Overwatch 2 Includes New Ping System So Your Teammates Will Move The Fricking Payload

Overwatch 2 will include a brand-new ping system designed to improve communication between teammates, letting them share enemy locations, communicate what they’re currently doing, and request assistance, among other commands.

Blizzard opted to include the ping system in order to make sure all players could have their voices heard–both literally and figuratively. Those unable to use voice chat, or who simply don’t want to, will still be able to convey information to their teammates and contribute to a win without having to worry bout using a mic or headset.

“The inspiration behind the ping system came from a value the Overwatch team holds dearly: Every Voice Matters. This is a core value at Blizzard, and the Overwatch team wanted to personify this value in the game,” Blizzard said in a blog post announcing the feature. The statement comes as there are continued investigations and lawsuits involving Blizzard regarding alleged harassment and mistreatment of women.

Overwatch 2’s ping system

The pings are contextual, similar to a few other military shooters, with your character providing different information depending on where you’re pointing when using the command. Rather than just say “enemy,” for instance, they can say the name of the character they see, giving everyone notice that Reaper is about to unleash havoc or that Widowmaker is sniping from a distance. This only applies to the character’s last-known location, however, so if they break your line-of-sight and flank you, they won’t stay marked.

A command wheel is available, as well, with notices that you need healing or that you’re planning to attack or defend a location. Teammates can then answer these pings with contextual lines. Not only will this give you more information, but it means you don’t have to yell out that you need healing 134 times before someone actually heals you. Maybe.

Overwatch 2 doesn’t yet have a release date, but the multiplayer portion will be free for those who own Overwatch and it will feature a premium campaign mode as well. Blizzard promises we’ll learn more about the game’s multiplayer “soon,” and the ping system is a work-in-progress tool that could change. A beta will hit PC in April, and the PvE content will release after the PvP content does.

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Latest Lost Ark Update Cracks Down On Bots, Adds Casual Guardian Raid Event

Lost Ark just received its second update of the month, and while this one doesn’t add new endgame content per se, it does give players more ways to earn upgrade materials while also cracking down on the MMO’s bot problem.

Many of the update’s new additions were already outlined earlier this month, when Amazon and Smilegate RPG said it was a “mistake” to release the game’s previous update so soon. The root of the problem stemmed from the Hunt for the Guardian Slayer update coming so quickly after the game’s launch, as it pressured many players to progress faster through the endgame faster to reach the new content, sometimes by resorting to spending real money to purchase upgrade materials.

To ease some of that pressure, the game’s latest update adds new ways for players to earn upgrade materials in the form of Casual Guardian Raids. Once per day, per roster, players can complete easier versions of some of the game’s Guardian Raid endgame encounters to earn a currency that can then be exchanged for different materials. Amazon and Smilegate are also giving all players a selection of gifts including legendary card packs, a Mokokon pet chest, and Moko-board chest to celebrate the game’s launch. In addition, players will receive multiple chests with a number of different gear upgrade materials to choose from.

Botting has been a major problem for Lost Ark, with the game’s various chat windows filled with gold-seller spam and automated farming bots hurting the game’s economy. This new update looks to take further action on the issue by reducing access to the game’s economy and social systems for accounts that have not reached “Trusted” status on Steam or Lost Ark.

“Players who have a Steam account in good standing and have met the small purchase requirement needed to use Steam’s social systems shouldn’t be impacted,” the patch notes read.

Accounts that have not reached “Trusted” status will have smaller daily Steam purchase limits, won’t be able to exchange Royal Crystals for Gold, can’t send in-game mail with attachments or in-game gifts, and won’t be able to initiate player-to-player trades (though they will still be able to receive trade offers). Amazon recently said it banned more than 1 million Lost Ark bot accounts since the game’s launch.

The March 24 update also kicks off the game’s first competitive PvP season, where players can battle it out in game-types like Team Deathmatch to improve their rating and receive rewards.

Lost Ark is still among the top-played games on Steam, having previously broken concurrent player records on the platform. Though there are currently no concrete plans, Amazon recently said the company would consider bringing Lost Ark to consoles if there is enough interest.

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Rainbow Six, Assassin’s Creed, And The Division Mobile Games Are Coming – Report

Ubisoft is developing a Rainbow Six mobile game, according to a report from Tom Henderson for Exputer. This will be Rainbow Six Siege Mobile, the report said, and it’s apparently in development at Ubisoft in collaboration with Tencent’s WeGame. Mobile games based on Assassin’s Creed and The Division are also reportedly in the works, though less information is known about these rumored projects.

The existence of a Tencent game with Ubisoft is no surprise, as Tencent said during its latest earnings report this week that it was working with Ubisoft on multiple new projects. The first of these is expected to launch in 2023.

The Exputer report said the Rainbow Six Siege mobile game will be revealed on April 6. GameSpot will report back with more details as they come to light.

Rainbow Six would be just the latest major franchise to make the jump to mobile, as Call of Duty, FIFA, Madden, Apex Legends, and many others have done before. It’s no surprise, as mobile is bigger and more lucrative than the console/PC space. Looking ahead, Rockstar is launching a mobile edition of GTA: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition later this year.

The report went on to say that Tencent will also help Ubisoft bring Assassin’s Creed and The Division to mobile through their own new games, which tracks with Tencent’s public disclosure that it is working with Ubisoft on multiple titles going forward. No details about these rumored projects are available.

Rainbow Six Siege has been one of Ubisoft’s biggest success stories in recent years. After debuting in 2015 to a mixed reaction, the game has been consistently and impressively supported over the years, and it now has more than 70 million players. GameSpot scored the game a rare 10/10 in our Rainbow Six Siege review.

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GTA Online Update Includes Bonuses For Console Players Only

Grand Theft Auto Online is finally a standalone game, and Rockstar wants to celebrate its release on next-gen consoles. While everyone will be able to claim some kind of bonus payout or pick up some vehicle at a discount this week, players on the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S specifically will have access to three pieces of featured content in GTA Online this week.

This week’s GTA Online update can be found on the Rockstar Newswire, but all of its most important details are below.

Next-gen benefits

PS5 and Xbox Series X players can test drive the brand-new Coil Cyclone II this week in GTA Online.

Anyone playing GTA Online on their PS5 or Xbox Series X|S will have a few exclusive pieces of content that put them in contact with the LS Car Meet’s gearhead, Hao. Starting with the Special Works Races he offers, anyone who participates will earn twice the cash and XP. Taking on Hao’s Time Trials are also paying out extra, with three times the cash and XP for anyone who succeeds, raising the mission’s total payout to a whopping $750,000.

Finally, anyone playing on the latest PlayStation or Xbox consoles can try out the Coil Cyclone II this week, a brand-new supercar.

Double rewards

Double Down pays out twice the usual cash and XP for all players until March 30.

GTA Online players on PC, PS4, or Xbox One this week will still be able to reap some decent rewards. Playing the game’s recently-added Double Down mode, which puts players in the shoes of Franklin and Lamar as they fend off waves of enemies, pays out twice the usual cash and XP until March 30. Likewise, completing any of Martin Madrazo’s contact missions, including his Dispatch Services, will result in the same two-times increase in paid-out cash and XP.

Discount cars

While Rockstar isn’t offering any freebies to GTA Online players this week, there are still a healthy number of discounts to take advantage of. Anyone who’s in the market for a new car, whether they want something low-key or high-end, should find something they want. A full list of this week’s GTA Online discounts can be found below.

Dinka RT3000 – 30% offPegassi Reaper – 30% offPfister Neon – 30% offBravado Gauntlet Hellfire – 30% offAnnis ZR350 – 25% offKarin Calico GTF – 25% offPfister Comet S2 – 20% offRead MoreGameSpot – Game News

Next Battlefield In Pre-Production, DICE Learned “Valuable Lessons” From Battlefield 2042 – Report

Pre-production has reportedly begun on the next Battlefield game, and will see the series revert to its familiar roots after changes introduced in Battlefield 2042 weren’t well-received.

According to a report on XFire–who previously suggested a free-to-play mode may be in development–developer DICE has learned “valuable lessons” from Battlefield 2042 and will no longer be using that game as the new foundation for the long-running FPS franchise. One former developer who recently departed from DICE after the launch of Battlefield 2042 had suggested that the next Battlefield was at one point being designed to be even more of a “hero shooter” style of game.

It’s claimed that recent playtest and feedback sessions were focused on the class system in Battlefield 2042, and this resulted in these plans being changed so that specialist roles will be tied more closely to classes. XFire also reported that the next Battlefield will be set in the modern-day or near future once again, as opposed to Battlefield 2042 which takes place several decades from now in a world where climate change has created a paradigm shift in society.

As for Battlefield 2042’s future, EA and DICE are still required to release new specialists, modes, weapons, vehicles, and maps as part of its battle pass obligations, which is being handled by a dedicated team within DICE.

It’s not known how the invasion of Ukraine will affect the development on the USA vs. Russia lore of Battlefield 2042, as EA recently removed Russia from several of its sports games and halted sales to the country and its ally Belarus.

In other Battlefield 2042 news, DICE released a patch earlier this month that added the first in a long list of legacy features to the game and the development team has been shaken up so that the brand can be grown. The latest entry in the Battlefield series failed to reach expectations for EA, but the company still recorded a record Q3 period last year.

GameSpot has contacted EA for comment, and we’ll update the post as soon as we hear back.

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Lost Ark For Console? If Fans Make Enough Noise, Amazon And Smilegate Would Consider It

Smilegate’s popular MMO Lost Ark is doing big numbers on PC, but could it ever come to console? Amazon Games boss Soomin Park said in new interview with VG247 that nothing is off the table.

If fans make a clamor for Lost Ark on console, then Amazon Games and Smilegate would consider that feedback and factor it into their plans. That said, there are no guarantees.

“If Lost Ark on consoles is something that fans really want, then I think it’s something both parties would consider!” Park said.

Amazon’s other recent big PC MMO release,New World, also released exclusively on PC with no plans to launch on console. Lost Ark’s FAQ page has an entry pertaining to possible other platforms. It says, “Will it only be on PC?” And the answer is, “Yes, Lost Ark is only available on PC.”

Smilegate’s other recent big release, CrossfireX, is available on console, so the South Korean studio has a history of supporting platforms outside of PC alone.

Lost Ark had about 450,000 peak concurrent players today on Steam, making it one of the most popular games on the platform. The game was originally released in South Korea years ago before coming to the West in February.

Park observed that there is an evolving trend of “globalization of content” across all forms of entertainment media, including video games. Park said Korean pop music and TV is also growing in popularity in the west, so it’s natural and expected that Korean games could thrive in other markets.

Not only that, but Park said Lost Ark fills a gap in terms of what gamers want.

“There’s also been a major gap in action role playing games–what Lost Ark does best is give fans of ARPGs what they crave while combining the richness of an a full MMO with social engagement and an ongoing end game experience. The game takes the best features of both those genres into highly compelling loops,” Park said.

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The Wolf Among Us 2 Doesn’t Assume You’ve Played The First One

The Wolf Among Us is coming back, but the long-awaited sequel apparently won’t lean too heavily on the original 2013 episodic adventure. According to an interview with Telltale CEO Jamie Ottilie in Edge magazine, as picked up by IGN, newcomers to the series will be able to play the upcoming sequel without catching up on the original.

“We strive to design our narratives so they can stand on their own,” Ottilie said. “We think the opening of the first episode sets things up in such a way that the player understands how the characters got where they are now.”

That isn’t to say that coming into the sequel without any knowledge of the first game will be the best way to experience The Wolf Among Us 2–in fact Ottilie has said that he hopes at least some new players will consider checking out the first season before jumping into the second– but just that newcomers will be able to “come in at this point and understand what’s going on.”

The Wolf Among Us series, based on the Fables comic series, has a tumultuous history, with a sequel originally being planned and then scrapped when Telltale Games shuttered in 2018. With the studio now under new management, The Wolf Among Us 2 is being developed from the ground up, rather than trying to revive the originally planned sequel. The new game is also scrapping the notoriously unwieldy Telltale Tool engine in favor of Unreal Engine.

The Wolf Among Us 2 is set six months after the events of the first season, with its narrative finding Bigby Wolf suspended from his position and sent to anger management, while helping deputy mayor Snow White keep Fabletown safe. Like the first game, TWAU 2 will also be released episodically through 2023, though Telltale Games is aiming to finish development on the full series before the first episode is released, to avoid delayed releases.

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AMD’s FSR 2.0 Will Be Supported On Xbox And Nvidia GPUs

AMD has shown off the next generation of its FidelityFX Super Resolution upscaling technology this week at GDC, announcing that the 2.0 upgrade will be available on a broad range of hardware, including Xbox consoles and Nvidia GPUs.

AMD’s FSR launched last June, offering similar performance upgrades to Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) tech, but without the requirement for dedicated machine learning hardware. The next generation of FSR is due to arrive in Q2 2022, bringing with it further performance upgrades and new supported devices, including Xbox consoles.

As part of its GDC keynote, AMD released a list of hardware that would work with FSD 2.0, including both AMD and Nvidia graphics cards. While FSD has lower hardware requirements thanks to avoiding the need for machine learning, it will still give the greatest benefit to gamers running relatively powerful GPUs.

To upscale for a 4K monitor, for example, AMD recommends a Radeon RX 5700 card or higher, or a Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 or higher. At 1080p resolution, the lowest recommended card is a Radeon RX 590, or GeForce GTX 1070. Like the initial version of FSR, the 2.0 update will support three different graphics modes–quality mode, Balanced mode, and performance mode.

AMD demoed the new technology at GDC using Deathloop, which is planned to be the first game to integrate FSD 2.0. While AMD hasn’t said if FSR 2.0 will be in the game as soon as the new version launches, it has also announced that Luminous Productions’ Forspoken will have FSR 2.0 available from its launch in October 2022.

For now, the details about FSD 2.0 on Xbox are few and far between, with AMD saying “we do not have a timeline today of when you can expect to see any Xbox games with FSR 2.0.” The company has said however that FSR will be “fully supported” on Xbox, and developers will be able to access it through the Xbox GDK.

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Monument Valley May Be Coming To PC Later This Year

Monument Valley is set to come to PC in 2022. The indie puzzle game launched in 2014–can you believe it’s been eight years–for iOS and Android mobile devices, before also releasing for Windows Phone in 2015.

Monument Valley director Jennifer Estaris revealed the announcement to MobileGamer.biz while talking about the upcoming third installment to the series. This new game does not currently have a release date, though it is being designed to tackle the ongoing climate crisis.

“I can’t say more about [the next Monument Valley], but what I can talk about is the nice side benefit of the experimentation we have been doing: the original Monument Valley is playing gorgeously on landscape and on PC–this experience is something we are hoping to release sometime this year,” Estaris said.

In Monument Valley, you play as Princess Ida, who journeys into a series of mazes composed of optical illusions in order to seek forgiveness for a past mistake. Its sequel, 2017’s Monument Valley II features the same illusion-based puzzles, but has a far more prominent story, one that focuses on two characters–a mother, Ro, and her child.

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CoD: Warzone Rebirth Island Easter Eggs: How To Get A Free Loadout And Specialist Token

Call of Duty Season 2 Reloaded is now live for Warzone, and this mid-season brings major map changes, a limited-time event, and new Easter eggs to reward you on Rebirth Island. Here’s how you complete the Easter eggs and earn the free loadout and Specialist Token during your next match on Rebirth Island.

Many areas of Rebirth Island have been updated with the new “reinforced” look with extra cover around the prison map. However, Easter egg hunter Geeky Pastimes has discovered not all areas have changed. Rebirth Island’s previous “Red Room” Easter egg location is now home to new Easter eggs.

How to get the free loadout drop

To complete the loadout drop Easter egg, you’ll want to start your match by heading into the downstairs “Red Room” of the Headquarters building. Inside is a keycard labeled as Vikhor’s keycard.

Vikhor’s keycard downstairs in Headquarters building

With the keycard in hand, head over to the island’s new Stronghold location. You’ll want to take the keycard to the large tower located at the back of Stronghold. Head inside the base of the tower to find a vault room filled with locked safety deposit boxes.

Stronghold tower’s vault room

One of the vault boxes lets you use Vikhor’s keycard to interact with it. Using the keycard here will award you with stacks of cash and a free loadout marker to call in a loadout drop on the map.

How to get the free Specialist Token

In the same Stronghold tower vault room, there is also a locked box that requires an item called the Forgotten keycard, which is an item found by visiting the Bio Weapons location on the map. You’ll need to head downstairs to the showers area of the building, and the keycard should be located on the floor near the sinks.

Forgotten keycard location in downstairs showers area of Bio Weapons

Take the keycard to Stronghold tower, and interact with the locked box in the vault that is labeled for the Forgotten keycard. This keycard presents even greater rewards than the Vikhor keycard, as this box will unlock to provide Specialist Tokens, which is the rare item that grants you with all perks in the game. This Easter egg will grant Specialist Tokens for each member of the squad and one free loadout drop marker.

Additionally, there is one more keycard still unaccounted for, as there is a Perseus keycard that is required for a third locked box in the room. This likely means there will be at least one more Easter egg and reward to uncover with this new version of Rebirth Island.

In addition to the Rebirth Island updates, Season 2’s mid-season update makes adjustments to Warzone’s parachutes, armor satchels, and gas mask animations. The new Armaguerra 43 submachine gun is also available to unlock with an in-game challenge.

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