The idea of what the Super Smash Bros. games are, and what they can be, has been different things during the series' 20-year history. What began as an accessible multiplayer game also became a highly competitive one-on-one game. But it's also been noted for having a comprehensive single-player adventure, as well as becoming a sort of virtual museum catalog, exhibiting knowledge and audiovisual artifacts from the histories of its increasingly diverse crossover cast. Ultimate embraces all these aspects, and each has been notably refined, added to, and improved for the better. Everyone, and basically everything, from previous games is here--all existing characters, nearly all existing stages, along with the flexibility to play and enjoy those things in different ways. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a comprehensive, considered, and charming package that builds on an already strong and enduring fighting system.If you've ever spent time with a Smash game, then you likely have a good idea of how Ultimate works. Competing players deal damage to their opponents in order to more easily knock them off the stage. The controls remain relatively approachable for a competitive combat game; three different buttons in tandem with basic directional movements are all you need to access a character's variety of attacks and special abilities. There are a large variety of items and power-ups to mix things up (if you want to) and interesting, dynamic stages to fight on (also if you want to). You can find complexities past this, of course--once you quickly experience the breadth of a character's skillset, it allows you to begin thinking about the nuances of a fight (again, if you want to). Thinking about optimal positioning, figuring out what attacks can easily combo off of another, working out what the best move for each situation is, and playing mind games with your human opponents can quickly become considerations, and the allure of Smash as a fighting game is how easy it is to reach that stage.Complexity also comes with the wide variety of techniques afforded by Ultimate's staggeringly large roster of over 70 characters. Smash's continuing accessibility is a fortunate trait in this regard, because once you understand the basic idea of how to control a character, many of the barriers to trying out a completely new one are gone. Every fighter who has appeared in the previous four Smash games is here, along with some brand-new ones, and the presence of so many diverse and unorthodox styles to both wield and compete against is just as attractive as the presence of the characters themselves. In fact, it's still astounding that a game featuring characters from Mario Bros, Sonic The Hedgehog, Pac-Man, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, and Street Fighter all interacting with each other actually exists.On a more technical level, Ultimate makes a number of under-the-hood alterations that, at this early stage, seem like positive changes that make Smash feel noticeably faster and more exciting to both watch and play. Characters take more damage in one-on-one fights; continuous dodging is punished with increased vulnerability; fighters can perform any ground-based attack, including smash moves, immediately out of a running state; and short-hop aerial attacks (previously a moderately demanding technique) can be easily performed by pressing two buttons simultaneously. Refinements like these might go unnoticed by most, but they help define Ultimate's core gameplay as a tangible evolution of the series' core mechanics.A number of Ultimate's more superficial changes also help Smash's general quality-of-life experience, too. Some make it a more readable game--additions to the UI communicate previously hidden elements like meter charges and Villager's captured items, a simple radar helps keep track of characters off-screen, and a slow motion, zoom-in visual effect when critical hits connect make these moments more exciting to watch. Other changes help streamline the core multiplayer experience and add compelling options. Match rules can now be pre-defined with a swath of modifiers and saved for quick selection later. Stage selection occurs before character selection, so you can make more informed decisions on which fighter to use.On top of a built-in tournament bracket mode, Ultimate also features a number of additional Smash styles. Super Sudden Death returns, as does Custom Smash, which allows you to create matches with wacky modifiers. Squad Strike is a personal favorite, which allows you to play 3v3 or 5v5 tag-team battles (think King of Fighters), and Smashdown is a great, engaging mode that makes the most of the game's large roster by disqualifying characters that have already been used as a series of matches continues, challenging your ability to do well with characters who you might not be familiar with.The most significant addition to Ultimate, however, lies in its single-player content. Ultimate once again features a Classic Mode where each individual fighter has their own unique ladder of opponents to defeat, but the bigger deal is World of Light, Ultimate's surprisingly substantial RPG-style campaign. It's a convoluted setup--beginning as Kirby, you go on a long journey throughout a huge world map to rescue Smash's other fighters (who have incidentally been cloned in large numbers) from the big bad's control. Along the way, you'll do battles with Spirits, characters hailing from other video games that, while not directly engaging in combat, have taken control of clones, altered them in their images, and unleashed them on you.Though there is some light puzzling, the world is naturally filled with hundreds upon hundreds of fights--there are over 1200 Spirit characters, and the vast majority have their own unique battle stages that use the game's match variables to represent their essence. The Goomba Spirit, for example, will put you up against an army of tiny Donkey Kongs. Meanwhile, the Excitebike Spirit might throw three Warios at you who only use their Side+B motorbike attacks.It may seem like a tenuous idea at first, but these fights are incredibly entertaining. It's hard not to appreciate the creativity of using Smash's assets to represent a thousand different characters. Zero Suit Samus might stand in for a battle with The Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater by donning a silver-palette costume and fighting you in a flower-filled Final Destination, but she also stands in for the spirit of Alexandra Roivas from Eternal Darkness by using a black-palette costume and fighting you in the haunted Luigi's Mansion stage, with a modifier that makes the screen occasionally flip upside down (Eternal Darkness was a GameCube horror game whose signature feature were "Sanity Effects", which skewed the game in spooky ways to represent the character's loosening grip on reality). If I knew the character, I often found myself thinking about how clever their Spirit battle was.Defeating a Spirit will add it to your collection, and Spirits also act as World of Light's RPG system. There are two types of Spirit: Primary and Support. Primary Spirits have their own power number and can be leveled up through various means to help make your actual fighter stronger. Primary Spirits also have one of four associated classes, which determine combat effectiveness in a rock-scissors-paper-style system. These are both major considerations to take into account before a battle, and making sure you're not going into a fight at a massive disadvantage adds a nice dimension to the amusing unpredictability of this mode. What you also need to take into account are the modifiers that might be enabled on each stage, which is where Support Spirits come in. They can be attached to Primary Spirits in a limited quantity and can mitigate the effect of things like poisonous floors, pitch-black stages, or reversed controls, or they can simply buff certain attacks.There are a few Spirit fights that can be frustrating, however. Stages that are a 1v4 pile-on are downright annoying, despite how well-equipped you might be, as are stages where you compete against powerful assist trophies. On the flip side, once you find yourself towards the end of the campaign, there are certain loadouts that can trivialize most stages, earning you victory in less than a second. Regardless, there's a compulsive quality to collecting Spirits, and not just because they might make you stronger. It's exciting to see which obscure character you run into next, feel validated for recognizing them, and see how the game interprets them in a Spirit battle. There's also just a superficial joy to collecting, say, the complete Elite Beat Agents cast (Osu! Takatae! Ouendan characters are here too), even though these trophies lack the frills of previous Smash games.Some hubs in the World of Light map are also themed around certain games and bundle related Spirits together to great effect--Dracula's Castle from Castlevania, which changes the map into a 2D side-scroller, and the globe from Street Fighter II, complete with the iconic airplane noises, are personal standouts. Despite the dramatic overtones of World of Spirit's setup, the homages you find within it feel like a nice commemoration of the games and characters without feeling like a pandering nostalgia play. One of the most rewarding homages of all, however, lies in Ultimate's huge library of video game music. Over 800 tracks, which include originals as well as fantastic new arrangements, can all be set as stage soundtracks as well enjoyed through the game's music player.There is one significant struggle that Ultimate comes up against, however, which lies in the nature of the console itself. Playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in the Switch's handheld mode is simply not a great experience. In situations where there are more than two characters on screen, the view of the action often becomes too wide, making the fighters too small to see properly, and it can be difficult to tell what you or your opponent is doing. The game's penchant for flashy special effects and busy, colorful stages doesn't help things at all, and unless you're playing a one-on-one match, you'll likely suffer some blameless losses. This is a situational disadvantage and may not affect all players, but it puts a damper on the idea of Smash on the go.The need to unlock characters also has the potential to be an initial annoyance, especially if your goal is to jump straight into multiplayer and start learning one of the six brand-new characters. In my time with the game, I split my attention between playing World of Light (where rescuing characters unlocks them everywhere) and multiplayer matches, where the constant drip-feed of "New Challenger" unlock opportunities (which you can easily retry if you fail) came regularly. I naturally earned the entire roster in roughly 10 hours of playtime, but your mileage may vary.Your mileage may also vary in Ultimate's online mode, where the experience of competing against others was inconsistent during the 200+ matches we played. Ultimate matches you with players from your region, but continues to use peer-to-peer style connectivity, which means the quality of the experience relies primarily on the strength of each player's internet connection. A bad connection from any player can result in a noticeable input delay, stuttering, and even freezing as the game tries to deal with latency issues. Things have the greatest potential to go bad during four-player matches, where there's a greater chance of finding a weak link.There's some blame to be put on the console itself--the Switch only has the capabilities for wifi networking. You can invest in an optional USB LAN adapter to make sure your own connection is stable, but because of the peer-to-peer nature, I found that the experience was just as inconsistent. You can get lucky--I would regularly enjoy sessions filled with smooth matches--but regardless, laggy matches aren't exactly a rare occurrence. It's also worth noting that you're required to have a paid subscription to Nintendo's Switch Online service to be able to play online at all, so the sub-optimal performance of the mode is disappointing.Network performance aside, Ultimate's online mode does have an interesting way to cater to the large variety of ways to play Smash Bros. You can create public or private arenas for friends and strangers, which serve as personal rooms to dictate specific rulesets, but the primary mode is Quick Play, where you're matched against people of a similar skill level to you. Quick Play features an option where you can set your preferred ruleset--things like the number of players, item availability, win conditions--and it will try to match you up with someone with similar preferences. However, Ultimate also prioritizes getting you into a match in under a minute, which is great, but sometimes means that you might find yourself playing a completely different style of match.In my experience, I found that there were enough people who wanted to play with my ruleset (one-on-one, three stock, six minutes, no items, Omega stages only) and I would find myself in these kinds of matches, or at least a very close approximation, the majority of the time. Getting thrown into the occasional four-player free-for-all felt like a nice, refreshing change of pace to me, but depending on how flexible you are as a player, this can be a turn-off. But like so much of Ultimate, its multitude of options and styles of play doesn't necessarily mean that all of them will suit every player.An inconsistent online mode and situational downers don't stop Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from shining as a flexible multiplayer game that can be as freewheeling or as firm as you want it to be. Its entertaining single-player content helps keep the game rich with interesting things to do, as well as bolstering its spirit of loving homage to the games that have graced Nintendo consoles. Ultimate's diverse content is compelling, its strong mechanics are refined, and the encompassing collection is simply superb. Info from Gamespot.com

Mortal Engines, the big-budget sci-fi movie from a series of Lord of the Rings veterans, is expected to be a major box office flop. Variety reports that the film is expected to lose more than $100 million when all is said and done. The film had a reported production budget of $100 million, with "tens of millions" more spent on marketing.As of today, Universal's Mortal Engines has made only $42 million worldwide."This is a true Christmas disaster and a lump of coal for Universal," Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock told Variety. "They took a big swing, and they struck out."Mortal Engines has yet to open in China, which is a massive market, but it currently has no release date for that country.The disappointing box office results come even though Mortal Engines has big names attached--it was written by LotR's Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, and Fran Walsh. It was directed by Oscar winner Christian Rivers, who also worked on LotR.As we reported in the past, Mortal Engines takes place in the far future where modern technology as we know it has been destroyed and morphed into a steampunk-like world, where giant, moving cities traverse through Europe looking for other cities to eat, in order to use the eaten city's structures to power their gigantic machines to continue the hunt.That might be a visually stunning set-up, but the complicated plot was one of the reasons that Warner Bros. and Fox said no to the film because Universal picked it up, according to Variety. Universal reportedly only contributed 30 percent of the production costs, with Media Rights Capital putting up half of the money. Legendary and Perfect World also financed the movie.Jackson apparently at one point said he believed Mortal Engines could become another big franchise, but this box office performance suggests that may not happen. Info from Gamespot.com

The new Aquaman film from Warner Bros. is doing quite well already. The superhero origin movie has now exceeded $261 million from all international markets combined, an achievement that is especially notable given that the film hasn't premiered in the US yet.According to Variety, China is the biggest market for Aquaman so far, with box office receipts totalling $189.2 million there after two weekends. Other markets where Aquaman is performing well so far include Mexico ($7.9 million), Brazil ($7.7 million), Russia ($7.4 million), the UK ($6.5 million).Aquaman, which stars Jason Momoa in the title role, opens in the US on December 21. In addition to Momoa, the film stars Nicole Kidman, Amber Heard, and Willem Dafoe. It was directed by James Wan, who previously made Saw, Insidious, and Fast & Furious 7.GameSpot's Aquaman review mostly praised the superhero film. "Aquaman isn't simply a bunch of remixed comics elements thrown together. It's a movie with its own over the top, tongue in cheek, inconsistent, massive, irreverent, CGI-soaked tone, aesthetic, and world," reviewer Michael Rougeau said. "And somehow, it works well enough that you'll be calling Arthur king by the end."For more on the critical reaction to Aquaman, check out this roundup of reviews.Info from Gamespot.com

Two of the year's biggest games, Fallout 76 and Hitman 2, are currently marked down substantially on Amazon. Bethesda's open-world multiplayer RPG and the stealth game from Warner Bros. can be had for just $30 USD each right now on PS4 and Xbox One.Both games were also discounted nicely on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but if you missed out on those deals, now you have another chance.Fallout 76 didn't get the best reviews. If you wanted to pick up the game but not at full price, now seems like a good time to do so. Hitman 2, meanwhile, was generally better-liked by critics. You can read GameSpot's reviews for each game below.Fallout 76 Review / Buy It On AmazonHitman 2 Review / Buy It On AmazonBethesda has pledged to support Fallout 76 with new updates in the weeks, months, and potentially years to come. Hitman 2, meanwhile, is getting more content down the road when new locations come to the game through the expansion pass. Info from Gamespot.com

Pokemon Go developer Niantic Labs began its life as a Google subsidiary, but the company spun out in 2015, and reached a new stratosphere of success with the launch of Pokemon Go in July 2016. The San Francisco-based developer is growing still, with a new report claiming the company is working to secure a $200 million round of funding.According to The Wall Street Journal's sources, the further $200 million would raise the company's total valuation to $3.9 billion. The latest round of funding is expected to be led by venture capital firm IVP, with more money coming from Samsung and aXiomatic Gaming.There is no word on what the rumoured round of $200 million in funding would go toward at Niantic, but the studio has a new Harry Potter game in the works, in addition to ongoing support for Pokemon Go. The WSJ report says Niantic could be working on games for "other franchises," but none were named.Niantic's new Harry Potter game, Wizards Unite, was initially expected to launch in 2018 but it was later delayed to 2019. Not much is known about the game, but it's said to use a similar augmented reality set-up that Niantic struck gold with for Pokemon Go.Pokemon Go is free, and it makes money through in-game microtransactions. While the game might not be as popular as it once was, it still makes a lot of money. In November, the game pulled in $80 million worldwide from its microtransactions on iOS and Android, according to a report from SensorTower.In other news, Pokemon Go's latest winter event kicks off this week. Among other things, it lets you earn bonuses, hatch Eggs more easily, and encounter Pokemon from the Sinnoh region. You can learn more about the event in our coverage here.Info from Gamespot.com

[UPDATE] The first footage of Kage in action has been posted on Twitter ahead of an official reveal. You can check out the gameplay below, and we'll have more details coming soon if indeed Capcom if making an announcement today.Sfv #kage #PS4sharehttps://t.co/4zD1rdvw2S pic.twitter.com/a6errQD8gv — Fuzzy (@fuz_buz) December 17, 2018The original story is below.It appears one of the Street Fighter V announcements coming at the Capcom Cup event today has leaked ahead of time. An image of a brand-new character named Kage has appeared online; you can check out the image below from Twitter user @DaFeetLee.EventHubs reports that Kage started appearing in Street Fighter V's character-select menu when you apply a new update that some people are getting already. An image of a darkened character appears in the character-select menu, and hovering over it reveals his name. Kage looks quite evil, with spiky black hair, red eyes, fangs, and horns.KAGE #PS4share pic.twitter.com/FKcDb1OH3K — DaFeetLee (@DaFeetLee) December 17, 2018The Capcom Cup 2018 professional gaming event is taking place right now, and you can follow along with the action here on Twitch.It is rumoured that there may be multiple new character announcements pegged for the end of the event, so keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.In other Street Fighter V news, the game recently introduced advertisements on loading screens and other places that are toggled on by default. You can turn them off, but some people are still unhappy about it.Info from Gamespot.com

Microsoft has announced a really good deal on Xbox One hardware this holiday. Starting today, all Xbox One S and Xbox One X bundles are marked down by $100 in the US.That means you can get a new Xbox One S with a game for only $200, and a new Xbox One X with a game for only $400. It's the best deal on the console ever, and it matches some of the offers from Black Friday. Microsoft was previously offering $50 off every Xbox One bundle this holiday, but the deal has now been sweetened nicely to $100 off.With the $100 off deal, you can get an Xbox One S in bundles that come with games like Fortnite, Minecraft, NBA 2K19, Battlefield V, Forza Horizon 4, and PUBG.Of note, the Fortnite bundle comes with 2,000 V-Bucks to buy extra cosmetics with, along with the Eon cosmetic outfit right out of the box. The Battlefield V bundles come with the game's Deluxe Edition, which gets you copies of Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 1943, as well as a one-month subscription to EA Access.The Xbox One X has numerous bundles available going for $400. These include bundles that come with Battlefield V, Fallout 76, PUBG, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Forza Horizon 4, and others. It is difficult to buy an Xbox One and not get a free game.You can visit the Xbox website to see a full rundown of all the Xbox One S and Xbox One X bundles.This is an aggressive pricing promotion from Microsoft, and it'll be interesting to see if PlayStation follows with a PS4 deal of its own this holiday. Microsoft is in second place against Sony, and this price drop, though it is temporary, may help close the gap.Info from Gamespot.com

(Presented by Oculus) See who’s the fastest in the West. AustenMarie, Panser, Sohinki, and ChilledChaos duel it out in Dead and Buried to win $100K for charity in the third episode of the Change the Game VR Charity Challenge. Visit http://www.vrcharitychallenge.com for more info!Learn more about our two awesome charities:Stack Up Website: https://stackup.org/Take This Website: http://www.takethis.org/Info from Gamespot.com

The launch of Destiny 2's new expansion, The Black Armory, was a bit rocky. After players complained, Bungie dropped the character Power level requirements on its new Forge activities, but with the unlocking of the second of four forges, players discovered another bug where Black Armory weapon quests disappeared. And then there was the start of The Dawning, Destiny 2's holiday event, where server issues made it so players couldn't access the game for its first couple of hours.As Bungie noted in its latest blog post, it's working on fixes for some of its most recent bugs. Developers have figured out why having two weapon frames from Ada-1 at the same time can delete one, for instance, and they're dealing with that issue. Other troubles it's aware of include Dawning Triumphs not triggering correctly, new cosmetic items showing up as already claimed even though players haven't found them yet, and the One Thousand Voices Exotic weapon not dealing the correct amount of damage. We'll likely see fixes for those issues and more coming pretty soon.There's also a small update coming with the December 18 weekly reset that's going to fix a few other problems. The big change is the amping up of Prime Engrams for characters under Power level 600, to help speed up the grind for players trying to catch up to the new Black Armory endgame content. The update includes a few little fixes, too, like one that deals with an issue in which the forges don't drop rewards if you join them midway through a run.The post also notes that the next round of Iron Banner multiplayer matches starts on December 25 and runs until January 1, which is also the end of the Dawning event.Check out Bungie's blog for a full list of everything the developers are currently investigating in Destiny 2.Info from Gamespot.com

Nintendo has released a patch for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the Switch entry in its star-studded brawler series. Patch 1.2.0 makes some adjustments to the difficulty of challengers that appear in the offline mode, but the more impactful tweaks are to its online offerings.First up, Quickplay will now keep the ruleset you prefer in mind a little more when searching for opponents. However, as noted by Nintendo in the patch notes, matchmaking could take a little more time because of this, and there's no guarantee that the match you get will use the ruleset.Nintendo has also improved the stability of the connection in Battle Arenas and, hopefully, this should improve the shaky connectivity issues many Smash players have reported since the game's launch. Take a look at the full patch notes below, courtesy of Nintendo.Offline GameplayAdjusted difficulty of approaching challengersOnline GameplayWhen matching in Quickplay, the Format setting of your Preferred Rules will be more highly prioritized. This may cause matchmaking to take more time, and there's still no guarantee that you'll find a match that has your exact Preferred Rules.Increased the stability of the synchronous connection within Battle Arenas.Note: Online features requite a Nintendo Switch Online MembershipMisc.Game balance adjustmentsVarious gameplay fixesSpecific Fighter Adjustments to Donkey Kong, Link, Kirby, Luigi, Ice Climbers, Young Link, Olimar, Villager, Greninja, Pac-Man, Duck Hunt, and Isabelle.In GameSpot's Super Smash Bros. Ultimate review, Edmond Tran awarded the game a 9/10, saying "an inconsistent online mode and situational downers don't stop Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from shining as a flexible multiplayer game that can be as freewheeling or as firm as you want it to be."Its entertaining single-player content helps keep the game rich with interesting things to do, as well as bolstering its spirit of loving homage to the games that have graced Nintendo consoles. Ultimate's diverse content is compelling, its strong mechanics are refined, and the encompassing collection is simply superb."Info from Gamespot.com

Epic Games has addressed feedback for Fortnite's newly released Infinity Blade. This Mythic weapon has the privilege of being the first sword in the wildly popular battle royale title, but its arrival has impacted the game in a way many Fortnite fans haven't appreciated. Not only is it incredibly powerful, but most players are now entirely focused on getting it, which in turn disrupts the competitive nature of the game.Responding to the feedback on Reddit, Epic explained that Mythical items like the Infinity Blade, and the Infinity Gauntlet that turned players into Marvel villain Thanos, deliver a unique kind of interaction in the game."The presence of Mythic items in gameplay is to provide an interaction a step above the Legendary item functionality and something you'll continue to see," the studio said. "To us, that means changing the way the game is played for those who interact with that item. The addition of items in this tier provide new and flavorful ways to interact with the map and generally shake up normal play across default modes."Discussing the Infinity Blade specifically, Epic said it is planning to reduce the effectiveness of the weapon by stopping anyone who wields it from building structures and harvesting resources. "When designing the Infinity Blade the goal was to provide a weapon with inherent risk to balance out the great capability it provides--the ability to harvest/build removes a great deal of that risk," Epic explained. "By taking away the ability to harvest/build we hope to tune the Infinity Blade to where it feels risky to have, but still satisfying to wield."As of yet there's no word on when this change will be implemented, but Epic has promised to continue monitoring how the Blade functions in-game and make further adjustments as required. It has also said it plans to provide more information on its competitive philosophy as it relates to new items, updates, and seasons in Fortnite early next week.The Infinity Blade was introduced into Fortnite on December 13, the same day that Epic removed all entries in its Infinity Blade mobile game series from the Apple App Store.Fortnite is now in the second week of Season 7, which means there's new challenges to complete. While the majority of the new challenges are straightforward, there are a couple of tricky ones too. You can use our Fortnite Season 7 challenge guide to get help with them, as well as the challenges from week one.Info from Gamespot.com

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 developer Treyarch has rolled out Holiday events and promotions across the game. These include a seasonal makeover for Blackout, the game's battle royale mode, which has had environments spruced up with lighting and decorations. There's also snowballs in the game now and Supply Stashes are holiday themed too.Blackout players also have a new limited-time mode to check out called Close Quarters Frenzy. "Fight to outlast a faster Collapse using close-quarters weapons--shotguns, SMGs, pistols, and melee are your only means of survival," Treyarch said, describing the mode.In the Black Market, meanwhile, there's a large selection of new themed items to unlock. Since Activision has a timed exclusivity deal for Black Ops 4 with Sony, these items are currently only available on PS4, but will arrive on Xbox One and PC on December 20. In Zombies, meanwhile, there's the Winter Calling event, which gives players a unique set of challenges to complete, in exchange for special unlocks.Players on PS4, Xbox One, and PC will also get double experience points in multiplayer and Zombies, starting December 14 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM EST / 6 PM GMT / 5 AM December 15 AEDT, and lasting throughout the weekend. If you're playing Blackout during this period you'll get double merits.Treyarch has also detailed various changes it has made to all versions of the game in the latest Black Ops 4 update. The patch notes are fairly lengthy, containing information on how its addressed various exploits, improved stability in multiplayer, mixed up playlists, and tweaked Operators. You can see the full patch notes here.Black Ops 4 takes some big departures from the traditional Call of Duty formula. Not only did it drop the single-player campaign in favour of a more robust multiplayer offering, but it also introduced the new Blackout mode in response to the popularity of the battle royale genre. In her review, Kallie Plagge gave Black Ops 4 an 8/10."Black Ops 4 isn't short on content, and its three main modes are substantial," she said. "Multiplayer introduces more tactical mechanics without forcing you into them, and it largely strikes a good balance. Zombies has multiple deep, secret-filled maps to explore, though its returning characters don't hold up and prove distracting. Finally, Blackout pushes Call of Duty in an entirely new direction, making use of aspects from both multiplayer and Zombies for a take on the battle royale genre that stands on its own. Sure, there isn't a traditional single-player campaign, but with the depth and breadth of what is there, Black Ops 4 doesn't need it." Read GameSpot's full Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 review for a deeper analysis of the game.Info from Gamespot.com

The NES and SNES Classic consoles will end production in the Americas soon, Nintendo has confirmed. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Nintendo of America president reggie Fils-Aime stated no more of the mini-consoles will be produced, and that those already on store shelves will be the last ones sold."We've been clear that, at least from an Americas perspective, these products are going to be available through the holiday season and once they sell out, they're gone," the executive said. "And that’s it."It's unclear what this means for the two devices in other territories, since Nintendo of America, Nintendo of Europe, and Nintendo of Japan do not always necessarily operate together. It's also worth noting that Nintendo did discontinue the NES Classic once before, only to bring it back into production this year.Elsewhere in the interview, Fils-Aime claims Nintendo currently has no plans to make Classic versions of other consoles, such as the Nintendo 64. Responding to a question to that effect, he stated: "We've said that the current systems are the extent of our classic program." Finally, Fils-Aime said he’d "absolutely love" Red Dead Redemption 2 on Nintendo Switch, but explained it's probably unlikely to happen.The SNES and NES Classic were hugely successful, and Sony followed suit this year with the PlayStation Classic. We didn't think Sony's attempt was as good as Nintendo's two efforts, however--read our thoughts on that mini-console in our PlayStation Classic review.Info from Gamespot.com

Star Wars Battlefront II is now available in the EA Access vault, publisher EA has announced. That means EA / Origin Access members can play the game at no extra cost for as long as they’re subscribed.The full game is included in the Vault version, though paid DLC is sold separately. Otherwise, you can play both the single-player campaign and the extensive multiplayer portion to your heart’s content.Battlefront II’s launch was marred with microtransaction controversy after some fans labeled the game as "pay-to-win." Developer DICE has since revamped the game’s progression system and continued to add more content.We awarded the shooter a 6/10 at launch. Critic Alessandro Fillari wrote: “While its main narrative feels unresolved, and the general loop of the multiplayer carries a number of issues, Battlefront II still manages to evoke that same sense of joy and excitement found in the core of what the series is all about.” Read more in our full Star Wars Battlefront II review.EA Access members can play a number of games for no extra cost, in addition to receiving discounts and free trials for other EA titles. The service costs $5 / £4 per month or $30 / £20 per year, and is exclusive to Xbox One and PC.Info from Gamespot.com

Shooter fans, if you've been holding off for a discount before picking up this year's Call of Duty, now is probably the time to pull the trigger (please excuse the pun). As part of Best Buy's Nick of Time sale, which runs through December 17, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is down to $30 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Better yet, Amazon is matching the price on most platforms. We probably don't have to tell you that getting one of the biggest games of the year for half off just two months after it launched is a remarkable deal.This discount arrives during a string of massive sales that seem to represent one final push to sell as many video games as possible in the lead-up to Christmas. You can find other killer deals at GameStop, PlayStation Store, GOG, and other retailers.Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is this year's installment in the annual franchise. Developed by Treyarch, it comes with the traditional multiplayer and Zombies modes, but no single-player campaign. Instead, it has Blackout, a battle royale mode similar to PUBG and Fortnite that finds around 100 players dropping onto an island as a deadly storm shrinks the playing area, pushing everyone together. The last person or team standing wins the round.PS4Buy Black Ops 4 from Amazon -- $30Buy Black Ops 4 from Best Buy -- $30Xbox OneBuy Black Ops 4 from Amazon -- $40Buy Black Ops 4 from Best Buy -- $30PCBuy Black Ops 4 from Amazon -- $30Buy Black Ops 4 from Best Buy -- $30In GameSpot's Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 review, critic Kallie Plagge wrote, "Black Ops 4 isn't short on content, and its three main modes are substantial. Multiplayer introduces more tactical mechanics without forcing you into them, and it largely strikes a good balance. Zombies has multiple deep, secret-filled maps to explore, though its returning characters don't hold up and prove distracting. Finally, Blackout pushes Call of Duty in an entirely new direction, making use of aspects from both multiplayer and Zombies for a take on the battle royale genre that stands on its own." Info from Gamespot.com