Gamespot

Plague Inc. developer Ndemic Creations' game simulates what might happen in the event of an unstoppable pandemic, but the company is now doing its part to stop one. Ndemic announced this week that it donated $250,000 in order to fight the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The donation was made to the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations as well as the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. The former is dedicated to developing and financing vaccines to treating new infectious disease, while the latter is focused on preventing, detecting, and treating COVID-19 worldwide.

"Eight years ago, I never imagined the real world would come to resemble a game of Plague Inc., or that so many players would be using Plague Inc. to help them get through an actual pandemic," the game's creator James Vaughan said in the announcement. "We are proud to be able to help support the vital work of the WHO and CEPI as they work towards finding a vaccine for COVID-19."

Each week, Microsoft discounts a huge selection of games on the Xbox Store. This week's deals just went live and are led by a Resident Evil franchise sale. The timing is perfect, as the Resident Evil 3 remake launches April 3 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Microsoft is also hosting a promotion on game add-ons for popular titles like Grand Theft Auto V, Rocket League, Black Desert, and NBA 2K20. If you spend $50 or more on microtransactions until March 31, you'll get $5 back ($10 if you're a Game Pass subscriber). Square Enix's publisher sale is still live for another week, so there's still time to get a bunch of Final Fantasy games for cheap.

Death Stranding is coming to PC this summer with a few enhancements, including an expanded photo mode. However, PS4 players won't be left out, as the console version is getting an update that gives you even more ways to take pictures during your cross-country journey.

Director Hideo Kojima revealed the news on his official Twitter account, saying the PS4 version will actually be getting the PC version's photo mode before the PC version is out. His studio's goal is currently to have it out by the end of the month in a title update.

Once released, the update will let you take images of protagonist Sam while you're exploring the world and delivering supplies. Previously, you could snap images while Sam looked into the mirror in his room, complete with silly faces.

Devolver Digital has knocked down the price of its absurd puzzle-exploration game Pikuniku, developed by indie collective Sectordub. Normally $12.99, Pikuniku is now available for just $0.99 on Nintendo Switch.

The joyfully nonsensical game is suited for both adults and kids and supports local-multiplayer co-op play for two people, making it perfect for families currently stuck at home. Just watching the trailer should be enough to lift your mood.

GameSpot’s review of Pikuniku said, “With its simple character designs and a game world that often looks like a young kid designed it by cutting up and sticking together different bits of colored paper, Pikuniku sometimes feels like a video game adaption of a children's book.” With its cute graphics and simple progression, it’s the perfect game to take your mind off world events.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne’s latest major update 13.00 is out now for console players, with two new variant monsters, a "layered weapons" feature, and a whole lot of bug fixes.

The new update is 1.4GB on PlayStation 4, and 2.1GB on Xbox One, and is available now. PC players will have to wait until April 8, though after this update PC and console updates will drop at the same time.

The patch adds the new monster variants Raging Brachydios and Furious Rajang, and new armour sets for each. These new types of Brachydios and Rajang, and the new strategies that will be needed to combat them, are discussed in the Developer Diary Volume 5 video.

There's a surreal element to the release of Half-Life: Alyx, as the long-dormant franchise had turned into a meme as the wait for a new game following Half-Life 2: Episode 2 stretched further and further. Now that the new game has finally released, one developer at Valve has spoken about the gap between releases, and while he can't commit to anything, he's hopeful that it won't be as long.

Robin Walker, a long-time programmer at Valve, has spoken to Polygon about the pressures that come with the Half-Life brand. "Half-Life 3 really always needed to answer the question of what is the opportunity, what is the big technological leap that you think we can use in some way to build some really interesting experience for the player?," he said. "That’s a paralyzing thing to work on."

Half-Life: Alyx felt right, he says, and once they had a prototype it was clear that it could be the next game in the series. For now, he says, it's not clear what the next game will be: "We haven’t made any decisions about what to do next, concretely, because there’s no reason to. We can wait a week."

Path of Exile is the latest game to offer a special bonus for players who find themselves stuck inside amidst lockdowns and other restrictions that are in place throughout the world.

In a blog post, developer Grinding Gear Games announced that it's giving everyone a free Thaumaturgy Mystery Box which contains an assortment of cosmetic items. All you need to do is open Path of Exile's in-game shop and the Box will be automagically added to your account.

Grinding Gear specified that you must visit the in-game store to claim this freebie; visiting the Path of Exile shop website is not enough. Also, you must have created account already to get the freebie, and the offer is limited to one Box per account.

Dandy Dungeon: Legend of Brave Yamada, a fascinating and strange RPG about a mid-30s programmer who hates his job and is trying to create his own game, is getting a sequel--sort of. An upcoming update on April 2 will transform the game into Dandy Dungeon II: The Phantom Bride, which will offer a new conclusion for the PC and Switch game.

In Dandy Dungeon, players draw lines to move the protagonist, Yamada, through the dungeons of the game he's building himself. Yamada is in love with his neighbor, Maria, who he adds into his game as a princess that he must rescue. The game has been praised for its fun dungeons, original gameplay, and weird sense of humor.

The sequel update, outlined on the game's official website, will be completely free for all owners of the game. It'll add 90 new dungeon types, 560 new sets of weapons and armor, and over 260 new enemies, as well as the new 99-floor Heaven's Door dungeon. It's a bit update, then.

Here's a trailer to let you know what to expect.

The game will be discounted by 30% from April 2 as well, so new players can jump into the expanded game at a reduced price. This discount will apply to both the PC and Switch versions.

Dandy Dungeon is by Onion Games, which is working on the Switch version of Moon: Remix RPG Adventure.

Scheduled maintenance will result in Fortnite downtime, barely a week after the v12.20 update dropped. The downtime will begin at 2 AM ET, and while no end time has been announced it will likely only take a couple of hours if previous updates are anything to go by. [Update: The maintenance period is over and Fortnite servers are back online, with the new update now available to download. As per usual these days, Epic has not released patch notes, but given this is an incremental update, you shouldn't expect any major new features, items, or modes--this is more than likely focused on bug fixes.]

While patch notes haven’t been released for the v12.21 update, it’s most likely to be fixing performance issues related to new features added in v12.20--particularly the Choppa. The update may also look at the FPS issues that have been on Epic’s radar since v12.00.

Overall, as a .01 update no big changes or new items are expected from it, but hopefully it will address some of the performance issues that Fortnite players have been suffering.

Xbox Live has gone down again, for some at least. The Xbox Live Support page notes that "Purchase and Content Usage" is affected right now. This is a big deal, because in some cases, these new Xbox Live issues are preventing people from launching their games to begin with.

The support pages notes that the game Smite, in particular, is affected by these latest Xbox Live issues, but the problems seem to extend beyond that game alone.

Just minutes ago, GameSpot's repeated attempts to boot Call of Duty: Modern Warfare all failed. In a tweet, Activision Support said it's looking into the issues.

Bells are the main currency in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and you'll need a lot of them if you want to upgrade your house, buy furniture and clothes, and build various structures around your island. There are a lot of ways to make bells, and while it largely comes down to either selling things or otherwise finding money, there are some things you should know to help maximize your income and manage your bells.

First off: You can only hold 99,999 bells in your pockets at once, so it's a good idea to deposit bells in the Nook Stop machine at Resident Services so they don't take up pocket space. We recommend saving up a bells this way rather than paying off your loans in small increments in case a pricey item ends up in one of your stores--you'll want the extra money for surprise purchases from time to time.

Generally, you can sell any items you don't want or need at Nook's Cranny, though we don't recommend selling any crafting materials, like wood or iron--you'll get more money by crafting with those items. You can take any fossils that Blathers has assessed but are already in your museum and sell those, for example, or sell any furniture you've found but don't want. Below, you'll find tips for selling specific items to maximize your profits, plus some other key money-making tips.

New images have been released of PureArts’ super detailed 1/6 scale Cyberpunk 2077 figures, this time featuring the female version of V. The company has also announced a figure version of the Yaiba Kusanagi Sportbike, though images of the bike are not yet available.

The female V model will come with the same light-up jacket as the male one, but has a different weapon--the Kang Tao G-58 Dian. Notably the female model doesn’t get the cool Mantis blade arm that the male has.

The Sportbike also comes with a heap of over-the-top detailing, including rolling wheels and front and back light options. The bike will be sold as a bundle with either figure for $599.

Doom Eternal is full of deadly demons, but none is as worrisome as the Marauder. A former Sentinel soldier, the Maurader has a lot of the same moves as the Doom Slayer, including a short-range dash to avoid attacks and a powerful shotgun to dish out a ton of close-range damage. You'll face the Marauder as a boss in the game's sixth mission, Arc Complex, but later in the game, it'll become a regular enemy you'll have to fight more than once.

The trouble with the Marauder is that it's the most defensively minded enemy in the game. Where other demons rush at your face, soaking up all the lead you can dump into them, the Marauder actively avoids attacks with a big shield, while dishing out a ton of punishment along the way. Fighting one Marauder can be tough, but mix it in with other demons and it can seem insurmountable.

There are ways to take Marauders down, though. It usually requires sustained damage and a lot of effort, and you'll want to make sure to keep lots of smaller fodder demons handy for health, armor, and ammo recharges. But if you know what you're doing when you see a Marauder, you can prioritize the target and take it out before things get too tough. The key is positioning yourself appropriately to win the fight, and to quickly disengage when you get into trouble.

A new "next-gen" headset is in the works, and while nothing concrete has been announced about what it'll be able to do, it's coming from some heavy hitters. The headset--literally just called "Next Gen HP VR Headset" on its own Steam page--is being worked on by Valve, Microsoft, and HP.

The device's page on HP's website gives some more information with its description. "Developed in collaboration with Valve and Microsoft, the next gen HP VR headset delivers a more immersive, comfortable, and compatible experience than the previous generation," it reads. "It’s the new standard in VR."

Here's a little look at the headset, which will prominently display the "HP" logo.

After vanquishing the Gladiator in Doom Eternal's eighth mission, it's back to shooting some more demons. Below you can find a step-by-step walkthrough of the game's ninth mission: Taras Nabad.

For walkthroughs of Doom Eternal's other chapters, check out our guide hub collecting what we have up so far. We'll be publishing more in subsequent days. But if you're looking for more basic Doom Eternal tips, be sure to read our guide detailing everything you should know before playing. Otherwise, you can read our Doom Eternal review in progress.

Mission 9 Walkthrough -- Taras Nabad

Follow the path around and jump to the lower platform on your left. A number of enemies will swarm you on the bridge, including a Hell Knight and Cyber Mancubus. Once they're dead, melee the two contraptions at the end of the bridge on both sides to open the door.

Doom Eternal's eight mission has a surprising focus on story, so it's fairly straightforward. Regardless, it has a big fight in it, so you'll still have to come in ready to shoot things up. Below you can find a walkthrough detailing exactly what you need to do to overcome the threats that lie ahead.

For walkthroughs of Doom Eternal's other chapters, check out our guide hub collecting what we have up so far. We'll be publishing more in subsequent days. But if you're looking for more basic Doom Eternal tips, be sure to read our guide detailing everything you should know before playing. Otherwise, you can read our Doom Eternal review in progress.

Mission 8 Walkthrough -- Sentinel Prime

Follow the path onto the elevator and keep going after the cutscene ends. Eventually, you'll exit through a door and see a large hole in the building to your right. Carry on from here and go left in the next room and climb up the platform to reach the top. Take a right through the next door and take the stairs up to another elevator, then head straight and prepare for the next boss.

Half-Life: Alyx nails so much of what makes the series great, and VR elevates some of its best qualities. But if you're not familiar with the ins-and-outs of VR or the way Half-Life typically does things, we have you covered. Even veterans such as myself wish I knew a few of these tips before playing, such as what weapon upgrades to spend your valuable Resin on, among other things.

One aspect you may not be familiar with is how Half-Life tends to do puzzles; there are no waypoints or objective markers, so you need to pay attention to what the environment is telling you. This extends to multitool puzzles and knowing what objects to interact with. If you're concerned about motion sickness or if you have physical limitations, we also have some pointers about your options.

We go into more detail about Half-Life: Alyx's accessibility options, and have a deeper dive into solving the different types of puzzles you'll encounter. We also have a comprehensive guide on Half-Life: Alyx's weapons and upgrades, and long-time fans won't want to miss all the Easter eggs we've found so far. Be sure to read our full Half-Life: Alyx review for our thoughts on the series' first game in 13 years.

Stalker 2, the sequel to Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl, was announced in May 2018, but we haven't seen any screenshots from it since--until now. Developer GSC Game World has celebrated the 13th birthday of the original Stalker by releasing this first screenshot from the sequel, and while it doesn't show any gameplay, there's material here to speculate on.

The screenshot, below, came alongside a Facebook post about the series on the game's official page, which praised the Stalker community and discussed the current isolation many are feeling as they practice social-distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Below you can find a walkthrough detailing how to get through Doom Eternal's seventh mission: Mars Core. It's a shorter one than some of the previous missions, but keep your guard up, as there are some powerful foes to face. Fortunately, you get your hands on some new firepower to finish the job!

For walkthroughs of Doom Eternal's other chapters, check out our guide hub collecting what we have up so far. We'll be publishing more in subsequent days. But if you're looking for more basic Doom Eternal tips, be sure to read our guide detailing everything you should know before playing. Otherwise, you can read our Doom Eternal review in progress.

Mission 7 Walkthrough -- Mars Core

Once the opening cutscene ends, there are some fodder enemies to deal with. Go through the door to the left of the elevator and hang another left up the stairs. You can climb up into a vent here, so go through and follow the corridor around until you drop into a larger room. Go through the portal and you'll be met by a Baron of Hell. This enemy type is similar to the Dread Knight, and as such, the Chaingun is your best weapon of choice when facing one. Just watch out for its fiery projectiles and devastating slam attack.

Half-Life: Alyx has 41 achievements you can get just by reaching certain key points in the game, completing routine tasks, or by pulling off something special. There are even a couple secret ones that are harder to get, including a few we don't quite know the solution for yet.

Here we'll break down all 41 Half-Life: Alyx achievements (well, most of them), their official descriptions on Steam, and how to get them. We've broken this guide down into sections: story achievements you are guaranteed to complete just by playing through the game, chapter-exclusive achievements that require you to complete a certain action in that section, easy achievements you can get pretty naturally but are still possible to miss, and special achievements that may require you to pull off something very specific and difficult to do by accident.

We've tried to keep this guide as spoiler-free as possible, but if you're afraid of even seeing the names of chapters and implications about the ending from the official Steam achievement descriptions, then stay far away! We've put story achievements, which allude to end-game chapters, at the very end of this guide so it's easy to skip.

Despite both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone drawing franchise fans away from it, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is still going strong. The latest playlist update for Treyarch's multiplayer-focused series entry has just landed, and it's giving players double XP on one of Call of Duty's very best modes, Sticks & Stones.

The latest update on the Activision Blog advises players to avoid the score-resetting combat axe in the mode. Players are armed with crossbows, ballistic knives, and combat axes, and tasked with reaching a high score--but your numbers can be reset to 0 by axe kills or accidental self-kills.

Here's the full list of playlists for this week in the game, from March 23 onward:

One of the major features in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is crafting, and there are quite a few resources you can use to DIY. Because of that, you might find your pockets fill up really quickly, which can be a challenge early on as you're pulling weeds, catching fish and bugs, picking fruit, and accumulating random items along the way. Luckily, you can increase your inventory space twice and end up with double what you had at the start.

You'll find both upgrades at the Nook Stop machine in Resident Services, each of which you can redeem for Nook Miles. The first one is available from the beginning of the game and costs 5,000 Nook Miles; we recommend paying off your first loan to Tom Nook before spending any Nook Miles on pocket space, though, because having a house will trigger more progress around your island and grants you in-home storage space for stuff you don't want to carry around. The first pocket upgrade will add a third row for a total of 30 slots.

The second pocket upgrade isn't available until you upgrade the Resident Services tent to a full building. Once the Resident Services building is open, there will be new rewards you can get using Nook Miles at the Nook Stop machine; among these is the final pocket upgrade, which costs 8,000 Nook Miles. This will give you four rows of inventory space, or 40 slots.

It may seem like a bad time to be the developer of a game that requires players to get outside and wander the streets, but Niantic has been remarkably quick at adapting to the situation.

Niantic has already added other bonuses to make playing Pokemon Go at home easier, such as boosting the time Incense is active and increasing the number of Pokemon it attracts.

Updates have also been added to the new Go Battle League, removing the requirement to walk a certain number of steps to unlock new battle tracks. Players can also now remote battle with Good Friends, which was previously only unlocked upon becoming Ultra Friends.

Holmgang: Memories of the Forgotten is a new game coming from Spanish developer Zerouno Games, made up of former creatives from 343 Industries, Rockstar, and Mercury Steam. You'll journey across diverse lands and fight off monsters pulled from different forms of real-world mythologies in this action-adventure game that takes cues from Dead Cells and the 2018 God of War reboot. It's a cool premise, and the creators are looking to crowdfunding to see the game to its finish.

The game is just planned for release on PC at this time, but there are plans for stretch goals that would see the game releasing on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Before the game's debut on Kickstarter on March 24, GameSpot got an early look of Holmgang in action, showing off its retro-inspired combat and vibrant, cell-shaded aesthetic. Set in the world of Dracorum, you play as three heroes who must band together to fight the evil Emperor Hazulem and his army. With the three heroes--Tatsu the samurai-inspired warrior, Valentina the amazonian brawler, and Kandar the viking--you'll explore different regions, take on quests, and gradually expand the trio's strength to face off against new threats.

The game, which initially began as a student project known as Memories of the Forgotten, eventually grew out into a more realized game once the creatives from the different studios formed Zerouno Games. According to the Kickstarter, Mercury Steam's Castlevania: Lords of Shadow games served as a big inspiration, with the game designer--Víctor Cerezo--helping to form Zerouno Games in the years since its release.

The Epic Games Store will continue to expand over the next few months, with several new titles due to arrive during spring. A new trailer showcasing the games that you'll be able to grab soon has been released, and you can watch it below to get a sneak peek at several titles.

Although the trailer does not explicitly label these games as timed exclusives, it seems like a strong possibility that they will be, as these games do not have Steam pages.

The games shown in the trailer are Dread Nautical, Control's first expansion (The Foundation), Industries of Titan, Totally Reliable Delivery Service, Diabotical, Saturnalia, Sludge Life, Among Trees, and Samurai Shodown. They're mostly smaller or indie titles, but based on the trailer above, it looks like a solid line-up. Epic Games has also released a synopsis for each title, so you can see if any of them appeal to you.

As more and more people stay home and are looking for new things to do, the developer of The Lord of the Rings Online have announced they are expanding what's available to play for free.

Through April 30, all quests, instances, and skirmishes are available for everyone to play for free. This also includes content previously locked behind paid expansion packs.

Additionally, the special vendor who only appears during certain times, The Curator, is now coming back between March 26 and April 30. What's more, The Lord of the Rings Online is offering a 10% XP boost from March 26 to April 6. Finally, the Baggins' Birthday event is coming to The Lord of the Rings online March 26-April 6 as well.

Call of Duty: Warzone and Modern Warfare are bringing back a DLC pack that benefits military veterans. Activision's Call of Duty Endowment charity, which helps place veterans in jobs after their military careers, has announced that the "Defender" DLC pack is coming back to the digital store because "in these difficult times, veterans need more help with employment than ever."

The Defender pack includes 11 items in total, spread across multiplayer, Spec Ops, and Warzone. As when the pack was sold before, 100 percent of net proceeds will go to the Call of Duty Endowment.

The Defender Pack was previously available for Modern Warfare multiplayer, but this is the first time that players can bring this content into Warzone. Modern Warfare and Warzone share the same store. The Defender Pack costs $10 USD.

Activision is rolling out a slew of new Call of Duty content this week. Modern Warfare will receive a new map and Operator, who comes alongside two legendary blueprints (and a very good dog companion), while Call of Duty: Warzone is getting a handful of new weapons.

Four new guns are coming to the standalone battle royale game starting tomorrow, March 24: the 725, MK2 Carbine, .50 GS, and EBR-14. The guns will be appear in common and uncommon rarities, and each have their own distinct strengths, so Activision advises equipping them in loadouts and seeing how they fare.

The aforementioned new Operator, Talon, will also be playable in Warzone if you pick up the Talon bundle. The bundle includes two legendary blueprints, as well as two Battle Pass tier skips. You can read more about the Talon bundle on Activision's website.

Along with a bunch of other additions across the Call of Duty franchise, developer Infinity Ward has detailed two brand-new modes coming to its on-the-go Call of Duty Mobile title.

The first mode is Rapid Fire, a limited-time event that sees players earning Operator Skills and Scorestreaks at a much faster rate. In addition to this added firepower, Rapid Fire makes ammunition completely unlimited for those more inclined to spray and pray. Rapid Fire will be available until Thursday, March 26.

Sticks and Stones is Call of Duty Mobile's second limited-time event. A classic game mode in the Call of Duty series, Sticks and Stones sees players duking it out with a limited loadout--typically a crossbow and throwing axe--to see who can score the most points. While every kill earns points, the axe also provides the devastating effect of resetting your victim's score when you kill them.

Infinity Ward is dropping a bunch of new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare content across PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. One of these free pieces of DLC is a brand-new map for Modern Warfare's multiplayer mode.

Modern Warfare's newest map is Khandor Hideout, a medium-sized Syrkistan location that supports 6v6 squad play. It features long sightlines and compact interior spaces perfect for snipers, shotguns, and SMGs. Khandor Hideout goes live tomorrow, March 24 at 11 PM PT. You can check it out below.

Also new to Modern Warfare this week across all platforms is a brand-new Operator. Talon is the first-person shooter's newest DLC character and he comes with a dog companion to spice up your finishing move.

Half-Life: Alyx isn't the first full-length virtual reality game and it didn't invent many of the key VR-based mechanics at its core, but if our review of the game is anything to go off of, it's certainly one of the most refined examples. Valve has, after all, been at the forefront of VR, with its development of the HTC Vive and The Lab back in 2016. GameSpot had the chance to chat with Valve level designer Dario Casali and programmer Kerry Davis about Half-Life: Alyx and all things VR--including some of the games that helped them shape how they approach VR.

"I had a level of excitement before I started [Half-Life: Alyx], just about VR in general," Casali told GameSpot. "I was a really big fan of Budget Cuts and I flew around the Earth several times in Google Earth."

Budget Cuts is a stealth-action game from Neat Corporation. Casali cited the "full-featured interaction" players could have with the game's menacing robot antagonists and the sense of "presence" VR brings, and how both work together to raise the stakes for players, as inspirations.

When you first start a new island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, there will be some areas you won't be able to get to right away. Once you get the vaulting pole from Blathers and can make your way across rivers, the last frontier is the land atop your cliffs. To scale both levels of these cliffs, you'll need a ladder; here's when and how to get it.

You'll have to complete a few other tasks on your island before you can get the ladder, and the earliest you can get it is the third day you've been playing. First, you have to have completed Nook's Cranny; see our full Nook's Cranny unlock guide for the details. We also recommend starting the museum unlock process so you have access to the vaulting pole, as parts of your cliffs may be blocked off by rivers.

On the day Nook's Cranny opens, go to the Resident Services tent. Tom Nook will ask you to select locations for three house plots, and as part of this, he'll give you the ladder DIY recipe. You need four wood, four hardwood, and four softwood to craft a ladder. In three weeks of playing, our ladders haven't broken yet, so they're either unbreakable or extremely durable.

Cobalion has once again left Pokemon Go, but another Legendary Pokemon is set to return to the game very soon. Lugia, the cover monster from Pokemon Silver, will reappear in Raid Battles for a limited time starting tomorrow, March 24, and this time around, it'll know a special move.

You'll be able to encounter Lugia in five-star Raids until 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on March 31--the same time that Landorus is set to make its debut in Pokemon Go. Like Cobalion before it, Lugia knows a special event-exclusive move this time around: Aeroblast. Not only that, but you have a chance of encountering a Shiny Lugia as well.

If you can't make it out to Raids, Niantic is offering another way to catch Lugia. The Legendary Pokemon will also be available as a Go Battle League reward encounter until March 31. You can read more details on the official Pokemon Go website.

The critically acclaimed Half-Life series making a return nearly 13 years later as the virtual reality-exclusive Half-Life: Alyx was a shock to some fans. The VR medium is still a bit of a niche market in 2020, whereas Half-Life appeals to a wider audience. There are plenty of VR headsets available to buy now, but there's still the issue of affordability, accessibility, and the type of open space requirements and commitment that only serious VR consumers may be willing to accommodate. And then there's the issue that Valve level designer Dario Casali refers to as VR's "chicken and egg" situation.

In an interview with GameSpot, Casali broke down some of Valve's priorities when it comes to developing for VR, and how its choice to make Half-Life: Alyx a VR exclusive plays into that strategy.

"[When] we were working on the Vive and The Lab, we really believed in the VR platform," Casali told GameSpot. "We looked around and noticed that a lot of the content that was available for [VR] was not as we would traditionally see as AAA, completely full games… how we would traditionally define a Half-Life product."

Developer Infinity Ward has opened up about everything new coming to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One this week. And one of the latest additions is a brand-new Operator who brings along a very good dog that will spice up your finishing move.

Talon is the new operator to join both Modern Warfare and the game's standalone battle royale Call of Duty: Warzone. He brings along two legendary blueprints and two Battle Pass tier skips, as well as his dog buddy Indiana, which can be commanded via Talon's Finishing Move. The Talon bundle hits the Call of Duty store on Tuesday, March 24 and Indiana is "one of [the] many items [available to Talon]."

Call of Duty's free-to-play battle royale experience Warzone finally has a dedicated Solo mode for those lone wolves who want to test their mettle against 149 other players. Sometime in the future, according to Infinity Ward, Warzone's player count could eventually jump up to 200 per match.

Virtual reality isn't the most accessible platform. It can be expensive, it's unfamiliar to the majority of the game-playing market, and it's more physically demanding than traditional games, with very few ways to accommodate. Half-Life: Alyx's developers are optimistic about the future of VR, but they're also aware of the challenges the platform faces. They have their own ideas about the "chicken and egg" situation when it comes to VR's financial investment, they took careful measures to make sure Alyx wasn't an overwhelming experience for new players, and they've included some accessibility options for players with disabilities.

GameSpot had the chance to speak with Valve level designer Dario Casali and programmer Kerry Davis about Half-Life: Alyx, including some of the ways they've tried to make the game a more enjoyable experience for all types of players.

"We definitely wanted to appeal to as many people as we could," Casali tells GameSpot.

If you're in need of an extra controller for your Nintendo Switch, then there are some great deals available right now. PowerA's budget-minded controller line makes it easy to accrue controllers for Players 2, 3, and 4, and at the moment, Best Buy and Amazon have discounted a selection of its best. If you're looking for solid, cheap controllers, Best Buy currently has a deal on three of PowerA's wired Switch controllers. They're discounted to $15, down from $25, and you have your choice between three different themes: Mario, Pikachu, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Some of PowerA's controllers come with an extra pair of back buttons that you can remap to different inputs, though it's important to note these wired controllers do not feature said buttons. Thankfully, if you're interested in a pad that does come with them--or even a GameCube-inspired controller--PowerA has a bunch of different options.

It's now been over a decade since Left 4 Dead 2 launched, and according to Valve that wait will continue for the foreseeable future. In an interview with IGN, the developer has confirmed that it is absolutely not working on another game in the franchise.

Valve's official statement on the matter says as much, mentioning that while the studio has looked at ideas for another entry into the franchise, no such project is currently being working on. "We did briefly explore some Left 4 Dead next-gen opportunities a few years ago, but we are absolutely not working on anything Left 4 Dead-related now, and haven't for years," the statement reads.

Extrapolating on that, Valve's Robin Walker explained how that came about, as well as leaks that suggested Valve was working on a sequel.

Splash Damage--the studio responsible for the first-person parkour shooter Brink, and the multiplayer components for both Gears of War 4 and 5--has announced that it's partnering with Google to develop "an exclusive title" for the company's cloud gaming service Stadia.

"We're thrilled to finally announce that we're working on an exclusive title in partnership with Google Stadia," Splash Damage wrote in a brief blog post. "At Splash Damage we're always looking to innovate, and always looking for partners and platforms that allow us to do just that. We've been huge fans of Stadia ever since it was announced and have been amazed by both the technology and passion for gaming that the Stadia team has.

"We're excited to share more with all of you about this project in the coming months."

Half-Life has always been a bit of a horror game. While over-the-top sci-fi action dominated the first game, Half-Life 2 took a more somber turn in its exploration of a tyrannized Earth, post-alien invasion. It introduced creepier, more threatening enemies, bigger, scarier mysteries, and even tried to give players nightmares with its iconic Ravenholm chapter. Now a new Half-Life game is here in the form of Half-Life: Alyx, and as our review mentions, Alyx certainly has fun "tapping into a horror element that Half-Life had only previously toyed with." As you'd expect, VR only accentuates those horror elements more. But according to Valve level designer Dario Casali and programmer Kerry Davis, Half-Life: Alyx could have been even scarier.

"It started scarier, for sure," Casali told GameSpot. "I was very respectful in not trying to push it too far, because I didn't want to lose a certain segment of people who might not have been able to continue."

Casali recounted a story of one anonymous team member who can't stand to be in the same room as a headcrab: "He'd just pull off the headset and say, 'I'm not going anywhere in there!'"