Apex Legends Season 12, titled Defiance, introduces playable character Mad Maggie, a great Crypto buff, and a whole lot more. The season also begins with the debut of a brand-new limited-time mode called Control, which is composed of 9v9 objective-based matches. I got a chance to play Control at a preview event, and came away enjoying it. The new mode is far more chaotic than Apex Legends’ standard battle royale or Arenas modes but still brings the fun, and it deserves to be more than an LTM.

After three years, Apex Legends has evolved into a complicated beast that can be a bit off-putting to jump into if you’re new. Control feels like it addresses that shortcoming, creating a space to see why Apex Legends is so fun without the do-or-die pressure of a battle royale or challenging CS:GO-like rounds of Arenas. I walked away from Control thinking about what a shame it is that it’s only a limited-time mode–similar to battle royale and Arenas, there’s a potentially high skill ceiling to Control, but the initial learning curve is far more approachable.

“One of the goals [for Control] is to really streamline the experience so players can focus on combat and playing the objectives,” game designer David Swieczko said at a press event. “So we have things like infinite ammo, shield regen, and fast healing. We’ve done away with the bleed-out state too. So similar to [limited-time mode] Winter Express.”

Control reminds me of Titanfall 2’s Amped Hardpoint or Halo Infinite’s Strongholds. Two teams of nine spawn on opposite sides of a map, with three objective points located in between. Standing near an objective captures it for your team–the more objectives your side owns, the faster your team accumulates points. The first side to reach 1500 points wins. The matches I played were like hard-fought rounds of tug-of-war as each side scrambled for majority control of the map.

In Control, all you really have to worry about it capturing and holding zones–no need to loot or worry about lives.

And that’s all you really need to know. There are additional considerations, but they’re more so there for variety than complexity. “It’s a really light looting system,” Swieczko said. “The way you can gain new weapons is through our timed events, which occur every few minutes throughout the match. One of those is airdrops, which can have a rare chance of containing a better helmet or armor but are mostly focused on bringing in more ordinance and weapons. And the other timed event is the capture bonus event–that paints a target on one of the zones. If a team can control that zone until the timer runs out, they get a nice boost to their score.”

Ultimately, most of the complexity tied to Apex Legends’ battle royale and Arenas isn’t here. In Control, you have infinite respawns, there’s no need to loot (instead, there are predetermined loadouts that all players choose from), and body shields automatically recharge when outside of combat. Plus, you’re not limited to playing as a single character for an entire match–you can switch your legend every time you spawn in.

And yet, Control teaches you the fundamentals of Apex Legends. It feels incredible to pull off a stylish play with your character’s ultimate ability or upgrade your gear and feel your weapons firing with a bit more of a kick than they did before. And Control doesn’t make you work all that hard for these sensations, allowing you to enjoy them and see how using the right ability or finding the right attachment can lead to rewarding play. So when you go to battle royale or Arenas, you’ll understand how important legend abilities and gear upgrades are to Apex Legends’ gameplay.

You’ll have a healthy assortment of loadouts that you can switch between with every spawn.

“[A player’s personal] ratings are the way players can earn their ultimate [ability] and also upgrade their weapons,” Swieczko said. “So when you perform actions that benefit your team–like neutralizing or capturing objectives, or taking out enemies–you gain ratings for those actions. And when you reach a ratings tier threshold, your weapons evolve on the spot–if you have a starting blue-tier weapon, it’ll go to purple and you’ll get all the attachments that come along with that.”

Stripping Apex Legends of most of the mechanics and features you normally have to consider does decrease the level of necessary strategy that has brought me back to Apex Legends for 1,234 hours and counting (I love this game, okay?)–in a timeline where Control is a permanent mode, it’s not replacing battle royale for me. But removing all of that complexity means that the entire focus of Control is Apex Legends’ superb movement and gunplay mechanics. And stopping to just enjoy that, without having to scour for loot, is a relaxing (in relative terms–this is still a fast-paced first-person shooter) and welcome change of pace. For as long as the mode is live, I foresee Control acting as my go-to means of starting the evening and warming up before diving into Apex Legends’ battle royale.

“We’ve always tried to use our LTMs to give players unique gameplay experiences while also preserving the competitive nature of our core modes,” Apex Legends game designer Mark Yampolsky said. “We view them as an opportunity to try new ideas, whether that’s introducing players to new items or mechanics or even testing changes to our game meta. We knew from the get-go that we wanted Control to carve out space for casual play with Apex. We heard a lot of feedback from our players that even our non-Ranked cues can feel pretty sweaty at times.”

Like she is with Arenas, Rampart is far better suited to Control than battle royale.

I hope Control returns as a permanent mode following its conclusion (like Duos) or at least becomes a regularly occurring limited-time mode (like Shadow Royale or Winter Express). Respawn has no plans to make it permanent right now, but it sounds like the team is open to it depending on the playerbase’s reaction.

“It’s something we can explore in the future,” Swieczko said. “The decision is to keep it an LTM for now. It’s a very different way of playing Apex. We love it. And we’ve had a ton of fun with it internally. We really wanna see what the feedback is from players and how they engage with it.”

If Control were to ever return, the one aspect about it I’d hope to see changed is its maps. Control doesn’t have mode-exclusive maps; instead, it partitions off points-of-interests from existing maps (Olympus’ Hammond Labs and Storm Point’s Barometer). It’s serviceable for a limited-time mode, but it keeps Control from having its own identity. Right now, it feels like a temporary spin-off of the battle royale (which, admittedly, is exactly what it is). For Control to endure as a compelling mode that stands apart from the battle royale, it needs to follow Arenas’ lead and have its own maps that are specifically geared towards an objective-based team deathmatch as opposed to just a battle royale hot-drop location.

Between the two maps, I enjoyed playing Control far more on Barometer than Hammond Labs.

The problem, of course, is that doing so would take development time and resources away from battle royale and Arenas support. “As of right now, we are just putting Control maps inside of the [battle royale] maps,” Yampolsky said. “We think there’s an awesome amount of experiences there we can deliver within that constraint. That’s what we really want to explore first. And, you know, at the end of the day, when we’re not building Control-exclusive maps, that’s resources that we can put towards making bigger and better map updates.”

So Control’s future is a little bit up in the air right now. Better to be safe than sorry and just play it when it goes live–there have been incredible limited-time modes that Respawn has never brought back (like Déjà Loot and Ring Fury), so don’t automatically count on Control’s return. It’s a fantastic on-ramp for folks looking to understand why Apex Legends is such a superb experience or simply wanting to take a break from the far more intense battle royale and Arenas modes. Control will go live in Apex Legends at the start of Season 12 on February 8 and remain in the game for three weeks.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

2021 was a massive year for the gaming industry, as unprecedented growth, new technologies, and the first year of next-gen consoles were all headline-grabbing developments. The year was also dominated by some of the deepest pockets in the industry scooping up some of the best studios, publishers, and intellectual properties under their brands.

Those acquisitions have resulted in seismic shifts in the gaming industry–ones where it’s not beyond the realm of possibility to hear of a new mega-deal that sees billions of dollars paid out to own a big-name studio. All throughout 2021–and in the first month of 2022 alone–gigantic deals have gone down, making it a fascinating time to be a fan of the gaming industry. If you’re looking for a recap on just how much has changed recently, we’ve created a quick timeline on the major events that have gone down over the last year-plus.

Microsoft goes on a buying spree

Just over two decades ago, the idea of Microsoft venturing into the gaming space was unheard of. These days, however, the Xbox division is a core part of Microsoft’s identity, and one that the company has invested heavily in over the years. No stranger to studio acquisitions, Microsoft had already added the likes of Double Fine, Minecraft maker Mojang, and several other studios to its portfolio in a major push to develop Xbox-exclusive games.

In 2020, Microsoft came out guns blazing with its next round of acquisitions, as it bought ZeniMax Media, the parent company of famed video game publisher powerhouse Bethesda Softworks. By March 2021, that $7.5 billion deal was officially complete, and Microsoft now had some of the finest IPs working under the Xbox Game Studios brand. While Bethesda’s various games and studios were no doubt valuable assets, ZeniMax’s cloud gaming technology shouldn’t be overlooked.

Originally revealed at E3 2019, Bethesda said at the time that the patented cloud streaming SDK known as Orion would allow games to run at “max settings” with minimal bandwidth usage. Combine that technology with Microsoft’s push to make Xbox an experience that’s playable on mobile devices through its own cloud gaming initiative, and the ZeniMax purchase made that much more sense. Microsoft didn’t just gain a rich library of IPs to add to its console and popular Xbox Game Pass service; it acquired the technology to one day make those titles accessible on more than just consoles and PC.

Fast forward to January 2022, and in its biggest flex yet, Microsoft announced plans for a $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard were underway. While that deal may only be concluded next year–provided that it’s approved by regulatory bodies–it’s another example of Microsoft being more than prepared to invest heavily in its future by securing some of the biggest IPs currently in existence, and the talented staff to go along with them.

Every First-Party Xbox Game Studio

Sony’s Destiny

The last generation of gaming is one where Sony operated in peak form thanks to its first-party studios. A few years into the life-cycle of the PS4, a PlayStation Studios-branded game carried an air of quality and prestige that elevated it above its competition. That ethos has remained steady in the first year of the PS5 era, but it’s now a part of a more ambitious strategy by a company that has largely focused on quality single-player experiences.

Throughout 2021, Sony got the ball rolling with acquisitions of PC port developer Nixxes Software, Returnal studio Housemarque, The Playroom’s Firesprite Studios, God of War support studio Valkyrie Entertainment, and Bluepoint Games, the studio responsible for its well-received remakes of classic games such as Demon’s Souls. In January 2022, Sony opened up its wallet once more and announced that an acquisition of Destiny 2 developer Bungie was underway. Despite the conspicuous timing, coming shortly after the Activision Blizzard news, Sony’s Bungie deal had already been months in the making.

Sony’s not done buying studios yet, and it has specifically signaled an intent to dive heavily into live-service games like Destiny. The company is equipped with some of the best people and resources to focus on a digital strategy that revolves around its trademark single-player games, quality remakes, virtual reality games for its upcoming PSVR 2 hardware, and an aggressive push into live-service territory with multiple new games in that space.

A Look At PlayStation’s Games And Studios

Embracer makes a few moves of its own

Over in Europe, Embracer Group has been on an acquisition tear as of late. The Swedish video game holding company operated by Lars Wingefors has dozens of internal studios and eight groups responsible for multiple subsidiaries, making it a force to be reckoned with in the gaming industry. Each group has its own operations, subsidiaries, and development studios. One of its most notable acquisitions was Gearbox Software in early 2021, the studio famous for the Borderlands series and multiple other popular series.

Since then, Embracer’s acquisitions have been modest but frequent, all organized under the likes of sub-parent companies such as THQ Nordic, Koch Media, and more. Aspyr, 3D Realms, and Asmodee all joined Embracer Group throughout 2021, and Dark Horse Entertainment added some powerhouse comic book IPs to the company in December 2021. While it has a major global presence and studios all over the world, Embracer Group has established itself as one of the biggest names in the European gaming market.

Here come new challengers

Electronic Arts is synonymous with several genres of games, but racing is one area where the company was arguably in need of a refresh. Need for Speed as a franchise was being consistently lapped by its competitors, so EA’s move was to simply buy out some of its competition. With Codemasters officially acquired in 2021, EA now has access to not only some of the best talent in the racing game genre, but also some of the best properties. F1 and Dirt are very different in terms of racing sub-genres, but they’re still wildly entertaining franchises that regularly fire on all cylinders.

Codemasters also has other IPs to offer, and here’s hoping that EA recognizes that a new iteration of Brian Lara Cricket would be most welcome right now.

As for everyone else, you can’t discount Facebook parent company Meta grabbing a number of VR studios for its Quest headsets, Tencent making a number of smaller but vital purchases, and NetEase cutting to the chase by attracting some of Sega’s best talents to form an entirely new studio under it. If you can’t acquire the studio, you can certainly acquire the right people to make games for you.

As for the future, anything’s possible in an industry where even Wordle–everyone’s favorite vocabulary-themed brain-teaser–was recently sold. Sony is still planning to bolster its first-party inventory with more studio purchases, Microsoft has become an expert in surprise deals, and other big tech companies might be looking to grab a slice of the action before it’s too late.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

If the recent spate of NFT-related announcements quickly followed by NFT-related apologies are any indication, video game publishers (not to mention voice actors) are going to have a hard time convincing their target audience to accept “play-to-earn” mechanics. But that doesn’t mean game industry execs aren’t eager to hop on the bandwagon, even in light of environmental concerns. In fact, despite the backlash that basically every NFT announcement has received, some publishers still appear eager to incorporate NFTs into their games.

With game companies expressing a range of thoughts on the future of NFTs in the games industry–from Ubisoft’s early adopter enthusiasm to Microsoft’s cautious skepticism–we’ve rounded up the public statements from major game publishers and developers on the topic. If you’re just curious about what NFTs are, this video is a great place to start.

Ubisoft

So far, Ubisoft is the only major publisher to actually incorporate NFTs into one of its games, adding Digits, in-game cosmetic items with unique serial numbers, to its 2019 live-service shooter Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint. In December, the French publisher started its Ubisoft Quartz initiative, which it says is “for players, and players only.” That means that only buyers who also own Ghost Recon Breakpoint can earn, buy, and resell Digits at Rarible.com or Objkt.com, Ubisoft’s two officially approved resellers. The full list of requirements stipulates that players play the game on Ubisoft Connect on PC, reach XP level 5, have activated 2-factor authentication with Ubisoft Connect, be at least 18 years old, and be located in and a resident of one of the eligible territories. As a result, very few people have engaged with Ubisoft’s NFTs at all, with a total volume of less than $1000 (256.49 Tezos) in sales on Objkt.com, for example, as of February 4.

Despite the low sales and overwhelmingly negative fan response, Ubisoft has doubled down on NFTs. CEO Yves Guillemot reiterated his commitment to implementing the technology in December, and in late January, Nicolas Pouard, vice president at Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovations Lab, and Didier Genevois, the company’s blockchain technical director, discussed the fan response in an interview with Finder. Pouard faulted players for failing to understand the appeal of NFTs.

“Well, it was a reaction we were expecting. We know it’s not an easy concept to grasp,” Pouard said. “But Quartz is really just a first step that should lead to something bigger. Something that will be more easily understood by our players. That’s the way we think about it and why we will keep experimenting. We will keep releasing features and services around this first initiative. And our belief is that, piece by piece, the puzzle will be revealed and understood by our players. We hope they will better understand the value we offer them.”

As it stands, Ubisoft is inarguably the industry’s biggest booster of NFTs. While other companies have stated their plans to become involved, expressed interest, or reneged after a backlash, Ubisoft has created and sold NFTs and, despite outcry, remains committed to continuing to sell NFTs.

GameStop

On February 3, GameStop announced plans to partner with Immutable, an Australian cryptocurrency company, to create a $100 million fund in Immutable’s IMX tokens intended to fund grants for creators of NFT content and technology. The two entities are also planning to launch their own crypto marketplace later this year. Upon achieving certain milestones, the terms of the deal dictate that Immutable will give GameStop as much as $150 million in IMX tokens. Overall, this seems like a big bet on the blockchain from a brick-and-mortar retailer that has struggled to keep up with an increasingly digital marketplace.

Square Enix

In “A New Year’s Letter from the President” posted to Square Enix’s website on January 1, president and representative director Yosuke Matsuda expressed an eagerness to incorporate blockchain and/or NFT technology into future releases but stopped short of detailing specific plans. In the wide-ranging letter, Matsuda expressed cautious excitement about the future of NFTs, writing:

I see 2021 not only as “Metaverse: Year One,” but also as “NFTs: Year One” given that it was a year in which NFTs were met with a great deal of enthusiasm by a rapidly expanding user base. However, we do observe examples here and there of overheated trading in NFT-based digital goods with somewhat speculative overtones, regardless of the observed value of the content provided. This, obviously, is not an ideal situation, but I expect to see an eventual right-sizing in digital goods deals as they become more commonplace among the general public, with the value of each available content corrected to their true estimated worth, and I look for them to become as familiar as dealings in physical goods.

Matsuda seemed to enthusiastically embrace the idea of incorporating “play-to-earn” mechanics into future Square Enix games.

I realize that some people who “play to have fun” and who currently form the majority of players have voiced their reservations toward these new trends, and understandably so. However, I believe that there will be a certain number of people whose motivation is to “play to contribute,” by which I mean to help make the game more exciting. Traditional gaming has offered no explicit incentive to this latter group of people, who were motivated strictly by such inconsistent personal feelings as goodwill and volunteer spirit.

Alongside the environmental impacts associated with cryptocurrency, the incorporation of play-to-earn mechanics is one of the chief reasons players object to NFTs. Rather than playing games because they have artistic merit, provide an opportunity to connect with friends, offer an escape from daily stresses, or, you know, are fun, play-to-earn mechanics have the potential to increasingly transform playing games into something to monetize. Instead of a hobby, gaming could become a job or, at least, a side hustle. Given the games industry’s embrace of loot boxes and in-game real money marketplaces, many players are wary of publishers adding more methods with which they can extract money from their customers.

Nintendo

On February 3, Nintendo expressed interest in NFTs and the Metaverse during a Q&A session after the publication of recent financial results. The company said, per analyst David Gibson, “We do have interest in this area, we feel the potential in this area, but we wonder what joy we can provide in this area and this is difficult to define right now.”

Q) How think about metaverse and NFT?
A) We do have interest in this area, we feel the potential in this area, but we wonder what joy we can provide in this area and this is difficult to define right now (hey Facebook etc take note!!) 8/

— David Gibson (@gibbogame) February 3, 2022

Gibson later clarified that Nintendo was primarily discussing its stance toward the metaverse.

EA

On an earnings call last November, Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson called NFTs the “future of the industry.” But, more recently, Wilson stated that the publisher was not “driving hard” on implementing the blockchain into future games. That slight pivot may be a reaction, on Wilson’s part, to the negative reaction with which NFT announcements have been met.

Xbox

Xbox boss Phil Spencer hasn’t ruled out offering NFTs in the future, but in an interview with Axios, he expressed skepticism about the technology in its current state.

“What I’d say today on NFT, all up, is I think there’s a lot of speculation and experimentation that’s happening, and that some of the creative that I see today feels more exploitive than about entertainment,” Spencer said.

“I don’t think it necessitates that every NFT game is exploitive. I just think we’re kind of in that journey of people figuring it out…. And I can understand that, early on, you see a lot of things that probably are not things you want to have in your store…. I think anything that we looked at in our storefront that we said is exploitive would be something that we would, you know, take action on. We don’t want that kind of content.”

Konami

Outside of re-releases, Konami doesn’t publish as many games as it used to, but the house that Castlevania built celebrated the 35th anniversary of its beloved vampire-slaying series in a way guaranteed to make at least a portion of the audience unhappy. In January, the Japanese publisher marked the landmark occasion by selling NFTs of Castlevania-related pixel art, videos, and music on OpenSea, an NFT auction site.

Team 17

On January 31, indie publisher Team17–best known as the developer of the Worms series, and the publisher of Overcooked–announced it would partner with Reality Gaming Group on a “generative NFT art project” called MetaWorms. The website featured a 3D image of a glittery worm holding a Holy Hand Grenade. The NFTs were not planned for inclusion in future Worms games and would have been sold separately, unlike Ubisoft’s Digits, which were implemented into, and required users to own, Ghost Recon Breakpoint.

Team17’s announcement was met with an intensely negative response, both from fans and from developers who have worked with the publisher in the past.

sigh pic.twitter.com/I4PIQB6o1H

— AGGRO CRAB (@AggroCrabGames) January 31, 2022

Aggro Crab, an indie developer that partnered with Team17 on its 2020 roguelike Going Under, released a strongly worded statement condemning Team17’s decision.

“Needless to say, we will not be working with them on further titles,” the statement said, “and encourage other indie developers to do the same unless this decision is reversed.”

Overcooked developer Ghost Town Games tweeted something similar (albeit less aggro) to its official Twitter account.

pic.twitter.com/t9RwesTp33

— Overcooked 🍽 (@Overcookedgame) February 1, 2022

“We at Ghost Town Games just wanted to reassure you all that Overcooked (and any of our future games) will never engage with NFTs,” read the statement. “We don’t support NFTs. We think they carry too great an environmental and social cost.”

Similarly, Playtonic, developer of the Yooka-Laylee games, both of which were published by Team17, dismissed the prospect of using NFTs at any time.

“We have no interest in utilising NFT’s in any aspect of our business now or in the future,” Playtonic said. “Nor do we endorse the use of NFT’s [sic] in the wider world.”

The Game Kitchen, which partnered with Team17 on its game Blasphemous, put out a similar statement, which read, “In light of recent announcements, we consider it necessary to state that The Game Kitchen does not support or endorse NFTs, so we will never be utilising them in our games [sic].”

All four developers encouraged their fans to be kind to Team17 community managers, who are often on the receiving end of harassment for decisions made above their heads.

SMG Studio, which worked with Team17 on Moving Out, put out a similar statement, but went further, stating: “P.S. During the pandemic we have had time to reconsider our impact as a studio on the environment. In a conscientious effort to reduce landfill we won’t be doing any future merchandise, any physical editions of SMG’s own IP games and if attending events, a reduced booth presence. No more ‘stuff’ that’s gonna end up in the bin the next day. No one needs an SMG Tshirt. We’ll also be carbon offsetting the company’s footprint to the best of our ability from 2022 onwards.”

Team17 walked the decision back on February 1, less than 24 hours after its initial announcement. In a statement on the official company Twitter, Team17 said, “Team17 is today announcing an end to the MetaWorms NFT project. We have listened to our Teamsters, development partners, and our games’ communities, and the concerns they’ve expressed, and have therefore taken the decision to step back from the NFT space.”

GSC Game World

On December 15, Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl developer/publisher GSC Game World announced that its eagerly anticipated post-apocalyptic shooter would incorporate NFTs. GSC Game World’s plan was to auction of the right to become a “metahuman,” meaning the opportunity to go to GSC Game World’s offices for a “detailed scanning procedure.” Then a highly detailed NPC based on the owner’s likeness would be put into the game. GSC Game World quickly canceled the plans, tweeting on December 17: “Dear Stalkers, we hear you. Based on the feedback we received, we’ve made a decision to cancel anything NFT-related in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. The interests of our fans and players are the top priority for the team. We’re making this game for you to enjoy–whatever the cost is. If you care, we care too.”

pic.twitter.com/mffnmpiQiw

— S.T.A.L.K.E.R. OFFICIAL (@stalker_thegame) December 16, 2021

Sony

While Sony has not attempted to incorporate NFTs into any of its games, other divisions of the company have already rolled out NFTs. The Japanese company partnered with AMC to offer NFTs to fans who preordered tickets for Spider-Man: No Way Home. Meanwhile, Sony Music teamed up with Pinkfong to mint a line of “Baby Shark”-themed NFTs. Still, there’s no indication that Sony plans to incorporate NFTs into its video games.

Behaviour Interactive

One of the earliest examples of a major developer getting involved with NFTs, Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive worked with a company called Boss Protocol last October to create tie-in NFTs featuring the game’s model of Hellraiser’s Pinhead. As Behaviour put it in a tweet at the time: “Behaviour worked with Boss Protocol over several months to adapt in-game models for use as NFTs and approved them prior to the release of Pinhead in DbD. The NFTs have a chance to grant access to the #Hellraiser chapter of DbD.” No content was locked behind the NFTs, but fan reaction was still overwhelmingly negative.

Take-Two

Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two, the parent company of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2 publisher Rockstar Games, is a big fan of NFTs. That’s perhaps unsurprising given GTA Online’s business model, which is heavily dependent on microtransactions.

“If you believe in collectible physical goods, I don’t know why you wouldn’t believe in collectible digital goods. And blockchain authorization, which is what an NFT really is, is one way–not the only way–to authenticate the fact something is singular, is rare,” Zelnick told GamesIndustry.biz.

“So I’m a big believer, but what I don’t believe is that just because something is digital or an NFT that it suddenly has value and/or has value that will be increased in the future. And I think that’s the problem. NFTs, because they’re related to the blockchain as currently contemplated and because some have gone for a lot of money, are seen by some as just another opportunity to invest in a speculation that some think will only go up. And speculations don’t just go up; they come down to… For an NFT to be valuable and durable, it has to be found at the intersection of rarity and quality, of rarity and value. And there’s rarity for sure in all NFTs, but I’m not sure there’s value.”

Zelnick may be a big fan, but he hasn’t indicated that Take-Two will incorporate NFTs into future games.

Peter Molyneux

Peter Molyneux, known for his work on games like Fable and Black and White, announced in December that his company 22cans is partnering with Gala Games, which claims on its website to make “blockchain games you’ll actually want to play,” on an NFT game called Legacy. Molyneux previously announced the game in 2019 but has reworked it to take advantage of blockchain technology. It’s the only game we’ve seen so far from a major developer that actually requires players to purchase NFTs in order to play.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

The release of Valve’s Steam Deck is just around the corner, ushering in a new age of handheld PC gaming on February 25. However, while the device is designed to be portable, it may actually be considerably larger than you think.

In a photo posted to Twitter by gaming YouTuber Cary Golomb (ThePhawx), he presents the Steam Deck next to a PlayStation Vita, and the size difference is rather staggering. As a matter of fact, the handheld PC is nearly double the width of the Vita.

Vita means life #SteamDeck pic.twitter.com/xitnkv4WqV

— Cary Golomb (@carygolomb) February 4, 2022

Golomb goes on to showcase various other handhelds alongside the Steam Deck, including a Nintendo Switch OLED model, which is once again smaller than Valve’s new device.

Here’s the #steamdeck next to the Switch OLED. pic.twitter.com/kbGF9exbe0

— Cary Golomb (@carygolomb) February 4, 2022

Even a Wii U controller, though a bit bulkier in design, is ultimately smaller than the Steam Deck.

#SteamDeck next to a Wii U Controller pic.twitter.com/5v2OZUVv4R

— Cary Golomb (@carygolomb) February 4, 2022

The full Twitter thread shows Golomb comparing plenty of other devices in an attempt to find something that comes close to matching the Steam Deck’s massive profile, which clocks in at 11.7 inches long, 4.6 inches tall, and 1.8 inches thick. Without a doubt, though, the Steam Deck beats them all.

The Steam Deck’s size remains the same regardless of which of its three versions you buy, though each upgrade offers a step up in internal storage. Early impressions regarding the device have been largely positive despite its large profile, and it appears that comfort shouldn’t be much of an issue for most buyers. If you want to learn more, here’s everything we know about the Steam Deck ahead of its February 25 launch.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

As part of Activision Blizzard’s latest earnings report this week, the company gave an update on how its various business are performing, and Call of Duty sales on PC and console came up short. The company confirmed this while also teasing plans for “new, unannounced” Call of Duty games (more on that later).

The publisher said “net bookings,” which is a measurement of the net amount of products and services sold digitally and physically, declined year-over-year for the Call of Duty series on console and PC during the fourth quarter. The publisher attributed the downturn to “lower premium sales” for Call of Duty: Vanguard compared to the same quarter in 2020 with Black Ops Cold War. Additionally, Call of Duty: Warzone saw “lower engagement” during Q4, which negatively impacted results, Activision Blizzard said.

All of that said, Activision Blizzard said “in-game player investment” on console and PC for Call of Duty stayed “well above” the levels it reached following the launch of Warzone in March 2020. And as a further point of context, even though Vanguard sales were down compared to Black Ops Cold War, Vanguard was the best-selling game in the US during 2021.

While total Call of Duty sales on console and PC might have been lower than same period last year, Call of Duty: Mobile was a bright spot. Its own net bookings grew year-over-year, thanks in part to results from China. Call of Duty: Mobile total net bookings for 2021 “grew strongly,” exceeding $1 billion worldwide.

In other Call of Duty news, Activision also confirmed that 2022’s new game will be developed by Infinity Ward, which will also lead the work being done for 2022’s new Warzone experiences. “The team is working on the most ambitious plan in franchise history, with industry-leading innovation and a broadly appealing franchise setting,” Activision said.

While not confirmed yet, it’s rumored that 2022’s Call of Duty is a sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare and will focus on Colombian drug cartels.

Finally, Activision said in its earnings release that it continues to add headcount to its Call of Duty development teams around the world to contribute to the franchise’s “ongoing live operations.” These teams are also working on “new, unannounced” games in the Call of Duty universe.

Despite Microsoft’s proposal to buy Activision Blizzard, the Call of Duty series will continue to be released on rival platforms, including PlayStation, at least for the foreseeable future.

Outside of Activision, rival shooter Battlefield 2042 missed its own sales targets, Electronic Arts announced this week.

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Genshin Impact developer MiHoYo has announced that the game’s Version 2.5 update will launch on February 16. Titled “When the Sakura Bloom”, this new chapter will feature Yae Miko as a 5-star character, a challenging exploration event in Enkanomiya that has its own unique gameplay mechanics, and story quests for Raiden Shogun and Yae Miko.

You can see all of that and more, in the trailer below.

The new seasonal event “Three Realms Gateway Offering” will take place in an area based on Enkanomiya. Once players enter this area, they’ll continuously accumulate corrosive darkness and can only resist the energy with a Bokuso Box that will be given to them as part of the event. Three Realms Gateway Offering will last for the entirety of Version 2.5 and some of its best rewards include Primogems and the new 4-star catalyst weapon, Oathsworn Eye.

In addition to the new content listed above, Genshin Impact will also add new Trounce Domain enemies and a chance to create your own domain. If you’re unfamiliar with these locales, domains are small but challenging dungeons that contain various rewards within their structures. Some of them contain valuable Primogem prizes, others will offer Adventure Experience Points for surviving the challenge, and others have rare materials up for grabs.

Yae Miko, Genshin Impact’s new 5-star character

If you’re just getting started in Genshin Impact, you can check out our complete beginner’s guide for everything you need to know.

Alternatively, we have some handy guides available for experienced adventurers such as a feature on the Fleeting Colors event and how to get a free Liyue 4-star character. You can also check out our complete Genshin Impact character list or our Genshin Impact combat guide.

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Techland’s new open-world zombie game Dying Light 2 Stay Human is out now, and it is performing very well on PC based on player numbers. On Steam, where player data is publicly available, we can see that Dying Light 2 has reached a peak concurrent player record of 169,287 on launch day.

That made it Steam’s fifth biggest game based on player numbers, only trailing the free-to-play games Apex Legends, PUBG, Dota 2, and CS: Go. For comparison, the original 2015 Dying Light had an all-time peak concurrent record of 45,876, so the sequel is far outpacing it already.

Dying Light 2 is also available on PlayStation and Xbox consoles, but player data for those platforms is not available. A Nintendo Switch version of the game is coming later this year.

GameSpot’s Dying Light 2 Stay Human review-in-progress scored the game a 6/10. For more, check out what other critics across the internet think.

And if you’re just getting started with Dying Light 2, you might be interested in checking out GameSpot’s guides and other related content, linked below.

Dying Light 2 Stay Human Guide: Beginner’s Tips And Best TricksDying Light 2 Crafting Guide: Mods, Resources, And How To Upgrade WeaponsDying Light 2 Fast Travel: How And When You Can Start Using ItDying Light 2 Faction Upgrades: What Are They And Which Ones Are BestRead MoreGameSpot – Game News

Bungie just detailed some huge weapons changes for Destiny 2 coming with The Witch Queen, all of which are going to make Exotics even more useful with the coming expansion. Make the most of the changes with a visit to Xur for new Exotic weapons and armor, plus some Legendaries you might want to take into the expansion along with them. Here’s where you can find Xur this week and what’s in his inventory.

Xur arrives with the daily reset on Friday, so we’ll update this article as soon as he lands in the solar system.

Xur is present every weekend in Destiny 2, starting with the daily reset at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET each Friday. His exact location is always a mystery when he first arrives, as he is not listed on the map, and for novice players, he can be easy to miss. However, there are a set number of locations where he takes up residence, including the Tower Hangar area, on Nessus in Watcher’s Grave, and in the Winding Cove area of the EDZ.

Alongside changes in his location, Xur’s inventory also rotates weekly. That means it’s worth visiting him each time to check out his new weapons and rolls on Exotic and Legendary armor. You can visit him any time between his arrival Friday and the weekly reset at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET the following Tuesday when Xur departs the solar system.

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This week’s Bungie news post centered on weapon changes and new features arriving with Destiny 2 The Witch Queen, and one of these features is unique weapon traits called Origin Traits. New weapons in the expansion and returning weapons will have a third column for this trait, however, Origin Traits will not apply to weapons that dropped prior to The Witch Queen expansion.

Bungie shared a list of four Origin Traits players will see in the game:

Alacrity: This trait applies to Trials of Osiris weapons. Alacrity grants increased stability, aim assist, range, and reload speed when the player is the last one standing in the fireteam. It also applies to solo players, which includes players running solo in Lost Sectors and Rumble.Stunning Recovery: For Nightfall Strikes, this trait regenerates 60 health instantly and improves recovery for three seconds after stunning a Champion.One Quiet Moment: Gives +40 reload speed if the player hasn’t taken damage in four seconds in a Crucible match.Vanguard’s Vindication: Final blows with the weapon gives the player seven health in Strikes.

Certain Origins Traits can be used in multiple game modes depending on the activity. Bungie gives an example saying that “Nightfall weapons can select between Nightfall and Vanguard traits. Trials of Osiris weapons can select between Trials and Crucible traits.” However, Season 16’s Pursuit weapon, a shotgun called The Reckless Endangerment, can choose between Crucible, Gambit, and Vanguard traits.

The Witch Queen will launch with 14 Origin Traits, with more traits getting added for a future raid, dungeon, Seasonal event, and one in Season 17. Bungie also mentioned that older weapons from an existing raid or Seasonal weapons may get an Origin trait of their own.

Weapon Foundry Origin Traits

Bungie will bring back early Destiny vibes by centering the loot pool around Häkke, Omolon, Suros, and Veist foundries–including one for the Vanguard, Gambit, and Crucible activities, and from foundries yet to be revealed. All of these weapons will come with another set of Origin Traits that play to the Foundries’ strengths.

These Foundry Origin Traits are:

Häkke Breach Armaments: The Häkke weapon does +15% damage to vehicles, and +30% to barricades and turrets. Stasis crystals and Stasis turrets take increased damage as well.Omolon Fluid Dynamics: The trait gives the Omolon weapon a maximum of +20 stability and +30 reload speed for the first half of the magazine.Suros Synergy: Reloading the Suros weapon gives +40 handling, and adds 20% flinch resistance for six seconds.Veist Stinger: Damage can partially refill the magazine of a Veist weapon.

These Origin Traits and Foundry Origin Traits may affect the player’s choice of weapon or method of crafting since weapons can be customized to suit their playstyle or needs. Bungie also detailed all the basic information about the weapon crafting system that players will get to try out in the first few missions of The Witch Queen when it launches on February 22.

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“Big Buizel, Little Buizel” is one of the most frustrating requests in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, mostly because of how simple it seems yet how tedious it can actually be. It doesn’t help that it’s one of the earliest requests in the game.

Dorian, a red-robed guardsman, asks the player for a Buizel taller than his. What makes it complicated is that he doesn’t say exactly how tall his Buizel is. Plus, it’s difficult to pinpoint an oversized one on sight. Here’s what you need to do to complete the “Big Buizel, Little Buizel” request.

Where to find Big Buizel, Little Buizel request

Dorian should be outside the gate to the lake

Dorian wears a red samurai-like robe and a straw hat like many of the default NPCs throughout the game. He should be standing just outside of Jubilife Village next to his partner, Buizel. It’s the gate leading out to the lake, not the front gate leading to the different excursion regions.

The “Big Buizel, Little Buizel” quest should appear early in the game, right after you pass the test to join the Survey Corps. Just look for the little quest marker above Dorian’s head.

What is a Big Buizel?

What a Buizel summary should look like. Sadly, he’s not tall enough.

Some might think “big Buizel&” means “alpha Buizel,&” but that’s not the case. Alphas are the biggest Pokemon in the game. Big simply means big–or at least taller than Dorian’s Buizel.

Each Pokémon has a different height and weight recorded in its summary. That being said, it’s inconveniently difficult to know a “big” Buizel when you see it. What might seem like an average-sized Buizel might actually be larger than average if you don’t have a small one for comparison. So just keep catching Buizel until you have one that’s 2’8″ or taller. You can check a Pokemon’s height and weight on the first page of their summary.

Where to find Buizel

Just one place to find Buizels across the bridge after reaching one-star rank

Buizel can be found near the rivers in Obsidian Lands. Warning: These feisty water weasels attack on sight! They appear in the first area of the map before the bridge (before your first star) as well as across the bridge. If you search across the bridge, be careful not to engage with the alpha Floatzel to the far north of the map unless you’re ready for it.

I still can’t find Big Buizel…

A Buizel ripe for capture

Some unfortunate souls have captured enough Buizels to fill an entire pasture without finding one tall enough to submit for the quest. So, what’s one to do if big Buizel remains so elusive?

One Redditor reported that a 2’7″ Buizel worked for them after hours of infernal grinding, though it’s unclear what allowed the game to accept this over a 2’8″ one. The popular guess is that the game secretly has a metric value that Imperial measurement countries can’t see in the localization.

So, if you really can’t find a 2’8″ one, try submitting 2’7″ tall Buizels. If none of them work, then it’s back to the fields.

Alternatively, as reported by Kotaku, players might consider waiting until after the Kleavor boss fight. Alpha Pokemon, including Buizels, have a better chance of spawning after defeating that first Noble Pokemon. This checks out, considering I caught an alpha Bidoof and alpha Buizel after the fact.

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