News:: 'Dishonored 2' has a good reason to play its New Game Plus mode

If, like me, you're already deep into the intricate world of Dishonored 2, be prepared to keep playing for a while. Bethesda just revealed that the title's first free update will include a "New Game Plus" mode, which will give you full access to the skills from its two heroes, Emily and Corvo. Up until now, each character could only use abilities within their specific skill trees. In a New Game Plus playthrough, which is unlocked after beating the game, you'll be able to use Emily's "Mesmerize" to stun an enemy and then follow it up with Corvo's ability to summon man-eating rats. You know, as one does in the Empire of the Isles.

Via: Gamesradar

Source: Bethesda

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News:: Play The Division for free this weekend on PC

Ubisoft is holding a free-weekend event for The Division. Actually, it starts tomorrow, and you can preload the game files now. The catch? You have to go through Uplay. Bet you saw that coming.

Once you're situated and ready to shoot and loot in snowy New York City, you'll be able to play the "entirety of the core game" from Thursday, December 15 at 10:00am Pacific to Sunday, December 18 at 1:00pm Pacific. That includes the recent overhaul update that won some players over.

Unsurprisingly, this free-play offer does not cover the season pass, so you won't be able to pop in to try the relatively new and generally well-liked Survival mode. But if your only experience with The Division is the beta, this could be a worthwhile chance to see how far it's come since then.

Any progress you make in-game with this extended trial will carry over to the full version. And on that note, the Standard and Gold editions of The Division will be half price on Uplay this weekend (though if you'd rather wait for another digital distributor, it's that time of year for winter sales).

Free Weekend on PC! Dec. 15th to 18th [The Division]

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News:: The first Stardew Valley console update is in the works

While Caitlin got along fairly well with Stardew Valley on consoles, it sounds like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions aren't without their issues, some of which will be fixed "in the next few weeks."

According to game creator Eric Barone, Chucklefish and Stickhead Games are looking to address:

• Game crashes when going to sleep around the 3rd day, if the system language is not English. (PS4)
• Game crashes in certain cases if the Exit To Title button was used (Xbox One)
• Occasional hitching/freezing in the Xbox One version
• GUI elements cut off on the edges of the screen on certain TV setups
• Control improvements

Until then, the publisher has a forum thread for known issues.

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News:: Uncharted 4's free Survival expansion is now available

Uncharted 4 has been updated with a huge, free expansion that came out earlier today. Called the Survival update, the patch adds a new cooperative mode as well as a plethora of options for those who play the competitive multiplayer mode. Uncharted 4 has had that competitive mode since day one, but the new Survival mode allows players to work together to fend off waves of enemies. 

The update takes up 3.8 gigabytes, so you may need to clear some space on your hard drive before starting the download. It includes two new maps, including one based on the crashed train that was a huge story point in Uncharted 2. There are also 5 new weapons based on older Uncharted games, and music from Uncharted 2 and 3 will play in menus and other places throughout the game. Additionally, there are 10 more levels to earn in competitive mode, and nearly a hundred new taunts, vanity items, and character skins to unlock. Players who complete 50 waves of the new Survival content can earn 12 new trophies as well.

The Survival mode sees the heroes teaming up to defend against hordes of enemies, including heavy troopers and skeletal pirates. Up to three players can work together, though all of the content can be played in solo mode as well. The trailer shows Nathan, Elena, and newcomer Sam working together, but later on we can see some of the series' villains joining in. Both Uncharted 2's top bad guy Lazerevic and Uncharted 3's Katherine Marlowe are shown taking up arms against the undead pirate hordes. 

While it's my belief that multiplayer comes a distant second to the story mode in Uncharted games, it's nice to see Naughty Dog giving out such a substantial freebie to their players. I remember the co-op missions in Uncharted 2 being quite good, with brand new voice work and motion capture, though I could never get a group together to finish all of them. With the multiplayer dominance of the PS4, I'm guessing that won't be as much of a problem these days.

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News:: New batch of My Nintendo discounts are all about Mario

I don't know why, but some days, Reggie Fils-Aimé quotes pop into my head.

"I'm all about these garden burgers," I think, with Reggie's voice -- but with that certain salesman inflection that he exudes so perfectly. You know what I'd be all about? The return of the Bigfoot Pizza. Reggie invented that, along with the Big New Yorker, while he was director of marketing at Pizza Hut. That's your Reggie fact of the day.

Oh uh, yeah, My Nintendo discounts. Um, there are some new ones, and as always, they're not interesting at all. I'm not all about them.

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News:: Dishonored 2's New Game Plus mode is better than expected

Prepped and ready to take on New Game Plus in Dishonored 2?

If so, you'll be able to play the mode as early as today on PC, where it's currently available in beta form. The finalized update is set for PC as well as PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on Monday, December 19.

More than just a chance to continue on the path you started in your first run, New Game Plus mode will let you use "each hero's full suite of abilities plus all the Bonecharm Traits and Runes collected from your previous playthrough that you can re-assign to choose the powers you want."

On top of that, if you played as Emily the first time through and want to switch to Corvo for your New Game Plus run, you'll be able to do exactly that (and vice versa).

Read more...

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News:: '1979 Revolution' lands on Android

1979 Revolution: Black Friday is a powerful adventure game about a photojournalist, Reza, who gets tangled up in the movement to overthrow the Shah of Iran around 1979. And now, the complete game is on Android. 1979 Revolution hit Google Play today for Android devices, following its launch on PC, Mac and iOS earlier this year.

Source: Google Play

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News:: Heroes of the Storm's Winter Veil event, Ragnaros, out today

A massive patch just dropped for Heroes of the Storm, fundamentally changing several characters, bringing in a new fan favorite (Ragnaros), and a 25% bonus XP event that also doubles as a way to get an extra free mount and profile picture. The great ranked experiment is also underway, where hero league ranked play only involves solo participants, and team league has been altered from a premade "5s" only affair to a combination of two, three, and five player parties (read: if you had four, the other would be a solo, which won't work). 

As I've talked about in the past, Ragnaros is a really fun hero with a killer heroic, and is bound to trip up a lot of folks near launch. It helps that he has almost no escape capabilities and is insanely fragile, so he ultimately feels balanced. We'll see where his winrates are roughly a week from now but for now I'm happy.

The Haunted Mines rework is a ton of fun, and honestly, it's just good to see it back in action. I love the concept of deciding whether or not to go skirmish in another map, as it leads to a lot of arena style brawls without the help of a healing well or towers to retreat to. In other news Artanis just got a higher skill ceiling with his Blade Dash swap being introduced into the game, and Diablo is once again a complete monster of a tank, with crazy peeling capabilities (possibly the best, now, if you take Hellgate at level 20).

I'm playing nearly every day, believe it or not, and all of these shakeups will only get me in further.

Heroes of the Storm Patch Notes [Battle.net]

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News:: Here is Doom II being played on a keyboard key display

Apparently there is a brand of keyboards that includes a tiny display in each individual key -- the Optimus Maximus is one of them. This allows you to program them to display whatever you'd like, so Doom had to be the obvious conclusion to that madness.

The display size for each key is around 48x48, so be prepared to guess exactly what is going on with each frame of this video. I've watched it a couple of times and, apart from this being a mod with different sound effects, I'm guessing the player is shooting at enemies from memory alone.

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News:: Shenmue III pre-orders open soon, game is entering 'full-scale production'

So far we've mostly seen people wax poetic about how good Shenmue III will be alongside of some concept art, but as of this week, Famitsu explains that development is heading into the "final stage, towards full-scale production." Creator Yu Suzuki notes that they'll have new footage to show off early next year, and that a December 2017 target is still in place.

In other news, as of tomorrow you'll be able to pre-order the game on PC, which, as Suzuki claims, they've received "a lot" of requests for. Having backed it myself I'm excited to see what this project will eventually become, but naturally, as with anything Kickstarter related, I have some doubts that it will live up to everything that was initially promised.

As long as we get a proper narrative conclusion though, it'll at least put that decades long story to bed.

Shenmue [Famitsu via Hachima Kikou]

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News:: It didn't take 10 years for the Final Fantasy XV porno to come out

I know I shouldn't be surprised by this, but I kind of am. The infamous porn studio Brazzers has released a Final Fantasy XV porn parody titled "Full Service Station" with a porn star clearly trying to emulate Cindy from the game. While I'm surprised they got the costume mostly correct, why was a blonde porn star not chosen to portray the character? Also, who the hell is that bald guy supposed to be? At least be somewhat related to the game!

The description from the official site is also pretty priceless. "Sean Lawless's car has broken down and [he] goes to see a mechanic in the middle of the desert. Nikki Benz comes out and inspects Mr. Lawless's car. Ms. Benz says how she'd hate to charge him for the damage but that she has to keep her business afloat. Sean figures Nikki's teasing him with her huge tits so that he's willing to pay any price she throws at him. But when a monstrous troll appears, Nikki fights off the creature. Busty Nikki Benz soon realizes she still has another monster to tame -- Sean's big cock, that is!"

The video even contains some horrible CGI-looking monster that has nothing to do with Final Fantasy or even gaming. It mostly looks like a reject from some zombie B-movie. I would have embedded the trailer to let you see, but the preview goes well beyond NSFW territory. Nikki Benz even utters, "Let's not forget about them balls, now," so you know this has to be hysterical.

And Now, The Inevitable Final Fantasy XV Porn Parody [Kotaku]

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News:: The difficulty of being positive

[LimoMaker's seen his fair share of cynicism in gaming but this past year has got to take the cake. I've always been of the mind that you love the damn games that you love, and to not let anyone change your mind, even if TheBlondeBass says otherwise (about Pokémon). Also, don't forget about this month's bloggers wanted prompt, the special little places where we play our games! ~Strider]

A Preamble

Most of you know me fairly well at this point. 

You know what I'm like, that more often than not I can come across as fairly blunt or at times rude.

For that, I apologize. My type of humor is best served in person, where the blockades of text do not restrict my ability to make people laugh because, at the end of the day, I feel like making people smile is something that I can be proud of. 

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News:: Will Bloodstained be the latest game to ditch Wii U?

With basically every indie/Kickstarter developer pulling a 180 on their Wii U plans, it stands to reason that Bloodstained would too -- though nothing has been officially announced yet. Some people want the team to just tell backers now, so they can plan accordingly, rather than several months before the due date. We have, however, gotten a recent update from IGA for the game that's still on track for 2018.

In addition to catching a cold and losing his voice, he also wants to explain the environmental changes for the game's level design. Firstly, they're making the foreground lighter and the background darker to help differentiate platforms. IGA also takes time to assuage concerns for the phrase "procedural generation," which they've used in the past.

IGA says it best in his own words: "Before, we worked on environments on a texture-by-texture basis, which meant that each area required the individual time and attention of skilled artists and designers. To use our team more wisely, our new process is based more on physics, and makes use of procedural generation. Naturally, you might be asking, what kind of procedural generation? How will it be used, and for what? To put it simply, we're using it to auto-generate environmental grime and destruction effects."

OK, so the layouts seem to be hand-picked, so we can rest easy. You can see a comparison video below that explains what he's talking about in further detail.

Development Update [Bloodstained]

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News:: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will have a comic for Free Comic Book Day

Having attended Free Comic Book Day for the last four years or so (mostly for the video game themed literature), I'm always stoked to pick up around one or two volumes. Usually it's Mega Man, but since that's defunct now (still sad over that), I've had to settle recently.

Well, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which will feature excerpts from the manga bundled into a special 32-page issue, isn't really settling. Free Comic Book Day will be held on May 6, 2017, and will feature around 50 different comics, including Rick & Morty.

For those who are unaware, this is a nationally recognized day in the US, to spur interest in comics and local comic shops. You can visit the site to find a participating location and mark the day on your calendar!

Free Comic Book Day 2017 Gold Sponsor Comic Books Announced! [Free Comic Book Day]

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News:: JRPG classic 'Lost Odyssey' is currently free on Xbox One

Here's an easy holiday gift for all the Xbox One owners itching to relive the nostalgic days of classic Xbox 360 titles: From now until December 31st, digital copies of Hironobu Sakaguchi and Mistwalker Studios' legendary Japanese RPG Lost Odyssey are free for download on Xbox One's backward compatibility.

Source: Xbox News, Major Nelson

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News:: Review: Forza Horizon 3 Blizzard Mountain

Blizzard Mountain is about as certain of a prospect as there is when it comes to add-ons. Take the perennially excellent Forza Horizon series and put it on ice. It's that simple.

This works because any Forza Horizon DLC will work. The framework is just that good. A little snowstorm can't bury this game; it can only accentuate it.

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News:: Nominees for Destructoid's Best Wii U Game of 2016

In the best of times, "quality over quantity" has been the way of the Wii U.

If you bought into the system knowing that you'd more than likely end up playing Nintendo-backed games and not a whole lot else, this isn't your first rodeo. That reality was my expectation going in, and I continue to have no regrets. We had some good times together! And while 2016 saw a particularly slim release schedule as Nintendo shifted its focus to next year's Switch launch, there were a few gems.

Here are the nominees for Destructoid's Best Wii U Game of 2016:

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News:: Christmas cometh, ask us questions

It's Podtoid time, baby! Perhaps the last of 2016, surely the last ahead of Xmas. And all we want for that blessed holiday is your questions (also if you want to send me cash/gifts, feel free to send a private message).

So leave them down in the comments like a Santa, or write in to podtoid[@]destructoid.com. Same goes for a particularly fun anecdote you'd like to share, or death threats towards any of the main cast members. We'll be talking Game of the Year type stuff, but we're fielding so much more.

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News:: Study: 'Pokemon Go' boosts physical activity, but not for long

It was obvious when the need to catch 'em all first hit smartphones all over the world, more people were getting out of the house more to hit Gyms and Pokéstops. According to a recent study published by The BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal), Pokémon Go increased physical activity for players ages 18 to 35 in the US, but the change didn't last long. Researchers found what within six weeks of first installing the game, users had gone back to their pre-Pokémon activity levels based on the iPhone's step tracking totals.

Via: The Guardian

Source: The BMJ

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News:: Xbox One S Xmas sale bundles galore with controllers, laptops, or HDTVs

Best Buy is making a last-ditch effort in getting an Xbox One S into the hands of those who are on the fence. If a new console system is on your Christmas shopping list, the big box electronics retailer is offering some interesting bundle choices -- plus one great incentive.

Xbox One S Christmas Bundle Deals at Best Buy

• Xbox One S Bundle + Samsung 55" 4K Smart TV + Controller — $749.98
• Xbox One S Bundle + Lenovo 15.6" Laptop + Controller — $449.98
• Xbox One S Battlefield 1 Bundle + Controller + 3 Mo. Xbox Live Gold — $254.98

For those just wanting an Xbox One S, one of the best deal online as of writing is probably at Best Buy. If you grab a Xbox One S 500GB Battlefield 1 bundle, you'll get a free additional controller plus three months' worth of Xbox Live Gold for only an extra $5.

In the interesting bundle department, Best Buy is now offering a bundle with a giant HDTV or a Lenovo laptop. These bundles will cost a bit more, but the value is just as good or even slightly better.

The Xbox + TV deal pairs the Xbox One S Minecraft or Battlefield 1 bundle (your choice) with a big screen Samsung 4K Smart TV (your choice, depending on price). The cheapest HDTV to pair it with is still a good 55-inch 4K Samsung unit and after all is said and done will cost you $749.98 for everything. That same 55" 4K Samsung TV would cost you $699.99 if you bought it separately at Best Buy anyway, so you're essentially paying $50 more for an Xbox One bundle with a free second controller slapped on top of that for good measure.

The Xbox One + Laptop deal is also an excellent option. The Core i3 6th-gen PC in this bundle is a better-than-basic laptop with a fairly large 1TB hard drive and it normally runs $330 at Best Buy. Add in the Xbox One S bundle plus the free controller you get with it, and you're savings $180 vs. buying everything separately. Not bad at all, Best Buy.

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News:: Steam now has full support for the PS4 controller

Valve tried to radically redesign the gaming controller with its own Steam controller, but for a lot of players it never quite caught on. Fortunately, Steam is a very flexible OS and it's pretty easy to use your controller of choice. Like the PS4's Dualshock 4 controller, for example: Valve just announced today that the Steam client now fully supports the Dualshock 4. That means all the controller's capabilities can be mapped to various functions in Steam, including the trackpad and gyroscope.

Via: Gamasutra

Source: Steam

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News:: Porsche's 17-year exclusive deal with EA is running out soon

Outside of some loopholes, most non-EA published car games have had a hell of a time courting Porsche. That's mostly because they have an exclusivity deal together, which has been in place since 2000, until....now.

According to SpeedManiacs, Porsche brand manager Sebastian Hornung has confirmed that the deal is done, and that we should be seeing more Porsche models in other games. SpeedManiacs acutely noticed that they were included in Assetto Corsa, which led to the discovery that the deal had come to an end.

As long as they make it to Forza, I'm good.

Assetto Corsa and Porsche [SpeedManiacs via VG24/7]

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News:: Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon are now available for digital purchase

Ever since the advent of the Games on Demand service for Xbox 360, multi-disc games have not been available for purchase digitally. While this initially might have been due to file size restrictions with Xbox Live marketplace (Arcade games were originally limited to 50 MB!), surely that type of nonsense was lifted when the Xbox One came around. While this announcement might not placate people looking to get a digital copy of L.A. Noire, both Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon are now available to download on an Xbox 360 (or Xbox One, since they are both backward compatible).

To celebrate the occasion, Lost Odyssey is being offered for free until December 31. That is certainly a great deal and absolutely everyone with a 360 should download it. Even though the load times suck and the third disc is rather pointless, the game is a modern classic with a surprisingly poignant story about mortality. It also looks really nice, being one of the first Japanese-developed games to run on the Unreal engine.

I do have to note that if you decide to go through the Xbox Live website, you will need some kind of payment option attached to your Live account. That is annoying as all hell and makes no sense for something that is free. Still, since you're now informed of this, you can probably get over to your console of choice before the end of the year.

Lost Odyssey And Blue Dragon Are Now Available Digitally + Lost Odyssey Free For Limited Time [Major Nelson]

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News:: Nominees for Destructoid's Best Mobile Game of 2016

Look, we all know video games are great, but you can't bring your cutting edge gaming PC or your Xbox Steel Battalion controller with you everywhere you go. Or maybe you can, but you probably shouldn't. It's bad for your back.

Thankfully, the games that show up on these little devices we carry around everywhere can be pretty dang good! Phones these days are powerful enough to handle impressive graphics, but that's not all they have up their protective plastic sleeves. Some of the best games leverage the platform's unique capabilities like multi-touch control and GPS tracking.

Here are Destructoid's nominees for Best Mobile Game of 2016...

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News:: Nearly 50% of all Xbox One owners enjoy backward compatibility

I'm part of the 50%!

According to Phil Spencer, nearly 50% of all Xbox One users are playing backward compatible titles. This is mostly because odds are, if you owned an Xbox 360 device at some point, you probably bought one or two marquee XBLA games that made their way to the Xbox One.

This might not seem all that impressive, but that's a great adoption rate for a feature that has now grown to "over 300 titles." It's also an effective way to get people interested in the Xbox One again after its initial sluggish few years, especially given that this generation is, as Reggie Fils-Aimé would say, "all about the remakes."

But seriously, I'm loving backward compatibility. Instead of buying the BioShock Remasters all over again, I can just play them on Xbox One for free.

Phil Spencer [Twitter]

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News:: Valkyria Chronicles successor trims name to Valkyria Revolution, coming west

Not to be confused with Valkyria Profile, Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni, Eve: Valkyrie, Dark Rose Valkyrie, or Valkyrie, the Valkyria Chronicles trilogy's action role-playing successor, Valkyria Revolution, is coming to America and Europe in Q2 2017. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will receive both physical and digital forms, whereas PlayStation Vita will see only a digital release.

You read correctly before; I said "trilogy." There was a third Valkyria Chronicles game that was never released outside of Japan due to the poor sales of Valkyria Chronicles II. An unofficial fan patch is available, but an official localization of the third entry is unlikely at this point.

Formerly known as Valkyria: Azure Revolution, the game had "Azure" as well as a colon removed (ouch) for the sake of having a simpler and more easily printable name as well as to "ensure the two titles stood equal but apart from each other," according to Sega. Basically they made it less ridiculous. Fine by me, considering "azure" is another word thrown into a plethora of media. One overused meaningless title decorator is plenty.

I've made a few halfhearted attempts to get into Valkyria Chronicles and didn't real feel the anime war vibe nor the combat style, but they get too much praise for me not to try again. Revolution looks to be more my style. With exceptions, player agency and being in the heat of battle is more engaging and rewarding than selecting moves and watching it unfold in turn-based RPG combat or real-time strategy games.

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News:: Another Banjo Kazooie inspired platformer bites the dust on Wii U

As it turns out, ceasing production of your barely four year old console isn't the greatest way to inspire other developers.

In addition to the beloved Yooka-Laylee, which is no longer being ported to Wii U and is likely making the move to the Switch. so too is Clive 'N' Wrench.Now the latter is obviously lesser known (it even had a failed Kickstarter), but it was a game that was coming to Wii U, that several community members pointed me toward, so it had some interest.

Developer Rob Wass noted that since the Wii U "likely" wasn't a viable option, it's been canceled, but they "definitely" want the game to appear on a Nintendo system in the future.

3D Platformer Clive 'N' Wrench No Longer Leaping Onto Wii U [Nintendo Life]

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News:: Looks like Modern Warfare Remastered is getting microtransactions

What many feared has now come to pass; Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered has gotten an update that includes microtransactions. While nothing contained actually breaks the game balance or brings the game closer to being pay-to-win, it seems that nothing is sacred for Activision. Dubbed "supply drops," these microtransactions heavily mirror the stuff introduced in Advanced Warfare and even contain "parts," which is basically the same as "salvage."

So far, most items are cosmetic and everything can be earned through challenges, so it doesn't lock out anybody who isn't willing to pony up extra cash. Still, for Call of Duty points to be introduced into a remaster of a modern classic is just kind of gross. What happened to honoring the legacy of Infinity Ward with this remake? Where does this sacrilege end?

The few good things about this update are that the rest of Modern Warfare's maps are now available in the game for free. Along with that, you can now unlock female soldiers for play in multiplayer (which first debuted with Ghosts). It looks like Raven Software is keen to give players lots of aesthetic options for the game and I've always been a fan of unlocking costumes through in-game challenges. Hopefully this remaster eventually sees a standalone release, because I would be all over decking out my soldier in pink camouflage.

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