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The Game Developers Conference was postponed. E3 2020 was canceled. But Gamescom 2020 is still planning to go forward on schedule in August despite ongoing concerns around COVID-19 (coronavirus), organizers have confirmed.

The annual gaming show is held in Cologne, Germany every August. Just recently, the city of Cologne announced it was banning all major events with more than 1,000 participants, which would include Gamescom. This ban is scheduled to be lifted on April 10, so Gamescom is theoretically able to go forward.

The situation surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak, which is now classified as a global pandemic, changes on a daily basis, so it presents a challenge for event-planners. For now at least, the organizers of Gamescom are stressing that preparations for Gamescom 2020 are "continuing as planned." If the event is canceled, all tickets will be refunded.

Borderlands 3 has made its way to Steam, six months after the game's PC launch on the Epic Games Store. The game has arrived complete with a 50% discount, but that's not the only incentive to pick it up right now--early adopters of the Steam version will also get some shiny free weapon skins.

The Gold Weapon Skins Pack is available now until April 1 through Steam. As long as you redeem the free DLC before then, you'll get these skins to keep, and you'll be able to apply a golden skin or trinket to every gun in the game.

This offer is only valid for a limited time, and you need to own the game to redeem the skins.

Microsoft has shared even more details on Xbox Series X backwards compatibility and cross-generation multiplayer. In a blog post, Xbox's Jason Ronald said announcing backwards compatibility for Xbox 360 games on Xbox One was "one of the biggest highlights" for him at Xbox. For Xbox Series X, Microsoft wanted to "double down" and do even more for backwards compatibility.

The new console will not only play "thousands" of Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Original Xbox games, but these games are said to "play even better" on the new console.

"The team came and told us about Xbox Series X. They said, 'What can you do with even more power?' So, the challenge was set. They gave us the Xbox One X and it was like we got this big playground to play with," Xbox backwards compatibility boss Peggy Lo said. "Then we got the Xbox Series X and it was like we had a whole amusement park to play in."

The outbreak of COVID-19, which has been declared a global pandemic, is impacting and interrupting a number of businesses and industries. This includes gaming, as development teams move to a work-from-home structure and global tournaments decide to postpone or cancel. 2020 is a massive year for gaming because both Microsoft and Sony are launching next-generation consoles this holiday.

Since these consoles are assembled in China, which is where COVID-19 originated and has seen thousands of cases, many are wondering if these new consoles will be able to launch on schedule. For its part, Microsoft has again stated that the Xbox Series X remains on track.

Microsoft's recent huge info dump for the Xbox Series X--which included new details on the console's specs, form factor, controller, and more--also included confirmation that Microsoft is moving forward with its plan to launch the system this holiday.

One of 2020's most anticipated games is nearly here: Doom Eternal releases this Friday, March 20, on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, with a Nintendo Switch release planned later this year. The first-person shooter is the sequel to Doom 2016 and the fifth entry in the Doom franchise. As usual, you'll take the role of the Doom Slayer, who must battle through hordes of demons that have overrun Earth while wielding a new arsenal of weapons to rip-and-tear his way through.

If you're excited to dive back into the world of Doom this Friday, you should consider snagging your copy early so you can take advantage of its pretty sweet pre-order bonuses. Plus, you can get the game itself on sale.

Best deals on Doom Eternal

$49.94 ($60)

The best pre-order deal on Doom Eternal is at Walmart, which is selling the game for $49.94 ahead of its release (the same offer was available at Amazon, but it's currently sold out). You'll also receive its pre-order bonuses. You can check out everything your purchase includes below:

Developer EA DICE has doubled the number of experience points offered in Star Wars Battlefront II on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One until March 27. According to a tweet by the company's global community lead, DICE will then start giving Battlefront II players triple the experience points for the weekend of March 28-29.

This news comes as a bunch of companies issue responses and countermeasures to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Many reports suggest self-quarantining for 14 days to minimize possible infections.

Developer Bohemia Interactive has released a brand-new update for its survival game DayZ that addresses some bugs, adds a new weapon and ammunition, and more. We've compiled the full patch notes below.

The headlining feature of DayZ's 1.07 update is the inclusion of amusement parks, new locations within the game world replete with shooting ranges for target practice and structures to seek shelter from the zombie horde. If you would rather go on the offensive, though, Bohemia Interactive has added the new Repeater Carbine to help you take the scalps off your enemies. There are also two new ammunition types added in the 1.07 update: the Repeater Carbine's .357 rounds and 12ga Rubber Slugs that can be used with any shotgun.

DayZ's newest patch also addresses a number of bugs within the game, such as game and server crashes, problems around item duplication exploits, inaccessible items, unregistered bullet discharge, and more.

The Legendary Cobalion is returning to Pokemon Go a bit sooner than planned. The Legendary Pokemon was originally scheduled to return for a special Raid Weekend event starting March 20, but that event has since been extended and is now slated to kick off tomorrow, March 17.

Beginning at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET, Cobalion will once again be featured in five-star Raid Battles. This marks the second time the Legendary Pokemon has appeared in Pokemon Go, but there's a good reason to take part in the event even if you already have one. This time around, Cobalion will know the event move Sacred Sword, and you'll have your first chance to encounter a Shiny Cobalion.

A lot of us are spending more time at home this week, and while things are stressful, games are a great way to take your mind off of things. Thankfully, there are plenty of game deals floating around this week, including Best Buy's regular weekly sale. This week's deals include some pretty notable offers, including pre-order bundles for Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Doom Eternal; discounts on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch games; and more.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is down to $40 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, an excellent deal on the action-adventure game. You'll also find Assassin's Creed: The Rebel Collection on sale for $30 on Nintendo Switch as well as Assassin's Creed Odyssey for $15 on PS4 and Xbox One. The Outer Worlds, Obsidian's 2019 sci-fi RPG, is also down to $35.

The Division 2 will go into weekly maintenance on Tuesday, March 17, starting at 4:30 AM ET / 1:30 AM PT for around 3 hours, on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. According to the patch notes, this update will fix issues that players have reported as part of the game's Warlords of New York expansion, which rolled out in early March.

One of the most substantial bugs that has plagued the game since that launch involves players manually resetting seasonal manhunts, with some players reporting that they lost progress, or the game failed to properly calculate it. This update disables the ability for players to reset the manhunts until publisher Ubisoft can develop a final fix for later in March. It also fixes an issue where certain encounters were giving players too many keys.

The Division 2's Warlords of New York expansion added new maps to the game's New York City environment and a totally-overhauled gear and power system, as well as raising the level cap to 40. It costs $30.

Digital Extremes has delivered a massive update to console versions of the popular multiplayer shooter Warframe. Dubbed "Warframe Revised," the update first hit PC at the beginning of March, and it totally overhauls major aspects of the game from the ground up.

In the extremely lengthy patch notes, Digital Extremes details how it has changed or reworked many of the game's major systems. This includes the Rising Tide quest, which was added late last year, and allowed players to build their very own Railjack ship. The team behind the game felt that only a tiny portion of their most hardcore players were finishing it, so they've reduced the costs on the quests by large percentages. The update also scrunched the game's size considerably, from 48 GB to 29 GB on PS4.

This is all part of Digital Extremes' plan to improve Warframe over the course of the year, especially by making it more accessible to new players. Since it first came out in 2013, Warframe has become one of the most successful online shooters out there. In our 2019 review, our critic Alessandro Fillari noted the game's many improvements.

With Final Fantasy VII Remake's April 10 launch approaching, Square Enix has dropped a bunch of new character renders and screenshots to drum up more hype for the PlayStation 4 exclusive.

The new screenshots center around the controversial cross-dressing scene in which Cloud goes around Midgar's Wall Market to collect female clothing in order to suss out the crime lord Don Cormeo. In the screens below we see Cloud in a dress, a glowing Midgar, Barret in combat, and more. We also get a glimpse at some new characters not seen in the original game, including Chocobo Sam, Leslie Kyle, and Madam M.

Also in the screens, we see some familiar faces: the Turks leader Tseng, the Honey Bee Inn, the giant water serpent Leviathan, and more. You can check them all out below.

Core, the new game/creation tool hybrid coming from Manticore Games, allows players to craft, share, and play within custom worlds designed around different experiences. Core is well situated within an already growing space populated by other games like Fortnite, Dreams, and Minecraft. However, as a free-to-play game on PC, Core does things differently by focusing more on the experience of exploring different player worlds, tying into a more extensive network that is essentially a multiverse of unique player-created landscapes.

Out now in open alpha on PC, newcomers will be able to join the online community that the game has already formed during its closed alpha period, and take many of the player-creations for a test run, or dive into the mechanics head-on to push the limits of the system themselves. But what sets Core apart from games like Fortnite and Dreams is the level of flexibility to explore and experiment with the various constructs. When players dive into the game, they can just stick with one player's level, such as a standard multiplayer deathmatch with other players set in custom created locales. However, if you want to switch things up without leaving the game, you can seamlessly hop over to different levels via an in-game portal, no matter how different they are.

GOG kicked off its Spring Sale today, offering huge discounts on more than 2,500 PC games. The sale runs until March 30, so you have some time to browse the deals. But you'll want to act fast for one incredible, free promotion. You have less than 48 hours to snag The Witcher Goodies Collection, which is an absolutely wild assortment of free soundtracks, art books, comics, The Witcher 3 live concert video, and much more.

The giveaway ends March 18 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET. All you need is a free GOG account to claim the deal. If you're remotely interested in The Witcher, this is a must-have collection, as you'll get heaps of digital goodies related to The Witcher 1-3 and Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, including every game soundtrack (including expansions), full-length art books, six comics based on The Witcher 3, "making of" videos, concept art, wallpapers, and a widely varied assortment of random goodies. Essentially, you're getting hundreds of dollars worth of Witcher content completely free of charge.

Microsoft's next-generation Xbox Series X arrives later this year, and the company has been gradually revealing new details about it in the lead up to its release. We've now learned a wealth of new information about the upcoming system in an Xbox Wire post and Digital Foundry report, including its official specifications and how its Quick Resume function will work. To help catch you up on all the details, we've rounded up everything new we've learned about Xbox Series X below.

Microsoft has dropped a ton of information about its upcoming next-generation console, the Xbox Series X. We've learned a lot about its impressive specifications, the proprietary card necessary for additional storage space, and more. But we've also gotten a glimpse at just how huge the Series X is compared to Microsoft's current system on the market, the Xbox One X. And the difference is truly staggering.

The Xbox Series X comes in at 5.9 inches wide, 5.9 inches deep, and 11.8 inches tall. The Xbox One X stands at 2.4 inches wide, 9.4 inches deep, and 11.8 inches tall. While both systems are at the same height, the Series X is thicker than the One X. It's expressly clear by the images and information available that Microsoft's next-gen console isn't something to hide under a TV or in the entertainment center.

Check out the tweets below for the Xbox Series X's dimensions, a size comparison between the Series X and a refrigerator, and a side-by-side look at the One X and Series X. Below the tweets is a video by tech YouTuber Austin Evans who, in his hands-on video, sets the Series X on top of the One X around the 1:50 mark.

Animal Crossing is well-known for its leisurely pace of play, and that attitude also applies to its release schedule. Barring a few spin-offs of varying quality, New Horizons--which is set to release this Friday, March 20--is the first core entry in the series since 2012's New Leaf. This Switch title takes the series in a fresh direction, placing the player in charge of a deserted island, and introducing Minecraft-like crafting systems to the game.

Reviews for the bubbly sim game are in, and they're overwhelmingly positive, including our 8/10 review-in-progress. "There's only so much you can do every day in Animal Crossing," our critic Kallie Plagge wrote. "Part of the fun of its real-time clock is going to bed wondering what you might wake up to in the morning--how your town might change, who might move in, what special visitor might be there tomorrow. So far, I've played Animal Crossing: New Horizons for 80 hours over 17 days, and that anticipation hasn't yet gone away. While I've spent a lot of time developing my island so far, I still feel as if there's plenty left for me to do and see--there's a lot in New Horizons to occupy your time with."

We've rounded up some more reviews below, with most of them striking a fairly similar tone. In general, critics are impressed by the integration of the new survival-inspired mechanics within the existing framework of the series. On the other hand, some express concerns about the game's pace and overall longevity. For more reviews, check out our sister site Metacritic to see what even more writers had to say.

The Xbox Series X can use a Smart Delivery feature to give you a version of software that matches your current hardware power, but even older games that haven't been enhanced for new hardware will get a visual upgrade. According to a detailed breakdown from Digital Foundry, the Series X will use a machine-learning algorithm to upgrade older games with high-dynamic range (HDR) color.

The report says both Halo 5 and Fusion Frenzy were shown running with HDR, and a heatmap showed highlights that went beyond the capabilities of standard dynamic range. The examples were a technical demo, but principal software engineer Claude Marais said it could "be applied to all games theoretically." That said, he said the team is still working through things like user experiences.

"This was a show-stopping moment," the report states. "It was indeed Fusion Frenzy - an original Xbox title - running with its usual 16x resolution multiplier via back-compat, but this time presented with highly convincing, perceptibly real HDR."

With both the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 using proprietary SSD solutions for internal storage, there has been some question as to how players can expand the available space. For the Xbox Series X at least, Microsoft has a solution, and it's working with hard-drive manufacturer Seagate to do it.

The Xbox Series X ships with a 1TB internal SSD, but can be expanded using proprietary SSDs encased in small metal cartridges. Microsoft explained to Digital Foundry how these small SSDs will work as part of their new "Velocity Architecture"--a new way for developers to utilize SSD memory as standard RAM to store game assets on the fly, and access them with minimal speed compromises.

Microsoft was displeased by the speed compromises of most SSDs when heating up, and worked with Seagate to produce a form factor that provided thermal dissipation while also ensuring a steady 2.4GB/s throughput that developers can depend on. This works in tandem with custom hardware within the console that allows developers to use the SSD to access game files instantly at any point during rendering.

Resident Evil 3 won't release until April 3, but you'll be able to try out the game's action-oriented horror a few weeks early. An official demo is coming to Xbox One, PS4, and PC on March 19, and a beta for the new Resident Evil Resistance game (which comes with Resident Evil 3) arrives later this month. You can check out a new trailer below.

The Resident Evil 3 demo features Jill Valentine as she tries to escape from a panicked Raccoon City which has quickly become overrun with the infected. She teams up with Carlos Oliveira as they work to save civilians, but the terrifying Nemesis monster stands in her way. If you want an extra challenge in the demo, you can find 20 Mr. Charlie statues strewn throughout the playable area.

Resident Evil 3 takes the formula established in the Resident Evil 2 remake and injects more action elements into it. Jill has a dodge-counter move for dealing with aggressive enemies, as well as explosive barrels to help her out in stick situations. However, it's still a horror game at its core.

Xbox Series X is due out this holiday season, and as usual, the new console will launch with a redesigned Xbox controller. This time the controller sports a few new features like a Share button, but otherwise sticks closely to the existing Xbox One design. Senior designer Ryan Whitaker explained some of the decision-making on the Xbox blog.

The new controller has made subtle changes to the ergonomics to fit a wider range of hand sizes, especially smaller ones. Whitaker said the goal was to fit the hands of an average 8-year-old, with rounded bumpers and parts of the triggers, without impacting those with bigger hands. Similarly, the d-pad has been changed to represent a hybrid of the traditional cross design and the dish design, to help suit comfort styles for both. Part of this came from feedback from users playing with the Elite controller, which has swappable d-pad.

Microsoft also expects the controller to be the touchstone between games on various devices--PC, console, Android, and iOS. That's yet another indication that the company is planning to take a broader approach in the next generation. And to that end, controllers from each generation will be both backwards- and forward-compatible, so you can use your existing Xbox One controller on the Series X, or vice-versa.

If you're stuck at home and are running out of games to play already, Nintendo has you covered. The latest Nintendo Indie World Showcase stream is coming tomorrow, and it's bringing plenty of information on upcoming Switch games.

Steaming on March 17 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, the Indie World Showcase will last approximately 20 minutes. Nintendo isn't detailing exactly what to expect during the video, but these events tend to feature rapid-fire announcements from acclaimed indie developers. We're likely to hear about ports of existing indie games from other systems as well as all-new Switch exclusives.

Nintendo Direct Livestream Start Time

• PT: March 17, 10 AM
• ET: March 17, 1 PM
• GMT: March 17, 5 PM
• AET: March 18, 4 AM

During the Indie World Showcase back in December, Nintendo revealed Sports Story, which is a sequel to the acclaimed RPG Golf Story. We also got our first look at Axiom Verge 2, in development by original creator Tom Happ for a Fall 2020 release.

With a custom internal SSD that Microsoft has designed specifically for speed, the Xbox Series X will be able to load games faster and suspend multiple games at a time for quick resume. Both of these features have been spoken about in the past, but two new demos show exactly how they will work.

Faster load times is easy to understand, but seeing it compared to the Xbox One is revelatory. The demo uses State of Decay 2 as an example, which takes notoriously long to first load into your procedurally populated world. On the Xbox Series X this initial load takes around 10 seconds, while the Xbox One takes five times long at 50 seconds.

Gears 5 is a very impressive game on the Xbox One and Xbox One X as is, but the game is getting a makeover for Xbox Series X that comes with higher framerate and resolution.

Announced by Microsoft on March 16, Gears 5 on Xbox Series X will make use of the Smart Delivery system, meaning players who already own the Xbox One version will get it on the new console for free. The Xbox Series X will automatically know to download the improved version, while any Xbox One consoles will still download the old one.

Improvements on Xbox Series X include better textures and volumetric fog, higher particle count, and 60 frames per second during cutscenes for a smoother transition to gameplay. Shadows and lighting have also been improved, and the game is currently running at 100 frames per second with potential to hit 120 frames per second in multiplayer.

Microsoft has revealed numerous new details regarding all the technical aspects of its upcoming Xbox Series X in an Xbox Wire post an accompanying report from Digital Foundry. Included is the first full specifications sheet for the new console, confirming CPU and GPU speeds, storage requirements, and target performance metrics.

The Xbox Series X will feature 12 teraflops of performance, built off AMD's new RDNA 2 architecture. The GPU will feature 16GB of GDDR6 memory across a variable memory bus--10GB will run at 560GB/s, while the remaining 6GB will run at a slower 330GB/s. The spec sheet also confirms that the Series X will support two types of external memory, allowing you to expand SSD storage with a proprietary drive from Seagate or store games on an external HDD (in the same way as the Xbox One).

Microsoft has also stated that it aims to release games that target 4K and 60 frames-per-second as a standard. The spec sheet also reconfirms that the console will target 120 frames-per-second for some titles, and support variable refresh rate displays.

Developers working on the highly anticipated RPG Baldur's Gate 3 have taken to Reddit to answer some burning questions about the upcoming game. Many of these regard the game's take on DnD 5th Edition, while other curious fans have sought clarity on how much Baldur's Gate 1 and Baldur's Gate 2 will impact the story.

Creative director Swen Vincke has addressed fans' concerns that Baldur's Gate 3 would have little to do with the first two games, which were both developed by BioWare. "We really don’t want to spoil anything but we wouldn’t call it Baldur’s Gate 3 if there wouldn’t be a link," Vincke said. "Let me just say that we touch upon the story of BG 1 & 2 in meaningful ways, there are returning characters and what happened in BG 1/2/[Throne of Bhaal] leads to what happens into BG3. You won’t necessarily see that at the start of the adventure but you will quickly understand once you get further into the game."

Both Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 were based on the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition, while Baldur's Gate 3 will be based on 5th Edition: a more accessible ruleset that has led to a huge boost in DnD's popularity.

Microsoft's online gaming network, Xbox Live, is experiencing increased demand as people stay home from work and school amid concerns around the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus).

Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirmed this in a tweet, saying Xbox Live "usage is up on almost everything." He went on to thank his operations and IT teams, and those working for "all the companies" that supply online services at this time.

Given how many workplaces and schools are closed due to the virus outbreak, it makes sense that internet usage overall would increase, and this includes gaming.

Control is getting its first of two major expansions on March 26 with The Foundation, and a first trailer has just been released. That date only applies to the PC and PS4 versions of the game, though--thanks to a timed exclusivity deal with Sony, Xbox One owners will have to wait until June 25.

The expansion will see Jesse heading into the eponymous location to stop the Astral Plane, which is threatening to consume the Oldest House. She's seeking Helen Marshall, who has was presumed missing in the original campaign, and who pops up briefly in the trailer below.

Along with this expansion, a free update will also be dropping for all versions of the game. It will add a new ability, Shield Rush, as well as the option of reassigning your Ability Points to change your build mid-game. There are some general quality of life changes and an upgrade to the map visuals coming for all players.

As Phantasy Star Online 2's North American beta finally approaches, the team has announced the Ragol Edition, a pack that will include classic PSO outfits, Mag devices, accessories and more for $29.99.

The pack will launch with the Xbox One open beta on March 17, and is just one of many cosmetic packs that will be offered in the free-to-play game. Players on the Xbox One X will benefit from 4K graphics and an expanded UI display.

With The Division 2 coming to Stadia on March 17, Ubisoft's senior vice president of partnerships Chris Early has cleared up some questions about game streaming, Nvidia's embattled GeForce Now platform, and what it all means for Ubisoft's library.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection has been slowly launching on PC, one game at a time, with Halo: Reach and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary releasing so far. Now, with those games out, developer 343 Industries has its sights set on the next game in the collection--Halo 2 Anniversary.

In a recent update on Halo Waypoint, 343 Industries talks about their next planned "flight". Flights are their term for early-access betas, and the next one is set to include content from Halo 2. "We’re currently planning for our next flight to include content for Halo 2, Halo 2 Anniversary, Halo: Reach’s Forge & Theater for PC, and potentially some Halo: Reach audio fixes," the post reads. "These fixes are still in progress, so currently they may or may not come in for our next series of flights."

If all goes as planned, the post says, we could see a flight of Halo 2 Anniversary on PC before the end of the month. "Building these games is a process and things can change. All of the content listed above may change and so may the timing, but if all goes well, we are targeting our next public flight for the end of March," 343 says.

Since you're on this website, you probably like video games. And there is a strong likelihood that you enjoy pizza as well. Pizza company Domino's has announced a unique partnership that combines pizza and gaming.

Now until March 31, Domino's is offering a "Gaming Bundle." The bundle includes two traditional Dominos pizzas, garlic bread, and a 1.25L drink, plus a 14-day Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. The bundle costs $28 AUD for pickup or $35 AUD for delivery.

The Xbox Game Pass Ultimate code will be emailed to you within 24 hours of placing your order. The offer is available in Australia and New Zealand only.

Rockstar Games, the publisher and developer of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2, is sending its employees home. In an announcement on Twitter, Rockstar Games has said that, as with many businesses around the world, they are taking steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus) among employees and the people around them.

The statement says that the company "has implemented work from home policies across (their) international offices and studios," and that Rockstar Games started "rolling out remote work solutions worldwide across the past week."

The tweet also promises that this will not interrupt the service of the online modes offering in their games, including Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online, so you can still go and earn that Tron bike in GTA.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has previously stated that the company is prepared to work from home, should the need arise--which it now has.

A common and controversial topic in gaming is crunch, which is a period of game development where developers spend extra hours in the office beyond what is normal. id Software's creative director, Hugo Martin, spoke about crunch for Doom Eternal during a recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

He said his experience working in games is that it is a never-ending job. To stay in the pop culture zeitgeist, Martin said he never stops playing games and consuming pop culture to inform future id Software games.

Martin said he's not forced to work long hours, but he finds himself doing so anyway.

Call of Duty: Warzone, the free battle royale game, has reached a new player milestone. Activision has confirmed that the game passed 15 million players on March 14, so it's surely climbed higher since.

The battle royale game reached 6 million players in its first 24 hours following release on March 11, so it's clearly growing at a solid clip.

For comparison, EA's Apex Legends, had 2.5 million players in its first 24 hours and 25 million players during its first week, so it'll be interesting to see how Warzone compares after its first week.

Celeste is one of the most critically beloved indie games of this console generation, thanks to its smart mechanics, beautiful soundtrack, and challenging-but-fair gameplay and level design. It's the sort of small, polished experience that a lot of obvious thought and care went into--and now, thanks to a Twitter thread from one of the game's designers, we have some more insight into how it all works.

Matt/Maddy Thorson, one of the game's designers, has posted a thread of "game-feel things" that they built into Celeste, explaining the allowances the game makes for players and how they made the game more enjoyable to play. As Thorson admits in the first tweet, these aren't necessarily new concepts or ideas they invented--just mechanics that fit into Celeste well.

In their thread, Thorson shared a total of 10 examples of "game-feel" from Celeste. In the first example below, "coyote time," players can still make their jump for a moment after leaving the ledge--just like Wile E. Coyote.

[Update: Xbox Live has now returned to normal operation, according to the Xbox Live Status website]

Xbox Live is down again. Microsoft confirmed that the online network is experiencing issues for the second time in less than a week. The issues are pretty serious, as some people are unable to log into Xbox Live or, if they can connect, they're struggling to find matches.

As always, your mileage may vary. For some, Xbox Live remains online and available with no interruptions. Xbox Live is a global network that relies on server infrastructure that exists around the world and depends on a number of different factors for smooth operation.

E3 is one of the biggest yearly events in the games industry with an extensive history packed with exciting and memorable moments. While it may be canceled this year, that won't stop us from reminiscing about E3's from days gone. After all, there's a lot to talk about.

Below you can find GameSpot's personal favorite moments from E3's over two-decade long history. But what are some of your favorite moments? Which announcement or press conference got you to flip your living room table, or cringe at the awkwardness? Shout out your picks (and broken living room table stories) in the comments section below.

Sony Dunks On Microsoft (Sony Press Conference E3 2013) - Steve Watts, Associate Editor

We've come a long way since E3 press conferences were dull affairs filled with sales figures and charts, but for the most part the presentations from platform holders are polite, non-confrontational affairs. That wasn't the case in 2013, the last time Microsoft and Sony were primed for a head-to-head outlining their dueling visions for the next generation. Microsoft had gone first, but it set the stage days earlier with a blog post clarifying rumors about its licensing policies on Xbox One. And sure enough, the rumors were largely true: aggressive DRM had been put in place that would allow publishers to require online checks, effectively killing used games.

League of Legends Championship Series commissioner Chris Greeley has announced that LCS 2020 has been postponed in order to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The finals have also moved locations.

"As the impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) continues to grow, we're committed to keeping the health and safety of players, fans, and everyone who makes the LCS possible at the forefront of every decision we make," Greely said in a tweet (embedded below). "And so, it was an incredibly difficult call to make, but this afternoon we decided, after much discussion with LCS teams, to suspend operations (including all LCS and Academy teams) for the immediate future."

"The same factors that weighed into this decision, coupled with expanding restrictions on large-scale public events in North Texas, have also led us to move the 2020 LCS Spring Finals from Dallas to the home studio in Los Angeles," he continued. Greely added that anyone who has already purchased a ticket to LCS matches or the Spring 2020 Finals will be refunded.

EA has announced that all competitive events tied its games are, for the foreseeable future, suspended on account of the coronavirus. The suspension applies to all events that utilize EA's games, whether they're run by the company or are a third-party organized event.

"Our priority is protecting our competitors, our employees, our partner’s employees and our communities," EA wrote in a blog post. "As we continue to monitor the situation around the coronavirus and receive updated guidance from health officials around the world, we will use this time to determine next steps for moving forward with all of EA's competitive gaming live events and online broadcasts."

Among the events suspended are the Apex Legends Global Series, FIFA 20 Global Series, FIFA Online 4 Live, and Madden NFL 20 Championship Series.