Quoting a news story out of Iceland, PCGamesN has word that CCP is shutting down a couple of offices as the developer moves away from virtual reality development. CCP recently launched EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone, a non-VR version of EVE: Valkyrie, and while they say they are still long-term believers in VR, they are not dipping back into those waters any time soon. Word is the closure impacts around 1000 employees in Atlanta and Newcastle, though "many" of them are being offered other jobs in the company. The have a statement from CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson:

"Despite the success of the VR games we have released we will be shifting our focus to our PC and mobile initiatives, and will be centralizing those initiatives, along with the support of our existing VR games, to our offices in Reykjavík and London," said Pétursson in a prepared statement to us. "We will continue to support our VR games but will not be making material VR investments until we see market conditions that justify further investments beyond what we have already made. I am very proud of our VR games and, more importantly, of the people here who made them."

Activision officially announces Destiny 2 – Expansion I: Curse of Osiris, saying this is coming on December 5th to the Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One editions of the shooter sequel. A bit about this leaked last month and was confirmed at the time, but now we have that release date, an official reveal trailer, and the following details:

Destiny 2 – Expansion I: Curse of Osiris, takes place after the conclusion of the Destiny 2 campaign where you are dispatched to Mercury on a quest to find Osiris, the most powerful Warlock to have ever lived, to discover the answers humanity needs to fight back against the Vex.

Curse of Osiris adds a new chapter to the world of Destiny 2, expanding the universe by adding an all-new cinematic story with new and returning characters, a new destination to explore, Mercury and its Infinite Forest, a new social space to visit called the Lighthouse, new missions, new strikes, new raid content, new free roam activities, a world quest to complete, and more.

Continue here to read the full story.

A new trailer from Call of Duty: WWII shows off the return of the Carentan multiplayer map that follows the series back to World War II. As the description notes, this will be available on day one, which is this Friday, but only for those who splurge for one of the pricier editions of the game:

Carentan, one of the most beloved Call of Duty® Multiplayer maps, makes its return in Call of Duty®: WWII. Fight through destroyed buildings and fortified streets of this war-torn French town in an all-out battle for a strategic German stronghold. Available Day 1 for Season Pass and Digital Deluxe Edition owners.

Continue here to read the full story.

UbiBlog offers a new trailer showing off cooperative multiplayer action from Far Cry 5. This comes with an explanation of what they are calling expanded co-op:

Once you’ve finished the tutorial and are ready to wreak havoc against the enemies of Hope County, you can call in a friend at any time to give you a hand. This Friend for Hire will appear as their custom player character, and can fight alongside you throughout your adventure, seamlessly dropping in and out as needed with full voice-chat communication. As you battle alongside each other, you and your buddy will be able to help each other by sharing ammo and health packs – and if you’re ready to really test your friendship, there’s even an option to turn on friendly fire.

If you invite a friend to join your game, you’ll still discover the world at your own pace. Only the hosting player will be able to accept missions, recruit and command Guns for Hire, and keep the progress you make in the world. Your friend, meanwhile, will get to keep all their progression as a player, retaining any cash, guns, perks, or loot they earn (with the exception of items unlocked by missions) while fighting alongside you. The game will also keep you together to make sure you watch each other’s backs, by taking account of each player’s position and teleporting one closer to the other if someone has wandered too far away. Additionally, co-op is restricted to players from your friends list, with no random matchmaking, and you can turn off the feature entirely if you’d rather stay solo.

Continue here to read the full story.

The Dota 2 blog details a version new 7.07 Update now available, adding not one, but two new heroes to Valve's MOBA. Here's word on the patch, the heroes, and a mention of plans to rework the Battle Pass system:

Today the Dueling Fates collide, as two new heroes—Dark Willow & Pangolier—join the battle of the Ancients.

And neither arrives to the fight empty-handed. Each hero has a debut Immortal item available in the Emblems of the Dueling Fates bundle, which also contains a Ward set, courier, and taunts for both heroes.

Along with the new heroes, Dueling Fates also introduces the 7.07 Gameplay Update; new ranked seasons for MMR; an entirely new game mode; and more. Visit the update page for details on each hero and all the other changes we’ve made.

Looking beyond today’s update, we’re also currently reworking the Battle Pass system and will have more information on those changes coming in the future.

• Dauntless Closed Beta Version 0.2.7 Patch.
• Destiny 2 PC Hotfix version 1.0.5.1.
• Human: Fall Flat now features 8 player online multiplayer.
• PULSAR: Lost Colony Beta 16.1 Release Notes.
• Zombasite version 1.014.

• Weeklong Deal - Steam Hardware Sale, Up To 70% Off.
• The Humble Extra Life Bundle 2017 - Humble Mumble.
• Save 50% on Zombasite on Steam.
• League of Legends Champion and skin sale- 10.31 - 11.03.
• Steam Halloween Sale - Last Chance!

• Gamers from Around the World Gather for Gaming, Esports, and More This Week at BlizzCon 2017.
• Join Hearthstone at BlizzCon 2017.
• Parallax Abstraction's Extra Life campaign. Seventh year running.

• GameStop basically just turned itself into a Blockbuster for video games. Thanks [H]ardOCP.
• Nintendo promises improved Switch availability for holiday season.
• Rocket League careens onto Switch in November.
• ONRUSH. New racing game from Codemasters for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
• Marvel’s Spider-Man: New Trailer Features Aunt May, MJ & More – PlayStation.Blog.
• Oure Announced for PS4 – And It’s Out Right Now.
• Ghost of Tsushima, Sucker Punch’s New Project, Revealed at Paris Games Week.
• Spelunky 2 Announced, Coming to PS4.
• Concrete Genie, From the Team Behind Entwined, Comes to PS4 in 2018.
• Eden-Tomorrow Announced for PSVR: Help an Amnesiac & His Robot Pal Escape an Alien Planet.
• Time-Bending Puzzle Game The Gardens Between Comes to PS4 in 2018.
• Guacamelee! 2 Announced for PS4 at Paris Games Week.
• Star Child: A Cinematic Sci-Fi Platformer – PlayStation.Blog.
• Blood & Truth Announced for PS VR, From London Studios.
• Naughty Dog Reveals The Last of Us Part II Cast.

• The Sprint, T-Mobile Merger May be Dead.

• Vreal is aiming to be more than just "Twitch for VR."
• ‘House of Cards’ will end after season six, Netflix ‘deeply troubled’ by Kevin Spacey allegations.

• AOC Announces Q3279VWF Display- 31.5”, MVA, 2560×1440, FreeSync.
• A viral "angriest librarian" explains why America needs libraries now more than ever.

• Facebook denies it is listening into its users' conversations to learn more about them. Thanks Hypothermia.
• 'Instant replay' for computer systems shows cyber attack details. Thanks [H]ardOCP.
• Coin Miner Mobile Malware Returns, Hits Google Play. Thanks [H]ardOCP.
• Woman blames 15 identity thefts on Equifax breach.

• Fine, OK, no backdoors, says Deputy AG. Just keep PLAINTEXT copies of everyone's messages.

• Why do we even need a British Games Institute?…
• Rebellion Programmer Rich May says Microtransactions are "A Necessary Evil"…
• League of Legends: New free champion rotation: Galio, Vayne, Sona and more…

R.I.P.: Robert Blakeley, Whose Fallout Shelter Sign Symbolized the Cold War, Dies at 95. Thanks Acleacius.

The GeForce website announces the release of new GeForce Game Ready 388.13 WHQL drivers. They say these are optimized for Call of Duty: WWII, Need For Speed Payback, and Nioh: Complete Edition. They add that these are also "recommended" for playing Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus on GTX graphics cards. They repeat the previously released requirements for Need for Speed Payback, and they also offer the following updated system specifications for Call of Duty: WWII:

Following the PC Open Beta, Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software have made numerous changes to further improve the PC experience, and have updated their PC system requirements:

Call of Duty: WWII PC Recommended Spec

• OS: Windows 10
• CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 or AMD Ryzen R5 1600X, or equivalent
• RAM: 12 GB RAM
• HDD: 90 GB HD space
• Video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or GeForce GTX 1060 6GB, or equivalent
• DirectX: Version 11.0 compatible video card, or equivalent
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

On the other end of the scale, here are their minimum spec recommendations:

Call of Duty: WWII PC Minimum Spec

• OS: Windows 7 64-Bit or later
• CPU: Intel Core i3 3225, AMD Ryzen R5 1400, or equivalent
• RAM: 8 GB RAM
• HDD: 90 GB HD space
• Video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2GB or GeForce GTX 1050, or equivalent
• DirectX: Version 11.0 compatible video card, or equivalent
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Criterion Games tweets that Star Wars: Battlefront II is gold, meaning development is complete on the action game sequel. This puts it on track for its previously announced release date of November 17th. Word is: "#StarWarsBattlefront2 has gone gold! Well done to the @EA_DICE, and Motive teams! We've had a blast making this awesome game with you." Thanks VideoGamer.

GFK Chart-Track reveals its new charts tracking sales of game software in the U.K. for last week. Assassin's Creed Origins debuts at number one, just like Assassin's Creed Syndicate did. They say it sold a similar number of units, but made more cash: "Launch sales units are almost level with Syndicate, but surpass it in terms of revenue, boosted by the more expensive ‘Gold’ and ‘Gods’ editions." Elsewhere on their all platforms chart Super Mario Odyssey is last week's second bestselling game while Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus debuts at number four. Oddly, the new Assassin's Creed game does not appear on the PC top 30 chart, where the Windows edition of Destiny 2 debuts at number one and the new Wolfenstein enters at number two. Here's the PC top 10:

• Nioh: Complete Edition on the GeForce website.
• Okinawa Rush on Christ Centered Gamer.

• Nintendo expects Switch will beat Wii U lifetime sales in a year.

• Twisted light could make wireless data faster than fiber.
• nVidia on bringing the GTX 1070 Ti to notebooks: "We could definitely do that."
• Comcast's Wireless Service Now Has 250,000 Subscribers.
• Amazon is adding Audible support to its entry-level Kindle.

• Amazon Key Is a Lot Less Scary Than My Post-1-Click Remorse. Thanks j.c.f.
• CCleaner 5.36.6278 is out. Thanks Ant.
• ‘I Forgot My PIN’: An Epic Tale of Losing $30,000 in Bitcoin.
• RIP Teaforia, the $1000 IoT tea-infuser.

• Rumour: Denuvo causes 30-40% additional CPU usage in Assassin's Creed: Origins.
• Intel are launching 10nm chips before the end of the year, despite manufacturing hell.
• An AI detected colorectal cancer with 86 percent accuracy. Is that good?
• Virtual Reality Gets Naughty. Thanks j.c.f.
• HP lost key historical archives in California's wildfires.
• TiVo's revamped interface is available for existing DVRs.

Thanks Ant.

• China could ban video game over blood and violence. PUBG may be in trouble in its biggest market.
• This artificial intelligence may start tracking you soon. Thanks DSLReports.
• Mil-spec infosec spinout Cryptonite reveals its network-scrambling tech.
• Mysterious hack allows attackers stealing Windows login credentials without user interaction. Thanks DSLReports.
• RIP HPKP: Google abandons public key pinning.
• USB stick found in West London contained Heathrow security data.

• Lawsuit accuses Facebook of scheming to weasel out of paying overtime.
• Roger Stone plans to sue Twitter.

• Dungeons 3 on Game Over Online.
• The Evil Within 2 on Gaming Nexus.
• The Inner World: The Last Wind Monk on GameWatcher.
• The Norwood Suite on Just Adventure.
• South Park: The Fractured but Whole on GameWatcher.

• Acer Predator Helios 300 Laptop on TechSpot.
• ADATA Premier and XPG SDXC and microSDXC Cards on AnandTech.
• AZZA Inferno 310 Case on ThinkComputers.org.
• Cooler Master MasterMouse MM530 on APH Networks.
• EK Supremacy EVO Threadripper TR4 Waterblock on [H]ardOCP.
• Harman Kardon Invoke on Ars Technica.
• Samsung Gear Sport smartwatch on Engadget.

Thanks Ant.

• Football Manager 2018 adds support for players coming out as gay…
• Is Steam Banning Links To Uncensored Patches Of Adult-Themed Video Games?…
• Intel's Cancelled Skyrim Rival - Investigating Project Offset…
• Destiny 2 Raid Beaten by Clan of Deaf Gamers…
• Spawn Point season 8 episode 37…
• MachineGames shaved Hitler for the German version of Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus…

Hats off to my NY Giants for their second-best weekend of the season so far. The fact that this was the team's bye week and they did not have a game speaks volumes about what kind of season its been so far.

Seasoned Links:	Thanks Ant.
Stories:	Disabled Vet Running 31 Marathons In 31 Days. Not sure I could do one in 31 days. Oklahoma City Thunder plane had a mid-air collision. Dodgers, Astros Say World Series Baseballs Are Different, Hurt Pitchers.
Science:	Carbon dioxide in atmosphere hits highest level in 800,000 years, study says.
Media:	Happy Halloween 2017! And be glad you aren't his neighbor... This Guy Crashing His BMW Is The Least Surprising Way This Video Could've Ended. Man flies over South Africa in a chair tied to helium balloons. Ed Asner? Thanks [H]ardOCP.
Follow-up:	Puerto Rico’s governor seeks to end deal with small Montana grid repair company. F-35s hobbled by parts shortages, slow repairs, audit finds. Thanks [H]ardOCP.
The Funnies:	Dilbert. Sunny Street.