Dark Souls Servers Will Stay Offline Until Elden Ring Launches Due To Ongoing Security Issue

Bandai Namco and From Software have responded to the ongoing technical issues surrounding the Dark Souls franchise on PC, saying the servers for Dark Souls, Dark Souls II, and Dark Souls III will remain offline as the companies investigate the matter. The servers will stay down until after Elden Ring launches on February 25, Bandai Namco and From Software said in a statement posted on social media.

If you’re just catching up, it’s been reported that the Dark Souls games contain security vulnerabilities that make the games and the computers they are played on reportedly susceptible to breaches. Similar underlying issues exposed in Elden Ring’s network tests suggests it might affect that game as well. From Software was reportedly informed of this risk earlier but did not act on it.

In its statement, Bandai Namco and From Software said the companies have “extended the investigation” into Elden Ring and will make sure “the necessary security measures are in place for this title on all target platforms.” The game remains on schedule to launch on February 25.

#DarkSouls pic.twitter.com/ZRhX9OcvQe

— Dark Souls (@DarkSoulsGame) February 9, 2022

The Dark Souls servers have been offline since the end of January due to this issue. We’ll report back with any new developments as they come to light.

Elden Ring will launch on February 25 one week after another high-profile title, Sony’s Horizon Forbidden West, launches for PS4 and PS5. Both games are part of a stacked February for new releases, which also includes Destiny 2’s Witch Queen expansion on February 22.

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How to Get Razor Claw in Pokemon Legends: Arceus

Pokemon Legends: Arceus reimagines Sneasel as a Fighting/Poison hybrid with a brand-new evolution to boot. Sneasler, its Hisuian evolution, reflects its type change with its ability to scale steep landscapes across the different regions. However, it still uses the same evolution item as Sneasels of the future: the Razor Claw. This mysterious claw evolves Hisuian Sneasel into Sneasler and, if you happen to find one in a space-time distortion, a regular Sneasel into Weavile. Here’s everything you need to know about the Razor Claw and how to evolve Sneasel with it.

Where to find Razor Claw

Razor Claws can be found at the trading post/item exchange

Razor Claws mostly pop up in shops or as drops. It isn’t easy to find a Razor Claw, but you can use one of these methods to earn one through some good ol’ grinding. Any one of these should work, though some will be more convenient depending on your luck.

Buy with Merit Points from the Item Exchange: The Item Exchange sells Razor Claws for 1,400 Merit Points. Merit points mainly come from retrieving lost satchels, so keep fetching them until you have enough points for a Razor Claw. It’s one of the most popular ways to get the Razor Claw because it’s in a fixed location.Buy from Ginter in Jubilife Village: Ginter, one of the peddlers right outside of Galaxy Hall, sells expensive but valuable items to passersby. He switches the item every day, as in a full day and night cycle. Keep checking in with him in case he mentions a “Mystery Claw,” which you can buy for 10,000 Poke. This so-called Mystery Claw is actually the Razor Claw.Ginter likes to keep special products especially mysteriousKeep beating up Sneasels and hope for it as a drop: Wild Sneasels sometimes drop Razor Claws after being captured or defeated in battle. It’s unclear what the exact drop rate percentage is. Some players report finding one right away or searching for way too long.Space-time distortions: You can also find Razor Claws inside space-time distortions. However, considering how drops and items can vary, it isn’t the most reliable way to find Razor Claws.

Where to find Sneasel

Sneasel appears in Alabaster Icelands and Coronet Highlands. Watch out: These keen-eyed Pokemon attack on sight! Thankfully, you should have plenty of chances to catch them because of how common they are.

How to evolve Sneasel with Razor Claw

Sneasel Pokedex entry in progress

Sneasel evolves into Weavile at nighttime in Diamond and Pearl. However, Sneasler is different. It evolves during the day instead of at night. More specifically, the Razor Claw won’t show as “compatible” with Sneasel until its morning or midday. Wait for the sun to rise or speak to the Galaxy Team guard to rest until one of the aforementioned times.

So far, the Razor Claw only seems to work on Sneasel. This isn’t surprising, considering other evolution items like the Black Augurite, Metal Coat, and Peat Block also only work with one specific kind of Pokemon. As mentioned before, Johto Sneasel can also appear in space-time distortions. You can evolve it into Weavile at night like in other modern era games.

Need help finding other rare Pokemon in Pokemon Legends: Arceus? We also have a guide for finding Shiny Pokemon, catching the almighty Arceus, and more.

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Steam Deck Tests Show Surprisingly Good MicroSD Loading Times

The cheapest version of Valve’s Steam Deck comes with just 64GB of internal storage, but that might not be as much of an issue as it sounds, with early tests suggesting games will run surprisingly fast off a micro SD card. YouTubers who have their hands on the devices early have started testing the Steam Deck’s load times, with some games running only slightly slower, or in some cases at the same speed as off the SSD, PC Gamer reports.

The speed testing comes courtesy of tech YouTubers Linus Tech Tips and The Phawx, both of whom have been able to put the Steam Deck through its paces ahead of the handheld device’s launch on February 25. The results, when it comes to loading games off an external micro SD card, are promising, especially during a time when a lot of games come with huge install sizes.

While the number of games available for testing at this point are limited–and likely the best optimised for the system at launch–The Phawx found that load times on games like Dead Cells and Street Fighter V were almost exactly the same between SSD and micro SD, with the longest delay around 2 seconds long. Other games like Portal 2 and Ghostrunner took a longer time to load on the micro SD, with the longest delay coming in at around 17 seconds.

Both YouTubers concluded that players had very little to lose from loading their Steam Deck games directly from a micro SD card, which is good news with the Steam Deck’s internal storage maxing out at 512GB for the most expensive model. Even the entry-level 64GB model will make a great gaming machine with a 1TB micro SD slotted in.

The Steam Deck’s portable hardware does have some drawbacks, with other tech tests showing that players will have to be more mindful of their game settings to get the most out of the device’s battery life.

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Pokemon Go’s Valentine’s Day Event Begins This Week

With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, Pokemon Go players will be feeling the love with new challenges, bonuses, themed Pokemon, and the debut of flower Pokemon Flabébé, Floette, and Florges. The flower-themed Pokemon will have five different colors available, with three of them region-locked and another two available as a rare encounter.

The Valentines Day event will begin on February 10 at 10 AM in players’ local time, and run through to 8 PM on February 14. For the duration of the event, players will benefit from double Lure Module duration and double Catch Candy, as well as Buddy Pokemon bringing players gifts more often.

The event comes with a new Global Challenge, which will unlock a reward if all players worldwide reach a cumulative total of 70,000,000 Gifts sent. If the goal is reached, an additional bonus of 3x Transfer Candy will be in place for the remainder of the event.

On a smaller scale, trainers will be able to participate in two new Valentine’s-themed Collection Challenges, which will unlock encounters with a female Frillish and a male Frillish.

As with all Pokemon Go’s themed events, the main way trainers will be interacting the game’s Valentine’s celebrations is through the themed Pokemon that will pop up more often in the wild. Expect lots of pink, with Pokemon like Chansey, Luvdisc, Miltank, Audino, and Alomomola popping up more often, as well as paired Pokemon like Plusle and Minun, and Volbeat and Illumise.

With #PokemonGOValentines nearing, it’s almost time to catch more than just feelings—it’s time to catch some more Pokémon! 🙂

Blooming into the world of Pokémon GO are…

🌸 Flabébé
🌸 Floette
🌸 Florges

💌 Learn more: https://t.co/Ya7iB3vk6z pic.twitter.com/uLY67OGjXY

— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) February 7, 2022

A new Pokemon is also debuting with this event–Flabébé, which can be evolved into Floette and Florges. Trainers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa will get a Flabébé with a red flower, blue flowers will be appearing in the Asia-Pacific region, while the Americas will get a yellow Flower Flabébé. All regions will be able to catch the rarer white and orange flower Flabébés if they’re lucky.

Along with these new arrivals, poodle Pokemon Furfrou will be getting a cute new Heart Trim form. To change your Furfrou’s trim, use the Change Form button in Pokemon Storage, and choose from available trims at a cost of 25 Furfrou Candy and 10,000 Stardust per change.

Players who are able to evolve Kirlia into either Gallade or Gardevoir during the event will be able to unlock the special charged attack Synchronoise.

For the full list of bonuses and Pokemon that will be available through wild encounters, raids, and field research during the event, check out the full Pokemon Go blog post.

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The Steam Deck Battery Can Drain Quickly With The Wrong Settings

With the Steam Deck’s release coming up at the end of February, testers have their hands on the device and are revealing more about how it’ll play. One tidbit coming out from a number of YouTubers testing the Steam Deck is that the handheld device’s battery life will be heavily reliant on what settings are used to play, as reported by PC Gamer.

Officially, Valve has said that the Steam Deck will provide 2-8 hours of batttery, depending on the game and settings being used. Tests from YouTubers Gamers Nexus and The Phawx have shown this range to be generally accurate, though both managed to run the battery down in less than two hours, and neither managed to reach the 8-hour upper limit.

In a battery strain test, Gamers Nexus managed to run the battery down in 87 minutes by running Devil May Cry 5 with an uncapped framerate and Vsync disabled. With a 60fps framerate cap and Vsync enabled, DMC5 lasted around 2 hours instead, scraping the lower end of the Steam Deck’s official battery life.

Similar tests run by The Phawx showed that the Steam Deck gets considerably better batttery life when playing less demanding games like indie or older titles, with Dead Cells running for around six hours with Vsync enabled. The Phawx failed to reach the advertised eight-hour upper run time with any game, despite testing various options.

On the plus side, it looks like the Steam Deck will charge fairly quickly, with Gamers Nexus’s test showing the device charging to 80% in around 100 minutes while turned on and running idle. Like other devices using lithium-ion batteries, the Steam Deck slows its charging rate at 80% to preserve the battery, and takes about three hours to reach a full 100% charge.

While the tests showing the Steam Deck running out its battery in under 90 minutes are an extreme case with settings players don’t have much reason to use on the handheld device, it’s a reminder that the Steam Deck is fundamentally different to handheld consoles like the Nintendo Switch. With the Steam Deck functioning more like a mini-PC that players can theoretically load any of their PC games onto, players will have to be more mindful of how their game settings will impact battery life.

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Will Lost Ark Be Free? How To Play Amazon And Smilegate’s MMORPG

After releasing in Korea at the end of 2019, MMORPG Lost Ark will be available in western markets from February 11, with Amazon on board as a publisher. The game is free-to-play, relying on microtransactions for revenue. Here’s everything you need to know about getting into Lost Ark.

Players will be able to download Lost Ark for free from Steam or the game’s website from February 11, though the game is already available for those who have unlocked early access by purchasing one of the game’s Founder’s Packs. You can find more details on getting into Lost Ark early here.

For players who don’t pick up a Founder’s Pack, the game will be fully free-to-play from February 11. While Korean MMOs are particularly notorious for predatory microtransactions, the western release of Lost Ark has modified the way its microtransations work in order to cater for those cultural differences.

Those changes include making sure that microtransactions are optional–in other words, giving players ways to earn the same content through regular gameplay if they choose, even if the process is fairly grindy. Players will also be able to trade any purchased items through the in-game economy.

The biggest microtransaction Lost Ark players should be aware of is the Crystalline Aura, a kind of monthly subscription that confers a number of useful buffs onto players including free fast travel, extra Bifrost slots, and reduced cooldowns and crafting time for the Stronghold. All

Lost Ark will also offer more conventional microtransactions, unlocking skins, pets, and other cosmetic items for players with cash to burn. However, as it’s being published by Amazon, players with active Prime subscriptions can keep an eye out for freebies through Prime Gaming. The first of Amazon’s free bundles is live now, offering a free Crystalline Aura, an Amethyst Shard pack and a Battle Chest bundle.

To celebrate its launch, Lost Ark has also made use of Amazon’s ownership of Twitch, using the streaming platform to give away even more free loot to prospective players.

If you’re ready to jump into Lost Ark now, or when the game launches for free on February 11, check out our Lost Ark guide for beginners.

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Fortnite Book Of Boba Fett Skins Arrive In New Star Wars Crossover

Fortnite and Star Wars are teaming up once more with new Book of Boba Fett skins based on the Disney+ series’ secondary characters, Fennec Shand and Krrsantan. The surprise drop also includes a new emote, glider, and more to round out your Star Wars collection, as well as the return of some past Star Wars skins, too. Here’s everything you need to know about the new Fortnite Fennec Shand skin and Krrsantan skin.

Fortnite – New Book of Boba Fett skins

Following the launch of Boba Fett as a Fortnite skin on December 24, 2021, two more characters from the series are now in the game: Fennec Shand brings her Mythosaur Signet back bling, while the This Is The Way emote and Fennec’s Ship glider come as additional options if you’ve got V-Bucks burning a hole through your e-wallet. Krrsantan meanwhile comes with the Hutt Clan Symbol back bling. Here’s a full price breakdown:

Fennec Shand skin (with back bling) – 1,500 V-BucksKrrsantan skin (with back bling) -1,500 V-BucksFennec’s Ship glider – 800 V-BucksThis Is The Way emote – 200 V-BucksMe loading up my V-Bucks balance: “This is the way.”

Gallery

If bought separately, all of that would add up to 4,000 V-Bucks, or about $30. However, you can also get all of those items in a bundle for 2,300 V-Bucks while they’re in the Item Shop. The new characters come alongside a return of some–but definitely not all–Star Wars cosmetics.

The Stormtrooper and Boba Fett are both back and making their 2022 debuts, but the likes of Rey and Kylo Ren are still absent, leaving fans hoping for a May The Fourth return to the in-game store. We’ll have to wait and see about that one, though. It’s been years since we last saw them for sale.

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Fortnite Creative Mayhem: How To Get The Free Mace Of Hearts Pickaxe

Fortnite Creative Mayhem is back to entice you to play more Creative mode, and you need not be compelled by the gameplay itself. There are three free Valentine’s Day-themed rewards up for grabs, though you may already have fulfilled the requirement for unlocking one of them, assuming you logged into the game during late January/early February. Here’s how to earn free new Fortnite cosmetics this month, including the Mace of Hearts Pickaxe.

Free Fortnite cosmetics – February 2022

Creative Mayhem is a much broader Creative mode-driven tournament meant to add a bit of variety to the lives of players who tend to only play battle royale. Between now and 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET on March 12, you can jump into a particular Creative map and compete to submit one of the best speedrunning scores in the complex obstacle course.

Being in it to win it isn’t required to earn your free cosmetics, however. For that, you’ll just need to sign up and play at least 30 minutes on the map Synthrace Qualifier. The Creative Code for the map is 7266-3680-0768. After signing up, you’ll immediately earn the Love Reigns emoticon, and after 30 minutes played on the map, you’ll unlock the Mace of Hearts pickaxe.

Ride that synthwave all the way to some Fortnite freebies.

Free Heart’s Desire wrap

But wait, there’s more–as in, more free stuff. Due to recent server outages, Epic is gifting all players a heart-themed wrap so long as they logged in between January 27 and February 3. The Heart’s Desire wrap features a mix of light red and dark red hearts and can be applied to boats and weapons.

All players who logged in between January 27 and February 3 will receive the “Heart’s Desire” wrap for FREE as compensation for the server outages lately! pic.twitter.com/HDPZ4GZhg3

— Shiina (@ShiinaBR) February 8, 2022

This comes unrelated to Creative Mayhem, but we’re grouping it in here because it would go nicely with the other heart-themed items from the live event. Get your Fortnite free stuff while you can!

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Pokemon Legends: Arceus – The Deified Pokemon And How To Catch Arceus

So much of the story in Pokemon Legends: Arceus revolves around the mysterious god-like Pokemon, it’s only natural that the game isn’t truly over until you come face to face with Arceus itself. This represents the end of the second main quest that begins after you’ve wrapped up the main story and seen credits, and it’s such a quest it’s likely to more than double your total playtime. Here’s how to finish the quest The Deified Pokemon and catch your very own Arceus.

Spoilers follow.

A New Day Dawns and The Remaining Plates

Before you can start the final quest, The Deified Pokemon, you have to solve a mystery surrounding the elemental plates you’ve been gathering the whole game. The game will point you in the right direction when you start playing after the credits roll, with the quest called A New Day Dawns. That quest will send you looking for the remaining elemental plates, across a variety of quests. The game mostly guides you along these with clear waypoints and a variety of new boss battles, most encapsulated under a quest called Seeking The Remaining Plates.

This will ultimately result in a lengthy battle with Volo, the toughest battle in the game up to this point. He’ll come at you with level 68 Spiritomb, Roserade, Togekiss, Arcanine, Lucario, and Garchomp. That battle will be tough enough, but then he’ll immediately follow with a two-phase fight against Giratina–first in its crawling form, then in its flying form. There won’t be any break to heal your Pokemon between Volo’s Pokemon and the two phases of Giratina, so it’s essentially a fight against eight Pokemon in all.

You’ll need to bring a strong set of Pokemon to counter this gauntlet. Cresselia, one of the Pokemon you caught while gathering the plates, is invaluable for this fight since it has access to both Psychic and Fairy-type moves. Dialga or Palkia (or both) can also be great additions, for their combination of Water-type moves and Dragon-type to take on Giratina. You may also want to consider bringing the Alpha Blissey you can find near the waterfall in the Obsidian Fieldlands, since its high health and defensive moves can give you a chance to catch your breath and use healing items.

The legendary Pokemon Arceus

Keep in mind that since this is a multi-phase battle, you’ll need to carefully plan out your Strong and Agile moves. Using a Strong move will leave you that much more vulnerable for the next Pokemon Volo sends out, and he’ll usually cater his choices to find ones that are Super Effective against your current Pokemon. Also consider buying the Max Revive recipe and crafting a few so that you can revive fallen Pokemon. The second phase of Giratina will also use a move that obscures your vision, so be prepared to take some hard hits while your own attacks occasionally miss.

Once you’ve completed the fight against Volo, you’ll get the final plate, called the Spooky Plate. More importantly, a cutscene will trigger showing your Celestica Flute turning into the Azure Flute, which has the power to summon Arceus.

But not so fast. When you use the new Azure Flute, you’re given a message on your Arc Phone to “Seek out all Pokemon.” And you know what that means!

Gotta catch ’em all (no really though)

As you may have guessed from the not-subtle hint, you’ll need to capture all the remaining Pokemon before the Azure Flute will summon Arceus. That will mean capturing almost every Pokemon in the game, which is no simple task.

You’ll need 237 Pokemon in all, and it will be the first 237 in the Pokedex. You do not need to capture the four Pokemon that have special unlock conditions: Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, or Shaymin.

Once you’ve captured all 237 Pokemon, you can return to the Temple of Sinnoh and play your Azure Flute to reveal a new path. Once you climb those stairs you can take part in a boss battle against Arceus.

This boss battle will be similar to the Noble Battles. You’ll get a special new Mysterious Balm and you’ll need to dodge its attacks and look for opportunities to toss Balms at it. Once you’ve completed the battle, you’ll capture Arceus, the final Pokemon, and you’ll be given the Legend Plate.

For more about Pokemon Legends: Arceus, check out how to complete The Sea’s Legend quest for Manaphy, how to complete the Red Chain quest, and how to catch Shiny Pokemon. Plus, make sure to read our Pokemon Legends: Arceus review.

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Call Of Duty: Warzone Season 2 Will Bring Bomber Planes And Lots Of Toxic Gas

Activision has released the roadmap for Call of Duty: Warzone‘s upcoming Season 2. The new content will arrive on February 14, featuring limited-time modes, bomber planes, and new tactics revolving around chemical warfare.

Chemical Warfare Tactics

As revealed in the Season 2 cinematic trailer, the Nazis have developed a chemical weapon known as Project Nebula. This Nebula V gas is set to bring a new tactical element to Warzone, with Nebula V being used for new ammo types and very toxic bombs.

Season 2 will introduce the new Nebula V Ammo as a Field Upgrade in Warzone. Activision describes this new ammo as being no stronger than regular bullets, but the bullets will emit a poisonous gas cloud when an operator is downed by them. This will make it harder to revive fallen teammates, as anyone attempting to revive or standing within a few feet of the downed player will face gas exposure. The effects of this exposure include coughing, blurred vision, and a slight amount of damage over time.

Season 2 roadmap

One of the rarest items in Season 2 will be the Nebula V Bomb, which is a locked briefcase full of deadly gas with an explosive charge. Once activated and set down in front of an operator, it will detonate after a fixed countdown and cannot be disarmed or destroyed. The bombs initial explosion will deal a high amount of damage in a small radius, where the gas lingers for two minutes before eventually dispersing.

Players looking to get their hands on one of these new gas bombs should watch for Caldera’s newest vehicle threat. Armored transport trucks will be deployed and carry Nebula V around the island. These steel trucks will move around Caldera on a remotely looping path, attacking players within its immediate vicinity with machine-gun turrets. As a second line of defense, the armored vehicles will drop mines it drops behind it, as well as call in aerial support if they drop to low health. Taking down one of these armored transports sounds like a tough time, but destroying them will drop incredibly valuable items, including the chance to loot a new Nebula V Bomb.

New armored transport trucks

To counter the new gas threats in Caldera, Raven Software is introducing the Portable Decontamination Station, which is a portable device that filtrates air for several seconds. This equipment protects anyone inside from both the gas from the circle collapses or the new Nebula V gas threats. However, the equipment can also be risky to use, as these devices are marked on the map, allowing everyone to see where they are currently activated. Additionally, these portal stations can be destroyed by explosives or ballistics.

More points of interest

The Chemical Factory location

Players will be able to explore new points of interest on Caldera. Keeping with the gas theme, the Chemical Factory and Chemical Weapon Research Labs are being introduced in Season 2. The Chemical Factory is said to have high-quality loot, and there will be seven of the Chemical Weapon Research Labs to explore. One notable change with these new locations is the addition of armed NPCs. Seemingly taking a page from games like Fortnite, these new areas are said to be guarded by squads of soldiers.

New aerial combat

Bomber planes are also arriving to Caldera for the Vanguard-themed playlists, and these new aerial vehicles are going to offer players new ways to be devious on the map. The bomber has an aerial strike capable of taking out players and vehicles. Bombers can also destroy loadout drops. Players looking to protect their loadout drops can destroy the bombers with the standard fighter planes or one of Caldera’s AA Guns.

Limited-time modes

Season 2 will feature two limited-time modes with Caldera Clash and Rebirth Iron Trials.

Caldera Clash is more of a twist on Team Deathmatch, as it pits two teams of up to 48 Operators in a Deathmatch with events and power-ups. Activision says this mode is an evolution of Clash from Verdansk ’84, and it allows players to drop in with their custom loadout. Each kill earns their team a point, with the first team to reach a set number of points, or the team that has the most points when the time limit expires claiming the win. This mode features three power-ups with Contracts, Buy Stations, the Domination Capture and High Value Target events, as well as other features from the original Clash.

Rebirth Iron Trials is set to arrive later in Season 2, which brings Verdansk’s previously introduced “hard mode” to Rebirth Island. This is a duos mode with 20 squads of two, and uses a similar circle collapse size and speed as the previous Iron Trials mode. Activision says this mode is built for the most hardcore members of the community, but players of all skill levels should try this mode if they want a change of pace. Claiming an Iron Trials victory will award a unique animated calling card.

The new features for Season 2 sound like they have the potential to shake up the Warzone. Activision also says Season 2 will include a number of quality-of-life changes to continue to improve the state of the battle royale. Call of Duty’s publisher is currently being acquired by Microsoft, pending regulatory approval, but the deal isn’t expected to go through until later this year.

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