For months now, “Fortnite: Battle Royale” has kept players on their toes with weekly — and sometimes daily — updates to the game, including new character skins, limited-time game modes, and fun and interesting challenges.
Some of those updates have been just for fun, and some actually change the way the game is played. For example, in the days leading up to the beginning of Season 4, the game hinted that a meteor shower would change the island forever. When the meteor did hit, it caused a large crater in the enter of the map, turning Dusty Depot into the craterous Dusty Divot. Later, there was even a limited-time tie-in with “Avengers: Infinity War.”
The developers have also introduced or removed a few truly game-changing tools, including jetpacks, guided missiles, and even a rideable shopping cart.
Here’s what’s new this week in the world’s most popular video game:
New items: Bouncers
(Epic Games)
Following lots of rumors swirling on Reddit and Twitter, Epic has re-introduced jump pads to “Fortnite: Battle Royale.”
These jump pads launch players into the air at high speeds. This time, they apparently won’t inflict falling damage, and will be able to bounce both you and your shopping cart.
A few months back, Epic experimented with two versions of the of jump pads: one that would bounce players straight up, and one that would propel them forward through the air.
The pads were eventually removed, to the dismay of many streamers who quickly grew accustomed to using them for insane trick shots like this one:
(Epic Games)
Skins
Epic announced these new matching skins this morning, called “NiteLite and Lightshow,” respectively, on the official Fortnite Twitter account.
Both are already available in the item shop.
(Epic Games)
Gliders and pickaxes
Of course, the two new skins also come with matching accessories, in appropriate color schemes.
(Epic Games)
Week 6 challenge leak
Challenges unlock every Thursday, but like most things in Fortnite, they almost always leak a few days beforehand.
These are the leaked Season 4, Week 6 challenges, according to Fortnite Intel:
Search Supply Drops (3)
Deal damage with Shotguns to opponents (1000)
Search Chests in Loot Lake (7)
Spray over different Carbide or Omega Posters (7)
Search between a Playground, Campsite, and a Footprint (1) (HARD)
SMG Eliminations (3) (HARD)
Eliminate opponents in Retail Row (3) (HARD)
As with any leaked content, challenges have the potential to change or be replaced.
(Epic Games)
What’s up next
It’s hard to predict what the creators of “Fortnite” will change or add to the game next, but every week, dedicated fans dig through the game’s code looking for hints.
New cosmetics — like the new skins pictured above — are almost always among the first new additions to be datamined and circulated on fan blogs like Skins-Tracker and FortniteIntel, so check there if you want an early look at what’s next.
According to Skins-Tracker, these skins are called “Flytrap,” “Royale Bomber” and “Ventura,” and could be coming soon.
(Epic Games)
Naturally, those dataminers also uncovered the matching accessories.
This new glider and axe set, named Venus-Flyer and Tendril, respectively, clearly complete the Flytrap look.
This article originally appeared on Business Insider. Follow @BusinessInsider on Twitter.
Microsoft’s Xbox One is losing to Sony’s PlayStation 4 — badly.
With nearly 80 million PlayStation 4 consoles in the wild, Microsoft’s Xbox One is getting trounced. Estimates put Xbox sales number somewhere in the range of 30 to 50 million — Microsoft stopped reporting hardware sales numbers some time ago.
But don’t count Xbox out just yet.
Between its Netflix-like Game Pass service, the company’s game streaming ambitions, several new studio acquisitions, and the brilliant decision to add backwards compatibility, Microsoft is building a strong foundation for the future.
Here’s a look into the future of Xbox, straight from Microsoft’s Xbox leader Phil Spencer:
1. Creating the Netflix of gaming with Game Pass.
(Microsoft)
For $10/month, Xbox Game Pass offers access to over 100 games. That includes every first-party game that Microsoft makes, loads of indies, and — as of very recently — some heavy-hitters from third-party publishers like Bethesda Softworks.
Instead of streaming the games, a la Netflix, you download each game to your Xbox console. As long as you’re paying for Game Pass, you keep all the games you download.
Best of all, any new Xbox One games that come out from Microsoft are included with Game Pass.
When “Forza Horizon 4” arrives this fall, you could drop $10 on a Game Pass subscription to download and play the game — a whopping $50 savings over the normal $60 price of a new game. Microsoft’s betting that you’ll like the arrangement so much that you’ll keep paying for the service every month, like Netflix.
“We’re finding people in Game Pass actually play more games,” Xbox leader Phil Spencer told me in an interview in June 2018, at E3, the annual video game trade show in Los Angeles. “And they’re trying some franchises where, if they had to buy the franchise — even if they’re $30, $60, whatever the amount might be — it’s way easier for them to be invested at $10/month.”
In the long term, Spencer said the goal for Game Pass is offer a safe platform for potentially risky, creative games.
“I want it to be a place where creators feel like they can take risks in things that they wanna do, and know that they have an audience of people who are already invested in the service, such that the marginal cost for them to click on the next icon and give it a try is very, very low.”
The comparison to Netflix becomes apt once more. Netflix funds lots of creative, bizarre stuff because it can afford to fail — with millions of paying subscribers, Netflix has a sturdy financial foundation from which to experiment. It also has a large platform to surface content that otherwise might get lost in a digital storefront.
2. Building a platform to let people play games anywhere, whether you own a game console or not.
(Microsoft)
On a stage in the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles on June 10, 2018, Xbox leader Phil Spencer offered the clearest picture yet into Microsoft’s vision for the future of the Xbox brand.
“Our cloud engineers are building a game streaming network to unlock console-quality gaming on any device,” Spencer said. “Not only that — we are dedicated to perfecting your experience everywhere you want to play. On your Xbox, your PC, or your phone.”
It’s an echo of sentiments he’s expressed previously, but it’s the most definitive testament to Microsoft’s plans for the future of gaming.
“There are 2 billion people who play video games on the planet today. We’re not gonna sell 2 billion consoles,” Spencer told me in an interview following his stage presentation. “Many of those people don’t own a television, many have never owned a PC. For many people on the planet, the phone is their compute device,” he said. “It’s really about reaching a customer wherever they are, on the devices that they have.”
That said, logic dictates that the ability to stream “console-quality gaming on any device” depends on some pretty major upgrades to internet speeds around the world. It also faces hurdles like the uncertain future of net-neutrality laws and consumer internet data caps.
In the meantime, Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform offers an infrastructure that few other companies have. “Fifty data centers in different parts of the planet? Billions of dollars of investment in building that out? It allows us to accelerate our growth in this space,” Spencer told me.
3. Building the next Xbox.
The Xbox One X (left) and Xbox One S (right).
(Microsoft)
In a surprise move, Spencer outright announced Microsoft’s work on the successor to the Xbox One.
You read that correctly: Microsoft has already announced the next Xbox, after the Xbox One.
“The same team that delivered unprecedented performance with Xbox One X is deep into architecting the next Xbox consoles,” he said on stage on June 10, 2018. “Where we will once again deliver on our commitment to set the benchmark for console gaming.”
Of note, Spencer said “consoles” — as in Microsoft is apparently working on more than one future console. Perhaps a smaller, less expensive, streaming-focused Xbox, in addition to a more traditional, larger, $300 to $400 Xbox?
Spencer didn’t specify, but did offer more information on the announcement during an interview with Giant Bomb’s Jeff Gerstmann in June 2018. “Everybody knows what’s happening,” Spencer said in reference to Sony and Microsoft making new consoles. “It’s this kind of unsaid thing, of, like, ‘Well, they shipped Xbox One X. They didn’t lay off their whole hardware team. What do you think they’re doing?'”
He said the announcement was a means of easing potential concerns of longtime console buyers: “It’s not tomorrow, but I didn’t want people to think that we’re walking away from that part of the brand and the business, because it’s really important to us.”
In terms of what that console (or consoles) will actually be, Spencer isn’t offering any major details just yet. From the sound of things, we’re still a few years away from new consoles.
4. Buying several game studios to build new franchises.
(Microsoft)
If there’s one thing Microsoft is lacking, it’s major first-party game franchises. Even if such franchises existed, Microsoft only owns so many studios capable of producing blockbuster games.
“Halo” and “Forza” and “Gears of War” are all important franchises — to say nothing of “Minecraft,” still one of the biggest games on the planet. With the exception of “Minecraft,” many of these franchises are suffering from franchise fatigue.
Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Nintendo’s Switch, meanwhile, are getting huge first-party games — games that can only be played on their respective consoles — like “God of War” and “Super Mario Odyssey” that re-invented staid franchises.
And that’s why Microsoft just announced the acquisition of five studios. “We know that we want to create new franchises,” Spencer told me. “We really thought we needed five or six new teams, and products that we really believed in.”
“We are committed to building an industry-leading first-party studios organization,” Spencer said on stage. “And we are making one of our greatest single year investments in teams by adding five new creative studios.”
Why not buy one big publisher, like EA or Activision, with a bunch of major game franchises? It’s complicated, but here’s Spencer’s answer: “I couldn’t find a collection out there in one entity to do it.”
5. Multiplayer gaming that crosses Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, PC, and mobile platforms.
(Microsoft)
Microsoft’s been banging the drum for interoperability between competing game consoles for awhile now. Ever since announcing the “Better Together” update for “Minecraft,” which allowed players on all “Minecraft” platforms to play the game together, the entire game industry has begun moving toward cross-platform multiplayer.
It makes a lot of logical sense if you think about it: Games like “Call of Duty,” “Overwatch,” and “Minecraft” are functionally identical across platforms. Why shouldn’t I be able to play “Overwatch” on Xbox One with my friend on PlayStation 4?
The reason, of course, is business.
Sony’s in the lead by a large margin, and has no real incentive — financially — to work with Microsoft on getting cross-platform play working between PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. That’s become a less defensible position for Sony to take as more and more huge games offer cross-platform play, such as “Fortnite” and “Rocket League.”
In sort, it makes Sony look like the bad guy for not offering players a choice that the competition is championing.
“I just get stuck in who this is helping,” Spencer told me. “It doesn’t help the developer — the developer just wants more people to play their game. It doesn’t help the player — the players just want to play with their friends who also play games on console.”
It’s hard to argue with his logic, even if it is easier for him to say from second place.
At this year’s E3, many long-awaited game have been announced. And because gaming companies love digging into the same gold mine over and over again, it seems like a good handful of established franchises are now getting a new “battle royale” mode to try and cash in on a booming trend.
For those who don’t know, a “battle royale” game is one in which 100 players are dropped into an open world and are expected to find gear to help them outlast the other 99 players. We have nothing but love for the game mode, seeing as PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is one of our favorite games lately. When it’s done right, it’s spectacular, but shoehorning the mode into any old game might not work.
Shooter games, both first-person and third-, tend to work pretty well, but other games, like Realm Royale, are proving that even in the absence of rifles, the genre is surprisingly fun. Even a game that was focuses more on 1 vs 99 could do well, as proved by the Thanos update to Fortnite.
So, we’ve decided to take a look at games for which a battle royale mode would definitely be a welcome addition.
Quake is the original “git good” game.
(id Software)
Quake Champions
One of the biggest draws of PUBG is the incredibly high skill ceiling. But in our opinion, no game franchise in history has come close to matching the skill required to dominate in Quake.
Currently, nothing in the battle royale scene matches the hyper-fast tempo of Quake. The health, armor, and weapon-spawn systems wouldn’t need to change — Quake Champions is already perfect for the game mode if you simply gave it a massive map for players to traverse.
Pro-tip: If you download the game between now until June 18th, 2018, you get it for free.
Something to think about… Maybe as a multiplayer mode in the RE2 remake.
(Capcom)
Resident Evil
Shy of Minecraft: Hunger Games, there isn’t really any story or plot behind why 100 players are trying to kill each other. If it was set in a zombie-infested hellscape, it’d be a bit more logical.
The Resident Evil franchise would make for a fantastic battle royale because dying wouldn’t mean a game over. It would start out as a 100-player free-for-all. Whoever dies just gets moved to the zombie team and they get another life. In order to win, you’d have to kill all of the zombies as well as the other players — or be a part of the zombie horde that kills all living survivors.
It’ll be like Los Angeles when it rains!
(EA Games)
Burnout
It’s been about ten years since a (good) Burnout game was released and they remastered the best installment of the series just a few months ago.
Burnout has always been about the stupid, awesome fun of destroying vehicles. What better way to make that happen than to have 100 player-driven cars crashing into each other?
If you think about it, Red Dead Redemption’s online mode was basically a free-for-all anyways.
Now, if it were 100 cowboys fighting each other in an open world, it’d be far more fun. One player couldn’t just find a Rhino tank and roll their way to victory.
No items, Foxes only, Final Destination — let’s do this.
(Nintendo)
Super Smash Bros Ultimate
To be fair, Super Smash Bros is the original sumo-wrestling equivalent of a battle royale game. Some game modes allow you to take on an endless onslaught of computer-controlled characters with your single fighter. It might be tough to fit 100 players around a TV, but the groundwork is all there. Just make the Hyrule Temple stage a little bigger and it’d probably fit 100 fighters.
The game is great with 4 players and chaotically awesome with just 16 players — why not go a step further?
“Where are we dropping, boys?”
(Blizzard Entertainment)
World of Warcraft
The makings of a battle royale mode are already established in the lore and game mechanics of World of Warcraft. The greatest thing about the Warlords of Draenor expansion was its inclusion of a 25-man, free-for-all arena called the Highmaul Coliseum. Maybe they could bring that back and up the ante.
There are even four battlegrounds already in the game that would be perfectly suited for a re-purposing to support 100 players: Alterac Valley, Wintergrasp, Tol Barad, and Ashran. Hell, the “drop-in” mechanic that typifies nearly every battle royale game already exists in their newest battleground, Seething Shore.
The T-800 Terminator made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger is the newest character in “Mortal Kombat 11,” and the murderous cyborg is a perfect fit for the savage fighting game franchise.
“Mortal Kombat” is best known for its over-the-top violence and the T-800 certainly doesn’t disappoint. The guest appearance features tons of references to the blockbuster film franchise too — when the Terminator is low on health, its skin will melt away to reveal its metallic endoskeleton, just like in the movies.
Mortal Kombat 11 – Terminator Fatalities, Brutalities and More!!
Though Schwarzenegger didn’t reprise the role for the game, he authorized the use of his likeness and chose his own voice actor. The game also includes multiple costumes matching Schwarzenegger’s outfits in the different “Terminator” films.
The T-800 Terminator arrives ahead of the Schwarzenegger’s appearance in “Terminator: Dark Fate,” the sixth film in the “Terminator” franchise due out in theaters November 2019. The T-800 also appeared in Microsoft’s “Gears 5” in September 2019.
The T-800 Terminator sporting Arnold’s older look from “Terminator: Dark Fate.”
(“Mortal Kombat 11″/NetherRealm Studios)
Previous “Mortal Kombat” games have also included multiple guest characters from horror and sci-fi movies, including Jason Voorhees from “Friday the 13th,” Freddy Krueger from “Nightmare on Elm Street,” and the xenomorph from the “Alien” franchise.
When “Mortal Kombat 11” was released in April 2019, it became the first game to top the sales charts on all three major video game consoles in more than a decade. “Mortal Kombat 11” the best-selling game of the year thus far and it’s on pace to surpass “Mortal Kombat X” as the best-selling game in franchise history.
All six characters in the “Mortal Kombat 11” Kombat Pack.
(“Mortal Kombat”/NeatherRealm Studios)
The Kombat Pack adds six characters to the game’s original roster of 25. The Terminator is the third Kombat Pack character to be released, following Nightwolf, a Native American fighter first introduced in “Mortal Kombat 3,” and Shang Tsung, the soul-stealing villain at the center of the original “Mortal Kombat.” Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa starred as Shang Tsung in the 1994 “Mortal Kombat” movie, and reprised the role for “Mortal Kombat 11.”
The final three Kombat Pack characters are Sindel from “Mortal Kombat 3” arriving on Nov. 26, 2019, the Joker from DC Comics planned for Jan. 28, 2020, and Spawn from Image Comics closing out the release schedule on March 17, 2020.
“Mortal Kombat 11” is out now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The only way to get the Terminator right now is to purchase the full Kombat Pack for , but in a few weeks you’ll be able to buy the T-800 alone for .
This article originally appeared on Business Insider. Follow @BusinessInsider on Twitter.
When Netflix transitioned from its original business of mailing customers physical DVDs and became a company primarily focused on streaming movies over the internet, customers had reservations.
There were questions about the smaller library of content available through Netflix’s digital service, and there were concerns about the viability of streaming videos to a public that hadn’t fully embraced broadband internet speeds.
“What if I live somewhere that doesn’t have strong enough internet speeds?” people wondered.
Google VP Phil Harrison introduced Stadia at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on March 19, 2019.
(Google / YouTube)
The idea with Stadia is simple: High-end, blockbuster games are streamed through Stadia to whatever device you’re using.
With Stadia, Google says, you can stream the same game to your smartphone that you stream to your home television, running at the same resolution and framerate. No game console required.
It’s a bold, ambitious promise, and it’s one that depends on strong, stable internet to function.
“When we launch,” Google VP Phil Harrison told Kotaku in an interview this week, “we will be able to get to 4K but only raise that bandwidth to about 30 megabits per second.”
What that means for the average person is that, based on current LTE and home broadband speeds, you’ll probably be able to run Stadia.
The big unknown, however, is stability.
More than just having strong internet, Stadia relies on steady internet connection speeds. If you’ve ever experienced buffering on Netflix, you’re already familiar with this phenomenon: Your internet speed dips, or tanks completely, and the video you’re watching stops playing while it struggles to load.
The sell points for Google Stadia.
(Google)
This is an inconvenience when you’re watching a video, but it could be outright game-breaking if it happens in the middle of, say, a crucial moment in a boss fight.
You’re just one hit away from finally crushing Lady Maria in “Bloodborne” when — uh oh! — the internet drops speed just enough for the game not to register your button press in time. And just like that, she’s won again.
Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do to ensure a steady internet connection. Playing during off-peak hours, when fewer people are online in your area, will help. And, if you’re on a mobile device, playing in a part of your house with thinner walls will help maintain a better signal.
But for the most part, this part of the gaming experience is beyond your control.
Harrison said that, should your internet speed dip while playing, the first result is something pretty similar to what Netflix does: A drop in visual fidelity.
“If you have less bandwidth, we’ll give you a lower resolution. We do a lot of that for you in the background, and we will only offer up the appropriate bandwidth for the infrastructure that you have,” he said.
A sharper drop, of course, could result in the stream outright freezing up; whether Stadia recognizes that issue in enough time to stop something unintended from happening in the game you’re playing remains to be seen.
This article originally appeared on Business Insider. Follow @BusinessInsider on Twitter.
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” had a massive launch, bringing in more than $600 million in its first three days. Publisher Activision Blizzard said “Modern Warfare” sold more in its first weekend than any “Call of Duty” game released since 2013.
With a new blockbuster release each year, “Call of Duty” is one of the best-selling video game franchises of all-time, and publisher Activision has doubled down for 2019 by releasing both “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” and the free-to-play “Call of Duty Mobile” in October 2019.
“Call of Duty Mobile” saw more than 100 million downloads during the first week of October 2019, but that didn’t stop “Modern Warfare” from becoming the top-selling digital launch in Activision’s history.
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” also set new records on the PlayStation Network for the most digital preorders, and the most three-day digital sales on PlayStation 4. Activision also said “Modern Warfare” has become the top-selling “Call of Duty” PC launch ever, beating out last year’s “Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.”
(Activision Blizzard)
“Black Ops 4” was the second-best-selling game of 2018, trailing “Red Dead Redemption 2.” “Call of Duty: WWII” was the best-selling game of 2017, and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” is likely to lead the charts for 2019 at its current pace.
“Through the first three days, Modern Warfare has more total players and total hours played than any Call of Duty opening release in the last six years,” Activision President Rob Kostich said in a statement.
For the very first time, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” unites the millions of “Call of Duty ” players on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC by allowing cross-play and cross-progression, regardless of which version you’re playing. The game also has a cinematic single-player campaign, which “Black Ops 4” lacked. “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” was built on a new engine too, giving the game a major graphical improvement from last year.
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” was released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on Oct. 25, 2019. The PC version of “Modern Warfare” is available on Battle.net, Blizzard’s online gaming platform.
This article originally appeared on Business Insider. Follow @BusinessInsider on Twitter.
Streamers Activate Their Audiences to Support Military, Veterans, and Their Families
ROCKVILLE, MD. (March 23, 2021) – Veterans, military members, and their supporters now fundraise for Fisher House Foundation and other veteran service organizations through their performances on video game streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube, raising anywhere from a few hundred dollars to thousands within hours.
Jacob Hausman, a streamer who plays under the name Deltia, hosted a 24-hour charity stream which ultimately raised over $10,000. After taking a hiatus for over two years, the Army infantry veteran was returning to the game and was excited to return to the community he had cultivated.
“What was really cool to me about being in the military, I was 17 years old on active duty, I was coming in to people that were grown men having to take care of families,” he said. “And here I am not doing my own laundry at home, you know, spoiled little child. So it was cool because it was a big melting pot of different people from all over different cultures. And that’s what gaming is. Especially Elder Scrolls Online (ESO); there’s people from all over the world. So you’re still friends with them to this day, all over the world.”
When Jacob left the Army, streaming wasn’t the first thing on his agenda. He had some medical needs, and his mom would often take him to Omaha, Nebraska, nearly 100 miles away, for his appointments. Luckily, he didn’t need any overnight stays, but he thought a lot about how hard it was for families that did. He was excited when he heard that a Fisher House was being built in Omaha that would serve families like his.
When Jacob decided to return to streaming and the community he built, he decided that his first big stream would be a live streaming charity event that would support Fisher House Foundation.
Jacob and his team put together a video on YouTube that announced his return to the game. Streamers typically collect donations from their audience during a stream, but for the first week after his return, Jacob wanted people to raise funds for the Fisher House Foundation through a service called Streamlabs instead. The culmination of his fundraiser was a long streaming session where he promised to play ESO for 24 hours straight. Through hours of steady gaming, Jacob’s community rallied together and raised $10,064.33 – just surpassing the final goal of $10,000 in the last thirty minutes of the stream.
While Jacob and his community can boast that they’re the first team to exceed $10,000 in a streaming fundraiser for Fisher House Foundation, they aren’t the first to help serve military and veteran families in this way.
More than a dozen gamers and streamers have held events for Fisher House Foundation over the past nine months and raised over $27,000. These grassroot streamers have played everything from Tekken and Call of Duty to Rocket League and Fall Guys.
Ryan Chastain, a streamer on Twitch who plays a variety of games on the channel RhinoShow, is a medically retired soldier who has raised over $1,100 for the Foundation. That’s enough to cover an almost-four-month stay for a family at a Fisher House.
“I started looking into military-based organizations because, you know, being retired military, that’s something that I’m always into,” Ryan said. “And I looked into the numbers, the percentage of the dollar that goes to the cause, and Fisher House was one of the highest.”
“A lot of my followers are veterans, and they are super behind the cause,” Ryan said. “And others are connected through family, you know, their dad or granddad or someone served. Fundraising has helped to tighten the community up. Everyone brought stories up during the stream and shared.”
Ryan donated streams three months in a row, all on the 22nd of the month, to raise awareness of veteran suicide.
About Fisher House Foundation Fisher House Foundation is best known for its network of 91 comfort homes where military and veteran families can stay at no cost while a loved one is receiving treatment. These homes are located at major military and VA medical centers nationwide and in Europe close to the medical center or hospital they serve. Fisher Houses have up to 21 suites with private bedrooms and baths. Families share a common kitchen, laundry facilities, a warm dining room, and an inviting living room. Fisher House Foundation ensures that there is never a lodging fee. Since inception, the program has saved military and veteran families an estimated $525 million in out-of-pocket costs for lodging and transportation. www.fisherhouse.org. About Deltia’s Gaming Deltia’s Gaming is a hub for gamers that provides coverage of gaming guides, discussions, and lifestyle advice. Launched in 2014, Deltia’s Gaming has garnered over 36 million views by creating helpful information for games like The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) and Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR). In his “Gamer to Gym Rat” series, Deltia’s Gaming promotes healthy living by showcasing his personal fitness journey to his supporters. Visit www.DeltiasGaming.com to learn more about Deltia and his gaming initiatives.
Fortnite, the wildly popular (and highly addictive) video game of 2018, is back — with a new line of themed toys just in time for summer 2019. Hasbro revealed that it’s teaming up with the gaming brand on eight different Nerf dart blasters and super soakers that will be released on March 22, 2019.
Announced at the New York Toy Fair 2019, the Fortnite x Nerf line is inspired by the same weapons used by the characters in Fortnite, imitating the same style and color scheme. There are five types of dart blasters and three types of super soakers that kids and parents can choose from.
In terms of dart blasters, there are some smaller versions that shoot micro-darts and another one that’s shaped like the Loot Llama. However, the real highlight is likely the AR-L Elite Dart Blaster. Equipped with a motorized shooting system and a 10-dart clip, it retails for .99, the most expensive of the bunch.
As for the water guns, you can select the standard super soaker, the pump action model, or the colorful rocket launcher. Of the three, the TS-R Super Soaker Water Blaster Pump Action is the largest, holding up to 36 fluid ounces (1 liter) of water.
The toys are currently available for preorder online at Hasbro Pulse, Walmart, and Amazon. Check out the full lineup below:
Fortnite TS Nerf MicroShots Dart-Firing Blaster
This article originally appeared on Fatherly. Follow @FatherlyHQ on Twitter.
The Space Force is all but certain now and countless veterans want to “re-up” just so they could go into space. Shy of the 536 people who have completed a sub-orbital flight, no one really knows what it’s like. That’s where pop culture and video games come in.
Okay. At the current time, we probably won’t be encountering any alien lifeforms in our lifetime. Chances are highly likely that just because you joined the Space Force doesn’t mean that you’ll go into space. I can almost say for certain that most of the Space Force would just be sitting at a desk and watching satellites in orbit.
These games offer some of the more realistic looks at a potential Space Force — even if it’s just because the aspects of the game are so great.
The aliens you bring into your crew are basically contractors anyways.
(Bioware)
Mass Effect
The most critically-acclaimed game on this list has got to be Mass Effect and the original trilogy. Mass Effect is a sci-fi shooter RPG where the player explores the Milky Way Galaxy as the first human Spectre (essentially Special Ops of the galactic council.)
Aside from all space monster fighting and sleeping around with blue-skinned aliens, the game does give a good look at how the military would be structured in space. The humans made their presence known on a galactic scale and it mirrors how the modern Navy operates today.
It could also simulate the stakes involved since you’ll lose months of game play if your ship is destroyed.
(CCP Games)
EVE Online
There’s only been one MMO to stand against WoW’s domination of the genre and that’s the space-based EVE Online. Its focus is much more on the player interactions than a spoon-fed experience from the game developers. If players want to organize a massive 7,548 player battle that took 21 hours to play and an estimated real-world value of 0,000, they can.
The take away that potential Space cadets could learn is how troops would interact in the vast nothingness of space.
If you thought sweeping the dirt in Iraq was bad, just wait until you’re in space!
(Keen Software House)
Space Engineers
Onto the more grounded games on this list. Space Engineers is a sandbox simulator set in space. Think Roller Coaster Tycoon with astronauts. The focus of the game is to set up mines and science labs on asteroids and distant planets. To its credit, it takes in a lot of physical limitations into account.
This game is a fantastic look at what Space Force troops would be doing until it’s time to fight on the moon.
God speed, you magnificent bastard.
(Squad Games)
Kerbal Space Program
Kerbal is a deceptively deep game. You just create rockets and launch them into space. It seems goofy at first until you realize they got the physics of getting into space down so accurately that it’s grabbed the interest of NASA and SpaceX.
For the 90% of the Space Force troops who are stuck on this boring blue marble, this game will probably be true to your inevitable supporting role for actual astronauts.
Real pilots practice on simulators. You could too!
(Martin Schweiger)
Orbiter
If flight simulators are more of your thing, the Orbiter is for you. You pilot real-life space shuttles in a completely true-to-life simulator. About the only real effect not taken into account in this game is time dilation because, you know, it’s just a game and you’re still on Earth.
This simulator was created at the University College London for astrophysicists. It could also be used and played by the general public for free. To download the game, click this link here.
I mean, if you played this game on the Atari, get ready to play this in real life.
(Atari Inc.)
Missile Command
Let’s be real though. Everyone is losing their minds about the potential to go into space and to live out all of their childhood dreams. But the purpose of the United States Space Force is to protect America and her interests in space. The most realistic threat that the Space Force would face is an ICBM from enemy nations.
Shooting down missiles is about the most exciting thing Space Force troops will deal with.
U.S. Army vet Gregory Wong is no stranger to making fan films. His Jurassic World fan filmsand their behind-the-scenes extras have 2 million+ views on YouTube alone thanks to the military perspective he and his teams brought to the franchise.
An avid airsofter and gamer, Wong enjoys bringing those tactics to life after his military service.
Most recently, he teamed up with some fellow veterans and civilians to create a one-shot style video that emulates the experience from the new Call of Duty game.
Check it out right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81gi7ikIwsg
CALL OF DUTY IN REAL LIFE | CLEAN HOUSE MODERN WARFARE – SIONYX
“Since everyone, both civilian and military, has been sinking their time into the game, it felt like a fun opportunity to explore and experiment by emulating the most talked about portion,” shared Wong.
The video also uses a color night vision camera built for outdoor use — and a little help from post-production.
“We used editing software to give it that iconic green look,” Wong divulged. “It’s a good exercise for making fan projects with limited budget but high attention to detail. We were fortunate to have gear from one of the companies that actually supplies the CTSFO (British national police force like FBI SWAT or FBI HRT).”
Wong’s team used the Aurora, a day/night camera with true night vision that uses Ultra Low-Light IR sensor technology that delivers true night vision capability in monochrome or in color. They also shot with gear from c2rfast, Airsoft Extreme, and PTS Syndicate.
The Clean House mission in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare takes place in a large house that the player must infiltrate, eliminating enemies and protecting hostages. Forbes magazine called it the “finest single-player FPS experience in years.”
The military’s favorite game might be “Hurry Up and Wait” but our favorite games are the Call of Duty series. When troops, especially infantrymen, are told to stand by, the first thing we do is turn on our consoles. This month Activision Blizzard is raising money and awareness to an issue that awaits all of us post service: veteran employment. The Call of Duty Endowment has announced a new Battle Doc Pack with 100% of the proceeds going to fund veteran employment efforts.
Throughout the month of May on both Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Warzone plays can by a new Operator Skin. It was created with the help of Army Veteran Combat Medic Timothy Hobbs Jr. who is also a recipient of the Endowment’s aid. He is one of the 5,800 veterans the #CODEMedicalHeroes Campaign aims to place with jobs in the medical field.
Civilians are doing their part, too
We often hear “Only veterans help veterans’ but I’m glad that this time we’re wrong. Call of Duty players, veterans and civilians, are raising $3 million by purchasing the Battle Doc Pack. $1 million can be raised by participating in an in-game Revival Challenge in Warzone. Players who revive five others while playing will unlock the Call of Duty Endowment calling card. Players have to hurry though, the Calling Card event ends this weekend on May 9th. One player commented, ‘Let’s get that revive challenge done in WZ bois time to donate that bread and give back to the vets’ on the Xbox YouTube channel.
If one million players complete the challenge, a double-XP Day will be given to all Call of Duty: Warzone players. Additionally, Activision Blizzard will donate $1 to the Endowment for each player that completes the challenge, up to $1 million.
Activision Blizzard
The pack also contains Easter eggs
The pack retails for $9.99 and 100% of all the proceeds will go to the Endowment’s mission of aiding veterans. It is available for a limited time until $2 million has been raised for the Call of Duty Endowment. Combined with the Revival Challenge, it will total $3 million if players are successful. The Pilot Company — another company putting their money where their mouth is — is donating $100,000 to the Endowment. Their contribution will change the lives of nearly 200 unemployed veterans to have a fighting chance at attaining a high-quality job. SFC Tim Hobbs, Jr. also describes other Easter eggs on the Operator Skin itself. When he helped design the pack, he also paid homage to his unit, his brothers in arms, and his service branch.
You can also track the progress the endowment is making in placing these veterans in gainful employment by following them on their social media pages.
The Little Green Army Men toys we all know and love have a long tradition stemming since the 1930s. In 2014, the toys were inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame for their service on the imaginary battlefields. The Army Men have also deployed to theaters all around the world – movie theaters, that is. From cameos in Disney movies to their own video game franchise, this is the history of the Army Men toys that captured our imaginations as children.
Saluting while in the field — what a turd… (Wikimedia Commons)
Originally made of lead
Manufactured by Bergen Toy and Novelty Co. in 1938 in various poses depicting the combat roles of mid-20th century soldiers, they took backyards by storm. One could buy hundreds of the mass-produced troops sold in supermarkets, department stores or by mail-order. Before the widely adopted plastic, Army Men toys could also be found made of glue and sawdust called simply “composition” and were unpainted. By the 1950s the cost of producing them in plastic drastically decreased to pennies per unit in bulk. Additionally, the lead poisoning scare of the ’60s made companies quickly shift to non-toxic plastic in 1966.
German troops were molded in grey, Japanese forces in yellow. Though the little warriors have undergone several changes over the years, their most famous identity is as World War II–era soldiers with “pod feet” attached to keep them standing during battle.
Allie Townsend, Time Magazine
The competitor to Bergen Toy and Novelty Co. was Marx Toy Company. They had a different strategy when it came to own plastic legions. They leaned on the appeal of making movie-themed sets such as Ben-Hur, The Alamo, The Untouchables, The Guns of Navarone and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. Marx Toy Co. experimented with historically themed sets and also expanded their distribution through Sears catalogs. When we thought the Little Green Army Men were fighting a war, there were two brands actually doing it.
By the mid-1960s and 1970s, there were a plethora of competitors waging for market share. William Britains, Timpo, Cresent and Cherliea’s profits took a hit when lead was banned. The war in Vietnam was in full swing and public opinion was another major blow to the toy companies’ bottom line. After 20 years, the original toy maker, Bergen Toy and Novelty Co., sold its molds to Banner Plastics in 1958 and shut down. Banner Plastics went bankrupt in 1965 but was able to fight its way out of bankruptcy long enough to be sold to Tal-Corp, a Minnesota based company in 1967.
In 1980, they started putting them in buckets, which were very popular and became so iconic they were used in the movie Toy Story.
Kent Sprecher, Owner of Toy Soldier HQ Inc.
Unfortunately, Chinese knock offs have undercut the American toy manufacturers and many have closed their doors. Fortunately for America, we have Disney. You don’t f*** with Disney – even if you are China. The Little Green Army Men have established a foothold in Disney theme parks and movies. The Little Green Army Men will see another era under General M. Mouse.
They have their own subreddit
The Green Dawn is a subreddit where people show off their Little Green Army Men Toys in battles. There is even a running joke that posts have to be made using radio jargon. If you reply to a post, you have to say “over,” too. A nod the community does to itself is that they hide the plastic figures in places for others to find.
They have their own shows at Disney theme parks
The Army Men toys can be seen entertaining crowds before live shows or patrolling the park complete with a drum line.
Army Men Video Games
Army Men video games have had a range of developers ranging from major studios such as the now-closed 3DO to independent developers on the Steam platform.
Gamers playing “Battlefield 1,” a game set in World War 1, stopped shooting to participate in a ceasefire during an online match at 11 a.m. Canberra time to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, which marks the end of the first World War.
The ceasefire in the game took place on the same day and same time that the annual World War 1 commemoration typically occurs around the globe: On November 11 at 11 a.m.
The player who helped arrange the ceasefire posted a short video of the event on Reddit, but it’s hard to tell from the video everyone actually stopped shooting. It looks like some players either didn’t hear about the planned ceasefire at the specified time or they ignored the effort altogether. The game’s background audio and effects, like loud explosions and artillery from battleships were also still ongoing, which diminished the silence. There’s also a player in a plane who performs a strafing run on a bunch on players who are partaking in the ceasefire, which somewhat ruins the moment.
EA/Dice developer Jan David Hassel posted the video on Twitter:
Still, you can tell that some players abided to the ceasefire by the fact that the player recording the video was surrounded by enemy players (with red icons above their heads) and didn’t get shot. Any other day and time and the player recording the event would have been killed in seconds when surrounded by so many enemy players.
Ultimately, however, the player recording the event was stabbed and killed. The player doing the stabbing apparently apologized for doing so.
“Battlefield 1” players like myself will know how surprising it is that anyone partook in the event, considering how difficult it is to communicate with others in the game.
The player, known as u/JeremyJenki on Reddit, who helped set up the event and recorded the video posted on Reddit how they did it:
“At the start of the game, me and a couple others started talking about having a ceasefire. We made it known in the chat and many people were on board with it, deciding that this armistice should be held on the beach (This didn’t seem like a great idea to me at the time). Players started heading down to the beach early and for a few minutes it was amazing. When editing the video I cut out most of the in between, only showing the beginning and end. But hey, against all odds, we did it, and while short it was the coolest experience in Battlefield I had ever had.”
