Author: Trafficblast

Today you can save big on the latest generation Apple AirPods, Apple iPad Pro, and Apple Watches. If you’re Android-inclined, the new Samsung Galaxy Z phones with folding displays and the latest Samsung Galaxy smartwatches are up for preorder. Other deals include the lowest price we’ve ever seen for an RTX 3070 equipped gaming laptop, the best SSD upgrade for your PS5 console, a new price drop on an Arcade1Up Ms PAC-MAN cabinet, and more.

Preorder New Samsung Galaxy Phones & Watches

The newest generation of Samsung Galaxy Z smartphones are up for preorder. Unlike the traditional Galaxy S and Note, the Galaxy Flip phones feature screens that can be folded closed in typical clamshell fashion. The most impressive feat is that there is no bezel at the hinge; the screen itself folds in. These are the 3rd generation models and there are plenty of improvements over the previous generation including a better display and more powerful processor, but the best news is that the newest generation is actually less expensive. You can read more about all the new gadgets announced in Samsung’s Unpacked event.

Apple AirPods Pro Noise-Cancelling Earbuds

If you regret not picking the Airpods Pro up on Amazon Prime Day at 24% off, here’s your chance to get it today at the same price. The AirPods Pro is considered one of the best truly wireless noise-cancelling in-ear headphones you can get, especially for under $200.

Apple iPad Pro 11″, 12.9″ and Apple Pencil

Save $100 off the latest and most powerful iPad Pros on the market. Both 2021 iPad Pro models feature the powerful Apple M1 chip, which is significantly more powerful than any of the previous processors, and Liquid Retina displays with ProMotion, True Tone, and P3 wide color. The 12.9″ model goes one step further by utilizing an XDR Mini LED display that makes it the best screen of any phone or tablet on the market. The Apple Pencil (2nd generation) is compatible with both of these models and is currently $30 off.

Price Drops on Apple Watch Series 6

All Apple Watch Series 6 models have been discounted. The biggest discounts are limited to the (PRODUCT) Red version, but other color options have also dropped in price as well. The Apple Watch Series 6 boasts an always-on display with up to 2.5X brightness compared to previous models, an upgraded S6 processor, and some new health-related features like an always-on altimeter and blood oxygen monitoring.

Back in Stock (Including 1TB Model): WD Black SN850 M.2 SSD with Heatsink

The Western Digital official storefront has all models of the SN850 SSD with heatsink in stock right now, and that includes the extremely hard to find 1TB model. This is currently the most popular (and probably the best) SSD to get for your PS5 storage upgrade. It’s blazing fast drive with transfer speeds rated at up to 7,000 MB/s and a PCIe Gen4 interface and it comes preinstalled with a heatsink. It’s also confirmed by Western Digital themselves to be compatible with the PS5.

The Least Expensive RTX 3070 Gaming Laptop

Thus far this is the cheapest RTX 3070 laptop we’ve seen on the market, ever. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card performs almost as well as the previous generation’s RTX 2080, which means it can drive any game on the 1080p display without a hiccup. That’s really impressive considering most $1350 laptops are equipped with with an RTX 3060 or less. You also get the newest AMD Ryzen 7 processor and plenty of RAM and SSD storage.

Big Price Drops on Oculus Quest 2 Accessories

The Oculus Quest 2 is going to be more attractive than ever before. There is a new 128GB model that is going to be released very soon that will replace the 64GB model for the exact same price; that’s double the storage for no extra charge. In anticipation, Walmart has lowered the prices on the most popular official Quest 2 accessories. These aren’t minor discounts, either. Save up to 25% off accessories that have rarely been discounted.

Sign up for AT&T Gigabit Fiber Internet for $60/mo

Sign up for the gigabit plan and you get $20 off your first year. That means you pay $60/mo instead of $80/mo. You’ll get access to blazing fast gigabit speeds (both downstream and upstream) with no data cap. As a bonus, you’ll also get a free 1 year subscription to HBO Max. That means you’ll be able to watch Space Jam: Legacy and the upcoming Suicide Squad 2 movies absolutely free. I personally am subscribed to AT&T Fiber and would never dream of going back to my slower and more expensive cable internet.

Alienware Aurora R12 RTX 3060 Gaming PC

You’d be hard pressed to find another prebuilt desktop PC with RTX 3060 video card at this price from any vendor, let alone from Alienware. This is an outstanding deal for a very capable gaming PC. The RTX 3060 performs on par with the previous generation’s RTX 2070. It runs circles around the GTX 1660 Ti, which is the card you’d most likely find in a gaming PC at this price range. This deal is part of Dell’s 48-hour sale and will expire soon.

Alienware m15 R6 RTX 3060 Gaming Laptop

This is the lowest price we’ve seen so far for an Alienware laptop equipped with an RTX 3060 video card. Released in May, the “R6” is the newest 2021 revision of the ever popular Alienware m15 laptop featuring the new Intel Tiger-Lake CPU and the Geforce RTX 30 series video card. The RTX 3060 is more powerful than the previous generation’s RTX 2070. It’s powerful enough to easily handle just about any game at 1080p, the screen’s native resolution. This deal is also part of Dell’s 48-hour sale and will expire soon.

Arcade1Up Ms Pac-Man Arcade Cabinet

Save 22% off the rarely discounted Ms Pacman arcade cabinet from Arcade1Up. This is a 3:4 scale replica that measures 4 feet tall. A themed riser is also included that raises the cabinet by an additional 1 foot, so you can choose to play comfortably while sitting or standing. Games included are Ms Pac-Man, Pac-Mania, Pac-Man Plus, and Galaxian.

Herman Miller Gaming Sale: 15% Off Gaming Chairs, Including the Herman Miller x Logitech G Embody

Herman Miller makes the best ergonomic chairs in the industry. They’re also not cheap, with several of their models easily topping over $1000 in price. Penny pinchers might find it a waste of money, but honestly, in this case you get what you pay for. Many of us could spend a majority of our lives stuck to our chair, it makes sense that this would be one of the most important purchases we make. Today, Herman Miller is offering 15% off their top-of-the-line gaming collaborations with Logitech. This is the first time we’ve seen a substantial discount on these outside of Sample Sales and employee-only offers. If you’ve got deep pockets, then you’ll save on what is probably the best gaming chair on the market.

Best Ultra-Wide Gaming Monitor: Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49″ 5120×1440 Mini LED Monitor

Preorder the Samsung Neo G9 gaming monitor (out on August 23), and get the JBL Quantum One Gaming Headset for free. That’s a $300 headset. This is the first Mini LED gaming monitor we’ve seen and easily the best monitor in Samsung’s “Odyssey” series. Mini LED technology is pretty new. You’ll see them in the highest end Samsung and TCL TVs as well as the newest Apple iPad Pro 12.9″ XDR display. The cost keeps 99% of us gamers at bay, but for those who can afford it, you currently won’t find a better ultra-wide monitor.

Video Game Deals

More Daily Deals for August 12

11 Bit Studios has announced Frostpunk 2, the sequel to the wintery city builder game.

Set 30 years after an apocalyptic blizzard, Frostpunk 2 is planned to advance upon the foundations built by the first game. Players will now need to establish an oil extraction industry to fuel their ever-demanding city, while simultaneously presiding over its citizens and making a frequent choices between ruthless survival and human rights.

“What players should expect is a wide universe of choices, freedom to shape the society and the city however they see fit – and reap the consequences,” said Frostpunk 2’s co-director, Jakub Stokalski, in a press release. “Frostpunk 2 builds on the conflicts of its predecessor – survival vs human values, life vs the arctic frost. But most importantly, it adds a new layer that is present in many aspects of the game – be it politics, be it society, be it technological progress – the conflict between humans and their nature”.

A new cinematic trailer reminds us all of the brutal methods of survival and society that was seen in the original, with a man left to freeze to death beyond the city limits, his chest painted in blood with the word ‘liar’. Behind him are a bank of oil pumpjacks, indicating the change from coal to oil as the focus of Frostpunk 2’s resource management layer.

Frostpunk 2 will be available on Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store, and can be wishlisted now. No release date has been announced. If you’ve never played Frostpunk and would like to see what it’s all about, it can be played for free on Steam this weekend, from August 12 to 16.

The original Frostpunk is a critical darling, having received a glowing 9/10 review from us, and been nominated for a BAFTA. Originally launched on PC, it has since come to consoles, and this year saw all three expansions made available for PS4 and Xbox One.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer.

Star Trek: Lower Decks season two premieres Aug. 12 on Paramount+. Below is a spoiler-free review of the first five episodes.

When Star Trek: Lower Decks dropped last year, there was no question that the series was lovingly brought to life by people who know their Trek inside and out. Where it faltered was thinking hyper-fast delivery and overly busy episodes was a fun, sustainable watch. Gratefully, creator Mike McMahan (Solar Opposites) allowed the show to mellow out by the end of its first season, giving us a lot more depth for both the stories and characters who live and work in the bowels of the U.S.S. Cerritos. In season two, Lower Decks continues that balanced groove with even more confidence in mixing comedy with away mission hijinks and character progression.

In particular, Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) is more fun to be around this season because she’s not just dragging crewmates Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells), and Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) into an endless string of ill-considered adventures. She’s still a purposefully rebellious screw-up who leaps before thinking, but the new episodes also give us more quiet moments where she reveals what her abrasive walls are really all about.

Speaking of Boimler, the season opens with Mariner stewing with mighty resentment after he abruptly left to accept a promotion on Captain William Riker’s (Jonathan Frakes) U.S.S. Titan. How he’s doing in his new gig, and the physical and emotional hole he left behind is played to great effect in the first half of the season. It says a lot about the writing maturity of the series to have choices like the one he made have real stakes, and then play out as such when many comedies would just blow past anything that messy.

But a big benefit of Boimler’s absence is that it leaves a lot of room for Tendi and Rutherford to get fleshed out with storylines that focus more on their vulnerabilities. Rutherford struggles with the repercussions of his cyborg implant and the ghost of his former self, while Tendi’s need to please is challenged on all fronts. Plus, the season’s early Boimler vacuum allows the unhealthy mother/daughter work dynamic between Mariner and Captain Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) to be addressed in the season premiere for the disaster it’s become.

When Boimler does return, it proves how far this ensemble has come in truly endearing itself to us. Still a big ball of anxiety, he clearly tames Mariner’s boundless energy and impulsiveness. And he’s also the perfect nerd compliment to good kids Tendi and Rutherford. Together, they tease, challenge and better one another, which makes even their dumbest screw-ups fun to watch. They’re also true believers in the goals of the Federation, which is endearing, hopeful and would certainly make Gene Roddenberry proud.

As for this season’s overall story scope, in the five episodes provided, Lower Decks remains a standalone adventure show that isn’t shy about mining a tremendous amount of Original Trek and The Next Generation Trek mythology to build episodes around. Whether it’s featuring very familiar races or creatures, or even namechecking characters like Data, Thomas Riker, and Gary Mitchell, the season is packed with callbacks, deep cuts, and visual references galore. And frankly, it’s too much at times. Every episode is so densely packed with nostalgia hat tips, there’s almost no story real estate to create original Lower Decks mythology. But when Lower Decks does venture into making its own lore, like episode five’s hilarious replicating race, the Dooplers, it proves the show is more than capable of adding plenty to the Trek pantheon. Hopefully, the third season (or the latter half of the second) is where McMahan and his writers gift themselves, and us, with more of what we haven’t seen before.

Three years since Netflix first announced its plans for a live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the streaming giant has finally revealed the core cast and creative team that will bring Nickelodeon’s acclaimed animated series to life.

Check out the gallery below, or read on to find out who’s portraying Avatar’s most iconic characters.

Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Cast

• Gordon Cormier (The Stand, Lost in Space) as Aang: A fearless and fun-loving twelve-year-old who just happens to be the Avatar, master of all four elements, and the keeper of balance and peace in the world. An airbending prodigy, Aang is a reluctant hero, struggling to deal with the burden of his duties while still holding on to his adventurous and playful nature.
• Kiawentiio (Anne with an E) as Katara: A determined and hopeful waterbender, the last in her small village. Though only fourteen, she’s already endured great personal tragedy, which has held her back from rising to her true potential, though it’s never dimmed her warm and caring spirit.
• Ian Ousley (Physical, 13 Reasons Why) as Sokka: Katara’s sardonic and resourceful 16-year-old brother. Outwardly confident, even brash, he takes his responsibility as the leader of his tribe seriously, despite his inner doubts over his warrior skills… doubts that he masks with his wit and deadpan sense of humor.
• Dallas Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) as Zuko: A skilled firebender and the intense and guarded Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. Currently roaming the world in exile, he’s on an obsessive quest to capture the Avatar because he believes that is the only way to reclaim his life and live up to the demands of his cruel and controlling father, the Fire Lord.

With Avatar: The Last Airbender creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko no longer involved in the Netflix series due to creative differences, Albert Kim (Sleepy Hollow, Nikita) will serve as showrunner and executive producer, alongside executive producers Dan Lin (The Lego Movie), Lindsey Liberatore (Walker), and Michael Goi (Swamp Thing).

In a Netflix blog post, Kim talked about the importance of authenticity:

“We’ll be expanding and growing the world, and there will be surprises for existing fans and those new to the tale,” Kim explained. “But throughout this process, our byword has been ‘authenticity.’ To the story. To the characters. To the cultural influences. Authenticity is what keeps us going, both in front of the camera and behind it, which is why we’ve assembled a team unlike any seen before — a group of talented and passionate artists who are working around the clock to bring this rich and incredibly beautiful world to life.”

What do you think of the casting announcement? Let us know in the comments. And for more Avatar, watch the OG Korra and Zuko voice actors answer our biggest what-if questions and learn how the Avatar Legends tabletop RPG reached $1 million in a day.

David Griffin is the TV Streaming Editor for IGN. Say hi on Twitter.