As expected, Fortnite went down for maintenance in the early-morning hours today, and when the game came back up, season 5 was live. In a word, Fortnite season 5 appears to be massive. The patch notes show that a lot has been changed, even if they don't make all of the changes entirely clear. Let's dive in and see all that's new.
Last month, Epic announced that it would commit an absurd $100 million to Fortnite competitive play through the 2018-2019 season. That amount dwarfs even the most popular eSports around, and this weekend, we'll see the first phase of those plans kick off. Epic has announced the start of the Summer Skirmish series, which will see a grand total of $8 million in prize money handed out to competitors.
For console gamers, there's usually no lack of special edition controllers to pick from. That's especially true for Xbox One which, on top of the usual limited release fare, offers players the chance to create and customize controllers through Xbox Design Labs. Microsoft has a new special edition controller to add to the pile today, and this one is particularly sleek.
If you needed anymore evidence that Overwatch and its pro league are insanely popular, here it is. Disney and Blizzard have announced a new partnership that will see Overwatch League broadcasts come to cable networks like ESPN, ABC, and Disney XD. This partnership is getting going fast too, as the first broadcast is tonight.
It was nearly 10 months ago that Sirin Labs unveiled the Finney, heralded as the world's first blockchain phone. We haven't heard much about the device in the time since then, but today, Sirin Labs is back with a pretty big update. The company today revealed the final design of the Finney, and it definitely has some interesting quirks.
Misinformation seems to be everywhere these days, and Facebook is a hotbed for it. Not only does Facebook act as a platform for fake news to spread quickly and widely, but there's plenty of other opportunities for deception as well, particularly within Messenger. Facebook could be looking to curb that with a new feature it's rolling into testing today.
HTC is pressing on with its blockchain-based phone, codenamed Exodus. First revealed earlier in 2018, we now know that the phone will be launching in "early access" later this year. That, unfortunately, is about the only new thing we're learning today, so a lot of important details about the phone are still a mystery.
Around the world, there are millions of us who count gaming as our favorite pastime. Many of us have played hundreds or thousands of games over the years, but few are quite as important as the game that started it all; the game that introduced us to this wonderful, expensive hobby. I want to know: What was that introductory title for you? What was the first video game you ever played?
For the moment, Mario Tennis Aces is the Nintendo Switch game to be playing (at least until Octopath Traveler releases later this week). Mario sports titles have always been an interesting little offshoot of the main Super Mario series - at first blush, you wonder why you'd waste your time playing a sports game featuring the cast of Mario, but once you actually sit down and really get familiar with them, their often deep systems become addicting. It should be little surprise, then, that Mario Tennis Aces has a lot of people hooked.
The Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium may not be arriving for a few weeks yet, but beginning today, those of you who are so inclined can pre-order one. Amazon has opened up pre-orders for the Xperia XZ2 Premium, but if you want one, you're going to have a lot of money. The good news, however, is that Amazon is including a pretty tempting bonus with XZ2 Premium pre-orders.
If you've been slacking on finishing your challenges for Fortnite season 4, you better get to work. Epic has revealed when season 5 will begin, and the start date is right around the corner. If you've yet to unlock season 4's Omega skin, then, you've only got a few days left to do so.
It's safe to say that Monster Hunter: World quickly became a sensation when it launched on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 early in the year. Fans were definitely excited for Monster Hunter's return to consoles, and it didn't take long for Monster Hunter: World to gather up an impressive collection of glowing reviews and become the best-selling game in Capcom's history. All the while, though, PC players were left on the outside looking in.