Now is the time to score your dream TV without burning a hole in your wallet. Although most Black Friday sales, discounts, and coupons don’t start until November 29th, Black Friday TV deals are an exception. Some insane TV deals are already cropping up from various retailers. These include top-of-the-line Samsung, Vizio, LG OLED, and Sony TVs as well as more affordable TVs from TCL, Hisense, Element, and more. Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and Costco have already tipped us on prices from their Black Friiday ads, and Amazon will assuredly follow suit by price matching. This article is updated daily as more deals trickle in.
Author: Trafficblast
Rick And Morty Season 4 Episode 3: 20 Easter Eggs And References You Might Have Missed
Just one last job.
We’re three episodes into Rick and Morty Season 4, and with Episode 3, “One Crew Over the Crewcoo’s Morty,” everyone’s favorite high-IQ animated sci-fi comedy hopped through a narrative portal and popped out in a new genre: the heist story.
This is Rick and Morty we’re talking about, so naturally there wasn’t just a heist within a heist, or a double-cross on top of a double-cross. Season 4 Episode 3 was like an infinite nesting doll of twists, turns, and reveals, all orchestrated by none other than Rick Sanchez himself. Shocked yet? Yeah, Rick predicted that too.
This episode may have been a bit convoluted, but that only provided more opportunities than ever for hidden Easter eggs, references, and inside jokes. Read on for the breakdown.
Top New Game Releases On Switch, PS4, And Xbox One This Week — November 24-30, 2019
November is wrapping up, but Thanksgiving is still to come in the States. Nintendo Switch owners can be extra grateful this week, as the handheld console is getting ports of the infamous Five Nights at Freddy’s series, Zelda-like adventure Decay of Logos, and survival game Pine. PS4 and Xbox One gamers can get their hands on The Escapists Double Pack, which includes The Escapists 1 and 2. Indie darling Where The Water Tastes Like Wine is also getting console ports this week. Sorry, PC gamers–things will pick up for you in December!
Pine — November 26
Available on: Switch
Pine is a survival game set in a world where humans are not at the top of the food chain. To protect your tribe, you’ll have to craft weapons, trade goods, and befriend or betray other animal races as you journey to safety. Your actions have an effect on the world’s ecology too.
The Escapists Double Pack — November 26
Available on: PS4, Xbox One
Both of The Escapists titles give you the same task: escape from prison. Doing so requires a combination of planning, crafting, sneaking, and working together with your fellow inmates. The second game lets you do all that with friends in co-op, too. It also goes beyond earthly prisons, asking you to escape your cell in crazy locations like a moving desert train, a snowy mountain, and even outer space.
More Coverage:
Decay of Logos — November 26
Available on: Switch
Taking cues from The Legend of Zelda series, Decay of Logos is full of dungeons to explore, puzzles to solve, and a variety of weapons and magic to try out in combat. As you journey to fight the Crimson Knights, you’ll ride atop your elk companion. The more you learn about the world, the stronger the bond with your elk will grow.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 1-4 — November 29
Available on: Switch
The Five Nights at Freddy’s games are pretty ubiquitous at this point, but here’s the elevator pitch: terrifying, malfunctioning animatronic mascots are out to get you. Thing is, they can’t move if you’re watching them. You’ll have to juggle security cameras and lock the doors if you hope to survive the night.
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Where The Water Tastes Like Wine — November 29
Available on: Xbox One, Switch
Where The Water Tastes Like Wine is set in the United States during the Great Depression. As you travel around the country, you’ll encounter a cast of intriguing characters–though not all of them are even human. Each has a story to tell, and the more you talk to them, the more they’ll open up to you about their history.
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November is coming to a close, but 2019 still has one month left. The next episode of New Releases will be the final one of the year, and we’ll take a look at some anticipated December games like SaGa: Scarlet Grace – Ambitions and Wattam.
Pokemon Sword & Shield Has A New Kind Of Shiny Pokemon
Pokemon Sword & Shield have not been out for long, but already dedicated players are starting to build up a full Pokedex and are hunting for rarer shiny Pokemon. As it turns out, there are actually two versions of each “shiny” Pokemon in these games–the regular shiny Pokemon that sparkle with stars when you encounter them or send them into battle, and a variant that sparkles with squares when you find them.
As Polygon has reported, several players have reported spotting and catching these unique shiny Pokemon. One fan on Twitter has gone viral with footage of themselves encountering a shiny square Wooloo the very first time they enter long grass.
The Pokemon community has been trying to figure out the distinction between the two different kinds of shiny critters, and why some have squares instead of stars. Initially, it seemed like square shiny Pokemon were much rarer, yet it seems as though a lot of people are finding and catching them compared to “traditional” shiny monsters; further digging is starting to suggest that there’s a reason for that.
Shiny Pokémon rarity has been split! Same 1:4096 odds to obtain a shiny, but there are two types of shiny. 15/16 show stars, 1/16 show squares. Square rarity is 1 in 65536!
Basically, if your Trainer ID cleanly matches the PID (xor), it will be squares rather than stars. pic.twitter.com/Lerr23LtB7— Kurt (@Kaphotics) November 20, 2019
The simple version seems to be that squares are theoretically rarer, but are much more common if you are using certain methods to purposefully seek out shiny Pokemon rather than just stumbling across them. The community is continuing to dig into this, so there might be more specific details coming out down the track.
In a surprising twist, it looks like chained shinies that are destined to be shiny are forced to be shiny in such a way that the xor results in 0 (squares). So, under certain conditions, you’re more likely to get one than the other! pic.twitter.com/ZkjjivEwop
— Kurt (@Kaphotics) November 20, 2019
Meanwhile, the official Pokemon website has posted some insight into how to increase your odds of catching shiny Pokemon. The more of a single Pokemon you fight, the better your chances of eventually finding a shiny, increasing from the set odds of 1:4096. You can also encounter “Brilliant” Pokemon, which shows an aura of light when you encounter them in the grass, and rewards you with watts after you defeat or capture it.
Battling a Pokemon once allows Brilliant versions to appear, and the odds of finding Brilliant Pokemon increase again after 20, 40, and 100 battles. They increase dramatically for shiny Pokemon as well–after 50 battles your odds double, after 100 they triple, and then at 200, 300, and 500 battles your odds multiply by 4, 5, and 6. Of course, the rarer a Pokemon is, the harder it will be to find a shiny version (although our guide to rare Pokemon should prove useful.)
Pokemon Sword & Shield received a 9/10 in our review. Kallie Plagge wrote that “in collecting, battling, and exploring, Sword and Shield cut out the bloat and focus on what makes these pillars of the Pokemon games so captivating in the first place.”
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Don’t Miss a Stim in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Find all stim canisters with this guide.
All Terrarium Seed Locations in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Find every seed in Fallen Order with this guide.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond Is The Franchise’s Third TV Series–Here’s The First Trailer
The Walking Dead: World Beyond has been announced today by AMC, with a first-look teaser trailer showing us a brief glimpse of what’s to come. The Walking Dead: World Beyond will join The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead as the third show in the expanding universe they have built up.
The series was teased earlier this year, but now we’ve got actual footage of the characters we’ll be spending time with when the show comes to AMC in Spring 2020. It shows the zombie fighting you’d expect from a Walking Dead series, but also suggests that elements of society have been properly rebuilt, too–but there’s also a faint whiff of fascism to the characters who appear towards the end of the trailer below.
The new series will star Aliyah Royale as Iris, Annet Mahendru as Huck, Alexa Mansour as Hope, Nicolas Cantu as Elton, and Hal Cumpston as Silas. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it will follow younger characters who have grown up during the time of the zombies, but have been protected from them–they are aware of walkers, but have not had to interact with them prior to the events the series will depict. According to chief content officer Scott M. Gimple’s Instagram, the first episode will be called “Brave.”
It does not look like it will necessarily connect directly to the original series, beyond being set during the same post-zombie world. Movies spinning off from the original series are still in the works. It’s been a big year for the franchise, with comic author Robert Kirkman ending his series earlier this year after 193 issues. Back in December, Telltale’s The Walking Dead wrapped up following the collapse of the developer. The television series The Walking Dead has just aired the midseason finale of its tenth season.
Cyberpunk 2077 Dev Not Worried About Half-Life: Alyx Game Because VR Is Very “Niche”
The roster of big game releases for 2020 recently grew when Valve, out of nowhere, announced Half-Life: Alyx for launch in March 2020 as a virtual reality-exclusive title. Given that it’s been so long since the release of a new Half-Life title, there will surely be pent-up demand that could scare other developers launching games close to it.
CD Projekt Red isn’t scared about launching Cyberpunk 2077 in April 2020, however, because the two games are going for different markets. Half-Life: Alyx is designed for virtual reality while Cyberpunk 2077 is going after a bigger audience of players on console and PC.
Management for CD Projekt Red said on an earnings call recently that the company isn’t shaking in its boots over Half-Life: Alyx because VR is an incredibly niche market.
“Of course we’ve seen the Half-Life VR announcement. I think it was a surprise for everybody … VR remains an extremely niche-y niche of the market,” the company said. “It’s very, very small.”
The only reason why Valve would make Half-Life: Alyx exclusive to VR is because they want VR as an industry to grow. The hope is people will be so excited for a new Half-Life that they’ll go buy a headset, according to CD Projekt Red.
“The only reason I can think of why Valve has decided to actually put this title on the market is because they actually have a cooperation on the hardware side of the things and I assume they are planning … this is probably a big effort for them to try to expand that niche,” CD Projekt Red said. “That niche is very, very, very–and I could add a few verys here–small. So, from the market perspective, are we afraid? No. It is a very different niche.”
Whereas Valve is trying to specifically improve VR hardware sales by making Half-Life: Alyx, at least according to CD Projekt Red, the Polish studio is trying to appeal to more people. VR as a business sector remains unproven and not profitable, according to CD Projekt Red.
“[Half-Life: Alyx] is an endeavor to try to push the hardware while we are really targeting the mass market where it is–which is major consoles and PCs without the need to have the VR gear,” the company said. “I know there are a few titles here and there that usually showcase [VR] but I have not heard of anybody building an actual valid business on VR so far.”
One day, VR might become a viable business, and CD Projekt Red acknowledged that Half-Life: Alyx could be the game to help drive interest in VR. Still, the company doesn’t think it will happen soon–if it ever does–so it has no plans to adapt its games for VR right now.
“Perhaps Half-Life will become this first stone that is going to turn into something larger [for VR] as we go, but that’s definitely not going to be the case come first half of the next year; I dare say it’s probably not going to be next year,” CD Projekt Red said. “I don’t dare to venture any further because things may change. At some point VR may be a mass market entertainment that will validate the business model behind it but it is not the case, at least not for us, right now.”
Half-Life: Alyx is a prequel to Half-Life 2 in which players control Alyx Vance. The game is reportedly a big undertaking for Valve, and among the developers contributing to the project are members of the Campo Santo team that Valve acquired in 2018. The voice actress for Alyx is Ozioma Akagha, who replaces Merle Dandridge from the earlier Half-Life games. New Zealand-based actor Rhys Darby (Jumanji, Flight of the Conchords) is joining the game as a new character.
Half-Life: Alyx is free on Valve Index for those who buy a headset before the end of 2019. The game is also playable on other PC VR headsets made by companies other than Valve.
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Walking Dead’s Midseason Finale Poorly Prepped Michonne’s Exit
Warning: Full spoilers for The Walking Dead’s Season 10 midseason finale follow…
With last week’s episode, “Open Your Eyes,” showcasing Season 10’s best efforts to date, it was unlikely the midseason finale was going to top it. And it didn’t. But it sure seemed like it was trying during the first 20 minutes or so, when we got all our questions about Dante answered, Rosita took him down (and saved Coco from a zombified Siddiq), and Gabriel went nuts and murdered Dante in his cell.
Those were all very interesting and intense moments. And I mentioned last week how I hoped Rosita would get to be the one to take that Dante out. I was just afraid things wouldn’t come to a head as quickly as they did. Like, that the episode would take its sweet-ass time with the full reveal of Dante’s betrayal. But we got it right out of the gate, so “The World Before” gets some solid points for digging into it right quick.
HBO’s Watchmen: 13 Easter Eggs And References From Episode 6
Beware of spoilers!
This week’s episode of Watchmen, This Extraordinary Being, took Angela on a very literal trip down memory lane after she recklessly downed a potentially lethal dose of Nostalgia last Sunday. The pill, designed to help people relieve memories in real-time, was never designed to be ingested by other people once the memories are harvested–but that warning, as well as the looming threat of side effects like psychosis–didn’t even slow Angela down as she poured the entire bottle of Will’s Nostalgia down her throat rather than hand it over to Laurie.
The end result was eye-opening to say the least, as we learned tonight. It turns out some of our long-running Will theories were right on the nose, but more complicated than we could have ever imagined. Thankfully, the answers seem to be coming at a fast and furious pace now and the mysteries are all beginning to unravel. That also means that Watchmen is piling on the Easter Eggs and references, both to earlier episodes and character moments and real-life history. Here are 13 different things we picked up on in Episode 6. Let us know in the comments what you noticed and what you think they might mean.