A free weekend is underway on Steam for Titanfall 2, allowing a couple of days to sample this mech shooter from Electronic Arts and Respawn Entertainment without even having to pay for bullets. The free period runs from now until 1:00 pm EDT Monday. Here's why you might fall for the game:

Call down your Titan and get ready for an exhilarating first-person shooter experience in Titanfall® 2! The sequel introduces a new single player campaign that explores the bond between Pilot and Titan. Or blast your way through an even more innovative and intense multiplayer experience - featuring 6 new Titans, deadly new Pilot abilities, expanded customization, new maps, modes, and much more.

In a tweet, developer Toys for Bob reveals it is now supporting development of Season 3 for Call of Duty: Warzone. Tweets from Nicholas Kole indicate this involved layoffs, saying: "Altho everyone I interfaced with and worked along was let go, I’m very glad it’s not a totally shuttering." However, GamesIndustry.biz has a statement from Activision saying this is not the case: "Reports of layoffs at Toys For Bob are incorrect," a representative told GamesIndustry.biz. "There has not been a reduction in personnel recently at the studio. The development team is operating fully and has a number of full-time job openings at this time. The studio is excited to continue supporting Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, and more recently provide additional development support to Call of Duty: Warzone." We can find an interesting perspective on this news in this tweet pointing out that Activision now has no fewer than nine studios working on Call of Duty:

This now means…

Infinity Ward
Treyarch
Raven Software
Sledgehammer Games
Beenox
High Moon Studios
Toys for Bob
Activision Shanghai
Demonware

…are now all working on Call of Duty.

Riot Games announces an update to its Privacy Notice and Terms of Service. Going forward all voice chat in VALORANT will be recorded for evaluation if reports are submitted about disruptive or toxic behavior in voice comms. The policy allows comm recording in Riot's other games, but the update says there are no plans at this time to do this for any game other than VALORANT. Word is to avoid having your voice recorded, you can turn off chat. Here's the summary of the plan:

We know reducing disruptive behavior is a complex problem that will require a long-term investment and many different approaches to address—particularly in terms of voice comms. There’s still work to be done on this longer journey but we’re committed to providing the social experiences that players deserve when they play our games. We’re exploring other approaches that we believe will improve in-game experiences and we’ll share an update about our plans in the coming months, but we believe that the ability to act on reports of disruptive voice comms is one of the first steps toward a community where we can all play together safely.

Epic Games announces the acquisition of ArtStation, a repository for games, media, and entertainment creators to showcase their portfolios:

Today we are excited to announce that ArtStation is joining the Epic Games family. ArtStation provides a platform for creators across games, media and entertainment where they can develop and share their portfolios, post and discover job opportunities and make a living doing what they love. Together we will continue to grow the ArtStation community and integrate new features and tools that expand creators’ ability to showcase their talent and artwork.

At Epic, ArtStation will continue to operate as an independently branded platform while collaborating closely with the Unreal Engine team. By joining forces, the ArtStation and Unreal Engine teams will be able to empower the creative community with expanded tools, resources, and connections. And starting today, we will be reducing ArtStation Marketplace fees so creators can get even more value from the ArtStation platform. ArtStation Learning will also be free to all users for the remainder of 2021.

Koch Media and Black Eye Games announce a release date for Siege Survival: Gloria Victis, saying the medieval survival/strategy game will come to GOG.com, the Epic Games Store, and Steam on May 18th. In the meantime, the playable Windows demo on Steam was recently updated if you want to check this out. Here's a recent Narrated Developer Gameplay Video, and here's more:

In Siege Survival: Gloria Victis your country has been invaded by ferocious warriors from the north and your city is now under a brutal siege. In your hands lies the fate of a small group of civilians who are trapped in the last remaining stronghold and are hanging on for dear life.

Although you don’t participate in the fighting directly, their survival and that of the entire city is left to you as they try to support and supply the remaining soldiers who defend the walls on what little resources you can manage.

Continue here to read the full story.

Strangest.io now offers myFloppy Online, a virtual pet game based on everyone's favorite obsolete storage medium. This Windows game is available for free on Itch.io and Steam. If you're still holding out hope that this won't be extremely strange, this trailer should disabuse you of that notion. Here's more on this game that's not your grandparents' Tamagotchi:

MyFloppy is a virtual pet revolution that invites gamers to step into the wacky online world of Floppy- the world’s most beloved floppy disk! Design your Floppy avatar, customize your room, battle, rob and visit other Floppys online!

Continue here to read the full story.

• The Humble Store Spring Sale.* Save up to 90%. Here's a Spring Sale Recommendation Generator.
• Resident Evil Village - Steam Key.* Save 15%.
• Save 20% on GTFO on Steam.
• Save 65% on Depth on Steam.
• Save 50% on The Infected on Steam.

*Blue's News may receive a commission on sales of this item.

• Beautiful games: Peter Moore on the intersection between sports and video games - GI Live Online.
• "Good Game Nice Try" The Technician on the Creation of CodeMiko.

• Tekken, Mortal Kombat Pulled From Controversial Esports Events.
• Star Wars- The Old Republic - In-Game Events for May.

• Inside Xbox Series X-S Optimized- Warframe.
• R-Type Final 2 Is Now Available For Xbox One And Xbox Series X-S.
• Protocol Is Now Available For Xbox One And Xbox Series X-S.
• Boris the Rocket is Now Available on Xbox One.
• Doug Flutie’s Maximum Football, the only Canadian football video game, has ceased operations. Gone the way of Flutie Flakes.
• After 33 years, the last official games mag has published its final issue.
• Official PlayStation Podcast Episode 396: Where To Begin.
• This Week on Xbox: April 30, 2021.

• New York requires $15 broadband for poor people, promptly gets sued by ISPs.
• Zoë Roth sells 'Disaster Girl' meme as NFT for $500,000.
• Meet Long Boi, the humongous duck that's taken over the internet. Thanks Acleacius.

• AI, captain! First autonomous ship prepares for maiden voyage. Thanks Acleacius.
• Intel Reportedly Wants to Sell Its Sports Tech Business.

• Last year's Ubisoft hostage hoax reportedly the work of notorious Rainbow Six cheater.

• The Call of Duty Endowment Announces Campaign to Raise $3 Million for Veteran Employment…
• Paradox Interactive says player toxicity is driving developers away from its forums…
• Creepy McDonald’s secret discovered 30 years later in retro Sega game…

Last Link of the Day: 10 percent of you will be Goblinized today. Who knew? Thanks Neutronbeam.

GOG.com is now giving away free copies of Tonight We Riot, a retro-inspired side-scrolling brawler for Windows, macOS, and Linux from Pixel Pushers Union 512 and Means Interactive. This can be claimed by clicking the banner on the GOG.com front page, and it's yours to keep as long as you claim your copy by 9:00 am EDT on Sunday. The Launch Trailer shows off this game that Variety calls "an unapologetically political, socialist game about worker liberation in the face of overpowering capitalism." Here's more:

In a dystopia where wealthy capitalists control elections, media, and the lives of working people, we’re faced with two choices - accept it or fight for something better.

Tonight We Riot doesn’t have just one hero. Instead, you play as a movement of people whose wellbeing determines the success of your revolution.

Continue here to read the full story.

Cyberpunk 2077 turned out to be a big financial success for CD PROJEKT, despite problems with the sci-fi RPG that got it removed from the PlayStation Store, inspired lawsuits, and forced CDP to offer refunds. It therefore shouldn't be a big surprise that Bloomberg reports that all of the company's employees will receive performance bonuses. As is often the case, these are heavily weighted towards upper management:

Some employees told Bloomberg they will receive profit-sharing bonuses of about $5,000 to about $9,000, while other more senior employees said they will get closer to $15,000 or $20,000. Managers and directors will likely receive much higher bonuses. In a statement, a CD Projekt spokesperson said that the company had allocated a total of $29.8 million to 865 employees, for an average of about $34,000 each. (Staff also received separate, smaller performance bonuses earlier this year.)

In contrast, just five of CD Projekt’s board members received bonuses totaling $28 million.

Zen Studios now offers Star Wars Pinball VR, a virtual reality version of Star Wars Pinball with a "mix of new and classic remastered content." This pinball simulation is available for Steam VR, Oculus QuestOculus Quest 2, and PlayStation VR. You can check this out in the Launch Trailer, but we won't Force you to watch it. A description follows. Many Bothans died to bring us this information:

Star Wars Pinball VR jumps out of hyperspace featuring eight amazing tables, including two never before released: The Mandalorian and Star Wars Classic Collectibles. The other six tables are remastered fan-favorites: Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars Rebels, and Masters of the Force.

Beyond the incredible realism added by VR, Star Wars Pinball VR enhances the core Star Wars Pinball experience with new features exclusive to this release:

Continue here to read the full story.

The Caretaker is now available on Steam, offering a top-down, dungeon-crawler survival game for Windows from Squid Monkey Studios. Our hopes this would be a Jack Torrance simulator are dashed by the Gameplay Trailer depicting a battle through a post-apocalyptic voxel wasteland. Here's more:

Squid Monkey Studios launches their dungeon crawler survival game, THE CARETAKER. Set in the modern day, players must survive the aftermath of a sabotaged Research Power Facility which horribly mutates the inhabitants of a small city. Exploring human ignorance, regret and pride, The Caretaker unveils its plot through the lives of fallen victims and the encounters of failed experimentation.

Continue here to read the full story.

• Weekend Sale: games with an open world up to 80% off - GOG.com.
• Daedalic Publisher Sale - Steam.

• No Man's Sky Expeditions Patch 3.38.
• Outriders has been updated - 30.04.2021.

• Raven is investigating a Warzone issue stopping some PC players launching the game.
• Crazy Warzone Season 3 bug gives players super jump.
• Cold War players call for fix to "broken" Napalm Strike scorestreak.

• Meet Valkyrie – Apex Legends Character Trailer.
• Hood: Outlaws & Legends - Official Commented Gameplay.
• Hot Wheels Unleashed Skyscraper Unveil.
• The Making of Icarus - Episode 1 - Woodcutting Simulator.
• Getting drunk in games. Thanks Ant.

• Apex Legends dev explains why they've removed Hammerpoint in Season 9 - Charlie INTEL.

• PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS -- PCS 2021 Ruleset and Prizes.

• Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout for Xbox Series, Xbox One, and Switch delayed.
• Hitman studio IO Interactive is reportedly working on an Xbox exclusive.
• ESRB rates Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom Prince’s Edition for Switch.
• Kuku-Ruku - An Easter 2021 Demo downloadable for your NES.
• Returnal gameplay: Dev details and more in nearly 30 minutes of new footage.
• Mystic Fate Is Now Available For Xbox One And Xbox Series X|S.
• Angels With Scaly Wings Is Now Available For Xbox One And Xbox Series X|S.
• BORIS THE ROCKET Is Now Available For Xbox One And Xbox Series X|S.
• Ultimate Custom Night Is Now Available For Xbox One And Xbox Series X|S.
• Resident Evil Village Gameplay Demo Is Now Available For Xbox One And Xbox Series X|S.
• Nongunz- Doppelganger Edition Is Now Available For Digital Pre-order And Pre-download On Xbox One And Xbox Series X|S.
• Ben 10 Bundle Is Now Available For Xbox One And Xbox Series X|S.
• Poker Pretty Girls Battle: Fantasy World Edition Trailer (PS4/Switch).
• Next Week on Xbox- May 3 to 7.

• Social media boycott: England Rugby & English cricket join football anti-abuse move.
• Roku Removes YouTube TV From Store Over Search And Data Claims.

Thanks Neutronbeam.

• Oculus will sell you a Quest 2 headset that doesn't need Facebook for an extra $500. Now we know what our privacy is worth.
• Intel's Eight-Core H45 Tiger Lake CPUs Are Just Weeks Away From Launch.
• London City is the first major airport to control air traffic via a digital tower.
• New York City police scrap 'creepy' robotic dogs. Thanks brother19.
• Hilarious but horrifying tale of a misconfigured Dell workstation and dismal customer support.
• Evernote version 10.12.6. Thanks ConsoleGenRL.

• ISC urges updates of DNS servers to wipe out new BIND vulnerabilities.

• Apple charged over 'anti-competitive' app policies.
• Man arrested for faking Covid-19 check-in QR codes.
• SAP admits to ‘thousands’ of illegal software exports to Iran.
• How User Data Privacy and Antitrust Law Got All Tangled Up.
• Australian Politician Ordered To Pay $1.2 Million After Losing Twisted Sister Copyright Case. Equal to 600 years of streaming revenue. Thanks RedEye9.
• WeSteal: A ‘shameless’ cryptocurrency stealer sold in the underground.

• Insurmountable - Christ Centered Gamer.

Thanks Neutronbeam.

• Case: Thermaltake The Tower 100 Review- Affordable ITX Weirdness - Tom's Hardware.
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240 Illusion Review - APH Networks.
• CPU Cooler: CRYORIG R5 CPU Cooler Review - Nikk Tech.
• CPU Cooler: The Most Popular CPU Cooler EVER is still Amazing! - Hardware Canucks (video).
• Graphics Card: MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT GAMING X Video Card Review - The FPS Review.
• Graphics Card: PCIe Resizable BAR Performance AMD and NVIDIA benchmarks - Guru3D.
• Headset: Ikko OH10 In-Ear Monitors Review - Punches above Its Weight Class - TechPowerUp.
• Headset: Razer Kraken X USB - OCinside.
• Keyboard: Akko 3108DS Matcha Red Bean Keyboard Review - TechPowerUp.
• Laptop: Asus TUF Dash F15 Review - IGN.
• Laptop: Razer Blade 15 Advanced Edition Review - IGN.
• Mouse: Corsair Sabre RGB Pro Champion Series gaming mouse review - PC Gamer.
• Mouse: Endgame Gear XM1r Review - TechPowerUp.
• SSD: ADATA GAMMIX S50 Lite 2TB SSD Review- AnandTech.
• SSD: GigaDrive 1TB external SSD review - PC Gamer.

• The Matrix Online Died 12 Years Ago, But Fans Are Still Keeping It Alive. Need some blue pills…
• DOOM Eternal Paid DLC Skins Added Even When Devs Promised Game Won't Feature Microtransactions…
• Diablo 2 player gets every unique item in the ARPG after four years of grinding. Stay a while - and loot…

So the Jacksonville Jaguars were on the clock for the first pick in the draft for 116 days, but it still took them almost the full 15 minutes to submit their pick in last night's NFL draft? Okay, I guess it's understandable to want to bask in the spotlight when it's shining on you, even if that's because you had the worst record in the league.

Basking Round-up
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.

Stories

• US investigating possible mysterious directed energy attack near White House. Thanks Acleacius.
• German Court Orders Revision Of Climate Act To Ease Burden On Younger Generation. Thanks Cutter.

Science

• China launches key module of new space station. Thanks Acleacius.
• An asteroid traveled for 23 million years before crashing into Earth — and now scientists know where it came from.

Media

• Group Of Friends Get Stuck On UK's Highest Rollercoaster. Thanks Acleacius.
• Testing a "slash resistant" portable safe.

Follow-ups

• COVID-19 vaccine prevents sepsis in hospitalized patients, report finds. Thanks Acleacius.
• Five people arrested in Lady Gaga dognapping, shooting. Thanks Cutter.