Michael B. Jordan will star

Video game adaptations are everywhere these days -- why not throw another one on the pile? We now know there's a Rainbow Six movie coming from Paramount, and it's just been announced that John Wick director Chad Stahelski is attached to the project, as covered by The Hollywood Reporter in an exclusive. Actor Michael B. Jordan is also involved, and he'll star as John Clark -- the protagonist of Tom Clancy's famous book series that inspired the games. Jordan's already taken on the role of Clark after starring in the 2021 film Without Remorse which was also based on Clancy's work.

This new movie will likely serve as a sequel to Without Remorse, as at the end of the film, Clark is planning to establish the famed multinational anti-terrorist "Rainbow" team. While the first film only took inspiration from Clancy's writing, this potential sequel will instead focus on the team that was made so popular by Ubisoft's game series: Rainbow Six. Details are sparse as of now, as the movie does not yet have a release date or plot summary, so keep in mind that it's all ?pretty much speculation. Even so, it's hard to imagine they'd pass on drawing inspiration from the games at least a little bit, especially for an action movie.

[caption id="attachment_358479" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via Paramount Pictures[/caption]

Chad Stahelski is best known for his directorial debut with the John Wick movies, but he's actually been around the industry for a long time as a stuntman, having worked on films like The Matrix, Van Helsing, and Escape from L.A. Here's hoping that such a prolific figure in the action space will make unique, compelling work of the IP he's drawing on? because a lot of fans are hoping to see their favorite series done justice on the silver screen.

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Free-to-play Tom Clancy crossover game did not see success

Ubisoft has announced that it is shutting down Tom Clancy's Elite Squad just one year into its operation. As spotted by VGC, the free-to-play mob?ile title will receive its final update today, with the plug being pulled?? on the servers on October 4, 2021.

"It is with a great deal of sadness that we are announcing we will no longer be releasing new content for Elite Squad," reads a statement on the official Elite Squad website. "This was not an easy decision, but after exploring multiple options with our teams, we came to the conclusion th?at it was no long??er sustainable. We want to assure you all that we really gave it our best, especially with big updates like Season 2, and it was a truly rewarding experience to work with you, our passionate community!"

Released on iOS and Android platforms in August of 2020, Elite Squad sees popular characters from Tom Clancy franchises such as Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six Siege, Ghost Recon, The Division, and H.A.W.X. team up to fight it out in strategic, isometric warfare. The free-to-play title tasked players with forming up well-synergized squads �including Splinter Cell's Sam Fisher, Siege's Caveira, and The Division's Faye Lau �combining each character's ??respective skills in order to win the day.

Earlier this week, Ubisoft revealed its brand new, free-to-play first-person shooter XDefiant, which is currently in development for PC and consoles. Once again, the title will match up characters from various Tom Clancy franchises to engage in skill-based multiplayer battles. Tom Clancy's XDefiant will host its first beta testing sessions on PC in early August. Announcing the swift closure of one free-to-play Tom Clancy crossover title the exact same week you announce big plans for a second is a strange marketing strategy, but we'll soon find out whether XDefiant attains more success than its mobile brethren.

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Enter the Clancy-verse

Today, Ubisoft revealed a new multiplayer shooter featuring the factions of the expanded Tom Clancy universe. This free-to-play arena shooter is called Tom Clancy's XDefiant.

In today's reveal stream, XDefiant executive producer Mark Rubin and creative director Jason Schroeder discussed the team's take on the first-person shooter genre. It mixes more realistic firefights with faction classes and loadouts, pulling in abilities based on various groups in the Tom Clancy-verse and beyond. The Cleaners, for example, hail from The Division, and have their flamethrowers in tow; also shown were the Wolves, Outcasts, and Echelon, and Ubisoft says it p?lans to add more in the future.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmlhRFabV6w

Tom Clancy's XDefiant will be a six-versus-six shooter, with a variety of both arena and "linear" modes, including Domination and Escort. You'll be able to choose your faction, traits, abilities, and ultras, as well as primary and secondary weapons, attachments, and a device. There seems to be a lot of customization options, between both choosing a character type and what equipment you'll be brin??ging into the fight. You can also tweak your loadout after respawning, if you ?end up wanting to switch your equipment up against certain opponents.

Players can go hands-on fairly soon with Tom Clancy's XDefiant, too. The first test for the game will start on Aug. 5 for PC players in the U.S. and Canada, and sign-ups are open right now on Ubisoft's page. Those who get invited to the closed test get some? friend invites as well, and there are more tests on the way.

Ubisoft recently pushed back two of its big fall games, with Riders Republic taking a few extra weeks and Rainbow Six Extraction moving into next year, so this puts another game on their lineup for the time being. And the company has been reportedly looking to move further into live-service games, so a multiplayer shooter fits the bill nicely.

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'Things are going to get wild'

Ubisoft has announced that it?? will reveal a brand new title later today, set within gun-toting, hard-salutin' Tom Clancy unive?rse.

A short teaser features the "Tom Clancy's" branding, crudely plastered with a string of anarchic stickers, graffiti, and bill posters. A teasing message warns players that "Things are going to get wild", while the logo's apostrophe has been replaced by an "x", possibly hinting at a crossover, though this could be mere coincidence. The truth will out today at 11:00 PT / 14:00 ET / 19:00 BST, when Ubisoft takes to its social media ch?annels to reveal the new Tom Clancy title.

As for today's Tom Clancy reveal... Splinter Cell fans should probably cool their hype jets. The reveal is likely to be Ubisoft's previously leaked "BattleCat" title, a first-person ability-based shooter. Recent clips posted by outlets Gamespot and IGN seem to corroborate this. Footage shows fast-paced, futuristic, gung-ho action not dissimilar to that of more standard FPS fare such as Activision's Call of Duty and Electronic Arts' Battlefield franchises.

Ubisoft recently delayed two of its upcoming release, counter-terrorist alien shooter Rainbow Six: Extraction and Riders Republic �the latter of which also features the focus-group-cool obsession with neon colors and painted crosses all over the shop. Rainbow Six Extraction will now launch in January 2022, while Riders Republic will get the green flag October 28. French Union Solidaires Informatique also recently filed a complaint against the publisher, accusing Ubisoft of institutional sexual harassment.

//twitter.com/Ubisoft/stat??us/1416789864272613379?s=20

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Washington D.C. still needs your help

As previously reported, strategic shooter Tom Clancy's The Division 2 is not quite ready to ??hang up its holsters just yet. While many thought the team at Massive Entertainment was getti?ng ready to sunset the team-based merc shooter, the developer announced that 2021 would see a fresh run of content for the title's dedicated playerbase.

Speaking in a new blog post titled "The Road Ahead", Massive revealed that this year will see a brand new game mode arrive in The Division 2's playlist. While no details were forthcoming, the mode is listed as "entirely new to the franchise." In addition, the team is working on new ways for players to progress their in-game operatives, with hopes of offering more in the way of both variety and viability for The Division 2's builds and classes.

In regards to seasons, The Division 2 will be recycling its previous run of seasons from their starting point going forward. Ergo, the next season (Season 5) will be a re-run of Season 1; Season 6 will be a re-run of Season 2, and so forth. This will at least give newer players the opportunity to bag in-game items and rewards that they may have missed out on first time around. Further Apparel events - such as the recent Resident Evil crossover - are also in the works, so it se??ems there's still plenty of reason to ensure your squad stays frosty over the coming months.

Massive Entertainment also released an infographic, (which you can check out above), detailing numerous figures and statistics pertaining to The Division 2 and its community. Overall, some 40 million players have battled in Washington D.C. since the game's initial launch back in March 2019. In all, squads have breached a total of 97 million floors and looted an incredible 20 billion items. One particular trooper has single-handedly revived? over 2??7,000 downed agents! A merc's work is never done.

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U-bisoft Turn

While it initially seemed that tactical military shooter Tom Clancy's The Division 2 was getting marching off into its apolitical sunset, Ubisoft has now decided to give the mercenary matchmaker one last hurrah, with a batch of new content,?? arriving later in 2021.

The fourth season of DLC for The Division 2 - literally titled "End of Watch" - revolved around the chasedown of treacherous agent Faye Lau and her squad of lieutenants. Faye Lau's faction, Black Tusk, held key areas in Washington D.C. including The Pentagon itself. With the removal of Black Tusk, things were looking a little safer in the capital, which worked as an epilogue - or at least a ceasefire - to The Division 2 story arc.

Regardless, Ubisoft took to The Division 2's official Reddit to announce new content will arrive later in 2021. Massive Entertainment, who developed The Division and The Division 2 have already begun pre-production on Ubisoft's recently revealed Star Wars title, as well as a game based on James Cameron's sci-fi franchise Avatar. The publisher has previously noted that Massive - a??s one of Ubisoft's largest studios - has the workforce to develop multiple projects simultaneously.

No date was announced for the new Division 2 content outside of "later this year". So for now, you and your running buddies will have to settle for the recently released Resident Evil crossover content. But don't hang up your night vision goggles just yet, as it seems the battle for 'Murica is ??far from over.

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I guess technically 'current-gen' now

People are still playing Ghost Recon Breakpoint. These games have a tradition of launching in offens??ively bad states before gradually morphing into something passable. It's not something that should be celebrated, but I guess it's s?omething we've come to accept. All the while, they maintain surprisingly healthy player bases.

That active player base means Breakpoint is moving forward into the PS5 and Xbox Series X generation. Ubisoft outlined what that means in terms of performance bumps, and it's more or less the minimum we expect from next-gen enhancements. On PS5 and Xbox Series X, you'll ??get ?a choice between 4K at 30fps or 1080p at 60fps. The Xbox Series S doesn't have any options, running the game at 1440p at 30fps at all times.

At least there's no funny business accessing the upgrades. Everyone who owns the game on PS4 or Xbox One will be able to immediately access their Breakpoint profile (including purchases and inventory items)? on new consoles. U??bisoft has the good sense not to try paywalling this.

Although Ubisoft just detailed these enhancements, it seems as though they were implemented as part of the Breakpoint 3.03 title update on November 9. That means they're available now. Whoever's still playing can now experience Breakpoint look?ing a little better or running a little better.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Reco??n Breakpoint -- Next-Generation Consoles [Ubisoft]

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The Summit

A 100-floor tower. A long, arduous climb that gets tougher the higher you g??o. Sound familiar?

The Division 2 is getting a new mode that's reminiscent of Final Fantasy XIV's Heaven-on-High or maybe even Grasshopper Manufacture's Let It Die. It's a PvE experience called "The Summit" where solo players or teams ascend a 100-story skyscraper. A cleaner analog for seasoned Division players would be the Underground expansion from the original game.

It's structured so that 10 floors are grouped together in terms of difficulty an??d every tenth floor has a boss. Ubisoft says it takes about as long to clear 10 levels as it would to clear one of the strongholds. However, Summit is a roguelike in a sense, as the floors don't have set factions or objectives. They change every time you come back.

It's a challenge that Ubisoft doesn't expect you to knock out in one go. Progress is retained every 10 floors, so that's where you'll start if you decide to shut the game off. There are also elevators every three floors, and that's your checkpoint in case your squad wipes. You'll probably need the lift because Summit works through Division 2's difficulty levels as it progresses, all th?e way up to Legendary.

Construction's done on this high-rise pretty soon. Summit is being added as part of Title Update 11, which launches sometime this month. It'll be free for everyone who owns the Warlords of New York expansion.

The Division 2 is gettin??g a new replayable PvE? mode in The Summit [VG247]

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Through September 8

Three years after the release of The Division, the sequel came through town and cleaned ?up a lot of the grime that the orig??inal had left behind.

But that classic edition still exists, and through September 8, you can grab it for free (to keep) directly from Ubisoft. All you have to do is hea?d here before September 8 at 4:00AM (local) and you can grab it on PC.

The modern gaming era is wild, isn't it? If you've been keeping up with sales and giveaways in this content-heavy era, you probably have hundreds of games in your backlog you haven't even looked at yet. "Wait, I own five copies of every Sonic game ever released on PC?" Yes, you do.

So it's not a matter of should when it comes to this The Division giveaway. Go ahead and get this freebie for a rainy day. It's a matter of when you'll play it.

The Division [Ubisoft]

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Gather 'round on September 10

Ubisoft's back wit?h its second Nintendo Direct-like streaming?? showcase. That's not much of a surprise considering it ended its first Ubisoft Forward by announcing a second. But now we have a hard date and a vague idea of what to expect.

In the teaser video above, Ubisoft tells us that the next Ubisoft Forward takes place on Thursday, September ??10 at 1pm Pacific. On a personal note, I don't have to w?ork on a weekend this time. Vast improvement over the first.

As for the games being shown, there's considerable footage dedicated to Watch Dogs: Legion, Hyper Scape, The Division 2 (I think), and Rainbow Six Siege. Here are some other ??rumors that are floating around though:

• There's a Prince of Persia remake in the works and it's launching in November.
• Gods & Monsters has been renamed (to the much worse) Immortals: Fenyx Rising.
• Beyond Good & Evil 2 and Skull & Bones both have ampersands in their name and have both been MIA for a very long time. This is not a rumor, I just wanted to point it out.

It's a small roster, but we didn't get much out of the first Ubisoft Forward. Only five stories came out of it. If Ubisoft focuses on what's in the trailer and then caps it off with Prince of Persia, that'd be about on par with the first stream in terms of content. That's why it feels like maybe Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Far Cry 6 will sit this one out.

And, because there's no better place to put this, today is the 25th anniversary of Rayman. Both Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends are high atop my list of favorite games ever. I can't help but feel as though Rayman would still be with us if only it were named Tom Clancy's Rayman.

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Dregs Division

When it was announced Ubisoft would be bringing its Tom Clancy series to mobile for the first time, I immediately thought back to the oft-forgotten Nintendo 3DS launch title Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars. As a turn-based tactical shooter, a title like th?at reworked for smartphones would be a wonderful way to introduce the Tom Clancy universe to mobile audiences.

Instead, we get this.

Tom Clancy's Elite Squad (Android, iOS [reviewed on a 2019 iPad])
Developer: Ubisoft Owlient
Publisher: Ubisoft
Released: August 25, 2020
MSRP: Free-to-play w/ Microtransactions

Tom Clancy's Elite Squad is a massive crossover title that brings together heroes and villains from the different Tom Clancy series into a story o??f international espionage. A generic terrorist organization known as Umbra is wreaking havoc around the planet. To stop them, the world's governments come together and form a team to fight Umbra and discover the truth behind the organization. These fights will be waged across a variety of war zones that are supposed to be “iconic” to the franchise, but to anyone unfamiliar with the series, they mostly look like the exact same battlefield with different window dressings.

Your elite squad is made up of five fighters plucked from the various sub-series of the Tom Clancy universe. Sam Fisher is here, as is Montagne from Siege, David Crenshaw from H.A.W.X., Midas from Ghost Recon, and a lot of representatives from The Division who I had to Google. Each character has their own unique abilities and role in your squa??d, whether they’re healing, guarding, or executing highly damaging attacks.

The player’s role is simply to observe the incredibly brief battles and occasionally in??terject combat orders into the scuffle. The team will move, attack, and use their unique abilities on their own, ??leaving me to execute my combat orders whenever I saw fit. These orders range from sending out a missile strike -- that enemies have zero problems surviving -- to setting off an EMP that silences a single enemy for three seconds. That may not sound like a long time, but with most fights finished in less than a minute, it’s actually a pretty useful tool.

With such a low level of interaction in these fights, it’s actually to the game’s benefit that they’re so short. Anything longer than 90 seconds would really hit home how repetitive the whole experience is. No battle feels unique from the ones that came before it, and it’s only the slight change i?n window dressing to these indistinguishable combat zones that it makes it seem like you’re making any progression at all. You don't even advance on the battlefield. Your team just holds tight as each wave of cannon fodder comes to them. The story does drive the experience forward, but it’s really hard to care about taking down a “faceless organization.”

Like with most other free-to-play games, there is an assload of loot to collect? that will improve your squad, as well as two different currencies: silver coins that are earned in-game and gold bricks you can slowly earn or buy with real money. There are also two different types of Prestige to collect and Raid Tokens to earn, all three of which can be used to purchase three-, four-, or five-star characters from the vendor. Speaking of the characters, they are very unique in their designs when looking at them off the battlefield, but in the heat of combat, they can be difficult to differentiate, even on my iPad screen.

One thing Elite Squad does very well is give players plenty of time to see what it has to offer. There is an energy meter, but from my experience, running out of energy isn’t something that happened until about day four. Up to that point, I was able to try out the different modes and missions on offer, from the asynchronous multiplayer arena to the limited-time events that grant special characters upon completion. The story mode itself is pretty meaty with four different campaigns that each have their own restrictions, such as a Heroes-only campaign or one where you play as the bad guys. The Umbra campaign is the only one available when you first start the game with the others unlocked as you level up. If the gameplay were any good or had any sort of engagement, I’d ar?g??ue Ubisoft did right by the Tom Clancy brand in bringing it to mobile. Instead, it’s a lot of effort put into an entirely forgettable app.

Oh, I should probably mention Elite Squad crashes more often than Harrison Ford trying to land an airplane. I don't think I've ever played a game, on mobile or otherwise, that's crashed more than this one. I received my review code for it on August 20 and today I've already eclipsed at least 60 different crashes throughout its many different menus and modes. Whether I'm leveling up my team, checking to see what's in a recently unlocked loot box, or in the middle of a fight with terrorists, Elite Squad always finds a way to crash at the most ino??pportu?ne moments.

But that’ll likely be fixed with updates. In fact, there might be an update already that keeps this game from going down, down in an earlier round. The crashes aren’t the main issue with Elite Squad: it’s the complete predictability and lack of imagination found in every corner of the app that’s the problem. This is nothing more than "Free-to-Play Mobile Game: The Game" with a Tom Clancy skin. A perfectly ade??quate time-waster, but those are a dime a dozen on smartphones.

_{[This review is based on a retail version of the free-to-play game provided by the publisher.]}

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First look at the two-part event

On the heels of yesterday's teaser trailer for Ghost Recon Breakpoint's Terminator-themed event, Ubisoft has shared a proper look at Skynet's?? crossover with Auroa.

It's a two-part live event, and this new trailer seems to indicate that the first half (launching January 29) will focus on a T-800 disguised as a human who's wreaking havoc. It's very much the original Terminator design but without the rights to Arnold Schwarzenegger's likeness. There's a nondescript badass -- one who could definitely be an action star, but who definitel??y isn't Arnold -- killing without mercy or discretion.

The second part (launching Febru?ary 1) appears to be centered around the facility where T-800s are manufactured. Here, there are several T-800 metallic endoskeletons, all taking up arms. Also, that non-Arnold has part of his face ripped off, and you just know that probably pissed him off.

As rewards, the Terminator event has a few free items. The event-exclusive items are: the RT5 Shepherd Terminator vehicle, Shredded T-800 facial paint, an Uzi, the Starfield X4 Terminator ve??hicle, the Resistance Helmet, and an AR-18. But, let's be real -- taking out a Terminator or a dozen is reward enough.

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Unless you have a Terminator too

Following in the footsteps of Ghost Recon Wildlands, Ghost Recon Breakpoint will also get a live event that stars one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's famed foes. In Wildlands, teams were asked to dispose of a Predator, which is the world's greatest sport hunter. This week, they'll take on Skynet's toughest in Breakpoint.

On January 29, a Terminator-themed live event is taking place in Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Ubisoft hasn't revealed which Terminator model will be exterminating squad after squad. It'll presumably be the iconic T-800 metallic endoskeleton. But, maybe it'll be the liquid metal T-1000 from Terminator 2. Or, maybe it'll just be Arnold, and you're?? meant ?to blast away at his intimidating scowl and leather jacket.

Even though the event is only two days away, all we know about Breakpoint's Terminator fight is in the teaser trailer that's embedded above. Ubisoft hopes it's enough to make lapsed Breakpoint&nb?sp;players say "I'll be back." Others will stick by their "Hasta la vista, baby." (I'm so sorry.)

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Breach, bang and clear

Ubisoft has filed suit against website Mizusoft, who it claims had sold "hundreds of thousands" of dollars worth of cheats to players of tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege.

The Mizusoft site, owned by "J.V.L" (a pseudonym to protect the minor's identity) is now unsurprisingly offline but, according to a report on Polygon, previously offered a "Budget Edition Rainbow Six Siege Cheat" service for $77 per month. The package featured hacks that boosted weapon damage, increased F.O.V, and displayed enemy positions. Ubisoft claims that Mizusof??t "bragged to the media that his Cheating Software ruins R6S for other players."

In recompense for the "massive and irreparable harm" caused to Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft is looking for the dissolution of the company, along with $25,000 per violation. ?Ten other defendants are named in the lawsuit, but by their Discord h??andles only, as it is believed Ubisoft has only obtained the identity of Mizusoft's primary owner J.V.L.

In the past year, Ubisoft has taken a zero tolerance policy towards cheaters and griefers in Siege, banning thousands of users with regularity, and constantly tweaking the game's BattlEye service to watch for shifty behaviour patterns and repeatedly reported players. Given that the game recently announced of milestone 50 million registered players, that's a mammoth community to police.

Rainbow Six Siege is available now on PS4, PC and Xbox One.

Ubisoft suing hacker that sold Rainbo??w Six Siege cheats [Polygon]

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At ease, soldier

In the modern triple-A space, it seems publishers are more worried about making money than creating fun entertainment. While a few games have shown that "live-service" strategies can produce a quality experience, these titles often end up releasing in incomplete states that take months – if not years – of patching and updating to get anywhere close t??o their potential.

That description fits Ubisoft's output to a tee. The company has certainly created some good games this generation (most notably last year's Assassin's Creed Odyssey), but the majority of its titles are the same basic mold transplanted to a different setting. Far Cry, Watch Dogs, Ghost Recon: ??all of these series play practically the same and feature basically identical ob??jectives with slightly different characters.

Even that basic template couldn't have prepared me for how awful Ghost Recon Breakpoint turned out. Despite having a predecessor it could build off of, Ubisoft has somehow mashed every negative aspect of modern, microtransaction-heavy titles into one disgusting whole of ?a time-wasting, repetitious open-world shooter. A few steps are taken forward, but that's after a leap off of a cliff.

To put it bluntly, Ghost Recon Breakpoint is lik??ely the most disappointing release of 2019.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint (PC, PS4 [reviewed on PS4 Pro], Xbox One)
Developer: Ubisoft Paris
Publisher: Ubisoft
Released: September 30, 2019 (Gold/Ultimate Edition), October 4, 2019 (Standard Edition)
MSRP: $59.99 (Standard), $99.99 (Gold), $119.99 (Ultimate)

The plot of Breakpoint sees Team Ghost taking on LTC. Cole Walker on ?the fictional island of A??uroa. A former Ghost operative himself, Walker has turned on his brothers in arms to mechanize a drone army against the island nation for some reason. His motivations are never made clear and his presence is barely felt in the roughly 20-hour campaign, which makes getting from plot point to plot point feel like an exercise in frustration.

The brief introductory mission is the only time Breakpoint comes close to capitalizing on its potential. As an open-world game allows, you're able to tackle this mission in whichever manner you see fit. Since Ghost Recon used to be a stealth series, you're able to sneak around and completely av??oid combat, or snipe people from afar or just get straight up in their business. You can walk around and do objectives out of order, which lends some player agency in the moment. After one cutscene, you can even kill Wa?lker and end the game in 10 minutes, which is a neat touch.

If you happen to play cautiously and not go for the glory kill, you'll rendezvous at the camp of Erewhon and meet up with a bunch of other Ghost soldiers that have been stranded on Auroa. Right from the outset, this interesting setup gets ruined to accommodate cooperative play and a completely out-of-place live-service setting. Seemingly taking inspiration from The Division (the sequel to which has become Ubisoft's most successful game of 2019), Breakpoint is? a looter-shooter, shared-hub, RPG-styled game that makes no sense within it?s own universe.

What I mean is, past titles have put an emphasis on realism. Utilizing the Tom Clancy branding, Ghost Recon has always strived to not only give players options in tackling situations but demand they play like the military operatives they inhabit. Instead of sticking to that realism, Breakpoint has decid?ed to i??nject a whole loot system with a gear score and various drops to keep you looking for better equipment.

Not o??nly that, but the game attempts to double down on the survival aspects of its premise and brings systems like healing wounds, drinking canteens to top off stamina, and even crafting for secondary weapons and rations. It's a b??unch of useless fluff that ultimately can be ignored since the penalties for not engaging with them are slim. As you run too much, your stamina meter will deplete a little, but various skills can be unlocked that increase the duration and regeneration speeds of said meter. It's not very well thought out.

Also not well thought out is the campsite system. Around the world, you'll find various bivouacs that you can fast-travel to. Allowing you to cut down time spent getting across this comically large map, you can also buff your character, call in vehicles, buy things from the shop, and change your character class while visiting them. The vehicle thing is key because this is the only way you're able to call in a vehicle to traverse Auroa – apart from grabbing them in the world. This runs counter to Ghost Recon Wildlands, this game's immediate predecessor. In that game, you were able to call on the rebel forces in Bolivia to deliver a vehicle from anywhere on the map. With Team Ghost not losing the technology it had with them, this extra barrier to playability is just the tip of how obstructive Breakpoint is with letting the play??er actually ??navigate its environment.

A lot of this could be forgiven if you're okay with open-world titles. While the missions are boring beyond reason and the story goes nowhere, it's not like the design choices cripple Breakpoint. What does is all of the technical glitches and bugs that have shipped with the game. Many players are reporting various crashes, but I happened to get lucky in that regard. What I faced were objectives automatically failing, my character spawning underneath the world, vehicles exploding for no reason, my guns failing to shoot bullets, characters not spawning in to finish objectives, and my co-op partner consistently glitching under obstacles and halting him from progressing. It's absolutely appalling how many technical problems Breakpoint currently suffers from.

These issues drag out what is ??already a ridiculously drawn-out experience. It doesn't help that the design of Auroa feels so non-descript. A snowy area is the only reprieve from the otherwise brown and green jungles you'll be trekking through. I’m failing to even remember anything outstanding on the map because it all just looks and feels the same. After 20 hours, it simply blurs together.

Shifting gears to the positives, I do happen to like the "Pin" system that Breakpoint uses for its map. Since the island of Auroa is massive with plenty of mi??ssions to undertake, Ubisoft has created a pin system that allows you to se??lect up to three waypoints at a time. With a quick press of down on the d-pad, you're able to get a short description of each mission and see where you need to go on your mini-map. It's very helpful in keeping you on the right track.

I'm also partial to the skin override system. While this is a solution to a problem Breakpoint creates, at least you're able to customize the look of your soldier to your exact specifications. Constantly shifting gear in other looter shooters sees your character looking like an idiot, but you won't need to worry about that in Breakpoint.

Finally, I can see the idea Ubisoft was going for with the campaign. As I mentioned, you can kill Walker in the very first mission, but if you happen to delay that, you're able to tackle him at any point during the campaign. Working similarly to Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Breakpoint is mainly a series of missions that slowly improve you until you're comfortable with taking out the fina?l boss.

It's just that when actually tackling Walker, the game boils down to an RPG. Every other boss and enemy will have barely noticeable effects from increased gear scores (mitigated further by going for headshots), but Walker suddenly turns into a Metal Gear Solid opponent and requires you to take out drones before you can even damage him. It's absolutely stupid that I'm able to unload multiple rockets to the man's face in a Tom Clancy title, but it's? especially insulting that increasing your gear level magically makes the boss easier. Going in at 60, for instance, will see your health bar melt in seconds. Go in at 120, though, and you'll be able to play the fight like normal.

There's a glimmer of hope in Breakpoint, but the current release of the game is a travesty. I didn't like the design of Ghost Recon Wildlands all that much, but Ubisoft seemed to have hit upon a formula fans were happy with. Instead of simply improving that, the company has tried to change Ghost Recon to fit the live-service mold an?d has ended up with this amalgamation of the worst tropes of modern game design. That there is some potential in here makes the whole endeavor feel worse.

I'd be remiss to leave out discussion of the microtransactions available because they are egregious. Breakpoint allows players to buy literally everything in the game with actual cash. If you want a? particular gun or vehicle and don't have the in-game currency on hand, you can plunk ?down some dollars and get that thing without waiting. A few cosmetic items are only available this way, which is obviously meant as a form of psychological manipulation to get people opening their wallets.

For the most part, though, it's hard to find the microtransactions. Not once during a playthrough does the game even bring up it has them and the menu system is so byzantine and cumbersome to navigate that you're unlikely to even notice there is a store tab. I'm actually quite shocked at how laggy and unresponsive the ?menu is. It seems to have been built with PC players in mind and then dumped on consoles with little care.

The only real saving grace for Breakpoint is that the "Ghost War" PvP mode is average. It tries to mix standard team deathmatch with battle royale trappings and creates an experience that is at least somewhat playable. There's less glitches, no pay-to-win nonsense, and a decent selection of maps. It sucks that no other modes are o??n offer, but a roadmap of content is promising extra additions to the mode in the future.

Still, I can't recommend you wait for this game to eventually become good. That’s not how gaming should work. Even after patches and updates, I can only ever see Breakpoint becoming an average game instead of one worth investing time into. When its predecessor is better and there are a ton of free options to get a battle royale fix going, what purpose does Breakpoint serve?

Is it to see the conclusion to some epic story? Well, I have no idea what happened in the game and the ending was anticlimactic, so that's a no. Is it to get your friends together and chill out a bit? That could have been a yes, but there are a ton of technical barriers that make progressing in its story actively difficult to accomplish. I'm really struggling to figure out what reason there would be to even give Breakpoint a second thought.

As a longtime fan of the series and as someone that honestly tried to give this a shot, I'm sorry to say that Breakpoint is a failure. I suppose the game can o?nly get better from here, but it is not currently in a shape to even be considered finished.

_{?[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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I think I've reached my Breakpoint

After making our way to a checkpoint and completing a mission objective, my co-op partner and I map out an escape route from the enemy base. We see a helicopter and gauge the distance, wondering if we'll both be able to make it in time. As we split up to divert the enemy's attention, I get downed while he jumps in the chopper. Not able to land and get me, I respawn to join him for the next phase of the mission. As soon as Ghost Recon Breakpoint finishes its 30-second loading screen, I'm put underneath the world and killed immediately. This isn'?t a one-off occurrence.

During another mission, we're tasked with evacuating an injured scientist. A?fter gunning down some thugs and acquiring a getaway vehicle, my partner lands next to me so I can stow the scientist away. For unknown reasons, she dies in my arms and we fail the mission. After a restart, we're put back quite a distance and need to drive to the checkpoint. We accidentally crash our car into a ravine and I jump out. My par??tner is stuck under the water and can't exit, the game seemingly deciding his time in this world is over.

Instances like this happen in almost every mission we attempt. It's a struggle to properly convey how bad Ghost Recon Breakpoint really is. Even after 10 hours of?? gameplay, I'm s??till at a loss for words at the issues and problems that keep cropping up.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint (PC, PS4 [reviewed on PS4 Pro], Xbox One]
Developer: Ubisoft Paris
Publisher: Ubisoft
Released: September 30, 2019 [Gold/Ultimate Edition], October 4, 2019 [Standard Edition]
MSRP: $59.99 [Standard], $99.99 [Gold], $119.99 [Ultimate]

The extent of my knowledge of the plot in Ghost Recon Breakpoint comes from all of the pre-release promotional material I've followed. The actual intro cutscene for the game explains next to nothing about what is going on. In a mock commercial for the Skell Corporation (which is likely taking inspiration from Metal Gear Solid 4's mock commercials), you're treated to an advertisement for "Wo??rld 2.0." Not really sta?ting what that is, it seems the fictional setting of Auroa is a testing grounds for what Skell hopes to achieve in the world.

Shortly after, the game begins in medias res with Team Ghost flying to the island in various choppers. Pulling out all of the stops, it looks like a massive squad is coming to stop LTC. Cole D. Walker – played by Jon Ber??nthal – from exacting revenge with his drone army. About a minute or so into some briefing, your chopper is shot down and you're stranded on the island alone. You'll proceed to do a single, prolonged stealth mission with no assistance before you make it to the camp of Erewhon, a remote haven based in a mountain of the South Region of Auroa.

While not a bad premise for a game, this early mission is the only moment where any of the potential for the open-world setting is realized. It's a bit too easy as you're able to walk 200 meters away from enemies, thus negating their presence, but at least you're given options in approaching objectives and need to play in a cautious manner. Once you get to the camp (which functions similarly to the shared hub in Destiny or The Division), the game turns into a boring, gri???????????????????????????ndy, drawn-out affair.

Endless tutorials explain pointless facets of the menu system. ?There's weapon customization, character ??customization, gear levels, skill points, different perks, classes, loadouts, etc, etc. It goes on and on and never amounts to much of anything.

What I mean is, once you're actually playing the game, all of the extraneous new features in Breakpoint take a backseat to playing missions exactly as you would in Ghost Recon Wildlands, this game's immediate predecessor. As the intro mission details, you'll occasio?nally become wounded after sustaining too much damage and need to bandage yo?urself. The tutorials make it seem like you need to be crafting syringes constantly (oh yeah, there's a crafting system!), but you can use the infinite supply of medkits you have to heal those wounds.

Your stamina meter for sprinting and climbing will also decrease over time if you don't drink from your canteen. I say decrease, but the penalty for ignoring canteens is that you lose about 10% of your stamina, which can be boost??ed through an unlockable skill and even given faster regenerat?ion. I completely ignored all of that and haven't run into a single instance where it would matter.

It doesn't help that navigating Breakpoint's menu is sluggish. The cursor moves at a snail's pace and certain menu screens will occupy more than your full screen. In the equipment loadout, for instance, you can move the cursor freely from top to bottom and select a different tab. On the map, the cursor now controls scrolling, so you'll have to either zoom out all the way or scroll completely to the top of the map before you can change a menu option. Pressing R2 or L2 will let you change tabs, but if the tab you want is three over from your current on??e, you have to wait for the next page to fully load before you can swap again.

Inconsistencies like this even continue on to the ??in-game HUD. Wh??ile a very welcomed "Pin" system lets you keep track of multiple objectives at a time, things like your health meter and mini-map will frequently disappear for no apparent reason. There are options to hide the HUD and even change the frequency of its presence but set to "Always," I've found my mini-map vanishing for one reason or another.

This isn't even getting into an explanation of the actual gameplay, which plays almost exactly like Wildlands, just with slower movement and a bigger map. The missions are all the same nonsense and see you traveling upwards of 15 km from checkpoint to checkpoint a??nd killing people. You can stealth in, but the AI is so confoundingly stupid that the best option is just to shoot everyone. Even on "Extreme" difficulty, tactics don't matter. You'll die, sure, but the chec??kpoints are super generous and all this emphasis put on Gear Score and leveling up amounts to a bunch of baloney. You can headshot everyone regardless of your gun's damage output or the enemy's so-called level.

Breakpoint is lik?e a bunch of half-formed ideas thrown into a blender an??d then poured out on the table. Whatever chunks Ubisoft found floating in the mess, it cobbled them together to create the whole of this game.

Many times during my playthrough, I found myself wondering, "What would Tom Clancy think of this?" While not a perfect author, the man strived to imbue his novels with a sense of realism. Grabbing a Tom Clancy book meant you could expect a certain degree of believability in the plot and setting. The man even famously told the director of the Sum of All Fears adaptation that scenes in the film were bullshit, accepting nothing less than ?strict dedication to the f??acts.

I have to imagine the man would be devastated at Breakpoint. This game couldn't be farther from the branding that Clancy built if Ubisoft tried. It really does feel like the studio no longer has any idea of what to do with Ghost Recon and is now attaching it to its F-tier titles to make a quick buck. There is no excuse for how buggy, broken, and utterly bland Breakpoint is.

While I'll reserve final judgment for when I get around to the Ghost War PvP mode, anyone thinking about grabbing this for a single-player or co-op run should look elsewhere. This is not worth your time, money, or effort to see through. Even Wildlands, as much as I disliked it, is a better purchase.

_{[This Review-in-Progress is based on a reta?il build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Hardly paradise

This week sees the release of the latest entry in the mercenary lovin' Ghost Recon series, as Ghost Recon Breakpoint launches on PS4, PC and ?Xbox?? One in just a couple of days. Publisher Ubisoft has dropped one final trailer to get fans in gear for the upcoming multiplayer mayhem.

Set on the fictional Pacific Island of Auroa, players will step into the combat fatigues of Col. Anthony "Nomad" Perryman and his "Ghost" squad - returning from previous entry Wildlands - who are tasked with investigating suspicious activity on Auroa, a privately-owned island which used for technological design, climate study, and?? weapons research.

As is to be expected, it's not too long before the shit hits the fan, with Nomad and friends left fighting for their lives against countless odds, all armed with some of the most terrifying hi-tech equipment imaginable. Ghost Recon Breakpoint will place gr??eater emphasis on survival, with weapon maintenance, hunger, hydration, camouflage, and injury ?all affecting your character's skill, precision, and lethality.

Bring friends, you're gonna need 'em.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint launches October 4 on PS4, PC and Xbox One

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Lil Wayne stars in ballistic David Leitch short

Players eager to get stuck into upcoming mercenary-fest Ghost Recon Breakpoint will get the opportunity to do so in a little over a week's time. Ubisoft has announced that an open beta for the multiplayer shooter will go live on PS4, PC and Xbox One between Thursday, September 2?6 and Monday, September 30.

Ubisoft also took the opportunity to drop an all-new live-action trailer for the game. The five-minute preview was produced by Los Angeles studio Minted Content and directed by none other than David Leitch, who was behind the lens for Hobbs and Shaw, Atomic Blonde, and R-rated comic book movie Deadpool 2.

The video feature hip-hop superstar Lil Wayne and is a key part of Breakpoint's promotion. The ad is expected to air during prime-time commercial segments on shows like Thursday Night Football and WWE SmackDown, hoping to get hype fires stoked ahead of the game's official release. As expected for a Leitch joint, the ad features a lot of ca??sually-stylised gun violence and more than a little cursing.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint launches October 4 on PS4, PC and Xbox One.

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It's a Ubisoft game

Ghost Recon Breakpoint launches in roughly a month and Ubisoft doesn't want anyone confused about what the game contains. In this latest six and a half minute trailer, you'll learn all about the campaign mode, the co-op options, the PvP multiplayer, and the post-launch roadmap comin?g to this latest Tom Clancy endeavor. There shouldn't be any questions left after watching this.

For me, I'm just curious if Ubisoft has learned any lessons from Wildlands. That title was a best-seller for the company, but ??I found it drifted far away from what made the Tom Clancy brand important: realism. Instead of bloating out the map with tons of pointless side objectives and letting players level-up like an RPG, get back to what made the author's name stand out to begin with. I don't need yet another open-world shooter, but something with a military angle and intense realism would be different.

Whether or not Breakpoint does that, we won't have much longer to find out. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint launches on Oct?ober 4, 2019, for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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I'll be back

Ubisoft has detailed the roadmap for Ghost Recon Breakpoint's post-launch DLC it includes plans for the game's first raid event. Called "Project Titan," the raid will launch with episode one sometime between October 2019 and January 2020. Titan will be a four-player event that takes place on an island with an active volcano, which is likely to play into Breakpoint's increased emphasis on terrain.

Episode one, dubbed "Operation Greenstone," will also feature a new class: the engineer. Since Breakpoint is going for one of those "persistent progression" sys?tems, the engineer will be playable in both single-player and multiplayer modes, allowing you to level them up whenever you see fit. Nothing specific was noted about what the engineer will bring, but I'd imagine he'd be able to repair vehicles and depl?oy some kind of turret or sentry gun.

Episode One will also feature the previously announced Terminator event, likely in time for the release of Terminator: Dark Fate in November. The other two episodes, "Deep State" and "Transcendence" respectively, will launch in? 2020 with similar content. You can expect a new class, a new raid, a new special event, and new PvP maps every few months. I guess that's better than paid DLC.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint's first raid, Terminator event coming post launch [VG 24/7]

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Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?

I honestly don't have words for this new Ghost Recon Breakpoint trailer. In a casual stroll of Twitter last night, I happened upon it and thought Ubisoft was playing a big joke. While it's just a simple introductory trailer to get you up to speed on Breakpoint's new? additions, I'm puzzled why this old-timey cartoon style was chosen. I'm also kind of mad that it's not available in-game.

Obviously poking fun at The Three Little Pigs, this trailer places Team Ghost as hunters tracking down the "Big Bad Wolves." Seeing as how Jon Bernthal keeps referring to his team of treasonous soldiers as wolves, I'm guessing it's a not so subtle joke at their expense. At any rate, this is a super fun way to tease Breakpoint that is far better than the crap Ubisoft was doing for Wildlands. At least this makes some kind of ??thematic sense.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint: Big Bad Wolves Fairy Tales [Xbox via YouTube]

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Your world is getting smaller

Ubisoft has detailed the "Ghost Wars" multiplayer for Ghost Recon Breakpoint and it's taking a lot of influence from the burgeoning battle royale subgenre. Featuring ??two teams of four facing off on an ever-shrinking map, Ubisoft mentions that it is designing levels in a manner that will put each class to use. The mode will launch with six maps and three classes and all progress made in multiplayer will carry over to the campaign (and vice versa).

For a lot of people, the campaigns in Ghost Recon are a side mode for the multiplayer. Since basically the series inception, multiplayer has taken precedence over the single-player and has given most of the games a ridiculously long shelf life. Even Wildlands,?? which I think is terrible, has a fairly active multiplayer fanbase that is still playing it to this day. I'm not sure adopting some battle royal??e trappings is a good move, but Ghost War does look to be a fun distraction.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint: PVP Ghost War Gameplay Preview [Ubisoft North America via YouTube]

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Full range of options available

One of the best perks of gaming on PC is the wide range of hardware you can get. Fitting into whatever budget you may have, there are high-end machines, low-end machines, ultra-widescreen monitors, 4K, uncapped framerates, etc. It can be a little confusing to get into but is hard to turn away from once you've tasted it. Ubisoft seems to understand that because Ghost Recon Breakpoint is going to support it all.

In the latest trailer for the upcoming open-world shooter, we have confirmation that the PC port for Breakpoint will feature the full range of PC options. There's true 4K support, uncapped framerates, ultra-?wide, that dumb eye-tracking thing Ubisoft really wants to make a reality: it's all here?! Whether or not it runs well is yet to be seen, but this won't be a quick and easy console port.

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Caveira or we riot

It came as something of a surprise at this year's E3 when Ubisoft revealed its upcoming title Rainbow Six Quarantine, a game which will seemingly take the wall-blowing, team-killing counter-terrorists maniacs of Rainbow Six Siege and transport t??hem into a monster-bashing PvE experience.

Very little is known about this venture. We haven't seen any gameplay footage, nor have we heard much about its concept through spoken word. But according to a Ubisoft financial call held earlier today, we do at least know that the publisher is hopi?ng to get the? squad out fighting mutants by the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, so before April 2020, essentially.

Little more was said about Quarantine itself, although Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot noted that the mysterious spin-off would feature the "proven gameplay of the critically acclaimed Rainbow Six Siege: Outbreak," the 2018 event which saw our heroes fight a strange alien menace out in New Mexico.

The idea of Rainbow vs. Monsters is not a new one. As explained to me by Siege director Leroy Athanassoff last year, one of the earliest concepts in Siege was a mission set to take place in Area 51. This led to Outbreak, which has led to Quarantine. So it seems Ash, Lord Tachanka, ?Alibi and the rest of the door-kickers have been destined to battle the unknown for years. Personally, I'm very much looking forward to seeing more from this project.

Rainbow Six Quarantine is currently in developmen??t at Ubisoft for a 2020 release.

Rainbow Six Quarantine t??o launch in Ubisoft's fourth quar??ter [DualShockers]

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We hardly knew you, BC

Today is both a glorious and sad day for Xbox One backward compatibility. While the service just got a whole ton of excellent additions, Microsoft also announced that it will no longer be adding any original Xbox or Xbox 360 titles to the service in the future. That's a huge bummer (the service is really great), but at least titles like Asura's Wrath and the OG Splinter Cell can now be preserved for years to come.

The final list is a doozy, so I'll divide it out into categories for you all. First, though, a bunch of Rare titles will be getting Xbox One X enhancements for anyone with a 4K TV and Microsoft's enhanced box. These include every 360 game featured in Rare Replay, which is Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Perfect Dark, Perfect Dark Zero, Viva Pinata, Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, and Kameo Elements of Power.

There's also a few other neat tidbits. If you remember, the ill-fated Silicon Knights made Too Human a few years back and it was a big flop. It not only got bombed, critically speaking, but it sparked a lawsuit that ended up bankrupting the company and having all unsold copies recalled from store shelves. Since Microsoft isn't legal?ly able to sell the? title to anyone, it's now free for everyone.

Another cool bonus is all of the DLC for select original Xbox games is now available to download for free for owners of the titles. Those include Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Armed and Dangerous, Star Wars Battlefront, Star Wars Battlefront II, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Star Wars Republic Commando.

Without further ado, here are the final Xbox and Xbox 360 games that will be ad?ded to Xbox One:

Xbox

• Armed and Dangerous
• Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb
• Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent
• Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict

Xbox 360

• Asura’s Wrath
• Battlefield 2: Modern Combat
• Enchanted Arms
• Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
• Far Cry Classic
• Far Cry Instincts Predator
• Infinite Undiscovery
• Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
• Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands
• Skate
• Star Ocean: The Last Hope
• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
• Syndicate
• Too Human
• Unreal Tournament III

E3 2019??: What's Next for Xbox Backward ?Compatibility [Xbox Wire]

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Joint venture between the two companies

[Access Granted. Commencing Transmission]

Director @DavidMLeitch, @Jes_Chastain, and Jake Gyllenhaal are bringing Ubisoft’s The Division to Netflix. It’s the Tom Clancy high-stakes action you love, in the pandemic stricken Manhattan that offers no second chances. pic.twitter.com/cpi6JCp4EM

— NX (@NXOnNetflix) June 10, 2019

After a short bit on The Division 2, Ubisoft announced that a film will be coming to Netflix in the future. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain, this is a joint venture between the two companies to expand the world of The Division beyond gaming. Deadpool 2 director David Leitch will helm the film with the story focusing on Manhattan from the first Division title.

That's literally all we know right now. I'm not sure if The Division is the series I would have adapted in??to a film, but the setting is rich for human drama and political intrigue...well, if you wanted to make a political statement, that is.

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Three-player co-op

The next entry in Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six is coming in early 2020 and it is a co-op experience. Titled Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Quarantine, the game will feature t??eams of up ??to three players engaging in tactical game play.

According to a press release from Ubisoft, Quarantine takes place a few years in the future of the Rainbow Six universe. Rainbow operators will do battle against a lethal alien parasite infecting humans and their surroundings. Ubisoft Montreal sees the game as a radical transformation of the co-op experience, or as lead game designer Jade Adam-Granger put it, "What Siege is to the PVP shooter genre, we want Quaratine to be to co-op."

Rainbow Six Quarantine will launch for PC, PlayStatio??n 4, and Xbox One, and will be part of Uplay+, the new subscription service Ubisoft is launching.

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No sequel planned, but potentially an upgrade

Ubisoft is continuing with its intentions to not release a sequel to its ultra-tactical team shooter Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege. Speaking with British newspaper The Daily Star, the developer reiterated plans to?? support the 2015 title going forward, with hopes of transitioning the action onto powerful next-gen platforms.

"We don't want a sequel whatsoever," said Brand Director Alexandre Remy. "The reason behind this is we don't want to segregate our community between the different platfor?ms. In an ideal world tomorrow, we'd love players from every platform to be able to play together. We are approaching next-gen with the same spirit."

Rainbow Six Siege has gone from strength to strength, despite its now infamously false E3 reveal and a rough first year. Today, now in its fourth year. the difficult but addictive multiplayer title still enjoys fresh maps, operat??ors, weapons, and balance changes, with ongoing tweaks to visuals, HUD design, sound, and even in-game maps as the game rolls through its ongoing seasons.

Despite these plans to move the door-kicking action onto platforms such as the PS5, The Siege team are hoping to make the migration as easy as possible, and are hoping to prevent players from requiring a fresh purchase of the game. "We've been asking how can we make the player base of Siege today be able to ??migrate - if they want to migrate, that is," continues Remy, "but also make this (as cheap) as possible, or through backwards compatibility."

I'm personally a fan of Siege, despite my awfulness at its "blink-and-yer-dead" gameplay. But I do wish, rather than adding more characters, that Ubisoft Montreal would take time out to look at other elements, such as weather effects, more hostage types with better animations, or more detailed textures. Of course, being an ?? online game, stability and efficiency is favoured over attractiveness, but hopefully the arrival of the next gen will allow the opportunity to give Nomad, Twitch, Lord Tachanka, and friends a fresh coat of paint.

Rainbow Six Siege is available now on PS4, PC and Xbox One.

Rainbow Six Siege confirmed for next generation [Daily Star]

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Here are all the class details

The Division 2's fourth specialization class has no interest in taking cover, which is a unique angle in a cover-based shooter. Rather, Gunners will wear the bullets in the?ir face and grin the whole time.

Ubisoft has shared more details about the Gunner specialization, and it's meant to be an absolute tank. Gunners are equipped with a minigun, and a Banshee Signature Skill that confuses enemies and causes them to stumble out of cover. They have a special grenade that ensnares enemies in foam, rendering them immobile and easy pickins for your teamm??ates.

The Gunner requires som?ething of a fundamental rework of the way specialization ammo functions. Specialization ammo gives bonus armor rather than a limited number of shots. This allows the Gunner to stand in the open and mow down enemies. They're meant to deal damage and to take damage. That bonus?? armor is important because this class can't enter cover when the minigun is drawn.

This new specialization ?will go live alongside Title Update 4 sometime later in June. When it does, most players will have to work to unlock it. Ubisoft has locked the Gunner behind something it ??calls "Special Field Research," which is a series of five in-game challenges. However, anyone who ponied up for the Year 1 Pass will get instant access to the Gunner.

Agents who are really itching to get their hands on a minigun don't have to wait on Title Update 4, though -- provided they're playing on PC. The Gunner goes live on the Division 2's Publ?ic Test Server tomorrow. Go forth and tank.

New Specialization -- Gunner [Ubisoft]

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More like a loot vault, but whatever

The looter shooter, a genre that facilitates a hoarder-like mentality, inevitably pushes its players into a single most-rewarding direction: Get as much gear as you can as quickly as possible with the least amount of effort exerted. The most famous example is the loot cave in the original Destiny, an area where players shot into a dark cave at endlessly respawning enemies. Most every similar game has an area where people find an?? exploit that leads to high-rate gear drops. In a g??enre that incentivizes min-maxing loadouts and gear sets, why wouldn't players min-max their time spent to rewards received ratio?

Finally, after more than two months, The Division 2 has a loot cave to call i??ts own. It can be found in the Bank Headquarters mission during the section where you have to defend a computer terminal from enemy forces. Rather ?than holing up by the terminal, this method requires that you meet the enemies where they spawn, effectively bottlenecking their exit strategy.

The video that's embedded above explains everything in detail. The optimal approach has teams of four equipped with light machi?negun DPS builds. Everyone takes turns throwing flame turrets which act as crowd control, lighting all the enemies on fire. They'll constantly respawn for the full two-minute defense section. After they're cleared out, grab the loot, have your party wipe themselves out with concussion grenades, and you'll load back into the beginning of the area. It can be repeated as many times as you want.

As the video explains, playing on Hard or Challenging difficulty leads to the best results. The enemies are tough enough that they'll drop a lot of high-end loot, near-endless yellow pillars to rummage through after everyone's dead. For players who are in that 500 gear score range, this is a fantastic place to hunt god-roll equipment; or for people who mostly have the stuff they want, this is an opportunity to find something with that perfect talent or attribute -- which they can then add to their gear through The Division 2's recalibration station.

However, nothing lasts forever. Ubisoft will almost certainly nerf this as soon it can. Get ?in w??hile the gettin's good.

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