GameStop has been hosting plenty of flash sales on pre-owned games as of late, but its new two-day promotion offers something a bit different. Through tomorrow, June 25, you can save 50% on any pre-owned game when you buy a new game priced $30 or more. It’s an interesting promotion for sure, and it could really work out in your favor depending on which games you select.
The sale really does cover every new game listed at $30 or more, and every single pre-owned game on Switch, PS4, and Xbox One. The promotion is particularly good for first-party Switch games, which rarely receive discounts. For instance, if you’re looking to jump on the Animal Crossing: New Horizons bandwagon, you can grab a new copy for $60 and then pick up a pre-owned Switch title for 50% off. That means you could snag The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Super Mario Odyssey for $27.49.
Of course, you could also prioritize finding the cheapest new game possible and then saving big on a more expensive pre-owned game. SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated, Madden NFL 20, Mortal Kombat 11, and Grand Theft Auto V are just several examples of games that cost $30. Buying a $30 title and then getting a game like Breath of the Wild is like getting two games for the price of one ($57.49 combined cost).
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga debuts on Netflix on June 26.
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There are a fair few things that we Brits are particularly protective of; the correct way to brew a cup of tea, obviously, ranks highly as does our staunch belief that UK comedy series will always be superior to the American equivalents. Then there’s the Eurovision Song Contest which has served as a shining beacon of collective fun and self-deprecating pride in the UK ever since the annual music event began in 1956. So one could hardly embark on a viewing of Will Ferrell’s latest comedic offering, centered on an Icelandic musical duo’s journey through the competition, without some underlying feeling of skepticism.
For not only has Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga been written, directed and produced by a team of Americans, whose country has had no vested interest in the singing event in its 64-year-history, but the last time Ferrell dived into British popular culture it resulted in the critically-panned Holmes & Watson. The 2018 film wasn’t screened to critics before its release but after, its Rotten Tomatoes score sank to 10% courtesy of damning reviews, including ours at IGN, which described the film as “a collection of limp comic set pieces and repeated riffs on the same three gags.”
Fortunately, the Eurovision Song Contest has less in common with that insult to the memory of Arthur Conan Doyle and more with the likes of Blades of Glory and Talledega Nights. The Netflix film centers on Icelandic singers Lars Erickssong (Ferrell) and Sigrit Ericksdottir (Rachel McAdams ) who grew up together in their remote fishing village and have been dreaming of competing in the annual event ever since they saw ABBA singing their way to victory with “Waterloo” in 1974. Several strokes of luck, or maybe elves (Icelanders are big believers in them), means their act Fire Saga is selected to represent Iceland, and so this Ferrel film once again follows the exploits of an oddball couple navigating a niche competitive arena.
The pair’s Nordic impressions are pretty impressive and Ferrell still has that singular ability to catch you off guard with seemingly ad-libbed one-liners and silly instances of physical humor. Even Lars’ rotating wardrobe – sourced, one assumes, from Instagram #OOTD hashtags – raises a smile but these moments are far too rare and padded out with lackluster cliches and obvious jokes.
McAdams offers earnest support as Sigrit, who is hoping to make sweet love as well as music with her singing partner, but whose affections have thus far gone unrequited. It’s a shame she’s never really given the chance to be as comical as Ferrell so her best moments are limited to when she’s singing but even the actress can’t take full credit for that – Swedish singer and former Junior Eurovision contestant Molly Sandén provided Sigrit’s belter of a singing voice.
It’s heartening that Ferrell, who co-wrote the script, has a clear affection for the competition. He might be an American but thanks to his Swedish wife he’s been watching the show for over 20 years. The film refuses to mock the Song Contest, instead, it affectionately teases the idiosyncrasies that make Eurovision such a campy, poptastic affair while celebrating the vibrant musicality that is delivered annually by the 50+ countries who compete. There are more than a few parody bops that deserve repeat listening after the credits roll, “Double Trouble” and “Volcano Man,” in particular. There’s also a lovely sing-off scene featuring several past Eurovision winners belting out a medley of pop classics as they dance around a Scottish stately home that Outlander fans might recognize underneath the garish decorations and well-endowed statues. The film even got the UK’s Eurovision host Graham Norton to play himself and deliver commentary during several scenes, though he’s far less cutting than usual.
Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams in Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. (Credit Elizabeth Viggiano/Netflix)
More ardent fans might find themselves pulling an Alan Partridge by screaming at the TV, “stop getting Eurovision wrong!” every so often. In one scene, Alexander jokes that everyone hates the UK because they get “nil points” each year, which is fair, but as the event is being hosted in Scotland that would mean the UK are the reigning champs. This nonsensical error is furthered when the ceremony is hosted by a pair of non-Brits, which seems like an odd thing to get wrong given how much effort went into making this movie authentic in other places.
It’s admirable that the film doesn’t shy away from the recent Eurovision controversy involving Russia’s homophobia and clearly the film champions the competition’s campaign for inclusivity by delivering several LGBTQI cameos. But that message is somewhat dampened by the fact that nearly every speaking character is white while people of color serve primarily as window dressing.
Adding these things up, Eurovision Song Contest becomes a film of inconsistencies. It doesn’t quite capture the magic of Will Ferrell’s early buddy comedies but still delivers enough heart and merriment to earn at least six points from the viewing public.
Microsoft has announced another bundle of games coming to its subscription-based Xbox Game Pass service through the rest of June. Four more games are set to join the Xbox One subscription, with one coming to PC as well.
In fact, all four games are hitting remarkably close together, in the two-day span of June 24-25. Night Call will join the service on Xbox One on June 24. Then Observation, Streets of Rogue, and The Messenger will join the day after. Only Observation will also be available on PC.
Nintendo Switch hardware is all but impossible to find in stock these days. But if you’re lucky enough have one already, you’d probably like to play some games. Amazon has two deals going right now that can save you a lot of money on digital downloads. The first deal brings several microSD cards down to their lowest prices ever on Amazon. The other saves you 15% off Nintendo eShop credit if you use an Amazon Visa or Amazon Store card. Here are the details.
If you download Switch games at all, additional storage is pretty much required. The Switch only comes with 32GB of onboard storage, and some of that is dedicated to the OS. That leaves you with a paltry few gigabytes to download games from the eShop. Some third-party Switch games take up more storage than comes on a Switch from the start. It’s kind of ridiculous.
Thankfully, adding storage is cheaper than ever. The prices of microSD cards has been on a downward trend since the Switch launched, and these three cards in particular are currently on sale for their lowest prices ever.
Nintendo eShop Credit: Get 15% Back (Amazon Card Required)
If you don’t have one of those cards and you do a lot of shopping at Amazon, I’d highly recommend considering one. If you’re a Prime member, they both give you 5% cash back on all Amazon purchases, which can add up to big savings over time. The Visa also has decent cash back rates at restaurants, gas stations, and drugstores (2%).
This deal ends July 5, so if you have a card and use the eShop, stocking up on credit is a no-brainer. My favorite way to spend discounted eShop credit is to buy games when they go on sale. That gets you 15% off the already-discounted price, creating a double discount.
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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.
According to EA CEO Andrew Wilson, Apex Legends is scheduled to soft launch on mobile devices by the end of 2020.
As recorded by @ApexLatest on Twitter, Wilson was speaking about mobile business growth on an EA Fireside Chat on June 22, 2020, and said “we have PvZ3 in soft launch, we’ve talked about having Apex Legends in soft launch by the end of this year. You’ve heard me talk about 6 or 7 other games in various stages of incubation or production or in finaling phase. We feel very good about our mobile business.”
Apex Legends will be released on Switch and Steam this Fall, and cross-play between those platforms and all other current versions of Apex Legends will also be enabled. There is no word if cross-play will be available in the mobile version of Apex Legends.
During EA Play Live, Apex Legends’ Lost Treasures limited time event was revealed and brings with it the return of the Armed and Dangerous mode and a new storyline involving Crypto. The Lost Treasures event began yesterday, June 23.
Pokemon Unite, a “strategic team-based battle game” has been announced. It will come to Nintendo Switch and mobile devices (with cross-play), and will be released as a free-to-start game. No release date has been announced.
Announced in today’s Pokemon Presents broadcast, Pokemon Company president Tsunekazu Ishihara announced the game, which closely resembles a MOBA, such as League of Legends or DOTA 2.
The 5v5 strategy game is developed in partnership with Tencent’s TiMi Studios (Call of Duty: Mobile, Arena of Valor), and will see players battling to control areas of an RTS-like map, earning points and evolving their Pokemon mid-battle. Battling wild Pokemon will capture them, earning you points that you can then bank in scoring areas. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Battling will level up your Pokemon, letting you equip a number of new moves, which can be adapted for your playstyle. Levelling up enough will let your Pokemon evolve, and access Unite moves, which act like Ultimate abilities.
Confirmed playable Pokemon in the game will include Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Machop, Snorlax, Haunter, Talonflame, Clefairy, Riolu (as well as all of their evolutions).
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.
Across the United States, movie theaters are slowly reopening, under strict guidelines. And now, Fandango has announced the launch of a new program to help movie fans head back to theaters with new safety and health precautions in place.
Both Fandango.com and its mobile apps will begin rolling out new functions like social distance seating maps, an overall guide to safety policies provided by more than 100 theater chains, and a search filter to find reopened theaters by location.
Fandango President Paul Yanover spoke about the new additions saying that Fandango’s mission has “always been super-serving fans with their entertainment needs, and we cannot wait to help fans get back to the big screen safely and at the right time.”
