It’s now about a year since Battlefield 4 was released, and it’s still being patched. This patch seeks to address the netcode issues that were hampering the game. High frequency support has now been added for the console versions of the game, and this setting has also been made the default across all platforms. The time difference for damaging other players has also been lowered to tackle trade kills and behind cover kills that occurred due to high ping rates.

There’re other additions too of course, including the addition of the new Obliteration Competitive sub-game mode, some tweaks made to weaponry and attachments (mostly slight debuffs but the lasers have received a small improvement in their hip-fire accuracy), a less cluttered UI, an easier to understand Revive mechanic and so on.

And of course, the soldier movement has now changed to be almost parallel to that of the soldier movement of the previous game, Battlefield 3. But we knew that one was coming anyway.

Loadout’s about to get a new co-op campaign. What’s more, its Beta is currently on Steam and free to play.

The opponents this time are an alien species known as the Kroad. Their favourite hobby just happenes to be wiping out humanity, as well as a side interest of constructing robots that… also wipe out humanity. Anyone sensing a pattern here?

The campaign will come with a bunch of different missions that ramp up in difficulty and have different objectives from Alien Assault to Hold Your Pole. It’ll also come with a new progression system and revamped inventory management for the game in general, as well as adding new modes. Your alien foes will also drop shiny loot to help upgrade your character in their preferred role of the battle, as well as recycling spare loot to upgrade the weapons and gear you actually use through the new Fusion system.

Happy hunting.

Pick up the game here: [x]

Kickstater is a very popular way to fund small potentially more ‘indie’ projects to fruition. It’s opened up the word of development to so many small groups and companies that there’s no doubt that it plays a major part in the uprising of the indie game developer as well as the general upsurge of small business start-ups that have appeared over the last decade. However, it’s not without risk and sometimes backers have found themselves out of pocket having backed something that the creator never had the intention of finishing (for example, the Asylum Playing Cards).

Yesterday Kickstarter seeked to address that by making alterations to their Terms and conditions that more clearly outlines what both sides of the agreement between Backers and Creators should expect from the other. While it once again states that Backers should “understand that when they back a project, they’re helping to create something new — not ordering something that already exists”, going on to say that changes, delays or even the non-completion of a project could happen; it makes sure that Creators understand their responsibility to the Backers too.

“When a project is successfully funded, the creator must complete the project and fulfill each reward. Once a creator has done so, they’ve satisfied their obligation to their backers.” This is the very first sentence of the passage and it goes on to say that Backers deserve a “high standard of effort, honest communication, and a dedication to bringing the project to life”. It then says that if a project cannot be completed that Creators must do all in their power to remedy the situation by “bringing the project to the best possible conclusion for backers.” They must show how the raised funds were used and offer to refund any backers who haven’t received their rewards or explain how they’d be used to complete the project in an alternative way. It ends by warning Creators that if they cannot fulfill the terms of this agreement they might be subject to legal action from their Backers.

For some this change in wording will already have come a little too late, but in a way it is good to see that the people running Kickstarter have taken notice of problems and are seeking to close loopholes before they are exploited again.

Kickstarter Blog: “An update to our Terms of Use”: [x]

Kickstarter Terms of Use: [x]

The Red Bull Starcraft II Battlegrounds tourney has been ongoing for some time now. But fear not, the marathon is nearing it’s finish. Today and tomorrow at 11am EST (4pm GMT) eight Starcraft II pros will be battling it out over a $50,000 prize pool. The event is taking place in Washington D.C. and will be cast in part by Day9 (Sean Plott). The competition features some top players from the pro circuit including Cure, DRG, Polt, Bomber, Scarlett and PartinG. If you’re a fan of Starcraft II, I expect you’ll be glued to the live stream. If you’ve never watched Starcraft II on a competitive level before, this lineup promises to be one that could hook you on the game’s eSports incarnation. I’ll post a handy link to the stream below.

Who do you want to win? Let me know in the comments!

Watch it live at http://www.twitch.tv/redbullesports