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Activision is getting sued over the Humvee.  Apparently, AM General, the maker of the very well known multipurpose military vehicle is suing because Activision refuses to work with them on licensing even though the Humvee and AM General logo have been used in Call of Duty games for years.

Much like the Lindsay Lohan case, this is an argument over a video game and whether or not the content can be considered fictional, but the one downside for Activision is that we aren’t talking about the likeness of a person.  This is about using a brand logo and the actual physical vehicle made by a singular brand, but without licensing and permission to do so.

We are still in very early stages of the situation so updates will be provided if things happen anytime soon, but for the Lohan case against the makers of GTA, it took about 2 years to settle.  What we do know, is that Activision has extensively used the Humvee, or the likeness of one for a really long time now.  Which means if they lose, they are going to be paying through the nose to make up for it.

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eSports is a potential multi-billion dollar industry that hasn’t been tapped yet, and DreamTeam plans to penetrate that first.  DreamTeam.gg is supposedly the first true platform to try to put teams together, allow them to be managed easily, and help get them paid from tournaments and sponsors through pre-defined contracts using Blockchain. 

This is their introduction video, that explains what they are trying to do in depth.  I’m intrigued by the idea, and it seems like it would be amazing for the players and teams that don’t have the money up front or have a hard time in general trying to put together games to practice and get closer to Pro.  On the flip side, only one game and two of the four major pieces are supported so far.

They are also using a token system for some reason and since this story is so brand new to me, I will update as soon as I know more, but for now here is the website.

Also you can join with an account for free, so if you’re interested at all, it doesn't hurt to sign up and see what happens, I guess.  Apparently they’re already at 1 sign-up/minute anyways, but obviously that will have to taper off eventually.  Although, sign-up only means exposure.  I only wonder now if eventually you will have to show references of gameplay or something to that effect to showcase skill level.  In other words, the NFL doesn’t recruit college players unless they’ve been to combines, have highlight reels, and have great numbers on paper (This also applies to colleges recruiting high school players) so are we eventually going to see something like that evolve from DreamTeam?

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Some believe they found the proof that the N64 Classic Mini is real.

The N64 classic is still just as elusive of a concept as when we first imagined the possibility, but now someone found potential proof that there is actually a console in the works....sort of.

A reddit page for the SNES classic mini discovered a UK Website that had online manuals for 19 different classic N64 games like Ocarina of Time, Mario Party and Star Fox.  Nobody knows if these are really tied into a console release at all, but Nintendo would be dumb NOT to release something like an N64 Classic Mini, right?  Only time will tell.

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Adpocalypse, banning YouTube live streams, Nintendo Creators Program

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Some say loot boxes are bad, I think micro transactions as a whole are to blame

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Mario, Assassin’s Creed, Doom, Wolfenstein and more are proof that single player is going nowhere

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Razer Phone release date, specs and opinion on today’s episode

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Sony kicked off Paris Games Week with a mind blowing presser.  All of them were exclusives too.  Sorry Xbox fans.  My favorites of the show were Shadow of the Colossus, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us Part 2, and Detroit: Become Human.  I’ve attached imagery from the reveals and links to their newest trailers from Paris Games Week

The show had so much happen in under 2 hours that it is absolutely insane. Easily one of the best pressers that Sony has had in awhile and I say that because sometimes we see them so heavily focused on hardware and talking about services and the games don’t fill the screen, which honestly is what really matters.  This time around though was jam packed with some amazing trailers, in fact, there are 4 in particular that I can’t stop thinking about, but I also want to talk about several different games today and what kinds of things we will be seeing over the next year.

Whether you’re a playstation fan or not, you have to admit, these playstation exclusives are astounding and definitely check out their trailers because they’re so well done and the graphics of course are incredible.  My favorites though were Shadow of the Colossus, Detroit: Become Human, Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us: Part 2.

So let’s talk about them.  Shadow of the Colossus is another remake which we had a remake for the PS3 as well, and some people are already wondering what the point is.  Really it’s the power and the fact that with the PS4, they are going through and rendering all new assets.  There was also an interview with Yoshida, the Sony Worldwide Studios president, about the game and he mentioned that they are also working on changing the unique way that the game played so that it basically resembles how we play games these days.  I’m excited though mostly because I’ve never actually played the game all the way through so it’s definitely one I will pick up.

Next on that list was Detroit: Become Human and this game looks like what a Telltale game would be if they used graphics that pushed the limits of today’s consoles and processors.  The branching storyline is crazy specific, the trailer pulls at your heart strings when you see the little girl dead in her father’s arms because of something he did, the graphics are so realistic.  And the craziest part to me is that we’ve only seen such a small snippet so far.  This game probably has so many different ways of ending and while you play, you’re literally making decision on the fly that can potentially continue your game or end it in seconds.  Sounds like a lot of pressure to me, but this easily resolves one of my only complaints about the Telltale games.  The stories are phenomenal and the gameplay makes sense, but the immersive experience stops there because of the graphics.  I know so many people are going to hate for me saying that, but let’s be real.  We have all of this new tech.  Give me something I can relate with other than just the story.  I don’t want to read a book.  I want to see it and feel it.  I also may be over-hyping this game, but I want to believe it’s going to be amazing.

3rd on my list now is Ghost of Tsushima which was made by the same people who developed Infamous and Sly Cooper and if you know me, no, it has nothing to do with me being asian.  Which by the way, i’m not even Japanese.  Stop being racist and let’s move on.   Sucker Punch went all out in creating another open world style game like Infamous and I was a huge fan of the Infamous series because there were so many options in the way you play your story missions.  I love the concept of the player having complete freedom for when they want to progress.  In fact, that’s what made me love the newest Final Fantasy so much.  Your combat can be great, your story can be great, but when you also get to progress through your story at your own pace, it almost feels like it adapts to you and thats such a great feeling.  Also, I love the idea of being able to play as a Samurai because I can’t remember the last game that actually attracted me with that as it’s cultural source.

And last, but not least, The Last of Us Part 2 finally got a new trailer.  It. Was. Amazing.  Although it was somewhat hard to tell at first that it was the same game, because the characters looked nothing like the main people we interacted with in the first game.  There was a girl getting hanged, another girl got her left arm smashed by a hammer repeatedly and everyone else took arrows to the face.  It’s very unclear though how this trailer relates to the overall game though.  I love Naughty Dog for the stories they tell and the games they make, but damn it takes a long time to put a game out.  Naughty Dog, I’m literally ready to throw money at you guys.  Put this game out sooner! It feels like i’ve been waiting for years!  Oh wait.  It has been.  Also, if you ARE interested in the game, it comes out sometime in 2018.  So we’ll see what happens I guess.

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Today, Fortnite Halloween event starts and Fortnite gets a huge update, Bungie lifts a few of the bans on PC Destiny players, Xbox One Backwards Compatibility List adds new games, November Xbox Games with Gold list is out, and Super Mario Odyssey

Fortnitemares Event

First topic of the day is the new update for Fortnite which includes a ton of adjustments and a brand new event.

Let’s go over the Fortnitemares event first.  It was announced on Twitter several days ago that something was in the works and then we found out that there will be a special event taking the place of Horde Bash mode. 

During the actual event, players of the PvE mode, Save the World, will gain access to a brand new map called Hexsylvania that includes 36 new story quests and more adventures after you complete Storm Shield Defense 3.

There are also 2 new weapons and 8 new Halloween inspired character skins that you can pick up, but that’s not all. In the PvP mode, Battle Royale, even if you haven’t paid for the game, you still gain access to Fortnitemares specific content.   Primarily this means you have the ability to choose outfits for your in-game character now instead of it being randomized.  You do have to buy these however using V-Bucks which you normally only get for completing quests in the PvE mode, which as a reminder, you have to have spent actual money on in order to play.  Interesting how that works right?  Either way, support your developers so they can make more games, is a good mantra.

Destiny 2 Bans Lifted

Alright, let’s move on to an update on yesterday’s story about Bungie banning players on PC.

As it turns out, Bungie confirmed that bans are not automatically established by a system just because of overlays or certain software applications.  It actually throws up a red flag for their team that handles these things and then they look over the error.  If you happened to be using softwares that affect the game in any prohibited way or in a way that breaches their terms of use, then they hand you a pink slip or what is otherwise known as smacking you with the ban hammer.

They stated in this post on their site that they had banned around 400 players, and it turned out that they were not 100% accurate in their bans.  So they lifted 4.  Yup, you heard me.  4 of the 400 or so players that were banned are now able to continue playing on those accounts.

Bungie did however go into excruciating detail about how they get to that point and what things are allowed in regards to screen recording and such, so check out this article if you want to know more.

Xbox One Backward Compatibility

Last time we checked in, there was a group of original Xbox games that have finally been released to the compatibility list, but now we gain access to 5 new arcade games from the previous console.

0 day Attack on Earth

Deadfall Adventures

Girl Fight

Mutant Storm Reloaded

Yosumin! LIVE

Remember, if you have any of these games already, load them in with your disc, or re-download them from the store, and Major Nelson tweeted around 9 AM that you can play them at some point today.

Games with Gold

And of course I love my free games, so here is what is available for November on the Games With Gold list:

Trackmania Turbo

Tales From The Borderlands

NiGHTS into dreams

Deadfall Adventures

Trackmania will be available on the 1st and up through the end of the month.  Tales of the Borderlands will be available for a month starting on the 16th, and you can pick up NiGHTS for the first half of November, and Deadfall in the second half.

You can also play XCOM 2 this weekend for free if you’re interested and you’re an Xbox Live Gold member

Super Mario Odyssey

And last but not least, quick reminder that Super Mario Odyssey is out tomorrow, if you do your digital downloads, you should be able to pre-load it, or if you pre-order from Best Buy you can get a collectable coin that has a Mario hat on one side and a little globe on the other.

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In today’s episode we cover PC Destiny 2 players getting banned, Animal Crossing details, Kinect discontinued, Injustice 2 PC beta delayed, and funny Switch game clips

PC Destiny Players Get The Ban Hammer

First piece of news today is about Destiny players on PC getting banned for no reason.  Supposedly, the situation has occurred with no apparent pattern, except for the issue beginning during the login phase. The player will get a message on screen asking them to visit the Bungie ban webpage, but in doing so, reach a page that explains that, “There are no options to dispute or overturn account restrictions or bans”.

Seems sorta silly, and some people believed it had something to do with overlays being used or softwares like OBS or Discord that are running so that players can live stream their gameplay and communicate with friends, but Bungie has explicitly stated that although they do block programs from inserting their code into the game, they don’t ban for that, so something else is happening. In fact, there are players apparently claiming to be banned that say they haven’t been using any sort of overlays. Although nobody has given an exact number of people affected just yet, it sounds like the issue is growing on reddit and has most likely reached a few hundred at least. Stay tuned to our twitter @giveme5podcast for more on this story when it develops.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

On Monday, we talked about the Nintendo Direct announcement, and now we finally have official news about the new Animal Crossing game.  It will be called Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and whether you’re a die hard fan or just interested, you can visit their official site to sign up for notifications when it becomes available.

Basically the goal in Pocket Camp, is to manage and build up your own personal campsite.  You can build furniture and amenities by visiting nearby recreation sites, doing favors for the animals there, and using your rewards with Cyrus the Blacksmith, who also happens to be an Alpaca. You can even customize your own characters look from head to toe.

Keep in mind that this is a mobile game though, so for things like pools and other amenities, building them will take time, and thus introduces micro-transactions.  The great thing though is that it sounds like you don’t need to pay for anything at all in order to build up your campsite.  You can still search nearby beaches and such to gather crafting materials.   Buying leaf tickets, however, will allow for you to actively shorten the time required to build something.  Fortunately, you can also get leaf tickets by just playing the game. There is also a multiplayer aspect of the game as well, where you can exchange player ID’s and visit each other’s campsites to see what your friends have come up with.

RIP Kinect

This morning it became official, the Xbox Kinect is no longer being manufactured.  It’s super bizarre to think that Microsoft is finally calling it quits on this piece of hardware, but they said they will continue to support it.  Once stores sell out of their inventory though, the product will no longer be sold ANYWHERE.  Thus ends the days of troll videos on YouTube with people tricking Kinect owners into saying “Xbox Bing” and “Xbox off” during games.

Injustice 2 Open Beta

Next up, if you were planning on participating in the open beta for Injustice 2 on PC, it has been delayed. A tweet went out yesterday around 4 pm stating, “The PC beta will NOT begin tomorrow.  Stay tuned for more information!” So it’s probably safe to say that we may have to even wait a few more days.  No updates have been given since yesterday however, so we’ll see.  Injustice 2 has been on PS4 and Xbox since May, the PC release date has not been given yet, and we may eventually see a Nintendo Switch port as well.

Switch Game Capture

And speaking of the Nintendo Switch, our last story for the day is about the new update.  Ever since the Switch update from last week, people have been finding new life in games like Zelda: Breath of the Wild.  Why, you ask?  Because people are taking the opportunity to record quick clips of things like the disguised Yiga Clan members instantly dying from pre-established circumstances when they transform into their normal Yiga outfits.

If you haven’t already seen it, just jump online or on twitter and look up #breathofthewild.  It’ll make way more sense after you’ve watched one, and then you’ll undoubtedly watch like 12 more at least.

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Microsoft goes hard for launch parties and the One X is no exception.  Also, don't use cheats in Fortnite or you may end up mining bitcoin for someone else!

Xbox One X Launch Party

Maj. Nelson this morning tweeted out some details on the Xbox One X launch events and Microsoft is really going hard for this release. For instance, at their Fifth Avenue Flagship store in New York, they plan to have a huge event for people to pick up their orders, play on the console that day, get swag and a chance to win a Samsung QLED 4K TV And if you pre-ordered in North America, you can pick up your Xbox One X right at 9pm PT/ midnight ET on November 6th from the store where you pre-ordered.  Many Best Buy and Gamestop locations will actually be included in this. Also, if you can’t make it into a store where an event is being hosted, they will be live streaming on November 6th leading up to the launch day itself.  But if you happen to be in Washington and can make it into the Bellevue store for the launch, from 7-8 pm PT, they will be hosting a meet and greet with Seattle Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril where he will be playing Madden 18 on the One X.  So bring your A-Game.

Shocktober Sale

Speaking of Xbox stuff, the Shocktober Sale just started and goes for the next week up until October 31st at 4 PM MST.  Since this is Halloween time, every game in the sale has some sort of spooky relevance and the best part is that some games are up to 80% off. Some of the standouts, which have also been on sale elsewhere recently include Fortnite, Dead Island, Dying Light, Resident Evil, Dead Rising, and The Walking Dead, but there are many more that are worth checking out.  I’m particularly eyeing the Diablo Eternal Edition since it’s 40% and that’s the one that comes with the new Necromancer DLC, but I might hold off for a Steam Sale instead.

Destiny Halloween Events

Now on to some sad Destiny news.  If you were a fan of the first game and played during this half of the season in the game’s second year, you would have most likely participated in The Festival of the Lost where we got some new quests, a bunch of candy, and silly masks that acted as helmets you could wear while you were running around in the Tower. The Festival of the Lost may return at some point, but according to Deej in a reply tweet about whether or not we would see the Halloween event this year, he states, “No, sir.  We may see it again someday but Season 1 has been about launch and ritual activation.  The first event for Destiny 2 is The Dawning.” Obviously the focus has been on making sure launch goes off without a hitch, especially with this being their first PC launch of all things.  At least Deej mentioned that we may see it down the road though, and it totally seems feasible since Festival of the Lost didn’t release in what would have been considered the first “Season” of Destiny 1 either.

Now for the Rapid Fire:

Fortnite Cheaters

We talked about cheaters before in Fortnite, but things have clearly gotten worse.  A supposed “cheat” was discovered by Epic to actually not be a cheat at all, but hacks your computer and turns it into a zombie that data mines bitcoin for an unknown third party.  Ironic on so many levels.  Just goes to show, cheaters never prosper.

Sony Movie

Sony is taking part in an event in London that showcases the evolution of Video Games and even has a film that will be aired first at the IMAX theatre in the South Kensington Science Museum. It will apparently take you through the Sony Revolution and how the company over a couple decades became a force to reckon with in the gaming industry.  This appears to be part of an event called Power Up where there will be 180 playable consoles from all eras of gaming.

SNES Classic

And last but not least, if you’re still trying to get ahold of that beloved $80 console, the SNES Classic, Polygon confirmed through talks with Toys R Us, that they will have stock at many locations on Friday, October 27th.  This will be alongside shipments of the Switch of course to prepare for Mario Odyssey, but they anticipate lines, especially after outing themselves this early in the week, so make sure to hop on over there before the store opens if you want to grab one.

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Good ol’ fashioned wall hacks has Trials of the Nine delayed until Nov. 3rd, Switch gets a wireless headphone update, Xbox supporting mouse and keyboard, battle royale genre coming to VR, and new PS Store sale

Nintendo Switch Update

An update just released for the Nintendo Switch that came with several really cool features that people have been asking for since the beginning.  The first of these features allows for you to use the capture button on the console to capture video instead of just screenshots.  When you hold down the button, it captures the last 30 seconds of play, and puts it in your album where you can later edit that clip and post it directly to Facebook or Twitter.

Apparently it has its limitations though just like everything with the Switch.  It can only be used on certain games.  That includes Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, ARMS, and Splatoon 2

You also get the pre-order and preload options on certain games now just like you would have for any other console

But probably the best feature, and the only one that wasn’t actually announced, was the fact that you can seemingly plug in any wireless headset to the Switch, provided that the wireless headset has a USB receiver. For example, the playstation wireless headset has a little USB dongle type connector that plugs into the available USB connector of the Switch when it is docked, and communicates with the headset wirelessly. Apparently this has proven to work for USB-C type connections as well and once you have it connected, it immediately transfers over to USB audio.  That’s it.  No menus, no buttons, it just works.

Destiny 2 Trials of the Nine Delayed

With various bugs and glitches filling our Destiny news feeds these last few weeks, we are at least seeing some progress.  The most recent hot fix patched the Raid Keys from disappearing and we already talked about the “Bureaucratic Walk” emote being removed from the Eververse store, but people still have that emote in their inventories, and are apparently using it in crucible to glitch through walls.

Because of this, Trials of the Nine are being pushed back all the way to November 3rd while they establish a patch that can remove this issue entirely with the emote. Meanwhile, in the Prestige Raid, a World First completion was announced and then redacted because the community had pointed out that one of the players was caught shouting, “I’m coil glitching” during the final boss

Bungie stated that this was not the glitch they had planned on looking for, so they didn’t have a way to track it.  So instead they put up the names of the first 3 teams to complete the raid and have given the community the opportunity to chime in with who they think is worthy of praise.

Now, as usual, time for rapid fire:

Xbox One Branded Mouse and Keypad

Awhile back we talked about a mouse and keyboard combination possible on consoles via something called the XIM4.  Well now Xbox is getting an officially licensed version of basically the same thing.  The product actually includes a keypad rather than your traditional keyboard, so typing is out of the question, but the Playstation already has a version of this and they’re both made by a brand called Hori.

Fortnite and PUBG Competition

PUBG and Fortnite so far have been dominating the Battle Royale game type with PUBG very clearly at the top with an ever growing player base, but now they may have some new competition with a slight twist.

A new game called Virtual Battlegrounds is slated for 2018 and is taking the same Battle Royale concept into the Virtual Reality space.  There isn’t much information on this game and they are still deciding on things like how to keep queue times down with a very limited player base seeing as how VR isn’t an every household type system just yet, much less online multiplayer only VR.

PS Store Sale

And last but not least, if you have a PS4 and like sales, there’s an awesome sale going on just up until Monday, October 23rd.

Here’s a quick list of the main games that are discounted:

Destiny 2, EA Sports NHL, Madden NFL 18, NBA Live 18, and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.  Discounts range from 16% on Uncharted all the way to 50% on NBA Live so definitely check it out

Well that’s all I have for today.  In the comments, tell me how you feel about a Virtual Reality Battle Royale game.  Thanks again for listening!  I hope you guys have an outstanding Friday and I’ll see you guys next time!

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Today we cover, the Destiny 2 PC Preload and new features, Call of Duty: WW2 getting an 18+ rating in Australia and modifying the game, an upcoming Mario Odyssey event, Microsoft’s new anti-cheat software, and Visceral Games closing and what that means for the “Untitled” Star Wars game

Destiny 2 PC

Alright, so to start things off today, Destiny 2 is finally available to preload on PC.  The download size alone is 36 GB, but once installed, the unpacked files will take up about 68 GB.  That may seem like a whole lot of space, but to put it into perspective, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare released last year on PC and required 70 GB of free space. In comparison to the original download of Destiny 2 on PS4 and Xbox One, the PC version is right about double the size.

Bear in mind that there are some very key differences in the PC version though.  Although the gameplay and story are generally the same, here is a list of the PC support that differentiates it from the rest: * Uncapped Framerate * Adjustable field of view * Support for ultra-wide or special monitor configurations which means up to 21:9 ratio monitors * Full mouse and keyboard support * Custom key mapping * And even text chat because what would a PC game be without the ability to type expletives to the people that take your kills in crucible? Of course, this one will offer resolutions scalable up to 4k just like the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One as well as HDR support. Also, don’t forget that although preload is now available, the game won’t unlock until October 24th.

Call of Duty: WW2

Speaking of upcoming games, Call of Duty: World War 2 had to be modified for its release in Australia.  As it turns out, the sound of zippers and men advancing on women while they shout “Get away from me” is considered implied sexual assault, even if you don’t actually see anything happen. That definitely seems like the logical conclusion to me, though in Australia, sexual violence depicted in video games is not allowed.  Not even implied sexual violence for that matter.  In fact, they have a whole set of rules that have prevented many games from releasing there including one of my favorites, Saints Row 4, because of an alien anal probe weapon which was really just a giant dildo shaped bat. I don’t want to give too many spoilers so i’ll keep this vague.  Apparently the scene has the player controlling a female spy that sees a soldier drag a woman into a room, and upon entering the room, you are given the choice to kill the soldier or leave. If you choose to leave, the door closes while you hear the sound of the soldier unzipping his pants and the soldier is seen advancing on the woman.  Therefore sexual violence here is implied, but not actually shown or encouraged.

Because of this, the Classification Board rated the game R 18+ which means that nobody under the age of 18 can buy, rent, or even view this material, but not only that, even after modifying the scene to apparently have the woman wearing pants instead of a skirt, and having the zipper audio removed, the damage has been done and the R 18+ rating stands. As of right now, it’s unclear as to whether or not the changes will take place in all versions of the game, or just the Australian version, but i’m not worried about one scene affecting the whole game. Besides, i’m probably only going to get the game for the zombie mode anyways!

Okay, it’s time for Rapid Fire again! Here we go!

Super Mario Odyssey

First up is an event happening on Saturday, October 21st for Super Mario Odyssey. At select Best Buy stores, you can go in on Saturday between 12pm and 3pm to play the game and receive a free Super Mario Odyssey Sticker Book. Yeah, trust me, I thought the same thing.  I HAVE TO HAVE THAT STICKER BOOK!!  Just kidding, but I do find it interesting that a sticker book is their way of encouraging people to come in and play the game, especially when it’s in such a short window of time.  I guess time will tell whether or not it brings in the community.

Microsoft Anti-Cheat

Microsoft apparently rolled out their very own anti-cheat software to Windows 10 in their Fall Creators Updates.  They did so very quietly and the software is turned off by default right now, but the short version is that devs have the ability to incorporate this software called TruePlay into their games if they are developing on the Universal Windows Platform so that they are notified when strange things are happening within the game.  For instance, aimbots and wall hacks. It’s only available to UWP for right now, so the success of it remains to be seen.

Visceral Studio Closed

EA announced on Tuesday that Visceral Games was closing down for good.  What this means is that the untitled Star Wars game that has been long awaited by many is being delayed and there’s no news on a new release date.  The original release was slated for fiscal 2019 which runs until March of 2019, but the game is being passed off to another studio, and will be led by EA Vancouver which apparently has already worked on part of it, so for now, we wait.

Well, that’s all for today!  Thanks for joining me on The Facts for our daily speed run.  Hope you have a great Thursday!  I’ll see you guys next time.

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Today’s update covers Assassins’s Creed Loot Crates, The Trending “Cupsonas”, Xbox Backwards Compatibility Update, and Playstation’s “Sale of the Dead”

Assassins Creed Loot Crates

So today we are going to start things off with some Assassins Creed and loot crates.  Did you flinch when I said loot crates?  Most people are at this point and I completely understand because it seems like that is the way that every game is going these days and for good reason.  

They give us a sense of mystery, a sense of luck, and a great sense of joy when we happen to pull something really great on our first try.

Here’s the thing though, I firmly believe that loot crates should NEVER affect the outcome of a multiplayer game.  It is very close to the exact equivalent of buying an advantageous weapon or character or anything of the like.

Fortunately, in Assassins Creed: Origins, much like Shadow of War, you don’t have to buy a single loot box in order to finish the game.  Better yet, it has been confirmed that everything in the e-store can be acquired in game at some point.  So really this goes back to something Assassin’s Creed has done before with “time saver” packs where you can unlock things early on in order to have an easier time in the game

So fear not, the randomization in the loot boxes is to give people who focus on in-game economy a chance to still progress at a similar pace as those that infiltrate enemy bases and raid their loot

“Cupsonas”

Next on our topics for today is something only slightly gaming related, but I still find it pretty great.  Cuphead fans have started a new trend with the crazy cute artwork of the Cuphead game itself and have created what is being known as “Cupsonas”.

Basically, Cupsonas are just Cuphead inspired personas of people that are showing up all over twitter and everywhere else as you can imagine.  Just think Bitmoji, but as a Cuphead character.   And the reason it’s so interesting is that people are customizing them in really funny ways like being a Cappuccino with foam on top, or having all sorts of different shaped heads, since you know, their heads ARE cups.

The only downside is that the rest of us non-artsy folk don’t have a way to create one just yet, or at least not one that actually looks half decent.  So all we need is for Bitmoji, or anyone else for that matter, to come out with a Cupsona creator and the trend will catch fire.  Studio MDHR, i’m giving you guys gold here, come on!

And now for the good ol’ Rapid Fire --

Xbox Backwards Compatibility Update

First up, since we haven’t chatted about backwards compatibility in awhile, I wanted to go over some of the new games real quick.

First up, since our last encounter with the Compatibility updates on Halo, these games were all made available a few weeks back:

Sonic Adventure

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Fable II Pub Games 

Fable Anniversary 

And most recently, these were released on the compatibility platform; just under a week ago:

Child of Eden

Goat Simulator

KOF SKY STAGE

Playstation Sales of the Dead

Next up, Playstation is having a sale up until October 24th that they’re calling Sale Of The Dead.  Here are a few of the highlights for the sale:

Witcher 3

Fortnite

Dying Light

Dead Island

Resident Evil 4, 5, 6 AND 7

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier and The Complete First Season

Surgeon Simulator

So that’s what i’ve got for today’s Speed Run.  I have to ask though before you go, what’s your favorite horror related game of all time? Hit me up on our twitter or instagram @giveme5podcast. Hope you guys have a great Wednesday! Ill see you all next time.

[giveme5podcast-blog]

Today’s Morning Speedrun covers Bethesda’s and 343′s disaster relief campaigns, League of Legends founders stepping down, GeForce NOW beta project, and Nintendo Switch EShop update.

Bethesda and 343 Disaster Relief Campaigns

* So I want to start things off with a really cool story surrounding charity with some pretty big brands out there * If you didn’t already know, Bethesda is pitching in to support the American Red Cross through a fundraising campaign to go alongside the release of their new game, The Evil Within. * Funny enough they are calling it, “The Good Within” where they plan to match the total fundraiser donation amount goal and they vow to match the highest donation as well. * The goal is to raise $15,000 and this event goes throughout October. * If you want to pitch in, the campaign is being hosted through Crowdrise.com and they are currently at $2,722 as of posting this.

* But that’s actually not all.  343 is pitching in with their own disaster relief fund through Halo 5 where they launched the “Relief and Recovery REQ Pack”. * Their campaign started on October 12th and goes through October 23rd in the actual game itself as well as in the Xbox Live Store * All proceeds go to GlobalGiving and not only can you pitch in by buying these REQ packs for $10 apiece, but they stated in their blog post, “the pack itself contains 5 permanent REQs selected from the most popular visual customization REQs of ultra-rare or better rarity, if available, as well as ten rare or better boost cards.” * It’s good to know that these big game companies are using their clout to make the lives of other people a little bit better and doing a little bit of good. * I have other thoughts on this topic too, but I want to leave that one on a really positive note, so we’re going to move on to some interesting news about League of Legends

Founders of League of Legends Stepping Down

* It turns out, that Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill, the two original founders of the biggest MOBA game in the world right now, League of Legends, are stepping down

* Don’t worry though, it seems that they are leaving League of Legends in very capable hands seeing as how they have spent 11 years building Riot into the behemoth that it is in the gaming industry.

* With really only one game under their belts though, they seem to feel that it’s finally time to break away and really focus on making a second title that fuels the growth of the company even more

* When you look at other companies though, like Blizzard, for instance, making a huge impact in so many genres, by creating several addictive titles like Warcraft, Starcraft, Overwatch, Diablo and even delving into the MOBA space themselves, with Heroes of the Storm, you have to wonder whether or not this should have happened sooner.

* Either way, they seem dead set on this new goal to, “finally put the “S” in Riot Games”, as they put it and I for one am really excited to see what they come up with!

GeForce NOW Beta

* Next up is something that has been much needed for a long time to bridge the gap between gamers on PC and Mac.

* NVIDIA announced a Beta of their new GeForce NOW service that you can use for free up until most likely just the end of this year.

* Basically anyone that has a Mac, now has the ability to play games normally only available to Windows by utilizing the computing power of NVIDIA’s own computers and graphics cards via the cloud.  Mysterious, I know.

* Also, it actually doesn’t seem to matter what Mac it is considering one of the ads on it was of a person gaming on a 13-inch MacBook Air, which absolutely is not known for being used for gaming in almost any way, shape or form

* This is an incredible break in the cross-platform space because not only does it bring gamers together from Mac and PC, but it also solves the problem of having to have the biggest, baddest graphics card in your Mac just so that you can bootcamp the machine and attempt to run your Windows games on it

* More and more people all over will be able to play their favorite games without spending an arm and a leg for a computer with amazing specs in the first place.

* I will say so far though, my own personal experiences have been interesting in that the actual input in just the base services seem to add a great deal of lag, which is expected for the time being, but can’t exist when playing competitive multiplayer games

* As of right now, the service is free to Mac gamers, but in the future it will have a pay-as-you-go model and if you have a somewhat sorta crappy PC, well good news is that the PC beta will be here soon too.

* If you’re interested in this Beta, hop on over to the NVIDIA website and they even have hardware specs recommended for machines they have tested so that you know yours can handle the stream decoding necessary for the service to work properly

Switch eShop Update

* Finally, our last topic is on Nintendo and there are a few different things happening

* First off, there was an update recently to the Switch eShop that will be welcomed by all, with zero doubt in my mind.

* They’ve finally introduced a “Games on Sale” tab to the eShop alongside the, “Recent Releases”, “Best Sellers”, and “Coming Soon” tabs

* As you can imagine, the store is empty.  Like, completely empty. With the Switch still being relatively new and really trying to get more developers on board with it as a viable platform to develop on, there just aren’t enough games out there as it is, much less to have actual sales on.

* But clearly they are pushing to make sure everyone understands that the Switch is here to stay, because there has been a lot of word lately around Nintendo welcoming much more mature content. 

* In the past, developers have run into plenty of pushback on Nintendo’s part in regards to content targeting specifically the older crowd, like The Binding of Isaac, for instance.

* But now developers and publishers are hearing positive feedback from Nintendo and of course, even games like DOOM and Wolfenstein II are making their way to the Switch which are already a 180 from what family-friendly games used to be expected on Nintendo’s platform.

* And speaking of new content, as we start to see Nintendo make their way into more and more online multiplayer games, remember that in 2018

Nintendo will be launching their very own paid online subscription service

* It offers similar reasoning AND perks to its customers as what you expect from Xbox Live Gold and Playstation Plus, but at a much cheaper price point.

* In order to play online, you have to pay $3.99 per month, $7.99 for three months, or $19.99 for a year membership

* So that’s all for today’s speed run.  Tell me in the comments what genre of game you would like to see the Founders of League of Legends step into next.  You can also answer by hitting me up on our podcast Instagram or Twitter, @giveme5podcast * You can also share your thoughts on any of these topics or the topics throughout the week, and on Saturdays I will be going through your comments and call-ins to discuss further the biggest stories of the week.

* Last but not least, if you prefer to get your daily gaming updates in audio form, check in on our Anchor channel everyday at 8 AM MST.  You can use any browser or the Anchor app itself!