Two Days After Helldivers 2 Players ‘Eradicated’ the Automatons, the Bots Are Back With a Massive Invasion Fleet

Helldivers 2’s period of relative stability lasted just two days, with developer Arrowhead unleashing the full might of the Automatons upon Super Earth forces.

After some players had hoped for the addition of a third enemy faction to the explosive third-person PS5 and PC co-op shooter, Arrowhead has now released a new Major Order calling on the Helldivers 2 community to hold back the latest Automaton invasion fleet.

On April 7, Helldivers 2 players were told they had completed their mission to completely eradicate the Automaton threat. “You did it, Helldivers,” read an in-game statement. “Operation Swift Disassembly was a success! With the bots eradicated and bugs contained, the galaxy is free once more.”

But this proved to be short-lived, as today, April 9, following the release of patch 01.000.202, “Somehow, the Automatons returned.” “As suspected all along, the previous Bot force was merely a vanguard,” reads a fresh statement. “A massive fleet has now begun an assault of Cyberstan and the surrounding planets. Helldivers, hold back this unprovoked invasion. The fight continues!”

The in-game galaxy map now signals the arrival of this invasion fleet and makes a number of new planets available to play. The Helldivers 2 community now has just three days to succeed in the defence of at least five planets. What happens if the community fails is unknown.

This is the latest twist in Helldivers 2’s ongoing meta narrative, a fascinating push and pull to liberate planets from alien control, all driven by Arrowhead’s Game Master, Joel. But this move was perhaps expected by most players. No-one truly believed Arrowhead would simply pull the Automatons as one of Helldivers 2’s two enemy factions, never to return. The question was how soon the bots would make their comeback, and the answer was: very soon!

If you’re looking for more on Helldivers 2, check out IGN’s feature on the Let Me Solo Her of Helldivers 2, a player who has answered over 100 SOS Beacons as part of a mission to help others.

Helldivers 2 has become one of the surprise hits of 2024 since launching in February, topping the charts on Steam and reportedly selling around three million copies. According to at least one analyst, it’s still growing. Check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 review to find out why it’s going down so well.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

The time of the mecha-shark is upon us in upcoming Besieged expansion The Splintered Sea

The Splintered Sea is an upcoming expansion for beloved battlements blasting building game Besiege, taking its so far decisively land-based action to the high seas for some aquatic anarchy. You’ll be able to pit your custom war machines rudder to fin with enemy fleets and underwater nemeses when it launches May 24th on Steam.

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Avatar: The Last Airbender Arrives in Fortnite Today

Avatar: The Last Airbender is the latest franchise to collaborate with ever popular battle royale Fortnite as content based on the beloved animated series arrives in store today, April 9.

Revealed in a post on X/Twitter, below, a handful of main characters from the show will be available in the Fortnite Shop, but interestingly not the last airbender himself. Fortnite leaker Shiina suggested Aang will be included as part of an Event Pass later instead of being immediately purchasable.

In the meantime, however, fans can buy skins of water bender Katara, earth bender Toph, and fire bender Zuko, with the trio joining the titular character from Avatar: The Legend of Korra, who arrived on April 2.

Publisher Epic Games is yet to share what the skin packs for these new characters include, as only a short trailer was released alongside the announcement post. It recreates the scene from the opening of Avatar: The Last Airbender, as Katara approaches an iceberg containing Aang and his flying bison Appa before it and the trailer explode into snippets of fighting from the three new characters.

Collaborations like this are now part of the norm for Fortnite, which has also seen crossovers with Alan Wake, Eminem, Family Guy, LEGO, Metal Gear Solid, Lady Gaga, and so much more — and that’s all in the last six months.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

League Of Legends is getting a Vampire Survivors-like PVE mode

Ahhh League Of Legends, a MOBA that occupied my university years. While I’d argue climbing the ranked ladder with my housemates were some of the best game moments I’ve ever had, I’d also argue giving up League was necessary. I became too involved, too close to the toxicity. But now League’s threatening to drag me back in with something I hadn’t seen coming – a Vampire Survivors-like PVE mode. No! I must resist (I will be on it immediately when it arrives).

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Staff At UK Retailer GAME Reportedly Facing Redundancies

Most employees now under zero hour contracts.

Staff at UK retailer GAME are reportedly facing redundancies as the firm moves most of its workforce under zero hour contracts.

As reported by Eurogamer, it’s not currently known how many employees will be laid off, but it’s understood that all non-managerial staff will now be on zero hour contracts going forwards. For those who might not be familiar with the UK scheme, zero hour contracts offer up no guarantee of work for the employee, as the employer is not under any obligation to set a minimum number of working hours.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Helldivers 2 Patch 01.000.202 Addresses General Game Stability and Crashes — but Players Are Wondering What Secrets It Holds

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has released update 01.000.202 and via the patch notes confirmed it addresses general game stability and crashes. But as the Helldivers 2 community anxiously awaits what’s next for the game following the apparent eradication of the Automatons, players are wondering what secrets the update may hold.

Let’s start with what we know. Update 01.000.202 tweaks stats user interface for weapons to take into account any explosive damage done by them. According to Arrowhead,this is to give weapons that do damage with explosive projectiles a more fair representation in the UI. Most notably affected is the PLAS-1 Scorcher, the developer added.

Then there’s a long list of crash fixes, which are certainly welcome. Arrowhead also updated its ‘known issues’ list to add scopes on some weapons, such as the the Anti-Materiel Rifle, that are slightly misaligned, and the area around Automaton Detector Tower that makes blue stratagems such as the hellbomb bounce and be repelled when trying to call them down close to the tower. Of course, with the Automatons dealt with, it’s not possible to play on Automaton planets. They’ll be back, sure enough. Meanwhile, there is no mention of the ‘rogue Item’ currently in the game that Arrowhead has warned players off buying.

It’s a simple enough patch on the face of it, but Helldivers 2 players are now conditions to suspect Arrowhead of sneaking in unannounced changes and additions. After all, the developer added new Automaton enemies without telling players so that they could discover them for themselves. And with the Automatons dealt with, players are now wondering if it’s finally time for the heavily rumored arrival of the Illuminate faction.

If you’re looking for more on Helldivers 2, check out IGN’s feature on the Let Me Solo Her of Helldivers 2, a player who has answered over 100 SOS Beacons as part of a mission to help others.

Helldivers 2 has become one of the surprise hits of 2024 since launching in February, topping the charts on Steam and reportedly selling around three million copies. According to at least one analyst, it’s still growing. Check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 review to find out why it’s going down so well.

Helldivers 2 update 01.000.202 patch notes:

Overview
This update includes

  • Stability fixes

Gameplay

  • We have updated the stats UI for weapons to take into account any explosive damage done by them. This is to give weapons that do damage with explosive projectiles a more fair representation in the UI. Most notably affected is the PLAS-1 Scorcher.

Fixes
Crash fixes

  • Fixed some crashes that occurred when deploying to mission.
  • Fixed some crashes that occurred during extraction and right after it.
  • Fixed crashes that could occur if the squad deployed a large amount of support weapons.
  • Fixed various crashes that could occur during gameplay.
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when using heat based weapons.
  • Fixed crashes which could occur if a player died while using the jetpack.
  • Fixed crash which could occur when large volumes of enemies were present.
  • Fixed crash which could occur when the player picked up a snowball.
  • Fixed crash which could occur when completing an objective.

Other Fixes

  • Fixed hang that could occur while navigating the social menu.
  • Picking up Medals and Super Credits will no longer lock the player in place.

Known Issues

These are issues that were either introduced by this patch and are being worked on, or are from a previous version and have not yet been fixed. This list is not exhaustive, and we are continuing to identify issues and create fixes. These are organized by feedback, reports, severity, etc.

Various issues involving friend invites and cross-play:

  • Player name may show up blank on the other player’s friend list.
  • Friend Request cannot be accepted when the requesting player changed their username before the request was accepted.
  • Cross-platform friend invites might not show up in the Friend Requests tab.
  • Players cannot unfriend players befriended via friend code.
  • Players cannot unblock players that were not in their Friends list beforehand.
  • Damage-over-time effects may only apply when dealt by the host.
  • Players may experience delays in Medals and Super Credits payouts.
  • Enemies that bleed out do not progress Personal Orders and Eradicate missions.
  • Certain weapons like the Sickle cannot shoot through foliage.
  • Scopes on some weapons such as the Anti-Materiel Rifle are slightly misaligned.
  • Arc weapons sometimes behave inconsistently and sometimes misfire.
  • Spear’s targeting is inconsistent, making it hard to lock-on to larger enemies.
  • Stratagem beam might attach itself to an enemy but it will deploy to its original location.
  • Explosions do not break your limbs (except for when you fly into a rock).
  • Area around Automaton Detector Tower makes blue stratagems such as the hellbomb bounce and be repelled when trying to call them down close to the tower.
  • Planet liberation reaches 100% at the end of every Defend mission.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

World’s best/worst wizard physics sim Noita gets terrifying update featuring white holes and… cheese?

Noita! A wizardly 2D dungeon crawler without compare, in both good and deranging ways. Man, it feels like only yesterday I equipped something without looking and suddenly everything that damaged me caused me to teleport at random. I flew through entire levels this way like a Tardis set to shuffle, bumbling into one enemy posse after another, granted a few seconds at a time to assess my surroundings before the sorcery swept me deeper.

Behind me, meanwhile, whole layouts exploded as lakes of pixelated lava, acid and other substances which I’d nudged in passing overflowed and combined and transformed. Noita! Heaven help us all, they’ve released a big new update, after all these years.

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Helldivers 2 Dev Warns Players Not to Buy ‘Rogue Item’ in Most Lore Friendly Way Possible

There’s what looks like a bug (not that kind!) in Helldivers 2 that has left some players scratching their heads — and the developer of the game is certainly having fun with it.

Players noticed the unannounced addition of the ‘Catalogue Expansion’ ship module for the bridge. According to its description, this adds “new stratagem permits” to the ship management terminal for purchase. But the description for its upgrade effect is lifted from the ship module viewed prior, rather than its own distinct descriptor.

Developer Arrowhead then leaned into the Helldivers 2 narrative to warn players not to buy the ship module with a statement written as if it were coming from the game’s fictional Super Earth government:

“ALERT: ROGUE ITEM DETECTED,” the statement published to the Helldivers Discord begins. “The Ministry of Truth has confirmation that a rogue item called the ‘catalog expansion’ is temporarily visible in the Ship Management menu and, in accordance with regulations, we instruct all Helldivers to avoid this rogue item until further notice. The Ministry of Truth cannot confirm the reliability or safety of this item, nor can they confirm its origin.”

Of course, that statement sparked something of a frenzy, with players jumping into the game to buy the ship module just to see what all the fuss was about (it doesn’t appear to do anything). But while it seems clear that this ship module relates to a bug of some kind, some players were left confused. “Leaning into the game’s narrative here is actually really confusing me,” said redditor Reasonabledwarf. “Are they telling us to not buy it, or not buy it wink?”

Others believe the statement is Arrowhead leaning into the game’s narrative to admit there are new stratagems and ship modules coming to Helldivers 2. New stratagems are expected at some point, of course — Arrowhead has released a handful since the game’s explosive launch in February. “Its description in-game is having me believe that this is their way of ‘announcing’ that there are new stratagems on the way,” offered xXzeregaXx. “They are basically telling us ‘oops’ that shouldn’t be there, don’t buy it right now. It’s not ready to be released,” added OmegaXesis. “But this is also hinting that new stratagems and ship upgrades are probably on their way.”

The Helldivers 2 community is currently in ‘what happens next?’ mode after the successful eradication of the Automatons. As players wait with baited breath for Game Master Joel’s next move in Helldivers 2’s ongoing Galactic War, players are descending upon the poor Terminids. Helldivers 2’s next Premium Warbond, called Democratic Detonation, launches April 11. Perhaps we’ll know more then.

If you’re looking for more on Helldivers 2, check out IGN’s feature on the Let Me Solo Her of Helldivers 2, a player who has answered over 100 SOS Beacons as part of a mission to help others.

Helldivers 2 has become one of the surprise hits of 2024 since launching in February, topping the charts on Steam and reportedly selling around three million copies. According to at least one analyst, it’s still growing. Check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 review to find out why it’s going down so well.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Mortal Kombat 1 Teases Next DLC Character And Kameo Fighter

Ermac returns.

The new Mortal Kombat game Mortal Kombat 1 is still rolling out new fighters for its Kombat Pass and the next one on the way has now been officially teased. It’s Ermac and the first official teaser for this character has now been shared by the official Mortal Kombat social media account.

A full gameplay trailer of Ermac will be released later this week. The current teaser features a brief exchange between Kung Lao and Ermac. This same teaser also reveals Mavado – the next Kameo fighter coming to Mortal Kombat 1.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Xbox Insider Release Notes – Xbox App [2404.1001.12.0]

Hey Xbox Insiders! We are releasing a new Xbox App and Game Bar app for Windows builds to Xbox Insiders who are enrolled in the PC Gaming Insiders preview! Thank you all for being Xbox Insiders. Continue read to learn about fixes and known issues. Make sure that you update the Xbox app, Gaming Services and Game Bar to ensure you get all of the fixes!

Versions of PC Gaming prerelease products:

Xbox App version: 2404.1001.12.0

  • Released: 4:00 p.m. PT – April 8th 2024

Game Bar version: 7.124.3191.0

  • Released: 4:00 p.m. PT – March 21st 2024

What’s New

Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta)

Starting today, Xbox Insiders playing cloud games via xbox.com/play will notice a controller icon in the guide when connected and playing on a browser. This supports users in connecting a controller when playing on a browser.

Note: Users on browser will need to enable Preview features on their browser to gain access to the feature. This is done by clicking on your profile picture at xbox.com/play and then select Settings and then enable “Preview features.”

Xbox App Bug Fixes:

  • Fixed an issue that could cause users to encounter an error when deleting game captures.
  • Resolved an issue where some users would see an error trying to complete a purchase.

How to Get Xbox Insider Support

Don’t forget! If you encounter any issues, you can leave feedback by navigating to the feedback option on your profile menu.

You can also provide feedback, as well as interact with the community, on the Xbox Insiders Subreddit. Please be as specific as possible when providing feedback.

When posting to the subreddit, please look through most recent posts to see if your issue has already been posted or addressed. We always recommend adding to threads with the same issue before posting a brand new one. This helps us support you the best we can!

For more information regarding the Xbox Insider Program follow us on Twitter. Keep an eye on future Xbox Insider Release Notes for more information!

Thank you to everyone who participates in the Xbox Insider Program! Your feedback helps us continue to build a great gaming experience in the Xbox app on PC. 

The post Xbox Insider Release Notes – Xbox App [2404.1001.12.0] appeared first on Xbox Wire.