Dota 2 International 2017 Battle Pass Announced
Just as the post-Kiev Major excitement was finally dying down Valve has announced the details of The International 2017 Battle Pass for Dota 2.
For the uninitiated, a Battle Pass is a digital ticket for Dota's biggest tournaments that comes with a suite of extra features, including special cosmetics, in-game events, tournament predictions, and much, much more. The Battle Pass announced today gives access to Dota's biggest tournament of the year, The International, and Valve has gone all out to ensure this year's new features are fitting for its most prestigious event.
The first and most interesting new addition in this year's Battle Pass is Siltbreaker, a Dota multiplayer campaign. The campaign looks to tackle Dota's lore head on, featuring an in-depth story about the Dark Reef, an underwater prison that houses the sea's most evil creatures. Siltbreaker appears to be a Diablo-esque dungeon crawler built within Dota's framework and is playable with up to two friends. Campaign XP will be rewarded each time you play which can then be turned in for special rewards. The first act of Siltbreaker (titled "The Sands of Fate) will be available sometime this month, with the second act set for release in July.
Oculus Shuts Down VR Story Studio
Oculus is shutting down its award-winning narrative filmmaking branch, Story Studio.
Oculus VP of Content Jason Rubin revealed the news in a recent blog post, saying the company has decided to move away from internal content creation and will now instead focus on supporting more external production. All ongoing projects at Story Studio are being cancelled, with the branch's 50 staffers encouraged to apply for new jobs within Oculus.
"Now that a large community of filmmakers and developers are committed to the narrative VR art form, we’re going to focus on funding and supporting their content," said Rubin. "This helps us turn our internal research, development, and attention towards exciting but unsolved problems in AR and VR hardware and software."
Top 100 RPGs of All Time: Day Four
Meet the Writers Behind the Game of Thrones Spinoffs
Big news, Game of Thrones fans: HBO is officially working on four potential spinoff series set during various periods and settings in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire world. The network closed deals with four sets of screenwriters to develop scripts for each show, with hypothetical series orders hinging around whatever they deliver.
While we have plenty of ideas for what Game of Thrones spinoffs we'd like to see, the writers picked to develop around this franchise are pretty exciting in and of themselves. The four teams are: Max Borenstein; Jane Goldman with Martin; Brian Helgeland; and Carly Wray with Martin.
Pokemon Go Event Makes Grass Types More Common
The latest Pokemon Go event will see a surge in grass type Pokemon on the game's servers.
Niantic has announced that its latest Pokemon Go event will commence this weekend starting in the afternoon PDT on May 5. The event has been dubbed the 'Worldwide Bloom' and will run for the weekend and finish on May 8.
To increase your chances of finding as many grass Pokemon as possible Niantic has also revealed in a tweet that Lure Modules will last for six hours over the course of the weekend.
Unlike the water event earlier this year, Niantic has not hinted at any particularly rare Pokemon being more readily available during the event and instead encourages players to share their findings on social media.
Donkey Kong, Halo, Pokemon, Street Fighter Honored in Hall of Fame
Four new games have been inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame this at The Strong National Museum of Play.
Donkey Kong, Halo: Combat Evolved, Pokemon Red and Green, and Street Fighter II were chosen over a list of impressive finalists to join the elite lineup due to their significant effects on their genres and the industry as a whole.
The new inductees cover multiple decades and styles of play and join games such as Super Mario Bros, Tetris, and World of Warcraft on the esteemed list.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombie Chronicles Coming May 16
Activision is continuing to support Call of Duty: Black Ops III with an upcoming content pack called Zombies Chronicles. The content hits PlayStation 4 on May 16, with other platforms to follow.
Dates for the other versions have not yet been announced by Activision. The pack contains eight remastered maps from the Call of Duty Zombie Mode franchise.
The word came from Treyarch Studio co-head Jason Blundell during a guest spot on YouTuber JCBackfire's show earlier today. The official reveal came via t-shirt, with an explanation from Blundell following. He calls the Zombie Chronicles a "love letter from Treyarch" to the CoD community.
Does Nintendo Get a Pass?
Welcome back to Game Scoop!, IGN's weekly video game talk show. This week we're discussing Zelda: Breath of the Wild's Season Pass, Mario + Rabbids, Darksiders 3, and more. Watch the video above or download the podcast below.
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Ubisoft Previews For Honor Season 2’s New Maps, Heroes
Ahead of the launch of For Honor Season 2 later this month, Ubisoft has released several new trailers highlighting the new content headed to its melee action game.
In addition to gameplay updates and new customization items, two new heroes and two additional maps are coming with For Honor Season 2: Shadow and Might. Check out the trailer below for an early look at one of the new heroes, the Shinobi of the Samurai faction.
The Centurion of the Knight faction will also be added as a new playable hero. Watch him lay waste to his foes in the trailer below.
Season 2 also includes the new map Forge, which you can check out in the preview video below.
2K Games President Christoph Hartmann Leaves Company
Christoph Hartmann, president of publisher 2K Games, has left the company after more than a decade.
A representative for Take-Two Interactive, 2K's parent company, confirmed Hartmann's departure in a statement. 2K has not revealed who will next take on the role, however the statement confirms that the change in leadership "will have no impact on 2K's current pipeline of titles in development." The statement reads:
“We can confirm that there has been a management change at the leadership level of 2K. For more than a decade, Christoph Hartmann has helped 2K to become an industry leader and we are grateful for his contributions and wish him well on his future endeavors. This change in leadership will have no impact on 2K’s current pipeline of titles in development, and we look forward to this new chapter in the history of our label.”