Another day, another disastrous launch from a recognized brand. This time, Bungie was in the line of fire after launching the latest DLC for Destiny 2. While The Final Shape is "shaping up" (how do I come up with such quality gags?!) to be a great a??ddition to the game, there have been some major teething problems from the start.

After the new content was released, major connection problems were almost immediately noticed. As such, the developer has had to quickly step in with fixes and the promise of some ??much-needed patches.

A recent post on Twitter/X from the Bungie Help account says that, as of now, Destiny 2 servers have been "brought offline for expected maintenance." This period is expected to last until 8AM PDT, but you can keep an eye on things via the Twitter account and/or the server status page.

Seems to be good, otherwise

After the debacle that was The Final Shape's poor connectivity and general server issues, fans immediately took to Steam to register their complaints, where the DLC was downvoted to "Mostly Negat?ive."

Fortunately, some mends and quick fixes were implemented and things seem to be only getting better. In fact, at the time of writing, the expansion is now at "mixed" and a lot of recent feedback shows that it could well be one of the best DLCs Destiny 2 has had.

However, there's that lingering metaphorical fart in the air once more, as we find ourselves enmeshed in the ongoing backlash against studios and publishers that are putting out content that's clearly not fit for consumption. Sure, the deve??loper is on the case ??�which is typically how these things go �but it's a concern that day launch in this state to begin with.

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Ubisoft is shutting down online services for 10 of their older games early next year. This includes a few older Assassin's Creed games on platforms like PC and Xbox 360, as well as Trials Evolution's PC servers.

This isn't the first time Ubisoft has elected to end online services for some of their older games. Although some may be displeased by it, eventually shutting down online services for older entries is common in the gaming industry.

The services are set to shut down early next year, on January 25, 2024 to be exact. Many noticed the abundance of big name franchises such as Assassin’s Creed. Here are the 1??0 games players will no longer have online access to from Ubisoft.

• Assassin's Creed 2 - Xbox 360
• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood - Mac
• Assassin's Creed Liberation HD - PS3, Xbox 360
• Assassin's Creed Revelations - PC
• Ghost Recon Future Soldier - PC
• Heroes of Might and Magic 6 - PC
• NCIS - PC
• R.U.S.E - PC
• Splinter Cell: Conviction - Xbox 360
• Trials Evolution - PC

Assassin’s Creed’s multiplayer legacy

During the prime of older Assassin’s Creed entries, online multiplayer was a huge staple  in the franchise. Some of the beloved modes that fans of the franchise used to enjoy in??cluded PvP modes that allowed players to hash it out in intense stealth battles. There were even a number of different scenarios?? that could accompany these modes.

But, in newer entries, it is evident that the multiplayer aspect has become much less prominent. Some games, such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Assassin’s Creed Mirage, have completely dis?carded the multiplayer?? component that older entries once leaned on.

Although these games will no longer be available for online services, players wil??l still ??have great memories of them.

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Unsure if the servers can also escape capitalism by going into space

Several EA games are due to have their servers shut do?wn in the coming ??weeks.

As spotted by TrueAchievements, several Electronic Arts games are currently on track to have their servers shut down. Mirror's Edge, NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, Gatling Gears, and Shank 2 ar?e all due to close serv??ers at the start of the new year. The games were recently added to the EA site tracking servers due for updates or closure.

As detailed on EA's site for service updates, games may still be playable offline.

TrueAchievements notes that two achievements in one of the affected games, NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, do require online play. So you may want to get working on those now if you still want to pick them up. Others, like Mirror's Edge, aren't really affected by the closure.

Though if you're looking to play some online Command & Conquer, be aware that Red Alert 3 and C&C3 servers are also due to close in November. They may go down, but Tim Curry's performance in RA3 will live on forever.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1Sq1Nr58hM

EA's site also details service updates, too. A prime example is The Sims 4, which is shifting over to a free-to-play version on October 18.

Here's th?e full list of upcoming closures and when they're happening.

October 20, 2022

• Army of Two: The 40th Day
• Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel
• Dragon Age: Origins (MP Screenshots Server)

November 9, 2022

• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
• Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
• Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath
• Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (PS3, 360)

November 30, 2022

• Onrush

January 19, 2023

• Mirror's Edge
• NBA Jam: On Fire Edition
• Gatling Gears
• Shank 2

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The 1.2.1 update introduced a new issue and Nintendo is looking into it

[Update: Nintendo has outlined its plans for a fix this week, rolling out two updates detailed on its site, as spotted by VGC. The Google translation of the te??xt says one version will roll out on Octo??ber 18, restoring online play, with a second to follow on the 20th.

Our original story on the outage ??from October 14 follows.]

Nintendo has taken the servers for Switch Sports down, suspending online play and save data backup while it investigates a new issues causing c?ra??shes.

As shared across the different Nintendo social accounts, a bug has been found in the latest Ver. 1.2.1 update of Nintendo Switch Sports. It's been causing crashes during the pre-match loading screen, affecting bo?th online and offline play.

While Nintendo has suspended the roll-out of the update, it's?? also taking servers down temporarily while it investigates. Online play will not be available, obviously, and save data backup will be suspended as well.

//?twitter.com/NintendoAmerica??/status/1580939363797504000

A quick pause in play

Ver. 1.2.1 for Switch Sports was released earlier this week, on October 12. Its goal was to strengthen measures against disruptive behaviors. That entails any violations of Nintendo's Community Guidelines, including fraudulent behavior?, including save?? data manipulation.

The previous update, Ver. 1.2.0, added a fair bit to the Wii Sports successor. One-on-one and four-on-four soccer got leg strap support, vo??lleyball received a new slide att??ack move, and some nice features were added for online play.

In our review of Nintendo Switch Sports, it sounds l?ike while the single-player progression wasn't the most rewarding, it still had a good bit to offer for multiplayer gatherings. And honestly, who doesn't have fond memories of bowli??ng?

Hopefully the online sees a fix soon. Meanwhile, Nintendo Switch Sports is still due to receive its golf update, which was pushed out of September but should arrive sometime in the holiday season.

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Running it back

The Dark Souls III PC servers were back up, and now it seems they're back down again. Players are reporting ?in, unable to access the game, and the so?cial account has acknowledged a confirmed issue.

As noted by PC Gamer, speculation had started picking up yesterday on the Steam forums, where u?sers were starting to have issues with the servers.

A new tweet from the Dark Souls brand account on Twitter notes that there is a confirmed issue with Dark Souls III online play, via the Steam platform.

"We are investigating the source of the problem and will inform you as ??soon as more details become av??ailable," the update says. "Thank you for your patience."

//twitter.com/DarkSoulsGame/status/157254846416434790??5

Rise again, Ashen One

The PC servers for Dark Souls III were off for quite a while. Users discovered an exploit in the Souls series that has kept its PC versions offline for most of the year. Online PC services only just recently came back online for Dark Souls III. The team behind the updates had previously said they were working on bringing services back for the other back-entries in the Souls series, but now it looks like Dark Souls III may need more attention.

Meanwhile, Elden Ring had the specific vulnerability addressed pre-launch and has been cooking along just fine. So for PC players, the only FromSoft multiplayer game in town is Elden Ring once again.

It's a bummer, as each game has had its own meta-game and PvP communities. Numbers even seemed to jump up a bit for Dark Souls III after the fix was implemented.

Though no specifics have been given, hopefully this fix doesn't take months like the others have. We'll learn more as the Souls team works on getting the Dark Souls III PC servers back up.

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You can resume previously regular dueling activities

It looks like Dark Souls 3 PC players will be able to engage with the online side of its content again. Online features for the PC version of Dark Souls 3 went back online today.

The news was made known through the Dark Souls Twitter account today. The Souls team is also working to restore these features for all other Dark Souls titles, ??as it looks like only the third is back right now. An annou??ncement will be made when those services are back online.

//twitter.com/DarkSoulsGame/status/1562??718968086872064

The PC servers for Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2, and Dark Souls 3 have been offline for quite some time. They were taken down after a severe exploit was uncovered in these games. An RCE exploit in Dark Souls 3 let players run malicious code, creating a pretty serious vulnerability. Players drew attention to it, and th??e exploit was enough to yank down the servers for all three games on PC. Console servers, meanwhile, have stayed online.

Calling in online assistance

While we've been getting steady updates on the status of these servers, it's nice to see at least one of the games back. Online features are a pretty big part of the Souls experience, ranging from PvP to calling in assistance an??d leaving? messages.

Meanwhile, Elden Ring has been top-of-mind for pretty much all of 2022. The same exploit was investigated and taken care of in Elden Ring, so those servers have st?ayed online through the whol??e ordeal.

While it might seem like players would still gravitate towards the newcomer in Elden Ring, it's good to have these online features back up for Dark Souls 3. Newcomers who bought into Elden Ring may wish to go back and explore earlier titles, and hopefully they'll be able to do it as originally intended. No timeline's been made public on when the PC online features for Dark Souls or Dark Souls 2 will be back.

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Good God Almighty, They Killed It

The book closes on a piece of pro-wrestling history next month, as 2K Games has officially confirmed that it will shut down the online servers to the abominable WWE 2K20 and its somewhat better-received predecessor, WWE 2K19, on June 30.

Speaking on Twitter, 2K Games said that going forward the development team would be focused on supporting its most recent WWE release, WWE 2K22, which launched on PC and consoles in March of this year. Once the switch is flicked on June 30, all online elements of WWE 2K19 and 2K20 will become inactive, including online matches,?? multiplayer lobbies, and the Community Creation suite.

While WWE 2K19 did find some favor among hardened fans, and is considered one the best releases in the WWE 2K series, WWE 2K20 will go down in history as one of the most shambolic releases in AAA history. Rolling out in October 2019, the wrasslin' sim had an utterly disastrous launch �the?? title packed to capacity with glitches, bugs, warped animations, online lag, flailing cameras, mislabeled control prompts, frame rate issues, and many, many more issues. 2K Games sheepishly apologized for the quality of the product as soon as launch day, but not before raking in plenty of $60 sales.

It didn't end there. Future updates and fixes would add further problems, including an amusing bug that prevented the game from launching once the real-world calendar hit 2020. Yikes. 2K Games would decide to take a year out from the franchise, and instead released garbage brawler WWE 2K Battlegrounds �a mic??rotransactions-filled disaster that died a d?eserved death in double-quick time.

WWE 2K22, considered a "restart" of sorts for the beleaguered series, has received relatively positive reviews from critics and fans, but most of the community admits that there is still much to be done before the WWE 2K series hits the heady heights of the pro-wrestling video game greats. If you want to check it out for yourself, then WWE 2K22 is available now on Pla??yStation, PC, and Xbox platforms.

Adieu, Becky No Face...

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The developer has also adjusted its event rewards

Gran Turismo 7 servers are back online, after an extended maintenance period kept it offline for over 24 hours. Developer Polyphony Digit?al announced it has issued Update 1.08, after discovering a rare issue before the release of 1.07.

Yesterday, Polyphony Digital announced it was extending server maintenance, with no completion time set. "Due to an issue found with Update 1.07, we are extending the current server maintenance period," the update reads. "We wi?ll confirm the completion time as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and ask for your patience while we work to resolve ??the issue."

//twitter.com/?thegranturismo/status??/1504435541038833665

Polyphony CEO Kazunori Yamauchi addressed the maintenance in an update on the Gran Turismo 7 site.

"Immediately before the release of the 1.07 update, we discovered an iss??ue where the game would not start properly in some cases on product versions for the PS4 and PS5," writes Yamauchi. "This was a rare issue that was not seen during tests on the development hardware or the QA sessions prior to the release, but in order to prioritize the safety of the save data of the users, we decided to interrupt the release of the 1.07 update, and to make a 1.08 correctional update."

Several facets of Gran Turismo 7, including single-players modes like the campaign, require a connection to GT7's servers. Players were posting about the outages, as well as concerns about the in-game economy, on forums like the Gran Turismo subreddit. And folks like Digital Foundry's John Linneman have noted how this illustrates the issue with required server connectivity for games. User reviews have also been dropping on Metacritic.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCabpb5HRv0

Yamauchi says the event rewards for Gran Turismo 7 were adjusted in the update?? as well. Describing the team's plans going forward, he says he would like users to enjoy man??y cars and races "even without microtransactions."

He also says it's importa??nt for car prices to be linked with real-world price tags, to convey?? value and rarity.

"We will in time let you know the update plans for additional content, additional race events and additional features that will constructively resolve this," Yamauchi says. "It pains me that I can’t explain the details regarding this at this moment, but we plan on continuing to revise GT7 so that as many players as possible can enjoy the game. We would really appreciate it if everyone could watch over the growth of Gran Turismo 7 from a somewhat longer term point of view."

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The downtime will be to improve some multiplayer functions

Bandai Namco and FromSoftware are bringing the Elden Ring servers down for a spell today. This maintenance period is only expected to last about an hour, and the tim??e will be used to help improve multiplayer.

The Elden Ring server maintenance will take place on March 1 in JST and CET??,?? which puts it in this evening's window for North America.

//twitter.com/ELDE??NRING/status/1498321252708241411

The times vary for each ?platform and r?egion, as listed out below:

• Steam: 8 to 9 p.m. PST
• PlayStation: 6 to 7 p.m. PST
• Xbox: 7 to 8 p.m. PST

That's in the early hours of th??e morning, March 1, for CET and middle of the day for JST.

The Elden Ring account doesn't specify exactly what aspects of multiplayer the maintenance will address. There h??ave been reports of different issues with multiplayer, like bloodstains not always playing out, so hopefully that's on the docket??.

The latest from FromSoftware has been a big hit for the studio, though. Recent numbers put Elden Ring at the top spot on the UK charts, and our own Chris Carter has really enjoyed his time with it. The open-world take on the Souls style of gameplay seems to have ??largely worked out. I've only just skimmed the surface, but it does feel like a remarkable game to play.

If you're currently playing through, we've been putting up some guides and helpful hints to keep you moving ahead in The Lands Between. Really, though, just be wary of that one treasure chest in ?the rat cave. If you've opened it, you know what I'm talking it. It's a bad time on the other side of that chest.

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The studio is also extending the investigation of issues into Elden Ring

The exploits causing problems for the PC versions of the Dark Souls series will be keeping them offline for a while longer. Bandai Namco and FromSoftware announced that the online services for the Dark Souls series on PC will stay offline until after Elden Ring is out.

Online services for Dark Souls and its follow-ups on PC were recently pulled down. This was due to an RCE vulnerability found in Dark Souls 3 that can run malicious code. Publisher Bandai Namco brought servers for all three Souls games, and has yet to bring them back.

Now, it seems like the Souls games will stay offline until at least the launch of Elden Ring. Investigations into the exploit are also extending into Elden Ring, as Bandai Namco assures it has made sure the "necessary secu?rity?? measures" are in place.

//twitter.com/DarkSoulsGame/status/14914116094?99353??088

"Due to the time required to set up proper testing environments, online services for the Dark Souls series on PC will not resume until after the release of Elden Ring," the statement r?eads. "We will continue to do everything we can to bring back these services as soon as possible."

The publisher says it will ?announce when these services wi?ll return as soon as a schedule is determined.

Elden Ring is still slated for a Feb. 25 launch in the meantime. It's good to hear that Bandai Namco and FromSoft are looking into any potential carryover issues. Though for fans of the Souls mult?iplayer, this means any duels will have to stay on hold for the time b??eing.

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The Winter Fortnite frivolities are underway once again

[Update: Epic has confirmed that servers are back online. "We appreciate everyone’s understanding as we worked to resolve these issues and we’ll have more details next week on what we’re doing to help you make up for lost time," their statement read. Our original story follows below.]

You might have noticed if you were looking to make some Battle Pass progress today that Fortnite is down. The battle royale game has been unavailable to play for several h??ours today, as Epic is looking into the matter.

It started earlier today, with Epic acknowledging through the Fortnite Status Twitter account that it was investigating issues with matchmaking and logging in. An update followed after, confirming that the game was cu??rrently unavailable and players would be una?ble to log-in as Epic investigated the issue.

Most recently, Epic has said it is working on a fix that will bring Fortnite back onl?ine.?? The servers are unavailable in the meantime, as the team investigates a solution to its stability issues.

//twitter.com/FortniteStatus??/status/147628463497?1484163

It's not uncommon for any multiplayer game to have some server hiccups or long queue times. That goes double for games as popular as Fortnite, and during the holidays too. And considering the current season has some pretty sick web-slinging alongside its other additions, players are probably pretty eager to get in and play a few matches.

But this has been a notable service interruption, and one that's lasted for a while too. Players have been reporting issues throughout the day, and posts have been going around the internet about the outage.

While a fix seems inevitable, it's worth knowing about if you planned to squad up this evening. It's another reminder, I guess, of how popular Fortnite is, that its server outage is even making headlines at non-enthusiast outlets.

We'll update this story as we hear more from Epic about when Fortnite will be back online.

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Square Enix is freezing newcomers to help out the old-timers

The Final Fantasy XIV expansion Endwalker is out for everyone, and servers have been understandably stressed. But while waiting for queues isn't strange for an MMO launch, Square Enix is making some extra strides to deal with congestion. Final Fantasy XIV sales will be temporarily fr??ozen, meaning new players will have to wait a bit to hop into Eorzea.

In a new statement, Final Fantasy XIV director and producer Naoki Yoshida notes that players are experiencing extremely long wait times ??due to a "dense concentration of play?? hours" that far exceeds server capacity, especially during peak times.

To help out, Yoshida confirms that Square Enix will be temporarily halting the sales of the Final Fantasy XIV Starter Edition and Complete Edition. And while players with active subscriptions (as opposed to the Free Trial) have been prioritized in queues already, Square will also be suspending new Free Trial registrations. The team wil??l also ??be suspending all new advertisements.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTTtd6bnhFs

Yoshida also mentions the infamous "Error 2002" that's been causing log-in queue woes. He says the team has identified the cause of the problem and a fix will roll out with Patch 6.01, which is currently scheduled for Dec. 21. Otherwise, Y?oshida says that Patch 6.05, which includes the release of Pandæmonium: Asphodelos (Savage), will be going ahead as scheduled for Jan?. 4, 2022.

On a larger scale, Yoshida says Square Enix is considering adding servers to each region, and will be looking at whether this will be a gradual addition or one big push. The plan in general, according to Yoshida, is to introduce a "large number of additions," and the team hopes to provide a road??map by the end of Jan. 2022.

Throughout the statement, Yoshida apologizes to players who are waiting in long queues to actually get into Endwalker. And by the accounts we've seen so far, it sounds like Endwalker is delivering for eager Final Fantasy XIV players.

This isn't even the first time Final Fantasy XIV has had to temporarily halt sales of the game. It's a little bit of the 'suffering from success' joke come to life, but it's also a marker of just how massive Final Fantasy XIV has become in the years since A Realm Reborn. Does this ironically make me want to play even more? Yes it does. But it's a pretty interesting move to halt new sales to prioritize players who are active and ??playing now.

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