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Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 continues to evolve, and this week the game will change once again with the addition of some delicious free content. A new map variant, mode, and event are all on the way, as well as some changes to Battle Royale game mode Blackout.

First up, a Hurricane variant of the Contraband map is coming, along with a new multiplayer game mode named Stockpile–developer Treyarch says this is a reimagining of the Black Ops 3 mode Fracture in which players must defeat opponents and deliver their dog-tags to a deposit site. Black Ops 4’s multiplayer portion is also getting a St. Patrick’s Day event named Shamrock & Awe, though it remains to be seen what this entails.

Blackout will see its map updated for spring this week, while a Hardcore game mode is also on the way. This removes armor, vehicles, zombies, and players’ HUD for a more punishing experience.

Finally, Zombies will also be updated with a new Gauntlet named Hellcatraz. The Zombies portion of Black Ops 4 will also boast host migration, which will hopefully reduce instances of games dropping out due to one player’s poor connection.

Many of the changes will go live in the next few hours, though some are exclusive to PlayStation 4 for the time being; check out the graphic above for more details on platform availability.

Black Ops 4’s Operation Grand Heist started just recently, adding a new Specialist and three weapons. Blackout gained a spooky Ghost Town area, while another Gauntlet came to Zombies.

Fortnite‘s latest update, version 8.10, is live now on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. The patch adds a new vehicle named The Baller, overhauls Vending Machines, brings back The Getaway limited-time mode, and makes a few other tweaks, too. Read on for a full breakdown of what’s new and get a look at the full patch notes.

The Baller is a hamster ball-like vehicle that comes equipped with a Boost and a Grappler for rapid mobility–Epic describes using these two abilities to “to pull yourself up cliffs or swing through the trees.” While inside this single-seat ball, you’re protected from damage, but the vehicle itself can see its 300 health depleted by enemy fire. Find The Baller at Expedition Outposts and around pirate camp loot stashes.

Vending Machines now work slightly differently since the 8.10 update; they no longer cost anything to activate, but they will self-destruct after one use. They are also rarer now, as common and uncommon Vending Machines have been removed from the game. Previously, Vending Machines required depositing a large amount of building materials in order to receive a corresponding reward.

Heavy Assault Rifles have also had their rarities adjusted: they can now be found in common, uncommon, and rare varieties–the epic and legendary editions are no more.

A new LTM named The Getaway is now live, which involves locating a jewel and then delivering it to a getaway vehicle before anyone else can. Four jewels and as many as four vans are on the map at a time. Notably, with most of Fortnite’s vehicles having been vaulted at the start of Season 8, this mode brings back the All-Terrain Kart, or ATK, due to the fact that it’s the only vehicle that can carry four people.

Also of note is a change to cross-play matchmaking, provided you opt in to it. PS4 and Xbox One players are now put together in one pool, while Nintendo Switch players have been moved from that group to one with players on mobile.

“We expect an on-average better per-game experience for both Mobile and Switch players,” Epic explained. “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!”

You can see all the details about this and the rest of the changes to Fortnite’s Battle Royale portion at the bottom of this story; for the full patch notes of other modes, check out the Fortnite blog.

Fortnite’s Season 8 started just recently, introducing new skins and other cosmetics. A subsequent update has also introduced buried treasure maps. The new vehicle doesn’t exactly fit in with the current season’s pirate theme, although Epic tends to release a wide variety of skins and items, regardless of the general theme.

Week 2 challenges for Fortnite Season 8 are now available. Among the trickiest of the season so far are those that task players with visiting the new Pirate Camps and finding a giant face in the desert, jungle, and snow. You can see the complete list of this season’s objectives in our full Season 8 challenges guide.

Fortnite: Battle Royale Update 8.10 Patch Notes

Weapons And 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 last damager in cases of logging out, self-elimination, and eliminations due to Storm damage. Current threshold timer is 15 seconds.
• 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.

LTM: The Getaway

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 19 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

Apex Legends is off to a running start, but one often-requested feature isn’t in the works. Respawn has confirmed that it isn’t developing any ability to reconnect to a match after you’ve been disconnected, and explained its reasoning why.

In a post on Reddit, community manager Jay Frechette said the team isn’t pursuing it for two key reasons. The first is that a reconnect feature is very easy for unscrupulous players to abuse, presumably by intentionally disconnecting to avoid a death and then reconnecting to the match right afterwards. The second reason is simply that implementing the feature would be resource-intensive, and Respawn feels that energy is better spent on stability improvements to avoid disconnects in the first place.

This came alongside an announcement that Respawn had banned 355,000 cheaters on PC. It said that for the time being it uses the pre-made Easy-Anti-Cheat toolset, but it’s working on its own custom solutions to address cheating as well. It’s keeping these cards close to its vest, however, as it doesn’t want the cheaters to use any public information to help them circumvent the new measures.

Meanwhile, the studio has released a new weapon balance patch to make adjustments to Peacekeeper and Wingman, primarily. Another upcoming update will address concerns of unequal hitboxes. We’re also expecting details on the battle pass sometime in the near future, which will add new cosmetic options and other additions to earn through play, for a fee. The first battle pass is set to launch sometime in March.

Microsoft announced a large round of indie games coming through its ID@Xbox. The 13 newly announced games will join others for a grand total of 30 indie games being shown at Microsoft’s GDC booth.

The new additions on Xbox One include Beholder 2, CrossCode, Dead Static Drive, Door Kickers: Action Squad, Mowin’ & Throwin’, Starcrossed, and Totem Teller. Another handful were announced for both Xbox One and PC: Boomerang Fu, Hyperdot, Stela, The Forgotten City, UnderMine, and Unrailed. You can check out a full list of all 30 games being shown at GDC at the Xbox blog.

On top of its ongoing indie support through the ID@Xbox program, Microsoft has been shoring up studio acquisitions. It’s also one of the few remaining big publishers planning a big showcase at E3. A host of rumors and reports have begun circulating, including word of a disc-less Xbox option and a reveal of its next-generation console.

Whatever Microsoft has in store, Halo Infinite appears primed to be the centerpiece. We know it will be shown, and that it’s targeting PC and Xbox One rather than waiting for the next generation of consoles. We’ve also recently gotten some indication that it could adopt a games as service model, though 343 Industries has had to assuage concerns about microtransactions.

The Game Developers Conference runs March 18 through March 22. It will include a keynote presentation from Google, which may debut its own entry into video games.

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The first full trailer for Aladdin is here. The movie is one of three live-action adaptations of classic animated Disney movies due in 2019 and it’s set to hit theaters in May. While a short teaser was screened during the Super Bowl in January, this is the first proper look we’ve had at the movie.

The new trailer lays out the plot, which will be familiar to anyone who has seen the 1992 original. A street boy named Aladdin (Mena Massoud) discovers a magical lamp, which conjures a singing, dancing, wise-cracking genie (Will Smith). The genie grants him three wishes, with which he sets about wooing Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott) and avoiding the evil Jafar (Marwan Kenzari). It’s packed with action, romance, and classic Aladdin songs–check it out above.

The movie is directed by Sherlock Holmes’s Guy Ritchie and releases on May 24. When the first trailer screened in January, the response to Smith’s muscular all-blue genie definitely caused a mixed reaction. However, this new trailer suggests that it might be kept a minimum, with Smith appearing in many scenes in a more ‘human’ guise.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Smith talked about taking on the role of the Genie, which was famously played by Robin Williams in the classic 1992 animated movie. “Whenever you’re doing things that are iconic, it’s always terrifying,” he said. “The question is always: Where was there meat left on the bone? Robin didn’t leave a lot of meat on the bone with the character.

“[But] I started to feel confident that I could deliver something that was an homage to Robin Williams but was musically different. Just the flavor of the character would be different enough and unique enough that it would be in a different lane, versus trying to compete.”

Aladdin is just one of several classic fairy tale remakes that Disney has on the way. Tim Burton’s reimagining of Dumbo hits theaters later this month, while a new version of The Lion King arrives in July. Beyond that, the remake of Mulan is scheduled for 2020, plus movies based on Cruella De Ville (101 Dalmations) and Tinker Bell (Peter Pan) are reportedly also in development.

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