Last month was a pretty big month for Nintendo. They dropped a whole new direction for us of all kinds of fun new reveals. But nothing too out there. What’s weird is that the leak I mentioned in the title actually comes from the Pokemon Presents that happened about a week ago.

Now, when I hear the word leak, I’m thinking fake instantly and I know a lot of you feel the same. This is true for so many leaks out there. But this one actually seems to be accurate. For a start, they correctly shared pretty much everything. That was going to happen within the Pokemon Presents days before it actually happened and that’s not the interesting part. It’s what they shared at the very end of this leak that concerns all of Nintendo and especially their biggest games like Animal Crossing.

This supposed leaker works at an outsourcing company for Pokemon and they’ve been working on the latest DLC, which we’ll be releasing this year for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. At the very end of their league, they mentioned that they’ve been working on a graphics enhancement patch for new Nintendo Switch models, which will release alongside the second DLC.

Then, in a follow-up reply, they actually elaborated on this, showing that this would be Nintendo’s next gen console, which is a successor to the Switch. If this is true and it’s seeming like it is. Then, it’s an enormous piece of news, which will affect a lot of different Nintendo games, which have been waiting for new releases. Think about the new Metroid game and maybe the sequel to Super Mario Odyssey and of course potentially a new Animal Crossing release, as well.

Now, there’s a lot of speculation about what this new model would be. Nintendo Switch just celebrated sixth anniversary, so we’re definitely heading to the end of this particular console I feel.

Of course, a big thing that a lot of Animal Crossing fans know is that Nintendo doesn’t really release two main Animal Crossing games on the same system. But if a new system or effectively a new improved version of the Switch is arriving sometime in 2024, then the opportunity for a new Animal Crossing game would become available. After all, it’ll have been four years at that point since New Horizons, which is a standard amount of time the Animal Crossing games usually release in with the exception of New Horizons itself.

Given that Animal Crossing is a major system seller and New Horizons is one of Nintendo’s biggest games of all time, it seems fairly likely that they would want a new one to release alongside a new console as that would boost sales drastically. Even if it doesn’t release in 2024, I think we’d start seeing teasers and trailers for the future for sure, like they did with New Horizons to build excitement with the huge crowd of people, who brought the original switch purely to play New Horizons.

I’ve seen a lot of you saying that 2025 would be a good year for a new Animal Crossing game. Maybe in that year you will experience more game content and interesting ACNH Items. And honestly, I think this makes a lot of sense. So, we definitely learn about it alongside a new model of the Switch in 2024 or whatever this successor is.

Now, if this is effectively an upgraded Switch and they’re working on a graphical enhancement patch for existing games like Scala and Violet. It’s possible New Horizons could get the same treatment, which might be interesting too personally at that point into 2024. I just prefer a totally new game.

But if New Horizons got some love again, I don’t think that would be a bad thing. It seems likely from this league that we’d be able to play Switch games on this new system, so New Horizons would be included in that even if it’s not graphically improved. I’m sure in some way, the experience would be better though on a new system. I think it’s safe to say that from a business point of view Nintendo would do something to encourage the New Horizons crowd to purchase their new console, even now they still use New Horizons to sell their online services.

They could also use this as a way to tide Animal Crossing fans over until the next main game, just like they did with the huge welcome Amiibo update for New Leaf back in the day.

Right now, this is all speculation in terms of Animal Crossing and the other major Nintendo games. But this leak about a new Nintendo system seems fairly certain at this point. I know a lot of you will be skeptical, especially after all the switch pro rumors that kind of went nowhere.

But given this person accurately sheds so many details from the new Pokemon DLC without anyone else knowing at all, it seems like at the very least Nintendo is planning what they have shared. We’ll just have to see if it actually comes to fruition or not.

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Today I want to bring you a piece of good news. Recently, New World has finally ushered in a brand new event. The event is called Legacy of Crassus, and it runs from February 21st to March 7th.

From the news officially released by New World, what we can know is that in this brand new event, we need to defeat the level 66 vicious brutes that can be seen everywhere in Aeternum to get specific items, such as Lucanus weapons and Decimus armor, standard weapons, armor, and consumables. Now, there’s no exact information on the overall stats and attributes of these weapons, yet. But again, I’m guessing they’re pretty decent if it’s event specific.

Here you should pay attention to one thing: if you want to get these rewards easily, then you have to cause at least 1000 damage to these brutes. I don’t think that’s going to be a vast deal for most people.

And every day you’ll be able to get different rewards after defeating the world bosses. If you can defeat all the world bosses eight times, you’ll get all the rewards below:

• Wrath of Decimus (Great Axe)
• Hoplites Great Blade (Great Sword)
• Cuirass of Decimus (Heavy Chest Armor)
• Fists of Decimus (Heavy Gauntlets)
• Sagittar of Lucanus (Bow)
• Vesuvius (Fire Staff)
• Galea of Lucanus (Medium Helm)
• Hobnailed Boots of Lucanus (Medium Boots)

You will also get:

• 1 - 3 Obsidian Gypsum
• 500 Umbral Shards
• A special Craft Mod that can help you add powerful effects to crafted items. (with 25% chance)

I can’t wait to get these items in my pocket. Maybe they’ve got some shirking fortification and resilient. What I believe is probably the most important add-on to the overall rewards loot rewards pool for this new event is that they called out a special craft mod that can add portable powerful effects to crafted items.

So, essentially, this sounds like this is going to become the new BIS, which means people need to craft with this item in order to get some sort of special new effect again. I am not sure what it is, but it sounds like based on this impact, it will have an overall impact on what is best in the slot.

Related: Is New World Worth Playing In 2023?

You know, we’ve got combat chain changes right around the corner, so that’s going to affect a lot of overall best and slot, as well. But regardless, I would not be surprised if you guys all saw Asmodeum prices over the next few weeks, especially with the overall just combat changes. People are going to be wanting to craft a lot more. I know on Orofena currently the Asmodeum prices are rock bottom. Hurry and stock up someduring this time. Purchase as much as you can with New World Coins because their prices are going to bump up a bit.

This event also calls out standard rewards so typically. Each victory rewards the player with either a random weapon or an armor piece at their level and that’s a 90 chance. But then, there’s a 10 chance of getting a specially named item from Brimstone Sands or greater Aeternum.

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Hello, everyone who loves Elden Ring!

You should be familiar with the MMORPG Elden Ring that has exploded in 2022, and it also has won Game Of The Year at TGA 2022. And many people may have such doubts, after nearly a year of experience,

Is Elden Ring still worth playing in 2023?

For a MMORPG, what can keep players' enthusiasm for the game itself is to continue to push fresh and interesting content and keep up with the times to update the gameplay and so on. And DLC is a good way.

It's clear to fans that Miyazaki and his team put as much, if not more, into Elden Ring DLC content as they did the base game, and the series has to deliver some of the best bosses during the add-on. Battles like Knight Gael, Artorias of the Abyss, and the Orphan of Kos have all been added to their respective titles thanks to DLC. This incredible track record should help fans remain patient as they anxiously await new content for the sprawling role-playing game. Depending on the size of the game and how long it's been since launch, it wouldn't be a shock if the game received not one but two DLC updates over the course of a year. However, this is just speculation, as there's no guarantee that even one DLC will come, even if it seems likely.

The internet is full of speculation about Elden Ring DLC, and the one-year anniversary of Elden Ring's release is less than a dozen days away. Let's wait and see if there will be a DLC release.

In addition, for ordinary players like us, if we want to get great enough achievements in Elden Ring, we must have a tough psychological quality, sufficient runes and items(consumables, materials, weapons, shields), and always keep in touch the latest developments, learning and research. After all, Elden Ring is sometimes not so easy. If you are not a firm supporter of hard games, it may be difficult to go on in Elden Ring.

When the time comes to 2023, I would like to discuss with you how you can farm more Elden Ring runes or items faster and more efficiently. Admittedly, I think that my level of competition in Elden Ring and my understanding of the game itself are not as high as you big guys, so I can't always get myself the resources I need successfully.

Free Elden Ring Runes & Items Giveaway

But it may be luck, because I am usually a person who likes to browse Elden Ring information on social platforms. I met by chance, and I saw an official Twitter account named "IGGM" posting about the tweet of "Free Elden Ring Runes" Coincided with the fact that I was desperate and I was suffering from not having enough runes in Elden Ring for my consumption, so I sent it a private message with the mentality of trying it.

As a result, it really replied to me!!!! Wow, I asked if the event was real and if it was really possible to send me some runes for free. And it turned out, as you guys think, I really got free 50M runes and 5 items. IGGM told me I can choose any 5 items, as long as it is not a set. And, I chose Crystal Spear, Carian Regal Scepter, Alberich's Robe, Alberich's Trousers and Altus Bloom.

WTF! How lucky i am to get so much free for nothing, lol!!!

To be honest, friends, you can try it out. I even asked for IGGM "Is this event valid for a long time? It won't be a limited-time event." Then, IGGM replied to me that "Free Elden Ring Runes Event" is valid for a long time, and I also learned that they will have a corresponding share of free runes and equipment gifts every month. The same giveaway event is also available on IGGM Facebook.

Here's what I gathered when I asked IGGM on Twitter about "Free Elden Ring Runes":

• Free Elden Ring Products Include: 50M runes + 5 any items(single item only, not a set)

The specific way to get it for free is:

• Follow IGGM.com Official Twitter/Facebook and private message it

• Inform IGGM of your email address, game ID, platform (PS/PC/XBOX), the specific names of 5 items you need, and your usual online time(such as 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.)

• IGGM will send someone to contact you in the game and deliver your prize to you

Note: No platform limit, no time limit, first come first served, 15 places per week

Here's a note from IGGM.com on the delivery of Elden Ring Runes & Items:

"Please open the Multiplayer and set the password: 166928, come to church of elleh and select Duelist's Furled Finger to draw a summoning mark on the ground. We will summon you soon. Since the max capacity of the inventory is 50M, if your order more than 50M, use up the runes and continue to make new marks. Repeat the steps until you get all the runes. If you have any problems, please contact our Live Chat"

Good brothers, I have listed the social accounts of IGGM for you here, if you are interested in this, you can contact them.

• IGGM.com Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iggmcom

• IGGM.com Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/iggmcom

IGGM.com Affiliate Program

In addition, IGGM also has an Affiliate Program, which may have some friends who know how it works.

• You need to register and log in to IGGM.com first, then visit https://www.iggm.com/affiliate

• Submit some information on the "User Profile" page to get a promotion link

• After other people click your promotion link and successfully place an order on IGGM.com, IGGM will begin to accumulate your promotion results, and then when the amount reaches a certain amount, you can draw up to 10% commission from it

For most Elden Ring players of ordinary economic level, IGGM.com Affiliate Program may be a shortcut to profit. Because we can use the money we get from this to exchange directly with IGGM for the corresponding amount of Elden Ring Runes or the weapons, armor, consumables, etc. you need.

I don't know if you brothers can understand this principle. Let's make it simpler, that is, we use the money we earn from IGGM to get all the resources we need to play in Elden Ring for free, and IGGM can also provide us with free guides, strategies, etc. . Once the latest developments of Elden Ring are released, we can also see the relevant analysis at IGGM.com.

Oh, by the way, let me tell you last, "Free Elden Ring Runes Giveaway" at IGGM Twitter and Facebook is available every month, until March, April, May and more in 2023, which has always existed in the future. So, if you tried to get 50M runes + 5 any items for free from IGGM and succeeded, don't let it go and share this wonderful benefit with your brothers. We should share good things with everyone who plays Elden Ring.

In the end, I sincerely hope that we all have fun in Elden Ring! Best wishes to you all!

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In 2022, FromSoftware's Elden Ring took the gaming world by storm, and it's still going strong a year later. The content of this game is very rich, enough to keep you spending hours on it. But recently it has been improved and some free updates have made it even more popular.

Reportedly, Elden Ring never received any paid DLCs. That could change in the future, if this new DLC rumor is to be believed. Today we have PvP mode, the new Colosseum arena, some weapon balance patches, and some new quests. To enhance your gaming experience and increase your chances of winning, there are some Elden Ring Runes that can be used while playing. However, the latest comments from folks on Elden Ring suggest FromSoftware may be working on a major DLC update that could add some significant content to Elden Ring. That's pretty reasonable for a game of this size.

Recently, a Reddit user ApprehensiveTop8927 made a post on Reddit that attracted a lot of attention and sparked a lively discussion about the game. The OP shared a screenshot，which shows a Discord transition between popular Elden Ring Twitch streamer Lance McDonald and user Abraham Link. Lance claimed in the talk that a "huge DLC" is coming to Elden Ring. He also said that the appearance of "huge DLC" may expand the game's map. But he also added that while he "knows a lot of what's been added", he doesn't know much about the new game mechanics.

Not long ago, some data mining workers entered the files of Elden Ring and discovered the rumored new DLC, namely new bosses, dungeons and areas. Thus, it can be proved that Lance's news is reliable. Despite this, FromSoftware has not made an official response to the news of the development of DLC. Currently, the new game Armored Core 6 is in the development process of FromSoftware. The new game is expected to be released later this year and showed at the Taiwan Game Show.

As one of FromSoftware's main games, Armored Core 6 will be the focus of this year. In the meantime, the studio may, in order not to divert your attention, use Elden Ring DLC sometime after the release of the new game Armored Core 6.

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Morgott, also known as the Omen King, is the Demigod Boss in Elden Ring. The reason I'm specifically mentioning him today is because the Tarnished pilgrims will inevitably have to fight to get into the Mountaintops of the Giants region in the Lands Between.

Specifically, the Omen King is actually the final boss of the Royal Capital of Leyndell. Therefore, if you want to successfully defeat him, you must be at least level 75-80 first. So, where exactly do you have to find it?

First, you head south of the West Capital Rampart and keep going until you reach the giant branch of the Erdtree. Continue along this branch and you will reach the Erdtree Sanctuary. There, you must face the challenge of Godfrey's Golden Shade and defeat it. Once you've successfully defeated it, you'll need to step out of the balcony and go east and then walk up the sloping branch. Follow the path until you reach the Queen's Bedchamber. From there, you need to find the stairwell to the southeast and head to the Elden Throne. This place is exactly where Morgott is.

Preparations For The Fight With Morgott

Before you actually look for Morgott, you'd better figure out how to get Margit's Shackle first. Patches sells this tool at Murkwater Cave. But you need to pay them 5,000 Elden Ring Runes.

Margit's Shackle can make Morgott vulnerable for a short time. You can also use Margit's Shackle before Morgott launches a devastating attack, which will stun Morgott for a short time. If you choose to take on this tricky boss with your summoned allies, then you should definitely summon Melina. She will provide you with additional support.

What You Need To Do During The Fight With Morgotta

Morgott's mechanism is actually similar to Margit's. This boss likes to hit his targets with heavily delayed attacks. Especially in the first stage, basically all of Morgott's attacks will have a delay. This will lead to you not knowing when to avoid damage at all. What's more troublesome is that if you haven't confronted him before, you can't figure out his attack pattern all at once.

If you want to mitigate the damage Morgott does to you, you can equip your primary or side armament with Bloodhound's Step. It's kind of an Ash of War, which gives a generous window of I-frames compared to default roll-dodging.

In dealing with Morgott you must be patient. Especially after the boss's combo is done and you find the right time to counter it. I recommend you use Bleeding builds for this battle. Because this way you only need to hit Morgott a few times to cause Blood Loss to him.

When you fight Morgott for the second turn, you step back to avoid his large AoE explosion. In the process, he'll also apply bleed to his sword and unleash a random attack on you. Either a quick lunge or a regular slash. Since these two forms of attack are predictable in advance, you can pick the right moment to counter them.

If you can't stand the combos Morgott throws at you, you can choose to use Bloodhound's Step Ash of War to distance yourself from it and heal it. If you want to fight side by side with other players, you'd better use long-range attacks or magic attacks, so that you can quickly make reasonable countermeasures according to the combat situation.

Overall, fighting Morgott is well worth it. As long as you can defeat him, you can get 90,000 Elden Ring Runes, Morgott's Great Rune, and the Remembrance of the Omen King.

…

Lucian has always been a popular champion in League of Legends, both in normal as well as in competitive play. His "hit-and-run" kit makes it rewarding to play when well-executed, and his mobility is a unique characteristic that other marksmen do not have.

Throughout the years, though, Lucian has lost a lot of value, especially in terms of total damage output, compared to the newly released champions. This brought Riot Games to make a substantial change to his kit in patch when a new portion of his passive called "Vigilance" was added to his kit. Vigilance grants additional bonus damage on Lucian's next two auto attacks when he is buffed or healed by an allied champion. The buff immediately brought Lucian back into the meta, with enchanter supports as his preferred duo partners.

Since then, the gunslinger has been a stable presence across all elos, having particular success at the top of the ladder, with a 51.78 percent win rate in Master and above, according to U.GG.

That being said, mastering Lucian is not an easy feat. He requires great mechanics and a strong understanding of his strengths and weaknesses. If you're looking to play him to climb the solo queue ladder, we have got you covered.

Runes

There are two main rune combinations for Lucian, each having their own pros and cons:

First Strike Lucian

Inspiration

First Strike: this keystone rune is easy to proc with Lucian and it's crucial to get ahead in gold of your enemies to be stronger during the mid game. Compared to most other ADCs, Lucian doesn't scale as well in the late stages of the game so First Strike's extra gold makes up for it. If used correctly, you will be having a great economy from the 10-minute mark since you can utilize your burst damage to gain more gold. You might lack some damage in the early game, but it will guarantee better items as the game prolongs.

Magical Footwear: this is the standard rune that most ADCs run. The 300 gold saved can be used to rush the Mythic item sooner and the extra ten movement speed is a valuable stat for a mobile champion like Lucian.

Biscuit Delivery: the gunslinger tends to burn a lot of mana in the early game to make trades and push the wave. The biscuits help him quickly regenerate mana and they can also be used in clutch situations to gain some extra health that might save him from dying.

Cosmic Insight: there aren't other runes that are nearly as effective as Cosmic Insight in this row of the Precision tree. Having the summoner spells' cooldowns lowered is always great for marksmen, especially for Lucian who can also use it offensively to quickly chase down a target.

Precision

Presence of Mind: just like for Biscuit Delivery, this rune grants additional mana to Lucian since he doesn't get any from his current build. The mana restored upon takedowns allows him to keep using his abilities and maintain his damage output constant in a skirmish or teamfight.

Legend: Bloodline: Lucian's build doesn't have lifesteal included, so Legend: Bloodline grants him some extra sustain that might become handy in the later stages of the game.

Press the Attack Lucian

Precision

Press the Attack: compared to First Strike, Press the Attack gives Lucian more skirmishing potential in the early game. The rune synergizes well with the ADC's passive Lightslinger and it works best in extended trades.

Presence of Mind: see above.

Legend: Bloodline: see above.

Coup de Grace: the extra eight percent damage to targets below 40 percent health is helpful for Lucian to quickly burst down a target. Go for this against rune if there are a lot of squishy targets on the enemy team.

Inspiration

Magical Footwear: see above.

Cosmic Insight: see above.

Bonuses: +10 percent attack speed, +9 adaptive force, +6 armor

Items
The starting items for Lucian are fairly straightforward: Doran's Blade is the most common start and it grants attack damage, health, and a little bit of sustain. In other words, you get everything you would need in one item.

If you're looking to go for an aggressive start, you can also consider buying a Long Sword and Refillable Potion. This is a higher-risk, higher-reward strategy since it allows you to get your first core item earlier, but it gives you less trading ability in the first few minutes of the lane. Losing the extra health and the sustain makes you also more vulnerable so it's crucial to not mess up during the laning phase.

On your first recall, look to get the Noonquiver since it greatly increases your trading ability, as well as the ability to push waves thanks to the item's passive. Try to always recall once you have the gold, otherwise, your recalls will not be as efficient and it might delay your Mythic Item purchase.

There's only one possible Mythic Item for Lucian and that's Galeforce. The item's passive can be used both offensively and defensively, further enhancing Lucian's innate mobility.

The item can also be used in combo with his own dash on his E to quickly reposition twice within a matter of tenths of seconds. After buying Galeforce, close your tier two boots with Berserkers' Greaves, and proceed to rush your second core item, The Collector.

While it's not used a lot by other ADCs, it's the best second item for Lucian as it matches with his own spike in the mid game we mentioned earlier. The lethality allows him to quickly pierce through the squishy targets and the execute passive is just the icing on the cake.

For your fourth and fifth items, you have two possible choices and the order of purchase will depend on the game state. If you're well ahead and are snowballing hard, get the Infinity Edge to maximize your damage output since you will already have the 60 percent critical strike chance. If you're struggling to walk into auto-attack range since enemies can take you down, buy Rapidfire Cannon since it costs 900 gold less and it allows you to poke from a safer position.

To round off the build, there are four possible items that can be bought, two damage-oriented choices and two defensive items. Lord Dominik's Regard and Serylda's Grudge amplify your total damage thanks to the armor penetration that both come with. LDR is better against tanks while Serylda is overall better if you need the passive's slow to kite your opponents.

If you're getting burst down and need some defensive stats, Guardian Angel is the go-to item thanks to its revive passive. Against a lot of magic damage, however, Maw of Malmortius will be more effective.

Last things I have to mention that no matter you want to choose Lucian as top laner or AD carry, the mechanism actually did not change too much through the years. So watch professional players' rank show is also important, here are two different videos I would like to recommend to you, hope you can enjoy them and get better. See you guys next time.

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World of Warcraft fans discovered a clever Easter egg from Final Fantasy 14 in Dragonflight. The clever reference in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight called upon one of Final Fantasy 14’s most infamous memes.

The Final Fantasy 14 Easter egg is found within an Engineering toy added in Dragonflight. Cleverly named the Wyrmhole Generator, this toy allows players to teleport to a random place on the Dragon Isles on a two-hour cooldown. However, players who spend 30 points in the Novelties sub-specialization of Engineering can reduce the cooldown to one hour, and gain the ability to choose a zone to teleport to instead.

From then on, when players use the Wyrmhole Generator, they are given a special dialogue box that allows them to choose one of the four zones of Dragonflight, or choose a random location. Though the text on all the options is entertaining, players were especially charmed by the final choice: “Pray return to the Waking Shores.”

For the uninitiated, Final Fantasy 14 has players work with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn in their secret, out-of-the-way base called the Waking Sands in the early portions of the Main Scenario. Minfilia Warde, a prominent NPC and quest-giver during this part of the game, frequently contacts players to summon them back to the base using the same line, much to the annoyance of many players. “Pray return to the Waking Sands” became a meme because of this, and Minfilia’s association with it made her into a contentious character.

Nevertheless, players who enjoy both World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14 got a kick out of the Easter egg in Dragonflight. Soon after it was discovered, the reference quickly spread across the official subreddits for both games. Players were quick to joke about having war flashbacks from A Realm Reborn, and wondered what Minfilia or her secretary Tataru could get up to alongside the Dragonscale Expedition in Dragonflight. World of Warcraft content creators like Asmongold even posted their own reactions to discovering the Easter egg.

As two of the biggest MMOs on the market right now, both Final Fantasy 14 and World of Warcraft contain plenty of funny references to one another. Dragonflight itself contains tons of other funny Easter eggs, including multiple from Yu-Gi-Oh! Part of the joy of any new MMO expansion is discovering clever pop culture references hidden throughout the game world. With World of Warcraft: Dragonflight now in full swing, players can scour every corner of the new expansion and share their favorite references as they find them.

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The Christmas decorations are back in Forza Horizon 5‘s Guanajuato, as we’re set out to celebrate the Horizon Holidays series.

Included within the series is also a Horizon Secret Santa event, where you’ll be rewarded with a Holiday Tree Outfit and a Lamborghini Sián Roadster if you send gifts to other players.

The cars you can unlock this week is the AMC Javelin-AMX 1971 for 20 points and the BMW M3 GTS 2010 for 40 points.

As for the series itself, you can unlock the Extreme E Odyssey 21 e-SUV 2022 for 80 points, and the Ferrari California T 2014 for 160 points.

TREASURE HUNT: DRIVING SEASON

As for the Treasure Hunt named “Driving Season”, this comes with the hint “Drive home for the Holidays in a famously green manufacturer”.

You’re required to jump into any Aston Martin car and drive for at least 5 miles.
Once unlocked, an orange circle will appear around the Playa Azul area, located at the east coast. The Chest is located within the centre of the village, within a sort of stage area with Christmas related objects nearby.

Fast travel to the Goliath race event, and immediately head to the unmarked road on your left. Drive down this path and turn right onto the marked off-road track, and the Treasure will appear on the left side of the road.

Simply smash into the Treasure Chest, and the 100FP and 3 points are yours!

PHOTO CHALLENGE #HIDEANDSEEK

This week’s photo challenge requires you to photograph the Snowman at the Casa Bella player house in Mulegé.

This house can be found on the north side of the town and directly to the south of the Mulegé sign on the map. The snowman can be found within the north-western corner of the house.

While near the snowman, simply open the camera app by using up on the D-pad and tap A to snap the picture to gain the rewards.

Upon completion, the Sleigh Bells Car Horn reward is yours. This can be equipped by heading to the car horn area in the pause menu.

SERIES 15 WET SEASON #FORZATHON SHOP HIGHLIGHTS

This week’s rewards available within Series 15’s Wet season are two cars, a hat, a car horn and an accessory, alongside the always available Wheelspins.

Both cars are available to buy from the autoshow for a cheap combined cost of 2,350,000CR. The available items from the Forzathon Shop this week are:

• Lotus Elise GT1 1997 – 600 FP

• Reindeer Antlers Hat – 75 FP

• Jingle Bells Car Horn – 75 FP

• Red Nose Accessory – 75 FP

• Porsche 911 GT2 1995 – 400 FP

• 1x Super Wheelspin – 150 FP

• 1x Horizon Wheelspin – 60 FP

#FORZATHON WEEKLY CHALLENGE BUBBLE TROUBLE

It’s confusing as to why Playground Games wants you to travel within the tiny BMW Isetta 300 Export 1957, but hey, anything to complete the playlist.

After squeezing into this micro vehicle, you’re required to reach 55mph/89kmh at any Speed Trap, earn 4 Stars at any PR Stunt, and finally wrap things up by earning 2 Stars at Danger Signs.

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There are bits and pieces from the many Need for Speed games within Need for Speed Unbound, and it does a fair job of balancing these elements.

In order for franchises to last decades, they typically have to reinvent themselves a few times. Need for Speed is no exception, even though in Need for Speed Unbound, the series takes inspiration from past titles. This is certainly not a bad thing, as there is a lot to be learned from the franchise's past.

Need for Speed Unbound returns to the street racing that characterized the series during the 2000s. It also features a focus on characters which is something that became more prevalent during the 2010s. The two elements are blended well, resulting in an addictive racing game.

Need for Speed During the 2000s

For most of its lifetime, the Need for Speed series has been about exhilarating races and evading the police. However, it has changed its setting quite a bit over time, giving each of the games a different feeling. Earlier Need for Speed titles feature tracks with some urban influence, but they also wind through the outskirts of cities, allowing gamers to enjoy the stunning scenery. This is seen, for instance, with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, which was released in 2002.

The 2000s is also the decade where Need for Speed, like many arcade racers of the time, delved into street racing. It was the perfect time to do so thanks to the level of popularity that Japanese imported cars and car customization had achieved in pop culture. This era of the franchise is best represented by Need for Speed Underground and its sequel which feature hip-hop soundtracks and the ability to customize cars to make them look as flashy as the player likes.

For most of the 2000s, the franchise stuck to this identity, arguably reaching its pinnacle with Need for Speed: Most Wanted. However, the formula eventually got stale. Furthermore, street racing lost the popularity it once enjoyed. Consequently, when Need for Speed: Carbon rolled around in 2006, many gamers saw this as the beginning of a decline in the series.

In many ways, Need for Speed Unbound is a return to form for the series. It embraces urban street racing once again, features intense police chases, and gives players the option to wildly customize vehicles. In many ways, it feels like Unbound was created for gamers who enjoyed this era.

Need for Speed in the 2010s

The 2010s were a weird time for the Need for Speed series. After the fall of the popularity of street racing, the franchise seemed to be searching for a new identity. Technically, this began in the late 2000s with titles like ProStreet that tackled legal street racing, but things have only gotten weirder from that point onward.

During the 2010s, the franchise looked toward the online world and attempted to make the most of it.

Hence, gamers got titles such as 2010's Need for Speed: World and 2015's Need for Speed which attempted to reboot the series. Neither of these titles was particularly well-received. The 2010s also saw the series look past just the cars, and pay attention to the racers as well. For example, in The Run, there are sections where players get out of their vehicles and engage in quick-time events, while 2019's Need for Speed Heat, gamers can select their own playable character from a catalog of presets.

Need for Speed Unbound also focuses on characters; it allows gamers to pick their own playable character and customize them with designer clothing. However, its single-player offering is still the main attraction, and it doesn't attempt to bill itself as an online multiplayer game as other titles in the decade did. With Unbound, it appears that Need for Speed has found an identity that suits it in the modern landscape. It takes the street racing of the 2000s and blends it with the focus on characters from the 2010s. The result is a concoction of fun arcade racing that reminds players that the franchise has not yet met its demise.

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As Diablo 4 developers prepare a final push to the game's planned release date next year, a number of current and former Blizzard employees who worked on the project described a troubled development process to The Washington Post.

The Post published an article today based on discussions with 15 current or former Blizzard employees. While the current plan is for the game to release June 6, they said it has already been pushed back multiple times, and even meeting this date is likely to require significant crunching.

While Activision Blizzard is not mandating crunch, it is incentivizing it with perks some developers described as "paltry."

Those perks range from $25 in DoorDash credit for people working more than 10 hours a day to a stock bonus plan where developers who finish the game and stay with the company for at least a year after can get anywhere from $5,000 (for entry-level employees) to $50,000 (for senior-level developers) in stock if performance targets are met.

Employees blamed poor management for the crunch and the repeatedly shifting release date.

Original director Luis Barriga and lead designer Jesse McCree – both of whom were fired last August in the wake of state and federal gender discrimination lawsuits against Activision Blizzard – were blamed for not following through on decisions, abandoning features and throwing away the work already done on them, micromanaging, pursuing certain elements of the game and then losing interest and delegating them for others to finish, a process that was said to begin burning people out.

Former Epic Games and Irrational Games veteran Rod Fergusson was also cited as a problem. Having parachuted into Irrational Games late in BioShock Infinite's development, Fergusson had some reputation for getting troubled games across the finish line. However, Blizzard employees said when he joined the team in February of 2020, his big contribution seemed to be launching a "Rodcast" weekly Zoom meeting where several hundred people would listen to him mix addressing legitimate development issues with talk of movies or celebrities he knew.

"People got frustrated because we all thought he was gonna come in and fix the game," one former employee said. "And when nothing happened, that's when you started to see this massive turnover."

Other factors that developers said exacerbated the loss of experienced developers and institutional knowledge were poor pay, unsatisfactory working conditions, and morale. After the company's gender discrimination lawsuits landed, senior leadership changed at both Blizzard and on the project itself, and Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick blamed the publisher's falling stock price not on the mounting scandals it was facing but on the delays of Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4, which one developer said did not go over well.

For those at Blizzard Albany, seeing their former studio head Jen Oneal promoted to co-leader of Blizzard and then resign months later saying Activision Blizzard refused to pay her the same as co-leader Mike Ybarra was a further blow.

"You're like, 'Man, I feel like I'm working for the bad guys," one women who formerly worked at Blizzard Albany said. "I feel like any work I do is tainted by this name."

A Blizzard spokesperson told the Post, "As you may know, game development in general, and Diablo 4 specifically, follows an iterative process where the scope evolves over time. Production on the game is going extremely well. Overtime is voluntary and limited to specific teams. We regularly survey the team on their professional well-being, and the latest results are the most positive they've been in years.

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When Riot Games’ two biggest releases, League of Legends and Valorant, hit Game Pass next week, there will be a very strong incentive for folks to be linking their Riot accounts to their Microsoft ones: for subscribers every single LoL champion, and every single Valorant agent, will be unlocked.

Currently, because those games are free-to-play on PC, unless you want to grind you have to pay for that stuff, and that’s how Riot makes its money. But because you’re already paying for Game Pass, and because Microsoft wants to give you a reason to play through them, everyone is getting everything for free, straight up.

There won’t be seperate versions of the games made available; rather, all players will need to do will be to link their Riot accounts to their Game Pass accounts and then everything will just be unlocked from there. Future characters will also be made available “as soon as they’re released”.

The deal doesn’t just include Riot’s two flagship games, it will also apply to Legends of Runeterra, Teamfight Tactics and the upcoming League of Legends: Wild Rift (though what you get of course varies between each game).

Valorant

• All current Agents

• Access to every new Agent as soon as they’re released

• 20% Match XP boost given to Battle Pass, Event Pass, and active Agent Contract progress

League of Legends

• All 160+ champions

• Access to every new champion as soon as they’re released

• 20% XP boost

Legends of Runeterra

• All cards in Foundations Set

Teamfight Tactics

• 1-Star Rare Little Legend Tacticians

• 4 Arena Skins available until April 2023, and 1 Arena Skin that’s on a monthly rotation thereafter

League of Legends: Wild Rift (coming in January) unlocked benefits include:

• All 80+ champions

• Day-one access to every new champion as they’re released

• 20% XP boost

Plus,

as an added benefit, players who link their accounts before January 1,

2023 will receive even more bonus rewards from Riot:

• Valorant – Pocket Sage Buddy

• League of Legends – Masterwork Chest and Key

• Teamfight Tactics – Little Legend Rare Egg

• Wild Rift – Random Emote Chest

• Legends of Runeterra – Prismatic Chest

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Trading in New World is once again temporarily disabled due to a newly discovered exploit affecting the Trading Post. This comes after the team had already paused some of its newly implemented cooldown restrictions on Company switching for a few days.

“Today our internal data alarms detected a Trading Post exploit, involving manipulating specific contracts in an error state. We have a fix for this issue in testing,” the update begins. Something set off the data alarms and they declare that only a small number of players took advantage of this exploit, but in order to shut down the possibility of more exploits and minimize damage to the economy, trading is once again temporarily disabled by Trading Post and player to player trading as well.

The downtime is likely to be minimal since they are currently testing a fix for the issue after identifying it. As with more recent times when trading was affected in this way due to exploits, the New World team looks to minimize disruptions.

This new issue comes on the heels of the week’s update, which stated the newly revamped Winter Convergence Festival, but also included some changes intended to fight the shell Companies, which let some territory fall under the control of the same people and eliminate fair competition. One of the changes included cooldowns when it came to certain actions:

“When leaving a Company, players will start a 72 hour cooldown on fighting in a defensive War and earning Influence for any Company toward War declaration eligibility. The cooldown begins once a player leaves.”

The issue arose when the update applied this penalty retroactively, meaning that those that had left companies this week were being locked out of participation in Wars. Some in the community expressed their frustration at the retroactive application and allegedly unclear time when they would’ve had to have their Company set.

Amazon has decided to suspend these cooldowns for a few days in order to let players get things in order. This will begin to be enforced on December 11th at 2 AM PT/ 5 AM ET so if you are thinking of switching Companies, you need to be in the right one three days before this deadline.

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