Gamespot

The Coalition is preparing the next big update for Gears 5, which will introduce Operation 3: Gridiron. The extensive patch notes for PC and Xbox One cover everything coming in the update, from new character drops, achievements, and changes to ranked playlists.

The biggest deal is the arrival of new additions to the roster: Cole, Clayton, Myrrah, and the Theron Guard. As a former Thrashball player, Cole gives the update its gridiron namesake. In response to player feedback, the studio has reduced the requirements to unlock the new characters. They'll only take half as much character XP to earn as previous ones--30,000 down from 60,000--and they will no longer need to fulfill challenge requirements. Previous Operations characters will retain their old requirements, out of fairness to those who already earned or bought them.

If you'd rather just unlock all the new characters at once, you can buy the Gridiron Bundle for $20. That will grant you the four new additions, the Hot Rod weapon skin set, 1000 iron, and 30 days of boost. You can always buy individual characters for 500 iron apiece.

Back in February, the Nintendo Switch version of The Outer Worlds was delayed because of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as port developer Virtuous has offices in Singapore and China. The pandemic continues, but the Switch port has a new release date this June.

The Outer Worlds will release for Nintendo Switch on June 5, and it will be available as both a digital download and a physical cartridge. The physical version, which was not originally planned, will require an additional patch on launch day that will take up to 6 GB of space, and it adds higher-resolution textures and other gameplay improvements.

"We appreciate your dedication to the Board," Obsidian said in an in-character update post on its website. "And remember: it's not the best choice, it's Spacer's Choice!"

After experiencing technical issues that delayed the PS4 and PC versions of the Resident Evil Resistance beta past their Xbox One counterpart, the beta is now live on all platforms. It will run until Resident Evil 3 launches on April 3.

Game director Al Yang shared the news on his Twitter page, adding that players will need to download the game's latest update if they still cannot play the game online.

The beta's launch comes just a few days before Resident Evil 3 releases on the same systems. All copies of Resident Evil 3 come with Resident Evil Resistance as a free bonus, regardless of whether they are digital or physical. It was originally announced as a completely separate game, but was revealed as a freebie when Resident Evil 3 was revealed in January. It is the only way to get Resident Evil Resistance.

Dead or Alive 6 has received an update, bringint it to version 1.21a, and as it turns out this is the penultimate patch the game will receive. One final update will introduce more DLC in mid-April, the game's official Twitter account has revealed.

The new update, 1.21a, has been detailed on the game's site. Here's what it contains:

• The hair color change system underwent a large-scale revision: hair color change can be now unlocked on permanent basis for any hairstyle that features it, and includes all available colors (e.g., if you purchase Hair Color Change for Marie Rose's "Long" hairstyle, you will unlock all 16 hair colors for this hairstyle.)
• All Premium Tickets that were used to purchase hair colors prior to this update have been refunded (e.g., if you have used 5 Tickets to purchase hair colors on v1.20 and v1.21, you will receive 5 Premium Tickets when you apply the v1.21a update.)
• As a result of the large-scale revision of the hair color change system, all hair color settings have been reset to default.
• The number of Premium Tickets that can be purchased has been limited to the maximum number of items that can be exchanged for Premium Tickets.
• Added the information display that shows the number of remaining available costumes and hair colors that can be exchanged for Premium Tickets.
• Added the information display that shows the maximum number of Premium Tickets required to unlock all available costumes and hair colors.

The game's final update will focus on adding DLC, and will also contain some bug fixes. The details are listed in the tweet embedded below.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is coming to Switch on May 29, complete with new story content and upgraded visuals. But while this release has the potential to be the best version of Monolith Soft's beloved RPG, it will be missing two features introduced in the 3DS version of the game.

As spotted by Twitter user Luxin, the Japanese store page for Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition says that the "Collection Mode" and amiibo compatibility of the 3DS version will not be available in the Switch edition.

As more and more people stay home, either voluntarily or by government order due to the COVID-19 crisis, the Xbox Live gaming network is surging in popularity. Microsoft said in a post that Xbox Live, Xbox Game Pass, and Mixer are seeing "record numbers" as people spend more time playing games while adhering to social-distancing policies.

The message, which was first reported on by VideoGamesChronicle, also states that Microsoft is making "small adjustments" to ensure a smooth experience for users during the spike in usage. One of the adjustments is the removal of the ability to upload custom gamerpics for your profile. Not only that, but you can no longer upload pictures for club backgrounds.

This change is only temporary, so these services will return at some point in the future.

Total War: Three Kingdoms has a new patch, and hotfix 1.5.1 is available in beta right now. The update, which is not live in the full game yet, introduces several changes and fixes, including displaying titles correctly and allowing players to seek confederation once they've been declared King of Emperor.

To access the beta, you can right-click on the game in your Steam library, click on Properties and then the Beta tab, and select the 5.1 option in there. This will update your build to 1.5.1, and allow you to test out the update.

Here's the full update notes, which are also available in simplified Chinese and Korean through the Total War website.

Fortnite has another update coming as Chapter 2, Season 2 continues on into its second half. While Epic Games is holding with their tradition of not releasing patch notes, there is some speculation about what update v12.30 will contain.

Last week's 12.21 update added new challenges and rewards, as well as bug fixes. It's likely that v12.30, being a more major update, will add more in the way of new content.

Fortnite's community Trello board also gives us an idea of what bugs are being addressed in the new update. Cards marked as 'fixed in next update' include issues with the Harpoon Gun catching loot inconsistently, as well as problems with Auto Pick Up. Also marked for this update is a bug with Spy Games where players would get stuck at the "Select Tech" screen. An issue with tournament scores displaying incorrectly in the lobby and in-match will also be addressed, as well as a number of minor issues with Creative Mode, Save the World and mobile versions of the game.

CD Projekt Red has released a shiny new Cyberpunk 2077 wallpaper featuring protagonist V chilling on the Night City metro, as a riot unfolds on the station outside. Aside from giving fans a tantalizing taste of a game that's still almost six months out from release, the poster is full of tiny world-building details just waiting to be discovered in high resolution.

The new wallpaper gives us a better look at the metro, the city-wide transport system that players will be able to use to travel around the city's districts.

The main details of the picture are immediately obvious--V, sitting nonchalantly with his gun out, a sleepy businessman beside him. Behind him, the people of Night City clash with heavily armored Arasaka employees. As one fan on Reddit pointed out, the helmets on the police look like a callback to the Nilfgaardians of CD Projekt Red's Witcher series.

Season 5 of Call Of Duty: Mobile content is arriving soon, and with it come two newly unlockable characters from the Black Ops series. Black Ops 2 protagonist David "Section" Mason and Black Ops 3's war robot Reaper will be available on the Battle Pass from April 1.

David Mason is the son of Alex Mason, who was made available in Call of Duty: Mobile in the second season Battle Pass. The two acted as dual protagonists in Black Ops 2, with the main story split across two timelines.

Reaper is one of the nine Specialists from the more sci-fi-leaning sequel Black Ops 3, an experimental war robot who shows signs of sentience.

Persona 5 Royal adds tons of new content, chief among them is the new third semester that also contains the ninth and final palace, all of which happen after the events of the original game. But it's possible to miss all those features entirely if you don't meet certain requirements. It's an absolute must to see all the game has to offer, so here's everything you need to do to unlock the new content, as spoiler free as possible.

The gist of this is that you need to rank up three separate Confidants to certain ranks before specific dates. Some of the ranks are gated by certain days and events, and if you don't rank them up by then, you'll miss out on extra gameplay and the new, major story arcs. We have everything detailed below.

Goro Akechi (Justice Confidant)

First, let's start with Goro Akechi, the Justice arcana. In the original Persona 5, Akechi's Confidant arc was tied to story events and was unmissable, but in P5R you choose to spend time with him. You'll first meet Akechi in early June when you take the class field trip to the TV Station. This is an unmissable story event that kicks off rank 1.

Pokemon Go is a game that thrives on people going outside, so you might not expect it to do well during a pandemic when players are stuck indoors. And yet, despite COVID-19 forcing people worldwide to self-isolate, Pokemon Go's revenue has gone up recently, according to a report from gamesindustry.biz.

For the week ending March 16, according to data taken from Sensor Tower, Pokemon Go's gross revenue hit $23 million--a 67% increase on the week before. In fact, 13% of revenue earned by the game so far in 2020 was earned during that week, despite people not being able to play as they usually would.

It was by far the biggest week of in-game spending the game has had in 2020, and it indicates that the game will continue to turn a profit as the way it is played necessarily changes.

One enduringly controversial topic for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is that, despite the game using a skill-based matchmaking system, there is no ranked mode. Call of Duty professional player Nadeshot stoked the flames of this debate recently when he spoke openly about his frustration with the lack of a ranked mode. And now, former Call of Duty executive Michael Condrey has responded, saying he, too, was frustrated by some of the decisions about Call of Duty that were made outside of his control.

"I'll never understand why Call of Duty goes through all the trouble to implement skill-based matchmaking but won't add a ranking system," Nadeshot said. "If you're going to match me up against better players, why can't I have a rank to be proud of and work towards?"

For his part, Condrey said it was never his decision to not include a ranked mode. Instead, decisions about analytics, skill-based matchmaking, monetization, and dedicated servers, came down from Activision corporate. Condrey said he had "frustratingly little influence" on those decisions, "despite their impact on our games and the Call of Duty community."

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the fish and bugs you can catch change with the seasons. As each month ends, there will be a handful of fish and bugs you won't be able to catch again for several months, so it's a good idea to catch them as soon as possible so you can donate them to your museum and enter them into your Critterpedia.

These are the fish and bugs that are leaving at the end of March in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. See our full fish guide for details on these March fish and our bugs guide for what you need to know about bugs.

Northern Hemisphere

March isn't a big month for fish and bug departures in the Northern Hemisphere, but you'll definitely want to get a stringfish if you're able. These ultra-rare fish only appear in the rivers on your cliffs; the exact elevation doesn't matter. Stock up on fish bait and be prepared to fish for a while.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone continue to evolve. Activision has announced that both modes have received new variants that give you a new way to play.

Starting off with Modern Warfare, there is a new "Pro" version of Cyber Attack for standard multiplayer. The twist with this version of the mode is that players can now respawn instead of needing to be revived by teammates. According to Activision, this creates "frenetic and fast-paced gameplay" as players juggle between killing enemies and playing the objective.

The other new variant is "Blood Money," which is for the Warzone mode Plunder. In this twist on what we're used to, players get even more cash than before for killing enemies. Additionally, taking down enemies with a finishing move and completing contracts earns more money than before. This should make Plunder and even more chaotic, as players scramble to get extra cash.

The next game in the SteamWorld series is in the works. The popular series, which has spanned a few genres (most recently the RPG genre with SteamWorld Quest) and received critical acclaim, will return at some point.

This news comes via the Twitter page of developer Image & Form, which tweeted about the company looking for two experienced 2D artists to work on the next game in the SteamWorld franchise. In a follow-up tweet, the account clarified that it did not know when the game would be announced, let alone released, so there's no further news at this point.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone will offer double XP this weekend, Activision has confirmed. In addition to standard double XP for progression, there will be double weapon XP and double tier progression for the game's battle pass.

The double XP bonuses apply to multiplayer, spec ops, and Warzone. The double XP bonus goes live on April 3 at 10 AM PT and runs through April 6 at the same time. You are probably staying at home more than ever these days, so this is a nice treat for Call of Duty fans looking to level up faster.

The double XP comes at a key time, as Modern Warfare's Season 2 is entering its final full week. As announced previously, the Season 2 Battle Pass ends on April 7, so now is your last chance to reach tier 100 to unlock all the extras. Alternatively, you can spend real money to unlock the items right away.

Like in previous Animal Crossing games, special visitors may come to your island on any given day in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Many of these visitors are random, while others show up at specific times of the week or day, and all of them offer rewards on top of their smiling faces and dazzling conversation. We've rounded up all the visitors in the game so far, when and where you should look out for them, and what they offer when they visit.

For more Animal Crossing tips, be sure to check out our guide to hybrid flowers and our guide to the deserted island Mystery Tours. We also have lists of all the fish and bugs in the game, when and where they appear, and how much they sell for.

Random Visitors

These visitors will show up at random throughout the week, though you may need to progress a bit before some will visit your island. You'll have to look for them each day, as their visits won't be announced ahead of time. You'll usually only see one visitor per day (if any), but Celeste or Wisp may show up at night even if another all-day visitor is around. Note that Harvey is a one-time visitor and will not visit again once he's told you about his island early in the game.

After revealing the game earlier this month, developer Metalhead Software has dropped a brand-new overview video for its upcoming arcade sports simulator Super Mega Baseball 3.

The two-minute video goes into the "big picture changes" between Super Mega Baseball 2 and the upcoming sequel, which is coming to Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in April 2020. Namely, the studio focused on some of SMB3's new accessibility and customization features, allowing configurations for "new players to just sit down and hammer [homeruns] all the way up to a level that only the game's very best players will be able to handle."

You can check out the game's overview video below. Metahead also confirmed that more videos are coming in the future that will discuss SMB3's "various new features and changes."

If you're stuck at home with not much to do and looking for an online game to get into, we've got some good news for you: Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls Online is offering free access to its base game on PS4, Xbox One, and PC in April. From April 1 to April 13, you can play The Elder Scrolls Online for free on PS4 and Xbox One, while Steam's free play event runs only until April 6.

The Elder Scrolls Online's free play event includes the game's Greymoor Prologue, which is a preview of the game's Greymoor Chapter. The upcoming DLC releases May 18 for PC and Mac and June 2 for Xbox One and PS4.

This free play period also coincides with the game's Anniversary Jubilee event, which offers opportunities for double XP, exclusive rewards, and delicious cake to celebrate the game's sixth birthday. If you've played The Elder Scrolls Online in any previous free events, you'll be able to continue your progression as normal. Additionally, new ESO accounts will receive 500 crowns to spend in the game's premium currency shop.

If you've spent any time with Animal Crossing: New Horizons over the past few days, you've no doubt had a few run-ins with your island's most hostile residents. No, we're not talking about Tom Nook or any of your delightful animal neighbors, but rather the stinging wasps that you accidentally unhouse when you're gathering tree branches for your zillionth fishing rod that day.

Well, if you're tired of having to use medicine to treat those wounds, we have good news for you--you can use party poppers to scare them away, as revealed by embedded Tweet above. To be clear, the timing is pretty tight, and you have to make sure to shake the tree from the front in order to line it up, but it does work. You can buy party poppers from the Nook's Cranny store.

Alternatively, you can use your net to catch the wasps before they descend on you. But hey, this is a much more festive solution, if nothing else. If you need help gathering any other bugs, read our guide to catching them. If you haven't picked up New Horizons, check out our review-in-progress to see what our critic Kallie Plagge liked and didn't like about the game.

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forcing many parts of the country into lockdown, Pokemon Go developer Niantic has been tweaking the hit AR mobile game to make it easier to play while social distancing. As part of the changes, the studio has recently begun offering 1 PokeCoin bundles in the in-game store and removed the walking requirement to take part in the Go Battle League, and it will soon let players participate in Raids from afar as well.

In a new blog post, Niantic outlined some further changes it will make to Pokemon Go. One of the most notable is that you won't need to leave your home in order to join Raids. "You'll soon be able to team up with friends and take on Raid Battles together in Pokemon Go from the comfort of home," the developer wrote.

This is certainly a welcome change, as players previously needed to physically travel to a Gym where a Raid was taking place in order to join the battle. Raids are one of the few ways you can catch rare Legendary Pokemon, which are typically only available for a limited time, and this adjustment will ensure that everyone will have a chance to capture these monsters while they're in the game.

Elder Scrolls Online is preparing for a trip to Greymoor, and you can start to get a taste for the new content with a special prologue quest. The prologue is free to all players and available starting today.

The free chapter will take you into Blackreach to face the Icereach Coven, helping to wrap up the Dark Heart of Skyrim storyline as it segues into the new Greymoor story. You can find it by selecting "Prologue Quest: The Coven Conspiracy" from the Crown Store, and then finding Lyris Titanborn in your alliance's Fighter's Guild. A new story trailer helps set the spooky stage for things to come as well.

If you've been stuck at home and need some games to keep you occupied, then there have been a whole bunch of great offers over the past few weeks, including a lot of free games you can claim right now and keep forever. There have also been a lot of great sales, and the latest one at Fanatical is selling Steam games at excellent discounts.

You can currently pre-order Resident Evil 3 for $47.18, down from the original price of $60. It releases this Friday, April 3, and is a remake of the original RE3 from 1999. Additionally, you can snag some pretty incredible deals on Borderlands 3 on Steam for $28.19 and Metro Exodus on Steam for $24.

Trials of Mana pre-orders are going for $42.49, down from the regular price of $50. It's a remake of the game also known as Seiken Densetsu 3, which originally released on the Super Famicom (or SNES) in Japan. It didn't make its way to North America until last year's Collection of Mana hit the Switch, and now you'll be able to play the 3D remake when it releases on April 24.

If there's anything we can count on in these uncertain times, it's that Target will continue to offer buy two, get one free sales on video games, and Amazon will continue to price-match them. These B2G1 sales have become fairly common at the two retailers, offering a nice way to snag a bundle of new games for a fraction of the price. And this week, you can take advantage of the latest B2G1 sale at Amazon, which includes many PS4 and Xbox One games along with a few Switch titles. Unsurprisingly, some of these deals are beginning to sell out, and delivery dates will likely take longer than usual as Amazon prioritizes health and household goods. Be sure to check out Target's B2G1 sale as well for even more options.

Amazon's B2G1 sale spans not only video games but toys, board games, electronics, and more. To take advantage of the deal, just add three items from the sale page to your cart. At checkout, you'll see a "multi-buy discount" that slashes off the price of the cheapest item in your cart. Keep that in mind as you select your three items--it may behoove you to pick three items at similar price tags.

League of Legends developer Riot Games has announced the closed beta for its tactical shooter Valorant will launch on April 7. The initial beta will begin in the US, Canada, Europe, Russia, and Turkey, with other regions possibly rolling out later. Riot says that the launch in other territories will be pending developments regarding the coronavirus pandemic.

To register for the beta, you'll just have to create a Riot account through the official site, then link it to your Twitch account. Once the beta starts, you can watch highlighted Twitch streams of the game for a chance to get admitted into the beta yourself.

Valorant is a 5v5 character-based shooter with a look similar to Overwatch and Counter-Strike. It's planning a PC-only release sometime this summer, though it may reevaluate plans based on beta feedback. Riot notes that your progress from the closed beta won't carry over, but if you spend any "Valorant Points" during the beta period you'll get them all back plus 20% to spend on the full game.

In order to better manage data usage and downloads on its side during these times of social distancing, Steam said it will only push updates to games that have been played within the last three days.

According to a blog post, all other infrequently-played titles will need to be manually updated as Steam has "schedul[ed these] updates for the next off-peak local time period." The post said this new auto-update policy will take effect this week.

Steam also made a number of suggestions to assist with reducing data strain. Scheduling updates for some games, opting out of auto-updates for other games, and self-throttling your own connection to Steam are some ways the company hopes you can "ease the load on your network connection" while stuck at home. Steam said it is also "looking into additional solutions to help on our side."

After the success of last year's Resident Evil 2 remake, fans have waited with bated breath for Capcom to give Resident Evil 3: Nemesis the same treatment. Now that the reviews are finally out, it seems that critics are mostly enjoying Jill Valentine's jaunt in Racoon City, albeit with less enthusiasm than its universally-acclaimed predecessor.

In our review, critic Alessandro Fillari praised the remake for its tense opening hours, but found that it lost momentum as the game carried on. "However, as the game goes on, it becomes clear that Resident Evil 3 struggles to maintain its poise when the scope begins to narrow, and how blatantly the game relies on recycling many of RE2's tricks and tropes, which now feel less interesting," he wrote. "This has to do with the game's focus on momentum. Just when you're getting accustomed to a location, particularly the extensive and varied Downtown area, a story beat will occur that brings you to the next area, preventing your return. The series' penchant for puzzles are also infrequent in RE3 remake, putting more focus on exploration and combat which can eventually become exhausting."

After a seven year wait, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord finally launched on Steam Early Access today, and it's already proving popular. By player count, the medieval action RPG is now the biggest new Steam launch of 2020, mere hours after its release.

The sequel's current peak sits at 165,470 concurrent players, according to SteamDB. That puts it firmly in Steam's top 10 over the past 24 hours, trailing only perennial favorites such as Rainbow Six Siege, Grand Theft Auto V, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. For comparison, the last entry in the series, Mount & Blade: Warband, reached a peak of 33,054 back in 2014.

In preparation for SoulCalibur 6's upcoming guest DLC character, Bandai Namco has released a new update on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One for the long-running fighting game. We've compiled the full patch notes below.

The headlining feature of the update is Haohmaru, the white gi-clad samurai from SNK's Samurai Shodown. The patch adds him as a playable character, though he can only be acquired by purchasing him individually for $6 or picking up the game's $34 Season Pass 2. Haohmaru will become available on Tuesday, March 31.

The patch also adds new creation items for the game's character creator, including new weapons for Cervantes and Taki-based created fighters, extra clothing and accessory options, and more.

Developer GungHo Online Entertainment has dropped the first episode of an animated show based on Ninjala, the free-to-play multiplayer action game coming to Nintendo Switch on May 27.

The first episode delves into the game's lore, with a narrator explaining the ninja's birth and demise before bringing the present day into focus. In Ninjala's world, ninja are incognito these days, living as everyday people while attempting to tap into their latent ninja abilities. The episode shows three scientists--Burton, Berecca, and Ron--experimenting with "ninja gum," a candy-like substance that unlocks their inner ninja and grants them access to ancient ninja weaponry. There's a funny Peter Parker/Spider-Man moment, where two of the three giddily run around the room after discovering their powers. And even a pretty cool fight scene.

You can check out the first episode below. Considering the "To Be Continued" screen, it's very likely GungHo Entertainment may working on more episodes.

Taito's Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is coming to Nintendo Switch very soon. The game is due to launch for Nintendo's hybrid console on March 31 across North and South America.

The game was already released in Europe and Australia at the end of 2019, before coming to Japan in February 2020. Taito also has confirmed that additional content for Bubble Bobble 4 will be made available for free via download later this year, including new stages and the character Baron von Blubba.

Bubble Bobble 4 supports solo play or couch co-op with up to three friends. There are 100 levels in all, as players progress to try to take down the evil wizard Bonner. The game is only 660 MB large, so it won't take up too much space your on Switch.

Ubisoft hosted a free weekend for Ghost Recon Breakpoint this past weekend, in celebration of a big title update that launched last week which included the game's new immersive mode and a new mission featuring Splinter Cell's Sam Fisher. If you happened to miss it, Ubisoft is now offering a free trial for you to try at any time.

The Trial Pass, available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC, gives you access to the whole of Breakpoint, but only gives you six hours to play. That timer works off of any time you might have spent with the game over the latest free weekend, so don't plan on being able to stack the additional time if you've already played a bunch. Any progress you make during the trial period will carry over if you purchase Breakpoint, which is still on sale across most platforms.

Additionally, Ubisoft is also introducing a Friend Pass, which lets you play co-op missions with a friend who owns Breakpoint. There's no time limit on these missions, and any time you spend in them won't be added to your individual Trial Pass time. You are limited to missions specifically for co-op, and you will need either PS Plus or Xbox Live to play with a friend. The Friend Pass is only available for a limited time, starting today on Xbox One, PS4, and PC and lasting through June 16.

The Nintendo Switch is apparently about to get a hefty serving of Mario, including several classic 3D games from the series' past and an all-new role-playing game.

Reported by VGC and Eurogamer, Nintendo is planning to release remastered Switch versions of Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario 3D World, and Super Mario Galaxy as part of the franchise's 35^th birthday celebration.

The remastered games would be coming from four different consoles: Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii, and Wii U.

The Final Fantasy 7 Remake isn't set to launch until April 10, but Australian and European players may find the game ahead of time. Square Enix has opted to ship the game to both regions early in order to offset any disruptions caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In a statement on its official Twitter account, the Final Fantasy 7 Remake team said it wants to ensure everyone can play the game at the same time. This includes areas facing the most disruption, such as Europe and Australia. Shipping the game earlier could result in those regions playing it before everyone else, so the team asked that players do not spoil its story.

Resident Evil 3 Remake is out this week, offering another dose of zombie survival-horror in the style of last year's Resident Evil 2 Remake. This time the focus turns to Nemesis, the ever-present danger who defined the original. But how long can you expect to be on the run from this looming threat?

How Long Is Resident Evil 3?

• 6 hours (standard run)
• 11 hours (completionist run)

A standard critical path run through RE3 will take you about six hours, while taking your time to gather all the collectibles will last roughly 11-plus hours. That means getting all of the weapon upgrades and secrets, opening all of the locks, and finding all of the bobbleheads.

Resident Evil 3 is coming alongside Resident Evil Resistance, a standalone multiplayer mode that pits four survivors against one mastermind controlling the output of zombie hordes. A final open beta for Resistance was planned recently, but the PC and PS4 versions ran into technical problems and had to be postponed.

Nvidia's solution for ray-tracing has been implemented only in parts in most big-budget releases. Battlefield 5 utilizes it for reflections, while Metro: Exodus uses it instead more realistic shadows and ambient occlusion. Very few games use ray-tracing throughout their rendering, which is why Minecraft with RTX is such a big step forward for the technology.

Coming soon to Windows versions of the game (and later this year to the Xbox Series X), Minecraft with RTX is one of the first big tests for full ray-traced rendering, following the likes of Quake II RTX from last year. Its worlds are fully path-traced, meaning every shadow, reflection, illumination and effect is bounced off of physically based textures that are applied to every one of Minecraft's many blocks.

It's impressive technology that truly has to be seen to be believed, which is why Nvidia drafted three Minecraft creators to show off the benefits of RTX in three differently lit scenes. Below you can see screenshots from creators Razzleberries, BlockWorks and GeminiTay respectively, showing how the enhanced lighting note only illuminates structures in new ways, but adds a sense of vibrancy to them thanks to the per-pixel ambient light calculations from reflections.

As the coronavirus pandemic forces social distancing, players have turned to social games like the newly-released Animal Crossing: New Horizons to connect with friends and socialize. One couple who was forced to postpone their wedding found themselves the recipients of a surprise, all inside the carefree world of their own New Horizons island.

The story first appeared on the Animal Crossing subreddit, and fans took notice of the sweet gesture. The wholesome event seemed like a natural fit for Animal Crossing. The couple, Sharmin Asha and Nazmul Ahmed, explained how the Animal Crossing nuptials got started.

The two realized they had to postpone the wedding in late February and early March, as the COVID-19 outbreak was beginning to gather momentum and make major news. It was in this time period that organizers for the Game Developers Conference announced it would be postponed this year, and just before the ESA announced the same for E3. Public gatherings were still permitted, but it was increasingly clear they weren't advisable.

A remaster of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is indeed real, according to a PSN listing in Germany (now removed). It's also set to launch far sooner than you might expect, with the revitalized campaign scheduled for tomorrow, March 31. It will retail for 25€ (or an expected $30).

The remaster was leaked previously thanks to a ratings listing on a South Korean Ratings board, after having been rumored to be in development since the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 in 2018. Files pertaining to the remaster were then datamined out of the latest patch for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare over the weekend, before the trailer and release date leaked on PSN in Germany before any official announcement.

The remaster includes only the campaign of Modern Warfare 2, which continues the story of Soap MacTavish and Captain Price, and features the infamous "No Russian" mission. Although the remaster won't include multiplayer like the original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare remaster in 2016, some Modern Warfare 2 maps have already been added to 2019's Modern Warfare.

The BFG is easily one of the most recognizable video game weapons of all time. The iconic firearm was born to eviscerate monsters and demons in id Software's seminal first-person shooter, Doom. The gun was there for the formative years of the genre itself and has remained a mainstay, whether in follow-up Doom games, other id Software titles, or games in the genre as a whole.

But the Big F**king Gun actually has a rather unexpected history, having been based on a toy that was purchased from Toys'R'Us.

How did a kid's toy blaster become one of the most devastating virtual weapons of all time? The latest episode of Loadout delves into just that question. Join Dave as he recounts the history of the BFG and explores its cultural impact in games, movies, and beyond.