Activision marked the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War with a double XP promo to help people level up faster right out of the gate. The double XP event was supposed to end on Monday, November 16, but developer Treyarch has extended it by 24 hours.
The double XP event will now conclude on Tuesday, November 17 at 10 AM PT. This double XP promotion applies to standard multiplayer as well as the Zombies mode, and it’s available on all platforms.
Double XP should help you hit new ranks and unlock more weapons and attachments, so this is a good time to dive in. The game has proven to be very popular already, setting a new first-day digital sales record.
GameSpot’s Black Ops Cold War review in progress has scored the game an 8/10. Keep checking back with GameSpot for our full review and further coverage.
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The Xbox Series X and S consoles are finally here, and the launch is going extremely well for Microsoft. Consoles are selling out fast, and Xbox boss Phil Spencer has now spoken about this, apologizing for the shortages.
“We need more consoles [laughs],” Spencer said during an appearance at GlitchCon. “The number one request I get over and over is it’s so hard to get the consoles right now. And I really apologize for that. We’ve been building them for almost two months now and trying to get as many into the stores as we can, but the demand is just so high.”
Spencer went on to say that, with COVID-19 impacting the world as it has, 2020 been a challenging year with all kinds of obstacles for developing games and releasing a new platform. Despite those challenges, Spencer said he is proud of his teams and those at Sony and third-party publishers for releasing new games and consoles this holiday season.
In a post on Xbox Wire, Xbox boss Liz Hamren also acknowledged the shortages, saying Microsoft is “working tirelessly” with its retail partners globally to bring more next-gen Xbox consoles to people soon.
Despite the shortages, Xbox Series X/S launch represented the biggest-ever for Microsoft. The company sold more consoles, in more countries, than ever before over the first 24 hours. For comparison, the Xbox One sold more than 1 million units over its first day in 2013, so the Series X/S consoles did better, but Microsoft did not mention a specific sales number.
The Xbox Series S console specifically was a big hit at launch, as it added the “highest percentage of new players for any Xbox console at launch.” Additionally, Microsoft said 70 percent of Xbox Series X/S consoles are attached to an Xbox Game Pass subscription. That in particular is a very big deal, as Xbox Game Pass might be Microsoft’s secret weapon on next-gen.
The PlayStation 5 is now available in many regions throughout the world, and many people are jumping into the next generation of Sony consoles. Not everyone is lucky enough to have secured a launch console, though, and may be looking for a glimmer of that magic new-console feel while they play Sackboy and Spider-Man: Miles Morales on their aging PS4s.
That’s where PS5 Simulator, a new free game, comes in. The game, by developer Alex Grade, is a fun little take on the joys of getting a system and needing to unbox and set it up before you can enjoy playing games on it.
PS5 Simulator
“Wait no more, your ultimate PS5 experience is here,” the description on the game’s itch.io page reads. “Poor cable management, snacks on floor and try to not break your next-game console in this non-AAA-game!”
Gallery
The game weighs in at 947MB, and there’s a lot of cable management to deal with in there. It’s pretty tongue-in-cheek, so it might make you feel a bit better about not having a console to set up yet. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War are both pretty great on PS4 too, you know.
After a busy week of launches, the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S have so far been difficult to come by, with new stock being bought up almost as soon as it drops. Some have blamed the stock shortages on bots buying up consoles for scalpers, and while we can’t know how many of the purchases were made by bots, there sure are a lot of next-gen consoles being listed for high prices on Ebay.
While it was inevitable that the consoles would end up on Ebay with inflated prices, it looks like the re-sellers are doing a decent trade, too. A look through the PS5 listings that have sold in the day shows the consoles going for between $850 and $1200 in most cases. The console’s recommended retail price is $500 for the disk edition or $400 for the digital-only console.
One of the highest-earning recent listings we found was a digital-only PS5 with its price pushed up to $1645, thanks to 34 bids made through Ebay’s auction system. Another more lucky customer found the PS5 digital version for “just” $850.
Listings seem to have gone for up to a staggering amount of $14,493, which one Ebay user paid for a preorder of the PlayStation 5 digital edition back in September–before the console had actually released. Some listings are still offering to pawn off their pre-orders, without actually having a console in hand to sell.
The Xbox Series X and S have seen slightly more reasonable prices on resale. Sold listings show people buying new Xboxes for around $800 for the Series X, or closer to $450 for the Series S, with the official pricing sitting at $500 for the X and $300 for the S, the cheapest of the new-gen consoles.
While Ebay’s unsold listings show people still asking up to $10,000 for the new consoles, the sold listings show most people aren’t willing to pay too much more than $1000 for the resold consoles. The fact that people are paying scalpers’ inflated prices shows how much demand there is for the next-gen consoles.
It appears Amazon isn’t currently allowing third-party sellers to list PS5s for sale, likely to cut down on the kind of price-gouging that’s taking place on Ebay. If you want to try your hand at getting a next-gen console without paying an inflated price for it, check out our PS5 buying guide or Xbox Series X and S guide.
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Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson puts in a lot of work at the gym, and he’s known for consuming a massive number of calories to support his weight-lifting. He is a very large human, and now that fact has led to a small problem for his new Netflix movie, Red Notice.
The Rock recalled the story on his Instagram page recently. Director Rawson Thurber came up with an “insane car chase sequence” involving The Rock jumping into a Porsche, but there was a problem–The Rock was too large to fit.
So Thurber had to think on his feet and come up with a new camera angle to get the shot. This all happened after the producers spent months working on preparations and spent money buying the car and shipping it to the United States.
Here’s The Rock recalling how it all went down:
Rawson: Hey D, let’s get you in the Porsche and I’ll line up the shot.
DJ: Let’s do it.
* DJ attempts to get into the car only to get stuck because his back is a bit too wide.
Rawson: * laughs.
* DJ continues to struggle trying to shimmy into this Porsche like a big ass brown marshmallow getting shoved into a coin slot.
Rawson: Wait can you fit?
DJ: No.
*Rawson now nervously laughs.
Rawson: Are you fucking with me?
DJ: No.
Rawson: Oh my God.
After about 15 seconds of uncomfortable silence… Rawson, myself and the entire crew just started laughing our asses off!!”
Red Notice is a globe-trotting heist movie in which The Rock plays an Interpol agent tasked with tracking down two elusive thieves, played by Gal Gadot and Ryan Reynolds.
It marks the third time that The Rock and Thurber have worked together, as Thurber directed The Rock in Central Intelligence and Skyscraper.
The UK boxed game sales for the week ending November 14 have been revealed, and surprisingly, Call of Duty isn’t number one. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has been beaten in the UK by Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which led sales in a busy week.
Gamesindustry.biz is reporting that Valhalla claimed the top spot last week, doubling the launch boxed sales of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey in 2018. 42% of sales were for the PS4 version, 18% for the PS5 version, and 40% for the Xbox family version. Black Ops Cold War, meanwhile, saw a 64% drop-off in boxed sales compared to Modern Warfare.
Since the launch of 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, every subsequent Call of Duty has been the top physical seller in the UK during its launch week, but now Valhalla has broken the streak. It’s worth noting that Valhalla released on November 10, whereas Black Ops Cold War released November 13, giving the new Assassin’s Creed a three-day head start on sales.
The sales split on Black Ops Cold War was 39% for PS4, 34% for Xbox One, 17% for PS5, and 9% for Xbox Series X/S. An upgrade to next-gen is only available through a cross-gen bundle. There’s no reason to worry about Cold War underperforming, though–it just broke a record for the highest first day digital sales for the franchise. The game is expected to be the best-selling game of 2020 in the US.
Several other PS5 titles are also featured on the top 10, which is surprising since the console is not available in the UK until November 19. In fact, PS5 games accounted for 19% of sales, and 25% of revenue. Spider-Man: Miles Morales landed in third, and a total of 790,000 boxed games were sold in the region over the week.
Here’s the complete top 10.
UK sales charts for week ending November 14, 2020
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (new entry)
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (new entry)
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (new entry)
FIFA 21 (last week: 1)
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (last week: 2)
Demon’s Souls PS5 (new entry)
Super Mario 3D All-Stars (last week: 6)
Mario Kart 8: Deluxe (last week: 3)
Minecraft (Switch) (last week: 5)
Watch Dogs: Legion (last week: 4)
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Destiny 2‘s new expansion, Beyond Light, recently well live alongside Update 3.0, and while many Destiny fans have been enjoying the new content, there’s been some criticism over how the expansion handles loot. It seems that the pool of new loot in Destiny 2 is pretty low, with players receiving many duplicates of weapons that were already in the game prior to the expansion.
As The Gamer notes, the controversy over loot has spilled over onto Reddit, where a post about the problems players are facing has attracted a response from Bungie community manager “dmg04”. With much content from previous iterations of Destiny 2 now locked away in the “Content Vault,” players have been angry that more new armor and weapons have not been added.
“First and foremost, I want to say that these issues aren’t being swept under the rug,” dmg04 says. “We’re passing up the feedback, and the team has been reading through your thoughts on a variety of topics.”
Addressing loot issues, they say that “most of the new content” in the expansion is focused on Beyond Light and the Season of the Hunt season pass, but that some new items have been added to ritual activities, too. “Europa has a full armor set and slew of weapons to earn with new perks not available through other means,” they add. “The raid will have an armor set, various weapons, and mods to earn. Many of you are on the quest for exotics, with more coming in to the fold as you discover them.”
dmg04 says that they’re looking at how to make it “exciting” to earn new weapons, and plans are underway to add more loot in “future seasons.”
Gaining more “light” and getting access to stronger items is one of the most rewarding parts of Destiny 2, but when the Beyond Light expansion released, some players found a way to hit the current soft cap in an hour.
The Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War branded partnerships are continuing–last week we learned about a special camo toothbrush, and now comes some limited-edition fightwear and other accessories inspired by the game. Activision has partnered with Engage to create a special capsule collection, with UFC’s Israel Adesanya and others showing off the new gear.
The collection includes MMA shorts, a t-shirt, boxing gloves, and a front-pack, all of which you can see in the gallery below.
Gallery
This capsule collection is not for sale to the general public, but you can enter for a chance to win on Engage’s website. The campaign ends on November 20, and winners will be notified by November 23.
Black Ops Cold War launched on the unlucky date of Friday the 13th, but the game was not cursed. In fact, it performed exceptionally well, setting a new first-day digital sales record.
Ray tracing has been around for PC gamers for some time, but with the power behind the Xbox Series X|S and the PS5, it’s now an option for console gamers too. But what exactly is ray tracing?
In the video above, we walk you through the basics of the tech that’s on everyone’s minds right now. In simple terms, ray tracing casts out and calculates linear rays of light between in-game light sources and the player’s eye. It’s used to simulate realistic reflections, refractions, and shadows, which can create a more immersive and photorealistic gaming experience, but at the sacrifice of your game’s frame rate. We discuss the use of ray tracing in recent games such as Watch Dogs: Legion, which has come under fire for how it’s handled the lighting system.
Games that currently have plans to introduce ray tracing on console systems include Halo Infinite, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, NBA 2K21, Devil May Cry Special Edition on Xbox Series X/S, and Demon’s Souls Remastered. For more on these games, keep your eyes peeled to GameSpot.
