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Bungie has launched three new PvP Crucible maps for Destiny 2 as part of the Into the Light update, a free content offering that began in April. The maps are currently available to play as part of a 3v3 playlist called New Territory.
In their April developer livestream, Bungie mentioned that they engaged with fans and community members to consult on map design. This approach seems to have worked because the initial response to the new maps has been positive.
“The 3 new PvP maps are significantly more enjoyable than most maps,” said one Reddit user. “The new PVP maps is the most fun I’ve had in Destiny 2 PVP in like 2 years,” said a poster on X.
Eventide Labs
Image credit: Bungie
Taking place in a deserted research outpost on Europa which has been co-opted as a refueling statin by Eramis, Eventide Labs is the first new map. Contest the Servitor area in this close-quarters focused map with cramped rooms and few vantage points for ranged sniping.
Cirrus Plaza
Image credit: Bungie
Cirrus Plaza is a shopping and entertainment center on Neomuna in Neptune. Battle to take charge of the Heavy ammo crate in the Atrium and make sure your back is covered or risk danger with long lines of sight in this open, spacious map.
Dissonance
Image credit: Bungie
Dissonance is a terraformed Pyramid ship, making a unique setting for a skirmish. Built for heavy head-to-head fights over the Heavy ammo, you can’t get too distracted by the unsettling environment – the enemy could be just around any corner.
The next large update to Destiny 2 is The Final Shape, a premium expansion that will arrive in June, following some earlier delays.
The full patch notes from the 7.3.6.4 update include several tweaks and bug fixes.
CRUCIBLE

Maps – Three new maps have been added to the Crucible: Eventide Labs, Dissonance, and Cirrus Plaza. These new maps will be available on a separate 3v3 playlist called New Territory.
Competitive – Special ammo bricks will now exclusively drop from Primary weapon final blows, regardless of whether the player who was defeated had Special ammo.
Defeating a player who has Special ammo through any means other than a Primary ammo weapon will not spawn a Special ammo brick, though the defeated player will still lose their Special ammo.
Fixed an issue where players could be blocked from spawning on Burnout in the Competitive playlist.

THE PANTHEON

Fixed an issue where players would be unable to complete a full run if entering from a saved checkpoint.
Fixed an issue where Adept weapon loot from the first Platinum clear did not have the correct perks available and selected.

ONSLAUGHT

Fixed an issue where the Extinguish modifier on Heatwaves would end runs if the entire party died.

Fixed an issue where players were not teleported to the correct ADU location after the mechanical and boss phases.

Fixed an issue where killing the boss too quickly could prevent further Onslaught progress.

Featured image credit: Bungie
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This week, EA released its latest financial statements in the quarterly earnings call, during which CEO Andrew Wilson stated that the next Battlefield title will be developed by the “largest team in franchise history.”
Wilson seemed to acknowledge the lukewarm reception of Battlefield 2042 when he said “Players have made it clear that they wanted an even deeper experience,” as per the Yahoo transcript of the call.
He also reaffirmed the company’s commitment to live service models, after a survey earlier this year revealed that 70% of surveyed developers are concerned about the sustainability of live service games.
There will be a “connected” single-player mode for the next Battlefield game, but Wilson did not elaborate on what this would entail.
Earlier this year, EA canceled a planned single-player Star Wars game being developed by Respawn Entertainment amidst a round of 670 layoffs. They also announced a planned increase in price for their subscription service EA Play.
What about The Sims franchise?
One of EA’s largest franchises is The Sims, currently headlined by The Sims 4. According to Wilson, the life simulation series is set to receive 12 new content packs over the next year. The Sims 4 isn’t a traditional live service game with a subscription, but with 79 expansions, game packs, kits, and various other paid add-ons, it operates like one, raking in profits.
Wilson stated that alongside the 12 planned releases, EA’s Sims 4 team is also “working on multiple experiences in the Sims universe to leverage user-generated content to deepen our community and expand our audience.[…]
“The passion for Sims Community remains strong as the franchise powers towards its 25th anniversary. Since its launch in 2014, the Sims 4 has surpassed 85 million players with FY 2024 up double-digits year-over-year. The Sims Online and the Sims Mobile combined have been downloaded over 500 million times. This is already one of the largest communities in the world and we believe this hugely successful franchise has the potential to become one of the largest creator platforms in entertainment.”
Featured image credit: EA
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Online casino gambling is the future for the sector, according to several industry insiders in the US.
This week at the SBC Summit North America, a major gambling industry conference, there was an acceptance of the difficulty faced so far in launching internet casinos but executives are convinced it is the future of betting.
Online sportsbooks have experienced a rapid proliferation across the US, available in 38 states as well as Washington D.C. but there has been no such success for casino betting to date.
Within the industry, there is some concern about the impact internet casino betting would have on brick-and-mortar venues, whilst others are alarmed at the prospects of harming gamblers by effectively putting a casino in their pocket. Can enough be done to promote responsible gambling in an online environment compared to the face-to-face setting provided by a casino complex?
There are obstacles but many are adamant that online casinos, and smartphone betting in particular, are the future.
Which US states have legal online casinos?
Only seven US states currently permit legal online casino games: Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia. In Nevada, players can get involved with Internet poker but not in casino games.
This is dwarfed by the massive presence of online sports betting across America but the industry appears prepared to face the challenge.
Sports wagers exploded after the US Supreme Court decreed in 2018 to allow any state to offer legal sports betting. The bets “took off like a rocket,” said Shawn Fluharty, a West Virginia legislator and president of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States.
“Many people thought i-gaming would follow suit,” he added. “That has not taken place.”
Brandt Iden, a vice president with Fanatics Betting & Gaming, agreed. He said, “It’s been a rough road, I-gaming is paramount; this is the direction the industry needs to go to be successful, and this is where consumers want it to go.”
Speakers at the summit look to sports gambling, with many bets placed on a smartphone. They also want recognition of the danger posed (and loss of tax money) from illegal, offshore websites that pull in gamblers from across the US with no duty of care to customers.
The industry can always do more to promote responsible gambling and ensure customer protections are in place, but this is something not provided by unregulated sites. State lawmakers will be approached and lobbied on these matters to increase the case for internet casino games.
FanDuel senior director Cesar Fernandez pointed to the public purse. He said online casinos should be an attractive proposition to states, especially as federal aid has fallen since the pandemic.
“Since 2018, FanDuel has paid $3.2 billion in taxes. That’s a lot of teacher salaries, a lot of police officers and firefighters,” he said, arguing greater state returns from gambling reduces the burden on residents to pay more tax.
However, some insist the pursuit of online gambling will continue to hurt physical casinos, a trend which has already gathered pace.
“We’re setting ourselves up for our own failure,” said Rob Norton, president of Cordish Gaming. 
Norton is a prominent voice speaking up for the gambling venues which have been losing customers to the internet, as he cited with Maryland.
He said that once online sports betting commenced in the Old Line State, in-person sports betting revenue in the company’s Maryland Live! casino fell by 65% “and has stayed there.” Norton further claimed there has been a drop of around 7,000 people entering the physical casino, every day since the online sportsbook market started. 
Image credit: Ideogram
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There’s a new ASUS ROG Ally set to be unveiled and it looks like it will be shown off in just a few hours time.
The original ROG Ally has been the most potent Steam Deck competitor over the past few months and coming pre-installed with Windows 11 meant that it was much more of an all-round gaming PC in your pocket than the Deck.
With that said, as nice as it was there are so many things we would want to see from a new Ally, a better screen, improved battery life, and an overhaul to the default Armor Crate launcher it comes with.
How many of those dreams are about to be realized in just a few short hours we do not yet know but the video Premiere that has just been uploaded to YouTube is called “The next ROG Ally is coming…” and it will go live at noon PT / 8 pm GMT.
A post on X from ROG Global said, “This week marks the first year since the announcement of the #ROGAlly in 2023. We’ve spent the last year making the Ally even better with new features and updates, but there’s one other thing that truly makes what the Ally is today: You!

What is known about the ROG ALLY 2?
We are assuming this will be the Ally 2 but it could just be an iteration bump. We can see from the image that it is black, rather than the white original, which I liked but stood out a bit too much for some – maybe there will be a white version too, or this could just be to differentiate between the haves and have-nots.
The reason we are thinking it could have an OLED screen is that that is the key difference between the original Ally and the new Steam Deck models. Asus will be very wary of pushing the price too high however, but an OLED display would like command another $100 or so, even though the Ally is more expensive out of the blocks with a standard screen.
Battery life is also key, an OLED will take up more battery but Valve managed to squeeze considerably more juice into the OLED version of the Steam Deck.
We only have a few more hours to wait to find out what we are getting next, and hopefully a release date.
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Let’s be honest, it is going to be difficult for me to do a story about Yoda without talking like that, so you are going to have to bear with me. Afraid I am.
It seems Epic Games has removed the Yoda back bling from the game after it was highlighted to be causing major crashing issues for some people, but only after they pulled a particular emote.
A series of videos posted online showed characters sporting the back bling suddenly being dropped out of the game with an error message. It is not certain what caused the anomaly but its Force was certainly strong enough to mash the game out of existence so subsequently the bling has been eradicated from the game.
The issue occurred when carrying out the Zoidberg Scuttle emote and was highlighted by iFireMonkey, a big-time Fortnite poster and leaker on X.
iFireMonkey posted, “If you do the Zoidberg Scuttle emote while wearing the Yoda back bling, there is a high chance that you will crash your game.
This is due to Yoda’s face bugging out with the emote.
There are also reports that this will crash people in your squad games as well”

If you do the Zoidberg Scuttle emote while wearing the Yoda backbling, there is a high chance that you will crash your game.
This is due to Yodas face bugging out with the emote.
There is also reports that this will crash people in your squads games as well pic.twitter.com/N0N5LLuIEp
— iFireMonkey (@iFireMonkey) May 7, 2024

The video also posted shows a character doing the emote before being presented with a grey screen saying, “Fortnite has crashed. We’re very sorry that this happened and we are working towards preventing it in the future.”
It seems it is now being prevented from happening again by the removal of the offending add-on with Epic’s Fortnite account later posting, “Due to an issue that may have been causing crashes for some players, we’ve temporarily disabled the Yoda Back Bling while the team is working on a fix,”
As yet there is no sign on the fix and with the event due to complete in a few days time, the devs are up against the clock to bring him back in time.
The Fortnite Darth Vader boss was also recently nerfed for being more powerful than you could possibly imagine, leading devs to tone him down a little.
Featured Image: AI-Generated by Ideogram
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