Destiny 2 Hotfix Improves Service Stability, Removes Heir Apparent From Exotic Archive

Destiny 2 Beyond Light_02

Bungie deployed hotfix 3.0.0.2 for Destiny 2 recently, which helped resolve a crash that Xbox players faced when using Vaults in the Tower. It also added some back-end changes to improve overall service stability. Servers have been under strain since Beyond Light launched so hopefully this should help matters.

Surprisingly enough, the hotfix has managed to re-enable Legendary handcannon Rose. However, it's also been "fixed" and now fires at 140 RPM instead of 150 RPM. Another change is in the removal of Heir Apparent from the Monument to Lost Lights – Exotic Archive. The heavy machine gun was exclusive to the Guardian Games event so this change was likely done to preserve its place.

Finally, Collectors Edition owners whose emblems were not being granted or appearing in their collections should see the issue resolved. These aren't the end of issues affecting Destiny 2 in the wake of Beyond Light. Witherhoard is still disabled and Trials of Osiris has been delayed to November 27th due to issues. Stay tuned for more details on updates in the meantime.

Destiny 2 Xur Exotics – Lord of Wolves, Raiden Flux and Aeon Safe

Destiny 2 Xur

Xur has returned to the Tower in Bungie's Destiny 2. This is probably the best place since most of his other favorite planets have been vaulted – er, obscured by the Darkness. The Exotic vendor can be found in the Hangar on the staircase behind Dead Orbit.

This week, Xur has the Exotic energy shotgun Lord of Wolves. Controversial at one point for completely breaking Crucible, the shotgun fires burst rounds. Holding down the reload button will activate a longer burst, though its range is limited. It's not nearly as broken as before, but it can still be yours for 29 Legendary Shards.

The Exotic Gear this week includes Raiden Flux (Hunter chest), Aeon Safe (Titan gloves) and Chromatic Fire (Warlock chest), each for 23 Legendary Shards. Raiden Flux is recommended for Arcstriders and increases the duration and damage of Arc Staff with successive strikes. Aeon Safe grants ability energy to surrounding fireteam members if they also have the same armor equipped. Chromatic Fire allows for precision kills with Kinetic weapons to create elemental explosions matching one's subclass. It doesn't work with the new Stasis class but might be worth trying out.

Cyberpunk 2077 Receives Brief New Gameplay in German TV Broadcast

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The official German page for Cyberpunk 2077 revealed that players could customize V's teeth and nail length. But there's even more to glean thanks to a profile on CD Projekt RED that aired on German TV. Check it out in the tweet by CP2077Countdown below.

The locales of Night City, both at day and night, look very impressive especially in shots which seem to utilize ray-tracing. A conversation with Johnny Silverhand, played by Keanu Reeves, in a diner is also briefly shown, offering a better idea for how exchanges could play out with the rocker. You'll also spot some familiar faces from the Cyberpunk lore, like Adam Smasher.

Cyberpunk 2077 is out on December 10th for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Google Stadia, having been delayed from its November 19th release date. However, a new episode of Night City Wire will air this Thursday so expect some new details. It's also worth noting that the game will perform better on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 at launch, though true next-gen upgrades will arrive later.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Beaten to No. 1 in UK Charts by Assassin's Creed Valhalla

call of duty black ops cold war

Every year when a new Call of Duty game launches, it topping sales charts in the UK (and really, almost everywhere else) is more or less a foregone conclusion- but this year has seen an unprecedented turn of events. As revealed by GamesIndustry's Christopher Dring over on Twitter, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has actually been beaten to the top of the weekly boxed video game sales charts in the UK by Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

As Dring points out, that's probably more down to the fact that Assassin's Creed has sold very well (which Ubisoft has suggested as well) than it is a reflection on any perceived drop in Call of Duty's sales. It's also worth mentioning that these charts only account for physical sales, and Black Ops Cold War may very well have outpaced all other games when digital sales are counted as well.

Dring also mentions that Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales' PS5 version was the third highest selling game of the week- which is funny, since the PS5 isn't even out yet in the UK, and won't be until November 19.

The full UK charts will be going live soon, and we'll have them for you as always, so stay tuned.

Cyberpunk 2077 Will Let Players Customize Their Nails and Teeth

cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 is shaping up to be an RPG fan's dream come true, with a vast array of options presented to players in nearly every area of the game. The character creation and customization toolsets also hold the promise of a ridiculous amount of options- more than you'd think, in fact.

As recently revealed by the game's official German Facebook page, Cyberpunk 2077 will actually let players customize the length of their nails, as well as the style of your teeth. That's a level of granular customization that goes well above and beyond what's expected from a game- especially the bit about the teeth, seeing as this is a first person game and that detail isn't really ever going to matter.

Cyberpunk 2077 will launch on December 10 for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia, and will also be playable on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 via backward compatibility. Dedicated next-gen versions will launch some time in 2021.

Meanwhile, on November 19 (which was the previous release date for the game), CD Projekt RED will also release the next episode of Night City Wire.

Monster Hunter Rise Expected to Sell as Well as Monster Hunter World – Capcom

Monster Hunter Rise

Monster Hunter has been a major seller for Capcom for a good while now, but with Monster Hunter World, the series reached new heights that no Capcom game ever had before. Soon, a new game in the series will be coming exclusively to the Switch with Monster Hunter Rise, and it seems Capcom has high expectations for its sales.

Speaking in an interview with Nikkei (translated by Nintendo Everything), Capcom president Haruhiro Tsujimoto said that Monster Hunter Rise is expected to sell as well as World has sold, and that pre-orders so far as tracking as well as Capcom expected. As per Tsujimoto, Monster Hunter Rise's late March launch means most of the profits for the game will begin flowing in in the next financial year (which begins April 1st), but that overall, the game is expected to sell as well as "previous entries."

"We've already started taking pre-orders for the game and so far, they're where we expected them to be," Tsujimoto said. "Due to the pandemic, development was suspended for nearly a month and the release was delayed to March 2021, so we're expecting the bulk of the game's earnings to come in the next financial year. With the release of a new title, there's an 'announcement effect' that helps spread the word about the game and we're expecting this title to sell as well as previous entries like Monster Hunter World."

Currently, Monster Hunter World's sales stand at 16.4 million units worldwide, making the game Capcom's highest-selling single release of all time. That number is going to be tough to beat (or even match) for Monster Hunter Rise, especially since, unlike World, it's going to be exclusive to a single platform. Of course, the Switch has a track record of ridiculous software sales (as does Monster Hunter), so it's not completely out of the question.

Monster Hunter Rise is due out for the Nintendo Switch on March 26, 2021.

Xbox Series X/S Reportedly Sold 155,000 Units at Launch in the UK

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The Xbox Series X and Series S have got off to a great start worldwide, from a sales perspective, as you may have predicted. Microsoft mentioned earlier that the next-gen duo enjoyed the biggest launch ever in Xbox history, and that's something that, as per a new VGC report, applies specifically to the UK as well.

According to various publishers, the Xbox Series X and Series S collectively sold around 155,000 units at launch, outpacing the Xbox One, which sold 150,000 units within 48 hours of its release back in 2013. The new Xbox consoles still fell short of the PS4 – which sold 250,000 units in its first 48 hours and remains the biggest hardware launch in UK history – or the PSP, which sold 185,000 units at launch.

Interestingly enough, of the two new Xbox consoles, it's the costlier Xbox Series X that seems to have driven the bulk of sales, with VGC's report stating that two-thirds of Xbox Series sales were Xbox Series X consoles. Worldwide, Microsoft states that the Xbox Series S added "the highest percentage of new players for any Xbox console at launch."

Microsoft itself hasn't provided exact hardware sales figures for Xbox for a while now, and it will continue not providing those figures with the new consoles, so we're probably not going to get any official word from Microsoft to back that up. Either way, it's clear that the new Xbox consoles have enjoyed a successful launch, as far as sales are concerned.

Demon's Souls Remake Has a Mysterious New Hidden Door That Wasn't in the Original

Demon's Souls

Souls fans always welcome mysteries and secrets with open arms, and though Bluepoint Games' Demon's Souls remake for the PS5 is a very faithful recreation of the original PS3 game, it seems it's thrown in some secrets of its own as well.

As spotted by Twitter user @VaatiVidya, there's a mysterious new locked door in the remake that wasn't in the original game. This door can be found in the Tower Knight Archstone, in World Level 1-3 within cramped corridors behind an illusory wall. Interacting with the door prompts a message that says, "It appears to be locked."

While we don't yet know what exactly is behind this new locked door, as discovered by users on Reddit thanks to the wonders of the game's Photo Mode, it seems the door leads to a balcony where you can find an item on a dead soldier.

Demon's Souls is out now for PS5. While our review isn't ready just yet, in our technical analysis of the game, we called it "a massive leap in fidelity over the original" and "an impressive way to kick off next gen." You can read our full analysis through here.

If you're about to get started with the game with little prior Souls experience, you can also check out our beginners guide through here.

Resident Evil Village and Tales of Arise Rank High in Famitsu Most Wanted Charts

resident evil village

Famitsu's charts for the most highly anticipated upcoming games (as decided by votes from their readers) are in, and a number of heavy hitters feature in the top 10. Tales of Arise, which has been at or close to the top of these charts for some while now, is in pole position, and has a lead of over a hundred votes over the game placed second, Cyberpunk 2077.

The upcoming Nintendo Switch exclusive Monster Hunter Rise trails not far behind in third place, while Capcom's upcoming Resident Evil Village has taken the fourth spot. Behind it (with a pretty small gap) is the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which itself has a pretty narrow lead over the game placed sixth, Final Fantasy 16.

The Breath of the Wild sequel isn't the only Zelda game in the charts. It's prequel, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity sits in seventh place with a comfortable lead over Switch exclusive Shin Megami Tensei 5. Fellow upcoming Switch exclusives Bayonetta 3 and Bravely Default 2 round out the top 10.

You can check out the full top 10 below. All votes were cast by Famitsu readers between October 22 and October 28.

1. [PS4] Tales of Arise – 657 votes
2. [PS4] Cyberpunk 2077 – 549 votes
3. [NSW] Monster Hunter Rise – 511 votes
4. [PS5] Resident Evil Village – 416 votes
5. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 – 403 votes
6. [PS5] Final Fantasy 16 – 400 votes
7. [NSW] Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity – 382 votes
8. [NSW] Shin Megami Tensei 5 – 347 votes
9. [NSW] Bayonetta 3 – 313 votes
10. [NSW] Bravely Default 2 – 300 votes

[Via Nintendo Everything]

Xbox Series S Doesn't Hold Back Next-Gen, It Advances It – Microsoft

xbox series s

Microsoft's dual-console approach to the new generation of consoles has been a point of discussion for many ever since the Xbox Series S was initially revealed. The console has its fair share of detractors and supporters, with many pointing out that its cheap entry point is quite an alluring factor, while others have talked about how its underpowered hardware (especially in terms of RAM and GPU) could hold back next-gen development, especially for multiplatform developers (or Microsoft's first parties, for that matter).

However, according to  Xbox system architect Andrew Goossen, that's not going to be the case. Speaking with Digital Foundry, Goossen pointed out that from the Xbox Velocity Architecture to support for ray tracing to a much more powerful CPU, the Xbox Series S boasts of some of the most crucial next-gen features, and that as such, thanks to its lower price, it's not going to hold back next-gen- and will, instead, even advance it.

"I've read a lot of question on the internet, like, why isn't Microsoft going to continue Xbox One X as the low-end machine," Goossen said. "Well, one thing is that it would last a long time through the generation and we felt that the new generation is defined by aspects such as the Xbox Velocity Architecture, and graphics features such as variable rate shading and ray tracing and the 4x processing performance boost on the CPU. And so we wanted to make sure that there was an entry level at the right price-point so that we could really advance the generation rather than hold it back. I've heard that Series S is going to hold back the next generation but I actually see Series S advancing it because by doing Series S we'll have more games written to the characteristics of the next generation."

Goossen went on to talk about how the Xbox Series S is cheaper than the Xbox One X, in spite of having " all the other features that define the new generation." Given that, for Goossen, making the Xbox Series S "was an easy decision."

"The other ironic thing is that we did look at Xbox One X and we couldn't get it down to the price-point we wanted to get, so I look at Xbox Series S and it's cheaper than Xbox One X, it would have all of these next-gen features and then in terms of graphics performance, well you guys know this, but the per-cycle improvements with the new RDNA 2 architecture are like a 25 per cent improvement," he said. "If we just do the back of the envelope math right now, 4TF brings you up to 5TF just according to that factor.

"And some of the data we're seeing with our content is suggesting that it's even better, and then when you think about other features of the new architecture that we've added like variable rate shading and FP16, you know, I think that could get us the additional 20 per cent to pretty much equal the performance for new games… and it's cheaper and you get all the other features that define the new generation. And so for me, it was an easy decision – let's go do this."

The Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X are globally out now, costing $299 and $499 respectively.