Axlerod

Battlefield 1 studio EA DICE today warned online cheaters that it’s stepping up vigilance against players who use software tricks to gain unfair advantages. In a blog post titled “Keeping the Fight Fair,” the developer stated that it sanctioned 8,500 cheaters in the month of October, and is continuing its efforts to root out third-party assist software through its FairFight initiative. “We’ve steadily ramped up our anti-cheat efforts, working closely with the FairFight team to detect and remove more cheaters than ever before,” DICE said. DICE also addressed claims, often posted on social media, that highly skilled players have been banned unfairly. “We are confident that our detection methods produce accurate results,” the studio said. “Cheat developers may be attempting to manipulate players’ minds about anti-cheat tools, and to leverage detection information from game developers.” According to DICE, skilled players are not being caught in the net. “A common misconception regarding FairFight is that higher skilled players are more likely to get sanctioned due to their improved match stats. This is not correct; it is not possible to be banned simply for being skilled.” DICE says it will streamline how it communicates its efforts to ban cheaters, in order to avoid spamming player accounts. The blog post also offers useful advice on how to protect player accounts . EA steps up campaign against Battlefield 1 cheaters WWW.POLYGON.COM Developer warns against social media disinformation

I use to play after I put them to bed.

EA CEO Defends The Publisher's Recent Slate Of Games KOTAKU.COM From an outside perspective, the past half-decade has looked rocky for Electronic Arts. A string of flops and PR disasters like Star Wars Battlefront II and Mass Effect: Andromeda, combined with moves like the shutdown of Visceral Games, has led to a lot of outrage toward the mega-publisher. EA’s perspective, however,… From an outside perspective, the past half-decade has looked rocky for Electronic Arts. A string of flops and PR disasters like Star Wars Battlefront II and Mass Effect: Andromeda, combined with moves like the shutdown of Visceral Games, has led to a lot of outrage toward the mega-publisher. EA’s perspective, however, is a little different. Yesterday on EA’s quarterly earnings call, CEO Andrew Wilson gave a passionate, fascinating defense of the company’s portfolio that’s worth reading, if only to get a better understanding of how EA’s top executive thinks. This came just minutes after EA confirmed that Anthem is delayed(even though it’s “not a delay”!) and acknowledged that it had sold one million fewer copies of Star Wars Battlefront II than anticipated. Alongside a question about FIFA’s success, an analyst asked the following: “The last couple years you’ve talked a lot about diversifying away from non-sports titles, and unfortunately a lot of the non-sports titles have performed below expectations. As a postmortem, can you give us some examples of areas you see for opportunity to improve your ability to execute and consistently deliver the titles and really drive non-sports franchises through the company?” In response, EA finance chief Blake Jorgensen made some comments about FIFA, and then Andrew Wilson chimed in with a speech that’s worth reading: “As I look back on the last few years and we think about The Sims which has continued to perform year after year; Battlefield 1 which I think was certainly the biggest Battlefield and maybe the biggest shooter of that year; Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare, which is a new IP that has done well across two iterations; Dragon Age Inquisition, which in that year [2014] was Game of the Year. Even, you look at Mass Effect and while there was some polarizing sentiment in that franchise, it’s actually performed really well, and player engagement is really strong. And then of course across mobile, SimCity BuildIt, The Sims Free Play, and Star Wars Galaxy Heroes are all highly successful in their own markets. “So as I take a 50,000-foot view and look at the breadth and depth of our portfolio across all of the games we make—and if you look at 2017 in aggregate we were the highest-reviewed publisher across our entire portfolio—so there’s a lot of real goodness there. “With all that said, that doesn’t mean we are perfect, and there are always learning opportunities for us, and we are a learning company. And as you look through our history over the last three or four years, there have been times we didn’t get it right. We have put our player-first commitment at the forefront of everything we do, and we have worked tirelessly to ensure that we are able to support and sustain them with the kind of experiences they expect from us. “So that has meant we have changed some beta processes, we have changed some testing processes, we have changed some of the ways we’ve designed, we have changed some of the ways we go to market. And as a company we will always be learning, and always evolving, and always making the right changes in service of our players. But on balance, I think we’ve had a really, really strong run on sports and non-sports.” There is, of course, an image that supports Wilson’s comments: Yet it’s hard to find many enthusiast gamers who would count EA among the developers of their favorite games, and in fact, it’s very easy to find people trashing the publisher for proliferating microtransactions, loot boxes, and other practices that often feel like crass methods to eke every last dime from players. When it comes to public opinion, things haven’t changed much since 2012 and 2013, when EA was twice declared “Worst Company In America” in a widespread poll following controversies involving Mass Effect 3, Dead Space, and the online-only SimCity reboot. So Wilson’s comments are illustrative. EA might have stepped back from Battlefront II’s loot boxes, and (from what I hear) the publisher (and many of its contemporaries) are reviewing all of their microtransaction practices in the wake of last year’s fury. But the company is happy with how things are going. For better or worse.

EA has confirmed that Anthem, the company’s upcoming open-world, multiplayer action-RPG from developer BioWare, has officially been delayed to 2019, according to a report fromThe Wall Street Journal (via Polygon.) Anthem was originally announced at E3 2017 as a wholly new property, with a planned fall 2018 release date that it seems it will no longer be making. At the time, EA showcased a flashy gameplay demo, showing off giant exosuit wearing “freelancers” in an online world that looks not unlike Bungie’s Destiny games, complete with an emphasis on collecting weapons and items through randomized drops. According to EA’s chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen, despite moving the release date to 2019, “it’s not a delay.” Instead, EA views the move as an opportunity to give Anthem a chance to get more attention as a new property than if it was forced to compete in a more crowded fall marketplace. EA will be releasing a new Battlefield title in the fall to fill Anthem’s vacated slot in the schedule, although no details have been announced beyond that. Jorgensen also disputed a report from Kotaku last week that claimed that development was behind schedule, claiming that “people are trying to create a story.” EA confirms that Anthem is delayed until 2019 - The Verge WWW.THEVERGE.COM Don’t call it a “delay,” though

Our official Ubisoft Forums have now closed. You can find our Forum channels over on Discord by clicking this https://discord.gg/ubisoftofficial link FORUMS.UBI.COM This page has definitely closed. To find your favorite forums and threads, go to https://discussions.ubisoft.com. Undocumented patched updates thread.

On patch is out today. I can't wait to try it out tonight. We need to find out the new meta as soon as we can. Testing testing testing.

downloading it now before I go to work.

Since the Ghost Recon Wildlands launch ten months ago, we have brought you 11 title updates to improve the game based on your feedback, free new content including the legend missions for the Predator, or El Tio, and Ghost War – an all-new PvP experience free to everyone. Of course, we’re not stopping, here, as we are planning continued support for both the campaign mode and Ghost War. We also brought tons of new customization elements to the game store for the players who want to develop their style, while always making sure the system was fair to all players. Coming with the next Ghost Recon Wildlands update, Extended Ops, we will be introducing Battle Crates that are designed to offer you an additionnal and accessible way to complete your cosmetic customization experience, for both the Campaign and Ghost War modes. The Extended Ops update will be released for free before the end of the month for all platforms. Stay tuned for more details about the content of the update coming soon. Throughout the development of the Battle Crates, we made sure the implementation is fair in terms of the items given to players, while also ensuring that they have zero impact on gameplay and player’s progression. Below you will find an F.A.Q. that will further detail the new store implementation. How to get Battle Crates All players will receive a gifted Spec Ops Crate and a gifted Ghost War Crate, which are redeemable on the Ubisoft Club. Battle Crates can then be purchased from the Store for 400 Store Credits, with each Battle Crate containing three items that you do not already own. Battle Crates Content Battle Crate is the name of a collection of crates specifically designed for the Campaign and co-op mode (Spec Ops Crate) as well as for the Ghost War mode (Ghost War Crate). Spec Ops Crates contain Epic Weapons, Exotic Weapons, Vehicles and tons of cosmetic items for you to enjoy even more in the whole Campaign mode. Ghost War Crates contain Exotic Weapons (re-skinned versions of weapons already available in the game – no impact on the weapon stats), customization items and an exclusive new line of skins for your character, called Icons. Overall, all the cosmetic items you get can be used in both the Campaign and Ghost War modes. More than 200 items are available through the Battle Crates experience. All the items are also purchasable in the store through the various pack offers, except for the Icon skins that are exclusive to the Ghost War Crates. You can consult the list of all the items you can obtain on a dedicated page on the Ghost Recon Network. Duplicate management There are no duplicates in the Battle Crate system. You will only get items you do not already own. Item Rarity All the items available from the Battle Crates have various levels of rarity, affecting their chance of dropping with each Crate: - Rare - Epic - Legendary Should you have more questions regarding the Battle Crates, don’t hesitate to share them on our official forums. We will update this F.A.Q. consequently.

Ghost Recon Wildlands on Xbox One, PS4 & PC | Ubisoft (US) GHOST-RECON.UBISOFT.COM Get Ghost Recon Wildlands and experience the game that blazed the path for Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Enter a vast open world that challenges you to explore, discover cartel operations, and shut them down however you see fit. Use any combination of weapons, vehicles, and tactics to destroy the cartel’s assets, take out its bosses, and strike at the heart of its leadership. Coming January 25th, Extended Ops is bringing a new Extraction Mode for Ghost War and some convenience improvements to the campaign mode. The update will be available on PC, PlayStation®4, and Xbox One. The size of the patch will be 8 GB on Steam, 14 GB on Uplay and up to 13.5 GB on consoles depending on your version. Please remember that you’ll need to restart and update your platform if you wish to play online. In addition to the new Extraction mode, we are also glad to bring colorblind options to both the campaign mode and Ghost War. We have been in touch with several colorblind community members in order to add visual options that address all kinds of colorblindness. Should you have any feedback to share with us on this topic, please don’t hesitate to share them on the official forums. Also, great news for PvE players: Fallen Ghost weapons are now available in the campaign mode, to the condition that you have installed Fallen Ghost on your version. Extended Ops is also introducing Battle Crates that are designed to offer you an additional and accessible way to complete your cosmetic customization experience, for both the Campaign and Ghost War modes. For more information about the Battle Crates, please read the dedicated FAQ. GHOST WAR CHANGES Extraction mode In Extraction, teams take turns in defending or attacking a compound to extract a hostage to safety. Two hostages are located on the map, but only one of them needs to be extracted to win the game. If you are in the defending team, you role will be to prevent the opposite team from grabbing the hostage located inside your safe zone. The attacking team has to localize the hostage, grab them and escort them to their own safe zone, without being killed by the defending team. Watch the trailer below for more information: New maps Extraction can be played on two maps for now, with more maps to come in the next update. Those two maps are available for both Quickplay and Ranked. Institute Garage FULL CHANGES LIST – Ghost War Classes - Sentinel & Pathfinder: Fixed an issue where the Sentinel and Pathfinder firing shot sound was not heard by teammates and enemies. - Artillery: Fixed an issue where by launching a mortar strike, the player’s position would be revealed on the tacmap. - Predator: We have removed the Predator's Assault-specific HP bonus and reduced the HP gain when activating Adrenaline Rush. The Predator will now be more vulnerable, while still remaining extremely lethal and versatile. - Medic: The Medic's drone will now be marked for the enemy 1 second after being launched, instead of the 6 seconds that the other drones get. This will give enemy teams more time to react to a Medic's revive attempt and try to counter it. Maps - Warehouse: We fixed an exploit which allowed players to rush to the top of the building and gain an unfair advantage on the enemy team. - Jungle base: We blocked off the upper area of the main building to avoid camping and negative gameplay experiences. - Urban Incursion: We've moved the Uplink location in order to focus the gameplay in a more open area. - Fixed several map level design issues. Ranked Please have a look at our Ranked Mode FAQ for more information about the Ranked mode. All Ranked changes will be applied at the start of the second season, start of February. - Player Rating: The Matchmaking Rating (MMR) is now calculated at the end of a match, instead of the end of a round. This way we avoid frustrating situations where players would win the match, but decrease in rank because they have lost one or two rounds against a lower rated team. This also means that the placement rounds will be removed and replaced by placement matches. - Matchmaking: Because we now take into account full match outcomes when calculating ratings, players will not be able to join ongoing matches anymore, because it would be unfair to join a match where the enemy team is already leading. Also, when completing a Ranked match, players will not be dropped to the Menus anymore. Instead, they will keep being engaged in the matchmaking process in order to let them play consecutive matches without having to restart matchmaking each time they finish a match. - Penalties: Leaving penalties are now more severe in Ranked Mode, in order to discourage and punish players from leaving an ongoing match as this will have a much bigger impact on the game. Quickplay penalties have not been changed. - Fixed an issue where an incorrect warning message was displayed on the Ranked button for the case where the next strike would grant a penalty. Prestige - Fixed an issue where the Prestige points were not displayed on the end screen results page, when ranking up. Custom games - Fixed an issue where, in Custom Match sessions with players in only one team, would end right after player’s spawn. Uplink - Fixed an issue where a wrong sound bark was played if the round was won by eliminating the enemy team in Uplink game mode. User Interface - A compass has been added at the top of the in-match HUD screen so players can use it either for callouts or to better navigate the map. - Added Colorblind mode PC - Fixed an issue where the Scope category items would remain set if they were highlighted with the mouse and not selected. Store: - Added Ghost War Crates. For more information, please read our FAQ. Bug fixes: - Fixed an issue where the Player could holster the weapon by canceling the capture of recon tower or Uplink, right before it begins. - Fixed an issue where you could see the drone’s rotor blades while spectating a player. - Fixed an issue related to character collision and throw-able items on some body parts. - Fixed an issue where downed players that were inside a mine radius could not be revived after the mine has exploded. - Fixed an issue where a mine could be triggered by the player if the mine was placed above ground, on an object, and the player would step on the ground next to the mine. - Fixed several HUD display issues. - Fixed several text issues. - Fixed an issue where the Uplay Rewards popups were displayed each time you enter Ghost War (the issue only impacted some accounts). CAMPAIGN CHANGES Weapons - Fallen Ghost weapons are now available in the main game after installing the DL.C - Fixed a recoil bug on the R4 and MDR weapons. User Interface - Added Colorblind mode. - Fixed a bug on Helicopter Controls HUD elements. Store - Added Spec Ops Crates. For more information, please read our FAQ. Bug fixes - Fixed a bug when the explosion didn’t go off after killing the Predator for some players. GHOST RECON NETWORK CHANGES - Added the list of all the items available in Battle Crates, so that players can assess which items they do not have yet. GHOST RECON HQ APP CHANGES - Added Tacmap support for the Extraction mode in Ghost War. Thank you so much, Ghosts, for your continuous support and feedback on Ghost Recon Wildlands. Please let us know your thoughts on this latest update on our official forums, and on Reddit. To learn more about Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, please keep an eye on ghostrecon.com and visit our official Facebook profile. We invite you to join the discussion on Twitter using @GhostRecon and on our official forums and Ghost Recon Discord channel. To keep track of your stats and find other Ghosts to join your taskforce, log in to the Ghost Recon Network and download the Ghost Recon HQ App.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhyLRYo0HrA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltzy5vRmN8Q

A few months ago, we learned that Activision had patented a multiplayer matchmaking system designed to manipulate players into purchasing microtransactions. It now appears that arch-rivals EA have filed patents for two similar systems, though theirs deal with player engagement rather than solely with microtransactions. Are you ready to engage with these upcoming PC games? EA’s first patent is for a system of dynamic difficulty adjustment. Obviously enough, this system would adjust the difficulty of a game based on the player’s performance to keep them engaged. This isn't a novel concept - though if it's patentable, EA's version of it presumably includes a number of innovations - and nor is it necessarily objectionable, though players who like a challenge will be rightly aggrieved if that's taken away from them, especially without their knowledge. The second patent is more complicated, and potentially more controversial. Named Engagement Optimised Matchmaking (EOMM), it is designed to keep you engaged in multiplayer games by fiddling with their matchmaking algorithms. It considers a variety of data in so doing, including player skill, sportsmanship, and play style - the algorithm will apparently recognise players who play defensively or offensively, and even which kinds of attacks they prefer. The likeliest controversy, as ever, concerns monetisation. As Destructoid point out, EOMM was proposed in this research paper, which says the following in its conclusion: “Within the EOMM framework, the core building components, skill model, churn model and graph pairing model, are uncoupled so that they can be tuned and replaced independently. Moreover, we can even change the objective function to other core game metrics of interest, such as play time, retention, or spending. EOMM allows one to easily plug in different types of predictive models to achieve the optimisation.” In other words, EOMM could theoretically be tuned to drive player spending, at which point its goals resemble those of Activision's system. It should be noted that Activision say their system has not been implemented in any games yet, whereas EA's two patents are just applications, so they can't have been. Both were filed on March 8, 2016, and as , Activision's patent took around two and a half years to be approved - so maybe EA's systems will get the nod just in time for Anthem. EA have filed a patent for an online matchmaking algorithm to drive “engagement” | PCGamesN WWW.PCGAMESN.COM A few months ago, we learned that Activision had patented a multiplayer matchmaking system designed to manipulate players into purchasing microtransactions. It now appears that arch-rivals EA have filed patents for two similar systems, though theirs deal with player engagement rather than solely wit

Basically you get a full minute of sprint. I literally got 2 kills from guys running into the church on Pilgram Retreat! I beat them to the door. It is major OP. Their Sniper went straight to the back of the map. Overall this is a powerful setup. It does take a little practice but it is very effective.

The best part of this information is after 1 round, we made Mark Armory quit mid match and leave along with one of his buddies.

and I still have over 100K in prestige points I can not use. Whippee

With all the hubbub going into its Microtransactions and loot boxes, some players were expecting Star Wars: Battlefront II to bomb ferociously, perhaps to serve as a lesson to Electronic Arts on how to do business. However, according to new numbers provided by VGChartz, it didn’t bomb as expected, although there are stark differences between how it performed compared to the original Battlefront. According to the company’s global weekly chart ending November 18th, the game managed to sell 1.3 million copies in its first week at retail, a decent number for a blockbuster of its stature. Updated sales numbers weren’t given, but it’s expected that the game actually did pretty good for Electronic Arts, despite all the controversy. But, as respectable as the launch sales are, they’re wayyyyy down from what the original Star Wars: Battlefront managed to produce back in 2015. When that game launched, it managed to sell more than 3.6 million copies in its first week of release, although sales dropped off since that time. As for where Battlefront II sold best, the PlayStation 4 looked like the definitive winner, with 869,000 copies sold, or roughly 66 percent of the total number. The Xbox One was close behind in second place with 33 percent sold, around 438,000 copies. Meanwhile, the PC version scored very abysmal numbers in its first week of release, only selling just around 18,000 units, or an estimated one percent of overall sales. Ouch. The game apparently sold the best in the United States, with 558,000 copies sold overall, or 42 percent of overall sales. Europe was very close behind with 38 percent of sales, around 503,000 copies, and Germany and France had about 77,000 copies sold each. It’s unknown how Battlefront II’s issues affected sales in the long-term, but we should be hearing more about December’s sales numbers very soon, and see just how well it fared during the holiday season, as well as with the free downloadable content EA was promising for the game. No doubt the publisher is paying very close attention to its end results, and perhaps studying what to do differently with its next Star Wars title. We’ll find out soon enough. Bandai Namco May Extend the Dragon Ball FighterZ Open Beta COMICBOOK.COM Bandai Namco is considering extending the Dragon Ball FighterZ open beta following multiple [...]

Our official Ubisoft Forums have now closed. You can find our Forum channels over on Discord by clicking this https://discord.gg/ubisoftofficial link FORUMS.UBI.COM This page has definitely closed. To find your favorite forums and threads, go to https://discussions.ubisoft.com.

I am not saying a word but I have always liked that song

CERES, Calif. – A Northern California man has been arrested for homicide after police say he killed his mom during a dispute over a video game headset. Around 9:50 p.m. Thursday, authorities responded to a home on River Valley Circle in Ceres for reports of a victim suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. The 68-year-old woman later died from her injuries at the hospital, according to KTXL. During their investigation, police determined 28-year-old Matthew Nicholson had been in his bedroom playing video games when he became upset and started yelling. When the victim went to check on Nicholson, the pair began to argue. During the argument, Nicholson broke his video game headset and blamed his mother. After threatening to kill both his mother and father, police say Nicholson used a handgun to shoot two rounds into the wall and then shot his mother in the head. Nicholson fled to a relative’s house in Riverbank after his father wrestled the gun from him. Police located his car in Riverbank and took him into custody without further incident. Nicholson was booked into the Stanislaus County Jail for homicide where he is being held without bail. Police: Son shoots mom to death during dispute over broken video game headset FOX59.COM CERES, Calif. – A Northern California man has been arrested for homicide after police say he killed his mom during a dispute over a video game headset. Around 9:50 p.m. Thursday, authorities respon…

Twenty-five-year-old Tyler Barriss was charged today in Kansas for involuntary manslaughter and two other counts in the wake of a swatting call that led police to kill an unarmed 28-year-old at his home. The maximum sentence varies but if found guilty, Barriss could face a hefty fine and years in prison. Police say that Barriss had called police to report a hostage situation, telling officers on December 28, 2017 that he had his family at gunpoint and had doused the house with gasoline. He then gave them an address for 28-year-old Andrew Finch, who was shot and killed by an officer when he answered the door. That officer is now on paid administrative leave. Barriss reportedly made the call after an argument between two Call of Duty players led to one giving the other an address. That player then reportedly gave the address to Barriss, who was known in the community for swatting—making false police reports in order to get officers to show up at an adversary’s house. The address turned out to be unrelated to anyone involved with the dispute, however, and instead led police to Finch. Barriss was also charged with giving false alarm and interference with law enforcement. His bond is set at $500,000. Man Arrested For 'Swatting' Call That Led To Murder Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter KOTAKU.COM Twenty-five-year-old Tyler Barriss was charged today in Kansas for involuntary manslaughter and two other counts in the wake of a swatting call that led police to kill an unarmed 28-year-old at his home. The maximum sentence varies but if found guilty, Barriss could face a hefty fine and years in prison.

All they have to do is take out the boxes. This should have been fixed months ago. Since the last patch, they actually made it easy to use the exploit. I would not even call it an exploit now.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

SYFY Official Site WWW.SYFY.COM I guess winter isn't coming this year after all. I can't believe this.

I can't agree more. I will add in the fact that they also screwed over Hardcore mode. I figure once Disney pulls the star wars ip from ea, then they will have more free time on their hands and won't be able to use that excuse any more. I don't care how pretty the game takes look for the next or how well the beta testing goes. I will not be buying the next Battlefield until it's been out a month.

I will wait 1 month after release to make up my mind. If they do not go back to 3rd party servers, I will probably not buy it.