CoD: Warzone Gets Radar Jammer Nerf For Fortune’s Keep And Rebirth Island

Season 4 of Call of Duty: Warzone is in full swing, and players now get to choose between three maps to play. Rebirth Island recently returned to join Caldera and the new Fortune’s Keep map; however, players have been frustrated with the Radar Jammer field upgrade on Warzone’s smaller maps. Thankfully, Raven Software has implemented a change to help.

With the smaller map sizes of Rebirth Island and Fortune’s Keep, players have been feeling powerless at the hands of the game’s Radar Jammer, as the equipment’s radius could block large portions of the map. An enemy’s jammer not only blocks out the minimap, but it also prevents killstreaks from being used in the area.

Players should hopefully find the jammers to be less of a nuisance now after a small change on July 13. Raven Software tweeted that an update has implemented a nerf to the field upgrade to reduce the radius of Radar Jammers by 20% on both Fortune’s Keep and Rebirth Island.

This change to Radar Jammers comes as the developer continues to tweak the Warzone experience, especially with working to make improvements to the Fortune’s Keep map. Most recently, there was an update made to increase the number of Buy Stations available on Fortune’s Keep from 10 to 13 stations, and a higher player count is currently being tested in the Fortune’s Keep Extreme mode.

For those looking ahead to the upcoming mid-season update, here is everything we know about Season 4 Reloaded for Warzone and Vanguard.

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Nintendo Recognizes Same-Sex Relationships In Spite Of Japan’s Laws

Nintendo has updated its corporate social responsibility guidelines to confirm it provides same-sex couples the benefits that opposite-sex couples receive

It should be noted that Japan currently does not allow same-sex couples to marry in the country, which makes the move from Nintendo an important one. As spotted by Go Nintendo, the gaming company has released its latest CSR report, covering the topics of consumers, supply chain, employees, and environment.

It’s the employees section that is most notable, as Nintendo publicly acknowledges that it formally recognizes same-sex relationships within the company.

“We introduced the Partnership System in March 2021 as one initiative based on this philosophy,” reads part of the employees section. “Although same-sex marriages are not currently recognized under Japanese law, this system ensures employees who are in a domestic partnership with a same-sex partner have the same benefits as employees in an opposite-sex marriage.

“We have also established that a common-law marriage between couples will be observed in the same way as a legal marriage.”

This section also notes that the company’s internal regulations regarding harassment have been revised to “clearly prohibit discriminatory comments based on sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as disclosing someone’s privately held sexual orientation against their will.”

Last month, as reported by Time, a court in Osaka ruled that the freedom of marriage in the country’s constitution only covered male-female unions, meaning the ban on same-sex marriage is constitutional. Transgender people in Japan are also required to be sterilized due to the country’s laws, which makes Nintendo’s stance on being against harassment of anyone’s gender identity also important.

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Bayonetta 3 Features A “Naive Angel Mode” That Censors Risque Content

Bayonetta 3 finally has a release date, and according to developer Platinum Games, the title will have a mode that reduces the game’s more risque content.

Nintendo has seemingly decided to simply announce its first party titles through individual trailers rather than a full Direct, with Bayonetta’s release date following on from yesterday’s new Kirby reveal. And Platinum Games has put out a tweet following the release date news showing off the new “Naive Angel Mode” (translations via Twitter).

As demonstrated in the tweet, while the mode is off Bayonetta will be fully nude (with more sensitive areas covered up by her magic hair), where while the mode is on she’ll simply be wearing her full outfit.

The mode doesn’t just affect Bayonetta, as one pretty scantily clad, butterfly demon featured in the trailer also gets a bit more clothing to help make things a bit less risque. Platinum Games noted that this mode will hopefully make it easier playing the game in the living room “without creating an awkward atmosphere.”

安心してください
脱げてますよ😎👍

🍑🍑🍑

より多くの方にお楽しみ頂くために、 #ベヨネッタ3 では画期的な「ナイーブエンジェルモード」を搭載しました。

このモードを「ON」にすることで、お茶の間でも気まずい雰囲気にならずに遊べる…かも知れません❗️　#BAYONETTA3 pic.twitter.com/SSmCBsV0Bo

— プラチナゲームズ公式アカウント (@platinumgames_j) July 13, 2022

Bayonetta 3, now set to release October 28, looks to be shaking things up a lot, with the Bayonetta we know and love teaming up with other versions of herself, seemingly from other universes. And the game is introducing a new playable character, Viola, a sword-wielding witch in training.

A special Trinity Masquerade Edition of the game is also in the works, which comes with an artbook and three special game sleeves. The first game is also finally getting a physical release on September 30.

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Bayonetta 3 Release Date Is Late October, New Trailer Released, Special Edition Revealed

Bayonetta 3 will be released on October 28, Nintendo announced today. A new trailer has also premiered, and you can check it out below. Additionally, a Trinity Masquerade Edition has been announced.

In Bayonetta 3, the Umbra Witch teams up “familiar faces,” including Viola and other Bayonettas to put an end to Homunculi’s terror. Players have a new ability at their disposal: Demon Masquerade.

“You’ll make use of Bayonetta’s wicked weapons and powerful new Demon Masquerade ability to blast, stomp, and slam enemies with exciting over-the-top combos and demonic powers,” reads a line from the game’s description.

Viola is a playable character in Bayonetta 3. She wields a sword and has a little cat companion named Cheshire. You can catch a glimpse of Viola in the trailer above.

Some of the locations players will visit in Bayonetta 3 include Tokyo and China. Like the previous two games, players will attempt to chain together combos, and some of Bayonetta’s other attacks include summoning demons like Gomorrah, Malphas, and Phantasmaraneae during fights.

Gallery

As for the special edition, the Trinity Masquerade Edition comes with a 200-page art book and three reversible game cases. More details will be announced later.

This special Trinity Masquerade Edition of #Bayonetta3 also dances its way onto #NintendoSwitch on 28/10! It features a 200-page artbook, as well as three special game sleeves which combine to form a panoramic artwork. pic.twitter.com/uDpTMOkHJP

— Nintendo of Europe (@NintendoEurope) July 13, 2022

The original Bayonetta is coming to the Nintendo Switch as a standalone, physical release on September 30 for $30.

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Cardi B Celebrates Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 In Newest Music Video

Cardi B released her newest music video on Tuesday for the shot “Hot Shit,” and fans quickly spotted a reference to Call of Duty. As you can see at 0:50 in the video, Cardi B is wearing a Call of Duty Ghost necklace to help promote this October’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

Activision later confirmed that the necklace was designed by Omar The Jeweler. It was designed specially for Cardi B and is the only one like it that exists in the world, Activision said. You can see images of the necklace in the gallery below, as shared by Activision. And here’s the music video:

Other promotional partners for Modern Warfare II so far in 2022 have included Steve Aoki, Pete Davidson, and Snoop Dogg, among others.

Gallery

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II launches in October for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. Recently, new modes and perks for the game leaked. It’s not the only new Call of Duty game coming this year, as 2022 will also see the release of Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, but Activision has yet to fully reveal it.

And in a big break from tradition, Modern Warfare II is not expected to be 2022’s best-selling game in the US. Instead, Bandai Namco’s Elden Ring is projected to top the stateside charts.

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Creative Assembly’s Hyenas Launches Its First Alpha This Week

Creative Assembly’s sci-fi, team-based shooter Hyenas will be playable by the public for the first time this week, when its first alpha opens on July 14. The initial alpha will be open to players on PC in the US, with testing opportunities for other regions and platforms coming in future phases.

The shooter takes place in a futuristic, spacebound setting, with players forming teams of space pirates known as Hyenas to go after giant spaceship shopping malls known as Plunderships.

While Hyenas shares a lot in common with battle royale games like Apex Legends, the studio swears Hyenas is not a battle royale–instead, the PVPVE experience sees teams fighting over Merch, pop culture-themed loot guarded by NPC threats and coveted by other teams of Hyenas.

In the initial alpha, players will be able to check out characters Doctor Hotfix, The Pro, and Commander Wright, along with other Hyenas who are still yet to be announced. Interested players can sign up for the alpha at Hyenas’ official website.

The studio making Hyenas is Creative Assembly, most known for developing Alien Isolation and Halo Wars 2. Hyenas will be released on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC, with the release window currently set for some time in 2023.

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Why The Wii U Never Supported Dual GamePads

Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé has touched on a big Wii U question in a recent interview–could the console have supported multiple GamePad connections? The answer is technically yes, but there are many reasons why this feature was never implemented.

Speaking to MinnMax, as picked up by Eurogamer, Fils-Aimé explained that there was never a good reason for consumers to buy and connect a second GamePad, so it was never implemented from Nintendo’s side–despite Nintendo publicly acknowledging the possibility for consoles to connect multiple GamePads.

“With the Wii U, there was a full development plan for all of the interesting interactions and all of the interesting capabilities that the system could do,” he explained. “So in that case, technically could multiple gamepads communicate with a Wii U? Answer was ‘yes’, but the install base never got large enough that that type of implementation made sense.”

“Most importantly, the company didn’t create a game where you needed another GamePad in order to have a great experience,” he elaborated. “The lifespan of the Wii U ended up being so short that it just never came to pass.”

Many of the multiplayer games on the Wii U ended up leaning into the idea that players would only have one GamePad, often implementing asymmetrical play–but it would have been interesting to see what a game requiring a second GamePad may have looked like. But without that game, Fils-Aimé concludes, it just wasn’t worth it for Nintendo to offer the option.

“From Nintendo’s perspective, there needs to be a game that drives that implementation, that enables the player to see why you would need a second GamePad,” he explained.

For all the Wii U’s disappointments, it was an important step for Nintendo towards developing the Nintendo Switch. The hybrid console celebrated its fifth anniversary this year and is still going strong, with the potential to break the PS2’s record for home console sales.

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Elden Ring: Where To Get The Visage Shield

If you’re looking for some truly unique and intriguing shield options in Elden Ring, look no further than the Visage Shield. While its extremely high equip rate makes it best for builds with very high Endurance, it’s worth every point. Here’s where you can round it up to try out for yourself.

The Visage Shield explained

The Visage Shield is a greatshield that requires 44 Strength to wield. It blocks 100% of physical damage and has unusually high resistances to most forms of magic, too, making it an incredible choice–provided you can cope with its massive equip weight. You can also hold down its skill Tongues of Fire, which sprays fire jets in front of you while you walk forward that may deter enemies from pushing in on you.

The Visage Shield’s item description reads:

Tricksome bronze shield depicting the face of a Fire Giant. Several tongues leap from its open mouth. The dreadful visage and burning flames are designed to remind one of the horror of facing a Fire Giant. In other words, this shield has an instructional function.

Where to find the Visage Shield

The Visage Shield can be found within the Caelem Ruins in Caelid. On the eastern side of the ruins is a set of stairs leading down to the cellar, but getting the shield won’t be as easy as opening a chest. Instead, you’ll have to face off against a duo of Mad Pumpkin Head bosses in a very small and enclosed space.

Caelem Ruins

When you encounter these two hulking bosses, bring a durable Spirit Summon with you for distraction, then focus your attacks on the hammer-wielding foe due to his slower attacks. He’ll go down quickly–provided you remember not to attack his invulnerable head–and you can turn your attacks to the other boss. When they’re dead, open the nearby door and check the chest inside for the Visage Shield.

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Bayonetta 3 Gets A Rating, Grants Hope That It Will Release This Year

The pre-order pages for Bayonetta 3 have been updated with an ESRB rating, potentially solidifying Platinum Games’ past assurances that the game will release in 2022.

As spotted by Resetera user vestan, the official Nintendo store page for Bayonetta 3 has been updated with a rating. The poster also took a look on the Way-Back Machine and found that the page had displayed a “rating pending” designation before recently. The listing has yet to appear on the ESRB official website. However, the Nintendo store page details that the game has been rated M for violence, blood and gore, partial nudity, and strong language.

After an initial announcement teaser in 2018, no further information about Bayonetta 3 was released for more than three years. Despite repeated assurances from developer Platinum that development was going well, fans got nervous as the game continued to be a no-show across industry events. A Nintendo Direct in 2021 showed off gameplay footage and promised a 2022 release for the character action game. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic, along with a host of other factors, caused and is still causing delays of major titles. It was easy to worry that Bayonetta 3 will fall to the same fate.

A rating is not a release date, but it is a sign that some version of the game is out there. Combined with Nintendo’s own assurances of a 2022 release date, it is entirely within the realm of possibility that Bayonetta 3 will appear right on time.

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Company Of Heroes 3 Gets November Release Date And North African Operation

Relic Entertainment and Sega announced today that Company of Heroes 3 will release on Steam on November 17, 2022. An free-to-play, Pre-Alpha mission will preview a new campaign and the game’s new features.

Alongside the release date, a second single-player campaign was revealed: the North African Operation. In contrast to the previously announced Italian Dynamic Campaign, the North African Operation is a more traditional RTS campaign, offering up a set of missions rather than branching paths. With it also comes new mechanics, like tank riding, side armor, and enemy vehicle recovery, alongside new units, like the Guastatori combat engineers and the L6/40 Light Tank. More broadly, the Company of Heroes 3 will launch with both the aforementioned single-player modes, multiplayer, and four playable factions.

If you are interested in trying it out, you can sign up for developer Relic’s community feedback program on the Company of Heroes website. This Mission Alpha will put players in control of the Deutsches Afrikakorps as they try to defend their positions from the British. If you’ve already signed up for any of the previous Pre-Alpha builds, Mission Alpha will automatically appear in your Steam library. It will be available to play on Steam from July 12 to July 19.

Company of Heroes is a storied RTS franchise, with the original title launching way back in 2006. Since then it has received a sequel, numerous expansions, and even a mobile port.

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