Call of Duty Warzone‘s notorious stim glitch has reared its head a fourth time, allowing players to cheat the system and survive in the deadly storm to come out on top. But this one is slightly different from previous iterations.
Calling what players have been experiencing this time around a glitch isn’t exactly right, but the effects are basically the same: players who exploit it are able to heal infinitely while hiding in the storm, leaving them the sole survivors of a match.
If you want to pull the glitch off yourself, we won’t tell you how to do it, but know that you’ll need a lot of in-game currency to do it. Rather than an actual glitch, this method relies on exploiting loopholes in legal gameplay mechanics by finding ways to rapidly complete Contracts and earn a ton of in-game cash to spend on Munitions Boxes. This isn’t a clearly defined coding flaw, so it’s not like the past versions of the stim glitch we’ve seen before, which relied on portions of the game’s code that could be exploited.
This isn’t the first time the game has faced an issue like this. In 2020, players were mass purchasing gas masks to do basically the same thing. Like the gas mask issue, this one will likely need to be fixed by altering the way Munitions Boxes and/or player item usage works within the gas cloud. Possible solutions could include keeping the Munitions Boxes from spawning within the storm, or limiting the number of stim doses players can give themselves while in the gas.
Regardless of how this exploit is fixed, stims may stay contentious due to their history of glitches. Some players don’t want them to stay in the game at all since they can so easily mess with the integrity of the competitive experience. Raven will have to find some kind of solution, as it has for previous bugs and exploits it’s dealt with, but it’s currently unclear how long a permanent fix will take.
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Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will conduct a livestream on Twitch where she will discuss the latest news about GameStop’s stock price and marketplace volatility in general. The stream is set for 5:30 PM PT / 8:30 PM ET, and you can watch it through the embed below once it begins.
AOC announced the stream on Twitter. She will be joined by “a guest or two,” but she didn’t say who her guests may be. Plans for livestream emerged following her comments against the stock trading site Robinhood, which recently halted trading for GameStop, AMC, and other stocks that are getting short-squeezed. She said Robinhood’s decision is “unacceptable.”
“We now need to know more about Robinhood’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit,” she said. “As a member of the Financial Services Committee, I’d support a hearing if necessary.”
I’ll be hopping on Twitch at 8:30pm tonight to discuss today’s developments with GameStop and retail trading. 👾 Might have a guest or two join – we’ll see. See you there!
AOC is not the first politician to weigh in on the stock market upheaval this week. President Joe Biden’s administration is watching the situation, while US Senator Elizabeth Warren has also weighed in with a comment of her own.
She urged the SEC and other financial regulators to step in. She also delivered sharp criticism of private equity firms and investors for treating stock as a playground for gambling.
“With stocks soaring while millions are out of work and struggling to pay bills, it’s not news that the stock market doesn’t reflect our actual economy. For years, the same hedge funds, private equity firms, and wealthy investors dismayed by the GameStop trades have treated the stock market like their own personal casino while everyone else pays the price. It’s long past time for the SEC and other financial regulators to wake up and do their jobs–and with a new administration and Democrats running Congress, I intend to make sure they do.”
GameStop’s stock price has been on a rollercoaster ride in recent days, due in part to the WallStreetBets subreddit taking on hedge funds and short-sellers who bet against the retailer. GameStop’s stock price dropped after Robinhood and others halted trading, but it has rebounded since. This situation is not going to be finished anytime soon, so keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest from AOC’s livestream and other events.
One of the challenges you’ll be asked to complete in Fortnite this week is to emote at stone statues. There is more than one place you can complete this quest–simply click on the challenge in your quest log from the lobby and it will highlight where you need to go. We’ve outlined two stone statue locations in our guide below.
Below you’ll find both stone statue locations marked on the map:
Stone statue location guide in Fortnite.
You can find stone statues at the entrance to Colossal Coliseum and Coral Castle. If you’re doing this mission solo, we’d recommend going to whichever destination the battle bus will fly by last, to minimize the amount of players heading in the same direction. Either way, both spots are likely to attract many players, so be careful.
Stone statues near Colossal Coliseum in Fortnite.
To emote at stone statues near Colossal Coliseum, just head to the entrance gates. You’ll see these statues on either side of the gate. Just perform an emote near these statues to complete the challenge.
You can also complete this challenge at the stone statues near Coral Castle.
The other spot you can complete this challenge is near Coral Castle, at the row of stone statues leading up to the entrance. Same thing here–just perform an emote near the statues to complete your objective.
Other Fortnite guides claim you can complete this challenge near the circle of stone statues south of Holly Hedges, but GameSpot was not able to get this specific location to work. Did this location work for you? Did you find other locations where you can complete this challenge? Let us know in the comments!
Challenge reward
You will receive 20,000 XP upon completing this challenge.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone have had their multiplayer playlists updated on all platforms, co-developers Raven Software and Treyarch Studios outlined on Twitter.
Black Ops Cold War has several new playlist additions. There’s the Snipers Only moshpit and a 24/7 version of the new Sanatorium map, as well as 24/7 versions of Crossroads Strike, Nuketown, and Raid. Gunfight, Face Off, and Prop Hunt are also available this week.
On top of these multiplayer playlist updates, Treyarch announced that Season One: Reloaded continues on February 4. It will bring about the new “Firebase Z” Zombies map, in addition to Express, 40-player Endurance, extra Prop Hunt maps, and more unannounced content.
On the Warzone side, the standalone battle royale experience has added Buy Back Quads (until February 1), Blood Money Trios, and Resurgence Trios on Rebirth Island. A few playlists have been removed, including Blood Money Quads, Mini Royale Quads, and Resurgence Duos.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Playlist Update
Adding:
Snipers Only Moshpit
Sanatorium 24/7
Raid + Crossroads Strike 24/7
Nuketown 24/7
Gunfight
Face Off
Prop Hunt
Call of Duty: Warzone Playlist Update
Adding:
Verdansk BR
Buy Back Quads (Limited Jan 28 – Feb 1)
Plunder
Blood Money Trios
Rebirth Island
Resurgence Trios
Removing:
Plunder
Blood Money Quads
Rebirth Island
Resurgence Duos, Mini Royale Quads
In other Call of Duty news, both Black Ops Cold War and Warzone received a patch last week that introduced the returning Snipers Only moshpit and tweaked various aspects of the games.
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YouTube has announced it’s rolling out a new feature: The ability to create short clips from a longer video. The announcement was made under the banner of its Live & Gaming departments, suggesting the company looks at this as a way to enhance its gameplay streaming and VOD community.
The feature is just in a limited alpha testing phase right now, among a small group of channels with access to the feature. Those tools are also only available on desktop and Android devices for the time being, and iOS devices are said to be coming soon. Content creators are not able to request access to this for their channels during the testing phase.
With clips, you can create a 5-60 second segment of anyone’s content, and then share that clip. Content creators who have been given the ability to create clips will see a clip icon underneath a video, and once clipped it will play from the original video on loop. YouTube created a sample video to show off the feature in action, and it’s inviting feedback via the replies or the standard report feedback form.
For game streamers in particular, the clips feature will allow creators or fans to quickly show off standout gameplay moments in longer videos. The functionality is similar to the current ability to mark a timestamp, though making it a clip and letting it loop differentiates it.
This also makes the functionality seem very similar to Twitch’s own clips feature, which is YouTube’s major competitor for game streaming.
Tony Hawk is an extreme sports legend whose name is synonymous with skateboarding. At 52 years old, he’s still got it. Hawk recently landed a 720 at a local skatepark, but it was not easy.
In a video posted to Twitter, the Birdman battles hard to land the trick. He falls again and again and again, but each time he gets back up and he eventually nails the trick. It’s an impressive feat and it speaks to Hawk’s passion and character that he is still trying so hard after so many years.
I recently made a 720 and it was a battle. The last one I made before this was over three years ago, and it’s much harder now all things considered: recently dislocated fingers hinder my grab, my spin is slower so I need to go higher for full rotation and… I’m really old. pic.twitter.com/u8pbwRhS9j
He says the last time he landed a 720 before this was more than three years ago. It’s much more difficult for him to nail the trick these days due to his recently dislocated fingers (which impacts his ability to grab the board), while his spin rate is slower due to age and flexibility, so he needs to compensate by getting higher in the air, and in turn raising the element of danger.
“and … I’m really old,” Hawk said.
After successfully completing the sick trick, Hawk is visibly emotional. There is some strong language in the video as well, so be aware of that if that matters to you.
In another tweet, Hawk said he can’t say for sure that this is the last 720 he’ll ever do, “but I can’t imagine doing many more.”
Hawk is auctioning off the board he completed the trick on to raise money for his charity, The Skatepark Project, which raises money to help underserved communities build safe and inclusive public skateparks. You can learn more about this in the video below.
Pokemon Go developer Niantic has outlined a variety of events happening in the game in February. In addition to February’s Community Day and Kanto Tour, the studio will be hosting a Lunar New Year event, new Pokemon Spotlight Hours, and more next month. You can see all the biggest events happening in Pokemon Go in February 2021 below.
February Research Breakthrough Encounter: Snorlax
Niantic is rolling out a new batch of Field Research tasks and rewards starting February 1. In addition, a new Research Breakthrough encounter will be available. Each time you achieve a Research Breakthrough in February, you’ll earn a chance to catch the Sleeping Pokemon Snorlax.
Legendary And Mega Raid Bosses
A variety of Legendary Pokemon are returning to five-star Raid Battles in February. You can see the full Legendary Raid schedule below:
January 31 – February 4: Raikou
February 4 – 9: Suicune
February 9 – 20: Latios and Latias
February 20 – March 1: Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, and Mewtwo
On top of that, Niantic is featuring different Mega-Evolved Pokemon in Mega Raid Battles throughout the month:
January 19 – February 9: Mega Venusaur, Mega Ampharos, Mega Houndoom
February 9 – 20: Mega Pidgeot, Mega Ampharos, and a “surprise Mega-Evolved Pokemon”
February 20 – March 1: Mega Venusaur, Mega Charizard X and Y, and Mega Blastoise
Team Go Rocket Celebration
Following the Johto Celebration event, Niantic is holding a Team Go Rocket Celebration from February 2-7. During that time, the following Pokemon will be appearing in the wild much more often than usual:
Golbat
Koffing
Ariados
Qwilfish
Sneasel
Houndour
Nuzleaf
Stunky
Skorupi
Venipede
Additionally, new Pokemon will be hatching from strange eggs during and after the event, and Team Go Rocket grunts you encounter will have new teams of Shadow Pokemon. Some new monsters will also be available in Shadow form for the first time, including Swinub, Nosepass, Aron, Spheal, Lileep, and Anorith. You’ll also receive a new Team Go Rocket gift sticker for defeating one of the team leaders during the event, and there will be new event-exclusive Field Research and Timed Research tasks to complete.
Pokemon Spotlight Hours
Every Tuesday evening in February, Niantic will spotlight one specific Pokemon and bonus for one hour. These spotlight events will all run from 6-7 PM local time. You can see the full schedule below:
Date
Spotlight Pokemon
Special Bonus
February 2
Ekans
2x evolution XP
February 9
Miltank
2x catch Stardust
February 16
Luvdisc
2x catch XP
February 23
Pikachu
2x catch Candy
February Community Day
February’s Community Day takes place on Saturday, February 6. The featured Pokemon this time is Roselia. The Grass/Poison type will be appearing in the wild much more frequently than normal throughout the event, and you’ll have an increased chance of finding a Shiny Roselia. On top of that, any Roselia that you evolve into Roserade up to two hours after the Community Day ends will know two special event moves: the Fast Attack Bullet Seed and the Charged Attack Weather Ball.
Lunar New Year Event
Pokemon Go’s Lunar New Year event returns from February 9-14. Throughout the event, red Pokemon will be appearing more frequently than usual, and Niantic teases that a “special Mega-Evolved Pokemon” will make its debut in Mega Raids. Additional details about the Lunar New Year event will be announced later.
Valentine’s Day Event
Following the Lunar New Year event, Niantic is holding a Valentine’s Day celebration from February 14-19. Details are scant at the moment, but Niantic teases that some new Pokemon will be debuting as part of the event, and there will be exclusive avatar items.
“Okay, so that’s the Crow, and he’s the guy who killed Cayde-6, and it’s a really big deal that he’s back and that we’re working with him–because we murdered him,” I explained, somewhat breathless, over the Discord voice chat filled with four of my oldest friends. “You really should play Forsaken before this.”
Nobody said anything for a few long moments as I thought about what other story elements of Destiny 2 might be relevant to the mission we were about to run. As I thought about it, two things dawned on me. First, that anything I could tell them about Destiny would be relevant because their introduction to the story and the world was so thin. Second, that they probably didn’t care.
That includes Cayde-6, Destiny 2’s biggest personality, who was murdered as part of the story in the Forsaken expansion. Without some time spent with Cayde, his murder means a lot less–as does the current story in the Season of the Hunt, about how Cayde’s killer has returned as a Guardian, with no memory of his past crimes (or the fact that we, the players, hunted him down to exact revenge on him).
Cayde-6 was murdered and his death has informed a lot of the story that followed–but if you missed it, there’s no way to get caught up on why he matters to what’s happening now.
So for my four friends, who are brand-new to Destiny 2, a huge part of the game’s context is just gone. The earliest they can start with Destiny 2’s story is Forsaken, which builds on a huge amount of story that came before it. Central to Forsaken is Cayde-6, with whom previous Destiny 2 players had spent a full year interacting with (and for Destiny 1 players, even more time). Just beyond that is the story of the Dreaming City, which suffers a curse that repeats time every three weeks. That’s the work of Savathun, an enemy Destiny 2 has been building up since its very first day, and all of that context is related to The Taken King expansion to Destiny 1. Without the old content, how are new players supposed to know any of this stuff?
It’s true that Destiny has historically not been great about delivering story–but it’s been getting better. Bungie continues to evolve the way it works the vast, fascinating lore behind Destiny 2 into its more immediate events, and that’s culminated in Beyond Light. If you’re jumping into the game through New Light, the free-to-play option, you miss that story, though, because you have to pay in. Not that you’d understand any of it anyway, since Beyond Light is predicated on all the story beats of the last year, plus things that happened all the way back in Destiny 1’s campaign.
What’s frustrating about all this is that I have come to really like Destiny 2’s story. Yes, it’s hard to parse–most of the critical, fun, interesting, and meaningful backstory is segmented and hidden away on lore messages attached to weapons and armor, and that’s to say nothing of the online-only Grimoire Cards that held all the lore in Destiny 1. But Bungie is getting better and better at weaving together weird narrative threads and incentivizing digging into the lore while bringing those beats to the forefront. Slowly, Destiny has gotten deeper than just shooting a random new huge alien thing every couple of months. It’s developed a real sense of foreboding over the last year, with seeds planted years ago beginning to sprout in really interesting ways.
I’m glad that my friends have jumped into Destiny 2 but I don’t think they’ll ever really come to appreciate the storytelling undercurrent of the game. How could they, without any setup of who their characters are, who they’re fighting, why they’re fighting, and what they’re fighting for? And that means their interest in Destiny will stay fairly shallow, reliant on its solid gameplay but with no investment in the larger world.
Destiny has been building on The Taken King for years, expanding on the death of Oryx to create the looming threat of the Hive god Savathun. It’s something Destiny 2 has built toward for years, which new players miss completely.
And that probably means that their stay in Destiny 2 will ultimately be short-lived. They might find it fun and exciting now, with the full breadth of available content laid out before them, and having never before experienced the game’s best ideas, like its super-intricate raids–I took them through their first, Deep Stone Crypt, only a few days ago. But as soon as they’ve played the content through a few times, gotten over chasing some of the better guns, or hit a lull in new things to experience, they’re probably going to fall off. Destiny 2 just isn’t doing anything to capture their long-term interest–in its current state, it’s almost impossible to get them invested in the game world. Why would they care about seeing the ultimate plans of Savathun or Xivu Arath, or whether Eris Morn and the Exo Stranger can resist the Darkness, or what will happen when the Crow finally learns who it was that killed him before his Guardian resurrection? They barely know who any of these characters are.
I’m mostly pretty understanding of the adjustments Bungie has made to Destiny 2 and the reasons it has put forward about why it has needed to make them. And it’s worth noting that the New Light experience that was added with Beyond Light is a lot better than the missions that were bringing new players into Destiny 2. What’s available in the Cosmodrome does a lot to explain how the game works, introduce some of the characters, and bring players into the role of a solar system-defending Guardian.
But right now, it sure seems like it sucks to be new to Destiny 2. Bungie has built a huge, intricate game world, and it’s largely indecipherable for new players. It feels like such a waste to have so much deep, fascinating, weird storytelling in the game, and have it continue to be so difficult to reach. There are players who, like me, might eventually find that they’re enamored of the strange sci-fi fantasy world Bungie has created–but Destiny 2 has to stop making it so difficult for them to learn and care about that world. Otherwise, it will probably lose them.
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Square Enix has announced a forthcoming War Table video broadcast where the developers of Marvel’s Avengers will provide new insight on the Hawkeye – Future Imperfect expansion that adds the arrow-slinging hero to the game and more.
This broadcast, which is taking place on February 16, will also feature updates on what the developer is planning for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The next-gen updates were originally planned to release in 2020 but were later delayed to 2021.
Get a glimpse of the future with our WAR TABLE Deep Dive: Hawkeye, premiering on February 16! We’ll be showing: 🏹 Marvel’s Avengers Operation: Hawkeye – Future Imperfect ⏭️ PS5 & Xbox Series X|S Like our previous Deep Dive, this will be directly uploaded and not livestreamed. pic.twitter.com/3aD2H5ST1T
The video presentation will be pre-recorded and released on February 16; it won’t be livestreamed. GameSpot will report back with all the details as they’re announced.
This is the second part of the Hawkeye DLC that started with Kate Bishop’s arrival in the game back in December.
The Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe SSD features a read speed of 3,500MBps, making it an excellent drive for those with PCIe NVMe Gen3 motherboards. While its size is small, it would be perfect for a boot drive, making a huge difference in your start-up speed and general use.
