When Is Amazon Prime Day 2022? And What To Expect

Following two abnormal years for Amazon Prime Day, the annual sales event is returning to its July roots. Amazon confirmed in late April that Prime Day 2022 will kick off sometime in July, but unsurprisingly the retailer hasn’t provided an exact date for the sales bonanza. That said, we have a pretty good guess as to when Prime Day 2022 will run–as well as the length of the sale and the types of deals to expect.

When is Prime Day 2022?

With Prime Day 2022 confirmed for July, it’s highly likely that the sales event will start on one of two dates: July 11 or July 18. Prime Day has always kicked off on Monday, and we have no reason to believe that will change this year. Prior to the disruption to Prime Day in 2020, the sales event had always run in mid July. We can easily nix the possibility of Prime Day starting on the July 4 holiday, and a July 25 start date would be uncharacteristically late in the season for Amazon.

That leaves us with July 11 or July 18. Prime Day has been a two-day, 48-hour event since 2017. We expect that to remain the case this year. As such, Prime Day 2022 will in all likelihood take place July 11-12 or July 18-19.

Amazon tends to keep its sales events under wraps until just a couple of weeks (or less) before the start date. We might not get a definitive date for Prime Day until the end of the month or possibly even early July.

What is Prime Day?

Amazon Prime Day 2022

If you haven’t experienced the annual sales bonanza, Amazon Prime Day is essentially a condensed Black Friday sale. Outside of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Prime Day has become the biggest sales event of the year. And it’s not just Amazon with great deals–major retailers will jump in on the fun with anti-Prime Day sales. Often times, these sales at competing retailers kick off the weekend prior to Prime Day to try and steal Amazon’s thunder.

The deals at Amazon are exclusive to Prime members, while competing retailers tend to offer deals to anyone. That said, with an increased emphasis on Walmart+, PowerUp Rewards Pro, Totaltech Unlocked, and other subscription services at competing retailers, it’s certainly possible that some of the hottest deals–including any PS5 restocks–will be limited to members at competing retailers, too.

All told, you can expect thousands upon thousands of deals at Amazon and other major retailers that week. From gaming and tech to entertainment and toys, just about every category of product you can think of will be on sale.

What deals do we expect on Prime Day?

Amazon Prime Day is not super predictable when it comes to the actual products that will be on sale. The exception here is Amazon brand devices such as the Echo Show, Kindle, Echo Dot, and Fire TVs. Amazon brand devices are always on sale for their best prices of the year during Prime Day. So if you’re in the market for a smart home device or Kindle, your best bet is to wait for Prime Day.

While we cannot definitively say which gaming products will be on sale, there will definitely be some stellar deals on Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X games. Prime Day gaming deals often focus on AAA games that released within the past year, so you can expect to see some 2021 holiday hits as well as titles that launched earlier this year.

In addition to games, Prime Day always offers a great opportunity to purchase gaming-related tech such as controllers, headsets, and gaming laptops/PCs. And, much like Black Friday, some of the best Prime Day deals are often found on 4K TVs, including budget options and high-end TVs that are great for gaming.

Will there be console restocks during Prime Day?

We wouldn’t be surprised to see PS5 restocks during Prime Day.

When it comes to consoles, it’ll be interesting to see if PS5 restocks occur during Prime Day. Sony recently released a PS5 bundle that includes Horizon Forbidden West, which seems like a prime (sorry) candidate for an enticing Prime Day drop at Amazon and other retailers.

On the other hand, we wouldn’t be surprised at all to see actual deals on the Xbox Series X|S. We’ve seen quite a few Xbox Series S deals recently, including a bundle at Walmart that contains the Series S and Halo Infinite for $300 (it’s still available!).

Meanwhile, Nintendo Switch console deals are rare, so we wouldn’t expect to see discounts–at least not on the Switch OLED. Bundles featuring the regular Switch or Switch Lite are a possibility, though.

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Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Is The Next $70 Game On PC

With today’s formal unveiling of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 comes an unfortunate bit of news: The new Call of Duty title will cost $70 on PC.

This announcement makes Modern Warfare 2 the next big game to join the ranks of this premium tier of AAA games on PC. Square Enix made waves last year when it announced that Final Fantasy VII Remake would be coming to PC for $70, since most AAA games on the platform continue to sell for $60. At the same time, Square also announced that Forspoken would be released on PC for the same price.

So far, these three titles are the only confirmed games on the horizon pushing the $70 price on PC, a price that is becoming standardized on the current generation of consoles by publishers like 2K and Activision.

2K, the publisher behind the NBA 2K and Borderlands series, has recently sold installments in both franchises at $70 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Activision has locked the current-gen versions of recent Call of Duty titles, like last year’s Vanguard, behind cross-generation bundles that have cost players $70. EA also released last year’s Battlefield 2042 in a similarly priced cross-generation bundle.

PlayStation was among the first to pave the way for this new pricing, confirming early on that its first-party exclusives would sell for $70 on PS5 such as Demon’s Souls and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. While many expected Xbox to follow suit, it hasn’t budged on the $60 standard that has been in place for generations, opting instead to leverage the popularity of its Game Pass subscription to get games in the hands of players.

If you want to learn more about the game, check out GameSpot’s Modern Warfare 2 preview for a first look at the “new era” of Call of Duty it hopes to usher in. Modern Warfare 2 releases on October 28, 2022 and will be on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam.

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Hidden Hotel: Miami Mystery Mobile Game To Feature Clue Characters

Tilting Point and WhatsApp are collaborating with Hasbro to bring classic characters from the popular board game Clue to Hidden Hotel: Miami Mystery. The event has already begun and will run until July 7.

Clue characters such as Miss Scarlett and Colonel Mustard will accompany players and participate in mini-events and mysterious detective stories. The mystery will vary with different endings based on the player’s decisions. Other Clue characters like Miss Peacock and Professor Plum will offer players daily tasks and unique rewards. During the event players can also participate in a special Clue event with 20 levels to investigate.

Hasbro has previously collaborated with others to bring Clue to film, TV, books, escape rooms, musicals, etc.

Hidden Hotel: Miami Mystery is a mystery puzzle game about uncovering secrets. Hidden Hotel: Miami Mystery can be downloaded on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

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What Is The Best Yacht To Buy In GTA Online?

There is perhaps not a clearer sign of wealth in GTA Online than owning a yacht. As in real life, a yacht is the ultimate flex of luxury in the world of Los Santos. When Rockstar Games introduced the Galaxy Super Yacht fleet, they released three different yachts for players to purchase. All three of these gigantic boats are well worth your hard-earned GTA cash, as they all boast amenities as far as the eye can see. The main differences in the yachts lie in their price and how many features they have. However, as you’ll see, those features don’t drift too far apart from yacht to yacht.

Since the yachts start at the sky-high price of $6 million, players have asked if going for the most expensive yacht is actually worth it or if they can get by with the least expensive. It’s a similar question that players have asked in regards to cars, jets, and any other property available in the online world of Los Santos. In this guide, we’ll be going over all three of the yachts in GTA Online and determining which is the best to buy based on all of the factors.

The Orion

The Orion yacht in GTA Online. Image provided by VicenzoVegas21

Kicking us off is The Orion, the least expensive yacht in GTA Online. Of course, the term “least expensive” is used lightly here, as The Orion still costs a whopping $6 million in GTA cash. The Orion, and the other two yachts, are equipped with a 210-foot body and the same basic outside appearance as the two more expensive Galaxy Super Yachts in the game. There’s a sun deck on top for sunbathing or throwing parties but no hot tub, unfortunately. Also on the exterior is one single helipad and storage for two vehicles, the Shitzu Tropic and Speedophile Seashark jetski. On the interior, The Orion is equipped with three luxurious guest rooms. Like the rest of the yachts, you can’t actually drive The Orion. What you can do is pay your captain to park it somewhere and have it ready for you when you want to come aboard at a certain location. You can also complete six A Superyacht Life missions to reduce your overall operating costs and make some money with your yacht in the process.

The one aspect of The Orion that’s truly lacking is that it doesn’t spawn with a helicopter and only has one helipad. While not a huge problem, the other two yachts on this list have these aspects over The Orion. If you’re in the market for a yacht and can spend $6 million, then you can likely also spend another million for the next yacht on this list. This could make The Orion obsolete unless you’re truly strapped for cash.

The Pisces

The Pisces yacht in GTA Online

For one million more than The Orion ($7 million), you can own The Pisces. Compared to The Orion, The Pisces spawns with a helicopter and has two helipads, a hot tub, and space for five vehicles. Those vehicles are the Buckingham Swift (helicopter), Pegassi Speeder, Nagasaki Dinghy, and two Speedophile Seashark jetskis. Aside from the Speeder, the yacht will spawn with all of the aforementioned vehicles, letting you and some friends get to shore or to another location with ease. Having the extra helipad is also nice to either have a friend land on the yacht or to keep a spare in case something happens to your first.

$7 million is considered the sweet spot for the line of Galaxy Super Yachts. You’ll see why when we go over the last yacht on this list.

The Aquarius

The Aquarius yacht in GTA Online

The big daddy of them all, the Aquarius is the last and most expensive yacht on this list. The final Galaxy Super Yacht of the fleet costs an eye-gouging $8 million. This makes it the most expensive piece of property you can buy in GTA Online by a country mile. The Aquarius has everything The Pisces has, including the two helipads and hot tub, but has room for seven vehicles instead of five. However, those two extra vehicles are two additional Seashark jetskis, which is really only good for if you have half a dozen friends on your yacht at the same time.

The main point of The Aquarius in GTA Online is to flex on other players. Its price point is relatively unwarranted due to the lack of amenities compared to The Pisces. However, if you’re a collector of the most luxurious items in Los Santos, The Aquarius needs to be your next purchase.

The verdict

As you might have expected from the descriptions of each yacht, The Pisces is what we consider to be the best Galaxy Super Yacht in GTA Online. It features a great price point and is a huge step up from The Orion at one million dollars more. The Aquarius simply doesn’t offer enough compared to The Pisces to warrant it being the best bang for your buck. Unless you truly want to show off your wealth, going with The Pisces is the best option in GTA Online.

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Review Roundup For The Quarry

Reviews for The Quarry, Supermassive Games’ spiritual successor to the Until Dawn series, have gone live. It’s a lengthier and original story of summer camp, teenagers left all alone, and malevolent forces on the loose. The Quarry largely follows the same formula as Until Dawn, with the game regularly allowing you to switch between all nine camp counselors as they try to survive the worst night of their lives.

Early reviews are mostly positive, with various outlets commenting on The Quarry’s strong storytelling, intriguing mystery, and spooky survival-horror design.

“After dabbling in shorter stories with The Dark Pictures Anthology series, The Quarry sees the studio return to its roots with a new 10-hour horror game that sticks closely to the well-received formula that made Until Dawn such a rousing success,” Richard Wakeling wrote in GameSpot’s The Quarry review. “The Quarry wears its influences on its sleeve, with various elements of its design evoking some of the genre’s best.”

On GameSpot’s sister site Metacritic, The Quarry currently has an aggregated score of 81. Here’s what other critics have to say about the game:

Game: The QuarryPlatforms: PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox OneDeveloper: Supermassive GamesRelease Date: June 10Price: $60

GameSpot – 90 / 100

“Supermassive doesn’t shy away from the fact that The Quarry is essentially an interactive movie. The mechanics haven’t evolved since Until Dawn was released seven years ago, and that’s perfectly fine. The basic system of choice and consequence is still highly effective at building suspense and lending a massive amount of weight to each decision you make.” — Richard Wakeling [Full review]

Game Informer – 8.5 / 10

“For the core game, I wish more of the action was in the hands of the player, but I can’t deny how enthralling the choices are, especially when they lead to absolute chaos. Once the frantic running through the woods begins, the dark mysteries and thrill of keeping people alive are powerful hooks that will keep you glued in suspense until the credits roll.” — Andrew Reiner [Full review]

Destructoid – 8.5 / 10

“If you’ve been on any of Supermassive’s wild rides before, you know what to expect by now–familiar faces from film and TV, lots of chatting, quieter clue-finding moments, plenty of frantic quick-time events, a guiding force in between chapters, and some gut-feeling life-or-death calls–The Quarry covers all of those bases, and it covers them well.” — Jordan Devore [Full review]

TheGamer – 80 / 100

“The Quarry is an excellent survival horror experience with a strong cast of characters and a startling horror narrative that delights with campy scares and unexpected twists. Fans of Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures need to pick this up, or even those after a spooky outing either alone or with friends. It isn’t the alien abduction story I’ve been waiting for, but it still proves that Supermassive Games is the undisputed king of the genre when it matters.” — Jade King [Full review]

PC Gamer – 70 / 100

“Over the last seven years Supermassive has sharpened its branching ghost train formula to a point so fine that one of its characters could trip and impale themselves on it. But the only real advancement from past titles here is the top-class production values. The plot, performances and visual fidelity are worth turning up for, as are some of the shocks, but more than ever much of your involvement seems like protective padding sandwiched between the scripted thrills. You may well feel at home in The Quarry, then. But since when did feeling at home make for the best horror?” — Jon Bailes [Full review]

GamesRadar – 60 / 100

“While it’s slow to start, or pick up pace, by the time The Quarry ended I had enjoyed its inconsistent journey. There are some good sections and great moments, and there’s a nice collectible element where interlinked clues expand and fill out the backstory if you find related items, and I enjoyed trying to second guess what was going on.” — Leon Hurley [Full review]

Polygon – Unscored

“As long as you can tolerate the moments where the veil slips and the story’s illusion momentarily breaks, there’s a great horror story to enjoy, full of satisfying twists, creepy characters, and tantalizing mysteries.” — Cass Marshal [Full review]

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Elden Ring Game Boy Demake Is Real And Playable

For those of you who have had it up to here with Elden Ring’s high graphical fidelity and crisp color palette, good news: There’s now a fan-made demake version that dials back the visuals by several decades.

Created by Shintendo, the Elden Ring demake looks like a Game Boy era title, and draws plenty of inspiration from The Legend of Zelda title that appeared on that handheld console. You won’t find any three-dimensional monsters attacking your Tarnished warrior here or any lands beyond Limgrave and its deadly destinations, as the project has simpler and more retro graphics that fit in with its demake theme.

In terms of gameplay, you’ll be able to attack and roll out of harm’s way–there’s even a Margit boss fight–and there are a few NPCs to interact with as well. If you feel like trying it out, you can head to its homepage link on itch.io here, where it’s playable in your browser or through emulators.

In Elden Ring-related news, a new pair of mini-figures are now available to preorder, the Internet tore Elon Musk’s maidenless build apart, and modders are working on adding a seamless co-op mode to the PC version of the game.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

Supermicro SYS-E100-12T-H Review: Fanless Tiger Lake for Embedded Applications

Compact passively-cooled systems find application in a wide variety of market segments including industrial automation, IoT gateways, digital signage, etc. These are meant to be deployed for 24×7 operation in challenging environmental conditions. Supermicro has a number of systems targeting this market under the Embedded/IoT category. Their SuperServer E100 product line makes use of motherboards in the 3.5″ SBC form-factor. In particular, the E100-12T lineup makes use of embedded Tiger Lake-U SoCs to create powerful, yet compact and fanless systems. Today’s review takes a look at the top-end of this line – the SYS-E100-12T-H based on the Intel Core i7-1185GRE embedded processor.

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iPhones Might Soon Drop Lightning Cables

It’s looking even more likely iPhones will soon drop lightning cables, as all smartphones sold in the European Union will have to use USB-C ports by fall 2024. This will include Apple’s iPhone and other electronic devices such as portable video game consoles, tablets, laptops, etc.

According to The Verge, this legislation has been in the works for more than a decade, with both parties agreeing to make the change. The legislation will still need to be approved by both the European Union Parliament and Council later this year, though it seems very likely the law will pass.

It was previously reported that the current Apple products that still use lightning chargers are Airpods, Apple TV remote, the MagSafe battery pack, the MagSafe Duo charger, and the iPhone. The iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad Mini, and Macs have already switched to USB-C.

Last year Apple openly criticized the move, telling Reuters that the legislation “stifles innovation rather than encouraging it, which in turn will harm consumers in Europe and around the world.”

The European Union decided to introduce a “common charger” to reduce e-waste while making things easier for consumers. The European Union predicts that the new legislation will save buyers €250 million euros per year and reduce e-waste by 11,000 tons.

A European Union press release states the new legislation is applicable to devices “that are rechargeable via a wired cable.” So Apple could get around this new legislation by creating a portless iPhone, but that seems unlikely because wireless charging isn’t as reliable and has trouble syncing with other devices.

The only part of the legislation that hasn’t been worked out yet was the charging standard for laptops. Phone companies will have 24 months to switch to USB-C, while computer companies will have 30 months to make the change. This is primarily because laptop chargers use different power requirements.

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New Destiny 2 Patch Significantly Changes Warlock Solar Aspect

It’s only the third week of the latest Destiny 2‘s Season of the Haunted, but some of the Solar 3.0 subclasses are already getting pretty significant adjustments to their toolset. In particular, Warlocks just received a mostly new ability as part of a tweak to their Heat Rises aspect in Destiny 2’s 4.1.0.2 hotfix.

Heat Rises, a Warlock Solar aspect, previously buffed airborne gameplay for Warlock if they held their grenade and consumed it. It also adjusted the behavior of some other moves, like applying scorch stack to enemies struck by a Phoenix Dive while simultaneously giving the player restoration. Heat Rises still functions like that but now boasts added behavior where consuming the grenade to activate it also lets out a burst of healing energy around the player. Additionally, if the Warlock has a healing grenade equipped, the burst is even more potent. If a Warlock has both a healing grenade and the Touch of Flame aspect on, which buffs the baseline functionality of grenades, Heat Rises will give the increased burst of healing energy and grant Restoration, a buff that regenerates your health and shields and cannot be interrupted by damage.

Elsewhere, both Warlock and Titans also received broader increases to their abilities which increased how many scorch stacks they could apply. Quite sadly, as part of the latest patch, that Legendary Shard farm everybody loved is gone. Gone but never forgotten.

Here’s everything you need to know in the latest patch:

Raids and Dungeons

We have fixed an issue where Pinnacle gear was dropping more than once per week in the Master version of the Duality dungeon.Encounters from either Legend or Master, whichever is completed first, reward pinnacles once per week per class.Pinnacle rewards were unrestricted in Duality Master mode before this changeFixed an issue that blocked progress in Grasp of Avarice final boss encounter. Captain Avarokk might still show some shaky animations during the fight.Fixed an issue that could cause an activity crash during the Caretaker encounter in Vow of the Disciple.Removed Powerful rewards from Deep Stone Crypt when it’s not a weekly featured Raid.

Gameplay and Investment

Weapons

Fixed an issue where some weapons wouldn’t get Deepsight progressionFixed an issue where the enhanced version of Bait and Switch was not working.Fixed an issue where Adaptive Munitions was not working on Glaives.Fixed an issue where the Exotic Sidearm Trespasser was not available in Collections.Fixed an issue where the Season Pass Auto Rifle Firefright was not available in CollectionsFixed an issue where the Conscripted ornament for Traveler’s Chosen could no longer be equipped

Armor

Updated the description of the Roast ‘Em perk on the Hunter Exotic arms Caliban’s Hand: “Proximity Knife scorches targets it damages with its explosions, or ignites targets on a direct kill.”Fixed an issue where Artifice Armor lost their special mod socket.

Abilities

Warlock

Heat Rises:Added behavior: Consuming your grenade now also releases a burst of cure x2 around you, healing you and your nearby allies. Consuming a Healing Grenade increases the strength of the burst to cure x3 and consuming a Touch of Flame Healing Grenade provides Restoration as an additional benefit.Icarus Dash:Added behavior: While airborne, rapidly defeating targets with your Super or any weapon cures you.Celestial Fire:Each Celestial Fire projectile now applies 10 Scorch stacks. This is increased to 15 stacks with Ember of Ashes equipped.

Titan

Burning Maul:Buffed damage in PvE by 25%.Roaring Flames:While Roaring Flames is active, your uncharged melee attack now deals Solar damage and applies 30 scorch stacks to targets per hit. This is increased to 40 stacks with Ember of Ashes equipped.Fixed an issue where the Roaring Flames Aspect wouldn’t proc on some Solar grenade kills.Consecration:Fragment slots increased from 1 to 2.Raised the height of the secondary attack’s ground wave by 25% to more easily catch players who jump too late.

Miscellaneous

Ember of BenevolenceFixed an issue that caused this Fragment to activate and refresh inconsistently.Should now always activate from:Allies entering your Healing Rift or Well of Radiance.Healing allies with a Healing Grenade, Heat Rises grenade consume, Edge of Intent Warlock Glaive turret, or Phoenix Dive landing detonation.Hitting allies with Lumina’s Noble Rounds or Boots of the Assembler orbs.Fixed an issue with Vortex, Voidwall, and Solar grenades causing them to deal less damage than intended against PvE targets.

General

Fixed an issue where certain Rare armor was able to be dismantled for Legendary rewards.Fixed an issue where the Season 17 Season Pass +10 ranks bundle was not properly showing on Eververse.Fixed an issue with the Russian translation for the perk Sleight of Hand. Now it properly states the perk functionality.Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

Halo Infinite Online Campaign Co-Op Test Begins In July, Here’s How To Sign Up

Halo Infinite‘s online campaign co-op is coming in August, but developer 343 Industries will begin to test the feature publicly starting in July. In a tweet, the company said the plan right now is to test the feature, or “flight” it, in the Halo parlance, beginning next month for Halo Insiders.

The Halo Insider program is free and open to everyone. Players can register for Halo Insider here and opt in for beta tests for a chance to get in.

With #HaloInfinite campaign network co-op arriving later this year, we’re planning to flight it to Halo Insiders in July. Register and make sure your Halo Insider profile is up to date for a chance to participate!
✈: https://t.co/3a5Xr1hUIc pic.twitter.com/fKIn44umRU

— Halo (@Halo) June 7, 2022

Community manager John Junyszek said in another tweet that the team at 343 is currently “heads down focusing on quality-of-life updates” for Halo Infinite. More information about the campaign network co-op test will be shared later this month.

As for local couch co-op for Halo Infinite, 343 has yet to say when this feature might be released. In April, 343 said it was intentionally going slow with new updates for Halo Infinite because it wanted to first and foremost focus on “priority zero,” which is the health of the development team. The studio wanted to create a “sustainable development rhythm” that allows for the team to have a healthy work/life balance while players get “great experiences.”

“We know we need to deliver more content and more features more quickly. Staying true to priority zero means that sometimes we need to slow down in order to stay healthy and move faster later. But we’re also aggressively looking at ways to accelerate,” 343 said.

Halo Infinite has seen high-level turnover lately, with head of design Jerry Hook and multiplayer designer Andrew Witts both leaving in the past few months.

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