The new Hearthstone adventure is coming very soon, and thus Blizzard chose to have a big livestream to reveal all the other new cards we can expect to see played and won during the wings of the adventure.

One of the big themes going on with it are Portal spells, of which we saw the very first with Firelands Portal originally. Each portal seems to have two effects that trigger upon playing, usually combining an amount of damage with a secondary effect and each portal is specific to a certain class.

Check out the new cards below and see if there’s any you want to put into your deck. I’m considering Cat Trick myself…

Of all of them to be revealed Fool’s Bane has caused the most discussion over it could be considered OP or not (I really don’t think it is) and I honestly cannot believe that Blizzard is only now using “Swashburglar” as a Minion name.

Soon we shall take these cards into our decks, and I can’t wait.

Black Desert Online is one of many MMOs from Korean makers that has been trying to extend their audience to the West. For some time there’s been concerns among the western players though about the game being “pay 2 win” – a concern that does have some evidence given that the premium items from the in-game store you use real money within do actually come with in-game benefits.

A few days ago the developers Daum decided that those items should now be available to all, but by making them sellable for the in-game currency silver they’ve just caused new problems. Fans are concerned that this change will encourage people to spend more money to get the items to then sell so they can build up their silver amounts, to the point where a number of groups actually had in-game protests with picket signs and everything.

Others took to the forums to outline why they had a problem with the changes, with one such user actually making a long and detailed post about p2w vs non-p2w games and how generally those who chose to make their MMOs non-p2w stayed in business a lot longer. Others talked about making chargebacks to get refunds, fed up with the way that the game was. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like they’re being listened to. In fact, judging by the evidence the posts are being removed and the users receiving warnings and even bans.

Most of the details of various people getting warnings and bans can be found on this post on the PCGaming Reddit (screencap here in case topic is removed), but the author of the long and details post contrasting p2w and non-p2w games made their own post on their WordPress blog in which they express disappointment and even some foreknowledge that they might get into trouble for making their forum topic in the first place.

While throwing around the word ‘censorship’ is generally not something you should do haphazardly (it’s quite the accusation after all), if Daum is removing most or even all of the negative feedback they are getting for their change it’s not reflecting well upon them. However one of the things we can notice from all the screencaps provided is it seems like the chief forum mod handing out these bans is just the one person: CM_Aethon. From the WordPress blog it does sound like Aethon has a history of being difficult to deal with among the forum users.

While we can only go on the evidence we have right now, which is all from the side of the users, it does sound like this isn’t the end of the matter. If Daum makes a public response we will cover that and then we can see how the story develops.

Considering that QuakeCon is named after, well, Quake it doesn’t see an announcement about a new game in the franchise all that often. Expectations were high this year though, following the reveal of Quake Champions at Bethesda’s E3 and QuakeCon didn’t dissapoint. id Software’s Creative Director, Tim Willits, took the stage during the keynote at the convention and showed off some new footage of Quake Champions. In addition to the gameplay trailer, seen below, a plethora of details were revealed. So watch the trailer, and then lets break it down.

While many fans were disappointed that Quake Champions seemed to be a hero shooter in the E3 trailer, little of that is on display in the trailer. Instead the game looked fast and frenetic, very similar to the classic Quake 3: Arena.  Instead, Willits confirmed that while each character has a single unique ability, they are more “additive”, stating that games will be determined by player skill and not team comps.

Characters

Several characters were confirmed, and the names and abilities are as follows:

• Ranger – Has a throwable teleporter. You can warp to it while its in midair.
• Nyx- Ghost walk allows her to temporarily turn invisible. This seems like a great escape tool, or a good way to get the drop on foes.
• Anarki- Has a…hoverboard. It seems to make him faster. Ok?
• Visor- Piercing Sight is basically temporary wall hacks, letting him see enemies through walls.
• Scalebearer- Bull Rush lets him close distance quickly and lay the smackdown on his enemies.

Weapons

This is the fun part. While not all of the weapons were revealed, if you pay attention to the trailer you can see some old Quake staples:

• Buzz Saw Gauntlet
• Machine Gun
• Shotgun
• Lightning Gun
• Rocket Launcher
• Rail Gun
• NAIL GUN!!!

The game looked extremely fast, as you can see above. There was tons of bunny hopping, rocket jumping and midair rail gun frags. All of this is reassuring to longtime fans of the franchise. Even more assuring were the comments by Willits that there are no loadouts in the game. Instead, you move around the map and collect weapons. As he put it “That’s how you get weapons in a Quake game.” Given the mixed reactions to the multiplayer of Bethesda and id’s other recent shooter DOOM, its no wonder that fans were pleased by the return to old school arena shooter form.

As if all of that weren’t enough information to send fanboys into overload, me included, the Quake Champions closed beta has been confirmed as beginning in 2017. Details on how to get in have yet to be revealed, but you can be sure we’ll be posting about it when we find out. After we all sign up, of course.

Digital collectable card games are in right now, especially since Hearthstone became a thing and went on to become yet another popular running game from Blizzard, regularly updated with expansions, adventures and balance nerfs a plenty.

Bethesda have tried their hand at a game now, using their Elder Scrolls property as the basis. Produced by Dire Wolf Digital, The Elder Scrolls: Legends has been in closed beta for a few months now; but it’s finally entered open beta meaning that it’s available now for anyone to download on PC through the Bethesda Launcher (the same one you use to play Fallout Shelter). The game is free-to-play and features rules not unlike Blizzard’s own digital card game. Digmbot tried it out and he loved it.

A full release of the game will be coming later on this year and the game will be available on not just the PC, but also Android, iOS and Mac too.

Among the things that have already been shwon off at Quakecon this year, was a demo for Dishonored 2 – a Corvo High Chaos one.

For those not in the know, a High Chaos run in the previous entry meant that you solved problems as quickly and directly – which often meant a lot of killing of those in your way. Needless to say the demo for the new game showed that the same thing goes here.

In it, the powers that Corvo boasted in the last game were on show, but to a much enhanced and extended level. Combat in a high-chaos run can be brutal with them. Shown on screen was the signature ‘Blink’ move in which Corvo teleports himself quickly around, now able to be used to move in closely to a foe and take them from behind or slam into enemies to shove them back. The move also has the “stop time and redirect” improvement taken from the DLC for the last game, The Knife of Dunwall. Bend Time is also still in use, allowing time to be slowed for the set up of devastating combinations of attacks; as well as upgrades allowing Corvo to slowly advance time to better set up those combinations of moves. Possession was also shown off, with upgrades allowing Corvo to transfer from one host to another without needing to unpossess the first.

Of course, the combat moves and his sword and pistol are also useful for dispatching opponents bloodily and spectacularly. Some new non-lethal moves have also been added, such as a combat choke, nonlethal drop and more, for those who prefer to sometimes not go charging in all guns blazing. It’s a good wa to get yourself noticed and killed, you know.

The missions too are slightly different. While they do offer the same choice of approach for taking out targets, just as Dishonored did; there’s now choices of targets where you can do either or. The locations too are striking, with one such location infested with nests of Bloodflies. In that case, you can choose to destroy the nests or simply Blink past them. It’s up to you. Tall buildings surround you and the feel of them is slightly warmer, reflecting that some years have passed since the first game.

So now we’ve seen some of the gameplay for the game, it seems like Arkane are aiming to make the game much more extensive; building upon the foundations put in place by the first Dishonored game. Are you excited to play as both Corvo and Emily? Let us know below!

Bethesda Blog “Dishonored 2 at QuakeCon – Corvo High Chaos Demo”: [x]