Gears of War developer Epic Games reveals Fortnite at the VGAs

By Adam Rosenberg December 11, 2011

The Spike Video Game Awards happened last night and, in typical form, the show’s lackluster writing and minimal focus on actual awards-giving was offset by a wide assortment of game announcements and trailer reveals. One of the evening’s most anticipated was the latest from Epic Games, the studio behind the award-winning Gears of War series. It’s called Fortnite and, as you can see in the trailer above, it’s a sizable step away from what Epic fans are familiar with.

Based on what the trailer reveals, it looks like the game unfolds in two basic phases. Daytime hours will be used to build up your fortress in the stylized, seemingly post-apocalyptic landscape, using whatever debris and other resources that are available. The nighttime hours are then spent holing inside the fortress while all manner of slavering nasties — including zombies, from the look of things — try to break in from the outside.

There’s no gameplay in the trailer, so bear in mind that there’s probably a bit more going on than that. We don’t even know what platform(s) the game will be released on, or even what kind of release model it will be using (ie disc vs. digital). Now that the formal announcement has been made, however, you can probably expect to hear more about how the game will work soon enough.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

Gaming

Can you fix the Fortnite servers not responding error?

Nanner Ringer emote in Fortnite

The last thing you want to see when loading up Fortnite for a match with your friends, especially when a big new update is dropping, is to be hit with an error. The worst of which might be the "Fortnite servers not responding" error due to how vague it is. Most people don't know what servers are, let alone what it means when they aren't responding, except that you can't play your game. The question then becomes if you have any power to solve this issue yourself or if you're forced to wait until Epic Games addresses it on its end.
Can you fix the servers not responding error in Fortnite?

The first thing to do when encountering this error in Fortnite is to go straight to the Epic Games Help website or X account (formerly Twitter). This will let you know if it is something on Epic Games' end that is the issue and also keep you updated on the status of when the servers are expected to be fixed. Servers can also be taken down for maintenance or in preparation for major updates, which will also be accounted for here. If this is the case, there's nothing to do but wait until they announce the servers are back up and running.

Gaming

How many skins are in Fortnite?

Fortnite characters by a car.

With each new Fortnite season comes a slew of new cosmetics to earn through the Battle Pass or to purchase in the item shop. With the game being out for nearly six years, the number of skins in the game has grown to absurd levels. No longer will you run into a match of solo players wearing similar skins. Between regular releases of skins and special event skins involving IPs like Star Wars, Street Fighter, Marvel, and more, every player has a very unique locker full of cosmetics to bust out in a given match.

These days, it's almost more likely you'll run into a skin you've never seen before than a player using the same one as you!

Gaming

Don’t miss this great sci-fi RPG while it’s free on the Epic Games Store

Parvati fights in The Outer Worlds.

The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition will be one of the next free games offered on the Epic Games Store, and that's a can't-miss freebie for fans of RPGs or sci-fi.

The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition is the complete version of a 2019 RPG from Obsidian Entertainment. Although it was much smaller in scale than some AAA RPGs like Starfield, that more limited scope allows The Outer Worlds to emphasize player choice in gameplay and narrative. This is one of those RPGs where you can kill pretty much any NPC walking around, even ones important to the ongoing story, and see how the results play out. The Outer Worlds has tons of replay value for that reason alone.