Call of Duty: Mobile, the free-to-play version of CoD with two currencies, a battle pass, and a battle royale mode, will be coming out on October 1. And you won't have to play it on your phone or tablet. 

The Android emulator GameLoop promises to have support for mouse-and-keyboard controls and "exclusive key mapping" when Call of Duty: Mobile arrives on October 1. Whether the fact you're using an emulator will be detected by the servers so you can be matched against other player on emulators—as is the case with PUBG Mobile—remains to be seen.

I can't imagine the system requirements will be particularly high, so maybe this will be a valid alternative for the CoD fan stuck on a student laptop or office computer.

Thanks, DSOGaming.

Casey Viner, one of the men involved in the 2017 swatting incident that prompted police to surround and ultimately shoot and kill a man, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison. A statement issued by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Kansas (via Polygon) said Viner will serve two years on "supervised release" after his sentence is complete, during which time he will be forbidden from playing online games, and must pay $2,500 in restitution.

Viner initially pleaded not guilty to the charges but changed his plea earlier this year, agreeing to guilty pleas on one count of conspiracy and one count of obstructing justice. He admitted to asking co-defendant Tyler Barriss to swat co-defendant Shane Gaskill following a dispute over a Call of Duty match. Gaskill provided Barriss a false address, however, which led Wichita police to the home of 28-year-old Andrew Finch. Finch stepped onto the front porch of his surrounded house, as demanded by police, and when he made what the District Attorney described as "a move that startled officers," an officer shot and killed him.

"Swatting, and soliciting others to swat someone, are more than foolish," US Attorney Stephen McAllister said. "Such actions are reckless, dangerous and, as this case proves, potentially tragic. Swatting is not a prank, and it is no way to resolve disputes among gamers. Once again, I call upon gamers to self-police their community to ensure that the practice of swatting is ended once and for all."

Barriss, who actually carried out the swat attack by calling police, pleaded guilty to 51 counts and was sentenced to 20 years in prison earlier this year. Gaskill has been placed on "deferred prosecution," which according to a Business Insider report from May will likely see the charges against him dropped if he pays $1,000 restitution and other penalties by the end of 2020. The officer who  killed Finch was not charged, but Finch's family filed a civil suit against the city in 2018.

Activision said a month ago that the next game in the Call of Duty series would be revealed before the end of June. Now it looks like it's going happen before the end of May. 

Unless Activision has spent the past several months conducting a staggeringly successful misinformation campaign, the game in question will be Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which was outed last week as a reboot of the Modern Warfare sub-series. A YouTuber leaked the title, but strong hints pointing at a return to the Adventures of Captain Price were being thrown around well before that, including by former Infinity Ward community manager and creative strategist Robert "fourzerotwo" Bowling, who even (I mean, come on) Photoshopped the "3" out of his t-shirt three weeks ago.

Despite being the worst-kept secret in videogames, I'm actually looking forward to finally learning what Activision and Infinity Ward have cooking this time. Modern Warfare is the only Call of Duty branch that's been able to hook me since Call of Duty 2 so there's a certain level of interest baked into it, but the new game will also reportedly emphasize difficult moments like Modern Warfare 2's No Russian mission, which was built around a massacre of civilians at a Moscow airport. I'm probably setting myself up for disappointment, but if the reboot can deliver moments that lead players to contemplate what's happening in the world around them—and the role they play in it—then I'll be all in on it.

The Call of Duty reveal will take place today at 10 am PT/1 pm ET on May 30. We'll keep you posted.

There's been a lot of speculation about where the next Call of Duty game will take us, with most of it squarely focused on the Modern Warfare series. Someone said what sounded an awful lot like "Modern Warfare 4" in a video clip of an April preview event, and Robert "fourzerotwo" Bowling, formerly the high-profile community manager and creative strategist at Infinity Ward, posted some rather on-the-nose tweets earlier this month. 

Now it looks even more like Captain Price and company are about to make their return. Earlier today, YouTuber LongSensation tweeted this: 

That and a buck-fifty will buy you a cup of coffee, but shortly afterward Kotaku weighed in to say that the leak is accurate: The site said it hasn't seen the game itself, but Activision has been showing it off to press and streamers for the past couple of weeks and "many sources" have told it that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is the title.

It's easy to forget that the original Modern Warfare was actually Call of Duty 4, so this isn't exactly the same title as the first game in that sub-series, but it's close enough that it's bound to cause a few headaches for anyone who has to keep them straight. 

The reason for the lack of a number, according to Kotaku, is that it will be a reboot of the series, with a greater emphasis on emotionally hefty (and uncomfortable) moments like the infamous No Russian mission from Modern Warfare 2 in which players witnessed, and could participate in, a massacre of civilians at a Moscow airport.

It's all still entirely unofficial, as Activision hasn't commented on it and surely won't before the official reveal, which based on an earnings call from earlier this month will happen sometime within the next month-and-a-bit. But if I was a betting man? I know where I'd be putting my money.   

(He even Photoshopped the "3" out of his t-shirt, for heaven's sake.)

The next Call of Duty will be announced before June 30, Activision confirmed in a conference call with investors. We don't have a name yet, but rumours point to it being Modern Warfare 4. 

In an earlier earnings call, Rob Kostich, president of publishing said the latest game in the series would have an entirely new campaign "rooted in some of the franchise's most important history", feeding the rumours about it being another Modern Warfare. 

During yesterday's call, Kostich told investors that Activision planned to reveal Call of Duty later this quarter, adding that the publisher felt "incredibly good" about Infinity Ward's latest.

COO Collister Johnson tackled the subject of keeping players fighting beyond launch. “We need to do even more to maintain the breadth of our Call of Duty player base beyond the launch quarters, and the Call of Duty team is hard at work on that for this fall’s big content release."

Call of Duty has already been shown off behind closed doors, with a quartet of American football players recently getting a sneak peak. A video of the event appeared and some were convinced they could hear "Modern Warfare 4" in the background, but it's very hard to make out and I'm not convinced.

With E3 2019 kicking off on June 11, expect to see Call of Duty making its first appearance before then. 

Cheers, VG24/7.

It's been eight years since the last Modern Warfare shooter, but the 2019 edition of Call of Duty may take the series back there—that's the rumor making the rounds after a video of four US football players getting an early preview of the game turned up on YouTube. 

Four players—Riley Ridley, Christian Miller, Jacques Patrick, and Tajaé Sharpe—posted about the event on Instagram, and were able to avoid revealing anything about it (except that it's "super cool" and "lit"). But a short video clip of the play session, slowed for clarity, has an awful lot of people convinced that someone in the background says the words "killstreak" and—here's the big one—"Modern Warfare 4." 

What do you think?

Personally, I'm not convinced. One of the comments on YouTube says it's "probably just pareidolia," and after googling what that is, I'm inclined to agree: I hear the words because I'm seeing the subtitles. Even with that I don't really pick up "modern," just "warfare 4," and after I took a break and then listened without watching, it was much more difficult to pick up anything coherent.

On the other hand, years of that rock-and-roll music has destroyed my hearing, so maybe the words clearer than my decrepit 'drums are able to detect. Either way, the odds of a return to Modern Warfare look pretty good at this point. As noted by GamesRadar, this isn't the first time that Modern Warfare rumors have surfaced, and Activision Blizzard CFO Dennis Durkin hinted at a blast from the past of some sort during a February earnings call, describing it as "a great step forward in the franchise that is also rooted in some of the franchise's most important history." And unlike last year's Black Ops 4, the 2019 game will have a singleplayer campaign.

The man who instigated a 2017 swatting that resulted in the death of a bystander at the hands of police has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. The sentence is double that of the ten years recommended by guidelines, according to this AP report, but was handed down as part of a deal in which 26-year-old Tyler Barriss pleaded guilty to 51 federal charges related to fake calls and threats. 

The charges against Barriss followed the death of 28-year-old Andrew Finch, who was shot by police responding to a call claiming that someone at Finch's address had killed one person and was holding others hostage. That call was placed by Barriss, allegedly at the behest of 19-year-old Casey Viner, who was embroiled in a dispute over a Call of Duty: WW2 match with 20-year-old Shane Gaskill. When Gaskill discovered that Barriss was trying to track him down, he provided an old address—Finch's—and dared him to do something. 

"We hope that this will send a strong message about swatting, which is a juvenile and senseless practice," U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said after sentencing. "We’d like to put an end to it within the gaming community and in any other contact. Swatting, as I’ve said before, is not a prank."

Viner and Gaskill initially pleaded not guilty to charges related to the swatting, including conspiracy to obstruct justice and wire fraud, but Viner has notified the court that he wants to change his plea and Gaskill is also engaged in plea-related talks with prosecutors. The officer who actually shot and killed Finch as he exited his house as ordered by police was not charged; Finch's family has filed a lawsuit against the city of Wichita and the officers involved in the killing.

Activision took something of a risk with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 by dropping the single-player campaign in favor of a purely multiplayer experience. It worked out pretty well, but even so the publisher said during today's earnings call that this year's Call of Duty—and yes, there's going to be one—will see the return of a campaign. 

"It's going to feature an entirely new campaign, a huge and expansive multiplayer world, and of course some fun co-op gameplay," Activision president Rob Kostich said during the call.   

Activision Blizzard CFO Dennis Durkin also teased the game, in the vaguest possible sense, saying that it "will appeal broadly to both existing and new fans," and that it represents "a great step forward in the franchise that is also rooted in some of the franchise's most important history."   

However, while Call of Duty will be Activision's "main driver" for 2019, he warned that it may not reach the lofty heights of Black Ops 4: "We have high expectations for the game, but for modeling purposes we are conservatively planning on up-front Q4 unit sales to be lower than Black Ops 4." 

After enjoying a record-setting year in 2018, Blizzard confirmed today that it will lay off approximately eight percent of its workforce. 

A new 2K studio is opening up in Silicon Valley, Take-Two Interactive announced today, led by Sledgehammer Games co-founder and former Visceral Games director Michael Condrey. The team is working on an unannounced project, though Take-Two is quick to note Condrey’s shooter credentials, specifically the Call of Duty series and Dead Space. 

As studio head of Sledgehammer Games, Condrey was the director for Modern Warfare 3, Advanced Warfare and, most recently, Call of Duty: WWII, while at Visceral he led development on Dead Space. 

“Great games come from the passion of a team driven by the pursuit of quality and the empowerment of an independent studio model,” said Condrey. “2K’s studios have creative and technical autonomy, backed by a world-class infrastructure of support, and that offers the perfect recipe to build a new studio and craft experiences that will lead the next generation of gaming for fans everywhere.”

The new studio, which has yet to be given a name, will have “creative freedom to develop the studio’s vision and long-term projects,” Take-Two added. 

Tyler Barriss, whose 'swatting' hoax last year resulted in police killing a Kansas man, has pleaded guilty to a total of 51 charges including making a false report resulting in death, cyberstalking, and conspiracy. The plea agreement covers the case in Kansas as well as similar charges filed in California and the District of Columbia, according to a KTLA report, and will see him serve a minimum of 20 years in prison. 

Barriss admitted in his plea that he was asked by 18-year-old Casey Viner of Ohio to "swat" Shane Gaskill, 20, of Kansas, after the two became embroiled in a dispute over a $1.50 wager on a Call of Duty match. Gaskill found out that Barriss was pursuing him and sent messages daring him to carry out the swat, but provided an old address that actually belonged to the family of Andrew Finch, a 28-year-old who had no connection to the matter. After Barriss made the false report, police surrounded the house and called Gaskill out; when Finch emerged, they shot and killed him after he "unexpectedly dropped his hands." 

"Without ever stepping foot in Wichita, the defendant created a chaotic situation that quickly turned from dangerous to deadly," U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said in a statement released following the guilty plea. "His reasons were trivial and his disregard for the safety of other people was staggering."

Barriss also pleaded guilty to charges of making a bomb threat against the headquarters of the FBI and the FCC in Washington DC, and to 46 counts of false reports made to emergency numbers in multiple states and the Canadian province of Alberta from calls originating in Los Angeles.

The plea deal still has to be accepted by a judge: Sentencing is set to take place on January 30. Viner and Gaskill are awaiting trial on charges including wire fraud, conspiracy to make false reports, and obstruction of justice. The police officer who killed Finch was not charged.