Author: Trafficblast

Here’s a good deal for all the nineties kids out there, or anyone interested in retro gaming. Right now at Amazon and GameStop you can scoop up a Sega Genesis Mini for $49.99, a nearly 40% discount off the MSRP. That’s a great deal on what what we called “the closest thing we have to a perfect all-in-one mini console so far” in our Sega Genesis Mini review. Grab one for yourself before the price goes back up.

What makes the Genesis Mini so great? For starters, it comes loaded with 42 classic games, most of which are excellent. On top of that, the hardware is great. The miniaturized console features a high level of detail, and the two full-sized controllers are 1:1 reproductions.

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• Get it at Amazon
• Get it at GameStop

The UI is also beautifully designed. You get a number of viewing options for the collection, including game covers and spines. And if you switch the language to Japanese, the entire UI switches to the Japanese covers (and ROMs) of the games. Speaking of games, here’s the full list of what’s included in the Sega Genesis Mini.

This $49.99 price point is close to the lowest we’ve ever seen this retro mini console go. And since it’s unclear when the price will go back up, you’ll probably want to grab one sooner than later.

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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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Since Marvel’s Avengers’ full unveiling at E3 2019, Square Enix had confirmed some indeterminate exclusive content would be coming for PlayStation players. And now we have a better idea of what — an exclusive hero in the form of Spider-Man.

But by announcing a hero exclusively to PS4 and PS5 players, Square Enix and Marvel Games have stirred frustrations for non-PlayStation players, and raised some odd questions about Marvel’s Avengers’ future.

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A Great Deal for Sony

Spider-Man — a new take on the hero and not the same version as the Peter Parker we played in 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man — will be made exclusive to PlayStation players sometime in 2021. Square Enix has not confirmed if there’s any timed exclusivity window to this or if he’s permanently only available to PS4 and PS5 players. And as of writing, there’s no indication Xbox and PC players will receive platform-exclusive characters to balance things out.

So, if you want to play as Marvel’s flagship hero (and the U.S.’s current favorite Marvel hero), you have to buy Avengers on PlayStation.

Despite some rocky showings at E3 last year, recent War Table presentations have earned a lot of goodwill for Marvel’s Avengers, and on a more general note, the game is, of course, coming off of the box office record-shattering, blockbuster filmmaking-defining run of MCU movies that culminated in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Avengers as a brand is bigger than ever, and so to have such a beloved hero only available on your systems makes the PlayStation version the clear winner for those who own multiple systems.

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It’s, quite simply, a brilliant marketing move on a brand recognition level. This only further solidifies PlayStation’s connection with Spider-Man. Even if it’s not the same Spidey as in the 2018 game, that PS4 exclusive is one of the biggest games of the generation, and the best-selling superhero game ever in the U.S. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is positioned as one of THE reasons to buy a PS5 this holiday. And now, if you want to play the Spider-Man featured in Marvel’s big Avengers game and see him team up with other Marvel heroes, PlayStation is the only place to do just that.

And that brand connection is, on the surface, only even more beneficial to the wider Sony corporation. As far as we publicly know, Marvel still holds ultimate rights to Spider-Man, and that’s why we can see the character appear in the multiplatform LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 or a Nintendo Switch-exclusive like Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order. But Sony has held the movie rights to Spidey for a long time and looks determined to maintain that hold, famously leading to the brief dark times when Spider-Man was going to be yanked out of the MCU, only for Sony and Marvel Studios to come to a renewed agreement to keep him involved… for now. But make no mistake, Sony is doing everything it can to build out a Spider-Man universe that all but features the character. From Venom to Morbius (and its odd inclusion of a Marvel’s Spider-Man trailer Easter egg) to the burgeoning Spider-Verse franchise, many more planned Spider-Man-adjacent character movies, Sony is obviously hoping to use what it can to build out a live-action Spidey-verse either to eventually bring the character into its fold exclusively once more or to at least make the best of both cinematic universes.

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Spider-Man is the crown jewel of Sony’s film lineup, even if they’re currently sharing custody with Marvel, and so to have the character in any medium possible associated with the brand is a good thing not just for PlayStation but Sony overall.

But for Players…

At the very least, this announcement likely ensures a healthy playerbase for Marvel’s Avengers on PS4 and PS5 going into 2021. Regardless of how the game is received at launch, the story of many games-as-a-service titles is often written in the months and years after. Giving players on PS4 and PS5 a reason to check in on the game next year as big as Spider-Man will surely bring back even some players who may not stick with the game after launch.

But it’s sure as hell not fair for players on Xbox or PC, who have no idea at this stage if they’ll ever get to play as Spider-Man in Avengers, if they’ll receive other exclusive characters to balance things out, or if they’ll just never see the webhead swinging around their games. Cross-play between consoles isn’t announced for Avengers yet (only between generations, so PS4 and PS5 players can play together, but not with Xbox or PC players), and system-exclusive characters make the idea of that even less likely at a time when cross-play and cross-progression have become ever more routinely part of gaming. Sure, it’s entirely possible he will eventually be brought to other systems and the terms of this agreement just prevent that from being announced yet, but as of right now, that remains cruelly unclear.

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It also raises the unfortunate question of how substantial the Spider-Man content will be, and how essential it will feel to the overall game if only a portion of the audience can play it. Marvel has promised all future DLC characters, which will be free to players, will come with their own story-related content. If Spider-Man’s story is only part of some Avengers players’ experiences, will it not be well integrated into the rest of the team or world’s ongoing story? Will it be particularly self-contained, and will character interactions be superficial, since they theoretically can’t drastically affect ongoing narratives? Or does Crystal Dynamics create a multiverse of Marvel’s Avengers stories, one for Xbox and PC players and one for those on PlayStation?

The latter sounds too unwieldy, and the former is a valid concern that could dampen potential excitement for Spidey content in Marvel’s Avengers. Personally, the thrill of playing Marvel’s Avengers comes from the interconnectedness between the characters and the ongoing nature of its storytelling.True, comic-book style storytelling can be integrated into an ambitious Marvel gaming world on a level not seen before in consoles and PC games. But if such a major character – it’s Spider-Man! – can only be played by some players, how does that translate to the overall story ambitions of Avengers, and to the Spidey-specific stories they’re planning?

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It’s all unclear at this point, but what is clear is that creating a fractured player-base is like dividing kids in a schoolyard but only some of them get all of the equipment while the rest have something half-built. Destiny players were upset about PS4-exclusive weapons and missions, and it makes sense – when a game is meant to be played across different platforms, not one made by or for a platform holder, you roughly expect to get the same experience from one system to the next. And a full, playable, new character and associated content is a much larger pill to swallow than, say, some exclusive costumes or even sidequests.

Platform exclusives like this always feel mean, even if they make sense from a business perspective. PlayStation wants to bring players into its systems with likely one of the most requested characters for Avengers’ lineup and there’s already an association of the character with Sony. But for players on other platforms, it feels like a slap in the face, and only fuels the console divide further at a time when playing together, no matter where we play, is becoming more important than ever.

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Jonathon Dornbush is IGN’s Senior News Editor and host of Podcast Beyond! Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

Take-Two Interactive was the first publisher to break the next-gen price seal with the announcement that NBA 2K21 will cost $70 on next-gen consoles, $10 more than the standard current-gen price. Just ahead of its earnings call, CEO Strauss Zelnick explained why he feels the price hike is justified.

“There hasn’t been a price increase for frontline titles for a really long time, despite the fact that it costs a great deal more to make those titles,” Zelnick told GamesIndustry.biz. “And we think with the value we offer consumers… and the kind of experience you can really only have on these next-generation consoles, that the price is justified. But it’s easy to say that when you’re delivering extraordinary quality, and that’s what our company prides itself on doing.”

Pressed further on the subject, in light of Ubisoft not following suit, he explained that he can only speak for Take-Two, and he doesn’t expect the industry to all move to the same price point in a coordinated fashion.

“We just speak for ourselves,” he said. “Obviously, we don’t speak for the industry and the industry naturally does not coordinate on these matters, to say the very least. The pricing has to reflect the quality of the experience, and we aim to provide the best experiences in the business. And from our point of view, it’s an extremely modest price change given that prices haven’t changed for a very long time.”

For the time being, Ubisoft games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs Legion on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will remain at $60. The company has not addressed whether that will change after 2020. Other publishers haven’t announced next-gen pricing. The question of price increases could also impact upgrade offers like Microsoft’s Smart Delivery and EA’s Dual Entitlement. Microsoft has reportedly told developers not to charge for next-gen upgrades as DLC, though other upgrade models remain on the table–which could be partly why Take-Two is offering a two-pack for NBA 2K21.

Dark Horse has put out some gorgeous Witcher 3 figures over the years. Right now at Amazon you can grab the second series of these figures on sale for up to 30% off. The Dark Horse Series 2 figures include Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri wearing alternate costumes from beloved game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Take a look at the Series 2 deals below. A few of the figures from the original series are also on sale, but stock is running low in some cases, while others are sold out.

Witcher 3 Series 2 Figures on Sale

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All of these figures stand roughly 10 inches tall and normally retail for $49.99. Yennefer’s Series 2 costume is a bit more colorful than her original outfit. Ciri is dressed in red and blue armor. Geralt’s Series 2 figure is clad in his Grandmaster Feline armor, the pieces of which you may have collected in the game. If you prefer the traditional Geralt look, you can grab his original figure for a few bucks off if you grab it while stock is still available.

Other Series 1 figures available at a discount right now include Regis, who comes with an interchangeable vampire head and claws, Dandelion the bard, and the doctor Shani. You can find all the available Witcher 3 figures here.

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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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We love hearing your feedback on Podcast Unlocked via the Loot Box, and now you have the chance to actually let us hear your beautiful voices!

At the bottom of this article, you will find an option that lets you share a brief video with us and the IGN community, powered by audio and video commenting tool, Yappa.

We want as many Unlocked fans as we can get to send in your Loot Box question to the panel, and we’ll play it on the air on this week’s show. If this works as well as we hope, we’ll make this a regular thing every week.

Here’s how you can participate:

• Create a Yappa account or sign in with a Facebook, Google, Disqus, or LinkedIn account.
• Look for the video commenting box at the bottom of our articles on both desktop and mobile web. Note that the feature is currently not available on our mobile apps.
• Hit the green bar with the speech bubble icon, allow access to your mic and camera if your permission settings require that step.
• You can choose between audio and video recording. We’d prefer video to see your face (and only your face, please — although Master Chief helmets are cool with us), but you can use the audio-only option if you’re having a bad hair day.
• When you can see your face, hit record to start recording your video. Hit stop when you’re done. You can leave a message that’s up to 45 seconds long.
• You can rewatch your video and then choose to cancel or post.
• If you’d rather upload a video you recorded separately, you can use the Upload Media function to do so. But please, no copyrighted content.
• You can watch and share videos from fellow commenters by clicking on their icons and you can follow contributors you like as well.

Still have questions? You can learn more details about the new commenting system. And, please remember to follow our guidelines for commenting.

We’ll (literally) see you on Unlocked!

Despite originally releasing in 2002, Final Fantasy XI is still being supported by developer Square Enix. Producer Akihiko Matsui announced on the game’s official forum that August’s update will see the first new story content in the game in nearly five years. The new storyline, called “The Voracious Resurgence,” will take place over “many version updates,” so don’t expect to finish it soon. Square Enix says that the story will revolve revolve around the appearance of small eggs of unknown origin and it’s up to adventurers to figure out “a conspiracy that threatens the very fabric of the world.”

Due to the success of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, updates for Square Enix’s prior MMORPG have been sparse. In 2015, the game received a scenario called “Rhapsodies of Vana’diel,” which was meant to be the final storyline. Players will have to complete “Rhapsodies of Vana’diel” in order to access the new content, which Matsui claims “explores a side of Vana’diel that’s never before seen the light.”

The new storyline isn’t all that the August update will have to offer as the beastmaster job will be receiving an adjustment as well. Changes to the job type’s magic accuracy have been made to encourage beastmasters to battle alongside their pets. There are also unspecified additional pets arriving in August that include “very specific strengths and weaknesses.”

Rounding out the update are two new ambuscade battles. The normal-difficulty fight will pit adventurers against a Rafflesia that relies on mandragora allies for power. Meanwhile, the intense ambuscade is against a magic-using Mamool Ja. Players can earn themed rewards for the new battle, which will go away in September.

While Final Fantasy XI launched on PlayStation 2 and eventually came to Xbox 360, it is only playable on PC as of 2016. A mobile version of the MMORPG developed by Nexon was announced in 2015, although its development status is currently uncertain. The worlds of both Final Fantasy MMOs recently collided in FFXIV’s “The Maiden’s Rhapsody: Memories of an Unseen Realm” event.

Spellbreak will support cross-progression across PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch when it launches.

Developer Proletariat will allow players to create a Spellbreak account that can be attached to the game on any platform, which brings along progression, customisation and stats wherever you choose to play. It will also players to create cross-platform squads and find friends across all versions of the game.

Check out a trailer for the announcement below:

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The free-to-play, magic-focused battle royale already has already promised cross-play across all platforms. The game has already seen betas on PC (vis Epic Games Store) and PS4, with Switch and Xbox One launches coming later this year.

Proletariat has described the move as “vitally important” to the future of Spellbreak, giving players as much choice as possible from Day One of the game’s full release. The developer adds that it believes this will become an industry standard in time.

We spoke to Proletariat as part of IGN’s Summer of Gaming, and got the lowdown on how Spellbreak weaves RPG ideas into the battle royale template.

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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].

Developer Blizzard Entertainment has announced Overwatch‘s Summer Games event starts tomorrow, August 4, on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The event runs until August 26.

While Blizzard has yet to outline what else is in the new event series, it does feature a brand-new skin for DPS hero Pharah. It’s her Legendary Lifeguard skin, which suggests that some sort of fun-in-the-sun event–where characters are dressed to hit the beach–will take place over the next few weeks.

Pharah isn’t the only hero to have gotten a new skin in recent weeks. Tank hero Sigma received a Legendary skin last month for those who secured enough wins during his Maestro Challenge event.

In other Overwatch news, a few heroes have seen some adjustments recently. Popular hitscan character McCree had his noose spray replaced by a “bad luck”-emblazoned horseshoe, while a recent patch is testing out some changes for Support hero Moira.