Author: trafficblast

The nationwide lockdown beginning in England on Thursday, November 5 has caused multiple retailers with physical stores to change their policies regarding collecting preorders for PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.

All non-essential retailers in the UK will be closed to visitors from midnight on Thursday until December 2 – crossing launch dates for Xbox Series X, S and PS5. However, deliveries and collection services can continue to run.

UK retailer Game addressed the potential issues on Twitter, explaining that customers with preorders should go into shops and pay for their new Xbox Series X and S units by Wednesday, meaning they will be able to pick up the units on launch day:

XBOX SERIES S/X – STORE PRE-ORDERS
Please come and pre-purchase your console from now until Wednesday evening.

You will then be able to collect your console on launch day between 8am-2pm.

Xbox All Access customers will be contacted directly tomorrow with further instruction.

— GAME.co.uk (@GAMEdigital) November 1, 2020

Game is also one of the approved retailers for the Xbox All Access programme in the UK – the retailer says it will contact those using All Access tomorrow, November 3. The retailer’s currently made no mention of PS5 preorders, although it seems likely that the system will be the same before its November 19 UK launch date.

Most major UK retailers appear to be following suit with Game’s collection plan for preorders. Smyths have assured customers that pre-orders are safe, and that payment and collection details will be emailed shortly. Argos will offer collections from both stores and in associated branches of Sainsbury’s which, as a supermarket, will remain open.

Currys PC World seems less sure of policy right now, with its Team Knowhow service partner saying it’s “uncertain as of yet what’s happening”.

At time of writing, IGN knows of no physical UK retailer cancelling preorders for next-gen consoles, and delivery-based preorders also appear unaffected. One unknown is whether retailers will receive any extra stock of next-gen consoles on launch day – Game says it has no confirmation of extra units right now.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Announced last week, Blizzard’ GearFest is now live. The event introduces a whole slew of new products to the Blizzard online store ahead of the holiday shopping season.

According to Blizzard, “nearly 50 total brand-new products” are available as part of the event, with wave 1 hitting today, with “collectibles, pins and figures” featuring prominently.

Check out the gallery below to see some of the new products coming to the Blizzard store.

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Launching today:

• Overwatch 2020 Blizzard GearFest Mercy Funko – $14.99
• Overwatch D.Va Collectible IncrediBuild (from Insight Editions) – $129.99
• World of Warcraft 2020 Blizzard GearFest Illidan Funko – $14.99
• World of Warcraft 2020 Blizzard GearFest Murloc Funko – $14.99
• World of Warcraft 2020 Blizzard GearFest Sylvanas Funko – $14.99
• Hearthstone Collector’s Edition Pin Set – $59.99
• Blizzard Series 7 Blind Pack Pins 5 Pack – $29.99
• Blizzard Series 7 Platinum Signature Pin Set – $199.99
• Blizzard Series 7 Collector’s Edition Pin Set – $79.99
• Blizzard Series 4 Badges Booster Pack (4 Packs) – $19.99

Another wave of Blizzard GearFest merch is scheduled to hit November 16.

Last week Blizzard revealed a massive, collectible World of Warcraft Thrall statue in both colored and unpainted variants, as well as a tease for today’s GearFest kick-off.

The next WoW expansion, originally scheduled for October 27, has been pushed into next month. The new WoW Shadowlands release date is now November 23, meaning WoW players in the US will get their first taste of the new expansion over the Thanksgiving holiday week.

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Seth Macy is IGN’s Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can find him on Instagram. 

 

Since releasing earlier this year, Lego Super Mario kits have been hard to find for less than retail price. We didn’t see deals during Prime Day, and there’s no guarantee they’ll be on sale for Black Friday. Lego Super Mario kits are bound to be on many holiday wishlists this year, and right now you can save on a handful of the expansion sets at Amazon, including the Guarded Fortress kit and Mario’s House. It’s unclear how long these deals will be available, so you should grab them as soon as possible.

It’s worth noting that all of the expansions require the Adventures with Mario Starter Course, which is currently only available at its $60 regular price.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

When the PlayStation 5 launches on November 12, it’ll arrive with a library of new and current games which PlayStation head Jim Ryan says will result in the quicker adoption of the next-gen console.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Demon’s Souls will be available alongside a wide selection of PS4 games thanks to backwards compatibility, all of which will be playable from day one and will benefit from the PS5’s new technology.

“We are increasingly bullish in terms of the number of people that we think may engage with PS5, Ryan said to GamesIndustry.Biz. “Firstly, because we don’t begin from a standing start like we did with PS4, when we were coming out of a very lackluster PS3 platform, with a low level of networking across the community. Now we are starting with 100 million gamers, who we hope to transition very, very rapidly onto PS5. And it’s an engaged, tribal, networked community, who will be deeply and profoundly engaged with their PlayStation 5, we hope, from a very early moment.”

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Demon’s Souls is shaping up to be a visually impressive launch game for the PlayStation 5, and its audio design is also starting to sound like a faithful update to the score that was composed by Shunsuke Kida for the original game. In a new short documentary that provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the production of the game’s music, Sony also confirmed that the soundtrack will be released digitally on November 26, 2020, while CD and vinyl editions will arrive in December.

“Countless hours were spent adding thousands upon thousands of new sounds to the game, really bringing this world to life,” Gavin Moore, creative director for SIE Worldwide Studios External Development, explained on the PS Blog. “These are the sounds of Boletaria that will disturb your dreams. Will you go mad from the incessant beating of the heart and the haunting singing in the Tower of Latria? And how many of you will find courage in the face of the skin-crawling skitterings of the Armored Spider deep in the belly of Stonefang?”

The reimagined Kida score was performed by a 75-piece orchestra and a 40-person choir at Air Studios in London under the direction of composer Bill Hemstapat, with new arrangements and themes also being added to the soundtrack. 120 musicians were brought in for the project, with Moore remarking that London’s Temple Church pipe organ can even be heard in the soundtrack.

Continue Reading at GameSpot