Year 5 of Destiny 2 will bring with it an overhaul to the Void subclasses that players have been using for years. Coinciding with the release of The Witch Queen DLC, what Bungie refers to as “Void 3.0” will be implemented, essentially making it so Void works similarly to how Stasis has operated since it was introduced with the launch of Beyond Light. As part of a new vidoc and accompanying preview event, Bungie has now shared more details on just how Void 3.0 works, including some of the new customization options that will be available.

Like Solar and Arc, Void subclasses have largely been unchanged for years, aside from some balance alterations along the way. Beyond Light’s new Stasis subclass was a dramatic rethinking of how a subclass could work, giving you more things to unlock and more ways to engage with and customize the loadout you’re taking into the field beyond just weapons and armor. Those customizations change your Stasis abilities and unlock new ones, and Void, Arc, and Solar subclasses will all be getting updated to that Stasis style, with Void being the first of the three to get that treatment.

As with Stasis, you’ll earn Aspects and Fragments to customize your subclass–offering more flexibility than the current arrangement, where you’re basically picking from three alterations on the same Super and an accompanying set of melee/ability tweaks with no flexibility. Fortunately, the changeover to this new system won’t involve losing everything you have–any Void grenades or melee attacks you’ve already unlocked will be there for you to use right away.

Based on what we’ve seen so far, Bungie is spreading out Void abilities across the three classes to some degree. If you really want to focus on turning invisible, you’ll still need to be a Hunter, but with Fragments and Aspects, you’ll at least get a little taste of that you-can’t-see-me lifestyle as a Warlock or Titan. Suppressor grenades, too, will be available to everyone if you use the right loadouts.

Bungie’s new vidoc revealed some of the Fragments and Aspects that will be available, although you could be forgiven for missing them–blink and a few likely passed you by. Fragments, which are used to provide buffs (sometimes at a cost), include:

Echo of Exchange – Melee final blows grant grenade energy.Echo of Remnants – Your lingering grenade effects (Vortex Grenade, Void Wall, Void Spike, and Axion Bolt) have increased duration.Echo of Reprisal – Final blows when surrounded by combatants grant Super energy.

We also got a look at Aspects, which are class-modifying customization options, for Warlocks. Those included Chaos Accelerant, which lets you hold to overcharge your grenade; the exact effect varies by type–Axion Bolt gets an additional seeker, Vortex Grenade’s vortex increases in size and lingers for longer, Scatter Grenade’s submunitions track nearby targets, and Magnetic Grenade releases a short-range Void blast. Another, Child of the Old Gods, causes your rift ability to create a Void Soul. Damaging an enemy with your weapon causes the Void Soul to go to the target and both do damage and weaken them. While these enemies are “drained,” you’ll get grenade and melee energy if you have a healing rift equipped or health if you have an empowering rift. If you kill an enemy being drained, you also get class ability energy.

Upgrading your Void subclass will be done by spending new currencies at the Tower; there won’t be a long, drawn-out series of quests in order to start unlocking new options. Beyond that, there’s a fair amount about Void 3.0 we still don’t know. Bungie seems to be deliberately saving some reveals for the launch of The Witch Queen itself, but stay tuned for more as we approach its launch. In the meantime, check out all we’ve learned about Witch Queen’s campaign and Savathun’s throne world, how many Exotics to expect, and how crafting works.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

Lost Ark’s head start period is supposed to be live now, but as pointed out by both players and the official Lost Ark Twitter account, that’s not exactly the case.

Players who have purchased one of the game’s Founder’s Packs on Steam are supposed to get a three-day head start ahead of the game’s official, free-to-play launch on February 11. But it seems there’s currently an issue with being able to download the game, with users getting “connection time out” errors. GameSpot has independently confirmed the issue, which seems to occur even if you’ve pre-installed the game prior to the head start launch.

Thank you for the reports regarding game downloads timing on Steam.
Steam is aware of it and is actively looking into the issue and we will update players as soon as we have additional information.

— Lost Ark (@playlostark) February 8, 2022

The official Lost Ark Twitter has confirmed the issue and is working with Steam to resolve the problem. The account will offer updates as they become available.

In the meantime, players on the game’s subreddit are not taking the launch woes well.

The game is currently doing huge numbers on Twitch, as player are patiently waiting for the chance to log in and play. Amazon is celebrating Lost Ark’s launch in a number of ways, including a Twitch competition where streamers are competing to conquer the game’s challenges and unlock in-game rewards for their viewers.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

Apex Legends Year 3 has come to an end, with Year 4 kicking off with Season 12: Defiance. Year 3 introduced Apex Legends’ strongest roster of playable characters to date–not in terms of in-match balance or storytelling, but in regards to the chaotic and joyful fun they brought to the Apex Games. Say what you will about Fuse, Valkyrie, Seer, and Ash, but those four embody the best part of Titanfall 2‘s legacy, in that a first-person shooter doesn’t have to make practical sense on paper in order to be really fun.

When developer Respawn releases new playable characters for Apex Legends, they traditionally contribute three things to the game: a new story, a new change to the meta, and a new way to have fun. Every legend has done this, though most focus on one of the three areas upon their release.

Season 5’s Loba, for example, changes the meta in creating a safe way to acquire loot, and also introduces a new way to have fun in easily locating high-tier loot and stealing it away before other players can grab it for themselves. But she was (and largely continues to be) principally a vessel for story–her addition was heavily tied to Revenant’s backstory, leading to the introduction of interaction quips and Apex Legends’ first and best Quest, The Broken Ghost. And her relationship/love triangle with Bangalore and Valkyrie has been one of the dominant story threads throughout Year 3.

None of which is a bad thing–that’s just who Loba is. Of the three pillars that Apex Legends’ characters traditionally embody, she’s primarily a new avenue for Respawn to tell more story, not drastically shake up the game’s meta or add fun in a new and unforeseen way.

In our recap of Apex Legends Year 1, we dove into the introduction of Octane, Wattson, and Crypto. It was a year with characters principally geared toward attempting to shake up the meta, especially in regards to Wattson and Crypto. The next year, we talked about Apex Legends’ transformative Year 2, which added Revenant, Loba, Rampart, and Horizon. It was a year when Respawn was exploring intriguing ways to tell stories in a constantly evolving service game, best seen in Revenant and Loba’s introductions and storylines. We got a bit of that with Rampart and Horizon too, but those two legends are largely designed around affecting the in-match meta.

Year 3 was a drastic shift in comparison to Apex Legends’ first two years. Its four characters impacted the meta in several ways and have introduced new avenues for more stories. But most of them are principally geared towards finding new ways to have fun in a battle royale game.

Season 8: Mayhem added Walter “Fuse” Fitzroy, a character who’s all about throwing as many grenades as fast as you can as often as you can. On paper, he’s absurd for what Apex Legends is–a game where mastering the gunplay is the most important aspect for achieving victory. Someone who picks Fuse can easily carry half a dozen grenades and toss them with near pinpoint accuracy in a matter of seconds. As I’m typing it out, the idea of a character in a battle royale being able to do that sounds bad for the overall balance of the game. It doesn’t make any sense. And yet, Fuse isn’t overpowered–his abilities aren’t strong enough to get him to the top of many tier lists, and he isn’t often used in high-tiered Ranked matches and competitive play. He is really fun to play, though.

You can say similar things about the other legends added in Year 3. Season 9: Legacy added Kairi “Valkyrie” Imahara, a character who can fly–a ludicrous-sounding benefit for a battle royale game where everyone else is regularly limited to fighting on the ground. Season 10: Emergence introduced Obi “Seer” Edolasim, a character who can see enemies through walls via the sound of their heartbeat whenever he wants. And finally, Season 11: Escape brought Dr. Ashleigh “Ash” Reid to the Apex Games, a dangerous simulacrum who can pin targets in place, teleport, and see where firefights are happening anywhere on the map.

Like Fuse, all of these characters sound overpowered. And a few, like Seer and Valkyrie, initially were, prior to mid-season nerfs to their abilities. But these characters largely only feel powerful–in comparison to legends like Wraith, Gibraltar, Pathfinder, Octane, Caustic, or Bloodhound, they aren’t all that strong. What they can do is “cheating,” or at least feels like it should be, but Respawn has done a damn good job of balancing these legends so that they’re not game-breakingly powerful.

As examples, Fuse’s penchant for blowing stuff up is as much a danger to himself as others when he’s fighting indoors. And as quickly as Valkyrie can take to the sky, she’s limited in how she can fight once airborne. Seer, meanwhile, has some of the flashiest abilities in the game, advertising his position for all to see when he uses them. And despite the overwhelming power of Ash’s abilities, she largely needs to rely on others in order to fully act on them, limiting her utility as a solo act. So despite all four feeling very powerful in a given moment, they all possess limitations that prevent them from being unstoppable in every moment. Those instances of strength, however, happen enough to ensure all four characters are fun to use for an entire match.

Because even if he’s not an S-tier legend, it’s hilarious to drop an absolutely bonkers number of explosives on an unsuspecting enemy as Fuse. It’s satisfying to fly over a bottomless pit on Olympus as Valkyrie, circumnavigating an enemy’s well-placed defenses and easily taking a path that would require quite a bit of skill with a different character. It feels like you’re a dangerous predator when you follow the bleeding heartbeats of enemy squads to their hiding place as Seer, only to destroy them while they’re trying to heal. And snaring a foe as Ash is an incredible feeling–almost as good as correctly predicting where your squad is corralling an enemy and teleporting ahead to give your wounded prey a nasty surprise.

Those sensations are what made Titanfall 2 such a superb game. On paper, having a pistol that can lock onto multiple enemies sounds like cheating, the ability to temporarily phase into an alternate dimension sounds absolutely ridiculous, rewinding your place in time can’t possibly be fair, and calling down a ginormous mech should be something that makes you absolutely unstoppable in the confines of a first-person shooter. But none of that is true. All of these mechanics are incredibly fun and deliver on the sensation of making you stronger and more skilled than everyone else, even if that’s not always the case.

So despite it being a year when it felt like Apex Legends’ three Quest storylines didn’t hit all that well (Season 8’s Armageddon and Season 9’s The Legacy Antigen were alright, but Season 11’s Trouble in Paradise ended on a deeply unsatisfying note), we got a mediocre Switch port, and there was a noticeable lack of interesting limited-time modes, I ultimately loved Year 3. It’s been my favorite year of playing the battle royale game because of how well it represented the legacy of Titanfall 2.

No character embodies that legacy more than Valkyrie (which is maybe why she was added during the season that was aptly named “Legacy”). Valkyrie is the best of the post-release characters to be added to Apex Legends, and I’m not just saying that because she’s my favorite to use and is voiced by the immensely talented actor Erika Ishii (Halo Infinite’s Lumu, Deathloop’s Dr. Wenjie Evans, and Destiny 2’s newer Ana Bray). But the winged avenger is a character seemingly designed first and foremost around a very simple but fun concept (in this case, flying) and making it a reality. Though Valkyrie has a strong connection to Titanfall 2’s Viper (she’s his daughter), she hasn’t added much to Apex Legends’ current-day storyline besides being the third point in Loba’s love triangle. And even though she does influence the meta by helping her allies redeploy and move about the map, it’s not so game-changing that it transformed how players needed to think about the game. Valkyrie’s whole identity is tied to the notion that flying is cool, so being able to fly in a battle royale game should be fun.

And that’s all Valkyrie is–she is simply a character who is fun to play. The idea of being able to effortlessly take off into the sky and then unleash a swarm of missiles at the press of a button sounds more exciting than, say, setting up slow-to-deploy cover as Season 6’s Rampart. Though, to be fair, no character sounds as fun to play as Valkyrie on paper. That’s why she’s one of Apex Legends’ best characters: She sounds cool to play, and then when you actually do, you realize she’s as cool as she sounds. Couple that feeling with her incredible personality–she’s constantly teasing the other legends for choosing to fight on the ground, confidently flirting, offering a playful wink at the enemies she curb stomps into the dirt, and smugly declaring that the skies belong to her–and you have a character who’s regularly reminding you that you’re as cool as the abilities you possess, even if they aren’t game-changing. And that’s all that Titanfall 2 was, just match after match reminding you that Pilots are the coolest soldiers ever. (Especially in its best mode, Live Fire. Gosh, remember Live Fire? No need to make Titanfall 3, Respawn. Just slowly transform Arenas into a Live Fire copy-and-paste and I’ll be happy.)

Now, compare Valkyrie to Wattson, a character added to Apex Legends in Year 1. Over the latter half of Year 2 and most of Year 3, players have been clamoring for Wattson to get a buff to her kit, which she finally got in Season 11. Here’s the thing: Wattson didn’t need a buff. Despite what players said about her, Wattson ranked highly among Apex Legends’ roster with a killer win-rate. And that makes sense, given her ability to lock down a zone and negate many legends’ abilities. But Wattson never feels strong. It’s not cool to create an electrified fence and see nobody fall victim to it, even if a far-off, unseen team purposely avoided attacking your squad upon spotting the fence and decided it was too much of a hassle to deal with. And it doesn’t feel especially rewarding to place an Interception Pylon to stop incoming grenades and then see an enemy squad shoot the pylon down, even though that means said squad just wasted ammo and is possibly now a sitting duck as they reload. Wattson has unseen power that has permanently shaped Apex Legends’ meta in that it’s now necessary to always have a strategy on hand to quickly bust a bunker–she’s really good (and was made even better in Year 3), but she’s not necessarily fun to play because her ability kit isn’t impactful towards your squad’s success in as obvious a way as that of other legends.

There’s a lot more about Apex Legends Year 3 that I could get into in this recap–like how the 30-30 Repeater, Bocek Compound Bow, Rampage LMG, and CAR SMG likely showcase the new direction for Apex Legends’ firearms; how the Season 9 adjustments to characters’ starting armor kit made for an altogether better battle royale; how Arenas‘ steep skill-ceiling makes the case that Apex Legends needs a permanent mode that’s more approachable for new players; or how Season 11’s Storm Point reveals the dos and don’ts that need to be followed when finalizing the new map for Apex Legends Year 4. But those takeaways seem small in comparison to how Year 3 acted as a reminder that Respawn is capable of taking outlandish concepts that sound overpowered and unfair, and finding a way to make them feel balanced so that players can still enjoy the fun aspects of those ideas.

It’s a sentiment that Respawn seems to be holding onto as it heads into Year 4. Season 12 adds Margaret “Mad Maggie” Kōhere, an “aggressive playmaker” who is enjoyably chaotic to play on account of her preposterous-sounding abilities, like damaging enemies through walls or tossing out a wrecking ball that both stuns enemies and leaves behind speed boosts for Maggie. In the same way Year 3’s legends are all a joy to play, Season 12’s new character puts priority on bringing the fun. (Though, admittedly, Mad Maggie might end up being known as more of a meta-changing legend when all is said and done, given how her tactical ability offers such a clear counter to defensive legends like Gibraltar.)

I don’t want Respawn to abandon the other two pillars of its characters when designing who we’ll see in Year 4. Adding primarily story-driven characters (like Loba) is important for exploring new avenues of delivering the game’s narrative, while introducing characters that are principally geared towards reshaping the meta in some way (like Wattson) ensures the overall gameplay doesn’t grow stale (and I still hold that Apex Legends needs a new support character for that very reason). I just hope Respawn knows a new character doesn’t always need a huge narrative moment or in-match balancing reason to justify their addition–as Year 3 has shown, that stuff can come later if you have an idea for a character that’s just a fun concept to play, and little else.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

After years of only being playable in regions like Asia and Russia, Smilegate RPG’s Lost Ark is finally available in North America and Europe courtesy of Amazon. The free-to-play, top-down MMORPG is filled to the brim with things to see and do, and if you’re diving in for the first time with no prior knowledge, the world of Arkesia can be more than a little intimidating.

The good news is that much of Lost Ark is only complicated at first glance. Spend some time with the game and its various systems and before long things will start to fall into place. Many of the different activities and much of the optional content can be safely ignored (or at least put off until reaching the endgame), meaning new players can simply pick their class of choice and quickly embark on the game’s main story quest to find the titular lost ark. Here’s a few tips to keep in mind over the course of the game’s first two dozen hours as you work your way towards max level and Lost Ark’s endgame content.

Don’t Skip the Prologue (At Least On Your First Character)

If you are brand new to Lost Ark and have just made your first character, don’t skip the prologue. It will introduce a number of Lost Ark’s basic systems while also laying the groundwork for the game’s core story. While action-RPG players will no doubt be familiar with many of the gameplay elements Lost Ark introduces here, it’s still worth doing, especially since it only lasts about 30 minutes. That being said, feel free to skip it on subsequent characters.

Focus On The Main Quest And Sudden Quests To Level Efficiently

Lost Ark is filled with various side quests and other activities that you could spend dozens upon dozens of hours completing should your heart desire. But if you’re just looking to experience the story while also hitting max level and reaching the endgame in a reasonable amount of time, stick to the Main Quest. This will be designated by an orange, arrow-like icon prior to unlocking your boat. From there, the Main Quest turns into World Quest (designated by a blue globe icon), which you’ll need to pursue to continue the story.

While focusing on the Main Quest should be your primary objective, occasionally while you’re running around the world you’ll see a new quest appear on your screen denoted by a red exclamation mark. These are Sudden Quests, and are a great way to earn some additional XP and rewards without having to go out of your way. Be sure to do these when they appear along the route you’re already taking to the next Main Quest objective. Of course, feel free to pick up side quests (called General Quests in Lost Ark) whenever it strikes you. While it may slow down your overall leveling speed, more rewards and progress towards both your Roster (account level) and account-wide Adventure Tome can’t hurt.

Claim Your Roster And Adventure Tome Rewards

The Adventure Tome is a great source for items like potions.

As you play, you’ll notice you actually have two experience bars that are going up. One is your Combat level, which is essentially your character level. The other purple bar is your Roster level, which is an account-wide level that goes up as you accomplish tasks and complete quests. You’ll also eventually unlock the Adventure Tome, which is another account-wide system that keeps track of your progress throughout the world.

Make sure you check in on these every now and then. Every time your Roster level increases, you’ll be able to claim rewards in the form of account-wide stat boosts. In the Adventure Tome, hitting certain levels of completion in each of the game’s various continents also grants rewards, like consumable items, cards, and more. Make sure to claim these rewards as you’re working your way through the game to keep your character up to snuff.

Be Sure To Spend Your Skill Points (And Feel Free To Experiment)

One of the best aspects of Lost Ark is the freedom to modify your various class skills via the game’s Tripod system. Every time you level up, you’ll get skill points which can be invested to make your various skills stronger. At certain thresholds, these skills can also be augmented in a number of different ways, such as changing the skill’s elemental damage type or causing the skill to grant additional buffs on use. Make sure to spend these skill points as you get them, as they’ll significantly boost your character’s power. There’s also no downside whatsoever to doing so. Lost Ark allows you to refund skill points and try out different skill augmentations at any time, meaning you never have to feel locked into a particular skill or playstyle. Experiment and see what skills and modifiers work for you, and make sure to test out new skills as you acquire them to see if one of them might be a new favorite.

Customize Your UI And Hotkeys

As with any MMO, there are a lot of skills and items you’ll be using over the course of your adventure, each which can be hotkeyed onto one of the game’s various hotbars. While Lost Ark’s default keybinds will get the job done, feel free to change your various hotkeys to whatever is more comfortable for you. Changing whatever key your mount is on to something easily accessible, for example, can be a life changer, and you’ll want to make sure your potions and other consumable items are also easily accessible in the heat of battle.

You can also customize the UI in various ways. By default, the game’s map occupies the middle of the screen. While helpful, it can get in the way at times. Using the middle mouse button, you can actually drag the map anywhere you want, like to the upper left part of the screen, where it can be left up at all times should you choose and will be significantly less obstructive. You can also adjust the map’s transparency, make adjustments to the game’s chat window, hide parts of the UI entirely, and more, so don’t be afraid to spend a little time getting your interface and hotkeys just the way you like it.

Claim Your Free Pet, It’s Actually Essential

This bunny is very important.

Early on in your Lost Ark adventure as you’re questing through the Pridehome area, you’ll be able to complete a Guide Quest explaining the game’s pet system. While this might seem like something that is skippable at first glance, you absolutely need to complete this quest. Unlike in some other MMOs where pets are cosmetic only, pets in Lost Ark actually have some essential functions. First and foremost, they will pick up loot for you automatically and add it to your inventory, without you needing to do a thing. Pets also grant various passive bonuses, such as increasing your character’s max HP, attack power, and more. For players who have a Crystalline Aura activated (which is essentially Lost Ark’s premium subscription system), pets have even more uses.

So why is this particular quest so important to complete? Pets normally must be bought in Lost Ark’s premium store or earned through various in-game events. This introductory Guide Quest actually grants you a free pet, making it your only free, early-game option for taking advantage of the various benefits pets offer.

Pay Attention To Your Combat Skill Types And Effects

Combat is one of Lost Ark’s strong suits, offering frantic action combat against both massive bosses and huge swarms of enemies. While you can mash your way through most of the leveling process without truly understanding some of Lost Ark’s deeper combat systems, you’ll need to know the difference between different skill types and skill effects like Stagger and Counter work to survive the endgame.

Skills come in a few different types in Lost Ark. Normal skills are pretty self explanatory–you press a button, and the skill happens. More complicated are Charge, Hold, Point, and Combo skills. Charge skills require players to, well, charge the skill for a certain amount of time. Hold skills can be held for longer periods of time, with the skill persisting until the skill key is let go. Combo skills allow for multiple presses of the skill key in a set time window. Finally, Point skills require players to target an area by pointing with the mouse.

Knowing the difference between the various skill types will help you choose which skills you prefer. Understanding skills effects are just as important to emerging victorious in Lost Ark’s combat. Large enemies, like bosses, will have a purple Stagger gauge underneath their health. Depleting this gauge will cause the boss to be stunned, leaving them open to attack. Certain skills deal varying amounts of Stagger damage, so it’s essential to know which of your skills deal Stagger damage to come out ahead. In addition, some skills benefit from being cast in front of enemies, while other skills offer bonuses for being cast behind enemies. Some skills can even be used to counter stronger enemies charging up powerful attacks (counterable attacks are shown as blue instead of red). To learn what types of effects any given skill has, simply hover over the skill with your mouse to reveal a tooltip. Master these elements of combat, and you’ll have no problem reaching Lost Ark’s endgame.

Keep An Eye Out For Mokoko Seeds

There are way too many of these.

Throughout the world of Lost Ark are numerous collectibles players can discover and acquire. The most prominent of these are Mokoko Seeds, which are little green seeds which can be found in nearly every one of the game’s environments, including dungeons. While these aren’t super important in the early game, finding them does grant you some Roster experience, which is nice. Considering there are literally over a thousand of these, you’re not likely to find them all while leveling. That’s perfectly okay. Some are painfully obvious to find while others are extremely well hidden. Just keep an eye out, find the ones you can, and move along.

Be Stingy With Your Consumables

Not all consumables are created equal in Lost Ark. While at first you’ll be swimming in various potions and bombs, later on you’ll either need to craft or purchase these important items should you run out. It’s worth taking a closer look at your various healing potions in particular. While some potions heal a flat amount HP, others heal a percentage of your character’s total HP. As a result, these latter potions are significantly stronger and scale better at higher levels, meaning it’s best to avoid using them if you don’t have to. You’ll also want to save some of the various bombs and other useful consumables for higher-level content. Since the game automatically equips new consumables to your action bar as you acquire them, always take a moment to remove them and put your more valuable consumables into storage so you don’t accidentally use them.

Take Some Time To Level Life Skills And Invest In Your Stronghold

Taking time to keep your Life Skills leveled up will mean less backtracking later.

At a certain point in your leveling journey, you’ll unlock both your island Stronghold and Life Skills (Lost Ark’s version of professions.) These two systems go hand in hand, and you would be wise not to neglect them. The Stronghold can be customized and upgraded and is where you’ll be able to craft various consumables and items that will aid you in your quest. To get these upgrades rolling and also the required materials needed to craft helpful items, you’ll need to level up your Life Skills like archeology, fishing, herbalism, logging, hunting, and mining.

Right as you start to unlock your Life Skills, you may notice a Life Skill vendor who sells various tools you’ll need to practice skills like herbalism, mining, and others. Ignore this vendor. You can get a free set of tools by completing an associated Life Skills Guide Quest, so steer clear and save your silver.

Once you have your tools in hand, make sure to occasionally level up your Life Skills by gathering various resources as you travel through Arkesia. You don’t need to go after every resource node you see, but making sure to at least put some effort into your Life Skills will mean you don’t have to backtrack later if you find yourself in an area where you are unable to gather resources because your associated skills are too low.

Make Use Of Your Teleports

There are a few ways to get around in Lost Ark. Aside from using your boat to travel between continents, and of course, traveling around on foot, there’s actually two main ways you can teleport around Arkesia. The first you’ll have access to is the Triports. These are essentially waypoints scattered throughout the world you can fast travel to, so make sure to unlock them as you come across them. While it’s not made entirely clear in-game, you can teleport to these waypoints at any time using the game’s map (for a small fee). However, you can only use Triports on the same continent you are currently on.

The other main teleportation system is the Bifrost. This works like an instant recall, similar to a hearthstone in World of Warcraft. You can set this to specific locations and then use it to teleport instantly, even across continents, once you gain access to it later on in your adventure. You can have one Bifrost set for free, but those who have a Crystalline Aura get two additional Bifrosts.

Don’t Be Overwhelmed

Lost Ark is a tried-and-true MMORPG, with special emphasis on the massive. There are thousands of collectables to find, a huge number of areas to explore, and numerous in-depth systems like NPC Rapport, Strongholds, the Adventure Tome, and more. Taken all together, it can definitely be intimidating. But if you’re just getting started, know that many of these systems don’t truly come into play until the endgame, and even then some are varying degrees of optional. In the first few dozen hours, instead of stressing about how many Mokoko Seeds you still have to find, focus on mastering your class, experiencing the story, and having fun. The rest can come later.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

We’ve already gotten a look at a number of Exotic weapons and armor coming to Destiny 2 as part of The Witch Queen DLC, but that’s not all that’s on the way. As you’d expect, Bungie has several more Exotics awaiting fans, although the specifics regarding those will remain under wraps for the time being.

As part of the new Witch Queen vidoc, Bungie revealed that a total of 14 Exotics will be coming to the game. That includes eight weapons, plus six pieces of armor, split evenly across Titans, Warlocks, and Hunters, with one Stasis and one non-Stasis piece for each. Details on the mystery Exotics were not shared, including exactly when we’ll see them all, but we at least now have some sense for what to expect.

To date, Bungie has revealed six of the weapons. That includes the three class-specific Glaives, the new melee weapon type being introduced–Edge of Action for Titans, Edge of Intent for Warlocks, and Edge of Concurrence for Hunters. We’ve also seen Grand Overture (the slug launcher), Parasite (the ridiculous, worm-firing grenade launcher), and Osteo Striga (the submachine gun that takes after guns such as Thorn). In terms of armor, we’ve seen Titans’ Hoarfrost-Z chest (replaces barricades with a Stasis wall), Warlocks’ Osmiomancy gloves (augments Coldsnap grenades), and Hunters’ Blight Ranger helmet (increases the damage of projectiles reflected with Arcstrider). That leaves two Exotic weapons and three pieces of armor that Bungie has not yet detailed.

The Witch Queen launches on February 22, kicking off Year 5 for Destiny 2. Separately from the vidoc, Bungie recently provided us with a more in-depth look at the new DLC, including how the story campaign and Savathun’s throne world work and details on weapon crafting. We also know Season of the Risen is the name of Season 13, which will begin alongside the new expansion.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

The Fortnite February 8 patch is now live, and though it’s a short one, it packs a good punch. The update brings the Machine Pistol back to Fortnite, which will immediately compete for space for your loadout–if you like its abilities, that is. Here’s what you need to know about the returning fan-favorite weapon.

Fortnite Machine Pistol

The Fortnite Machine Pistol is back for the first time in years. It was just the second gun in Fortnite to ever be vaulted–after the storied Zapatron disappeared permanently–but today, it’s finally back after some teases and knockoffs, like the Makeshift SMG in Chapter 2, Season 6.

The Machine Pistol doubles down on the SMG-heavy season.

The Machine Pistol is deadliest up close, with a high firing rate and extended magazine. It’s also said to be effective at longer range too, provided you wield it responsibly with shorter bursts of fire. The gun is now available and can be found in all manner of loot drops, including normal chests, rare chests, supply drops, or even as basic floor loot. You can also find it while fishing or from a defeated shark.

The Machine Pistol likely joins the Stinger SMG as the most popular close-range guns in Season 1 of Chapter 3, seeing as how many players find shotguns to be underpowered this season. This change seems to have been intentionally made by Epic, as the developer has not buffed the weapons despite the shift in the game’s meta.

Will you be slotting the Machine Pistol into your inventory? For more on Fortnite, don’t miss our guide on all Haven Masks, or check out our weekly lore deep dive, Friday ‘Nite.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

The launch of GTA: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition in 2021 did not get off to a great start, with many bugs and other issues impacting the game. Many of the problems have been patched, and the game overall has done great business for Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive.

The company said in its latest earnings release that the title “significantly” exceeded the company’s commercial expectations. Take-Two did not disclose what its expectations were, nor did it divulge an official sales number. But VGC crunched some numbers and believes the game might have sold around 10 million copies.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick frankly acknowledged that the game had “some quality issues.”

“I think we were all a bit disappointed about the quality initially. We’re very grateful that most of those issues have been addressed. There’s more work to be done,” Zelnick said to GI.biz.

During an earnings call, Zelnick said Take-Two as a company has had “precious few quality lapses,” with The Trilogy being one of them. However, Zelnick said he believes this was an “isolated case, and we aim to keep it that way.”

A physical version of The Trilogy is coming to Nintendo Switch on February 11, while an edition for iOS and Android is scheduled to arrive in the first half of 2022, so the game stands to grow even bigger still.

A previous report said Rockstar might release a remaster of Red Dead Redemption if The Trilogy performed well. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, however.

In other news, GTA V has now sold 160 million copies, while a new edition of the game is headed to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S in March. Additionally, GTA 6 is in development.

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The official video game of the US Army, used in part for recruiting efforts, is coming to a close. America’s Army: Proving Grounds will shut down on May 5, after eight years of ongoing support, the Army has announced in a post on the game’s forums.

In its announcement, the Army said the free-to-play game was the first large-scale use of video game technology for recruitment and communication when it launched years ago. The franchise has three main installments and reached more than 20 million players; the latest version, Proving Grounds, was released in 2013.

But the game has now “fulfilled its mission” and is winding down. Going forward, the Army said it will shift its focus to “other new and innovative ways” to communicate and recruit would-be soldiers.

“None of this would have been possible without our players, so thank you for your dedication and continued support throughout these years,” the Army said. “We look forward to what the future could hold for AA, and encourage you to stay tuned for future announcements on the series.”

America’s Army is available on PS4 and PC through Steam, but not Xbox. On May 5, official servers for the game will be shut down, ending all online services. The game will be removed from PSN that day, and online play and player stats will be unavailable; offline features will still be supported. On Steam, official servers are closing, though anyone who owns a private server or the Mission Editor can keep playing after the end-date. Offline features for the Steam edition will also be supported.

Additionally, the America’s Army website is closing, so players won’t be able to log in, check their stats, or access other content.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

NVIDIA’s year-and-a-half long effort to acquire Arm has come to an end this morning, as NVIDIA and Arm owner SoftBank have announced that the two companies are officially calling off the acquisition. Citing the current lack of regulatory approval of the deal and the multiple investigations that have been opened up into it, NVIDIA and SoftBank are giving up on their acquisition efforts, as the two firms no longer believe it will be possible to receive the necessary regulatory approvals needed to close the deal. In lieu of being able to sell Arm to NVIDIA (or seemingly anyone else), SoftBank is announcing that they will instead be taking Arm public.

First announced back in September of 2020, SoftBank and NVIDIA unveiled what was at the time a $40 billion deal to have NVIDIA acquire the widely popular IP firm. And though the two companies expected some regulatory headwind given the size of the deal and the importance of Arm’s IP to the broader technology ecosystem – Arm’s IP is in many chips in one form or another – SoftBank and NVIDIA still expected to eventually win regulatory approval.

However, after 17 months, it has become increasingly clear that government regulators were not apt to approve the deal. Even with concessions being made by NVIDIA, European Union regulators ended up opening an investigation into the acquisition, Chinese regulators have held off on approving the deal, and US regulators moved to outright block it. Concerns raised by regulators centered around NVIDIA gaining an unfair advantage over other companies who use Arm’s IP, both by controlling the direction of its development and by their position affording NVIDIA unique access to insights about what products Arm customers were developing – some of which would include products being designed to compete with NVIDIA’s own wares. Ultimately, regulators have shown a strong interest in retaining a competitive landscape for chips, with the belief that such a landscape wouldn’t be possible if Arm was owned by a chip designer such as NVIDIA.

As a result of these regulatory hurdles, NVIDIA and SoftBank have formally called off the acquisition, and the situation between the two companies is effectively returning to status quo. According to NVIDIA, the company will be retaining its 20 year Arm license, which will allow the company to continue developing and selling chips based around Arm IP and the Arm CPU architecture. Meanwhile SoftBank has received a $1.25 billion breakup fee from NVIDIA as a contractual consequence of the acquisition not going through.

In lieu of selling Arm to NVIDIA, SoftBank is now going to be preparing to take Arm public. According to the investment group, they are intending to IPO the company by the end of their next fiscal year, which ends on March 23rd of 2023 – essentially giving SoftBank a bit over a year to get the IPO organized. Meanwhile, according to Reuters, SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son has indicated that the IPO will take place in the United States, most likely on the Nasdaq.

Once that IPO is completed, it will mark the second time that Arm has been a public company. Arm was a publicly-held company prior to the SoftBank acquisition in 2016, when SoftBank purchased the company for roughly $32 billion. And while it’s still too early to tell what Arm will be valued at a second time around, it goes without saying that SoftBank would like to turn a profit on the deal, which is why NVIDIA’s $40 billion offer was so enticing. Still, even with the popularity and ubiquity of Arm’s IP across the technology ecosystem, it’s not clear at this time whether SoftBank will be able to get something close to what they spent on Arm, in which case the investment firm is likely to end up taking a loss on the Arm acquisition.

Finally, the cancellation of the acquisition is also bringing some important changes to Arm itself. Simon Segars, Arm’s long-time CEO and major proponent of the acquisition, has stepped down from his position effective immediately. In his place, the Arm board of directors has already met and appointed Arm insider Rene Haas to the CEO position. Haas has been with Arm since 2013, and he has been president of the Arm IP Products Group since 2017.

Arm’s news release doesn’t offer any official insight into why Arm is changing CEOs at such a pivotal time. But with the collapse of the acquisition, Arm and SoftBank may be looking for a different kind of leader to take the company public over the next year.

Sources: NVIDIA, Arm

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The New York Times’ iconic crossword seemed set to stoke nerd rivalries on Sunday when its central theme clue asked players to name “the better of two sci-fi franchises” with the first word “STAR.” In a tricky bit of wordplay, however, the puzzle and its surrounding word clues work no matter whether you choose to insert “STAR WARS” or “STAR TREK.”

The clever crossword was pointed out by Twitter user @matttomic, who posted a screenshot of the crossword’s central theme set with both “WARS” and “TREK” filled in.

Fun little trick in the Sunday New York Times crossword yesterday: the central theme clue was “The better of two sci-fi franchises”, and regardless of whether you put Star Wars or Star Trek, the crossing clues worked pic.twitter.com/NS4LDxwxxl

— ℳatt (@matttomic) February 7, 2022

The clever wordplay didn’t stop with the central grid. As another Twitter user pointed out, a number of other clues in the crossword relied on puzzlers knowing that the clue in 70-across referred to both Star Wars and Star Trek.

A number of matched puzzles elsewhere in the grid asked for answers from both franchises–for example “major role” at both 38-across and 99-across required players to know both “HAN SOLO” and “MR SPOCK.” Other themed clues asked for the franchises’ “good side,” and a “memorable quote.”

The nerd-themed crossword was designed by Stephen McCarthy, who said in his constructor’s notes that “I am a fan of both ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Star Trek,’ so it’s nice to be able to highlight both (not to mention the friendly rivalry between the two fandoms) in one puzzle.” As you might expect, McCarthy said that fitting both WARS and TREK into the same part of the puzzle was the most difficult part of constructing the crossword, while also adding that he tried to make the grid as a whole look a little like a spiral galaxy.

While known for its witty crosswords, the New York Times has just acquired another popular word game, Wordle, which has recently taken social media by storm in its free-to-play form. While the game’s creator Josh Wardle has said the game will “initially” remain free-to-play, it’s expected that Wordle will eventually come under the NYT’s subscription model.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News