Author: Game Infliction

This week, Microsoft announced the timing of its Xbox showcase event in June as well as a follow-up Direct for a mystery game that looks like a clear tease for the next Call of Duty.

This year’s mainline Call of Duty is reportedly a Treyarch-developed Black Ops game set in the Gulf War. Some had even thought it might be called Call of Duty Black Ops Gulf War, following the naming convention set out by the previous Black Ops game, Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War.

However, following Microsoft’s tease, eagle-eyed Call of Duty fans are giving the image included the zoom and enhance treatment, and believe the redacted section conceals the words Call of Duty Black Ops V.

We’re going to be talking about games of course

Tune in to the Xbox Games Showcase followed by [REDACTED] Direct on Sunday, June 9 @ 10am PT: https://t.co/z78G8h75r2 | #XboxShowcase pic.twitter.com/XgOGJy2gLv

— Xbox (@Xbox) April 30, 2024

As many fans have pointed out, you can almost make out the ‘OPS’ from Black Ops in the redacted section in the bottom of the image. The suggestion is the spacing only makes sense if the words are ‘Black Ops V’, not ‘Gulf War.’

Why the V, specifically? It’s all in the pixels, fans believe. Actually, the single pixel to the right of the blacked out part of the image. Would it be more of a bar if it concealed a ‘5’ than a ‘V’? Some fans believe so.

Black Ops V only seems suitable 😉 https://t.co/ggCMOJbmSk pic.twitter.com/cHs7DbBBWL

— Desire (@Deziah) April 30, 2024

Here’s some better versions made by @omgFawzi that give a better look at what BO5’s teaser should look like uncensored pic.twitter.com/m8OP8vy3IP

— Forward (@ForwardLeaks) April 30, 2024

If the game is called Black Ops V, that would track with the roman numeral system used for previous Black Ops games (bizarrely, Activision went with Black Ops IIII for the fourth game in the series, as opposed to IV). Black Ops V would also be a somewhat puzzling choice given it wouldn’t actually be the fifth mainline Black Ops game, but the sixth. Perhaps Activision wants to lean more on the idea of this new Black Ops being a fully-fledged sequel after veering into potential sub-sub-brand territory with Cold War. Perhaps the game spans more than the Gulf War, so using the name in the title wouldn’t properly reflect its content. Or perhaps Activision feels like having Gulf War in the title of the game is a step too far, even for Call of Duty.

Whatever the case, fans don’t have long to wait to find out, given the Xbox Showcase and the Call of Duty Direct are a little over a month away.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has issued a statement on recent changes to the way ricochet works in the game after members of the community pointed out one weapon in particular was killing players more than it should.

After this week’s release of patch 01.000.300, which tweaked a long list of weapons, stratagems, and enemies, a debate emerged about the state of ricochet. According to the initial patch notes: “Shots that ricochet from heavy armored enemies will now properly hit the Helldiver who fired them. Trigger discipline is highly recommended.”

Players then reported getting killed more often by shots that ricochet, but there was confusion about what exactly was happening. Clips shared on social media appeared to show players suffering embarrassing deaths at the hands of their own ricocheting projectiles, even from rockets and explosives, but redditor Zenbast investigated the issue and blamed it on the Eruptor.

The Erupter is an explosive weapon that causes shrapnel, and, Zenbast found, it was this shrapnel that was killing players, not necessarily ricocheting bullets. Zenbast suggested other weapons that have the shrapnel effect might have had a similar issue, but it was the Eruptor that was causing the most chaos.

Now, Arrowhead has issued a follow-up acknowledging the issue with the Eruptor and announcing planned changes to fix it. The developer said it will completely remove the shrapnel effect from the Eruptor but increase its hit damage as a result. “This should make it less lethal to the operator but just as powerful against enemies,” Arrowhead said. “It should maintain its destructive power, and as it is still classed as explosive, it will not lose the ability to break objects, close holes, destroy fabricators, etc. This will, overall, be a buff to the weapon as shrapnel played an almost negligible part in the damage and power it dealt. Its AOE will be unaffected.”

Arrowhead ended its statement by thanking the Helldivers community for working out what was happening. Here’s the statement in full:

The teams have been hard at work testing a number of community issues today, mainly focused on the changes to ricochets and shrapnel. In response to a previous front page post we looked into the possibility of rockets and other explosives being affected by ricochets. This has since been debunked by the community, but nonetheless, our Ministry of Defense team also ran a number of tests today and confirmed that rockets and explosives are not ricocheting backwards.

However, we have noticed another issue through these posts and community feedback that has identified the possibility for shots from the R-36 Eruptor to explode and rebound shrapnel at the shooter, which has a high enough damage value to instantly kill the player. To prevent this, we’re looking to completely remove the shrapnel effect from the Eruptor but will be increasing its hit damage as a result. This should make it less lethal to the operator but just as powerful against enemies. It should maintain its destructive power, and as it is still classed as explosive, it will not lose the ability to break objects, close holes, destroy fabricators, etc. This will, overall, be a buff to the weapon as shrapnel played an almost negligible part in the damage and power it dealt. Its AOE will be unaffected.

Currently, with the systems in place, only small arms should be able to ricochet on armor. If you see an explosive VFX at the point of impact, the projectile is not causing a ricochet, as explosion effects are not triggered when a ricochet occurs. Shrapnel, however, can still explode outwards from the point of impact and kill the player.

We apologize for this misunderstanding and thank you all for investigating these new changes so diligently, and for passing on your feedback to us. Hopefully this makes sense and these changes should help everyone survive better!

If you’re looking for more on Helldivers 2, check out IGN’s feature on the Let Me Solo Her of Helldivers 2, a player who has answered over 100 SOS Beacons as part of a mission to help others.

Helldivers 2 has become one of the surprise hits of 2024 since launching in February, topping the charts on Steam and reportedly selling around three million copies. According to at least one analyst, it’s still growing. Check out IGN’s Helldivers 2 review to find out why it’s going down so well.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Escape From Tarkov developer Battlestate Games has been called “shameless” and “tone deaf” over its response to controversy caused by a $250 expansion, with fans and even its esports associate calling out the studio.

The community behind Escape From Tarkov — a hardcore and realistic online first-person shooter currently in beta — erupted on April 26 after Battlestate announced the $250 Unheard Edition upgrade, which added an exclusive player-versus-everyone mode amid other extras, and notably wasn’t deemed downloadable content by the developer. This meant those who’d bought the $150 Edge of Darkness edition of Escape From Tarkov, which came with a Season Pass and thus “free access to all subsequent DLCs”, wouldn’t obtain this new content without spending another $250.

Many players therefore deemed the Unheard Edition “pay-to-win”, “unacceptable”, “disrespectful”, and more, but immense backlash has now arisen in response to the developer’s official comment on the matter, which was seemingly intended to rectify the situation.

Nik Buyanov, Battlestate COO and studio head, posted on Reddit to announce owners of the Edge of Darkness edition would get access to the mode upon Escape From Tarkov’s full launch but couldn’t yet because of server capacity issues.

Players would “have the opportunity to test this mode by purchasing the Unheard edition of the game”, Buyanov said, announcing a 50% discount for owners of the Edge of Darkness edition. These players would therefore be paying $275 in total to access this part of the Escape From Tarkov beta.

Another Reddit post came from Buyanov after this one didn’t go well. “I would like to say that I am very sorry that fans and the game community in general are experiencing these feelings,” he said, the wording of which further upset many Escape From Tarkov players.

“Fake apology,” said redamid. “‘I’m sorry you feel this way’ does not equal ‘I’m sorry I betrayed you’.” ZeroPointZero_ chimed in too: “‘I’m sorry you feel this way’ is really not how an apology should sound,” they said. “I don’t really expect much better than this, however, considering all that has happened. The corrective actions are now on the right track, but hardly enough. Introducing pay-to-win features that are infinitely more potent than the ones in Edge of Darkness is just tone deaf.”

Buyanov said the reaction, “which he did not foresee”, will affect future decisions and announced a handful of other changes to these editions. PvE will be made available to those who own the Edge of Darkness edition but only “in waves” because of the server capacity issues, though it’s unclear how far apart these waves will come.

He also promised to balance the items and perks in this addition but provide more to those who already bought it for $250, and said Battlestate will continue to work on other patches and content for Escape From Tarkov, among other things. “Thank you for your time, love and hate, and thank you for your increased attention to the current situation,” Buyanov said.

These changes aren’t enough for many, however. “Saying you’re ‘sorry about the feeling we are experiencing’ is such as BS statement,” said broken-cactus. “Clearly you’re not sorry for what you did. While this is a good step, honestly you guys have shown your true colors with this whole fiasco. I’m just very disappointed, and I hope you guys will take some time to build back the trust you lost with this community.”

A comment from paulfunyan suggested Battlestate had made false promises in the past, and said the company is asking for too much money for a game currently in beta. “You’ve had the privilege of us testing your game for the past seven years, and this is the product you’re delivering. If you expect anyone to pay more money to test this then you’re bats**t insane,” they said. “Shameless.”

Escape From Tarkov’s Reddit is currently full of fans sharing similar thoughts, though Battlestate’s recent actions appear to be a step too far for many. A post from WebFirm4870 with a screenshot of them uninstalling the game has 3,500 upvotes. Mleeimlele’s post telling other players not to fall for the apology has 6,700 upvotes. A screenshot of the Wikipedia page for a “non-apology apology” has 5,100 upvotes.

But the backlash took a step further when Evasion GG, the first Escape From Tarkov esports team and a host of more than 200 tournaments for the game, posted on X/Twitter to claim Battlestate is a bad company to work with as a result of “control issues, blatant nepotism” and more.

“We have produced over 200 Tarkov shows but if you’ve wondered why we haven’t been as active as we once were it’s because we will not be railroaded into doing events that we don’t believe in,” Evasion said.

“What happened to the Tarkov community over the past week is what’s been happening to us for the last two years dealing with Battlestate. Promises not kept, gaslighting, event cancelations, control issues, blatant nepotism, [and] all while wasting our time, money, and efforts. This year we found out how terribly they have been treating the smaller event orgs as well. Now this treatment has spread to the player base.

“We’ve held back sharing this information but seeing how the community was treated as a whole recently was too much. We will not create Tarkov events until we see things truly change.”

IGN has asked Battlestate for comment regarding these allegations and the community backlash.

Escape From Tarkov was released in closed alpha in August 2016 before its closed beta was released in July 2017. It has stayed in this form ever since despite regular updates and paid add-ons, with no word on a proper launch date as of yet.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Manor Lords’ huge Steam wishlists have translated into a bumper launch that saw over one million copies sold in just a day.

Manor Lords launched on April 26 in Early Access form and soon rose through the player concurrents ranks on Valve’s platform. It hit a peak Steam concurrent player count of 173,178 — according to publisher Hooded Horse, that’s the highest ever for a city builder, and even other similar genres, such as GSG/4x/colony sims. That means Manor Lords has enjoyed a bigger Steam launch than the likes of Civilization and Cities: Skylines.

Manor Lords is a medieval strategy game featuring in-depth city building, large-scale tactical battles, and complex economic and social simulations. It was developed by Slavic Magic, a one-person studio founded by Greg Styczeń. IGN’s Manor Lords Early Access review returned a 7/10. We said: “Manor Lords is a gorgeous medieval city-builder that kept me occupied for hours building my perfect, cozy hamlets, but it definitely feels very early in its Early Access development.”

In a tweet, Styczeń outlined the main points for the planned next patch:

• Fix all the weird homeless bugs.
• Tune the archer damage.
• Tune the trade oversupply mechanics (it’s too harsh and punishes regional specialization).
• Slow down the rate of the AI claiming territories.
• Improve the sawpit efficiency / storage.

Manor Lords is the latest mid-priced game to see enormous success in early 2024 following the release of Pocket Pair’s Palworld and Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2. The trend comes at a time when some triple-A $70 games, such as Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones, have struggled.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.