It’s impossible to deny the popularity of the Call of Duty series, and with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s official launch this past Friday, we’ve had plenty to focus on. The game kicked off with a surprise star-studded celebrity extravaganza tournament featuring teams led by YouTuber Chunkz and music star Big Zuu.
Of course, all game launches tend to have their share of bumps along the way, and the bigger the game, the more those bumps are felt. Fans who purchased physical copies of the disc were left scratching their heads at the ridiculously small amount of data contained therein and the 100 GB download they’d still have to complete, questioning why Infinity Ward didn’t simply release the game as a download-only purchase. Some have been further upset by the inability to disable crossplay outside of the PlayStation releases despite the obvious advantage mouse-and-keyboard PC gamers have over Xbox users.
That isn’t to say PC users have had it easy, as some NVIDIA cards have been messing with the game’s stability, and further problems have arisen in the form of an apparent ping glitch that has players tracking their opponents movements across the map for entire matches, causing the ping function to be removed entirely. Despite the rocky start, the game seems to be keeping fans of the franchise engaged, and we’ll be looking forward to Infinity Ward ironing out the creases.
Fantasy And Post-Apocalyptia On The Small Screen
While Call of Duty is dominating the gaming news feed, there’s been plenty of moves in the streaming television world as well. And one of the biggest moves is that Henry Cavill, the originator of the role of Geralt of Rivia from Netflix’s The Witcher, is getting ready to move on from the role. Cavill will be back this summer when season 3 of the fantasy epic hits the streaming service, but Liam Hemsworth will be taking over for him once season four kicks off.
Another figure crossing over from the fantasy trifecta of games, TV, and literature, George R.R. Martin revealed this week that despite his involvement in the creative process, he hasn’t played Elden Ring. His reason? People really want him to finish writing The Winds of Winter. It’s only taken him a little over 11 years so far, so hopefully he’ll get a chance to pick up the Game of the Year contender soon.
Moving forward to the 22nd century, yet somehow still feeling like the 1950s, Amazon put out its first images from the upcoming Fallout streaming series, giving us our first glimpse around cozy little Vault 33 and those snazzy blue jumpsuits. Oh, and speaking of blue, everyone’s favorite little blue hedgehog will be racing back onto Netflix on December 15 for his new show, Sonic Prime.
Never Saw It Comin’
We mentioned Elden Ring as a Game of the Year contender, but it seems like a recently released PC port of a different game is trying to steal a different treasure, and RPG fans’ hearts, as the PC release of Persona 5 Royal managed to leapfrog Elden Ring in the Metacritic rankings. That’s quite a feat, considering how well From Software’s action RPG has been performing since its release back in February. Is there truly a contender that stand up to Elden Ring’s might?
Kratos And Cory Are Both Quite Angry
He’s beaten Ares, Hades, Zeus, and more; he’s got his sights set on Odin, and some think he may even topple Elden Ring, but even the mighty Kratos can’t fight against the power of the leak. Gameplay footage has been popping up in all corners of the Internet as we draw closer to the release of God of War: Ragnarok, and after several days of leaks, we may have found out a reason why. According to creative lead Cory Barlog, it seems a retailer has been selling copies of the game up to 10 days in advance of its release date, and the lucky few to have picked it up early have been releasing their findings online, so stay vigilant if you want to avoid spoilers ahead of its November 9 release. There aren’t too many more epic games on the horizon this year after that date, but in 2023 …
The Dawn Will Come
Since this week’s roundup seems to be filled with this year’s epic fantasy releases, we’d be remiss if we didn’t bring up what some are already expecting to be 2023’s Game of the Year, Dragon Age Dreadwolf. BioWare has confirmed the fourth entry in the series is now playable from beginning to end, and while Gary McKay said the game is “not finished by any means,” it will be exciting to get more insight on the Tevinter Imperium as we roll towards its predicted release late next year.
