Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the battle royale game Warzone are set for a big week, as the much-anticipated Season 5 update is due to arrive very soon.
Writing on Twitter, production director Paul Haile has now warned fans to expect yet another “big” update in terms of the file size. As with previous updates, the file size will be large, but the patch also contains back-end configurations that actually decrease the overall file size of the game. This happens through “optimization” of the game’s asset packs, Hiele said.
“This means the download will be big, but the overall size of the game will actually shrink on your consoles after you download the patch, even though we’re adding a bunch of new content for the season,” he said.
Hiele went on to say that it remains a “priority” for Infinity Ward to reduce the overall size of Modern Warfare and Warzone. However, this is a tricky task, Hiele said.
“We’ll continue to work on this and keep pushing space reductions out with future updates,” he explained.
There is no exact launch date yet for Season 5, but it is confirmed to release sometime this week. It will introduce a new Operator, Battle Pass, and more–the full contents of the patch will be announced soon.
Mad Max: Fury Road came out five years ago, but is never far from our minds. Charlize Theron, who played Furiosa in the iconic 2015 film, hosted a charity screening of the film over the weekend as part of the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, and to celebrate she shared a wonderful video of her preparation for the role.
The video, below, show’s Theron’s “point of no return”–her initial head shave for the role, which represents a full commitment to the part. It doesn’t show the full process, but you get to see Theron’s hair in a half-shaved state, which is a lot of fun.
The video is set to music from Junky XL’s Fury Road soundtrack, so we’re not entirely sure what she’s saying, but the huge smile on her face says everything. Watch it below.
Some of Theron’s other roles are likely getting revisited, though. Her most recent film, Netflix’s The Old Guard, has been a huge success, and a sequel seems like a strong possibility, while rumors of Atomic Blonde 2 continue to persist.
In other Mad Max news, Fury Road almost lost the Doof Warrior in one cut, but thankfully the incredible flame-shooting guitarist made his way back in.
Ice-T is known to be a big gamer, but he’s only appeared in a few games himself. One of his most iconic appearances is in the Def Jam series, appearing in Def Jam: Fight For NY and its PSP spin-off Fight for NY: The Takeover. The Def Jam fighting series was beloved, and many people have called for its returning–and now Ice-T has joined their ranks.
Ice-T has tweeted out a photo of himself in-game, and said that he thinks that “they really need to reboot this game for the new consoles.” With the PS5 and Xbox Series X on the way, we can’t help but agree.
Whether or not this eventuates–or if Ice-T’s tweet catches the attention of anyone in a position to get the ball rolling–remains to be seen, but Fight for NY was a pretty great game.
The mainline Def Jam fighting series included three games: Def Jam Vendetta, Fight For NY, and Icon. The third game switched developers and did not review as well, and the series never came back. There’s also Def Jam Rapstar, which is a singing game.
These games were published by EA, a company that has recently started work on Skate 4, another long-awaited series revival.
Ice-T’s latest video game appearance was as BALEX, an AI trapped in a teddy bear, in Borderlands 3.
This test, or “flight” as Microsoft calls it, will begin the first half of August, developer 343 Industries said in a blog post. To get into the beta, you must be a Halo Insider member, and you can sign up for the free program here. Assuming this beta test is similar to previous ones, the rollout will begin small, so you may not be invited in right away.
Only a “slice” of ODST will be available in the PC beta test, 343 said. A beta test for Halo 3: ODST on Xbox One is also in the works, but this will presumably be related to the Firefight mode, as ODST’s campaign is already available on Xbox One.
The upcoming beta test will also include some new Halo 3 changes, including the tweaks that 343 has made to hit detection. Additionally, weapons from ODST like the Socom Magnum will be added to Halo 3 in this test.
The ODST test on PC will include Firefight matchmaking and custom games, as well as the Theatre mode. There will also be campaign content, including the Mombassa Streets, Tayari Plaza, Uplift Reserve, NMPD HQ, Data Hive, and Coastal Highway missions, which you can play solo or co-op and at any difficulty level.
The PC beta test for ODST will include a number of settings options, including HUD anchoring, window mode, framerate limit, and field-of-view options. There will also be numerous audio settings options and a handful of accessibility options. You can see all the options below.
ODST PC Settings Options For The Beta
Settings – Controls: Configure Mouse & Keyboard and Configure Gamepad
Settings – Audio: Game Volume including Menu Music Volume, Game Music Volume, Effects Volume, Voice Chat Volume. Also, Voice Chat Channel, Push to Talk Voice Chat, and Multiplayer Game Sounds
Settings – Gameplay: Crosshair Position, Show Invite Notifications, Enemy Player Name Color, Multiplayer Game Timer, and Credits
Settings – Network: Network and Relays
Settings Accessibility: Subtitles, Change Language, Convert Text-To-Speech, and Convert Speech-To-Text
Halo: The Master Chief Collection will get crossplay between Xbox One and PC in 2020 alongside a custom game browser, PC fileshare, per game graphics and audio options, mouse and keyboard support on Xbox One, and more.
343 Industries published a new Halo: The Master Chief Collection development update on Halo Waypoint and gave an update on some of the biggest features the team is working on for 2020.
While none of these have specific dates besides 2020, the list includes Crossplay, Input Based MM, Server Region Selection, Custom Game Browser, Per Game Graphics Options, Per Game Audio Options, M&K Support for Xbox, PC Fileshare, Double Keybinds for all games, Viewmodel adjustments for all games, In game FPS Cap/Adjustments, Steam Account Linking.
343 did confirm that when Crossplay is released, it will arrive with Input Based MM and Server Region Selection. It also stated that Custom Game Browser will release with Per Game Graphics Options and M&K Support for Xbox.
In addition to these, 343 is committed to bring Halo 3: ODST’s campaign and Halo 4 to MCC to PC, as well as ODST Firefight (with updated networking) to both Xbox and PC, in 2020.
While the first part of Animal Crossing: New Horizons‘ summer update added swimming and diving, the second part of the update brought with it a very different kind of summer activity: fireworks! Every Sunday in August, there will be a fireworks show on your island, hosted by Jolly Redd. You can exchange bells for raffle tickets in order to win festive items, and you can even use your own custom designs for fireworks. Below is everything you need to know about the fireworks shows.
The fireworks shows take place every Sunday in August at 7 PM your time–this applies to both Northern and Southern Hemisphere islands. They’re hosted in the plaza outside Resident Services by Jolly Redd, the one Animal Crossing character who’s sure to have a good fireworks hookup, as well as Isabelle. But while the plaza is the epicenter, you’ll be able to view the fireworks from any location on your island that has a good view of the sky.
In 2020, there are five Sundays in August. That means that there will be five fireworks shows throughout the month:
August 2
August 9
August 16
August 23
August 30
What Happens During A Fireworks Show?
The main event for the fireworks show is, of course, fireworks! Like with any good summer festival, your villagers will be hanging around the plaza and may even give you fireworks-related presents. Make sure to speak to Isabelle, too–she’ll give you a bopper headwear item. The possible boppers are:
Bulb bopper
Heart bopper
Flower bopper
Star bopper
You can even include some of your own custom designs as fireworks (details below). There’s also a raffle hosted by Redd; read on to see how Redd’s Raffle works and a list of all the prizes you can get.
How To Set Up Custom Fireworks
Ahead of the fireworks show, you’ll be able to add some of your own custom designs to the fireworks lineup. Simply speak to Isabelle and she’ll let you pick up to 10 slots for your own designs; you’ll see the designs you picked in the fireworks show.
Redd’s Raffle: How To Enter And Prizes
Jolly Redd, purveyor of fine and not-so-fine arts, hosts a raffle in your plaza during the fireworks show. Through the raffle, you can get a number of exclusive items, including fireworks and balloons, that you can only get during the fireworks shows.
To enter into the raffle, click on the raffle box by Redd. It costs 500 bells each time you’d like to enter, and there are 12 prizes you can win in total. They are:
Ghost of Tsushima has been out on PS4 for less than two weeks, but already the game’s player base has put some serious time into Sucker Punch’s samurai adventure. Now PlayStation has released some of the stats from the game’s first 10 days, showing off how many times some of the game’s activities have been enjoyed.
In a tweet, PlayStation revealed 11 stats about the game across three images. Players took a lot of photos with the game’s excellent photo mode, it seems, and went out of their way to pat a lot of foxes.
You can view the tweet below, but here’s the full rundown of stats released:
156.4 million standoffs
57.5 million duels
139.4 million enemies collapsed in fear
810.3 years on horseback
16.2 million onsen visited
14.2 million haikus written
28.1 million flute songs played
8.8 million foxes petted
17.1 million bamboo strikes completed
37.5 million Inari shrines honored
15.5 million photos taken
Ghost of Tsushima sold over 2.4 million copies in its first three days on sale, making it the fastest-selling new IP for PlayStation this generation. The game contains a great Easter egg for fans of PlayStation-exclusive games, too.
One of the game’s players is Yakuza series director Toshihiro Nagoshi, who has been loving it.
Fight Crab, a game about crustaceans fighting other crustaceans, begins innocently enough. You start as a plucky young snow crab, defending his rock pool from other, invading crabs. The next thing you know, that same snow crab is now kaiju-sized, fighting in city streets against a similarly kaiju-sized lobster wielding a giant knife and revolver pistol. Things, incredibly, only escalate from there.
What if crabs had weapons? That’s the ridiculous notion that Fight Crab bases itself on, and it commits to it wholeheartedly with an involved combat system and a variety of scenarios that grow increasingly bizarre. The game often exceeds your expectations of what you might anticipate from a game that pits these hard-shelled creatures against one another. At times the joke can start to wear thin, but it’s hard to forget the delightful, laugh-out-loud surprises it continues to throw at you.
A third-person, physics-based fighting game, Fight Crab is reliant on your ability to flip your shelled opponents onto their backs and make sure they don’t get up. Damage dealt by striking with your claws, environmental objects, or weapons is tracked by a percentage meter, and higher percentages make it harder for crabs to regain their upright posture–a system that draws from Super Smash Bros., and one that allows for the occasional, unbelievable near-death comeback and matches that come down to the wire.
Each of your crab’s pincers is assigned to your controller’s left and right analog sticks, allowing for a free range of movement to push, lift, and swing. Left and right triggers thrust your claws forward, and bumpers pinch them–it’s used as a blocking maneuver or to grab your opponents and other objects. Movement is assigned to the D-pad, where you command your crab’s little legs to automatically move in a direction until you tell it to stop again, which feels like manipulating a conveyor belt. A combat mechanic that boosts your damage and allows for an area-effect attack is mapped, bizarrely, to the View/Select button. Turning your crab requires you to move both arms either left or right, and you turn the camera by clicking the analog sticks. It is no doubt a convoluted and inelegant system that makes any kind of maneuver feel like a hard task–you’re never entirely in control of all your functions at once, and it often feels like you’re trying to steer a runaway tank. But from all that awkwardness is where the beauty of Fight Crab blooms.
Those clumsy controls, combined with a combat system informed by object physics, create a wonderful kind of chaos together. Fights are often ungraceful, like a desperate slap fight between two drunkards who have never thrown a punch in their life before. There are a lot of extended arms trying to keep flailing limbs at bay and bodies crashing into each other, with a considerable mess being made in the process. It sounds pitiful, but these are giant crabs we’re talking about, which makes the spectacle of it something fascinating to behold. Throw in some environmental weapons like trees and cars, a sword or two, boomerangs, rocket boosters, and maybe a lightsaber, and it’s hard not to light up in a confused glee when witnessing the pandemonium.
Never feeling like you’re completely in control can take its toll though, especially on harder difficulties. The inability to quickly react can be frustrating; often, it feels like you’re fighting in slow motion, and there were times I had to double-check that my game’s frame rate hadn’t tanked. You’ll sometimes find yourself in uninteresting stalemates with both crabs disarmed, bashing their arms together, trying to find a clear opening or advantage. Fight Crab makes it difficult to break the lock-on camera in order to survey the environment to rearm yourself; the rules of crab combat dictate that you always have to stare your opponent in the eyes.
But the system still allows for some wonderfully rewarding maneuvers if you can anticipate your opponent. Having such control over your limbs let me do things like grab an enemy crab’s arm as it was bringing a ridiculously large war hammer down onto me and hold it up as I pummeled and pinched its beady little eyes with my other arm. I once managed to pry away a crab’s raised shield with the hook of a crowbar and follow up with a point-blank gunshot, which was magical. Even the relatively simple act of snatching a sword from your opponent’s claws or successfully table-flipping them onto their back is immensely satisfying, given the finesse required. These beautiful moments make you want to shout in joy.
The game’s primary mode is a campaign which throws you into different arenas to go up against a series of opponents one after the other, survival style. If you find yourself on the back foot and losing your grip on the controls, the constant onslaught can be disheartening. Thankfully, the game allows you to simply resume your progress beginning from the opponent who beat you. More importantly, the game’s escalating ridiculousness with regard to its enemies and stages is certainly enough of an incentive to keep you pushing through it–some fond memories of mine involve fighting a nunchaku-wielding crab atop a table located in a Chinese restaurant, going against a pair of ninja crabs equipped with shuriken and sai, tumbling around in a daycare with a couple of chainsaws, and going up against two crabs riding Vespas swinging around chains.
There are certainly many parts of Fight Crab that leave a lot to be desired–the UI and menus are garish at best, and outside of the crabs themselves and the energetic J-rock theme song, the audiovisual work is only serviceable. The game’s currency, levelling up, and weapon shop system are left unmentioned; you stumble across them on your own. Fight Crab also features online co-op for its campaign, online competitive ranked multiplayer and casual lobbies–all modes which I unfortunately failed to find a match for during the launch week. Perhaps not enough people have heard about how great the act of fighting crabs can be, and that needs to change.
Like the crab combatants themselves, Fight Crab feels like it smashed its ridiculous concept into a clunky, physics-based fighting system with gusto and didn’t let up until something kind of worked. And a lot of the time, it does work. There’s magic here–it’s impossible not to be charmed by the silly, uproarious dynamic of watching two crabs having a knife fight. It’s sloppy and ugly at times, but so is life. Fight Crab taught me that sometimes you just need to stop, take a minute to appreciate the beauty that lies within those colliding carapaces, and let yourself smile.
