Month: May 2020

Last week Rainbow Six Siege developer Ubisoft filed a lawsuit against Google and Apple because of Area F2, a mobile free-to-play shooter developed by Alibaba and Ejoy. Area F2 has been taken down permanently, with refunds being issues to players who purchased items via microtransactions.

The notice of termination, shared by industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, stated that Area F2 would be taken offline yesterday, May 20. Although the notice makes no mention of Ubisoft and their lawsuit, the timing suggests Alibaba and Ejoy decided against trying to defend their product in court. Players who made purchases during the game’s beta period can apply for refunds, either through the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or third-party retailer.

Ubisoft pointed towards Area F2’s user-interface and end match score screen as particularly egregious examples of the game’s copyright infringement. The French publisher also noted that it had pre-emptively warned Apple and Google of the game before it filed its lawsuit, but that neither took the game down in response.

Rainbow Six Siege is one of the largest multiplayer shooters globally, with Ubisoft building upon the foundations it laid with the game’s original release in 2015. Recently two new operators (the game’s playable characters) were revealed, while Ubisoft have confirmed that the game will make the jump to Xbox Series X and PS5 later in the year. Ubisoft rolled out a battle pass model for the game late last year, and recently said it’s doing very well.

Recently we re-reviewed Ubisoft’s shooter, awarding it a 10/10 in our Rainbow Six Siege review. Critic Mat Paget praised the game’s complex action and rewarding action, saying, “It rewards patience, persistence, and teamwork, and over the past four years, Siege has not only become Ubisoft’s crown jewel of multiplayer action but also one of the best first-person shooters ever made.”

When you think of AAA game development, images of designers, programmers, and engineers creating and iterating on their titles for months and years likely come to mind. The original Assassin’s Creed spawned an enormous franchise developed today by thousands of people, but its side missions were actually developed in a span of just five days.

Charles Randall–a former Ubisoft employee who worked on the first two Assassin’s Creed games–shared that the original game was essentially finished when the company’s CEO apparently had his son give it a try.

He found that version of the game to be boring and didn’t think there was enough to do, and the team then decided to add in side missions as a result. They only had five days to implement them, as the build they produced was going to be burned directly to discs and shipped.

One bug seemed to have made its way into Assassin’s Creed during this five-day crunch period, which can result in a Templar leader falling through the map and becoming impossible to kill. This can make it impossible to get all available Gamerscore without restarting.

Despite the tough deadline, Randall said there was less overtime on Assassin’s Creed than any other game he has shipped. No new art had to be used for the side missions, which instead used existing assets in new ways. It’s a far cry (sorry) from current Assassin’s Creed games, which are stuffed to the gills with side content that many players might never see.

The next game in the series, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, releases later this year for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5, and PC.

Immediately after the Xbox Series X was announced, fans remarked that its refrigerator-like design makes it an excellent canvas for custom editions. Microsoft has yet to announce any special-edition Xbox Series X designs, but one fan has put together a very good-looking one for Halo Infinite. It’s sharp and rugged, yet it isn’t gaudy, and it looks good enough to be an official design if Microsoft launches a limited-edition console when the game releases.

Noted designer Xbox Pope created the lovely-looking mock-up that you can see below. It features the Halo franchise’s signature green color scheme and a distressed “117” in reference to Master Chief’s name. Xbox Pope also created a mock-up for an Xbox controller that matches up with the console design. Check it out below, but remember again that this is not an official design.

Given that Halo is one of Microsoft’s crown jewel franchises, and that Infinite is one of Microsoft’s marquee launch titles for Xbox Series X, it stands to reason that the company may actually create a special-edition console for the game. That’s just speculation for now, though.

Xbox Pope has also created mock-ups for Xbox Series X consoles Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, SpongeBob SquarePants, and even the popular sugary drink Arizona Ice Tea. You can see all of the designs over at Xbox Pope’s Instagram page.

Halo Infinite is a launch title for the Xbox Series X, releasing later this year. The game is also coming to the regular Xbox One as well as PC. Microsoft will finally show more of Halo Infinite as part of its first-party games showcase in July.

Following a massive update that brought some new modes to Call of Duty: Warzone, developer Infinity Ward has announced that the Classic Battle Royale mode is now playable in Trios on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

The Classic Battle Royale mode, which was announced a little earlier this month, does just as the name implies. The mode removes all of Warzones add-ons–cash, contracts, loadouts, the Gulag, all of it–and opts for a stripped-down, traditional last-man-standing experience.

When Infinity Ward first introduced the mode, the studio called it a limited-time experience. It’s unclear whether the mode will remain as a permanent addition to Warzone’s playlist.

In addition to the new game mode, Infinity Ward rolled out a huge patch for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone. While it weighs in at approximately 31 GB across all platforms, the latest update makes a bunch of changes to both titles. This includes new items and weapons for Warzone, extra Modern Warfare maps, and more.

In other Call of Duty news, there are some apparent teasers happening in Warzone. The first seems to suggest that Captain Price–from the campaigns of both Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare–might make a return in Season 4. The second is a name reveal for this year’s Call of Duty title, reportedly called Black Ops: Cold War. An official announcement for this game is supposedly coming soon.

Starting June 1, GameSpot will be hosting Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts with the help of our friends from around the gaming world.

The official Call of Duty app sent players a mysterious message yesterday about an event happening in Call of Duty: Warzone on Thursday, May 21, possibly in connection to Season 4. The notification is cryptic but players think it could mean a major change is coming to the Warzone map, Verdansk, sometime soon. A video teaser released alongside shows a fan-favorite character could be joining. It’s the most recognizable character in the series history–Captain John Price–and it was just a matter of time before he showed up.

The notification, which went out to everyone who has the app downloaded on Wednesday, mentions a “tactical alert” happening on Thursday and for players to maintain “vigilance on enemy comms for location of enemy surveillance.” Some players believe this is related to the newly-opened bunkers that contain a nuclear warhead and rare items, going as far to say the warhead will be use to level part of the map. We’re less than two weeks away from a new season for Warzone so this could be a teaser ahead of a new battle pass. A video teaser adds further fuel to the Price rumor fire, as his signature hat is visible.

The notification mentions an event happening at 4:37 PT / 7:37 ET on May 19 which aligns with when some of the first bunkers were opened in-game.

No concrete evidence about what will happen has been found, but community speculation has run rampant with players suggesting this could feature news about a new Call of Duty: Black Ops game, the 2020 entry in the series, or something for the fourth season of Warzone.

Call of Duty: Warzone has housed a bunch of secret bunkers that have laid dormant, but now they appear to be opening and supplying vast riches in the process. The latest update has finally given players a way to open the bunkers, and we’ll help you do it yourself if you’re having trouble.

How To Unlock Call Of Duty: Warzone Bunkers

For the bunkers numbered 1-10, you will need a Red Access Card, found via supply crates. The cards are extremely rare, but once you find one or kill a player holding one, you can get inside all but one of the bunkers.

• Bunker 1: Located on the northern end of the map near the crash site.
• Bunker 2: Located to the west of the first bunker, near the dam.
• Bunker 3: Located to the east of Bloc 15.
• Bunker 4: Located just south of Bunker 3.
• Bunker 5: Located just next to Bunker 4.
• Bunker 6: Located in the western part of the map, just north of the junkyard.
• Bunker 7: Located just next to Bunker 6.
• Bunker 8: Located between the junkyard and kart racing track.
• Bunker 9: Located in the south end of Tavorsk Park
• Bunker 10: Located in the southeast end of the map in Zordaya Prison Complex
• Bunker 11: Located in the northernmost section of the map, northwest of Arklov Peak Military Base.

For Bunker 11, you will need to complete a puzzle. This involves finding the phones strewn across the map and finding one that has a Russian voice on the line. This voice is in Russian and using a table provided by Reddit user StrangerRobijn, you can translate the numbers the voice says.

Call Of Duty: Warzone Bunker Locations Map

Once you have the numbers, you and your squad will head to the corresponding phones. Use this map to locate them instead of using the game’s Morse code, and once they’re activated, the bunker will open and reveal its treasures.

The surprise feature came in the latest Warzone update, though fans have been speculating on the existence and possible uses of the vaults since the game’s release. With them open, Activision and Infinity Ward have one more gameplay element to use to make matches dynamic. The bunkers also appear to tie into the rumors of Black Ops: Cold War.

The patch made a few other notable changes to Warzone as well. It added new weapons to the Gulag, the one-on-one prison battles that let you fight your way back into the match, along with a new Armor Box item and a limited-time basic battle royale mode.

Fortnite has held several virtual concerts inside its battle royale mode over the last few months as players stay sheltered at home, and Minecraft is getting in on the fun as well with a massive dance music festival. Electric Blockaloo is a four-day event that will feature some of the biggest stars of the electronic dance music genre, including Diplo and A-Trak.

Running from June 25 through June 28, the Electric Blockaloo festival will be available across both the Bedrock version of Minecraft and the older Java version, meaning you can enjoy it regardless of system. Attendance is open to all 112 million active players, and those who don’t play the game will also be able to view the concert on separate livestreamed feeds from the official website.

Artists can sell tickets through their own links sent directly to fans, and there will be a 60/40 revenue split. More than 300 different artists are going to play over the course of the festival, and the play area itself includes a recreation of Dunder Mifflin’s building from The Office and The Gorge venue. There will be games available to play as well as prizes and Easter eggs.

In other Minecraft news, the new spinoff game Minecraft Dungeons is scheduled to release for Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PC on May 26. It features Diablo-like dungeon-crawling gameplay rather than building and scavenging, but maintains the series signature aesthetic.