Zelda and Sonic also featured.
Super Mario Party Jamboree got off to a strong last month in the UK and Japan, and we’ve now got an update from Circana’s executive director and video game industry analyst Mat Piscatella about how it performed in the US.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Pre-orders open soon.
First 4 Figures has released all sorts of high-quality statues and with this in mind, it’s now teasing a “sneak peek” of its latest Banjo-Kazooie figure.
This one is based on the transformation “Washer Banjo” and pre-orders will be opening in 10 days on 3rd December 2024. If you sign up to the First 4 Figures email, you can also get $10 off the regular price.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
If you enjoy fantasy or RPGs, there is a good chance a Final Fantasy game is on your ‘best’ list. Whether you like the newest remake or like delving into the originals, there is a lot to like, and the Final Fantasy Anniversary Collection is on sale right now, helping you save a whopping $20 on six of the most influential FF games ever made.
Nintendo Switch
PS4
My favorites from this list are IV and VI. I’m not sure what that means about me, that if you put a V and an I in the title of a Final Fantasy game, I’m inclined to like it (particularly because I also enjoy VII, VIII, and XVI). If you want more game deals, check out our hub of the best PS5 Game Deals.
Speaking of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (which is fantastic) is at its lowest price ever. If you prefer the FromSoftware brand of RPGs, Elden Ring is too, which gives you an easy way to enjoy this year’s Shadow Of the Erdtree DLC, which was nominated for Game Of The Year at The Game Awards, and is also discounted right now.
If you don’t have a PlayStation 5 yet, you can grab a deal on a PS5 now, and the PSVR 2 Horizon: Call of the Mountain bundle is $250 off. If you, like me, prefer to game on the go, there are some great deals on PC handhelds, too.
For more Black Friday deals, be sure to check out the Best PlayStation Black Friday deals and our hefty hub of Amazon deals already available. The best Walmart deals are also on our radar, and we’re tracking them alongside Target sales and Best Buy deals. For the laundry list of all the best deals from across the web, we have our Black Friday megahub.
We’re in the home stretch: Black Friday falls on November 29 this year. All month long, retailers have been rolling out sales, ramping up to massive discounts on Black Friday and through the weekend into Cyber Monday. There are already some fantastic deals available on PS5 consoles (including PSVR2) and controllers, video games for all platforms, AirPods Pro, and tons more.
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Brian Barnett writes reviews, guides, features, & more for IGN, GameSpot, & Kotaku. You can get more than your fair share of him on Bluesky & Backloggd, & enjoy his absurd video game talk show, The Platformers, on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.
The weekend is officially here, and we’ve rounded up the best deals you can find! Discover the best deals for Saturday, November 23, below:
Astro Bot is on sale for the first time since launch, and there has never been a better time to pick up one of the PlayStation 5’s best games. Building off Astro’s Playroom, Astro Bot features many new abilities and bosses to fight, with over 300 bots to rescue across the galaxy. You’ll find planets modeled after beloved PlayStation games like Ape Escape and Uncharted, and even surprise third-party bots like Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil 2.
One of the biggest 2023 games has hit a new all-time low price just ahead of Black Friday! Final Fantasy XVI follows Clive Rosfield on his journey to avenge his brother. For the first time in the Final Fantasy series, you can become a summon, known as Eikons in this world. With spectacular boss battles and an engaging story, Final Fantasy XVI is an excellent time, especially for $24.99.
There are many PlayStation 5 console bundles on sale today, with the start of early Black Friday deals, making this the best time of 2024 to pick up a new console. You can purchase a PlayStation 5 Digital Edition for $374.99, saving $25 and scoring a free game at no extra cost. Or, you can opt for the PlayStation 5 Disc Console, which is priced at $424.99. Sony also has the PlayStation VR 2 on sale today, with the Horizon Call of the Mountain Bundle priced at $349.99 at Best Buy.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was one of 2024’s biggest games, continuing the story from 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake. Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret, and Red XIII begin their journey outside Midgar, meeting characters like Yuffie, Vincent, and Cid alongside the way. This experience offers well over 100 hours of content, with 36 sidequests and a main story over 40 hours long. Plus, there are dozens of minigames to discover.
This Black Friday, Stellar Blade is on sale for the first time since launch. This action game from Shift Up has been one of the most popular games of the year. Just last week, new Nier: Automata DLC was released, which included new outfits inspired by A2, 2B, and Emil. In our 7/10 review, we stated “Stellar Blade stands out as a gorgeous and well-crafted action game with very impressive strengths and very clear weaknesses.”
Metaphor: ReFantazio is the latest game from Persona 3, 4, and 5 Director Katsura Hashino and the team at Atlus’ Studio Zero. For the first time since launch, you can score the game at a discount, saving $20 this Black Friday. In our 9/10 review, we stated, “Refining the Atlus RPG formula of weaving tough turn-based combat into compelling social sim mechanics, Metaphor: ReFantazio doesn’t just send a powerful message across its political drama, it becomes a beautiful expression of the real impact storytelling can have on all of us.”
The SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless Headset is perfect for any PC or PlayStation gamer. This model includes a wireless base station, which allows you to connect two devices at once and simultaneously switch between them. Additionally, the Arctis Pro Wireless supports hot-swappable batteries, so you can swap and continue playing with no downtime needed for charging.
Elden Ring is on sale for an all-time low price today at Amazon, with PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox copies available for $19.99. Additionally, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Edition is $30 off. This package includes the base game and the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. In our 10/10 review, we said “Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path.”
Best Buy has the Ghost Cipher Special Edition Xbox Controller for just $49.99 today. This is one of the best Xbox controllers you can buy, as it offers a unique design and maximum comfort. Not only can you use this controller with Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, but you can also pair it with a PC or mobile device. With its transparent design, this is sure to be a talking point for any Xbox fan.
Tekken 8 is available for just $29.99 this weekend. This entry brings over 34 playable characters, new stages, and many customization options. In our 9/10 review, we stated Tekken 8 is “an amazing new entry in the long-running series.”
Right now, you can save over 50% off the JBL Quantum 360 Wireless Gaming Headset. This headset features a detachable boom mic, memory foam ear cushions, and a 22 hour battery life. Plus, there is a game audio / voice chat control on the side, allowing you to get a perfect balance between the two. Both the Xbox and PlayStation editions of the headset are available on sale, so you can pick accordingly depending on your console of choice.
The Apple iPad can be an incredibly useful device if you’re needing something bigger than a phone. Powered by the A14 Bionic, you can sketch, create presentations, and watch content all day long, with up to 10 hours of battery life supported. The 10th Generation iPad includes support for Touch ID, Apple Pencil, Magic Keyboard Folio, and more.
If you’ve been waiting to score some great deals on games to play on your PlayStation 5, now’s the season to do it. Amazon’s Black Friday Week sales have some appealing offers on newer games, including the highly enjoyable Astro Bot. Astro Bot is discounted by $10 in its first sale since release. Bring home this delightful game and explore a world full of video game character cameos (including a Guilty Badguy I’m partial to), visually striking environments, and competitive leaderboards for challenge stages.
If you’re looking for more game deals, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (which is fantastic) is at its lowest price ever, Elden Ring did too, and the PSVR 2 Horizon: Call of the Mountain bundle is $250 off.
In our 9/10 review from earlier this year, Simon Cardy wrote: “A collection of endlessly inventive levels and fantastically fun abilities, it delivers joy in spades, never once becoming even remotely dull or repetitive. And while you don’t need a long history with Sony systems to enjoy it, it is especially a delight for those with a piece of PlayStation in their heart as a treasure trove full of playable nostalgia awaits. Taking the PS5 marketing mantra that ‘play has no limits’ more seriously than you’d expect, Team Asobi has crafted a mascot platformer that goes near enough toe-to-toe with Nintendo’s best efforts, and that’s about as high a compliment as I can give it.”
For more Black Friday goodies, be sure to check out the Best PS5 Game Deals and our hub of other Amazon deals already available. If you’ve been looking to score a great gaming PC deal, Black Friday is one of the best times to shop for them, and we’ve gathered a ton from AlienWare, HP, and more to help you out.
For a peek at what deals are still to come, check out the Target hub, the Best Buy deals already going, and the best LEGO deals we’ve found so far. For the laundry list of all the best deals from across the web, we have our Black Friday megahub.
We’re in the home stretch: Black Friday falls on November 29 this year. All month long, retailers have been rolling out sales, ramping up to massive discounts on Black Friday and through the weekend into Cyber Monday. There are already some fantastic deals available on PS5 consoles (including PSVR2) and controllers, video games for all platforms, AirPods Pro, and tons more.
Brian Barnett writes reviews, guides, features, & more for IGN, GameSpot, & Kotaku. You can get more than your fair share of him on Bluesky & Backloggd, & enjoy his absurd video game talk show, The Platformers, on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.
Dual-screen dilemma.
This week saw the Nintendo DS turn 20. Naturally, such an anniversary has got us thinking about the unstoppable passage of time delightful dual-screen once again, and more than a few of us have dusted off our old clamshells for a quick blast through some of our favourites.
But, being the needy gamers that we are, ever desperate to pay £50 for a quick hit of nostalgia, the week’s replays have reminded us just how many classic titles are still trapped on the handheld of days gone by. The original Professor Layton trilogy, Rhythm Heaven, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, a boatload of Mario & Luigi RPGs, the list of DS-locked titles goes on. Heck, even Nintendogs is stuck on the DS, and that was one popular puppy!
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
“No matter what you put in a game, it will get found”.
Who the heck spends seven years making a video game about animals — literally, just animals?
The game in question, Animal Well, isn’t a farm game, it’s not a virtual pet game, it’s not even some kind of cosy simulator. On top of that, if you were only handed the back-of-the-box descriptors — “Metroidvania,” “pixel-art,” “retro-inspired” — it might quickly slide out of your brain, given how it sounds indistinguishable from most rank-and-file indie games.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
No luck Questing those Dragons, then?
The weekend is finally upon us, so it’s time to share what we gamers are all up to in our downtime. Before we get into it, though, let’s take a look at what went down this week.
The big news this week was the 20th anniversary of the Nintendo DS. Yes, twenty. To celebrate, we asked you for your top five DS games, shared some of our own, looked back at the ugly prototype, and put our knowledge to the test with a quiz.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Update: New sales data has been shared.
Sega this week released Sonic X Shadow Generations on the Switch and multiple other platforms. It’s a remaster of the 2011 title Sonic Generations and includes a brand new campaign starring Shadow the Hedgehog.
It seems the game has got off to a solid start with Sega revealing it’s surpassed one million sales in its opening weekend:
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Anime Vanguards Update 1.5 is now available for Roblox players, bringing new additions like Familiars, new Units, an Occult Event, and more.
The popular Roblox game’s latest update arrived from developer Kitawari today, further fleshing out the anime crossover experience with new ways to play and a batch of new customization options. Patch notes detail additions that mostly feature new toys to play with, but there’s also a solid list of improvements and bug fixes to help smoothen out the gameplay and visuals, too.
The Anime Vanguards Occult Event tops the list of new content and comes with an Occult Dungeon, a Talismans mechanic, Spirit Wisps, and a host of New Modifiers. There’s also an Occult Shop to visit, an Occult Banner, and New Bundles. However, Kitawari noted in a message on Discord that players will need to be level 20 in order to participate in the event.
While past updates have introduced characters inspired by popular anime like Naruto, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Dragon Ball, Update 1.5 pulls from a more recent hit: Dandadan. New units that pull from the show include Divalo (Vanguard), Saiko (Exclusive), Okorun (Exclusive), Pweeny (Exclusive), and Mimi (Exclusive). A skin system will allow players to customize existing Units with new outfits and can be acquired from the Occult Banner. Meanwhile, Kitawari says Familiars help out your Unit by providing them with “substantial buffs.”
Anime Vanguards released in September and has continued to attract Roblox players for months. Although momentum has largely been maintained since launch, its development has not been without the occasional speedbump. In June, the developers behind the anime-inspired adventure addressed concerns that updates would be few and far between, promising to keep up communication as development continued. Update 1.5 proves that there is much more in store, though it’s unclear when the next update might arrive.
In the meantime, you can keep up with our running list of all of the available Anime Vanguards codes here. Players can redeem codes by clicking on the Codes icon and then paste their codes in the “Enter Code” field. For everything included in today’s update, you can read the full patch notes below.
ADDITIONS
IMPROVEMENTS
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.
