Kevin Poirier

Ranked Play is one of the most highly-anticipated features in Call of Duty: WWII —and now some initial details have been revealed about the game mode. Twitch streamer Eazi_Dollaz is one of the lucky few who has an early copy of WWII. While he was livestreaming, fans asked him to check out Ranked Play—and when he selected the game mode, a message popped up and revealed a wealth of important information. Screengrab via [Activision](https://clips.twitch.tv/AnimatedYummyEyeballStrawBeary) The first season of WWII Ranked Play will begin on Dec. 1, rather than right when the game is released on Nov. 3. "Ranked Play is a multiplayer game type where you compete in seasons and rank up through seven tiers to prove you are one of the best in the world," the message reads. "Battle in our competitive ruleset and move through the ranks to earn exclusive Ranked Play seasonal rewards. Become one of the Top 100 players at the end of a season to earn your Pro status!" The idea of a ...

The PlayStation store's Halloween sale period has barely ended, but it's already discounting more titles with the launch of its Double Discounts promotion. Though everyone will be able to pick up games for cheaper, this sale will particularly appeal to PlayStation Plus subscribers as they'll get, funnily enough, double the discounts. So, while non-Plus subscribers will get up to 35% off their purchases, Plus members will get a massive 70% off.  Some of the games will be available up to November 15 while others will be discounted until the final day of the sale on November 23.  Seeing double Conveniently, the sale ends just before the beginning of the Black Friday period when physical and digital games are likely to go on sale so if you miss any titles in this sale, keep an eye out in the almost immediate future.  There are some genuinely great titles in this sale. Until November 15, for example, PS Plus subscribers will be able to buy for just £18.69 or for only £6.49. T...

Top Spooky Sales of Halloween 2017 Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and caldron bubble. In this spooky time of year, let Halloween sales appear!  For those still looking to get in on some Halloween action, without breaking the bank, you are in luck! Sales to commemorate the unholy holiday abound, and we've got you covered for some of the best ones to check out this Halloween season. The Evil Within: $9.99  (50% off on Steam): If you are looking for a classic survival horror experience, you can't go wrong with  The Evil Within.  Developed by Shinji Mikami, the creator of the acclaimed Resident Evil series, the game tells the story of Detective Sebastian Castellanos, as he and his team investigate the scene of a mass murder. When things go south, Sebastian finds himself among a demented world of undead horror, forced to fight to survive. The game has been positively received since its 2014 release,  teetering around 80% positive user reviews on its steam pa...

Get Trading Recommendations and Read Analysis on Hacked.com for just $39 per month. Bitcoin cash proponents Roger Ver and Calvin Ayre have announced a plan to use their influence and considerable wealth to rebrand bitcoin cash as "bitcoin". Ver, an early bitcoin investor once nicknamed "Bitcoin Jesus", has incurred the ire of much of the bitcoin community over the past several years, primarily due to his repeated support for contentious hard forks associated with the evolving block size debate. He owns and operates Bitcoin.com, a news and information outlet that critics claim gives new users the impression that it is an official Bitcoin resource. Ayre, meanwhile, is a billionaire entrepreneur who made his fortune by founding an internet gambling and entertainment empire. He entered the crypto space several years ago, owns several small crypto news outlets, and has reportedly provided Craig Wright with financial backing. Calvin Ayre with Roger Ver, Oct 2017 (P...

Here are more than a few things going on in your world of tech, with the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) up fractionally to a new 52-week high. Apple (AAPL) shares were up 1.5% in midday trading after KeyBanc Capital upgraded the stock to Overweight, saying the aggressive move to "subscription-like" phone purchases can offset slowing sales, MarketWatch reports. KeyBanc's base-case price target is $187, which is 17% above a recent price of $159.41. Also among analyst upgrades and downgrades: PayPal Holdings (PYPL) shares are down 1.4% today, though Instinet raised its price target to $75. PayPal's market value passed that of American Express (AXP) last week thanks to a nearly 75% rally in its stock price this year, The Wall Street Journal reports. Morgan Stanley  upgraded PayPal shares last week and said the stock could reach $88 in a best-case scenario. More on that in the latest Barron's magazine research summary. MACOM Technology solutions ...

Royal Bank of Canada's David McKay said he has "real concerns" about bitcoin. But unlike JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Jamie Dimon, fraud isn't one of them. "I would never call it a fraud because it's not misrepresenting what it is," McKay, the lender's chief executive officer, said Monday in an interview in Toronto after announcing a blockchain partnership with the U.S. bank. "People have placed value on what it is in different ways -- and they're fine to do that -- but it's not fraudulent in its misrepresentation." Last month, Dimon called bitcoin "a fraud," and "worse than tulip bulbs" at an investor conference in New York, saying he would fire any employee trading the cryptocurrency for being "stupid." The JPMorgan CEO repeated much of his September rant on Friday at the annual meeting of the Institute of International Finance in Washington, saying that governments will crush it one day and callin...