The Best and Worst of Dota 2’s Winter Update
The Winter 2016 Battle Pass is the best thing to happen to Dota 2 in a long while, but as with all add-ons that affect the moment-to-moment gameplay of Valve’s competitive strategy game, it’s also having a profoundly negative effect on the way Dota is played. I’m a massive part of the problem.
Dota 2’s Battle Pass — which includes the Compendium to this season’s Shanghai Major — layers on a series of fun new meta-game systems that have my usual group of Dota players playing more aggressively than usual. A new quest system, segmented into categories correlating to carry/core/support roles, introduces seductive long-term goals. Unlocking the incredible Dragon Knight set, the elaborate Lich outfit, and the stylish Lina costume for completing each quest track is all I’m really thinking about when I launch the game client.
The Division Now Lets You Play With Your Eyes
I’m in cover as a squad of faceless goons begin shooting at me in the faithful recreation of Manhattan in The Division. I look to the right to look for cover to move to. A green button appears instantly behind the desk I'm looking at and I press “A” on my gamepad and automatically take cover. This all took place within a second, made possible by Tobii’s eye tracking technology.
If I was playing The Division with a mouse and keyboard or a gamepad, I would have to manipulate the camera just right to get the auto-snapping cover system to work. With eye tracking, the cover system feels fluid, natural, and quick. The eye tracking also allowed the mini-map and other HUD elements to turn transparent when I wasn’t looking at them, which helped me see more of the environment. Aiming is also assisted with eye tracking by helping you aim approximately where you're looking. You'll still need to make fine adjustments to aim so it's not as easy as looking and shooting. I was surprised at how well it all worked and how intuitive it felt.
First Series of Add-ons Revealed for Fallout 4
Bethesda announced its first three add-ons coming to Fallout 4: Automatron, Wasteland Workshop, and Far Harbor.
The first DLC released will be Automatron. "The mysterious Mechanist has unleashed a horde of evil robots into the Commonwealth, including the devious Robobrain," reads the description. You will be hunting them down and creating your own robots, choosing from hundreds of mods. Automatron will be available in March for £8 / $10.
Wasteland Workshop DLC
GameStop CEO Says PlayStation VR Coming This Fall
Contrary to prior reports, it appears PlayStation VR may not launch within the first half of 2016, as a recent comment by GameStop CEO Paul Raines suggests the device will instead release this fall.
"We will launch the Sony product this fall," Raines said of PlayStation VR in an interview with Fox News, noting the company is also "in discussions with the other two players," those being Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
We've reached out to GameStop for further details, and will update the story as soon as we receive a response.
Street Fighter 5’s Story Mode DLC Will Take ‘1 to 2 Hours’
Street Fighter V is out now, but the cinematic campaign is coming later this year, and it will take around one to two hours to finish.
Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono and Tomoaki Ayano talked about the game and the update in a video on the PlayStation Asia YouTube channel.
The game in its current form has prologues for each character, however the true cinematic story mode is coming out as a free update in June. Ono says in the video this "might take you one to two hours or even longer to play through... we can
Activision Hit With Layoffs
Activision has laid off employees from its Minneapolis, Minnesota branch following its quarterly earnings call.
The company confirmed its layoffs to Game Informer, noting games for Activision's "core audiences"—like Call of Duty Black Ops III—performed well, while its games for "casual audiences," namely, Guitar Hero and Skylanders, disappointed.
An Activision spokesperson told Game Informer the layoffs are part of its "refocusing" efforts, "to better align with Activision's long-term priorities."Its strategy, the spokesperson said, continues to change in order to stay "ahead of a rapidly-changing industry."
Agent Carter: Black Widow’s Back and… Teaming with Peggy?
We haven’t seen the deadly Russian spy Dottie Underwood (Bridget Regan) since the Agent Carter season premiere a few weeks back, but she returns in a big way Tuesday night, in two back-to-back new episodes.
These episodes find Peggy (Hayley Atwell) needing help and with few options, leading her to make a desperate move by looking for none other than Dottie to assist her and Jarvis (James D’Arcy) on a vital mission.
IGN has an exclusive clip from the episode, as a disguised Peggy first approaches the imprisoned Dottie – who certainly seems excited to see her enemy.
Check out the clip below!
I spoke to Regan about Dottie’s return and what viewers can expect from this unusual situation. Regan discussed just what’s at the root of Dottie’s constant flirtatious vibe with Peggy, working alongside James D’Arcy -- as Dottie and Jarvis go undercover (and dance!) together -- and more, including what it was like for the actress to discover her character was part of the Black Widow program back in Season 1.
Mass Effect: Andromeda Writer Leaves BioWare
Mass Effect: Andromeda lead writer Chris Schlerf confirmed today that he has left BioWare Montreal and joined Bungie to work on Destiny.
Schlerf revealed the news via a series of posts on Twitter.
To confirm what some folks asked about a few months back, I am no longer working on ME:A at BioWare Montreal.
— schlerf (@schlerf) February 16, 2016
Schlerf explained that his time at BioWare was one of the “best experiences” of his career and he believes Mass Effect: Andromeda “is really gonna blow people away”, but he also noted he’s very happy to be back in Seattle.
Why Rogue One is Crucial to Star Wars Battlefront
There are about as many things to love about DICE’s Star Wars Battlefront as there are to nit-pick. For everything it nails in terms of pitch-perfect holy recreation of the Original Trilogy (OT), it frustrates in terms of matchmaking, later-level unlocks and, generally, a lack of content.
While that first detractor is the responsibility of DICE’s internal decisions, the latter two gripes are the flip-side con of remaining faithful to the original Star Wars movies.
To further complicate matters for DICE, with George Lucas out and Disney the new star kids on the block, the House of Mouse has laid down some strict rules about narrative cohesion in terms of the overarching Star Wars canon. It’s pledged that every official release with a narrative component will be canon.
All Hell Is About to Break Loose on The Magicians
Full spoilers for The Magicians continue below.
There's a problem around every turn on The Magicians right now. The Hedgewitches have it out for the magicians at Brakebills. None of the main characters have any strong grasp of their powers or the range of their abilities. To make matters worse, The Beast is off torturing people in Fillory, which is a real place. And all this within the series' first five episode.
If you're surprised by the breakneck speed of the Syfy series, star Arjun Gupta wants you to know that things are about to get even more crazy. Gupta, who plays Penny, got on the phone with me to talk about what that big reveal of The Beast at the end of "Mendings, Major and Minor" means for the show, how the next episode is going to mark a big shift and why he thinks his version of Penny isn't that big a change from the character in Lev Grossman's novel.