Items tagged with Epic Games
Epic Games has been catching a lot of heat lately for paying to make games exclusive to its Steam alternative called the Epic Games Store. Gamers are upset because many PC gamers like that Steam offers all the games they want in one place with one program to maintain. Epic Games has issued a challenge to Steam that promised to stop pursuing exclusives for the Epic Games Store if Steam would give developers a larger cut of the profits for their games. Now, Epic Games has announced that Psyonix is joining the family. Psyonix is the company behind the popular game Rocket League. Psyonix says that the move will be a positive one for Rocket League and the fan community. In the short term, nothing...
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Epic Games is continuously working on new gameplay mechanics and features for the popular battle royale game Fortnite. Most recently it announced a crossover event with Avengers: End Game that saw Thanos come to the game for players to fight. Epic also launched a new patch this month bringing the game to version 8.30 and adding in reboot vans and a high explosive LTM. Typically Fortnite fans love the updates that launch, but many didn't like the 8.20 update that removed a popular game mechanic called siphoning. Siphoning allowed players to get health and shields when they eliminated opponents from the game. Epic says that it removed that mechanic because it made gameplay too aggressive. Epic...
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Epic Games has caught some flak for serving up paid exclusives in its recently launched Epic Games store, such as Borderlands 3—publisher 2K Games agreed to give the Epic Games store dibs for the first six months, a decision that developer Gearbox Software had no part of. Valve has the power to stop that sort of thing though, if it agrees to certain terms. In a Twitter post, Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney called on Valve to offer a bigger chunk of revenue to developers and publishers, in exchange for no more Epic Game store exclusives. Specifically, Sweeney wants Valve to bump the revenue share on Steam to a permanent 88 percent "without major strings attached." In return, Epic...
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Thanos is a bad, bad man. Or maybe he is just misunderstood. By now we all know how Avengers: Infinity War ended, and I expect this topic to be fully explored in Avengers: Endgame, which is out now and releases more broadly tomorrow. I haven't seen it, and even if I had, I'd refrain from posting spoilers. However, as it pertains to gaming, you can take the fight to Thanos in Fortnite with the latest Endgame limited time mode (LTM). "Thanos and his Chitauri are invading the Fortnite Battle Royale island searching for the six Infinity Stones. It’s up to you to acquire the Avengers: Endgame items scattered throughout the map, and take the fight to him," Epic Games explains. Should you decide...
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Fortnite is one of the most popular video games in the world, and the Avengers movies are some of the most popular superhero films. With a new Avengers film landing this week, Fortnite is having a crossover event. The Fortnite/Avengers: Endgame crossover kicks off on April 25, which is the day before the movie hits theaters. Fortnite and Marvel are offering no details on exactly what the crossover will bring at the time. All we have to go on is an image that shows a Fortnite character holding Captain America's shield. It would be easy enough to assume there will be some Avengers: Endgame skins to collect and other Avengers items. The crossover event isn't all that is going on in the Fortnite...
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Cheating is rampant in some of the most popular video games that are played competitively. Cheating is undoubtedly a problem in Fortnite; Epic Games has released a report that shows that over 1,000 players were banned for cheating during the Fortnite World Cup event. However, some of the players accused of cheating deny the accusation. One player who was caught cheating was Johnny TK from Team Kaliber; he was accused of cheating by a person who sold him the cheat. Johnny TK was dropped from the team after the cheat allegations went public. Another player named Dubs FN qualified for the World Cup and was accused of buying cheats by a cheat dealer named AspectDolphin. In that case, the cheat dealer...
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Fortnite might be feeling more pressure from games like Apex Legends of late, but Fortnite is still extremely popular and doing very well with gamers. One of the keys to Fortnite's success is constant updates such as the recently added 8.30 patch that sees the return of Reboot Vans and a new limited time mode called Fly Explosives. This week Fortnite has Season 8 in full swing meaning there are new challenges to compete in. If you disagree with a certain British royal and want to play Fortnite, but need a bit of help check this out. The folks over at Gamespot cobbled together a map that shows where you can find the jigsaw puzzle pieces that are part of the special challenge this week. Sure it's...
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It was kind of a big deal when Epic Games put rideable shopping carts into Fortnite, its wildly popular and free-to-play battle royale shooter. Rather than rest on its laurels, Epic Games has been constantly adding new content. The latest update—version 8.30—adds even more goodies to the title, the highlight of which is a Reboot Van. What the hell is a Reboot Van? It looks like something Scooby Doo and the gang would drive around in Fortnite, if those characters existed in that world. There is more to the Reboot Van than its groovy aesthetic, though—it's a functional piece of equipment that appears to be a direct response to a concept in Apex Legends. Reboot Vans allow dead...
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Griffin Spikoski of Long Island, New York at first glance appears to be your typical 14 year-old teen. Spikoski recently started high school and loves playing the popular game Fortnite. However, there is more to Spikoski than meets the eye. The 14 year-old gamer rakes in $200,000 USD a year by streaming Fortnite on YouTube and Twitch. Spikoski, who is better known by his online persona “Sceptic”, first started playing Fortnite for fun. This all changed this past summer when he uploaded a YouTube video of him beating professional eSports player Tfue in Fortnite. The video received over 7.5 million views and quickly launched Spikoski’s career. He began receiving money from YouTube...
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Prince Harry has been in the news a lot lately mostly because of his marriage and forthcoming child with American actress Meghan Markle. However, the prince has taken time away from his royal duties to criticize the incredibly popular video game Fortnite. The royal thinks that Fortnite is too addictive, especially for young players. The price isn't alone; others think that Fortnite is corrupting the minds of players and not just impressionable younglings. "That game shouldn't be allowed. Where is the benefit of having it in your household," Prince Harry said while speaking at a YMCA event in west London. "It's created to addict, an addiction to keep you in front of a computer for as long as possible....
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Mayhem is headed to PCs and game consoles in the form of Borderlands 3, the fourth installment in the popular shooter-looter series developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K. It lands on September 13, which also happens to be a Friday (yes, Friday the 13th!), and will initially be offered exclusively in the Epic Games store. The exclusive availability is sure to disappoint some gamers, though on the bright side, Borderlands 3 will be more broadly available the following April. That essentially means Epic Games is getting a six-month window as the sole distributor of Borderlands 3, before the game is made available on "additional PC digital storefronts." We presume that means Steam and...
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Apex Legends might be the “new hotness” in the battle royale gaming field, but Epic Games isn’t exactly standing still with Fortnite. We always look forwards to the latest patches from the developer of one of the world’s most popular games, and today that company has pushed out the v8.20 patch. The headlining feature of this new update is a new “Floor is Lava” limited time mode (LTM). A few minutes into a match, lava will start rising from the lowest levels of the map. So, if there’s loot at the lower levels that you need, you’ll want to grab it fast before it is wiped out by “liquid hot magma,” Dr. Evil style. Every few minutes,...
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Fortnite is going in search of some secret that lurks on Monkey Island, led by a pirate named Guybrush Threepwood! Wait, that's not right. Okay, so LeChuck and his gang probably aren't making an appearance in the popular battle royale shooter, but the new Season 8 update does bring with it pirates and treasure and...ninjas? Yes, ninjas! "Season 8 has arrived and a monstrous volcano has appeared! Freed from the Ice King’s castle, the now-powerful Prisoner has brought fire and flame to Fortnite and its islands. Pirates, ninjas and a ship load of new fighters will tussle over treasure, battle with pirate cannons and uncover legendary loot," Epic Games explains. The developer is promising a...
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Epic Games will make it rain in 2019 by awarding $100 million in competitive prize money to Fortnite players, starting with a $30 million prize pool for the Fortnite World Cup. Think you have what it takes to claim your fortune in the free-to-play battle royale game? You'll get to find out in a couple of months once the qualifiers begin. To participate in the potentially lucrative Fortnite World Cup event, you will need to muscle your way through open qualifiers that run from April 13 to June 16. Epic Games will be staking $1 million in weekly payouts to eligible Fornite players, "with payouts distributed broadly." "The top 100 Solo players and the top 50 Duos teams from around the world will...
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Have you been wanting to take a crack at playing Fortnite? Now may be your chance to jump in on the action. Earthquake fissures have begun to appear on the Fortnite map. There had been a number of earthquakes in the game leading up to the v7.40 update on February 14th. Until the update, the earthquakes had not produced any visible damage. Players then noticed that a fissure had appeared southwest of the “Tomato Temple”. A total of three cracks have materialized on the map. The earthquakes now seem to be occurring once every twelve hours and the FNBR fansite has even added an earthquake countdown clock. Image from Redditor ThatOneMech Data miners also discovered audio for future earthquakes...
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In the world of video games, there is always something new in the works to challenge the dominant player in any genre. Such was the case for PUBG when Fortnite first hit the scene, taking the vast majority of battle royale players with it. Fortnite now has new competition for players with Apex Legends having launched as a surprise to most, and it quickly racked up massive player numbers. Apex Legends launched early this month and within eight hours of launch had 1 million players battling for the win. Within three days of launch, Apex Legends had 10 million players. The marketing crew over at Epic Games sees that Apex Legends is offering competition that other games hailed as being Fortnite killers...
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Epic Games is planning to unleash Bottle Rockets in Fortnite, as the developer announced in an in-game news message over the weekend. Epic Games did not provide any details about the new item, though it does look like they will be very different than the kinds of bottle rockets you might fire into the sky on the Fourth of July. Looking at a leaked render, it appears that Fortnite's upcoming Bottle Rockets will not be a handheld weapon. One of the images shows a set of Bottle Rockets mounted in a turret, which brings to mind Fortnite's Mounted Turret, a Legendary trap item in Battle Royal. The Mounted Turret can be only be placed on floors and has unlimited ammo. The Mounted Turret can also overheat...
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Epic Games just pushed out the v7.30 update for its hugely popular Fortnite battle royale game, which brings with it a number of changes, new weapons, bugfixes and performance improvements. However, the most important update is for mobile users, and that comes in the form of official support for Bluetooth gaming controllers. Just the fact that Fortnite is able to run reasonably well on Android and iOS smartphones is quite the achievement; especially so with the iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max which can run the game at a steady 60 fps. But controlling the game -- even with the rather expansive 6.5-inch display of the iPhone XS Max -- using on-screen controls is just not as...
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As Epic Games’ Fortnite has increased in popularity, so have the number of related scams and criminal activity. It was recently discovered that criminals are laundering Fortnite V-Bucks. Some believe that Epic Games has not taken enough precautionary measures to prevent such a crime. Fortnite is a free-to-play game, but features an in-game currency that can be used to purchase skins, emotes, and Battles Passes. V-Bucks or “Vindertech Bucks” can be earned by completing daily quests and missions or purchased through online vendors like Microsoft Store Online or the Official Playstation Store. 1,000 V-Bucks will run customers $9.99 USD. The Independent and cyber security firm Sixgill...
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Netflix might be the king of streaming, but what some might find surprising is which services the company views as its biggest business threat. Rather than name another streaming media service, Netflix said it primarily competes with Fortnite for screen time, and loses. How's that for being frank? "We compete with (and lost to Fortnite) more than HBO," Netflix stated in a letter to shareholders. "There are thousands of competitors in this highly fragmented market vying to entertain consumers... Our growth is based on how good our experience is, compared to all the other screen time experiences from which consumers choose." Netflix said it currently earns around 10 percent of television screen...
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Hackers do not need to bust open a Drama Llama Piñata to get the best loot in Fortnite. Epic Games recently patched a vulnerability that would have granted hackers access to users’ accounts. Nefarious parties would have been able to acquire users’ in-game currency and the last four digits of their credit card. The vulnerability was discovered by Israeli cyber security company Check Point this past November. Epic Games quickly and quietly fixed the issue. They recently remarked, “We thank Check Point for bringing this to our attention. As always, we encourage players to protect their accounts by not re-using passwords and using strong passwords, and not sharing account...
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When Epic Games was gearing up to launch Fornite for PC gamers, it decided to bypass the popular Steam store to get around the cut of profits Valve demands. Instead, Epic Games created its own store to peddle Fortnite and was able to keep all the profits for itself. The Epic Games Store is also signing up other developers and publishers who want to sell their games online without having to pay the Steam tax. Steam has a policy that allows gamers to get a refund on games under certain conditions. Epic Games has announced a new revised refund policy for its store, something it needed to compete on par with Steam. The refund policy will give unlimited returns to buyers within 14-days of the purchase...
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