Category: Games

In November, a major Super Smash Bros. online tournament was canceled after a cease and desist from Nintendo, which took issue with the tournament’s use of the “Slippi” mod to play Super Smash Bros. Melee–a game released for the GameCube in 2001, and never re-released–online. Now, the controversy over that decision has spilled over into the competitive Splatoon 2 scene.

Heading into the December 5-7 weekend, Nintendo was advertising the upcoming Splatoon 2 North American Open on its Twitter channels, and promising a livestream. However, on the day, the stream was canceled, with a Discord announcement (screenshotted in this Reddit thread) not providing many details for what was happening.

Fans and players are pretty sure they know what happened, though. As commentator Slimy points out, about 30% of players in the competition had “FreeMelee”, or similar, in their usernames. It’s likely, although unconfirmed, that Nintendo canceled the livestream because of this.

As a result, “#FreeSplatoon” is now trending on Twitter.

Nintendo’s track record on esports and tournaments is not the best–Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the best-selling fighting game of all time, was removed from the EVO Online line-up after the physical event was canceled, as the Switch’s online infrastructure is not considered good enough to support a professional fighting tournament. EVO Online would ultimately be canceled over sexual misconduct allegations.

It remains to be seen if Nintendo will address its perception among pro players on its own system in the future.

The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red’s next big game, Cyberpunk 2077, releases on December 10, but that’s just the start. The game will be playable on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S through backwards compatibility, but the true next-gen editions aren’t releasing for some time longer.

When Does Cyberpunk 2077 Release For PS5 And Xbox Series X|S?

The bespoke editions of Cyberpunk 2077 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S are penciled in for 2021 at the soonest. Business development boss Michal Nowakowski said of the new-gen editions, “When it comes to a proper, full-blown next-gen version, that’s going to come later.”

People playing Cyberpunk 2077 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S will see some improvements due to the power of those machines, however. “It will look better on next-generation consoles,” CDPR has said.

Whenever Cyberpunk 2077’s PS5 and Xbox Series X|S editions are released, they will be available as a free upgrade for those who bought the game already. It’ll need to be in the same family, though; if you have the game on PS4, you can upgrade to the PS5 version.

CDPR management has said the next-gen edition of Cyberpunk 2077 may release in 2021, or it might not; the studio has not settled on a release date yet.

Cyberpunk 2077 releases on December 10 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, along with PS4 and Xbox One. You can buy the game at a variety of stores, but if you want the highest amount of money to go to the developer, you can buy it from CDPR’s own digital store, GOG.

Keep checking back with GameSpot for lots more on Cyberpunk 2077 in the coming days, including our full review, guide coverage, and more.

Cyberpunk 2077 is not the only game from CDPR getting the next-gen treatment. The company’s previous big-seller, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, is getting upgrades for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and they will also be free.

Fall Guys will soon enter Season 3, bringing in new mini-games and features to its unique spin on game shows and battle royale. We’ll learn more in just a few days, and developer Mediatonic is already teasing some of the new costumes prior to a larger reveal.

In a post on the game’s official Twitter account, we see four new costumes for the game. They show off a red-nosed reindeer, a candle, a yeti, and what looks to be some sort of ice queen. It appears there is much more in store for Season 3, and we will see the game again on December 10 at The Game Awards.

Fall Guys and The Game Awards’ producer Geoff Keighley worked together on the Season 2 content reveal, as well. Keighley shared new costumes during Gamescom: Opening Night Live way back in August, and the theme was medieval. With Christmas almost here, Season 3’s theme certainly makes sense.

This will be just one of the big reveals at The Game Awards, too. During the pre-show alone, there will be five world premieres, and we expect several other high-profile games are likely being saved for the main event. You can vote on the awards at the official website, including for the new accessibility category. There will also be a new audio descriptive mode available via YouTube Gaming.

Activision has released some details on just how massive the Call of Duty franchise is, saying in a news release that the series has surpassed $3 billion in sales over the past 12 months. Additionally, the number of people playing Call of Duty and the hours spent in the games is breaking records. The milestones come after the launch of Black Ops Cold War, which one analyst believes is not selling as well as 2019’s extremely popular Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

Activision’s numbers state that Call of Duty sales, or “net bookings” in the company’s parlance, are up 80% year-to-date, with units sold through up by more than 40%. The press release did not provide any further granularity on what the “units” is referring to.

The press release also mentioned that more than 200 million people have played a Call of Duty game in 2020, across all instalments. For console and PC specifically, the Call of Duty franchise has reached the “highest number of players in recorded history” in 2020. What’s more, November 2020 was the “biggest” November on record for the Call of Duty franchise in terms of monthly players and hours played.

An uptick in players and time spent on Call of Duty is expected, given the expansion of the series in recent years. Call of Duty: Warzone, the battle royale game, is proving to be extremely popular, with more than 85 million players since launch in March. Call of Duty Mobile, too, is doing very well with 300 million downloads in its first year. These are games that did not exist 18 months ago, and they are microtransaction juggernauts with their free-to-play business models. Additionally, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Remastered was released this year, so it truly was a gigantic year for the franchise.

Warzone is primed for a big update soon, as the game’s Season One expansion will transform the game with new content based on Black Ops. The update was originally intended to release on December 10, but it was recently delayed to December 16.

The research group Cowen & Company released a note to investors regarding Activision’s statements about Call of Duty. The firm pointed out that Activision was not specific about Black Ops Cold War’s unit sales. Cowen & Company’s “rough best guess” is that unit sales are down about 15-20% compared to Modern Warfare.

Even 20% less would still be a huge number for Black Ops Cold War, which is expected to be the highest-selling game of 2020 in the US.

It is a big week for gaming, as CD Projekt Red’s long-awaited Cyberpunk 2077 finally releases on December 10 after many years of development and multiple delays.

You can buy the game at a variety of stores, so you might be wondering where to get it. If you’re after the PC edition, CD Projekt Red reminded fans that the developer gets 100% of the sales money if you buy from the company’s own digital store, GOG.

On other platforms, such as PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam, CD Projekt Red takes about 70% of sales due to the platform fees associated with each platform.

This is just a rough estimate based on historical data; it’s possible CDPR has a different arrangement, but the 70/30 revenue share model is commonplace across gaming.

Another bonus of buying from GOG is that, everyone who pre-orders by December 10, will receive a code to receive 30% off on official CDPR gear from their merchandise store. However, this discount code only works on orders place in the EU, USA, and Canada.

Cyberpunk 2077 releases on December 10 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, as well as PS4 and Xbox One. The game’s DLC will be announced after release.

Additionally, a standalone Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer game is coming later, along with a next-generation edition of the single-player game.

Two BioWare veterans recently left the company, but the developer continues to work on Dragon Age 4, and it won’t be long until we see more of the game.

A “special look” at the next Dragon Age is coming during The Game Awards this Thursday, December 10. No further details on what the reveal will entail were divulged.

While we have to wait a little while longer to see more of Dragon Age 4, BioWare has just released brand-new short stories and a series of pieces of art for the RPG.

EA says the stories and pieces of art contain “some insight” into what will be revealed at The Game Awards, so you may want to look them over for any morsel of detail.

Gallery

The stories are linked below, while you can see the new art in the gallery above.

1. The Next One, by Bryanna Battye
2. Ruins of Reality, by John Dombrow
3. The Wake, by Mary Kirby
4. Minrathous Shadows, by Sheryl Chee

Dragon Age 4 executive producer Mark Darrah is among the high-level BioWare staffers that recently left the company. In his farewell address, Darrah said, “I know that Dragon Age won’t just survive without me, it will thrive.” BioWare GM Casey Hudson also left the company as part of the shakeup.

The new Dragon Age was announced at the Game Awards in 2018 with the “Dread Wolf Rises,” teaser, but not much else has been shared by EA and BioWare about the game. Darrah said in a blog post in 2018 that the new game had been in the works for “quite a while.” During an earnings call in October 2019, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said that the new Dragon Age likely wouldn’t release until after April 2022, so don’t expect too much new information for a long time.

Dragon Age: Inquisition–the most recent game in the series– released 2014 for Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

Warner Bros. revealed the first footage from and logo for Godzilla vs. Kong at CCXP Worlds on Saturday. The movie, directed by Blair Witch and You’re Next helmer Adam Wingard, is the next chapter in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Entertainment’s cinematic Monsterverse.

The footage, a glimpse of which you can see in the tweet below, gives fans their first look at the return of the massive kaiju introduced in 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters and the giant ape from 2017’s Kong: Skull Island.

At CCXP Worlds they showed us a 3 second long teaser for Godzilla vs Kong, even though it’s short it got me so excited.#Godzilla #GodzillaMovie #KingKong #KongSkullIsland #KingKongVsGodzilla #KongVsGodzilla #GodzillavsKingKong #GodzillavsKong #CCXPWorlds #CCXPWorlds2020 pic.twitter.com/4lRujAOukd

— Skully Robert #wakandaforever (@SkullyRobert) December 6, 2020

The brief footage shows Godzilla and Kong roaring, with the former swimming underwater and the latter with what appears to be the ocean behind him.

Warner Bros. has also released a new logo for the film that you can see below:

Godzilla vs. Kong is among Warner Bros.’ 2021 movies that will be released the same day on HBO Max domestically and in theaters internationally.

The film stars Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Jessica Henwick, Julian Dennison, with Kyle Chandler and Demián Bichir.

The official plot synopsis for Godzilla vs. Kong follows:

“In a time when monsters walk the Earth, humanity’s fight for its future sets Godzilla and Kong on a collision course that will see the two most powerful forces of nature on the planet collide in a spectacular battle for the ages. As Monarch embarks on a perilous mission into uncharted terrain and unearths clues to the Titans’ origins, a human conspiracy threatens to wipe the creatures, both good and bad, from the face of the earth forever.”

Godzilla vs. Kong is scheduled to open May 21, 2021.

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