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No More Heroes 3 is coming later this year, and developer Grasshopper Manufacture has dropped a new age-gated trailer that explains the series so far…well, sort of. If you’re familiar with the games of series director Suda 51, you probably know that his work has an offbeat and bizarre flavor, and this trailer is no different.

The trailer explains that series hero Travis Touchdown is an otaku who bought a beam sword at an online auction and became an assassin. In No More Heroes 1 and its sequel Desperate Struggle, Travis managed to climb the official assassin rankings to become #1. The trailer also claims that the franchise’s latest entry, Travis Strikes Again, was the kind of “experimental game that will be fawned over in ten years,” with a censored image of the game’s mixed Metacritic score as an in-joke.

As with most of Suda 51’s work, the trailer has no qualms about breaking the fourth wall. For example, it also explains that the controllable character Bad Girl was killed by Travis in a previous game, only to be resurrected by “some weird game console, or whatever.” The trailer also appeals to gamers in a direct and somewhat disgusting way, telling them to play the game until your controller is “covered in grease.” Tasty. Franchise heroine Sylvia also recommends you play the game for only ten hours a day, or “you’re seriously gonna die.” We’ll see about that when the game releases on August 21, 2021 exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.

World of Warcraft: Classic’s auction houses will be going offline for roughly five days in preparation for the arrival of the Burning Crusade expansion pre-patch on May 18.

As revealed by Blizzard on the game’s official forums, auction houses across all WoW Classic servers will be shutting down at 10 AM PT/ 1 PM ET on May 14, and won’t be brought back online until the arrival of the game’s Burning Crusade pre-patch following server maintenance on May 18. The move is being done to help get the game’s existing servers ready for their Burning Crusade upgrade, as well as to prepare new, Classic Era servers which won’t receive the pre-patch.

Blizzard is advising players not to post items on the auction house shortly before May 14, as nobody will be able to use the auction house during the maintenance period and deposit fees for posting items will be unable to be refunded.

The auction house is the game’s primary means of selling various items in-game and is an essential part of WoW Classic’s economy. With no auction house for five days, players will simply have to advertise their goods in the game’s trade and general chat and manually trade items and gold with one another. This already happens to some extent, but forcing the entire server to interact with one another to obtain raid consumables or enchanting materials, instead of simply clicking on the lowest priced listing on the auction house, should make for an interesting, if brief, economic experiment.

While anticipation is high for the Burning Crusade’s arrival on June 1, many in the game’s community have been less than thrilled with some of the announcements surrounding the game’s official release, including the shorter-than-usual two-week-long pre-patch, expensive character cloning fees, and pricey microtransactions that weren’t present in the original game.

Publisher 505 Games has dropped a new gameplay trailer for the outdoor survival simulator Open Country. The video highlights the environments to explore while hunting wildlife, as well as the dog companion that players can take on their journey.

The two-minute trailer is a narrated affair. The voice calls attention to some of Open Country’s features, such as the distinct personalities of each map and the behaviors of the “indigenous creatures” that react idiosyncratically to others. Players will make their way through the wildness using wits, bushcraft skills, and weapons to survive.

But the pièce de résistance of developer Funlabs’ outdoor hunting survival simulator is the friendly dog companion players can take on their excursions. The hunting dog, which is currently nameless, looks like a black Labrador and can complete all manner of tasks, from discovering animal tracks to obeying basic commands.

There are also various vehicles to aid in getting around Open Country’s vast wild, including snowmobiles, ATVs, and steamboats. Of course, animals will respond to the rumbling engine noises, so players will need to be careful when using them.

Open Country also features a character creator, some “broad series of story-based quests,” challenges like time trials and shooting ranges, and extension crafting and character progression. Open Country hits PC and Xbox One on June 3.

Halo developer 343 Industries has shared some images of a brand-new vehicle, weapon, and Brute enemy that are coming to Halo Infinite.

The new vehicle is called the Razorback, and it’s described in a blog post as the Warthog’s “more spacious and robust cousin.” According to 343, it’s “perfect for crashing Banished house parties with and taking on scenic drives.” You can see some concept art for it below.

It bears a resemblance to Halo’s iconic Warthog, but as is immediately obvious, there is no machine gun. In fact, it doesn’t look like it’s weaponized at all. It’s possible this is a vehicle purely for traversal, or perhaps this is just one variant of the Warthog. Either way, it looks great. Presumably it will be available both in campaign and multiplayer, as is often the case for Halo’s vehicles.

As for the new weapon, the Scrap Cannon is a Brute weapon that is “deadly and detachable,” according to 343. Its nickname early in development was “gatling mortar.” It’s at least the second new Brute weapon to be revealed for Halo Infinite, following the Skewer.

Finally, 343 showed off some concept art for two “Brute brothers” whom players will meet on their journey in Halo Infinite. 343 said they aren’t fans of Spartans, so it sounds like players will be fighting them in the campaign. Additionally, 343 teased that it will have more to share about other members of the evil Banished faction in the “coming months.

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A big news event for Halo Infinite is coming this summer, though Microsoft has yet to formally announce it. We’re also expecting to learn more about Halo Infinite’s beta plans. Recently, Microsoft’s Joseph Staten teased a potential new Halo Infinite trailer.

After a delay, Halo Infinite will release this holiday for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. It’s included on Game Pass, while the multiplayer element is free-to-play.

A new week means Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is getting new playlists, store bundles, and more. Perhaps the most notable new addition this week is the new 12v12 moshpit mode that’s coming to Black Ops Cold War. Activision detailed this week’s upcoming update in a Call of Duty blog post on May 10, and we’re highlighting some of the details here.

Black Ops Cold War New Playlists

Players can go for a more hectic experience as 12v12 matches will be playable on the standard 6v6 maps in Black Ops Cold War. This 24-player mode will become available in a moshpit of respawn game modes on Thursday, May 13.

A new Gunfight tournament will also start on May 13 with new exclusive rewards. As announced previously, the rewards from the previous tournaments will still be available to earn, you just need to replay and win the tournament bracket again to unlock the past rewards.

And the Party Games playlist will continue this week for those wanting to enjoy more Prop Hunt, Gun Game, and Sticks and Stones.

Black Ops Cold War And Warzone Store Bundles

If you’re looking to drop some cash on new cosmetics, the Tracer Pack: Antonov Operator bundle hits the store this week. The main feature of this bundle is the Legendary Meltdown Operator Skin. It will also include two Legendary Weapon Blueprints that boast nuclear tracer fire and dismemberment effects, a wrist accessory, weapon charm, animated emblem, animated calling card, and a vehicle skin.

Another new bundle, the Tracer Pack: Tropical, will come packed with three Legendary Weapon Blueprints. It also includes a tropical-themed finishing move, weapon charm, the calling card, and sticker.

The Drifter is a western-themed bundle of four items. It includes a tactical rifle blueprint, new reticle, Stone’s High Plains Operator Skin, and a calling card.

Finally, the Music Legend Mastercraft bundle is a pack of right items. This features Wolf’s Legendary Rockstar Operator Skin, the heavy metal-themed Ultra Shredder assault rifle Mastercraft, the Amped Up pistol blueprint, a weapon charm, vehicle skin, watch, and a calling card.

In other news, Activision is teasing the arrival of ’80s action heroes to Call of Duty: Warzone.

Activision’s Call of Duty: Warzone may soon be claiming your cell phone, as a recent job posting from the company on LinkedIn may have inadvertently revealed Call of Duty’s battle royale is coming to mobile devices.

The post–which has since been edited–originally mentioned both Call of Duty Mobile and Warzone as separate focuses for prospective applicants. “Teams are focused on Live Operations and content expansion across CoD Mobile and Warzone,” the post explained. “Our dev teams are dedicated to mobile and comprised of all major disciplines.”

An image of the original screenshot as posted by Charlie Intel is below:

The same post has been edited to say “teams are focused on Live Operations and content expansion across Call of Duty” instead of naming CoD Mobile or Warzone directly.

Call of Duty Mobile, the current mobile Call of Duty experience, does offer a battle royale mode in addition to other traditional multiplayer modes. The app just surpassed 500 million downloads and $1 billion in revenue for Activision since its October 2019 launch. Call of Duty: Warzone, meanwhile, has according to Activision “transformed” the Call of Duty franchise.

Capcom has revealed that it has hit record-high profits for the fourth consecutive year, with much of that success coming down to Monster Hunter Rise and Resident Evil 3 sales.

In a press release regarding its last fiscal year, Capcom announced net sales were up 16.8%, operating income was up 51.6%, ordinary income was up 51.8%, and net income to the parent company was up 56.3%.

The developer of franchises such as Devil May Cry, Monster Hunter, and Resident Evil attributed much of the success to new entries in core franchises like Monster Hunter Rise (which shipped 4 million copies in its first weekend alone) and the remake of Resident Evil 3. However, it also recognised the continued success of previously released games and expansions like Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, which have seen gamers jumping in retroactively, no doubt down to new entries in the franchise bringing in new players. It also cites strong sales for next-gen versions of games like Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition.

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Not only did this lead to the fourth consecutive year of record profits, but also the eighth consecutive year of operating income growth. Despite receiving the pandemic-related boost that many video game companies have shown in the past year, Capcom’s forecasting that it will beat its income and profit records again next year. That will clearly rely on the continuation of the company’s strategy of releasing a combination of new titles and providing post-launch support for existing games.

Capcom has clearly noticed the popularity of its games in Western markets, stating it saw “growth in overseas revenue due to realizing both expansion of its regional markets and longer product lives for its titles”. It also experienced strong results from digital promotion: “Capcom’s core Digital Contents business drove results with continued success in promoting digital sales”. This is likely a combination of the trend towards gamers purchasing more on digital storefronts, and also COVID-19 closing physical retail sites for much of the year.

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None of this is particularly surprising as Capcom’s games and franchises have been growing from strength to strength over the past few years. With Resident Evil Village launching last week, and upcoming games like The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin coming later this summer, the train shows no sign of slowing down just yet.

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Liam Wiseman is a Freelance News Writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @liamthewiseman