Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has launched its Season One content on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, alongside a patch that makes several quality-of-life and balance changes. The update includes tons of new additions and even more from the Battle Pass bonuses, so Infinity Ward has provided an overview of all the new additions.

First, the update adds four new maps, free for all players. Those include Atrium and Cargo maps for Gunfight, and a Ground War map called Port. The Crash map from the original Modern Warfare also makes a comeback, and Infinity Ward promises that two more retro maps will be added sometime this season: Vacant and Shipment.

The new season also brings a Reinforce game mode, that acts as a hybrid of Domination and Search & Destroy. You’ll only have a single life, and your teams will compete for control of three flags. Capturing a flag respawns the members of your team–hence the name. This season will also add two more modes, Infected and Gunfight OSP. Infected has you fight against knife-wielding infected players trying to add you to their ranks, while Gunfight OSP is like traditional gunfight, but you start with no equipment or weapons. You’ll have to scrounge for survival.

Finally, the new season brings five new Special Ops missions to play cooperatively. Those include Operation Just Reward, Operation Strongbox, and three classic Spec Ops missions: Pitch Black, Grounded, and Bomb Squad.

All of those free additions come along with the Battle Pass. The pass itself has free tiers which can earn you RAM-7 bullpup assault rifle (Tier 15) and the Holger-26 (Tier 31). Purchasing the Battle Pass will get you a full 100 tiers to unlock boasting 170 items, and simply buying into the Battle Pass will get you a new Operator, Mara. A Battle Pass Bundle gets you 20 Tier skips for a head start, and individual Tier Skips cost 150 CP (about $1.50). If you’re new to Modern Warfare you can jump straight in with the “Battle Pass Edition.” That includes 3,000 CP–enough for three Battle Passes–and some other in-game bonuses. It’s available for $80.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/everything-new-in-call-of-duty-modern-warfares-new/1100-6471893/

Nintendo has officially announced plans to release the Switch in one of the world’s most populous and gamer-rich countries, China. The hybrid console is launching on December 10 in China through a partnership with Chinese internet giant Tencent. The console is officially called the Tencent Nintendo Switch in China, according to analyst Daniel Ahmad who attended the news briefing today.

The console will carry a cost of RMB 2,099 ($300 USD) when it launches, and it comes bundled with a trial/demo version of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe and a one-year warranty. Individual games are priced around RMB 299 ($42 USD).

Nintendo and Tencent are working with Chinese indie developers to launch their games on the platform. Check out the image below to see a rundown of partners.

China is a massive country. It has a population of more than 1.3 billion, and its audience for gamer is bigger than the entire United States population.

China’s 13-year ban on game consoles ended in 2013, after which Sony and Microsoft brought their current-generation consoles to the country.

While China is now allowing game consoles to be sold, the country still has stringent rules pertaining to game content. Every title released in the country must be approved by the Ministry of Culture. The country does not allow any content that promotes or incites obscenity, drug use, violence, or gambling; games also can’t harm public ethics or China’s culture and traditions.

China enacted the console ban in 2000, blocking the sale of systems over concerns about potential harm to the physical and mental development of children. Touch-enabled devices and smartphones, like the iPhone and iPad, were allowed because they are not deemed gaming devices.

Nintendo has sold 41.67 million units worldwide and 246 million games thus far without China, so it will be interesting to see how these figures grow once the console launches there.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-switch-launching-in-china-next-week-get-a/1100-6471882/

Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD recently returned the long-dormant series to modern consoles, albeit with a remaster of a Wii launch title rather than a brand new game. In an interview with Crunchyroll, director and producer Masao Shirosaki has said that this was the best option for the “limited time and budget” that they had, but that he’s hoping it will do well enough to ensure a future for the series.

“The Monkey Ball series is a very important IP for our studio,” Shirosaki says. He previously worked testing Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz for the PlayStation Vita, and has seen a lot of support for the series from fans since then. “Of course, I am aware that the most favored titles are the first two games,” he admits. “If there is enough support for Banana Blitz HD, this will open up doors for remaking the first two games or even a whole new title to the series. But for now, I’d be happy if everyone has fun playing Banana Blitz HD.” Super Monkey Ball and Super Monkey Ball 2 remain the pinnacle of the series for many players.

Shirosaki directly says that he hopes that next title he works on will be another Monkey Ball, once they’re done porting Banana Blitz HD to Steam. “As for my next project, I have many ideas in mind but my hope is to create a new Monkey Ball title,” he says. Shirosaki also worked on the Yakuza series, and when asked if those games could ever cross over into Monkey Ball, he says “if there’s an opportunity to create an all-new Monkey Ball title, I wouldn’t mind featuring Kiryu or Majima as guest characters.”

We gave Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD a 5/10 in our review, writing that “a glimmer of what made the series great remains, and it’s enough to make us hope that someday we get a new entry that properly returns the series to its roots.”

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/super-monkey-ball-director-says-there-might-be-mor/1100-6471880/