Activision and Infinity Ward have released a new trailer for the upcoming Call of Duty: Ghosts’ campaign, and there are a few important hints in it that relate to previously unknown aspects of the story.
No one is denying that the Call of Duty franchise is centered firmly around the multiplayer, but both Infinity Ward and Treyarch have spent a fair amount of time crafting the worlds that their respective games are set in, specifically the Modern Warfare and Black Ops universes. It is possible that Ghosts takes place in the same universe as Modern Warfare, but the new game will be a standalone story – or at least the first chapter of a new story.
The voice over actor does sound an awful lot like Bruce Greenwood, who played the unseen commander code named“Overlord” in the Modern Warfare games, but our sources confirm that it is not him. Even without Greenwood’s participation though, there may be characters from the Modern Warfare universe that appear in Ghosts, making it an indirect sequel. Even the name “Ghosts,” along with the mask the protagonists wear, is reminiscent of the character Ghost from the MW games.
The trailer begins with an assault in space, apparently by enemy forces who then use an American orbital weapon against the United States, crushing urban centers and leaving the country open to a full scale invasion. And yes, if you were wondering, modern bullets have their own chemical oxidizers that can ignite without oxygen, so a gun could fire even in the vacuum of space.
The voice over then goes on to identify the previously unnamed foes as “Rods,” which could be an abbreviation or a slang term for the enemy that came from “South of the Equator.” That doesn’t necessarily mean the enemy itself is from the southern hemisphere, just that it advanced from there.
There also appears to be a father-son storyline at the heart of the game. Black Ops II featured a family-centric plot as well, but the games almost certainly aren’t connected in terms of story. Treyarch and Infinity Ward share a lot of the franchise’s features, but they have each remained separate when it comes to storylines and characters.
Beyond that, the trailer doesn’t reveal much of the campaign beyond what we already know: The U.S. has been trashed and invaded, the resistance consisting of Special Forces members new and old operate under the name “Ghosts,” and you go on missions with the occasionally playable uber-dog Riley (that will probably die at some point in the game, because, ya know, drama).
The trailer is solely focus on the single-player, but for a look at the multiplayer, check out our recent hands-on. Speaking of multiplayer, the trailer also promises a pre-order bonus in the form of the map “Free Fall,” available on all platforms except the Wii U.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.