Although it’s still not enough to make a definitive confirmation, we now have another clue pointing to the next Call of Duty game being Modern Warfare 4. Or rather, five more clues.

The LinkedIn profiles for at least five former Infinity Ward developers show they are back with the Modern Warfare studio. Each of them has a history with the Modern Warfare series. Infinity Ward animation director Mark Grigsby worked on the first two Modern Warfare games, as did game designer Alex Roycewicz, multiplayer design director Geoff Smith, and studio art director Joel Emslie. Infinity Ward founder Zied Rieke–who left the company after working on all three Modern Warfare games–has returned as gameplay director.

All five men have had lasting impacts on Call of Duty. Grigsby helped define Call of Duty’s weapons, even creating the popular knife melee attack in Modern Warfare. Both Roycewicz and Smith designed some of the franchise’s most memorable multiplayer maps, such as Modern Warfare’s Overgrown and Wetwork. Emslie designed some of the more noteworthy characters and items in Call of Duty, such as Ghost and the ghillie suit. Rieke had a huge effect, being the one responsible for designing the original team deathmatch spawn logic in the first Call of Duty and the flashing regenerating health system in Call of Duty 2–both of which continued to be implemented in and influence many Call of Duty titles.

Prior to taking on their current roles at Infinity Ward, each of the five were contributing their talents to other games. Grigbsy, Roycewicz, Smith, and Emslie were all at Respawn, working together on Titanfall and Titanfall 2. Rieke was at Respawn during development of Titanfall, but then went on to found Darwin Game Studio in 2012 and then join Naughty Dog in 2013 before returning to Infinity Ward.

Infinity Ward is the developer behind 2007’s Modern Warfare, 2009’s Modern Warfare 2, and 2011’s Modern Warfare 3. It’s long been suspected Infinity Ward would be the next developer to release a Call of Duty title, as per the pattern of studios working on the franchise. That’s now been confirmed (the Call of Duty game the studio is working on is even already in a playable state).

Rumors that Modern Warfare 4 would be the next Call of Duty game first surfaced when Infinity Ward senior communication manager Ashton Williams dropped a hint pointing back to the series. However, neither Infinity Ward or Activision has provided more than hints as to whether the rumors are true.

Activision has normally unveiled the title of each Call of Duty game in May, so we might be getting some form of announcement soon and then further details and a gameplay reveal at E3 2019. We don’t know much about the new Call of Duty other than that it will include a traditional single-player campaign, unlike last year’s Black Ops 4. Activision has also confirmed the game will have a “huge expansive multiplayer world” and “fun co-op gameplay.” Given that Call of Duty has enjoyed a wealth of multiplayer modes in the past though, ranging from the objective-based Zombies to battle royale Blackout, these descriptions could mean anything.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-4-is-looking-more-and-/1100-6466826/

Blizzard has announced Season 17 of Diablo III will begin on May 17. The new season launches alongside the latest patch for Diablo III, which implements numerous quality-of-life changes into the game.

During Season 17, players will receive a set bonus provided by Legacy of Nightmares. “Classes with especially powerful Legacy of Nightmare builds will be able to experiment with new combinations, particularly ones centered around their ring slots,” Diablo III associate community manager Brandy Camel wrote in a blog post. “Meanwhile, classes traditionally dependent on a heavy amount of survivability from their ring slots have more freedom to experiment with build-changing Legendaries that don’t rely on a Class Set.”

Season 17 brings with it more cosmetics to earn, some old and some new. Several cosmetics from Season 5 make their return, allowing you to unlock them if you missed out the first time. Starting May 17, you’ll be able to unlock Season 5’s pants and boots slots of the Conqueror Set, Greyhollow Island portrait frames, and the Wickerman pet. In terms of something new, completing all nine chapters of the Season Journey will earn you the Galactic Wings.

The seasonal conquest rotation continues in Season 17 as well. Sprinter, Speed Racer, Avarice, Avaritia, The Thrill, Superhuman, Years of War, Dynasty, Masters of the Universe, and Masters of Sets all go live on May 17. In Season 17, the class set rewarded have rotated as well. Completing Chapters 2, 3, and 4 of the Season Journey earns you the three necessary Haedrig’s Gifts necessary to unlock a full class set. Each of Season 17’s class sets are listed below.

Diablo III Season 17 Class Sets

• Barbarian — Might of the Earth
• Crusader — Thorns of the Invoker
• Demon Hunter — The Shadow’s Mantle
• Monk — Monkey King’s Garb
• Necromancer — Grace of Inarius
• Witch Doctor — Raiment of the Jade Harvester
• Wizard — Firebird’s Finery

May 17 also sees the release of a new patch for Diablo III that implements many quality-of-life changes. The full patch notes can be found in the blog post linked to in the text above, but we’ve outlined the highlights below.

Diablo III May 17 Update Patch Notes

General

• Torment 14, 15, and 16 have been added to the game
  • Reward and difficulty levels of all new Torments closely match Greater Rift 65, 70, and 75 respectively
• Portals left behind by Treasure Goblins may occasionally lead somewhere udderly ridiculous
• Using an Ancient or Primal Puzzle Ring in Kanai’s Cube will produce a new result
• Party portraits now display if a player’s Cheat Death buff has been recently used (PC Only)
• When a boss is killed in a Nephalem Rift, a permanent ping will mark the location of the boss’ death until the Rift is closed
• The Boss Notification screen has received a rework (PC Only)
• The Greater Rift Notification screen has received a rework (PC Only)
• The Greater Rift Completion screen has received a rework (PC Only)
• Matchmaking no longer prevents players from joining a game while a Greater Rift is already in progress
  • Players who join the game will still be unable to join a Greater Rift in progress
• The progress bar for a Greater Rift is now visible to all players in the game, regardless of whether they are participating in the Rift or not
• Challenge Rifts
• The amount of Death’s Breath rewarded by completing a Challenge Rift has been increased

Quality of Life

• Seasons
  • The cap for earning additional stash tabs through the Season Journey has been raised from 4 to 5 (PC Only)
• Search functionality has been added to Stash (PC Only)
• All Crafters now have an Expand/Collapse All button for recipes (PC Only)
• Most Bounty indicators are now displayed immediately after entering the Bounty area
• Death’s Breath now drop in Horadric Caches

Seasons

• The Season Journey Journal now displays all chapters, regardless of current progression
• There is a new reward for completing the entirety of the Season Journey (Guardian)
• For Season 17, the Galactic Wings are available
• Added the buff for Season 17
  • Player’s damage dealt is increased by 750% and damage taken is reduced by 4% for every Ancient Item they have equipped while having no Set Bonuses Active

Items

• (NEW) Bottomless Potion of the Unfettered
  • Become immune to control-impairing effects for 5-7 seconds after drinking this potion
• Akkhan’s Leniency
  • Each enemy hit by your Blessed Shield increases damage of your Blessed Shield by 15-20% 30-35% for 3 seconds
• Bloodtide Blade
  • Death Nova deals 80-100% 300-400% increased damage for every enemy within 25 yards
• Carnevil
  • ​The 5 10 Fetishes closest to you will shoot a powerful Poison Dart every time you do
• Chantodo’s Will
  • Every second while in Archon form you expel a Wave of Destruction, dealing 1000% 4000% weapon damage to enemies within 30 yards. Every time you hit with an attack while not in Archon form, 1000% 4000% weapon damage is added to the Wave of Destruction, stacking up to 20 times
  • Wave of Destruction damage now scale with attack speed
• The Dagger of Darts
  • Your Poison Darts and your Fetishes’ Poison Darts now pierce and deal an additional [400-500%] damage.
• Grace of Inarius
  • 6-Piece Bonus
    • Bone Armor also activates a swirling tornado of bone, damaging nearby enemies for 1000% weapon damage and increasing the damage they take from the Necromancer by 3750% 10000%
• Iron Rose
  • Attacking with Siphon Blood has a 40-50% 100% chance to cast a free Blood Nova
• Jekangbord
  • Blessed Shield ricochets to 6 additional enemies and has its damage increased by 225-300% 300-400%
• Sage’s Set
  • Now doubles the amount of Death’s Breaths that drop
    • Previous: Increases Death’s Breath drops by 1
• Sin Seekers
  • Now also adds 250-300% damage to Rapid Fire
• Wojahnni Assaulter
  • Rapid Fire deals 60-75% 75-100% increased damage for every half second that you channel. Stacks up to 4 30 times.
    • The stacks gained from Wojahnni Assaulter now also stack much more quickly

Bug Fixes

• Necromancer Simulacrums now benefit from the Trag’Oul’s Avatar 6-Piece Bonus
• Fixed and issue where Xbox One/PS4 Voice Chat within public games was failing to work (Xbox One and PS4 Only)
• Fixed an issue where The Immortal King’s Set Dungeon objective numbers were incorrect
• Fixed an issue where Greater Rift 70 first-time completion Primal drops were occurring for players even if they did not succeed at the 15-minute completion time
• Fixed an issue where Bounties that required interacting with an object would not update the next objective immediately after completing one
• Fixed an issue where a second Puzzle Ring tab would be shown in the Kanai’s Cube UI when a Puzzle Ring was equipped (Console Only)
• Fixed an issue where Keywarden icons would not show up on the map in Torment level games (Switch Only)
• Fixed an issue where some subtitles in the Taiwan localization would exceed the screen limit (Switch only)
• Fixed an issue where the mouse cursor may be hidden when launching the client (Mac only)

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/diablo-3-season-17-starts-next-week-and-brings-a-n/1100-6466813/

The weekend is shaping up to be a good one for gamers. In addition to Steam’s free PC game offerings, you can also save money on dozens of PS4 games in the PlayStation Store this weekend. The flash sale just went live, so you can go take a look at all the deals available.

Some of the best offerings include Devil May Cry 5, which released two months ago and is now on sale for just under $40. You’ve also got Battlefield V, which is (once again) marked down to $30, and acclaimed RPG Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition, which is discounted to $39.

Several EA sports titles are considerably cheaper, such as Madden NFL 19 for $15, and FIFA 19 and NHL 19 for $18 each. Guacamelee 2‘s Complete edition is notably on sale for $13.79, and fans of Quantic Dream games may want to snag the Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls bundle selling for $20.

As “flash sale” implies, these deals won’t stick around long–they’ll be available now through Monday, May 13, at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET. So grab the games you want–and while you’re at it, check out the rest of this week’s best PS4 deals.

SHOP PSN’S FLASH SALE ON PS4 GAMES »

See more of the available deals below!

• 8-Bit Invaders — $18
• Battlefield V — $30
• Battlefield V – Deluxe Edition — $40
• Call of Cthulhu — $30
• Conan Exiles — $30
• Devil May Cry 5 — $39.59
• Devil May Cry 5 – Deluxe Edition — $49.69
• Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition — $39
• DreamWorks Dragons: Dawn of New Riders — $24
• EA Sports UFC 3 — $12
• Farming Simulator 19 — $37.49
• FIFA 19 — $18
• Grip — $20
• Guacamelee 2 – Complete Edition — $13.79
• Heavy Rain & Beyond: Two Souls Collection — $20
• Madden NFL 19 — $15
• Monster Energy Supercross 2 – Special Edition — $48
• Moonlighter — $11
• NHL 19 — $18
• One Piece World Seeker — $42
• Ride 3 — $25
• The Sims 4 — $8
• SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy — $30
• Space Hulk Bundle — $30
• Tales of Vesperia – Definitive Edition — $35
• Vampyr — $24

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/a-flash-sale-on-ps4-games-just-launched-in-the-pla/1100-6466801/

Japanese developer Cygames has announced that its upcoming fighting game, Granblue Fantasy: Versus, will have a closed beta beginning at the end of May. The closed beta will run for a short duration from Thursday, May 30 to Saturday, June 1.

Registration for the beta will remain open until Thursday, May 23, and will be available to any PS4 owner with a Japanese, US, or European PSN account and an active PS Plus subscription. The beta will run in a set of three rounds, each lasting approximately four hours. Head over to the Granblue Fantasy: Versus website to register, and check the full beta times below.

• Round 1 (May 31): 2 AM to 6:59 AM (PDT)
• Round 1 (May 31): 9 AM to 1:59 PM (GMT)
• Round 2 (May 31): 6 PM to 10:59 PM (PDT)
• Round 2 (June 1): 1 AM to 5:59 AM (GMT)
• Round 3 (June 1): 9 AM to 1:59 PM (PDT)
• Round 3 (June 1): 4 PM to 8:59 PM (GMT)

Arc System Works is developing Granblue Fantasy: Versus under the watchful eye of Cygames. The game is based on Granblue Fantasy, a 2014 JRPG available in Japan for Android, iOS, and web browsers.

So far, Granblue Fantasy: Versus features six playable characters and contains the same stylish action and smooth animation Arc System is known for. Granblue Fantasy: Versus is headed to PS4 sometime in 2019.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/granblue-fantasy-versus-closed-beta-date-revealed/1100-6466805/

Rage 2 is adding a few special Twitch extensions that will let viewers participate in the action, with more with more potentially on the way for Rage 2. Tim Willits, studio director at id Software, indicated there could also be more to come for other games, based on how this trial run goes.

Asked if id Software games going forward will use Twitch extensions, Willits joked about “the big elephant in the room”–presumably referring to Doom Eternal. “Yes, we’re definitely looking at all things like that,” he told GameSpot. “But we’ll see how it goes for Rage 2.”

In fact, Willits thinks that more seamless and open participation between players and viewers is going to become an ongoing trend in the years to come. This echoes similar comments from Google about its new Stadia platform–which is notably getting Doom Eternal.

“That’s really the ultimate goal in these types of things,” he said. “And I believe looking at the industry, and even looking at how we approach games and game design, you know game developers will look more at how the game is streamed, what streamers can do, and then how those viewers can participate. So I think we’ve scratched the surface and you’ll see a lot more of that in the coming years.”

In the case of Rage 2, the extension has two functions at launch: to allow viewers to revive you through a defibrillation mini-game, and to place viewer names as opponents in the post-apocalyptic races. Willits did say the studio is planning to develop more Twitch extension functionality post-launch, and that it will be watching player and streamer trends to see what kinds of functions could be built. He also said that viewers who participate will get some drops in their own games like weapon skins.

Rage 2 launches on May 14 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Check out our pre-order guide for more details.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/more-id-games-could-get-rage-2-like-twitch-extensi/1100-6466804/