If the Internet is a hive of information, then last weekend, we were the buzzing bees. It seemed like every marketing team of every major gaming company decided to fire off their best work over the weekend – and are we complaining? Hell nah! From mobile games to K-Pop groups, let’s run through all the biggest news headlines you may have missed.
#1. Riot Games now owns the most viral K-Pop group on the Internet
During the League of Legends World Championships opening ceremony last weekend, Riot Games surprised everybody with a live performance of POP/STARS by K/DA, their fictional pop group comprising of characters Ahri, Akali, Evelynn, and Kai’Sa; their singing voices by Miyeon and Soyeon from (G)I-dle, Madison Beer, and Jaira Burns respectively.
The performance featured the K/DA skinned versions of the characters performing alongside their live counterparts through AR technology. This was the second time Riot used AR in their opening ceremony, the first time being last year’s Elder Dragon flying through the Bird’s Nest stadium in China.
Immediately after the performance, Riot dropped the official music video for the song and made K/DA skins available for purchase. If this was all just a big ploy to get players to buy skins, then it was certainly convincing.
Watch the official music video here:
#2. Overwatch’s newest character is the leader of the Deadlock Gang, Ashe
Overwatch stole the show at BlizzCon 2018 with the announcement of their newest character, a DPS hero named Ashe! The announcement was made alongside the release of a new cinematic centering around McCree reuniting with his former gang members. This time, on opposite ends of the fight.
Ashe’s main weapon is a semi-automatic rifle which can be used to fire quick shots, or aim-down sights for a more precise and higher damage shot. Her abilities include Coach Gun, which can knockback enemies in front of her or boost her upwards as a movement ability, and Dynamite, which lights enemies on fire upon explosion, dealing damage over time.
Her ultimate causes her to yell “Do something, Bob!”, summoning her omnic butler and sidekick who charges forward, knocking enemies into the air before raining bullets onto them with his arm cannons.
Watch the breakdown of her abilities here:
#3. The Fortnite cube exploded… and it transported players to another dimension!
We don’t usually follow Fortnite on this website, but when something like this happens, it’s hard not to take notice. The mysterious cube – lovingly dubbed Kevin by its fans – first arrived in-game sometime late August and exploded last Sunday, transporting players into a strange alternate dimension populated by what looked like cyber butterflies.
Once one of the butterflies landed on the player’s fingertips, they were transported back to the regular Fortnite map. This time, with a series of strange Stonehenge-looking rocks replacing what used to be Loot Lake, the Cube’s former location.
This seemed to be the finale to the Cube’s long-running narrative which previously resulted in destruction and map changes over the past few months. However, is this really the end? That’s a question none of us have the answer to.
#4. Undertale creator Toby Fox releases new game (?) named Deltarune
On the 30th of October, the Undertale Official Twitter account tweeted out this message:
“WELCOME. HAVE YOU BEEN LOOKING FOR ME? HOW WONDERFUL. I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU AS WELL. I HAVE SOMETHING. SOMETHING I WANT TO SHOW YOU. SOMETHING I THINK YOU WILL FIND VERY, VERY, INTERESTING. BUT IT IS NOT COMPLETE YET. NO IT IS FAR FROM COMPLETE. THUS I HAVE A SMALL FAVOUR TO ASK OF YOU. AT THAT TIME, I WILL ASK YOU A FEW QUESTIONS. THEN USING YOUR RESPONSES WE WILL APPROACH ITS REALIZATION. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME. I WILL BE IN CONTACT AGAIN SOON.”
The following day, Toby Fox released his new (?) game Deltarune to the public. “Chapter 1” of the game is currently free to download on the game’s official website and it is said to be a sequel to Undertale, although very little else is known about it. This may be because of Toby Fox’s own request for a minimum 24-hour embargo on all discussion about the game’s content. Fans have certainly been faithful to it, with information about the game being kept at minimal discussion thus far.
We’ll be writing our own thoughts and reviews on the game soon, but until then, you should try it out for yourself!
#5. Diablo now has a mobile game called ‘Diablo Immortal’ – and fans aren’t happy
Announced during the opening ceremony of BlizzCon 2018, Diablo Immortal is a brand new RPG mobile game that will be coming to Android and iOS. The events in the game will take place in between Diablo 2 and Diablo 3, while the gameplay will mostly mirror Diablo 3 with the exception of the Witch Doctor class and different abilities for all characters.
This comes hot off the heels of Diablo 3’s port to the Nintendo Switch and clearly marks Blizzard’s decision to reimagine the franchise as a mobile-friendly game. However, fans weren’t too pleased at this news. Most of them seemed to expect the announcement of Diablo 4, or at the very least, a remaster of a previous edition. The shock that came with the announcement of the mobile game quickly led to disappointment and anger towards its developers.
Infamously, an attendee asked one of the mobile developers whether Diablo Immortal was “an early April Fool’s joke”. Needless to say, things spiraled out of control immediately, forcing Blizzard to publicly defend the game and its potential as a game-changer in the mobile gaming industry. In the words of Blizzard’s president: “We want awesome mobile games and we think this could be one of them.”
What are your thoughts on the news this weekend? Which was the one that caught your attention? Leave us your opinions in the comments below!
