News
PUBG Vikendi Patch Is Live on PC
A brand new patch for PUBG has been rolled out and Vikendi, the new 6×6km map, is now available to all PUBG players on PC.
PUBG Vikendi – Update 24 patch notes
Vikendi
Gameplay
- Vikendi is 6x6km map. The gameplay of Vikendi is quicker than Erangel and Miramar, but offers an arguably more tactical experience than Sanhok.
- Players can throw snowballs while waiting to board the plane in the starting area
- Vehicles will be more slippery in snow or icy areas. Acceleration on icy terrain is slow and you lose more general vehicle control as you speed up
- Footprints and vehicle tracks will appear as players travel in snow-covered areas. Keep an eye out! These are great to help identify if enemies have passed by recently
- Keep in mind that footprints and tracks in the snow don’t stay around forever!
Redzone
- The center of the red zone spawns outside of the play zone
- The smaller the play zone, the smaller the red zone
Bluezone
- The first circle of every game is much smaller than other maps, but subsequent circle sizes change less drastically.
- This facilitates more blue zone variety and unique experiences.
- Similar strategies work on Vikendi to Erangel and Miramar for the first three phases, but the zones will close slower starting from phase 4, similar to Sahnok. We feel this leads to a good balance between strategy and gunplay throughout the duration of each match
Item Spawn Balance
- The overall item spawn rate is at a midpoint between our maps – offering a unique place between the spawn rates of Erangel and Sahnok.
- Level 3 helmets spawn in the world
- Level 3 vests spawn more often than other maps
- Smoke Grenades are spawned at a higher rate compared to other throwables
Weapons
Added a new AR – G36C
- G36C spawns only in Vikendi
- Chambered for 5.56mm ammo, it can load 30 bullets and 40 with an Extended Magazine
- G36C has a lower and upper rail for attachments, but cannot attach a stock
Vehicles
Added a new vehicle – Snowmobile
- The Snowmobile only spawns in Vikendi
- It seats 2 players and performs much better than other vehicles on snow and ice, but is more difficult to drive on other terrain.
Replay Editor
Added a Replay editor system
- This system allows you to create dynamic video clips with creative camera angles and special effects using your replay files
- You can also create 3D paths for the camera and camera angles and export clips
- Guide & Tutorial of the replay editor system will be updated later.
Gameplay
- Improved the character animations used in the air.
- Character movements are much more fluid and have been improved to be more realistic.
Parachute System Overhaul
Updated parachuting system will be applied to the test server on December 10.
- Freefalling
- LSHIFT now puts you into a dive at full speed straight down towards the ground
- Turning speed is now much faster and has increased control, responsiveness, and precision
- Parachuting
- Added new freefall animations and increased overall control and responsiveness
- LSHIFT helps you drop faster and land quicker
- LCTRL lets you glide, when you want to travel a longer distance
You can now cut the parachute while relatively close to the ground, while still moving through the air.- This can be used to strategically to get to your drop point faster, but be careful, as you can take damage if you drop too far
- Added new landing animations
- The speed in which you land matters, as landing too fast may force your character to roll, or roll for longer, before you can gain full control of your movement
- Colliding with buildings or objects while parachuting will now automatically cut your parachute. Be careful!
- The parachute no longer disappears instantly after landing
- Improved blood hit effects
- Improved the visuals of blood particles when players are shot.
- Improved the visuals of blood effects that appear on screen when shot by other players.
- Slightly increased delay between single shots of the M16A4
- Players now receive damage from Molotovs that hit their vehicle
- Molotovs that hit around the vehicle, or when driven through an already-exploded molotov will not damage those inside
Survival Title System (Season 2 Beta)
- Changed Season 1 Beta Rank system to Season 2 Beta Survival Title System.
- For more information, please check the Dev Letter (Introducing our new Beta Season 2 Title System) released on Dec 5.
UI/UX
- Changed the overall lobby theme in celebration of our latest map – Vikendi
- Applied a snowing effect
- Changed the background music
- Improved the Store feature
- Added additional sorting features to sort by Featured, Newest, Price High to Low, Price Low to High
- When you preview items in the store, only the selected item to be previewed will be displayed on your character. All items equipped in your wardrobe will be unequipped.
- If you preview a helmet skin, makeup or other items covering the face, all other items equipped on the head will be unequipped
- Combined the ‘Career’ and ‘Leaderboard’ menu in Statistics into a ‘Season’ menu
- Added On/Off option keybind for the on-screen key guide
- You can toggle the on-screen key guide by pressing ALT+K
- You can change the default setting for this feature in the settings under the Gameplay tab
Play Menu UI Renewal
- Improved the map and game mode selection UI
- Training mode can now be found under the PLAY menu, next to public match
Performance
- Optimized foliage and vegetation rendering
- Improved CPU performance by optimizing the object creation process
- Improved GPU performance for Medium and Low options by adjusting graphic quality related to the ‘Post Processing’ with those settings (tuned HBAO+)
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue where each weapon had a different delay between reloading and being able to fire
- Fixed an issue which caused vehicles to sometimes pass through players, when rolling down a hill
- Fixed an issue which prevented the system menu from opening when clicking a specific spot on the button
- Fixed an issue when laying prone right next to a wall, your weapon could move through the wall in FPP
- Fixed an issue when spectating a player who died in Replay Mode, the follow camera stopped working
- Fixed an issue which caused sudden frame drops temporarily when quickly toggling voice/sound options repeatedly
- Fixed an issue that caused the region indicator in-game beneath the health bar to display as “UNKNOWN”
- Region indicator will now not be shown until before the match countdown starts
- Fixed an issue which caused character animations to look unnatural when players were pushed by a vehicle moving down a hill
- Fixed an issue caused after restarting the lobby with ‘Open Crate’ and ‘Preview’ buttons displaying on the left side of the screen in the Store Inventory page
- Fixed an issue which caused the camera to fall into the ground in replay mode after parachuting
- Fixed an issue where the angle of the spectated player’s view was different from that of the player
Business
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon Winning in United Kingdom
FromSoftware title ‘Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon’, which is published by Bandai Namco, has laid claim to the top spot of the boxed charts in the United Kingdom this week following it’s August 25th release.
Armored Core 6’s debut pushed Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to the second overall spot in news that video game journalists have been covering extensively.
According to GamesIndustry.biz, Bandai Namco believes that ‘Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon’ is a “big step up in the franchise’ and communicated their hopes that it would surpass previous Armored Core games following the increased popularity in the game developers work on Elden Ring.
The United Kingdom charts also saw The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom move back to the 3rd spot, and FIFA 23 holding the 4th spot.
The biggest rise was from Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which jumped back in the top top from it’s previous 24th spot to land in 6th with a 146% increase in sales. That game, along with Hogwarts Legacy, is currently a part of a Playstation 5 bundle.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Game of the Year edition entered the Top Ten this week with an appearance in the 9th spot.
The news wasn’t so good for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre which saw a debut in the 13th spot last week but has now dropped to 37th following a 43% decrease in sales week-on-week, despite it’s initial push on every video game streaming platform following it’s heavily hyped arrival.
Here is a breakdown from the United Kingdom Boxed Top Ten for the week ending on August 26th, via GamesIndustry.biz.
Last Week | This Week | Title |
---|---|---|
New Entry | 1 | Armored Core VI: Fires Of Rubicon |
1 | 2 | Mario Kart 8 Deluxe |
4 | 3 | The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom |
3 | 4 | FIFA 23 |
9 | 5 | Hogwarts Legacy |
24 | 6 | Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga |
5 | 7 | Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate |
7 | 8 | Minecraft (Nintendo Switch) |
12 | 9 | The Witcher III: Wild Hunt GOTY Edition |
2 | 10 | Grand Theft Auto V |
Business
Scriptic Raises $6 Million in Additional Seed Funding
Interactive drama developer and BAFTA-nominated studio Scriptic has raised a total $6.2 million in additional seed funding, including $500,000 from the Sony Innovation Fund, bringing the total seed investments to $8.7 million.
The funding will be deployed to continue going towards the expansion of its mobile narrative offerings, and the studio aims to provide its generative AI developer tools to more writers and storytellers.
“It’s a huge honor to have Sony Innovation Fund join our roster of stellar investors, and we’re thrilled that they share our vision for the future of interactive media and storytelling,” Scriptic CEO Nihal Tharoor said, according to GamesIndustry.biz.
This marks another example of studios who find Angel Investors and find VC investors to fund their initiatives, and those deals making waves in the gaming industry.
Game News
Xbox Scheduled to Release Baldur’s Gate 3 Later This Year
Following news earlier this year that Larian Studios cited technical issues developing the port, there is now official confirmation that Baldur’s Gate 3 will be launching on Xbox Series X|S consoles this year.
Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke officially announced the update on social media following a meeting with Xbox head Phil Spencer.
“We’ve found a solution that allows us to bring Baldur’s Gate 3 to Xbox players this year still, something we’ve been working towards for quite some time,” Vincke said in the announcement. “All improvements will be there, with split-screen coop on Series X.”
The Xbox Series S console version of the RPG will not feature split-screen coop, a disappointing part of the update, but Baldur’s Gate 3 will have cross-save progression functionality between Steam and Xbox Series consoles.
Stay tuned here or other prominent video game journalists for more information on Baldur’s Gate heading to Xbox in 2023.
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