Another day and another boatload of deals for anyone looking for new AirPods, Beats and big brand EarBuds. We’ve also got the latest stock updates and preorders for Pokémon TCG and highly anticipated Magic: The Gathering sets such as Final Fantasy, Spider-Man and Edge of Eternities.

TL;DR: Deals For Today

I’ve also had a look at some of the most sought-after Final Fantasy and Pokémon TCG: Destined Rivals single cards, with the latter mostly on sale under market value right now. It’s certainly a better deal than buying sealed big-box retailer product right now, but it’s nice to have options, right? I’ve even found a cracking deal on 4K Blu Rays, picking out some of the best options for a “Buy one get one for 50%” offer. And yes, it includes the Lord of the Rings trilogy (theatrical and extended). Let’s get into it:

MTG Final Fantasy And Spider-Man Preorders

It’s mad how Final Fantasy and Spider-Man products are still available to preorder after the initial pre-sale flying off digital shelves. My take on these sets is to preorder whilst you can, the pricing on these sets are only going to go above MSRP on release day.

MTG Final Fantasy: Best-Selling Presale Cards

I usually share immensely cool Cloud and Sephiroth cards that belong in a slab in someones collection, but all of these cards are what MTG players are going for right now. Looking to build a deck instead of collect MTG Final Fantasy? Snap these up before other players realise how playable they are.

MTG Spider-Man Single Card Pre-Sale

Whilst it’s early days for MTG MArvel’s Spider-Man coming later this year, snapping up early deals on Spidey and his rogues gallery is going to look sick in anyones MTG binder. I might not get around to playing this, but I just want these scene box cards for my TCG display shelves.

Magic The Gathering Edge of Eternities Preorders

Sci-Fi buffs will find MTG: Edge of Eternities a cracking entry point into one of the hottest trading cards games on the planet. If going to the edges of the MTG multiverse to battle it out in the name of cosmic power in the heart of a dying star doesn’t grab you, I don’t know what will.

Magic: The Gathering Stock Updates

Big box retailers are squeezing us on pricing right now, but there’s still some deals to be had. I’m liking the look of the Lord of the Rings Scene Box bundle, but stretching to the commander decks would make for one hell of a games night.

Pokémon TCG Stock Updates

Another day of ridiculous pricing on Amazon for Pokémon TCG sealed products, but keeping an eye on it so you all have options is still important. If you can’t find other sealed products for a decent price, I can almost guarantee the market value on TCG Player is cheaper right now.

Destined Rivals: The Most Valuable Cards

On a more positive note, Destined Rivals top chase card prices are stablising, making it a great time to snap some up. Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex SIR has been going for anything over $450 since release, but is starting to settle on a more respectable $370.

Apple AirPods Sale

The big sell with this AirPods sale is the free AppleCare+, with some decent savings on the hardware itself for good measure. They’re all solid choices, but i’d personally snap up AirPods 4 as they’re currently the same sale price as their third generation variant.

Beats Earbuds and Headphones Sale

No, I didn’t forget about Dre thanks, and neither did Amazon. If you want Apple quality without the basic white branding, Beats are the way forward. They all come with AppleCare+ or AppleCare for headphones too, with the exception of a $25 Amazon Gift card for Beats Fit Pro.

Samsung and Sony Ear Buds

Samsung and Sony are two personal audio brands you can set your smart watch too, and I’m seriously tempted to sink some money into Sony WH-1000XM5 whilst they’re on offer. The noise cancelling is best-in-class, and those cans pack some serious punch.

4K Blu Ray Sale: Buy 2, Save 50% on 1

Amazon is at it again with a cracking promotion on Blu Ray, 4K Blu Ray and DVDs with a Buy 2, save 50% on 1 deal. There’s currently over 1000 qualifying items here, but here’s some of my favorite picks. Seeing the Lord of the Rings trilogy in this is a banging deal, but this offer is also a great way to get your physical media collection off to a healthy start without burning your bank card out.

Woodkid for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach 2LP Vinyl

IGN Live Game Bundle

Officially, it’s called Resident Evil Requiem, but make no mistake: this is the ninth mainline entry into the Resident Evil franchise, and set to star yet another new protagonist: FBI Agent Grace Ashcroft.

While Capcom surprised everyone with a trailer during the Summer Games Fest trailer, we got a chance to get the first hands-on preview with Resident Evil Requiem (aka Resident Evil 9) shortly after the announcement. And fans will be happy to know that Capcom is still keeping the series rooted in its newfound survival horror goodness.

First Person or Third Person?

The first question for everyone is likely to be whether or not Resident Evil Requiem will be in the first-person perspective like past mainline games Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village, or will it be playable in third-person like the Resident Evil remake games? The answer to that is both!

That’s right, from the jump Capcom will let players toggle between first-person and third-person perspectives through the Options menu at any point during the campaign. While it’s not the most seamless way to change perspectives, the fact that Resident Evil Requiem lets you swap perspectives at all without needing to restart feels pretty revolutionary for this series.

And with the perspective swaps comes an interesting dilemma, at least one that I encountered while playing Resident Evil Requiem. But first, let me set the table for you.

Scary Times at the Wrenwood Hotel

The trailer shows agent Grace Ashcroft as she awakes upside down on a scary looking examination table, and this is where the gameplay demo begins. Once free, Grace must navigate what appears to be a medical ward. It’s unclear if this is in the hotel or in a separate location, but like other Resident Evil locations such as Raccoon City Police Department, for example, this medical ward appears to be decorated by someone who loves classical architecture.

Grace is pretty powerless from the get-go, and she’s only able to pick up makeshift weapons like glass bottles to use as projectiles. The narrow hallways are sometimes bathed in blinking red emergency lights, or no lights at all, while some doors only lead to pure darkness. At some point Grace finds a lighter that helps her navigate these previously unlit areas.

Capcom describes Grace as a kind of bookworm – as evinced by the trailer when she’s surrounded by a stack of files. So while she’s had combat training thanks to being in the FBI, she’s not a hardened combat veteran like Leon Kennedy or Jill Valentine. That means she’s more afraid of her nightmarish surroundings, and as you explore the dark hallways, you can hear Grace as she lets out calming breaths to steady her nerves. It does a lot to convey how powerless Grace feels compared to more confident heroes like Leon or Jill, and even helps her stand out against Resident Evil’s last new hero, Ethan Winters, who was stoic to a fault.

I know online there’s been some theorizing about who the true main character of Resident Evil Requiem is. And while Capcom has done bait-and-switches before for Resident Evil protagonists, Grace Ashcroft makes a compelling new hero, whose vulnerability in particular already helps her stand out. I’m curious to learn more about Grace, particularly her connection to the forgotten Resident Evil Outbreak games.

Eventually, Grace will encounter a horrifying new monster that kind of reminds me of the creature from the 2022 horror film Barbarian (Fun fact: Barbarian director Zach Cregger is set to direct the next Resident Evil live-action movie). This monster will stalk Grace through the dark corridors much in the same way as Mr. X or Lady Dimitrescu. Combined with Grace’s palpable fear, running away from this mysterious new monster feels even more terrifying and reminds me almost like the first time I played Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

However, this fear I describe is mostly present if you play the game in first-person perspective. And as Capcom revealed during the preview, you can switch perspectives at any time. When I played the demo I did extensive testing in third-person mode, including while running away from Requiem’s new monster. In third-person I found that the tension of hiding and running to still be there, but the fear factor was replaced somewhat with a more action-like feel. In third-person, running away from the monster felt a little more tactical than survival-horror, though given Grace’s limited arsenal it was no less stressful.

Like I said, with only bottles to throw at the monster, Grace is better off running away, and in third-person Grace will stumble over her own feet while getting away, highlighting her inexperience and adding more stress to the encounter.

Resident Evil Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi says that the game will stay true to the survival horror core, but highlight a kind of thrill to the action – and I feel like these two elements are highlighted whenever you swap perspectives. For exploration and dread, first-person is the way to go, but for monster encounters, third-person feels livelier.

Visually, Capcom maintains the high standards set by all previous Resident Evil games since switching to the RE Engine with particular emphasis added to the contrast between light and dark. There are moments where Grace will turn on a hallway light only for it to cast the smallest light possible, while casting menacing shadows.

With Resident Evil Requiem, you no longer have to make the choice between first-person and third-person perspective, something Capcom flirted with when it released a third-person option as DLC for Resident Evil Village. While the balance between horror and action naturally shifts depending on the perspective, my main takeaway is that Resident Evil Requiem was exciting to play in either mode, and looks to continue Capcom’s strong string of game releases.

Matt Kim is IGN’s Senior Features Editor.

A report has shed new light on Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s tumultuous development, and raised concerns about the future of BioWare.

In January, publisher EA said Dragon Age: The Veilguard had “underperformed” versus its expectations by around 50%, just days after the game’s director Corrine Busche confirmed she was leaving the company. Meanwhile, other BioWare staff who worked on the game were laid off. In the same month, BioWare signalled it had released its final update for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, with no further content announced or expected.

IGN has reported on The Veilguard’s development before, detailing how it was rebooted from a single-player game into a live-service multiplayer game and back again. Now, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier has revealed new insights into the goings on at BioWare during the making of The Veilguard, revealing exactly why it ended up disappointing some fans with a lack of meaningful choice and consequence — key qualities BioWare’s best games are best-known for.

Schreier revealed that many of The Veilguard’s issues were a hangover from the pivot from multiplayer back to single-player RPG, including its tone, dialogue, and lack of tough choices for the player. One tidbit stands out: BioWare was spooked by the failure of Square Enix’s Forspoken, worrying The Veilguard’s now out of fashion snarky tone would fuel a similar fate. So a “belated rewrite” of the game’s dialogue was ordered to “make it sound more serious.” This, in turn, resulted in tonal inconsistencies.

There were also internal concerns about how The Veilguard was being marketed (“an initial trailer made the next Dragon Age seem more like Fortnite than a dark fantasy role-playing game, triggering concerns that EA didn’t know how to market the game”).

EA declined to comment to Bloomberg on the piece.

The upshot of The Veilguard’s failure is that a small team is working on Mass Effect 5, but there are concerns about BioWare’s future. Dragon Age appears dead following the failure of The Veilguard, which when counting Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem is BioWare’s third flop in a row. Could EA close it down?

Bloomberg quoted TD Cowen analyst Doug Creutz as saying that while EA needs more than sports to be successful, “if they shuttered the doors [of BioWare] tomorrow I wouldn’t be totally surprised. It has been over a decade since they produced a hit.”

Check out Bloomberg’s piece for the full story.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.