Monthly Archives: October 2018
Fortnite Developer Epic Games Acquires Anti-Cheat Company Kamu
Fortnite developer and publisher Epic Games has acquired Helsinki-based game security and live service management firm Kamu, Epic and Kamu announced today in a joint statement.
Kamu said it supports, "live management of player satisfaction, community building, and game integrity." The firm's Easy Anti-Cheat tech is currently installed in over 100 million PCs globally where it tries to protect players of more than 80 games, including Fortnite.
“Kamu’s team and tools have been key to building a vibrant Fortnite multiplayer experience that’s fair for all players,” Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said.
"Battling cheating in games was just the start," said Kamu CEO Simon Allayes.
Out This Week: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, WWE 2K19, Luigi’s Mansion on 3DS
With so many new games and movies coming out, it can be hard to keep up. Lucky for you, IGN is here to help with a weekly round-up of the biggest releases each and every week. Check out the latest releases for this week, and be sure to come back next Monday for a new update.
Note: The prices and deals compiled below are accurate at the time we published this story, but all are subject to change.
Fortnite Fall Skirmish Grand Finale Among Battle Royale Events at TwitchCon 2018
The grand finale for Fortnite's Fall Skirmish event is set to take place at TwitchCon 2018 along with other events featuring Call of Duty's Blackout and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
Epic Games started the Fall Skirmish on September 21 and will conclude the six-week event on the weekend of October 26. The event throws the best Fortnite players and selected competitors into highly competitive matches for a $10 million prize pool. TwitchCon will feature open and invitational tournaments to determine some of the participants.
The Fall Skirmish is not the only Fortnite representation at TwitchCon 2018. Something dubbed the "Fortnite Hall" allows attendees to stop by for "fun activities for solos and squads" along with "frights, delights, and fun surprises."
Overwatch’s Lucio-Oh’s May Be Becoming a Real Cereal
An in-game Overwatch joke may be turning into an actual product.
As first reported by The Junk Food Aisle, product listings for Lucio-Oh's cereal from Kellogg's have turned up on the website 1fsschools.com.
The Junk Food Aisle has posted what it claims to be an image of the Lucio-Oh's cereal box along with a supposed release date of Dec. 3. The Oh's will apparently come in a "Sonic Vanilla" flavor, and will include codes for an Overwatch "Loot Boost" for a limited time.
Stories Untold Developer Reveals New Game: Observation
Stories Untold developer No Code – in conjunction with Devolver Digital – has revealed Observation, a contemporary sci-fi thriller in which you play a space station AI. It will arrive for PS4 and PC in Spring 2019.
Set on an Earth-orbiting facility, Observation sees players take control of SAM, an onboard AI, assisting crew member Dr. Emma Fisher after a mysterious event damages the station and seems to cause the rest of the crew to vanish. There's also the small matter of a rogue signal with a simple message for you: "BRING HER".
Check out the reveal trailer below:
SAM is essentially a disembodied intelligence, but can look through any of the station's cameras, operate its various systems and take control of certain tools, all of which help players in exploring the station and solving puzzles to assist Dr. Fisher.
Remaster, Remake, or Reimagining? The Task of Bringing Back Resident Evil 2
The idea of remaking a classic film is often met with resistance or, perhaps, an apathetic shrug of the shoulders. But remakes of classic games are met with enthusiasm – Shadow of the Colossus earlier in the year, and now Resident Evil 2.
Why the sharp difference?
Games are bound to consumer technology, which is in a constant state of improvement and replacement. Consoles today create experiences not possible five years ago, and with each major jump in technology, it’s possible to revisit old ideas with new tools.
Watch 10 new minutes of Claire Redfield gameplay in the video below, in which she encounters a Licker for the first time.
Microsoft Announces Global Game Streaming Service, Project xCloud, Beta Next Year
Microsoft has revealed Project xCloud, a realization of their plans to bring their titles, via streaming, to "any screen" while "empowering YOU, the gamers, to be at the center of your gaming experience."
Announced on Microsoft's blog, Project xCloud will allow developers to "deploy and dramatically scale access to their games across all devices on Project xCloud with no additional work."
Microsoft's plan is to begin "public trials in 2019" so they can "learn and scale with different volumes and locations."
The team behind xCloud has designed a a "new customizable blade that can host the component parts of multiple Xbox One consoles, as well as the associated infrastructure supporting it."
Fallout 76 Is a Strangely Lonely Multiplayer Game
The thing I can’t stop thinking as I cross Appalachia is how quiet everything seems. Bethesda might have taken the unexpected sideways step of turning another of its largest single-player properties into a multiplayer game, but I don’t think I’d term this a “massively” multiplayer RPG. This world is vast – four times larger than Fallout 4, apparently – and it’s clear that’s part of the plan. Fallout 76 feels oddly lonely for an online game and, after three hours with it, that’s for better and worse.
Bethesda still won’t confirm exactly how many players will be dropped into a single instance of its game world, but I was told it will be in the region of a few dozen. Against the wide backdrop of Appalachia – the name given to 76’s West Virginia setting – that really isn’t a great deal. Since announcement, Bethesda's made clear that every human you meet will be a real person, but it’s only in playing the game you realise quite what an effect that has.
Atomic Heart: Beta and Pre-Orders Announced
Alternative '60s first-person RPG Atomic Heart is now available for pre-order, and will receive a beta in Q4 2019, developer Mundfish announced today.
Mundfish has put three different versions of its first-person RPG up for pre-order on PC on its website. Anyone who pre-orders the basic and Deluxe Founder's Edition will save 25 and 50 percent, respectively, off their final retail price while the Atomic Founder's Edition costs the full amount regardless of whether it's preordered or bought after release.
The base game costs $30 USD to reserve and includes a digital soundtrack, behind-the-scenes video, digital art book, a beta invite, and access to the full game one week before it's released. For $45 USD, the Deluxe Founder's Edition adds a Founder's badge to buyers' in-game profiles, a unique in-game Founder's mask, and access to the closed forum area for "bakers." Finally, the Atomic Founder's Edition runs $90 USD and adds buyers' names and photos to a wall in the in-game Safe Zone while also giving players access to a unique location within Atomic Heart.
Guacamelee! 2 Coming to Nintendo Switch This Year
The Guacamelee! series is coming to the Nintendo Switch, with Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition available today and Guacamelee! 2 coming later this year.
Developer DrinkBox Studios announced today that the pair of games would be hitting the Switch. Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition, which includes all of the original game's DLC as well as a bevy of additional content, is launching today in North America and Europe, and Guacamelee! 2 is coming this December.
DrinkBox also provided footage for both of the games on Switch, with Guacamelee! STCE receiving an official trailer, and Guacamelee! 2 getting 6 minutes of gameplay.