Final Fantasy XIV Online‘s new expansion, Shadowbringers, is out now–and it’s pretty great. If you’re thinking about getting into the MMO right now, also enjoy pizza, and live in Australia, Square Enix has rolled out a pretty unique offer.
Now until July 28, everyone who orders pizza from Domino’s can get a free copy of Final Fantasy XIV Online’s Complete Edition–which contains the base game, along with the Heavensward, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers expansions. You must order the “Gaming bundle” that comes with three (traditional) pizzas, one order of garlic bread, and a 1.25 litre drink. It costs $60 AUD for delivery or $54 AUD for pick-up.
Mmmmh pizza
The Complete Edition is yours through a download code for PC. This offer is only available for the PC version of Final Fantasy XIV Online, not the PlayStation 4 edition.
Also remember that you need to add the following codes to your order to receive a free copy of Final Fantasy XIV Online Complete Edition with your pie order: For pick-up: 239495 For delivery: 741327
Additionally, Square Enix created a special-edition PS4 Pro with a snazzy Final Fantasy design and matching DualShock controller. Those who order the pizza gaming bundle from Domino’s and enter a code (see below) will be entered into a raffle to win the system and a digital copy of The Complete Edition for PS4.
Enter these codes at checkout to enter for a chance to win the Shadowbringers PS4:
Pick-up: 584083
Delivery: 210836
You can see the full T&Cs for the Domino’s promotion here.
Shadowbringers is out now for PS4 and PC. In GameSpot’s 9/10 review, Ginny Woo wrote, “Equal parts redemption, vengeance, cruelty, and sassy Elezen, Shadowbringers promises a hell of a lot when you take your first steps into Norvrandt and delivers a truly spectacular finish even if it stumbles a little along the way.”
There’s another hidden Exotic weapon to chase in Destiny 2. Among the many new things today, the latest update to the game has added Bad Juju, another well-loved Destiny 1 weapon. Don’t expect it to be shoved right in your face; you’ll need to know where to go, and it all starts with a chest on Nessus. We’ve put together a guide on how to start the Bad Juju quest to help you understand how the process works.
Whisper and Outbreak are updated versions of Destiny 1 weapons, so it seems likely Bad Juju will be slightly different from what players remember. The powerful pulse rifle had some pretty sick capabilities, though: kills with the weapon could charge your Super, increase Bad Juju’s damage, and reload part of the magazine, making it extremely effective.
Getting Bad Juju involves a new location called the Tribute Hall that was added with update 2.5.1.1. To get started, you’ll need to head to Nessus and visit Werner 99-40 and open the new treasure chest standing beside him, and then head to the Leviathan.
The second Pokemon Go Fest event of the summer took place this past weekend in Dortmund, Germany, and as usual, developer Niantic held a series of Global Challenges during the event that players around the world could participate in. As a reward for completing enough of these challenges, the studio has made some more bonuses available within the game for a limited time, and it’s bringing the Legendary Pokemon Entei back for a special Raid Day soon.
From now until 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST on July 16, all Pokemon Go players will receive triple the normal amount of XP for catching and hatching Pokemon. On top of that, you’ll earn twice as much XP from Raids as normal, and any Lucky Eggs you use will last for an hour rather than their usual 30-minute duration.
In addition to those bonuses, Entei, one of the three Legendary dogs from Pokemon Gold and Silver, will be making an encore appearance in Raid Battles this weekend. You’ll have another chance to battle the Legendary in five-star Raids from 4-7 PM local time on Sunday, July 14, and this time around, you may encounter its Shiny form. You’ll also be able to receive up to five free Raid Passes during that time, which you’ll need in order to participate in a Raid.
Entei is the second Legendary dog to return to Raids so far this summer; last month, Niantic held a special Raikou Raid Day as a reward for completing enough Global Challenges from Chicago’s Pokemon Go Fest event. One more Pokemon Go Fest is scheduled to take place in Yokohama, Japan, from August 6-12, and if players can likewise complete enough challenges during that event, the final Legendary dog, Suicune, will return to Raids.
In the meantime, Pokemon Go’s current Legendary, Groudon, is leaving Raid Battles on July 10 (although you’ll still have a chance to encounter it through July’s Field Research tasks). That same day, Armored Mewtwo will make its debut in the game, and it’ll be available through the end of the month. Another Pokemon Go Community Day is also taking place on July 21, and this one will feature the Gen 3 Water starter, Mudkip.
If you buy something through this post, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, read our Terms of Use.
Bad news for fans of the 1990s: Friends, that quintessential 90s sitcom, is leaving Netflix for WarnerMedia’s new streaming service HBO Max after this year is over. The good news is you don’t need to sign up for any new streaming service to enjoy Monica, Joey, Chandler, Phoebe and Rachel’s New York City antics.
You can buy the entire Friends series on Blu-ray for $94.98 right now from Amazon, which is half off its $189.99 list price. Not a bad price, but not the best price either. For one glorious day in 2018, you could have grabbed the complete Friends Blu-ray set for just $54.99. But it’s important not to dwell on the past.
There are few genres so centered around individual movie releases as horror. The popularity of the different horror subgenres–whether zombies, slashers, possession films, killer dolls, or haunted houses–are almost always created by the huge success of a single film. From Night of the Living Dead and Halloween to The Exorcist and Scream, these genre classics inspired dozens and dozens of imitators over the following years, before their popularity waned and something else took their place.
Sometimes a horror wave isn’t a specific genre–the current popularity of Stephen King adaptations cover many different types of movies, but are all unified by the appeal of the iconic writer. The same was true of found footage in the 2000s. Found footage means nothing more than a movie comprised of footage “filmed” by its protagonists, and was used throughout the decade in everything from the cheapest films imaginable to mainstream blockbusters such as Matt Reeves and JJ Abrams’ Cloverfield. But it all started in one place.
The Blair Witch Project wasn’t the first found footage horror movie, just as Halloween wasn’t the first slasher movie. But it was the one that ushered the concept into the 21st Century and provided a filmmaking template for dozens of cash-strapped filmmakers. This was a film that cost a measly $60,000 to make and yet earned nearly $250 million worldwide. And while no subsequent filmmakers expected to recoup 4,000 times their production budget like Blair Witch did, the success showed that a few friends and a domestic grade camcorder was all you needed to be in with a shot at making a small profit.
But while this might be the reason why horror in the 2000s was defined by the sheer number of found footage movies, it doesn’t explain why The Blair Witch Project was such a phenomenon to start with. It’s crucial to remember that this was the late-1990s. The internet as a domestic service was in its infancy–while plenty of homes were online by this point, the possibilities of the internet as a commercial tool were still being explored by individuals and organisations. And even more importantly, there was no social media. Online discussions were conducted via bulletin boards, meaning a slower, more controlled spread of information as opposed to the constant, relentless, and instant information (and misinformation) dump we all experience today.
All of this played to Blair Witch’s advantage in terms of building buzz. The movie had already screened at the Sundance Film Festival six months before its release, but back in 1999, all this meant was a handful of reviews in industry trade publications. Mainstream magazines and websites rarely covered festival hits until they reached theaters. But even though directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez were only hoping for a TV sale, Artisan Entertainment saw the movie’s great commercial potential and bought the film for $1.1 million at Sundance. Artisan set up a wide July release, right in the middle of 1999’s blockbuster season, 20 years ago this week.
That’s where the fun began. The Blair Witch Project is widely credited as the first movie to use online “viral” promotion, and the filmmakers did it in a way that would be impossible today. The plot of the movie–three student documentary filmmakers go missing in the woods while investigating the spooky legend of a local witch–fed directly into the marketing campaign, to the extent that the campaign became a part of the movie’s narrative. Artisan and Haxan Films, Myrick and Sánchez’s production company, collaborated on creating content for the movie’s official website in the build-up to its release. The site featured mock police reports about the missing students and “interviews” with some of the residents who live near the woods where the Blair Witch reportedly lurked. In an era before every aspect of our online lives is constantly deconstructed and analysed, this was incredibly effective, causing confusion about whether these reports were real or not. It helped build buzz for the movie in a way that had never been seen before.
Artisan and Haxan’s publicity genius didn’t stop there. What remains so impressive is that they never broke cover–the campaign was consistent and focused on one thing: make people believe that The Blair Witch Project was a document of real events. There was never an “official” trailer, which is unheard of for a movie hitting thousands screens across the US in July. Instead, there were a pair of spooky and realistic short videos that gave no real clue that they were advertising a movie. The approach even went as far as changing the IMDB entries for the movie’s three stars to ‘missing, presumed dead,’ while missing person flyers were handed out at film festivals. In 2019, it would take just a few minutes on Google or Twitter for the entire conceit to come crashing down, but 20 years ago it worked brilliantly.
Of course, the idea that everyone who stepped into a theater to watch The Blair Witch Project on the weekend of July 14 thought they were about to watch something that actually happened is itself a myth. By that point, the hype machine was in full swing, reviews and articles about the movie’s production were everywhere, and audiences knew this was a fictional film, not some shockumentary. But it didn’t matter–the mystique of the movie had been set, making it an absolute must-see. And for that first viewing, with the backstory of the movie bleeding into the events that unfolded on-screen, it was a scary movie like few audiences had experienced for a long time.
The Blair Witch Project was released after a period where American horror had moved into a safe, mainstream place following the success of Scream in 1996. Wes Craven’s post-modern classic inspired a new wave of knowing slasher movies, but these were polished, commercial releases featuring casts of recognisable actors and little danger. Blair Witch was the complete opposite. It was raw, it was cheap, it was incredibly realistic, and it was damn scary. It broke conventions in terms of its structure and refused to bend to audience expectations.
I vividly remember watching The Blair Witch Project for the first time on its opening weekend in central London. While today the vast majority of movies open simultaneously in the US and UK, this wasn’t the case 20 years ago, and British film fans like myself had to wait a long three months for it to finally hit UK theaters. In a way, an October release made more sense–it is the month of horror after all. But it meant by this point, absolutely no one thought the film was anything but a work of fiction. But it didn’t matter. The immediacy of the film, the uncomfortable realism, and the naturalistic performances quickly removed the barrier that often lies between the viewer and the screen, and had me utterly gripped, fully immersed in Heather, Mike, and Josh’s nightmarish situation. I’ve seen hundreds of horror movies since, but the visceral effect that those final ten minutes had on me that first weekend remains a powerful memory to this day.
But while no horror movie is as effective the second time round when it comes to scares, this was especially true of Blair Witch. Despite the rave reviews, huge box office, and reports of absolutely terrified audiences, this is a film that is now remembered more for its influence on the genre than its power to scare. I rewatched it at home several months after my first viewing and it contained only a fraction of its power. It quickly became clear that not much really happens, and viewed on the small screen without a terrified audience around me, it was impossible to recapture that first experience. Even the movie’s ending, so utterly petrifying only a few months earlier, seemed a bit silly. So wait, he’s just standing in the corner?
Nevertheless, even if the film does not hold up to repeat viewings, the filmmakers did something remarkable with The Blair Witch Project. It was the perfect film for the era, one that simply couldn’t have built its reputation in the same way either five years earlier or five years later. Like many of the genre’s most influential classics, it was an independent film made far outside the Hollywood system, and for a brief moment, it truly reminded audiences how scary a horror movie can be. Happy birthday Blair Witch.
A few weeks ago my boss Jeremy Azevedo asked me if I would like to debate him on whether or not Saints Row 4 was and is “the greatest sandbox game of all time”. His words. I mean, I like Saints Row as much as the next guy, but like most, I sort of forgot about the series shortly after playing its final installment in 2013 (regardless of how many times they’ve re-released it). I agreed to his challenge, thinking that there was no way he could defend such an outlandish and bizarre claim. I was right.
His words were rambling, his thesis incoherent, and his pupils dilated… undoubtedly from consuming scoops of unmixed G-Fuel powder without any liquid. He made outrageous claims like “RPGs aren’t sandbox games.” But still he pressed on undaunted by the lack of any semblance of reason in his argument. He raved madly about “dubstep guns” and “having sec.” He somehow killed our video producer with a Nerf gun, and I was sure that I had entered a realm of pure madness.
Season 1 of One-Punch Man is one of the best-looking anime to ever grace our screens. Its dynamic camerawork, electrifying brawls, heart-stopping action scenes, and gorgeous animation left fans drooling after each episode. Then came the news that Season 2 would switch animation studios from Madhouse to J.C. Staff due to time restraints and the team who made Season 1 having their hands full with other projects. Alarm bells started ringing, and then the trailer dropped, which showed stilted animation, uninspired shot composition, awkward facial animations, and a lot of black screens.
Amazon Prime Day 2019 is nearly upon us, and this year more than ever, that means sales at a wide variety of non-Amazon retailers. The latest to throw its hat into the ring is PC manufacturer Dell, whose response to Prime Day is to host Black Friday in July from now through July 15 at 5 AM PT / 8 AM ET. The sale includes some serious discounts on items across every section of the store, including gaming PCs and laptops, monitors, and accessories. Signing up for Dell’s loyalty program (which has no fees or subscription charges) can also net you an additional 3% back on purchases when you spend $500 in a 12-month period (which isn’t that hard if you buy a computer).
Alienware 34-Inch Curved Gaming Monitor — on sale for $800 (was $1,500)
Before Prime Day comes around on Monday, you can brush up on our general tips for getting the best deals. Gamers will also want to take note of Twitch Prime’s freebies on offer this year. We’ll be posting all the best gaming-focused deals from Prime Day as they go live, as well as rounding up all of the other non-Amazon sales so you can compare and make sure you’re getting the best deals possible.
The latest set of weekly deals on PSN (North America only) has gone up, offering loads of discounts on big games and compilations. You can snag some great prices on retro PlayStation 4 games as long as you act fast.
This week’s discounts include a PlayStation Retro sale, so the store has plenty of old-school action up for grabs. The sale seems especially primed toward compilations of games, like a Spyro + Crash Remastered Bundle for $41, the BioShock Collection for $15, and the Mega Man 30th Anniversary Bundle for $40. The Wipeout Omega Collection is just $8, and the Castlevania Anniversary Collection is $14. Many of the bundles are also selling the individual games at a discount too, if you’re only interested in one piece.
A few standalone deals are worth noting as well. Yakuza Kiwami 2 is down to $25. Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is $18. Red Faction Guerrilla Re-Mars-Tered is $15 and Shadow of the Colossus on PS4 is $13. Psychonauts is just $2.50. Plus, if you need to catch up on Destiny 2, you can get the entire Forsaken annual pass for $15.
Mmmmh pizza
