Since its mammoth purchase of Oculus Rift in 2014, Facebook has continued to invest in gaming and VR-focused companies. Its latest acquisition is BigBox VR, the studio behind popular VR game Population: One, as reported by The Verge.

Sometimes compared to Fortnite, Population: One has translated the battle royale genre into VR, though Facebook has also praised the game’s social elements in a blog post about the acquisition.

“POP: ONE stormed onto the VR scene just nine months ago and has consistently ranked as one the top-performing titles on the Oculus platform, bringing together up to 24 people at a time to connect, play, and compete in a virtual world,” Facebook Reality Labs’ Mike Verdu wrote. “While social is bringing players into POP: ONE, the quirky humor, continual updates, and pure fun of the environment keeps them coming back time and time again–we’ve even seen players scheduling time to meet in-game for a synchronous social experience.”

While it’s currently unclear what the acquisition will mean for Population: One, Verdu says that the team will be supported in continued updates and improvements for the game. “We’re excited to help BigBox VR grow and accelerate their vision for POPULATION: ONE as a state-of-the-art VR social gaming experience, as well as pursue future projects, with access to the resources and support of Facebook and Oculus Studios,” he said.

Population: One will continue to be available on both the Oculus Store and Steam.

The Facebook blog post says the company will continue to explore “investments in third-party content, AAA IP, hardware, and more,” after two years of studio acquisitions that included Beat Saber studio Beat Games, The Order: 1886 developer Ready at Dawn, Onward developer Downpour Interactive, and Spyro developer Sanzaru Games.

An expansion for Escape From Tarkov‘s Factory map is on the way, with the latest update from developer Battlestate Games showing the area’s new hammer-wielding Scav Boss. As one of the game’s oldest and smallest maps, the Factory is overdue for a rework, though the studio still hasn’t announced a date for its release.

A short YouTube video posted by Battlestate Games shows an update on the map rework, with a panning shot of the new factory, as well as a sneak peek at the boss and his massive sledgehammer. The video seems to confirm rumors that the map would be getting a new melee-focused Scav Boss.

In a recent interview quoted by Tarkov Reporter, Battlestate COO Nikita Buyanov said that the expansion has already been finished and playtested, with the team in the process of polishing the content now. He expects the expansion to release in the upcoming patch 12.11, which is due to release sometime this month, but still doesn’t have a specific release date.

Battlestate also recently revealed a new area called the Streets of Tarkov, which it labelled its most ambitious update yet. The Streets of Tarkov is also lacking a specific release date at the moment.

Nintendo closed its E3 2021 presentation with a fresh look at one of the most anticipated games in a long time: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s sequel. The new trailer showed off more of the game’s setting, gameplay, and tone, and it also confirmed a release window for the game: 2022. Though a specific date hasn’t been revealed, retailers clearly thought that was good enough for them to push their listings live, which means you can finally preorder Breath of the Wild’s sequel right now.

As thrilling as it is to see the sequel pop up at stores as a real, physical thing you can actually buy, it’s worth keeping in mind this game is still very far out–we don’t even know if it’s called Breath of the Wild 2. Right now, retailers have opened preorders for the game’s standard edition, which is priced at $60 USD. The Breath of the Wild sequel is sure to have some kind of collector’s edition, so if you’re the type to hold out for a special edition like that, it’s probably not worth snagging the standard edition just yet. But if the base game is all you want, you can secure your order today, if you’d like.

$60

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s sequel is finally up for preorder if you’re content with owning the standard edition–or just want to feel the thrill of preordering it this far out. Both Amazon and Best Buy have listings up, but no box art is available yet.

The new Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 gameplay trailer includes shots of Link up in the sky, reminiscent of Skyward Sword. And speaking of that game, Skyward Sword HD is out on Switch on July 16, so if you need something to tide you over while you wait for Breath of the Wild 2, you can go ahead and preorder Skyward Sword HD now.

In Fortnite Week 2, you’ll want to interact with a dead drop in Weeping Woods to earn 45,000 XP. This Week 2 challenge is another of those that is only visible while the Legendary Quest is active and is meant to relay more story details in the backdrop of the ever-popular battle royale game. Here’s where to find all three dead drop locations in Fortnite.

Fortnite Dead Drop Locations In Weeping Woods

For this challenge, you’ll of course need to head to Weeping Woods, either fresh off the Battle Bus or during your travels across Apollo. There are three different dead drops available in Week 2, but interacting with any one of them will complete your challenge. You’ll find dead drops in the following spots:

• near the north side of the bridge in the northeast section of Weeping Woods
• near the south side of the same bridge
• at the base of a tree near the river northwest of the largest cabin in the locale

Each week brings with it one challenge worth more than the rest. It’s always the first Legendary Quest, and in Season 7, it’s always worth 45,000 XP. The dead drop challenge is that special Quest this week, but you can catch up on all the Week 2 challenges for the full run of XP. As always, the Legendary Quests disappear each week when a new list of challenges drops, so you’ll want to be quick about those. The Epic Quests, meanwhile, can be completed at any time during the season, so you’ve got until mid-September to finish those off.

However, you may want to get them done sooner so you can level up, earn some Battle Stars, and be ready to unlock Superman when he arrives in the game later this summer. While you wait for him, you can also unlock other Battle Pass characters like Kymera, a customizable alien, Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty, and Sunny, the ska-dancing rocker who actually welcomes this season’s alien overlords. Speaking of those aliens, don’t forget to grab the Week 2 Alien Artifacts.

Another day, another chance to spend not too many rupees on something cool! We’ve got a little bit of everything for you: a Game & Watch preorder that’ll be gone in the blink of an eye, some great co-op on Xbox, and the most coveted Elden Ring since Sauron got his Etsy on.

Purchase Cheaply for PC

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Even with E3 2021 and all other video game showcases taking place largely online, folks can still get their hands on demos for 40 upcoming Xbox games.

ID@Xbox, the company’s indie game promotional and self-publishing program, has released its list of game demos that folks can download and play anytime between June 15 through June 21.

Highlights include:

• Tunic, the Zelda-inspired adventure starring a cute sword-wielding fox.

• Lake, where you play a woman escaping city life by taking over her dad’s old mail route and learns about how her hometown has changed.

• Sable, a gorgeous adventure game with an art style inspired by colorful Mobius art.

• Echo Generation, a voxel-style turn-based RPG with big Stranger Things vibes.

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You can find the full of available ID@Xbox game demos in the list below:

•     A Juggler’s Tale (kaleidoscube)

•     Antipole DX (Saturnine Games)

•     Arietta of Spirits (Third Spirit Games)

•     BattleCakes (Volcano Bean)

•     Black Book (Morteshka)

•     Button City (Subliminal)

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•     Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four (Elder Games)

•     Catlateral Damage: Remeowstered (Manekoware)

•     Clone Drone in the Danger Zone (Doborog)

•     Clouzy! (Tinymoon)

•     ConnecTank (YummyYummyTummy)

•     Death Trash (Crafting Legends)

•     Deathtrap Dungeon: The Golden Room (Good Gate Media)

•     Dreamers (PlaySys)

•     Echo Generation (Cococucumber)

•     Faraday Protocol (Red Koi Box)

•     Fractal Space (Haze Games)

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•     Get Packed: Fully Loaded (Coatsink)

•     Godstrike (Overpowered)

•     Justice Sucks: Recharged (Samurai Punk)

•     Lake (Gamious)

•     Lawn Mowing Simulator (Skyhook Games)

•     Mad Streets (Craftshop)

•     Mayhem Brawler (Hero Concept)

•     Paint the Town Red (South East Games)

•     Princess Farmer (Samobee Games)

•     Sable (Shedworks)

•     Sail Forth (David Evans Games)

•     Strings Theory (BeautifulBee)

•     Tanknarok (Polyblock Studio)

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•     Teacup (Smarto Club)

•     The Eternal Cylinder (ACE Team)

•     The Riftbreaker (EXOR Studios)

•     The Strange Story Of Brian Fisher: Chapter 2 (Intetic)

•     The Tale of Bistun (Black Cube Games)

•     Trigger Witch (Rainbite)

•     Tunic (Isometricorp)

•     Wreck Out (Four5Six)

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Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/indie lover for IGN.