The Minecraft movie is still more than two years away, but some casting news has emerged. It has been reported that Steve Carell is in talks to star in the big screen version of the hugely popular game.
According to Variety, Carell is in discussions with Warner to join the film’s ensemble cast. Although the studio declined to comment on the story, Variety did note that the studio was “getting close” to signing the star. Carell is best known for his comedic roles in the likes of The Office and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, as well as his Oscar-nominated dramatic turn in Foxcatcher.
In an interview with Collider earlier this year, producer Roy Lee explained that game developers Mojang were heavily involved with the film’s pre-production. “They know everything [that] is going to be in the movie, and that can give us insight into future updates,” he said. “We can put things into the movie around the same time they relaunch newer versions of the game, and at the same time, potentially taking ideas from the movie and putting them into the game.
“So I don’t know exactly what things are going into the game, but they know exactly what’s going into the movie.”
Lee also hinted at the direction that they were going with the film’s story, and gave an indication of its target audience. “Minecraft would be part of a multiverse that humans can enter, that has the feel of a live-action version of a Minecraft experience,” he said. “[We’re going for] the same target audience as Jurassic World.”
Microsoft’s upcoming Project Scorpio system has been described as the “most powerful console ever made.” As such, it’s going to cost more than the Xbox One S (which starts at $300), but its exact price point remains a mystery. In an interview with Levelup.com, Spencer discussed Scorpio’s price at a high level, saying the system is targeted at people who want a high-end experience.
“Scorpio will be a premium console. It will cost more than S, obviously, that’s how we are building it,” he said (via Gamepur). “We have not announced the pricing yet, but I want to make sure that the investment we are putting into the product of Scorpio meets the demands of the higher-end consumer and that will be a higher price.”
Also in the interview, Spencer pointed out that Project Scorpio is not a replacement for the Xbox One. It will live alongside that system, with games and accessories for Xbox One also supporting Project Scorpio. This is all part of Microsoft’s attempt to build an ecosystem that, not unlike the PC market, allows people to buy a console that meets their pricing and performance needs.
“There is not one product that our customers come in and buy,” he said. “Some people come in and buy the 500 GB Xbox One S. Many people now are now buying our original Xbox One consoles that are a really good price. There is no one product that you look at and say, ‘This is the product that defines how you are doing in that market.’”
“It is really the breadth of all the products you have at all the price points,” he added. “For us, when we think about Scorpio, it’s for a higher-end customer who demands the most they can get out of a console, and we built a console to meet that demand.”
Spencer’s comments about Project Scorpio’s price are apparently in response to analyst Michael Pachter telling Gamingbolt that it would be “suicide” for the console to cost more than $400.
A movie based on Naughty Dog’s acclaimed post-apocalyptic game The Last of Us was announced in 2014. At one time, it seemed hopeful that the movie would be made, as Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann (who wrote the game and is working on the movie) said there was a table read. Additionally, Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams has said she’s interested in playing Ellie, one of the leads. However, Druckmann said earlier this year that the movie is stuck in “development hell” and that appears to still be the case.
Speaking to IGN, producer Sam Raimi (Spider-Man) said Druckmann took the rights to The Last of Us directly to Sony instead of Raimi’s Ghost House pictures. This has complicated matters, apparently.
“With this one he went to Sony–who I have a very good relationship with–but they have their own plans for it and I think Neil’s plan for it,” he said. “I’m not trying to be political; Neil’s plan for it is not the same as Sony’s. And because my company doesn’t have the rights, I actually can’t help him too much. Even though I’m one of the producers on it the way he set it up, he sold his rights to Sony, Sony hired me as a producer by chance, and I can’t get the rights free for him so I’m not in the driver’s seat and I can’t tell you what Sony and Neil together will decide on. If they do move forward I’d love to help them again.”
Raimi also confirmed that he remains attached to the Last of Us movie, but acknowledged that he’s “not too sure what that means.”
“Right now it’s just sitting there,” he said about the film. “They don’t want to move forward, and it’s not my place to say why, and Neil, I think, is in a slight disagreement with them about how things should go so there’s a standstill. And I don’t have the power to move it.”
The Last of Us is not the only Naughty Dog game being made into a movie, as an Uncharted film is also in the works. Recently, Sony announced that the movie is being “fast-tracked,” and that Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy has come aboard to direct it.
No new entries in The Last of Us or Uncharted game franchises have been announced.
The next major video game movie is Assassin’s Creed, which stars Michael Fassbender. The movie opens on December 21–watch the newest trailer here.
The free play period officially started for PS4 players at 12:01 AM ET today, while PC and Mac players on Steam can jump in starting at 1 PM ET. Bethesda said details about a free play weekend for Xbox One will be revealed “soon.” The Elder Scrolls Online does not require PlayStation Plus, but Xbox One players must have an Xbox Live Gold membership to play the MMO.
Here is a breakdown of what’s included in the upcoming free play weekend, as written by Bethesda:
Access to the full The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited base game
500 Crowns to spend in the Crown Store on fun costumes, unique pets, helpful scrolls, and more
Any characters created, Crown Packs purchased, or Crown Store items bought, as well as any progress made during the free play weekend, will carry over if the player purchases the game
The free play weekend wraps up on November 20.
To celebrate the game’s free weekend, Bethesda is discounting Crowns and all versions of the game, through November 28. Go to the game’s website to learn more.
A video game voice actor strike began on October 21–and it does not appear an end is coming soon. The union that represents some voice actors, SAG-AFTRA, has asked its members to picket Ratchet & Clank developer Insomniac Games this week at its Burbank, California office. The two-hour picket is slated for Thursday, November 17, beginning at 11:30 AM PT.
There have already been pickets at Electronic Arts and Warner Bros. In a statement to media, SAG-AFTRA said these pickets have been “successful.” In the case of EA, more than 300 SAG-AFTRA and allied union members attended.
Following almost two years of unsuccessful negotiations between SAG-AFTA and the video game industry, a strike began on October 21.
As for the non-struck games, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Destiny, and Dishonored 2 are on the list. Interestingly, something called Call of Duty: Stronghold & Lethal Combat and Warner Bros. games codenamed “Metallica,” “Sabbath,” and “Kraken” are mentioned. A Guardians of the Galaxy game is also mentioned on the list–it’s believed that this is Telltale’s unannounced Marvel game.
Bear in mind that many of the names featured on the lists are codenames. Also, without knowing any dates, it’s possible these games already came out.
As for the negotiations, SAG-AFTRA says that its package of proposals is “not loaded with any crazy demands.” Several prominent voice actors have spoken out in support of the strike, including Roger Craig Smith (Batman, Assassin’s Creed), Jennifer Hale (Mass Effect, Guild Wars), and actor Wil Wheaton. According to Deadline, only about 25 percent of video games use union voice actors. This is the first strike in the history of video game performers.
The gaming industry refuses to offer residual payment bonuses and other profit-sharing opportunities, according to the union. Specifically, SAG-AFTRA asked that its performers receive an additional “full-scale payment” for every 500,000 units sold, for a maximum of four secondary payments if a game sells 2 million copies, Deadline reported. Additionally, the union claims that the industry has denied a proposal that would reduce the recording time for “vocally stressful” sessions to two hours to help prevent an actor from damaging their voice. For its part, the industry came back to the bargaining table with an offer for helping to ease the stress of voice recording.
According to the video game publishers, it offered a 9 percent wage hike as part of the negotiations. Additionally, it offered additional compensation of up to $950 per game based on the number of voice acting sessions an actor did on a particular game.
With the wage hike, this package could apparently lead to a 23 percent increase in pay for some actors, the publishers said. As it stands, video game voice actors represented by SAG-AFTRA are paid at least $100/hour, plus benefits, though working hours are not “normal” by the conventional standard.
According to SAG-AFTRA, the union would also like to see the gaming industry loosen up on some of its secrecy rules. As it stands, an actor sometimes does not even know the game he or she is auditioning for, which it argues is not fair.
“We negotiated with them for 19 months in good faith,” Freeman said. “It’s the longest negotiation SAG-AFTRA has ever done. It was the last thing we wanted to do, but they left us with no choice.”
Asked what the ideal outcome of the strike would be, Freeman said he wants to see voice actors be ensured safety, respect, “a tiny bit of shared prosperity,” and that they and their contributions are treated as something valuable. “Because right now they treat us like we don’t matter,” he said.
You can read the full interview here; we’ll report back with more details on the strike in the days and weeks ahead.
A variety of posters and a trailer for the Power Rangers reboot movie have been released over the past few months, but more recently its mechanical stars have been revealed via Bandai’s upcoming toyline. Earlier this month, we got an idea of what the Megazord would look like, and now the full Zord line-up has been unveiled. Check out the images in the gallery below, via fansite Power Rangers Now:
In the classic TV show, the Zords are colossal mechanical or bio-mechanical robots. When the Rangers’ monstrous enemies grow to incredible sizes, the only way they can fight them is by summoning and piloting these enormous war machines.
The first trailer for Power Rangers was released in October, and it suggests that the film is going for a more serious tone than the series. Neither the Ranger suits or Zords made much of an appearance in this that teaser, but Elizabeth Banks’ evil Rita Repulsa was featured heavily.
Power Rangers opens in theaters on March 24, 2017, directed by Dean Israelite. It stars Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, RJ Cyler, Becky G, Ludi Lin, and Bryan Cranston.
Power Rangers first appeared on screens in 1993’s Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. The show mixed new American scenes with footage taken from the Japanese show Super Sentai. To date there have been 23 TV series and two earlier movies.
Right on schedule, DICE today launched Battlefield 1‘s massive Fall Update, which makes a long list of changes and improvements to the popular World War I shooter.
One of the major changes has to do with the Operations mode, which is new for Battlefield 1. The attacking side loses too often, DICE said, so it’s boosting the number of tickets for that side. Additionally, it should now be easier to capture sections as an attacker, as the time to capture flags has been reduced.
Another significant change is for Battlefield 1’s Conquest mode, specifically the Suez map. It’s one of the game’s smallest Conquest maps, featuring only three capture points. With the update applied, two more flags are added. “This should result in one team not being able to capture and lock down all flags as easy as before,” DICE said.
“In addition, we also noticed that it was very difficult to re-capture flags within the capture areas located in the village areas. To solve this we’ve reduced the capture size of these areas to include less buildings,” the developer added. “The result of this should make the flags somewhat easier to capture and make sure that a team that has lost and been pushed out of the villages can easier re-capture them and get back into the fight.”
Additionally, DICE has added an armored car that should help a losing side overpower their enemies. Here is how the Suez map now looks for Conquest matches:
Suez’s new layout
Today’s update also introduces the ability to customize your solider from within the UI. This is a welcome change, as the previous setup was something of a pain if you wanted to switch things up mid-match. The patch also introduces rent-a-server support, while the ability to buy Battlepacks with real money is “coming soon.”
Additionally, the Battlefield 1 update makes a series of changes to weapon balance. For example, light machine guns have been given “various forms of adjustment” to make them more viable as mid-range weapons. Additionally, tweaks have been made to gadgets and vehicles, while the update also includes a long list of bug fixes. The full patch notes are below, as posted in the game’s official forums.
Battlefield 1’s servers were offline for all platforms today as the update was applied. The game should now be back up and running. Today’s update is around 2.2 GB.
Released in October, Battlefield 1 became the biggest launch in developer DICE’s history based on the number of daily active players. The exact number was not disclosed, but we do know that players spent a collective 59 million hours in-game. You can see more statistics here.
Battlefield 1 November 15 Patch Notes
General:
Operations Changes:
Going forward we are addressing the balance issues with the Operations game mode. It’s clear that attackers need a boost. To increase the effectiveness of the attacking team, we are increasing the overall tickets for both Operations & Grand Operations. In addition, we are also making it somewhat easier to capture sectors as an attacker by reducing the amount of time it takes to capture a flags in Operations & Grand Operations. We’ve also increased the minimum tickets regained in grand operations to from 30 to 50, as well as increased the amount of tickets regained from killing retreating defenders. This will give more of a fighting chance to capture the next sector after previously capturing a sector while having very few tickets left.
64 player
Increase attacker maximum tickets from 150 to 250
Increased the amount of tickets regained from killing retreating defenders after capturing a sector from 2 to 3.
Increased the amount of minimum ticket regained when capturing a sector in 64p Operations from 30 to 50.
Slightly reduced the time it takes to capture flags.
40 player
Increase attacker maximum tickets to 200 from 150
Increased the amount of tickets regained from killing retreating defenders after capturing a sector from 2 to 3.
Slightly reduced the time it takes to capture flags.
CONQUEST CHANGES:
We’ve listened to your feedback in regards to the Suez Conquest layout in regards to balance. We will be adding two more flags to the layout, this should result in one team not being able to capture and lock down all flags as easy as before. In addition, we also noticed that it was very difficult to re-capture flags within the capture areas located in the village areas. To solve this we’ve reduced the capture size of these areas to include less buildings. The result of this should make the flags somewhat easier to capture and make sure that a team that has lost and been pushed out of the villages can easier re-capture them and get back into the fight. In addition, to help a team that has been pushed back all the way to their HQ, we’ve added an armored car that players can use to break out of the HQ and flank the opposing team.
Added two additional flags on the Suez map, giving it a total of 5 flags.
Added 1 armored car for either team to spawn in their HQ.
Reduced the size of the capture volumes on the flags located in the villages, old A & B flag. This is to reduce the amount of building interiors located within the capture area. The change should result in the flags being easier to capture.
You can customize your soldier from within the UI by selecting either the icon on Home or on Soldier
If the squad leader ignores requests for orders the leadership is transferred to another member of the squad.
When a squad member requests an order (and there is no active squad order), the requesting player is added to the want-to-be-leader queue for that squad and a 60 seconds timer starts (the timer is not reset if there are other squad members waiting in the queue already).
When the 60 seconds pass, the first member in the squad queue (the one who requested order earliest) is promoted as a squad leader. If there are other members in the queue after him, the timer is automatically reset to 60 seconds and if the new leader doesn’t give orders over that period either, then the next waiting in line is promoted and so on.
If the current squad leader issues an order, then the queue for the squad is cleared.
Equal weather in Rush. Now uses same weather sequence and trigger conditions for both rounds in a match
Changed default player count of operations to 64 from 40
Made the pigeon visible from a longer distance in the War Pigeon game mode
You can purchase Battlepacks in the Get Battlepacks menu
Two new tabs have been added to the store: RSP and Battlepacks
You can rent a server via the RSP tab
You can buy Battlepacks in the Store – COMING SOON!
You can join Custom Games from Multiplayer
The Quit button is now available at any given time when in the End of Round
Added tutorial videos describing each gamemode that can be rewatched in Quickmatch
Squad XP boost has been added, you may receive this item when opening a Battlepack
Prone soldiers can no longer be pushed by other friendly soldiers
Fix so both teams have the correct motorcycles in Conquest on Sinai Desert
Added minimum resolution scale when dynamically scaling
Fix for some environments causing unsmooth killcam experience
Fix for elite class dog tag not being unlocked correctly
Fix for graphical issue while ADS with various weapons on multi monitor setup
Fixed respawning issues on auto-spawning vehicles in Operations. E.g. missing defender torpedo boat on Empire’s Edge
Fixed any issue with the cloth popping when ragdoll settles
Repair tools can now damage the Fortress Gun
No longer playing foot plant VFX when prone
Fixed an issue on Amiens where a player could fall through the level if exiting a light tank next to the Mark 5 wreck.
Scout spotting flares did not work if the player died and airplane spotting flares did not work if the player exited the vehicle, this has now been fixed.
Added ground collision on capture flags
Fixed so soldier collision does not block pigeon release
Improved TAA on PS4 and Xbox One
Fix for soldiers running on terrain with the wrong angle.
Fix for an issue where a player could be catapulted if moving while proning between two structures
You will no longer get points for destroying your team’s Behemoth
Fix for battle summary logic being broken if the player died right before the operation ends.
Fixed an issue where a horse could die in mid sector transition if it didn’t have a rider and was out of bounds
Fix for an issue that could cause incorrect aiming while on the horse
Fixed so writing message sound is not started when picking up a pigeon with fully written message
Fix for black bar on the side of the screen when equipping gas mask
Fixed capture point flags not matching the actual state of the capture point for late joiner
Fix for extreme weather desync between players after rejoining server
Fix for missing score when attacking a Behemoth
Fix for fire damage being canceled if the player got damaged by barbed-wire fence
Fix for incorrect number of vehicles for each team at the start of a Conquest round
Several localization fixes
Removed invisible collision behind the horse
The syringe’s damage now scales with how long the player has held down the button
Players can no longer switch teams near end of round
Several CPU optimizations
Several DX12 optimizations
Weapon reloading is now aborted when climbing ladders
Fixed 3p animations for the horse
Fixed an issue where a player could be thrown up in the air when approaching the top of a ladder
Fixed so soldiers in stationary weapons can be road killed
Fixes for several DX12 crashes
Fixes for several client crashes
Fixed flame thrower visual artifacts when using flame thrower in tunnels and under terrain
Critical gameplay hints will now show 3 times in Multiplayer and then never again
Fix for several video crashes related to window size, hardware detection, and multiple monitors.
Fix for squad orders not being reset between rounds in Operations
Fixed issue with toggle ADS setting in combination with toggle sprint setting. If a sprinting soldier triggered ADS it would immediately exit both sprint and ADS after starting the ADS animation
Fixed an issue where the scroll wheel would rotate the view after disabling raw mouse input
Fixed an issue where the horse would not take damage from gas grenades, incendiary grenades and debris.
Fix for end of round transition not always triggering correctly when dead
Artillery shell stacks now deal damage corresponding to their FX radius
Slightly lowered the loading times between maps
Fix for an issue where the player could spawn in with the wrong kit. E.g. tanker kit when spawning in an airplane
Fixed an issue in Operations where a player joining their party leader to a different map would end up with a black screen after opening the in-game menu
General performance improvements related to edge models
Fix for players sometimes skipping levels in class rank progression
Fixed so all vehicles are available during pre-round ready phase
Fixed an issue where destroyed buildings would severely affect CPU performance resulting in low frame rates
Fixed a faulty 3p soldier animation related to entering and exiting a vehicle
Fixed and issue where the end of operation screens could be displayed over the deploy screen if the player died right before the operation ended.
Fixed an issue where the player could lose control over vehicles after opening Origin overlay two times
Fix issue with emblems being able to color the entire character
Fix for players not being able to switch team in TDM
Fixed a problem where a player on a horse could get stuck in the debris after the mountain bridge on Sinai Desert collapses
Fixed an issue where underwater VFX would trigger when taking damage above water
Squads are no longer auto locked if less than three players join a server as a party.
Fix for an issue where if a player accepted a friend’s invitation to a full server the player would be stuck in the lobby with “reserving slot” message
Fixed an issue where the game would freeze when entering certain parts of the UI
Fixed an issue where your in-game rank and the one in the UI were not the same
Fixed a couple of issues related to the wrong items being highlighted in the UI
Fixed an issue where you could not scrap puzzle pieces
Fixed an issue where the vehicle stats would not update
Fixed an issue when trying to “Quickmatch” for the second time
Fixed an issue where you could not open the pause menu after joining another round
PC: Fixed an issue where you could not see all the party members
PC: Fixed an issue where you would get multiple dialogs when deleting a filter
PC: Players can now disable aim assist for controllers
PS4: Fixed an issue where joining on a friend that is already in the same party and on the same server would result in the player being stuck in a hang state
PS4: Fix for “Decorated” trophy not being awarded correctly
Xbox One: Fixed an issue where a bad rep player is not taken into party and the gamercard disappears form Com Center after accepting a party invite
Xbox One: Fix for bad reputation users being able to communicate with non-friend users when in the same squad in online modes
Xbox One: Fix for a crash to the Xbox Home screen after attempting to join a game session via the Xbox One Guide whilst the title is suspended on the main menu
Xbox One: Fixed an issue where users could get stuck in an endless loading loop when attempting to return to the main menu from the Campaign screen following an Xbox profile sign-in change during suspended state.
Maps:
Fixed terrain destruction depth issues on Monte Grappa and Empire’s Edge.
Several fixes for floating props on all maps.
Tweaked combat areas on Empire’s Edge and Monte Grappa, players can no longer access backdrop assets.
Fixed several spawn point issues for War Pigeon.
Tweaked the spawn points for planes on Empire’s Edge, Operations to be less vulnerable to the Behemoth.
Fixes for artefacts in the water material on Suez.
Adjusted the terrain on several maps to avoid terrain gaps.
Fixed several erroneous collision volumes on all maps (“invisible walls”).
Fixed graphical artefacts on Ballroom Blitz pond water.
Reduced sun flare intensity on Suez and Ballroom Blitz.
Removed seam in sky texture on Ballroom Blitz.
Fixed several objects causing vaulting problems.
Fires on the ground on Amiens now deals damage to players.
Removed Heavy Machine Gun near flag G (conquest) on Empire’s Edge.
Fix for client/server desync problem allowing players to be shot through the bunker double doors on Monte Grappa.
Several minor graphical fixes.
UI:
No longer drawing vehicles or horses with 0 health on the minimap.
Minimap size option now resets correctly when selecting Reset.
Changed title in minimap options from HUD to minimap.
Fixed interaction prompt buttons not showing correctly for all vehicle kits.
Nametag of local player in squad selection screen is now correctly orange.
Fixed several spelling errors.
Fixed several overlapping texts.
Fix for poor performance in the calibration screen.
Train Behemoth icon now have the correct red color for the enemy team.
Updated weapon images shown in Battlepacks.
Updated the join/leave in squad screen.
Fixed an issue where the wrong weapon and skin could be displayed in the squad screen.
Fixed pre-round timer sometimes showing two timers above each other.
Fixed a bug where “Under fire” would show up in the deploy screen for non-highlighted squad members.
Fix for score log showing incorrect icons.
Fixed tooltips for vehicle functions not showing for some vehicles.
Fix for flag capture visual element not showing properly in all cases.
Fixed erroneous kill bonus score for incendiary grenade.
Fix for showing the wrong amount of collected awards at the end of an Operation.
Added hints for both teams in Operations on what to do when a sector falls.
Fix for an issue where the HUD could be visible on screen while transitioning to globe.
Removed order UI in deploy screen and replaced it with an order marker on the objective.
Fix for squad and team revive colors being switched.
Fixed death icon jitters on the deploy screen and minimap.
No longer shows the soldier crouch/prone icon when in vehicle.
Fix for incorrect ammunition amount displayed in weapon customization for the Lawrence of Arabia SMLE.
Fixed so weapon skin option is visible in weapon customization screen even if the player hasn’t unlocked any skins.
Added visible stats for the Villar Perosa.
Solved problem with overlapping screen when end of round is triggered when the players is watching intro movie.
Added missing front line visuals on globe for Operation Kaiserschlacht, Conquer Hell and Iron Walls.
Adding an option to filter the kill log in the HUD. You can now choose to show all, squad, self or nearby.
HUD – Attack/Defend Order Complete is now correctly green.
Fix for wrong squad being selected in the squad screen.
Fixed an issue where the background would turn black when in the pause menu.
Fixed an issue where your tracked medal would not show up correctly in the pause menu.
PS4: Fix for missing highlight in Options sub-menu.
Xbox One: Fix for distorted fonts.
GAMEPLAY:
Weapon Balance
Light Machine Guns were less attractive than other weapon classes, we have given them various forms of adjustments to make them more viable mid-range weapons.
Increased LMG and SLR bullet suppression at medium range.
Increased aimed accuracy of support machine guns.
Decreased Lewis first shot recoil multiplier.
Decreased Huot first shot recoil multiplier.
Increased BAR M1918 horizontal recoil.
Low Weight machine guns now also gain accuracy faster during fire.
Added bipods to Low Weight LMGs.
Reduced effect of recoil direction slightly and made it scale correctly with recoil modifiers like bipods.
Adjusted accuracy values of SMGs and LMGs in customize to better represent differences.
Hellriegel now overheats a little bit slower and has increased horizontal recoil.
Slightly reduced Mle 1903 reload time.
Reduced deploy time of Mle 1903 and Repetierpistole M1912 and sped up the deploy animation for a higher energy feeling.
Slightly reduced the rate of fire of the Russian 1895 Infantry and Sniper and made the time when you can fire again more readable.
Changed damage multipliers for buckshot to be more consistent. This will eliminate some unintentionally high and unintentionally low damage hits.
Gadget Balance
Limpet Mines are now indestructible until they detonate. This prevents other players from “stealing” the Limpet Mine with explosives. The Limpet Mine is intended to be timed detonation only.
Increased number of magazines for gas and incendiary Tripwire Bombs to 2 to make them more attractive over HE Tripwire Bombs.
Mortars have had a balance pass. Players now have to pick more clearly between slow, accurate fire, and rapid, inaccurate fire.
Mortars now require a time after deploy before they are fully accurate.
Increased the inaccuracy penalty for firing multiple mortar rounds quickly.
Reduced the max damage radius of Support Airburst mortars. Mortars will need to land closer to do their full 65 damage.
The minimap targeting function of Mortars now shows the current accuracy level of the strike. The red dot only appears when the strike is at maximum accuracy
Both Support Mortars can now fire 2 smoke rounds in addition to their default round. A Hint has been added to explain the feature.
The HE Mortar now correctly has the same range as the Airburst Mortar.
Rifle grenades have a delay after firing.
Frag:
Decreased time until explosion after collision from 1.1 s to 0.7 s
Added minimum time of 1.0 s before it can explode after firing
Reduced collision speed multiplier from 0.15 to 0.12 to make it bounce a bit less
HE:
Reduced blast radius from 7 m to 6 m
Increased minimum time before explosion after firing from 0.3 s to 0.75 s
BUG FIXES
Weapons
Removed the delay before being able to fire primary or secondary again after deploying a gadget or throwing a grenade.
Changed Madsen shell eject VFX to the bottom, which is the correct position.
Fixed too high reload threshold on the Lewis MG which lead to accidentally cancelling reloads.
Reduced reload times of Autoloading 8 Extended to better match the animation.
Fixed left recoil direction not working on BAR 1918 Telescopic.
Fixed issue the Hellfighter Trench Gun having no visible iron sights in ADS.
Fixed the reload animation for Autoloading 8.25.
Fixed chevron reticle not showing up on Gewehr 98 Marksman.
Selbstlader 1906 Factory, Autoloading 8 .35 Factory and Marksman now resupply 10 bullets at a time.
Gadgets
Improved behavior when switching between primary weapons and rifle grenades when going ADS.
Fix for pickaxe clipping through the hand.
The distance scale in the Trench Periscope is now visible again.
Corrected velocities of Rifle Grenades when using the Autoloading 8 Marksman.
Fixed so only the player who placed the mortar can use it.
Fixed the Mortar sometimes deploying inside objects.
Made the Mortar and Trench Shield easier to deploy.
Fixed issue where players using Toggle Zoom could get stuck when using the AT Rocket Gun or Tankgewehr.
Increased the time required to draw and keep out your melee weapon after an attack. This avoids players accidentally ending up with an active melee weapon during heated close quarter fighting.
FEATURE UPDATES
Ricochet
Tracers that ricochet off armored vehicles are now more easily seen
Added hit indicator sound for glancing hit on vehicles.
Added hint prompts to soldiers that explain the explosion damage reduction in prone.
Many important hints will now show up to 3 times before never showing again.
Added additional hints for some vehicle gadgets that players were having a hard time understanding.
Scoring for Behemoth damage no longer comes only in 20 point chunks. Smaller damage amounts will register a point value. The total damage point value of a Behemoth has not changed.
Fix for player occasionally being teleported when exiting the field gun during reload animation
Added non-gamepad Joystick support.
Vehicles:
Vehicle Balance
Fortress Gun does greater damage against vehicles and has a bigger lethal area against infantry.
AA
Decreased damage of AA cannons against planes and plane parts.
Reduced AA Truck range to better align with stationary AA and prevent HQ camping.
Fixed badly aligned shell eject VFX of the stationary AA.
Planes
Increased blast damage and radius of Ranken darts.
Reduced damage of Scout rifles against plane parts.
Increased damage of K Bullets against attack planes.
50 kg bombs can now deal a little damage to planes and tanks when landing a direct hit.
Increased Bomber Killer bullet velocity to improve this pattern’s dogfighting.
Improved Bomber Torpedoes vs land targets, making it useful as a heavy bomb even on maps without boats.
Reduced the damage a Cavalry soldier takes from headshots.
Increased the range that AT grenades can be thrown from horseback.
Increased the damage hand grenades do vs transport vehicles.
The Armored Artillery Truck now does slightly more damage up close, and less damage at long range. The bullet drop has also been reduced to enable players to hit at longer ranges.
Vehicle deployed mines can now have up to 6 mines alive in the world at one time (was 3).
The Train on Suez now has a Heavy Mortar on the front turret instead of the 57mm AT gun. This gives it more impact on the flags.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where the soldier would enter the AA gun from the wrong direction.
Fix for explosion fire being present for too long after an airplane crash.
Fixed an issue where the player could hide in a damaged armored car turret.
The tank hunter attack plane now reloads automatically when idle, comparable to tanks.
Fixed players spawning into the Armored Train when spawning should be unavailable.
Fixed Rumpler Attack Plane to properly gain health when using the Wing Repair ability.
Fixed collision problems with wrecked Mark 5.
Fixed so torpedo boats are immortal when spawned until player has entered them to prevent an exploit.
Fixed some vehicle tooltips appearing even after the player has left the vehicle.
Behemoth overview HUD now displays broken weapons and turrets on all Behemoths. When in a Behemoth seat that is broken, you will now see an indicator for the repair progress.
Fixed so all airplanes can deploy Emergency Repair for any damage amount.
Fixed some aircraft being able to activate Emergency Repair despite not having it equipped.
Reduced amount of blur effect when using artillery weapons
Aligned camera on beckers guns better with the ironsights.
Added support to decouple passenger aiming from being affected by turning the vehicle.
Improved visuals for zoom scope and bomb scope views in vehicles.
Bomb sight and artillery aiming now uses the water surface to display range instead of the ocean floor.
Audio:
Fix for a problem where ragdoll screams on velocity can start stuttering if a series of ragdoll impacts happen in succession.
Fixed several VO timings.
Fixed a bug where the gas alert VO would trigger in faulty situations and was heard too far and long.
Fix for a VO issue where EoR could double-trigger when changing team after the first attempt.
Fix for a crash related to switching from Atmos to non-Atmos too quickly.
Adjusted engine sound behavior over terrain on motorcycles.
Removed shell eject sounds for pieper carbine.
Tweaked timings on BAR M1918 fire sound.
Fixed phasing sound for the Fortress Gun.
Changed incoming sound for armored train artillery shell.
Fixed issues where the Operations introduction music would start playing late on PS4 or Xbox One.
Fixed a case where the music would not loop after finishing the last round in an Operation.
Adjusted several subtitle timings.
Added diagonal raycasts and tweaked calculations to improve indoor/outdoor detection.
Fixed issues with first person Foley sounds playing when moving the camera in third person view in some vehicle.
Fixed an issue where the loading music would carry on into the game and never stop.
Fixed an issue where quitting to menu and then starting a level would not stop the menu music.
Turned off doppler effect on horses.
Fixed issues with the underwater sound state getting stuck until player dies.
Fixed timing on the deploy sound for Pieper M1893 and BAR M1918.
PS4: Fixed an issue where the audio could stutter for high rate fire weapons.
PS4: Fixed an issue where selecting reset audio would not reset the audio language.
Server:
Improved server performance and bandwidth usage for airplanes.
Improved handling of network jitter, packet loss and packets arriving in the wrong order.
Improve server performance of barbed wire objects in the levels.
Added grenades to the high frequency updates to avoid problems with players taking damage from explosives before they visually detonated.
Improved hit registration for airplanes, especially in close proximity dogfighting.
Improved message if disconnected from server.
Fixed match making issue for servers with no round time limit.
Balance players based on their skill in the current game mode instead of global skill.
Several server performance improvements.
Improve server metrics for detecting networking problems of specific players.
Fixed issue where players were not being placed in the same squad when joining on friend that is in a full squad or not in a squad at all.
Several fixes for common and uncommon server crashes.
Campaign:
Horses no longer take damage from collisions with soldiers.
Fixed the bullet tracer glow on stationary turrets in Fog of War.
Fixed an issue where the airplane could get stuck in terrain.
Updated several subtitles.
Fixed an issue on Young Men’s Work where AI deployed from armored vehicles could see the player through terrain and keep firing.
Several minor graphical fixes on all levels.
Fixed several erroneous collision volumes on all maps (“invisible walls”).
Fixed several floating objects on all levels.
Fixed several typos.
Fixed an issue in The Runner where AI would disappear when reaching the objective “Defend the Frontline.”
Fix for missing water in Carry your Friend.
Several minor VO fixes.
Removed delay on primary weapon after throwing a lure.
Fixed AI walking through certain gates in Breakdown and Steel on Steel and opening them in the wrong direction.
Removed the continue playing button when a chapter is completed.
Fixed Wilson dangling in your face if you restarted the checkpoint during the finding the plane cut scene in Fall from Grace.
Fixed alarms not getting deactivated when the speakers get destroyed.
Objective in beginning of Fall from Grace now only show once if the player load from checkpoint.
Player is no longer allowed to back track after entering the trench area in Fall from Grace.
Heavy Machine Gun on top of train cart in Hidden in Plain Sight now spawns properly.
Fixed no objective appearing if loading into the last checkpoint in Steel on Steel, and fixed the player not getting an objective update if they entered Bess before the Return to tank objective.
Fixed an issue in which jumping could break the enter AA gun animation in Friends in High Places.
Fixed an issue where game objectives would show up with delay in pause menu.
Fixed a performance problem related to AI on Steel on Steel at Hill Top.
Fixed crosshair would sometimes disappear when taking damage in the FT Tank.
Fix for player being unable to get on a horse if it’s blocked by a wall.
Adjusted barbwire material to allow AI see-through/shoot-through behavior.
Fixed issues where dialogue from inside the tank played on the player’s position while being outside the tank in Steel on Steel.
Fixed hit indicator being in the incorrect position when in scope view while flying airplanes.
Fix for AI going out of combat if they don’t see the player for a while even if the player is damaging them.
Fix for rare cases of the AI not seeing the player if the player is on a horse.
Fix for a crash that could occur if playing SP for a long time.
Fix for no visual effect when shooting after the player interrupts tank repair.
Fixed occasional glitch with ammo display when picking up a weapon from an AI on Hidden in Plain Sight.
Fixed an issue where AI tanks would not engage the player in Steel on Steel.
Fixed an issue where AI soldiers in Fog of War’s artillery base would fall through the wooden tower.
Xbox One: Fixed crash that could occur when driving the tank.
The site reported today, “We’ve heard the console’s new Mario will be ready in time” to be a launch title for the Nintendo Switch. The Nintendo Switch announcement trailer showed a woman playing a 3D Mario platformer. In one sequence, we saw Mario jumping through a town in the desert, while another (also set in the desert) showed Mario running along a platform and avoiding a Bullet Bill. Whether this is a full game or a tech demo remains to be seen.
The Nintendo Switch console is slated to go on sale in March 2017. The console’s price, specs, and launch lineup will be revealed during a video presentation slated for January 2017.
[UPDATE] HBO boss Casey Bloys made more comments about a Game of Thrones prequel in an interview with The Wrap.
“We’ve talked very, very kind of high-level, like, ‘Oh, that would be interesting, a prequel would be interesting, are there areas that make more sense?’ But we haven’t–no one has put pen to paper–yet,” Bloys said. “It’s still pretty early on.”
“It’s such a great world and it’s such a great property, we’d be crazy not to at least explore the idea of some sort of prequel or whatever you want to call it,” he went on to say. “So, we are thinking about it, talking about it, but nothing really of note to report just yet.”
The original story is below.
With Game of Thrones expected to wrap up after its eighth season, fans of the series might be wondering what could come after that. There have been talks of possible spinoffs, including a prequel series. Now, HBO boss Casey Bloys has commented on the status of a prequel project.
Asked by Entertainment Weekly if talks with author George R.R. Martin have yielded a specific idea that could eventually get made, Bloys confirmed talks were ongoing. However, he didn’t get into specifics.
“I would say it’s still kind of preliminary, ongoing talks,” he said. “There are areas we are exploring but I wouldn’t point to any one and say, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’”
Also in the interview, Bloys was asked if the final hours of Game of Thrones could be shown in theaters. He teased in response, “I want everything I can get for HBO, let me put it that way.”
“One of the great things about what [Martin] did is he didn’t just build a story; he built a world with so many characters and such a rich, detailed history behind it,” the pair explained. “There are a lot of different ways you could go with it; we just really haven’t had time to really think through the details of it because we’re so focused on getting the show made.”
November 15, 2001. That was the day that Microsoft released the original Xbox, with a launch lineup that included a game called Halo: Combat Evolved from Bungie.
Today is November 15, 2016, meaning the console and Halo are now 15 years old.
Microsoft is celebrating the milestone in a few ways. First, Xbox marketing director Aaron Greenberg is taking over the Xbox Snapchat account today to celebrate the anniversary. Additionally, Halo developer 343 Industries will hold a livestream today, beginning at 3:43 PM PT to mark the event.
