Author: Trafficblast

Partner content by StackCommerce

There are few skills as universally beneficial as writing. Whether you’re drafting an email for work, working on a speech for your friend’s wedding, or just trying to articulate how you feel about something online, knowing how to string your words together gives you a major edge. And, embracing the creative side of writing can even help you break into more specialized careers like copywriting, novel writing, and the like.

If you want to boost your writing skills, then it’s smart to invest in the educational resources that guide you through that process of how to become a better writer every step of the way. The Ultimate Creative Writing Course Bundle provides lessons and hands-on opportunities to sharpen your writing skills, and it’s on sale for just $29.99.

It’s easy to improve your writing skillset thanks to the content included within this 10-course bundle. Kicking things off, you have the opportunity to learn about and practice a variety of writing disciplines, including creative writing, travel writing, travel blogging, self-publishing, novel writing, freelance writing, proofreading and editing, freelance journalism, calligraphy, and writing books for kids.

With so much content available at your fingertips, this bundle empowers you to become a better writer in whichever discipline appeals to you the most. Plus, since each of the courses is divided into bite-sized lessons and hands-on modules, you can conveniently learn at your speed, as well as reinforce what you learn with assessment questions and fun exercises. In doing so, you’ll rapidly develop better writing skills and begin to think as professional writers do in your preferred discipline.

On top of that, this bundle makes it easy to show off your newfound writing skills. Each course is certified as Continuing Professional Development (CPD), setting yourself up for greater success in the workplace. A CPD seal is a recognized symbol of quality assured training for employers. Every time you complete a course within this bundle, you obtain a diploma for that particular writing discipline. Meaning, the CPD diplomas you earn quickly become valuable ways to highlight your expertise and stand above the competition when it comes to earning more at your current position or landing a highly coveted writing job.

The Ultimate Creative Writing Course Bundle provides lessons and hands-on opportunities to sharpen your writing skills, and you can get it on sale today for just $29.99, hundreds off the usual price.

Partner Content by StackCommerce

Podcasts are a great medium for learning about your favorite topics, whether that’s video games, television shows, movies, or anything else under the sun. As podcasting continues to grow in popularity, you may have thought about creating a podcast of your own but didn’t know where in the world to begin. The Start-to-Finish Guide to Launching a Successful Podcast Bundle teaches you how to build a podcast from the ground up, and it’s on sale for just $44.99.

What’s Included in the Podcast Bundle

Picking up podcasting essentials is quick and easy with this helpful 9-course training bundle. It’s filled to the brim with 35+ hours of instructional content, which you can conveniently access at any time of the day. Whatever your schedule might be at the moment, this bundle makes it easy to learn on your time and from the comfort of your couch. What’s more, you’ll learn the essentials of podcasting from expert instructors like Phil Ebiner, Chris Haroun, and Barry Mapp. These teachers not only have a 4/5 star rating or higher from thousands of reviews from former students but also have years of experience in their subject matter expertise. Meaning, you’re in great hands from the moment you start your first online lecture.

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So, what exactly are the essentials of podcasting? It’s more than just talking into a microphone and then uploading the file to a podcast service. A lot more: In addition to re-learning how to talk specifically for the medium, you’ll also dive into how to record, edit, publish, and grow your podcast either as an extension of your personal brand or as a component of your business.

As you can imagine, creating a podcast is incredibly rewarding in part because it’s a challenging endeavor. To make that easier, the bundle also includes an insightful Mind Mapping Mastery course that teaches you how to think clearly, organize better, and recall information faster — all of which are soft-skills that separate excellent podcast hosts from the average ones. By the time you’re done with this helpful bundle, you’ll have the know-how to record your first podcast and publish it to popular platforms like iTunes, Stitcher, and iHeartRadio.

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The Start-to-Finish Guide to Launching a Successful Podcast Bundle teaches you everything you need to know to build a podcast from the ground up, and you can get it on sale today for just $44.99.

Can it run Crysis? That was the question put forward to any new gaming PC after Crytek’s sci-fi FPS launched in 2007. The super-powered shooter was famous for its highly detailed tropical environments and freeform sandbox combat, and now it’s coming to modern consoles and PCs in Crysis Remastered, according to a recent leak.

The remaster was revealed on Crytek’s official website, but the page has since been removed as it appears someone flipped the switch too early. That didn’t stop plenty of people from grabbing screenshots and posting them all over social media, though.

Twitter user lashman dug into the site’s metadata and discovered a product description for the game. It reads: “Crysis Remastered brings new graphic features, high-quality textures, and the CRYENGINE’s native hardware–and API-agnostic ray tracing solution for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and–for the very first time–Nintendo Switch.”

A splash image on the site also doubled down and reveals the platforms as PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The Intel Gaming Twitter account also got in on the act, before deleting the tweet. However, the Intel UK Twitter account still has a tweet live as of the time of writing.

The news isn’t too surprising considering the Crysis Twitter account recently came out of hibernation to begin teasing something new. With references to Crysis protagonist Nomad, and the splash image using an almost identical pose to the original game’s boxart, it’s probably safe to assume that this is a remaster of the first game only, and none of its sequels will be included.

The last game in the series, Crysis 3, was released in 2013 and was also developed by Crytek. The company shut down some studios in 2015 amid financial troubles, but most recently put out Hunt: Showdown in 2018.

The original Crysis was awarded 9.5/10 in GameSpot’s Crysis review, with Jason Ocampo saying, “If you put it all together, Crysis is just remarkable. This is a game that pushes the envelope in terms of both technology and gameplay and does so with aplomb. Crysis raises the expectations for every shooter to follow when it comes to graphics, interactivity, environments, immersiveness, AI, and gameplay. Quite simply, Crysis represents the first-person shooter at its finest, most evolved form.”

Marvel’s Spider-Man is one of the few PS4 games I’ve bothered to platinum–mostly because it’s so ridiculously fun to swing around New York City and pummel baddies. If you haven’t played the stellar PS4 exclusive from Insomniac Games, Best Buy’s current price is far too good to pass up. Right now, you can get Marvel’s Spider-Man: Game of the Year Edition for just $15 with free shipping (next-day or two-day depending on where you live).

Normally $40, the Game of the Year Edition comes with The City That Never Sleeps DLC, a story expansion in three parts. Each of the three DLC episodes is a couple hours long and adds fun new vignettes featuring Black Cat, Hammerhead, and Silver Sable.

Those who have played the base game but not the DLC will still find value in Best Buy’s deal–The City That Never Sleeps is typically $25. If you still have your copy of the main game, though, you can grab the DLC for 50% at $12.49 during the ongoing PS4 Spring Sale. And if you prefer a digital copy of the full experience, the GOTY Edition is $20 at the PlayStation Store.

The game earned a 9/10 in our Marvel’s Spider-Man review, with critic Edmond Tran heaping praise on the wonderful story, satisfying combat, and riveting open-world exploration.

“The feeling of embodying Spidey and using his abilities is astonishing, and the time spent on exploring its major characters help make its story feel heartfelt, despite superhero bombast. There have been open-world Spider-Man games before, but none so riveting and full of personality, none that explore and do justice to this many facets of the universe. Insomniac has created a superior Spider-Man experience that leaves a lasting impression, one that has you longing for just one more swing around New York City, even after the credits roll,” Tran wrote.

Marvel’s Spider-Man isn’t the only game available for an incredible price at Best Buy. The retailer’s current Deal of the Day features Borderlands 3 for $15, its best price yet.

Supermassive Games is known for its cut-throat ability to kill each and every one of its characters without the blink of an eye, making each decision you make in its interactive horror games feel delightfully weighty. Fortunately for us, the latest entry in its Dark Pictures Anthology, Little Hope, looks like it will carry on this streak of gleeful anarchy.

Little Hope is set in the eponymous New England town, inspired by Andover, a town neighboring Salem. Andover, Little Hope director’s Paul Samuels tells us, had more women accused and arrested of witchcraft than Salem (Salem knew how to market it better, my New England-born colleague Jon Ryan tells me).

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It’s the witch trials that interested Supermassive, and will be explored in Little Hope. Little Hope takes place mostly in the present day, where five college students – including this entry’s bigger ticket actor Will Poulter – find themselves stranded in the town after their bus crashes, and a “mysterious fog” means they can’t leave (unsurprisingly, Supermassive cites Silent Hill as an influence).

What they experience in Little Hope, explains Samuels, is “paranoia, brutal executions, and the pursuit of redemption”. The idea is that when horrific things happen in a town, their residue sticks around. “One thing you will certainly discover is that all that suffering, all that malice…leaves a profound effect…it creates repercussions,” narrates the curator, who returns from Supermassive’s first Dark Pictures entry, The Man of Medan, in the reveal trailer.

At a certain point(s?) in Little Hope, the present-day characters are taken back in time to 1692, when the witch trials were at their feverish peak. There, they must witness events leading up to the trial and execution of a group of settlers who look exactly like them, and this is somehow all tied into a family in the ‘70s…who also look like them. There’s a lot going on.

Samuels says The Witch, Season of the Witch, and Blair Witch all helped weave Little Hope’s DNA, but less obvious psychological horrors like It Follows and The Omen were also an influence.

The latter was particularly evident in the demo I saw, which involved the ‘70s portion of the story in the prologue. Here, Anthony (Will Poulter) and his family, including exasperated mum Anne and deadbeat drunk dad James, are all tiptoeing around the ‘problem child’ in the family, a  little girl named Megan. Anthony is more lenient toward her vague problematic behavior than his siblings, and often your choices while playing as him involved indignation or disapproval towards those who spoke of her badly.

But Megan is very creepy, in a very Damien-from-The-Omen way; there’s even an Ave Satani-esque soundtrack played during her scenes. She seems to be corrupted by an external, Captain-Howdy-like force, who compels her to do things like lock her mother in the bathroom, play with the stepladder her brother is standing on, and generally use what appears to be psychokinesis to cause all sorts of havoc within the household.

The creepy child thing is fun, if a little amusingly played out, but then, Supermassive has never been afraid to dive headfirst into well-worn horror tropes. The demo ended with you having to make the (less than agonizing) decision to save either your cool sister Tanya or your creepy sister Megan, but in this particular scenario, everyone died anyway. Again, the stakes are real, and all these characters are merely meat for the Supermassive grinder.

How the ‘70s connects with the 1690s and once again with the present day, is still very vague, but I already like how ambitious Little Hope feels with its settings, particularly after the somewhat uninspired locales seen in the Man of Medan. Supermassive has also promised that couch co-op and online 2-player modes will return, which were such fun in Little Hope’s predecessor.

And really, that’s what Little Hope is promising to be: fun. I’m increasingly enjoying how eccentric this anthology is, and how it aims to change things up tonally with every installment. Bring on the meat grinder again; I’m ready.

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Lucy O’Brien is Executive Editor of Features at IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

In what would be the strangest news story of the week if it wasn’t for Cooking Mama, McDonald’s ran an advertising campaign in China teasing a new 5G smart device, which turned out to not be a cell phone but actually… chicken.

As reported by Gizmochina, on April 13 McDonald’s teased a new 5G product on its WeChat account, the Chinese social messaging service. The teasers look akin to many smartphone advertisements, with sleek designs hidden in shadow. Images in the advertisements suggested functions like facial recognition, cameras, and fast 5G capabilities. According to popular analyst Daniel Ahmad, speculation pointed to a new self checkout system. Whatever it was, it sure didn’t suggest that you could eat it.

McDonalds is hosting a 5G conference in China to unveil its latest product.

It’s teasing some type of smart product with slim bezels, the latest tech, facial recognition, high quality sound, camera and 5G.

Speculation says it’s some new self checkout product. pic.twitter.com/ETR4JJT5E4

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 15, 2020

On April 15, McDonald’s in China revealed what the new 5G device was: chicken. McCrispy Chicken, in fact. That’s crispy fried chicken with special spices and sauces. And while that all sounds really tasty, it definitely doesn’t seem to have anything to do with 5G.

If you don’t speak Mandarin, then all of this makes very little sense. But if you do speak Mandarin, then you’ll know that the world Ji – pronounced like ‘G’ – is Mandarin for chicken. Yes, the entire campaign is a pun. As for the 5, well that’s the five chicken technologies, of course: taste, freshness, juiciness, crispy texture, and multiple sizes (leg, wing, and breast).

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For 5G tech that’s actually real, check out of first look at TCL’s upcoming smartphone that offers 5G for just $400. That may be more than a bucket of chicken, but you’ll find it easier to browse Reddit on a phone instead of a crispy wing.

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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 

It’s not uncommon to see Borderlands 3 for $30 on PS4 and Xbox One, which is a great deal for one of the most popular first-person shooters of 2019. But Best Buy’s current Deal of the Day is better than great. If you haven’t picked up Borderlands 3 yet, you can grab a PS4 or Xbox One copy from Best Buy for just $15 with free shipping. The deal expires at 10 PM PT / 1 AM ET, and it’s possible stock will run out before then–so you better hurry if interested.

Best Buy is also selling Borderlands 3’s Super Deluxe Edition for more than 50% off at $42 (normally $100). The Super Deluxe Edition comes with a collectible steelbook case, the season pass containing four campaign expansions, and a bunch of additional digital goodies. Shipping time will vary depending on where you live, but I’m seeing free next-day shipping for both the standard and Super Deluxe Editions.

In GameSpot’s 8/10 Borderlands 3 review, critic Jordan Ramée praised the compelling story, unique new classes of characters, and arsenal of weapons at your disposal. “Borderlands 3 has a few stumbling blocks when it comes to bosses, but these fights are overshadowed by the game’s rewarding gunplay and over-the-top humor. The game’s character-driven narrative acts as a satisfying finale for the loot-shooter franchise, and the new mechanics and features–especially the reworked skill trees and weapon manufacturer effects–give you plenty of agency in how you want to play through it,” Ramée wrote.

If you’re looking for more great PS4 and Xbox One deals, the PlayStation Store is currently running a massive Spring Sale and the Xbox Store has nice discounts on couch co-op games right now.