Month: June 2020

If you want to add a little touch of the arcade experience to your living space, but you don’t quite have the room, or if you just have a counter-top crying out for a video game, I have great news. Best Buy currently has some of Arcade1up’s Countercade cabinets marked down 50% from their original price. That means you can invite Dig Dug into your home for just under a hundred bucks.

App users: Don’t see the deals below? Click here.

Arcade1up Cabinet Deals

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The Golden Tee cabinet is part of Best Buy’s deal of the day, so if you want it at that price, better grab it now. The Countercade cabinets aren’t part of a deal of the day promotion, but at 50% off I don’t imagine the deal will be around too long. But who knows? Well, I guess the people in charge of pricing things at Best Buy know.

Recently Arcade1up revealed four new upcoming cabinets: Ms. Pac-Man, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Big Buck Hunter and Marvel Pinball.

Oh, and it’s not too late to preorder the special edition Arcade1up NBA Jam cabinet with riser and stool.

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Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. Find him on Twitter @sethmacy.

Pokemon Sword and Shield’s DLC expansions, Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra, will feature level scaling, meaning Pokemon trainers of any level (who have reached the first Wild Area) can enjoy the new DLC content.

During our 30-minute hands-off preview of Pokemon Sword and Shield’s Isle of Armor DLC, we noticed that the first trainer battle were around level 60 – the same as the highest level Pokémon in the trainer’s party.

We asked Nintendo product marketing specialist Demetrius Boggs if this meant level scaling was in place, and he confirmed that Pokemon Sword and Shield’s Expansion Pass area’s trainers and wild Pokemon will in fact scale with your own Pokemon levels.

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Not only that, but these areas can be accessed as soon as you reach the Wild Area of Pokémon Sword and Shield, just a few hours into the games. So whether you’ve just started or have already completed every post-game activity and have a full party of level-100 Pokémon, both parts of the expansion pass–The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra–will match your Pokémon’s level.

As of now, we’re unsure whether the DLC areas will continue to scale with your level, or if the areas become locked to the level your Pokémon were when you first visit, but we will update this as soon as we hear back from the Pokémon Company.

Regardless, this is great news – anyone will be able to enjoy the Pokémon Sword and Shield Expansion Pass at an appropriate level regardless of how high or low level their Pokémon are. (Though we can’t comment on how difficult or easy this content will be.)

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The Isle of Armor expansion, which will be released on June 17, will send players to a tropical island and will allow them to make their way through a new Pokemon Battle Dojo. By training there with Master Mustard, all players will receive the new legendary Pokemon, Kubfu.

After players obtain Kubfu, they will be given a choice of either going to the Tower of Darkness or the Tower of Waters. Upon completion, Kubfu will evolve into Urshifu. If the Tower of Darkness was chosen, Urshifu will have the Single Strike style, and if the Tower of Waters is chosen, Urshifu will have the Rapid Strike Style.

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The Crown Tundra expansion, which is set to be released in Fall 2020, will take place in a snowy, icy tundra with mountains and will feature a ton of Legendary Pokemon, including Galarian forms of Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos.

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Casey DeFreitas is an editor at IGN. Talk Pokémon with her on Twitter at @ShinyCaseyD.

We first learned about the Pokemon Sword and Shield Expansion Pass back in January. Since then, we’ve been served a trickling of information about everything from new items to new legendary Pokémon. Finally, at the 11th hour, we’ve been treated to more than 30 minutes of uninterrupted gameplay from the beginning of The Isle of Armor DLC for Pokémon Sword.

There are two specific things I want to point out from my hands off demo. First, I noticed that the Pokémon in the first trainer battle were around level 60 – the same as the highest level Pokémon in the trainer’s party. Nintendo’s Demetrius Boggs told me that the new Pokémon expansion pass areas’ trainers and wild Pokémon scale with your own Pokémon’s levels.

Not only that, but these areas can be accessed as soon as you reach the Wild Area of Pokémon Sword and Shield, just a few hours into the games. So whether you’ve just started or have already completed every post-game activity and have a full party of level-100 Pokémon, both parts of the expansion pass, The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra, will match your Pokémon’s level.

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As of now, we’re unsure whether the DLC areas will continue to scale with your level, or if the areas become locked to the level your Pokémon were when you first visit, but we will update this as soon as we hear back from the Pokémon Company. Regardless, this is great news – anyone will be able to enjoy the Pokémon Sword and Shield expansion pass at an appropriate level regardless of how high or low level their Pokémon are. (Though I can’t comment on how difficult or easy this content will be.)

We already knew the Isle of Armor would at least include an additional wild area, but this demo confirmed that the entirety of the island is basically one big massive wild area, with many more diverse terrains than on the mainland. I saw coastal beaches, swampy marshes, lush forests, gloomy caves, and even deserts during my short tour. At many intervals during the story and upon entering new areas, the camera swept over each spot, creating a beautifying panoramic effect that highlighted the topography of the island. It also seems as though all of these areas can be explored as soon as you get to the island, without needing to progress the story, which leaves the pacing in the player’s hands.

Overall, each of these micro areas seemed to be a little more full with environmental touches like logs or trees than the mainland wild area was. I also saw Pokémon interact with their surroundings in ways I hadn’t before. For example, I saw a Pokémon on a tree branch in the forest. Though Nintendo couldn’t confirm how we could interact with this Pokémon, I assume it could be lured down from the tree by whistling at it – like you would lure flying Pokémon down from the sky in the base Pokémon Sword and Shield.

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I also saw a huge (and I mean massive!) Wailord in the water from the beach. I’m not sure whether this was a to-scale representation of an overworld Pokémon, or if it was part of the story or had some other purpose. Most likely, it was just a wild Pokémon in the overworld. I know that’s not that surprising, but seeing a giant Pokémon in the water brought me joy in that moment. Overall, I saw a large variety pack on this island, and I’m happy to report that a few of my personal favorites return.

I did ask if the large inclusion of old Pokémon previously unavailable in Pokémon Sword and Shield was in response to player feedback, but the Pokémon Company’s Elvin Gee said that The Isle of Armor expansion was already being developed before Pokémon Sword and Shield were released, so it seems as though it was always the plan, though he couldn’t be certain.

Of course, there was more to the demo than just a tour of the island and it’s myriad Pokémon. I also got to see the first 30 minutes of the story, which included introductions to Klara (in Sword) or Avery (in Shield); Mustard, a legendary Pokémon trainer who once trained Leon and will now train you; and other NPCs that call the Master Dojo on the Isle of Armor their home.

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Because this demo was for Pokémon Sword, the Poison–type Pokémon trainer (and our rival for this expansion) Klara greeted us upon arrival. She quickly outed herself as a self-interested mean girl type, but her antics were nevertheless amusing. After defeating her in a battle, she instructs you to not approach the dojo. However this is of course where you must go to progress the story…

Once inside the dojo, after a quick battle, you’re presented with a choice and the introduction of a move tutor that will accept Armorite Ore as payment. Then, Mustard explains that the dojo’s apprentices must complete three trials in order to earn the dojo’s sacred armor.

One of the challenges involves collecting Max Mushrooms, which are used to create the previously revealed Max Soup which unlocks the ability for a Pokémon to Gigantamax. Though I only saw a single different trial (one I can’t reveal just yet), it reminded me of the minigames you might encounter as part of Pokémon Sun and Moon’s Island Challenge, except perhaps less involved.

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It’s worth mentioning that I saw a mysterious Pokémon looking over the main character from the top of the dojo. Because of previous promotional materials for the DLC we know that this is Kubfu, a Fighting-type Legendary Pokémon that evolves into Urshifu. We know this Pokémon is an integral part of the story of The Isle of Armor DLC, and its evolution is dependent on which of the Towers of Two Fists you choose to face – the Tower of Darkness or the Tower of Waters.

I saw one of these pagoda-like towers on the coast of the island, but that’s as much of the story that I saw and can reveal now. Oh, except the customizable bikes. I didn’t see the menus for this, and Nintendo and the Pokémon Company couldn’t give me any additional information, but I saw two different bikes with different “trails” similar to the trails you unlock for your cars in Rocket League!

I loved exploring the Wild Area and catching a wide variety of new Pokémon in Pokémon Sword and Shield – in fact, it was one of my favorite new features. Considering that, the Isle of Armor DLC seems right up my alley. Though I do hope the story is robust on its own and doesn’t rely on Pokémon catching as a way to artificially pad its playtime too much. Then again, who doesn’t like catching Pokémon in new places?

For more about Pokémon Sword and Shield: Isle of Armor, check out even more details ahead of its June 17 release.

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Casey DeFreitas is an editor at IGN. Talk Pokémon with her on Twitter at @ShinyCaseyD.

Halo 3 is finally coming to PC this year through Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and now we’ve gotten our first look at what the gameplay looks like.

Developer 343 Industries’ community manager John Junyszek recently streamed the game’s multiplayer for five hours, and you can watch a replay through the Mixer embed below. Junyszek plays across a variety of maps and modes, so this is a great look at what Halo 3 will look like and perform on PC.

Be warned, there is some strong language in this video, so maybe use headphones if you’re in a public place. This stream is from Halo 3’s beta test, which is going on now for Halo Insiders. You can sign up to the Halo Insider program, but there are no guarantees you’ll be selected.

With the release on PC, Halo 3 is also getting full armor customization for the first time. You can see a work-in-progress version of the customization in the image that Junyszek shared below.

Halo 3 will be released on PC for everyone later this year, on Steam and the Windows Store. After that, Halo 3: ODST and its Firefight mode will come to PC in the Summer, and Halo 4 will complete the Collection at some point further down the road.

Halo 3 is the fourth game in The Master Chief Collection to come to PC, following the releases of Halo: Reach, Halo: Combat Evolved, and Halo 2 .

The next new Halo game is Halo Infinite, which releases as an Xbox Series X launch title this holiday. The game will also be available on Xbox One and PC.

GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.

Call of Duty‘s battle royale spin-off Warzone is always adding new and interesting game modes to keep its players engaged, but one of the problems with its variety is fitting all those modes in the game’s menu. Infinity Ward developer Joe Cecot has tweeted that a UI update is coming that will fix this issue in “the next big update,” in response to a fan’s complaint that the quads battle royale mode had been pushed into the playlist menu, as picked up by Charlie Intel.

With game modes often being moved around for temporary events, the menu is cluttered and hard to navigate. The upcoming update teased by Cecot will focus on visibility and making more room for the different modes.

Players also had questions about Plunder, which has temporarily been taken out of rotation to make space for new game modes like Rumble, but Cecot promised that it would be back shortly–adding that Plunder is “one of [his] favorite modes.”

Warzone just got a massive new update for Season 4, so it’s unclear when the next big update with this UI improvement will drop. Check out the Season 4 patch notes here.

Bomber Crew is getting a sequel–Space Crew has been announced as part of the Future Games Show, and it will, as the name suggests, take the action into space. The game will sport a similar pixel art-style to its predecessor, but now you’ll be working on a spaceship instead of a WWII fighter.

You’ll be able to customize your ship in terms of both its form and the weapons equipped to it, recruit unique team members, and deal with aliens when they board your ship. It looks a bit like FTL, but without the roguelike elements.

A trailer is below. The game is set to release on PC, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One in September 2020.

You’ll also be able to try out Space Crew later this week–the game is part of the Steam Summer Games Festival, and a demo will be available on its Steam page from June 16-22.

GameSpot did not review Bomber Squad, but the Switch version–which has the most reviews–has an average rating of 75 on GameSpot sister site Metacritic.

GameSpot has officially kicked off Play For All–a celebration of all things gaming. Join us as we bring you the summer’s hottest news, previews, interviews, features, and videos, as well as raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts and Black Lives Matter with the help of our friends from around the gaming world. Check out the Play For All schedule for more.