The big new Season 3 update for Modern Warfare and the battle royale game Warzone will introduce a new way to customize things to your liking on the battlefield.
Specifically, the Season 3 patch adds vehicle skins. You can add these skins to any vehicle in the Warzone map, Verdansk, and they’ll be automatically applied when you start driving whatever vehicle you might come across in the map, including ATVs, helicopters, and more.
The Activision blog post announcing the new vehicle customization system did not mention how you can unlock the new skins, but it it will presumably be through gameplay or microtransactions.
Borderlands 3 has added a new arcade machine to Sanctuary III, and playing it has benefits to the world of science. In the corner of Doctor Tannis’ infirmary, you’ll find Borderlands Science, a game designed to help real-world scientists organize data.
Borderlands Science, introduced in the trailer below, is a block-shifting puzzle game that involves mapping and comparing microbes, a task that even the most complex supercomputer is not as good at as human players. Completing these puzzles will earn you in-game currency, and you can continue playing each puzzle for a high score after it is finished.
The puzzle game was developed in conjunction with McGill University, Massively Multiplayer Online Science, and The Microsetta Initiative.
The benefits of this game are shown off in the video below, hosted by PhD scientist and actor Mayim Bialik (The Big Bang Theory). As she explains, the Microseta Initiative has collected microbes from human feces, which is what players will be organizing.
Playing this game will help the scientists spot computer errors in their sequences, helping scientists compare the data and learn more about the human gut, and the data will ultimately be used to combat various diseases. It looks like good fun, alongside all the benefits to the science community it offers.
Borderlands 3 recently explained with the Guns, Love, And Tentacles DLC, which increased the game’s level cap. It’s available on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Season 3 launches on April 8 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and it’s bringing a bunch of new content to both Modern Warfare itself and the free-to-play, standalone Warzone. You can learn the fine details in the video above.
With the start of The Old Ways event, Respawn added Duos to Apex Legends, the first permanent mode to come to the battle royale game since the addition of Ranked in Season 2: Battle Charge. Both Solos and Duos have appeared in Apex Legends as limited-time modes before, though Respawn says that the former is unlikely to be permanently added to the game like Duos has.
“When we introduced Solos as a limited-time mode last year we saw it actually negatively impacted the game, especially when it came to new player retention,” Respawn writes in The Old Ways update patch notes. “We’ve also purposely designed legends and their abilities to compliment teamplay and squad composition, but when played solo some legend abilities become useless.”
That said, Respawn added that the team hasn’t completely given up on the idea of a single-player mode and will continue “exploring ways to allow a solo experience.” No further details were provided.
The Old Ways update adds several other permanent features to Apex Legends as well, including a map rotation system. Though Ranked mode will remain on one map at a time (in this case, it’s currently on Season 2 Kings Canyon following Season 4: Assimilation’s ranked series split), the Play Apex playlist will rotate through several different maps. For now, Play Apex (in both Trios and Duos mode) will rotate between Season 2 Kings Canyon, After Dark Kings Canyon, and Season 4 World’s Edge.
The map rotations occur every 90 minutes, though Respawn writes it will be “tweaking” the pace as the developer studies the data. Additionally, Respawn will be “introducing other versions of previously released Kings Canyon and World’s Edge maps into the rotation from time to time to keep it fresh.” Currently, the missing maps are pre-season Kings Canyon, Season 1 Kings Canyon, Fight or Fright Kings Canyon, Season 3 World’s Edge, and Holo-Day Bash World’s Edge though Respawn hasn’t revealed which–if any–of these maps will ultimately be added to the Play Apex rotation.
It can be tough being stuck inside, but video games are a great way to pass the time. However, you may not have the best screen to play or you may just need some extra storage to keep all your games installed on. If you’re looking for a good deal on memory cards, external hard drives, or even a brand spankin’ new gaming laptop, then there are some great offers on Google Shopping right now. The deals are on products from Best Buy and trusted online retailer Antonline and are all available until April 13 or while supplies last.
The AW2518HF is a deluxe 1080p gaming monitor, boasting a 24.5-inch TN display, a 240Hz refresh rate, and 1ms response time. It also features FreeSync, which lets you turn off V-Sync for a smoother, tearless experience.
Dell 24-inch, 1440p, 165Hz gaming monitor
$299 ($430)
If you’re looking to play at a 1440p resolution, then Google Shopping has a great deal on this Dell gaming monitor. It comes equipped with a 165Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, and G-Sync, which works with your Nvidia graphics card to sync your display with your gameplay, resulting in an extremely smooth experience.
Alienware m15 gaming laptop with RTX 2060
$1,450 ($1,800)
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External hard drives
2TB for $81 ($91) | 4TB for $100 ($150) | 12TB for $180 ($280)
If you need some extra storage for all of your PS4, Xbox One, or PC games, then Google Shopping has three great external hard drives that will work great with your consoles. Seagate’s green 2TB hard drive is $81, while two WD Easystore options are also available at 4TB for $100 and 12TB for $180.
SanDisk microSDXC memory cards
128GB for $33 ($68) | 256GB for $50 ($95)
Three years after the Nintendo Switch’s launch, and there are a lot of games. If you need to upgrade the amount of storage you have in your Switch, and this is an excellent chance to do so. Google Shopping has a 128GB microSDXC card for $33 and a 256GB card for $50.
The Xbox Series X is due at the end of 2020, and although Microsoft has revealed a lot about the new console, many things remain mysterious about it too. The new console is unlikely to radically reinvent the user interface offered by the Xbox One–in fact, all signs indicate that it will essentially be the same.
According to The Verge, Microsoft will make some further tweaks to the Xbox One interface soon, improving the “Guide” functionality on the dashboard and allowing you to customize the order of your navigation tabs. A new “Parties & chats” tab will correlate social features, and a few other parts have been streamlined and simplified.
As this article point out, in preview videos for the Xbox Series X, the interface looks identical to this; it’s likely that these changes will carry over exactly to the new system. On Twitter, a member of the Xbox support team circa 2013, Missy Quarry, has explained that this makes a lot of sense. “One of the biggest user problems was getting used to an entirely new UI and they begged for the 360 dash,” she says.
I worked as Xbox support during the One launch. One of the biggest user problems was getting used to an entirely new UI and they begged for the 360 dash. I think this is a smart move on their part, tbh.
This makes sense, as we know that Microsoft wants to have multiple Xbox consoles on the market at once, all representing the same experiences–Series X might even not be the only Xbox releasing this year. The Xbox One UI was not received well at launch, and had to be tweaked extensively. We also know that the Series X won’t launch with next-gen exclusives, with games like Halo: Infinite also coming to Xbox One.
Xbox Series X is on track to release by holiday 2020. Here are the system specs that have been unveiled so far.
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April 7 is a special day in The Lord of the Rings cinema history. On this day in the year 2000, New Line Cinema released the first trailer for the series, giving people a first look at what Peter Jackson’s epic fantasy trilogy would look like. Lord of the Rings fansite TheOneRing.net recirculated the trailer for the anniversary, and it’s a sight to behold twenty years later.
The first-look video was released six months into the production of the films, and it showcases Jackson speaking about the enormous undertaking of bringing J.R.R. Tolkien’s work to the big screen and revealed an early look (at the time) of the visual effects, costumes, and settings of the series.
The trailer was released before the streaming era, when people had to download videos. According to the site, it racked up the most downloads ever for a movie trailer, surpassing 1999’s Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
Remember this iconic trailer released 7 April 2000? It broke the internet with the most downloads of any video EVER surpassing Star Wars Episode 1 trailers! pic.twitter.com/KKE3PqD4oK
Also presumably to celebrate the milestone, Weta Digital recently released the visual effects reels for The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King–you can watch them here.
The Lord of the Rings movies were box office juggernauts and they each won multiple Oscars. The Return of the King did especially well, winning 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Jackson went on to direct The Hobbit trilogy, which earned 7 Oscar nominations across the three movies, but it didn’t win any. The franchise was a box office juggernaut, bringing in nearly $3 billion at the global box office.
Expect Disney to shift more movies initially slated for theatrical release to streaming debuts on Disney+ instead due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Disney executive chairman Bob Iger revealed that consumers should expect to see the company push more content (and earlier) to their digital platforms like Disney+ in light of the current global crisis. Iger’s comments come just days after the studio announced it had scrapped plans to release Artemis Fowl theatrically, opting to debut the film on Disney+ instead.
“There are some we’ve decided to put on Disney+. We already announced one, Artemis Fowl, that would have been released in theaters. Others we’ve simply delayed,” Iger informed Barron’s.
“In terms of movies going ahead after Artemis, there may be a few more that we end up putting directly onto Disney+, but for the most part, a lot of the big tentpole Disney films, we’ll simply wait for slots. In some cases, we’ve announced new ones already, but later on in the calendar.”
Iger’s emphasis on non-tentpole films shifting to Disney+ probably doesn’t bode well for the likes of former Fox titles The New Mutants, The Personal History of David Copperfield, Antlers, and The Woman in the Window.
None of those films were given new theatrical release dates in Disney’s recent announcement, leading to speculation that they could end up on Disney-owned streaming platforms such as Disney+ or Hulu. All four films had initially been slated to open in theaters.
Gears Tactics has gone gold ahead of its release on PC later this month, Microsoft has announced. This means that the game is effectively finished, and is in a state where it can be released. Xbox Wire has announced that the team has “begun down the path for the Xbox console version,” which is due to release at an unspecified point later this year.
To celebrate, a new piece of art by Gears artist Luke Preece, featuring the skull of Tactics protagonist Gabe Diaz, has been released. You can see it below.
Gears Tactics was built with PC users in mind, and it’s the first game in the series to debut first on PC. Thanks to a partnership between The Coalition and Intel, anyone who purchases an Intel Core i5 or higher processor will receive a free copy of Gears Tactics. Although the exact terms and conditions of this deal are not clear, expect Gears Tactics to appear as a bonus included with processors following its release.
The game is also available on Xbox Game Pass, in both its PC and Ultimate forms. The eventual Xbox One version will appear on Xbox Game Pass for console, too–as will any eventual Xbox Series X version that might or might not release (nothing has been confirmed).
