Afrogalaxy

The rise of new stablecoins was a defining story in the second half of 2018, but the reality is that exclusive discounts partly fueled their growth.

Dollar-backed stablecoins are generally supposed to be worth $1, whether it’s Gemini’s GUSD or Paxos’ PAX. But according to four sources with knowledge of these cryptocurrency exchanges, both stablecoin-issuers privately offered over-the-counter [OTC] trading desks up to a 1 percent discount if traders used these tokens in some fashion before redeeming them for USD.

“They were offering that as a sweetener for getting it kick-started with adoption,” an OTC trader, who asked to stay anonymous, told CoinDesk.

This is why GUSD and PAX activity surged in December 2018, both between OTC desks and on exchange platforms like Huobi and Binance, where several traders moved millions of dollars within a matter of days. According to CoinMarketCap, GUSD’s global market cap suddenly surged from roughly $87 million on December 17 to over $103 million the following day.

“A lot of the arbitrage opportunities were manufactured,” the OTC trader added.

Dorothy Chang, VP of Paxos’ marketing and communications department, told CoinDesk this incentive structure was only offered to a “handful of partners” for “less than two months” starting around late September. Perhaps fortuitously for Paxos, the first-ever U.S.-dollar-pegged stablecoin Tether (USDT), temporarily lost parity in mid-October.

According to a report prepared for CoinDesk by the analytics firm Delphi Digital, USDT lost almost a third of its market share during this period, with GUSD eventually exceeding PAX with more than $140 million in transaction volume in January 2019.

The Delphi Digital report argued that “competitors are all fighting for the spot Tether will most likely eventually lose.”

With regards to PAX, Chang said the discount was “something we did when we were first introducing our product to the market,” adding that Paxos is increasing its redemption windows from once to twice a day and looking for more partnerships with enterprises across the space.

“We’ve been at above $100 million in daily transaction volume for the past three days and holding steady,” Chang said on Monday.

While Paxos has moved on, the markets may still witness ripple effects from these corporate incentive programs for months to come. GUSD, for example, saw a burst of trading activity and market valuation in January.

“The incentives that are issued by these entities often come with a lock-up period. Those may have expired,” said Jesse Proudman, CEO of the algorithmic trading platform Strix Leviathan. Proudman explained to CoinDesk that the discounted stablecoins can now be freely traded.
Game of coins

Once several stablecoins became available for less than or more than a dollar, whether based on incentive strategies or organic market fluctuations, the arbitrage games began.

According to a Paxos blog and reporting by The Block, several Huobi users tried to obfuscate their source of funds by opening dozens of accounts using other names in order to exceed the Paxos exchange’s daily USD redemption limit. Paxos told CoinDesk at least 10 accounts were closed in relation to this trend.

The frenzy arose because the PAX discount program coincided with the release of HUSD, which is essentially a pool of stablecoins offered by the Singapore-based exchange Huobi that allows traders to deposit one type and later withdraw another. Besides GUSD and PAX, the pool also supports Circle’s USDC and TrustToken’s TUSD.

According to Kelvy Ko, partner at crypto hedge fund Leotank Digital Trading, Huobi’s HUSD pool has made it much more convenient for traders to swap stablecoins and leverage arbitrage without actually trading them.

Indeed, around the same time that the stablecoin USDT oscillated and Huobi launched HUSD, PAX’s global market cap jumped from roughly $42 million to $79 million in a single day on October 23. Then in early December, Binance saw a plethora of multibillion-dollar PAX trades as traders struggled to find liquidity and arbitrage sources beyond the redeemer itself. By the first week of 2019, Paxos told CoinDesk the company had redeemed $200 million worth of stablecoins so far.

Even so, there could be a long way to go until the regulator-approved stablecoins like PAX and GUSD catch up to USDT in terms of volume.

“Even though USDT is wash traded, it has the first mover advantage,” Ko said, referring to how some USDT users allegedly buy and sell the same financial instrument to create the artificial appearance of marketplace activity. Plus, this practice is hardly restricted to USDT and might currently be applied by some traders to other stablecoins as well.

“Even if USDT is in a legal grey area, it is hard for others to compete because some people want to avoid the regulators,” Ko added.

Gemini declined to comment on this specific incentive program or transaction volumes across global exchanges. According to the company’s blog and a recent regulation-friendly marketing campaign, Gemini seeks to distinguish itself from the competition by being “a compliance-centric company.”

When asked if incentive programs artificially inflated the respective coin’s market cap, Chang of Paxos said:

“That may have been true for some, but we have not been optimizing for market cap alone; it’s not meaningful by itself. What is meaningful is transaction volume. For us, the point of offering an incentive was to develop market depth.”

Windows of opportunity

One of the anonymous OTC traders CoinDesk spoke with said that stablecoin issuers were inspired to launch this short-lived campaign because there isn’t an organic demand for these assets.

“The banks and the other [crypto] OTC desks we work with are really incredibly flexible,” the trader said. “It’s much easier to do that [work with the bank] than to…get back these tokens that have a bunch of strings attached and also doesn’t pay any interest.”

On the other hand, Proudman of Strix Leviathan told CoinDesk his company uses PAX for large-scale trades on Binance – sans backroom discounts – because he prefers to hold a regulated asset that can be redeemed for dollars.

“We elect to not use the incentive strategies from any of the stablecoin companies,” Leviathan said, adding they use stablecoins for arbitrage related to bitcoin, ethereum and other trading pairs. “From a trader’s perspective, we find ourselves electing to use coins we are comfortable with over those that we are less comfortable with.”

However, since stablecoin issuers require a significant amount of know-your-customer information in order to redeem the tokens, the anonymous trader said OTC desks that participated in the rush may have revealed competitive information about their partners and trading volumes to the exchanges, namely Gemini and Paxos.

“These smaller desks can’t get banked at the places that allow instant U.S. dollar transfer, so they are willing to give up some of their privacy,” he said.

The second anonymous trader agreed that this opportunity was especially appealing to OTC desks with liquidity challenges, often related to jurisdictional compliance. Because of that, he expects companies to continue issuing stablecoins, perhaps with more promotional discounts, in 2019.

“I think there is no clear winner yet, both in terms of traders and issuers,” he said.

According to Ko, the regulated stablecoin arbitrage opportunity closed after several weeks because “once the short-term interests [were] achieved, they don’t need to keep the aggressive promotional rebates.”

Plus, a Huobi Global representative told CoinDesk that the exchange added the daily withdrawal limits during the timeframe of this incident.

For PAX traders in particular, the limits are now $20,000 for verified accounts and $1,000 for unverified users. The arbitrage rush may have impacted Huobi’s coffers, with three Huobi wallets holding roughly 78 percent of all GUSD in circulation. Gemini declined to comment on why that might be.

Moving forward, the Huobi Global representative said the exchange plans to “dynamically develop HUSD over the course of 2019” in order to improve the user experience and prevent misuse of the system.
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Prosecutors in Illinois plan to seek a life sentence for a man who allegedly killed his girlfriend's daughter after she spilled juice on an Xbox video game console.

Johnathan Fair, 19, of Waukegan, roughly 40 miles northwest of Chicago, was babysitting 4-year-old Skylar Mendez on Dec. 13 when the incident occurred, the Lake County News-Sun reported, citing the State Attorney's Office.

Fair took the child to a hospital and claimed she fell and hit her head, prosecutors said. He later reportedly admitted that he shook Mendez "really hard" and beat her because she spilled juice on the console.

Fair allegedly kicked Skylar down a hallway as part of her punishment. He reportedly brought her to the hospital after she passed out during the attack.

Doctors tried unsuccessfully to relieve the swelling in Mendez's brain and she died days later.

Fair was indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday on four counts of first-degree murder and is being held on $5 million bail at the Lake County jail.

The 19-year-old's attorney told The Associated Press on Sunday that he's confident his client will eventually be acquitted.

Prosecutors announced Thursday their intention to seek a natural life sentence for Fair if his case goes to trial. He's scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 17.
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Most of the money will go towards marketing costs
By Cohen Coberly,
Something to look forward to: Despite raising over $200 million in funding and several years of development, ambitious multiplayer space sim Star Citizen still doesn't have a release date. However, it's single-player 'Squadron 42' spin-off game finally does; sort of. Courtesy of a $46 million investment from billionaire record producer Clive Calder, the game is now expected to launch during the summer of 2020.

$46 million may seem like overkill for a single-player game that already has plenty of funding, but Chris Roberts (the owner of Roberts Space Industries, Star Citizen and Squadron 42's development team) says most of the title's fresh funding will go towards marketing costs.

Given some of the casting decisions Roberts has made with the game, such as bringing on Hollywood stars like Mark Hamill, promoting the game to as many people as possible could be a critical component of Squadron 42's future success. After all, if nobody buys the game in the end, it doesn't matter how good it might be; it'll still be considered a major loss.

When Squadron 42 eventually launches, the developers promise players will get to experience a thrilling, story-driven single player campaign filled with tough decisions, top-tier voice acting, and intense space and ground battles.

If you want to be one of the first to experience those features when Squadron 42 launches in a couple of years, you can pre-order the game right now for $45. If a story-driven space sim doesn't really sound like your cup of tea and you'd prefer something a bit more open-ended, the multiplayer side of Star Citizen can effectively be pre-ordered for the same price in the form of a $45 ship purchase.

However, just to reiterate, Star Citizen itself does not have a release date or even a release window, so you could be waiting for quite some time before you get to sink your teeth into it. On the bright side, you'll get to test the game's various Alpha versions as they release - for now, that means you can explore Star Citizen's first world and city (Hurston and Lorville, respectively).
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The survival horror classic reimagined
By Shawn Knight,
What just happened? A timed demo of Resident Evil 2 has reportedly cropped up in the Xbox Store (although it's not yet available). If true, it's likely only a matter of time before we see similar offerings show up on PlayStation 4 and PC.

Capcom’s remake of Resident Evil 2 is just over a month away but gamers will apparently be able to get their feet wet a couple of weeks early.

TrueAchievements recently stumbled upon a listing for a Resident Evil 2 One-Shot Demo in the Xbox Store. According to the demo’s description, “whilst you can continue as many times as you like after dying, you’ll only have 30 minutes to complete the demo.”

The language used and the name of the demo, “One-Shot,” suggests you only get half an hour of total play time before the demo shuts down. It could have been worded a bit more clearly. For example, some other publications say the demo “resets” after 30 minutes. Resets and shuts down are two entirely different things, after all.

According to TrueAchievements, the demo launches on January 11 and will be available until January 31. You’ll need to be signed in and have an active Internet connection to play.

Disclaimer – this news comes from a third-party source. I couldn’t find anything official from Capcom or Microsoft (I don’t have an Xbox to check the Xbox Store on) and came up dry on the website. Perhaps someone can verify the demo listing in the comments section?

Resident Evil 2 is scheduled to launch on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC on January 25, 2019.
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Most of the money will go towards marketing costs
By Cohen Coberly,
Something to look forward to: Despite raising over $200 million in funding and several years of development, ambitious multiplayer space sim Star Citizen still doesn't have a release date. However, it's single-player 'Squadron 42' spin-off game finally does; sort of. Courtesy of a $46 million investment from billionaire record producer Clive Calder, the game is now expected to launch during the summer of 2020.

$46 million may seem like overkill for a single-player game that already has plenty of funding, but Chris Roberts (the owner of Roberts Space Industries, Star Citizen and Squadron 42's development team) says most of the title's fresh funding will go towards marketing costs.

Given some of the casting decisions Roberts has made with the game, such as bringing on Hollywood stars like Mark Hamill, promoting the game to as many people as possible could be a critical component of Squadron 42's future success. After all, if nobody buys the game in the end, it doesn't matter how good it might be; it'll still be considered a major loss.

When Squadron 42 eventually launches, the developers promise players will get to experience a thrilling, story-driven single player campaign filled with tough decisions, top-tier voice acting, and intense space and ground battles.

If you want to be one of the first to experience those features when Squadron 42 launches in a couple of years, you can pre-order the game right now for $45. If a story-driven space sim doesn't really sound like your cup of tea and you'd prefer something a bit more open-ended, the multiplayer side of Star Citizen can effectively be pre-ordered for the same price in the form of a $45 ship purchase.

However, just to reiterate, Star Citizen itself does not have a release date or even a release window, so you could be waiting for quite some time before you get to sink your teeth into it. On the bright side, you'll get to test the game's various Alpha versions as they release - for now, that means you can explore Star Citizen's first world and city (Hurston and Lorville, respectively).
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players will battle for crypto in War Riders became a little clearer this morning.

In a gameplay trailer released exclusively to CoinDesk, Cartified, the company behind the game, teases how post-apocalyptic vehicles will duke it out for a crypto token called Benzene (BZN).

And while the game isn’t yet live, 3,700 cars have already been sold as non-fungible, ERC-721 tokens, according to the company. Souped-up Car Tanks and War Lambos have sold for anywhere from $450 to $2,200 each, payable in ETH (more affordable cars are coming, Cartified says).

The game itself won’t cost money to play. Players simply need to own at least one vehicle.

CoinDesk last reported on War Riders when it was kicked out of Coinbase Wallet at the behest of Apple.

“Our Pre-Alpha Gameplay Teaser video is released to show the quality of the graphics and what to expect from the actual gameplay,” Cartified CEO Vlad Kartashov told CoinDesk in a statement. “We are still keeping most of the actual gameplay mechanics in secret (to prevent copycats).”

We know a bit about the gameplay already, based on what we can see in the video and previous conversations with Kartashov.

First of all, the economy of War Riders runs on BZN, which is an ERC-20 token. Players need BZN to “survive” the barren gamescape, so in the world of War Riders it’s expected to be the same thing as money. Interestingly, there are plans for BZN to be tradeable in the real world, just like other tokens, making the game a potential bellwether for crypto’s gaming use-case.

“We have plans to add it to an exchange after the end of the vehicle pre-sale/start of the alpha,” Kartashov said via email.

The game will use an algorithm to determine how much new BZN is needed to keep the economy stable and it will randomly distribute caches around the game world. So, the more a user plays, the more likely he or she is to stumble on caches.
Gameplay

“Hey, cowboy: mine or die today,” begins the new trailer. “I’m thirsty for some BZN.”

In the first portion of the trailer, what appears to be two gangs of vehicles are driving around a desert and firing weapons at each other. The game emphasizes its three-dimensional nature by, for example, showing one car ramping over another and cars knocking each other over through direct hits.

Then a tanker seems to break away and start fueling up with BZN at a way station.

Kartashov explained to CoinDesk that getting the BZN isn’t enough. A player won’t be able to use it from a personal wallet until they get their cars back to their HQ. If they get a load of the stuff out in the field but other players catch them, they risk losing the loot.

The next part of the trailer is perhaps more telling.

It shows a mission-selection screen where the player can choose to chase after BZN in some wasteland. It shows the player selecting vehicles for the mission. As they select more vehicles, their odds of success increase.

Kartashov told CoinDesk that players will be in control of their vehicle, but there’s also clearly some kind of armada element to the game. It could be something like the PC gaming classic Sacrifice, where players both controlled a wizard but also gave broad direction to his army of mythical beasts as they completed missions for different gods.

For now, Kartashov won’t say more.

The total amount of BZN is finite and some of might be burned with different uses. Over time, BZN will appear more slowly or caches will contain fewer tokens.

Just like in a real post-apocalypse, “The fight for it will get more aggressive and more aggressive over time,” Kartashov predicted.

War Riders image (from pre-alpha gameplay video) courtesy of Cartified
Brady Dale

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NetherRealm didn't forget the blood or guts.



Mortal Kombat 11 exists and it's due to launch on April 23rd, complete with classic characters and buckets of blood. NetherRealm announced the new game in a surprise segment during The Game Awards, showing off a cinematic battle between Raiden and Scorpion. It's a real nail-biter. Or, nail-breaker. Or, bone-breaker. OK, it's all of those things.

NetherRealm is planning to host a reveal event for Mortal Kombat 11 on January 17th. Until then, enjoy the reveal trailer and all of its stabby, spine-stealing goodness. https://www.geezgo.com/sps/48953

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Ready to revisit Hawkins, Indiana?

At The Game Awards, Stranger Things creators The Duffer Bros. hit the stage and announced a new game on the way tying in with their Netflix series. Made by Bonus XP -- developers of the first retro Stranger Things Game for mobile devices -- it looks to feature some arcade-style isometric action that blends in well with the show's 80s aesthetic.

We don't have a lot of details yet, but this one will tie in with season three, which is set to debut next year. We'll have to wonder what might have been for the planned Telltale Games version, but at least it looks like fans will have something to play on "all platforms."

Stranger Things 3: The Game from @BonusXP is coming to all platforms. Hold onto your quarters. #TheGameAwards pic.twitter.com/m00x1nGeFy
— NX (@NXOnNetflix) December 7, 2018
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The Dread Wolf rises... eventually.

The rumors were true: despite departures from the original team, BioWare has confirmed that it's working on a new Dragon Age game. Only... there's not much to say about it. Apart from promoting a curious #TheDreadWolfRises hashtag, the developer is saying virtually nothing about what the new title entails, when it will ship or even its name. You're going to be disappointed if you were planning your gaming calendar around another fantasy RPG from the studio.

It will have experienced developers, though. On top of people from the Dragon Age days, you'll find veterans from Jade Empire and even the classic Baldur's Gate series. The pedigree is right -- let's just hope BioWare doesn't leave gamers hanging and provides some real information in the near future.

'The Last Campfire' is a cute, internal experiment from Hello Games.

Hello Games is known for No Man's Sky, an expansive space-exploration game that received heavy marketing from Sony ahead of its launch in 2016, and rocketed studio founder Sean Murray to infamy and stardom. No Man's Sky endured a turbulent release period, but developers continued to roll out updates and deliver on their most ambitious promises, and this year it was nominated for Best Ongoing Game at The Game Awards. But before No Man's Sky, Hello Games was the home of Joe Danger, a cartoony racing title that found great, yet comparatively mild, success in the early 2010s.

Hello Games' new project, The Last Campfire, is a lot more like Joe Danger than No Man's Sky.

"Fundamentally we believe that small, talented teams can achieve great things," Murray told Engadget just before The Game Awards on Thursday night. "As a team of four in a tiny room above a tile shop, we created the multi-million-selling Joe Danger. As a dozen developers in a leaking shed, we borrowed our neighbor's internet and created one of the biggest-selling new IPs in video games, No Man's Sky. We've got a dead nice office now, so we'll probably ruin it all."

"We want to allow talented folks to take risks."

The Last Campfire is the first Hello Games Short -- smaller, more experimental projects that developers at the studio work on in the name of fostering creativity and free expression, a lot like Pixar's short-film initiative. The Last Campfire comes from Steve Burgess and Chris Symonds, the creators of 2008 WiiWare launch title LostWinds, who joined Hello Games a while back. It's an adventure game starring a character called Ember, who is searching for meaning and a way home, and it features the duo's floaty, adorable and richly detailed art style.

"In many ways I look back and realize Joe Danger was the Short that was a learning experience for No Man's Sky for us, and I still feel like No Man's Sky is a huge learning experience for what our next big thing turns out to be," Murray said.

Hello Games revealed The Last Campfire at The Game Awards -- a process that's worked out well for them in the past. The world first got a glimpse of No Man's Sky at the 2013 VGX Awards (the predecessor to The Game Awards), and it generated huge buzz from there, kicking off a cascade of events that eventually landed Murray on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

"Life was so hard during those [early] years though," Murray said. "We made so many mistakes, and with the success of No Man's Sky we are keen to help other developers and encourage new voices to build things we would be proud of."

There's no firm release date or platforms for The Last Campfire, but it does have a Steam page. Murray promises there's a lot more to talk about with the game, and it sounds like it won't be the last Hello Games Short.

"We want to allow talented folks to take risks on smaller projects they are passionate about," Murray said.
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Steam, take note.

The Epic Games Store is live and it's not messing around. Epic threw it live during The Game Awards, where a handful of titles debuted as Epic Games Store exclusives. This comes just two days after announcing a digital marketplace with a significantly more profitable pricing model for developers than Steam.

Four games are available right now on the Epic Games Store: Fortnite (of course), Ashen, Hello Neighbor: Hide and Seek, and Hades. That last title is the new project from Supergiant Games, and it's available in early access exclusively on the Epic Games Store.

On top of new games, it's now confirmed that acclaimed PlayStation exclusive Journey is heading to PC via the Epic Games Store, published by Annapurna Interactive. The store is also offering a free game every two weeks throughout 2019, starting with Subnautica from December 14th to 27th. After that, it's Super Meat Boy from December 28th to January 10th.

The Epic Games Store has a revenue split of 88/12 -- giving developers who sell a game 88 percent of the cash it generates. Steam, meanwhile, has a revenue split of 70/30, the longtime industry standard. It recently updated that policy, though, offering better cuts for games that make more than $10 million. Still, that can't compete with a flat rate of nearly 90 percent.

I'm not a fan of Monopoly in general, being a terrible game and a great way to lose friends. But if you'd like to give money to some local schools, Lifeline, and wouldn't mind buying a piece of the Princes Highway or the Ku-ring-gai Town Hall, this is a rather sweet tie-in.

Ku-ring-gai Monopoly is a limited edition cooked up by some local businesses and public organisations, including the Ku-ring-gai Council, Woolies, Bendigo Bank and others. It's really a charity drive based around a Ku-ring-gai themed version of Monopoly, where all proceeds go towards the following:

St Lucy’s School
Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Women’s Shelter
KYDS Youth Development Services
Lifeline Harbour to Hawkesbury

It's available for $60, and it's actually a really sweet community initiative. It's certainly more appealing than that god-awful Millenial edition Hasbro debuted recently, and it's a clever way to get people to rally behind some community organisations around Christmas.

The full list of locations include:

Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden
St Ives Show-ground
Canoon Road Netball Courts
Lane Cove National Park
Garigal National Park
Echo Point Park
Marian Street Theatre
Eryldene Historic House and Garden
Gordon Library
Edenborough Park
Wahroonga Park
Ku-ring-gai Bicentennial Park
Ku-ring-gai Town Hall
Roseville Bridge
Kipling’s Garage Bar
The Swain Gardens
Sheldon Forest
Turramurra Lookout Community Garden
Pacific Highway
Mona Vale Road
Bobbin Head Road
Ku-ring-gai National Park

I don't know about you, but placing houses on Mona Vale Road and the Pacific Highway seems like a good strategy. Art really does imitate life.

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A group of co-op speedrunners have completed the Left 4 Dead 2 campaign “Dead Air” a record time of 7:53, and to do so they’ve used some interesting strategies.

Runners burhác, LuckY, bill_play3, and JurasPatryk have claimed the world record in completing “Dead Air” the fastest in a thread on Reddit. Despite the lack of a single campaign category on what most consider to be the most official speedrunning records site, the names in this run appear enough in the top ten records for most parts of Left 4 Dead 2 that we can probably trust the claim.

I don’t know all that much about Left 4 Dead 2 speedrunning, but I have an interest in the game itself, and seeing some of the strategies that the runners use is fascinating to me.

The one in the GIF at the top of this page in which the player Mario stomps a zombie to get over a fence is awesome, and the move late in the video where they use the acceleration from an item throw to rocket up onto a skybridge is a great moment of knowledge and skill.

I love to see people really stretching a game to its full potential, and the fact that these players are more or less just playing this game very, very quickly is bonus. No one is glitching out of bounds or doing super strange stuff. Instead, it’s mostly just running through a level very fast. Any zombie film survivor would be proud.

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EA and DICE have issued patch notes for a day-one update to Battlefield V. It's out already for players who have gained early access through EA's subscription services or a special edition, and it's targeted mainly at a handful of stability issues and bugs.

The change log details the fixes. It fixes an issue in which team sizes could be very uneven, makes improvements to matchmaking to reduce disconnects, and addresses an error that would make the revive functionality stop working, among many others. In particular, a few distinct Airborne issues have been addressed by this patch, along with one in War Stories that would prevent you from collecting Letters.

The patch has a couple of platform-specific notes too. On Xbox One the patch improves how it resumes when you use the Instant-On function, while on PC it enables RTX ray tracing if your graphic card supports it. The studio also encourages feedback, which you can give through its forums or the Answers HQ.

Battlefield V reviews have started to roll out in advance of its release next week. GameSpot's own early impressions suggest there's a lot more to explore before the final verdict, but it's off to a good start.

"As of now, it feels as if Battlefield V is a variation on a well-established theme. It maintains the series tradition of grand spectacle with incredible sound design, impactful weaponry, and large-scale multiplayer chaos," wrote Michael Higham. "There's a lot more to dig into, like the fortification system, squad reinforcements perks, and how destruction may change map dynamics, and spending more time with the game will paint a better picture. At the end of the day, it's still Battlefield, and Battlefield V is shaping up to be a good one at that."

Change List

Fixed an issue that could result in a very uneven number of players at the start of a round.
Made improvements to matchmaking with a full squad which should result in less disconnects.
In some cases, the revive functionality would suddenly stop to function for all of the players on a server. This has now been fixed.
Further improvements to game client stability have been made.
In the Airborne game mode, spawn protection has been added when attackers spawn into planes. The planes are no longer as vulnerable to AA fire as they used to be at longer distances.
Fixed an issue in Airborne where the bomb carriers could finish arming the objective even though they were dead.
Players can no longer shoot down airplanes too quickly in Airborne, which could result in the attackers not being able to spawn.
In War Stories, players are no longer able to collect Letters while playing offline due to them not being able to update the persistence counters, which requires an online connection.
Fixed an issue where a weapon would disappear on the weapon selection screen.
Fixed an issue in Frontlines mode on Devastation where the bomb in some rare cases spawned inside a wall.
Fixed an issue which made the menus unusable when cancelling a matchmaking session.
Fixed an issue with the lens sight alignment on the MP34 weapon.

Xbox One Only

Improved how the game resumes when using the Xbox One Instant-On function.

PC Only

RTX ray tracing can now be enabled with graphics cards that support this function.
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Pop goes the Fenix.

Gears Pop, the cute mobile spin-off from the usually grim and gritty Gears of War franchise, made a surprise debut at E3 earlier this year. Now with the game around the corner in some territories, The Coalition has shown the first gameplay footage.


In an extended dev diary, studio head Rod Fergusson and game director Tyler Bielman explain that the game is preparing for a soft launch--the practice when mobile games launch in some individual territories to put a game through its paces on a small-scale, similar to a beta. Since word would be getting out regarding the game at that point anyway, The Coalition decided this was the time to show off footage. The result is an extended look at a single match, lasting about three minutes, with a striking resemblance to the mobile game Clash Royale.

As Bielman explains, their goals in transitioning Gears to a new format was to deliver on a few pillars of the Gears universe: cover, so-called "explosive moments," and the familiar Gears characters. You can build a team of Gears heroes and villains for 3v3 matches in an arena setting.

Gears Pop was one of three games that made its debut at E3 2018, alongside Gears Tactics for PC and Gears 5 for Xbox One. Gears 5 debuted a trailer along with its original announcement. Both Gears 5 and Gears Pop are scheduled for release in 2019, while Tactics doesn't yet have a release date.https://www.geezgo.com/sps/47045

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Expect some bugs in the week just before the Black Armory drops.

Bungie has given word on when to expect Destiny 2's next big paid update, Black Armory, along with a heads-up about some growing pains that may come along with it. The new content will drop on December 4, and Bungie warns that the week prior may raise unforeseen issues as it prepares to roll out the update.

In an update on the official blog, the team says it is working to make a list of temporary changes so players will know what to expect, and it encourages anyone impacted by unexpected bugs help forum.

The Black Armory is part of the new Season of the Forge, which will begin on November 27. It will be followed by the Season of the Drifter, followed by another unnamed season. Season of the Forge will add the new The Dawning event, new Crucible content, and new weapons. Annual Pass holders who can access the Black Armory will get Light and Fury weapons, the new Forges of the Chain activity, a Raid Lair, Exotics, and Legendaries.

The blog also noted a set of changes coming to the PvP/PvE hybrid Gambit Mode. Infamy will be more readily available, with Infamy rank point awards for all bounties being doubled. Various challenges have been retuned to be easier to complete and a new bounty rewards Primeval envoy kills. Ranking up in subdivisions will award Legendary weapons and armor. Plus the players who receive their Primeval second can only receive one "catch-up" stack of Primeval Slayer, rather than multiple stacks based on performance.

If you need to rack up Infamy, next week will be the time. A Double Infamy event will take place next Tuesday, November 20 through Friday, November 23, followed by a Triple Infamy event from November 23 through Tuesday, November 27.

Finally, Bungie suggested the transition into the next year of Destiny 2 will come with its own changes and plans for the future. The company has previously said it has a full year of content planned following Forsaken. Black Armory will be the first piece of content for Annual Pass holders and more free content for everyone is coming.

"The time has come to begin a new conversation about how the Destiny endgame will continue to thrive in the months to come," the blog states. "What will each Season hold for every player of Destiny 2? How will the Annual Pass add to that experience? These are the questions we want to answer as we introduce you to a whole way to to enjoy your hobby as a Guardians with new challenges to conquer and new rewards you’ll want to add to your inventory.

"Next week, as the holiday season begins in our neck of the woods, the news coming out of our studio will be random and light. The week after, we’ll be exploring all the details of another kind of season. Stay tuned for what comes next."

This comes just after Activision publicly noted that Destiny 2's Forsaken expansion failed to meet sales targets. In that call, the company signaled that it would be looking for new ways for players to spend through in-game microtransactions. As Bungie plans whatever it has in store for seasonal content, it may also have to make changes to answer for revenue expectations from the game's publisher.
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/47043

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Black Ops 4 gets another host of changes.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has gotten another global update across all platforms, including quality-of-life improvements, a new Perk system modifier, and PC-specific balance changes. Plus it includes the usual round of regular bug fixes that are to be expected with an ongoing live game.

In the patch notes, Treyarch says that the PC balance updates are distinct from the other platforms and the teams evaluate them separately. As a result the notes have their own PC section with additional keybinds, more slight toggles for things like push to talk or Asus Aura RGB effects, and several balance changes to weapons.

Meanwhile, all modes got improvements to detecting melee attacks, exploit fixes in Multiplayer, and crash fixes in Zombies. The Zombies mode also got a new modifier to its Perk system to increase weapon reload speed. If you've played previous games you may recognize this as the "Speed Cola" perk. Combining it with Fast Mags/Hybrid Mags, it results in a 50% overall increase.

"This preserves the role of these weapon attachments in creating the quickest-handling guns in each weapon class," reads the notes. "Additionally, we wanted to ensure the reload modifiers from certain Pack-a-Punch versions of weapons are still meaningful, which stack with the new 'Speed Cola' tuning values."

If you haven't yet grabbed Black Ops 4, Amazon has a hot deal offering it for $40. This matches the best sale price across retailers on Black Friday. Plus, if you need a system to go with it, Sony just announced a new PlayStation 4 bundle that includes the game for free.

Check below for the full patch notes.
Black Ops 4 November 15 Update Patch Notes
Multiplayer

Gameplay

Improved melee attack hit registration. More improvements to come in an upcoming patch.

Added enemy attachment information to Killcam.

Resolved an issue where players leaving a match shortly after joining could cause a white square to appear in the Scoreboard.

Create-a-Class

Closed an exploit that allowed players to apply Dark Matter, Gold, or Diamond Camos on any weapon regardless of camo progress.

Resolved an issue where players with Signature Weapons could encounter UI Error 55068 when selecting a weapon under another Custom Class tab.

CWL Custom Games

General

Specialist Equipment restrictions are now implemented as intended.

Players now continue to earn score toward Scorestreaks after the first round of CWL Search & Destroy and CWL Control.

Torque

Torque is no longer selectable in CWL Search & Destroy to align with current official CWL ruleset. These changes will continue to be tested and reviewed for viability in competitive play.

Torque’s Razor Wire no longer does damage to align with current official CWL ruleset.

Resolved an issue where players could become stuck and unable to move when walking into an enemy Torque’s Razor Wire.

Maps

Nuketown

Closed an exploit where players could grapple on top of the red shed.

Firing Range

Closed a cover exploit on top of some sandbags.

Scorestreaks

Fixed a crash that could occur when shooting down the Care Package, Mantis, or Strike Team Helicopters.

Modes

Gun Game

Resolved an issue in Gun Game where winning a match, then leaving the lobby before the next game starts, could cause that player’s name to appear on the next game’s Scoreboard with stats from the previous game.

Challenges

EKIA tracking has been added for Domination and Control to the “Proactive Measures” Challenge requirements in the Game Heroics category.

Zombies

Stability

Global

Fixed a crash that could occur when a player disconnected while the Chakram was thrown.

Fixed a crash that could occur when the Blightfather performed its tracking missile attack.

Fixed a rare crash that could occur while using Anywhere But Here.

Fixed a rare crash that could occur while using the Chakram throw.

Fixed a rare crash that could occur upon Homunculus death.

IX

Fixed a crash that could occur when fighting the Destroyer during the Main Quest.

Fixed a crash that could occur upon completing the Arena Rock side quest.

Fixed a rare crash that could occur when enemies spawned during the Ra obelisk step in the Main Quest.

General

Resolved an issue in Blood of the Dead where ambient music would abruptly stop and restart when progressing through rounds.

Closed an exploit where players could use certain Elixirs without consuming them.

Blackout

Characters

Updated descriptions for Ranger, Airborne, Frogman, Seal, and Battle Hardened characters to clarify that they are unlocked by progressing to a specific Echelon.

General

Miscellaneous

Resolved an issue where attempting to load a custom Paintjob could cause a UI Error message to appear.

Fixed a crash that could occur when switching between modes.

Fist Bump returned to the Gestures menu.

Resolved an issue where the Daily Tier Skip icon could appear misaligned in the main menu.

Black Market

Resolved an issue where current Tier progress could be reset by acquiring a Special Order.

Resolved an issue where the Black Market menu could disappear when switching between the Multiplayer and Zombies menus.

General (PC ONLY)

Stability

Fixed a crash occurring on CPUs that don't support SSE4.1 instructions extension. This issue was affecting AMD Phenom CPUs.

Fixed a rare crash during the first seconds after launching the game.

Gameplay

Added three new keybinds for Stance Up, Stance Up/Jump, and Stance Down.

Added a gameplay option for ADS sensitivity trigger timing.

Added a gameplay option to remove hitmarker visual and/or sound.

Added an option to toggle Asus Aura RGB effects On or Off.

Adjusted iron sights and scope movement while turning to make them appear close to the center of the screen.

Fixed an issue where the Push to Talk keybind would not work with an overlay opened.

Miscellaneous

Resolved an issue where the player could not name Paintjobs.

Fixed an issue where the player could not change reticle color with the mouse.

Added visual improvements on tooltips throughout various menus.

New messages will now always be displayed in the chat box, including callouts.

Aligned buttons in the Custom Games lobby.

Multiplayer (PC ONLY)

General

Resolved an issue with re-rolling enemy Care Packages with the Engineer Perk.

Resolved an issue where a Specialist would appear in the preview slot when no Specialist was selected during the Specialist draft.

Resolved a visual issue in Heist where the close button would remain on screen when closing the Buy menu with the ESC key.

Resolved an issue where the textures would appear pitch black for several seconds at the beginning of a match.

Weapons (PC ONLY)

SMGs

Saug 9mm

Hip fire spread increased.

Spitfire

Hip fire spread increased.

Slightly reduced the hip-fire bonus granted by the Laser Sight attachment.

Cordite

Hip-fire spread increased.

Tactical Rifles

Auger DMR

Slightly increased rate of fire.

ABR 223

Reduced delay between each burst.

Sniper Rifles

Paladin HB50

High Caliber I - Now grants a one-shot kill to shoulders and above.

High Caliber II - Now grants a one-shot kill to the stomach and above. Hands and lower arms have been removed from the one-shot one kill zone.

Fixed an issue where the game was not using the PC description for the Paladin and its attachments.

Blackout (PC ONLY)

Gameplay

Added a keybind to tag an item.

Added Perk activation feedback in the player HUD.

Pressing the Interact key will now close the Stash while looting a Stash.

Resolved an issue where players could use a Trauma Kit before the game began to start with 200 Health.

Resolved an issue where the "Toggle" healing would heal faster than the "Hold" option.

Resolved an issue where the Free Look mode would make it impossible to move the RC-XD.

Stability

Fixed a crash occurring when aiming down sights using a Hades equipped with a 2x scope.

We are also currently aware of some issues that were introduced with the new title update on PC, and the team is working on fixing the following issues:

Left arrow to navigate through Custom Classes in the Create-a-Class menu is missing.

Players can still change tabs by using the “Navigate to Previous Tab” and “Navigate to Next Tab” keybinds.

Hitmarker options are not always set to their default value when launching the game.

New options were introduced to allow the player to remove the visuals and/or audio for hitmarkers. If you wish the enable them, you will find the following options in the Interface tab in the Options menu:

Hitmarker Visuals

Hitmarker Sound Effect

Damage-Based Hitmarkers

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/47024

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Spider-Man, Spider-Man; save some dollars while you can.
Marvel's Spider-Man is a critical and commercial success, but if you were holding out to web up a Spidey discount, today is your day. As part of Ebay's ongoing pre-Black Friday sales, you can get the swinging superhero for $40--the lowest price we've seen from the coming sales season. [Update: The sale price has now gone up to $43 as of the time of writing, which is still a deep discount.]

Like many of Ebay's sale items, this is likely limited by time and supply. You can pick it up at the sale price here. You may have to wait a bit for delivery, though; as of time of writing, delivery is estimated December 5-10. This joins Ebay's line-up of "Better Than Black Friday" deals, which includes discounts on other recent games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Black Ops 4.

Spider-Man sold record numbers for Sony, and its success helped Sony's bottom line so much that the company as a whole raised its profit forecast. This Ebay deal is the only discount we've seen this season on the standalone game, though Sony is offering a big discount on the game bundled with a new PS4 console as well for Black Friday.

Insomniac and Sony just detailed the second DLC pack Turf Wars, part of the ongoing serialized story The City That Never Sleeps. It's set to drop next week, on November 20, with new story missions, sidequests, and of course, Spidey suits.
"The feeling of embodying Spidey and using his abilities is astonishing, and the time spent on exploring its major characters help make its story feel heartfelt, despite superhero bombast," critic Edmond Tran said in GameSpot's Spider-Man review. "There have been open-world Spider-Man games before, but none so riveting and full of personality, none that explore and do justice to this many facets of the universe."

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/47040

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