Battlefield 5 has now released the trailer for Chapter 2: Lightning Strikes, the first major update in 2019. In it, the developers showcase new weapons, vehicles, modes, and even a tractor.
What is new? The team from Battlefield 5 has now shown its players the trailer for the Lightning Strikes update. The update will be released later this week, on January 17, for all players and brings a lot of new content to the shooter.
This is a more intense version of Conquest. 2 squads per team fight on smaller, more tactical versions of the three existing maps Arras, Hamada, and Rotterdam.
On the maps, there are a total of 16 players distributed in 2 teams, 3 flags, and spawns only at HQ. Vehicle access is limited.
New weapons
ZK-383 (SMG), Model 1944 (SA), M1922 (MMG)
The weapons are available through weekly challenges in January and February
The update for Lightning Strikes also includes the Combined Arms mode. Fans will have to wait a bit longer for the coop mode, as the release will not occur until February. The developers did not provide a specific release date.
In the “Combined Arms” mode, four players fight their way through various missions together.
Fans are excited about the tractor
Notably: In the comments on Reddit, the tractor is particularly the topic of discussion. The comments about the tractor are receiving many upvotes – It seems that the focus is not so much on the rest of the trailer.
It seems that the tractor is driveable in the Battle Royale mode. And players are celebrating that.
User MartianGeneral writes that soon the tractor warfare will come. Kazenbaas responds: “How do you hype players for Firestorm?! WORKING TRACTOR TEASER!”
Player Ag250 says: “I really don’t ask for much. Allowing me to drive the tractor is all I need.”
What is also well-received: Aside from the excitement over the tractors, fans are also pleased with visual elements. User ThatGuyGooders praises the outfit that looks like it was made for the Royal Navy. He also likes the new vehicles.
What fascinates players about the idea of playing a WoW Classic from 15 years ago? We name the reasons.
For the year 2019, there is no big new expansion in World of Warcraft, but there is indeed a quite old game. World of Warcraft: Classic, the “Vanilla” version of WoW, is set to be released in the summer and still has many fans even years after its initial release.
But why are players so excited about the “Classic” experience when games have evolved since then? We have listed some reasons that made WoW in its original form so appealing.
Leveling was the game
In the current version of WoW, leveling mainly serves one purpose: You are guided through the new areas and experience the story of the expansion. This goes relatively quickly and usually only lasts a few hours. But it used to be different. In Classic, the leveling phase was a fixed part of the gaming experience and for many fans, it was what made the game. Getting the first character to level 60 took not just days but sometimes weeks or months.
Players had to engage with their game world for a long time. Anyone who had been to the cemetery in Duskwood and had to venture deep into its catacombs could expect to work for a good hour. There’s no comparison to today, where the same catacombs can be cleared in three to four minutes.
Today, after two or three hours, you finish a quest area, but back then you could spend several days in Duskwood or the Un’goro Crater. Often, players continued to grind the same enemies for several levels even after completing the (already sparse) quests, trying to make farming routes more efficient.
It has become difficult to die in the normal “solo play” of World of Warcraft. Unless you aggro enemies indiscriminately, you can hardly die. That used to be different. Azeroth was a deadly game world where dangers lurked around every corner.
Even in supposed “solo areas,” there were always strong enemies that were too mighty for a single player.
An example of this was the Sons of Arugal. These elite Worgen roamed through Silverpine Forest and made quick work of anyone who wasn’t paying close attention to them.
A second example, which occurred almost everywhere, were Murlocs. These gurgling enemies were true monsters, as it was nearly impossible to attack just “one” of them. Soon, two, three, or four more Murlocs would rush in and make life hell for the players.
This was exacerbated by low regeneration rates of mana and health points. After almost every fight, a small break was needed, and if you couldn’t take advantage of that because the next enemy was already approaching, you often found yourself at the spirit healer.
This atmosphere was a constant threat, creating a certain unease that many players enjoyed. A little extra thrill that many in the current WoW find lacking.
Social interaction was mandatory
That World of Warcraft is still a very social game today, placing great value on group activities, cannot be denied. But back then, it was more cumbersome and challenging to find like-minded players.
Anyone wishing to enter a dungeon and was looking for a group alone could expect a long time spent manually forming a group through personal whispers. Once that was done, all players still had to make it safely to the dungeon, and any potential sources of error had to be eliminated. Hunters who had too few arrows or no food for their pets were already a running cliché back then.
From today’s perspective, all this “faffing about” before the real gameplay can seem annoying. But a certain part of players liked exactly that. They enjoyed having to engage with other players and slowly build social bonds.
In addition to social interaction, the reputation on the server holds great significance for many players. Back then, servers were self-contained systems. There were no “Cross-Realm” functions, meaning players on the same server were always the same. You encountered the same faces daily, and newcomers were a rarity. Each server’s community consisted of a clear group, and every player gradually earned a reputation.
And with these circumstances came a sense of honor and prestige. If word spread that the mage Thoribald was a competent, friendly mage, then that was a point of pride. Such a reputation spread over weeks and months on the server. It felt good and gave the respective players a lot of affirmation.
While you can still have a good reputation in WoW today and behave kindly, the level of recognition rarely extends beyond your own guild or community. Typically, the “typical trade channel trolls” of a server have more notoriety.
The simplicity of the game world
Even though this point is certainly controversial (and can be discussed in the comments), World of Warcraft in its “Classic” version was a game with less complexity. There was only one game world and no different phases triggered by quest status. There was no “sharding”; if too many players were in one place, then it was simply populated. Dungeons and raids had exactly one difficulty level to overcome.
World of Warcraft generally adhered to clear, defined rules without gradations. Either you made do with what the game gave you, or you didn’t. The number of endgame activities was also lower; essentially, there was “only” PvE and PvP in its purest form – dungeons, raids, and battlegrounds.
Equally important for many: World of Warcraft had no achievements. You felt good simply for accomplishing something and didn’t need an achievement to pop up for it.
The rules were clear, understandable, simple, and direct. This was appreciated.
The fact is that World of Warcraft now has players who weren’t even born at the time of its release. These players have heard for over a decade how “great Classic was.” Almost everyone knows that one player in their guild who constantly says, “Yes, back in Classic it was better,” reminding you of grandparents with their “We had nothing, but everything was better” stories at family gatherings.
For these players, WoW: Classic is finally the opportunity to see the “promised land” for themselves, where everything was much better, much harder, much more “real RPG,” and much more demanding.
Whether this part of the player base will be long-term fans of Classic remains to be seen.
Nostalgia
The last point is also not to be underestimated, and that is nostalgia. For many players, World of Warcraft was the first real MMO experience, and many memories are associated with it. The first online friendships, exploring a vast game world for the first time, and experiencing a game that is so much more complex than anything previously experienced. This “magic” is only felt in your first MMORPG and never comes back. For that reason, many associate it with World of Warcraft, and the nostalgia factor is high.
However, whether this last point is enough to keep the fans engaged for a long time is questionable. Because objectively speaking, WoW has evolved over the years and is now more tailored to players who have many different hobbies or simply less time. And that is exactly what will be demanded from Classic players: time.
Why are you excited about WoW Classic? What makes this old version of the MMORPG special for you? Let us know in the comments!
The story of Red Dead Redemption 2 is well received by fans. A player created a film trailer that the gaming community is currently celebrating. What about you?
What is it about? A fan created a powerful trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2. Players are thrilled and become emotional while watching the 2-minute video.
Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer excites fans
This is what happened: A user posted the video of the Red Dead Redemption 2 trailer on Reddit. It is set to the song “Hurt” by Johnny Cash. The trailer comes from the YouTube channel USNIM, which created the clip in homage to the Logan trailer from 2016.
The video is well received in the community. The emotional story from Red Dead Redemption 2 fits perfectly with the mood that “Hurt” expresses.
We are embedding the trailer here for you. However, a small spoiler warning as well. While no crucial gameplay scenes are shown, it is about the story of Red Dead Redemption 2.
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What do fans say about the trailer? The mood around this video is positive. This is evident from the YouTube rating with currently over 23,000 thumbs up and only about 100 thumbs down. Within 10 days, the video has already received over 210,000 views.
Player Prizma_the_alfa connects Red Dead Redemption 2 with a lot of feeling. He writes about the trailer on Reddit: “Beautiful work. It’s funny to see that something as unnecessary as a video game can touch and impress you so much. The best game of all time.
“Sniff Johnny (Cash) makes it personally even more moving for me. My father loved Johnny. Take my upvote,” writes user Creeper_Ger.
User Cam-yee can hardly put it into words. “I’m speechless. This is fantastic.”
Another user compares the Logan movie with Red Dead Redemption 2. “Logan: Where men cried. RDR 2: Where real men cried,” writes ironyfeelsjokes.
Even on YouTube, the artist of the channel receives a lot of praise. The viewers are excited. “Incredible work, man,” “This is the meaning of quality,” and “Very well done. Now I kind of feel like playing everything all over again.”
In Fortnite: Battle Royale, a new weapon is coming soon: The Scoped Revolver. However, the prospect of a new gun has not only brought joy to the community.
Which weapon is new in Fortnite? Recently, a new weapon was teased in Fortnite. It is a heavy revolver with a scope.
The weapon is said to be very precise and hit hard. That sounds good, but many fans fear that their old favorite pistol might have to go.
Hands off the Hand Cannon!
This is what the fans fear: As soon as the new weapon was announced, criticism arose in the Fortnite Reddit community. Fortnite doesn’t just add new weapons to the game without removing other items in return.
Often, a new weapon means the farewell of an old cannon. Sometimes it hits items that no one wanted anyway, like the old revolver. But sometimes it also involves weapons that were dearly loved by the community.
This weapon might soon be removed: Since the Scoped Revolver deals significant damage at long range, it overlaps with the Desert Eagle, the “Hand Cannon.” This heavy pistol has been in the game for a long time and is preferred by many players for precise kills.
Since it doesn’t make much sense for two very similar weapons to exist in the game, many suspect that the Hand Cannon will be the one to go.
This, in turn, does not sit well with fans of the gun, and discussions are already buzzing on Reddit about whether Epic will take this unpopular step.
Gun
In case the Hand Cannon is removed, some fans have already threatened to uninstall Fortnite. Others predict a short life for the new weapon, as all revolvers so far have been removed from the game, most recently the useless gun for many players.
An Indonesian team made a catastrophic mistake at the “Bucharest Minor” tournament in the MOBA DOTA 2. The team was seconds away from a certain victory but failed to realize and instead surrendered while typing “GG”.
This is how you lose a MOBA game: The objective in every MOBA is to destroy the opponent’s “Ancient”. That is their headquarters. You protect your own headquarters while gradually tearing down the opponent’s defenses and ultimately kill the Ancient.
You can either do this yourself or with the help of minions (or creeps). These are AI-controlled mobs that rush towards the enemy base like little battle lemurs.
Minions (or creeps) in Dota 2.
There are two ways to lose:
either by having your own Ancient destroyed
or by deciding to “surrender.” For this, the majority of the team must capitulate through a vote. Traditionally, one says “GG” – “Good Game,” as a sign that one is a good loser and is only crying quietly.
This is how the situation unfolded in the tournament: In the “Bucharest Minor” tournament, the team “Boom ID” (Indonesia) was defending their base against their opponents
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
For the year 2019, the players of Hearthstone have plenty of wishes. We reveal what they would like to see in the coming months.
When it comes to innovations for Blizzard’s card game Hearthstone, the developers are reliable but not particularly creative. Each year, there are three new expansions along with fresh cards and cool new ideas, but “beyond that,” players expect rather little.
However, the community has many wishes for features and innovations they would like to see in Hearthstone. On Reddit and in the official forums, desired features are repeatedly discussed.
New game mode with old expansions – but not “Wild”
Since Blizzard started removing decks from the Standard format, there has been a wish for another main game mode aside from “Standard” and “Wild”. Players want a third format that changes monthly, allowing a handful of different expansions from the past for deck building each time.
This would ensure that old cards can also be played again, apart from the rather “crazy” wild mode, where decks have now reached a ridiculous level of effectiveness. For the players, this would result in a format every month that contains a “fresh meta.” This way, the gameplay of Hearthstone would not get stale shortly after an expansion and then become “boring” for many weeks.
More wishes for small adjustments: However, also aside from this game mode, there are many wishes for small improvements that would make Hearthstone a more popular game. The following wishes are often mentioned or have received particularly many “upvotes”:
A way to upgrade normal cards to “gold” (for reduced dust costs)
“Wild” card packs should be purchasable for gold
What are your wishes for Hearthstone this year? Should Blizzard continue with the formula of three expansions per year? Or does something fundamental need to change?
The MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online is on the verge of a major reveal. In early 2019, ESO is doing a lot right in the MMORPG space, says our author Schuhmann. Even datamining is currently helping the MMORPG.
Spoiler warning: The article mentions findings from datamining for ESO.
This is the situation: The big MMORPGs are mostly quiet in early 2019:
In WoW, people are waiting for the opening of the raid, otherwise not much big is in sight. Blizzard has analyzed many problems – but the solution is still a long way off.
ESO aims to dominate the first half of the year among MMORPGs
This is ESO’s plan: While WoW and many other MMORPGs set their highlights in the fall of a year, ESO consistently claims the beginning of the year and the summer for itself. As a console title, it avoids blockbuster games that usually come out in the fall – and WoW expansions.
The most important dates for ESO are always in the first half of the year:
The release was in April 2014
On PS4 and Xbox One, it launched in June 2015
Morrowind was introduced on January 31, 2017, and released on June 6, 2017
ESO introduced Summerset on March 21. The chapter was released on May 21, at least on PC
Datamining gives the starting signal
This is what’s happening with ESO in 2019: Last year, ESO waited until March to introduce the chapter “Summerset”. Only then did the focus really return to The Elder Scrolls Online.
new area Elsweyr – the homeland of the feline Khajiit
new enemies Dragons – for the “Skyrim” generation and fans of Game of Thrones
a coherent story spanning all 4 expansions of 2019 – that’s why there’s still little buzz, but it could be a groundbreaking decision
This is how datamining has harmed other MMORPGs: In Guild Wars 2, a large datamining leak of the expansion “Path of Fire” took the wind out of the sails months in advance:
The expansion was only officially presented in August 2017.
Back then, it took months before ArenaNet confirmed in a presentation what everyone already knew: Path of Fire would come just as leaked by dataminers.
The data mining seemed to completely tie ArenaNet’s hands, disrupting the entire marketing concept. How could one still create hype for something that everyone already knew for a quarter of a year?
“The cat is out of the bag”
This is how ESO reacted to the datamining: Zenimax presents itself differently. Shortly after the major leak, The Elder Scrolls Online released a blog post: The post began with “The cat is out of the bag.” They also announced a livestream in which they would announce the “Season of the Dragon.”
The Elder Scrolls Online didn’t directly address the leak, but seemed to confirm it with a wink. It sounded like 3 of the 4 points were confirmed with “the cat out of the bag” (Khajiit) and “Season of the Dragon” (dragons and coherent story).
There are two possibilities for this prompt reaction:
Apparently, they anticipated that the leak would come and were prepared.
Or they reacted very quickly and improvised coolly.
This is why it’s special: The leak doesn’t seem to harm The Elder Scrolls Online at all, rather the opposite. Datamining seems to help ESO to increase the hype around their game.
All information from the datamining has electrified the fans. Dragons, cats, and necros – these are all fan favorites.
Moreover, necromancers and dragons also bring controversy because they don’t actually fit into the lore and spark discussion among the community.
Rather than letting weeks go by and leaving the fans in uncertainty, they seem to take this “leak” with a wink and incorporate it into their PR machinery.
This is what happens next: Already tomorrow, on January 15, a live stream for The Elder Scrolls Online is set to introduce the new chapter.
This time, surely many eyes will be on The Elder Scrolls Online. While usually there is little going on in the MMORPG space at the beginning of the year, with first highlights arriving in March or April, ESO has decided to start the year in a full sprint in 2019.
The question is: Will the new expansion also only be released again in June like in previous years, or will an earlier release date be set, as they are currently doing?
We are excited to see if they will let more cats out of the bag during the stream. We will certainly follow that with interest on MeinMMO.
How will it be played? The Iron Banner will be held, as usual, in a 6v6 format. Bungie has once again been tight-lipped about the mode.
However, it would be a surprise if the Guardians faced each other in a different game mode than Control this time.
These rewards are available
What loot can you earn? As always, there are seven weekly bounty quests in the Iron Banner through which you can earn powerful rewards. Additionally, you have a chance for Crucible and Iron Banner items after each match.
What can Bite of the Fox do? Bite of the Fox is an interesting sniper that can shine primarily in PvP. It is carried in the kinetic slot and has an aggressive frame, which increases the impact but also increases the recoil.
What can The Hero’s Burden do? The Hero’s Burden is a submachine gun of the “Adaptive Frame” archetype. It has a rate of fire of 900, but unfortunately only has a magazine of 33 rounds.
Players, however, emphasize that the SMG can be a beast, especially at close range, with the right rolls like Zen Moment or Kill Clip.
What else is there? During the Iron Banner period, you will again earn increased PvP reputation. From January 15 to January 22, there will be a bonus on Iron Banner reputation and Valor. However, the exact amount of this bonus has not been disclosed.
Are you joining the first Iron Banner 2019? Do you like the weapons from the event or would you have preferred other guns?
In Fortnite: Battle Royale there is an emote that you can keep running for 10 hours. A player has now done that and received a lot of donations.
What did the streamer do? The streamer Luke TheNotable took on a special challenge in his stream. He wanted to perform the famous emote “Infinite Dab” until the end.
The emote shows the popular “Dab gesture”, a movement in which one brings the face toward the elbow while extending the other arm diagonally away.
Since Update 7.10 you can perform the Dab continuously for 10 hours in the lobby. Luke TheNotable has now done that.
Continuous Dab Causes Damage and Muscle Soreness
This is how the continuous Dab went: During his 10-hour stream, Luke TheNotable also dabbed as much as he could and provided entertainment. There was no gameplay; he just stood in the lobby and dabbed with his character.
Those who wanted could invite themselves into his group to dab along or show other emotes. However, there were sometimes glitches that briefly interrupted the Dab. Overall, Luke managed about 7,200 dabs per hour, leading to a total of approximately 72,000 dabs.
That’s why the action was worth it for Luke: Since the action was so wonderfully silly and funny, many of Luke’s fans were generous. Thus, various donations totaling around 2,000 USD were collected for the streamer. The largest donation was 225 dollars. A total of over 300 people donated.
This is what Luke did with his money: Luke TheNotable did not keep the 2,000 dollars. Instead, he donated his Dab money to other streamers. He sought out various streamers and showered them with money.
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These are the consequences of the Dab marathon: However, Luke advises against anyone imitating the action. Because the muscle soreness in his back and neck was excruciating the next day. And then his headset broke during the dabbing.
In an update, PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) changed the volume of footsteps. Enemies can now hear you from a greater distance. We will show you how to remain quiet.
What happened? A YouTuber closely examined the sound of footsteps in PUBG. He notes that your enemies can hear you from much greater distances than before. However, there are certain types of movement that are significantly quieter. You should adhere to these if you want to avoid detection.
How far your footsteps can be heard in PUBG
What it’s about: The community was concerned about what was wrong with the footstep sounds. They seemed especially loud in certain situations. In other situations, you can’t hear the enemy at all, even though you can see him.
YouTuber WackyJacky101 has looked into this and tested it. He confirms: If you run upright, you can now be heard from a much greater distance. The changes are said to have been activated after the launch of the Vikendi map.
Are you changing your tactics now? Or do you play like this guy here and wait in the bathtub for victory?
If his results are correct, you can be heard almost 60 meters away while sprinting standing up. That used to be about 20 meters less.
How was it tested? WackyJacky ran in various movement modes that PUBG offers over the same terrain. He listened carefully to how far the footsteps could be heard. One player stood still while a second player ran away from him.
The tests were conducted while sprinting upright, sprinting crouched, running upright, running crouched, walking upright, walking crouched, and finally lying down and crawling.
The YouTuber had already performed the same test in March 2018 and was able to compare the results now.
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The main findings of the test: The largest changes seem to occur in sprints and upright running. In these movement types, footsteps can be heard from up to 58 meters away. Before, you could only hear them from a distance of 35-40 meters.
What does this mean for players? Upright walking and crouched running are still the fastest options when you want to remain quiet. You should use these for silent attacks, as the faster options can be heard in an area of up to nearly 60 meters. The quiet options can only be heard within 20-25 meters.
There are now only minor stealth differences of just 3 meters between crouched walking and crouched running. Before, there were still 10 meters. The speed difference is significantly noticeable.
Are you changing your tactics now? Or do you play like this guy here and wait in the bathtub for victory?
We are giving away two in-game packages for the action-packed MMO “Closers” from En Masse Entertainment. You can win one of the packs here and now immediately.
What is Closers? In this MMORPG, you take on the role of a “Closer”. They are teenagers with supernatural powers who defend the Earth against an alien invasion. Their task is to close the interdimensional gates that the aliens use and end the war.
What can you win? We have two different code packages for you with many different in-game items and cosmetics. You can win the Luna packs immediately, and the Collector’s codes will be raffled off.
Permanent Outfit “Blue Wave / Jade Yukata” for one character
Golden “Judgment Phase” Wings (Duration: 15 days)
Phase Stabilizer x10 give 100% EXP bonus each
Luck Stabilizer x10 give 30% each
A Victory Talisman Box (Duration: 1 day)
How can I participate? To immediately win one of the 2000 Luna codes, you must perform at least three actions in the Gleam tool below. Then the code will be displayed directly to you.
For the Collector’s Packs, there are 20 possible winners, who will be randomly selected from all participants. To get a chance, you only need to perform one action in the corresponding Gleam tool. Additional actions will increase your chances of winning.
How can I redeem the code? To receive the items, you must first go to the main page of Closers and download the launcher. Enter the code in the launcher, and you will receive your rewards.
Anthem will hold two demos before the release. The first VIP demo is on January 25. Many wondered when it will be available for download and at what time the demo starts. This is now known. The preload starts on January 23.
The VIP demo of Anthem is like a “closed beta” as known from other major blockbuster games. However, BioWare decided to call it a “demo” because they find it more honest.
Sign up for the VIP demo: Those who own Anthem through Origin Access or EA Access, or pre-ordered Anthem from the Xbox Store or PlayStation Store, are already registered for the VIP demo. No additional code is required.
Those who did not pre-order Anthem through the above methods will need a code for the VIP demo. This can be obtained from the chosen provider. The code can be redeemed on the EA website.
Start download: If you have completed the above steps, you can download Anthem starting January 23 on your chosen platform.
Are you looking for teammates or want to discuss the demo? Then join our Facebook group for Anthem. The group is for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
Everything about the demos of Anthem: In our large demo overview of Anthem, you will find all important information at a glance. Here you will also learn about the content you can test:
The next update of Star Wars: The Old Republic is extremely small. But instead of complaining, it stokes the hope of fans for something great.
Shortly before Christmas 2018, SWTOR received its last major update. Patch 5.10 advanced the story and brought joy especially to (former) members of the Empire, as Darth Malgus made his return. Now the developers are back from their “winter sleep” and have put the next patch on the Public Test Server (PTS). However, it only contains a single thing.
What’s in Patch 5.10.1? As of now, Patch 5.10.1 only contains the “Mutated Geonosian Queen”, a new operation boss for 8 or 16 players. The fight is available in story mode (easy) or veteran mode (hard).
Those who want to try the boss on the PTS must have an active subscription. Currently, numerous groups for the boss can be found on the PTS.
Positive mood despite little content: Even though there are some complaints that “one single boss is ridiculous for a patch”, the overwhelming opinion so far is rather optimistic. Many players suspect that the current updates of the game are smaller because the developers are already working on a larger expansion with interlinked storylines in the background. This could also well correlate with the current course of the story, where notable characters like Darth Malgus have returned.
Roadmap 2019 is expected: Generally, many players are currently “on hot coals” waiting for the SWTOR developers to release a roadmap again. In previous years, BioWare always explained a few months in advance what should happen in the upcoming quarter. For 2019, players are still in the dark, which increases the hope that something bigger is on the way.
Are you excited for the fight against the Mutated Queen? Or are you longing for a new expansion that expands SWTOR by a larger chapter?
With more than 32,000,000 views, Hytale is considered by many to be “the big thing” that everyone is waiting for. But how does the “Minecraft clone” manage to have so many interested players?
Trailers for big games usually attract a lot of attention. When blockbuster titles are announced, views on YouTube shoot into the millions. But a seemingly “small” game that many do not have on their radar is making waves these days. The trailer for “Hytale” has now surpassed 32,000,000 views.
What is Hytale? Hytale is a game with “block graphics” that is still in development. Players can mine almost every block in the game world, shape new objects from them, build houses and entire cities, and craft equipment. This is supposed to be possible on many different servers that aim to satisfy every playstyle. So there’s something for PvP fans, PvE players, or creative gamers who just want to unleash their imagination.
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Why is Hytale so eagerly anticipated? Hytale is fundamentally based on Minecraft and does not hide that fact – after all, the project directly emerged from it. The graphics and design are very similar. Minecraft remains one of the most popular games of all time. Although it was released back in 2009, the player numbers are higher than ever.
Just last summer, Minecraft had 91 million monthly players. With over 154 million copies sold, Minecraft ranks second worldwide – only behind the classic Tetris. The target audience for Hytale is therefore quite large.
Hytale delivers what Minecraft cannot. That Hytale is based on Minecraft is likely a significant part of the hype. After all, Hytale as a standalone game promises exactly what many Minecraft fans still want: more character customization, more story possibilities, and generally more features.
Even though the original Minecraft continues to be developed, major patches are released only once or twice a year and bring only a handful of features. This is where Hytale comes in, with a wide range of desired features, at just the right time.
Yes, you should be able to play movies in Hytale.
Are you excited for Hytale and will you take a look at the block game? Or did you not enjoy Minecraft and therefore will not warm up to the Hytale graphics?
At BlizzCon 2018, further details were revealed about WoW Classic. The release window and payment model are now known. The vanilla version of World of Warcraft will be released in Summer 2019. Players will need a subscription.
New information about WoW Classic: The important announcement for fans of WoW Classic came from John Hight, the Executive Producer of World of Warcraft:
The full version of WoW Classic will launch in Summer 2019 – Blizzard has not yet announced a specific release date.
WoW Classic will be available for free to all who maintain a regular WoW subscription.
When is Summer 2019? The astronomical summer of 2019 in the Northern Hemisphere lasts from June 21, 2019, to September 22, 2019. The meteorological summer of 2019 includes the months of June, July, and August 2019.
There was already a taste of WoW Classic: At BlizzCon 2018, players could participate in a demo of WoW Classic. However, it only included two areas and had a special gag: players could only play for an hour at a time before being kicked and having to take a half-hour break.
Important articles about the release of WoW Classic:
Regarding the release date, players say: “That’s half a year earlier than I thought.”
Regarding the payment model, someone says: “That’s a damn clever way to do it.”
Overall, WoW Classic is a contentious topic in the community. Some are very excited about it, while others find it hard to understand the trend.
The release of WoW Classic will also have some unique features. Not all features will work exactly as they did in the past. Players will be able to trade loot with each other. In any case, the goal is to restore the “classic” feel with most of its little bugs and quirks.
Fans are pleased about the early release: Many players thought Blizzard was aiming for November 2019 as the release date for WoW Classic, right in time for the 15th anniversary of World of Warcraft in the USA. The MMORPG was released on November 23, 2004.
Will you play WoW Classic at launch and stay with the game? Or will you just take a quick look and then switch back to the current version of the game?
How to stay informed: If you don’t want to miss any news about World of Warcraft in its current and classic form, then feel free to give a like on our WoW Facebook page!
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The publisher Activision Blizzard has parted ways with Bungie and Destiny 2. Now a law firm is investigating whether everything was above board in the interest of investors. The publisher’s stock has fallen by 9.37%.
Bungie will retain the rights and responsibilities to the “Destiny” franchise.
As a result of this announcement, Activision’s stock significantly lost value on the stock market. The stock fell from $51.35 to $45.50 and then only slightly recovered to $46.54. That is a loss of 9.37%.
The stock of Activision Blizzard after the announcement of the split. Source: Marketwatch
This firm is now investigating: The law firm Pomerantz LLP is currently investigating Activision Blizzard in the interest of investors.
The press release states that Pomerantz has offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris. It is said to be a leading firm for reviewing such class action lawsuits against large corporations.
This is the subject of the investigation: It is said that the investigation aims to determine whether Activision or some of its executives were involved in “business practices not in accordance with the law.”
The firm is investigating fraud.
The press release includes a form to join a class action lawsuit against Activision Blizzard.
According to the press release from the firm, it has successfully settled many lawsuits for damages worth several million dollars in the past.
What’s behind this: Currently, no lawsuit is being filed against Activision. The law firm is merely investigating whether it could file a class action lawsuit.
What violations the firm specifically suspects does not emerge from the press release.
One possibility is that the firm is taking action due to the significant stock loss – this is quite common on the stock market.
Or it could be that the firm suspects insider trading, that stocks were sold before Activision publicly announced the news of the split.
A stock scandal once affected the Norwegian company Funcom. The head of the company was said to have known that the MMORPG “The Secret World” would not sell well and had sold shares in Funcom before the MMORPG could launch.
The Western adventure Red Dead Redemption 2 is repeatedly praised for its details. Have you noticed these subtleties with dogs and cats?
In Red Dead Redemption 2, the vibrant landscape and lovingly designed wildlife are often praised. The developers also show great care for dogs and cats.
The story told by the following photo of a dog is sad. User Hupflupper shared the photo with the Reddit community. A dog waiting at its owner’s grave. With a paw on the mound of earth before it.
The background of this scene: As user SingaporeSally knows, this is a reference to Greyfriars Bobby. Greyfriars Bobby was a Skye Terrier. It is said that the terrier spent the next 14 years at its owner’s grave, policeman John Gray, after his death. At the age of 16, Greyfriars Bobby (1872) passed away and was buried at the same cemetery. This had to be done secretly, as animals are actually not allowed there.
User slimbojames comments on Reddit: Why am I now sitting in the saloon and crying?
Edinburgh is home to Rockstar North. Presumably, this is why the developers were inspired by the story.
Cats also have their special moments in Red Dead Redemption 2. This is proven by Reddit user postal1234 with a video. Here you can see the details Rockstar thought of for the animals. The cat doesn’t just briefly walk through the frame and meow.
What can be seen in the video? It shows how a cat walks to a wooden post and sharpens its claws there. Cat owners will find this sight quite familiar.
After that, it goes upstairs in a nearby building. “He started to purr when he sat down on the stairs. Satisfied,” adds postal1234.
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Another player adds that sometimes a cat walks around in Strawberry with a rat in its mouth.
This is praised by the players: Even after many hours spent in the campaign of Red Dead Redemption 2, players only notice such details late. They are happy to find such little surprises with animals again and again.
Don’t miss any news: To ensure you don’t miss anything about Red Dead Redemption 2, keep an eye on our Facebook page.
These animals are also praised: That the animals in Red Dead Online are admirable is also said by professionals. Apart from a few minor details, the birds in Red Dead Redemption 2 best represent the American avifauna.
After the nuclear war, there is hardly any peaceful and friendly life left in Appalachia. Nevertheless, the wasteland of Fallout 76 also has beautiful stories to tell. Our Benedict has found a macabre story that couldn’t be sweeter.
Some areas of Appalachia have been less frequented by mutated fauna, mutants, and raiders after the war. One of these places is the villa district east of Charleston, right next to Summersville.
Here you can discover a bittersweet story.
An eternal wedding in Fallout 76
The romantic scene can be found on the roof of the Torrance House. I discovered the corresponding scene while exploring quirky places. One of those can be seen just one house away, next to the Torrance House.
You can easily reach the roof by climbing the scaffolding right next to the house. Go around the first roof once. On its backside, there are some crates that you can use to reach the second roof. At the end, there is a kind of small rooftop garden.
Until death do us part
There in the rooftop garden sit two skeletons in a loving embrace. One of the deceased is still wearing a tuxedo, while the other wears a fine dress that looks like a wedding gown. Apparently, a joyful wedding was celebrated here as a counterpoint to the destruction of the bombs.
The freshly married wife is sitting on her husband’s lap, with her arm wrapped around him, burying her head in his neck for a final kiss. They both sit in the embrace on the chair, as if to prove that not even death means the end of this love.
Romantic details
Next to the eternal wedding picture lies a bottle of 2060s Merlot on the ground, which was presumably meant to sweeten the evening for the two. On the other side, there is a nicely arranged table with flowers.
On the table sits a red “Comrade Pummel” teddy bear, holding a gold-plated lighter, presumably meant to light the candle that stands next to him. A cuddly best man.
In front of the bear are several wooden blocks lined up with letters that spell out the words “hubba hubba.” In American English, this is a colloquial expression of lust or delight.
If the two had lived a little longer, the clothes would probably be found next to the skeletons.
Not the only wedding of the wasteland
The sweet skeleton couple is not the only one that has tied the knot in Appalachia. Two players have celebrated their real wedding in Fallout 76, with a player priest and a subsequent party. Everything sponsored by Nuka-Cola and under the star of the Mothman.
What do you think of this romantic scene in the destroyed Appalachia?
The wedding may be a particularly beautiful motif, but there are also some stories in Fallout 76 that truly break the heart:
A streamer received a donation of $75,000 via Twitch while playing Fortnite. What he initially thought was a bad joke turned out to be a gift of money from a wealthy friend.
He received the money: The streamer “Exotic Chaotic” is rather a small fry among the numerous streamers on Fortnite. He has about 16,000 followers on Twitch. While he has made some money from events in Fortnite, it is not enough for a good living. The fortunes that Ninja accumulates from streaming are still a long way off.
But then a donation came flying in, which some now consider the largest donation in the history of Twitch.
A bit of joy and a lot of skepticism
This was his reaction to the donation: Exotic Chaotic was momentarily beside himself when a donation of $75,000 (about €65,000) came in. He put his hands over his mouth, stared at the screen, and yelled, “Is this real …”
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But then skepticism gripped him. Is someone just trying to pull his leg? It can’t be true.
But indeed: In his PayPal account, the $75,000 is waiting for approval. However, the money has to be with PayPal for 24 hours before it is really available and he can dispose of it.
In an interview with the US site Kotaku, the streamer reveals that he initially thought one of his moderators was pulling his leg. But indeed it was a serious donation.
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Where does the money come from? The money comes from Fortnite streamer, KingMascot. He has only 240 followers on Twitch. Exotic Chaotic is friends with him. Both are Fortnite players and both love to collect skins in Fortnite.
KingMascot invested in Bitcoin early and is now trading stocks.
He had been planning to make such a large donation to his friend for a while and was just waiting for the right moment. It was a bit difficult with PayPal, he says. But now the time is ripe to give them a great start to the new year.
This is what it’s about: Exotic Chaotic is a full-time streamer, but he is not yet making enough money. His girlfriend works full-time to support him. Additionally, he has a four-year-old son. Even though he was successful in 2018, he is currently in difficult waters:
While the streamer won $30,000 in the Fortnite Fall Skirmish, the money went immediately to a new car because the old one was no longer roadworthy.
Now there have been issues with the internet, which affected the quality of the stream.
Chaotic Exotic shared the screenshot on Twitter to prove the authenticity of the donation. Source: Twitter
KingMascot feared that his friend’s financial problems could start to drive away viewers. And he wanted to do him a favor and help him through a financially difficult time.
Exotic Chaotic now hopes to one day be able to help other streamers as well. But for now, he wants to make use of this unique opportunity to secure his son’s future and repay his girlfriend’s trust in him.
It is not uncommon for streamers to donate money to each other. But the sum is already crazy:
This week brought a horror story for a number of indie MMORPGs. Due to a dispute between Improbable and Unity, the development was suddenly at risk. Now, the indie teams are supposed to switch to Epic’s “Unreal Engine”. They’re enticing with $25 million.
Many indie MMORPGs are relying on this combination: Most MMORPGs currently in development are financed by small teams with limited budgets. They do not have the money to invest in their own engine, but want to create large worlds.
Thus, some teams use:
The “Unity” engine – the engine was supposed to “democratize” the development process and be an engine for everyone
Some interesting “indie MMORPGs” that we have reported on at MeinMMO over the past few years rely on this combination: such as Worlds Adrift or Fractured.
Improbable accused Unity of changing their Terms of Service so that they are no longer compatible with SpatialOS. Therefore, games that are developed with Unity and SpatialOS now have to close.
Unity, on the other hand, accused Improbable of blowing the conflict out of proportion and taking it public. Games that are already in development would not be affected by the change. Improbable knows that too.
This is how indie developers reacted: This news hit the teams developing their indie MMORPGs hard.
The creators behind Fractured said: “Things were looking very, very good – until now. […] If this situation does not resolve, we might have to close.”
The developers behind the game “Lazerus” even took their game offline for a short time.
At Worlds Adrift, they spoke of a “situation” that they hope will be resolved soon.
SpatialOS is now pushing Unreal Engine
What happens now: The situation is still confused. Both parties appear to be at odds.
Unity maintains that the problem is being exaggerated. The change would have no effect on games that are in development or already live.
Improbable continues to make serious accusations against Unity. It is said that it is now difficult to support developers continuing to use the Unity engine.
Improbable has entered a deal with Epic and wants to convince the indie developers using SpatialOS to switch from Unity to the “Unreal Engine”. For this purpose, they have established a fund of $25 million: a “transition” fund.
In a joint blog post (via unrealengine.com), Tim Sweeney (Epic Games) and Herman Narula (Improbable) explain their connection through shared goals. They accuse Unity of putting developers in an insecure position with their changes. They speak of a “limbo.”
The $25 million is supposed to help developers switch to other “more open” platforms and ecosystems.
Being developed with SpatialOS and Unreal Engine: Scavengers.
This means: It could be that some MMORPGs that are currently using Unity and SpatialOS will look different in the future. Of course, only if they dare to make the leap to another engine.
Some developers are already complaining that they have never used another engine than “Unity”. So it could be that the development of some projects will now be delayed.
