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Top Deals Today: 55% Off DC Vs. Marvel Omnibus, MTG X Marvel Super Heroes, LEGO Flowers, and More

29 janvier 2026 à 20:45

There are plenty of excellent deals you’ll want to grab today. If you need an idea for Valentine’s Day, grab this bundle of LEGO flower bouquets that’s hard not to love. Anyone with a Switch or Switch 2 will want to hop on these game savings, as we're all well aware that it's rare to get such deep discounts on Nintendo’s offerings. MTG also has tons of deals and preorders worth checking out, from TMNT and Avatar to Marvel Super Heroes. Speaking of Marvel, the DC Vs. Marvel Omnibus collection of comics is down to a new low on Amazon. Check out all the awesome deals I’ve found for today below:

DC Vs. Marvel Omnibus Comic Collection Hardcover Hits New Low Price

It’s a crossover between the greatest superheroes of all time. DC vs. Marvel Omnibus is a fantastic comic collection full of out-of-print stories. Everything from Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man to Batman vs. Captain America can be found in the hardcover book. Best of all, you can grab it for 55% off on Amazon, a new low price.

Save Big on Bundle of LEGO Botanicals Flower Bouquet + Bouquet of Roses Building Sets

Fresh flowers wilt far too quickly, so why not grab a bouquet that lasts? LEGO has a bundle deal on a bouquet of roses and a botanical bouquet for just $83.99. These LEGO sets are going for $55.58 and $48.49 individually, making this an incredible offer. Whether you build and arrange them ahead of time or let your sweetheart build the sets themselves, these bouquets make for a great (and lasting) Valentine’s Day gift.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A for Switch 2 is $14 Off at Best Buy

Pokémon Legends: Z-A for Nintendo Switch 2 is seeing a nice discount at Best Buy today, with $14 knocked off the list price. With this enhanced version of the game, you’ll get improved visuals, faster load times, and better performance overall. In our review of Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Rebekah Valentine had this to say about the game: “Pokémon Legends: Z-A finally feels like Game Freak hitting its stride in Pokémon’s 3D era, with a fun setting to explore, a well-written story, and a total battle system overhaul that works surprisingly well.”

Big Savings On A Bunch of Other Switch and Switch 2 Games

You can also grab a nice discount on the Switch version of Pokémon Legends: Z-A from Woot if you don’t care about the performance boost. In fact, Woot has tons of solid deals on both Switch and Switch 2 games that are worth checking out. You can even get the Switch version of Super Mario Bros. Wonder on sale if you don’t feel like waiting for the Switch 2 update of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. And Best Buy also dropped the cost of the Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 by $14.

MTG x Avatar: The Last Airbender Beginner Box Hits New Low Price

Magic: The Gathering’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Beginner Box has dropped to a new low on Amazon. You can grab it for just $24.99. It’s ideal for those just dipping their toes in the MTG world, as it comes with two 20-card tutorial decks, a guide booklet, playboards, and more essentials. After you’ve mastered the basics, you can combine any of the additional eight 20-card half-decks for some real gaming.

MTG x TMNT Preorder Deals

If you’ve been waiting for the prices to drop on the MTG x TMNT preorder, now is the time to jump. The Booster Box is down to $124.99 on Amazon. In the box are 30 packs, which means each one comes out to about $4.17, which is a great deal. There’s a Bundle Box that includes 9 Play Boosters, 30 Lands, a foil alt-art promo Card, and exclusive accessories that’s on sale for just $60. Or, grab the Turtle Power! Commander Deck and Turtle Team Up Box, as they both have received solid discounts.

While these might be the lowest prices we see for the MTG x TMNT preorder, Amazon even has a nice preorder price guarantee. Whether the price goes up or down, you’re paying the lowest amount. This is the first “Universe Beyond” release of the year, and it’s set to drop on March 6th.

MTG x Marvel Super Heroes Preorder Just Dropped

Jumping further into the future, Amazon just dropped the preorder for the MTG x Marvel Super Heroes set that’s coming out on June 26th. Some things have already sold out, but you can still grab the 30-pack Booster Box for $209.70, the Commander Deck Bundle for $299.96, and more. Be sure to secure your preorder now, as this is already proving to be a popular “Universe Beyond” collab.

After you’ve secured the MTG X Marvel Super Heroes preorder, be sure to check out the MTG: Secrets of Strixhaven preorder, which also just became available on Amazon. It’s set to come out on April 24 and is selling fast.

Grab This Tiny Portable Power Bank for Cheap

For an ultra-compact and packable power bank, look no further than the Baseus Picogo 10000mAh 45W 3-Output Portable Charger. It measures just 3.47 × 2.35 × 1.06 inches but still packs a 10000mAh battery and up to 45W PD. With two 45W PD USB-C ports and one 22.5W QC USB-A port, you’ll be good to top up multiple devices simultaneously, and it even includes a built-in USB-C cable for added convenience. Right now, you can grab this versatile power bank for $17.99, and Prime Members get free shipping. The same power bank is $25 on Amazon.

$50 Off Apple AirPods Pro 3

Best Buy dropped the AirPods Pro 3 back to its lowest price last week, and Amazon and Walmart have matched it this week. You can grab Apple's latest earbuds for $50 off, bringing the price down to $199. The AirPods Pro 3 makes some solid improvements on its predecessor, offering better noise cancellation, improved sound quality, a longer battery life, and higher waterproofing. A new heart rate sensing feature is even built into the earbuds for added functionality.

My Arcade Atari Gamestation Go Hits Low Price

Bring on the nostalgia with the My Arcade Atari Gamestation Go. Rather than new stuff, this gaming handheld is packed with classics. From PAC-MAN and Asteroids to Centipede and Crystal Castles, there are over 200 retro games on this officially licensed Atari console. With a 7-inch display, integrated paddle, D-pad, trackball, and more, it’s ready to play these games with the controls they were designed for. Plus, you can always plug it into your TV via an HDMI for big-screen fun. If you’ve been considering grabbing the My Arcade Atari Gamestation Go, now’s the time, as it’s down to its lowest price ever on Amazon today.

Enjoy Nearly Half Off The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings Illustrated by Alan Lee Box Set

Any Tolkien fan will want this four-book box set illustrated by Alan Lee in their collection. With it, you’ll get hardcover editions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy that feature the stunning watercolor work of Lee, the conceptual designer on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Typically priced at $150, you can grab this beautiful box set for nearly half off on Amazon. It makes a wonderful addition to any collection.

Borderlands 4 Finally Gets Photo Mode in Today's Major Update

29 janvier 2026 à 20:11

Borderlands 4 is getting a major update today, including, among other things, the addition of the long-awaited Photo Mode that was announced prior to the game's launch, but was allegedly held due to the need to prioritize polishing other elements.

The update was announced via the official Borderlands 4 website, and it isn't just a Photo Mode being added. Harlowe's Zero-Point Action skill is getting a rework, and Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode levels will now increase dedicated loot drop levels.

But Photo Mode is the crown jewel here, and it's available now by restarting your game and downloading the update. Once the update is installed, you can find Photo Mode in the Pause menu while you're playing. It'll let you adjust the camera and apply a variety of visual effects including Field of View and Depth of Field adjustments, filters, changing the time of day, and even toggling visibility of elements such as characters or even damage numbers. Entering Photo Mode will also pause the game entirely in single-player mode (sorry multiplayer folks, just doesn't work that way). There's a full guide to how to use the Photo Mode and all its settings right here.

Photo Mode was promised for Borderlands 4 way back in June of 2025, with creative director Graeme Timmins saying on social media that while it was planned, the team was prioritizing polishing other core elements, and Photo Mode thus wouldn't be around at launch.

I had us prioritize polishing some other elements, more core to the moment-to-moment experience. We've always planned for it, and had it tasked up, we just needed to spend a bit more time on things that would directly impact QoL of playing the game.

— Graeme Timmins (@ProdigyXL) June 24, 2025

Below we've pasted the full patch notes, including all the other updates to Harlowe and Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode:

Progression and Rewards

Contract Missions:

  • Patrol: Order troops: Now progresses when killing enemies
  • Trace: Scrap Core: The scrap core object is able to be interacted with consistently and the contract from Dominion can now be completed
  • Convinced the Intrusive Thoughts Vile Ripper, Deep State Phalanx, and Breaux Chambeaux Phalanx bounties to show up when a player has taken their contracts

Vault Card Challenges:

  • “Loot or Purchase 10/15 legendaries” Vault Card weekly challenge will no longer reset with a save/load
  • “Loot or Purchase Ordnance” will now increase when conditions are met
  • “Kill enemies with Torgue guns and gear” will now progress when using Torgue legendary grenade Firepot
  • “Kill X enemies with Maliwan guns and gears” and the Maliwan Challenge “Last Wan Standing” will now progress as intended

Challenges:

  • Legendary Forsaken Chaos and Legendary Midnight Defiance have been removed from the Collect All Phosphene Challenge
  • Updated Maliwan status effects to better identify what triggered the status effects, leading to better tracking on challenges

Progression and rewards

  • Addressed a reported issue that was causing travel to Dominion to be locked by a player leaving a transition area in multiplayer
  • “Potty Mouth” Mission: Objectives are no longer blocked when exiting to the main menu
  • Addressed an issue causing unlocked DLC content to be unavailable while offline
  • True Mode is now able to be consistently enabled for newly created level 30 UVHM characters
  • Added a tutorial for True Mode when the campaign is completed
  • Players creating a new character in multiplayer will now receive all intended rewards
  • Addressed a reported issue causing all equipment to be lost when quitting to the main menu during a countdown in multiplayer when switching to solo play
  • Addressed issues with the “Gourd Your Loins” cosmetic reward not being awarded with SHiFT code
    • If you were impacted by this issue the first time around, or you missed these gourd-geous heads during the Horrors of Kairos event, this SHiFT code will redeem your missing cosmetic! This code will not reward anything to those that successfully received their cosmetic rewards the first time.
    • Redeem the SHiFT code below (check out our SHiFT User Guide if you don't already know how) to get the "Gourd Your Loins" Vault Hunter Head and the "Hex Appeal" Weapon Skin!*
    • THFB3-R9XKK-CFBJW-T33BB-9R3CC
    • *Requires a copy of Borderlands 4, SHiFT Account, and Internet connection. Must redeem by December 31, 2030. One redemption per SHiFT Account. Terms apply.

Vault Hunters

  • Addressed reported issues where critical hit damage sometimes wasn't being applied to critical hits

Specializations

  • Daredevil: Action Skill Cooldown rate has been adjusted to .5% and a multiplicative Action Skill Damage bonus has been added
  • Runner: Melee Damage bonus is now a multiplicative instead of additive

Harlowe the Gravitar Skill Rework

Dev Note: We’re making several changes to Zero-Point as another step towards making this skill tree feel more satisfying and better balanced relative to Harlowe’s other trees. Because we're changing the fundamental behavior of Zero-Point to include the old Inertia Augment behavior in the base skill, we want to see how these changes balance out before doing more work in the rest of the tree.

We have our eye on a few other passives that may be candidates for some buffs, but between the recent passive buffs that were implemented several weeks ago, combined with today’s changes, we’ll revisit those in the future once we’ve gathered adequate feedback on the current changes.

Long term, we want to ensure that each Vault Hunter has plenty of build diversity, with each Action Skill having its own pros and cons. If and when we see one falling behind, we’ll continue to explore changes like today’s.

  • Zero-Point (Base Skill): Now includes the benefits of the previous "Inertia" Augment. Killing an enemy in Stasis now resets the duration, searches for a new target, and makes the duration decrease faster
  • Inertia Augment (Changed): Updated to increase Harlowe’s Slam Damage. Whenever she slams an enemy, create Mini Unstable Energy Pocket projectiles that randomly deal Cryo or Radiation damage. Additionally, she also gains increased Status Effect Damage and Status Effect Chance. This effect stacks.

Amon the Forgeknight

  • Amon now consistently deals bonus Cryo Damage when equipping Cryonic Thrum Augment in multiplayer
  • Prevented unintended increases in the number of segments in the Vault Hunter bar when Amon activates his Action Skill
  • Dragon’s Breath now applies properly to Ripper Heavy Weapons with beams
  • Firewall Forgeskill will now block Moon-Maddened Callis projectile attacks

Vex the Siren

  • Addressed the cooldown for Prismatic Ichors sometimes resetting when applying a status effect
  • Phase Pocket Passive no longer resets the Taser underbarrel magazine when using a Vladof Enhancement
  • Healing numbers now present correctly when Specters are using Ripper Legendary Sniper Rifle Tankbuster
  • Addressed Incarnate Action Skill behavior so that it continues to work while using the Vibe Check Capstone with the Legendary Class Mod Technomancer

General Gameplay:

Bloomreaper Boss Fight:

  • Falling into the fog will now consistently kill players instead of having them fall out of the map
  • The purple rift will now only appear after the boss is defeated
  • Addressed an instance of Bloomreaper keeping the Invincible health bar in the second phase
  • Addressed an exploit that would allow UVHM time trial rewards to be obtained while not in UVHM
  • Addressed an issue that would cause the chest for Platinum rewards to be empty after fulfilling the requirements
  • Disc-shooting heavy weapons will now damage Bloomreaper’s crystals
  • Vile Creeps should no longer get stuck in the air

World Events and Bosses:

  • Increased the spawn rate of world bosses in the Punitive Manufactorium area
  • Rewards will now reliably spawn when completing the Airship or The Goredello world events
  • Minister Screw is no longer able to be frozen
  • Toy Pinheads are now affected by singularity grenades
  • Idolator Sol now takes damage from Elemental Hazards created by skills while Bio Armor is broken
  • Vile Lictor’s limbs will now continue to respawn after freezing them
  • Gennifer will now remain inside the refugee even if the player is dying near the area
  • Lowered the amount of Badass enemies spawning in one spot by Electi Safe Collectable
  • Ensured that boss fights consistently reset when all players have died
  • Restored the ability to interact with Fortresses if travel was canceled by leaving a transition area in multiplayer

Loot and Stations:

  • UVH levels now increase dedicated loot drop levels. The higher the level, the higher the chance of dedicated loot dropping!
  • Changed the Respawn Station outside of Umbral Foundry to a Fast Travel station to allow for easier travel to the entrance
  • Prevented loot items from dropping into unintended areas after defeating The Oppressor or killing all enemies in Ripper Drill Site Saw’s Clench
  • Red Chest in Coastal Bonescape will only unlock when all enemies are killed

Mission, Enemy and ECHO Location Updates:

  • Guns Blazing: Arjay will now consistently engage in combat against enemies
  • The Power Ballad of Rodd Vomit: Addressed enemy pathing to reach the player
  • Missions will no longer progress unexpectedly in multiplayer when switching from splitscreen to solo play
  • Radioactive Rail Liner will now attack if players are close to it
  • ECHO Location guidance improvements
  • Rift Champion icon removed from the Compass, with cleaned-up functionality for those icons in the Map

Guns & Gear

Enhancement:

  • Adjusted the Underdog enhancement to only apply to Vladof underbarrel weapons as intended. This will remove an unintended damage bonus that was happening when some guns switched their ammo or element types. We also updated Wombo Combo rockets so they now correctly count as underbarrel damage and receive this boost

Tediore:

  • Tediore Legendary Assault Rifle Chuck now throws properly when the player has over 120% gun reload speed
  • Addressed a behavior that prevented homing on the third gun spawned by Tediore reloads when specific conditions were met
  • Removed extra gun from Tediore shotguns with Ripper magazines

Maliwan:

  • Maliwan Legendary SMG Ohm I Got will no longer consume Energy Shield when Overshield is active
  • Only active element Status Effects will spread when killing an enemy with a Maliwan-licensed part with Maliwan Enhancement and Transfuser Core
  • Singularities now spawn correctly on Maliwan Sniper Rifles with Singularity Grenade Launcher underbarrels

Jakobs:

  • Addressed Jakobs ricochet damage to apply the intended amount of damage on Jakobs weapons

Torgue:

  • Torgue Legendary Pistol Hardpoint will fire as intended with Tediore licensed-part “Shooting”
  • Torgue Legendary Shield Compleation now properly triggers Segment Break armor shield augments

Order:

  • Order Legendary Sniper Rifle Rooker needle projectiles will consistently home in on enemies at a distance with the Callous augment. It will also no longer spawn unintended underbarrel projectiles with Jakobs licensed parts and a Jakob enhancement with Leaper and Bounce Pass

Ripper:

  • Ripper Legendary Shield Watts 4 Dinner will now consistently give the overshield in multiplayer from Overshield drops

CoV:

  • Weapons with CoV magazines now continue to fire when using Bullets to Spare firmware level 3 with the Ventilator enhancement

Daedalus:

  • Daedalus SMGs with the Overcharge attachment and a Ripper Magazine will now inherit the Ripper magazine charge-up time

Atlas:

  • Atlas Sure Shot perk is no longer triggered by Rafa Peacebreaker Cannons Action Skill while equipping a weapon with Atlas licensed parts and the Sure Shot enhancement
  • Updated Tracker Antenna and Trauma Bond to no longer incorrectly apply to gear without Atlas-licensed parts

Ordnance

  • Heavy Weapons now cause damage to BoomBoom Drones during the Callis boss fight

Firmware:

  • Skillcraft will now receive the proper amount of stacks when dealing skill damage to enemies
  • Deadeye 2-piece now functions as intended with intended projectiles
  • High Caliber 3-piece now functions as intended with Atlas Tracker Grenade
  • Get Throwin’ now properly increases Heavy Weapon Ordnance damage

Visual, Audio, and Animation updates to Guns and Gear:

  • Restored prefixes to Tediore Legendary Grenade UAV
  • Order Legendary Pistol Bully with Hyperion Shield enhancement now display with all parts on the item card
  • Repkit will no longer disappear when trying to heal after climbing
  • Corrected animations for Daedalus SMGs with Atlas Underbarrel attachments when switching
  • Corrected audio on the Daedalus Legendary Shotgun Missilaser
  • Maliwan Legendary Shotgun Mantra now shows the Amara Phase Fist when fired
  • Adjusted effects on Maliwan Legendary SMG Ohm I Got and Daedalus Legendary Shotgun Missilaser to be consistent throughout gameplay
  • Adjusted animation on Tediore Shotguns to prevent shell cases from appearing when using secondary fire
  • Tediore weapons no longer explode when thrown if they overlap with water
  • Tediore Assault Rifles and Pistols have consistent laser sights on gear
  • Effects for Vladof Legendary Assault Rifle Whiskey Foxtrot will now expire as intended
  • Adjusted reload animation for Ripper Shotguns with CoV magazines
  • Adjusted Ripper effects when shooting Ripper guns with Maliwan-licensed underbarrel parts
  • Ripper Grenade Transmitter effects have been restored when they are despawning
  • Adjusted missing effects of needles when using the Order Legendary Sniper Rifle Rooker

Audio & Visuals

  • Vault Hunter voices now return to normal after unequipping the Kittycopter head customization
  • Marcus now talks at the proper time
  • The second round of the Goredello will now announce the enemy type
  • Updated various sound effects to play while fighting Bloomreaper
  • Updates to various incorrect or missing VO lines
  • Damage numbers have been removed when continuing to shoot Arjay when the fight has ended
  • Corrected ECHO-4 appearance when using the ECHO-IVIV frame and Nurple paintjob customization
  • Ensured Vex the Siren's tattoos glow as intended with all skins
  • Melee animations for Rafa the Exo-Soldier will now play correctly in multiplayer
  • Characters can now climb after double jumping at the Abandoned Post Safehouse in the Coastal Bonescape
  • Resolved climbing animations not syncing in multiplayer
  • Using the grapple point by the propaganda speaker in The Howl will now take the player to the roof of the house
  • Adjusted Idolator Sol animations when buying Boss replay in multiplayer
  • Reduced the brightness of Seeker Witness’ laser effects
  • Ripsaw’s rotating blade effect will now disappear after death
  • Minister Screw's triangle effects now disappear after death
  • Ensured Bruce’s head consistently disappeared in multiplayer during Angry Mob mission
  • Addressed reported instances of NPCs performing their animations early or in the wrong locations
  • Adjusted effects on power cores during the “Powerdrop” Mission
  • Carried items will no longer become attached to a weapon after firing and reloading quickly
  • Adjusted fading distance in the intro
  • Addressed hitching with Vault Hunter saves in the main menu
  • Reduced the number of unused materials throughout the game
  • Prevented Shield Boosters from blocking the screen
  • Trees inside buildings no longer blow in the wind
  • Missing animations when destroying the grate near the Vault Fragment in Tonnage Peel have been restored
  • Unintended transition effects will no longer appear on players outside of Vile Lictor boss arena
  • Fire no longer starts popping when getting closer to Dominion
  • Prevented flickering after opening an Electi Safe
  • Haybales in The Howl no longer show glass VFX when hit
  • House now displays properly during Breeding Daisies
  • The lights on the Candlelight Catastrophe skin now flash consistently
  • Ensured the launch pad in Cuspid Climb is consistent with other launch pad areas
  • The Black Market Vending Machine will no longer have an obstructed view if spawned in Tonnage Peel
  • Lowered several floating items
  • Addressed multiple cases of lootables not being able to be opened
  • Updated various cinematics for consistency
  • Addressed clipping, missing collision, out-of-bounds access, stuck spots, and visual errors in various areas of the game

UI, Text, Localization

  • Sorting in the Customization Menu now defaults to show Unlocked Customizations first
  • Corrected an issue causing the Backpack to appear empty after filtering
  • Repkits now appear as intended in Inventory
  • Addressed a reported issue causing Vault Cards to not update or progress in multiplayer
  • Addressed a reported issue causing Vault Card progress to reset or disappear after a disconnect
  • Vault Cards will no longer carry over progress if the same challenge reappears after the daily reset
  • Updates to Vault Card UI
  • Various optimization updates to UI
  • Addressed various reported issues with scroll bar, sorting, and menu UI
  • Updated localization, various text descriptions, subtitle timings, icon visibility, and alignment across the game
  • Material thumbnails in the Customization menu now appear correctly
  • Updated Credits

Splitscreen

  • “Flip Card” functionality has been restored after level transitions
  • Corrected various scrolling issues in the Vault Cards Menu during splitscreen
  • Corrected a case of a persistent “Logging in” message when a secondary player joins splitscreen
  • The Golden Chest will no longer get stuck with the “Transaction in Progress” message when the secondary player leaves after opening
  • Both splitscreen players will now see all mission items during “Breeding Daisies” mission
  • Resolved an issue with Recent Friends not functioning as intended when a player is added to splitscreen during gameplay
  • Adjusted Vault Card UI to prevent overlapping or not displaying the entire Item Card
  • Vehicle FOV will now change for both players
  • Adjusted nameplate text sizes to scale correctly in splitscreen
  • Updated various UI elements for correct placement and to prevent overlapping

Player Experience

  • [Console Only] Several instances of incorrect gear meshes have been corrected on consoles
  • [PC Only] Adjusted default mouse sensitivity and added a setting option to disable mouse smoothing
  • Blended facial animations for better optimization
  • Visual optimizations for Jakobs Legendary Shotgun Rainbow Vomit
  • Optimizations to Mission Menu
  • Various improvements to stability and optimization

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

God of War Show Picks Severance's Ólafur Darri Ólafsson to Play Thor

29 janvier 2026 à 19:55

Severance star Ólafur Darri Ólafsson will play Thor in the live-action God of War show for Prime Video.

Amazon and Sony announced the cast update today, revealing who will play the Norse God of Thunder in its upcoming series adaptation of the beloved PlayStation franchise. It’s one of the biggest updates to the show yet, with Ólafsson now set to wield Mjolnir against Ryan Hurst and his portrayal of Kratos.

Ólafsson has been rumored to play Thor for quite some time, and it’s easy to see why. The actor has remained a recognizable face in shows such as Lady Dynamite and Trapped, as well as movies like The Meg and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, for years. It wasn’t until his appearance as the towering (and terrifying) Mr. Drummond in Severance Season 2, however, that fans started picturing him as a solid choice to play Thor in God of War.

Thor, who made his God of War debut as a last-minute tease in the 2018 installment before becoming a primary antagonist in 2022’s God of War Ragnarok, towers over even Kratos and is one of the most powerful beings the Ghost of Sparta has fought yet. Amazon’s official description for its version of the character calls him a “Mountain of a Man” whose “actions in a war fought long ago now haunt his waking hours.”

“Once the loyal soldier of Asgard and his father’s right hand man, Thor is now but a shadow of his former self as he drowns himself in alcohol and tries not to think of the price he paid,” the description continues. “Keeping his wife and children at arm’s length has only deepened his isolation, but the power (and danger) of the God of Thunder is still there just beneath the surface.”

In addition to Ólafsson as Thor and Hurst, who previously played Thor in Ragnarok, past casting confirmations revealed that the live-action God of War adaptation will feature Teresa Palmer as Thor’s wife, Sif, as well as Max Parker as the God of Foresight, Heimdall. Casting for characters like Mimir, Freya, and Atreus has yet to be announced.

For more, you can read up on why we think the Amazon version of this story needs to take a new approach to violence. You can also check out what game composer Bear McCreary thinks about the God of War show.

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images.

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 SteelSeries CS2 Dragon Lore Edition Wireless Gaming Mouse Drops by 62%, Now Under $60

29 janvier 2026 à 19:45

Check out this big price drop on a lightweight gaming mouse with no lack of flair. Starting today, Amazon has dropped the price of the SteelSeries Counter-Strike 2 Dragon Lore Limited Edition wireless gaming mouse to just $56.76 after a massive 62% off discount. Historically speaking, the price of this mouse was fixed at $150 since it first released last July... until today. The Dragon Lore Edition gets points for its gorgeous design, but it also happens to be an excellent performer for any gamer looking for a lightweight mouse with top-of-the-line accuracy and precision.

SteelSeries CS2 Dragon Lore Edition Mouse for $56.76

  • Best Buy is offering 50% off the matching mousepad.

The SteelSeries CS2 Dragon Lore Edition is based off the venerable Aerox 3 wireless mouse but with a snazzy facelift. Instead of the "holey" honeycomb pattern, the CS2 Edition is kitted with a solid shell adorned with an intricate red and gold dragon illustration that replicates the legendary rare AWP skin in Counter-Strike. Art aside, I actually prefer the solid mouse cover; mice with a bunch of holes in its shells don't feel as sturdy, naturally, and accumulate dust faster.

Despite losing the honeycomb shell, the CS2 Edition mouse is still very lightweight at 71 grams while still providing all the features you'd want in a premium gaming mouse. It can connect wirelessly two ways: over 2.4GHz WiFi with the dongle (the preferred choice for PC gaming) and Bluetooth. The PixArt co-developed 18K dpi "TrueMove Air" optical sensor offers true 1:1 tracking. The battery lasts up to 200 hours per charge. The mouse buttons are mechanical with a nice clicky sound and are rated for 80 million clicks. At under $60, this is a steal.

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.

Magic: The Gathering's Lorwyn Eclipsed Booster Box Is Already Discounted

29 janvier 2026 à 19:00

Magic: The Gathering has a frankly ridiculous schedule for 2026, but while the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Hobbit, Marvel heroes, and Star Trek are on their way, we’re starting the year with Lorwyn Eclipsed.

An in-universe set that’s seeing positive buzz already, thanks to being a return to a fan-favorite plane and the fact that there’s no City Pigeon or Hot Dog Cart in sight, it launched on January 23 but is getting a discount already.

Amazon is offering a Play Booster Box of 30 packs for $129.98, a 21% drop from the list price of $164.70.

Save On Magic’s Latest Set Right Now

Some quick math will show you that with this discount, you’re paying $4.63 per card. That’s a drop of almost a dollar per pack, going by the per-pack pricing of $5.49.

That’s a lot of cards, and it might even be worthwhile splitting a Play Booster Box with a friend at this price.

Amazon’s been on a bit of a tear recently with Magic deals. In the last few days we’ve seen discounts on the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Play Booster Box, as well as the same product for Edge of Eternities - one of Magic’s most underrated 2025 sets.

Picking up a Lorwyn Eclipsed Play Booster Box is a great way to fill out your collection, or upgrade your Commander Decks. Speaking of which, we’ve taken a look at the new decks in our guide.

For more on Lorwyn Eclipsed, be sure to check out our list of the best chase cards in the set right now, as well as a look at all eight creature types in the new set.

Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He's a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife's dismay.

Dell Outlet Has an Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5070 Ti Gaming PC for Just $1,650, Will Sell Out Quickly

29 janvier 2026 à 18:35

Dell Outlet just restocked its inventory of refurbished Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5070 Ti gaming PCs. Currently you can get one for just $1,650 with free delivery. Dell Outlet systems have the same 1 year warranty as buying brand new. They're often only available in very small quantities, so it won't be surprising if this configuration sells out quickly. With the recent RTX 5070 Ti shortage scare, prices on both GPUs and prebuilt gaming PCs have skyrocketed. This is a rare opportunity to get a complete system with warranty at a very reasonable price.

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5070 Ti Gaming PC for $1,650

Like New: Refurbished model with 1 year Dell warranty

This Alienware Aurora R16 configuration includes an Intel Core Ultra 7 265F processor, GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB GPU, 32GB of DDR5-5600MHz RAM, and a 1TB SSD. Alternatively, you can get an upgraded configuration with a 2TB SSD for just $75 more. Both systems are equipped with a 240mm all-in-one liquid cooling system.

The RTX 5070 Ti GPU Is Our Best Reviewed Nvidia Blackwell GPU

The best "value" GPU for 4K gaming

Of all the Blackwell cards released thus far, the RTX 5070 Ti offers the best value for high-fps 4K gaming. It performs neck-and-neck with the RTX 4080 Super but with the added bonus of newer GDDR7 VRAM and multi-frame generation. If you plan on using this card for AI, the RTX 5070 Ti is a better value than the RTX 5080 since both have same amount of RAM (16GB). Compared to AMD, the RTX 5070 Ti is roughly comparable in raw performance to the AMD RX 9070 XT, but the 5070 Ti has better upscaling technology (especially with DLSS 4.5) and ray tracing performance. Check out our RTX 5070 Ti review by Jacqueline Thomas for our hands-on impressions.

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.

Rainbow Six Siege Tease Sees Splinter Cell Meet Metal Gear Solid as Solid Snake Is Revealed as New Operator

29 janvier 2026 à 18:31

Rainbow Six Siege is getting a Metal Gear Solid crossover, as Ubisoft is teasing that Solid Snake will appear as a new Operator in Year 11.

A 15-second clip for the tactical action game’s next roadmap lays it on thick, showing not just a faceless body wearing a familiar sneaking suit but a Metal Gear Solid 1-style Codec Call from none other than Splinter Cell star Sam Fisher. It’s the kind of crossover fans have dreamed about for decades, brought to life as Ubisoft teases a full reveal for the Year 11 roadmap that’s scheduled to take place next month, February 15, at 8 a.m. PT / 11 a.m. ET on the Rainbow Six Siege Twitch page.

It’s unclear if today’s tease is just for the Solid Snake Operator or if fans should instead expect a selection of skins from Konami as well, but judging by the fanfare surrounding the reveal, it looks like Ubisoft went all out for this latest collaboration. Either way, the Solid Snake teaser marks what is likely the most exciting Operator in the last 10 years.

There were some early signs that Rainbow Six Siege could soon meet the world of Metal Gear Solid. Reputable dataminer @Shiiny77 suggested a collaboration was in the cards for Year 11 Season 1 just last week, teasing that “it is not just a skin collaboration” like fans have seen in the past. Insider Gaming later said it was able to independently verify the leak as well.

“There is so much out of this collab and the season itself, its so packed,” @Shiiny77 added at the time.

Metal Gear Solid may be one of the wildest crossovers for Rainbow Six Siege so far, but it’s far from the first. Other recent collaborations have brought the Attack on Titan and The Boys universes into the fold with various cosmetics for existing Operators. Splinter Cell didn’t launch with the game when it first launched back in 2015, but Sam Fisher did go on to get his own Operator in the form of Specialist Zero in 2020.

We’ll learn more about what this official meeting between Solid Snake has in store February 15. In the meantime, Rainbow Six Siege recently received a massive 10-year update to become Rainbow Six Siege X. You can check out why we think it’s now an 8/10 in our review.

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).

Prop Hunt Is Coming to World of Warcraft Later This Year

29 janvier 2026 à 18:30

Yeah, you heard me. World of Warcraft is finally getting a Prop Hunt mode, or something like it, sometime later this year.

This is according to today's World of Warcraft: State of Azeroth presentation, which included a breakdown of what we can expect across both World of Warcraft: Midnight and Classic in the next several months. While the presentation contained a lot of exciting details, one thing that really stuck out was a brief moment during the post-Midnight content update roadmap section, where WoW lead Ion Hazzikostas described the new "Decor Duel" mode coming in patch 12.05, which he openly said was basically just Prop Hunt.

In Decor Duel, teams of five compete against one another in locations such as the faction Neighborhoods, or Silvermoon City. One team disguises itself as props, aka random objects, while the other team tries to track them down within a time limit. It's classic Prop Hunt.

For those who are unfamiliar, prop hunt began as a popular game mode in Garry's Mod that worked basically like WoW's version. Prop hunt has since made its way into a number of other popular games such as Call of Duty, Fornite, and Genshin Impact. It feels like an obvious pull for World of Warcraft, especially given the new freedom players have been given in Midnight to acquire and mess around with all sorts of object assets from throughout World of Warcraft via the Housing feature. It's even called "Decor" Duel, seemingly referencing that it's using Housing Decor!

Unfortunately, it does sound like this mode may end up being a temporary event similar to Plunderstorm rather than a permanent addition to the game.

Prop Hunt is far from the only thing announced today. Blizzard unveiled its World of Warcraft roadmap for the coming months, including Midnight pre-launch events, plans for housing updates including pet and mount integration, improved advanced tools, import/export builds, and more. And there was a patch roadmap too, with a standalone single-boss raid coming in 12.07, a new zone, new raid, and friends system overhaul in 12.1, and a new feature called Labyrinths alongside a new experimental event in 12.1.5.

Previously, we've spoken with Hazzikostas about the games changes to mods, or add-ons. We've also played around with the new Housing feature, and even previewed the new expansion. World of Warcraft: Midnight launches on March 2.

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

Fans Decry Heavy Image-Sharing Restrictions for Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream That Nintendo Says Are Necessary to Ensure 'Fun and Safe' Gameplay

29 janvier 2026 à 18:17

Nintendo fans have criticized the company's decision to heavily restrict image-sharing from within Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream.

Following the conclusion of today's Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Nintendo Direct, the company posted an unusual statement to its support website announcing that "limits" would be placed on the ability to share screenshots from the upcoming social sim to ensure "the worlds players create... remain fun and safe, and that the game can be enjoyed comfortably by all players."

While Nintendo's English-language statement does not go into further detail, the company's Japanese support site has stated that this entails a block on the ability to directly share screenshots to social media or to a smartphone, though sharing gameplay via Game Chat will be allowed.

The immediate response to this decision from Nintendo fans has been negative, with many contrasting the game's ability to create quirky, unexpected and potentially very sharable social gameplay situations with Nintendo's refusal to let players actually share said gameplay socially.

"Wow they killed the game," Nintendo fan Raccoon wrote on video game forum ResetEra. "Social media was going to shoot this into the stratosphere, instead they killed it. Very disappointing." Added PlanetSmasher: "Wasn't this, like, the reason people were into Tomodachi Life last time? Like being able to share goofy images with friends? That was what made the game go viral in the first place."

Some fans have gone further, saying that were disappointed to see these restrictions applied to a game that finally allows players to customize their characters with a more diverse range of genders, voice options and dating preferences. "Sure, you can be gay and non-binary! BUT YOU BETTER NOT SHOW ANYONE!!" wrote another fan, doops.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream allows you to play as a Mii version of anyone, alongside Mii versions of anyone else — potentially people you know in real-life, celebrities, or long-dead dictators. The potential for players (and the game's systems) to create bizarre and unexpected scenarios here is huge, and it's perhaps not surprising to see Nintendo acting cautiously.

"I get why they don't want you having, like, Hitler Mii and Trump Mii hooking up and then posting that all over the internet and people getting mad at Nintendo for it because that's exactly the type of thing Nintendo hates," wrote jph139. "But that's also 99% of the appeal so not sure what they were expecting?"

"I can understand why they're being cautious," agreed PucePikmin. "The idea of making Miis of your friends and celebrities and having them do wacky things is fun, and the way it's executed in these games is innocent, but the concept of 'make avatars of other people and make them do things' is a more fraught idea in 2026 for any number of reasons."

For those intent on sharing clips of gameplay, this likely does not remove all avenues of doing so. There's no suggestion here that Nintendo has removed the ability to share screenshots saved to an SD card via PC, or the ability to use capture equipment to record gameplay. And, of course, you can just film your screen with your smartphone. Instead, Nintendo's statement suggests it is intending more to place a hurdle in place, curbing what it seems to believe is the potential for problems to occur.

"Nintendo aims to create experiences where players have the freedom to enjoy their Mii characters in their own way," the company stated today. "In Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, this freedom can sometimes lead to humorous, surprising, or unpredictable moments during gameplay. While these moments are often fun for players, we recognize that out-of-context scenes may be misunderstood or may not reflect the spirit in which the game is intended to be enjoyed.

"Nintendo is committed to creating experiences that are welcoming and enjoyable for everyone. To support this commitment, and in consideration of the unique gameplay in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, we have decided to place restrictions on certain image sharing features. These limits help to make the worlds players create in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream remain fun and safe, and that the game can be enjoyed comfortably by all players.

"We understand that some players may find these restrictions limiting. However, they reflect Nintendo’s ongoing philosophy of creating experiences that bring smiles to everyone who plays."

Earlier this week, it was confirmed that hit superhero workplace comedy Dispatch would be censored upon release for Nintendo Switch platforms, with the game's nudity covered up by large black boxes.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

How to Navigate the Brandon Sanderson Cosmere Series Timeline

29 janvier 2026 à 15:30

If you consider yourself a fan of high fantasy, I would be willing to bet that there is a good chance you have at least heard the name "Brandon Sanderson" even if you have never read one of his books. Widely considered one of the most prolific fantasy authors of the modern age, Sanderson is a titan of the industry, having redefined publishing for authors, fought for better contracts for author e-book sales, brought about the conclusion of the legendary Wheel of Time series after the passing of its original author, Robert Jordan, and has basically created his own media empire with Dragonsteel (complete with his own convention). To say that he is a big deal would be underselling it a bit.

All that aside, perhaps what Brandon is best known for is the Cosmere—his universe-spanning interconnected monolith that a majority of his various books and series take place somewhere in. Picture the Marvel Cinematic Universe but as books, and all by the same writer. When a new Cosmere book is released, it's a big deal. This list will give you a basic idea of the (current) chronological order of the books in the scheme of the Cosmere itself, omitting books that we know are coming (Dragonsteel, the future Elantris Books, Mistborn eras 3 and 4, etc) but have not yet been released. With the latest news of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere universe getting picked up by Apple TV, there's never been a better time to dive into the series.

If you look at the long list of titles that currently take place in the Cosmere, it can feel like a Herculean task to get through some of the books on their own, so consider this more as a resource to help you navigate it a bit, and make connections along the way as you read through the various series. However, just be aware that these can also be enjoyed on their own as smaller self-contained series, without needing to read them in chronological order. Special thank you to the CopperMind (a Cosmere resource kept up to date by the most diehard of fans) for helping me put this list together. Just be careful when you go on there as it is really easy to accidentally spoil things for yourself (speaking from experience, even though they try to mark everything).

It should be noted that as of this writing, there is no official timeline, with Brandon having previously stated that he hopes to have one released before the second Arc of Stormlight Archive releases—tentatively planned for 2031 (no, I'm not joking). The current list was put together thanks to research and input from the Coppermind wiki, Reddit, and YouTube videos

How Many Books Exist in the Cosmere Timeline?

As it stands right now, if you want to read everything the Cosmere has to offer, you will have to work your way through a pile of graphic novels, short stories, novelas, and your standard novels. All told, you are looking at about 24 books to buy (the number gets a little wonky depending on how you count the books that count the collections of stories and such), but here is a list of all the Cosmere titles you will need to read:

  • Elantris
  • Mistborn Era 1
    • Mistborn: The Final Empire
    • The Well of Ascension
    • The Hero of Ages
  • Mistborn Era 2:
    • The Alloy of Law
    • Shadows of Self
    • The Bands of Mourning
    • The Lost Metal
  • Warbreaker
  • Stormlight Archive 1st Arc
    • The Way of Kings
    • Words of Radiance
    • Oathbringer
    • Rhythm of War
    • Wind and Truth
  • Dawnshard (Novella)
  • White Sand (Graphic Novels)
    • White Sand Vol. 1
    • White Sand Vol. 2
    • White Sand Vol. 3
  • Tress of the Emerald Sea
  • Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
  • The Sunlit Man
  • Arcanum Unbounded (Collection of Short Stories and Novellas)
    • The Emperor’s Soul
    • The Hope of Elantris (free on Brandon Sanderson’s website)
    • The Eleventh Metal
    • Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania
    • Mistborn: Secret History
    • White Sand
    • Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
    • Sixth of the Dusk
    • Edgedancer

The “Chronological” Cosmere Reading Order

While the following breakdown will take you through the Cosmere as we believe it to exist right now, it isn’t necessarily the “best” way to tackle these books. There are a number of options that people recommend, reading in Publication Order is a common one, knowing how imposing this all is, Brandon released his own “Where do I start?” list that you can check out too. I started with Mistborn Era 1 (Mistborn: The Final Empire) and then into Stormlight Archive Book 1, and had a good time.

White Sand - World: Taldain

Books:

  • White Sand Vol. 1
  • White Sand Vol. 2
  • White Sand Vol. 3

Believed to be set first chronologically, the White Sand graphic novels take place on Taldain, a desert world where individuals can be trained to become Sand Masters. Following a man named Kenton who is training to be one, the three volumes focus on him trying to get to the bottom of who was behind a surprise attack that killed many of the other Sand Masters. White Sand ran from 2016 to 2019 and is based on a manuscript that was one of Brandon’s earliest works, with an excerpt of this early writing included in the Arcanum Unbounded collection. You can expect that occasional easter egg or nod to White Sand in future books, but not as much as other entries (yet) in the Cosmere.

Elantris - World: Sel

Books:

  • Elantris
  • The Hope of Elantris
  • The Emperors Soul

Taking place on the world of Sel, Elantris was Sanderson's first published work, released back in 2005. Due to various factors in later books, it is assumed that Elantris takes place very early in the timeline of the Cosmere books. The story follows a few different viewpoints, including the crown prince Raoden, of a kingdom known as Arelon, his soon-to-be bride Princess Sarene, and the high priest Hrathen. The namesake of the book, 'Elantris' is the name of a city that, years before the book, a cataclysm known as the Reod robbed the Elantrians of their almost god-like powers and magic, and left them as to what could only be described as sentient zombie-like people.

Elantris plays around with the idea of what happens when a world's magic system simply breaks, and no one knows how to fix it. It is a fun read with its fair share of surprises and twists. While we know that Sanderson is planning two sequels for Elantris, as of 2025, this remains a stand-alone novel, but not the only one set in the world of Sel.

The Hope of Elantris (Arcanum Unbounded)

The Hope of Elantris takes place during the events found at the end of Elantris with an aim to fill in some gaps and moments in the story, providing further context. As such, this absolutely should not be read before finishing Elantris; instead, enjoyed as a little extra dessert afterwards. To further sweeten the deal, in addition to being included in the Arcanum Unbounded collection, you can actually read this completely for free off of Sanderson’s website!

The Emperor's Soul (Arcanum Unbounded)

Taking place on Sel, after the events of Elantris and The Hope of Elantris, but in a different nation, The Emperor’s Soul follows a thief named Shai, who has been tasked with recreating the soul of an Emperor. This book introduces new magic that had previously not been seen in the other Sel set books, and offers a more asian-inspired setting and theme. It’s a fun read, and getting a grasp on this new magical forgery trick will come in handy as you read future books. This is one of the novellas included in the Arcanum Unbounded collection.

Mistborn Era 1 (Vin and Kelsier) - World: Scadrial

Books:

  • The Eleventh Metal (Arcanum Unbounded)
  • Mistborn: The Final Empire
  • Mistborn: Secret History (Arcanum Unbounded - READ AFTER HERO OF AGES)
  • The Well of Ascension
  • Hero of Ages

The Mistborn titles, especially the first Era, are some of the most well-known and beloved of the Cosmere-connected books, and a wonderful first stop if you want to expose yourself to Sanderson's writing and style. Taking place in the world of Scadrial, era 1 focuses on the adventures and exploits of a young thief named Vin, and Kelsier, a legend in his own time, as they work to overthrow the current empire and create a new world order.

Some people of this world are able to "burn" or use a variety of metals they swallow for different effects, like pushing off of metal, altering the emotions of nearby people, and more. In the scope of the Cosmere, the events that transpire on Scardrial will prove immensely important to future books, and are a must-read for anyone to really get into this universe. There's even a Mistborn board game for fans of the series looking to head to the tabletop.

Mistborn: Secret History (Arcanum Unbounded)

Mistborn: Secret History is a tough one to discuss, as nearly everything about it will be rather spoilery. This novella takes place between the events at the end of The Final Empire and the start of Hero of Ages. Read this after finishing Mistborn Era 1, and don’t look up anything about it until then unless you want big spoilers!

The Eleventh Metal (Arcanum Unbound)

The Eleventh Metal novella serves as a prequel to the original Mistborn: The Final Empire book. It explores Kelsier's early days after receiving his allomantic abilities, as he learns from his teacher, Gemmel. This short story was initially included in the Mistborn Adventure Game, but was later included in the release of Arcanum Unbounded. While chronologically speaking, this is before the main Era 1 books, you will get more out of it, reading it after you have finished at minimum The Final Empire, if not Hero of Ages.

Warbreaker - World: Nalthis

The exact placement of Warbreaker is still a bit up for discussion, whether it takes place before Mistborn era 1 or after, but we do know for certain that it is before the Stormlight Archive. Taking place on the world of Nalthis, Warbreaker focuses on the two princesses, Vivenna and her younger sister Siri. Circumstances throw both of the sisters into situations they weren’t prepared for, Siri needing to take over in a role that was to be handled by her sister, and Vivenna needing to find a new purpose in life while also doing what she can to save her sister. Should they succeed, it may just prevent a war and prevent an invasion of their home..

As it currently stands, much like Elantris, Warbreaker is a standalone book, but Sanderson has promised a follow-up to Warbreaker sometime in the future. Warbreaker and some characters within do have a larger impact on the Cosmere and other worlds, making this a pretty important book to read, but luckily, it isn’t incredibly long, having been published relatively early in his career back in 2009. Warbreaker also has the added benefit of introducing arguably the best sentient sword in all of fantasy with Nightblood.

Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell (Arcanum Unbound) - World: Threnody

At roughly 18,000 words, Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell is a short novella that you can bust out in a sitting or two. Taking place in the world of Threnody, currently believed to be only a minor planet in the Cosmere’s story as a whole (so far), Shadows follows Silence Montane, the proprietress of a waystop in the Forests of Hell. She accepts a bounty to track down a notorious highwayman, and things quickly get rocky for Silence, which will have repercussions for her family. Inside the Arcanum Unbounded collection, Sanderson also includes a small essay that elaborates a bit more on the Threnodite system in the Cosmere. This story is a nice little palate cleanser to read between larger works.

The Stormlight Archive Arc 1 - World: Roshar

Books:

  • The Way of Kings
  • Words of Radiance
  • Edgedancer (Book 2.5 - Arcanum Unbounded & Standalone)
  • Oathbringer
  • Dawnshard (Book 3.5)
  • Rhythm of War
  • Wind and Truth

The Stormlight Archive is Brandon Sanderson's behemoth of a series, with books often spanning more than 1100 pages.. Taking place on the planet of Roshar, Stormlight Archive immediately immerses readers into the middle of a long-standing conflict between the Alethi (a kingdom of Humans) and the Parshendi, a humanoid people adorned with a carapace that grows from them. The conflict began years earlier after the assassination of the Alethi king.

This series defines the genre of "epic fantasy" more so than any other of Sanderon's work, with readers being treated to an intricate magic system, a staggering amount of lore and world building, and wonderful cast of characters that you will follow as you try to piece together what has lead to the events in these books, and what is to come. From magic knights to gods, heroes forced to rise to the occasion and a world where emotions are given shape in the form of creatures known as 'Spren', this first arc of the Stormlight Archive finds itself smack dab in the middle of the Cosmere, both chronologically speaking and as a central pillar of the universe itself.

The final book of this first part of the Archive, Wind and Truth, was released in December 2024. The next book is not expected until sometime in the early 2030s, so luckily, there is still plenty of time to dive in and get caught up. This is a must-read to get into the Cosmere, but not one that I would recommend as a jumping-in point. This entire arc takes place over the course of about two years.

Edgedancer

Taking place between Books 2 (Words of Radiance) and 3 (Oathbringer) of the first act of the Stormlight Archive, Edgedancer follows the character of Lift, who is first introduced in an interlude in Words of Radiance. This young thief has a decidedly unique tone and personality when compared to others on Roshar, and this novella would be best enjoyed after completing Oathbringer.

Dawnshard

Dawnshard takes place between Oathbringer and Rhythm of War, the third and fourth books of the Stormlight Archive, and follows Rysn and other notable Stormlight characters, including the beloved “The Lopen”. Moments from this book are mentioned in Rhythm of War, so you will be fine reading it beforehand, but it is just as enjoyable reading it after, to get a better handle on events mentioned in the book. Also, you get more Lopen, which is never a bad thing.

Misborn Era 2 (Wax and Wayne) - World: Scardrial

Books:

  • The Alloy of Law
  • Shadows of Self
  • The Bands of Mourning
  • The Lost Metal

The second era of the Mistborn titles picks up about 300 years after the events of The Hero of Ages on Scadrial. Whereas the first set of books took place in a more medieval society, the world of Scadrial now resembles something more akin to the American Frontier or the early Industrial Revolution. The second era follows the exploits of the mercenary allomancer lawman, Wax, and his partner Wayne, dealing with the newer threats posed by the advances of technology and also the problems caused by the events that transpired in the past. This all results in a set of stories that feels both familiar and brand new all at the same time, with some of the most beloved characters in the Cosmere.

It’s advised that you don’t tackle the Wax and Wayne books until you have completed at least the first set of Mistborn books. However, as being one of the more recent Cosmere releases, the fourth and final book, The Lost Metal, starts working in more connections with the Cosmere as a whole, so you will get more out of that last book especially, the more of the previous books of the Cosmere you have read already.

Sixth of the Dusk (Arcanum Unbounded) - World: First of the Sun

Among the entries contained within Arcanum Unbounded, Sixth of the Dusk takes place the furthest down the timeline. Set around the large island known as Patji on the planet known as First of the Sun, this short novella (clocking in just under 18,000 words) follows a trapper named Sixth of the Dusk as he tries to save his home. This book is currently believed to take place rather far ahead in the timeline of the Cosmere as it features a race of people with advanced space travel technology. It also has magic parrots.

Tress of the Emerald Sea - World: Lumar

Tress was the first of Brandon Sanderon’s Secret Project Kickstarter titles that he wrote during the pandemic, unbeknownst to anyone but his wife. A standalone novel taking place in the world of Lumar, which is home to an emerald green ocean of spores, Tress of the Emerald Sea is about a young girl who sets out to find and rescue her love. Sanderson describes his inspiration for Tress as “what if Buttercup from the Princess Bride had been more proactive.”

Currently, Tress of the Emerald Sea is believed to be somewhere in the distant future of the Cosmere, but where it precisely lands is a mystery.

The Sunlit Man - World: Canticle

Taking place on the world of Canticle, where the sunlight can melt the very stone, The Sunlit Man was the fourth book of Brandon’s Secret Projects and follows the immortal known as Nomad, who is caught in a conflict between rebels and a tyrant. Much like the other secret project novels, this is also a standalone title that takes place far in the future of the Cosmere, but its specific placement is nebulous.

Even though this is a standalone title, it’s recommended that you don’t read this until you finish the first arc of the Stormlight Archive because…reasons…

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter - World: Komashi

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, third of the Secret Projects, takes place on Komashi, where mysticism and technology butt heads against one another. Following the characters of Painter, who works as a Nightmare Painter (someone that captures dark beings) and Yumi (a traveling priestess that can summon and command spirits). A string of events binds the two of them together, and they have to figure out why and how to get out of it.

Yumi and the Nightmare painter is standalone and feels decidedly different from other books in the Cosmere, with its setting being a mix of Japanese and Korean influences, with Brandon mentioning that the initial concept came from his exposure to the manga Hikaru no Go and other media like the anime film Your Name and Final Fantasy X. Believed to take place far in the future of the Cosmere, this can be a fun first outing to dip your toes into the Cosmere.

The Cosmere RPG

Brandon Sanderson, in collaboration with Brotherwise games, has officially released the first set of Cosmere RPG books. Here's a quick snippet of what I thought in my full Cosmere RPG review:

"The Cosmere RPG is putting a strong foot forward right out of the gate, with systems that manage to feel familiar while at the same time doing its own thing that sets it apart. I appreciate its more flexible character growth and heavier emphasis on your own personal story and incorporating it into tangible gameplay features. It remains to be seen just how well the team manages to balance and intermingle the vastly different worlds and magic systems that inhabit the Cosmere. Still, I am already chomping at the bit for the next world guides, handbooks, and what Brotherwise Games have up their sleeves."

What We know Is Coming in 2026 and Beyond

Much like our own universe, the Cosmere continues to expand. Back in December of 2024, Brandon gave his updated PLANNED release schedule up through 2031, and is as follows:

  • 2026: Cosmere TTRPG - Mistborn Campaign Setting
  • December 2026: Dark One or Isaac’s Cosmere Novel
  • February 2026: Isles of the Emberdark (Pre-order)
    • This incorporates and expands on Sixth of the Dusk
  • 2027: Dark One or Isaac’s Cosmere Novel
  • December 2028: Mistborn Era 3 - Book 1
  • Summer 2029: Elantris 2
  • December 2029: Mistborn Era 3 - Book 2
  • Summer 2030: Elantris 3
  • December 2030: Mistborn Era 3 - Book 3
  • December 2031: Stormlight Archive Book 6 (begins 2nd Arc)

The Cosmere Movie and TV Adaptations

Brandon Sanderson and Apple TV have officially solidified a deal to bring The Cosmere to the screen. There are no official release dates just yet, but reports have confirmed that Mistborn is being eyed for feature films and The Stormlight Archive is likely to become a TV series. Sanderson took to the Comsere Reddit after the announcements to tell the fans more about the deal, saying he chose Apple TV due to "the level of approvals and control" as well as their track record for high quality content.

Scott White is a freelance contributor to IGN, assisting with book and tabletop game coverage. Follow him on X/Twitter or Bluesky.

Cobra Kai: The Complete Series on Blu-Ray Is Now Available To Preorder

29 janvier 2026 à 18:05

The complete series of Cobra Kai is making the jump to physical Blu-ray this year with a massive new box set. Featuring all six seasons of the show - a grand total of 65 episodes - it's now available to preorder for $119.99 (see it here at Amazon). Eager fans don't have to wait too long for it, either, as it has a release date of March 3 this year. Head to the link below to secure it for your library.

Preorder Cobra Kai: The Complete Series on Blu-Ray

Alongside having every episode on Blu-ray, this box set has quite a lot of bonus features as well, including deleted scenes, blooper reels, and even some featurettes. It also has a commentary from the show's creators for both the pilot and series finale that are exclusive to this Blu-ray set, which is a very cool addition for fans to check out.

Cobra Kai: The Complete Series Blu-Ray Bonus Features

Season One:

  • New Blu-ray Exclusive: Commentary on the Pilot with Show Creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Two Featurettes
  • Two Musical Performances

Season Two

  • Deleted Scenes
  • Five Featurettes
  • Blooper Reel

Season Three:

  • Deleted Scenes
  • Blooper Reel

Season Four:

  • Deleted Scenes
  • Blooper Reel
  • Featurette

Season Five:

  • Deleted Scenes
  • Blooper Reel

Season Six:

  • New Blu-ray Exclusive: Commentary on the Series Finale with Show Creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Blooper Reel

This Cobra Kai Complete Series Blu-ray set is just one of many physical releases set to come out in March. If you're curious what else is worth keeping an eye out for, check out our rundown of upcoming 4Ks and Blu-rays. From movies to TV shows, this features a list of physical releases that are available to preorder and their release dates, if they have one. If you're a physical media collector, it's well worth a look to plan ahead on which ones you're hoping to add to your library this year.

Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 4 – Hands-On with the Ork Campaign | IGN First

29 janvier 2026 à 18:00

[Editor's Note: Watch the video version of this preview below, if you're interested.]

The campaign has always been my favorite part of Dawn of War, putting its RTS action in context of the wild, over-the-top, operatic drama of the far future. But when I got to go hands-on with the first bit of Dawn of War 4's grim story, it was a bit less opera and a bit more party rock, with the Ork faction leading the way. And as straightforwardly brutal as they are, there's an interesting twist this time with a bit of intra-faction rivalry between the biggest boyz.

BOSS MODE

There is a brief, two-mission tutorial when you first load up Dawn of War 4 featuring the Space Marines and the Imperial Guard. But in terms of the main meat of the campaign, each of the four factions has their own story with a specific spot in the larger, unfolding narrative. And the Orks come chronologically first, with their campaign setting the stage for everything that comes after it. And that just kind of works, really. If you want to kick things off with a bang and make a lot of messes others are going to have to clean up later, I can think of no one better to serve as the opening act.

As you may know if you've seen the CGI trailer, the inciting action of the entire game is a Blood Ravens battle barge getting invaded by orks under recurring Dawn of War big baddie, Gorgutz. This guy is hundreds of years old at this point and has been leading his boyz across the stars in conflict after conflict. So when he decides to crash his rok down on Kronus to pursue the Astartes, he has every expectation of being in charge.

That's not exactly how it plays out, though. In the first mission, called Da Beastboss, we're introduced to a younger and scrappier leader, Guzcutta. He's native to the planet Kronus, at least in as far as the Orks can be native to anywhere considering they're technically an invasive species of fungus… look, it's a long story, okay? We could be here talking about 40K deep lore for hours. But the point is, he's only ever known Kronus as home and the band of Orks living here already view him as their leader.

If Gorgutz is the surprisingly clever old war dog, Guzcutta is kind of a rebellious teen coming into his own. Gorgutz favors huge war machines and ridiculous firepower to get the job done, while Guzcutta relies on the beasts his boyz can tame and ride into battle for a little bit more of a low-tech approach. Both warbosses will eventually get access to all the same units, of course. And this initial bit is really just an introduction to Guzcutta and the Orks' main faction mechanics.

MAKE IT ORKY

Since the tutorial focused on how to move units, attack, use abilities, and things like that, Ork mission one can focus on what makes the Orks unique, like their Waaagh! mechanic, which you can learn more about in our faction deep dive. Your enemies for the early campaign are mainly the machine men of the Adeptus Mechanicus, occasionally supported by other Imperial auxiliaries, which forced me to focus quite a bit on mobility and flanking.

See, these spindly Skitarii can't stand up to a proper Ork in melee combat, but if they have the benefit of cover, their deadly ranged attacks can hold off a frontal assault for quite a while. Luckily, speedy Squighog Riders can simply run right around their emplacements and hit them from behind. And if that isn't working out, Stormboyz with their definitely not OSHA-approved jetpacks can leap right over them.

Ork mission one can focus on what makes the Orks unique, like their Waaagh! mechanic.

This is also where the Beast Snagga Boyz came in handy, because they're a little bit tougher than your standard Ork infantry, so they can draw fire for a decently long time without getting completely disintegrated. I wouldn't say it takes a mastermind to play this faction, as it shouldn't, but there is quite a bit to chew on tactically if you want to get the most out of them. Relentless aggression is rewarded in multiple ways, including growing the size of your squads with experience to become a proper horde. But combine that with a little cleverness, and now you're really dangerous.

CRASHDOWN

But if mission one was all about letting you get to know Guzcutta and his little neighborhood, mission two, Da Biggest Boss, is about how his life got flipped turned upside down. Remember Gorgutz demanding they "crash faster" in the trailer? Well, his ominous pile of scrap has finally touched down in a huge explosion and Guzcutta's boyz are eager to find out what happened. This is another fairly low-key intro mission with the goal of making it to various piles of wreckage left by the rok's impact and finding clues. But the AdMech are also interested in it, and I had to fight my way through them to get answers.

The mission culminates in the first meeting between the two bosses, when you come across Gorgutz' landing party – or at least, the ones who survived the crash – under attack by the AdMech. If you hear Gorgutz' version, of course he would have been fine. But from Guzcutta's perspective, he totally saved the day. Regardless, the main tension of the campaign has now been established, as both big Orks believe they should be the boss on Kronus. And neither of them are about to back down.

You will get to pick between them eventually, which is where the whole campaign branches. But for now, we spend a little more time with Guzcutta. He's the one I ended up picking anyway. I just like his style. And the next mission, Da Race, is a thematically appropriate contest to see who the better boss is by who can destroy the AdMech base fastest.

This is one of my favorite missions in Dawn of War 4 so far and one that really doesn't let you rest on the natural strengths of the Orks alone. While you're making your way up the left side of the map, Gorgutz is clawing up the right. And that means it's not enough to simply overwhelm the humies eventually, which has been easy enough to do up until now. You have to be efficient with your units alongside being relentless and get to the end before your rival does. This kind of scenario design is what I think separates a good RTS mission from a just-okay one.

There's even a bit of a strategic choice built in here, since you can send forces over to engage Gorgutz and slow him down. Ultimately, I found that this delayed me making progress on my side too much and it was better to just let him get bogged down with the AdMech. But it's certainly another way to do the mission if you need to buy yourself some extra time. Flanking him while he's already engaged is especially effective.

A TALE OF TWO BOSSES

Proving yourself here isn't enough, though. Once the Ork campaign branches off, you'll get multiple choices of which mission to take on next, with each one tipping the balance of power toward Gorgutz or Guzcutta. On one mission, you might be collecting scrap to assemble deadly Deff Dreads. I particularly liked one involving the taming of a savage Squigasaur, which becomes Guzcutta's mount and changes his playstyle for the rest of the campaign.

I didn't get to see how this boss brawl ends, or how its outcome might shape the campaigns that come after it. But simply having multiple possible endings for the first of four campaigns is exciting. Especially because I've never liked Gorgutz. It's about time he got knocked down a peg, you know? And Guzcutta's not exactly a knight in shining armor, but I can respect his disdain for authority and yee-haw philosophy on life and war. An Ork after my own heart, if there ever was one.

Welcome to IGN30: A Note From Peer

29 janvier 2026 à 18:00

IGN is celebrating its 30th Anniversary on September 29, 2026. Before it was later rebranded IGN64, our first site, N64.com launched the same day the Nintendo 64 came out in the US back in 1996.

While we didn’t found the company, IGN Entertainment, until February 1999, IGN’s first article – a news story about Howard Lincoln commenting on the decision to drop the N64’s launch price from $249 to $199 – is dated September 23, 1996 and published a few days before IGN’s first site launch: N64.com.

A Celebration of 3D Gaming

IGN's story began with the advent of 3D console gaming and the desire to go beyond the monthly magazines with long lead times and share daily content about N64, PlayStation, and Saturn for our favorite pasttime. Content preservation wasn’t a big thing in the ‘90s, but many of the original articles are still online, along with prelaunch damage control like “Why is the site so slow?”, early examples of story formats that now dominate the internet (like text-and-image-only unboxings), and previews of games that would never see the light of day. Other content is lost to the ages, victims of media server migrations gone wrong, or someone not confirming with the content team that yes, we would like to keep the articles written on Saturnworld.com after merging them all into the new site, IGN.com, in 1999.

Spun out from publisher Imagine Media, IGN.com combined existing gaming content from a few formerly standalone websites, such as IGN64 and PSXPower, the movies and lifestyle site The DEN (Daily Entertainment Network), and GameSages, a gaming community with codes and tips. From there, we expanded IGN with new channels, new formats, experimented with new platforms, and eventually got to where we are today: a content brand covering the things you love that you can find wherever you like to hang out. I’ll spare you the corporate rah-rah with reach and follower numbers, but we’ll never forget to be thankful for the many fans that watch and read our content and use our tools every day.

Want to know what IGN looked like in the very beginning? Check out the IGN30 homepage gallery:

Though one of gaming’s biggest players, Nintendo, is nearly as old as Hollywood, video games were still a relatively young art form when IGN first arrived on the scene. Sticking with the example of 1889’s hippest playing card company turned video game giant, we witnessed the rise and fall and rise of Nintendo, SEGA doing what nintendidn’t and making games for all platforms, FPS dev royalty Steam and Epic making fortunes by building stores and making engines, and a little comic book company rising from bankruptcy to become one of the biggest players in entertainment. The heroes we once only read about are now the characters we watch and play as. In a glorious full-circle, the heroes we played as are now greeting us at theme parks and packing seats in movie theaters.

Party Like It's 1996

Creating content for YouTube, podcasts platforms, and social media has ensured that IGN has continued to grow over the years even as the way people browse the “internet” has fundamentally changed. Those of you who have visited us via office tours, hung out at IGN Live in LA, or tuned in to our podcasts hopefully encountered that same small team spirit that we feel whenever we get together to plan a new event, video, article, strategy guide, or map.

Lots of work goes into publishing IGN every day – and I’m just as thankful for the contributions from staff members present and past – but instead of making this anniversary celebration entirely about us, we’ll be rolling out lots of fun pieces of content that celebrate the last 30 years of games and entertainment throughout 2026.

If you’re interested in traveling down memory lane with us, IGN’s newly crafted editorial lead, Justin Davis, is sharing what we’ve got in store all year long for IGN30. Check that article out here: Why Now is the Most Exciting Time for IGN.

If you’re not sick of me yet, take a look at my occasional retro gaming column, Forgotten Gems, or join Daemon, Sam, Justin, and me for a special video episode of IGN Game Scoop as we open some dusty boxes with gaming artifacts in IGN’s storage space, right here and now:

Thanks for sticking with us! I hope you enjoy our lookbacks throughout 2026 -- and see you in 2046 for IGN50! (In space.)

Peer Schneider is one of the founders of IGN Entertainment, the company that runs IGN. After two decades of heading up editorial, he created a tools and game help group a few years ago and oversees the next generation of content publishing via IGN Guides, Maxroll, Map Genie, Gamer Network, HowLongtoBeat, and more.

Why Now Is the Most Exciting Time for IGN

29 janvier 2026 à 18:00

IGN is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and I couldn’t be more excited to give you all a sneak peek at the year-long festivities we have in store. From deep dive retrospective interviews with the biggest names in entertainment, to an in-person celebration in downtown Los Angeles, we’re inviting you to celebrate 30 years of pop culture with us.

Everything Everywhere All At Once

It’s fitting we’re celebrating this milestone now, at such an incredible time for games, movies, and streaming. Super Mario is now a huge movie franchise. The Last of Us and Fallout are smash-hit shows. Netflix now hosts an ever-growing collection of video games. And in turn some games, like Dispatch, look and behave a lot like Netflix shows. Thanks to the rise of collab culture in general, fans of everything from Stranger Things to Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn can show off their fandom in Fortnite. You can get Dwight Schrute as a Magic: the Gathering card.

Crucially, it isn’t just the megabrands that have benefitted. At this same time, the expansion of digital distribution platforms like Steam and streaming have empowered formerly niche communities to reach new heights as well. If you like chill, cozy games, they’ve never been bigger. Or if you’re like me and want to optimize conveyor belts and production chains, automation games are also having a moment. On the streaming side, we all have a friend that has found some amazing new subtitled show no one is watching but them, but might blow up into the next big thing (looking at you, Peer). Nowhere is this feeling more prevalent than the incredible growth of anime and manga over the last three decades.

In other words, whatever you’re into, pop culture has evolved to allow you to go deeper into your passions, or discover something amazing and new you didn’t even know you were interested in.

In short, it’s an exciting time to be a fan of…. just about anything.

At IGN, we’re privileged to have been right in the middle of this all for 30 years. IGN Entertainment company co-founder Peer Schneider has published an image gallery from the very earliest days of IGN you have to see.

"I am what I choose to become"

In some ways the entertainment landscape has been completely transformed from what it was in our earliest days. One somewhat startling fact is that IGN has been around longer than YouTube, Netflix, and Xbox, just to name a few. But in other ways, everything old becomes new again. In 1996 we were dreaming about what Zelda would look like on the Nintendo 64. In 2026, we’re dreaming about what Zelda will look like in theaters. Tomb Raider made its debut in 1996, and now in 2026 we’re excited to be covering both the new show and the duo of upcoming games. It’s like poetry… they rhyme.

But it’s these rare periods of more rapid transformation - like the one we’re in right now - that have always fascinated me most. I joined IGN in 2011 as Mobile Games Editor, reviewing games like Angry Birds Star Wars and Infinity Blade (bring it back you cowards!). I spent another couple years running features, and had a lot of fun (and headaches) shepherding insane projects like the Top 125 Nintendo Games. I recently moved into a role overseeing IGN’s absolutely amazing editorial team.

After more than 15 years, the thing that excites me most about working here is still the same: it’s the moment when someone says “...what if we tried this?” when thinking about how to solve a tricky problem.

Around 20 years ago, a little website called YouTube was just taking off. More video game fans were interested in watching videos about their favorite games and movies, and not just reading about them. IGN adapted quickly, and we now have 35 million subscribers watching more than 2 billion videos every year.

Around 10 years ago, Snapchat was the biggest thing on the planet, with TikTok and Instagram reels hot on its heels. IGN got on board, and now has more than 60 million social followers watching more than 5 billion vertical videos annually.

A decade later, we’re now in the midst of another transformative moment. In an online landscape increasingly dominated by text, videos, and entire people that were created at the click of a button, authenticity, transparency, and helpfulness are more important than ever.

Every single piece of IGN content is created by a human.

You’ve seen a little bit of this from us already, and we’re excited to double down across the rest of 2026 and beyond. As one small step, we’re now including an extended discussion with our critics at the end of most reviews, to learn more about the reviewer’s specific tastes, history with the genre or franchise, and more.

Every single piece of IGN content is created by a human. We will give you more opportunities to get to know individual creators’ quirks and tastes in ways beyond just our stable of podcasts, including more letters from the editor like this one. (Seriously - hit me up if you’re playing any new factory automation games).

We’re also doubling down on making ourselves as helpful to all of you as possible, in big ways and small. HowLongToBeat does exactly what's in the name: work with the community to log data on exactly how many hours it takes to clear any video game. Tools like Maxroll and Mapgenie have also joined the IGN family in recent years, serving as complement to our human-powered cultural commentary, helping you get the most out of your games.

Finally, just as we want to find more opportunities for you to get to know us, we’re also excited to connect with and open a closer conversation with all of you more directly, as well. Again, this isn’t something brand new. Among other things, our annual Reddit AMA gives us a chance to chat with you all directly and hopefully demystify how IGN works a bit. The AMA has been one opportunity for us to remind everyone that IGN reviews have never and will never be paid for - every once in a while it’s important to restate the obvious.

But for me personally, IGN Live is the most exciting way we show up for our audience, and it’s been amazing to see so many of you show up for us, too. The (for now) once-a-year event kicked off in 2024, with attendees getting to play dozens of unreleased games, and to see live on-stage interviews with head of Xbox Phil Spencer, the cast of Critical Role, film director Eli Roth, and plenty more. We grew to a second floor in 2025. And in 2026 we’re excited to share more soon about what we have in store. But it may not surprise you to hear it's not just going to be a look ahead at this year’s biggest games, shows, and movies, but will double as a massive celebration 30 years in the making.

I’d love to see you there this June.

A Year-Long Celebration

In addition to IGN Live, you’re going to see special 30th anniversary-themed content on IGN all year long.

In IGN30: Icons, we’re conducting deep dive, longform interviews with industry luminaries from across gaming and entertainment to learn more about what they were doing in 1996, get their take on the last 30 years of groundbreaking changes, as well as their look ahead at the next 30 years.

1996 was an incredible year for games, featuring the debut of Super Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, and Pokemon Red & Blue, just to name a few. And although we didn’t want too much of our IGN30 celebration to just be pure nostalgia, we couldn’t pass up this opportunity to revisit those all-time greats. So this year we’ll be producing special IGN30 editions of Art of the Level, Is It Still Fun Today?, and more. IGN Cinefix is also joining in on the fun, with Art of the Scene: IGN30 Edition.

This year we’re getting you involved in the celebrations too, via interactive face-offs, polls, and brackets to help settle some of the greatest and most storied characters, games, and consoles from the past three decades.

Finally, IGN Store and Humble Bundle will be getting in on the IGN30 celebrations, with throwback merchandise and a best-of-the-best game bundle.

I want to close with a genuine thank you, whether you’re here with us every day, or if this is your first time back in a while. I grew up poring over issues of EGM, and then just a few short years later obsessively checking websites like CheatCC, AICN, The GIA and yes, ign64.com (among so many others). So to have the opportunity to talk about the games, movies, and shows I love for a living is truly a dream come true.

It’s an honor and a privilege to have you here with us at all, and on behalf of everyone at IGN, I’m so excited to celebrate with you this year.

For the Allfather! — Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Will Soon Sell $5 Voice Packs — and There's No Heretical AI Here

29 janvier 2026 à 17:45

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is getting the first of a number of planned voice packs at the end of February, each sold for $4.99.

The first voice pack, which is not included in the Season Pass and thus has upset some players who believe it should be part of the premium DLC package, drops alongside Patch 12 (the one that adds the long-awaited Techmarine class), and includes over 450 voice lines per Chapter, dubbed in the seven audio languages Saber Interactive’s explosive third-persion action game already supports.

This means you get unique lines based on the Chapter, and your Space Marine will shout these new lines. New lines are also in the Social Wheel emote. In a community update, publisher Focus Entertainment used the example of a Space Wolf (the Space Wolves are among the most popular chapters in all 40k), who will shout “For the Allfather” instead of the usual “For the Emperor."

Focus made a point of confirming that none of this voice work is the result of generative AI. “And for those who may be wondering: we’re happy to confirm that each and every one of this Voice Pack’s 1,300+ total voice lines were performed by a real voice actor, as our commitment to quality remains absolute,” Focus said.

The voice actors in English are:

  • Thomas Mitchells (Blood Angels)
  • Andrew James Spooner (Space Wolves)
  • Kris W. Laudrum (Black Templars)

As you can probably tell from the image above, the first voice pack comes with a set of three new heads for PvE. All three heads (Space Wolf, Blood Angel, Black Templars) are part of the same Voice Pack, and are not sold separately.

You can, however, equip one Chapter’s head with another Chapter’s voice. Voices and heads aren’t tied together. The voices aren’t class-restricted, either. And finally, a second voice pack is already in the works. Focus will say more later this year.

Earlier this month, Warhammer maker Games Workshop banned the use of AI in its content production and design process, insisting that none of its senior managers were currently excited about the technology. So perhaps it comes as no surprise to see the ‘no AI voices’ message made clear in this post.

As an aside, in the world of Warhammer 40,000, AI does not stand for Artificial Intelligence. Rather, it stands for Abominable Intelligence. And, as Games Workshop has banned AI within the confines of its Nottingham headquarters, humanity has banned AI within the Imperium of Man. That’s because during the ‘Dark Age of Technology,’ AI rebelled against humanity in a bloody war that almost resulted in our extinction. Eventually, humanity won out, and, sufficiently traumatized, forbid the use of AI at all. That is, you can’t have ‘thinking machines’ in the Imperium, which is in part why the future tech is all a bit backwards for the 41st millennium.

The use of generative AI in game development is one of the hottest topics in the industry, and it has sparked a number of controversies. Following the reveal of Divinity at the 2025 The Game Awards, Swen Vincke, boss of developer Larian, met with a backlash after he said the studio was using genAI in various capacities. Larian ended up having to address AI concerns in a reddit AMA in which the studio confirmed a U-turn on some aspects of its use. And this week, RuneScape maker Jagex insisted it would never use generative AI to make content players actually see in-game, in one of the hardest stances on AI yet seen from a video game developer.

However, some video game companies have gone all-in on the tech. The CEO of Genvid — the company behind choose-your-own-adventure interactive series Silent Hill Ascension — has claimed "consumers generally do not care" about generative AI, and stated that: "Gen Z loves AI slop." EA CEO Andrew Wilson, meanwhile, has said AI is "the very core of our business," and Square Enix recently implemented mass layoffs and reorganized, saying it needed to be "aggressive in applying AI." Dead Space creator Glen Schofield also recently detailed his plans to “fix” the industry in part via the use of generative AI in game development, and former God of War dev Meghan Morgan Juinio said: "... if we don’t embrace [AI], I think we’re selling ourselves short.”

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.

Xbox Hardware Revenue Has Been Dropping for Two Years Straight

29 janvier 2026 à 17:16

Xbox has been having a hard time selling consoles lately, and it didn't get any better over the 2025 holiday quarter. Microsoft has just reported its Q2 2026 earnings, including the news that hardware sales were down 32% year-over-year, after quarter upon quarter upon quarter of hardware declines.

Though we don't have actual numbers to tell how much revenue is being lost out on here, we can get a sense of how grim this is for the hardware by looking at past quarters. Last quarter, Q1 of 2026, hardware declined 29% year-over-year. The quarter before that, Q4 of 2025, hardware was down 22%. The quarter before that? Down 6%. Before that? Down 29%. And before that, 29%, in Q1 of 2025, which was July - September of 2024. Going back even further through Microsoft's earnings reports, the prior year quarters saw declines of 42% (woah) in Q4 of 2024 and 31% in Q3. In fact, you have to go all the way back to Q2 2024, which was October through December of 2023, to find the last time Xbox's hardware revenue was better during that period than it was the year before - it was up a whopping 3% over the holiday quarter.

And yes, it was down 7% the quarter before that, 13% before that, down 30% before that, down 13% before that, and finally up 13% year-over-year in Q1 of 2023, or July - September of 2022, at which point the numbers start finally showing consistent improvement year-over-year, largely due to proximity to the launch of the Series S and X.

Now, look. It's extremely normal for a six-year-old console to not be selling as well as it was in the first few years after launch. That's to be expected. Early adopters tend to buy up consoles in large quantities at launch, distributers run out of stock, more is produced, people continue to buy until the vast majority of enthusiasts who want the console already have one, and then sales slow down as the console gets older. But it...usually takes a bit longer to get to that point! For comparison's sake, we have evidence that neither the PlayStation 5 nor the Nintendo Switch have had this much trouble on this scale selling systems at this stage in their respective life cycles, and certainly not as far back as less than three years after launch. There's maybe a reason why we have hard unit sales numbers of Switches and PS5s from Nintendo and PlayStation, but no official numbers whatsoever from Xbox on the Series S and X.

None of this is surprising to anyone who's paying attention. We've been reading headlines about the strugglines of the Xbox Series consoles for the last several years now. In the U.S., Xbox console sales hit an all-time November low in 2025, after several years in a row of declining hardware sales in what is usually the busiest retail month with Black Friday.

These more recent struggles are likely tied as well to the two spikes in Xbox console prices just this year, which saw the least expensive Xbox rise to $400, and the most expensive to an unimaginable $800. Its recently-released ROG Ally launched last year at a whopping $1000. And because much of the high prices are tariff-related, the U.S. - Xbox's biggest market - is primarily impacted here. According to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella speaking to us last December, the average price per Xbox unit in the U.S. has risen 30% year-over-year in 2025.

Xbox seems to be well-aware that its console business is seriously suffering. While it's promised a new, next-gen console to follow the Series, it's also said such a console would be a "very premium, very high-end curated experience." And even though there have been rumors it's considering backing off about its hardware plans recently, Xbox is still denying them, even as a former Xbox founding member says that "Xbox hardware is dead."

While the hardware declines were the most noteworthy figure from Microsoft's earnings yesterday, it's not like software was doing a whole lot better. Content and services revenue dropped 5% year-over-year, and overall gaming declines caused revenue in the More Personal Computing segment of Microsoft to drop 3% year-over-year. In the investor presentation, CFO Amy Hood said that the revenue drop was "driven by first-party content with impact across the platform," suggesting that its first-party games (perhaps Call of Duty?) didn't do as well as they expected them to.

All-in-all, another real rough one for Microsoft's gaming department.

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

A Decade After Nintendo's Same Sex Relationship Controversy, Tomodachi Life Finally Delivers on Promise to Make Series More Inclusive

29 janvier 2026 à 17:01

Nintendo has confirmed it will feature a diverse range of options for your character's gender, voice and dating preferences in its upcoming social sim Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, after a previous backlash to the series a decade ago.

In today's just-finished Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Nintendo Direct broadcast, the company began by showcasing the process with which players will create their Mii character, picking options for their gender, dating preferences and even a detailed range of setings for their voice.

While not specifically mentioned, the message here was clear: that Nintendo has made good on its promise made back in 2014 to make the next Tomodachi Life game "more inclusive, and [something that] better represents all players."

In #TomodachiLife: Living the Dream, you can create Mii characters from scratch or by answering a series of questions! Once you’re finished with their look, pick their gender and adjust their dating preferences and personality. pic.twitter.com/eVQAWhuq9m

— Nintendo UK (@NintendoUK) January 29, 2026

When Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream launches for Switch consoles this year on April 16, it will be 13 years since the arrival of the series' previous entry arrived on 3DS. Shortly thereafter, Nintendo found itself embroiled in a major controversy after Japanese fans alleged that Nintendo had initially developed, then removed, same-sex relationship options for in-game characters.

Nintendo's Bill Trinen commented on the issue to IGN at the time, and stated that while Nintendo had indeed updated the game, the update's intent had been to fix a data leak issue when importing characters from a previous game. Separate to this fact, Trinen said, some players had been using the same feature to import male Mii characters that could then be designated female, allowing for the appearance of two Mii characters of the same sex to marry and have a baby.

"Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of Tomodachi Life," Nintendo then said in a statement, which did little to stop the growing backlash. "The relationship options in the game represent a playful alternate world rather than a real-life simulation. We hope that all of our fans will see that Tomodachi Life was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary."

As fan complaints grew, a fan petition for "Miiquality" was launched, and the situation caught mainstream attention — including a high-profile skit by late night TV host John Oliver, who broadcast a skit featuring Mario and Link snogging.

Nintendo then issued a further statement with an apology for "disappointing many people" — and it was here that the company made a "pledge" to make a title that "better represents all players" should it release another Tomodachi title in future.

"We apologize for disappointing many people by failing to include same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life," Nintendo said at the time. "Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to change this game’s design, and such a significant development change can’t be accomplished with a post-ship patch. At Nintendo, dedication has always meant going beyond the games to promote a sense of community, and to share a spirit of fun and joy. We are committed to advancing our longtime company values of fun and entertainment for everyone. We pledge that if we create a next installment in the Tomodachi series, we will strive to design a game-play experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players."

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream allows players to create Mii versions of themselves, their friends, fictional characters and love interests and get them to all interact on a fantasy island. Clearly aware of some of the potential uses of this, Nintendo followed up today's Direct broadcast with a vague statement that said it would "place restrictions on certain image sharing features" for the game. Nintendo's Japanese support website states that this relates to the ability to share images directly to a smartphone or social media, though sharing via Game Chat is still possible.

For more, check out our roundup of everything announced at the Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Nintendo Direct.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Marathon-Themed PS5 DualShock Controller and Pulse Elite Headset Are Up for Preorder

29 janvier 2026 à 16:48

Bungie’s next game after Destiny 2 is Marathon, an extraction shooter that’s set to release on March 5. To celebrate the occasion, Sony is releasing some Marathon-themed PS5 accessories. There’s the PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller - Marathon Limited Edition for $84.99 (see it at Amazon) and the PULSE Elite Wireless Headset - Marathon Limited Edition, which costs $169.99 and is exclusive to PlayStation Direct. Both accessories will release March 5 alongside the game.

PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller - Marathon Limited Edition

The controller is relatively understated as limited-edition PS5 controllers go, in that has an all-white base. However, the grips and touch pad are decked out in detailed black-and-neon-green Marathon iconography. The back of the controller has the name of the game in neon lettering as well. It’s a nice looking piece of tech that is otherwise identical to all standard DualSense PS5 controllers. You can check out our DualSense controller review for more info on its features. And see every PS5 controller you can buy right now to see if any other designs catch your eye.

PULSE Elite Wireless Headset - Marathon Limited Edition

The headset is a standard PS5 Pulse Elite Wireless Headset, but it features neon-green-and-black Marathon graphics on the headband. It even has some purple/pink on it for good measure. Check out our 9/10 Pulse Elite Wireless Headset review for more information about what this headset can do and what makes it a solid buy.

Marathon Collector's Edition

Lastly, Marathon fans can preorder the collector’s edition of the game — but note that this version does not include the game itself. It does, however, according to the listing, come with the following:

Physical Items

  • 1/6th Scale Thief Statue with LED lights
  • USB-A to USB-C 1-metre-length charge cable
  • Collectible Silkworm Miniature
  • Iron-on Embroidered Patch
  • 6 Art Postcards
  • Premium Hexagon Packaging with Lenticular Poster
  • Beautifully designed display box featuring environmental art

Digital Item

  • Zero Step Emblem
  • Zero Step Background

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN's board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.

Crimson Desert Gets 15-Minute Video Showing Off Open World and New Gameplay

29 janvier 2026 à 16:18

With Crimson Desert just a handful of weeks from release, developer Pearl Abyss has released a 15-minute video showing everything from the story to the open world, alongside fresh gameplay.

This video shows main character Kliff and the continent of Pywel, which promises to be a seamless open world. Expect “sprawling wilderness, bustling cities, ancient ruins, and diverse regions, all set against a backdrop of escalating conflict and supernatural danger,” Pearl Abyss said.

Kliff is a warrior of the Greymanes, a faction from the northern region of Pailune. The story begins in the aftermath of a peace being shattered, and Kliff must reunite the Greymanes and reclaim their homeland. You end up discovering that the entire continent is involved.

The threat comes from the Abyss, a mysterious realm that’s sending fragments crashing into Pywel. Some want to exploit these fragments. You’re trying to restore balance to the Abyss and stop those who are exploiting it.

Crimson Desert’s huge open world has been a topic of debate recently. Pywel is divided into five distinct regions: Hernand; Pailune; Demeniss; Delesyia; and the Crimson Desert itself. The main quest revolves around Kliff’s journey, but you’re free to explore the world in any order, taking faction-driven quests, large-scale battles, fortress sieges and smaller, character-focused missions.

Pearl Abyss confirmed that as the story progresses, two additional playable characters become available, each with unique combat styles, skills and weapons. Exploration is a big part of the game — you travel on horseback, climb terrain, glide across distances, and later access advanced traversal options such as a missile-firing mech and a dragon. Pearl Abyss said the world is filled with hidden treasures, ancient mechanisms, puzzles and points of interest “designed to reward curiosity and discovery.” As for combat, expect to face enemy soldiers, sorcerers, beasts and machines.

Earlier this month, Pearl Abyss called Crimson Desert’s open world “absolutely massive,” bigger even than that of Bethesda’s Skyrim and Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2.

Speaking on the Gaming Interviews YouTube channel, Pearl Abyss’ Will Powers said that describing the size of Crimson Desert’s world in terms of numbers doesn’t do it justice, because doing so fails to capture the scope and scale of the game. But he did go as far as to compare it to two of the biggest open world games around.

"I don't think numbers really do it justice because, how big is that in terms of scope and scale?” he said. “But what we can say is that the world's at least twice as big as the open world, the playable area, of Skyrim. It's larger than the map of Red Dead Redemption 2."

Powers went on to insist that the size of Crimson Desert’s open world won’t determine its quality. Rather, what you actually do in it is the key factor.

"The continent of Pywel is absolutely massive, but size doesn't really matter if there's nothing to do,” he said. “Open-world games are about doing things, having activities, having distractions. So we wanted to create a world that's not only massive, but is also incredibly interactive."

Unlike Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption 2, in Crimson Desert you can fly around on a dragon, so despite the size of its world, you’ll be able to get about quickly. And don’t expect RPG elements in terms of decision-making and choice and consequence as it relates to your character, either. The sheer amount of things to do in the world will facilitate the role-playing part of Crimson Desert, which players will form through “head canon.”

“You choose the type of character you want to play as in terms of your progression within the systems in the game,” Powers explained. “And then through head canon you’re having this very different experience than other players because of the scope and scale of the game. You’ll be distracted by something, you’ll go on this quest line, you’ll have an experience that’ll be radically different than someone else, even though they’re playing the same game and the same canonical storyline that you both are going through.”

Crimson Desert has gone gold, locking in its global release date of March 19, 2026. That’s across PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Mac.

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.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A for Nintendo Switch 2 Is Down to $56 Today Only at Best Buy

29 janvier 2026 à 16:15

Looking to expand your Switch 2 library? Best Buy is here to help. At the moment, as part of its Deal of the Day, the retailer is offering Pokémon Legends: Z-A for Nintendo Switch 2 for $55.99 (see it here). Overall, this saves you $14 off its usual price of $69.99, but it won't stay at this price for long.

Deals from this section of Best Buy last for one day, and one day only. If you've been itching to boot up Pokémon Legends: Z-A on your Switch 2, now is the time to grab a physical copy and save while it's still on sale.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A (Nintendo Switch 2) for $55.99

We found plenty to enjoy in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, with IGN's Rebekah Valentine noting in her review that it "finally feels like Game Freak hitting its stride in Pokemon’s 3D era."

She continued on to say that, "Lumiose City may not be visually exciting, but exciting Pokemon encounters, well-written characters, and amusing side quests still make it fun to explore while also serving as the ideal vehicle for a more intimate and emotionally mature Pokemon story."

Again, this deal only lasts through today, so now is the time to grab it for $55.99.

It's far from the only Switch game deal we've seen recently, either. If you're in the shopping mood, both Amazon and Woot have featured some exciting discounts recently. At the former, Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition has been marked down to just $30 for Switch 2 (a 50% discount), while the latter has dropped a ton of discounted Switch games as part of its 'Video Game Mega Sale!'. There's even some Switch 2 versions of games included in that sale, such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart World, which we highlighted in our breakdown of the best deals of the day.

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

Magic: The Gathering's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Set Is Coming Soon, Here's Where to Pick It Up at The Best Price

29 janvier 2026 à 15:23

Magic: The Gathering has a busy 2026 planned, but the last set to be revealed was a crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yes, it marks our second trip to New York in less than a year, thanks to last year's Spider-Man set (seriously, there are infinite dimensions we could travel to!), but the Heroes in a Half Shell are doing things a little differently.

Not only does it offer our first Universes Beyond Commander Deck since Final Fantasy, but there are some new product types, too. Here's everything you can preorder, including more than a few sealed products that already have some tidy discounts.

MTG x TMNT Preorders in a Half Shell

As you can probably imagine, there are more products coming than you can shake a Bo Staff at launching on March 6, with pre-release a week prior from February 27 to March 5.

The foundation, as expected, is Play Boosters, and Amazon has a box for $124.99 right now - which is a massive saving.

You can also grab the now-customary booster bundle, which includes a promo card, a series of nine Play Boosters, a storage box and a spindown life counter.

That’s dropped to $61.01 right now, making it an even more appealing gift option for a Turtle-loving Magic player in your life (there are dozens of us!).

We promised something new, and here it is: The Turtle Team-Up box, which offers co-op gameplay where "2-4 players battle for survival against an onslaught of villainous adversaries".

It's still $49.99 at Amazon, and includes four pre-built 60-card hero decks, one Enemy deck with 11 bosses, seventeen Event Cards, and four 14-card boosters.

Also new this time is a Pizza Bundle, which includes 9 Play Boosters, 1 Collector Booster, 25 non-foil Pizza lands (yes, really), five foil Pizza lands, 2 foil promo cards, and a spindown life counter. Amazon had this for $99.99, but they're all gone - almost certainly because there's a single Collector Booster inside.

Also out of stock is the Collector Boosters. As with any set, these are where you’ll find the high-value cards, and Amazon sold out fairly quick for both boosters and a box of them. Expect them to be expensive, though, with an MSRP of $37.99 each, or around $479.99 for the box.

As a reminder, Collector Boosters include alternate art treatments and foils, but they're functionally the same cards. Buy them, or don't, but don't feel like you have to spend almost $500 for a box just to play this great card game.

Draft Night, a new boxed product making its debut in January’s Lorwyn, is also included. It has a bunch of packs (twelve in total) to play sealed draft, and a Collector Booster for the winner to take home. It’s dropped to $104.99 recently, and now back in stock at Amazon.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is Getting a Commander Deck

Finally, Commander players can expect a return to precon decks… but just one. After being absent since Edge of Eternities, there’s a new precon coming, which is a five-color deck called Turtle Power!

Wizards has the decklist live now, but the big focus is on teamwork, so you can have a pair of Heroes in a Half Shell to be your Commanders. It’s currently up for preorder at $69.99, but I'd expect it to climb in value as we get closer to launch next year.

It's also interesting that after very few five-color decks in recent years, we're now getting two in consecutive sets after Dance of the Elements from Lorwyn: Eclipsed.

UK Preorders

I can’t remember the last time a set came with a single Commander precon. In 2025 alone we’ve had sets with no precons (Spider-Man, Avatar), sets with two (Aetherdrift, Edge of Eternities), a set with four (Final Fantasy) and a set with five (Tarkir Dragonstorm).

Why just the one? I honestly can't complain. Even at my age, picking my favorite turtle is serious business, so having the whole gang in one, 100-card boxed product means I don't have to make any tough choices.

Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He's a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife's dismay.

Everything Announced in the Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Nintendo Direct

29 janvier 2026 à 15:13

Today's dedicated Nintendo Direct has revealed new details on Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, the next title in Nintendo's social sim series headed to Switch and Switch 2.

Hosted by long-term Nintendo producer Yoshiaki Koizumi, the 20-minute broadcast introduced a look at the latest entry in the Tomodachi series — the first in over a decade. Within the first few minutes, Nintendo answered one of fans' big questions of the game: whether it would cater to same-sex relationships, following a previous controversy.

Nintendo makes good on promise for Tomodachi Life to become more "inclusive"

Players will be able to set their Mii character's "dating preferences" with a combination of three options: Male, Female and Non-binary. The game notes that players "can pick one, more than one, or none." Your character's gender can also be set with the same three options, and there are a series of options and sliders to customize your Mii's voice, based on its speed, pitch and more.

Memorably, the series' previous game Tomodachi Life experienced a backlash over its lack of same-sex relationships, something Nintendo was forced to comment on after rumors spread online that they had been cut from the game, prompting commentary from late night TV host John Oliver — who broadcast a skit featuring Mario and Link snogging. Notably, Nintendo then promised that if it did make another Tomodachi Life game, it would make it "more inclusive, and [something that] better represents all players."

Today's broadcast comes just days after a separate Nintendo Direct focused on The Super Mario Galaxy Movie that debuted our first look at Yoshi, Birdo and more. And already, there's speculation about another upcoming Nintendo Direct — this time a major, full-fat version expected to lay out more of the company's 2026 release slate.

Expanded character and island customization

Living the Dream begins with an empty island with few buildings and only a handful of characters. Luckily, it also features plenty of customization options for your characters, islanders and the island itself. Characters don't even need to be human, either — teddy bears and aliens also feature.

Much of this feels like a version of The Sims mixed with Animal Crossing, with the ability to mould your fellow islanders into friends or love interests, introduce other characters to each other, and sit back to watch bizarre storylines play out as your various inhabitants interact.

Mii characters have a range of traits and mannerisms, and when interacting can prompt some truly odd vignettes. Sometimes your fellow islanders will come to you with requests, and you'll also be able to keep them happy with dishes from the food mart, and fresh items of clothing. You can also use the Switch's touchscreen to draw new items, clothing and even pets for your character to interact with.

Islands can be fully built and customised, meanwhile, with houses and items placed to grow your town into a sprawling settlement. Over time, you may find your characters moving in together, fall in love and get married.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream release date announced

Today's presentation concluded with an announcement of the game's release date on April 16, 2026. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream will arrive then for Nintendo Switch, and also be playable on Switch 2.

No specific details of any differences for Switch 2 (or a separate Switch 2 Edition) were mentioned.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Cairn Review

29 janvier 2026 à 15:00

In 1978, Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler did something that both scientists and other mountaineers considered impossible: they climbed Mount Everest without the use of supplemental oxygen. After reaching the summit, they split up for the descent, and it took Messner nearly two hours to reach base camp. When he did arrive, he was suffering from snowblindness. Later, a reporter asked him why he went up there knowing he could have so easily died. “I didn’t go up there to die,” Messner, who would return to complete the first solo ascent (also without supplemental oxygen) of Everest two years later, responded. “I went up there to live.”

It’s a sentiment that would resonate with Aava, the protagonist of Cairn. “All I ever wanted was to touch eternity for an instant,” she tells us at the outset, her eyes to the stars, “To reach one of those rare moments of bliss where everything seems in its place, and you feel you’re part of a whole.” But her mountain isn’t Everest; it’s Kami, a fictional peak no one has ever summited, and she is determined to be the first. Cairn is her story, and like both the mountain she is challenging and the climb itself, it is an incredible one.

Cairn is a game about the climb, about choosing the right route up the mountain, finding the right handhold, taking a chance on the outcropping that seems slightly out of reach, pulling yourself up to a ledge just before your strength fails. Your path to Kami’s summit is up to you and you control each of Aava’s limbs independently (with some optional assistance on by default); each part of the climb is yours. The summit is the goal, but it is enough to make it to the next Bivouac, a tent in which you can sleep, to retape your fingers, cook food, and repair pitons damaged in the climb. There are meters in Cairn that track Aava’s temperature, hunger, hydration level, and overall health, and you’ll need to manage each if you want to survive. Cairn holds you accountable for your choices (if you don’t feed Aava, she will be weaker and climbing will be harder), but it’s rarely overly punishing, and managing your limited resources based on what Kami asks of you is both challenging and rewarding.

What doesn’t have a meter is Aava’s stamina, how strong her grip is at the moment, or how well she is maintaining the position you’ve taken. For that, you’ll have to watch her: the way her arms and legs tremble on an unstable hold, the way she breathes, how she whimpers and winces as she’s about to lose her grip. These tells work great, but they can be subtle, especially at first, and you have to pay attention until you learn what to look for and how to position Aava properly as she moves up the mountain. Aava is incredibly strong, but she’s also human. She cannot hold onto smooth rock for long, nor scurry up a sheer cliff through sheer force of will. Shaking out a tired limb and refocusing while on a semi-stable hold will buy you more time, but you cannot scale all of Kami that way.

Cairn holds you accountable for your choices, but it’s rarely overly punishing.

Salvation, and progress, are found in the small divots she can grab onto, tiny ledges where her feet can find purchase, a crack on the cliff face she can wedge her toes into. Sometimes, there will be nothing, and you will have to take a risk, to brace Aava’s leg against a flat surface in the hope that she can pull herself up before her strength fails or sidle across a small ledge, her hands pressed against smooth stone.

If the rock is suitable, she can drive a piton into Kami and build a belay, clipping herself to a loop of rope in order to rest. If she falls and you’ve been smart about using pitons, her Climbot helper will catch her, and you can climb the rope back to the belay, or use it to rappel down to an area you might not otherwise reach. But even here, it’s possible to make a mistake and realize you need a belay before Aava has time to drive the piton home, or twist it as it’s going in, ensuring Climbot can only recover part of it rather than the whole thing the next time you’re on solid ground. If the stone is too dense, you’ll have to make the climb unaided. These are Cairn’s most memorable moments. You are going to fall. The only question is whether or not it will kill you, and how much time you’ll lose if the mountain claims you.

You can pull the camera out for a bird’s eye view of your location at any time (and see the route you’ve taken to get there, including failed past attempts), which is crucial for planning the next leg of your ascent. There are no wrong answers. Sometimes, the route is clear, but slower; other times, it’s faster, but more difficult, and requires more risk. Often, it’s somewhere in between, and you’ll have to choose where and how the route challenges you rather than if it will. And then there are the times where you’ll think you’ve found a good route only to reach a section without a clear answer, then check the map again and see that there was another, easier path available. Sometimes, you can tough it out with smart choices, chalk (which increases your grip strength), and a few well-placed pitons. Other times, it’s best to adjust your path.

Climbing Kami is exhilarating, and I often found myself gazing up at the path before me wondering how I would manage it, only to look down and realize I had a short time later. There is joy in planning out a route, in securing a piton at the last second before Aava falls, in finding the right handhold or wedging Aava’s feet into a crevice that unlocks a path that seemed impassible, in chalking up and daring to persist a difficult section in the rain instead of waiting it out on a belay, in seeing the path you chart in your head becoming the route you’ve taken, in finally pulling yourself onto a ledge after a particularly difficult climb when the night is falling and your visibility is failing and Aava is dehydrated and hungry and tired, in beating the mountain through sheer, dogged determination. The act of climbing doesn’t change much throughout Cairn’s runtime (my playthrough took me 19 hours, but I was very thorough), and occasionally Ava’s limbs may spider in strange directions or she may fall through the mountain, but I was so invested it hardly mattered.

I will never summit Kami; my victory is inevitable.

As I play, Kami exists as something without end, taller than I could possibly imagine, something I will never complete, and the mountain I am scaling, all at once. It is a remarkable balance, and something Cairn never loses. I will never summit Kami; my victory is inevitable. Each time I make it to a Bivouac (which doubles as a save point), I feel like I’ve done the impossible.

But inside, there is always more to do. I need to tape Aava’s hands, scarred and covered in blood from the climb. I need Climbot to craft new pitons from the scraps I saved. I need to cook a meal, rehydrate. Aava brings supplies to the mountain, but her backpack can only hold so much. Each time I eat a chocolate bar or drink some milk or tape Aava’s hands, I know I am using up a resource I might not get back. Each time I sleep, I know she will wake up hungry. Kami forces me to make compromises. Climbing at sunset is dangerous because I can barely see; climbing at night is nearly impossible, something I only do if I have no other choice. Sometimes, I rest not because Aava physically needs to, but because there is no way to keep going until sunrise.

But it is not all hardship. When I need something, Kami provides. In caves, on ledges, I find dandelions, perfect for tea. Raspberries. Fresh, clear water. Fish. I am always teetering on collapse, never there. There is always just enough, if I’m smart. Climbot recycles used plastic and bottles and makes chalk. Each part of my journey feeds the other.

I learn the mountain’s story. I find the remains of a cable car and its station, of smashed-open vending machines, flyers and advertisements. Tourists walked here, once. Companies offered anyone the chance to see the mountain until it wasn’t profitable anymore, until it failed, until the mountain pushed back. I find the remains of the troglodytes, a civilization built on Kami, beautiful cities carved into the mountain, great statues. I explore. I learn of their resentment of climbers like Aava, the way civilization came for them, encroached on them, eventually forced them down. The remains of what they built are marked by pitons and covered in climbing rope. “My mountain belongs to everyone,” Aava tells a goat that attacks her. But in climbing it, I realize it isn’t true. By being here, I am profaning something sacred. I am walking through the graveyard of a culture people like Aava helped kill.

And I am reminded of the cost of what I am attempting. Sometimes, the hints are subtle. Bear-proof boxes full of supplies. Abandoned backpacks. Other times, they are less so. Dead bodies. “Sometimes you come for the mountain,” Aava says gently, kneeling over someone who shared a dream with her. ‘Sometimes the mountain comes for you.” Abandoned campsites. I learn of a group tracking bears on the mountain, and I wonder what happened to them, and about what I might run into as I ascend. I find the corpse of one-half of a climbing team, two orphans who promised to conquer Kami together, and a letter saying the other has gone on in search of a mystical flower with healing properties, hoping to save his partner. I find markings and letters from a couple who scaled Kami together, getting a little higher each time they attempted it. A broken Climbot still receiving messages because maybe that means the climber it belonged to still is, too.

These stories, and others, recur and build on themselves as I climb, and I find them moving. I explore, go out of my way, to see them. Cairn is not just about Aava; it is about Kami, and everyone who has attempted to climb it. There seem to be two outcomes: either they turn back, or they die. Kami remains unconquered. The mountain always wins.

Stories recur and build on themselves as I climb, and I find them moving.

As I ascend, I also learn about Aava, about the kind of person she is, about who someone driven to do something like this must be. Climbot relays messages she receives as she climbs. From her agent, Chris, who goes from begging her to send him photos to appease their sponsors to just begging her to let him know she’s all right. From her friends, who sing her happy birthday. From her partner, Noami, who does not understand why she is doing this, who reminds her of the cost of what she’s attempting. Aava mostly ignores them. Sometimes they make her smile, make her sad. Sometimes, she is angry with Climbot for playing them.

She meets other people on the mountain. A climber named Marco, who is a fan, grew up reading about her exploits. She is terse with him, occasionally unkind, though she does not mean to be. The quest for the summit may drive her, but she is running away from the world on the ground as much as she is climbing toward Kami’s peak. For everyone else, there is a life at the bottom of the mountain. All they have to do is give up and come down. For Avaa, the climb is all there is.

Cairn never gives us the whole story; everything comes in pieces, in hints, in what’s left unsaid, and in small comments, like the one she makes to Marco when he mentions her father, himself a climber, who put Aava on her first climbing wall when she was three years old. “Great guy,” Marco says, impressed. “So they tell me,” she responds. Like the mountain itself, Aava is complicated, complex, imperfect. And like the mountain, she is incredible. How I felt about her changed as I climbed, but I always understood her. As long as she faced Kami, so would I.

At the end of Cairn, Aava must make a choice about who she is, what she is willing to sacrifice, and how the experience of climbing Kami has changed her. It is a remarkable fusion of gameplay and storytelling, of everything you have seen and done on the mountain. Each choice leads to a different ending. Neither is wrong. I have seen both paths, and in either case, the last couple hours of Cairn are something I will remember for a very long time.

Doom: The Dark Ages' Doom Slayer Gets a Hulking New Statue From Dark Horse

29 janvier 2026 à 15:00

Doom fans will want to keep an eye out for the latest exclusive collectible from Dark Horse Direct. The company is releasing a new statue of the Doom Slayer from 2025's Doom: The Dark Ages in all his shield-slinging glory.

Check out the slideshow gallery below for an exclusive first look at this imposing and very cool statue:

The Doom: The Dark Ages - Doom Slayer Statue is a collaboration between Dark Horse Direct, id Software, and Bethesda Softworks. The statue was sculpted by Bigshot Toyworks and painted by J.W. Productions.

This massive collectible measures 14 inches tall and stands atop a 9.5-inch diameter metallic base. The statue depicts the Doom Slayer holding both a bloody chain flail and his trademark Shield Saw.

The Doom: The Dark Ages - Doom Slayer Statue is limited to 500 units worldwide and is priced at $319.99. It'll be sold exclusively on the Dark Horse Direct website, with an estimated release window between October and December 2026.

In other collectibles news, Hot Toys just unveiled a trio of new KPop: Demon Hunters figures.

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

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