Gamespot

Steam has added a new tool today for recommending games to users. Steam Interactive Recommender uses machine learning to predict which games you'll enjoy based on what other people with similar taste have played.

The Interactive Recommender started as a tool within Steam Labs back in July 2019, but has now become a proper feature of the store.

The announcement digs into how all of this works. You can interact with the recommender by specifying that you want popular or niche games, or whether you want older or newer titles, and it'll give you a list of titles based on other Steam users' playtime histories.

Tags and reviews are not taken into account, and it's based purely on what people are actually playing. "The basic idea is that if there are other players with similar play habits to you, who also play a game that you haven't tried yet, then that game is likely to be one you'll enjoy too," the announcement reads.

Judging on my own taste, it seems very accurate--it recommended me several games that I have played and enjoyed on consoles.

The Interactive Recommender isn't replacing any of Steam's other recommendation methods, but will exist alongside them.

If you're looking for more recommendations for new things to play, check out our list of games to play while you're stuck inside.

While Black Desert on PS4 and Xbox One is still far behind the PC's Black Desert Online in terms of content updates, big steps are being taken to catch these versions up. The latest of these updates brings the Maehwa class, which is focused on a combination of melee and ranged combat, to Xbox One and PS4 for the first time.

The Maehwa was an orphaned child, raised by a high-ranking military official. Under his eye she trained her whole life to become a deadly fighter, eventually mastering the legendary blue flames of the Crescent Petal. Wielding the Kerispear, a long polearm, she fights with a mix of close range melee and ranged combat, using her blue flames for ranged attacks.

The Maehwa will be launched with both her original and Awakening skills:

Animal Crossing: New Horizons finally releases tomorrow, and like any first-party Switch game, it's probably going to be selling for $60 for a long time. Fortunately, you can snag Animal Crossing: New Horizons' physical edition for a nice discount right now at Ebay, where a limited number of brand-new copies are available for $51 each via reputable seller Pro-Distributing. This is an official Ebay deal, which means free shipping is included, and the listing says orders are ready to ship today. However, check your estimated delivery date, which will vary based on your location--mine says delivery is guaranteed by March 24.

This comes after Amazon slashed the price on New Horizons last night. For about an hour, you could snag the game for $49.94, but it soon sold out. Now, it's back up to $60 on Amazon, but if you pre-ordered at Amazon previously, you'll still get that $49.94 discount that was briefly available.

As of right now, the Ebay deal is the best online deal on Animal Crossing: New Horizons we've seen, but if you want that discounted physical copy, you'd better hurry. We're guessing this listing will sell out sometime today. Be sure to check out our Animal Crossing: New Horizons pre-order guide for more options if you're still undecided.

This week, Animal Crossing fans finally get the island getaway they've been waiting for when Animal Crossing: New Horizons releases on Nintendo Switch tomorrow, March 20. Best of all, Ebay recently discounted Animal Crossing: New Horizons to $51 in a rare online deal, if you prefer to buy a physical copy. New Horizons is the first mainline entry in the series since 2012's Animal Crossing: New Leaf, so it's easy to see why fans are so excited. The Switch entry is making some big changes, including the ability to mold your island village however you see fit.

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, your character will be ferried (via the Nook, Inc. charter) to a deserted island, where you can set up a tent and start growing your own town through many of the same activities seen in previous Animal Crossing games: crafting items, shaking trees, fishing, and more. You can read the GameSpot Animal Crossing: New Horizons review-in-progress to learn more.

March 20 will see the release of two very different games from long-running franchises, Animal Crossing: New Horizons on Nintendo Switch and Doom Eternal on PS4, Xbox One, Stadia, and PC (the Switch version will arrive later). Fans have responded to the tonal disparity between these two games with plenty of fan art, and the producer and director of Animal Crossing have taken notice.

In an interview with IGN, New Horizons director Aya Kyogoku and producer Hisashi Nogami have commented on the Doom/Animal Crossing fan art they've seen.

"I definitely do notice and have noticed that there’s a lot of Doom and Animal Crossing collaboration art and illustrations that are being posted, and as I look through them I’m in awe of how much creativity our fans have," Kyogoku told the site. "I think because there is a common denominator of this type of communication happening between Doom and Animal Crossing fans, and also the fact that Animal Crossing is a communication game."

Valve founder Gabe Newell has shared his thoughts on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, saying they're becoming more like PCs.

Speaking to IGN, Newell said new consoles have become "just delivery sockets" for games and entertainment. The system architecture is good for developers, Newell said, because they don't need to worry as much about choosing to support console, PC, or mobile. The PS5 and Xbox Series X have similar GPU and CPU designs, so developers don't have to stress as much about support and compatibility across devices, Newell said.

"Those issues seem to be less relevant. It used to be that supporting consoles or supporting PCs or supporting mobiles was much more of a percent of the total development budget, so those decisions would have bigger impacts on how the industry collectively was investing in terms of the future. I think that's less important now," Newell said. "I think [the new consoles are] just delivery sockets for people's entertainment experiences. I think that's nice. It's good for developers that they're having to make fewer bets that are out of their control in terms of what those things are."

As more and more people stay home from work or school amid the COVID-19 crisis, Microsoft is unlocking double XP for Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo 5.

Not only will players in those games earn double XP, Microsoft is giving everyone who logs into Halo 5 free XP boost packs for Arena and Warzone every week.

"Please remember to wash your hands and keep it clean," Microsoft said in a tweet announcing the bonuses, referencing the "Keep It Clean" achievement for Halo: Reach.

Not long after Microsoft brought to light a ton of new info on Xbox Series X, Sony announced that it would broadcast a video featuring Mark Cerny, lead console architect behind PS5, diving deep into the next-gen console tech that would define "the future of gaming." For many, it's about time, as there's very little known about PS5 in the lead up to this presentation.

Now that the broadcast has passed, what did we learn? It was a dense presentation by Cerny that outlined an incredible number of details and data points, but it may have been hard to follow if you aren't at least somewhat familiar with the rapid-fire delivery of terms and concepts. To help distill all that valuable specs info down into something digestible, we've got a quick hit list of important takeaways. Let's start with the most familiar PS5 talking point thus far: loading time, or rather, the lack thereof.

The massive fighting game tournament Evo Championship Series (Evo) is scheduled to begin this July, and despite the ongoing threat of coronavirus, its organizers are not cancelling yet.

In a post on Twitter, Evo organizers said they are monitoring the outbreak and are monitoring updates from local agencies as well as the World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control to best assess the situation. As of now, the Mandalay Bay Resort where Evo was scheduled to be held has closed, and Evo's organizers are assuming it will be open by the July 31 start date.

Planned game tournaments for Evo 2020 include Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, Granblue Fantasy Versus, Samurai Shodown, Tekken 7, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r], and SoulCalibur VI. Last year's Mortal Kombat 11 is not included.

Back at E3 2019, Nintendo revealed that Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be one of the few Switch games not to support Nintendo Switch Online's cloud save function. According to the company, the reason for this is to prevent players from cheating, and now director Aya Kyogoku has elaborated further on the impact it would have had on the game.

Speaking to IGN, Kyogoku explained that New Horizons does not support cloud saves because players could exploit that feature to multiply their bells or items. "It messes with the economy of Animal Crossing by getting the items or bells as much as they want," Kyogoku explained.

While New Horizons does not support cloud saves, Nintendo will give players some way to recover their data in certain instances. Nintendo Switch Online subscribers will be able to recover their save data from the server should their Nintendo Switch become lost or damaged. During last month's Animal Crossing-focused Direct, a disclaimer said data could only be recovered one time, but that caveat has since been removed from the video, so it's unclear if there will be a limit.

During The Road to PS5 livestream, PlayStation 5 lead system architect Mark Cerny discussed the specs for Sony's next-gen console, including backwards compatibility and SSD load times. When it comes to audio, the PS5 will utilize 3D audio technology, allowing you to better determine an in-game item or enemy's location in relevance to you based on the sound that it makes. So, like if a monster is sneaking up on you from behind, you'll have a better idea as to it's specific location as opposed to the general direction.

When it comes to audio on PS5, Sony has three goals. "The first goal was great audio for everyone--not just for VR users or sound bar owners or headphone users," Cerny said. "That meant audio had to be part of the console, it couldn't be a peripheral. The second goal was to support hundreds of sound sources. We didn't want developers to have to pick and choose what sounds would get 3D effects and which wouldn't. We wanted every sound in the game to have dimensionality."

Update: A Microsoft spokesperson tells GameSpot that the official website listing an Xbox Series X release date was a mistake. Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb shared an identical message on Twitter, saying, "An Xbox product page in some regions inaccurately listed the launch date for Xbox Series X as Thanksgiving 2020. We are committed to launching Holiday 2020." The original story follows.

Xbox Series X was previously announced to be launching during the Holiday 2020 period, but now we have what appears to be a more precise date: Thanksgiving 2020, which falls on November 26.

That's according to a minor detail updated on a regional Xbox website; as of this moment, the US version still reads "Holiday 2020." Microsoft is set to host an Xbox Series X-focused stream as part of its digital GDC replacement event today, so it's possible more will be shared there. This news comes on the heels of Sony's tech-centric PS5 specs stream earlier today.

The ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in the cancellation of soccer play around much of the world, and this has also affected FIFA 20. The Team of the Week feature for FIFA Ultimate Team has been temporarily replaced by Team of the Week Moments to keep players invested during the downtime.

Team of the Week Moments takes historical results from past FIFA Ultimate Team titles, but players' statistics and teams will still be based on their current upgrade path. The squads themselves will be reflections of Team of the Week squads from March onward in specific past years in order to distinguish them from more recent FIFA 20 Team of the Week squads.

"When thinking about a replacement for TOTW, we wanted to build something that is authentic to football and that is compatible with TOTW if we are able to reintroduce it later this year," the development team said in an update post.

Square Enix, after assessing the global impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, is still moving forward with Final Fantasy VII Remake's April 10 release date on PlayStation 4. However, the company has stated that the virus's spread may cause the game's distribution to get caught up, causing issues for those seeking physical copies.

According to a statement from FFVII Remake's official Twitter, "the unforeseeable changes in the distribution and retail landscape" has increased the likelihood that fans may not get their physical copies of the game on April 10. Square Enix said it will provide more information on March 20.

This comes amid a similar scenario to the releases of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Doom Eternal, in which retail chain GameStop has cancelled the midnight launches of these two games in response to growing concerns over the coronavirus. Both titles launch this Friday, March 20.

During Sony's very technical and equally insightful stream revealing the specifications of the PlayStation 5, lead system architect Mark Cerny stated that external SSDs that will be compatible with the new console likely won't be ready until sometime after launch.

During his explanation of the custom SSD that the PS5 uses, Cerny explained that PCIe 4.0-based drives with the bandwidth required to match that of Sony's aren't available to the consumer market yet. By his estimations, drives will be fast enough by the end of the year, but even then, the PS5's reliance on specific architectural requirements might mean they still won't be suitable.

Specifically, PCIe 4.0-based drives that deliver only two priority levels to developers, as is standard with the current NVME specification. The PS5 SSD, by comparison, offers six priority levels, with Cerny explaining that vetted third-party SSDs will need to meet certain speed thresholds to be compatible. As a result, it might be a while before you'll be able to expand your SSD storage.

The highly-anticipated cutesy life-sim Animal Crossing: New Horizons launches this Friday, March 20 on Nintendo Switch. If you're wondering when Tom Nook will invite you to hang out on the game's new deserted island, Switch owners only need to check Nintendo's support FAQ to see when New Horizons unlocks.

According to Nintendo, certain games available for pre-purchase will become playable at 9 PM PT / 12 AM ET on the day the game is scheduled to go live. This is a policy instated across the entirety of the Eshop and not specific to New Horizons. However, Nintendo does make it clear that "some third-party titles are not available until 12 PM PT" on the day the game is supposed to come out. Being a first-party game, however, we can expect New Horizons to be available at 9 PM PT on Thursday, March 19.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available to pre-load right now after you pre-order it on Nintendo Switch. You can check out our New Horizons pre-order guide to learn about the available bonuses. An update for New Horizons is scheduled to go live later today, but the contents of the 1.1.0 patch remain a mystery.

Only true heads of the late '90s gaming era remember Shadow Man, the bizarre voodoo-themed action-adventure game from 1999. While Nightdive Studios republished the original version of the game back in 2014, the studio has decided to give the game a full graphical overhaul.

This new version will use Nightdive's KEX engine, which they've used in several other games. The remaster will feature improved shadow mapping, per pixel lighting, post-processing effects like antialiasing, and missing content cut from the original game. Shadow Man Remastered will come to PC via Steam and GOG, as well as PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch. The release date remains under wraps, however.

While some fans fondly remember Shadow Man, we weren't particularly impressed by it back in 1999. In our mixed review, Erik Wolpaw called the game "generally unexceptional."

Destiny 2 will undergo background maintenance on Thursday starting at 12 AM ET / 9 AM PT, though the game will remain online for the entirety. The maintenance will roll out Hotfix 2.8.0.1. While the full patch notes for the hotfix are not yet available, a tweet from an official Bungie account revealed that it will disable Artifact Power in Trials of Osiris and Iron Banner.

Over the past few weeks, some fans have expressed concerns that the much-heralded return of Trials is ruined by a seasonal artifact that allows players to grind PvE content in order to boost their power level. Players feel that such measures are anti-competitive. "If these rules were in chess, then it would not be about who is the best chess player, it would be about who goes to the gym more often, who practises their punches the best," wrote one Reddit user.

This isn't the only unfortunate trend rocking Destiny 2 at the moment. Earlier this month, players reported getting kicked from Gambit matches for no apparent reason. The community eventually figured out that the bug is caused by players levelling up their season pass during a match. It's not clear when this bug will be squashed, however. The new Trials of Osiris will kick off Friday at the game's weekend reset at 1 PM ET / 10 AM PT.

During Sony's Road to PS5 livestream, Mark Cerny laid out the core technical specs of the upcoming console, and why fans should be excited for the future of PlayStation. In addition to explaining the PS5's specs, and how the console's unique 825 GB SSD works, Sony's technical designer took some time to explain why the general focus on teraflops, a common topic over the previous years for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, is a bit misleading for general consumers.

In this incredibly detailed dive into the PS5's architecture, Cerny explained that a teraflop is defined as "the computational capability of the vector ALU." This aspect of the system mainly comes down to one facet of the processing speed of the system's GPU (graphics processing unit), specifically for the time it takes to for the console to generate high-quality images. While you can focus on teraflops as a defining indicator of console performance, it's just one of many different factors at work for the platform's capabilities. Prior to the reveal, PS5's specs were detailed, revealing that the console's CPU possesses 8 Zen 2 cores, and the custom GPU with an RDNA 2 architecture can generate up to 10.28 TFLOPs of power. For comparison, the Xbox Series X's GPU can generate up to 12 teraflops--but Cerny made a point to clear the air on what teraflops can actually do for a console.

During The Road to PS5 livestream, PlayStation 5 lead system architect Mark Cerny went into detail about the inner-workings, features, and specs of Sony's upcoming next-gen console. When it came to backwards compatibility, Cerny said that Sony expects nearly 100 of the most popular past-gen games to be playable on PS5 when it launches during the holiday 2020 season.

"Running PS4 and PS4 titles at boosted frequencies has also added complexity," Cerny said. "The boost is truly massive this time around and some game code just can't handle it. Testing has to be done on a title by title basis. Results are excellent though. We recently took a look at the top 100 PlayStation 4 titles as ranked by playtime and we're expecting almost all of them to be playable at launch on PlayStation 5."

We'll obviously have to wait until PS5 launches to see which of those 100 PS4 titles will be playable. There's no immediate way to check out what the full list of 100 games is ourselves--the PSN Store only organizes games by release date, alphabetical order, or price.

Id Software's sequel to 2016's Doom launches this Friday, March 20 for PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One. Eager Doom Eternal fans may be dying to know when the gates to hell will unlock on all platforms, to which Bethesda has responded with a detailed breakdown of when the game will go live.

Doom Eternal is scheduled to go live a little after 9 PM PT on March 19 (12 AM ET on March 20) for all platforms in North America. Of course, your respective timezone may see Doom Eternal unlock at a slightly different time, but the game will be playable on March 20 regardless of region. We've compiled a list of the game's unlock times for all platforms in a variety of timezones below. Nintendo Switch remains absent from the equation because that version has yet to have a concrete release date.

Doom Eternal is still available to pre-order from a variety of digital storefronts. Doing so nets you a free download of Doom 64 and the Rip and Tear Pack, which includes the Doot Revenant Skin, the Throwback Shotgun Weapon Skin, and a bonus campaign level. Pre-loading is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

One of the most annoying aspects of updating games on PS4 right now is the excruciatingly long time it takes for the patch files to copy over to your game install. Sony knows that, and it's why it will be a thing of the past with the PlayStation 5.

Touched on by lead system architect Mark Cerny during Sony's Road to PS5 stream (which revealed the system's full specs), the problem hinges on the speed of the hard drive. The PS5 is going to utilize a custom SSD that will feature transfer speeds up to 5.5GB/s, which can, as an example, fill the system's 16GB of RAM in just two seconds.

It's not the raw speed that matters specifically to game installs and their inherent patches, but rather how flash memory differs in architecture to standard platter HDDs. As Cerny explained, the problem is seeks--the operations required to locate files on an HDD and figure out where to put new ones, like those downloaded in a patch.

After a whole bunch of speculation from the Overwatch community, Blizzard has finally revealed the identity of its hero shooter's next character. It's Echo, a robotic character we saw back during BlizzCon 2019's Overwatch 2 announcement.

Blizzard dropped an origin story video to give players a sense of who Echo is, which you can watch below. According to Blizzard's tweet introducing the Echo video, she's "an evolutionary robot programmed with a rapidly adapting artificial intelligence." It didn't say when Echo will be available in the game, however.

We also don't know yet what "rapidly adapting artificial intelligence" means in terms of gameplay. Blizzard hasn't revealed Echo's role or capabilities yet, so we'll have to wait and see what the super robot will bring to her Overwatch teams.

Microsoft has detailed the new additions to Xbox Games Pass for March. As always, the console and PC versions of Games Pass have slightly different lineups, which means that some of these games are available only on one version of the service.

On the PC side, the service is adding the Shakespearean comedy Astrologaster, the beat 'em up Bleeding Edge, the unlikely fighting hit Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid, and the sci-fi soulslike The Surge 2. On console, Game Pass includes the long-awaited sequel Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, the detective story Kona, and the aforementioned The Surge 2, Bleeding Edge, and Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid.

Along with these new games, the service has unveiled a new Perks system that allows subscribers to the "ultimate" service to receive DLC and in-game items for free. There are also several games leaving the service, including Borderlands: The Handsome Collection on console, Battle Chef Brigade on PC, and Cities: Skylines on all platforms.

Sony has finally opened up about the specifications of the PlayStation 5. While we still don't know what it looks like, lead system architect Mark Cerny divulged a ton of information about the forthcoming next-gen system in a deep-dive livestream, including how it will handle expandable storage. And it's quite different from Microsoft's approach.

The PS5 comes with an 825GB solid-state hard drive, a 65% storage space increase from the base PS4's 500GB HDD. If that doesn't sound like enough space, the PS5 allows users to install non-Sony proprietary hardware, giving you the option to purchase off-the-shelf parts to slot into the system.

According to a Digital Foundry report, "NVMe PC drives will work in PlayStation 5, [but] the only problem is that PC technology is significantly behind PS5 [and] Sony needs to validate them to ensure that they will work properly." In his talk discussing the PS5, Cerny noted that Sony was testing expandable storage devices to ensure that they can physically fit into the PS5 and also deliver the required performance. The company has advised people not to purchase drives ahead of it revealing its recommendations.

As part of Sony's big PlayStation 5 information blowout during a GDC livestream, the company officially announced the specs for the next-generation console. In short, it's a very powerful machine.

PlayStation system architect Mark Cerny is discussing the PS5 hardware as we speak, but during the stream, Digital Foundry published a feature revealing the system's specs. Its CPU features 8 Zen 2 cores, and its GPU--using custom RDNA 2 architecture--offers 10.28 TFLOPs of power. It comes with 16 GB of memory and an 825 GB SSD, and it allows for storage to be expanded with an NVMe SSD slot.

Cerny noted during his chat that TFLOPs alone aren't the ultimate measure of performance; you can't simply compare compute units or FLOPs from PS4 to those of PS5, for instance. While that TFLOPs figure is lower than that of the Xbox Series X, Digital Foundry states, "Sony's pitch is essentially this: a smaller GPU can be a more nimble, more agile GPU, the inference being that PS5's graphics core should be able to deliver performance higher than you may expect from a TFLOPs number that doesn't accurately encompass the capabilities of all parts of the GPU."

Nintendo has rolled out a new update for Pokemon Sword and Shield. The patch notes on Nintendo's support website simply say the v1.1.1 update "fixed several issues to improve gameplay experience," but it appears one of these was a dreaded crash caused by hacked Pokemon.

Many players have recently reported that they've received hacked Pokemon through Surprise Trade, which would cause the game to crash when trying to access the Y-Comm menu. Pokemon fansite Serebii reports that the new Sword and Shield patch resolves this issue, so you should be able to use Surprise Trade again without any worries.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX and the Switch version of Pokemon Home have also received new updates. However, the patch notes for both are likewise vague, only saying that the updates have "fixed several issues to improve gameplay experience."

If you like paying less for a bunch of games and helping out charity at the same time, then you probably already know about Humble Bundle, the PC games store that contributes a portion of its proceeds to various causes. The latest Humble mega bundle features a collection of Capcom games, with three different levels of games, DLC, or coupons that you can unlock by paying a certain amount. According to Humble, the entire collection of content is worth as much as $305, and you can get it for as cheap as $20, although you can elect to pay more.

The first batch of titles can be unlocked with just $1: Strider, a side-scroller with fast-paced ninja combat; Mega Man Legacy Collection, which bundles the six original Mega Man games; Resident Evil Revelations 2's first episode, Penal Colony, which stars Claire Redfield; and Resident Evil 2 DLC that unlocks bonus content normally locked behind achieving certain records.

Microsoft has revealed a free additional extra that is now available to all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. Dubbed Perks, it will add in-game content and DLC to existing games on the service, starting with four titles today.

Perks will automatically be applied to anyone subscribed to Game Pass Ultimate at no additional cost, and be accessible on an Xbox One, the Xbox app on Windows 10, or via the Xbox Game Pass app for mobile. Right now, you can claim content for World of Tanks: Mercenaries, Sea of Thieves, Smite, and Phantasy Star Online 2, which includes:

• Phantasy Star Online 2: A special content bundle, which includes unique emotes, in-game cosmetics including an Xbox jacket, a gold ticket Mission Pass and in-game currency with a Meseta Crystal. Available to members in the US and Canada only.
• World of Tanks: Mercenaries: Three free powerful tanks and additional in-game items.
• Sea of Thieves: Ori-inspired Ancestral Sails, Figurehead, Hull, and Flag to adorn your ship.
• Smite: A bundle that unlocks five Gods, special character skins and voice packs.

Games Pass Ultimate is the all-encompassing subscription that Microsoft offers, bundling together Game Pass for both Xbox One and PC, along with an Xbox Live Gold Subscription. You can sign-up now as a new member for $1, or continue a membership from $15/month.

The PlayStation Store's latest sale on PS4 games is welcomely massive. The Mega March Sale discounts more than 500 PS4 games and includes an eclectic mix of recent AAA hits, indies, and PlayStation classics from previous generations. The sale is live now and runs until March 31 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET.

Right in step with its free weekend starting tomorrow, Assassin's Creed Odyssey is on sale for $13.79, the lowest price we recall seeing for Ubisoft's stellar action-RPG. You can also grab The Division Franchise Bundle--it includes both The Division and The Division 2--for just $19.24. That's more than 100 hours of content for less than $20. Speaking of tons of content, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Master Edition is on sale for $40.19. The Master Edition includes both the lengthy base game and meaty Iceborne expansion.

If you have a PSVR headset, right now seems like the perfect time for a little VR escapism. The superb platformer Astro Bot Rescue Mission is discounted to $15 and the fantastic VR edition of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is down to $18.

Pokemon Go's March Community Day was scheduled to take place this past weekend before being suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and now a few other events have suffered a similar fate. Niantic has announced the upcoming Pokemon Go Safari Zone events in St. Louis, Liverpool, and Philadelphia have likewise been postponed out of community concern.

"We have made the difficult decision to postpone Pokemon Go Safari Zone events in St. Louis, MO, USA; Liverpool, UK; and Philadelphia, PA, USA," Niantic announced in a blog post. "We are looking into alternate dates and will provide an update as soon as possible. Please see below for more information on each event."

Microsoft is removing six games from Xbox Game Pass this month across both its platforms, including Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, which consists of Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.

As is the case with all games leaving the popular subscription service, Xbox Game Pass subscribers can purchase each game leaving at a 20% discount if they want to continue playing. An exact removal date has not been announced.

The lists for Xbox One and PC feature some overlap, with Vampyr, Operencia: The Stolen Sun, and Cities: Skylines. The full list can be seen below.

Moving Out, the whimsical, '80s-inspired co-op game where you play as a member of a moving team known as F.A.R.T, has launched a free demo to help give people an idea about what it's all about. The free demo is available now across the PlayStation Store, the Xbox Store, and the Nintendo eShop.

Developed by Australian outfit SMG Studios, Moving Out is also getting a pre-order bonus. Everyone who pre-orders the game will get the "Employees of the Month" pack, which includes an Australian character named Bruce the Koala. The name comes from the Monty Python sketch about a group of Aussies named Bruce. The bundle also includes Professor Inkle (an octopus), Sprinkles (a doughnut), and Dials (a CRT TV). Check out the trailer below to see more of each character and the game overall.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has sent a memo to the company's global staff regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. It's a heartfelt and emotional note wherein Guillemot commends his teams for their effort and contributions during this trying time.

"We are now in a pandemic, with far-reaching effects on our daily lives," Guillemot said in the memo, which was obtained by Kotaku. "At this exceptional juncture, it is essential that we take special care of ourselves and our loved ones. The health and well-being of Ubisoft team members is our primary concern, and we have taken the necessary steps to ensure that all of you are safe and get the right support through these demanding changes."

Like numerous other game developers, Ubisoft is allowing its employees to work from home in an attempt to stay safe and healthy.

We are celebrating the 10th anniversary of Star Trek Online, and the launch of Legacy on PS4 and Xbox One, with this exclusive giveaway packed with great prizes. Here is the breakdown:

Three grand prize winners will take home one HyperX CloudX headset, HyperX ChargePlay Duo, one Star Trek Online Anniversary replica badge, one code redeemable for the T6 Europa Heavy Battlecruiser in Star Trek Online on Xbox One, and one code redeemable for the Discovery Starter Pack for Xbox One.

Five first prize winners will receive one code redeemable for the T6 Europa Heavy Battlecruiser in Star Trek Online and one code redeemable for the Discovery Starter Pack. Both codes are for the Xbox One version. 10 second prizes will get code redeemable for the Discovery Starter Pack for Xbox One.

A new edition of the Steam Game Festival is coming, following an earlier successful iteration during the 2019 Game Awards. The Spring Edition of the Festival will launch on March 18 at 10 AM PDT, and was originally meant to coincide with GDC 2020, which has been indefinitely postponed due to the the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The Steam Game Festival: Spring Edition will feature demos of over 40 games that would have been featured at GDC in some capacity--far more than the 14 titles featured in the first Festival. There were some real heavy-hitter indies among those 14 games, though, including Spiritfarer, SkateBIRD, The Drifter, System Shock, and Carrion.

The specific titles have not been named, but Steam promises that there will be demos that would have been shown at various showcases, including Indie Megabooth and Day of the Devs. We won't know which titles will be playable until the Festival begins.

Today in news that will surprise no one, Verizon has released numbers that show time spent gaming has increased dramatically as people stay home from work and school due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Verizon, which is one of the largest telecom companies in America, announced that it has seen a 75 percent increase in gaming during peak hours compared to the week prior.

Additionally, video streaming (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.) jumped by 12 percent. Overall web traffic on Verizon's networks jumped by around 20 percent compared to last week. Virtual private network (VPN) usage jumped by 34 percent. Time spent on social media sites was flat.

Verizon said in a statement that its online networks have remained reliable during this period of increased traffic across sectors. In some cases, Verizon has added capacity to meet demand. All of these numbers apply to America only, and are based on Verizon's own metrics.

Half-Life: Alyx, the first new entry in the series in 13 years, is finally launching on March 23 as a virtual reality-exclusive game. Developer Valve has now announced exactly when the game will launch and when pre-loading will begin.

Pre-loading starts on Friday, March 20, Valve confirmed in a tweet. Players can download the entire game at that point, but of course it won't become playable until March 23. The game unlocks at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET on March 23, Valve also confirmed.

Half-Life: Alyx will play on all SteamVR supported headsets, including Valve Index, which will be in stock again soon. If you need to brush up on exactly what hardware you'll need to fight the Combine, check out our exhaustive list of VR headsets that will get you up and running later this month.

In case everyone had forgotten about Saint Patrick’s Day with everything that’s been going on lately, Apex Legends has an all new commemorative skin for Twitch Prime members in celebration of the Irish holiday.

The Mirage skin is a blend of greens and gold, with a four leaf clovers pattern adorning the arms and legs. Unless you are looking up close you can’t make out the clovers, instead it just blends into a pseudo camo print. Players without such high detailed graphics will probably only see a green camo print with some golden trim here and there.

The combination of the orange checkered scarf and lime green goggles is a crime against color theory. however. Normally colors have corresponding opposites that match, but apparently Respawn has thrown out the color wheel and is playing fast and loose with aesthetic design.

Despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) threatening to disrupt its development workflow, Rockstar Games isn't planning to stop its ongoing content updates for Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online.

In a message posted on its official Twitter page, Rockstar Games said it is maintaining a weekly programming schedule and more events and activities for Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online are coming. These are typically a mix of experience bonuses, new missions, and clothing items, and they occasionally contain older content brought back for a limited time.