The latest update for Red Dead Online has arrived, and this week will see big cash rewards handed out to players who engage in exploration and free roam missions.Developer Rockstar Games detailed all of this week’s updates and more in a new blog post that you can read highlights of below.
Bonuses for hunting legendary animals this week
Hunting down and skinning any Legendary animal this week from free roam or the Sighting mission will earn players 100 rounds of Nitro Express ammo for the Elephant rifle, and weight management tonics. Bringing the carcass of the prey to Gus’ Store will also see players rewarded with two fast travel rewards and a Snowy Egret Plume. On top of that, crafted trinkets and coats will result in a 40% discount off of an established or distinguished Naturalist item in stock.
Hunter and Naturalist players also receive a reward for 1,000 Naturalist XP and 5 Animal Revivers as further incentive, and Harriet Davenport’s store will reduce the price of the Naturalist’s sample kit by five gold bars for the next week.
Double rewards on free roam missions
Any orange-icon free roam mission this week will see players given double the usual cash for their efforts.
Sales and discounts
This week’s cash-savings from Wheeler, Rawson, and Co. stores include plenty of discounts on fashion, blankets, and a chance to grab a new horse at a reduced cost. If you’re worried about bandits ruining your day, you can also save big on various rifles this week.
Andalusian Horses – 40% discount
American Paint Horses – 40% discount
Caracano Rifle – 30% discount
Elephant Rifle – 30% discount
Springfield Rifle – 30% discount
Bolt Action Rifle – 30% discount
Varmint Rifle – 30% discount
Rolling Block Rifle – 30% discount
All blankets, horns, and bedrolls – 50% discount
All coats – 30% discount
Gus’ improved bow variants, trinkets, and gauntlets – 30% discount
Wilderness camp – 40% discount
Fast travel post – 30% discount
Limited time items
Fanned Stovepipe hat
Eberhart coat
Macbay jacket
Chambliss corset
Danube outfit
Prime Gaming Benefits
Red Dead Online players who connect their Rockstar Games Social Club account to Prime Gaming will receive a free Bounty Hunter license and a free Trimmed Amethyst bounty wagon livery. Connecting before May 10 also unlocks a free Varmint rifle, 30% off the Hunting Wagon, and 50 free Trader Goods.
Red Dead Redemption 2 has one of Rockstar’s biggest critical and commercial hits since it launched in 2018, selling more than 36 million copies so far. If you’re interested in trying the game out and you have an Xbox One or an Xbox Series X|S console, Red Dead Online will be available for download as part of the Xbox Game Pass subscription offerings from May 13.
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May the 4th be with you. You’ll see people online writing that every single year on this date, and it seems a little weird, right? It feels weird to write it today. Every year, May 4 is widely considered to be Star Wars Day, where fans across the globe celebrate the sci-fi franchise. But what does it mean and where does it come from?
Star Wars: A New Hope hit theaters on May 25, 1977. The movie was a smashing success making over $775 million globally. Keep in mind, this is 1977 and getting close to that $1 billion mark during that time was huge. It was already a cultural phenomenon, just after one movie. And 44 years later, it’s still going strong.
Obviously, the phrase “May the 4th be with you” is based on “May the Force be with you,” something said numerous times in the Star Wars films. However, the phrase “May the fourth be with you” has some pretty interesting origins. It wasn’t someone from the world of Star Wars that coined the phrase. Back on May 4, 1979, to celebrate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s victory, her political party took out an ad in the London Evening News which said, “May the Fourth Be with You, Maggie. Congratulations.” While we couldn’t find an archived copy of that edition, Star Wars backs it up.
The phrase found its way into pop culture through various TV shows, books, and once again, the British government, but Star Wars Day didn’t officially arrive until 2011. Sean Ward and Alice Quinn put together a celebration of all things Star Wars in Toronto, Canada. One year later, Star Wars Day happened again in Toronto with the same founders at the Toronto Underground Cinema, but this time, it caught the eye of the media, boosting its signal. Also, you get some real wonderful and cheesy CG of a local news reporter holding a lightsaber.
The event featured screenings of fan films, trivia, a costume contest, and more. It also had its first celebrity guest: Chad Vader, a supermarket employee who wears a Darth Vader uniform that was a YouTube sensation in 2011. The origins to this being a celebrated fan holiday really start with Ward and Quinn’s work in Toronto.
In 2013, Disney officially recognized Star Wars Day for May 4–just months after Disney purchased Lucasfilm. Since then, the day has been about celebration of the franchise, release of new collectibles, and in 2021, Disney+ launched the first episode of its new original series, Star Wars: The Bad Batch–a spinoff of the wildly-popular The Clone Wars animated show.
The first footage of Disney’s working lightsaber is here. The highly realistic Jedi weapon has been revealed as part of Star Wars Day celebrations.
The lightsaber was teased last month, during a Disney Parks press event. The footage arrives via a tweet from Disney Parks, promoting the “all-immersive vacation experience” Galactic Starcruiser, which opens at Walt Disney World in Florida next year.
The lightsaber itself is being held by an actor dressed at Rey, and it looks amazingly realistic, from the retractable glowing blade to the very familiar sound. Check it out below:
Disney hasn’t yet confirmed if the lightsaber will be available to buy, or if it will just be part of the Galactic Starcruiser attraction. According to the Starcruiser website, one of the experiences that guests can enjoy while staying there is learning the “traditional art of wielding a lightsaber.”
Galactic Starcruiser was first announced in 2020, and the website has been recently updated to show what fans can enjoy when the resort opens. Upon their arrival they will “jump to hyperspace and rendezvous with the Halcyon starcruiser,” before entering the Atrium, which is “the heart of the Halcyon starcruiser, a welcoming place where crew and passengers gather.” Additional experiences include operating the ship’s navigation, relaxing in the Sublight Lounge, and enjoying dinner in the Crown of Corellia Dining Room.
Project L, the upcoming League of Legends fighting game coming from Riot Games, will not be seen until the end of the year at the earliest according to one of its lead developers.
Tom Cannon, senior producer at Riot Games, updated the game’s progress on Twitter, confirming the game will not have a beta test in 2021 but the team is working on an update for later this year. “The game is on track with many core systems in place, but we still have a ways to go,” the tweet reads. “[Please] do not expect a beta (public or private) any time soon, and [definitely] not this year.”
Glad you’re hype for Project L. The game is on track with many core systems in place, but we still have a ways to go. Pls do not expect a beta (public or private) any time soon, and def. not this year.
Cannon then followed this tweet with another confirming that the team is “planning a dev update for around the end of this year to share more about the game. Until then, sit tight!”
Project L was first announced during Riot Games’ 10th Anniversary livestream in 2019, the game being built from Radiant Entertainment’s cancelled 2015 fighting game Rising Thunder. Brief teaser footage of League champions Ahri, Darius, Jinx, and Katarina in battle was shown, but no other information was given. No further announcements for the game have been made since, though in-person playtesting was held at Riot’s offices in late April.
Google Stadia’s head of product has left the company. John Justice, who was also a vice president at Google, is no longer working with the technology giant.
He joined Google in 2019 and worked on the Stadia team where he oversaw the consumer experience. A spokesperson for Google confirmed his departure to 9to5Google. “We can confirm John is no longer with Google and we wish him well on his next step,” the company said. There is no word yet, however, on what Justice may do next.
Stadia was recently updated with a search bar, while the service also got a sort/filter feature to help users find games more easily.
Unlike Fortnite, the Epic Games Store seems to be losing money for its operator. According to Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, the digital storefront is “hundreds of millions of dollars short of being profitable.”
According to Sweeney’s testimony from the Epic Games Vs. Apple trial, the company’s digital platform will be in the green “within three or four years.” Additionally, the Washington Post reported that a document entered into evidence for the trial showed that the Epic Games Store required a $359 million investment from Epic Games from the year following its launch. According to another document given to the court on April 8, Epic expects the Epic Games Store to begin turning a profit for the company in 2023.
The Epic Games Store launched in 2018, moving into a market dominated by other digital game retailers. By that time, Valve’s own digital storefront, Steam, had been in operation for 15 years and held an enormous share of the PC gaming market. The Epic Games Store also had to compete with other smaller digital gaming storefronts from game developers and publishers, like Ubisoft’s Uplay and CD Projekt Red’s GOG.
Epic’s digital storefront has distinguished itself from its biggest competitor, Steam, by taking a reduced commission from developers. Valve takes a 30% commission from game purchases on Steam, while Epic only takes 12%.
While the Epic Games Store has been able to carve a slice of the PC gaming market out for itself, mainly thanks to its weekly free game offerings and Fortnite’s exclusivity to the storefront on PC, it still hasn’t turned a profit for Epic Games. Epic also recently revealed that keeping games exclusive to the Epic Games Store has lost it around $300 million. Sweeney later took to Twitter to say that those costs have been a worthwhile “investment into growing the business!”
The Epic Games Vs. Apple trial is continuing today and likely will continue through the next three weeks. The trial is open for the public to listen in on. However, issues with attendees not having their microphones muted led to a number of children yelling “free Fortnite.”
Choosing the right microphone can be tough, especially when you consider how you might want to grow your setup over time. Today, I’m looking at a mic that aims to do exactly that. The Samson Q9U is a dynamic broadcast microphone with XLR and USB connectivity to connect directly to your gaming PC – or slot into a professional setup with a change of a cable. At $199, it doesn’t come cheap, but it could be exactly the long-term solution you’re looking for.
If the Shure SM7B and Electro-Voice RE-20 had a baby, it might look something like this. The Samson Q9U is a big, bold broadcast microphone that takes clear inspiration from the classics and would look right at home in a radio studio. It features a large cylindrical design and heavily vented capsule, ultimately culminating in an end-address design. Unlike popular streaming mics like the Blue Yeti or HyperX QuadCast, you talk right into the end of it instead of the side, which can sometimes be confusing for audio newcomers. Looks only go so far in the recording world but they do count for something when streaming, and this definitely stands out from the pack with that professional “radio mic” look.
Like the company’s last big mic release, the G-Track Pro, the Q9U features a robust, all-metal design. It feels exceptionally durable but is equally heavy, making even the Blue Yeti feel like a featherweight in comparison. It comes in at 2.2 pounds, and cheaper boom arms will struggle to hold it upright. Even my Tonor T30, one of the sturdier sub-$50 boom arms out there, had to be tightened near the max to keep from sagging. You’ll need that boom arm or desk stand too because there’s none included in the box. Instead, the Q9U ships with a pre-installed u-bracket that connects to whatever mount style you have to use it with. Given the weight and cost of the mic, I would have liked to have seen a simple desk stand included in the box. It does ship with a nice foam windscreen, however.
The Q9U is a dynamic microphone, which is an entirely different design than the more common condenser microphones that make up the most popular streaming options. Dynamic mics don’t have the same wide frequency response as condensers, leading to slightly more compressed tone. That doesn’t mean they sound bad, however. The SM7B and RE-20 are both incredibly popular dynamic microphones used by streamers, podcasters, and voice over artists around the world. In fact, many people like them better for spoken word and find they offer a richer tone than a condenser can offer. As always with microphones, it comes down to personal preference and use-case.
As a dynamic mic, the Q9U offers some major usability benefits versus traditional condensers. Dynamic mics are far less sensitive, which means they pick up less environmental noise. The sounds of your clacky mechanical gaming keyboard will be much quieter when using the Q9U versus the Blue Yeti at equal volumes. Because of that, they’re also better for rooms that haven’t been sound treated as reverberations off walls and hardwoods won’t make their way back into the mic as easily. They’re also a better fit for creators that share their space. As a father of four kids under eight, my house is a perpetual noise machine which makes condensers virtually unusable. The Q9U is much more usable in a noisy environment.
The “by the numbers” recording quality is very good. It can record at 24-bit/96kHz, which is far beyond the level necessary for professional streaming. In fact, this lends it the potential for home recording and amateur voice over work. The capsule only records in a cardioid polar pattern, or directly in front of the mic, so it won’t work for an across the table interviews or recording a whole room. Anything in front of it can be captured at a level compatible with the rates of even professional recording studios.
The Q9U is a hybrid mic, offering both XLR and USB connections so you won’t need an expensive interface to run it. That said, the fact that it offers both connection types is a big asset because it allows it to grow with your setup over time. A USB mic can’t easily interface with more than a single PC, but the Q9U can be dropped into much more professional setups with only a change of cable. That also makes the $199 price point a bit more reasonable since you won’t have to replace the mic if you decide to make upgrades.
The Q9U also has a pair of switches for some hardware-level EQ and noise control. On the cylinder of the mic is a mute button (not backlit, which was a problem at times) but on the rear are two switches to boost the mids and roll off the lowest frequencies it captures. The bass roll off is useful if you want to cut down on some of the boominess in your voice or eliminate low frequency room noise. The mid boost, on the other hand, elevates a band of frequencies common to spoken word and can lend your voice added presence and, in my case, a dose of extra crispness. Together, these two switches allow you to dial in your recording more than most microphones with a USB option.
Next to these switches is a zero-latency monitoring jack for plugging in a pair of headphones. When connected over USB, the Q9U acts as a sound card routing all of your PC audio through the microphone and into your headset. It also allows you to monitor your recording in real time, which is useful for keeping an eye on your levels.
Samson Q9U – Performance
Recordings with the Q9U are crisp and detailed. Compared to my Blue Yeti, I found that my voice sounded slightly more boxy but also more deep and full. I don’t have a traditional radio voice but the Q9U gave my words a dose of warmth and resonance that I could previously only achieve through extreme closeness to the Yeti (terrible microphone technique). The mids in my voice also took on a bit more of an edge. When talking to friends over Discord, everyone reported that I sounded crystal clear. When I used it on a video call at work, everyone reported that I looked like a disc jockey playing the hits. Definite DJ vibes through and through with the Q9U.
If you do plan to connect it through an interface, you’ll need a powerful one. The Q9U shares another trait with the SM7B: it needs a lot of power. My Behringer UMC202HD had to be turned up over 90% to achieve a usable volume, topping both the Shure MV7 and Rode Podcaster dynamic mics. Pushing an interface that high can introduce unwanted noise, so short of a high-gain interface or GoXLR, investing in a Cloudlifter may be necessary. USB, on the other hand, goes the opposite way and has lots of headroom, so this is only a concern for XLR connections.
The Q9U’s biggest competitor is the Shure MV7 which launched late last year. The MV7 retails for $50 more but is a similarly hybrid XLR/USB dynamic microphone. The MV7 does offer some expanded features, such as automatic gain control and a companion app, but also lacks hardware switches and requires that app for full functionality. Compared side by side, the Q9U sounded close but not quite as good as the MV7. The Shure offered slightly less compression and a more natural sound overall. Without a side by side comparison, however, most listeners would be hard pressed to tell the difference. Both microphones offer a deep, crisp sound that is well-suited to vocal capture.
The Q9U might be a good value for the money but it did offer some frustrations. The lack of backlight on the mute button made it hard to tell when I was muted or not if I took off my headphones. Likewise, while the mic has EQ controls, it doesn’t have any way to control the actual mic or sound levels from Windows. All of that is done through the operating system, which can be a bit of a pain if you’re mid-game and want to make an adjustment.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order puts you in the role of Cal Kestis, a Padawan who narrowly avoided the Jedi purge. With refined lightsaber combat and big action set-pieces, this is one of the most memorable Star Wars games in years. Plus, it will be getting a free upgrade on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Star Wars Squadrons combines elements from the classic X-Wing and TIE Fighter games with the more arcade-style flight from Rogue Squadron. Put in an immersive cockpit, you’ll bank, flip, and spin (that’s a good trick) as you pilot a variety of New Republic and Imperial ships like the iconic X-Wing, TIE Fighter, and more.
Both games come from EA’s partnership to produce Star Wars games. Jedi Fallen Order comes from Respawn, the studio behind Apex Legends. Squadrons comes from EA Motive, previously known for its work on Star Wars Battlefront 2. Disney recently expanded its Star Wars video game options by putting everything under the banner of Lucasfilm Games. That means EA no longer has the exclusive rights, but the company says it will still make Star Wars games.
$29.88on Walmart
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Here’s some good news for anyone with a PS5, Xbox Series X, or any other 4K UHD disc-playing device: Amazon and Best Buy are running a sale on 4K movies. You can pick up some excellent stuff at massive discounts right now, including Tenet, Blade, and the entire Star Wars Skywalker saga for up to 57% off.
So if you enjoy your media on a disk and in a package you can put on your shelf, this is a great time to fill out your collection.
The Star Wars movies are a particularly good deal. If you purchase all of the Skywalker saga movies individually on sale right now, you’ll save about $80 off the current price of the Skywalker Saga bundle.
And if you’re looking for a new TV to view these films on, you can check out our picks for the best 4K TVs. Our top pick, by the way, is the brand-new 2021 LG C1. It’s a slight upgrade over last year’s LG CX, and it has all the features you need to take full advantage of PS5 and Xbox Series X gaming. Anyway, happy deal hunting.
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Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert at IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.
The head of product at Google Stadia has left the company.
The Information published a report noting that John Justice, VP and Head of Product at Google Stadia, had moved on from Google. This was later confirmed in a statement acquired by 9to5. “We can confirm John is no longer with Google and we wish him well on his next step,” Google told 9to5.
