Author: Trafficblast

The Call of Duty movie is progressing and has potentially found a director. Sources told Hollywood news site Variety that Sicario 2: Soldado director Stefano Sollima is currently in talks to direct the untitled Call of Duty movie. Importantly, it sounds like no deal has been struck as of yet, and, in Hollywood, nothing is certain.

The site goes on to say that Snowden writer Kieran Fitzgerald wrote the script for the Call of Duty movie, with Coco Francini (The Hateful Eight, Skylanders Academy) producing alongside Sollima. Activision Blizzard declined to comment when approached by Variety.

A scene from Call of Duty: WWII

There is no word for what the plot might be for the Call of Duty film, but it could be part of a Marvel-style cinematic universe with multiple connecting stories.

Stacey Sher and Nick van Dyk, co-presidents of in-house production team Activision Blizzard Studios, said in an interview last year that films based on Call of Duty sub-brands are currently in the works, while multiple scripts have already been written.

“We have plotted out many years,” Sher explained. “We put together this group of writers to talk about where we were going. There’ll be a film that feels more like Black Ops, the story behind the story. The Modern Warfare series looks at what it’s like to fight a war with the eyes of the world on you. And then maybe something that is more of a hybrid, where you are looking at private, covert operations, while a public operation is going on.”

“It’s going to have the same sort of high-adrenaline, high-energy aesthetic as the game, but it’s not a literal adaptation,” added van Dyk. “It’s a much more broad and inclusive, global in scope … a big, tentpole, Marvel-esque movie.”

Sicario 2 comes to theatres in June, but there is no word as of yet regarding when the Call of Duty movie might start shooting, who will star in it, and when it will be released.

What would you like to see from the Call of Duty movie? Let us know in the comments below!

Season 3 of Fortnite‘s free-to-play Battle Royale mode is quickly approaching, and with it will come a new Battle Pass for players to purchase. After the release of the Season 2 Battle Pass, Epic had said that all future passes would have to be purchased directly with real money, but it appears that is now no longer the case.

On the official Fortnite Twitter account, Epic announced that the Season 3 Battle Pass for Battle Royale mode will cost 950 V-Bucks (Fortnite’s in-game currency)–the same price as the previous Battle Pass. Moreover, the developer confirmed, “We will not be offering the Season 3 Battle Pass as a real money purchase.”

V-Bucks are acquired primarily by purchasing them through Fortnite’s in-game store, but there are other ways to earn the currency, such as by leveling up your Battle Pass or by playing Fortnite’s PvE Save the World mode, which is still currently in paid early access. The decision to only sell the next Battle Pass for V-Bucks is good news for players who’ve been regularly playing Save the World or have saved up a lot of V-Bucks from their current Battle Pass, but those who opted to spend their currency after hearing the Battle Pass would cost real money may not be quite as pleased.

Season 2 of Fortnite: Battle Royale ends next week, on February 20. In the meantime, players can pick up some Valentine’s Day-themed cosmetic items, although it’s now too late to take part in Battle Royale’s most recent limited-time mode, Shooting Test. PS Plus subscribers can also now claim a free PlayStation Plus Celebration cosmetic pack on PS4.

On top of the new season, Epic Games has a lot in store for Fortnite: Battle Royale in the near future. The developer recently teased some limited-time modes it plans to hold soon, including a modified version of the 50v50 event. Epic will also remove a weapon from Battle Royale this week, although it may still return in the future.

United States Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) is taking aim at microtransactions in video games, asking the ESRB to review things like loot boxes and decide whether or not use of loot boxes needs to be displayed on a game box. In a letter to ESRB president Patricia Vance, Hassan started off by saying the issue was brought to her attention by a constituent.

With the changes to technology that come in a field as dynamic as video games, the ESRB “must work to keep pace with new gaming trends, including the in-game microtransactions and predatory gaming tactics, particularly as they are deployed on minors,” Hassan wrote, according to Glixel.

The former governor of New Hampshire added that loot boxes raise “several concerns” regarding the “use of psychological principles and enticing mechanics that closely mirror those often found in casinos and games of chance.

“The potential for harm is real.”

Hassan went on to point out that the World Health Organisation recently announced that “gaming disorder” has been classified as a medical condition on the group’s latest Classification of Diseases document. She added that what makes loot boxes more problematic is that they can be targeted at children.

“While there is robust debate over whether loot boxes should be considered gambling, the fact that they are both expensive habits and use similar psychological principles suggest loot boxes should be treated with extra scrutiny,” she said. “At minimum, the rating system should denote when loot boxes are utilized in physical copies of electronic games.”

Hassasn added that she is urging the ESRB to review its policies around loot boxes and, in future ratings, take the “potential harm” that loot boxes could have on children into consideration. She went on to say that the ESRB should look into whether or not the marketing of loot boxes in video games aimed at children is being done in an “ethical and transparent way that adequately protects the developing minds of young children from predatory practices.”

What’s more, Hassan said the ESRB should work with “relevant stakeholders” to put together and ultimately publish data regarding how video games use loot boxes, how commonplace they are, and how much money is spent on them. Lastly, Hassan said the ESRB should put together a “best practices” document that developers can look at in an effort to make loot boxes “less essential to core gameplay.”

Hassan asked the four FTC commissioner nominees about loot boxes in a hearing this week. You can see a video of that embedded above.

The ESRB’s official line is that loot boxes do not constitute gambling and as such should not have to be regulated by the government. Of course, not everyone agrees. Just recently, lawmakers in Hawaii put forth a pair of bills that would ban the sale of video games with “gambling-like mechanisms” to people under 21. Bills with similar language have been introduced in other states, including Washington and Indiana.

This is a developing and ongoing story, so keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.