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Blog entry by Shasta Beals

antique-binoculars.jpg?width=746&format=pjpg&exif=0&iptc=0Just last week in Fortnite , Epic Games "accidentally" allowed cross-platform multiplayer between PS4 and Xbox One users, but then patched out the feature since it isn't allowed by both Microsoft and Sony. Microsoft has been very open to cross-platform play, with the most recent example being that Minecraft players on Xbox One can play with those on PC and even Nintendo Switch. Sony, however, has refused to allow all cross-platform play except for PS4 and PC users. If Sony changes its mind, the community for Fortnite and Fortnite: Battle Royale could be h

This latest incident is the second such moment in 2017 where PieDiePie has found himself in hot water over something he has said or done. A few months ago, the popular YouTuber drew criticism after he had made a series of anti-Semitic jokes in one of his videos , resulting in a considerable amount of fallout. Most notable, Disney ended its association with him and cancelled his YouTube Red horror s

A few weeks ago, Epic Games announced that their base building and wave-killing game Fortnite was receiving a Battle Royale mode. This mode is influenced by PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds ( PUBG ) , pitting 100 players against each other on a large map with the winner being the last player left alive. Just yesterday, however, Epic Games has revealed that this mode will be released as its own game, titled **Fortnite: Battle Royale ** , and it will be free-to-p

When Epic Games announced that its fort-building survival title Fortnite was getting an all-new Battle Royale mode, comparisons to Bluehole's PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) were immediately made. And in the same quick fashion, tensions also flared. Bluehole vice president Chang Han Kim commented that the developer was worried that Fornite might be replicating PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds gameplay , criticizing the way Epic Games had marketed the new Fornite m

Popular YouTube personality PewDiePie recently found himself embroiled in another wave of controversy after he dropped a racial slur during a livestream of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds , resulting in a considerable amount of backlash. In response to the incident, the YouTuber has released a new video on his chan

Now, in an interview with PCGamer, Kim and his translator Sammie Kang have stepped forward to further explain the comments many people viewed as unfair. Kim offered the clarification that the Fornite / PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds situation "is not about the Battle Royale mode itself," and that Bluehole "never raised an issue" with other modes of similar kind. According to Kim, it's entirely "about Epic Games," which wasn't really clear in the original press rele

Kim continued, explaining why the company was the concern. From Kim's vantage point, and that of Bluehole as a whole, Epic Games released a game mode "that is similar to [Bluehole] that has similar elements," and that's a problem considering the two companies' professional relationship. "We use Unreal Engine to develop PUBG , and we pay a large amount of royalties based on the size of our success to Epic Games," explained Kim. "Epic Games always promoted their licensing models [saying], 'We want to support the success of indie developers,' and [Bluehole is] this indie developer that has been the most successful one using the Unreal Engine this year, and that's the problem that I s

Remember when there was talk about the Xbox One X enhanced version of PUBG hitting 60 fps before it was corrected and stated that it'd only run at 30? Maybe someone misheard "16." You'd be lucky to get that at the start of a match. It's unbelievable that this game was allowed to be released in this state on consoles, no matter how many disclaimers are built into the m

Performance aside, PUBG crafting Guide is simply a bad "shooter" with an awful control scheme on Xbox. Reloading a weapon for instance in the heat of battle requires players to hold down the 'X' button instead of just pressing it quickly. Aiming down sites isn't holding down the left trigger, it's tapping it. Inexplicable, holding down the trigger instead just slightly tightens the crosshair (it does the same on PC). Sometimes it won't even work unless it's tapped perfectly. Getting in and out of vehicles are two separate buttons and if you want to pick up a specific item from a pile of loot on the ground or move mods from one weapon to another, you better hide yourself for a few minutes. PUBG does not work well on consoles at all in its current state and needs another year in the oven. Even the little things, like basic matchmaking problems with friends or typos in the menus, aren't addressed. It's the sloppiest award-winning game, and the poorest performing shooter we've seen on current generation conso

PUBG , a game that still technically hasn't released, has broken several records on Steam . Most recently, PUBG broke Dota 2's record for the most concurrent players for a single game on Steam at 1,348,374. However, it has not reached consoles and is not planning to until it releases on Xbox One later this year. Fortnite: Battle Royale releasing in less than a week means that is the only game of this style (outside of a new mode in GTA Online ) for those without a