Happy holidays! ‘Fortnite’ now lets you buy your friends gifts

By Gabe Gurwin Published November 27, 2018

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Thanksgiving has come and gone, which means the jingle bells are jingling, the latkes are sizzling, and everyone is frantically searching for gifts to give to their friends and family this holiday season. If your loved ones are fans of Fortnite, however, you can now give them the gift of a silly skin or dance.

Announced by Epic Games on November 27, Fortnite gifting will be available on all platforms except for iOS, due to Apple’s policy restrictions. Once update 6.31 rolls around, you’ll have a one-week trial period to purchase items for your friends from the shop. Alongside the standard “Purchase Items” prompt will be one labeled “Buy As A Gift,” and you can then choose someone on your friends list to receive the new goodies. As it is a gift, you can also add a note alongside it, and we’re guessing some players’ messages will be a little different from what they’d write on an actual gift card.

Recommended Videos

There are a few stipulations, which Epic listed out in the post. You can’t get your money refunded for a gift, so make sure it’s something your friend is really going to love, unless you’re a jerk. You also have to be friends with someone for at least two days before sending a gift and you can only send three gifts per day. If you prefer, you can also disable receiving gifts in your Fortnite account settings, though we’re not entirely sure why you’d do that.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Update 6.31 includes other additions, as well, including the Team Rumble limited-time mode, which tasks each team with eliminating 100 other players. New Epic and Legendary versions of the Pump Shotgun are also available with the update, for those of you who like to get up close and personal in combat, and crashing and controller input issues have been addressed, as well.

Fortnite: Battle Royale is still free-to-play with cross-play across Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, iOS, and Android, but we expect parents will be spending plenty of cash on DLC and memorabilia for their kids this holiday season. Perhaps you can buy them a container of floss, too.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

Gaming

All Medallion locations in Fortnite Chapter 5, Season 3

Ringleader scarr on a car in Fortnite.

A new season of Fortnite means a new cast of bosses with unique items to obtain. This season, your reward for besting the new Mad Max-inspired bosses is Medallions. These items, which first appeared in Season 1, grant your character some of the best buffs in the game. Unlike previous seasons, this time there are only three new bosses, and thus three Medallions to find and equip during a match. The only way to get them is to locate the bosses and manage to take them down. We can't help you in the fight itself, but can at least show you where to go and what each Medallion does.
All Medallion locations

The three bosses this season are Ringmaster Scarr, The Machinist, and Megalo Don. Each one appears in a different POI on the map and drops a unique Medallion.
Ringmaster Scarr
Scarr is found in the Nitrodome near the center of the map toward the south. She drops the Ringmaster's Medallion, which grants you unlimited ammo and a minor damage boost.
The Mechanist
Down near the south coast and slightly east is the Redline Rig POI, which is The Mechanist's lair. His Medallion will allow your shield to regenerate over time.
Megalo Don
The big bad of the season, and the most difficult boss of the trio, is Megalo Don. You can find him in the Brutal Beachhed POI, which is the giant ship beached far to the south and west of Redline Rig. If you manage to take this boss down you can get his Medallion, which gives your character, and by extension your vehicle, infinite Nitro.

Gaming

All vehicle mods in Fortnite and how to use them

Madmax characters in Fortnite.

Vehicles have gotten a major upgrade in Fortnite with Chapter 5, Season 3. Instead of simply being a great way to get around the map faster, and occasionally run over an unlucky opponent, you can now add mods to your cars to turn them into deadly weapons. Since this season's entire theme is centered around vehicular combat, you will be left in the dust if you don't learn how to fully take advantage of all the new ways to kit out your ride. Thankfully, modifying your vehicle is much easier in Fortnite than in real life, so let us give you the rundown on all the vehicle mods and how they work.
All vehicle mods and how they work
Modding a vehicle in Fortnite is so simple you may even do it by accident the first time around. While you're driving around the map, keep your eyes peeled for the vehicle mod crates lying around. These will have some text above them telling you which mod they are. Once you spot one, simply run it over to install that mod on your current car. You can also pick them up on foot and throw them at a vehicle to equip them that way.

Each vehicle can only have one mod per slot, and not all vehicles have the same number of slots. The SUV, for example, can equip any mod, but a dirt bike obviously can't use one that uses the roof slot. Here are all the mods currently in Fortnite.
Roof mods

Gaming

Fortnite Chapter 5, Season 3 is out now and offers way more Mad Max than Fallout

A bunch of Fortnite characters, including Magneto and somebody in Fallout power armor, standing in a desert with "Wrecked" spelled out on the bottom

The new season of Fortnite has begun, bringing players to a Mad Max- and Fallout-style wasteland full of ridiculous vehicle features and new items, including a War Bus you can work to control.

The "story" of Fortnite Chapter 5, Season 3, which is out now, revolves around a huge sandstorm has swept over the battle royale island. This has ushered in the "Wasteland Warriors," who rode in with the storm and transformed the south of the map with new locations. One is the Brutal Beachhead, a beached ship with what looks like a huge bitemark in the front.