The Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller is discounted to just $111, down from its usual list price of $180. These are “Open Box” controllers, which means they should arrive in brand-new condition. Limited quantities are available, although the seller on eBay is highly trusted and is offering free three-day shipping with your purchase. If you’ve been considering upgrading your gamepad, this is a great way to do so without making your wallet angry.

If you’re not familiar with the Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller, it’s arguably the best pro controller on the market. In fact, our roundup of the best Xbox Series X controllers gave it the title of Best Overall. Beyond a slick, ergonomic design, you’ll benefit from adjustable analog stick tension, up to forty hours of battery life, and four removable back paddles that provide you with added functionality.

We’re not sure how long this deal will last, but seeing as a couple dozen have sold in the past 24 hours and a limited quantity is up for grabs, we’d move fast if interested in the savings. If you miss out on this discount, consider swinging over to Amazon–where you’ll find the standard Xbox Series X controller available for $49, down from $60.

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If you’re looking to pick up an affordable DNS and VPN service, consider checking out Getflix–which is currently discounted to just $49, down from $540. The one-time payment gives you unlimited, lifetime access to the software, letting you browse the web securely from a wide range of devices.

Getflix Full VPN can be used across PCs, smartphones, TVs, or gaming consoles to offer you a private connection with little setup. In fact, you can have the program up and running in just a few seconds without the need for additional software.

The software also works with most types of internet connections, including DSL, cable, satellite, and 4G. Only five devices can connect to the VPN network, but you’ll have unlimited access to the SmartDNS network for secure browsing.

Aside from giving you a secure and private online connection, Getflix can also be used to access region-locked content for HBO, Hulu, Prime Video, or other streaming services. The only stipulation is that you activate your license within 30 days of purchase.

Not sold on Getflix? Consider checking out one of these other great VPN services for 2022.

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PUBG’s big new August update has arrived, and it allows players to dress up as Assassin’s Creed hero Ezio in the popular battle royale game. The August update also introduces a new sniper rifle and kicks off the new Survivor Pass Vol. 10, among other things.

The Assassin’s Creed crossover, which was announced a while back, begins today and runs through September 22. During this time players can dress up as not only Ezio, but also Shay Patrick Cormac from Assassin’s Creed: Rogue. In total, there are more than 30 Assassin’s Creed-themed costumes, weapon skins, and items to unlock via special events inside New State.

Assassins have arrived in the Battlegrounds. “On the Battlegrounds, we must never give up the fight. The minute we do, we have lost.” @assassinscreed #PUBG #AssassinsCreed pic.twitter.com/5Bwa5FsI6X

— PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS (@PUBG) August 18, 2022

Outside of the Assassin’s Creed crossover, the August update for New State adds the New State Labs, which is a hub for “experimental content.” New features and settings will be tested in New State Labs before they roll out publicly for everyone. The first of these is Akinta: Bounty Royale, which features matches of 36 players fighting it out on the new map, Akinta, and the goal is to compete for a prize instead of simply trying to survive–that’s all we know right now, however.

Also in the New State August update is the Lynx AMR sniper rifle, which can be found in crates across all maps and other players. This is the most powerful sniper rifle in the game in terms of damage dealt to both human enemies and vehicles. It has 10 pre-loaded bullets and can not be re-loaded.

Finally, the Survivor Pass Vol. 10 goes live in the August update, offering a range of cosmetics to unlock via gameplay or by making an outright purchase.

Check out the video above to learn more about what’s new in the PUBG New State August update. The new content is available across PUBG Battlegrounds and New State Mobile, but potentially not PUBG Mobile.

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It’s still going to be a long (long) time before fans of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order can wield a lightsaber again in the upcoming Survivor sequel, but you’ll be able to grab an interquel adventure starring Cal Kestis soon. LucasFilm announced that two books tied to Fallen Order will be released on March 7, 2023, and one is an original novel written by Sam Maggs.

Set between Fallen Order and Survivor, Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars follows Kestis and the crew of the Mantis as they become tangled up in a new mission. Maggs has written for plenty of comic books and video games across her career and has credits for work on Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Marvel’s Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps DLC, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

For those of you who enjoy going behind the scenes on video game production, The Art of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor collects concept art and creator commentary in a full-color hardcover book published by Dark Horse. This book will be published on May 2, 2023.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was officially revealed on May 27 and is currently scheduled for a 2023 release. Once again starring Cal Kestis and his robotic companion BD-1–sorry, Merrin fans–the debut trailer showed the Jedi Knight wielding a new lightsaber against a mysterious one-armed cloaked figure.

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Another crypto game, Untamed Isles, is currently on “hiatus” due to the recent cryptocurrency crash, and crowdfunding backers aren’t getting their money back.

The “monster-taming turn-based MMORPG” found success on Kickstarter in 2021 raising over $522,530 USD, but as reported by PC Gamer, development has halted due to simply running out of money, and backers also won’t be offered refunds.

“To work on this project we brought more than 70 staff members on board and we were working relentlessly for more than two years to build the game we all were dreaming about,” wrote developer Phat Loot Studios on Steam.

“The truth is that the cost of development is high and there were lots of bumps on our way to this moment. Since we started the journey in 2020, the economic landscape has changed dramatically both generally and specifically for cryptocurrency, and we are not confident in the current market. We ran out of financial resources and we can’t carry on the development at this moment.”

The post goes on to explain that while the game is a game first, and crypto-second in design, crypto funds became essential for keeping the game afloat. “We actually have a great game design that could stand on its own two feet. But until the crypto situation is resolved–and we’re confident it will be at some stage–then we have to hibernate development on this project.”

Investors and those who pre-purchased the game and Phat Loot Tokens will apparently be given refunds, though anyone who backed the game on Kickstarter and Backerkit won’t. In an FAQ on the game’s website, Phat Loot explained that refunds won’t be offered to backers quite literally because of its “cash reserves being empty.”

Numerous comments on the Kickstarter announcement post are asking for refunds, with several noting that crypto is a scam. “Really disappointed by this–I put money into funding this game to back a game, not to throw money into the crypto market,” wrote one commenter.

It’s important to note that the inclusion of cryptocurrency in the game wasn’t made entirely obvious in the campaign, which is why a number of backers have expressed confusion at the situation.

There’s no word on when development might start again, though the lack of cash reserves doesn’t paint a favorable picture on the game.

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Samsung on Friday broke ground for a new semiconductor research and development complex which will design new fabrication processes for memory and logic, as well as conduct fundamental research of next-generation technologies and materials. The company plans to invest KRW 20 trillion ($15 billion) in the new R&D facility by 2028.

To make more competitive logic and memory chips, companies like Samsung have to innovate across many directions, which includes new materials (for fins, for gates, for contacts, for dielectrics, just to name a few), transistor architecture, manufacturing technologies, and design of actual devices. In many cases, companies physically separate fundamental research and development of actual process technologies, but the new R&D center will conduct operations across virtually all fronts except device design.

The new facility will handle advanced research on next-generation transistors and fabrication processes for memory and logic chips as well as seek for new technologies to ‘overcome the limits of semiconductor scaling.’ Essentially, this means researching new materials and manufacturing techniques as well as developing actual production nodes. Given that all of these R&D operations require large scale nowadays, it is not particularly surprising that it will require Samsung to invest $15 billion in the center over the next six years.

Spreading fundamental research and applied development operations across different locations helps with bringing new talent onboard (e.g., people with academia background may be unwilling to relocate too far away from their current homes), but also creates discrepancy within one company as feedback from different departments gets slower. Ideally, scientists doing pathfinding and research, developers designing new production nodes, fab engineers, and device developers should work together on a site and get feedback from each other. But while Samsung’s new R&D hub is not meant for this, it will still bring scientists and node developers together, which is a big deal.

The new R&D center will be located at Samsung’s campus near Giheung, South Korea, and will be occupy around 109,000 m2 (~20 football fields). To put the number into a more relevant context, Apple’s corporate headquarters — Apple Park — occupies around 259,000 m2 and houses over 12,000 of employees that do everything from management to research to product development.

The new R&D facility will work in concert with Samsung’s existing R&D line in Hwaseong (which works on memory, system LSI, and foundry technologies) and the company’s production complex in Pyeongtaek that can produce both DRAM (using 10nm-class technologies) and logic chips (using 5nm-class and thinner nodes). It will also be Samsung’s 12th semiconductor R&D center. Meanwhile, this will be the company’s first semiconductor R&D facility of this scale.

Three years ago Samsung announced plans to spend KRW 133 trillion ($100 billion today, $115 billion in 2019) on semiconductor R&D by 2030. The company allocated KRW 73 trillion ($54.6 billion) on R&D operations in South Korea, so investing $15 billion in a single research and development facility aligns perfectly with this plan.

“Our new state-of-the-art R&D complex will become a hub for innovation where the best research talent from around the world can come and grow together,” said President Kye Hyun Kyung, who also heads the Device Solutions (DS) Division. “We expect this new beginning will lay the foundation for sustainable growth of our semiconductor business.”

Source: Samsung

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Spitfire Interactive has unveiled its debut game Capes, a superhero tactical RPG set in a bleak world ruled by supervillains. With superheroes essentially wiped out, the world has been forced to endure the iron-fisted tyranny of the supervillain ruling class for the last two decades, but now a new generation of heroes is stepping up to save the day.

The trailer for Capes contains plenty of heroes that you’ll be able to recruit to your cause, with gameplay ranging from rescuing civilians caught in the crossfire to landing a knockout blow on any colorful criminals that you run across.

As an added twist, you’ll be able to grow your heroes and unlock new abilities that can be combined to form powerful new attacks. There’ll also be secret histories of villains and heroes to uncover, multiple locations to visit, and a wide range of diversity present in the heroes that can be recruited. If the idea of the game sounds familiar, that’s because Freedom Force writer Morgan Jaffit is involved in the game and is Spitfire Interactive’s director.

“I started my career writing on Freedom Force alongside [BioShock writer-director] Ken Levine, so this feels like a return to where my journey began,” Jaft said in a press release. “My team and I want to explore the ‘darker side of every coin’ and we have the best people possible to do it.”

Capes will launch on PC via Steam in early 2023. It’s not the only superhero game with a tactical RPG premise coming out soon, as XCOM developer Firaxis will release Midnight Suns by the end of March 2023. While Capes features original heroes and villains, Midnight Suns packs some brand recognition punch as a Marvel game and features iconic characters such as Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Blade.

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Exotic arms dealer and game show host Xur is making his weekly trip to the Destiny 2 solar system, and if you’re looking to pick up some new gear, it’s always worth paying him a visit. We don’t quite know where Xur is yet, but we’ll update this post as soon as he appears in one of his usual locations.

With Season 18 starting on August 23 and this being Xur’s final visit for Season of the Haunted, now is an excellent time to stock up on powerful gear for the future threats in Destiny 2. That’s especially true if that gear has attributes that favor Arc builds ahead of the new powers that players will be able to wield when the revamped subclass debuts next week.

Don’t forget that next week will also have a Destiny 2 showcase to look forward to, where Bungie outlines plans for what players can expect from the game and possibly even a tease of the next expansion, Lightfall.

Xur is present every weekend in Destiny 2, starting with the daily reset at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET each Friday. His exact location is always a mystery when he first arrives, as he is not listed on the map, and for novice players, he can be easy to miss. However, there are a set number of locations where he takes up residence, including the Tower Hangar area, the Nessus in Watcher’s Grave, and the Winding Cove area of the EDZ.

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On August 19, Naraka: Bladepoint updates with a new map, Holoroth, and a new character, Zipin Yin. The update also celebrates the game’s one year anniversary with log in rewards and a free trial.

Holoroth is the largest map in the game thus far, and will introduce new weather conditions and terrain to Naraka: Bladepoint. The map is set in the midst of snowy mountains. Players will battle around a frozen river and massive temple.

Zipin Yin is part of the game’s ongoing effort to be more approachable for new players. She can use Aromatherapy to restore the health and armor of other players and even curb damage taken. Her Saving Grace ability consumes rage, thereby restoring allies and increasing her own restoration ability by 30%. With Sedate Soul, she’ll send enemies flying and negate a fatal strike.

Along with this new update, you can try out Naraka: Bladepoint for free and purchase it for 50% off starting August 19. The free trial period will end on August 22 and the 50% discount will end on August 29. Additionally, if you log in on August 19, you will receive free skins, namely Duel Blades Legendary, Kurumi, and Viper Ning.

Naraka: Bladepoint is a hero-based battle royale themed around mystical martial arts action. If you are looking to get into the game, check out our guide for new players and our tier-list for previously released heroes.

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With Destiny 2 Season 18 arriving next week, the This Week at Bungie post shared a short list of dates players can look forward to. Bungie didn’t list a roadmap of Season 18-specific content, but these dates are still significant for PvP and PvE players.

First is the returning Destiny 1 raid, which launches on August 26, shortly after Season 18 begins–Bungie is still keeping raid details under wraps until the Destiny 2 Lightfall Showcase on August 23. Bungie will enable the Raid Contest mode for the first 24 hours, and players must be at 1560 Power level for the raid encounters.

Similar to Season of the Haunted, next season will only have two Iron Banner events which will land on September 6 and November 15. Rift won’t return as part of Iron Banner, however. Instead, a completely new mode, Eruption, will come to Destiny 2. A previous TWAB explained, “Eruption is Clash with energy boosts based on kill streaks.” Also in PvP, Trials of Osiris returns on September 16.

Additionally, players won’t be able to jump into Grandmaster Nightfalls until October 4. Then two weeks later, on October 18, the spooky month begins with the Festival of the Lost event.

With Bungie slowly disclosing information about the next installments of Destiny 2, we’ve broken down all the recent news you need to know: Arc 3.0 update, all-new Eruption game mode in Iron Banner, Season 28’s Artifact Mods, and Exotic armor and weapon changes. Also, visit the H.E.L.M. for a brief objective to wrap up the Season of the Haunted’s story and get a reward.

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