December 2020 – Page 46

The Last Of Us Part II – Game Of The Year 2020 Nominee

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PS5 Made Scalpers A Lot Of Money, And This Report Tries To Determine Just How Much

Oh, scalpers. The bane of everybody’s lives, and one of the major forces behind next-generation console and PC hardware scarcity. Gamers this year were frustrated at not only the competitive process of getting a standard-priced console from retailers, but also the sky-high second-hand prices set by scalpers looking to make a profit.

So exactly how much did scalpers make off of this new set of hardware? Data engineer Michael Driscoll created an analysis that tried to answer the question (via Tom’s Hardware). He processed sold listings on eBay for PS5 and Xbox consoles, as well as AMD and Nvidia graphics cards, and recorded the median percentage of the manufacturer’s suggested price (MSRP) that a certain hardware type sold for since launch. Take note that he only pulled US listings, so it’s not a global resell market estimate.

To no one’s surprise, scalpers made a killing on the PS5, specifically the standard version. Since November, it has consistently sold for more than 250% of its suggested retail price. Considering a standard PS5 edition retails at $500, that means people were consistently paying above $1250 for a console. Driscoll commented, “Over 32,000 PS5s have been sold on eBay, resulting in scalpers netting $19 million in profits.” The disc-less edition sold above 125% MSRP and at a maximum of 200% MSRP, staying between $500 and $800.

Interestingly, Driscoll noted that the PS5 sold around 13% more units on the eBay resell market than the Xbox Series X and at an 18% higher cost. But if you were worried about scalpers’ profit margin from the Xbox next-gen consoles, don’t be. The Series X consistently sold above 140% MSRP–so more than $700–since launch date, and sold more than the Series S. In total, Driscoll estimates that scalpers made $9 million from Xbox Series X and Series S resells.

Concluding his analysis, Driscoll notes that scalpers made $82 million in sales and $39 million in profit since September from next-gen consoles, as well as new Nvidia and AMD hardware. Though not all the profits funneled into resellers’ pockets; eBay and PayPal took a cut of around $6.6 million and $2.4 million, respectively.

The reseller market is likely much larger, since people also sell items on Facebook Marketplace, Twitter DMs, and more informal platforms. Driscoll conservatively guesses that the real scalping market is at least 2-5x bigger. That means scalpers probably as a whole made a lot more on top of Driscoll’s eBay analysis.

Fortnite PC Players Are Getting A New Performance Mode

Fortnite got a big performance and visual boost for early adopters of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, but Epic Games wants to share the love with PC gamers as well. The studio behind the battle royale is adding a performance mode on December 15.

“We’re launching a new performance mode on all PCs that meet Fortnite’s minimum specifications,” reads a post on Epic Games’ official site. “Available in Alpha, Performance Mode will be selectable through the in-game settings menu and offers significant performance gains by trading out visual quality to lower memory usage and lighten the load on CPU and GPU.”

Due to the addition of Performance Mode, please note that the patch size of the upcoming v15.10 will be larger than normal on PC for players who have high resolution textures installed (approx. 23 GB).https://t.co/uY3JTQPZwQ

— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) December 14, 2020

Epic Games says that this new mode should help PC players, even those who run the game on the lowest settings possible, enjoy a smoother frame rate.

Players will need to opt in to the feature, which can be found in the game’s settings menu, starting on December 15. Epic also advised players to opt-out of using high resolution textures which can be found in the “Fortnite PC Settings Options” menu.

Epic Games has also started to offer in-game rewards for players who get their friends play Fortnite with them. The “Reboot a Friend” program is similar to other referral programs, granting a series of rewards the more matches you play with the lapsed players that you’ve brought back. Maybe they’ll want to come to see how much the game has changed–with characters like Kratos, Michonne from the Walking Dead, and Master Chief in the battle royale.

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Syfy Releases Trailer For Kooky Dramedy Mystery Resident Alien

Syfy has dropped a trailer for its upcoming series Resident Alien. It follows an alien who crash lands on our planet in Patience, Colorado and poses as Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle while he awaits a rescue after carrying out his mission to kill all humans. It’s actually a bit more complicated than that, as the alien gets sidelined after being roped into solving a local murder–meaning he must assimilate into his new world before destroying it. It’s hard to convey the humor that’s infused through the high-stakes tone the show trucks in, so see for yourself in the new clip below.

Due to premiere on January 27 on SyFy, the show is an adaptation of the Dark Horse comic series co-created by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse, which ran from 2012 through to 2018. The trailer looks promising and strikes a fun balance between humor and drama, which isn’t a shock given its star Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Rogue One), and the fact that the show is executive produced by Chris Sheridan (Family Guy). The show’s cast also includes Sara Tomko (Once Upon a Time), Corey Reynolds (The Closer), Alice Wetterlund (Silicon Valley), and Levi Fiehler (Mars).

A SyFy release further telegraphs the show’s emphasis on balancing comedy and drama, explaining Vanderspeigle’s struggle to assimilate sees him “wrestl[ing] with the moral dilemma of his mission and asking the big life questions like: ‘Are human beings worth saving?’ and ‘Why do they fold their pizza before eating it?'”

Based on the trailer, though, most of the show’s laughs will be mined from Tudyk’s pitch-perfect embodiment of an alien exerting great effort to seem not only normal, but human.

New To Netflix This Week: Chadwick Boseman’s Final Movie

We’re halfway through December, and the holidays are right around the corner. However, most people already have their holiday movies planned and want to know what else is coming to Netflix this week. Well, it’s an interesting lineup where you can watch Chadwick Boseman’s final film, a music documentary featuring Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and a few reality TV shows where people yell at each other for no reason at all.

On Friday, Boseman’s final performance comes to Netflix. In Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Boseman plays Levee, a trumpeter looking to make a name for himself in the music industry. Based on the play by August Wilson, the story also follows a recording session in Chicago during the 1920s where the Mother of Blues, Ma Rainey, is late to her own session as she battles with her music manager. Check out the trailer below.

Arriving on Tuesday is another round of Song Exploder. Based on the podcast of the same name, the series explores musicians and how they wrote some of their most influential songs. Season 1 featured Alicia Keys, Lin-Manuel Miranda, R.E.M., and Ty Dolla $ign. Season 2 features Dia Lipa discussing “Love Again,” The Killers exploring “When You Were Young,” Natalia Lafourcade explaining “Hasta La Raíz,” and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails breaking down one of the breakouts from The Downward Spiral, “Hurt,” which was also famously covered by Johnny Cash.

Below, you’ll find everything coming to Netflix this week, which obviously includes some Christmas movies as well. For more info on Netflix, check out what’s coming for the month of December.

New to Netflix the week of December 13:

December 14

Tiny Pretty Things (Trailer)
A California Christmas

December 15

Song Exploder: Volume 2
Black Ink Crew New York: Seasons 1 & 2
Teen Mom 2: Seasons 1 & 2
The Challenge: Seasons 10 & 13

December 16

The Ripper (Trailer)
How to Ruin Christmas: The Wedding
Anitta: Made in Honorio
Break it all: The History of Rock in Latin America
Lee Daniel’s The Butler
Nocturnal Animals

December 18

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Trailer)
Home for Christmas Season 2 (Trailer)
Guest House

Pokemon Sword And Shield Zarude Codes Are Being Sent Out

Codes for the Mythical Pokemon Zarude are now being distributed to Pokemon Sword and Shield players in the US. The codes are included as part of this month’s Pokemon Trainer Club newsletter, so if you signed up for that before the cutoff date last month, you should find the email waiting in your inbox.

Zarude is the new Mythical Pokemon featured in the series’ latest animated film, Pokemon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle. The Dark/Grass type is level 60, and it comes equipped with Leftovers and knows the moves Close Combat, Power Whip, Swagger, and Snarl.

To claim the Pokemon, you’ll need to fire up your copy of Sword or Shield and follow these steps:

Select Mystery Gift from the menu screen
Select Get with a Code/Password
Follow the prompts to connect online
Enter the code you received in your email

Although this is US players’ first chance to get Zarude, the Mythical Pokemon was distributed in several countries across Europe last month. If you missed it then, you’ll soon have another opportunity to snag the elusive Rogue Monkey. The Pokemon Company has announced it will likewise distribute Zarude codes to European players via the Pokemon Trainer Club newsletter. You’ll need to sign up for the newsletter by December 18 to receive a code. If you already have a Pokemon Trainer Club account, make sure you’re opted into marketing communications to receive the newsletter.

Zarude isn’t the only Mythical Pokemon up for grabs right now. All players who transfer a Pokemon from Go to Pokemon Home will receive a Melmetal that’s capable of Gigantamaxing as a free bonus. After you’ve made a transfer, you’ll find the Melmetal waiting in your gift box in Pokemon Home.

In other Pokemon news, a new Max Raid event is underway in Pokemon Sword and Shield. All December long, players will have a better chance of encountering certain Fire and Ice Pokemon–including Weavile, Turtonator, Kantonian Rapidash, and Gigantamax Lapras and Centiskorch–in Max Raid dens. February 2021 also marks the Pokemon series’ 25th anniversary, and The Pokemon Company has already started teasing an anniversary celebration of some sort.

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Netflix’s The Witcher Announced Mysterious Six Days Of Witchmas

Something new and weird is happening over on The Witcher Netflix series’ Twitter, which has recently sounded a clarion call for “the six days of Witchmas.” The thread–which you can see the beginning of below–indicates that starting December 15 and for the following six consecutive days, gifts (which are only referred to as “content”) will be given out a day after fans are given the opportunity to vote.

I come bearing an invitation to a special #Witchmas celebration!
You are cordially invited to the 6 DAYS OF WITCHMAS, a holiday feast where nobody has to mingle, and everybody receives a gift!

— The Witcher (@witchernetflix) December 14, 2020

It seems the account is putting a flare out to announce it will be holding a series of Twitter polls, which will allow fans to decide what new screenshots or other assets (video or sound clips, maybe?) will be “gifted” to fans through the same account. The event will end on December 21, so hopefully there will be some more clarity at the latest by then, if not sooner once it gets underway. In hindsight, this Twitter event was teased in a YouTube clip last month, but it all still raises more questions than answers at this early date.

Meanwhile, the series restarted production on The Witcher Season 2 back in August. Like many other series, it had to retool to accommodate COVID safety protocols. However, with all precautions honored, the series has had two pauses due to positive COVID-19 tests. What’s worse, star Henry Cavill has reportedly sustained a minor leg injury–and the production is continuing without him for the moment. Hopefully, in the end, the show will not have suffered for all these complications–and for all involved to still be safe.

Netflix has made it clear it wants to make The Witcher its next big franchise. There is already a live-action prequel series in the works taking place 1,200 years in the past called The Witcher: Blood Origin. Additionally, there is a The Witcher anime coming in the near future as well.

Here Are the Best PlayStation Gifts to Give this Year

Thanks to the launch of the PlayStation 5, Sony’s having a big holiday season. With a new console comes new games like Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Demon’s Souls, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Godfall, and many more, as well as a ton of new accessories, including a PS5 Media Remote and the PS5 HD camera.

However, not everyone wants to or is able to purchase a PS5. Luckily, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other awesome PlayStation gifts you can find for your loved ones. From the cheaper-priced PlayStation 4 to merchandise from some of the biggest games to fun little stocking stuffers, there are some great gift options for the video game lovers in your family.

We’ve gathered together some of the best PlayStation and PS5 gifts that you can purchase right now. From a PlayStation branded t-shirt or sweatshirt to a special edition The Last of Us Part II PlayStation Gold Wireless Headset to a God of War statue of Kratos to the PS5 itself, we’ve tried to include a bit of everything to make your holiday shopping just that much easier.