Even Call of Duty has a parry now and it's kind of brilliant - but do we need it in every game?

Giovanni Colantonio is a video game journalist who has covered the industry for two decades. He was formerly a senior editor at Digital Trends and has contributed to publications like Inverse, Fanbyte, and Hard Drive. His specialty is criticism, as he’s focused on a modern approach to video game reviews that’s focused on the nuances of how interactivity communicates to players. He is currently a member of the New York Video Game Critics Circle. You could say that Castlevania publisher has cracked the code

Image credit: Infinity Ward, Activision. Infinity Ward opened up early access to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's DMZ extraction mode overnight, meaning anyone who has pre-ordered a copy can now play the game's campaign as well as DMZ. And while early reactions to DMZ are fairly positive, there's one issue in particular, which a number of players have experienced, that has the capability of ending a round as soon as it begins.

Francesco is an editor with a background in academic research, journalism, and content strategy, specializing in entertainment news and curation. He works across all of Polygon's verticals, specializing in tabletop games, with a focus on D&D and Magic. Hasbro's Q3 earnings show that Magic keeps growing, despite worries for the state of the game

Publisher Daedalic Entertainment and developer Quad Head will release cooperative cave digging and falling game …

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is reportedly plotting a "major overhaul" of the Xbox Game Pass service, beyond some of the big changes she's made already like dropping new Call of Duty game releases from the membership. According to Fortune , Xbox could overhaul Game Pass to give players the ability to choose features à la carte. This would reportedly include things like cloud gaming, multiplayer, and "add-ons for console-only games." Game Pass would evolve to operate on a "tiered structure," the report said. This reporting follows on from another Game Pass rumor in September that claimed Microsoft would offer tiers of the service with or without ads . The same report said Microsoft would no longer release any more of its games into Game Pass on day one, and that a Family Plan is coming as well, among other big shifts. In April this year, it was reported that Microsoft was preparing to launch a "pick-your-own" version of Game Pass, which sounds like what the Fortune report is saying. Sharma herself has said she plans to "evolve Game Pass into a more flexible system." Game Pass was a big bet that did not pay off , Sharma has said, so it makes sense to hear she may be planning to overhaul it.

Ashely currently works as a news writer for Polygon. After getting her Translation degree, she was hired as a guide and news writer for GameRant and TheGamer. She enjoyed working as an author for these sites for six years, and in 2026, she started at Polygon, where she is able to continue to do what she loves: writing about video games. Should Nikki Freeman be part of Fortnitemares?