The Game Awards is a showcase that celebrates each year in gaming while teasing what the road ahead looks like for players on all platforms. This year, the show was a little different due to COVID-19 restrictions, but that didn't stop Geoff Keighley and his team from shattering previous records regarding viewership. It helps too that this was the biggest show yet in terms of guests, including Wonder Woman's Gal Gadot, Spider-Man's Tom Holland, Cyberpunk's Keanu Reeves, and more. 

With more than 83 million livestreams supporting this year's show, the 2020 showcase viewership has seen an impressively significant 84% rise. The show also hit another record, peaking at 8.,3 concurrent viewers on a global scale. 

This year's show was mostly remote due to safety concerns over the pandemic, though the onstage presence of a few of the guests and the host himself was done smartly on-site with COVID-19 testing and social distancing. 

"The Game Awards aired live across more than 40 streaming networks around the world," reads a press statement provided to Game Informer. "On Twitch, the show reached a peak concurrent audience of more than 2.63M viewers globally, more than double last year, with a stunning 9,000 creators co-streaming the show, up 91% from 4,700 co-streamers in 2019. On YouTube, live viewership more than doubled, with the official livestream seeing an 84% YOY increase in peak concurrent viewers."

Finding a great gaming headset is vital if you want your PC to have better audio or play a lot of online games, and to help you find the best gaming headset for you and your budget, we’ve put together this list of all our top gaming headset recommendations. Whether you’re looking for something cheap and cheerful or the best wireless gaming headset money can buy, we’ve got you covered.

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The Epic Games Store is giving away the terrific building sim Cities: Skylines for free today, the first in a series of holiday giveaways going on throughout the rest of the December. According to a press release, Epic’s holiday event will give away 15 games in all, rotating a new one in daily from now until the end…

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Jump into the ring with Slender Cat, Kung Fu Dachshund, and other meme-inspired characters in Fight of Animals: Arena now on PCs.

The post Fight of Animals: Arena’s Meme Animal Fights Begin on PCs appeared first on Siliconera.

A couple days ago, news that Among Us is coming to Switch led Chris to wonder aloud "Why not put it on everything at this point?" That timing's pretty sus, bud.

On cue, Among Us is getting ported to other consoles. Microsoft has revealed that it's coming to Xbox and will be available on Xbox Game Pass at launch:

Today Microsoft announced that Microsoft Flight Simulator has achieved a new players milestone since its launch in August.

According to the announcement, penned by head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jorg Neuman, the brand new sim passed two million players.

This makes Microsoft Flight Simulator the fastest-growing entry in the series.

We also get additional statistics, which you can see in the image below.

The growing community has logged over 50 million flight, visited 72% of earth, and flown over 3,5 billion nautical miles.

This means that each player has logged in average 25 flights, and flown in average 1,750 miles.

With 227 flights and over 60,000 miles flown (including a full trip around the world), I may be contributing at least a bit to driving these averages up.

There’s just over a week to go ’til giftsmas day – and while I’m sure we’re all panicking over what to get our friends, loved ones and recurring villains, what’s the harm in picking up a little treat for yourself? The Epic Games Store’s holiday sale begins today, giving away a new free game for the next 15 days alongside the usual slew of store-wide deals. Your first gift is Cities: Skylines, with plenty more to come over the next two weeks.

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"Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!" Developer Teyon and publisher Reef Entertainment are taking Kyle warning about the machines to heart. Today, the duo announced Terminator: Resistance is coming back for more as an improved game on PlayStation 5.

Teyon is taking advantage of the new hardware to deliver an upscaled 4k resolution, gameplay running at 60 frames per second, higher texture resolutions and polygon counts, improved lighting, shadows, and more detailed particle effects. When stacked up against the PlayStation 4 version, Teyon says this new iteration loads four times faster. The balance and difficulty updates that were previously released for the PC version will also be included.

As far as new content goes, Teyon is introducing Infiltrator, a mode that gives players the chance to see the war from the other side as a T-800 unit that marches against the Resistance.

Terminator: Resistance Enhanced is launching on March 26 as both a digital and physical game. Along with a standard physical version, fans can purchase a Collector's Edition that comes with a steelbook, four postcards, a mini hardcover Dark Horse comic, and a collector's box (all of which you can see below).

Welcome, gentle listener, to the 2020 Electronic Wireless Show podcast game awards special! No, not an entire show about Geoff Keighley’s cavalcade of trailers (and some awards sometimes), but a bumper episode where we make up our own award categories, and then give them to the deserving games of 2020. These include The Ronseal Award for doing what it says on the tin (podcast not actually sponsored by Ronseal, so it does sort of feel we’re missing a trick here) and the Very Tiny Men award for tiniest men.

We talk a lot about Nate accidentally impaling a child and chugging loads of milk because he had literally no other choice. There is an update on the scaffold situation at Matthew’s house. Also, the Emotions Gorilla pays us a visit.

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Super Baby 2 will join the roster of Dragon Ball FighterZ as the next character included in Dragon Ball FighterZ Pass 3.

The post Dragon Ball FighterZ Next DLC Character Is Super Baby 2 appeared first on Siliconera.

Top Product: Cheeky Deadpool Sweater | $40 | Amazon

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If you've played Critter Crunch or Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, you don't need to be convinced that Capybara is capable of making great puzzle games that'll creep into – and slowly take over – your headspace. With that in mind, I'm here to remind you that 1) Grindstone exists and 2) it's fantastic.

More importantly, it's no longer locked down to Apple Arcade. You can get Grindstone on Nintendo Switch as of this week, and if you're an early buyer, you'll save five bucks. $14.99 is the sweet spot.

After reviewing the original iOS version in 2019 and truly loving it – only to let my Apple Arcade subscription lapse a while later and miss out on a few big content updates like Daily Grind modes – I'm happy to be reunited with this gnarly monster-mashing, color-coded-path-tracing puzzler.

Part two of this two-part article series explores musical approaches to timed challenges in Fail Factory and Spyder. ...

This is a lot more tactical than we were expecting

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Ever since Resident Evil 3 Remake launched on PC, modders have been having tons of fun adding the craziest things to the game, such as Thomas the Tank Engine and even the beans from Fall Guys. Now, there’s a cool mod for Jill Valentine that gives her a dope Cyberpunk makeover.

In a video down below from Benjamin York Gaming on YouTube, he shows off the mod in action and plays through several pivotal moments from the 2020 survival-horror title.

Jill has a slick jacket, different-colored eyes, a cool rocker-chic haircut, and she also has marks all over her body from the cybernetics, just like the characters in CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077.

Appropriately titled as ‘CyberPunch mod,’ it was created by DrSX & wufeng46, which you can check out right here if you’re interested in downloading it for yourself.

The Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet and a Sandisk 512GB microSD card lead Thursday’s best deals.

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Unsung Story, a crowdfunded tactical RPG with Yasumi Matsuno and Hitoshi Sakimoto involved, will appear via Steam early access "soon."

The post Unsung Story Will Finally Make Its Early Access Debut appeared first on Siliconera.

‘This is a celebration of Mario’s 35th anniversary’

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Unity has partnered with Snap to extend the reach of Unity Ads to Snapchat advertisers, while also bringing Snap technology to game devs through the Snap Kit SDK. ...

Fortunately, digital files don't take up any room in the stocking. Otherwise, that thing would be stuffed half a month from now. They only take up space on the hard drive.

You're going to build an entire goddang city today. Epic is giving away one free game per day until the end of 2020. The first is Cities: Skylines. You're certainly not getting shorted on content with the first game.

This is also the start of Epic's holiday sale which is noteworthy in itself -- these things always have decent discounts -- but it ushers in another round of the ridiculous self-replenishing $10-off coupons. You'll get a $10 discount on anything that's priced $14.99 or above (pre-orders excluded). Then, once you use it, you'll get another $10-off coupon in its stead. They're limitless.

Anyway, claim Cities: Skylines, check out the holiday sale, take advantage of those coupons. The sale ends on January 7, so you have plenty of time to get after it. We'll be back tomorrow with another post about the second freebie and a partridge in a pear tree.

Cities: Skylines [Epic Games Store]

Bio-digital jazz, man

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Call of Duty: Warzone players are getting merc’d by invisible foes thanks to the game’s latest helicopter glitch, and they aren’t happy about.

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The MAC 10 is one hell of a piece of kit in Warzone. With its ludicrously fast fire rate, you’ll have a massive amount of potential damage output in close quarters, and being able to quickly switch to this gun mid-scrap can be the X factor you need to finish an enemy squad. So, with that in mind, here’s our best MAC 10 loadout in Warzone.

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There's a new Death Stranding Cyberpunk 2077 crossover! Sam can hack or wear themed items! But, it's only available for the PC version.

The post Death Stranding Cyberpunk 2077 Adds Hacking and Items, But Only on PCs appeared first on Siliconera.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla launched in November with a shop selling cosmetic extras for real money, but to the surprise of many, the XP boost packs sold in Assassin's Creed Odyssey were conspicuously absent. Not to worry, everyone: the controversial microtransactions have now arrived.

A recent update from Ubisoft has introduced the XP boosts to Valhalla's Helix store. The boost grants a 50 per cent increase to XP progression and can be used across all save files. It'll cost you, though: the boost can be bought for 1000 Helix credits, equivalent to £8.58. A similar pack can be bought to earn 50 per cent more silver, while a pack combining both the silver and XP boosts will cost you 1500 Helix credits (or £12.88 if you buy the 500 and 1050 packs).

The XP boost was controversial in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, not only because players felt microtransactions didn't belong in a full-price single-player title, but due to Odyssey's slow levelling process and level gates. This led some fans to claim the grind was there to deliberately encourage players to buy boost packs.

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The Grishaverse comes to life in April

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Nintendo's mobile racer Mario Kart Tour is winding up the year with a celebration of one of the Super Mario franchise's most-popular princesses. The Rosalina Tour offers players a new opportunity to bag previously released skins for the starry-eyed regal. Remember how hard it was to get her amiibo back in the day? Craziness.

The tour's first week sees the festive Fire Rosalina return to the gacha pipe, followed by the witchy Halloween Rosalina, the summery Swimwear Rosalina, and finally the exquisite Aurora Rosalina in week two. In addition, the Apple Kart, Poison Apple Cart, Comet Tail, and Blue Sodakarts are making a comeback, as are the Butterfly, Wicked Wings, and Luma Parafoil Gliders. Naturally, Rosalina's Ice World is the themed track for this event.

You can check out all of the above content in the trailer below. The Rosalina Tour is underway right now and will end on December 29.

Game director Luke Smith compares infusion capping to buying milk

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Game service provider Keywords has continued its recent string of acquisitions by nabbing PR firm Indigo Pearl and recording studio Jinglebell.  ...

In Cyberpunk 2077 news that's not negative, the neon-driven wasteland of Night City is taking on new territory by invading Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding title with an interesting crossover. 

Given that Hideo Kojima himself is in Cyberpunk 2077, seeing the world of Night City take on Death Stranding isn't a major stretch. With the new crossover, exclusive to the PC version of the game, Death Stranding players will have several new missions to look forward to that will feature characters from the CDPR title as well as new lore. 

A few aspects of this crossover that fans can look forward to include: 

“Don’t try to understand it,” a scientist tells the protagonist of Tenet, as she briefly explains the physics of Christopher Nolan’s $205-million, time-traveling spy thriller. Sure, the physics is often unrealistic and confusing, but it’s fascinating. And with its many Easter eggs, Tenet sets up some nice jumping-off…

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CD Projekt Red’s rocky launch of Cyberpunk 2077 on PC and consoles this month has arguably been the hottest topic in the gaming industry this year. Last-gen players are experiencing loads of performance issues, with the company losing the trust of many fans, and even having to offer refunds for the 2020 AAA title. However, we have a bit of good news for fans of the open-world RPG: Cyberpunk 2077 content is now in Death Stranding for PC.

Yeah, it’s pretty random if you ask me, but Death Stranding has also had a collaboration with Half-Life, bringing in characters and equipment from the first-person shooter, so it’s not that wild when you think about it.

This Death Stranding x Cyberpunk 2077 update is only available for PC players and is out now for a total of zero dollars. It has six new missions that feature characters and lore from Cyberpunk 2077 and there’s even a new hacking ability for Sam Bridges that’s inspired by CD Projekt Red’s title.

As for the cool items and accessories you can get, here’s the list via a blog post on 505 Games’ site:

• Cyberpunk 2077 themed Reverse Trike vehicle with improved jumping power
• “Silver Hand” modeled after Johnny Silverhand’s robotic arm that can be equipped and used in-game
• New holograms including a SAMURAI symbol signboard and an Atlas Trauma Team vehicle hologram for certain constructions
• Several fashion items including Johnny Silverhand’s sunglasses

Since it split from the Bokujō Monogatari franchise back in 2014, Natsume's Harvest Moon series has had a tough go keeping itself relevant in the surprisingly competitive video game farming genre. Story of Seasons, the current western moniker for the Bokujō games, has been doing quite well, and it seems like every month we're getting a new farming title in at least one of the storefronts.

Harvest Moon's next shot at reclaiming its former glory will come early next year with Harvest Moon: One World. The key feature of this title is the ability to completely move your farm to new areas of the world. Crops have disappeared from the world, and it's up to you to find the Harvest Wisps who hold the key to the different crops you'll grow on your farm. There are five areas to explore, as well as five bachelors and bachelorettes to marry.

All of that sounds fine, but I'm not really sure this new trailer is doing the game any favors. Something about it just looks so...empty.

Following a few COVID-19-related delays and a recent injury with the show's lead, Henry Cavill, Netflix's The Witcher is back on track and ready to wrap up. To celebrate the upcoming season, Netflix has just shared a few new shots of Geralt's favorite bard (his only bard) with several set photos featuring Jaskier. 

We're not talking just one shot either, Netflix shared quite a few new photos of Jaskier offering his best Zoolander impression. Toss a coin to your model, because the bard is looking quite swanky if we do say so ourselves: 

Oh, these old photographs? Handsome, right? pic.twitter.com/gJl5fTSc1C

— The Witcher (@witchernetflix) December 17, 2020

For those that played the games inspired by the Polish novels, Jaskier was referred to as Dandelion. He's a poet, a minstrel, and a very close friend to Geralt against the witcher's initial reservations. He is also the reason why "toss your coin to the..." is a very popular catchphrase in 2020. 

Just admiring the pure beauty and artistry on display. (Remember, YOU chose surprise.) #Witchmas pic.twitter.com/wgCey8hP2P

Kojima Productions adds new cosmetics, missions, and a hacking mechanic

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Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser was asked during a recent interview why some popular Nintendo games are only being sold for a limited time. His answer? “[T]his is a celebration.”

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