Need a new DualShock 4? Amazon is currently selling the PlayStation 4 controller for only $36, which is a nice markdown from its normal $60 price point. The standard jet black DualShock 4 is on sale, but none of the other colors are marked down as substantially.
However, the silver, blue, gold, and camo, controllers are discounted to around $45 instead of their normal $65 price points. These are all Amazon Prime items, so subscribers get free two-day shipping (or faster in some areas). Go to Amazon’s DualShock 4 landing page here to buy any of the controllers if you’re interested. Right now, it looks like this deal is only available in the US, and other retailers do not appear to have matched Amazon’s prices.
What’s more, this week’s PSN deals have now become available. Now through February 20, a lot of 2K Games titles are marked down, including games in the Borderlands and XCOM franchises. Check out GameSpot’s rundown of all the deals here.
While practically every movie has deleted scenes, few of them are as sought after as moments cut out of Star Wars films. That’s why a simple birthday greeting from Star Wars: The Last Jedi‘s Mark Hamill to his co-star in the film Laura Dern is getting so much attention. Warning: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
In the message, which Hamill posted to Instagram, he writes, “SHOUT OUT to [Laura Dern] for no particular reason other than being one of my all-time favorite actors & for being a genuinely nice person. It was nice almost working with you. xoxo from your deleted-scene partner.”
A deleted scene featuring both Hamill’s Luke Skywalker and Dern’s Vice Admiral Holdo could dramatically change so much about The Last Jedi. After all, by the time Skywalker uses the Force to project himself to the Resistance, Dern’s Holdo had already sacrificed her life to destroy Snoke’s ship. Sharing a scene means either Holdo was meant to survive longer or Luke was originally supposed to join the fight much sooner–perhaps in person.
While Hamill has yet to explain exactly what that scene entails, the implications are that it would have led to a very different movie. While it’s entirely possible that the scene–and maybe others-could end up on the Blu-ray or digital release of the film, it will be impossible to know how much the movie changed without director Rian Johnson’s input.
As the first stage of Overwatch League drew to a close, it represented a major milestone for Blizzard’s big gamble on esports. The London Spitfire faced some setbacks during the final day of Stage 1, but after coming back from an earlier defeat against their rivals the New York Excelsior, they were able to secure victory and earn $100,000 in prize money. During a chat with Overwatch League commissioner Nate Nanzer at the finals, he spoke about how event organizers plan to refine their approach to the competition, while also reflecting on how things have transpired so far.
“I think we’re off to a good start,” said the commissioner. “There’s tons of things we want to continue to iterate on and improve, but right now we’re just really focused on figuring out how to continue to evolve and improve the show throughout the year, and have all of that culminate in the awesome finals event. That’s the focus right now, and it’s really awesome that people are happy with it. Nothing is broken, so right now we’re just focusing on making it better.”
With Stage 2 set to begin on February 21, there’s already some notable changes coming up that could potentially alter the dynamic for the 12 teams. In addition to ongoing gameplay balances and tweaks for the base game, which included some notable changes to one of the most useful healer characters in Mercy, the league will also see an influx of new talent coming in to shake up the current roster.
The Stage 1 finals, while engaging and dramatic, ended up being a perfect storm of scheduling and scoring issues that resulted in many players feeling the heat after extended periods of play–and the organizers agreed. Taking place over the course of 12 hours–making the show itself somewhat exhausting to sit through–it forced the London Spitfire into playing several consecutive matches during the semi-finals and finals. While the London Spitfire were able to secure the win for the finals after a total of 14 games during the day–a testament to their team coordination and composure–this still made for a rather exhausting experience for all involved.
For the teams that had a hard time during the month, Stage 2 represents a clean slate for many players, allowing them to change the narrative surrounding their group. The Shanghai Dragons, featuring some of China’s top esports talent, have struggled throughout their games in Stage 1. While they had some successful matches, they ultimately placed last. However, things could be be looking up for the Dragons. Reportedly, three new players are set to join the Shanghai Dragons in Stage 2, which includes Lee Eui-Seok from Element Mystic, MVP Space flex Cheon “Ado” Ki-hyun, and Kim “Geguri” Se-yeon–who will be the first female player for Overwatch League.
As one of the top Zarya players in the world, Geguri could prove to be an effective player to round out a team that’s in need of stronger defensive and support play. Many fans of competitive Overwatch have been clamoring for Geguri to have a spot in the League, and her placement on the roster could just be the shot in the arm that a team like the Dragons need to make it out of the bottom tier.
One thing that’s common for an online game is for the developers to roll out gradual updates and tweaks for the game. Recently, both Junkrat and Mercy, two of the most used characters in the League, received some tweaks that toned down some key abilities that the developers felt could be easily exploited by players. Mercy became the go-to healer for teams thanks to her ability to resurrect dead players, along with her speed and healing range. However, the upcoming nerf will make the time to revive players last a bit longer, lower the speed boost from her Guardian Angel buff by 50%, and remove the bonus buff from her Resurrect skill. In addition to Mercy, Junkrat–a popular character for quick offensive strikes thanks to his Ultimate ability–will also see a nerf for one of his support abilities.
During a post-game press conference after losing to the London Spitfire, Jacob “JAKE” Lyon of the Houston Outlaws spoke about the changes to Junkrat, who is his signature character.
“I think it’s interesting, actually,” said the Houston Outlaw’s top assault player. “The character is way weaker against dive, because the 120 AoE was really especially powerful against characters like Genji and Tracer–dodging Genji’s reflect and still doing 120 and obviously one-shotting Tracer with damage boost is still a very powerful ability–but I think you’ll still see the character a ton if people are running Reinhardt because he’s still the faster shield-breaker in the game. Junkrat’s RipTire is still the best ultimate in the game, so I think we’ll still see Junkrat as viable, but it will be more situational. And it’ll be more map dependent.”
While Stage 2 will still largely keep the same flow and dynamic of its previous phases, the organizers are already looking to the future of the league given its immediate success. Overwatch League has kept a steady audience over the last month, and with the finals earning solid viewership, the organizers are confident that their audience will only grow from here. During a recent Activision-Blizzard investor call, the company already confirmed that the League was a solid success, and that the buy-in cost for new sponsors for Season 2 will increase–which is expected to add new teams and additional players. For now, Stage 2 is already looking to show more growth for the league, and what players can expect for Blizzard’s rapid increase in esports.
Valentine’s Day is nearly upon us, and a lot of video games are celebrating the holiday by holding special Valentine’s Day-themed events for a limited time. That includes Pokemon Go, which has now kicked off its own Valentine’s event, giving players a chance to capture some very rare pink Pokemon and earn extra bonuses.
From now until February 15, Pokemon Go players will encounter increased spawns of the heart-shaped Pokemon Luvdisc, one of the many Gen 3 Pokemon that were recently added to Pokemon Go. Chansey will also appear more frequently for the duration of the event. Players will be rewarded with triple the usual amount of Stardust for each Luvdisc and Chansey that they catch.
Valentine’s Day also marks the end of Kyogre‘s run as a Raid Boss, making this your last opportunity to capture the Legendary Pokemon. Another Gen 3 Legendary, Rayquaza, is also available right now in Pokemon Go; the Dragon-type will appear in Raid Battles until March 16. Rayquaza arrived alongside another batch of Gen 3 monsters, which primarily consisted of Flying- and Dragon-types such as Altaria, Salamence, and Tropius.
Beyond the Valentine’s Day event, players also have the next Pokemon Go Community Day event to look forward to this month. That event takes place on February 24. Like the first Community Day in January, players will have a chance to capture a rare Pokemon that knows a move it cannot typically use during the event. Niantic hasn’t revealed what that exclusive move is yet, but the Pokemon in question this time is the Dragon-type Dratini.
The early games in the Spyro the Dragon series are in line for a remaster set to launch later this year, according to a new report. They’ll apparently be released exclusively for PS4 at first, with the possibility of other platforms later.
Sources speaking with Kotaku have indicated that the original Spyro trilogy–Spyro the Dragon, Ripto’s Rage (known as Gateway to Glimmer in Europe and Australia), and Year of the Dragon–is being remastered by Activision. The site says this project will be in the same vein as last year’s Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, with improved visuals (including new assets), a remastered soundtrack, and other enhancements. The same studio that worked on that project, Vicarious Visions, is said to be putting together the Spyro remaster.
It’s noted that the trilogy could include content that was cut from the original games. Exactly what form that would take is unclear, but N. Sane Trilogy received the infamous Stormy Ascent level that was previously only accessible with a GameShark or emulator.
According to Kotaku, the project is set to be announced next month and then released during the third quarter of 2018 (which runs from July through September). It’ll be available exclusively on PS4 (with PS4 Pro support) before launching on other platforms after that–an arrangement that’s said to be the same with N. Sane Trilogy. To date, no ports of that remaster have been announced, though there have been rumors of an Xbox One release. Activision has publicly said that, given N. Sane Trilogy’s success, more remasters are likely.
This September marks the 20-year anniversary of the original Spyro’s release on PS1. That game, as well as the subsequent two that will be included in this remaster, were developed by Insomniac Games, the studio that would go on to create Ratchet & Clank, Resistance, and Sunset Overdrive. Later entries in the series were handled by other studios, with the biggest recent success being the spin-off Skylanders series.
The third season will consist of eight episodes, GameSpot sister site CNET confirms. That’s one less than Season 2, which settled on nine episodes–including The Lost Sister, one of the most divisive of the series as a while. However, it matches the episode count of the first season.
Additionally, CNET has confirmed that production on the new season kicks off in mid-April. While on the surface that might not mean much, it does point to a much longer wait for new episodes than fans would like. The first season started filming in November 2016, before premiering in July 2016. Season 2, meanwhile, started production in November 2016 for an October 2017 premiere.
Given the amount of time it takes not only to film the series but add visual effects and all of the show’s other post-production needs, it seems very unlikely that it will premiere in 2018. While Netflix has not announced a projected return date for the series, chances are most weren’t expecting to go all of 2018 without new episodes.
Still, even star David Harbour tried to warn that the long wait was coming. Back in December, he told Variety, “You probably won’t get [Season 3] until sometime in 2019.”
Still, with one less episode to film, perhaps the Duffer brothers, who co-created the series, will be able to deliver it before the end of the year. Could there be a better holiday present than a new season of Stranger Things?
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Fox has pushed back the release dates for Alita: Battle Angel and The Predator.
Variety reports Alita has been delayed for five months and will now be released on December 21 instead of July 20. The movie is directed by Robert Rodriguez from a script by James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis, based on Yukito Kishiro’s manga series. The movie’s cast includes Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Mahershala Ali, Jennifer Connelly, and Ed Skrein.
Meanwhile, Exhibitor Relations reveals Shane Black’s new Predator film moves back six weeks from August 3 to September 14. Black is directing from a script he co-wrote with Fred Dekker. It stars Boyd Holbrook, Keegan-Michael Key, Trevante Rhodes, Olivia Munn, Sterling K. Brown, Jacob Tremblay, and Thomas Jane.
After making her big “point at the sign” debut last month at the Royal Rumble, “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey is ready to grace us with her mainstream media mug at Elimination Chamber, where it was announced she’ll be signing her official contract. Mostly likely, during this in-ring segment, the seeds will be planted for her WrestleMania 34 match – which we’re assuming will be her first actual broadcasted match within the company.
Integrated graphics processors (IGPs) have never really been suited for PC gaming; instead, IGPs offer a convenient way for computers to do video output without stuffing a discrete GPU into a system. However, AMD has flipped the script with the release of the Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G, which are variants on the previously released Ryzen CPUs but with its Vega graphics technology packed inside. The result is an all-in-one chip (an APU) that is now the most powerful integrated graphics solution thus far.
Both Ryzen APUs launched this week, and in the midst of the price inflation and scarcity of graphics cards due to cryptocurrency mining. The 2400G and 2200G might be a viable solution for those looking to build a new Ryzen-based system but can’t snag a decently priced video card just yet. It’s an option if you want to hold off until prices return to normal (whenever that may be) and still need a working system. Benchmarks across the internet have shown both chips to perform competently at 1080p in some of the less graphically demanding PC games.
The Ryzen 5 2400G is a four-core, eight-thread CPU with a base clock of 3.6GHz and boost clock of 3.9GHz; as far as processing power goes, the 2400G closely aligns itself with the Ryzen 5 1500X. On the graphics side, it features the Radeon Vega 11 graphics processor (with 11 compute units) clocked at 1250MHz. What this translates to is decent performance in games like Civilization VI and Rocket League. According to Anandtech, 2400G was able to average 32.66 FPS and 99th percentile-low (to eliminate anomalous frame dips) of 22.15 FPS in Civ VI at 1080p and Ultra settings. As for Rocket League, the chip maintained an average of 51.84 FPS at 1080p and Ultra settings.
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The 2400G tends to struggles in more demanding games, however. Based on the numbers from ExtremeTech, the chip produced a 49 FPS average and 18 FPS minimum at 1080p and Low settings in Hitman. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided asks a lot from PCs, and the 2400G was able to muster a 51 FPS average and 37 FPS minimum using 720p resolution and Low settings. It’s somewhat playable, but less than ideal. One surprise came from PC Gamer‘s benchmarks in which Grand Theft Auto V ran a 60.5 FPS average and 47.6 FPS minimum (97th percentile) at 1080p with Medium settings.
When you look at the history of integrated graphics performance, it’s easy to come away impressed by AMD’s new APUs. The Ryzen 5 2400G carries an MSRP of $170 USD, which is comparable to the Ryzen 5 1500X–except you essentially get a free GPU, though. In many benchmarks, these chips outperform the IGPs on Intel’s 7th-gen and 8th-gen CPUs by wide margins. However, Ryzen APUs are a ways off from displacing low-end discrete desktop GPUs; you’ll see the RX 560 and GTX 1050 video cards ahead in all tests. But when you factor peformance-per-dollar and the fact that it’s all in one processing unit, these chips aren’t a bad choice as we wait for GPU prices to settle down.
We’re going to be putting our own Ryzen 5 2400G APU to the test to see how far we can push it and which kinds of games and settings it can run. In the meantime, catch up on how AMD and Intel are partnering to bring about new graphics solutions for laptops. For more on how AMD’s processors perform, check out our review of the Ryzen 5 1600X and 1500X CPUs.
One of Monster Hunter World‘s greatest aspects is the variety of adorable armor sets you can get for your Palico companion. The armor you can get them comes in a variety of different styles, shapes, types, and sizes. To give you an idea of what kind of armor sets you’ll be able to equip your Palico once you’ve progressed far enough in the game, we’ve compiled the gallery above.
Click ahead to check out some of the best looking high-end Palico armor sets. And if you’re eager to see more armor, check out our galleries showcasing how the game’s various armor sets looks on male characters and female characters.
