Friday, December 23, 2016

News:: Valve has been ordered to pay $3 million for violating Australia's consumer laws

Back in March, in a case brought to the Australian Federal Court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Valve was found guilty of various violations of the country’s consumer laws. Essentially, Valve had made misleading statements relating to Australian consumers’ various rights, guarantees and entitlements as defined by the nation’s consumer laws.

Last month, the ACCC argued that Valve’s fine for its breaches of the Australian Consumer Law should total at around $3 million AUD, or approximately $2.15 million USD. It looks as if the judge presiding over the case in the Australian Federal Court -- Justice Edelman -- agrees with the ACCC’s stance on the matter.

In a ruling handed down yesterday, Justice Edelman has ordered Valve to pay the sum of $3 million AUD to the Australian Commonwealth over its breaches of the country’s consumer laws between the periods of January 1, 2011 and August 28, 2014 (when the case first went to court).

In Australia, there are consumer laws that guarantee that a consumer is entitled to a refund, repair or replacement of a product if it is deemed defective, not of acceptable quality, or are unfit for purpose. These laws cannot be overridden by a business or storefront for any reason. It is also illegal to mislead consumers about their rights regarding these guarantees, which is something that the Australian Federal Court has found that Valve did to many Steam users. As the ACCC explained in November:

"Under the Australian Consumer Law, all consumer goods or services come with automatic consumer guarantees that they are of acceptable quality and fit for the purpose for which they were sold. If they are not, consumers have a right to a remedy, which may include refund, repair or replacement in certain circumstances. These consumer rights cannot be excluded, restricted or modified.”

Alongside this fine, Valve has also been ordered to post a link on the Steam home page in a typeface of at least 14 point Times New Roman that reads “IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT CONSUMER RIGHTS IN AUSTRALIA.” This link will direct users to a notice about the consumer rights and guarantees of Australian users, and will be visible to anyone who accesses the page from within the country.

Valve employees will also be made to undertake an “Australian Law Compliance Program” in order to educate the company’s staff members about consumer rights and guarantees within the country.

One thing that may frustrate many people in Australia is that Valve has not, in fact, been sentenced to a booting. Considering that the booting is one of Australia's proudest traditions, this omission could be seen as a bit of a letdown.

In my mind, the most important thing about this case in general is that it firmly establishes a legal precedent in Australia that ensures that digital purchases are — or should be — subject to the same consumer guarantees as physical goods. Likewise, online retailers that actively sell products to Australian citizens still have to comply with the country’s consumer laws, even if the company itself resides in another nation. In fact, it’s entirely possible that this precedent could be used to go after other digital distribution services, such as the Xbox Store, the iOS App Store and the PlayStation Store.

Not only that, but just because Valve did eventually give in and implement a refund policy in August last year, that doesn’t excuse the long period of time when Valve actively disregarded Australia’s laws.

It is entirely possible for Valve to try and appeal this ruling, but the company only has until February 20 to do so.

Valve has been ordered to pay $3 million for violating Australia's consumer laws screenshot

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News:: Supergirl looks wild in this Injustice 2 gameplay video

One of my more anticipated games of next year is definitely Injustice 2. Injustice: Gods Among Us was a great effort, if a little wonky, but seeing as how NetherRealm is constantly evolving its games I'm not too worried. 

Although news from the upcoming sequel has died down in the last few months (with the last character reveal trailer releasing four months ago), IGN has thankfully released a little gameplay video showing off Supergirl's combos and specials. I'm pretty excited to play as her since she has a wide variety of up close combos and annoying projectiles. I'm hoping she ends up being more than a Spammy McGee, as the brief showing of her heat vision special ability already seems tough to deal with if you're on the receiving end. But at least it all looks fantastic. I'm loving the brighter color palette, and I can't wait to see which DC characters join next. 

Injustice 2 releases on PS4 and Xbox One next year. What characters do you want to see? 

Injustice 2: Supergirl Gameplay Walkthrough (1080 60fps) [IGN First]

Supergirl looks wild in this Injustice 2 gameplay video screenshot



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News:: Pokemon Go's holiday event is surprisingly worthwhile

Catch your Santa-hat Pikachu yet in Pokémon Go? There's still time! The odds are in your favor.

Niantic is sweetening the pot with a few other incentives to play over the holidays. From the morning of December 25 through the afternoon of January 3, PokéStops will "award one single-use Incubator each day after your first Photo Disc spin." There's also a higher chance of earning eggs that will hatch the newly-introduced Gold and Silver babies like Pichu and Togepi, as well as festive Pikachu.

Arguably even better than that, from the afternoon of December 30 through the afternoon of January 8, Lure Modules will last a full hour (twice as long as normal), and the Kanto region starters and their evolved forms will be made more common. Adding Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur to my collection was an early goal of mine that I eventually shelved, so that's a fairly tempting offer.

Pokemon Go's holiday event is surprisingly worthwhile screenshot

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News:: First trailer for new Atlus RPG, Project Re Fantasy, is quite enigmatic

As promised, Atlus has given us the first glimpse of its new fantasy RPG which is at least for now named Project Re Fantasy. No game play, release date, or platforms were revealed for the first project by the newly formed Studio Zero. This new team's name and the game's tagline, "A Fool's Journey Begins," is derived from tarot cards where zero is the "Fool" arcana. The symbolism continues in their logo which features a boy on a journey to represent beginnings. 

As to be expected from a first teaser there is not much to take away from it. It shows some Japanese text of words the narrator is saying, and sometimes blinks shots of some scenery and medieval fantasy stuff. Oh and the number zero to remind you who is making it. Regarding the platform and development time, director Katsura Hashino states "We haven't determined yet what platform our new game will be, and I imagine this project will take a long time until completion. But we'll be working hard at this challenge to truly deliver something new and incredible for all our fans."

People stir about such early looks that tell us very little about a game, but in many cases we get hints that we can infer details from. The best example of this are Rockstar's first trailers for games like Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. While there is unfortunately not much to go on with Project Re Fantasy's first trailer, one major purpose of showing off a game this early is to help recruit talent to work on the title. Even the official website for the game (which may have the simplest URL ever) has "recruitment" right there on the top bar. Much like what CD Projekt Red did with its trailer for Cyberpunk 2077. 

I'm perfectly fine with such teasers. It's not like they won't show gameplay and such things when they are able to, so why not have a little fun? There is a danger of letting your expectations run wild however, as there are people who already assume Cyberpunk 2077 will be the best game of whatever year it comes out, despite the fact that we know next to nothing about it.

That said, let's speculate and make wishlists. What kind of game play would you like to see? Do you think they will venture away from their turn-based combat?

First trailer for new Atlus RPG, Project Re Fantasy, is quite enigmatic screenshot

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News:: Surprise $15 deal on Doom and Fallout 4 thanks to winter sales

Every seasonal sale there will be that one deal that takes the cake. It rise above all other competing retailer prices and makes people wonder "Hmm I should buy that game, never mind my 5,000-game backlog." Today we've spotted two such deal.

While Steam is offering both Doom and Fallout 4 for $19.79 -- and GMG is offering them at $17.09 -- Swedish retailer GamersGate took a more aggressive stance and slashed both Bethesda triple-A titles down to only $15 a piece.

$15 Doom or Fallout 4

  • Doom (Steam) — $15  (list price $60)
  • Fallout 4 (Steam) — $15  (list price $60)

That's 75% off for two flagship games, one of which was released just earlier this year.

The deal also applies to the UK/EU when you change your region accordingly. While GamersGate pegs both deal to expire about 11 days later, we think both deals may expire (or go out of stock) sooner rather than later -- especially the Steam copies of Doom.

Surprise $15 deal on Doom and Fallout 4 thanks to winter sales screenshot



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News:: Destructoid's award for Overall Best Game of 2016 goes to...

When Blizzard was first founded in 1991 as Silicon & Synapse, I was in grade school. My first introduction to its work was Rock n' Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings, which I rented on a lark, partially because of the weird box art (back when this was a major selling factor at rental stores, which don't even really exist anymore!). Throughout the years, the publisher formerly known as S&S was basically my first lifeline into a lot of different genres. Before Command and Conquer and KKnD, I had Warcraft.

While I had dabbled in dungeon crawlers before Diablo, it really wasn't until I started roaming the streets of Tristram that I really became deeply embedded in one, and understood the concept of grinding for loot -- it was also my first 56K (I feel like I have to link this so some of you aren't lost), and thus, online gaming experience. Over the years I'd share some of the studio's later works with the most important people in my life, having Warcraft III marathon sleepovers with the girl that eventually became my wife, and playing Diablo II with friends who had moved on to different parts of the country, but still remained part of me.

In 20 years, I bet people will be saying a lot of those same things about Overwatch.

Destructoid's award for Overall Best Game of 2016 goes to... screenshot

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News:: Find the year's big releases in this PlayStation Network flash sale

We're in the midst of a multi-week PlayStation Network holiday sale, but that hasn't stopped Sony from also hosting a much-appreciated flash sale for the weekend.

It's live now in North America with deals on big-name releases like Final Fantasy XV, Watch Dogs 2, Titanfall 2, Dishonored 2, FIFA 17, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition.

The discounts tend to range from 30 to 50 percent off, but that's to be expected for recent titles.

Find the year's big releases in this PlayStation Network flash sale screenshot

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News:: Good golly, there were a lot of great new characters in 2016

This year, we saw plenty of familiar faces in our games. Nathan Drake, Marcus Fenix, and Pikachu all had some big titles. But this post isn't about them. No, this post is about the great character who made their debuts in 2016.

These are our favorite new characters of the year.

Good golly, there were a lot of great new characters in 2016 screenshot

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News:: Australia fines Valve $2.2 million over its Steam refund policy

Australia's federal court has fined Valve AUD$3 million (USD$2.2 million) after ruling that the company breached consumer law when it didn't offer refunds between 2011 and 2014. This is the maximum fine requested by Australia's competition regulator and it's 12 times more than Valve itself suggested it should pay, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Justice James Edelman said he imposed such a harsh penalty because Valve willfully disregarded Australian law.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald



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News:: Both Sony and Microsoft are holding big holiday sales right now

It's just a few days until Christmas, and plenty of people will probably end up with an Xbox One or PS4 beneath the tree. Naturally, both Sony and Microsoft are offering a raft of game deals for people to load up their new consoles, and it's worth taking a look whether you're just getting a new console or have had one for years now.

Source: Microsoft, Sony



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News:: The best Rainbow Six Siege deals for PC yet

The PC gaming winter sales are live and launched, so the question you have to ask is: it the optimal time to join the ranks of the ever-growing Rainbow Six Siege crowd? (Hint: yes). Price-wise, we're seeing the best Siege deals on the market to date for select editions of the game.

Steam's Winter Sale 2016 went live yesterday morning with a discount on Rainbow Six Siege to $24.99. That price, and the price of all other editions/passes, is cheaper at digital retailer GMG. This is partly to do with better instant savings offered by the UK retailer, but also a stacking 10% off coupon code, making several versions of the game the cheapest ever to buy.

Rainbow Six Siege Winter Sale Deals

Use coupon: WINTER10

You'll also notice that Rainbow Six Siege is hitting $25 on console at Walmart. This is not quite the lowest ever price tag ($20), but still half the usual $50 and as cheap as it's expected to get before Christmas. Discounts are not available for the PS4 or Xbox One season passes.

On the PC side, Green Man Gaming is discounting the November 29-released "Year 2 Pass" and the more complete edition of the game. If you're starting from scratch with Rainbow Six Siege on PC, you should consider going for either the Complete Version or the Gold Edition.

Gold Edition will get you everything you need to start along with the Year 2 Pass. What you will be missing is the first season pass of the game, so if you want any of the extra content and operators from the first season, you'll either need to buy it at full price or consider going with the more expensive Complete Edition.

In the long run Complete is the way to go to get everything at a discounted rate. Steam and Uplay both have discounts to $77.99, while GMG is only $66.86 after coupon. Yes, we did the math. That's $11.13 less.

The best Rainbow Six Siege deals for PC yet screenshot



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News:: Destructoid's award for Best Vita Game of 2016 goes to...

The Zero Escape series came out of nowhere in 2009 on the original DS, and captivated people enough to actually cement it as a real franchise. Fans clamored for years, and eventually, we got Virtue's Last Reward in 2012. Ages of clamoring again led to Zero Time Dilemma, which ended up winning our Vita Game of the Year award in 2016.

Right now the future of Zero Time is once again unknown. Maybe there will be another one in three to four years. Maybe not. But for now, we have a complete trilogy to enjoy, all of which just recently made its way to PC.

Destructoid's award for Best Vita Game of 2016 goes to... screenshot

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News:: Lucio may be featured in the next Overwatch short film

It's no secret I'm a big fan of Overwatch, and Lúcio is my favorite character of the bunch. His voice acting is a big part of that, so I was happy to see this interview with the voice of Lúcio, Jonny Cruz. If you haven't already, do yourself a favor and revisit the video of Cruz walking around Blizzcon and interacting with his fellow voice actors.


Lúcio by Sinclay on DeviantArt.

In the interview, Cruz discusses several topics including how he got the part. "I looked at this picture they had, it was basically a Latino boy with a skateboard…just that and a few lines of description. I was like “Hey, you know what? I think all I have to do is go in and be me on this.” In some way, Lúcio is a part of who I am, and I think that’s why it rang so true in the audition.”

Most of Overwatch's other heroes have had their backstory filled in with comics or short films like the one that gave us our first look at Sombra. When asked where the Lúcio short film is, Cruz deflected, saying “Apparently it’s coming! They’re working on something! I don’t know what though, they always keep me in the dark, so who knows? (laughing)” It's hardly confirmation, but Lúcio is one of the most picked characters in Overwatch, and his fans would probably like to know a little more about him.


Lúcio by Raichiyo33 on DeviantArt.

I got the impression that Cruz and the other voice actors don't have much input into the characters:

“They’ve got all this stuff planned way in advance, but they don’t tell me anything! (laughing) They just tell me “Hey, say these lines!” and I say “You’ve got it, baby!”. They know what they’re doing…I’m sure they’re going to be dropping more [heroes], too. I don’t quite know but I’ve heard talks of all kinds of things. This game is just going to constantly grow, y’know? They’re really putting a [lot] of time, effort and love into this thing.”

Voice actors wanting to know more about the roles they'll be playing in games is one of the major sticking points that led to the SAG-AFTRA strike earlier this year. Cruz was asked what he thought of the negotiations. "I’m always thrilled to be behind a mic, voicing a character…it’s just that there’s a lot that goes into it, a lot of strain on the voice, it can be taxing. But yeah, we just need to find out what works. And y’know, I’m down, I’m easy to work with. So let’s figure it out!”

The interview touched on several other topics, including Overwatch's remarkably diverse cast of characters. “I really love the way they’re going about it, by bringing in all these different ethnicities…and all these robots (laughing). You know, you can be anything! And that’s what I really just love about voice acting, that you can play anything, and that it doesn’t matter about your skin, as long as the voice matches... That’s so important for me, not just playing stereotypes. And that’s what I love about Overwatch.”

Interview: Overwatch's Jonny Cruz talks Lúcio, Fandom and Fair Pay [CulturedVultures]

Lucio may be featured in the next Overwatch short film screenshot

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News:: Jigsaw puzzles are extremely cool, go do a jigsaw puzzle

A lot of you will find yourselves with some free time over the next few days as work, school, and other responsibilities slow until 2017. You'll probably turn to video games to kill the lull, certainly your default response by now. Maybe you'll make some headway on that backlog you're always talking about. Maybe you'll play something new that you just got as a gift.

This probably isn't the alternative you want to hear, but it's the alternative you should definitely consider: Do a jigsaw puzzle instead.

I'm not talking some big-piece movie poster that you can put together in 20 minutes. I'm talking a minimum of 500 pieces. Actually, shoot for 1,000. You need to really hate that jigsaw puzzle before you can ever truly love and appreciate that jigsaw puzzle.

Look at this bastard I started last night:

Jigsaw puzzles are extremely cool, go do a jigsaw puzzle screenshot

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News:: How not to promote a video game sale

You don't need a degree in marketing to know promotional material that could offend and alienate potential customers is obviously a bad call. But it's a fact Indie Gala -- an online store selling Steam keys for indie titles -- seems woefully unaware of. In an effort to promote its winter sale, specifically a discount on tactical first-person shooter Insurgency, the store bundled an insensitive and years-old Steam recommendation with an equally crass meme to create the advert you see above. The tweet has since disappeared, likely due to the devs of Insurgency publicly deploring the promotion, not to mention a chorus of other Twitter users clearly offended by it. The ad remains live on Indie Gala's Facebook page, however.

Via: Rami Ismail (Twitter)

Source: Indie Gala (Facebook), New World Interactive (Twitter)



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News:: It's been 3,000 years, but the Pokemon Generations finale airs today

Pokemon Generations is an OVA series that's been running concurrent to the proper TV series since September, and it's about to air its final 18th episode today. In the teaser for the last episode you'll get a brief glimpse of AZ -- the weirdo from X & Y who spawned a million memes.

The series mostly focuses on the main trainer from the original generation (not Ash), as well as tertiary characters like Detective Looker, and members of the Elite Four. Your mileage may vary on any given episode, but as a rule, it's been pretty entertaining, as it provides a glimpse into some lesser known plots and cast members.

You can catch every episode here on the official YouTube channel for free, but folks looking for a Japanese version are going to have to wait a while -- the OVA actually airs in English first. The Japanese edition is actually on episode 12 at the moment.

Pokemon [Twitter]

It's been 3,000 years, but the Pokemon Generations finale airs today screenshot

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News:: 'Pokemon Go' gives you more goodies for the holidays

One of the reasons why Pokemon Go was such a success is because it got people out and about during the summer. Now that winter is settling in and the snow is starting to fall, however, the developers at Niantic Labs have to figure out a way to keep people playing. Beginning on Christmas Day morning, Pokestops will dole out a single-use incubator. More than that, until January 3rd you'll have a better chance of finding Togepi, Pichu and other Johto-based eggs.

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News:: Did Peach break up with Mario? Nintendo Mobile's new video introduces Mario to newcomers

This may come as a shock, but there are people who have no idea who or what Mario is. But they sure do know what mobile phones are, hence Nintendo Mobile's new video advert for Super Mario Run which introduces what he's all about to people new to the series. The target audience for this is more than likely children who did not grow up on Mario like we did, at least not yet.

The video shows art of the red-capped Italian hero along with various enemies and items from some of his most popular titles. Luigi is introduced as his brother and Bowser and his lackeys barge in as the villains, but not before we meet Mario and Luigi's friends Toad, Yoshi, and...Peach? Poor Mario, all that work just to get dumped in the end. Sure, she and Luigi are just friends, but I don't think it would be a waste of time to give her a special tribute like Bowser and Luigi received in order to establish her love with Mario.

Did Peach break up with Mario? Nintendo Mobile's new video introduces Mario to newcomers screenshot

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News:: There is no I Am Setsuna sequel in the works

In a new video series from Square Enix's Tokyo RPG Factory where they answer fan questions, the developed focused on a very special one -- where's the sequel?!

Well, they went ahead and confirmed it -- it's not happening. Tokyo RPG Factory notes that this was kind of a one-off project, and "it's own complete game." Yet, they explained that they would like to make other games based on the "'90s RPG" aesthetic, so there's hope.

Amidst other factoids that come to light in the video, my favorite part is when the devs thank the handles of each user who asks each question by looking into the camera. This seems like a great team and I'd love to see more from them.

There is no I Am Setsuna sequel in the works screenshot

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News:: Get GRID for free from the Humble Store

The folks who run the Humble Bundle have a holiday present for everyone who logs in today. From now until 10 AM Pacific time tomorrow, anyone who logs in to the Humble Store page can claim a free Steam copy of Codemasters' 2008 racing simulation GRID.

GRID was a standout racing game early in the last generation, and it still holds up damn well. There are different types of rules depending on what continent you're racing on, which helps to vary up the gameplay. At the low price of "nuthin" I'd say it's worth a look.

GRID is an older title to be sure, but it maintains very positive user reviews on its Steam page. Even if you already have a copy, you can still send gift codes to friends who don't own it. The codes must be claimed before 10 AM Pacific (7 AM Eastern) on December 24, and redeemed before December 31.

Get GRID for free from the Humble Store screenshot



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News:: The Engadget Podcast Ep 19: Simply the Best

In this week's episode guest host Devindra Hardawar is joined by managing editor Dana Wollman and senior editor Chris Velazco as they run through the biggest winners of 2016. While it might have been a rough year for our musical legends, it was a pretty solid one for Netflix and Tesla. Heck, even in the throes of a growing fake news crisis, Facebook managed to have more wins than loses. And, once they've finished listing off all the ways emoji are taking over the world, they'll look at some of the best gadgets of 2016.



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News:: King of Fighters graphical update still coming, free DLC out now

SNK decided to listen to fan complaints and up the visual quality of King of Fighters XIV -- which, not coincidentally, is the worst part of the game. It's still planned for a 1.10 update, which is on track for a January 11 release date, and will upgrade the shading and lightning aspects, and bump the color variations for each character from four to six.

In other news, there's a new free "classic costume" DLC out for Athena today, which you can grab until January 22, as well as two Athena-centric PS4 themes that seem to be premium downloads, but SNK didn't disclose the price (several themes are available now, and range from free to $2.99). The developer also notes that folks should "grab the DLC before it becomes a paid costume," at which point it'll probably revert to a $1.99 asking price, joining the classic Kyo and Nightmare Geese outfits on the PSN.

King of Fighters graphical update still coming, free DLC out now screenshot

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News:: The Morning After: Friday December 23, 2016

Before you take off for the holiday, we're looking back at this year's best games and gadgets, and fearing the worst when it comes to next year's weather.



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News:: Eve Online PLEX are on sale again for 15% off during Winter Sale

Sold off your 401k so you can amass your fortune in Eve? You're in luck pilot. This week GMG has Eve Online PLEX at 15% off discount across the board for the 6, 2, and 1 PLEX.

Eve PLEX and Pack Deals

This brings the price of  6 PLEX down from $105 to $89; 2 PLEX from $35 to $31.49; and finally 1 PLEX from $20 to $18.59. PLEX, of course, is the pilot license extension which grants players 30 days of game time for the long running MMO where commodities trade and grand scale economic intrigues occur.

There's the occasional space battle or two too.

Joking aside, in-game currency price database of PLEX do exist. So yeah, shit's serious yo.

Eve Online PLEX are on sale again for 15% off during Winter Sale screenshot



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