Since the beginning of this year, we’ve been setting more specific expectations for the work we’re doing to support Destiny 2. With some Season 2 updates in our rear view mirror, it’s time to look further into the future. Before we take a look at our development priorities, Game Director Christopher Barrett has some commentary on our goals for this summer, and beyond.

Barrett: The team is very excited to extend the roadmap and share with you some of the big stakes we’re putting in the ground. Recent updates have focused on immediate issues to the live game, but in the coming months our vision for the future is converging with critical player feedback to deliver transformative changes to Destiny 2. 

We’ll be diving deeper into each one of the listed items soon, and there’s even more we can’t quite talk about yet, but for now it’s all hands on deck to make sure we deliver on our promise to restore Destiny 2 to the hobby we all love.

Here’s the new roadmap, spanning the entire summer:

The community has been talking a lot about some of the things we’re developing for Season Four. Our goals for these features are to give you more control over how you configure your loadouts in Destiny 2 and give you more reasons to play the game over time. We also want to bring back those exciting moments when you acquire the perfect weapon. To make this happen, updates like Weapon Randomization, Weapon Slot Changes, Gear Collections, and Records will be delivered to all players.

We now have a plan for Raid Prestige changes (including Raid Lairs) and will update where it will land in the next Development Roadmap. Mod Changes are being incorporated into our new plan for Weapon Randomization.

Season Three marks the beginning of a new plan for how we deliver Crucible content. For every player of Destiny 2, we’ll be releasing all of the new Crucible Maps being developed for Warmind into matchmaking. The same goes for the maps we released with Curse of Osiris. To keep the community in the Crucible unified, everyone will see new arenas in matchmade playlists like Quickplay, Competitive, Trials of the Nine, Iron Banner, as well as the new weekly rotators that include Rumble and Mayhem. That means more opponents for everyone. With the arrival of Private Matches, players will need to purchase each Expansion to have exclusive access to play those Crucible maps with other players in a private match. This plan goes into effect on May 8 with the beginning of Season Three.

The usual conversation about our creative process will continue. Expect to learn more about the new features on the roadmap as we delve deeper into developer commentary. If these plans change – and plans have a way of doing that – we’ll keep refreshing this roadmap on a monthly basis.

Thanks for coming along with us on this journey, thanks for your feedback, and thanks for playing.

Play nice! Nintendo celebrates National Siblings Day

A sibling can be many things. Sometimes they’ve got your back in times of trouble or sometimes they take over the TV at the most crucial, inconvenient moment. And sometimes they have really impressive mustaches.

No matter the case, we’re celebrating brothers and sisters in honor of National Siblings Day. Check out the fun ways you (and your siblings) can celebrate with Nintendo!

Play Nintendo
Mario and Luigi are two of the most famous siblings in video game history. Which set of video-game siblings do you think would be fun? Take a very special Siblings Day poll on Play Nintendo to choose between Mario and Luigi, Cappy and Tiara, and more!

My Nintendo
My Nintendo is offering rewards that put a spotlight on brotherly love. You can redeem your My Nintendo Platinum points for a free Luigi Mustache HOME Menu theme for the Nintendo 3DS™ family of systems. Plus, you can redeem points for a free Siblings Day wallpaper featuring Mario and Luigi!

Let your siblings know how much you care with a cheerful “Happy Siblings Day” card sheet to download and print. Redeem your My Nintendo reward points, then say “I love you, bro!” or “You’re the best, sis!”

Nintendo Switch News
Do you and your siblings play well together? Challenge them to a day of fun with co-op games for the Nintendo Switch™ system! Just remember to play nice…because that’s what siblings do, right?

In Super Mario Odyssey™, Player 1 controls Mario while Player 2 controls Cappy! If your sibling is significantly younger than you, the new Smart Steering feature in Mario Kart™ 8 Deluxe helps rookie racers stay on track.

Here are a few more co-op games to help strengthen your sibling-y bond:
ARMS™
Bayonetta™ 2
Fire Emblem Warriors
Kirby™ Star Allies
Snipperclips™ – Cut it out, together!
Splatoon™ 2

Additional games, systems, and accessories may be required for multiplayer mode. Games, systems, and some accessories sold separately.

Games Shown:

The Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has fined three video game companies, including heavy-hitters Nexon and Netmarble, for employing deceptive loot box practices. 

As reported by The Korea Herald, Nexon Korea — the publisher behind Lawbreakers, MapleStory, and the Korean version of Counter Strike — was hit with a $882,700 penalty and a $5,200 fine, the biggest among the three. 

Star Wars: Force Arena and Marvel: Future Fight publisher Netmarble was handed a $42,300 penalty and $14,100 fine, while Destiny Child creator NextFloor received a fine $4,700. 

All three have been asked to review and reform their monetization practices, with the Korean FTC specifically taking issue with way randomized loot crates are being promoted.

Indeed, the commission believes the offending outfits have been employing ads that display incorrect or misleading odds for loot crate drops.

For instance, it claims Nexon’s promotion campaign implied all loot crate drops had an even chance of dropping, when in reality the odds of receiving certain items were as low as 0.5 percent. Nexon has since spoken out against the decision, claiming the FTC misinterpreted the wording of its ad campaign. 

“In our puzzle event, we used the phrase ‘random provision’ to suggest the items would be provided at random, and that the odds of obtaining each puzzle piece were different,” said the company. “However, the FTC interpreted the phrase as suggesting equal odds. We plan to work on obtaining an additional review of this issue in the future.”

The Korean FTC isn’t the first organization to take issue with the use of loot boxes. Politicians and officials from around the world have been reviewing the “predatory” monetization method, with some calling for the controversial mechanic to be banned outright. 

Last month we debuted our first episode of Inside Xbox, our monthly premiere Xbox broadcast show. We shared news, such as support for Freesync displays in the upcoming Xbox Spring Update, went behind-the-scenes with our friends at Rare to celebrate the launch of Sea of Thieves, enjoyed an update on all things PUBG, watched the internet enjoy a healthy laugh at Major Nelson’s white-glove treatment of our giveaways, and even created an impromptu Twitter Moment thanks to Seamus Blackley and the Hyperkin Duke controller, plus much more.

We had a blast, and we hope you did too, but more importantly, we learned a lot from what you enjoyed in the show and what you’d like to see more of in the future. Don’t forget to use #insidexbox to not only participate in the show but to send us your questions and feedback as well. We’re always listening.

We are pleased to announce that the next episode of Inside Xbox will air Tuesday, April 10 at 3:30 p.m. PDT / 6:30 p.m EDT, and while we can’t reveal all our goodies just yet, we hope the video above will whet your Xbox appetite.

One of our most common requests is for Original Xbox Backward Compatibility news, and we’ll be starting off the show with a big update on just that.

Stay tuned next Monday for a full breakdown of the news and content you can expect on Inside Xbox. Mostly full that is, as we reserve the right to keep a moment or two fully under wraps for a proper surprise. We look forward to seeing you on Mixer.com/xbox, Twitch.tv/xbox, YouTube.com/xbox, Facebook.com/xbox, and Twitter.com/xbox as we celebrate another great month in the world of gaming and look ahead at some exciting new games and announcements.

Once upon a time the FMV was all the rage in video games, especially back on PC in the ’90s. Well, it’s having something of a comeback on Switch. First, there’s the recently released The Bunker, and now Japanese handheld owners are getting another live-action romp in the form of horror outing, Closed Nightmare.

Mixing live-action sequences, exploration and other in-game challenges, the game follows the unfortunate journey of a kidnapped woman attempting to escape a gruesome experiment. Heroine/victim Maria Kamishiro also has her left arm paralyzed, although we don’t know how that will affect gameplay (if at all) just yet.

It’s due to hit Nintendo Switch in Japan on 19th July. No news yet on a western version. So what do you make of this unusual offering? Do live-action segments still have a place in modern gaming? Have your say below… 

Indie developer Eric Barone, the man behind studio ConcernedApe and hit farming simulator Stardew Valley, has just offered a new update on the game’s upcoming multiplayer mode. In a post on Twitter, Barone confirmed he’s, “still making good progress on fixing bugs,” and that, “if all goes well it should be ready in about a month.”

Barone revealed the mode back in January, also confirming that the co-operative feature was now his sole focus. Fingers crossed all that hard work means you and your friends can farm together once more in (potentially) only four weeks time. We still love a bit of Stardew Valley here at Nintendo Life so we’re all for teaming up with some mates to tend the soil.

Question is, what do you think of this upcoming Stardew Valley addition? Will it tempt you back, keep you playing even longer or not interest you at all? Comments at the ready!