February 2020

Valve returned to its most legendary franchise in style with Half-Life Alyx, but you'll need a VR headset to play. This page is designed to make choosing the best VR headset for Half-Life Alyx as simple as possible, giving you the information you need to find the headset that fits your needs, at a price you can afford.

Just looking at all of the options available can be daunting, especially if you're a newcomer to VR, with eight SteamVR headsets that are officially compatible with Half-Life Alyx. Here are those eight options, not including first-gen VR headsets like the original HTC Vive and Oculus Rift CV1 that have disappeared from retail:

With different physical designs, screens, tracking solutions and price points, there's plenty to discuss about each option. Thankfully, once you get to know a little about each of them you'll quickly be able to narrow in on the right one for you. That makes choosing the best VR headset for Half-Life Alyx fairly straightforward - as long as you're equipped with our recommendations.

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We're quickly nearing the end of Fortnite Chapter 2, Season 2. Since the season began back in February, developer Epic Games has introduced a host of new content and other changes to the popular battle royale shooter, including a variety of spy-themed gameplay mechanics and even a Deadpool skin.

One thing that hasn't changed, however, is challenges. Every week throughout the season, Epic has been rolling out a new set of challenges for Battle Pass holders to complete. Clearing these will help level up your Battle Pass, which in turn will unlock exclusive cosmetic rewards like new skins when you hit certain milestones. You can take a look at some of the ones up that are for grabs in our Fortnite Season 2 Battle Pass skins gallery.

Season 2 was originally scheduled to end on April 30, but it has now been extended until June 17, so there's still some time left to complete any weekly challenges you may have missed. We've rounded up our maps and guides for the trickier missions below. We'll continue to update this list with more maps and guides as the season progresses, so be sure to check back often if you need help leveling up your Battle Pass.

Fortnite's 12.61 update has arrived, and it's brought one more set of challenges to complete before the upcoming Doomsday event closes out Season 2 and Season 3 of the game officially begins. The Storm the Agency challenges are now live, and one of the missions asks you to eliminate henchmen at different safe houses. If you're having trouble tracking them down, this guide will show you where the safe house are located and how to complete the challenge.

Where Are The Shadow Safe House Locations?

Shadow's safe houses have been a fixture of the map since Season 2 began, but they're tricky to find because of their inconspicuous appearance. The safe houses are all disguised to look like normal buildings from the outside, but there are some telltale signs that give them away. You'll know for sure when you stumble upon one as they're swarming with AI henchmen, so you'll need to be cautious when approaching them. We've marked down the safe house locations on the map below:

With Half-Life: Alyx's release behind us, we're now looking toward future VR releases, such as the upcoming PlayStation VR-exclusive Iron Man VR, which releases July 3. Marvel's Iron Man VR puts you into Tony Stark's suit and has you controlling it with the PSVR headset and Move controllers. It's seen some delays over the past year, but now, we finally have a new release date. Iron Man VR is set for a July 3 release date, and if you're looking to invest into PSVR before then, you'll be happy to know the headset is in stock at some retailers--though, it's unlikely you'll find a deal any time soon.

As for other VR headsets, they're a bit hard to find right now. Most headsets are sold out or available for backorder. You can find some headsets at a mark-up on Amazon, but we'd advise against purchasing any headset above its regular price.

Best VR headsets in stock right now

PlayStation VR Iron Man VR bundle

Memory Card Deals for Your Switch: 256GB for $34.99 or 512GB for $84.99

• PNY Pro Elite 256GB Micro SDXC Card at Adorama for $34.99
• Samsung EVO Select 512GB at Samsung for $84.99

Celeste for Nintendo Switch for $4.99

Logitech G332 SE Wired Stereo Gaming Headset | $25 | Dell

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Razer Viper Ultralight Ambidextrous Wired Gaming Mouse | $60 | Amazon

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Hisense 55" 4K UHD Android TV | $260 | Best Buy

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Replace ‘Into the Unknown’ with ‘In the Dark of the Night’

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Also, come play some games with us in the Polygon Arcade

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The great thing about being a PC gamer is that you don't have to worry about new hardware making your current machine obsolete, whereas new consoles tend to make their predecessors redundant. On the PC, you can usually play the same games everyone else is, even when new graphics cards or processors are released--though you may have to sacrifice higher settings for an enjoyable experience. Thankfully, there are plenty of deals out there for PC gaming hardware and accessories.

Of course, in addition to the internal components like graphics cards, processors, and RAM, there are a ton of PC accessories that get discounted all the time: keyboards, mice, headsets, and much more. Even though you can grab some of these products at a steal, they'll still last you a long time--and new hardware won't make them obsolete.

One thing the PC has on consoles is the sheer number of game sales happening at any given time. Steam, the Epic Games Store, Green Man Gaming, Fanatical, GOG, and many more retailers are always offering deals on PC games, making it incredibly easy to never pay full price for any game you want.

Sony is back to offering two PS4 games for the March 2020 PlayStation Plus lineup.

While I'd love to see bonus PlayStation VR titles become a trend for the service as Sony ramps up toward PS5 and the inevitable next iteration of PSVR, I had zero expectations of that happening. Instead, for March, subscribers are just getting Shadow of the Colossus and Sonic Forces. "Just."

I'll leave the Sonic Forces verdict to the more deeply entrenched Sonic fans, but Shadow of the Colossus is one of those defining games for PlayStation. It's the exact type of game I love to see promoted with PS Plus – something everyone should check out at some point in their life. It's a timeless adventure.

As a little extra, PlayStation Plus members can also check out the new Predator multiplayer game, Hunting Grounds, on March 27. A weekend-long trial event is starting up at 5:00 p.m. Pacific.

You can add Shadow of the Colossus and Sonic Forces to your PlayStation Plus account from today until April 6, 2020. Scale those colossi. Pummel old Eggman again. Earn some trophies. Eat your carrots.

[Update: You can also watch the full trailer for the Season of the Worthy below.]

Destiny 2 has been missing one of its key components for a long while now, but it seems as if Bungie has finally figured things out. Trials of Osiris, a fan-favorite PVP mode, is now returning with the new "Season of the Worthy" content umbrella that's debuting in March.

Kicking off on March 13, Trials will be available from the get-go and will still retain its highly competitive, 3v3 shell and its unique gear rewards. The season itself will start on March 10 around 1PM ET (after the customary downtime during reset), and will bring subclass alterations, new gear and naturally: more cosmetic content.

One of the big draws of the season is going to be PVP, as Bungie is bringing back Cauldron, Exodus Blue and Anomaly from the original Destiny. Bungie is leaning hard into Destiny 1 nostalgia actually, as they're hyping up looks from the first entry as some of the coolest-looking armor in Destiny 2.

Okay, if I grab the hammer from that stump I can use it to take out two of those mooks guarding the shish kebab, then dash past the crush traps. The guy at the end of the trap line is wearing a pool floatie as armor, so I'll have to use a ranged weapon to take him out, or else it'll take two swings and I'd really rather drop him in one hit.

I'll have to balance on the exploding barrel to avoid the spike pit, but would I do better to crash it into a dude and boost jump up to higher ground, or just use the cannon to gain altitude? No, wait, I can use this tiki torch to blow past those guys and take them from behind if I...

Crap, they got me. Let's try that again.

When work began on Mega Man X, Keiji Inafune, the father of the series, originally envisioned it with Zero. Plans changed and X became the hero instead, but Inafune had his cake and ate it too once Zero became something of a fan favorite. He would become a staple of Mega Man X shortly after, with multiple subplots focusing on the character and of course: the ability to play as him.

After Mega Man X kind of got away from Inafune, he had his chance to give his true creation a starring role with the Zero series. Inafune would continue to work at Capcom, having a hand in Mega Man ZX and ZX Advent, spiritual successors to the Zero series, and Star Force, before unceremoniously departing in 2010.

Nearly everything in that timeline is worth revisiting: including all of the entries in the Zero/ZX Legacy Collection.

One Finger Death Punch 2 is the sequel to everyone’s favorite two-button action romp. It’s definitely iterative of everything done in the first game, but it does come with a handful of improvements as well. If you played the original and enjoyed it, you’re going to have a damn good time.

For everyone else, let me describe it in the barest of terms: this game’s entire mantra is minimalism to the extreme. The artwork is largely comprised of stick figures, and there are only two buttons to press: left and right. Enemies will run at you from both sides, and you need to murder them as brutally and efficiently as possible. That certainly sounds like it might get boring pretty quickly, but One Finger Death Punch 2 takes this concept and manages to milk it for everything it’s worth.

Azur Lane has had a rather rapid rise to the upper echelons of gacha gaming. Once, it was derided as a Chinese "clone" of the Japan-exclusive Kantai Collection. Now, less than a year after its official English release, Azur Lane is arguably bigger than the game it's accused of ripping off. The learner is now the master – of adapting fearsome 20th-century warships to the popular "sexy anime lesbian" form factor.

With phones and tablets under its belt, Azur Lane's ship girls have turned their gunsights on a new horizon: the choppy waters of PC and console gaming. Their first incursion comes in the form of Azur Lane: Crosswave.

Today Capcom hosted the Monster Hunter World: Iceborne USA Championship in Boston and and there were news in store for the fans.

We learn that the update including the previously-revealed Raging Brachydios and Furious Rajang now has a release date. It’ll come on March 23 for PS4 and Xbox One. We also know that the PC version will get the update in April when it’ll finally catch up with the console versions. 

On top of the release date, we also get the first gameplay of the Raging Brachydios variant, which you can watch below.

At the moment we don’t know when Capcom will announce the content of additional update beyond this one, but it’s nice to see that they plan to continue supporting the game in the long run. In fact, we already know that updates will continue beyond June. 

Today, during a livestream from Tokyo, Square Enix had a couple of interesting announcements related to future content coming to Final Fantasy XIV.

Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida revealed two portraits created by lead concept artist Yosuke Mogi that will soon be available “pretty soon” portraying Aymeric and Estinien. Players will be able to hang the portraits in their in-game houses.

You can see them below.

Today Square Enix hosted a livestreamed panel focusing on the art created for its popular MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV.

The panel was supposed to happen at PAX East, but Square Enix opted to do it from its headquarters in Japan due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

The artwork was presented by producer and director Naoki Yoshida and lead concept artist Yosuke Mogi. You can see it all at the bottom of the post.

We learned that the art for the Blue Mage’s outfit was inspired by the movie “The Greatest Showman.”

When designing the Dancer’s outfit, Mogi-san really wanted to design a male character like a Hrothgar, but there was no other outfit that would fit the Viera as well, so in the end, he had to design a Viera.

The outfit itself was inspired by Maya from Dragon Quest IV.

Interestingly, we also hear that we may see more variation in the design of the chakram in the future. Originally, the idea was to have dancers wield fans. While that would become a bit too similar to Dragon Quest, the team still liked the idea of them to be able to throw a lot of different things.

Most of the weapons we have so far were designed very early in the Shadowbringers’ development process. That’s why they’re all chakrams. In the future we might see different items, and things like giant shuriken could be a possibility.

The Gunbreaker’s outfit had to look a bit more modern in design. It was challenging to make it fit into the world. The pillar from the ruins of Ronka was added to balance the modern with the past.

The original design had a gunblade resembling a light machine gun. Mogi-san was playing a lot of Overwatch at that time. That design was rejected.

The results are in for NHK's Final Fantasy Grand Poll, and Final Fantasy X takes the top spot for most popular game, with FFVII in second.

The post Japan’s Favorite Final Fantasy Game According to NHK’s Grand Poll Is… Final Fantasy X appeared first on Siliconera.

Platinum Games' Project G.G. didn't get a release window, but producer Atsushi Inaba hints that there might be a reason besides uncertainty.

The post Project G.G.’s Release Date Might Hint Towards What the Game’s All About appeared first on Siliconera.

Today, during a panel from PAX East, Bethesda showcased new gameplay of the upcoming FPS Doom Eternal, focusing mostly on the Master Level single-player feature.

We start by taking a look at the Fortress of Doom, which is basically your home base and hub area.

It looks like our Slayer is a nerd with a rocking gaming setup.

Yes. The developers like to pause videos a lot. 

We then get to see an example of the Master Level feature, which is a more challenging version that gets unlocked after completing a default level in the campaign. 

Of course, you can still set the difficulty level.

Until March 2, 2020, PC users can get the sandbox MMORPG Black Desert Online for free.

The post Add Black Desert Online to Your Steam Library for Free for a Limited Time appeared first on Siliconera.

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight and I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the creative endeavors from the community from the previous week. First, I just want to thank everyone who joined me in reminiscing over HitmanAgent47 last week. It was a trip and somewhat comforting to see those Hitman meme pictures didn't all disappear. However, a few other usernames cropped up during that time that are equally memorable, but probably in a better light. Speaking of which, have I ever said how much of a shame it is Claude isn't on the forums anymore? Jeez, I'd LOVE to see what Claude thinks about the Nintendo Switch! In fact, I'm willing to allow him to have a mini-paragraph review of the system on the next Spotlight if someone can get a hold of him. I know he had a rough go of it a while ago, but MAAAAAAAAAAN would I love to see him talk about the current state of Nintendo consoles, even if it was for just a hot minute. Anyways, we actually have LEGIT news about the forums worth discussing! Also, it was an incredibly "active" week on the forums!

Vacations! We all want one, but most of us can’t really take one. Animal Crossing’s Tom Nook, on the other hand, has plenty of bells to spend on some rest and relaxation. So I asked you fine folks to create some images of what he did on his long vacation.

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Today the Japanese state TV NHK announced the results of a massive survey related to the Final Fantasy series, in which 468,654 fans voted for their favorite games, characters, and more.

The voters were fairly evenly split between men (50.8%) and women (49.2%).

4.7% of respondents were 19 years-old or younger, 27.3% between 20 and 29, 44.5% were betwen 30 and 39, 19.3% were between 40 and 49, 3.6% between 50 and 59, while 0.5% were over 60.

The ranking for the most popular games of the series was as follows, with Final Fantasy X managing to beat Final Fantasy VII.

For Shovelry! Shovel Knight's latest adventure takes him into a roguelite and puzzle game hybrid, featuring the mysterious Puzzle Knight.

The post Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon Features Roguelite and Puzzle Gameplay appeared first on Siliconera.

Holy Romantic Empire!

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This week on Snapshots, some Spider-Men, some Stormtroopers, a cool collection of feathers, a gold mask, some shoes in a maze and one bad kitty. And more!

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You’d be forgiven for forgetting that today, February 29, is Leap Day. You know, the day that comes about every four years because calendars and planetary rotations are weird. In any case, Red Dead Redemption 2 developer Rockstar Games definitely did not forget, and threw in a little treat for observant cowboys and cowgirls in the game’s online mode.

First spotted by Reddit user Moonshiner, a list of daily challenges popped up in Red Dead Online tasking players with, well, leaping a whole bunch on Leap Day.

Challenges include jumping from a horse onto a moving train, jumping from a horse onto a moving wagon, jumping from a horse onto...another horse, and jumping onto a horse from a height of at least three meters.

Nice one, Rockstar.

If you want some assistance completing these challenges and others in Red Dead Online, check out our Red Dead Online wiki, where you’ll also find our huge interactive world map and more.