Category: IGN

This deal will not last! Dell is offering the Xbox Series X gaming console for only $449.99. That’s 10% off the normal $500 cost. For most people, this will be the best deal you’ll find on an Xbox Series X on Prime Day, although technically this deal is part of Dell’s Black Friday in July Sale (aka the Black Friday Counter Sale).

10% Off Xbox Series X

The Xbox Series X is a current generation system able to drive 4K games at up to a glorious 120fps. It is technically a more powerful system than the PS5 and games that are compatible with both consoles usually perform better on the Xbox console. Compared to the $300 Xbox Series S, the X features more powerful hardware to enable it to run games in 4K (the Xbox Series S runs games at 1440p). The Xbox Series X also has a disc drive that can play 4K Blu-ray movies and physical game media. The Series S doesn’t.

There is one other deal out there. Dell also has an Xbox Series X Diablo 4 console bundle for $499.99. This will be the better deal if you plan on picking up Diablo 4 anyways, since Diablo 4 by itself costs $60.

Find more Dell Black Friday in July deals here.

Want more Prime Day deals? Check out our Amazon Prime Day megapost here.

Eventually inflation comes for us all, and Xbox gamers are not immune. With Starfield coming out September 6, Microsoft recently raised the price of Game Pass Ultimate to $16.99 per month. Thankfully, during the Prime Day 2023 sale, Amazon is leaning the other direction. Right now you can get three months of Game Pass Ultimate for $39.99. That’s $11 less than you’d have to pay if you got it directly from Microsoft. It’s not even technically a Prime Day deal, so it’s available to everyone.

Game Pass Ultimate Deal

Yes, Starfield is coming to Game Pass Ultimate at launch. Forza Motorsport is another big first-party game coming to the service in October. And there are already well over 100 games on the service you can download and play to your heart’s content right now. Even at full price, Game Pass Ultimate is pretty much the best deal in all of gaming. And with this deal, it’s an even better value.

Prime Day Deals Available Now

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed or on Mastodon @chrislreed.

Prime Day part 1 is starting to come to a close, but there’s still a whole day of deals ahead of us. That being said, we’ve already seen some deals come and go, so if you want to grab this Mega Blox Gyarados gigantic building kit, I’d do so sooner rather than later.

Mega Pokemon Gyarados Prime Day Deal: 50% Off

This kit has 2,189 pieces, including 4 different plaques for whatever region you’re in. Wait, not region, I mean country. Pokemon have different names for different languages, so in France (or Quebec), Gyarados is called Léviator, which sounds much fancier.

One of the stand-out features of this kit is how it moves through the clever use of levers and gears. Watch the video on the item page to see what I mean, but it wriggles menacingly on its stand as though it were actually swimming through the sea. It’s pretty awesome, something you see on LEGO kits like the PAC-MAN arcade cabinet or the NES set.

No idea how long this deal will last, but 50% is a huge savings, and if you want to get this Prime Day deal for well under $100, now is probably the best time to do so.

More Prime Day Deals

It’s 2023 and high-capacity, high-speed SSDs are no longer reserved for only the wealthy or spendthrift. For Amazon Prime Day, we are seeing a whole lot of amazing price drops on some of the fastest and most reliable SSDs around. We’ve listed every good Prime Day SSD deal we could find here. We have our own opinions on what is better or worse, but the fact of the matter is that every SSD on this list is reliable and worth the advertised price.

A special note for PS5 storage upgrades

Although technically any appropriately sized PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 solid state drive will work in your PS5, Sony recommends that you get one with a miminum rated 5,500MB/s read speed to match the PS5’s internal drive and optimize performance. We agree. Sony also recommends a heatsink attached to your SSD. Not all SSDs listed here have pre-installed heatsinks. For the ones that do, we’ll be sure to mention it. For the ones that don’t, all you have to do is purchase your own heatsink (like this one for $9) and install it yourself. It’s very easy. If you want us to pick your SSD for you, check out the best PS5 SSDs of 2023.

Prime Day Deals on SSDs

Are you overwhelmed by the sheer number of SSD brands and models? We understand! If you want something reliable and fast without sweating the details, then just pick one of the hottest SSD deals at the top of the list. They’re popular for a reason.

TL;DR – The Hottest SSD Deals (May Sell Out Quickly)

All of the Worthy Prime Day TV Deals We’ve Found So Far

How easy is it to install the SSD?

It’s extremely easy! Removing the case cover is completely toolless. In fact, the only screw you have to remove is the one that keeps the cover for the SSD bay in place. You don’t even put it back when you’re done. Sony has a quick and easy YouTube video guide.

What if the SSD I bought doesn’t have a heatsink?

Sony recommends you install an SSD that has an attached heatsink. If the SSD you purchase doesn’t include one, it’s simple enough to buy one for about $10 on Amazon and add it yourself. Most of these heatsinks are just attached using an adhesive like thermal tape.

Want more Prime Day deals? Check out our Amazon Prime Day megapost here.

Microsoft just held its latest ID@Xbox showcase highlighting a slew of indie games that will make their way onto Xbox platforms. While this is not saying all these games will be console exclusive, Xbox wanted to highlight just a handful of some of the many wonderful indie titles that its fans can look forward to in the future.

If you missed the showcase, don’t worry; here’s a roundup of all the games that appeared at the event. Plus five games that stood out.

Stray Souls

Announced in 2021, Stray Souls is an upcoming indie horror game from Jukai Studio and one of a handful of games that will use Unreal Engine 5. Stray Souls follows Daniel, a teenager who recently inherited a house from his grandmother. As my colleague Ryan McCaffrey put it in his article a few months back, this “real-estate dream quickly turns into a nightmare when the sun goes down, and all hell starts to break loose in the house.”

Stray Souls is slated to launch this Fall.

Axiom Verge 2

ID@Xbox today confirmed that Axiom Verge 2 is coming to Xbox and it is available starting today. In our review of Axiom Verge 2 nearly two years ago, my colleague Tristan Ogilvie gave it a 7 out of 10 and said: “Axiom Verge 2 is a dual-dimensional Metroidvania that’s engaging to explore despite its one-dimensional combat and underwhelming boss fights.”

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Gun Interactive, the creators of Friday the 13th The Game, are making another asymmetrical multiplayer horror game based on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre film franchise. The gameplay will be familiar to those that played Friday the 13th: The Game or Dead by Daylight.

Today’s showcase provided another look at the horror game before its August 18 release date. And Xbox fans will be happy to know it will be available Day One on Xbox Game Pass.

Hellboy Web of Wyrd

Announced at the 2022 Game Awards, Hellboy Web of Wyrd is an upcoming roguelike developed by Upstream Arcade. Today’s showcase provided fans of Hellboy with a new trailer and a deep dive into the gameplay.

MythForce

MythForce is a oneline multiplayer co-op game that arrives on Xbox, PC, PlayStation and Switch on September 12. The latest ID@Xbox provided us a trailer that not only gave us a release date, but showed off th MythForce’s artstyle, which gives off Saturday Morning cartoon vibes.

Outside of these five standouts, here’s a list of other amazing games that got the spotlight at the showcase today:

• Sea of Stars
• Solace State
• Scarlet Deer Inn
• Second Wave
• Monolith: Requiem of the Ancients
• Karateka
• Rain World: Downpour
• Vampire Survivors
• Jackbox Party Pack 10
• Everspace 2
• Wordless
• Roman Sands
• Stumble Guys
• Birth
• Dungeons of Hiterberg

The developer of Battalion 1944 has announced all Kickstarter backers will get a full refund regardless of platform, pledge tier, or time played in the game.

In an unusual move, Bulkhead Interactive said all 10,096 backers, who had collectively pledged £317,281 to help bring the World War 2-themed first-person shooter to life, will receive refund instructions via email.

Battalion 1944 was Bulkhead’s first multiplayer game, and was made by a team of 18 people in just 19 months. While it enjoyed a strong early access launch in 2019, with a number of high-profile streamers bigging it up, Battalion 1944 suffered a significant drop-off soon after.

Bulkhead was acquired by fellow UK developer Splash Damage in December, and it’s Splash Damage who is helping to provide the funds for the mass refund. Explaining the decision, Bulkhead boss Joe Brammer admitted the studio failed to deliver on its promises, including the release of a console version.

“When we launched the Battalion 1944 Kickstarter we set out to ‘recapture the core of classic multiplayer shooters’. That line connected us to our backers and who financially supported our vision to celebrate everything that was great about that era of shooters,” said Bulkhead boss Joe Brammer.

“Ultimately, we couldn’t fully deliver on all that we set out to do, most of all the release of the console version. Without that initial Kickstarter support, Bulkhead wouldn’t exist today. We want to thank our backers for believing in the project as strongly and as passionately as we did – but as we were unable to accomplish all the goals we initially set, we have decided to fully refund all of our original Kickstarter backers.”

Richard Jolly, boss of Splash Damage, admitted “there have certainly been times when we fell short of our promises, and let our community down”.

Battalion 1944 is currently free to play on Steam, where it is dubbed Battalion: Legacy and has a mixed user review rating. A number of these reviews complain about Battalion failing to live up to its Kickstarter promise, and single out the developers for leaving the game behind.

The refunds appear to mark a closing of the book on Battalion for Bulkhead, which is now working on sandbox FPS Wardogs and supporting Splash Damage on Transformers: Reactivate.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Console deals are pretty much par for the course during these sales events like Prime Day or Black Friday. But this one is slightly different. I mean, yes, it is a console at an insane price, but there’s an extra carrot on the end of the stick this year. Not sure about you, but just reading about the upcoming Starfield game has me scrambling to buy an Xbox so I can spend my entire winter exploring space.

I think a lot of people would be doing the same thing while Xbox consoles were at full price, but now thanks to Prime Day, you can grab yourself a certified refurbished Xbox Series S for just £149.99. Coming down from £249.99, that’s a huge drop in price. Plus, if you top up your account by £40, Amazon will also give you another £5 off. So you’re getting the console for just £145 instead; that’s an insane price even for a refurb.

Not convinced by the Starfield argument? Well for starters, it’s a Bethesda game, so the only way you’re going to be able to play it is if you play it on either PC or Xbox Series X/S. Secondly, have you read about it?! What, you don’t want to spend hundreds of hours exploring a vast open universe featuring over a thousand planets, each with its own characters, quests, and collectibles? I don’t believe you.

You can read more about it from our precis of the Direct that occurred last month. Needless to say, plenty of people are salivating for this one. The release date has been set for the 6th of September. As this falls well before Black Friday, this is likely to be the cheapest price to find a compatible console before the game’s release. Don’t miss out.

More Great Prime Day Deals

Prime Day 2023 is officially here and we’ve already kicked off with some incredible deals, including a PS5 and God of War Bundle for just £453.99, a top PS5 2TB SSD for £90, an Xbox Series S for £150, and so much more as well. For the uninitiated, Prime Day (see all the new deals here) is an exclusive event designed for members of Amazon Prime, the premier subscription service that offers countless benefits, including lightning-fast deliveries, access to a vast library of entertainment, and, of course, the ticket to the most spectacular shopping spree of the year. We’ve collected our favourite deals that have popped up this morning, so check them out if you want to secure some discounts.

Dave the Diver sold an impressive 1 million copies just 10 days after launch.

Mintrocket’s debut game launched on Steam on June 28 and quickly shot up the most-played games chart. Its peak concurrent player record is currently 98,000, with 66,000 concurrent viewers achieved on Twitch.

Dave the Diver is a 2.5D pixel art game in which you explore the deep sea during the day and run a sushi restaurant at night. IGN’s Dave the Diver review returned a 9/10: “Dave The Diver is an aquatic adventure RPG that’s wholesome, wonderfully complex, and delightfully hard to put down.”

“I appreciate the community so much for being active and providing crucial feedback,” said Game Director Jaeho Hwang. “We improved a lot of systems and found bugs thanks to them. Thanks everyone for being there with us on this journey!”

Already a PC hit, Dave the Diver launches on Nintendo Switch later this year.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

The boss of Blizzard has insisted Diablo 4 will not launch on Game Pass amid rumours the action role-playing game is set to hit Microsoft’s subscription service.

Responding to a tweet that mentioned Diablo 4’s availability in Xbox Game Pass on a Brazilian payments app, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra said: “This is not happening.”

This is not happening.

— Mike Ybarra (@Qwik) July 11, 2023

That’s a definitive-sounding statement, but it hasn’t stopped some fans from wondering whether Diablo 4 will eventually come to Game Pass if Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard goes through.

The entertainment world awaits a verdict in the FTC trial some experts say will determine the fate of the deal. An announcement could now be imminent, with all eyes on the San Francisco judge who is set to make a call on a preliminary injunction that, if successful, would probably put an end to Microsoft’s pursuit of Activision Blizzard for good.

Meanwhile, some Xbox owners are holding off on buying Diablo 4 in the hope the deal goes through and the game then comes to Game Pass. Redditor P0PE_F0X is doing just that: “I’ve been steadily holding off but the game looks so good I might cave.” “Yes same goes for COD,” i_am_legend26 agreed. “I only want to play the campaigns tho.” “100% waiting,” added allnida.

Redditor Cannedcocktail said they own a copy of the game on Xbox, but are holding off on double-dipping on PC while “waiting impatiently for the trial outcome”. Then there are those who say they won’t buy a copy of Diablo 4, but will play it if it were to come to Game Pass. “I wasn’t going to buy it anyway,” Halos-117 said. “But if they put it on GP I’ll probably give it a go.”

Even if Microsoft were to buy Activision Blizzard, it’s unclear whether the likes of Diablo or Call of Duty would launch on Game Pass. During the FTC trial, Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick admitted he’s not a fan of multi-game subscription services, hence why Activision games have (largely, though not entirely) failed to appear on them. If the acquisition happens, Kotick acknowledged he’ll be stuck with Game Pass whether he likes it or not. “I don’t agree with the idea of a multi-game subscription service as a business proposition going forwards, but we [Activision and Microsoft] can agree to disagree,” he said.

Perhaps this is what Ybarra is alluding to in his tweet. As far as Activision Blizzard is concerned, whether it’s owned by Microsoft or not, Diablo 4 will not launch on Game Pass. Of course, if Xbox boss Phil Spencer ends up with Blizzard under his belt, things may change…

Feeling burnt out by Diablo 4? Blizzard has told players who have reached all their goals that it’s fine to take a break from the game ahead of the launch of Season 1, dubbed Season of the Malignant, on July 20. If you’re still playing, check out our interactive Diablo 4 map to start tracking your progress as you play.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

The time has come, and Amazon’s Prime Day 2023 is in full swing. You can save a boatload of cash on all kinds of items, including board games. That’s great because, fun as they are, board games can be an expensive hobby if you have to buy them at full price. The only catch is that you have to be a Prime member to get the sale prices, so click here if you’re not already subscribed. With that out of the way, let’s look at some of the best board game deals for Prime Day 2023.

Shortcuts

• Board Game Deals
• Classic Board Game Deals
• Magic: The Gathering Deals

Board Game Deals for Prime Day

As you can see from the mega-list above, there is absolutely no shortage of awesome board games on sale during Prime Day. If you have even an inkling of an interest in upping your board game, uh, game, then you’ll be well served in this sale. If you’re looking for ideas about which ones to get, check out our picks for the very best board games.

Classic Board Game Deals for Prime Day

Sometimes you don’t want to dive into a new board game with a long rulebook. Sometimes you want the board game equivalent of comfort food. That’s what these classic board games offer. From Mouse Trap to Clue and Scrabble, there’s something for everyone on sale for Prime Day.

Magic: The Gathering Deals

In addition to all the deals on awesome board games, a whole lot of Magic: The Gathering cards are on sale as well. That Game Night set at the top is a great introduction to MTG newcomers, but lots of other packs are on sale as well.

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed or on Mastodon @chrislreed.