If you thought Lara Croft was the Tomb Raider in the two previous games in the series, you were apparently mistaken. When Shadow of the Tomb Raider releases on September 14 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, the developer says, we will finally experience the "defining moment as she becomes the Tomb Raider." This rebooted series has been terrific, though, so let's hope Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a fitting end to the beginning of Lara Croft's story.
Let's say you're ready to pre-order Shadow of the Tomb Raider. You'll probably want to know about the pre-order bonuses, special editions, where you can buy it, and how much it will cost. Below, you'll find all the information you need to make an educated purchasing decision.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider Pre-Order Bonuses
You'll get a few bonuses if you pre-order Shadow of the Tomb Raider. For one, you get access to the game two days early if you order any version except the standard edition. If you pre-order a physical copy of the standard edition at most retailers, you'll receive a limited-edition steelbook version that comes with three art cards. If you pre-order a digital version of the game, you'll get a skills booster pack that unlocks one skill in each of the three skill tree paths. Aside from those bonuses, many retailers are offering exclusive pre-order bonuses.
PlayStation Store: Shadow of the Tomb Raider PS4 theme
Steam: Exclusive Steam wallpaper
Now onto the various editions and where you can pre-order them.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider Standard Edition
In addition to the core game, this edition comes with the pre-order bonuses listed above. Unless you're an Amazon Prime member, Newegg is offering the best pre-order deal on this edition.
Amazon -- $60 ($48 with Amazon Prime) -- PS4 | Xbox One | PC
The digital deluxe edition of Shadow of the Tomb Raider comes with the game, plus an additional weapon and outfit, and the game soundtrack. Note that Newegg has the lowest pre-order price for this edition.
If you're sure you'll enjoy Shadow of the Tomb Raider enough to buy the season pass, the Croft Edition is for you. It comes with the game, the season pass, three additional weapons and outfits, plus the soundtrack. Once again, Newegg's aggressive pricing make it the cheapest place to pre-order the Croft Edition.
This edition is exclusive to the Square Enix Store, and the best you can do is put yourself on a waiting list to buy it. But if you do manage to snag a copy, you'll get the game, a statue, bottle opener, flashlight, plus a bunch of digital goodies.
Judging by the amount of fan fervor it's produced, Red Dead Redemption 2 promises to be one of the biggest games of the year. It stars Arthur Morgan and the Dutch van der Linde gang--whose members include John Marston, the star of the original game. Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on October 26, 2018.
But you don't have to wait until October to secure your copy--you can pre-order Red Dead Redemption 2 right now from a number of retailers, both in-store and online. Here's all the information you need to know to lock in your pre-order.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Pre-Order Bonus
Pre-order Red Dead Redemption 2, and you'll get a couple of digital goodies for your trouble.
War Horse: An Ardennes War Horse with greater courage and stamina than the average steed.
The Outlaw Survival Kit: Contains a collection of key supplies, including items to replenish Health, Dead Eye, and more.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Digital Pre-Order Bonus
Anyone who pre-orders a digital version of Red Dead Redemption 2 from the PlayStation Store or Xbox Store will get the bonuses listed above, plus a handful of other digital freebies thrown in for good measure.
Cash Bonus for Red Dead Redemption 2 Story Mode
Treasure Map: Gives you a head start on the hunt for hidden riches. Must pre-order by July 31, 2018 to receive.
Bonus GTA$: Immediate download that contains in-game currency for Grand Theft Auto Online. Here's the breakdown of how much GTA$ you get for each edition: Standard Edition - $500,000 | Special Edition - $1 million | Ultimate Edition - $2 million.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Standard Edition
This edition comes with the relevant pre-order bonuses listed above, plus the core game. Here's where you can pre-order it.
Amazon -- (Unavailable at time of writing) -- PS4 | Xbox One
The ultimate edition comes with all the content from the special edition, plus the following.
Bonus Outfits: The Blackrose Bounty Hunter Outfit and The Copperhead Enforcer Outfit.
Black Chestnut Thoroughbred: A racehorse and special saddle, both available in online.
Free Access to the Survivor Camp Theme
Free Access to Additional Weapons: Get access to the Volcanic Pistol, Pump Action Shotgun and Lancaster Varmint Rifle, free of charge from Gunsmiths in online.
Rank Bonuses: As a great start for all Ultimate Edition players, you can rank up faster in online, up to rank 25.
Here's where you can pre-order the ultimate edition.
First off, it's important to note that the Collector's Box does not include the game. So if you're going to pre-order it, make sure you also get yourself a copy of the game or you'll be very disappointed come launch day. What the Collector's Box does include is a bunch of physical goodies.
Metal Tithing Box with Lock & Key
Collectable Challenge Coin
Double Sided Puzzle
Six Shooter Bandana
Treasure Map
Pin Set
Playing Cards
Wheeler, Rawson and Co. Catalogue
12 Cigarette Cards
Here's where you can pre-order the collector's box.
Insomniac's next game is Spider-Man, an action-filled game that doesn't just rehash the hero's origin story. Instead, it finds an experienced Peter Parker and his superhero alter ego defending New York City from a super villain threat. The game launches September 7 exclusively for PlayStation 4.
E3 2018 brought a ton of new footage of the game, showcasing its fluid combat and navigation. It's still too early to make any judgments, but our experience showed that it nailed the feel of Spidey, which is essential for a good Spider-Man game.
If you're ready to pre-order Spider-Man for PS4, you'll probably want to know what your options are. We have you covered below, with all the information you need about pre-order bonuses, the various editions, where to buy it, and how much it costs at each retailer. Let's swing into the details (sorry).
Pre-order bonus
Pre-order any version of Spider-Man, and you'll get a number of extra digital goodies. Here's a rundown of what you'll receive.
Spidey Suit Pack--Gain instant in-game access to three suits that alter your appearance and unlock new suit abilities.
Skill Points--Get a head start by having skill points to unlock abilities from the start of the game like active finishers, web grab, or faster web swinging.
Early unlock of a Spider-Drone Gadget--Unleash a mobile Spider-Drone to distract and web your enemies.
Spider-Man PS4 Custom Theme--Customize your PS4 with artwork from legendary comic book artist Adi Granov.
Spider-Man PSN Avatar--Represent your PSN profile online with the bold White Spider icon for your PSN avatar.
Spider-Man Standard Edition
The standard edition is just the core game, but if you pre-order it, you'll get the bonuses listed above. Here's where you can find the standard edition.
Amazon -- Currently unavailable at the time of this writing
The Digital Deluxe Edition of Spider-Man comes with the core game, the pre-order bonuses, plus a couple of extras, both digital and physical.
Marvel's Spider-Man: The City that Never Sleeps--consists of three post-launch story chapters featuring new characters and missions. Users will receive DLC by March 2019.
If pre-ordered before September 7, 2018, receive all pre-order bonus content, plus a custom, one-of-a-kind physical pin for Marvel's Spider-Man.
Here's where you can find the Digital Deluxe Edition:
Amazon -- Currently unavailable at the time of this writing
The Collector's Edition of Spider-Man comes with all the stuff included in the Digital Deluxe Edition, plus the following items.
Custom steelbook
White spider sticker
Mini artbook--contains unique, early-look concepts and unreleased artwork
Collector's Edition Marvel's Spider-Man statue by Gentle Giant
Marvel's Spider-Man: The City that Never Sleeps--Consists of three post-launch story chapters featuring new characters and missions. Users will receive DLC by March 2019.
Here's where you can buy the Collector's Edition.
Amazon -- Currently unavailable at the time of this writing
The next edition of WWE's flagship wrestling game franchise is now available for pre-order. The cover athlete for WWE 2K19 is AJ Styles, and Publisher 2K promises the game will contain a sizable roster of WWE and NXT superstars and legends. It's slated for release on October 9, 2018 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, but you can reserve your copy now.
Note that no Nintendo Switch edition has been announced yet, but WWE 2K18 did end up coming to Switch after it launched on other platforms. If you're ready to lock in your WWE 2K19 pre-order, we have you covered with all the information you'll need below. We go over any pre-order bonuses, what's included in the various editions, where you can find it, and how much it costs.
WWE 2K19 Pre-Order Bonus
If you pre-order WWE 2K19, you'll get what 2K is calling "bonus digital content." What that means is anyone's guess at this point. We'll update this article when the details emerge later this summer.
WWE 2K19 Standard Edition
The standard edition of WWE 2K19 comes with the game itself and any applicable pre-order bonuses--and that's it. But that's what you'd expect from a standard edition. Here's where you can pre-order the standard edition now.
The Deluxe Edition comes with the core game, plus a few extra goodies thrown in for good measure. For starters, you get to play the game four days early, on October 5. You also get the Season Pass and access to the Collector's Edition digital content, both of which will be detailed sometime this summer. Here's where you can pre-order the Deluxe Edition.
The Collector's Edition comes with all the goodies in the Deluxe Edition (early access and digital extras), plus "exclusive and rare physical collectibles" and "limited edition WWE SuperCard content." Presumably, details about those items will be forthcoming. We'll update this section when we know more. For now, here's where you can pre-order the Collector's Edition.
The list of things in life that are totally dependable is short, but it contains things like death, taxes, and a new Smash Bros. game on every Nintendo console. Nintendo's latest hardware is no exception--the company has announced that Super Smash Bros. will be coming to Nintendo Switch on December 7, 2018.
There's still a lot to learn about the game, but we have learned it will boast a massive roster comprised of every character seen in the series to date--including Snake. Beyond that, Ridley is also being introduced as a new character alongside Splatoon's Inklings, who were showcased during the initial reveal. Another change of note is support for all Smash Bros. Amiibo figures and the ability to select a stage before choosing characters.
If you're one of the many people looking to pre-order Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo Switch, you've come to the right place. We've gathered all the information you need about the pre-order bonuses, special editions, and pricing below.
No Pre-Order Bonuses
Nintendo has not announced any pre-order bonuses for Super Smash Bros. for Switch. Some retailers are offering discounts for pre-ordering the game, which you can find below.
No Special Editions
As yet, Nintendo has not announced a special edition of Super Smash Bros. for Switch. If that happens, we'll update this article.
Pre-Order Super Smash Bros. for Switch
And now for the goods: Here's where you can pre-order Super Smash Bros. for Switch and how much it costs. Note that Amazon Prime members currently get the best deal, with $12 taken off the standard retail price. But if you set up a free My Best Buy account, you can get a $10 reward certificate for pre-ordering at the big blue retailer.
Good news, PC gamers: for the first time ever, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has gone on sale on Steam. Between now and July 5, you can buy it for $20 / £18, which is 33% off the regular price of $30 / £27. The reason for the sale, PUBG Corp. says, is to celebrate the game hitting a new sales milestone. [Update: It's arguably a great time to pick up PUBG, as its new map, Sanhok, and first-ever Event Pass are now available.]
All told, PUBG has sold 50 million copies worldwide on PC and Xbox One. If you include the free mobile version in the number count, there are now 400 million registered PUBG players around the globe, with an average of over 87 million people playing the game every day across all platforms.
In a press release, the publisher said, "We're going to keep working on new content and improvements for all versions of the game. We know there's still so much we can do to make PUBG a better game for our players."
So far, two maps are available in both the PC and Xbox One versions of PUBG. The PC version will get a third map, called Sanhok, on June 22. Microsoft announced at E3 2018 that a fourth map that features a snowy environment will be coming to the Xbox One version of the game sometime this winter; it will come to PC as well.
A new sale on Xbox One and Xbox 360 games is live on the Microsoft Store. You can find the full details here, but we've sorted through and selected the highlights below. Note that some of the deals require you to have an Xbox Live Gold subscription, while others are available to everyone. The sale ends June 25, so don't wait too long to pull the trigger on any games you've had your eye on.
The best deal here is probably on Diablo 3: Eternal Collection, which is on sale for $30 / £22. This bundle contains the game itself, plus the Reaper of Souls expansion and the Rise of the Necromancer pack. That's a lot of excellent content for a low price.
Loads of Telltale games are also on sale this week, including The Telltale Batman Bundle for $22 / £26. It contains both seasons of the company's Batman story. If you have a lot of Telltale games to catch up on, you may be interested in The Telltale Collection, which is currently available for $78 / £69. Most other Telltale games are on sale individually--including the Xbox 360 ones--so you can cherry-pick the ones you want. Just note that buying them in bundles saves you even more money.
If all the recent talk about The Division 2 has you intrigued, you can get all of the first game's expansions for cheap this week. The Division costs $50 / £40 (it's available elsewhere for cheaper, and is part of Game Pass), but the season pass is on sale for $16 / £12, and you can get the individual add-ons for 50% off.
The month is half over, which means Xbox Live Gold subscribers can now download two more freebies. As usual, one is an Xbox One game, and the other is an Xbox 360 game you can play on Xbox One thanks to backwards compatibility.
The new free Xbox One game is the Smite Gold Bundle, which will be available between now and July 15. Smite is a free-to-play game, but the Gold Bundle includes 20 additional gods, plus skins, announcer packs, and other extra content. Seeing as it normally sells for $100, that's a good deal for anyone interested in this MOBA-of-the-gods.
The Xbox 360 game Gold members can download for free is Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues. Available until June 30, it's an action game that lets you play through Lego versions of all four Indiana Jones films. And if you haven't picked it up yet, you can still download the side-scrolling Xbox One game Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Russia, which is available until June 30.
With June in full swing, PlayStation Plus subscribers have another lineup of free games available to download throughout this month. There are some great titles this month, spread across PS4, PS3, and PS Vita. There's also a bonus game announced during E3, as Plus members can download Call of Duty: Black Ops III for free from now through July 11; everything else is available until July 3.
In terms of the standard lineup, PS4 players can download the excellent XCOM 2 for free. The strategy game has tons of fans and has gathered lots of critical acclaim over the years for its many tactical layers, fun high-stakes gameplay, and great character development. In GameSpot's XCOM 2 review, Mike Mahardy gave the game a 9/10, calling it a superb strategy game that results in deep and meaningful playthroughs.
The other PS4 title you can pick up for free this June is Trials Fusion. The motorcycle platform-racing game has you zooming your way through courses covered in obstacles and ramps--the goal is to beat out players from around the world in time trials. Another well-reviewed title, it scored 8/10 in GameSpot's Trials Fusion review, where Tom Mc Shea called it "a great game that not only tests your skill and patience, but keeps you laughing at the ridiculous scenarios."
PS3 players can play Ghost Recon: Future Soldier for free. The game blends the Ghost Recon series' realistic shooting action with futuristic tech. The other free game is the Complete Edition of Zombie Driver HD, an isometric action game where you'll drive around a car slaughtering zombies. If you're a PS Vita player, multiplayer action game Atomic Ninjas, and puzzle game Squares are free to download too.
We're well into June, and the start of a month means another free Legendary Pokemon is now available for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. The Pokemon Company is continuing its Year of Legendary Pokemon giveaway with another limited-time freebie for all seventh-gen Pokemon games, and this time it's another Legendary from the Kalos region: Zygarde. [Update: This promotion doesn't run for the entire month; it expires on June 24, giving you only a little more time to secure a code for your freebie.]
Unlike all of the past distributions this year, which offered a different Pokemon depending on which version you're playing, all players will receive the same Legendary this time around. What makes this Zygarde special, however, is that it's a Shiny, which is very difficult to obtain through normal play.
Once again, the download code will be available in the US through a specific retailer. This time, players will be able to pick one up at participating GameStop stores from June 1-24. Those in Europe and Australia, meanwhile, will be able to receive the Legendary via Mystery Gift over the Nintendo Network.
While the Legendary you can receive this month remains consistent across games, it'll come equipped with a rare Gold Bottle Cap if you redeem it in either Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon. Similarly, Zygarde will come at a different level and know a different moveset in the newer titles. You can see its attacks in each version below.
Pokemon Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon
Zygarde -- Level 100
Thousand Arrows
Outrage
Extreme Speed
Dragon Dance
Pokemon Sun / Moon
Zygarde -- Level 60
Land's Wrath
Glare
Safeguard
Dragon Breath
To redeem your download code, select Mystery Gift from the games' main menu and choose the option to receive your gift via code/password. Input your code and the Pokemon will be downloaded into your game. (Players in Europe and Australia will simply choose the option to receive your gift via internet instead.) You can then pick the Legendary up from the deliveryman waiting inside any Pokemon Center.
It's a new week, which means there are new movies and shows to watch on Netflix right now. The streaming service has a slew of fresh titles arriving, including a highly anticipated new season of a Marvel favorite. Of course, that's not the only Netflix original to be on the lookout for.
Naturally, the biggest new arrival of the week is the new season of Marvel's Luke Cage. The second season follows the titular superhero in the aftermath of Defenders, as he grapples with his fame, while also coming up against a new threat in Bushmaster. If that's not enough of a Marvel fix for you, the fifth season of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD also arrives on Netflix this week.
As for other originals, the competitive cooking show Cooking on High debuts this week. The unique spin on this particular food show is all of the recipes include cannabis as an ingredient. The original movie Brain on Fire also arrives on June 22, along with Season 2 of Heavy Rescue: 401. Lastly, don't forget to revisit Disney's Tarzan when it begins streaming on June 23.
Update: Bethesda has confirmed with GameSpot that it filed suit again Warner Bros. and Behaviour in US District Court. It says the complaint alleges "copyright infringement, breach of contract, and misappropriation of its intellectual property." The publisher also issued the following statement:
"The case arises from Behaviour's development of a Westworld mobile game for Warner Bros. Behaviour had previously worked with Bethesda to develop Bethesda's hit game, Fallout Shelter, and under that contract, Bethesda alone owned all resulting intellectual property, including the game's copyrighted code.
"Behaviour illegally used the same copyrighted source code from Fallout Shelter to develop Westworld, and copied Fallout Shelter's game design, art, animations, gameplay features, and other elements. As a result of Behaviour and Warner Bros' unlawful conduct, Westworld is a blatant ripoff of Fallout Shelter with largely superficial, cosmetic changes.
"Bethesda will vigorously protect its legal rights in the valuable intellectual properties it owns, and take legal action whenever those rights are being infringed."
We've yet to hear back from WB but will update this story with any further information we receive. The original story follows.
Warner Bros. recently launched Westworld, a new mobile game based on the hit HBO series. Billed as an "innovative mobile simulation game," it bears a resemblance to elements of Bethesda's Fallout Shelter, in that you build and expand an underground facility. But the free-to-play title apparently goes too far with that apparent inspiration, as developer Behaviour Interactive has been accused of reusing code that it developed for Shelter.
TMZ reports that it's obtained documents related to a newly filed lawsuit by Bethesda. It states that the company hired Behaviour to work on Shelter back in 2014, before WB commissioned it to make Westworld. Bethesda alleges that Behaviour is recycling the code it used for Shelter. It's unclear at this point if it's been able to verify this in the actual code for Westworld, but it cites as evidence the fact that identical bugs Shelter suffered from early on are present in Westworld.
The lawsuit is looking to both shut down Westworld and receive compensation, though the likelihood of that at this point is unclear. GameSpot has reached out to both Bethesda and WB and will report back with anything we learn.
Aside from the aspects of the game that more strongly resemble Shelter, Westworld does have other elements to it, including dealing with the parks that are located aboveground. At launch, it focuses on content from the first season of Westworld, although there are plans to introduce things from Season 2 as it continues. At least for the time being, the game is available on both the iOS App Store and Android's Google Play Store.
There's been little news on the Xbox One backwards compatibility front as of late, but with E3 in the rear-view mirror, it's time for something new. Microsoft has announced a new addition to the BC lineup, and it's a pretty big one in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
Major Nelson confirmed the news on Twitter, saying the Xbox 360 shooter is now playable on Xbox One. It joins a growing list of classic Call of Duty games that are playable on the console, although curiously it doesn't complete the Modern Warfare trilogy. 2009's Modern Warfare 2 has not yet been added to the list, so if you're looking for a chronological playthrough, you'll have to continue to wait for that to happen.
If you already own Modern Warfare 3, you can simply pop in the disc or head to the Ready to Download section of the My Games and Apps area to download it. Alternatively, you can purchase a copy right from the Xbox Store. As it happens, Modern Warfare 3 is a part of this week's Deals With Gold lineup. It's 50% off for Xbox Live Gold members until June 25, letting you get it for $15 / £12. Meanwhile, its DLC packs are all 33% off.
Backwards compatibility is a notable feature for Xbox One, but with a seemingly endless array of new games to tout during its press conference, Microsoft didn't focus on it at E3. It features prominently last year, as the company announced plans to introduce support for a select number of original Xbox games. Following the initial debut of that last year, another batch were released this spring. You can check out everything that's playable on Xbox One in our full list of backwards compatibility games.
Some things are simply too good to be true. With the latest wrinkle it's adding to its service, MoviePass is quickly becoming one of those things. Though it originally announced it would allow users to see a movie every day for the price of $10 a month, the months that have followed have brought caveats as MoviePass tries to recoup some of the money it's spending on tickets.
Among the changes the service has attempted is a revamped plan that offered only four movies a month, removing the option to see a film more than once, blocking access to certain movies, and changing lineups of theaters the service can be used in. However, the newest change is likely going to take money out of the pockets of customers.
According to Business Insider, MoviePass will be introducing surge pricing on certain films beginning in July. That means movies with a high demand will also require MoviePass customers to pay an extra fee--which starts at $2--for a ticket. This is troubling for a few reasons. First and foremost, while the charge could start at $2, MoviePass doesn't note a ceiling on the surge prices. Furthermore, it will be up to the service to determine which movies are "high demand." So if you enjoy seeing big movies on opening weekend, get ready to pay.
"At certain times for certain films--on opening weekend--there could be an additional charge for films," MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe explains to Business Insider.
To soften the blow of the new charges, MoviePass is also adding some new features, which will arrive in August--but watch out, those are also going to cost you extra money. The service is planning to add options to add premium options like IMAX and 3D by the end of August, for small fees. Additionally, MoviePass is expected to add an option that allows you to buy an additional ticket for a friend that's not a member of the service. According to Lowe, the second admission will cost "somewhere near the retail price of the ticket."
These changes comes as MoviePass begins facing even more competition in the movie ticket subscription space. Previously, Sinemia made a splash by allowing admission to any theater and any format--including IMAX and 4DX--but for fewer tickets in a month. Now, the AMC theater chain has also announced its own service, which offers three tickets a week to any screening at the chain's theaters.
When it was announced that Adult Swim has ordered 70 new episodes of Rick and Morty beyond the three seasons that already exist, fans were elated. However, given that the series still isn't expected to return until sometime in 2019, the wait for new episodes was still far too long.
Thankfully, though, it's the last time fans will be stuck with a drought between new episodes. Speaking to GameSpot at E3, co-creator Justin Roiland--who was promoting his upcoming video game Trover Saves the Universe--said the creative team is already hard at work on new installments. "We have so many ideas, and now, we don't really have to worry about what ideas are going to live or die," Roiland said.
What's more, knowing how many more stories they have to tell, he believes, will keep the Rick and Morty crew from taking massive breaks between new episodes. "I think we'll be able to move a little quicker," he promised. "We're not going to have these big, long gaps between seasons. We're going to just keep the machine going and schedule staggering vacations for people so we don't burn out. It's going to just be a perpetual production, which is exciting."
If that's not the best news a Rick and Morty fan could get, what is? It's certainly more exciting than McDonald's fumbling the release of its Szechuan sauce after the show made it a pop cultural phenomenon with a simple joke in an episode.
Now it's just a matter of time until a Season 4 premiere date for Rick and Morty is announced. Hopefully, it doesn't take as long as writer and producer Ryan Ridley teased it would back in January. "I know how long the show takes to write, let alone animate, so it's just like, I'd be surprised if there was a fourth season on the air any sooner than 2019--in late 2019," he said at the time.
If you're itching for a new shooter to play, you'll be pleased to hear you can try Killing Floor 2 for free between now and Monday, June 25 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Killing Floor 2 is a co-op shooter that takes place in a zombie-infested version of Europe that's seen civilization collapse. Despite the downfall of governments and the general unrest that's going on, a group of survivors is trying eradicate the "zeds" and rebuild society.
In GameSpot's 8/10 Killing Floor 2 review, we said, "If the expansive suite of Call of Duty multiplayer modes is analogous to a buffet, Killing Floor 2's offerings are a hearty plate of meat and potatoes. The game hones in on the basic appeal of killing zombies without the complications of reaching waypoints or setting up intricate fortifications. Yet Killing Floor 2's strongest asset is in its simple yet effective combat--Tripwire could substitute the zeds for robots or Nazis and still have a solid shooter on its hands."
The reason for the free play weekend is because Killing Floor 2 just got The Summer Sideshow: Treacherous Skies update, which brings a bunch of new content to the game, including weapons, features, Summer Zeds, maps, and more.
If you choose to purchase Killing Floor 2, you can get it on sale on both platforms. PS4 owners can get it for $15 as long as they have a PS Plus membership (it's $30 without one). Xbox One owners can buy it for $20--no Xbox Live Gold subscription necessary.
GameStop may be in buyout talks this week, but that hasn't stopped the retailer from refreshing its weekly sale, bringing a new set of deals for the week of June 20-26. So whether you're in the market for PS4, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch games, you're likely to find something you want for a discounted price. You can find all of this week's deals here, but we've hand-picked some of the best of the bunch below.
There's little in the way of gaming hardware sales this week, but there is a deal on other physical items. Seeing as the hot new Nintendo Switch game this week is Mario Tennis Aces, if you buy a copy at GameStop, you'll get 20% off one toy, apparel, trading card item, or other collectible (only good June 22-24).
The rest of the week's best deals are on games, and many of the prices are quite appealing. If you're one of the few people who hasn't purchased Grand Theft Auto V yet, you can get it this week for $20--the lowest price we've seen yet. Another all-time low price is Destiny 2, which is available for $10 (though you'll still have to buy the expansions separately if you want them). Middle-earth: Shadow of War has also gotten a deep discount, down to $20.
Listen up, deal hunters. Now that the week is in full swing, let's take a moment to appraise the deals that have gone live this week and see what kinds of savings we can wrangle. No matter your platform of choice, from PS4 and PC to Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, you can find great deals on great games. Read on to learn about all the best sales going on right now, along with highlights for some of the biggest savings.
Multiplatform
Killing Floor 2 is free to play on Xbox One and PS4 this weekend. It's a co-op shooter about taking down zombies (or "zeds") in a post-apocalyptic version of Europe. More info here.
PS4
As usual, a handful of PS4 and PS3 games are on sale this week on the PlayStation Store (ending June 25). In particular, you can get games from the Call of Duty and Sonic series for cheap. Here are some of our picks, or check here for the full slate of PlayStation deals.
Some fine games are on sale in the Nintendo Eshop for both Switch and 3DS. Below are some of our picks for games you can get great deals on right now. You can find more here.
Microsoft has refreshed its weekly Xbox sale, with a number of games getting discounts, including a whole swatch of Telltale's adventure games. And if you haven't played Diablo 3 on console yet, this deal is the one you didn't know you've been waiting for. The sale ends June 25.
The Steam Summer Sale has begun. Below are some of the best deals we've found on big PC games. You can find more here. Or, if you're looking to save money on creative indie games, check out Itch.io's big Summer Sale.
Fortnite is teasing yet another special something, and fans are once again speculating like wild about what it may mean. A missile launch appears imminent, thanks to a countdown clock connected to an evil lair that appeared spontaneously on screens across the map.
The obvious conclusion is that the battle royale game is preparing to change the map again. Following a long tease of a meteor in the sky, it hit land and created a new area as well as several hidden secrets. This countdown may signal the same thing: once the timer hits zero, the missile launches and impacts some area of the map, leaving it changed and ushering in Season 5.
Then there are wilder theories. A user on Reddit (via PCGamer) suggests that the whole event is tied to the Winter Solstice in the southern hemisphere and Inca traditions. According to the theory, the countdown timer appears to be leading to Inti Raymi, an Incan religious celebration that included sacrifices to the sun god. Those sacrifices were often llamas, a de facto mascot in Fortnite.
It wouldn't be the first time Epic pulled a curveball, given that the community seemed certain that the meteor would hit Tilted Towers. Epic acknowledged the twist and had some fun with the community over it. Ultimately, the meteor hit the Dusty Depot to create the new Dusty Divot. Whatever ends up happening this time, we'll know what this countdown clock signifies soon, as the timer is slowly running out.
Fortnite has recently become a field of battle in the console war, given the game's launch on Switch. That helped put a fine point on the lack of cross-play on PlayStation 4, and Nintendo and Microsoft have seemingly teamed up to jab at Sony over the practice. Sony has been hesitant to promise a change in its policy, and a former Sony studio head recently came forward to say that based on his time at the company, the decision was all about money.
Mario Tennis Aces brings back one of the Mushroom Kingdom's oldest pasttimes, pitting its iconic characters against each other on the court. On the Nintendo Switch it's both pretty and portable, and it packs plenty of new bells and whistles for this round. A new zone shot and trick shot system brings some more subtlety to your strategy, and the multiplayer mode allows for online tournaments and matches.
But is it worth another round on the court? The critical reception is positive, with reservations. While the single-player Adventure Mode is underdeveloped and the difficulty spikes can feel unfair, the multiplayer is where it really shines. Like any good arcade sports game, the mechanics are easy to pick up and play but hard to master thanks to additional layers of complexity that were absent from some prior iterations. Check out our in-depth thoughts in our Mario Tennis Aces review-in-progress, and read on for more thoughts from around the industry. GameSpot sister site Metacritic has the wider reception.
Game: Mario Tennis Aces
Developer / Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Release date: June 22
Price: US $60 / £45 / AU $69
GameSpot -- 8/10
"The Tetris Effect is in full swing here; days after the credits rolled, I still crave the satisfying thwack from a Power Shot, mentally replay matches and imagine how I might do things differently given a bit more focus and know-how. Mario Tennis Aces does what this series has done best, and improves what it's rarely gotten right prior. Fingers crossed that the online support stands up to the rest of the game after launch." -- Justin Clarke [Full review]
GamesRadar -- 4/5
"At the end of the day, Adventure Mode is only going to take you so far, and, like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch, it's really all about multiplayer. You can opt in for online or local multiplayer, or just pass a Joy-Con to your pal for instant split-screen, which is really where the game shines brightest - and I'm not just talking graphically, although this game is an absolute stunner. This is a game built for battling against your friends, which might seem like a weird turn of phrase for a tennis game, but absolutely works for Mario Tennis Aces." -- Sam Loveridge [Full review]
IGN -- 7.5/10
"Mario Tennis Aces is an extremely fun arcade tennis experience, colourful and dazzling to look at and smartly balanced in its back-and-forth play. With a little bit more care and depth given to the simple single-player mode and more variety added in the way of character and tournament customisation to give its multiplayer extra spice, Mario Tennis Aces could have been a true all-rounder. As it is, Mario Tennis Aces is still a lot of frantic tennis fun with friends." -- Tristan Ogilvie [Full review]
Nintendo Life -- 8/10
"We're used to seeing Wii U games transfer to Switch, but for Ultra Smash to have moved across without a substantial makeover would have been disastrous. Aces, wonderfully, is anything but that--it's a superb arcade sports game that's generous with its suite of player options and only occasionally guilty of being a little cheap in its Adventure Mode. The presentation is spot on, and the core tennis action is absorbing whether you're trading simple strokes or firing off special shots. Some animations and voice overs are identical to Ultra Smash's, but everything around them has been overhauled to quite splendid heights. This is something of a Switch Port Plus, then--not quite a whole new experience, but so improved as to be near unrecognisable next to its preceding title." -- Mike Diver [Full review]
God is a Geek -- 7/10
"Play through the story mode until you take out the first boss and you should have a good grip on how the game is played, once there I suggest you stop before the game turns you into a gibbering gibbon of pure hatred. Take that part as a tutorial and then play against your friends and you'll have a whale of a time. I put the game in front of my family members, and for the first time ever I saw interactions that wouldn't look out of place in a Switch infomercial, they were having pure, unadulterated fun and that's where this game's magic lies." -- Nick Gillham [Full review]
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick is skeptical of the rush to capitalize on the multiplayer flavor of the day. The publisher of the upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2 said in an interview that single-player isn't dead, and scoffed at the battle royale gold rush.
"[T]here are also people saying that it won't work if it's not a free-to-play battle royale. People really are saying that, and not even tongue-in-cheek. I don't buy that," Zelnick told VentureBeat. "Single-player, in my opinion, is not dead, not even close. Companies that feel like they'll just avoid the hard work of building a story and characters and go right to where the money is in multiplayer, I don't think that's going to work. I'd be surprised."
He pointed out that Take-Two's approach is to give teams a lot of time and resources and then reap the benefits. Grand Theft Auto 5 is still paying dividends thanks to GTA Online, but plenty of players are still engaging with the story too. He said he understands that approach sometimes means their schedule can be hard to pin down.
"That's why we don't annualize titles," he said. "That's why we sometimes have slippage. That's why we're so focused on making sure that every title is better than the last title. We don't always succeed, but that's the goal."
Asked if his personal involvement means he's the one to call up one of their partners and ask for a battle royale, he was dismissive. "The fact that I'm very involved doesn't mean I say stupid things. I'm involved by saying hopefully intelligent things that are going to advance our strategy. So no, I don't do that."
Finally, Zelnick said the publisher doesn't intend to share technology across their separate labels. Asked what he would say to Hanger 13 (Mafia 3) requesting the GTA 5 engine, he balked. "Our studios are trying to create their own phenomenally competitive products. It seems unlikely that they would take another studio's properties in any form and try to replicate them or jump off from them to a creative solution. It's not what we're trying to do."
World of Warcraft Classic is coming; we may not know exactly when, but we are getting a better idea of some of the challenges and achievements of the developers trying to make it happen. In a "Dev Watercooler" blog post, Blizzard revealed more details about the prototyping of the game, and reassured excited fans that the re-creation would do the vanilla version of the game justice.
"The process of restoring the classic game is not straightforward, and it's important to us to take the time and effort to get it right--this includes poring over numerous game versions, data, and code; meticulously scrutinizing all the changes we've made over the years," Blizzard's dev team wrote.
"All the work we're doing will ultimately allow us to recreate an authentic classic experience on a platform that is much more optimized and stable, helping us avoid latency and stability issues. Additional improvements will include modern anti-cheat/botting detection, customer service and Battle.net integration, and similar conveniences that do not affect the core gameplay experience."
Blizzard shares that the initial WoW Classic prototype essentially rebuilt Patch 1.12: Drums of War from various archives and source code. This revealed some substantial problems: game crashes, issues with modern video cards, incompatibility with Blizzard's current login system, and more. The developers said they've built a second prototype, using the game's modern code with all its structural enhancements, which will allow them to build a 1.12 version of the game that is stable on modern machines and compatible with Blizzard's current infrastructure. You can read more about the developments in the full blog post.
Blizzard first announced World of Warcraft Classic at Blizzcon 2017, where it revealed the trailer above. GameSpot interviewed production director John Hight about the ambitious project, where he shared more details about how the game will work. "[Making World of Warcraft Classic] has been an ongoing internal debate. I'm sure that this has happened off and on throughout the years, right? But last year this reached a fever pitch, and we really had a lot of internal discussions because we want to make sure that we provide a great experience for our players," he said.
"I think our concern was gonna be our ability to execute Blizzard quality going back so many years. You don't want to ruin the experience. It has to be an authentic experience. But by the same token, people don't want some of the funky bugs that we had back then," he added. You can read the full interview here.
WWE and 2K are dropping a flurry of news about WWE 2K19, including when you'll be able to play the game and special editions you can pick up if you want to score some extra content and collectibles. The game will release on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on October 9, and in addition to the standard version, there will be a Deluxe Edition and a Collector's Edition. Here what's in each:
WWE 2K19 Deluxe Edition: The full game, plus special packaging and access to the game's Season Pass, pre-order digital content, and Collector's Edition digital content.
WWE 2K19 Collector's Edition: The full game, including all the content from the above Deluxe Edition, plus "exclusive and rare collectibles" and limited edition WWE SuperCard content.
The WWE says 2K will reveal more detailed information about what's in the Deluxe and Collector's editions this summer. There's no word yet on a possible Nintendo Switch version; WWE 2K18 came out on Switch several months after it released on other platforms. Meanwhile, 2K also announced who the face of the game will be: WWE Champion AJ Styles will grace the cover of WWE 2K19.
In a conference call about the game, Styles himself also announced a special contest for everyone who picks up a copy of the game. "I have a challenge for everyone out there," he said. "If you win the contest and beat me, AJ Styles, in WWE 2K19, you could win a million dollars. That's right. You heard me right. $1 million. Let's do this. I'm calling it the WWE 2K19 Million Dollar Challenge. All entrants can participate on the PS4, the Xbox One." You can find more details on the WWE 2K19 Million Dollar Challenge on the contest's website.
2018 has already proven to be a huge year for Marvel, with both Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War scoring the studio two of its biggest ever hits. But there's still one more MCU movie to come, and while it's unlikely that Ant-Man and The Wasp will do quite as well at the box office business as those two blockbusters, it should still prove to be a popular and entertaining romp.
The movie hits theaters next month, and ahead of that, a new clip has been released. It's an action-packed car chase, in which Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) and Luis (Michael Pena) are pursued through the streets by some bad guys. Luckily their van is equipped with Pym Particles, enabling it to shrink to a tiny size. Check it out below:
This clip follows the latest Ant-Man and The Wasp trailer, which was released at the end of May. In addition, we've recently had this TV spot, and a collection of character posters. The movie stars Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, plus Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, and Randall Park as SHIELD agent Jimmy Woo. It's directed by Peyton Reed, who helmed the first movie.
In a recent interview with Slashfilm, Reed spoke about how the movie's story stands apart from events elsewhere in the MCU. "We definitely had to deal with the ramifications post-Civil War. That was crucial to Scott and crucial to Hope," he said. "It really is fundamental in the jumping-off point about what's going on between the two of them at the start of this movie. Outside of that, what I'm really happy about is we're free to tell sort of our freestanding story.
"Once we establish that as the leaping-off point, this thing is going on over here with huge personal stakes and huge other stakes that are really separate of what's going on with Infinity War. So that, again, is something that was really, really appealing to me. We have enough stuff to track in this movie without having to sort of keep abreast of what's going on in that."
New features have steadily rolled out for Pokemon Go since the game's launch in Summer 2016. These have ranged from an expansion to gyms (including group raids) to daily and weekly quests and events with a variety of rewards. But if there's one thing Pokemon Go is still missing two years later--one that players have been requesting since release--it's Pokemon trading. Now, it's finally happening: Pokemon Go is getting trading, Niantic confirmed during a meeting with journalists at E3. [Update: A new update is now live, enabling Pokemon Go's trading and friends systems, although trading for now is restricted to those who have reached a certain level. Read on for details about exactly how trading works.]
Trading will arrive in Pokemon Go "soon," meaning in the next month--Niantic representatives confirmed that players will be able to trade Pokemon with one another by the time Chicago's Pokemon Go Fest 2018 begins on July 14. Along with trading, Pokemon Go is also getting a robust friends system, and the two features will tie together in various ways.
Making Friends
Beginning soon, Pokemon Go players will be able to send one another friend requests using lengthy numerical friend codes, similar to the codes used on Nintendo consoles like the Switch. Players won't need to add one another's codes; if you have another player's code, you can send them a friend request, and they don't need to enter your code as well. At launch, each player's friends list will be limited to 200 players, and although that may expand in the future, Niantic confirmed that it has no plans to charge players in-game currency, which can be bought with real money, for expanded friends space. In other words, you'll never have to spend money to make room for more friends.
Your friends list will live as another tab on the trainer screen accessed by tapping on your character portrait in the bottom left of the screen. From there, you can see various stats (level, distance walked, number of Pokemon caught, etc.) and send your friends "gifts," which are a new item you'll collect from PokeStops. When you open a gift received from a friend, you'll see a postcard of the location where they collected it (take a screenshot if you want, because there's no way to save these postcards), and you'll receive a handful of items that may include new 7km eggs that can contain Alolan forms of Pokemon originally from the Kanto region (Pokemon Red/Blue). This will be the only way to obtain some Alolan forms, while others will be exclusive to raids or will appear during special events, like Alolan Exeggutor did briefly before E3.
You can also see your "friendship level" with each friend, which is tied closely with the new Pokemon trading feature. There are four levels of friendship, with "best friends" at the very top. You can increase your friendship level with specific friends by battling at rival teams' gyms together, raiding together, sending and receiving gifts, and trading Pokemon. Battling with friends also applies bonuses during battle that include attack buffs and extra balls for the catch phase. These don't stack for the whole raiding group; instead, the highest friend bonus of the entire raiding group is applied for all players.
Your friendship level with a specific friend can only increase once per day. More importantly, Niantic has designed the requirements to reach the highest levels of friendship so that it should take months to become "best friends" with another player.
"To get from 'friend' to 'good friend' is one day, and then from 'good friend' to 'great friend' is seven days total, and then 'great friend' to 'ultra friend' is 30 days total, and then 'ultra friend' to 'best friend' is 90," said Niantic engineer Kirsten Koa, the tech lead for these new features.
This is crucially important for one specific reason: The higher your friendship level, the less stardust it costs for two players to trade Pokemon.
Trade-offs
Collecting Pokemon is intrinsic to enjoying Pokemon Go, and two years into the game's lifespan, many players have impressive collections of powerful, rare, shiny, region-exclusive, and otherwise unique Pokemon in their games. If trading Pokemon in Pokemon Go was easy or cheap, it would ruin an essential part of what makes the game special. Niantic is acutely aware of that, and they designed Pokemon Go trading with limitations and costs designed to not detract from the pride many players feel in their Pokemon collections and the work players put into finding unique Pokemon.
"People work really hard to catch all these different pokemon," Koa said. "They travel to different continents and all that stuff. We don't want to devalue their effort by making trading so easy."
Trading Pokemon costs stardust, an in-game resource that's obtained through everyday play activities like catching Pokemon and hatching eggs. Currently, stardust is used to power Pokemon up, which has made it a scarce material for many high level players. (You can't buy stardust with real money, although you can spend money on special item boxes that contain items which increase the rate at which you gain stardust through other activities.)
Trades will cost the same amount of stardust for both players, which will discourage uneven trades and prevent players from trading with themselves via dummy accounts. Niantic showed journalists several examples of how much a Pokemon trade might cost. For players at lower friendship levels, making a "special" trade--trading a legendary Pokemon, a region exclusive, a shiny, or one that either player doesn't already have in their Pokedex--might not be possible at all, or might cost up to 1 million stardust.
Some high level players might have that much stardust to spare, but by anyone's measure it's a huge amount. In contrast, if you've achieved the highest possible level of friendship with someone, that same trade might cost only 40,000 stardust.
There are several other caveats designed to prevent the trading feature from de-valuing players' collections, and which Niantic hopes will prevent a "black market" from springing up around the feature. You can only trade with other players in person--there are no online trades in Pokemon Go. Both players must be level 10, and you have to be friends with one another. "Special" trades (as described above) can be made once per day. And a Pokemon's base stats--in other words, its IVs, or the stats that the game hints at when you use the "appraisal" feature--will change when it's traded, a limitation that is sure to frustrate the most hardcore players.
The thinking behind that is complex, but at its core it's designed to encourage players to trade Pokemon based on external attributes like shininess, rarity, and Pokedex completion, and not on intrinsic, semi-hidden attributes like specific IVs. Pokemon Go allows players to determine individual Pokemon's general base stats using a nonspecific "appraisal" feature that assigns each Pokemon a vague rating, but many players use third-party tools, like the phone app Poke Genie, to determine a Pokemon's exact IVs.
By randomizing IVs when a Pokemon is traded, Niantic ensures that those hidden stats won't be a factor in trades. Players with 100 IV Pokemon--Pokemon with perfect base stats, in other words--will want to keep those Pokemon instead of using them in trades. It's not all bad, though; a Pokemon's IVs can improve during a trade, and the higher your friendship level, the higher the Pokemon's base stats might become.
"One of the considerations for trading is we don't want there to be a black market," Koa told GameSpot after the presentation of these new features. "When Pokemon Go first came out, people were selling accounts online, and when trading comes out, we don't want the same thing to happen with like, 'perfect' Dragonites or something. And this is one way to prevent that."
"You can still get stronger Pokemon, though," she explained further. "Like I was mentioning with the friendship level, you can trade low IV Pokemon, and then maybe it will become something special when it gets to your phone." The likelihood of that happening--versus the alternative, which is trading a Pokemon with good stats and having them become worse--depends on your friendship level, she said.
(As a side note, Koa also provided an interesting glimpse at how Niantic communicates about these things internally, versus how the company speaks about them publicly: "We call them IVs internally, but since it's not communicated in the game, we don't really want to say IVs [in public], because we want to be friendly to casual users," she told GameSpot.)
It's not all limiting. You can get a Pokemon candy bonus when trading Pokemon that increases based on how far away the Pokemon were caught. Niantic showed an example where one player traded a Dratini caught over 100km away and received three candy. You can also change a Pokemon's nickname even after receiving it in a trade.
More To Come
Niantic said there are more features related to friends and trading coming this year. One thing they want to implement is sending friend requests via social networks, including Facebook. Their goal is to make Pokemon Go "the most sociable game in the world," according to the game's global product marketing manager, Kento Suga.
"Implementing trades for this type of game is very, very difficult, so we believe that this is the best way to be fair to the users, and safe for the users, and also fun for the users," Suga said. "This is just the first step of implementing new social related features. There are more and more coming later this year."
"Friends and trading is a really important aspect of the Pokemon franchise, so leading the implementation of these features has been one of the most exciting--but stressful--points of my career," Koa said, explaining that she played the original games and traded Pokemon cards with friends and family as a kid. "We wanted to make sure that we got things right. We needed to take into account how to introduce trading into this game, where exploring new places is really important to the game balance. We didn't want to mess with that. I hope we came up with something that's enjoyable and natural and safe for our users."
Nintendo Switch's library continues to grow, with a new batch of games now available in stores and on the Eshop. This week sees 15 titles arrive on the console, including a new Mario spin-off, a big update for Minecraft, and a free first-party demo for the system's next major Wii U port.
This week's marquee release is Mario Tennis Aces, the first Mario sports game to arrive on Switch. Developed by Camelot, the studio behind every previous Mario Tennis title, Aces shakes up the series by introducing a handful of new mechanics, such as the time-slowing Zone Speed and the powerful Zone Shots. It's also the first installment since Mario Tennis: Power Tour for Game Boy Advance to feature a story mode. You can learn more about the title in our Mario Tennis Aces review.
Other notable releases this week include the acclaimed puzzle-platformer Inside; the adorable co-op puzzler Pode; the classic Neo Geo fighting game The Last Blade 2; the top-down shoot-'em-up Gunbird 2; the Lovecraft-inspired dungeon crawler The Lost Child; and the party game Drawful 2. Switch owners can also now download the newly updated version of Minecraft, which adds cross-play support with Xbox One.
In addition to this week's new titles, Nintendo has added a free demo of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker to the Switch and 3DS Eshops. The demo encompasses three levels: Plucky Pass Beginnings, Mushroom Mesa, and The King of Pyropuff Peak. The Switch version can also be played cooperatively with a second player. You can download the demo directly here.
You can find the full list of this week's new Switch releases below or on Nintendo's website. Next week is likewise shaping up to be a busy one for the console, as a number of great titles--including Lumines Remastered, Limbo, Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, and De Blob--are slated to arrive in stores and on the Switch Eshop before the end of the month.
EA has revealed more details about the latest entry in its long-running hockey franchise, NHL 19. The publisher gave fans their first look at the title during the 2018 NHL Awards, which included the reveal of this year's cover athlete: Nashville Predators defenseman and Olympic gold medalist, PK Subban.
NHL 19 features a roster of more than 200 current and legacy players, including legends such as Wayne Gretzky. This time, in addition to the professional arenas, players can compete on outdoor rinks for the first time in the series. Players can also create their own character using more than 900 customization options, among them new "lifestyle apparel inspired by pond hockey."
Along with the returning EA Sports Hockey League and NHL Threes modes, NHL 19 introduces two new modes called NHL Ones and Pro-Am, which are housed together under a "unified progression hub" dubbed the World of CHEL. Players can progress their custom character, unlock rewards, and refine their avatar's appearance and style by playing in any World of CHEL mode.
NHL Ones is a 1v1v1 competition in which three players face-off in free-for-all games. These contests feature no rules or stoppage, making them harder-hitting and more chaotic than standard modes. Players will rank up to new outdoor rinks by winning NHL Ones games.
In addition to the new modes and outdoor rinks, NHL 19 introduces new playstyle classes and player traits. The game is slated to launch for PS4 and Xbox One on September 14. Those who pre-order either the Legends or Ultimate edition will get access to the game several days early, on September 11.
Microsoft's zombie survival game, State of Decay 2, was the best-selling title of May in the US, the NPD Group has announced. The game launched for Xbox One and PC toward the end of the month and managed to take the number one spot on the software sales chart, edging out other big May releases like the PS4-exclusive Detroit: Become Human. Its strong debut is also impressive considering that the game is available for free for those who have an Xbox Game Pass subscription.
Despite suffering from technical and performance issues, State of Decay 2 has proven to be quite popular among fans. The game attracted more than 2 million players within its first two weeks of availability. Microsoft appears to be quite pleased with the title; during its E3 2018 press conference, the company announced that it acquired State of Decay developer Undead Labs, along with four other studios.
State of Decay 2 also had a much stronger debut than its predecessor. According to the NPD Group, the game's launch month sales "nearly doubled" those of the first State of Decay, which originally released for Xbox 360 and PC back in 2013.
The second best-selling game of May was the PS4 reboot of God of War, which has now become the second best-selling game of the year to date in the US, behind Far Cry 5. Rounding out May's top three games was the aforementioned Detroit, which likewise released toward the end of the month.
In terms of hardware, PS4 was once again the best-selling platform of May, although all three major consoles--PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch--achieved "all-time unit sales highs for a May month." You can find the top 20 best-selling games of May below.
If you've ever wondered exactly how much money you've spent on Steam, Valve's got your back. The company recently launched a new tool to its game-distribution platform that lets players get an exact number on how much cash they've dropped.
This new feature should prove especially enlightening for players who primarily spend their time on free-to-play games. Now you'll be able to see exactly how much money you've spent on loot boxes, expansion packs, and DLC characters.
While on Steam, head to the new External Funds Used tool, log into your account, and then scroll to the "Total Spend" row. There's your number.
For those who are willing to share, do you think you've got the highest number? Is your total amount higher or lower than you were expecting? Leave your answers in the comment section down below.
If you're looking to up your number, Steam just launched its Summer Sale. There are plenty of excellent deals, including video games about your favorite Crunchyroll anime. The sale doesn't just cover software either. Both the Steam controller and Steam Link are on sale too.
If you're in the market for a new Xbox One, you'll want to take a look at this deal. Right now from Newegg via Ebay, you can get a 500 GB Xbox One S, plus physical copies of Battlefield Hardline and Mass Effect Andromeda, for $190. Shipping is free. That's a killer deal, seeing as the console's suggested retail price without any games is $280.
While it's not as powerful as the more expensive Xbox One X, the Xbox One S can play Blu-ray discs and 4K UHD Blu-rays and let you stream 4K content from services like Amazon and Netflix. It also offers High Dynamic Range technology, which produces richer colors, brighter whites, and darker blacks, assuming you have a compatible TV.
From our Xbox One S review: "If you don't already have an Xbox One and want an HDR/4K/Blu-ray player, then this console is a must-buy as far as I'm concerned. It's even a little cheaper than standalone HDR/4K/Blu-ray players... If you've been on the fence about the Xbox One or have been waiting for the bugs to be ironed out and the library to mature, the Xbox One S makes it a great time to jump on board. It's slim, is the only model that can be outfitted with a 2TB HDD, is priced fairly, and offers the aforementioned video features."
As for the games, they're both decent. In our 7/10 Battlefield Hardline review, we praised its multiplayer mode and episodic campaign. Our 6/10 Mass Effect: Andromeda review was less glowing, though we enjoyed its combat and variety of planet environments. Even if you don't want the games, you can sell them or trade them in, making this deal even better.
It's unclear how long it will last, though, so don't delay if you want to add an Xbox One S to your entertainment setup. You can get it here.
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