At Computex 2022 in Taipei, Taiwan, ASRock has lifted the lid on a few of its X670E motherboards designed for AMD’s upcoming Ryzen 7000 series of processors. The first two of ASRock’s socket AM5 motherboards include the X670E Taichi and the special edition X670E Taichi Cararra. While both X670E Taichi boards are aesthetically different, the two share the same core feature set, including support for PCIe 5.0, DDR5 memory, and dual Thunderbolt 4-enabled USB Type-C ports on the rear panel.

The ASRock Taichi series is one of the most popular and premium models in its line-up. For years, the Taichi aesthetic has brought cogwheels to the design, and the Z590 Taichi for Intel’s 11th Gen Core series even included a motorized cogwheel integrated into the rear panel cover.

The only difference between the ASRock X670E Taichi and the X670E Taichi Cararra is the design. The regular X670E Taichi has a primarily black finish with a bronze-looking trim on the left-hand side of the board, with RGB LEDs built into the chipset heatsink.


ASRock X670E Taichi (left) and X670E Taichi Cararra (right) motherboards

The X670E Taichi Cararra is based on Cararra Marble from Italy, which is white in color and was used for many years in ancient Roman architecture due to its elegance and strength. It is designed to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ASRock, and ASRock hasn’t specified if the Cararra edition will be limited in numbers like its Aqua series or if it will cost more than the regular X670E Taichi.

In terms of features, both ASRock X670E Taichi models boast an advertised 26-phase power delivery, which is mightily impressive. Other features include support for DDR5 memory, dual full-length PCIe 5.0 slots (x16, x8/x8), and one PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slot, three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, and eight SATA ports.

A Realtek ALC4082 HD audio codec and ESS Sabre ES9218 DAC power the onboard audio solution on the rear panel, while a Killer E3100G 2.5 GbE controller and Killer AX1675 Wi-Fi 6E provide solid networking connectivity. Regarding connectivity, ASRock includes dual Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports, five USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, and three USB 3.2 G1 Type-A ports.

At present, ASRock hasn’t revealed pricing on the X670E Taichi and X670E Taichi Cararra Edition motherboards, but we expect to find out more closer to the launch of AMD’s Ryzen 7000 processors expected in the fall.

Source: ASRock

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Activision has announced a new in-game charity campaign for Call of Duty: Warzone, calling on players to run 100 virtual kilometers to earn a $1 million donation from Activision Blizzard to the Call of Duty Endowment.

The event–which is called Call of Duty Veteruns–starts May 26 and runs through June 3 inside Call of Duty: Warzone. As part of the effort, Activision Blizzard will donate $1 for every 10 virtual kilometers run on foot in Warzone, with a cap of $10 per player and $1 million in total.

In addition to helping to raise money for the Endowment, which helps place soldiers in new careers after the military, players will get in-game calling cards. Players will receive a rare bronze card for hitting 25 kms; an epic silver card for 50 kms; and a legendary cold card for 100 kms.

Players can also sign up to put their name into the online leaderboard to see how they stack up against others in the event. Additionally, players can tweet at @CallofDuty with their gamertag and the hashtag #CODVeteruns100K to see their stats pertaining to total number of kms run and funds donated.

Activision Blizzard said it’s running this campaign to celebrate the recent milestone of placing 100,000 veterans into new jobs, ahead of the charity’s timeline for reaching that number. As announced previously, Activision Blizzard is donating a further $30 million in funding to the Endowment, spread over the next five years.

The Endowment is funded also in part by fans who buy digital content for Activision’s games. In 2021, Treyarch released a DLC pack inspired by former Army medic Tim Hobbs for Black Ops Cold War, with proceeds going in part to the Endowment. There was also the Revival Challenge in Call of Duty Warzone for Military Appreciation Month that raised money for the Endowment.

It is not immediately clear what impact, if any, Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard could have on the Endowment. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.

As for the Call of Duty series, Infinity Ward will release Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on October 28, and PlayStation users will get first access to a multiplayer test.

Activision Blizzard has come under pressure and scrutiny lately for its workplace culture, as well as controversies surrounding its top boss, Bobby Kotick, who is accused of knowing about and covering up instances of sexual harassment and abuse.

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Publisher Rogue Games and the developer behind Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator, Game Grumps, have revealed their new horror game, Homebody.

Homebody is a narrative-driven psychological horror game evocative of classic slasher films of the 1980s, coming to PC and consoles later this year. The game follows Emily and her friends as they are haunted by the memories of the past in the form of are relentless killer. It’s up to the player to discover a way out of the house before they are all picked off one by one.

Players will uncover the secrets of Emily’s past and find a way out of the house, all while avoiding the killer, solving puzzles, and making dialogue decisions.

“We’re obsessed with horror games, so when coming off of Dream Daddy, it was a natural shift to explore the horror genre,” said game director Jory Griffis. “We were excited to retain the narrative and storytelling values we learned making Dream Daddy and put them to use in a game with a totally different tone and ambitious new mechanics.”

A brand-new announcement trailer was also shared featuring Emily walking around the large home, with what looks to be fixed camera angles–similar to the original Resident Evil games.

“We’re huge fans of everything that Game Grumps does,” said Chris Archer, chief strategy officer at Rogue Games. “From their comedy to their game development, Game Grumps embodies everything we want to amplify as a publisher, and we’re thrilled to help bring Homebody to players later this year.”

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Mediatek was one of the first vendors to demonstrate working 802.11be-compliant silicon under the Filogic lineup in January 2022. As part of the announcements at this week’s Computex, the company provided additional technical details along with part numbers. The Filogic 880 platform will service access points, routers, and gateways, while the Filogic 380 will be seen in the client devices.

Wi-Fi 7 / 802.11be Background

The 802.11 Working Group focused on extremely high throughput when starting work on 802.11be. This has been achieved primarily through a combination of three different aspects:

Support for up to 16 spatial streams
Support for channel widths up to 320MHz (with operation in 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands)
Support for 4096-QAM (4K-QAM) resulting in better utilization of available spectrum (a faster modulation / coding scheme).

It must be noted that wider channels are available only in the 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands. Theoretically, these aspects allow for up to around 46 Gbps of wireless throughput. 802.11be also aims to enable usage of Wi-Fi for real-time applications by including features for low-latency communications such as Multi-link operation (MLO). This allows a client and an access point to simultaneously communicate over multiple channels that might even belong to different bands.


Source: Mediatek Wi-Fi 7 Whitepaper

802.11ax introduced OFDMA to split the channel into multiple resource units (RUs), allowing multiple clients to receive data packets simultaneously. Wi-Fi 7 brings in a Multiple RU (MRU) feature that allows punctured RUs (at a 20 MHz granularity). Puncturing enables interference mitigation, and also increases the OFDMA efficiency.


Source: Mediatek Wi-Fi 7 Whitepaper

The benefits of MRU are brought out in the above picture – on top, puncturing allows improvement in spectral efficiency, and hence, data bandwidth. Below that, we see obvious latency benefits when multiple clients are simultaneously active.

Interference and co-existence with non-Wi-Fi users of the same spectrum is handled using automatic frequency coordination (AFC). While Broadcom’s pledge of support for the Open AFC initiative, and Qualcomm providing its own turnkey solution for its customers, Mediatek has only indicated that the Filogic 880 platform supports AFC, with no additional details.

Mediatek Filogic 880 Platform

Mediatek’s Filogic 880 platform services the Wi-Fi 7 access point and wireless router market. Similar to its competitor’s offerings, the platform supports all the major Wi-Fi 7 features – 320 MHz bandwidth in the 6GHz band, 4K-QAM, Multi-link operation (MLO), Automatic Frequency Coordination (AFC), and Multiple Resource Units.

The platform supports up to five bands with independent RFICs that communicate with the Filogic 680 Wi-Fi 7 baseband chip. While traditional routers may use only three bands, mesh systems and premium routers can make use of the support for two additional bands. At the heart of the reference design is a 1.8 GHz quad-core Cortex A73-based WiSoC. It also includes a network processing unit (NPU) with hardware-accelerated QoS and tunneling offload engines. The WiSoC doesn’t include an integrated switch, though. Designs are expected to adopt an external switch to translate one of the two 10Gbps USXGMII ports to either a single 10GbE, or a mix of NBASE-T and Gigabit Ethernet ports. Various other high-speed I/Os are also available in the WiSoC.

Unlike Qualcomm (whose announcement of the Wi-Fi 7 Networking Pro product suite was covered earlier this month), Mediatek is adopting an open approach in terms of making technical details of the platform available to the public. Broadcom also adopted a similar approach while introducing their product suite.

The Filogic 880 platform’s WiSoC is fabricated in a 6nm process. According to Mediatek, this delivers significant power efficiency compared to its competitors (without public knowledge of the fabrication process for Qualcomm’s and Broadcom’s offerings and/or public availability of their platforms, this claim is difficult to evaluate).

The MAC/baseband is implemented in the Filogic 680 part. Here, Mediatek opts for an interesting approach The 6GHz band also adopts a 4T5R (quad-transmit, penta-receive) antenna configuration to boost throughput and range, particularly for backhauls in mesh systems. The Filogic 680 contains the MAC and baseband logic for all three bands, and also includes MLO control. Mediatek contends that this approach is better than the scheme of discrete MAC/PHYs for each band between the WiSoC and the basebad/RFIC, and putting the MLO logic in the WiSoC – in terms of latency (claims of up to 100x improvement) as well as board design cost.

Mediatek’s reference design is a four-layer PCB, which should lead to a lower cost for its customers. Mediatek claims that the multi-chip MAC / PHY / baseband approach of its competitors results in higher cost due to more complex PCBs (six or eight layer PCBs). These aspects should be readily evident to end users when routers / APs based on platforms from different vendors come to the market.

Mediatek Filogic 380

On the client side, Mediatek is announcing the Filogic 380 combo solution with support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3. This combo single-chip solution is also built on a 6nm process. The 2×2 solution supports speeds up to 6.5Gbps with dual-band dual-concurrent operation. 320 Mhz bandwidth, 4K-QAM, MLO, and MRU are supported.

Mediatek also indicated support for an extra receive antenna to improve performance and range for Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity by enabling MRC (multiple receive combining). Bluetooth LE audio is also supported. The Filogic 380 also includes coexistence technology to ensure that BT and Wi-Fi can both operate in the 2.4GHz band without interference. Host connectivity is either via PCIe 4.0 x1 or USB 3.0.

Mediatek is currently demonstrating both platforms at Computex 2022. Based on Mediatek’s claims, it appears that routers and APs based on the Filogic 880 should hit very attractive price points without sacrificing anything in terms of performance or  features. Products based on the new Filogic platforms should start appearing in the market within a few quarters.

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Comino Grando RM workstations are a new breed of Hyper Performance workstation (HYPE WS) that can transform the workflows of creatives, scientists and medical researchers who rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning.

If your work is dependent on some serious GPU horsepower, Comino Grando RM workstations offer a solution that isn’t just extremely powerful – but also incredibly quiet. This is thanks to their server-grade liquid cooling, which keeps the temperature of the components down, even when working hard. Rather than using noisy fans, which can get distracting, water cooling is more efficient, and crucially, a lot quieter.

Comino Grando RM workstations are built to order in the EU, maintaining the highest possible build quality, and thanks to a range of unique configuration options, you can order one that perfectly suits your needs.

Built to Last

Comino’s motto is “engineered, not assembled”, and each workstation has been designed from the ground-up to provide maximum performance and build quality.

Almost every aspect of these workstations are designed and built by Comino, with over 90% of the components designed by the company itself. This level of detail and control allows each part of the workstation to work as one, delivering unrivalled performance and reliability.

The unique liquid cooling loop in every workstation is controlled and monitored by a controller built by Comino, which uses numerous sensors to keep track of the system’s health and performance. Thanks to Comino Monitoring Software, you can also check your system’s health remotely, for complete peace of mind.

The flexibility of Comino Grando RM workstations doesn’t just stop at unique configurations, but also how you buy. You can purchase Comino Grando RM workstations outright, but for UK customers there are also options to lease them as well.

Handling Everything You Need

Thanks to the raw power of Comino Grando RM workstations, they can cover almost all of your inhouse computation tasks, and you’ll rarely need to rely on cloud services to help finish your projects.

Even better, if you have several Comino Grando RM workstations, they can be used to create your very own cloud, allowing you to access the power of these Hyper Performance workstations remotely – perfectly fitting in with our new hybrid way of working.

Because they are so silent when in use, you can use them in an office or studio, or you can install them in a server rack. When installed in a server rack, they can use external cooling for even more impressive performance, supporting up to seven GPUs per system. This method can also be environmentally friendly, as the heat dispelled by Comino Grando RM systems can be repurposed to heat living and office spaces.

Packing hardware like four Nvidia RTX A100 80GB GPUs plus AMD Threadripper Pro, dual Intel Xeon 8368Qs, or dual EPYC CPUs, air cooling solutions would struggle to keep these components cool without producing a lot of noise.

With server-grade liquid cooling, AI research teams, for example, can use the workstations without being distracted by the whirring of fans. Meanwhile, medical teams working in highly controlled environments will appreciate the slower airflow produced by liquid cooling, as well as reduced dust collection.

So, it’s no surprise that Comino Grando RM workstations have been embraced by companies around the world, and used in projects such as the Flamemapper in California, which uses Comino Grando RM Multi-GPU workstations to help predict the effect of wildfires on structures, and can help emergency planners to place protective measure where they are needed the most.

Many CG and 3D rendering studios rely on Comino Grando RM Multi-GPU workstations to create complex and realistic models and scenes.

Danil Krivoruchko, a renowned digital artist based in New York, and who works with the likes of Apple, Nike and Boeing, explains how Comino Grando RM workstations have helped him with his work.

“I’ve used numerous Comino Grando RM workstations during my work on the breakthrough user-influenced self-evolving NFT project, Organic Growth: Crystal Reef, which combines generative art, blockchain, NFTs and user interaction. This project is so unique, multi-layered and complex both visually and computationally, that we had to hire the whole render farm, packed with Grando RMs by Comino, for 3 months to support its development. I got the workstation for myself, as well, to progress through the project faster, as it’s hard to find another workstation as versatile and quiet as Grando RM.”

Successful AI artist and NFT enthusiast from New Zealand, Jesse Woolston, also relies on Comino’s workstations.

“My approach is to use the Comino Grando RM for all my modeling and simulation. So I use it for production, then I have a small render farm to utilize GPU alongside the Comino.

My work focuses on using AI & physics modeling as a means to re-contextualize how we see nature. So far, I’ve been able to use the Comino Grando RM in multiple circumstances from training my own models to simulating the oceans. The machine has been working beautifully in both large and small scales.

The main factor as to why I love the Comino Grando RM is its ability to be diverse with training and modeling, where I can give it any and all assignments.

I don’t have to think too deeply about how to adapt the work to fit my tools, I am able to just utilize the tools and focus on the art.”

Influencers such as sentdex and LEDunit have also been blown away by the possibilities of Comino Grando RM workstations.

If it sounds like  Comino Grando RM workstations would be perfect for your projects, then head over to Comino’s Grando website to find out more.

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The new, revamped PlayStation Plus is now available in Asia and as a part of the rollout, a number of the classic games included in the subscription service are also being made available for individual purchase. However, some players have noticed that a number of the classic games are based on their slower, 50hz PAL versions, Video Games Chronicle reports.

The PAL versions were first noted by an Indonesian user playing the PlayStation 1 version of Ape Escape, who noted that the game credited Sony Computer Entertainment Europe instead of America or Japan. The game also runs at 25fps instead of 30fps.

VGC reports that all first-party PlayStation games in the Deluxe PS Plus tier’s Classics catalog are based on European PAL versions. Some third-party games including both Worms titles, World Party, and Armageddon are also PAL versions, while other games like Tekken 2, Abe’s Oddysee, Syphon Filter, and Mr. Driller are available in a NTSC format.

UPDATE: All first-party PSOne games included in the new PS Plus in Taiwan (an NTSC region) appear to be based on the PAL 50hz versions, I’ve confirmed.https://t.co/hT1Hj048cN pic.twitter.com/t3CxGqv9ua

— Andy Robinson (@AndyPlaytonic) May 23, 2022

While Indonesia is a region that uses the PAL format, it’s been confirmed that the PAL versions of the games are also being distributed in Taiwan, a region that has always used NTSC.

This issue has come up before with re-releases of classic PlayStation games, with many of the games on the PlayStation Classic console using the PAL editions of games, even when released in North America. Sony never issued an explanation as to why the PAL versions were used, which run slower than the 60hz NTSC format.

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Overwatch 2‘s first PvP beta just wrapped up on May 17, leaving the development team with a lot of data to sift through before the next beta begins. Now, Blizzard has shared some of that data in a blog post, revealing some interesting stats on hero usage rates, win rates, and the effects of recent buffs and nerfs.

The blog reveals that new Overwatch 2 damage hero Sojourn had a very high useage rate at the start of the beta, peaking at around 80%–meaning there was a Sojourn in both teams for over half of the gameplay time. As you might expect for a new character, the useage was incredibly high at the start of the beta, and then dropped off rapidly. Of the reworked characters, Orisa saw the highest useage, followed by Doomfist, then Bastion and Sombra.

Blizzard also shared a chart showing “weighted” results, where the character useage rates are weighed against how many other heroes there are in the same role. This change in metrics dramatically reduces Ana’s dominance in the original chart, while Sojourn and Orisa are shown to be clear outliers with high relative useage rates.

The post also goes into hero win rates, something the developers have to to consider when looking at potential balance changes for the upcoming sequel. The data is a lot more complicated than it looks, however, with the blog post explaining that new characters people are just learning to play will have generally lower win rates than heroes that players have been able to use since the original Overwatch first launched.

A series of charts look at how the beta’s various patches affected win rates, showing that a balance patch pushed on May 5 immediately impacted adjusted characters’ win rates, with Zenyatta receiving a big boost to wins, and Soldier 76 losing some of his dominance among damage heroes.

The full post is worth a read for those interested in how Overwatch 2 is being developed. Fans should also keep an eye out for more news coming on June 16, including details on how to be a part of the next beta.

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Destiny 2‘s Season of the Haunted sends players back to the Leviathan, a huge Cabal ship that’s the home of exiled Emperor Calus and the former location of Destiny 2 vanilla’s Leviathan raid. The Leviathan is the home to the new seasonal activity, Nightmare Containment, which tasks players with using a special device to capture the evil Nightmare creatures we first saw introduced in the Shadowkeep expansion. Containment has a lot of moving pieces and requirements you’ll need to understand to maximize your time with the activity and earn the best rewards you can.

First, it’s worth noting that Nightmare Containment is a Public Event similar to the Altars of Sorrow event on the Moon. The event can be triggered in the Derelict Leviathan’s patrol zones, and features multiple tiers you’ll need to complete to get your rewards–just like the Altars. There are also new currencies you’ll want to earn throughout the course of completing the activity so you can maximize your weapon and armor gains. Here’s everything you need to know about Nightmare Containment in the Season of the Haunted.

How to launch Nightmare Containment

There are two options to get into the Derelict Leviathan, but either will let you take part in the Nightmare Containment activity.

The first thing about Nightmare Containment that’s likely to trip you up is the option to either launch to a Derelict Leviathan location, like the Castellum, or to jump into Containment directly. From the Moon Director screen, you can find the Derelict Leviathan node on the left side, which contains those two options. The truth, however, is that both can get you to Containment, and it doesn’t really matter which you choose.

The two Derelict Leviathan options seem like they’re geared toward making sure there are enough players hanging around that you can complete Nightmare Containment activities whenever you want. The activity, however, is a Public Event, so you can join in whenever you want when you’re hanging around the Derelict Leviathan patrol zone. If you want to explore the Leviathan while maybe occasionally participating in Nightmare Containment activities, choose the Castellum option. If you intend to take on Containment activities specifically, choose the Containment option. It’s worth noting, however, that neither option locks you into a specific activity; you can still wander off and explore if you choose Containment, and you can still play public events if you choose Castellum. The two loading options seem specifically geared at getting players into the Nightmare Containment activity as quickly as possible, if that’s what they’re looking for.

Gather Vestiges of Dread

Like the Season of the Risen’s Psychogenic Intel, the Season of the Haunted has its own special currency, called Vestiges of Dread. These drop from a variety of places–you can get them from enemies you kill all over the Solar System and any completed activity, and they are especially prevalent in the Derelict Leviathan, where you can earn them from completing Containment public events and patrols. You always want to have as many Vestiges of Dread as you can get, because like Psychogenic Intel, they’re key to redeeming rewards during the seasonal event and get you the maximum number of weapons and armor with each round.

Generally, you want to stock up 500 Vestiges of Dread before you take on a Nightmare Containment activity (although it’s worth noting that you’ll earn lots of Vestiges during Containment, also). You need 500 Vestiges to activate the Nightmare Harvester at the end of Tier 3 of Nightmare Containment, which will get you seasonal rewards at the end of the public event. So keep an eye on how many Vestiges you’re carrying and how fast you’re earning them, and make sure to complete various events to keep your count up so you can redeem them at the end of Nightmare Containment.

Triggering Nightmare Containment

When you’re in the Castellum, an icon will appear on your screen indicating where the next Containment activity will take place. Head to the icon and interact with it in order to plant the Nightmare Harvester, a glowing red scepter that triggers the event. The idea here is that you’re drawing powerful Nightmare enemies to you in order to kill them and bind them to the Harvester, removing them from the Leviathan and disrupting Calus’s plans.

Nightmare Containment is separated into three tiers, and you’ll need to complete all three in order to earn rewards for the event. They also slowly get more difficult over time, with the third tier culminating in a big boss fight. There are three total Nightmare Containment bosses, and it seems likely they rotate every week, as we’ve seen with seasonal events in past seasons.

Tier 1 and Tier 2: Gather Shards of Dread

Hunt down the Dread Bearer Nightmare enemies and eliminate them fast for additional Shards and to unlock the reaper scythe Relic weapon.

Your first goal in Nightmare Containment is to clear out a ton of enemies in order to power up the Nightmare Harvester. You’re looking to gather “Shards of Dread,” a currency you get from killing enemies during Containment. You get roughly one shard per enemy killed, so the idea is to mow down as many waves as possible, as quickly as possible. The icon on the left side of your screen indicates how many shards you need to complete the first wave of the battle.

Sprinkled throughout this first wave are tougher Nightmare enemies called Dread Bearers. These are Elite enemies with yellow health bars, and they’re tough to bring down on your own. Usually you’ll find these enemies flanked by other Nightmares, and killing one will get you a ball of orange Unstable Essence, with gives you a brief damage boost against Nightmares–so its’ a good idea to kill the smaller Nightmares before taking on the Dread Bearers.

When you kill a Dread Bearer, it’ll drop an orb called a Core of Dread. Pick that up and take it back to the Nightmare Harvester scepter and you can dunk it for a small pile of shards, usually a batch of five or 10 at a time. The upshot of dunking the Core of Dread isn’t the shards, though; the cores causes a reaper scythe Relic weapon to spawn at the Harvester. That scythe is a powerful, if temporary, weapon to use against the waves of enemies. It fires blasts of fire with its normal attack in the same way that caster swords do, and you can use its powerful attack to send out waves of flame that can kill multiple enemies at once. Note, however, that when you spawn the reaper scythe, you’ll also have to deal with a Champion enemy that will appear near the Nightmare Harvester.

After completing a wave to get Shards of Dread, you’ll face a different threat, in which you’ll need to kill four Eregore Atavists. These are special Psion enemies that appear inside bubble forcefields, which you might remember from activities like the Leviathan raid. However, the Atavists are initially hidden, so in order to reveal them, you’ll need to kill four other sniper Psion enemies, called Atavist Illusionists. These are marked on your screen with icons to make them easier to find, and you’ll want to track down these Elite enemies as fast as you can.

You’ll need to find and punch the Egregore Atavist enemies in order to eliminate them. Look for Psions called Atavist Illusionists and kill them first to make the Atavists appear.

Once you kill the first two Atavist Illusionists, you’ll reveal two Eregore Atavists. You can’t shoot these guys, thanks to their forcefields; you’ll need to jump in close and punch them in the face in order to kill them. Repeat the process to kill the second two Eregore Atavists to end the wave.

For Tier 1, you’ll need to complete these two parts of the activity twice each–two waves to get shards and two waves to kill Atavists. If you complete all four parts of the activity, the Nightmare Harvester will spawn a Heavy Ammo chest, which you can use to power yourself up for the next tier. However, as with all three tiers, you don’t actually need to complete the tier to move on to the next one. If the timer runs out on the tier, it’ll end, but you’ll still be able to move up to Tier 2.

Look out for the diamond-shaped Resonant Splinter objects to appear near the Harbinger. Destroy them to knock out its shield.

After completing the first tier of Containment, the trigger for the second tier will appear somewhere else in the area after a short timer ticks down. Like with Altars of Sorrow, you’ll need to activate it relatively quickly to keep the activity going. Tier 1 and Tier 2 have mostly the same requirements, with one caveat: Tier 2 will also feature a Nightmare Harbinger miniboss enemy to kill. As you damage it, the Harbinger will

Tier 3: Nightmare of Elykris boss fight

The last part of the Containment activity is the toughest, largely because it’s in a smaller area in the Castellum with a huge boss enemy. For the first week, that enemy is Elykris, a Nightmare version of the Scorn Baron known as the Machinist from the Forsaken story campaign. Your goal to start with is to do as much damage to the boss as quickly as possible. The boss’s health bar is divided into thirds, and hitting each of the three markers will trigger a different phase in which you’ll need to break a shield on the boss in order to keep damaging it. Keep in mind also that while you’re fighting the boss, additional enemies will spawn in all around you, so you’ll want to clear them out occasionally to keep from getting overwhelmed.

The boss will gain a shield every time you remove a third of its health, so be ready to act quickly to destroy Resonant Shards and Emissary enemies in order to keep damaging it.

Once you get the boss’s health down by a third, it’ll gain a shield that makes it invincible, with two Elite Abomination spawnintg nearby, which are also shielded. To take down the shield, you’ll need to shoot six diamond-shaped Resonant Splinters floating around the boss arena–you might recognize these nodes from the Vow of the Disciple raid and the Wellspring activity in Savathun’s throne world. Knock out all six Resonant Splinters as quickly as you can, keeping in mind that more enemies will spawn–including explosive Screebs.

Destroying the splinters won’t drop the boss’s shield, but it will eliminate the shields on the yellow health bar Abominations. These are your next targets, and you’ll want to take them out as quickly as possible. With both of them dead, the boss will be vulnerable again, and you can resume doing damage again until you’ve knocked its health bar down to its last third.

Note that while you’re fighting the Abominations and doing boss damage, the Dread Bearer Nightmare enemies will also show up around the arena. Taking down these enemies will produce a Core of Dread, just like in the first two tiers of Containment, and dunking those cores at the Nightmare Harvester will produce reaper scythes you can use against the boss. So as before, it’s a good idea to clear these enemies out as fast as you can to get the extremely useful scythe weapon into your hands or the hands of your teammates. The scythes are great for clearing out enemies in general, so it’s a good idea to prioritize grabbing them.

Spend your Vestiges of Dread at the Nightmare Harvester scepter to unlock seasonal rewards from the Nightmare Containment activity.

Finishing off the boss will trigger a reward chest just like in any other public event (although you don’t need to win to get rewards–you just get more rewards for successfully killing the boss). You can turn in your Vestiges of Dread at the Nightmare Harvester, which will earn you additional seasonal rewards for your trouble. After that, you’ll have to wait a short while for another round of Nightmare Containment events to kick off, during which time you can search the Castellum for secrets.

Finding lockdown protocol chests

Search for extra chests after completing Nightmare Containment Tier 3. Look for green switches that beep hidden around the edges of the area.

After you finish Tier 3 of the Nightmare Containment activity, you’ll have two minutes until another activity can begin. With the Nightmare temporarily banished, you’ll see a message telling you that “Lockdown protocols in the Castellum have temporarily lifted.” This means that you have two minutes to explore the area to find special treasure chests, which are only available during this period.

The lockdown protocol refers to side rooms that are normally locked off and inaccessible. If you explore the side alcoves throughout the Castellum, you should find locked doors with big switches beside them. The message that appears on your screen at the end of Tier 3 will tell you how many of these switches are currently active. Look for switches that have green lights on them–normally, the lights are red, indicating that the lockdown protocol is in effect. You can identify the switches by listening for them; they’ll periodically beep, indicating which ones can be activated.

Flipping the switch opens the nearby door, which will reveal a chest and provide additional rewards. The rewards you get from these lockdown chests varies pretty wildly–they’re basically the same as the chests you find randomly in patrol zones–so don’t worry too much if you miss out on them.

There’s likely more to uncover in the Nightmare Containment activity, especially as the event rotates through additional bosses, so we’ll update this article as we learn more about it over teh course of the season.

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Fortnite Season 3 Week 10’s Resistance quests are available to knock out now, promising a generous helping of XP and some movement in the season’s narrative. This time around, players will need to do the usual device uplink establishing, collect some keys, and set out to activate a holotable.

Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 2 Resistance Quests Week 8

(Stage 1/2) Establish Device Uplink Near Sanctuary – 23,000 XP(Stage 2/2) Patch The Imagined into a Loudspeaker in Sanctuary – 23,000 XP(Stage 1/2) Establish Device Uplink Near The Collider or The Fortress – 23,000 XP(Stage 2/2) Collect Doomsday Control Keys from high-security IO locations – 23,000 XP(Stage 1/2) Establish Device Uplink Near Command Cavern – 23,000 XP(Stage 2/2) Cut Power to Control Panels inside Command Cavern – 23,000 XP(Stage 1/4) Establish Device Uplink Near Command Cavern – 23,000 XP(Stage 2/4) Set up a Generator near the Holotable in Command Cavern – 23,000 XP(Stage 3/4) Insert Control Keys into The Holotable inside Command Cavern – 23,000 XP(Stage 4/4) Activate the Holotable inside Command Cavern – 23,000 XP

Establishing uplinks is as easy as ever, asking you to merely land at marked locations on the map and look for a blue beacon. Walking over the beacons will complete the quest and begin the next stage.

Patching the Imagined into a Loudspeaker requires a trip to Sanctuary. There are three speakers scattered around the area, and they’re easily identifiable by looking for the tall poles they’re attached to. Simply approach any one of the speakers and press the corresponding button to patch in the Imagined and begin the next stage of the quest.

To collect Doomsday Control Keys, you’ll have to visit The Fortress and The Collider–both of which are crawling with IO and will likely result in a showdown. At the Fortress, land just a bit under the F in the name on the map, which will put you right outside of the base. Look for a nearby reboot van, then find the keys glowing right beside it next to the campfire. At the Collider, land directly above the D and E in the name on the map, then check under the bridge at that location for the second set of keys.

To cut the power to the control panels inside Command Cavern, you’ll be required to seek out three different panels. The panels will be on the walls inside buildings, easily identifiable by the glow around them. The quest markers will show you the general whereabouts of the panels, but they’re better hidden than they initially seem.

When you land at the locations for each control panel, take note of your surroundings, as there are vents you’ll need to access and crawl through to reach the objectives. Follow the linear paths through the ventilation shafts and locate each one individually. If you don’t get them all on your first try, that’s okay–your progress is saved between games.

Setting up a generator near the Holotable asks you to land on the eastern side of Command Center at the quest marker and then head inside. Go down the stairs to find a vault that you can’t enter directly, leaving you with the sole option of using the nearby vent to crawl into the next room. Once inside, you’ll see a glowing spot to set up the generator and complete this segment of the questline.

Directly after setting up the generator, you’ll have to insert the control keys into two spots on the Holotable in the same room. They’ll be glowing and almost impossible to miss.

Lastly, you have to activate the Holotable, which is as easy as pressing a button on the table within the same room you’ve been doing the last few parts of the questline. And with that, you’ll be all done.

Season 2 is almost over, so here’s what we know about Fortnite Chapter 3, Season 3.

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Halo Infinite is having another Fracture event for Season 2. But this time, the theme is more in line with the season-long theme of “Lone Wolves.” You’ll have three additional weeks to earn more rewards following the initial week that’s now underway, with 30 event-exclusive cosmetics to be earned via limited-time challenges. Like the last Fracture event, it’ll stay for a week and reappear several times over the months ahead. For now, here’s all you need to know about the Fracture: Entrenched event in Halo Infinite.

Halo Infinite Fracture: Entrenched dates and rewards

In the Fracture: Entrenched, you’ll have four weeks stretched over four months to complete 30 in-game challenges. Listed below are all the time slots for the Fracture: Entrenched.

May 24, 2022, to May 30, 2022June 14, 2022, to June 20, 2022July 5, 2022, to July 11, 2022August 16, 2022, to August 22, 2022

During the Fracture: Entrenched event, you’ll be rewarded with a different cosmetic for each event-related challenge you complete. Listed below is a list of the unlockable items you can earn alongside a gallery of all the items.

16 Gear pieces4 Emblems2 Backdrops6 Coatings2 Stances

Fracture: Entrenched event challenges

To check what challenges you need to complete for the Fracture: Entrenched Event is relatively simple. Like the last Fracture event, the challenges will be on the same page as your battle pass challenges. But only the challenges with the orange banner next to them will go towards the event pass specifically.

Here you’ll find all of the challenges for the Fracture: Entrenched event.

The UNSC Needs You! – Complete Land Grab PvP: 300 XPWar Hero – Kill Enemy Spartans In Land Grab PvP (10): 300 XPWar Hero – Kill Enemy Spartans In Land Grab PvP (20): 300 XPWar Hero – Kill Enemy Spartans In Land Grab PvP (50): 300 XPOvertake – Capture a Zone in Land Grab PvP: 300 XPOvertake – Capture a Zone in Land Grab PvP (10): 300 XPGrab Bag – Earn Cumulative Player Score in Land Grab PvP Matches (2,500): 300 XPPrecious Time – Spend Seconds Occupying Zones in Land Grab PvP Matches (15): 300 XPMultitasking – Kill Enemy Spartans Defending Their Zone In Land Grab PvP (1): 300 XPTrench Warfare – Win Land Grab PvP Matches (1): 300 XP

Land Grab (Entrenched) game mode

To participate in Fracture: Entrenched, go to the multiplayer menu and select Entrenched. In Land Grab (Entrenched), you and your team are tasked with controlling three critical areas throughout the map. But the catch is the second an area is captured; it’ll disappear, and you’ll earn a point after each capture. After all three are captured, the control points will reset in another location, and whichever team earns 11 points wins the game.

Need help tackling Halo Infinite? Try our beginner’s tips if you’re brand-new or advanced tips if you want the next-level stuff.

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