Call of Duty's next crossover with Amazon's The Boys is coming up very soon. According to Charlie Intel, the in-game store will add the character Firecracker as a new Operator on January 30 for both Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone.

Firecracker is a new character set to appear in The Boys Season 4, which releases sometime later this year on Prime Video. Valorie Curry plays Firecracker on the show, and it appears the character's likeness in Call of Duty is based on her as well. Firecracker was seen in the first trailer for The Boys Season 4, but it appears she'll make her proper debut not on the TV show but inside Call of Duty.

The Boys’ Firecracker Operator Bundle will available in MW3 and Warzone January 30th. pic.twitter.com/37pDJQVZAH

— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) January 23, 2024

Firecracker will become just the latest character from The Boys to come to Call of Duty. Others have included Homelander, Starlight, Black Noir, and A-Train most recently.

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The Barbie movie landed eight Academy Award nominations, but director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie were not nominated. That's not sitting well across Hollywood, as Barbie actors Ryan Gosling and Simu Liu have spoken out in response to the so-called snubs.

Gosling, who himself earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role as Ken, said in a statement that he feels honored to have received a nomination for "portraying a plastic doll named Ken." However, Gosling stated, "There is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie." Gosling said Gerwig and Robbie are "the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally celebrated film."

"No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit, and genius. To say that I'm disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement," he said. "Their work should be recognized along with the other very deserving nominees."

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A new PS5 update is out, but this time, it won't just be focused on improving system stability. PS5 users can expect to see new audio settings and enhancements for Pulse Explore earbuds and the upcoming Pulse Elite headset added to their console, alongside new features for the Parties function.

For PS5 earbuds users, there'll be new equalizer settings, a Sidetone feature to help you hear your voice in chats, and improved connectivity notifications. These enhancements will also be available for the Pulse Elite headset when it launches next month. The Pulse Explore earbuds launched last November alongside the PlayStation Portal.

A closer look at the new Equalizer setting.

Available for $200, these are Bluetooth earbuds for PS5, PC, and Mac, and they also come with a charging case, PlayStation Link adapter, and six earbud tips. Additionally, they're equipped with dual microphones for chat and onboard AI to improve the audio. The upcoming Pulse Elite headset is designed to offer more premium features, such as a stronger battery, more advanced audio, and multi-device connectivity.

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Squid Game Season 2 will premiere this year, Netflix has confirmed as part of its latest earnings briefing. In a letter to shareholders, Netflix said the Hollywood strikes in 2023 pushed back "some titles," but the company still has a "big, bold slate" for 2024.

This includes Squid Game Season 2, as well as Bridgerton Season 3, Love is Blind Season 6, and the sci-fi series 3 Body Problem from the creators of Game of Thrones.

Squid Game Season 2 brings back Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun. Hwang Dong-hyuk will resume his role as director and executive producer.

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Palworld has been a massive hit after launching this month, as the Pokemon-inspired crafting game has now sold over 7 million copies so far. What makes this figure even more impressive is that it was achieved in just five days and only on PC, as Microsoft has yet to reveal Palworld sales figures--or Game Pass download numbers--on Xbox Series X|S, but developer Pocketpair isn't resting on its laurels.

Palworld has sold 7 million copies in 5 days on Steam alone.
(I have confirmed with Pocketpair this is a Steam only number, not including Xbox sales or GamePass.)
That translates into approximately $189 million USD in Steam sales in 5 days. pic.twitter.com/eTyhdbRAr6

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) January 24, 2024

The studio has revealed its roadmap for Palworld, and players can look forward to some PvP in an arena mode, the ability to trade Pals with other players across the world, and "major" building system updates. Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe explained this week that adding PvP would be quite challenging, as the studio is well aware of the high bar set by its competitors.

[The Future of Palworld]
We would like to share with you our roadmap for Palworld.
Sales have far exceeded the development team's expectations, and we are currently experiencing many problems due to excessive access congestion, among other challenges.
We will prioritize… pic.twitter.com/UKD2HFRaG4

— Palworld (@Palworld_EN) January 24, 2024

"PvP is really difficult. First of all, we need to think about why we are introducing PvP to Palworld. To begin with, there are many other games that offer a fun PvP experience, so we need to make sure that there is a reason for Palworld players to play PvP," Mizobe said. "Of course, using Pals you caught in battle is one unique point, but only games that give players a good reason to play can survive in the long term. In this sense, I think it's a very harsh territory."

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Nintendo has officially announced that it'll be ending online play for the 3DS and Wii U on April 8 at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET. Nintendo had previously indicated an "early April 2024" date for the end of these services on its legacy gaming hardware, and back in March 2023, the eShops were taken offline.

Once the fated hour comes, 3DS and Wii U users can expect online cooperative play, internet rankings, and data distribution to be non-functional, but there will be some exceptions. Nintendo noted that the Pokemon Bank and Poke Transporter will still be functional and that players will still be able to redownload purchased games on these platforms "for the foreseeable future".

While the majority of Nintendo games will still be playable in offline mode, several online-centric games will be affected. Splatoon is a prime example, as the first game in Nintendo's multiplayer-shooter series was primarily designed for online play. Or if you want to cement your legacy, time is running out to rise to the top of the Devil's Third leaderboards.

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Enshrouded sees your character exploring the great unknown. Given that you'll face numerous dangers, it's often important to find safety in your home. Here's our Enshrouded base building guide to help you get started with some early-game tips.

Table of Contents [hide]

• Enshrouded base building guide
  • Manually placing objects versus using the Construction Hammer
  Enshrouded base building guide

  When it comes to base building in Enshrouded, there are a few facets (and tools) that you need to remember:

  • The Flame Altar acts as the central point of your base, which means you can build structures within its borders/radius. This structure can also be upgraded and strengthened. You can learn more in our Flame Altar guide.
  • You'll want to craft the following tools:
    • Construction Hammer - Requires 1x Stone; lets you place large objects.
    • Workbench - Requires 3x String and 8x Wood Logs; lets you craft blocks and furniture; instantly repairs items.
    • Rough Stone Block, Rough Wood Block, and Plant Fiber Roof Block - Each stack (100x blocks) requires 2x Stone, 2x Wood, and 5x Plant Fiber, respectively. These materials are used when constructing base and building foundations.
    • Axe - Requires 4x Twigs, 1x Stone, and 1x String; speeds up and increases yields when chopping down trees.
    • Pickaxe - Requires 4x Twigs, 1x Stone, and 1x String; has a small radius that lets you smash stone and dig for dirt.
  • Rescue the Blacksmith - The Blacksmith NPC provides additional crafting functions and blueprints. You can refer to our Blacksmith guide if you need more help.
  The Construction Hammer is one of the most important tools in the game.Manually placing objects versus using the Construction Hammer

  There are two methods related to base building in Enshrouded. One is egregiously tiresome, and the other offers a smoother experience:

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Rachel Brosnahan plays Lois Lane in the upcoming superhero movie Superman Legacy. How is she preparing? She told Entertainment Weekly that, to get into the mindset of a journalist like Lois Lane, she's spending time with real-life journalists.

"I'm stalking my journalist friends right now," she said. "I'm just trying to understand a little bit more deeply kind of how that mindset works."

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star went on to say that she is a big fan of Margot Kidder's version of Lois Lane from the Superman films starring Christopher Reeve.

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Netflix is likely to continue to incrementally increase the prices of its subscription plans, the streaming giant has shared in a letter to shareholders. The detail was revealed as part of the company's fourth quarter results, where it shared more details on its future plans around monetization.

Overall, Netflix says it aims to provide "a range of prices and plans to meet a wide range of needs," and calls its lower-tier prices "highly competitive." It looks like future price hikes are on the horizon, with Netflix adding: "as we invest in and improve Netflix, we'll occasionally ask our members to pay a little extra to reflect those improvements."

This isn't unexpected, of course, with Netflix having upped its prices multiple times in the last few years, most recently in October last year. The investor letter also speaks on Netflix's plan for ads, which seems to have worked out well for the company since it first introduced ad-supported plans a little over a year ago.

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Diablo 4 Season 3, Season of the Construct, has arrived, bringing fresh content to the dungeon crawler. Among the new content is the Seasonal Journey, which offers battle pass XP and other rewards for completing different milestones in the new season. While you will need to roll a new character to participate, the journey objectives are tailored to match the activities you do as you level up to 100 for the new season. Before you can move onto the next chapter of Seasonal Journey objectives, you will need to complete a certain number of objectives, which varies from chapter to chapter. Below you can find each chapter's objectives and rewards for Season 3 of Diablo 4.

Table of Contents [hide]

• Chapter 1

Chapter 1Each chapter offers unique rewards for completing them.

You must complete 6/8 objectives to complete this chapter.

Chapter 1 objectives:

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Season 1 is winding down for Call of Duty, meaning a brand-new season of content is expected for Warzone and Modern Warfare 3. Here's all the rumors and details we know so far about Season 2 for multiplayer, Zombies, and battle royale.

Call of Duty Season 2 start times

Based on the amount of days left in the Season 1 battle pass, Season 2 of Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone will likely arrive on Wednesday, February 7. These updates usually go live at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET / 5 PM BST across all platforms.

What to expect from Season 2

Season 2 of Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone will include a new battle pass to level up and unlock more weapons and cosmetics. Seasonal passes usually contain at least one operator and two DLC weapons.

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A new update arrived to both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone on January 23. The update makes changes to aftermarket parts, gives players a new way to purchase bundles, and adjusts the limited-time Supe'd Up multiplayer mode. Here's everything you need to know.

For multiplayer, Season 1 Reloaded's new Supe'd Up LTM has a major change that allows players to now earn Temp V abilities more than once per life. The update also adjusts the columns displayed on the in-match scoreboard. It will now show: Kills, Confirms, Denies.

Some of Modern Warfare 3's new aftermarket parts received balancing. The developer explains this update was made because part of the goal for aftermarket parts is to have conversion kits that offer players "fun and unexpected experiences" with familiar weapons.

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For the launch of Modern Warfare III, Activision released a new anti-toxicity voice moderation program that could automatically detect toxic speech and take action. Activision now says this program has been very successful so far, leading to more than 2 million accounts having action taken against them for "disruptive" voice chat.

The program rolled out originally in North America in English only, but it has since expanded everywhere in the world (except Asia) and has added support for Spanish and Portuguese moderation. This voice moderation is also up and running for Modern Warfare II and Warzone.

Activision also shared some findings from the voice moderation program so far. The company said only one in five users reported toxic speech when its own systems detected it, which Activision said was "unfortunate." Activision can take action without players reporting bad speech, but direct player reporting remains "critical" to the system working as best it can, the company said.

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Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 1 is in full swing, but ever since it began back in December, there's one skin we haven't been able to try out yet: Solid Snake, the hero of Metal Gear Solid, was shown in the debut trailer and has teased us on the landing page ever since. Today, Fortnite finally gets a taste of tactical espionage action, but as it turns out, Snake isn't coming alone. Not only is a friend from MGS joining the fun, but two other collaborations are about to get major expansions.

First, Snake's partner-in-stealth--Metal Gear Solid 2's Raiden--will be hitting the Item Shop soon, after he was featured in a teaser video for Snake's arrival. According to prominent Fortnite leaker iFireMonkey, the Raiden skin will come with an alternate masked style, a katana pickaxe with sheath back bling, and a weapon wrap.

New Metal Gear x Fortnite Bundle pic.twitter.com/K4P0lyfYeH

— iFireMonkey (@iFireMonkey) January 23, 2024

Two other Fortnite-focused dataminers have found some other interesting tidbits hiding under the radar as well. First, HypeX has discovered evidence of more Family Guy skins coming to the game, which will serve as a companion to Peter Griffin, who appears in the battle pass.

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In the latest Fortnite update, battle pass owners can unlock Metal Gear Solid's hero, Solid Snake, as well as a host of other items tied to the series and its main character. But one of them, to hide in a cardboard box for 10 seconds, requires you find the new Mythic-tier cardboard box item--a nod to the stealth-action series from Konami, of course. Here's where to find a coardboad box in Fortnite.

Fortnite cardboard box location

The most unlikely of all Mythic items in Fortnite, the simple-looking cardboard box, can be found randomly in any given round via chests all across the island. But if you're like me, you'll want something more reliable to get your challenge completed quickly.

Visit Solid Snake at the location marked in the image, then buy a cardboard box from him to beat the loot RNG.

For that, there's one place to go: Visit the Solid Snake NPC on the island and buy the box from him. He can be found on the small island north of Lavish Lair on the main island.

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With the iPhone 15 Pro line, Apple is making a concerted effort to expand into gaming. If you happen to be an owner of that phone--or the bigger Pro Max version--and you're looking to justify your purchase with a AAA game to push the high-tech internal hardware, you can save 50% on a preorder for Death Stranding ahead of its release on January 31. The regular price on this weird post-apocalyptic postal game is $40, but its preorder price is $20.

Get preorder deal

If you never played it on PlayStation or PC, Death Stranding is a strangely meditative game set in a world where humanity is on the verge of being wiped out. A mysterious extinction event almost destroyed humanity, and as Sam Porter, it's up to you to travel the land and form new connections while avoiding the bad weather. Trust us, you really don't want to be caught in Death Stranding's rain.

The game also has plenty of action, so when you're not avoiding strange phantasms around you, you'll be duking it out with bandits and sinister organizations. As a Hideo Kojima-directed game, Death Stranding also has a lot of story to tell through conversations and cutscenes.

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Half Mermaid, the developer behind 2022's Immortality, is teasing two upcoming projects on the Steam store. Project D seems to be a survival-horror game set in 1983, while Project C is set to be a cinematic experience. Neither project has a release window as of the time of publication.

The descriptions of both games are heavily redacted. Project D, which might stand for Doors as per Steam's database registry, is "a survival-horror" with the keywords 1983, nurse, be careful, and nightmare. There's also mention of "something bad," "some doors," and "home?" elsewhere on the page. Imagery involves eyes, a red backdrop with the word "America" in it, and of course, doors.

Project C is even more ominous. The first description says "gifted with the," "kaleidoscopic," and "future" amidst dozens of blank characters. There's also a text extract that reads: "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

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If you watched only one run from 2024's Awesome Games Done Quick event, it was almost certainly Peanut Butter the dog playing Gyromite--putting ROB to shame with his flawless navigation in the pursuit of victory and cheese. Training a dog to do anything isn't easy, and training a Shiba Inu to do anything is even more of a challenge, but streamer and longtime speedrunner JSR_ knew that his furry friend was up to the challenge. He was so sure of it, in fact, that the two spent nine months training in preparation for the challenge, and JSR_ sat down with GameSpot at AGDQ in Pittsburgh to talk about the experience.

JSR_ recognized Peanut Butter's intelligence and aptitude for training right away, using positivity (pawsitivity?) training to teach him typical dog tricks early on. He wanted to get him involved in other challenges, but rather than enroll him in agility competitions, JSR_ opted to combine Peanut Butter's love of training with his own project: a quest to complete speedruns of every game featured on the Angry Video Game Nerd show. At that point, it had taken five years and well over 2,000 hours. Most games the Nerd played for his show would frustrate the average human, let alone a dog, but there was an exception.

"[There were] 200 speedruns I had to learn, and one of them was the ROB the Robot episode where I played Gyromite," JSR_ explained. "And as I was playing it, it struck me that ROB is simple enough that if I trained Peanut Butter to press the buttons instead, I could play Gyromite with my dog."

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The Hobbit is one of the most beloved fantasy novels ever, and now, nearly 90 years later, it's getting new life as a graphic novel. The Hobbit: A Graphic Novel is a bold reimagining of the iconic journey, and it's now available for preorder ahead of its February 27 launch.

The Hobbit: A Graphic Novel $23

This graphic novel is 144 pages long and is composed of the three-issue series first published by Eclipse Comics. Along with the original stories, this version features additional "artwork and improvements." It follows Bilbo's journey--from meeting Thorin Oakenshield to facing off against Smaug--with colorful artwork from David Wenzel, an illustrator who has worked on comics such as Avengers and Conan.

Preorder at Amazon

A Kindle version is also available for $13. Both the paperback and Kindle formats release on February 27.

More upcoming Tolkien booksThe History of Middle-earth box sets

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In Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, your social stats can be pretty important. One of the best ways to increase your stats is the Ounabara Vocational School. At the Ounabara Vocational School you can take quizzes, which will improve your social stats if you pass. The topics range widely, from sports to nature and history. The school is located in the southwestern part of Honolulu, right off of Harbor St.

Each quiz has a pool of 10 questions, five of which will be randomly given to you for the exam. You have 30 seconds to answer the question, although pulling up your console's dashboard will pause the timer, at least on Xbox. The order of the answers is not consistent from quiz to quiz. For answers that are pictures, the correct image has been described, and in some cases, is shown in the image for that quiz. To pass a quiz, you need to get three out of five questions correct, with the exception of the final quiz, which requires a perfect score. For quizzes that have multiple tiers, you must complete the lower tier first, moving from Tier 2 to Tier 1.

Table of Contents [hide]

• Sports Proficiency

Sports ProficiencyThe forkball grip is option number 3 in this image.

Q: In Baseball, it is common to throw slower pitches called "breaking balls" to confuse the batter's timing. One such pitch is the forkball. Which of the following images demonstrate the correct grip to throw a forkball?

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