Call of Duty: Modern Warfare brings the series back to its popular contemporary setting, but one narrative choice struck close to home and has stirred up controversy–in part because it appears to attribute a real-life massacre to the wrong country. But narrative director Taylor Kurosaki defended the choice to GameSpot. Spoilers follow.

One mission called “Highway of Death” takes place in the fictional country of Urzikstan, and alludes to Russian aggressors committing a massacre. This appeared to draw parallels to a well-known incident from the first Gulf War of the same name, in which American-led coalition forces attacked retreating Iraqi military vehicles. Some have expressed concern with using the name, and attributing the act to a different country.

Kurosaki defended the narrative decision in an interview with GameSpot, saying that in the context of the game, the highway had already been referenced by that name before the mission takes place there, suggesting that the game isn’t rewriting the event, just drawing upon it.

“I encourage you to go back and play start from the beginning of that mission, where you get the mission briefing,” he said. “Farah talks about this location as the Highway of Death before the mission takes place. So the Highway of Death is not what came out of that mission. It was already that. And then if you look at the environmental storytelling, there’s already bombed out vehicles and all kinds of, you know, things that are relating to previous episodes and it’s even mentioned in there.”

He went on to suggest the phrase “highway of death” is not exclusive to the Gulf War incident, and that the narrative team did heavy research to find universal themes across war over the last several decades.

“The reason why Urzikstan is a fictional country is because we are taking themes that we see played over and over again in the last 50 years in countries and locations all around the world. We’re not making assimilation of one particular country or one in particular conflict,” he said. “These are themes that play out over and over again with a lot of the same players involved. We don’t portray any one side as good or bad in our game.”

For more thoughts on the story of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare from Kurosaki, check out our full interview. Plus, read our review-in-progress for more.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-narrative-director-def/1100-6471038/

During the company’s latest earnings call, Ubisoft expressed interest in making all of its PvP games cross-platform. Currently, cross-platform play is only supported in two of Ubisoft’s games: Brawlhalla and Just Dance 2019.

“Our goal is to put cross-play on all the PvP games we have, over time,” Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said. “That’s well on the way.” Ubisoft has a lot of games that support PvP play, but we’re assuming Guillemot is mostly speaking to the larger games that have still maintained their playerbase and are still scheduled to receive post-launch content. With both Microsoft and Sony’s next-gen consoles aiming for a Holiday 2020 release, it’s likely Ubisoft plans on implementing cross-play in the PvP games that are scheduled to get next-gen ports so players can bring their accounts over and still play with their friends on Xbox One and PS4. It’s a future that’s been made possible since Sony eased up on allowing cross-play support in PlayStation games.

On the call, Guillemot pointed to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag as an example of Ubisoft porting a game from one console generation to the next, and the transition working out in the long run. Funnily enough, if Ubisoft keeps to tradition, the Assassin’s Creed game for 2020 will also be releasing within that same Q4 window–though the studio has not confirmed a release date for the rumored Viking Assassin’s Creed game, nor said anything about whether it will be a cross-platform title like Black Flag.

Of Ubisoft’s existing PvP titles, the two most likely candidates for cross-play support are For Honor and Rainbow Six Siege, both of which continue to see limited-time holiday events, new maps, and new characters. The former just saw the release of Zhanhu, the first brand-new hero for the Wu Lin faction–which was added to the game in the Marching Fire expansion. The latter is in the midst of its Halloween-themed event, Doktor’s Curse, which adds a bunch of spooky new skins for its many Operators.

After admitting Ghost Recon: Breakpoint could have used a bit more polish before release, Ubisoft delayed the launch of several of its games scheduled for early 2020. Rainbow Six Quarantine, Watch Dogs: Legion, and Gods & Monsters have all been pushed back to the latter half of 2020.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ubisoft-will-put-cross-play-into-all-the-pvp-games/1100-6471032/

Thanks to the Switch Lite’s success, Nintendo is looking into bringing more of its 3DS franchises to the console-handheld hybrid in the future.

Wall Street Journal tech reporter Takashi Mochizuki tweeted that Nintendo Japan’s current president, Shuntaro Furukawa, said the “company would make more 3DS franchises available on Switch.” Such a move is already happening with Brain Age, which is getting a new entry this December in Japan. A Western release for the new Brain Age game has yet to be announced.

The news rides on the back of Nintendo Switch Lite’s growing popularity, as the company mentioned in its earnings report that the console sold approximately two million units worldwide in just 11 days since its September 20 launch.

Following Luigi’s Mansion 3‘s launch, the next big games headed to the Nintendo Switch are Pokemon Sword / Shield, which comes out on November 15. There are a few Switch games sprinkled between Sword and Shield’s launch, such as Just Dance 2020 (November 5), Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020 (November 5), Disney Tsum Tsum Festival (November 8), New Super Lucky’s Tale (November 8), and Romancing SaGa 3 (November 11).

The Switch Lite has received glowing praise following its launch. In our own review, editor Peter Brown thought highly of the iterative console, saying, “If anything, I hope the Switch Lite is an indication of where Nintendo might go with its theoretical upgraded Switch model in the future. I don’t remember the last time I detached my Joy-Cons, and I constantly gripe over the fake d-pad whenever I have to use it. And after playing with the Switch Lite for an extended period of time, I now look at my standard Switch as being more fragile than ever. The Switch Lite has almost everything I’m looking for in a Switch–I just wished it lived up to its name.”

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-says-more-3ds-franchises-are-coming-to-sw/1100-6471031/