First-Person Shooters

Discover Insurgency: Sandstorm with a free Steam weekend, 50% discount, and the free 1.9.1 Update for the Lunar Year

Insurgency: Sandstorm, the indie smash hit FPS from New World Interactive and Focus Home Interactive, welcomes players with a free-to-play weekend running until February 8, and 50% discount on Steam, letting new players dip into the blood pumping mayhem of the military shooter before immersing themselves entirely. At the same time, the game grows its arsenal of modern weaponry with two new free weapons available in the latest update.

Two new weapons accompany a free weekend on Steam!

Two new assault rifles hailing from China expand players’ choice of mid-range weaponry even more in the fast-paced FPS. The QTS-11 for Security and the QBZ-97 for Insurgents can be wielded by the Rifleman, Demolitionist, Commander, and Observer classes. With this update, players also enjoy a long list of balancing, fixes, and quality of life improvements.

With a 50% discount and a free weekend on Steam, there has never been a better time to jump into the teeth-rattling realistic warfare of Insurgency: Sandstorm.

Play the game for free on Steam now and get it at a 50% discount.

Visit the official Insurgency: Sandstorm website for more game information.

Source: GURU3D

The marketing hype has already begun. During Electronic Arts’ fiscal 2021 third-quarter earnings call, Andrew Wilson CEO of EAm shared some news about the upcoming Battlefield and revealed that the new game is coming by the end of the year.

It’s not really a secret and unexpected of course, the game arriving this year but the new Battlefield installment will offer a “total military war and will have support for more players than ever. This probably means that the game will be capped at more than 64 players. Also, the title reveal will take place this fall.

“We look forward to sharing much more about our plans for this new fiscal year in the coming months, including our upcoming Battlefield experience, which will mark a return to all-out military warfare.”

“The game takes full advantage of the power of next-generation platforms to bring massive and immersive battles to life with more players than ever before. With maps of an unprecedented scale, the next edition of Battlefield takes all the destruction, vehicles, and combat weapons that the franchise is known for and takes it to another level. ”

“The team is focused and the game is ahead of our internal milestones. We will reveal the game in the spring and deliver a defining Battlefield experience for our players in the 2021 holiday season.“

The thrilling conclusion to Death from Above is out now!

Zombie Army 4: Dead War fans can kick off 2021 with a blood-chilling new campaign mission, available NOW on all platforms!

Watch the Zombie Army 4: Dead Zeppelin trailer HERE.

LOOMING TERROR

Dead Zeppelin is the third and final mission in Season 2’s thrilling new Death from Above campaign. The Resistance airfield may have been saved, but the jarring terror of an undead airship and its hellish arsenal still looms over mankind.

You and your fellow deadhunters must chase the demonic airship down and bravely dare to board it! Will you be able to destroy it before it rains death upon the Earth?

KICKING OFF THE NEW YEAR FRIGHT

In addition to the Dead Zeppelin campaign mission, there’s loads of new, fiendishly great content for Zombie Army 4 players to enjoy, all available individually or with Zombie Army 4: Season Pass Two.
Today’s new content drop includes:

• Night Ops Jun Outfit
• Toxic Hazard Weapon Skins
• Black Ice Weapon Skins
• Horror Charms Pack
• Buckets Headgear Pack
• 7.65mm Polizeipistole Pistol Bundle
• Nagant M1895 Pistol Bundle

For more info, please visit ZombieArmy.com.

Source: Blue’s News

A new update is now live in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, adding new content to Season One in the first-person shooter sequel. A post on the Call of Duty Blog has all the details on the new weapons and modes in today’s update along with more on the new 6v6 multiplayer map and a new zombies experience coming to the game on February 4th. This also kicks off the week of free access to the zombies mode they promised earlier this week. Here’s a summary of what’s in the new update:

The following are included in the Season One Update:

• Sanatorium multiplayer map – Ten squads of four will head up to the Ural Plains to fight over objectives and vehicles on land, sea and air.
• Express multiplayer map – Returning from Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Express arrives Feb. 4 in Cold War as a 6v6 Multiplayer favorite, known fondly as the hi-tech train station that hosted many a jaw-dropping moment in competitive Call of Duty history.
• Operator Zeyna joins the fight in Cold War and Warzone, starting on January 21st.
• New multiplayer modes, including the continuation of the fast-paced 3v3 experience, Face Off. Additional modes include Dropkick (live now), Snipers Only Moshpit and Endurance Mode.
• In February, the Dark Aether storyline continues with an all-new Zombies map called Firebase Z and new Onslaught maps. Available now is the new Zombies mode entitled Cranked.
• Zombies Free Access Week is live now through January 21.

New map, new guns, new customization items, and more!

Cold Blood introduces ‘Bab’ – a brand new winter map. Bab is set in a snowy mountain village built around an ancient citadel. It’s perfect for snipers with long sightlines and an open layout. Tight alleyways and indoor combat mark the areas between them. Bab is a brand new and unique layout, offering players something really different to get stuck into.

On the gun side, the Marksman class now has two new high caliber semi-automatic battle rifles to play with. The M110 SASS on Security, and for Insurgents, an older Army issue and WWII classic, the M1 Garand. As with everything in Sandstorm, they come with a wide selection of attachments and scopes to let every player customise how they wish.

Also included in this update is a swathe of various other tweaks and additions, including toggleable optic scopes. This also marks the release of a new cosmetic bundle including four Cold Blood-themed DLCs. To celebrate, the game is available at a 50% discount running from now until December 14.

Watch the new trailer HERE.

Visit the official Insurgency: Sandstorm website for more game information.

Source: Blue’s News

Activision is pushing back the launch of Season One for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone from December 10 to December 16. A separate announcement notes the series has taken in over $3 billion in the past year, so they may be trying to protect their cash cow from the release of Cyberpunk 2077, but they do not specify whether or not this is their reasoning. They do say they are offering XP bonuses and free content to all players. This post has all the details and here’s a summary:

The release date of Season One across the new Black Ops Cold War and free-to-play, free-for-everyone Warzone has been moved from December 10 to December 16.

Season One is the largest free content drop in Black Ops history: a massive expansion of free content, including the comprehensive integration of Operators, weapons, player progression, and Battle Pass rewards across Black Ops Cold War and Warzone.

To thank players for their continued support and patience, Treyarch will be enabling Double XP and Double Weapon XP in Black Ops Cold War from 10AM PT Saturday, Dec. 12 until the launch of Season One.

Two free bundles will also become available to all Black Ops Cold War players through a new Pre-Season offer. Players simply need to log in between 10AM PT Dec. 8 and 11PM PT Dec. 15 to claim both bundles.

By Wesley Yin-Poole @ Eurogamer

Treyarch has tweaked Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War so players level up weapons faster.

The developer released a patch for the shooter this evening just as Black Ops Cold War’s double XP and double weapon XP event came to a close.

“Coming out of last week’s 2XP + 2WXP event, we’ve made some additional tuning changes to global Weapon XP earn rates across the board,” Treyarch said in the patch notes.

“Starting today, you’ll now level up your weapons and unlock more attachments faster than the previous standard rate in both MP and Zombies.”

Treyarch had tuned progression for the launch of the game so that it took around 1200 kills to max out a weapon – and unlock all of its attachments along the way. I’ve only managed to max out one weapon so far, the AK-47, and that was only possible with the help of Nuketown, the recently-added close quarters map on which you tend to get more kills than any other because it’s so small and plays so fast, in combination with the double XP buff.

Read more…

By Morgan Park @ PC Gamer

Talking to friends and colleagues about a new Call of Duty is never the same as our banter about other games. As an annual series defined by incremental changes to a formula, nitpicking is ingrained in the discourse. That’s certainly the case for Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War, a good game that falls short of its predecessor. Instead of being undermined by unforgivable sins, it’s an accumulation of smaller flaws, like how guns feel or maps flow.

Read the Review Here

#1 Selling Call of Duty Series Continues Franchise Momentum and Releases to the Largest, Most Engaged Community at the time of Launch in Call of Duty History

Activision today announced the worldwide launch of the highly-anticipated Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War, an all-new entry in the #1 selling series in Call of Duty and a direct sequel to the fan favorite Call of Duty: Black Ops.

The new title infuses 1980s pop culture into a gripping conspiracy set at the height of the Cold War. In the fictional story campaign players must stop a plot decades in the making that could destabilize the global balance of power and change the course of history. The game delivers the next generation of online multiplayer combat with an arsenal of Cold War weapons and equipment across a wide variety of new maps and modes. Black Ops Cold War also provides an all-new co-operative Zombies survival mode experience.

The title supports cross-play across next generation and current generation systems with cross progression across all modes. Players can look forward to the biggest series of free, post-launch content in Black Ops history across Multiplayer and Zombies, as well as a robust schedule of in-game community events.

“Today’s launch starts the next great Black Ops experience across story, multiplayer and zombies in a direct sequel to one of the most iconic titles in Call of Duty,” said Byron Beede, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Call of Duty, Activision. “This is just the beginning. Our players can look forward to the biggest series of post-launch free content, community events and ongoing support ever in Black Ops plus tight integration across the ecosystem with Warzone. It’s a great time to play Call of Duty.”

The PC edition can be picked up through the Blizzard Shop. Watch the Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War Official PC Trailer HERE. For more game information please visit the official Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War website.

Milestone celebrated with free new firing drill, editor compositions in Workshop, and more

Seven years after the official release of version 1.00 and dozens of updates later, Bohemia Interactive is proud to announce the 2.00 release of Arma 3 (watch trailer). The latest update to the PC-exclusive military sandbox sim game adds a free new firing drill, as well as a new color edition of an existing firearm, a camo variant for selected gear, extra Steam achievements, and the option for players to share compositions made in Arma 3’s scenario editor via the Steam Workshop.

The new firing drill (Course of Fire: Gray) invites players to set a record time on a challenging course hosted by a familiar operative from Arma 3′s story campaigns. A gold medal is awarded to those who can complete the drill in under two minutes (2:00). Players running the course might encounter various surprises related to previous versions of Arma 3 if they know where to look and what to do.

Players can now share custom compositions from the game directly to the Steam Workshop. They can do so by accessing Arma 3’s extensive library of weapons, vehicles, equipment, characters, structures, and props available and arranging their in-game assets in the editor. When they’re done, all they need to do is save their selected assets as a custom composition and click on the appropriate icon to publish it to the Steam Workshop. Compositions can include anything from full-blown military camps to specific roadblocks or checkpoints, a Halloween pumpkin festival, a simple table and chairs, or anything in between. By sharing their unique compositions via the Steam Workshop, Arma 3 content creators can help each other build expansive, detailed, and atmospheric scenarios quickly and easily. Further documentation can be found on Bohemia Interactive’s Community Wiki.

But wait, there’s more! The 2.00 update also includes a new arid variant of existing CTRG special forces gear (stealth uniform and combat helmet – available for owners of the Arma 3 Apex expansion) and a black variant for the P07 pistol – both of which are used in the new firing drill. Players can also unlock three new ’2.00′ themed Steam achievements. And finally, all players receive a lifetime’s virtual supply of “Arma” Eau de Combat, which is now available as an in-game glass perfume bottle prop.

The complete changelog for update 2.00 can be found on the Arma 3 website. Those who have yet to pick up the game, or simply wish to complete their DLC collection, can get the Arma 3 base game and all of its downloadable content (DLC) at up to 75% off on Steam. People who purchase the Arma 3 Ultimate Edition, Apex Edition, Contact Edition, or DLC Essentials will receive an additional bundle discount on top. This special offer is available from Wednesday October 14 until Monday October 19 (starting and ending at 10:00 PDT/19:00 CEST).

The Alpha version of Arma 3 was first released in March 2013. It was one of the first titles to enter Steam Early Access and became the first to graduate from the Early Access program when version 1.00 was released on September 12, 2013. Since then, the Arma 3 base game has sold over 6 million copies, received over 80 free updates, and has been reinforced by 10 DLC packs and 2 expansions selling over 11.5 million times combined. Aside from its wide variety of official content, Arma 3 has also become a popular platform for user-generated content with over 75,000 items shared by players on the Steam Workshop, adding tons of free community-made scenarios, assets, sounds, gameplay features, and total conversions to the game.

Arma 3 remains popular to this day, with a 90% positive user rating on Steam (based on 120,000+ reviews), 100,000+ registered community groups (units), and an average playtime per user of 150+ hours. Hundreds of thousands of people still play the game every month. Bohemia Interactive currently plans on publishing several new Arma 3 projects made by third-party developers as part of its Creator DLC initiative. The first Creator DLC, Global Mobilization – Cold War Germany, was released in April 2019, and has sold more than 100,000 copies to date.

For more information about Arma 3, please visit www.arma3.com.