Culture News

Xbox Series X Seems Like a Disappointment

The console wars might be over before they've even begun.

Ubisoft

It's hard not to be excited for the upcoming generation of home console gaming.

During a time when many people are turning to video games to escape the horrors of the real world, a new console brings the promise of more immersive games and better functionality. Now, with the Playstation 5 and the Xbox Series X set to release at the end of 2020, console gamers have a lot to look forward to.

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An Old Gamer Recommends Classic Video Games to Gen-Z

Allow an elder millennial gamer to show you young'uns the ropes.

SSX 3

Eurogamer.net

2020 marks the expected release for both Sony and Microsoft's next generation consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

Even better, both companies have promised potential buyers backwards compatibility with games from past console generations. So when Pandora's Box of old school video games is opened for the masses, what games should Gen Z prioritize to dust off the digital cobwebs? Allow an elder millennial to show you young'uns the ropes.

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Screenshot from Fortnite Season 6 Battle Pass - Now with Pets! / Fortnite / Youtube.com

Season 6 of Fortnite starts today. Here's a rundown of all the updates:

One thing that will stay the same is how the usual Weekly Challenges will be broken up into Free Challenges and Battle Pass Challenges. Before Season 5, Weekly Challenges were only accessible to players with a Battle Pass — now, there will be three Challenges for both pass holders and non-pass holders.

However, the Challenges themselves will present new gameplay. For example, you'll have the option to regain health from a Cozy Campfire in a Free Challenge. Other Free Challenges will include Pickup a Legendary Item in Different Matches and Stage 1: Search Chests. Battle Pass Challenges will include Apply Shields, Stage 1: Land at Junk Junction, Dance Under Streetlight Spotlights, and Eliminate Opponents in different locations.

After completing three Challenges, the player will unlock a mystery loading screen that contains a secret Battle Star. After completing four, the player obtains a bonus of 4,000 XP. Completing extra Challenges will gain you extra XP and Battle Stars, helping you to level up more quickly and encounter free loot, including skins, emotes, gliders, and pickaxes.

The new Battle Pass will include 100 levels and over 100 rewards. Battle Passes will cost 950 V-Bucks, available for purchase either directly in-game or earned through playtime. To gain more V-Bucks, prices in USD include: 1,000 V-Bucks for $9.99, 2,500 for $24.99, and 6,000 V-Bucks for $59.99.

Other than the new Battle Pass, the update will include Pets, little creatures that will travel with you on your adventures. Also introduced are Shadow Stones, new consumables that can be found around the map, which will also be updated. Players will be able to find floating islands, growing crops, and approaching storms.

Fortnite will also introduce a new enemy to its Save The World mode: Riot Husky, a zombie-like masked figure who carries around a refrigerator door for protection. Also, there will be a Cram Session mini-event to earn additional rewards. Other updates will fix general issues and bugs to enhance gameplay.


Amber Wang is a freelancer for Popdust, Gearbrain and various other sites. She is also a student at NYU, a photographer and a marketing intern.


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Gaming

ROLE PLAYGROUND | Far Cry 5 is a great action game with a slight tonal problem

After a charged open, the meat of the game doesn't quite match the intensity, but that's not too bad, right?

I'm going to say it: I have barely played the Far Cry series. I own both Far Cry 4 and Far Cry Primal, and both have been recommended to me multiple times, but I have never had the time and I haven't been super interested. The little that I have played has left me slightly impressed - with each game's focus on immersive landscapes and hunting - but I'm mostly pretty ignorant to the series' tropes. Still, nothing about these games really stuck out to me - they always seemed like straight forward action games without a lot of substance.

When I saw Far Cry 5, I was surprised. They shirked their exotic locations and larger-than-life villains for something a little more homegrown - a massive, militaristic cult which has assumed control over Hope County, Montana. It's not a groundbreaking idea, but even I was surprised at the slight political stance that the series seemed to have taken. Of course, after playing the game, I am a little less impressed, but we'll get to that later.

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Gaming

ROLE PLAYGROUND | Dragon Ball FighterZ is a fun return to Fighting roots!

Love it or hate it, you can't deny that FighterZ is one hell of a fighting game!

Like everyone, I grew up playing a lot of fighting games. In my mind, they were simple. All I needed to do was punch someone and then accidentally do this really cool move that I could never recreate. I booted up my cousin's PSOne and playing Mortal Kombat - and then booted up their SNES to play Street Fighter. However, nothing could hold a candle to Dragon Ball Z.

Say what you will, but I always loved DBZ as a kid - and the chance to play their games was so cool to child me. I played every game for every system - even the two games they had for the GameBoy Advanced! Eventually, though, they became less and less like the traditional fighting game. They took on more of a sandbox kind of feel - shirking the horizontal back and forth action for a truly 3-D fighting experience.

And while this wasn't bad thing - part of me always feels like the series lost itself a little after that. It became less about the fighting and more about recreating the show's experience in video game form. My love for these games diminished over the years.

Until Dragon Ball FighterZ happened.

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Listen, I sat down with every intention of playing Monster Hunter: World and loving the hell out of it. It's a game that's beautiful and grand, but this grandiose beauty got lost in the game's playability. I also walked into this game blind - having never played a MH game before in my life. And sure, that definitely hindered my experience - because I know that this series has specific conventions, but that shouldn't matter.

A big game like this should be able to appeal to more than just fans, and obviously it has, but I feel like there are some key issues that need to be addressed. While the world is beautiful, and the character designs are fun and funky, it gets screwed over by clunky fight controls that overshadow the game's more innovative moments.

THE GAME

Monster Hunter: World takes place on a continent called The New World, a mostly uninhabited continent filled with a lush, harsh environment. Several fleets have come to the island and created settlements for both research and obviously hunting and tracking the many creatures that inhabit the island. You take control of your Hunter, and along with your Handler, are called with the Fifth Fleet - which has been summoned by the Research Commission.

Upon arrival, you barely survive an encounter with a massive Elder Dragon, Zorah Magdaros, and make it to the settlement of Astera. Once you settle in, you are told that the Fifth Fleet is responsible for figuring what draws the Zorah Magdaros to this lush, new world by tracking it's movements and setting up camp based on where it goes. And by clearing out other hostile monsters, of course.

THE GOOD

There's a lot of good in this game, obviously. It's received massive acclaim upon its release. I think the biggest part has to be the lush world design and the active environments within that world. From the very beginning, I was treated to a world so beautiful and vibrant and got I mesmerized by it. It's very difficult for an open world to feel so alive - and I'm thankful that these guys made it such an important aspect of the game.

I know that when I travel around this world for a hunt - I'm going to interact with an environment that reacts to me, and that matters! It mostly works really well, it makes the hunts very dynamic and if it weren't for the controls - I'd keep singing praises.

Of course, the environments aren't the only thing that this game has going for it. I was surprised at how much I liked the character designs. I'm usually a less-is-more kind of guy - growing up with Enix's out-there designs would do that to you - but there's a certain charm in the way Monster Hunter does things. The big weapons seem small next to the large enemies - and the freedom in the character creator helps you make whatever kind of character you want! It's nice.

THE BAD

The bad part of this game concerns me the most. In a game that revolves Monster Hunting, the controls just need to be better. A lot of this bled through from previous games - and I understand that, and I'm sure that a lot of people have gotten used to them. And obviously a lot of other people have managed to power through - but I just couldn't. From the first fight - I struggled.

I didn't struggle because the game was hard (or harder than a game like this should be), I struggled because the fighting mechanics were annoying. The combo system felt slow and obnoxious - even with the so-called fast movement weapons like the sword and shield.

New controls should be a learning curve, but I feel like there should be a level of intuitiveness that just wasn't there for me. It really breaks the immersion and makes the game less fun, which is unfortunate, because there is a lot of really good stuff here. But games need good controls and I don't think Monster Hunter: World has them.

THE BOTTOM LINE

This game is hit or miss. It was a definite miss for me, and I won't be purchasing my own copy. I'm glad my little brother has his! I do think that some people will find it fun, and the obviously already have, so I'd definitely say rent the game first. In some way? Maybe? But yeah, I didn't enjoy it, because the controls weren't fun.

I don't care how beautiful a game is - it has to be fun.

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