nice 88 power filter Black Ops 6 and Warzone having the Squid Game crossover as the only scheduled event in January shows me that Activision and the other supporting development studios don’t have faith in themselves to generate new, original ideas. On December 23, Raven Software and Treyarch signed off and departed for their holiday breaks. Before heading out, the Warzone development team promised an update in early 2025 that will address several community-requested issues such as Perks not working correctly . Meanwhile, Treyarch left Multiplayer fans with eight days of Double XP to help fill the void of no substantial updates during the holiday break. When the devs return from vacation, they will have their hands full in rebuilding the game’s image. Ex-Call of Duty pro Scump worries about the franchise’s future since the BO6 topped 300,000-plus concurrent players on Steam at launch and is now struggling to pull in 100,000. None of this decline would be an issue if the development team had a sure fire plan in place to restore faith. That plan is... Squid Game? BO6 and Warzone Season 1 Reloaded conclusion falls flat Based on the promo trailer for the Squid Game crossover event , which starts on January 3, I am confident that the new red light, green light limited-time-modes in Warzone, Multiplayer and Zombies will be a hit, along with the new operator skins. However, the real issue here is that Archie’s Festival Frenzy and all of the Warzone holiday-themed limited-time-modes expire on January 3, leaving Squid Game as the only available event. And, based on the current Battle Pass timer, we don’t expect Season 2 to start until January 29, leaving three and a half weeks with no content currently scheduled. Related: The development team should have used this window as an opportunity to introduce new content, but it put all of its eggs in the Squid Game basket instead, and relied on a massive IP to tide players over rather than creating something truly original. This event will probably be great for Squid Game fans, but also risks alienating hardcore CoD fans. Considering that the core fans are the audience that will keep the game alive in the long term, this strategy feels like a real miss from Treyarch. It proves that CoD may have lost faith in its ability to create something wholly original to draw players in. Call of Duty is having a real identity crisis at the moment, and relying on a TV show’s hype to promote the game does nothing but make that identity even less clear.Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce wear matching outfits on romantic date night

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(The Center Square) – The U.S. House is set to vote on a compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act which authorizes nearly $900 billion to support U.S. military service members, infrastructure, and defense capabilities during the 2025 fiscal year. The 1,813-page document released Saturday by the Senate and House Armed Services Committees outlines U.S. defense policy priorities and their costs for 2025. Most of the proposed funds, $849.9 billion out of the $895.2 billion topline, would go to programs within the Department of Defense. Though the result of a bipartisan compromise, some provisions remain a point of contention, including a Republican addition that would prohibit the military’s health program from covering any gender dysphoria treatments on minors that could "result in sterilization.” Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith, D-Wash., has urged House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to “abandon” the provision and allow the House to bring forward a bill that “doesn’t attack the transgender community.” Johnson has argued that the current NDAA will “restore our focus on military lethality and to end the radical woke ideology being imposed on our military.” If the legislation passes, junior enlisted service members would receive a historic 14.5% pay raise and all other service members a 4.5% basic pay raise. The NDAA plan would also address multiple quality of life issues for service members, highlighted in a September report from the Government Accountability Office that revealed unsanitary and rundown living conditions for military personnel. It authorizes $2.7 billion to improve housing conditions, build more housing, and increase oversight. It also increases healthcare access and childcare services for military members by cutting red tape and approving $176 million for the construction of new childcare centers and $110 million for the construction of new schools. “Funding our military is one of Congress' most important responsibilities,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority Chairman, Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said on X. “Our brave men and women in uniform and their spouses allow us to enjoy the freedoms we have today. They deserve every benefit in this bill.” The legislation authorizes hundreds of billions in defense-related infrastructure and technology investments, including approximately $17.5 billion for military base or industrial construction projects; $33.5 billion to build seven battle force ships; and more than $161 billion for innovation and technology research and related programs. Nearly $16 billion would go to the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, funding new technologies like hypersonic weapons and AI to deter the Chinese Communist Party and mitigate espionage and cybersecurity risks. Anti-terrorism initiatives in the Middle East and overseas U.S. military construction projects countering North Korea and Russia would also receive funding, as well as a U.S.-Israel missile defense program and the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. “We remain determined to confront increasingly hostile threats from Communist China, Russia, and Iran, and this legislation provides our military with the tools they need to deter our enemies,” Johnson said in a statement. “The safety and security of the American people is top priority, and this bill ensures our military has the resources and capabilities needed to remain the most powerful force in the world.” U.S. border security receives a relatively small portion of funds from the NDAA, with $90 million authorized for the construction of a new command and control facility at the U.S.-Mexico border and a $10 million increase in funding for the DOD’s counternarcotics activities. The House Rules Committee is set to vote Monday afternoon on advancing the measure to the House floor, where it can pass with a majority vote. The Senate must vote on it by the end of the month for it to take effect.

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