Category: Games

Included in the cross-play beta for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War this coming weekend is a brand-new mode called Fireteam, and Activision has now provided some details about it.

A large-scale mode, Fireteam puts 10 teams of four squads onto the largest maps that Cold War has to offer. In the Dirty Bomb variant that will be featured in the beta, teams must collect and detonate bombs that destroy parts of the map to get the drop on the other teams.

When bombs are detonated, it causes radiation to emerge on the map that makes it dangerous for everyone. “The longer a player hangs onto uranium, the longer radiation sickness sets in. This affects Perk benefits, movement, health regeneration, and ultimately, your Operator’s life,” Activision says of the mode.

“Earn score by eliminating enemies, depositing uranium, and detonating bombs. The Fireteam that can reach the score limit first will achieve victory,” the description goes on.

If you’re killed, you can respawn on a teammate, parachute into the map, or spawn into the seat of a teammate’s car.

“Across every Fireteam mission and mode, you’ll discover some of the most imaginative game loops we’ve ever designed. The Fireteam format allows us to emphasize teamwork and reward creativity, and it allows you to do things you’ve never done in Black Ops multiplayer before,” studio design director David Vonderhaar said.

The Black Ops Cold War beta begins on October 15 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and it runs all weekend. For lots more, check out GameSpot’s rundown of all the key details.

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Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is asking Disney some tough questions following the entertainment giant’s decision to lay off 28,000 park employees at the end of September. Warren wrote a letter on Monday addressed to Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek and chairman Bob Iger about the reasoning behind the layoffs.

The letter is five pages in total, but Sen. Warren gets to the heart of the matter right away:

“I write to express concern about The Walt Disney Company’s (Disney) recent decision to lay off 28,000 workers during an economic recession while reinstating pay rates for highly compensated senior executives,” Warren wrote. “In the years leading up to this crisis, your company prioritized the enrichment of executives and stockholders through hefty compensation packages, and billions of dollars’ worth of dividend payments and stock buybacks, all of which weakened Disney’s financial cushion and ability to retain and pay its front-line workers amid the pandemic.”

Disney has been pushing California Governor Gavin Newsom to provide guidelines for re-opening its theme parks in the state after more than six months of shutdown. Newsom has resisted the push thus far, but has begun to look into options for re-opening those parks.

Warren says in her letter that Disney’s explanation for the layoffs “fails to acknowledge Disney’s short-sighted business decisions that reduced its capital, including spending billions of dollars to repurchase its own shares over the last decade, rewarding its shareholders through billions of dollars in dividend payments, and showering its top company executives with over-the-top compensation packages and salaries–which reportedly were restored several weeks before the September layoff announcement.”

“Disney has spent tens of billions of dollars on share buybacks in recent years, spending $47.9 billion repurchasing its own common stock from 2009-2018,” Warren notes. “A practice that is known to turn excess company cash into higher stock prices for the benefit of shareholders.”

Warren also calls out $5.4 billion in dividend payments to shareholders and $336 million in compensation for top executives in the years leading up to the pandemic.

Warren puts a number of questions directly to Chapek and Iger. She starts by asking who will be laid off and why, and how re-hiring will work. The senator then shifts to asking how much value the stock buybacks have added to the company and how those buybacks enriched top executives, board members, and shareholders.

Disney sidestepped the questions in its response to the letter with a statement that first aired on CNBC’s Closing Bell program.

“Senator Warren’s misinformed letter contains a number of inaccuracies. We’ve unequivocally demonstrated our ability to operate responsibly with strict health and safety protocols in place at all of our theme parks worldwide, with the exception of Disneyland Resort in California, where the State [sic] has prevented us from reopening even though we have reached agreements with unions representing the majority of our Cast Members that would get them back to work,” said a Disney spokesperson.

In essence, Warren asked Disney executives to explain why they can’t pay employees who need the money after spending the last few years making shareholders even wealthier, and Disney ignored the question, instead repeating what we’ve heard them say over and over in recent months–they want to reopen Disneyland, and believe they can do so safely, despite the state government’s reservations.

Apple Arcade, the iPhone maker’s huge subscription gaming service, is good enough to be a major selling point for the iPhone and other Apple products–and soon, new Apple purchases will come with an extended free trial. While you can currently test out Apple Arcade for a month free, new purchases made from October 22 will include three free months of Arcade.

This offer centers on the new 5G iPhone 12, releasing October 23, but it applies to all Apple products, including iPad, iPod Touch, Apple TV, and Mac devices.

Apple Arcade is similar to Xbox Game Pass, except that it’s yet to lose any titles from its growing catalog. If a game is on Apple Arcade, it means it’s a mobile exclusive to that platform, and will not make its way to Android or other mobile stores. It usually costs $5 a month, so three months worth is a $15 saving.

Apple Arcade will also be part of the new Apple One service, which includes Apple TV+, Apple Music, and iCloud as well.

We assembled a list of the best Apple Arcade games at the program’s launch, but it’s grown a great deal since then, and now features over 130 games. Major upcoming releases include The Pathless and Reigns: Beyond.

A new listing for Mass Effect Legendary Edition on a Korean rating website has hinted that remasters may be coming. Legendary Edition is the rumored name for the remastered trilogy, but the rating doesn’t list any details about the game.

Modern Warfare PC players are now able to uninstall unwanted game modes to free up space on their hard drives. Digital PS4 players have been able to do this for some time, and the feature is now available on PC, which is just as well, with the game’s size reaching 200GB with everything installed.

There’s a new PS4 firmware update that helps prep for PS5 Remote Play. Update 8.00 adds the option to connect the Remote Play app on mobile and PC to PlayStation 5 ahead of its launch on November 12. The update also adds new avatars and has more closely linked party chat and message groups.

The second beta weekend for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is about to begin, and you can start pre-loading it right now. Activision has confirmed that pre-loading for PS4, Xbox One, and PC is available now, while the company has also clarified what’s in the beta and more about what to expect from it.

Pre-Loading And File Size

Pre-loading is probably a good idea, considering the file size is relatively large. According to CharlieIntel, the file sizes are as follows: PS4 — 31 GB / Xbox One — 20.5 GB / PC — 42.2 GB

You can pre-load Black Ops Cold War’s Weekend 2 beta right now, and no codes are required. Also of note, PS4 players who took part in the first beta weekend do not need to download the client again.

Start Times

The Black Ops Cold War Weekend 2 beta begins at 10 AM PT on Thursday, October 15. All PS4 players can enter the beta at this time, while Xbox One and PC players will need to pre-order to start playing then.

On October 17, the beta opens to everyone, regardless of preorder status, and it runs until October 19. Xbox Live Gold is required on Xbox One, and a Battle.net account is mandatory on PC.

Beta Content

The new Black Ops Cold War beta features cross-play support between all platforms. Players can try out a “selection” of multiplayer maps, but a full rundown was not announced. There will be a variety of 6v6 modes as well as the brand-new 12v12 Combined Arms and the 40-player Fireteam: Dirty Bomb modes.

There will be a progression system as well so players can see what it’s like to unlock new weapons, equipment, create-a-class slots, and Scorestreaks. However, it’s expected that, as with previous Call of Duty betas, all progress will be wiped before the official release.

Activision also said players should expect “frequent updates and a few surprises” for the beta, so keep checking back for the latest.

Bonuses

Everyone who reached level 10 in the beta will get the special Mutual Animosity SMG weapon blueprint that can be unlocked when Black Ops Cold War launches in November.

Black Ops Cold War officially releases on November 13 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, as well as PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

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GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Anchorman director Adam McKay’s next movie for Netflix, Don’t Look Up, has one of the most star-studded casts we can recall. Oscar-winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep, along with Oscar nominated actor Timothee Chalamet, have joined the cast for the film, and they are just the latest huge names to board the project.

The rest of the cast includes Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Jonah Hill, Himesh Patel, Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi, Matthew Perry, Rob Morgan, and Tomer Sisley.

The comedy centers on two astronomers who are trying to warn humankind about an asteroid that might wipe out humanity. According to Variety, DiCaprio and Lawrence will play the two scientists, but this is not confirmed. Filming is projected to start before the end of the year.

McKay is known for directing the comedies Anchorman, The Other Guys, Step Brothers, and Talladega Nights, as well as more serious fare with Vice and The Big Short, the latter of which earned him an Oscar win for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay. Vice earned eight Oscar nominations, winning one, for Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling.

Kraven the Hunter is a fearsome tracker who once killed Spider-Man. Who would you cast in that role? Jeffrey Dean Morgan? Manu Bennett? Joe Manganiello? Idris Elba (he’s good in everything)? Sony and Marvel have settled on comedian and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, if the comedian’s own tweet is to be believed.

We’ve reached out to Sony directly for confirmation of this casting, but have not yet heard back as of the time of this writing. Really, this could be an elaborate ruse by Kimmel to slyly announced Matt Damon will play the role, for all we know. After all, the duo have had a long and very funny history of pranking each other.

On the one hand, searching for “Jimmy Kimmel prank” turns up 632,000 results on Google. On the other, Marvel has toyed with weird casting before. Paul Rudd wasn’t an immediately obvious choice for a superhero, but has turned Ant-Man into a household name. We raised an eyebrow when Marvel cast comedian Kumail Nanjiani in the upcoming Eternals film alongside Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie, and then he got so ripped that the collective internet paused for a minute to take notice, proving that he can at least look the part.

Kimmel is 52 years old and has a daily late show on ABC–it’s tough to imagine him getting similarly fit and ditching his successful gig. Not to mention that the Kraven in the comics almost never puts on a shirt. With that said, Kimmel is no stranger to using guest hosts when he steps away from his show.

Then there’s the weirdness of the upcoming, untitled Spider-Man movie to take into account. JK Simmons, who played J. Jonah Jameson in the first Spider-Man trilogy is back as JJ in the film, and Jamie Foxx is reprising his role as Electro from the critically-panned Amazing Spider-Man 2. Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is stepping up as Spider-Man’s mentor for this third film, and his own sequel is called Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, while Sony’s most critically-successful Spider-Man movie is called Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

This is a weird casting possibility to be sure, but the Spider-Verse is pretty weird, too, making the casting far from impossible. If true, here’s the next question: Will he also play Kraven in the standalone Kraven the Hunter film?

Microsoft’s new Xbox studio, The Initiative, has hired another developer from The Last of Us studio Naughty Dog to work on the company’s first game. Lauren Garcia, who was the character shading technical director on The Last of Us: Part II is now working at The Initiative as a senior shader technologies developer.

Garcia announced the news on Twitter, saying, “This is an incredible team working on something truly special.” The Initiative’s first game remains unannounced, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer has offered a tease that it could be a reboot of a classic series.

The Initiative was announced at E3 2018 as part of Microsoft’s wider announcement of new studios and acquisitions. Based in Santa Monica and close to Naughty Dog’s offices, the company says its ambition is “about craft, creating story, innovating, and looking ahead to the next big thing.” While the company is owned by Microsoft, it claims to operate independently.

Even if we don’t know what The Initiative is working on, design director Drew Murray’s young daughter does. Murray recently let this small human play the game, and she reported that it’s gotten a lot better.

Garcia is at least the third Naughty Dog developer to have joined The Initiative. The Last of Us II sound designer Jordan Denton and Last of Us II designer Robert Ryan are also working on the new Xbox game.

All of these new hires join a team that is already stacked with talent. God of War veteran Brian Westergaard is the director of production, William Archbell (343 Industries) is the technical director, and Blake Fischer (Xbox) is director of world and narrative. Daniel Neuburger, who worked on Rise of the Tomb Raider, is The Initiative’s game director. The Initiative also hired Rockstar Games veteran Tom Shepherd, while among the other high-profile hirings include Red Dead Redemption 1 writer/designer Christian Cantamessa.