Akemann will avoid spending time in jail. Peter T. Akemann, co-founder of Call of Duty developer Treyarch, has pleaded guilty to piloting the drone that collided with a Canadian Super Scooper firefighting aeroplane during last month's devastating and, in some places, ongoing Los Angeles wildfires. The reckless act, which grounded the valuable aircraft for repairs at the height of the crisis, resulted in a serious-sounding FBI investigation of Akemann (thanks, Game Developer). Currently CEO of The Entertainment Workshop (and previously running Skydance Interactive), the dev avoids a probable ye ..read more

"I'll be back". In exhaustive detail, Activision has outlined the many changes, additions, and gameplay revisions players can expect alongside Season 2 of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone, launching on 28th January. Confusingly, we have a launch trailer for you a whole week early. In broad strokes, Season 2 will introduce three new maps, two returning maps, Valentine's Day game modes, the Slipstream perk and the War Machine scorestreak to multiplayer. Zombies is getting a new adventure in the form of The Tomb, as well as new enemies and upgrades. Warzone is getting a gameplay tuning, QoL ..read more

Season 2 will bring "the ability to disable cross-play for console players". We aren't sure why this wasn't already the case, but Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone players will soon be able to disable cross-play with PC in the restricted Ranked Play mode, which Activision hopes will "improve the gameplay experience." This news follows the firm's claim that it just banned a casual 136,000 cheaters from the competitive playlist, which only launched in November. The option to exclude PC players from the equation arrives with the advent of Call of Duty's imminent Season 2 of service content, s ..read more

Black Ops Cold War cost $700 million to make. Sony has a contract to keep Call of Duty on PS5 (and, presumably, PS6) for the next ten years, following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. But aside from the fact Xbox is gradually transitioning into a third-party publisher, there’s another big reason why the first-person shooter franchise is likely to remain on PlayStation – its games cost an arm and a leg to make. Read the full article on pushsquare.com ..read more

Premium game treated like its free-to-play. The skin situation in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has reached some kind of boiling point, with players fed up with the high price Activision is asking, as well as the way microtransactions are being handled. The Squid Game event pass itself contains a paid premium track, a money-making endeavour that is proving controversial. The Squid Game premium bundle (above) costs 2800 CP, or around $24 (thanks, IGN). It includes three operator skins and various other adornments, but the operators themselves are restricted to the Crimson One team, meaning only one ..read more

Puublisher is "hopeful that local authorities will reconsider". Out next week, and almost certain to ruffle some feathers, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has not been approved for release in Kuwait. Publisher Activision is refunding all preorders and refrained from sharing the specific reasoning, although it doesn't take a professor of modern history to understand why. An Activision spokesperson provided IGN with the following statement: "Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has not been approved for release in Kuwait. At this time, the title will not be available for release in the region. As a result, all p ..read more

"The game will not end unless the world changes". You know something has truly entered the mainstream when it arrives as a limited-time Call of Duty event. Such is the case with Squid Game, the Korean smash-hit on Netflix released in 2021. With Season 2 now streaming, it was only a matter of time before the survival dystopian thriller would come to Black Ops 6. From 3rd January, Warzone and BO6 players can look forward to new operator skins, weapon blueprints, limited-time game modes, and more. We got a trailer showing it all in action, and while we couldn't find definitive confirmation, it ap ..read more

How many fingers should Santa have? A six-fingered image of zombie Father Christmas appears to be the last straw for some Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 fans, who claim this is the telltale sign of low-effort generative AI. At the same time, Activision defenders insist it references the sixth entry in the subseries. The authenticity of Santa's horrible teeth and moustache has also been subjected to some close scrutiny. Duly noted by Eurogamer, zombie Santa isn't the only culprit. A gloved hand holding some Gobblegum (below) has also raised eyebrows, earning Activision the accusation of employing "A ..read more

Diablo 4 to be enhanced too. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has appeared in an official Sony list of PS5 Pro launch games, confirming Treyarch is working on enhancements for the upgraded console despite now being owned by Microsoft. It's not known just yet what those technical updates will be, but Diablo 4 also appears on the list, so it seems the Xbox console maker is open to its teams improving the console versions of its games. This means the PS5 Pro will have the best console version of Call of Duty Black Ops 6. The FPS already runs at an incredibly smooth 60 frames-per-second with impressive v ..read more

Eyes on target. If you've been on the fence about buying Black Ops 6, you may be interested in knowing that the game's going free to play all next week. The popular shooter launched for PS5 and PS4 back in October, and was met with very positive reviews from critics. The fan reception has been a bit up and down since then — as it always is when it comes to Call of Duty — but Activision went on record saying that it's the "biggest Call of Duty ever". Read the full article on pushsquare.com ..read more