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Samsung is offering a free Gear VR adapter to new Galaxy Note 9 buyers

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Samsung is offering Note 9 owners free Gear VR adapters so that they can use the most recent model of Samsung’s virtual reality headset with the company’s latest smartphone. If you own both the Note 9 and Gear VR with Controller, the new USB Type-C adapter can be obtained by calling 1-800-Samsung.

The Note 9’s “increased size” has led to compatibility issues with last year’s headset, according to Samsung. The display is only 0.1 inches bigger than the Note 8, but those slightly larger dimensions are enough to cause a problem. The headset will fit the Note 9 once the adapter is inserted.

After contacting Samsung, you’ll need to provide the Gear VR model and serial number located on the side of the headset. The company will ship the adapter to you for free, but it could take up to 10 business days for it to arrive. At this time, there’s no way to get the adapter in stores.

This year, Samsung didn’t announce an updated version of its Gear VR, so the adapter seems like a Band-Aid for that problem as the company works on a next-generation headset — or perhaps one that works on its own without a phone.

People Are Calling ‘All Ghillied Up’ The Greatest Mission Ever

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The Call Of Duty video game series has long been hailed as one of the best and most lifelike games out there – the closest you can get to engaging in modern warfare without actually getting engaged in modern warfare.

One mission in particular has been getting Call Of Duty fans very excited indeed. In fact, people are calling ‘All Ghillied Up’ the greatest mission ever.

The thirteenth mission of Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, it’s a flashback of one of Captain Price’s earlier missions as a lieutenant, when he and Captain MacMillan have to sneak to a vantage point to assassinate Imran Zakhaev.

Chronologically, it serves as the first mission of Call Of Duty 4 and the first in the Modern Warfare series, and people have been blown away – pun kind of intended – by just how good it is.

Set in 1996, 15 years before the main events of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Lieutenant Price and Captain MacMillan have to make their way to their to the vantage point wear ghillie suits, which makes for some very close near-encounters, as the below tweet shows.

Seriously, if that happened in real life – which it probably has – it would
be so intense and nerve-wracking, especially as it’s so intense and
nerve-wracking in the game. Which is why, presumably, people keep singing its
praises and sharing their experiences of playing it ever since:

No prizes for guessing what we’re going to be doing for the rest of the day now..

Got a story for us? Need to tell us about something amazing you’ve seen or done? Want us to investigate something? Get in touch! Email [email protected] or head to our submissions platform – and you could even earn money for your stories or tips.

Featured Image Credit: Activision

Epic Games Calls out Google for Revealing Fortnite Vulnerability

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Folks who own Android devices can usually download apps from the Google Play Store. Unfortunately, they cannot download the mobile version of Fortnite. In order to forgo paying the 30% fee to Google, Epic Games has instead decided to make users go to their site to download it. In our reporting, we detailed some of the potential dangers associated with downloading Fortnite on Android. Last Friday, Google revealed hackers could load malware by hijacking the game’s installation software. This reveal hasn’t sat well with Epic, who believe Google should have delayed reporting the news. In fact, the game developer has flat out called Google’s actions “irresponsible.”This sentiment was expressed by Epic’s, Tim Sweeny. The Chief Executive responded to the news on Twitter with this:

He followed that tweet up with this:

Though Epic is calling Google out, some believe this situation only happened because of the game’s developer’s refusal to allow its game on the Google Play Store. Troy Hunt, who is a cyber-security expert had this to say on Twitter:

According to BBC News, this isn’t the first time Google has disclosed vulnerabilities of this kind. In the past, the search engine giant revealed problems with Microsoft products, along with Apple and Samsung.

Google actually made Epic aware of the vulnerability by sharing a screen recording with it on August 15. The video showed a way to dupe Fortnite‘s Android installer into loading malware. Two days later, Epic stated it was making a fix available after “working around the clock” to make it.

 

Tune in this week to Geek Plays to get tips from a few Fortnite coaches. Learn how to correctly download Fortnite for Android. And see our complete hands-on of the game on the new Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Follow all the latest on Fortnite news here.

 

Let us know what you like about Geek by taking our survey.

Activision Video Games Set To Storm Prime Time TV

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22 August 2018, Germany, Cologne: Three visitors to Gamescom 2018 dressed up as characters of the video game ‘Overwatch’. For the tenth time, the computer and video games trade fair takes place in Cologne. Photo: Christophe Gateau/dpa (Photo by Christophe Gateau/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Think about that for a moment. Exploring alternative virtual worlds, and watching others play, is replacing TV viewing.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it extends into 2019. Goldman Sachs expects the eSports industry to generate close to $3 billion in revenues by 2022. So, if you want to get in on this game, it’s time to virtually suit up.

Why We’re Watching Overwatch

The Overwatch League is a professional gaming league built in the mold of traditional professional sports teams.

Overwatch franchises are tied to a major city. They have owners, a regular season and “athletes” who get a salary, benefits and performance-based perks.

It’s a big operation. A team of nearly 100 people manages the broadcast and the games. There’s even a Blizzard Arena in Burbank, Calif., and an Overwatch World Cup.

But there’s a twist …

Players are grouped into six-member teams playing “Overwatch,” Activision’s popular first-person shooter online game.

Old Media, New Tricks

Why is the House of Mouse taking a chance on airing live competitive video-gaming events during peak TV-watching hours?

That’s because it knows the industry has been hemorrhaging valuable millennials to digital formats faster than Kylie Jenner signs endorsement deals.

The usual suspects — YouTube, owned by Alphabet; Instagram, owned by Facebook; and Netflix  — weigh heavily on the paradoxically valuable time-wasting scale.

Video gaming is catching up, quickly. It is also hitting all the right advertising demographics.

According to MarketWatch reporting, the average age of male gamers is 36. Females check in at 36, too. That is the apex of the prime advertising market.

And don’t fall into the trap of branding every gamer as unemployed slackers who munch Cheetos in their parents’ basements. In June, Business Insider reported that Americans spent $36 billion on video games and gear in 2017.

It’s no wonder that even the NBA wants to get in on the action. It held a draft in April to launch its own eSports league. The NHL has conveyed that it wants to ramp up interest in hockey through video games. And Major League Soccer, in partnership with EA Sports, wants people to play in its FIFA eWorld Cup.

The Disney/Activision deal is old media desperately trying to grab hold of the future.

The widespread appeal … and ramping prospects of video gaming as a spectator sport … has attracted technology industry titans and leading professional sports ownership groups. Just look at the names behind some of the 12 Overwatch teams …

  • NetEase, a Chinese internet company, owns the Shanghai Dragons.
  • The San Francisco Shock is owned by NRG Sports. Its investors include the owners of the NBA Sacramento Kings and Shaquille O’Neal.
  • The Kraft Group, of New England Patriots fame, runs the Boston franchise.
  • And the Los Angles Gladiators team is owned by Kroenke Sports, the company behind the L.A. Rams, the Denver Nuggets and Arsenal Football Club.

They all see big money in live-streaming video gaming. They are not alone.

In 2015, Amazon got into a bidding war for the rights to Twitch, a wildly popular online streaming site. The online retail giant eventually paid $970 million for a website where people congregate to watch others play video games. By January 2018, Twitch had more average viewers than CNN.

Felix Kjellberg, a.k.a. PewDiePie, is a 28-year-old Swede. He also owns the most-popular channel on YouTube. Kjellberg’s gig is color commentating as he streams video gameplay to his 64 million subscribers. The channel has 18.2 billion views.

ESPN noted that, on its opening day in January, the Overwatch League outperformed NFL “Thursday Night Football.” Overwatch reached 10 million viewers on Twitch and other platforms.

Activision shares are an obvious choice for longer-term investors. In addition to the momentum that’s building for the Overwatch League, the company has transformed its consumer business from shrink-wrapped software to engagement monetization.

This means the initial sale is now only the beginning of the monetization process.

Activision managers know the real money will come from selling new characters, game expansions, extra lives and digital trinkets (like virtual outfits) inside the game. These bits of software expand overall profit margins, and that drives up organic growth rates.

Then, of course, there are potential movie spin-offs. But the company is doing just fine in the meantime.

Activision Profits are ‘Candy Crush’-ing it

In 2017, margins moved up 3% to 39%, without new titles. Sales were up 6.2% to $7 billion.

Activision has a huge portfolio of games across multiple platforms. From “Crash Bandicoot” and “Candy Crush” on mobile, to “Call of Duty” on consoles and “Overwatch” online, the company is focusing on the sale of in-game purchases and engagement.

This is a trend that is working through the entire video gaming industry.

It’s why gaming is far bigger than most non-gamers understand. Players are engaged. They are vested in storylines and outcomes. They are even willing to watch more-skilled players online.

Activision shares are up 24.2% in 2018, and 30% over the past 12 months. As I have been saying for years, the stock is a buy into any weakness.

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Gaming is a lot bigger than you think. No, I’m not talking about slot machines and blackjack. Video gaming. And thanks to a partnership between Activision Blizzard and Disney, it’s coming to a television near you.

Last month, Activision shares surged to a record high on news that Disney will air its Overwatch League on ESPN, ABC and Disney XD television stations, in prime time.

22 August 2018, Germany, Cologne: Three visitors to Gamescom 2018 dressed up as characters of the video game ‘Overwatch’. For the tenth time, the computer and video games trade fair takes place in Cologne. Photo: Christophe Gateau/dpa (Photo by Christophe Gateau/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Think about that for a moment. Exploring alternative virtual worlds, and watching others play, is replacing TV viewing.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it extends into 2019. Goldman Sachs expects the eSports industry to generate close to $3 billion in revenues by 2022. So, if you want to get in on this game, it’s time to virtually suit up.

Why We’re Watching Overwatch

The Overwatch League is a professional gaming league built in the mold of traditional professional sports teams.

Overwatch franchises are tied to a major city. They have owners, a regular season and “athletes” who get a salary, benefits and performance-based perks.

It’s a big operation. A team of nearly 100 people manages the broadcast and the games. There’s even a Blizzard Arena in Burbank, Calif., and an Overwatch World Cup.

But there’s a twist …

Players are grouped into six-member teams playing “Overwatch,” Activision’s popular first-person shooter online game.

Old Media, New Tricks

Why is the House of Mouse taking a chance on airing live competitive video-gaming events during peak TV-watching hours?

That’s because it knows the industry has been hemorrhaging valuable millennials to digital formats faster than Kylie Jenner signs endorsement deals.

The usual suspects — YouTube, owned by Alphabet; Instagram, owned by Facebook; and Netflix  — weigh heavily on the paradoxically valuable time-wasting scale.

Video gaming is catching up, quickly. It is also hitting all the right advertising demographics.

According to MarketWatch reporting, the average age of male gamers is 36. Females check in at 36, too. That is the apex of the prime advertising market.

And don’t fall into the trap of branding every gamer as unemployed slackers who munch Cheetos in their parents’ basements. In June, Business Insider reported that Americans spent $36 billion on video games and gear in 2017.

It’s no wonder that even the NBA wants to get in on the action. It held a draft in April to launch its own eSports league. The NHL has conveyed that it wants to ramp up interest in hockey through video games. And Major League Soccer, in partnership with EA Sports, wants people to play in its FIFA eWorld Cup.

The Disney/Activision deal is old media desperately trying to grab hold of the future.

The widespread appeal … and ramping prospects of video gaming as a spectator sport … has attracted technology industry titans and leading professional sports ownership groups. Just look at the names behind some of the 12 Overwatch teams …

  • NetEase, a Chinese internet company, owns the Shanghai Dragons.
  • The San Francisco Shock is owned by NRG Sports. Its investors include the owners of the NBA Sacramento Kings and Shaquille O’Neal.
  • The Kraft Group, of New England Patriots fame, runs the Boston franchise.
  • And the Los Angles Gladiators team is owned by Kroenke Sports, the company behind the L.A. Rams, the Denver Nuggets and Arsenal Football Club.

They all see big money in live-streaming video gaming. They are not alone.

In 2015, Amazon got into a bidding war for the rights to Twitch, a wildly popular online streaming site. The online retail giant eventually paid $970 million for a website where people congregate to watch others play video games. By January 2018, Twitch had more average viewers than CNN.

Felix Kjellberg, a.k.a. PewDiePie, is a 28-year-old Swede. He also owns the most-popular channel on YouTube. Kjellberg’s gig is color commentating as he streams video gameplay to his 64 million subscribers. The channel has 18.2 billion views.

ESPN noted that, on its opening day in January, the Overwatch League outperformed NFL “Thursday Night Football.” Overwatch reached 10 million viewers on Twitch and other platforms.

Activision shares are an obvious choice for longer-term investors. In addition to the momentum that’s building for the Overwatch League, the company has transformed its consumer business from shrink-wrapped software to engagement monetization.

This means the initial sale is now only the beginning of the monetization process.

Activision managers know the real money will come from selling new characters, game expansions, extra lives and digital trinkets (like virtual outfits) inside the game. These bits of software expand overall profit margins, and that drives up organic growth rates.

Then, of course, there are potential movie spin-offs. But the company is doing just fine in the meantime.

Activision Profits are ‘Candy Crush’-ing it

In 2017, margins moved up 3% to 39%, without new titles. Sales were up 6.2% to $7 billion.

Activision has a huge portfolio of games across multiple platforms. From “Crash Bandicoot” and “Candy Crush” on mobile, to “Call of Duty” on consoles and “Overwatch” online, the company is focusing on the sale of in-game purchases and engagement.

This is a trend that is working through the entire video gaming industry.

It’s why gaming is far bigger than most non-gamers understand. Players are engaged. They are vested in storylines and outcomes. They are even willing to watch more-skilled players online.

Activision shares are up 24.2% in 2018, and 30% over the past 12 months. As I have been saying for years, the stock is a buy into any weakness.

Cyberpunk 2077 Dev Is Streaming Something Weird Right Now

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Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red is hosting a livestream on its Twitch page, hinting that something new may be revealed about its open-world RPG imminently. The stream currently shows lines of code being typed out on a screen, and there doesn’t seem to be any obvious indications of when something else will be shown or what it’ll be. Of course, we’ll stay glued to our screens and keep you updated on developments as they happen. You can watch for yourself in the video above. [Update: Just as many were hoping, the Twitch feed was serving as a countdown for a reveal of the acclaimed gameplay demo shown at E3 and Gamescom. The stream is ongoing, so we don’t yet know if it will be the full demo or if there will be anything new.]

Cyberpunk 2077 was shown to press at Gamescom behind closed doors and GameSpot was in attendance. During Gamescom, CD Projekt Red also released new Cyberpunk 2077 screenshots, showing characters and environments from the game. These images were taken from the Gamescom 2018 and E3 2018 demos. Furthermore, concept art for Cyberpunk 2077 was also released and, hidden within them, was a link to another image that displays the phrase “more than meets the eye.” It could be that the image tease and the stream are linked somehow.

During GamesCom we also got to chat to producer Richard Borzymowski, who talked about how CD Projekt Red switched gears from the fantasy universe of The Witcher to the sci-fi world of Cyberpunk 2077. He also discussed making the jump from the third-person perspective used in The Witcher series to a first-person for Cyberpunk 2077. You can watch the interview above.

In another interview, Borzymowski said Cyberpunk 2077 is playable from start to finish, but noted that is doesn’t have all its assets, and bugs that have been discovered during playtesting haven’t been addressed yet. Despite this, the studio is confident in the experience. “[Playing through the game] gives you the answers to all of your doubts,” he said. “It just feels great.”

Cyberpunk 2077 is set for launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. However, it doesn’t have a release date yet. At the close of Gamescom, we discussed some of the best games that we saw during the show and Cyberpunk 2077 was included, you can see us discuss the game, along with a few others, in our Best of Gamescom 2018 feature.

Videogames are an important ‘access point’ for classical music, says head of Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

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Earlier this month, the PCG Q&A asked: What piece of game music is always stuck in your head? The answers there alone illustrate just how diverse videogame music can be. When it comes to introducing children to classical music, the head of the UK’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra reckons game tunes are just as important as real-life concerts. 

In conversation with The Telegraph, James Williams, managing director at the RPO, says game music is a great “access point” for children when first discovering classical music. 

“I think exposure to orchestral music in all its forms is a fantastic thing,” says Williams. “It is encouraging to hear that there are platforms and opportunities for young people to engage with orchestral music, albeit in different mediums. It is about sparking their interest.

“What we are finding is once we have lit that fire there is a real desire to carry that journey on and explore. If [videogames] are the trigger and the catalyst that can only be a really positive thing.”

[Having missed the PCG Q&A linked above, the ‘Wilderness’ theme from the Mega Drive/Genesis’ Cosmic Spacehead is one of my own all-time faves.]

The Telegraph reports that a recent YouGov poll said under one in six (15 percent) children listen to classical music “when it’s part of a computer game I’m playing”; compared to just 11 percent who answered “when I go to music concerts”.

According to the poll, the majority of children discover classical music by way of film and television. According to Williams, videogame music attracts “very prestigious” composers and is  “recognised as an art form in its own right”.

The Telegraph’s report can be read in full this way. Of course, with all this talk of game music, it’d be remiss of me to not point you towards my conversation with esteemed Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka from Gamescom last year. 

Devil May Cry 5 Puts A Welcome Spin On Old Ideas

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The upcoming Devil May Cry 5 is somewhat of a homecoming for the long-running action game series. Following its reimagining by British developer Ninja Theory in 2013’s excellent DmC: Devil May Cry, Capcom’s sword-swinging, monster-juggling action game is returning to the hands of its Japanese developer. Developed by an internal Capcom team, the fifth numbered entry in the series feels like it’s striving to be as familiar as it is fresh.

That intent is driven home from the very outset. Seconds into my hands-on with the Gamescom 2018 demo I noticed sound effects pulled straight out of the first game. If that didn’t immediately evoke PS2-era nostalgia for the series, the new and improved Nero definitely would have. Although he’s making a return from Devil May Cry 4, he has offloaded the angst and replaced it with a wisecracking attitude and a confident swagger. He might look like a fresh-cut Nero but he definitely acts like old-school Dante. Given that Devil May Cry 3 director Hideaki Itsuno is helming the project, it’s not surprising to find striking similarities between new Nero and young Dante.

Capcom is very much leaning on its heritage in Devil May Cry 5, taking the familiar and adding a little twist, and this is most noticeable in the combat mechanics. At first blush it feels like little has changed: you attack with a sword and guns, use evasive rolls and jumps to escape sticky situations, and string a unique mechanic to create synergy between all these individual components. However, the biggest gameplay shakeup is in that unique mechanic: Devil Breaker. In Devil May Cry 4, Nero’s arm–then called Devil Bringer–was the glue that held gameplay together, it allowed him to snatch enemies from a distance and drag them towards him, or anchor himself to them and throw himself around the battlefield. Although Devil Breaker can also serve that purpose, it can’t be endlessly relied on.

Instead of being a weird, demonic arm imbued with supernatural power, Devil Breaker is a prosthetic arm, and–for some reason–they can be found in the game’s various environments, waiting for Nero to pluck them off the ground and attach them to his stump. Devil Breakers have unique properties, some restoring the grabbing ability from DMC4, others giving Nero the ability to unleash a explosion of electricity that’s deadly at close range. They also get into weird and wacky territory, with some Devil Breakers able to unleash a barrage of laser beams or launch a rocket punch in their powered-up states.

Crucially, Devil Breakers are finite, and you won’t always have one. They each have limited mileage and, once they bottom out, Nero is left to battle on with just one arm. Devil Breakers can also be manually exploded, creating additional damage and combo potential. For fans of the series and veterans of the genre, the opportunities this system provides will no doubt be exciting. Capcom hasn’t revealed all the types of Devil Breakers that will be in the game, which means their unique properties also remain a mystery. If my time with just two of them is any indication, this system will open the door to deep, rewarding, likely very complicated combat–though there is a simplified control scheme for those that want to make cool things happen quickly.

Perhaps you can make some sense of the random string of characters currently being posted to the CD Projekt Red Twitch feed.
CD Projekt Red via Twitch

Perhaps today is the day that CD Projekt decides to share with the public what, until now, it has only shown in private. You can follow the studio’s Twitch feed, which is live right now. Whatever happens, hopefully it won’t take as long as Bethesda Softworks’ latest Twitch stunt, which took an entire day to get to the point.

Update: Dropping the first part of the code — iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAA — from the stream into a base64 convertor reveals the letters “PNG,” leading many to believe the data stream is actually a still image. Sleuths on Reddit are now trying to gin up ways to capture the data using optical character recognition so they can attempt to decode the entire string. Others aren’t so sure, and are instead trying to determine if the data is simply a quick-and-dirty video loop and the harbinger of something bigger to be broadcast on Twitch.

For a 5-Year-Old, This Kid Seems Good at Dark Souls 3

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High Lord Wolnir can be one of Dark Souls 3’s more frustrating enemies. No wonder this 5-year-old seems excited to beat him.

Twitter user Nyu posted this clip of his son appearing to defeat the boss.

“Daddy, I did it! Daddy! Daddy! Look! Yay!” Gotta love the kid’s reaction.

Screenshot: nYu_desu_yo

Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City Has Six Districts; Here’s What We Know About Each Of Them

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Cyberpunk 2077‘s impressive demo from E3 2018 generated tons of buzz for the game, but it wasn’t shown to the public. That same demo again popped up at Gamescom, and with that event now concluded, CD Projekt Red is finally showing gameplay off to the public. Now that you should have a better idea of what the game is all about, we’re reviewing some of what we’ve learned over the past couple months.

Night City, the setting of the game, is shown extensively in the demo, but there’s much more to it than what we see the game’s protagonist, v, visit. A pamphlet handed out to those who saw the demo at E3 revealed some additional details about the game’s setting and how you’ll interact with it. We learned that Night City, which your character V lives in, is divided into six districts, with each of them representing a different aspect of the game’s cyberpunk aesthetic. Here’s what we learned about each:

  • City Center: Night City’s biggest pride, this is the heart of corporations, the cluster of neon, and the quintessence of luxury.
  • Watson: A unique mix of Asian cultures, it is a fallen corporate giant now populated by immigrants, hiding various bazaars and markets in a tangle of narrow alleyways.
  • Westbrook: Featuring tourist-oriented Japantown, it is a place for the wealthy who like to work hard and play hard.
  • Heywood: Living in one of the neighborhoods of the predominantly Latino area means you successfully managed to climb the social ladder — it’s a massive suburban housing district, with an underlying gang problem.
  • Pacifica: On the other end of the spectrum, this is the most dangerous part of town, abandoned and overrun by gang activity. Separated from the rest of the city, it’s a place of immense poverty.
  • Santo Domingo: All of Night City is powered from here, with its countless power plants and industrial factories, stuck in an endless cycle of modernization.
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Another reveal from the demo’s pamphlet is that Cyberpunk 2077 will have vertical exploration, and that it will play a major role in gameplay. “For example, V’s apartment from the demo is located in a megabuilding with multiple floors,” it reads. “Each floor is home to many NPCs, secrets and potential quests.” We also learned that players will be able to explore the city by car and motorcycle, and vehicle combat (with destructible cars) will be possible in the game.

Cyberpunk 2077 takes place in a massive urban environment encompassing different warring factions. There are apparently no load times, meaning you’ll be able to freely explore the city both on foot and in your vehicle, even engaging in high-speed shootouts on freeways, tightly packed streets, and alleys–leading to some of the more unsavory parts of town.

New Rainbow Six Siege Update Nerfs Grim Sky Maverick And Changes Three Older Operators

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Taking feedback from the Rainbow Six Siege Test Server for Operation Grim Sky, Ubisoft is implementing balancing patches for a few of the game’s Operators. One of the two new Grim Sky Operators, Maverick, is getting the most changes.

Players must have felt Maverick was too effective an Operator, as all of his changes are nerfs. His smoke grenade is being replaced with a stun grenade and his blowtorch’s volume is being made louder so that he can no longer easily hide where he’s cutting. Maverick’s blowtorch is also being made weaker against barbed wire, so the process of destroying it takes about twice as long as before. Ubisoft has heard that players want Maverick’s blowtorch to run through fuel faster and have a shorter range as well, but the developer is holding off on changing either for now.

In comparison, Operation Grim Sky’s other Operator, Clash, is getting no changes. Ubisoft reports that the team will continue to monitor her performance going forward, though.

Three of Siege’s older Operators are getting changes. Zofia is losing one of her concussion grenades, so it’s harder for her to single-handedly take over a room without a strategy. Glaz is also getting nerfed. A recent bug in Siege prevents him from being able to destroy Castle’s armored panels and Ubisoft has decided to keep it. Ubisoft is also planning a patch down the line to prevent Glaz from shooting through the panels entirely. Hibana is the only Operator getting a buff. She can now destroy a hatch with four of her pellets, instead of six.

Ubisoft has heard feedback concerning the length of Dokkaebi’s phone calls, but the team is passing on implementing any changes for her at this time.

Weapon recoil is also getting patched. Ubisoft is focusing on shotgun recoil for now. An update won’t be ready by the time Grim Sky launches, but Ubisoft will implement one before the new season is over. Ubisoft is also monitoring machine pistol recoil but has nothing planned for now.

The full patch notes for the updates coming to Operation Grim Sky prior to the expansion’s launch can be found on Siege’s website. Although it is not included on the game’s website, Siege tweeted out another change coming to Grim Sky: partial destruction to hatch reinforcements. This balances the meta of the game a little bit back towards the Attackers, who can now eventually get to hidden Defenders with enough explosives.

Operation Grim Sky launches this September. Rainbow Six Siege is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

Overwatch, NBA 2K, and more ditch loot boxes in Belgium amid crackdown

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BTW

Back in April, the Belgian government declared that loot boxes in video games are an illegal form of gambling, instructing major game developers like Blizzard, 2K, EA, and Valve to remove the function from their games or suffer fines and even possible jail time. That decree has finally come to fruition, as Blizzard and 2K announced they have formally expunged loot boxes from the Belgian versions of their games.

In a post on the official Blizzard forums, the company announced that players will no longer be able to spend real-world money on loot boxes in Overwatch or Heroes of the Storm.

“While we at Blizzard were surprised by this conclusion and do not share the same opinion, we have decided to comply with their interpretation of Belgian law,” Blizzard wrote. “As a result, we have no choice but to implement measures that will prevent Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm players located in Belgium from purchasing in-game loot boxes and loot chests with real money and gems.”

Blizzard says that players will still be able to earn loot boxes by playing more matches and earning experience points, allowing them to earn one loot box for every level gained. Looks like a lot of Belgian Overwatch players are about to earn their fourth prestige star.

Blizzard says the changes will be implemented “shortly.”

NBA 2K developer 2K Games has also acquiesced to the Belgian government’s position. According to a report by Eurogamer, 2K Games has removed the option to buy MyTeam packs for real-world money but is still allowing players to grind enough in-game currency to purchase them that way. MyTeam packs allow players to earn cards that unlock different players for their ultimate dream team.

“While we disagree with this position, we are working to comply with Kansspelautoriteit’s current interpretation of these laws,” 2K wrote in a statement. “We will be continuing conversations with the Kansspelautoriteit in order to explain our view on how NBA 2K and the Auction House already comply with local laws. If you agree, we recommend that you contact your local government representative to communicate your opinion.”

Both Blizzard and 2K suggesting they’ll push back against these restrictions (and use their customer bases to do so) indicates that this isn’t the last we’ve heard of the issue.

It’s unclear how these changes will impact NBA 2K19, which releases Sept. 11.

Back in April, one big factor the Belgian government seemingly considered was the impact such mechanics would have on younger players.

“It is often children who come into contact with such systems and we cannot allow that,” Minister of Justice Koen Geens said in April.

Joseph Knoop

Joseph Knoop

Joseph Knoop is a gaming writer for Daily Dot, a native Chicagoan, and a slave to all things Overwatch. He co-founded the college geek culture outlet ByteBSU, then interned at Game Informer, and now writes for a bunch websites his parents have never heard of.

Before Playing Black Ops 4, Return To Call Of Duty: WW2 To Defeat The Nazi Zombies Once And For All

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Activision has released a new trailer for Call of Duty: WW2‘s fourth DLC pack, Shadow War. The DLC is coming out as a timed exclusive for PS4 first, before releasing on other platforms.

Shadow War concludes WW2’s Nazi zombie storyline in a final chapter titled The Frozen Dawn. Taking place in the hellish depths of a lost city, The Frozen Dawn will test you with new hordes of zombie. However, seemingly magic-infused weapons will be available for you to pull off insanely powerful attacks. Some of them can be seen in the trailer, but Sledgehammer promises there are more secrets to discover in the DLC.

“Thematically for this pack, we wanted to push the fiction as far as we could, have a lot of fun with it, and give the player a sense of creativity as they play,” said Sledgehammer Games lead multiplayer environmental artist Matt Abbott in a PlayStation blog post.

Shadow War also adds three multiplayer maps: Airship, Chancellery, and Excavation. Airship takes place far up on a mountain next to a docked zeppelin. Owning the zeppelin gives your team the advantage, but you have to run out of cover along narrow cliffs to reach it, and one misstep results in death. Chancellery takes the battlefield to a French stronghold for a nighttime firefight. Buildings at either end of a courtyard provide excellent sniper spots, but you can also hide in the parked trucks and set an ambush. Excavation is located in an Algerian mine. The dug up treasure and artifacts create a littered battlefield.

Operation Arcane is the final piece of content included in Shadow War. Rather than a straitforward battle, you’ll play as the Allied forces who must infiltrate an Austrian lab, steal secret tech, get to the hanger filled with UFOs, and blow up the lab while escaping. The weapons you discover, like the Tesla Gun and a super soldier serum, can be stolen and used to complete the mission.

Shadow War comes to PS4 players first on August 28. The DLC releases for Xbox One and PC at a later date. For a limited time, Call of Duty: WW2 season pass owners can invite other players who don’t have the DLC to participate in the content. From August 28 to October 28, if a season pass owner creates an in-game party and is party leader, everyone invited can participate in the new multiplayer maps, operation, and zombie storyline.

How VR is more than a game

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I love VR and I love gaming, but I have now got to the point where the mention of the two things in the same sentence – specially when people seem to imply they’re the same thing – makes me roll my eyes and sigh.

Part of it is due to the fact I’m yet to get really hooked into a VR game. Most of them just make me feel queasy, so I’m limited to short experiences that showcase the potential of the medium, for sure, but in no way prompt me to sell my console and screen setup just yet.

Do you like good gadgets?

Those sweet cool gadgets?

What I have seen, however, are plenty of solid examples of how immersive technology is being applied in industry sectors as diverse as education, retail, filmmaking, or medicine, with significant and measureable ROI.

There’s a wealth of evidence out there about how adding immersive tech to a company’s existing workflow can instantly boost efficiency and collaboration. One of my favourite examples of that is how global construction giant Trimble uses Mixed Reality to help its architects and other professionals on the ground to visualize plans and spot problems at concept stage, when they are infinitely easier and cheaper to address than after building work takes place.

Another more recent example of that I came across was PIXO VR partnering with HP to provide virtual reality training to enterprise, and interestingly the company was keen to highlight the fact that they provided “AAA-game quality VR training experiences and behavior-changing narratives.”

Immersive media agency Yondr recently partnered with webinar platform Clickmeeting to show some of the more innovative ways in which immersive content was being used by brands and how indeed those uses went well beyond gaming. Which is not to say that there isn’t overlap, however, as many of the professionals producing this sort of content have expertise acquired in the gaming industry, and building compelling experiences is something that is bread and butter stuff for game developers and translates very well into an enterprise solutions setting.

These are important cases to highlight not only because they are interesting (at least to enthusiasts of the technology such as myself) but also because if we attempt to measure the success or otherwise of VR/AR/MR by the yardstick of gaming, we’re likely to get it wrong. Headsets like The HoloLens or Daqri will never sell as many units as the Xbox 360, but that doesn’t mean they’re not game-changing technology that’s adding real value to businesses.

So, while I do enjoy gaming as much as the next gal, what’s most exciting to me is seeing how companies big and small are using Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality to solve pain points, save money, connect people, make workflows more collaborative, and  make our real world a better – and more efficient – place.

 

This post is part of our contributor series. The views expressed are the author’s own and not necessarily shared by TNW.

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