End of an era

Good Morning. It seems like everywhere you look in the gaming world you’re either bombarded with Baldur’s Gate this-and-that or previews of Starfield.

Will we be experiencing a clash of gaming titans or will Starfield experience failure to launch?

We’ll be finding out soon enough. It’s certainly an exciting time to be a gamer.

— Derek Neville, Jason Liu

HEADLINES

GGs for the Xbox 360 Store. Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 Store will close on July 29, 2024. This means that Xbox will stop supporting the purchase of new games, DLC, and other content from the Xbox 360 on the console and online. This will not affect gamers’ ability to continue to play Xbox 360 games they have already purchased, both on the Xbox 360 platform as well as via backwards compatibility on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S

No monitor? No Problem. Samsung has announced pre-orders for The Freestyle Gen 2 with Gaming Hub. The Freestyle Gen 2 is a portable smart projector that will allow users to project on any surface, creating up to a 100” screen. The projector features the Samsung Gaming Hub, allowing gamers to boot up top games from streaming partners such as Xbox, and connect directly with a Bluetooth controller — no need to lug a console around for game night.

Take-Two strikes down AI mod. Earlier this week we reported on the revolutionary and controversial Sentient Streets mod for GTA 5, which uses generative AI and deep learning technologies to script and voice NPCs. Apparently Take-Two has moved to copyright strike the modder’s video on YouTube and instructions to install the mod.

HUD

• 🤖 AI Twitch streams are now on the rise. You can now have a conversation with AI Jesus and many others under the category “Probably Artificial, Hopefully Intelligent”.

• 🎮 Following the success of Valve’s Steam Deck and the ROG Ally from ASUS, it's now Lenovo’s turn to get into the handheld gaming PC space, with leaked images giving us a reported first look at their upcoming Legion Go.

• 📆 The upcoming Alan Wake 2 from Remedy has been pushed back 10 days in a move aimed at releasing further away from other big titles set to drop in October. It was previously scheduled to release the same week as Spider-Man 2. The first Alan Wake ran into a similar experience in 2010 when it launched the same week as Red Dead Redemption.

MAJOR W

• 🐿 Happy Tree Friends is back with new episodes and a new game.

• 🚧 In an effort to curb harassment, new Twitch feature blocks banned users from watching your stream.

• 😝 +1 for realism — Patrick Mahomes sticks out tongue in latest Madden installment.

F IN THE CHAT

• 🚫 MrBeast’s latest viral video hit with copyright strike over allegedly stolen 2-second animation.

• 💽 Starfield install size revealed to be 139GB on PC. Better start clearing space.

• ⚖ Roblox at the center of a new lawsuit alleging platform is enabling child gambling.

THIS DAY IN GAMING

• 🍎 Ambrosia Software was founded in 1993. The now-defunct company was best known for its Macintosh remakes of arcade games, including Asteroids.

• 🐧 SEGA releases Penguin Land on SEGA Master System in 1987, giving players control of a penguin trying to move her egg through levels while avoiding polar bears and falling rocks.

DEEP DIVE

Modern Warfare 3 Reveal

Yesterday was the Shadow Siege Modern Warfare 3 reveal, which let players drop into a special limited-time event in Warzone, where the whole lobby worked together to battle AI and complete tasks, with climactic cut-scenes before and after the action. Players could earn in-game rewards, and the event completion culminated in the first trailer for Modern Warfare 3 (along with the option to preorder the game).

In addition to the Shadow Siege event, Activision also released information about the upcoming game both on the Call of Duty Twitter account, as well as via the official Call of Duty blog. Here is a breakdown of what we can expect:

Customizable Campaign

The Modern Warfare 3 campaign will be a direct sequel to the Modern Warfare 2 campaign and will feature the cinematics and story-based missions players have grown to expect in a Call of Duty campaign. However, a new addition will be Open Combat Missions. These missions will give players the option to tackle the objective as they see fit — whether that’s with stealth or going in hot. Players will be able to experiment with different loadouts, vehicles, and approaches to complete the mission.

Oldschool Modern Multiplayer

At launch, the MW3 multiplayer will feature modernized versions of all 16 launch maps from Modern Warfare 2 (2009) — including fan favorites such as Favela, Afghan, Highrise, and Terminal. Map voting and the classic mini-map also return. 12 new maps will be added to the game post-release as part of future seasons.

While in the past players have been able to customize their weapons with attachments, an option that will not only continue but evolve in MW3, players will now be able to customize their entire loadout with gloves, vests, boots, and more.

Modern Warfare Zombies

For the first time, Zombies makes its way into a Modern Warfare title, with the largest Zombies map ever. Modern Warfare Zombies will allow squads to team up with each other to take on hoards of zombies in a PvE extraction survival experience.

Players can pre-order Modern Warfare 3 for $69.99 to unlock early access to the Open Beta as well as the Campaign. Those who order the vault edition ($99.99) will also unlock in-game rewards as well as access to the first battle pass.

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