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NieR Replicant, the Japanese exclusive PS3 classic released in 2010, is coming to the West as a new remaster on all platforms.

The roots of Square Enix's sprawling action-RPG epic are coming back in a big way. NieR Replicant, the prequel to the mega-hit NieR Automata, is getting remastered for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, complete with enhanced graphics, new remastered re-recorded audio and score and new characters. In 2010, Square Enix released two NieR games: Gestalt in the West, and the Japan-only Replicant. Now for the first time ever fans will be able to play Replicant with full translations and enhanced graphics. No info on a release date was shared, however.

In other news, Square Enix has sold 4.5 million copies of NieR Automata worldwide, making it a tremendous success that keeps on giving well after release. The sci-fantasy series has attracted millions of fans worldwide with its dark, otherworldly charms and fans are eagerly anticipating Replicant's remastered re-release.

It looks like millions of Americans are being spied on (even more so than they already are), with sources of The Wall Street Journal saying that the CDC is using federal, state, and local governments access to users' location data from mobile ads to help track COVID-19 coronavirus spread.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the anonymized data helps CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) officials understand where people are gathering in large numbers, whether they're honoring the stay-at-home lockdowns, and how retail is suffering because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

How is the CDC doing this? They are reportedly gettring their data through a COVID-19 Mobility Data Network, something that was created by experts at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, and other schools. While it sounds good in this way, the idea that mobile ad data is being used to track is a huge invasion of privacy. Will these new spy powers be taken away once COVID-19 is no longer a threat?

COVID-19 coronavirus has billions of people sitting inside of the 4 walls of their house, so you would have to be out of your house and living under a rock to not think that social networking use, video streaming and especially livestreaming use would increase.

Facebook has just provided some great upgrades to its Live service, where soon even people without Facebook accounts will be able to watch Facebook Live streams from smartphones. You could do this on desktop, but not on mobile -- until now, with Android users the first out of the gate with the new Live upgrades, while iOS is support "in the coming weeks".

The social networking giant is also adding in new options for livestreamers to get access to people without a smartphone, or access to stable mobile connectivity. The new option is called Public Switch Telephone Network", something that sees Facebook let people listen to a livestream through a toll free number -- think conference call.

Lyft is in a really big spot of trouble right now over COVID-19 coronavirus, with millions of riders no longer using the service, business isn't doing so well. It's gotten to the point that Lyft is now referring drivers to jobs at Amazon.

The ridesharing giant emailed its drivers of the new referral program with Amazon, where it is encouraging Lyft drivers to apply for jobs at Amazon warehouses. These drivers are recommended to take jobs with Amazon's own grocery and package deliveries platforms. Why is Lyft doing this?

Well, Uber has its own food delivery platform in Uber Eats -- where Lyft, does not. This has seen Lyft team with Amazon over the new job referral program, even after Lyft announced that it would begin expanding its delivery network to help out in the delivering of coronavirus test kits, medical supplies, and meals to the elderly and vulnerable ppopulations.

Half-Life: Alyx is a completely VR-exclusive game in its original form, with Valve making it to be what I think after finishing it last night, a system seller for virtual reality. But, what about mouse and keyboard gamers?

The game is already playable with a traditional mouse and keyboard, with modders cracking Half-Life: Alyx and getting working without VR controllers. There are some issues right now and things aren't perfect, as the mod in question uses the models for weapons from Half-Life 2, and jumping doesn't work right now.

If you want to play Half-Life: Alyx without a mouse and keyboard then check out the mod right here. I would personally suggest not doing this, and playing it in VR if you have a VR headset -- or a friend with one, and can loan it. It is absolutely, hands down worth it -- every gamer, and especially Half-Life fans need to play Half-Life: Alyx the way it was made to be played: in VR.

Half-Life: Alyx is easily my best game of 2020 and one of the most enthralling, immersive, amazing, truly game-changing experiences I've ever had. So it comes as no surprise to see it dominating Metacritic.

According to the aggregated scores of critical reviews of games on the PC for 2020, Valve has a home run with Half-Life: Alyx and an average score of 93 from 39 critic reviews. Compared to the kick ass DOOM Eternal with 'only' a score of 90, from 45 critic reviews -- we can see Half-Life: Alyx is a masterpiece.

The year is only just beginning as we're not even at the end of Q1 2020 and still have some gignatic releases like Cyberpunk 2077 from CD PROJEKT RED later this year -- and who can forget Microsoft with its next-gen Xbox Series X and Sony with its PlayStation 5 consoles. We shoujld expect a bunch of new games announced and released throughout the year, but can any of them topple what Valve crafted with Half-Life: Alyx? I really don't think so.

I've now just finished Half-Life: Alyx and while I need it all to sink in before I write it over the next few days, an interesting development has happened in the form of an ARG.

What is an ARG you ask? An ARG is an Alternate Reality Game, where some gamers have begun to pick up clues of an ARG hidden within Half-Life: Alyx. The ARG itself begins at the start of Half-Life: Alyx where you will be faced with a radio, if you tune the dial clockwise you will access a radio station playing fuzzy music.

But, if you pull the antenna out and slowly turn the dial with your other hand, you will access a "numbers station". Over on the /r/GameDetectives subreddit, gaming sleuths have begun digging through Half-Life: Alyx and seeing what the hell this ARG is all about -- which is something I want to see completely ripped apart and detailed now.

If you want to protect yourself from COVID-19 coronavirus in a little bit of style, here's a handy guide on how to make your own "Catface" N95 mask, and it even has whiskers.

Grassy Knoll Industries have put the work into making some instructions and a guide on how to make a Catface N95 mask, with the company considering its new cat-styled mask as "Quarantine Couture". But it's not just a boring old guide, it is filled with some laughs and is worth a look on that alone. Meow.

Just to give you an idea of what Grassy Knoll Industries has in its guide to the Catface N95 mask: "Welcome to the Future. This design is easy to make with materials found around the house. Are you in quarantine for two or more weeks? Are you slowly losing your mind from boredom? Are you worried about having to appear in public in a dreary white mask? This design is free to use, share, mash up or make in a factory in China. We don't care what you do with it. We do care that you have fun and attempt to amuse your fellow citizens".

Singapore is taking things up a serious notch when it comes to social distancing over COVID-19 coronavirus, with a press release from Singapore's Ministry of Health.

In the press release, it warned the people of Singapore to maintain a distance of at least 1 meter (3.2 feet) from other people during "non-transient" public interactions. If you don't, you'll face a 10,000 Singapore dollars (or $6985) fine -- or even 6 months in jail. Yeah, they're not kidding around in Singapore.

Singapore isn't the only country getting serious over social distancing either, with a 35-year-old man in France reportedly sent to prison after he violated lockdown. He was found guilty of "endangering the lives of others". A 4-month suspended prison sentence was handed down to a 19-year-old man, as he broke lockdown laws 10 times in a matter of days.

Seriously, some of the creations in Minecraft are astounding -- but we have a new record. YouTuber 'PippenFTS' says he has made a gigantic 1:1 scale version of the Earth in Minecraft, a world-first. Check it out:

PippenFTS says he used two mods to make his 1:1 scale of Earth in Minecraft, as there are height limits that have to be worked around -- with a 255m height limit, mods are required to pass it. He used Terra 1-to-1 and Cubic Chunks, with the latter changing "the shape of Minecraft chunks to 16x16x16 cube, giving you infinite build depth in both vertical directions".

He added: "With the Cubic Chunks mod breaking Minecraft's vertical limitations, we can now experience the Earth in Minecraft, just as it is, with no downscaling of any kind".

New York could be completely quarantined over the current COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, with President Trump tweeting that is thinking about quarantine the entire city. The news of a full quarantine of New York comes just 3 weeks after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo established a containment zone over COVID-19 coronavirus.

In a tweet, President Trump said: "I am giving consideration to a QUARANTINE of developing 'hot spots', New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. A decision will be made, one way or another, shortly". With over 115,000 coronavirus cases in the United States alone, it stands as the highest amount in a country in the world.

The tri-state area of New York State, New Jersey, and Connecticut have seen 65,000 cases of COVID-19, alongside 1056 deaths so far. New York City is accounting for most of the increasing numbers of cases and deaths of COVID-19 coronavirus. It's not just President Trump that is concerned, but New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo who has said that President Trump's proposal is a "civil war-kind of discussion".

Microsoft might have just found one of the most interesting, and one of the most frightening ways of mining cryptocurrency -- with your body. This isn't the first time I've written about mining cryptocurrency with your body, either.

The company published a patent yesterday called "Cryptocurrency system using body activity data", which while it sounds strange, it sees Microsoft using "human body activity" to mine cryptocurrency. Microsoft explains it as "a brain wave or body heat emitted from the user when the user performs the task provided by an information or service provider, such as viewing an advertisement or using certain internet services, can be used in the mining process".

This could lead to a world where you could be paid for watching ads online or on TV, in cryptocurrency. Microsoft's interest new patent would see the crypto mining activity replacing the "massive computation work" that is required by normal cryptocurrency systems. The data that is taken from the body activity, would be regarded as Proof of Work "therefore, a user can solve the computationally difficult problem unconsciously". Oh, that doesn't sound creepy at all.

One of the PlayStation 5's biggest goals is not to waste player's time, and the console's ultra-fast SSD and OS are the keys to making this happen.

Sony isn't just targeting speed with the PS5. It's also targeting access through control. Users will have more control than ever before to plot out their gameplay sessions on-the-fly rather than having to reserve a whole weekend to a specific game. The PS5 will be transparent about how long specific levels, activities, and more take to complete. The console's OS will apparently have on-screen interfaces that calculate average play times for certain in-game levels based on real-time data from players connected online. The idea is to let consumers jump into a game instantly, play a few levels, and then save their sessions without any headache.

This feature was outlined in a recent Sony patent, which effectively revolutionizes save states with a new instant access feature. This feature also includes on-screen estimates on playtime require for completing activities.

It appears the havoc that COVID-19 coronavirus is causing on the world is not limited to just forcing us all inside in a global lockdown, but it is wrecking havoc on the internet, too.

Major internet services like Netflix and YouTube are having to reduce the quality of their streaming resolutions to keep up with the massive uptick in demand, with hundreds of millions of people stuck inside their homes. But now, experts in European countries are predicting we'll see large-scale "internet rationing" that would prioritize things like health and emergency services, as well as online education over everything else.

Matthew Howett, principal analyst at Assembly, told The Telegraph: "If we end up in a situation where worldwide, 850m children start to receive lessons virtually for an extended period of time, then networks might want to start prioritizing video traffic over gaming traffic".

Doom Eternal has a built-in photo mode that lets you capture your ultra-grisly mayhem in a nice little scrapbook for later viewing.

Every game should have a photo mode, and damn are we glad Doom Eternal has one. I honestly didn't mess around with the photo mode too much before our review went live, but there's a big reason for that. You can't actually use the photo mode on a level until you've beaten it all the way through. This is pretty frustrating but I guess it's understandable. id probably wants your attention focused squarely on the business at hand--the brutal, bloody, and ultra-violent business of ripping apart demons.

The photo mode lets you change Doom Slayer's pose, his cosmetic skins, lets you adjust FOV and roll the camera while pulling out in a third-person view (you can actually force the game to run in third-person natively with console commands, but more on that later) and doing various zooms. You can access the photo mode by pressing the Right ALT button, but remember, you have to beat the level first before you can use it.

Classic console commands return in Doom Eternal, but they're not unlocked right away. We take a closer look at noclip to explore the glitchy otherworld of textures, lighting effects, and developer tricks found in Doom Eternal.

Like every Doom game, Doom Eternal lets gamers access a console prompt on PC. The difference is that most of Doom Eternal's commands are locked and require a workaround to access. We'll have a tutorial on that soon, but for now, let's take a look at one of best commands of all time: Noclip.

In our video we took a look at seven of the game's campaign levels including Nekravol, Urdak, Teras Nabad, Sentinel Prime, Doom Hunter Base, Super Gore Nest, and Icon of Sin. We stuck mostly to the beginning parts of the levels so there's a lot left out, but it's still a fascinating look at how games are held together. There's flat two-dimensional textures posted up in the far distance to simulate hulking statues, global illumination effects that shift as you roam through different cells, lots of half-loaded textures and visuals, and generally glitchy areas.

As stores, malls, stadiums, and pretty much everything else closes down across the globe to curb coronavirus spread, so too are Nintendo's hardware repair centers.

If your Switch gets broken during quarantine, then it'll stay broken unless you fix it yourself (don't try this unless you're really sure what you're doing). Nintendo announces that it's temporarily shut down its repair facilities in North America to protect its workers from the dire COVID-19 health crisis.

So what if you've already sent your Switch or JoyCons in to get repaired? Nintendo outlines one of two options. Either you'll get your hardware sent back to you, or Nintendo will store it in their warehouse facilities for safe keeping until the quarantine blows over. No one knows when that'll be, so you could be out of a Switch for a while.

AFL Evolution 2 is coming sooner than expected, and will now arrive a week early on April 16 on PS4 and Xbox One, Developer Wicked Witch confirms.

The Australian Football League needs a win right now. Like other sports leagues around the world, the AFL has suspended seasons amid the coronavirus outbreak. But we have some good news: Aussies will soon be able to make their own leagues when AFL Evolution 2 launches in April.

"As you know, the current COVID-19 pandemic has had a big impact on everyone and we all have to play a part in helping containment. We have been listening to your pleas for an earlier release for AFL Evolution 2 to help fill the current sporting void and have worked hard to try and make that happen," the developer said in a statement.

Fallout 76's massively ambitious new NPC-adding Wastelanders expansion won't release on April 7, and has been pushed back a week to April 14. This is the second time Wastelanders has been delayed.

Fallout 76's much-needed game-changing facelift is coming later than expected. Wastelanders, a free mega-expansion that adds human NPCs, factions, and singleplayer-like instanced areas, has been delayed seven days due to coronavirus disruption. The Steam release has also been delayed to April 14, too.

The issue is devs have to work from home and don't have direct access to each other, or certain tech in the offices. The health crisis has made it harder for Bethesda to not only develop the expansion, but also to test it out before it goes live. As we've seen from Fallout 76's rather drab launch in 2018, the game always needs as much testing as it can get.

Remember Segata Sanshiro? If you don't check this out. We'll wait. Back with us? The legendary ass-kicker is back to heckle you into playing SEGA 24/7. Well, kind of. In spirit anyway. Segata Sanshiro's real-life son is taking over the gi and is now SEGA Japan's new mascot.

There was nothing like Segata Sanshiro, and there's been nothing like him since. He was a total byproduct of the times, an extreme 90s mascot that'd just as soon Judo throw your 12 year old kid for not playing SEGA all day long. But Hiroshi Fujioka, the Kamen Rider actor who played Segata, is getting old these days. That's why his son, Maito Fujioka, is taking the lead.

SEGA revealed the new Segata Sanshiro successor as part of its huge 60th anniversary celebration. Maito Fujioka is a lot more...tame than his father and there's a lot of awkward weirdness in the reveal footage. But hey, it's Japan, and it's SEGA, so things are bound to get weird.