With closed beta testing underway for Valorant, there are videos appearing all over of Riot's upcoming multiplayer shooter. Here's a Google Search and a Twitter Search that will lead you to a treasure trove. There's also an inside look at the VALORANT bootcamp on ESPN with some hands-on impression of being slaughtered in the game by a bunch of pro players. Last weekend. Here's a Welcome to the team Dev Diary from Riot from the event. And here's a list of various articles that look at the game to some degree or another:

• Valorant is Frankenstein’s shooter – brilliant, but lacking identity - PCGamesN.
• Valorant’s impactful hero abilities are an exciting departure from CS:GO - PC Gamer.
• Riot’s first-person shooter Valorant aims to take Counter-Strike’s crown - Rock Paper Shotgun.
• Valorant- check out a complete full match of Riot's new shooter - VG247.
• Valorant Isn't Trying to Appeal to Everyone - USgamer.

Continue here to read the full story.

This tweet announces Season 3 for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare/Call of Duty: Warzone gets underway on April 8th. The tweet includes an image that hints at the content this will bring to the military shooter combo, so feel free to start speculating.

The Steam Game and Player Statistics Page shows a new high concurrent user count of 24,157,126. Will it break 25M this weekend? Who knows. But please remember, these statistics are for entertainment purposes only. Please, no wagering.

Pode is now available on Steam, offering a co-op puzzle adventure for Windows that previously debuted on Switch. Developer/publisher Henchman & Goon is very proud of the reception the Switch version was met with: "Pode won the development award for Best Casual Game and was selected as a nominee for the People's Choice Awards for Best Quality of Art at GameConnection 2018, and in 2019 won three national awards in Norway for 'Best Art', 'Best Audio' and 'Best Fun for Everyone' as well as 'Best Art' at Nordic Game Awards. But the team is most proud of praise received from Captain Marvel herself, Brie Larsson (see tweet)." Here's the Steam Launch Trailer and here's word:

Pode is a co-op puzzle adventure game about two unlikely travel companions - a rock named Bulder, and a fallen star named Glo, going on an exploratory journey within a mysterious and magical mountain. Through unique individual talents the duo revitalize the environment around them by working together to solve mind-bending puzzles. Featuring a musical track composed by the acclaimed Austin Wintory and visually inspired by Norwegian art and culture, Pode is a stunning exploration game that can be played alone or with a friend.

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In Other Waters is now available on GOG.com and Steam, offering an puzzle/adventure game for Windows and macOS that's set in, well other waters (other than Casablanca, perhaps?). This carries a 10% launch discount for the first week. Here's a trailer and here's a description:

Guide Ellery—and keep her safe—as you dive deeper and explore an underwater alien landscape. The planet’s unique life, and its dark history, are yours to uncover and the bond between you and Ellery will be tested by the secrets you learn. Through this shifting narrative, In Other Waters asks questions about the nature of “natural” and “artificial” life, and investigates what it means to be a human in an epoch of extreme environmental destruction. For life to continue, it must change.

Freely dive into an expansive section of seafloor, from shimmering reefs to inky depths. Unlock upgrades and make discoveries that allow you to open up new paths, uncovering strange creatures and environments as you do.

Continue here to read the full story.

This post on Steam announces the talk of PvP multiplayer coming to Darkest Dungeon was no joke, and new The Butcher's Circus DLC is coming soon to on Steam for the turn-based RPG for Windows, macOS, and Linux (thanks Game Informer). Here's the feature list:

Features:

• New Hamlet Location: The Butcher's Circus
• Engage in no-holds-barred PvP combat with teams of 4 heroes (without risking your Campaign heroes)
• Climb the ranks to show off your command of heroes and ability to weather misfortune and violence
• Unlock banner components and use your creativity to assemble your own duelist heraldry
• Strategize with new gladiatorial trinkets that can mean all the difference in pitched battles against other heroes
• A gleefully warped musical theme by Stuart Chatwood, Narrator quips by the esteemed Wayne June, and all new gripping sound FX by Power Up Audio

Continue here to read the full story.

• Humble COVID-19 Bundle Raises Nearly $4 Million for Charity.
• Two Worlds II: Shattered Embrace - Save 50% on the TopWare Shop.
• April 2020 Humble Choice Games.

• Deadpool Has Arrived - Fortnite.
• HUMANKIND Feature Focus: Shaping Your Legacy.

• After the lockdown: China studios on returning to work - GamesIndustry.biz.

• USC Games Expo to proceed with all-digital event.
• EVE Online reactivates Plex for Good charity campaign to support COVID-19 relief.

• Microsoft: Staggered launch would "hurt" Xbox Series X.
• The Cooking Mama Game for Switch That Came Out, and Then Disappeared.
• This Week On Xbox: April 03, 2020.
• Next Week on Xbox: New Games for April 7 to 10.
• The Drop: New PlayStation Games for April 7, 2020.
• Xbox Insider Release Notes - Beta, Delta and Omega Ring (2004.200401-0000).

• Mobile games spending expected to see minimal impact from COVID-19.

Thanks Frans.

• Amazon to delay Prime Day sales event due to coronavirus.
• Wellness Influencers Sell False Promises As Coronavirus Fears Soar.
• Mozilla Firefox 74.0.1, See All New Features, Updates and Fixes.
• Mozilla Firefox ESR 68.6.1, See All New Features, Updates and Fixes.
• Google is temporarily rolling back Chrome’s SameSite cookie requirements.
• These hidden cache files are bloating your Google Chrome.

• How To Build a $550 Gaming PC in 2020 - Paul's Hardware. Thanks RedEye9.
• Building a Value Gaming Rig at Home - $800 Budget - Linus Tech Tips.

• Zoom transmits your info through China, and uses non-standard encryption, researchers say.
• Thousands of Zoom recordings exposed because of the way Zoom names recordings.

• Tencent sues tech company for putting its games on rival cloud service without permission.
• NSO Group- Facebook tried to license our spyware to snoop on its own addicts – the same spyware it's suing us over.

• The best games to play while waiting out the coronavirus. Thanks RedEye9…

Obituary: ‘Lean On Me,’ ‘Lovely Day’ singer Bill Withers dies at 81. What an amazing talent he was.

The promised Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Free Multiplayer Weekend is now underway for owners of the free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone. Here's how this works:

That’s right: all Modern Warfare and free-to-play Warzone players can square up together in a varied and fast-paced Multiplayer Moshpit, all weekend long.

If you haven’t played Modern Warfare Multiplayer, now’s the chance to see what you’ve missed. Experience the world-class gameplay, deep weapon customization, and gritty, photorealistic environments that make Modern Warfare Multiplayer the ultimate online playground.

Continue here to read the full story.

GOG.com announces a 48 hour giveaway of SYMMETRY, saying this "retro-futuristic" action/strategy game is yours to keep if you claim your copy before the offer expires. Here's a SYMMETRY Trailer and here are some symmetrical details:

A research spaceship reaches an abandoned planet. Nothing is what it seems here and the situation quickly slips out of control. Can the crew manage to survive and get back home?

SYMMETRY is a survival management game set in a retro- futuristic, sci-fi universe. Your main goal is to manage the crash survivors and help them withstand the desolate, extremely cold environment in order to fix their spacecraft and escape. The non- obvious plot is accompanied by an atmospheric musical score and graphic design that sustains the harsh and mysterious ambience.

Continue here to read the full story.

RESIDENT EVIL 3 is now available on Steam, offering the Windows edition of this remake of Capcom's survival/horror game. In addition to this (timely) game based on escaping a deadly pandemic, this also includes Resident Evil Resistance, a new asymmetrical survival game in the Resident Evil setting. The game doesn't carry a launch discount, but RESIDENT EVIL 2 / BIOHAZARD RE-2 is half-off on Steam for the next couple of weeks. Update: Thanks to Cram for pointing out that you can get 22% off on a Steam key for this at Green Man Gaming. This post has the Launch Trailer and the details, including word that Jill Valentine will join the Resistance as a playable Survivor on April 17th::

Resident Evil 3
Resident Evil 3 stars Jill Valentine—one of video games’ most iconic heroines—as she escapes from a doomed Raccoon City while being pursued by the unrelenting bioweapon Nemesis. Familiar foes and fresh new content come to life with modernized gameplay and vivid graphics made possible by RE Engine, previously utilized to create the acclaimed Resident Evil 7 biohazard, Resident Evil 2, and Devil May Cry 5.

Resident Evil Resistance
A Mastermind plots a deadly course by manipulating the environment and wielding a strategic deck of cards that create dangerous obstacles including vicious creatures, traps, and weaponized security cameras. In turn, Survivors must work together using their individual special abilities and the items they come across to thwart the Mastermind, and escape the experiment before time runs out.

Continue here to read the full story.

AMD Drivers and Support now offer new version 20.4.1 Adrenalin 2020 Edition Windows drivers for AMD graphics cards. These fix some issues in Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm while adding support for today's release of Resident Evil 3. Here's the full rundown:

Support For

• Resident Evil 3™

Fixed Issues

• Overwatch™ and Heroes of the Storm™ may experience a black screen or application hang while gaming for extended periods of time on some Radeon RX Vega series graphics product system configurations.
• HDR may fail to enable or be detected in applications and games using the Vulkan® API.
• Doom Eternal™ may fail to launch in some hybrid graphics system configurations.
• Radeon ReLive streaming may fail to launch or may crash when a stream session is started with performance metrics overlay enabled.
• Some clock values may fail to populate for a limited number of graphics products in the Radeon Settings Hardware information tab.
• Hotkeys can no longer be assigned to a single digit or character as this has the ability to block or cause interference with some default Windows® functionality.
• Some Radeon FreeSync Premium supported displays may not list all supported refresh rate options in Windows® when Radeon FreeSync Premium is enabled in the displays OSD settings.

Known Issues

Continue here to read the full story.

An update on the PlayStation.Blog about Boundary – Orbital Security Detail mentioned here yesterday failed to recognize that this first-person shooter is coming to PC as well as PlayStation 4 (thanks Polygon via Neutronbeam). The game is set in the zero-gravity of "low orbit" space, where no one can hear you quote Owen Wilson from Armageddon saying "we're just in the beginning part of space, we-we haven't even got to outer space yet." Producer Yongliang "CT" Cui from Surgical Scalpels Studio says the game is feature complete, and is coming to both platforms this year. The post includes a trailer with cinematics and gameplay along with details on what to expect. Here's a portion discussing the environment and player classes:

Zero Gravity Combat
We call our armed astronauts AO, or Astroperators, and you’ll need to think like one in Boundary. Movement is turned on its head in space: you have full freedom of movement and you aren’t restricted by gravity like you are in most shooters.

But keep this in mind: as many possibilities as zero gravity opens up, it brings even more challenges.

A well-trained AO knows how to use the environment to their advantage. Floating debris makes for a good blind spot to conceal your approach, a solar panel might be a good spot to plan an ambush against an unsuspecting foe, and you can even use your grapple hook for substantial acceleration from one point to another.

Continue here to read the full story.

Kalypso Media announces the formation of a new internal developer called Claymore Game Studios to create a new installment in the Commandos series. We can expect more news about a return to the World War II strategy franchise, but for now their main message is they are hiring to fill out the team. Here's word:

Kalypso Media Group has announced today, Claymore Game Studios, its third internal game development studio, has begun production of a next-generation installment in the Commandos strategy series. Claymore Game Studios is named after the first successful Commando mission ‘Operation Claymore’ in 1941. Based in the town of Darmstadt, a tech hub in Germany near the city of Frankfurt, with good housing, an array of public transport links and recreational activities.

Continue here to read the full story.

Developer inkle (80 Days, Heaven's Vault) announces Pendragon, saying their next narrative strategy game will be set during the Arthurian legend. This is expected this summer, and its Steam Listing and official website are now online. Pull this teaser trailer from the stone and you can be king. Or at least you'll get a quick look at what they have in mind. Here's more:

Pendragon is inkle's next evolutionary step in strategic narrative games. An epic character-driven Arthurian legend told turn by turn on the field of battle itself, Pendragon creates its story as you play, with every move you make pushing the narrative in new directions while every dialogue choice and story twist opens up new gameplay opportunities.

AD 673. Camelot has fallen. The jealous Sir Mordred has broken the fellowship of the Round Table with hatred and lies. Now Arthur Pendragon faces his final battle.

Continue here to read the full story.

BANDAI NAMCO announces they are offering owners of The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan a second free friend's pass to help share the fear of this survival/horror game. This video shows how this works. Here's an overview:

The best gaming experiences are often shared with friends and starting today, all existing owners of The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan will gain access to another free Friend’s Pass – enabling players to experience one full playthrough of the game via Multiplayer Shared Story mode with a friend that does not own the game.

Immerse yourself in the world of The Dark Picture Anthology series once again, connect with a friend, and get ready! The offer is open until May 1st on PlayStation®4, Xbox One, and PCs via STEAM® – and the friend must be playing on the same platform. To access the game, your friend must download the Trial version of Man of Medan first. The Friend’s Pass will be provided via a patch. For more detailed instructions, see below:

Continue here to read the full story.

Talvisota - Winter War is now available on Steam as a new free official mod for Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, which is required to play (and is currently on sale). This completely transforms the setting of the original game from the sweaty jungles of Southeast Asia to the frosty forests of Finland. Here's the Launch Trailer and here's the announcement:

Publisher and developer Tripwire Interactive is pleased to launch the Talvisota Team’s Talvisota: Winter War mod for Rising Storm 2: Vietnam today. Available for FREE later today to all owners of Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, Talvisota: Winter War brings a fully-fleshed mod that converts the same esteemed gameplay mechanics of Rising Storm 2: Vietnam and transforms the backdrop from the hot, humid climate of Vietnam in the 1960’s and 70’s to the frozen forests of Finland, during the 1939-40 Soviet-Finnish Winter War.

Talvisota: Winter War arrives as a fresh and frozen way for fans to play, launching with full voice acting support, six brand new weapons, four vehicles, eleven new maps, skiers, and more. Other additions for the Talvisota: Winter War mod include new music, historically accurate customization options, and new commander abilities. For a full list of new additions, please visit the Steam Store page.

Continue here to read the full story.

• GOG.com Weekend Sale: games full of adventures up to 90% off.

• Half-Life Alyx New No VR Mod Converts All Gameplay Mechanics To Keyboard and Mouse Controls.
• Red Dead Redemption 2 April 2nd Update released, fixes numerous crashes and bugs, full patch notes.

• Dark Table CCG Kickstarter Trailer - Multiplayer Card Gaming Re-imagined.
• EVE Online - Eclipse Quadrant 2 Trailer.
• Pattern Release Trailer.

• Update to DreamHack’s 1H 2020 esports schedule for festivals and Master properties.
• SXSW partners with Amazon to put its film festival online.
• Follow Bloodhound’s Trail in The Old Ways Lore Event in Apex Legends.
• Warzone Most Kills Record is Broken Yet Again.

• FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE Final Trailer (Closed Captions). Thanks Gematsu.
• RESIDENT EVIL 3 Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• HyperParasite Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• HORROR OF THE DEEP Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Snakeybus Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Curious Expedition Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• 8-Bit RTS Series - Complete Collection Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Fearsome Shadows Bundle Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Cryogear Is Now Available For Digital Pre-order And Pre-download On Xbox One.
• SiNKR Is Now Available For Digital Pre-order And Pre-download On Xbox One.

Thanks Neutronbeam.

• Lyft is offering free e-scooter trips to health care workers fighting COVID-19.
• Coronavirus threatens the next generation of smartphones.
• Coronavirus: Google reveals travel habits during the pandemic.
• Apple brings its hardware microphone disconnect feature to iPads.
• New Surface UI Features Confirmed By Microsoft.
• Uber Eats now lets you donate $2 to support your local restaurants.
• Why We Need Higher Refresh Rate Displays on Smartphones. FOMO? Planned obsolescence? Profits? Article doesn't actually say why.

Thanks Neutronbeam.

• Twitch has surpassed three billion hours watched for the first time ever.
• Amazon blocks sale of N95 masks to public, begins supplying hospitals.
• Don't Host Happy Hour on Your Company Zoom Account.
• Marvel is making some of its comics free while we’re all stuck inside.
• Grand National goes virtual to give fans their racing fix.

Thanks Neutronbeam.

• Nvidia's GTX 1650 gets GDDR6 because -the industry is running out of GDDR5.
• Startup VUNO Taps AI to Tackle Multiple Healthcare Conditions. Thanks Hypothermia.
• Robot car enforcing lockdown.
• VMware plans to give vSphere power to automatically patch everything running in a VM.
• Four Simple Ways to Format Your Flash Drive on Windows 10.

• Cloudflare’s WARP VPN is launching in beta for macOS and Windows. Thanks Neutronbeam.
• Why coronavirus scammers can send fake emails from the WHO.
• For the First Time Ever, Cybersecurity Workers are Hailed as "Essential." Thanks Reddit via Ant.

• Xbox co-creator Rob Wyatt sues Atari for failing to pay him for design of VCS console.

• Bleeding Edge Review: On the Edge of Glory - USgamer.
• Half Life- Alyx Performance and IQ Review with 13 AMD & NVIDIA Cards - BabelTechReviews.
• In Other Waters review - an ocean sanctuary for the meditative explorer • Eurogamer.net.
• Iron Danger - Review in 3 Minutes - The Escapist.
• Resident Evil 3 Remake Review - To Live And Die In Raccoon City - GameSpot.
• Resident Evil 3 review - uniquely apposite reboot - The Guardian.
• Resident Evil 3 review- Remake fails to make the headshot - The Independent.
• Resident Evil 3 Remake PC Performance Analysis - Wccftech.
• The 'Resident Evil 3' Remake Seems Doomed to Fail - WIRED.
• Resident Evil: Resistance Review - IGN.
• Resident Evil Resistance Review – Lair of the Loot Box - Wccftech.

• ASUS ROG Strix RTX 2080 Ti Graphics Card Review — Modders-Inc.
• ASUS ROG SWIFT PG43UQ Monitor review - Guru3D.
• Brydge Pro Plus review- an almost awesome iPad laptop - The Verge.
• Cooler Master Reactor Gold 750W Power Supply Review - OverClocked Inside.
• Crucial BX500 2TB SATA SSD Review - TweakTown.
• Jabra Elite 75t True Wireless Earbuds - Nikk Tech.
• Lexar Professional SL100 Pro 500GB SSD Portable Review - APH Networks.
• Patriot P300 SSD Review - Guru3D.
• Patriot P300 512GB M.2 PCIe Solid State Drive - CDRLabs.com.
• Scythe Shuriken 2 CPU Cooler Review - Small Package, Big Performance - TechPowerUp.
• Super Flower Leadex III ARGB Gold 550 W PSU Review - TechPowerUp.
• System76 Thelio Major Proves To Be A Major Player For Linux Workstations Review - Phoronix.

• Loads Of Awesome Old PC Games Will Keep Your Damn Kids Busy. Thanks Neutronbeam…
• Video games sales soar as coronavirus leaves millions trapped at home…

We arrived in our new more rural home last year around the start of summer. This allowed us to fully enjoy the serenity of the nearby pond, as a family of swans and a large raft of ducks spent their time serenely paddling the days away. There were geese here when we first arrived, but they were rounded up and "relocated" (hmmm) shortly after that, and only a handful returned. That has made this spring a revelatory experience. The baby swan left a couple of months ago, and the pair of them has been completely missing for weeks now, so I assume the next time we see them they will have a new youngster in tow. The ducks are quite scattered as they quietly pursue their mating rituals. But the geese, who have returned in force, are being complete maniacs. They are clearly in the throes of mating as well, but this is a violent noisy affair. They spend a lot of time chasing each other across the pond, and it's hard to tell when this is to woo members of the opposite sex and when it's to intimidate rivals (unlike the ducks, it's hard to distinguish gender for the geese). And when they aren't chasing they are honking. And sometimes they are honking when they are chasing too. And this is not confined to daylight hours, they sometimes make noise well into the wee hours of the morning. MrsBlue and I don't actually mind this at all, as it's not that disturbing, and it's pleasant to be surrounded by actual nature. But I imagine some of our neighbors feel differently about it, and to be fair the novelty might wear off for us after a few years too. But so far it's been interesting to watch (and hear) their antics. Honk if you're horny!!

Untitled Goose Links
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.

Breakfast Link

• Tips From Someone With Nearly 50 Years Of Social Distancing Experience. Thanks RedEye9.

Science

• Covid-19 vaccine candidate yields promising data in mice.

Media

• Adam Sandler Debuts His Quarantine Song. Thanks Mashable.
• Very Heavy Cube. Thanks Nerdist via Neutronbeam.
• An "ESSENTIAL" worker during Covid-19.

Follow-up

• What Everyone’s Getting Wrong About the Toilet Paper Shortage. Thanks Max.
• Stanford researchers develop potential method to reuse N95 respirators. Thanks Max.

The Funnies

• The 5 Stages of Troubleshooting a Printer Connection.
• Violence - GeeksAreSexy.