Jackpot! Review
Paul Feig movie may not know what it wants to be – riotous comedy, sincere drama, or sprawling action film – but its breakout supporting players elevate it from pure mediocrity to moderately entertaining.
https://www.ign.com/articles/jackpot-review-john-cena-awkwafina-prime-video
Jackpot! Review
Paul Feig movie may not know what it wants to be – riotous comedy, sincere drama, or sprawling action film – but its breakout supporting players elevate it from pure mediocrity to moderately entertaining.
https://www.ign.com/articles/jackpot-review-john-cena-awkwafina-prime-video
Scott Pilgrim Creator Announces North American Tour for Franchise's 20th Anniversary
Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O'Malley is hitting the road to celebrate the franchise's 20th anniversary. Find out where he'll be stopping on his North American signing tour.
https://www.ign.com/articles/scott-pilgrim-20th-anniversary-signing-tour-bryal-lee-omalley
Scott Pilgrim Creator Announces North American Tour for Franchise's 20th Anniversary
Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O'Malley is hitting the road to celebrate the franchise's 20th anniversary. Find out where he'll be stopping on his North American signing tour.
https://www.ign.com/articles/scott-pilgrim-20th-anniversary-signing-tour-bryal-lee-omalley
Scott Pilgrim Creator Announces North American Tour for Franchise's 20th Anniversary
Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O'Malley is hitting the road to celebrate the franchise's 20th anniversary. Find out where he'll be stopping on his North American signing tour.
https://www.ign.com/articles/scott-pilgrim-20th-anniversary-signing-tour-bryal-lee-omalley
The Doom Anthology is Up for Preorder, Comes with a BFG
You can now preorder the DOOM Anthology, containing Doom, Doom II, Doom 64, Doom 3, Doom (2016), and Doom Eternal Deluxe Edition. It releases on October 22.
https://www.ign.com/articles/where-to-buy-doom-anthology-pc-ps5-switch-xbox
MTG and Pokémon TCG Prices Slashed in Huge Clearance Sale at Best Buy
There's a huge sale on MTG and Pokémon TCG at Best Buy and Amazon today.
https://www.ign.com/articles/mtg-and-pokemon-tcg-prices-slashed-in-huge-clearance-sale
Kraven the Hunter Trailer Pits Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Vicious Vigilante Against Spider-Man Villain Rhino
The latest trailer for Kraven the Hunter is here, offering a first look at Spider-Man villain Aleksei Sytsevich, better known as the Rhino.
You Can Get an HP OMEN 40L RTX 4060 Gaming PC for Only $769.99
A great budget 1080p gaming rig
https://www.ign.com/articles/you-can-get-an-hp-omen-40l-rtx-4060-gaming-pc-for-only-769
Open Season on Persona Franchise Discounts, $120 Off a Delisting AAA Ultimate Edition, and More!
The deep discounts continue today on only the games that matter. Where was I yesterday? Getting even more impressed by Astro Bot, a game that already felt like a solid preorder prospect going into that hands-on session. I'll let you dig through my fuller impressions here, but the TL;DR is that it's no slouch in the challenge department (if you head into the 'Hard' designated planets of its galaxy). As a serious 3D platformer fan who cut his teeth on Crash and Super Mario 64, I'm just as surprised as you are about this.
In retro news, I'm celebrating the 11th birthday of Duck Tales Remastered, an exemplary milestone on how to nail an 8-bit glow-up. Ironically, developer WayForward was the opposite of Scrooge with this, sparing no expense on hand-drawn HD graphics, extra levels, unlockable content, and most of the original voice cast from the iconic '80s cartoon. Better yet, they preserved much of the insane difficulty—the thing that made this an absolute qwacker of a game in the first place.
This Day in Gaming
Aussie birthdays for notable games.
- Madden NFL 09 (PS3,X360) 2008. Sequel
- Duck Tales Remastered (PSN) 2013. Get
- EA Sports UFC 4 (PS4,XO) 2020. Sequel
Table of Contents
Nintendo Switch
PC
Xbox
PlayStation
LEGO
The Weekly Top 10
Nice Savings for Nintendo Switch
Expiring Recent Deals
Or gift a Nintendo eShop Card.
Switch Console Prices
How much to Switch it up?
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Purchase Cheap for PC
Expiring Recent Deals
Or just get a Steam Wallet Card.
PC Hardware Prices
Slay your pile of shame.
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Exciting Bargains for Xbox
Expiring Recent Deals
Or just invest in an Xbox Card.
Xbox Console Prices
How many bucks for a 'Box?
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Pure Scores for PlayStation
Expiring Recent Deals
Or purchase a PS Store Card.
PlayStation Console Prices
What you'll pay to 'Station.
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Legit LEGO Deals
Expiring Recent Deals
Back to top
The Top 10 Games in Australia
(According to IGEA and Game Sales Data.)
GTA V
Hogwarts Legacy
Elden Ring
College Football 25
COD MW3
GTA Online
Red Dead 2
South Park: The Fractured But Whole
NBA 2K24
Hitman WoA Part 1
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Adam Mathew is our Aussie deals wrangler. He plays practically everything, often on YouTube.
Director and Action Choreographer Corey Yuen Died in 2022, Report Says
It’s been revealed that longtime action choreographer and actor Corey Yuen reportedly passed away around two years ago.
https://www.ign.com/articles/director-and-action-choreographer-corey-yuen-died-in-2022-report-says
Celebrate the Glorious 10 Year Anniversay with up to 65% off Mechanical Keyboards and Gaming Mice
A popular brand especially among keyboard enthusiasts
The Dell Back to School Sale Starts Now: The Best Deals on Alienware Gaming Laptops and PCs (Updated)
Plus an extra 10% off coupon code exclusively for students
Helldivers 2 Dev Working to Address Complaints After Escalation of Freedom: 'What Matters Most Now Is Action'
Helldivers 2 players were left dissatisfied with the launch of its recent Escalation of Freedom update, and developer Arrowhead Studios says it wants to fix that.
Save $900 Off the 57" Samsung Odyssey Neo G9, The World's Only Dual 4K UHD Gaming Monitor
Also get bonus $100 in Samsung credit and a 27" Odyssey G3 gaming monitor
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster's 'Classic Controls' Let's You Play the Game on the Original Control Scheme
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster will give players the option to use a "Classic Control" scheme, which mimics the controls found in the 2006 original.
https://www.ign.com/articles/dead-rising-deluxe-remasters-classic-controls-option-confirmed
Don’t Miss Out on 50% off Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1 is currently marked down 50% at Amazon and Best Buy.
https://www.ign.com/articles/metal-gear-solid-master-collection-vol1-deal
James Cameron Will Direct Avatar 4 and 5 Unless He's 'Hit By a Bus'
James Cameron is wholly dedicated to directing Avatar 4 and 5 despite saying previously that someone else might lead the films.
https://www.ign.com/articles/james-cameron-will-direct-avatar-4-and-5-unless-hes-hit-by-a-bus
Best Pokémon TCG Deals Today (August 2024)
Amazon has discounted a whole range of Pokemon TCG sets, here's all the best deals we could find today.
How Astro's Hard Levels are Gonna Kick Some Serious Bot, Best Prices Available, and More!
I went into my Astro Bot hands-on hoping it would be absolutely delightful. To my complete lack of surprise, it was. Chances were always going to be high here; Astro's Playroom may have been a truncated pack-in, but it gacha-captured many a heart with its whimsical visuals, on-point cameos, and music that still lives rent-free in my melon. (All of that returns with a vengeance, by the way.)
What did catch me by surprise, multiple times and more often than I'd like to confess, was how delightfully devious this full-botied sequel is. If you crave something tougher than a walk in the (gorgeously rendered and reactive) park of pink PSPosies, Astro Bot has got you sorted. An impressive 3D platformer pantsing awaits you here, in the ominous outer-rims of these unlockable planetoid/level galaxies.
I'm going to talk a bit more about that in a sec, but for now, let's get the best prices out of the way. You can skip right past all the window shopping by clicking here.
Astro Bot Deals
PS5
Preorder at Mighty Ape - $89
Preorder at JB Hi-Fi - $89
Get it digital on PS Store - $109.95
Astro Bot Hands-on
Before we talk more about the deep end of this sequel, let me first assure the novice paddlers among you: there's plenty of wading pool stuff to enjoy. Chill players and younger kids will totally have a blast with what is still, at its core, the same enemy punchin' and gap hoppin' collect-a-thon you're expecting.
And I say that with zero contempt, because I am not immune to the charms of the low-stress sections of this package. Even on a basic level, Astro Bot impresses with that endearing, playable-Pixar-picture aesthetic of its sumptuous and remarkably physics-filled levels. Exactly like I once did, way back on the 2020 launch day of PS5, I spent far too much time marvelling at Team Asobi's dedication to grass and mud tech minutiae.
That, and there was my insistence on haymaking every living (and non-living) thing in sight, to see if the dev has keyed a comical reaction animation to it. 95% of the time, it's a yes.
Speaking of simple pleasures and stupid compulsions, too many of my minutes were also spent re-walking across metal floors, just because their haptic texture and DualSense speaker 'tinking' tickled my hands and brain just so. Even after all of these years, I still maintain that Team Asobi has the best grasp on "DualSensations" of any first-party developer. Absolute artisans
And hey, all of this isn't to say that there aren't some deaths to be copped in the early-to-mid-game levels. Astro Bot still unleashes a horde of beasties who require specific tactics to dispatch. In minimum real estate areas, often within very tight proximities and over bottomless pits, you must quickly remember to punch /spin punch/ laser-boot foes correctly.
There are also a bunch of new hires who must be eliminated with swift combinations of the above tactics. Personally, my new favourite is a chonky sumo wrestler type who thwarts your double jumps and tries to E. Honda slap you with metal hands. If you try to "El Toro" past his charges and punch his aft section, your only reward will be some hilariously gelatinous wobble-physics applied to his g-stringed behind.
Some hilariously gelatinous wobble-physics applied to his g-stringed behind.
If I'm being completely honest, there are still a few deaths (and mercifully short checkpoint reloads) to be suffered in the Normal rated levels, typically whenever a new power-up arrives. I sampled a few of these palate cleansers in my 7 mission playthrough, and I'm happy to report that they filter in and out as you pass through short sections. At this stage in the game, I don't think they overstay their welcome.
These included basic jump enhancers, like holding R2 to balloon Astro out and then upward to effectively triple his typical vertical reach. From there, his floatiness will slowly decay, or you can manipulate his descent with strategic R2 taps that blurt air out.
I more enjoyed the lateral leap / charge attack enhancers. Astro can acquire a new backpack dog who, for some reason, has a jet turbine for a posterior. In stark contrast to the balloon power-up, there's no granular control to a trigger burst of this. Basically, you'll punch out like a robo-missile in whatever direction you've selected. On tighter scaffold affairs, and with little or no restraint, you can get out of pocket and down a pit in no time.
Interestingly, it seems that Astro-transforming power-ups largely take a back seat during the moments that I'm going to live for (read: die during) in this sequel—the Hard levels. The first thing you should know is that you can kiss mid-level checkpoints goodbye. Quick example: after five minutes of gruelling leap-frogging, I got to the last gap to my end goal, then my lizard brain suddenly forgot that two X button taps do not equal a double jump. It just halves your jump and sends you to hell.
Boom. Toast. Do it all again.
Though these challenges don't yet rise to the level of, say, Crash's 'Stormy Ascent' stage, even my veteran Bandicoot self was blindsided by their exacting nature. The first layer of complexity is pure platforming stuff—very little (or disappearing) terra firma to land upon, or do battle in, once you've barely made the hover-jump over. The second layer of pain comes in the form of limited access to "throwable time manipulation cans," a pretty nefarious double edged sword.
On the one hand, hoiking one of these to create a short window of molasses-slow time is a benefit. It can ease your passing around electrified conga lines of foes who would otherwise be impossible to leap. Better yet, you might still have enough juice left to put the brakes on those spinning PlayStation symbol platforms lying just beyond. More likely, all of this Zemeckis-ing with time has given you enough rope to hang yourself with.
The use-time of this mechanic is often *just* long enough to get you into the last few metres of the platforming section you wish to circumvent. As a result, you may have to make a clutch-kill or clutch-leap on an enemy group/spinning platform that's now rapidly accelerated back. Worse, the act of trying to use these cannisters at slightly different moments can wreak havoc on building a recognisable platforming "flow" for yourself, to better step-by-step your way through subsequent retries.
All of this Zemeckis-ing with time has given you enough rope to hang yourself with.
Admittedly, it's early hours yet, but I'm hoping Team Asobi continues to ante up higher with thumb-taxing concepts like these. And, hey, it sure seems we'll have a long time for that escalation to occur—Astro Bot has a whopping 80 levels across 6 galaxies. From the sample I saw, that's a very decent number of hours, even without taking into account the added time needed to sniff out every secret Bot and puzzle piece.
Bot-tom line: I was always going to make time to play the sequel to the positively lovely Astro's Playroom / Playroom VR. But now, after getting my Astro whipped, I'm carving out a much larger chunk of my calendar for a more serious assault on my thumbs than expected. Bring on September 6th.
Adam Mathew has clocked every 3D platformer that matters. He's stoked that the genre is getting another AAA entry that isn't made by the mastercrafters at Nintendo.