Category: Gamespot

The latest expansion for Grinding Gear Games’ role-playing game Path of Exile, Atlas of Worlds, will launch on September 2, the developer revealed today.

According to developers, Atlas of Worlds is a reimagining of Path of Exile’s current end game. Using the game’s map generator and crafting system, players can change the properties of the maps they generate and the content they’ll find therein. The expansion includes 30 more areas and 19 new bosses, as well as a refreshed, higher-quality look for all existing older maps.

These new maps aren’t just random areas, either. Grinding Gear Games has added narrative content, wrapping the reason and purpose behind these new areas into a larger new story.

Areas offer higher difficulty as well. Areas around the outskits of the new map are expected to offer content around level 28, while levels closer to the middle of the map–and the final bosses–will include content around level 86.

According to Grinding Gear Games, the studio found that the longer players spent time in the game, the less variety they had because they were grinding away at the same small number of high-level maps. The ability to customize maps and upgrade them to higher levels is meant to alleviate this. The higher the map level, the higher the level of the items you’ll find; so if you’re looking for items for minions, you may want to spend some time on upgraded maps in the graveyard area, as that’s where you’ll find the minion gear.

Grinding Gear has also worked to improve the performance of Path of Exile with this patch. According to the developer, the game now runs at twice the speed, with double the frame rate for when there are many enemies on screen.

Path of Exile was released in October 2013 after a successful crowdfunding campaign.

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In the market for a new Xbox One? Newegg has rolled out a pretty solid offer on the newly released 2 TB Xbox One. Through its eBay page (via Slickdeals), you can get the system and four games for $400. The system alone normally sells for that price.

The free games are Rainbow Six Siege, The Division, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and Dishonored Definitive Edition. Shipping is free. Go here to learn more and to place an order. This is a limited-time offer, as it expires four days from now, on Tuesday, August 16, according to the page.

The Xbox One S, which is 40 percent smaller than the original Xbox One and comes with an internal power supply, launched on August 2. It also includes a new controller with textured grips and Bluetooth.

Looking ahead, the 1 TB and 500 GB Xbox One S models will go on sale starting August 23. For more on the Xbox One S, check out GameSpot’s review.

Things are going well for the Xbox business right now, as the Xbox One was the top-selling system in the United States during July, outselling the PlayStation 4.

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Infinity Ward will apparently share more details on Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare‘s Zombies mode next week, according to a tweet from the Call of Duty channel.

CharlieIntel reports that the reveal, whatever it turns out to be, is slated for Tuesday, August 16.

The “grab the popcorn” line is particularly interesting, since there was popcorn and a film reel featured in a previous teaser for Infinite Warfare’s Zombies mode released back in May.

The cryptic image (below) shows what looks like a film reel, while some popcorn and what might be blood can also be seen. You can also see that the frame mentions “19-ATVI–85.” ATVI is Activision’s stock symbol. It’s possible 19-85 could be a reference to the time period, though this is not confirmed. While Infinite Warfare is set in the future, Zombies modes for previous Call of Duty games have taken place in the past.

August 16, the day before Gamescom kicks off, is looking like a busy day for news about shooter games. Also scheduled for that date are presentations and new videos for Titanfall 2, Battlefield 1, and Destiny: Rise of Iron. Buckle up.

Infinite Warfare launches on November 4 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Activision is also releasing a remastered version of the beloved Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, but the only way to get it is to buy one of Infinite Warfare’s premium versions.

For more on Call of Duty Zombies, check out GameSpot’s feature, “An Oral History of the Unlikely Undead Phenomenon.”

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Destiny‘s limited-time Iron Banner multiplayer event will return next week, Bungie has announced. The event kicks off on August 16, and this time, the gametype is the straightforward shoot-fest Clash. This Iron Banner runs until Tuesday, August 23, ending at around 2 AM PT / 5 AM ET that day.

Saladin is offering up a number of bonuses for Iron Banner players, including armor and weapons, as well as some content exclusive to PlayStation users. The PlayStation-exclusive items can be seen immediately below, while you can click through the gallery to see the rest of the armor and weapon rewards.

The new Iron Banner event is scheduled to begin at around noon PT on August 16, which is roughly two hours later than normal. This is because Destiny is undergoing some maintenance that day, starting at 9 AM PT. It ends “when Bungie says so,” and Iron Banner will kick off right after this.

You may have noticed that the downtime overlaps with Destiny’s upcoming Rise of Iron Crucible livestream. Did Bungie plan this to draw more users to its livestream?

“We did not,” Bungie said. “These are the machinations of progress. Sometimes, everything happens all at once.”

Rise of Iron launches on September 20 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is Destiny’s fourth expansion, following The Dark Below, House of Wolves, and The Taken King.

Are you going to jump back into Destiny next week to take part in the Iron Banner event? Let us know in the comments below!

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With the release of Destiny‘s newest expansion, Rise of Iron, just around the corner, Bungie is preparing to open the floodgates regarding information about its Crucible mode.

The developer this week revealed more details about its previously announced Rise of Iron livestream event for Gamescom. This video event will include “new details about the Crucible,” Bungie said in a blog post. World design lead Steve Cotton and Crucible lead designer Lars Bakken will be on-hand to show off the goods, including new game modes, maps, and features.

“They’ll lay down some additional context while two Fireteams engage each other,” Bungie said.

If you like Destiny but don’t care much for Crucible, you’re getting something new as well next week. Bungie will release the latest “Bungie ViDoc,” this one showing off the “entire Rise of Iron player experience.” This will include a new look at Felwinter Peak and the Plaguelands, featuring developer insight about “every aspect of the journey” that is Rise of Iron.

In addition to new maps for Crucible, Rise of Iron comes with new gear, a new raid, and more quests, among other things. The Gjallarhorn is also coming back.

In another blog post, Bungie confirmed what Sony said earlier this week, that Destiny will be playable at Gamescom. “But we won’t yet say what you’ll be able to play,” the developer teased.

Destiny’s Gamescom livestream takes place on Tuesday, August 16, starting at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. You can watch the briefing at Bungie’s Twitch channel.

Rise of Iron comes out on September 20 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One–but not PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Destiny 2, or whatever Bungie decides to call it, is also in the works and is coming in 2017. Just recently, some reported Destiny 2 art surfaced online.

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No Man’s Sky launched this week on PlayStation 4 (and comes to PC later today), but the game’s release hasn’t gone entirely to plan. Developer Hello Games said in a blog post today that it’s aware of “a number” of issues, bugs, and crashes, and is “working to resolve [them] as soon as possible.”

In the blog post, which is titled “Issues,” director Sean Murray also said the number of players, and their average play length per session, has been “far more” than the team anticipated. Hello Games has made a point to say time again that No Man’s Sky was made by a very small team. Murray added that Hello Games is “working quickly to adapt” to the greater-than-expected demand.

“We sincerely apologize to anyone affected in the meantime,” he said.

To help remedy the situation, Hello Games has hired a new quality assurance team that is larger than the entire Hello Games staff. This is in addition to an existing No Man’s Sky QA team at Sony, the game’s publisher.

Murray said Hello Games is working on fixes for the “most critical issues,” though a list of these was not provided. Whatever the case, a patch in the “near future” will fix these problems.

Additionally, he confirmed that Hello Games is moving to a “ticketed” support system and has brought on a new staffer for this role, beginning Monday. In the meantime, you can visit the Sony forums or contact Hello Games here if you’re experiencing problems in No Man’s Sky.

Also in the blog post, Murray offered up some workarounds for existing issues like getting stuck.

• If you believe you are stuck, or can’t reach your ship, be aware you can jetpack forever whilst pushing against any surface
• If you have made a mistake–you can revert to any of your two previous saves in the Options Menu
• If you have left your ship somewhere inaccessible, you will be able to summon it from landing pads or beacons found at most buildings or points of interest (marked by question marks)

Murray also responded to a problem involving some players not receiving their preorder bonuses.

“In most cases so far, the player has either not redeemed their bonus correctly from the PS Store or from the Options Menu,” he said. “Also sometimes players have received the bonus, but the name displayed in-game was incorrect. The Alpha Vector ship is named Domanish S84 in-game, and (in the US) the Rezosu AZ65 is named Final Shadow XIV in game.”

The developer also provided an update on the No Man’s Sky issue where a preorder bonus ship could leave some players stranded. “In most cases the player is actually able to continue (107 of the 135 reports emailed so far),” he said. “The game already detects the player needs a hyperdrive and directs them to a nearby NPC who will give the player the hyperdrive they need. Some other players were able to resolve this issue by restarting their console.”

For more on No Man’s Sky, check out GameSpot’s review in progress, as well as the features below.

• No Man’s Sky: 13 Things You Probably Didn’t Know You Could Do
• No Man’s Sky: How to Quickly Get to the Center of the Universe (Without Cheating)

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No Man’s Sky launched on Tuesday for PlayStation 4 and comes to PC today, August 12. But when, exactly, does it arrive on PC? Developer Hello Games has now answered that question.

The game will unlock today at 10 AM PST / 1 PM EST / 6 PM BST, director Sean Murray said on Twitter. He also confirmed that the game’s file size is only 2.6 GB and that there is no pre-loading available. You can of course pre-purchase the game from Steam, but you can’t play until it officially unlocks.

If you’ve just started playing No Man’s Sky, then check out our feature, No Man’s Sky: Everything You Need to Know. Ahead of delivering a final review (read our review in progress here), GameSpot critic Peter Brown will be publishing a No Man’s Sky daily diary. You can read that here.

In other news about No Man’s Sky, Murray recently said releasing the game for more powerful hardware, such as the upcoming Neo console, would “fundamentally” change the experience.

For more on No Man’s Sky, check out the features below.

• No Man’s Sky: 13 Things You Probably Didn’t Know You Could Do
• No Man’s Sky: How to Quickly Get to the Center of the Universe (Without Cheating)

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It’s been known for some time that Han Solo would be joined by his trust co-pilot Chewbacca in the upcoming spinoff movie, and it seems that another Star Wars favourite might be making appearance too. It has reported that casting is underway for an actor to play fellow space scoundrel Lando Calrissian.

The story was first reported by The Wrap, and BMD have subsequently revealed that Community star Donald Glover is the first choice of directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller to play Lando. Glover is currently filming Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, and it is unknown if an offer has been made for him to appear in the Solo film.

Lando featured in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, played by Billy Dee Williams. He is first introduced as an old friend of Han’s, and the previous owner of the Millennium Falcon.

The only piece of confirmed casting to date is Alden Ehrenreich, who will play Solo. At San Diego Comic-Con last month, Ehrenreich told fans that he didn’t have many expectations when he first auditioned. “When it first came along I knew everybody would be going out for it,” he said, via Deadline. “I read the sides and loved them and thought, ‘Who knows, but let me give it a shot.’”

The actor also revealed that the entire audition process took six months, and some of the screen tests were alongside Chewbacca on the set of the Falcon.

The Han Solo movie has been written by Star Wars veteran Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon, and is expected to begin production in early 2017. It is set for release on May 25, 2018.

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