Month: August 2019

Unlike other major stores, Best Buy didn’t try too hard to compete during Amazon Prime Day in July, but the retailer has followed up with a major sale of its own this weekend with some deals that are comparable to what we saw during Prime Day. As usual with Best Buy sales, the event focuses largely on general tech deals on things like TVs, computers, smart home devices, and more, but there are some solid game and console deals to be had this weekend as well.

The sale includes some first-party Switch games for $45-$50, which is pretty much the cheapest they get, so it’s a good time to pick up Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu if you’re interested in any of those games. Acclaimed PS4 exclusives like Marvel’s Spider-Man and God of War are also down to $20. There are a ton of gaming accessories on sale, with Xbox One wireless controllers for $20 off, refurbished Switch Joy-Cons for only $54, and a 64GB Switch memory card for $25.

Quick look: Best Buy’s best game deals

We’ve rounded up some of the best gaming deals that caught our eye in Best Buy’s sale below; plus, check out the best deals on smartwatches, tablets, and more from our friends over at CNET. The sale ends Sunday, so don’t wait too long if you see something you like.

See all deals at Best Buy

Marvel’s Spider-Man – PS4

$20 ($40)

Fight crime and swing through the streets of New York City in this acclaimed PS4 exclusive, which is on sale for only $20.

See at Best Buy

Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons (refurbished)

$54 ($80)

These Geek Squad-certified refurbished Joy-Cons come at a deep discount compared to their hefty list price of $80. You can get them on sale for just $54.

See at Best Buy

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Switch

$50 ($60)

The ultimate party game is on Nintendo Switch, including all the characters and tracks from the Wii U version, new vehicles, and more. It’s $10 off, selling for $50 at Best Buy right now.

See at Best Buy

SanDisk 64GB MicroSD Memory Card for Nintendo Switch

$25 ($50)

Running out of memory on your Nintendo Switch? This memory card has double the amount of storage that the console itself comes with, so you’ll have room to add plenty more games to your library.

See at Best Buy

Xbox One Wireless Controller (Phantom White)

$50 ($70)

Add a new wireless controller to your collection for $20 off. The special edition Phantom White controller is on sale for $50 (its list price is $70, but other colors are discounted, too.

See at Best Buy

WD 1TB My Passport Go Portable SSD + 64TB Flash Drive

$130 ($170)

This portable SSD is an excellent solution for storing and accessing files on the go, and it’s compatible with PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Mac.

See at Best Buy

Nintendo Switch console (refurbished)

$275 ($300)

If new releases like Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Wolfenstein: Youngblood are making you consider picking up a Switch, you can grab a Geek Squad-certified refurbished console at Best Buy for $25 off.

See at Best Buy

Acer Nitro 15.6″ Gaming Laptop

$580 ($800)

This budget laptop is even more appealing now that it’s on sale for $220 off–you can get it for $580 instead of $800 at Best Buy. With a 1920×1080 resolution, an Intel Core i5 processor, and Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card, this 15.6-inch Acer laptop is a great affordable option for those looking to get into PC gaming.

See at Best Buy

Toshiba TV and Xbox One S console with free copy of Madden NFL 20

Save $130

Best Buy is currently offering the Toshiba 43-inch 2160p 4K Fire TV in a bundle with the Xbox One S and a free digital copy of Madden NFL 20 (Xbox One), which just released August 2. The TV is $80 off, dropping its price to $250, and the Xbox One S bundles are each $65 off, dropping their price to $235 (you may not see the Xbox One discount until checkout). Just be sure to verify you see Madden 20 added during checkout–some of our editors didn’t see the digital code included at checkout, while others did.

See at Best Buy

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Pokemon Go‘s August Community Day takes place this weekend, but that isn’t the only event beginning in the game soon. Niantic has announced a new gift-themed event, which is set to kick off on Monday, August 5, and it’ll introduce yet another new Shiny Pokemon to the game.

From August 5-19, the number of gifts you can carry in your inventory will be increased to 20. Additionally, Niantic will be upping the number of gifts you can open each day to 30. Any Eggs you receive from these gifts will also only require 2 km to hatch, but the Pokemon that can appear from them are those that can normally be found in 7 km Eggs.

One such Pokemon is Bonsly, the baby form of Sudowoodo. Not only will you be able to hatch it from 2 km Eggs, you’ll also have a chance of hatching a Shiny Bonsly for the first time. You can’t tell what Pokemon will hatch from an Egg before you begin incubating it, so you’ll need to exchange a lot of gifts and hatch as many Eggs as you can if you’re hoping to add a Shiny Bonsly to your collection.

In the meantime, August’s Community Day takes place this Saturday, August 3. The featured Pokemon this time will be Ralts. Throughout the event, Ralts will spawn in the wild much more often than it normally does, and you’ll have a chance of encountering a Shiny Ralts for the first time. If you can evolve it into one of its final forms, Gardevoir or Gallade, up to an hour after the Community Day ends, the Pokemon will learn the event-exclusive move Synchronoise.

That’s not all that’s happening in Pokemon Go right now. Team Rocket recently invaded the game, and now they have even more kinds of Shadow Pokemon in tow. The Legendary Rayquaza also recently returned to Raid Battles. The Pokemon will be available again until September 2, and this time, you’ll have a chance to capture a Shiny Rayquaza.

When it comes to adapting a video game into a live-action adventure, it’s a tricky proposition. After all, you have to create something a mainstream audience can invest in while making sure fans of the source material are satisfied. Bargain bins are filled with examples of movies that missed the mark, but Showtime is betting it can right the wrongs of previous adaptations with its upcoming Halo TV show.

Speaking to press at the TCA press tour, Showtime Networks co-president Gary Levine revealed casting announcements for the character of Cortana, among others, and detailed how the show plans to appeal to fans of the Halo games. “The good news is we’ve been working very closely with 343 [Studios] through the entire development process,” he explained. “And they are there both as a resource to tell us stuff we don’t know and also to make sure we’re not violating anything big in the canon. So we’re doing this with total confidence that the fans are going to embrace what we’re doing.”

He also noted that while the graphic content of the show will be along the lines of what’s seen in other Showtime series–“PG-13,” as he put it–“violence is going to have consequence.” When it comes to a war between the USNC and the Covenant, that’s reassuring to hear.

The big question remains whether we’ll see Master Chief’s face on the new show, though. When GameSpot asked Levine about it a year ago, he teased Chief’s potential unmasking as “a key question and an important part of our series.”

While Levine still won’t reveal whether viewers will see the character’s face, American Gods alum Pablo Schreiber has been cast in the role. What that in mind, we asked what made the actor such a good fit for a potentially faceless part. “What I love about Pablo is he has the physicality to be a Spartan, to be Master Chief,” Levine explained. “But he is A: a great dramatic actor and B: he’s got such a twinkle in his eyes. [He’s] so good with wit and comedy. And we want the Master Chief to have that range. And Pablo brings the range.”

It’s still too early to tell, given that Halo doesn’t begin production until the fall. Our money’s on Chief taking off his mask to show viewers that “twinkle in his eyes,” though.

Halo is scheduled to debut on Showtime in 2021.

Disclosure: Showtime is owned by CBS, the parent company of GameSpot.

Indie studio Starsoft has revealed its first game, Savior, a platformer with very impressive, fluid-looking anmiation.

Savior is described as a 2D, action-adventure platformer where you will “dramatically change a vast open world [and] engage [with] a variety of opponents [using] strategic, precision melee combat.” The game has you controlling Sam, an adventurer caught in the middle of a cold war between The Chosen and The Fallen. It looks similar in style to classic ’80s and ’90s cinematic platformers like Another World and Prince of Persia, with elements of modern pixel-art platformers like Chasm and The Messenger thrown in for good measure.

“While you’ll need to gain wealth, power and allies; the central task of Savior is to rebuild the societies and world around you,” Starsoft wrote in a press release. “We’re building in sweeping, persistent visual changes to reinforce the idea that the player can, and does, change the world with their actions.”

Though no release date or platforms have been announced yet, Savior is available to wishlist on Steam, signalling it will arrive on PC at the very least.