Age of Mythology: Retold is still mostly a classic RTS, but the visual overhaul makes a big difference.
How the mighty are fallen. In a bygone era, Tiberium harvesters and chariot archer rushes were a mainstay on my monitors, and my keyboards bore careworn lines where the 'build archery range' shortcut keys lay. It was a time of plenty, but modern real-time strategy games are far rarer, and that means the stakes always feel high when one arrives. Particularly one that starts with Age of...
Enter Age of Mythology: Retoldânot a 100% faithful translation of Ensembleâs 2002 original but, as the name indicates, a modern interpretation which walks the tightrope of updating the bits that feel clunky by todayâs standards without killing the sense of nostalgia. Itâs a particularly tricky kind of alchemy, and although there are some tonal mis-steps *cough* voice acting *cough* it largely succeeds in knowing when to stick and when to twist.
Thatâs despite a list of developers so long that it makes the average Call Of Duty seem like a mad auteurâs passion project. World's Edge, Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media, CaptureAge, and Virtuos Games have all lent their talents to this one, and maybe itâs unfair for me to be surprised that it feels so cohesive. This is modern game development after all, the pipeline that never sleeps.
Age of Mythology is more or less Age of Empires set in mythical eras, where powerful hero units and mythological beasts fight alongside conventional military archers and spearmen. Friendlier and slower-paced than Starcraftâs ruthlessly aggressive take on RTS, but built around the usual rock-paper-scissors game of unit strengths and weaknesses. Victory is wrought by finding the right army composition and using your limited resourcesâfood, wood, gold and favorâto materialise it.
A UI and visual overhaul occupies the headline billing since itâs the most noticeable element, and it feels in touch with the original game without being overly married to it. The arrangement of your units, resources and build options is logical and clean. Hero units glimmer with a distinctive aura, and the ancient environs hit your eye with impressive detail. One of the many reasons Iâll never rank particularly highly online in this game is that I get distracted by the lovely oceans and spend seconds at a time just⊠watching them.
Onto more meaningful nuts-and-bolts changes: Iâve chalked up many Ls in RTS skirmishes past and present due to over-adventurous units taking mad hikes across the map, but with the new âattack moveâ command in Retold comes a lifeline. Micromanagementâs still important for arranging your unit types so that they hit the battle in the right order, but âattack moveâ tells everyonne to engage with all enemies they meet along the way to your waypoint. That meant no suicidal dashes towards buildings for my campaign armies while ignoring the infantry units pelting them in close proximity. Outside of combat units can still be caught going for an unsanctioned wander off into nothingness, but Retold feels like a big upgrade on the originalâs often baffling pathfinding where it matters most.
The best thing about combat in this game is finding the sweet spot between human and mythical units, and knowing when to send super-tough heroes into battle with them. It took me a few skirmishes to find that mix for Nords, whose reworking now involves more ranged units but still play very differently to their enemies (pro tip: their military units also handle building construction).
With apologies to all historical shipwrights, I found great success in naval combat by spamming ships to distract my enemies and keep the pressure off my base. That meant destroying their docks was an important step towards resigning them to the history books. With all ship types available from the Classical age, the aquatic version of rock-paper-scissors is just as tactical as the terra firma equivalent that youâre managing with your archers and infantry.
God powers are no longer one-shot, game-changing cataclysms, but now operate on cooldown timers and can be deployed more than once per round. I canât decide whether that feels more or less strategicâthe gravity of deciding when to use a powerful one-shot in the original game is offset by the depth of timing one just right in Retold so that youâll get it at a useful moment later. The powers break down into AoE damage-dealing abilities, with some enjoyable twists like Aphroditeâs curse, which turns enemy units into pigs, and resource buffs.
God powers arenât exclusively about raining death down on your foes with satisfying AoE icons, though. Take wonders, for example. Where before you could construct certain wonders that would win you a round if you defended them for long enough, now they simply provide you with constant passive buffs that hasten your victory. That feels like a less stressful route to the win, but not necessarily a simpler one since you still need to carefully consider how to spend those resources.
The sell here, after sitting with all of Retold's changes to a 22-year-old game, is that the slower pace and the combination of historic and mythological units makes for a relaxing, therapeutic RTS session. The Greeks, Egyptians, Norse and Atlanteans play differently enough to take some pleasure from mastery of each, and although itâs an odd business decision that the Chineseâadded as DLC after the originalâs releaseâhaven't been bundled in, they are at least being added in Retoldâs first DLC.
There have been concerns over the character portraits in Retold, and speculation that the devs used AI to generate themâan accusation that the devs squarely denied, stating clearly that theyâre drawn by human artists. The problem to my eye isnât who drew them, itâs that they lack charm. People get understandably attached to characterful touches in classic games when so much of the presentation was of limited fidelity, so the barâs high when youâre updating them. Itâs a minor misstep that they lack some personality, nothing more.
The sameâs probably true of the voice acting. Itâs probably just a minor issue. Probably. After all, cutscenes are not the game. Theyâre the bits that bookend it. But the performances are a rogueâs gallery of slightly off accents, and that does detract from the drama and immersion. I found myself feeling harsher towards this one point as I got deeper through the campaigns, but we should all probably remember that bad cutscene performances are basically mandatory in real-time strategy. The great Tim Curry taught us that.
Retold is brave enough to play with the balance and the stat values of its source material, and that makes for some knotty, tactically fascinating skirmishes. Watching Hittites flanked by Minotaurs lay siege to the walls of Troy has been a genre highlight for me. It could have been braver about the stylistic bits, the way gods and heroes are characterised visually and in motion. But given real-time strategyâs tenuous spot in the current PC gaming pantheon, Retold is an important, if qualified, win.
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Skull and Bonesâ Into the Dragonâs Wake kicks off a new season on August 22
Just when you finally got your pirate vessel fully insured, along comes a new ship and cannons to blow up your deductible. Yet look on the bright side of your sinking boat: You get a new Skull and Bones content update on August 22nd.
Into the Dragonâs Wake is about to arrive in Ubisoftâs naval combat sim next week: âHailing from the Middle Kingdom, Li Tian Ning and Commander Zhang of the Dragonâs Claw make their prowess known to the Indian Ocean. Their arrival stirs tension between the Rempah and DMC in the East Indies, amidst a new seasonal story, world events and challenges.â
The update includes the Battle Junk juggernaut that can taunt other ships, an epic long gun named Divine Thunder, two new types of cannons, and special âimmortalâ armor for your vessel. Ubisoft is also introducing Imperial Jade as a trading resource, better controls, a new merchant convoy event, and a new third-person camera view.
Next up on Skull and Bonesâ calendar after the patch is the Mooncake Regatta event, which is running from August 27th through September 17th.
#game #massive #preview
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Runescape's latest content roadmap includes group ironman mode, a new skilling boss, and exciting advancements in woodcutting
Runescape, the game that isn't the old school one that I imagine when someone says "Runescape," just rolled out a new roadmap of upcoming content. On YouTube, Runescape developer Jagex unveiled Runescape Ahead, which it says will be its ongoing format for long-term previews of updates on the horizon. In the first instalment, detailing what'll be hitting Runescape through late 2024 and early 2025, Jagex offered early glimpses at a pile of new features, updates, and content additions, like new story quests and bosses, a group ironman mode, and more. Try to contain your excitement, woodcutters: You're getting a new tree.
Jagex will kick off its autumn updates with a new Underworld dungeon, where players will face a new skilling boss to enter the shrine of an absent goddess and earn new rewards. Later in autumn, alongside a new Halloween event called Harvest Hollow, Jagex is planning on bringing a group ironman mode to Runescape, where a team of players can face the game and earn unique cosmetic rewards using only what they can gather, craft, and loot amongst themselvesâall without XP bonuses.
Throughout, Jagex will be implementing player-requested updates to skills. A fourth Necromancy conjure ability will arrive sometime in autumn, allowing players with sufficient skill to summon a phantom guardian. There'll also be a new Slayer monster to hunt, offering a Necromancy upgrade for the Slayer helm.
Winter will bring the first quest in an ongoing series, where players will return to the desert and take up their "unfinished business" with the goddess Amascut the Devourer. Around that time, Woodcutting and Fletching will get a 110 skilling update in line with the recent Mining and Smithing update, bringing a new tree to cut, a new hatchet to cut said tree with, and new level 100 and masterwork ranged weapons. Big disruptions in the wood space.
The Christmas Village event will return to close out the year with new quests, activities, and rewards, with more opportunities to get a Black Partyhat. Across early 2025, there'll be 110 skilling updates for Runecrafting and Crafting and an eventual across-the-board skilling overhaul to make skilling "competitively profitable" with combat loot. Along the way, a second and third quest will arrive for the new desert questline, culminating in a new boss fight with Amascut herself in mid-2025.
Source: PC GAMER
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Bethesda Announces New Elder Scrolls Mobile Game Dubbed 'Spiritual Successor' To Fallout: Shelter
The Elder Scrolls fans looking for a little fun to help stay occupied until the next Skyrim platform somehow drops now have a new answer. Bethesda has just announced Elder Scrolls: Castles, a semi-idle simulator mobile game that the team directly referenced as a âspiritual successorâ to its prior mobile game, Fallout: Shelter.
The Elder Scrolls: Castles does share a lot of similar traits to its âspiritual predecessor,â Fallout: Shelter, with some changes. What remains are a lot of the core gameplay system, such as unique/varying NPC âsubjects,â the âroomâ system, and even external quests your subjects can take to level up and gather materials.
Itâs definitely a lot more light-hearted and casual in presentation than just about any other Elder Scrolls franchise title in both aesthetic and gameplay style. There are more aesthetic choices that can be made, though some do seem to affect how gameplay shakes out. Players can also change the layout of the castle, which makes decision-making a little less urgent.
It seems Castles leans a lot more into certain storytelling decisions similar to the Reigns mobile series of games (or just about any decision-making game). Different choices will have different costs and outcomes, but like any choice-making game, itâll be vital to the future of your castle.
The rogue-lite combat system also seems a bit more intensive this time around, though in a way that looks like itâll make it more approachable and engaging on a regular basis. The actual combat has a more fleshed-out UI, and players can pick up level-ups and the like thatâll help more immediately.
The release date is sooner than it looks, being set for September 10 through Google Play and the App Store. There's also some nifty art on the official website.
SOURCE: mmorpg.com
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NCSoft Just Announced Guild Wars 3
You know itâs a good day when you wake up and see news that one of the largest, most influencial, arguably most popular free to play MMOs get a confirmed sequel. Thatâs what just happened with Guild Wars 2.
When I first mentioned NCSoft were potentially developing a Guild Wars 3, people told me I was crazy, that there was no way that could be the case.
When I followed up several years later with confirmation that NCSoft were hiring programmers to create an MMO in an already pre-existing intellectual property, people said there was no way that could be Guild Wars 2. The game is too healthy, a staple of NCSoftâs roster of games, and by association, potential to make a quality game.
Yet according to multiple sources online â Inven â which documented NCSoftâs shareholdersâ meeting on the 28th, and several websites that have since covered the reveal, Guild Wars 3 is already deep in development. Much further than any of us likely even thought possible after this announcement.
But what would a Guild Wars 3 look like? Will it differ from Guild Wars 2? Is it the same team working on it, and how will this ultimately affect Guild Wars 2? Especially given ArenaNetâs commitment to releasing more frequent expansions each year.
Thatâs what weâre going to try and find out.
The investorâs meeting began by acting chairman, Park Byeong-moo â who weâll refer to as Park for the remainder of this video â stating that the global gaming market in 2023 is very unstable, and NCSoft has experienced difficulties both internally and externally, resulting in a decline in stock price.
With how poorly Throne & Liberty did in Korea, and NCSoftâs recent statement confirming itâs up to Amazon with the Global release to save the game, with Aion, Blade & Soul, and their mobile games all doing poorly â this was to be expected.
Park followed this up with a statement referring to the companies history over the last 20 years. âIf you look back at NCâs history, there are a number of successful IPs that were developed independently in Korea.â
Which is true. Aion, Lineage, Blade & Soul. All exceptional MMORPGs that did fantastic, financially, until they were ruined by NCSoftâs mismanagement and greed.
âI am confident that NC will be able to develop its capacity for sustainable development again.â â With regards to new intellectual properties? Unlikely. Potentially, by expanding on already existing intellectual properties like Lineage, Aion or Blade & Soul because they already carry a fanbase.
He then goes on to confirm âInnovation for change has already begun,â further elaborating on NCSoftâs Global vision by stating âthis year is NCSoftâs first step forward as a global game company.â
âI dare say itâs the first year,â explaining that theyâre in the process currently of releasing numerous games that fill a variety of different genres â some of which havenât been done before, like the new open-world Trailblazer game, among many others.
The CEO, Kim Taek-jin is in the process of traveling around the world at present, in an active effort to expand not only their brand, but also their scope and games by engaging in Global collaborations.
As noted, one of the most important routes for the companiesâ success moving into the future, is âestablishing a foundation for globalization,â along with âcontinuous investment to increase new IPs.â
2024 is going to be a very important year for NCSoft and its shareholders, with much of its potential success riding on how well received Throne & Liberty is Globally.
A question was asked of Park, âNC West has been running a deficit for 8 years, and I donât understand why the person in charge remains the same.â NC West is the North American studio in charge of Lineage, Aion, Guild Wars, and Blade & Soul across America, Europe and Oceania.
Park goes on to respond to this by confirming that originally, NCSoft had six studios within the United States, and after extensive work, with likely quite substantial costs, every studio was integrated into one: ArenaNet. ArenaNet is the developer behind Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, and itâs at this point that the revelation was made concerning Guild Wars 3.
âArenaNet are currently working on Guild Wars 3, looking at this process, we have considerable competitiveness. Although it is not completely profitableâ â referring to ArenaNet â âI believe that it has increased its competitiveness.â
ArenaNet and the Guild Wars intellectual property have proven to be the continued driving force behind NCSoft in recent years, looking at their sales breakdown by region from the 4th quarter of 2023, youâll see that âNA/EU sales grew by 15% quarter over quarter due to strong sales of Guild Wars 2.â
Park further elaborates on NC West by reiterating this is their âfirst year Global leap forward,â but they are also âreorganizing the Global headquarters.â
Park talked a little about he, the COO and CEOâs claims of excessive financial compensation, even in light of their continued stock price decline, but navigating further down, we see a question asked concerning NCSoftâs reputation â and how brand value has fallen recently.
I just want to point out, this isnât a recent occurence. This is a reputation that has been deteriorating for the better half of 2 decades.
Park states that NCSoft has a ânegative image among streamers in the gaming industry,â and that these creators will likely change their opinion about them after seeing the quality games they plan on releasing in 2024.
I havenât seen a single game announced by NCSoft that screams a significant alteration in terms of quality. Or a drastic departure from what theyâve become synonymous with.
The rest of the Investorâs meeting went over topics that were unrelated to Guild Wars, but it looks as though theyâre anticipating Guild Wars 3 will be a large driving force behind the studioâs expansion into the Western gaming market.
Which could very well be true. Guild Wars 2 is keeping the studio afloat right now. Guild Wars 3 could bring an entirely new audience to their games. But letâs take a look at what people have to say.
Honestly, I think Guild Wars 3 has the potential to be a phenomenal game so long as the people that made Guild Wars 2 stick to a formula that people love. Thereâs no need to reinvent the wheel, just optimize and improve on what worked.
But at the same time, I donât forsee this game releasing for many years. Probably sometime after 2030. So they have plenty of time to craft the perfect formula.
Until then, thereâs always Blue Protocol or Throne & Liberty, right? Right?
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Ubisoft reveals full Star Wars Outlaws system requirements and PC-specific features
Uncapped frame rates, ultra-wide support, the good ray-tracing stuff: It's all here.
With two weeks to go before the arrival of Star Wars OutlawsâAugust 30 is the big dayâUbisoft has revealed the official PC system requirements, as well as a rundown of PC-specific features you'll be able to take advantage of if you've got the hardware to handle it.
You're going to need some pretty heavy hardware to run Star Wars Outlaws at its "ultra" setting, but it's reasonably forgiving at the other end of the scale. Of course, one of the great things about PC gaming is that you can fiddle: Turn this up so you can turn that down, until you find a balance of eye-candy and performance that makes you happyâor, at the very least, that you can live with until you're able to upgrade your rig.
Minimum
Visual settings: 1080p/30 fps/Low preset with upscaler set to quality
GPU: GeForce GTX 1660 6GB / AMD RX 5600 XT 6GB / Intel Arc a750 8GB (ReBAR ON)
CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
RAM: 16GB (dual-channel mode)
OS: Windows 10/11 with DirectX 12
SSD Storage: 65GB
Recommended
Visual settings: 1080p/60 fps/High preset with upscaler set to quality
GPU: GeForce RTX 3060 8GB / AMD RX 6700 XT 12GB
CPU: Intel Core i5-10400 / AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
RAM: 16GB (dual-channel mode)
OS: Windows 10/11 with DirectX 12
SSD Storage: 65GB
Enthusiast
Visual settings: 1440p/60 fps/High preset with upscaler set to quality
GPU: GeForce RTX 4070 12GB / AMD RX 6800 XT 16GB
CPU: Intel Core i5-11600K / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
RAM: 16GB (dual-channel mode)
OS: Windows 10/11 with DirectX 12
SSD Storage: 65GB
Ultra
Visual settings: 4K/60 fps/Ultra preset with upscaler set to quality
GPU: GeForce RTX 4080 16GB / AMD RX 7900 XTX 24GB
CPU: Intel Core i7-12700K / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
RAM: 16GB (dual-channel mode)
OS: Windows 10/11 with DirectX 12
SSD Storage: 65GB
One interesting thing is all these specs, as hardware writer Jeremy Laird wrote earlier this month when the basic requirements first appeared on the Ubisoft Store, is that "upscaling is the new normal." Even at the minimum setting you'll need to have DLSS, FSR, or some other upscaling tech in order to achieve Ubisoft's frame rate targets, and the game will be running at a lower-than-spec resolution and then be upscaled.
That's not a big deal in and of itself, but some lower-end GPUs may struggle more than expectedânote, for instance, that Intel Arc GPUs are only listed in the "minimum" setting. Unlike Nick, I'm not a hardware guy, but it does make me think that maybe the smart play is to treat the "recommended" spec as the minimum, at least until the game's been out for a while and you can see how it runs for other people.
Anyway, speaking of fiddling, here's the lowdown on PC-specific features you'll find in Outlawsâagain, the availability of which will depend on the weight of your iron:
Ray-traced global illumination, reflections, and shadows
NVIDIA RTX dynamic illumination (RTXDI) Support
NVIDIA DLSS 3.5 support (ray reconstruction, Frame Generation, Super Resolution)
Intel XESS 1.3 and AMD FSR 3.0 (upscaling and frame generation) support
In-depth customization options
Uncapped frame rate
21:9 Cinematic Display Mode
Multi-monitor and ultrawide support\
"In-depth customization options" is a bit vague, so here's a still from the new PC gameplay trailer to give you an idea of what's in store:
Star Wars Outlaws is set to come out on August 30, and will be available for PC on the Ubisoft Store and the Epic Games Store. You can get into it up to three days early by spending extra (a lot extra, really) for the Gold or Ultimate edition of the game (which also include the season pass and various extra cosmetics) or by subscribing to Ubisoft+.
#Games #Ubisoft #StarWars
Source: PCGAMER.COM
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Hunt: Showdown enjoys highest-ever player count after 1896 update
Hunt: Showdown enjoys highest-ever player count after 1896 update, but player complaints about UI are pushing down its Steam review score: 'I've never seen such a bizarre reaction to so much amazing content'
Grungy horror extraction shooter Hunt: Showdown just received its biggest update in years, with developer Crytek upgrading its engine, overhauling its UI, adding a fourth map called Mammon's Gulch, and introducing other meaningful tweaks. It's such an extensive rework that the game has even been given a new nameâHunt: Showdown 1896.
The first day of availability saw Hunt reach a new high for concurrent players: 59,968, which is 18,000 more than its previous high in October 2023. Likewise, at the time we're publishing this, more than 51,000 are in-game, chasing and/or being immolated by the new Hellborn boss.
By that metric, the shooter is more popular than it's ever been. But simultaneously, the update has drawn aggravated complaints from a number of negative reviews on Steam, 3,730 of them so far, which have pushed Hunt's short-term label to Mostly Negative, while its longer-term state remains Mostly Positive.
How can Hunt both be more popular than ever and be condemned by a higher-than-ever number of players on Steam? The primary bone of contention is its new pre-match UI, shown in the video embedded lower on the page, with many reviewers complaining that Crytek's changes have made it worse rather than better.
The most common complaint about the UI is that it takes considerably more clicks to do most things in the menu than it did before. "Looks fancy but is a nightmare to navigate" says user Shinigaben. "You need 3 or so clicks per action more than the old UI and it also just gives way less information on one screen without switching between various submenus."
If you've lived through a UI update to a major social media platform like Facebook or Discord, you know that the shift to a new way of presenting information often sparks disproportionate fury. Some Hunt players are under the impression that this more complicated interface has been designed for console first, with players also lamenting the much larger icons and apparent lack of basic keyboard inputs. It's worth noting that Hunt was originally released on PC in 2018 (Early Access), with Xbox One and PS4 releases coming more than a year later, in 2019 and 2020. This new version, however, launches concurrently on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, so it is possible that the UI has been retooled with some compromises between those platforms.
Others accuse Crytek of redesigning the UI to push microtransactions to the forefront, with some comparing the new approach to the monetisation practices seen in games like Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone. "The first thing you see after loading ingame is them selling you skins!!!" writes user Asthmaschildkröte, with others saying that the UI pushes players to look at the Battle Pass. Personally, this doesn't resonate with us as longtime players of the gameâHunt's monetization is some of the least-burdensome and least prominent compared to its fellow service games.
It's worth noting that it isn't just the UI that's the object of players' ire. Some players claim that the update has introduced more performance problems than it solves. "With the update my performance has dropped to a level where I cannot play without stutters" says the evocatively named user Sloppy Steaks. Among these are a few complaints about bugs, and a handful of people claiming that the visuals have changed for the worse. These issues are far more sporadically raised than the problems with the UI, however, which seems to be mentioned in nearly every recent negative review left on Hunt's Steam page.
Anecdotally, playing the update last night, there were a couple of areas of the map where we noticed frame rates dropped (at one point our trio all noticed a drop of 10-20 fps, seemingly due to a visual effect that had triggered), but other than that our fps hasn't been significantly different than on last week's build.
It definitely seems like the UI has some problems that deserve some further consideration. But is the strength of the reaction justified? There are numerous reviews that praise the update generally, but ultimately deliver a thumbs down because of the UI. "New engine update has made the game itself much smoother for me. New map is really nice too. I like the increased verticality," says user Sir Fluffy McDuck. "HOWEVER, this new menu UI is such a pain." Furtive Pygmy, meanwhile, compliments Crytek on doing "a wonderful job with the update" but says the UI is "so bad that I simply do not wish to play anymore."
Can a menu UI (none of the complaints, to be clear, are focused on the in-match UI), be so bad that it truly ruins the experience of playing? Or is this another example of the PC gaming community disproportionately hyper-fixating on a facet of a game that they know will resonate in comment threads?
There are certainly some players who feel the latter is the case. "I've never seen such a bizarre reaction to so much amazing content," says Reddit user Redwood-Lynx, a "casual dad" player who praises the "incredible map" Crytek has added. "There has to be some kind of PC cultural quirk I'm just unaware ofâbeing this aggrieved about MENUS is so beyond this old timers understanding. Did any of you actually play the game part? Does no one want to discuss the new weapons, the new boss, the new map, the new traits, the new balance changes, ANY OF IT? No, you just want to review bomb the greatest shooter of the last decade into oblivion because daddy gave your little console brother more attention."
As hinted at in the previous paragraph, this would not be the first time a game has struggled with misdirected anger from its community. Helldivers 2, perhaps the most mechanically ingenious shooter of the year, has been dominated by discourse over the balance of its weapons. Now, weapon balance can be crucial to the fundamental quality of a game. But Helldivers 2 is not an incredibly twitchy multiplayer shooter like Counter-Strike of Valorant, it's a cooperative PvE experience, a goofy Starship Troopers simulator with an emphasis on physics-based slapstick comedy. Balance is not really the point of Helldivers 2.
rom our hours playing Hunt's new update last night, the new UI, yes, does produce an amount of discomfort. Some years-worn habits now require more inputâwhen you want to add several consumables to a character, you are pushed back and forth between the gear menu and the hunter details screen as you add each piece of equipment individually, which feels inefficient. A couple of actions are slightly smoother, like picking different life bar segments for your hunter. We can't dismiss that some players find the changes jarring, nonetheless, there is far more to the 1896 update than just the UI, and the manner in which those criticisms are being made does not paint a complete picture of the update's effect on the game.
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World of Warcraftâs The War Within headstart is live â prepare for a long spoiler-dodging weekend
Depending on how much you shelled out for World of Warcraftâs newest expansion, this is either the best or longest weekend of the year for you. Early access for The War Within kicked off yesterday, with the world-first level 80 happening a shade over an hour later.
WoW players who donât have access to the head start are advised to stay off the global chat channels, streams, and WoW fan sites as spoilers are being flung around pretty fast and loose right now. Those âleft behindâ can continue to enjoy the Radiant Echoes event, although this had a nasty (but now corrected) issue where the XP was pretty much disabled.
Meanwhile over in WoW Classic, Blizzard is consolidating all of its Season of Discovery servers to one PvP and one PvE realm per region with free character transfers available. âMost of the origin realms currently still have healthy populations, and we recognize that moving characters can be disruptive to player communities, so this is not a decision we take lightly,â the studio said.
Source: World of Warcraft, 2
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Game on: ABC News says Harris, Trump have agreed to presidential debate on Sept. 10
ABC News says that both Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his Democratic counterpart, Kamala Harris, have agreed to meet in a debate on Sept. 10.
The networkâs announcement on Thursday came shortly after Trump told a news conference that he had agreed to three debates with Harris in September on separate networks.
Trump is rejoining the ABC debate days after posting on his social media network that he would not appear on the network, citing a lawsuit he has filed. His decision sets up a highly anticipated moment in an election where the first debate led to a massive change in the race â with Democratic President Joe Biden ending his reelection bid and endorsing Harris.
âI think itâs very important to have debates,â Trump said Thursday. âI look forward to the debates because I think we have to set the record straight.â
On the social media site X later on Thursday, Harris wrote that âI hear that Donald Trump has fully committed to debating me on September 10. I look forward to it.â
At a private fundraiser in Paris on Thursday, Harrisâ husband, Doug Emhoff, said he âcannot waitâ to see his wife debate Trump. He was in Paris as head of the U.S. delegation to the Summer Olympics closing ceremony.
Fox News has also proposed a debate between Harris and Trump to take place on Sept. 4, and NBC News is angling to air one on Sept. 25. During an appearance in Michigan, Harris said she was âhappy to have that conversationâ about an additional debate.
Trump also said he wants his vice presidential candidate, JD Vance, to debate Harrisâ choice for veep, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on CBS. The network is discussing potential dates to propose for that meeting.
ABC says that David Muir and Linsey Davis will moderate the Sept. 10 contest. Thatâs the same date that Trump and Biden had agreed to their second and final debate, before Bidenâs decision put that event in doubt.
Any debate promises to take on extra importance with polls showing a tight race between the former president and current vice president. While Harris has ridden a wave of excitement among Democrats since inheriting the mantle from Biden, she has yet to appear at a news conference or give an interview to a journalist.
Republicans are already making that an issue. Vance, in a post on X as Trump was in his news conference on Thursday, said Harris was hiding behind a TelePrompter. âItâs been 18 days since she answered real questions from the media,â he wrote.
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