Chinese tech outfit Tencent might be looking to sink more cash into PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds developer Bluehole. 

As reported by The Korea Herald, the company wants to purchase a 10 percent stake in Bluehole for around 500 billion won ($468 million). 

Tencent already owns around 1.5 percent of the studio, meaning its overall stake would rise to 11.5 percent.

Any such deal would make Tencent the second-largest Bluehole shareholder, behind company founder and chairman Chang Byung-gyu — who currently holds a 20.6 percent stake.

Bluehole has confirmed it’s looking for investors, although stopped short of naming names. That said, the pair are on good terms, having already joined forces to bring Battlegrounds to China on smartphones and PC. 

Speaking of the popular battle royale shooter, Battlegrounds has gone from strength-to-strength since the pair linked up in November last year, surpassing 3 million concurrent players on Steam, crossing 30 million players worldwide, and attracting over 3 million players on Xbox One.

The Forest is Now Available on Steam!

As the lone survivor of a passenger jet crash, you find yourself in a mysterious forest battling to stay alive against a society of cannibalistic mutants.

Build, explore, survive in this terrifying first person survival horror simulator.

Welcome to another edition of Games with Gold for the Xbox One family of devices! This month Super Mega Baseball 2 makes its debut on May 1 and the critically acclaimed action stealth adventure Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain arrives on May 16. Then on Xbox 360 – and Xbox One via Backward Compatibility – we’ll have the Sega Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage and the cult-classic action game Vanquish!

All games will be available exclusively for Xbox Live Gold members for a limited time as part of Games with Gold. With Xbox Live Gold, you get the most advanced multiplayer, free games, and exclusive member discounts on games in the Microsoft Store, so get Xbox Live Gold today to get in on the action!

Super Mega Baseball 2
The critically acclaimed Super Mega Baseball series is back with gorgeous new visuals, deep team and league customization, and long-awaited online multiplayer modes. Fancy yourself as either a rookie or baseball purist, SMB2 packs a mode for everyone. Compete in ranked matchmaking (1v1), dominate friends in arranged matches (1v1, 2v1, 2v2), or take on the AI (solo, local co-op, online co-op) – all kept fair by the dynamic difficulty system known as Ego.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Ushering in a new era for the franchise with cutting-edge technology powered by the Fox Engine, MGSV: The Phantom Pain will give players a first-rate gaming experience as they are offered tactical freedom to carry out open-world missions, allowing them to find their own unique way to achieve victory. Traverse the world with jeeps, tanks, horseback and even on foot! Stay alert and don’t forget to call on AI companions when needed!

Sega Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage
Join Axel, Blaze, and company as they battle the evil Mr. X across all three Streets of Rage games. Originally released for the Sega Genesis, the classic brawler series has now been updated for release on Xbox Live Arcade! Earn all new achievements, take on challenging new game trials, compete with other players across Xbox Live Leaderboards, and clean up the streets with a friend in two-player local and online co-op!

Vanquish
This is a sci-fi shooter of epic proportions with a fast, fluid, and frantic combat system. You play as Sam Gideon, a DARPA agent armed with the Augmented Reaction Suit (ARS) that gives him extraordinary combat powers to help evade attacks and take down enemies. Take too much damage and the ARS allows Sam the ability to slow down time, helping to give him the edge in battle.

Read more about our Games with Gold program here and stay tuned to Xbox Wire for all the latest news on Xbox. And check out Xbox Game Pass to gain access to 100 more great games, all included in the monthly membership that you can try free for 14 days.

SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy looks like it’s going to be a whole heap of fun when it lands on Nintendo Switch this Summer. To keep us interested until its launch on 7th September, the lovely folks over at NIS America have shared a new game trailer that shows off two new characters in the shape of Zarina and Sylvie Paula Paula. You mighty remember these hard-hitting ladies from their debut in 2016’s King of Fighters XIV.

Zarina packs a powerful punch with her Chi Attacks, and is ready to defend the home of her toucan companion, Coco, from destruction. With a knack for dancing the samba, her rhythmic moves will knock out anyone who stands in her way.

Sylvie Paula Paula is described as a cute and quirky girl who comes from a secret society known as NESTS, which experimented on her to bring out her special abilities. Those googly eyes and that voice inside her head? Well, they’re her friends, so don’t mess with any of them, or Sylvie will give you quite a shock!

There’s no doubt, this game is going to be completely bonkers. Have a watch of the trailer above and let us know if you plan to pick up SNK Heroines for your Switch later this year with a comment below.

AI Nightmare (a 360 Video), is Now Available on Steam and is 40% off!*

Abducted by futuristic AI robots, you race against the clock to solve a cryptic message and prevent Earth’s coming destruction – only to question if what you experienced was actually just a nightmare. 

Official Selection of 2018 Mammoth Film Festival
Official Selection of 2018 Capital City Film Festival
Official Selection of 2018 New Media Film Festival (LA)
Official Selection of 2018 Mediterranean Film Festival Cannes (France)
Honorable Mention from IndieTO VR Film Festival

*Offer ends May 3 at 10AM Pacific Time

Game Director Christopher Barrett:

As you know, we’ve been engaging with the Destiny community to pivot and improve every part of our Destiny 2 experience. This includes a commitment to the tone, story, and lore of Destiny both in and out of the game.

This week, I wanted to give a shout out to Destiny’s hard-working Narrative group, who has been collaborating with myself and the rest of the dev team on a whole bunch of new lore content that will be coming your way in the near (and in some cases, very near) future. While I can’t tell you everything we’ve been working on together, I’m happy to reveal that another (free) Destiny digital comic – Warmind – is headed your way this week, written by Mark Waid (Dr. Strange) and David Rodriguez (Warmind) and inked by Kris Anka (Runaways). I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.  

And if the week seems like a long wait, I’ve got more good news; you can join us in celebrating the upcoming launch of Destiny 2: Warmind with a few pieces of new and original Warmind Weblore, now available here.

<3 Chris

[Editor’s note: Revised copy to accurately reflect the release date of the comic.] 

Tyra

“Ghost, open a new file. Research Notes TK-48725.8, Category: Clovis Bray.”

“I don’t like it when you call me that.”

“What, ‘Ghost’? Oh, come now. We’ve been having this discussion for more than three centuries. Ghost is what you are, my friend. If you want a name so badly, choose one for yourself.”

“Maybe I will. Now that everyone’s gone back to the Tower and we’re still out here, I have plenty of time to consider what my name should be.”

“Can you open my file while you ponder the possibilities?”

“If you insist.”

“Thank you. Research Notes TK-48725.8. Data recovered from Freehold—Bray Landing. Kirren found an entire cache of intact data cores there. Brought them back just before the attack on the City.”

“It’s these little miracles that intrigue me so much… Fragments of memories, frozen in silicon and quartz, trapped in a moment that survives the end of a civilization, centuries of decay, and the predations of invading armies, only to be recovered and end up as flotsam of a second war. That this cache even managed to survive the Collapse is a wonder, and then the Red War? The probabilities of such an occurrence are…”

“Tyra?”

“Yes, Ghost?”

“Ahem. You’re rambling. Again. You said I should remind you.”

“Thank you. As I was saying, this data was recovered more than six months ago but is just now being decrypted—2.6 exabytes of documents and schematics have been decoded so far. At first glance, most of this was just the detritus of Bray’s work: review notes, payment records, memos. I did find some very interesting notes on a propulsion system design that I’ve already sent to Amanda, and there are some messages between the sisters that will illuminate Master Melivander’s work on the history of Clovis Bray.”

“But then I found something extraordinary. The records were fragmented—some files had been partially deleted—but there’s enough there to indicate that the Bray facility at Hellas Basin was larger than we previously thought.”

“Hellas Basin? The tourist spot?”

“The same. And while we know there was a BrayTech Futurescape there for promotional purposes— Bray even had an AI-led tour—all indications had been that if any research was done there, it was mostly for show: low-level projects creating improved cold-weather gear and the like.”

“But if these records are correct, the facility operated on a far larger scale. It could have been the site of the initial Warmind development. Perhaps even a core site for Rasputin itself. This could have been where the Warmind was born.” 

“You got all that from some fragmented files? Is this going to be like the time you thought you’d identified a second Warmind? We spent a decade searching for Charlemagne’s vault.”

“I was correct about Charlemagne existing, just not about what it was. If we hadn’t done that research, we wouldn’t know anything about subminds.”

“Rahool still disagrees.”

“Rahool needs to get his head out of his engrams. This is why Guardians look for fragments of the Golden Age! We are the descendants of a lost civilization. Only by understanding what was can we understand what we are now. How the world we know came to be. And each artifact we find helps us interpret what we already know. Adds layers. New identities. We are experimenting in the laboratory of time, testing each observation through a crucible of evidence.”

“Sometimes our conclusions change. And with each shift, we learn more of where we came from. The next shift in our perceptions? It may be on Mars.”

Apocrypha

In the beginning, there were five.

Yul, the Honest Worm. Akka, the Worm of Secrets. Eir, the Keeper of Order. Ur, the Ever-Hunger. Xol, Will of the Thousands. And they were Virtuous.

In time, Yul spoke truth and bargained well. Its children escaped the Fundament and spread throughout the worlds. They followed the words of the Deep and brought low many agents of the Sky. They took, and a portion of all they took was returned to the Virtuous.

They grew strong.

In time, Auryx learned Akka’s secret. That he was stronger than the gods. That they had given their power, and in giving, it was diminished. Auryx rose up and slew Akka. He took, and he grew strong with Akka’s power.

After the five became four, Yul spoke.

Behold my majesty. Behold my crushing might, my staggering size, my scales that shine with an oppressive gleam. 

Behold my wings, which create winds that sweep through the stars.

Together, we have called life to Fundament, and made that life thrive. Protected it from extinction. They are our hosts, and we are their strength.

But we do not give. We take. For this is the struggle to exist. We are not immune. The weakest of us must give way to the stronger.

And Xol felt [fear|cunning], for it knew that Yul would in time turn its teeth to Xol.

But Akka was not the only one with a secret. Xol had a pact with a forgotten child, abandoned by its father.

The cursed one took a fraction of Xol’s power, and in return, Xol took the heart from the child, whose name had been struck from the World’s Grave. The orphan called life out of death, and fed that power to Xol.

Together, they would find a new world to rule.

And the five became three.

I, the child become [herald|death], record these words. They are not of the Sorrow. They are mine.

Cryptarch

From “Collapse and Post-Collapse Incidents on Mars: An Examination of Ecological Changes in the Polar Regions,” by Master Reinhart, Cryptarch 

We have detailed records of the expedition sent to the Moon to battle the alien race known as the Hive, the calamitous results of that assault, and the subsequent Lunar Interdiction that was lifted only after definitive evidence was found that the Interdiction had not restricted the Hive’s movements (Rahool et al., “The Great Disaster: From Burning Lake to the Hellmouth”).

However, there are indications that while that event may have been the Vanguard’s first engagement with the Hive, Earth’s Moon was not the first place the Hive made contact with Human settlements.

Golden Age records detail an extensive network of Clovis Bray structures on Mars. The vast city of Freehold served as the Bray headquarters, but ancient mass-transit lines that lead from the remains of Freehold across the planet reveal multiple other sites, including the Clovis Bray Health Center in Skyline and an extensive Futurescape near Core Terminus, in the Hellas Basin region.

It is the Futurescape facility that is of interest when considering the effects of ecological changes in the Collapse and post-Collapse eras. Although there are records that show that, just after the Traveler’s departure, the region had a mesothermal climate with an average temperature of 20°C, the region’s ecological zones today range from boreal to ice cap near the planetary pole, with harsh winds and a thick layer of ice that has made exploration in the region difficult.

What caused such a drastic change in the climate? If it were related to the cessation of Traveler energy during the Collapse, then we would have seen similar effects on other planets in the solar system, which we have not.

If we cannot look to the Traveler for causation, then we must contemplate other external factors. Recovered satellite data reveals that the climate change in the Hellas Basin region was too rapid to have resulted from long-term ecological damage, as it had on Earth in the pre-Traveler era. In fact, data from Warsat J54987F122S, which crashed and was recovered near Freehold, indicates that the climate change on Mars may have happened over a matter of mere days. However, this Warsat was heavily damaged during reentry, and the data may be suspect. Until we have a secondary source for corroboration, this is mere supposition.

Nonetheless, if we accept the data from J54987F122S, then we are looking at an external endothermic event, caused by artificial means, on a scale so massive that it altered the entire climate of the region.

Why would this have happened? Our only source is J54987F122S, and if it is to be believed, an invasion of unknown biological entities, including one of massive size, was detected in the region immediately before the event. Could this have been a Collapse-era attack with a weapon of unknown origin?

As of yet, Guardians have not reached Hellas Basin, and we have not had the resources for remote exploration. But if we did dig into the ice, what would we find?

Ana,

Told you I remembered an article from the Mars research we were doing at Owl Sector. This could be what you’re looking for—if you can dig it out. 

Reinhart goes on for a few hundred pages from here—I’ll send the whole thing to Jinju if you’re interested— but his conclusions are all wrong. Because he never mentions the ONE THING that could have done this.

There’s something in Hellas Basin. And you’re going to be the one to find it.

—Camrin

Zavala

Ikora has confirmed my fears. The ice on Mars is melting.

She says it’s the Traveler’s Light—that when it awoke, it sent out a wave of Light that altered everything it touched.

I don’t know what to believe. I look at the Traveler now, shining and alive, and I remember all the times I begged it to respond. To help its chosen through our trials.

I remember its silence. Even now, it does not speak… or if it does, there is no one to hear and understand its words.

Ikora says that we cannot understand the Traveler, or its desires. They are too far removed from our own. But can we rely on something that doesn’t understand us to protect us? Or must we protect ourselves?

I think we must. I have been searching the databanks—records that even the Cryptarchs cannot access—and sifting through data that the Speaker thought too dangerous to be disseminated.

I know what is on Mars.

What is buried beneath that ice is too dangerous to allow back into our world. It doesn’t think like we do. It weighs and judges our existence in its ruthless calculations, and we don’t even know what the goal is. Once, long ago, it might have been created as a tool to save Humanity. It is far more than a mere machine now.

And it is broken. 

When Saladin sealed all the records relating to SIVA, he also put a lock on certain data concerning what lies hidden on Mars. We were stumbling around blindly in those days, in the wrong place and at the wrong time, calling out to something that could not respond or understand us. And Saladin let it happen, because our failures were safer than the alternative. 

But the locks are open now. I’ve studied the monsters in our past to prepare for the battles in our future. I know how to reach this particular monster before anyone else does.

Ikora is too intrigued by the knowledge it holds to heed the dangers. Cayde is wasting his time filling the Prison of Elders. It’s up to me to keep this secret buried.

To keep us safe. 

Rasputin

218CBI800JRS101

AI-COM/RSPN: ASSETS//POLARIS//IMPERATIVE

IMMEDIATE EVALUATION DIRECTIVE

This is a POLARIS ASSETS IMPERATIVE (secured/UNDISCLOSED)

This is an INTERNAL ALERT. 

Multiple distributed Polaris axons report increased sterile neutrino patterning correlating to increase in AVGPOLARISTEMP. Reactivated areoseismic analysis detects high quantities of nonnative organic chitin.

Axon 5-Sierra’s event footprint includes evidence of vermiform parasites (UNCONFIRMED/RED).

One hypothesis on event mechanism (FLAG ACAUSAL). Possibility of HARD CIVILIZATION KILL EVENT is NONZERO. 

Check variable AVGPOLARISTEMP

>AVGPOLARISTEMP greater than or equal to MELTINGPOINT

I am assessing available VOLUSPA and CHARLEMAGNE resources.

I am assuming control of atmospheric defenses (Warsat COMPREHENSIVE) and invoking AURORA PALISADE.