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Games, Xbox Series X Controllers, And Monitors Discounted In New Best Buy 3-Day Sale

While January tends to be a slower period for game deals as things calm down post-Black Friday, there are still a few solid sales running this month, and one of them can be found at Best Buy. The retailer just kicked off its first three-day sale of 2021, offering some nice discounts on games for Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X; gaming monitors; Xbox controllers; and more. The sale ends Sunday, so be sure to check out everything on offer before then. Fortunately, we’ve highlighted some of the best gaming deals for you here.

Best Buy currently has some game deals that are left over from Black Friday, like Final Fantasy VII Remake and The Last of Us Part 2 for $30 each, and both games are still excellent pickups at that price. You’ll also find some nice Switch game deals, like Ring Fit Adventure on sale for $70 (instead of $80), just in time for your New Year’s fitness resolutions. The newly released Fitness Boxing 2 is also down to $40 and is a nice complement to Ring Fit if you’re looking for more at-home workout options. Other great deals include Yakuza: Like a Dragon for $35, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla for $40, and Super Mario 3D All-Stars for $50. For the latter game, there’s also a bundle that comes with the collectible three-piece Mario coin set.

Check out the best gaming and tech deals from Best Buy’s weekend sale below, including some solid discounts on 4K TVs, gaming monitors, smart devices, and gaming laptops. For some products, we’ve included links to Amazon when that store is price-matching. Plus, check out other sales happening this weekend, like Ubisoft’s bargain bin sale on PC games, the Xbox Last Chance Sale, and the PlayStation Store Holiday Sale, which just added more games.

White/Black: $50 (was $60) | Blue: $55 (was $65)

The new Xbox wireless controllers that launched alongside the Xbox Series X|S will work just fine with Xbox One as well, so even if you haven’t gotten your hands on the next-gen console, you can take advantage of this deal that slashes $10 off the price of each color. The latest Xbox controller model adds a new hybrid D-pad, a Share button, a textured grip, and more.

$61 (was $80)

Less than three months remain to buy Super Mario 3D All-Stars, which will only be available to purchase physically or digitally until March 31. Because of that time restriction, you’ll probably want to own a physical copy, and while this bundle doesn’t offer a discount–the game itself costs $60–you’ll get the collectible 3-piece Mario coin set basically for free. (Last year, Nintendo was giving these coin sets away to those who completed a series of Mario-related activities.) Super Mario 3D All-Stars combines three of the best 3D Mario platformers: Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy.

$330 (was $400)

Best Buy’s sale features a few nice deals on gaming monitors, and one of the best we’ve seen is on this Samsung CRG5 Series monitor, which is $70 off. This 27-inch LED gaming monitor features a 240Hz refresh rate, Nvidia G-Sync technology, and a high contrast ratio.

$380 (was $450)

Another solid monitor option, this Alienware 27-inch full HD FreeSync monitor features a 240Hz refresh rate, an ultra-fast response time, low input lag, and an IPS panel.

$40 (was $50)

Logitech’s G502 Hero gaming mouse has been a longstanding favorite among PC gamers, featuring optical technology that allows for precise movements to give you an edge in competitive gameplay. The G502 Hero also has 11 programmable buttons, customizable RGB lighting, and five different weights so you can tune the mouse to your preference.

$70 (was $100) | My Best Buy members

We recently called the Corsair HS70 the best wired gaming headset with Bluetooth, and it’s on sale for $70 this weekend, though you’ll need to log into your My Best Buy account to claim the price (creating an account is free). The Corsair HS70 can connect to your Switch, PS5, Xbox, or PC with its wire while connecting via Bluetooth to your phone for music, podcasts, or Discord phone chat, offering a lot of flexibility in your gaming audio experience. It also features a noise-canceling microphone that’s fully detachable.

$45 (was $90)

The Echo Show is a handy little device to have in your home. It can quickly read you off the news and weather, give you traffic updates, play music, display recipes, and even allows for video calls. The Echo Show 5 features a compact 5.5″ smart display, and it’s down to just $45 this weekend.

$110 (was $180)

With game file sizes getting bigger all the time, nearly everyone will eventually need to purchase more storage space, whether you’re playing on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, or PC. This WD Easystore 5TB hard drive can instantly expand your storage for games, and its portable design makes it easy to take on the go if you’re using it with a laptop.

$1,150 (was $1,450)

If you’re looking to pick up a gaming laptop for the new year, the HP Omen 15 is a fantastic mid-range option. It comes with a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, an RTX 2060 graphics card, and a 512 GB solid-state drive along with 16GB of RAM.

$500 (was $550)

As always, there are TV deals featured in Best Buy’s three-day sale, and though it’s not a huge discount, this LG 65-inch 4K TV is worth calling out. You’ll be able to watch 4K movies and TV shows at 2160p resolution, and it also includes active HDR for greater color contrast.

WandaVision Will Premiere With Two Episodes, Not One

Disney’s first big new TV show of 2021 is WandaVision, which features Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen reprising their Marvel roles, and it’s almost here. Ahead of its premiere on January 15, Disney has confirmed that not one but two episodes will debut on release day.

Previously it was expected that only one episode would be available for the debut. After that, new episodes of WandaVision will premiere on Disney+ on Fridays at 12 AM PT / 3 AM ET.

The new show follows Vision (Bettany) and Wanda (Olsen) as they live their lives, seemingly trapped in a sitcom which bounces around between time periods. The trailers so far have left us with more questions than answers. But with the show finally premiering soon, it won’t be long until we know what’s going on and if the show provides some answers about what happened to Vision and Wanda in the aftermath of Endgame.

WandaVision will stream exclusively on Disney+. The streaming service costs $7 a month (or $70 a year), and you can watch movies and TV shows from Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, National Geographic, and of course, Disney. Additionally, you can bundle Disney+ with Hulu and ESPN+ for $13 a month. Check out GameSpot’s how-to-watch guide for WandaVision to learn more.

Ahead of WandaVision’s debut, Disney has released a show titled Marvel Studios: Legends, which will allow viewers to catch up on the highlights of various Marvel heroes.

Now Playing: Scarlet Witch’s Comic Book History Explained | WandaVision

There Is No Microsoft/Duracell Deal Meaning Xbox Has to Use AA Batteries in Controllers

Amid new speculation caused by comments from a Duracell spokesperson, IGN understands that there is no deal forcing Xbox to use AA batteries in its controllers.

Speaking to Stealth Optional, Duracell UK marketing manager Luke Anderson sparked speculation by saying, “There’s always been this partnership with Duracell and Xbox… It’s a constant agreement that Duracell and Microsoft have in place […] [The deal is] for OEM to supply the battery product for the Xbox consoles and also the controllers’ battery. So that [deal is] going to go on for a while… it’s been going on for a while and I think it needs to go for a while [more].”

Many took this to mean that the deal mentioned was the sole reason that Xbox uses AA batteries in its controllers, and some speculated that it could change that fact once the deal finishes. However, sources tell IGN that this is inaccurate.

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Duracell batteries are included with Xbox controllers, and Xbox has indeed been a part of Duracell OEM, a partnership program run by the battery manufacturer, but that appears to be a byproduct of Microsoft’s decision to use AA batteries, rather than the cause of it. Contacted for comment, a Microsoft spokesperson said:

“We intentionally offer consumers choice in their battery solutions for our standard Xbox Wireless Controllers. This includes the use of AA batteries from any brand, the Xbox Rechargeable Battery, charging solutions from our partners, or a USB-C cable, which can power the controller when plugged in to the console or PC.”

That message echoes the words of, Xbox Series X designer Jason Ronald last year, when he explained why Xbox controllers still use AA batteries, saying that it was ultimately about flexibility for players.

Neither Anderson nor Duracell OEM replied to a request for comment from IGN by time of publish.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

King of Fighters XV: First Gameplay, 6 Characters Revealed

SNK Corporation has formally revealed The King of Fighters XV by debuting gameplay and showing off six characters. The game will launch later this year.

The announcement was initially postponed on Wednesday and suffered a brief delay. Characters shown off in a new trailer (below) include K’, Kyo Kusanagi, Leona, Benimaru, Shun’ei and Mai Shiranui. Not much in the way of detail is added, but we get a good look at the game’s visual style, which looks to be a little more stylised than KOF 14.

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Following the reveal trailer, KOF XV Creative Director Eisuke Ogura and Producer Yasuyuki Oda revealed a little more about how the game will play when it launches in 2021.

“We’re focusing on keeping the series’ staple of being fast-paced while also adding elements to make it more exciting,” Ogura notes. The developers are currently “brushing up features and optimizing the game,” but plan to ship in 2021. Another trailer for The King of Fighters XV will land next week to supplement the reveal.

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Today’s trailer also included news on King of Fighters 14 Ultimate Edition – out now digitally – a new release for King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match on PS4, and then revealed Cham Cham and The Last Blade 2’s Hibiki Tanake as DLC characters for the Samurai Shodown Season 3 Pass. Samurai Shodown will also receive a game reblance in March.

KOF XV was announced during EVO 2019, and we got our first glimpse of the game back in December 2020, which revealed that in addition to the characters mentioned above, Benimaru would be playable. It’s not clear what platforms the game will be available on just yet.

Here’s our review of King of Fighters 14, which debuted in 2016. We scored it an 8, noting its “dated graphics and dodgy netcode”.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Twitch Has Announced It’s Looking To Replace PogChamp, And Streamers Have Already Offered A Ton Of Options

After the face behind one of Twitch’s most popular emotes, PogChamp, used social media to incite further civil unrest during the riots at the US Capitol on Wednesday, the emote has been removed from the streaming service.

Twitch took to Twitter to announce the decision, stating “We’ve made the decision to remove the PogChamp emote following statements from the face of the emote encouraging further violence after what took place in the Capitol today.”

But just because the face of the emote is gone, that doesn’t mean Twitch wants to remove the spirit of it. In its Twitter thread the streaming company said: “We want the sentiment and use of Pog to live on-its meaning is much bigger than the person depicted or image itself-and it has a big place in Twitch culture. However, we can’t in good conscience continue to enable use of the image. We will work with the community to design a new emote for the most hype moments on Twitch.”

Fans and streamers have already jumped on the notion of redesigning Pog. Zombaekillz, the streamer who led the charge on getting PogChamp removed in the first place, has put forth Spawn On Me host/founder Kahlief Adams. Another streamer, Sean Plott, has argued that there should be a variety of faces to choose from when people in chat want to use Pog to encourage more diversity and inclusion in the streaming space. Still, others are advocating for the new face of Pog to be someone from the fighting game community, or a Twitch brand ambassador–ideally a Black content creator. There have been several incidents where streamers and their communities have felt Twitch has not done enough to address issues of racism and harassment on their platform, so moving in this direction may help address some of these concerns.

However, not everyone is on board with this idea, or with replacing PogChamp with a real person at all. As Chris Hanel, lead producer for Games Done Quick pointed out on Twitter, the idea of tying cultural language to actual people’s likenesses is fraught and short sighted considering people are imperfect. In short, having a whole ecosystem based on inside jokes tied to real people’s faces may not be the best call, from Hanel’s point of view.

There are tons of options for who–or what–the next face of PogChamp could be, but all of them share the same open-mouth, wide-eyed astonishment present in the original. We’ll have to wait and see what Twitch decides on as far as a rebrand for their hype emote, but in the meantime, here are some highlights of suggestions.

Roku Acquires Quibi Library of 75-Plus Shows, Boosting Free Streaming Service

Roku has officially acquired Quibi’s library of content, less than three months after the bite-sized entertainment streaming service shut down.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Roku has now bought exclusive global distribution rights to more than 75 short-form shows in an effort to expand the company’s free-to-stream, ad-supported offering on The Roku Channel. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, however, a source familiar with the agreement was said to have valued the content library at “significantly less than $100 million.”

The Roku blog notes that the “quick bites and big stories made famous on Quibi” will be available to stream on The Roku Channel later this year, giving audiences access to “hundreds of hours of new content,” which will be free to watch on the platform. The catalog includes everything from Sophie Turner’s thriller Survive to Chrissy Teigen’s courtroom comedy Chrissy’s Court.

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In addition to the content that released on Quibi last year, Roku has acquired the rights to “more than a dozen shows” that never aired on the now-defunct platform, which will be available to viewers in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. for the first time. Those programs, per Variety, include Spielberg’s After Dark, a horror series created by Steven Spielberg, and lso Slugfest, a docuseries from the Russo Brothers.

“We are thrilled that these stories, from the surreal to the sublime, have found a new home on The Roku Channel,” Quibi co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg said in a statement.

When Quibi debuted back in April 2020, co-founder Jeffery Katzenberg told the Los Angeles Times he hoped the streamer would become “the third generation of film narrative,” by combining the strengths of movies and episodic television into one cohesive force. The service launched with $2 billion in financial resources, however, the company was ultimately met with diminishing returns.

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After six months, Katzenberg and Quibi CEO Meg Whitman announced that the streamer was being shut down, shortly after news circulated about a potential buyout or merger. The two of them issued an official statement and apology regarding the closure of the platform, in which they extended their gratitude to the Quibi team for pouring their “blood, sweat, and tears” into the business.

For more about Quibi and its offering, check out our review of the short-lived streaming service.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

Pokemon Go Sinnoh Celebration Event Announced For Next Week

Pokemon Go is spotlighting another region of the Pokemon world next week. The game’s Sinnoh Celebration event kicks off at 10 AM local time on January 12, and it will feature lots of Gen 4 Pokemon to catch, challenges to complete, and more.

Throughout the Sinnoh Celebration, the following Pokemon will be appearing in the wild more frequently than usual:

  • Turtwig
  • Chimchar
  • Piplup
  • Bidoof
  • Cranidos
  • Buizel
  • Drifloon
  • Glameow
  • Purugly
  • Hippopotas
  • Skorupi
  • Snover

Shiny Buizel will also be appearing during the event, while the following Pokemon will be hatching from 5 km eggs:

  • Kricketot
  • Budew
  • Cranidos
  • Shieldon
  • Bronzor
  • Bonsly
  • Hippopotas
  • Croagunk

On top of that, various Gen 4 Pokemon will be featured as Raid bosses, including the Legendary Heatran. There will also be a Sinnoh-themed Collection Challenge to complete, as well as event-exclusive Field Research tasks that will reward you with Stardust and Gen 4 Pokemon encounters.

The Sinnoh Celebration runs until 8 PM local time on January 17. You can read more about the event on the Pokemon Go website. Niantic will continue celebrating different Pokemon regions in the run up to next month’s big Kanto Tour event. A Hoenn Celebration is scheduled to follow starting January 19, but no further details have been shared yet.

In the meantime, Pokemon Go’s Unova Celebration is underway until January 10, while January’s Community Day is scheduled for January 16. The featured Pokemon this time is Machop, and if you’re able to evolve it all the way into Machamp during the event, it’ll learn the Dark-type attack Payback.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Check Out This Massive New Pathfinder Dragon Figure

Even though 2020 saw a lot of tabletop RPG groups move online, the team over at WizKids has been busy.

In addition to their annual block of D&D minis, an update to its modular terrain system, and releasing one of the coolest tabletop accessories we’ve ever seen, the team was also working on a new run of Pathfinder Battles minis. Set to launch early next month, the Darklands Rising series features a host of creatures and monsters often found in the sprawling subterranean caverns below its core setting, along with a few famous faces from the Pathfinder universe.

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We’ve got an early look at the set, which you can check out in the gallery above. It contains roughly half of the 52 minis that can be collected, which are sold in “booster boxes” of four minis each. The Darklands Rising run features some of the most detailed 25mm-scale minis to date, and also reintroduces the “Huge” size category back into the Pathfinder Battles series. The final piece of the set is an impressive “premium” figure of the gold dragon Mengkare, also known in Pathfinder lore as The Great Wyrm.

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This “gargantuan”-sized (based on the rules for Pathfinder creature sizes) figure stands more than 10 inches high, with a wingspan just as wide. Considering most player miniatures stand roughly 1.5″ tall, The Great Wyrm would truly make an impressive centerpiece for any tabletop encounter.

The Darklands Rising set releases on February 3, 2021; booster boxes (or bricks of eight boxes each) and Mengkare can be pre-ordered from WizKids, Amazon, or at your friendly neighborhood game store (safety permitting).

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JR is a Senior Editor at IGN and a huge tabletop RPG nerd. Tell him about your TRPG campaign on Twitter.

Jason Isaacs Recalls A Totally Bananas Audition Story For The Nic Cage Movie Con Air

Actor Jason Isaacs is known for portraying evil men, as he did in the Harry Potter series as Lucius Malfoy and as William Tavington in the Mel Gibson movie The Patriot. Before those films, he auditioned for a different bad guy, Cyrus the Virus from 1997’s Nicolas Cage movie Con Air, and now the actor has shared a wild story about his audition.

Speaking to Collider, Isaacs recalled that his audition involved performing a scene involving a handgun. Isaacs wanted to use a nearby pencil as a prop. However, a camera operator in the room had a real gun tucked under his belt and lent it to Isaacs for the scene.

“I grabbed a pencil and I said, ‘I’ll use a pencil as a gun.’ The camera assistant, operating the camera, went, ‘Hold on. Hold on a second. Here, grab that,’ and held out a gun to me. I shat myself, obviously. He went, ‘Look, you’re cool. The safety’s on.’ My voice shot up three octaves.”

“I went all Jerry Lewis, and I went, ‘Oh, my God! It’s a real gun!’ I remember [director Simon West] being as wide eyed as I was,” Isaacs added. “He’d been working with this guy for however long and didn’t know he had a gun tucked in his belt.”

The role of Cyrus the Virus ultimately went to John Malkovich, who turned in a memorable and haunting performance. While Isaacs didn’t get that part, he’s now starring in West’s new disaster movie, Skyfire. You can check out the first trailer below.

Marvel Studios: Legends Hits Disney+ Ahead Of WandaVision Premiere

The Marvel Cinematic Universe finally reaches Disney+ next week, with the premiere of the much-anticipated WandaVision. But ahead of that, the studio has released the first episodes of a show titled Marvel Studios: Legends, which will allow viewers to catch up on the highlights of various Marvel heroes.

Episodes 1 and 2 of Marvel Studios: Legends are now available on Disney+. They focus on Wanda Maximoff and the Vision–the two characters at the center of WandaVision–and essentially recap the history of the two characters across the various MCU movies they have appeared in. Marvel has also released a teaser, which you can watch below:

Marvel hasn’t revealed when future episodes of Legends will be released. However, it’s likely the company will use the show as a refresher before each new MCU series hits Disney+ over the next couple of years.

WandaVision hits Disney+ on January 15. Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany reprise their roles as Wanda and Vision, and the cast also includes Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris, Kat Dennings, and Randall Park. Check out the latest trailer here.

There’s no shortage of other Marvel shows heading to Disney+ over the next few years. WandaVision will be followed by Falcon and The Winter Soldier in March, and Loki in May. Beyond that, upcoming MCU series include Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and the crossover event Secret Invasion. Check out the full list of all upcoming Marvel movies and shows here.