Here’s an excellent deal for PC gamers. Between now and December 1, you can save $30 off a one-year subscription to Humble Choice. All you have to do is enter HOLIDAY25IGN at checkout, and you’ll knock the price down to $124.99. That’s an excellent deal, considering it gets you a monthly bundle of 8 PC games (via Steam codes) that you can download and keep forever.
So what does Humble Choice get you, exactly? The first Tuesday of each month, you’ll get a new curated selection of eight Steam games. These generally offer a healthy range in terms of genre, size, and scope, but there are always a few AAA games and a few indies in there. The games are yours to keep and play forever, regardless of whether you cancel your membership at some point down the road.
In addition to a monthly bundle of games, you get up to 20% off games on the Humble Store, including new releases. You also get access to a vault of games you can play for as long as you’re a member. And 5% of your membership goes to charity. The particular charity changes each month, but you can always read up on them.
The November’s Humble Choice games include Total War Warhammer III, Another Crab’s Treasure, and Etrian Odyssey HD. Based on MSRP, it’s $254 worth of games, all for $14.99 for one month. But if you take advantage of the deal above, it comes to $10.42 per month. That $254 is right about the normal range for what each month’s bundle is worth. So, over the course of the year, this deal gets you over $3,000 worth of games for $124.99.
If you sign up now, the first bundle of games you'll get contains the following (blurbs from Humble's press release).
Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN's board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.
Not everyone is the DIY type. If you're in the market for a prebuilt gaming PC, Dell is one of the best brands we'd recommend. Alienware desktops and laptops feature solid build quality, top-of-the-line gaming performance, excellent cooling (further improved on the newer models), aggressive styling, and pricing that is very competitive with other pre-built options. Best of all, there are plenty of sales that happen throughout the year, so it's not difficult to grab one of these computers at considerably less than their retail price.
You can quickly browse through all of the listed products on sale above. See below for our favorite picks.
Ahead of Black Friday, Dell just launched one of the best deals I've seen this year on a generously equipped Alienware Aurora R16 GeForce RTX 5080 gaming PC. It's normally listed at $3,199.99, but a $900 off discount drops it to just $2,299.99 with free shipping. Although I've seen other less expensive Alienware RTX 5080 systems in the past, this is a better deal because it features an upgraded Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and double the memory and storage capacities for just a slightly higher cost. The Alienware brand itself also normally commands a higher price point, but this Black Friday deal is extremely reasonable compared to similarly equipped prebuilts from other brands.
If you're seeking the absolute best of the best in PC gaming performance, look no further. Alienware has just dropped the price of its flagship prebuilt gaming PC equipped with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card for just $4,299.99 with free shipping. This is the lowest price I've seen for an Alienware 5090 gaming PC and it has been upgraded with an Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU, double the storage capacity, and 360mm all-in-one liquid cooling. The price is actually competitive compared to other boutique PC builders. The Alienware Area-51 is also on sale for the lowest price I've seen this year.
Of the new GeForce cards, the RTX 5070 Ti is considered the best bang for your buck for 4K gaming. It performs neck-and-neck with the RTX 4080 Super (and better in games that support DLSS 4), which means it is capable of high framerates in all games, even at 4K resolution. It also has the same amount of VRAM as the RTX 5080, making it a more economical alternative to the 5080 for AI work. Check out our Nvidia Geforce RTX 5070 Ti GPU review.
The RTX 5060 Ti is the successor to the RTX 4060 Ti and delievers a roughly 15%-20% improvement in games. That's a better generational uplift than the RTX 5070 (over the RTX 4070). This is absolutely the best Blackwell card for 1080p gaming from a value perspective and much more future-proof than an RTX 5060 (non-Ti) gaming PC.
Alienware's new mainstream gaming laptop for 2025 is dubbed the "Alienware Aurora" and it replaces the previous generation's x16 and m16 series of laptops. It comes in two models: the 16 and 16X. The 16 is the more economical model, but gamers should definitely opt for the higher-end 16X model. If you're looking for build quality and performance on par with the previous generation m16, then the 16X is its spiritual successor. It features an anodized aluminum lid and base, a higher quality display, a more powerful CPU, and a GPU that isn't throttled for maximum gaming performance.
New for 2025, the Alienware Area-51 gaming laptop features an anodized aluminum shell for both the lid and bottom chassis with a gorgeous iridescent finish. The frame is made of a durable and lightweight magnesium alloy. Cooling has been upgraded with generous amounts of copper and a new thermal interface material to better transfer heat away from your hottest components as well as more fans and bigger cutouts for greater airflow. Dell claims that the laptop can handle a higher power ceiling of up to 240W TDP without raising acoustics.
Design-wise, the Area 51 has a sleeker, more contoured shape compared to previous models, with rounded edges and soft corners replacing the traditional squared off design. The hinges are internally positioned so that they're near invisible. There's a transparent window on the undercarriage to show off the internal components. As befits an Alienware laptop, there's plenty of RGB illunimation, although most of it can be turned off if you want your laptop to be a bit more subtle.
The Alienware Area-51 is Dell's best and boldest lineup of gaming laptops for 2025 and they've just dropped to the lowest prices I've seen for Black Friday. Dell Outlet typically stocks "Like New" Alienware 16 Area-51 gaming laptops at anywhere between 10%-35% off retail price. However, for Black Friday, there's an additional 18% discount that's automatically applied in your shopping cart. Configurations include RTX 5070, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5080, and even RTX 5090 GPUs. Note that "Like New" models are certified refurbished and include the same 1 year warranty as buying new.
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.
PlayStation's Black Friday deals have been officially announced, and the standout deals include a $100 discount on all PS5 consoles that kicks off on November 21.
There's also a pair of Fortnite bundles that undercut the console's usual MSRP pricing by a wide margin, effectively having the Black Friday discount baked in.
The brand new PS5 825GB Digital Edition Fortnite Flowering Chaos bundle drops at $399.99, while the 1TB PS5 Fortnite bundle lands at $449.99.
Both ship with PlayStation-exclusive Fortnite cosmetics and 1,000 V Bucks included.
Sony's price drop also applies to all other PS5 configurations, including the PS5 Pro, which will drop to $649.99 in the US ($100 off) and £609.99 in the UK (£90 off).
These cuts come only a few months after Sony raised PS5 prices by $50, which makes this Black Friday promotion feel somewhat like a course correction.
Sony is also running wider Black Friday offers as well, including $100 off accessories like the PlayStation VR2 and various headsets, earbuds, and controllers, dropping around 20 to 30 bucks as well, and there will up to 60% off digital games.
As mentioned, these deals start on November 21 and will run through December 1, so if you’ve been holding off on a PS5 upgrade, this is the moment Sony clearly wants you to bite.
There are already a handful of PS5 games that have been discounted in the run up to Black Friday.
For now, you can pick up Borderlands 4 for $47.99, alongside Final Fantasy's 1-6 Pixel Collection for $39.99, its lowest price ever, EA Sports FC 26 for $34.99, Battlefield 6 for $62.95, and Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake for $34.99.
For more help planning your holiday gaming purchases, check out what Black Friday deals we expect from Xbox, alongside all the details on the announced Black Friday sale from Nintendo.
Robert Anderson is Senior Commerce Editor and IGN's resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.
Ahead of Black Friday, Dell just launched one of the best deals I've seen this year on a generously equipped Alienware Aurora R16 GeForce RTX 5080 gaming PC. It's normally listed at $3,199.99, but a $900 off discount drops it to just $2,299.99 with free shipping. Although I've seen other less expensive Alienware RTX 5080 systems in the past, this is a better deal because it features an upgraded Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and double the memory and storage capacities for just a slightly higher cost. The Alienware brand itself also normally commands a higher price point, but this Black Friday deal is extremely reasonable compared to similarly equipped prebuilts from other brands.
This configuration is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU, GeForce RTX 5080 GPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 2TB M.2 SSD. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K is currently the most powerful Intel desktop processor you can get with a max turbo frequency of 5.7GHz with 24 total cores. It's cooled by a 240mm all-in-one liquid cooling solution and the entire system is powered by a robust 1,000W 80+ Platinum rated power supply.
Performance-wise, the RTX 5080 is no slouch. It's one of the fastest cards on the market, bested only by the $2,000 RTX 5090 and the discontinued $1,600 RTX 4090. This is a phenomenal card for playing the latest, most demanding games in 4K resolution at high settings and ray tracing enabled. The RTX 5080 supports DLSS 4 with multi-frame generation, which means you can push even more frames out of games that support the technology with minimal visual compromise. Recent games that support it include Doom: The Dark Ages, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Borderlands 4, Stellar Blade, and Battlefield 6. Check out our Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 FE review for our hands-on impressions.
Check out more of the best Alienware deals.
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.
Sometimes you get a pitch in your inbox that you just can’t not write about. I got one of those this morning; it's the new Honeycomb Echo Aviation Controller, a flight sim gamepad that's due for purchase sometime next month, Honeycomb announced today.
Let me be clear: I have no idea if this is a good controller or worth buying at all. It's just that, once I saw the picture of this thing, I stopped reading the press release I'd been emailed, sent the email to my editors at IGN and said “I’m convinced that the people need to see this Pee Wee Herman-ass controller.” And you do, trust me. In fact, here it is:
Let’s talk about just what we’re looking at, here. This is a gamepad-shaped controller with the noble goal of letting you sit with your arms limply resting in your lap, yet with all of the switches, levers, buttons, and sticks you need to command a digital jet airliner. Most familiar to non-flight sim gamers will be the analog stick – using anti-drift hall-effect sensors, of course – for “full elevator and aileron input,” so that you can DO A BARREL ROLL! (Aileron roll if you like, but I choose to believe this 10-year-old PBS explainer about why Starfox’s Peppy did nothing wrong.)
You’ll also find four independently assignable thrust levers with exchangeable caps “for GA or commercial aircraft,” according to Honeycomb’s website. Levers on the bottom let you control things like flaps and landing gear, and a set of buttons near the top work for “camera, checklist, and toolbar functions.” There are also paddles on the back of the controller that Honeycomb says in its announcement “move in opposition” to give “realistic yaw control without external pedals.” Finally, it’s wireless with up to 15 hours of battery, but also works when wired via its USB-C charging port.
Honeycomb isn’t the only one releasing controllers like this. There’s also the Meridian GMT X-Ray, for which I couldn’t find a release date or price, and the delightfully-named Yawman Arrow, which you can order now for $199. Like those, the Echo Aviation gamepad is ostensibly for the sim fan about town who wants a compact way to play Microsoft Flight Simulator with fewer compromises than even the best PC controllers require.
But I’d argue it’s also definitely for me, a total layman when it comes to these games, and not just because I want a less space-hogging way to get into flight simulation. It’s also because I just want to have it and hold it. To pick it up and, as a troll-ish bit, hand it to my friend as we start up a game of Smash Bros. I should note here that although the version Honeycomb is announcing today is for PCs and Macs, a YouTube trailer for the controller says it's coming to consoles in 2026, as well.
Whichever camp you fall into, you won’t have to wait long to get your fix. The Echo Aviation Controller will be available mid-December for $150, a spendy gamepad price that for once feels reasonable and not like a gratuitous flex.
Ahead of Black Friday, Amazon has slashed prices on the officially licensed WD Black C50 Expansion Card for the Xbox Series X and S consoles. Right now you can pick up the 1TB model for just $99.99 with free shipping. The WD Black C50 Expansion Card is one of the best SSDs for the Xbox, which isn't surprising since your options are pretty limited. There's only one other officially licensed model - the Seagate Expansion - and it currently costs $50 more.
The WD Black C50 Expansion Card is essentially a 1TB SSD housed in an external enclosure with a PCIe Gen4 interface that plugs directly into a specialized port on your Xbox console. Unlike the more complex PS5 SSD installation process, which involves opening up the PS5 to access the SSD slot, this drive is literally plug and play. This expansion card offers the same speed as the internal SSD, ensuring that you won't sacrifice performance or encounter extended load times as you might with a regular USB drive. Even with just the 1TB expansion card, you can double the storage on the original Xbox Series X console and triple the storage on your (white) Xbox Series S console.
If you're looking for an officially licensed storage solution (which we strongly recommend), your options are limited to either the WD or Seagate expansion cards. If you see any other unlicensed hard drives sold by no-name brands, give them a hard pass; chances are they will either not work properly or not work at all.
Looking for more Xbox accessories? Check out the best Xbox deals today.
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.
There's this idea that a gaming PC is inherently a giant tower of metal and plastic that takes up so much space that you need to have a dedicated desk to handle it. These days, you don't need a massive hog of a tower to get incredible gaming performance. Instead, the best mini PCs can take up as little space as a cable box.
There are inevitably some downsides when going with a mini gaming PC instead of a full tower. For one, the smaller form factor means there's simply less space for high-end graphics cards and CPU coolers. As such, you probably won't find many mini gaming PCs out there with an RTX 5090 and an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, at least not at a price that doesn't rival a down payment on your house. Instead, you're more likely to find something like the GMKTec Evo-X2, which uses a powerful APU, rather than discrete graphics.
Different PC manufacturers deal with the space constraints in different ways. For instance, Asus bought out the NUC (next unit of computing) brand from Intel to make desktop PCs that use mobile hardware to fit into extremely small cases. Other companies, like Zotac, found a way to shove powerful desktop-class hardware into a tiny chassis. They'll be inherently harder to service or upgrade than other towers, and also much more expensive, but hey, at least they're tiny.
When I first opened up the Asus ROG NUC, I was surprised by how small and light it was. Sure, it's using all mobile-class hardware, but for something I'm hooking into my TV, it has surprisingly little heft to it. Couple that with the fact that it looks exactly like a cable box, and this is a mini gaming PC that's perfect for blending into a living room. It's great for a media center PC already, but the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 means it's no slouch when it comes to gaming, up to a point at least.
The wall I kept running into again and again when I reviewed the Asus ROG NUC is that the mobile-class hardware is always a limiting factor, especially when it's connected to a 4K TV. Don't get me wrong: The ROG NUC absolutely can power through any PC game on the market, including demanding ones like Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong... at 1080p. If you connect this to a 4K TV, you will have to turn down some settings in some of the flashiest games if you want to maintain a solid framerate.
It is still quite a bit more powerful than the PS5 even with its limitations, and the Nvidia graphics do allow it to use DLSS to narrow the gap at 4K. Just keep in mind that you're not going to be maxing out Black Myth: Wukong with full ray tracing or anything, and you should be fine. To be clear, with how tiny the Asus ROG NUC is, there's no way a full desktop-class graphics card would even fit inside.
The Asus ROG NUC is probably one of the best mini gaming PCs you're going to find anywhere, but just like any mini gaming PC, you'll have to do some calculus about whether or not it's worth just going with a gaming laptop instead.
Ever since Intel first unveiled the NUC form factor more than a decade ago, it's been a blueprint for mini PCs. The Minisform X1-255 is a perfect example of that in practice. Right now, you can get this tiny little computer with a Ryzen 7 255 CPU – which has an RDNA 3 GPU similar to the Z1 Extreme you'll find in most handheld gaming PCs – for just $350. That seems like a really good deal, but there is a catch.
Most budget mini PCs are barebones systems, which means it's a box with a mainboard, a CPU, and not much else. You'll have to supply the RAM and the storage and install them yourself. That's not a terrible deal, however. In my experience, those components are usually cheaper to buy yourself anyway, as manufacturers tend to upcharge when you move up configuration tiers.
Keep in mind that I haven't reviewed this system myself. However, looking at the specs and the chassis, it seems like a solid little machine. The fact that it plugs into a wall instead of running off of battery also means that you can probably push a bit of extra performance out of the Radeon 890M GPU that's built into the processor, but you're going to want to pair it with decently fast memory.
Still, even if you do pair it with some pretty good RAM, you should still temper your expectations going in. This will run most games at 1080p – just like its handheld counterparts – but you'll likely have to compromise on quality settings. But, especially if you have some extra components lying around, this could be the cheapest way to add a mini gaming PC to your setup.
The line between desktop hardware and mobile hardware continues to blur, and the GMKTec Evo-X2 shows exactly why. Because while the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 – say that 10 times fast – is a chip ostensibly designed for high-end gaming laptops, it's still more than powerful enough to sit in a machine that's always plugged in. This little PC does use integrated graphics, to be fair, but the Radeon 8060S that's built into the chip is powerful. This is an RDNA 3.5 chip with 40 compute units, which is quite a bit larger than the RDNA 3.5 chip that's built into the Z2 Extreme that powers the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X.
This beefy integrated GPU isn't going to max out games at 4K or anything, but when we reviewed it, we were able to get 91fps in Call of Duty Black Ops 6 at 1080p with the Extreme preset. The PC was also able to run Cyberpunk 2077 with 47fps with ray tracing enabled, which is extremely impressive for a little integrated GPU. You could easily have it break60 fps by just turning ray tracing off.
However, the price is the elephant in the room. This machine costs $1,499, which is a lot of cash for a 1080p gaming rig. But keep in mind that the GMKTek Evo-X2 is tiny, and you can easily shove it in a backpack to move from place to place. Also, that Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip is extremely powerful in productivity workloads and AI, which makes this a great machine if you need something primarily to get work done, with some gaming on the side. And honestly, that's how most people should look at mini gaming PCs anyway.
While most true mini gaming PCs will be running mobile-class hardware – especially with today's power-hungry components – there are still machines out there that can find a way to stuff high-performance components in a small chassis. Clasically, the Corsair One has been one of the best. While I haven't reviewed the latest model, I've reviewed plenty of them in the past and they've all been incredible.
The new one is powered by an RTX 5080 and an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, along with 64GB of memory. That's a high spec for a full tower, so it's impressive that Corsair was able to build it into a chassis that's only 15 inches tall, 11.8 inches long, and 7.2 inches thick. Now, that does make it the largest system on this list by quite a bit, but this is about as small as you're going to get for this level of performance without building something crazy yourself.
However, with this kind of performance in such a small chassis, you're going to be paying a premium. At the time of writing, this PC will set you back $4,499. You could definitely get similar specs for less money, but it would likely be in a chassis that'd take up much more space. Whether or not that's a sacrifice you're willing to make is up to you, but either way, you're edging closer to a full gaming PC with the Corsair One.
You might not think of gaming when you think of the Mac mini M4, but it delivers surprisingly good performance, allowing you to play a wide range of games at a decent frame rate. Given its cost, it’s hard not to consider the Mac mini M4 as a capable gaming mini PC. With a noticeable performance increase over the M3 chip, the M4 chip comes with 10 CPU cores and 10 GPU cores, supporting strong performance, whether you're playing games or getting work done.
Thanks to its many ports, the Mac mini M4 supports up to two 4K displays at 120Hz, and because the M2 natively supports Thunderbolt, you can even back it up with an external GPU later down the line. It also comes with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, so you can plan to game online, even if Wi-Fi 7 would have been a nice touch.
For pure gaming performance, a Windows PC is a better option, but Macs have been getting better at actually playing games. More and more game developers have been launching games on macOS, and the Metal API is getting more powerful every year. Still, the Rosetta translation layer isn't quite as reliable at getting things running as Proton on Linux, but that likely has more to do with Apple being more picky about the games it allows to run on its operating system.
Valve just announced the new Steam Machine last week, a tiny gaming PC with the equivalent of a Radeon RX 7600M running SteamOS. In a lot of ways, I expect the Steam Machine to do for mini gaming PCs what the Steam Deck did for handheld gaming PCs. Because just like handhelds, mini PCs have been around for a while, but they've lacked a budget-friendly entry point, at least if you want to get some serious gaming done.
While we still don't know how much the Steam Machine is going to cost, it's probably going to be much more affordable than something like the ROG NUC, despite having very similar specs. It's still early, and I need to get it in the lab to benchmark it, but if you've been thinking about getting a super living-room-friendly mini PC for gaming, it's probably best to wait a couple months for the Steam Machine – at least just to see how expensive it will be.
Even beyond the Steam Machine itself, I expect other manufacturers to start taking mini PCs more seriously. Over the next few years, I wouldn't be surprised to see more mainstream options from manufacturers like Lenovo, Asus, or MSI.
Just like with any gaming PC, finding the best mini PC for gaming is all about what games you're looking to play, and at what resolution. Mini PCs are much smaller compared to desktop PCs, and even some laptops, and size constraints naturally limit the components included.
If you want to play the latest titles without any hiccups, you'll want to aim for a mini PC with a solid GPU. Look for models that come equipped with modern graphics like the Nvidia RTX series or AMD Radeon cards rather than integrated graphics. However, if you’re on a budget and you’re not fussed about playing games that have just been released, you could get away with something less powerful.
A good CPU is crucial for gaming performance and overall system responsiveness. Aim for mini PCs with mid-to-high-end CPUs, ideally with around 4 cores, 8 threads, and a high clockspeed – around 4.0GHz or higher – just so your computer doesn't grind to a hault when you're trying to multitask. Similarly, you’ll need a decent amount of RAM (at least 16GB) and storage (at least 512GB SSD) to run and store your games smoothly.
Once you’ve nailed down the specs, make sure the mini PC has enough ports for your peripherals, as well as HDMI or DisplayPort outputs for connecting to external monitors or TVs. Thunderbolt ports are also a nice bonus if you plan on connecting high-speed external storage or other devices.
It kind of depends on what you mean by "good for gaming." It's unlikely that you're going to find any mini gaming PC that's going to be great at 4K gaming, but lower your expectations a bit and these tiny machines can surprise you. If you mostly play games at 1080p, especially if you play a lot of indie games, even mini gaming PCs with integrated graphics are good enough these days to give you a solid gaming experience. We're entering an age of PC gaming where basically any PC can play PC games to some extent and mini gaming PCs are certainly no different.
Again, this depends entirely on what you're looking for. Because, yeah, a full-sized gaming PC with a Ryzen 9 processor and an RTX 5090 is going to wipe the floor with every mini gaming PC on the market when it comes to pure performance numbers. But no matter what you've heard on Reddit, performance isn't everything. Take it from someone that lives in a tiny NYC apartment: Sometimes having a small gaming PC is extremely important and can make up for the lack of performance, especially if you're pairing it with a lower-resolution gaming monitor.
When you're getting a mini gaming PC, you're going to have to make compromises in at least one of three categories: price, performance, and upgradability. There are some tiny gaming PCs that pack high-end desktop components, but you're going to have to fork over a huge wad of cash for them. On the other hand, there are some really affordable mini gaming PCs out there, but those are mostly using integrated graphics and are really only good for playing PC games at 1080p with medium-high settings. If you want a PC with swappable components, you really only have a few options in a small form factor, though these tend to be more powerful (and expensive) than other mini gaming PCs.
Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra
It’s nearly here: Black Friday sales are kicking off this week. And if you’re a fan of board games, you’ll probably want to have an idea of what to expect deal-wise on popular tabletop titles. You’ve come to the right place. I’m the board game editor at IGN, and I’ve been following all the Black Friday board game deals for years. Let’s dive in.
You don't actually have to wait for Black Friday to save on board games. Right now, both Amazon and Target have sales that get you half off a board game when you buy one at regular price. This applies to a decent number of popular games for board games, including Catan, Splendor, and Horrified. But tons of classics and family board games are also eligible, like Scrabble and Mouse Trap.
When it comes to Black Friday board game deals, such a wide swath of games go on sale each year that basically nothing is off the table (please excuse the pun). If this year is like years past, you’ll be able to save on just about every board game on the market.
The discounts we saw last year ranged from 20% off games all the way up to 65% off. You could save on popular standards like Azul and Pandemic. You could save on family-friendly games like Exploding Kittens and UNO. You could save on horror-themed board games like Alien: Fate of the Nostromo and Arkham Horror: The Card Game. Whatever games you're interested in, you can likely find something on sale that you'll want to pick up.
Additionally, for Cyber Monday last year, Amazon ran a “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” sale. Since many of the games were already discounted, that was like a deal on top of a deal. So keep an eye out during Black Friday 2025 for opportunities to stack discounts.
As for the retailers where the deals can be found, the main ones to look at are Amazon, Walmart, and Target. If you want to branch out a bit, Barnes and Noble is usually a good place to look for discounts as well. With Amazon's Black Friday sale kicking off on November 20 this year, that will likely be the first place you should start looking for deals.
Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN's board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.
James Gunn's Superman didn't just introduce us to a new Man of Steel, but an entirely new and fully realized version of the DC Universe. The movie is crammed full of colorful characters and locales, which makes a book like Superman: The Art and Making of the Film a very valuable resource for DC fanatics. And now we've got a new excerpt from this handsome volume.
IGN already got an early look at Superman: The Art and Making of the Film a few months ago. Now that the book is in stores, we can exclusively debut two new pages from the book, spotlighting Anthony Carrigan's Metamorpho and the design of Metropolis. Check them all out in the slideshow gallery below:
Superman: The Art and Making of the Film is written by James Fields, who previously penned The Art of The Batman. The book also features an introduction by Gunn and a foreword by Superman actor David Corenswet.
This 176-page book features a wealth of concept art and unit photography, showcasing character and costume designs, sets, and other elements of the film. It also features extensive interviews with the cast and crew, offering insight into the production of the film as well as the early development of Gunn and Peter Safran's DCU.
Superman: The Art and Making of the Film is priced at $50 and is available in bookstores now. You can order the book on Amazon.
IGN also recently got an exclusive look at Abrams' X-Men '97: The Art and Making of the Animated Series.
Excerpt from the new book Superman: The Art and Making of the Film (Abrams) by James Field, available wherever books are sold on November 18, 2025
Copyright (C) 2025 DC and Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
The Alienware Area-51 is Dell's best and boldest lineup of gaming laptops for 2025 and they've just dropped to the lowest prices I've seen for Black Friday. Dell Outlet typically stocks "Like New" Alienware 16 Area-51 gaming laptops at anywhere between 10%-35% off retail price. However, for Black Friday, there's an additional 18% discount that's automatically applied in your shopping cart. Configurations include RTX 5070, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5080, and even RTX 5090 GPUs. Note that "Like New" models are certified refurbished and include the same 1 year warranty as buying new.
Extra 18% off discount is automatically applied in cart
Extra 18% off discount is automatically applied in cart
Extra 18% off discount is automatically applied in cart
Extra 18% off discount is automatically applied in cart
The Alienware Area-51 is a considerable upgrade compared to the previous generation's Alienware m16. For starters, it's clad in anodized aluminum for both the lid and bottom chassis and features a unique iridescent finish that sparkles in direct lighting. The frame is made of a durable and lightweight magnesium alloy. Cooling has been upgraded with generous amounts of copper and a new thermal interface. Dell claims that it can handle up to 240W TDP without raising acoustics.
Design-wise, the Area 51 has a sleeker, more contoured shape compared to previous models, with rounded edges and soft corners replacing the traditional squared off design. The hinges are internally positioned so that they're near invisible. There's a transparent window on the undercarriage to show off the internal components. There's also plenty of RGB illumination, although most of it can be turned off if you don't like that sort of thing.
Check out more of our best Alienware deals.
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.
A new mission is born — and it’s the one we’ve all been waiting for. The second trailer for the highly anticipated Project Hail Mary film adaptation is finally here, and there’s no denying it looks pretty incredible.
In the new trailer for the sci-fi epic, we see how lead character Dr. Ryland Grace becomes entangled with a life-changing mission he initially feels unprepared to go on. But the powers that be believe he’s the only one for the job, which sees him in space working closely with an alien who resembles a rock formation (a super cute rock formation at that) to save both of their planets.
Other than the three minutes of footage we get from the sneak peek, the details we have for Project Hail Mary remain fairly sparse. In the YouTube description on Amazon MGM’s official YouTube page, we get the film’s tagline: “An unlikely friendship. An impossible mission.” But that’s about it for new information this time around.
The first trailer for Project Hail Mary was released at the end of June — and it totally blew up online, garnering over 400 million views in a single week. At the time, that was a record for a film that was not a sequel or a remake.
Project Hail Mary stars Ryan Gosling as a professor, scientist, and astronaut who wakes up one day on a spaceship with no recollection of how he got there and a new mission that will put him at the center of saving humanity from a catastrophic event. Sandra Huller and Milana Vayntrub will star alongside Gosling, who also produced the project. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse fame have teamed up once again for their first directed film in 12 years following 2014’s 22 Jump Street. Project Hail Mary is based on the novel of the same name by Andy Weir, from a screenplay by Drew Goddard.
Project Hail Mary is set to be released in theaters, and on IMAX, on March 20, 2026.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
Yoko Taro, the creator of the Nier and Drakenguard games, has been awfully quiet lately. Though he's worked on some smaller projects (writing scenarios for Voice of Cards, and a few mobile games), the lack of a proper Nier follow-up or other new major game from him has been getting under fans' skin. But according to Taro, he has been working on projects. They just keep getting canceled.
This comes from his remarks at Korean gaming convention G-Con 2025, which were reported on by 4gamer and translated by Automaton. The panel, which featured Taro and Bayonetta and Okami director Hideki Kamiya, saw the pair asked for updates on recent projects. Kamiya mentioned the upcoming sequel to Okami, while Taro said he'd been very busy with new projects, they just keep getting canceled partway through.
“I often get told stuff like ‘Why aren’t you making a new sequel to NieR’ or ‘Yoko Taro isn’t doing anything,’ but that’s because recently, a lot of projects I was involved in got discontinued midway through development," he said.
"I’ve actually been working on some stuff, it’s just that it never ended up seeing the light of day. I got paid for it, so I personally have no issues with that, but people seem to think that I haven’t been doing anything just because none of the work I’ve done is being released."
However, Taro isn't discouraged by this, apparently. He continued, saying he'd rather fail repeatedly and eventually create something good, rather than put out multiple mediocre works. “I believe that if I’m going to release something weird, I’d be better off not releasing anything at all.”
So, potentially not *great* news for Nier fans who were hoping another Nier game was right around the corner. Especially since Nier: Reincarnation, which was effectively a sequel to Nier: Automata, is still completely unplayable by virtue of being a mobile gacha game that's since been taken offline with seemingly no plans to rerelease.
So good luck to Taro, hopefully we see a new project from him that makes it to release sooner rather than later.
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
The Mandalorian and Grogu will show a "changed" version of the Disney+ series' helmeted hero, director Jon Favreau has said, following three seasons of character growth.
Din Djarin's big screen debut will pick up the character's story following the events of The Mandalorian's third season finale, which saw the bounty finally hang up his blaster for something of a quieter life looking after Baby Yoda, AKA Grogu.
By this point, Djarin has established himself as a hero to more than the audience — he's caught the attention of the New Republic and is brushing shoulders with Star Wars Rebels' Zeb Orrelios. And it's this journey that viewers will see continue next year, Favreau teased.
"The Mandalorian has changed his priorities," Favreau told Empire. "One of the last things we say [in Season 3] is, like, 'I don't want to go out there and just be a hired gun. I want to work for the good guys."
It's this desire to do good in the galaxy that will see Djarin meet Sigourney Weaver's new character Colonel Ward, and go on a mission with Zeb proper. "Now we get to really have fun with him," Favreau said of Zeb, Rebels' purple alien. "He’s such a compelling character, even if you’ve never seen Rebels, between the voice, the swagger, and the physical ability."
The development of Djarin's mindset makes sense not just for character himself, but also for what Disney still has planned for this current era of New Republic storytelling, which will also continue on the smaller screen with a second season of Ahsoka.
Fans are still hopeful that Lucasfilm will wrap up the storylines from The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew in a big event movie — perhaps resolving the threat of Grand Admiral Thrawn? — something that Star Wars writer and director Dave Filoni has said he's working on in the past. Exactly when that might arrive, however, is unknown.
But before all that, The Mandalorian and Grogu must set the stage, and win over an audience that hasn't been given a Star Wars movie in seven years, since 2019's highly-divisive Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Thankfully, The Mandalorian's winning core relationship between Djarin and Grogu will remain the new film's focus, Favreau concluded. "That central relationship, as they go off and face adventure together, that's the underpinning of the film," he said. "Star Wars is always about progression and growth and characters evolving, sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad. It's about apprenticeship, it's about one generation teaching the next. There's more growth that happens over the course of the film."
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
The latest episode of The Simpsons has added a fresh member to the family's clan: the previously-secret Beatrice Bouvier, who is revealed to be Marge's estranged aunt.
Sashes to Sashes, the seventh episode of the show's 37th season, sees the rest of the Simpsons family discover how a four-year-old Marge fell out with her aunt after being told there was no such thing as princesses or love. Ever since, Marge has refused to speak with or acknowledge Beatrice's existence — until the truth is accidentally revealed.
As the episode continues, viewers discover that Beatrice (voiced by Carrie Coon) had been acting harshly after having her heart broken — by none other than Springfield mayor Joe Quimby, to whom she had been briefly married.
In a series of flashbacks, Beatrice and Joe are shown to have fallen in love and married, until the future-mayor's father instructs his son that he must be seen entertaining mistresses in public, in order to appear powerful. Joe tells Beatrice he won't follow his father's wishes, but Beatrice leaves him anyway.
The episode's finale sees Marge and Beatrice heal the rift between them, though it's unclear whether the aunt will ever appear in The Simpsons again. Indeed, the show could simply forget about the character completely — since, according to its creators, the series does not actually have any canon.
"There is no canon," The Simpsons executive producer Matt Selman said back in June after viewers were left aghast by a flashforward that showed Marge had died. "The Simpsons doesn't even have canon!" Several episodes have noted the (permanent) death of other characters before but, 37 seasons in, viewers have noted that it's begun hard to accept the series' floating timeline still makes sense.
"Marge will probably never be dead ever again," Selman concluded. "The only place Marge is dead is in one future episode that aired six weeks ago."
In other The Simpsons news, the franchise's big Fortnite collaboration will continue this week (see the trailer above) as the game's version of Springfield experiences another big change. After raining donuts, the live-service will soon experience crowds of zombie-like Homers, as the character once again attempts to play around with reality. (It's probably safe to say that all this action isn't canon either.)
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Frank Herbert's Dune is an infamously tricky story to adapt to other media. It took Denis Villeneuve two whole movies to do the book justice. But Abrams ComicArts can do fans one better. They've adapted Dune into no fewer than three full-length graphic novels.
With Dune: The Graphic Novel: The Complete 3-Book Boxed Set now in stores, IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of the set. Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:
Based on the original novel, the Dune graphic novels are adapted by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, with art by Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín. In total, the three volumes clock in at 552 pages.
Here's the official logline for Dune: The Graphic Novel: The Complete 3-Book Boxed Set:
Frank Herbert’s Dune, an epic science-fiction masterpiece set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar society, tells the story of Paul Atreides as he and his family accept control of the desert planet Arrakis.
Dune explores the complex, multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion as the forces of the empire confront each other for control of Arrakis. Illustrators Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín transport readers to the Dune universe in this three-volume visual masterpiece that blends classic science fiction with contemporary comics storytelling.
Dune: The Graphic Novel: The Complete 3-Book Boxed Set is available in bookstores now. You can order a copy on Amazon.
In other Dune news, Robert Pattinson recently confirmed he's in the third Dune movie. Here's what to expect from Dune Part 3.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
In the summer of 2012, ROUTINE was revealed at the largest video gaming convention in the world Gamescom, but after well over a decade later it has yet to make it into the hands of players. In the coming weeks, that’s all about to change, and as I sat down with two of the game’s three developers, Aaron Foster, head of art and design and project lead, and fellow artist and designer Jemma Hughes, it was all smiles.
“We’ll have gone gold in just a few days,” Aaron told me with a grin.
Theirs is a classic indie developer story, a handful of developers setting out to work on a project they were passionate about, learning every difficult lesson along the way.
“Routine started as a very simplified, atmospheric, slight-horror game. I started it on my own, and was actually inspired originally by the simplicity of Dear Esther,” Aaron said. “I wasn’t a programmer at the time. I was an environment artist, actually, and wanted to use my experience to make a game.
“I grew up in the 80s watching VHS's and it left a big impression on me. Now that I’m an environment artist, I’ve never stopped loving that aesthetic. I love the weathering and the hum of fluorescents and little details like that. When making Routine, I thought, ‘if I made this game in the 80s, what would I imagine it like?’ and so, sorta took that and ran with it.
“When Jemma and our programmer, Pete, came on that really opened a lot of doors for us. We started showing a few screenshots and eventually got help on audio, so that’s when we were ready to show the trailer.”
Aaron and Jemma’s environmental art chops were more than enough to catch the attention of masses, and when they released their reveal trailer in 2012, their self-published little endeavor left an impression on people. But then work on the project suddenly halted, and wouldn’t pick back up again until 2020.
“There was quite a long delay that was due to personal reasons, actually. We were dealing with almost going personally bankrupt and had to pause and work on other projects to make ends meet,” Aaron said, with the difficulty from those years apparent in his voice.
Eventually their situation improved, though, and there was still a lot of passion among their small, but mighty team to pick the project back up. However, doing so after a years-long hiatus proved no easy task. The first obstacle was that the development landscape had completely changed, including, most consequentially for their team, the tools used to make them.
“When we picked up development again, we actually had to start from scratch, because we’d worked on the game for 4 or 5 years in Unreal 3 Engine, then came back in 2020 on Unreal 5 using a completely different code – C++ instead of Unreal Scripts.”
And so the team took the opportunity to make ground up changes to Routine that spanned gameplay, art, and more. Having learned a lot from their time developing on Unreal 3, the team decided to refocus gameplay around a less combat focused design, give the story a complete overhaul, and change the way AI worked, expanding on ideas in some places and trimming back in others to bring the project more in line with the team’s renewed vision.
“When we weren’t paused, we were mostly gutting stuff that didn’t work. The C.A.T. was originally primarily a weapon. That was removed and turned into what felt more like an actual tool. You saw a lot of that in the demo you played. It even has an off button!”
The C.A.T., also known as the Cosmonaut Assistance Tool is the primary way the player interacts with the world around them. A boxy, retro-looking multitool, you pick this handy item up early on and it evolves over time as you find new modules for it. It was one of the big focuses during the rework after they started working on the game again, and Aaron’s eyes light up when he talks about it.
“We didn’t want to make a bunch of modules, so instead we decided to make each module multipurpose. For instance, the ultraview module is a blacklight, but also a flashlight, so while the other one helps you defend yourself, it doesn’t have a flashlight, so there’s more than one reason to have one module equipped at any time,” he told me.
“It also does cool things like lets you connect to terminals, so it’s kind of like your cell phone, a camcorder, a flashlight – a multitool,” Jemma added.
“There are more modules than what you’ve seen though. There’s one more later in the game. It may or may not help you defend yourself,” Aaron said with a laugh.
There were more changes beyond the C.A.T too, including a refocusing on the setting, which takes place on the moon. The moon is something of a fascination for Aaron, and something he wanted front and center. Before the pause in development, they’d increasingly built indoor environments where players couldn’t be blamed for forgetting they were on the moon at all – a state the team found unacceptable. Having played the demo recently, the moon is almost omnipresent, especially early on when they take every opportunity to shove the moon’s desolate vistas in your face.
“Narrative was also a huge change. The stuff we had before took away from the setting of the moon, we thought, and so we wanted to refocus on that,” Aaron explained. “I’ve always just been drawn to the moon. I think it looks just beautifully barren, and mysterious, and a bit creepy.”
Speaking of creepy, as you explore the space station, you’re never far away from the game’s primary threat – the Type 5 robots that attack you on sight and which cannot be dealt with using force. These heavy, metal Terminator-looking monsters are a sight to behold, and make the most alarming noises when they’re around.
“The AI got a rework too. Actually, you may not have noticed this, but the Type 5 robots are only ever active one at a time. That got changed at one point for reasons related to the narrative.”
And I’ll admit, I didn’t notice this, and actually spent minutes on end hiding from robots I had no idea were deactivated and unable to see me. Aaron and Jemma found this pretty amusing.
“Yeah, usually there’s this moment in some of the playtests where they’ll notice the robot just standing there and sort of peek out and then go ‘oh, he’s turned off’ and then you can walk right in front of them and see they don’t notice you at all,” Aaron said. “Just don’t be there when they come back on!”
When asked about the design behind these terrifying monstrosities, Aaron explained there's a completely rational explanation for why someone built them to look like the stuff of nightmares, and also for how these could exist in the same universe as the tiny, boxy helper robots you’ll find scurrying about on the same space station.
“The Type 5s are actually repurposed riot control robots from Earth, so that’s why they look intimidating and a bit scary as you saw. The purpose of the IC robots is to be helpful, so they look cute.”
When asked how Routine stands out in 2025, where we’ve enjoyed an absolute tidal wave of awesome games to play, Aaron spoke to the philosophy of letting players learn for themselves – a practice that’s less common in the age of in-game characters explaining puzzle solutions to you a few seconds after you encounter them.
“It’s just a very different kind of experience. We don’t hold your hand and make the player figure stuff out and there’s just not a lot of stuff like that out there at the moment.”
As someone who spent about 20 minutes beating my head on a single puzzle during the demo, I can attest that this is certainly true.
Before wrapping my call with the team, I paused to ask them what advice they would give to indie developers setting out to make their first game as they started to do all those years ago. Aaron’s answer came after only a second or two of thought.
“One of the most important things is just work on something you care about, regardless of scale. If you care about it, you’ll be able to see it through. We knew we wanted to finish this game and we did. It took a while, but we all cared about it, and here we are.”
Wicked: For Good will be released in theaters on November 21.
Midway through Wicked: For Good, at the climax of one the musical’s many songs, Cynthia Erivo is harshly backlit by that pesky Ozian sun that has somehow made it into virtually every frame of this story. The camera pans slowly away, and, ah, a respite from all the squinting you have to do in order to see anything that’s going on in this movie! But the relief is short-lived, because the shot eventually settles on a giant waterfall that is… reflecting all of the light from that very same sun, obscuring the main character once more behind a wall of photons.
I use this small example to illustrate Wicked: For Good’s central problem: it has all of the issues of the first movie, compounded by the fact that Act II of Wicked the musical is, famously, just not as good as the first.
The story has jumped in time an unspecified number of years, and the tricky Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and his mouthpiece Glinda the Good (Ariana Grande) have convinced the people of Oz that the green-skinned “wicked witch” Elphaba (Erivo) is Public Enemy Number One. Meanwhile, Elphaba, who’s been exiled to the woods, is dead-set on drawing back the curtain on the Wizard’s fakery and saving the lives of all the sentient Animals who are progressively forgetting how to speak. It’s a Very Serious setup for a Very Serious movie, with none of the effervescent pizzazz of the first act/film. That’s the trouble with the dreary back end of this story—you’ve already had all the fun of getting to meet everyone for the first time, and now all that’s left is to watch them make themselves miserable.
It’s a weird tonal shift that just doesn’t match the inherent absurdity of the environment. Wicked plays things very sincerely with its very silly story (I say this as a fan), but there are always moments in the show—a hilariously mispronounced word here, a well-timed aside there—that wink at the ridiculousness of the premise. In contrast, watching Wicked: For Good is like watching a war movie, complete with action sequences, wrenching interpersonal drama, and a harrowing refugee escape scene that provides the backdrop for one of the film’s two original songs, the somber don’t-let-the-bastards-get-you-down anthem “No Place Like Home.” The self-serious atmosphere makes talking animals and the occasional mention of the community of people that calls themselves “Munchkins” even more jarring. Look, they already tried to do “grimdark Wizard of Oz” with the childhood trauma-inducing Return to Oz and Syfy’s Tin Man miniseries, and (again, I say this as a fan) it didn’t really work those times, either.
And then there’s the fact that you can’t see most of it anyway. Director Jon M. Chu and cinematographer Alice Brooks’ commitment to backlighting every scene with a sun, a lantern, or a wall of torches persists here—probably because Wicked and Wicked: For Good were shot at the same time—and was already roundly criticized by critics and fans the first time around. The second film is darker in every sense of the word (aside from many of Grande’s scenes, thank goodness), and there are environments that are so dimly lit you can’t make out Erivo’s face at all.
It’s all very frustrating, because, as with the first film, you can tell that real work was put into building opulent environments for the actors to stomp around in. Chu outdoes his own wedding staging from Crazy Rich Asians here, throwing Glinda a party overflowing with flowers and fit for a fairy queen. The tower Elphaba eventually transforms into her lair during the triumphant villain song “No Good Deed” looks like a battleground from Elden Ring. Cool, tactile sets shrouded in shadows are maybe marginally better than the washed-out lighting of the too-bright first movie, but, given how inertly everyone is often staged in this film, you still get the sense that you’re watching people walking around in sets.
The songs though are almost enough to make you forget about all of this. Erivo and Grande are so good it makes the fact that these movies aren’t that great even more disappointing, and they especially nail all the complicated, contradictory emotions and themes running through this sequel. Wicked: For Good does its best to yank them back and forth—allies one moment, enemies the next, and then back to besties again—but they both keep themselves steady, electrifying things whenever they’re sharing the screen. Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero, the third member of their isosceles love triangle, holds his own with the two of them, even though he doesn’t get much to do here besides roll his broad shoulders and smolder directly at the camera, and that’s fine. (Michelle Yeoh’s propaganda minister Madame Morrible remains the weak link, which is a shame, as she’s the only truly villainous character in this whole thing and clearly relishes any opportunity to be mean.)
Really, the biggest problem with Wicked: For Good is its atonal pacing—songs take ages to finish, while characters are constantly being tossed into scene after scene with very few transitions in between to fully explain why anyone is acting the way that they are. And it’s doing all this while also stepping on most of the source material’s best bits—Elphaba’s big Wicked Witch laugh moment, which ignites cheers in the theater, is barely gestured at. Wicked 2 is certainly long enough to lay everything out in a sensible manner (at 137 minutes, it’s only 20 minutes shorter than the first movie), but seems to think that audiences will just go ahead and fill in the blanks for themselves. Its songs and talent are certainly good enough to coast on, but it still fails to make the case for translating a beloved stage show to two just-okay films. It’s time for this bubble to pop.
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