I spent a good chunk of my weekend combing through GPU deals like these. I don’t really need a new graphics card, but seeing prices drop by almost half gets my curiosity going. It’s not even just the big names like the RTX 5090 or the Radeon RX 7900 XT, even refurbished cards look tempting when they’re going for hundreds less. I know some folks hesitate with renewed products, but I’ve had solid luck so far. Last year, I grabbed a renewed RTX 4070 super and it’s been running steady since. I guess it’s that mix of curiosity and trying not to miss out that keeps me scrolling through these lists. Here’s the best deals I can find for your latest rig upgrade:
Skull & Co. released a very nice NeoGrip for the OLED Switch back in 2021, which we reviewed at the time, coming away with the impression that, beyond a fiddly holding tab that could potentially get lost, the grips helped make long portable sessions much more comfortable.
Xbox Insiders with Game Pass Ultimate – Stream Your Own Game on the Xbox PC app
Anu Reddy, Senior Product Manager, Xbox Platform
Exciting updates for PC players! Starting today, Xbox Insiders in the PC Gaming Preview who are also Game Pass Ultimate members can stream select console games they own beyond the Game Pass catalog on the Xbox PC app in the 28 countries where Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) is supported.
Even better, this feature includes console-only games that previously couldn’t be played using the Xbox PC app. Just head to the Cloud Gaming section in the Xbox PC app, look for the Stream your own game catalog, choose a supported title you own, and start playing instantly. You can see the full list of over 250+ supported games here. You can expect even more games including console-only games and Xbox Play Anywhere titles to be added to the collection over time. You choose how and where to play. We’re just making it easier to get there—with more flexibility, more access, and more games at your fingertips.
How to Get Xbox Insider Support and Share Your Feedback
We want to thank all the Xbox Insiders for the feedback you share with us. Your feedback is a key part of our process. If you’re an Xbox Insider looking for support, please join our community on the Xbox Insider subreddit. Official Xbox staff, moderators, and fellow Xbox Insiders are there to help. We recommend adding to threads with the same topic before posting a brand new one. This helps us support you the best we can!
If you aren’t part of the Xbox Insider Program yet and want to help create the future of Xbox and get early access to new features, join the Program today by downloading the Xbox Insider Hub for Xbox Series X|S & Xbox One or Windows PC. For more information on the Xbox Insider Program, follow us on Twitter at @XboxInsider and keep an eye on this blog for all the latest news.
For more information: follow us on X/Twitter at @XboxInsider and this blog for announcements and more. And feel free to interact with the community on the Xbox Insider SubReddit.
Hello PlayStation readers! I’m Chris Darril, creator of Bye Sweet Carole and founder of Little Sewing Machine.
Bye Sweet Carole is a special project, one that reimagines the animation that inspired me in childhood, interwoven with homages to video games that today’s players can relate to. Before the game launches on PlayStation, it’s my pleasure to introduce the first and exclusive look at The French, a mysterious character found sneaking into Bunny Hall by Lana. They seem to have an interest in heat and flames — could this be a clue to Carole’s disappearance?
Introducing The French
As mysterious as they look, this is clearly someone who has shared proximity with Carole. Eyes cast down, but what did they see? What intentions do they hide? Is there a secret in the burning flames they hover around? Players will find out alongside Lana soon enough.
Drawing inspiration for a modern fairytale
Shifting from making films to video games has been a life-changing experience. Carole started off as a mistake: one day, while playing with my unfinished Remothered prototype in RPG Maker, I created a dreamy, cell-shaded protagonist. Instantly, the image reminded me of those early popular animated films featuring pastel-coloured princesses against dark backdrops.
Connecting this visual concept to video games was the first hurdle: titles like Resident Evil on the first PlayStation, Clock Tower, and Gris were all foundational sources of gameplay inspiration. Their slow, measured approach to storytelling and unique atmospheres informed our initial development, refined with modern messaging designed to evoke the same child-like awe in a now fully-grown video game player today.
Download the image
Moving pictures to interactive pictures
As game designers, we are already directors, and the “cinematography” of video games is equally important. The presentation of a world makes an impact on the audience, and in both cinema and games, technology brings the storytelling to life. You’ll always meet technological limitations, so remaining fluid is absolutely critical in the development stage.
You start with the concept, then jump to the storyboard, then the rough animation, clean-up, and then the colors. Exporting animation happens differently if it’s a cutscene, a video, or eventually a game scene, so you have to find people just to export each animation. As with filmmaking, collaboration is key.
The art & artists behind Bye Sweet Carole
The animation of Bye Sweet Carole was hand-drawn, frame by frame. Sacrificing even just one frame means the magic of the old-fashioned animation style is lost. Computers made the production much smoother, but we made certain that the tangible expression of the animation style is always felt when playing the game. PlayStation players will be able to see the true labour of love in full 4K display.
We’ve also ensured that the visual and audio components work in harmony. The soundtrack was composed by Luca Balboni, a frequent collaborator. The large cast of characters will be fully voiced by Rossa Caputo in the Italian dub, Lani Minella (voice of the iconic Infected of The Last of Us), and Elsie Lovelock as our protagonist Lana.
Conclusion
Doing something that by today’s standards is considered “old school” wasn’t easy, and required a huge learning curve. On behalf of the entire team, we hope all players will enjoy meeting The French and experiencing Bye Sweet Carole later this year by purchasing the game from PlayStation Store or at their favourite retailer. We aspire for the game to be a modern fairytale, one that feels like a deep-seated memory: sad, yet peaceful, and long-lasting. It’s the best, most ambitious game I’ve ever worked on, and for those that missed it, our most recent trailer is a fantastic place to start.
There is one more mystery I can shed light on today, and that is confirming that Bye Sweet Carole is available from major retailers on discs. Today, players who want to experience the nostalgia of physical pieces of media inspired by nostalgia can pre-order a copy now in many regions and storefronts. Of course, the PlayStation Store is always open for those that appreciate modern accessibility of digital copies.
We still have several surprises to reveal about Bye Sweet Carole, so stay tuned—we’re incredibly excited to bring this love letter to life.
The Sonic the Hedgehog crossover with Magic: The Gathering’s boutique Secret Lair drops went live yesterday, and it was predictably popular. Eager fans swarmed the site, and now, scalpers are already selling some of the product online at a mark-up.
Secret Lair is Magic: The Gathering’s special collection of rare and unique cards, with either brand-new designs or special reprints of classic cards. For Sonic, the Blue Blur got three different sets of cards. The Friends & Foes collection featured new cards that could, presumably, be Commanders for Sonic-focused Commander decks, like Knuckles, Amy, Dr. Eggman, and Shadow. Turbo Gear and Chasing Adventure, meanwhile, were reprints of cards like Lightning Greaves and Unexpected Windfall with Sonic-styled card art.
When the set went live at 9am PT yesterday, a queue formed and quickly ramped up. There were limits in place, presumably to prevent people from mass-purchasing and flipping the goods. Still, it shouldn’t be a surprise that a few card sets have found their way onto eBay already, at a marked-up price.
The Turbo Gear Foil Edition, for example, is being listed at $70 (or best offer) on eBay with a preorder/presale marker, as the actual Secret Lair cards have not shipped yet. For comparison, the Secret Lair shop price for this foil set is $39.99.
More expensive options, like the entire Sonic collection sans foil, are going for $349.99 (or best offer), and some listings put individual collections like the Friends & Foes at $80 or more.
The strange part is that while the Secret Lair vault will eventually run dry, and some parts of the collection have already gone down to low or no stock, other card sets are still available. As of this writing, the Friends & Foes Foil Edition is still available for $49.99. It won’t always be available, but it’s somehow both surprising and not surprising these sets are already getting flipped.
Switch 2 blockbuster Donkey Kong Bananza will be something of a template for the character’s future 3D games, Nintendo has said, splitting DK’s appearances in 2D and 3D titles.
Similar to how Mario still appears in both 2D and 3D installments — the most recent of each being Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Super Mario Odyssey, respectively — Nintendo now sees a similar delineation in its plans for its most prominent ape.
Expanding on comments previously made to IGN about Bananza’s origins, producer Kenta Motokura has said that the game’s development began when Nintendo legend Yoshiaki Koizumi asked his 3D Mario team to work its magic making a 3D DK game instead.
“With an eye to expanding the Donkey Kong franchise further, I’d like the team that’s been working on 3D Mario games to create a 3D Donkey Kong game,” Motokura quoted Koizumi as saying, as part of a new Ask the Developer Q&A. It was this instruction, combined with ongoing experimentation into voxel-based destruction, that led to Donkey Kong Bananza’s genesis.
Asked how Bananza sits alongside other Donkey Kong games, Motokura continued by saying that the 3D Mario team considered this project to epitomise a new 3D Donkey Kong “branch”, separate to the DK’s 2D platformers — leaving the door open to both kinds of games still existing in future.
“In a long-running series, novelty and continuity are both important, but we wanted this title to fully convey the appeal of Donkey Kong as a character,” Motokura said. “Meanwhile, we thought that by creating something new, leveraging our experience developing 3D Mario games, we’d have the opportunity to create two separate branches – 2D Donkey Kong and 3D Donkey Kong – just as we did with Mario games.
“So, keeping in mind that this game will come to symbolise 3D Donkey Kong, and with the theme of bringing Donkey Kong’s strengths and new actions to the forefront, we thought the concept of ‘destruction’ would be a good fit.”
Finally, Motokura discussed Nintendo’s recent Donkey Kong redesign in more detail, and said that it was the development of Bananza which spearheaded the company’s search for a new DK look.
“Donkey Kong Bananza sparked the creation of a design which I think better conveys the new Donkey Kong,” Motokura said, noting that Nintendo’s new ‘standard’ DK was actually another attempt to recapture the character’s original design, drawn by Shigeru Miyamoto for the Donkey Kong arcade game.
“Outside of this game, Donkey Kong has recently appeared in The Super Mario Bros. Movie released in 2023 and in Mario Kart World, but there’s a basic character design which provided the foundation for those versions of Donkey Kong,” Motokura concluded. “That basic Donkey Kong design has been completely revamped. While overhauling the design, we returned to where it had all started. We took Miyamoto-san’s original Donkey Kong as the basis, adding design elements from Donkey Kong Bananza here and there.”
What’s next for Donkey Kong? Well, it certainly sounds like the door is being left open for the character to reappear in further 2D games in future. And then there’s the intriguing copyright listing for an unannounced Donkey Kong movie, spotted by Nintendo fans earlier this week. It seems like there’s plenty in store for DK to come.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
I recently ripped out my Steam Deck’s SSD and enthusiastically slapped in a WD Black SN770M 2TB mini SSD, and it’s easily the smartest thing I’ve done with it that didn’t involve tinkering around in desktop mode.
In a new Ask the Developer feature, fresh screenshots have been shared that shows the visual difference between Switch 1 and Switch 2 for Bananza, with Kenta Motokura, Wataru Tanaka, and Daisuke Watanabe all providing more context as to why development was shifted over to Nintendo’s new console.
Coming to Game Pass: Grounded 2 (Game Preview), Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, Farming Simulator 25, and More
Megan Spurr, Senior Community Lead, Xbox Game Pass
Ride around on your bike, your tractor, a bug in the park, or with your friendly neighborhood RoboCop in the next batch of games coming to your download queue. However you’re getting around, we have some games for you!
Available Today
High On Life (Cloud, Console, and PC) Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard
High On Life returns to Game Pass today! Humanity is threatened by an alien cartel who wants to use them as drugs. It is up to you to rescue and partner with charismatic guns to take down Garmantuous and his gang to save the world!
Coming Soon
RoboCop: Rogue City (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – July 17 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard
A new guy is in town, and with him, a wave of crime floods into Old Detroit. With chaos on the streets, it’s up to you to restore order in this explosive first-person adventure. Become the iconic, part man, part machine, RoboCop, and fulfil your prime directives: protect the innocent and uphold the law.
My Friendly Neighborhood (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 17 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Something is amiss with everyone’s favorite Saturday morning puppet show! For years, the colorful cast of The Friendly Neighborhood delighted audiences across the globe with their cooky capers and educational adventures. Play as Gordon, a repairman sent to find the underlying cause of this disturbing dilemma. Fend off puppets and solve puzzles in this survival horror adventure.
Back to the Dawn (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 18 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
A gripping prison escape RPG woven with crime, corruption, and hidden agendas. Step into a maximum-security facility where every inmate has a past—and a plan. You’ll have to fight to survive, investigate, and ultimately break free before the time runs out.
Abiotic Factor (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – July 22 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Abiotic Factor is a survival crafting experience for one to six players set in the depths of an underground research facility. Caught between paranormal containment failure, a military crusade, and chaos from a dozen realms, the world’s greatest minds must survive against the universe’s biggest threats.
Wheel World (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – July 23 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Available on day one with Game Pass! You are Kat, a young cyclist with one mission: save Wheel World from total collapse. Explore a stunning open world filled with impressive vistas, hidden secrets, and races that will test your skills. Customize your bike with an endless array of parts, from sleek speedsters to off-road beasts — there’s no limit to how you can ride.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – July 24 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Available on day one with Game Pass! Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a Souls-like action RPG set in the dark final days of the Ming Dynasty. Play as Wuchang, a pirate warrior battling memory loss and a deadly curse, as you master brutal combat, evolve your skills, and uncover the truth behind a world consumed by chaos.
Grounded 2 (Game Preview) (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – July 29 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Available on day one with Game Pass! Shrunk again, but the world is much larger. Survive a sprawling open world alone or in co-op with friends. Craft weapons, forge armor, and build bases while exploring the park on your trusty Buggy mounts. Unravel hidden mysteries and face unexpected threats. But something else is out there — and it hasn’t forgotten you.
Farming Simulator 25 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – August 1 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard
Farming Simulator 25 invites you to join the rewarding farm life. Build a farm along winding rivers and historic grain elevators in North America, surrounded by ponds in Central Europe, or in a lush East Asian landscape filled with rice paddies near a neon-lit port city. Whether you build your legacy single-handedly or cooperatively in multiplayer – it’s your farm, you decide!
In-Game Benefits
Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members get access to these in-game benefits with your membership. Benefits can vary by game, region, and time.
Fragpunk: Unlock Lancers & Weapon Skins (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 30 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Unlock all current Lancers and Groovy Night Series Weapon Skin Bundle Access, including five extreme tier (with Model VFX, Kill VFX and Skin Animation) weapon skins! Get day-one access to every new Lancer after release, and the Extreme Skin Bundle refreshes every 4 months. Let’s break the rules together!
Asphalt Legends Unite: Exclusive Monthly Gift Bundle (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 30 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Unlock the Acura NSX GT3 Evo car, 10 card packs, and 500,000 credits to upgrade your collection and take the lead on the track! This benefit requires Asphalt Legends Unite to use.
Game Pass Ultimate Perks
Super Animal Royale: Summer Perks Bundle – Available now Unlock the Super Animal Royale Summer Xbox Perks Bundle to claim your place at the top of the food chain with style this summer season! –
Apex Legends: Prodigy Supercharge Pack – Available now Join the Apex Games ready for battle with the Prodigy Supercharge Pack. This collection of content will trick out specific weapons and Legends in special gear. This pack includes two character skins (Fuse and Revenant), two weapon skins (Volt SMG and Charge Rifle), and two banners (Fuse and Revenant).
Leaving July 31
The following games are leaving the Game Pass library soon. Jump back in before they go or use your membership discount to save up to 20% on your purchase to keep them in your library.
Gigantic (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank (Cloud, Console, and PC)
We’re adding more games over time to the Stream Your Own Game collection for Game Pass Ultimate members. Visit Xbox.com/Play to see the list of available cloud playable games to stream on supported devices if you own them.
I’m excited to see you all in the park in Grounded 2, and maybe I’ll even be brave enough to turn off arachnophobia mode (unlikely!). Until next time, we’ll chat with you over at Game Pass, PC Game Pass, or Xbox. Cheers friends!