Bob Ross, prolific daytime television painting instructor who charmed the world with his serene monologues, continues to make the world a better place 20 years after his death. His estate recently sold one of his paintings at an auction to support PBS and public media — and the work of art fetched over $1 million.

On last week’s 2025 finale of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, Oliver asked the Bob Ross estate to auction off one of the artist’s paintings. “Cabin at Sunset,” which the iconic painter made on his PBS series “The Joy of Painting” during season 10 in 1986, ended up selling for $1,044,000 after an incredible 35 bids.

This isn’t the first of Ross’ paintings that have sold in support of PBS, also known as the Public Broadcasting System, which has been stripped of nearly all its funding by the Trump administration. In early November, Bonhams Los Angeles auctioned off three of Ross’ other paintings, also made on his show, to support American Public Television.

Bonhams sold Ross’ 1993 painting “Winter’s Peace” for $318,000, and the 1990 paintings “Cliffside” and “Home in the Valley” sold for $229,100 and $114,800 respectively. Those three paintings were, according to Variety, part of a group of 30 works by Ross that will be sold over the next year in support of American Public Television and their mission to financially support public TV stations nationwide.

Oliver’s auction — which includes many other cool and wacky items like a chance to meet Oliver in NYC, a screen-worn jockstrap that belonged to Russell Crowe (??), and wax versions of various presidents — raised nearly $1.54 million for the Public Media Bridge fund, which will assist public media nationwide in securing the funds necessary to keep stations going in the aftermath of the Trump admin’s decision to effectively close down the Corporation for Public Broadcasting after eliminating $1.1 billion from their overall budget.

“We’ve actually accumulated a bunch of weird artifacts on this show over the years that we could definitely auction off to raise some much needed money,” Oliver said on the finale episode. “I am proud to announce Last Week Tonight’s first ever auction in aid of public media. This is real!”

If you're hunting for the best offers this week, we're actively rounding up the strongest Black Friday deals on video games, tech, and more. You can find all our top picks and price drops in our full Black Friday hub, or check out our relevant pages for PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox deals.

Photo by Acey Harper/Getty Images.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

Walmart has officially joined the party of Black Friday sales, bringing a massive selection of video game deals. If you've been hoping to fill up your library with some new picks to play as early nights and colder weather sets in, now's your chance to score Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater for just $30, or Elden Ring for a mere $15.

You read that right. Only $15 for a game we gave a 10 out of 10 to and called Game of the Year back in 2022 is a stellar offer, and what better way to spend your holiday break than becoming Elden Lord? There's no better time to journey to the Lands Between, truly.

Walmart Black Friday Video Game Deals

Unfortunately, Walmart's Elden Ring deal doesn't include the expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree. The good news is, you can pick up the Shadow of the Erdtree Edition instead at Amazon for $49.99, a $30 discount. That's a touch cheaper than buying the two separately, even with the $15 deal on the base game. Elden Ring Nightrein is on sale, too, if you happened to miss FromSoft's co-op adventure take on the series.

Walmart's sale also features some nice Switch discounts. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is also down to $30 there, as is Princess Peach: Showtime. Switch 2 users certainly aren't being forgotten about, either. Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition for Switch 2 is marked down to $30, and if the delightful co-op adventure Split Fiction has been on your list, it's also down to $30 for Switch 2.

Outside of Walmart, other retailers are offering some excellent discounts on video games right now, too. Be sure to check out our breakdowns of the best deals on PS5, Xbox, and Nintendo games and accessories.

For more discounts available, check out our guide to the best Walmart Black Friday deals available now.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.

Star Trek: The Last Starship is easily one of the most exciting Trek projects to come along in recent memory, as it reveals what happens when Captain James T. Kirk is resurrected in the 31st Century. Issue #3 of the new series will showcase the first time Kirk takes command of the USS Omega, as Starfleet's last surviving ship wages a deadly war against the Klingons.

IGN can exclusively reveal a new preview of Star Trek: The Last Starship #3. Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:

The Last Starship is written by Kelly and Lanzing and illustrated by Adrián Bonilla, with colors by Heather Moore. Here's IDW's official logline for issue #3:

The U.S.S. Omega launches into battle! Its adversary? A chaotic Klingon cult whose bloodred path is focused purely on obliterating the remaining vestiges of Starfleet. What's left of the Federation is falling apart by the moment. Captain Sato, who once dreamed of uniting the galaxy, is now living his worst nightmare. He was raised in a time of peace... but no progress comes without a fight. While the Klingons might be his enemies after centuries of peace, he has Kirk as his ally... and no one knows how to defeat a Klingon better than the Federation's greatest hero.

“Kirk is going through a journey of self-discovery,” editor Heather Antos told IGN. “Like Captain Sato and the rest of the members of the Omega crew, this era of the Federation post-Burn is going to challenge not only their ideals as members of Starfleet, but who they are to their very core. Who is James T. Kirk without the solidity of the Federation as he knows and loves? We’re about to find out.”

Star Trek: The Last Starship #3 will be released on December 17, 2025. You can preorder a copy at your local comic shop. And be sure to check back once the new issue releases for a full-spoiler interview breaking down the big developments.

In other Trek news, Paramount reportedly wants a fresh reboot of the movie franchise.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.

Indie horror game Horses is preparing to launch on December 2 on the Epic Games Store, GOG, Itch.io, and the Humble Store. But one place it won't be is on Steam, because Steam has banned the game for, according to the developer, reasons that remain unclear even after two years of back-and-forth with Valve. And according to the developer, this ban seems likely to result in the shutdown of their entire studio.

We spoke with Pietro Righi Riva of Italian studio Santa Ragione (Saturnalia, Wheels of Aurelia, MirrorMoon EP), who explained their side of the story. According to Riva and a detailed FAQ shared with IGN, Santa Ragione first submitted Horses to Steam in 2023, when the game was in a very unfinished state. "We were only about halfway through development and had scrambled together a build that could be played start to finish, solely to satisfy Steam’s request for a playable version to open a Coming Soon page, something we had never been asked for before," Riva explains. It was at this stage that Valve rejected the game.

However, Riva goes on to say that Valve did not offer any explanation as to why the game was rejected, nor was there any opportunity for the team to change whatever the offending content was. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't get anyone at Valve to work with them to reverse the decision.

"Steam’s decision came without detailed feedback, and the ban notice did not cite any specific scenes or elements," Riva says. "For months we repeatedly asked what triggered the ban and received no answer. We also offered, unsuccessfully, to change any content deemed unfit, especially since the game was still early in development at the time of submission."

Chasing Wild Horses

So what triggered the ban? Riva still doesn't know. While minds may jump to Steam's recent banning of a number of adult games to comply with sudden crackdowns from payment processors, Riva says this ban took place long before that was even a conversation, and all the content in the game is fully legal. He does have a theory, though. The automated review sent by Steam in 2023 included a link to Steam's Onboarding Documentation, as well as the following sentence: "Regardless of a developer’s intentions with their product, we will not distribute content that appears, in our judgment, to depict sexual conduct involving a minor."

Horses, Riva says, does not contain any such content. All characters in the game are older than 20 "as communicated by their appearance and through dialogue and documents that you will encounter in the game." He also asserts that the game is not pornographic. It is, per the studio, "about the burden of familial trauma and puritan values, the dynamics of totalitarian power, and the ethics of personal responsibility." From the FAQ sent to IGN:

While it does contain some sexual elements, the intent is never to arouse. It uses challenging, unconventional material to encourage discussion. It invites players to examine why something feels the way it does, what it says about the characters and systems at work, and where their limits lie. It is about tension, not erotic content. (We apologize if we got your hopes up for horse porn.)

What Riva thinks triggered the ban is a scene that existed in the game during the initial Steam submission, where a man and his young daughter visit the farm. As the FAQ explains:

The daughter wants to ride one of the horses (in the game the “horses” are humans wearing a horse mask) and gets to pick which one. What followed was an interactive dialogue sequence where the player is leading, by a lead as if they were a horse, a naked adult woman with a young girl on her shoulders. The scene is not sexual in any way, but it is possible that the juxtaposition is what triggered the flag. We have since changed the character in the scene to be a twenty-something woman, both to avoid the juxtaposition and more importantly because the dialogue delivered in that scene, which deals with the societal structure in the world of Horses, works much better when delivered by an older character.

Riva says he has tried everything. He has tried speaking to contacts at Valve who had previously worked with the studio on past games. According to him, they claimed not to know the specific reasons for the ban and said it would not be possible to find out and tell them. He's reached out to Valve again and again, but has yet to receive any official explanation of what content was offensive, nor an opportunity to resubmit it without that content. IGN also reached out to Valve for comment for this piece, but did not hear back in time for publication.

Riva also says he's had no issues with any other platform: GOG, Itch.io, and the Humble Store had no issues with it. Epic asked the studio to update just the screenshots on the game's store page so as not to include nudity, which Riva says they complied with, and the game was accepted. As for consoles, he says he's shown the game to console partners and hasn't heard any concerns about content. Horses also has received PEGI and ESRB ratings that would be required for console distribution. "The only reason we haven't actively started porting the game is lack of funds."

Reining It In

To be clear, Horses is unsettling to say the least. I watched a colleague play some of it at a demo at Day of the Devs in 2023, and it's not for the faint of heart. It's about a young man who comes to a farm to work a summer job caring for horses, only to discover the horses are actually naked adult humans wearing horse head masks, chained up in the yard. Snippets from trailers show the "horses" watching what seems to be horse propaganda, being ridden by other people by carrying them on their shoulders, being fed carrots, and being on the receiving end of humiliation and violence. It challenges the player to either accept what they're seeing and continue to participate in it, or try to subvert what's going on at the horse farm, a process that seems like it will be utterly terrifying and unpleasant in some way.

But Santa Ragione also has a solid track record of making and publishing artistic, esoteric, disturbing games with poignant messages, many of which have been up for awards for that very reason. Their board game Escape From The Aliens In Outer Space was nominated for the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming. MirrorMoon EP was a finalist for the Innovation Award at the Independent Games Festival after its launch in 2013. More recently, in 2024, Santa Ragione published Mediterranea Inferno, which won the Excellence in Narrative Award at the Independent Games Festival. And Mediterranea Inferno is just one of a handful of games published by Santa Ragione as part of its efforts to promote the work of up-and-coming Italian creators, with Horses being another example.

Again from the FAQ:

We are committed to producing challenging, adult storytelling. Horses uses grotesque, subversive imagery to confront power, faith, and violence. We reject subjective obscenity standards and believe this kind of moralizing censorship evokes a darker past in which vague notions of “decency” were used to silence artists. Games are an artistic medium and lawful works for adults should remain accessible. We respect players enough to present the game as intended and to let adults choose what to play; lawful works should not be made unreachable by a monopolistic storefront’s opaque decisions. Steam publicly downplays human curation in favor of algorithmic sales optimization, yet intervenes with censorship when a game’s artistic vision does not align with what the platform owners considers acceptable art. Steam’s behavior passively shapes which titles developers feel safe creating, pushing preemptive censorship.

And yet, the verdict stands. Riva and Santa Ragione are stuck: one week until launch, and no ability to publish their game on the most massive PC storefront in existence.

Long Faces

According to Riva, the inability to release on Steam almost certainly means that Santa Ragione is done for. The studio already was struggling with financial troubles: it initially invested $50,000 when they signed the game with its creator, Andrea Lucco Borlera. They were hoping that sales of the team's previous game, Saturnalia, would help make that money back, but it didn't do as well as they'd hoped. Riva says they even lined up "a great bundle opportunity" for Saturnalia, but had to cancel it when Valve refused to give them Steam keys for again unclear reasons.

Around the same time, we were informed that Horses had been banned and would not release on Steam, which completely erased our ability to find an external supporting publisher or partner to fund the rest of the game, as no one in the industry considers an indie game that cannot be released on Steam to be viable. After two years of seeking these funds through traditional venues while trying to get the game unbanned, we had to seek private funding from friends to complete development, which puts us in a completely unsustainable financial situation unless the game somehow recoups its development costs.

Hopeless as this seems, Riva isn't closed to the possibility that Santa Ragione could be saved. He says if it manages to sell "tens of thousands of copies" without being on Steam, they'd be able to break even and keep working on future projects. But he's not banking on that. Ideally, he says, Valve would revert its decision and reconsider the game, but after two years, that doesn't seem likely to happen either.

However, Riva says their team won't fully disappear from gaming. The team has funds set aside for six months to support Horses post-launch with bug fixes and quality of life updates. Riva also tells me that the studio has known this was a possibility for a while now, and has been preparing accordingly. Its members have all found other gigs, some of which are in games. Riva himself says he's always worked multiple jobs in teaching, consulting, and curation while directing Santa Ragione, so he plans to "do more of that." And Horses director Borlera is already pitching new projects elsewhere.

While Riva would love to see a miracle leading to Horses recouping its costs and saving the studio, he says what he actually wants more than anything is for Valve to be transparent about its policies on mature content, which have fluctuated over the years and never really been clear. From the FAQ:

Alongside ultraviolent titles, Steam distributes explicit pornographic games; some of these listings acknowledge the legal grey area Steam mentioned in the HORSES ban message, by stating “All characters depicted are over the age of 18” in their store descriptions, and yet non-pornographic works like HORSES can be banned without context. By contrast, mature works with comparable or stronger themes routinely appear on mainstream streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, where controversial directors are an accepted part of the catalog. This double standard suggests Steam does not treat games as art on par with film, and intervenes with censorship when an artistic vision does not align with what the platform owner considers acceptable art.

As a final word, Riva urges game developers to stand up together to demand transparency from Steam. "I know developers are understandably scared of voicing their complaints about Steam, but I hope we can collectively ask for better conditions to make our work more viable and more creatively free," he says. "The current landscape is one where very few actors control the distribution of almost all games that are produced, and that should mean they are responsible not just for the commercial sustainability of the industry, but also for the growth of games as an artistic medium."

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

The first ever bunny-fox partnership in ZPD history is back on the case for Zootopia 2, once again attempting to tackle systemic injustice, greed, corruption and facing one's own personal shortcomings.

So of course I brought my children with me to see what they thought!

Zootopia 2 picks up pretty much where the 2016 original left off, with the ambitious bunny from the sticks Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and the street-wise con-fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) basking in the success of cracking their first major case and on the lookout for their next one. When they stumble on to the presence of the first snake in Zootopia in decades, the duo cross paths with returning favorites and a host of new mammals as they (and you’ll never believe this) uncover more than they bargained for!

Now, reviewing what are ostensibly kids movies is kind of tricky. On the one hand I’ve got a film critic hat and I like to wear it, but on the other hand it’s easy to say “Pshh, it’s a kids movie.” On the surface, Zootopia 2 is a bunch of cartoon animals solving crime and making jokes and learning to love and appreciate each other, but lurking beyond that silliness is a seedy underbelly of social criticism that deserves to be taken seriously. And that is why I was determined to bring my kids with me to the press screening so they could weigh in whenever my film critic hat got a little too tight.

For example, I would say the look of the film is gorgeous. The animation style is the same colorful palette as the first Zootopia, but new terrains and more ambitious lighting gave the animators a chance to really flex 10 years worth of technological development.

Meanwhile, my daughter, age 11, said, “My favorite part was when they snuck into the gala. It was funny because they were in the tundra but Judy was wearing a sleeveless dress and somehow not cold, and I’m pretty sure parts of that house were ice.” So bonus points for the production design of the gala sequence and be on the lookout for parts of the house that are ice.

But the sequence my kid is talking about here is a truly thrilling little microcosm of what works best about the world of Zootopia. There’s a charming back-and-forth between our Odd Couple protagonists. There’s also a real understanding on the part of the filmmakers of building suspense in a detective story. The action is also spot on, with each beat of the sequence being set up and paid off visually, while little throwaway jokes on the way into the scene become punchlines on the way out. The whole sequence of sneaking into a snowy chateau as part of an off-the-books investigation and then escaping via action sequence that’s equal parts rad and funny is giving James Cameron and True Lies vibes – which very much speaks to my sensibilities. Plus, in spite of the fact that Judy Hopps wasn’t too cold in that dress, it resonated with my 11-year-old as well.

That level of quality in the nuts and bolts of the filmmaking was present in 2016’s Zootopia as well, but the other thing both movies excel at is the high-quality animal puns. Every square inch of this movie is covered in clever little animal jokes, like how the pair of ram detectives are named after goat cheeses or the catering company is called “A-Moose Bouche.” It’s just hard not to get charmed by that sort of thing when it’s as wall-to-wall as it is here in Zootopia 2, and I’m confident there are a thousand of those background jokes that I missed.

On this topic, my daughter said, “I liked the puns, too,” which I think had more to do with me talking non-stop about them, so read that with a much more eye-rolly energy. But my 6-year-old son said, “My second favorite part of the movie was when the fox said ‘Ahh! A Viper!’” That doesn’t seem like a pun now, but there’s a punchline to it I don’t want to ruin. Also, it’s worth noting my son couldn’t decide on what his favorite part of the movie was, but apparently this moment is his second.

But Zootopia 2 speeds along at a really nice clip, with both the plotting and the action sequences moving at a great pace except for one spot where the movie screeches to a halt for some exposition dumping. There’s a scene as the film starts to steer towards the home stretch where the macguffin is over-explained and, in a moment that had me checking my watch, the steps of the plan that’s going to save the day are rattled off amidst gauzy flashbacks that sketch out what needs to happen in the final 20 or 30 minutes of the movie. The plan that Judy, Nick and their new allies have is perfectly clear; it already made sense before they hammered it into place with this sequence. But the determination with which they explained everything to me had me thinking that maybe I had missed something. It’s a spot in the script that frankly didn’t need to be there because, in retrospect, the ride that the film’s final act goes on is perfectly clear. But that is admittedly some extreme fur-splitting.

Also like the first film, Zootopia 2 dives headlong into some pretty weighty issues. Racism and prejudice are at the forefront of this movie again, this time with the added layer of generational theft. The sequel introduces an obviously nefarious family of Lynx that have for decades held a corrupt grip on the city, an exiled snake trying to restore his good name and a former-movie-star-horse-turned-mayor voiced by the always welcome baritone of Patrick Warburton. These new characters and the voice actors portraying them, respectively Ke Huy Quan, David Strathairn and Andy Samberg in particular, are a blast even though the film didn’t leave much room for returning supporting characters, like my wife’s favorite, the irrepressibly dim-witted, donut-loving cheetah Clawhauser (Nate Torrance).

While these new characters are all well-drawn and fit right into the natural and empathetic performances of the returning cast, they don’t necessarily cast new light on the topics the writers are illuminating again.

Again, with a smorgasbord of social issues like corruption, systemic prejudice, cultural erasure, old lies becoming the current truth, and even the unfair pressure on a trailblazer to be perfect lest she ruin opportunities for those wanting to follow in her paw prints, Zootopia 2 might be trying to wrangle a few too many important topics into its menagerie. There is so much happening in this movie that certain moments feel like it’s just kind of pointing at these issues rather than engaging with any one of them in a thorough way.

The sequel, like its predecessor, instead doubles down on Judy’s desire to enact change. Hopps wants, more than anything else, to make a difference, and knows the hard truth that things will never change unless somebody stands up and tries to change them. This belief is the defining difference between her and her fox partner that is also the heart of this story. It’s a relentlessly hopeful outlook that borders on naive. Depending on the day I’m having, it’s not a message that I buy into all of the time, particularly in a movie that features cops following corrupt orders and raiding a marginalized part of town, which turns out to be a maybe more dramatic than they intended scene to watch given current events. Strangely enough, this is another similarity between Zootopia 2 and the first film: it can be a surprisingly dark movie at times.

The good news though is I got to talk to my kids about what they felt watching these events unfold on screen. What parts of the story were scary, when were they happy, when were they sad, how they both even teared up in multiple moments. I asked them what moments specifically made them cry, and my daughter said, “Just all the emotional ones,” to which I followed up with, “Which emotions?” and she answered, “All of them, I guess.”

The final cry-tally, by the way, for my daughter was two and a half times. Once she cried because she was sad, once because she was happy and the half a time was a scary part, while my son only cried once, but it was happy crying. And having a whole ride home to chat about why was really kind of nice.

So maybe Zootopia 2 doesn’t mine the complete depths of the issues it raises about our society, and maybe it oversimplifies the answers in the interests of tying the story up in a neat little kid-friendly boa constrictor, but it asks important questions that are worth talking about. And based on the reactions my kids had, and the conversations we had after the movie, all the right feelings got through. Empathy and compassion and fairness are never a bad thing, and Zootopia 2 found a way to get “all of them, I guess” to resonate with my kids.

Ryan Murphy is doing it yet again, folks. His new legal drama, All’s Fair, has officially been renewed for a second season at Hulu — which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense considering the reception to the show, but what the hell. Why not, we guess.

The series’ official social media channels revealed the news on Monday, November 24. “Checkmate. All's Fair is coming back for Season 2! Production begins Spring 2026. Let's do this!” the account shared with a fire heart emoji and a lips emoji, adding some of the show’s now infamous sassiness to the caption.

The text came alongside a video made to announce the next chapter for the series, which included clips from this first season of the show, which still has three episodes to go before its December 12 season finale. “We are so back,” the text in the video read, highlighting one of star Kim Kardashian’s whale-tail dresses in a tongue-and-cheek joke before adding, “for Season 2. Production begins Spring 2026.”

The only thing better than plushies is giant plushies, especially when they're Pokémon plushies. Now I'm gonna say plushies one more time. Plushies!

Anyway, Walmart has you covered for your cuddle fix this Black Friday with five fan-favorite Pokémon for just $25 each in the sale, although I'm annoyed there's not a sixth to complete my team.

Dropping $35 from their list price of $59.99, these bad boys stand 24" tall and are based on their animé appearances rather than their game sprites. Although that line is so blurred at this point, there's hardly a difference to be made.

Jazwares, the makers of Squishmallows, are the manufacturer behind these gorgeous soft toys (Sorry, I used up my "P word" allocation in the intro). That means they're cuddly and soft, but not quite a Squishmallow.

This isn't just another soft toy that kind of looks like the Pokémon they're supposed to represent with weird-looking body parts; these all look legit. Just subtle touches like Charizard's wings, Pikachu's smile, and Psyduck's vacant stare are all spot-on.

They're not proportionate to eachother as they're all 24-inches, so kids can have some fun with a giant Pikachu squaring up with a tiny Dragonite. Of course I mean all the grown ups who will have these in bed with them at night, because that's not exactly what I would do at all.

Like I said they all look great, but Sprigatito's giant head is nearly the size of Psyduck which is the best visual comedy I could've expected to see today. Speaking of Sprigatito, it's the best bargain, reduced from a massive $98.09 to just $25. It must be all that extra stuffing in it's boulder head.

I'd say one or all of these are fantastic stocking filler, but just in the spirit of low-cost gifts as you'd need to steal a Snorlax-sized sock to fit one of these in.

Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of "Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior". Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.

Most Black Friday streaming deals are already live, giving you the chance to stock up subscriptions at their lowest prices of the year. Hulu has matched most streaming service’s own discounts through Premium Channel Add-Ons.

Getting discounts through add-on bundles is a great solution for when you’re sick of having to check your streaming library across apps or track down different subscription bills every month. Starz, for example, has a funky library with tons of exclusives, but it’s a bit out of the way if you’re already subscribed to other services. Fortunately, from now until December 1, you can get a full year of Starz on Hulu for under $36.

Get 12 Months of Stars for 2.99/mo on Hulu

We're in the endgame now for Black Friday deals, and with most retailers' sales now live, it's likely all the deals that are now available are what we are ultimately getting. This is good news for anyone who wants to get their shopping out of the way now! Especially if you like video games.

So here's how this is going to work. I'm going to run through the best Black Friday deals you can already shop ahead of Thanksgiving, for PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox.

These are all handpicked as my top Black Friday deal choices, especially since every single one has dropped to its absolute best price of the year, and should not be sniffed at.

Each has a nice variety of offers up for grabs, and I'll be nice and fast and recommending only the deals I genuinely love. Let's jump in and see what's up for grabs for gamers this Black Friday.

Best PlayStation Deals

PlayStation is having an fairly good Black Friday so far, with $100 off consoles, DualSense Controllers down to at least $54, and some outstanding new games at some low, low prices all things considered.

My favorite PS5 console deals right now are absolutely on the NBA 2K26 bundle, for $449, as you get a free game thrown in, alongside the PS5 Pro discount, down to $649, and likely the best price we'll see on the world's most powerful console for a while.

When it comes to games, standout offers are coming in hot thanks to Walmart's latest Black Friday deals, with recently released games like Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater both falling to just $30.

Two of my other favorite PS5 games of the year are also just $30 in the sales at all major retailers; Assassin's Creed Shadows, and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2.

Best Nintendo Deals

Nintendo is having a surprisingly good Black Friday sale this year, all things considered.

My favorites are on the Final Fantasy 1-6 Pixel Collection for $39.99, Sonic X Shadow Generations for $15, and Super Mario Odyssey for $29.99. There's also some Zelda amiibo for just $9.99.

There isn't a surprise new Switch 2 console deal, but I recommend picking up the Switch 2 Mario Kart 8 Bundle to save $30 on buying each item individually, while stock lasts.

If you've been waiting to pick up a Switch 2 until now, I truely wouldn't bother risking these going out of stock between now and December, as everyone and their Grandma is set to pick one up for their loved ones over the holidays. Plus, the Mario Kart Bundle genuinely is a limited time deal, as Nintendo has officially said: once it's gone, it's gone!

If you already own a Switch 2, then at the very least you should be picking up the Samsung 512GB microSD express memory card at $74.99 (down from $99.99 at Amazon). It's the best and only storage solution for your hybrid console, at the absolute best price possible.

Best Xbox Deals

I have to say that Xbox deals are a little bit more shakey this year, and there aren't any notable Xbox console deals to be had either. That being said, if you know where to look, there's still plenty of bargains to be had on games and accessories.

For starters, you can pick up Xbox controllers from $39.99 new, or $28 if you are happy with an open box "Used - Like New" gamepad. In terms of games, my top pick is once again on Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater for $30, alongside Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 for $30, and Elden Ring, for $15.

If you're looking for Game Pass deals, the best offer right now is at Amazon, where the Game Pass Ultimate 3 Month pass is down to $59.99 from its new list price of $89.99. Avoid those price hikes, and stack that membership!

Steam Black Friday Sale

Steam is putting on its very own Black Friday sale for the first time, so it is absolutely worth a brief mention as well. But, note, that you should always compare the prices with Steam key sellers like Fanatical and Green Man Gaming, to ensure you're getting the best deal possible.

There is a fantastic range of games getting discounted at Steam, including 50% off EA Sports FC 26, 15% off Battlefield 6, a whopping 67% (6 7!) off Risk of Rain 2, 20% off Helldivers 2, 34% off the glorious Blue Prince, and 8% Dead by Daylight.

You can also grab Ghost of Tsushima for 40% off the recommended retail price, a huge 75% off the wonderful Red Dead Redemption 2, and an even bigger 95% on Warhammer: Vermintide 2.

That's not all, either. From now until December 1, 10am PT (1pm ET), you can also save 20% on the Steam Deck LCD 256GV model, that's the original model, not the fancy OLED one, and nominate your favorite games of 2025 in this year's Steam Awards.

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.

The theatrical exhibition model is a highly-debated topic these days — but it’s clear that many filmmakers still want it to be, and see it as, the name of the game, including Avatar and Titanic legend James Cameron.

It’s rare for Netflix to release its movies in theaters. Guillermo del Toro’s latest, Frankenstein, had a short theatrical run nationwide in October ahead of its November 7 premiere on the streaming platform, and global phenomenon KPop Demon Hunters hit theaters after its explosive launch on Netflix. Even the final episode of Stranger Things Season 5 will drop in theaters simultaneously with its Netflix premiere.

But Netflix has indicated it won't change its long-standing view on theaters versus streaming. “There’s no change in the strategy," CEO Ted Sarandos explained of the company’s policy on theatrical distribution during a recent earnings conference. "Our strategy is to give our members exclusive first-run movies on Netflix.” In fact, Sarandos went on to assert that KPop Demon Hunters only became a sensation “because it was released on Netflix first.”

Last week, Rian Johnson expressed frustration at the limited theatrical release of his new Benoit Blanc Netflix film, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. Netflix will release Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery in theaters on November 26, in time for the Thanksgiving holiday, before releasing it on Netflix itself on December 12. But it will only release in “select” theaters, as opposed to nationwide — something that has clearly left the Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer and director unimpressed.

Now, James Cameron has opened up about his feelings on Netflix potentially purchasing Warner Bros. while appearing on the The Town podcast. “Netflix would be a disaster. Sorry, Ted [Sarandos], but geez,” he explained. “Sarandos has gone on the record saying theatrical films are dead. ‘Theatrical is dead. Quote, unquote.’”

In fact, Cameron remains unconvinced that Netflix would truly commit to any meaningful theatrical distribution if it expanded. “It’s sucker bait," he said. "‘We’ll put the movie out for a week or 10 days. We’ll qualify for Oscar consideration.’ See, I think that’s fundamentally rotten to the core.

“A movie should be made as a movie for theatrical, and the Academy Awards mean nothing to me if they don’t mean theatrical. I think they’ve been co-opted, and I think it’s horrific.”

That said, he’s not opposed to Netflix playing the game if it actually, well, plays the game. “They should be allowed to compete if they put the movie out for a meaningful release in 2,000 theaters for a month,” Cameron noted.

The theatrical exhibition model has proved to be fundamental to cultivate a film’s outreach and, as a result, viewership — and it’s something Netflix isn’t super interested in. Cameron is right that Sarandos has said some scathing things about showing movies theatrically, namely that it’s not necessary, but that would be his response, being the CEO of a streaming platform with a vested interest in the success of other methods.

The reality is that the method still brings people to movies, still sells tickets, and still exceeds expectations on many occasions, especially when there’s an “event movie” on the docket. For example, Wicked: For Good and Cameron’s own Avatar: Fire and Ash are going to bring in a lot of theatrical cash, so it’s clear Cameron knows the value of the model.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

Magic: The Gathering has big plans for Universes Beyond in 2026 with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Star Trek, but before then, there’s the small matter of the game’s Avatar: The Last Airbender set.

We’ve already covered the set’s chase cards, and thanks to Amazon’s Black Friday deals, it just got cheaper to try your luck at them. That’s because the retailer has knocked 28% off its list price for a box of 30 packs, despite the set being just days old.

People I know either hate or love Crocs, with little in-between. I'm personally a big fan and own four pairs so far, and I'd be lying if I said I don't bite my tongue every time I see a fun collab like this. Whether you're looking for a new pair of Crocs and love the brand already, or you're (finally) down to try them for the first time because this Xbox design actually speaks to you, these branded Crocs are the new "it" pair to get (see them at Crocs).

The Crocs team nailed the design with the classic Xbox controller-style buttons and joysticks, Xbox logo on the back of the heel (rivet) and cool, black matte finish. Plus, XBOX is printed on the inside of the shoe, with a cheeky little "Player Left" and "Player Right" on each respective shoe for an extra kick. Even if you're not sold on these for yourself, they make for an excellent holiday gift for the Xbox gamer in your life.

New Exclusive Xbox Crocs Are Now Available

We’re in the thick of the sales now, even though Black Friday is technically several days away. Walmart’s official Black Friday sale runs November 25 - 30, meaning it’s live now. These are the real deals, so you don’t need to wait for prices to drop further. You can save a ton of money on everything from Apple products to PS5s to homewares and more.

I’ve sifted through the deals and highlighted the best ones below. Without further ado, here’s what’s worth buying in Walmart’s Black Friday 2025 sale.

Top Walmart Black Friday Deals

The deals on AirPods are the lowest prices we’ve ever seen, so you can feel free to purchase them without worrying they’ll drop any lower. It’s also a terrific time to buy a budget TV, with all-time low prices on a number of models.

Tons of video game items are on sale, including pretty much all PS5 hardware, from controllers to consoles. Lots of games are also seeing new all-time low prices, including Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and the excellent open-world Harry Potter RPG Hogwarts Legacy.

While Xbox consoles haven’t gotten the discount treatment, Xbox controllers are down to new low prices. There’s also a big sale on LEGO sets, which make great holiday gifts for kids and adults alike, and plenty of discounts on Pokemon TCG products.

Shop by Category

Pretty much every category of item Walmart sells is on sale for Black Friday 2025. If you want to peruse all the deals, click on any of the categories above.

Is There a Switch 2 Black Friday Deal?

Walmart’s In-Store Black Friday Sale

At the moment, Walmart's Black Friday sale is only live online. You'll be able to shop these same deals in brick-and-mortar locations November 28 - 30. For a closer look at when and where you can find discounts at Walmart, read on.

Walmart’s Black Friday Schedule

Walmart’s first Black Friday sale event has already come and gone. But the bigger, better deals are live now, with "Event Two." The current sale is the big one, and it runs November 25 - 30. After that, you only have one main event left, and that's Cyber Monday. Walmart's Cyber Monday sale is one day only, and it's on December 1. Note that Walmart+ members get several hours of early access to each of the sale events, including Cyber Monday.

Walmart+ Details

With Rian Johnson’s killer murder mystery Wake Up Dead Man coming this holiday season, there’s no better time than now to take stock of the characters we’ve met over the last couple outings.

From the cruel to the charming, here’s our ranking! And be sure to check out our Wake Up Dead Man review when you're done here...

20. Jacob Thrombey

Kicking things off is the “alt-right troll dipshit” that is the youngest of the Thrombey clan in the original Knives Out film. I have to give credit to actor Jaeden Martell; I hate this smarmy little punk. He mostly spends the film spewing hate on the Internet with his face buried in his phone and offering the occasional snide comment as he lurks in the background. While he doesn’t get a whole lot else to do beyond that, he really does make your skin crawl whenever he comes into frame.

19. Donna Thrombey

Initially seeming like she might be a nice person in the grand Thrombey scheme, Donna (Riki Lindhome in Knives Out) is actually the one that’s the most hateful of the bunch. Rather than being unaware about her son's awful online activities, she holds the same beliefs that may have even pushed him into that world in the first place; the apple clearly doesn’t fall far from the rotten family tree.

18. Duke Cody

Dave Bautista’s ridiculous character in Glass Onion – the cartoonishly-named Duke Cody – is like the dumbest men’s rights podcaster ever to cast pod, but also actually shredded? Yes, this Twitch streamer is a meathead in the truest sense of the word. Always strapped with a pistol (which is totally not compensating for anything), he's a manbaby casually bringing about the downfall of the world as he postures about being a tough guy while living with his mother. Don’t leave your drink alone with him.

17. Miles Bron

Played by Edward Norton in Glass Onion, this wealthy techbro megalomaniac effectively throws a party for himself just so he can invite the closest people he has to friends and make them worship at his feet. That the gathering is a murder mystery party where he gets ‘fake killed’ offers up a fantasy that, alas, the film never delivers on even as he does get his just deserts by the end. This is another character who wields immense power over the world and yet could not be more insufferable; that Norton instills him with something approaching comedic charm is more than he deserves. He wins for the most punchable face.

16. Linda Drysdale

The eldest child and only daughter of Harlan Thrombey, Jamie Lee Curtis’ Knives Out character is the worst when it comes to the self-centered adults of the family. She’s smarter than the rest of her siblings and all the more terrible because of it; the less the main characters have to deal with her, the better. She's got a fair amount of withering quips here and there that are fun, though it's all a front for her ugly soul. When she begins screaming as everything descends into chaos, it's like nails on a chalkboard. Though her name is Linda, she could just as easily be named Karen. That she uses the word "boinking" seriously is another irredeemable sin.

15. Meg Thrombey

The most human of the Thrombeys, played by Katherine Langford in Knives Out (pictured below on the right with Ana de Armas as Marta, left), soon reveals herself to be the most cruel when she abandons her supposed principles as soon as she is at risk of losing out on the wealth that her family is attempting to cling to. Though she thinks herself better than the rest of her family and postures about how she’s not really as selfish as they are, when push comes to shove, she’s the one that would not just stab you in the back but twist the knife. She makes all the right posts when it comes to social justice, but she’s not-so-secretly a NIMBY who votes against increased access to housing so she doesn’t have to look at the dirty poors.

14. Richard Drysdale

A character that would likely get drunk and proceed to corner you at a party to tell you about how immigrants are ruining the country just before he then tried to steal your wallet, Richard (played by Don Johnson in Knives Out, pictured below on the left with Jamie Lee Curtis as Linda, right) is the worst when it comes to the adult men in the Thrombey family. He’s the type of guy that thinks himself an intellectual as he blabs on and on about his hateful prejudices while expecting everyone to wait on him without talking back. He’s a dangerous combination of arrogant and stupid, continually bumbling his way through situations that he doesn’t understand, yet always messing them up anyway. He’ll quote Hamilton to you with a straight face when he’d be the slave owner in the production. Though he calls his son Ransom a “little shit,” he really ought to look in the mirror. He and his wife Linda truly deserve each other.

13. Birdie Jay

A former model turned self-centered fashion influencer, Birdie (Kate Hudson in Glass Onion) flaunts health regulations during a catastrophic global pandemic and puts everyone around her at risk just so she can throw a party to hide from her own loneliness. Incapable of not posting something hateful online while dubiously claiming she didn’t know what she was saying, she also runs her fashion empire on sweatshop labor and uses her billionaire friend, the aforementioned Miles, to help cover it all up. On top of all that, she makes her hardworking assistant Peg do all the work of ensuring she doesn’t make another mess for herself; Birdie doesn’t deserve Peg or her work.

12. Ransom Drysdale

Though initially absent for most of Knives Out before he makes his grand entrance and turns everything on its head, Ransom (Chris Evans) is one of the most consistently conniving characters in the movie as he tries to enrich himself. He’s as egotistical as he is abrasive, initially winning you over as he has a go at all the family members that have been grating on your nerves up until that point. Still, looks can be deceiving; he may be the greatest threat of them all. He’s a nightmare in so many ways, but a great character you love to hate. And he wears the nicest sweaters of the series, so he’s got that going for him.

11. Claire Debella

A self-serving politician (Glass Onion’s Kathryn Hahn) that’s mostly concerned with her own career rather than actually serving the people, she’s in it for the power and couldn’t care less about anything else. She’s always lashing out at the people around her and is smarter than those like Birdie, but is most concerned about the next time she can be on CNN. The only reason she isn’t higher up on this list is because she’s played by Hahn, who – in addition to being just great fun in everything – plays the drunk version of the character perfectly. It almost makes you think she’d be a great hang that you could get a drink with; almost, but not quite.

10. Walt Thrombey

Michael Shannon is a national treasure, though the character he plays in Knives Out is far from it. At every turn, he’s constantly trying to throw other people under the bus so he never has to earn anything for himself. However, like others in his family, he thinks himself superior and not cruel. Of course, when he goes full mask off about midway through and threatens those who he sees as standing in his way, we find out just how awful he is. Still, he also wears some nice sweaters.

9. Joni Thrombey

A supposedly successful businesswoman who actually runs a sketchy wellness brand known as Goo….I mean Flan, this next member of the Trombeys from Knives Out is more clever in how she positions herself in the family, but she’s just as awful as the rest of the bunch. She’s got more working in her favor in that she’s played by a great Toni Collette, though she’s also not above a little bit of embezzlement as a treat. I wouldn’t recommend investing in her company or buying her products, as you’ll find yourself out of money with a rash that won’t go away before you can even blink.

8. Lionel Toussaint

Oh, how his scientific mind is wasted. This is the Oppenheimer of the Knives Out series (as played by Leslie Odom Jr. in Glass Onion), or at least as close as a character could be to him; one can only wish he used his intelligence for good more consistently than he does. A brilliant fellow who gets taken advantage of and also benefits from working for Miles, he does show some integrity once he understands just how terrible his boss really is, although that realization comes a bit late. With this in mind, he does wear his swanky suits quite well, so he can’t be all bad.

7. Peg

Peg (Jessica Henwick in Glass Onion), I love you and wish you the best once you get away from these nightmarish people, but you also enable Birdie. You may think you’re just doing your job, but you need to go find another one doing work as an assistant for someone – literally anyone – else.

6. Stephen Sondheim

The late American composer behind some of the most wonderful works of music in modern memory, Sondheim is one of the greatest and most brilliant people to have ever lived. What's that you say? He only appears very briefly as himself in a quick scene in Glass Onion and really isn't a major character? Fair enough, but he's such a legend that any list not including him would be one that was incomplete. We all wish we could only leave such a mark as he did in his life.

5. Harlan Thrombey

Perhaps the only person in the Thrombey family from Knives Out who wasn’t totally irredeemable, Harlan is not entirely without flaws, though he does sacrifice for others rather than just take when it counts. He’s funny and self-deprecating just as he is charming and compassionate, with late actor Christopher Plummer giving him some earned grace notes even when he is facing down the end. His final scene, and the way he plays it, is just so perfect that it only becomes more tragic in retrospect. It’s a shame that the rest of his character’s family are so thoroughly awful, but such is life.

4. Lieutenant Elliott

An underrated part of the original Knives Out, LaKeith Stanfield’s investigator gets some of the funniest moments that cut through all the ridiculousness around him. He’s a grounding force in the film that could easily be forgotten if he were not so sharply written and well-performed. When we get to the end, he has some lines that are just so playful, you wish there was more of him. He isn’t the best investigator, but he is a damn great character to have in your film.

3. Helen Brand

The protagonist of Glass Onion, Janelle Monáe’s troubled twin with a heart of gold is what gives the sequel its beating heart. As we come to see in her performance, she is a compassionate sister dealing with loss just as she is desperately trying to get answers that are not so easy to uncover. Even as she is surrounded by a cast of eccentric characters, she never feels secondary to them, with Monáe more than holding her own and providing the emotional core for the madcap mystery she’s thrust into.

2. Marta Cabrera

When she isn’t holding back vomit stemming from her inability to lie, Marta (Knives Out’s Ana de Armas) is the character in this series with some of the most impactful lines and fun bits. She’s both the one person in the Thrombeys’ orbit who isn’t horrible, and the one who sees them more clearly than anyone else. As a more grounded character who must stand tall alongside a rogues’ gallery of repulsive maniacs, Armas’ great performance highlights the critical contrast.

1. Benoit Blanc

The man with a “Kentucky Fried Foghorn Leghorn Drawl” who always gets to the answers that nobody else can quite seem to discover, Daniel Craig’s private investigator – the star of the film series – is an instantly iconic character that we could watch for a dozen movies or more. Though his many quirks may not be everyone’s cup of tea, both Craig and Johnson have shaped them into a character that’s both playfully silly and deceptively emotional. In particular, the third film holds his methods up to the light and reveals a man still finding his place in the world. Though he’s always having a mirthful time despite being surrounded by mayhem and murder, both he and the movies he leads always have much more on their mind.

Magic: The Gathering gets a lot of new Commander Decks each year, but it’s been a while since Wizards of the Coast printed some ‘Starter’ decks.

The last time was 2022, and those decks are getting harder to find. Thankfully, one of them can be found in Amazon’s Black Friday deals, with a whopping saving of over 50% on a deck I hold near and dear to my heart - Draconic Destruction.

RedMagic is back with yet another smartphone touting extreme performance at a price that undercuts virtually anything you’d pit against it. With a starting price of $749 (alas, up from last year’s $649), the RedMagic 11 Pro brings Snapdragon’s latest flagship chip, stylish hardware, a stunning display, and gaming features that actually make a difference. It’s also gone a step beyond active air cooling this year, further solidifying its place among the best gaming phones out there. While there’s always some sacrifices to do that much while keeping the price down, you’ll just have to decide for yourself if those sacrifices add up to much.

RedMagic 11 Pro – Design and Features

The RedMagic 11 Pro still has the dazzle that’s made the past couple generations of this series so stunning. This includes slim bezels all the way around the display, an invisible selfie camera for a true fullscreen, a flat back with no camera bumps, and a transparent rear to show off RedMagic’s top-tier cooling solution.

On the RedMagic 11 Pro, that cooling includes the active air cooler that has been a mainstay of the series. This pulls air through a duct inside the phone to cool the CPU with vents on either of its long sides and an RGB turbine fan visible through the back. This time around, RedMagic has also built in a liquid cooling loop. While normally you wouldn’t be able to see the uniform fluid in motion, RedMagic has inserted two types of fluid to highlight the motion like a lava lamp. That’s all paired with a host of other heat-transfer materials and a large vapor chamber to spread and dissipate heat from the Snapdragon chip powering the phone.

In spite of these additions, the RedMagic 11 Pro hasn’t changed too much in terms of size or weight. It’s still a sizable phone at 6.45 x 3.01 x 0.35 inches (increasing no more than 0.02 inches in any dimension) and weighty at 8.11 ounces, but that’s not unusual for a smartphone with a screen as large as its 6.85 inches.

The display is mostly unchanged this year, with the same 1216x2688 resolution running at 144Hz. It’s not rated to run quite as bright, but with a peak of 1,800 nits, it’s still a stunning AMOLED display, offering vivid color and bold contrast for games and movies alike. The fact that the selfie camera doesn’t interrupt the display helps make it that much more engrossing. Like the selfie camera, a fingerprint scanner is also hidden under the display, and it works quickly and consistently.

The speakers pack a decent punch too with a satisfying sound. They can duck a little at max volume, but they’re otherwise solid. They’re not the only thing that makes sound, though. When the cooling fan kicks on, it also kicks up a shrill racket – a side effect of that of that 24,000 RPM – though it can manually be deactivated when not needed, even while gaming.

RedMagic has made a sturdy phone, too. It feels like a brick. The display and rear both get glass from Corning, though RedMagic doesn’t specify the type. The front includes a pre-applied screen protector that hasn’t scratched at all in my time testing. Impressively, the phone also comes with an IPX8 rating. That’s managed by having the air duct be an “independent cooling structure,” preventing water from getting into the rest of the system and damaging it.

The rest of the phone is familiar in good ways. It carries the torch for 3.5mm headphone jacks with a port at the top of the phone. It includes touch shoulder buttons that are handy for gaming and toggle to activate its special gaming launching. At the bottom edge you’ll find a dual SIM slot handy for travel (no eSIM though), and a USB-C port good for 10Gbps transfers and 80W wired charging. In spite of all its cooling hardware, the RedMagic 11 Pro still found room for a wireless charging pad that also offers 80W charging speeds.

RedMagic 11 Pro – Software

The RedMagic 11 Pro comes with Android 16 out of the box, and RedMagic is promising two years of OS updates (i.e., up to Android 18) and three years of security patches. Despite its gaming nature, the operating system doesn’t insist on a gaming theme, even offering the option of a more subtle background and icon theme for the device. It does still come with a bit of bloatware, including a bunch of games and tools pre-installed and the ever dubious Mora character, which now features an integrated chatbot that doesn’t work terribly well.

The Game Space continues to be a useful hub for changing game and performance settings. Not every setting is intuitive, but the app will provide some information the first time you run it that’ll be worth paying attention to. This year, it includes a new feature called AI trigger that automatically performs actions, which sounds almost like cheating. Getting it to work is another question entirely, as it relies on screenshots and AI recognition to decide when to perform an action, and the former makes no mention of which games it supports. Another new feature lets you swap your voice in-game for Mora’s voice, which is a surprising one to add because even the Mora app isn’t consistent about what her voice sounds like and the chatbot doesn’t use her voice at all.

Some useful tools still hang around, like the one for remapping the shoulder buttons and the motion controls, which let you make gestures with the phone to perform actions. I found this handy in games like Call of Duty, where I could reload by flipping the phone up briefly and swap weapons with a sideways twist.

RedMagic 11 Pro – Gaming and Performance

The RedMagic 11 Pro has style enough, but performance is where it is king. Few phones offer the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip so far. The OnePlus 15 is one, and that chip made it one of the fastest phones we’ve tested in a bunch of areas. The only reason it wasn’t the fastest was because it was tested alongside the RedMagic 11 Pro, which took things to another level still.

In Geekbench 6, the RedMagic 11 Pro offered the fastest multi-core performance we’ve seen by far, hitting a 11,248.5-point average, far outstripping the 9,339 points of the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and even the 10,100 of the OnePlus 15. In 3DMark’s graphics benchmarks, it also put all challengers behind it. In Wild Life Extreme, Steel Nomad Light, and Solar Bay, it led the pack. In those 3DMark tests, it averaged a 7.82% lead over the OnePlus 15, and from there, the gap only widened. It led the iPhone 17 Pro Max in Wild Life Extreme by a staggering 59.6%. Even against Snapdragon 8 Elite chips in a phone like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, the RedMagic 11 Pro pulled ahead by an average of 36.8%.

That translates to excellent gaming performance. The RedMagic 11 Pro was happy to max out the settings in every game I threw at it. More often, the limiting factor was what the game’s settings would allow – Wuthering Waves, Blue Protocol: Star Resonance, Call of Duty Mobile, War Thunder Mobile, Destiny: Rising, you name it.

The phone can get a little bit warm while gaming, but its cooling system proves capable. For most gaming, it didn’t even seem to need to max out its fans. And even when throwing it a gauntlet like the Steel Nomad Light Stress Test, it performed with 84.50% consistency. A stress test like that really heats things up, but even then the phone itself remained only warm to the touch. It even completed the Wild Life Extreme Stress Test that many reviewers have found the OnePlus 15 crashing out on (though the RedMagic 11 Pro gets quite hot in this test).

That level of extreme performance and the ability to sustain it even with mounting heat readily lets the RedMagic 11 Pro take the gaming crown. And naturally, that translates to smooth everyday operation, with the phone never feeling the least bit challenged with typical operation.

RedMagic includes the battery to match all that horsepower, slotting in a 7,500mAh pack that’s more than happy to go a couple of days without a recharge or sustain lengthy gameplay sessions.

The RedMagic 11 Pro seems to offer dependable networking as well. Testing with a T-Mobile SIM installed, I generally had a good signal and could see download speeds over 100Mbps.

RedMagic 11 Pro – Cameras

The cameras on the RedMagic 10 Pro weren’t all that impressive, and not much has changed this generation. Here are the sensors included on the phone:

• 50MP Wide, f/1.88, 1/1.55”, OIS, OV50E40
• 50MP ultrawide, f/2.0, 1/2.88”, OV50D40
• 2MP auxiliary sensor
• 16MP Selfie, f/2.0

As with earlier models, the RedMagic 11 Pro continues to slap a sizable banner watermark at the bottom of photos taken on it by default with no notice.

The main sensor on the RedMagic 11 Pro is solid. It captures some great close-up detail with lovely, natural color. Got pets? They’ll look great in front of this lens. It can snag some vibrant nature shots, too, though distant detail gets fuzzy. Digital zoom is also a wash, just showing off the lack of sharpness of those distant subjects.

The ultra-wide also falls short of the main sensor. Colors from it lack the vibrance of the main sensor, and it doesn’t compensate enough for its tighter aperture, producing noticeably darker images. That leads to unfortunate inconsistency between the two sensors.

While Sony opted for more drastic changes to its DualSense controller for PS5, Microsoft’s changes for the Series S and Series X generation were a little more conservative.

The Xbox Series S/X wireless controller comes in a ton of different colors (trust me, I’ve had to put them in this article), and they’re more of a refinement of the (already great) Xbox One pad.

Now, thanks to Amazon Resale Black Friday deals, you can snap one up for as little as $27.99.

Helldivers 2 is finally getting a minigun and other weapons fans have long-called for as part of the jungle-themed Python Commandos Warbond.

Due out December 2, the Python Commandos Premium Warbond adds new armor and weapons to Arrowhead’s explosive third-person action game. As well as the new minigun, which Helldivers 2 has been crying out for since launch, the warbond includes a chainsword and a flame dog.

But it’s the minigun that’s the star here, and this, coupled with the jungle theme rekindles memories of the original Predator movie, in which Jesse Ventura fired a minigun called ‘Old Painless’ at hapless enemy soldiers as well as a Yautja, while uttering the iconic line: “I ain't got time to bleed.”

Of course, if you’re fighting back against the Automatons, perhaps Helldivers 2’s new minigun will give off Terminator 2 vibes. After all, Arnold Schwarzenegger was partial to the occasional minigun, wasn’t he? At least he kept those cops alive.

In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Katherine Baskin, Social Media and Community Manager at Arrowhead, leaned into the long overdue arrival of the minigun with a fun, in-universe message to players:

“The Ministry of Defense received thousands of requests from squad commanders for a minigun and we’re excited to finally give our Helldivers access to the M-1000 Maxigun! Belt-fed with ultra-high ammo capacity, this one is sure to make those bugs bleed."

The AX/FLAM-75 “Guard Dog” Hot Dog, meanwhile, is a drone equipped with a flamethrower “to coat your foes in the fires of freedom before returning to your backpack to refuel.” And then there’s the CQC-9 Defoliation Tool, which very much looks like a chainsword that the Emperor of the grimdark 41st millennium would approve of.

The new primary weapon is a combination assault rifle and grenade launcher called the AR/GL-21 One-Two. “Heavy to wield, but the damage dealt is heavy too, making your primary slot more versatile than ever with two guns in one,” Arrowhead explained. check out images of all the new weapons in the slideshow of screenshots, below.

The armor, too, leans into the Predator vibes. The RS-20 Constrictor light armor set is the official uniform for the League of Patriotic Arm Wrestlers, “so it’s guaranteed to give your squad bigger and more rippling biceps to intimidate the enemy.” Arrowhead! You son of a bitch!

And here’s a fun Rambo reference: “but if you’re carrying the team, maybe you need the RS-40 Best of Prey: a heavy armor set patterned after legendary Helldiver, Ronald Mambo and his famously powerful and burly physique.”

Both of these armors are equipped with the Rock Solid passive, which makes your Helldiver more steadfast against staggering and ragdolling attacks.

You’ll also have two capes and coordinating player cards available: Foe Rent Asunder, which is pre-tattered to give a battle-worn appearance, and Mark of the Constrictor, for Helldivers "who strangle out any anti-democratic behavior they encounter." Lovely stuff.

If you're hunting for the best offers this week, we're actively rounding up the strongest Black Friday deals on video games, tech, and more. You can find all our top picks and price drops in our full Black Friday hub, or check out our relevant pages for PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox deals.

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.

The official PlayStation Black Friday sale has chopped $100 off every PS5 model, including the most powerful console on the market, the PS5 Pro.

Sony's top-tier machine has dropped to $649 for the week (down from $749), matching the lowest price it hit during Days of Play, and that puts the spotlight squarely on whether the upgrade is finally worth it. Personally, I think it is.

PlayStation 5 Pro Consoles Are $100 Off for Black Friday 2025

Limited edition Ghost of Yotei PS5 bundles are also on offer, now $499.99 down from $599.99, and include a matching DualSense controller plus a copy of the game.

Compared to buying the console and game separately, that’s around $20 in savings, plus a striking special edition design for your setup.

Other standout deals include $100 off PlayStation VR2 bundles, $20 off DualSense controllers, and discounts on games like Astro Bot ($39.99) and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater ($30).

As a reminder, these offers run through December 1, so if you’ve been waiting for a PS5 upgrade, Sony is making it hard to resist.

Should You Wait for Black Friday on November 28?

Like I mentioned, Black Friday deals tend to be a little confusing these days. Most retailers will tease plenty of limited time offers throught the whole of November, but the real discounts tend to not come out until at least a week before "Black Friday proper" as I like to call it.

I've been doing this for six years, and in my experience, PlayStation deals tend to stay exactly the same throughout the whole sale.

So if you've been waiting for a good deal on a PS5, controller, or game, these are the deals we're getting. Have no fear, there will be no Black Friday regrets come December, go forth and make any of the purchases you've been eyeing up.

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.