If you're in the market for a new gaming PC or laptop, Alienware should top your wishlist. The brand has been around for ages and has always been considered a premium option that features bold aesthetics, powerful performance, reliable warranty. Alienware holds a few big sales throughout the year where it offers huge discounts on gaming laptops and PCS that normally cost a premium, and Cyber Monday is one of those sales.

If you missed Black Friday, there's no reason to fret. Dell's Cyber Monday Sale is still live and some prices are actually lower that what I saw on Friday. This is the best opportunity to stretch your dollar and get the most powerful Alienware gaming PC or laptop your budget allows. Play the latest games like Battlefield 6 or Ghost of Yotei in glorious 4k with buttery smooth framerates, but also future-proof your PC for the next generation of games. If you're looking for even deeper discounts, check out some incredible price drops on refurbished "Like New" computers at Dell Outlet.

Alienware Aurora R16 Gaming PC Deals

The Aurora R16 is Alienware's bread and butter gaming PC. It can be equipped with an Nvidia RTX 5060 graphics card all the way up to an RTX 5080 and the prices for Cyber Monday are extremely competitive with other brands. For example, currently Alienware has the least expensive prebuilt RTX 5080 gaming PC that I've found anywhere. Most of these systems are customizable, however it's not difficult to upgrade your own RAM and storage yourself.

Alienware Area-51 Gaming PC Deals

If you're seeking the absolute best of the best in PC gaming performance, look no further. Dell unveiled the new Alienware Area-51 gaming PC at CES 2025. The chassis is a super-sized upgrade to the Aurora R16 system with aesthetic and cooling redesigns. The internal components have been refreshed with a new motherboard, faster RAM, and bigger power supply to accommodate the new generation of CPUs and GPUs. With a high-end system like this, it's only fitting that it be equipped with an RTX 5080 or RTX 5090 graphics card, so these are the configurations I've listed here. Note that Dell Outlet refurbished PCs come with the same warranty as buying new.

Alienware Aurora Gaming Laptop Deals

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.

Alienware Area-51 Gaming Laptop Deals

Alienware 18 Area-51 (18")

Alienware 16 Area-51 (16")

The Area-51 is Alienware's new flagship gaming laptop for 2025. It 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.

Gaming Monitor Deals

Dell makes some of the highest quality gaming monitors around. They're easily on par with the best that other brands like Samsung, LG, and Asus have to offer. For Cyber Monday, they're also incredibly well-priced. For example, the venerable 34" Alienware AW3423DWF Qfor $499.99 is the lower price I've ever seen for a 34" OLED monitor. By the way, if you do opt for a Dell or Alienware OLED monitor, you also get a 3 year warranty that includes OLED burn-in protection.

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.

Superhero blockbuster and Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Infinity Saga bookend Avengers: Endgame will return to theaters for the first time since 2019 next year.

Marvel Studios confirmed plans to bring the last Avengers movie back to the big screen September 2026 with a social media post and short video teaser. It’s a nostalgia pull that calls back not only to the crossover film’s iconic “on your left” moment but also the viral audience reactions that came with it.

Avengers: Endgame — Back in theaters, September 2026. pic.twitter.com/PRmW9pEAxm

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) December 5, 2025

THR reports that Avengers: Endgame is set for a September 25 premiere, specifically, though it’s unclear how long it will stick around in theaters. There’s currently no explanation as to why Marvel seems to have opted out of bringing back the story’s first half, Infinity War, to tie a bow with the full package.

However, we can probably guess why the comic book company is looking to bring back its massively successful superhero team-up film in 2026. Across its April 2019 premiere and June 2019 theatrical victory lap, Avengers: Endgame managed to rack up a box office total of a whopping $2.8 billion (via Box Office Mojo). It’s a number that saw the MCU Phase Three event film earning a record-shattering opening weekend and eventually following James Cameron’s Avatar ($2.92 billion) as the second-highest-grossing film of all time.

Avengers: Endgame proved to be quite the moment for the movie world, as theatergoers lined up to see how Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, and other Marvel mainstays would finally take down Thanos. Now, Marvel seems to be looking to give those numbers another boost as it barrels toward its first superhero team-up flick in six years with Avengers: Doomsday.

The film, which features MCU veterans Joe and Anthony Russo back as directors, is set for a December 18, 2026, release date. The Marvel calendar has the movie set to follow Tom Holland’s long-awaited return as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Brand New Day come July 31, 2026. It’s a plan that has the Avengers: Endgame re-release hitting theaters perfectly between the two new entries, giving die-hard fans the chance to keep the hype going between releases.

While we wait for more details, you can check out our original 9.5/10 Avengers: Endgame review. You can also read up on the list of the top 10 highest-grossing Marvel movies of all time.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

The weird, sprawling saga of Warner Bros. Discovery just dropped another major plot twist, as Netflix has seemingly emerged victorious in the bidding war over the company. This means that Netflix, already one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world, will now control the film and TV rights to franchises like Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and, of course, DC. Batman is now a Netflix character (provided the acquisition is approved by federal regulators, that is).

This new deal raises many, many questions about the future of Warner Bros. as a studio and what this means for theatrical distribution, many of which will only be answered in the months and years to come. But for many superhero fans, the biggest question is what this all means for DC Entertainment, a company that has already experienced more than its fair share of turmoil in recent years. Let’s explore why the best-case scenario for DC right now is simply business as usual.

A Decade of Turmoil at DC

DC’s leadership has been nothing if not tumultuous over the past decade. Back in 2016, Warners ushered in the era of DC Films, with Geoff Johns and Jon Berg serving as co-chairmen of the division. But after films like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League underperformed, Johns stepped down in favor of Walter Hamada in 2018.

Despite the success of 2018’s Aquaman and 2019’s Joker, the DC brand remained on rocky footing, leading Hamada himself to leave the company in 2022. Thus began a brief bloodbath where several parties jockeyed for control of DC’s future, including Black Adam star Dwayne Johnson. Only in 2023 did things settle down when James Gunn and Peter Safran were announced as the new co-CEOs of the rebranded DC Studios and the sun finally, officially set on the DC Extended Universe.

Nor has this behind-the-scenes chaos been limited to DC’s film and TV division. The publishing side has also seen some big shake-ups in recent years. DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson left the company in 2018. In 2019, DC laid off approximately 3% of its staff, and co-publisher Dan DiDio left the company later that year, cutting short plans for the controversial 5G initiative that would have replaced DC’s iconic cast of heroes with a new generation of characters. Currently, DC’s publishing division is overseen by President, Publisher, and Chief Creative Officer Jim Lee and Editor-in-Chief Marie Javins.

In short, this is a lot of chaos for any one company to endure in such a relatively short span of time. There’s been a tangible lack of consistency and direction behind the DC brand for a long time now. Just look at the latter years of the DCEU, with the company afraid to leave behind the foundation established in Zack Snyder’s films but simultaneously failing to build on that foundation in a meaningful way. And all the while, box office returns steadily plummeted.

Meanwhile, DC continued to struggle in other media. 2024’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League proved that even the mighty Rocksteady can miss with the DC brand. Over on the comics side, while the 5G reboot and its accompanying revamped DC timeline were certainly ambitious, they threatened to undo all the goodwill DC had only recently recaptured through the DC Rebirth initiative.

DC was badly in need of a consistent, steady vision by the time Gunn and Safran were hired to right the ship in 2023. And while it’s far too early to say whether they’ve accomplished that goal, the early signs are certainly promising. Superman was the box office success DC sorely needed after a truly disastrous 2023 and 2024 film slate. Creature Commandos and Peacemaker have established a strong track record for the DCU on the streaming front. And as for the comics, the Lee/Javins era of DC Comics has been truly great, most notably giving us the chart-topping Absolute Universe imprint.

Things are finally looking up for DC, which is exactly why the chaos and confusion of the Netflix acquisition is an unwelcome development. The very last thing this company needs is another regime change or a fundamental pivot.

Why Netflix Needs to Trust the Plan

It’s going to take some time for Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery to be approved and completed (and there are any number of things that could go wrong along the way). But once all the t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted, Netflix is going to have a massive pile of new IP to play with. Which then begs the question, do they continue following Warners’ roadmap for these franchises or start fresh?

It’s hard to imagine Netflix changing course with the Harry Potter and Game of Thrones series. They’ll be inheriting a Harry Potter series in the midst of adapting the original novels and an ever-growing slate of Game of Thrones spinoffs. No reason to rock those boats. But with DC, there’s always a danger that Netflix will want to wipe the slate clean and start a brand new shared universe of films and shows from the ground up for their streaming service.

We can only hope the company resists that particular urge. After so many years of creative turmoil and leadership shake-ups, the very last thing DC needs right now is change. Gunn and Safran need to be left alone to cook. We’ve only gotten one live-action DCU movie so far in Superman, which will be followed in 2026 by Supergirl and Clayface and in 2027 by Gunn’s Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow. On the TV front, we’ve only seen the barest glimpse of 2026’s Lanterns and the other shows that will make up this new universe.

Clearly, there’s a plan in place. Gunn even has a name for it - “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters.” But we’re still in the very early stages of that plan. As much as things are looking up for DC after a bad few years, we’re still very much in the rebuilding stage right now. Gunn’s Superman did respectably well at the box office (narrowly beating 2013’s Man of Steel domestically), but one might argue that a big-budget Superman reboot by the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy should have performed better. Repairing the damage done to the DC brand is a long-term, ongoing process.

Netflix needs to commit to letting that process continue to play out, not tossing everything out and starting over yet again. We just found the ideal live-action Superman in David Corenswet. Don’t start that agonising process all over again.

And what of DC Comics in all of this? Is DC’s publishing division even a blip on Netflix’s radar? Will they have any interest in overseeing a comic book publisher, or simply license DC’s characters out to other companies? Again, DC Comics has been in a very good place these past couple of years, so the ideal scenario is that Netflix stays as hands-off with the division as it has Mark Millar’s Millarworld line. Let DC Comics continue to operate as it has these past few years, producing good, character-driven stories that can be adapted in other media.

If Netflix wants to make waves anywhere with the DC brand, it should be with the games division. While somewhat overshadowed in the initial announcement, it’s been confirmed that Netflix will take ownership of WB Games along with everything else. With all the movies Netflix has been making into the interactive games space lately, they may well have big plans for the developers and IP now coming under their umbrella.

As it is, WB Games has hardly been making the best use of the DC brand in recent years. Games like 2022’s Gotham Knights and the aforementioned Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League were big disappointments, while the much-anticipated Wonder Woman game has been canceled after a long, chaotic development cycle. Meanwhile, as much as Gunn and Safran seem to be including the games in their long-term plans for the DC line, that has yet to yield any concrete announcements. Hopefully, having Netflix’s resources to bring to bear can only mean better things for DC’s future gaming slate.

But beyond the games, the best thing that can happen for DC in the midst of this merger is nothing at all. After so many years of shifting leadership and pivots in direction, what DC needs is stability, consistency, and a chance to win back moviegoers still skeptical of the brand. What it doesn’t need is a new captain at the helm or yet another reboot. Just trust that Gunn and company know what they’re doing and leave it at that.

Should Netflix overhaul the approach to the DC brand, or do you want to see Gunn and Safran continue their vision for the DCU? Vote in our poll and let us know your thoughts in the comments below:

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

Nintendo and LEGO fans rejoice, because one of our favorite sets just got a major discount ahead of the holidays. Amazon has lowered the price of the LEGO Super Mario Piranha Plant 71426 to just $35.99 after a 40% off instant discount. This happens to just barely clear the free shipping threshold for non-Prime members. The 18+ rating means that this set is relatively challenging, but I've built this one myself and I think it's a great set for builders of all ages. It would make a pretty amazing gift for the holidays and, unlike many new LEGO sets, won't cost an arm and a leg.

40% Off LEGO Super Mario Piranha Plant 71426

Released in two parts, Kill Bill was originally envisioned as a single experience, which has been teased since at least 2008. Now, audiences can finally get a taste of The Whole Bloody Affair across a gargantuan 275-minute runtime (including an intermission), as the unified version of Quentin Tarantino’s sprawling revenge saga roars into theaters after having been screened only sporadically over the decades.

The film is as vicious, fun, and sentimental as it’s always been, and although you could technically rewatch Vol. 1 (2003) back-to-back with Vol. 2 (2004) for a similar experience, nothing rivals the delights of watching Tarantino’s cross-cultural mash-up the way it was meant to be seen. At a micro level, the changes between the duology and the complete epic vary from a few shots to an entire 2D animated sequence (as well as a Fortnite-centric “lost chapter” that plays after the credits). However, the story’s emotional rhythms are also cemented far more firmly this time around. Watching Uma Thurman’s “Bride” — a.k.a. Kiddo, Arlene, Black Mamba, or B-[REDACTED] — tear her way through masked henchmen with a katana in Vol. 1 always felt like a markedly different experience from the more introspective sequel, but the two halves echo each other in more meaningful ways when watched in the same sitting.

For the uninitiated, Kill Bill traces the Bride’s non-linear, globetrotting journey after she awakens from a four-year coma and begins exacting bloody vengeance on her former assassin squad who tried to kill her on her wedding day. Adding to the emotional stakes is the fact that she was pregnant at the time, and now believes her child to be dead – a flourish Tarantino added when Thurman, his Pulp Fiction star, became a mother herself. The result is a fiery lead performance that lives on the edge of melodrama but never tips over into irony. No matter the mayhem on screen, it always feels personal. Recurring images of the wedding chapel massacre add fuel to the fire, but the story remains just as much about a vengeful killing spree as it does about the nature of revenge itself, as well as the way violence curdles the soul.

Of course, Kill Bill is the kind of movie that tries to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to this central theme. It’s a film that revels in the cartoonish blood spatter of classic samurai fare while also featuring harsh close-ups of a bruised and battered bride, presenting two dueling forms of bloodshed. On the one hand, there’s the righteous and ludicrously enjoyable violence of hacked limbs and severed scalps; on the other, the wince-inducing, unapologetically evil violence that robs a woman of her autonomy. It’s a cognitive dissonance the movie never fully resolves, but by the end, neither does the Bride. In fact, she seems consumed by this contradiction, and watching all ten chapters laid out end-to-end practically justifies Tarantino’s refusal to untie these emotional knots. Each vignette works perfectly in and of itself, and if that makes the whole thing a thornier predicament, then so be it.

Two decades on, the story, designs, and characters are as vibrant as they’ve ever been, from the Bride clad in Bruce Lee yellow slicing her way through the House of Blue Leaves (a sequence now entirely in color, emphasizing Robert Richardon’s resplendent cinematography) to the slick charms of David Carradine’s titular villain, who warps the whiz-bang saga into something far more melancholy whenever he’s on screen. Lucy Liu’s icy yakuza boss O-Ren Ishii remains a particular highlight, especially now that she receives an expanded backstory courtesy of an additional anime sequence that adds to her ruthless drive. An additional shot of a sliced hand is really the only major visual update in live action, but the movie’s structure is also impacted by the placement of a key reveal. What was once a cliffhanger at the end of Vol. 1, meant to hook audiences for a sequel, is now a shocking plot twist near the end. This may not change things for long-time fans, but going forward, it ensures that new viewers will never have more information than the Bride, resulting in emotional beats that perfectly map onto her journey.

A handful of theaters are showing the new release on pristine 70mm and 35mm film prints, which – if you’re lucky by way of geography – only adds to the splendor of Tarantino’s cinematic remix. It’s perhaps the mash-up maverick’s most overt work of cultural bastardization-slash-homage, a thin line he traipses with gusto by combining the sounds and styles of spaghetti Westerns, spy B movies, Japanese chanbara (or swordplay) and Chinese wuxia, all choreographed by Hong Kong stunt legend Yuen Woo-ping. However, the long-overdue release is also a more mournful tribute to bygone eras of cinema, simply by virtue of the passage of time: Many of its stars have since departed, including David Carradine, Sonny Chiba, Michael Madsen, and Michael Parks, as well as the film’s editor, Sally Menke. Kill Bill should have always been this way, but it’s better late than never.

Over the past few console generations with built-in storage, gamers were typically stuck with however much space that came with the console. With the PS5, Sony made a surprising move by including an internal M.2 PCIe slot to install an off-the-shelf SSD to supplement the internal storage. Given that this is the same company that paired the PS Vita and PSP with ludicrously expensive memory cards, this was a welcome change of pace, especially given the paltry 825GB of storage you have to work with. Now you can install high-end PC SSDs like the Corsair MP600 Pro LPX, our No. 1 pick, to load even more games nearly as fast as the extra-special drive that's built into the console itself.

TL;DR - These Are the Best SSDs for PS5:

There are a few restrictions. First, you need a PCIe 4.0 or Gen 4 drive or better. This interface allows for SSD speeds up to 7,500MB/s, which is a huge improvement over the 3,500MB/s for Gen 3 M.2 SSDs. You're also going to need an M.2 drive. The actual physical size of the drive doesn't matter, with the PS5 having screw holes for every size of M.2 drive on the market right now. However, most of the time you're going to want to stick with an M.2 2280 drive – they're the most common M.2 drives on the market.

We also recommend getting an SSD with a built-in heatsink. There are size restrictions on the heatsink itself; it can't be taller than 11.25mm. Luckily, there really aren't many SSDs out there that won't fit. Your PS5 SSD needs a heatsink because PCIe 4.0 SSDs have a tendency to create a lot of heat when under load, and the little cubby where the SSD slot is located isn't exactly ideal for passive airflow over the drive itself. So, you'll need a heatsink just to make sure your drive doesn't overheat and throttle its performance. You can either get an SSD with a built-in heatsink, or get a seperate heatsink – either way will work just fine.

As for capacity, choose however much storage you think you'll need. Most people will probably be fine sticking with a 1TB drive to supplement their system. This will essentially double your available storage, and can store a ton of games, or at least allow you to install Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and, like, two other games. You can, of course, splurge for a giant 4TB drive and create a huge archive of games, just be aware that these capacious drives have a much higher price tag.

• If you're an Xbox owner, see our roundup of the best SSDs for Xbox Series X

PS5 SSD Basics

A healthy amount of SSDs are available that pair perfectly with the PS5’s M.2 slot. Given there’s more competition in the space than even just a couple of years ago, you’ll find plenty of high-speed, low-cost drives for a sub-$100 price tag. If you’re looking to amp up storage, you’ll find the price of these drives rises exponentially; bigger drives, like the 8TB SSD from Western Digital, will run you well over $500.

You’ll want to ensure you install an NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD with maximum dimensions of 110mm x 25mm x 11.25mm or 4.33" x 0.984" x 0.442", including the heatsink. Clearly, the PS5 has some cramped, shallow quarters, leading to high temps, rendering a heatsink necessary to prevent bottlenecking or damage to the drive. Luckily, most drives come with an optional heatsink, but if you need to venture out on your own to grab one, be sure it fits height requirements of under 8mm above the SSD or 2.45mm below.

Beyond size requirements, you'll need at least a PCIe 4.0 SSD, that can reach sequential read speeds of 5500MB/s or faster. Most SSDs will have a rated sequential read speed and write speed advertised, so you can get a pretty good idea of how fast it'll be by looking at the box. When you go to install a PS5 SSD, it will run the drive through its own speed test, which will tell you definitively if it's fast enough to run PS5 games. In my experience, this speed test peaks at around 6,500MB/s, so drives that are significantly faster than this aren't really worth getting for the PS5. These days, most PCIe 4.0 drives are rated for aroun 7,000–7,500MB/s, so you'll be spoiled for choice.

Another thing you're going to want to take a look at is the warranty of the drive. This is more than just marketing hype, most SSDs will be rated for an amount of time, usually five years, along with an endurance rating, measured in TBW. This stands for 'Terabytes Written' and measures how much data can theoretically be written to the drive over its lifespan before it fails. This doesn't mean that a drive rated for 700TBW will fail after you fill it 700 times, but instead that it should last at least until that point.

You'll also want to look at the type of NAND memory the SSD is built from. There are three types of NAND that are typically used: QLC, TLC and MLC. The main difference between the three are endurance, with QLC lasting the least amount of time, and MLC being the most durable. Of course, this will also affect the price of the drive, with QLC drives usually being the most affordable drives on the market, with MLC NAND typically found on the most expensive SSDs on the market, and are generally meant for creative professionals, rather than gamers. All of the drives on this list are using TLC NAND, which naturally falls somewhere in the middle.

Given the PS5 only offers 825GB of space and the PS5 Slim has 1TB, you’ll more than likely want and/or need more storage. Games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Baldur’s Gate 3 take up well over 100GB each when installed, so your storage will fill up quickly. The M.2 expansion slot lets you add 250GB–8TB of speedy internal storage. 1TB seems to be the sweet spot between capacity and price, but if you’re looking to put your massive gaming library on one console, you’ll want even more space. Luckily, most mainstream PCIe 4.0 SSDs come in capacities up to 4TB, so you can really build up a library if you have the budget for it.

Beyond an internal SSD, which should be your preferred storage option, you can use an external hard drive. Some external SSD offerings hit relatively high speeds. You can’t run PS5 games on them. However, it will save you the hassle of redownloading larger games, and PS4 titles can be played right on the drive.

Looking for assistance in installing your PS5 SSD after puchase? Be sure to check out our guide on how to upgrade your PS5 storage. Luckily, you don't need to be hardware aficionado to figure it out.

1. Corsair MP600 Pro LPX

Best PS5 SSD

2. Crucial T500

Best Budget PS5 SSD

The Crucial T500 is the best-value SSD around, with nice performance bump from P5 Plus, which previously held this spot. For just over $100, it's a drive offering 1TB of storage with a heatsink attached – only $15 more than the non-heatsink model – and is perfectly sized to slot into the cramped quarters of the PS5. Not only does this drive double the storage on the console, but the hassle of finding and spending extra cash on an absolutely necessary heatsink that fits can be avoided.

Afraid of losing fast speeds with such a great-priced SSD? Don’t be: The T500 keeps up with the best high-performance drives thanks to the Micron TLC 3D NAND flash memory – a solid step up from the QLC NAND seen in many budget SSDs. Max read speeds of up to 7,300 MB/s can be expected from the 1TB drive. Write speeds aren’t shabby either, hitting up to 6,800MB/S. So, everything from game boots and saves to transferring massive gameplay clips will be fast and seamless.

If 1TB doesn’t seem like enough storage, bumping up to the Crucial T500 2TB SSD sees a big increase in storage space and even faster speeds. The TBW rating is also doubled to 1,200 compared to the 1TB drive, though it still offers the same five-year warranty found on most SSDs. Unfortunately, a 4TB option isn’t available for the biggest game library.

3. Samsung 990 Evo Plus

Best PS5 SSD Without Heatsink

While you can spend a lot of cash on a PS5 SSD, I’ve always preferred drives that deliver excellent performance without a bloated price tag. That’s essentially what the Samsung 990 Evo Plus provides. It does have a lower endurance rating than the more expensive 990 Pro, but that’s not something you really have to worry about if you’re plugging an SSD into a console. Plus, the 2TB drive I tested is still rated for 1,200 TBW, which is more than most gamers will ever actually use.

What’s more important is speed. While the drive is rated for up to 7,250MB/s sequential read speeds, the PS5 storage test that runs when you install a new drive rated it at 6,137MB/s. That’s still more than fast enough for PS5 games to run on it, and in my testing, it loaded Metaphor: Refantazio in just 4.37 seconds, a bit faster than the native drive at 4.47 seconds. That’s just a 10ms difference in loading time, but hey, at least you know it’s not going to load your games slower, right?

One thing to keep in mind is that the Samsung 990 Evo Plus is a DRAM-less SSD, which means lower peak performance in pro workloads. However, while it does mean this drive has lower peak performance than it would with a dedicated DRAM cache built-in, the PS5 can’t take advantage of its full rated speed anyways, so it really doesn’t matter. What does matter, though, is Samsung doesn’t currently sell the Samsung 990 Evo Plus with a heatsink attached, which means you’re going to need to pair it with one of your own. Luckily, SSD heatsinks are generally just a few bucks on Amazon, and you could probably get away without one, too.

4. Samsung 9100 Pro

The Overkill PCIe 5.0 SSD for PS5

5. WD_Black P40

Best External SSD for PS5

PS5 SSD FAQ

Is an SSD worth it for PS5?

A good chunk of the PS5’s internal 825GB SSD is taken up by system files, leaving you with a little over 650GB of usable storage space. The PS5 Slim adds a bit more storage, and the PS5 Pro further increases the storage up to 2TB. If you dedicate yourself to only a few games at a time, those smaller storage amounts should probably be enough. But if you like having several games on the go, or are a fiend for live service games that tend to balloon in size as more updates and content packs are added, you’ll soon find yourself hitting the limits of the PS5’s storage. At that point, get yourself an SSD. It's one of the best PS5 accessories you can invest in.

What speed SSD should I get for PS5?

You’ll need an SSD that’s rated with a read speed of at least 5,500MB/s. In practice, it’s difficult not to find a PCIE 4.0 drive that ticks that box. The higher the speed the better, but keep in mind that the PS5 only really supports speeds up to 6,500MB/s. Getting a faster drive than that certainly won't hurt anything, but the system will bottleneck faster drives, especially PCIe 5.0 SSDs that can have read speeds that reach 14,700MB/s or more.

When is the best time to buy a PS5 SSD?

PS5 SSDs are a surprisingly expensive add on to any PS5 console purchase. Prices have dropped pretty signicantly over the years, but if you're hoping to save as much money as possible, there are a few different times that are best for buying an SSD. The first big one is Amazon Prime Day, which usually takes place in July every year. After that, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are an excellent time to find big discounts on PS5 SSDs online.

Are PCIe 5.0 SSDs worth it for the PS5?

Not really. The PS5 supports PCIe 4.0, and though PCIe 5.0 drives are backward compatible with PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 3.0, the console can’t take advantage of the full read and write speeds of the latest drives. That means it’s not worth the extra money, especially when you can often find PCIe 4.0 SSDs for far less.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

Addditional contributions by Danielle Abraham and Callum Bains

We’re in the final weeks of 2025, and if you’re looking to start up the new year with a fresh selection of PC games, the Humble Choice December lineup is here to provide. This month’s selection features eight games - including Nine Sols, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, Streets of Rage 4, and more - alongside a month of IGN Plus for $14.99 when you sign up for a Humble Choice membership.

Humble Choice December 2025 Game Lineup

Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be over, but Sonos has decided to continue the deals extravaganza with a new 48-hour Cyber Sale. For Tuesday and Wednesday, you can score some new discounts on select certified refurbished soundbars, speakers, and subs. Sonos refurbished products come like new, in pristine packaging with all the original accessories. They even come with the same one year warranty as a brand new product.

Sonos Era 100 Smart Speaker

Do you have an insatiable titan-sized appetite for anime and live music? Then you'll be happy to know The Wild Faery Company is bringing back the "Attack on Titan - Beyond the Walls" tour to the United States in 2026. There are 18 cities on the menu, starting in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on February 28 and ending in Salt Lake City, Utah, on March 29.

2025's "Attack on Titan - Beyond the Walls" world tour brought thousands of Attack on Titan fans together for a night of live orchestrated music accompanied by clips of epic titan battles from the hit anime that ran for 10 years starting in 2013. There were 51 performances in total, capped off with the finale at New York City's Carnegie Hall on November 1. The tour visited other venues of note, including the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, OVO Arena near London, and the Sydney Opera House.

"Attack on Titan - Beyond the Walls" combines live orchestra and hard rock to bring new life to the music from series composers Hiroyuki Sawano (composer for seasons 1, 2, and 3) and Kohta Yamamoto (composer for the final season). You can expect to hear fan-favorite tracks like "Counter Attack-Mankind," "At'aek ON Taitn," "Apple Seed," and "Footsteps of Doom."

Check the list of shows below to find the performance that's closest to you.

For tickets & more information, visit HERE !

Event Calendar:

• Ft Lauderdale, FL – Broward Center – Au Rene – February 28, 2026
• Tampa, FL – Straz Center –March 1, 2026
• Charlotte, NC – Ovens Auditorium – March 3, 2026
• Durham, NC – DPAC – March 4, 2026
• Washington, DC – DAR Constitution Hall – March 6, 2026
• Columbus, OH – Palace Theatre – March 7, 2026
• Cleveland, OH – State Theatre – March 10, 2026
• Detroit, MI – Fox Theatre – March 11, 2026
• Milwaukee, WI – Riverside Theatre – March 12, 2026
• St Louis, MO – The Fabulous Fox – March 13, 2026
• Kansas City, MO – Music Hall – March 14, 2026
• Sugar Land, TX – Smart Financial Centre – March 17, 2026
• Austin, TX – Bass Concert Hall – March 18, 2026
• Denver, CO – Bellco Theatre – March 21, 2026
• Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre – March 23, 2026
• Sacramento, CA – Memorial Auditorium – March 26, 2026
• Portland, OR – Keller Auditorium – March 27, 2026
• Salt Lake City, UT – Abbravanel Hall – March 29, 2026

To get the latest updates, you can follow:

• The Wild Faery on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
• Innovation A&E on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren has called on the Justice Department to examine Netflix's $82.7 billion buyout of Warner Bros., and branded the deal as "like an anti-monopoly nightmare."

The prominent politician is among the first to speak out against the proposed deal, which Netflix and Warner Bros. announced early this morning, and said would provide better value to subscribers and shareholders.

In contrast, Warren has highlighted the risks of the potential merger — which, if approved, will be finalized in the second half of 2026. In a statement, Warren said a Netflix-owned Warner Bros. risked job losses and higher subscription prices, and said that the Justice Department must now enforce the country's anti-monopoly laws "fairly and transparently."

Jessica Alba got real about her least favorite scene to shoot as Sue Storm in the 2005 film Fantastic Four 20 years later — a “humiliating” one where her character reappeared completely naked over a bridge.

“I thought that was awful,” she said while giving an expansive talk on her career at the Red Sea Film Festival. “It was very humiliating in real life. I grew up with a pretty conservative family, and I am a pretty modest person. I dreaded that scene for weeks. I have a lot of whiplash from those days.”

That said, Alba went on to say that she “loved” playing the character and breaking gender stereotypes in superhero media with the role. “She was a woman I looked up to,” she explained. “She was very maternal and very kind, but also not a pushover; she spoke her mind. She had a great moral compass. No matter who you are, you can look up to her. Oftentimes, the women in these stories need to be saved by a guy or the villain, the problem in the story. This was back then. It’s different now.”

Interestingly enough, Alba hasn’t had a chance to catch her successor, Vanessa Kirby, try her hand at Sue Storm in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. “I usually watch those movies with my kids, and if Sonic was out, my son wants to watch it 85 times in a row. When it comes to movies that are for the family, my kids dominate what we watch for sure,” she revealed during the talk. “But I have to convince him because we have to see it! I love Marvel, and they’re so fun.”

Alba took on the role of Sue Storm in the 2005 entry and the 2007 sequel film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. After her, Kate Mara played the role in the 2015 reboot film. Last year, Alba said she would "jump at the chance" to reprise her Fantastic Four role, but confirmed Marvel Studios has yet to approach her about a return.

Marvel rebooted The Fantastic Four with Vanessa Kirby taking on the role of Sue Storm alongside Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch.

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

XD released Sword of Convallaria, a tactical RPG for iOS, Android, and PC to audiences in the west in August ’24 (around a year after the game’s East Asian launch). Heavily influenced by Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics, the game has captivated fans with its meticulously crafted war story and highly strategic battles, all played out to a beautiful soundtrack.

Just over a year following its release, a truly major collaboration between Sword of Convallaria: For This World of Peace and CD PROJEKT RED's open-world RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been fully realised and delivered to gamers. Geralt, Yennefer, Triss, and Ciri now appear in Sword of Convallaria as playable characters; allowing players to enjoy collaborative stories and quests surrounding the Lord of the Forest from another world.

The studio behind the Postal franchise just announced that it will be publishing a brand new Postal game, to be developed by Goonswarm Games. Unfortunately, it even more recently announced it would be cancelling said game, due to accusations that Goonswarm had used generative AI in its development. And now, Goonswarm is shutting down.

The game, entitled Postal: Bullet Paradise, was announced earlier this week on Wednesday with a reveal trailer and press release. It purports to be a "timeline-hopping, dystopian bullet heavne first-person shooter" set in the Postal universe, where players can select from 11 unlockable Postal Dudes from different timelines and, well, shoot people.

However, not long after the trailer debuted, Postal fans began pointing out that the game had a lot of hallmarks of assets made with generative AI. When we went to embed the trailer into this article for you to watch, our access to the video file had been cut off and the official version had been removed from YouTube. You can still watch it through the Steam page here and judge for yourself.

Checking in on the Postal subreddit, you can see some of the feedback. Fan spoint out that the pixel sprites' mouths "don't make sense", and elements such as shading and pixel placement are off somehow. They also point out that Goonswarm has almost certainly used generative AI in its games before (a close watch of this trailer has a number of pretty obvious indicators), making it not impossible that it would do so again.

When accusations initially began flying, both Goonswarm and Running With Scissors denied the use of generative AI. As Goonswarm told PCGamesN in a statement:

No generative AI was used for the reveal trailer or for the game. All assets were created by our human artists using standard tools. We've already shared layered PSDs, work-in-progress files, and other materials to confirm this. Any mistakes or rough spots in those files are being misinterpreted as 'proof' of AI, but they simply reflect the normal, human art-creation process

Meanwhile, while Running With Scissors initially promised to investigate further, studio co-owner Mike Jeret angered the Postal audience further by not just vehemently denying there was generative AI in the game, but also using fairly strong language toward the accusers, referring to them as "ignorant assholes" and telling anyone who thought the game used generative AI to "excuse yourself from our Discord."

But finally, today, the publisher has taken a definitive stance. Running With Scissors announced it would be canceling the game entirely, saying that the audience feedback had caused "extreme damage to our brand and our company reputation" and that it no longer trusted the development team.

Here's Running With Scissors' statement in full:

After revealing Postal: Bullet Paradise, a title Running With Scissors was planning on publishing but not developing, we've been overwhelmed with negative responses from our concerned Postal Community. The strong feedback from them is that elements of the game are very likely AI-generated and thus has caused extreme damage to our brand and our company reputation.

We’ve always been, and will always be, transparent with our community. Our trust in the development team is broken; therefore, we've killed the project. We have a lot of good things coming (some you know and some you don’t).

Since forming Running With Scissors in 1996, we’ve always said that our fans are part of the team. Our priority is to always do right by the millions who support the Postal franchise. We are grateful for the opportunity to make the games we want to play, and will continue to focus on our new projects and updates coming in 2026 and beyond. We can’t wait to share more!

Fan feedback in response to this seems generally positive, with a number of people suggesting they were excited about the premise of the game and hoped it could be passed on to a different developer. Some are still hoping for an apology from Jeret for his language toward the community, but that has not yet manifested.

But there's one group of folks who aren't happy, and that's Goonswarm. In a statement posted to Twitter, the studio announced it would be shutting down due to the cancellation of its game. Here's their statement in full as well:

Our project, and everything we built over the psat six years, was canceled in just a few days.

Our studio was mistakenly accused of using AI-generated art in our games, and every attempt to clarify our work only escalated the situation. In the last few hours, we've received a large number of threats, insults, and mockery, which pushed us toward a very difficult decision.

We're truly sorry for the artists who put their soul into this and supported our studio, only to face false AI accusations. It's tough to pour so much energy into a game and end up caught in the middle of an AI war by accident.

We've decided to shut down the studio and end all future activities.

Thank you for being with us. Stay strong, play games.

This is far from the first time the Postal games, which are essentially about various guys committing mass shootings, have been embroiled in controversy. The last mainline game, Postal 4: NoRegerts, released in 2022 to a rare 2/10 from us. Our reviewer said that "the comedy is lazy and embarrassing, the combat is messy and painfully unsatisfying, and it runs so poorly on high-end hardware that it can scarcely be enjoyed at all even by those just hoping for some campy shock humor." Running With Scissors has also released multiple spinoffs in recent years, such as 2022's Postal: Brain Damaged by CreativeForge Games and a 2023 April Fool's joke in POOSTALL Royale.

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

GTA fans finally have their first look at Grand Theft Auto 5 character Michael in the Grand Theft Auto universe since the game launched back in 2013.

We can see Michael in the trailer for GTA Online DLC A Safehouse in the Hills, below. In the teaser for the upcoming expansion, which adds a luxurious new home for the most successful of online criminals to the online mode, a noticeably older, greying, Michael De Santa and his wife Amanda can be seen greeting a player at the front door of their fancy new Hollywood Hills crib. This is the first time that Michael, played by Ned Luke, has been seen in the Grand Theft Auto universe since GTA 5 launched back in 2013.

The update also settles any lingering questions around the canon ending for GTA 5, confirming once and for all that Option C, otherwise known as “Deathwish”, is how the story should end.

It now means that all three playable protagonists, with Franklin and Trevor being the other two, have appeared in GTA Online. Naturally, this means the “Deathwish” ending is now canon in Online’s version of Los Santos, as this is the only way that all three characters remain alive at the end of GTA 5’s final mission “The Third Way” — one of three possible last levels available depending on the player’s choice. For reference, “Something Sensible” is Option A, which leaves both Franklin and Michael alive, but kills Trevor, and “The Time’s Come” is Option B, resulting in Franklin and Trevor’s survival, but Michael’s death.

In all three possible endings, Franklin lives to walk the streets of Los Santos, so it always felt natural that he’d be a part of GTA Online, which takes place after the events of Grand Theft Auto 5. Trevor has also been present since 2013, giving the online protagonist missions and calling to berate them over the phone in his own peculiar manner, but this is the first time we’ve seen Michael’s face since.

Eagle-eared online players would’ve heard a small reference to the professional bank robber back in 2021, though, which, although it definitely alludes to Michael, didn’t 100% confirm he was still around. This occurs when Franklin is chasing two golfers through the Richards Majestic Studios film lot in the centre of the city. This is one of the places Michael works in order to achieve his Hollywood movie-producing dreams in the main game’s campaign. Franklin remarks, “I know one of the producers around here. I hope his ass ain’t work today…”, suggesting De Santa is still employed there after all this time.

It is curious that Rockstar has chosen to put Michael back into the world of GTA so many years after we saw him last, and it does beg the question of how long this was planned for, seeing as this update has dropped so close to GTA 6’s previous release date of November 19, 2025. Is this the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption developer saying their final goodbye to these characters before gearing up to unleash Lucia and Jason into the world in 2026?

How do you feel about the “Deathwish” ending being chosen by Rockstar as the canonical one for GTA 5? Let us know in the comments below. And, of course, for everything GTA 6, stick with IGN.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.