Sony has released a new, static Black Lives Matter theme for free to all PS4 owners who want to support the movement. The theme features a black and yellow colorway and features a raised fist and the words Black Lives Matter written off to the side. It's available for free right now on the PlayStation Store. [caption id="attachment_2426236" align="alignnone" width="1080"] Credit: Sony[/caption] Sony and PlayStation have both shown support for Black Lives Matter in the past. PlayStation postponed its PS5 event last June in solidarity, and the Sony Twitter account posted a statement of solidarity back in May 2020. Microsoft and Xbox, along with companies like EA, Activision Blizzard, Nintendo, Rockstar, Bethesda, and more have also posted statements in support of Black Lives Matter following the death of George Floyd. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.

A scientific study has determined that 2012's Sinister is the scariest movie of all-time. Scary can be defined by many things and ranges from person to person. Some people are more scared by the drawn-out, gets-under-your-skin horror found in movies like Midsommar while others prefer the more in-your-face scares found in the likes of The Conjuring or Insidious. According to Forbes, a scientific study by broadbandchoices determined that no movie, however, is scarier than Sinister. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2012/09/19/sinister-red-band-trailer"] "With more people than ever facing a Halloween at home, our Science of Scare study was designed to help people find the most scientifically scary films ever made, to save them the time of searching through thousands of titles across streaming services like Amazon, Netflix, and Shudder," Daniel Clifford, creator of the study, said. The study measured resting heart rates of 50 individuals of different ages while they watched over 100 hours of scary movies. When all was said and done, the study had determined a list of the 35 scariest movies and at the top was Sinister. The average resting heart rate of the 50 individuals was 65 beats per minute. During Sinister, that average jumped to 86 BPM, which equates to a 32% increase. No other movie saw a higher rise in average BPM. 2010's Indisious, however, was crowned the king of the jump scare as it had a particular scare that saw the average BPM rise to 133 during it. No other movie topped this individual jump scare. Overall, Insidious came in second place behind Sinister. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-horror-movies&captions=true"] Rounding out the rest of the top 10, The Conjuring came in third, Hereditary in fourth, Paranormal Activity in fifth, and It Follows in sixth. The Conjuring 2 took home seventh place while The Babadook, The Descent, and The Visit were crowned eight, ninth, and tenth respectively. If you haven't yet seen Sinister, it's a horror movie starring Ethan Hawke as a journalist digging into the reason why a family was suspiciously killed in his new home and you can read our thoughts about it in our Sinister review. If you've already seen Sinister and are looking for some more horror, check out these 23 horror titles to watch on Netflix this Halloween and then check out our list of the 25 best horror movies of all-time. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

A scientific study has determined that 2012's Sinister is the scariest movie of all-time. Scary can be defined by many things and ranges from person to person. Some people are more scared by the drawn-out, gets-under-your-skin horror found in movies like Midsommar while others prefer the more in-your-face scares found in the likes of The Conjuring or Insidious. According to Forbes, a scientific study by broadbandchoices determined that no movie, however, is scarier than Sinister. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2012/09/19/sinister-red-band-trailer"] "With more people than ever facing a Halloween at home, our Science of Scare study was designed to help people find the most scientifically scary films ever made, to save them the time of searching through thousands of titles across streaming services like Amazon, Netflix, and Shudder," Daniel Clifford, creator of the study, said. The study measured resting heart rates of 50 individuals of different ages while they watched over 100 hours of scary movies. When all was said and done, the study had determined a list of the 35 scariest movies and at the top was Sinister. The average resting heart rate of the 50 individuals was 65 beats per minute. During Sinister, that average jumped to 86 BPM, which equates to a 32% increase. No other movie saw a higher rise in average BPM. 2010's Indisious, however, was crowned the king of the jump scare as it had a particular scare that saw the average BPM rise to 133 during it. No other movie topped this individual jump scare. Overall, Insidious came in second place behind Sinister. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-horror-movies&captions=true"] Rounding out the rest of the top 10, The Conjuring came in third, Hereditary in fourth, Paranormal Activity in fifth, and It Follows in sixth. The Conjuring 2 took home seventh place while The Babadook, The Descent, and The Visit were crowned eight, ninth, and tenth respectively. If you haven't yet seen Sinister, it's a horror movie starring Ethan Hawke as a journalist digging into the reason why a family was suspiciously killed in his new home and you can read our thoughts about it in our Sinister review. If you've already seen Sinister and are looking for some more horror, check out these 23 horror titles to watch on Netflix this Halloween and then check out our list of the 25 best horror movies of all-time. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

Some scientists believe that there's a 50-50 chance we really are living in a simulation, and now we have to wonder if The Matrix is looking more like a documentary than science fiction. In a report from Popular Mechanics (via Scientific American), some scientists believe that the odds that life as we know it is a simulation could be as simple as a coin toss. This 50-50 coin toss approximation comes from the Scientific American-cited odds of 50.22222 to 49.77778 when determining whether or not life is a simulation. Scientific American, and subsequently Popular Mechanics, cite philosopher Nick Bostrom's 2003 paper, "Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?" to explain where odds like the ones above come from. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-sci-fi-movies&captions=true"] "I argue that at least one of the following propositions is true," Bostrom says in his paper. "(1): the human species is very likely to become extinct before reaching 'posthuman' stage; (2): any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of its evolutionary history (or variations thereof); (3): we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. It follows that the belief that there is a significant chance that we shall one day become posthumans who run ancestor-simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation." Bostrom's simulation theory focuses on computing power, much like The Matrix and its sequels did when discussing the idea of humankind simulation. It might be hard to believe there exists a computer powerful enough to simulate our entire existence but, if such a computer did exist, we would never be able to recognize it to begin with as we'd be inside of it, or rather, a part of its simulation. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/21/scientists-claim-evidence-of-parallel-backward-universe-ign-now"] Bostrom's theory of simulation sees the odds at nearly 50-50 and Columbia University astronomer David Kipping used Bostrom's theory as a guide for arriving to his own odds. Kipping's theory dictates that simulations cannot spawn their own additional simulations. "That is because as simulations spawn more simulations, the computer resources available to each subsequent generation dwindles to the point where the vast majority of realities will be those that do not have the computing power necessary to simulate offspring realties that are capable of hosting conscious beings." As Popular Mechanics points out, think of Russian nesting dolls. Each subsequent doll after the first doll must fit into the doll that came before it. As a result, each doll grows smaller and smaller in size and scale as you go deeper into the nest of dolls. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/20/keanu-reeves-and-carrie-anne-moss-join-matrix-4-ign-now"] Basically, we are either in a simulation or we are not in a simulation. If humankind never creates its own simulation using conscious beings, then the odds of us living in a simulation tip further toward "yes," because if we are in a simulation, then we likely wouldn't be able to create one. If humankind does create a simulation of its own using conscious beings, then Kipping and Bostrom's theory about computing power are closer to being proven wrong and the odds of us living in a simulation shift more towards "no." Regardless, it's probably not a bad idea to let Keanu Reeves know now just in case. For more science, read about how some scientists claim evidence of a parallel universe where time runs backward and then read about how this simulation might not matter because various species on Earth keep evolving into crabs. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN who became increasingly more existential while writing this story. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

Some scientists believe that there's a 50-50 chance we really are living in a simulation, and now we have to wonder if The Matrix is looking more like a documentary than science fiction. In a report from Popular Mechanics (via Scientific American), some scientists believe that the odds that life as we know it is a simulation could be as simple as a coin toss. This 50-50 coin toss approximation comes from the Scientific American-cited odds of 50.22222 to 49.77778 when determining whether or not life is a simulation. Scientific American, and subsequently Popular Mechanics, cite philosopher Nick Bostrom's 2003 paper, "Are We Living in a Computer Simulation?" to explain where odds like the ones above come from. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-sci-fi-movies&captions=true"] "I argue that at least one of the following propositions is true," Bostrom says in his paper. "(1): the human species is very likely to become extinct before reaching 'posthuman' stage; (2): any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of its evolutionary history (or variations thereof); (3): we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. It follows that the belief that there is a significant chance that we shall one day become posthumans who run ancestor-simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation." Bostrom's simulation theory focuses on computing power, much like The Matrix and its sequels did when discussing the idea of humankind simulation. It might be hard to believe there exists a computer powerful enough to simulate our entire existence but, if such a computer did exist, we would never be able to recognize it to begin with as we'd be inside of it, or rather, a part of its simulation. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/21/scientists-claim-evidence-of-parallel-backward-universe-ign-now"] Bostrom's theory of simulation sees the odds at nearly 50-50 and Columbia University astronomer David Kipping used Bostrom's theory as a guide for arriving to his own odds. Kipping's theory dictates that simulations cannot spawn their own additional simulations. "That is because as simulations spawn more simulations, the computer resources available to each subsequent generation dwindles to the point where the vast majority of realities will be those that do not have the computing power necessary to simulate offspring realties that are capable of hosting conscious beings." As Popular Mechanics points out, think of Russian nesting dolls. Each subsequent doll after the first doll must fit into the doll that came before it. As a result, each doll grows smaller and smaller in size and scale as you go deeper into the nest of dolls. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/08/20/keanu-reeves-and-carrie-anne-moss-join-matrix-4-ign-now"] Basically, we are either in a simulation or we are not in a simulation. If humankind never creates its own simulation using conscious beings, then the odds of us living in a simulation tip further toward "yes," because if we are in a simulation, then we likely wouldn't be able to create one. If humankind does create a simulation of its own using conscious beings, then Kipping and Bostrom's theory about computing power are closer to being proven wrong and the odds of us living in a simulation shift more towards "no." Regardless, it's probably not a bad idea to let Keanu Reeves know now just in case. For more science, read about how some scientists claim evidence of a parallel universe where time runs backward and then read about how this simulation might not matter because various species on Earth keep evolving into crabs. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN who became increasingly more existential while writing this story. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

We are all destined to become crabs. It might feel that way in 2020 but fortunately, that's not the case...for humans, at least. It turns out that five different groups of non-crab crustaceans have evolved into crabs in a process known as carcinization, according to a study from the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society as reported by Popular Mechanics. Carcinization is a type of convergent evolution that occurs when a non-crab-like crustacean evolves into a crab-like form. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-sci-fi-movies&captions=true"] "Although enormous morphological disparity is observed in the internal anatomy of the crab-like taxa, reflecting the fact that the evolution of the crab-like habits was indeed convergent, various corresponding dependences are found across the different lineages between the external characters of a crab-like habitus/morphotype and inner structures," according to the 2017 Biological Journal of the Linnean Society about this topic. "In other words, as a result of carcinization, certain structural coherences led to the specific anatomical pattern found in crab-like forms." What all of this means is that nature's natural evolutionary track really likes the shape of crabs. What happens is that animals living in similar habitats of crabs — in this case, crustaceans, which do live in habitats similar to crabs — face similar obstacles that crabs face. These obstacles lead the non-crab-like crustaceans down the same evolutionary path as crabs and over time, you get a non-crab-like crustacean that has evolved into something very crab-like. As pointed out by Popular Mechanics, this phenomenon occurs elsewhere in nature too. For example, birds and bats are two different species but both fly using mechanical wings because their habitat and survival needs require wings. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/30/scientists-revive-100-million-year-old-lifeforms-ign-now"] The five crustaceans that evolved into crab-like forms didn't just take on a similar look — they took on similar circulatory systems as well, despite the differences in their organs and bodily systems when compared to crabs. You can read more about this phenomenon in Popular Mechanics' story but the takeaway is that there might be a timeline where we are all crabs one day. For more weird science like this, read about how some scientists claim evidence of a parallel universe where time runs backward (maybe everyone has already evolved into crabs there) and then read about a bionic moon jellyfish recently created by scientists (checkmate: can't evolve into a crab if you're already bionic moon jellyfish). [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker. He is also a crab. You, too, will be a crab one day. We will all be crabs. You can follow this crab on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

We are all destined to become crabs. It might feel that way in 2020 but fortunately, that's not the case...for humans, at least. It turns out that five different groups of non-crab crustaceans have evolved into crabs in a process known as carcinization, according to a study from the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society as reported by Popular Mechanics. Carcinization is a type of convergent evolution that occurs when a non-crab-like crustacean evolves into a crab-like form. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-25-best-sci-fi-movies&captions=true"] "Although enormous morphological disparity is observed in the internal anatomy of the crab-like taxa, reflecting the fact that the evolution of the crab-like habits was indeed convergent, various corresponding dependences are found across the different lineages between the external characters of a crab-like habitus/morphotype and inner structures," according to the 2017 Biological Journal of the Linnean Society about this topic. "In other words, as a result of carcinization, certain structural coherences led to the specific anatomical pattern found in crab-like forms." What all of this means is that nature's natural evolutionary track really likes the shape of crabs. What happens is that animals living in similar habitats of crabs — in this case, crustaceans, which do live in habitats similar to crabs — face similar obstacles that crabs face. These obstacles lead the non-crab-like crustaceans down the same evolutionary path as crabs and over time, you get a non-crab-like crustacean that has evolved into something very crab-like. As pointed out by Popular Mechanics, this phenomenon occurs elsewhere in nature too. For example, birds and bats are two different species but both fly using mechanical wings because their habitat and survival needs require wings. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/30/scientists-revive-100-million-year-old-lifeforms-ign-now"] The five crustaceans that evolved into crab-like forms didn't just take on a similar look — they took on similar circulatory systems as well, despite the differences in their organs and bodily systems when compared to crabs. You can read more about this phenomenon in Popular Mechanics' story but the takeaway is that there might be a timeline where we are all crabs one day. For more weird science like this, read about how some scientists claim evidence of a parallel universe where time runs backward (maybe everyone has already evolved into crabs there) and then read about a bionic moon jellyfish recently created by scientists (checkmate: can't evolve into a crab if you're already bionic moon jellyfish). [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker. He is also a crab. You, too, will be a crab one day. We will all be crabs. You can follow this crab on Twitter @LeBlancWes. 

The Haunting of Verdansk will bring The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Saw villains into the game alongside spooky new game modes and more in Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

Set to launch on October 20 and run through November 3, The Haunting of Verdansk is a new update for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone’s Season Six that brings Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Saw bundles into the game. This Halloween-themed event will also feature a new “Trick or Treat” reward system and new Halloween-themed game modes. You can check out a trailer of what to expect below.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/19/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-the-haunting-of-verdansk-trailer"]

“This Halloween-themed event will feature the ‘Trick or Treat’ reward system, where special Supply Boxes may either contain frights or frighteningly good blueprints and personalization items,” a blog post about the update reads.

“Come prepared for infiltrations at day or night, as select modes feature a nighttime variant of Verdansk that includes more than a few Halloween-themed frights. Rather spend the night fighting both the living and the dead? Then prepare for Zombie Royale, an undead twist on Battle Royale where dead operators use unnatural powers to feast on the living in order to rejoin their ranks.”

When the event begins, players can purchase bundles based on Saw and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The Saw bundle gives you the Billy skin for Morte, the Phlebotomozier Lethal Equipment piece, which is a special throwing knife that drills into enemies upon impact, and two Saw-themed weapons: an assault rifle and a shotgun. You’ll also receive a Cargo Truck skin, a tricycle Charm, and four other pieces of personalization content.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre bundle includes the Leatherface skin for Velikan and the Family Heirloom LMG blueprint, which comes with a unique stock attachment that allows Leatherface to wield a chainsaw. You’ll also receive the “Anybody Home?” melee blueprint that turns your secondary into a one-handed hammer, an SMG blueprint weapon, a vehicle horn, and five other pieces of personalization content.

Other operators will get Halloween-themed skins as well, like the Dr. Karlov skin found in the Dr. Karlov Lives bundle that includes a new skin for Bale, two high-voltage weapon blueprints, an electric throwing knife, a vehicle skin, and other cosmetic items. Throughout this event, Activision says that other spooky bundles will appear in the store like the Ghost: Grim Reaper bundle and the Mace: Dia de Los Muertos bundle.

This update will also include a new weapon: the JAK-12 Shotgun. This a fully-automatic shotgun that has a faster fire rate than any other weapon in its category, according to Activision, and it includes unique attachments like the 8-Round FRAG-12 Mags and the 32-Round Drum Mags. This shotgun can be unlocked via the in-game challenge or as a blueprint variant acquired by purchasing the “Lacedaemon” store bundle.

On the Warzone side of things, there will be a limited-time Trick or Treat event, where zombies will infiltrate Verdansk in a new dark version of the map that sees it illuminated only by the Moon. Players can expect to see Billy on screens throughout the map and they might run into Leatherface in the Krovnik Farmland section of Verdansk.

In the Trick or Treat event, there will be special Trick or Treat supply boxes in Verdansk that, upon opening, could reward players with universal rewards like the “Return to Dust” assault rifle blueprint or “The Cleaver” legendary melee blueprint. A holographic watch, charms, stickers, sprays, calling cards, and emblems can be found in these boxes as well. The boxes might also include a more sinister trick, although Activision didn’t detail what this could mean.

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=call-of-duty-modern-warfare-and-warzone-the-haunting-of-verdansk&captions=true"]

Players that collect all 16 rewards in the Trick or Treat boxes will receive the “Pumpkin Punisher" legendary assault rifle blueprint.

If you’re looking for more zombie action in Verdansk, The Haunting of Verdansk includes a new Zombie Royale mode that sees dead operators come back to life as zombies instead of being sent to the gulag. Zombies have increased speed, improved jumps, powerful melee attacks, and thermal vision, but they can’t use weapons. When a player is killed, they’ll drop a syringe. If a zombie collects two syringes, they’ll be dropped back onto the map as their operator for another chance at survival.

On the Modern Warfare side of things, all of the multiplayer’s game modes will be Halloween-themed. For example, operators that get three kills in a single life will see their head turned into a jack-o-lantern. Other spooky changes include skulls instead of dog tags in Kill Confirmed and scarecrows at each Domination point instead of the standard flags.

Two new multiplayer modes are included with this update as well: Onslaughter and Snipers Only. In Onslaughter, squads must “wrest control of a Juggernaut suit that spawns somewhere on the map and advance into a specific goal area.” In Snipers Only, players will only be able to use five pre-built sniper loadouts in standard Team Deathmatch rounds.

You can read even more about The Haunting of Verdansk in Activision’s blog post detailing the update. For more of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone’s sixth season, be sure to check out the Season Six cinematic trailer and then read about Warzone’s new fast travel system.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

The Haunting of Verdansk will bring The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Saw villains into the game alongside spooky new game modes and more in Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

Set to launch on October 20 and run through November 3, The Haunting of Verdansk is a new update for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone’s Season Six that brings Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Saw bundles into the game. This Halloween-themed event will also feature a new “Trick or Treat” reward system and new Halloween-themed game modes. You can check out a trailer of what to expect below.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/10/19/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-the-haunting-of-verdansk-trailer"]

“This Halloween-themed event will feature the ‘Trick or Treat’ reward system, where special Supply Boxes may either contain frights or frighteningly good blueprints and personalization items,” a blog post about the update reads.

“Come prepared for infiltrations at day or night, as select modes feature a nighttime variant of Verdansk that includes more than a few Halloween-themed frights. Rather spend the night fighting both the living and the dead? Then prepare for Zombie Royale, an undead twist on Battle Royale where dead operators use unnatural powers to feast on the living in order to rejoin their ranks.”

When the event begins, players can purchase bundles based on Saw and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The Saw bundle gives you the Billy skin for Morte, the Phlebotomozier Lethal Equipment piece, which is a special throwing knife that drills into enemies upon impact, and two Saw-themed weapons: an assault rifle and a shotgun. You’ll also receive a Cargo Truck skin, a tricycle Charm, and four other pieces of personalization content.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre bundle includes the Leatherface skin for Velikan and the Family Heirloom LMG blueprint, which comes with a unique stock attachment that allows Leatherface to wield a chainsaw. You’ll also receive the “Anybody Home?” melee blueprint that turns your secondary into a one-handed hammer, an SMG blueprint weapon, a vehicle horn, and five other pieces of personalization content.

Other operators will get Halloween-themed skins as well, like the Dr. Karlov skin found in the Dr. Karlov Lives bundle that includes a new skin for Bale, two high-voltage weapon blueprints, an electric throwing knife, a vehicle skin, and other cosmetic items. Throughout this event, Activision says that other spooky bundles will appear in the store like the Ghost: Grim Reaper bundle and the Mace: Dia de Los Muertos bundle.

This update will also include a new weapon: the JAK-12 Shotgun. This a fully-automatic shotgun that has a faster fire rate than any other weapon in its category, according to Activision, and it includes unique attachments like the 8-Round FRAG-12 Mags and the 32-Round Drum Mags. This shotgun can be unlocked via the in-game challenge or as a blueprint variant acquired by purchasing the “Lacedaemon” store bundle.

On the Warzone side of things, there will be a limited-time Trick or Treat event, where zombies will infiltrate Verdansk in a new dark version of the map that sees it illuminated only by the Moon. Players can expect to see Billy on screens throughout the map and they might run into Leatherface in the Krovnik Farmland section of Verdansk.

In the Trick or Treat event, there will be special Trick or Treat supply boxes in Verdansk that, upon opening, could reward players with universal rewards like the “Return to Dust” assault rifle blueprint or “The Cleaver” legendary melee blueprint. A holographic watch, charms, stickers, sprays, calling cards, and emblems can be found in these boxes as well. The boxes might also include a more sinister trick, although Activision didn’t detail what this could mean.

[widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=call-of-duty-modern-warfare-and-warzone-the-haunting-of-verdansk&captions=true"]

Players that collect all 16 rewards in the Trick or Treat boxes will receive the “Pumpkin Punisher" legendary assault rifle blueprint.

If you’re looking for more zombie action in Verdansk, The Haunting of Verdansk includes a new Zombie Royale mode that sees dead operators come back to life as zombies instead of being sent to the gulag. Zombies have increased speed, improved jumps, powerful melee attacks, and thermal vision, but they can’t use weapons. When a player is killed, they’ll drop a syringe. If a zombie collects two syringes, they’ll be dropped back onto the map as their operator for another chance at survival.

On the Modern Warfare side of things, all of the multiplayer’s game modes will be Halloween-themed. For example, operators that get three kills in a single life will see their head turned into a jack-o-lantern. Other spooky changes include skulls instead of dog tags in Kill Confirmed and scarecrows at each Domination point instead of the standard flags.

Two new multiplayer modes are included with this update as well: Onslaughter and Snipers Only. In Onslaughter, squads must “wrest control of a Juggernaut suit that spawns somewhere on the map and advance into a specific goal area.” In Snipers Only, players will only be able to use five pre-built sniper loadouts in standard Team Deathmatch rounds.

You can read even more about The Haunting of Verdansk in Activision’s blog post detailing the update. For more of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone’s sixth season, be sure to check out the Season Six cinematic trailer and then read about Warzone’s new fast travel system.

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

There's good news for fans of the Marvel Unlimited digital comics subscription service. Effective immediately, Marvel will begin adding new comics to the service three months sooner than before. Marvel Unlimited features a library of roughly 28,000 digital comics accessible for a flat monthly fee. Traditionally, new comics are added to that library six months after their original publish date. But going forward, Marvel will start adding new comics after only three months. For example, the October 19 batch of comics includes recent releases like Empyre #1 and Giant-Size X-Men: Magneto #1 “Since the beginning of the year, we’ve seen our stories read tens of millions of times on Marvel Unlimited, and we’ve seen a rising number of fans now looking to dive into more of their favorite stories featuring Spider-Man, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, the X-Men, and more,” said Jessica Malloy, VP of Marketing, Marvel New Media in a statement. “This expansion for Marvel Unlimited delivers exactly that: fans can now read more of their favorite comics sooner! No other service can provide this kind of value and access to so many Marvel comics in one place. We’re thrilled to now be able to offer even more to readers.” This shakeup comes at an ideal time for subscribers. Because Marvel's primary distributor Diamond Comics temporarily halted new deliveries during the COVID-19 pandemic, Marvel Unlimited subscribers seemed about to face several months with no new books being added to the library. Adjusting the schedule allows Marvel to skip right over that new release dead zone and continue weekly content updates. But to be clear, IGN confirmed with Marvel that the three-month release schedule is a permanent change going forward, not a temporary response to that gap in publishing. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-best-comics-of-the-decade-2010-2019&captions=true"] This move may also be intended to help Marvel Unlimited remain competitive with the DC Universe app. DC Universe is currently priced at $7.99 a month versus Marvel Unlimited's $9.99 price tag, but DC currently still follows a six-month release window for its comic library. Recently we learned all of DC Universe's original series will be migrating to HBO Max, and DC will relaunch the subscription service as the comic-focused DC Universe Infinite in January 2021. It remains to be seen if DC will follow Marvel's example and accelerate its digital comics timetable. Comic readers have a third option for a digital comics subscription service in the form of ComiXology Unlimited. Check out IGN's ComiXology Unlimited review to see how that service compares to Marvel Unlimited and DC Universe. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/09/14/dc-universe-review-is-the-subscription-service-worth-the-price"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.