Author: Trafficblast

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

We highlighted a $25 off Nintendo Switch deal at Amazon yesterday. Sadly, that deal is gone, but you can still take advantage of a nice Nintendo Switch promotion at Target. If you buy the new model Nintendo Switch at Target at full price ($300), either online or in-store, you’ll get a $25 gift card. The promotion ends tomorrow, October 19 at 11:59 PM PT.

See Switch with Neon Red/Blue Joy-Con at Target

See Switch with Gray Joy-Con at Target

The refreshed Nintendo Switch model released in August. Besides the new red packaging, the updated model’s main draw is its significantly better battery life. The new model has a battery life range of 4.5 to 9 hours compared to the 2.5 to 6.5 hour range of the launch model. The battery life even surpasses the smaller Switch Lite, which is only slightly better than the original Switch at 3 to 7 hours of battery life on a full charge.

While a gift card isn’t the same as a straight discount, if you’re buying a Nintendo Switch, you’re definitely going to purchase some games and accessories. The $25 gift card will come in handy with that. For help deciding which games to buy, take a look at our roundup of the best Nintendo Switch games. We also have a list highlighting the essential Nintendo Switch accessories.

There’s never been a better time to buy a Nintendo Switch. In 2019 alone, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Astral Chain, Super Mario Maker 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening further strengthened the Switch’s exclusives and helped the console reach a new sales milestone. Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Pokemon Sword and Shield are right around the corner, too.

If you pre-order Luigi’s Mansion 3 at Target, you’ll get a free canvas bag when the game launches on October 31. Meanwhile, an exclusive steelbook edition of the Pokemon Sword and Shield double pack will be available to pre-order this Sunday at Target ahead of its November 15 release.

Minor spoilers follow for the first episode of HBO’s Watchmen, but really it’s nothing that’s not in the trailers already.

In HBO’s new sequel to the classic graphic novel Watchmen, series creator Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers) has gone out of his way to create a world that is a faithful extension of what happened in the original book by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons. Set in a 2019 that has been impacted by the events of the comic’s 1985, this Watchmen is full of thematic and visual connections to the original while also setting out to tell an all-new story with new characters. And yet, at the same time, Lindelof and his team are making sure to update us on what happened to several of the characters from the classic story.

Continue reading…

The Sony Xperia 1 (See it on Amazon) is a fancy flagship Android phone with a hyper-unique form factor. It’s tall, thin, and fast. With a 4K display and a 21:9 aspect ratio, it’s a phone tailored to watching movies. There’s no notch or hole punch to obstruct that view, either. It’s equipped with Dolby Atmos sound, a filming app built for cinematographers, three rear cameras, and a just-stock-enough version of Android 9 Pie.

It’s capable in all the right ways. But at $950, it’s competing with the best-of-the-best, many of which have better specs, better cameras, or more features (like a headphone jack, a larger battery, and wireless charging). So is the Xperia 1’s character enough to help it compete? Let’s find out.

Continue reading…

Batman Beyond is coming straight from the end of the 1990s to the modern era with the complete series Blu-ray, and you can preorder it right now for 20% off its list price.

Batman Beyond Blu-ray Preorder Deal

• Batman Beyond: The Complete Series Blu-ray – Get it at Amazon for $79.99
• Batman Beyond: The Complete Series Blu-ray – Get it at Walmart for $79.99

The Batman Beyond Complete Series Blu-ray comes out at the end of the month, October 29 to be specific, and preordering it right now will lock in your price. For a very brief time yesterday, the set was marked down to $65. If you preordered before yesterday on Amazon, the good news is you’re getting the set at that price, as Amazon will honor the lowest price during the preorder period so long as you had your order in before the price dropped.

Continue reading…

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

Anyone who has a Nintendo Switch knows that it’s oddly tempting to buy games for a second or third time just to be able to play them on the go. With that said, right now you can save $20 each on the Switch versions of Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age and Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster at Amazon and Walmart.

Normally $50 each, both games are available for $30. If you squirmed at the original prices for these PS2 remasters, the discounted prices bring these stellar RPGs down to a far more reasonable price–especially if you’ve already played them on other platforms.

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster has been around the block. The upscaled collection originally landed on PS3 and Vita in 2014. It moved to PS4, then PC, and finally arrived on Switch and Xbox One earlier this year. Final Fantasy X is widely regarded as one of the best turn-based RPGs of the PlayStation 2 era, and Spira is undoubtedly one of the most captivating worlds in franchise history. Final Fantasy X-2 continued the story and is an underrated gem that differs from its predecessor in surprising and cool ways.

Heads up: Final Fantasy X is on the cartridge, but X-2 is a download voucher that takes up roughly 13GB of storage space.

See Final Fantasy X/X-2 at Amazon

See Final Fantasy X/X-2 at Walmart

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age

Final Fantasy XII is a significant departure from Final Fantasy X. Featuring a real-time battle system that will be somewhat familiar to those who have played Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy XII received rave reviews when it initially launched on PS2 in 2006. It still holds up remarkably well today thanks to an engaging battle system, interesting characters, and some spectacular world-building.

See Final Fantasy XII at Amazon

See Final Fantasy XII at Walmart

For more excellent game deals, be sure to look at Amazon’s current sale. Many awesome PS4, Xbox One, and Switch games are discounted, including 2019 hits such as Gears 5, Resident Evil 2, Control, and Borderlands 3.

Call of Duty League has revealed the first details of its 2020 competition, with 12 teams competing in “home-vs-away 5-versus-5 professional match play”.

Teams from Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Florida, London, Minnesota, New York, Paris, Seattle, Toronto and two Los Angeles outfits will each host two ‘Home Series’ events, one each in spring and summer. Each Home Series will feature multiple pro teams taking on best-of-five matches in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare on PS4.

Teams with the best win-loss records will head to postseason championship, featuring double elimination playoffs, with a season champion crowned at the Call of Duty League Championship Weekend event.

Check out what multiplayer has in store for pros and amateurs alike in the modern Warfare multiplayer trailer:

Continue reading…

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella received a big pay increase for the latest fiscal year. The executive was paid $42.9 million–including his salary and stock options–for the latest fiscal year that ended on June 30. That is a big increase (66 percent) from the previous year.

All of this information was posted publicly in Microsoft’s latest annual proxy statement filed with the United States Securities & Exchange Commission and reported on by CNBC.

As CNBC reminds us, Nadella earned $84.3 million during the fiscal year 2014, which was when he took on the role of CEO following Steve Ballmer.

Nadella’s base salary went up by $1 million to $2.5 million for the latest fiscal year, while his stock awards also improved. Explaining the increases to Nadella’s overall pay package, Microsoft said, “Mr. Nadella’s strategic leadership, including his efforts to strengthen trust with customers, drive for a company-wide culture change, and successful entry and expansion into new technologies and markets.”

Microsoft’s proxy statement explains that it determines pay scales for its executive officers in an effort to “attract, motivate, and retain the key executives who drive our success and industry leadership while considering individual and Company performance and alignment with the long-term interests of our shareholders.”

When determining pay rates, Microsoft’s executive compensation committee looks into a number of factors, including third-party compensation surveys and public data from other, similar companies. Additionally, pay is determined by role and responsibility.

Executives can also receive performance-based bonuses, with different business categories weighted differently, seemingly as a method to motivate executives to hit certain milestones. Given that Nadella’s base salary is $2.5 million, he earns most of his money from stock rewards and other bonuses.

Nadella’s increased pay package comes amid booming business for Microsoft. In 2018, the company temporarily overtook Apple to become the highest-valued pubic company on Earth. Microsoft became a trillion-dollar company in April, and the valuation has stayed that high throughout the year.

Xbox hardware sales are slowing down, but things might turn around in the next year as the company is expected to release a next-generation console with Halo Infinite as a launch title in Holiday 2020.