The DNA bomb has detonated at Popov Power Plant, releasing powerful mutagens in the Season 4 Reloaded mid-season update for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone. Deploy across new mutated modes, maps, Unstable Rifts, events, and more, and get your hands on new weapons and Aftermarket Parts to help face the challenges ahead.
Season 4 Reloaded of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone launches on June 26 on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
Multiplayer Overview
Three Core 6v6 Maps
Incline (New Core Map): Battle over frozen ground on this small-sized research outpost deep in the Caucasus Mountains of Urzikstan. Fire down from the cable car in the central transit station and prepare for long-ranged encounters along the northern road.
Bitvela (New Variant): Experience Multiplayer like never before in this pixel-art inspired version of Favela appearing in the Bit Party Playlist modifier. Pixelated cars, buildings and trees, jagged clouds, and pixel smoke particles perfectly mimic the original map, without a curved edge in sight. When competing in Bit Party, your Operator’s head will grow after every elimination, making you a bigger target while also granting objective bonuses.
Das Gross (New Variant): A vile infection has enveloped downtown New York City, sending bloody tendrils over the ceiling and walls of Das Haus. An alien planet looms overhead in the night sky. Try to keep your wits about you in this map variant arriving with a new Vortex Playlist.
New Mutation Mode, Havoc, and more
Mutation: Take turns playing as humans and mutants in a moshpit of game modes. Mutants can choose from a variety of classes including the Mutated Leaper, Radioactive Beast, Contaminated Slugger, and Camouflaged Sneaker.
Havoc: In this twist on Team Deathmatch inspired by classic arena shooters, random modifiers activate throughout the match, dramatically altering gameplay in a mode where no two matches are the same!
Plus, perfect your aim in the Headshots Only mode, wield powerful weapon blueprints in Blueprint Gunfight, and flex your parkour skills with the limited release of G3T_H1GH3R.
Zombies Overview
Last week, we asked you to shine a light on Alan Wake 2 and the recent release of its photo mode using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s haunting highlights:
arashikages shares Alan standing at the center of black swirling handprint motif splattered on a hotel’s walls
Yuric83 shares Saga moving through a distorted section of forest
jdbolzan shares diner waitress Rose in control during the Night Springs DLC, holding a rifle in front of a banner in town
CamisGui shares the sunlight fading as FBI agent Alex Casey takes in a crime scene
hazelgreen_vp shares a portrait of FBI agent Alex Casey sipping on coffee
denisjurison shares a black and white portrait of Alan staring out the lake house window
Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?
THEME: Summer
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on June 26, 2024
Next week, we’re celebrating the warmth and sun of summer. Share moments from your favorite game filled with summer vibes using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.
Rise, Tarnished. Your time has come again.
After a long wait, Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree launches tomorrow on PS5 and PS4. With a massive new world to explore, weapons to be found, skills to master and, of course, bosses to face, FromSoftware’s latest expansion could seem like a daunting undertaking. But fear not, Tarnished, as our tips – spoiler-free and covering the first few hours – will help set you on the right path. To begin, a crucial step: what’s required to enter the Shadow Realm.
Entering the Shadow Realm
If you’ve ever played a FromSoftware expansion, you’ll know that gaining access is never a straightforward process. Shadow of the Erdtree continues this tradition. In order to enter the Shadow Realm, you’ll need to complete a few tasks in the base game.
On your journey through the Lands Between, you’ll firstly need to have defeated Starscourge Radahn, a notoriously challenging boss. To face him, traverse Redmane Castle in Caelid during the Radahn Festival and take the elevator down to fight him on the beach.
You’ll also have to have bested Mohg, Lord of Blood. He can be found at Mohgwyn Palace, reached by following Varré’s questline or using a Waygate hidden in the Consecrated Snowfield. Mohg is known for being a particularly tough fight, but other Tarnished have been setting up summon spots next to the battle to help shepherd fighters through and open the DLC.
At the back of the Mohg boss arena you’ll discover Miquella’s cocoon. If both foes have been conquered (and expansion downloaded) a new interaction option will appear when you stand by the cocoon. Accept, and you’ll enter the Shadow Realm and begin your journey into the Shadow of the Erdtree.
Navigating the world
If you put dozens of hours into Elden Ring’s base game, it’s easy to forget that you originally had to collect map fragments in order to build up a picture of the world around you. In Shadow of the Erdtree, this feature returns, meaning when you first enter the Shadow Realm, your map will be blacked out, with one exception; a single bright spot somewhere in the darkness.
One of your first objectives should be to navigate to this point, where you will find a map fragment beneath a tall obelisk. Collecting this will reveal the region’s map, but be warned — Shadow of the Erdtree’s world design uses verticality on a scale unlike almost anything seen in the Lands Between, meaning there is still so much more to be discovered – both above and below – what the map can show you.
This world is dense with secrets, so be sure to explore every nook and cranny. You’ll no doubt be rewarded with weapons, spells and items for your effort.
Making friends and enemies
The starting area of the Shadow Realm is full of friendly (and not-so-friendly) characters who can help fill you in on the story, point you in the direction of hidden areas, send you on missions or challenge you to a duel.
You’ll come meet warriors, tribesmen, worshipers and devotees among others within your first hour or so of gameplay. Speaking to them, bringing them items they require, or taking the correct act
Rusted Moss is an action-exploration game developed by solo individuals (not part of any development studios) that revolves around its unusual method of traversal: an absurdly bouncy grappling hook. We won’t lie: the physics-based grappling will bring you both great pain and great joy. But the triumph once you master it — you’ll practically fly through the game while blasting enemies with your arsenal of guns when Rusted Moss comes to PS5 on June 20.
In this melancholic world, humans prepare for an invasion by capricious fairies from another realm. You play as Fern, a changeling determined to put an end to the war. As you uncover the story behind the world, you’ll eventually choose a side: fae or human?
With the PS5 release, we are also adding in seven to eight hours of additional content — approximately as much content as the base game itself. This includes new zones (ranging from moderate to very difficult), a boss rush, and an additional playable character.
A unique grappling hook
During a show-and-tell with indie developers, Emlise (the main dev) showed a grappling hook that worked like a bungee rope or rubber band. She performed incredible, crazy maneuvers that made traditional platformer abilities like double jumps and dashes seem so limited. I had never seen anything like that — grappling hooks in most games either just pull you to the anchor point or swing the player in static arcs.
It looked so polished that I was sure she would develop it into a full game. But she had no plans to. She saw it as a programming exercise to learn about verlet integration (a numerical equation used to calculate trajectories).
“Players would find it too difficult. It takes some time to get used to,” says Emlise.
Each of us then carried out our duty as friends and peer-pressured her into continuing development. My sister and I also joined her, forming our 3-person development team. It was strange because we had no intention of making a game together before that moment.
Rusted Moss was made to bring this mechanic to life, not for the sake of making a game or to go full-time on indie dev (my sister and I work day jobs outside the game industry).
I think its origin gave a purity to Rusted Moss’ foundation because there was no doubt as to what kind of game it could become. Everything would revolve around just one core mechanic — the grappling hook.
Please break our game
Synergy with the grappling hook became the focus of Rusted Moss’ game design. The abilities you gain all enhance the physics-based traversal — whether it’s a charge jump that lets you fall further, or the kickback from your guns.
This maximizes the opportunity for player expression and creativity. Progression is not based on a simple lock-and-key solution, which is a design pattern often found in other action exploration games.<
When we developed the PlayStation Portal remote player, our goal was to bring high-quality console gaming experiences to the palm of your hands, even when you aren’t in front of the TV. We continue to evolve the experience on PS Portal, and we are happy to announce that the latest system software update for our first dedicated remote play device will start rolling out tomorrow – adding a few new user enhancements.
Sign-in screen support for select public Wi-Fi networks
While we recommend PS Portal to be used in your home as you have control over the quality of the Wi-Fi, it can also be used outside of the home in places where a fast and stable Wi-Fi connection is available – and we’ve seen many players take advantage of this.
With this new update, PS Portal will also connect to a range of public Wi-Fi networks* that may require additional validation steps beyond entering the network password. This includes Wi-Fi networks with sign-in screens that can often be found in hotels, cafes, and airports.
To connect to these public Wi-Fi networks, PS Portal will display a QR code for you to scan with your smartphone or tablet. Once scanned, you’ll be able to use your mobile device’s web browser to complete the additional validation steps on behalf of your PS Portal. As a reminder, PS Portal requires a Wi-Fi connection with at least 5Mbps, and for a better play experience a high-speed connection of at least 15Mbps is recommended.
New visual feedback for touchpad areas
The emulated touch pad on PS Portal’s vibrant 8-inch screen is getting an update. We’ve added new visual feedback to the touch pad areas. The new effects will be displayed when using the touch pad areas during remote play.
Display battery level in percentage
You now have the option to display the remaining battery level percentage on the status bar at the top right corner of your screen. To use this feature, open the quick menu, go to [Settings] > [System] > [Battery], and then turn on [Show Battery Percentage].
Since the initial launch of PS Portal last November, we’ve been overwhelmed with the enthusiastic reactions and the variety of ways our community has been enjoying gaming on PS Portal. While Remote Play for PlayStation has been available since the PlayStation 3 generation, we’ve built upon this technology with PS Portal to elevate the Remote Play experience to another level by integrating key features of the DualSense wireless controller with a vibrant 8-inch LCD screen.
We’re excited to see that PS Portal has introduced many more gamers to the Remote Play feature on PS5, with over 60 percent of PS Portal owners using the feature for the first time**. What’s more, PS Portal is making it easier for many players to access their games, with the average PS Portal owner’s engagement on PS5 going up within the first 8 weeks of using their PS Portal.
We’ve also seen a wide range of games proven to be popular on PS Portal, from single player adventures inc
With Still Wakes the Deep releasing on PS5 tomorrow, we wanted to highlight some of the inspirations for the environments of the upcoming first-person narrative horror. Early on we decided that Still Wakes the Deep would be set on an oil rig and the team wanted to play on different fears and phobias. One of the main fears is the ocean itself; another is being isolated.
One of the first levels I worked on from the ground up was a space inside the engineering section of the rig, with a lot of machinery inside these four echoey, metal walls.
I wanted to try and play with the fear of claustrophobia, which in hindsight was an odd thing, because it’s a fear that is very vivid for me due to my own personal experiences. In the end I found it quite useful and intriguing to use my own triggers to build an environment that might in turn trigger the same emotions within players.
I pulled from my core childhood memory of claustrophobia a lot while we were developing Still Wakes the Deep.
I remember being at an event with lots of kids outdoors and they put out this big wooden crate with lots of little wooden compartments for the kids to play and crawl through.
As I got halfway through, I remember the twists and turns becoming narrower and the angles becoming harder to navigate.
My heart was racing, and I started to hyperventilate. I still remember the feeling of the wood under my fingers, the sounds, the smells.
When our main character Caz enters the engineering sections of the oil rig, you immediately feel trapped. The halls are narrow, the ceiling is low, every surface is metal and there’s a lot of heat and moisture trapped in the air around you.
Since there are no windows, you lose that sense of where you are. Now imagine moving through this space, while you’re up to your knees in a mix of water, oil, rust, and dirt, and you realise there’s something else in there with you. All you want is to get back to the open top of the rig for a breath of fresh air, but the only way through is by entering even narrower spaces.
The audio team did the brilliant job of capturing these vivid nightmarish sounds of horror.
In trying to trigger certain emotions with dark eerie visuals and audio I started to imagine how terrible it must feel to have all that moisture in the air with oily, dirty water seeping into your overalls.
You have a constant mix of these engineering sections like hot pipes and machinery but then every time you come outside you have terrible cold weather, cold steel. I wouldn’t say it’s comforting but I think it will make for a thrilling story.
There lie the strengths of The Chinese Room. On one side, we have people that love storytelling, whether it’s through movies or writing, and on the other we have
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Hey y’all! We’ve got a full show for you all this week, starting with a recap of the teams’ hands-on experiences at Summer Game Fest. Plus, we got to sit down with Riot Games Production Director Arnar Gylfason to discuss Valorant coming to PS5 and the Limited Beta starting today.
Stuff We Talked About
- PlayStation Plus Game Catalog for June: Monster Hunter Rise, Football Manager 2024, Crusader Kings III, After Us and more
- Summer Game Fest recap:
- Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC | PS5
- Monster Hunter Wilds | PS5
- Neva | PS5
- Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero | PS5
- Assassin’s Creed Shadows | PS5
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard | PS5
- LEGO Horizon Adventures | PS5
- Tune in next week for all things Astro Bot
- Interview w/ Arnar Gylfason (starts at 30:37)
- Listener letter
The Cast
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