Welcome to 1980’s Sweden. The local population has gone missing, and machines of unknown origin roam the streets. Explore this vast open world to unravel the mystery of the invaders, perfect your fighting strategies and prepare to strike back. In Generation Zero, living is winning.

Gears Tactics is the fast-paced, turn-based strategy game set 12 years before the first Gears of War. Cities on the planet Sera are beginning to fall to the monstrous threat rising from underground – the Locust Horde. With the government in disarray, a squad of survivors emerge as humanity's last hope. Play as Gabe Diaz, recruiting, developing and commanding your squads on a desperate mission to hunt down the relentless and powerful leader of the Locust army: Ukkon, the mastermind monster who makes monsters. Against all odds and fighting for survival, outsmart your enemy in uniquely brutal, turn-based tactical combat. Experience the intensity of one of the most-acclaimed video game sagas in an exciting new way.

“The team at DICE is working on the standalone Battlefield V update releasing this summer, and continuing their work on delivering Community Games,” said an EA spokesperson.

“While the studio’s vision for Star Wars Battlefront II is now complete with this week’s The Battle on Scarif Update, the servers, in-game challenges, recurring events and game support will continue as the game lives on with players and the community. We’re looking forward to hearing players’ stories for both games, for years to come.

“Longer term, the studio is focused on the future of Battlefield that we’ll be bringing to players in 2021.”

Beginning today and ending on May 21, we will periodically require two-factor authentication prior to claiming free games on the Epic Games Store. We are making this change in an effort to encourage our players to take steps to strengthen their Epic account security.

If you do not have two-factor authentication enabled on your account, you will see the following message when attempting to claim a free game:

“Two Factor Authentication Required

Continue here to read the full story.

Macarthur Fortune Holding LLC, a global asset management company, has announced that it has acquired Jagex, one of the UK’s largest video game developers and publishers, for $530million through one of its funds, Platinum Fortune LP, from Shanghai Hongtou Network Technology. Hongtou Network (Hong Kong) was also acquired by Platinum Fortune LP. The management team of Jagex, headquartered in Cambridge, UK, will remain in place.

Macarthur Fortune shares Jagex’s passion for video games, and is dedicated to utilizing its experience and expertise to add value to one of the longest-standing video game developers through strategically investing in R&D and marketing to attract new players to its RuneScape franchise of games.

Pax Nova is a sci-fi, turn-based 4X strategy game where you lead the fate of one of several factions, divided between three races. Explore new worlds and new star systems filled with exciting secrets as well as new dangers. Build new cities, expand your influence and fight great battles on land and in space.

The eponymous Tournament Mode is all about putting your racing and wrecking skills to the ultimate test by competing in thrilling challenges, not only against the game, but also against the other players! It all boils down to being a boss by winning trophies in challenges and earning fame, with new challenges coming every day, every week and every month, and then using the acquired fame to claim exclusive rewards from the tournament shop, with new epic rewards each season. The daily challenges are like bite-size snacks, a fun thing that you can tackle each day to prepare you for the real meat of the Tournament Mode: the prestigious weekly and monthly challenges that make you face-off with the other players around the world in exciting time-limited leaderboard challenges, with the goal of conquering the leaderboards and being crowned the undisputed king of demolition!

In this Soulsborne-inspired jaunt where death is always just around the corner, players push forward to regain WarriOrb’s freedom – and its original demonic form. After all, we’re talking about the Spirit of the Unknown, forced into a pathetic ball body and blamed for the failure of a Very Important Summoning Spell – one that was supposed to bring the Wizard's daughter back to life (but didn’t). Now it’s up to players to find another way to resurrect her and make things right!

• Noita Feast Update. Thanks Stadius.

• Gravity - Official Population Zero Launch Trailer.
• Knights of the Chalice 2 Kickstarter Date Announcement.
• Starborne Open Beta Thank You.
• Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge Trailer #1 (2020). Thanks Ant.
• Patches Coming to Heroes of the Storm [IdBeCoolIf] (the FINAL ONE).

• How Bohemia's "almost accidental" mod support became a staple of the studio - GamesIndustry.biz.

• Naughty Dog expresses regret for The Last of Us Part 2 spoilers.
• SnowRunner Available Today on Xbox One.
• Doug Hates His Job Clocks in Today on Xbox One.
• Telling Lies Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Dread Nautical Brings Unique Tactical RPG Action to Xbox One on April 29.
• Destroy All Humans! Is Now Available For Digital Pre-order And Pre-download On Xbox One.
• New Games with Gold for May 2020 - Xbox Wire.
• Xbox Insider Release Notes - Beta and Delta Ring (2005.200424-1809).

• New Minecraft Earth Features Out Now.

• Alphabet warns of difficult quarter as consumers Google pandemic, not shopping.
• Streaming-only movies will be eligible for awards at the 2021 Oscars.
• YouTube launches fact check panels in the U.S.
• Disney isn’t trying to steal your Star Wars tweets.
• Why Remote Work Sucks, According To Science.
• Pay It Forward Live. Actress Aisha Tyler and FaZe Clan tonight at 8:00 pm EDT.
• Zoom taps Oracle for cloud deal, passing over Amazon, Microsoft.
• Fourteen gadgets and hacks to make working from home easier.

• GPUs Unleashed: Intel Releases First Unlocked GPU Driver For OEM Systems.
• Intel's Entire 10th Gen Desktop CPU Lineup Specs & Prices Leaked.
• AMD (NASDAQ-AMD) Q1 FY2020 Earnings Results Show 41% Growth.
• Intel Provides Trusted Foundation for Azure Confidential Computing. Thanks Hypothermia.
• How to buy a monitor in 2020.
• Razer Huntsman Elite With Optical Switches Becomes The No.1 Best Selling Keyboard In The US.
• Windows 10 is learning a file indexing trick that might make your PC run faster.
• VideoLAN VLC media player version 3.0.10. Thanks DSLReports.
• GIMP version 2.10.18 revision 2.

• The Covid-19 Pandemic Reveals Ransomware's Long Game. Thanks Neutronbeam.
• Would You Have Fallen for This Phone Scam?
• Nine million logs of Brits' road journeys spill onto the internet from password-less number-plate camera dashboard. Thanks DSLReports.
• Report: Exercise App Exposes Private User Data in Massive Data Leak. Thanks DSLReports.

• PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS Now Available on Stadia…
• Borderlands 3 Bosses Are Getting Wrecked By A Powerful New Weapon. Thanks Neutronbeam…
• Coronavirus-themed game banned in China…

SnowRunner puts you in the driver’s seat of powerful vehicles as you conquer extreme open environments with the most advanced terrain simulation ever. Drive 40 vehicles from brands such as Ford, Chevrolet, and Freightliner as you leave your mark on an untamed open world.
Overcome mud, torrential waters, snow, and frozen lakes while taking on perilous contracts and missions. Expand and customize your fleet with many upgrades and accessories including an exhaust snorkel for heavy waters or chain tires to battle the snow.

• SnowRunner review: The zen of digital muddin' - Roadshow by CNET.
• SnowRunner Is A Nuanced Off-Road Driving Game To Get Lost In For Days - Jalopnik.
• SnowRunner review - PC Gamer.
• SnowRunner review – essential purchase - PCGamesN.
• SnowRunner review - Running free - PC Invasion.
• SnowRunner Review – TheSixthAxis.
• SnowRunner review-in-progress -- Thrilling vehicular action at 3 mph - VentureBeat.

Starting today, Vanguard will start showing a system tray icon (after a reboot) while it's running. From there, you'll be able to turn off Vanguard at any time. Turning off Vanguard puts your machine in an untrusted mode and will prevent you from playing VALORANT until you reboot. If you want to keep Vanguard off indefinitely until you play VALORANT (e.g. persisting across multiple reboot sessions), you'll be able to do so more easily now by uninstalling it from the handy dandy system tray. Vanguard will automatically be reinstalled when you launch VALORANT. If you dislike the new system tray icon, you'll be able to disable (or re-enable) it at any time by going into your Windows Notification Area.

Vanguard may block certain incompatible or vulnerable software from running on your machine. If this happens, you'll see a notification like this pop up. Clicking on the notification will give you more information on what exactly was blocked. You're able to opt-out of this at any time by following the instructions in the previous paragraph.

A new Contract has been added to Warzone – Most Wanted. Make yourself a Bounty Target for all teams in Verdansk when you activate this Contract and survive to get the ultimate reward – a redeployment for all of your fallen teammates. Learn some tips to master this Contract and what it means to be Most Wanted this week on the Games Blog. Pick up this Contract in a game of Battle Royale (Solos, Trios, or Quads) or Plunder Trios this week!

Age of Conan broke sales records and received critical acclaim when it was first released in May 2008. Since then the game has become free-to-play and was in 2011 rebranded to Age of Conan: Unchained. Funcom has over the years continued to support the game, with new areas, dungeons and massive improvements to gameplay. Today the Norwegian game developer are set to release Onslaught, the biggest Age of Conan update in years.

Onslaught introduces a new game area based on Robert E. Howard’s Black Colossus (1933), one of the original short stories featuring Conan the Barbarian. Here, you will be faced with a new threat, as the ancient wizard Thugra Khotan has awoken after thousands of years and is seeking to fulfill his ambition of world domination. Waves of ferocious armies will charge at you on the steps of the great Ivory Dome of Kutchemes. The dome itself is said to contain unimaginable riches, but also a slumbering dread god.

History of revenge in a classic fantasy setting
Meet Johan, one of the Forest Bandits - a group of rogues robbing merchant caravans and spoiling the lives of people travelling through the forest. Frequent disruptions on the trade route were driving mad the owner of the lands, who was helpless until now. In order to get rid of the outlaws, he issued a wanted notice and set a huge reward for capturing each of them. This lured to the forest multiple brave men, who will try to get rid of Johan and his associates, in exchange for the bounty.

Johan is far from being a hero. He is very self-confident, acts solely in his own interest and only when it is absolutely worth the effort. He is an excellent archer - knows all the nuances of the craft and never misses. Playing as Johan, you will be a true master of the profession.

• Team Fortress 2 Update Released.
• New version of the non-VR mod for Half-Life: Alyx adds spectator mode & FOV, removes black corners.

• Darkest Dungeon Documentary - Gameumentary. Thanks Siliconera.

• Kotaku - Major Video Game Companies Could Be Doing More For Covid-19 Relief.
  "The covid-19 pandemic is the biggest crisis many of us have seen in our lifetimes. Infection numbers continue to grow, coronavirus-related deaths are all too common, and millions have found themselves without income. It’s only natural to look fondly at big-looking checks in a time of need, no matter the source. But the numbers show just how trivial recent donations from massive video game companies really are in the grand scheme of things. If the situation’s gotten so bad that these leftovers are worthy of celebration, we’re in deeper shit than I thought."

• ESL and DreamHack enter three-year broadcast deal with Twitch.
• The 2020 LCS Summer Split starts in June.
• Heroes of the Storm AMA - April 30, 2020.

• Prismata - Christ Centered Gamer.
• 'Valorant' Is Cutthroat, Punishing, and Addictive as Hell - WIRED.

• SnowRunner Is Now Available For Xbox.
• Stellaris: Console Edition DLC Coming May 12.
• Daymare: 1998 Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• The Inner Friend Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Moving Out Is Now Available For Xbox One And Included With Xbox Game Pass.
• This Week’s Deals With Gold And Spotlight Sale Plus Add-On And Publisher Sale.

• First impressions of a $200 Linux laptop - Boing Boing.
• How to Check Your Wifi Signal Strength.
• Galaxy Fold 2 Will be Cheaper Than Galaxy Fold, Releasing in August.
• WhatsApp ups limit on video calls to eight people.

• Disney sparks backlash with #MayThe4th tweet.
• YouTube to stream Tribeca, Cannes, Sundance films for free starting May 29.
• The best sci-fi movies and TV shows to watch on Amazon Prime.
• The Expanse Season 5 Did Finish Filming Ahead of Shutdowns. Thanks David.
• Facebook to stream a virtual graduation ceremony with Oprah Winfrey as commencement speaker.
• Hulu is choking for many iOS and Apple TV users.

• How to properly clean and disinfect your computer monitor or laptop screen.
• You can now manage Windows 10 devices through G Suite. What's mine say? Dude! What's mine say? Suite!
• Micron speeds up SSDs with open-source database storage engine.
• Tron is a mighty tools collection for Windows.
• Initial Benchmarks Of The AMD EPYC 7F32 Performance On Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
• The open-plan office is dead, long live the plexiglass work panopticon.

• Intel Z490 Motherboards Reportedly Affected By Networking Bug.
• Windows 10 1903 broke Chrome and other browsers' secure sandboxes. Thanks Neutronbeam.
• 2.5M credit card records belonging to transaction firm PAAY exposed online. Thanks DSLReports via Ant.

• A 90s Computer Platformer - StretchBot First Impressions - Parallax Abstraction.
• Predator: Hunting Grounds Review - IGN.
• Predator: Hunting Grounds review - Rock Paper Shotgun.

• ASUS DUAL RTX 2070 MINI OC Video Card Review - The FPS Review.
• be quiet! Pure Base 500DX Case Review - TechPowerUp.
• COUGAR Havoc BT In-Ear Gaming Headset Review - Neoseeker.
• EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 Super KO Graphics Card Review - TechPowerUp.
• iBUYPOWER Snowblind Element Mid-Tower Chassis Review - TweakTown.
• iStorage CloudAshur USB Drive - Vortez.
• noblechairs EPIC Black Edition Gaming Chair Review - Vortez.
• Phanteks Enthoo 719 (aka Luxe 2) Case review - Guru3D.
• Roccat Kain 100 Aimo Mouse Review- A Satisfying Click - Tom's Hardware.
• SoundMagic HP1000 Headphones review - What Hi-Fi?
• Lenovo Yoga C640 review- Does a move away from ARM work for this convertible? - Windows Central.

• Lego Lord Of The Rings Games Return To Steam…
• Gears of War 3 and Gears of War Judgement Now Fully Playable on PC Through Xenia Xbox 360 Emulator…
• Shroud spent $13k on a private jet to do a World of Warcraft raid…
• Log into Battlefield V until the 30th of April to get the Winterkrieg skin…

Ambulatory Links
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.

Breakfast Links

• 30 board games to play during quarantine with family, two-players, or solo.
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail at 45: We somehow pick the 15 best moments.
• Blue Angels, Thunderbirds flight path maps, times set for N.J., N.Y. to salute coronavirus first responders. Thanks David.

Stories

• How Covid-19 is changing 'Dungeons & Dragons,' maybe forever.
• Belgians urged to eat more chips by lockdown-hit potato growers.
• Kegs are going bad. Boston Beer has a solution. Thanks LinkedIn.

Science

• Flying Cars Could Take Off Soon, if We Let the Military Help.
• Why the Arctic's unprecedented ozone hole fizzed out.

Image

• Hubble Celebrates 30 Years in Space With This Stunning New Image.

Media

• When the quest reward sucks - Reward.
• How Big Can GODZILLA Get? Thanks GeekTyrant.

Follow-up

• CDC Adds 6 Symptoms To Its COVID-19 List. Thanks RedEye9.
• Pentagon officially releases UFO videos.

The Funnies

• Dilbert.