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Black Friday gave us one of the best PlayStation 4 deals by way of the PS4 Slim 1TB Spider-Man bundle. For only $199, you got the console and one of the best PS4 exclusives of 2018. Unfortunately, like all good things, it came to an end. In fact, it came to an end extremely fast, with retailers selling out of stock minutes after posting it for sale.
Sony’s console dominance this generation means great deals on PS4 are few and far between. The Black Friday bundle wasn’t just the best PS4 deal ever, it was one of the best deals of Black Friday 2018, period. While the splendor of that PS4 Slim sale is behind us, there are still ways to save on PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro. These are the best PS4 deals happening right now.
Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. features dozens of characters from our favorite video game franchises beating the crap out of each other, but which fighter is the best? While you could just look at which fighters win the most competitive tournaments and call it a day, we say there’s more to it than that. We’re also looking at what each character brings to the game that’s special, how well they replicate their signature elements, and, very importantly, how much fun they are to play.
Note that this ranking includes only characters that have appeared as fighters up until Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. Once we’ve spent some time with Ultimate and we’ve seen all of the DLC characters it has to offer, we’ll revisit this ranking.
Breaking Bad is one of the best television shows ever made. Its spin-off, Better Call Saul, from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, might be even better. Sure, Saul doesn’t have the addictive elements of the cancer survivor-turned-meth cook’s story, but it’s a stunning example of expert execution. It’s also more heartbreaking.
Television is littered with remakes, spin-offs, sequels, and prequels, yet Saul has never been concerned with catching up to Breaking Bad’s story, nor the heavy-handedness of empty Easter eggs. Its brilliance is a result of its methodical, glacial pace. It’s not about the destination, it’s about the ride through New Mexico’s underbelly.
If you’ve been sitting shotgun since 2015, this should be no surprise. The story centers on Jimmy McGill’s tragic downfall and life-long battle with his own demons. It’s packed full with the legalities (and illegalities) of the justice system, the most mundane clerical duties, cold-blooded cartel power dynamics, and illegitimate entrepreneurs. Season 4 featured Jimmy’s journey from disbanded lawyer to Saul Goodman (the finale even gave us its title character’s namesake). It wasn’t Anakin Skywalker turning to the dark side, but McGill’s transformation was extremely haunting and affecting. His partner-in-sometimes-crime, Kim Wexler, played by the incredible Rhea Seehorn, was left repulsed beyond belief.
If we had to pick one reason to watch Season 4, it’s Seehorn. She’s become the backbone of a show littered with exceptional actors. She’s evolved into Saul’s co-protagonist, but someone who doesn’t quite have the stomach for all of McGill’s cons. Kim is a lawyer full of confidence, anxiety and dread. Her anxiety quickly shifts to the viewer, who spends each and every episode on pins and needles. All we know of her fate is this: She never showed up on Breaking Bad.
If that’s not enough, Better Call Saul feels written by experienced, tactical surgeons–or better yet, by expert chemists. The way Gilligan and company purposefully back themselves into a corner just to prove they can cleverly write themselves out of it, perfectly mirrors the agility of their main character. Make no mistake, we’ve become junkies for what Gilligan and company have cooked up. — Ryan Peterson
Despite the surprises, Sekiro appears to similar to From’s previous work in a number of ways. It’s a third-person action-adventure RPG, for a start, with a similar combat system to the company’s portfolio that includes hit games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne. Shadows Die Twice adds a few new features to the fan-favorite formula, the most notable of which is the ability resurrect yourself after death. This ability will be limited, so you can’t just keep resurrecting forever, however it can also be used to your advantage. Allow yourself to be killed and enemies will walk away, pleased with their success, opening themselves up for you to come back to life and stab them in the back.
Sword combat has received a few changes by incorporating both Prosthetic Tools, such as the Grappling Hook, and special Sword Arts to supplement regular attacks. Stealth will also play a part, with the player able to skulk around quietly and perform lethal sneak attacks. Without further ado, then, let’s get into everything we know about Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Release Date And Collector’s Edition
Activision announced Sekiro’s release date for PS4, Xbox One, and PC at Gamescom in August 2018. The game will launch on March 22, 2019, accompanied by the release of a collector’s edition. That special version comes with the full game, a steelbook case, a 7″ shinobi statue, art book, physical map, digital soundtrack, and replica game coins.
Does Sekiro Have Multiplayer?
From’s recent games have included a form of multiplayer in which other players can join your game and help or hinder your progress. Sekiro, on the other hand, will not include any way of interacting with other players.
“This title is designed, from the beginning, to be a single-player experience,” From Software’s Yasuhiro Kitao said at E3. “As a part of that, one of the focuses of the game is, instead of having a choice between various classes from the beginning, you must play as a ninja. As a result, [the team] has really been able to focus in on what those mechanics are and make them as deep as possible.”
Does Sekiro Have Difficulty Options? Will It Be As Hard As Dark Souls?
Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne are famed for their difficulty, with ultra-hard bosses and infrequent checkpoints providing a tough challenge for players. This led to some players asking for From’s games to include difficulty options, but the developer has declined that particular request for Sekiro.
“We don’t want to include a difficulty selection because we want to bring everyone to the same level of discussion and the same level of enjoyment,” director hidetaka Miyazaki told GameSpot earlier this year. “So we want everyone … to first face that challenge and to overcome it in some way that suits them as a player.”
The creator continued: “We want everyone to feel that sense of accomplishment. We want everyone to feel elated and to join that discussion on the same level. We feel if there’s different difficulties, that’s going to segment and fragment the user base. People will have different experiences based on that [differing difficulty level]. This is something we take to heart when we design games. It’s been the same way for previous titles and it’s very much the same with Sekiro.”
Where Does Sekiro Fit In With Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, And Bloodborne?
Despite the similarities between Sekiro and From’s previous games, the developer insists this is an entirely separate entity. “Sekiro was not designed as an evolution of Soulsborne, of the Souls series,” series creator and Sekiro director Hidetaka Miyazaki told GameSpot. “It was designed from the ground up, from scratch, as an entirely new concept, as a new game. So we don’t know if you’d call this an evolution of the series in this sense.”
The director continued: “Of course with Sekiro, we don’t intend to disappoint or turn away fans of previous From Software games, that core fan base. We want to keep the challenge. We want to keep that core experience very much intact for those people.”
Where Can I Pre-Order Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice?
Pre-orders for Sekiro are now live in a bunch of different outlets. Check out our full US pre-order guide for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for the rundown, including details on that collector’s edition.
Black Panther is immensely brilliant for a plethora of reasons. It’s Marvel’s first movie–Blade aside–starring a black actor. In fact, the vast majority of the cast are people of color, and there were plenty of stories, tweets, and videos of black people around the world proclaiming their excitement after seeing the film. That was simply great to see.
As for Black Panther as a MCU movie itself, that’s a whole other story. Marvel played with its character’s personalities for this one. Your titular hero wasn’t a wise-cracking jokester, something we’ve become accustomed to with Marvel’s movies. He’s overly serious, comes from a loving family, has bodyguards, and runs his own country. He is the exact opposite of everything we’ve seen in other Marvel films. Chadwick Boseman is transformative and a breath of fresh air for the superheroes in this role, bringing something completely different to the table. Then, there’s the villain for the movie, Erik Killmonger, played by the retainer-breaking Michael B. Jordan. He’s despicable, ruthless, and evil–right up until you learn more about his character and start to understand the method for his madness and feel sympathy for him. A great villain is one who is defined well enough that the viewer could agree with the antagonist’s motives if they were in his or her shoes, and that’s exactly what Black Panther does with Killmonger.
While there’s some mediocre CGI in the boring final battle, elsewhere there is a great scope and scale there that we haven’t seen in a Marvel movie, and the cast of important secondary characters keeps things pretty exciting. More than anything else, it’s a great establishing moment for Wakanda as a force, which helps set the stage for the Wakanda fight in Infinity War.
It’s 2018, and Marvel has perfected its formula for bringing in new characters without delivering an origin story. Black Panther is a phenomenal success not just for being a great movie, but for reaching all corners of the planet, getting the world to shout “Wakanda forever” together in an awesome cultural event. — Mat Elfring
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds started out as an early-access PC game before coming to Xbox One last year for a period of console exclusivity. That period is officially coming to an end, because PUBG is set to release for PlayStation 4 on December 7. It took a while, but better late than never.
The PS4 version will include most of the content the other versions contain, although custom matches and event mode will be arriving later. Publisher PUBG Corp. also notes that “map and mode selection will be turned on after servers fill up to a suitable population that can support these features.” You can find more details on the PUBG PS4 FAQ.
If you’re a PS4 owner who’s been jonesing to see what all the fuss is about with this blockbuster battle royale game, you might be wondering where you can get it and what bonus goodies you can expect. Read on, and all your questions will be answered.
Pre-Order Bonus
Pre-order PUBG for PlayStation 4, and you’ll get some Naughty Dog digital goodies: a Nathan Drake outfit from Uncharted and Ellie’s backpack from The Last of Us.
Pre-Order PUBG PS4 Disc Edition
This version comes with the pre-order bonuses listed above, and it comes on a disc.
Pre-Order PUBG PS4 Digital Editions
Looter’s Edition
Sony is offering three digital editions of the game on PSN. The Looter’s Edition is the standard edition. Although the game description states it comes with “unknown avatar,” it seems safe to assume that means it will come with the Uncharted and Last of Us cosmetic items detailed above. It also comes with a PS4 theme based on the game’s Miramar map.
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Survivor’s Edition
The Survivor’s Edition costs an additional $20, and includes everything from the Looter’s Edition, as well as the Vikendi Event Pass, 2,300 G-Coins, and 20,000 BP.
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Champion’s Edition
The Champion’s Edition costs $10 more than the Survivor’s Edition and comes with all the same items, except it includes 6,000 G-Coins rather than 2,300.
Epic Games has announced Fortnite Creative, a new mode that will give players the opportunity to design games and build unique Fortnite experiences with friends. Fortnite Creative will be available to play on December 13, but those that pick up the Season 7 Battle Pass can check it out from December 6.
“It’s a brand new way to experience the world of Fortnite,” Epic says on its website. “Design games, race around the island, battle your friends in new ways and build your dream Fortnite. It’s all happening on your own private island where everything you make is saved.”
Epic has said it plans to add new features and make improvements to Fortnite Creative in coming updates. “Like Battle Royale and Save the World, we’re committed to making this bigger and better over time,” it explained.
As noted in the video above, Epic is expecting initial rollout of Fortnite Creative to be “rough” and is encouraging those interested to get in early via the Battle Pass. Fortnite Season 7 is set to launch on December 6 and, alongside it, the new Battle Pass will be available. In addition to early access to Fortnite Creative, the Battle Pass entitles owners to a special set of challenges every week for as long as the season lasts. In turn, this means they can accrue Battle Stars faster and unlock cosmetics quicker.
Fortnite Creative mode is one of the many ways Epic Games is encouraging players to keep returning to the game. The company has made a point of trying to both vary and broaden the kind of experiences it offers, and the successes resulting from this has had a knock on effect on Epic as a business. On December 4 it revealed its own marketplace, which competes directly with Valve’s Steam.
The Epic Games marketplace seems to be very developer friendly, giving creators 88% of their revenue. There is no profit-sharing and, instead, it’s an 88/12 split between developers and Epic for listing on its marketplace. Developers that use Unreal Engine to create their game will have the 5% engine royalty covered by Epic out of its own 12% cut. Although this incentive encourages developers to use Unreal Engine, Epic says games created using other engines are also welcome.
J’onn J’onnz, the Martian Manhunter, isn’t exactly the most mainstream superhero in the DC Universe. Despite a relatively top tier booking in the Justice League roster, a handful of animated features, and a live action incarnation courtesy of the CW’s Supergirl and actor David Harewood, he’s not exactly the sort of character you could show to anyone on the street for immediate recognition — but what J’onn lacks in Batman or Wonder Woman level fame, he makes up for with a very specific level of relatability, unique to him among his peers. And that’s exactly what co-creators Steve Orlando and Riley Rossmo hope to tap into with his brand new limited series, Martian Manhunter, out now.
Epic is set to launch Fortnite Create on December 6, a brand new mode allowing you to customize your own private island which can be saved and used at any time.
Launching the new mode will set players up with their own island where games can be designed, race tracks can be crafted, and battles against your friends can be customized to your liking. Whatever is built and placed will be saved and can later be returned to after shutting off the mode.
While Creative sounds a lot like the already available Playground mode, its biggest difference is the blank canvas that is your private island. Objects like trees, cars, and even entire buildings can be placed to create your own environments. Any weapon or consumable can be spawned and up to 16 players can enter your island.
2018 was yet another big year for PC games, but which were our favourites? With just a few weeks left in the year, this week’s episode of GameSpot’s PC-focused show Steam Punks is turning its focus to the best PC games of the year.
Jess begins by praising Lucas Pope’s Return of the Obra Dinn, which she says is one of the most unique, compelling, and challenging games of the year. Ed sings the praises of the mech strategy game Into the Breach, while Jess explains why Unavowed from Dave Gilbert’s Wadjet Eye Games is the best point-and-click adventure game of the year. The difficult survival strategy game Frostpunk was also one of Edmond’s favourite PC games of the year, while Jess talks about all the reasons she enjoyed Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire this year.
Edmond and Jess also respond to your questions and comments about last week’s Steam Punks, where we talked about why Fallout 76’s controls on PC are a mess. Be sure to watch the full video in the embed above to see it all! And come back next week where Jess and Edmond are breaking down the most disappointing PC games from this year.
