Author: Trafficblast

With today’s Direct comes a level of (possibly unwarranted) hype, but if you want to at least feel satisfied with the opportunity to save, Nintendo’s E3 2021-adjacent sales event is starting to go live now. My personal favorites are the Nintendo Online subscription deal and the Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch.

Various things retailers are already rolling out sale prices, and the official sale at the Nintendo eShop kicks off today at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET. We’ll keep updating this article as deals go live.

Buy Nintendo Online, Get a Free 128GB microSD Card

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Nintendo Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. Edition Deal

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Nintendo Switch Game Deals

Nintendo Switch Deals at Amazon

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Nintendo Switch Pro Controller Deals

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Be sure to check out our full E3 2021 schedule to make sure you don’t miss any of the Nintendo announcements happening later today. And for more discounts, be sure to check out early Prime Day sale items, and what to expect in terms of Prime Day video game deals.

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Seth Macy is IGN’s Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can follow him on Twitter.

After a more than 15-year wait, Raz and his talented pals will return to action in Psychonauts 2 on August 25, Microsoft announced during its E3 2021 showcase. Psychonauts 2 had suffered multiple delays since its reveal in 2015, but now we’re only about two months away from its release. If you know you want to jump into the zany platforming world crafted by Double Fine, you can preorder Psychonauts 2 now for Xbox One/Xbox Series X and PC (PS4/PS5 preorders should go live soon).

Those planning to play on Xbox or PC can play Psychonauts 2 for free on day one with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Most of the games shown during Microsoft’s E3 show will launch on Game Pass, so unless you prefer physical editions, you may want to grab Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. You can get your first three months for only $1 right now via the Xbox Store.

$60

Psychonauts 2 digital preorders are available on the Xbox Store and PC. No preorder bonuses have been announced at this time. We expect physical edition preorders to go live soon at major retailers.

Disney Games executive Sean Shoptaw has shed some more light on Ubisoft’s upcoming open-world Star Wars game that’s being made by The Division developers at Massive. Speaking to IGN, Shoptaw said Disney intentionally didn’t rush into making a big, open-world Star Wars game–despite there being demand for it–because it wanted to wait for the right opportunity to come along.

“We’ve wanted to do it with the right partner at the right time,” Shoptaw said. “I think it’s easy for us to want to jump quickly, especially when we know there’s demand, but we need to be disciplined as well on when we do these things and who we do them with.”

According to a report, EA’s Visceral Games was developing an open-world Star Wars game, but it was canceled. Shoptaw said in the interview that Disney was willing to wait for the right opportunity to come along because getting it wrong could spell trouble.

“As much as there’s been an ambition internally as much as externally to have an experience like this made, we really wanted it to come at the right time with the right partner,” Shoptaw said. “The worst thing we could do is do it wrong, and do it our way that doesn’t resonate with fans or doesn’t meet that bar. And so we certainly feel like the wait will be worth it. We’re super, super excited about where this game is going. I was just on a call actually this morning with the Massive team about it, and could not be more excited about where they’re taking this game and the opportunity we have with this experience.”

The new Star Wars game at Massive is just one big open-world project that the team is making for Disney, the other being Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which was recently dated for 2022.

EA no longer has the exclusive license for PC and console games set in the Star Wars universe, but the company is continuing to make more games. After Star Wars: Battlefront and its sequel sold more than 33 million copies combined, it’s likely another game in that series is coming, while a Jedi Fallen Order sequel seems like an easy business decision too, after the first game sold more than 10 million copies.

EA also runs the mobile game Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, which made more than $900 million by the end of 2019, a figure that has only grown higher since. Additionally, EA and BioWare continue to operate the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, which has generated $1 billion in revenue.

It is still very early days for Massive’s Star Wars game, so you shouldn’t expect the game to release any time soon.

Disney+ has announced that it’s giving the green light to a Beauty and the Beast prequel series. Production will get going in spring 2022, and the announcement of this new show was made to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1991 original film.

The live-action musical series will star Luke Evans (The Alienist) and Josh Gad (Frozen 2), who will respectively reprise their roles of Gaston and LeFou from the 2017 live-action Beauty and the Beast film. Briana Middleton (The Fallout Shelter) will join the cast as Tilly, Louie’s stepsister.

The show, which will span eight episodes, doesn’t yet have an official name–Beauty and the Beast is, for now, to be considered a working title. A synopsis in part reads: “The series will follow Gaston and LeFou as they set off with LeFou’s step-sister, Tilly, after a surprising revelation from her past comes to light, sending the unlikely trio off on an unexpected journey filled with romance, comedy, and adventure. While the mysteries of the past are uncovered and the dangers of the present grow, old friends and new enemies reveal that this familiar kingdom harbors many secrets.”

Beauty and the Beast is executive produced by Gad, Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, Alan Menken and Liesl Tommy and produced by Evans. Gad, Kitsis and Horowitz are co-showrunners and writers for the limited series.

Said Gary Marsh, president of chief creative officer of Disney Branded Television, “For anyone who’s ever wondered how a brute like Gaston and a goof like LeFou could have ever become friends and partners, or how a mystical enchantress came to cast that fateful spell on the prince-turned-beast, this series will finally provide those answers… and provoke a whole new set of questions.”

If you’re looking for something to watch on Disney+ in the meantime, check out our list of 17 shows on the streaming service to check out now.

Disney was convinced to let Ubisoft Massive make an open world Star Wars game after its first meeting with the developer – a meeting which was actually to discuss the Avatar game, Frontiers of Pandora.

In an interview with IGN, SVP of Disney Games Sean Shoptaw revealed that he and his team had met with Massive after Disney’s acquisition of Fox, which included the already in-development Avatar video game project. That discussion clearly had a major effect.

“That first meeting we had with Massive around the Avatar game after we acquired Fox was really the jumping off point for the Star Wars game. There was such alignment and such creative passion around the Star Wars IP from that team that it just was a natural evolution to the relationship, and really led to the Star Wars game we announced not too long ago.”

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Announced early this year, Massive’s next project after Avatar answers years of requests from fans for an open world Star Wars game. I asked Shoptaw whose idea it was to try and satisfy those asking for an open structure for a Star Wars game, and it seems both sides mutually agreed that it was the way to go from the very beginning:

“We certainly had aspirations about an open world Star Wars game. It didn’t come exclusively from Massive. They certainly had a passion for it too, to the point that made it a lot easier for those conversations to advance. But we’re aware of the things you outlined, right? We’re aware of what fans have have asked for and have wanted for long periods of time.”

So why has it taken so long to answer those requests? After all, EA has held an exclusive license to make Star Wars games for many years, but no true open world game had ever emerged.

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“We’ve wanted to do it with the right partner at the right time,” Shoptaw continued. “I think it’s easy for us to want to jump quickly, especially when we know there’s demand, but we need to be disciplined as well on when we do these things and who we do them with.

“So as much as there’s been an ambition internally as much as externally to have an experience like this made, we really wanted it to come at the right time with the right partner. The worst thing we could do is do it wrong, and do it our way that doesn’t resonate with fans or doesn’t meet that bar. And so we certainly feel like the wait will be worth it. We’re super, super excited about where this game is going. I was just on a call actually this morning with the Massive team about it, and could not be more excited about where they’re taking this game and the opportunity we have with this experience.”

While there’s no reason to believe one project will directly influence the other, it will be interested to see Massive’s take on a truly open world structure in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. The upcoming game, which will arrive in 2022, is described as a first-person open world action-adventure game – and could potentially offer the Swedish developer some lessons about making a game in that style, ahead of kicking into high gear on the still-untitled Star Wars project.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Rainbow Six Siege fans have a new piece of hardware to add to their collection as Razer and Ubisoft have announced the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro Siege Special Edition, a redesigned headset themed around Ubisoft’s team-based shooter.

This $200 BlackShark V2 Pro features a Rainbow Six-themed visual redesign, with a white design featuring the Rainbow Six Siege logo on each earpiece and highlighted by orange foam and stitching on the inside. The internal features remain the same, including THX Spatial Audio and the removable microphone.

$200

The Razer BlackShark V2 Pro Siege Special Edition is a visually redesigned version of Razer’s wireless gaming headset, the result of a new collaboration between Ubisoft and Razer. The headset uses Razer’s Hyperspeed Wireless technology, Triforce Titanium 50mm Drivers inside the earpiece, and passive noise cancellation to provide the clearest audio possible.

The Razer BlackShark V2 Pro continues to be one of the top gaming headsets on the market, featuring on our lists of the best headsets for PS5 and best PC gaming headsets. A sleek design, impressive battery life, and a super comfortable fit on the ears are key reasons why this headset delivers an optimal audio experience.

Rainbow Six Siege is currently in its sixth year of content, with the latest character Thunderbird being added to the game this week. The game is included in Target’s buy 2, get 1 free sale happening now as well as Fanatical’s big E3 2021 sale.

Season 4 of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Warzone begins on June 17 and brings with it new maps, a Warzone map update, a new Gulag, the Ground Fall limited time event, a Zombies Outbreak region, and much more.

As detailed on Call of Duty’s blog, Season 4 will begin with the aforementioned Ground Fall event that will have you “find and secure SAT-Links” to earn global profile rewards for both Black Ops Cold War and Warzone. If you complete every challenge in this event, you will unlock an Epic Secondary Weapon Blueprint that “is truly out of this world.”

Season 4 in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will feature three new operators named Jackal, Salah, and Weaver and five new guns including the MG 82, C58, Nail Gun, OTs 9, and Mace.

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Black Ops Cold War’s new maps include two new ones – Collateral and Amsterdam – and two pulled straight from Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 – Hijacked and Rush. On these maps and more, players will be able to jump into the three new games modes – Multi-Team: Sat Link, One in the Chamber, and Capture the Flag.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies mode will get a new Outbreak region set in a zoo deep within the Ural Mountains. In addition, the Dark Aether story will expand at the start of Season 4 with “Operation Excision,” which will set the stage for a new round-based map coming mid-season.

This new map is called Mauer der Toten and it takes place in war-torn East Berlin after a zombie invasion has overtaken the city.

Call of Duty: Warzone’s Verdansk ’84 will get new Points of Interest, including the Satellite Crash Sites, and mysterious red doors that allow you to “[[REDACTED]] around the [[REDACTED]]. What’s behind them? Explore and enter them to [[REDACTED]] across the [[REDACTED]]. Red Doors won’t [[REDACTED]] unless you ping them, and after you step through, there’s no telling [[REDACTED]] exiting out the other side… and stepping into a [[REDACTED]].”

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The Hijacked Gulag will also be a new feature in Season 4 and is a mock-up of the classic Hijacked map that will replace the Standoff Gulag when the newest season launches.

A Dirt Bike will be made available for players, which just so happens to be the first new vehicle to drop into Warzone.

Those looking for a change of pace in Warzone will be able to try out the Verdansk Resurgence Mini mode that mimics the Rebirth Island Resurgence – no Gulag, special Supply Boxes, lobby sizes of 44 to 45, a compact DZ, and much more.

Mid-season, Warzone will get a Payload mode that is the game’s first-ever objective-based game mode. You and 39 other Operators will “drop in to escort two caravans of vehicles through a series of checkpoints or sabotage the mission.”

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Other new additions in Season 4 include an expansion of Black Ops Cold War and Warzone’s Gifting System, a new High-Res Texture Pack, more Prestige levels, and more.

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Cyberpunk appears to be returning to the PlayStation Store. The game – which was removed from sale on the platform last year – can now be found by searching for its name, and appears with the tag ‘Just Announced’.

Currently, if you own the digital version of the game, it can be redownloaded. If you don’t already own the game, it can simply be wishlisted or followed.

We’ve contacted Sony and CD Projekt for comment.

Developing…

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is now also available for PS5 owners, and you can pick it up for just £59 now at Amazon, instead of the original list price of £70. This is a great deal, and definitely worth the wait for anyone who didn’t want to pay out for the launch pricing.

Prime Day is almost here (June 21-22), so make sure to check out all the free stuff you can currently get as a Prime member prior to the shopping event. This includes 3-months of Kindle Unlimited, a 4-months of Amazon Music. You can also get 3-Months of Audible for just 99p at the moment.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for the latest deals on games, tech and accessories.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Now £59 at Amazon (Save £11)

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Best Early Prime Day Deals: £10 Free Amazon Credit

Amazon Prime Day isn’t too far away (June 21-22), but there’s already a decent selection of deals to check out right now. Right now, Prime members can pick up 4-months of Amazon Music Unlimited, 3-months of Kindle Unlimited, and Battlefield 4, for free. That’s an outstanding start to the summer deal season. Not only that but you can also now get free £10 in Amazon credit when you spend £10 with small businesses. This is basically a free purchase, and an outstanding way to support any small business.

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FitTrack Dara – Smart Body BMI Scale down to £39.20 with SUMMER20

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Robert Anderson is a Commerce Editor and deals expert for IGN. Send him awesome gaming screenshots @robertliam21 on Twitter.

The Lego Batman 2 movie is apparently dead following a rights issue. But original director Chris McKay revealed details for what Lego Batman 2 would have been like had WB retained access to the Lego license.

In an interview with Collider for his upcoming movie The Tomorrow War, McKay shared details about the Lego sequel starting with the writing team which included Rick and Morty’s Dan Harmon and Loki creator Michael Waldron.

“Dan and Waldron had done a first draft of the script that was really great,” McKay says. “It was truly epic… both from an action standpoint and from a story standpoint.”

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The structure for the sequel was apparently similar to Godfather Part 2 (because, of course) and charted how Batman’s relationship with the Justice League and Superman began, and how it evolved over the years.

Whereas the first Lego Batman movie was about Batman’s relationship with Robin and touched on themes like parenthood, the sequel was more about “Friendship. And change. It was about how hard it is to change. To commit to change. To stay on the new road you’ve carved for yourself. Especially when maybe you weren’t such a good guy to your friends.”

WB previously produced the Lego Batman Movie and the other Lego movie films, which in turn gave Lego access to WB’s characters (like Batman). However, Universal snatched the rights to the Lego franchise with an exclusive deal, making it so that Lego can no longer work with WB characters from the DC universe.

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IGN gave Lego batman Movie an 8.5 out of 10 in our review, calling it not only a good Lego movie but also a great Batman movie.

McKay is currently working on The Tomorrow War, a sci-fi film starring Chris Pratt as the leader of a group of time-traveling soldiers. It is set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video on July 2. McKay is also signed on to direct a Nightwing movie for DC.

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Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s News Editor.