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When I purchased my Oculus Rift over two years ago, my first great adventures in the headset consisted mainly of instant classics like Superhot VR, Robo Recall, and Lone Echo. Immediately, I saw the potential in experiencing games from true first-person perspective rather than just controlling your character remotely. But I wanted more. Even as I longed for opportunities to go on adventures in virtual reality, I also equally longed for the depth and production value that I’d grown accustomed to throughout my lifetime of playing traditional games on PC and consoles. Having now spent 25 hours in Asgard’s Wrath from the beginning to the rolling of the credits, I’ve finally gotten the grand-scale VR adventure I waited so long for – and it’s been worth it.

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Warning: Spoilers for all of Breaking Bad follow…

With El Camino: A Breaking Bad movie premiering Friday, October 11 on Netflix, and acting as Breaking Bad’s new finale of sorts (if you don’t count the present-day scenes on Better Call Saul), we thought we’d recap a bit of honorable nogoodnik Jesse Pinkman’s history on the show.

After all, Aaron Paul’s critically-acclaimed character started out like this, in the pilot episode…

“I may wind up regretting this.”

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One of 2020’s most anticipated games, Cyberpunk 2077, had a big debut at PAX Australia today. Local publisher Bandai Namco showed off about an hour’s worth of gameplay, and in it, we saw a couple of new and interesting abilities.

The first of these was “Demon Software.” The player character, V, can use this ability to make an enemy attack itself. In the demo shown at PAX Aus, V used the ability targeted at an enemy’s arm, and then that arm attacked the rest of the enemy’s body. It was pretty wicked the way the enemy became possessed and then fought against itself.

One of the other Cyberpunk 2077 abilities shown during the demo was the Nano Wire. Players can use this wire to hack into or connect with other characters in Night City. Alternatively, the wire–which glows orange–can be used to slash and kill enemies.

The Cyberpunk 2077 demo shown at PAX Aus today was seemingly the same behind-closed-doors demo that was released during Gamescom in August. The demo, which was played live on stage by a CD Projekt Red developer, has not yet been released publicly. If history is any indication, that will happen at a later date.

PAX Aus runs October 11-13 in Melbourne, and GameSpot is on hand at the show all weekend to bring you news and further coverage. For more, check out a rundown of all the panels in the GameSpot Theatre.

Cyberpunk 2077 launches in April 2020 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The futuristic game also features movie star Keanu Reeves in a big role.

Dragon Age franchise writer David Gaider have the keynote address at PAX Australia today where he shared stories and interesting insights from his time at BioWare before leaving the company.

Gaider, who announced a brand-new game and studio at PAX Aus, started off by recalling his time with BioWare which started in 1999 when he was recruited by BioWare’s James Ohlen to work on Baldur’s Gate II. Gaider was working in hotel management at the time, and he initially turned down the job to work as a writer on Baldur’s Gate II. However, as fate would have it, the hotel he was working for at the time was acquired by a larger hotel chain, and as part of this, Gaider lost his job.

He called Ohlen to ask if the Baldur’s Gate II writing job was still available–and it was. It was a big job working on Baldur’s Gate II, as Gaider and his team wrote an astounding 1.2 million words for the game. After completing that game, Gaider wrote for Neverwinter Nights and the Star Wars game Knights of the Old Republic, which is one of the most highly regarded Star Wars video game stories. Gaider said during the panel that he’s proud that some of what he wrote for the game is Star Wars canon, along with the HK-47 Assassin Droid that went on to become a fan-favorite. He described HK-47 as a combination of C-3PO, Bender from Futurama, and the dog from the Canadian TV show The Littlest Hobo.

Also during the panel, Gaider spoke about how he became known as BioWare’s “romance guy” for the characters he wrote in Baldur’s Gate II and Neverwinter Nights. However, some female fans complained about the romance options in those older games, and to make better characters and romance options, Gaider and his team looked at various online forums, including “Ladies of Neverwinter,” to help improve things.

The conversation then shifted to Dragon Age, the franchise that Gaider is perhaps best known for. He was the lead writer on Dragon Age: Origins, and he said part of his guiding philosophy for the title was for it to steer clear of what Gaider saw as pitfalls from Dungeons & Dragons. Specifically, Gaider said it was important for him to writer the world such that it didn’t have the kind of all-power, unquestionable gods like in D&D. Gaider pointed out that “faith requires doubt,” and it was important to him to communicate this in Dragon Age.

Gaider also shared an interesting, if not completely new, story about how BioWare came up with the name of Dragon Age’s setting, Thedas. The team struggled to come with a name for the Dragon Age setting, so they called it “The DA Setting.” The shorthand became (The) (D)ragon (A)ge (S)etting. Later, in an editorial meeting, a writer asked if they could just call it “Thedas.” And that’s it–that’s how it happened.

Here are some other takeaways from Gaider’s keynote at PAX Aus today.

• People assuming Gaider is the reason why BioWare games have same-sex relationship options, but in fact, a separate team inside BioWare that made Jade Empire is responsible for making BioWare’s first same-sex relationships.
• Gaider said around the release of Dragon Age II is when the interaction with fans began to change, due in part to the access fans had to the team–it wasn’t always positive. Gaider remarked, “Maybe familiarity breeds contempt.”
• Some people thought BioWare focused too much on same-sex relationships at the expense of other content. “There should gave more much more focus on making sure us Straight Male Gamers were happy,” Gaider recalled someone saying.
• A Dragon Age II expansion called Exodus was canceled, and Gaider remarked, “I was devastated.” The idea, he remembers, was that BioWare would cancel the expansion to focus on making Dragon Age: Inquisition bigger and better.
• Dragon Age Inquisition was designed to be a “comeback” story for BioWare after Dragon Age II disappointed some fans. There were 850,000 words in the script.
• Gaider broke down and began to cry when discussing an Inquisition storyline he wrote involving Dorian that related to themes about gay conversion.
• He said this storyline, and the impact it had, proved to him the power of video games and their ability to communicate important, powerful, and impactful stories.
• Gaider worked on the world-creation elements of Anthem, but he ultimately moved on. “It just wasn’t the same for me; something was missing,” he said.

Gaider is now heading up the Melbourne studio Summerfall, which is working on a musical adventure game called Chorus. For lots more, check out GameSpot’s interview with Gaider.

PAX Aus runs October 11-13 in Melbourne. GameSpot will be at the show all weekend, and you can follow along with all the action from the GameSpot Theatre.

You’re in luck if you own both Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar Games announced that if you play GTA Online, you will get a free Halloween-themed item for Red Dead Online.

It’s as simple as that. Play GTA Online starting today, October 10, through December 12 and you will be rewarded with the Slaughter Mask in Red Dead Online. You aren’t required to play any missions or complete any tasks; just log in and the mask will appear in your Red Dead Online Camp’s wardrobe within 24 hours. The mask looks like a cross between Jason Voorhees’ hockey mask, Leatherface, and something a member of Slipknot would wear–and it’s perfect for the Halloween season.

Rockstar also revealed this week’s legendary bounty: former military sharpshooter Sergio Vincenza. He is said to be toying around in the fire tower at Roanoke Ridge. Turning him in nets you the Inglett Scarf in an exclusive colorway and 100 rounds of Express Rifle Ammo within 24 hours of completion.

After rumors began circulating, Rockstar officially confirmed that Red Dead Redemption 2 is headed to Google Stadia and PC next month. PC players will get a batch of new story mode content, as well as improved graphics. The game will arrive on various PC storefronts before making its way to Steam in December. Pre-orders for Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC are now live and include some awesome bonuses.