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Titanfall $20 on Xbox One, $10 on PC today at Amazon
Prepare for price drop. The retail Xbox One version of Respawn Entertainment's mech-battling first-person shooter Titanfall is $19.99 on Amazon today, while an Origin code for the PC edition is only $10. Get 'em while they're hot, folks – these deals may not last long. Titanfall premiered for PC and Xbox platforms earlier this year, earning 4.5 stars in our review. The game's third and final Season Pass DLC map pack launched in September, making it a great time to join the fight with your jetpacking buddies. [Image: Respawn]
Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes gets permanent price cut
Konami announced a permanent price drop for Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes this week, cutting the game's cost down to $19.99 on all platforms. Ground Zeroes is now priced at £19.99 and €19.99 in Europe as well. The game will reach Steam on December 18. Acting as a prologue to Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain and also set after the events of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Ground Zeroes took players through a rescue mission as series hero Snake. Ground Zeroes launched in March for $30, and according to our review was "also 30 bucks for one hell of a cliffhanger" as the game wound up "teasing more than it satisfies." The next proper entry in the series, Metal Gear Solid 5, will launch in 2015. [Image: Konami]
Xbox One trims $50 for the holidays
The price of the Xbox One will drop by $50 for a limited time in the United States starting November 2, Microsoft announced. The stand-alone system will cost $350 until January 3, 2015 at participating retailers, which will include Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Microsoft's stores, Target, Toys R Us and Walmart. The holiday savings applies to all versions of the console, so those in the market for one of Microsoft's Xbox One bundles will also save $50 during the two-month period. That includes the Assassin's Creed Unity bundle, available before Unity launches over a week later, will cost $350 for the standard version that also includes Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and $450 for the version with both games and Kinect. The temporary price cut follows a much more permanent one the UK received in September. [Image: Microsoft]
Xbox One price slashed to $349 for the holidays
Good things come to those who wait, and Microsoft's now in the business of richly rewarding those capable of delaying their gratification. If you've yet to pick up an Xbox One, then holding off until November 2nd will see the company apply a $50 price drop across the range. That means that a Kinect-free Assassins Creed or Sunset Overdrive bundle will be available for just $349, while the limited edition Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare package with a custom console and controller will be priced at $449. The offer runs all the way through until January 3rd, although we'd imagine that price sticking around if it helps to make a dent in Sony's reasonably healthier console business.
Mojang drops price, doles out freebies for Scrolls tablet launch
Scrolls, Mojang's - or is it Microsoft's? - card battle game, will see a price drop of more than 75 percent when it launches this fall, the developer announced on its blog this week. This means that the normally $21 game will drop to $5, regardless of platform. If you've already dropped a Jackson and Washington on the game, that might sound like bad news - but there are several upsides. First, those who have already purchased the game will receive the $20 shard package, which allows players to purchase new scrolls, pre-constructed decks and player avatars, free of charge. Also, not only will the price be the same across platforms, but so will gameplay; Scrolls players on tablets will be able to compete with those on PC and Mac, as well as have their collections and progress transfer from one version to the other. "Our current price of $21 isn't feasible for tablets," Owen Hill of Mojang wrote. "As you probably already know, games are cheap on those things. Free-to-play would be an option, but we're not keen on the way that that form of monetisation can affect gameplay." [Image: Mojang]
Apple is offering existing iCloud users a partial refund after price drop
On the heels of Apple's new pricing for iCloud storage, existing iCloud users have begun receiving emails announcing they have received an upgrade and refunded to put them in line with new customers. Users who were on the 20GB plan saw their cost drop from $40 a year to $11.99. Apple is refunding those customers the difference. You can read the text of Apple's letter below. Dear ________, We recently announced new, more affordable iCloud storage plans. As a thank you for being a current iCloud storage plan subscriber, we've increased your storage plan and you will be receiving a refund based on the reduced plan price. Your plan has been upgraded from 15 GB of total storage at $20.00 a year to 20 GB at just $10.99 a year. You will receive a prorated refund of $0.52, which is based on the price reduction and the remaining months on your subscription. On September 30, 2014 this 20 GB plan will automatically renew and you will be charged $10.99. We increased the amount of storage in our new plans so you can get the most out of our new features like iCloud Drive, which lets you store and access any type of file from all your devices. All edits you make are automatically updated, which means you'll always have access to the latest version of all your documents. If you need more storage, you can choose a different plan from iCloud Settings at any time, right from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC. Learn more about iCloud storage pricing > The iCloud Team NOTE: This annually priced storage plan is only available to current iCloud storage plan subscribers. You may cancel or downgrade from your device at any time. If you choose to change to one of our new plans, you won't be able to switch back to this annual plan. You can contact Apple for a refund within 15 days of an upgrade. Partial refunds are available where required by law.
PS3 hardware price drop announced for Japan
The PlayStation 3 will have its price slashed in Japan later this month, dropping the 500GB "Charcoal Black" model to ¥25,980 (approximately $253), Sony revealed this week. The discounted CECH-4300C model replaces the PS3's current CECH-4000C "super slim" edition in Japan, Siliconera reports. The current 500GB model retails for ¥33,900 at Amazon.co.jp. Following the price drop, Sony will discontinue Japan's current 500 GB (CECH-4200C), 250 GB (CECH-4200B), and 250 GB "Classic White" (CECH-4200BLW) PS3 hardware bundles. The discounted hardware goes on sale in Japan on August 28. Sony has issued no word regarding a PS3 hardware price drop elsewhere in the world. [Image: Sony]
Arena shooter Minimum's Early Access price minimized
Updates are to be expected when a game is on Early Access, but patches that also halve a game's price are a little more rare. The latest addition to Minimum, Atari and Prey developer Human Head's third-person arena shooter, is among those rarities, dropping the price of Minimum's Early Access admission from $19.99 to $9.99. Those that have already enlisted as blocky, gun-wielding soldiers on Minimum's minimalistic battlefields still have something to enjoy from the update: Path of Lanterns supplies a new zone to sprint through in the 5 vs. 5, assist-your-team's-base-stomping-robot Titan Mode, with Zen Garden serving as a fresh Team Deathmatch locale. The update expands Minimum's arsenal, too: Proximity mines and sticky grenades can now be set or lobbed to thwart opponents. It's a given that sticky grenades cling to anything your accuracy allows, but Minimum weapon designer TJ notes "your teammates" as a possible host for proxy mines, so don't limit your placement strategies to immobile objects. If you'd rather hone your technique before wildly hurling explosives, the update also adds AI bots, which are just as capable of crafting armor and gathering powerups as human players. [Image: Atari]
OnLive cuts price of CloudLift subscription fee nearly in half
OnLive launched CloudLift last month, a service that lets users stream its selection of games from capable machines to devices that wouldn't normally be able to play them - think tablets and underpowered computers. CloudLift used to cost $14.99 a month, but that subscription fee has been slashed to $7.95, presumably because price drops are awesome. Saints Row 4, Batman: Arkham Origins and The LEGO Movie Videogame serve as highlights among Cloudlift's offerings, all of which can be streamed from Steam if you own copies of the games there. Given that your interest in Cloudlift likely depends on whether the service stands up to your expectations, you can try a free 7-day trial by finding CloudLift in the OnLive application's Market. [Image: OnLive]
Nvidia Shield slashed to $199 for April, getting remote game streaming
Nvidia's Android-based handheld game system, Shield, will receive a temporary price drop for April, cutting the system by $50 to $199 for the month. The price cut is accompanied by new features arriving in a software update for the system next week, including a new user interface for the Shield's button-mapping feature. The addition lets players use the Shield's physical buttons for touch-based games on the Google Play store. The hardware company will also add a beta version of its away-from-home game streaming support feature. Players will be able to remotely play PC games on their Shield, waking up and logging in to locked PCs while on the go. Additionally, the update will add bluetooth keyboard and mouse support for those that want to hook their Shields up to a TV to play on a bigger screen. Lastly, the Nvidia Shield will receive the latest version of the Android operating system, nicknamed KitKat (version 4.4.2). Nvidia also recently revealed that Valve's popular first-person puzzler Portal will receive a full PC port on Android with full Shield support. [Image: Nvidia]
Xbox One bundle price drops to $399 on Amazon (update: back to $450)
We're not sure if this is a real price drop or a retailer error, but CheapAssGamer.com points out that the Xbox One is currently available on Amazon for $399 -- the same price as a PlayStation 4, but obviously with the Kinect camera and a game packed-in. The Xbox One Standard Edition (with the Forza Motorsport 5 digital code) is currently listed for $450, but adding the discount code XIAMAZON -- first seen last week as retailers cut prices on the Titanfall bundle to $450 -- takes an additional $50 off of the price. Of course, this means you don't get the console's most anticipated game as a part of the deal, but at this price we doubt many will complain. It's earlier than an anticipated and if it's an error (of course, Amazon is starting a videogame Gold Box deal today...) then we don't know how long it will last, but tell us -- if they're the same price which would you choose, an Xbox One or PS4? Update: It looks like it was an error, as the bundle's price has jumped back to $499, which comes down to $450 with the discount code. It was good while it lasted, but we guess Microsoft isn't quite ready to make that level of sacrifice to catch the PS4 in sales.
Wikipad drops from $250 to $200
Wikipad 7, the Android gaming tablet with attachable controller, now costs $200 in the US, down from its $250 launch price. So far, Best Buy offers the updated price, and other retailers are expected to follow suit soon, along with stores in other regions around the world. Wikipad 7 includes the Android Jelly Bean OS, 16GB memory with a slot to add 32GB more, and more than 250 games in the store (no, Wikipedia is not one of them). See a list of controller-supported games here. Wikipad launched in the US in June 2013, after a delay from October 2012. In February 2013, the Wikipad team dropped plans for a $500, 10-inch tablet to make the cheaper, 7-inch model on the market now. [Image: Wikipad]
GameStop UK pitches Titanfall Xbox One bundle at £370
GameStop's UK branch is selling the newly announced Titanfall Xbox One bundle at £370 (around $617), some £30 less than the suggested £400 tag ($667). In effect, GameStop is doubling the difference of Microsoft's suggested price drop - the company launched the console at £430 in the UK. GameStop has precedence here; it's also been selling the PS4 at £330, which is £20 less than the system's recommended price in the UK. Other major retailers like Amazon, GAME, Zavvi, and ShopTo are selling the Titanfall bundle at the suggested £400. The Titanfall bundle hits the UK alongside Respawn's shooter on March 14. North America boards the meteor-like mechs a few days earlier on March 11, but the Xbox One price drop remains limited to the sovereign isle, where it'll go into effect on Friday, February 28. [Image: Microsoft]
Xbox One packs in Titanfall, drops price in UK [Update: Pre-orders open]
Microsoft will bundle Titanfall with Xbox One consoles starting March 11 in the United States. Additionally, the Xbox One's price will drop in the UK from £430 ($716.08) to £399.99 ($666.10). The price drop will go into effect this Friday, February 28. The Titanfall bundle will cost the same amount as the Xbox One system typically does in North America, $499.99, and can be seen on Microsoft's website. Players picking up the bundle next month will receive a download code for Titanfall packed in to the box, as opposed to a boxed, retail copy of the game. The bundle will be available for "a limited time only" at select retailers. Titanfall is the first game from Respawn Entertainment, the developer created by former Call of Duty veterans Jason West and Vince Zampella in April 2010. West left the developer in March 2013 after the duo settled with Activision in its Infinity Ward lawsuits in May 2012. Those looking for more Titanfall action should look no further than the six-person beta massacre our daring Joystiq editors took part in. Update: Players can pre-order the bundle through Amazon and the Microsoft Store. [Image: Microsoft]
Amazon multiplatform clearance sale is loaded with cheap games
Amazon's clearance category has been updated with dozens of new price drops on featured games for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and portable platforms. Gamer Deals has compiled a list of the retailer's current discounts, spotlighting a number of high-profile multiplatform releases. Amazon shoppers can currently pick up a copy of Capcom's Wii U action-RPG Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for $25.25, while Sega's 2011 platformer Sonic Generations is up for grabs at $14.96. Other highlights include Zone of the Enders HD Collection for $9.99, Ni no Kuni for $19.93, and Lego Batman 2 for $14.95. Note that supplies are limited and Amazon's listed prices rise as demand increases, so if you want to score some of these deals, you'd better act fast. [Image: Capcom]
Need for Speed Rivals, FIFA 14 headline Xbox Live EA Publisher sale
Electronic Arts rolls out a series of discounts on Xbox Live this week, dropping prices for the Xbox 360 Games on Demand versions of Need for Speed Rivals, Crysis 3, FIFA 14 and other standout games in its digital catalog. Rivals, FIFA, and NHL 14 are currently available for $29.99 each, while Crysis 3 is up for grabs at $14.79. Other featured games include Mirror's Edge ($4.94), Dead Space ($7.49), Shank 2 ($2.49), and Alice: Madness Returns ($7.39). This week also brings a collection of exclusive price drops for Xbox Live Gold members, discounting niche XBLA releases like Moon Diver, Blood Knights, and Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds by 50 percent. This week's deals are valid through February 3.
GameStop weekend sale drops Batman: AO, Assassin's Creed 4 prices
Still catching up on last year's releases? GameStop's looking to help you out with a handful of weekend-long price drops on Batman: Arkham Origins, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, and other standout games released at the tail end of 2013. Starting today and ending Sunday, shoppers can pick up the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PC versions of Assassin's Creed 4 for $29.99 each. Batman: Arkham Origins gets a little cheaper at $49.99 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 ports, while the Wii U version drops to $39.99. The 3DS and PS Vita-exclusive spinoff Batman Arkham Origins: Blackgate is up for grabs at $29.99. Other sale highlights include Just Dance 2014 ($29.99), the DLC-bundled Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition ($49.99), and the 3DS and Vita versions of Lego Marvel Superheroes ($29.99).
Joe Danger Infinity dropped to 99 cents on iOS
Joe Danger Infinity may have launched just last week, but it can already be downloaded at a discounted price. The game is now listed for 99 cents on the App Store, down from its initial launch price of $2.99 (£1.99 and €2.69 in Europe). Hello Games' latest creation has players launching off ramps, avoiding obstacles and pulling tricks as a miniature Joe Danger, collecting stars and coins while flying through the air. Joe Danger Infinity's hook comes in the form of multiple ride-able vehicles, such as motorcycles, cars and airplanes. It features more than 20 vehicles and 25 nostalgic unlockable characters.
Wii U sales jump in wake of price cut, increased by 200 percent in September
It looks like Nintendo's Wii U is finally getting the shot in the arm it needs: according to the latest numbers, the console's sales jumped 200 percent last month. The company points to the Wii U's August price drop and the introduction of a limited-edition Legend of Zelda bundle for the increased interest, the former of which parrots the company's success with cutting the 3DS' original price back in 2011. Nintendo optimistically says that the sales boost only measured the first 15 days of the new price, but NPD's numbers tell a different story, reporting that "sales were up over 100% on an average per-week basis from August 2013." Neither outfit defined the base number the contested multiplier is working from, however. At least one thing's for sure: the 3DS is still selling like hotcakes, outpacing all other hardware for the month of September -- not bad, considering that it was also the first month in almost three years that the PlayStation 3 outsold the Xbox 360.
Report: Multiplayer-less Batman: Arkham Origins to cost $50 on Wii U
The Wii U version of Batman: Arkham Origins will be missing $10 from its price tag in addition to the absent multiplayer content planned for the 360, PS3 and PC versions of the game, Kotaku reports. Amazon's listing for the Wii U version is currently priced at $49.96. Publisher Warner Bros. explained in July that the decision to skip multiplayer for the Wii U version was made to focus "on platforms with the largest MP audience." Arkham Origins' multiplayer mode is being handled by Brink developer Splash Damage and will consist of a three-team fight for territory between the Joker's henchmen, Bane's thugs and Batman and Robin. The Joker and Bane gangs will be a three-piece effort, although a henchman can be swapped for a super villain if a player earns their way into Joker or Bane's shoes. Batman & Robin, however, will fight on as a gadget-wielding duo of justice.
