At the Bethesda E3 2019 Showcase, Todd Howard took to the stage and admitted Fallout 76’s launch had some serious issues. In an effort to revive player faith in the game, Howard announced it would be getting a free Wastelanders update that would not only add human NPCs, but a new main quest, choices and consequences, and new weapons and gear to the game.
Bethesda explained, “This is a long term story we’re telling. Year one was about the vault doors opening and all of you settling the wasteland. Year two is about people coming back to reclaim it. Like previous Fallout games, these characters have their own stories and goals. It’s up to you to decide how to interact with them and live with those consequences.”
In the preview shown, players could embark on quests with and fight alongside NPCs, and in conversations, certain dialogue options required statistics such as perception and charisma. The Wastelanders update will be coming this fall to all Fallout 76 players for free.
In a blog post, Bethesda elaborates on the role these NPCs will play. Two factions called the Raiders and the Settlers are trying to stake claim over Appalachia. Each faction has a story to tell, and helping them will earn players rewards such as weapons and armor. Ultimately, the choices players make will play into how their stories unfold. It’s up to players to decide which faction they will side with.
In an additional update, Fallout 76 will also be getting a new battle royale mode. In the Bethesda E3 2019 conference, a preview of the mode called Nuclear Winter showed vault dwellers throwing punches at one another, fighting off irradiated baddies, building shelters, shooting at one another, and seemingly dropping nukes in an effort to become the overseer of vault 51.
The battle royale mode will feature 52 players who will apparently also be able to level up with exclusive perks. Those perks were not shown during the conference, but we think they might be similar to those players get with Perk cards. A sneak peek of Nuclear Winter will be available starting June 10.
Starting tomorrow, players can play Fallout 76 on a free trial. The trial will run from June 10 – 17.
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.