Game News

It feels like every week there is something new in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which is pretty awesome for fans of the adorable sim game. The latest update centers around the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nature Day event and what sort of related content players can expect.

Nature Day is an event that is a global celebration every April, and New Horizons is aiming to celebrate that in the way it knows how: new festivities.

What to expect with Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nature Day event

While Nature Day in the real world doesn't kick off until April 22, Nintendo starts off the environmentally-focused celebration at the beginning of next month. In a recent tweet, Nintendo of America says that April 5 is "a day for planting trees and caring for our forests called 'Singmogil' in South Korea." To commemorate this day, island-owners can plant Forsythia on their islands between April 1 and April 10.

From April 15 to April 22, players can order an exclusive Nature Day-inspired Cool Globe from Nook Shopping as a way to "show their support for the environment."

Nature Day is celebrated around the world on 4/22. On this holiday many show their support for the environment. Inspired by this event, a Cool Globe will be available for order in Nook Shopping between 4/15 - 4/22. #AnimalCrossing #ACNH pic.twitter.com/aHxsEbKVUq
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) March 17, 2021

It wouldn't be a new Animal Crossing: New Horizons event if there weren't other activities planned. Next month, players can look forward to various Nature Day-related objectives and a special visit from Leif. It will be interesting to see what sort of DIY recipes will be available for Nature Day, especially since the Cool Globe was a gift in past games.

Nature Day isn't the only thing players can look forward to. Bunny Day is also making its return, including those eggs that haunt our nightmares. Pranks are also on the way, including the addition of the whoopie cushion, starting on April 1.

More seasonal items, a special Sanrio crossover, and the limited-time-only feature with the new Island Tour Creator are also on the way. To learn more about everything coming to Animal Crossing: New Horizons (that we know about so far) in the coming month, check out our previous coverage here.

What are your thoughts on how Animal Crossing: New Horizons had evolved since its launch last year? Has this game been a source of peace for you during lockdowns like it has been for us? Sound off with your islander thoughts in the comment section below! Isabelle would want you to.

Published in News

Thursday, 18 March 2021 14:20

Destiny 2 Trials Of Osiris Returns (Again)

Written by Liana Ruppert

Bungie has a very love/hate relationship with Destiny 2 Trials of Osiris, much like the player base itself. Earlier this month, the highly competitive PvP mode was disabled when win-trading was discovered, only to have it restored and taken out once more. Now it's back again, confirms the studio, but for how long?

In the most recent Destiny 2 blog update, a plethora of fixes and updates were revealed. With Trials having been removed once more earlier this week, Guardians were wondering if it would make its way back into the game in time for PvP reset. At this time, it looks like everything is green across the board.

"Last Saturday, it was discovered that an issue with match re-joins in the Trials of Osiris playlist that we thought we had fixed earlier in the week didn't fix the issue," explained the studio. "With update 3.1.1, this issue should no longer occur, so Trials is scheduled to start at its regularly scheduled time this week."

So what's the love/hate relationship about? The biggest issue that Trials of Osiris faces, from the community side, is that it's teeming with cheaters. This is especially true for PC players. That, and many feel that Bungie hasn't been the most consistent in terms of messaging regarding the purpose of this PvP instance. A common sentiment among Guardians is that, in an effort to increase the player count for Trials, Bungie switches up the experience in an effort to drawn in new players. The problem with that, however, is that this Pinnacle PvP activity is hard. Not "Oh, this is a challenge" hard, but hard. It's meant to be, that's the point, but the rolls have been underwhelming and many feel that the rewards do not match up with the overall experience. That, and the new players that are drawn in? It doesn't take long before they are smashed into little smithereens.

It will be interesting to see if Trials of Osiris makes it through the weekend. Who knows? Maybe this is the time for the PvP mode to shine. Doubt it, but we can dream.

As for what's next, Bungie has outlined a few known issues that they are planning on tackling soon. For those curious about future updates, here's what the team is looking at:

Previewing Ghost Projections can crash the game if players don’t have a Ghost Shell equipped.
The fifth feather in the Harbinger mission isn’t spawning during week three, and the fourth feather isn’t spawning during week two.
The Postmaster screen displays an opaque screen when trying to collect you missing items. Players can press the Cancel button or Escape key to remove it.
Locus of Communion sometimes teleports around the final area in the Presage mission.
Turning on the PS5’s 3D Audio can make the Destiny 2 audio sound muffled.
Ultra Combatants’ health bars are displaying in colors inconsistent to their icons and to other more powerful enemy types in multiple colorblind modes.
We’re continuing to investigate PC FPS and crashing issues.
It’s intentional that the Weekly Strike Playlist singe is randomized, meaning that some singes may not appear as often as others.
The Insight Terminus Nightfall Triumph isn't counting progress.
Random lines appear on Awoken character faces where shadows should be when on the PS5.
Heavy ammo spawns under the Distant Shore map.
Sola's Scar is translated as "Solar Scar" in Spanish-ES.
Guardian Games’ class items no longer honor 2020 placements.
The Gambit PGCR can’t show the second screen of stats.
A player’s entire stack of Legendary Shards appears to be added to their account when removing/socketing Runes in the Hammer of Proving.

Thoughts on the "will they, won't they" surrounding Destiny 2's Trials of Osiris? Sound off in the comment section below!

Published in News

Thursday, 18 March 2021 15:26

New Phasmophobia Update Lets Ghosts Touch You, Adds New Objectives

Written by Liana Ruppert

Phasmophobia is an incredibly creepy ghost-hunting experience that will have you either laughing at the hilarious glitches or screaming in terror because that freaky demon thing is convulsing in the middle of the room. At the same time, your friend's corpse hangs lifelessly on a nearby chair. So when a new update comes out, it's interesting to see what changes are made to the Early Access game. The latest Phasmophobia update not only fixes quite a few bugs and adds new objectives, but it also lets ghosts touch you. Like. Touch you. Like, actually touch you to where your real-life body feels it.

I'm not scared. You're scared.

The team over at Kinetic Games took to the game's official Twitter account to share some of the updates that players can expect in the PC title. The usual bug fixes can be found, such as fixing how certain items interact with characters, the glitch where photo evidence wasn't showing up, VR tweaks, and more. However, the part that stood out to me is the thought of those creepy ghosts I keep running manically from can now touch me. This may not sound scary, but try playing this game in VR. I dare you. I double-dog-dare you.

So how can a digital ghost say "catch these hands?" That has to do with the new changes made to add support for bHaptics suits and face covers. What this change means is that if a ghostie comes a little too close, especially with the candle changes listed below, the haptics will trigger a sensation in real life. This is designed to emulate a feeling that something is on you. It's like the Neil Diamond song "Sweet Caroline" except the lyrics are more like "Reaching out. Touching me. Touching you. SWEET MURDERLINE."

The new save files are for the beta build only until this update is on the main build. This means save files will not convert back to the main build so progress will happen separately on the main build and beta.
— Phasmophobia (@KineticGame) March 18, 2021

The most notable new features that are arriving include a ghost's ability to blow out candles if they are close enough and the lights are off. Since the new objectives added include candles, this is a pretty big deal. It also just sounds spooky as all heck.

Regarding the new objectives:

Detect a Ghost presence with a candle
Detect Ghost footsteps with a parabolic mic during a hunt
Intermediate and Professional: Escape the Ghost during a hunt with zero deaths
Professional: Use a smudge stick while the ghost is hunting a player
Multiplayer: Get average sanity below 25% (Yikes)

To see the full list of fixes, fine-tuning, and new additions, you can check out the full patch notes right here.

Thoughts on the latest Phasmophobia changes? What would you like to see this team add next? Weigh in with those oh so brave thoughts in the comment section below! I'll gladly read them while I hide behind you during the hunt.

Published in News