Fortnite

As part of this week's Fortnite update, the Playground limited time mode has made a return after briefly appearing and disappearing late last week. In Playground mode, up to four players can practice building and game tactics. One intrepid group even built a city in just over an hour.

The Fortnite site has been updated with a new contest, this time aimed at budding filmmakers. Using #FortntieBlockbuster, the contest asks fans to "write and direct the ultimate Season 4 superhero flick". Players are tasked with using the Fortnite replay system "and a little in-game movie set magic to make a blockbuster hit highlighting the heroes of Season 4 and their adventures".

Over the weekend, the latest Fortnite event took place with a special rocket launch that was by all reports quite epic. Many servers were packed to the rafters with players cooperatively watching. However, on one server the viewing party was rather rudely interrupted in their reverie when a player named "Elemental_Ray" took them all out by destroying the platform on which they were standing. The dastardly deed has earned him the top spot on the Leaderboard for Solo Single Match Kills.

For Fortnite players who love seasonal play, today's news that Season 5 will kick off on July 12th will come as a welcome surprise. To get everyone fill up the tiers, Epic is providing a 100% XP bonus from June 29th to July 2nd.

In a new survey of 1000 Fortnite players that has been posted over at Lendedu.com, researchers have determined that nearly 70% of all players have purchased something from the in-game store and that, on average, players have spent nearly $85 to date.

Epic is taking a hard line against a former contract worker who allegedly leaked information about Fortnite Battle Royale and season four. The spoilers, according to Epic, were first leaked to a second party and then posted to a now-deleted Reddit thread. The defendant, Thomas Hannah, has said that he was "pumped with a series of questions in a casual discussion to try to guess where the meteor (from Season 4) would hit". Epic says this provided secrets that it wanted kept under wraps.

For those Fortnite players who have been sadly bemoaning that the PvE campaign has been getting ignored in favor of Battle Royale mode, we have good news today: New things are coming, not the least of which is the Canny Valley campaign. It takes place in a brand new biome and the campaign will set out to answer many of the burning story questions players have had.

John Smedley has come out about what he believes is the bottom line on why the Fortnite cross play issue with Sony continues. Smedley, former studio head of Sony Online Entertainment, sent out a tweet earlier this week saying that when he "was at Sony, the stated reason internally for this was money. Dumb reason, but there it is." he wrote.

Up until last weekend, Counter Strike: Global Offensive was the most-watched, most popular game on Twitch. In January, CS:GO saw 1.1M viewers watching during the Boston Major. However, Fortnite has just obliterated the concurrent viewer title with 1.46M folks taking part during last weekend's Pro-Am tournament that paired Fortnite streamers with a variety of celebrities.

When Fortnite is updated tomorrow, players will have all new ways to take out the enemy in battle royale. Most notable, the Thermal Scope Assault Rifle will bring long-distance mayhem. In addition, players will find several new traps that can be placed on inclines and ramps to make for even more trepidatious footing. The Limited Time Mode will mark the return of 50v50 with some new features to keep things spicy.

Speaking to IGN today, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said that Fortnite has been downloaded over two million times on Nintendo Switch. That's pretty impressive since the announcement of Fortnite on Switch was made just yesterday during the Nintendo E3 Showcase.

Epic hosted a fete last night during E3 2018 and as part of the celebration of Fortnite's success, developers revealed a series of online tournaments, community-run competitions and official competitive events as well as the 2019 Fortnite World Cup. The company will be using $100M to invest in and sponsor tournaments for the balance of 2018 and into 2019.

Proving that it is THE battle royale, Fortnite is now available on Nintendo Switch. Epic made the announcement as part of today's Nintendo E3 2018 Showcase. This makes Fortnite available on every major platform.

The latest Fortnite update notes have been published on the official site. Most notably in Battle Royale, the v4.4 update marks the return of the Sniper Shootout Limited Time Mode, now in version 3. In addition, players will find a new Thermal Scope Assault Rifle and the ability to place traps on stairs and slopes.

When Fortnite is updated to v4.3, players will be able to roll into battle in a shopping cart, something that is sure to strike fear into the hearts of enemies. So load up a friend and head out to destroy your enemies with the awe-inspiring power of THE CART!