COD is King
Edition 48 - November 1st to 7th
Good morning gamers. We hope you’re locked and loaded for a new week.
This past week was dominated by Call of Duty as the worldwide release of CoD: Vanguard coincided with leaked details about CoD 2022. Things are not all fine and dandy at Rockstar Games as they’ve encountered some development issues. That’s a lot of gaming news but don’t worry, we got you covered.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: Vanguard was released this past Friday, however, fans are already looking forward to next year's game. RalphsValve, a gaming insider released several details via twitter pertaining to Infinity Ward’s 2022 game, CoD: Modern Warfare 2.
Campaign will have new mechanics that will allow you to control your squad. As the squad leader you will be able to request room clearances and call for assists during the campaign missions. The campaign is set in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico where players are tasked with dismantling a crime syndicate.
Multiplayer will feature new and returning modes such as extraction, uplink, the floor is lava and hostage. The new perks include Bounty Hunter and Ricochet (ammunition that can ricochet off of surfaces). Field Upgrades and Operators will return to the multiplayer. Original maps from Modern Warfare 2 (2009) such as Favela, Terminal, Highrise, Shipment and Quarry will be returning. Players will continue to have customization options with a variety of different weapons and attachments.
Warzone 2022 will come with a new map made up of a variety of locations based off of Modern Warfare 2 (2009) maps. The map will be desert themed with destructible environments, which is new to Warzone. Other new additions to the mode include the ability to buy perks from buy stations and a ladder from field upgrades. Finally, Warzone will be getting a Ranked Mode.
Skill Based Matchmaking (SBMM) will be returning to the next Call of Duty instalment. However, there will now be the addition of “Bot Pools” for players that are eligible to enter these lobbies. Matchmaking will be able to best match players of equal skill level due to game improvements.
Rockstar Games - What’s Going On?
Everybody has played a game developed by Rockstar Games in one way or another. There’s the Grand Theft Auto franchise, the Red Dead Redemption games and then a whole selection of others like Max Payne, Bully and Manhunt. This month Rockstar Games is releasing the GTA Trilogy, and then the enhanced GTA 5 remaster will hit the market in 2022.
Grand Theft Auto VI is having some major development issues according to a recent video by Rockstar Mag’ creator Chris Klippel. He claims that the game's story and gameplay elements have changed multiple times since the start of development (even as recently as in 2019) and that development was restarted after Dan Hauser left Rockstar Games. The reason we don't have any details is because they're still trying to figure out what the game is going to be. So far all we know (reportedly) is that GTA VI will include an evolving map, will take place in two different periods and Rockstar is aiming for a general audience.
Red Dead Redemption, the first game in the series, will reportedly be re-released with multiple enhancements. Rockstar Games is currently working on a hybrid remaster and remake version of the game that won’t quite be a full remaster but will feature much more than the typical visual updates from a remake. This rumour initially started around the same time that the GTA Remastered Trilogy rumours surfaced saying that Rockstar was simultaneously working on an original Red Dead Redemption port that might run on the RDR2 engine.
Esports Corner
🥇 Congratulations to Edward Gaming for winning the 2021 League of Legends World Championships and Congratulations to Natus Vincere for winning the PGL Major Stockholm 2021.
Rocket League All Day
Rocket League esports is the talk of the town these days. 100 Thieves co-owner Jack “CouRageJD” Dunlop said it best when he tweeted “Why are we not in this smhhh??”; a tweet which has caused many fans to demand the team enter the scene. In fact, it seems like Cloud9 might be finally making their return to Rocket League more than a year after dropping their dominant roster. The organization has recently signed a new coach and seems to be targeting a few specific players. At the partnership level, BMW and Psyonix have teamed up to introduce the BMW 240i into the game for November, and BMW will become the title sponsor for the Rocket leagues Open and freestyle tournament. On a darker note, reigning world champions NRG have been berated with cheating accusations after winning the RLCS due to multiple mid-game disconnections. Both reports resulted in resets and allowed NRG to comeback and defeat Envy in the semi-finals and then reverse sweep G2 in the grand-finals. Rocket League fans are calling this a poor use of “tactical disconnects”.
October Esports Viewership
October 2021 was home to some of the worlds most important esport events like the League of Legends World Championships, Dota 2’s The International 10, and the CS:GO PGL Major Stockholm. Despite some of these events not concluding in the month of October, they still hit some records. Here are some of the viewership stats by Esports Charts, one of the biggest sources for streaming analytics.
The semi-final match of the LoL World Championships between T1 and Damwon reached a peak viewership of 3.5 million live viewers.
The International 10 grand final match between Team Spirit and PSG.LGD was the most popular broadcast amongst english speakers peaking at 1 million viewers.
The PGL Major Stockholm match between Na’Vi and NiP peaked just shy of 1 million global viewers, putting it in the top 5 broadcasts.
Mobile esport events MPL ID Season 8 (Mobile Legends: Bang Bang) and PUBG Mobile Pro League Season 4 made it into the top 5 most popular tournaments.
Game Review - Call of Duty: Vanguard
Three things in life are guaranteed; death, taxes and a new Call of Duty title every year. Activision and Sledgehammer Games dive yet again into the World War 2 era with Call of Duty: Vanguard. This year's instalment is best described as a nostalgic title modernized for today's gaming hardware. If you’re a Call of Duty veteran and remember CoD: World at War from 2008 (also known as the game that started the zombies mode), you’ll enjoy Vanguard. Multiplayer is exactly what you’d come to expect from Call of Duty; fast, chaotic but visually very appealing. The maps seem to be well designed, and the added FOV slider is a long-needed console feature. The single-player campaign is definitely one of the more fun ones in recent memory. Playing characters based on real people in history makes the missions much more personal, and the flashback component is a brilliant way to tell their story. Finally we have zombies - and as per usual, the mode is filled with zombie slaying action backed by a great lore. We’re only a few days in but we give Call of Duty: Vanguard a score of B-.
Gaming Roundup
Take-Two Interactive have cancelled their unannounced game codenamed “Volt” by Hangar13 after spending $53 million on development. CEO Strauss Zelnick confirmed it was canceled because it didn’t reach “the level of excellence” they expected.
Gotham Knights might be getting a Spring 2022 (March, April or May) release window after some marketing material leaked. Nightwing voice actor Christpher Sean added to the speculation by commenting on Weekly Recon's Instagram coverage of the leak.
A full-length Super Mario animated movie starring Chris Pratt, Seth Rogen, Anya Taylor-Joy and more is coming to North America in December 2022. Seth Rogen will reportedly be getting a spinoff solo Donkey Kong film in 2023 or later.
Activision Blizzard has officially stated that their highly anticipated titles Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 will need more time in development, likely pushing the games into the 2023 release window.
Forza Horizon 5 is now the highest-rated new game on OpenCritic with a rating of 92, and the joint highest-rated on MetaCritic. The racing game has been called “the first essential game” of the generation.
According to VGC, Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of 2K Sports, is potentially interested in acquiring the FIFA naming rights. Electronic Arts is currently deciding whether or not to renew their agreement with FIFA.
SEGA released a statement on Monday expressing that the company is exploring a strategic alliance with Microsoft to help move forward their “Super Game” initiative. The initiative focuses on using SEGA’s IPs and developing a global online service.
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