Following a riot at the US Capitol building, Twitch has followed the lead of other notable social media companies and disabled Trump's account. A statement from Twitch cites the president's "incendiary rhetoric" as the cause."In light of yesterday's shocking attack on the Capitol, we have disabled President Trump's Twitch channel," the statement reads. "Given the current extraordinary circumstances and the President's incendiary rhetoric, we believe this is a necessary step to protect our community and prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence."Twitch is the latest in a string of tech companies that have taken action against President Trump's accounts, following riots that he helped to instigate. Twitter temporarily disabled his account for 12 hours, while Facebook banned him from both the social media platform and Snapchat for at least the next two weeks, "until the peaceful transition of power is complete." Shopify also removed branded Trump stores.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Although Netflix is no longer The Office's streaming home in the U.S. (that honor now belongs to Peacock), people sure got their mileage out of the popular sitcom's final days on Netflix according to the latest U.S. streaming numbers from Nielsen. The information, data, and measurement firm synonymous with TV ratings clocked the mockumentary sitcom about the fictional paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania as a staggering 1.3 billion minutes for the period of December 7 to 13.This is, it should be noted, also the seventh instance of The Office taking the top spot since the company started charting streaming last summer. And given the relative lag time on these numbers being reported, it would be reasonable to expect The Office (on Netflix, anyway) continued to carry weight through to the end of December.The only spot on the top 10 not belonging to Netflix is the second place with another obvious entry: The Mandalorian, on Disney+, got nearly an even 1 billion minutes across the measured week in mid-December. With a massive amount of new Star Wars TV shows and movies making their way to Disney+ in the future, something Star Wars is likely to make repeat appearances on these Nielsen lists. Meanwhile, Schitt's Creek, which took the top spot in a recent ratings list, is still holding strong with 621 million minutes--ranking at 10 overall.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Facepunch Studios is trying to capitalize on the recent wave of new players that has flocked to its popular game Rust by quickly providing updates and new features. The studio announced that it had enabled Twitch drops, increased its server capacity, added streamer-specific rewards, and more, all via its monthly update."We're expecting to see huge player counts over the coming days, server capacity is something we're keeping a close eye on and proactively bringing more servers online," the studio wrote in a post on its official site. "We're already boosting the official server count by 13 servers preemptively today."We've just launched 4 new EU servers:EU Facepunch 7 - client.connect 54.37.245.102:28015EU Facepunch 8 - client.connect 54.37.245.102:28020RU Facepunch 4 - client.connect 51.77.57.19:28015RU Facepunch 5 - client.connect 51.77.57.19:28020 pic.twitter.com/UvCRr8fIcV — Rust (@playrust) January 7, 2021Rust cracked the 1 million viewer threshold in 2021 thanks to a number of big-time streamers picking the game up. Facepunch enabled Twitch drops for those who are watching streamers play the survival game. A couch, industrial door, and "hobo barrel" can be unlocked for watching eight hours of Rust content on Twitch.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Over the years, Grinding Gear Games' Path of Exile has steadily improved its core hack-and-slash gameplay as it incorporates significant new features that spice up the flow of the game. While the developers are still working on its sequel, Path of Exile 2, the original game isn't showing any signs of slowing down. As revealed during a livestream, the latest expansion, Echoes of the Atlas, will upgrade the action-RPG's extensive endgame, and will launch on PC January 15, and for Xbox One and PS4 on January 20.Just before Grinding Gear Games' reveal stream, we had a chance to speak with managing director Chris Wilson about Echoes of the Atlas, how it will change the endgame and incorporate gameplay from previous expansions. Along with his thoughts on the state of the game, he also explained how work on Path of Exile 2 has improved the original for the better.The Echoes of the Atlas expansion features a whole suite of changes coming to the game, which includes rebalances, new endgame content centered on the Atlas of Worlds world map, and new pinnacle boss fights that can open up pathways for more powerful loot. While previous expansions like Harvest, Delve, and Heist was available to all players, the core content from the Echoes of the Atlas expansion is catered more towards high-level players with decked out character builds. The expansion will also add in new passive skill trees that can be unlocked from completing high-end challenges from the new NPC known as the Maven, who appears after clearing bosses on the world map.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

In a move that is seen as the biggest removal ever in a single day, Apple has deleted some 39,000 mobile games from its Chinese app store, according to Reuters.The mass removal comes as Apple initiated a year-end crackdown on unlicensed games by Chinese authorities. As a result, including the 39,000 pulled games, the company took down a total of 46,000 apps from the Chinese iOS app store on New Year's Eve. As cited by Reuters, the research firm Qimai said only 74 of the top 1,500 paid games made it through the purge.Publishers had until December 31, extended from end-of-July initially, to submit a government-issued license number allowing the use of in-app purchases in their games. The titles affected include the mobile-exclusive Assassin's Creed Identity and NBA 2K20, according to Qimai. It's unclear which others games have been removed from the app store.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Activision has rolled out the newest playlist updates for Call of Duty: Warzone and Black Ops Cold War, adding new multiplayer modes and, in Warzone's case, removing a few as well. Additionally, wider patches for both games are now available.Starting January 7, playlist updates for both titles will go live on Thursday. You can find what's new in each title, as well as what's been removed from Warzone, in the list below. Read on for the full patch notes.Call Of Duty: Warzone January 7 Playlist UpdateAdded:Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds' 10.2 patch is now live on the game's test servers. Several changes are coming with it, including in-game TVs streaming esports events, a new car, a reputation system, and an update to ranked mode.First up for the patch is the new PGI.S (PUBG Global Invitational.S). This event pits teams from around the globe against each other in weekly tournaments. Each week these teams will fight it out for placements, and will earn prize money as the overall tournament continues. If you want to watch these skirmishes play out, you can do so in-game as PUBG will now have 10 displays set up around the Miramar and Erangel maps which will livestream the tournaments while they're happening. There will also be an event called PGI.S Pick'em where players can earn PGI.S gear for correctly predicting tournament winners. If you don't want to see the livestreams in your game, you can opt to turn the TVs off in your settings menu.Now for what this patch is bringing to the regular game. A new vehicle is entering the arena, the Coupe RB. It's a vintage two-seater sports car that can hit a top speed of 150km/h. Be warned, it only spawns on the Miramar, Sanhok, and Erangel maps.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Call of Duty: Warzone players have been using a companion app to cheat the battle royale's competitive matchmaking system. The creators of Warzone Companion, an app that helps players avoid cheaters by displaying K/D ratios before a game, was forced to adjust the stats it displays in pre-game lobbies. Some players were using the stats to back out of lobbies that had players with high K/D ratios."Cheaters are one of the worst problems of Warzone and online gaming overall," Dmitry Shymko, the CEO of COD Stats, the company that runs the app, told Eurogamer. "We wanted to help the community and highlight those players that are having extremely high metrics in their previous matches and at the same time give an instrument for players to see that they just might die to the lucky shot."Yep it's Official Warzone is ChalkedThis app ruins the game completely and now makes a lot of things make sense🙃 pic.twitter.com/6J5hwYKtvw — XSET JaredFPS (@JaredFPS) January 3, 2021The app was designed to help players check pre-game lobbies to see if anyone had stats that are only attainable through cheating. Players ended up using the app to avoid unfavorable lobbies altogether. COD Stats issued a patch that now displays the K/D ratio information after the pre-game warmup, among other changes, earlier this week. Now the app can no longer serve its original purpose of helping players avoid Warzone's rampant cheating problem.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

CES 2021 is days away, but Acer has gotten ahead of the new tech announcements with one of its own. The company unveiled its May lineup of gaming monitors, including one that boasts HDMI 2.1, the technology that the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S both use to output 4K and 120Hz. The Acer Nitro XV282K KV will be the company's first HDMI 2.1 gaming monitor, and among the first to release in general, as the technology is just now being adopted by monitors.The HDMI 2.1-capable Acer Nitro gaming monitor features a 4K resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, and $900 price tag. While the PS5 and Xbox Series X may be more widely used with this monitor, users who are able to snag an RTX 3000 series graphics card will also be able to make use of the HDMI 2.1 tech. And while HDMI 2.1 offers its own VRR (variable refresh rate) technology, it will also support FreeSync Premium for PC gaming with DisplayPort and HDMI 2.0 cables--though your features will be limited with the latter. Potential buyers can also expect HDR600.Acer Nitro XV282K KV gaming monitor$900Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Mortal Kombat 11 is gruesome in all the ways we've come to expect from NetherRealms' organ-shredding fighter, but what if you could witness all that viscera from a more intimate perspective? Well, stay away from me you weirdo; and also, you can!Modder Ermaccer (via DSOgaming) has released the Custom Cameras mod on Github. It includes both first-person and third-person modes, the latter of which places the camera behind your back similar to what you might find in a third-person action game. The first-person camera is really the draw, though, letting you see your opponent straight-on.A video shows the mod in action, and it seems to run pretty smoothly on the whole. Be sure not to use this in any competitive modes, though, because as a mod it could be determined to give you an unfair advantage.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

The livestream platform Twitch is experiencing some issues, according to Twitch Support. Various features aren't loading on the site, including streams. While the company has identified the issue, it's still investigating it to see what's preventing the site from loading.🔎 We are investigating an issue causing various features on Twitch not to load. Stay tuned! — Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) January 7, 2021As a result of streams not loading due to these server-side issues on Twitch, many broadcasts are moving over to YouTube, bumping to next week, or sitting on waiting screens while Twitch resolves the problem. The official Twitter accounts for Gears of War, Paladins, and Smite have all announced their plans in response to the current Twitch hiccups.This downtime comes on the heels of two notable moves on Twitch's part: removing PogChamp's emote due to the livestreamer's comments on the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and disabling Trump's account because of his "incendiary rhetoric." However, there isn't any indication this is anything other than a standard outage from Twitch, which last experienced downtime earlier this week.Info from Gamespot.com

Fortnite players are asking Epic Games to adjust the custom superhero skin after they've given some players an unfair advantage. The skin, with colors that can be changed to be all black, is nearly invisible when shrouded by in-game shadows."They should just give it a white outline or something simple like that," said Redditor Bruvneh. The skin originally required players to display an emoji on both the front and back, but Epic Games added an option to display nothing, giving players the ability to hide in plain sight.So do you guys think the black superhero skins need a nerf? from r/FortNiteBRThis isn't the first time this has happened in Fortnite. A skin that looked like the green army men in Toy Story had a similar effect where it couldn't be seen in some areas of the map. Epic adjusted that skin after players complained of a "pay-to-win" advantage that it provided.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Although Monster Hunter has been around for nearly two decades now, it wasn't until 2018's Monster Hunter World that the series truly exploded in popularity. Thanks in no small part to its myriad quality-of-life refinements, World opened the traditionally dense franchise up to a new audience and became Capcom's best-selling video game to date, and the series' next installment, Monster Hunter Rise for Switch, builds upon World's strides with a greater emphasis on exploration and mobility.We had a chance to play an early access version of Monster Hunter Rise's forthcoming demo, which offered a small taste of the game's different weapons and features. The demo consisted of two training missions, designed to acclimate players to the game's basic controls and new mechanics, as well as two proper hunts: a "beginner" quest to slay the new Great Izuchi, and an "intermediate" quest revolving around the returning Mizutsune.The backdrop for both hunts was the Shrine Ruins, an expansive bamboo forest dotted with cliffs, stone shrines, and waterways. The locale lent itself particularly well to showing off the Wirebug, Rise's most notable new gameplay wrinkle. Like Monster Hunter World's Slinger, this creature functions as a sort of grappling hook, allowing you to swing through the air and wrangle monsters. Despite these cursory similarities, however, the Wirebug is functionally quite different from the Slinger. For one, rather than latching directly onto a monster, you'll be using the Wirebug primarily to slingshot yourself toward or away from it, making the tool more about mobility.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Now that the third season of Cobra Kai is out on Netflix, we're left with a lot of questions about the future. What happens next between Johnny and Daniel? How will Kreese continue to ruin lives in the valley? And most importantly, how many massive karate brawls can happen before all of these teenagers are sent to prison? What the show is also doing, though, is showing how history can repeat itself.Warning: The following contains spoilers for Season 3 of Cobra Kai on Netflix. If you haven't seen the new episodes, stop reading now and get to it.When first introduced in Season 2, Tory (Peyton List) seemed to be the perfect foil for Sam (Mary Mouser). She was a girl with an edgy attitude, plenty of fighting skill, and wound up dating Sam's ex, Miguel (Xolo Maridueña). By the end of the season, though, what could have been seen as a normal teenage rivalry went into overdrive during the high school karate riot heard 'round the world. Tory did some serious damage to Sam, all because of a boy.Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com

Grinding Gear Games' Path of Exile has remained a popular free-to-play action-RPG since its debut in 2013. While the current game is still getting regular updates, the developers also have plans for a sequel, which was announced in 2019. Unfortunately, 2020 turned out to be a chaotic year for many, and developer Grinding Gear Games had to adapt to sudden changes in plans.Along with our chat about the Echoes of the Atlas expansion, managing director of Path of Exile Chris Wilson gave us an update on Path of Exile 2. The sequel is Path of Exile's next leap forward as a free-to-play action-RPG, adding in a new story, world to explore, and classes to level up and outfit with loot. While development is still progressing, Wilson spoke candidly about how the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the progress, and it may be a bit longer before we see the sequel's release."[Development] has been a bit slower than I would have liked, it was the biggest casualty of COVID--and I hate to blame COVID because it seems like everyone is doing that--but it really has had an impact on us," said Wilson. "That's mostly because we're still committed to getting our normal expansions out, we're not going to allow problems to affect our current maintenance of the game, so that means we've had to pull developers from PoE2 from the last year back onto this game. That's been fine, and there's plenty of work there, but that does mean it's been a bit rocky with the sequel's work being done behind the scenes. It also doesn't help that with New Zealand's borders being closed, we can't hire other developers from overseas. But to cut a long story short, things have been slow."Continue Reading at GameSpotInfo from Gamespot.com