EA starts addressing ‘Need for Speed: Payback’ issues, begins with loot box complaints

Electronic Arts has been dealing with loot box-related issues lately. One is with Star Wars: Battlefront II and another is the topic of this story Need for Speed: Payback. The whole pay-to-win progression has been one of the big complaints about the game—that and some technical issues that have left gameplay a bit of a mess. Thankfully developer Ghost Games is working on both problems.

Ghost has started working on the loot box issue first to make it feel less like you need to pay real money to buy these boxes and advance in the game. The developer cut down things like how long it takes to upgrade parts in tune-up shops, which now takes 10 minutes instead of 30 minutes. Money and reputation get larger amounts, even for those who finish outside of first place. What Ghost is still working on are the game stability and performance issues. The game developer isn’t specifying a date but says the patch will arrive “soon.” It’ll bring with it changes to the parts the tune-up shop offers as well as better offerings from winning events.

Apple's One-Day shopping event is on now

Apple's got a lot of goodies on discount for one-day only which are available in stores or online. The way Apple does it is by attaching various valued Apple Store gift cards when certain items are purchased. iPads bought today will come with $100 worth of Apple Store Cards, iPhones will come with $50 cards and Macs and MacBooks will come with $150 Apple Store Cards which can be spent in the Apple Store to get accessories, watch bands or other items. Hit up the full details here.

Blackberry Motion and KEYOne available for $100 off in limited Black Friday promos

Black Friday after Thanksgiving is probably the best time to get either the BlackBerry Motion or BlackBerry KEYOne for $100 off. The KEYOne remains one of the most unique Android experiences and the robust and secure (not to mention water and dust resistant) BlackBerry Motion is simply one of the best midrange smartphones in the market.

Several retailers across Canada are now offering up to $100 off the BlackBerry Mobile lineup from now until November 27. Various carriers are offering the devices on limited discounted plans. Hit jump for the details.

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Facebook tests out Snapchat-like streaks feature

Facebook has on numerous occasions copied features from Snapchat both for its main app and its other properties (like Instagram and WhatsApp). That behaviour continues with the new feature the social network is trying out. This time, it’s copying the feature that has kept Snapchat users, particularly its teen user base, engaged: streaks. These streaks or having continues back and forth direct snaps with friends come with emoji rewards and have had Snapchat users obsessively trying to keep it going for as long as they can.

Facebook confirmed it’s testing this feature out in Messenger, complete with emoji-like icons and a counter that shows how long the streak is going. According to a spokesperson for Facebook, they are testing out the feature "to see at a glance fun facts about the people you message with. For example, a lightning bolt may appear next to the name of a person you've messaged with for at least three days in a row, and a counter will indicate how many consecutive days you've been chatting. We're interested to see if people enjoy this insight, but we don't have any additional information to share at this time." Now, whether this is something users would want, we can’t say. What we do know is this is Facebook’s way to keep users (hopefully) engaged.

Source: Mashable