Amazon appears to have a new discount program for Prime members. At least a few games are currently included, such as Batman: Arkham Knight for $50 (Xbox One/PS4), The Elder Scrolls Online for $50 (Xbox One/PS4), and Splatoon for $53. You won't see the lower price until you add the item to your cart and proceed to checkout.
Walmart is selling the Halo Master Chief Collection Xbox One bundle with a free second controller $349. You also get a free copy of Watch Dogs or Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, or you can pay a bit more to replace it with Need for Speed: Rivals - Complete Edition ($5), Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare ($20), or Batman: Arkham Knight ($30).
Microsoft's latest Deals With Gold promotion is on, discounting a handful of Xbox One and Xbox 360 games, such as Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare for $6.60, Tower of Guns for $9, and Peggle 2: Magical Masters Edition for $5. You can check out all the deals here.
The first episode of Telltale's Game of Thrones series is free on Xbox Live.
Target is offering a buy one, get one 50 percent off deal on several 3DS games: Mario Kart 7 ($30), New Super Mario Bros. 2 ($29.49), Super Smash Bros. ($40), and Super Mario 3D Land ($30).
There's a sale on Atlus games on the PlayStation Store this week, discounting primarily Vita and PS3 games. These include Persona 4 Golden for $15, Persona 3 Portable for $10, Persona 2: Innocent Sin for $10, and more.
Amazon prices are accurate as of publishing, but can fluctuate occasionally throughout the day.
GameSpot's gaming deals posts always highlight the best deals we can find regardless of retailer. We also occasionally use retailer affiliate links, which means that purchasing goods through those links helps support all the great content (including the deals posts) you find for free here on the site.
Bungie has published a list of everything included in Destiny's next expansion, The Taken King, when it is deployed on September 15.
In the wake of questions about the inherent value of a DLC package that will cost $40 (and £40), Bungie has claimed in its latest blog post that "we plan to prove that The Taken King is more than DLC--it's a game."
A list of content included in the DLC, as written by Bungie, is pasted below.
New story missions and an array of sidequests that conspire to tell the story of our battle to defend our Solar System against Oryx and his Taken army
New narrative driven by cinematic cutscenes starring an engaging cast of characters
New Exotic Weapons, Exotic Armor, and Exotic Questlines
The Dreadnaught, a full new destination, with unique secrets, rituals, and treasures to uncover
A new breed of enemy combatants, The Taken, armed with new abilities and weapons
An increased Level Cap, and new ways for your Guardian to grow more powerful
The most substantial injection of new, unique, and redesigned weapons, armor, and talents to date
New subclasses with all new Supers and abilities
New cooperative Strikes with unique and dynamic new Boss battles
Redesigned and reimagined Strikes – Dust Palace, Undying Mind, and Cerberus Vae III – are now overrun by the Taken
New Crucible multiplayer maps with new Crucible modes, including the previously revealed Rift and Mayhem
And, of course, last but not least, our biggest six-player Raid yet.
While these promises regarding content have been made now, Bungie says in the weeks ahead it will also discus "a range of topics that we know are important to you, including weapon rebalancing, economy improvements, an overhauled quest experience, bounty enhancements, faction allegiances, end game content, and more."
Batman: Arkham Knight's first story-based DLC has been given a July 14 release date by Warner Bros, with the publisher also explaining how the expansion will focus on the Batgirl character.
The add-on, entitled Batgirl: A Matter of Family, will cost $6.99 in North America and £5.80 in the UK. Those who purchased an Arkham Knight season pass will not have to pay an additional fee.
Warner Bros has only announced plans for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One editions of the expansion, and has not discussed a PC version.
This omission comes in the wake of a punishing two weeks for the publisher, and the game's developer Rocksteady, with a litany of bugs discovered in the PC version. After apologising and announcing its intention to build a patch to fix the numerous problems, Warner decided to pull the title from Steam.
Most recently, Warner Bros was accused to have known about Arkham Knight's PC Problems "for months", however these claims--purportedly from internal QA employees--are not proven.
Set prior to the events in the first game in Rocksteady's Batman trilogy, this add-on will place Batgirl in a new location with multiple missions, side quests, and secrets. Featured within the game is a new hacking feature, as well as Dual Play functionality with Robin.
The sudden and unexplained dismissal of a popular Reddit employee has prompted a blackout across the sprawling discussion board website.
Popular subreddit pages, such as r/Gaming, r/IAmA, r/funny, r/books, r/science, r/music, and r/history, have all been taken private by their moderators in a deliberate message of solidarity to the site's management.
Most of Reddit's biggest message boards have been taken private, effectively shutting them down
At the heart of the issue is the dismissal of the employee u/chooter, who was known internally as Victoria, without explanation.
As explained elsewhere on Reddit, the chain of blackouts began with the one that Victoria moderated, r/IAmA. Other moderators of the famous Q&A page, which has been used by the likes of Barack Obama and Sean Bean, said that Victoria's dismissal was not communicated properly.
A notice on the site explains: "The mods of /r/IAmA had just found out that without prior warning, /u/chooter, or Victoria, had been released from her position at Reddit. They felt that they, along with the other subreddits that host AMAs, should have been warned beforehand, if only so that they could have someone or something in place to handle the transition. /u/karmanaut went on to say that many of the mods affected by this do not believe that the admins understand how heavily /u/chooter was relied upon to allow AMAs to go smoothly."
As of June, Reddit was said to have amassed 36 million user accounts.
An extraordinarily rare prototype of the SNES-CD console, which was created as part of a failed partnership between Nintendo and Sony some 25 years ago, has been discovered.
Never-before-seen images offer the first ever close-ups of the machine, now yellowed with age, which combines the form factor of the SNES along with the branding of PlayStation.
The console is so rare that its specific design features, such as a horizontal volume slider at the front and an assortment of outputs at the back, were not public knowledge. There are several other known prototypes of the SNES-CD, each with different variations on its design, which likely means that the version pictured below is the only in existence.
Click on the thumbnails below to view the images in full-screen
The console is historically significant because it represents the brief partnership between Nintendo and Sony prior to its intense rivalry that still exists today.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in 1991, Sony showcased its Nintendo-endorsed vision for a SNES-CD, which it branded with a "PlayStation" logo. Nintendo shocked Sony, however, by suddenly announcing--at the same show--that it would be partnering with electronics firm Phillips instead.
Incensed and embarrassed, the Sony executive Ken Kutaragi began to internally lobby the company to fund plans to build a console without Nintendo's support. The outcome of that plan, also called the PlayStation, brought about a tectonic power-shift in the games business.
This prototype model was found by the son of a businessman who had ties with a former Sony executive, believed to be Olafur Olafsson, who was the chief executive of Sony Interactive Entertainment in 1991.
The son, who is only known by his online handle 'Dnldbld', first published the images on Reddit, and then on Assembler Games. He says that he will try to find the power supply for the prototype and boot the system up for the first time.
Mad Catz, the prominent peripherals company that has been designing arcade sticks and other esoteric accessories since 1989, could soon face the prospect of closure if its income does not increase significantly.
In late June, the corporation offered a warning to investors, explaining that it had failed to meet a monthly target that had been implemented as a failsafe by its credit lender, Wells Fargo.
Because Mad Catz was unable to generate as much money as Wells Fargo had asked, the bank was given the option to call in its loan. Had this occurred, Mad Catz may not have been able to continue as a going concern.
However, on June 23, Well Fargo waived Mad Catz' violation, and entered into a new agreement with the corporation that will carry on until July 31, 2016.
But Mad Catz, which has been losing money for three years straight since 2011, said it requires "significant contributions from anticipated sales of products related to the Rock Band 4 video game."
Mad Catz is co-publishing the Harmonix-developed title. The company also manufactures arcade boards for Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter V.
It added that the uncertainty surrounding Rock Band 4's sales, along with a number of other factors, "raise substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern."
Speaking to Game Informer, Mad Catz claims that it has overcome a major hurdle by securing a new line of credit. Initially the company will be loaned $20 million, which could increase to $35 million from September in order to ship Rock Band 4.
Karen McGinnis, chief financial officer at the company, claimed that part of the reason it needed to issue a credit warning was because of the necessity to use unequivocal language in financial documents. She claims that the reality of the situation is far more nuanced and positive.
For the financial year that ended in March 2015, Mad Catz posted a net income of $4.7 million. Representatives for the corporation were unavailable at the time of going to press.
Fallout 4 fans across the UK have been gripped by a fever of interest in the coveted Pip-Boy edition, with a surge of traffic knocking one retailer's pre-order page offline.
On Friday morning, the British retailer GAME announced that it would open pre-orders for the £100 Pip-Boy bundle, which packages a copy of Fallout 4 along with real-life replica of the game's famous personal computer. In the UK, GAME has won rights to be the exclusive retailer of this deluxe edition.
However, the moment when it was scheduled to go live, GAME's Pip-Boy pre-order page could not be accessed due to high traffic affecting its servers.
The retailer explained on Twitter: "Due to increased number of dwellers trying to access Vault 111 we are experiencing some issues. Please bear with us."
Due to increased number of Dwellers trying to access Vault 111 we are experiencing some issues. Please bare with us.
Electronic Arts is removing a swarm of online videos revealing key gameplay details of its biggest game of the year, Star Wars Battlefront.
On Thursday, a select number of fans were invited to try an alpha build of DICE's major Star Wars shooter, and were asked in the end-user agreement to not publish videos of the game online. However, scores of players have ignored this proviso, and have published footage revealing in-game single-player and multiplayer.
In turn, EA has assembled a takedown team to remove these videos across various sites such as Vimeo, Daily Motion, and YouTube.
Three videos that have yet to be taken down, at the time of going to press, can be found below. One shows single-player survival gameplay, and another two show a Walker Assault battle on Hoth. The likelihood that both videos will be removed soon is high.
Fresh information about the game--which re-enacts key battles from Star Wars Episodes IV, V, and VI--was first published on the forum NeoGAF. The website lists a range of weapons and vehicles that appears to be accessible to players under certain conditions.
From the files contained within the alpha download, weapons available in-game include the E11, A280, DH17, DL44, DLT19, DLT20a, EE3, Rocket Launcher, SE14c, and the T21. Some weapons may be locked to special characters, such as the EE3, which is likely tied to Boba Fett.
None of the data should be considered as a guarantee of the content that will appear in the final game, which ships on November 17.
Vehicles, meanwhile, include the T-65 X-wing, the Tie Fighter, Lambda Shuttle, Y-wing, Tie-Bomber, Corellian Corvette, Nebulon B Frigate, Imperial Star Destroyer, Mon Calamari Capital Ship Home One, AT-ST, AT-AT, Tie Interceptor, 74-Z Speeder Bike.
Among other notes taken from the alpha files, it appears that players will have a range of emote animations to select, such as an SOS signal, as well as a standard applause.
Storm Troopers, meanwhile, might be able to be customised and tweaked, though this has not been confirmed.
Meanwhile, the Tatooine map has both midday and dawn versions.
Star Wars Battlefront has been pitched by EA as its most important game release of 2015.
In a recent interview with GameSpot, DICE general manager Patrick Bach discussed the pressure of fan expectations placed on the studio.
"You want Battlefront to be as good as the films, which means that if we don't do that, players will be very upset. They will be very clear about that fact," he said.
The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset had a big presence at E3 this year, and Oculus VR recently announced its retail iteration and its controllers. Recently, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Oculus' parent company Facebook, said that the Rift is only the beginning of VR tech. He claims that virtual reality will grow to be a huge part of everyday communication.
In a Q and A on Facebook, Zuckerberg took a question about his views of how the world will look in 10 years. In response, he stated that Facebook's acquisition of Oculus VR came about because he is convinced that VR will change the way we talk and compute.
"We're working on VR because I think it's the next major computing and communication platform after phones," he said. "In the future we'll probably still carry phones in our pockets, but I think we'll also have glasses on our faces that can help us out throughout the day and give us the ability to share our experiences with those we love in completely immersive and new ways that aren't possible today."
Additionally, Zuckerberg talked about his company's research into artificial intelligence, mentioning how Facebook is focusing on language and image interpretation to make personalized internet experiences more possible and more effective.
Recently, publisher Activision announced a Destiny promotion in conjunction with Red Bull. Specially marked cans of Red Bull have codes which unlock an XP boost and an exclusive quest in the upcoming Taken King expansion. The cans went on sale yesterday, but if you go out and buy one right now, it's quite possible the code has already been used.
It was discovered today that the codes on the Red Bulls are very easy to guess, and subsequently a significant number of people on the internet entered and claimed codes that they had made up. These codes are linked to cans of Red Bull, so dozens of codes on different cans are being used up.
One Neogaf user has already reported buying a can with an invalid code, and instances of this will almost certainly increase in the coming days.
The Red Bull-Destiny promo site has been sluggish and, sometimes, inaccessible throughout the day, most likely a result of the high volume of fans trying to redeem a code without buying a drink.
This information comes via NeoGaf, but since use of the codes is technically a form of theft, we're not providing a direct link. We'll update this story with any comments from Activision, Bungie, or Red Bull when they become available.
As with the game's Japanese release, it appears there will be two separate physical releases of Fire Emblem: Fates in the United States.
Following a reference to "two versions" of the game in a press release Nintendo sent out in June, listings for Conquest and Birthright versions of Fates are now live on Amazon. Both list a placeholder release date of December 31, 2016 and a price of $40.
As we already knew, Fates consists of two distinct, complete stories, each telling the side of one of two warring factions. Whichever side you choose to play as, you'll still interact with some of the same characters and see the same major events, but the way you play and the manner in which your story unfolds will be different.
In Japan, where the game has been available since last week, a bundle is available that includes both versions of the game. Alternatively, you can choose to buy one and then purchase the other as a DLC campaign. We've followed up with Nintendo of America to find out if it plans to offer a similar set of options to players, and will report back with anything we learn.
Sony has issued a PlayStation Network service alert, informing PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 owners that they may have trouble launching games and more.
"You may be experiencing issues related to launching games, applications, and/or social features such as trophies, messaging, or friends list," Sony wrote in an update posted to its website at 12:10 PM PDT / 3:10 PM EDT. "We appreciate your patience while we address this."
One affected game is Bungie's Destiny. Specifically, players are having trouble connecting to the game, which is a critical issue for such an online-heavy game.
We are aware of issues impacting PlayStation players' ability to connect to Destiny and are currently investigating. Standby for updates.
According to the PSN support site, other features such as PlayStation Video and the PlayStation Store are also experiencing issues at the moment.
We'll continue to monitor this situation and update this story accordingly. Are you experiencing any PlayStation Network issues right now? Let us know in the comments.
Valve has detailed a significant new update for Team Fortress 2, which consists of both free and premium content.
The part of the update you have to pay for is the Gun Mettle campaign. This is a roughly three-month event during which you're assigned various contracts--described as "skill-based challenges"--that offer various rewards upon completion. Example contracts include killing an airborne enemy using a Soldier secondary weapon, living through 1000 damage in one life as the Heavy, or killing an enemy with a reflected projectile using the Pyro.
The rewards aren't just typical weapons: Each is one-of-a-kind. Valve says that every weapon has a "uniquely placed paint job" that will make it at least "a little different" from those that other players will get their hands on. There are various levels of rarity, but no matter which one you end up with, you won't have a competitive advantage; what sets these weapons apart is purely a matter of looks.
Participating in the campaign requires the purchase of a $6 campaign pass. Buying this puts a Contract Coin in your inventory, a non-tradable item that tracks your progress and certain stats over the course of the campaign. This is more fully detailed in an FAQ on the TF2 website.
In addition to all of this, there's a good deal of new content for those who don't wish to pay. Valve is releasing a new map, Powerhouse, which it says is the first three-point Control Point map. In addition to this, a trio of new community-developed maps are coming to the game, with the makers of these getting a cut from sales of campaign passes.
There are also new taunts, achievements, and the ability to exchange your weapon for one dropped by deceased players (provided it can be wielded by your current class). Previously, the only time you could alter your equipped weapons is when you respawn.
Alongside all of the new content, a number of gameplay changes have been made. This includes tweaks to many of the game's classes (perhaps most notably, the Spy and Engineer) and the addition of a new feature that allows you to inspect the look of your weapon when wielding one of the new decorated items from the Gun Mettle campaign.
The Gun Mettle update, as all of this is called, is due out today on Steam. More details are available on the TF2 website, where you'll also find a new comic.
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