Today’s best deals: Horizon Forbidden West, Apple gift cards, and more

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Today’s best deals: Horizon Forbidden West, Apple gift cards, and more
Ars Technica

It’s Wednesday, which means the time has come for another Dealmaster. Our latest roundup of the best tech deals from around the web includes a number of discounts on recommended PlayStation 5 games. Sony technically started its annual “PlayStation Summer Sale” late last month, but earlier this week it rolled out a fresh batch of deals that covers a range of first-party games. The new offers are available across multiple retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and GameStop—plus, for digital copies, Sony’s PlayStation Store. Sony says the sale will run until August 17.

The selection includes the first significant discount we’ve seen for Horizon Forbidden West, the big PlayStation-exclusive action-RPG that arrived in February. Its PS4 and PS5 versions are available for $40 and $50, respectively, both of which represent a $20 discount. Unless having PS5 box art really matters to you, though, you should only get the PS4 copy—it’s the last game to have a free PS4-to-PS5 upgrade path, so you might as well take advantage and save yourself the Hamilton.

Either way, our review deemed Forbidden West nothing less than “one of the greatest game sequels of all time,” praising its writing, lush visuals, and general attention to detail. You really need to have played the original Horizon Zero Dawn to get the most out of it, and at the end of the day, it’s another modern open-world game, which some players may be fatigued of at this point. But if you enjoyed the original’s robot-dinosaur hunting and sweeping sci-fi-infused plot, Forbidden West is a more polished version of that.

Apart from Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7 has also received its first major discount, with its PS4 and PS5 copies down to $40 and $50 as well. (Sony charges $10 to upgrade from a PS4 copy to a PS5 one, so there’s nothing for PS5 owners to save by getting a last-gen copy here.) While GT7‘s always-online requirement and stingy (albeit mildly improved since launch) in-game economy are genuine problems, it still serves up the kind of smooth-yet-varied driving you’d expect from a Gran Turismo game, and it still has well over 100 hours’ worth of single-player races and events to master alongside its active multiplayer community. “Getting good” at GT remains a thrill, though there are still enough assist options to make it more accessible than other hardcore sim racers. It’s just best if you don’t go in fixated on collecting every car in the game, as doing so will require a pretty openly obnoxious grind.

Most of the other deals here are ones we’ve seen before, but they still include solid prices for other games we like, including the tense roguelite Returnal, the breezy superhero game Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and the Demon’s Souls remake, among others. You can find a full list of deals we recommend from the sale below. Just note that, if you subscribe to one of the higher tiers of Sony’s revamped PlayStation Plus service, a handful of these games is already included there.

If you don’t need anything new to play, our deals roundup has plenty more to offer. Target is again running a promotion that throws in a $10 store gift card for no extra cost when you get a $100 Apple gift card, and a number of 8BitDo game controllers—including the excellent Pro 2—are also on sale. We’re also seeing lower-than-usual prices on Anker’s powerful Soundcore Motion Plus speaker, Apple’s 10.2-inch iPad, M1 MacBook Air, and TV 4K, Google’s Chromecast, and more. You can see our full curated list below.

Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

Featured deals of the day

The Google Pixel 6a.
Enlarge / The Google Pixel 6a.
Ron Amadeo

Electronics deals

Anker's Soundcore Motion Plus is a full-sounding Bluetooth speaker that won't break the bank.
Enlarge / Anker’s Soundcore Motion Plus is a full-sounding Bluetooth speaker that won’t break the bank.

Laptop and desktop PC deals

Apple's 2020 M1 MacBook Air.
Enlarge / Apple’s 2020 M1 MacBook Air.
Lee Hutchinson

TV and home entertainment deals

The Apple TV 4K with Apple's improved Siri Remote.
Enlarge / The Apple TV 4K with Apple’s improved Siri Remote.

Gaming deals

The 8Bitdo Pro 2 is a comfortable and versatile wireless gamepad—and a good value.
Enlarge / The 8Bitdo Pro 2 is a comfortable and versatile wireless gamepad—and a good value.
Sam Machkovech

Video game deals

Horizon Forbidden West.” src=”https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/todays-best-deals-horizon-forbidden-west-apple-gift-cards-and-more-6.jpg” width=”640″ height=”360″ srcset=”https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/todays-best-deals-horizon-forbidden-west-apple-gift-cards-and-more-14.jpg 2x”>
Enlarge / The open-world adventure Horizon Forbidden West.
Gran Turismo 7.” src=”https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/todays-best-deals-horizon-forbidden-west-apple-gift-cards-and-more-7.jpg” width=”640″ height=”360″ srcset=”https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/todays-best-deals-horizon-forbidden-west-apple-gift-cards-and-more-15.jpg 2x”>
Enlarge / The sim racer Gran Turismo 7.
Streets of Rage 4.” src=”https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/todays-best-deals-horizon-forbidden-west-apple-gift-cards-and-more-8.jpg” width=”640″ height=”360″ srcset=”https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/todays-best-deals-horizon-forbidden-west-apple-gift-cards-and-more-16.jpg 2x”>
Enlarge / The throwback 2D beat-em-up Streets of Rage 4.

Accessories and miscellaneous deals

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