Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 released today, October 23, and the game's first DLC pack is available now. In keeping with Call of Duty tradition, the day-one DLC is a Call of Duty Endowment (CODE) pack, with proceeds going to Activision's charity that supports military veterans find new jobs after they leave the service.

The CODE Valor Pack adds the real-life Medal of Honor recipient Kyle Carpenter to the game as a playable character.

Carpenter was in Marjah, Afghanistan, when, on November 21, 2010, he put himself in front of a grenade to help save the life of his fellow Marine, Nick Eufrazio. Carpenter sustained serious injuries from the grenade blast. He was unconscious for five weeks, had his teeth stripped from his mouth, and lost an eye. He sustained numerous other life-threatening injuries in the blast.

Carpenter received the Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama in 2014. At the ceremony, Obama said, "They found Kyle lying face down, directly over the blast area. His helmet was riddled with holes. His gear was melted. Part of his Kevlar vest was blown away. One of the doctors who treated him later said Kyle was, 'Literally wounded from the top of his head to his feet.'"

Carpenter underwent brain surgery to remove shrapnel from his head. He had about 40 other surgeries to addresses his injuries, which included a collapsed lung, fractured fingers, and one arm that broke in more than 30 places. He had multiple skin grafts and now has a prosthetic eye, a new jaw, and new teeth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtHK15qClkU

The Valor Pack includes the Relentless and Valor skins, along with new weapon blueprints, a combat knife, and a weapon charm, among other things. All proceeds from the $20 DLC bundles will go to the CODE charity.

Everything in the new MW4 CODE DLC. MW4 CODE Valor DLC pack:

• “Valor” Operator
• “Relentless” Operator Skin
• “Forged Resolve” M4 Assault Rifle Blueprint
• “Still Standing” Rezi 12 Shotgun Blueprint
• “Worth Fighting For” Combat Knife Melee Blueprint
• “Nice Try” Weapon Charm
• “Steel Talon” Weapon Sticker
• “Forged in Valor” Calling Card
• “Earned, Not Given” Emblem
• “Blood, Sweat, & Sand” Loading Screen
• 1 Hour Double Level XP Token  
• 1 Hour Double Weapon XP Token 

Modern Warfare boasts a very impressive 84 on GameSpot sister site Metacritic currently. For more, check out GameSpot’s MW4 review, which covers the campaign, DMZ, and multiplayer. If you're just getting started, you may also wanted to check out our rundown of the best MW4 multiplayer loadouts

Prolific and veteran gaming actor Jennifer Hale, who is known for voicing Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect series, has reacted to the closure of BioWare and the cancellation of the next game in the series. After footage of the new project, Mass Effect Universe, was released, Hale said, "It's extraordinary."

She added: "I’m holding hope for magic to happen. This community and you incredible vevs deserve that and more."

A "Save Mass Effect" Change.org petition was launched this week to urge EA to "take decisive action by committing to the continued development of Mass Effect." The petition has more than 65,000 signatures so far.

All of BioWare's new releases in the past decade--Mass Effect: Andromeda, Anthem, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard--were commercial disappointments. Against that backdrop, closing the studio makes a lot of financial sense, but it's upsetting to the millions of Mass Effect fans who adore the franchise and want to see it continue.

Based on insider reporting, the new Mass Effect game would have mixed covert ops with John Wick-inspired action, and that got a lot of people excited about what could have been.

Composer Bear McCreary, who has done work for the God of War and Call of Duty franchises, reacted to BioWare's closure, too. Asked if the laid-off BioWare developers could take what they had and complete the project as a "spiritual successor" via crowdfunding, McCreary said it's a good idea but is probably unrealistic.

"Man, I want to believe. But, I just gotta ask... How many examples are there of this really working in the past? And of those examples, how many were a project as big as Mass Effect?" he said.

Avi Lewis, a Canadian politician, has called on the government to help save BioWare by providing “federal support” to the workers to buy it back.

“This is private equity, this is what it does,” he said. “Buy up businesses, run them into the ground, and rip them apart for short-term profit. The developers at BioWare know how to run the studio. They know how to make the games we all love. They should be given the first opportunity–and the federal support–to buy it and run it themselves.”

The new Mass Effect game was revealed in 2020. Since then, the game remained in “early development” until its cancellation this week.

While the new Mass Effect game is not going ahead, the Mass Effect TV show for Prime Video remains in development.

The closure of BioWare and cancellation of the new Mass Effect game came as part of a wider shakeup at EA following its sale to an investor consortium including Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners. EA cut jobs, canceled games, and scaled back in other ways as part of the shakeup, as the publisher faces a huge debt repayment schedule.

After news broke that EA would be shutting down BioWare, more details on the studio's in-development Mass Effect have begun to trickle out. A trailer for Mass Effect Universe hinted that the next game in the series would have a completely different tone, moving away from the galactic warfare that defined the first three games and toward covert ops, espionage, and the occasional barroom shootout. Gaming content creator and YouTuber Dantics has shed more light on the game, describing it as a Mass Effect game for the fans.

Known for his lore videos, including several on Mass Effect, Dantics says he was part of a private "Mass Effect Council," a community feedback group of content creators who helped advise BioWare's small team.

https://youtu.be/ZOWrTNazZxM

Dantics says that Mass Effect Universe was set over 600 years after the Reaper War, and players would step into the boots of a customizable N7 agent. Players would also have a much smaller arsenal of weapons that would make them feel like a "cross between John Wick and James Bond," and they'd be working to take down a sinister force that was operating in the shadows of a galactic cold war. While Commander Shepard was a soldier, your N7 character was going to be an "agent" who would rely on cunning to get through encounters, but could apply pressure when needed--ballistic pressure, that is. 

Following the destruction of the relays at the end of the Reaper War, the fast-travel hubs had been rebuilt, and technology had advanced at a rapid pace. Shepard's legacy had been preserved centuries after their death; three new powerful alliances had arisen: Council races had formed their own faction, while humanity had aligned itself with Krogans, Batarians, and other superpowers. The Geth--a synthetic, network-based artificial intelligence species--had become a third power, and Dantics said there would be connections between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, thanks to the Geth building superstructure relays.

So what would the gameplay have been like? Dantics says that your N7 agent would be implanted with experimental technology to give them an edge in battle, allowing you to hack and manipulate the environment to your advantage, similar to hacking in Cyberpunk 2077. Missions would have a handcrafted feel to them, but with "Hitman-style freedom" in how you complete them. Squadmates would also feature in the game, and this time, they could clash with each other. Dantics also mentioned that romance "wasn't being sanitized," something the leaked Mass Effect trailer alluded to with some saucy scenes. A familiar face from the past would also return, as Liara T'Soni was still alive and had grown into a powerful Asari Matriarch.

Mass Effect universe has been shelved, but it has been reported that the TV show based on the sci-fi series is still in development. Experts have also spoken about EA's decision, saying that it sadly does make business sense, while Former BioWare executive producer Mark Darrah has suggested that EA could sell the Mass Effect IP in the future. It might have been bad timing, but this week also saw Archetype Entertainment release a new trailer for its Mass Effect spiritual successor, Exodus.

World of Warcraft: Forever's layering system will receive some significant improvements for launch, according to a statement provided to GameSpot from Blizzard.

Layering, for the uninitiated, is a behind-the-scenes system in WoW: Forever that essentially creates and runs new versions (or layers) of the world as needed, all running simultaneously on top of one another. According to Blizzard, players in WoW: Forever are assigned a layer based on various criteria, like familiar players and friends, language, and PvP balance. Grouping up with a player or friend who is on another layer will transport you to the same layer so you can interact.

There are some pros to this system. It makes completing quests easier (since there's less competition for quests items and enemies) and the world far less crowded. It also helps performance, as anytime there are thousands of players in a concentrated area, like a capital city, the game can struggle to handle the load. Layering spreads those players out. It works wonders in modern WoW and has also been used to different degrees in various versions of WoW Classic in the past.

https://www.reddit.com/r/classicwow/comments/1wwv8ed/i_get_invited_for_escort_quest_in_layer_1_after/

Unfortunately, there are also some huge downsides that have repeatedly surfaced over the course of the WoW: Forever beta. It doesn't take much searching on YouTube or Reddit to find countless instances of players complaining about layering. Leaving a group, crossing into a different zone, or traveling on a zeppelin or boat causes players to abruptly switch layers. The layering changes feel far more frequent and noticeable than in the past, ruining some of the charm that comes from having a persistent world filled with the same people.

Thankfully, changes are on the way. When asked if Blizzard would be making improvements to how it handles layering for launch and what players should expect, GameSpot received the following statement attributed to WoW: Forever associate production director Clay Stone: 

"Bringing all players together within each ruleset, while also recreating some of the original WoW's 'small-realm-feel' social experiences such as repeat encounters with other recently met players in the game, is an important part of protecting and nurturing social experiences in WoW: Forever.

"However, as we've been playing the beta alongside players, we too have recognized areas where we need to make improvements, particularly when players may be unexpectedly separated from each other (both in terms of specific locations and in terms of frequency), and we absolutely are making improvements. Some examples of this are making sure players don't get decoupled from other players they see on transports (i.e. boats and zeppelins) after loading screens, as well as large groups of players getting layered when they enter or leave capital cities.

"Although there will always be some amount of layering that occurs within our high-capacity infrastructure, we're working on these improvements now ahead of launch, and players should expect that we'll consistently be making more improvements, as necessary, through launch and beyond, with the goal always being to make the world feel as seamless as possible." 

That sounds like it will solve many of the instances players have complained about, including the scenario shown in a recent clip posted to the WoW Classic subreddit. It shows a group of players riding the boat from Kalimdor to Eastern Kingdoms, only to abruptly change layers. Suddenly, the entire boat is filled with hostile players from the opposing faction killing everyone on board. User Kippzo's post is simply titled "I can't believe the game is launching like this."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pai4SF7f83o

Another Reddit user highlighted how they went to join a large group of players dueling outside of a capital city, only to change layers when stepping outside to find a ghost town. Stone's statement specifically says Blizzard will make it so large groups of players will no longer change layers when exiting capital cities.

What Stone's statement doesn't address is layering when crossing zone boundaries, a case of particular concern to the game's player vs. player-community. Videos and clips shared online show large-scale world PvP battles evaporating into thin air as raids cross from one zone into another. Some even show players on a losing side of a battle intentionally running for the invisible border so they can phase into another layer and avoid death. Others are using layering to grief players guerilla-warfare style, killing unsuspecting foes and then fleeing to another layer before they can be retaliated against.

"I understand that there are technical limits making layering a necessary evil, but in its current iteration it just leads to an empty world for most players and an incredibly anti-fun experience," Reddit user RC_Rabbit said. 

In a game where much of the appeal is the chance encounters, friendships, and rivalries made while out adventuring in the world, a system that divides players and can be exploited for nefarious purposes is a major problem. One Reddit user, Worried-Falcon-1973, said layering is a "glaring issue" that will "ruin" the game's open-world moments, and that the community needs to make more noise so that Blizzard understands how serious the matter is.

"We want to level in the world, sure, but then let us actually be able to stay with people of our layer and not shuffle us around wildly the moment I leave the city, the zone, the zeppelin, the tram, or whatever," they said. 

Blizzard seems to be listening, though with Forever's beta now over and less than two weeks until launch, the community will have to wait for the full game to see how Blizzard's proposed improvements will shake out. WoW: Forever launches November 4. In other WoW: Forever news, Blizzard just announced a new server option for PvP-minded players.

Battlefield Studios is reportedly cancelling plans for a Mass Effect collaboration in Battlefield 6 in the wake of EA's decision to close BioWare and cancel the next game in the sci-fi series.

Fans discovered various Mass Effect-themed cosmetics in Battlefield 6's files, with many speculating that they would be released in November, tied to the Mass Effect N7 Day holiday on November 7.

Those cosmetics, which included Mass Effect-themed weapon charms and patches, have seemingly now been removed from Battlefield 6's in-game store prior to their general availability (via Kotaku).

https://www.reddit.com/r/LowSodiumBattlefield/comments/1xcmb3o/the_seemingly_planned_bf6_x_mass_effect_pack_is/?utm_source=embedv2&utm_medium=post_embed&utm_content=post_title&embed_host_url=https%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2Fbattlefield-6-mass-effect-cosmetics-n7-day-store-2000749091

If these Mass Effect-themed cosmetics were indeed real, getting yanked only makes sense, considering the blowback EA and Battlefield Studios would have faced for hawking new items based on a franchise that it just killed off.

While this Mass Effect collab might not be going ahead, Battlefield 6 is currently hosting a crossover event with Dead Space.

It might make financial sense to close BioWare and cancel the Mass Effect series, but fans are upset about the 30-year studio that blazed a trail for queer representation in games closing up shop.

The closure of BioWare comes after EA was taken private by an investor consortium led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. Due to the structuring of the deal as a leveraged buyout, EA is on the hook for a lot of debt, and there will likely be more layoffs and pain for the people working at EA in the time ahead.

We're just weeks away from Grand Theft Auto VI launching, and you might think you're set to spend hours upon hours in the open-world game right now. But PureGym asks if your body is actually ready like former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime's--as well as your thumbs. 

With that in mind, the fitness company has shared three thumb workouts from personal trainer David Hope to help prep you for GTA VI. These exercises are meant as a warm-up before picking up your controller, by the way. The first is just tapping your thumb with each finger on the same hand, which as a personal aside, can be a good mindfulness technique, too.

The next finger drill sees you spreading your hand out and making a five, then turning that into a fist with your thumb on the outside. Our added suggestion is to do spirit fingers between fists to look as ridiculous as possible. Last but not least, Hope recommends finger pushups, where you "press the fingertips of both hands on the floor and push pressure into your fingers," according to the press release.

PureGym advises people to do these exercises 10 times each, as well as after a long session with GTA VI. "We warm up before a run or a gym session, so why not before a long gaming session? Your thumbs and hands are doing the heavy lifting, and the rest of your body is barely moving," Hope said.

We want to offer up an alternative that could be more fun, and that's playing with a minifinger skateboard. Maybe the popularity has waned a ton over the past 20 years, back when there was an actual Tech Deck Skateboarding title on Game Boy Color.

Meanwhile, GTA VI is set to release November 19, which could end up a very expensive sick day in America. An economics professor projects that 1.5 million people could call in to work reporting they're ill. Before then, you can eat food from the game at Miami's Kaseya Center, where the Heat play NBA games. There is currently a Burger Shot and Cluckin' Bell at the arena.

GTA 6: 268 Screenshots To Ease The Wait View Images

It might be the end of the road for Marvel's Blade developer Arkane Lyon, as a new report says that the studio has until November 13 to find a buyer or face closure.

Le Monde reported that while Microsoft had followed the procedure as laid out in Florange Law--French legislation that requires Microsoft to spend at least three months searching for a buyer for Arkane Lyon--negotiations were going "badly," and worker unions are currently attempting to buy more time to save jobs at the studio, which is currently still working on Marvel's Blade. The report says "several forms of takeover" are being considered, but the union's plans could include re-employing affected staff at other Xbox studios or taking Microsoft to court.

According to IGN, development on Marvel's Blade was still on track for a new reveal in early 2027, followed by a Q4 2027 release. The game was originally revealed in December 2023, but aside from a handful of concept art images since then, nothing else has been shown. Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier also corroborated reports of "multiple paths" being explored and that he'd be surprised if the studio is shut down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB9ye56mSfk

If Arkane Lyon is facing closure, it'll be the end of a studio that has been around for 27 years. Its first game was Arx Fatalis in 2002, and it followed that up with the release of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (2006) and KarmaStar (2009). Since the 2010s, the studio has pumped out several hits like the Dishonored games and Deathloop. The Texas-based studio that it operated, Arkane Austin, was established in 2006, but following the release of the critically panned Redfall in 2023, it was shut down in 2024.

Arkane Lyon's departure from the Xbox Games Studio portfolio was announced earlier this year, alongside Double Fine Productions, Compulsion Games, Undead Labs, and Ninja Theory. Most of the studios have opted to become independent developers again, but Ninja Theory is now expected to shut down as plans for outside investors to acquire it fell through.

Rockstar Games and the burger company Skinny Louie have announced a partnership to promote GTA 6, during which its stores will convert to Burger Shots through the end of the year. Burger Shot is the Burger King parody in the world of GTA.

People in South Florida can buy GTA 6 burgers at the Kaseya Center, and also every Skinny Louie location in Florida starting in early November. The campaign runs through December 31.

The Burger Shot locations will serve a menu "straight out of Vice City"--and this includes smash burgers, fries, and drinks. People in South Florida can buy the GTA 6 burgers in store or have them delivered.

In addition to Burger Shot, GTA's Cluckin' Bell fried chicken store is available IRL at the Kaseya Center. It's unknown if the Cluckin' Bell locations will be available outside the arena like the Burger Shots are.

GTA 6's takeover of Miami also includes marketing efforts at local beaches and hotels. Some local lawmakers are pushing back, saying in that in agreeing to take Rockstar's money, the city is signing on to "depicting Miami like a murder capital." Other local lawmakers say it's just a video game.

Video game adaptations are all the rage right now, with movie and TV projects in various stages of development, and Netflix is looking to strike while the proverbial IP iron is hot. The streaming giant already has a deal in place with Microsoft to develop a Gears of War movie, and it's looking to grab more Xbox IP to build new franchises. The only problem? Microsoft's price tag was reportedly quite a bit more than Netflix was willing to pay.

That's according to entertainment journalist Matthew Belloni, who wrote in a Puck News report that Netflix had offered Microsoft $500 million for seven years to exclusively license Xbox titles for film and TV. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and the brand's business affairs team countered by demanding $800 million, prompting Netflix to rescind the offer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzqGbNaOROA

While Netflix has declined to comment on the report, Xbox told Belloni it had received "record-breaking interest" in its IP and still values Netflix as a partner on upcoming projects.

Belloni added that Xbox is now "pursuing smaller deals with more partners," like the Diablo animated series under development at Netflix, another season of Fallout at Prime Video, the Call of Duty movie at Paramount, and a sequel to A Minecraft Movie at Warner Bros. Pictures. Xbox is also expanding its multimedia ambitions; earlier this month, it announced Xbox XP. This new arm of the company, devoted to movies, TV, merchandise, theme parks, and live events, will be headed by Lucasfilm veteran Kayleen Walters.

Xbox Pictures is one of its subdivisions, and it'll develop film and television projects, as well as other forms of "linear storytelling" using Xbox IP.

Electronic Arts just confirmed a major shakeup that included the closure of BioWare and cancellation of its upcoming Mass Effect game. Closing the studio and cancelling the project was a horrible thing for the people who worked there and fans who enjoy BioWare games and were looking forward to the next Mass Effect. But taking that action was no surprise whatsoever from a business sense.

Video game analyst Joost Van Dreunen told IGN that EA needed to make drastic cuts to service the $18 billion in debt that it has taken on due to the leveraged structure of its sale to Saudi Arabia's PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity. Interest payments alone on that debt are about $1.8 billion annually, which exceeds how much money EA makes in annual EBITDA ($1.5 billion).

Van Dreunen said BioWare getting shut down was "entirely predictable and precisely what a leveraged buyout looks like once the deal closes."

"In that context, a 50-person team working on a game that is years from launch is the easiest line to cut, regardless of its legacy,” van Dreunen said.

Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis, meanwhile, said the closure of BioWare is "emotive" for people who loved BioWare and its 30-year legacy of making popular and well-liked RPGs, but the math just didn't math.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard failed to meet sales expectations, and Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem were commercial disappointments, too. This contributed to an environment where EA management would look to kill the studio outright. He said EA was likely already considering big changes for BioWare prior to the acquisition even closing.

“Unfortunately, the studio’s recent big-budget releases have not performed well enough commercially," he said. "The changing nature of high-end gaming and the need to cut costs means that it is likely that BioWare’s future was under discussion before EA was acquired by the PIF and its partners.”

Avi Lewis, a Canadian politician, has called on the government to help save BioWare by providing "federal support" to the workers to buy it back.

"This is private equity, this is what it does," he said. "Buy up businesses, run them into the ground, and rip them apart for short-term profit. The developers at BioWare know how to run the studio. They know how to make the games we all love. They should be given the first opportunity--and the federal support--to buy it and run it themselves."

The new Mass Effect game was revealed in 2020. Since then, the game remained in "early development" until its cancellation this week. BioWare released two games after the new Mass Effect was announced, including Mass Effect Legendary Edition in 2021 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard in 2024.

A trailer for the next Mass Effect game leaked after BioWare's closure was announced. While that game is not going ahead, the Mass Effect TV show for Prime Video remains in development.

Just what is The Board in Control Resonant? While we still have plenty of questions about the otherworldly entity that accompanies players on their trip across Manhattan, one thing we do know is that it's loud, incomprehensible, and you can't understand what it's saying without subtitles. Some players are convinced The Board is saying something specific if you listen closely, but according to developer Remedy Entertainment, it's a little audio trick that makes you hear what you want to hear.

In an upcoming interview with GameSpot, audio lead Lucas Pierrot explained that The Board speaks "gibberish," making the character open to interpretation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1LEHPr8e_o

"An important part of the design is that The Board is basically gibberish, not affiliated to any language," Pierrot said. "So, when you hear a word, you tend to hear what you want to hear … and that’s pretty neat in terms of audio design, as players can fulfill their fantasies. You want to hear The Board praising you for performing an Execution? You can! Maybe you hear them saying 'Absolute cinema, Combo!' et cetera, but if you prefer to think they’re arrogant and only feel disdain for slaying a weak enemy … you can hear that too!"

Pierrot explained that The Board has a partial language in place, so players can perceive a sense of intelligence from it. That structure allows The Board to feel "scary, unsettling, or even funny sometimes," and the one rule governing its audio design is "the pulse," a "low, soft kick" to emphasize certain words. "I used this to give weight when necessary to have a nice flow. You can see it as some sort of trick to articulate sentences. It gives rhythm and punctuation," Pierrot added.

Following its launch in September, Remedy has continued to fine-tune Control Resonant with updates. For more on the game, you can read up on how its scary buses are one of its best features, all the cool little details hidden in the background, and why it's better than its predecessor.

When a big new first-party game comes to Xbox, Microsoft is known to put up big, annoying takeover ads, and that trend continues this year with the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. Things are a little different, and more annoying, this year.

People who booted up their Xbox today, the day of MW4's release, noticed that not only is there a big MW4 takeover ad, but the ad even hijacks your custom background. Windows Central was the first to report on this.

It is possible to toggle this off, thankfully, as people online quickly discovered. Players can head to Settings > General > Personalization > My Background, then uncheck "Show event-themed backgrounds."

People were not happy about this, and particularly how the takeover this time totally removes the custom background you might have had to force you to see a giant ad for a game you might not even be interested in.

https://twitter.com/CockneyCharmer/status/2113500029222527214 https://twitter.com/JamesHalliday94/status/2113491521018409219

Ads on Xbox are only going to become more widespread from here. Right now, people on Xbox can test a free, ad-supported version of Xbox Cloud Gaming, and a lot of people think that's very gross.

Xbox's new chief strategy officer, Matthew Ball, is a big believer in cramming more ads into gaming to help with the "two-sided problem" of modern gaming.

Development costs for many games are now “way too high,” and consumers do not want to pay more, Ball said. Something has got to give, and one possible solution, as Ball sees it, is through advertising.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzqGbNaOROA

It's not just Xbox that wants to put more ads in front of you while gaming, as Electronic Arts has debuted a new platform called EA Advertising, through which the company plans to insert ads "directly into gameplay."

As for MW4, it's getting good review scores, boasting an 84 on GameSpot sister site Metacritic currently. For more, check out GameSpot's MW4 review above, covering the game's campaign, DMZ, and multiplayer modes. You can also read our written MW4 review.

As if there weren't enough games in October to tempt you, Final Fantasy Resonance is a pretty tempting offer for anyone looking to play an old-school JRPG that features an A-team of Final Fantasy guest characters. It also puts its own twist on Square Enix's HD-2D gameplay formula, as you can break past the barriers of traditional turn-based combat and take down even the spongiest of enemies--if you know how to properly set up all the moves you'll do. Play your cards right, and you can leave your team to dish out some tremendous damage for several minutes while you go brew yourself a fresh cup of coffee.

So what's happening here? To be fair, this is some real high-level gameplay, as GameSpot's video producer Max Blumenthal pushes gameplay mechanics like Visions, multi-action stacking, and ability carry-over skills to their absolute limits. Instead of relying on basic, single-command inputs, you've got hyper-optimized builds that allow a player to chain together a seemingly endless loop of actions, follow-ups, and staggered states on an enemy.

https://youtu.be/Zp8zyWrVUTY

This is all thanks to the ability for the main characters to inherit and carry over abilities learned from different Visions, stacking multiple low-cost learned skills on a single character, triggering automatic follow-up attacks and status procs, delaying enemy turns, and utilizing heavy-hitting signature Resonance attacks to make the most of staggered states on enemies. In a nutshell, a lot is at play here, but finding that magical combination and executing it well is what makes games like this so much fun. All the tools are at your disposal, and used correctly, you can turn a brief exchange of attacks into a cinematic showdown.

If you're looking for tips on assembling the ultimate party in Final Fantasy Resonance, here's how to find the land of Mysidia, get the Cloud Strife Vision early in the game, and what to do if the first major boss is wrecking you.

"I can only hope that this is the first step in Square-Enix reviving some of its shuttered mobile games in ways that keep them playable for the future–especially since there’s still a lot of story from Brave Exvius that goes beyond the events of this game," Heidi Kemps wrote in GameSpot's Final Fantasy Resonance review. "As both a remake and a standalone experience, Final Fantasy Resonance shines more than it stumbles."

In the wake of the news that EA has closed down BioWare and ended development on Mass Effect 5, Archetype Entertainment—co-founded by former BioWare devs Chad Robertson, James Ohlen, and Drew Karpyshyn—has given players a brand-new look at its upcoming title, a very Mass-Effecty sci-fi RPG called Exodus.

Specifically, Archetype has revealed a visual rework of its male player-character model. When GameSpot previewed Exodus in late August, the male version of protagonist Jun Aslan could be seen sporting a five-o'-clock shadow and very different bone structure. Now, he has a whole new face. In a new video uploaded to Archetype's YouTube channel today, Archetype general manager Chad Robertson showed off male-Jun's new look, which he explained is a result of player feedback. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InxJpKrYQAE

"We've seen your conversations and feedback over the last few months around our male Jun character model," Robertson said. "We've been listening, and we take that feedback seriously. We've continued to refine Jun as we've worked on him and the rest of the game."

Archetype hasn't yet revealed Jun's female character model, but the devs say her reveal is on the way.

"Is FemJun on your mind?" a new post on the official Exodus website asks. "Ours too! And we’re happy to say yes, she’s coming... soon™. We’ve got something special cooking for her reveal, and we think it’ll be worth the wait."

Exodus launches on April 7, 2027 and is available to wishlist now on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Steam, and the Epic Games Store.

GTA 6's marketing push is ramping up substantially, and that includes with TV commercials. Eagled-eyes fans have discovered that the new GTA 6 TV spots actually contain some extended sequences, but just barely.

For starters, a 30-second TV spot cuts out the steamy shower scenes with Jason and Lucia from the launch trailer. While the shower scenes are gone in this edit, the new TV spot has a slightly longer shots of an airplane sequence and another with Jason and Lucia standing next to their car.

Jason playfully nudges Lucia, and in the TV spot, she nearly topples to the ground. The Xbox logo was also removed, presumably due to Rockstar's reported promotional deal with Sony. You can check out the comparison below (via IGN).

https://twitter.com/GTAVI_Countdown/status/2112897438885245268

A 90-second version, meanwhile, includes the shower scenes, along with the slightly longer sequences seen in the 30-second version. If you saw these TV spots recently, you might not have even noticed any of these changes, but GTA 6 fan accounts are extremely dedicated and never miss anything.

https://twitter.com/mnm345x/status/2113001090245664971

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and, yes, Xbox Series X|S, even though the TV ads for the game don't tell you that. Rockstar's marketing push for the game also includes real-life Burger Shot and Cluckin' Bell restaurants where you can buy GTA-branded food.

In other GTA 6 news, it was recently reported that preorders are pacing significantly ahead of any other big AAA game of the past five years. Obviously that's no surprise, given GTA 6 is expected to be the biggest game release ever, and it could generate $2 billion before it even launches.

Publisher Electronic Arts recently slashed 400 roles across its company, which resulted in the shuttering of legendary RPG studio BioWare. But also impacted by the layoffs was Skate developer Full Circle, and now I'm growing increasingly worried about the future of a franchise I waited so long to make a comeback.

Part of EA's latest round of layoffs on October 21 included cutting an unspecified number of staffers to create a "very clear roadmap" that leads to a "healthier and more sustainable business." Then, as VGC noted on the same day, "many" of the developers at Full Circle are gone. This includes artists Brendan Vermeltfoort and Will Granda, seasonal creative director John Epler, and senior designers Adam Martinazzi and David Milne--all of whom posted the unfortunate news on LinkedIn.

It's always a bummer when talented developers lose their jobs at the hands of corporate greed, but this one stings for me personally. As a big Skate girlie, I was so stoked for the franchise to make a comeback, and even more stoked to get my hands on the game in September 2025.

It's had its stumbles, to be sure. Season 2 was light on new content. Season 3 introduced a new map ... that was locked behind a paywall. Season 4 gave us an empty stadium ... that was also locked behind a paywall. But despite bailing on every trick, you could see Full Circle getting closer to landing at each attempt. Season 5, which kicked off on September 8, hasn't been the best, but it has been a solid step in the right direction, and even came with a massive park reminiscent of Skate 3's Super Ultra Mega Park.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UAi4AW5KOE

Along the way, there have been new tricks, new attempts at progression (that oftentimes drew the ire of the player base), a smattering of new gear, and a plethora of bug fixes to make each season a bit smoother than the last (though there were inevitably bugs with each new content drop). It was evident that Full Circle, which is composed of developers who worked on the entire Skate franchise, wanted to make the best Skate game possible after the series went dormant for 15 years. The team just needs time to cook. After all, Skate was never a live-service franchise, and I don't think it ever needed to be one.

This is what has me worried about the game's future. While EA seems to be committed to keeping Skate online (for now), the team has to be much smaller now--especially after Full Circle suffered layoffs in February. Game development is already hard, and I imagine running a live-service is even harder. Doing that with fewer staff sounds even more challenging.

While we don't know the exact number of layoffs at Full Circle, I just want Skate to succeed. I've waited over a decade for the franchise to make a comeback, and I'm having a hard time watching it suffer because profits matter more than the people who make the product. There's genuine good in the game, and the team was finally hitting its stride. I just hope that EA gives Full Circle the time--and resources--it needs to realize its vision.

World of Warcraft: Forever players may have searched its beta with a fine-toothed comb, but Blizzard said there are still plenty of secrets waiting to be found come launch and beyond.

In a new WoW: Forever Podcast dedicated to the end of the beta, Blizzard made clear it's keeping many of the game's surprises close to its chest. Senior game designer Josh Greenfield said Blizzard had disabled some items and secrets for the beta. He gave an example of a new torch item that was originally turned off for the beta's first week, but later enabled to test out Forever's new lighting and fog tech. He said players can expect more of those types of surprises.

"There's definitely some secrets and stuff that we had turned off," Greenfield said when asked about still to be discovered secrets in the level 1-30 zones. "There's going to be things to discover that we didn't surface, suffice to say that."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOlxa3xvNq4

Forever's beta had a maximum level of 30, meaning there is still a huge chunk of the game, including new zones, quests, dungeons, and raids, players haven't fully explored yet. When asked about items like a newly discovered sword in the beta that could potentially enable new playstyles, like a melee-focused "Battle Mage", Greenfield opted not to elaborate further.

"It's hard to talk about secret stuff," Greenfield said. "It's secret, right? We want people to find it. There's some really, really, really cool, and really, really, really well-buried stuff out there that's probably going to take people a long time to find. If we tip our hats to it too much, it's just going to take the fun away." 

Unlike in past WoW releases, most of the items on Forever's beta were hidden from dataminers using a new system that hides an item's name and stats until it's discovered by the community. At the start of the beta, over 12,500 items were kept hidden. As a result, players don't know what items drop from dungeon bosses or what some of the best quest rewards are. The game is still a mystery, something Greenfield said is cool to experience "organically" for those who know WoW Classic like the back of their hand.

Blizzard did give some more concrete teases towards the end of the podcast. Lead encounter designer Michael Nuthals said Blizzard is already laying the groundwork for Forever's future, and as such players may find examples of places that could be future dungeons already in the game.

"There might be some homes, some manors, out there that folks have found that might be something interesting in the future," Nuthals said, seemingly referencing the new Manor Mistmantle in the game's Duskwood zone. "You might have seen some instance portals hiding in some inconspicuous spots. There are some things coming in the future and we're really excited to share those as we get there."

A roadmap released during BlizzCon 2026 shows Blizzard is planning to release new dungeons and raids for Forever next year. 

WoW: Forever launches November 4. In other Forever news, Blizzard announced a new server ruleset that will make PvP players happy. As for where Forever will take players in the future, Blizzard said in an interview with GameSpot that while the team is committed to staying on Azeroth, it's open to exploring places players may have already seen before in other WoW expansions. Meanwhile, a leaked survey revealed 11 new classes that could potentially come to Blizzard's old-school MMO.

After hearing the disappointing news that EA has shuttered BioWare, putting an end to two of my favorite RPG franchises—Mass Effect and Dragon Age—I have been, like so many other players, feeling pretty bummed out. But I consoled myself with the fact that, given the environment at BioWare in recent years, the now-canceled Mass Effect 5 probably wouldn't be that good anyway.

Like many players, I enjoyed the Mass Effect trilogy, but felt that Mass Effect: Andromeda fell short. Similarly, BioWare's other recent titles—Anthem and Dragon Age: The Veilguard—struggled with messy development cycles marked by frequent changes in direction, mixed messages from higher-ups at EA, constant staff turnover, and other issues that ultimately led to an underwhelming gaming experience. After playing Veilguard, which felt nothing like the Dragon Age games I had grown to love, my hopes weren't too high for Mass Effect 5. The news of its cancellation (and BioWare's subsequent shutdown) was a huge bummer, though I'd rather Mass Effect go out on a relatively high note than see it get the Veilguard treatment. But then I saw the trailer.

Uploaded to Reddit earlier today, the trailer has not been verified as real by BioWare, but it doesn't appear to bear any hallmarks of generative AI, and a short message before the trailer begins implies it was planned to debut at a later date—perhaps N7 Day, or The Game Awards.

"The following is in-engine footage from our small team," reads the text displayed before the trailer begins. "It uses our pre-production assets."

What follows is one of the most exciting game trailers I've seen in years. We learn the name of the game—Mass Effect: Universe—and meet the male version of its protagonist (though given the history of the franchise, it's likely players would have been able to play as whatever gender they prefer).

This nameless protagonist is in a bar, flirting heavily with an Asari. After some additional romantic banter, our protagonist explains that he and his crew "put out fires." Something in the Asari's eyes changes after she hears this. She leans forward, whispering to the protagonist that he should be careful, as she happens to prefer starting fires. It seems this Asari was planning to double-cross our protagonist in some way, but as soon as she's admitted her villainous intentions, the protagonist's crew (all lurking undercover nearby) reveal themselves one by one. A fight breaks out, and we catch a glimpse of the protagonist's combat abilities, interspersed with brief clips from other parts of the game, including a romance scene. The protagonist fights off Krogan and Turian enemies, blasting them with anti-gravity fields and gunfire alike. The trailer ends with a black screen that reads, "Coming soon."

Mass Effect: Universe's protagonist sizes up a mysterious Asari.

On paper, this trailer might sound similar to the first real look we got at Dragon Age: The Veilguard, a trailer that also ended in a bar fight. But there's one massive difference between these two trailers: tone. Where Veilguard's bar fight trailer introduced a controversial new art style to the franchise and featured loads of quippy, goofy, MCU-style dialogue, Mass Effect: Universe's bar fight trailer feels dangerous, intriguing, and sexy. It feels like Mass Effect; it draws you in and instantly makes you want to learn more.

And that is, perhaps, the most heartbreaking part of all of this: We will almost certainly never learn more about this game, as EA has unceremoniously slit the throat of the studio that created it. EA also may prefer not to sell the Mass Effect IP off to another company, as it has a rather storied history of saying, "No, we're not making this game, but nobody else is allowed to make it, either."

While it's impossible to determine the quality of a game solely from one trailer, and there's no telling what kind of shape Mass Effect: Universe might have launched in, one thing is very clear: The Mass Effect: Universe team was working hard to right the ship after Mass Effect: Andromeda's tepid reception, and based on what can be seen in the trailer, they were doing a damn good job of it. The fact that they weren't given the opportunity to finish their work is devastating, both for the developers themselves, and the many players who were eagerly waiting to dive back into a franchise they love dearly.

At least we've still got the Mass Effect TV show to look forward to, I guess.

People online are going wild thinking that Valve may have accidentally revealed the existence of a new Half-Life game after a developer mentioned a project referred to as "HLX."

Speaking at the Game Sound Con event, Valve sound designer Mike Morasky was discussing how Valve's games utilize high dynamic range (HDR) audio systems. He specifically called out how upcoming Valve game Deadlock has its own version of HDR and so does a project called HLX.

Another Valve developer sitting next to Morasky says to him immediately after, "Nice work," seemingly in reference to how Morasky might have spoken out of turn here by mentioning HLX. You can also see the other Valve developer saying to Morasky, "Good job, you only said HLX once."

https://twitter.com/gabefollower/status/2113342715756978245

Morasky is a Valve veteran, having worked on the sound and music for games like Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, Portal 2, Half-Life: Alyx, and Counter-Strike 2. Outside of games, he worked on visual effects for Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies and The Matrix trilogy. He was a member of the band Steel Pole Bath Tab.

A while back, a datamining effort found references to something called HLX, and some think it's a new Half-Life game, or possibly the fabled Half-Life 3. For what it's worth, it's become something of an annual tradition for people to get excited about the smallest possible evidence of a new Half-Life, only to be disappointed when nothing gets announced.

The Half-Life franchise has a dedicated fanbase and the franchise has major cache, so it wouldn't be surprising to see Valve return to the series again after 2020's VR game Half-Life: Alyx. That was GameSpot's Game of the Year that year.

Multiple new reports claim that the budget for Gears of War: E-Day was $500 million. Both Kotaku and Chris Dring of The Game Business reported today, with Kotaku's report saying the number does not include marketing costs.

Jez Corden of Windows Central added that the $500 million figure is not wrong, but his own sources aren't able to say definitively if that number covers the game's budget alone, or the game's budget plus additional costs related to running the development studio, The Coalition.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Bn4cMZamNA4

Whatever the case, the consensus seems to be that E-Day was an expensive game to produce, and the game's early sales results do not seem very impressive. The game reportedly sold 230,000 copies across Xbox and PC, but that doesn't tell the whole story since the game is included with Xbox Game Pass. Further data shows that the game reached nearly 2 million people out of the gate, and that number is sure to grow over time.

Game Pass is a juggernaut for Microsoft and Xbox, with its recurring revenue from subscriptions generating almost $5 billion annually based on the latest data. A $500 million development budget for E-Day would represent 10% of that annual revenue from Game Pass.

Industry expert Mike Futter reacted to Kotaku's report about E-Day's $500 million budget, saying, "Exclusivity on console games simply does not make sense right now," even if the development budget was half of that.

E-Day was expected to release on PS5, and Microsoft's own presentational materials showed that, but the game was not released on Sony's console. According to reports, Microsoft canceled a PS5 edition at the last minute, with others saying E-Day was being sent out to die on purpose.

GameSpot has contacted Xbox seeking comment about E-Day's reported budget.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has said one of her ambitions is to bring back exclusives, following the previous leadership under Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond embracing multiplatform releases.

E-Day is a prequel to the Gears series, telling the story of Emergence Day. The game got generally solid review scores, including a 7/10 here at GameSpot.

No new Gears of War games have been confirmed, but developers at The Coalition have said the foundation is in place now to make an E-Day sequel faster. Beyond any possible new games, Netflix is producing a Gears of War movie and TV series.