Apex Legends is free to play, but it’s monetized with a loot box system that is similar to that of Overwatch. The biggest difference between the two games, for now, is that the the loot boxes in Apex Legends cost more, and they’re not as good. I spent $100 on these loot crates to see what there is to see, and I’ll say this: I don’t think you should spend $100 on Apex Legends’ loot boxes. Here’s how it all breaks down. Apex Packs The loot boxes of Apex Legends are called Apex Packs, and each one contains three items. Loot can be of common, rare, epic, or legendary quality, and at least one item in each pack will be rare or better. Players should find an epic item once in every four packs, according to the statistics listed in the game, and a legendary item once in roughly every 13 packs. But those are the odds, not a guarantee. There is also a pity timer that prevents someone from opening more than 30 boxes without getting a legendary item. Apex … [Read more...] about We spent $100 on Apex Legends loot boxes, but you shouldn’t
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Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery might let witches and wizards date, but not until they’re older
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, out now on iOS and Android, is akin to a typical RPG, and that means players may be interested in dating other characters down the road. Fortunately, it appears they may be allowed to romance other students they meet at Hogwarts, but it’s going to take some serious time investment. It’s purely logistical: Your witch or wizard starts the game attending their first year at Hogwarts. That means they’re 11-years-old when the game begins. Players probably won’t be able to start developing more intimate relationships, if that ability becomes available, with characters until they’re a little further in their Hogwarts career. “You start as a first-year student,” Matt London, a writer on the game, told Polygon. “You’re 11-years-old, but the game covers the entire seven-year saga. So overtime, as new stories get unlocked and you progress through the game, you’re going to have to wait and see what type … [Read more...] about Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery might let witches and wizards date, but not until they’re older
Tips from the Fortnite player with the most Victory Royales in the world
Getting better at FortniteIt's competitive out there. If you're looking for an edge, check out some of our guides:Fortnite's best weaponsTips for getting started with Fortnite's building tools The 12 best drop locations in Fortnite Battle RoyaleHow did you earn your first Victory Royale? Was it heroic? Embarrassing? Accidental? Involuntary? Did you hide in a bush for 15 minutes and plunk a shotgun shell between the eyes of a bewildered soldier unlucky enough to stumble right in front of you? There are calculated moments in Fortnite. There are people who ride rockets and quick-scope airtight snipes and construct impervious fortresses in the blink of an eye. But even they sometimes succumb to Fortnite's chicanery. This is the nature of Battle Royale. The allure is the unpredictability. To play Fortnite is to understand that sometimes you have no choice but to eat an L, and frankly, that makes Sven Edelenbosch's achievement all the more impressive. Edelenbosch, a current Swede … [Read more...] about Tips from the Fortnite player with the most Victory Royales in the world
Tiny Bubbles: Custom soap-foam physics in Unity – Unity Blog
Veteran indie developer Stu Denman had a grandfather who had worked on the Manhattan Project, and afterward studied the physics of soap bubbles. Half a century later, Stu couldn’t get his grandfather’s bubble work out of his head. This is a story of how he developed custom physics in Unity to make a mesmerizing 2D game called Tiny Bubbles. When Denman was considering new game ideas, he wanted to create something like the classic, Tetris: a game with no story, no art team, and no main characters, yet one that would stand out because of its powerful game mechanics. His mind kept wandering back to his grandfather, a scientist who had studied the properties of plutonium and discovered similarities between molten metals and the unusual behavior of soap bubble foams. “Soap bubbles have these weird properties where the edges meet at vertices. 2D soap foams connect on three surfaces, never four or two, and always at a 120-angle. I became determined to create a game using the … [Read more...] about Tiny Bubbles: Custom soap-foam physics in Unity – Unity Blog
StarCraft: The past, present and future
Back in the ‘90s, Chris Metzen had an idea for a new game. For the still-blooming Blizzard Entertainment, these were formative years. There was Warcraft as of 1994, but there was no World of Warcraft. There was talk about doing more real-time strategy, as the company was arguably getting good at it, and a keen interest in heading into space. Senior VP of Story and Franchise Development Metzen, along with present-day VP of Art and Cinematic Development, Nick Carpenter, was working on concepts for something new. It was a sci-fi, fantasy-driven epic — a story told in a far-out universe with a huge world and different factions. It was "badass," says Metzen. It was ... space vampires. "The rest of the team was like, ‘I dunno man, space vampires are pretty wack,’" Metzen says. "‘We want to do something a little broader’." A statue of Jim Raynor in the Blizzard offices Bloodlines, which Metzen wouldn’t talk about publicly until the 2013 release … [Read more...] about StarCraft: The past, present and future