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Black Friday 2020 is bringing some seriously good game deals across PS5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch, and we’re even spotting significant discounts on games released in the last month or so. One of the best Black Friday game deals announced so far is a surprising markdown on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, a launch title for both the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Released on November 10, Valhalla will be down to $48 in GameStop’s Black Friday sale, which kicks off online next Wednesday, November 25, at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET.

Set in 873 AD, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla follows a Viking named Eivor (whom you can play as male or female) as they leave Norway with their clan to travel to England. As with previous Assassin’s Creed games, Valhalla’s modern-day storyline is intertwined with the historical events of the game, and it “brings a satisfying finish to the current saga of the franchise,” associate editor Jordan Ramée wrote in his Assassin’s Creed Valhalla review.

“Despite its strong connection to past games, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is more than capable of standing on its own. It takes a little while to build momentum, but when it hits its stride, Valhalla is a confident Assassin’s Creed title that takes a few narrative risks which, as a whole, pay off,” he wrote. “Eivor is a good hero with an identity that drives the mystery behind the main narrative, and she shines in the self-contained arc structure of Valhalla’s story. The supporting cast may not shine as brightly, but it’s easy to forgive that when exploring England and discovering new nuggets of worldbuilding is so rewarding.”

Ubisoft recently confirmed Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the biggest game launch in the series’ history, selling more units in its first week than any other entry. It’s also the top-selling Ubisoft PC launch ever, according to the publisher.

We’ll be covering all the biggest Black Friday 2020 news and deals over the next week, so stay tuned. Catch up on more of the best Black Friday game deals announced so far, including Star Wars: Squadrons for $17, Final Fantasy VII Remake for $25, and Watch Dogs Legion for $30.

Rocket League developer Psyonix has said that while adding 120 FPS to the Xbox Series version of the game is a “minor patch,” it would require a “full native port” on PS5.

Speaking to Eurogamer, a spokesperson for the developer noted that this was due to the way backwards compatibility works on Sony’s next-gen console. “Enabling 120hz on Xbox Series X|S is a minor patch, but enabling it on PS5 requires a full native port due to how backwards compatibility is implemented on the console, and unfortunately wasn’t possible due to our focus elsewhere.”

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Psyonix has been focusing on the game’s “free to play transition” and updating the game’s Tournament system instead. It paints a troublesome picture for backwards-compatibile PS4 games receiving 120 FPS updates on the PS5, going forward.

A similar Eurogamer report from last week noted that Infinity Ward had added 120 FPS support to Call of Duty: Warzone on the Xbox Series X, but not the PS5, which suggests that this stumbling block is more significant than perhaps expected. Hopefully, in the future, Sony could commit resources to create an easier solution for developers who want to update their last-generation games to run at 120 FPS on PS5.

To check out the differences between the console, make sure to check out our PS5 vs. Xbox Series comparison chart. We’ve also got our PS5 review and Xbox Series X review to run you through the major features of both new consoles.

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

This review contains spoilers for The Mandalorian Season 2, episode 4, titled “Chapter 12 – The Siege.” To remind yourself where we left off, here’s our Mandalorian Season 2, episode 3 review.

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The Mandalorian’s world-building continues to be its greatest strength as the show slowly peels back the layers of this “new era.” Episode 4 pulls off an impressive feat, subverting what seems, at the outset, to be another standalone mission to sneak in some satisfying plot developments about Moff Gideon’s master plan and the state of the galaxy following the fall of the Empire.

Since we know Dave Filoni wrote and directed episode 5, it seems like a fairly safe bet that any Ahsoka Tano action will be saved for his installment, but episode 4 isn’t content to be a jaunty side-quest – episode director (and star) Carl Weathers and writer Jon Favreau are digging deep here, sowing subtle seeds for future storylines.

Watch our Bo-Katan breakdown to learn why her live-action debut is so significant, and check out our list of essential Bo-Katan episodes to help you catch up with her backstory:

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First, we have confirmation of what many of us suspected from the outset; that Gideon and Dr. Pershing are indeed interested in Baby Yoda for his Force sensitivity – aka Midichlorian count (or M-count, if you want to avoid using that dirty prequel word). While the details of Pershing’s procedure weren’t clear back in Season 1, he apparently harvested the Child’s blood to transfuse into a host body, seemingly hoping to imbue their “volunteer” with Force abilities.

So far, this has led to “catastrophic failure” and a “regrettable fate” (the mind boggles) for whoever they’re experimenting on, but given that the scientists have the same Kaminoan symbol on their uniforms as Pershing, and that the lab was full of suspiciously Snoke-esque mutated bodies in tanks, there are clearly some cloning shenanigans going on. The question is, are these experiments in service of eventually creating Snoke and fulfilling Emperor Palpatine’s ultimate goal as seen in Rise of Skywalker (if so, I’m far less interested), or is Gideon hoping to create an army of Force-sensitive troopers – or, long-term, give himself Force abilities?

This ties into the episode’s other big reveal, that Gideon seems to be developing what look like Dark Troopers, originally introduced in the now-Legends/EU Star Wars: Dark Forces game that also introduced Kyle Katarn (who would be a perfect addition to Mando’s world, let’s be honest).

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These enhanced battle droids were far more deadly and harder to destroy than regular stormtroopers (and in Phase Zero, were spliced with clone troopers to create cyborg hybrids, rather than pure droids, which would also dovetail nicely with the themes Dave Filoni has been exploring through Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Mandalorian), so it’s possible that Gideon wants to merge Baby Yoda’s Force abilities with a new army of supersoldiers. Those Dark Troopers aren’t to be confused with the Dark Troopers introduced in Tom Veitch’s Dark Empire comics, which were stormtroopers who had dark side Force abilities (phew!), but since the ideas are similar, Favreau and Filoni could be finding a neat way to tie these disparate Legends together and adapt them into canon.

But Gideon seems like the type of guy who would want to keep that kind of firepower for himself rather than sharing such abilities among the plebes, so it’s possible that his two projects are separate from each other, and that his new toys will remain in droid form – either way, Mando won’t be happy, especially when he figures out that Gideon’s planted a tracking device on the Razor Crest.

One downside of having such short episode run times (episode 4 was only about 33 minutes) and such a stoic main character is that there’s not much time for introspection, but the show always finds subtle and evocative ways to keep Mando evolving without the need for expository conversations (which is a relief, since the dialogue can be heavy-handed to the point of anvil-dropping in most episodes, something that I’ve just resigned myself to at this point).

Din Djarin received some fairly earth-shattering revelations about how he was raised and the realities of Mandalorian culture from Bo-Katan in episode 3, but since there’s always a new battle to fight and no one who can verbally challenge him on what he’s thinking, Mando can outwardly put off confronting this major shift in his worldview for a bit longer. Instead, the episode uses a brief but beautifully effective character beat, as Din raises his helmet just enough to take a drink in front of Baby Yoda, to hint that his perspective may be shifting without slamming us over the head with it.

Check out all the celebrity cameos and characters in The Mandalorian so far:

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While it’s satisfying to see Cara and Greef again and get a sense of how Navarro has flourished now that the Empire has been driven out of town, the episode does suffer a bit from the return of Horatio Sanz’s Mythrol. Your mileage may vary, but for me, he elicits a similar reaction to Amy Sedaris’ Peli Motto – both seem to be playing their characters so broadly, and they’re written with such an emphasis on comedy, it tends to throw the show’s tone out of whack. That’s especially apparent when compared with the more nuanced delivery from the likes of Timothy Olyphant and Taika Waititi, who manage to nail the inherent humor of the Star Wars universe without straying too far into caricature. The script relies on a few too many scenes of Cara or Greef yelling impatiently at Mythrol or threatening him with bodily harm while he makes some quippy complaint; you get the sense that Favreau’s going for a Threepio dynamic, but it doesn’t quite land the same way.

On the subject of homage, Weathers effortlessly evokes the iconography of the films here, from the Death Star-style halls of the Imperial Base, to a typically ill-fated speeder bike chase (of course a couple of the troopers would blow themselves up immediately), to Cara’s recreation of Luke’s trench run in the Trexler Marauder (with the Razor Crest subbing in for the Millennium Falcon’s last-minute save), to Mando utilizing Anakin’s favorite trick to get out of a dogfight: spinning! None of it is particularly subtle, but it’s deployed with enough adrenaline to make for an exhilarating ride.

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Bandai Namco has confirmed that a “minor technical mix-up” has resulted in two new characters being accidentally revealed for Jump Force‘s roster. A small number of players received a work-in-progress update that was shared online, verifying that Giorno Giovanna from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind and Yoruichi Shihoin from Bleach will be added to the game as downloadable characters.

Giovanna’s character is still being worked on, and the leaked footage won’t be representative of the final version of that character’s appearance and moveset. Like other Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure characters in Jump Force, Giovanna can summon his Stand, a unique entity that can attack enemies on his behalf.

Yoruichi has been described as being closer to completion, so it’s likely that the footage of her speedy offense and the ability to wrap herself in cat-themed lightning-element armor will make it into Jump Force when her character is available for download. Bandai Namco has yet to offer an official release date for either character.

Since its release in 2019, Jump Force has regularly added new characters to its roster, pulling from many of the series that were published in Weekly Shonen Jump issues across multiple decades.

The game also released on Nintendo Switch earlier this year in a deluxe edition that included nine additional fighters from the first Character Pass, an offline battle mode for up to six players, and a local communication battle mode with two consoles connected.

In our Jump Force review, critic Jordan Ramée praised the accessible nature of the game but felt that its story could have used some work. “Jump Force is a worthy celebration of the legacy of Shonen Jump manga, but it honors its source material a little too well with how filler-heavy the middle of its story arc is. However, even if the game rarely provides a clear motivation for stopping evil other than good must always oppose it, the act of stomping out villains in Jump Force’s frantic bouts of tag-team arena combat is an enjoyable test of strategy.”

Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan says there’s “news to come” on a PlayStation response to Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s popular subscription-based games service.

In an interview with TASS, Ryan was asked about how PlayStation will respond to Game Pass, which has become an increasingly attractive value proposition for Xbox in recent years. While not explaining exactly what the response will be, Ryan did make clear that, “There is actually news to come, but just not today.”

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Ryan went on to point out that PlayStation already has its Now subscription service. He is presumably also not talking about the existing PS Plus Collection, which bundles a number of classic PlayStation games into the cost of a PS Plus subscription. Likely, any further response would either be a new service, or an addition to one of the above.

Xbox Game Pass offers over 100 games as part of a monthly subscription – including all newly released titles from Xbox Game Studios. At its Ultimate tier, that includes Xbox Live Gold, EA Play, xCloud, and, currently, a 30 day subscription to Disney+. It’s been a huge success for Microsoft, with 70% of Xbox Series X and S owners subscribing to Game Pass.

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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].

 

Outer Wilds and Sayonara Wild Hearts publisher Annapurna Interactive has confirmed that three of its planned 2020 games have slipped into 2021.

The Artful Escape, 12 Minutes and Last Stop will now launch in 2021 instead of the “broad 2020 release window” that was initially planned. The publisher revealed the news on Twitter, explaining that the developers are just refining the games as we speak.

“We’re looking at 2021 now as they all get closer to getting ready,” the tweet reads. “They’ve all come together throughout the year and it’s pretty much polishing at this point.”

some news: you may have seen a very broad 2020 release window for The Artful Escape, 12 Minutes,
and Last Stop in trailers or on store pages in the past

so it’s almost December and the end of the year

we’re looking at 2021 now as they all get closer to getting ready! 🙂

— Annapurna Interactive (@A_i) November 18, 2020

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Revealed during the Xbox briefing at E3 2019, 12 Minutes is a top-down murder mystery starring James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley and Willem Dafoe. Last Stop was also revealed at X019 and is a new game from the creators of Virginia set in modern-day London. The Artful Escape was first announced during E3 2017, and we later got some gameplay of the absurd musical adventure during E3 2019.

Annapurna recently launched The Pathless, a PS5 launch game from Abzu developer Giant Squid. You can check out our review of the game here, which we scored an 8, touting its “fun movement system.”

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

Black Friday is basically kicking off right now and continues the trend of being positioned smack bang in the middle of one of the busiest gaming periods of the year. Amazon has officially launched its Black Friday week sale, and most of the other retailers won’t be far behind the shopping giant.

Right now, you can find deals on the best PS4 games of the generation, alongside some cheeky discounts on PlayStation Plus subscriptions. And, more importantly, don’t forget about that PS5 stock inbound during the Black Friday sales as well.

Shortcuts

• How to Get the Best PlayStation Deals on Black Friday
• What PS4 and PS5 Deals to Expect
• PS5 Buyer’s Guide

Black Friday Deals on PlayStation Video Games (LIVE)

Amazon PS4 Game Deals

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Black Friday Deals on PlayStation Plus Subsciprtions (LIVE)

Amazon PS Plus Deals

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PS5 Consoles Confirmed to Be In Stock During Black Friday

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Plan of Action: How to Get the Best PlayStation Deals on Black Friday

Here’s the deal with Black Friday, know what you want to buy. If you’re looking to get an actual deal on something, keep that in mind before you go diving into every site that has a massive black sticker slapped on its homepage. You probably don’t need another Oral-B electric toothbrush for $79.99.

It’s quite simple, know what you want. We’ll be covering all the best deals on Black Friday throughout the whole sales event, which is basically more than week-long at this stage, alongside all the Cyber Monday discounts. If you want to find the very best deals, that aren’t just the same old offers rehashed, then keep an eye on our dedicated Black Friday page, and make sure you’re following @IGNDeals on Twitter for all the best gaming deals updates, Black Friday, and beyond.

If you’re interested in everything else shopping-related, check out our predictions on the best Xbox deals during Black Friday, alongside what to expect from Nintendo Switch during the Black Friday sales.

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What to Expect: PS5 Stock and PS4 Console Deals on Black Friday

Now we’re past launch day, we’re still looking out for PS5 stock online. Right now, it’s looking like the next influx of PS5 stock will be during the Black Friday sales. So far Walmart has confirmed it will have PS5 and Xbox Series X|S online beginning at 7 pm ET on November 25. Best Buy’s latest Black Friday ad, has also indicated that the retailer will have “limited quantities” of the PS5 available online only on Black Friday, which falls on November 27 this year.

If you haven’t yet been able to get your hands on a new console, then make sure to keep an eye on our official guide to buying a PS5, where we’ll always update if any stock news arrises. Otherwise, your best bet is to follow @IGNDeals, where will provide instant updates on stock.

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What to Expect: PS4 and PS5 Games on Sale for Black Friday

There’s no doubt in our minds that one of the big focuses of Black Friday 2020 will be video games. With the consoles extremely new, and or not even available to buy for the average consumer, it’ll be the games that are on everyone’s mind. Considering you can get most titles on both generations of the console, PS4, and PS5, nobody should be missing out too much this Black Friday in terms of new discounts.

New games don’t tend to drop by a significant amount, but a few dollars here and there can go a long way, especially when you considering how jam-packed the holiday 2020 lineup is for top tier video games. You’ve got the likes of Watch Dogs: Legion, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, CoD Black Ops Cold war, Demon’s Souls, Spider-Man Miles Morales, and even eventually Cyberpunk 2077 (if it ever releases). When it comes to PlayStation, you can expect to see a few discounts on both first and third-party titles. One of the biggest games of the year, Borderlands 3, always tends to drop in price during big sales and likes to wander around the $9.99. The looter-shooter also includes a free next-gen upgrade, so even more band for your buck.

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What to Expect: PlayStation Controller and Accessory Deals Black Friday 2020

If you’re shopping for a DualShock 4 deal for your PS4, then you’ll definitely be in luck during the Black Friday 2020 sales, as the controller is one of the most common PlayStation accessories to drop in price during massive shopping events. We’d be happy with a small discount, but anything under $40 is definitely worth considering. For those investing in a PS5 this holiday season, then we’d be surprised if the new DualSense controller sees any discounts at all, but it is still a small possibility considering sites in the UK have already done small deals on the controller before launch.

In terms of other accessories, there’s a lot to consider. Console accessories are normally a massive highlight during a regular Black Friday event, but these become even more important when it comes to decking out your new console, especially if some of your older previous-gen gear will no longer suffice or even work. We’re happy to say that we fully expect to see some excellent discounts on the likes of PS4 and PS5 headsets, charging stations, media remotes, and more.

What to Expect: Best PS4 and PS5 External Storage Deals this Black Friday

Accessories are bound to be a massive talking point this year, as games continue to take up even more space on our teeny-tiny hard drives, while the storage capacities generally continue to fall short of what is required. We’re looking at you Call of Duty Warzone/ Modern Warfare/ Black Ops Cold War.

With the new PlayStation Plus lineup of games for members, you’re going to want that little bit of extra storage as well. There are some spectacular games to check out on the online service, with several titles becoming available during the PS5 launch. Speaking of the PS5, with the base console coming with about 825GB of space, and a decent chunk of that required for the system UX and other components, you’re probably going to be looking at around 667GB of space.

But have no fear, as we’re fully expecting to see some swell external hard drives on sale during the Black Friday sales, which will serve as a perfectly affordable service of storing your games before you transfer them onto the SSD to play. We currently don’t know much about what SSD expandable storage capabilities the PS5 will serve, but it’s unlikely that we’ll see any third-party usable SSDs before Black Friday hits.

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What to Expect: PS Plus Subscriptions and More on Black Friday

The PlayStation Plus Collection, as we’ve previously mentioned, is already looking like a mighty fine list of playable PlayStation titles. With the likes of God of War, Bloodborne, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, and The Last of Us all being available with the PS5 launch, for PS Plus only.

So, if you’re looking to top up your PS Plus or Now membership, Black Friday would certainly be a good time to find a brilliant deal. Right our favorite offer before Black Friday is at Daily Steals. Just enter promo code IGNPSN at checkout to get a year’s subscription for $33.49.

What is Black Friday, and Why is it a Big Deal for Gamers?

At least most of us have had plenty of experience with Black Friday up until now, but for those for haven’t, here’s the drill. Black Friday has become something of a shopping tradition, situated on the Friday after Thanksgiving in the USA. Starting as a mostly in-store event, but now having a massive online presence as well, Black Friday has morphed into the biggest shopping sale of the year, and one of the best times to sort out whatever presents you’ve still got left to buy. Or, just stock up on all the delicious tech you’ve been eyeing up.

Despite its bold title, Black Friday has become something of a misnomer, and no longer just situates all its deals on a singular day of the month. More often than not, the sales get stretched out over a matter of weeks, with the biggest deals finding themselves in the week of Black Friday. This year, Black Friday is on November 27, which means you should expect the very best deals to fall in and around November 22 – 30.

Why do gamers care so much? Well, gaming is expensive, just like most other hobbies. We all want to game more and take advantage of the best tech possible, so Black Friday does provide a small affordable gateway for even more gaming. Every year more games and consoles come out, and we just can’t help but stick our hand in the cookie jar.

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Robert Anderson is a deals expert for IGN, he’s both excited and terrified at the prospect of Black Friday. Be nice and ask him how his day is going @robertliam21

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