GAMES
Play Now: Marvel’s Avengers Introduces Jane Foster as The Mighty Thor
Summary
- Jane Foster joins the Marvel’s Avengers roster as the Mighty Thor in a free update.
- She possesses all the strength and power of a God of Thunder, but with human touches all her own.
- This update adds to a game already packed with content, including a sprawling single-player story campaign, ten playable heroes, and endless multiplayer action for up to four players.
We hope you’re amped up because Jane Foster, The Mighty Thor, is now playable in Marvel’s Avengers as a free update!
The arrival of the Mighty Thor adds a third flying warrior to the Marvel’s Avengers roster for new team compositions and fresh co-op play. We’ll get into the specifics of her combat kit below, but first, backstory!
The rad lady that is Dr. Jane Foster first appeared as the Goddess of Thunder in 2014’s “Mighty Thor” written by Jason Aaron. Her arc continued in 2019’s “War of the Realms,” culminating when she transcends mortality and is reborn as Valkyrie.
In Marvel’s Avengers, Jane is torn from an alternate timeline through a rift in space-time caused by Tachyon Anomalies. In her original timeline, Jane became the Goddess of Thunder when she took up the mantle from Thor, who in his grief gave up Mjolnir after the A-Day tragedy.
Jane Foster is voiced by the talented Zehra Fazal, known for her work across video games and television. In addition to collectable intel documents and character banter, the Mighty Thor’s story is told through our brand-new animatic “Marvel’s Avengers – The Mighty Thor: Out of Time” illustrated by veteran Marvel artist Takeshi Miyazawa.
So how does Jane play? The Mighty Thor possesses all the strength and power of a God of Thunder, but with human touches all her own.
Jane’s unique talents with Mjolnir begin with her new intrinsic ability All-Mother’s Blessing, and God Tempest, her new Overcharge. All-Mother’s Blessing builds its overcharge meter with melee attacks. Once full, she unleashes her God Tempest, which increases ranged hammer damage and creates shockwaves with each hit.
Her finesse with Mjolnir shines through in several new features including Quick Fire, a new ranged attack combo that allows the Mighty Thor to make a second more powerful ranged attack by timing her next throw. The Seek and Pin upgrade to her Ranged Attack empowers Mjolnir to seek out and pin enemies without needing to aim.
Jane’s expert control extends to melee strikes with Earth’s Finest, which adds a hammer toss to her light attack combo for extra reach. Jane also puts her own spin on classic Odinson moves like Headstrong. She relies on her Thunderkick – a brutal front kick – to send enemies flying.
The Mighty Thor’s kit culminates in The All-Weapon, her brand-new Ultimate Heroic. Drawn from the pages of her Thor and Valkyrie runs, Jane sends Mjolnir to seek and destroy nearby enemy targets. Meanwhile, she calls forth the All-Weapon Undrjarn to protect her, reducing all damage taken while smiting her foes.
The All-Weapon has a full set of specializations and allows you to customize Mjolnir’s strikes, making them faster and channeling a powerful shock status against nearby enemies. Jane can even use Mjolnir as a personal orbiting defense shield. Check her out in action in our most recent War Table Deep Dive below.
In addition to her awesome god-like combat abilities, Jane has a variety of Outfits drawing inspiration from the comics. She also boasts unique Takedowns, Emotes, Nameplates, and has her own Hero Challenge Card and mission chain. These allow you to earn special rewards, including exclusive cosmetics and intel documents that delve deeper into Jane’s story.
We can’t wait for you to storm through Marvel’s Avengers as the Mighty Thor. This update adds to a game already packed with content, including a sprawling single-player story campaign, ten playable heroes, and endless multiplayer action for up to four players.
What’s next for Marvel’s Avengers? Following the addition of The Mighty Thor in patch 2.5, we’ll be adding two new challenges as part of an ambition to advance our narrative through hero and villain-centric content. You can read more in our recent June Development Update.
Before I sign off, wanted to remind Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members to grab your membership Perks, including the Ms. Marvel Future Suit outfit, a 3-day hero’s catalyst, a 3-day fragment extractor, and 500 Units!
Marvel’s Avengers
Square Enix
$39.99
$31.99
PC Game Pass
Xbox Game Pass
Marvel’s Avengers is an epic, third-person, action-adventure game that combines an original, cinematic story with single-player and co-operative gameplay*. Take the essential Super Hero gaming experience to another level! Marvel’s Avengers will be available for next-gen consoles at no extra cost.* This version will boast a wide spectrum of improvements to visuals and speed, and will be backwards compatible in single and multiplayer. Marvel’s Avengers has a beautiful world filled with exquisite detail, and with improved Heroics, destruction, graphical fidelity, and framerate versus previous gen, you won’t be missing any of it. Get right into the action with fast loading times and be blown away by the striking detail of enhanced destructive visuals that make Heroics feel truly in your hands. Marvel’s Avengers will support save file transfer and cross-gen play so you can pick up right where you left off and continue fighting AIM with your favorite Super Hero squad. We’re excited to herald in the next generation of consoles on Marvel’s Avengers!
Marvel’s Avengers leverages the Smart Delivery technology – buy the game once and play it on either Xbox One or on Xbox Series X|S. Marvel’s Avengers on Xbox Series X|S is available now!***
*One-time online access required for single-player campaign; online access required for multiplayer and to download post-launch content. Free Square Enix Members account required. Platform-specific online subscription fee may be required.
*Upgrading from the disk version will require the next-gen version of the same console with a disk drive.
**Credits that you purchase are useable on Xbox Series X|S Console version of Marvel’s Avengers. Please be aware that the Credit that you own is synced with your Microsoft account, and the wallet will be shared through both platforms.
GAMES
This Week’s Deals with Gold and Spotlight Sale
GAMES
The German Empire Marches to Italy in a Free Expansion Today
We have a new expansion for our WW1 Italian Front FPS game Isonzo releasing today! It’s the first part of our Caporetto season of free expansions, and features a whole new faction with the arrival of the German Empire on the Italian Front, and brings a new map for the Offensive game mode. There will be two more releases in the Caporetto season, each one with a new map to ultimately link together into a three map Caporetto Offensive.
The German faction comes with more than ten new weapons, as well as historically accurate uniforms and equipment. This first Caporetto map sees you taking part in the early stages of the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, with German troops assaulting Italian positions on the road to Caporetto. Historically it was a military disaster for Italy which brought down the government – but maybe things can go differently with you on the battlefield?
The update sees new uniforms and equipment from the German Empire for Isonzo’s six classes: Rifleman, Assault, Engineer, Officer, Marksman and Mountaineer. For those who aren’t familiar with the game, each class has different weapon, gear and perk options that allow you to specialize your play style within the overall focus of the class. For instance, Marksmen are always sharpshooters, but a lot depends on your loadout. You could be a long-range sniper and observer identifying and eliminating high value targets with a scoped rifle, or you could equip body armor to take and hold a front line position with deadly accurate mid-range fire. Every class has choices to make in this regard.
In Isonzo’s signature Offensive game mode, one side must attack and break through multiple defensive lines. Thick layers of barbed wire, trenches, and whatever extra defenses the enemy engineers put together will stand in the way of a successful attack. Objectives can be taking and holding key points, or planting dynamite to sabotage enemy supply stashes or heavy artillery guns.
The new Caporetto map – the first of three in the season – is a huge battlefield based on the strategically important Monte Kolovrat. There are five defensive lines, where each line has two objectives for the attackers before they can advance further. While in the historical Battle of Caporetto both German and Austro-Hungarian forces were involved, in Isonzo we’ve chosen to focus on the German contribution, so the map recreates the stunning German advance from the town of Tolmein all the way to Kolovrat Ridge. It’s a damp, overcast day when the attack begins, and the attackers must first cut their way through lines of wire to break into a devastated town – including capturing a church defended by multiple heavy machine gun positions. Fortunately, in Isonzo there are many tactical options available to deal with such strong points: artillery barrages, smokescreens, snipers, rifle grenades, even poison gas. From there, it becomes a literal uphill battle for the German attackers as they begin to climb towards the peak of Kolovrat Ridge. They’ll need to sabotage bunkers and capture command posts while navigating rocky trenches and steep forested slopes. At the penultimate fourth defensive line there is a huge siege mortar to sabotage and a cluster of houses providing cover to the Italian defenders – then it’s one last climb to reach the final objective: Hill 1114. If the Germans can take it, the Italians will finally be the ones fighting uphill as their reinforcements stream in to try and counterattack.
Of course, things are no walk in the park for the defenders either – although it’s easier to maneuver when going downhill, and it’s much simpler for officers to deploy flares to call in support, the extensive trench lines can become a liability once the Germans get a foothold, providing cover as they advance. Some of the Italian defensive positions can be exposed against the sky, making it easy for German marksmen to pick off targets. Italian engineers should make good use of their construction abilities to put down additional sandbags and lay out extra wire to prevent German assault troops sneaking through the trees to flank trenches with their grenades or light machine guns.
As we mentioned before, historically the Battle of Caporetto was a disaster for the Italians. Appalling leadership led to poorly motivated and unprepared troops falling apart in the face of the combined Austro-Hungarian and German armies using cutting edge infiltration tactics. The Italian soldiers were not allowed to retreat until too late, and in the end hundreds of thousands would surrender. After Caporetto the top Italian general was fired and replaced by someone far more competent, who managed to turn the war around for the Italians. In Isonzo, it’s a more fair fight where both sides have an equal chance of winning, if they can use all the tactical options available better than their opponents.
The release will also bring other improvements to the game, including a prestige mode and higher level cap. Additionally, for those who want more options for visual customization of their character, the Royal Units DLC is releasing alongside the free expansion and contains uniforms from the German Kingdoms of Bavaria and Württemberg. Though part of the German Empire, these states had their own distinctive uniforms which we’ve carefully recreated with the same accuracy and attention to detail as with the other uniforms in the game.
The Battle for Caporetto Begins…
Isonzo is available right now on the Microsoft Store for Xbox, and the free Caporetto expansion is out today! Plenty of time to master the art of mountain warfare before the German Empire joins the action on the Italian Front. Follow us to get the latest development news as we add the finishing touches!
We’ll see you in the trenches!
Isonzo
BlackMill Games
$29.99
World War One expands to the mountains of the Italian Front – beautiful but deadly in equal measure. Inspired by the two year struggle for control of the Isonzo river valley and the Alps during World War One, Isonzo elevates the WW1 Games Series, figuratively and literally.
From the makers of Verdun and Tannenberg…
Take part in historical offensives from the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo to the Strafexpedition. Reflecting the course of the actual battles, as the attackers advance the fighting will shift through vastly different landscapes within a single offensive: from hillside fortresses to mountain trenches and fierce urban combat on city streets. Everything is recreated based on research and field trips, from sound effects and uniforms down to the houses, vineyards and trenches you’ll be fighting over.
The new Offensive game mode puts you right in the middle of key historical offensives on the Italian Front. Lead the charge across stunning Italian landscapes as you choose your path to victory – cut paths through barbed wire, flank your enemies by following mountain trails, or man a mortar to blast a way through. Shape a dynamic battlefield by laying sandbags and wire, placing ammo crates, deploying trench periscopes or sniper shields, and more.
Call in support with a unique historically accurate flare system: flare guns can mark targets for artillery or biplane flybys, or different colored flares can be used to guide your team. Once the big guns have softened up the enemy, finish the job at close quarters with an Arditi dagger or mountaineer’s pickaxe. Man heavy machine guns, mortars and even mountain guns for more direct fire support.
Choose from six classes based on historical combat roles and build your loadout from a selection of weapons, equipment and perks linked to that class, giving flexibility and variety while staying grounded in what real soldiers might have carried. You’ll be operating wire cutters, bandaging yourself and wounded teammates, and blowing the whistle to start an assault. One shot can kill and even lighter injuries can lead to quickly bleeding out.
Being an effective soldier in Isonzo is not just about being a good marksman. Mastering the terrain is also key – the mountain can be a friend or foe. Learn how to navigate well to maintain cover and surprise your enemies or support your allies.
Finally… watch out for the dreaded poison gas. You’ve never experienced WW1 action quite like this!
Isonzo key features include:
• MOUNTAIN WARFARE: Assaulting mountain fortifications, battling through ruined towns, and fording rivers are just a few of the challenges you’ll face as you fight your way through numerous enemy positions
• TACTICAL MULTIPLAYER FPS: Choose your role and loadout carefully to survive this high altitude combat – play a sniper to pick off the enemy engineers before they can cut your wire, use rifle grenades to clear enemy machine guns, and much more
• WORLD WAR ONE GAMEPLAY: Historical Offensive game mode based on real battles and focused on the unique challenges of Alpine warfare. Fight with 30+ WW1 weapons, poisonous gas attacks, and intense artillery barrages
• BUILD FOR VICTORY: Place your own wire, sandbags, trench periscopes, and more! Whether you’re digging in or on the attack, shaping the battlefield to your advantage will be key to victory
• FACES OF WAR: Make every class your own by picking from a variety of historically class-appropriate uniforms, accessories and headgear. As a finishing touch, you can even pick your mustache from several famous period-accurate styles!
• AUTHENTIC WW1 ATMOSPHERE: Accuracy in everything from maps and weaponry to music and the uniforms – fight for the Kingdom of Italy, the German Empire or the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy
MORE GAMES IN THE AUTHENTIC WW1 GAME SERIES
Immerse yourself in more WW1 action with our other standalone titles Tannenberg and Verdun. Experience trench warfare on the Western Front in Verdun, or maneuver for control of key sectors in Tannenberg on the Eastern Front. These authentic WW1 shooters let players choose from a range of squads from across the war, as they fight for control of the ever-changing frontlines.
GAMES
Transport Fever 2: Console Edition is Bringing the Full Transport Tycoon Experience to Xbox
Today, we proudly share a sneak peek into the development of Transport Fever 2: Console Edition, and how we managed to bring the full transport tycoon experience to Xbox.
Transport Fever is a very popular and highly rated transportation tycoon franchise on PC. Its latest entry, Transport Fever 2, delivers a level of size and detail never before seen in the genre. The goal of the game is to build a successful transportation company by constructing railroads, streets, water and air lines. Starting in the 19th century, the player connects towns and industries to transport both passengers and cargo. In addition to a customizable free game mode, there is also a fully-fledged campaign mode with challenging missions set in real-world transportation history.
After the huge success of Transport Fever 2 on PC, it was only logical to bring the experience to consoles as well. Not only that, but no efforts were spared to give the console community the full experience that made the game great on PC. In order to achieve this, the engineers at Urban Games had to pull some rabbits out of their engineers’ hats.
Always providing the freshest layer of paint
One of the most cherished features of Transport Fever 2 are its highly detailed vehicles. The game comes with more than 200 lovingly hand-modeled trains, ships, and airplanes, each sporting multiple 4k textures and normal maps.
On PC, it is easily affordable to have all the models and textures in memory whenever needed, as a typical rig has 16 GB of RAM and a GPU with a dedicated extra memory. Consoles, however, are built differently. They have a unified architecture with an overall smaller amount but ultra-fast memory. The key to make it work on consoles is texture streaming, which allows to clear textures of models that are not in view anymore. Moreover, this technology is used in Transport Fever 2 to constantly load textures at the highest affordable resolution to present the stars of the show, like the classic Class A 3/5 steam locomotive, in their best coat of paint at all times.
Keeping the ground like a console pro
A trademark of Transport Fever 2 are its huge maps. During development of the game, it was always paramount to provide a real sense of scale. The engine should allow for maps where a high-speed train, such as the famous Japanese Shinkansen, can really make use of its superior speed. So, a lot of effort was put into designing a highly effective terrain rendering pipeline that can handle maps of more than 120 sq miles of size with a detail resolution of almost 1 yard. Central to this is a dynamic terrain tessellation algorithm on the CPU that, while costing a bit of extra memory, makes sure the engine can render these maps on a wide variety of PCs.
Now, enter the world of consoles with their incredibly well-designed GPUs and graphic APIs. Here, the hardware can be leveraged very well for terrain rendering by making use of the GPU tessellation feature. This feature generates the render mesh for the terrain fully on the graphics card, saving valuable processing time for the complex economy and city growth simulations. While generating more triangles, the hardware approach still costs less memory overall due to its efficiency. So vast maps can be viewed from a bird’s view high up in the sky and seamlessly zoomed in down to individual rocks on a riverbank.
Inspiring the inner architect
Finally, let’s talk about constructions, a central and defining part of the Transport Fever 2 experience. Constructions are large assemblies that consist of dozens of assets, street segments, ground decals and terrain modifications. Think of structures like airports, train stations, docks, highway crossings, and many more. Anything that is needed to build a vast transportation empire.
For a smooth construction experience, it is key that the player really feels that he has precise control over the building placement. On PC, constructions are typically built using the mouse. As the average PC user is very well adjusted to this method of input, it is sufficiently performant to calculate the entire construction each frame and place it under the cursor. However, on consoles, the best way of building constructions is to have them always kept in the center of the screen and move the camera along the map for placement. And moving the camera needs to be as smooth as silk.
So, for the console release of Transport Fever 2, the construction preview pipeline was overhauled. All dynamic calculations are now performed in the background while a static preview of the structure and its underlying ground plan are shown. Not only are constructions now completely stable in terms of FPS, but they also give feedback to the player on what environment features the construction would tear down when built.
Let’s get tycooning on console
We are very excited to bring the Transport Fever franchise to consoles for the first time ever with the release of Transport Fever 2: Console Edition on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One in February 2023, and we hope you will enjoy it as much as we did developing it.
How to Market When Information is Dirt Cheap
Daily Search Forum Recap: September 2, 2024
Early Analysis & User Feedback
Google Trends Subscriptions Quietly Canceled
Daily Search Forum Recap: September 3, 2024
What Is Largest Contentful Paint: An Easy Explanation
How To Run A Live Youtube Show To An International Audience And Gain Traction
MyDataNinja
What Is Founder Mode and Why Is It Better Than Manager Mode?
Google Ads To Require Gambling Advertisers With Games Certification To Recertify
-
SEO6 days agoHow to Market When Information is Dirt Cheap
-
SEARCHENGINES6 days ago
Daily Search Forum Recap: September 2, 2024
-
SEO4 days agoEarly Analysis & User Feedback
-
SEO5 days agoGoogle Trends Subscriptions Quietly Canceled
-
SEARCHENGINES5 days ago
Daily Search Forum Recap: September 3, 2024
-
SEO6 days agoWhat Is Largest Contentful Paint: An Easy Explanation
-
SEO7 days agoHow To Run A Live Youtube Show To An International Audience And Gain Traction
-
WORDPRESS6 days agoMyDataNinja
You must be logged in to post a comment Login