Praise be

Prepping a modern-day video game to be played for the first time often involves waiting. Lots and lots of waiting. Your console has to be up to date, and the game disc needs to install, and you can’t forget about the day-one update, many of which are substantial. Double check that you have enough space. Then, after that whole rigamarole is over, you might also have to contend with the publisher’s servers. Are they up right now, or is it just me? Okay, now I can fina–oh, it’s 2:00am. I’m going to sleep.

I’d say I’ve grown numb to this process, but mostly I’ve just learned to deal with it and plan ahead. It’s still very much an annoyance. One upcoming game, this Friday’sTitanfall 2, will give us a reprieve.

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“Clear some space on your [hard drive], theTitanfall 2day one patch is… 88MB,”saidRespawn Entertainment CEO Vince Zampella. That’s not a sick, twisted typo — it’s actually 88MB!

There will assuredly be much-larger updates to come, but I’ll take this as a small victory.

The opening area of the Whisper mission, in a small grove.

The Divide in the Cosmodrome, where the Guardian was resurrected.

A holofoil Ribbontail, as seen in collections.

The Phoneutria Fera hand cannon, inspired by the Season of the Haunted armor set. It has a unique, galactic glow.

Three Fuses appear in a match of Apex Legends' Wild Card mode.

Mad Maggie opens a supply bin and an item with a symbol indicating infinite ammo appears.

Legends slide through a zipline in King’s Canyon in Apex Legends.

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The Yeartide Apex tex Mechanica SMG with a Holofoil glow.