<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential]]></title><description><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential delivers honest, unfiltered takes on video games and the gaming industry - for hardcore players and complete newbies alike.]]></description><link>https://gamerconfidential.substack.com</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QgLk!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf63696e-9138-4ade-a2c0-45b0a2212040_1200x1200.png</url><title>Gamer Confidential</title><link>https://gamerconfidential.substack.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 05:26:06 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[Carlie Tuttle]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[gamerconfidential@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[gamerconfidential@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[gamerconfidential@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[gamerconfidential@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[The Game That Stole My Heart from Call of Duty]]></title><description><![CDATA[I called it quits and found a new obsession.]]></description><link>https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/the-game-that-stole-my-heart-from</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/the-game-that-stole-my-heart-from</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 21:38:59 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YqWW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Facd405ae-f34c-4237-86f4-619ed0a17a23_480x362.gif" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;ve read my articles, you know I&#8217;m a massive Call of Duty fan.</p><p>Over the last few years, my love for the new COD games has completely faded. I&#8217;m genuinely heartbroken. The game that helped shape me as a gamer has lost everything that made it special.</p><p>It feels like breaking up with a boyfriend - except this time, Call of Duty, it really was you, not me.The franchise just isn&#8217;t the same anymore. Everything that once made it fun and unique is gone.</p><p>It&#8217;s like watching someone get so much plastic surgery that you can&#8217;t even recognize who they are. All the natural features are gone, replaced by this creepy, smooth, uncanny valley doll that looks like every other overdone face in Hollywood.</p><p>It just makes me sad. Deeply sad.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L4-h!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F462145f9-c4a7-4190-92e9-d7079295c30e_300x220.gif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L4-h!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F462145f9-c4a7-4190-92e9-d7079295c30e_300x220.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L4-h!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F462145f9-c4a7-4190-92e9-d7079295c30e_300x220.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L4-h!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F462145f9-c4a7-4190-92e9-d7079295c30e_300x220.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L4-h!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F462145f9-c4a7-4190-92e9-d7079295c30e_300x220.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L4-h!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F462145f9-c4a7-4190-92e9-d7079295c30e_300x220.gif" width="420" height="308" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/462145f9-c4a7-4190-92e9-d7079295c30e_300x220.gif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:220,&quot;width&quot;:300,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:420,&quot;bytes&quot;:2951216,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/gif&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L4-h!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F462145f9-c4a7-4190-92e9-d7079295c30e_300x220.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L4-h!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F462145f9-c4a7-4190-92e9-d7079295c30e_300x220.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L4-h!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F462145f9-c4a7-4190-92e9-d7079295c30e_300x220.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!L4-h!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F462145f9-c4a7-4190-92e9-d7079295c30e_300x220.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption"> representative footage of me having a crash out</figcaption></figure></div><h3>Why CoD Lost Its Spark</h3><p>I&#8217;ve said this many times before: the campaign tells you everything you need to know about a Call of Duty game. I&#8217;m a huge campaign gal, and the recent ones have been straight-up terrible. Zombies? Don&#8217;t get me started -  that mode has been completely ruined forever.</p><p>Multiplayer was the only thing still keeping 2024&#8217;s Modern Warfare 3 alive until they killed that, too. Voice chat monitoring turned lobbies dead-silent. The chaotic trash talking lobbies were what made COD iconic! Now no one talks and if they do, there&#8217;s no real engagement. The game just feels like a sad, neutered shadow of what Call of Duty used to be.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AcOu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d317743-61d5-4d60-969e-755c732cfef6_500x500.gif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AcOu!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d317743-61d5-4d60-969e-755c732cfef6_500x500.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AcOu!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d317743-61d5-4d60-969e-755c732cfef6_500x500.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AcOu!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d317743-61d5-4d60-969e-755c732cfef6_500x500.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AcOu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d317743-61d5-4d60-969e-755c732cfef6_500x500.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AcOu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d317743-61d5-4d60-969e-755c732cfef6_500x500.gif" width="290" height="290" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/2d317743-61d5-4d60-969e-755c732cfef6_500x500.gif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:500,&quot;width&quot;:500,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:290,&quot;bytes&quot;:5487897,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/gif&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AcOu!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d317743-61d5-4d60-969e-755c732cfef6_500x500.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AcOu!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d317743-61d5-4d60-969e-755c732cfef6_500x500.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AcOu!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d317743-61d5-4d60-969e-755c732cfef6_500x500.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AcOu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d317743-61d5-4d60-969e-755c732cfef6_500x500.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Call of Duty Warzone - Rebirth map </figcaption></figure></div><p><br>The devs constantly brag about diversity, but if they were actually bringing in fresh voices and real ideas, we&#8217;d be playing a better game and getting new creative maps instead of the same cookie-cutter layouts every year.</p><p>Real diversity creates genuine contrast and balance. Maps should force you to adapt, communicate with your teammates, and improve as a player. The best maps I&#8217;ve ever played had shifting hot spots, so the point of contention in the fight never stayed in the same place for too long.</p><p>But that&#8217;s not what we&#8217;re getting with these new game releases. The clever map design is gone. No more surprising vantage points, hidden passageways, or moving choke points that actually rewarded skill. Now every map has the same predictable meet-up spots where both teams face off in the same locations.</p><p>Gamers are stuck playign with recycled game ideas. Sure, bringing back old classic maps is nice once in a while, but when that&#8217;s basically all the game has to offer, it shows just how little creativity is left.</p><p>It&#8217;s the same story across every form of media right now. Movies, TV, and games are playing it safe, regurgitating content because nobody at the top wants to take real risks. Who are these people and how did they get there?</p><p>What really hurts is seeing these high-positioned people sacrifice the soul of Call of Duty for this twisted, quota-driven version of &#8220;diversity.&#8221; They didn&#8217;t bring new ideas. They just slap on a fresh coat of paint, knowing their fan base will pay for slop marketed as new and unique, while letting go of everything that made the franchise special.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YqWW!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Facd405ae-f34c-4237-86f4-619ed0a17a23_480x362.gif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YqWW!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Facd405ae-f34c-4237-86f4-619ed0a17a23_480x362.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YqWW!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Facd405ae-f34c-4237-86f4-619ed0a17a23_480x362.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YqWW!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Facd405ae-f34c-4237-86f4-619ed0a17a23_480x362.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YqWW!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Facd405ae-f34c-4237-86f4-619ed0a17a23_480x362.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YqWW!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Facd405ae-f34c-4237-86f4-619ed0a17a23_480x362.gif" width="480" height="362" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/acd405ae-f34c-4237-86f4-619ed0a17a23_480x362.gif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:362,&quot;width&quot;:480,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1222448,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/gif&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YqWW!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Facd405ae-f34c-4237-86f4-619ed0a17a23_480x362.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YqWW!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Facd405ae-f34c-4237-86f4-619ed0a17a23_480x362.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YqWW!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Facd405ae-f34c-4237-86f4-619ed0a17a23_480x362.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YqWW!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Facd405ae-f34c-4237-86f4-619ed0a17a23_480x362.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">this is how I feel inside </figcaption></figure></div><h3>My Gaming Breakup Era</h3><p>So I took a six month break from games. Literally hadn&#8217;t picked up a controller.</p><p>It was a dark time. With no Call of Duty, I was like that movie drunk, surrounded by empty bottles, slumped on the couch, totally out of it. Only, I wasn&#8217;t drunk on booze. I was drunk on life! Swimming in the ocean, soaking up paradise, not giving Call of Duty a single thought.</p><h3>Then I Met Battlefield 6</h3><p><a href="https://www.ea.com/en/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/seasons/bf6-season-2">Battlefield 6</a> dropped on October 10, 2025, and it was EVERYWHERE on social media. Epic clips, medic montages, people actually having fun. With over 7 million copies sold in the first few days, I couldn&#8217;t resist. I&#8217;ve always had a type when it comes to FPS games, after all.</p><p>I&#8217;d played Battlefield I and V years ago and loved them. Those games were set during World War I and World War II, with battle locations from the era. The campaigns were such a blast! I swear they could be turned into movies. I even learned a tidbit of history along the way. Truly phenomenal.</p><p>Switching from Call of Duty to Battlefield is a big change. It&#8217;s like trying to ride a bike, but the bike is actually a boat, and you&#8217;re legally blind. The gameplay is completely different. Battlefield has realistic gun mechanics, bullet drop, and you actually need tactics to win. While Call of Duty rewards solo players, Battlefield 6 pushes you to work as a team.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yS_I!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F97f418d2-f1ab-4a4b-8caa-67989a8bfa0a_480x480.gif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yS_I!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F97f418d2-f1ab-4a4b-8caa-67989a8bfa0a_480x480.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yS_I!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F97f418d2-f1ab-4a4b-8caa-67989a8bfa0a_480x480.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yS_I!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F97f418d2-f1ab-4a4b-8caa-67989a8bfa0a_480x480.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yS_I!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F97f418d2-f1ab-4a4b-8caa-67989a8bfa0a_480x480.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yS_I!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F97f418d2-f1ab-4a4b-8caa-67989a8bfa0a_480x480.gif" width="480" height="480" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/97f418d2-f1ab-4a4b-8caa-67989a8bfa0a_480x480.gif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:480,&quot;width&quot;:480,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:3550521,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/gif&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yS_I!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F97f418d2-f1ab-4a4b-8caa-67989a8bfa0a_480x480.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yS_I!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F97f418d2-f1ab-4a4b-8caa-67989a8bfa0a_480x480.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yS_I!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F97f418d2-f1ab-4a4b-8caa-67989a8bfa0a_480x480.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yS_I!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F97f418d2-f1ab-4a4b-8caa-67989a8bfa0a_480x480.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">you&#8217;re looking at the actual crispiness of in game match content (besides the cinematic close up of soldier at start). It&#8217;s epic (Empire State map) </figcaption></figure></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HGm4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff86124bc-eec4-48ab-ac40-6ccdaaeabce6_480x270.gif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HGm4!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff86124bc-eec4-48ab-ac40-6ccdaaeabce6_480x270.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HGm4!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff86124bc-eec4-48ab-ac40-6ccdaaeabce6_480x270.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HGm4!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff86124bc-eec4-48ab-ac40-6ccdaaeabce6_480x270.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HGm4!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff86124bc-eec4-48ab-ac40-6ccdaaeabce6_480x270.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HGm4!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff86124bc-eec4-48ab-ac40-6ccdaaeabce6_480x270.gif" width="480" height="270" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/f86124bc-eec4-48ab-ac40-6ccdaaeabce6_480x270.gif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:270,&quot;width&quot;:480,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:4852911,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/gif&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HGm4!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff86124bc-eec4-48ab-ac40-6ccdaaeabce6_480x270.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HGm4!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff86124bc-eec4-48ab-ac40-6ccdaaeabce6_480x270.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HGm4!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff86124bc-eec4-48ab-ac40-6ccdaaeabce6_480x270.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HGm4!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff86124bc-eec4-48ab-ac40-6ccdaaeabce6_480x270.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">the chaos of being a medic class - uber epicness (Siege of Cairo map) </figcaption></figure></div><h3>The Classes Breakdown</h3><ul><li><p><strong><a href="https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/news/assault-class">Assault</a></strong>: The front line powerhouse with assault rifles and grenades.</p></li><li><p><strong><a href="https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/news/engineer-class">Engineer</a></strong> (my favorite): Repair vehicles and blow up enemy ones. Nothing beats fixing a friendly tank under fire, then launching a rocket at a chopper.</p></li><li><p><strong><a href="https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/news/support-class">Support</a></strong>: Drops ammo and health, throws smoke, provides cover for the team, and can revive teammates on or off your squad. Plus mortars for extra utility. Very useful and often underutilized.</p></li><li><p><strong><a href="https://www.ea.com/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/news/recon-class">Recon</a></strong>: Spots enemies, paints targets for the squad, and picks people off from across the map.</p></li></ul><p>Teamwork is paramount. Objectives actually matter, and you feel it when the squad works together.</p><p>The vehicles are on another level. Tanks, jets, helicopters, armored trucks, and even motorcycles create total chaos in the best way. I&#8217;ve seen pilots pull off stunts that look straight out of an action movie. Every Battlefield 6 match feels like you&#8217;re starring in your own movie scene.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qhae!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fabfb0626-550e-490d-9b05-3037432ee79b_480x480.gif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qhae!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fabfb0626-550e-490d-9b05-3037432ee79b_480x480.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qhae!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fabfb0626-550e-490d-9b05-3037432ee79b_480x480.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qhae!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fabfb0626-550e-490d-9b05-3037432ee79b_480x480.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qhae!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fabfb0626-550e-490d-9b05-3037432ee79b_480x480.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qhae!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fabfb0626-550e-490d-9b05-3037432ee79b_480x480.gif" width="480" height="480" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/abfb0626-550e-490d-9b05-3037432ee79b_480x480.gif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:480,&quot;width&quot;:480,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:6827325,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/gif&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qhae!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fabfb0626-550e-490d-9b05-3037432ee79b_480x480.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qhae!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fabfb0626-550e-490d-9b05-3037432ee79b_480x480.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qhae!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fabfb0626-550e-490d-9b05-3037432ee79b_480x480.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qhae!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fabfb0626-550e-490d-9b05-3037432ee79b_480x480.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">tanks are so destructive and op - its amazing (Liberation Peak map) </figcaption></figure></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-RNR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F976cb2c5-9f60-4812-b201-8ac04bc5beb0_480x270.gif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-RNR!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F976cb2c5-9f60-4812-b201-8ac04bc5beb0_480x270.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-RNR!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F976cb2c5-9f60-4812-b201-8ac04bc5beb0_480x270.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-RNR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F976cb2c5-9f60-4812-b201-8ac04bc5beb0_480x270.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-RNR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F976cb2c5-9f60-4812-b201-8ac04bc5beb0_480x270.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-RNR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F976cb2c5-9f60-4812-b201-8ac04bc5beb0_480x270.gif" width="480" height="270" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/976cb2c5-9f60-4812-b201-8ac04bc5beb0_480x270.gif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:270,&quot;width&quot;:480,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1606950,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/gif&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-RNR!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F976cb2c5-9f60-4812-b201-8ac04bc5beb0_480x270.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-RNR!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F976cb2c5-9f60-4812-b201-8ac04bc5beb0_480x270.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-RNR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F976cb2c5-9f60-4812-b201-8ac04bc5beb0_480x270.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-RNR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F976cb2c5-9f60-4812-b201-8ac04bc5beb0_480x270.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">like a Top gun movie (Operation Firestorm map)</figcaption></figure></div><p>Battlefield&#8217;s leaders have actually been listening to its players. Season 2 brought two new maps that feel totally different: the huge <strong>Contaminated</strong> map, a German mountainside airbase with rocky terrain perfect for wild vehicle battles, and the new <strong><a href="https://www.ea.com/en/games/battlefield/battlefield-6/news/battlefield-6-game-update-1-2-2-0#:~:text=New%20Map%3A%20Hagental%20Base">Hagental Base</a></strong>, released with the &#8220;Nightfall&#8221; update. Hagental Base puts you in intense, close-quarters night combat in complete darkness, so you have to use night vision goggles (NVGs) for a tense, atmospheric experience.</p><p>And guess what? The creative leadership includes Vince Zampella! That&#8217;s the guy behind many of the classic Call of Duty maps I grew up loving. He clearly brought some of that old magic with him.</p><p>Battlefield realized it had strayed from its roots and made a conscious effort to rediscover what made the series special. It shows, and the results speak for themselves.</p><h3>Final Thoughts</h3><p>Times change, and everyone wants to stay ahead. Games should evolve, but not by tossing out their soul. When a franchise trades its uniqueness for trends, it loses both its spirit and its loyal fans.</p><p>Battlefield 6 has changed but still stays true to what Battlefield is meant to be. That&#8217;s why it feels fresh, fun, and worth returning to. I support games evolving, but not if they lose their identity.</p><p>There&#8217;s a lot more to say about Battlefield 6, especially how each class and gun combo plays out, and what happens when someone doesn&#8217;t play their role. It&#8217;s wild. I love it. I&#8217;ll have a podcast episode or YouTube video on that soon.</p><p>Honestly, Battlefield 6 is the gold standard for big franchises. It grows and adapts but never loses its heart. Other games could take notes.</p><p>I&#8217;ll always have a soft spot for classic CoD. But right now, Battlefield 6 is where the fun is, and honestly, it&#8217;s treating me way better.<br><br></p><p>So, what do you think? Are you team CoD or team Battlefield? Drop your thoughts in the comments! I&#8217;d love to hear them.</p><div><hr></div><p></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Best Minecraft Video Ever]]></title><description><![CDATA[You Need to Watch this because it will change your life]]></description><link>https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/the-best-minecraft-video-ever</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/the-best-minecraft-video-ever</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 28 Aug 2025 19:41:38 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2j3u!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45bdf385-0516-4d59-a0a1-d64ec589f7c9_1303x828.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hello! Wow, it&#8217;s been a while since I posted (oopsie!), but I&#8217;m here to share something I don&#8217;t think most people know about.</p><p>A couple of weeks ago (okay a month ago), my brother introduced me to a Minecraft video on YouTube. The title was <strong>&#8220;<a href="https://youtu.be/ef568d0CrRY?si=tbZcVPXZB7CKRY2y">1000 Players Simulate Civilization: Rich &amp; Poor</a>&#8221;</strong> by a YouTuber named <em><a href="https://youtube.com/@ish?si=WIZSqDbrNzePgW9m">ish</a></em>.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2j3u!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45bdf385-0516-4d59-a0a1-d64ec589f7c9_1303x828.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2j3u!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45bdf385-0516-4d59-a0a1-d64ec589f7c9_1303x828.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2j3u!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45bdf385-0516-4d59-a0a1-d64ec589f7c9_1303x828.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2j3u!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45bdf385-0516-4d59-a0a1-d64ec589f7c9_1303x828.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2j3u!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45bdf385-0516-4d59-a0a1-d64ec589f7c9_1303x828.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2j3u!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45bdf385-0516-4d59-a0a1-d64ec589f7c9_1303x828.png" width="1303" height="828" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/45bdf385-0516-4d59-a0a1-d64ec589f7c9_1303x828.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:828,&quot;width&quot;:1303,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1490920,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/i/172202383?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45bdf385-0516-4d59-a0a1-d64ec589f7c9_1303x828.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2j3u!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45bdf385-0516-4d59-a0a1-d64ec589f7c9_1303x828.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2j3u!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45bdf385-0516-4d59-a0a1-d64ec589f7c9_1303x828.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2j3u!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45bdf385-0516-4d59-a0a1-d64ec589f7c9_1303x828.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2j3u!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45bdf385-0516-4d59-a0a1-d64ec589f7c9_1303x828.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>The timing was perfect. I had just finished work, eaten dinner, and didn&#8217;t know what to watch. My brother usually sends me good stuff, so I put it on the TV. Then I saw the runtime was two and a half hours, I thought, <em>okay&#8230; let&#8217;s see what this is. He watched it, so it&#8217;s gotta be good.</em></p><p>Oh. My. Gosh.</p><p>You guys. This was the <strong>BEST MINECRAFT VIDEO I HAVE EVER SEEN!</strong></p><p>It&#8217;s hard to explain how good it was. It felt like a movie, but also a social experiment&#8212;a simulation of what happens when players step into roles and just play for fun! Anything goes. And what unfolds is one of the best stories I&#8217;ve ever seen in Minecraft. And quite possibly the best on the screen I have seen in a long time.</p><p>I was only 20 minutes in when I had to pause the video because I was <em>gushing</em> to my sister about what just happened. I couldn&#8217;t stop talking about it, and when I explained the first big twists she looked at me and said, <em>&#8220;Wait&#8212;what?! No, we&#8217;re starting this over. I want to see it myself.&#8221;</em></p><p>So we did. We went back to the beginning, and that night we watched the whole thing together, absolutely blown away. We immediately called our family members and told them they <em>had</em> to watch it. And they did.</p><p>The crazy part? My family doesn&#8217;t watch Minecraft videos at all. In fact, they don&#8217;t watch YouTube gaming videos in general. So at first they were just curious, asking, <em>&#8220;Why are my kids going crazy over some game video?&#8221;</em> But we insisted: <em>please, just watch this one. It&#8217;s amazing.</em></p><p>A day later they called us back, completely blown away. Their reaction was basically, <em>&#8220;We didn&#8217;t even know what Minecraft was&#8212;how did they do that? The story was awesome!&#8221;</em> My parents were amazed by the builds, the unfolding drama, and even the cinematic camera work. They were gushing with questions: How could something like this be made? How does a thousand players all play together? How is it even coordinated?</p><p>And honestly, seeing my parents ask questions and get excited about gaming was so cool. Unless you play Minecraft yourself or actively watch it on YouTube, you don&#8217;t really understand just how much work, creativity, and intricacy goes into these kinds of projects.</p><p>Games have evolved so much in such a short time. (That&#8217;s a talk for another time, though. &#128521;)</p><p>The Minecraft video really is like a literal movie. A full story emerges, but I don&#8217;t want to spoil anything. You&#8217;ll just have to trust me: watch this <a href="https://youtu.be/ef568d0CrRY?si=tbZcVPXZB7CKRY2y">video</a> (or I should say <em>movie</em>) and tell me what you think. Who were your favorite characters? Which civilization did you root for? And if you could live in one of the civilizations, which would it be?</p><p></p><p><strong>Quick Context (for non-Minecraft players)</strong></p><p>&#8226; <strong><a href="https://www.minecraft.net/">Minecraft</a></strong>: A sandbox game released in 2011 where players build, explore, and survive in randomly generated worlds made of blocks. It&#8217;s one of the most popular and longest-lasting games in history, still going strong over a decade later.</p><p>&#8226; <strong><a href="https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods">Mods</a></strong>: Short for modifications&#8212;player-made add-ons that change how the game looks or works. Mods add new textures, animals, monsters, blocks, or even game mechanics. They&#8217;ve helped Minecraft evolve way beyond its original form.</p><p>&#8226; <strong><a href="https://discord.com/">Discord</a></strong>: Think of it like a giant group chat app built for gamers. Each community (called a &#8220;server&#8221;) has different channels for text, voice, and video chat. For this event, ish used Discord to organize the players, announce updates, and let everyone communicate as the simulation unfolded.</p><p>Usually, a Minecraft video is just one person (or a small group) recording their world. But <em>this</em> was one thousand players dropped into a server, split into civilizations, and given freedom to shape their own societies. The story unfolded in real time. So it was chaotic, unpredictable, and brilliant. You couldn&#8217;t script this if you tried.</p><p>Watching this video made me realize just how far Minecraft has come as a game. The Minecraft I played in high school has completely changed in the best way. I&#8217;ve grown up, but so has Minecraft. It <em>had</em> to evolve. And the fact that it still has such a massive, thriving player base is proof of how well it&#8217;s adapted over the years.</p><p></p><p><strong>What Makes This Video Different</strong></p><p>What&#8217;s amazing is that it never lost its core identity. Minecraft still feels like <em>Minecraft</em>, but it&#8217;s matured with its audience. Kids who played with <strong>Minecraft Beta or Version 1.0</strong> are now in their 20s and 30s, and they&#8217;re still playing a game that just never gets old.</p><p>Every update has made it richer: new textures, new biomes, new resources, new tools&#8212;and new <strong>mobs</strong>(Minecraft&#8217;s word for creatures like animals, villagers, and monsters). On top of that, there are <strong>mods</strong>(short for modifications), which the community creates to add new features, mechanics, or even entire worlds. Together, updates, mobs, and mods keep Minecraft endlessly fresh.</p><p>And the secret to its success? Mojang listens. Every official update is shaped by player feedback. That constant back-and-forth between developers and community is why Minecraft has never gone stale, and why it&#8217;s still one of the most beloved games more than a decade later.</p><p>It&#8217;s like watching your kid grow up. I don&#8217;t even have kids, but I swear I feel a parent&#8217;s pride when it comes to Minecraft.</p><p>And speaking of pride, let me just say I am so proud of YouTuber ish. When I first watched his video, it had only just been posted that day. Looking through ish&#8217;s other simulated experiments, this one was clearly a step up in production quality. The scale, the editing, and the storytelling was next-level for him. It was amazing to see.</p><p></p><p><strong>Final Thoughts</strong></p><p>Honestly, this video made me want to join <a href="https://discord.com/invite/state">ish&#8217;s Discord server</a> and take part in the next civilization event, just to see if I have what it takes to help shape the story myself.</p><p>A thousand players came together, each adding their own flare, personas, their own agendas, and the result was unpredictable, brilliant, and an absolute joy to watch unfold.</p><p>That&#8217;s why this didn&#8217;t feel like &#8220;just another Minecraft video.&#8221; It felt like a full-blown movie.</p><p>So yes, I totally recommend watching it.</p><p>And when you do, come back and tell me: Who were your favorite characters? Which civilization would you join?</p><p></p><p>&#128073; Watch here: <a href="https://youtu.be/ef568d0CrRY?si=tbZcVPXZB7CKRY2y">1000 Players Simulate Civilization: Rich &amp; Poor</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[I Finally Finished Breath of the Wild ]]></title><description><![CDATA[It only took 4 years]]></description><link>https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/i-finally-finished-breath-of-the</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/i-finally-finished-breath-of-the</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 28 May 2025 18:20:01 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mkZT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe91d6aa7-fe21-40d7-9d5d-ae7d347caf99_760x428.webp" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mkZT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe91d6aa7-fe21-40d7-9d5d-ae7d347caf99_760x428.webp" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mkZT!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe91d6aa7-fe21-40d7-9d5d-ae7d347caf99_760x428.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mkZT!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe91d6aa7-fe21-40d7-9d5d-ae7d347caf99_760x428.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mkZT!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe91d6aa7-fe21-40d7-9d5d-ae7d347caf99_760x428.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mkZT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe91d6aa7-fe21-40d7-9d5d-ae7d347caf99_760x428.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mkZT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe91d6aa7-fe21-40d7-9d5d-ae7d347caf99_760x428.webp" width="760" height="428" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e91d6aa7-fe21-40d7-9d5d-ae7d347caf99_760x428.webp&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:428,&quot;width&quot;:760,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:36658,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/webp&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/i/164666852?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe91d6aa7-fe21-40d7-9d5d-ae7d347caf99_760x428.webp&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mkZT!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe91d6aa7-fe21-40d7-9d5d-ae7d347caf99_760x428.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mkZT!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe91d6aa7-fe21-40d7-9d5d-ae7d347caf99_760x428.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mkZT!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe91d6aa7-fe21-40d7-9d5d-ae7d347caf99_760x428.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mkZT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe91d6aa7-fe21-40d7-9d5d-ae7d347caf99_760x428.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p></p><p></p><p>"It's just a video game."</p><p></p><p>That&#8217;s what I told myself as I sat on my couch at 10PM, watching the credits roll on my living room TV. I had finally finished Breath of the Wild after four long years of on and off sessions. The soft music was a score I had never heard before; triumphant and epic and yet soft and delicate. A wet blop fell down my face&#8230; I was crying. A lot.</p><p></p><p>Ugly crying.</p><p></p><p>Snot running down my nose crying. Eyes puffy and red, throat closed up like I just finished watching Saving Private Ryan type of crying. But this was Zelda. It was a video game. I started laughing at my own hysterical reaction and yet... I couldn&#8217;t explain the overwhelming rush of emotion that clogged my head and throat. I couldn&#8217;t even speak. I sat there, stunned. It was late enough that I don&#8217;t think I could have called anyone to explain. Like I needed to talk to someone about how amazing this game was. The entire experience blew be away.</p><p></p><p>Yes, I was happy. I had completed the game. But that wasn&#8217;t it. What flooded through me was everything I&#8217;d felt on the long, four-year journey that led to me sobbing on the couch. The reason I was crying wasn&#8217;t because of the ending&#8212;it was the adventure I had gone through to complete it.</p><p></p><p>All the fun came from exploring the vast open world and living in it. Link had to learn how to cook to regain health, restore stamina, and get power-ups. This was essential for dodging the red lasers of the Guardians that infested the map. Fighting monsters (Hinox, Talus, Molduga, Divine Beasts, and Lynels) took patience and strategy. But the rewards were always worth it.</p><p></p><p>There was a thrill in finding hidden shrines and solving their tough puzzles. Taming wild horses and naming them was a surprise twist I never expected. Finding the cute little Koroks in the most random places on the map gave me Korok seeds. Those little seeds were able to help expand my weapon slots! How cool!</p><p></p><p>Uncovering the tragic mystery of Link&#8217;s memories took me across the entire map. I explored the water kingdom of the Zora. The desert oasis of the Gerudo. The cold alpine terrain of the Rito. The volcanic land of the Goron, with scorching air that could turn you to charcoal. Each realm had its own culture and species, and somehow, it all made sense together.</p><p></p><p>Talking to the people in each realm revealed how Ganon's evil had taken root in Hyrule. Yet the theme of every village, stable, and kingdom reflected the spirit of the people. The calm, serene, and happy music echoed their light and laughter&#8212;still present in a world that had lost so much. It carried an underlying theme of hope wherever you went on the map. Breath of the Wild created an enchanting world through its sound and style. I knew it was a video game, but the story and characters grew on me like barnacles to a ship. And when the game ended, it all came gushing out.</p><p></p><p>The ending to the game was peaceful. Hopeful and yet epic in the way that all the greatest stories are. Hyrule was free from Calamity Gannon, and Link and Zelda would continue on to rebuild. What was bittersweet was knowing the adventure had ended.</p><p></p><p>That&#8217;s a theme I&#8217;ve come to recognize in Japanese storytelling. Often, there's a dark and emotional heavy subject, but it's explored and told with a lightness to balance it. The best stories don&#8217;t leave you feeling yucky and hopeless at the end. Instead, great stories leave you hopeful, and wistful for more.</p><p></p><p>Breath of the Wild was a phenomenal game. I say it&#8217;s the best game ever created, and the best game I've ever played.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The COD Campaign Aventure]]></title><description><![CDATA[The Gamer Returns]]></description><link>https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/the-cod-campaign-aventure</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/the-cod-campaign-aventure</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 13 Sep 2024 17:42:02 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHw9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562dff20-6d2b-43b5-8a49-e7c2827cdbf7_1920x1080.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><div><hr></div><h5>&#8220;We come into this world with our eyes closed. And most of us choose to live our whole lives that way..."</h5><p>Mitchell - Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare</p><div><hr></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHw9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562dff20-6d2b-43b5-8a49-e7c2827cdbf7_1920x1080.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHw9!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562dff20-6d2b-43b5-8a49-e7c2827cdbf7_1920x1080.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHw9!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562dff20-6d2b-43b5-8a49-e7c2827cdbf7_1920x1080.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHw9!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562dff20-6d2b-43b5-8a49-e7c2827cdbf7_1920x1080.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHw9!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562dff20-6d2b-43b5-8a49-e7c2827cdbf7_1920x1080.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHw9!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562dff20-6d2b-43b5-8a49-e7c2827cdbf7_1920x1080.jpeg" width="1456" height="819" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/562dff20-6d2b-43b5-8a49-e7c2827cdbf7_1920x1080.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:819,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered Available Today on PS4 &#8211;  PlayStation.Blog&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered Available Today on PS4 &#8211;  PlayStation.Blog" title="Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered Available Today on PS4 &#8211;  PlayStation.Blog" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHw9!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562dff20-6d2b-43b5-8a49-e7c2827cdbf7_1920x1080.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHw9!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562dff20-6d2b-43b5-8a49-e7c2827cdbf7_1920x1080.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHw9!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562dff20-6d2b-43b5-8a49-e7c2827cdbf7_1920x1080.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iHw9!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F562dff20-6d2b-43b5-8a49-e7c2827cdbf7_1920x1080.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Hi there!</p><p>You might wonder why my blog has been a cold, sad wasteland of nothingness for months. I promise, my long absence wasn&#8217;t on purpose&#8212;there&#8217;s a totally legit reason behind it. I&#8217;ve gathered the intel and facts to support and back up my post today. It meant hours and hours of gaming (oh, the pain!) to give a full perspective on what&#8217;s happening with Call of Duty.</p><p>For months, I&#8217;ve thought about tossing a quick update on the blog, but every single day, I remind myself&#8212;I can&#8217;t just post anything for the sake of it! My content needs substance, not just my opinion (which is obviously the best), but true experience that I can confidently use to back up everything I am about to say to you. I wanted to bring to light a topic I&#8217;m passionate about&#8212;something I can&#8217;t let go of.</p><p>So, let&#8217;s talk about Call of Duty campaigns&#8212;a series I&#8217;ve been obsessed with since I was just a wee little gamer.</p><p></p><p><strong>My Great Idea</strong></p><p>A while ago, I told myself, &#8220;You know what? Since the new Call of Duty: Black Ops VI is coming out, I want to revisit all the older campaigns, play through them, and get an idea of how they&#8217;ll compare to the new release.&#8221; That idea spiraled into this crazy adventure where I&#8217;ve been playing through all the campaigns. And let me tell you, it&#8217;s been a blast! I had to dig out my old PS3 and track down the physical copies I knew my family had lying around. Dusting off the PlayStation and those disc cases brought back so much nostalgia&#8212;it had me giddy with excitement!</p><p>In my campaign adventures, I found that each game just gets better and better in terms of story, and I have a lot to say about it.</p><p>First off&#8212;on this journey, I discovered a shocking truth: a lot of people have never played the campaign! What!?!?</p><p>Hold up&#8212;if you&#8217;re a Call of Duty player and you&#8217;ve never played the campaign, you&#8217;re missing out on a truly amazing experience. The campaign is where the iconic characters of the franchise come to life. You get to know their backstories, go through hell and back with them on missions&#8212;it adds a whole new layer to the game!</p><p>I&#8217;ve always played the campaign first before jumping into multiplayer. As a kid, that&#8217;s what I bought the game for! It always felt like I was wasting my money if I didn&#8217;t play through the campaign. That was part of the whole experience. I got my money&#8217;s worth because I enjoyed every aspect of the game, from start to finish.</p><p>I don&#8217;t just play campaign mode for the story, though&#8212;that&#8217;s just part of it. The cool thing? Campaign mechanics usually end up in multiplayer, so playing the campaign gives me a deeper connection to the game itself.</p><p>But I digress. I&#8217;m not finished yet with my campaign journey! So far, I&#8217;ve played Black Ops, Black Ops II, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Modern Warfare 3. Right now, I&#8217;m powering through Ghosts&#8212;and I&#8217;m not even halfway yet!</p><p>There are a total of 23 games since their debut release in 2003! </p><p>It&#8217;s been so cool to see how the campaigns have evolved and to remember my first reaction as a kid, picking up a controller and getting totally invested in these stories.</p><p>I&#8217;ve gotta admit, I was pretty impressionable as a kid. These storylines were epic! I had never played games with campaigns like these before, and replaying them as an adult? Honestly, they&#8217;re still really good! Sure, some of the older stories are a little cheesy, but I expected that. They still have great moments, and while the game mechanics might feel a bit clunky now, it&#8217;s understandable given that this was tech from two decades ago.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Evolution of Call of Duty</strong></p><p>From the first campaigns back in the 2000s to Call of Duty: Ghosts (2014), and last year&#8217;s newest release of Modern Warfare III (2023), you can see how much the games have changed. These campaigns are like full-on movies now, and they keep getting better. From the way the guns fire to the movement and speed of the characters to the tech and weapons you use&#8212;it&#8217;s fun to see how the company has evolved over the years.</p><p>I also want to shout out the special edition releases of these games&#8212;stuff like character journals, metal DVD cases, and all the memorabilia that came with the physical copies. I remember begging my parents to stop at GameStop just so I could check out all the cool Call of Duty special editions. How cool is this stuff!</p><p>Those were the good times. I wish they still did this kind of thing. Instead of physical memorabilia, players who buy the limited editions of the game unlock the season&#8217;s battle pass, character skins, and special gun blueprints. Which is still cool, but for the amount of money you pay for the special editions, I want a physical collector&#8217;s item.</p><p>There was a time when Call of Duty paid great attention to these details and showed the players a lot of love. But this is where I started noticing a shift.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Beginnings of A Shift</strong></p><p>It&#8217;s subtle, but it&#8217;s there in the campaigns.</p><p>Take Ghosts, for example. The game doesn&#8217;t have multiplayer or zombies. I mean, huh? Sure, it&#8217;s got online multiplayer, but it&#8217;s not what you expect it to be. The online &#8220;squad&#8221; mode severely lacks creativity and funness (I think I&#8217;m making that word up). In Modern Warfare 3 (the older version), the game had the same problem&#8212;a great campaign but lacking the expected online multiplayer features. Both games feature this strange wave-after-wave of AI enemy gameplay that just doesn&#8217;t go anywhere. It lacks that excitement, that fun factor multiplayer brings. And it doesn&#8217;t include Zombies (a fan-favorite mode).</p><p>Hmm. I&#8217;m at a point where I can see the shift in what Activision and Treyarch are trying to do with Call of Duty. It&#8217;s so obvious the devs at this time were pumping out games and slapping on extra bits just to keep players happy but with no real reason to their decisions. But why?</p><p>I&#8217;ve already snagged a sneak peek at their 2023 release&#8212;I&#8217;ve played it! I can see where my campaign adventure is heading, and I&#8217;ve got a glimpse of where Activision takes things. But I can&#8217;t say exactly at what point the campaigns really start to turn to crap. I still have quite a few titles to play through until I reach Black Ops VI.</p><p>I still need to do my research on the uninspiring game modes they seem to be including in the 2010 era. What are my theories as of now? I think it might be a lack of funding, layoffs, or maybe new people have come in and started changing things up within the company?</p><p></p><p><strong>Big Brother Is Listening&#8230;</strong></p><p>I<strong> </strong>don&#8217;t want to critique Black Ops VI too much yet&#8212;I haven&#8217;t played it. But I&#8217;ve seen sneak peek videos of players playing the beta release, and some upgrades to player interaction and movement are super cool! Like, they&#8217;ve introduced omni-movement, which I&#8217;ve never seen before, and you can grab enemy players and use them as shields. That&#8217;s new, and it also introduces proximity chat with the enemy. And let me tell you, proximity chat leads to some hysterical and chaotic moments. It&#8217;s bringing back the chaotic but fun side of multiplayer I haven&#8217;t seen in a long time.</p><p>But there is a very disturbing part of Activision that I just can&#8217;t accept.</p><p>Activision has cracked down on moderating chat and lobbies in their games for a while now, so people hardly talk in lobbies or risk being banned. There are countless memes about chat logs being released, and sure, it&#8217;s funny, but it&#8217;s also really unnerving to have a game company act like Big Brother and record your voice chat. When did Activision decide to become the hall monitor and the fun police? Call of Duty has always been a game where people go crazy, talk trash, and spew ridiculous comments. It&#8217;s got a reputation, sure, but it&#8217;s also part of its appeal. Yeah, it was toxic at times, but honestly, it taught me to grow a spine as a kid and talk back. It was entertaining as hell!</p><p>I see some of that chaotic energy returning now in the playthrough of the beta release, but Activision is still listening.</p><p>I&#8217;m hoping Black Ops VI can help patch up the terrible reputation Call of Duty has been getting lately. And do away with the heavy chat moderation while they&#8217;re at it!</p><p></p><p><strong>A Disappointing Campaign</strong></p><p>My doubts about Black Ops VI stem from the Modern Warfare III campaign (the new one) in November 2023. I played this game long before I ever thought about doing a podcast or playing through all the campaigns. At that point, I hadn&#8217;t played a Call of Duty game in years and was super excited. I couldn&#8217;t believe how massive the game was&#8212;500GB! I also bought a digital copy for the first time.</p><p>The file size didn&#8217;t bother me. I was ready for an epic campaign&#8230;</p><p>Two hours later, I finished what I consider to be, without a doubt, the <strong>WORST</strong> campaign I&#8217;ve ever played!</p><p>Campaigns usually take me two or three times as long to finish! This one was abnormally fast, and I was shocked. I thought there&#8217;d be more content, but then&#8212;boom!&#8212;the game just ends. No satisfying conclusion, just a messy ending with a cliffhanger promising a sequel and probably just as crappy a story for the next game.</p><p>The campaign was cutscene-heavy and dialogue-heavy, with minimal action, copy-paste missions, and weak character development. I barely remembered any of the characters. Going in, I knew it was a rehash of a previous campaign, updated a little. That&#8217;s fine. The characters&#8217; backstories changed slightly to fit the narrative. But the updated story? Lame. Even Makarov, who&#8217;s supposed to be a ruthless, stone-cold killer and one of my favorite villains, was watered down. How could an elite group of soldiers get bamboozled by this guy? And General Shepherd? He was so weak. Like, he betrayed us in Modern Warfare 2, but in this version, he&#8217;s just this sad, rat-like pawn who Captain Price decides to let live.</p><p>Like&#8230; what? Captain Price, the guy who&#8217;s gone through the deadliest combat, lost his men, and still came out swinging, now just lets a murderer of his own men go free? It made no sense.</p><p>I came to this game to kick some ass. All I got was a non-challenging campaign with terrible, seen-it-before missions that weren&#8217;t fun, cutscenes that dragged on forever, and characters I wanted to slap into being badass!</p><p>It was disappointing.</p><p>For the first time, I understood why people don&#8217;t play the campaigns anymore. They just jump straight to multiplayer. It&#8217;s sad.</p><p>Have people forgotten how to tell a good story? Or is Activision just in its own echo chamber, convinced that whatever they put out, we&#8217;ll buy anyway?</p><p><strong>Wow&#8230;</strong></p><p>I just can&#8217;t believe it.</p><p>That&#8217;s why I have low expectations for Black Ops VI. Either it will be a success that brings back that nostalgic magic, or it will follow the same disappointing path as Modern Warfare III.</p><p></p><p><strong>Yearning For The Return of Good Storytelling</strong></p><p>This whole campaign adventure has been an eye-opener. It made me go back and replay the older campaigns to see if I was just being nostalgic or if they were actually good. Turns out, the old games had great storytelling! </p><p>However, the new developers at Activision seem to have lost that connection with their audience. The new releases of the campaigns, zombies, and even other game modes feel like they&#8217;ve taken a sharp turn downhill. On the surface, the game looks impressive&#8212;flashy, with all the bells and whistles you&#8217;d expect. It&#8217;s like ordering a cake online, where it looks like a work of art, but when it arrives, it&#8217;s a sloppy, rushed mess&#8212;overpriced and underwhelming. </p><p>The heart and soul that made these games great are nowhere to be found, leaving us longing for the immersive, unforgettable experiences of the past.</p><p>What happened to good storytelling? Why does it feel like people just don&#8217;t understand it anymore? While I&#8217;m talking about games here, this creative drought has spread far beyond gaming, affecting other major industries too. It&#8217;s as if the focus has shifted from crafting meaningful, engaging narratives to churning out content that looks good but lacks depth. </p><p>This isn&#8217;t just a gaming problem&#8212;it&#8217;s a creative crisis across the board. There&#8217;s much I could say to that, but I&#8217;ll leave it alone for now.</p><p>Activision has become a Goliath in the industry, but even giants can fall.</p><p>I hope Activision turns things around because it&#8217;s time for strong characters and unforgettable storylines to make their much-needed return.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Get Ready for Season 4: Call of Duty MWIII Launches Today!]]></title><description><![CDATA[Unlock New Content, Revisit Fan-Favorite Game Modes, and Get Excited For Epic Collaborations!]]></description><link>https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/get-ready-for-season-4-call-of-duty</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/get-ready-for-season-4-call-of-duty</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 29 May 2024 16:14:44 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VbQO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc982712b-a2bf-4ec3-878e-a1325de4ca82.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VbQO!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc982712b-a2bf-4ec3-878e-a1325de4ca82.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!VbQO!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc982712b-a2bf-4ec3-878e-a1325de4ca82.heic 424w, 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x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>&#127918; <strong>Season 4 of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III releases today! </strong>I&#8217;m pumped and ready to unlock more cool skins, guns, and beat challenges!! &#128165;</p><p>&#128190; <strong>Free up space on your console</strong> &#8212; it&#8217;s gonna be a 20-gigabyte download! &#128229;</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading Gamer Confidential - Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>The season comes with cool Blackcell operators and guns that can be unlocked with a battle pass for around $10 or 1,100 COD Points. &#128179;&#10024;</p><p>This season will have a Mobile Suit Gundam Bundle?!?! TAKE MY MONEY &#128176;&#129297; I can&#8217;t believe they are bringing this iconic and beloved anime series into the game! This collab is in celebration of the anime&#8217;s 45th anniversary. Gotta love the cool collaborations COD does! &#129321;</p><div class="image-gallery-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;gallery&quot;:{&quot;images&quot;:[{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b388f941-d16d-4726-b7fe-17e0218c5583_1200x675.jpeg&quot;},{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/34e73d58-aaf6-4b16-b902-446dda868bee_1280x720.jpeg&quot;},{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/f5494abe-f106-45bc-814e-287f1b6e1650_1024x576.jpeg&quot;},{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a9ca9e11-dd5f-48c6-8df3-1475c9e8a0f3_1280x720.jpeg&quot;}],&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;staticGalleryImage&quot;:{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/cbf1e494-89c8-4d01-ab12-61f3cfaae32a_1456x1456.png&quot;}},&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true}"></div><p></p><p>&#127919; The game modes this season are fan favorites like Demolition, Hyper Cranked, Headshots Only, and Havoc. &#128299;&#128293; Season 4 maps will also place you in Paris and Tokyo! </p><p>&#128203; <strong>Read Season 4 Patch Notes here</strong>: <a href="https://www.callofduty.com/patchnotes/2024/05/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-iii-season-4-patch-notes">Season 4 Patch Notes</a></p><p>This season is packed with exciting content! I can&#8217;t wait to dive in and unlock all those cool skins, guns and dominate the leaderboard! </p><p>See you online &#8212; let&#8217;s game on, friends! &#127918;&#128293;</p><p></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading Gamer Confidential - Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Helldivers II ]]></title><description><![CDATA[The Phenomenon Behind This Year's Hit]]></description><link>https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/helldivers-ii</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/helldivers-ii</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 21 May 2024 18:10:26 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/144848932/a6c9d6b6cac57fbabeecc96d424f6a0d.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Listen in to a new episode of Gamer Confidential! <br><br>Let&#8217;s dive deep into one of this year's most popular release, examining gameplay mechanics, unique developer interactions, and real players becoming inducted into game cannon.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WuDJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52d23426-b4ca-4c9f-88c3-c36c3503e0f9.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WuDJ!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52d23426-b4ca-4c9f-88c3-c36c3503e0f9.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WuDJ!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52d23426-b4ca-4c9f-88c3-c36c3503e0f9.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WuDJ!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52d23426-b4ca-4c9f-88c3-c36c3503e0f9.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WuDJ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52d23426-b4ca-4c9f-88c3-c36c3503e0f9.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WuDJ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52d23426-b4ca-4c9f-88c3-c36c3503e0f9.heic" width="1456" height="910" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/52d23426-b4ca-4c9f-88c3-c36c3503e0f9.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:910,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:682403,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WuDJ!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52d23426-b4ca-4c9f-88c3-c36c3503e0f9.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WuDJ!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52d23426-b4ca-4c9f-88c3-c36c3503e0f9.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WuDJ!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52d23426-b4ca-4c9f-88c3-c36c3503e0f9.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!WuDJ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52d23426-b4ca-4c9f-88c3-c36c3503e0f9.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><br><br></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sea of Thieves Sets Sail for PlayStation 5!]]></title><description><![CDATA[Embark on Epic Adventures Across the Seven Seas!]]></description><link>https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/sea-of-thieves-sets-sail-for-playstation</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/sea-of-thieves-sets-sail-for-playstation</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 15 May 2024 22:01:25 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0e95b765-2f16-4de6-afe2-6046f1744c7e_1222x688.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Exciting news for all pirates:</strong>&nbsp;As of March 30th, Sea of Thieves has finally made itself available on the PlayStation 5! With cross-play functionality across all platforms, the seas will be teeming with more buccaneers than ever before, all seeking their share of glory and gold.</p><p>I was thrilled to hear this announcement, as just a year ago, a friend had asked if I'd join them in the game. I had to dust off my Xbox and subscribe to Xbox Live Gold for $10 a month just to set sail with them. As I sat there, contemplating the expenditure, I couldn't help but wonder, "Why isn't Sea of Thieves available on PlayStation?"</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!410d!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3342d74e-8000-42a7-aa46-1e1852a5baf9.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!410d!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3342d74e-8000-42a7-aa46-1e1852a5baf9.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!410d!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3342d74e-8000-42a7-aa46-1e1852a5baf9.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!410d!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3342d74e-8000-42a7-aa46-1e1852a5baf9.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!410d!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3342d74e-8000-42a7-aa46-1e1852a5baf9.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!410d!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3342d74e-8000-42a7-aa46-1e1852a5baf9.heic" width="1456" height="910" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3342d74e-8000-42a7-aa46-1e1852a5baf9.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:910,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:221294,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!410d!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3342d74e-8000-42a7-aa46-1e1852a5baf9.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!410d!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3342d74e-8000-42a7-aa46-1e1852a5baf9.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!410d!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3342d74e-8000-42a7-aa46-1e1852a5baf9.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!410d!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3342d74e-8000-42a7-aa46-1e1852a5baf9.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>I never imagined that Sea of Thieves would make its way to the PlayStation, but it's almost as if the game developers heard my plea and granted my wish. With the release of Season 12, I can finally indulge in the adventures of Sea of Thieves on my preferred platform.</p><p>Even better is that existing accounts seamlessly link to your PlayStation account, ensuring you won't lose any gold or progress in your quests. Your beautifully customized ship will be patiently awaiting your return.</p><h3>Season 12 Updates</h3><p>Season 12 introduces a slew of exciting updates to the game, including:</p><ul><li><p>New weaponry: wield a double barrel pistol and hurl throwing knives at your adversaries</p></li><li><p>Summon skeletons to aid you in combat against other players</p></li><li><p>Harness the power of the Horn of Fair Winds to manipulate the elements in your favor, whether it's for smoother sailing, swifter swimming, or extinguishing fires</p></li><li><p>Traverse islands with ease using the newly introduced ziplines</p></li><li><p>Harpoon tightropes </p></li><li><p>Scattershot for PvP matches</p></li><li><p>Explore fresh ship and player cosmetics to customize your seafaring experience</p></li></ul><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!agEj!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F113b156b-f470-4c71-9e9d-2c37e0f3cc7a.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!agEj!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F113b156b-f470-4c71-9e9d-2c37e0f3cc7a.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!agEj!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F113b156b-f470-4c71-9e9d-2c37e0f3cc7a.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!agEj!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F113b156b-f470-4c71-9e9d-2c37e0f3cc7a.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!agEj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F113b156b-f470-4c71-9e9d-2c37e0f3cc7a.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!agEj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F113b156b-f470-4c71-9e9d-2c37e0f3cc7a.heic" width="1024" height="576" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/113b156b-f470-4c71-9e9d-2c37e0f3cc7a.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:576,&quot;width&quot;:1024,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:159390,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!agEj!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F113b156b-f470-4c71-9e9d-2c37e0f3cc7a.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!agEj!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F113b156b-f470-4c71-9e9d-2c37e0f3cc7a.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!agEj!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F113b156b-f470-4c71-9e9d-2c37e0f3cc7a.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!agEj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F113b156b-f470-4c71-9e9d-2c37e0f3cc7a.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3>Tall Tales and Other Game Modes</h3><p>The game's best aspect lies in its Tall Tales, which have immersive storyline quests that add depth to your adventures. I vividly recall my experience with "A Pirate's Life," a Tall Tale featuring the legendary Jack Sparrow and the iconic Pirates of the Caribbean universe, where we squared off against the infamous Davy Jones himself!</p><p>Beyond Tall Tales, Sea of Thieves offers a myriad of other escapades, from in-game quests to intense PvP battles on the high seas and exhilarating treasure hunts. Whatever path you choose, riches and renown await.</p><h3>Let's Play the Game! </h3><p>Gather your crew, grab your controller, and set sail with friends. Sea of Thieves awaits, promising endless excitement and unforgettable adventures on the open seas!</p><div><hr></div><h3>Links: </h3><p>Take a look at the official Sea of Thieves website <strong><a href="https://www.seaofthieves.com/season-12">here</a></strong></p><p>Click <strong><a href="https://www.seaofthieves.com/news/p-s5-f-a-q">here</a></strong> for more information about Sea of Thieves on PS5 </p><p>Listen to Season 12&#8217;s theme on <strong><a href="https://youtu.be/h8bx0PqxaRw?feature=shared">YouTube</a></strong></p><p></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading Gamer Confidential - Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Poppy Playtime Adapting for the Big Screen!]]></title><description><![CDATA[Indie Game Studios Mob Entertainment is Expanding Their Audience!]]></description><link>https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/poppy-playtime-adapting-for-the-big</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/poppy-playtime-adapting-for-the-big</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2024 20:40:17 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dczn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff024986d-2594-464c-a770-41d3856bca2d.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dczn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff024986d-2594-464c-a770-41d3856bca2d.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dczn!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff024986d-2594-464c-a770-41d3856bca2d.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dczn!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff024986d-2594-464c-a770-41d3856bca2d.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dczn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff024986d-2594-464c-a770-41d3856bca2d.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dczn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff024986d-2594-464c-a770-41d3856bca2d.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dczn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff024986d-2594-464c-a770-41d3856bca2d.heic" width="1456" height="819" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/f024986d-2594-464c-a770-41d3856bca2d.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:819,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:148705,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dczn!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff024986d-2594-464c-a770-41d3856bca2d.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dczn!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff024986d-2594-464c-a770-41d3856bca2d.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dczn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff024986d-2594-464c-a770-41d3856bca2d.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dczn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff024986d-2594-464c-a770-41d3856bca2d.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><p>Diving into the realm of indie horror games always promises a rollercoaster of thrills and chilling narratives. One title that's been causing quite a stir among horror lovers is "Poppy Playtime." In this bone-chilling adventure, players step into the shoes of a former employee of Playtime Co., a once-famous toy-making company. Returning to the abandoned factory where all the staff mysteriously vanished a decade ago, you quickly realize that things aren't as they seem&#8212;the toys are not only alive but also have a ravenous appetite for human flesh.</p><p>"Poppy Playtime" bears a striking resemblance to another indie horror favorite, "Five Nights at Freddy's" (FNAF). While FNAF keeps players confined to a single room, fending off animatronic terrors, "Poppy Playtime" takes a bold leap into exploration, thrusting you into the sprawling, eerie corridors of the deserted factory. This shift sets the stage for a nail-biting journey filled with hidden secrets and unimaginable horrors lurking around every corner.</p><p>Across its released chapters, "Poppy Playtime" introduces a lineup of menacing toy mascots, each more terrifying than the last. From the towering and menacing Huggy Wuggy, reminiscent of a twisted Elmo, to the arachnid-like Mommy Long Legs and the chilling new addition, Cat Nap, the game spares no expense in delivering heart-pounding encounters. The game's popularity has amassed a staggering 12 million fans across all consoles, a testament to its gripping gameplay and spine-tingling atmosphere.</p><p>The news of "Poppy Playtime" adapting into a movie has sparked a wave of excitement in the gaming community. The prospect of witnessing the game's terrifying world unfold on the silver screen is a thrilling one. Drawing parallels to successful adaptations like 'Fallout' and 'The Last of Us,' there's a collective hope that 'Poppy Playtime' will receive similar treatment, bringing its chilling atmosphere and rich lore to a whole new audience in the movie scene.</p><p>Adapting 'Poppy Playtime' into a movie is no small feat. To truly captivate audiences, the film must plunge viewers headfirst into its nightmarish world, leveraging every minute of its runtime to deliver an intense and immersive experience. Rather than cramming multiple chapters into a single film, a strategic approach that adapts each chapter into its own movie could better capture the intrigue and horror of Playtime Co. The challenge lies in maintaining the depth and authenticity of the game's lore and atmosphere, while also bringing the grotesque creatures like Huggy Wuggy, Mommy Long Legs, and Cat Nap to life through practical effects.</p><p>The "Poppy Playtime" movie adaptation promises to bring a larger audience to the chilling allure of the game's universe. As fans eagerly await its release, there's a shared excitement for Mob Studio, the creators behind the game, as they embark on this thrilling new venture. Whether the movie proves to be a commercial success or not, the journey from game to film marks a significant milestone for the indie game studio and a clear indication of the popularity of horror storytelling in the gaming industry.</p><div><hr></div><p>Check out the Poppy Playtime <a href="https://poppyplaytime.com">website</a></p><p><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/poppy-playtime-movie-legendary-1235894747/">Article</a> by the Hollywood Reporter</p><p></p><p></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Biggest Releases of 2023]]></title><description><![CDATA[In today's episode we start off with a BIG gaming update that has taken the gaming community by surprise.]]></description><link>https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/unpacking-the-biggest-releases-of</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/unpacking-the-biggest-releases-of</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 10 May 2024 19:14:07 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/144515564/70f0740be38872f8567ada751ce72270.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In today's episode we start off with a BIG gaming update that has taken the gaming community by surprise. Then we'll take a look at the past year in gaming, highlighting major releases, trends, and developments that have rocked the industry.</p><p><strong>TOPICS</strong></p><ul><li><p>BIG Gaming Update <strong>[0:26]</strong></p></li><li><p>Hogwarts Legacy <strong>[2:53]</strong></p></li><li><p>Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom <strong>[6:01]</strong></p></li><li><p>Baldurs Gate 3 <strong>[6:56]</strong></p></li><li><p>Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 <strong>[8:06]</strong></p></li><li><p>Starfield <strong>[10:04]</strong></p></li><li><p>God of War: Ragnarok <strong>[10:46]</strong></p></li></ul><p><strong>Reach Out!</strong></p><p>If you have any questions, have game suggestions, or just want to say hello, reach out to me via email (<a href="mailto:info@gamerconfidential.net">info@gamerconfidential.net</a>). I&#8217;d be happy to share your thoughts on my podcast!</p><p><strong>LINKS</strong></p><ul><li><p>Helldivers 2 Crazy Update: <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-sg/entertainment/other/sony-backtracks-on-helldivers-2-psn-account-linking-amid-outrage-and-review-bombing/ar-BB1lSWOf">https://www.msn.com/en-sg/entertainment/other/sony-backtracks-on-helldivers-2-psn-account-linking-amid-outrage-and-review-bombing/ar-BB1lSWOf</a></p></li><li><p>Hogwarts Legacy: <a href="https://www.hogwartslegacy.com/en-us">https://www.hogwartslegacy.com/en-us</a></p></li><li><p>Take your Hogwarts House test! <a href="https://www.wizardingworld.com/news/discover-your-hogwarts-house-on-wizarding-world">https://www.wizardingworld.com/news/discover-your-hogwarts-house-on-wizarding-world</a></p></li><li><p>Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: <a href="https://zelda.nintendo.com/tears-of-the-kingdom/">https://zelda.nintendo.com/tears-of-the-kingdom/</a></p></li><li><p>Baldurs Gate 3: <a href="https://www.pcgamesn.com/baldurs-gate-3/success">https://www.pcgamesn.com/baldurs-gate-3/success</a></p></li><li><p>Baldur's Gate Success Article: <a href="https://www.pcgamesn.com/baldurs-gate-3/success">https://www.pcgamesn.com/baldurs-gate-3/success</a></p></li><li><p>Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3: <a href="https://www.callofduty.com/modernwarfare3">https://www.callofduty.com/modernwarfare3</a></p></li><li><p>Starfield: <a href="https://bethesda.net/en/game/starfield">https://bethesda.net/en/game/starfield</a></p></li><li><p>God of War: Ragnarok: <a href="https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/god-of-war-ragnarok/">https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/god-of-war-ragnarok/</a></p></li></ul>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Very Surprising Update]]></title><description><![CDATA[The Helldivers community is upset - and for good reason.]]></description><link>https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/a-very-surprising-update</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/a-very-surprising-update</guid><pubDate>Thu, 09 May 2024 19:24:37 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m_cI!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fac922cac-d88c-4f9f-a899-4451d9d6e09d.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><h5><strong>Boy, do I have an update for you!</strong></h5><p></p><p>PlayStation's recent&nbsp;decision to require&nbsp;players to sign into their PSN account to play Helldivers has sent shockwaves through our gaming community. Helldiver enthusiasts, who have been flocking to the game in droves, are understandably upset. The game that once united players across platforms and borders is now being restricted by PlayStation, leaving PC players and those in other countries unable to join the fun.&nbsp;</p><p>Why would PlayStation do such a thing? Aren't Helldiver devs angry about this requirement, too?&nbsp;</p><p>A game whose sole message is freedom, democracy, and fighting against evil was on course to being shoved into a limited player space.&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m_cI!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fac922cac-d88c-4f9f-a899-4451d9d6e09d.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m_cI!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fac922cac-d88c-4f9f-a899-4451d9d6e09d.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m_cI!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fac922cac-d88c-4f9f-a899-4451d9d6e09d.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m_cI!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fac922cac-d88c-4f9f-a899-4451d9d6e09d.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m_cI!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fac922cac-d88c-4f9f-a899-4451d9d6e09d.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m_cI!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fac922cac-d88c-4f9f-a899-4451d9d6e09d.heic" width="1024" height="576" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ac922cac-d88c-4f9f-a899-4451d9d6e09d.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:576,&quot;width&quot;:1024,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:32843,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m_cI!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fac922cac-d88c-4f9f-a899-4451d9d6e09d.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m_cI!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fac922cac-d88c-4f9f-a899-4451d9d6e09d.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m_cI!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fac922cac-d88c-4f9f-a899-4451d9d6e09d.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m_cI!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fac922cac-d88c-4f9f-a899-4451d9d6e09d.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h2><strong>Gamers Strike Back</strong></h2><p>What was actually going on? How can this game already face such a horrible downfall four months after its release? And why was Big Game Corp. gatekeeping the greatest game ever released? &nbsp;</p><p>It's pretty ironic that a game such as Helldivers, whose message is for liberty and democracy, is getting struck down and shackled by the gaming giants.&nbsp;</p><p>With such overreach on all gaming platforms, I hoped Arrowhead wouldn't cave into the gaming tyrants because the phenomenon clearly indicates what gamers have wanted for years. An online platform focused strictly on goofing off, making new friends, and defeating a common enemy. Its Space Troopers as a video game! The fact that PlayStation enacted this plan to only allow playstation users access to the game makes it feel like they have no connection to the gaming community or are even in touch with gamers' interests. I can see where Playstation was going with this, but they did not realize how big and how damaging this would be for Arrowhead studios. </p><p>The Helldiver community started sending one-star reviews tarnishing the Helldivers 2 game. It was done with great pain, of course, but the developers at Arrowhead Studios and all of Playstation had to know that we gamers were NOT HAPPY. So within hours of the Helldivers community striking back after this news, and with great effort that would overwhelm legions of Automatons and Terminids alike, players made a difference. With what I hope was common sense, PlayStation quickly reversed course and rescinded its decision. Whew. Crisis averted.&nbsp;</p><h2><strong>So, whats next?</strong></h2><p>The greatest game the world has seen in years was almost nerfed. This should serve as a wake-up call to all small and indie game developers. Big game companies seem to be out of touch with their gamers, and small gaming companies like Arrowhead Studios must be aware of this. The direct player interaction that Arrowhead developers have with their gamers is the very reason why people are falling in love with the game.&nbsp;It also means the players&nbsp;are going to&nbsp;fight to keep this game untouched by the greed of big game corporations.&nbsp;</p><p>Hopefully, this will be the only hiccup Arrowhead Studios experiences, but that remains to be seen. For now, the Helldivers community has done its part to fight for its game.&nbsp;Hopefully, PlayStation will remember this and think twice before gatekeeping a popular game.&nbsp;</p><p></p><div><hr></div><p><strong>Check out Gamer Confidential on other platforms: </strong></p><p><a href="https://www.gamerconfidential.net">Website</a></p><p><a href="https://rss.com/podcasts/gamer-confidential/">RSS</a></p><p><strong>Listen to my Podcast:</strong></p><p><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gamer-confidential/id1745219275">Apple Podcasts</a></p><p><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/4OEmw1nirK3s2a4nFPXDEw?si=b1aec60465944d4a&amp;nd=1&amp;dlsi=a394a34f16fc40cc">Spotify</a></p><div class="captioned-button-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/a-very-surprising-update?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="CaptionedButtonToDOM"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thank you for reading my Substack. This post is public so feel free to share it.</p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/a-very-surprising-update?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/a-very-surprising-update?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p></div><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Coming soon]]></title><description><![CDATA[This is Gamer Confidential.]]></description><link>https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/coming-soon</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/coming-soon</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 09 May 2024 19:05:31 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QgLk!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf63696e-9138-4ade-a2c0-45b0a2212040_1200x1200.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is Gamer Confidential.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Welcome to Gamer Confidential!]]></title><description><![CDATA[In this first episode of Gamer Confidential, you meet the Host, Carlie, and get updated with gaming news, popular game titles you need to know, and what will come next in future episodes.]]></description><link>https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/welcome-to-gamer-confidential-eb2</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://gamerconfidential.substack.com/p/welcome-to-gamer-confidential-eb2</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Gamer Confidential]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 07 May 2024 20:38:57 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/144482038/eebba345befc0f1e15b4448a426cc249.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In this first episode of Gamer Confidential, you meet the Host, Carlie, and get updated with gaming news, popular game titles you need to know, and what will come next in future episodes.</p><p><strong>Topics:</strong></p><ul><li><p>About Your Host</p></li><li><p>Sea of Thieves PS5 Release</p></li><li><p>Popular Game Titles</p></li><li><p>Fallout (Amazon TV show)</p></li><li><p>Call of Duty MW3 Campaign</p></li></ul><p><strong>Reach Out!</strong></p><p>If you have any questions, have game suggestions, or just want to say hello, reach out to me via email (<a href="mailto:info@gamerconfidential.net">info@gamerconfidential.net</a>). I&#8217;d be happy to share your thoughts on my podcast!</p><p><strong>Links</strong></p><p>Website: <a href="https://gamerconfidential.net">https://gamerconfidential.net</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>