Friday ‘Nite is a weekly Fortnite column in which Mark Delaney takes a closer look at current events in the wide world of Fortnite, with a special emphasis on the game’s plot, characters, and lore.

According to all in-game signs, we have just a matter of days before Fortnite Chapter 3, Season 4 debuts. Though it seems this season will end without an in-game event (or even a summer concert), that doesn’t mean the update will quietly appear on PC and console download queues next weekend. It seems several official teasers for Fortnite’s new season have leaked online. Here’s what we know so far about the new Fortnite Paradise leaks.

Fortnite Paradise

Each season of Fortnite is given a subtitle along with its numbered designation. Chapter 3, Season 4 looks to be named Paradise, according to a recent run of TikTok videos that have been shared by fans. The person or people who found the Fortnite Paradise teasers are known to share Fortnite leaks on the messaging app Telegram. This account, known as @FortniteNews, previously discovered Operation Sky Fire, the summer 2021 cinematic event that ended Chapter 2, Season 7, before it was revealed by Epic.

Now the same account has shared a number of materials seemingly meant to be shared soon by Epic, including a cryptic tweet scheduled for later and at least one of a series of odd live-action teasers for the upcoming Fortnite season. Since the initial leak, several more fans have shared similar videos, and it’s currently unclear whether any of it is meant to have been shared yet, though at least one seems to have originated as a proper TikTok ad.

The same telegram channel that caught the Skyfire Event announcement for Fortnite recently caught this unsent/scheduled Fortnite Tweet:
Chrome will consume all, Chrome will be all. #FortniteParadise pic.twitter.com/MAKYIjrLmP

— iFireMonkey (@iFireMonkey) September 9, 2022

On top of that, a mostly-empty website has now been made public by Epic too, further indicating that the Fortnite Paradise teasers are real, and perhaps arriving right on schedule. That might leave only the scheduled tweet as a true “leak.” Nonetheless, suddenly a lot is being revealed for Fortnite Season 4, one way or another. Here’s a round-up of all the strange lifestyle blogger videos featuring mysterious Fortnite “Chrome,” which seems to be playing into the next season’s plot in a major way.

#FortniteParadise Video Teaser from the Fortnite News Telegram pic.twitter.com/i2IN51qpBl

— iFireMonkey (@iFireMonkey) September 9, 2022

It consumes everything. #FortniteParadise
Video was spotted on tiktok, thanks @FNinfluencer for the video file pic.twitter.com/VJ7fleL5tI

— iFireMonkey (@iFireMonkey) September 9, 2022

Another #FortnitePardise teaser spotted on tiktok by @waldoblake08 pic.twitter.com/pQS69eHZhT

— iFireMonkey (@iFireMonkey) September 9, 2022

While these weird teasers resemble Capri Sun ads or Terminator sequels for fans of certain ages, within Fortnite lore itself, this liquified “Chrome” is of unclear origin. It’s likely that the Reality Tree will play a role in whatever is going on here, as its roots have been spreading across the island and distorting reality all season. Tying into that, Donald Mustard, Epic CCO and chief Fortnite lore scribe, recently tweeted some Queen lyrics.

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?

— Donald Mustard (@DonaldMustard) September 8, 2022

Known to mostly (or perhaps exclusively) tweet things that are short- or long-term Fortnite teases, fans have been reading into his tweet as a Fortnite clue. What has the Reality Tree really been doing to the island all this time? Is this the loopers’ real life? Or is it just fantasy, a veiled imaginary world they’ve been tricked into seeing.

As I put together a timeline of all we’re learning about Fortnite Paradise today, I can’t help but maybe declare victory. I started questioning the nature of the loopers’ reality as soon as the season launched–all those years of reading about simulation theory and watching Westworld make one skeptical, I guess. What we may be about to find out is that the “Bloomwatcher” either can wield Chrome or perhaps is Chrome, and the ramifications of such power don’t seem good for the heroes of the story given the way it seems to consume and corrupt anything it touches. There’s still so much to learn, but right now is a good time (if it’s not too late already) for loopers to wonder whether or not they can escape from this new reality.

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During the Disney and Marvel D23 Games Showcase, Niantic closed out the show with the announcement of a new game based in the Marvel Universe. The trailer for the game showed players out in the real world responding to a portal in the sky by holding a phone and using Doctor Strange’s abilities, Cyclops’ eye beams, and calling Thor’s hammer. The camera then zoomed out to show more players firing off various plasma and laser attacks in a public park.

The implication of the trailer is that it will be a competitive augmented reality game with players fighting one another out in the real world, but it also featured the “Not actual gameplay” qualifier on the bottom of the screen, so it’s hard to say what the gameplay will be. It’s safe to assume, however, given it is a Niantic game, that it will rely on GPS data and will share some mechanics with Pokemon Go.

In a press release for the game Niantic writes, “Players can create their own unique Super Hero identity and origin story. Players will need to patrol their neighborhoods to foil crimes, complete Super Hero missions, and thwart interdimensional threats. As players level up, they will unlock equipment and abilities, and will team up with Marvel Super Heroes such as Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America and others to battle iconic Super Villains and save the Multiverse from cosmic and earthbound threats.”

The game is called Marvel World of Heroes, it is coming next year, 2023, and you can pre-register for the game now at MarvelWOH.com.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

In preparation for AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series processors, which will launch on September 27th, ASRock has announced that it has developed a new BIOS for its AM5 motherboards. ASRock states that its new firmware has been built to decrease booting times on its motherboards.

With every new platform, chipset, and processor launch, firmware is one of the focal points surrounding motherboards. Over the last couple of years, leading vendors such as ASUS, GIGABYTE, and MSI have kept their firmware consistent, regardless of whether the board is designed for AMD or Intel. ASRock has announced that it has developed a new BIOS specifically for its AM5 motherboards, which are designed to support the upcoming AMD Ryzen 7000 series Zen 4 processors based on TSMC’s 5 nm process node.


ASRock X570S PG Riptide motherboard firmware

ASRock claims that their new BIOS for AM5 will provide better compatibility, although it doesn’t expressly state what, as well as quicker booting or POST times into Windows. As it stands, ASRock has announced five X670E models currently, including the X670E Taichi and Taichi Carrara models, the X670E Steel Legend, the X670E Pro RS, and the X670E PG Lightning. ASRock also hasn’t stated whether or not the layout or core GUI has changed compared with previous generations such as X570 or B550.

Another thing ASRock has announced is that all of its X670E and X670 models will support BIOS Flashback (a feature now native to the AM5 platform), with users able to update their motherboard to the latest firmware with just a USB flash drive and 24-pin power connected to the power supply. 

ASRock’s new firmware for its X670E and X670 motherboards will be available to download from the appropriate product pages on the ASRock website after September 27th. At the time of writing, it hasn’t confirmed any information regarding the pricing of its new AM5 motherboards.

Source: ASRock

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Uncharted: The Legacy of Thieves Collection will come to PC on October 19 with a special bonus in Fortnite for people who buy it on the Epic Games Store. This is according to the game’s product page that was recently discovered by Wario64. The page has since been removed.

Everyone who pre-buys The Legacy of Thieves Collection for PC via the Epic Games Store by a certain date in September, according to the leak, will get a Fortnite glider in the shape of Sully’s seaplane. The Uncharted-themed Fortnite glider will later arrive in the Fortnite in-game shop on November 17 for everyone else as a separate purchase.

Everyone who buys the game via EGS gets a free Fortnite glider

This will be just the latest Uncharted crossover in Fortnite, following the Nathan Drake and Chloe Frazer outfits that were released earlier this year.

The Legacy of Thieves Collection, which dropped in January on PS5, includes Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. There is no multiplayer support, however.

In addition to the Epic Games Store, the Legacy of Thieves Collection will come to Steam. Its rumored October 19 release date was spotted months ago.

GameSpot’s Legacy of Thieves Collection review scored the game an 8/10, praising the new higher resolution and frame rates that help accentuate combat and exploration.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

Tom Hanks is known primarily as an actor, but he is also a producer, author, amateur historian, and apparently a video game creator. Hanx101 Trivia released on Apple Arcade recently, which, as the second part of the name implies, is a trivia game.

Hanx101 isn’t Hanks’ first flirtation with interactive media. He also released the Hanx Writer app which capitalizes on another of his passions: typewriters. Hanx101 Trivia, however, is arguably his first step into the world of video games. Even for the occasions where his Toy Story character, Woody, appears in video games, his brother Jim Hanks takes care of the voice work.

“Trivia is for kids. Knowledge lasts a lifetime,” Hanks says in a quote offered up for the game. “Compete against the entire world with Hanx101 Trivia and you will become a fascinating human being 101 facts at a time.” It’s a bold claim from America’s dad, but he does have an undeniably trustworthy face.

The actual game lets you participate in daily trivia with and against friends in various categories like music, books, geography, and more as you make your way through various chapters. Hanx101 Trivia is available exclusively on Apple Arcade and can be downloaded here.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

God of War: Ragnarok fans have created custom PS5 covers to celebrate the upcoming launch of the game. Anderson and Debora, a pair of artists who celebrate their favorite games with custom creations, posted photos of the PS5 skins that will be sold through their Gom.Gom.Figures storefront.

The console covers will cost around $460, and there’ll be two options available: a console cover for PS5 owners who keep their device in a vertical position and a version that’s designed for PS5s arranged in a horizontal layout. Both versions have a faux stone shell, Nordic runes, and decorative inlays in their design, with the horizontal version featuring Thor’s hammer Mjolnir as an attention-grabbing extra.

These covers will be extremely limited though, as only 40 pieces of each version will be made available when they go on sale later this year. The duo hasn’t confirmed when preorders will open up yet.

If that style isn’t to your liking and you’d prefer a more military-influenced wrap for your PS5, Sony did reveal a Gray Camouflage console cover this week alongside a similarly themed DualSense controller and Pulse 3D headset.

God of War: Ragnarok launches on November 9, and ahead of its release, the game’s UX designer has detailed the accessibility features that players can expect. Similar to The Last of Us Part 1 and Horizon: Forbidden West, God of War: Ragnarok will have options that makes the game more approachable for people, such as a high contrast mode, audio cues, captions, and much more.

Santa Monica Studio also showed off the new dwarven realm Svartalfheim in a short video recently, alongside some of the fearsome new combat abilities that Kratos will wield in battle.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News


At the Roblox Developers Conference (RDC), kicking off today at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, thousands of top 3D artists, programmers, builders, and content creators are gathering—in person and virtually on Guilded—to network and discover new ways to drive their success. 

RDC is also a great time for us to share the key technological innovations we’re building right now. As we accelerate our vision to reimagine the way people come together, we are constantly looking to open up new creative, social, and entrepreneurial possibilities for our global community—evolving our technology while always keeping our foundational commitments to the safety and privacy of our users. 

The highlights:

Creating Meaningful Connections

As our community continues to grow tremendously, to 58.5 million daily active users in more than 180 countries, one priority is enabling deeper, meaningful, more natural and more engaging forms of communication and connection. 

One example is making Chat on Roblox more dynamic so it functions similarly to how we connect in the physical world. People aged 13 and older can now speak with one another in voice-enabled experiences. The feature is built to mimic in-person conversations, and so is based on avatars’ proximity to each other—meaning you might whisper to a friend nearby or raise your voice to carry across a room. Since rolling out this feature, close to one million experiences have enabled voice communications.

Spacial voice on Roblox

And next year, people also will be able to use their webcam to express themselves in real-time through their avatars. Your camera will automatically map your facial movements as you speak, so your avatar can express how you’re feeling, adding a new layer of immersion and connection.

Later this year, knowing how much more fun Roblox is with friends, we’re adding a new, easy way for people to discover people they know on Roblox. This feature—which you opt into and can change back any time you like—will use phone contacts to enable connections and friend recommendations. 

Enabling Creativity Through Self-Expression

Avatars enable people to express themselves and their identity creatively, and we look to continue to support that in ways beyond communication. Millions of people come to the Marketplace every day to experiment with new looks and try on different personas—sometimes even multiple times a day. With the launch of Layered Clothing in April, we took self-expression to the next level, giving people even more ways to show off their style. One hundred fifteen million people have tried out Layered Clothing so far.

What we have planned next is bringing higher-fidelity human expression to avatars. In the coming weeks, we will be releasing Facial Animations in the Marketplace, allowing users to create avatars to convey a wide range of expressions that best fit your mood and better capture emotions and gestures.

At RDC, we’re showcasing our Animation Capture tools for bodies and faces, now available in Studio for developers to test in beta. The tools leverage our novel machine learning models and significantly cut down on the time and resources needed to create high-quality full-body and facial animations. Just by using their device’s camera, anyone can make professional-grade animations for avatars in minutes.

Building Tools to Create

Creation on Roblox often involves large teams working together seamlessly on megascale experiences. To better support that coordination, we’ve made a number of advancements to Studio, our free development software for building and publishing 3D content on Roblox. Studio now has a refreshed look and feel, and we’ve updated the interface with new features that allow creators to customize their workspace layout and collaborate with teammates with just one click.

Studio Refresh gif

We’ve also added several new features to Cloud including Place Publishing, Data Stores, and Cross-Server Messaging. With Cloud, our vision is to allow developers to access all their Roblox resources programmatically, via an API. Opening our cloud via these APIs will enable a rich ecosystem of tools that improve and allow incredible customization of creator workflows.

Providing an Engine for High-Fidelity 3D Experiences

We define a great engine as having four key traits: it’s fast; it’s reliable; it provides the capabilities developers need to bring their imaginations to life; and it keeps simple things easy and makes complex things possible. Our engine has always been designed with these traits in mind, and over the last year, we’ve made significant advancements to make it even better.

We’ve increased performance so developers can create larger, more immersive worlds without sacrificing framerate or stability. A major release was parallel scripting, which allows our Luau language to do lots of world computations simultaneously as opposed to sequentially.

Our materials system got a huge boost in capabilities as well. We’ve upgraded our material library so that, with a single click, developers can apply materials that look fantastic right out of the box with our new lighting system. These upgrades also provide advanced features for custom materials, making it easy for developers to achieve unique visual styles for their experiences.  

And we’re about to fully release our real-time CSG (constructive solid geometry) system. This will allow developers to build sophisticated modeling tools in experiences. For example, they could build a lathe that works in real-time to create a unique piece of virtual woodworking. 

Growing Your Community

We’re fortunate to have such a vibrant ecosystem of developers and creators from around the world bringing incredible 3D experiences to life on Roblox every day. To help them connect with a global audience of people who will value their content, we’re focused on innovating in a number of key areas.

The first is Discovery. Our goal is to make it easy for anyone to find the perfect experience for them. We use signals like engagement, retention, and monetization to personalize the recommendations we show, and we continuously invest to ensure new experiences find their audiences. As an example, as of July 31, 2022, approximately over 6% of the top 150 experiences on Roblox were created in the last 90 days. We expect to continue investing in Discovery for many years to come by applying more real-time signals to the model. 

In addition, to support the discovery of experiences, we’ll soon be introducing Experience Guidelines which offer age recommendations on Roblox. Experience Guidelines are meant to help users and their parents continue to make informed decisions about the content they interact with on the platform. The age recommendations are grounded in child development research and informed by industry standards. Parents will be able to use Parental Controls that restrict account access based on these age recommendations, ultimately deciding and managing what is appropriate for their children. 

Fostering a Vibrant Economy

Our platform drives immense economic opportunity, with 2.7 million people earning Robux from their creations in June 2022 and over $580 million in developer payouts via the Developer Exchange over the twelve months ending June 30, 2022. Now we’re providing more ways for our community to earn on Roblox—through Immersive Ads and Marketplace.

Knowing advertising will naturally exist in the metaverse just as it does in other parts of people’s lives, we plan to launch Immersive Ads next year. This is an innovative 3D advertising experience that will be clearly labeled as such and will be native to the platform. Brands and developers alike will be able to build never-before-seen ad experiences on Roblox, including portals that can seamlessly transport users back and forth between experiences. This will create new opportunities for developers to generate revenue and enable brands to reach their communities more effectively.

Another major focus is the Marketplace, which is quickly scaling toward becoming fully user-generated, with 90% of avatar items currently from the community. In the upcoming months, we’ll introduce new mechanics for our community to control the scarcity of their items and allow users to resell or trade items. With these systems in place, we envision a future where all items will be in limited supply and everybody can find the items they love in a marketplace that’s personalized to them.


Every announcement we’re making at this RDC is tied to the original vision David and his co-founder Erik Cassel had when they founded Roblox over fifteen years ago. We’re steadily moving toward an even more exciting future, in which billions of people come together to connect, create, and express themselves in the most creative ways. With constant innovations, including these to our avatar technology, our engine, and our virtual economy, we continue to make advances on realizing our vision of reimagining the way people come together.  

This world is ours for the making—together. The future isn’t one that will be built by us at Roblox, but by all of us—as one global community.

We’re grateful and excited to continue this journey with all of you. We look forward to the many thoughtful, inspiring conversations that will be happening at RDC this weekend and beyond.



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Apple products rarely receive meaningful discounts, but right now you can grab two of the company’s excellent laptops at 20% off their regular retail price. Best Buy is selling both the 14- and 16-inch models of the MacBook Pro for $400 less, which works out to $1,599 and $2,099 each, respectively.

For more Apple devices, you can also find some great deals on the latest iPad Mini models at Best Buy. A very capable and very portable tablet, the various Mini configurations have been discounted by $100, with prices ranging from $400 for the 64GB Wi-Fi model to $550 for the 256GB version.

In the audio department, you can grab the first-generation Apple AirPods Pro with a magsafe charging case for $200 at Best Buy, or you can preorder the upcoming Gen 2 AirPods Pro at Amazon for $250 ahead of its September 23 launch.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

Corsair has announced a new mechanical keyboard, which combines an ultra-slim design with wireless technology and durable materials. The Corsair K100 Air Wireless also comes equipped with dedicated media keys similar to its bigger and beefier wired K100 sibling, and you’ll be able to save up to 50 unique profiles on the keyboard.

Externally, it has an ultra-thin 17mm profile, aluminum frame, and Cherry MX RGB ultra low-profile tactile mechanical keys. What this means is that the keyboard resembles the low profile that you’d typically find on a laptop, but the acoustic feedback is similar to an MX Brown switch and creates a more subtle typing experience. This key setup is usually favored by office and content creators who want a quieter sound when typing and a smooth tactile bump when they press the keys. Basically, low-volume keys with a satisfying push experience.

Corsair K100 Air Wireless keyboard

Corsair says that the battery will last up to 50 hours from a full charge with RGB lighting activated. If you turn backlighting off, however, that number jumps to a whopping 200 hours. You’ll be able to seamlessly switch between wireless connections with the press of a key. Up to three device profiles can be saved, and the K100 Air is compatible with both PC and Mac. If you run out of juice while using the keyboard, you can utilize a wired connection with a detachable USB-C cable.

A number of the company’s other technologies have also been incorporated into the K100 Air Wireless, including Axon hyper-processing, Elgato Stream Deck software integration, and iCUE software.

Corsair’s K100 Air launches October 4. You’ll be able to purchase the keyboard directly from Corsair or at major retailers that carry Corsair products. Corsair hasn’t revealed the price yet, but expect it to align with other premium wireless keyboards.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

Disney’s D23 kicks off today, and ahead of a dedicated video game showcase focused on Marvel projects in development, it’s rumored that EA will unveil a solo Iron Man video game. As reported by Axios, the Iron Man project is rumored to be in the early stages of development.

An Axios source familiar with the project says it had still been in development recently at one of the company’s Canadian studios,” the report claimed. EA’s BioWare studio, the Red Crow mobile team, Motive Studios, and Metalhead Studio are some of the EA companies that reside in Canada. BioWare has some experience that would lend itself to an Iron Man game, as the studio’s short-lived Anthem was built around players piloting armored warsuits that were capable of flight.

EA Motive is responsible for Star Wars: Squadrons and is currently working on a remake of Dead Space, so if either studio is preparing to reveal an Iron Man project today, it’s safe to say that it won’t be arriving anytime soon. Iron Man has had a long history in video games, ranging from Sega’s poorly received tie-in games to the first two Iron Man films to the character’s appearance in Crystal Dynamics’ Marvel’s Avengers.

EA’s last trip into the Marvel universe was all the way back in 2005 with Rise of the Imperfects, a fighting game that pitted Marvel’s biggest heroes against a new team of supervillains known as The Imperfects. The game received mixed reviews at the time, although the cunning AI of enemy characters was seen as a highlight.

The Marvel video game showcase at D23 kicks off at at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET and will feature updates on Disney Dreamlight Valley, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, and other in-development projects. A sneak peek at the Marvel game being led by Amy Hennig and Skydance studio may have leaked early, as rumors suggest it will be a Captain America and Black Panther team-up set during World War II.

If other reports are true, EA will reveal not just an Iron Man game today but also an open-world Black Panther game that is in very early development.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News