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The makers of Dota 2 just up and put a full scale fighting game into the main game, at no extra charge! (Because Dota 2 is already free-to-play, but who’s counting?)

Called Sleet Fighter, it joined the game with the July 9 update, as part of the larger Crownfall current season. Five Dota characters are the combatants, each with a full moveset and alternate costumes. Sleet Fighter supports both single-player and multiplayer matches, the latter both locally and online.
That’s rather impressive for what could have been left as a one-off, minigame curiosity. Valve developers made no mention of Sleet Fighter when they announced Crownfall Act III at the end of June, making this almost an Easter egg except for the fact it’s so fully developed. In fact, one has to wonder why they’d spend all this time on it, only to take it back once Crownfall ends in October. Or, maybe they won’t.
How to find and play Sleet Fighter in Dota 2
To play Sleet Fighter, players should head to The Frosts of Icewrack (hence the fighting game’s namesake) and complete the first story tile on the Overworld map. That opens the Sleet FIghter 2: Immortal Combat tile, which takes you into the Severed Head pub where the game awaits. That’s all you have to do.
Here’s a YouTube video showing all of that start-to-finish, with another six minutes of pure gameplay.

The five heroes players may choose for Sleet Fighter include Tusk, Bristleback, Shendelzare, Dawnbreaker, and Marci. Their movesets are available in the game’s options menu; Dot Esports has posted all of them.
Featured Image: YouTube via Mist
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The Assassin’s Creed Shadows appropriated battle-flag controversy will not die down. Although Ubisoft apologized ro a Japanese historical group for using it, images of the flag will remain in a digital art book, and the group now says it’s not happy with just an apology here.
To recap, Ubisoft apologized on July 8, about a week it was discovered that the flag of a Japanese military re-enactment group, Sekigahara Teppo-tai (or Sekigahara Rifle Corps), was in the game without their knowledge or permission. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is set in feudal Japan, roughly befo
Ubisoft said it was sorry and the flag would be pulled from the game, but not a hardcover art book being sold in a $279 collector’s edition packed with physical premiums.
This is presumably because that book has already been printed. Assassin’s Creed Shadows launches Nov. 12. That’s not good enough for Sekigahara Teppo-tai.

小耳に挟んだ情報なのですが、アサシンクリードシャドウのコンセプトアートの背景に関ケ原鉄砲隊が使用されているそうです。実際に確認してみましたが、拡大すると確かに我々の使用している背旗が確認できました。正直どのような反応をすれば良いのか悩むところです。#関ケ原鉄砲隊
— 影山＠関ケ原鉄砲隊 (@matchlock_kage) June 10, 2024

Translated, that is: “The Sekigahara Teppo-tai members discussed the matter again. We have asked Ubisoft to remove the image from the Collector’s Edition artbook. I’m not sure if this will be possible, but I’ve contacted Ubisoft through their support.”
The poster went on to note that the flag references leaders of The Battle of Sekigahara, which occurred about 21 years after the setting for Assassin’s Creed Shadows. IGN has images of the flag’s use in the artbook.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows criticized from its first reveal
The complaint is an extension of ongoing criticism of Assassin’s Creed Shadows as culturally insensitive — a topic many Japanese take very seriously. The game stars an African samurai who seems to be based on a real-life African who served a warlord around that time. It also stars an entirely fictitious female ninja.
A petition demanding Ubisoft cancel the game outright now has 83,000 signatures, even though there is no chance of Ubisoft spiking this AAA game four months before release, and especially for this kind of criticism. About 60,000 of those signatures have come in the last week.
Here, though, it’s unquestionably a bad look for Ubisoft, as it appears that western artists went Googling for Japanese battle flags, found one, and had no idea what they were working with, because it was only necessary to get one that looked Japanese.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows will launch on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. It will also be available day one to Ubisoft+ subscribers.
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After months of speculation, Dragon Age: The Veilguard has seemingly confirmed that it will have at least some nudity. This is important because, well, there’s been naked people in the three games preceding this one.
Game Informer journalist Wesley LeBlanc said he discovered topless nudity “first-hand” in the Dragon Age: The Veilguard character creator when customizing a female Rook character, “[a]nd that’s when Veilguard game director Corrine Busche smiled, likely knowing full well that nudity in the character creator means nudity elsewhere in the game,” he wrote.
Busche then, he said, went on to reiterate that “this is a mature RPG,” seemingly suggesting that there’s more to come in the nudity department. When LeBlanc asked Busche whether we can expect bottom nudity in this game, the game director said that this is something she wanted players to discover for themselves, which we’re taking to mean that there might be more surprises in store.
As LeBlanc points out, nudity has been present in previous Bioware games, but the difference is, it’s “almost always” been implied nudity thanks to some clever placing of shadows, body parts, and pieces of scenery.
Will Dragon Age: The Veilguard include sex?
We already know that The Veilguard will have gender-free romance options, and in an interview with IGN, Busche revealed that we can expect some amorous scenes too — although exactly how frisky some characters are is set to vary.
“Some of them are more spicy than others,” she said. “Just like real life, our companions have such diverse personalities. Some of them are more physical, more aggressive, and some of them are more [.. ] we have a gentleman necromancer, for instance, that is more intimate and sensual.”
There’s set to be seven companions in total: Harding, Davrin, Bellara, Taash, Lucanis, Emmrich, and Neve. So, needless to say, the player will be getting busy. Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be released sometime in 2024.
Image by Bioware
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As you progress through the main story of Once Human, you’ll come across Rift Anchors which are required in order for you to keep going along the questing path.
However, a lot of players are coming across them and realizing they don’t have access yet, leaving them a little dumbfounded.
If you’re one of these, we’ll reveal why you’re receiving the Once Human ‘No Access to Rift Anchor’ message so you can get it corrected right away.
Once Human No Access to Rift Anchor explained
If you’ve come across a Rift Anchor on your travels and are a little baffled as to why it’s not letting you use it, it’s because there are some prerequisites before you’re able to do so.
Rift Anchors are tied specifically to the main story, requiring you to complete the main quests/tasks in a specific region, with only the Monolith boss left, in order to unlock the ability to use them.
Once you have completed the required number of main quests in the region to allow access to the Rift Anchor, it will then be marked with a bright purple beam of light so you know it’s good to use.
One thing to note here though is that if you’re still not able to use the Rift Anchor in your desired region, it could be that you didn’t defeat the Monolith Boss in the previous area, which will have required Rift Anchor access also.
Essentially, just play through the main story and you shouldn’t come across the No Access to Rift Anchor message since you’re doing everything in the correct order.
Other Once Human pages you may like:

Once Human Wish Machine: How to get and use
Once Human server transfer: Can you have the same character on multiple servers?
Once Human controller support explained: Is it available on launch?
Once Human PvP explained: Can you just play PvE?
Does Once Human have crossplay?
Once Human – system requirements and is it coming to consoles?
When is the Once Human server reset?
All the Once Human codes out there, how to redeem them and what they do

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Google has announced the discontinuation of yet another product, this time the VPN service One VPN which was provided to subscribers to Google One. The service will shut down on Jul 20, 2024.
One VPN was launched in 2020 to higher tier customers of Google One, Google’s expanded storage subscription service. Then in 2023, the service was expanded to include all One subscribers.
Google described VPNs as a valuable service that added an important layer of security, especially for anyone using public wifi networks. They also launched dedicated Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS apps.
However, despite the tool’s utility, Google’s stated reason for the discontinuation suggests that it was not highly used. “With the focus on providing the most in-demand features, VPN by Google One has been discontinued. However, it’ll continue to be available as a built-in capability on Pixel 7 and up devices and via Google Fi Wireless,” reads the Google support page.
Google will continue to support the built-in VPN included on Pixel 7 and above phones and as part of Google Fi Wireless.
The Google Graveyard
Over the years, Google has gained a reputation for launching or acquiring products, encouraging user investment into the larger Google ecosystem, before killing off a beloved tool.
The website Killed by Google lists almost 300 tools and products that the tech giant has canceled over the years.
One recent instance that caused upset among fans was the shuttering of Google Podcasts, a podcast hosting and listening app first launched in 2018. While it was beloved by users for its simplicity, it was closed down in favor of moving users over to YouTube Music, which many do not see as an equivalent experience.
Last year Google shuttered its gaming console Stadia, offering full refunds to all customers who purchased their devices through the Google Store.
While on these occasions Google has done what it can to make customers whole (either through refunds or an easy data transfer process), this continued shuttering of products is making users reluctant to invest in any Google products. “I think it could end up being their downfall someday. I am getting very reluctant to use their products as I do not know what will remain for the long term,” said one Reddit user commenting on the One VPN news.
“I’m already using alternative apps because I don’t trust Google not to destroy them. I liked Google Keep, but I don’t want to deal with the hassle of moving everything when it goes away,” said another user in the same thread.
Featured image credit: generated by Ideogram
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