Here’s a sweet deal for anyone who could use an Echo Dot: Amazon Prime members can get an Echo Dot and a one-month subscription to Amazon Music Unlimited for just $8.98. That’s a cool $41 off the normal price of the Dot alone, and far lower than it’s ever gone before, including on Black Friday.
The only restriction is you have to be a new Amazon Music Unlimited subscriber. And if you don’t want to continue your subscription, make sure to cancel before you’re billed for the second month.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is out this Friday on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, but those in Russia won’t be able to purchase the latest big-budget blockbuster on the PlayStation Store, Activision has said.
Despite being available digitally on both Xbox One and PC, Sony has decided to delist the game on Russia’s PlayStation Store. A tweet from the Sony Russia Twitter account broke the news, and Activision has since issued a statement to Eurogamer confirming Sony’s decision to remove the first-person shooter from sale.
В основе Modern Warfare – полностью вымышленная история, тщательно созданная, чтобы доставить удовольствие всем игрокам. SIE решили не продавать игру в российском PS Store. Мы с нетерпением ждем выхода игры в цифровом варианте для ПК и Xbox 25 октября.
— Call of Duty Russia (@CallofDutyRU) October 22, 2019
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a fictional game that has been thoughtfully created to entertain fans and tell a compelling narrative,” Activision’s statement says. “Sony Interactive Entertainment has decided not to sell Modern Warfare on the PlayStation Store in Russia at this time. We look forward to launching Modern Warfare digitally in Russia on 25 October on PC via Battle.net and on console via Xbox.”
Sony has yet to give its own reason, and all digital pre-orders have been cancelled, though, presumably, physical copies will still make their way to store shelves as planned.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a soft reboot for the franchise, but it harkens back to earlier entries in the series by painting Russians as cold-war era villains. Activision’s blog says to “expect no compromises as Modern Warfare takes you on an engaging narrative, featuring military operations across the globe, where morality is sure to be tested.”
Farah Ahmed Karim is one of the key characters in Modern Warfare’s story, with her tale beginning 20 years before the rest of the game’s events as Russian soldiers kill her parents in a harrowing attack on the fictional Middle-Eastern country of Urzikstan. Now she’s the leader of the Urzikstan Liberation Force, “labeled a terrorist organization by the Russian government for their long-standing resistance, Russian soldiers are ordered to make no distinction between the terror group Al-Qatala and the liberation fighters under Farah’s command. AQ terrorists pursue Farah and the ULF with a mandate to kill.”
Call of Duty is no stranger to Russian villains so it’s odd for Sony to pull one of the biggest games of the year from sale a few days before its release, especially when other platforms have no qualms releasing it digitally in the country.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC this Friday, October 25.
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With Halloween just around the corner, many games are getting into the spooky spirit with their own Halloween events, and it appears Rainbow Six Siege will be the latest to join that list. An event titled Doktor’s Curse has been spotted on the Xbox events page (via Dot Esports), and it’s reportedly beginning soon.
While Ubisoft has yet to formally reveal the Doktor’s Curse event, the official Rainbow Six Siege Twitter account tweeted an image of a VHS cassette labeled with the event name, effectively confirming it. According to the Xbox page, the event is slated to begin today, October 23, and run until November 6, but Ubisoft has not made any official announcements regarding it.
This isn’t the first Halloween event in Rainbow Six Siege. Last year, the tactical shooter held a Mad House event that added a haunted variation of the House map, along with a variety of special skins that transformed 10 Operators into ghoulish versions of themselves, as well as Halloween-themed weapon skins and charms.
Rainbow Six Siege’s latest update, Ember Rise, arrived last month and introduced a wealth of new content to the game, including two new Operators: the attacker Amaru and the defender Goyo. Additionally, Ubisoft reworked the Kanal map and made a spate of Operator balance tweaks and other adjustments. You can read the full breakdown of everything new in Ember Rise on Ubisoft’s website.
It’s been no secret that the Terminator franchise has been a roller coaster of a ride. The first two films are landmark sci-fi movies, and the rest have been running the gamut between disappointing and terrible. So when Terminator: Dark Fate–the sixth movie in the franchise–had its first trailer debut, viewers were skeptical to say the least. But first reactions on Twitter for the movie were overwhelmingly positive.
Now, the first reviews for the upcoming movie have arrived, and it’s a mixed bag. Currently, it sits at a 55 on Metacritic, based on 22 reviews. Of those reviews, seven are positive, 14 are mixed, and one is negative. While that may not seem like rave reviews for the upcoming film, the last installment in the series–Terminator: Genisys–received an overall 38 with 12 of the 41 reviews being negative.
The Terminator franchise could be in course-correction mode, as the latest film in the series is a follow-up to T2, ignoring the movies that took place after it. And if James Cameron has his way, there are already plans for future Terminator movies.
Below, you’ll find a few reviews for Terminator: Dark Fate, which hits theaters on November 1.
“Terminator: Dark Fate doesn’t set a new bar for action movies like Terminator 2 did back in 1991. But that’s not a realistic expectation–T2 was a once-in-a-generation kind of film. What Dark Fate does is establish a new–if-familiar–jumping-off point from which the Terminator series can hopefully move forward. It breaks the cycle of terrible Terminator sequels and spin-offs, and begins a new, brighter timeline. Humanity may always be its own worst enemy, but Dark Fate proves that we at least have the capacity to make some more kick-ass Terminator movies before judgment day arrives.” — Michael Rougeau [Full review]
“Easily the third-best Terminator film, which is more of a compliment than it sounds. It’s great to have Hamilton back in this role, but she’s ably matched by Reyes and Davis.” — Helen O’Hara [Full review]
“At least Dark Fate is frequently bad in a funny way, without the dutiful dullness of the last couple sequels. Characters can drive onto a military base and just take an airplane, no questions asked. There are drinkworthy repetitions of the word ‘Killbox,’ so much so that it’s mandatory to henceforth refer to this movie Terminator: Killbox.” — Darren Franich [Full review]
“While there’s definitely some frantic leap-frogging involved in terms of accepting why some characters have evolved the way they did, Terminator: Dark Fate ultimately succeeds in serving as both a suitable closing chapter for the original two films and a possible gateway to exciting new chapters ahead.” — Jim Vejvoda [Full review]
“With Terminator: Dark Fate we finally have the third chapter to her story, which at its essence is the Terminator franchise. Though, yes, by nature the story does have to be a little convoluted after the events of T2 (and this time, it’s basically just a whole new evil entity), but Linda Hamilton is Terminator. And that’s why Terminator: Dark Fate is the best Terminator movie since T2.” — Mike Ryan [Full review]
“It’s nice (and perhaps unavoidable) that the Terminator franchise has finally reached back into the past to remind us that tomorrow is always up for grabs–that the future belongs to anyone willing to fight for it. When the present is this dull, however, it can be hard to remember what anyone is supposed to be fighting for.” — David Ehrlich [Full review]
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Fallout 76 has launched a new premium membership service called Fallout 1st, Bethesda has announced. The service is available to purchase now and includes access to private worlds for you and your friends, exclusive items, and membership bonuses.
Private worlds has been one of the most requested features since Fallout 76 was released back in November 2018. Last week Bethesda revealed that private servers would be coming to the game this week, but there was no indication that the feature would be locked behind a subscription paywall. You can purchase a Fallout 1st subscription for $12.99 / £11.99 a month, or buy a full year at a 36% discount for $99.99 / £99.99. It’s a steep price to pay in order to play Fallout 76 privately, either alone or with friends. For comparison, an Xbox Game Pass subscription costs $9.99 / £10.99 a month, and features both Fallout New Vegas and The Outer Worlds, among a myriad of other games. At least only the owner of a private server is required to be a Fallout 1st member. Bethesda has also said it’s looking into incorporating mod support in private worlds.
Aside from receiving access to private worlds, Fallout 1st members will also receive a monthly bonus of 1,650 atoms to spend in the Atomic Shop. There will also be exclusive discounts on items in the store, and members will gain access to their own private Scrapbox, too, letting you store all of your crafting components in a separate place to the limited Stash Box. Meanwhile, the new survival tent will save you some caps by acting as a fast travel point you can place anywhere on the map, and unique emotes and the Ranger Armor outfit give you some more cosmetic options.
Fallout 76 had a rocky launch and was met with largely negative reviews, including GameSpot’s review which awarded it a 4/10. Bethesda has been releasing updates fairly regularly, though, adding features like a battle royale mode and raids.
Fallout 76 has revealed a new subscription service, Fallout 1st, which allows players to play alone in private worlds, among other things.
Launching today, and priced at $12.99 a month, or $99.99 a year (that’s £11.99 / £99.99 in the UK, Australian prices not available at time of writing), Bethesda explains that a Fallout 1st membership gets you:
It’s downright impressive that, even after more than 20 years, the bulk of MediEvil’s DNA hasn’t lost an ounce of its charm. That’s due in part to the fact that the original hack-and-slash adventure was ahead of the times for 1998 in many ways, and it’s deserving of its cult classic status. A lot of credit, though, has to go to the incredible work developer Other Ocean has done in recreating it for this new, ground-up remake, which stays true to its roots – although to a fault in a lot of ways. MediEvil walks a fine line between reinventing itself and being the same game that people remember from the PS1, and too often places nostalgia over modernizing itself to be palatable for an audience in 2019.
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The PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch versions of Two Point Hospital, the wacky hospital management sim that was released last year on PC, have been delayed until the first half of 2020. They were originally scheduled to arrive late 2019.
“So why the delay?” developer Two Point Studios said in a recent blog post. “Put simply: making a management simulation game on three consoles (and making it the best it possibly can be on all three), is a tricky programming puzzle.
“As you no doubt know, we’ve been beavering away hard at work on Two Point Hospital with our pals at Red Kite Games, who have been doing a great job working with us on the transition of Two Point Hospital over to console.
“We invited press to come into the studio and get hands-on with the game not too long ago, and they loved the direction we were heading in, especially with the revamped control scheme, redesigned for console platforms.
“We also showcased the game at Gamescom, with hands-on playable code on the show floor, which went down well with hundreds of players. It was exciting and rewarding to see so many people getting hands-on with the game.
“All of that reaction has been fantastic to see, and it’s just another reason why we really care about getting the final release right.”
Two Point Hospital is a spiritual successor to the 1997 classic Theme Hospital, with former Bullfrog Productions alumni Gary Carr and Mark Webley, working on both. James Swinbanks praised the hospital management sim in GameSpot’s Two Point Hospital review, saying “The exaggerated, cartoon look and relaxed approach to management make it inviting enough for most players, while the deeper aspects of its economy are enough to keep seasoned players engaged. Two Point Hospital not only re-works an old formula into something modern and enjoyable, it also iterates on the classic brand of irresistible charm and wit, making something that’s truly wonderful.”
Two Point Hospital is available on PC now, with PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch versions due out in early 2020.
Google Stadia has set a release date of November 19, but you may not be able to play it right away–even if you ordered a Founder’s Edition. Google says that the units will be shipped out on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you ordered yours closer to its sell-out date, you may have to wait as long as December to start streaming.
The Verge reports that while Stadia officially launches at 9 AM PT on November 19, the company says not everyone who ordered one will have received theirs. The news was sparked by the announcement that Founder’s Editions had sold out, and Google shifted to instead selling a new “Premiere Edition.”
This led to questioning if Premiere Editions would also arrive in time for the November 19 launch. The answer is no, they won’t, since Premiere Editions won’t ship by that date, but Google paired that with clarifying that Founder’s Editions wouldn’t necessarily have shipped either. They are instead set to “start arriving” on November 19, so you’ll only get to jump in immediately if you were one of the first to pre-order.
That said, the wait won’t be too long. Google expects both Founder’s and Premiere units to be delivered within two weeks from launch, so the latest yours should arrive would be early December.
That’s a wrap! Stadia Founder’s Edition has completely sold out. We can’t wait to welcome all of our Founders to play Stadia on November 19.
Stadia Premiere Edition is now available for pre-order in all launch countries. Get yours today > https://t.co/FvgaT3vE15 pic.twitter.com/7Zo952wVDv
— Stadia (@GoogleStadia) October 22, 2019
The Premiere Edition is mostly similar to the Founder’s Edition. It costs the same price, $130, but it comes with a white controller instead of the exclusive Founder’s blue, and doesn’t include the Founder’s Badge on your account or the gift Buddy Pass for a friend. Plus by jumping in later you won’t necessarily get to grab your unique Stadia username, which Google has promoted as a perk for early adopters. Check out our pre-order guide for more details.
This is the second piece of surprising Stadia news recently, after Google revealed that at launch the Stadia controller will only work wirelessly with the Chromecast Ultra. A Chromecast comes with the Founder’s and Premiere Editions, but that also means you can’t just swap to a phone or tablet with ease.