When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Sign up forfor the biggest new releases, reviews and tech hacks UPDATE: Fortnite update 7.30 has gone live, as Epic Games shuts the servers down for maintenance. *Fortnite 7.30 update PATCH NOTES: Chiller Grenade, Super Bowl surprise, bug fixes and more* ORIGINAL: Fortnite update 7.30 early patch notes have been revealed ahead of the next major Epic Games release. Update 7.30 will go live following a period of server downtime on the morning of January 29. And according to an in-game news post, the new patch will introduce the brand new Chiller Grenade. "Give your enemies cold feet with this winter blast!" reads an in-game Chiller Grenade preview. The Chiller Grenade is likely to momentarily immobilise enemies, giving you a better chance of making a kill. And if the early patch notes are anything to go by, it looks like update 7.30 is going to be one of the biggest of the season so far. "Curious on some of the major bug fixes coming to @FortniteGame in v7.30?" reads a Sean Hamilton tweet. "Swing by our Top Community Issues Trello Board to track known issues and their status."<doc-sep>Fortnite patch v7.30 has arrived and brought with it a change that’s sure to cause a fair bit of controversy: the bolt-action sniper, one of the game’s oldest guns, has been removed — for now. But, the sniper isn’t the only weapon that’s being vaulted this patch. Also leaving the game for the time being are Burst Rifles, likely the FAMAS considering it’s the only burst left in the game, heavy shotguns and even standard SMGs, which are being replaced by the old silent SMGs that were vaulted a few seasons ago. In other, less controversial news, Epic is bringing a new type of grenade to Fortnite, the Chiller, which will knock players back and cause them to slide on the ground if they’re hit by the explosion. As for the patch’s other changes, Solid Gold is returning as a Limited Time Mode. Mobile players will also be happy to learn the game now supports Bluetooth controllers. Update: Some issues have arisen with the 7.30 patch. A small update will be released over the next few hours to address them. Details of those fixes can be found here. For a full look at every change that’s coming to Fortnite with today’s patch, check out the full patch notes below. Weapons and Items Chiller Grenade The Chiller Grenade will knock players back, causing them to slide along the ground. Allies, enemies, and vehicles hit with the Chiller Grenade will slip around with icy feet/wheels for a duration of 7 seconds. Drops in stacks of 3. Max stack size of 6. Common rarity. Can be found from Floor Loot and Vending Machines. Cozy Campfire - Updated Visuals We’ve updated the visual effects of Cozy Campfires to more clearly indicate when a campfire is in use or burnt out. Vaulted Bolt-action Sniper Rifle Burst Rifle Heavy Shotgun SMG Common, Uncommon, and Rare Unvaulted Suppressed SMG Common, Uncommon, and Rare Reduced the drop chance of Dual Pistol from floor loot from 2.24% to 1.38%. Bug Fixes Balloons no longer collide with vehicles. This resolves an issue where vehicles could be damaged when using Balloons while on a vehicle. Limited Time Mode: Solid Gold Mode Details All weapon drops are Legendary. Increased amount of materials received from gathering. Gameplay Memory and networking optimization for Apples and Mushrooms. Added unique vehicle specific messages in the feed when players are eliminated or downed. Edit Delay Re-enabled client-side editing improvements. These were turned off in 7.20 due to an input bug they were causing. Fixed Boogie Bombs not affecting players that are wearing the Sneaky Snowman when struck on exposed legs/feet. Fixed Sneaky Snowman’s last charge breaking away right after applying if another Sneaky Snowman is present in a different inventory slot. Fixed an issue where the glider would auto-deploy closer to the ground than expected when holding glider redeploy from the bus. Fixed the X-4 Stormwing’s health bar occasionally not displaying. Fixed an issue where players could get stuck in a Sneaky Snowman if it landed next to them. Increased the amount of materials gained from looting Chests and Floor Loot from 20 to 30. Increased the number of materials received from Supply Drops from 40 to 60. Bug Fixes Aim assist now targets enemies on vehicles rather than the base of the vehicles they’re occupying. Quickly switching to Traps then weapons on gamepads no longer causes players to shoot or swing pickaxes. Supply Drop balloons now take environmental damage, including damage from explosives or biplanes gun. Fixed instances of a free wall piece showing as placeable but not building. Fixed player cameras from becoming distorted when another player enters a Zipline. Fixed an issue where the magnet on the Zipline could be invisible on use. Fixed an issue where boost visual effects could appear while operating a vehicle near a Zipline. Players can now properly progress through and complete the Week 4 “Use an X-4 Stormwing plane in different matches” Challenge. Screens no longer shake uncontrollably after after walking on icy surfaces. Players will no longer lose the ability to turn the X-4 Stormwing after hitting terrain/structures. Playground The Guided Missile has been removed from Playgrounds. Removed the Spiky Stadium Supply Drop. This will remove the ability to loot the Spiky Stadium as well as Impulse Grenades. This was done due to an issue that was sending players back to the Lobby. Events New Tournament Added: Architect Pop-Up Cup (Solo, Duo, and Squads) Settings from previous Pop-Up Cup tournaments still apply to this tournament. Within this mode, player built structures can now be edited by any player, regardless of team status. This is an experiment that we’d like to try out in this testing environment, but aren’t quite sure of the full impact. We’d love to hear feedback from your experiences playing with this change. Tournaments may now feature leaderboards for each event session, highlighting top performers. Participating in tournaments now requires a minimum account level of 10. Performance Bug Fixes Smoothed out drops in framerate that could happen with large changes in view direction and rendered character counts. Audio Added a fuse sound to the Grenade. Bug Fixes Fixed emote music overlapping with lobby music depending on the way volume sliders were configured. UI Show total party eliminations on the HUD if your team wins. Added additional models to the “Cycle Models” list when viewing Wraps in the Battle Pass or Item Shop. The party colors have been restored to Blue, Red, Purple, and Yellow. To distinguish players in LTMs like Food Fight. There are new icons for non-squad teammates and the opponent icons on the minimap. Rotating the camera on the Battle Bus no longer has an oscillating/swimming effect on the minimap. Fixed an issue in the Net Debug UI that would cause it to show a ping value that was too high. Bug Fixes Fixed issue where weapons were not equipping when double-clicking in the inventory after swapping their quickbar slots. Fix an issue where teammates scores would not be displayed. Fixed incorrect elimination count information occurring in large team modes. Fixed player sorting order in the player reporting UI. Fixed an issue where some of the leaderboard UI could sometimes blink repeatedly. Fixed an issue where the ‘Spectator’ button in the Player Reporting menu would only select the first player you spectated. Fixed an issue where the playlist selection screen could sometimes show an incorrect selection after leaving a party. Fixed a display issue with the item pick-up prompt that would sometimes occur after opening an ammo box. Fix lobby preview lengths of Pumpernickel, Running Man, Dance Therapy, and Hot Marat emotes. Art and Animation Celebrate Super Bowl LIII with new Los Angeles Rams and New England Patriots uniforms added to the Fourth Down Outfit set. Drop in and represent your favorite team! All players who previously purchased the Fourth Down set will be granted these variants. Replay Bug Fixes Fixed weapon animations playing twice for each shot fired in replays. Fixed an issue where camera/lens settings could display incorrect initial values. Fixed an issue where attempting to play an out of date replay selects another replay. Fixed players appearing jittery while using Ziplines in replays. Fixed Boombox music not playing when watching replays. Social The Streamer Mode setting has been replaced with two separate settings: Anonymous Mode This will display your name as “Anonymous” to all players that are not in your squad. Your account info will still be attached to reports submitted by other players using the Player Reporting feature. Hide Other Player Names This will display all other player names as “Player” unless they are in your squad. Neither of these settings will be functional when playing in a Tournament match. Bug Fixes Party Invite Notifications will now appear when in the Game Mode select screen. Accepting the invite from the notification will take you to the proper game mode and join the party. Fixed an issue that could cause some party members to fail to matchmake with a “Version Mismatch” error if a party member joined, readied up, and matchmaking was started in rapid succession. Mobile Mobile Controller support Android: most of Bluetooth controller adapters, such as Steelseries Stratus XL, Gamevice, XBox1, Razer Raiju, and Moto Gamepad. iOS: MFi controllers, such as Steelseries Nimbus and Gamevice. Disabled phone vibration if a gamepad attached. 60Hz on select Android models We are rolling out 60Hz support (to be enabled in settings) on select Android devices. We have been working with our partners on optimizations and are rolling this out initially on the following specific models. Samsung Galaxy Note 9 (USA variant) Huawei Honor View 20 Huawei Mate 20 X Added audio visualization icons for vehicles and Balloons Bug Fixes<doc-sep>
Fortnite downtime news has been confirmed Fortnite Downtime has been scheduled for tomorrow, January 29, meaning servers will be going offline for a period. Fortnite fans will be unable to play the game during this time, with the full downtime details confirmed by Epic Games today. Game servers will be going offline at around 9am in the UK and are likely to be offline for at least an hour. Players will start to see themselves kicked from live games around 20 minutes before downtime and maintenance is scheduled to begin. When the servers do go offline, players will be given access to the official patch notes, which are usually shared minutes after. From what has been shared so far by Epic Games, Fortnite update 7.30 will add a new item to the game. The new Chiller Grenade has been announced in an early teaser, meaning it will be available to try out after server downtime is complete. It should also be noted that fans will need to update their version of Fortnite to regain access to the game. "Give your enemies cold feet with this winter blast!" reads an in-game Chiller Grenade preview. The Chiller Grenade is likely to momentarily immobilise enemies, giving you a better chance of making a kill. Fortnite introduces 'Sneaky Snowman' disguise The other big change that will happen after tomorrow’s update is that the Ice Storm Challenges will be removed from the game. The end time for these challenges will coincide for when downtime begins on PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC and Mobile. So for anyone who hasn’t unlocked all the loot from the last week, you have until January 29 at 9am, GMT. A recent message from Epic Games confirms their plans for Fortnite update 7.30, explaining: “There are only a few hours left to finish your Ice Storm Challenges before the v7.30 update arrives. “Battle the Ice Legion until downtime begins tomorrow, January 29 at 4 AM ET (0900 UTC).” Epic Games has also announced that they will be launching a new feature in Fortnite Save the World, as part of the next update. Loot boxes are being revamped so that fans can see what is inside them before they buy them. Fortnite servers will be offline tomorrow for a short period