All Content

This year’s annual Call of Duty release--Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 4--is set to arrive in just a few months. But according to a new report, Modern Warfare 4 may give players the chance to start the campaign during an early-access release period. Well-known CoD leak and news site CharlieIntel shared a screenshot of a “Campaign Early Access” pass on Xbox, which appears to be one of several packs available for installation. However, there's no mention of that pass on Modern Warfare 4’s official store page on Xbox. Instead, the store states that players who preorder the digital version will get early access to the open beta. It wouldn't be the first time campaign early access has been available for a Call of Duty game, however--Modern Warfare 2 had a similar program back in 2022, for instance.  https://twitter.com/charlieINTEL/status/2060080572177731642 The details about Modern Warfare 4 have only begun to come out, but developer Infinity Ward is aiming to put players back into the shoes of ordinary soldiers rather than the larger-than-life action heroes from some of the more recent games. Infinity Ward has also laid out some key improvements and quality-of-life adjustments for MW4, including movement and gunplay. Black Ops 7’s omnimovement is being dropped from MW4. The Prestige system is also getting a big change. Some of the announced cast members for MW4 include Shrinking’s Luke Tennie and The Last of Us’ Young Mazino in leading roles as Lieutenant Wet and Private Park, respectively. The game will also feature supporting performances by Prisca Kim, Lanny Joon, William Lipton, and Barry Sloane, who will reprise his role as Price. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will be released on Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC on October 23. Preorders are already live, and unlike Black Ops 7, MW4 will not be a day-one release on Game Pass. Infinity Ward has also assured players that MW4 runs smoothly on Switch 2. All Call of Duty Games In Order View Images...

James Bond has been a cultural staple for decades, and with his latest adventure--the 007 First Light game--the super-spy gets to wear a variety of suave and sophisticated outfits. Some of these are quite similar to the clothing Bond wears in the film series, dating back to his earliest appearances with Sean Connery, and GameSpot put together a compilation to show off a few examples. https://twitter.com/GameSpot/status/2060047300689350813 As you would expect, the classic tuxedo, appropriately named "Classic Tuxedo" in-game, makes an appearance, and looks almost identical to the tuxedo Connery wore in the franchise's early days. The "Day of the Dead" outfit will be recognizable to anyone who saw Daniel Craig's Spectre. The "Observant Spy" outfit, meanwhile, bears a striking resemblance to a coat Roger Moore wore when he was on his very long run as James Bond, and the "Espresso Command" outfit closely matches a suit worn by Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan's legacy in video games perhaps stands above some of the other Bond actors, as it's his portrayal that was used for the N64's GoldenEye in 1997. Regardless of the outfit you choose to wear, 007 First Light is a fantastic super-spy simulator that blends Bond's signature charm and improvisation with the open-ended design of developer IO Interactive's Hitman games. In our 007 First Light review, Mark Delaney said, "007 First Light wisely repurposes what works in both universes but isn't afraid to reimagine or ditch those parts that don't."...

Diablo 4 players looking for even more of a challenge will be able to create Solo-Self-Found characters starting in Season 14. Developer Blizzard revealed Diablo 4's Solo-Self-Found (or SSF) mode as part of its Season 14 public test realm patch notes, offering the first details on all the new seasonal mechanics, item reworks, and balance changes coming to the ARPG for its upcoming season. For those not in the know, SSF is a mode that's gained popularity over the years in the ARPG community across different games. It forces players to play solo, disabling the ability to team up with others to tackle more difficult challenges. More importantly, it also restricts players to only using gear they find themselves. That means no trading with other players or using an in-game auction house to buy better gear.  In Diablo 4's case, SSF characters will be seasonal-only, and won't be able to join parties or trade with others. Stashes, currencies, and Paragon points will be shared only with other SSF characters on the same account. Additionally, SSF characters won't have access to the game's free trial, couch co-op on consoles, or multiplayer-focused Dark Citadel activity. SSF characters will be locked into the mode for the duration of the season. Once the season ends, they will revert into normal characters that can group and trade as usual.  A look a SSF character creation in Diablo 4. Those hoping for some kind of benefit to rolling a SSF character, such as increased rewards or better item drop rates (as is the case in some other ARPGs like Last Epoch) to make up for the fact that trading is disabled are out of luck. There will be no real benefit to playing Solo Self Found, other than access to SSF-only Tower leaderboards. And bragging rights, of course. SSF is just one major shakeup coming as part of Diablo 4 Season 14. In addition to the return of Riftwalkers as a seasonal mechanic and a new Lair Boss, Season 14 will also controversially overhaul how Diablo 4's Mythic Uniques work. Instead of Mythics being the best items in the game as they currently are, any Ancestral Unique item will instead have a chance to roll as Mythic quality, though this change also means Mythic Uniques will now have largely random affixes. Season 14 will bring major changes to some of Diablo 4's most powerful builds as well. One trick allowing players to become practically immortal is being nerfed, for example, while some popular builds, like Companion Druids, are also being brought down a peg. Diablo 4 Season 14's PTR will run June 2-9, allowing players to get a taste of the new season and all its changes (and offer feedback to Blizzard) before it officially kicks off June 30.  Games Like Diablo To Loot Your Way Through In 2026 View Images...

Diablo 4 Season 14 will dramatically reimagine how Mythic Uniques work, and it's a change that doesn't seem to be sitting well with many in the game's community. Since Diablo 4's launch, a handful of Mythic Uniques have been the best, and rarest, items in the entire game, with nearly every maxed-out endgame build wanting to use at least one (or likely several) if possible. Not every Mythic Unique currently in Diablo 4 is a winner, but finding or crafting items like The Grandfather, Heir of Perdition, and Harlequin Crest have always been a surefire way to gain an incredible amount of power. That was, in part, because these items had guaranteed stats and affixes. In a game of random loot, Mythic Uniques were set in stone, letting players build around them with confidence. A look at some of Diablo 4 Season 14's Unique items as Mythics. That's changing in Diablo 4 Season 14. As revealed in the public test realm patch notes for Diablo 4's next season, Mythic Uniques will go from best items in the game to simply a "modifiable item quality," according to Blizzard. Every Ancestral Unique item in the game (of which there are over 100) will have a chance to drop as a "Mythic" Unique. Existing Mythic Uniques are now becoming regular Uniques with drastically reduced power. On top of that, just like Uniques in the game's Lord of Hatred expansion, Mythic Uniques will have mostly random stats and affixes. In Season 14, a Mythic Unique simply means that a particular Unique item has rolled with max stat values and the potency of its special power increased by 30%. Regular Uniques can be crafted into Mythic Uniques using the Horadric Cube, though Blizzard notes players will only be able to equip one crafted Mythic Unique at a time. Players can additionally use the cube to re-roll affixes on Unique items before potentially turning them into Mythic Uniques, giving at least some control over the randomness. It's a massively controversial change, in more ways than one. Players have already voiced their displeasure with the RNG added to regular Unique items as part of Lord of Hatred, which once upon a time also had set stats. Now Uniques can roll with completely unwanted affixes, making the hunt for a usable one much more time-consuming. Blizzard appears to be doubling down on the already unpopular idea and proposing that exact change to Mythic Uniques too. Whereas before seeing a purple item drop on the ground would cause a rush of excitement, there will now be a good chance it will be practically worthless if it doesn't have the right stats. Players are already arguing about the pros and cons of the change on places like Diablo 4 subreddit. While there are some players who like the changes and argue Mythic Uniques will be even stronger with the addition of being able to re-roll affixes with the cube, many don't see the point and sound frustrated by yet another layer of RNG. https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo4/comments/1tqhe42/mythic_uniques_no_longer_mythic/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button "I'm not looking for constant RNG within my RNG," user VagueSomething writes. "Uniques and especially Mythics need some consistency to stats or they're not worth mixing into your build. I'm already gambling if they'll drop and now I'm gambling if they will drop in a usable state." But not everyone agrees. User StrikingSpare100, in a post diving into the details of the changes and arguing why it's an improvement, is a fan of the changes. What were once Mythic Uniques will now drop far more frequently, with players having the option to craft them into even more powerful Mythic versions than existed previously.  "Personally I like this much more than [the] current situation of Mythic Unique," they write. "70% of them are utter trash, and the rest are mandatory [items] that exist on every single build." https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo4/comments/1tqpg3e/the_changes_to_mythic_uniques_are_vastly/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button Blizzard hasn't yet fully explained its reasoning for the change or whether or not it will be a permanent addition to Diablo 4 or is just in place for Season 14. It's possible the developer thinks this change will increase build variety and give players more options--something the community is always wanting to see more of. But if a greater variety of builds comes with the cost of far more work and hours of slogging through bad drops, it might not be a good trade.  The Diablo 4 Season 14 PTR will run from June 2-9, so perhaps player feedback will see Blizzard divert course on the Mythic Unique changes before the season's launch on June 30. Games Like Diablo To Loot Your Way Through In 2026 View Images...

During today's Minecraft Live broadcast, Mojang dropped some small teasers about a new biome coming to the blocky sandbox game this fall. While the next Minecraft update, Chaos Cubed, is officially set for release on June 16, this fall sees the arrival of the Dappled Forest--a cozy red, green, and yellow forest environment that houses some new structures, new Poplar trees, and by extension, the Poplar wood blocks to construct with. Minecraft's new Dappled Forest biome. Those structures, known as Abandoned Camps, are, well, abandoned camps. When you stumble across one of these in the wild there'll be a handful of chests left behind by former explorers with some goodies inside. Mojang didn't mention what the rarity of those goodies might be, but with other forest structures, like the Woodland Mansions, you can often find diamond gear, rare music tracks, the Vex armor trim, and enchanted apples--all pretty sought-after stuff. An Abandoned Camp in the Dappled Forest. The drop will be focused on playing with friends, and given that Mojang recently added a direct peer-to-peer connection to its Java Snapshots feature, before removing it a few short days later, it seems likely this feature will be implemented in the fall drop. Mojang also says that the drop will focus on exploration and adventure, although it didn't go into more detail on what that means. If you're already deep in the Minecraft, well, mines, check out our Minecraft guides hub for everything you need to know...

Fable has officially been delayed to February 2027, Xbox has confirmed. Originally scheduled to release in late 2026, the next game from Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground Games has instead been shifted to Q1 2027. Talking about the delay, Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty explained that while Xbox is confident with how Fable is shaping up, it wants to give the game a "window" to shine all on its own. "We're excited about where the game is. We want to make sure that the game has a window of its own, so we are going to move it from this fall to February," Booty said in the Xbox podcast. While he didn't outright mention it, Booty's comments do suggest that Microsoft wants to avoid competing with Grand Theft Auto 6, which launches on November 19. Fable originally had a nebulous release date of Fall 2026, but signs of a possible delay cropped up earlier this year when Playground stopped signing off messages to fans with a Fall 2026 release date at the end. https://youtu.be/BwYglyND1EA "In order to plan our game launches through the holidays, in a way that works best for players, we’re moving Fable to February 2027 so it can have the dedicated moment it deserves," Xbox added in a social media post. Fable steering clear of GTA 6--which Booty described as one of the "biggest entertainment moments" of the year--makes sense when you also factor in Xbox's tentpole game for the year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. Launching on October 22, Modern Warfare 4 should have enough breathing room to avoid direct competition with GTA 6, and the game is only coming to Xbox Game Pass a year after launch. Call of Duty games are usually one of the best sellers of the year, but last year's Black Ops 7 was the worst-performing Call of Duty game since 2008. Microsoft hasn't revealed concrete dates yet for Halo: Campaign Evolved and Gears of War: E-Day, but it's likely that more details on those games will be revealed at next month's Xbox June Showcase. The Not-E3 Guide To Summer Game Fest Showcases View Images...