iPads come in a wide range of sizes, but many people prefer the more compact form factor of the iPad Mini. If that’s you, you’re in luck: today Amazon has all configurations of the iPad Mini on sale for their lowest prices ever. Of all the iPads on the market, the price of the Mini has been the least likely to budge since it launced. So if you’ve had your eye on Apple’s tiniest tablet, now’s a great time to buy.
All of these iPad Minis are the newest model from 2019. They sport a 7.9-inch Retina display with True Tone to match color temperature of the light around you. In fact, the resolution is the same as the 9.7-inch iPad, which means each pixel is ultra-small and densely packed into the display, making images look incredibly sharp.
These Minis are powered by the beastly A12 Bionic chip. They have TouchID and high megapixel cameras in front and back. They’re even compatible with Apple Pencil, which makes them great for things like making art, marking up documents, or taking notes by hand. This is a great iPad for students, artists, or anyone who doesn’t want a bulky tablet.
The biggest selling point of these newest iPad Minis, though, is that they’re full-featured, full-power iPads in a small size with zero compromises compared to their larger siblings. They’re super portable and light enough to hold with one hand, just like a Kindle. All previous iPad Minis had older chips or outdated displays. This one, however, is the real deal.
As if finding the lowest-ever price on iPad Mini isn’t enough, many of its accessories are also on sale right now. You can save $10 off the Apple Pencil, so you can get to jotting or drawing things on that display. Or, you can grab a terrific deal on all of the latest models of AirPods, Apple’s extremely popular wireless earbuds.
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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.
Last week Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries released a recruitment video that had eagle-eyed fans pouring over for clues regarding the anticipated sequel. The video featured some off-screen footage of the what is presumably Halo Infinite, but didn’t seem to initially be noteworthy.
That is, at least until some fans cross-referenced the footage with a screenshot of Halo Infinite that leaked almost a month ago. The screenshot in question was notable because of a single UI icon it featured, suggesting that Master Chief would have a grappling hook to navigate the new open-world that Infinite is introducing. Fans speculated on ResetEra that the UI in 343’s new recruitment video matched that of the leak, lending it credibility.
343 Industries’ franchise development director Frank O’Connor was following the speculation, even going as far to cheekily link to a now infamous Halo 4 leak when responding to a question over why Halo leaks always have terrible quality. Addressing the speculation directly, however, O’Connor replied on Twitter, saying that 343 combs through all footage that they put out, and that no gameplay footage in the recruitment video is of any importance.
You know we scrub these for accidental leaks right? (Thanks for nothing 4k!) gray box/forge thing you’re looking at doesn’t show anything meaningful and isn’t even necessarily content from Infinite. Sometimes they’re just test environments or cut outs of H5 prototyping work… pic.twitter.com/uVS2LTwO34
Most of this speculation is down to 343 Industries having kept very tight-lipped about the gameplay aspects of Halo Infinite, which is expected to change the standard Halo formula. Only a short in-game cinematic was shown at E3 2019, leaving many unanswered questions ahead of Infinite’s 2020 launch date for both Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
Did you catch that just a couple of weeks ago, Valve came out and said that in no uncertain terms that there will absolutely not be a Left 4 Dead 3 anytime soon? Well, what’s terrible news for many is awesome for Zombie Army 4: Dead War, which couldn’t have hoped for better timing. It’s here to follow in those four-player co-op footsteps – except its zombies are also Nazis, and sometimes when you kill them you get a super-gross slow-mo kill. It definitely scratches the itch, though the handful of new ideas it injects don’t really reinvigorate the genre that Bill, Coach, Zoey, and Francis built.
It may feel overall familiar, but Zombie Army 4 does manage to separate itself from the already sizable horde of cooperative zombie shooters in a few enjoyable ways. For starters, the story is delightfully absurd, with occult forces bringing the Nazi army back from the dead, seemingly from the literal bowels of Hell. Its roughly eight-hour campaign ends with a ridiculous and surprising final confrontation that is worth seeing unspoiled. A simplified Horde mode exists as well, if you just want to stick to one location and see how many waves you can take on while experimenting with different weapons. I prefer the variety and forward momentum of playing the full campaign, but Horde offers plenty of opportunity for intense shootouts and last-second victories.
The alternate-WW2 setting is disgusting and full of gore, but in a creative way where I was eager to see what I would be fighting next. I enjoyed confronting powerful enemies like flamethrower zombies with explosive gas tanks on their backs, zombie Nazi generals whose hearts must be removed in order to prevent them from spawning more enemies, and bosses like tanks that reveal giant ribcages when their armored sides are blown off. And it’s made all the more exciting by an excellent soundtrack that feels like it comes straight out of the 1985 George A. Romero zombie film classic, Day of the Dead – my only complaint about the music being I wish it were mixed louder and piped in more often.
[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=There’s%20a%20layer%20of%20strategic%20dismemberment%20to%20the%20mindless%20slaughter.”]There’s a little more to it than running and gunning because the way you shoot zombies encourages you to confront the walking dead in a more nuanced way: Getting a certain number of kills unlocks special abilities, like overpowered sniper shots or hyper-fast shotgun reloading, but you also get a chance to recover health by pulling off up-close kills. Killing a certain number of zombies from a distance to earn the right to run in and recover some health adds a layer of strategic dismemberment to the mindless slaughter.
On top of that, there’s clearly some Doom inspiration here that helps keep the action moving, with certain zombies offering up ammo, grenades, or health packs if you stomp them after they’ve been defeated. This led to some great moments where I recovered from being cornered by taking out a huge wave, healed myself with up-close fatalities, and then stomped enemies on the ground to recover ammo before rushing toward the next objective. Where it had seemed like I was done for just moments earlier, I found myself maxed out and ready for whatever came next without so much as an ammo cache pitstop.
The layouts of Zombie Army 4’s eight levels (and the smaller, final confrontation) are designed well and do a good job of contextualizing why you need to make it from point A to point B beyond basic survival. Sometimes you’re exploring an abandoned zoo, other times you’re getting fuel for a boat so it can make its way down a canal, or you’re gathering up pieces of a bomb to combine at the end of the stage. The levels don’t look radically different, but they all have interesting layouts that are fun to explore and are creepy and unsettling in their own way. The objectives are simple enough where you and your friends will never be confused about what to do next, but interesting and varied enough that it doesn’t quite feel like you’re always doing the same thing. There are never moments where co-op play is required – you could easily play through solo if that’s how you roll – but the more players join the action the higher the difficulty automatically scales and the more important teamwork becomes.
[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=You%20could%20easily%20play%20through%20solo%20if%20that%E2%80%99s%20how%20you%20roll.”]I like the mad sprint to complete those kinds of objectives, but was less excited about the areas where you have to hold your ground for a certain period of time. These defensive scenarios aren’t all that common, but oddly Zombie Army 4 is constantly offering you landmines and electric tripwires that aren’t all that useful when you’re on the run instead of preparing for an onslaught. And even during holdout objectives when you have time to lay out traps, they’re all pretty much gone after the first wave and it’s back to standard shooting anyway.
The upgrade system is also rewarding – up to a certain point. The persistent character progression lets you level up across the board, so whether you’re in Horde mode, playing the campaign alone, or with friends, you can add new abilities like better defense or faster landmine placing, among others. There aren’t enough options to allow you and your friends to branch off and occupy classes with wildly different and synergistic abilities, but growing your abilities level to level is still worthwhile.
[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=Why%20would%20I%20use%20a%20machine%20gun%20when%20my%20shotgun%20electrocutes%20zombies%3F”]The gun upgrade system, however, is initially exciting but can hit a wall. The Trench Gun is a personal favorite: by the end of the campaign I had sped up my reloading, boosted damage output, and added bonus electricity damage. I added similar upgrades to my sniper rifle, but after awhile I ended up with a load of gun upgrades for weapons I had no intention of using. Why would I take two steps backward and start using a machine gun when my shotgun electrocutes zombies? Because there aren’t any classes, I didn’t feel a reason to return to square one and change things up.
It’s a nice touch, though, that when you die you turn into a zombie and watch, with no control, as your character ambles into the crowd and becomes another obstacle for your friends to overcome. Once they kill you, you can respawn (as long as they don’t die before then), so it works as a fun handicap to prevent instant respawning – and let’s face it, it’s also fun to kill the zombie versions of your friends.
On the technical side, I didn’t run into any connection issues, but I did have some general bugs. On more than one occasion I ran into a scenario where zombies were arriving endlessly, even though the goal had been completed, forcing us to restart. I also had a couple of times where big black bars would appear, obscuring my view of ammo reserves and when my special abilities would be available. It was pretty annoying.
Netflix has been around for decades as the company was formed in 1997–let that sink in for a minute. While originally the service delivered DVDs directly to your home, it’s now become the most popular streaming service.
In 2007, Netflix debuted its streaming side of the company, originally titled “Watch Now.” This would become the future of the service and the aspect of it that people would fall in love with. Since the streaming element of Netflix has been around for over a decade, most people have probably completely forgotten what they first watched when “Watch Now” debuted. Luckily, the Netflix Twitter account reminded us how to check that all out.
Find out what the first thing you *ever* watched on Netflix was in 4 easy steps: 1) Log in on desktop 2) Click “account” in the dropdown list 3) Scroll down to “viewing activity” 4) Either scroll down your list forever or just hit “download all”
So what’s the first thing you watched on Netflix? I’ve been a subscriber back from the DVD-only days, where I’d get three movies at once, watch them all in one night, then send them all back. I had a lot of free time during college, and I watched a lot of weird movies. Right around that time is when streaming came along as well.
After downloading all my info, I found I have–to this date–streamed 6,169 (nice) items, and the first thing I ever streamed on Netflix, back in 2008, was the movie Street Fighter Alpha. That’s something I never would have guessed. The second item was the 1973 movie Westworld, followed by a lot of 30 Rock episodes and Troma movies I’m too embarrassed to discuss.
It’s fun to look back and see your first dip into the streaming pool. Now, we don’t even think twice about what the first thing we streamed on a specific service because there are multiple ones, and they are a normal part of life. So, I ask you. What’s the first thing you streamed on Netflix? Let us know.
Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company.
When Dark Souls II was shown off at E3 2013, one of the main takeaways from the trailer was its impressive lighting system. Dark areas were intended to be a major component of Dark Souls II’s gameplay, forcing players to equip a torch just to be able to navigate through their pitch-black passages.
The graphics engine was designed with the then next-gen PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles in mind, but when Dark Souls II was released on PS3 and Xbox 360 back in 2014, the hardware limitations meant that the ambitious lighting system was scrapped. Now, modder Stayd is working on replicating that original lighting model using Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin on PC.
The original game on the left, and the modded version on the right.
Stayd is an artist and graphics programmer, and has been sharing work-in-progress screenshots of their Flames of Old graphics mod on Twitter. The mod adds some striking updates to the game’s lighting that fundamentally changes how Dark Souls II looks. Notable areas like Heide’s Tower of Flame and Shrine of Amana look much improved, but the Shaded Woods catches the eye in particular.
The original game on the left, and the modded version on the right.
The lighting is much more natural, especially with the green filter removed, and this allows the texture work in the environment and on the character model to stand out. Stayd has also made some other tweaks, such as removing the trees in the upper left corner to reveal the Shrine of Winter, which adds a sense of scale to the area, and adding more ruins and foliage.
Stayd plans to mod the whole game in this way, and you can keep up with the whole process on their Twitch channel.
With the Xbox Series X coming later this year, and Microsoft’s pledge to keep it backwards, and even forwards-compatible, there’s no reason not to get an Xbox One S or Xbox One X now and start accumulating a handsome collection of games.
Another chance to save on Xbox One, the Xbox All-Access program is a subscription service that gets you everything you need to start playing: console, Xbox Live and Game Pass memberships. The deal lets you pay a monthly price for a new Xbox console with the option to upgrade to Xbox Series X later on. However, it’s ONLY a good deal if you qualify for the best rate. It’s also an option if you’d rather just pay a monthly fee spread out over 12-24 months instead of all at once, but that’s your call to make.
The World War I drama 1917, DC hit Joker, and the South Korean sensation Parasite were the big winners at this year’s BAFTA awards. The British film awards ceremony is seen as an indicator of who might succeed at the Oscars later this month.
1917 won the most awards, claiming seven of the nine it was nominated for. These include Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Special Visual Effects. Joaquin Phoenix continued his run of awards success with another Best Actor award for Joker, and the DC movie also scored wins for Best Casting and Original Score.
Parasite claimed the prize for Film Not in the English Language and Best Original Screenplay. Elsewhere, Renée Zellweger won Leading Actress for Judy and Laura Dern won Best Supporting Actress for Marriage Story, while Brad Pitt claimed Best Supporting Actor for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Check out the full list of winners below:
Best film
1917
Best actress
Renée Zellweger – Judy
Best actor
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
Best director
1917 – Sam Mendes
Best casting
Joker
EE rising star award (voted for by the public)
Micheal Ward
Best film not in the English language
Parasite
Best special visual effects
1917
Best supporting actor
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Best original screenplay
Parasite – Han Jin Won, Bong Joon-ho
Best documentary
For Sama
Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
Bait – Mark Jenkin (writer/director), Kate Byers, Linn Waite (producers)
Best adapted screenplay
Jojo Rabbit – Taika Waititi
Best supporting actress
Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Best cinematography
1917
Best editing
Le Mans ’66 (aka Ford vs Ferrari)
Best costume design
Little Women
Best production design
1917
Best sound
1917
Best original score
Joker
Best British short film
Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)
Steam broke its own record for concurrent users online this past Sunday, surpassing the prior record of 18,537,490 users set back on January 14, 2018.
The PC gaming platform experienced a peak of 18,801,944 concurrent players on Sunday at around 6:20 AM PT/9:20 AM ET/2:20 PM GMT, according to SteamDB. Interestingly enough, however, there were actually fewer people in-game than when the previous record was set in 2018, down from seven million to 5.8 million.
.@Steam has broken its record for most concurrently online users that was held for two years. Previous record was 18,537,490 users. It’s still increasing!
But there’s about 1 million less players actually in-game (≈5.8mil vs ≈7mil two years ago).https://t.co/D6WDHbz0B4
When it comes to wearables, Apple has locked down most of the mindshare. The latest version of the Apple Watch improves on everything people like about the earlier models, and right now at Amazon you can get your choice of Apple Watch Series 5 color on sale. You can also pick up an Apple Watch Series 3 at a slight discount, if you’d rather spend less than $200.
Apple Watch Series 5 and Series 3 Deals
Don’t see the deals below? Click here.
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An Apple Watch is a great way to help make your tax refund disappear, or maybe give one as a gift for Valentine’s Day. While you’re shopping for the most romantic gifts, make sure to check out our guide to the best gaming chairs. What better way to say “I love you?” than with a reclining space ship chair for your loved one’s PC gaming needs?
[widget path=”ign/modules/recirc” parameters=”title=&type=articles%2Cvideos&tags=us-shopping&count=3&columnCount=3&theme=article”] Seth Macy is IGN’s tech and commerce editor and just wants to be your friend. Find him on Twitter @sethmacy.
Gina, a 12-week old Labrador Retriever / Chow Chow Mix playing in her rookie year in the prestigious Puppy Bowl, has been officially named the Puppy Bowl XVI MVP. Hailing from Waldorf, MD, Gina showed dogged determination in the face of alpha competition as part of the 2020 Starting Line-Up at this year’s Puppy Bowl.
The epic 16th year of Puppy Bowl pitted champion against chomp’ion, with some of the most doggone determined competitors the Geico Stadium has ever seen. Raised in over 60 shelters across 26 states, these All-American animals came ready to rustle and tussle in a battle for the treasured Lombarky Trophy. 2019 saw Team Ruff gnaw their way through the defense of back-to-back Best in Show Team Fluff for an upset victory. Would the rambunctious Ruffs stuff the Fluff again and put two trophies up on the tailgate? Or would the ferocious Fluffs imprint some fear in the heart of their rivals and get their bone back? One thing was for sure — you wouldn’t need a seeing-eye dog to know that 2020’s Puppy Bowl was looking to be a real slobberknocker!
Puppy Bowl XVI MVP (Most Valuable Puppy) award winner Gina of Team Ruff dug deep into her bag of puppy tricks for her two scores, most notably pulling off the amazing “Hound-Around Ground-and-Pound” move that took her goalpost-to-goalpost without even a single other pup on her coat or tail. Terrier teammate Cafecito also poured it on to put double-digits up on the scoreboard. But the competition did give chase, with big boy Bert scoring twice for Team Fluff and showing just how “great” a Great Pyrenees can be. Neither team would let go of the lead for long in this tug-of-rope! A tied-up half-time score sent both teams to the locker room to think about what they’d done, and even in the hair-raising final 45 seconds of the game, the scoreboard rolled over on each side of this dogfight…
Final Score: 63 to 59, and the Team Fluff “Blue Bones” once again stand on the puppy podium as champions, taking home the Puppy Bowl Lombarki Trophy for the third time in its furry franchise history.
Each and every one of these canine competitors left it all on the field in this year’s big game. And in the end, no pup was left out in the cold, as Animal Planet found adoptive parents for the stars of the event. Puppy Bowl XVI was one for the Hound Hall of Fame. Stay tuned to IGN for more information on Fluff as it becomes apparent.
