Hooded Horse has announced the sequel to the 2017 survival horror game, Darkwood 2. To celebrate this announcement, the publisher shared a trailer that you can find below. Set years later after the events of the first game, Darkwood 2 throws players into more peril amidst the scorched deserts of a dying sea. Roam freely … Continue reading Darkwood 2 has officially been announced for PC →
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Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi is once again championing the infamous "yellow paint" to guide players, saying "there is definitely a need" for it.
Using yellow paint on ledges and walls to indicates a traversable area in a video game has been a hot topic among players ever since its rise in popularity in the likes of Uncharted on PlayStation 3. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth uses this tactic too, with players sharing their thoughts on it and leaving Hamaguchi himself surprised about the debate it stirred at the time.
In a new interview with GamesRadar+, Hamaguchi said he understood there are some people who don't want or need the yellow paint, but insisted that it was necessary.
"I get there is a debate about that, whether that fits with that world or not, whether some people want it, some people don't," Hamaguchi said. "I think as a game, there is definitely a need for that kind of thing in a lot of ways. I think obviously different developers experiment, try different things about what works best, what fits best, the right way of doing that in their game."
"The need to guide players around from from a gameplay perspective and show them what can be done, what they need to do, there is definitely times where that is needed," he added. "So I think obviously there is more of a debate about how it's done, what level and what works. And there'll still be people who say, 'No, that doesn't fit at all. We don't like that.' That's fine, but I think there is definitely a need there, and it's something that is definitely worth looking at."
When the yellow paint debate kicked off with Rebirth last year, some said they didn't like how in-your-face the hand-holding was not just in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, but modern video games. Others, however, pointed out that it could be helpful, and was an important accessibility feature. Developers, too, weighed in, with some highlighting how in playtests and focus groups, players sometimes struggle to work out where to go, get frustrated, and quit playing altogether. Because of this, somewhat obvious and sometimes unrealistic visual clues are needed to help point players in the right direction. And some have pointed out that video games have featured visual clues for exploration and progression for decades now.
With discussion around the yellow paint in FF7R, who remembers the options red/green arrows plus giant pointer available in the original FF7? pic.twitter.com/qMLnKh3rGw
— John Linneman @dark1x.bsky.social (@dark1x) February 11, 2024
Based on Hamaguchi's comments, perhaps fans can expect the yellow paint to return for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3. Speaking of which, Square Enix said last year that its goal was to see the finale launch by 2027. Excitement for the third and final chapter in the trilogy grew even more when the team revealed that it had completed its story earlier this year.
Most recently, Hamaguchi clarified comments that Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 would "strike a balance" when it came to pacing and be "more concise," insisting didn't mean he would cut any content from the game.
While we wait, find out why the Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 team “will not cheat” when it comes to Final Fantasy 7’s iconic airship. And as for if Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 will have turn-based combat? Hamaguchi said it had not been "pre-determined yet" despite the success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which boasts traditional JRPG-inspired turn-based combat and recently confirmed sales of 5 million copies in five months.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
DON’T NOD has shared a new gameplay trailer for its upcoming sci-fi action adventure game, Aphelion. The game is set on the planet Persephone, an uncharted, frozen world, in which you assume the role of Ariane and Thomas, who must find each other. Stranded and isolated, you must survive the truly unknown and complete your … Continue reading New trailer for DON’T NOD’s sci-fi action-adventure, Aphelion →
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Michael Waldron, creator of the MCU show Loki and writer of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, has revealed a pitch he came up with alongside Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness for a battle that would have taken place in the scrapped Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
Marvel Studios’ plans for its overarching Avengers-based storyline included Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, but the movie was retooled and renamed amid Kang actor Jonathan Majors' conviction for assaulting his ex-girlfriend and subsequent firing in 2023.
But the initial idea — indeed the setup from previous MCU movies and shows such as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Loki — was that Kang would be the next big bad after Thanos, and that superheroes would have to battle variants of the character as part of an all-encompassing war.
The plan is very different now. Kang is seemingly forgotten, destined to go down as one of many MCU loose ends, with Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr., drafted in to play Doctor Doom in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday and 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars.
Waldron was one of the writers on Avengers: The Kang Dynasty before moving on to work on Doomsday, and in a recent Reddit AMA, he was asked if there was anything he learnt from those initial drafts of the script that moved over to help him write for the new version, Avengers: Doomsday.
In his response, Waldron revealed a pitch for the Young Avengers to defeat a variant of Kang who would turn out to be… less of a scalp than they’d hoped.
“Jeff Loveness and I spent an afternoon pitching on the Young Avengers defeating a version of Kang and being so stoked about it… only to discover that that particular Kang carried a little card that said to Be Patient with him, it was his first day as a Kang,” he said.
“And then they were so bummed. I think he was gonna be the Lizard Kang from the end of Kang Dynasty? I don't know. Anyway we had fun.”
The revelation offers a tantalizing glimpse at what might have been, had Avengers: The Kang Dynasty come to fruition. Of course, there’s no guarantee that this fight would have actually made it into the movie — it was a pitch after all — and we don’t know if it was accepted. But the idea to form the Young Avengers and have them fight an inexperienced Kang shows the level of humor Avengers: The Kang Dynasty might have brought to the table.
In July, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige discussed Marvel's decision to replace Kang as the main villain of Avengers: Doomsday, and said talks with MCU legend Robert Downey Jr. to play Doctor Doom had begun before the departure of Jonathan Majors.
Speaking during a roundtable interview attended by The Hollywood Reporter, Feige said Marvel's pivot away from Kang had started before "what had happened to the actor happened" — referencing Majors' legal troubles that ultimately saw him convicted of assault in December 2023, and dropped by Marvel.
Without referencing Majors by name, Feige said that the actor’s departure had not been the sole catalyst for the series' creative changes. Instead, conversations to bring back Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom had begun before the public release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — a disappointing entry in the franchise that was largely Kang-focused.
"We had started even before what had happened to the actor happened," Feige said. "We had started to realize that Kang wasn't big enough, wasn't Thanos, and that there was only one character that could be that, because he was that in the comics for decades and decades.
"Because of the Fox acquisition, we finally had it, and it was Dr. Doom. So we had started talking about Dr. Doom even before we officially pivoted from Kang," Feige continued.
"And in fact, I had started talking with Robert [Downey Jr.] about this audacious idea before Ant-Man 3 even came out. It was a long plan that we had, to take one of our greatest characters and utilize one of our greatest actors."
It wasn't until July 2024, at San Diego Comic-Con, that Marvel publicly announced its new plans, with Kang Dynasty retitled Avengers: Doomsday, Downey Jr. revealed as Doctor Doom, and the Russo brothers confirmed as directing both Doomsday and Secret Wars.
It's still unclear how Kang's absence in the MCU will be addressed going forward — if at all. The character was last seen in the finale of Disney+ series Loki, in an appearance that brought some closure to one incarnation of the character, while leaving the threat of many other multiversal Kangs (as seen in Quantumania) something of a loose thread. Kang will simply never be mentioned again.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Unclear Games and indie.io have released new trailers for their upcoming horror games that will be using fixed camera angles. These two games are The Florist and Kriophobia. So, if you were fans of the original Resident Evil games, you should definitely check them out. Let’s start with Kriophobia, which comes out on November 20th … Continue reading The Florist and Kriophobia are two new horror games with fixed cameras →
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Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding developer Hideo Kojima says he was "surprised" to read that the creators of The Matrix wanted him to develop a game based on the franchise, insisting: "no one ever told me such a conversation had taken place."
Yesterday, IGN reported that The Wachowskis, the writers and directors behind the Matrix movies, once asked Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima to design a Matrix video game, but publisher Konami reportedly turned it down. "The Wachowskis were big fans of Kojima," Konami Digital Entertainment VP of licensing, Christopher Bergstresser, said. "So Kazumi Kitaue, Kojima, Aki Saito (who still works with Kojima), and I were at the Konami HQ, and we got a call from the Wachowskis, who wanted to come in and meet with Kojima. So they did!
"The two of them came in with their concept artist, and effectively they said to Kojima, ‘We really want you to do the Matrix game. Can you do that?’ Aki translated this into Japanese for Mr. Kitaue, and Kitaue just looked at them and told them plainly, ‘No.' We did still get to enjoy the Matrix Japanese premiere and afterparty, though."
However, in a message posted to social media in English, Kojima said that while he and The Wachowskis were "mutual fans and exchanged emails," he didn't know they were hoping he'd take on a game adaptation of the movie, and "there could've been a way to make it work" despite his commitment to Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
I was surprised to see on social media that the Wachowski sisters had “offered me a Matrix game project!” back in 1999. In all these 26 years, no one ever told me such a conversation had taken place. At the time, we were mutual fans and exchanged emails. The Matrix hadn’t been… pic.twitter.com/4P10P9eEfT
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) October 29, 2025
"I was surprised to see on social media that the Wachowski sisters had 'offered me a Matrix game project!' back in 1999," he wrote. "In all these 26 years, no one ever told me such a conversation had taken place. At the time, we were mutual fans and exchanged emails. The Matrix hadn’t been released in Japan yet, but I had already seen it in theaters in the U.S. and at a preview screening.
"When the Wachowskis came to Japan for promotion, I believe I met them three times. In the morning, we had a Famitsu interview in Shinjuku — that time, Geof Darrow joined us for the talk session. In the afternoon, they were invited to the headquarters of Konami's CS Division. Back then, I was vice-president of KCE Japan, a wholly-owned subsidiary. When I arrived at the headquarters, their meeting with Mr. Kitaue, the head of the CS Division, had just ended.
"I joined them afterward, and we chatted for about an hour without an interpreter (Aki wasn’t even there)," he added. "I think John Gaeta, the visual effects supervisor, was also present. That evening, I attended the premiere screening and party, where I also met Joel Silver. Even then, there was no mention of an offer.
"At that time, I was already extremely busy with [Metal Gear Solid 2] and probably couldn’t have accepted the offer right away. But if someone had told me, maybe there could’ve been a way to make it work."
Kojima is working on a number of new projects, including horror game OD for Xbox Game Studios. He revealed the first trailer for it last month, sparking speculation that it is connected to P.T. in some way. The mysterious game will star Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' Sophia Lillis, Hunters' Udo Kier, and Euphoria's Hunter Schafer, with the trailer showcasing Lillis' character in a spooky house, lighting candles before meeting a malevolent figure.
The Matrix franchise was eventually adapted into a series of games, of course, starting with Shiny Entertainment's Enter the Matrix in 2003, follow up The Matrix: Path of Neo in 2005, and Monolith Production's The Matrix Online in the same year. We were also treated to a Matrix-themed tech demo in 2021, The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience, in which Epic Games showed us what Unreal Engine 5 was capable of.
Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Kojima Productions.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has dropped yet another hint that the next-gen Xbox is basically a PC.
A new report this week claimed the next Xbox is a console / PC hybrid that will play PlayStation games released on PC via Steam. That means the likes of Sony Santa Monica’s God of War, Insomniac’s Spider-Man, and Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima and pretty much all other PC games will all be playable on the next-gen Xbox in an industry first.
Windows Central reported that while users of the next-gen Xbox can remain inside the Xbox ecosystem if they want, they can exit to Windows, where the console acts like a traditional Windows PC. That means having access to PlayStation games on Steam, and mouse and keyboard games from Blizzard's launcher, Battle.net (World of Warcraft), and Riot's launcher (League of Legends).
Now, in an interview with TBPN, Microsoft boss Satya Nadella responded to questions about the evolution of the company’s gaming business, and in doing so dropped a clear hint at where the company is going.
(Nadella was not asked about the recent Trump Master Chief AI image or the Department of Homeland Security's ICE-promoting Halo image in the interview.)
“Remember, the biggest gaming business is the Windows business,” Nadella began. “To us, gaming on Windows… and of course, Steam has built a massive marketplace on top of it, and they’ve done a very successful job. Now, we’re the largest publisher after the Activision [deal]. Therefore we want to be a fantastic publisher. Similar approach to what we did with Office. We want to be everywhere, in every platform. So we want to make sure, whether it’s consoles, whether it’s the PC, whether it’s mobile, whether it’s cloud gaming, or the TV, we just want to make sure the games are being enjoyed by gamers everywhere.
“Second, we also wanted to do innovative work in the system side on the console and on the PC. It’s kind of funny that people think about the console-PC as two different things. We built the console because we wanted to build a better PC which could then perform for gaming. I kind of want to revisit some of that conventional wisdom.
“But at the end of the day, console has an experience that is unparalleled. It delivers performance that is unparalleled, that pushes I think the system forward. So I’m really looking forward to the next console, the next PC gaming.”
Tuesday's Diet TBPN: our interview with @satyanadella in under 15 minutes.
— TBPN (@tbpn) October 29, 2025
The Microsoft-OpenAI partnership, how Satya thinks about AGI, Microsoft's role in the AI ecosystem, adapting to the AI paradigm shift, Microsoft's gaming business, and more. pic.twitter.com/qXZIlT1pW0
Nadella’s comments here shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise, given they reinforce previous reports and comments from Xbox executives. For example, Xbox president Sarah Bond has called out the recently released — and pricy — ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X handhelds as pointing in the direction Microsoft is taking with its upcoming console. In an interview with Mashable, Bond talked in vague terms about what Microsoft is going for, but did strongly suggest it will be an expensive device.
"The next-gen console is going to be a very premium, very high-end curated experience," Bond said. "You're starting to see some of the thinking we have in this handheld [ROG Xbox Ally], but I don't want to give it all away."
The company has confirmed — as recently as earlier this month — that it still plans to follow the Xbox Series X and S with a next-gen console, and has announced an agreement with AMD to make it happen.
Microsoft has promised “next-level performance, cutting-edge graphics, breakthrough gameplay, and unmatched compatibility,” and said everything it’s working on will be “fully compatible” with users’ existing Xbox game library.
Prior comments from Bond have backed the console / PC hybrid suggestion up, too. "This is all about building you a gaming platform that's always with you, so you can play the games you want across devices anywhere you want, delivering you an Xbox experience not locked to a single store or tied to one device," Bond said.
"That's why we're working closely with the Windows team, to ensure that Windows is the number one platform for gaming."
Nadella later went on to touch on Microsoft’s gaming business model, saying the best way to innovate is to have good margins, because that means the company can fund that innovation.
“But most importantly, the game business model has to be… where we have to invent maybe some new interactive media as well,” Nadella said. “After all, gaming’s competition is not other gaming. Gaming’s competition is short form video. And so if we as an industry don’t continue to innovate — both how we produce, what we produce, how we think about distribution — the economic model, the best way to innovate is to have good margins, because that’s the way you can fund.”
The mention of margins follows a recent report that alleged that Microsoft had pushed Xbox studios to deliver a 30% profit margin — much higher than the industry average.
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that Microsoft’s 30% profit margin goal had led to the gaming division’s huge layoffs, canceled projects, controversial price rises, and multiplatform push.
The cuts to Xbox have been deep. Thousands of staff have lost their jobs over several rounds of layoffs. Games such as Rare’s Everwild and The Initiative’s Perfect Dark reboot were canceled after years of development. ZeniMax Online Studios game Project Blackbird was canned, leading to mass layoffs. The Initiative was also shut down. Last year, Microsoft closed Redfall developer Arkane Austin and Hi-Fi rush developer Tango Gameworks.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has increased the price of the Xbox Series X and S consoles, and the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to $29.99 a month — the latter of which was a hugely controversial move. Microsoft tried to make the jump to $80 video games, but ended up reverting to $70 after fans pushed back on the idea of paying $10 more for Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds 2. Most expect Microsoft to go to $80 at some point next year.
Bloomberg said the average profit margin in the video game industry is 17-22%. Over the past six years, Xbox has hit 10-20%. To put that 30% target into more context, Sony's PlayStation division achieved a 16% profit margin in Q1 FY25. Bloomberg said Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood enforced the new target in fall 2023 — amid Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard.
The upshot now is, according to Bloomberg, that games that are cheap to make or considered more likely to make lots of money may take priority over riskier projects. Xbox’s “floundering” hardware division, meanwhile, may face “a significant rethinking.”
Xbox is set to go up against PlayStation once again, with both Microsoft and Sony reportedly set to release their next-gen consoles in 2027. The next-gen Xbox is taking a different route this time, but the expectation is the PS6 will be a more traditional console, offering genuinely exclusive games — as the PS5 does now.
Speaking of exclusives, Microsoft has well and truly walked away from the entire concept after announcing Halo: Campaign Evolved for PS5 in 2026. Bond had said the idea of a video game exclusive locked to a single storefront has become “antiquated for most people,” so Halo’s jump to what was once considered its bitter rival didn't come as much of a surprise, either.
Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Note: This is a spoiler-free review of Star Wars: Visions Volume 3, which is available to stream now on Disney+.
With this franchise being so beholden to its tropes and so fixated on the Skywalker clan, Star Wars: Visions has always been a much-needed breath of fresh air. What if you invite an international team of animators to play in this sandbox, exploring brand new characters and storylines, and bringing their own outside perspectives to the table? It’s a format that served Visions well in its first two seasons; sadly, the novelty has started to wear off, and Volume 3 proves to be the series’ most uneven outing.
After Volume 2 opened the gates to a truly multinational team of animation studios, Volume 3 returns to the anime-centric approach of the first season. That’s where the new season really stumbles right out of the gate. As fun as “anime Star Wars” sounds on paper, the various episodes in Volume 1 did tend to retread a lot of the same ground and eventually started to blur together. Volume 2 was much more diverse in terms of tone and style; that was where we got the brilliantly goofy “I Am Your Mother” from the inimitable claymation giant, Aardman, and the downright stunning “Sith” from El Guiri.
By comparison, Volume 3 suffers from much the same flaw as Volume 1. Even if each animation studio brings its own sensibility and animation style to the table, the overall variety simply can’t compare to that of Volume 2. Most tend to focus on dramatic clashes between good and evil, leaving little room for the purely comedic approach taken by the aforementioned “I Am Your Mother.” A lot of elements tend to repeat themselves from episode to episode: Expect plenty of emphasis on clashes between Jedi and Sith; expect a lot of orphaned heroes making their way in the galaxy with only a plucky droid and/or alien companion for company; expect mostly stories set during the Imperial era, albeit with zero focus on Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and the rest of the Original Trilogy icons we know so well. It would be nice if the series cast a wider net there, given how massive the Star Wars timeline truly is, but the same could be said for Star Wars in every medium. Lucasfilm still seems loath to venture too far outside the Skywalker saga.
One thing remains true for Visions: This is not a series that particularly rewards binge viewing. That might seem strange given that we’re once again talking about a batch of nine episodes of only 15-20 minutes each, but binging the show only highlights those more repetitive elements. It’s really best to consume each episode slowly and savor its own particular take on the franchise before moving on to the next. That approach doesn’t change the fact that the various studios hit many of the same beats, but it helps.
One benefit of returning the focus to Japanese animation studios is that it gives the series a chance to revisit some of the characters and stories from Volume 1. Three Volume 3 episodes serve as direct sequels; easily the best of these is Kamikaze Douga and ANIMA’s “The Duel: Payback,” which returns to the gritty, black-and-white world of the Ronin (Brian Tee). Once again, this episode ranks among the most visually stunning of the group thanks to its use of texture and limited color. And as one of many episodes to depict a duel between Jedi and Sith, at least this one shakes up the formula by blurring the lines between the two groups and showing us a Jedi poisoned by revenge.
The other two, Production I.G ‘s “The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope” and Kinema Citrus Co.’s “Yuko's Treasure," are less satisfying sequels. The former is especially disappointing given that it’s set so far in the future and explores a new phase in the eternal Jedi/Sith rivalry. This sequel fails to build on the original in a meaningful way, but merely follows Kara (Kimiko Glenn) as she becomes stranded following an attack by Jedi Hunters. As for “Yuko’s Treasure,” it has the unenviable task of trying to live up to “The Village Bride” from Vol. 1. The sheer beauty and sense of wonder from the original episode don’t quite come across in this follow-up, suggesting that F (Karen Fukuhara) is better served as a background character rather than the central protagonist she becomes here.
The remaining six episodes are all-new. There’s nothing here I would consider an outright failure, though episodes like Project Studio Q’s “The Song of Four Wings,” WIT Studio’s “The Bounty Hunters,” and Trigger’s “The Smuggler” do suffer the most from that “been there, done that” quality. Again, there are an awful lot of orphans, Jedi, and down-on-their-luck bounty hunters to be found here, and nothing in these episodes leaves me particularly hungry for future sequels.
Ultimately, two episodes emerge to truly show the strength of the Visions premise and prove what's possible when a foreign studio is given free rein to play with the Star Wars toys. The first is Polygon Pictures’ “The Bird of Paradise." Here, Sonoya Mizuno plays a Jedi Padawan blinded in battle and forced to survive in the wilderness with only the Force as her guide. Visually, it’s a gorgeous, colorful feast for the eyes that rivals Volume 2’s “Sith” and makes excellent use of the concept of seeing through the Force. It’s also one of the best to date in terms of exploring the philosophy behind the Jedi and what it means for a student to find enlightenment.
The other is David Production’s “BLACK,” an experience quite unlike anything else in these three seasons. Rendered in director Shinya Ohira’s trademark frenetic, flowing lines, this episode depicts the chaotic final moments in the life of a Stormtrooper. It’s more tone poem than coherent narrative, aided greatly by both the psychedelic visuals and the relentlessly jazzy score by Sakura Fujiwara. This is the bold, experimental approach to Star Wars storytelling that Visions needs more of.
Legendary composer John Williams is teaming up with Steven Spielberg for the iconic director’s currently-untitled 2026 UFO film. The news was revealed by the president of esteemed performing arts institution Juilliard School, Damian Woetzel, who was speaking at an event exploring the work of Williams.
According to music journalist Doug Adams, Woetzel told the crowd Williams is currently in Los Angeles “doing what he does: he is working with Steven Spielberg on the next movie.”
Details are scarce on Spielberg’s mysterious UFO film, which was first discussed back in mid-2024. However, we do know it’s being written by regular Spielberg collaborator, David Koepp, the writer of Jurassic Park, The Lost World, War of the Worlds, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and it’s backed by Universal Pictures.
The 2026 film will be the 30th Spielberg film scored by Williams, a figure which does not include his consultancy credit on 2021’s West Side Story, or his score for 2023’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (which was directed by James Mangold).
Williams had previously hinted back in 2022 that Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny would be his last film, but the composer walked back his comment in 2024, saying, “If a film came along that I was greatly interested in, with a schedule that I could cope with, then I wouldn’t want to rule anything out. Everything is possible.”
John Williams is one of the most celebrated composers in the history of Hollywood. The 93-year-old film music icon has been nominated for 54 Academy Awards, winning five, and is responsible for the music behind Jaws, Jurassic Park, Home Alone, Saving Private Ryan, Superman, E.T., Indiana Jones, Schindler’s List, Harry Potter, Star Wars, and many more.
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
For three days only or until supplies last, Woot (owned by Amazon) is offering an incredibly low price on Beats' flagship headphone. You can pick up a pair of Factory Reconditioned Beats Studio Pro wireless noise canceling headphones that includes a one year Amazon warranty for just $99.99 after you apply 20% off code "BEATS20". The coupon code field is on the last step of checkout before placing your order. Currently, the same headphone costs $200 new on Amazon.
Factory Reconditioned with 1 Year Amazon Warranty
Beats is owned by Apple, and the Studio Pro is marketed towards people like myself who want a quality over-ear wireless noise canceling headphone but also don't want to spend $400 plus on the AirPods Max. The Studio Pro offers better audio quality than any other Beats headphone, and excellent active noise cancelation. It carries over a lot of Apple's trademark features like spatial audio with head tracking, one touch pairing, and "Find My" functionality. It also has a Transparency mode so you can listen to the environment around you without removing your headphones.
The Beats Studio Pro has a USB Type-C port for charging. If you want to use the Beats Studio Pro in wired mode, then can connect via 3.5mm audio jack or USB Type-C, which is a rare option nowadays. Most of the time you'll probably listen to your music wirelessly over Bluetooth, and the Studio Pro excels here with up to 40 hours of listening time on a charge. The Studio Pro also folds in for compact transport.
With Black Friday approaching, you might be wondering if there will be a better deal on the Studio Pro next month. These headphones typically drop to $180 new during pretty much every sale event and I expect this to be the standard price during Black Friday. Occasionally, the price has dipped to as low as $160. However, if you're looking for the absolute bottom level price and you don't mind getting a certified refurbished model with a reasonable warranty, I can say with relative certainty that $99.99 will not be beaten for the remainder of the year.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Looking for a desktop charging station that has enough ports and delivers enough power to satisfy your needs? Amazon has discounted the Anker Prime 6-Port 200W USB Desktop Charging Station to under $50 for the first time this year. This charger features both USB Type-A and Type-C ports and can deliver as much as 100W of power per port. I bought this charger myself last year during Black Friday (at a higher price) and highly recommend it.
The Anker Prime charging station features six total ports: two USB Type-A ports and four USB Type-C ports. Each Type-C port can deliver up to 100W and each Type-A port can deliver up to 22.5W. All six ports can be used simultaneously, however charging caps at 200W. The 100W port is powerful enough to charge laptops, tablets, and power hungry gaming handhelds like the Asus ROG Ally X, Steam Deck, or Lenovo Legion Go. The 22.5W ports can handle gaming or PC peripherals like mice, headsets, controllers, and so forth. The USB-A ports can even charge the Nintendo Switch or Switch 2 at their fastest rate (neither consume more than 20W in handheld mode) if your Type-C ports are all used up.
Other practical features include GaN technology (smaller footprint and increased energy efficiency), a heavyset base so that it won't slide around on your desk, and multiple protection protocols. Unlike most charging stations from overseas brands, this model is both UL and CB certified. It comes with a 24-month Anker warranty.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Welcome back to another day and a gaggle of game bargains you'd better not let get away. Between Amazon, Fanatical, and the first-party platform stores, the below deals are a smorgasbord of new releases and cult classics that deserve a place in your life. I’ll try to keep you from going broke, but no promises.
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In retro news, I'm using the backfire from a freshly nicked lowrider to light a 21-candle cake for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a game that needs very little introduction. If you somehow aren’t familiar, though, it was the PS2’s crown jewel that went way bigger than Vice City to offer us a level of freedom and chaos opportunities hitherto undreamt of.
I was there, at launch, with my jaw on the floor. Every gamer mate I knew fell head over heels with its ‘90s, West Coast-inspired narrative, baller soundtrack and new systems that let us hit the gym, get burger chunky, gamble and make CJ proficient with RPG-lite skills. Sure, some of those layers seem clunkily executed in retrospect, but, overall, Rockstar’s staggering ambition delivered one of gaming’s boldest and most beloved sequels.
Aussie birthdays for notable games.
- Final Fantasy VIII (PS) 1999.
- Age of Empires II (PC) 1999.
- Gradius V (PS2) 2004.
- GTA: San Andreas (PS2) 2004.
- Sly 2: Band of Thieves (PS2) 2004.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (PS2,XB) 2004.
- Siren: Blood Curse (PS3) 2008.
- AC IV: Black Flag (PS3,X360) 2013.
On Switch, Super Mario Party Jamboree is perfect if you’ve got friends who can still talk to each other after a few rounds of Mario Party chaos. It’s the best entry in years, thanks to mini-games that actually reward skill over blind luck. Meanwhile, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy lets you object your way through courtroom melodrama crafted by Shu Takumi himself. It’s absurd, heartfelt, and occasionally smarter than the average true crime docuseries.
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Over on Xbox Series X, Borderlands 4 is more colourful mayhem from Gearbox’s vault-hunting veterans. It’s the kind of game that dares you to try every build just to see which one makes the biggest explosion. And Warhammer 40K: Darktide is a grimy, gorgeous co-op shooter that finally nails the industrial horror vibe of the franchise. I swear you can smell the promethium through the screen.
On Xbox One, Desperados III remains one of the slickest stealth-tactics games ever made. Mimimi Games gave us a dusty Wild West take on Commandos, and it’s just as brutal and satisfying. Meanwhile, No Man’s Sky continues to pull a full redemption arc. Sean Murray and Hello Games somehow turned a meme into a masterpiece, and the constant updates prove it’s still worth the ride.
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On PS5, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 offers Cold War intrigue and nostalgic callbacks to be one of the better entries of recent years. Dragon’s Dogma 2 also earns its spot on any must-play list. Hideaki Itsuno built this world with a depth few RPGs match, and the pawn system is still genius a decade later.
PS4 still holds its own with Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster, the game that introduced half the modern JRPG world to apocalyptic existentialism. Dante from Devil May Cry even pops in for a cameo, because why not. And Inside remains one of the most haunting indie platformers ever made. It says more in silence than most games do in 40 hours.
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On PC, Hades remains one of the most tightly designed roguelikes in existence. Every run teaches you something new about Greek gods, game balance, or just your own stubbornness. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI also scratches that one-more-turn itch harder than ever. It’s history as a sandbox, and Gandhi’s still as nukey as ever.
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Lastly, LEGO fans can snag some solid builds this week. The Minecraft Warden Encounter and Fortnite Supply Llama sets are the perfect excuse to justify more shelf clutter. I’ll tell myself it’s for “display purposes,” but we both know I’ll end up playing with them.
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Adam Mathew is a passionate connoisseur, a lifelong game critic, and an Aussie deals wrangler who genuinely wants to hook you up with stuff that's worth playing (but also cheap). He plays practically everything, sometimes on YouTube.
For the first time in several months, there's an OLED gaming monitor priced under $400. Best Buy is currently offering the 27" AOC QD-OLED gaming monitor for just $399.99 with free delivery. Despite the fact this is the least expensive OLED monitor currently available stateside, it seems to have all the features you'd expect in a premium gaming monitor. The last time I posted an OLED monitor this cheap was back in January and this monitor has better specs.
The AOC Q27G41ZDF is a 27" display with a QHD (2560x1440) resolution, which measures out to a respectable pixel density of 108ppi. This is the ideal resolution for this screen size because (1) it's sharp enough and (2) you don't need a super powerful and expensive high end video card to drive it.
The AOC is equipped with Samsung's quantum dot OLED panel with AOC's AGLR anti-glare glass coating. QD OLED panels are considered better than traditional W-OLED panels because they are brighter and offer a wider color gamut. Like all OLED displays, the AOC monitor boasts a near instantaneous 0.03ms response time, near infinite contrast ratio, and true black levels. In terms of pure image quality, it simply can't be beat by any other panel technology.
This monitor also features a fast 240Hz refresh rate. If you pair it with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 graphics card or higher, you should be able to hit the 240fps ceiling on older games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Valorant. For newer games like Battlefield 6 or Black Ops 7, you might need to step up to an RTX 5070 Ti or Radeon 9070 XT.
Connectivity wise, the AW2725QF has one DisplayPort and two HDMI ports. As with most OLED monitors, there are no built-in speakers. AOC includes a 3 year warranty that includes 3-year dead pixel coverage, 3-year advance placement coverage, and 1-year one-time accidental damage replacement.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
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