Author: trafficblast

The second beta weekend for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is about to begin, and you can start pre-loading it right now. Activision has confirmed that pre-loading for PS4, Xbox One, and PC is available now, while the company has also clarified what’s in the beta and more about what to expect from it.

Pre-Loading And File Size

Pre-loading is probably a good idea, considering the file size is relatively large. According to CharlieIntel, the file sizes are as follows: PS4 — 31 GB / Xbox One — 20.5 GB / PC — 42.2 GB

You can pre-load Black Ops Cold War’s Weekend 2 beta right now, and no codes are required. Also of note, PS4 players who took part in the first beta weekend do not need to download the client again.

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Marvel’s Avengers has a new patch on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and it introduces some major new content. The big new additions to the endgame are Tachyon Rifts, which contain exciting new gear, and the SHIELD Substation Zero, which promises new characters and narrative. While the patch is live now, the new content won’t arrive until October 15.

With patch 1.3.3, SHIELD has opened its Substation Zero Outpost, which will be looking into temporal anomalies. This promises “new narrative, characters, and content,” although the patch notes don’t get too specific about what this will all look like. It’ll appear in the Pacific Northwest region of the War Table once it arrives.

The Tachyon Rift missions also relate to these anomalies, hurling players into dangerous environments where Tachyon storms will damage them over time (but also charge up their Heroic energy faster). These missions require a 140 Power Level or higher, and are available once per day, rotating out daily. They will also offer up a Cosmic Gear, a new tier of high-powered gear for your Avengers.

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Anchorman director Adam McKay’s next movie for Netflix, Don’t Look Up, has one of the most star-studded casts we can recall. Oscar-winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep, along with Oscar nominated actor Timothee Chalamet, have joined the cast for the film, and they are just the latest huge names to board the project.

The rest of the cast includes Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Jonah Hill, Himesh Patel, Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi, Matthew Perry, Rob Morgan, and Tomer Sisley.

The comedy centers on two astronomers who are trying to warn humankind about an asteroid that might wipe out humanity. According to Variety, DiCaprio and Lawrence will play the two scientists, but this is not confirmed. Filming is projected to start before the end of the year.

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Kraven the Hunter is a fearsome tracker who once killed Spider-Man. Who would you cast in that role? Jeffrey Dean Morgan? Manu Bennett? Joe Manganiello? Idris Elba (he’s good in everything)? Sony and Marvel have settled on comedian and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, if the comedian’s own tweet is to be believed.

We’ve reached out to Sony directly for confirmation of this casting, but have not yet heard back as of the time of this writing. Really, this could be an elaborate ruse by Kimmel to slyly announced Matt Damon will play the role, for all we know. After all, the duo have had a long and very funny history of pranking each other.

On the one hand, searching for “Jimmy Kimmel prank” turns up 632,000 results on Google. On the other, Marvel has toyed with weird casting before. Paul Rudd wasn’t an immediately obvious choice for a superhero, but has turned Ant-Man into a household name. We raised an eyebrow when Marvel cast comedian Kumail Nanjiani in the upcoming Eternals film alongside Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie, and then he got so ripped that the collective internet paused for a minute to take notice, proving that he can at least look the part.

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Microsoft’s new Xbox studio, The Initiative, has hired another developer from The Last of Us studio Naughty Dog to work on the company’s first game. Lauren Garcia, who was the character shading technical director on The Last of Us: Part II is now working at The Initiative as a senior shader technologies developer.

Garcia announced the news on Twitter, saying, “This is an incredible team working on something truly special.” The Initiative’s first game remains unannounced, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer has offered a tease that it could be a reboot of a classic series.

The Initiative was announced at E3 2018 as part of Microsoft’s wider announcement of new studios and acquisitions. Based in Santa Monica and close to Naughty Dog’s offices, the company says its ambition is “about craft, creating story, innovating, and looking ahead to the next big thing.” While the company is owned by Microsoft, it claims to operate independently.

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NVMe SSDs are the fastest storage you can put into your PC right now, and while the technology is looking forward to Gen4 speeds that rival the upcoming PS5 and Xbox Series X, Gen3 NVMe SSDs are still worth investing in. Amazon currently has a fantastic Prime Day deal on a 1TB WD Black SN750 NVMe SSD for $120, down from its regular price of $250.

It’s worth keeping in mind that your motherboard may not support a Gen4 SSD, so there’s actually a benefit to going with a Gen3 SSD like this one. You need compatible M.2 slots on your motherboard for NVMe SSDs, and if you put a Gen4 SSD in a Gen3 motherboard, you won’t be able to take full advantage of the SSD’s max speeds. Because of this, you can save quite a bit of money buying Gen3 NVMe SSDs instead.

WD Black SN750 1TB NVMe SSD

$120 (was $250)

The SN750 has read/write speeds of 3,430MB/s. While the bigger deal belongs to the 1TB model, the 500GB model is also discounted to $63 (down from $80). If you order the 1TB model, please note you will have to wait a few weeks for it to ship–the 500GB model can be delivered by the end of the week.

See at Amazon

If you are looking for an NVMe SSD that meets the speed requirements of the PS5, then you’ll be happy to hear that Western Digital recently revealed its Gen 4 lineup. That includes the WD Black SN850 NVMe SSD, which can reach read speeds of 7,000MB/s and write speeds of 5,300MB/s.

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