Playerunknown's Battlegrounds teases shield, snow map
And a release date for Sanhok
Amidst all the announcements of games coming out next year, Microsoft's E3 pressblast included three tasty bits of news for future Playerunknown's Battlegrounds updates from developers PUBG Corp.
1) The new map, Sanhok, will launch properly on June 22nd.
2) A ballistic shield is coming later this year, for cowards.
3) The whispered-about snowy map is expected to launch this winter.
The devs also blast a new trailer which pleasingly conveys some of the goofy banter and antics of the world's premiere stag & hen weekend simulator, even if it doesn't look much like how the game actually plays.
It's a rare round which has that much pyrotechnics and tomfoolery that closely. But hey, it's an E3 trailer, they're all staged and dressed-up. Right at the end there, you'll notice this little clip of the snowy map:
"This map is currently very early in development, and we’re aiming to bring it to both PC and Xbox One this winter," PUBG Corp say in their announcement roundup. "Expect to see some new mechanics built around the snowy terrain." I want:
1) Snowball fights in the loading lobby
2) Footprints.
3) Snowmobiles.
4) A half-pipe and ramps for sick snowmobile tricks.
5) Ghillie suit replaced with snowman suit.
#2 appears to be in that wee teaser clip, at least. Persistent footprints to track would be interesting, though given how much the game's servers already struggle I don't know how possible that would be. Persistent footprints is one of the big features touted by Mavericks, an upcoming battle royale game which uses fancy cloud server tech to stop the game from falling over.
As for the shield, that's due to debut in a War Mode deathmatch event later this year. Taking up a primary weapon slot, it'll let players hide behind (and cover teamies) mobile cover while they advance and manouver. Folks will get to use pistols, submachine guns, melee weapons, and throwables while holding the shield up.
And Sanhok, the 4x4km new map that's been in public testing recently, is due to launch on PC on June 22nd. Sanhok suffered terrible lag in early tests, but PUBG Corp have been testing fixes. I've enjoyed the change of pace of throwing 100 players into a map a quarter the size of others, and the dynamic weather is great too, so I'll be glad to have this on the main servers to play with everyone.
Check out our E3 2018 tag for more announcements, trailers, news, and goodness knows what else.