Gamespot

After the face behind one of Twitch's most popular emotes, PogChamp, used social media to incite further civil unrest during the riots at the US Capitol on Wednesday, the emote has been removed from the streaming service.

Twitch took to Twitter to announce the decision, stating "We've made the decision to remove the PogChamp emote following statements from the face of the emote encouraging further violence after what took place in the Capitol today."

After splashing out $95 million to buy a new corporate headquarters, Fortnite studio Epic Games is spending again, this time to acquire a gaming technology company that promises to work with Epic to--among other things--improve loading times in games.

Epic has purchased the gaming software company RAD Game Tools. You may not know the company by name, but you are likely familiar with its work in some way, shape, or form. That's because the tools that RAD makes have been used in close to 25,000 games. The company claims at least one of its products is used in "almost every video game made today."

Pokemon Go is spotlighting another region of the Pokemon world next week. The game's Sinnoh Celebration event kicks off at 10 AM local time on January 12, and it will feature lots of Gen 4 Pokemon to catch, challenges to complete, and more.

Throughout the Sinnoh Celebration, the following Pokemon will be appearing in the wild more frequently than usual:

• Turtwig
• Chimchar
• Piplup
• Bidoof
• Cranidos
• Buizel
• Drifloon
• Glameow
• Purugly
• Hippopotas
• Skorupi
• Snover

Shiny Buizel will also be appearing during the event, while the following Pokemon will be hatching from 5 km eggs:

Though some players have reported the challenge required to unlock it being bugged, the powerful Streetsweeper shotgun is available to unlock via Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The shotgun seems like it's going to decimate enemy players, and the challenge to unlock it is actually pretty easy to unlock.

How to unlock the Streetsweeper

Unlocking the Streetsweeper shotgun requires getting a three-kill streak using Black Ops Cold War shotguns at least 15 times. This means that any shotgun in Black Ops Cold War is eligible for the challenge, along with those same shotguns within Warzone. You can only do this once per match, however, so getting repeated kill-streaks in the same match won't add to your total. Warzone matches are also eligible if you don't play Black Ops Cold War.

You can also get a special version of the weapon called the Surge Protector as part of the Shock Value pack for 1,200 Call of Duty Points. If you go this route, that variant will be available instantly without having to complete the challenge. The pack also includes a legendary charm, legendary emblem, and epic sticker.

Every Fortnite battle pass has added a number of new skins that come alongside an emote, back bling, glider, and other accessories that are unlocked as players level up. These additions could be used with any skin, but Season 4 introduced special versions of these items that were tied to specific characters. Players worry that these new cosmetic restrictions will continue into future seasons, limiting their ability to customize as they see fit.

This change was introduced with various Marvel characters. Thor's hammer, Mjölnir could only be used by characters that were worthy like Captain America and Thor. Dr. Doom's glider and emote, alongside a number of other items, were also tied to specific heroes.

"I get Marvel, but Mave’s glider is stupid," said Redditor ExtraTime101. This change was believed to only apply to Marvel characters, but now it's continued into Season 5. Mave, one of the hunters you can unlock, features a glider specifically made for her. It can't be used on other characters.

The newest update for Valve's incredibly popular free-to-play shooter CS:GO has arrived, and one of the most notable changes pertains to a feature that has been removed.

The patch notes state that, when a player disconnects or is kicked from a classic competitive or wingman mode match, a bot will no longer replace them. Should the entire team vanish, a single bot will be spawned in for the other team and remain idle.

Valve provided no rationale for why it made this decision to remove bots. The appeal of bots was that, should a teammate get disconnected for any reason, the squad would still have a fighting chance instead of being forced to play one team member down.

Steam developer Valve has begun rolling out additional support for Xbox and PlayStation controllers, giving you more customization options for input mapping.

The biggest change makes the Xbox One Elite Series 2 more useful when played with games via Steam, with the rear paddle buttons now available for mapping. Valve has also added support for the new revision of Xbox controllers that include the share button, which can now also be mapped for any function in-game.

Both controllers will also benefit from added support for rumble triggers, which can now be used on supported titles. Additionally, four Xbox controllers can now be recognized at once for local multiplayer titles.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is getting another big update soon, as developer Treyarch has now teased a "mid-season update" that will land on January 14.

This update to Season 1 adds a huge new Fireteam map called Sanatorium, along with a new 6v6 multiplayer mode called Dropkick. Treyarch did not provide any specifics on what this mode is or how it plays, however.

For Zombies, the mid-season update will introduce a Cranked mode that resets the timer every time you kill a zombie. The Onslaught mode in Zombies, meanwhile, introduces the Raid map. PlayStation fans are getting some exclusive content, too, in the form of new Dark Aether intel.

Computers come in all shapes and sizes these days, but they all have the exact same problem in their design: None of them resemble a Nintendo Switch. Chinese hardware manufacturer Lenovo has tackled this dilemma head-on with its latest prototype, the LaVie Mini.

Revealed at CES 2021, Lenovo's concept machine imagines what one of its laptops would look like if it were pocket-sized and on the verge of receiving a legal takedown notice from Nintendo.

Like the Switch, the LaVie Mini features detachable controllers on the side, a docking station that can display to TV, and can also function as a portable device. Its theoretical specs are also impressive, as the 8" WUXGA touch panel display has a 1920 x 1200 resolution, internal storage is a 256GB SSD, and the computer is powered by an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 mobile processor. With Intel Iris Xe graphics on the chipset and 16GB of RAM, it'd be more than capable of playing any of your favorite indie games and also running a few work apps.

Returnal, the latest PS5-exclusive from arcade-shooter veterans Housemarque, is launching in a few months, and the latest developer diary from the studio shows off more elements of its rogue-lite.

Housemarque is known for its fast and frenetic 2D shooters, namely Resogun, Nex Machina, and Super Stardust HD. The transition to 3D is a big leap for the studio, but it's evident from the footage that the DNA of its previous work is there. There are enemies firing off waves of projectiles, blisteringly fast movement, and bright neon effects everywhere. Check it out below.

In addition to the new footage, Returnal game director Harry Krueger explained how the addition of a new dimension is letting the team at Housemarque experiment with something entirely new to them.

Grinding Gear Games' Path of Exile has remained a popular free-to-play action-RPG since its debut in 2013. While the current game is still getting regular updates, the developers also have plans for a sequel, which was announced in 2019. Unfortunately, 2020 turned out to be a chaotic year for many, and developer Grinding Gear Games had to adapt to sudden changes in plans.

Along with our chat about the Echoes of the Atlas expansion, managing director of Path of Exile Chris Wilson gave us an update on Path of Exile 2. The sequel is Path of Exile's next leap forward as a free-to-play action-RPG, adding in a new story, world to explore, and classes to level up and outfit with loot. While development is still progressing, Wilson spoke candidly about how the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the progress, and it may be a bit longer before we see the sequel's release.

"[Development] has been a bit slower than I would have liked, it was the biggest casualty of COVID--and I hate to blame COVID because it seems like everyone is doing that--but it really has had an impact on us," said Wilson. "That's mostly because we're still committed to getting our normal expansions out, we're not going to allow problems to affect our current maintenance of the game, so that means we've had to pull developers from PoE2 from the last year back onto this game. That's been fine, and there's plenty of work there, but that does mean it's been a bit rocky with the sequel's work being done behind the scenes. It also doesn't help that with New Zealand's borders being closed, we can't hire other developers from overseas. But to cut a long story short, things have been slow."

Although Monster Hunter has been around for nearly two decades now, it wasn't until 2018's Monster Hunter World that the series truly exploded in popularity. Thanks in no small part to its myriad quality-of-life refinements, World opened the traditionally dense franchise up to a new audience and became Capcom's best-selling video game to date, and the series' next installment, Monster Hunter Rise for Switch, builds upon World's strides with a greater emphasis on exploration and mobility.

We had a chance to play an early access version of Monster Hunter Rise's forthcoming demo, which offered a small taste of the game's different weapons and features. The demo consisted of two training missions, designed to acclimate players to the game's basic controls and new mechanics, as well as two proper hunts: a "beginner" quest to slay the new Great Izuchi, and an "intermediate" quest revolving around the returning Mizutsune.

The backdrop for both hunts was the Shrine Ruins, an expansive bamboo forest dotted with cliffs, stone shrines, and waterways. The locale lent itself particularly well to showing off the Wirebug, Rise's most notable new gameplay wrinkle. Like Monster Hunter World's Slinger, this creature functions as a sort of grappling hook, allowing you to swing through the air and wrangle monsters. Despite these cursory similarities, however, the Wirebug is functionally quite different from the Slinger. For one, rather than latching directly onto a monster, you'll be using the Wirebug primarily to slingshot yourself toward or away from it, making the tool more about mobility.

Fortnite players are asking Epic Games to adjust the custom superhero skin after they've given some players an unfair advantage. The skin, with colors that can be changed to be all black, is nearly invisible when shrouded by in-game shadows.

"They should just give it a white outline or something simple like that," said Redditor Bruvneh. The skin originally required players to display an emoji on both the front and back, but Epic Games added an option to display nothing, giving players the ability to hide in plain sight.

This isn't the first time this has happened in Fortnite. A skin that looked like the green army men in Toy Story had a similar effect where it couldn't be seen in some areas of the map. Epic adjusted that skin after players complained of a "pay-to-win" advantage that it provided.

The livestream platform Twitch is experiencing some issues, according to Twitch Support. Various features aren't loading on the site, including streams. While the company has identified the issue, it's still investigating it to see what's preventing the site from loading.

As a result of streams not loading due to these server-side issues on Twitch, many broadcasts are moving over to YouTube, bumping to next week, or sitting on waiting screens while Twitch resolves the problem. The official Twitter accounts for Gears of War, Paladins, and Smite have all announced their plans in response to the current Twitch hiccups.

Mortal Kombat 11 is gruesome in all the ways we've come to expect from NetherRealms' organ-shredding fighter, but what if you could witness all that viscera from a more intimate perspective? Well, stay away from me you weirdo; and also, you can!

Modder Ermaccer (via DSOgaming) has released the Custom Cameras mod on Github. It includes both first-person and third-person modes, the latter of which places the camera behind your back similar to what you might find in a third-person action game. The first-person camera is really the draw, though, letting you see your opponent straight-on.

A video shows the mod in action, and it seems to run pretty smoothly on the whole. Be sure not to use this in any competitive modes, though, because as a mod it could be determined to give you an unfair advantage.

CES 2021 is days away, but Acer has gotten ahead of the new tech announcements with one of its own. The company unveiled its May lineup of gaming monitors, including one that boasts HDMI 2.1, the technology that the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S both use to output 4K and 120Hz. The Acer Nitro XV282K KV will be the company's first HDMI 2.1 gaming monitor, and among the first to release in general, as the technology is just now being adopted by monitors.

The HDMI 2.1-capable Acer Nitro gaming monitor features a 4K resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, and $900 price tag. While the PS5 and Xbox Series X may be more widely used with this monitor, users who are able to snag an RTX 3000 series graphics card will also be able to make use of the HDMI 2.1 tech. And while HDMI 2.1 offers its own VRR (variable refresh rate) technology, it will also support FreeSync Premium for PC gaming with DisplayPort and HDMI 2.0 cables--though your features will be limited with the latter. Potential buyers can also expect HDR600.

Acer Nitro XV282K KV gaming monitor

$900

Call of Duty: Warzone players have been using a companion app to cheat the battle royale's competitive matchmaking system. The creators of Warzone Companion, an app that helps players avoid cheaters by displaying K/D ratios before a game, was forced to adjust the stats it displays in pre-game lobbies. Some players were using the stats to back out of lobbies that had players with high K/D ratios.

"Cheaters are one of the worst problems of Warzone and online gaming overall," Dmitry Shymko, the CEO of COD Stats, the company that runs the app, told Eurogamer. "We wanted to help the community and highlight those players that are having extremely high metrics in their previous matches and at the same time give an instrument for players to see that they just might die to the lucky shot."

2020 saw large streamers take the relatively obscure hidden role game Among Us and turn it into one of the biggest games of the year, breaking records in the process. Now it seems that Rust is the latest multiplayer game to receive a massive boost from the Twitch audience.

As one of the earliest hits in the free-for-all survival genre, Rust has always enjoyed a sizable audience, despite first emerging in Early Access in 2013. However, over the past two weeks, streamers with large audiences like Shroud, Pokimane, Myth, and many others have all joined the same server provided by Offline TV. This led to over a million Twitch viewers for the game on January 3, as well as a new peak of 135,000 concurrent players on Steam.

Rust received Twitch drops shortly after this resurgence. They became available on January 7.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' 10.2 patch is now live on the game's test servers. Several changes are coming with it, including in-game TVs streaming esports events, a new car, a reputation system, and an update to ranked mode.

First up for the patch is the new PGI.S (PUBG Global Invitational.S). This event pits teams from around the globe against each other in weekly tournaments. Each week these teams will fight it out for placements, and will earn prize money as the overall tournament continues. If you want to watch these skirmishes play out, you can do so in-game as PUBG will now have 10 displays set up around the Miramar and Erangel maps which will livestream the tournaments while they're happening. There will also be an event called PGI.S Pick'em where players can earn PGI.S gear for correctly predicting tournament winners. If you don't want to see the livestreams in your game, you can opt to turn the TVs off in your settings menu.

Now for what this patch is bringing to the regular game. A new vehicle is entering the arena, the Coupe RB. It's a vintage two-seater sports car that can hit a top speed of 150km/h. Be warned, it only spawns on the Miramar, Sanhok, and Erangel maps.

Activision has rolled out the newest playlist updates for Call of Duty: Warzone and Black Ops Cold War, adding new multiplayer modes and, in Warzone's case, removing a few as well. Additionally, wider patches for both games are now available.

Starting January 7, playlist updates for both titles will go live on Thursday. You can find what's new in each title, as well as what's been removed from Warzone, in the list below. Read on for the full patch notes.

Call Of Duty: Warzone January 7 Playlist Update

Added:

In a move that is seen as the biggest removal ever in a single day, Apple has deleted some 39,000 mobile games from its Chinese app store, according to Reuters.

The mass removal comes as Apple initiated a year-end crackdown on unlicensed games by Chinese authorities. As a result, including the 39,000 pulled games, the company took down a total of 46,000 apps from the Chinese iOS app store on New Year's Eve. As cited by Reuters, the research firm Qimai said only 74 of the top 1,500 paid games made it through the purge.

Publishers had until December 31, extended from end-of-July initially, to submit a government-issued license number allowing the use of in-app purchases in their games. The titles affected include the mobile-exclusive Assassin's Creed Identity and NBA 2K20, according to Qimai. It's unclear which others games have been removed from the app store.

Over the years, Grinding Gear Games' Path of Exile has steadily improved its core hack-and-slash gameplay as it incorporates significant new features that spice up the flow of the game. While the developers are still working on its sequel, Path of Exile 2, the original game isn't showing any signs of slowing down. As revealed during a livestream, the latest expansion, Echoes of the Atlas, will upgrade the action-RPG's extensive endgame, and will launch on PC January 15, and for Xbox One and PS4 on January 20.

Just before Grinding Gear Games' reveal stream, we had a chance to speak with managing director Chris Wilson about Echoes of the Atlas, how it will change the endgame and incorporate gameplay from previous expansions. Along with his thoughts on the state of the game, he also explained how work on Path of Exile 2 has improved the original for the better.

The Echoes of the Atlas expansion features a whole suite of changes coming to the game, which includes rebalances, new endgame content centered on the Atlas of Worlds world map, and new pinnacle boss fights that can open up pathways for more powerful loot. While previous expansions like Harvest, Delve, and Heist was available to all players, the core content from the Echoes of the Atlas expansion is catered more towards high-level players with decked out character builds. The expansion will also add in new passive skill trees that can be unlocked from completing high-end challenges from the new NPC known as the Maven, who appears after clearing bosses on the world map.

Facepunch Studios is trying to capitalize on the recent wave of new players that has flocked to its popular game Rust by quickly providing updates and new features. The studio announced that it had enabled Twitch drops, increased its server capacity, added streamer-specific rewards, and more, all via its monthly update.

"We're expecting to see huge player counts over the coming days, server capacity is something we're keeping a close eye on and proactively bringing more servers online," the studio wrote in a post on its official site. "We're already boosting the official server count by 13 servers preemptively today."

Rust cracked the 1 million viewer threshold in 2021 thanks to a number of big-time streamers picking the game up. Facepunch enabled Twitch drops for those who are watching streamers play the survival game. A couch, industrial door, and "hobo barrel" can be unlocked for watching eight hours of Rust content on Twitch.

Following a riot at the US Capitol building, Twitch has followed the lead of other notable social media companies and disabled Trump's account. A statement from Twitch cites the president's "incendiary rhetoric" as the cause.

"In light of yesterday's shocking attack on the Capitol, we have disabled President Trump's Twitch channel," the statement reads. "Given the current extraordinary circumstances and the President's incendiary rhetoric, we believe this is a necessary step to protect our community and prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence."

Twitch is the latest in a string of tech companies that have taken action against President Trump's accounts, following riots that he helped to instigate. Twitter temporarily disabled his account for 12 hours, while Facebook banned him from both the social media platform and Snapchat for at least the next two weeks, "until the peaceful transition of power is complete." Shopify also removed branded Trump stores.

Fortnite saw the return of X-4 Stormwing planes with the Operation Snowdown holiday event. Despite that now being over, some of these planes are still available on the map, but a change compared to their original launch has rendered them far less attractive

They no longer have infinite fuel. They, like cars and boats, have to get filled up at a gas station (or with a gas canister) after a short time behind the wheel. One boost in the plane eats nearly a quarter tank of gas.

"I wouldn’t even mind the fueling so much if it was actually possible to land the damn plane at a gas station," said Redditor NickEggPlant in a thread about the planes. "The plane was actually fuel efficient instead of burning through a full tank in 30 seconds."

A slate of Final Fantasy games is still coming to Game Pass, though it may take longer than you were expecting. Though announced for the service in 2019, Microsoft has promised the remaining games will arrive "in 2021 and beyond."

At X019, Microsoft touted ten Final Fantasy games coming to the Game Pass subscription service, but so far only four have materialized. That leaves Final Fantasy X and X-2, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, and the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy still to come. Microsoft assured those are still coming in a statement to True Achievements.

"As we announced at X019, we are excited to bring the Final Fantasy franchise to gamers with Xbox Game Pass," a spokesperson said. "We have done so throughout 2020 and will continue to do so in 2021 and beyond. We look forward to announcing specific launch dates for more Final Fantasy titles in the future."

Hitman 3 is just a few days away from launching but developer IO Interactive has shared only a handful of snippets of the game running on PlayStation VR. That changed today, with a look at all three games in the trilogy from the perspective of Agent 47.

Available on PS4 and PS5 (albeit with the PS4 version of the game), all three entries in IO's rebooted Hitman franchise will be playable with PSVR. The levels, objectives, and targets all remain the same, but this time you're able to deliver your precise or ridiculous death dealing from a first-person perspective. Or just sip on an espresso and read the newspaper in Sapienza; it's your sandbox to explore.

To get it working in VR, the game has been significantly changed graphically, which is evident in the footage above, but the alternative way to play should provide you with even more incentive to revisit levels from across the series. VR functionality is limited to PSVR for now, even though Hitman 3 is launching on PC too.

Fall Guys is getting a handful of skins as part of a crossover with Doom next week. The demonic skins will be available in the game show battle royale for a limited time starting on January 12.

Mediatonic released a special trailer featuring a level that looks like it's straight out of Doom Eternal. It showcased several new skins, including various monsters from the Doom games. The studio was supposed to showcase one skin during a stream with Bethesda on January 5 but had to reschedule.

Mediatonic has been teasing this crossover since early December. The studio posted a silhouette of an adorable little bean dressed in Doom Guy's armor. Fans of both games quickly identified the skin and now we've got a look at some of the other skins coming with the crossover.

Capcom shared a wealth of new details on Monster Hunter Rise during today's Digital Event, including some information on the game's upcoming demo. The publisher had previously teased that the demo would be released sometime this month, and it confirmed during the stream that the demo will go live on the Switch eShop later today, January 7.

The demo will give fans their first taste of Rise's two big new gameplay mechanics: the Palamute and the Wirebug. The former is a new type of canine companion that players can ride on and fight alongside during a hunt, while the latter functions like a grappling hook and lets players swing around the environment.

In terms of content, the demo will feature four missions: two training exercises that introduce you to the Wirebug and the new Wyvern Riding mechanic, and two proper hunts. The "beginner" hunt tasks you with slaying a Great Izuchi, one of the new monsters being introduced in Rise, while the "intermediate" hunt has you battling the returning Mizutsune.

In October 2020, EA Sports announced that it would not release NBA Live 20 and instead focus on making a new basketball game for next-generation consoles.

Despite that announcement, it seems EA may still have something in store for NBA Live 20. The ESRB recently rated NBA Live 20 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, but not next-gen consoles.

It's curious that NBA Live 20, which was thought to be canceled, would receive a rating from the ESRB if EA did not plan to release it in some form. We have reached out to EA in an attempt to get more details on the situation. It is also possible this is some kind of clerical error on the ESRB's behalf. Keep checking back for more.

Video streaming site Twitch has removed the PogChamp emote after its face, Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez, made controversial comments about the violence at the US Capitol on Wednesday.

"We've made the decision to remove the PogChamp emote following statements from the face of the emote encouraging further violence after what took place in the Capitol today," Twitch said in its statement on January 6.

"We want the sentiment and use of Pog to live on--its meaning is much bigger than the person depicted or image itself--and it has a big place in Twitch culture. However, we can't in good conscience continue to enable use of the image," the statement continued.

Arcade1Up has typically used CES as its announcement venue for upcoming at-home arcade cabinets--and as of 2020, pinball machines--and that isn't changing now that CES 2021 has gone virtual. GameSpot can exclusively reveal that Arcade1Up will be showing off its newest machines on January 11.

What Arcade1Up has not revealed yet is what those machines will be. Last year, it brought a trio of pinball machines to CES, including Marvel, Star Wars, and Attack From Mars variants, along with systems like NBA Jam. The majority of the systems shown at the event are now available, though the pinball machines were bumped from the end of 2020 into early 2021.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated, the HD re-release of the 2003 cult favorite, was a big sales success for publisher THQ Nordic.

CEO Klemens Kreuzer told GI.biz that the game has already passed 1 million unit sales, and he believes the figure could reach 2 million.

"It was a fantastic success for us, with sales of more than one million units--and I wouldn't be surprised if it reached two million one day," he said. "I think there's a market for those kind of games. The community was so full of joy."

Former Electronic Arts executive Peter Moore has come out to defend FIFA's Ultimate Team mode, saying he does not believe its loot boxes constitute a form of gambling as lawsuits have claimed.

Speaking to GI.biz, the executive said he believes the way that FIFA Ultimate Team's loot boxes employ a "surprise and delight" tactic is a far cry from actual gambling.

"You're always getting something," he said. "It's not like you opened it and there's no players in there. This is a personal view, but the concept of surprise and delight vs gambling ... on a continuum, they're a long way from each other. You buy or grind your way up to getting a gold pack, you open it up, and you're either happy or you think it's a crappy pack. I don't see that as gambling, per se--but again, this is my personal view as an outsider right now."

CD Projekt Red took to Twitter to refute a post created by an alleged anonymous Cyberpunk 2077 developer. The post in question received a lot of attention on Cyberpunk 2077's Reddit page, but was originally sourced from GameSpot's sister site GameFAQs.

The post contained a lot of rumors, from update schedules to descriptions of what content was cut. It alleged that Cyberpunk 2077 would possibly receive a "No Man's Sky style comeback," and that the redone Cyberpunk 2077 would be finished in June 2021 with a "good chunk of code...getting scrapped and rewritten from scratch." June's update supposedly would sort out all the bugs found on all versions, and would bring back a lot of cut content.

Elaborating on the cut content, the writer told players that if they "see that you guys are asking for s*** to be put back into the game, we might actually make the game we intended back in 2018." The writer alleged that there was a huge underground area that looked like "Malkavian/Nosferatu path on Vampire the Masquerade," and stated that apartments with "Closed (locked) indications used to be lootable."

EA is teasing new Sims content on Twitter. The studio will reveal the first 2021 content pack for the hit simulation game on January 12.

EA posted a GIF of a Sims character surrounded by ghosts on Twitter. Players believe that the pack will include more content for ghosts, or Sims who have died.

This is a "stuff pack," or a downloadable pack that adds more objects and fashion items. There aren't any gameplay features in stuff packs as they are "smaller packs," according to EA. Expansion packs add more substance to the game with new systems and gameplay elements. Previous stuff packs include items based around laundry day, tiny living, and a first pet.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection has brought back one of the Halo franchise's most famous modes: Grifball. Available now in The Master Chief Collection, Grifball is one of the zaniest and most enjoyable/frustrating modes across all of Halo.

For those just catching up, Grifball is a non-traditional team-based multiplayer mode where players are equipped with a gravity hammer and energy sword and must try to plant and detonate a bomb. Things rarely go to plan, and the mode often leads to some white-knuckle action and excitement.

Developer 343 often rotates multiplayer modes in Halo: MCC to keep things fresh and to avoid having too many playlists online at the same time to benefit the overall experience. But with Grifball being such an iconic mode that is super fun and lighthearted, many are wondering why it's not a permanent fixture in the game.

Hitman 3 is bringing a new shortcut feature to the third-person stealth shooter. "Persistent shortcuts" will reward players for exploring the sequel's various maps by unlocking permanent shortcuts that give players new ways to approach their assassinations.

These shortcuts are only available by searching for hidden secrets in levels--players will find things like unlockable ladders that'll open up new pathways they'll be able to use in future playthroughs. Each shortcut can only be unlocked from one side, so it'll take some investigative work to find out how to access them.

Game Informer showcased one of these shortcuts from the Dubai level of Hitman 3 in a short video.

While Arkane Lyon is busy working on the PC and PlayStation 5 title Deathloop, Dishonored co-creator Harvey Smith has his hands on a separate unannounced project at Arkane Austin.

Smith said in an interview with the Spanish site Vandal that, after moving back to Austin, Texas following the conclusion of Dishonored 2's development at Lyon, he started working on something else. Though he didn't name the project, Smith confirmed he's not involved with Deathloop and instead collaborating with developers that worked on both Dishonored and Prey.

"At the end of Dishonored 2 I went back to Austin," Smith told Vandal. "I'm not on Deathloop, I'm on another [project], working with those who made Dishonored and Prey."

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has changed how conventions operate--or don't--and this certainly applies to CES 2021. The event won't be held in-person this year, but there will still be plenty of virtual presentations and announcements beginning Monday, January 11. The biggest names in technology will share news on upcoming products and services, including gaming brands. Here is everything you need to know about CES 2021, including the dates, key presentations, and expected announcements.

When is CES 2021?

CES 2021 will take place online from January 11 through January 14, and events are scheduled throughout each of these days. It kicks off with a keynote presentation from Verizon CEO and chairman Hans Vestberg on January 11 at 3:30 PM PT / 6:30 PM ET.

You can see a full list of when each event kicks off on the official CES website. Keep in mind that some of the scheduled events during these CES 2021 dates are actually replays of previously-streamed presentations. This is the case for every single event on January 14.