UPDATE 8/29/17: The Destiny 2 PC Open Beta has begun! Guardians everywhere can now play for FREE until August 31.

EARLY ACCESS – AUGUST 28

Players who’ve pre-ordered or pre-purchased the PC version of Destiny 2 will be able to play the Early Access phase of the PC Beta beginning August 28 at 10 a.m. PT. If you pre-purchased directly from the Blizzard Shop, you should already have a Beta Early Access license, so you’ll be ready to play when the time comes. If you pre-ordered or pre-purchased Destiny 2 through other means, please visit www.destinythegame.com/beta. If you haven’t pre-purchased Destiny 2 for PC yet, you can do so through the Blizzard Shop. 

If you have any problems accessing the PC Beta, please visit Blizzard’s support page.

OPEN BETA – AUGUST 29–31

The Open Beta phase will begin on August 29 at 10 a.m. PT. All PC players will be able to play for FREE during this period. To play, you’ll just need the Blizzard Battle.net desktop app and a free Blizzard account—no additional sign-up or code required.

For more detailed information, including what content will be available and how to submit feedback, please visit Bungie’s latest PC Beta update on Bungie.net.

INSTALLATION AND PLAY INSTRUCTIONS

When the time comes, you’ll first need to download the Destiny 2 PC Beta through the Blizzard Battle.net desktop app. To install and play on August 28 (for Early Access) or August 29 (for Open Beta), please follow the instructions below.

Step 1: Download and install the Blizzard Battle.net desktop app, if you haven’t already, and launch it.

Step 2: Create a FREE Blizzard account, or log in with an existing account.

Step 3: Click the “Destiny 2” icon, located on the left-hand side of the Blizzard Battle.net desktop app.

Step 4: Once the PC Beta client is available, select your region from the drop-down menu, then click Install to begin the installation process.

Step 5: Once installed, click Play to begin when the time comes!

PC BETA SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Here is what you will need for your PC to run the Destiny 2 PC Beta once it goes live (final specs subject to change):

Recommended Specs

CPU: Intel – Core i5-2400; AMD – Ryzen R5 1600X
GPU: Nvidia – GeForce GTX 970, AMD – Radeon R9 390
RAM: 8GB

Minimum Specs

CPU: Intel – Core i3-3250, AMD – FX-4350
GPU: Nvidia – GeForce GTX 660 2GB, AMD – Radeon HD 7850 2GB
RAM: 6GB

For more information on the Destiny 2 PC Beta, visit www.destinythegame.com/beta and www.bungie.net.

Blizzard esports competitions have a cutting-edge, live-event destination with the opening of Blizzard Arena Los Angeles. The Burbank, California venue was custom-designed and built with amenities to accommodate top esports competitors and their fans. With high profile events for Hearthstone esports and Overwatch esports already scheduled, Blizzard Arena Los Angeles will be the hot destination for premier esports competition.

Multiple broadcasts and events can be run out of Blizzard Arena simultaneously, thanks to the multiple sound stages, control rooms and player lounges throughout the facility. The on-site Blizzard store will open during events and feature a rotating selection of gear and goods based on the event taking place at the time.

The Overwatch Contenders Playoffs will run the weekend of October 7–8 and serve as the grand opening event of Blizzard Arena Los Angeles. The top Overwatch Contenders teams from Europe and North America will arrive to battle over prize pools and regional dominance as they take center stage at the Arena.

On October 13, the Summer Championship for the Hearthstone Championship Tour takes over the Arena for a full weekend of championship competition with $250,000 on the line. The players left standing will be the final entrants in the Hearthstone World Championship, scheduled for early 2018.

When the Overwatch League launches later this year, Blizzard Arena Los Angeles will be the home for the inaugural season, bringing players and fans together for a celebration of professional Overwatch esports.

Tickets are available now for the Overwatch Contenders Playoffs and the HCT Summer Championship.

Game Director Christopher Barrett:

In less than two weeks, Update 1.1.4 will be available to install, bringing many quality of life changes to Destiny 2. Late in development, our team discovered a major issue impacting Heroic Strike Modifiers. Changing the design to fix the issue meant pushing Heroic Modifiers out to 1.2.0, but we will be able to use the extra time to add more variety than was in the original plan.

Starting March 27, the Weekly Crucible Playlist will become available to all. This playlist will contain Rumble, Mayhem, and 6v6 Iron Banner to start. Here’s a calendar for when you can expect these game modes to appear through the week of May 1:

<3 Chris

Dontnod, the French game developer behind Life is Strange and the upcoming Vampyr, has registered with the French regulator Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) and taken the first steps toward going public on the Euronext Growth stock exchange.

A translation of a story from the French publication Le Figaro notes that listing on the exchange and opening up for an IPO should give Dontnod enough of a solid cash boost to continue partially funding its own games alongside investments from publishers, as it has with publishers like Focus Home Interactive for Vampyr.

“By financing a small part of the development ourselves, we take a controlled financial risk, but this allows us to generate larger royalties if successful,” Dontnod CEO Oskar Guilbert tells Le Figaro. “We are not abandoning the classic model of full funding by the publisher. We want to achieve a smart balance between the two models.”

The Dontnod CEO continues, explaining that the company had been eyeing an IPO for some time but that it “had to first reach a certain maturity,” something that he notes has taken a significant amount of work, likely in the wake of some financial trouble during the studio’s earlier years.

“The global video game market, which is already worth $109 billion in 2017, has a strong dynamic and we want to take full advantage of it,” said Guilbert in a translation of a statement published by the AFJV. “The original works of our studio, developed by experienced and passionate collaborators, have enabled us to appeal to the world’s largest publishers and a very wide audience, and we intend to continue this momentum through this IPO project.”

Eador. Masters of the Broken World – Valve

Many of gaming’s most compelling stories come from those who’ve helped to create our favorite Xbox One games. In our Inside Xbox One X Enhanced series, these creators will share the behind-the-scenes accounts of the work involved in enhancing these epic games for Xbox One X, how they’ve helped chart the course of the world’s most powerful console, and what that means for the future of gaming. Today, we’ll be chatting with Ninja Theory’s Dominic Matthews, Commercial Director on the epic adventure game Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice.

What specifically is your development team doing to enhance Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice for Xbox One X?

We’ve put a lot of work and care into making the Hellblade really sing on the console. We’ve given players the choice of three enhanced modes to choose from: Enhanced Visuals mode, High Framerate mode and High-Resolution mode.

How do these enhancements impact the gaming experience, and why did your development team choose to focus on these enhancement areas?

We wanted to give players the option to enhance Hellblade in the way that they want. Different players care about different things. Enriched Visuals mode offers increased visual richness throughout the experience, such as additional fog, foliage density, shadow quality, and higher resolution textures. High Framerate mode runs the game at a silky smooth 60fps. This is for players who choose smoothness of the action over higher resolution. High Resolution mode runs the game with dynamic resolutions that scale throughout the game up to 4K. This is for players who are happy with 30fps and want to see just what their Xbox One X can do when partnered with a 4K TV.

How do you expect fans of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice will respond to playing it on Xbox One X with these enhancements?

Xbox One X players are looking for an experience that gives them an opportunity to showcase what the console can do. Hellblade’s Xbox One X enhancements, combined with HDR support, will give them just that.

What enhancement were you most excited about to explore leveraging for Hellblade: Senua’s on Xbox One X?

We always like to see where we can push resolution and framerate, but for Xbox One X being able to add additional richness in the Enriched Visuals mode was particularly exciting. Hellblade is a very cinematic experience and the additional touches of quality help to immerse you in the game even deeper.

What does 4K and HDR mean for your game, games in the future and development at your studio?

We see 4K and HDR as being important steps in improving the cinematic experience that games can offer. In the case of Hellblade, we took the Xbox One X release as an opportunity to great our first 4K HDR trailer, which can be seen at the top of this post.

Thanks to Dominic for taking the time to chat with us about Xbox One X Enhanced. We’ll bring you more interviews with more developers in the future, so stay tuned to Xbox Wire!

Splatoon 2’s upcoming Octo Expansion DLC is getting its own soundtrack album in Japan, it has been revealed.

The album – which launches on July 18th in Japan – will come with two CDs. One will contains tracks from Octo Expansion, in addition to new songs which have been added to the core game via software updates. The second CD showcases the Inkopolive live concert performance that was held at Game Party Japan 2018. It will cost 3,200 Yen.

To top it all, there will also be a special first-print edition of the soundtrack that comes with a video recording of the Game Party Japan performance on a Blu-Ray disc. This enhanced edition will be 4,800 Yen.

The track listing for the Blu-Ray is:

• Color Pulse (Off the Hook)
• Acid Hues (Off the Hook)
• Muck Warfare (Off the Hook)
• Ebb & Flow (Off the Hook)
• Fresh Start (Squid Sisters)
• Spicy Calamari Inkantation (Squid Sisters)
• Now or Never! (Off the Hook + Squid Sisters)

Splatoon 2’s previous soundtrack album as a massive success in Japan; we can’t see this being any different. Let us know you’ll be importing this one by posting a comment.

It’s Thursday again, so that means the Nintendo Switch, 3DS and Wii U eShops have just been updated with all manner of new goodies. And this week’s haul is a diverse one, too – we’ve got your usual Neo Geo offerings from HAMSTER, a revamped throwback from Natsume, some indie darlings and plenty of new and exciting titles that may have previously flown under your radar. As always, be sure to drop a vote in the below below and leave a comment with your potential digital picks. Enjoy!

Switch eShop

South Park: The Fractured But Whole – Standard Edition (Ubisoft) – Players will once again assume the role of the New Kid. As the newest member of Coon and Friends, you must create your own superhero, build up your notoriety and use your superpowers to save South Park. Only then will Coon and Friends take their rightful place as the greatest team of superheroes ever assembled – and get the movie deal they so richly deserve. The game launches on 24th April.

Death Road to Canada (Ukiyo Publishing, $11.99) – Death Road is built for replay value. Everything is randomized: locations, events, survivor appearances and personalities. There’s a different story every time you play, set in a world that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Available April 25.

Football Manager Touch 2018 (SEGA, $39.99) – FOOTBALL MANAGER TOUCH 2018 on Nintendo Switch is the most immersive football simulation ever created for Nintendo players. Feature packed with a huge choice of clubs, TOUCH gets you through the seasons quickly without compromising on detail or control.

Firefighters – The Simulation (United Independent Entertainment, $39.99) – Buildings ablaze, people screaming and flames shooting several feet high! Welcome to the professional fire brigade. You and your team will experience the exciting work of the professional fire brigade, surviving realistic missions where you extinguish house fires, salvage and neutralize extremely toxic and hazardous substances, and accomplish many other fascinating tasks. Available April 24.

Firefighters: Airport Fire Department (United Independent Entertainment, $39.99) – Fire can be a friend, but also a merciless foe. Nowhere else is the danger greater than at a modern airport with thousands of travellers and highly flammable kerosene. Available April 24.

Gal*Gun 2 (Pqube, $59.99) – Japan’s most infamous shooter makes its long-awaited Nintendo Switch debut! Available April 24. Read our review.

Manticore: Galaxy on Fire (Deep Silver Fishlabs, $19.99) – Write your legacy in gunfire and smoke as you take down the galaxy’s most wanted criminals in action-packed dogfights! Rise to become the hero of the Neox Sector – a deadly fringe world terrorized by ruthless crime lords and their no-good underlings!

Ninja Striker! (Flyhigh Works) – Ninja Striker takes visuals and music inspired by the 8-bit era and fires them up with modern touches. Heavily stylised around Japanese themes, your goal is to advance forward with as much speed, flair and combo power as possible.