Anniversary Collection Event Announced For Apex Legends To Celebrate Its Two Years Since Release

This week alone, new information in regards to Apex Legends is continuing to unravel from both Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts. As per the Titanfall developer, it was revealed on Tuesday that the 2019-released title plans to hit Nintendo Switch in March next month. New players on the platform can anticipate a double XP booster for a short timeframe to catch up to other systems. Additionally, the publisher in its recent earnings call issued that the game is set to hit mobile devices sometime in fiscal year 2022. While not very specific, it does leave room to expect release by March 2022 next year. Atop of that, it’s the two year anniversary for the battle royale as well. In a new trailer that went up on Thursday, Respawn Entertainment reveals a new event will be going live next week. Dubbed the ‘Anniversary Collection Event’, players can jump in to play a new limited-time game mode and earn new in-game items while playing. You can watch the trailer in the video below: Fan-favorite Locked and Loaded game mode will be returning in the form of a playlist Takeover which replaces the default social game mode. “hit the ground with a full loadout of level 1 gear. You’ll have a Mozambique, White Shotgun Bolt, HCOG Classic Scope, White Evo Shield, White Helmet, White Backpack, White Knockdown Shield, two Syringes, two Shield Cells, and one stack of shotgun ammo,” the description reads. Elsewhere to celebrate two years of Apex Legends, game director Chad Grenier gives a glimpse at development before the name was ultimately decided. He offers information on the events leading to the title we’re familiar with alongside screenshots from early prototype builds. You can read the full report by heading here. Are you planning to drop in the Arena for the newest Apex Legends event? Apex Legends is out now for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC; comes to Nintendo Switch on March 9, 2021. Source: Respawn Entertainment

Apex Legends Developer Reflects For Two Year Anniversary By Sharing Early Prototype Images

For the avid players residing over on Apex Legends, this week is the two year anniversary. On Tuesday two years ago, it marks the first sign of life for the battle royale with rumors beginning to circulate the Titanfall developer Respawn Entertainment is planning to ship its own take on the genre. Then leading to February 4th is where Apex Legends finally dropped for the general public. Now two years later, the game is even larger than ever. As per the recent earnings call from publisher Electronic Arts, company CEO Andrew Wilson issues that Apex Legends receives a 30 percent increase in its average player count year-by-year. Now even bigger than anticipated, the developer decided to return to the first builds of Apex Legends giving their experience and even some images to share as well. In the latest blog post, game director and studio co-founder Chad Grenier walks you through the beginnings of what later becomes Apex Legends. You can view some screens from the early builds of the game in the images below: “After shipping Titanfall 2 we were hard at work on post-release Titanfall content and naturally starting to explore ideas for another game,” Grenier shares. “Apex Legends wasn’t even a thought yet. We were discussing and trying new ideas, playtesting prototype campaign ideas, playing new game modes, and two designers started a small prototype that would change the course of our game. “Almost two years before the release of Apex Legends, we had our first company-wide playtest on a new game mode called ‘Survival’ where pilots and Titans would fight it out to be the last man standing, battle royale style.” Grenier continues by disclosing that the first versions of Bloodhound, Gibraltar, and Wraith were introduced by October 2017. And as the development continued, so did improvements on the overall gameplay also, he tells. While still in the Titanfall universe, ‘Survival’ as it was initially called eventually scrapped both wallrunning and Titans from the equation – core Titanfall components. “Of course, we tried to keep Titans in the game for many months, but once we accepted that we were making something fundamentally different from Titanfall, we entered a new phase.” The name of the game turned from “Survival” to “Apex Predator”. Kings Canyon became more like Kings Canyon we know today. We began prototyping new mechanics like respawning teammates and legend abilities. […] It became clear to us that we had something great on our hands, and our plans for the other project were scrapped. We were then all-hands on what would eventually be called “Apex Legends” and would never look back. Now entering its eighth consecutive season, Apex Legends has rearranged the inaugural King’s Canyon for its now 7th time welcoming its latest Legend – Fuse. The former Salvo member makes the total headcount for the Apex Games sitting at 16 Legends: seven more than the original 9 cast of characters. And three maps in total for players to diversify their playstyles as well. Looking ahead, Apex Legends is officially coming to Nintendo Switch next month. In that, the title will incorporate double XP for its newest platform and will feature cross-play the first day it hits the Nintendo eShop. You can read the full report by heading here. What interests you most about the up and coming of Apex Legends? Apex Legends is out now for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC; comes to Nintendo Switch on March 9, 2021. Source: Respawn Entertainment

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood Review

Developer – Cyanide Publisher – Nacon, Bigben Interactive Platform – PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood tells the story of Cahal. A werewolf who set out to stop the energy corporation Endron. Endron’s goal is to unleash the spirit of the Wyrm to destroy the spirit of Gaia. In order to stop Endron, Cahal fights his enemies using hack and slash tactics with a dose of stealth. Of course, the mission goes horribly wrong, as they always do, and Cahal must now get revenge.  The game begins with a small central hub in a forest near the Endron corporate buildings. This base is where you interact with the members and spirits of your Caern. As you progress through the story, more paths open and lead to other buildings and areas of Endron. The main base isn’t very large and can be traversed within a minute or two to get to each level. Think of Mario 64 as he travels the castle to jump into paintings. Cahal can go down a road and enter a building which is the next level. This provides a break from the combat and provides moments where you can learn more lore. He can converse with characters to learn about the current situation and gather collectibles such as spirit energy. As Cahal travels to the different areas of the main map, you enter individual levels of the game. The types of levels you will explore are a dam, the corporate headquarters, a mine, and others. Once you enter the new zone, the gameplay loop becomes fairly linear. Cahal enters a room, from here you choose either stealth or combat. He then accesses a terminal that opens the next door, and he enters the next room. Rinse and repeat. In between the rooms, as you walk through hallways there is dialogue that helps progress the story. The sad thing is, the stealth gameplay can leave a lot to be desired. This becomes especially noticeable as you get further into the game. In the beginning, you can take down most enemies from stealth and sneak through air ducts and play fairly passively. Eventually, Cahal comes across few types of enemies that can’t be killed with stealth. This leads to just unleashing your werewolf form and killing everyone in the room. Stealth ends up just being a way to minimize the number of troops you have to fight. Another note is while you are in stealth, you can sabotage reinforcement points. This lowers the starting health of the waves of enemies that reinforce each room during combat. Eventually, I left the stealth life behind, and the game began to really shine. Playing as the werewolf is so much more fun and very effective. Upon entering a room,you can immediately press the enrage button. You suddenly burst from your skin and launch a bloody assault on the unsuspecting enemies. Additionally, there are two combat stances, Agile and Heavy. The agile stance allows you to quickly dodge while attacking groups of enemies, eviscerating them in no time at all. The heavy stance is for attacking the strong defensive enemies, such as shield barring security and soldiers using EXO armor. As a werewolf, you slowly build a frenzy meter while killing everything in your path. Once filled, this allows you to become a super Werewolf where you obliterate everyone without concern for civilian or soldier. In the story, this is a negative and actually causes a lot of issues for you and your Caern. However, gameplay wise, there are no negatives to using the frenzy mode. It’s strange considering they spent so much time explaining why giving into your rage is such a bad thing. Another weird aspect of the game is that it’s supposedly as an action role-playing game. Werewolf is based on a tabletop RPG, however it seems that they bailed on any RPG elements in the game. For me this seems like a huge missed opportunity. Cahal can gather spirit energy by completing side missions, releasing spirits, and killing groups of enemies. When he gathers enough energy, he gains a skill point. Skill points are for acquiring talents from the skill tree. These provide passive abilities and more moves for the werewolf form. Sadly, this is the extent of customizing yourself. It would have made more sense to market it as a hack and slash adventure game instead of an RPG. Graphically, the game is hit and miss. In-game cinematics are grainy and low resolution, however the opening cinematic is very well done. Cahal’s textures and design is pretty solid, and everyone else is fairly minimal and bland. It’s a weird to see how well the game can be done, while reminding you that they didn’t hit that mark for everything. Performance wise, the game ran smoothly on the PS5 but there was audio stuttering during the game’s cut scenes. Gladly, I did not experience any gameplay glitches or bugs during my play through. Unfortunately, by the end of the 10 hour story, I found myself getting a bit tired of the gameplay loop. I felt like the game didn’t do enough to vary the game in terms of combat or even enemy variation. However, the final level of the game provides a few boss fights that are fun. As the story continues, you have a few dialogue choices which really don’t make an impact on the game. At the end, you have a choice between how you want to end the game. This definitely another missed opportunity. Why have the dialogue options if the only dialogue choice that matters is the last one? This ultimately provides no consequences to your few choices in the game. My overall feelings towards Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is that it is just a bit long in the tooth. It reminds me of older games that I enjoyed on PS2 and PS3 that have mostly disappeared from gaming.

A Sonic Mania LEGO set is officially coming

The Lego Ideas program today revealed a couple sets that have been approved that were suggested from fans. A lot of gaming related sets have been requested of course and one of these requests was related to Sonic Mania. The Sonic Mania – Green Hill Zone has been accepted by the review board of Bib Grannell’s idea and its been given the green light for production. “We’re excited to collaborate with SEGA and Viv to bring one of the most iconic game characters and brands to life via LEGO bricks on the basis of Viv’s colourful and fun creation. Congrats Viv!” The design in the photo is not the final product as that as a fan model to give everyone the idea of what fans wanted. LEGO is still working on the pricing, availability, and of course design. Source

Play and earn: best games to earn money

Earning money while playing games used to sound a little far-fetched. But now there are a lot of different ways to play your favourite games and even earn some cash. From FIFA and Clash Royale tournaments, to poker sites and casino games, there’s an option for everyone. And even more cash prizes involved. With a wide range of tournaments and competitions, spread in every possible platform, players can choose from many games, regulations and different rules, to endeavor in the online gaming world. We present to you some of the most popular games in which you can earn money while playing. Clash Royale Clash Royale is a real-time strategy video game, with elements from collectible card games, tower defense and multiplayer online battle arena. Since its 2016 release on mobile platforms, the game has become one of the top-grossing mobile games, reaching US$1 billion in revenue in less than a year. With a simple premise and tower rush gameplay, Clash Royale pits players in 1-on-1 or 2-on-2 battles. The main objective is to destroy the most opposing towers, and destroying the “King’s Tower” results in an instantaneous win. The game attracted players from all around the world, matching them in tournaments and competitions, with clan, leagues and ranking systems. Clash Royale even featured in an eSports demonstration at the 2018 Asian Games. Apart from its official eSports League, there are several user-held and sponsored tournaments, that take place in different gaming platforms and offer many prizes, from in-game rewards to cash prizes. Platforms such as Toornament and Battlefy hold many of these tournaments, and all you need is Clash Royale and Discord accounts. FIFA 21 FIFA is a football simulation video game developed and released annually by EA Sports. In the market for almost 30 years, its current installment is FIFA 21 and it’s available on multiple platforms, from Microsoft Windows to home video game consoles. Since its first release in 1993, it became the best-selling sports franchise in the world, and one of the top-selling video game franchises ever. Featuring many exclusively licensed leagues and real player names and likenesses, its gameplay has been praised over the years for sharply simulating the game of football. With millions of players around the globe, the game holds a huge number of tournaments and competitions, in its many different modes. There are short tourneys, weekly and monthly qualifiers to its many leagues, and several eSports leagues. All of them are held on every gaming platform, and offer cash prizes for the top 3 players. You just need a copy of the game and a gaming account. Poker websites Online poker has been around for quite some time now, and the selection of poker websites is immense. Since the first real money online poker game was dealt in 1998, on Planet Poker, several sites rose to prominence as safe and secure options for online players. PokerStars is currently the largest real money online poker site in the world, controlling over two-thirds of the total market, and offers many poker regulations, including the most popular Texas and Omaha Hold’em. There are many daily cash games and online tournaments, but there’s a free play mode also. You can play on your computer or smartphone, and all of its transactions are secure and encrypted. There are many other alternatives, such as old-timers PartyPoker and 888poker, and newcomers like GGPoker, so you can choose one that best fits your gaming needs. Casino websites Playing casino games is a great way to earn cash prizes while having fun. There is a huge variety of websites, with game options ranging from slot machines and video poker, to craps and other table games. These online versions of traditional casinos enable players to wager on casino games through the internet, with web-based and downloadable platforms. Some online casinos claim to offer better odds and payback percentages than their real-world counterparts, and some even publish constant payout audits on their sites. Most of these websites offer software-based games that use random number generators to ensure fairness and unpredictability. Regulated online casinos are audited by independent regulators to prevent the rigging of algorithms. Some other casino sites feature live dealer games, specially blackjack, baccarat and roulette tables. These games depend on real-time results, and are often streamed to players from land-based casinos or studios. Many online casinos present new players with sign-up bonuses at the time of the first deposit, and continuing ones as well, like referral and cashback bonuses. The list of games available is pretty long, and the usual selection includes blackjack, baccarat, craps, roulette, slot machines and video poker. The transactions are usually encrypted at bank-level, with protocols to ensure full security to its players.  But the most important thing to remember is to play responsibly.