The beta for Battlefield 2042 has already kicked off for EA play members and pre-order customers. However, according to its developer, DICE, the build that it's running on is an older version of the game that's already a few months old.
As spotted by VGC, one of EA's lead community managers recently tweeted about the build that players are currently experiencing during 2042's open beta.
"Our Open Beta is now a few months old," reads the tweet. "We polish and enhance it to make sure that it's representative of the game we've built, but naturally we're making daily improvements, changes, and enhancements all the time."
Our Open Beta is now a few months old. We polish and enhance it to make sure that it's representative of the game we've built, but naturally we're making daily improvements, changes, and enhancements all the time.
While the studio continues to learn and receive feedback across its open beta period, DICE general manager Oskar Gabrielson offered a little more detail about the changes that aren't apparent in the beta for the game. "We've made amazing progress over the last couple of months, including improvements to the visuals and stability that didn’t quite make it into the Open Beta build," Gabrielson said on Twitter.
As part of the same thread of tweets, Gabrielson further justified the studio's recent decision to delay Battlefield 2042, by explaining that it is using the time to make good progress on the game before it launches into early access. "We want you all to know that in these final few weeks leading to launch, we’re making huge strides and are super focused on delivering an amazing experience when early access begins on November 12th," he concluded.
And we want you all to know that in these final few weeks leading to launch, we’re making huge strides and are super focused on delivering an amazing experience when early access begins on November 12th!
Concerning Battlefield's open beta, EA has published a list of FAQs and known issues where players can go to learn more about problems that the team is aware of in the game. According to the page, the list will be updated throughout the week and currently highlights a number of problems including server connection issues, minor visual, performance and graphical issues as well as features that the team has currently disabled such as HDR mode for PC.
Battlefield 2042 is set to enter early access one full week before its full release on November 19. For more on the game, make sure to check out our hands-on impressions of its beta. Meanwhile, if you'd like to find out how Battlefield 2042 runs on last-gen consoles, then take a look at this article showing how the game plays on Xbox One.
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN currently battling his way through the Battlefield 2042 beta. You can follow his time with the game over on Twitter.
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DC FanDome has finally arrived and gave us a look at some of the most anticipated films, TV shows, video games, and comic books from the DC universe. Some of the big highlights were new trailers for The Batman, The Flash, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Gotham Knights, Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Peacemaker, and Aquaman and Lost Kingdom.
If you think that's a lot, you are in for a treat as there is so much more to see and learn about. To help ensure you don't miss a thing, we've gathered all the biggest and best news stories and trailers from DC FanDome 2021 below. Enjoy!
He is working alongside Gotham Police ally James Gordon, who is played by Jeffrey Wright, and his investigation also puts him on a crash course with Kravitz’ Selina Kyle/Catwoman.
The Batman: Robert Pattinson Wore Val Kilmer's Batsuit for Screen Test
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League – First Footage Revealed at DC Fandome 2021
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League recieved a brand-new trailer that gave fans their first look at Rocksteady’s new take on The Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman. While no release date was given, we now know a lot more about the game that stars Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, and King Shark.
We also got a quick look at the Batmobile, but Batman has yet to make an appearance.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Trailer Easter Egg Honors the Characters' Comic Book Origins
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom 'Is a More Mature' Sequel, James Wan Says
The first behind-the-scenes footage of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was revealed at DC FanDome and reintroduced fans to the stars of the film, including Jason Momoa and Yahya Abdul-Mateen.
Batman: Caped Crusader Is 'Adult', 'Psychologically Complex', and Includes New Versions of Familiar Characters
While we didn’t get a first look at Batman: Caped Crusader, we learned a ton about the upcoming HBO Max series, including its adult themes, authentic ‘40s-style setting, modern approach to inclusivity, and much more.
DC Announces Four New Animated Films at DC FanDome 2021
The Blue Beetle received a small update at DC FanDome, but it was a welcome one. We got some concept art of the live-action movie suit for Blue Beetle. You can see it below;
DC's Animated Movie Catwoman: Hunted Gets Release Date, Trailer
DC League of Super-Pets got a new preview trailer and gave a glimpse at the upcoming animated film starring some super-powered pets. This film stars Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Kate McKinnon, John Krasinski, and more.
DC’s Stargirl got a teaser trailer for its second season which will see Courtney Whitmore aka Stargirl trapped in a black-and-white purgatory while her life hangs in the balance.
Robert Pattinson's Batman Is Getting a Gorgeous Statue
Sweet Tooth: Official Fan Q&A with Christian Convery
Sweet Tooth’s Christian Convery stopped by DC FanDome to answer fan questions about his deer-boy hybrid character Gus, shooting in New Zealand, his favorite DC heroes, and more.
Naomi: Official Season 1 Trailer
Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship’s Naomi received a teaser trailer for its first season at DC FanDome 2021 and gave fans a glimpse of the story that will see Kaci Walfall’s Naomi journeying to the heights of the Multiverse in search for answers.
DMZ: New Images and Details Revealed for HBO Max's DC Comics Adaptation
A WandaVision spin-off starring Kathryn Hahn is reportedly in development at Marvel Studios.
As reported by Variety, the Disney+ show will star Hahn in her WandaVision role of Agatha Harkness, and is believed to be a dark comedy. WandaVision's head writer Jac Schaeffer is apparently to serve as writer and executive producer. The Variety report was unable to clarify any further details.
Schaeffer recently signed an overall deal with Disney, in which it is agreed that she will develop more Marvel shows for Disney+. That contract is set to run for three years, and this WandaVision spin-off would be the first project from that deal.
As the granddaddy of performance controllers, it’s no surprise that many have played catch-up to Scuf for the better part of a decade as it has continued to iterate on and improve its controller designs with the goal of creating the ultimate experience for players who strive to be the best. The team’s latest controller, the Scuf Instinct Pro, is the pinnacle of more than ten years of research and development to create a gamepad that’s not only extremely comfortable thanks to its stellar ergonomics, but one which pushes the bar even higher for what a controller should be.
Scuf Instinct Pro – Design and Features
At first glance, you might mistake the Scuf Instinct Pro for Microsoft’s very own Xbox Wireless Controller, as the two are nearly identical in shape and size. Modeled after the updated Xbox Series X|S controller, the Instinct Pro features a slightly smaller body, as well as the new Share button. What sets the two apart, however, is the attention to detail given to just about every aspect of the controller – from paddle placement to materials used.
The best controllers are those that don’t require you to think too much while using them. So many “pro”-level controllers add extra buttons, paddles, and switches to various locations around the controller that – while helpful for providing additional inputs – don’t ever feel natural during use. The Scuf Instinct Pro’s four customizable paddles, on the other hand, are effortless to use, allowing you to hold the controller as you normally would, while being able to press each one with ease.
The four paddles are located on the rear of the controller just along the base. The two primary paddles are integrated right into the grips and are slightly raised so your middle fingers can easily find them as you hold the controller. The other two paddles are wedge-shaped, and adjacent to the primary paddles. Together these act as a natural resting point for your middle finger – the pad on one paddle and the side of the tip on the other – letting you activate either with ease.
The primary paddles are designed with a bit of resistance, which avoids any accidental button presses during gameplay. The secondary paddles have a bit more give, compensating for how you press them diagonally with the outer portion of your middle finger. The difference in tension makes all four paddles feel equally good to press without adding any additional fatigue during gameplay.
Aside from the redesigned paddles, the rear triggers have been given an overhaul, as well. Gone are the days of adding stops to the back of your controller or fine-tuning with a key to limit the amount of travel in each trigger. Instead, there’s a simple toggle just above each set of paddles that can easily be flipped on or off to activate the instant triggers. These require almost no actuation when active, as opposed to the normal travel you’d expect from analog triggers, and have a snappy click that feels nearly identical to that of a mouse on PC. The result is a trigger that can be rapidly pressed to fire weapons with incredible speed and little effort.
The Instinct Pro comes with four interchangeable thumbsticks: two standard concave thumbsticks, a short convex one for quicker movement, and a tall convex for more precise aiming. Thumbsticks are easily installed by removing the magnetic faceplate and inserting your desired configuration into each slot. All four thumbsticks are slightly angled around the edges to keep your thumbs from slipping off during gameplay, and each is wrapped in a semi-soft rubber grip that strikes the perfect balance between comfort and durability.
On the front of the controller are your standard face buttons that look and feel identical to Microsoft’s first-party offering. The Instinct Pro also comes with the new hybrid D-pad by default, although you can configure it with a directional D-pad (or order one separately to easily swap between) if you desire. At the bottom of the controller, you’ll find a 3.5mm port for wired headsets, as well as Microsoft’s proprietary expansion port. Thankfully, it’s compatible with the vast number of expansion products such as keyboard peripherals, speakers, and yes, even those that add more mappable buttons if you’re so inclined. There’s also an integrated mute button at the base of the controller that lets you quickly turn off your headset’s microphone without fumbling your controls.
Most importantly, the Instinct Pro feels fantastic in the hands. Instead of metals and other heavy materials used in similar high-end controllers to convey a “premium” feel, Scuf opted for lightweight materials to reduce fatigue during long game sessions. The end result weighs an astonishing 280 grams, making it just a tad lighter than the standard Xbox Wireless Controller, and nearly 20% lighter than the Xbox Elite Wireless Series 2 controller.
The grip on the rear of each handle is superb. It features a unique hexagonal pattern that gets thicker as it reaches the edges of the handles, providing more grip where your hands actually make contact with the controller and less friction towards the center. This hexagonal theme runs along the thumbsticks, rear triggers, and bumpers, creating a subtle, yet cohesive design throughout the controller.
As far as battery goes, you may be disappointed to find out that the Scuf Instinct Pro utilizes two AA batteries, as opposed to the built-in battery of its predecessor, the Scuf Prestige. While an integrated rechargeable battery could have easily been justified given the price point, the design decision is understandable. Most pro players will likely opt to play wired anyhow, as this provides the lowest latency experience and reduces overall weight. Thankfully, the Instinct Pro is compatible with the Xbox Play & Charge kit, so you can use your existing rechargeable battery if you wish.
Scuf Instinct Pro – Software
The Scuf Instinct Pro features three built-in customizable profiles that allow you to quickly swap your settings for specific games on the fly. Even better, buttons can easily be mapped without needing to connect to your computer or Xbox through a third-party app. Each profile is color-coded, indicated by a small light below the mute button on the face of the controller. To remap any of the buttons to one of the four rear paddles, you simply press and hold the profile button for a moment, followed by a simultaneous press of one of the paddles and any button of your choosing. The ability to quickly jump between different games without needing to reconfigure your entire controller is a fantastic addition.
As for connectivity, the Instinct Pro utilizes Bluetooth to pair to Xbox or PC wirelessly, and is also compatible with iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and Android.
Scuf Instinct Pro – Gaming
The Scuf Instinct Pro performed exceptionally in every game I threw its way – ranging from casual to competitive titles. Truthfully, I was most impressed with the triggers, especially in a competitive game like Apex Legends. When engaged, the instant triggers were snappy and extremely responsive, allowing me to get the jump on my opponent in just about every firefight. The mouse-like click felt fantastic and led to far less fatigue when shooting semi-automatic weapons that require rapidly tapping the trigger to fire.
Being able to quickly adjust the triggers mid-game in something like Warzone is fantastic as you can release the triggers while driving a vehicle, and re-engage the instant triggers before entering into a gunfight – giving you the best of both worlds – all done in the moment without having to tinker with tools or software.
The angled edge around the thumbsticks also ensured my fingers didn’t slip off while gliding, jumping, and sliding all over Kings Canyon. As a player who frequently finds himself readjusting grip during gameplay due to the nature in which I hold the thumbsticks, this was a subtle, yet welcome change. I was surprised to find that even the short convex stick held up extremely well when performing quick maneuvers. The rear grip on the controller also kept my hands comfortable and firmly in place.
Mapping the inputs to the rear paddles was a breeze, and I was able to comfortably play entire matches while keeping my fingers primarily on the thumbsticks as intended. The paddles themselves were easy to press and I never even had to think twice while using them. In fact, before too long the paddles became second nature, which is exactly what you want with these types of controllers. Every millisecond counts in competitive games, and the more effortless your controller is to use – the better.
eFootball – Konami’s rebrand of the long-running Pro Evolution Soccer series – could have signaled a bright new beginning for football games. Shifting to the more modern Unreal Engine 4 and ditching annual full-priced games for a free-to-play model with promises of sizeable content additions and a “pay for what you want” structure felt like steps in the right direction, moving away from the frustrations that come with annualised sports games. Instead, it’s hard to think of a rockier start to life it could have had. Launching as essentially a demo with very limited modes, stuttering gameplay, laughable crowd models, and more than a few bugs and glitches, it’s very hard to recommend eFootball in its current form. So I won’t. All we can do is hope Konami cleans up its mess with the big updates it’s promising.
Things start promisingly when booting up eFootball for the first time. Gone are the dated menu screens that Konami had been hanging onto like the ‘70s wallpaper your grandma refused to get replaced for all those years. In comes a splash of colour and an ever so slightly more modern feel to proceedings. Sadly, what lies inside these menus is a lot less exciting.
eFootball has launched with two main modes, one offline and one online. The former is your standard exhibition match, allowing you to play as nine different teams from Europe and South America. This is a good place to get to grips with eFootball’s gameplay but very quickly loses its appeal due to the limited number of clubs on offer and the minimal stakes attached to each match. Also, bafflingly, only the regular and superstar AI difficulties are available currently, with all four of the other options greyed out and unselectable. Have these just not been programmed yet? It’s odd, to say the least, but becomes truly frustrating once you find yourself comfortably being able to beat the regular, only for your only other option now being having your ass handed to you by eFootball’s hardest difficulty setting.
Naturally, I’ve found myself spending more time with the online mode as a result. With no way to play against friends currently offered, the only way to matchmake is through the Challenge Event mode – which sounds a lot more exciting than it is. During this 10-day-long celebration of everything mundane, you must win one game out of three to progress to stage two; stage two consists of winning two games out of three in order to win a prize of 10,000 GP. It’s currently completely unclear what this in-game currency will actually be used for, though, with no way to spend it as of now.
One major difference between the online and offline modes is that over 200 teams are available to pick from when online, making it even more confusing as to why the selection is so limited in offline friendlies. There’s a catch, though: although there’s a huge number of options available online you won’t have room to experiment with them due to your first team being locked in for the whole 10-day event once you’ve picked them. It’s yet another baffling decision that, no matter how deep my love for the unlicensed ‘Tottenham WB’ runs, had me yearning for any semblance of variety. Online servers have been an issue as well, with one in-game notification informing me that known issues currently include both matchmaking not being able to find opponents and matches “failing to conclude properly.” So even if you could start, you may not be able to finish? It sounds a little like a metaphor for eFootball as a whole right now.
Some of this could be forgiven if the on-pitch action was regularly engaging and fundamentally fun to play. It is not. While not feeling a million miles away from the PES of old, it’s also nowhere near the peak of its powers. Matches often descend into wars of attrition in which unresponsive players fail to pick the ball up if it’s outside their six-inch radius. What should be zippy short passing moves, in reality, become long, drawn-out affairs. It’s all just so slow; everything from pacey wingers running like they’re wearing ten-tonne boots to attempted whipped crosses floating listlessly in the air towards grateful goalkeepers.
Once in a blue moon, a moment of magic will emerge to remind you of the joys past Konami football games have brought, whether this be a precise through ball around the corner to set an attacker free, or a player satisfyingly letting the ball roll between their legs to not break stride when receiving a pass. These are all too infrequent, though, and feel more like anomalies than intentional greatness.
It’s not just the players who fail to distinguish themselves in this regard, but the referees, too. What is and isn’t deemed a foul is wildly inconsistent from one tackle to the next. I’ve committed full-on assault with my elbows to some poor attackers and received zero punishment for it, while being penalised for the equivalent of tapping them on the shoulder to make them look the other way. In one memorable scrap, I counted at least four fouls that the referee should have blown up for as the centre circle turned into a lawless bumper car circuit. It really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and needs to be addressed pretty quickly before it can suck any remaining enjoyment that can be had out of eFootball.
Then there are the things that look like they should be fouls – mainly because people’s arms appear to be popping out of their sockets – but are in fact glitches.
Then there are the things that look like they should be fouls – mainly because people’s arms appear to be popping out of their sockets – but are in fact glitches. It’s bafflingly common to see two players running side by side, jostling for possession, only for one of their arms to bend in a way that Houdini would question the viability of. Another particularly amusing example is the face some players pull when performing celebrations, which really does push the limits on how wide the human mouth can believably open. Truthfully, these visual glitches do pop up more than you’d hope they would, but never really affect the gameplay to its detriment, meaning they don’t bother me too much. They’ve made for some hilarious memes already, though.
From the ugly to the beautiful (don’t worry, we’ll be back to the ugly soon enough), we can give eFootball credit for the stadiums in which the action takes place. These are all beautifully rendered, and never before have the Allianz Arena in Munich, the Allianz Stadium in Turin, or any other non-Allianz-related grounds looked so good.
No amount of architectural beauty will prepare you for the beasts that reside within their stands, however. You’ve likely already seen the haunting images of eFootball’s crowds and it’s frankly mind-blowing that this sort of lack of attention to detail exists in games like this in 2021. Glancing to the terraces can look as though 50,000 Edvard Munch sketches have been brought to life and told to jump up and down in unison to the beat of a lonely drum. Push pause, press the instant replay button, and look into their eyes at your peril.
An unflattering depiction of Harry Maguire, who bears more than a striking resemblance to a bulked-up Waluigi.
Then there are the player models. To be completely fair, some look quite good – whether it be Leon Goretzka in all his sculpted glory or a fresh-faced Pedri. There are a couple of exceptions though; namely an unflattering depiction of Manchester United captain, Harry Maguire, who bears more than a striking resemblance to a bulked-up Waluigi. It says rather a lot that a supposedly AAA football game can even get some of its most famous players – on fully sponsored teams, no less – all wrong.
eFootball is off to a very slow and unimpressive start, then. Only time will tell how much different it will look in one month – or six months’ – time, but the omens are already there when it comes to the microtransactions. Currently available in the store is a pre-order for a Premium Player Pack costing the not-insignificant sum of £32.99/$39.99. This contains premium in-game currency plus six Chance Deals (effectively loot boxes) for the Creative Team mode which… doesn’t even yet have a release date. Any hopes that going free-to-play may have been a positive move towards being consumer-friendly may well turn out to be wishful thinking, then. But before we even get around to dissecting all of that, eFootball has a lot of work left to do on the pitch to make people actually want to play it in the first place.
