Huawei is preparing to launch their new Huawei P30 and P30 Pro later this month. After we dive deeper into March, leaks regarding Huawei’s upcoming P30 and P30 Pro begun to emerge, with MWC 2019 making the upcoming P30 and P30 Pro’s development even clearer.
Huawei’s P30 and P30 Pro are the successors to last year’s wildly successful Huawei P20 and P20 Pro. Both phones put Huawei into the spotlight after it rejuvenated the high megapixel count from the Nokia 1020. Not only did the devices feature a 40MP camera at the back, but it was among the very first devices to feature a triple rear camera setup at its back.
As we head deeper into 2019, it’s about time Huawei prepares to officially reveal the successors to last year’s P20 and P20 Pro. Over the past month or two, Huawei has been teasing the launch of the device and has also revealed the reveal date for the device. Based on the information revealed so far, the device, like other Huawei devices would be revealed in Europe, more specifically, in Paris, France. The device would be revealed at the event on March 26th, 2019 and would be live streamed for international Huawei enthusiasts to tune in.
Here is when the live stream would begin, followed by the live stream link via YouTube. Be sure to set your reminders!
New York (USA – New York) – Tuesday, 26 March 2019, 09:00 EDT UTC-4 hours
Los Angeles (USA – California) – Tuesday, 26 March 2019, 06:00 PDT UTC-7 hours
Sydney (Australia – New South Wales) – Wednesday, 27 March 2019, 00:00 AEDT UTC+11 hours
Paris (France – Île-de-France) – Tuesday, 26 March 2019, 14:00 CET UTC+1 hour
London (United Kingdom – England) – Tuesday, 26 March 2019, 13:00 GMT UTC
Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur) – Tuesday, 26 March 2019, 21:00 MYT UTC+8 hours
Delhi (India – Delhi) – Tuesday, 26 March 2019, 18:30:00 IST UTC+5:30 hours
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf65N8Y-AoU
The Huawei P30 and P30 Pro are said to pack Huawei’s Kirin 980 SoC, up to 8GB of RAM and pack up to 512GB of internal storage. Furthermore, renders of the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro have revealed that the devices would come with the simplistic waterdrop notch and would be available in a number of colors to keep the tang going. The devices are also said to lack physical fingerprint sensors and would most likely feature under-display fingerprint sensors.
However, like the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, both sides of the Huawei P30 Pro would feature curved sides, a signature feature of Samsung’s flagships for the longest time.
While that’s all the details we have so far, we would be covering the everything about the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro here when they launch, so stay tuned for that. Not only are we waiting to see the leaks come true, but we’re also hoping to see Huawei reveal the pricing and additional features we may get to see from these two behemoths. Not to forget the mention of 5G.
Sega has had a successful panel showcase at SXSW this year. They released a new trailer for Team Sonic Racing showcasing their new customization elements that will be present in the game at launch. Alongside the new trailer, comes the 2-Part animation dubbed Team Sonic Racing: Overdrive.
The animation is made by Sega in collab with Tyson Hesse and Neko Productions. The 1st part of the animation is now live on Youtube while no details have been announced as to when the 2nd part will appear. Perhaps the 2nd part will be released alongside the launch of the game on May 21st to promote the launch even more. The animation has no dialogue and Sega has described the short as:
Team Sonic, Team Rose, and Team Dark face off at Wisp Circuit in this first of two parts of a special animation based on Team Sonic Racing! As usual, the diabolical Dr. Eggman seems to have his own plans – can the teams overcome his tricks, or will they find themselves more than a little distracted?
Youtube Video Description
The short was made by the same team behind Sonic Mania Adventures. The show ran for only 6 episodes but was personally much more enjoyable than Sonic Boom. The new short, Team Sonic Racing: Overdrive, looks neat but the lack of dialogue leaves a little to be desired. Sega has commented that adding dialogue to the short would have required a significantly larger budget which was not viable as for now.
Perhaps we can see Sonic Mania Adventures return for a full series this time with also binding elements with Team Sonic Racing: Overdrive. Unlike the hideous live action film with its questionable design choices, the animated series developed by Neko Productions looks much better. A new animated sonic movie or series would be much better than any live action film.
A new Sonic game has been confirmed to be under development by the head of the sonic team, Takashi Iizuka. The announcement was made during their panel at SXSW this year. We only got a confirmation for a new sonic game, not any other information on it. The last Sonic release was Sonic Mania Plus which was back in 2018. The last modern sonic game was Sonic Forces that launched way back in late 2017. We most likely should not expect a new Sonic Game by the end of this year, except for Team Sonic Racing of course. We could get a new Sonic Game revealed at E3 if we are lucky.
Sega announced Team Sonic Racing in may of last year after having huge amounts of success with Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, their two prior titles. has revealed a trailer showcasing customization options for their latest title at their Sonic the Hedgehog panel from SXSW in Austin. The game is set to be released on May 21st, 2019, on the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows. Sega
Sega already came out and announced some of the main features for the game. Them being Online Multiplayer, Co-op modes, and Team Racing. They have just revealed details on the customization elements of the game, specifically, customizability of the cars. You get to do Performance modifications, change the horns, repaint your car, and apply new vinyl. Since each character has his own specific car that you can not change, this is a welcome change for those who want to play sonic but may not prefer his car specifically based on looks or the performance stats.
You get to modify only three sections of your car to improve the performance. The Front, Rear, and Wheels. These three aspects visually change the shape of the car and improve performance. This could be like adding a new back bumper with a wing or a front bumper with grills that may affect aero. By no means are these performance improvements realistic similar to other racings games like the Needs for Speeds series and such.
Repaint your car with 3 preset color zones and a glow zone for each car if equipped. You also have at least a dozen different paint finishes or surface types that you can use to really make your car look like it’s glowing or perhaps have a matte appearance with no reflection at all. Lastly, you have Custom Vinyls to personalize your groovy ride even more. Just like with painting your car, you have 3 different color zones here with different surfaces to choose from.
Sega has had huge success with their last two Sonic titles, Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces. Especially Sonic Mania which has had some of the best ratings from critics and is the best rated Sonic Game in 25 years. Compared to that, Sonic Forces was a bit lackluster. It was a good game in its own regards though. With the latest entry in the series being a Kart Racer, Sonic fans reasonably will not be happy.
2019 is off to an amazing start. Following the announcement of Apex Legends, Respawn Legends, the folks behind Apex Legends completely shook the competition by introducing its take on the whole Battle Royale genre. A report by the folks over at gamstat reveal the top 20 games of February 2019, and it seems to be cheesier than ever.
According to reports, Apex Legends, For Honor as well as Hitman completely dominated the PlayStation 4 market. Apex Legends had earlier this month revealed some massive news regarding Apex Legends, reporting that they have amassed over 50 Million players within 1 month of its launch. And based on the report we have here, it seems like a larger part of them came from the PlayStation 4.
Following Apex Legends dominance, we get to see For Honor and Hitman take second and third places, respectively. Titles such as Real Royale, FIFA 19 as well as GTA V were seen taking fourth, fifth and sixth places, respectively.
Numbers derived from the report suggest that Apex Legends had taken first place by amassing over 21.3 Million players over the course of February alone. However, it was only the titles that followed that made the list a whole lot interesting. While Apex Legends may have dominated the charts, late 2019 releases such as Hitman, FIFA 19 and even older titles such as For Honor and GTA V continued to show massive signs of growth as they continue to age. For Honor, Hitman and GTA V recorded 3.3M, 2.7M and 1.5M players respectively.
For Honor continued to stand out from the crowd though, even after all it has been through. Despite being out for over 2 years now, For Honor had managed to accumulate a mere 4.4M players on the system and showed major signs of distrust when the game first launched. With the addition of the 3.3M players in February alone, For Honor now has a player based of 7.7M players on the PlayStation 4. That’s an increase of over 75% over the course of a single month if the stats are correct per se. If true, the larger player based could have been due to the massive price reductions that we hitting the game over the past few months as well as the introduction of For Honor’s 3rd-Year roadmap highlighted below.
In terms of total player counts to date, with the exclusion of Fortnite, it seems like GTA V would be dominating the charts so far, followed by EA’s FIFA 19 and soon to be king, Apex Legends amassing over 128M, 22.5M, and 21.3M players, respectively.
While For Honor seemed to be the star of the show, unfortunately the lack of Fortnite’s presence in the stats definitely seems to be a bummer.
With less than 6 months being considered the lifetime of a pixel 3 device by Google rumours for the new Pixel 4 have already started to circle around. The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL announced way back in October was a successor to the Pixel 2 and a yearly update to Google’s flagship. Being released in November of 2018 the cycle of the Pixel device seems pretty off considering the fact that the month of February invited manufacturers to showcase new updated devices.
As the first round of high quality renders surface for the Pixel 4 and 4 XL courtesy of Phone Designer, the form factor of the device looks very much updated, to say the least.
As we move across the gallery of photos, the leaks represent the Pixel 4 and 4 XL to house a punch hole display very similar to that of Samsung’s Galaxy S10 lineup. With the lower end variant having a single front camera while the XL variant housing dual sensors. Considering Google’s last generation notches which were extremely obnoxious in a crowd with smartphones like the Mi MiX 3 and the OnePlus 6T. This year’s notch despite being a whole lot refined looks a whole lot bigger than that of Samsung’s S10.
The body of the smartphone carries the very same Pixel DNA with a glass back powder coated one third of the way. The classic Pixel look retains like the previous year with the only visible change of a fingerprint sensor. The fingerprint sensor is absent from the rear of the phone and would most probably find its place behind the front glass panel thereby following this year’s trend.
The basic features of the device are quite similar to the Pixel 3 lineup with major improvements in the front display. The phone now has a very minimalist chin with tiny yet visible side bezels. The renders suggest that Google has not decided to go for a curved display like Samsung and Huawei which tends to reduce the look of side bezels in a smartphone.
Overall the XL version seems to house two rear-facing shooters, pretty standard considering how smartphone manufacturers are leaning toward 3 and 4 rear facing sensors these days. The phone itself does look interesting but considering the validity of the renders, we’d expect a lot to change over the course of the year as we hope for more information to leak out.
CEMU is a Wii U emulator made by two developers. It is a closed source project, so no outside commits are made to the piece of software. But, it still surprises me, the rate at which this emulator improved is remarkable, to say the least. It wasn’t very long after it’s the initial release that we were getting games to run and now the emulator has reached new heights. You can now emulate The Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker on Integrated GPU’s.
A youtube user going by the name of MiXobit has posted a video where he runs The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker on an Intel Integrated Intel GPU. The game seems to run at 720P resolution and a rock solid 30fps. The CPU is not being utilized fully which indicates the GPU is holding it back, which is to be expected in this case, no surprises there.
The Integrated GPU in question here is the HD 630 that comes in the Intel I5 8400 CPU. Granted emulators are somewhat more CPU dependant rather than GPU dependent. The CPU is also 6 core with a remarkably good single and multi-thread performance. Still, not even running but rather emulating this game on Integrated Graphics is amazing nevertheless.
What’s even more astonishing is that just two developers achieved this. Emulators like PCSX2 and Dolphin that emulate the PlayStation 2 and Wii, on the pc respectively, took years to be able to even run games stable playable state. These two emulators have only gotten >50% of the total games at playable state in recent years. Compare that to how fast CEMU has developed just makes you appreciate the developers even more.
This fast rate of improvement in emulation performance might be because of new graphics APIs like DirectX 12 and Vulkan that are more efficient and better. These graphics APIs just make better use of modern hardware like using all of the multiple CPU cores on your processor. Another contributing aspect to this is that modern hardware has gotten considerably faster. Everyone is rocking a decent Quad Core CPU at least with many gamers having PC configurations that cross even that, going up to 6, 8, and even 12 cores with multiple threads. Even Integrated GPUs of today aren’t the worst. You could even play Fortnite on Intel’s latest Integrated GPUs, granted at potato settings.
Jump Force the had quite the bad launch this year. It may be the worst game launches we have seen in recent years. But now, Bandai Namco has announced a roadmap for the game that will be adding more content for 2019. There will be monthly updates from April till August. These updates will contain free content as well as six new Playable Paid DLC Characters.
Some of the details have been revealed regarding the new playable paid DLC characters. We shall receive at least 6 new playable characters, one of which have been revealed to be Seto Kaiba from the anime Yu Gi Oh! Seto Kaiba has the ability to use Duel Monsters at his aid via Duel Monster Cards, just like Yu Gi Oh. It will be interesting to see which of his Duel Monsters Cards we will get to see in the game. The other 5 characters are still a mystery and are yet to be revealed by Bandai Namco. There will also be new events, features, stages, avatar costumes, and avatar skills.
It would have benefited Jump Force much more if Bandai Namco had revealed a roadmap that was filled with improvements to the game itself rather than just adding content of which the main parts are behind Paid DLC, the characters themselves. With the bad launch this game has suffered, they need to be working towards making this game better. Perhaps add character voices in each cutscene, change the animation to make it look a bit more natural, and improve the game overall. These types of changes will be better received and will turn this game into a masterpiece. The concept, if executed properly, is one that attracts a lot of gamers and anime fans.
Viewsonic has been aggressively releasing a number of monitors. And with HDR going mainstream, Viewsonic has released a number of monitors featuring support for the new HDR standard. With the advent of HDR TVs, Viewsonic has jumped on to the bandwagon and has updated some of their monitors to keep up with the HDR standard as we move forward.
And with the launch of the VX3211 lineup, Viewsonic’s latest addition, the VX3211-4K, has just knocked on our doors and we have been testing the monitor over the past two weeks. After using it for the past two weeks, we have a few words for the VX3211-4K.
Viewsonic VX3211-4K | Design & Build Quality
The design on the Viewsonic VX3211-4K is definitely great. The monitor features a black construction throughout with a decent amount of bezels on all four sides flanking the display itself.
Up front, we do get our glimpse at this behemoth of a display, all 31.5″-inches of it. All four borders of the display are even, so that was a good thing to see. Furthermore, the display featured an matte anti-glare coating up front as well as a few markings up front to denote the buttons at the back of the monitor.
Taking a look at the back of the monitor, you’ll find a neat, well-polished back as well as a hump that accommodates more of the hardware required to power the monitor. Just like most monitors nowadays, we were happy to see the inputs facing downwards, allowing us to keep our wires running straight. One thing that was unfortunate for us to see was the lack of a cable organizer. Once we had everything installed onto the monitor, we immediately noticed the wires dangling off of the monitor, that too, in two opposite sides of the monitor.
Aside from that, The Viewsonic VX3211-4K is built with the usual black plastic and metal components. The monitor itself is plastic for most of the part while the stand that comes in the box is made of metal.
Overall, the monitor looks good, including the stand that comes with it. However, the borders and cable management on the VX3211-4K may need some tweaking. As we progress in to 2019, bezel-free monitors are quickly becoming the norm.
There’s no doubt that the Viewsonic VX3211-4K is not for competitive gamers, but rather for the productive users who casually game every now and then.
After first unboxing the monitor, we were absolutely astonished by the size of this behemoth. So much so that the monitor did seem to be warping away from you from all sides of the monitor. However, that could just be us as we’ve been using curved monitors for a while now.
Monitor
Viewsonic VX3211-4k
Resolution
3840 x 2160
Size
32-inch (31.5-inch)
Panel Type
VA
Refresh Rate
60Hz
Response Time
3ms
Inputs
2 x HDMI | 1 x DP
Color Reproduction
The monitor features a full 16:9 3840 x 2160 display spanning a 31.5-inch area. However, what makes the VX3211-4K has to be its large display size and its amazing HDR10 capabilities, making productivity tasks as well as media consumption an incredible experience.
Based on our testing, we found the display on the VX3211-4K amazing! Not only does it come with the new HDR10 upgrades, but the backlight bleed that plagues most monitors of its class is virtually absent here.
We then decided to test out the HDR capabilities of the monitor. For most of the part, we never noticed anything spectacular from the monitor. However, when we did come across HDR-enabled videos, we absolutely loved it. If we were to describe it, it reminds you of Samsung’s AMOLED displays while without the burn-in of AMOLEDs.
Gaming Experience
Coming over to the gaming aspect of things, we were happy to see Viewsonic throw in AMD’s open-source Freesync technology onto the VX3211-4k. With the help of Freesync, a whole lot of games felt a whole lot smoother than they initially were when Freesync was disabled. However, that isn’t to say that this would be a great monitor for gamers. While it may be fine for casual players, games that do not play well with Freeysnc absolutely suffer. One particular example of this was CSGO, despite lowering the resolution and clocking in over 300 FPS, we weren’t satisfied.
Like other monitors, we then decided to overclock the VX3211-4k. However, for some reason, none of the overlocked refresh rates would appear or stick. We tried everything we could, we used the CRU utility as well as AMD’s Settings app. However, nothing stuck with the monitor.
Games like Fortnite were incredible though, after all, Freesync works well with Fortnite and the addition of Freesync made the monitor a whole lot better than it initially was for gaming.
Productivity
Regarding productivity, we absolutely loved the monitor. It’s large size, along with the addition of 4K made the monitor an absolute beast. Adobe Premier and Illustrator were some of the programs we absolutely enjoyed using with the monitor.
We found writing this article very comfortable too. Not only was it easy on the eye, but looking for previous text and getting an overall idea of where you’re writing in a word jungle was incredible.
Viewsonic VX3211-4K|Pricing & Conclusion
The Viewsonic VX3211-4K is definitely no cheap monitor. The monitor carries an official MSRP of RM1,899 and does sit among other high-end monitors.
The monitor features HDR10 support, has an amazing panel and has a ton of features to offer. However, it seems to be catering towards a very specific group of people, a group of people who would take full advantage of such a monitor. 4K and 32-inch panels do go hand in hand if productivity is your primary objective with this monitor.
Pretty much every application on the VX3211-4k, thanks to its 31.5-inch size, looks incredible, adding a ton of real estate to an otherwise normal experience. Simple apps such as Google Chrome and Microsoft Word benefit from its huge size as well if that’s your thing.
Enjoying videos and launching your favorite editing tools are also a pleasant experience here. Especially for folks who plan to binge-watch their favorite shows after a hard day at work.
However, if you’re planning to pick this up as a gaming monitor, you would be better off with other monitors that are not only going to be better for gaming but would also most likely feature 144Hz, that too for a lower price.
For its incredible set of features, albeit for a very specific set of users, we would love to award the Viewsonic VX3211-4K our Silver Award!
With less than two weeks left to Huawei’s launch of the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro, renders of Huawei’s upcoming flagship continue to loom the internet.
Thanks to the folks over at MySmartPrice, we finally got our hands on the first watermark-free renders of the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro. These renders are limited to the black color variant of the P30 and P30 Pro. Although, Huawei would be releasing a number of color options for the two devices as we head closer towards the launch of the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro.
Similar to last year’s Huawei Mate 20, it seems like Huawei is hooked onto Samsung’s curved designs. As the renders suggest, the Huawei P30 Pro would come with curve-edged displays as well as a small notch to house the selfie camera. The same could be said for the Huawei P30 too. However, as the renders clearly suggest, the Huawei P30 would come with flat sides rather than curved ones and would also come with a decent chunk on bezels on either sides, making the P30 look a whole lot more chunkier compared to the P30 Pro when compared side-by-side.
Coming over the back, we finally get our third look at what we’re about to see from Huawei this year. Aside from the flat back, we finally get to see the triple camera setup as well a range of goodies such as a laser AF and flash shuffling their position between the two devices. In addition to that, like the early Huawei P30 leak from MWC 2019, we do not get to see a physical fingerprint sensor on either of the devices, suggesting that we may see under-display fingerprint sensors on both of the devices.
Following last year’s hardware, this year’s Huawei P30 and P30 Pro would share a ton in common, apart from the improvements in the design, battery and camera department. This year we’re expecting to see Huawei usher these smartphones with their new Kirin 980 SoC as well as offer up to 8GB of memory paired with up to 512GB of internal storage. Furthermore, we would speculate that Huawei may have some goodies in store regarding 5G. Although, we wouldn’t want to comment on the fact if the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro would be getting any of the 5G treatment despite their presence in Europe.
No Man Sky is set to receive what seems to be the biggest update in its history ever. The new update is dubbed No Man’s Sky BEYOND and is set to release this summer. A teaser trailer along with some details have been revealed regarding the update and they seem to be very worthwhile to look at. 2019 may just be the year No Man’s Sky redeems itself.
No Man’s Sky was the game that got everyone hyped up for its release, but, on its launch, it backfired as the game failed to meet expectations of players. Instead, players found out that all the hype was based on lies. The game was missing features at launch and multiplayer support was not there. There were talks of adding the promised features and more via DLC which made players despise the UK based game studio at the time.
The game started getting major updates in the form of chapters that added features and improved the game. The fourth major update that released last year, No Man’s Sky NEXT, was the first to add multiplayer support and it was well received. But, it failed to completely capture the multiplayer experience that No Man’s Sky could have been. That leads us to our latest news, No Man’s Sky BEYOND.
Whilst planning out the roadmap ahead for the game, the team decided to combine the next three big major updates into one. The result, No Man’s Sky BEYOND. No part of the update will be in the form of DLC and it will be completely free for all players.
Only a single aspect of the update has been revealed, the multiplayer component, which was supposed to be a major update in itself. The multiplayer component of the update is named “No Man’s Sky Online”. The update shall add a new social element whilst improving on the current core multiplayer elements. This should improve the multiplayer experience of players by a lot. No Man’s Sky Online will not require a subscription and it will be free from all microtransactions.
More information about the update shall be released as summer approaches as two major parts of the update remain to be revealed. Nevertheless, the upcoming summer update of 2019 is one that players will not forget and probably are very excited for.
Xiaomi’s smartphone control is increasing at a very steady rate. As the manufacturer releases more and more smartphones, its international market coverage has increased exponentially. Now, that the brand faces matured markets outside Asia for their unique and accessible products more and more problems arise.
Recently the manufacturer announced its yearly flagship the Mi 9 along with two other variants. As the new device reaches markets with upgraded specifications and overall form factor. Just recently, first pointed out by GizChina Xiaomi has decided to pull back the sales of the Mi 9 SE and the Transparent Edition. Both the variants proved to be unique in their manner, the SE coming in with flagship grade specs while being extremely cost effective while the transparent edition bringing aesthetics to the already great Mi 9.
As demand for the Mi 9 increases to such an extent that Xiaomi’s production rate lags behind the manufacturer has decided to halt the sale of the Mi 9 SE and the transparent edition in order to maximize the sales of the Mi 9. For a brand whose main motive is to bring in the best experience to the consumers having stopped production for one of their most anticipated smartphones is definitely a slap on the face.
For a company which is set to take over the world, its production branch must be on par with the brands they are going to take on. Moreover, Li Mingjin head in charge of Xiaomi’s e-commerce spoke with great regret that there are a lack of goods and it significantly hurts the overall customer experience. Xiaomi’s top priority has been their customer service and the lack of enough products definitely raises a ton of questions.
The spokesperson also stated that the brand would rather stop production for the time being than sell few smartphones. All in all it seems that enthusiasts will now only be able to purchase the Mi 9 and those hoping to get their hands on the other variants would have to wait until further notice.
For those who missed the biggest craze of 2018, the Poco F1 was Xiaomi’s introduction of their first sub-brand, Poco. The device features everything you would expect from a flagship device for a crazy cheap price. From the likes of the Snapdragon 845 to the inclusion of a 4000mAh battery just like the Note 9, the Poco F1 was a pain for brands in countries where Xiaomi had built a presence in.
As we head deeper into 2019, and with Xiaomi expanding its reach in Europe, we’re confident that the Poco F2 may very well shake up the market again with a number of features and improvements. Here is our list of predictions for the upcoming Xiaomi Poco F2.
Untouched RAM & Storage Capacities
The Poco F1 from last year was ground-breaking for its hardware. Aside from the inclusion of a Snapdragon 845 SoC, the Poco F1 came with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM and either 64GB, 128GB or 256GB of internal storage.
Fast-forward into 2019, these RAM and storage capacities seem to be more than enough for 2019 and would most probably adopt the same RAM and storage capacities from the Xiaomi Mi 9. Whether Xiaomi plans to release special variants this year like the Poco F1 as well would something we would keep our eyes peeled for.
Major Design Changes
There’s a good chance that we may see Xiaomi implement some major design changes with the Poco F2, later this year. Following the incredible support they received, one of the points many had pointed out was the fact that the device, despite all of its incredible hardware, did feel underwhelming due to its plastic body.
And while plastic bodies on phones are now frowned upon, many tech enthusiasts, on the other hand, did not mind the inclusion of a plastic body on the Poco F1. However, given how well Xiaomi does take feedback into account, we may see some changes in the design of the device or at least a material upgrade on the Poco F2 this year.
Renders have already conceptualized what the Poco F2 may look like if it were to get a metal unibody design this year, all the while, featuring the original Poco F1’s red accents and the Mi 9’s much-simpler notch.
27W Fast-Charging & 20W Wireless Charging
Last month, Xiaomi stunned the audience with the launch of the Xiaomi Mi 9. Apart from its incredible price, the Xiaomi Mi 9 brought massive improvements to the charging times of the Mi 9. Not only did we see even faster charging from the Mi 9, but we also got to see Xiaomi trumping the game with their new 20W wireless charging.
When the Poco F1 first launched, it skipped the impractical gimmicks. However, to make the Poco F2 an even more enticing of a device, there’s a good chance Xiaomi could port over their new fast-charging and wireless charging tech.
After all, the Xiaomi’s new wireless chargers are being sold as accessories which means that Xiaomi could record a few more sales if they do bank on their super-exclusive 20W wireless charging on the Poco F2.
The 3.5mm headphone jack relives!
One of the biggest shocks when the Poco F1 launched was the inclusion of a headphone jack. Following the removal of the headphone jack on the Xiaomi Mi 6 under Apple’s blind commandments, Xiaomi finally decided to make the “practical” part of the Poco F1 actually practical by including the headphone jack all of a sudden.
Following in the steps of the Note 9, Xiaomi included a 4000mAh battery on the Poco F1. The Poco F1(review) performed incredibly well in the battery departments, clocking in 5-6 hours of continuous browsing.
And if Xiaomi does include an AMOLED panel on the Poco F2, that at this point seems highly unlikely, we may see those battery timing hit the 7-hour mark in tandem with Xiaomi’s upcoming Dark Mode in MIUI 11.
While 4000mAh does seem more than enough at this point, there’s a 50-50 chance that we may see Xiaomi include a slightly larger battery on the Poco F2, more specifically, a 4100mAh or 4200mAh battery to stay ahead of the game.
No 5G, We’re Confident About That
There’s definitely a decent number of enthusiasts expecting Xiaomi to continue pushing out 5G-enabled devices as we head deeper into 2019. While it may be a remarkable achievement, it’s highly unlikely that we may be able to see 5G on this year’s Poco F2, especially given motto Xiaomi’s Poco sub-brand carries with them.
Guess you’ll have to wait for the 5G-enabled Mi MiX 3 this year if you’re stoked on sticking to Xiaomi. However, following the Mi MiX 3 5G rollout in Europe, Xiaomi may not officially release the device for the Asian market before the last quarter of 2019 as 5G isn’t ready yet for the majority of the region.
Xiaomi may have called it a day with the launch of the Mi 9 and Mi 9 SE. However, the company’s newly-formed sub-brands are all the craze moving forward. Following the launch of the Mi 9 and Mi 9 SE, two alleged “Poco” devices have appeared on Geekbench suggesting the development of what now seems to be dubbed as the Poco F1 Lite.
Based on the leak that has been spotted on Geekbench, it seems like the alleged Poco F1 Lite would feature a Snapdragon 660 SoC rather than a 675 or 710 SoC and would feature 4GB of RAM. The device managed to score a respectable 1341 and 4830 points in single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. Out of the two tests spotted, one of the tests named the alleged device the Xiaomi “Uranus” for some reason.
Whether the leak is true or not is yet to be seen. But by the first looks of it, it seems to be a surprising launch if it does happen.
And while we wouldn’t be speculating the rest of the specifications regarding the device due to how fishy it seems, it would be a huge bummer if the device finally hits the market. After all, Xiaomi’s Poco brand is best known for its ground-breaking budget flagships rather than their mid-rangers. Best leave that for Xiaomi’s newly-formed Redmi sub-brand.
While it may be a possibility that we may see a Snapdragon 660 SoC in the upcoming $99 Redmi 7 this Monday, it seems highly unlikely that we may get to see a Snapdragon 660-powered Poco device at this point in time when we’re about four to five months away from the launch of the Poco F2 (concept renders).
For now, we have our eyes set on the upcoming Redmi 7 and Black Shark 2 slated to be revealed this Monday, March 18th.
“Gaming on the cloud” has been a phrase that has been thrown around for the past few years. With traditional consoles expected to ditch discs over the next generation or two, beginning with Microsoft’s Xbox One SAD Edition, major cloud service providers such as Google, Microsoft, Tencent and other major providers have jumped on to the gaming train.
One of the biggest examples was set our by Google in late 2018. Dubbed as Google Project Stream, a selected number of players we able to play Ubisoft’s then latest title, Assassins Creed Odyssey on Google’s in-house Chrome browser at 1080p at 60FPS.
Google, a completely unexpected company known for its dominant search engine begun to show its interest to take over the gaming market by storm. With Google’s Project Stream, all of the computing for the game was done on the cloud, allowing enthusiastic players to play a triple-A title with ease, regardless of how beefed up their computer is.
With Tecent, Microsoft and others also pitting themselves on the market, the market is about to get a whole lot more competitive over the next few years given the backgrounds these companies have in their respective regions and industries. While Tencent may be able to dominate the majority of players in the Chinese market, Microsoft seems to be in good standing thanks to its push for cloud gaming, partly swayed by its Xbox franchise.
With all of brands now competing for their slice of cake, IHS expects the cloud gaming to surge past the US $1.5 billion mark in the not too distant year of 2023 from its $234 Million market just last year.
“Competitive differentiation in the next wave of cloud gaming services will be focused on two key areas: cloud infrastructure and content,”
Piers Harding-Rolls, IHS Markit
IHS Markit’s Piers Harding-Rolls also noted that these companies would have major advantages over each another in certain areas and would come down to which of these providers would be able to deliver the best content for gamers, an area that Google would have to focus on if it wants any chance to compete with Microsoft’s infrastructure.
And with Sony no where to be seen in the race as the next generation of gaming begins, there’s no telling whether this generation is the last generation for disc-based consoles moving forward.
Sapphire is considered the gold standard for smartphone materials. The material scratches at a level 8 of Moh’s hardness scale. Sapphire for long has been used in luxury items giving off little to no scratches on the surface when the product is used regularly. Many smartphones have also adopted the material as a substitute for tempered glass and it has worked efficiently. Xiaomi on the other hand, a brand not known for its premium products claimed to have placed sapphire glass at the back of the Mi 9.
JerryRigEverything as always put Xiaomi’s word to the test and in his durability test of the device scratched the back cover of the Mi 9 only to find out that the Mi 9, in fact, scratches at a level 6 of Moh’s hardness scale just like any other tempered glass. Now, before we jump to conclusions, Apple for a long period of time has claimed to have put real sapphire on their touch ID fingerprint sensor and the back glass cover but both the covers ended up getting scratched at a level 6.
After a little digging, we found out that the sapphire glass used in the protection of the cameras is not entirely sapphire and consists of impurities mixed with glass. Truth is that pure synthetic sapphire is quite expensive to produce and having a sapphire glass crystal greatly improves the durability standard of the glass. In this case, however, there are tiny atoms of sapphire crystals mixed with silicon dioxide which give it its enhanced scratch resistance.
Despite all that, a premium device should and must house a proper sapphire crystal although expensive but a 5 starred durability factor. The Mi 9 is Xiaomi’s pinnacle and having such issues doesn’t really help them in their case. Although when put under the test, the glass did show traces of sapphire. Xiaomi shouldn’t bother giving false hope to consumers if the product doesnt live up to it.
As the reveal of Huawei’s latest flagship smartphone nears more and more details about the device start to surface. Recently we discovered the phone’s internals, benchmark scores and the geometrical look of the device. Today though, leaked by a credible tipster Roland Quandt, new details about the Huawei P30 Pro emerge.
Huawei has been keen on putting up a show just by the looks of their devices and the different gradient colours they come with. This time around four colours has been revealed for the P30 Pro out which the Sunrise shade strikes the most. Revealed for the first time in a Huawei smartphone the Sunrise colour despite being furious in nature is subtle on the eyes and is certainly a delight. The device maintains its very Huawei like DNA with a very bold water drop notch with quite sharp corners throughout the device.
Quite little is known about the cameras on the device yet the tipster suggests that the square cutout on the back of the device would house a 10x optical zoom just like Oppo showcased at their event. The aperture sizes are to vary from f/1.6 to f/3.4 while the focal length of the complete system between 16- 125 mm. The rest of the sensors are expected to be the normal shooter and a wide angle lens, quite ordinary to Huawei smartphones. The 10X zoom option is undeniably quite interesting given how manufacturers opt for a wide angle and telephoto lens over an optical zoom one but this could be the next big thing in terms of smartphone camera trends.
One of the most interesting facts about the P30 Pro is that it omits the headphone jack while the non Pro variant decides to keep it. The overall geometry of the device seems very streamlined and the camera bump is also very minimal. The phone’s 5G rating is yet uknown but we could expect the Pro version to be 5G ready. As far as the fingerprint sensor is concerned, there is no talk of an ultrasonic sensor under the display but we could expect Huawei to step up and offer a more 2019 solution to the security problem.
EA has teased the introduction of Battlefield V’s battle royale mode even before the game launched last year. With the game now captivating a huge audience of player across platforms, EA has released a trailer announcing the launch of their new mode, Firestorm, EA’s take on the whole Battle Royale craze going on.
It’s ironic to see EA launch Battlefield V’s battle royale mode this far down the pipeline. After the massive success Apex Legends has accumalated over the past month and a half, Battlefield V should be in good shape for those who have been aching to experience the battle royale genre Battlefield V-style,
The teaser trailer reveals pretty much everything you would generally want to know about the upcoming Firestorm mode. Not only would players battle to be the last one standing, but players would also be able to take out a number of vehicles to travel across lands in order to claim themselves as the last-one-standing. From the snowy peaks to the grass fields, players would experience them all. Vehicles such as the tank, helicopter, quad, tractor, boat, and others made their appearances in the trailer, essentially confirming their inclusion in the game mode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-JB-O8A-TA
Unlike other games, Battlefield V’s take on the continuously moving circle is actually a circle of fire that would engulf the lands. To get out in time, players would have to battle out a number of enemies. For those who don’t make it out in time, the fire would burn you alive until all of your health is depleted, just like other battle royale titles.
Based on a recent leak from the mode, we’ve learnt that the new mode would come with a class-system for its weapons, just like how Fortnite does, with just three simple classes ranging from common and rare to epic. These classes would define how extensive a gun has been kitted with, with the epic variants of weapons getting scopes to extended mags. Ammunition has also been capped here, with players required to collect a number of different bullets to be able to use their guns.
Furthermore, EA has added some interesting touches to the overall gameplay of the game. Unlike other titles, once you’re down, you would be able to shoot out your enemies until you bleed out. If you do bleed out before you get any help, you would be out.
Battlefield V’s Firestorm mode is set to launch on March the 25th across all platforms and would be available via a patch update to all Battlefield V players. With the update out, it would be interesting to see how well EA manages its player-base moving on forward as improvements and features are added down the line.
CS: GO developers are on a spree of adding content updates. First the Panorama UI then the Danger Zone update the title is slowly gaining its lost glory with developers giving extra attention towards the game. Today Valve in an update for CS: GO has refined quite a few core features of the game. Starting from the M4A1-S and going all the way to the new Prisma Case.
Weapon Overhaul – Shotguns & Rifles Revamped
The M4A1-S acts as a primary weapon of choice when it comes to Counter-Terrorists in the game proving to act as a direct antidote to the AK-47. The weapon offered greater range and better accuracy at a cost of fire rate and magazine size but Valve has now decided to change that in order to make it a more balanced option. The M4A1-S would now hold 25 bullets in a single magazine instead of 20 and would hold 75 bullets in reserve. In the competitive scene, little to very few players opt for the silenced version but this update would certainly act as a driving force in changing that perception.
Valve previously slashed off the AUG and SG-553’s price down to $3150 encouraging players to use it more and more especially for the CT sides giving off only $50 above the classic M4 rifles. Now that everyone has abused the weapon and learnt all its perks, CS: GO developers are returning the scoped rifle’s prices back to normal at $3300. It’ll definitely be interesting to see how players manage the weapon now that it costs a chunk more than it used to.
Shotguns in the game have also received updates. The developers after experimenting with the SMGs and rifles have now switched to the shotguns which are used barely in the competitive scene. Right off the first glance, the prices of the Nova and Sawed-Off, Mag-7 are reduced to $1050, $1100 and $1300 respectively. Apart from that, the penetration for the Nova has been increased to 1 and the range for the Sawed-Off has been increased to 1400. Moreover, various other bugs are also fixed including the feature where the reloading of the weapon would continue even after it was switched.
Economic Changes In Competitive Mode
The update also spices things up when the economic aspect of the game is taken into consideration. The round loss bonus was recently revamped giving an improved chance for the losing team to make a comeback and come up with buys. The bonus was planned to increase as the losing streak continued and a single win would disrupt it leaving the bank empty. CS: GO developers have fixed this issue once in for all offering a step-down solution. Now, instead of losing your streak after a single win, users will now be able to step down to a lower streak.
The New Prisma Case & Other Miscelaneous Updates
Moreover, the update brings a new set of skins with the Prisma Case offering a variety of weapon finishes quite natural to the game. The new weapons case brings 17 new weapon finishes worth unboxing and a set of Horizon case knives for enthusiasts. Furthermore, a new assist feature is also deployed which showcases the assist of the person who blinded the enemy, a neat feature indeed!
Apart from all this, the update further refines the Canal and Vertigo maps for players with a wide array of bug fixes. The recent progress in the game’s content updates is undoubtedly mesmerizing and it seems that Valve is giving extra attention to its long lost child with a more regular update pattern and content creation.
In an unexpected turn of events, Windows 7 receives DirectX 12 support in the form of Blizzard’s World of Warcraft. Back in late 2018, this decade-old game got a much deserved DirectX 12 update on Windows 10. This decade-old game got many noticeable improvements from the DirectX 12. The update improved on a lot of stuff over DirectX 11, largely in the performance department by allowing better use of modern hardware. Blizzard then decided that Windows 7 users should also benefit from the improvements.
Now World of Warcraft is the first to receive DirectX 12 support on Windows 7. Together with Microsoft, they have brought DirectX 12 to Windows 7 where it previously was not available. Microsoft has reportedly ported DirectX12 to Windows 7 which should allow developers of all games to add DirectX 12 support to the old Operating System. More games are expected to path DirectX 12 support to Windows 7 with Microsoft working with other game developers on the same task to achieve this.
Since DirectX 12 was developed with Windows 10 in mind and the Operating Systems has improvements over older iterations. It is safe to say that to experience the utmost benefits of Direct X 12 you may need to move over to Windows 10 as the Operating System has many other optimizations done under the hood that make it a very stable and fast operating system.
Microsoft was reluctant to add support for DirectX 12 to Windows 7 previously. This was due to the fact that Microsoft released DirectX 12 alongside Windows 10 in 2015 and wanted every one of its users to switch over it’s new Operating System. Microsoft tried to force this by making gamers switch over to the new operating system for DirectX 12 for new games. And they have succeeded as many pc gamers are on Windows 10 now.
According to Steam Hardware & Software Survey for Feb 2019, a whopping 64% of its users are on Windows 10 with only 25% being on Windows 7 and the rest being shared among other Operating Systems. Linux with the Vulkan API and Valve’s Proton may also be one of the reasons Microsoft decided to add DirectX 12 support to Windows 7. This may be to grab any users from transitioning over to Linux based Operating Systems and keeping all gamers under their own eco-system.
For those users who despise Microsoft because of their past and hate Windows with a passion, you have Linux based Operating Systems. Valve has made strides to make Linux based Operating Systems the go-to for PC users with its full support of Linux for all of its own titles and pushing out the Proton compatibility tool. Linux Operating Systems are better than windows because of their Open Source development for the Linux Kernel. This allows fixed and improvements on a better scale that are more stable and faster than Windows updates. You have the Vulkan API that challenges DirectX 12 directly. For games that are DirectX only you have Valve’s Proton that allows Windows DirectX games to run on Linux.
The only issue users see with Windows 10 is its lack of privacy and intrusive aspect. With the windows update pop-ups to all the background programs running that collected your data. Many users still opt to stay on Windows 7 just because of that. Granted Windows 10 has improved a lot since its initial launch. Microsoft just needs to listen to its consumers and improve on a few aspects of its operating system to really make Windows 10 a total hit.
As the talk of 5G continues after the announcement of a few 5G ready devices, South Korea has stepped in to take it up a notch. The word 5G itself has been thrown around a lot recently mostly because it took mobile network communication to another level. The technology allows greater speeds while on the go and adds a layer of depth to the experience. Korean telecommunication company SK Telecom as pointed out by folks over at zdnet has reportedly claimed that the S10 5G would achieve speeds of up to 2.7 Gbps in South Korea.
Samsung was actively working in its home for the betterment of 5G and it seems that the manufacturer’s devices would be able to harness the technology to the fullest extent in South Korea. SK Telecom claimed to have achieved this by aggregating LTE technology with 5G and merging the bandwidth to an impressive 2.7 Gbps. The company also stated that the technology would become effective during the first 6 months of the 5G variant’s release.
Having such insane speeds would mean that 4K video streaming and media downloading would take seconds and full-fledged video game downloading would just be a matter of minutes. Earlier we discovered that the awareness for 5G grew by over 44% from the first half of 2018 and we expect the numbers to grow even more. With the release of the 5G S10 planned later this month 5G testing would soon go live and the numbers would determine the efforts of SK Telecom.
The LTE/5G merger by the company is undeniably credible and with the technology’s successful testing we must not forget other 5G competitors joining the market. Having such insane speeds in the region could mean that the 5G experience would be superior to any other region and would take time for them to catch up with the Asian innovators. The adoption of 5G seems to be faster than 4G and the spread of 5G would clearly top the coverage of 4G LTE. The only question which yet remains is who would corner the 5G market and based on what pillars would they do so?
Epic Games patched Fortnite with its first major update since the launch of Season 8 less than 24 hours ago. The patch added some major changes coming to Fortnite as well as address some major changes coming to Fortnite’s vending machines.
With the launch of Fortnite’s update 8.10, Epic Games changed how Vending Machines in the game work. Previously, players were required to use their materials in order to get what they want from the Vending Machines. With the update now in effect, Epic Games has made Vending Machines absolutely free, meaning that you can now keep your materials. However, just so that the feature may not be abused, Epic Games announced that the Vending Machines would disappear once a player has claimed his/her items from the Vending Machines.
At first, we thought that the Vending Machine would offer a single item to a single player before vanishing. Turns out, if multiple players use the Vending Machine at once, the Vending Machine spits out items for everyone who uses it before it disappears. While users have posted videos of squads using it at once, there’s no telling how far this could be abused.
And while players are happy at the moment, we could definitely see Epic patch up the Vending machines for good moving forward. When Epic would apply the ban hammer is yet to be seen. However, it would most probably drop in the next patch or two.
Corsair is one of the most prominent PC Case makers around. Having cases that range from budget options all the way to the more expensive premium options with all the features you could expect from a PC Case. Corsair announced yesterday two new mid-tower cases to add to the list of the every-growing choices we have today. The first new addition to Corsair’s lineup is the new Crystal Series 680X RGB and the other is the Carbide Series 678C.
Both of the cases look very beautiful and have a high-speed USB 3.1 Gen-2 Type-C port on the front. They both are backed by a two-year warranty and have support from Corsair’s worldwide customer service and technical support network. Both the 680X RGB and the 678C are available right now from Corsair-authorized dealers and distributors from around the world. Let’s take a look at some of the features of both these cases from Corsair, shall we?
The Glorious Corsair Crystal Series 680X RGB
The Corsair 680X RGB comes in two colors, Black and White and this case is all about that RGB factor if you have not already figure that out by its name. The Corsair Crystal Series 680X RGB is a high airflow ATX size case that emphasizes on the RGB and cooling aspects. With its stunning RGB lighting glowing all around the case with the help of the crystal clear tempered glass panels in the front, roof, and side – you get to display your glorious PC Components in all their glory.
The 680X RGB features Corsair’s dual-chamber layout. This separates all of your main hardware from all the cables, drives and un-pleasing components that only help to ruin your visual aesthetics. The good thing about this design is that cable management is very easy. This keeps the insides of your pc looking clean by avoiding any bad cable management and unsightly drives and components. This also helps improves Airflow that keeps your PC components cool and helps them perform better for longer periods of time.
The case boasts room for up to eight 120mm fans and four simultaneous radiators. The case comes with 4 total included RGB fans and Corsairs own Lighting Node Pro to satisfy all of your cooling needs. One Corsair SP120 RGB Fan on the back and three Corsair LL120 RGB Fans on the front. Each of these fans comes with 16 individually addressable RGB LEDs that work with their included Corsair iCUE software. Altogether, this makes for one hell of a customizable light show.
Combine all of this with the option to slot in your graphics card vertically with the included vertical mount and the Corsair 680X RGB lets you display all of your amazing looking PC Components in all their glory with an added flare of RGB goodness. This case is sure to grab the eyes of anyone entering the room as it looks stunning.
The Silent Corsair Carbide Series 678C
The Carbide Series 678C also comes in two colors, Black and White, and it aims to be a low noise case with its stealthy clean lines and smooth steel constructions. The case features high-density sound dampening material on the side, front, and roof panels to reduce the noise from your components. The case also features a bottom compartment cover and holes that you can use for cable management that keeps everything looking nice and tidy. With only a single tempered glass side panel you can be sure to expect a clean look from this case.
The 678C has room for up to nine 120mm fans and multiple radiations. You can install a wide variety and combination of custom cooling setups to meet your demands. The case also comes with pre-equipped with three Corsair Sp140 PWM fans and a six-fan PWM repeater. The case also has a modular drive bay system that lets you add all the storage you could desire. You have room for up to 1x 5.25in drive, 6x 3.5in and 3x 2.5fin drives, and the potential to add a further 2x 3.5in drives with additional trays.
The Huawei P30 Pro is an upcoming flagship by the Chinese tech giant set to make an appearance this month at Paris, France. Since the phone’s appearance at MWC 2019, quite a few things about the phone have been leaked such as the exterior and the internal configurations. Packing the same Kirin 980 chipset the phone’s Geekbench results have surfaced on their browser.
Taking a look at the scores themselves, the device which appears to be the P30 Pro scores 3289 points in the single core department while scoring 9817 points in the multicore department. One thing to notice here is the fact that the Huawei Mate 20 Pro which came out last year was powered by the same Kirin 980 processor and performs quite similar to the leaked device. With the Mate 20 Pro securing 3331 points in the single core department and 9773 points in the multi-core department. The difference between the two remains to be very insignificant and quite confusing actually.
The phone comes with 8GB of RAM with the latest Android 9.0 operating. The base frequency is set to 1.80 GHz and the rest of the features are expected to be flagship grade.
In an age where everyone is progressing with the Snapdragon 855 SoC over 2018 which mainly consisted of smartphones powered by the Snapdragon 845, Huawei’s timeline seems questionable. The Kirin 980 itself competed with the Snapdragon 845 in the later parts of 2018 and is now challenged by the 855 yet again. Considering the Galaxy S10+’s Geekbench score of 4472 points in the single core department and a whopping 10,387 points in the multicore department, the P30 Pro has some tough competition.
Not to say that the P30 Pro would be an underpowered smartphone but having a processor which is weaker than the international market could prove to be a deal breaker for many. The phone does hold potential to be Huawei’s go to smart device for 5G for the year all about it. For the P30/ P30 Pro to fly in a more competitive smartphone scene they would unquestionably want to bring in a new set of features which breaks the barriers of innovation by modern standards. Just like they added reverse wireless charging with the Mate 20 Pro.
After the massive launch of Fortnite Season 8, Epic Games has finally delivered the first major update for the game today dubbed as update 8.10. The latest update not only rejuvenates the game with a new limited-time mode but also adds a few notable changes and additions to the game as we head deeper into the season.
Fortnite Gets A New Vehicle – The Baller
The biggest and most notable addition making its way to Fortnite’s update 8.10 has to be the new Baller. The Baller is the latest vehicle making its way to Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode that would allow players to grapple from place to place in a cool glass-like sphere.
The ball has 300 health points and would protect the rider inside of it until the ball breaks.
Fortnite’s Vending Machines Updated
Vending machines have been interesting addition ever since they were added back in Season 3. Since then, Vending machines have enjoyed massive success and have been a good way to collect some of your favorite guns and consumables in exchange for materials.
With the latest update in effect, Epic Games has officially removed the cost factor with a twist. Not only would vending machines now offer a few items for free, but would also disappear once a player has claimed the item.
Fortnite’s Crossplay Changes Are Great!
Epic Games has made it compulsory for players to now opt-in for cross play. In the case of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, Epic Games has announced that it would be forcing two arch sides to compete with each another from now in while lobbying for the Battle Royale mode.
This means that Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players would be under the same roof once everyone drops onto the island from now on.
The same has been done for the Nintendo Switch players where Epic Games has combined Nintendo Switch and Mobile pools.
Epic Games expects that with would allow them to move forward and eventually expand into new locations as they move forward. In addition to that, with these changes now in effect, gameplay should be a whole lot more bearable for some players with these changes in effect, eventually, allowing competitive Fortnite players to breed off the platform.
Epic Games Adds New Animations For Fortnite’s Consumables
The next major addition making its way to the latest update has to be the new animations. With update 8.10, players would now be able to pick up on a bit of pazzaz when they crack up any of Fortnite’s consumables.
Whether this is a limited time addition of if Epic Games plans to add these animations permanently hasn’t been confirmed yet. However, if they do, we wouldn’t mind seeing them given how they’ve added fresh vibes to the game.
Here’s the rest of the patch notes from Fortnite’s Update 8.10
WEAPONS + ITEMS
Baller
This single seat vehicle is found at Expedition Outposts and around pirate camp loot stashes
Use the attached Grappler and Boost functionality to pull yourself up cliffs or swing through the trees
The driver is protected from damage, but The Baller is vulnerable to enemy weapon fire.
300 Health
Infantry Rifle
Removed Common rarity
Heavy Assault Rifle
Adjusted rarity from Rare/Epic/Legendary to Common/Uncommon/Rare
Base damage scaling for Common/Uncommon/Rare 36/38/40
Clingers
Reduced max stack size from 10 to 6.
Vending Machines
Removed the material cost.
Each Vending Machine will be destroyed after claiming an item.
Common and Uncommon Vending Machines have been removed.
Removed Mounted Turret from Legendary Vending Machine
Reduced availability of Treasure Maps from floor loot .53% to .27%.
Reduced availability of Treasure Maps from chest loot 3.25% to 1.65%.
Bug Fixes
Fixed rocket smoke trails disappearing instantly on explosion.
Fixed an issue where the popping audio for Balloons would continue to play after using Balloons to get to max build height while using a vehicle.
Fixed an issue where Buried Treasure would not auto pickup when the Auto Pickup Weapons setting was enabled.
Fixed an issue where Buried Treasure chests could be placed on the Starting Island.
Fixed an issue where using an Impulse Grenade or a Shockwave Grenade while jumping on a Hoverboard causes the player to rapidly rotate.
GAMEPLAY
Battle Royale Crossplay Matchmaking
Combined Xbox One and PS4 pools.
This requires you to opt-in to cross-play.
Players opt-ing out are restricted to Creative Mode and Playgrounds.
Combined Mobile and Switch pools.
Before, Switch players were combined with Xbox One and PS4 cross-play parties.
We expect an on-average better per-game experience for both Mobile and Switch players.
Motivating factor is unlocking optimization potential allowing us to run more playlists during more hours of the day while supporting more data center locations. Please provide us with feedback on your experience!
Reduced infinite dab duration from 12 hours to 11 hours in the front end
Just kidding, Increased Infinite dab duration from 12 hours to 13 hours in the front end
Elimination credit is now awarded to the last damager in cases of logging out, self-elimination, and eliminations due to Storm damage. The current threshold timer is 5 seconds for Storm eliminations and 15 seconds for logouts and self-eliminations.
Added visual effects for the siphon on elimination.
Players can now build as soon as they impact anything after being launched by a Pirate Cannon
Players can dance while holding a balloon
Added Pirate Cannon’s audio visualizer HUD icon to be a cannon.
Players automatically enter the driver seat when entering an empty vehicle.
Added custom consume animations for the following items:
Bandages
Medkit
Small Shield Potion
Shield Potion
Slurp Juice
Chug Jug
Bug Fixes
Fixed Pirate Cannon collision that would block bullets for a passenger inside of the cannon
Fixed Pirate Cannon not being able to shoot when moving backwards
Fixed an issue where a player may lose functionality when shooting themselves out of a Pirate Cannon.
Fixed Pirate Cannon player impact explosion effects sometimes being delayed
Fixed an issue where Pirate Cannons flipped onto their side, sliding across the ground for too long
Fixed Pirate Cannons dealing damage to itself if fired in close quarters
Fixed an issue where players wouldn’t break through structures when fired from Pirate Cannons at close range
Traps are no longer triggered by vehicles that are empty or carrying only friendly players.
Fixed an issue in extreme camera flicking situations that would cause an incorrect first shot when firing weapons.
Fixed an issue with the Conga emote not respecting environmental surfaces like Lava
Fixed an issue where a player may briefly stop their skydiving animation unexpectedly
Fixed an issue allowing emote-cancelling during door open/close animations.
Fixed players holding Buried Treasure map upside down
Fixed an issue where pressing Build and Edit buttons in quick succession would enter edit mode on the blueprint piece instead of build the structure.
Driftboards no longer explode when exiting one near a Mounted Turret.
Fixed PS4 players being unable to adjust mouse sensitivity.
LIMITED TIME MODE:
Summary Welcome to The Getaway! In this mode, players will race to find a Jewel and take it to a getaway van before everyone else to win the match!
Mode Details
Jewels can be found in special supply drop safes, located along the edge of the first storm circle. The safes take a long time to open, so make sure the area is clear before attempting to claim a Jewel!
Four Jewels will be in play on the map at all times. If a player escapes with a Jewel or one is lost in the Storm, a new Supply Drop will bring a replacement.
Four total getaway vans will be on the map, three that arrive early in the match and one more that shows up near the end.
The goal is to find or steal a Jewel and take it to one of the vans in order to secure a Victory Royale.
Once they arrive, Safe drops and getaway vans will be visible on the map at all times.
When a Jewel is picked up, it will be visible on the map to everyone for 30 seconds.
Carrying a Jewel will give players health & shields over time, but also slow them down by 10%.
Getaway vans float in mid-air, Jewel carriers must build up and then interact with them in order to complete a Getaway.
10 red “Pursuit” supply drops land at the very beginning of the match. These carry a variety of longer-range weapons and other items, and are the only way to obtain the new Grappler in this mode.
Only Rare weapons or better will be found in this mode.
Rifts, Rift-to-Go and Launchpads have been removed to reduce mobility for healthier Getaway Van engagements.
Profile Stats (K/D & Wins) are tracked in this mode, but Umbrellas are not awarded for wins
The ATK has been temporarily brought back in this mode as it is the only 4 person ground vehicle.
EVENTS
Tournament Update: Gauntlet Solo Test Event & Gauntlet Duo Test Event
Added another extended session, which will run 24 hours a day and concludes on March 19th at 12 AM ET.
Matchmaking:
Matchmaking will no longer wait to create a match with closest scoring players available after 8 minutes, and will now require enough players with similar scores to start.
Adjusted matchmaking point expansion to increase likelihood for high scoring players to be matched against other high scoring players.
Note: Due to the playlist featuring matchmaking based on your score, the quality or availability of matches may differ at certain times of day.
Updated Scoring:
Solo
+2 Points will now be awarded after reaching 15th Place (previously 10th Place).
Duo
Increased Bus Fare from -2 Points to -3 Points.
This is a temporary solution for the Duo event granting too many points to players due to eliminations, causing an inflation of points over the course of the event.
+2 Points will now be awarded after reaching 7th Place (previously 5th Place).
New Tournament: Scallywag Duos Cup (March 16th & 17th) [$100,000 in Cash Prizes!]
As a test of our prize payment systems leading into the Fortnite World Cup, we’ll be holding a $100,000 Duos tournament on March 16th and 17th. The prize pool will be distributed across all server regions, with official rules and details released later this week.
Participation in this event requires players to be in the Top 3% (global) of either the Solo or Duo Gauntlet Test Event as of 12 AM ET on March 16th.
Format:
Round One: All Eligible Players
Round Two: Top 3000 Players from Round One
PERFORMANCE
Fixed some instances of packet loss that could occur with certain ISPs that are prone to re-ordering UDP network packets.
Find more context in the Reddit Post we made last week.
Improved file I/O performance for Xbox One. This reduces the occurrence of late streaming meshes.
Fixed a regression in hitches on Switch due to GPU timing
Improved performance on Switch by reducing the likelihood of particles triggering when the day changes phases
Optimized the Ship Cannon
Optimized UI elements for large team modes
Improved performance for the Quick Bar
Fixed hitches that occur on the Match Stats screen due to synchronously loading assets
AUDIO
Added new audio for Balloons while in-air.
Reduced volume of small prop destruction sounds (chairs, beds, fences, etc).
Removed reverb from pickaxe swings.
Removed outdoor ambient sounds when gliding.
Bug Fixes
The Glider deploy sound no longer plays twice when using Glider Redeploy.
Fixed Glider land/open sounds ducking the Victory Royale music.
Improved music volume when previewing Gliders with music while in the lobby.
Pirate Cannon movement sound no longer stops after sprinting for over 10 seconds.
Fixed looping Balloon pop sound after going through a Rift.
UI
Key Bindings – The keyboard bindings are now categorized to make finding actions you want to rebind a lot easier.
Marker System:
Added hover details for in-world markers, actions a player may take on a marker will appear in these details. Marker details will appear when the reticule is placed over the marker.
You can now mark vehicles and found consumables such as apples.
Reworked display of Item markers to increase readability across all platforms.
Items will display as a large icon for a short time when first marked, and will reduce in size when a player aims near their location.
Markers are now sorted by distance.
Reduced screen size of squad waypoint markers to reduce view obstruction.
Minimap markers updated to match in-world markers.
On keyboards there is now a keybind option to specify a dedicated key for placing a danger marker.
Double-Clicking the ping button to place a danger marker, is no longer blocked by items on the ground.
You can now ping while riding in a vehicle reliably.
You can now Mark While Bush.
Please continue to let us know what improvements you would like to see for the marker system!
Squad nameplates and team arrows now become more transparent when aiming down sights.
Restored the ability to view all of your current Challenges while in a match.
Wrap things up in a hurry! You can now apply a wrap to all slots by choosing “Apply To All” when picking a wrap in the Locker.
Enabled camera control on some reward types when viewing Challenges
Challenge Info panel in the lobby now defaults to Party Assist while you are in a Party.
Bug Fixes
The Luxe bundle is now displayed in the Challenge Screen along with the Blackheart and Hybrid bundles.
Wraps are now previewed on the highest resolution version of the vehicle or weapon in the lobby.
Fixed an issue on consoles where you couldn’t select “Party Assist” for the last challenge in a bundle.
Fixed an issue where the next Stage of a Challenge was not automatically set to “Party Assist”.
Fixed an issue where the animation and sound effects would play twice when selecting Challenges on a controller.
Fixed an issue where scrolling with the mouse in the Challenge Screen would sometimes jump around unexpectedly.
REPLAY
Added bus paths to the minimap.
MOBILE
Introduced an Auto Fire tuning feature to allow adjustments per weapon. This was done previously for other weapons, but we’ve now added this for pistols.
Added occlusion to footsteps on Android.
Improve the quality of some sound effects on Mobile/Switch.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue with the shoot button getting stuck in a continuous fire loop or being unable to fire without being able to reset.
Fixed an issue that caused touch players to need a more specific crosshair location to interact with the Use button.
Fixed turbo build not starting when going from edit to build mode with the input held.
Fixed Left Trigger action getting stuck when using a Bluetooth controller
Fixed weapon stats on the inventory panel for mobile
Fixed autorun not fully sprinting if “Sprint by Default for Controller” is set to ‘OFF’ on mobile
Fixed build mode being exited if a build piece is selected before releasing the build/combat mode button
Fixed dragging an item off the hotbar triggering use actions on mobile.
Fixed Throwable items’ trajectory line persisting when a player is driving different vehicles on Mobile
CREATIVE
WHAT’S NEW?
New Islands & Theme Jump into two new exotic island locations! Build your best beach retreat with the new Wooden Lodge theme while enjoying a perfect, volcanic tropical view.
New Game Options Offense or defense? We’ve added new game rule options that allow you to further customize team settings and setup advanced PvP games.
ISLANDS
New Islands
Sandbar Island
105 tiles square in size
Volcano Island
105 tiles square in size
Reduced the number of player islands on a server from 16 to 8.
Allows bigger islands
Improves server performance
Player loading after the first 8 players will not have access to their personal islands and instead have to start a new server. This will be fixed in a future update when the portal mechanic is updated.
Removed the blocking collision from islands to allow for the new larger islands.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where objects were missing after loading into an island, reloading and island, or finishing a game. Removed a delete record system that was causing many bugs.
Fixed an issue where islands were unable to be restored after resetting them.
Fixed a bug where island settings would not get applied to players joining islands.
Fixed an issue where some Prefabs and Devices were unable to be placed on certain areas of the default island.
Fixed an issue where players would occasionally lose functionality when loading into a Creative Island and quickly returning to the Hub.
GAMEPLAY
Added Scoring
Added Score to Win as an end condition. Specify the target score for players or teams to achieve to win the game.
There are many score win conditions, ranging between 1 – 10,000,000
Added Total Score option to Type of Scoreboard. Adds a score total to the HUD and shows the total score for players and teams when the game ends.
Score comes from vehicle tricks and the Challenge Gallery items like Coins
Added Objectives
Added Objectives to Win as an end condition. Specify the number of objectives required to end the game.
Added Objectives option to Type of Scoreboard. When the game ends shows how many objectives were accomplished by each player or team.
Coins props in the “Challenge Gallery” now have new visual effects to help make them more visible to players.
Moved the game start countdown to after the screen fade
Turned HUD off while starting a game on a featured island
Added holding players in place while in countdown to game start
Changed the countdown to 3 seconds from 6 seconds.
Added new Spawn Location type, Current Location, that keeps you where you are when the game starts. Useful for playtesting games.
Reordered Game tab options to make it easier to find options.
Added tooltip descriptions for Game options and Game Settings options.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where players who join a server in progress might not have their score properly reset.
Fixed an issue where attempting to swap teams could result in DBNO instead of respawn.
Fixed an issue where the player could not exit fly mode when the jump function is bound to the right thumbstick button on controllers.
Fixed an issue that caused the screen to fade in twice when a game is restarted.
Fixed an issue where the yellow triangle on the HUD warmup timer would disappear too quickly.
Fixed an issue where the HUD warmup timer would not animate out.
Fixed bug where players who were respawning when the game goes to warmup wouldn’t be put into stasis
WEAPONS + ITEMS
Bug Fixes
Fixed Remote Explosives sticking to the player character when throwing them while disguised as a Bush.
Fixed an issue where players encountered instability when interacting with the cannon.
Fixed Drum Gun sound effect. The satisfying boom is back.
CREATIVE TOOLS + PHONE
Sprays will now highlight when you aim at them with your Phone, indicating that they can be deleted.
The Phone can now interact with props and building tiles that are underneath the island’s terrain. They’ll highlight as you aim the crosshair over them.
While using the Phone to Grow or Shrink a prop with Grid Snap enabled, holding down the button will repeatedly Grow or Shrink the prop.
Bug Fixes
Fixed holographic preview for props drawing through floors or characters on mobile platforms.
Fixed an issue where scale indicators are pulsing the wrong direction while scaling down.
Fixed an issue where certain player-built walls had a more expensive memory cost than expected.
Fixed an issue where the Phone stopped working after your player was launched from a cannon.
Fixed props temporarily changing to wrong size when using the Phone to Grow or Shrink when Grid Snap is enabled.
Fixed an issue where the Snap Center and Resize indicators were hard to see when a prop is either too large or far away.
Fixed an issue where the on-screen button for Terrain Collision On and Off looked the same on mobile platforms.
PREFABS
Ambient Gallery Large
Wooden Cabin Galleries & Prefabs
Volcanic Rock & Lava Tile Galleries
Jungle Temple Wall Extended Gallery
Mine Cart Gallery
Lava Tiles have been added to the Elemental Cube Gallery
Known issue: Lava tiles do not cause player damage
New floors have been added to the Street Gallery B & Slant Gallery
Black Glass Island
Beacon Gallery
Particle Gallery
Non-Right Square Pyramid Gallery
Non-Right Triangular Pyramid Gallery
Right Triangular Prism Gallery
Seven Point Cube Gallery
Square Pyramid Gallery
Triangular Prism Gallery
Upright Triangular Prism Gallery
Black Glass Prop Gallery
Structures Gallery Black
Structures Gallery Reflective Black
DEVICES
New Baller Spawn
This single seat vehicle is found at Expedition Outposts and around pirate camp loot stashes
Use the attached Grappler and Boost functionality to pull yourself up cliffs or swing through the trees
The driver is protected from damage, but The Baller is vulnerable to enemy weapon fire.
300 Health
New Objective Device
This device acts as a destroyable prop for new types of games
Choose from 7 different objective props – YES the Durr Burger mascot and Pizza Pit mascot are finally here.
Set amount of health from 1, 20, 50, 100, 200, 400, 500, 800, 1000, 2000, 3000, 5000, 10,000, 25,000
Set which team the objective belongs too
Set an explosion radius for when the objective is destroyed. Destroys all tiles and props in the radius even if the environment is set to indestructible.
Set an optional beacon type to make them easy to find
Known issue vehicles don’t do damage to an Objective.
Update Starting Inventory to Team Settings & Inventory
Added ability to select settings per team
Bonus Ammo For Weapons – On, Off
Starting Health – 1%, Half, Full, Invincible
Max Health – 1, 25, 50, 75, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 10,000
Starting Shields – Empty, Half, Full
Max Shields – No Shield, 25, 50, 75, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 10,000
Infinite Ammo – On, Off
Infinite Resources – On, Off
Fall Damage – On, Off
Gravity – Very Low, Low, Normal, High, Very High
Jump Fatigue – On, Off
Player Flight – On, Off
Player Names and Locations – Always Show, Always Hide
Glider Redeploy – On, Off
Down but not out – On, Off
Block Building in Game – On (Players NOT allowed to build), Off (Players allowed to build if they have resources)
Respawn Time – 1-30 seconds
Max Initial Team Size – Unlimited, 1 to 16 – Use to make asymmetric teams when using teams game option.
Missing in previous patch notes in 8.00 – Added wall version of Speed Boost. Great for elevators.
Added Team Settings to Checkpoint device.
Added limiting billboards to 50 to fix memory and performance issues on mobile devices. We will continue to monitor to see if we can increase that limit.
Bug Fixes
Fixed performance issues with the Music Sequencer device in islands with a large number of Music Blocks.
Fixed the Starting Inventory device granting duplicate items if the “Drop items when eliminated” setting was disabled.
Fixed the Player Start device selecting Any team when it was set to None.
Fixed an issue where Billboard background colors were not functioning correctly.
Fixed the holographic preview for the Pinball Flipper always being the default size when being moved with the Phone.
Fixed an issue where the Pinball Bumper would result in overlapping previews when copied after squashing or stretching it using the Phone.
Fixed an issue where some of the Music Blocks placed in a Sequencer would not play in some cases.
Fixed issues with using the Phone not being responsive while riding on the Driftboard.
Fixed an issue where Radios could play music after loading into an island that had a Radio with playback turned off.
Fixed an issue where players would be locked from their inventory after being shot from a cannon.
UI
Added score to the HUD when Type of Scoreboard is set to Total Score
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue where HUD elements would sometimes not appear correctly.
Fixed an issue where the Start Game Panel would be present after returning to the HUB from a Featured Island.
Fixed various grammar and spelling mistakes in the Prefabs menu
Fixed an issue where the Start Game screen continues to display after leaving a Featured Island
Updated the description for “Joel’s” Prefab to be more accurate
Fixed an inconsistency between Creative and Playground when a single player attempted to access the ‘Team Select’ tab in the Hamburger Menu
Improved stability when accessing the “Support a Creator” button on the Start Game Screen
Fixed an issue where buttons icons were missing from the Start Game Screen on the Switch
Fixed a bug where pressing Apply when selecting a team without changing the team number would always swap the player to team 1/
PLAYGROUND
Fixed an issue where options set for Playground would remain applied when entering a featured island even though they had different Game Settings
Players on a creative island should now be able to chat with each other prior to the start of the island game. During the game voice chat is determined by the game settings.
Creative island games should now continue until all players have left the island or the starting player chooses to end the game from the menu. Previously, the game would end if the starting player left the island.
PERFORMANCE
Bug Fixes
Fixed performance issues when using the Music Sequencer.
Fixed performance issues on servers with maximum player count.
SAVE THE WORLD
WHAT’S NEW?
Staredown Southie Get caught in the Bear Stare! Laser down the Husks with this returning Outlander.
Beta Storms Speed is key! Take on the new Test the Limits Beta Storm.
GENERAL
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue that caused players to crash while in the Collection Book.
This issue only impacted Winter Llamas that were converted from Snowflake tickets with the launch of v8.0
All players have been granted a 2018 Winter Llama to compensate for this. Additionally, all players who received the incorrect Winter Llamas as part of the 8.0 conversion will be granted the same amount of the correct 2018 Winter Llamas in a future gift box.
All remaining Snowflake tickets will be converted to 2018 Winter Llamas
Fixed an issue that caused players to continue earning Snowflake Tickets
Fixed an issue with a wall being placed when picking a trap from the trap picker via mouse.
Fixed an issue with destroying/consuming the last item in the equipped weapon/trap stack, forcing a switch to an item in the next focusable quick bar slot, even if the item is replaced by a new weapon/trap.
Fixed an issue with the building outline appearing red after placing a trap on an existing structure.
MISSIONS + SYSTEMS
Beta Storms
The return of Retrieve the Data Beta Storm
We listened to your feedback and this time around players can vote to shoot down the balloon early! No more waiting for it to land.
Shooting down the balloon early causes the storm to rush in faster.
The landing zone is now a 1 by 1 build area
The storm wall is easier to see through.
New Beta Storm mission Test the Limits.
Test the Limits is a mission about racing around through a series of checkpoints to see how many laps you can complete, the more laps the better the badge reward. There will be a preparation time to help you optimize the path from point to point then a timed race. Great way to test different hero loadouts.
Beta Storm: Eliminate and Collect will be rotating out.
We appreciate everyone who participated and provided feedback on this Beta Storm variant.
UI
The previous “Abilities” tab has been replaced with a “Loadout” tab, where players can view information about their active hero loadout while playing a mission.
Changed the controller input so that accessing Mission Details now requires you to hold the associated button down.
Edit option for Hero Loadouts now requires only a tap of the associated button.
Reduced the wordiness of tooltips for gadgets.
Respawn At Start now properly shows its associated keybind when in the Down But Not Out state.
Evolution and Rarity increases can now be done when inspecting an item that was received from a Transform Schematic.
Changed the “clear all” button in the Hero Loadout screen to also clear gadgets and team perks.
Added Toggle Descriptions button to Team Perk and Gadget selection panels in Hero Loadout.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug where players using the Old School or Quick Builder Controller configurations would be unable to throw grenades slotted in the third ability slot.
Fixed issues with warnings about having another hero with the same perk in the loadout showing up in some cases when they should not.
When a hero was being chosen for a slot that had the same perk, it will no longer erroneously warn that the perk is already in the loadout. This will make it easier to replace a hero with a higher rarity or higher Power Level hero with the same perk, since they will sort to the upper part of the list rather than sorting with the “warning” displays in the lower part of the list.
Fixed the Hero picker details panel for Expeditions to show the correct Hero Loadout abilities.
Changed padding on Zone name header to fix Korean language text getting cut off at the bottom.
Fixed the ramp structure so that the trap picker UI works correctly.
Fixed an issue that caused the Voice Chat icon to not properly update when kicking a muted player
Fixed an issue that caused slottable item counts for Collection Book categories to not update after evolving slotted schematics.
Fixed an issue that caused loss of gamepad control in the Transform slot picker after opening and closing the friends list.
Fixed an issue with Hero name plate text scrolling with Hero names in all languages.
Fixed defender trap UI issues related to selecting a defender from a different pad.
Fixed an issue that caused players to partially lose navigation functionality when returned to the Quest Tab from the quest log.
Fixed a matchmaking error that would prevent players from matchmaking into zones properly if they tried to start a quest from the quest log while already in a lobby.
Fixed an issue with hero ability icons appearing grayed out in the quick bar when casting a hero ability right as another ability comes off cooldown.
Fixed expedition timer text overlapping with completion percentage.
Fixed an issue where the matching filter would only show the heroes that matched the team perk when the team perk was already active. It now shows all heroes since the team perk has been activated by other support heroes slotted.
HEROES
Staredown Southie (Returning)
Standard Perk: Bear Stare
T.E.D.D.Y fires lasers every 2 seconds, dealing 26 base Energy Damage
Commander Perk: Bear Stare+:
T.E.D.D.Y fires lasers every 1.5 seconds, dealing 51 base Energy Damage
Available in the Weekly Store on March 13 at 8 PM Eastern Time until March 20 at 8 PM Eastern Time.
Four Leaf Wildcat (Returning)
Standard Perk: Grenade Generation
Every 45 eliminations, gain 1 Frag Grenade charge.
Commander Perk: Grenade Generation+
Every 20 eliminations, gain 1 Frag Grenade charge.
Available in the Weekly Store on March 13 at 8 PM Eastern Time until March 20 at 8 PM Eastern Time.
Constructor B.A.S.E can now be auto placed, just like traps.
Increased the base damage of Tail of the Dragon
Standard Perk: Increased from 18 to 26
Commander Perk: Increased from 45 to 64
All Heroes in inventory and Collection Book will be marked eligible for Item Reset.
Items eligible for a free unslot from the Collection Book will also be eligible for an Item Reset after they are unslotted.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue which could cause Ninjas to have invisible collision with enemy Husks.
Fixed an issue where Bass Solo didn’t enforce its maximum elimination limit.
Fixed an issue where Make It Count+ displayed an incorrect tooltip value.
Fixed an issue where Tail of the Dragon was dealing more damage than intended
Was previously dealing the damage of Dragon Slash in addition to the base damage with every tick.
We’ve increased the damage value on Tail of the Dragon (noted above)
We’ve marked Snuggle Specialist Sarah as eligible for reset due to this change
Bass Solo now correctly shows a warning if used in a support slot for a Commander without Warcry
Fixed an issue where hotfixer was granting the incorrect amount of repair speed
Fixed an issue where Skull Ranger Ramirez and Fallen Love Ranger Jonesy played the wrong animation in the Hero Loadout screen
Fixed an issue where One-Two Punch never ended with some melee weapons
Fixed an issue where Impossibility Matrix would override the default Charge Fragment bonus
Fixed Bear Stare tooltips to display correct damage values.
Bear Stare still deals the same amount of damage, but the tooltip value is now accurate.
Fixed an issue where Seismic Smash was doing less damage than intended.
This resulted in an increase of 11 base damage.
Fixed an issue where Present…Arms! wasn’t granting the correct movement speed bonus as a Commander Perk
Parting Gift fireworks now have sound
Fixed an issue which could cause Keen Eyes to never turn off.
Fixed an issue which could cause Keen Eyes visual effects to double up
Fixed an issue where In The Zone hit counter never reset
Updated Assault Ammo Recovery’s tooltip to accurately reflect its functionality.
Fixed an issue which was incorrectly capping the number of targets that could be hit by Frag Grenade to 8 or 12.
This should make “Bigger is Better” feel much more effective.
Updated the tooltip for Doppler Effect to indicate that it reduces the cooldown, and not the energy cost, of Shockwave.
Fixed an issue with Phase Shift that was causing the speed bonus to not apply consistently or correctly at times.
Phase Forward and Phase Shift run speed bonus should now stack with In the Zone properly
Phase Forward+ now correctly applies the bonus 10% run speed as intended.
Fixed an issue where Anti-Material Charge with Strike Cost couldn’t be activated with less energy than the standard pickaxe heavy attack requires.
Fixed an issue where sometimes Anti-Material Charge wouldn’t hit enemies who were too close.
Fixed an issue where Outlanders could interrupt Anti-Material Charge and end up in a broken state.
Fixed an issue where T.E.D.D.Y. couldn’t spawn if any player was nearby.
Fixed an issue where BOOM B.A.S.E. buff was not being removed after B.A.S.E was destroyed.
Fixed an issue where Electrified floors was doing the same damage at commander and hero level
Fixed an issue where Endless Smoke was bigger than intended at commander and hero level
Was previously making the radius of Smoke Bomb 380% bigger at hero and commander level instead of 186%
We’ve marked Infiltrator Ken as eligible for reset due to this change
WEAPONS + ITEMS
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue that caused items to get put into overflow when you use the item reset feature.
Fixed an issue that could cause certain weapon tooltips to not display weapon-specific buffs correctly. This affects the Guardian’s Will, Lead Sled, Six Feet Under, Smasher Basher, Spectral Blade, and Walloper.
Fixed bug where Yeoman sniper rifle spawned extra projectile impact particles in some scenarios.
Fixed the Space Pistol dealing damage multiple times per shot to the Storm King
GAMEPLAY
Re-Implemented how Nature Husks function.
No longer deals damage over time
No longer applies a 3 second effect removing 6 Energy every second, for a total of 18 Energy.
Now applies a 2 second effect which removes 6 Energy on hit, and 6 Energy per second for 2 seconds, for a total of 18 Energy.
Now applies standard Energy Regen Lockout for 2 seconds the same way abilities do.
Damage vs Metal structures has been unaffected
This should provide a more consistent experience when encountering Nature Husks.
Improved Blaster headshot hitbox when shooting at him from the side.
Bug Fixes
Proximity mines now have correct explosion upgrade radius.
The Trigger radius now scales up with each explosion radius upgrade
Fixed Missions that would load into Lakeside slightly rotated, causing building issues around them.
Storm Chest now drops both loot presents correctly.
Fixed an issue where Frozen Smashers were still being able to damage players while charging.
Fixed an issue where the Teleporter Gadget could appear invisible for players joining games in progress or reconnecting to a game.
Fixed an issue for Frenzied effects remaining on Beehive Husk helmets and Sploder tanks after the Frenzied effect wears off.
GENERAL
UI
New: UI – Added support for player surveys.
Bug Fixes
Deadzone Menu; Fixed an issue where the initial values on PS4 and Xbox didn’t match the circle size.
Fixed a stepping precision issue with the quantity selection slider that gets used when recycling/transferring/dropping multiple items for resources with large values.
SOCIAL
When in a party or team your Team Members are now shown in the Social Panel!
PERFORMANCE
Scalability levels which disable Ambient Occlusion now reduce SkyLight intensity. This makes lighting contrast between shadowed and lit areas more consistent across scalability levels.
