Month: November 2019

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

Buckle up: We’re now just a few weeks away from Black Friday. We’ve already seen Black Friday ads from retailers like Costco and Kohl’s, but Target is the first major retailer whose 2019 ad is packed with some seriously good game deals. Target’s ad features great deals on PS4, Xbox One, and PSVR, along with some truly stellar deals on games. In addition to gaming deals, Target will have big discounts on TVs, laptops, and other tech.

---

Target Black Friday 2019 Start and End Times

Target’s calling its slew of upcoming sales HoliDeals. The name mirrors Amazon’s ongoing sale, which is pretty humorous considering Amazon often copies Target’s promotions.

Target’s Black Friday sale starts Thanksgiving morning on its website and at 5 PM in stores. Stores will be open until 1 AM on Black Friday and then re-open at 7 AM. Most of Target’s Black Friday deals run through Saturday, November 30, while supplies last. Target RedCard holders and Circle members can get early access for some deals starting Wednesday, November 27.

The retailer will also have a preview event this weekend, November 8-9, that will include more than 100 doorbusters from the ad. The specific products eligible for the early sale haven’t been revealed, though.

Looking ahead even further, Target’s Cyber Monday sale will kick off Sunday, December 1 and run through Sunday, December 8.

Target’s Black Friday schedule

• November 8-9: Target’s two-day Black Friday preview event with early access deals (in-store and online)
• November 27: RedCard Early Access Sale runs all day, with select deals for Circle members available starting at 6 PM (online only)
• November 28-30: Black Friday deals and doorbusters available
  • Online deals become available starting Thanksgiving morning through November 30 while supplies last
  • See Black Friday store hours below
• December 1-8: Cyber Week deals available (online only)
• December 9: Green Monday sale

Target store hours

• Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28: 5 PM – 1 AM
• Black Friday, Nov. 29: 7 AM – Normal closing time
• Saturday, Nov. 30: Normal hours

You can browse the full catalogue of deals in Target’s Black Friday ad and check out some of our gaming, entertainment, and tech picks below.

---

Best video game deals

Target’s game deals are quite awesome and include the lowest prices we’ve seen on a number of first-party Nintendo Switch games. The following prices will be live November 28-30.

Nintendo Switch

PlayStation 4

Xbox One

---

Best PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch console deals

Target has a few incredible deals on PS4 and Xbox One consoles. There’s also a pretty wild PSVR bundle. The Nintendo Switch deal, meanwhile, is the same Mario Kart 8 Deluxe bundle from last Black Friday. Unsurprisingly, the Switch Lite isn’t on sale at Target.

PS4 Slim (1TB) with God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition, and The Last of Us Remastered | $200 ($300)

---

Xbox One S (1TB) with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and $40 Target gift card | $200 ($300)

---

Xbox One X (1TB) with Gears 5 and $40 Target gift card | $350 ($500)

---

PSVR bundle with five games (PlayStation Camera not included) | $200 ($300)

All PSVR bundles will be $100 off:

---

Nintendo Switch with free copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe | $300

---

Accessory deals

Target will have Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Switch controllers on sale for nice discounts on Black Friday.

DualShock 4 wireless controller | $40 ($60)

---

Xbox One wireless controller | $40 ($60)

---

Nintendo Switch Joy-Con (L/R) | $60 ($80)

---

TV deals

Target will have TVs from some of the most popular manufacturers on sale on Black Friday.

Samsung 65″ Smart 4K UHD HDR TV | $480 ($700)

More Black Friday TV deals:

---

Laptop deals

Target doesn’t have a ton of laptops to choose from on Black Friday, but there are a few good deals.

HP Omen 15.6″ gaming laptop | $900 ($1,150)

---

HP Pavilion 15.6″ gaming laptop | $600 ($820)

---

HP 11.6″ Chromebook | $100 ($200)

---

Miscellaneous tech deals

On top of all of the great deals on consoles, games, TVs, and laptops, Target will have sales on a variety of tech products, including headphones, tablets, smart devices, and more.

Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition 16GB with built-in stand | $60 ($100)

---

Google Home Smart Speaker and Google Assistant | $49 ($99)

---

Google Home Mini | $19 ($49)

---

Sony Noise-Canceling Bluetooth headphones | $90 ($200)

---

Razer BlackWidow gaming keyboard | $80 ($120)

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Some of the biggest developments in movie CGI over the past few years have been manipulating and recreating realistic human faces and bodies. The incredible mocap of the Planet of the Apes movies and the de-aging technology used in films such as Captain Marvel and The Irishman have truly pushed what is possible on-screen. But perhaps the most controversial use of new technology was in bringing the late Peter Cushing back to the screen for the 2016 Star Wars spin-off Rogue One. It’s now been reported that acting legend James Dean is set to join Cushing in making an unexpected return to theaters.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dean will “co-star” in the Vietnam War-era drama Finding Jack. Dean died in a car accident back in 1955 at the age of 24, but will be resurrected using CGI based on footage and photos of the icon. The movie is produced by Magic City Films, who recently secured the rights to use Dean’s image from his family.

The movie tells the story of a man who sets out to rescue some of the thousands of military dogs that were abandoned after the Vietnam War ended. Dean will appear in a supporting role, and the movie will be directed by Anton Ernst and Tati Golykh, with VFX houses Imagine Engine and MOI Worldwide handling the extensive effects work. The movie is set to start pre-production this month, but no release date has been announced yet.

Speaking to THR, Ernst said: “We searched high and low for the perfect character to portray the role of Rogan, which has some extreme complex character arcs, and after months of research, we decided on James Dean. We feel very honored that his family supports us and will take every precaution to ensure that his legacy as one of the most epic film stars to date is kept firmly intact. The family views this as his fourth movie, a movie he never got to make. We do not intend to let his fans down.”

Dean is best known for the movies Rebel Without a Cause and East of Eden. He was one of the biggest movie stars of the early ’50s, but was killed in September 1955 when he crashed his car while travelling to a racing event in California.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

The next expansion to World of Warcraft takes the game to a place that hasn’t been explored much before: the Shadowlands, Azeroth’s version of the afterlife. With little mentioned about the place in either lore or past games, Blizzard has been free to explore a whole new world, with its own rules and peoples, that are set to bring a bunch of new ideas to the long-running MMO.

As was discussed on stage at Blizzcon 2019, a big focus for Shadowlands is on enhancing player agency. Though the new expansion will have a fairly linear story that will carry you through its major locations and introduce you to its various factions, it’ll also include a lot of opportunities to make big choices. You’ll pick a faction to join, which will come with an endgame story to complete, and present you with decisions that factor into your look and gear loadouts.

As executive producer John Hight and senior game designer Johnny Cash explained in an interview with GameSpot, your entry into Shadowlands will first take you through its four major locations: Bastion, Maldraxxus, Ardenweald, and Revendreth. In each, you’ll meet a different Covenant–Shadowlands ruling groups–and talk with their leaders, while completing quests that give you a sense of who all these people and what they’re after.

“We wanted to have a good story arc [in Shadowlands],” Hight explained. “So this time we’re going to take you through each of the Covenants in linear fashion so that the story, and the conflict and the alliances that exist between the Covenants can be told. When we’ve given players the choice before to go to one zone or another–that’s cool, and those stories are kind of self-contained. I think we did a really great job of that, especially in [Battle for Azeroth]. But this, it’s important too, because these Covenants have been completely unknown. This is not something that’s covered in Warcraft lore. I think it’s important that we roll out for you and kind of serve up the interactions between each of them.”

Meeting each of the Covenants and learning what they’re all about also gears you up for a big choice you’ll make when you hit max level. At that point, you’ll be able to choose a Covenant to join, which will give you some specific cosmetic options for how you look, and new class-specific abilities that are unique to that Covenant.

Your choice in joining a Covenant also provides an end-game story campaign specific to that group, providing an incentive to make different decisions with alternate characters.

“While we’re not offering, specifically, new player races, we are looking at joining your Covenant as one of the game’s really major systems, that actually plays into both race and class,” Cash said. “When you’re going through the Shadowlands, like John was mentioning, on this big narrative journey, you’re getting exposed to each of them and you’re having an opportunity to play with their toys a bit to say, hey, if you join us, you’re going to get this and this as opposed to this and this, and so on. When you finally reached that choice moment, the goal is that players have a really deep understanding of, especially from a gameplay perspective, what they’re going to get. And of course, from there, they’re going to unlock all sorts of cosmetic upgrades, armor sets, and mounts, and all that sort of thing. Between those two things, you end up having that kind of secondary identity. You’re of course a warrior first and foremost, and maybe you’re a Tauren warrior or whatever it might be, but you’re also going to have the identity in Shadowlands as a Kyrian or whatever you choose.”

Apart from the Covenant you’ll gain in Shadowlands, you’ll also encounter the new Soulbind system. As Cash explained it, from a functional standpoint, Soulbinds are kind of like artifacts; you can equip one at a time for specific abilities. But they’re not just gear–Soulbinds are related to characters you encounter in Shadowlands.

“As you join a Covenant, you’re going to meet certain characters in that covenant that you’re going to help out in some way,” he said. “Maybe you save them from great peril or they save you from great peril, or you end up having a bond or a kinship. Those characters are going to, at some point inevitably, offer to engage in this ritual for you. This is something that all a soul races in the Shadowlands engage in called Soulbinding. It’s a kind of exactly what it sounds, this link, this powerful kind of ephemeral link between two souls. And so, when you engage in a soul bind with someone in the Shadowlands, you get some of their power and they get some of yours.”

Cash said you’ll have more than one Soulbind as you travel the Shadowlands, and you’ll be able to customize the abilities your Soulbinds bestow on you. That means you might have Soulbinds that are good for specific situations or activities that you can swap between.

Player agency is a big part of Torghast, Tower of the Damned, the new activity that’s part of Shadowlands’ spooky endgame zone, The Maw. Both the way you’ll fight through Torghast, and the rewards you’ll take away from it, are all about choices. The tower is an endless replayable activity where you work to get as far as you can, and it contains rogue-like elements like a layout that shift between runs and randomized power-ups you’ll earn as you play through. Though the slate of power-ups that pop up is out of your control, you’ll be able to choose between some options as you go, to guide your build.

Fighting through Torghast gives you more choices in the form of runes you’ll earn, which you’ll use to craft specific Legendary items.

“We know that people love loading in their Legendaries,” Hight said. “They told us after Legion, ‘Where are my Legendaries?’ They’re not Legendary weapons, but they are going to be Legendary pieces that you can equip–up to one, but you can build more than that and you can swap out. You’re going to have a lot of control over the aspects, the abilities that are on those Legendaries.”

From the sounds of things, Blizzard is looking to balance a linear, grand story feel in Shadowlands with lots of opportunities for players to define the expansion for themselves. We’ll have to wait until Shadowlands’ release, sometime in 2020, to find out just how well those two ideas will gel.

Disney+ is less than a week away from debuting, and there are a ton of movies and TV shows to watch on Day One. One of this year’s biggest Marvel movies, Avengers: Endgame, originally wasn’t going to hit the new streaming service until December, but that’s all changed now.

Endgame will be available to stream on Disney+ on Day One now. The news was tweeted out by the official account for the streaming service on Wednesday morning. The fourth Avengers movie arrives on November 12 in the US, Canada, and Netherlands. Australia and New Zealand will get it on November 19.

This brings the total of MCU movies available on Disney+ at launch to seven. And that’s in addition to all the Star Wars movies–including Force Awakens now–along with the new original series The Mandalorian, and Pixar movies and short films.

Marvel Cinematic Universe movies available on Day One:

• Ant-Man
• Avengers: Age of Ultron
• Avengers: Endgame
• Captain Marvel
• Iron Man
• Iron Man 3
• Thor: The Dark World

Disney+ arrives on November 12 in the US, Canada, and Netherlands.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.