Category: Video Games

Some Helldivers 2 Players Find Mechs Early as Liberation of Tien Kwan Inches Closer

It looks like some Helldivers 2 players are accessing the hotly anticipated mechs early — and this time it may well be official.

This week, Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead seemingly locked the release of mechs behind the liberation of a planet, sending hundreds of thousands of players off to fight back against the Automatons on Tien Kwan.

While the battle to liberate Tien Kwan rages on, some players have provided footage on the Helldivers subreddit and Discord showing what looks like mechs on the planet. They’re able to then jump in and play around with Helldivers 2’s new exosuits, although based on the reports from players who claim to have found the mechs, they are extremely rare.

It’s hard to discern what’s legit and what’s cheating in Helldivers 2, after a glut of gameplay leaks revealed officially unavailable stratagems, including of the upcoming mechs. The community had a number of explanations for this, including that cheaters were accessing datamined stratagems and bypassing Helldivers 2’s anti-cheat to call them in on live lobbies.

But the latest reports are in keeping with Helldivers 2’s lore. A fresh in-game message had said the Automatons (Helldivers 2’s evil alien robots) had captured Tien Kwan, the planet solely responsible for the manufacture of the mechs. So it makes sense that a few would be laying around.

The question now is whether Arrowhead will unlock mechs for general use when Tien Kwan is liberated — and it very much looks like a question of when, not if, with the planet over 90% liberated at the time of this article’s publication.

If not, perhaps mechs will go live on March 14, when Helldivers 2’s new premium Warbond, dubbed Cutting Edge, comes out. It includes new armor sets, new guns, new capes, and new emotes, all with high-voltage vibes.

It’s been a tumultuous week in the world of Helldivers 2, which saw the game’s first balance patch nerf its best loadout, an associated backlash, and a subsequent response from Arrowhead. Helldivers 2 has become one of the surprise hits of 2024 since launching in February, topping the charts on Steam and reportedly selling around three million copies. According to at least one analyst, it’s still growing. Check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 review to find out why it’s going down so well, as well as the best loadouts.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 cooking features “real meat” – does that mean vegans shouldn’t play it?

Dragon’s Dogma series director Hideaki Itsuno has announced that the meat you can cook over campfires in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is, in fact, “real meat”. There’s been a certain amount of PlayStation-instigated speculation about whether the meat is CGI-generated, following the last round of Dragon’s Dogma 2 previews. Speaking to Japanese site 4Gamer, as translated by Automaton, Itsuno revealed that the game’s scenes of sizzling flesh are derived from live action film of steaks being grilled – partly for the sake of authenticity, and partly to save money versus creating computer models of meat products. You can cook several types of meat in Dragon’s Dogma, each of which has its own cutscene, and a number of Dragon’s Dogmatists are already performatively salivating at the prospect on social media.

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Spider-Man 2 Update Appears to Have Accidentally Revealed an Upcoming DLC

The following article contains spoilers for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

The recently released Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 update appears to have accidentally revealed an upcoming expansion.

After the release of Spider-Man 2 patch 1.002.000, which added New Game+, new suits, and more, players discovered they were able to access a development game menu that unlocks settings for items, enemies, and health. Developer Insomniac subsequently issued a warning to players, saying those who use the menu could face corrupted save data and trophy progress.

But players have also discovered what looks like the entire arc of an upcoming downloadable content, called the ‘Beetle Villain Arc.’ Here, there are nine options to choose from, although none work. The ‘Beetle Janice Intro’, however, reveals just who this Beetle is.

Janice Lincoln is the daughter of the super-powered mobster Tombstone, who appears as a reformed villain in Spider-Man 2. In the comics, Janice eventually becomes Beetle, a supervillain who wears a suit of armor to fight the likes of Captain America and Black Widow. Beetle does not appear in the base Spider-Man 2 game, but the Beetle Villain Arc tallies with the leak of data stolen from Insomniac earlier this year. Spider-Man 2 itself teases Carnage DLC.

It is unclear at this point if Insomniac still plans to release this Beetle DLC. Neither Sony nor the developer have issued a comment, although Insomniac has said a fix for the developer menu is on the way.

Spider-Man 2 launched in October last year and has sold 10 million copies so far. Thoughts have already turned to what’s next from Insomniac, which recently suffered layoffs as part of mass cuts at Sony Interactive Entertainment.

While Insomniac has a Wolverine game in the works, it seems likely it will also release a Marvel’s Spider-Man spinoff similar in scope to the hugely successful Miles Morales standalone, with Venom the potential focus. To find out how Insomniac has set up its next sequel, check out IGN’s Spider-Man 2 ending explained.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

If Helldivers 2 players want mechs, they need to liberate a planet riddled with Automatons first

Developers Arrowhead said that Helldivers 2‘s mechs were “ready for deployment” a couple of days ago, but what they didn’t tell us was how to unlock them. And in what I think is a rather refreshing live service twist, it’s up to us honourable Helldivers to liberate the planet of Tien Kwan if we want those sweet, sweet mechs. Get me in there, chief.

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Helldivers 2 Dev Reveals Plans to Make Heavy Enemies Easier to Deal With After Patch Backlash

It’s been a tumultuous week in the world of Helldivers 2, which saw the game’s first balance patch nerf its best loadout, an associated backlash, and, most recently, a call-to-arms to unlock mechs. Now, developer Arrowhead has addressed the backlash in particular, and signaled plans to change the game as a result.

First, some background. This week’s patch 01.000.100 nerfed the Breaker, Railgun, and Shield Generator Backpack, three items considered essential to higher difficulty play and Helldivers 2’s best loadouts. But it also buffed weaker weapons and stratagems, including the Flamethrower, Laser Cannon, Punisher, and the 380mm and 120mm Orbital Barrages.

It was the nerfs to the Breaker, Railgun, and Shield Generator Backpack that sparked the most vociferous discussion within the Helldivers 2 community, given their popularity. On higher difficulties, Helldivers 2 throws an often overwhelming number of powerful enemies at you, many of which require hard-hitting weapons and stratagems to deal with. The Railgun in particular was a popular option for taking on Helldivers 2’s toughest enemies, such as the heavily armored Bile Titan and Charger.

Since the release of the patch, players have complained about struggling to deal with these heavy enemies and their apparent increased spawn rate on harder difficulties (it’s worth noting some of Helldivers 2’s most valuable resources are locked behind the harder difficulties). Social media and the Helldivers subreddit and Discord have seen a number of screenshots and videos showing a quite ridiculous number of Titans and Chargers on-screen at once, with players expressing their disbelief.

In response, Arrowhead issued a post on the Helldivers Discord to say it plans to make heavy enemies easier to deal with, both in terms of their spawn rate and health, in a hotfix. The hope is players will be able to kill these enemies “with a single well-placed shot”, Arrowhead said.

Here’s the statement in full, from Arrowhead community manager Spitz.

“Hell-o, Divers! I wanted to take a moment this afternoon to let you all know that we’ve heard your concerns over the last few days regarding enemy spawns, enemy armor, and the ability to kill these enemies. As we’ve said before, our teams are always taking in player feedback and looking at how we can tweak the game to ensure that it is fair, enjoyable and provides the best experience for everyone.

“I can confirm that we’re currently looking at changes to the spawn rates and health pools of heavy enemies, and will be attempting to spread them out more to prevent large spikes of tougher mobs appearing at the same time, as well as making them a bit easier to bring down. This change should go out in a future hotfix – no date as of yet.”

Arrowhead added that it forgot to mention a buff to the EAT-17 and Recoilless Rifle Stratagems in the update 01.000.100 patch notes.

“In addition, we forgot to mention (oops) that the EAT-17 and Recoilless Rifle no longer suffer from a 50% damage decrease when hitting an armored enemy at a ‘glance angle’ that deflects the shot,” Spitz continued.

“Combined with the upcoming adjustment to health and spawn rates, this should make the larger enemies a bit less common, instead spawning more ‘chaff’ enemies to support them, and should allow players to bring these enemies down with a single well-placed shot. Hopefully this leads to less instances of endless kiting and players being left without any effective weaponry to kill harder enemies.

“Thanks as always for your patience!”

While the community waits for this hotfix, some players have found the recently buffed Flamethrower an effective weapon against the pesky Chargers in particular, although the super tough Terminid remains a brutal opponent on harder difficulties. Face off against multiple Chargers and, well, you’d better hope the group has a 500KG bomb or three handy.

Meanwhile, Arrowhead just unveiled Helldivers 2’s upcoming premium Warbond, dubbed Cutting Edge. It includes new weapons, new armor sets, new capes, and new emotes.

Helldivers 2 has become one of the surprise hits of 2024 since launching in February, topping the charts on Steam and reportedly selling around three million copies. According to at least one analyst, it’s still growing. Check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 review to find out why it’s going down so well, as well as the best loadouts.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Akira Toriyama, Creator of Dragon Ball and Manga Pioneer, Dies at 68

Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball and the artist behind Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, and numerous other works, has died. He was 68.

News of Toriyama’s passing was made public by the official Dragon Ball Z X (formerly Twitter) account on March 7. According to the statement, Toriyama died due to an acute subdural hematoma.

“It’s our deep regret that he still had several works in the middle of creation with great enthusiasm. Also, he would have many more things to achieve.” Bird Studio and Capsule Corporation Tokyo wrote in the tweet.

“However, he has left many manga titles and works of art to this world. Thanks to the support of so many people round the world, he has been able to continue his creative activities over 45 years. We hope that Akira Toriyama’s unique world of creation continue to be loved by everyone for a long time to come.”

An anime and gaming legend

Toriyama first broke into the manga industry at the age of 23 when he entered an amateur manga creator contest in Kodansha’s Weekly Shōnen Magazine. From there, Toriyama made a name for himself with the serialization of the beloved gag manga Dr. Slump in 1980.

In 1984, Toriyama published the seminal fantasy action comedy shonen battle series Dragon Ball, which would later spawn the immensely popular Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super series. Dragon Ball’s influence later inspired other like Eiichiro Oda, Tite Kubo, and Masashi Kishimoto to create One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, and classics.

Toriyama also played an influential role in gaming history, his art serving as the basis for Dragon Quest — one of the very first console RPGs in Japan. In the mid-90s, Toriyama famously teamed with Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi to make Chrono Trigger, which is still considered one of the finest games ever made.

The last project Toriyama was reportedly working on was the original character designs for the upcoming Dragon Ball Z spin-off series, Dragon Ball Daima. Its story follows the adventures of a chibi-stylized Goku and Vegeta’s adventures in Dragon Ball’s whimsical world. Sand Land, a game based on another one of Toriyama’s works, is due to release in April.

During an panel at New York Comic Con 2023, Daima executive producer Akio Iyoku told the crowd that Toriyama was “deeply involved beyond his usual capacity” overseeing Daima’s story, character design, and more.

“Additionally, [Toriyama] has planned entirely new episodes for the storyline so please look forward to the start of the series,” Iyoku said.

Dragon Ball Daima is slated to release in the fall of 2024.

Blogroll photo credit: IMDB

Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer at IGN.

Video: Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection Gets Switch Launch Trailer

Pre-orders are now live.

The Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection lands on the Switch next week and to build up some excitement, Nintendo has shared a new launch trailer.

It shows off plenty of famous faces from the Star Wars galaxy including several heroes and villains. You can also see plenty of firefights as well as some lightsaber battles, and it’s all looking quite promising at the moment.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com