Startenders is serving up plenty of humour and colourful concoctions.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is revealing plans to continue holding on to the cryptocurrencies he owns as inflation in the US reaches a four-decade high. Musk says in a tweet that Tesla and SpaceX are feeling the effects of high inflation just like other corporations and households as the cost of living and doing business […]

The post Elon Musk Says He Won’t Sell Bitcoin (BTC) and Two Other Crypto Assets Amid Rising Inflation appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

A chance to swing samurai swords and new updates for Cave Digger 2 are just some of the VR titles on our radar this week.

Friday 'Nite is a weekly Fortnite column that takes a closer look at current events in the wide world of Fortnite, with a special emphasis on the game's plot, characters, and lore.

I have a running joke with some of my Destiny-obsessed coworkers that Fortnite's storytelling merits are on the same level as Bungie's years-long, labyrinthine plot. In reality, they know--and I know--that Epic still has plenty of ground to make up in this regard. Bungie has built an industry leader in terms of merging live-service content and story, and as a Fortnite fan, the hope is one day its own web of intrigue can be given the same care and attention. I love the universe in which Fortnite is set, with its sci-fi themes and carousel of characters. I think Fortnite can stand tall beside Destiny one day as a vehicle for live-service storytelling. But for that to happen, Epic needs to find some consistency in how many proverbial bread crumbs each season leaves behind.

I've been playing Fortnite since Chapter 1, Season 3, but I only got into it in a more meaningful way in Chapter 2, Season 2. Since then, one of the driving factors in my fandom has been the story. The Fortnite omniverse is a fragile one, with villains routinely on the move to swallow the island, control the Zero Point, or achieve some other end goal of tomfoolery.

For over a year, I felt like I was playing catch-up with the story. I needed to read about The Visitor, The Paradigm, and other early members of The Seven before I could understand why The Foundation is so important. Before I could form an opinion on Doctor Slone, I needed to better understand entities like the Imagined Order, Ghost, and Shadow, as well as characters like Midas, Jules, and even Peely, the game's beloved anthropomorphic banana.

It took a lot of nerdy deep dives into wikis, YouTube videos, and Twitter threads, but I'm now at a point where I feel I can explain the plot to others and be a reliable resource--even if I don't always agree with the consensus about what's coming next. Being at the finish line, for now anyway, has also revealed something to me that has nothing to do with the characters or story themselves, but rather a meta issue with the game's storytelling ambitions: They're inconsistent.

Some seasons, such as Chapter 2, Seasons 3, 6, 7, and 8, were loaded with story, while others, like Chapter 2, Seasons 1, 5, and the outgoing Chapter 3, Season 1, were sparse in their lore offerings. I think for Fortnite to take the next level as a live-service game with a meaningful story, Epic needs to find a consistent storytelling "voice."

In my experience, the best season Epic put on with regard to story came in the alien invasion-themed Season 7 of the previous chapter. Each week, players would be given Slone's orders to study the aliens, undermine their invasion, and learn more about what it might take to defeat them. This culminated in the awesome finale event, Operation: Sky Fire, which included betrayal, twists, and character reprisals dating back to Chapter 1. In short, it had stakes. It delivered on its intentions because players were directly involved in the story all season long.

When the battle pass lineup feels randomly selected, it's usually an indication of a season light on plot.

When challenges tie into the story like they did in that season, the plot stays front-and-center every single week. On the flipside, challenges like we've seen this season have tended to have nothing to do with the plot. Hiding in dumpsters? Ziplining around The Daily Bugle? These aren't plot points. They're boxes to check. I love completing my Fortnite challenges every single day, week, and season, but my investment as a player increases exponentially when it feels like I'm tied directly to the ridiculous story myself.

This season's story is just a few sentences long: The IO was stranded beneath the island when it flipped, then they drilled their way back to the surface. Meanwhile, The Scientist has been trying to get the previously ousted Paradigm to help The Seven in their defense of the island. We got a few cool beats featuring Joel McHale's Scientist leaving messages for Paradigm, but these developments came few and far between compared to the game's better story-driven seasons.

While the IO tunneled back to an attacking position and sent literal shockwaves across the island, Epic never really bothered to tell that story. It's there to see should you come upon it, but we lost several landmarks due to faultlines opening--cafes and other buildings disappeared into sinkholes, and players were never led there in the plot. Instead, they were expected to just wonder what happened as they web-swung past these holes in the ground.

This is all leading into what is rumored to be an all-out war between the IO and The Seven in Fortnite Season 2, and maybe that means next season will be another story-heavy season, but it's impossible to know until we get there. After all, who could've predicted that the start of a new chapter would be so light on plot? Fortnite's more than four-year reign atop the gaming world is an enviable position for other studios, and while not faultless, Epic is doing things right much of the time. Gameplay changes, frequent crossovers, and an expanding game mode buffet continue to make the game an ever-evolving success the likes of which we've hardly seen before. But from a plot perspective, Fortnite is still wading in the pools of the ordinary.

There's a huge universe to explore, full of funny characters, epic boss battles, and twists no one sees coming. I only wish fans could rest assured that they'd see that plot develop all throughout the year, and not just every few months or so.

"We've got to remember that today we're getting more new players into VR than we are getting former players." Owlchemy Labs talks designing its most complex world yet in Cosmonious High.

Appalachia contacts alien life in Fallout 76’s latest update, plus a new Season and updates for Fallout Worlds! Uh oh, what’s that in the sky above Appalachia? Fallout 76’s latest update is now live, bringing extraterrestrial visitors to town, as well as a brand-new Season and updates to Fallout Worlds to check out! For a […]

Excerpts from the Red Folder

The post Best places for stargazing, a new message for alien civilizations appeared first on Physics World.

The Cycle: Frontier is a free-to-play PvPvE first-person shooter that, graphically speaking, reminds me of No Man’s Sky and Outer Wilds. I got...

Each and every day new mobile games are hitting the App Store, and so each week we put together a …

Continue reading "Out Now: ‘A Musical Story’, ‘Fatal Fury ACA NEOGEO’, ‘Hitman Sniper: The Shadows’, ‘The Impossible Game 2’, ‘Legal Dungeon’, ‘Timewreck Tales’, ‘Scaventurez’ and More"

Hey Xbox fans, it’s me again and today we got something really cool to share! Since we launched The Gunk in December, seeing all the positive messages from critics and players highlighted something that seems to be synonymous with The Gunk: it’s jaw-dropping visuals. So, it’s my pleasure to be able to offer the Xbox […]

The team-based multiplayer adds a solo campaign that doesn’t quite connect.

You know, it’s not easy being a teenager. That’s what the protagonist, your character, in the VR-only game Tentacular has recently figured out. Not only do people expect more from you, but now you have to deal with these unwanted responsibilities. Indeed, you learn that life is harsh in the world of Tentacular. It is your birthday, though, and your sister made you a cake. However, every citizen on the small island of La Kalma is required to enter a vocation at the age of 16. That’s rough. Also, the folks on the island are mad at you. And it’s likely because you’re a gigantic, eldritch monster with tentacles instead of arms. Oh, and you’re adopted. Tough break, kid. That’s how you start your young life in Tentacular, a game by developer Firepunchd Games and publisher Devolver Digital. As a game made for Steam VR, you use the controllers to move two bulky tentacles to grab and place various objects. It’s a rather rudimentary physics-base...