It's a Start
Good morning gamers. E3 is finally here and since we’re right in the middle of it, our team has decided to send out TWO editions of the Weekly Recon this week. Wednesday morning you can expect a special version dedicated to recapping all of the awesome news revealed at E3. Apart from E3 the week was still exciting as we got the Battlefield 2042 reveal, some amazing news from Ubisoft regarding a new multiplayer game and tournament organizers BLAST have their hands full with some major upcoming CS:GO and Fortnite events.
BATTLEFIELD 2042 - Talk about Wow!
On Wednesday, EA Dice released the trailer for Battlefield 2042. EA also published a blogpost outlining what the game will include when it launches on October 22, 2021. Battlefield 2042 will cost $60 USD on PS4 and Xbox One and it will be $70 USD on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Multiplayer will feature 128 player lobbies on next generation consoles and PC while players on last generation consoles will cap out at 64 player lobbies. The 7 new maps are: Orbital, Hourglass, Kaleidoscope, Manifest, Discarded, Breakaway and Renewal. The maps will be the largest in franchise history and will feature dynamic weather changes and events such as tornadoes and sandstorms.
Campaign will not be available in Battlefield 2042. According to IGN, EA DICE will focus on providing players with character depth and a storyline through the multiplayer. The fans of Battlefield campaigns will be disappointed but DICE assured us that they focused on their strengths in the creation of this game.
Battle Royale will not be available in Battlefield 2042 at launch. Players shouldn't expect the mode, but it is possible that they will add it later on. The game is set to offer other unique game experiences.
UBISOFT - Marching FORWARD
Ubisoft has been very busy over the last few weeks. First, they had the worldwide reveal of Far Cry 6 and now they’ve officially confirmed that the next instalment of the Rainbow Six series is called Rainbow Six: Extraction. In addition to all that, some recently leaked images seem to suggest that Ubisoft is secretly working on a new multiplayer shooter with some familiar faces.
Rainbow Six: Extraction is the official name of Ubisoft’s upcoming modern tactical co-op shooter. The game is based off of the Outbreak mode in Rainbow Six Siege, building off of its strong foundation. The dev team title reveal trailer featured lead producer Antoine Vimal du Monteil and creative director Patrik Methé who said that in the game, you’ll have to “assemble your team of Operators to take on an always-evolving alien threat”. Ubisoft featured the gameplay reveal trailer at their Ubisoft Forward event during E3.
“BattleCat” is a rumored new multiplayer shooter currently in early-stage development at Ubisoft. The game combines elements from Splinter Cell, The Division and Ghost Recon: Breakpoint into one Tom Clancy-themed game. Images leaked by twitter user Zer0Bytes (removed due to copyright claims) suggest that players could choose between Breakpoint’s Wolves, Splinter Cell’s Echlon and The Division’s Cleaners and Outcasts as playable characters; each with their own unique abilities. Additionally, the images revealed two game-modes. Escort requires attackers to escort a package to the delivery zone and Ringleader requires players to collect rings from their fallen opponents.
Esports Corner
🥇Congratulations to the Shanghai Dragons for winning the Overwatch League June Joust tournament.
CS:GO is becoming More Global
The BLAST Premier Fall Qualifiers are expanding their tournament structure to facilitate the inclusion of teams from other countries such as China and Brazil. The CS:GO series will host 8 regional qualifiers consisting of 8 competing teams (64 teams total) in a three-day event organized by various regional partners. Winners from each region will secure their spot in the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown which is scheduled to start in October. BLAST Commissioner Andrew Hayworth said that their approach to the 2021 season was to create “more opportunity and investment into regions around the world”.
Fortnite FNCS Event
EPIC Games and BLAST have teamed up to launch the first ever $3 million Fortnite Champions Series (FNCS) All-Star Showdown. The event will see some of the best players from each of Fortnite’s server regions compete in a range of competitions including team-based, non-battle royale modes and skill testing competitions utilizing the new Fortnite Creative maps. Players from the top 30 FNCS trios within each of the server regions will automatically qualify, as well as players who placed top 15 in the Chapter 2 Season 5 and 6 FNCS events. The All-Star Showdown will conclude with a final solo battle royale competition to help crown the best players from each region.
This Week in Esports
June 15-20 | BLAST Premier Spring Final
Game Review - Guilty Gear -Strive-
Guilty Gear -Strive- is a great addition to 2D anime like fighting games. It is arguably the best looking 2D fighter out there and maintains the same gritty Guilty Gear look from previous games. The story mode makes this game unique as the game feels like an animated series and a video game. At first, the game can feel overwhelming with all the mechanics; however, you do get the hang of it with the mission-like tutorials. The online matchmaking has some issues, lobbies are incredibly slow and inconsistent, but we are confident that these issues will be fixed soon enough. We give Guilty Gear Strive a score of B+.
Gaming Roundup
Overwatch announced last week that their game is finally getting Cross-Play. According to the post, players on PC, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo will all be able to game together. Players who log in before the end of 2021 will also receive a Golden Loot Box.
Xbox has announced that they are expanding their Cloud Gaming and Game Pass services to more devices and countries. The “Xbox Experience” will be available on more browsers worldwide, and it will soon come to Smart TVs and offline monitors through a dedicated TV app and Microsoft's own streaming device.
FromSoftware has officially announced that Elden Ring is set to launch on January 21, 2022. The game will be available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC.
Call of Duty Season 4 begins in Black Ops Cold War and Warzone on June 17th. The update will feature the return of the fan favourite map Hijacked. Verdansk ‘84 will introduce a new Gulag and Point of Interest (POI).
FaZe Clan, the now Esports organization that began as a Call of Duty sniping team was revealed to be on the cover of July’s edition of Sports Illustrated. The cover features the likes of Bronny, Kyler Murray, Nickmercs, Swagg, Rug and Temperrr.
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