Blizzard’s take on team-based shooters didn’t just raise the bar for its genre, it rewrote the rulebook and ushered in a new wave of competitors who all looked to emulate the success of their approach to creating a game which is still going strong two years after launch.

For the first time ever, Call of Duty is skipping its bombastic weekend mode campaign, as developer Treyarch focuses all of its attention on its other gameplay options such as solo stories starring the multiplayer specialists.

Maybe you’re stuck at work and can only log in later tonight to spend some of your legendary shards on new armour and weapons in Destiny 2. In that case: Where is Xur?

Revealed last night at the Black Ops IIII event in sunny Los Angeles, developer Treyarch’s take on the battle royale mode is called Blackout. All the action that you’d expect of Call of Duty, spread across a wide map, characters and plenty of weapons. Well, minus the massive player count, because Treyarch is undecided yet on just how many players it’ll allow into any given session of Blackout.

In an industry that is constantly in flux, constantly changing, Call of Duty has managed to cement itself as an annual favourite. It’s Dinner For One with guns, a traditional buffet of action that shows no signs of slowing down. Over the years, everyone knew exactly what to expect from Activision’s money-making franchise: A weekend of story, sixty frames of action at any given time and plenty of multiplayer to keep your thumbs busy. This year, things are different.

Players had discovered a puzzle in the form of an ornate symbol on Rasputin’s bunker wall in the latest Destiny 2 expansion, Warmind. What made it so special? The symbol was of a big lock surrounded by keys and symbols, so obviously something was up. Something involving real-world treasure.

Maybe you’re stuck at work and can only log in later tonight to spend some of your legendary shards on new armour and weapons in Destiny 2. In that case: Where is Xur?

The latest patch preceding the Warmind expansion gave Destiny 2’s gameplay fundamentals a shot in the arm, while also breaking a few other systems in Bungie’s space-based sandbox. OH BUNGIE!