Last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 included the Blackout battle royale mode, which turned out to be a polished take on the formula that worked really well. But Blackout won’t be part of this year’s Modern Warfare reboot, and it sounds like the developer at Infinity Ward didn’t consider including it. At the multiplayer reveal this week, Joe Cecot, the multiplayer design director, told IGN that Modern Warfare and Black Ops 4 just have very different vibes.
“We really focused on Modern Warfare, authentic and gritty, realistic weapons, and it’s a different experience. It’s really…just about pulling back to Modern Warfare and keeping that pure,” Cecot said.
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins made his Mixer debut today, streaming six hours of Fortnite Battle Royale to an average of 65,000 viewers. A much higher viewer count than what the streamer has been averaging recently on Twitch.
Ninja, a massively popular Fortnite player and livestreamer, announced yesterday that he will be streaming exclusively on Mixer going forward. Mixer is Microsoft’s livestreaming service and Twitch rival, though it hasn’t had quite the success as Amazon’s livestreaming platform.
Although the livestreaming industry reacted with shock to Ninja’s move to Mixer, there were still plenty of questions. Namely: how will Ninja’s viewership hold up following the move?
Warning: full spoilers for Avengers: Endgame ahead!
The filmmaker’s commentary track on the digital release of Avengers: Endgame has shed light on the abrupt and shocking death of Thanos in the first 20 minutes of the movie.
The scene takes place soon after the surviving Avengers locate the Mad Titan’s hideaway planet and capture him in an effort to secure the Infinity Stones. As we now all know, Thanos had already destroyed the stones, leaving the heroes without an easy way to undo the Snap. Upon learning this, Thor takes a hollow victory by lopping off the villain’s head with Stormbreaker. But co-writer Christopher Markus reveals that the Avengers were only able to kill him because Thanos allowed it.
After several delays and false starts, a live-action Halo TV series is finally moving forward at Showtime. While the studio says it will stay true to the source material, there is one area that might make a big departure from the games: Master Chief’s face.
“There’s all kinds of new drama that we will be exploring but we will stay faithful to the canon,” Showtime president Gary Levine told Deadline at the annual Television Critics Association. “We’re not going to violate anything that’s in the canon.”
However, Showtime may cross one line neither Bungie nor 343 Industries have walked over yet: showing Master Chief’s face.
Unlike other major stores, Best Buy didn’t try too hard to compete during Amazon Prime Day in July, but the retailer has followed up with a major sale of its own this weekend with some deals that are comparable to what we saw during Prime Day. As usual with Best Buy sales, the event focuses largely on general tech deals on things like TVs, computers, smart home devices, and more, but there are some solid game and console deals to be had this weekend as well.
We’ve rounded up some of the best gaming deals that caught our eye in Best Buy’s sale below; plus, check out the best deals on smartwatches, tablets, and more from our friends over at CNET. The sale ends Sunday, so don’t wait too long if you see something you like.
These Geek Squad-certified refurbished Joy-Cons come at a deep discount compared to their hefty list price of $80. You can get them on sale for just $54.
The ultimate party game is on Nintendo Switch, including all the characters and tracks from the Wii U version, new vehicles, and more. It’s $10 off, selling for $50 at Best Buy right now.
SanDisk 64GB MicroSD Memory Card for Nintendo Switch
$25 ($50)
Running out of memory on your Nintendo Switch? This memory card has double the amount of storage that the console itself comes with, so you’ll have room to add plenty more games to your library.
Add a new wireless controller to your collection for $20 off. The special edition Phantom White controller is on sale for $50 (its list price is $70, but other colors are discounted, too.
If new releases like Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Wolfenstein: Youngblood are making you consider picking up a Switch, you can grab a Geek Squad-certified refurbished console at Best Buy for $25 off.
This budget laptop is even more appealing now that it’s on sale for $220 off–you can get it for $580 instead of $800 at Best Buy. With a 1920×1080 resolution, an Intel Core i5 processor, and Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card, this 15.6-inch Acer laptop is a great affordable option for those looking to get into PC gaming.
Toshiba TV and Xbox One S console with free copy of Madden NFL 20
Save $130
Best Buy is currently offering the Toshiba 43-inch 2160p 4K Fire TV in a bundle with the Xbox One S and a free digital copy of Madden NFL 20 (Xbox One), which just released August 2. The TV is $80 off, dropping its price to $250, and the Xbox One S bundles are each $65 off, dropping their price to $235 (you may not see the Xbox One discount until checkout). Just be sure to verify you see Madden 20 added during checkout–some of our editors didn’t see the digital code included at checkout, while others did.
