Activision has divulged details about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's multiplayer progression system. While it sounds fairly straightforward, developer Infinity Ward has implemented a new way to rank up.The publisher shared a blog post outlining how player progression works when Modern Warfare launches on October 25 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Modern Warfare will feature two progression tracks: Enlisted and Officer ranks.Gaining experience--by completing weapon camo challenges, multiplayer matches, special operations and missions, daily challenges, and challenge missions--will increase your Enlisted rank. There are 55 Enlisted ranks to reach, each unlocking new weapons, equipment, perks, field upgrades, and killstreaks. Like previous Call of Duty titles, loadout options are limited until reaching Private IV (Rank 4), which unlocks the customizable loadout feature.Modern Warfare will feature a brand-new seasonal Officer ranking system. Tied to new seasons, the Officer progression track comes with 100 ranks to go through. A weapon blueprint is unlocked when you reach Officer Rank 1, and each level unlocks a special Officer Challenge. These challenges reward with plenty of experience but also a special Seasonal Ribbon upon completion. Earning 10 ribbons unlocks a special Season Emblem, with every 10 levels changing that emblem. You earn an animated emblem after collecting all 100 ribbons; doing so also nets you another weapon blueprint.Officer ranks reset with each season, but the achievements, cosmetics, and rewards are unlocked permanently. Enlisted ranks never reset.Preloading for Modern Warfare is not available on PS4 and Xbox One. PC players will have to wait until October 22.Activision has laid out its post-launch plans for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, confirming that the first-person shooter will use a battle pass to release additional content. This follows Infinity Ward's Joel Emslie opting to not implement loot boxes in Modern Warfare.Info from Gamespot.com

Bill Murray's return to the Zombieland franchise with the just-released sequel, Zombieland: Double Tap, hasn't been a secret since the esteemed comedian appeared in a trailer for the movie earlier in October. What remained mysterious, however, is how Murray's return would be explained, since he was pretty definitively killed in the original when Columbus shot him point blank in the chest, he spent a lengthy scene bleeding out, and the gang dropped his corpse off a balcony. If the buckshot hadn't done for him, the fall certainly would have.If you haven't seen Zombieland 2 yet and don't want to be spoiled on how Bill Murray comes back, stop reading now. This is your last spoiler warning.Given the events of the first film that we just described, Murray appears only in a flashback. That's not surprising, since Zombieland features plenty of those--usually to flesh out what the characters were like pre-apocalypse. But if you went into this movie waiting for the Bill Murray flashback the whole time, you probably felt pretty confused once the credits started rolling. Luckily, Zombieland 2 has one last surprise after that point.As Columbus explains shortly after the credits begin, he feels bad about killing the legendary actor in the first Zombieland--which Rosario Dawson's character Nevada reminded him of so poignantly in the sequel--so he's showing us this flashback to the day the apocalypse began to make up for it.The post-credits scene shows Bill Murray at a press junket for Garfield 3: Flabby Tabby, a fictional third Murray-starring Garfield movie, when all hell breaks loose. It features cameos from several real entertainment journalists, some zombie-killing action from Murray, and even the famed Garfield line "I hate Mondays." At the end of the credits, there's one more snippet, this time of Murray coughing up a hairball in Spanish (however that works).This credits stinger doesn't tell us how or why Zombieland's outbreak began, but it does convey one important fact: Bill Murray is apparently always down to keep making fun of Garfield (recall his death scene in the original, when he told Little Rock that his one regret is doing the franchise). During a recent interview, Zombieland 1 and 2's writers, Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, told GameSpot that that all comes from Murray."We never would have had the guts to make fun of Garfield, because that's a project of his, not ours. You would never do that," Reese said. The writers explained that when Little Rock asked Murray if he had any regrets in the original, Murray spent several takes ad-libbing different lines. "And he said, 'Garfield,' and of course it became one of the funniest lines in the movie," Reese continued. Reese and Wernick have been working on Double Tap's script for years, which means it's gone through plenty of changes. Originally, they wrote an extended Ghostbusters gag for the sequel's credits scene. In that version, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson take Bill Murray golfing in order to convince him to do Ghostbusters 3."And then Dan Aykroyd of course throws up and becomes a zombie and attacks Bill, and they're hitting each other with golf clubs, and the golf cart's going into the lake," Reese described. Of course, Harold Ramis died in 2014, and now there really is a new Ghostbusters movie featuring Aykroyd and Hudson--and possibly Murray as well."Time passing can kill jokes quicker than anything," Reese said.So they decided to pivot to Garfield instead, since Murray had set it up in the first film. "So without knowing [whether Murray would be into it], we wrote it and sent it to him, and he did get a kick out of it," Reese recalled."Our movies have become therapy for actors who have done projects that they wish they hadn't," Wernick added. The duo also co-wrote Deadpool 2, which features a post-credits stinger showing Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool going back in time and shooting himself in the head before Green Lantern could ever be made--which they contend was Reynolds' idea."We would never presume," Reese said. "The last thing you are going to do is go to Ryan and be like, 'Hey, let's make fun of Green Lantern.'""Although, once he opened those doors, we dove through," Wernick added. Reese and Wernick are also working on Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman's Clue reboot, for which they said they've written a gag dunking on one of their own previous films, 2013's G.I. Joe: Retaliation.The writers said they had some reservations way back around 2009 when it came time to decide whether they'd kill Bill Murray in the original Zombieland."We thought, well, one, there was concern, if the movie is a success, you can't bring him back. And two, we thought, does it really bring the audience down at a point where we don't want them to go, 'Oh, my God, you actually killed Bill Murray, what a buzzkill,'" Wernick recalled. "But ultimately I think story-wise it worked best and made it the most fun.""And there's nothing funnier than a death scene to us," Reese chimed in. "And the fact that we've got one with Bill Murray and one with Ryan Reynolds, who we consider to be the two funniest actors on Earth--it has been a true pleasure watching those guys die onscreen."For his part, Zombieland 1 and 2 director Ruben Fleischer--who also directed last year's Venom--said he remembers Murray's death being the biggest laugh in the whole movie."When the first movie came out, I'd go see it in public theaters, and I'd go and sit in the front row and watch the audience at that moment," Fleischer said. "I would just go to the front, at that time, knowing what was going to happen. I wouldn't watch the screen, I'd watch the audience, because they just couldn't believe that it happened. So I have no regrets, because it was such a great moment from the first film."And Murray's return to the franchise is undoubtedly a great moment in the second. Zombieland Double Tap is in theaters now. For more, check out our Zombieland 2 review, not to mention our explanation of how much time has passed in between movies.Info from Gamespot.com

Venom 2 is moving forward and beginning to cast for the 2020 film. Recently, it was revealed that Carnage wouldn't be the only villain for the sequel, and now, Sony is eyeing someone for the role of Shriek.And the actor in question is Naomi Harris, according to Variety. The 28 Days Later and Spectre star is reportedly in talks to jump aboard Sony's franchise based on Marvel Comics characters. If she signs on, Harris would be joining the returning Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock/Venom, Michelle Williams as Anne Weying, and Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasaday--who will more than likely be showing up as Carnage.Andy Serkis will be directing, and Venom 1's Kelly Marcel will be writing and executive producing the sequel as well.Venom 2 is headed to theaters on October 2, 2020, and principal photography begins next year. There hasn't been any details on the specific plot yet as, as it's still early in production. However, the comic book story Maximum Carnage follows Kasaday--bonded with the Carnage symbiote--escaping from a maximum security prison alongside Shriek, creating a family of murders. Alongside other Spider-Man villains like Doppelganger, Demogoblin, and Carrion, the family goes on a killing spree, and it's up to Spider-Man, Venom, and other Marvel heroes to stop them.Don't expect Tom Holland's Spider-Man to pop into this movie though, as Sony and Marvel both worked out a deal to keep the webslinger in the MCU, for now. Hopefully, Hardy's Venom gets some help along the way. Considering Sony is currently making a Morbius movie starring Jared Leto, maybe the living vampire and Venom could team up. Info from Gamespot.com

Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reboot is only a week away. The anticipated shooter releases for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on October 25, and if you're eager to play the game as soon as it drops, preloading has already begun on consoles, with PC following on Tuesday.Activision shared preloading details for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare on its official website. Players in North America and Europe who've pre-purchased the game digitally on PS4 can now download it, while those in Japan and Asia will be able to beginning Saturday, October 19. Preloading for the Xbox One version, meanwhile, is now live in all regions.As previously mentioned, PC players will get a chance to preload Modern Warfare via Battle.net a few days later, starting October 22. The game officially goes live on the platform at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET on October 24. Activision shared the following map that shows what time Modern Warfare officially launches in each region. Call of Duty News Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare Special Ops Mode Returns Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare Pre-Order Guide Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare PC Specs Revealed On Blizzard Battle.net As for what time PS4 and Xbox One players can start playing, the Modern Warfare site says to "consult your console dashboard for accurate launch times in your region." If you've yet to secure a copy, you can read more about the game's various editions in our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare pre-order guide.Ahead of Modern Warfare's launch, Activision recently shared details on the game's post-release content. As the publisher previously confirmed, Modern Warfare will not have loot boxes; instead, the game will use seasonal battle passes much like Fortnite. The pass will offer a free content stream and a premium one; the former will let you unlock anything that has an impact on gameplay, like weapons, while the latter will feature vanity items like unique cosmetics.Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare PC Unlock Times6 PM PT (October 24)9 PM ET (October 24)2 AM BST (October 25)12 PM AEDT (October 25)Info from Gamespot.com

Ahead of the release of One Piece: Stampede, Funimation has shared an exclusive clip from the movie with GameSpot. One Piece: Stampede has already premiered in Japan and is scheduled to hit US theaters this October. The movie celebrates One Piece's 20 years of history.In the clip above, the motley Straw Hat Crew pull out all the stops during one of the competitions during the Pirate's World Fair--much to the chagrin of their assortment of rivals. The World Fair acts as an expo for pirates, attracting all kinds from around the world to join in one massive treasure hunt that's divided into several different types of obstacles and competitions for the participants to overcome.For those unfamiliar, One Piece is one of the biggest shonen manga and anime in the world. If you read manga or watch anime, there's a good chance you can at least identify a few of One Piece's cast of memorable characters, whether it's the good-natured Luffy, swordsman Zoro, navigator Nami or one of the other Straw Hat pirates or their numerous allies.One Piece manga debuted in July 1997 and is still going--winning the award for best selling manga for the eleventh year in a row in 2018. Its story is so popular, many people cite One Piece alongside Naruto and Dragon Ball as the trigger for shonen anime's surge of popularity outside Japan during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Its story follows Monkey D. Luffy, a pirate captain and lovable idiot whose body possesses the same properties of rubber. Luffy dreams of one day finding the One Piece, a treasure so legendary that claiming it would make him the next King of the Pirates.One Piece: Stampede comes to US theaters on October 24 and showings in both the original Japanese and English dub will continue through to October 31.Info from Gamespot.com

Blizzard's controversial decision to punish a professional Hearthstone player for expressing support for Hong Kong protests in a post-match interview already received widespread outcry from several sources, including members of Congress. Now five sitting Senators and Representatives have taken a new step, penning a joint bipartisan letter to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick urging the company to reconsider.The letter from the office of Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) was co-signed by Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), as well as House of Representatives members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Mike Gallagher (R-WI), and Tom Malinowski (D-NJ). The letter is dated October 18, well after Blizzard partially reversed its punishment against the player, Ng Wai Chung aka Blitzchung. Notably, the letter references the initial punishment rather than the revised one."As China amplifies its campaign of intimidation, you and your company must decide whether to look beyond the bottom line and promote American values--like freedom of speech and thought--or to give in to Beijing's demands in order to preserve market access," the letter states. "We urge you in the strongest terms to reconsider your decision with respect to Mr. Chung. You have the opportunity to reverse course. We urge you to take it."You can read the letter in full below.The controversy began when Chung spoke out in support of the Hong Kong protesters during a post-match interview. He was subsequently stripped of his $10,000 in winnings and banned from competitive play for a year. This quickly received backlash, with many interpreting the move as conceding to China's market pressure. In a revised ruling, Blizzard returned the prize money and reduced the ban to six months. Blizzard also stated that it was not punishing Chung for speaking out on Hong Kong specifically.Since then, Blizzard has also banned a team that protested in solidarity, giving them equal punishment to Blitzchung. That appeared meant to resolve their criticism that they were not given equal punishment for the same offense. Gamers have also called for boycotts of Blizzard's other games and a protest at BlizzCon, and the company cancelled a planned Overwatch launch event at the Nintendo World Store. BlizzCon protest organizers say that despite the company's revised punishment, plans for the demonstration are still on.GameSpot has contacted Activision for comment.Dear Mr. Kotick:We write to express our deep concern about Activision Blizzard's decision to make player Ng Wai Chung forfeit prize money and ban him from participating in tournaments for a year after he voiced support for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. This decision is particularly concerning in light of the Chinese government's growing appetite for pressuring American businesses to help stifle free speech.Activision Blizzard benefits from China's growing market for e-sports, along with an investment from Tencent, one of China's largest technology firms. As you and your company are no doubt aware, the Chinese government uses the size and strength of its economy to suppress opinions with which it disagrees. Last week alone, the Chinese government targeted Apple for hosting an app to help peaceful demonstrators evade repression and the National Basketball Association because one team's general manager tweeted in support of Hong Kong protests.Your company claims to stand by "one's right to express individual thoughts and opinions," yet many of your own employees believe that Activision Blizzard's decision to punish Mr. Chung runs counter to those values. Because your company is such a pillar of the gaming industry, your disappointing decision could have a chilling effect on gamers who seek to use their platform to promote human rights and basic freedoms. Indeed, many gamers around the world have taken notice of your company's actions, understandably calling for boycotts of Activision Blizzard gaming sites.As China amplifies its campaign of intimidation, you and your company must decide whether to look beyond the bottom line and promote American values--like freedom of speech and thought--or to give into Beijing's demands in order to preserve market access. We urge you in the strongest terms to reconsider your decision with respect to Mr. Chung. You have the opportunity to reverse course. We urge you to take it.Sincerely,Ron WydenUnited States SenatorMarco RubioUnited States SenatorAlexandria Ocasio-CortezMember of CongressMike GallagherMember of CongressTom MalinowskiMember of CongressInfo from Gamespot.com

Disney+ is less than a month away and, thus far, its marketing strategy has been anything but subtle, from a massive roster of original programming to mile-long twitter threads featuring everything available on the streaming service at launch. And, in the interest of continuing that trend, they've taken it one step further by compiling a massive three-plus hour long trailer for everything ready to watch on the service on day one.If you've got nothing to do today and a vested interest in what you're going to be doing on November 12th, take a look at it here.To really put it in perspective, this trailer is longer than Avengers: Endgame, Titanic, and Braveheart. Of course, the major caveat here is that the list presented is specifically for the US arm of Disney+ so folks outside of the country may or may not be seeing the same offerings at the same time. The clips are all in roughly chronological order as well, meaning they start out back in the 30s and progressively get more modern before ending on some of the upcoming original streaming series like Lady & The Tramp, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and of course, The Mandalorian.If you want to get in on the action, expect to pay $7 a month for the service, with some year-long bundles available as well.Disney+ launches on November 12. Info from Gamespot.com

Despite Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order utilizing a "thoughtful" combat system similar to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Respawn does not want for the game to utilize From Software's traditional one difficulty formula. Instead, Fallen Order has four difficulty levels, and you can switch between them at any point in the game to create your ideal experience."What we needed to get right first was the lightsaber," Fallen Order lead level designer Jeff Magers said, according to PC Gamer. "A lightsaber is, for me at least, the most exciting thing in the Star Wars universe, and it's kind of the dream to make a lightsaber game. So we really wanted to nail that lightsaber combat first, which to us meant making it feel like [the] powerful dangerous weapon it is. So we started with a Stormtrooper taking one hit, which is difficult in a melee game because a lot of times what feels good in a melee game is hitting a character multiple times."In Fallen Order, some enemies can dodge or deflect your attacks, forcing you to swing at enemies multiple times. But regardless of the difficulty, one clean slice will always kill a Stormtrooper. Changing the in-game difficulty will adjust how enemies behave--not give them more health. It's not a game-changing concept, but it's still exciting to play."So one of our core tenants of the difficulty tuning was not changing the number of hit points enemies have based on difficulty," Magers said. "On Grandmaster, you can still kill a Stormtrooper in one hit. What we're tuning is the enemy aggression. We're tuning the size of the parry window, the difficulty of these abilities to pull off. There's a really rewarding mastery loop in those higher difficulties."On the Story difficulty, Cal takes little damage, you have plenty of time to parry, and enemies aren't all that aggressive--even if their personality dictates they're a confident trooper. Go to Jedi Knight and the parry window doesn't change, but Cal takes more damage and enemies are more aggressive. Jedi Master is where you finally see a bump up in terms of the parry window. Jedi Grandmaster sees boosts to all three categories, forcing you to perfectly time your parries for any chance of holding your own in the fights against highly aggressive enemies that do large amounts of damage.If you want to pre-order Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, you have less than a month to do so. The game has officially gone gold, so it's on track to release for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on November 15.Info from Gamespot.com

Alongside details of how multiplayer progression works, publisher Activision has outlined Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's weapon unlock system. Players will be able to unlock attachments, camouflages, and more when the first-person shooter arrives on October 25 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.The publisher shared a blog post explaining Modern Warfaren's weapon progression. Each weapon will allegedly have 50 attachments to unlock and over 100 camo patterns to earn.Leveling up a weapon requires that you get kills with it equipped. Each level rewards you with a new attachment, camouflage, or perk for that weapon. All of these and more can be equipped at the Gunsmith.The base camouflage for a weapon is unlocked by leveling it up and earning other camos. Various camo challenges will become available upon getting the base camo, letting you acquire "a set of colorful and cool-looking skins within a camo set" for that specific weapon. Additionally, camo unlocks net you experience. Call of Duty News Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare Special Ops Mode Returns Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare Pre-Order Guide Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare PC Specs Revealed On Blizzard Battle.net Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is just a week from launch. Preloading on PS4 and Xbox One is now available, but PC players will have to wait until next week to install the Modern Warfare reboot early.Info from Gamespot.com

Ubisoft is celebrating The Division 2's Episode 2 arrival by offering a free-to-play weekend through Sunday, October 20 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. To take part in the fun on Xbox One, you need an Xbox Live Gold or Game Pass Ultimate subscription. PS4 players don't need an active PlayStation Plus subscription, though. PC users can download the free trial at either the Epic Games Store or Uplay Store. During the free weekend, The Division 2 is also on sale at the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, Uplay Store, and Epic Games Store.Episode 2 adds three new endgame missions to The Division 2's story. It's available now for Year 1 Pass owners, but it won't be live for all players until October 22. That means if you improbably marathoned the campaign during the free weekend, you wouldn't be able to play the missions added in Episode 2. But if you like what you play, you can pick up any of the three editions of The Division 2 for a great price. Xbox OneThe Division 2 -- $21 ($60)The Division 2 Gold Edition -- $30 ($100)The Division 2 Ultimate Edition -- $36 ($120)PlayStation 4The Division 2 -- $27 ($60)The Division 2 Gold Edition -- $40 ($100)The Division 2 Ultimate Edition -- $48 ($120)PCThe Division 2 -- $21 ($60)The Division 2 Gold Edition -- $30 ($100)The Division 2 Ultimate Edition -- $36 ($120)On Xbox One, the free weekend is part of Microsoft's Free Play Days. If you're an Xbox Live Gold or Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, you can also play a pair of 4X strategy games, Stellaris and Age of Wonders: Planetfall, for free this weekend and get discounts on each game should you choose to buy them. Age of Wonders: Planetfall is $40 (was $50), and Stellaris is $28 (was $40).See Stellaris: Console Edition at Microsoft StoreSee Age of Wonders: Planetfall at Microsoft Store Info from Gamespot.com

Destiny 2's Season of the Undying continues to unfold week by week, and more new content is on its way with the next weekly reset. We're seeing the toughest waves of the Shadowkeep expansion's Nightmare Hunt activity showing up, as well as a new quest for a rare and unique Exotic weapon: Leviathan's Breath.Bungie detailed the first month of live content in Shadowkeep and the Season of the Undying on its content calendar, which includes Nightmare Hunts; a new dungeon; the upcoming Halloween event, Festival of the Lost; and the Final Assault portion of the Vex Offensive activity. As Bungie noted in its latest This Week at Bungie blog post, the Leviathan's Breath quest becomes available on October 22, kicked off by visiting Banshee-44 in the Tower.We already know a little about what to expect from Leviathan's Breath. The Exotic weapon is a Void bow that uses Heavy ammo. It's capable of firing heavy bolt that can stagger unshielded enemies. When the bow is fully drawn, it also creates a concussive blast that knocks back enemies. Destiny 2 Recent News Where Is Xur Today? Destiny 2 Exotic Location, Weapon, Armor (October 18-22) Destiny 2 Iron Banner: Scour The Rust Quest Steps For New Armor Destiny 2 Divinity Exotic Guide: How To Get New Shadowkeep Raid Trace Rifle Destiny 2 Shadowkeep Raid Guide: How To Beat The Garden Of Salvation Destiny 2 Shadowkeep: How To Power Above 900 And Get Raid Ready It's not clear what the Exotic quest will require players to do, although the name Leviathan's Breath suggests it's related to Cabal Emperor Calus. If recent quests are any indication, it'll probably include several steps--including one or two specific missions. The mission is only available if you've purchased the season pass for the Season of the Undying, though. It was included with Shadowkeep, but if you're playing the free-to-play New Light version of Destiny 2, you're out of luck for Leviathan's Breath.We'll have a full guide for Leviathan's Breath after it releases with Tuesday's weekly reset. In the meantime, there are more Exotic weapons to track down in Shadowkeep and the Season of the Undying. Those are Deathbringer, a Hive-themed rocket launcher that works more like a mortar, and Divinity, the Garden of Salvation Raid trace rifle that includes a lot of puzzle-solving.Info from Gamespot.com

This year's horror movie Crawl followed a woman trying to escape her home during a hurricane while being hunted by alligators. On the DVD of the film, there is an alternate opening, which is great, but ruins the build towards the second act.The Blu-ray and digital release of the film contains an alternate opening that was never filmed, which features an introduction from director Alexandre Aja. It opens with facts about alligator attacks as a segway into a motion comic version of the alternate opening. It follows a family packing up, trying to stay ahead of the hurricane descending on their state. Eventually, the family gets trapped in rising waters, and the husband gets out to help move a car trapped in the road. An alligator attacks, brutally maiming and killing the father and eventually, the rest of the family.Crawl's theatrical release opens with Haley (Kaya Scodelario) at a swim meet in college, flashing back to the lessons her father taught her as a child. She then ventures to her hometown to check on her father during a category 5 hurricane. It's a bit of a build towards the eventual threat the protagonists face, giant alligators.While the motion comic is extremely cool, it was thankfully never the opening to the theatrical release of the movie. What makes Crawl such a successful and fun horror film is the slow build and rising tension as Haley and her father are trapped in their house. You know there's an eventual threat looming down the road, and the choice to exclude alligators from the first act entirely makes the monster's reveal oh so much more satisfying.Crawl on Blu-ray$40 $22See on AmazonIn GameSpot's review of Crawl, Rafael Motamayor said, "Crawl's brisk runtime of just under 90 minutes helps make it the perfect antidote for this summer of overly long movies, as Alexandre Aja delivers a throwback to the heyday of aquatic horror movies that can do for lakehouses in Florida what Jaws did for beaches. Just make sure you know what you're getting yourself into."Crawl is available now digitally and on Blu-ray and DVD.The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.Info from Gamespot.com

Dear Bethesda,At E3 2018 you revealed that you're making Elder Scrolls VI, a new entry in the much loved Skyrim line of video game product. You showed us next to nothing, but everyone still lost their dang minds. And who could blame them? The *NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ACTUAL GAME* trailer gave fans a brief look at a world they have so much invested in. The rousing orchestral rendition of the Elder Scrolls theme conjured memories of their fondest times with the franchise: filling a room full of cheese wheels, talking to a dog, turning dragons into Macho Man Randy Savage.What we do know about it comes from Todd Howard himself, and it's that it's probably going to be some time until the game is ready for us to play. Howard said it's "not coming anytime soon" and, "I don't even know what the world is going to be like when it comes out."It might look more like Fallout if we're not careful, am I right folks?Anyway, it's clear the game is still early in development, which means this is the perfect time for us, the gamers--the fans--to get our requests in ... Because that's definitely how game development works.My request is a simple one and it involves including a character that has become critical to fantasy fiction. A figure that transcends intellectual properties and franchises to become part of the tapestry of the genre, as necessary as swords and shields, magic and mysticism, small cheese wheels and big cheese wheels. I am, of course, talking about the great and powerful Potion Seller.For those who aren't keeping up with all the modern greats in the fantasy genre, Potion Seller is a character created by Justin Kuritzkes for his magnum opus, a seminal piece of fantasy fiction titled, "Double U, Double U, Double U Dot YouTube Dot Com Forward Slash Watch Question Mark V Equals R Underscore FQU4KzN7A." The beloved story focuses on a single conversation between a knight and a merchant selling potions.Although the scale of the story may be small, what it depicts is still impactful. The knight, preparing to go into battle, asks for the Potion Seller's "strongest potions," to which the Potion Seller responds by rebuking his request. His potions, as it turns out, are too strong for the knight, according to the seller, and thus the knight would not be able to handle them.The knight, exerting whatever authority he has, attempts to press on, demanding that the Potion Seller give him his "strongest potions" once again. "My strongest potions will kill you, traveler, you can't handle my strongest potions," he replies. In this moment, the message behind the story becomes clear. You see, in the eyes of the Potion Seller, the knight is just another person, a "traveler." Whatever accolades the knight has gathered in battle thus far are not important, for the seller, the power of his potions are all that matter and it is his responsibility to ensure that they are only given to those he has confidence in ... for their own good."YOU BETTER GO TO A SELLER THAT SELLS WEAKER POTIONS," says Potion Seller, attempting to make the knight see sense.The knight, taken back by the Potion Sellers unwavering morals and values, arrogantly asserts himself once again. "I'm telling you right now," he begins, "I'm going into battle, and I need only your strongest potions." The arrogance of the knight becomes clear. This is a story about hubris and how it can be the undoing of even the most self-assured heroes."MY STRONGEST POTIONS WOULD KILL A DRAGON, LET ALONE A MAN," the Potion Seller clapeth back. "YOU NEED A SELLER, THAT SELLS WEAKER POTIONS ... because my potions ARE TOO STRONG." The knight's desperate pleas are cast aside, "YOU CAN'T HANDLE MY STRONGEST POTIONS. NO ONE CAN!!!!!!!! MY STRONGEST POTIONS ARE FIT FOR A BEAST LET ALONE A MAN."In this moment, it becomes clear that "Double U, Double U, Double U Dot YouTube Dot Com Forward Slash Watch Question Mark V Equals R Underscore FQU4KzN7A" is also the story of how those that the masses would dismiss as a lowly member of society--a mere potion seller--can wield strength even greater than champions of the realm.He may be branded "a rascal with no respect for knights" but, ultimately, the Potion Seller stuck to his convictions. He respected the power of his potions and, in the face of a would-be hero, he stuck up for himself, begging the question: Who was the real hero?Answer: It's the Potion SellerIn The Elder Scrolls VI, whatever it may become, players will inevitably be cast as the hero and go on a journey to save the lands, untangle political turmoil, and become a legendary figure for the peoples of the lands to sing songs about and deify. But there's also an opportunity to make the little characters count, to remind adventurers that, while they may be on a quest to decide the fates of many, others have their own destinies, be it collecting wheels of cheese or choosing who to sell potions to.And who better to remind people about this than arguably the most important representation of the little-guy-standing-up-for-himself fantasy archetype, the Potion Seller. He deserves to be in The Elder Scrolls VI. He is too important to fantasy fiction not to be. To that end, we at GameSpot have created a petition to urge Bethesda to reach out to acclaimed author Justin Kuritzkes and bring Potion Seller to The Elder Scrolls VI. Please sign and support this noble cause.Thank you,GameSpot's Very Online Staff MembersInfo from Gamespot.com

Ready your spells because it's time for a new type of battle royale. To celebrate the arrival of the closed beta for Spellbreak, we joined forces with developer Proletariat so 1,000 readers can get a chance to see which player has the best magic gauntlet.To enter the giveaway you just have to read the official rules, accept the terms and conditions and fill out the form below. If you have trouble seeing the form on your mobile device, please use this link.Remember to check your email on Oct. 25 at 9 a.m. PT because we will be emailing the code directly to the winners.Head out to the comments section and let us know which element-type magic you would choose to play the game. Good luck, everyone!Info from Gamespot.com

On this week's episode of the GameSpot After Dark podcast Jake, Lucy, and Tamoor are joined by Mary Kish, former GameSpot staff member, current Twitch employee, and all-around amazing streamer. The gang talks about the latest happenings in the world of video games, which includes the great Fortnite downtime of 2019. They also talk about their impression of Overwatch and The Witcher 3 Switch, as well as Disco Elysium, and Outer Wilds. Also, butt cheeks.Where You Can ListenRSS FeedSpotifySoundcloudiTunesGoogle Play Night Night, FortniteTamoor: For people who don't know, it was Fortnite; season 10 finished. They ended the world of Fortnite as we know it by sucking everything into a black hole, and then for around a day it was just that black hole.Mary: The servers went down. If you started the game up, it allowed you to uninstall or quit, which was really shocking for a bunch of 12-year-olds, without a doubt.Lucy: I'm trying to think what the equivalent of that was when I was a kid. Oh, Sims expansion packs would get to like 75% install, and then just break. Or, you could install a Sims expansion pack and you would load up the game, and the Sims would all just be completely still and not move. That's the only frame of reference I have for wanting to play a game so badly and the game not cooperating, that I freaked out.Tamoor: Losing internet connection when your mp3 download is at 97%.Lucy: Oh, it's when your friend used to send you songs that they downloaded from iTunes, and then you open it on your computer and it says, "You need the iTunes password of the person who bought it," and then they wouldn't give it to you.Mary: It's like being fairly through a game and then losing your save file.Tamoor: But that happened and people freaked out-understandably, in some regard.Lucy: What a PR move, though. I mean, that's nuts.Tamoor: It was, considering... I won't quote it, but that game, some people have broken down how much that game makes on a day-by-day basis, and it is more money than we could ever earn in three lifetimes combined. People have obviously invested a lot of time into that game, a lot of money into that game, and they freaked out when it happened.Mary: They asked for their money back.Tamoor: Yeah. I think the thing that I struggle with is, it's very obviously not going away. Kids aren't going to be like, "Oh."Lucy: Kids don't understand that, no.Tamoor: Kids won't understand that, but my hope would have been a parent would have gone, "It's not going away. Relax. It'll be back. It'll be all right."Mary: I thought it was funny to watch them freak out.Tamoor: I was like, "Oh, it's a brief respite from Fortnite."Lucy: Not having to write new stories about Fortnite.Tamoor: Yeah, because honestly, perhaps I shouldn't say this, but I wrote through half of a story, which was basically about: this season has given me something I've wanted for so long, and that is an undeniable opportunity to not think about Fortnite for a while.Because the reality of the situation is, wherever you are, there's a whole group of people out there that has to think about Fortnite [constantly]. On our side, we write about it and make videos about it, and it's... You can be like, "Oh, you don't have to write about it." Well, yeah you're right, we don't have to write about it. But then also, we're giving up a lot of-Mary: SEO juice.Tamoor: ... SEO juice, traffic. That sounds really cynical, but the way I see it is: Yeah, I will happily write about Fortnite until the cows come home because that traffic is what gives everyone else the opportunity to follow a passion project, and to make a video that probably won't do as good numbers as a Fortnite video would, but it's something they care about.Mary: Jumping on that Fortnite grenade for your peers?Tamoor: Yeah, exactly. It's like some of the freedom to do that is afforded by what covering Fortnite does. That's one side of it, but then if you're a streamer... I was watching a streamer go through the transition process from one season to Chapter 2, which is what it is now, and those streamers have to be on all the time. If they have to play Fortnite all the time, their lives are consumed by Fortnite. I guarantee-Mary: They get burnt out.Tamoor: Yeah, I guarantee you there's probably a few that are like, "Man, I don't have to think about Fortnite. Nothing's going to happen for at least 48 hours or 24 hours." I imagine there's some brief respite there, and even for people who work in marketing and various other ancillary industries that feed into Fortnite, it's something like... It was a break, right?Mary: Yeah. Fortnite is a machine, and you're 100% [right] that streamers go through burnout just like writers or any other trade where they genuinely want to do something else. But you have to understand that especially a full-time streamer, someone who's made a living out of it, they're not just really good at video games, they're gamifying their lives; they know that playing Fortnite min/maxes their chances at getting more subs, more donations, and more viewers. If you want to take that seriously and grow your channel, you play what is hot; you play the number one game, and the number one game for so long has been Fortnite and you cannot stop this. If you're trying to grow, you have to play Fortnite, and that is exhausting for a streamer who is craving something new.Tamoor: The interesting discussion is whether Epic is aware of that. They're aware of the fact that they have an industry, or they have this massive group of people who are either relying on the economy that Fortnite has created within the game and within streaming as a whole. They know that there are established people, there are people who are halfway there, there are people who are a quarter-way there, and there are people who are just starting there.What are the realities of taking that game offline? It might serve them a purpose, but how much responsibility do they have to think about those people? I don't have the answer to that. As well as saying that, I bet you there are loads of Fortnite player-streamers that are probably like, "Oh, thank God I don't have to think about Fortnite."Mary: You just play the next biggest thing. You just, now you're Apex Man.Tamoor: Exactly, but also it's... You have to do your due diligence and say there's also... there are Fortnite streamers there that were like, "Oh, God, it's gone for a day. What do I do?"Mary: Right. It's probably both. I think it's probably more relief than it is stress. I also think that, at the end of the day, we all know that the money machine, the million-dollar whale isn't going to go away forever. There was no one who probably looked at that black hole, besides maybe a couple of youths, that were like, "It's never coming back." We all knew that it would come back, it was just a matter of time. But it is interesting to think about what a streamer would do if their cash cow, or the game that they play that everyone expects them to play is no longer around.Jake: I might be getting the streamer wrong, but didn't... I think summit1g, he was playing a lot of Fortnite because that's what was big. Then finally, he had a breaking one day and he's like, "I can't play this game anymore." Then he switched to Sea of Thieves, and that was part of the reason why Sea of Thieves had that up-trend for a while there. Because he was just so tired of it, and he's like, "I don't care. I don't care if I don't get any viewers. I don't care if I lose most of my viewers. I cannot play more of this game, I am so burnt out."I don't know if things have changed since then; maybe he's back on Fortnite, maybe not, I don't really keep up with that kind of stuff. But I found that story super fascinating, and also just kind of inspiring because you hear about that a lot, streamers burning out on the games they're known for. It was kind of cool to hear someone who was just like, "You know, I'm just going to play what I want."Mary: I'm going to play something I want.Jake: Maybe it won't work out. He's probably in the minority in the fact that, first of all, he was already pretty big so even that-Mary: He can afford to. That's the story you don't hear, is that he can afford to do it. We also have really large streamers that for whatever reason, like xQc today was like, "I'm going to play Poly Bridge." And you know what? He had 20,000 people watching him play Poly Bridge, and that probably really helped the devs of Poly Bridge and that's rad, but he can afford to.What you don't see are all the people who are trying to get at that level that have to play the main games, and I think that's that, as a company, we even are trying to encourage people to take a break from. It's just very difficult to tell someone who's trying to make it to also play what they want, and the statistics don't lie.Tamoor: Because I wasn't playing the game but I was writing about the game and covering it, I wanted to find someone who would focus on what was happening but also had a decent community around there. Watching this person was like, this person clearly at some point cared about this game and enjoyed this game; but it was this weird situation where it seemed like he was an auto-pilot, where the basic function of his existence was to entertain. But that meant he was playing the game, and any time someone said a word he would take it, process it and try to make it somehow entertaining.There was a lady on the other side talking just normal things like, "I'm going to get breakfast," and then he'd be playing and sing, "Breakfaaaaaaaaast." It's like, this person's just taking external stimuli and [automatically trying to turn] it into something even remotely engaging. I was watching it and I was like, "I feel so bad for this person." it was simple things like someone would ask him a question and he'd be singing the question back and then going, "Oh, I need to answer this question." And external stimuli like, "Oh, man, can see the shaking?" And like, "My phone's ringing. Oh, isn't that cool? The alarm is going off on my phone, isn't that weird?" And you're like, "No, dude. You don't have to turn every moment of your existence into entertainment."Mary: Content, yeah.Tamoor: That's the scary part of it. But then this person reached 200k viewers and I was like, "I guess that's what it's all there for."Lucy: But at what cost?Tamoor: Yeah, but at what cost? It was just like, oh, man. Fortnite is just a weird, sticky subject that-Mary: It is.Tamoor: For as much good as it does, it does a lot of things are questionable.Info from Gamespot.com