News

Blizzard World Now Available On Overwatch PTR

Published

5 years ago

November 21, 2017

Anthony DiMoro

It was announced earlier this month at BlizzCon and no it is finally here.

Overwatch’s update is now playable on the PTR, which is highlighted by the theme park hybrid map ‘Blizzard World’.

“An amusement park celebrating the universes of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo, Blizzard World is a brand-new hybrid Assault/Escort map,” Blizzard said in their official patch notes.

“Charge the gates of Stormwind, sneak through the Nexus Experience, and guide the payload through areas filled with high ground, flanking routes, and environmental hazards. Grab some Blizzard-inspired snacks at the concession stand along the way!”

Here is the breakdown:

GENERAL:

A.I.

An option to “Remove All A.I.” in the custom game lobby can be accessed by Right Click > Remove All Bots

BUG FIXES:

General

Fixed an issue that caused the arcade card for Limited Duel and Mystery Duel to not list all currently disabled characters
Fixed an issue that prevented certain sound effects from playing when navigating the Options menu with a controller

Heroes

Fixed a visual bug that caused Ana’s Biotic Rifle ammo clip to detach when her Captain Amari skin was equipped
Fixed a bug that caused Doomfist’s Seismic Slam to create performance drops when repeatedly used with no cooldown
Fixed a bug that prevented Mei’s Cryo-freeze from clearing the healing debuff caused by Ana’s Biotic Grenade
Fixed a visual bug with Moira’s Biotic Orb that sometimes caused Biotic Grasp’s healing spray effects to display instead
Fixed a bug that prevented Moira from being able to pass through enemies when using Fade
Fixed a bug that caused Moira’s eyelashes to detach from her face during her Heroic highlight intro
Fixed a visual issue with Moira’s Oasis skin that caused her knees to clip through her knee guards while crouched
Fixed a bug that caused Reaper’s shotguns to animate incorrectly when discarded on the ground
Fixed an issue that prevented highlights captured by Zenyatta players from recording correctly when the Cultist skin was equipped

Maps

Fixed a bug that caused a performance drop when players shot at the gold coin piles in the last Defender spawn of Junkertown

Console

Microsoft Unveils Xbox Developer Sustainability Toolkit

Published

6 days ago

March 22, 2023

Anthony DiMoro

Xbox has officially unveiled the Xbox Developer Sustainability Toolkit which is aimed to help creators reduce energy consumption and measure carbon emissions during game development processes.

The Xbox Developer Sustainability ToolKit includes resources that include:

Power Monitor tools
Certification reports
Power consumption dashboards
Best practices

Ubisoft and 343 Industries were named as early users of the Xbox Developer Sustainability ToolKit with 343 Industries able to reduce energy use by 15% without impacting the player experience at all.

Ubisoft and Xbox are co-developing an energy-efficient eco-mode for users.

You can check out the full report right here.

Business

Epic Games Store Hits $820 Million in Player Spending During 2022

Published

6 days ago

March 22, 2023

Anthony DiMoro

Epic Games has officially released financial data related to it’s growing marketplace on PC, showing that $820 million was spent on the Epic Games Store during the 2022 year, and promised support for third-party subscription services and new ‘content hubs’ to help companies promote their titles.

According to the data:

The numbers

Total users of Epic Games Store PC: 230 million (up 19% year-on-year)
Epic cross-platform accounts: 732 million
Daily active users peak: 34.3 million
Monthly active users: 68 million (up 10%)

Total spending, incl. Epic’s games: $820 million (down 2%)
Spending on third-party games: $355 million (up 18%)
Free games claimed: 700 million
Number of new PC releases: 626
Total library of PC games: 1,548 (up 68%)

Epic Games stated on it’s blog that more PC games launched during the 2022 year than in any year prior.

Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto 5, Rocket League, Genshin Impact, and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands were among the most popular titles related to player engagement and player spending, and Epic Games looks to deepen their focus in 2023 as they aim to improve the store launcher’s performance.

Epic Games also aims to add support for subscription services from third-party publishers and live service products by the end of the 2023 year, adding that they are also working on ‘content hubs’ which will be separate from product pages and will enable publishers to “share information with users in a robust editorial format.”

Business

California Judge Dismisses Gamers Lawsuit Filed Against Microsoft

Published

6 days ago

March 22, 2023

Anthony DiMoro

A federal judge in San Francisco has ruled that the group of 10 plaintiffs “[lacked] allegations” in their lawsuit filed last year that claimed Microsoft’s ownerships of Activision Blizzard would harm consumers and competition in the video games market, according to a filing shared by Reuters.

While US District Judge Jacqueline Corley dismissed the case, she also gave the plaintiffs 20 days to refine their lawsuit and resubmit it, and the group’s lawyer, Joseph Saveri, said that there are plans to officially submit an amended lawsuit with “additional factual detail” that will address the judge’s concerns.

It marks a victory for Microsoft, but their battles are far from over as they still face a hearing over the Federal Trade Commission’s legal complaint, which is currently slated to take place in August of this year.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard originally expected the transaction to be complete by June 30, 2023.