GOG.com is giving away another free game as part of their Summer Sale Festival, offering Toonstruck to keep with a 100% discount to all who pick up their copies between now and Sunday. For other free games and free weekends, check out this post, and read on for more details on Toonstruck:

Drew Blanc is a cartoon animator and the original creator of the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show.. Drew's boss, Sam Schmaltz (played by Ben Stein), sets him the task of designing more bunnies to co-star in the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show by the next morning. However, the depressed animator soon nods off, suffering from acute artist's block. He wakes early the next morning to inexplicably find his television switched on, announcing the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show. Suddenly, Drew is mysteriously drawn into the television screen and transported to an idyllic two-dimensional cartoon world populated by his own creations, among many other cartoon characters.

To get home, you'll need to unravel the secrets of these loony lands before they unravel you permanently. Outsmart demented clowns, shock the socks off cross-dressing livestock, and match wits with a diabolical Count named Nefarious. It's a mind-reeling toonatopia that'll have you acting so depraved you might even shock yourself. Send someone an exploding turkey. Watch Spike the Clown torture balloon animals. If you've got any energy left after those escapades then try and prevent an all-out war between the cartoon forces of good and evil. Word to the wise: BETTER PACK AN ANVIL!

A report on Kotaku has word that Amazon Game Studios has cancelled some unannounced games and laid off "dozens of employees," offering severance packages if they fail to find other positions within the company within 60 days. The layoffs, but not the cancellations, are confirmed in an official response they received from Amazon to their queries about this:

“Amazon Game Studios is reorganizing some of our teams to allow us to prioritize development of New World, Crucible, and new unannounced projects we’re excited to reveal in the future,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. “These moves are the result of regular business planning cycles where we align resources to match evolving, long-range priorities. We’re working closely with all employees affected by these changes to assist them in finding new roles within Amazon. Amazon is deeply committed to games and continues to invest heavily in Amazon Game Studios, Twitch, Twitch Prime, AWS, our retail businesses, and other areas within Amazon.”

A new trailer for Heroes of the Storm highlights MechaStorm II, a new mech-themed event coming to Blizzard's MOBA on Tuesday, bringing new themed skins and more. Blizzard also offers this update explaining why the start of the Storm League season is delayed, as there are some changes they want to include:

With the launch of our latest PTR, we also need to officially announce that Storm League seasonal play will be delayed, and a new start date had to be set.

The adjusted deployment date is because we have a lot of incredible changes coming to Storm League that the team knew didn’t want to launch without, so they need a little more time.

In fact, here is a sneak-peek into some of these features that we are presently hard at work on:

• Visible Direct MMR To Rank-Point Mapping
• Adjusted Decay System
• Reduced Placement Matches
• Seasonal Questline
• Promotion/Demotion Games Removed

Of course, there are a lot of additional details on these coming shortly, perhaps alongside a few extra surprises as well. Thank you for your patience – we believe it will be well worth the wait!

In the meantime, jump into the MechaStorm II Event and try out Chen’s long-awaited rework. Both can be tested early by heading to the PTR and as always, we want to know your feedback!

Continue here to read the full story.

• E3 proved that video game publishers want to become Netflix.
• E3 2019 killed CG reveal videos.
• "Avengers" Game Devs Tweaking After E3. Thanks Ant.
• Avengers Game Character Designs Won't Change After Backlash, Dev Says.
• CD Projekt warns against buying Cyberpunk 2077 E3 jackets on eBay after listings pop up for over $400.
• Wrath: Aeon Of Ruin Live Gameplay Demo - A Quake-Inspired FPS - E3 2019.
• First 10 minutes of gameplay footage from Marvel’s Avengers E3 2019 demo leaked online (off-camera).
• GameSpot's Best Of E3 2019 Awards.
• The E3 2019 Awards: The Best Games We Saw at This Year's Show - USgamer.
• The best games, demos, and tech of E3 2019 - Ars Technica.
• The Biggest Games We Wished Were At E3 2019.
• Here's What Was Missing From E3 2019.
• E3 2019 saw less attendees than last year. Fewer. #stannisbaratheon

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 June 14th Update: New Weapon Tuning - Grind Weekend Playlist on All Platforms - CWL Anaheim Begins Today.
• Fortnite - Horde Rush LTM.
• Fallout California – unofficial prequel mod to New Vegas – Version 2.2.1 available for download, optimizes performance.
• Update: SAMURAI SHODOWN V SPECIAL.
• Update: Re-Legion: Holy Wars.

• Steam Daily Deal - Gold Rush- The Game, 50% Off.
• Steam Daily Deal - Touhou Luna Nights, 25% Off.

• Id Talks Doom Eternal Mod Support, Integrating More Traversal, And The Controversial Neon U.I. - Game Informer.
• Infinity Ward Talks Call of Duty- Modern Warfare – PlayStation.Blog.

• Defeating the Meta: Siege Comp [League of Legends].
• 2019 Call of Duty World League Championship takes place August 16-18.

• MLB The Show 19 Adds Legend Cal Ripken Jr. as a Diamond Boss.
• PlayStation Blogcast 334: E3 2019 Impressions.
• The Drop: New PlayStation Games for June 18, 2019.

• Facebook will rank comments to make conversations more meaningful. Thanks Hypothermia.

• Porn trolling mastermind Paul Hansmeier gets 14 years in prison.
• Cellebrite Now Says It Can Unlock Any iPhone for Cops.
• DOJ edges closer to T-Mobile-Sprint approval.

• Former Epic production director almost canceled Fortnite…
• No Man's Sky Fans Thank Hello Games By Purchasing Ad Space On Billboard Visible From Its Offices…
• At Long Last, The Canvas Fallout 76 Bags Have Arrived…
• ThinkGeek officially absorbed by GameStop, offers a huge closeout sale…

Link of the Day: First Trailer: The "Banana Splits" Movie.

Vector 36 is holding a free weekend on Steam, offering a couple of days to get acquainted with this hover-racing game gratis (thanks SteamDB via Ant). Here's a refresher on the crowded roster of current free offers: There are three games/DLC that are free to keep if you pick them up in time, the new Borderlands 2 DLC, Polgoneer, and Enter the Gungeon. And there are four other games which are free to check out temporarily, Fallout 76, The Division 2, Hunt: Showdown, and for a bit longer, Roller Champions. There's also a free week-long trial of EA Origin Basic. Here's a description of Vector 36:

Vector 36 is Physics-Based Racer set on the terraformed surface of Mars. You pilot a Skimmer, a completely customizable, surface skimming vehicle. With total control over every component, you are responsible for how your Skimmer performs. Piloting skill and engineering make the difference between winning and losing.

Race other pilots through various tracks on Mars. Compete in Sprint, Circuit, or Tournament modes to win credits, parts, or new Skimmers. Race your friends through Vector 36's amazing ghost replay system. Take on the world with Global Leaderboards. Push your machine to the limits until you are the fastest settler on Mars.

Seeds of Resilience is now available on Steam after an Early Access run for this turn-based survival/management game. Developer Subtle Games are environmentalists, and gameplay reflects that outlook. This trailer sets up the story and shows off gameplay, and the description has more of what you need to know about this:

Build a village on a deserted island, and prepare for merciless natural disasters! Learn to choose the right items, understand nature's patterns, use real medieval construction and craft techniques in this turn-based management game.

Features

• Turn based: Take all the time you need to plan your actions. When you're done, click the end turn button and start a new day.
• Detailed building construction: Choose natural resources according to their properties. Use them to craft the materials needed to assemble a building.
• Realistic medieval construction and craft techniques. Everything could be made in real life the same way.
• Observe the environment response to human activity. Maybe you should avoid fishing everyday at the same spot or cut down the whole forest.
• Survive in a harsh environment where storms and other natural disasters occur way too often.

Continue here to read the full story.

It's easy to imagine that coaching an esports franchise is like herding cats. The chance to experience this nears, as Esports Life Tycoon is getting set to enter Early Access on Steam on June 20th, offering a management chance that gives you the chance to operate your own team in this competitive field. Developer U-Play Online has two previous offerings in the same vein, and players who already own Youtubers Life or Esports Life Episode 1 will get a 50% loyalty discount in addition to the game's 20% launch discount. A teaser trailer from last month offers a look at what to expect, and the announcement has more details:

Esports Life Tycoon is the new game from the creators of the bestseller simulation title Youtubers Life! Esports Life Tycoon celebrated recently a closed beta (exclusive for the subscribers of its Discord server), where more than 4,000 players participated. They got to play the 1st division of the game, providing feedback that will prove vital for the development of the game. Out of them, 5 players will win the chance to become part of Esports Life Tycoon as one of the NPCs of a community team that players will have the option to face against!

KEY FEATURES

• Create your own esports team and customize everything, from the crest to the players kits
• Hire the greatest stars in order to achieve your goals: if a player doesn't suit your need, you know there's only one option for him
• Train your players and take care of their well-being thanks to team bonding, scouting and a healthy lifestyle!
• Grow your team in the most amazing gaming houses and hire coaches, psychologists and marketing managers to improve your players everyday lifes.
• Compete in the arena to become a legend: decide either to witness the matches or guiding your squad to glory

Continue here to read the full story.

Prepare for the incursion of the Space Mercs, as developer Bearded Giant Games announces their arcade space combat game is set to launch on July 31st on Steam. This will be an action-packed experience, as can be seen in this trailer. Here's word:

Bearded Giant Games, the Linux 1st developer, released the action trailer for the upcoming extreme action space combat game. In Space Mercs the player is thrown cockpit first into a battle against hundreds of space ships in a large scale galactic environment. Featuring hundreds of bullets on screen at any given time the player must navigate through them and complete the objectives assigned over a course of 30 missions.

The game is designed to run even on low spec hardware, including integrated GPU's, while boasting a performance of at least 45 FPS! Low spec gaming has never looked better. Featuring a 3rd and 1st person viewpoint, in Space Mercs, the pilot will always feel like a galactic badass!

The game is due to release on July 31st 2019 for Windows and Linux on Steam, Itch.io and the Bearded Giant Game store!

Continue here to read the full story.

• Q&A: Writing new characters, new worlds in Obsidian's The Outer Worlds - Gamasutra
• Cyberpunk designer says CDPR is working on transgender character options - Gamasutra.
• Keanu Reeves: Games don't need legitimising - BBC News.

• Huawei delays the launch of its foldable phone until September.
• Mattel Unveils Hot Wheels id, Groundbreaking New Play System Bringing Together Physical and Digital Play.
• PUBG Mobile tops 400m downloads.

• Chrome can display websites in dark mode, if you want it to.
• WSJ: Facebook's cryptocurrency finds backing from PayPal and Uber.

• AMD Plans 64-Core Threadripper CPU: Report. Thanks Hypothermia.
• Silicon Valley’s founder fetish infantilizes public companies.

• The Highly Dangerous 'Triton' Hackers Have Probed the US Grid.
• When virtual mittens sell for thousands, of course gamers are ripe targets for cyber shenanigans.
• We Read 150 Privacy Policies. They Were an Incomprehensible Disaster. Thanks Slashdot via Ant.

• Julian Assange: Sajid Javid signs US extradition request.

• ADATA XPG SPECTRIX D60G DDR4 3200 MHz CL16 4x8 GB RAM on TechPowerUp.
• Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML120L and ML240L Cooler on Overclockersclub.
• Corsair K83 Wireless Keyboard on Techgage.
• Corsair M55 RGB PRO Mouse on Mad Shrimps, ThinkComputers.org, and Vortez…

• You can not purchase weapon or ability upgrades with real money in Wolfenstein: Youngblood. Corrects a previous report to the contrary. Thanks Nounoursss…

Welp, E3 2019 is in the books. But not to despair, the next edition of the trade show kicks off in just 361 days, so we should expect the hype for that to start ramping up pretty soon.

Hyped Links:	Thanks Ant.
Stories:	Guys, Brooklyn Ball Barbers cater to your manscaping needs.
Science:	Ebola spreads in Uganda—2 deaths, 27 in contact—as WHO calls emergency meeting. The new plan to remove a trillion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere: Bury it. FDA issues safety alert over fecal transplants after patient’s death.
Media:	Young Frankenstein (1974) Bloopers & Outtakes. Worlds largest nuclear icebreaker doing work. Texans Have The Biggest Haboobs.
Auctions:	James Bond 007 Aston Martin DB5 worth millions going to auction. Thanks Neutronbeam.
Follow-up:	What HBO’s “Chernobyl” Got Right, and What It Got Terribly Wrong. Thanks Simon.