الثلاثاء، 18 فبراير 2020

'The evenings are empty.' People in China are using video games to keep each other company

China

krona

Gaming in China is on the rise as people mostly stay indoors to protect themselves from the coronavirus outbreak.

Usually, during the Lunar New Year that falls in January or February each year, gamers in China have more time to play games during the holiday season. But this year, following the coronavirus outbreak, authorities decided to extend the holiday by almost three weeks in many places, leaving millions of people with a lot of time to fill.

The coronavirus, which first appeared in Wuhan, China in December, is a potentially fatal respiratory disease that has infected more than 59,000 people worldwide and killed more than 1,300. The vast majority of cases are in mainland China.

Unable to venture from their homes, many people have turned to meeting up online. CNN Business interviewed three people in mainland China and translated their comments from Mandarin Chinese to English.

"During the new year, we're usually home anyway. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, we're virtually always home," said Zhanchao Yang, 24, from Dongguan, Guangdong, China. He works in construction and said that in recent weeks, he's been playing video games more frequently.

Yang traveled to his hometown in Kaifeng, Henan province during the Lunar New Year. Upon returning to Dongguan, Guangdong, he's required to stay under self-quarantine at home for 14 days before he can return to work. Guangdong residents who didn't travel to other cities and provinces were allowed to return to work on February 9.

"This holiday is too long," he said, noting that he can return to his office on February 17. He said his salary wasn't affected and that he's able to work from home while he's in quarantine.

Tencent's mobile game, "Honor of Kings," hit a new all-time high in daily average users during the week of January 30, according to Niko Partners, a research firm that focuses on the gaming industry in Asia.

"We attribute most of the increase to the impact of the novel coronavirus which led to more gamers staying at home instead of traveling or socializing outside of the home, allowing more time to play games," Niko wrote in a report. It added that it expected spending and downloads to increase in the next couple of weeks due to the extended holiday and travel bans in certain cities.

While the coronavirus has caused cancellations of esports tournaments throughout China, and slowed down manufacturing of video game consoles, stay-at-home activities are more popular than ever. Total game downloads on Apple's app store in China increased 27.5% year over year and revenue rose by 12.1%, according to market research firm Sensor Tower.

مود غريب في لعبة Skyrim يضيف واقعية في اللعبة حيث يجعلك تموت بسكتة قلبية

تحفة Ubisoft

لعبة الاكشن والمغامرات والتخفي

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

ستصبح متوفر من بداية 20 فبراير مجانا علي متجر Epic Store لمدة اسبوع وستظل اللعبة معك الي الابد

السبت، 20 أبريل 2019

New Apex Legends Update Tweaks Gibraltar And Caustic Balance, Introduces Bonus XP Event

The newest patch for Apex Legends has added some much-requested armor to

two of the game's playable characters, introduced a limited-time bonus XP event, and ushered in various other weapon tweaks and adjustments. It's live now so you can already start tinkering with all the new toys.

According to the patch notes posted on the Apex Legends subreddit, one of the most significant changes came to Gibraltar and Caustic. Community manager Jay Frechette explained that those two, along with Pathfinder, were all getting punished in match data for their hitbox size. Readjusting the hitboxes worked to fix Pathfinder, but the other two were still at a disadvantage. As a result, this patch adds a new passive ability for them both: Fortified, which reduces damage by 10%. Each has a handful of other minor tweaks as well to make them more competitive.

In addition to those changes, you can get some bonus Battle Pass XP to level up faster. Your first Top 5 of the day will grant you a full Battle Pass level (29,500 BPP), and you can repeat that every day until the bonus period ends on 4/18.

Other changes to weapons include buffs for the Longbow DMR and Havoc, and nerfs for the G7 Scout, Wingman, and Spitfire. The jump ship has also gotten a speed increase.

This is a smaller-scale update to the overall 1.1 Patch that went live a few days ago. More recently, project lead Drew McCoy commented that the game isn't coming to Switch right now, but didn't rule out the possibility completely.

Apex Legends Patch 1.1.1 Update Notes

LEGEND BALANCING

CAUSTIC:

Fortified Passive Perk added: reduces damage taken by 10%
Gas Damage per tick increased: 1 -> 4
Ultimate Throw distance increased: 28 meters -> 33 meters

GIBRALTAR:

Fortified Passive Perk added: reduces damage taken by 10%
Gun Shield health increased: 50 -> 75

WEAPON BALANCING

G7 SCOUT / TRIPLE TAKE / LONGBOW DMR
- Lowered leg shot damage reduction: 25% -> 10%
- Reduced base weapon sway by about 33%
- Reduced base sway speed by about 25%

LONGBOW DMR
- Increased fire rate 1.2 -> 1.6
- Increased magazine size
  - Base mag increased: 5 -> 6 rounds
  - Common mag extender increased: 6 -> 8 rounds
  - Rare mag extender increased: 8 -> 10 rounds
  - Epic mag extender increased: 10 -> 12 rounds

HAVOC
- Increased base magazine size: 25 -> 32 rounds
- Charge Beam
  - Reduced cost per shot: 5 -> 4
  - Increased close range damage: 55 -> 60
  - Increased damage at range: 45 -> 50
  - Close range damage falloff increased: 35m -> 75m
  - Ranged damage falloff increased: 75m -> 125m

WINGMAN
- Reduced magazine size
  - Base mag reduced: 6 -> 4 rounds
  - Common mag extender reduced: 8 -> 6 rounds
  - Rare mag extender reduced: 9 -> 8 rounds
  - Epic mag extender reduced: 12 -> 10 rounds

SPITFIRE
- Reduced base damage: 20 -> 18
- Magazine extender attachments reduced
  - Common mag extender reduced: 45 -> 40 rounds
  - Rare mag extender reduced: 55 -> 45 rounds
  - Epic mag extender reduced: 60 -> 55 rounds

ADJUSTMENTS TO GOLD WEAPON ATTACHMENTS:

Gold Havoc
- Now has Turbocharger
- Now has 1x-2x variable holo site
Gold R301
- Now has 1x-2x variable holo site
Gold Wingman
- Now has digital threat

BATTLE PASS XP BONUS EVENT:

In honor of Thicc-boi buffs, we’re going to be running a bonus Battle Pass XP event. From approximately 10AM PST 4/16 through approximately 10AM PST 4/18, your first Top 5 of the day (your squad places 5th or better in a match) will grant you 1 full bonus Battle Pass Level (29,500 BPP), up to a max of level 110. You can earn this once per day.

We’ll also be finding other moments during the season to add Battle Pass XP bonuses, so stay tuned!

ADDITIONAL CHANGES

JUMP SHIP SPEED
- Increased the speed of the ship by about 50%
  - We felt that the ship was moving a bit too slow after watching player behavior so we’re speeding it up so players that like to drop later in the flight path don’t have to wait so long.
BUG FIXES
- Fixed UI bug where the wrong percentage would be displayed for all boost badges.

New Limited-Time GTA Online Event Adds In-Game Cash Bonuses

Grand Theft Auto V

$11.98 on Amazon

Buy

For a limited time, GTA Online is offering extra opportunities to earn in-game cash. From now until next week, the online component of Grand Theft Auto V is offering double GTA$ and RP rewards in certain missions.

Until April 24, you can earn double GTA$ and RP from completing Contact missions, the Doomsday Scenario Finale, Occupy, Hardest Target, or Juggernaut. Logging into GTA Online this week (April 18-24) will unlock a free Skulls Livery for the Mammoth Avenger and TM-02 Khanjali. If you're a biker clubhouse owner, then April 25 through May 1, you'll receive GTA$250K for free. In prep for this second bonus, the Great Chaparral Clubhouse is being temporarily lowered to GTA$50K--a 75 percent discount.

"If you've got GTA$20K and the poise to take on seven other racers for the shot at a podium finish payday, you can join Premium Races either through the Quick Job App on your in-game phone or via the yellow corona at Legion Square," Rockstar wrote in a press release. "First place takes a grand prize of GTA$100K, while second and third place finishers will receive GTA$30K and GTA$20K respectively."

Grand Theft Auto V is one of those games that's as much fun to watch as it is to play, largely because of the hilariously stupid ways your characters can die. Despite releasing in 2013, Grand Theft Auto 5 remains one of the top-selling games--even appearing ahead of Rockstar's more recent Red Dead Redemption 2 in the list of top selling PS4 games on PSN in January 2019.

In our Grand Theft Auto V review, Mark Walton gave the game a 9/10, writing, "Aside from a few mild frame rate issues that sometimes take the edge off its more dramatic moments, this is...the bar by which all other open-world games, or indeed any game that aims for a cinematic feel, should be judged. [Grand Theft Auto 5] is beautiful, and thought-provoking, and thrilling throughout."

Where Is Xur? Destiny 2 Location, Exotics, And Invitations Of The Nine Guide (April 19-23)

Destiny 2's spring celebration, the Revelry, is in full swing, and with the weekend comes an addition to the party: Xur, the Agent of the Nine. As usual, Xur's got a new crop of Exotics for sale, plus his newly amped-up Fated Engrams. Add that to the new Arbalest Exotic linear fusion rifle you can earn in the Revelry, and there are a whole lot of Exotics to snag this weekend.

Head to the EDZ on Earth to find Xur--he's in the Winding Cove area. When you land, head north toward the wall of the area, and climb up to the crashed Fallen dropship to find Xur hanging out on the cliffside. Xur is selling the Wardcliff Coil Exotic rocket launcher this week, which fires a mess of arc rockets with every pull of the trigger. It recently got nerfed by Update 2.2.1, so Wardcliff Coil won't melt bosses quite as effectively as it did for a while there, but it's still a super strong Power weapon, especially in the Crucible.

Xur's armor haul this week starts with Raiden Flux for Hunters, a chest armor that powers up your Arc Staff Super attack. When you can rapidly make attacks with the staff, Raiden Flux increases the Super's duration and increases the damage it does, making it great for crowd control in places like the Verdant Forest. For Titans, there's Hallowfire Heart, which speeds up the recharge of your Solar abilities, especially when your Super is fully charged up. Warlocks are the lucky ones this week: they get Lunafaction Boots, the only Forsaken Exotic in Xur's bag. The boots cause your rifts to automatically reload allies' weapons, and Empowering Rifts make weapons more effective over longer ranges. Just don't equip them when you're using Whisper of the Worm, since Lunafaction's reload perk negates Whisper's ammo-generating perk.

Here are all the Exotics Xur offers this week and what they'll cost you:

Wardcliff Coil (Exotic rocket launcher) -- 29 Legendary Shards
Hallowfire Heart (Exotic Titan chest armor) -- 23 Legendary Shards
Raiden Flux (Exotic Hunter chest armor) -- 23 Legendary Shards
Lunafaction Boots (Exotic Warlock leg armor) -- 23 Legendary Shards

You can also purchase a Fated Engram from Xur, if his inventory doesn't interest you. Fated Engrams can now dish out Exotics from the Forsaken expansion, as well as the Year One group. Grabbing one of the engrams gives you a random Exotic that you don't already have, provided you can afford it. Fated Engrams will run you 97 Legendary Shards, and you can only get one per account each week. Xur also offers the Five of Swords challenge card for free, which allows you to add difficulty modifiers that increase your score in Nightfall runs.

Finally, Xur brings another Invitation of the Nine weekly bounty. It gives you a Powerful gear drop when you complete it, as well as a bit of story about the Nine and the Drifter, and a new Lore entry. As usual, you'll have to clear out a mess of enemies of various types, and complete a Strike. You can kill the enemies anywhere in the solar system, though.