Month: December 2020

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

As is always the case with Christmas approaching, Valve has kicked off the latest winter sale on Steam. 2020’s edition features the usual array of discounts on thousands of games and DLC packs, making for an overwhelming selection to choose from. The Steam winter sale is live right now and runs until January 5 at 10 AM PT.

Make it through the standard server errors that are accompanying the sale’s launch and you’ll see it doesn’t have a corresponding minigame or anything terribly in-depth to it, as some past Steam sales have. That said, you’ll notice birds adorning the various hubs on the Steam store, and you can get “festive bird” stickers for use on Steam that celebrate various games. You can grab these from the Steam points shop.

But the real highlight of a Steam sale are the deals, and there is no shortage of them, including great new games released in 2020. Our Game of the Year, Half-Life: Alyx, is discounted to $45, although bear in mind you’ll need a VR headset in order to play it. Other GameSpot Game of the Year nominees are on sale, including Hades for $20, Yakuza: Like a Dragon for $45, and Spiritfarer for $22.49.

With Halo’s Master Chief Collection now complete on PC, you can pick it up for just $24, which works to about $4 per game–a real steal. Alternatively, you can buy its individual games for $6 a pop. Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete edition, the formerly PS4-exclusive open-world action game, is down to $40. Another ex-PS4 exclusive, Death Stranding, drops to $30.

Fall Guys may have fallen out of the zeitgeist compared to its launch, but it still makes for goofy fun and is down to $16. Another massively successful indie game from this year, Among Us, is $1 off, bringing its price to $4. Phasmophobia sees a small discount that takes it to $12.59, and Stardew Valley, fresh off update 1.5, is $10.

Doom Eternal was one of the year’s best shooters and can be had for just $19.79. No Man’s Sky, which has improved dramatically since its launch and continues to get substantial free updates, is down to $30. Monster Hunter World drops to $19.79, while its Iceborne expansion is down to $24.79. If The Mandalorian has put you in the mood for Star Wars, Jedi: Fallen Order is $24 and Star Wars: Squadrons is $24. Or if Cyberpunk 2077’s brand of cyberpunk isn’t doing it for you, Ghostrunner is down to $22.49.

Coinciding with this sale, voting is now live for the Steam Awards. You can vote for your picks in 10 different categories, including Game of the Year, from now until January 3 at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET. Winners to be announced on January 4 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET.

Read on for a look at more of the highlights from this year’s sale.

Steam Winter Sale Best Deals

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

The PlayStation Store has kicked off its annual Holiday Sale, and it features many of 2020’s most popular games, including PlayStation exclusives like The Last of Us Part II and Final Fantasy VII Remake. While most of the deals are on PS4 games, all of them are backwards-compatible with PS5, meaning you can potentially get benefits like faster loading times and higher frame rates or resolutions. Some of the recently released games, such as Ghost of Tsushima, even come with free performance upgrades for PS5. The Holiday Sale runs until January 9.

For new PlayStation owners, the sale is particularly great when it comes to exclusives. The three biggest PlayStation exclusives of the year are discounted to excellent prices. The Last of Us Part II is $30, Ghost of Tsushima is $40.19, and Final Fantasy VII Remake is $30. All three of those games were nominated for GameSpot’s game of the year. Another nominee, Persona 5 Royal, is down to $30, while our 2019 Game of the Year, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, is down to $39.

There are plenty of worthwhile discounts on third-party 2020 hits, too. A trio of recently released Ubisoft open-world games are on sale for great prices. Watch Dogs Legion is $30, Immortals Fenyx Rising (released just earlier this month) is $40.19, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is $45. Each of those games comes with a free PS5 upgrade. Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be getting a free PS5 upgrade, and you can get the PS4 version right now for $45, or the Yakuza Remastered Collection for $30.

First-person shooter fans can pick up two of the best entries in the genre of the year for their best prices yet. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s Cross-Gen bundle–which provides access to both the PS4 and PS5 versions of the game–is on sale for $55, down from $70. (Take note, the CoD deal, unlike others in this promotion, ends on January 5.) Meanwhile, Doom Eternal is discounted to $19.79. DLC is also included; Destiny’s new Beyond Light expansion with the season pass is down to $37.49 from $50, and Mortal Kombat 11’s Kombat Pack 2 down to $10.49 from $15.

There are dozens of games and pieces of DLC included in the sale. Below, you can find a roundup of some of the best deals in the sale.

PSN Holiday Sale Best Deals

• Ghost of Tsushima — $40.19
• Persona 5 Royal — $30
• Final Fantasy VII Remake — $30
• The Last of Us Part II — $30
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon — $45
• Yakuza Remastered Collection — $30
• Final Fantasy XIV: Complete Edition — $30
• Tetris Effect — $20
• Watch Dogs Legion — $30
• Immortals Fenyx Rising — $40.19
• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla — $45
• Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Cross-Gen Bundle — $55
• Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 — $30
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice — $39
• Doom Eternal — $19.79
• Destiny 2: Beyond Light + Season — $37.49
• Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath — $20
• Mortal Kombat 11 Kombat Pack 2 — $10.49
• Marvel’s Avengers — $35
• No Man’s Sky — $30
• The Division 2: Warlords of New York — $9
• Godfall — $52.49

Warner Bros. has released a trailer for The Little Things, a tense murder mystery that probably only needs the cast stated to sell people on it: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto. The film will be coming to theaters and streaming exclusively on HBO Max on January 29. Check out the new trailer below.

In The Little Things, Los Angeles Sheriff Department Jim Baxter (Malek) unofficially engages Kern County Deputy Sheriff Joe Deacon’s (Washington) help on tracking down a serial killer–who, based on the casting and trailer, is strongly implied to be Leto’s unnamed character.

However, the trailer also is shrewd enough to raise suspicion in other directions, like highlighting the fact that Deacon just so happens to be in Los Angeles on a quick evidence-gathering assignment at the time of the murders. The film’s synopsis hints at further tension, stating “as they track the killer, Baxter is unaware that the investigation is dredging up echoes of Deacon’s past, uncovering disturbing secrets that could threaten more than his case.”

The film’s cast also includes Natalie Morales (Battle of the Sexes), Terry Kinney (Mile 22, Billions), Chris Bauer (Sully, The Deuce), Joris Jarsky (Bad Blood), Isabel Arraiza (Pearson) and Michael Hyatt (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend). John Lee Hancock (Saving Mr. Banks, The Founder) directed the film from his own original screenplay.

Helping close out 2020 with a rare bit of closure, Hugh Jackman has been named the winner in an ongoing and over-the-top war against Ryan Reynolds in who could raise the most for charity. Since the competition began in November, Sam’s Club clocked purchases of Laughing Man coffee (which supports coffee farming communities) for Jackman and Aviation American Gin (which supports the SickKids Foundation) for Reynolds. According to a video tweeted by Reynolds–which he says he “quite literally” has “a legal obligation to post”–it has been announced that Jackman is the winner.

While, yes, the “war” was for a good cause, basically the video above is a long-burning fuse for a quick and pretty funny joke. Sam’s Club CEO Kath McLay gives the Australian actor a Skype call to congratulate him on emerging victorious, and then mentions she’s dreading calling Reynolds next to deliver the bad news.

Jackman won’t hear of it. Telling McLay she’s already done more than enough work, he offers to let Reynolds know the results. Then, a moment later, he’s calling Reynolds–who he has labeled “Bryan” on Skype–and this is his entire call: “You lost the Sam’s Club thing. I won. Everyone hates you. Bye!”

This is hardly the first fake feud the actors have engaged in. Earlier this year, they engaged in similar shenanigans for COVID-19 relief.

Coming To America was one of many hit movies that Eddie Murphy made in the 1980s, but it’s taken over 30 years for the sequel to arrive. Coming 2 America is set to hit Amazon Video in March, and the first teaser is here.

Murphy reprises his role as Akeem Joffer, the prince of the fictional African nation of Zamunda. When Akeem’s father King Jaffe informs him that Akeem has a son he never knew about, the prince must return to New York with his trusted friend Semmi to find him. It looks very funny, and as the trailer reveals, Murphy and Hall will play multiple characters once more, including the hilarious old barbershop men, who are somehow still alive three decades later. Check the trailer out below:

Coming 2 America also stars James Earl Jones as Jaffe, plus Wesley Snipes, Tracy Morgan, Leslie Jones, Jermaine Fowler, and KiKi Layne. It’s helmed by Craig Brewer, who previously directed Murphy in last year’s acclaimed Dolomite Is My Name. The film was originally set for a theatrical release this month but will now hit Prime Video on March 5.

In a recent interview with Complex, Hall spoke about what audiences can expect from Coming 2 America. “The story is great, and the way it’s been threaded from the first is really masterful,” he said. “What I love most is we didn’t lose the main agenda, the humor. It’s a funny f***ing movie, and I’m proud that we hit all those bumps and checked all those boxes. It does everything you need it to do, but it’s also funny, and I think people will love the additions to it. There are some surprises here that will surprise people who don’t get surprised.”

For more, check out GameSpot’s guide to the biggest movies to watch in 2021.

A new PS5 update adds alerts if the system detects that you may be accidentally running the last-gen version of a game that has an updated PS5 version. The update solves a confusing issue that fans have been hitting since the new console launched.

As noted by Twitter user Tidux and confirmed by GameSpot, starting the PS4 version of a game on your PS5 will now prompt a dialogue box. That alerts the user that they’re launching the last-gen version and allowing them to switch to the PS5 version instead.

When the console first launched, various cross-generation games would default to their PS4 versions, leaving users playing the older games on their shiny new hardware. Some even felt underwhelmed by the new console because the games didn’t look noticeably better, when they were accidentally looking at the PS4 versions. This update would appear to resolve that problem.

Still, the solution is slightly less elegant than Xbox Smart Delivery, which simply auto-detects which version is optimized for your hardware and downloads the correct one. Smart Delivery also lends itself to more hardware iteration, which Microsoft has hinted at by claiming this generation is simply called “Xbox.”

Previously you had to follow a series of steps to confirm you’re playing the correct version on PS5. That included going through an options menu next to the main game page and selecting the three dots icon to open a menu that would show you the platform explicitly.

Sony has branding to mark games that offer free cross-generation upgrades, including Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Sackboy: A Big Adventure. Third-parties are able to determine for themselves whether to offer free upgrades, but so far many of them are. Ubisoft is offering its entire fall catalogue with free upgrades, and EA is offering upgrades to its sports franchises through its duel entitlement program.