Activision yesterday announced that its next Call of Duty game, called Warzone, is launching today. At around 8 AM PST, owners of Modern Warfare will be able to experience the Warzone couple of hours before everyone, while the rest of the players will have to wait until noon PST to play. The game itself is a massive, free-to-play, battle royale style game that can fit 150 players in the single match and is cross-play enabled, meaning that folks with PCs can join forces with Xbox and PlayStation players. The download size of the game is going to be around 80-100 GB alone, so players will have to free up some space on their disks for that. Below you can watch the trailer and see how the game looks before it officially drops today.

NVIDIA recently launched its GeForce Now game streaming service, where you could stream any game from your digital library on some capable hardware. However, it seems that the service is not receiving good acceptance from some game makers, specifically Activision Blizzard. In a surprising turn of events, Activision Blizzard has pulled out its entire game library from the GeForce Now game streaming service. Being a provider of many popular titles like Call of Duty series, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, etc. this makes a big blow to the GeForce Now service.

Underlying reasons for this move are unknown. Activision Blizzard has been a part of the GeForce Now Beta program, with its games being readily available. What made them pull out now, when the streaming service began operating just a few days ago, is the possibility that Activision Blizzard seeks more profits. Some speculations indicate that they are switching the streaming platforms or making their own. The sheer size of players utilizing Activision Blizzard games is astonishing, and if they decide to make their service, it could turn out to be very profitable.

Activision's latest blockbuster in the Call of Duty franchise has been announced to have brought in something to the tune of $600 million to the company's coffers. That's a whole lot of money - but remember we're talking about an actual finished Call of Duty game that includes a single-player campaign. Yearly installments have proven to not do any harm to Call of Duty - it remains one of the biggest entertainment launches every year, which is part of the reason why Activision has three development studios constantly working on the franchise, with three-year development cycles for each title (this particular release was created by Infinity Ward). That's a big level of commitment, and it usually shows in the finished quality of the games.

The game has overtaken all previous releases in the franchise for this current generation of consoles (and PC). Reasons for that surely include the reference to one of the franchises most beloved entries, the homonymous Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the return of Captain Price, but surely the presence of a single-player campaign and the absence of any microtransactions pulled their weight in this release success. If there were any doubts on Call of Duty keeping its momentum, they have to be postponed to next year's release.

The official system requirements for the Call of Duty: modern Warfare Beta have been outed, and these should remain pretty close to the final release version requirements. If you want to enjoy the game's implemented NVIDIA RTX features, you know you'll have to have an NVIDIA RTX graphics card - that part is pretty straightforward.

Luckily, the system requirements for non-RTX gameplay aren't too steep; this is a Call of Duty game we're talking about, after all. Even though these games usually offer more than adequate graphics, this is a twitch shooter; the better frame rates players can have, the better and more fluid the action is; and hence, an optimized game engine is key. For the minimum system requirements, a Core i5 2500K "or AMD equivalent" is required, paired with an NVIDIA GeForce 670 2 GB (jeez, they really went into their dust bin for this one) or, puzzlingly, a GTX 1650 4 GB; for the AMD camp, a Radeon HD 7950 is all that's necessary. The recommended specs call for an Intel Core i7 4770K "or AMD equivalent" paired with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4 GB / GTX 1660 6 GB or an AMD Radeon R9 390 / RX 580. The games' beta will be available for all players tomorrow, September 21st.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's re-release will see the game supporting real-time raytracing, and given NVIDIA's current stand in the market as the only provider of hardware-accelerated raytracing capable GPUs, this partnership makes total sense. NVIDIA has announced that they will be bundling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with select RTX series GPUs, which gives gamers on the fence towards buying an RTX graphics card one more reason to take the plunge.

The bundle is available for eligible GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, 2080, 2070 Super, 2070, 2060 Super and 2060 products, whether in discrete card or laptop/desktop pre-built form. The game will be taking advantage of ray tracing and adaptive shading, and will bring gamers back to Soap and Price's story.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2080 Ti OC Call of Duty : Black Ops 4 Edition graphics card, an exclusive limited-edition version that's restricted to a production run of just 500 units and available only in selected territories. Decorated with the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Edition insignia, the card pairs the NVIDIA A-list GPU with gargantuan power delivery and cooling, and boasts out-of-the-box Boost clocks up to 1665 MHz to ensure performance stays silky smooth during frantic action.

ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2080 Ti OC Call of Duty : Black Ops 4 Edition keeps Turing cool by adopting a 2.7-slot design and devoting most of that real estate to a large heatsink that has 20% more surface area than previous-generation cards. The massive fin assembly allows completely passive operation during light gaming, and when active cooling is needed, it's provided by three IP5X-certified Axial-Tech fans developed specifically for the task. Featuring a smaller hub and longer blades surrounded by a barrier ring to increase structural integrity and static pressure, the new fans shift more air and generate less noise.

For all the talk regarding money-grabbing feature cutbacks and additions to games, it seems that companies such as Activision know exactly what their customers are looking after in their videogame worlds. Proof of this is that the latest installment in the Call of Duty franchise, Black Ops 4, is the best selling videogame of 2018, according to the NPD Group. If you'll remember, this is the first Call of Duty game to totally eschew a single-player mode in favor of a no-holds-barred multiplayer mode, thus betting in replayability and user interaction instead of on the ages-old single-player immersion.

ASUS today introduced a Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 co-branded variant of its ROG Swift PG258Q gaming monitor. This includes game branding on the front bezel, a Black Ops 4 logo projected below the monitor stand instead of the ASUS ROG logo (customizable), and the monitor's RGB LED embellishments glowing in Black Ops 4 shade of amber. The rest of this 25-inch monitor's feature-set remains unchanged: 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution, 240 Hz refresh-rate, a TN-panel, 1 ms (GTG) response time, 350 cd/m² maximum brightness, and support for NVIDIA G-Sync, along with ULMB (ultra low motion blur). Display inputs include DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI. Available now, the ASUS ROG Swift PG258Q Call of Duty - Black Ops 4 Edition is priced at USD $549.

Update: ASUS reached out to us that their product page for this monitor had inaccuracies related to resolution, panel type, and response-time. We have hence corrected them.

NVIDIA today released GeForce 416.34 WHQL "Game Ready" drivers. These drivers provide optimization for "Call of Duty: Black Ops 4" (retail), "Soulcaliber VI," and "GRIP." Among the fixed issues with this release are buggy shadows in "Player Unknown's Battlegrounds," some games launching to a black screen when DSR is enabled, a colorful shimmering line noticed in some games when playing full-screen with G-SYNC enabled, Surround display not being available from NVIDIA Control Panel with Edge browser running, and green screen display corruption on certain games with HDR enabled. Grab the drivers from the link below.DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 416.34 WHQL

The change-log follows.

AMD has released the Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.10.1 beta drivers. These drivers include support for Microsoft's Windows 10 October 2018 Update as well as optimizations for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Along with improved support, AMD has addressed a number of issues with this latest release. First of which is a fix for the HDMI audio drivers not upgrading during the Radeon Software installation in some circumstances. Random reboots when upgrading from Radeon Software versions older than RSAE 18.8.1 on CPUs with more than 16 cores has also been resolved. In regards to gaming fixes, Fortnite sees lighting corruption when effects quality is set to High or Epic resolved, while Sea of Thieves sees texture flickering in multi-GPU configurations fixed. You can grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.10.1 BetaThe change-log follows.

Treyarch has revealed more details on what multiplayer maps will be included in the upcoming COD: Black Ops 4. Besides the list below, also included are three Zombie Campaign maps and the "Blackout" map that we've seen in Beta.

As expected, the list of maps is a mix of new and remade maps. In total, 14 maps will be available at launch, with four of them being remakes. The highly popular "Nuketown" map will be added to the game after release, in November.

Players of the Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Beta certainly remember the 90 FPS cap the game was running at. Back then Treyarch promised that for release the FPS cap will be increased (or lifted).

Now we have final confirmation on what the company's plans are, straight from the developer. For the PC platform, the framerate will be capped to 120 FPS, to keep server load at acceptable levels. Over time this limit will be increased to 144 FPS and possibly removed at a later time, if everything ends up being stable. This is quite surprising as this is the first time we're hearing about FPS rates affecting server load.

Today, ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG), announced a collaboration with Activision and Intel to produce a range of limited edition Call of Duty : Black Ops 4 products in advance of the upcoming release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 on PC. Expanding on the recently announced partnership, with Activision, which allows consumers who purchase qualifying ASUS and ROG products access to Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, similarly, consumers who purchase certain limited edition ROG Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 products will receive a game code that will allow them to access the Digital Standard Edition for PC at launch. In addition, a unique integration with ROG's AURA Sync technology allows the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 emblems and RGB lighting elements to echo what's happening during gameplay.

NVIDIA today released GeForce 399.24 WHQL "Game Ready" drivers. These drivers come with optimization for the month's biggest AAA game launch: "Shadow of the Tomb Raider," in addition to "Call of Duty: Black Ops 4" - open beta, and "Assetto Corsa Competizione" - early access. There aren't too many issues fixed with this release. Apparently it addresses a performance drop when using NVIDIA cards on a 32-core/64-thread processor, like the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX. It also addresses drivers not correctly installing on machines with ye olde Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors.DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 399.24 WHQL

Today, ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG), announced a partnership with Activision, for the upcoming release of Call of Duty : Black Ops 4 on PC. From September 10th to October 12th, ROG will be the first digital PC game bundling provider of Call of Duty : Back Ops 4. Consumers can gain access to the game by purchasing an eligible ROG product during the promotion period. With a strong dedication to PC gamers, the Call of Duty team and ROG have worked closely on a unique collaboration with their AURA Sync technology across multiple product lines.

"We are beyond thrilled to be partnering with ASUS Republic of Gamers in an unprecedented way for Black Ops 4," said Ander Nickell, Director of Partnerships at Activision. "Our development teams are hard at work making this the best PC Call of Duty game yet. ASUS ROG shares that commitment to the community, so it was a natural fit to bring our brands together to deliver something special to fans."

NVIDIA debuted its R399 series of GeForce software, which could be its final sequence before GeForce RTX family of graphics cards are released to market, likely accompanied by a new series of GeForce software (likely R400 series?). Version 399.07 WHQL is "Game Ready" for "Battlefield V Open Beta," F1 2018, "Immortal: Unchained," Pro Evolution Soccer 2019, "Strange Brigade," and "Switchblade." The drivers also add SLI profiles for F1 2018 and "Immortal: Unchained."

GeForce 399.07 WHQL addresses a number of bugs, including blurry screen noticed on "Rainbow Six: Siege" with TAA dialed up to 100%; diagonal screen-tearing on notebooks with MSHybrid; incorrect OpenGL rendering context on GeForce GTX 1050 and GTX 1070; missing textures in "Doom" (2016) with the Vulkan renderer; random BSODs on Oculus VR software; stability issues with "LA Noire VR," and stuttering in some exotic configurations on "Call of Duty: Black Ops 4." A key bug with G-Sync stuttering on machines upgrading to Windows 10 1803 has also been fixed. Grab the driver from the link below.DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 399.07 WHQL Software

NVIDIA late Monday rushed out the GeForce 398.98 Hotfix drivers to address glaring bugs with "LA Noire VR." Apparently the game notices crashes and stuttering with the latest GeForce 398.86 Beta drivers. The drivers also fix a stuttering issue noticed on some configurations trying to run "Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Beta." Hotfix releases lack WHQL certification, and are released to correct one or two major bugs that require NVIDIA's immediate attention. Unless you're playing the two games mentioned, you'd rather skip the driver update as the change-log lists no other updates.DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 398.98 Hotfix

Activision Blizzard, Inc. today announced second-quarter 2018 results.

"This was another strong quarter for Activision Blizzard. Our portfolio of global franchises enabled us to deliver record first half revenues and earnings per share," said Bobby Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard. "This past weekend we held the Overwatch League TM Grand Finals. We had a very successful first season as we enhanced our leadership position in esports. And, today we announced two additional Overwatch League franchise sales at record prices, adding Atlanta, Georgia and Guangzhou, China to our league. We plan to announce additional franchises over the next few months."

NVIDIA today released GeForce 398.82 WHQL drivers. These drivers are game-ready for the week's hottest game releases: "World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth," and "Monster Hunter: World." The drivers also add or update SLI profiles for "Call of Duty: Black Ops 4" and "World of Warcraft." The drivers fix color corruption seen on "World of Warcraft: Legion" on machines with G-Sync HDR and Windows HDR mode enabled. The drivers also bring back graphics settings in "Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus," and missing G-Sync Control Panel on machines with G-Sync Surround. Grab the drivers from the link below.DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 398.82 WHQL

The change-log follows.

Well, add this one decision by Activision to either a sensible, forward-thinking, profit-maximizing business decision or as another in a death by a thousand cuts scenario for the Call of Duty series. As big a behemoth as the series is, we doubt this will see the end of it; but whatever the side of that particular fence you're on, the decision to lock all eventually-launched DLC content behind a pay-once, get-it-all paywall seems to have struck the wrong cord with gamers and fans of the series.

Activision has announced that all future DLC releases will only be available and launched for Season Pass holders, and won't be able to be purchased in separate packages. There may be various reasons for this decision; one of them is that gamers are paying the development cost for DLC upfront, and thus, Activision knows exactly how much it can stretch the budget in each of the content releases. They can't change the actual release contents - those are set with the Season pass Announcement - but it's almost guaranteed they will scale back in map and asset complexity according to how many Season Pass bundles they sell - and thus, money they make.

NVIDIA today released GeForce 398.11 WHQL software. These drivers come game-ready for "Vampyr" and "Jurassic World: Evolution." The drivers also officially introduce G-SYNC HDR, requiring G-SYNC capable HDR displays. It also adds or improves SLI support for "Warhammer: Vermintide 2." It fixes an issue with "Hitman" in DirectX 12 mode, where the game crashes if the in-game HDR mode is enabled and Windows HDR setting is "off." Also fixed is an issue with "Call of Duty: WWII" in which the center display in 3D Vision Surround setups can go blank.DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 398.11 WHQL

The change-log follows.

It's time to soldier up because Black Ops is back! The series which has become the most played in Call of Duty history as well as a cultural phenomenon around the globe returns October 12th with the release of Call of Duty : Black Ops 4, a gritty, grounded, all-out combat experience. Black Ops 4 raises the bar for Multiplayer mode that increases tactical gameplay and player choice, along with the biggest Zombies offering ever with three full experiences at launch, and Blackout, where the Black Ops universe comes to life in a massive battle royale experience featuring iconic characters and locations from all four Black Ops games in a one-of-a-kind offering that is uniquely Black Ops. Published by Activision and developed by award-winning studio Treyarch, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 transforms the established universe played by hundreds of millions of fans with the largest gameplay experience ever created in the series.

"Black Ops 4 gives our community more ways to have fun with their friends than anything Treyarch has ever created and introduces meaningful innovations to every element of the game, including next level tactical team-based multiplayer, the biggest zombies offering yet and Blackout, where the largest map in Call of Duty history brings together the rich universe of Black Ops," said Rob Kostich, EVP and GM, Call of Duty. "More than 200 million players have called Black Ops home, and they've played for more than 15 billion hours. This is an incredible community that has inspired the development team to take their innovative gameplay design to new heights."

News reported by Polygon paint the next installment in the metronome-like cadence of annual Call of Duty game releases as a much less interesting package than gamers are used to. Citing industry sources, Polygon is reporting that Call of Duty Black Ops 4 is going to shed its single player campaign entirely, citing a lack of development time to deliver it on launch. This is strange for a number of reasons. First, Treyarch, who's helming the games' development this time around, enjoyed a three-years development period to make the game happen; second, there's no need to do anything else than some incremental changes to the game's engine, as has been the case for COD games for years, so that couldn't have taken up much development time; third, using development resources to "just about" finish the games' campaign and then ultimately deciding to scrape it altogether just seems like a very bad business move.

Black Ops is back! In what represents a game-changing experience, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will revolutionize the top-selling series in Call of Duty history when it launches worldwide on Friday, October 12 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Call of Duty fans can tune in Thursday, May 17, when publisher Activision, a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), and award-winning developer Treyarch host the community reveal to a worldwide audience.

Players can join the Resistance starting today as Call of Duty: WWII - The Resistance, the first DLC pack for the No. 1 top-selling console video game of 2017 in North America, is out now, available first on PlayStation4. Packed with new multiplayer content, The Resistance DLC pack delivers three new Multiplayer maps and an all-new War Mode multiplayer mission themed to reflect the spirit of the citizen soldiers who fought for freedom during World War II. The DLC pack also features The Darkest Shore, the terrifying new chapter in the twisted Nazi Zombies saga. In addition, this first DLC pack from Call of Duty: WWII, lands during The Resistance community event (January 23 through February 27), a five-week celebration that features new gear, game modes and Supply Drop content available to all players.

In The Resistance DLC pack, players will fight in iconic World War II locations, from Paris to Prague, all centered around historic uprisings in three new Multiplayer maps and an all-new high-octane War Mode map.