IGN is among the sites that posted about receiving a mysterious package from Activision leading to a teaser website suggesting Call of Duty news is expected on Friday. A tweet from NoahJ456 follows this up with news said to be straight from Activision saying that Friday will just be another step towards their eventual announcement. Apparently the fact that there are annual entries in the military shooter series and that the title Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and the new game's logo have seemingly already leaked is not going to stop them from milking this for all it's worth:

I just heard directly from Activision.

What we solved today was just the FIRST step of the Call of Duty 2020 reveal.

What comes out on Friday at 12 EST is just the next part.

We go again.

Here's Night City Wire- Episode 2 a new broadcast from CD PROJEKT RED for Cyberpunk 2077, showing off more gameplay from the upcoming sci-fi RPG and discussing what to expect from the project. We can expect more on the topic soon, as the stream concludes saying to expect Episode 3 "soon." Here's the handy index they provide of the topics they cover:

00:00 Intro
01:00 Lifepaths
04:32 Dev insights: lifepaths
10:57 Refused: Becoming SAMURAI
16:53 Tools of Destruction
19:16 Dev insights: weapons
24:54 Outro

Continue here to read the full story.

Amazon announces that Twitch Prime is being rebranded as Prime Gaming. It sounds like that's the most significant change this involves, as the services described sound pretty much the same as what Twitch Prime currently offers. Here's the summary:

With today’s launch of Prime Gaming, Amazon Prime members can now access tons of free, exclusive content for their favorite games every month. Prime members can claim new in-game content for Grand Theft Auto Online, Red Dead Online, Apex Legends, EA SPORTS FIFA 20, League of Legends, and more than 20 other popular PC, console, and mobile games, worth hundreds of dollars in value. Plus, they can claim a collection of PC games for free every month that are theirs to keep forever. This month’s more than 20 Free Games with Prime include SNK arcade classics SNK 40th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION, METAL SLUG 2, and indie retro brawler Treachery in Beatdown City. Prime Gaming’s selection of in-game content and free PC games is always growing and rotating to stay fresh, with new items and free games added every month.

“Prime members already get the best of TV, movies, and music, and now we’re expanding our entertainment offerings to include the best of gaming,” said Larry Plotnick, general manager of Prime Gaming. “We’re giving customers new content that makes playing their favorite games on every platform even better. So no matter what kind of games you love, and no matter where you play them, they’ll be even better with Prime Gaming.”

Following up on the mention this morning of Quake giveaway plans, Bethesda now offers a firm schedule of when the games will be offered through the Bethesda launcher (thanks Ant). Quake is available right now, and this tweet says Quake II will come on Wednesday and Quake III Arena will arrive one week from today:

THANK YOU! The total is in, and you raised over $30,000 during #QuakeCon at Home for @NAACP_LDF, @DirectRelief, @TrevorProject, and @UNICEF!

As a thank you, we'll be unlocking Quake II on 8/12 and Quake III on 8/17, free for 72 hours each on the Bethesda net Launcher.

Ranida Games announces PBA Basketball Slam: Arcade Edition will enter Early Access this month on Steam, offering the PC edition of a mobile hoops game. The PBA stands for the Philippine Basketball Association, shattering our dreams of a basketball simulation from the Professional Bowlers Association. The Early Access Teaser shows off two-on-two gameplay featuring players with big heads, and we're not just talking about their egos. Here's more on the game, its origins, and how it's being adapted to the new platform:

PBA Basketball Slam: Arcade Edition is a 2-on-2 arcade-style full court basketball game with exaggerated gameplay where anything goes. It features epic moves, high-flying dunks, a unique mix of fun, and gameplay experience inspired by the 1990s basketball arcade game NBA Jam and Street Dunk.

The Arcade Edition will have multiplayer features with full keyboard and controller support and will allow up to four players to play together via local multiplayer or play with friends remotely via Steam's Remote Play Together. Campaign Mode and Quick Game features will also be included on its Early Access release.

"Bringing Basketball Slam to PC will allow more players to enjoy the game and will also allow us to enhance the game further, says Ben Banta, CEO of Ranida Games. "With the success of the mobile game having more than 10 million downloads worldwide, we've been able to polish the user interface and experience for the PC version, and more features will be added as we go through development,” he added.

Continue here to read the full story.

• Humble Book Bundle- Become an Influencer by Wiley (pay what you want and help charity).*

*Blue's News may receive a commission on sales of this item

• F1 2020 - Deluxe Schumacher Edition Trailer.

• Allied Esports Entertainment Announces Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results.

• Gleamlight Is Now Available For Digital Pre-order And Pre-download On Xbox One.
• Skully is a Unique Platforming Adventure That is Available Now on Xbox One.
• Arcade Platformer HardCube Now Available on Xbox One.
• Mystery Mine Now Available on Xbox One.
• Sony is bringing back fan-favorite DualShock 4 controller colors this month. Thanks Neutronbeam.

• Google Maps is coming to Apple Watch, adding CarPlay Dashboard support.

• 1Password is coming to Linux.
• Smart locks may not be as smart as you hope.

• A machinist lapped an AMD Ryzen 16-core CPU within a nanometer of its life.
• Glary Utilities version 5.148.074. Thanks DSLReports via Ant.

• Vulnerability Summary for the Week of August 3, 2020 - CISA. Thanks Ant.
• Security researcher publishes details and exploit code for a vBulletin zero-day.
• A mysterious group has hijacked Tor exit nodes to perform SSL stripping attacks.
• Hackers use fake security advisory to target cPanel users.

• Activision Blizzard Names Major League Baseball Executive Tony Petitti as President of Sports & Entertainment…
• Riot forms global deals council and ethics committee after NEOM controversy…
• Hawken lives on offline thanks to fan modders…

Last Link of the Day: The global coffee crisis is coming. Ruh-roh. Thanks Ant.

The QuakeCon at Home: Day 1 VOD on Twitch confirms that since their charity milestones have all been met, Bethesda will be giving away Quake, Quake II, and Quake III Arena through the Bethesda launcher for everyone who logged into the launcher over the weekend. Quake is now available, and in the video at about the 36:12:40 mark (thanks Reddit via Ant) Pete Hines says he thinks the other two games will come sometime on Wednesday.

Devolver Digital Tweets a thank you to the over two million customers who've bought Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout on Steam in under a week since the launch of Mediatonic's party game. They say over 60 million fall guys have fallen since then and that the game has racked up over 23 million hours watched on Twitch. If you are wondering, that translates to over 2600 years! Here's more of what they have to say about all this:

The euphoric team of Mediatonic and Devolver Digital are thrilled to announce that Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout has welcomed over 2 million players on Steam since its release on August 4th, making it the companies’ most successful launch ever.

To celebrate the milestone, the dynamic duo has collected a plethora of eye-popping Fall Guys figures from the game’s launch week in a transparent attempt to garner even more attention for their little jelly beans.

Continue here to read the full story.

A post on Steam addresses the PC performance of Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition, as there have been complaints about the port:

Thank you for supporting us yesterday as we launched Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition on PC! We have been enjoying a whole new wave of screenshots with the in-game Photo Mode, live streams and videos from content creators, and seeing so many new players start their journey with Aloy.

We have been monitoring all of our channels and are aware that some players have been experiencing crashes and other technical issues. Please know that we are investigating your reports as our highest priority.

We appreciate those who have already taken the time to report their issues on Steam, Reddit, or via our website. If you are still encountering crashes or bugs, please continue to use those spaces, or refer to our FAQ if you are unsure of how to proceed. Your reports are, and have already been, incredibly helpful for our teams.

Thank you for your patience as we continue to investigate issues; we will update you all as soon as we have more news.

NPD Group announces consumer spending on video game products in the U.S. continues to break records. They say the Q2 total of $11.6 billion is up 30% over the same period last year and an increase of 7% over Q1:

According to the Q2 2020 Games Market Dynamics: U.S.* report from The NPD Group, overall total industry consumer spending on video gaming in the U.S. reached a second quarter (April – June) record $11.6 billion, an increase of 30% when compared to the same time period last year, and a 7% increase over the first quarter 2020 (January – March) record $10.9 billion.

Sales of video game content reached $10.2 billion in the second quarter, up 28 percent when compared to a year ago. Gains were seen across new physical content, digital console and PC content, mobile and subscription spending. Strong growth across Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One led to an overall hardware category sales increase of 57% to $848 million. Sales of video game accessories including gamepads, headsets, steering wheels and other peripherals increased 50% to $584 million.

Continue here to read the full story.

Here's more consumer affairs in the form of the new chart from GfK Entertainment listing the top-selling games in the UK for the week ending August 8th:

#		Title	Publisher	Last Week
1	↑	Animal Crossing: New Horizons	Nintendo	2
2	-	Ghost of Tsushima	Sony Computer Ent.	1
3	↑	Mario Kart 8 Deluxe	Nintendo
4	↑	FIFA 20	Electronic Arts	19
5	↑	Minecraft	Nintendo	10
6	↓	F1 2020	Codemasters	5
7	↓	Paper Mario: The Origami King	Nintendo	6
8	↑	Grand Theft Auto V	Take 2	9
9	↑	Ring Fit Adventure	Nintendo	11
10	↑	51 Worldwide Games	Nintendo	12

Continue here to read the full story.

EA Access Coming soon to Steam Page is now online, saying the service will soon be available through Steam as promised (thanks VG247). Here's a bit of the included FAQ:

What is EA Access?
Glad you asked! EA Access is the ultimate gaming destination for anyone who loves EA games. Membership gives you more of your favorite EA titles. More rewards, more exclusive trials, and more discounts – all for just $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year!

Here is what’s included:

• Unlock exclusive challenges and rewards, member-only content, early trials of new releases, and access to a library of top titles.
• Play select new-release games for up to 10 hours even before they launch.
• Get more to play with unlimited access to a collection of Electronic Arts’ fan-favorite series and top titles.
• Save 10% on all EA digital purchases on Steam including game downloads, Season Passes, points packs, and DLC.

When will EA Access be available on Steam?
Very soon, but if you want to know the minute it’s available to join just click the “FOLLOW EA” button above or check back on this page for updates.

• GOG.com Weekly Sale: games perfect for white nights up to 90% off.

• Destroy All Humans! - Accolades Trailer.
• Remothered- Broken Porcelain – Ashmann Residents Trailer.

• Rumor: Xbox Series S Might Release Alongside Xbox Series X.

• Hyundai spins Ioniq into separate brand, announces 3 new electric cars.

• Amazon and mall owner Simon consider turning Sears, J.C. Penney stores into fulfillment centers.
• Why Wikipedia Decided to Stop Calling Fox a ‘Reliable’ Source.

• Nvidia 'Ultimate Countdown' Points to Ampere on August 31.
• Media Alert: Intel at DEF CON 28. Thanks Hypothermia.
• Stop gentrifying tech: Why 'premium' products make us all less efficient. Thanks Neutronbeam.

• Death Stranding PC Review - DSOGaming.

• ASRock B460 Steel Legend Motherboard Review - OverClocked Inside.
• Beelink GT-R Review - An AMD Ryzen 5 Mini PC Tested with Windows 10 and Ubuntu 20.04 - CNX Software. Thanks Neutronbeam.
• Corsair CV550 550W PSU Report - APH Networks.
• Elgato Key Light Air Review - ThinkComputers.org.
• EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G5 750W Power Supply Review - The FPS Review.
• Lenovo Legion 5i Laptop Review- Screen Saver - Tom's Hardware.
• PS1digital review- the ultimate HDMI option for PlayStation 1 • Eurogamer.net.
• Z490 Mini ITX Motherboard Roundup- Four Tiny Boards do Battle - Tom's Hardware.

• Max Payne has killed over 2,000 cops and criminals. Thanks Neutronbeam…

MrsBlue and I have been on an extended classic movies kick lately, and TCM has been our most watched channel for a while now. For the month of August they are devoting each day to a different star's movies, and Saturday the station devoted 24 hours to the films of Charlie Chaplin. He's long been regarded as a genius, so I'm not proud to say I've only taken passing notice of his movies over the years. But getting to see a few of them in full was an eye-opening experience, as both his silent films and his talkies were shockingly great, even with his reputation raising expectations. I think it helps that modern restoration makes the silents look so much better, both by cleaning up the prints, and by presenting them in the proper framerate, as opposed to the oddly sped-up versions I remember from my childhood. A bonus discovery was Paulette Goddard, who was a great actress and a breathtaking beauty.

Silent Round-up
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.

Stories

• A 103-year-old woman got her first tattoo to cross it off her bucket list.

Science

• Meet the caterpillar that uses its old heads for defense.

Media

• Uncle Roger DISGUSTED by this Egg Fried Rice Video (BBC Food) (thanks Acleacius). And the follow up.
• Chimpanzee does Ninja Warrior obstacle course. Do not mess with a ninja chimp.
• Large Grizzly Bear Climbs onto Airplane. Or a grizzly bear for that matter. Thanks Mark.

The Funnies

• Vendor With No Facemask - Dilbert.