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Early 2019 is stacked with loads of highly anticipated games. That’s good news for everyone, but PC gamers are particularly lucky, because Green Man Gaming is running a sale that can save you up to 20% on preorders of some of the biggest titles of the year, including Resident Evil 2, Far Cry: New Dawn, The Division 2, and more. In case you’re unfamiliar with GMG, it’s a storefront that sells legitimate codes for Steam and other PC game launchers like Ubisoft’s Uplay.
It’s been a very long wait, but the release date of Kingdom Hearts 3 is nearly upon us. It’s set to launch on January 29, 2019 for PS4 and Xbox One, and you’ve got multiple options when deciding how to buy it.
Kingdom Hearts 3 takes you and series protagonist Sora on a journey to a variety of Disney-themed worlds, including everything from Toy Story to Monsters Inc. to Pirates of the Caribbean. It marks the conclusion of the story that’s been told across the series, but if you’re eager for the very end, you’ll have a bit of a wait. The video epilogue will be released shortly after launch.
For those who have not kept up on the many twists and turns of the Kingdom Hearts story, that’s okay. If you want to get caught up, we have a Kingdom Hearts story recap to help you get ready.
Reviews have not yet been released, but if you’re a diehard fan and eager to pre-order, you can get the full rundown on what to expect in terms of bonuses, special editions, and pricing below. Just be prepared for a lot of options.
Kingdom Hearts 3 Pre-Order Bonuses
Amazon Prime and My Best Buy members get a $10 rewards certificate with every pre-order of the title. Amazon is also offering the Dawn Till Dusk Keyblade DLC for free with pre-order. GameStop offers an exclusive fabric poster, while PlayStation Store is giving away a dynamic Kingdom Hearts 3 PS4 theme.
Kingdom Hearts 3 Standard Edition
The standard edition only comes with the game and no extra goodies. Amazon Prime and My Best Buy members each get a $10 reward certificate for buying the game at the respective retailers.
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Xbox One
Kingdom Hearts 3 Deluxe Edition
The Deluxe Edition will include a steelbook case, artbook, and collectible pin featuring Sora with the Kingdom Hearts 3 logo. It will not come with any digital content.
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Xbox One
Kingdom Hearts 3 Deluxe Edition + Figures
For $150 more, this Deluxe Edition will come with everything from the base Deluxe Edition and three Bring figures of Sora, Donald, and Goofy. All three figures appear to be in their Toy Story world garbs as each appear to be more toy-like than collectible premium statues. This bundle will be available exclusively from the Square Enix store.
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Xbox One
Kingdom Hearts 3 All-in-One PS4 Pro Bundle
Sony has announced a Kingdom Hearts 3 PlayStation 4 Pro bundle. It features the console and the deluxe version of the game, which contains an exclusive Sora pin, steelbook, and full-color hardback artbook alongside the game. This was available for $400 exclusively from GameStop but is sold out at the time of this writing.
Kingdom Hearts: The Story So Far
If you could use a refresher on the Kingdom Hearts story, you’re in good company. Thankfully, Square Enix has released a collection of nine Kingdom Hearts experiences for PS4 that will get you all caught up and ready to roll once KH3 lands.
BioWare’s upcoming third-person shooter RPG, Anthem, is scheduled to release for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on February 22. In Anthem, you can go it alone or take to the skies with up to three friends to tackle story-based campaign missions, fetch quests, and challenging raid-like strongholds.
You’ll take on the role of a Freelancer in Anthem, one of the soldiers trained to survive the grueling landscape of a hostile world. The city you protect will task you with different types of expeditions, ranging from exploring uncharted caverns to fighting off dangerous monsters. You’ll do this with the help of armored exo-suits, called Javelins, that gift Freelancers with superhuman abilities, such as flight.
There are four Javelins scheduled to be included in Anthem at launch. All players start with the Ranger, which is designed for those who want to fight with precision or have access to an array of support abilities and grenades. While playing, you’ll also unlock–in whichever order you want–the close-combat specialist Interceptor, long-distance and elemental caster Storm, and hulking tank-like Colossus. You’ll also find new weapons and craft different pieces of armor for your Javelins, allowing you to shape your exo-suit in whatever way you desire.
There are two editions for Anthem, and pre-ordering either one nets you certain bonuses. We’ve outlined those bonuses, along with each editions’ price and where you can pre-order them, below.
Anthem Pre-Order Bonuses And Demo Access
Regardless of edition, you’ll get two bonuses for pre-ordering Anthem. The first is access to the exclusive VIP demo–which is happening this weekend from January 25 through January 27. The second is a Founders-themed player banner, which you can use to customize your in-game profile when Anthem launches. Certain retailers are offering their own exclusive pre-order bonuses as well.
Anthem Standard Edition
If you pre-order the standard edition of Anthem, you’ll also get the Legion of Dawn armor skin for your Ranger Javelin, as well as a special weapon.
Here’s where you can pre-order the standard edition now:
Anthem Legion of Dawn Edition
Pre-ordering Anthem’s Legion of Dawn Edition nets you the armor for all four Javelins, as well as a special legendary weapon and a few more bonuses, such as a Gear Attachment for Ranger and the digital soundtrack of the game.
Here’s where you can pre-order the Legion of Dawn Edition now:
The remake of Capcom’s survival-horror classic, Resident Evil 2, is nearing its release. After the original version launched for PS1 back in 1998, the Resident Evil 2 remake releases on January 25, 2019 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. While still maintaining the same core as the original, it makes a variety of refinements to both its visuals and gameplay but still brings back welcome features like Tofu mode.
The most notable and obvious change, graphical improvements aside, is the new camera perspective. Rather than the classic, fixed-view camera of the old games, the remake uses a third-person, over-the-shoulder perspective not unlike that of Resident Evil 4. You can try this out for yourself as part of the 1-Shot Demo that gives you 30 minutes with the game, although it will only be available for download until later in January.
Some of the changes are a noted shake-up for the game, but you needn’t worry–as you can read about in our Resident Evil 2 review, this remake has turned out quite nicely. Critic Alessandro Fillari writes, “Resident Evil 2 is not only a stellar remake of the original, but it’s also simply a strong horror game that delivers anxiety-inducing and grotesque situations, topping some of the series’ finest entries. But above all, the remake is an impressive game for the fact that it goes all-in on the pure survival horror experience, confidently embracing its horrifying tone and rarely letting up until the story’s conclusion. Though Resident Evil 2 has its roots firmly in the past, it reworks the familiar horrors into something that feels brand new and all its own.”
Even more is on the way for Resident Evil 2 post-launch, as it will receive a free DLC game mode. If you’re eager to get your hands on the game for release day, you can read on for a complete rundown on pre-order bonuses, special editions, and pricing. Or if you want to catch up on the story to be ready for RE2, we have a Resident Evil story recap you’ll find handy.
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Resident Evil 2 Video Review
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Pre-order Resident Evil 2, and you’ll receive two bonus weapons: Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine’s signature Samurai Edge handguns.
If you pre-order from the PlayStation Store, you’ll get a free Resident Evil 2 PS4 theme.
Resident Evil 2 Standard Edition
The standard edition just comes with the game. Your best deal on a console version is to buy a physical copy from Newegg.
Resident Evil 2 Deluxe Edition
The Deluxe Edition comes with the core game, plus a download voucher for two Leon costumes, three Claire costumes, Samurai Edge – Albert Model, and a classic Resident Evil 2 soundtrack swap. Here’s where you can buy Resident Evil 2: Deluxe Edition.
Resident Evil 2 Collector’s Edition
The GameStop-exclusive Collector’s Edition comes with everything you get in the Deluxe Edition, plus a 12-inch Leon statue, a collector’s art book, and R.P.D. renovation blueprints, all in R.P.D. item box packaging.
The Hong Kong Massacre is Hotline Miami meets Max Payne on the set of a John Woo movie, and for the most part it’s every bit as violent and thrilling as that combination sounds. While the minimalist story presentation and some repeated environments and boss fights expose its slightly limited scope, The Hong Kong Massacre consistently delivers a brutal ballet of ballistics that remains gripping from the first shot fired to the last enemy downed.
There’s some semblance of hard-boiled plot backboning the experience – you play an ex-cop out for revenge after his partner was killed by triad gangsters – but it mostly serves as a vehicle for your violent shootouts. It’s told through a series of disjointed cinematics and bar room conversations, with each of the 35 levels serving as a flashback to prior events. The storytelling may be sub-standard, but the shooting is so electrifying and addictive that the only plot you really need concern yourself with is the plot you’ll bury each of your enemies in at the dead triad cemetery.
343 Studios has teased an upcoming announcement concerning Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The announcement will occur during the HCS Invitational at SXSW 2019.
In terms of what the announcement might entail, 343 was pretty vague. “Not only will you be treated to amazing matches and gameplay, but we’ve also got some exciting MCC news to reveal during the show,” 343 wrote in a blog post. The HCS Invitational takes place March 15-17 at SXSW, and begins each day at 10AM PT / 1PM ET / 6PM UK. If you’re not at the event, you can watch both it and 343’s Halo announcement on either Mixer or Twitch.
The HCS Invitational is a large-scale tournament-style event that 343 created to showcase competitions for both recognized esport players and Halo fans. In terms of professionals, the best six teams from the Halo Classic in St. Louis will battle it out onstage in a Halo 3 double elimination competition for a $100,000 prize pool. More casual competitive Halo players have also been invited to participate in a smaller, two-versus-two tournament for a $5,000 prize pool. Fans who attend HCS can also sign-up to join an open free-for-all tournament for a $5,000 prize pool.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection includes the anniversary editions of both Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, along with the standard versions of Halo 3 and Halo 4. Halo 3: ODST was added to the collection after release, and fans have long asked for Halo: Reach to get the same treatment. We’ll have to wait and see whether 343’s announcement is about that, the addition of Halo 5: Guardians to the collection, or something else entirely.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is exclusive to Xbox One. Although the collection released almost five years ago, 343 is still implementing updates to this day. The game was added to Xbox Game Pass in September 2018, making it free for players who are subscribed to the service.
The first eight characters in Mortal Kombat 11 have been officially confirmed, plus a few others that we can pretty safely reserve a space on the character select screen for. And while the current roster is mostly made up of familiar faces, there are two mysterious characters that are brand new to the series. One, Geras, is a confirmed playable character, but the other, named Kronika, has only been seen in cinematic trailers. To learn more about these two newcomers, we went straight to the source, the godfather of Kombat, Ed Boon.
“Kronika is the boss of bosses. All the Mortal Kombat events that have happened, since MK1, she’s the one kind of architecting everything that’s happened,” said Boon. “Everything that’s happened has occurred according to her plan, with the goal of having Shinnok be the final victor.”
Batman’s current “Knightmares” storyline has been a disorienting read, to say the least. Initially, that was a bad thing. Issue #60 wrapped with one of the most significant cliffhangers yet in Tom King’s run, yet #61 proceeded as if that twist never happened at all. But issue #62 showed a method to that madness, urging readers to question the very reality of Batman’s surroundings. And now this new storyline shows its full hand in issue #63, reminding us once again that it’s all part of King’s plan.
While the cover highlights the team-up between Batman and John Constantine, it’s not really that Dynamic Duo that anchors the book. King mainly uses this issue as a means of reflecting on the tragic failure of the Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle romance. Readers are given brief glimpses at the life the two might have shared together had Bruce not been abandoned at the altar. This, as much as anything else, speaks elegantly to Bruce’s troubled state of mind following the recent tragedies in his life. And given how much King has emphasized this series as one massive tribute to the Bruce/Selina relationship, it’s good to see her actually put in an appearance for the first time in half a year.
