Fallout 4 Update 1.3 Is Live on PS4 & Xbox One, Takes up 500MB

Fallout 4’s 1.3 consoles update dramatically increases object fading distances. Have a look… pic.twitter.com/9I728wSpm2

— BethesdaGameStudios (@BethesdaStudios) February 9, 2016

Expected last week on consoles, Fallout 4 update 1.3 is now available to download on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, Bethesda announced today.

Reportedly taking up just over 500MB on PS4 and XB1, today’s Fallout 4 update makes improvements to the stability, fixes an issue where you could warp to a different location when aiming, addresses quest and workshop problems, and more, as you can see in the patch notes:

New Features

Added status menu for settlers in your settlements

Added ability to rotate an object you are holding with left/right triggers and pressing down on left thumbstick lets you switch the rotating axis

Gameplay Fixes

General memory and stability improvements

Improved performance when looking through a scope

Fixed issue where player could warp to a different location when aiming

Companions can no longer get stuck with radiation poisoning

Fixed an issue where Vault 81 residents would not dismember correctly

Big Leagues perk now displays calculated damage correctly

Fixed issue with third person camera not displaying properly after exiting certain crafting stations

Fixed an issue where subtitles would occasionally not update properly

Effects will properly be removed on companions when items are unequipped

MacReady’s Killshot perk now calculates headshot percentages properly

Fixed an issue with NPCs getting stuck in Power Armor

Fixed a rare issue with companions getting stuck in down state

Second rank of Aquaboy now calculates properly

Fixed an issue with resistance not always lowering the damage correctly when added by mods

Enabled number of characters available when renaming an item (XB1)

Fixed issue with player becoming dismembered while still alive

Robotics expert is now usable in combat

Stimpaks can now be used on Curie after the transformation

Playing a holotape found in wilderness while switching point of view no longer causes the screen to blur or controls to be locked

Quest Fixes

Fixed an issue with “Taking Independence” where the minutemen remaining from the battle against the Mirelurk Queen would not gather in the Castle

Fixed an issue where invulnerable characters would get stuck in combat

Fixed an issue where Preston would send player to a settlement instead of a dungeon as part of a Minutemen quest

Fixed an issue where Synths could attack the Castle while the player was friends with the Institute

Fixed an issue where killing a caravan would leave a quest open

Fixed an issue where Dogmeat would stay at Fort Hagen after “Reunions” was completed

Fixed an issue where the player couldn’t talk to Desdemona to complete “Underground Undercover”

Fixed an issue where the player could get stuck exiting the cryopod

Fixed an issue where the player could no longer get Preston as a companion

In “The End of the Line,” fixed an issue that would prevent the player from killing the leaders of the Railroad

Fixed an issue with Minutemen quests repeating improperly

Fixed an issue where the player couldn’t get back into the Railroad headquarters after being kicked out of the Brotherhood of Steel

After finishing “The Big Dig,” fixed an issue where Hancock would no longer offer to be a companion or help with the “Silver Shroud” quest

Fixed an issue with obtaining the Dampening Coils from Saugus Ironworks before going to Yangtze

During “Unlikely Valentine,” fixed an issue where the player could be blocked from entering Vault 114

In “Confidence Man,” Bull and Gouger can now be killed

During “Taking Independence,” fixed an issue that would prevent the radio transmitter from powering up

In “Human Error,” fixed an issue where killing Dan would cause the quest to not complete properly

Fixed an issue with “Tactical Thinking” where leaving dialogue early with Captain Kells to reprogram P.A.M. could cause quest to not completely properly

Workshop Fixes

Fixed a bug that would cause settler counts to appear incorrectly

Fixed an issue that could prevent the player from setting up a supply line in settlements with a high population

Improvements to snapping pieces together while in Workshop mode

Fixed an issue that caused powered items to stop functioning permanently if its power source was ever removed

Player can now build workbenches in their Diamond City house

Building wires no longer uses up copper

Fixed issue with certain settlement attacks not generating properly

Fixed an issue with settlement happiness calculations

Settlers assigned to weapons stand will now stand next to it

Diamond City house now shows provided power

Repairing items will now correctly consume resources

Fixed an issue where companion would ignore commands at workshop locations

Fixed an issue with crops appearing destroyed after saving and reloading

Last week, Bethesda’s Pete Hines talked about console mods, saying they’ll still be coming to Xbox One before PS4, and he doesn’t know how far apart they’ll be.

What do you think of the new update?

[Source: Bethesda (Twitter), Reddit]

Hidden Gems 2016 Feature 1.12.16

Meet the Hidden Gems of 2016
Abzû — Release Date: TBA 2016

Giant Squid has set sights on a 2016 release for its upcoming PS4 console exclusive, Abzû. It was founded by Matt Nava, the esteemed art director that presided over two of thatgamecompany’s indie gems in Journey and Flower, but perhaps the studio’s game that Abzû bears the biggest resemblance to is Flow in that it takes the plunge into the deep blue.

At its core, Abzû is a stylized diving simulator, mixing together serene exploration and light RPG elements. On paper, PlayStation VR support seems inevitable further down the line, but even based on the aesthetic and Nava’s involvement alone, Abzû is bubbling to the surface as one of our most-anticipated games of the year.
Hyper Light Drifter — Release Date: Q2 2016

Nostalgia is a cruel mistress at times. Remember replaying childhood classics in the vein of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past only to find that they don’t quite hold up to your own personal expectations? Heart Machine is nurturing a workaround with its upcoming Kickstarter darling, Hyper Light Drifter.

A prolonged development may have cooled excitement for the studio’s multi-platform release (largely due to the health issues that have afflicted Lead Developer Alex Preston), but by infusing the rich gameplay elements associated with Diablo and The Legend of Zelda series, Hyper Light Drifter is a love letter to the 8-bit and 16-bit games of yesteryear in every which way. With zero spoken dialog, the creative team at Heart Machine is promising a story that will be told through music and visuals — and what visuals they are.
Boundless — Release Date: TBA 2016

Minecraft may have cemented the concept as a bankable formula for success, though the idea of building and maintaining your own pixelated home in a sandbox universe is still a tantalizing pitch for a game. Case in point: Wonderstruck’s upcoming open world title Boundless.

Hosting cross-platform play between PS4 and PC, Boundless will have all players inhabiting the same lush universe online when it launches later this year. Each world is intricately connected, too, with budding explorers able to hop through a portal into an entirely new planet. Moreover, these diverse environments are all guarded by an ancient titan; apex predators that require careful teamwork to topple if you are to harvest their precious resources.

Indeed Wonderstruck has claimed that Boundless is as much about writing your own story through exploration and interactions with other characters than anything else. Guess we ought to mark this one down as another universe we can lose ourselves in later this year.
Firewatch — Release Date: February 9, 2016

Arguably the prettiest indie headed to PlayStation 4 this year is Campo Santo’s debut title, Firewatch. Orbiting around Henry, a lonesome firefighter protecting the lush Shoshone Forest in ’89, the studio’s visually striking first-person adventure title has you exploring the rolling hills of the Wyoming wilderness, all the while trying to piece together an unsolved mystery as strange occurrences begin to rear their head.

VR support may be ruled out, and the core story driving Firewatch may only last for six hours, but we can imagine losing ourselves in Campo Santo’s PS4 console exclusive for much, much longer.
Manifold Garden — Release Date: TBA 2016

Prepare for some cerebral puzzles with Manifold Garden. The exploration puzzle game formerly known as Relativity is coming by way of independent developer William Chyr. If Monument Valley took cues from the architectural genius of M.C. Escher, then Manifold Garden ups the ante quite considerably, presenting a series of intricate puzzles that are, perplexingly, all connected to one another.

Unfolding like one giant piece of origami, Chyr has hinted at players being able to explore cerebral architectural riddles in a world “where physics is turned upside down.” Cue the inevitable Inception “BRRAAAAWWRWRRMRMRMMM!”
Dreams — Release Date: TBA

What’s the most resilient parasite? An idea, according to Christopher Nolan, but it’s also the core theme underpinning Media Molecule’s bold new IP, Dreams. While it’s still without a release date at the time of writing, a beta test has been slated for 2016 which ought to give us a clearer look under the hood of the studio’s most intriguing PS4 experiences.

During PSX 2015, our own Chandler Wood was flabbergasted at the unbridled creativity that Dreams offers, with the official logline from Media Molecule describing the game as so: "We’re building a place where you can go to explore the dreams of others, and then you can create your own.”

Exciting, yet enigmatic, and while Sony still has a long way to go before convincing the masses of the title’s potential, we’re hoping that this year’s beta will shed light on Media Molecule’s most peculiar title to date. All we need now is a good dream architect…And that is the third and final Inception reference, we promise.
What Remains of Edith Finch — TBA 2016

Based on the wonderful and serene The Unfinished Swan alone, Giant Sparrow’s follow-up, What Remains of Edith Finch, earns a place on this list from the off. But there’s a ominous tinge to the studio’s sophomore effort that distinguishes it from the coming-of-age story of Monroe. In exploring the dark corners of the Finch family, the developer’s generation-spanning tale centers on Edith as she begins to peel back the layers of history shrouding her family name.

As the last Finch left alive, there’s an abundance of mystery ready to be solved in Edith Finch’s narrative, and if Giant Sparrow carries over the touching and charming elements from Unfinished Swan then we could have another indie darling on our hands.
Yooka-Laylee — October 2016

First pitched as a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, Playtonic Games’ all-new adventure title Yooka-Laylee became the Kickstarter success story of 2015, breaking through all expectations to reach $3.2 million and make crowdfunding history.

Quite the feat, no doubt, but now comes the hard part: delivering on that vision. Having already plucked former Rare employees to join its ranks, Playtonic is crafting an old-school “collectathon” 3D platformer that intends to resurrect a genre that abruptly fell off a cliff in the late ‘90s.

Of course, it’s too soon to gauge whether Yooka-Laylee can emulate its own Kickstarter success upon release, though we’re confident that the creative team behind the N64 love letter can nurture the quirky chameleon and “wisecracking” bat into bona fide mascots.