November 2020

It’s finally the end of the week, which means it’s [cms-block] for real. Rather than kick off a sale earlier in the week like so many others, GOG are clearly taking the whole event much more seriously, dropping their big Black Friday deals today. I respect it. While they don’t have too many new games on offer, they have got a load of old favourites like Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and the Batman: Arkham Asylum series for up to 80% off.

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Amazon have chopped $50 off the 2TB model of the excellent Crucial MX500 SSD in one of today’s first US Black Friday lightning deals. Not only does this beat its previous Prime Day price of $184, but it’s also the cheapest it’s ever been – and much better value than almost every other 2TB SATA deal we’ve seen so far.

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A microphone can be used for many things, and this year, they have been used by many people as businesses have shifted to working from home regularly for most of 2020. Thankfully, if you need a microphone yourself, Black Friday 2020 has a number of great deals that are definitely worth your attention. Razer has discounted its quality Seiren X and Seiren Emote microphones and Shure has a number of different Black Friday deals. The Elgato Wave 3, while not discounted, is also back in stock.

Final Fantasy XIV keeps on rolling with patch 5.4 launching on December 8 this year. The update for Square Enix's MMORPG comes with a ton of new content and gameplay changes, and a heavy-hitting trailer teases where its several story branches are going (you can watch below). The new content reveal came via the normally scheduled Live Letter From The Producer stream, which was presented in Japanese by director/producer Naoki Yoshida and community manager Toshio Murouchi.

Keep in mind that spoilers for FFXIV: Shadowbringers and the recent 5.3 storyline are part of the reveal trailer and new main story details.

The trailer opens with voice lines from the new main villain Fandaniel and a shot of what looks like an upcoming boss-type Primal. It's followed by a shot of all the members of the main cast--the Scions of the Seventh Dawn--brought together with Lyse back in the mix, stating that most of the Garlean Empire's capital has been destroyed. Shots from new cutscenes in the Sorrow of Werlyt sidequest are shown alongside Emerald Weapon--the new Trial boss fight within the questline--and lines from Nero talking to Cid about his expertise with technology exceeding that of the ancient Allagans.

Though physical game deals tend to get the most love during Black Friday sales, there are tons of stellar digital game deals to snag as well. Both Xbox Live and PSN have kicked off massive sales, and PC gamers can take advantage of deals at Fanatical and Green Man Gaming. Now, CD Projekt Red's PC games storefront GOG has joined the party. From now until December 1 at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET, you can save on more than 2,600 games.

GOG's sale features a wide variety of games, and the best part is that all of them are DRM free. You can find great deals on AAA hits like Control: Ultimate edition as well as classic gems like Tales of Monkey Island. GOG has also added a bunch of Batman games to its catalog, including the entire lineup of Arkham games for $5 each.

Star Wars: Rebels is now essential viewing

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If you fancy a bit of adorable misery for your PS4, then you're in luck, as publisher Mages has announced that upcoming remake Corpse Party Blood Covered... Repeated Fear will be arriving on Sony's black box in 2021, alongside its previously revealed Nintendo Switch release.

As a reminder, Corpse Party Blood Covered... Repeated Fear is a remastered edition of the 2015 Nintendo 3DS release Corpse Party Blood Covered which itself is a remake of the original 1996 release Corpse Party - the title that spawned the uber-violent visual novel franchise. Built within a brand new engine, Repeated Fear will add newly recorded voice acting and several additional in-game scenarios, so now you can get more closely acquainted with the girls of Heaven Host Academy before they are mercilessly destroyed.

Corpse Party Blood Covered... Repeated Fear is currently in development for PS4 and Nintendo Switch, a western localization is yet to be officially confirmed.

Corpse Party Blood Covered... Repeated Fear coming to PS4 [Gematsu]

The crown prince of Saudi Arabia's flagship charity has bought a third of Japanese game company SNK - and it's shooting for more.

The 813m riyals (£162m) investment from a subsidiary of the Mohammed bin Salman Charitable Foundation "Misk" charity amounts to 33.3 per cent of SNK's shares, and values the company at around £490m. In a note to press, Misk said the deal stipulates it will buy another 17.7 per cent of SNK's shares, raiding its ownership to 51 per cent. That'll give it a majority shareholding.

The Misk foundation has been central to Mohammed bin Salman's drive to extend his brand overseas, and this investment is another move in that direction. But it is sure to attract criticism. The assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was attributed to Salman by the CIA, and Saudi Arabia has a notoriously poor human rights record, with homosexuality still criminalised with punishments ranging from floggings to the death penalty.

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Luxury fashion range Pokémon Shirts now lets you order any Kanto creature design as a face mask.

The clothing line by Original Stitch first launched a couple of years ago and more recently began shipping to the UK.

It has become a fan favourite for its arty takes on each Pokémon design, which you can pick from and customise into shirts or polo tops, and also as virtual clothing items for your avatar in Pokémon Go.

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From my perspective, no console launch is truly complete without an excellent platform game and thankfully, Sony and developer Sumo Digital deliver exactly that for PlayStation 5 with Sackboy: A Big Adventure. It's a beautiful game, and a fascinating example of how one developer aims to straddle the generational divide - while Sackboy champions the power of PlayStation 5, there's also support for PS4 and PS4 Pro too. The question is, has Sumo Digital delivered the kind of magic we expect from a platform exclusive next-gen launch title but at the same time still deliver a good experience for owners of existing PlayStation hardware?

First of all, it's worth stressing that Sackboy: A Big Adventure may well be tapping into the characters and aesthetic of the Little Big Planet titles, but game concept itself is something quite different: think of it as 3D platforming experience more along the lines of Super Mario 3D World - fun, quirky, exciting and attractive. The key point of differentiation compared to the LBP titles is that there's no creation mode. What you get instead is superb platforming, plain and simple, delivered with visuals that really put the underlying Unreal Engine 4 through its paces.

Pokémon Dash is one of those games that makes you say, 'Someone made that? Really? Why?' The answer is that Nintendo were releasing the Nintendo DS and they most likely wanted a Pokémon title in the launch lineup to boost sales, so Pokémon Dash was born. The game's premise is simple - you're a Pokémon, there are races, you run in said races, try to win and hopefully avoid the lava, because there are no regulations in Pokémon races.

Sounds mildly exciting, right? Well, Pokémon Dash has a few setbacks.

Firstly, aside from multiplayer, you only ever play as Pikachu. Sure Bulbasaur, Meowth, Torchic and even Munchlax, which - fun fact - makes Pokémon Dash one of the first games to include a Gen 4 Pokémon, are there, but, if none of your friends own Pokémon Dash, it's one hundred percent Pikachu, one hundred per cent of the time.

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Today Square Enix broadcasted the Final Fantasy LXI Letter from the Producer Live, focusing on the next major update, numbered 5.4, alongside its follow-ups 5.41 and 5.45.

Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida and Global Community Producer Toshio Murouchi provided a lot of information about the upcoming update, which will release on December 8 for PS4 and PC.

First of all we get a recap of the content for the patch revealed in the previous broadcast, learning that the new trial is named Casto Marinum. Of course, it’ll come with an Extreme version.

The new raid of the Eden chain is named Eden’s Promise and will have its own Savage version.

Square Enix announced a FFXIV announcement showcase for February 2021. It'll go over what people can expect after the 5.4 update.

The post FFXIV Announcements Coming in a February 2021 Showcase appeared first on Siliconera.

The office will be led by company vice president of art, Phil Warner, and will be hiring staff across a "wide range of disciplines." ...

Originally an Epic Games Store timed exclusive, Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries would have been available on other PC digital distribution platforms from December 10, but developer Piranha Games has decided to delay the game's launch to 2021.

The date coincides with possibly the biggest game of 2020, Cyberpunk 2077, and the studio has admitted that it doesn't want its own release eclipsed by developer CD Projekt Red's long-in-development game.

"Any developer wants their titles to get as much attention as possible, and obviously sharing a release date with Cyberpunk was less than optimal," the studio said in a statement. "Day one sales and marketing are so important to a successful product launch, and we believe that rescheduling our release date will allow MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries to have the opportunity and attention it deserve."

During the latest Final Fantasy XIV producer livestream, which outlined the wave of content coming for the 5.4 update, it was revealed that a major event is planned for February next year: the FFXIV Announcement Showcase. While it was not explicitly stated what would be at the event, it's likely to include the first reveal of FFXIV's next expansion.

The FFXIV Announcement Showcase will be a live broadcast taking place on February 5, 2021 starting at 5:30 PM PT / 8:30 PM ET (February 6, 1:30 AM GST), and it will include live Japanese-to-English interpretation and English audio. This will be part of a larger 14-hour livestream, which will be in Japanese only.

For years, Final Fantasy XIV has been hosting these fireside chats for the game called "Letter from the Producer Live."

They're such a big deal that I've actually watched them in a room with other XIV players like they were an E3 presentation: it's generally where most of the bigger news breaks for the game. As the team prepares to deliver patch 5.4 (which has a date of December 8), news is indeed coming out of today's stream, recapped on Twitter. So let's start breaking down some of the bigger things patch 5.4 is going to offer, from the vague to the precise.

As is customary job changes are coming, with big alterations for the Monk on the docket. Triple Triad is also getting a substantial update, which the Twitter account jokes is the "true endgame" (haha, kind of true for some people). The new Eden's Promise raid (the last hardcore wing of the expansion) seems to have Final Fantasy VIII music, and the upcoming Unreal Trial is confirmed to be Titan. A tougher Titan fight has been rumored for a long while now, so this should be a welcome surprise for older players who witnessed countless party members fall off that cliff. The Ishgardian Restoration process will also hit its "final phase" in patch 5.4.

Perhaps most importantly for casual fans though is the new "explorer mode" mechanic, which was teased prior but shown off today in all its glory. Explorer mode allows you to basically roam free and hang out in certain areas (previously completed dungeons, including Shadowbringers ones for now, with "more to be added in the future"), with a focus on taking cool pictures like limit break poses: the sort of thing you can't really do in the heat of a big raid battle. Under the guise of the explorer demo, new minions were also shown off.

The best Black Friday gaming laptop deal we've spotted under £1000 is on the Lenovo Legion 5. Right now you can pick up this fully kitted-out laptop with a high-performance Ryzen 4800H processor and fast RTX 2060 graphics card for £950, which is £150 less than its usual price. Finding Ryzen 4000-series laptops has been tough after the word got out that they were significantly faster and more power-efficient than their Intel counterparts, so this is a particularly good find!

Let's have a look at the rest of the specs - it's all pretty impressive. You have 16GB of RAM, 512GB of high-speed NVMe SSD storage and a 15-inch 144Hz display. Normally corners are cut to get an RTX-equipped laptop under the £1000 mark, but this is all really good.

The screen is an IPS model, so it only gets moderately bright but offers excellent colour reproduction and wide viewing angles - this could be a laptop you use for colour-sensitive professional work if you wanted to!

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We've already witnessed plenty of deals in the run up to Black Friday but now it's in full swing, even more are coming through fast. Adding their name to the list is Elgato, who've just confirmed that several of their capture cards are now on offer.

Deals have gone live across Amazon and Currys PC World, offering discounts as high as £60 off. We've found a few of the best deals going, some of which are linked twice with different retailers in case stock runs out, so here's our main highlights:

Looking for more PC accessories? We've listed the best deals going for headsets and monitors, with further hubs for laptops and desktops if you're after some new hardware. If console gaming is what you're looking to capture, we've also compiled the best PS4 Black Friday Deals, Nintendo Switch deals and Xbox deals too. Keep an eye on the Jelly Deals Twitter too, where we'll post the latest top offers.

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The Zlatan Ibrahimovic versus EA Sports war over image rights is rumbling on, with the superstar footballer's superagent saying "it's all about money".

In a spicy radio interview with TalkSport, Mino Raiola was quizzed by former owner of Crystal Palace Simon Jordan over his threat to take EA Sports to court over the use of Ibrahimovic's likeness in the FIFA games.

Jordan asked Raiola why he hadn't slapped EA Sports with an injunction and a cease and desist to block the company from using Ibrahimovic in FIFA 21.

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Earlier this week, mid-way through one of my Valhalla sessions, I got a bit of a shock when one of my daily assassination targets popped up right next to me in Ravensthorpe. My blood ran cold. A dangerous thief in the settlement? Right here, next to the frolicking children? Things could be about to get messy.

I peeked out of the longhouse - expecting an armoured contingent of soldiers to be wreaking havoc - and instead spied a lone figure, which the game told me was the Duke of Burgundy. I summoned all my powers of stealth, and shot the target down from a distance.

It was at this point I realised my assassination target was actually a training dummy.

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This year, all of the UK's major broadband providers are running some kind of Black Friday or Cyber Monday sale, with brands such as BT, TalkTalk and Virgin Media all slashing their prices in an effort to outdo one another. If you're looking to switch to a cheaper provider or upgrade your speeds, now is the perfect time to do just that.

Work from home for long enough, and you'll quickly learn the difference between reliable and unreliable broadband. The former will enable you to make a living, while the latter leads only to despair, madness, and destitution.

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Black Friday is finally here and there's no end to the PC games on offer. Both Steam and Epic Games Store's offers went live recently and now, GOG is getting in on the action too.

Running until 1st December, there are over 2600 games on offer, with discounts going up to 90 per cent off. Some of these are flash deals and those will change daily, so keep an eye out for them, but other prices are likely to remain consistent throughout.

There's plenty of excellent deals to be found and here are some of our favourite picks:

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A key Star Wars villain is finally coming to live-action in the Ahsoka Disney Plus show

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Today Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games released a new trailer celebrating the opening of a new hall of the Intergalactic Aerospace Expo 2950.

This time around, it’s Origin Jumpworks’ time to shine, but that should not surprise anyone since shining is pretty much all Origin likes to do.

Of course, we see more of resident funny dude Jax McCleary (who Jeremy Clarkson fans may find familiar), that appears to have brought an… interesting sidekick to the show.

You can check it out below.

In other Star Citizen news, the crowdfunding cavalcade during the expo is continuing, with the total currently at $327,348,379, having passed $327 million today.

The number of registered accounts is also close to 2.9 million (currently at 2,897,012).

As usual, you should keep in mind that it’s known that not all of them are paying players. The number includes free accounts created for a variety of reasons, including Free Fly events like the one going on right now.

Today D3 Publisher revealed a brand new trailer of its upcoming action game Earth Defense Force: World Brothers.

The trailer focuses on the ability to compose your teams with a variety of characters wielding different weapons and carrying different equipment.

On top of that, we see how we can change our controlled character on the fly to match specific situations.

You can watch it below.

If you’re unfamiliar with Earth Defense Force: World Brothers, here’s an official description directly from the developer.

Unlike the original “EDF” series, which are drawn in a photo-realistic world, this game is boldly drawn in a voxel world! For people who just hate the look of huge real insects, or who are not so good at some brutal in-game expressions, this game can be your first EDF experience which you can exhilaratinglly defeat gigantic enemies.

A new battlefield appears in the “EDF” series.

Bloober Team released a new trailer of its upcoming third-person psychological horror game The Medium.

The trailer focusesd on the music by Arkadiusz Reikowski and Akira Yamaoka and also shows plenty of new gameplay.

We also hear more from the composers about their work on the soundtrack.

You can check it out below.

The Medium can already be pre-ordered both for Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam. It’ll release on Jan. 18, 20211.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla mixes up its RPG elements a bit in how it plays with the concept of a skill tree. Rather than give up the goods from the start, you reveal chunks of it from the fog as you go. I guess it technically adds a bit of mystery to character progression, until you realize you can just poke around online and see maps of the whole darned thing. Still, even if you have the whole tree laid out in front of you, it might be tricky to figure out what to prioritize. I’ll make it easier: get the Missile Reversal skill as soon as you possibly can. That single ability has transformed the way I play the game – in a good way.

I’ve always enjoyed parrying and countering attacks as long as that’s been part of the Assassin’s Creed series. There’s something I find satisfying about waiting for an enemy to attack, only for your character to knock it aside and punish that enemy for having the nerve to take a swing. Once you get the timing down, it’s the best. And it’s the same in Valhalla. Still, I was getting annoyed during some of the larger raid-type missions, in how archers and other ranged attackers would (wisely) hang back and take pot shots at me while I was busy killing their friends. The nerve! Sure, I could block those incoming projectiles, but it kind of broke my combat flow. The cure for that problem? Why, it’s Missile Reversal, of course.

Nintendo published new guidelines on the safe method to disinfect a Switch and its related devices.

The post Nintendo Posted New Guidelines To Disinfect a Switch With Alcohol appeared first on Siliconera.

Thanks to the Crunchyroll Collection, Jujutsu Kaisen will be a part of HBO Max next month. It joins shows like Inuyasha, Konosuba, and Kill la Kill.

The post Jujutsu Kaisen HBO Max Debut Set for December appeared first on Siliconera.

The crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman, has purchased a 33.3 percent stake in Japanese game company SNK through his charity 'Misk.' ...

The Mandalorian has always promised the picture of a much wider place it could encompass in the Star Wars universe, ever since its first episode flipped the script and put our titular hero in front of a little green mystery from the stars. Its latest chapter re-aligns the show’s place in that world even as it grows it…

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The AeroGarden Harvest and Immortals: Fenyx Rising pre-orders lead Sunday’s best deals.

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Last night Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party, challenged US Democrat Ocasio-Cortez to a streamed game of Among Us. AOC agreed, and it’s on, tonight at 4 pm PT/7 pm ET. USA vs. Canada. Pick a side.

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As you may have noticed, graphics card deals are pretty few and far between this [cms-block], and there simply haven’t been any RTX 3080 cards in stock to even try and buy one at their usual price. At least not on their own, anyway. If you’ve got deep pockets and have been thinking about upgrading your entire PC to, say, play Cyberpunk 2077 with maximum ray tracing settings, then it may be quicker, easier and cheaper to simply buy a whole new PC – and if it’s an RTX 3080 you’re after, Dell are currently shaving 15% off some of their pre-built Alienware Aurora desktops for Black Friday.

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You get a sale! And you get a sale! Everybody gets a sale! Hot on the heels of Steam’s autumn sale, Epic Games have launched their own [cms-block] extravaganza. Now, they don’t have quite so many games on offer as Steam’s big blowout, but there are a few decent deals in there – including some alright discounts on new games like Watch Dogs: Legion and Star Wars: Squadrons.

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Deals deals deals! Just kidding – I interrupt your regularly scheduled Black Friday posts to bring you some delightful Apex Legends japes. Today in “what daft thing has Imogen done in a multiplayer shooter now”, I had a go at replicating a glitch that throws Apex’s new vehicles across the map.

Actually, “launch” is probably a better word to use than “throw”, because pulling off the stunt jetts you off into the sky like Gnome Chompski strapped to a rocket.

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[cms-block] is over half way done for us in the UK, and as I look back over the great sea of discounted PC components I’ve scavenged over the last seven days (weeks? Years?), I have to say that the best deals have definitely been reserved for those after an ultrawide gaming monitor. That’s not to say there also hasn’t been plenty of great, if fleeting, deals on regular 16:9 monitors this year (most notably Samsung’s stupendously good Odyssey G7 and LG’s G-Sync Compatible UltraGear 27GL850-B), but the biggest and best discounts have definitely fallen in the ultrawide camp, which is great, as it’s never been a better time to dive into the wonderful world of ultrawide PC games. If you, too, want to join the ultrawide club, these are the best deals you’ll see all week.

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