© Bethesda
© YKK Japan
© Hooded Horse
The newest earbuds from JBL – the Tour Pro 3 – are a seamless blend of innovation and performance, offering cutting-edge features and remarkable sound quality. And this latest flagship model from JBL just might be the best true wireless earbuds I’ll test all year. Whether you’re an audiophile or simply someone who wants reliable earbuds for everyday use, you’re going to want to check out everything that the Tour Pro 3 has to offer.
Most everything about the JBL Tour Pro 3 exudes extravagance, starting with the sleek, felt-lined packaging it arrives in, with cables and five extra sets of foam tips neatly encased inside.
It was the little things that stood out to me, though, specifically JBL’s attention to detail. The earbuds’ smart charging case has a vibrant 1.57” (a step up from the previous Tour Pro 2’s 1.45” screen) touchscreen display, which was a nice touch. But it’s not just a gimmick – this little screen is surprisingly useful. It lets you check the time, battery status, and even messages without needing to reach for your phone. You can customize the background for a personal touch, as I set mine to a waterfall from a recent trip to Hawaii. What’s more impressive is how the case doubles as a dongle for audio transmission, allowing you to connect to devices like in-flight entertainment systems via aux or USB. It’s a level of utility I haven’t seen in frankly any other earbuds cases.
The design of the earbuds themselves are equally impressive. While they’re a bit bulkier than some competitors (the earbuds I reviewed just before these were the comparatively diminutive Apple AirPods 4, so my recent bias might be showing), their ergonomic design ensures a secure and comfortable fit. I consistently wore them during long work shifts and workouts without experiencing any discomfort or ear fatigue. Plus, with an IP55 weather resistance rating, the Tour Pro 3 handled everything from sweaty gym sessions to light rain on a few morning runs with ease.
In the battery life department, JBL’s new flagships are not a huge step up from the Tour Pro 2, but the buds do improve by an hour or so with up to 8 hours of usage with ANC and an additional 44 hours if you include what you get from a fully charged case. That kind of endurance makes them perfect for extended use, and sets them apart from other premium earbuds that often make battery life an afterthought, like the Apple AirPods Pro 2 and their max of 6 hours of playback.
The JBL’s Tour Pro 3 bevy of features really help round them out, but performance is truly these buds’ bread and butter. Right out of the gate, the Tour Pro 3 deliver outstanding sound quality thanks to the buds’ 1-2 punch of a balanced armature drivers and 10.2mm dynamic drivers. The result is an audio experience that’s rich no matter the genre of music or scenario you’re using them in. I tested them with everything from Jelly Roll’s soulful country rap to Led Zeppelin’s classic rock and Doechii’s experimental beats. Every track was expertly balanced, with deep, resonant bass, crisp highs, and punchy mids that brought the music to life. When I tested the Tour Pro 2, I candidly thought they missed the mark when it came to a premium audio experience, so the tweaks JBL made to this new model helped punch things up. To put it simply, these are some of the better-sounding earbuds I’ve tested, and deserve a seat at the table with flagships from Sennheiser, Sony, and the like.
As a side note, if you’ve read my other reviews, you may know that I’m not exactly a fan of spatial audio. I will say that I like the Tour Pro 3’s spatial audio capabilities better than most, because it added depth to tracks more often than it relegated them to sounding downright jarring. While that kind of virtual spatial audio just isn’t me (and it’s not for lack of trying), the Tour Pro 3 offered a better experience in that category than most others I’ve tested.
Looking to a more useful feature, JBL’s Adaptive Noise Canceling 2.0 technology blocked out background noise in my day-to-day environments effortlessly, whether I was in a crowded gym or running alongside busy streets. I also found the earbuds’ ambient sound mode to be a perfectly practical feature that complimented the earbuds’ ANC quite nicely, especially useful during quick interactions like greeting a fellow jogger or taking my dog out for a walk. I don’t think the Tour Pro 3 are redefining ANC by any stretch, but I also believe most people will be pleased with the quality they find.
Call quality is big for me, since I’m a terrible combination of being on the go often and the person that always needs to call instead of text. With six microphones and JBL’s Crystal AI Algorithm, the Tour Pro 3 delivers clear, detailed audio on both ends of a call, even in challenging environments. I put the buds up against my classic bike test – a scenario where wind and background noise typically wreak havoc on call clarity – and my partner and I had a near flawless, uninterrupted conversation as I hummed along on some sweet single track.
Check out our roundup of the best smartphones out now!
Finally, the JBL Headphones app is a game-changer. Whereas some apps are optional, JBL’s partner software is an essential piece to the package since it offers such a comprehensive suite of features, including EQ customization, fit adjustment tools, and even a "find my earbuds" function. The app’s Person-Fi 3.0 personalized EQ was particularly impressive, using a series of hearing tests to tailor the buds’ audio profile to my unique hearing preferences. I also loved the Smart Ambient mode, which automatically paused playback and ANC when I started speaking. It was a really handy feature for gym workouts with my partner, though it’s worth noting that it can be a bit sensitive when you’re alone, occasionally pausing your music unexpectedly.
One minor downside is the Tour Pro 3’s multi-connection functionality. While the earbuds can connect to multiple devices simultaneously, in this case my phone and laptop, I encountered a few instances where they switched to the wrong source and left me struggling to get them to switch back. I had to dive into my Bluetooth settings and toggle things on and off again to get the buds back on track. It was a small inconvenience, but it happened enough times to become worth noting.
There’s never been as many high-end earbuds options as there are today, and the Tour Pro 3 certainly still has stiff competition. That said, without having the top buds on hand for a direct, side-by-side comparison, my experience with the JBL Tour Pro 3 aligns with what I expect from high-end earbuds, keeping up with some of the best, including the Apple AirPods Pro 2, Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4, and Sony WF-1000XM5.
Where you, specifically, land between these true wireless juggernauts becomes a matter of personal preference, since we’re essentially splitting hairs in areas like (standard) features and price. For example, the AirPods Pro 2 are more compact and intuitive for iPhone users, while Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 4 boasts audiophile-grade sound quality and superb ANC. And of course, Sony’s WF-1000XM5 is often regarded as the gold standard for ANC. While I’m not ready to declare that the Tour Pro 3 can completely unseat these top industry buds, I am confident in saying that the latest from JBL have one of the better blends of high-quality performance and features that you can find today.
© Future
The White Wolf is back for the last time. Production for The Witcher Season 5 is currently underway and new photos of Liam Hemsworth as lead Geralt de Rivia, among other new and returning characters, have hit the internet.
The seemingly leaked set photos — which can be viewed via the Witcher fan site Redanian Intelligence — show the Hunger Games actor in full costume with the character's signature long blonde hair, as well as some longtime characters like Meng’er Zhang as Milva and Joey Batey as Jaskier, who have been on the show since former Superman star Henry Cavill led the story. Hemsworth was announced to be replacing Cavill for Season 4 and the fifth and final season back in October 2022.
First Look at Geralt in The Witcher Season 5 (Exclusive)https://t.co/oWfelbYyL7
— Redanian Intelligence (@RedanianIntel) April 26, 2025
Additionally, there were also set images of some new characters being introduced in Season 4 who will continue to play a hand in the final season, including legendary actor (and Morbius) Laurence Fishburne as Emiel Reigs.
Through these leaked set photos, fans could speculate that Season 5 will take a page from Andrzej Sapkowski’s Tower of the Swallow, in which Geralt meets beekeepers who send them toward druids. That said, Season 4 has yet to be released, so the story could really go in any direction at this point — and there’s a lot of ground to cover before fans can put the puzzle pieces this video leaves together.
Cavill isn’t the only person who left the series and had their character recast. Kim Bodnia, who portrayed Geralt’s father figure and mentor Vesemir, will not be returning for Season 4 due to scheduling conflicts. However, Netflix has yet to announce who will be replacing Bodnia for the role — and there is no official release date for Season 4 yet, either.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
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© Larian Studios
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in games has been discussed more and more lately. NieR series director Yoko Taro has weighed in too, expressing concern that it could lead to game creators losing jobs to AI.
In a recent interview at Famitsu, as translated by Automaton, several Japanese game developers known for narrative and storytelling discussed their approach to game creation. Alongside Yoko Taro, there was also Kotaro Uchikoshi (Zero Escape, AI: The Somnium Files), Kazutaka Kodaka (Danganronpa), and Jiro Ishii (428: Shibuya Scramble).
During the interview, the group was asked what the future of adventure games might be, and both Yoko and Uchikoshi discussed AI.
“There’s a lot of new games I want to create, but with AI technology evolving at such a high speed, I fear that there is a possibility that AI-generated adventure games will become mainstream," said Uchikoshi. He went on to note that current AI struggles to achieve "outstanding writing" comparable to human creativity, and that maintaining the "human touch" would be crucial to staying ahead of the tech. Yoko, though, also expressed concerns.
“I, too, believe that game creators may lose their jobs because of AI," said Yoko. "There’s a chance that in 50 years, game creators will be treated like bards.”
When it came to whether they thought AI could imitate the worlds and stories, including the twists and turns, of their works, Yoko and Ishii agreed. Kodaka, however, said that even if AI could imitate their work and styles, it wouldn't be able to behave like a creator. He drew comparisons to David Lynch, and how creators could write a scenario in Lynch's style, but Lynch could then change up his own style while still making it feel authentic and Lynchian.
While Yoko posed the idea of using AI to generate new scenarios, like a route in an adventure game, Kodaka noted how this personalized nature would lead to games being less of a shared experience.
Notable creators have been weighing in with their thoughts on AI, large language models, and other generative systems for a while now. Some have even been experimenting with it, including Capcom and Activision. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa recently said generative AI can be used in "creative ways," but it would also raise issues with intellectual property rights. Microsoft and PlayStation have also weighed in on the topic.
Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.
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"Somehow, Palpatine returned." It is the Star Wars meme to end all memes, used to ridicule the Emperor’s divisive return in The Rise of Skywalker. Most fans reacted negatively to Palpatine’s clone-fueled revival after his "death" at the end of the much-loved Return of the Jedi. But what did Ian McDiarmid, who has played Palpatine / the Emperor for over 40 years, think of the backlash?
In an interview with Variety to celebrate the return of Revenge of the Sith to theaters (a re-release that has seen a huge box office, by the way), McDiarmid shrugged off the backlash, insisting “mine and Palpatine’s logic was entirely reasonable.”
"It seemed entirely probable that Palpatine had plan B," he insisted. "Even though he was very, very badly damaged, he would be able to be put it together in some form. When I realized I had a sort of astral wheelchair, that was even better. I just had these four guys who whisked me around the studio; I can’t tell you how much fun that was. Daisy was more worried about that than anything else. And then, of course, we had to devise another makeup look, which was even more grotesque than the previous one."
McDiarmid added, specifically on the backlash to the Emperor's return: "Well, there’s always something, isn’t there?” he said. “I don’t read that stuff and I’m not online. So it’ll only reach me if someone mentions it. I thought there might be a bit of a fuss about bringing him back. But as I said, mine and Palpatine’s logic was entirely reasonable. This man who was horribly maimed thought maybe one day it might happen to him, and we’ve got to have a plan B. I loved the whole idea that he should come back and be even more powerful than he was before. Though this time, he had to be utterly destroyed. So I think he’s dead.”
The Rise of Skywalker vaguely explains how Palpatine accomplished his grand comeback. When Kylo Ren finds him early in the movie, Emperor Palpatine appears to be a reanimated version of his dead self. So it would seem that he didn’t survive his fall at the end of Return of the Jedi.
But his death clearly didn’t stop him or really even slow him down. As McDiarmid said, Palpatine had a contingency plan in place for just such a scenario. In Rise of Skywalker’s vague explanation of Palpatine’s return, Sheev quotes his ever-so-meme-able words from Revenge of the Sith as he delivers his super-villain monologue where he explains his bonkers master plan to Kylo Ren: "The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities that some would consider to be... unnatural."
So, ancient Sith magic. That’s how he did it.
It seems unlikely that the core Star Wars fanbase will ever get on board with Palpatine’s return in The Rise of Skywalker, and would prefer to just pretend it never happened. It will be interesting to see if future Star Wars movies do the same. In November, Daisy Ridley's character Rey Skywalker was reported to be set to appear in "several" upcoming Star Wars films as she's been deemed the galaxy far, far away's "most valuable cinematic asset."
Ridley is already confirmed to be returning in the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy-directed sequel to The Rise of Skywalker. It will tell the story of Rey as she looks to rebuild the Jedi Order roughly 15 years after the events of that film.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
© Future
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© TP-Link, Corsair, Samsung
© Semiwork (modded by linkoid
If you've been on the hunt for some good game deals following many of the Spring Sales recently, today is your lucky day. Amazon has dropped a nice little sale on a selection of Capcom games for PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch that's worth a look. This sale includes discounts on Resident Evil 4, Dragon's Dogma 2, Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics and a few more so you can fill up your library with some exciting new options to play.
We've included a few of our favorite games from this sale below. Pick them up before the discounts are all gone. To see more items on sale, check out Capcom's Amazon sale page here.
If you're looking to add even more to your library to play in the months ahead, you'll be happy to know that these aren't the only game deals we've come across today. Woot's offering a very nice selection of Pokémon games on sale right now that are also worth a look. You can learn more about that sale and what Pokémon games are in it at the moment in our breakdown of the best deals of the day.
For even more gaming deals available right now, it's always worth keeping up with our roundups of the best PS5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch deals. We regularly keep these updated with the latest and greatest deals going on for each platform, from discounts on video games to hardware to accessories. You can also check out our overall roundup of the best video game deals to see our top offers available for each console. This roundup also features PC game deals, so if playing on console isn't your style you can see a great selection of game deals just for you.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.
© Asus
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The new incarnation of the Fantastic Four is nearly ready to burst through movie theater screens — but interestingly enough, fans have yet to catch a glimpse of their next nemesis. Galactus, played by Ralph Ineson, will be the upcoming film’s central villain, but he did not appear in the trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, seemingly to keep the character’s design underwraps until release. However, it seems an eagle-eyed Marvel diehard may have inadvertently discovered a full first look at Galactus... via a leaked Lego set.
Warning! Potential spoilers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps follow:
According to Twitter user @blogsbrick, a “Galactus vs. The Fantastic Four” Lego set is set to hit shelves on June 1. The user also included an image of the set’s box, on which Galactus can be seen in his full, huge glory (as well as some cute tiny heroes too). @blogsbrick claimed the photographed set, which will consist of 427 pieces priced $59.99, was found “at a retail store,” but no further details were given.
Lego Marvel Galactus vs The Fantastic Four first look image, found in a retail store
— Brick Built Blogs (@BlogsBrick) April 26, 2025
427 Pieces / $59.99 / 1st June 2025#Lego #Legonews #Legoleaks #Marvel #LegoMarvel #FantasticFourFirstSteps pic.twitter.com/yBi52wnA59
Though fans didn’t get a chance to see film Galactus in the debut trailer, they did get to take in an all-new version of Silver Surfer, who will be played in the new reboot by Julia Garner. As for making sure Galactus was as intimidating as he needed to be on-screen, director Matt Shakman recently opened up about how the team nailed the massive scale of the character in a way that used as little digital effect as possible.
"I didn't want to just use motion-capture for Galactus. I wanted to actually have someone there embodying the part,” he explained in an interview with Entertainment Weekly earlier this month. “So we've built an entire costume for him, and we've done a lot of photography testing to figure out, how do you make sure that the scale is correct? How do you film Mount Rushmore?"
The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which kicks off Phase 6 of the MCU, stars Vanessa Kirby, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the titular four and arrives in theaters on July 25, 2025.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith’s re-release in theaters was a massive success, earning $25.2 million in 2,775 theatres in North America alone.
That was enough to debut in second spot in this week’s domestic box office chart, behind only Sinners’ impressive $45 million second week haul.
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith’s box office last week was enough to make it one of the top-grossing re-release weekends in history, behind Star Wars - A New Hope’s $36 million from the 1997 Special edition release, and The Lion King’s $30 million from its 2011 3D release.
Adding in $17 million taken internationally, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith’s re-release brought in a huge $42.2 million at the global box office, clearly demonstrating the demand for Star Wars movie re-releases.
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith is the final chapter in George Lucas' epic saga, and reveals how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. It originally earned $850 million at the global box office.
The re-release beat The Accountant 2’s domestic box office debut of $24,492,743 and Until Dawn’s $8.015 million. Ryan Coogler’s vampire flick Sinners, meanwhile, is now up to $161.626 million at the global box office after two weekends. A Minecraft Movie continues its march towards $1 billion; it's now on $816.567 million.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone have a new premium emote that lets you hide in a cardboard box — and of course players are abusing it.
Call of Duty has seen its fair share of microtransactions dubbed pay-to-win by the community. The infamous Roze skin, which was incredibly hard to see, ended up being changed for battle royale Warzone. The developers of Call of Duty recently ended up changing a Terminator skin for similar reasons. But this cardboard box emote may be the most pay-to-win of them all.
It’s part of the premium 2,400 COD Points Cardboard Commando bundle, which turns your soldier and weapons into cardboard. Fun at first glance, and certainly in-keeping with Call of Duty’s penchant for goofy skins. But it’s the Surprise Gift emote included in the bundle that has raised more than a few eyebrows within the Call of Duty community.
That’s because the emote literally lets you hide in a cardboard box, then after a few seconds jump out for a surprise. You can imagine how this might help you out in the battlefield, like a Prop Hunt on-demand. It boggles the mind how this one was allowed into Call of Duty, especially in Warzone, which can end up being as much about hiding as it is about killing.
One player, Dr.ChubzDPT on X / Twitter, showcased some Call of Duty cardboard box abuse in a video alongside the post: “Abusing the most broken emote in Warzone history.”
Abusing the most broken emote in Warzone history with @Timmy2Cans pic.twitter.com/9gOe8Nhbj8
— Dr.ChubzDPT (@chubzdpt) April 27, 2025
The emote has more than a whiff of Metal Gear Solid about it. In Hideo Kojima’s famous single-player stealth series, Solid Snake can famously move about while inside a cardboard box, flummoxing unsuspecting guards who seem none the wiser.
In the competitive multiplayer Call of Duty series though, it’s a different story, with some saying this cardboard box has no place in the game. It’s worth pointing out that others are saying it’s all a bit of fun, and that the cardboard itself is big enough to stand out.
“Literally nobody should be falling for a giant cardboard box,” said X / Twitter user Part Timer. “But it is hilarious.” “I’m shooting every box from now on,” commented X / Twitter user SteamyTycoon.
Warzone, with its recently launched return to Verdansk, is generally speaking in a good place, with fans loving the nostalgia fuelled return to the map that started it all. Check out IGN’s sweeping interview with the developers behind Verdansk to find out how they went about it.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
While The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is, overall, a smash hit, with 4 million players, a ‘very positive’ user review rating on Steam, and high peak concurrents, some aspects of the rework have caused veteran fans to complain. Chief among them: a door.
Warning! Potential spoilers for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered follow.
This has to do with the door to the Dark Brotherhood’s Cheydinhal sanctuary entrance. It is at the centre of an iconic moment in Oblivion, one that players who took on the excellent Dark Brotherhood quest will probably remember well. In the original Oblivion, the glowing door has a heavy mood aesthetic and a relief showing the Night Mother (who members of the assassination obsessed Dark Brotherhood worship) murdering five children. The Oblivion Remastered version of this door has no glow, is light on atmosphere and, weirdly, has two extra children.
You can see a comparison with accompanying complaint in the reddit post from alvaro-elite, below:
While some are upset that this new door is a lot less moody than the one in the original, The Elder Scrolls lore fans are pointing out that the addition of two kids on the relief doesn’t make a lot of sense when you consider what we know about the story of the Night Mother.
This moment in time is meant to represent the Night Mother’s murdering of the five children she conceived with Sithis, the Elder Scrolls deity who represents emptiness and the Void. As the story goes, the Night Mother is murdered by the locals for murdering her kids, which turns her into the immortal Night Mother in the first place. In fact, in Oblivion, the Night Mother’s tomb includes skeletal remains of one adult and five children, reinforcing this lore.
So why are there seven kids in the scene now, where there were five before? That’s the question fans are asking.
“I have no clue why someone just decided to copy/paste two more children on there,” commented redditor AutisticAnarchy. “I guess the larger texture looked ‘better’ with it or something and the artist working on it didn't understand the lore.”
“I’m still really confused by the thought-process behind it,” added TurboDelight. “Where’d the extra kids come from? Who thought to change what the mural was actually depicting? I can understand not knowing what the figures are meant to represent, but why change an objective detail like that?”
“inb4 it's a lore retcon because something about the Dark Brotherhood questline in TESVI is based around lore written about these two extra figures, be they her sixth and seventh children or otherwise,” suggested ConstantSignal..
“Or the digital artist tasked with recreating the door just didn't know it was meant to depict significant lore and felt the extra figures filled the space better lol.”
The question now is whether Bethesda and developer Virtuos will patch Oblivion Remastered to change the door to be lore compliant, or is this is all part of some masterplan that leads into fun story shenanigans in future games or DLC?
We’ve got plenty more on Oblivion Remastered, including a report on a player who managed to escape the confines of Cyrodiil to explore Valenwood, Skyrim, and even Hammerfell, the rumored setting of The Elder Scrolls VI.
We've also got a comprehensive guide to everything you'll find in Oblivion Remastered, including an expansive Interactive Map, complete Walkthroughs for the Main Questline and every Guild Quest, How to Build the Perfect Character, Things to Do First, every PC Cheat Code, and much more.
Image credit: alvaro-elite / reddit.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Today’s deals are a reminder that sometimes, patience pays off. I want to point out the Pokémon sale at Woot first, because seeing Brilliant Diamond and Legends: Arceus under $45 almost feels like a clerical error.
Add in a serious discount on factory-reconditioned MSI gaming PCs, last-gen graphics cards and more PC components. Or how about a Zelda Master Sword replica that plays music and looks dangerously good on a shelf?
In my opinion, this is the kind of lineup that makes spending a little easier to justify. Storage upgrades, gaming bundles, and games you will definitely have time to play eventually. Probably. Here’s what I think is worth a look today.
Woot is offering a solid spread of Pokémon games today, and I want at least three of them. Brilliant Diamond, Legends: Arceus, Let’s Go, Eevee!, and a few others are sitting between $39.99 and $44.99, which feels right for anyone catching up before Switch 2 changes the landscape again. In my opinion, it is a smart time to grab them while prices are behaving themselves. Everything here is fully playable now and will likely get performance bumps once Nintendo's next system arrives.
MSI’s factory-reconditioned gaming desktops are quietly one of the best parts of today's sale. Machines like the AEGIS R 13NUE-448US are going for $1,129.99, and RTX 4060 GPUs are under $300. I want to be responsible, but this pricing makes it harder than it should be. If you have been thinking about rebuilding your setup, this is exactly the kind of deal you hope not to miss.
The Master Sword Proplica from Tamashii Nations is $200 at the IGN Store, and it feels like one of those collectibles you either get immediately or spend months regretting. It plays eight songs from across Zelda games, has sound effects, vibrates when you swing it, and looks good enough to make it feel slightly less ridiculous to own. Slightly.
Amazon has the Samsung PRO Plus 512GB microSD card with a USB reader for $29.99. I think it is a good fit if you are adding games to your Switch, Steam Deck, ROG Ally, or anything else still using microSD storage. It is fast enough for quick transfers, big enough for most libraries, and cheap enough that you do not have to think too hard about it. Just know it is not built for Switch 2, in case you're planning ahead.
Humble’s Play for Miracles Bundle is giving away 31 games for $20, which is more titles than I will realistically finish this year. That said, games like Terraforming Mars and Survival: Fountain of Youth are strong enough that even grabbing two or three makes the bundle worth it. Plus, the money goes to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, which makes ignoring the other 28 games feel slightly less irresponsible.
The 8BitDo Retro 87 Mechanical Keyboard is down to $99.99 at Amazon. I think it is one of the best-looking keyboards out right now if you want something that works and does not scream “boring office equipment.” It has Kailh Jellyfish X switches, a top-mount design, fast response, and Xbox-inspired styling that actually looks good on a gaming desk. I probably do not need another keyboard. I am thinking about it anyway.
Amazon also has the 8BitDo Retro R8 Wireless Mouse on sale for $58.68. It feels like the natural companion to the Retro 87 Keyboard, but it also stands fine on its own. It packs a PAW 3395 sensor, programmable buttons, a 4K polling rate, and a charging dock that doubles as a signal booster. I want one for a low-key gaming setup that does not look like it is held together with RGB lighting and prayer.
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of "Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior". Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
A former PlayStation narrative director is petitioning the creators of the Until Dawn movie to credit the game's writers in the film.
As spotted by Eurogamer, Kim MacAskill's petition is "calling upon Sony, a leader in the gaming world, to set a precedent for change by revising the Until Dawn credits" by "asking for them to revise their approach to IP crediting, particularly in transmedia adaptations."
"I've just left Until Dawn where the film director, writers, etc, were all credited, but instead of [Sony] mentioning the leading game dev(s) who created this ICONIC game you're clearly proud of, [Sony] just wrapped it as 'based on the Sony game'," MacAskill wrote.
"They spent years breaking their brains to make something incredible, and the world DESERVES to know their names... instead… No credit. No thanks. No honor."
MacAskill went into more detail on a LinkedIn post, asking what the difference was between HBO's adaptation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us — which credits both the studio itself and Neil Druckmann as both writer and director — and the Until Dawn movie.
The director said Sony execs "firmly told" her that "the IP I personally created would NEVER be credited to me as I was salaried (no royalties, no control, no ownership, no acknowledgement)", addressing Sony directly with: "I am struggling with the difference between Neil Druckmann's favor and that of others in your company."
The creative director said that when she enquired about the rights to the intellectual property she created while working for Sony, a company rep told her the megacorp "understood" her position but "this is not something that [Sony] can do," and that it was "nothing personal" — "this is not specifically for you, but this is completely firm-wide."
"All I wanted was to be credited and to potentially have enough ownership for adaptation," she added.
"I am asking for [Sony] to revise their approach to IP crediting, particularly in transmedia adaptations," the director wrote on the petition. "Providing an executive producer credit or acknowledgment equivalent would honor those creators whose visions and passion have given birth to these incredible stories and design, proving transformational in the entertainment landscape.
"Let's advocate not only for the Until Dawn creators but for the integrity of the industry. By ensuring that creative voices are properly recognized, we can continue to inspire future generations of creators who dare to dream beyond current constraints. Sign this petition to urge Sony… and stand with all game creators… demanding well-deserved recognition in transmedia narratives."
In related news, we reported earlier today that it appears one of the PlayStation Plus games for May 2025 will be Until Dawn Remastered. It could be a means of promoting the new Until Dawn movie, which released just ahead of the weekend. It didn't particularly impress us; we awarded it 5/10, writing in IGN's Until Dawn movie review: "Until Dawn is more disappointing than deadly, leaving all the promise of the horror game behind for a jumble of horror-movie re-creations."
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
With Andor Season 2 now in full swing, creator Tony Gilroy has revealed why Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine do not appear on-screen at any point in the series.
Andor leads directly into the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which does feature Darth Vader. The end of Rogue One, where Vader assaults the Rebel command ship while on the hunt for the Death Star schematics, in turn leads directly into the events of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.
So, Vader is operating during the events of Andor, but he does not show up. Why? In an interview with Rolling Stone, Gilroy said a Vader cameo was never on the cards, because sci-fi's greatest villain “doesn’t have a lot to say.”
“No, that was never on my agenda,” Gilroy explained. “Writing for Darth Vader is really limiting. I’ve done it. He doesn’t have a lot to say.”
That is, of course, a nod to Vader's appearance in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Gilroy co-wrote the screenplay). In the movie, Vader says just a handful of lines of dialogue to Orson Krennic, who he eventually Force chokes into submission. Vader does not say a word during his signature corridor scene at the end of the film.
So that’s Darth Vader’s absence explained, but what about The Emperor? Again, he’s operating during the events of Andor, and is referenced, but does not appear on-screen.
“He was too big a piece of meat for me to introduce,” Gilroy explained. “It was too heavy a lift. I thought about it at one point, but it was too heavy a lift.”
Gilroy went on to make the point that in the Star Wars universe, during the events of Andor at least, hardly anyone knows about the Jedi or the Sith. The Emperor is referenced, but more like an off-screen politician or president. And so, the likes of the Emperor and Darth Vader in full on Sith mode are “not in the culture.”
“One of the fascinating things that I realized when I started the show in the very beginning is how many billions of beings are in the galaxy,” Gilroy said.
“Nobody knows about the Jedi, nobody knows about the Sith. It’s just a tiny percentage of people that have any notion of it at all. It’s not in the culture. And I remember being really surprised as it was explained. I thought it was something that everyone knew about, but no, it’s very secretive and small.”
Even without such heavy-hitters, Andor has proven a crowd pleaser. In fact, Season 2 has officially made Andor the most critically acclaimed live-action Star Wars film or TV show ever, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
IGN’s own review for the first three episodes of Andor Season 2 gave the show an excellent 8/10, highlighting that Andor “continues to be the most interesting Star Wars has been in years.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Amazon's impressive 3 for $33 4K Blu-ray sale is still ongoing, and it's been a wildly popular option for those looking to fill out their physical film collections.
I'm here to recommend you pick up some of the best comic book films ever made in the sale, including what might be my favorite comic film ever, The Batman.
So what else can you get? For starters, I'd recommend James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. It's probably my favorite film from the old DCEU era, and generally just a brilliant movie. This is a must-own if you're as excited about Gunn's new Superman film as I am.
I'd also suggest going for something cool and obscure, like the 2003 Hulk film, which isn't particularly good per se, but it doesn't suffer from the same comic tropes we see in flicks these days, and as one of the pioneering 21st-century comic book adaptations, it's surprisingly nostalgic as well.
Then you've also got the likes of 300 and The Dark Knight to consider as well.
Admittedly, the rest of these highlights are a little dominated by DC, including duds like Black Adam or Shazam 2. Aquaman and Wonder Woman are still fairly decent, just not on the same iconic level as Batman or Gunn's Suicide Squad.
But, while I've chosen to include them to give you a full view of what's available in the 3 for $33 offering, this sale isn't just limited to comic book films either.
So you don't have to dip into the DC selection if you're just keen on getting a couple of other sci-fi or horror films, for example.
Plus, with this Amazon sale effectively making every 4K film you buy (that's included) $11 each, it's really hard to say no to these discounts right now.
Not only that, but with streamers constantly taking content down or straight up deleting it from existence, I'll be the first to say that we all need to cut our losses and just go back to our big bookshelves of DVDs (Blu-rays, 4Ks, etc).
I've also been working on my 4K collection recently and recommend that all my US-based colleagues pick up some of the best sci-fi films ever, such as The Terminator, Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and plenty more.
I also couldn't just move on without recommending some of the monster offerings in the sale as well, such as critical darling Godzilla Minus One.
Amazon doesn't really give us any sort of end date for these types of promotions. Still, we've seen enough of them by now to get somewhat of an idea of how long we can expect them to last.
Each offer, i.e. any sort of "buy one, get one" sale, tends to run anywhere between five and seven days, depending how much stock it has in the category. Considering this sale began last Monday (April 21), I wouldn't be surprised if today is the last day, at least for now.
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Senior Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.
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It looks like one of the PlayStation Plus games for May 2025 has leaked.
While nothing is confirmed by Sony yet, rumor has it teen slasher horror romp Until Dawn will be a free download for PlayStation players in May. Although the key art certainly suggests it's the Until Dawn Remastered that's coming, rather than the 2014 original, it's not entirely clear; we'll confirm just as soon as we know for sure.
PlayStation Plus is an online gaming service for PlayStation platforms that includes free monthly games, limited-time trials, online multiplayer, and member-exclusive discounts. It also includes a catalog of hundreds of current and classic games for Extra and Premium members, although the monthly free games are available to all players, regardless of their subscription tier.
Posts from the playstation
community on Reddit
As speculated by some members of the PlayStation subreddit (thanks, PushSquare), this could be a means of promoting the new Until Dawn movie, which released just ahead of the weekend. It didn't particularly impress us; we awarded it 5/10, writing in IGN's Until Dawn movie review: "Until Dawn is more disappointing than deadly, leaving all the promise of the horror game behind for a jumble of horror-movie re-creations."
That's the same score we awarded the 2024 remaster, calling the game an "overpriced and under-featured remake that seems less like a must-have bit of moonlit murder and something closer to daylight robbery" in IGN's Until Dawn Remastered review. Supermassive's 2015 original fared much better, getting a 7.5/10 from us.
22 games are set to be pulled from the PlayStation Plus library next month, including Grand Theft Auto 5, Payday 2: Crimewave Edition, and the last playable versions of first-party titles Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2. As a result, Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2 will now completely disappear for modern consoles.
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
If you’re one of the many fans of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered on PC, you might have noticed the game has more than a few issues.
According to the tech experts at Digital Foundry, Oblivion Remastered suffers from “dire” performance problems on PC. Video producer Alex Battaglia called it “perhaps one of the worst-running games I've ever tested for Digital Foundry.”
“Even if you're running the most powerful hardware around, the stuttering is egregious, dragging down the experience to the point where I really don't understand how this was considered good enough for release,” Battaglia said.
“And beyond the hitching, we are looking at one of the most bizarrely resource-intensive games I've ever tested - so even if you're OK with lurching stutter, you'll be turning down the settings just to keep the average frame-rate looking acceptable.”
Perhaps it comes as no surprise then to find that the most-downloaded Oblivion Remastered mod currently on Nexus Mods is P40L0’s ‘Ultimate Engine Tweaks (Anti-Stutters - Lower Latency - No Film Grain - No Chromatic Aberration - Lossless),’ which has been downloaded a whopping 386,604 times in less than a week.
Here’s the mod description:
“Definitive Unreal ‘Engine.ini’ changes with the goal to remove most stutters, improve performance and stability, decrease input latency, improve picture clarity. All with no visual loss.”
“After months of UE5 testing, I would like to share my definitive custom ‘Engine.ini’ changes for the game,” P40L0 explained.
“My goal was to just include as many optimizations as possible (both for CPU/GPU/RAM/SSD) in order to remove most stuttering, improve performance, reduce input latency and improve picture clarity (e.g. by removing Film Grain & Chromatic Aberration, optimize DLSS/FSR upscaling and more) all without any visual loss nor introducing glitches or crashes.”
Reaction to the mod from those who downloaded it is overwhelmingly positive. “Stutter be gone! Simply amazing, thanks!” declared chubbyd07. “This .ini is a miracle. From 15-20 fps outside the prison to 65-70 stable. Running on 3600XT and a 2060 with 20GB of RAM (yes),” added yeeto51. “Uhm, what the hell! I went from 60fps on High Preset around Waynon Priory to 90-110fps on the same location. Wizardry!!” said BabaSmith.
While the PC version clearly has issued, Oblivion Remastered remains hugely popular, with an impressive Steam concurrent peak player count, and over 4 million players across all platforms. On Steam Oblivion Remastered has a ‘very positive’ user review rating.
However, a hotfix pushed live on April 25 has affected Microsoft Store players’ UI settings for graphics, specifically related to upscaling and anti-aliasing. At the time of this article’s publication. Microsoft Store players (so, those playing via Game Pass for PC), cannot adjust those settings due to the issue with the settings UI. Bethesda has said it’s on the case.
We’ve got plenty more on Oblivion Remastered, including a report on a player who managed to escape the confines of Cyrodiil to explore Valenwood, Skyrim, and even Hammerfell, the rumored setting of The Elder Scrolls VI.
We've also got a comprehensive guide to everything you'll find in Oblivion Remastered, including an expansive Interactive Map, complete Walkthroughs for the Main Questline and every Guild Quest, How to Build the Perfect Character, Things to Do First, every PC Cheat Code, and much more.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The following article contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2, episode 3.
This week’s episode of The Last of Us takes a moment to grieve and breathe after last week’s showstopper. It also takes a little detour from the game; much of this episode depicts the reaction of Jackson’s people to the events they’ve just suffered, and their vote on if they should pursue Abby or not. This is all original material for the show, and so there’s actually very few scenes in this episode that are taken straight from the game.
There are four key sequences from this episode that are recreations of moments from the game, and here we’ve compared them against the original source material, analysing what’s changed and what’s stayed the same. You can see both versions in the video above, or read on below for our written explanations.
Following the harrowing murder of Joel in episode 2, Ellie visits her deceased father-figure’s house to mourn. As in the game, the front yard is covered in flowers left by the residents of Jackson. Unlike the game, though, Ellie enters alone rather than accompanied by Dina.
The show’s version of Joel’s house features many of the same props that decorated this location in the game, including his workshop room full of carved animals. In Joel’s bedroom, the bed linen is the same blue and white sheets. More importantly there’s the same red box on the bed that contains his signature items: the broken watch and his revolver. Ellie takes these and holsters the revolver in the waistband of her jeans, just as she does in the game.
The need for revenge begins to rise when Ellie talks to Tommy about what happened. While the broad strokes of this scene are the same in both show and game, particularly in tone, the actual setting and words are not recreated one-to-one. In both versions Ellie is angry and frustrated that Tommy wants to be more sensible about their next move, and so tonally the scenes match. However, where in the game this conversation takes place in a quiet, private room between just the two of them, in the show it’s conducted out in the open with Dina present.
In terms of dialogue there are close matches – both versions of Ellie say that Joel “would be halfway to Seattle by now” if the situation was reversed. Both versions of Tommy also note that Jackson would be left vulnerable, although in the show this is a clear reference to the prior episode’s horde attack rather than the game’s more general assessment. In both scenarios Tommy says it’s ultimately up to Maria as to if they get to hunt down Abby, but in the show he says that it will need to go to a full town vote, while the game version says he expects there will be “folks she can spare”.
Ellie and Dina head out to Seattle on horseback in search of Abby and her group. In both versions Dina asks Ellie to recall the first person she killed, and Ellie proceeds to explain how she saved Joel from a bandit in the first game/season. While the show’s dialogue is not an exact match to the game’s script, the details are largely the same – Joel was attacked and Ellie pulled the trigger to save him. The conversation is longer in the game, however, as Dina reciprocates with her own story of her first kill.
Later, the pair discover an overgrown car, which they consider a sign that they’re finally close to Seattle. This is, again, broadly similar to a moment from the game, even if the dialogue line is not a one-to-one match.
Later in the episode we see Ellie and Dina camped out in a tent. Before lights out, Dina asks Ellie a question: how would she rate their kiss at the dance out of 10? This moment is a recreation of a scene from the game, but the timing and content of this conversation is notably different to the original game version.
In the game, Dina asks Ellie to rate the kiss while they are smoking marijuana at Eugene’s weed den. As we know from last week’s episode, this doesn’t happen in the show since it is Jesse, not Dina, who accompanies Ellie to Eugene’s den. It’s not just the time and location of this exchange that is altered, though. In the show, Ellie says that she’d rate the kiss a six, something that Dina is playfully upset about. In the game, it’s flipped – Ellie hesitates to answer, and so Dina says she’d score it a “solid six”. The two interpretations showcase very different dynamics; Dina in the game is much more confident and knows how to pull Ellie’s strings – she enjoys teasing her. Dina in the show, meanwhile, is depicted as more “teenage” in her approach, which emphasises the “young girls in the apocalypse” element of their love story.
For more from The Last of Us, check out our spoiler-free season two review and our spoiler-filled review of the third episode. We’ve also looked at how the changes to Abby have affected the way the show handled Joel’s death, and spoken to Kaitlyn Dever about how her version of Abby is “so much more” than her rage.
Matt Purslow is IGN's Senior Features Editor.
A The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild speedrunner beat the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the critically-acclaimed RPG at the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience in Japan, which capped playtime at just 10 minutes.
As spotted by VGC, Japanese content creator Ikaboze used an existing save file without knowing what equipment Link had to hand. After deciding to "defeat the final boss while tied up completely naked and with all my equipment removed," the content creator fired up a save that took him to the final boss fight with Ganon. Seven minutes later, Ganon had been defeated, and onlookers broke out in spontaneous applause.
裸でガノン凸って倒した https://t.co/IqRA6PAePw pic.twitter.com/84NhuN1Pjq
— 最強ゼルダGamesいかぼうず (@Ikaboze) April 27, 2025
It was a particularly impressive feat given Ikaboze was using an unfamiliar controller and couldn't even hear the game due to the noise of the convention hall.
“I was surprised by how many people had gathered,” he said. “Staff were even filming on their smartphones. This was the first time anyone had completed the Breath of the Wild demo, and staff congratulated me."
Nintendo Switch 2 Enhanced Edition of Breath of the Wild comes with improved visuals and performance, achievements, as well as support for the new "Zelda Notes" service in the Nintendo Switch Online app. If you already own Breath of the Wild on the Switch, you won't get those features automatically, but you can purchase an "upgrade pack" for $10 to get access. Both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom upgrade packs are also available for no extra cost to Nintendo Switch Online and Expansion Pack subscribers.
Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders went live on April 24, with the price still fixed at $449.99 — and they went about as well as you'd expect. Meanwhile, Nintendo has just issued a warning to U.S. customers who applied for a Switch 2 pre-order from the My Nintendo Store, saying release date delivery was not guaranteed due to very high demand.
Check out IGN's Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order guide for more.
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
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