Find out what Xbox is up to at PAX West 2018

Fallout 76: Release Date, PvP, And What We Know (So Far)

Only a couple years after Fallout 4's release, Bethesda surprised fans by officially announcing Fallout 76, the next entry in its beloved post-apocalyptic RPG franchise. The new game was revealed in a trailer after a series of teases, and Bethesda discussed it in more detail at E3 2018 and more recently at QuakeCon 2018. While there's still so much we do not yet know about Bethesda's upcoming game, the company has offered some clarity on Fallout 76's most curious features and additions to the Fallout formula.

To ensure you're kept up to date on everything there is to know about Fallout 76, we've compiled all the information we have on the game so far: the platforms it's on, its online functionality, its anti-griefing features, and where the game falls in the series' timeline.

What is Fallout 76?

Fallout 76 is a prequel to all of the previous Fallout games. Set in 2102, you play an inhabitant of Vault 76 who emerges from the shelter 25 years after the bombs fell on America. Your task is simple: explore what remains of post-apocalyptic America and rebuild civilization.

Longtime fans will likely recognize Vault 76; although it's not a place we've visited before, this isn't the series' first mention of it. Both Fallout 3 and 4 reference it and, according to the Fallout Wikia, this West Virginia-based vault was occupied by 500 of of America's best and brightest minds. Unlike the more grotesque experimental vaults in the Fallout universe, Vault 76 is a control vault intended to be opened 20 or so years after a nuclear war. But if the Vault was supposed to open 20 years after the bombs fell, why have 25 years gone by? The story likely has a few surprises in store.

Fallout 76 uses the Creation Engine, the same engine used to make Fallout 4, but it will purportedly feature much more graphical detail than its predecessor. Game director Todd Howard has said that Fallout 76 has new rendering and lighting technology, which allows for "16 times" the detail.

Who's Developing It?

Bethesda Game Studios, the Maryland-based developer responsible for the Elder Scrolls series and both Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, is at work on the game. In addition, Bethesda Game Studios Austin--formerly BattleCry Studios--assisted in fine-tuning the Creation Engine to support multiplayer functionality.

Is It An Online Survival Game?

Fallout 76 is a much different sort of game from its predecessors. It's "entirely online," but don't worry, you'll be able to play it solo too. According to Bethesda, the idea to take this approach to open-world survival came four years ago, when it started to work on building a multiplayer Fallout experience. Howard described the game's approach to survival as "softcore," which means death doesn't equal loss of progression.

You can form a party with up to three other players. You won't be able to manage your placement in servers when you login, as you'll automatically be inserted into a session with others upon booting up the game. Of course, you also have the option simply join alongside your friends and play together.

Howard commented that Fallout 76 will have dedicated servers that will support the game "now and for years to come." At launch, there will only be public servers, but Bethesda plans to introduce private servers that will allow players to invite friends to play in order to prevent undesirable behavior.

Some classic mechanics from past games will be changing to accommodate the shift to online play. For example, V.A.T.S has been reconfigured to work in real time, while still allowing players to target specific enemy body parts. But this time around, it has been updated to be more of a tool that allows you to spot out dangers in the environment.

How Big Is The World?

According to Howard, Fallout 76's world is four times the size of Fallout 4. There are six different regions to explore, and each has its own unique style, risks, and rewards. Confirmed areas include the West Virginia State Capitol, The Greenbrier, Woodburn Circle, New River Gorge Bridge, and Camden Park. Contained within each area is a variety of new creatures to encounter, some of which are based on West Virginian folklore.

What Can You Do?

Like previous games, players will spend the majority of their time exploring and completing quests. However, Fallout 76 will not feature any human non-player characters, as all surviving humans will be controlled by active players. Instead, the game will use combination of robot NPCs, collectible recordings, and environmental storytelling in order to give players what they need to piece together quests and the story at large.

Given the game's premise of rebuilding the world, there will be base-building elements similar to Fallout 4. You will be able to set up a bases anywhere using an item called the Construction and Assembly Mobile Platform, or CAMP. These can be placed down in the world and allow you to construct an impromptu camp. At E3, we got to see the player laying down walls and decorating the base with pool tables, toilets, and other household objects. As the "mobile platform" part of the name implies, your CAMP can also be picked up and relocated, allowing you to move your base anywhere in the world.

While you can help build the world, you can also destroy it. If you have the necessary nuclear launch codes, it's actually possible to access a missile silo to fire a nuke at any point on the map. Doing so irradiates the chosen area, but it also allows for the opportunity to discover rare weapons, gear, and items. Be wary; nuking an area also causes more powerful enemies to show up, making it more difficult to survive. But don't be discouraged by this, the CAMP blueprint system makes it easy for players to quickly rebuild their homes, and if they're privy to an incoming threat, they can pack their things and move to a new location.

As an online experience, player choice is said to be incredibly important, going as far as giving players the freedom to choose who are the heroes and who are the villains. Early footage showcased multiple players engaging in combat and participating in friendly activities, which seems to indicate that players have the freedom to choose their paths in the world of Fallout 76.

How Does Character Creation And Progression Work?

You'll have similar character creation tools as Fallout 4. However, you're free to change your appearance at any point. In addition, you can also utilize the game's new photo mode during the creation process to better see how your character looks, as well as snap some shots you can share on social media.

The SPECIAL system returns and it's a bit different. Like previous games, SPECIAL encompasses the following stats: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck. You're given one point to put into any of those stats every time you level up. The first thing you do when you emerge from the vault is pick a SPECIAL and then you pick a perk in that particular SPECIAL. Essentially, every SPECIAL is a pool of points for your perks.

But unlike previous games, perks are now cards you can equip and unlock as you rank up in a given SPECIAL; though, you're free to swap cards out at any time if you want to alter your build. Each SPECIAL characteristic you develop has a perk card cap of 15. These perk cards can be enhanced further from one to five points to increase their power.

You can obtain additional perk cards via Perk Card Packs (four random cards), which you earn every two levels initially (1-10), and then every 5 after that. You can also pick one perk card per level, usually from your SPECIAL choice. There are hundreds of Perks cards you can unlock, so naturally SPECIAL ranks cap out after a while (you gain a rank up in a SPECIAL each time you level up). At level 50, you'll stop increasing SPECIAL ranks, but you'll still get card packs.

How Does PvP Work?

When you shoot someone you do a little bit of damage, which can be equated to lightly slapping them in order to challenge them to a duel. In response to this, the other player can choose to ignore or engage. If they engage in a battle with you, they'll start to take full damage. The one who is killed in this consenting PvP match has the option to seek revenge. Doing so gives that person the opportunity to get double the rewards granted they're successful.

If you'd rather choose to ignore a PvP match, there's no way to escape being killed--despite the small damage dealt to you during the initiation phases. However, if you are killed by a player under these circumstances, that player becomes a Wanted Murderer and will receive no rewards from having killed you.

A Wanted Murderer is marked on the map as a red star and a bounty is placed on their head. Players looking to cash in on this bounty aren't visible on the Murderer's map. If the murderer is killed, the money from that bounty is taken out their stock.

In order to give players time to properly acclimate to how Fallout 76 plays, PvP won't be available to players until level five. And if you perish from any PvP encounter, the only thing you'll lose is the junk you've been collecting, which can be reclaimed after death if not already picked up by other players. You can always store junk in stashes found around the world, so as to safeguard a portion of your stock. Armor and weapons are retained in your inventory after death.

Any Voice Chat?

It's possible to chat with your teammates and even strangers you discover out in the world. It's area-based so your ability to hear other plays will vary. But if you want nothing to do with strangers, it's possible to mute their voices entirely.

When's the Beta?

Falout 76's beta will be available exclusively to those who preorder the game. Bethesda said that it will begin selecting participants from the pool of pre-orders in early October. The plan is to start small and expand over time. Xbox One owners have a slight leg up on the beta compared to other platforms. For more details, you can check out Bethesda's Fallout 76 FAQ for more details on how to redeem your code.

Release Date

Fallout 76 is being developed for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and is currently scheduled to be released on November 14. Unfortunately, there's no word about a Nintendo Switch release, which didn't seem out of the question after the Skyrim re-release made it to that platform.

Upscale bitmap images with better results

Most images on the Web are small or medium sized, since otherwise users need to wait longer before their favorite web pages load. However, sometimes you need to find a larger version of an image, but the search doesn’t bear fruit. Any bitmap image can be scaled up or down in an image editor (such as Gimp). But obviously upscaling would not add any detail to the image. Instead, the result will usually be blurred, pixelated and noticeably stretched-up. In this brief roundup we’ll try to upscale bitmap images with a little better result.

There’s no magic in it, just a few advanced scaling algorithms that help produce better-looking pictures. Everything is open source and works great in Fedora. The results will be tested against the Cubic interpolation method, which Gimp applies by default.

Filters in ImageMagick

This is the most famous and widely used open source software for manipulating images from the command line. Fedora, like the majority of other Linux distributions, already includes ImageMagick. Fedora even installs it by default in Fedora Workstation. ImageMagick provides  the convert command, which can also change dimensions of input images.

The trick is that convert supports filters, and ImageMagick provides a rich selection of such filters, some of which work really good for upscaling. You can check out the full list here. For instance, the point filter works well for upscaling pixel art and screen shots, as it preserves clarity and sharpness at the cost of emphasized pixels. Still, this can look better than the blurred results of the convenient Cubic algorithm.

Use it with the following syntax:

convert input.png -filter point -resize 600% output.png

The PNG file format as well as the 600% scaling factor are just examples.

Hiding pixels in Cubic is not really good for upscaling. Use something without anti-aliasing, such as the Point filter in ImageMagick.

Although it’s possible to get the same result in Gimp by choosing the None interpolation method, working with ImageMagick is sometimes easier. Not only it is installed in Fedora Workstation by default (Gimp is available, but not installed), it provides command-line tools which are ideal for scripting.

Xbrzscale

Xbrzscale is a command-line utility that implements the xBR scaling method. In brief, xBR is based on pattern recognition and interpolation, and it’s perfect for magnifying pixel art. xBRZ is an enhanced version of xBR, with a focus on preserving very small details. Therefore, xBRZ delivers pleasing results on both pixel art and photographic images, such as portraits.

In the following side-by-side comparison, the left part definitely looks preferable thanks to the superb clarity.

The Xbrzscale version features sharper edges and looks as if it had more details than the version to the right.

Install Xbrzscale in Fedora

To build this tool from source, you must install some prerequisites first:

sudo dnf -y install gcc-c++ SDL2-devel SDL2_image-devel

Let’s go ahead with Xbrzscale now:

git clone https://github.com/atheros/xbrzscale.git cd xbrzscale make

The command line syntax to upscale with this software is:

./xbrzscale X input.png output.png

…where X is the scale factor, a number within the range of 2 to 6.

Note that Xbrzscale always outputs PNG images, no matter what you feed it with. If the input file format is different, Xbrzscale will convert it to PNG.

Smilla Enlarger

Smilla Enlarger has a user-friendly graphical interface. It makes use of yet another different technology, this time based on fractal-based interpolation algorithms. The main goal is to produce sharper results when you upscale photographic images. The enlarged image usually preserves more details than the Cubic interpolation can.

Install Smilla Enlarger in Fedora

Again, start by installing the build dependencies:

sudo dnf -y install qt5-qtbase-devel

Now, build and run Smilla Enlarger:

git clone https://github.com/lupoDharkael/smilla-enlarger.git cd smilla-enlarger qmake-qt5 && make ./smilla-enlarger

The application window has numerous advanced controls and extra parameters that put a user in control of upscaling details.

Smilla Enlarger lets you choose a zoom factor, configure cropping and, more importantly, preview the result before hitting the Enlarge & Save button.

The upscale version of the sample image looks noticeably different from both the decent Xbrzscale version and the cubic-enlarged version.

Smill Enlarger adds a subtle amount of grain, which seems to effectively hide artifacts and make a picture look cleaner. Try this application on a photo to get the best results.

It’s hard to recommend the plethora of ImageMagick filters over Xbrzscale and Smilla Enlarger. The actual results will vary across different sorts of images, and of course different user preferences.

What parents think about technology in the classroom

Watch two hours of Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game Gameplay

By Joe Robinson 29 Aug 2018

Asmodee Digital have now put the archive of last night’s Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game stream up on their Twitch page, if you didn’t get a chance to watch it last night. It’s about two hours long, just so you know, and we’ve replaced the embed below with the archived stream instead of the live feed. Enjoy!

Original Story

As Hearthstone continues to dominate the digital CCG market, new and interesting variations on the formula are slowly starting to emerge. Faeria, despite abandoning mobile development, tried to change the game by adding a physical board. The Elder Scrolls: Legends iterated in a subtler way by providing more tactical depth.

The Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game is the latest contender for the throne, but it represents an interesting quandary – for one, it’s an adaptation of an existing, and highly successful physical card game of the same name. Secondly, it’s co-op, not PvP, so you’re playing against an AI opponent who uses slightly different rules and the whole design is bent towards a more bespoke, story-driven experience.

When it first announced last year, it was generally accepted that Lord of the Rings LCG will be coming to mobile. Sadly we’ve heard no further news on that score, but since the game’s out in Steam Early Access today and I’m sure some of you are interested in seeing how it plays, can’t hurt to highlight the on-going gameplay stream over on Asmodee’s Twitch account:

[embedded content]

The stream started at 4pm UTC / 5PM GMT, so you may have missed the beginning, but the archive will probably be made available tomorrow if you want to catch up.

I’ve been playing it myself, and so far it’s proved a fascinating experience – the narrative-driven nature of the game throws up some very interesting and unique mechanics you won’t find in more PvP games. On top of that though, I’m having conflicting emotions over how differently the digital game has evolved from the physical one – the physical game is a very good co-operative card game, and I’m surprised by how much the team at Fantasy Flight Interactive have decided to distil the game’s core tenets and try to mould into Hearthstone’s template.

We’ll probably do a full write-up over on Strategy Gamer since this isn’t officially a mobile thing yet, so keep an eye out over there for more impressions. Otherwise, enjoy the stream!

The Limon Open Source Game Engine

Electronauts



Ever wanted to ride the vibes of a top DJ playing a packed festival?s main stage? Here?s your chance to shine: all it takes to be an Electronaut is the passion to become one with the beat.

Publisher: Survios

Release Date: Aug 07, 2018

Divinity: Original Sin II - Definitive Edition



Set a thousand years after the first game, Divinity: Original Sin II presents a darker, more grounded narrative and expands on the tactical combat system of its award-winning predecessor. In Divinity: Original Sin, you were on a quest for the forbidden Source magic. Now, you yourself are a Sourcerer: a dangerously powerful individual whose abilities summon creatures from the encroaching Void. The Divine is dead and the Void is everywhere. Sourcerers are blamed and the Divine Order is leading the charge against the threat: you. Captured and sent to Fort Joy, you will be "cured" of your powers -- no matter the cost. But the Order has secrets of its own that may cast doubt on its so-called holy mission. As you escape from Fort Joy, you realize that if the world remains godless, it will be consumed by the Void.

Publisher: Bandai Namco Games

Release Date: Aug 31, 2018

The Messenger

Publisher: Sabotage Studio

Release Date: Aug 30, 2018

Amazon Has Some Nice PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch Game Deals In The US

Unlike most other retailers that offer games, Amazon doesn't put on official weekly video game sales. But that doesn't mean you can't find a deal at the online store. Whether the gaming deals available now are mostly to price-match other stores' deals or they were whipped up by an algorithm, it doesn't really matter. All that matters is that some great games are available for cheap on Amazon in the US right now. Let's take a look.

Nintendo Switch owners are probably the best-served group at the moment. They can pick up portable ports like Doom, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze for $10 or $15 off. The massive, open-world The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is on sale for $45, as is Splatoon 2. Even the recently released Mario Tennis Aces is on sale for the same price.

PS4 and Xbox One owners gave plenty of discounts to pick from as well. Blockbuster shooters like Call of Duty: WWII, Far Cry 5, and Overwatch: Legendary Edition got some steep price cuts. RPG fans can order Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition for $30, The Witcher 3: Complete Edition for $35, or Vampyr for $40. God of War, this year's biggest PS4 exclusive so far, is on sale for $45. The Xbox One exclusive Sea of Thieves is down to $37.

Basically, no matter your console of choice, you'll probably find something worth picking up at an appealing price. You can find more Amazon video game discounts listed below.

• Call of Duty: WWII -- $31
• Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker -- $30
• Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze -- $45
• Doom (Switch) -- $50
• Far Cry 5 -- $30
• Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition -- $30
• Fire Emblem Warriors -- $36
• God of War -- $45
• Grand Theft Auto V -- $20
• Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue -- $20
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild -- $45
• Lego The Incredibles -- $35
• Mario Tennis Aces -- $45
• Overwatch: Legendary Edition -- $30
• Sea of Thieves -- $37
• Splatoon 2 -- $45
• Steamworld Dig 2 -- $14
• Vampyr -- $40
• We Happy Few -- $50
• The Witcher 3: Complete Edition -- $35
• Xenoblade Chronicles 2 -- $50