We’re now roughly halfway through the third season of the multiplayer experience in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and the dev team is looking to freshen things up with a new content drop. A group of new maps is prepared to roll out to the game, giving players the following battlegrounds:

• Signal – a 6v6 / 2v2 map set in a submerged sea-base
• Haven – a 6v6 map set in a dilapidated estate spreading across several buildings
• Blazetown – a 420 take on Nuketown that adds some bright colors and murals to the classic map

All three maps are releasing for free with today’s update for the game. You can get a glimpse of what’s in store in the trailer below:

Assassin's Creed Shadows has been out for a little over a month now and personally I loved it. I absolutely loved Odyssey but Valhalla? Ehh not so much. Shadows however is exactly what I wanted out of the series and spent so much time just sneaking around and raiding those bases and spending more time than I wanted searching for that final Samurai I needed to kill to unlock the hidden chest. Man, they really hid those guys really well. Anyways, the game was great and now it's time to look to the future as the year 1 roadmap has finally been revealed.  

In May and June we will be getting a free drop of new story content with codex updates, updates to allies and more quality of life updates. We will also be getting a update focused on updating the parkour in the game along with photo mode updates. 

Later this year we will be getting the first major expansion to the game titled "Claws of Awaji" which will a major post game expansion opening up a new island on the map. This update will be paid DLC but will be free for those who pre-ordered the game. 

Check out the trailer below for full details on what's coming for the rest of the year for Assassin's Creed Shadows.  

It's been over two years since the initial teaser but Dune: Awakening, the open-world survival MMORPG set on Arrakis and in the world of the iconic Frank Herbert series of books is finally around the corner. With its release on PC just a few weeks away more and more concrete info is finally filtering through. While the story trailer from last week was very interesting, what is really catching my attention is the "Building Arrakis" feature that released today, embedded below. This one really goes into how the harsh climate of the desert planet really effects gameplay and strategy and goes deeper into faction alliances and particularly base building. 

I love the Dune novels, think the recent films by Denis Villeneuve were a triumph, and am so hoping Dune: Awakening can pull this game off. Stepping into the world of Arrakis in a video game would be a dream come true. That release date, June 10th for PC, can't come soon enough. Pre-orders are already available on Steam, with later releases onto consoles also announced and anticipated.

Borderlands 4 will be releasing later this year but now we won't have to wait as long as we used to as the release date for the game was actually moved up! The original release date was September 23rd 2024 but the date was then moved up to September 12th 2024. We also got the announcement today that Sony will be doing a deep dive of Borderlands 4 with a special State of Play dedicated to the game and it will air tomorrow. 

The presentation will be around 20 minutes long and will include interviews with the Gearbox team as they provide a deep dive into the gameplay of Borderlands 4 including missions, weapons, skills and will show off brand new characters along with returning favorites. 

The Borderlands 4 State of Play will air tomorrow, April 30th at 2PM PST / 5PM EST and will air of Sony's official media channels including Youtube and Twitch. 

There’s no bigger thrill as a member of the gaming media than to peruse the list of press releases on a random Tuesday, and subsequently have your mind blown by a game you’ve never heard of. On this occasion, that game is God Save Birmingham (Bur-meeng-um, to some), an open-world zombie survival game set in Birmingham, England during the year of lord, thirteen-hundred and fifty-nine. Developer Ocean Drive Studio revealed a first look at gameplay today with a new eight-minute trailer that is seriously impressive, and I’ve been dying to share it with you all afternoon.

I’ve scrubbed through the trailer multiple times now, admiring nearly everything about it. I simply can't believe some of the things I'm seeing with this one. The graphics, the physics engine, the immersive nature of how objects interact with each other, the lighting – all of it. I implore you to watch it.

God Save Birmingham is coming to Steam Early Access soon, with a console release also planned. You can wishlist it now on Steam, but I really don’t want to wait any longer. Do I have to?

Hooded Horse and Eremite Games have announced that its dark fantasy roguelite city-builder, Against the Storm, is stepping away from the comforts of PC gaming and heading to consoles on June 26^th. Porting studio QLOC is bringing the game over to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.

Against the Storm sees players leading all manner of creatures, from humans to harpies as they reclaim the wilderness build a future for what remains of civilization. Currently available on PC Game Pass, Against the Storm boasts a 95% “overwhelmingly positive” rating on Steam with more than 28,000 reviews. Reading through a few of them, it sounds like this game is the real deal, so I’m looking forward to checking it out on console.

Check out the new console announcement trailer before you roll on:

I’ve been with Gaming Nexus long enough to establish myself as the resident simulator nerd amongst our staff. As our in-house sim fan (not Swim Fan), it is my responsibility to evangelize the genre and rope my teammates in whenever possible. Focus Entertainment’s upcoming heavy-machinery-disaster-rebuilding-simulator, Roadcraft, presents such an opportunity with its drop-in/drop-out cooperative play, complete with cross-platform support, and optional shared progression.

I’ve shared the good news in the Gaming Nexus team chat and, much to my surprise, I’ve already had several volunteers to operate equipment for my recovery operations. Thankfully, there's not much longer to wait now, as Roadcraft launches May 20^th for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, tasking you and your team with operating heavy machinery across treacherous terrain and disastrous conditions to rebuild together. Check it out in a the brand new co-op trailer below:

I’ve mentioned recently how I am pleased as punch that Bethesda games are still dropping onto Playstation consoles. I’m even more pleased to see official communication coming out with the little PS logo on the PlayStation YouTube channel and highlighting how the system and especially PS Pro are accelerating the game development, as is the case with the latest video for Doom: The Dark Ages embedded below. 

Sure the trailer is mostly focused on the new playspace in the Cosmic Realm and the unique baddies that the Slayer will have to take on, but there is a nugget or two about ray tracing and how the PS ecosystem made development that much faster and I’m here for it as it keeps some fantastic games from Bethesda lineup on the system I play on. Huzzah!

As for the gameplay footage, there’s more to salivate over. While not a tutorial, the makings of the parry and counter systems are there to see and interplay between melee and gunplay is becoming more and more apparent. Can’t wait for Doom: The Dark Ages to release in about two more weeks, on May 15th. Of course it’s not just for PS5; PC and Xbox Series X|S will also be diving in that day as well. 

As you're going to wait about another month for Elena to make her Street Fighter 6 debut, Capcom has shown her off, continuing to dangle the capoeira. She looks more dangerous than ever, and yes, she can heal herself. It seems to be her critical art, which can only be used once she's low on health, and has a level 3. I'll probably get worked by her. It's only fair. Elena is the bane of my Street Fighter existence. She owns me. 

In more Street Fighter 6 news, the game will be reduced to 39.99 for the PS4/PS5, Xbox Series, and Steam, while the Fighters Edition comes with all the DLC from seasons one and two. That version will be priced at $59.99. Remember the Switch version comes with the Calorie mode, and the joycon fighting mode. You can check out Elena below. And if you haven't played Street Fighter 6, what are you waiting for? 

Remedy Entertainment has been cooking up its three-player cooperative first-person shooter, FBC: Firebreak, and they’re almost ready to serve it up. The studio announced yesterday during a developer livestream that it will launch on June 17^th for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S with a $39.99 Standard Edition, or $49.99 Deluxe Edition. If you have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, PlayStation Plus Extra, or PlayStation Plus Premium, don’t get your wallet out just yet though, as FBC: Firebreak is a day one launch title on those services. Remedy also announced that Firebreak will get post-launch support into 2026, including additional missions, cosmetics, and more, which will be free to all players.

If FBC: Firebreak sounds familiar to you, that’s because it is set in the Control universe and sees players returning to the Federal Bureau of Control, assuming the role of their first responders dealing with supernatural threats inside the Oldest House. Teams of up to three players take part in PvE missions, navigating escalating zones that progress to a boss battle against a major anomaly.

If you’re interested in knowing more, you can check out the recent developer livestream below: