How To Play Half-Life: Alyx Without A VR Headset
Want to play Half-Life: Alyx, the first new Half-Life game in over a decade, but don’t have a VR headset? Thanks to the hard work of modder r57zone it’s now possible, though the workaround is neither easy to use nor particularly elegant.
As picked up by Kotaku, the Alyx mod locks the character’s arms out in front, taking away the need for VR motion controls. The result can be played with a mouse and keyboard, and though it won’t be as user-friendly as the VR version, you should at least be able to complete the story.
Setting up the mod isn’t exactly simple–you need to check the instructions on GitHub here, with an in-depth instruction video available here. As always, be careful when downloading things from the internet
Coronavirus: Trump claims ‘total’ authority to lift lockdown
“The president of the United States calls the shots,” Mr Trump says during a feisty news conference.
Deals: Alienware’s First 1ms, 240Hz, G-Sync Compatible IPS Gaming Monitor
Today’s ppotlight deal is a new monitor entry from Dell. It’s their first IPS monitor with 1ms response time and 240Hz refresh rate. It’s even certified G-Sync Compatible. The Oculus Rift is still available directly from the Oculus Store for only $299.99, and there’s an awesome Bethesda Easter Sale going on right now for PC gamers at Green Man Gaming.
The First IPS Monitor With 1ms and 240Hz and G-SYNC: Alienware AW2521HF 25″ 1080p Gaming Monitor for $394.99
This is a new monitor from Dell. The major upgrade for this one compared to last year’s model is the switch over from a TN panel to an IPS panel. In fact, this is the only IPS monitor that Dell makes that has 1ms response time and 240Hz refresh rate, specs that are normally reserved for TN panels. An IPS monitor is superior because it has wider viewing angles and better color.
This AMD FreeSync monitor is also certified NVIDIA “G-Sync Compatible”. That basically means people with GeForce cards can take advantage of the built-in adaptive sync capabilities of the monitor without paying an arm and a leg for a G-Sync monitor. it also futureproofs you, in case you want to swap over to an AMD video card.
New Alienware Aurora R9 AMD Ryzen 7 3700X AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming Desktop PC for $1110
For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with the Intel vs AMD CPU war, AMD has been giving Intel a run for its money with its flagship processors. The new AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-core processor is comparable to the Intel Core i7-9700, both in terms of gaming and workstation performance. It’s paired with an RX 5700 XT video card, which is on par with the RTX 2070. If you want to upgrade the RAM or hard drive, I’d suggest doing it on your own. You’ll save money, and the Aurora R9 allows for toolless access without voiding your warranty.
- Use code “50OFF699” to get it at Dell for $1110
Oculus Rift VR Headset (Factory Refurb) at the Oculus Store for $299 (Compatible with Half-Life: Alyx)
Includes 6 Month Oculus Warranty
The Oculus Store has refurbished Oculus Rift VR headsets and they are clearing them out at a great price, $100 less than the Oculus Quest and Rift S. This is the only way to get an Oculus Rift with warranty. I bought my Oculus Rift headset over 3 years ago and still use it to this day. I’ve never had the urge to upgrade to the newer VR headsets, especially at their ridiculous price points. The original Oculus Rift controller is, in my opinion, still the best controller for Beat Saber because it is the lightest and least bulky compared to the rest (even the Rift S controller). It also has exceptional tracking, even with only two sensors. Also, the higher resolution on the newer VR headsets requires an even more demanding computer. My GTX 1070 equipped PC can run the Rift perfectly well, but may not suffice for a VR headset with nearly double the pixel count. Half-Life: Alyx is also compatible with the Oculus Rift.
Up to 77% Off Bethesda Easter Sale at GMG
Green Man Gaming has dropped the prices of many of Bethesda’s best PC games to the lowest I’ve ever seen. Green Man Gaming is a totally legit reseller and all of these games are downloadable via the Steam platform.
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition for $17.60
- Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus for $10.56
- The Evil Within 2 for $8.80
- Doom for $5.28
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR for $15.84
- Fallout 4 VR for $15.84
- Doom VFR for $7.92
Online Learning Course Bundles from Stack Social
Want to be more productive at home? Stack Social has plenty of practical courses that can kick start your career. For under $40 per bundle you get dozens of hours of online instruction in programming, game creation, video production, ethical hacking, and more… all from the safety of your home.
- Learn to Code in 2020
- Become a Python Coder
- Build Your Own Android Apps
- Develop Your Own Games
- School of Game Design Lifetime Membership
- Ethical Hacking 101
- Essential Videography Skills
- Change Your Background Without a Green Screen
1 Month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $1 (Includes Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass)
May work for both NEW and EXPIRED accounts
This price is reserved for new and expired accounts. Game Pass Ultimate is basically Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass combined into one membership. You even get access to Game Pass for PC. Normally you’d be paying $14.99 for one month, but Amazon is offering an additional month for free. Game Pass gives you access to tons of high profile games like Kingdom Hearts 3, NBA 2K20, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Gears 5, Forza Horizon 3, The Outer Worlds, Grand Theft Auto 5, State of Decay, and more.
Marvel’s The Infinity Gauntlet Digital Comic Collection (Issues #1-#6) for $1.99
Each issue normally sells for $1.99 but with this deal you’re getting all six for $1.99. If you thought the Infinity War movies were good, you should read the spectacular source material. You can choose to download the comics to your Kindle or ComiXology app.
ComiXology Free Trial Extended to 60 Days
This sponsored deal is brought to you by ComiXology
The ComiXology trial period is normally 30 days. ComiXology is Amazon’s digital comic platform and is the largest digital retailer of American comics. The site hosts 20,000 digital comics, graphic novels, and manga from DC, Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, and more. Here’s your chance to access all of it, totally free, for 30 60 days. If you’re an avid comic reader, you might want to consider continuing on afterwards, since it’s only $5.99/month. You can even sign in with your Amazon account.
3 Months of Amazon Music Unlimited for Free
This deal only works for new Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers, but you don’t have to be a Prime member. Normally you’d be paying $9.99/month for this service (or $7.99/mo for Prime members). Amazon Music Unlimited works alot like the paid ad-free versions of Spotify or Pandora. Get access to millions of songs and playlists that you can stream anywhere.
40% Off 3 Months of Audible Membership
Or 30-Day Free Trial for New Subscribers
An Audible membership normally costs $15 per month. With this deal you’re only paying $8.95 per month for the first 3 months The Audible membership gives you access to an extended audiobook library whenever and wherever you want (includes all Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and Witcher books). Every month you also get one free audiobook of your choice and two free Audible Originals (which you keep forever even when your subscripion ends), and 30% off additional audiobook purchases.
If you have never signed up for Audible before, you can instead get a free 30-day trial and you’ll still get a free audiobook and Audible Originals to keep indefinitely.
New Licensed Castlevania Apparel at the IGN Store
Do you enjoy Netflix’s original Castlevania animated series? If so, the IGN Store has added a host of officially licensed Castlevania apparel. Sign up for our newsletter and get a 20% off coupon code. Alternatively, save 10% off using coupon code “igndeals10“.
- Check out Castlevania Graphic Tees at the IGN Store
- Animal Crossing Tees
- The Legend of Zelda Tees
- Stranger Things Tees
- Ghostbusters Tees
- Marvel Tees
- DC Tees
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Eric Song is IGN’s deal curator and spends 25% of his pay on stuff he posts.
Halo–All Profits On This New Shirt Go Towards COVID-19 Relief
A new Halo-themed shirt is available to purchase now, and all proceeds will go towards relief efforts for those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is part of the ongoing efforts from Halo developer 343 Industries to raise funds for the Global Giving crisis response, which aims to help vulnerable areas hit hard by the virus.
The shirt, which bears the message “#WeGotThisSpartans: Hope and Love,” is available now through MetaThreads. It costs $25, and comes with a one-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and the code will be valid until April 2021.
Between April 8 and 21, 100% of proceeds for the sales of this shirt will go to COVID-19 relief efforts. Orders are expected to ship in 4 to 6 weeks. The charity efforts of 343 Industries have already raised $200,000, and hopefully this shirt will push this figure further.
The Steam Game Festival Will Be Back In June
After running Game Festival events designed to coincide with The Game Awards last year and the sadly cancelled GDC this year, Steam is running a standalone Summer Game Festival this year. The festival will be live between June 9 and 14, roughly the dates when E3 would have run in Los Angeles.
With all conventional gaming events now indefinitely delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis, Steam is ramping up on a festival you can enjoy from your computer chair. The Summer Game Festival is designed to showcase games that will be released in the next year, offering up demos or short playable experiences to help you discover new games to watch.
The festival will also feature talks from developers, most of whom will have lost opportunities to talk about and show off their games at big events like E3 and GDC.
Halo 5’s In-Game COVID-19 Charity Campaign Has Raised $200,000 Already
The developers of the Halo franchise are raising money to help with COVID-19 relief, and their efforts have brought in a lot of money so far.
Community director Brian Jarrard said on Twitter that Halo 5’s in-game charity campaign has raised more than $200,000 USD as of April 10. The game is currently selling a “Relief and Recovery” Req Pack for the game’s multiplayer mode, which includes various cosmetics and XP boosts. All proceeds are going to directly to the Global Giving’s Coronavirus Relief Fund.
The DLC costs $10 USD, so it has moved a lot of units to reach $200,000 in donations. You can buy the Relief and Recovery REQ pack through Halo 5 or right here on the Xbox Store.
Daisy Ridley Opens Up About Star Wars Episode 9 Criticism
Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker made a lot of money and has its fans, but was, all things considered, not particularly well received. The film, which has a 52% approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes, ends the Star Wars saga in a manner that did not satisfy everyone–and one of its stars has been left wondering where the love has gone.
Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey in the most recent trilogy, has opened up about the film’s reception on the podcast Dragcast (as picked up on by Entertainment Weekly). According to Ridley, while the experience of being in Star Wars has been amazing, the immediate wake of this film’s reception was difficult for her.
“January was not that nice,” Ridley said. “It was weird, I felt like all of this love that we’d sort of been shown the first time around, I was like, ‘Where’s the love gone?'”.
Ridley also said that she watched the documentary included on the movie’s Blu-Ray release, The Skywalker Legacy, and that it’s been difficult to reconcile the movie’s reception with the love that went into it. “I think it’s that tricky thing of when you’re part of something that is so filled with love and then people [don’t like it],” she said. “You know, everyone’s entitled to not like something, but it feels like it’s changed slightly. But I think in general that’s because social media and what have you.”
Ridley says that, in January, her newsfeeds were full of Star Wars, even though she was trying to avoid it. “I’d see headlines and be like ‘Oh my god this is so upsetting,'” she said. But at the same time, she is “really proud of it, and I’m so thrilled to be part of it.”
This is not the first time that reactions towards Star Wars have harmed the series’ stars–The Last Jedi star Kelly Marie Tran was bullied online after the movie’s release (while limited presence in The Rise of Skywalker is an element that has been heavily criticized), and Ahmed Best, who played Jar-Jar Binks in the prequel trilogy, suffered greatly from how fans reacted to his character (although he’s now set to host a Star Wars game show for Disney Plus).
A new Star Wars movie is reportedly in the works from director JD Dillard.
Coronavirus: Austria reopens some shops as lockdown eased
Garden centres and small shops will open as part of a step-by-step plan to restart the economy.
Gears Of War Narrative Designer Talks About The Series’ Future And Possibilities
Gears Tactics, the next game in the Gears of War series, releases on April 28 for PC (and later on Xbox One). The tactical spin-off is set before the first Gears game, but will link up with the narrative in Gears 5, as the main character, Gabe Diaz, is the father of Kait Diaz. Now, in an interview with IGN, Gears Tactics’ narrative director Jean Mah has talked about expanding the world of Gears, and hinted at plans that will take the series beyond its current cast and family bloodlines.
Mah tells IGN that the team at The Coalition (which took over the Gears franchise after Gears of War: Judgment) is aware of the difficulties of continually upping the stakes, and believes that compelling protagonists are the answer. “For our stories to resonate with our players, we need them to be able to not identify, but feel like they can care about and get involved with the main character,” she says. “I think for a lot of stories, the trouble with having giant stakes of saving the world is that: how do you top that every single time? It’s about putting a spin on that giant pile of stakes that you’re trying to deal with, by making it personal to the protagonist.”
At the same time, she says, “sometimes we worry everyone in our universe is related to each other.” But Mah believes that it’s important to keep coming back to touchpoints that connect stories, such as “sharing a history in a certain battle.” Mah says that Del, another character from Gears 4 and 5, still has a story that needs to be told too, and that we could see another huge time jump (as with the 25 year gap between Gears of War 3 and 4) in the future.