In 1998, if you wanted to watch Netflix, you had to rent a DVD then wait for the company to physically mail it to you. The service probably didn’t have exactly what you wanted, and you had to wait days to receive it. Still, it was ever-so-slightly more convenient than driving to the local “movie store” (we seriously called them that.) A few years later, the billion-dollar monolith Blockbuster was chasing Netflix’s crumbs. 

Anyone who remembers this seismic shift understands how important Xbox’s Game Pass service might be. The all-you-can-eat game buffet has many of the same qualities that helped Netflix on its meteoric rise. It represents a seismic change in the industry, it’s a great value, and it still feels incredibly futuristic. And in the still-technically-beta Project xCloud, now officially called Xbox Cloud Gaming, Microsoft’s subscription service also already has the streaming feature it took Netflix years to develop – and it’s included for free with a Game Pass Ultimate subscription. 

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But unlike Netflix, Xbox Cloud Gaming is entering a category already packed with heavyweight contenders. How does it stand up to services like GeForce Now, Rainway, Stadia, Shadow, PlayStation Now, and Amazon Luna?  

Xbox Cloud Gaming – Catalog and Interface

Xbox Cloud Gaming is currently available via a dedicated app on Android devices, as well as Windows 10 PCs and Apple devices via Microsoft Edge, Chrome, or Safari. While it started as a relatively limited service with minimal platform support, it’s quickly extended to a decent variety of platforms. Still, services like Stadia still have it beat with their support for TVs via Chromecast, while Rainway is available on practically everything. That said, Microsoft has plans for the service to come to TVs (sans Xbox) via a forthcoming streaming stick, as well as direct integration within smart TVs.

Xbox Cloud Gaming’s native mobile support is limited to Android due to business disputes between Apple and Microsoft, but we tested the service extensively on Apple devices thanks to browser support. While it still feels pretty rough – with audio and controller latency issues abound – it’s also amazing to see Master Chief on your iPhone. And while it’s not advertised on their website, using Edge, Chrome, and even Safari on Mac also worked, at least during our testing. This is pretty stunning functionality to leave off their marketing, and I can easily see this being one of the best use-cases there is for GamePass.

I’ve seen Xbox Cloud Gaming’s design – which lives inside the Xbox Game Pass app – a thousand times, in everything from Apple’s App Store to Amazon’s homepage. It’s a simple, well-designed page – there’s a rotating carousel of featured content at the top and lockers below. Those lockers designate recently played, recently added, popular games, and touchscreen-optimized games. It’s nothing fancy, and that’s a good thing. Within seconds, I could find what I was looking for and start a game.

The offerings themselves change often, but so far, there’s plenty to choose from. Near its original release, I counted 182 games. Now, there are 267 available to stream on Cloud Gaming, out of a total 385 available on Game Pass as a whole. There are some big-name games available like Doom Eternal, The Master Chief Collection, Halo 5, and Gears 5, and this list is growing impressively fast. Games like MLB The Show 21, Control, and Outriders have been added in the months since launch. Still, much of the catalog is composed of older hits and indies, many of which are relatively unknown. Xbox has promised a slew of first-party blockbusters all coming to Game Pass on the same day as their console release, but it’s not totally clear if all of these games will also be playable via Cloud Gaming. In other words, Game Pass (already) suffers from segmentation. 

That’s because the Game Pass catalog is split between PC, Console, and Cloud. Currently, PC-exclusive games are not available to stream (though it’s something Microsoft is working on), and up until recently the Console catalog was identical to the Cloud catalog. Months ago, I surmised that the libraries would eventually deviate, and it would end with the Cloud catalog having the worst selection of the three. Sadly, I was right on the money. Already games like FIFA 21, Dragon Quest Builders 2, and even Xbox-exclusive The Medium are absent from the cloud catalog. Still, the cloud offerings are nothing to scoff at, with a well-rounded list of games ranging from racing to horror.

Tapping a game in your recently played locker instantly launches it, while tapping a new game displays the product page, complete with screenshots, ESRB rating, and the ability to install it to your console or PC. On Android, once you’re inside the game, settings and options are sleekly hidden away. Tapping the screen brings a small overlay in the top left-hand corner of the screen, with a microscopic ellipses and an Xbox button. The Xbox button brings up the familiar Guide menu, allowing you to see Friends, start a party, accept invitations, or view your achievements. Tapping the ellipses brings up a Cloud Gaming-specific menu, allowing you to mute or unmute your microphone, supply feedback to Xbox, or quit the game. (Swiping twice from the top or bottom of the screen also allows you to leave the game as well.) 

However, on Windows 10 browsers and Apple devices, the Xbox and ellipses icons are always on-screen. Any modern iOS or iPadOS device makes the experience even worse by also including the swipe bar on-screen at all times. 

On mobile, Xbox Cloud Gaming deals with voice chat in a pretty smart way, letting you chat with friends using the microphone already on your phone. Unfortunately, without headphones, your friends and teammates will hear everything you hear, including their own voices. I found no way to turn off game audio while keeping my party chat on, which means the only practical way to play multiplayer games was with a headset. 

There’s a slew of games optimized for touchscreens. Many of these games are already on phones, but they’re far from “phone games.” There are games like Dead Cells, Slay the Spire, Streets of Rage 4, Hellblade, Minecraft Dungeons, and Tell Me Why. These games utilize on-screen touchpads that you can move, configure, and customize to whatever size phone you have. Doing so is a touch unintuitive, and the first time I loaded it up, several of the buttons were so far off the screen I had no idea they existed. But once I figured it out, I was able to play a few games without many problems besides the obvious ones: no tactile feedback, my fingers covering half the screen, and the general slipperiness of touchscreen gaming. Even so, it’s a viable way to log on for daily rewards or whatnot.

Xbox Cloud Gaming – Performance & Latency

Every streaming service review deserves a boilerplate disclaimer: When using Cloud Gaming (and every other game-streaming service), your internet connection is the single, mercilessly exacting determinant for how your experience will play out.

Suppose you’re in the middle of rural America with a poor internet connection. In that case, there’s really nothing you can do to achieve even a subpar cloud gaming experience, shy of buying a satellite and pointing it into your living room. But as 5G rolls out across the country, the required speeds will become available to more and more Americans. 

Xbox Cloud Gaming requires at least 10Mbps download speeds and recommends a 5GHz WiFi connection. At 940mbps down, my San Francisco internet connection was nearly 100 times faster than necessary. That kind of bandwidth isn’t typical though, even for San Francisco, so I also tried it using a slower (but still adequate) WiFi connection, as well as a connection much further from the router.

The good news is connections were all pretty stable. Once a game started, I never dropped it. But checking a text message, or upping the brightness, or anything that required me to leave the game often booted me to the loading screen. 

And unfortunately, loading takes a very long time – though it has improved greatly as the service has matured. For instance, several months ago, I measured that Halo 5 took 37 seconds to load. Today, it took just under 17 seconds.

Graphical fidelity and game size doesn’t seem to factor, with smaller (possibly less in-demand) games sometimes taking longer to load. Celeste took 20 seconds to load, while Slay the Spire took 25 seconds to load. Which is, again, a marked improvement from where it started. Celeste had taken 47 seconds when Cloud Gaming launched on Android phones, and Slay the Spire had clocked in at a whopping 52 seconds.

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Still, after years of scrolling and tapping apps at fever-pace, these are long waits to stare at your phone. And on some occasions, the loading screen just never resolved. I waited more than four minutes for Guacamelee 2 to open and more than six minutes to boot up Ori and the Blind Forest. Neither opened.

Quitting the game and restarting it wasn’t the silver bullet I’d hoped for, either. After quitting Ori, the next time I opened the game, it hung up on the loading screen again, then crashed to my home screen the following two times. Nothing about the service deterred me from it more than these will-they-won’t-they loading screens.

Once actually in-game, my experience playing was mixed. Over the last few months, I’ve played nearly every game I was interested in, including Forza, Halo 5, Ori and the Blind Forest (once I eventually got it working), the Master Chief Collection, and Absolver, among many, many more. On mobile, the controls always seemed to register relatively snappily. I’m used to a certain level of barely perceptible latency while streaming, but in some cases, even when the visuals started artifacting like a thirty-year-old jpeg, the game still seemed to recognize my inputs. At one point, with nothing but blocky smudges on-screen, I was able to aim a Spartan Laser in the right direction and secure a double kill.

Xbox knows this, and it’s licensed several phone-controller hybrids, including the Razer Kishi and Backbone One. I tested the Kishi and a Moga phone-clip that connects directly to your Xbox controller. With my 1,000 Mbps down connection, both of these control schemes were close to flawless, with no discernible latency when close to the router or hotspot. With a little distance, however, I could feel that almost negligible muddiness that comes with streaming games. Now and again, a small line would traverse down the screen, moving pixels ever so slightly to catch-up with the action.

I also had a slew of problems connecting next-gen controllers to Apple devices. With the 14.5 iOS update, Xbox Series controllers can now pair through bluetooth – but in practice, connecting to iOS devices can still be a little troublesome. These connection issues will surely be ironed out as Xbox Cloud gaming on iOS moves out of limited beta and Apple releases its own updates. But right now when paired with those awfully long load screens, I found setup to be most painful on iOS.

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While browser support is still in limited beta, it’s also worth pointing out that on Mac and Windows 10, I ran into a slew of problems. Audio and gameplay cut out was frequent, and at one point my computer stopped registering inputs from the controller. In many ways, your phone is the worst place to play these games due to the small screen and constant barrage of notifications that require your attention, so I’m eager to continue testing cloud gaming on browsers – especially as stability improvements continue to rollout. It’s also worth noting that a controller is required for playing via browser. Mouse and keyboard are not supported – even in the case of games that have a PC version – as it’s the console version that’s being streamed. 

Xbox Cloud Gaming – Bandwidth Usage

All game streaming services will eat through tons of data, but Xbox Cloud Gaming used a lot less data than we’ve come to expect. Unlike Stadia, which burned through 6.2GBs in 30 minutes of gameplay, we saw a much more reasonable 1.3GBs of data on Xbox’s service in that same time.

That’s because, unlike Stadia’s 4K target, until recently Xbox Cloud Gaming only aimed for a 720p resolution – but now has 1080p resolutions, with up to 60fps. That could be a bit of a disappointment for resolution aficionados, but your data cap will thank you. 

Warning: Spoilers for Episode 4 of Loki follow.

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The Loki series has taken Marvel fans across time and space, and in Episode 4, “The Nexus Event,” things seem to go somewhere altogether different. In the series’ first post-credits scene, Loki wakes up to find himself in a ravaged world that he first mistakes for Hel. Crumbling buildings, even a ruined Avengers tower, are scattered across the gray landscape.

The first person to greet him in this strange place is himself–or, more accurately, variants of himself we haven’t met before in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Could this be an entire world of Lokis? Or maybe home to all displaced variants? 

While two of these Lokis are very familiar to comic book fans, the other two are something of a wonderful puzzle. Let’s meet these new variants. 

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Classic Loki (Richard E. Grant Loki)

“Classic” Loki, as he’s listed in the credits, is the most recognizable of the bunch. He’s clad in yellow and green spandex and is the first to speak to the bewildered God of Mischief. (Also, Richard E. Grant is a brilliant stroke of casting genius for this surly Loki.)

This is the God of Evil that tormented Thor for most of the time since the character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962. He plagued not only his brother, but his machinations extended to Earth and the Avengers and Doctor Strange as well. Far more villainous than mischievous, this version of Loki served his role as the bringer of Ragnarok without the antihero qualities that the God of Mischief has adopted since. 

Classic Loki seems to be the most haggard of the bunch, with dirty clothes and a bag slung over a shoulder. Has he been on this crumbling world the longest? 

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Kid Loki (Jack Veal Loki)

We’ve obviously seen Lady Loki in the series in the form of Sylvie, and now it’s Kid Loki’s turn to make an appearance. In the comics, after the fall of Asgard, Loki was reborn on Earth as a young boy and a far more compassionate version of his previous self. This reborn God of Mischief was the first step on Loki’s path to chaos instead of pure villainy. He played an important role in the wide-ranging battle against the God of Fear during the Fear Itself comic event, using his iconic cunning to give Thor a fighting chance.

Kid Loki ultimately died at the hands of Classic Loki, so this mid-credits scene has some slightly awkward undertones. Jack Veal plays him on the show.

Boastful Loki (Deobai Oparei Loki)

The Loki on the left is credited as Boastful Loki and is played by Deobai Oparei. This displaced variant appears to be a combination of both the gods of mischief and thunder, holding a hammer of his own while donning the familiar costume of Loki. Is he a variant that perhaps proved worthy?

Loki has picked up Mjolnir in the comics before. In 2014’s mega event AXIS, heroes and villains had their personalities inverted due to a magic spell. Loki became a god of good. When it was time to face the evil Thor in Loki: Agent of Asgard #9, the former God of Mischief reached for Mjolnir in a desperate attempt to fight back—and was found worthy. But it didn’t last. When the spell was reversed, the two brothers returned to their former personalities, and Mjolnir fell from Loki’s hands.

 The God of Mischief would lift the hammer again in 2020’s Thor #4, but the rest of that story has yet to be told. It remains to be seen how much, if any, of this version of Loki will be part of Boastful Loki’s backstory.

Alligator Loki

Blink and you might miss it, but a reptile wearing a familiar crown is perched on Kid Loki’s lap. Do we know anything else about this variant? No. Are we obsessed with it already? Yes.

Thor was once turned into a frog–by Loki, obviously–and a frog version of Thor from another Earth served as a member of the Pet Avengers. (Don’t laugh. They defeated Thanos.) Alligator Loki might be a nod to the Frog of Thunder’s adventures in Thor #365, which involved snarling alligators in the sewers of New York. 

From the series’ trailers we know that the Vote Loki version of the Asgardian has yet to make his appearance. Who else might be waiting in Loki Limbo?

For more on the show, check out the Loki release schedule, find out if there are Loki post credits scenes each week, dig in on some Time Keepers theories, and get some back story on Sylvie Laufeyson, Sophia Di Martino’s Lady Loki Variant as well as our theories on Episode 4 and whether or not Loki is in love with Sylvie!

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Kelly Knox is a freelance entertainment writer who also contributes to StarWars.com, DCComics.com, Nerdist, and more. Follow her on Twitter at @kelly_knox to talk Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, and comics.

Be sure to check out our review of Netflix’s America: The Motion Picture right here. The film is currently available to stream on Netflix.

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Just in time for the 4th of July, Netflix’s awesomely erroneous animated adventure America: The Motion Picture has arrived to unleash an absolutely bonkers retelling of the Revolutionary War like you’ve never seen. Want to witness a chainsaw-armed George Washington team with a lightning-shooting Thomas Edison? Ready to behold Benedict Arnold turning into a werewolf and sinking his fangs into…Abe Lincoln? Well, yer gonna.

Written by Archer’s Dave Callaham and directed by Archer’s Matt Thompson, making his full-length animated feature debut, America: The Motion Picture is a swirl of action-packed insanity starring Channing Tatum, Will Forte, Jason Mantzoukas, Andy Samberg, Olivia Munn, and Simon Pegg. It’s an R-rated romp overflowing with common, and uncommon, misconceptions about our nation’s history. IGN spoke to both Thompson and Callaham about this star-studded project and their specific approach to crafting the craziness.

Firstly, and this might actually be the least of the film’s silly inaccuracies, the story hinges on George Washington being best buds with Abraham Lincoln, and it’s only slightly worrying that some folks either might already think this is true or will think it’s true after the movie. “There are many things in this movie that I think people might slightly accept,” Thompson laughed, “and one of my favorites — and Dave stuck with this a long time ago — is that I think people will believe that King James was in power when the colonists began to revolt. It was King George, but it’s awesome because it just kind of rolls right past you.”

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“My approach to writing,” Callaham added, “and luckily Matt joined me in his approach to the filmmaking, was no research. That was always the rule. The general approach for me on the writing side was that I was just going to write from the hip and when I need a bad guy it’s going to be the first thing that comes to mind. And that’s how you end up with a King James. And when you need the song, what’s the first American song that comes to mind? That would be ‘Free Bird’ for me.”

Thompson joyfully agreed, saying “If there was a SurveyMonkey for Americans that asked them what song they would want to make our American anthem, I bet ‘Free Bird’ would be very high on that list.”

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“It’s basically what Americans think of when they think of these moments,” Callaham continued. “And that’s why you have things like Vietnam and the Titanic — which is not necessarily a purely American thing — but just large-scale things that people are vaguely, probably familiar with but might not always know the context of.”

At one point, Thompson and Callaham toyed with the idea of bookending the film somehow, to explain why the story was being told in such a bonkers manner, but ultimately it just wasn’t funny to them. “We just wanted to tell a story and keep you encased in this world,” Thompson explained. “We just love the idea that right away George Washington is doing battle with his old friend Benedict Arnold, who just happens to be a werewolf, and just have you stay inside that moment and not question it. Or question why George Washington has arm chainsaws, for that matter.”

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Thompson did discover, however, that directing a full feature was way different from animated TV. “I thought I was just making three episodes of Archer back-to-back, in a way, and I was completely wrong,” he told IGN. “I really learned a lot from listening to (executive producers) [Phil] Lord and [Christopher] Miller specifically. They kept talking to me about how you really have to care about these main characters how you really have to root for them. And how it has to have heart and that people really want to see good people succeed. And a lot of the comedy I’ve made over the years involves someone punching someone else in the face and going ‘haha!’ But you have to root for these people, so it took me a long time to have these nice quieter moments where you follow the characters’ goals and you follow these characters’ hearts. And that heart helps sustain 90 minutes, because if you didn’t care about these characters you’d turn it off after 20 minutes because you couldn’t take the gag after gag after gag.”

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Speaking of those characters, America: The Motion Picture has a stellar lineup of voice talent, the first being Channing Tatum, who also served as an executive producer on the movie. And with Tatum in the lead, it made the casting process a little easier.

“So we’re not knocking on people’s doors saying ‘hey, we’ve got this movie where a giant Paul Bunyan fights a robot Big Ben,’ Thompson said. “No, we say we have a movie starring Channing Tatum and that’s when they’ll read your script and hopefully respond to it. Some of the folks are good friends of mine. Like, I’ve known Judy Greer, who plays Martha Washington, for a very long time. I’ve known Killer Mike for a good bit too. And there’s Jason Mantzoukas, who’s probably the funniest improv comic that I’ve ever met. But then we got other people like Bobby Moynihan, who brought just a lot of wonderful soul and silliness to Paul Revere. And Olivia Munn, who has a lot of great strength about her and we love that she always pushes back and never lets anybody get over on her.”

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“And through my friends at FX I got to meet Raoul Trujillo who is on the FX show Mayans, and Raoul really helped teach me how Geronimo should act and sound. I was extremely thankful for that. And to round it out we’ve got Simon Pegg and Andy Samberg as the bad guys. And Samberg is just chewing scenery. People don’t even know it’s Samberg in the movie because he’s doing such an affected voice. And then Simon Pegg is just doing this big deep growling voice that makes King James scary. He just killed it. There’s a lot of Emperor Palpatine to it.”

America: The Motion picture also contains more than its fair share of movie spoofs, from big properties like Star Wars and the Fast and the Furious franchise to smaller, niche offerings. “We both have the same sort of pop culture understanding that most people of our generation do,” Callaham said. “So there are Star Wars and Avengers references and so on, but also Matt and I both have certain strange things that we like. Like Harry and the Hendersons. That’s also why there’s a very elaborate Swordfish gag. It’s just whatever makes us laugh.”

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Netflix’s America: The Motion Picture is currently available to stream.

July is upon us and, admittedly, we’re going to be entering a slow period for releases. That said, now is the winter of your discount content. Franchises you should have ploughed through by now (but haven’t) can be secured for way less. Take advantage as you “work” from home. Escape to fantasy worlds far flung from our largely unimpressive reality!

Purchase Cheaply for PC

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Notable Sales for Nintendo Switch

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Exciting Offers for XO/XS

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Product Savings for PS4/PS5

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Spike Chunsoft has announced that 2019’s AI: The Somnium Files is getting a sequel called AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative. The game will release in Spring 2022 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

The story follows newly-appointed Special Agent Mizuki and her AI partner Aiba. Six years ago, the right half of a corpse was mysteriously discovered. But the left half was never found until six years later, when it appeared as a fresh corpse with no signs of decay. That implied that the victim had still been alive until recently. Mizuki and Aiba are now on the case to solve what are called the Half Body serial killings.

A collector’s edition was revealed as well, which includes the full game, a Good Smile POP UP Parade figure of Aiba standing at around 170mm, an artbook featuring art from series character designer Yusuke Kozaki, and an official soundtrack by returning composer Keisuke Ito, dubbed HARMOniOUS DISCORD. This edition will cost $119.95.

Interestingly, there are some discrepancies regarding whether the game is coming to the new generation of consoles. PlayStation also made an announcement on Twitter saying that it would also come to PS5, but it’s not clear if it is a native version or if it is referring to the PS4 game being backwards compatible with the system. Additionally, the game’s official website notes that it will also come to Xbox Series X.

Microsoft Flight Simulator was lauded as a stunning technical achievement when it launched last year, using innovative technology to functionally map the entire world. There was just one problem: a lot of people couldn’t actually play it, at least not with out some serious compromises.

With Microsoft Flight Simulator’s extremely heavy CPU load, even high-end PC owners rocking an RTX 3080 graphics card frequently struggled to hit 60fps. Mid-range setups fared far worse. If you didn’t have a really good processor, you were most likely out of luck, even if you had a powerful GPU.

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Close to a year later, Asobo is introducing some substantial updates to Microsoft Flight Simulator. In a livestream showcasing the forthcoming Sim Update 5, the development team did a compare and contrast between the two versions. The differences were striking. Where Sim Update 4 struggled to stay about 30fps with a 100 percent CPU load, Sim Update 5 hit a cool 60fps on Ultra Settings using real flying conditions — and all this on an i7-9700k rig with an RTX 2060 Super graphics card. Not too shabby.

“We have re-written a lot of the parts of the engine […] in order to get the maximum performance from the Sim and the minimum resources from memory,” said Sebastian Wloch, co-founder of Asobo Studio.

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On top of the improvements to the PC version, Asobo also revealed some of the specs for the Xbox Series X|S version of Microsoft Flight Simulator. The studio confirmed that Xbox Series X will run Microsoft Flight Simulator in 4K while Xbox Series X will render it in 1080p. Both consoles will run in 30fps on most TVs, though it will be possible to play with an unlocked framerate on variable refresh rate monitors.

We awarded Microsoft Flight Simulator a perfect score when it launched last year on PC, lauding it as “legitimately incredible.” It has since seen several updates and other improvements. Sim Update 5 is slated to launch July 27 — the same day as the Xbox Series X|S release.

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Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN.

Via new Steam listings, Square Enix released teaser images for the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster games. To put it politely, choices were made regarding the new font in the remastered games, and the internet largely thinks they were bad ones.

You can check out a few in-game screenshots below that we pulled from the Steam listings and judge for yourself. But Twitter user Patera Quetzal pretty much summed up the general feelings in a tidy meme.

Square Enix has struggled with its PC remasters of their classic pixel games in the past, and unsightly fonts aren’t a new issue for the devs. The original FFV port that’s due to be yanked soon and replaced by the remastered version was also criticized for its weird font choice as well as as well as a modernized graphical style that stripped the charm from the original characters designs.

Final Fantasy, FFII, and FFIII will be available on July 28. FFIV, FFV, and FFVI have unknown release dates, but will get released sometime in 2021.

You can buy the remastered games separately, or in a discounted FFI-IV bundle that gives 22% off all 12 items included. Final Fantasy, FFII, and FFIII are currently all discounted 20% off and can be purchased for $10 each.

The remastered versions of FFI to FFIV are currently not available on consoles, though hopefully Square Enix will consider porting their classic remastered FF games in the future. (There’s a free idea that will make you a lot of money, Square Enix. The people want the remastered bundle on the Switch!)

Though Prime Day just ended, the deals aren’t slowing down as we head into July, and as the US prepares for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, retailers are kicking their annual Fourth of July sales into high gear. Whether you’re planning for some outdoor fun or escaping the heat indoors, there are plenty of Fourth of July sales to take advantage of, from deals on tech and PC gear to furniture, mattresses, and even meal kits. The Fourth of July deals bonanza includes sales from major retailers like Best Buy and Walmart along with an eclectic mix of other stores, like eBay, Wayfair, and Newegg. For those shopping for Fourth of July laptop or computer deals, tech brands like HP and Lenovo are offering sales of their own, so it’s worth shopping all the July 4th deals while you can. Most sales run through this weekend and end on Monday. Here’s a quick look at some of the best Fourth of July deals and sales we’re seeing this year.

Fourth of July sales 2021

• Best Buy: Though its Fourth of July sale should kick off in full later this week, Best Buy is already discounting a range of appliances, from refrigerators to microwaves and more.
• Walmart: Walmart’s Fourth of July sale has an eclectic range of products, including deals on 4K TVs, smartwatches, Apple AirPods, and Chromebooks.
• eBay: The resale site is going all out with steep discounts on tech from Bose, Lenovo, Sony, LG, and more.
• Newegg: The PC parts retailer has its semi-annual clearance sale running during Fourth of July weekend.
• HP: The computer brand is slashing up to 58% off desktop PCs, monitors, laptops, and other peripherals.
• Lenovo: “Black Friday in July” is the theme of Lenovo’s holiday sale, with up to 62% off laptops for work and gaming, mice, and more.
• HyperX: Through July 4, HyperX gaming accessories, including keyboards and headsets, are on sale for up to 50% off.
• Casetify: From July 2-6, snag a new, customized iPhone case for 15% off with code 4JULY21.
• Whirlwind FX: From July 2-5, get an extra 20% off immersive RGB gaming keyboards and other PC peripherals with code FIREWORKS.
• Casper: Fourth of July mattress sales are a big thing. Right now, you can get up to 30% off mattress bundles; 15% off mattresses, pillows, and sheets; and 10% off everything else at Casper.
• Wayfair: The home and furniture store has a ton of items on deep discount. If you’re in the need for a new couch, TV stand, or any other furniture, check it out.
• Home Chef: If you’re not a big cook, meal kits making eating well a little easier. Until July 9, get $25 off your first four Home Chef boxes ($100 savings) with code FOURTH100.
• Home Depot: For all things home improvement, Home Depot has a massive Fourth of July sale on grills, tools, and more.
• Overstock: Furniture, mattresses, lamps, rugs–you name it, it’s on sale at Overstock for the Fourth of July.

Best Fourth of July game deals

Some of Prime Day’s best game deals are actually hanging around as we head into Fourth of July weekend, including the steepest discounts yet on next-gen titles like Demon’s Souls. Check out some of the best games on sale for PlayStation, Switch, and Xbox below. PC players should check out the Steam Summer Sale before it ends July 8, including the best Steam Summer Sale deals and cheap Steam games under $10.

• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (PS5) — $30 ($60)
• Biomutant (PS4, Xbox) — $50 ($60)
• Death Stranding (PS4) — $20 ($40)
• Demon’s Souls (PS5) — $50 ($70)
• Ghost of Tsushima (PS4) — $40 ($60)
• Immortals Fenyx Rising (Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox) — $25 ($60)
• It Takes Two (PS4, Xbox) — $30 ($40)
• Judgment (PS4) — $22 ($60)
• The Last of Us Part II (PS4) — $29 ($40)
• Little Nightmares II (PS4) — $25 ($30)
• Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (Switch) — $20 ($60)
• Monster Hunter Rise (Switch) — $50 ($60)
• Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate Edition (PS5, Xbox) — $40 ($50)
• The Nioh Collection (PS5) — $50 ($70)
• Outriders – Day One Edition (PS4) — $40 ($60)
• Resident Evil Village (PS5, PS4, Xbox) — $50 ($60)
• Sackboy: A Big Adventure (PS4) — $40 ($60)
• Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster (Switch, PS4) — $40 ($50)
• Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury (Switch) — $50 ($60)
• Watch Dogs Legion (PS5, PS4, Xbox) — $20 ($60)
• XCOM 2 Collection (Switch) — $15 ($50)
• Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Switch) — $38 ($60)

Best Fourth of July tech deals

If you’re looking for a new laptop or TV, there are plenty of great deals to choose from during Fourth of July sales. HP and Lenovo are both hosting sales featuring some solid laptops. You can save close to $500 on the Lenovo Yoga Y540 gaming laptop or $200 on the Lenovo Legion 5 gaming laptop. HP’s popular Pavilion line starts at $550 during the sale, and you can also save $100 on the HP Omen 27-inch gaming monitor. Walmart has a nice deal on a 65-inch LG 4K smart TV, dropping the price to only $697. Meanwhile, Best Buy has deals on Fire TVs, including a 50-inch Toshiba model that comes with a free Echo Dot. Check out the best tech deals for Fourth of July below. We’ll be adding additional deals to this list as more sales go live.

John Cena is using his pull as co-host of TBS game show Wipeout to have the cast and writer-director of The Suicide Squad appear on the obstacle-course series compete on August 1. Or, as writer-director James Gunn jokes about his upcoming Wipeout appearance in a newly released promo, “Well, John, we need that [Peacemaker] uniform back before you get slime on it or whatever it is you guys do here.”

For fans who have been psyched about the upcoming film adaptation of DC’s Suicide Squad hitting theaters and HBO Max on August 6, this surprise appearance will just be a nice splash of light-hearted fun a few days before. Of course, once The Suicide Squad is out, we can all go back to looking forward to Gunn’s work on a Peacemaker spin-off from that movie (expected on HBO Max in January 2022), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (releasing May 2023), and a Guardians Holiday Special (landing on Disney+ in late 2022).

Wipeout was a hit game show that originally aired on ABC from 2008 to 2014, with its claim to fame being that it put contestants through the “world’s largest” obstacle course. Recently rebooted back in April of this year, the show was quickly renewed for Season 2 in May. Cena co-hosts the series with Nicole Byer (Netflix’s Nailed It!) and model Camille Kostek.

Cena, when he isn’t busy hosting Wipeout or acting in TV and movies, has recently announced he’ll be returning to the WWE for more matches at some point, pending a cooperative schedule.