Category: Games

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Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot’s New DLC Adds A Horde Mode This Week

After a lengthy gap, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot‘s latest DLC episode finally launches this week. A New Power Awakens Part 2 will focus on the revival of Frieza, with the iconic villain now able to transform into a vastly more powerful Golden form. Goku and Vegeta will battle back with a new transformation of their own, Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, or Super Saiyan Blue for short.

According to lead producer Ryosuke Hara, the ultimate battle with Golden Frieza is based on the setting from the Resurrection of F movie but the DLC has its own original story to match the setting and outcomes of the base game. For example, you’ll be able to fight the Ginyu Force once again if you resurrected them with the Dragon Balls during the main campaign.

Another big feature is the introduction of Horde Battle, which pits players against Frieza’s entire army. Hara explained that the battle system for this mode had been tweaked, with several adjustments to the enemy AI, SFX, skills, and more being added so that the experience will be both challenging and fun.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Horde Battle
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Horde Battle

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“One example is the Z Combination,” Hara said on the PS Blog. “When launching this skill in the Horde Battle, you will be able to wipe out numerous enemies at once. And the number of enemies you’re able to take out depends on the amount of combos you’ve been able to connect before launching the Z Combination. So combos will mean a lot more compared to what they do in regular battles.”

Hara also confirmed that the final DLC episode will launch in 2021 and is still undergoing development. Where that third chapter takes place is still a mystery, but there’s no shortage of content available. Chronologically the next major arc would be the Future Trunks saga, followed by the Universal Survival storyline, and the last film releases so far, Dragon Ball Super: Broly.

The latest Dragon Ball adventure scored a 7/10 in our Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot review. “If you’re looking for an enjoyable way to see the life and times of adult Goku through a new perspective, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot will grant your wish,” wrote critic Heidi Kemps.

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Black Friday 2020: What to Expect for This Year’s Best Video Game Deals

NOTE: I’m showing you the deals retailers have announced for Black Friday. Unless otherwise noted, the prices are NOT YET LIVE.

Black Friday is basically here. Lots of early deals are already live, and Sunday saw the Walmart Black Friday sales flier preview drop, with loads and loads of truly excellent video gaming deals. We’re going to keep updating this page through Black Friday and into Cyber Monday savings, so go ahead and bookmark it now and keep checking back.

Walmart also confirmed it will have PS5 and Xbox Series X available for online purchase at 7 PM ET on November 25.

What to Expect From Black Friday Video Game Deals

Good news: this year is chock-full of Black Friday video game savings. Walmart confirmed a huge selection of first-party Nintendo Switch games will be $30, plus tons of other $30 games for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

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Black Friday Nintendo Switch Deals

In addition to all the great games on sale at Walmart for $30, the Nintendo Switch Mario Kart 8 Deluxe bundle with 3-months of Nintendo Online is coming back this year. The bundle has a slight upgrade this year, as it now includes the latest version of the Nintendo Switch, the HAC-001(-01), which has roughly double the battery life of the original model of the Nintendo Switch. Best Buy has also confirmed it’s carrying this bundle, and Nintendo has advertised it as its Black Friday deal at every retailer, so it’s just a matter of time before we see placeholder pages start to appear at other retailers.

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Walmart also advertised the following games at $30 once the clock strikes 7:00 on November 25. These prices are NOT yet live! These are unheard of deals on Nintendo Switch games. I don’t even know where to begin with recommendations. For $30, any one of these games are an absolute steal.

Just like the rest of Walmart’s deals, these Nintendo Switch Black Friday game deals kick of November 25.

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Black Friday PS5 Deals

We know for a fact Walmart will have PS5 available for order online starting at 7 PM ET on Wednesday, November 25. There’s no deal on them, but their availability is about as exciting as we can expect for Black Friday on the year the consoles release. It’s not going to be easy to get yourself a PS5, but I can personally attest to the fact it is possible to order and receive a PS5 from Walmart, because that’s where I got mine. Just keep trying until it works. Even when it says “Out of Stock” at the checkout, it might be a glitch or hiccup in the system. I believe in you.

Given the fact Walmart is kind of a big retailer, I expect we’ll see other stores offering PS5 (and Xbox Series X) orders as part of their Black Friday promotions.

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Black Friday Xbox Series X Deals

If you’ve been striking out on Xbox Series X, the good news is Walmart will offer them, online, beginning November 25 at 7 PM ET (same as the PS5). If you’ve tried your luck with Walmart in the past for next-gen, you know it’s kind of tough. But like I said about PS5, just keep grinding away.

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Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and this is his fourth year covering Black Friday and Cyber Monday for IGN. You can find him on Instagram.

Oxford University Study Suggests That Playing Games Is Good For Your Mental Health

In a new study by Oxford University, it has been suggested that video games can be good for your mental wellbeing. What makes this particular study interesting is that it was the first of its kind to be done using actual play-time data, allowing the Oxford team to link up psychological questionnaires with the total time spent playing games according to cloud saves. Past studies about the mental effects of video games relied on test subjects to self-report how much time they’d spent on a game, which resulted in inaccurate results.

For the test, Nintendo’s leisurely Animal Crossing: New Horizons and EA’s quirky Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville action game were used.

“This is about bringing games into the fold of psychology research that’s not a dumpster fire,” lead researcher on the project Andrew Przybylski explained to The Guardian. “This lets us explain and understand games as a leisure activity. It was a quest to figure out is data collected by gaming companies vaguely useful for academic and health policy research?”

Przybylski added that if researchers continue to factor in gameplay data from a larger pool of publishers and developers instead of relying self-reported hours from test participants, the results would reveal more behind the lifestyle of playing video games.

“You have really respected, important bodies, like the World Health Organization and the NHS, allocating attention and resources to something that there’s literally no good data on, Przybylski said. “And it’s shocking to me, the reputational risk that everyone’s taking, given the stakes. For them to turn around and be like, ‘hey, this thing that 95% of teenagers do? Yeah, that’s addictive, no, we don’t have any data,’ that makes no sense.”

In other scientific studies, new research from CQUniversity in Australia suggested that there’s a correlation between players who purchase loot boxes and those who battle with more serious gambling problems. In testing that resulted in more obvious results, a Newzoo study found that up to 80 percent of all gamers eat food or drink regularly while playing games.

Now Playing: Animal Crossing: New Horizons Review

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Justice League Snyder Cut: Ezra Miller Shot New Footage On Fantastic Beasts 3 Set

One of the most anticipated DC releases of 2021 isn’t a new movie or show–it’s Zack Snyder’s reworking of the much-maligned 2017 movie Justice League. Snyder is making a new four-hour version of the film, which mixes previously unseen material with newly shot footage. One of the actors who has returned for reshoots is Flash actor Ezra Miller, and Snyder has revealed that he shot his new scenes on the set of the next Fantastic Beasts movie.

Speaking to Beyond the Trailer, Snyder explained that he was unable to fly to the UK to film Miller, so asked the Fantastic Beasts crew to help out. “I had to get a pick-up shot of Ezra when we were doing this little bit,” he said. “You know, he’s on Fantastic Beasts, and that’s in London, and we weren’t going to travel to London, unfortunately. I would have loved to have done that. So what we did was we picked him up on a Zoom, and the Fantastic Beasts crew, I sent them these drawings. I was like, ‘Ok, this is what he has to do, this is where he is.'”

Snyder also spoke about the problems of finding the various superhero costumes from the 2017 shoot for the actors to wear in the reshoots. “They were all over the place,” he said. “In museums and stuff. We had to tear them out of there. One of the cowls we put on just ripped in half!”

Zack Snyder’s Justice League will premiere on HBO Max in 2021. The director has confirmed that it will be released as a four episode limited series, as well as a standalone movie. The first trailer was released during DC FanDome in August.

As for Fantastic Beasts 3, it was reported earlier this month that Johnny Depp has left the movie. Depp played the villainous title character in 2018’s The Crimes of Grindelwald and had already started shooting the third film. However, following the failure of his libel case against the UK’s Sun newspaper, Warner Bros. asked him to exit the production. Hannibal and Rogue One star Mads Mikkelsen is reportedly in talks to take over the role. Fantastic Beasts 3 releases in July 2022.

For more, check out GameSpot’s guides to every upcoming DC movie and TV show we know about to date.

Now Playing: Justice League Snyder Cut Details, What To Watch On HBO Max At Launch

Best Book Lover Gifts – Holiday Gift Guides 2020

Books give us a window into an infinite number of worlds and stories, so gifting someone a great book they’ve never read is one of the best things to do in a holiday season. With the advancements in technology that have allowed e-readers like the Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad to exist, reading has taken an incredible new form, but that doesn’t mean your should forget about books altogether.

From Sci-Fi to Mystery/Thriller to Non-Fiction, there are so many great options out there, but it can be hard to decide exactly what to get someone. To help with your quest to find a perfect gift for the book lover in your life for the 2020 holiday season, we’ve created this guide that includes a bunch of different types of gifts.

There are also great gifts for the TV and movie lovers in your life, as many shows and films, including Dune and The Expanse, all began as books. Additionally, there are those books that will let you continue a story that you love that may have yet to get the big screen treatment, like Ready Player Two.

These, and so many more, help make up our gift guide for book lovers.

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Best Amazon Kindle Gifts

It’s hard to beat an Amazon Kindle at providing the best digital reading experiences, and here are our best choices for gifts.

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Best Apple iPad Gifts

While Apple’s iPads can do so much, they also make a GREAT reading device.

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Best Sci-Fi Book Gifts

There are few greater adventures than those told in Science Fiction, and here are our best choices.

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Best Mystery/Thriller Book Gifts

There is quite nothing like a good page turner, and mystery/thrillers contain some of those best moments. Here are our best choices.

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Best Book Collection Gifts

Sometimes you need to give more than a single book, and here are our options for the best collections of incredible stories.

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Best Non-Fiction Book Gifts

While fiction is great, hearing real-life stories from some of our greatest people is something special and worthwhile.

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Best Book Lover Gifts Under $25

If you are looking for a great book or shirt under $25, we’ve got your covered.

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The Best Gifts for 2020

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Xbox Console Evolution: Xbox To Series X

Remember When Halo Almost Wasn’t An Xbox Game: https://youtu.be/noE49iZ9Reg

Starting all the way back in 1998 with the console’s conception, the Xbox was the brainchild of Seamus Blackley, and entered the gaming market competing head on with Sony’s astronomically successful PlayStation 2. While going toe-to-toe with the PS2 was a steep uphill battle, Microsoft still managed to place itself among its contemporaries as a worthy competitor, outselling Nintendo’s GameCube that generation.

For the Xbox 360, Microsoft came out swinging a whole year ahead of the PS3 and Wii, and while that head start was pivotal to the console’s success, the 360 still faced many challenges along the way–most notably the infamous Red Ring of Death dilemma. Still, by the end of its lifespan, the Xbox 360 was hugely successful, and set the bar high for what was to come with the Xbox One. Unlike the Xbox 360, the Xbox One was a major misstep for Microsoft, but one that ultimately led to a historical change of course that that has led the company to its current vision and values heading into this next generation with the Xbox Series X/S. With Xbox on the cusp of its fourth generation, it’s suffice to say that story is far from over.

HBO Max Finally Coming To Amazon Fire TV Devices

AT&T/WarnerMedia’s HBO Max launched back in May, and while it’s a great streaming service, the major issue with it is that it has limited accessibility because it is not available on Roku or Amazon Fire TV devices. However, HBO Max will finally be available on Amazon devices, like the Fire Stick, this week.

Hitting devices on Tuesday, November 17, HBO Max will be available on Fire Tablets and Fire TVs, according to a press release from HBO Max. This news means 40 million more people will have access to HBO Max.

“We are very excited that Amazon customers will now be able to enjoy the best-in-class content that lives within HBO Max,” said WarnerMedia’s head of sales and distribution Tony Goncalves. “Our continued goal is to make HBO Max and its unparalleled content available to customers across all the devices they love. Fire TV is a favorite among customers and we look forward to working with the Amazon team to engage and grow our existing subscriber base by showcasing all that HBO Max has to offer.”

“We’ve worked closely with HBO for many years to bring their great content to Fire TV and to make it easier to discover and enjoy with features like search integration, Alexa and personalized recommendations,” said vice president of Amazon entertainment devices and services Marc Whitten. “We are excited to continue that partnership with the launch of HBO Max to bring even more incredible content to customers on Fire TV. Alexa, play Raised by Wolves.”

As for the 46 million people with Roku devices, no word yet on when HBO Max will be available, but there is a trick to get it running with your iOS device. It’s unknown if and when an official app will land on Roku. HBO Max continues to add more extremely-popular programming to its service. Season 4 of Rick and Morty recently arrived. And for those unsure about HBO Max, as there may be an ad-supported tier coming in spring, and that could mean a cheaper version of the service for people to check out.

The other major streaming service launch of 2020, Peacock, finally got a wider release. Back in September, NBCUniversal and Roku came to an agreement, which will also allow 46 NBCU broadcast apps on Roku devices as well.

As for HBO Max, the service is available on iOS and Android devices, Apple TV, desktop, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Samsung TVs–with Amazon Fire devices coming on November 17.

Oxford University Study Suggests Playing Games Is Good for Mental Health

An Oxford University study has suggested that playing games could be good for your mental health.

As reported by The Guardian, academics from the UK university used gameplay data from Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville in the study, using psychological questionnaires to find that more playtime led to a greater sense of “wellbeing” in players.

This is one of the first instances of researchers using real playtime data rather than asking subjects to report their own hours. “This is about bringing games into the fold of psychology research that’s not a dumpster fire,” lead researcher  Andrew Przybylski explained. The study showed that you’re a “much happier human being” if you play four hours a day of Animal Crossing, but the team doesn’t want to give games a “carte blanche pass” as a result. “I’m very confident that if the research goes on, we will learn about the things that we think of as toxic in games, and we will have evidence for those things as well”

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Przybylski thinks that if researchers continue to take advantage of gameplay data collected by a wider range of publishers and developers instead of using self-reported hours, they will be able to understand more about our relationship with the hobby. “You have really respected, important bodies, like the World Health Organization and the NHS, allocating attention and resources to something that there’s literally no good data on, Przybylski says. “And it’s shocking to me, the reputational risk that everyone’s taking, given the stakes. For them to turn around and be like, ‘hey, this thing that 95% of teenagers do? Yeah, that’s addictive, no, we don’t have any data,’ that makes no sense.”

In other news, England’s top mental health nurse recently asked for game publishers to restrict microtransactions as they may push kids into gambling habits. Last year, the UK’s NHS opened its first treatment clinic for video game addiction.

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

2020 Video Game Accessibility Awards Announced

As December approaches we’re getting near video game award season, with various sites giving their Game of the Year awards and Geoff Keighley set to host a virtual presentation of The Game Awards. Before all of that, though, the accessibility organization AbleGamers hosted its 2020 Video Games Accessibility Awards, honoring the games and studios that did the most to make their games available to all types of players.

The presentation was hosted by Alanah Pearce and AbleGamers’ Steve Spohn, with a panel of presenters including several Twitch streamers, fellow accessibility advocates, and voice actor Troy Baker. The awards included categories like “Same Controls But Different” and “Clear Text.”

The presenters each gave a brief explanation of the category, and then following each announcement Spohn walked viewers through how each category solves for a specific accessibility problem. For example the Second Channel category, which was won by The Last of Us Part 2, honored games that offered an alternative or additional way of accessing game information for players who can’t access it through the in-game tools.

The Last of Us Part 2 was the only game to receive more than one award, but lots of this year’s biggest games were represented in at least one of the categories. You can watch the full stream and check out the list of winners below.

2020 Video Games Accessibility Awards Winners

Same Controls But Different: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Second Channel: The Last of Us Part 2

Improved Precision: Apex Legends

Clear Text: The Outer Worlds

Do More With Less: Ghost of Tsushima

Play Alongside: Borderlands 3

Bypass: Fuser

Training Ground: Madden NFL 2020

House Rules: Among Us

Helping Hand: The Last of Us Part 2

No, TimeSplitters 2 Remake Has Not Been Announced

New RTS expansion SpellForce 3: Fallen God contains a reference to a TimeSplitters 2 Remake but, sadly, publisher THQ Nordic says it’s just a joke for now.

YouTube user Beyond posted a video showing a French version of the game, in which an in-game merchant sells a TimeSplitters 2 Remake item. The item’s description (when translated from French) reads: “It’s finally coming! The iconic shooter, which has stood the test of time to join the era of modern games.”

It led to a certain amount of excitement, given that we know THQ Nordic sister company Koch Media has plans for TimeSplitters. Sadly, in this case, it’s nothing but a joke. A THQ Nordic spokesperson told IGN: “The intention behind those easter eggs was pure fun. When Koch Media and Deep Silver are ready to talk about TimeSplitters, they will make sure to get heard.” We’ve contacted Koch Media for its own take on the situation.

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That plural on “easter eggs” is notable – the game also includes items for BioMutant and Gothic that imply those long-awaited games have been cancelled, which THQ Nordic also says is untrue.

TimeSplitters 2 remains a much-loved FPS, and one we’d love to see on Switch. Since Koch bought the rights to the game, as well as Dambuster Studios (which was previously TimeSplitters creator Free Radical), we’ve heard very little about its next incarnation, although we know series creator Steve Ellis was brought on to “plot the course” of the franchise, and that the company’s been working on ideas for its future.

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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].