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A new patch is now available for Call of Duty: Warzone that makes a series of changes, including a long list of weapon balance updates–and yes, the promised Streetsweeper changes are part of this update.

The new update nerfs the shotgun by increasing its base hip spread and recoil and reducing its ADS speed. Activision said the Streetsweeper was “a tad too effective” compared to other weapons in its class. “This change will decrease its lethal range slightly, punish inaccurate sustained fire, and give a little more time to react,” the studio said.

Not only has the weapon itself been nerfed, but it won’t show up as much in Warzone’s loot spawns. For both Verdansk ’84 and Rebirth Island, the Streetsweeper’s Common and Uncommon variants were removed from ground loot, while its Rare and Epic versions no longer show up in supply boxes.

“The Streetsweeper’s wide availability fostered a dynamic where passive play was incentivized and rewarded. We do not think this type of play is particularly compelling for either party when players do not have the necessary tools in the early-game to effectively counter it,” Activision said.

A number of other weapons have been tweaked across Warzone, and Activision outlined some of its thinking for these changes.

“There are millions of you, and when we reduce the effectiveness of a weapon, we are bound to make a change to someone’s favorite gun. As players of this game ourselves, it pains us just as much,” the studio said. “However, we remain torn. We are the custodians of this game–we make it for you. In the same light, we are charged with maintaining the health and integrity of the game. In some instances, this requires us to reduce the effectiveness of some universally cherished weapons. When we make a change like this, our intent is the promotion of diversity. We believe what makes a game truly engaging is choice. When we diminish that choice, we take away the agency to play the game your way. This can happen when a weapon becomes so effective that simply not utilizing it puts you at a disadvantage.”

Activision went on to say it is approaching what it calls “balance homeostasis” as it relates to weapon balance across the game. These changes impact the “time-to-kill” statistics, too, with the idea that the time-to-kill figures should be higher.

Activision also pleaded with fans to understand that its goal is to raise the skill ceiling with these changes; they aren’t being made to intentionally anger fans.

“We ask that you consider these changes not as targeted attacks, but rather as part of a larger initiative to raise the skill ceiling,” it said. “We want to give you the runway and the platform to show us your epic plays and proudest moments. We hope that journey of mastery brings you as much enjoyment as it does us.”

Other weapons that received a balance pass in this new update include the CR-56 AMAX assault rifle, which seems its minimum damage decreased from 32 to 31; the FARA 83 assault rifle has its headshot multiplayer decreased from 1.5 to 1.35, with its base ADS move speed decreased by 7%. The Bullfrog submachine gun, meanwhile, sees its maximum damage decreased from 32 to 32, with the PPSh-41 getting a buff to increase its maximum damage range by 4%. A number of attachments have been tweaked as well, and you can see the complete patch notes below, which includes commentary from the developers about what’s changing and why.

The May 7 patch also fixes additional out-of-bounds glitches across Verdansk, while it also clears up the issue that could cause player models to load in low resolution at the start of a battle royale game.

In other news, the latest playlist update for Warzone is out now. It adds Plunder – Trios and Mini Royale Quads and Resurgence Duos for Rebirth Island. The update also removes Resurgence Trios from Verdansk, a move that has drawn a lot of criticism from fans, as it was one of the most beloved modes in the game.

Call Of Duty: Warzone May 7 Patch Notes

Published by Raven Software on its website

GAMEPLAY

• Loot that spawns across both Verdansk and Rebirth Island has been adjusted as follows…
  • Streetsweeper
    • Common variant removed from ground loot
    • Uncommon variant removed from ground loot
    • Rare variant removed from Supply Boxes
    • Epic variant removed from Supply Boxes
  • Hauer 77
    • Common variant added to ground loot
    • Uncommon variant added to ground loot
    • Rare variant added to Supply Boxes
  • The Streetsweeper’s wide availability fostered a dynamic where passive play was incentivized and rewarded. We do not think this type of play is particularly compelling for either party when players do not have the necessary tools in the early-game to effectively counter it.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed additional map locations in Verdansk that allowed players to reach out-of-bounds areas. This is on top of the locations that we addressed last week.
• Fixed a bug causing Player models to initially load as low resolution at the start of a BR match.
• Fixed a bug with the Cold War AK-47, FARA 83, XM4, and RPD where they were having their ADS Move Speed and Firing Move Speeds decreased with the Tactical and SAS Combat/Spetsnaz Stocks rather than increased.

WEAPONS

• Assault Rifles
  
  • CR-56 AMAX
    • Minimum Damage decreased from 32 to 31 (Warzone Only)
    • With a great damage profile, locational multipliers, and manageable recoil, the CR-56 AMAX was able to reliably reach extreme TTKs at long-range. This change reduces its fastest minimum damage TTK by about 17% in addition to its slowest minimum damage TTK by an additional shot. Its fastest maximum damage TTK however, remains intact—which is a risk we feel is equal to the reward considering how unforgiving its rate of fire is and how many other weapons it has to contest with in the mid-range engagement space. The CR-56 AMAX is just a tad more dominant than we would like it to be and with this change, our aim is to widen the selection of viable long-range assault rifles.
  • FARA 83
    • Headshot Multiplier decreased from 1.5 to 1.35
    • Base ADS Move Speed decreased by 7%
    • When combined with a mobility-based stock, the FARA 83 was capable of reaching exceedingly fast ADS firing speeds. We like how the FARA 83 plays, but it is a bit too versatile currently. As part of our efforts to increase the overall Time to Kill, we are reducing the FARA 83’s fastest TTK by 16.6% to compensate for its generous rate of fire and recoil control.
      
• Shotguns
  • Streetsweeper
    • Base Hip Spread increased
    • Recoil increased slightly
    • ADS speed reduced slightly
    • While shotguns tend to have limited viability outside of early game, we find the Streetsweeper is a tad too effective given its rate of fire and ammo capacity when compared to other weapons of its class. This change will decrease its lethal range slightly, punish inaccurate sustained fire, and give a little more time to react.
      

• Submachine Guns
  
  • Bullfrog
    • Maximum Damage decreased from 34 to 32
    • Maximum Damage Range increased by 11%
    • Base Move Speed increased by 1%
    • Sprint Out Speed increased by 13%
    • The Bullfrog’s exceptional headshot multiplier has allowed it to reach one of the fastest TTKs in the game. While this change does not directly affect that multiplier, it does diminish its output. This change reduces the Bullfrog’s ability to consistently achieve extreme TTKs, while not removing it entirely. We felt it was too easy to consistently reduce the TTK to these ranges, so we are asking for a bit more accuracy in exchange for the Bullfrog’s attractive stat line. We are hesitant to label this an outright ‘nerf’ as we believe there is more value to a weapon than its damage alone.
      
  • PPSh-41
    • Maximum Damage Range increased by 4%
    • Open Bolt Delay decreased by 80%
    • We would like to push SMGs in different and interesting directions to distinguish them from one another. Ideally, we are providing a myriad of options within each weapon category that are supplementary to a multitude of diverse playstyles. In that vein, we are going to push the PPSh-41’s identity in a way that continues to diversify it from its competition in meaningful ways. To us, the PPSh-41 is the quick to fire, high-capacity, short-to-mid range SMG. Not every weapon needs to have the highest TTK potential, but every weapon should at least feel viable and have a niche where it excels given a complementary playstyle.

ATTACHMENTS

• Barrels
  
  • Combat Recon (Snipers)
    • Bullet Velocity multiplier increased by 12%
    • ADS Idle Sway multiplier decreased by 33.3%
    • As we continue assess the place of Cold War snipers within Warzone, we realize there is much work to be done. In addition to improving the overall efficacy of these weapons and attachments, we will also be taking a close look at their optics. This includes addressing attachment pros where there are few, if any, use cases. In specific… we may see a Cold War equivalent to an immensely popular Modern Warfare sniper attachment very soon.
      
• Optics
  
  • Axial Arms 3x (Cold War AK-47)
    • Optic behavior improved
• Stocks
  
  • Raider/KGB Skeletal Stock (Assault Rifles, Light Machine Guns, Shotguns, Snipers)
    • ADS Firing Speed multiplier decreased by 75%
    • ADS Move Speed multiplier decreased by 10%
  • Raider/KGB Skeletal Stock (Submachine Guns)
    • ADS Firing Speed multiplier decreased by 50%
    • ADS Move Speed multiplier decreased by 10%
  • SAS Combat/Spetsnaz Stock (Assault Rifles, Light Machine Guns, Shotguns, Snipers)
    • ADS Firing Speed multiplier decreased by 75%
    • ADS Move Speed multiplier decreased by 10%
  • SAS Combat/Spetsnaz Stock (Submachine Guns)
    • ADS Firing Speed multiplier decreased by 50%
    • ADS Move Speed multiplier decreased by 10%
  • Tactical Stock (Assault Rifles, Light Machine Guns, Shotguns, Snipers)
    • ADS Move Speed multiplier decreased by 75%
    • Tactical Stock (Submachine Guns)
    • ADS Move Speed multiplier decreased by 50%
• It is crucial to maintain an engagement space where each weapon type can excel, lest we risk guns becoming analogous. In that regard, some weapon types were able to elude mobility as a core weakness given the right attachments. We believe this is in part why assault rifles have been able to assume the role of submachine guns. While it is a priority for us to maintain and embrace gameplay differences between Modern Warfare and Cold War guns, we felt movement speed modifiers in their current state would undermine gameplay integrity and overall weapon diversity if left unchecked. These stocks are still a solid choice, even with such a substantial reduction—which we believe speaks to just how strong they were.

For more on Warzone, check out GameSpot’s features:

In a new trailer released today, Square Enix has confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade will be exclusive to PlayStation 5 for at least six months.

A graphic at the end of the “Final Trailer” for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade reveals that the game will remain exclusive to Sony’s console for at least the first six months after it releases. The trailer also showcases more of the new expanded story of the game, focusing particularly on the new Yuffie chapter and revealing some new boss fights, such as a new encounters against Scarlett in a combat-ready new Shinra mech suit.

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The exclusivity window is not entirely surprising given that the original release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake was exclusive to PS4, and also had a timed exclusivity deal in place. This approach seems to follow the trend of Sony striking exclusivity deals for Square Enix’s big titles, with Final Fantasy XVI and Forspoken also planning to launch first on PS5.

It has not yet been revealed whether FF7 Remake Intergrade will be ported to Xbox or PC after the six month exclusivity window. Square Enix does have a history of porting their games to multiple systems following exclusivity deals, however, such as Rise of the Tomb Raider launching exclusively on the Xbox One, and releasing on the PS4 later. If Intergrade does end up releasing on Xbox systems or PC, though, it wouldn’t be until the exclusivity period was up, which would be December this year at the earliest.

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Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade launches on the 10th June, but if you’re hungry for more Final Fantasy, Square is also planning to expand on the FF7 universe through additional content and games such as The First Soldier and Ever Crisis that aim to build on the lore of the FF7 compilation of games. Final Fantasy 7 Remake was recently part of March’s Playstation Plus update on the PS4, and PS4 gamers can get a free upgrade to the next-gen version, but it won’t include the Yuffie content without additional purchase.

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Liam Wiseman is a Freelance News Writer at IGN, and likes Final Fantasy waaay too much. You can follow him on Twitter @liamthewiseman

Resident Evil Village is finally out and our two local evil residents, Dale and Jesse have played and finished the game a collective 7 times, so they’ve got a lot to say! Boss man Alex Simmons also makes a triumphant return to the pod to talk about all the – somewhat disappointing – Star Wars announcements coming out of May 4th. We also discuss The Bad Batch, Sound of Metal and how much we’d pay for one of those new realistic looking lightsabers.

Plus, the return of a Resident Evil themed Go On Name Them and of course, your feedback.

Remember, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, please do: [email protected].

IGN UK Podcast #591: Resident Evil Village Is Here!

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• IGN UK Podcast #590: The Big Boy Flapjack Squad
• IGN UK Podcast #589: Returnal, Warzone and Cherry Pie
• IGN UK Podcast #588: Resident Evil Season is Here
• IGN UK Podcast #587: The Zemo Dance and The Winter Soldier
• IGN UK Podcast #586: Godzilla vs Kong vs Mega Brain

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The Mass Effect: Legendary Edition makes a ton of changes to the original trilogy, particularly to the first one since it hasn’t aged quite as gracefully as the others. But for purists and/or masochists, you can still cling to one piece of the original if you so choose: the Mako. The crappy, crappy Mako.

“For those people out there who do like pain, we’ve left the option to leave it back kind of closer to the original controls as well if you want,” environment director Kevin Meek told PC Gamer. Project director Mac Walters added that you can toggle it back and forth, in case you want to experiment with the original.

Those who didn’t play the original may not realize that the Mako was particularly divisive. While Mass Effect was lauded as a huge achievement in BioWare’s RPG oeuvre, it was clear that vehicle design was not exactly its strong suit. Imagine trying to pilot a homemade boxcar racer through a swimming pool. So it was an obvious place for BioWare to modernize and refine, but if you love a challenge you can still switch it back.

The original Mass Effect has been changed to work a bit more like its sequels in general, which refined the shooter controls and made the RPG stat-infused randomness less front-and-center. That means your squad will control more like Mass Effect 2, so you can more easily manage your teammates. The inventory system also received a rework, and some old animation bugs have been smoothed over. The trilogy features a universal character creator including a more unified look for the default “FemShep”–the female version of the protagonist, Shepard.

The Mass Effect Legendary Edition is coming to PC, PS4, and Xbox One on Friday, May 14. It will be backwards compatible on PS5 and Xbox Series X, which should result in faster load times and higher resolutions. Check out our Mass Effect Legendary Edition preorder guide for more details.

The big lady gets big results. Resident Evil Village’s debut on Steam is going record breaking-ly well, making it a top performer for the franchise on PC.

According to the Steam stats page, Resident Evil Village is currently one of the top 10 most-played games on Steam. At the time of writing, the game has just over 78,000 concurrent players, making it ninth on the list. While being on the bottom end of the top 10 list may not sound very impressive, it’s quite a feat considering the competition. The top spots on Steam’s top 10 most-played list are often dominated by Counter Strike: GO, DOTA 2, PUBG, Grand Theft Auto V, and Rust. It’s also worth noting that Resident Evil Village is currently the only single-player title on the top 10 list.

Compared to the rest of the Resident Evil franchise, Village is going above and beyond previous player counts. According to video game industry analyst Benjisales on Twitter, a majority of previous Resident Evil releases only managed to net a fraction of Village’s peak player count. Resident Evil 7’s peak player count is just 20,449, likely because it followed Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6, two infamous entries in the franchise. Resident Evil 2 Remake and Resident Evil 3 Remake have much more impressive numbers, boasting peak player counts of 74,227 and 60,293 respectively.

In our review for the game, GameSpot editor Phil Hornshaw gave Resident Evil Village a 9/10, saying the game “leans heavily on Resident Evil 4’s brand of action, but adds its own sensibilities to the mix.” If you’ve recently started Village and are a bit lost, we have some choice beginner’s tips and a guide on how to beat the game without spoilers. Resident Evil Village is currently available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Stadia, and PC.

At the height of Stonks Mania, there were two companies that seemingly benefitted from a mad rush of individual, retail investors — GameStop and AMC Entertainment.

A quick recap for those who may have forgotten: back in January, retail investors (non-professional) started buying up large percentages of GameStop and AMC stocks. The basic rundown is that a sea of retail investors decided to push back against the big guys (institutional investors), effectively calling out their plans to bet against companies like GameStop and AMC. This is called short stopping.

For a full breakdown of what exactly happened and why it matters, I highly recommend Elizabeth Lopatto’s excellent write-up over at The Verge. But all we really need to understand is that millions of people started buying AMC stock, and effectively helped AMC survive the most tumultuous time in company history.

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The effect of this dash, currently being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is still uncertain. What’s adamantly clear, however, is both GameStop and AMC have a new army of bosses (shareholders) they have to please. AMC is leaning into it full stop.

On the company’s recent earnings call, CEO Adam Aron acknowledged that AMC now has “an army of passionate, interested individual shareholders, some three million strong,” adding that at last count it was closer to 3.2 million. This will change how AMC interacts with new management, as Aron put it. No longer will Aron prioritize CNBC spots, which are difficult to attain in general. Instead, Aron is touting websites like Reddit and YouTube as the best way to reach their new shareholder base.

“Just go on Twitter, just go on Reddit, just go on YouTube,” Aron said. “Read what these people write. They love AMC.”

Or, to put it another way, a large percentage of AMC’s owners live on the internet, so that’s where he’ll be, too.

“You’re going to see a lot more outreach to literally millions of investors in our company, and it’s going to be quite public,” Aron said, adding that he’s “started tweeting again.”

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For analysts and non-retail investors, Aron’s love for a relatively new base of shareholders may be concerning. How does the shift in power affect business decisions that AMC makes, for example?

While AMC is starting to come out of its worst period, the company is also entering a new, completely unfamiliar world. Here’s how one analyst poised that exact question to AMC’s top executive team: “If management thinks that increasing the share authorization is the best move for the company but the new shareholders don’t, then what is the way forward from there?” Aron, as is standard for the chief executive, didn’t mince words.

“If management thinks something and the owners of our business think something else, in the free market system, guess who wins? Guess who always wins?” Aron said. “The owners of the business — because management works for the owners.”

There are ways that management can “try and persuade” the shareholders about a strategy, but Aron made it apparent that he believes they’ll work together to ensure AMC’s success continues. That includes ensuring their interests are heard and respected.

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For example: gorillas. AMC Cares, the company’s charity arm, is donating $50,000 to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, which goes to helping gorilla wildlife in Central Africa. Aron is also donating an additional $50,000 from his own pocket to the fund. Why? Because AMC’s new investors have embraced the cause, so AMC will, too.

“I work for them. So by definition, their interests and passions are important to AMC,” Aron said, adding that “many of our investors, too, have embraced Dian Fossey’s cause and have raised substantial monies for it.”

Sure, retail investors may believe in saving gorillas. Raising money for the foundation is a noble cause, to be clear. But retail investors, many of whom may hang out on subreddits like r/wallstreetbets and talk in memes, may just love the idea of finding a cause that relates to “apes strong together,” a saying that is used when individual retail investors are “bullish on heavily-shorted stocks like GameStop,” according to Investopedia.

Is it possible that the CEO of AMC picked a foundation because of a meme generated on r/wallstreetbets that more than three million of his new shareholders have embraced? Absolutely. Is leaning into a meme base generated on a subreddit a good business plan? I certainly don’t know.

But remember: the internet is real — and the effects of a “meme economy” are starting to play out in the real world.

Pokemon Go‘s June Community Day is set for Sunday, June 6, Niantic confirmed on Twitter. The studio also revealed next month’s featured Pokemon, and it’s one fans have long requested: the Dragon Pokemon Gible.

Niantic hasn’t shared any further details on June’s Community Day beyond that just yet, but we can expect Gible to appear more frequently in the wild throughout the event. You’ll also have more opportunities to catch Shiny Gible during the Community Day, and there will be other in-game bonuses. Additional information will be announced closer to the event.

In the meantime, Niantic has many May events lined up for Pokemon Go this month. The Luminous Legends X event is currently underway until May 17. As part of that event, Dragon and Fairy Pokemon like the recently introduced Spritzee and Goomy are appearing in the wild, while the Fairy-type Legendary Xerneas is featured in Raids.

Later this weekend, Niantic is also holding a new Limited Research event starring Marill on May 9. That event will offer exclusive Timed and Field Research tasks that will lead to more chances to catch the Water/Fairy Pokemon, including its Shiny form. May’s Community Day will take place the following week on May 15.

There are still more events on the horizon. Niantic is kicking off a Luminous Legends Y event on May 18, and that will introduce Xerneas’s counterpart, the Destruction Pokemon Yveltal, to the game for the first time. New Field Research tasks and rewards are also available all month long.

Sega has officially announced Lost Judgment, a full sequel to Judgment, which was itself a spin-off of the long-running Yakuza series. It was revealed through a livestream hosted by Sega’s creative director and series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi in which he and producer Kazuki Hosokawa gave many details on the new game. Lost Judgment is also launching worldwide simultaneously on September 24, 2021, which is a first for the developer RGG Studios.

Judgment’s main character Takayuki Yagami (again played by famous Japanese actor Takuya Kimura) is returning as the protagonist alongside his companions from the first game–this includes Kaito, Sugiura, and Higashi. New information in a sinister murder case leads the group to Yokohama, where Yakuza: Like A Dragon takes place. While there aren’t clear story crossovers, one of the factions from Like A Dragon, the Chinese Luimang, are mentioned as a part of the story. Other supporting characters are returning like Saori and Hoshino, who are involved in the case, too. You can watch the reveal trailer below.

The new game continues the street brawler-style of action and the investigative exploration phases in some of the main story quests, although both sides of gameplay have been revamped with new features and improvements. Nagoshi-san also mentioned that while Judgment is sticking with action combat, the mainline Yakuza series will continue with its turn-based RPG combat system. There are a ton of new features as well like a dancing rhythm minigame, new acrobatic traversal methods, stealth sequences, skateboarding across the open world, a set of ridiculous side quests called School Stories, and more.

Lost Judgment is coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, and PS5, and will play at 4K resolution and up to 60fps on the new generation of systems. For more on the series, be sure to check out our Yakuza: Like A Dragon review and our Judgment review, which includes the updated console version.