The ‘Classified’ tile was added to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s main menu with the start of Season Two. Although Infinity Ward has yet to officially reveal what hides behind that tile, it’s strongly believed to be the game’s long-rumoured battle royale mode, which the developer teased in the season’s opening cinematic. Just like some managed to glitch into the battle royale map, others have now gotten into the Classified menu, revealing a number of details about the mode, and confirming some other leaks....

Forgive the dramatics, but it’s been a long road for this nine-episode series getting ready to deploy. The show has had a fairly troubled development, and even lost Steven Kane – showrunner on the Paramount-produced series – earlier this year. It’s just not been easy getting Halo off the pad and onto the screen. But, that’s all behind us now: take a look at the brand new trailer for the Halo TV series below....

Nintendo’s next livestream takes place today. It’s another episode of the Nintendo Indie World series, which is dedicated entirely to upcoming indie games on their way to Switch. Today’s showcase kicks off at 9am PT, 12pm ET, 5pm UK, and will last around 20 minutes. Nintendo doesn’t usually tease what fans can expect from its various events, though we should be in for a solid show regardless. You can follow along on YouTube (link embedded below):...

Techland is hosting a Dying Light 2 livestream today. After years of silence, the developer is finally ready to show the game off. Though we do know the show will focus entirely on Dying Light 2, Techland didn’t say if that means a gameplay deep dive, or something a lot less exciting. Considering the game is apparently shooting for release this year, this should be a gameplay showcase. Maybe we’ll even get a release date....

During our three hour hands-on, we got the chance to explore the world and take on whatever missions we wanted. During that, we managed to recruit a cat companion for our longboat. You can see the entire thing play out in the video below: Cats don’t do much raiding - they mainly just curl up in a ball at the front of the ship, but hey, that’s moral support. Also they keep all of your crewmates company - being at sea can be tiring, so having a feline friend onboard certainly makes things a bit nicer....

The asymmetrical co-op puzzle game, currently available on PC, is the latest standalone entry in the We Were Here series, and takes you back to the mysterious Castle Rock - a haunted and forgotten Antarctic castle near the town of Rockbury. In this cooperative adventure, you and your partner wake up separated in the dungeons of Castle Rock. With a walkie-talkie as your only means of communication, you and your partner must solve puzzles together to escape....

Where do you find the machete blueprint in Raft? The machete blueprint is in a cave on Balboa Island, but it’s not just any cave. It’s Mama Bear’s cave. You can fight her, though we really don’t recommend doing that unless you’ve already got a strong weapon and a good battle plan. Mama Bear can defeat you in two or three hits, and you can distract her while you sneak into the cave anyway....

Western civilisation, by extension, feels like the forgotten afterparty for Splatoon fans. Sure, 10 million copies of Splatoon 2 have been sold worldwide and there’s plenty of people to match with online, but it’s clear Nintendo has uncharacteristically pumped out two sequels in seven years to feed its insatiable Japanese audience. According to Famitsu, Splatoon 2 is the fifth best-selling Switch game in Japan ahead of Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild....

If you have indeed finished the game, you’ll know that there’s a big ol’ cliffhanger right at the end – a scene that suggests that Aloy and pals haven’t quite tied everything up in a neat little package, after all. If you’ve yet to see the conclusion of the game, you may want to stop reading here, because there are end-game spoilers below. Just before the fateful final encounter in Forbidden West, Tilda van der Meer (voiced by none other than Carrie-Anne Moss) reveals that she’s a member of Far Zenith – a group of ultra-rich Musk-type billionaire egoists that fled the planet in order to create a new colony, named Sirius, right before the extinction-level event(s) unceremoniously decimated all life on Earth....

Wrapping up Netflix’s Geeked Week, the streaming service and game developer CD Projekt Red announced a further event that will take place next month, and it will be solely related to The Witcher. The event (called WitcherCon, unsurprisingly) will be hosted by the two companies and plans to ‘celebrate the Witcher universe with panels, sneak peeks, and more’. It will be available to watch around the world live, streaming on Twitch and YouTube....

Smaller publishers, then, had a killer show. Whether that was Koch with System Shock, Dead Island 2, and Goat Simulator 3, or Krafton with Moonbreaker and The Callisto Protocol, the not-Ubisofts and not-Microsofts of Gamescom made a lasting impact. But amongst them all, there was one publisher that really stood out to me, and you’ll probably be able to guess who that was based on the coverage myself and Alex Donaldson have put out from the show to date....

According to Forbes, studios possibly impacted by the cancelations include Otherside Entertainment and Hidden Path Entertainment. The former has two games listed as in development: Thick as Thieves and immersive sim game Argos: Riders on the Storm led by industry veteran Warren Spector. Defence Grid developer and Valve collaborator Hidden Path list a D&D RPG as its lasted in-development title. In a statement handed to IGN, Wizards of the Coast (WotC)stated its remains “committed to using digital games as a cornerstone” of its strategy for bringing its games to “players around the world....

Kotick was the subject of a major Wall Street Journal expose, which claimed the longtime CEO was well aware of the allegations against abusers in his company, has himself been implicated, and reportedly interfered with an internal investigation to stop a high-ranking employee from being fired. Since the report was published, a number of industry leaders have expressed their concerns about the goings-on at the publisher. PlayStation boss Jim Ryan told staff that he doesn’t believe “Activision Blizzard’s statements of response properly address the situation....

July’s Xbox Games with Gold have been announced and the titles are: Planet Alpha, Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break, Conker: Live & Reloaded, and Midway Arcade Origins. Planet Alpha will be available for the entire month of July. In it, you will try to survive a strange planet filled where you are marooned and alone. You are tasked with unlocking the secrets behind the land while being pursued by enemies....

Though it has yet to be officially revealed, Microsoft has now registered the logo design for Xbox Series X. The trademark was spotted on Reddit earlier today. The Justia trademark page shows that it was filed for earlier this month. The logo is certainly distinct, and has enough room for a different letter to replace X should Microsoft release a new model, like the rumoured Lockhart. As you’d expect, registering the design allows Microsoft to use it in any and all promotional materials....

Managing editor, Jez Corden, has reported that the showcase could be titled Xbox Developer_Direct, and will allegedly air on January 25 at 8PM GMT / 9PM CET / 12PM PT / 3PM ET. Corden reports hearing about an Xbox Showcase back in December but has “since been able to lock the information down with a variety of sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans.” The show, with its reportedly shiny new title, is said to be part of a “new initiative” from Microsoft and Xbox, in which the companies attempt to share information on their games more, outside of huge events such as E3, The Game Awards, and more....

An entirely new UI for the Xbox Store has leaked in a number of screenshots and videos. This is how the store is going to look on Xbox One, at least, at some point in the near future. The design of the store is inspired by the Xbox app on PC, itself part of Microsoft’s new Fluent Design mantra. Store navigating can now be found on the left side, with the main page entirely dedicated to information about game, including highlighting what is/isn’t on Game Pass....

In many ways, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 feels like the culmination of everything developer Monolith Soft has done up to this point. Anybody can appreciate the game – it’s simply a good one. But truly understanding the depth of appreciation it deserves is likely tied to understanding the history of the developer, from when its founders broke free of Square after finding them too obsessed with Final Fantasy over new ideas, through to its days with Bandai Namco, and finally its time as a subsidiary of Nintendo....

Yarntown takes place in Central Yharnam and is complete with both the Cleric Beast and Father Gascoigne boss fights - Gascoigne even has his infuriatingly strong blunderbuss. Mraz originally posted details of the game on their Twitter, including a short clip of Yarntown in action. Check it out: “So I made Bloodborne but it’s also super cute and kinda Zelda,” wrote Mraz. You can watch a more in-depth video below, which features both boss fights as well as all of the major areas in Central Yharnam....

All you need to do is add the 1 Year PlayStation Plus Membership to your basket and then enter the voucher code ‘EMCDFFD52’ to receive the discount. That’ll take the price down from the usual $59.99 to $39.99. Then, you’ll be sent a code to your email address to redeem on PSN for your new membership. Still, paying $40 for a year’s worth of PS Plus is definitely an excellent deal....