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M.U.T.E Protocol, the latest limited-time event in Rainbow Six Siege, was deactivated almost as soon as it went live last week due to an exploit that turned players invisible. A hotfix has now gone live to fix the exploit, and M.U.T.E Protocol is back up and available to play.

As a result of its deactivation, the special event’s schedule has been rearranged. M.U.T.E Protocol will now end at 7 AM PT / 10 AM ET on August 24, giving players time to hop in, play the unique mode, and earn new rewards. As compensation for the temporary deactivation, Ubisoft is also granting players who logged into Siege between August 4 (7 AM PT / 10 AM ET) and August 10 (11 AM PT / 2 PM ET) a free collection pack in the next few days. Due to technical limitations, however, challenge progression could not be extended and will instead be reset and reintroduced today.

M.U.T.E Protocol transports Siege into the retro-future, pitting robot against robot in a brand new mode. Set on the Tower map, it tasks the attacking team with securing two different areas while the defending team splits their resources in an attempt to stop them.

The special thing about this event is each operator’s use of advanced technology. Attackers are able to switch between operator and drone forms by entering and exiting Observation Tools. While controlling your drone, your operator is nowhere to be seen, and when you switch back, they’ll be where your drone was. Defenders, on the other hand, can use bulletproof cameras to travel digitally. Opening Observation Tools will make your operator enter the network and exiting them will make them appear in front of the last controlled camera, allowing you to navigate the unseen electronic pathways.

The event comes with its own collection of 26 items, featuring exclusive customisation for operator’s Jackal, Lion, Ying, Kapkan, Mira, Mute, Oryx, and Vigil. You can earn M.U.T.E Protocol packs through a special event challenge or purchase packs for 300 R6 Credits or 12500 Renown.

Ninjala launched as Switch exclusive back in June, and the free-to-play multiplayer brawler has received updates and free rewards since. Now, in a new update, the game has added a heap of tweaks, additions, and an important change to matchmaking.

Version 2.0, which is live now, introduces worldwide matchmaking, meaning that you’re no longer limited to your region’s servers. “The Ninjala team has recognized that the current matching environment is far from ideal, and has taken player feedback deeply to heart,” the update reads. “In hopes of offering our players an improved matching experience, we have implemented a major update to the matching system.”

After hearing from players that it was frustrating being unable to play with international friends, or at times when few other people in their region are online, developer GunHo has made some changes. “Now that matching has been unified across all regions, we believe it will now be possible to find worthy teammates and opponents at all hours of the day, and that Battle Royale ranked matches will be more rewarding,” the update says.

“In accordance with this change, player ranking–previously broken down by region–will also be unified across the entire world,” it continues. “From this day forward, Ninjala will become a truly global competition.” The matchmaking has received further tweaks to make it easier to find matches.

There have also been extensive tweaks to the game’s weapons, so the full update notes are worth a look if you want to see if your favorite has changed.

Ninjala received a 6/10 in GameSpot’s review. “What we have so far is a solid foundation,” wrote reviewer Steve Watts. “The battle fundamentals are well-designed and unique, and the visual flair is absolutely bursting with personality.”

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone‘s new Season 5 update introduced a new Operator named Marcus “Lerch” Ortega. It’s now been revealed that Lerch is inspired by the real-world soldier Tony Sentmanat, who served in the US Marine Corps and later as a SWAT team member. He now runs his own tactical and firearms training company called Real World Tactical.

After leaving the armed forces, Sentmanat worked as a correctional officer before becoming a law enforcement officer where he spent a good portion of his career in SWAT. His bio on Real World Tactical’s website says he was involved in more than 800 operations before retiring in 2016 and starting his own business. You can check out the video below to learn more about Sentmanat.

Sentmanat wrote in a post on Instagram that he is “humbled to be a part of the biggest game in the world right now.”

“Even more Humbled from the amount of support that I have received from family, friends, my long time followers and all my new followers that play the game,” he added. “It’s been along road…26 years of hard work, grinding , getting told I was crazy that I would never make it, that I would fail, but yet here I am still going 100 miles an hour doing what I love to do, SO GRATEFUL!!!”

Sentmanat is just the latest real-world soldier to come to Modern Warfare and Warzone. The Season 3 Operator, Ronin, was based on the likeness of Tu Lam, a man who escaped from communist Vietnam in 1979 and traveled to the US where he joined the Army and served for 23 years.

In other news, Activision is preparing to announce this year’s new Call of Duty game, which is believed to be Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Recent teasers have suggested that Activision will further pull back the curtain on the new game this Friday, August 14.

2020’s new Call of Duty game is developed by Black Ops creator Treyarch and longtime Call of Duty support studio Raven Software.

Diablo III is currently in Season 21, and showing no signs of slowing down. Now, with the season midway through, Blizzard has announced a change to drops that will give players more rewards when they complete bounties.

In a new post on the Blizzard forums, community manager FilthieRich announced that, from now, all bounties earned in Season 21 will be doubled. This means that you can now earn far more Horadric Caches by completing bounties within each Act. Instead of one Cache per bounty, you’ll now get two.

The bonus cache benefits from the difficulty level modifier, the post explains, so you’ll be rewarded as though you completed double the number of bounties you actually completed. The rewards inside the Caches themselves will remain the same, though.

The post clarifies that the bonus caches you can earn within Challenge Rifts are not affected at all.

The community manager also announced that PTR timelines ahead of season launches will be longer going forward, and that this season will be longer than usual as a result. This means that there will likely be two weeks of public testing for the next one, followed by a week of work on Blizzard’s end before it can launch.

“The intention here is to make sure we can apply as much feedback as possible from the community during these PTR timelines while also giving us a good amount of time to test these changes before they go live,” the post says.

Diablo IV is currently in the works. It will be quite different from Diablo III, based on the details we know so far.

While Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the battle royale game Warzone are getting a lot of attention these days, Activision continues to update and support Call of Duty: Mobile, too.

A new blog post from Activision outlines what’s new in CoD: Mobile this week, and fans are getting some good stuff. Starting off, the popular Gunsmith feature from the console/PC Call of Duty games is now in the mobile edition.

In Gunsmith, players can customize their weapons with up to nine gameplay attachments and four cosmetic attachments. In total, there are more than 50 attachments available in Gunsmith, including 20 reticles. There are 60 weapon levels to move through, so the introduction of Gunsmith should provide yet another reason for CoD: Mobile players to keep grinding.

In addition to Gunsmith, CoD: Mobile introduces a new map this week, and it’s called Shipment 1944. The map was originally introduced to Call of Duty in 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, where it was known as Shipment. It’s a close-quarters map that requires players to check their corners constantly. You can see an overview of the map in the video above.

As for Modern Warfare and Warzone, they are getting new modes and playlists this week, along with new store bundles. You can check out GameSpot’s rundown to find out what’s new.

All of this is happening as Activision is gearing up to announce this year’s new Call of Duty game, which is rumored to be Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Recent teasers have suggested that Activision may have something more to share about the new game this Friday, August 14. However, the official reveal of the new game is expected to come later.

We recently told our team that we’re extending #WFH plans to at least June 2021. The studio will still be open for those who prefer to work there, and we’re continuing to grow the studio and hire, with interviews conducted virtually.#wearewargaming pic.twitter.com/Xc9mU1BXGP

— Wargaming Sydney is hiring! (@WG_SYD) August 11, 2020

I really don’t think anyone in games is going back into an office until next summer at the earliest. I wish they’d announce it like Wargaming so we can plan and have peace of mind. https://t.co/OlWmGkPG57

— tami sigmund 🐴🎮 (@cuppy) August 11, 2020

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has been delayed to 2021.

The news was revealed by the official Bloodlines 2 Twitter account, which posted a statement saying that Paradox Interactive and Hardsuit Labs have delayed Bloodlines 2 in order to “deliver the best game possible,” and a “worthy successor to the original Bloodlines game.”

“Due to the quality bar and ambitions we have set for ourselves, we have made the difficult decision that we need more time,” the statement reads. “This means that our goal to release in 2020 is no longer possible. Moving launch is one of the changes we are making to ensure the best player experience possible.”

Today we have an important announcement in regards to the release date of Bloodlines 2. pic.twitter.com/M3xR5qOOpN

— Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 (@VtM_Bloodlines) August 11, 2020

The tweet also notes that we should hear more information about launch timing “and other organizational changes” in the coming months, but a new release date is not set in stone right now.

“We understand this will be a disappointment to many of you, but we also appreciate how our ambition is echoed through many parts of the community,” the statement ends.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 was previously delayed beyond its initial Q1 2020 launch window back in October of 2019. It will now launch at an indeterminate point in 2021 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X. You can check out our preview of the game from E3 2019 here.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

If you are one of the 2 million people now playing Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout on Steam, you might be looking for ways to up your game and take home the coveted crown. This Hex-A-Gone gameplay proves that, despite its cute and cuddly aesthetic, Fall Guys winners are just as likely to be stone-cold killers as you might find in Call of Duty: Warzone.

Posted by Twitch streamer Barret Courtney, the video shows that a flawless victory in Hex-A-Gone isn’t just about staying alive–it’s about eliminating the competition. Have a watch for yourself.

Fall Guys has seen a record-breaking, and sometimes server-breaking, surge of interest since it first released on August 4. This includes game streaming, with Fall Guys taking out the top spot on Twitch more often than not, even while it was still in beta. The kind of gameplay showcased above shows exactly why Fall Guys is just as addictive to watch as it is to play.

The GameSpot review of Fall Guys called it “easily the most approachable and welcoming battle royale yet. Its bursting color and varied game modes do a good job of reeling you in and keeping you hooked, even if a handful feel at odds with the easygoing nature of its premise.”

After a 16-year wait and one previous delay, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has been delayed again–this time until 2021. Publisher Paradox Interactive and developer Hardsuit Labs haven’t indicated when in the year the sequel will be likely to release, just that it won’t be dropping any time before the end of 2020.

The responses to the delay have been largely positive–with a wait of 16 years behind them since the original Bloodlines game in 2004, Vampire the Masquerade fans are used to waiting. The reason given for the delay is that the developers need more time to “deliver the best game possible… and deliver a worthy successor to the original Bloodlines game.”

The post promises more information to come, which should give us a new release window to aim for in 2021. While Amazon seems to have temporarily removed the option to pre-order Bloodlines 2, other pre-order options are still available here.

Where the first Bloodlines game was set in Los Angeles, Bloodlines 2 will take the player to the World Of Darkness version of Seattle. The upcoming game has been confirmed for next gen consoles PS5 and Xbox Series X, and will also release on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

The Vampire: The Masquerade franchise will still get one new game relatively soon, with the Shadow of New York visual novel set to release before the end of 2020.