Month: January 2021

All the Best Nintendo Switch Deals at GameStop

Anyone on the lookout for Nintendo Switch deals at GameStop has come to the right place. This is where we’re tracking discounts on Switch games, accessories, consoles, and more each week at GameStop.

If you’re interested in other retailer’s offerings as well, be sure to hop over to our best Nintendo Switch deals mega-post. That’s where you’ll find Switch deals at GameStop, plus Amazon, Best Buy, and other video game-selling retailers.

Best Switch Game Deals at GameStop

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You can find GameStop’s weekly ad here. New deals go live each Sunday and last through Saturday. GameStop also offers other deals outside of the weekly sales. You can find the Deal of the Day and other discounts listed on the retailer’s broader deals page.

In general, GameStop isn’t as active in terms of Switch game deals as other retailers like Best Buy and Amazon. You’ll find the occasional discount, but at any given time only a small handful of games (from all consoles) is on sale. That said, when Switch games go on sale at GameStop, you’ll find them listed above.

Best Switch Accessory Deals at GameStop

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Nintendo Switch is great on its own, but a few carefully chosen accessories can make your experience even better. In many cases, the most useful accessories are extra controllers. Whether you want a new pair of Joy-Con or you prefer a more standard input like the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, you can find the occasional deal at GameStop.

Official Switch controllers are a bit pricy–Joy-Con retail for $79 and the Pro Controller is $69. Third-party controllers are readily available for Switch, and they go on sale more often. You’ll want to be a little careful if you go this route, though, as third-party controllers don’t generally feel as good in the hand as Nintendo’s own controllers.

Best Switch Storage Deals at GameStop

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The one issue that will eventually affect almost all Switch owners who buy digital games is that at some point or other you’ll run out of space. The Switch only comes with 32GB of storage, which you’ll burn through quickly if you buy big games on the Nintendo eShop.

The solution? Add a microSD card to your Switch. Prices have been falling sharply on these diminutive storage devices in recent years, so you can double, triple, quadruple, or add even more storage to your Switch for cheap.

GameStop doesn’t tend to drop prices on these as often as Best Buy or Amazon, but if they go on sale, this is where you’ll find them.

Best Nintendo Switch Online Deals at GameStop

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Nintendo Switch Online is Nintendo’s subscription service that lets you play Switch games online. It comes with a handful of other benefits as well. It lets you back up your save data in the cloud, gets you access to occasional special offers, and lets you play over 70 NES and SNES games. The standard price for single NSO subscriptions is $7.99 for three months or $19.99 for a year.

The included retro games aren’t all winners, but many of the most revered classics are represented. As for NES games, you can play the original Super Mario Bros. trilogy, Metroid, Tecmo Bowl, The Legend of Zelda, Dr. Mario, Double Dragon, and many more. For SNES, you get Super Mario World, Yoshi’s Island, Star Fox, Super Metroid, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Donkey Kong Country, and more. That’s a whole lot of nostalgia for some, and a great way to experience some of the most important video games in history for younger players.

If GameStop has any special offers on Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions, you’ll find them here.

Best Switch Console Deals at GameStop

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Don’t expect to find too many Switch console deals at GameStop, or anywhere else for that matter. The Switch has been selling like gangbusters since it launched, and that momentum shows no signs of slowing. Sometimes it can be difficult to even find a Switch in stock. With such strong sales, it’s no surprise that Nintendo and game-selling retailers haven’t shown much interest in offering discounts on Switch hardware.

The one time of year you can reliably find a deal on Switch hardware is during Black Friday. But instead of dropping the price outright, Nintendo generally releases a special bundle. The most recent Black Friday bundle included a Switch, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and three months of Nintendo Switch online for the standard price of a Switch alone ($299). Basically, if you need a deal on a Switch, you’ll probably have to wait for Black Friday.

That said, should any discounts appear at GameStop, you’ll find them above.

GameStop’s Free Shipping Threshold

When you make a purchase from GameStop, you can generally pick it up at a local store or have it shipped to your home. Shipping is free on orders of $35 or more.

What is GameStop Powerup Rewards Program?

Like Best Buy, GameStop offers a membership program that rewards you for shopping at GameStop. It’s called the GameStop Powerup Rewards program. You can sign up for it here.

There are two different tiers to the Powerup Rewards program. The free tier gets you a few benefits like reward points for each dollar spent and “a gift for your birthday.”

Unsurprisingly, the paid tier gets you more benefits. Powerup Rewards Pro members get more points per dollar spent, a subscription to GameInformer, as well as benefits like a $5 welcome certificate and a $5 monthly reward certificate. This tier costs either $14.99 or $19.99, depending on whether you want the magazine in physical or digital format.

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Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert at IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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Outriders Delayed to April, Demo Coming February

Square Enix and People Can Fly have announced that Outriders has been delayed to April, and that a demo featuring all classes will be made available in late February.

In a statement published to the Outriders Twitter account, the development team said “We have decided to move the release date of Outriders to April 1st 2021 (no joke!). We will spend this extra time fine tuning the game and focusing on delivering a fantastic play experience at launch.”

Before that, though, what sounds like a substantial demo will be made available on February 25th. The demo will include “the first few hours of the game with all four classes” that can be played in single player or co-operative modes. Any progress made with characters in this demo will be “seamless” in its migration from demo to the full game, should you wish to buy it.

“We believe it’s important that players get to experience a new IP like Outriders before release,” said the statement. “So that you can decide for yourselves whether the game is something you wish to pre-order, purchase, or play.”

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This is another delay for Outriders, which had previously been pushed back last October to February 2021, after originally being set for a Holiday 2020 launch. This new date puts it several months behind the original plan, but hopefully will mean Outriders launches in a good state.

The game itself feels like a mix of Diablo and Mass Effect, and our extensive preview coverage highlights some of its fun ideas, such as the Technomancer class and the escalating difficulty of its World Tiers. For more, check out our making of feature and how mods will affect your gameplay.

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Deals: Over 40% Off a PS Plus Membership (God of War, Persona 5, and More)

There are some good deals today for PlayStation gamers. For you PS4 and PS5 owners, get your next PS Plus membership for a steep discount. You’ll need it to play games online, and you’ll also be able to download a bunch of AAA titles for free. If you haven’t been able to get your hands on a PS5 Pulse headset, take a look at the SteelSeries Arctis 7p. It’s an arguably better sounding, better built headphone and it’s on sale for the first time ever. If you need to catch up on even more PS4 games, there are a bunch of Bandai Namco games that are discounted right now at the PlayStation Store.

1 Year of PS Plus Membership for $34.99

Use code: IGNPSN

Save over 40% off your next PS Plus subscription for the PS4 and PS5. You’ll need this membership to play online, but it also offers perks like exclusive discounts at the PlayStation Store. One of the best benefits is access to the PS Plus Collection, which includes games like God of War, Persona 5, The Last of Us Remastered, Days Gone, Final Fantasy XV, Mortal Kombat, Ratchet & Clank, and more.

SteelSeries Arctis 7P Wireless Gaming Headset for PS5 for $131.99

Member exclusive (it’s free to sign up)

The Arctis 7P is one of the newest headsets in the SteelSeries lineup and this is the first ever discount. It’s specifically designed for the PS5, but it also supports the PS4, PC, Android, and Switch. It’s fully compatible with the PS5’s Tempest 3D AudioTech and boasts up to 24-hour battery life, lossless 2.4GHz wireless audio, and a ClearCast bi-directional microphone. It connects via a USB Type-C dongle (hence why it’s also compatible with the Switch console).

Get Bandai Namco Games for up to 85% Off at the PlayStation Store

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More Deals for January 6

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More Video Game Deals

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Eric Song is IGN’s deal curator and spends roughly 1/4 of his income on stuff he posts. Check out his latest Daily Deals Article and subscribe to his IGN Deals Newsletter.

Cyberpunk 2077 Devs Refutes Development Rumors

CD Projekt Red took to Twitter to refute a post created by an alleged anonymous Cyberpunk 2077 developer. The post in question received a lot of attention on Cyberpunk 2077’s Reddit page, but was originally sourced from GameSpot’s sister site GameFAQs.

The post contained a lot of rumors, from update schedules to descriptions of what content was cut. It alleged that Cyberpunk 2077 would possibly receive a “No Man’s Sky style comeback,” and that the redone Cyberpunk 2077 would be finished in June 2021 with a “good chunk of code…getting scrapped and rewritten from scratch.” June’s update supposedly would sort out all the bugs found on all versions, and would bring back a lot of cut content.

Elaborating on the cut content, the writer told players that if they “see that you guys are asking for s*** to be put back into the game, we might actually make the game we intended back in 2018.” The writer alleged that there was a huge underground area that looked like “Malkavian/Nosferatu path on Vampire the Masquerade,” and stated that apartments with “Closed (locked) indications used to be lootable.”

The post also alleged censorship responsible for cutting more “edgy” scenes, like drug use with kids and priests and Hare Krishna side arcs. The writer expressed disappointment in the game’s version of Johnny and stated that the original Johnny took inspiration from David Hayter’s Solid Snake from the first Metal Gear Solid, as well as actor Cillian Murphy.

As for the real and confirmed update schedule, CD Projekt Red plans to release two big Cyberpunk 2077 patches, one each in January and February. In the meantime, the devs have released smaller patches like Patch 1.06 that removed the save-file limite on PC.

Now Playing: Cyberpunk 2077 Review

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Cobra Kai’s Ralph Macchio Reveals Truly Horrible Title Karate Kid Almost Had

The third season of Cobra Kai is streaming now on Netflix, which prompted an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon by star Ralph Macchio. While he was there to promote the new episodes of the series, he also dropped an interesting bombshell about the movie that started it all, The Karate Kid. Did you know that wasn’t the film’s original title?

While playing a game with Fallon, Macchio admitted that he originally hated the title The Karate Kid, thinking it was too hokey. But it’s worlds better than what the movie was originally going to be called. According to Macchio, director John G. Avildsen told him initially that the film was to be called East Meets West in West.

Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and the movie was renamed The Karate Kid, leading to the franchise we all know and love. Honestly, how would that title have worked for the sequels? Who is going to watch The Next East Meets West in West?

That wasn’t the only bit of trivia Macchio revealed in the segment, which you can watch above. Additionally, he revealed that in some international territories, the movie was titled The Moment of Truth. Meanwhile, Macchio said that other actors considered for his role of Daniel LaRusso were Charlie Sheen, Robert Downey Jr., and Nicolas Cage. Sit for a second and imagine The Karate Kid with Nicolas Cage. Someone should make that movie now.

To wrap up his appearance, Macchio played lawyer to present his case for why the iconic crane kick from the first Karate Kid film was a legal maneuver. We’re not going to argue with him.

The third season of Cobra Kai is streaming on Netflix now. After you watch it, check out our interviews with the producers about what’s next for Kreese, Johnny, and Daniel in Season 4.

Super Meat Boy Forever Review — Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop

Every aspect of Super Meat Boy Forever is frustrating in some way or another. It’s a runner, so you have to time your jumps and don’t have the liberty of setting yourself up perfectly before taking on a puzzle. And despite putting you on a treadmill, its levels demand incredible nuance and precision, which you’ll hone through failure after failure after failure. Super Meat Boy Forever will kick you in the teeth and expect you to stand back up, flash a bloody grin, and go after it again. And that’s exactly what happens. Though the jumps may be challenging, Forever’s incredibly precise controls give you all the tools you need to stick the landing. The runner format is different, but it opens the door for new and interesting types of complex puzzles that spawn new, captivating varieties of spectacular yell-and-throw-your-controller platforming.

Like in the real world, time has passed in the Meat Boy universe. Meat Boy and Bandage Girl, whom he saved in the original, have settled down and had a baby, Nugget. In Forever, Nugget is kidnapped, so Meat Boy and Bandage Girl go after her. (You can play as either one from the very beginning.) The story has no material effect on your gameplay, but the short cartoon cutscenes find ways to grab your attention all the same with a webtoony out-of-left-field story chock-full of references to video game canon, adorable woodland creatures, cuddly animals, and the adorable little Nugget, who often proves too adorable for even her captor to ignore.

Super Meat Boy Forever captured on PC
Super Meat Boy Forever captured on PC

The cutscenes are thus an entertaining reward for hard-earned progress. Following in the original Super Meat Boy’s footsteps, Forever lays out levels sprinkled with bottomless pits and buzzsaws that require quick thinking and quicker reflexes to escape. At the same time, it’s a very different game. Meat Boy or Bandage Girl constantly runs forward, and you simply control when they jump, slide, or punch. By necessity, the levels take on longer, more horizontally oriented shapes to accommodate the new system. Despite those changes, Forever still retains the essence of Super Meat Boy. Though automated movement theoretically seems like it would make the platforming less satisfying, since you aren’t in complete control, Forever’s challenge is just as captivating.

Forever’s finely tuned controls give you precise control and a wide range of motion even with only a couple of inputs. Even though you control all three moves with just one button and the left analog stick, there is incredible nuance to each one. Holding down the button will get you different sized jumps. You have to slide to hit enemies without jumping. Punching in mid-air extends your jump, and landing a punch in the air lets you do it again. It is not enough to press the right button at the right time; you have to be able to feel how far you’re going to jump based on how long you press. Exploring and internalizing your controls so that they’re second nature is a telltale sign of mastery in most platformers, but it’s a prerequisite in Forever.

You don’t need to push an analog stick to the right, but somehow that seems to make every little bit of the game less forgiving. Forcing you to move and react at the game’s pace rather than your own makes hopping simple gaps and traps requires precise timing. More complex combinations of obstacles feel like puzzles and, unlike in Super Meat Boy, you now have to solve them on the fly… or after dying a few dozen times. (Luckily, Forever only needs a second to reload after each death.) Make no mistake: Though levels generally operate from left to right, the path is not always straight through. Many levels have sections where you’ll need to jump back off a wall and double back within a room to find your way through the nightmare maze in front of you.

Forever’s worlds feature familiar themes, like a clear-cut forest and a broken-down hospital, each world has its own unique quirks–enemies and obstacles that add new complications to your path. For example, in the hospital you’ll find ghosts, which you’ll need to punch mid-jump three times, often consecutively. The ghosts are a problem–you can’t jump past one if you don’t hit it–but they also create opportunity. Since punching an enemy launches you forward and landing a punch resets the attack, the ghosts allow you to leap across long gaps or bypass traps. Every enemy and many of the traps feature some kind of “close a door, open a window” set of mechanics that encourage adaptation and make every hop feel like a calculated decision.

The precise pathing and tight puzzles feel all the more impressive when you take into account that the levels are procedurally generated on a playthrough-by-playthrough basis. Even after checking out multiple variations of the first world, I can’t say how the levels are remixed from save to save, but puzzles and pathways flow from one area to another without seams. The precision involved, particularly when you consider how demanding these levels can be, goes well beyond what I’ve come to expect from procedural level design in most games.

The seed code for reviewer Mike Epstein's playthrough
The seed code for reviewer Mike Epstein’s playthrough

The design is not without its hangups, however. In a couple of spots, I found that certain enemy mechanics were not so intuitive, making it hard for me to find the way forward. Without a specific, bespoke moment to demonstrate how they worked, the runner mechanic became a serious puzzle-solving liability. Though you’re frequently confronted with areas where you aren’t exactly sure exactly what buttons to push, the path from point A to point B is pretty clear. But when the signal isn’t clear, you can face a truly confounding moment, where it seems as if your constantly running character has run out of road. That can taint the competitive frustration that builds in you over the tough gameplay with anxious anger, and sour the whole game. These moments are few and far between–it happened twice in my playthrough–but the procedural element means it could happen to you more, or not at all.

If you can navigate through those less-than-stellar confusing bits, the vast majority of Super Meat Boy Forever feels like clear sailing. Upholding the spirit of Super Meat Boy, it is pure platforming at its most demanding and most thrilling. Forever feels simple because of its controls, but its tough-as-nails levels are perfectly complex, pulling you through and knocking you down with clever challenges. Like Meat Boy himself, the fun, frustration, and motivation never really stop. It builds and pushes you through until you press every button perfectly. You just keep playing and trying and dying until you’ve had enough. And when you’re finally finished, if you’ve really put everything you had into the game, you might even feel a little runner’s high.

EA Is Revealing A New Sims Content Pack Next Week

EA is teasing new Sims content on Twitter. The studio will reveal the first 2021 content pack for the hit simulation game on January 12.

EA posted a GIF of a Sims character surrounded by ghosts on Twitter. Players believe that the pack will include more content for ghosts, or Sims who have died.

This is a “stuff pack,” or a downloadable pack that adds more objects and fashion items. There aren’t any gameplay features in stuff packs as they are “smaller packs,” according to EA. Expansion packs add more substance to the game with new systems and gameplay elements. Previous stuff packs include items based around laundry day, tiny living, and a first pet.

The most recent expansion pack, Snowy Escape, launched in November. It included things like snowboarding, rock climbing, and sledding.

The Sims 4 received a minor update for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S back in November. Players using new consoles should see improved load times and smoother frame rate. The Sims 4 also won the “Sit Back And Relax” Award during the 2020 Steam Awards.

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Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 12 Breakdown & References – “There Is A Tide”

In Star Trek Discovery Season 3, Episode 12, Osyraa stages a fake attack on the Discovery as it approaches Federation HQ so that Starfleet will let them in without use of comms. It works, and Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) doesn’t realize it until it’s too late. As shields go down to let Discovery in, Book and Burnham crash their way into Discovery’s shuttle bay. They devise a plan to have Burnham search for Stamets undetected.

Meanwhile, the Discovery’s bridge crew and Ryn are being held captive in the ready room. Zareh returns after being left to survive in the ice back in episode 2. Book gets captured by Zareh and is placed with the bridge crew and Ryn, and together they must figure out a way to take back the ship and its operating system. Osyraa enlists Aurellio (Kenneth Mitchell), one of the greatest scientists in three sectors, to figure out how the Spore Drive works on Discovery.

One Of Halo’s Most Beloved Modes Has Returned To The Master Chief Collection

Halo: The Master Chief Collection has brought back one of the Halo franchise’s most famous modes: Grifball. Available now in The Master Chief Collection, Grifball is one of the zaniest and most enjoyable/frustrating modes across all of Halo.

For those just catching up, Grifball is a non-traditional team-based multiplayer mode where players are equipped with a gravity hammer and energy sword and must try to plant and detonate a bomb. Things rarely go to plan, and the mode often leads to some white-knuckle action and excitement.

Developer 343 often rotates multiplayer modes in Halo: MCC to keep things fresh and to avoid having too many playlists online at the same time to benefit the overall experience. But with Grifball being such an iconic mode that is super fun and lighthearted, many are wondering why it’s not a permanent fixture in the game.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection includes all the mainline Halo games, from Halo: Reach to Halo 4. Players have been asking for Halo 5 to be added to the compilation, but that won’t happen. Halo: MCC originally released on Xbox One back in 2014, and it had a terrible launch. However, 343 committed to fixing the game, and it is indeed in a very good state these days, with 4K/120FPS support on Xbox Series X.

Halo: MCC is also available on PC. Each game rolled out individually, with Halo 4 rounding out the pack when it was released in November 2020.

The next Halo game is Halo Infinite, which is launching in Fall 2021 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The multiplayer element of the game will be completely free-to-play.

Now Playing: Free Halo Multiplayer Is Such A Smart Move

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Hitman 3 Will Give Players Special Shortcuts Through Levels

Hitman 3 is bringing a new shortcut feature to the third-person stealth shooter. “Persistent shortcuts” will reward players for exploring the sequel’s various maps by unlocking permanent shortcuts that give players new ways to approach their assassinations.

These shortcuts are only available by searching for hidden secrets in levels–players will find things like unlockable ladders that’ll open up new pathways they’ll be able to use in future playthroughs. Each shortcut can only be unlocked from one side, so it’ll take some investigative work to find out how to access them.

Game Informer showcased one of these shortcuts from the Dubai level of Hitman 3 in a short video.

IO Interactive hopes this will encourage experimentation, exploration, and replayability for Hitman 3 when it launches on PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PS5, and PS4 on January 20. It’s also coming to the Nintendo Switch through cloud gaming. It’ll be an Epic Games Store timed exclusive on PC.

You can check out the first cinematic for Hitman 3, the final game in the new Hitman trilogy, ahead of its launch this month. You may want to finish the first two games if you haven’t already. This trailer will spoil some of the story from those games. Levels from the first two games will be playable in Hitman 3 as well.

Now Playing: HITMAN 3 – “Introducing Hitman” Gameplay Trailer

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