Month: March 2021

Over the past few weeks, rumors have swirled that Call of Duty: Warzone will soon experience a catastrophic event that will change the face of the game overnight. According to several notable leakers, this hypothetical “nuke event”–named for the nuclear warhead that was found in Bunker 11 back in 2020–will totally destroy the game’s Verdansk map on March 11 to coincide with the game’s one-year anniversary, clearing the way for a totally fresh locale.

That said, given that these rumors are largely based on the work and opinions of leakers, there’s no way to know for sure if anything will happen on March 11. Given that other battle royale games like Fortnite have utilized terrain-changing disasters such as meteor strikes to change up their maps, it doesn’t seem too far-fetched to expect Warzone to follow suit, but the exact timing is a mystery to everyone right now.

Back in February, VGC published a report that claimed that Activision would blow up Verdansk in order to transition Warzone from the setting of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to the ’80s-themed Black Ops series. VGC also reported that the nuke was originally scheduled to correspond with the release of Black Ops Cold War last year, but it was delayed. That report suggested that the nuking itself would take place sometime in March or April.

Though these are all essentially rumors, leakers have purportedly dug up a surprising amount of details on the upcoming event. For example, the Call of Duty leaker ZestyCODLeaks recently posted a six-minute video clip (since removed) with dialogue lines that they claim will be added to the game in the near future. These dialogue lines seem to reference a sandbox area that will be added to the game post-blast, with support for vehicle races, safe areas, and obstacle courses.

Other lines appear to correspond with a rumored “plague mode,” where players would attempt to defeat hordes of zombies as the bomb closes in on Verdansk. Zombies have indeed invaded Verdansk in recent days, with a cargo tanker crashing into the city’s port and dumping the undead all over the popular drop site. A few different theories have been circulating on forums like the Warzone subreddit, with several fans saying that they believe that the zombies will slowly overtake Verdansk area by area, until the authorities have no choice but to nuke the entire city to stop the scourge.

On the Warzone subreddit, players have been fiercely debating whether or not a new map will indeed emerge in the coming days, or if the map will just change slightly to correspond with the ’80s theme of Black Ops Cold War. Believers point out that popular battle royale games like Apex Legends and Fortnite both had new maps by the one year mark. Skeptics cite the continuing issues with Warzone’s massive install size as evidence that no new map is going to emerge anytime soon: after all, how can they fit it onto console hard drives? That said, Warzone already added a new map back in December, though it was the compact combat arena Rebirth Island.

Regardless of what theory you subscribe to, one thing’s for sure: it seems entirely unlikely that Activision would create a series of Easter eggs that led to the nuke in Bunker 11 if it didn’t plan on triggering it at some point. Whether or not that will happen on March 11 remains to be seen.

The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog is hiring an “economy designer” to help the team with a multiplayer game that includes live operations and player progression.

The job ad states that the successful candidate will help Naughty Dog “create avenues for self-expression for our players, ensure robust longevity to our games, and give our players great rewards to strive for.” This all sounds like Naughty Dog is working on a new multiplayer game with cosmetics that players can unlock to personalize their characters.

None of this would be a surprise, as Naughty Dog confirmed more than a year ago that it’s working on a standalone Last of Us multiplayer game. However, Naughty Dog has kept very quiet about this in recent months. Many studios are now adopting and embracing live services for their new games, so it would be no shock to see Naughty Dog follow suit in some capacity.

Going back to the job ad, a desirable candidate would have experience developing in-game economies for console or PC multiplayer games and a knowledge about player psychology. The successful candidate will be responsible for designing, implementing, and tuning the in-game economy and player progression systems, which sure sounds like a battle pass-style feature. This person will also work alongside game designers to make sure the in-game economy systems “synergize well with the game as a whole.”

Whether or not this job ad is for the Last of Us multiplayer game or something else is unknown. Whatever the case, it appears Naughty Dog is ramping up for a new game, as the studio currently has more than 40 open positions posted on its website. Of these 40+ positions, only one–the economy designer–is described as being related to a multiplayer game.

Beyond the new Last of Us multiplayer game, Naughty Dog has no announced projects. However, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann has teased that the studio might make The Last of Us 3 or a new IP.

“The next thing could be a Part III, the next thing could be some new IP,” he said in an interview.

In January this year, Druckmann called on people to apply for the numerous open positions at Naughty Dog, saying the studio is working on “something cool.”

Naughty Dog has already said it will not make more Uncharted games, but the studio is open to having a different developer come in to make Uncharted 5.

Red Dead Redemption 2’s multiplayer mode has received its latest weekly update, adding new opportunities to earn rewards, the final seven days of Outlaw Pass No. 4, and 5000 XP for holders of the current season pass. Rockstar detailed all this and more in a new blog post that you can read the highlights of below.

Bounty Hunter Bonuses

All licensed Bounty Hunters will receive 2000 Role XP and double Role XP for completing any bounty this week, as well as 30% off any Established or Distinguished Bounty Hunter item. Legendary bounties will also earn players double the usual Ability Card XP and anyone turning one of these bounties in will also be rewarded with a gift of 25 Poison Throwing Knives and 100 rounds of Express Rifle Ammo. Anyone with a Prestigious Bounty License can earn those bonuses on the following Infamous Bounties:

• Annesburg – Tobin Anderson’s Wreckers
• Armadillo – The Butchers of Benedict Pass
• Benedict Point – “Los Pasajeros”
• Blackwater – Thaddeus Walter’s Men
• Emerald Station – The Three Widows
• Rhodes – The Bellingham Brothers
• Riggs Station – Bartholomew Brown’s “Gentlemen”
• Saint Denis – Hoare, Roache and Gault
• Strawberry – The “Initiates”
• Tumbleweed – “Addison Wye’s “Jailbreakers”
• Valentine – Allen, De La Mare and Fitch
• Van Horn – Bradshaw, Colt and Penn
• Wallace Station – Theodore Xavier’s Hunt

A New Source Of Employment Telegrams

Completing Outrider by successfully escorting a delivery wagon from Brittlebrush Trawl any time before March 15 will unlock a 30% discount on the Bounty Hunter Wagon if you already have added A New Source of Employment telegrams to your satchel.

Discounts

The Wheeler, Rawson & Co. Catalogue has a handful of discounts on rifles, ability cards, and more:

• Rifles – 40% off retail cost
• All Bounty Hunter weapon variants – 30%
• Off-hand holsters and reinforced lassos – 30%
• Ability cards and ability card upgrades – 30%

Prime Gaming benefits

Rockstar announced that everyone who connects their Rockstar Games Social Club account to Prime Gaming will be able to start a career as a Bounty Hunter and outfit their wagon with a new livery:

• A Free Bounty Hunter License
• An Award for the Trimmed Amethyst Bounty Wagon Livery

Players who connect to Prime Gaming before March 15 will also receive a reward for 5000 Club XP, an offer for 50% off the Repeating Shotgun and 200 shotgun slugs.

A massive video game success story both critically and commercially, Red Dead Redemption 2 has so far sold more than 36 million copies. Red Dead Online continues to echo that success since its launch two years ago with player numbers continuing to rise more than ever after a standalone version of the multiplayer mode was offered for an introductory rate of $5, and is now available for $20.

Monster Hunter fans weren’t exactly thrilled when Capcom announced that the latest mainline entry in the series, Rise, isn’t making its way to PC until 2022. That said, if you’re looking for another Monster Hunter game to play in 2021, Monster Hunter Stories 2 will come to both PC and Switch on the same day, July 9.

Rather than focusing on the monster-slaying of the core Monster Hunter titles, Stories instead focuses on Riders who tame the giant beasts of the series in order to saddle up and fly around. A PC version of Stories 2 was rumored as part of the massive leak of Capcom information that happened last year, but this is the first official word on the topic.

Stories 2 will focus on the mysterious disappearance of MH favorite Rathalos and will include familiar monsters such as Pukei-Pukei and Nergigante. (If, like me, you still have bad memories of getting utterly wrecked by Nergi back in Monster Hunter World, hopefully he’ll be a little nicer this time.) The first Monster Hunter Stories game originally released on Nintendo 3DS and was later ported to mobile, and it was received fairly well by critics.

Fortnite and Unreal Engine company Epic Games is buying another company, this time snapping up the photogrammetry developer Capturing Reality. Epic has spent an unspecified sum to acquire the company to bring its software–RealityCapture–into the Unreal Engine.

Photogrammetry is the process of scanning real-world people, places, and things and using software to convert those images into scans for use in video games or other media. You can check out the video below to get a closer look at how it works.

In a statement, Epic said the Capturing Reality team will “continue to grow and work closely” with Epic’s own Unreal Engine team. The goal is to make the Capturing Reality technology more accessible and affordable. This starts right away, as Capturing Reality has already cut prices of its software for new and existing customers.

“RealityCapture is the clear market leader in photogrammetry and has been integral to the creation of Quixel Megascans since its inception,” Epic’s Teddy Bergsman said in a statement. “We are beyond excited to welcome Capturing Reality to our team, and to accelerate our shared vision to enable anyone to scan the world.”

As part of the buyout, Epic said the photogrammetry software will be further baked into the Unreal Engine to help developers create 3D models faster than before. The Capturing Reality team will also continue to work across not only gaming, but also the visual effects, film, architecture, engineering, and construction businesses.

This acquisition follows Epic’s buyout of Rad Tools, the developers of popular middleware for games. On the game development side, Epic also recently bought Fall Guys developer Mediatonic, which came after Epic acquired Rocket League developer Psyonix.

Microsoft’s excellent 2018 racing game Forza Horizon 4 is now available on Steam. The game was initially only available on Xbox and the Windows Store, but you can now buy it on Steam.

The Steam edition of Forza Horizon 4 features cross-play support, allowing users to race with and against those on Xbox, Windows 10 PC, and via the cloud through Android. It also includes Steam Cloud saves, though cross-saves between Steam and other platforms are not supported “due to technical limitations,” according to Microsoft.

Steam is selling multiple editions of Forza Horizon 4, including the standard edition, the Digital Deluxe edition, and the Ultimate editions, which come with various DLC packs and other extras. Also of note is that you still need an Xbox Live account to play Forza Horizon 4 on Steam.

Forza Horizon 4’s Steam edition was developed by Sumo Nottingham. You can see the system requirements below.

GameSpot’s Forza Horizon 4 review scored the game a 9/10. T”he charm of the Horizon series is as palpable as ever, a winning, all-inclusive recipe that celebrates the joy of driving above all else,” reviewer Edmond Tran said.

Forza Horizon 4 developer Playground Games is now working on the next Fable RPG for Xbox Series X and PC.

Forza Horizon 4 System Requirements

Minimum

• OS: Windows 10 version 15063.0 or higher
• Processor: Intel i3-4170 @ 3.7Ghz OR Intel i5 750 @ 2.67Ghz
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVidia 650TI OR AMD R7 250x
• DirectX: Version 12
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 80 GB available space

Recommended

• OS: Windows 10 version 15063.0 or higher
• Processor: Intel i7-3820 @ 3.6Ghz
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVidia GTX 970 OR NVidia GTX 1060 3GB OR AMD R9 290x OR AMD RX 470
• DirectX: Version 12
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 100 GB available space

Some future Bethesda games will be exclusive to PC and Xbox consoles, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has revealed.

In an article on Xbox Wire welcoming Bethesda to Team Xbox, Spencer wrote the following: “With the addition of the Bethesda creative teams, gamers should know that Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass will be the best place to experience new Bethesda games, including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players.”

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The news arrives as Microsoft’s $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media has been finalized, which brings franchises like Doom, Fallout, Wolfenstein and The Elder Scrolls under Xbox’s wing.

Many fans have been interested in whether new games from Bethesda could be exclusive to the platform going forward as a result of the deal. Spencer’s comments suggest that “some” will. Previously, Spencer said that future Bethesda titles would come to “other consoles on a case by case basis.”

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One of the biggest games hanging in the balance is The Elder Scrolls 6. Bethesda boss Todd Howard has said that it’s “hard to imagine” it as an Xbox-exclusive game. After the acquisition was announced, Bethesda and Lucasfilm revealed a new Indiana Jones project, which could also potentially be exclusive to Xbox.

In other Xbox news, Director of Program Management Jason Ronald recently said that there are unannounced Xbox games scheduled for release in 2021.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.