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Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard’s MOBA, has received a new patch, focused on balance. The update will rework Blaze, one of the tanks in the game, to give a popular ability earlier in the game. Blizzard also highlighted changes to Muradin Storm Bolt and Stitches getting nerfed, in addition to some bug fixes.

Heroes of the Storm combines iconic Blizzard characters from across all of its games, putting characters from Diablo, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and more together on a single battlefield. Sometimes, it even has skins so characters can cosplay as each other, like a Soldier 76 skin for Starcraft’s Jim Raynor. The game has been on Blizzard’s back burner since 2018 when the company decided to cancel its esports tournaments and move developers onto other titles.

The June 15 balancing patch provides changes to 12 heroes in addition to some bug fixes. You can read the full notes on Blizzard’s website or below:

HEROES OF THE STORM BALANCE PATCH NOTES – JUNE 15, 2021

General

• Loan Talents have been renamed to Gambit Talents.

Heroes

Tank

Blaze

Base

• Flame Stream [Q]
  • Additionality functionality: Hitting an enemy with both streams of Flame Stream deals 120 damage. This additional hit triggers Flame Stream’s Pyromania cooldown reduction.

Talents

• Level 1
  • New Habits [D]
    • Pyromania cooldown reduction from Regeneration Globes reduced from 8 to 6 seconds.
• Level 7
  • Crossfire [Q]
  • Suppressive Fire [Q]
    • Moved from Level 13.
  • Nanomachine Coating [W]
    • Moved from Level 13.
  • Fuel Leak [E]
    • Moved from Level 13.
• Level 13
  • Grill and Kill [W]
    • Moved from Level 7.
    • Changed functionality: Ignited Oil Spill damage bonus now granted instantly.
    • Ignited Oil Spill damage bonus increased from 35% to 45%.
    • Hero hits for quest completion reduced from 60 to 30.
    • Quest Reward Ignite duration increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds.
  • Adhesive Petroleum [W]
    • Moved from Level 7.
    • Additional functionality: Enemies standing in Oil Spill when its Ignited take 35% more Basic Attack damage from Blaze for 3 seconds.
  • (New) Collision Course [E]
    • Jet Propulsion deals an additional 325 damage to its collision target.

Developer Comment: Crossfire has always been a wildly popular talent, so we’re bringing it baseline. With this early addition of damage, we’re comfortable pushing back his damage talent tier and swapping it with his impactful tanking talents.

Garrosh

Base

• Into the Fray [Active]
  • Moved from Level 7.
  • Armor reduced from 25 to 20.

Talents

• Level 7
  • Intimidation [Q]
    • Attack Speed reduction reduced from 40% to 30%.
  • Oppressor [W]
    • Changed from a Passive talent to a Bloodthirst [W] talent.
    • Spell Power reduction reduced from 40% to 30%.
    • Additional functionality: Bloodthirst also applies the Spell Power reduction.
  • (New) Lok-tar Ogar! [Active]
    • Increase Into the Fray Armor by 20.
    • Into the Fray’s cooldown is reduced by 12 seconds for each enemy Hero hit.

Developer Comment: Into the Fray has become a crucial part of what is expected from Garrosh, so we’re just giving in to the mad Warchief. We’re also mildly lowering the power of his level 7 talents to make up for this addition.

Johanna

Base

• Iron Skin [D]
  • Shield increased from 674 to 810.

Talents

• Level 4
  • Hold Your Ground [D]
    • Shield percent increase reduced from 60% to 40%.
• Level 7
  • Sins Exposed [Q]
    • Healing reduction increased from 25% to 35%.
  • Steed Charge [D]
    • Cooldown reduced from 30 to 20 seconds.
• Level 10
  • Falling Sword [R1]
    • Damage Increased from 150 to 225.
• Level 13
  • Holy Fury [Passive]
    • Periodic damage increased from 12 to 15.

Developer Comment: Hold Your Ground’s talent tier has some competitive options, but it still feels more necessary than we’d like. We’re baking in some of its benefit, and those who love the talent will still have its current power – Hold Your Ground’s shield is increasing from 1078.4 to 1134. Johanna has landed fairly well, so we’re also lightly helping some of her weaker talents.

Muradin

Base

• Storm Bolt [Q]
  • Adjusted functionality: No longer has a baseline Quest. Upon reaching level 10, Storm Bolt pierces an additional target. Basic Attacks reduce the Cooldown of Storm Bolt by 1 second and restore 3 Mana.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Perfect Storm [Q]
    • New functionality:
      • Quest: Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes increase Storm Bolt’s damage by .5.
      • Quest: If an enemy Hero is killed within 3 seconds of being hit by a Storm Bolt, increase Storm Bolt’s damage by 10.

Developer Comment: We have never been really happy with Storm Bolt having a baseline quest as it causes players to play sub-optimally during the early portions of the game while stacking. Instead of removing the power of it, we have decided to automatically unlock its functionality when Muradin hits level 10. Alongside this change, we also took the opportunity to redesign Perfect Storm to reward both aggression and the proper use of Storm Bolt.

Stitches

Base

• Vile Gas [D]
  • Duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Hungry For More [Passive]
    • Maximum Health bonus reduced from 30 to 25.
• Level 4
  • Playtime! [W]
    • Slam Inner Area cooldown reduction increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds.
  • Vile Cleaver [D]
    • Additional functionality: Slam applies Vile Gas to all targets hit.
  • Tenderizer [Passive]
    • Healing reduced from 2% to 1.75%.
• Level 7
  • Serrated Edge [Q]
    • Hook cooldown reduction reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.
  • Putrefaction [Trait]
    • Healing reduction increased from 30% to 40%.
    • Vile Gas healing increased from 60% to 75%.
• Level 13
  • Meat Hook [Q]
    • Healing per second reduced from 5% to 4%.
    • Duration increased from 4 to 5 seconds.
  • Chop Chop [Q/Trait]
    • Duration reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.
    • Attack Speed bonus reduced from 50% to 40%.
    • Additional functionality: Basic Attacks against Heroes refresh the duration.
• Level 16
  • Digestive Juices [E]
    • Devour cooldown reduction reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.
    • Damage reduction duration reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.
• Level 20
  • Hungry Hungry Stitches [R2]
    • Additional functionality: Heroes are Slowed by 75% for 1 second after Gorge ends.
  • Master Hooker [Q]
    • Hook cooldown reduction reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.
    • Healing reduction reduced from 100% to 75%.

Developer Comment: Stitches is successfully lumbering his way through the Nexus in his own way – with a massive health pool and lots of healing. We think a small reduction on both ends will be healthy without tripping him up. We’re also reducing his Hook cooldown reduction on both Serrated Edge and Master Hooker, so Stitches will have to work harder to play with his food.

Bruiser

Imperius

Base

• Basic Attack
  • Damage increased from 122 to 126.
• Solarion’s Fire [W]
  • Damage increased from 100 to 110.

Talents

• Level 4
  • Battle Hunger [Trait]
    • Bonus healing increased from 70% to 80%.
• Level 7
  • Blaze of Glory [W]
    • Damage increased from 150 to 185.
  • Holy Fervor [Active]
    • Additional functionality: Casting Molten Armor grants Holy Fervor for 2 Basic Attacks.
• Level 20
  • Unrelenting Descend [R2]
    • Additional functionality: Descending from the Heavens restores Imperius for 30% of his maximum Health and Mana.

Developer Comment: Flash of Anger has overshadowed Imperius’ other level 7 talents for a while, as it was the premier option for both AoE damage and survivability. With buffs to both Blaze of Glory and Holy Fervor, along with a sizable increase in base power, we hope to see more Imperius action.

Healer

Anduin

Base

• Pursued By Grace [D]
  • Healing increased from 26 to 32.
• Flash Heal [Q]
  • Mana cost reduced from 25 to 20.
  • Healing increased from 270 to 280.
• Chastise [E]
  • Cooldown reduced from 10 to 9 seconds.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Evenhanded Blessings [Q]
    • Healing bonus increased from 10 to 15%.
  • Lightwell [Active]
    • Cooldown reduced from 80 to 75 seconds.
    • Individual healing cooldown reduced from 1 to .875 seconds.
• Level 4
  • Surge of Light [E]
    • Cooldown reduction increased from .5 to .75 seconds.
• Level 7
  • Binding Heal [Q]
    • Healing increased from 115 to 135.
  • Desperate Prayer [Active]
    • Cooldown reduced from 40 to 35 seconds.
    • Healing increased from 360 to 375.
• Level 16
  • Renew [Q]
    • Healing per second increased from 26 to 30.
    • Duration increased from 5 to 6 seconds.
  • (New) Inner Focus [Active]
    • New functionality:
      • Activate to reset the cooldown of Flash Heal and its next cast heals for 25% more.
      • Damaging enemy Heroes reduces this cooldown by 1 second.
      • 20 second cooldown.

Developer Comment: Anduin is performing a little lower than we’d like, so we’re buffing his base power as well as his under picked talents. Players have asked for Inner Focus, so we’re returning it with a slightly different flavor – please let us know how this feels to play with.

Brightwing

Base

• Soothing Mist [D]
  • Healing increased from 105 to 115.
  • Cooldown reduced from 100 to 90 seconds.
• Phase Shift [Z]
  • Cooldown reduced from 50 to 40 seconds.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Hyper Shift [Z]
    • Cooldown reduction reduced from 1.5 to 1 second.
• Level 7
  • Peekaboo! [Z]
    • Shield duration reduced from 5 to 4 seconds.
  • Critical Mist [D]
    • Heal bonus increased from 100% to 140%.
• Level 13
  • Pixie Boost [E]
    • Initial Move Speed bonus increased from 40% to 50%.
• Level 20
  • Intensive Winds [R2]
    • Changed functionality: No longer increases Emerald Winds’ Mana cost.
  • Faerie Protector [Active]
    • Additional functionality: [Passive] – Pixie Dust always bounces back and applies to Brightwing.
  • Speedy Dragon [Passive]
    • Additional functionality: Reduce Phase Shift’s cast time to 1 second.

Developer Comment: We’d prefer a Brightwing that isn’t as dependent on Hyper Shift, so we’re reducing its cooldown reduction alongside Phase Shift’s base cooldown. While we’re here we’re sprucing up Brightwing’s level 20 talents, so Brightwing is ready for some new friends!

Stukov

Talents

• Level 1
  • Fetid Touch [W]
    • Additional functionality: Basic Attacks become ranged and Slow enemies by 15% for 1.5 seconds but deal 50% less damage.
  • Reactive Ballistospores [Active]
    • Adjusted functionality:
      • Activate: Instantly spread a Weighted Pustule to all nearby enemy Heroes (60 Second cooldown).
      • Passive: While below 50% maximum Health, Bio Kill-Switch cooldown refreshes 150% faster.
  • Low Blow [E]
    • Additional functionality: Lurking Arm persists for an additional 1 second after it is cancelled.
  • Spine Launcher [Passive]
• Level 4
  • Biotic Armor [Q]
    • Physical Armor from activating Bio-Kill Switch from 75 to 50.
• Level 7
  • Targeted Excision [D]
    • Activating Bio Kill-Switch while exactly 1 enemy Hero is affected by Weighted Pustule now sets your Bio Kill-Switch to 8 seconds instead of 5.
• Level 13
  • Lingering Spines [E]
  • Virulent Reaction [D]
    • Root duration from 2 to 1.5 seconds.

Developer Comment: Stukov had a couple of fun talents that were being overshadowed by stronger and/or more synergistic ones. We didn’t want to lose their flavor, so we baked their current functionality into existing talents that were in need of a little love themselves.

Ranged Assassin

Orphea

Talents

• Level 1
  • En Pointe [Q]
    • Additional functionality: Hitting Heroes with the end of Shadow Waltz grants an additional 1 Chaos.
  • Growing Nightmare [E]
    • Changed functionality: Initial damage bonus changed from Dread’s eruption to both Dread’s wave and eruption.
    • Initial damage bonus increased from 40% to 50%.
    • Quest reward damage bonus increased from 25% to 50%.
• Level 20
  • Monster Within [R1]
    • Additional functionality: Cooldown reduction continues for 5 seconds after Eternal Feast ends.
  • Engulfing Oblivion [R2]
    • Armor reduction increased from 25 to 50.
  • Final Toccata [Active]
    • Duration reduced from 6 to 5 seconds.
    • Additional functionality: Dashing increases Final Toccata’s duration by 1 second.

Developer Comment: Orphea players have correctly recognized the power of both Ancestral Strength (level 1) and Eldritch Conduit (level 20). Therefore, we’re buffing their competitors and seeing what happens.

Raynor

Base

• Basic Attack
  • Damage increased from 92 to 98.
• Penetrating Round [Q]
  • Damage increased from 190 to 205.

Talents

• Level 1
  • Ace in the Hole [Trait]
    • Talent changed from [Q] to [Trait].
    • Changed functionality: Damage bonus now affects all Raynor’s damage.
    • Damage bonus reduced from 25% to 10%.
• Level 20
  • Execute Orders [Passive]
    • Execute Orders is no longer able to be picked in ARAM games.

Developer Comment: Jimmy ain’t fought his last battle yet. We’re returning Ace in the Hole to its original functionality, mostly in response to player sentiment, but also to open up a Basic Attack build that isn’t Gambit dependent. As always, thanks for your feedback! We have decided to remove Execute Orders from ARAMs, as we think even a less powerful version is still not healthy for the game mode.

Valla

Talents

• Level 1
  • Puncturing Arrow [Q]
    • Damage bonus per initial Hero hit increased from 6 to 7.
  • Fire At Will [W]
    • Damage bonus per Hero hit decreased from 4 to 2.
    • Additional functionality:
      • Quest: After hitting 20 Heroes, gain 40 additional Multishot damage.

Developer Comment: Valla is still settling into her place in the Nexus, but it’s been clear that her Multishot is hitting too hard. We’re heavily reducing Fire At Will’s ability to scale, while giving it an early push of damage.

Bug Fixes

Heroes

• Anduin
  • Renew’s effect is no longer lost by dying.
  • Moral Compass’s range bonus is no longer lost by dying.
• Johanna
  • Falling Sword no longer impacts enemy Heroes twice.
• Lúcio
  • Mixing Fire’s cooldown reduction has been updated to match its tooltip.
• Malfurion
  • Serenity no longer increases Tranquility’s duration.
  • Serenity’s tooltip has been updated to match its increased healing.
• Ragnaros
  • Meteor Bomb’s bonus damage is no longer lost by dying.

Update: GameSpot has confirmed that Morbius is still slated to come out on January 28, 2022. Additionally, the movie is not part of the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is a part of Sony Pictures’ Universe of Marvel characters, contrary to what Tyrese Gibson said in the interview below.

Original story follows:

If you’ve been patiently waiting for Sony’s Morbius to come out–the movie following a vampiric Spider-Man villain–prepare to wait even longer. In a recent interview with ComicBook.com, the movie is being pushed back until October 2022. Additionally, the movie will apparently be a part of the MCU.

Tyrese Gibson, who plays Simon Stroud in the upcoming film, said during an interview with Comic Book that the movie is in fact getting delayed–again. “They just pushed [Morbius] to October because they want to take advantage of that Halloween energy, so it’s going to be a long year, man, of a lot of magic happening out here.” explained Gibson.

Additionally, Gibson was asked twice if the Morbius movie was in fact part of the MCU. He responded yes twice, which is a big bit of news. You can check out a piece from the interview below.

GameSpot has reached out to Sony for comment, as many were under the impression that Morbius would in fact not be a part of the MCU.

However, there’s some evidence that this movie may in fact be a part of the grander MCU as in the trailer for Morbius, a poster can be seen of Spider-Man with “Murderer” spray painted on it. As you probably remember in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Quentin Beck gave a video to The Daily Bugle blaming Spider-Man for the drone attack that Beck initiated. However, on the flip side of things, that Spider-Man costume from the Morbius trailer looks a lot more like Tobey McGuire’s and not so much like Tom Holland’s.

Morbius has gone through a slew of delays, as the film was originally expected to release July 31, 2020. Because of the pandemic, it was pushed back to March 19, 2021, then January 21, 2022, then January 28, 2022. The new October 2022 release date will be the fifth time the film has been delayed. However, this is relatively common the past year, considering the world has been shut down.

To celebrate The Legend of Zelda’s 35th anniversary, Nintendo made yet another exciting announcement for Zelda fans during its E3 2021 Direct: a brand-new Game & Watch product that bundles three classic Zelda games is releasing November 12. Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda is available to preorder now after its reveal earlier today, and if you’re hoping to get your hands on this neat collectible, we suggest securing your order sooner than later. It may sell out fast.

Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda includes The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (the original, of course). In addition, it’ll ship with a new version of Vermin that stars Link. The Zelda-themed Game & Watch will function as a digital clock and timer as well.

This is the second Game & Watch-inspired product released by Nintendo, the first of which released around Mario’s 35th anniversary last year. Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. bundled the original Super Mario Bros. and The Lost Levels as well as Game & Watch title Ball. It was meant to be a limited-time release through March 31, but you can still buy it at multiple retailers.

It’s an exciting time for Zelda fans, as Nintendo also showed off new footage of the Breath of the Wild sequel and confirmed a 2022 release window during E3. Meanwhile, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is releasing on Switch on July 16–and you can preorder it now. Catch up on more of the biggest Nintendo E3 2021 announcements, including Metroid Dread, Mario Party Superstars, and the new Smash DLC character, Kazuya from Tekken.

Red Dead Redemption 2‘s latest weekly update for Red Dead Online is out now. Throughout the next week you’ll be able to earn double rewards on all Role Free Roam events, and receive bonuses for reaching Role ranks, selling moonshine and trader supplies, and more.

Whichever Role you’ve opted for, Role Free Roam events such as Manhunt, Day of Reckoning, Salvage, Condor Egg, and more, are paying out double RDO$ and Role XP all week long. Anyone who levels up five Role ranks will also receive 2,000 character XP and an offer of 30% off any Established or Distinguished Role item. Additionally, all players below rank 10 in any Role will be offered 30% off a Novice or Promising Role item of their choice, while those who have reached rank 20 across all five Roles will receive 50% off an Established or Distinguished Role item, plus 5,000 Character XP.

Trader Sell missions and Moonshine sales are also doling out double Role XP throughout the week. On top of this, all Traders will receive two rewards for 25 Trader Goods each, while Moonshiners will get five rewards that they can exchange for Mash refills. If you fancy moving camp, Moonshiners with wanderlust can also waive the cost of moving their Moonshine Shack through June 21.

When it comes to discounts, the Wheeler, Rawson and Co. catalogue is offering 40% off Trade Wagons, Work Houses, Wilderness Camps, and Tonic Crafting Pamphlets. You can also get 30% off Pants, Skirts, and Boots.

Those who connect their Rockstar Games Social Club account to Prime Gaming before July 5 will receive a free emote and offers for 30% off the Bar Expansion and a Novice or Promising Moonshiner item of your choice.

While we did see some pretty amazing stuff at E3 2021 Nintendo Direct, we didn’t get any new announcements about Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Fans of the series noticed the absence of news on Twitter, with many posting memes and jokes in response.

It’s not clear what Nintendo’s long-term plans are for New Horizons, but we’ll update this story with new details if we hear anything. Recent updates added cheese rolling to New Horizons, as well as some seasonal items themed around the Dano and Dragon Boat Festivals.

Then again, since E3 is traditionally reserved for brand new games, it’s not necessarily a surprise that Animal Crossing was a no-show. Still, DLC for several notable games did serve as highlights for some, especially the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate announcement.

Though this news is disappointing to New Horizons fans, the E3 2021 Nintendo Direct featured many surprises. You’ll soon be able to headbutt Kirby as Kazuya Mishima in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which adds the Tekken veteran to its line-up of iconic fighting game characters like Ryu and Terry Bogard.

We also got an announcement of a new 2D Metroid game, Metroid: Dread. Dread is being made by Metroid: Samus Return developers MercurySteam, and it’s the first brand new 2D game in the series since 2002’s Metroid Fusion. By the look of things, it’s a direct sequel to Fusion, and takes that game’s SA-X concept to the next level with a evil robot called EMMI.

Bethesda has published a new video for Starfield that sheds a little more light on the developer’s new sci-fi RPG and invites fans to join a program known as Constellation.

Constellation is program you can sign up for to receive new updates on Starfield and get access to developer interviews and “behind-the-scenes looks” at the title. All you have to do is sign in with your Bethesda.net account to join Constellation. Separately, the Bethesda Game Studios Discord will have “exclusive AMAs and community conversations” available to members.

In the new video, game director Todd Howard spoke at a high level about Bethesda’s ambitions for Starfield, which is the developer’s first new IP in 25 years. After so many years making games set within traditional terrestrial boundaries, Starfield takes players to space for a new journey.

“At Bethesda Game Studios, we love to create experiences that, through art and technology, transport you. We’ve brought that to many worlds, but never to what’s above us,” Howard said. “When we look to the sky, we wonder if we’re alone, what’s out there, what our future holds. In some ways, since every element in each of us is from the stars, we want to return. Starfield is our first new universe in over 25 years. It’s a game we’ve dreamt of playing. It’s only now that we have the hardware, the technology, and the experience to push our creative boundaries even further.”

Constellation also appears to be the name of a group that Starfield players will join in the game itself, according to Howard.

“We invite you to join Constellation, the last group of space explorers. It’s a next-generation role-playing game where you’ll be who you want, go where you want, experience our stories, and forge your own,” he said. “More than that, Starfield is about hope, our shared humanity, and searching for the answers to life’s greatest mystery.”

Players can join the Constellation program on the internet to learn more about the “inspiration and process” for Starfield, according to Howard.

The video may contain some clues about what to expect from Starfield beyond what Bethesda has officially announced. People noticed that the text on the screen attempted 0:58 in the video mentions a band of “individual captains” operating under the title “jolly roger,” which fans have taken as a reference to space pirates. Separately, fans believe they’ve found an Elder Scrolls reference in the Starfield E3 trailer.

Starfield is slated for release on November 11, 2022 for Xbox Series X|S and PC. It’ll also be available on Xbox Game Pass for subscribers.

World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic’s first Arena season has officially begun, allowing players to test their might against other players in 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5 rated PvP.

By competing in Arena, players can earn Arena points on a weekly basis based on their team’s performance, which can then be cashed in to acquire powerful weapons and armor. Teams will need to complete at least 10 games to qualify for points in a given week, with an individual player needing to have participated in at least 30% of matches played that week in order to earn points. The top .5% of players will also earn a Swift Nether Drake Mount, which will only be available during the game’s first Arena season.

Arena mode was first introduced to World of Warcraft with the original Burning Crusade expansion in 2007, and has become a key activity in the game ever since. In later versions of the game, players could also compete in Rated Battlegrounds in addition to Arena to earn the game’s most powerful PvP gear.

How Burning Crusade Classic’s Arena system works is a little different from how it was back in 2007. In Burning Crusade Classic, players will start at a rating of 0, instead of the 1500 Arena rating all teams started from in the original game. As a result, Blizzard is making it so that teams with a rating lower than 1500 will earn a higher amount of Arena points than in the original game.

Certain pieces of gear will also have rating requirements that must be met in order to be acquired, something that was introduced later in the expansion’s lifespan with the arrival of Burning Crusade Arena Season 3. Once a new season starts, gear from older Arena seasons can be purchased via points with no rating requirements. Burning Crusade Classic’s Arena matchmaking system has also seen adjustments from the original game, with Blizzard tweaking its MMR system to improve match quality.

Blizzard introduced a number of changes to Burning Crusade Classic outside Arena, as well, when the game launched earlier this month, ranging from allowing players to purchase a level boost to how the game’s endgame content is rolled out.

Amazon Prime Day 2021 is coming up soon on June 21 and 22, and headphone deals are sure to make a strong showing during the annual sale. From budget brands to high-end headphones from brands like Sony, Bose, and Apple, you can count on there being Prime Day headphones deals at every price range, making Prime Day 2021 a great time to pick up a new pair.

Though Prime Day’s official early deals largely focus on smart Fire TVs and smart devices like the Echo and Fire TV Stick, you can already find some nice headphones deals ahead of Prime Day, both on over-ear and in-ear wireless headphones. These include deals on higher-end models like the Apple AirPods Max, AirPods Pro, and Sony WH-1000XM4, along with lower-end budget models that sport many of the same features like wireless charging and phone assistant connectivity. Amazon’s newly released Echo Buds are seeing their first discount as well, with $40 slashed off the price. Prime Day also sparks competition among other tech retailers, so Best Buy is offering discounts on headphones like the wireless Beats Pro.

Though you can certainly use Bluetooth headphones for gaming, we have a separate guide to the best Prime Day gaming headset deals if that’s what you’re looking for.

We’ll be tracking all the best Prime Day deals leading up to and during Amazon’s blowout sale and will be adding the very best Prime Day headphones deals to this roundup as they appear. In the meantime, catch up on more of our Prime Day 2021 guides, including how to get Amazon Prime for free and tips for saving the most money on Prime Day. For other gadgets and home electronics, be sure to check out the best Prime Day TV deals, monitor deals, and laptop deals. For console gaming deals, see the best Prime Day PlayStation deals, Switch deals, and Xbox deals. And if you’re for a phone to connect with your new set of headphones, be sure to read up on the best Amazon Prime Day phone deals.

Netflix has apparently hired veteran Hollywood writer Jeb Stuart–who penned the screenplays for Die Hard and The Fugitive–to write the upcoming Assassin’s Creed TV series. This is according to a report from Variety, which credited the information to its sources.

Spokespeople for Netflix and Stuart did not respond to a request for comment by Variety.

Stuart most recently wrote and created the show Vikings: Valhalla, which is coming to Netflix, so he already has an in at the streaming network. Assassin’s Creed will be Stuart’s first video game project. He wrote the 1995 movie Just Cause, though the Sean Connery/Laurence Fishburne film has nothing to do with the games.

In addition to this new live-action series, Netflix is producing an animated series based on Assassin’s Creed. A 2016 Assassin’s Creed movie starring Michael Fassbender was set during the Spanish inquisition, but it was a critical flop.

Outside of Assassin’s Creed, Netflix is also making multiple Far Cry series, a Splinter Cell anime series from John Wick’s Derek Kolstad, and a Division movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, meanwhile, is still getting new updates and DLC. The next expansion is called The Siege of Paris, and we learned more about it at E3 2021.

Jade Raymond has seen the future, and the future is user-generated content. The former Stadia VP, who helped create hit franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs, argues in a recent blog post hosted by a venture capital firm that the biggest game franchises will rely just as much (if not more) on fans to create content and context than the game developers themselves.

“The goal of a game is no longer to be the most buzzworthy topic of conversation at launch; it’s to become the context for buzzworthy conversations,” she writes. “In other words: if the original Assassin’s Creed was gearing up to be the opening night of Hamilton, we want future IPs to be a neighborhood bar where people talk about whatever the latest Hamilton is: the place that is perennially cool, comfortable, and welcoming–because the patrons are driving the conversation and, in fact, are the stars of the show.”

Raymond cites Star Wars as an example of a franchise that is essentially owned by fans, despite George Lucas’s well-known resistance to fanfiction. She says that her work on The Sims is what first made her realize the power of user-generated content, because tens of millions of players have used the game to act out their own original stories. She also argues that the ongoing shift towards a games as a service (GAAS) model will likely continue, because it facilitates “lightweight” game interactions that can act as a substitute for real-life social interaction.

“When it’s not possible to have people over for a barbecue in the real world, you can fire up a cooking station in Valheim,” she writes. “…Whether it’s in Valheim, Animal Crossing, Fortnight Creative, or Minecraft, the past year of quarantine has shown us that shared creative gameplay is the glue that binds communities.”

The full blog post touches on a wide variety of topics besides those mention above, so if you’re interested in Raymond’s perspective, check out the link above. Raymond recently founded a new game studio in Montreal called Haven, which is working on an original IP for PlayStation platforms. This new studio follows the high-profile collapse of Stadia Games and Entertainment, and Haven recently hired other ex-Stadia developers in the wake of those layoffs.