Category: Video Games

Buying new video games, hardware, and accessories for your preferred console doesn’t need to make a massive dent in your wallet. Deals happen all the time for items like these, so you can save money while investing in your favorite hobby. One of our favorite deals at the moment is this excellent Game Pass deal at Woot, but there are plenty more to check out. Whether you play on PS5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, or PC, you’ll find the very best deals listed below. And if you’ve taken advantage of lots of these deals, see our roundup on game storage ideas.

TL;DR – Our Favorite Video Game Deals

Best Xbox Game Pass Deal

Xbox Game Pass has been discounted once again, providing another opportunity for users to stack their membership at a discounted rate. Woot (an Amazon company) currently has 1-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate codes down to $11.79, and 3-month codes for $34.49. These are significant discounts, and monumentally cheaper than compared to paying the default $17.99/month.

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition (Physical Edition) Preorder

While waiting for Nintendo’s Switch successor, you can enjoy some absolute classics with the Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition. This is a collection of over 150 challenges from 13 different NES games that’s coming exclusively to Switch on July 18, and you can preorder it today. We’ve included links to the physical edition’s preorder below, but if you’re looking for even more information on digital editions, check out our Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition preorder guide.

• Get it at Best Buy – $59.99
• Get it at GameStop – $59.99
• Get it at Target – $59.99

PlayStation Portal Is Finally Back In Stock

There are some amazing PS5 deals to check out right now, but more importantly, the PlayStation Portal, a surprise hit and Sony’s newest handheld device, is back in stock at Best Buy, Walmart, and Amazon from $199. The stock shortage might finally be over for the PS Portal. See our PlayStation Portal review here for even more info on the handheld PS5 accessory.

Best PC Game Deals

If you’re looking for the latest and greatest deals on PC games, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered there as well. Here, you can find some excellent deals on new releases, like Dragon’s Dogma 2, or upcoming releases like Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. You can check out even more of our favorite PC game deals below.

More PC Game Deals:

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Best Physical Game Deals: Prince of Persia is Down to $30

If you’re looking to pick up some physical games for your preferred platform, there are quite a few deals to check out at the moment. One of our favorites is on Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown for PS5, which is down 40% to just $29.98 right now at Amazon. You can see even more of our favorite game deals below.

• Rise of the Ronin (PS5) for $49.99
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (PS5) for $49.99
• Super Mario RPG (Switch) for $39.95
• Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch) for $47.39
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (Xbox Series X) for $27.99
• Starfield (Xbox Series X) for $29.98

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 4080 SUPER Gaming PC for $2,299.99 + 34″ QD OLED Gaming Monitor for $499

Do you prefer to play on a dedicated tower? Navigating the options online can be quite the ordeal. Desk space, portability, and price point are often factors in the decision. However, there are some great PC deals that pop up every now and again that are worth jumping on. One of our favorite deals at the moment is on this Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 4080 SUPER Gaming PC, which is available for $2,299.99, but you can also add on a discounted Alienware AW3423DWF 34″ QD OLED gaming monitor for an extra $499, bringing it up to $2798.99 total. To see even more PC deals, check out our roundup of the best gaming PC deals.

More PC Deals:

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Our Favorite Micro SD Cards for Switch and Steam Deck Are On Sale

The best Switch or Steam Deck SD card should be fast, reliable, and as future-proof as possible. That last one is important, as it was recently revealed a Switch successor will be announced within the fiscal year. Therefore, you’re going to want to opt for the latest in SD card tech, which is a micro SDXC UHS-I U3 A2 V30 memory card. That’s a lot of random letters, so to save you a bit of time we’ve left our top suggestions and deals just below for your convenience. To see even more SD card deals, make sure to check out our roundup of the best SD card deals.

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Our Favorite Power Bank for Steam Deck is Discounted Right Now

Some excellent power banks are discounted at the moment that are perfectly portable and packing plenty of power to keep you going. In particular, the fantastic Anker Prime Power Bank is down to $88.95. This is a great discount on a reliable power bank that likely won’t last long, so grab it at this price while you can!

Meta Quest 2 (128GB) is Down to $199

Amazon is offering a very nice discount at the moment on the 128GB Meta Quest 2. This is one of the best Meta Quest deals available right now, and well worth considering for anyone interested in VR. Normally, this VR headset retails for $249.99, but you can grab it for $199 right now, which is a great price for such a high-quality headset. We gave it a 9/10 in our review back when it was released, stating that it “improves an already amazing VR headset with better resolution, refresh rate, and a lower price tag.”

Perfect PS5 2TB SSD for $149.99 at Amazon

Right now, Amazon has the WD_Black 2TB SN850X SSD available for just $149.99. Normally priced at $189.99, this 2TB SSD features speeds up to 7,300MB/s to ensure your games load as fast as possible. This model will work with PS5, but you will need to purchase a heatsink to go with it (which you can do here for just $9). To see even more of the best SSD deals, check out our roundup of the best PS5 2TB SSD deals. Otherwise, you can see some more of our favorite picks below.

Steam Deck Internal SSD: Big Discount on the WD_BLACK SSD

If a micro SD card deal isn’t floating your boat for Steam Deck, how about a new internal SSD instead? The WD_BLACK 1TB SN770M M.2 2230 NVMe SSD is currently down to $99.99, which is a nice 23% discount from its $129.99 MSRP.

Score 2 Free Months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (New Members Only)

Walmart is now offering two months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for free for any current or new Walmart+ members. If you’re not currently a member of Walmart+, the retailer offers a 30-day free trial (which will make you eligible for the Game Pass offer), alongside plans for $12.95 paid monthly, or $98 paid annually.

For those interested in the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate offer, it is worth qualifying that this code will only apply to those who currently don’t have an active Game Pass Ultimate membership, and Walmart stresses that this is for new members only. If you’re on Game Pass Core, it should be fine to apply to your account. Otherwise, if you’re a current Game Pass Ultimate member, the code won’t be applicable. If you do qualify, it’s a pretty simple process if you’re looking to bag the two-month free trial, here’s how:

Steps:

1. Visit the Walmart+ Offer Page and select ‘Get Offer’ next to the 2 free months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate listing
2. On the ‘Offer Page’ you will see a unique promo code, copy this code and keep a record of it
3. Hit the ‘Redeem Offer’ button on the page to go to the Xbox Site
4. Sign in to Your Account
5. Your promo code will autofill — if it does not then paste/type
6. Redeem your offer and receive your 2 Free Months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
7. Disable auto-renewal afterward to avoid being charged at the end of the trial — this can be located in ‘Services & Subscriptions’ in your Microsoft account. You should also do this for Walmart+ if you used a free trial to access the Game Pass offer

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Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

What matters most to any given shooter can vary wildly. Sometimes it’s the hardcore tactical play of games like Hell Let Loose, or the careful competitive balance in options like Counter-Strike. Other times it’s the rich world and lovable characters that help Overwatch shine. For Star Wars: Hunters, the main focus seems to be on having some quick, lighthearted fun in the Star Wars universe. This free-to-play hero shooter from developer Zynga is an enjoyable way to pass the time with friends, but a subpar competitive scene and uninspired progression rewards leave it too shallow to hold my interest for the long haul.

Star Wars: Hunters doesn’t have the over-the-top destructibility of The Finals, nor the high speed parkour of Apex Legends – it’s a much more conventional hero shooter in the vein of Team Fortress 2, where two teams of bespoke characters (in this case called Hunters) participate in pure player-versus-player shootouts. The most notable way it sets itself apart from other shooters is its Star Wars coat of paint, which it puts to good use. Classic Star Wars music is equal parts nostalgic and exciting, while familiar locations like an Ewok Village or Imperial Starship do a great job of placing the action a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, especially when the blaster bolts start flying and the Wookies start howling.

It feels like the philosophy behind the character designs and writing was “just have fun with it.” For example, one of my favorite heroes is Utooni, who is literally just two Jawa’s in a trenchcoat. Another is J-3DI, a droid simulating the combat style of a Jedi by wielding a lightsaber and using a grappling hook to faux force pull enemies closer. Even the play-by-play announcers contribute to that lighthearted Star Wars vibe – one hilarious bit of commentary talks about the action being sponsored by a new TV series on remembering Alderaan, but makes sure to remind any comedians watching at home that it is always too soon for Alderean jokes.

There are 13 playable characters at launch, with a good mix of unique personalities and abilities across them. Imara Vex, for instance, is a classic Star Wars bounty hunter with skills that focus on mobility and firepower, while Grozz is a massive club-wielding Wookie that lacks range but has an enormous amount of health. That variety of weapons and powers is effective at making each character unique in how they play, which also makes it exciting to swap between them and learn their differences.

Matches, on the other hand, are pretty simple and straightforward, though still enjoyable overall. There are four game types, including a simple team deathmatch option called Squad Battle and a basic point-capture mode called Power Control, and they will all be very familiar to anyone who has played a PvP shooter before. Matches are short, roughly five minutes each, which makes sense since Hunters is only currently available on Nintendo Switch and mobile devices – but that also means they rarely have room for a lot of back and forth swings or come from behind drama. You can still be strategic and do things like hide healers behind tankier units, but there simply isn’t a lot of time for counter-strategies to play out. This is speed checkers, not chess.

That may sound overly simplistic, but Hunters manages to be a lot of fun by still having nuance where it counts. Each character generally falls into a Tank, Damage, or Support archetype – they are more effective when used in their assigned roles, but anyone can start blasting (or smashing) and knock out some opponents. That strikes a great middle ground of being balanced enough that skilled play will win most fights, but loose enough with abilities and supers that anyone can rack up kills in quick bursts of chaos.

Playing enough casual matches will eventually unlock a Ranked playlist. This features all the same maps and game modes, but with a sweatier emphasis on winning, as the results now determine whether you move up or down the rankings from Bronzium to Kyber tiers). Unfortunately, this tends to funnel competitive teams toward some specific team compositions, as tightly grouped, tank-heavy squads currently dominate the battlefield. Sentinel in particular, with his shield, heavy repeater, and ability to knock enemies off of their feet, is almost mandatory, for example. Having to choose between the joy of wielding a lightsaber and having a realistic shot at beating a good team is a shame.

At least either option is more fun with a full squad of buddies – I just wish the Social menu, where you find friends and create teams, wasn’t locked until you’ve completed three tutorial matches and eight real games after that. “Sorry this is proving to be a pain” is an unfortunate thing to have to say when you are trying to play some quick rounds with a friend who is just starting out. It’s an unfortunate barrier, because once you can play with friends, it is a joy to do so. I appreciate how simple it is to form squads (you know, once it lets you at all), and it’s a hilarious good time to shout at your tank friend to stand still so you can shoot him full of health-restoring needles during a chaotic battle.

Because Hunters is free-to-play, as is often the case, it has a mix of free and premium currencies that dictate a lot of the progress you’ll make towards unlockables and vanity items. New characters are unlocked using Crystals, which are earned in small amounts after each match, but you can (of course) expedite the process by buying them outright for real money. In the early going, new Hunters become available at a reasonable clip, but it does slow down with each one you purchase. By the time you unlock half the roster, it slows to a painful crawl. I understand the value of giving players something to strive toward, but at a certain point it starts to feel more coercive than aspirational, which is a problem.

Meanwhile, Credits are used on cosmetic items and are exclusively free, earned by playing matches and completing additional challenges. I appreciate the way your list of challenges is constantly being pecked away at in the background, giving me some added incentive to mix up who I played as since many of them focus on dealing damage with specific characters. But it’s too bad there are so few things you can actually buy with Credits. It’s normal to see dozens of items for sale on the front page of the shop, with only a few that can be purchased with Credits as opposed to Crystals, which makes them a bit pointless in practice.

In terms of XP, it comes in two forms. First, there’s Fame, which applies to specific Hunters. Like Credits, playing matches and checking off challenges adds Fame to a specific character, and every level up brings with it a reward. Some are purely cosmetic, like weapon skins and stickers. Others upgrade skills in small but meaningful ways: When Diago the Sharpshooter hits Fame level 2, for example, the damage to his proximity mines increases. The amount is small enough to not make higher level characters outright overpowered, but still substantial enough that leveling up feels exciting. It’s a good mix, and having a path for each Hunter to climb feels like a solid overall goal to work on for the short term, but the unremarkable weapons skins and stickers aren’t nearly as interesting.

Lastly, there’s the Arena Pass, a straightforward battle pass that rewards Credits, Crystals, and cosmetic items. Unfortunately, the rewards just aren’t very appealing. Turning my gun a different color isn’t exciting, and the amount of Crystals you get are too little to make a dent in the costs to expedite unlocking new characters. Annoyingly, most levels won’t even get you anything unless you pay around $10 USD for the All-Access pass. This is also how you unlock Aran Tal, a damage focused Mandalorian Hunter that is exclusive to All-Access pass holders. It’s another area where Star Wars: Hunters straddles the line between persuasive and problematic monetization.

At least it’s not a terribly complicated progression economy, but it can sometimes feel like it thanks to a really rough interface between matches. The home screen is jarringly overloaded, with far too many windows, tabs, and submenus. Claiming rewards for progress can happen in several different places, often in menus within menus within menus. It’s especially tough because the UI only subtly highlights whatever you have selected, which can make it hard to see what you’re actually about to click.

Sony has announced the new PlayStation Plus additions for June 2024, revealing the list of new games for Extra and Premium subscribers to enjoy starting next week.

As promised in a PlayStation.Blog post, the titles, which include highlights like Monster Hunter Rise, Crusader Kings 3, and a selection of Lego games, will be available on June 18. It’s a group of offerings that range from new releases to older PlayStation classics, totaling in 14 new games for the PlayStation Plus catalog.

Options for subscribers also include sports titles like Football Manager 2024 as well as PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions of 2006’s PSP spinoff, Daxter. You can see the full list of titles below:

PlayStation Plus Games Catalog Additions for June 2024

• Monster Hunter Rise | PS4, PS5
• Football Manager 2024 | PS5
• Crusader Kings 3 | PS5
• Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 6 | PS4, PS5
• After Us | PS5
• Anno 1800 | PS5
• Police Simulator: Patrol Officers | PS4, PS5
• Far Cry 4 | PS4
• LEGO The Hobbit | PS4
• LEGO The Incredibles | PS4

PlayStation Plus PS VR2 Games Catalog Additions for June 2024

• Kayak VR: Mirage | PS VR 2

PlayStation Plus Classic Games Catalog Additions for June 2024

• LEGO Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy | PS4, PS5
• Ghosthunter | PS4, PS5
• Daxter | PS4, PS5

Monster Hunter Rise is Capcom’s most recent entry in its massively popular action RPG franchise. It originally launched for Nintendo Switch in 2021 but eventually came to PlayStation and Xbox consoles in 2023. We gave it an 8/10 in our review, and with Monster Hunter Wilds on the horizon, now is the perfect time to jump into the series.

Football Manager 2024 is Sega’s 2023 installment in its sports management series. For more, you can watch its announcement trailer here.

In our 10/10 review of Crusader Kings 3, we said, “Crusader King 3 takes the throne as the new king of historical strategy by expanding on and deepening the best parts of what made its predecessor memorable and unique.”

Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 6 is Milestone’s 2023 take on the adrenaline-pumping motocross series. We listed it as one of the biggest video game releases in March of last year. For more you can watch its announcement trailer here.

We called After Us “mediocre,” giving it a 5/10 in our review. At the time, we said, “After Us has a wordless story that doesn’t effectively communicate its environmentalist themes and platforming that frustrates with unreliable controls, but it does look fantastic.”

Anno 1800 is Ubisoft’s 2019 city-building strategy sim set during the Industrial Revolution. We gave it an 8.1/10 in our review, saying, “Anno 1800 returns to the roots of the real-time colony-builder series and delivers intimidatingly complex gameplay that’s as marvelous as it is beautiful.”

Police Simulator: Patrol Officers launched in 2022 and comes from developer Aesir Interactive and publisher Astragon Entertainment. For more you can watch its reveal trailer here.

Far Cry 4 followed up Ubisoft’s trend-setting Far Cry 3 with an action-adventure story set in the snowy open world of Kyrat. It had a lot to live up to, but we still managed to give it an 8.5/10 in our review back in 2014. At the time, we said, “Far Cry 4 has weak characters, but its campaign, co-op, and competitive multiplayer feature incredibly fun freedom.”

LEGO The Hobbit is TT Games’ 2014 fantasy brick-building spinoff and takes players into a more family friendly version of Bilbo Baggins’ journey through Middle-earth. We called it a “fun and charming extension” of The Hobbit films in our 7.4/10 review.

Like its Hobbit-centered counterpart, LEGO The Incredibles follows Disney and Pixar’s family-focused superhero film. The TT Games release launched in 2018, and you can learn more about how it brought the film into the world of LEGO video games by watching its launch trailer here.

Kayak VR: Mirage gives PS VR 2 owners unique outdoor environments to race and explore through. Its free roam mode also gives players the option to soak in all of the locations it has to offer at their own pace.

Walmart is currently offering a PlayStation 5 Slim Disc Edition Console bundled with the Spider-Man 2 game for only $449 shipped. This was the same deal we saw back during Black Friday, but it’s currently unavailable everywhere else. Some merchants have the PS5 console for $450, but doesn’t include the game.

PS5 Slim Spider-Man 2 Disc Edition Console for $449

The PS5 Slim was release in November 2023. Compared to the original PlayStation 5 console, it’s 30% smaller in volume and 18% lighter. The design is a bit different too; the console is now clad in four separate cover panels, the two top halves are glossy white and the bottom halves are matte like the original. The specs under the hood are identical. Like the original PS5, the PS5 Slim can be upgraded with an M.2 SSD. A horizontal stand is included. You’d have to buy a vertical stand separately, however you might not need it because the PS5 Slim can stand on its own.

The best thing about this new PS5 Slim bundle is that you get a copy of the Spider-Man 2 game for free. This is an excellent PS5 exclusive and we gave it an 8/10 in our review.

Looking for more deals on accessorie sand games? Check out the best PS5 deals today.