Patrick Kelly remembers the pitch meeting vividly. The room full of developers and Activision executives had convened at Infinity Ward's offices in Woodland Hills, California, in early 2018. It was time for Kelly and his longtime colleague Dave Stohl, who together serve as co-studio heads for Infinity Ward, to pitch their big idea. The project was code-named "Magma." And the plan was to create the biggest ever battle royale, one tied to the world of the studio's planned 2019 release, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare." Upon completion, the project would be re-christened as "Warzone." "Okay, so here's the thing," Kelly said, reenacting his pitch to the room.

This month we welcomed a new video game generation with the thrilling (if rather limited) arrival of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 machines. Whether you've already received your shiny new console (and not a bag of cat food), or you're hoping a plucky relative has managed to secure you one for Christmas, you might be wondering: what extra gadgets will I need to get the most out of this coming era? The good news is, your current flatscreen TV and gaming headset will almost certainly work fine with the new machines – you don't have to rush out and buy anything else. But if you're seeing this as an opportunity to update your whole gaming set-up, here are a few accessories we've tested and recommend. Your current 4K TV will give you a decent visual experience when attached to the new consoles, especially if it supports the HDR10 standard. However, lots of new PS5 and Series X games can be played at super slick 120hz (or 120 frames per second), and to experience that you'll need a compatible TV with an HDMI 2.1 port.

David Goyer is a master of multimedia. He's written screenplays for blockbuster films including Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, TV series such as "Da Vinci's Demons" and "Constantine," video games including "Call of Duty: Black Ops" and "Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR series." Goyer took time recently to discuss "Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War," the latest entry in the multibillion-selling first-person franchise from the set of "Foundation," the Apple TV series based on the books by the late Isaac Asimov on which he is a writer and executive producer. Despite the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the game's developers at Treyarch and Raven Software opted not to add any hint of the crisis into the game, says Goyer, who was a writer and story consultant on "Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War," out now, for PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and PCs on Battle.net'Madden NFL 21':Update for PS5, Xbox Series X and S brings more realistic moves to the game midseason The Game Awards:'The Last of Us Part II' leads video game nominees for next month's event "People have asked me on'Foundation,' are you going to weave the idea of COVID into the show even though that show takes place in the future," Goyer said.

Right from the story's start, the game hints that something is off. You're placed into a mission in Vietnam that your character had no business participating in, purely in terms of timeline and narrative. Conversations happen in which you forget about things you've evidently done. TVs will turn on and off in your presence. It all culminates in a fascinating end-of-game twist, where it's revealed that your entire team has been lying to you, sometimes clumsily, through their teeth.

This Monday, save on Apple smartwatches, Mario Badescu spray and more. Purchases you make through our links may earn us a commission. The countdown to Black Friday has officially begun but you don't have to wait until after Thanksgiving to get great deals. You can shop an awesome Amazon sale any day of the week, as the mega-retailer hosts regular price drops on all kinds of products, from home essentials to wearable tech and more. This Monday, for instance, you can get exceptional savings on everything from the iRobot Roomba 981--a dust-busting delight that can help make messy floors cleaner--to a top-rated electric pressure washer. So kick back, grab a cup of tea and get ready to enjoy these five best deals happening on Amazon now.

With its single-player story campaign, the first-person shooting game, which is out today for PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and PCs on Battle.net Somehow, the Russians swiped a U.S. nuke in 1968 and now that mistake has come back to haunt the Reagan Administration. That trip back in time nets intelligence needed to track Perseus, a Soviet mastermind who aims to use the bomb to attack the U.S. The search takes your character across the globe with stops in a Berlin still separated by the wall, Cuba, the Ukraine, Russia, and even into the heart of KGB headquarters. That nerve-wracking mission within the security agency is only one of many mind games awaiting players in this highly-entertaining sequel to 2010's "Call of Duty: Black Ops." In that earlier game, you played primarily as Alex Mason, a CIA operator who we learned was brainwashed by the Soviets.

Moreover, "Cold War," "Modern Warfare" and "Warzone" will continue to feature live service elements, per a blog posted Thursday, with a new battlepass featuring "Cold War" coming in December. More content likely means more required storage space, and while Activision's plan allows players to progress in the battlepass and earn Call of Duty XP regardless of which of the three versions they're playing, the sheer volume of required disk space may push players to choose their favorite version of the franchise, limit space for non-COD games or modify their usual gaming behaviors in other ways.

The next Call of Duty video game returns to the setting of the original Black Ops, when Cold War intrigue dominated global relations. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, out Nov. 13, will be available for Sony PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PCs on Battle.net The action takes place during the Cold War in 1981, which was "a year that saw two global superpowers locked in a nuclear arms race, conspiracies about presidential elections, illegal military operations on both sides, the paranoia of spies living next door, and looming over all of this was the fear and shadow of World War III," said Dan Vondrak, creative developer at Raven Software. Nintendo Switch:Popular game consoles are finally back in stock--here's where to get one Summer games:Coronavirus-curbed video gamers are falling for'Fall Guys' and other diversions Raven worked on all previous Black Ops games and, for the new game, teamed up with another Activision-owned studio Treyarch, which has spearheaded the previous Black Ops releases. Black Ops Cold War is a direct sequel to the original Black Ops, which was set in the Sixties and included action in Cuba and the Vietnam War.