Around this time on the gaming calendar, you can usually count on a few things to appear: far too many gaming showcases and a new look at the next Call of Duty. Ahead of its upcoming reveal, it looks like key art for the game--and as rumored, it's Modern Warfare 4--has popped up, although you'll have to squint your eyes really, really hard to make out what it is--almost like a '90s 3D painting, taunting us with the image of a potential three-dimensional sailboat.

Billbil-Kin--who has a solid track record with leaks--has posted a very blurry image "for one of Activision's games," and we're betting it's not a Tony Hawk's Underground remaster. Look closely, and you'll see what appears to be three soldiers advancing forward. That's a considerable upgrade from your typical Call of Duty cover, which usually features a single soldier front and center.

Longtime Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward is expected to be the lead developer on this year's entry in the series, and it recently teased that its next game will be a "bold" and "relentless" combat experience. This year sees some big changes to how Call of Duty is released, as there won't be a day-one launch through Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft's subscription service is widely thought to have contributed to the worst Call of Duty sales year since 2008, and in the future, new Call of Duty games will only come to Game Pass around a year after launch.

A full retail launch for Modern Warfare 4 across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S is predicted to be a massive financial success, but it'll also be facing off against Rockstar’s GTA 6 in November, which could have a significant impact on the game's bottom line. It wouldn't be the first time that a new release from Rockstar Games has outsold Call of Duty, as Red Dead Redemption 2 managed this rare feat back in 2018 when it went up against Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

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Dragon Quest celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and to mark the occasion, a new update was given on the long-in-development Dragon Quest 12: The Flames of Fate. First announced five years ago, the game won't be out for quite a while yet, as executive producer Yosuke Saito announced that development had been restarted on the project and it has a brand-new name--Dragon Quest 12: Beyond Dreams

"We're hard at work on Dragon Quest 12, but due to a reshuffle of the team and a restart of development, it's going to be a bit longer until it's in your hands," Saito said in a Dragon Quest livestream. "Work on the original version, Dragon Quest 12: The Flames of Fate, hit a lot of hurdles along the way. But as we kept talking with Mr. Yuji Horii (Dragon Quest game designer) and pinned down what a mainline Dragon Quest game should look like, we decided to move things around and start over from scratch. It was a major decision, but I believe it was the right one to ensure the next Dragon Quest game will be one that all you fans of the series will really love."

Saito then debuted a sneak peek at the game, revealing a colorful collection of scenes featuring new characters, landscapes, and monsters. One thing that has been preserved for Dragon Quest 12 is its art direction, as it's still heavily inspired by the work of Akira Toriyama. The late Dragon Ball creator was a character designer on the series since its inception and worked on every entry in the main series until his death in 2024.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCRie0bKvtE

Development on Dragon Quest 12 hit a rocky patch in 2024, when series producer Yu Miyake reportedly stepped down due to repeated delays. Updates have been sporadic on the game, which follows the last mainline installment, 2018's Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age. Fortunately, the franchise has expanded with spin-offs over the years, and fans can look forward to Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World. Launching for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, and Switch 2 in the near future, the spin-off is a creature-collecting game that's not too dissimilar from Pokemon, but with a signature Dragon Quest touch.

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