks off at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET and is scheduled to run until August 26. Like previous years, it gives players a chance to snag some exclusive summer-themed gear. This time, players will be able to acquire the following equipment and items:

• Faire Joi (body armor)
• Faire Kohakama (leg armor)
• Faire Zori (boots)
• Evercold Shaved Ice (tabletop item)
• Moonfire Faire (wall-mounted item)
• Hyper Rainbow Z (Orchestrion roll)

Players will also have a chance to purchase some items from previous Moonfire Faires at the festival’s different vendors. Those who’d like to take part in the event can learn how by speaking to Mayaru Moyaru in the Upper Decks of Limsa Lominsa.

Final Fantasy XIV continues to be one of Square Enix’s major titles. Its more recent expansion, Stormblood, launched in June and helped increase the company’s MMO net sales to 9.3 billion yen for the quarter, despite the fact the game’s servers were subjected to a series of DDoS attacks. Final Fantasy XIV’s director, Naoki Yoshida, has expressed interest in bringing the MMORPG to Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, but on the condition that each company allows for cross-platform play.

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A complicated, enigmatic No Man’s Sky alternate-reality game has been in progress since June, and fans currently believe that it points to a big new update coming this month. Today, the ARG got even more mysterious: a livestream is underway right now, but there’s no word yet on what it’ll reveal.

The livestream is hosted by the Twitch account Waking Titan–the name of the ARG–and at the time of this writing, it shows a computer set up with the words “Test Scenario Inactive” visible on a monitor.

Strangely, on the desk is a cage with a hamster in it. According to a Waking Titan memo, this hamster is called “Subject M-N00-dl35” and is part of some sort of test. The memo reassures viewers that the animal faces no danger and won’t be exposed to anything harmful.

If you’re interested in reading more about the ARG and the efforts to solve it, check out the No Man’s Sky subreddit thread on it here. There’s no official word yet on what the August update might include; developer Hello Games has been tight-lipped about the game since its previous update in March. But fans speculate from hints in the ARG that it’ll feature a new species, among other additions.

If it is a content drop that’s being teased, it’ll be the third such update since No Man’s Sky’s release last year. The first, called the Foundation Update, added base-building and frigates, while the second added land vehicles.

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Pokemon Go developer Niantic may have had to postpone several of Europe’s Safari Zone live events following the bungled Pokemon Go Fest meet-up that took place in Chicago, but players will still have a chance to capture some rare Pokemon this month. According to an update on the game’s website, “unusual” Pokemon will begin to appear in various cities across Europe this weekend.

The update says that some rare Pokemon, such as Kangaskhan and Unown, may crop up in specific European cities until August 21. The former is notable for only spawning in Australia, making this a rare chance for players in Europe to encounter one. You can see the full list of cities where these Pokemon can be encountered at the end of this story.

Kangaskhan and other typically region-exclusive Pokemon like Heracross and Farfetch’d were advertised to appear during the Safari Zone events, which were originally scheduled to begin in Copenhagen and Prague on August 5. However, several of the events were postponed until fall after myriad issues plagued the Pokemon Go Fest event in Chicago, which led Niantic to issue refunds and extend in-game bonuses to players as compensation. Some attendees filed a lawsuit against the developer to reimburse their travel expenses.

Pokemon Go players still have a chance to encounter the Legendary Pokemon Moltres, which will appear in Raid Battles until August 7. The game’s next Legendary monster, Zapdos, will begin cropping up from August 7-14. Ho-Oh is also expected to arrive in the near future, though Niantic hasn’t officially announced when that Legendary will begin appearing in the game. The developer also rolled out a new update for the game recently that saw the return of Team Instinct’s missing leader, Spark.

European Cities Where Rare Pokemon Will Appear

• Vienna, Austria
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Copenhagen, Denmark
• Helsinki, Finland
• Dijon, France
• Lille, France
• Lyon, France
• Marseille, France
• Nice, France
• Paris, France
• Rennes, France
• Berlin, Germany
• Bochum, Germany
• Gera, Germany
• Leipzig, Germany
• Mönchengladbach, Germany
• Munich, Germany
• Oberhausen, Germany
• Recklinghausen, Germany
• Milan, Italy
• Naples, Italy
• Rome, Italy
• Oslo, Norway
• Warsaw, Poland
• Lisbon, Portugal
• Bratislava, Slovakia
• Badajoz, Spain
• Barcelona, Spain
• Cádiz, Spain
• Madrid, Spain
• Sevilla, Spain
• San Sebastián, Spain
• Valencia, Spain
• Valladolid, Spain
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Zürich, Switzerland
• Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Leidschendam, The Netherlands
• Zoetermeer, The Netherlands
• Belfast, United Kingdom
• Birmingham, United Kingdom
• Cardiff, United Kingdom
• Glasgow, United Kingdom
• London, United Kingdom
• Manchester, United Kingdom

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Prey launched in May to a mixed reception. Some of the criticism it received was due to a bunch of the PS4 version’s performance problems, such as input lag, screen-tearing, and more. Now, two months after the game’s most recent update, version 1.05 is live, and it promises to address many of those issues.

The first line of the patch notes states that the PS4 version’s screen-tearing and stuttering have been fixed. Digital Foundry corroborates publisher Bethesda’s claims, saying “the stuttering and tearing issues [have] gone.” The remainder of the update is composed of many more bug fixes for all platforms–take a look at the full patch notes below.

The game’s previous patch, version 1.04, finally added PS4 Pro support after it was omitted at launch, and brought “additional fixes” for input lag, which players had complained of for a while.

GameSpot’s Prey review scored the game a 6/10.

“It opens with a poignant, thought-provoking premise, but fails to follow through until the end, when it claims a revelation it doesn’t quite earn,” wrote critic Tamoor Hussain. “Its gameplay falters out of the gate, eventually maturing into something worthwhile, if a bit familiar. As an homage to System Shock it’s competent and at times even enjoyable. However, Prey fails to distinguish itself, and next to immersive sim contemporaries such as Dishonored, it feels stagnant.” For more on Prey and developer Arkane Austin, check out GameSpot’s documentary feature The Story of Arkane Studios.

Prey Update 1.05 Patch Notes

• [PS4 only] Fixes to address screen-tearing/stuttering.
• Player can no longer become blocked from rebooting Power Plant for the Reboot mission after killing the Technopath in Life Support.
• Added weapon malfunction text for when weapons jam.
• Fixed crash when mimicking bass guitar in the Yellow Tulip.
• Extra items gained through passive neuromods, such as organs and tumors from Necropsy or spare parts through Dismantle, will now properly stack in the player’s inventory automatically.
• Loading a save from a previous version of the game will no longer remove all quests and inventory, or break the HUD.
• Fix for some AI-related crashes.
• Various combat tweaks/fixes for mimics.
• Opening the TranScribe will no longer disrupt FoV settings.
• The light on top of a turret will no longer become detached when the player jumps and glides while holding it.
• Approaching areas with Coral should no longer cause the client to stutter and eventually freeze.
• Operator corpses from saves made on previous builds will no longer cause performance issues.
• Repair II and III increase efficiency with suit patch kits. Reduced suit damage from enemies on easy and normal difficulty.
• Increased wrench range and strength of melee aim assist. Wrench now always staggers mimics (interrupts attacks). Mimics stand further back to prevent players having to look down too much.
• Stun Gun now tells the player when a target is out of its effective range. Weapons will display “Weapon Offline” when disabled by EMP.
• Hepatocytic Amp S-m186 chipset now properly only removes the negative effects of the “Drunk” debuff
• Player will now spawn in the correct location when traveling from Shuttle Bay to other locations.
• Fixed rare crash when level transitioning to Life Support.
• Reployers no longer lose collision when recycling them, and then loading a save where they were present.
• Player can no longer bypass ceiling collision by mantling GLOO.
• Danielle now voices the correct response to the player’s actions with the Cook during the endgame sequence.
• The fabricated coral detector chipset and the quest-given chipset now both function correctly to scan the coral when installed
• Fix for rare freeze/crash when in combat with Phantoms.
• The Luther Glass quest will no longer incorrectly complete and fail after the player has already completed the quest in Trauma Center.
• Lights are no longer sometimes incorrectly on when the player enters the Cargo Bay for the first time
• Igwe will no longer be found in Cargo Bay when the “meet January” call is triggered.
• Mimic’s wall jump attack animation is cancelled if they are stunned.
• Treasure Hunt now lists an objective and marker to return to Abigail’s workstation once all the maps are investigated.
• The nightmare in the Arboretum is now able to get into the greenhouse and use ranged attacks on the player from the doorway.
• Turrets can now be hacked properly if they’ve been previously controlled by the Technopath.
• If the player manages to fully GLOO the greater mimic while it is in mid-lunge toward the player’s face, the facegrab animation will no longer play and trap the player.
• Hitting a stunned Phantom with the wrench no longer breaks their animations
• Raised phantoms and operators will no longer become hostile to the player when attaching grenades to them.
• Various crash fixes
• Various text fixes.

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Ubisoft’s popular open-world shooter Ghost Recon: Wildlands now has a free trial on PS4 and Xbox One. The demo allows you to play up to five hours of the game–so if you were on the fence about buying, now might be the time to dive in and give it a go. The trial is available worldwide for free on consoles, though it seems PC players will not get a similar demo–no trial can currently be found on Steam or Uplay.

The news comes just a fortnight after Ubisoft announced a PvP open beta for Wildlands. The game launched without any form of player-versus-player mode in March, but the new competitive multiplayer suite is coming at some point soon with a free beta “later in the summer.”

There has been a great deal of post-launch support for the game, with multiple DLC expansions and free updates, including a recent one that added a new difficulty mode, Tier 1. We also learned last month that Wildlands was the best-selling game through the first half of 2017 around much of the world.

We enjoyed Wildlands when it launched earlier this year, though it did have its problems. “As only the second open-world game in the Clancyverse,” wrote critic Miguel Concepcion, “Ghost Recon: Wildlands is a middlingly safe tactical shooter and a slightly wasted opportunity given the ambitious scope of its seemingly boundless map. While its main strength is its mission diversity, it doesn’t take long to lose the motivation after reaching El Sueno’s doorstep. Even with a foursome of highly trained friends, Wildlands eventually reveals its diminishing returns. The feeling of positive immediacy and dopamine hits begin to wane sooner than you expected from a game with such a large and diverse world.” Read more in our full Ghost Recon: Wildlands review.

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This Sunday’s episode of Game of Thrones will be the series’ shortest ever. According to Entertainment Weekly, the episode, “The Spoils Of War,” clocks in at 50 minutes. It’s the shortest episode ever across all seasons, but only by one minute.

The previous three episodes in Season 3 came in at around an hour or just over. While this Sunday’s episode might be the shortest ever, the fifth episode, which airs on August 13, will move back to around the normal length, coming in at 59 minutes.

The Season 7 finale, meanwhile, is the longest Game of Thrones episode ever, clocking in at 80 minutes. It’s significantly longer than the previous longest episode, the Season 6 finale, which was 69 minutes long.

In Game of Thrones Season 8, which is the final season, episodes could each be as long as movies. Seasons 7 and 8 containing just 13 episodes between them, which is shorter than usual, but the longer episodes might mean the total runtime is just about the same.

For more on this week’s episode, check out the spoiler-y preview above. GameSpot will have a breakdown of of the biggest moments and more after it airs this Sunday at 9 PM on HBO.

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Electronic Arts has revealed that NBA Live 18 will feature both the current teams and rosters of the WNBA. Although the Women’s National Basketball Association has existed for over 20 years and legends like Lisa Leslie and Sue Bird have appeared in EA’s NBA Street, no game has allowed you to play with the full squads of the L.A. Sparks, Dallas Wings, New York Liberty, or any of the other WNBA teams until this year. This follows EA’s inclusion of women’s teams in the FIFA series, which began with FIFA 16.

NBA Live 18 is scheduled for release on PS4, Xbox One, and PC this December. A free demo on PS4 and Xbox One is scheduled for release on August 11, 2017 although it won’t feature the WNBA content.

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