GAMES
Season Three Brings Classified Arms to Call of Duty: Vanguard and Call of Duty: Warzone
Summary
- Join Task Force Harpy in Operation Monarch, a new investigation revealing hints of a threat greater than man or machine.
- Season Three brings new weapons, the Trophy System, new Multiplayer maps, updated Points of Interest on Caldera, and more.
- Earn new rewards in a brand-new Ranked Play season, complete new Season Three Challenges, and look at the road ahead for Zombies.
While Captain Butcher and the new Task Force Harpy are investigating the impact of enemy attacks on Caldera, they come across two major discoveries: a cache of secret prototype weapons and the hint of something monstrous on the horizon. Are they meant to combat a threat greater than man or machine?
Find out in Classified Arms, the third season of Call of Duty: Vanguard and Warzone, bringing two new Multiplayer maps, four new weapons, the Trophy System, updated Points of Interest on Caldera, and much more.
Classified Arms launches on Xbox on April 27. Read on for the highlights and a hint of what’s to come.
Get More in the Season Three Battle Pass
Prepare for the epic battles ahead with the Season Three Battle Pass, offering 100 Tiers of new content, including two new free weapons: the M1916 Marksman Rifle and the Nikita AVT Assault Rifle.
M1916 Marksman Rifle: A German semiautomatic rifle, the M1916 punches hard with a large two-hit kill range before attachments are factored in. Recoil can be a challenge but is easily countered by moderating your fire rate.
Nikita AVT: The Nikita boasts the highest fire rate in the Assault Rifle category, with a jagged upward kick through sustained fire. Utilize Gunsmith to improve handling in the way of an SMG, or focus on long-range damage and control to fit the more traditional role of an AR.
Purchase the Season Three Battle Pass to get Task Force Harpy Operator Mateo Hernandez instantly at Tier 0. Appearing later in the Store are the other two Harpy Operators, Florence Carter, and Kim Tae Young.
Earn two more weapons — the Sledgehammer and the H4 Blixen SMG — by completing their in-game challenges or by purchasing their corresponding Store Bundles later in the season.
Warzone: Updated POIs, New Gulag, Operation Monarch
Dig Site: Positioned between the Mine and the Ruins, the new Monarch Dig Site Point of Interest provides Operators the opportunity to rummage through abandoned excavation equipment, tents, and massive skeletons for Supply Boxes and other items.
Updates to Runway, Peak, Lagoon: Only partially constructed for the past two seasons, Caldera’s northern aircraft Runway and its stronghold on the Peak will be fortified by those defending Caldera and its secrets. Meanwhile, the shifting tide on Lagoon will reveal another path to the Lighthouse.
Operation Monarch: While Operation Monarch won’t begin until around May 11, be on the lookout for signs of large creatures, ancient artifacts, Monarch Research equipment and facilities, and… well, it won’t take much investigating to see the massive glowing axe jutting out of the ground right near the Resort.
New Gulag — Hold: A new Gulag developed by Toys for Bob, this roughly symmetrical arena is based in the belly of a ship moored just off the coast of Caldera, with identical hallways on the perimeter of an otherwise open space.
Mid-Season Intel: Operation Monarch is likely to have a great impact on Caldera, but something else seems to be shaking and booming underneath the island. Expect more intel on the secrets below Caldera’s surface later in the season, along with another Rebirth Island twist on a classic Warzone mode.
Multiplayer: Mayhem and Sphere, Trophy System, New Ranked Play Season
Ready for some close-quarters chaos? Season Three brings two small new maps to the Multiplayer rotation: Mayhem and Sphere.
Mayhem (Launch): This 1950s movie set is built for fast-paced combat. Move quickly and take center stage in this small-scale replica of a bustling metropolis featuring multiple destructible elements throughout. Get ready for your close-up and plenty of lights, cameras, and action!
Sphere (In-Season): A hidden weapons lab is found beneath the façade of a coal mine. This small-sized map is brimming with secrets, featuring dual layers that use plenty of interior space to facilitate fast-paced close-quarters-combat opportunities.
New Equipment — Trophy System: Designed as a prototypical version of a modern portable defense tool, the Trophy System will be a new Field Upgrade in Vanguard Multiplayer this season. It neutralizes Frag Grenades, Sticky Bombs, and No. 69 Stun Grenades thrown in proximity to the Trophy System. Unlike previous seasons, the Trophy System will be available for immediate use for all Vanguard players, with no Battle Pass progress required.
Plus, the next season of Ranked Play brings two new Weapon Blueprints and two new camos for use on all weapons. There are also Charms, Emblems, and even more rewards for playing Ranked Play, so get back on the ladder and restart your climb to the top, as all players’ Skill Ratings and Skill Divisions reset for a fresh start.
Zombies Update — What’s Coming After Classified Arms
As with previous seasons of Vanguard, Zombies players can expect to equip the newest Battle Pass weapons in their Zombies Loadout, as well as complete 20 new Zombies Season Challenges featuring unique Calling Card and XP bonus rewards.
You can also earn the KG M40 and Whitley weapons from Season Two via new Weapon Unlock Challenges in Zombies, available right after the Season Three update. Note: these weapons can also be earned via Multiplayer challenges.
Season Three Deploys April 27
Season Three of Vanguard and Warzone launches on Xbox on April 27. Expect all this and more, including new Store Bundles, Season Three Challenges, and new limited-time events.
Rise on every front.
Call of Duty®: Vanguard – Ultimate Edition
Activision Publishing Inc.
$99.99
$69.99
The Call of Duty®: Vanguard Ultimate Edition includes the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game.
The Ultimate Edition – loaded with bonus content for the ultimate fan.
Includes:
– Cross Gen Bundle of Call of Duty®: Vanguard game
— Includes Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game
– Task Force One Pack
— 3 Operator Skins
— 3 Weapon Blueprints with Tracer Rounds
– 1 season Battle Pass + 20 Tier Skips*
– 10 hours of 2XP (5 hours of 2XP and 5 hours of weapons 2XP)
– Digital Exclusive – Frontline Weapons Pack
Rise on every front: Dogfight over the Pacific, airdrop over France, defend Stalingrad with a sniper’s precision and blast through advancing forces in North Africa. The Call of Duty® franchise returns with Call of Duty®: Vanguard, developed by Sledgehammer Games, where players will be immersed in visceral WWII combat on an unprecedented global scale.
Call of Duty®: Vanguard includes a deeply engaging single player Campaign, a massive launch day Multiplayer offering featuring over 20 maps including 16 built for core Multiplayer and an exciting new Zombies experience developed by Treyarch.
Call of Duty®: Vanguard also ushers in a new and unparalleled Call of Duty®: Warzone™ integration, and features cross-progression and cross-generation play, in addition to a massive calendar of free post-launch content that adds in new Multiplayer maps, modes, seasonal events community celebrations and more.
*Battle Pass and Tier Skips will be accessible in Call of Duty®: Vanguard once the Season 1 Battle Pass is made available in game.
For more information, please visit www.callofduty.com.
© 2021-2022 Activision Publishing, Inc. ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY, CALL OF DUTY VANGUARD, CALL OF DUTY WARZONE, and WARZONE are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners. This product contains software technology licensed from Id Software (‘Id Technology’). Id Technology © 1999-2022 Id Software, Inc.
Call of Duty®: Warzone™
Activision Publishing Inc.
Welcome to Warzone™ Pacific, the massive free-to-play combat arena which now features the brand-new map, Caldera.
Drop Into Paradise
Join forces with your friends and jump into a tropical battleground with up to 150 players.
Loot For Rewards
Discover supply boxes and complete contracts to build your arsenal and gain a tactical advantage.
Battle Across Three Epic Modes
Experience aerial combat in ‘Vanguard Royale,’ tap into the largest arsenal in standard ‘Battle Royale’ or play ‘Plunder’ in a race to earn the most Cash in the match.
An Xbox Live Gold subscription is not required to play the Warzone™ game mode. All other online modes still require Xbox Live Gold.
For more information, please visit www.callofduty.com.
© 2021 Activision Publishing, Inc. ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY, CALL OF DUTY WARZONE and WARZONE are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.
GAMES
This Week’s Deals with Gold and Spotlight Sale
GAMES
The German Empire Marches to Italy in a Free Expansion Today
We have a new expansion for our WW1 Italian Front FPS game Isonzo releasing today! It’s the first part of our Caporetto season of free expansions, and features a whole new faction with the arrival of the German Empire on the Italian Front, and brings a new map for the Offensive game mode. There will be two more releases in the Caporetto season, each one with a new map to ultimately link together into a three map Caporetto Offensive.
The German faction comes with more than ten new weapons, as well as historically accurate uniforms and equipment. This first Caporetto map sees you taking part in the early stages of the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, with German troops assaulting Italian positions on the road to Caporetto. Historically it was a military disaster for Italy which brought down the government – but maybe things can go differently with you on the battlefield?
The update sees new uniforms and equipment from the German Empire for Isonzo’s six classes: Rifleman, Assault, Engineer, Officer, Marksman and Mountaineer. For those who aren’t familiar with the game, each class has different weapon, gear and perk options that allow you to specialize your play style within the overall focus of the class. For instance, Marksmen are always sharpshooters, but a lot depends on your loadout. You could be a long-range sniper and observer identifying and eliminating high value targets with a scoped rifle, or you could equip body armor to take and hold a front line position with deadly accurate mid-range fire. Every class has choices to make in this regard.
In Isonzo’s signature Offensive game mode, one side must attack and break through multiple defensive lines. Thick layers of barbed wire, trenches, and whatever extra defenses the enemy engineers put together will stand in the way of a successful attack. Objectives can be taking and holding key points, or planting dynamite to sabotage enemy supply stashes or heavy artillery guns.
The new Caporetto map – the first of three in the season – is a huge battlefield based on the strategically important Monte Kolovrat. There are five defensive lines, where each line has two objectives for the attackers before they can advance further. While in the historical Battle of Caporetto both German and Austro-Hungarian forces were involved, in Isonzo we’ve chosen to focus on the German contribution, so the map recreates the stunning German advance from the town of Tolmein all the way to Kolovrat Ridge. It’s a damp, overcast day when the attack begins, and the attackers must first cut their way through lines of wire to break into a devastated town – including capturing a church defended by multiple heavy machine gun positions. Fortunately, in Isonzo there are many tactical options available to deal with such strong points: artillery barrages, smokescreens, snipers, rifle grenades, even poison gas. From there, it becomes a literal uphill battle for the German attackers as they begin to climb towards the peak of Kolovrat Ridge. They’ll need to sabotage bunkers and capture command posts while navigating rocky trenches and steep forested slopes. At the penultimate fourth defensive line there is a huge siege mortar to sabotage and a cluster of houses providing cover to the Italian defenders – then it’s one last climb to reach the final objective: Hill 1114. If the Germans can take it, the Italians will finally be the ones fighting uphill as their reinforcements stream in to try and counterattack.
Of course, things are no walk in the park for the defenders either – although it’s easier to maneuver when going downhill, and it’s much simpler for officers to deploy flares to call in support, the extensive trench lines can become a liability once the Germans get a foothold, providing cover as they advance. Some of the Italian defensive positions can be exposed against the sky, making it easy for German marksmen to pick off targets. Italian engineers should make good use of their construction abilities to put down additional sandbags and lay out extra wire to prevent German assault troops sneaking through the trees to flank trenches with their grenades or light machine guns.
As we mentioned before, historically the Battle of Caporetto was a disaster for the Italians. Appalling leadership led to poorly motivated and unprepared troops falling apart in the face of the combined Austro-Hungarian and German armies using cutting edge infiltration tactics. The Italian soldiers were not allowed to retreat until too late, and in the end hundreds of thousands would surrender. After Caporetto the top Italian general was fired and replaced by someone far more competent, who managed to turn the war around for the Italians. In Isonzo, it’s a more fair fight where both sides have an equal chance of winning, if they can use all the tactical options available better than their opponents.
The release will also bring other improvements to the game, including a prestige mode and higher level cap. Additionally, for those who want more options for visual customization of their character, the Royal Units DLC is releasing alongside the free expansion and contains uniforms from the German Kingdoms of Bavaria and Württemberg. Though part of the German Empire, these states had their own distinctive uniforms which we’ve carefully recreated with the same accuracy and attention to detail as with the other uniforms in the game.
The Battle for Caporetto Begins…
Isonzo is available right now on the Microsoft Store for Xbox, and the free Caporetto expansion is out today! Plenty of time to master the art of mountain warfare before the German Empire joins the action on the Italian Front. Follow us to get the latest development news as we add the finishing touches!
We’ll see you in the trenches!
Isonzo
BlackMill Games
$29.99
World War One expands to the mountains of the Italian Front – beautiful but deadly in equal measure. Inspired by the two year struggle for control of the Isonzo river valley and the Alps during World War One, Isonzo elevates the WW1 Games Series, figuratively and literally.
From the makers of Verdun and Tannenberg…
Take part in historical offensives from the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo to the Strafexpedition. Reflecting the course of the actual battles, as the attackers advance the fighting will shift through vastly different landscapes within a single offensive: from hillside fortresses to mountain trenches and fierce urban combat on city streets. Everything is recreated based on research and field trips, from sound effects and uniforms down to the houses, vineyards and trenches you’ll be fighting over.
The new Offensive game mode puts you right in the middle of key historical offensives on the Italian Front. Lead the charge across stunning Italian landscapes as you choose your path to victory – cut paths through barbed wire, flank your enemies by following mountain trails, or man a mortar to blast a way through. Shape a dynamic battlefield by laying sandbags and wire, placing ammo crates, deploying trench periscopes or sniper shields, and more.
Call in support with a unique historically accurate flare system: flare guns can mark targets for artillery or biplane flybys, or different colored flares can be used to guide your team. Once the big guns have softened up the enemy, finish the job at close quarters with an Arditi dagger or mountaineer’s pickaxe. Man heavy machine guns, mortars and even mountain guns for more direct fire support.
Choose from six classes based on historical combat roles and build your loadout from a selection of weapons, equipment and perks linked to that class, giving flexibility and variety while staying grounded in what real soldiers might have carried. You’ll be operating wire cutters, bandaging yourself and wounded teammates, and blowing the whistle to start an assault. One shot can kill and even lighter injuries can lead to quickly bleeding out.
Being an effective soldier in Isonzo is not just about being a good marksman. Mastering the terrain is also key – the mountain can be a friend or foe. Learn how to navigate well to maintain cover and surprise your enemies or support your allies.
Finally… watch out for the dreaded poison gas. You’ve never experienced WW1 action quite like this!
Isonzo key features include:
• MOUNTAIN WARFARE: Assaulting mountain fortifications, battling through ruined towns, and fording rivers are just a few of the challenges you’ll face as you fight your way through numerous enemy positions
• TACTICAL MULTIPLAYER FPS: Choose your role and loadout carefully to survive this high altitude combat – play a sniper to pick off the enemy engineers before they can cut your wire, use rifle grenades to clear enemy machine guns, and much more
• WORLD WAR ONE GAMEPLAY: Historical Offensive game mode based on real battles and focused on the unique challenges of Alpine warfare. Fight with 30+ WW1 weapons, poisonous gas attacks, and intense artillery barrages
• BUILD FOR VICTORY: Place your own wire, sandbags, trench periscopes, and more! Whether you’re digging in or on the attack, shaping the battlefield to your advantage will be key to victory
• FACES OF WAR: Make every class your own by picking from a variety of historically class-appropriate uniforms, accessories and headgear. As a finishing touch, you can even pick your mustache from several famous period-accurate styles!
• AUTHENTIC WW1 ATMOSPHERE: Accuracy in everything from maps and weaponry to music and the uniforms – fight for the Kingdom of Italy, the German Empire or the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy
MORE GAMES IN THE AUTHENTIC WW1 GAME SERIES
Immerse yourself in more WW1 action with our other standalone titles Tannenberg and Verdun. Experience trench warfare on the Western Front in Verdun, or maneuver for control of key sectors in Tannenberg on the Eastern Front. These authentic WW1 shooters let players choose from a range of squads from across the war, as they fight for control of the ever-changing frontlines.
GAMES
Transport Fever 2: Console Edition is Bringing the Full Transport Tycoon Experience to Xbox
Today, we proudly share a sneak peek into the development of Transport Fever 2: Console Edition, and how we managed to bring the full transport tycoon experience to Xbox.
Transport Fever is a very popular and highly rated transportation tycoon franchise on PC. Its latest entry, Transport Fever 2, delivers a level of size and detail never before seen in the genre. The goal of the game is to build a successful transportation company by constructing railroads, streets, water and air lines. Starting in the 19th century, the player connects towns and industries to transport both passengers and cargo. In addition to a customizable free game mode, there is also a fully-fledged campaign mode with challenging missions set in real-world transportation history.
After the huge success of Transport Fever 2 on PC, it was only logical to bring the experience to consoles as well. Not only that, but no efforts were spared to give the console community the full experience that made the game great on PC. In order to achieve this, the engineers at Urban Games had to pull some rabbits out of their engineers’ hats.
Always providing the freshest layer of paint
One of the most cherished features of Transport Fever 2 are its highly detailed vehicles. The game comes with more than 200 lovingly hand-modeled trains, ships, and airplanes, each sporting multiple 4k textures and normal maps.
On PC, it is easily affordable to have all the models and textures in memory whenever needed, as a typical rig has 16 GB of RAM and a GPU with a dedicated extra memory. Consoles, however, are built differently. They have a unified architecture with an overall smaller amount but ultra-fast memory. The key to make it work on consoles is texture streaming, which allows to clear textures of models that are not in view anymore. Moreover, this technology is used in Transport Fever 2 to constantly load textures at the highest affordable resolution to present the stars of the show, like the classic Class A 3/5 steam locomotive, in their best coat of paint at all times.
Keeping the ground like a console pro
A trademark of Transport Fever 2 are its huge maps. During development of the game, it was always paramount to provide a real sense of scale. The engine should allow for maps where a high-speed train, such as the famous Japanese Shinkansen, can really make use of its superior speed. So, a lot of effort was put into designing a highly effective terrain rendering pipeline that can handle maps of more than 120 sq miles of size with a detail resolution of almost 1 yard. Central to this is a dynamic terrain tessellation algorithm on the CPU that, while costing a bit of extra memory, makes sure the engine can render these maps on a wide variety of PCs.
Now, enter the world of consoles with their incredibly well-designed GPUs and graphic APIs. Here, the hardware can be leveraged very well for terrain rendering by making use of the GPU tessellation feature. This feature generates the render mesh for the terrain fully on the graphics card, saving valuable processing time for the complex economy and city growth simulations. While generating more triangles, the hardware approach still costs less memory overall due to its efficiency. So vast maps can be viewed from a bird’s view high up in the sky and seamlessly zoomed in down to individual rocks on a riverbank.
Inspiring the inner architect
Finally, let’s talk about constructions, a central and defining part of the Transport Fever 2 experience. Constructions are large assemblies that consist of dozens of assets, street segments, ground decals and terrain modifications. Think of structures like airports, train stations, docks, highway crossings, and many more. Anything that is needed to build a vast transportation empire.
For a smooth construction experience, it is key that the player really feels that he has precise control over the building placement. On PC, constructions are typically built using the mouse. As the average PC user is very well adjusted to this method of input, it is sufficiently performant to calculate the entire construction each frame and place it under the cursor. However, on consoles, the best way of building constructions is to have them always kept in the center of the screen and move the camera along the map for placement. And moving the camera needs to be as smooth as silk.
So, for the console release of Transport Fever 2, the construction preview pipeline was overhauled. All dynamic calculations are now performed in the background while a static preview of the structure and its underlying ground plan are shown. Not only are constructions now completely stable in terms of FPS, but they also give feedback to the player on what environment features the construction would tear down when built.
Let’s get tycooning on console
We are very excited to bring the Transport Fever franchise to consoles for the first time ever with the release of Transport Fever 2: Console Edition on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One in February 2023, and we hope you will enjoy it as much as we did developing it.
Indian Government Warns Facebook, YouTube About Deepfakes, Misinformation Violations
Whiteboard Friday Recap 2023: AI Edition
Instagram Will Now Enable All Users to Download Publicly Posted Reels Clips
Making the Most of Electronic Resumes (Pro Tips and Tricks)
OpenAI: The return of the king
Google Merchant Center Automatically Creating Promotions
Google Discusses Fixing 404 Errors From Inbound Links
3 Questions About AI in Content: What? So What? Now What?
No Estimate To Share For Completion Of Google November Core & Reviews Updates
Google On Traffic Metric & SEO
-
FACEBOOK6 days agoIndian Government Warns Facebook, YouTube About Deepfakes, Misinformation Violations
-
MARKETING5 days agoWhiteboard Friday Recap 2023: AI Edition
-
SOCIAL7 days agoInstagram Will Now Enable All Users to Download Publicly Posted Reels Clips
-
MARKETING6 days agoMaking the Most of Electronic Resumes (Pro Tips and Tricks)
-
MARKETING7 days agoOpenAI: The return of the king
-
SEARCHENGINES4 days agoGoogle Merchant Center Automatically Creating Promotions
-
SEO3 days agoGoogle Discusses Fixing 404 Errors From Inbound Links
-
MARKETING4 days ago3 Questions About AI in Content: What? So What? Now What?
You must be logged in to post a comment Login