The $299 price tag on the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds demands top-tier audio, comfort, customization, and longevity, and if you're spending this much on earbuds, you’ll want them to last for years and years. Sennheiser's excellent track record and the buds' specs sheet – including support for high-quality Bluetooth codecs such as aptX Lossless and LC3 – promise a treat for your ears. So do they live up to that promise?

Although they’re not quite perfect, the short answer is yes: they're some of the best, and best-looking, earbuds you can buy, up there with the similarly priced Sony WF1000XM5. And given they're several years old, you can sometimes get them at a discount.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 – Design and Battery Life

Starting with the packaging, this is by far the most luxurious earbuds case I've held. The colour of the fabric matches your choice of earbuds, with five options. I think the copper variant I reviewed is my favourite: it's understated and classy. Everyone wanted to feel the case whenever I put the buds on or off around friends.

The hardy fabric showed no scuffs or scratches after a week of bouncing around in my jeans pocket and in my bag, and was no worse off after a few drops. Long-term users say it holds up well and that you needn't worry about fraying threads. It is on the chunkier side and it sticks out in my pocket more so than any of the buds I've tested, which bothers me. It's not a dealbreaker, but just know that everyone will be able to see the outline of the case.

The buds themselves look nearly as handsome as the case. The brushed metallic exterior isn't too shiny, and the indented Sennheiser logo lends a lovely texture. This is where you'll be touching to control the buds, and it recognised all my taps perfectly. I'm less keen on the placement of the external microphone holes, which sullies the clean finish.

The buds are chunkier than competitors, which means they extrude from your ear more, but it didn't feel excessive even as somebody with smaller ears. The extra layers on the bud – the metallic exterior, a rubber protector, the main body and stem of the bud, and the ear tip – creates plenty of crevices for grime to accumulate, although it was easy to clean.

The tips felt comfortable to wear for hours at a time at home or at the gym. You get a variety of sizes and the accompanying app – which I'll explore more later – includes a "fit test" to help you pick the right size. It's a useful extra that most buds don't have. The IP54 rating, indicating the level of dust and water resistance, means that rain and sweat won't damage these buds. The ear tips also have a mesh at their base, protecting the headphones from any dust or earwax falling inside: again, it's something that a lot of buds don't have.

And the long battery life enables extended listening sessions. You'll get between 7 and 8 hours on a single charge (although less with noise cancelling, custom EQs, and other funky features that I'll talk about later) and 30 hours total if you keep putting them back in the charging case when they run out. That single-charge life is a smidge less than Sony's best, but the total charge, including the case, is longer; both of which are excellent. They support fast Qi wireless charging and you can also turn on "battery protection mode" to charge the buds slower and stop them reaching 100%, prolonging their long-term life. Most smartphones now have a similar feature but it's rare on earbuds: another bonus.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 – Sound Quality

They look good – but how do they sound? Lovely, thankfully. Smooth and balanced. I listened to music in plenty of genres, different podcasts, watched TV shows and even played games (which I'll talk about in a moment). Everything felt like an easy, pleasant listen, with no noticeable distortion and no artificial boosting.

Vocals felt balanced with background music to surround me when watching films, and voices sounded particularly rich. I enjoyed the "podcast mode", which enhanced the clarity and timbre of voices, and made it sound like I was listening in the studio. I like that the EQs presets are relatively gentle, too. Sometimes EQ presets blow up certain aspects of the audio, but listening to Jay Z's The Black Album sounded good on pretty much every setting.

You can enable "sound personalization", with a quick test on the app to adjust the balance of bass and strings to suit your ears, although I must admit I found it quite confusing, and didn't feel like it improved the sound. You do get a little less punch and clarity than with the Sony WF1000XM5 buds. Sony's earbuds are particularly precise and bassy, so you can really feel the music: Sennheiser's are, I'd argue, gentler and more well-rounded. Neither is obviously better – they're both great out of the box, and it's just what you prefer. If you want a bit more bite, you can always create a custom EQ on the app or toggle "bass boost" for some more oomph without distorting your sound.

They support a variety of hi-res and lossless audio codecs, including aptX Lossless and LC3. You'll obviously need to stream from a program that supports those codecs (the base Spotify subscription doesn't cover it, for example), and even when you do, you might not even notice a difference in audio quality. But it does feel good knowing you have buds that can do it all, and ones that are future proof for emerging tech over the next few years.

On the gaming front, the buds' Bluetooth latency won't stand up to a wired gaming headset or a dedicated low-latency gaming earbud like the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds, but I found them to be better than other non-gaming earbuds I've tried. They have a specific "low latency" audio mode designed for gaming, which you can use on your phone or on your PC. The PC connection is a bit fiddly: you first have to connect to both your phone and PC at the same time (these buds can support two devices at once with zero issue), then toggle on low latency on the phone app, and stay connected to your phone as you play, because there's no dedicated Windows software.

There is still a slight delay from screen to ear but it's barely noticeable. I played a lot of Arc Raiders with them, and I felt completely consumed by its soundscape. With these buds, I could tell what was happening around me, and what direction footsteps were coming from. Microphone quality is the one big letdowns of these buds: the volume is fine but your voice will sound a little fuzzy and unclear, which is disappointing.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 – Noise Cancellation and Transparency

These Sennheiser buds have adaptive noise cancellation by default, so you can't manually change the level of it. Some adaptive systems can be jumpy, and often fail to hit max noise cancelling, but there are no such problems here. I didn't actually notice any of the adjustments happening in real time and it cut out the loudest noises when it needed to.

The amount of noise cancellation isn't anything special, and I'd say it's not quite as powerful as the high-end Sony buds. It did everything I wanted, cutting out background noise at the gym and reducing the noise of the London Underground between stops, but it was no more impressive than the mid-range OnePlus Buds 4 I reviewed in September. The screechiest part of the Underground line still came through loud and clear.

The Transparency mode is impressive, mostly because you get more options than with most buds. You can pick between five levels of transparency, and you can decide to turn it on or off in phone calls. That level of customisation is useful: sometimes, you only want a bit of transparency – for example, so I can hear my wife calling from another room – and sometimes you want a lot, say, if we're in the same room. The highest transparency does produce a noticeable background hiss, which is annoying but expected. The trade-off for clearly hearing things going on around you is worth it, and most of the time you won't need to crank it to max.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 – Software and Customisation

All the settings for the True Wireless 4 earbuds come in Sennheiser's SmartControlPlus app. It's crammed with options you won't find on other buds. I've talked about some of them already: bass boost, podcast mode, battery protection mode and the fit test are all here. But you can also set Sound Zones, which apply specific settings when you arrive at or leave a location. It's a neat trick that means you can, for example, turn on noise cancellation by default when you reach the gym.

The app can be a little confusing because some of the settings are under the "my device" tab, while some come under the "settings" tab. That distinction, I'd argue, is illogical. But once you get used to finding what you need the app is easy to navigate, cleanly laid out, and works reliably. I particularly liked the detailed customisation of the touch controls. You have the freedom to set commands for single, double, and triple taps individually on the left and right buds. I would've liked a desktop app too, so I could change settings directly on my PC, but sadly that's not an option with these buds.

The Dell Black Friday Sale kicks off early this year with some outstanding deals on Alienware gaming PCs, gaming laptops, and gaming monitors. This is an excellent opportunity to upgrade your gaming PC so that you can play recently released games like Battlefield 6 or Ghost of Yotei in glorious 4k with buttery smooth framerates. Several of these deals are the lowest prices I've seen all year long, including some huge discounts on "Like New" models from Dell Outlet.

Alienware Early Black Friday Gaming PC Deals

Alienware Early Black Friday Gaming Laptop Deals

Alienware Outlet Early Black Friday Deals

You can quickly browse through all of the listed products on sale above. See below for our favorite picks.

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5080 Gaming PC

Alienware Area-51 RTX 5090 & 5080 Gaming PC

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5070 Ti Gaming PC

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5060 Ti Gaming PC

Alienware Aurora 16 and 16X Gaming Laptops

Alienware's new mainstream gaming laptop for 2025 is dubbed the "Alienware Aurora" and it replaces the previous generation's x16 and m16 series of laptops. It comes in two models: the 16 and 16X. The 16 is the more economical model, but gamers should definitely opt for the higher-end 16X model. If you're looking for build quality and performance on par with the previous generation m16, then the 16X is its spiritual successor. It features an anodized aluminum lid and base, a higher quality display, a more powerful CPU, and a GPU that isn't throttled for maximum gaming performance.

Alienware Area-51 Gaming Laptops

New for 2025, the Alienware Area-51 gaming laptop features an anodized aluminum shell for both the lid and bottom chassis with a gorgeous iridescent finish. The frame is made of a durable and lightweight magnesium alloy. Cooling has been upgraded with generous amounts of copper and a new thermal interface material to better transfer heat away from your hottest components as well as more fans and bigger cutouts for greater airflow. Dell claims that the laptop can handle a higher power ceiling of up to 240W TDP without raising acoustics.

Design-wise, the Area 51 has a sleeker, more contoured shape compared to previous models, with rounded edges and soft corners replacing the traditional squared off design. The hinges are internally positioned so that they're near invisible. There's a transparent window on the undercarriage to show off the internal components. As befits an Alienware laptop, there's plenty of RGB illunimation, although most of it can be turned off if you want your laptop to be a bit more subtle.

"Like New" Alienware Area-51 Gaming Laptops at Dell Outlet

The Alienware Area-51 is Dell's best and boldest lineup of gaming laptops for 2025 and they've just dropped to the lowest prices I've seen for Black Friday. Dell Outlet typically stocks "Like New" Alienware 16 Area-51 gaming laptops at anywhere between 10%-35% off retail price. However, for Black Friday, there's an additional 18% discount that's automatically applied in your shopping cart. Configurations include RTX 5070, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5080, and even RTX 5090 GPUs. Note that "Like New" models are certified refurbished and include the same 1 year warranty as buying new.

Some other resources you might be interested in:

• Best gaming laptop deals of 2025
• Best gaming PC deals of 2025

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.

GameStop isn't nearly as prominent as it used to be, but it's still a great place to find video game deals during the holiday season. If you're wondering what the gaming retailer has in store for Black Friday, you can already check out the GameStop Black friday ad for all of the details. There's also currently an early sale on video games, accessories, and more that runs from now until November 22.

Early GameStop Black Friday Sale

The early GameStop Black Friday sale consists of a mix of video game deals, some discounted accessories, and a bunch of toys and merch. The most prominent deals featured on the website are the $20 or less section. The overall selection here isn't all that impressive, but there are a few good discounts on PS5 games like Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and Hellboy: Web of Weird. If you move up to the "Under $30" section you'll find a few more decent deals like NBA 2K26 for $30 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth for $30 as well. There are very few Xbox games featured in either of the video games sales, so the most of the discounts are centered on PS5 and Nintendo Switch.

Outside of the video game sales GameStop is offering the same discount on Meta Quest headsets you can currently find at Amazon or Best Buy as well. There's also a $30 discount on the new Backbone Pro that is worth a look if you're in the market for a high-end mobile controller.

GameStop Black Friday Ad

GameStop's early Black Friday sale is only part of its larger Black Friday ad for 2025. It features a mix of discounts we already know about from Nintendo's Black Friday sale announcement earlier this month as well as the more recent PlayStation sale announcement. To check out the full ad, I'd recommend just flipping through this handy ad scan from the Black Friday subreddit.

The Nintendo Switch deals are what we already expected to see. Most notably there's a significant lack of Switch 2 games or console deals available at all. Nintendo has gone ahead and ditched the usual Black Friday Switch + Mario Kart bundle and is only planning on offering discounts on older games and amiibo. The GameStop ad does have a prominent Switch 2 page, but it doesn't mention any discounts whatsoever.

Outside of the early deals on Borderland 4 and NBA 2K26, there are some notable video game deals starting on Thursday when the Best Buy and Amazon Black Friday sales go live. This includes Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 for $50 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 for $30.

Following that, most of the PlayStation deals are set to begin on Friday, November 21 when PlayStation officially kicks off its sale. This will include a $20 discount on the PlayStation Portal and all of the DualSense colors for under $60. You can see the full breakdown of the PlayStation Black Friday deals directly from the PlayStation Blog.

As of right now there's no sign whatsoever of Black Friday Xbox deals at GameStop or anywhere else. With Xbox raising its prices multiple times this year, it's unclear if we'll see any discounts from Microsoft or major retailers in 2025.

Here’s an excellent deal for PC gamers. Between now and December 1, you can save $30 off a one-year subscription to Humble Choice. All you have to do is enter HOLIDAY25IGN at checkout, and you’ll knock the price down to $124.99. That’s an excellent deal, considering it gets you a monthly bundle of 8 PC games (via Steam codes) that you can download and keep forever.

Humble Choice Black Friday Deal

So what does Humble Choice get you, exactly? The first Tuesday of each month, you’ll get a new curated selection of eight Steam games. These generally offer a healthy range in terms of genre, size, and scope, but there are always a few AAA games and a few indies in there. The games are yours to keep and play forever, regardless of whether you cancel your membership at some point down the road.

In addition to a monthly bundle of games, you get up to 20% off games on the Humble Store, including new releases. You also get access to a vault of games you can play for as long as you’re a member. And 5% of your membership goes to charity. The particular charity changes each month, but you can always read up on them.

The November’s Humble Choice games include Total War Warhammer III, Another Crab’s Treasure, and Etrian Odyssey HD. Based on MSRP, it’s $254 worth of games, all for $14.99 for one month. But if you take advantage of the deal above, it comes to $10.42 per month. That $254 is right about the normal range for what each month’s bundle is worth. So, over the course of the year, this deal gets you over $3,000 worth of games for $124.99.

Humble Choice Games for November 2025

If you sign up now, the first bundle of games you'll get contains the following (blurbs from Humble's press release).

• Total War Warhammer III: A grand-scale strategy game where fantasy armies battle daemonic forces in the Realm of Chaos.
• Another Crab's Treasure: A Soulslike adventure where a hermit crab fights enemies using trash as makeshift shells.
• Pharaoh: A New Era: A 4K remake of the classic city-builder where you manage resources, appease gods, and build magnificent monuments in Ancient Egypt.
• Etrian Odyssey HD: A first-person dungeon crawler focused on creating a party and mapping a dangerous labyrinth.
• No More Heroes 3: A stylish hack-and-slash game where an assassin fights alien superheroes in over-the-top battles.
• Synergy: A sci-fi city-builder about building a sustainable human settlement on a harsh alien planet.
• Spin Hero: A roguelike RPG where combat and progression are determined by spinning a slot machine.
• Paleo Pines: A cozy farming sim where you run a ranch, explore an island, and befriend dinosaurs.

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

Not everyone is the DIY type. If you're in the market for a prebuilt gaming PC, Dell is one of the best brands we'd recommend. Alienware desktops and laptops feature solid build quality, top-of-the-line gaming performance, excellent cooling (further improved on the newer models), aggressive styling, and pricing that is very competitive with other pre-built options. Best of all, there are plenty of sales that happen throughout the year, so it's not difficult to grab one of these computers at considerably less than their retail price.

Dell and Alienware Coupons

Alienware Gaming PC Deals

Alienware Gaming Laptop Deals

Alienware Outlet Deals

You can quickly browse through all of the listed products on sale above. See below for our favorite picks.

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5080 Gaming PC

Alienware Area-51 RTX 5090 & 5080 Gaming PC

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5070 Ti Gaming PC

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5060 Ti Gaming PC

Alienware Aurora 16 and 16X Gaming Laptops

Alienware Area-51 Gaming Laptops

New for 2025, the Alienware Area-51 gaming laptop features an anodized aluminum shell for both the lid and bottom chassis with a gorgeous iridescent finish. The frame is made of a durable and lightweight magnesium alloy. Cooling has been upgraded with generous amounts of copper and a new thermal interface material to better transfer heat away from your hottest components as well as more fans and bigger cutouts for greater airflow. Dell claims that the laptop can handle a higher power ceiling of up to 240W TDP without raising acoustics.

Design-wise, the Area 51 has a sleeker, more contoured shape compared to previous models, with rounded edges and soft corners replacing the traditional squared off design. The hinges are internally positioned so that they're near invisible. There's a transparent window on the undercarriage to show off the internal components. As befits an Alienware laptop, there's plenty of RGB illunimation, although most of it can be turned off if you want your laptop to be a bit more subtle.

"Like New" Alienware Area-51 Gaming Laptops at Dell Outlet

The Alienware Area-51 is Dell's best and boldest lineup of gaming laptops for 2025 and they've just dropped to the lowest prices I've seen for Black Friday. Dell Outlet typically stocks "Like New" Alienware 16 Area-51 gaming laptops at anywhere between 10%-35% off retail price. However, for Black Friday, there's an additional 18% discount that's automatically applied in your shopping cart. Configurations include RTX 5070, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5080, and even RTX 5090 GPUs. Note that "Like New" models are certified refurbished and include the same 1 year warranty as buying new.

Some other resources you might be interested in:

• Best gaming laptop deals of 2025
• Best gaming PC deals of 2025

Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

PlayStation's Black Friday deals have been officially announced, and the standout deals include a $100 discount on all PS5 consoles that kicks off on November 21.

There's also a pair of Fortnite bundles that undercut the console's usual MSRP pricing by a wide margin, effectively having the Black Friday discount baked in.

These cuts come only a few months after Sony raised PS5 prices by $50, which makes this Black Friday promotion feel somewhat like a course correction.

Sony is also running wider Black Friday offers as well, including $100 off accessories like the PlayStation VR2 and various headsets, earbuds, and controllers, dropping around 20 to 30 bucks as well, and there will up to 60% off digital games.

As mentioned, these deals start on November 21 and will run through December 1, so if you’ve been holding off on a PS5 upgrade, this is the moment Sony clearly wants you to bite.

PS5 Early Black Friday Deals

There are already a handful of PS5 games that have been discounted in the run up to Black Friday.

For now, you can pick up Borderlands 4 for $47.99, alongside Final Fantasy's 1-6 Pixel Collection for $39.99, its lowest price ever, EA Sports FC 26 for $34.99, Battlefield 6 for $62.95, and Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake for $34.99.

For more help planning your holiday gaming purchases, check out what Black Friday deals we expect from Xbox, alongside all the details on the announced Black Friday sale from Nintendo.

Robert Anderson is Senior Commerce Editor and IGN's resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.

Ahead of Black Friday, Dell just launched one of the best deals I've seen this year on a generously equipped Alienware Aurora R16 GeForce RTX 5080 gaming PC. It's normally listed at $3,199.99, but a $900 off discount drops it to just $2,299.99 with free shipping. Although I've seen other less expensive Alienware RTX 5080 systems in the past, this is a better deal because it features an upgraded Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and double the memory and storage capacities for just a slightly higher cost. The Alienware brand itself also normally commands a higher price point, but this Black Friday deal is extremely reasonable compared to similarly equipped prebuilts from other brands.

Alienware Aurora RTX 5080 Gaming PC From $2,299.99

Sometimes you get a pitch in your inbox that you just can’t not write about. I got one of those this morning; it's the new Honeycomb Echo Aviation Controller, a flight sim gamepad that's due for purchase sometime next month, Honeycomb announced today.

Let me be clear: I have no idea if this is a good controller or worth buying at all. It's just that, once I saw the picture of this thing, I stopped reading the press release I'd been emailed, sent the email to my editors at IGN and said “I’m convinced that the people need to see this Pee Wee Herman-ass controller.” And you do, trust me. In fact, here it is:

Let’s talk about just what we’re looking at, here. This is a gamepad-shaped controller with the noble goal of letting you sit with your arms limply resting in your lap, yet with all of the switches, levers, buttons, and sticks you need to command a digital jet airliner. Most familiar to non-flight sim gamers will be the analog stick – using anti-drift hall-effect sensors, of course – for “full elevator and aileron input,” so that you can DO A BARREL ROLL! (Aileron roll, if you like, but I choose to believe this 10-year-old PBS explainer about why Starfox’s Peppy did nothing wrong.)

You’ll also find four independently assignable thrust levers with exchangeable caps “for GA or commercial aircraft,” according to Honeycomb’s website. Levers on the bottom let you control things like flaps and landing gear, and a set of buttons near the top work for “camera, checklist, and toolbar functions.” There are also paddles on the back of the controller that Honeycomb says in its announcement “move in opposition” to give “realistic yaw control without external pedals.” Finally, it’s wireless with up to 15 hours of battery, but also works when wired via its USB-C charging port.

Honeycomb isn’t the only one releasing controllers like this. There’s also the Meridian GMT X-Ray, for which I couldn’t find a release date or price, and the delightfully-named Yawman Arrow, which you can order now for $199. Like those, the Echo Aviation gamepad is ostensibly for the sim fan about town who wants a compact way to play Microsoft Flight Simulator with fewer compromises than even the best PC controllers require.

But I’d argue it’s also definitely for me, a total layman when it comes to these games, and not just because I want a less space-hogging way to get into flight simulation. It’s also because I just want to have it and hold it. To pick it up and, as a troll-ish bit, hand it to my friend as we start up a game of Smash Bros. I should note here that although the version Honeycomb is announcing today is for PCs and Macs, a YouTube trailer for the controller says it's coming to consoles in 2026, as well.

Whichever camp you fall into, you won’t have to wait long to get your fix. The Echo Aviation Controller will be available mid-December for $150, a spendy gamepad price that for once feels reasonable and not like a gratuitous flex.

Update: This deal is now expired.

Ahead of Black Friday, Amazon has slashed prices on the officially licensed WD Black C50 Expansion Card for the Xbox Series X and S consoles. Right now you can pick up the 1TB model for just $99.99 with free shipping. The WD Black C50 Expansion Card is one of the best SSDs for the Xbox, which isn't surprising since your options are pretty limited. There's only one other officially licensed model - the Seagate Expansion - and it currently costs $50 more.

WD Black C50 Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X

There's this idea that a gaming PC is inherently a giant tower of metal and plastic that takes up so much space that you need to have a dedicated desk to handle it. These days, you don't need a massive hog of a tower to get incredible gaming performance. Instead, the best mini PCs can take up as little space as a cable box.

TL;DR – These Are the Best Mini PCs for Gaming:

There are inevitably some downsides when going with a mini gaming PC instead of a full tower. For one, the smaller form factor means there's simply less space for high-end graphics cards and CPU coolers. As such, you probably won't find many mini gaming PCs out there with an RTX 5090 and an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, at least not at a price that doesn't rival a down payment on your house. Instead, you're more likely to find something like the GMKTec Evo-X2, which uses a powerful APU, rather than discrete graphics.

Different PC manufacturers deal with the space constraints in different ways. For instance, Asus bought out the NUC (next unit of computing) brand from Intel to make desktop PCs that use mobile hardware to fit into extremely small cases. Other companies, like Zotac, found a way to shove powerful desktop-class hardware into a tiny chassis. They'll be inherently harder to service or upgrade than other towers, and also much more expensive, but hey, at least they're tiny.

1. Asus ROG NUC

Best Mini PC for Gaming

2. MinisForum X1-255

Best Budget Mini PC for Gaming

3. GMKTec Evo-X2

Best Mini PC Not Just for Gaming

4. Corsair One i600

Mini PC With the Best Graphics

5. Mac mini M4

The MacOS Option

What About the Steam Machine?

Valve just announced the new Steam Machine last week, a tiny gaming PC with the equivalent of a Radeon RX 7600M running SteamOS. In a lot of ways, I expect the Steam Machine to do for mini gaming PCs what the Steam Deck did for handheld gaming PCs. Because just like handhelds, mini PCs have been around for a while, but they've lacked a budget-friendly entry point, at least if you want to get some serious gaming done.

While we still don't know how much the Steam Machine is going to cost, it's probably going to be much more affordable than something like the ROG NUC, despite having very similar specs. It's still early, and I need to get it in the lab to benchmark it, but if you've been thinking about getting a super living-room-friendly mini PC for gaming, it's probably best to wait a couple months for the Steam Machine – at least just to see how expensive it will be.

Even beyond the Steam Machine itself, I expect other manufacturers to start taking mini PCs more seriously. Over the next few years, I wouldn't be surprised to see more mainstream options from manufacturers like Lenovo, Asus, or MSI.

How to Pick the Best Mini PC for Gaming

Just like with any gaming PC, finding the best mini PC for gaming is all about what games you're looking to play, and at what resolution. Mini PCs are much smaller compared to desktop PCs, and even some laptops, and size constraints naturally limit the components included.

GPU

If you want to play the latest titles without any hiccups, you'll want to aim for a mini PC with a solid GPU. Look for models that come equipped with modern graphics like the Nvidia RTX series or AMD Radeon cards rather than integrated graphics. However, if you’re on a budget and you’re not fussed about playing games that have just been released, you could get away with something less powerful.

CPU

A good CPU is crucial for gaming performance and overall system responsiveness. Aim for mini PCs with mid-to-high-end CPUs, ideally with around 4 cores, 8 threads, and a high clockspeed – around 4.0GHz or higher – just so your computer doesn't grind to a hault when you're trying to multitask. Similarly, you’ll need a decent amount of RAM (at least 16GB) and storage (at least 512GB SSD) to run and store your games smoothly.

Ports

Once you’ve nailed down the specs, make sure the mini PC has enough ports for your peripherals, as well as HDMI or DisplayPort outputs for connecting to external monitors or TVs. Thunderbolt ports are also a nice bonus if you plan on connecting high-speed external storage or other devices.

Mini PC FAQ

Are mini PCs good for gaming?

It kind of depends on what you mean by "good for gaming." It's unlikely that you're going to find any mini gaming PC that's going to be great at 4K gaming, but lower your expectations a bit and these tiny machines can surprise you. If you mostly play games at 1080p, especially if you play a lot of indie games, even mini gaming PCs with integrated graphics are good enough these days to give you a solid gaming experience. We're entering an age of PC gaming where basically any PC can play PC games to some extent and mini gaming PCs are certainly no different.

What is better: mini PC or PC?

Again, this depends entirely on what you're looking for. Because, yeah, a full-sized gaming PC with a Ryzen 9 processor and an RTX 5090 is going to wipe the floor with every mini gaming PC on the market when it comes to pure performance numbers. But no matter what you've heard on Reddit, performance isn't everything. Take it from someone that lives in a tiny NYC apartment: Sometimes having a small gaming PC is extremely important and can make up for the lack of performance, especially if you're pairing it with a lower-resolution gaming monitor.

What are the downsides to a mini PC?

When you're getting a mini gaming PC, you're going to have to make compromises in at least one of three categories: price, performance, and upgradability. There are some tiny gaming PCs that pack high-end desktop components, but you're going to have to fork over a huge wad of cash for them. On the other hand, there are some really affordable mini gaming PCs out there, but those are mostly using integrated graphics and are really only good for playing PC games at 1080p with medium-high settings. If you want a PC with swappable components, you really only have a few options in a small form factor, though these tend to be more powerful (and expensive) than other mini gaming PCs.

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

It’s nearly here: Black Friday sales are kicking off this week. And if you’re a fan of board games, you’ll probably want to have an idea of what to expect deal-wise on popular tabletop titles. You’ve come to the right place. I’m the board game editor at IGN, and I’ve been following all the Black Friday board game deals for years. Let’s dive in.

Buy 1, Get 1 Half Off on Board Games Right Now

You don't actually have to wait for Black Friday to save on board games. Right now, both Amazon and Target have sales that get you half off a board game when you buy one at regular price. This applies to a decent number of popular games for board games, including Catan, Splendor, and Horrified. But tons of classics and family board games are also eligible, like Scrabble and Mouse Trap.

What Games Will Get Discounts?

When it comes to Black Friday board game deals, such a wide swath of games go on sale each year that basically nothing is off the table (please excuse the pun). If this year is like years past, you’ll be able to save on just about every board game on the market.

The discounts we saw last year ranged from 20% off games all the way up to 65% off. You could save on popular standards like Azul and Pandemic. You could save on family-friendly games like Exploding Kittens and UNO. You could save on horror-themed board games like Alien: Fate of the Nostromo and Arkham Horror: The Card Game. Whatever games you're interested in, you can likely find something on sale that you'll want to pick up.

Additionally, for Cyber Monday last year, Amazon ran a “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” sale. Since many of the games were already discounted, that was like a deal on top of a deal. So keep an eye out during Black Friday 2025 for opportunities to stack discounts.

Which Retailers Will Have Board Game Sales?

As for the retailers where the deals can be found, the main ones to look at are Amazon, Walmart, and Target. If you want to branch out a bit, Barnes and Noble is usually a good place to look for discounts as well. With Amazon's Black Friday sale kicking off on November 20 this year, that will likely be the first place you should start looking for deals.

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

James Gunn's Superman didn't just introduce us to a new Man of Steel, but an entirely new and fully realized version of the DC Universe. The movie is crammed full of colorful characters and locales, which makes a book like Superman: The Art and Making of the Film a very valuable resource for DC fanatics. And now we've got a new excerpt from this handsome volume.

IGN already got an early look at Superman: The Art and Making of the Film a few months ago. Now that the book is in stores, we can exclusively debut two new pages from the book, spotlighting Anthony Carrigan's Metamorpho and the design of Metropolis. Check them all out in the slideshow gallery below:

Superman: The Art and Making of the Film is written by James Fields, who previously penned The Art of The Batman. The book also features an introduction by Gunn and a foreword by Superman actor David Corenswet.

This 176-page book features a wealth of concept art and unit photography, showcasing character and costume designs, sets, and other elements of the film. It also features extensive interviews with the cast and crew, offering insight into the production of the film as well as the early development of Gunn and Peter Safran's DCU.

Superman: The Art and Making of the Film is priced at $50 and is available in bookstores now. You can order the book on Amazon.

IGN also recently got an exclusive look at Abrams' X-Men '97: The Art and Making of the Animated Series.

Excerpt from the new book Superman: The Art and Making of the Film (Abrams) by James Field, available wherever books are sold on November 18, 2025

Copyright (C) 2025 DC and Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.

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

The Alienware Area-51 is Dell's best and boldest lineup of gaming laptops for 2025 and they've just dropped to the lowest prices I've seen for Black Friday. Dell Outlet typically stocks "Like New" Alienware 16 Area-51 gaming laptops at anywhere between 10%-35% off retail price. However, for Black Friday, there's an additional 18% discount that's automatically applied in your shopping cart. Configurations include RTX 5070, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5080, and even RTX 5090 GPUs. Note that "Like New" models are certified refurbished and include the same 1 year warranty as buying new.

Alienware 16 Area-51 RTX 5090 Laptops From $2,755

Extra 18% off discount is automatically applied in cart

A new mission is born — and it’s the one we’ve all been waiting for. The second trailer for the highly anticipated Project Hail Mary film adaptation is finally here, and there’s no denying it looks pretty incredible.

In the new trailer for the sci-fi epic, we see how lead character Dr. Ryland Grace becomes entangled with a life-changing mission he initially feels unprepared to go on. But the powers that be believe he’s the only one for the job, which sees him in space working closely with an alien who resembles a rock formation (a super cute rock formation at that) to save both of their planets.

Other than the three minutes of footage we get from the sneak peek, the details we have for Project Hail Mary remain fairly sparse. In the YouTube description on Amazon MGM’s official YouTube page, we get the film’s tagline: “An unlikely friendship. An impossible mission.” But that’s about it for new information this time around.

The first trailer for Project Hail Mary was released at the end of June — and it totally blew up online, garnering over 400 million views in a single week. At the time, that was a record for a film that was not a sequel or a remake.

Project Hail Mary stars Ryan Gosling as a professor, scientist, and astronaut who wakes up one day on a spaceship with no recollection of how he got there and a new mission that will put him at the center of saving humanity from a catastrophic event. Sandra Huller and Milana Vayntrub will star alongside Gosling, who also produced the project. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse fame have teamed up once again for their first directed film in 12 years following 2014’s 22 Jump Street. Project Hail Mary is based on the novel of the same name by Andy Weir, from a screenplay by Drew Goddard.

Project Hail Mary is set to be released in theaters, and on IMAX, on March 20, 2026.

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

Yoko Taro, the creator of the Nier and Drakenguard games, has been awfully quiet lately. Though he's worked on some smaller projects (writing scenarios for Voice of Cards, and a few mobile games), the lack of a proper Nier follow-up or other new major game from him has been getting under fans' skin. But according to Taro, he has been working on projects. They just keep getting canceled.

This comes from his remarks at Korean gaming convention G-Con 2025, which were reported on by 4gamer and translated by Automaton. The panel, which featured Taro and Bayonetta and Okami director Hideki Kamiya, saw the pair asked for updates on recent projects. Kamiya mentioned the upcoming sequel to Okami, while Taro said he'd been very busy with new projects, they just keep getting canceled partway through.

“I often get told stuff like ‘Why aren’t you making a new sequel to NieR’ or ‘Yoko Taro isn’t doing anything,’ but that’s because recently, a lot of projects I was involved in got discontinued midway through development," he said.

"I’ve actually been working on some stuff, it’s just that it never ended up seeing the light of day. I got paid for it, so I personally have no issues with that, but people seem to think that I haven’t been doing anything just because none of the work I’ve done is being released."

However, Taro isn't discouraged by this, apparently. He continued, saying he'd rather fail repeatedly and eventually create something good, rather than put out multiple mediocre works. “I believe that if I’m going to release something weird, I’d be better off not releasing anything at all.”

The Mandalorian and Grogu will show a "changed" version of the Disney+ series' helmeted hero, director Jon Favreau has said, following three seasons of character growth.

Din Djarin's big screen debut will pick up the character's story following the events of The Mandalorian's third season finale, which saw the bounty finally hang up his blaster for something of a quieter life looking after Baby Yoda, AKA Grogu.

By this point, Djarin has established himself as a hero to more than the audience — he's caught the attention of the New Republic and is brushing shoulders with Star Wars Rebels' Zeb Orrelios. And it's this journey that viewers will see continue next year, Favreau teased.

"The Mandalorian has changed his priorities," Favreau told Empire. "One of the last things we say [in Season 3] is, like, 'I don't want to go out there and just be a hired gun. I want to work for the good guys."

It's this desire to do good in the galaxy that will see Djarin meet Sigourney Weaver's new character Colonel Ward, and go on a mission with Zeb proper. "Now we get to really have fun with him," Favreau said of Zeb, Rebels' purple alien. "He’s such a compelling character, even if you’ve never seen Rebels, between the voice, the swagger, and the physical ability."

The development of Djarin's mindset makes sense not just for character himself, but also for what Disney still has planned for this current era of New Republic storytelling, which will also continue on the smaller screen with a second season of Ahsoka.

Fans are still hopeful that Lucasfilm will wrap up the storylines from The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew in a big event movie — perhaps resolving the threat of Grand Admiral Thrawn? — something that Star Wars writer and director Dave Filoni has said he's working on in the past. Exactly when that might arrive, however, is unknown.

But before all that, The Mandalorian and Grogu must set the stage, and win over an audience that hasn't been given a Star Wars movie in seven years, since 2019's highly-divisive Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Thankfully, The Mandalorian's winning core relationship between Djarin and Grogu will remain the new film's focus, Favreau concluded. "That central relationship, as they go off and face adventure together, that's the underpinning of the film," he said. "Star Wars is always about progression and growth and characters evolving, sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad. It's about apprenticeship, it's about one generation teaching the next. There's more growth that happens over the course of the film."

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

The latest episode of The Simpsons has added a fresh member to the family's clan: the previously-secret Beatrice Bouvier, who is revealed to be Marge's estranged aunt.

Sashes to Sashes, the seventh episode of the show's 37th season, sees the rest of the Simpsons family discover how a four-year-old Marge fell out with her aunt after being told there was no such thing as princesses or love. Ever since, Marge has refused to speak with or acknowledge Beatrice's existence — until the truth is accidentally revealed.

As the episode continues, viewers discover that Beatrice (voiced by Carrie Coon) had been acting harshly after having her heart broken — by none other than Springfield mayor Joe Quimby, to whom she had been briefly married.

Frank Herbert's Dune is an infamously tricky story to adapt to other media. It took Denis Villeneuve two whole movies to do the book justice. But Abrams ComicArts can do fans one better. They've adapted Dune into no fewer than three full-length graphic novels.

With Dune: The Graphic Novel: The Complete 3-Book Boxed Set now in stores, IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of the set. Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:

Based on the original novel, the Dune graphic novels are adapted by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, with art by Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín. In total, the three volumes clock in at 552 pages.

Here's the official logline for Dune: The Graphic Novel: The Complete 3-Book Boxed Set:

Frank Herbert’s Dune, an epic science-fiction masterpiece set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar society, tells the story of Paul Atreides as he and his family accept control of the desert planet Arrakis.

Dune explores the complex, multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion as the forces of the empire confront each other for control of Arrakis. Illustrators Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín transport readers to the Dune universe in this three-volume visual masterpiece that blends classic science fiction with contemporary comics storytelling.

Dune: The Graphic Novel: The Complete 3-Book Boxed Set is available in bookstores now. You can order a copy on Amazon.

In other Dune news, Robert Pattinson recently confirmed he's in the third Dune movie. Here's what to expect from Dune Part 3.

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

In the summer of 2012, ROUTINE was revealed at the largest video gaming convention in the world Gamescom, but after well over a decade later it has yet to make it into the hands of players. In the coming weeks, that’s all about to change, and as I sat down with two of the game’s three developers, Aaron Foster, head of art and design and project lead, and fellow artist and designer Jemma Hughes, it was all smiles.

“We’ll have gone gold in just a few days,” Aaron told me with a grin.

Theirs is a classic indie developer story, a handful of developers setting out to work on a project they were passionate about, learning every difficult lesson along the way.

“Routine started as a very simplified, atmospheric, slight-horror game. I started it on my own, and was actually inspired originally by the simplicity of Dear Esther,” Aaron said. “I wasn’t a programmer at the time. I was an environment artist, actually, and wanted to use my experience to make a game.

“I grew up in the 80s watching VHS's and it left a big impression on me. Now that I’m an environment artist, I’ve never stopped loving that aesthetic. I love the weathering and the hum of fluorescents and little details like that. When making Routine, I thought, ‘if I made this game in the 80s, what would I imagine it like?’ and so, sorta took that and ran with it.

“When Jemma and our programmer, Pete, came on that really opened a lot of doors for us. We started showing a few screenshots and eventually got help on audio, so that’s when we were ready to show the trailer.”

Aaron and Jemma’s environmental art chops were more than enough to catch the attention of masses, and when they released their reveal trailer in 2012, their self-published little endeavor left an impression on people. But then work on the project suddenly halted, and wouldn’t pick back up again until 2020.

“There was quite a long delay that was due to personal reasons, actually. We were dealing with almost going personally bankrupt and had to pause and work on other projects to make ends meet,” Aaron said, with the difficulty from those years apparent in his voice.

Eventually their situation improved, though, and there was still a lot of passion among their small, but mighty team to pick the project back up. However, doing so after a years-long hiatus proved no easy task. The first obstacle was that the development landscape had completely changed, including, most consequentially for their team, the tools used to make them.

“When we picked up development again, we actually had to start from scratch, because we’d worked on the game for 4 or 5 years in Unreal 3 Engine, then came back in 2020 on Unreal 5 using a completely different code – C++ instead of Unreal Scripts.”

And so the team took the opportunity to make ground up changes to Routine that spanned gameplay, art, and more. Having learned a lot from their time developing on Unreal 3, the team decided to refocus gameplay around a less combat focused design, give the story a complete overhaul, and change the way AI worked, expanding on ideas in some places and trimming back in others to bring the project more in line with the team’s renewed vision.

“When we weren’t paused, we were mostly gutting stuff that didn’t work. The C.A.T. was originally primarily a weapon. That was removed and turned into what felt more like an actual tool. You saw a lot of that in the demo you played. It even has an off button!”

The C.A.T., also known as the Cosmonaut Assistance Tool is the primary way the player interacts with the world around them. A boxy, retro-looking multitool, you pick this handy item up early on and it evolves over time as you find new modules for it. It was one of the big focuses during the rework after they started working on the game again, and Aaron’s eyes light up when he talks about it.

“We didn’t want to make a bunch of modules, so instead we decided to make each module multipurpose. For instance, the ultraview module is a blacklight, but also a flashlight, so while the other one helps you defend yourself, it doesn’t have a flashlight, so there’s more than one reason to have one module equipped at any time,” he told me.

“It also does cool things like lets you connect to terminals, so it’s kind of like your cell phone, a camcorder, a flashlight – a multitool,” Jemma added.

“There are more modules than what you’ve seen though. There’s one more later in the game. It may or may not help you defend yourself,” Aaron said with a laugh.

There were more changes beyond the C.A.T too, including a refocusing on the setting, which takes place on the moon. The moon is something of a fascination for Aaron, and something he wanted front and center. Before the pause in development, they’d increasingly built indoor environments where players couldn’t be blamed for forgetting they were on the moon at all – a state the team found unacceptable. Having played the demo recently, the moon is almost omnipresent, especially early on when they take every opportunity to shove the moon’s desolate vistas in your face.

“Narrative was also a huge change. The stuff we had before took away from the setting of the moon, we thought, and so we wanted to refocus on that,” Aaron explained. “I’ve always just been drawn to the moon. I think it looks just beautifully barren, and mysterious, and a bit creepy.”

Speaking of creepy, as you explore the space station, you’re never far away from the game’s primary threat – the Type 5 robots that attack you on sight and which cannot be dealt with using force. These heavy, metal Terminator-looking monsters are a sight to behold, and make the most alarming noises when they’re around.

“The AI got a rework too. Actually, you may not have noticed this, but the Type 5 robots are only ever active one at a time. That got changed at one point for reasons related to the narrative.”

And I’ll admit, I didn’t notice this, and actually spent minutes on end hiding from robots I had no idea were deactivated and unable to see me. Aaron and Jemma found this pretty amusing.

“Yeah, usually there’s this moment in some of the playtests where they’ll notice the robot just standing there and sort of peek out and then go ‘oh, he’s turned off’ and then you can walk right in front of them and see they don’t notice you at all,” Aaron said. “Just don’t be there when they come back on!”

When asked about the design behind these terrifying monstrosities, Aaron explained there's a completely rational explanation for why someone built them to look like the stuff of nightmares, and also for how these could exist in the same universe as the tiny, boxy helper robots you’ll find scurrying about on the same space station.

“The Type 5s are actually repurposed riot control robots from Earth, so that’s why they look intimidating and a bit scary as you saw. The purpose of the IC robots is to be helpful, so they look cute.”

When asked how Routine stands out in 2025, where we’ve enjoyed an absolute tidal wave of awesome games to play, Aaron spoke to the philosophy of letting players learn for themselves – a practice that’s less common in the age of in-game characters explaining puzzle solutions to you a few seconds after you encounter them.

“It’s just a very different kind of experience. We don’t hold your hand and make the player figure stuff out and there’s just not a lot of stuff like that out there at the moment.”

As someone who spent about 20 minutes beating my head on a single puzzle during the demo, I can attest that this is certainly true.

Before wrapping my call with the team, I paused to ask them what advice they would give to indie developers setting out to make their first game as they started to do all those years ago. Aaron’s answer came after only a second or two of thought.

“One of the most important things is just work on something you care about, regardless of scale. If you care about it, you’ll be able to see it through. We knew we wanted to finish this game and we did. It took a while, but we all cared about it, and here we are.”

Wicked: For Good will be released in theaters on November 21.

Midway through Wicked: For Good, at the climax of one the musical’s many songs, Cynthia Erivo is harshly backlit by that pesky Ozian sun that has somehow made it into virtually every frame of this story. The camera pans slowly away, and, ah, a respite from all the squinting you have to do in order to see anything that’s going on in this movie! But the relief is short-lived, because the shot eventually settles on a giant waterfall that is… reflecting all of the light from that very same sun, obscuring the main character once more behind a wall of photons.

I use this small example to illustrate Wicked: For Good’s central problem: it has all of the issues of the first movie, compounded by the fact that Act II of Wicked the musical is, famously, just not as good as the first.

The story has jumped in time an unspecified number of years, and the tricky Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and his mouthpiece Glinda the Good (Ariana Grande) have convinced the people of Oz that the green-skinned “wicked witch” Elphaba (Erivo) is Public Enemy Number One. Meanwhile, Elphaba, who’s been exiled to the woods, is dead-set on drawing back the curtain on the Wizard’s fakery and saving the lives of all the sentient Animals who are progressively forgetting how to speak. It’s a Very Serious setup for a Very Serious movie, with none of the effervescent pizzazz of the first act/film. That’s the trouble with the dreary back end of this story—you’ve already had all the fun of getting to meet everyone for the first time, and now all that’s left is to watch them make themselves miserable.

It’s a weird tonal shift that just doesn’t match the inherent absurdity of the environment. Wicked plays things very sincerely with its very silly story (I say this as a fan), but there are always moments in the show—a hilariously mispronounced word here, a well-timed aside there—that wink at the ridiculousness of the premise. In contrast, watching Wicked: For Good is like watching a war movie, complete with action sequences, wrenching interpersonal drama, and a harrowing refugee escape scene that provides the backdrop for one of the film’s two original songs, the somber don’t-let-the-bastards-get-you-down anthem “No Place Like Home.” The self-serious atmosphere makes talking animals and the occasional mention of the community of people that calls themselves “Munchkins” even more jarring. Look, they already tried to do “grimdark Wizard of Oz” with the childhood trauma-inducing Return to Oz and Syfy’s Tin Man miniseries, and (again, I say this as a fan) it didn’t really work those times, either.

And then there’s the fact that you can’t see most of it anyway. Director Jon M. Chu and cinematographer Alice Brooks’ commitment to backlighting every scene with a sun, a lantern, or a wall of torches persists here—probably because Wicked and Wicked: For Good were shot at the same time—and was already roundly criticized by critics and fans the first time around. The second film is darker in every sense of the word (aside from many of Grande’s scenes, thank goodness), and there are environments that are so dimly lit you can’t make out Erivo’s face at all.

It’s all very frustrating, because, as with the first film, you can tell that real work was put into building opulent environments for the actors to stomp around in. Chu outdoes his own wedding staging from Crazy Rich Asians here, throwing Glinda a party overflowing with flowers and fit for a fairy queen. The tower Elphaba eventually transforms into her lair during the triumphant villain song “No Good Deed” looks like a battleground from Elden Ring. Cool, tactile sets shrouded in shadows are maybe marginally better than the washed-out lighting of the too-bright first movie, but, given how inertly everyone is often staged in this film, you still get the sense that you’re watching people walking around in sets.

The songs though are almost enough to make you forget about all of this. Erivo and Grande are so good it makes the fact that these movies aren’t that great even more disappointing, and they especially nail all the complicated, contradictory emotions and themes running through this sequel. Wicked: For Good does its best to yank them back and forth—allies one moment, enemies the next, and then back to besties again—but they both keep themselves steady, electrifying things whenever they’re sharing the screen. Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero, the third member of their isosceles love triangle, holds his own with the two of them, even though he doesn’t get much to do here besides roll his broad shoulders and smolder directly at the camera, and that’s fine. (Michelle Yeoh’s propaganda minister Madame Morrible remains the weak link, which is a shame, as she’s the only truly villainous character in this whole thing and clearly relishes any opportunity to be mean.)

Really, the biggest problem with Wicked: For Good is its atonal pacing—songs take ages to finish, while characters are constantly being tossed into scene after scene with very few transitions in between to fully explain why anyone is acting the way that they are. And it’s doing all this while also stepping on most of the source material’s best bits—Elphaba’s big Wicked Witch laugh moment, which ignites cheers in the theater, is barely gestured at. Wicked 2 is certainly long enough to lay everything out in a sensible manner (at 137 minutes, it’s only 20 minutes shorter than the first movie), but seems to think that audiences will just go ahead and fill in the blanks for themselves. Its songs and talent are certainly good enough to coast on, but it still fails to make the case for translating a beloved stage show to two just-okay films. It’s time for this bubble to pop.

Black Friday is the perfect opportunity to upgrade your smaller TV and your projector with a single unit that's better than either, and for a lower price. For a limited time, Best Buy is offering the absolutely massive 100" Hisense U7 4K Mini-LED Smart TV for just $2,199.99 with free delivery. This TV is big enough to match the size of most projector screens, and at this price, it's less expensive than most native 4K projectors as well.

2025 100" Hisense U7 4K 165Hz Mini-LED Smart TV for $2,200

The Battlefield 6 team snuck in a few extra changes alongside the California Resistance Season 1 update today, revealing changes for Escalation, challenges, and player profile kill/death statistics.

Last-minute additions to today’s 1.1.2.0 update arrived in the form of a surprise social media post this morning, just a few hours after the gargantuan patch targeted some of the fan feedback EA and Battlefield Studios have received in recent weeks. California Resistance most notably adds new map Eastwood into the mix, but these new bonus adjustments aren’t exactly anything to scoff at, and they’re already live.

Topping the list is a change players have been looking to see for one specific Battlefield 6 game mode: Escalation. BF Studios confirmed the tweaks, which increase objective capture time by about 20%, are a direct result of fan feedback.

“This change gives your squad more time to react, reposition, and coordinate vehicle spawns while maintaining the mode's fast-paced intensity,” the message says.

Lower on the totem pole of fixes is yet another fine-tuning for challenges. Where past updates have added clarity to and reduced requirements, this smaller, backend change implements a fix for completed challenges that failed to give players their rewards. Finally, BF Studios says player profiles will no longer reflect Portal kill and death statistics in the full kill/death count. Instead, only human kills will be recognized here, with an area for Portal kills set to arrive in a future update.

These are small but necessary changes for many, with Battlefield 6 players still enjoying all of the more substantial tweaks delivered with update 1.1.2.0 and California Resistance earlier today. In addition to Eastwood, new guns, and new features, the update reverts aim assist settings back to those seen during the August open beta while also continuing to tackle weapon bloom and dispersion. You can see the full patch notes, which detail an update meant to make gunplay smoother for all, here.

Battlefield 6 is well on its way to its second month in the public’s hands, with more Season 1 content planned to launch in the coming weeks. In the time since its October 10 launch for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, BF Studios has rolled out major bug fixes, calmed goofy skin fears, and redefined its challenge system, all while promising to deliver more changes in the near future.

For more, you can check out our 8/10 Battlefield 6 multiplayer review. You can see why we gave its battle royale-focused offshoot, REDSEC, a 7/10.

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 Running Man may have just landed in cinemas, but if you can't wait to add the Edgar Wright-directed feature to your collection at home, preorders have already gone live for its 4K steelbook and standard 4K release. Walmart even has an exclusive two-movie collection available to preorder, if you want the new film alongside the original from 1987.

At the moment, there's no official release date for these, since the movie only just came out, but by preordering a copy now you'll secure it for yourself the day it's available. Have a look through the various versions available below.

Preorder The Running Man Steelbook

• See at Amazon
• See at Walmart

The 4K steelbook features quite the action shot of Glen Powell's Ben Richards leaping from a window. It comes with a 4K disc, Blu-ray, and digital copy of the film alongside a disc for special features. At the moment, no features have been revealed yet, but we'll update this when they are.

Preorder The Running Man Two-Movie Collection (Walmart Exclusive)

The Analogue3D is finally here. It's real. It's hooked up to my 65" 4K television right now. And if you're as excited as the N64 kid on Christmas morning 1996, you probably want me to stop with this labored introduction and get right into telling you all about this FPGA-powered modern Nintendo 64. Is it really 4K? Are the scanlines as good as we'd hoped? How's the lag? Is Donkey Kong 64 really as bad as people say?

The answer is yes, yes, great, and of course not, DK64 rules. Before I break down what makes this the latest must-have retro gaming hardware from the fine folks at Analogue, let's take a look at what you can expect when it arrives at your door.

Analogue3D: What's In the Box

Since this is a premium retro gaming product, it comes in a premium box, the sort of solid cardboard with crisp corners and tight tolerances you've come to expect from your premium tech. Inside the box is the Analogue3D itself, a 4K HDMI cable, 30W USB-C plug, and a 16GB SD card with the Analogue's 3Dos preinstalled.

For the review, however, I was also sent four of 8Bitdo's Bluetooth 64 Controllers, a copy of Super Mario 64 (which I already have) and a copy of GoldenEye (which I also already have).

The box also included a pair of tiny game cartridge cleaners. They're essentially Magic Erasers, with the instructions to give the pins on your carts a nice little swipe before you plug them into the Analogue3D. They're good for 2-3 uses, supposedly, but that didn't account for someone like me, who bought the world's most disgusting copy of Donkey Kong 64 from the Shop Goodwill online auction site.

The cartridge cleaner was disgusting after just one swipe. Honestly, if Analogue sold these in different sizes for different cartridges I would buy them in bulk. So much easier than the cotton-swab and alcohol method I've been using for years.

Analogue3D: Design and Features

In addition to making life easier on retro gamers who want to play their original cartridges on modern equipment, Analogue has made a name for itself through its gorgeous industrial design. The aluminum Analogue Pocket is one of the coolest pieces of retro gaming equipment out there, and one of the most visually appealing, as well.

The Analogue3D isn't made of a block of milled aircraft aluminum. At least, not yet, I'm sure that one's coming next year. Instead it's made of a very solid, high quality plastic. The design borrows heavily from the lines of the original Nintendo 64 but in a modern, more subdued profile. It immediately triggers a familiar nostalgia while also fitting in with a modern gaming setup. It's quite lovely, actually. I have the black version, but there's also a grey version, and as of this writing, neither one is available. Preorders sold out pretty damn quickly.

There are four controller ports along the front, capable of handling any N64 controller you can imagine. Well, almost. The Nintendo Switch Online N64 controller doesn't pair with the Analogue3D, which isn't a huge problem since I have my OG Atomic Purple corded controller along with the aforementioned four 8bitdo 64 Controllers. Analogue says any original Nintendo 64 controller will work. The same holds true for Nintendo 64 accessories like Rumble Paks.

Stuff like the Memory Pak and the Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak (required on the original N64 to play games like DK64 and Star Fox 64) are built into the hardware, so you don't need them anymore. The original Expansion Pak for the N64 doubled the N64's onboard RAM to a whopping 8MB, and the Analogue3D gives you the option to toggle it on or off for compatible games, if you want to experience the blistering power of 100% more RAM.

Bluetooth controllers are a snap to sync, but it's not immediately apparent how to do so unless you check the manual. The LED on the front that displays power and error codes also activates Bluetooth pairing with a quick press. Another small but excellent detail I love here is each controller port has an LED on it that lights up when you've paired a controller, so you can see instantly who's geared up for a round or seventy of GoldenEye multiplayer.

Another feature Analogue is touting is the introduction of its 3Dos, a modification of its existing AnalogueOS. It tracks your game library, so every time you plug in a cart, the Analogue3D recognizes it, gives you basic information about it, and keeps track of it in the Library part of the interface. It also supports custom artwork, if you so desire, although personally that's not a feature I see myself ever taking advantage of.

Where things really open up is the rest of the interface, allowing you to adjust settings at a level that's equal parts daunting and exciting. The part of my brain that loves to tinker and fine-tune is awash in dopamine inside of these menus. Some of the hardware menus, specifically the "experimental" features like overclocking, are only available from the home screen, while others, like display settings, can be adjusted on the fly.

Honestly there are too many options to list here, so I'll go over the biggest ones. First of all, the overclocking feature has four different settings: auto, "Enhanced" for RAM enhancement, "Enhanced+" for RAM and video overclock, and "Unleashed" which is RAM, video, and CPU overclocking. These features are experimental and could end up messing with the gameplay on certain games that rely on the clockspeed for certain events. I didn't run into that, though, and gladly cranked it to Unleashed to play Donkey Kong 64. This resulted in smoother gameplay, but not the giant jump I was hoping for. It's definitely something that's going to depend entirely on the individual games and I hope someone out there in the retro community puts together some sort of definitive list.

Oh, and if you'd prefer to just play N64 games like you remember, you can toggle "force original hardware" to "on" and party like it's 1996.

Most of the display features can be accessed from the in-game menu or on the home screen. On the home screen, pressing the R button gives you Display options to output in 4K or 1080p, with both options available in 60Hz (for NTSC) or 50Hz (for PAL). The Auto Low Latency option in this menu sets your display to do exactly what the name says: low latency. Finally, you can toggle HDR on or off.

The Display Mode menu is where things get wild. This is where all those gorgeous filters live, and if you thought it was going to be as easy as an on/off toggle for scanlines, you have wildly underestimated the Analogue3D. Right now, there are five separate submenus for five separate display modes: BVM, PVM, CRT, Scanlines, and Clean. The BVM and PVM options give you a reasonable approximation of what it's like playing N64 on a professional monitor, the kind all those TV stations threw out or gave away for free when they switched to digital. The CRT version will look familiar to pretty much everyone, and the Scanlines option is kind of like CRT-lite. Clean removes all filters and gives you all the sharp pixel edges that can fit on your 4K display.

Inside each display option is a menu further letting you tweak how you want your games to look. There are separate adjustments for horizontal and vertical beam convergence. This is getting into real CRT-enthusiast territory now, and it's way over my head. I don't notice a major difference when I make adjustments to these settings, but I know there are people out there who have encyclopedic knowledge levels of how cathode ray tubes work, and for those folks, this is just another awesome option to tweak things to their exact specifications.

You can also turn Edge Overshoot on or off, pick Soft or Hard for the Edge Hardness, adjust the Image Size and even Image Fit. Image Fit has three settings: Original, Stretch, and Cinema Zoom. Stretch will instantly transport you back to that heartbreaking day in 2008 or so when you first plugged your trusty old N64 into your shiny new HDTV. The image is pulled to fit the 16:9 aspect ratio and looks pretty bad. Not because the Analogue3D is failing, but just because it's all weird and stretchy.

However, I did find with the right combination of Cinema Zoom and Integer+ image size, you can force a pretty decent 16:9 experience on your display without losing out on the aspect ratio. It's pretty neat to see these old games in widescreen, but since almost all of the important menus and things like score and lifebar are designed with 4:3 in mind, it's not an ideal way to play. I honestly think I could get used to it though.

Clean removes all filters and gives you just the graphics with not two, not three, but FOUR different interpolation algorithms. Hell yes, finally. I'm being glib, because these are actually kind of important in ways I'll get to later.

You can pick from a range of five different sharpness options here, from Very Soft to Very Sharp. I found Very Soft to be too soft for my liking, almost smeared, but Very Sharp is exceedingly crisp. The Goldilocks zone for me is the Sharp setting, giving just enough of an edge to look great without being distracting.

All of these settings are going to be highly subjective. Further, they're also deeply dependent on the games themselves. I found what looks good to me in GoldenEye doesn't do the trick in F-Zero X. Thankfully you can make these adjustments on a per-game basis, so once you dial in your preferred settings, you don't need to revisit them when you pop in another cart.

Analogue3D Performance

The promise of the Analogue3D is it allows you to play your original games as you remember them and I'm happy to say it almost nails it. My living room TV is a 3 year-old TCL 5-series, a fine budget pick that has served me well, but isn't making anyone's "Top 4K TVs for Gaming" lists. In spite of my average TV, lag wasn't a noticeable problem for me at all.

Although even with the best gaming display around, it's still not going to match the instantaneous response you get with a CRT – but it's damn admirable and much better than the emulation on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pass.

My very unscientific test was to see if there was a noticeable difference between pushing "jump" in Super Mario 64 on the Analogue3D and then recreating it on the Nintendo Switch emulation. It's barely there, but it's there.

Where the responsiveness really shines, however, is in F-Zero X. First of all, the NSO emulated version doesn't respond or perform well at all. It's "good enough," but I find F-Zero X on NSO to be unplayable. Whether it's the borked frame rate, input lag, or some combination of both, I was never able to enjoy it on Nintendo's service.

But on the Analogue3D, it's an absolute pleasure. It runs as smoothly as you remember, and I was actually able to control my racer competently and actually win the Jack Cup. I found this task impossible on NSO, and competing via the Analogue3D on my 65" screen and having it look and run as good as it does is an absolute thrill.

Every other game I tested, from Donkey Kong 64 to Super Mario 64, Jet Force Gemini to Wrestlemania 2000, looked and felt awesome once I was able to dial in all the display settings to my liking. In a lot of ways, the Analogue3D might end up being a menace to my wallet because now I really want to fill up my collection even more.

Now, it's extremely important for me to point out that visual excellence is, once again, extremely subjective. The Analogue3D lets you experience Nintendo 64 games in a way you've never experienced them before, with so many options and tweaks to get it just how you like. But at the end of the day, N64 games will always look like N64 games. And while it's a pain in the neck, games designed with CRT limitations in mind will always look better on a CRT.

Taking those graphics and giving them the 4K treatment ends up losing something in the translation. This isn't a knock against the Analogue3D, but you can use it to play games on screens with dimensions and resolutions the original designers never even imagined. Hell, the laws of physics didn't allow for CRT televisions to come near to what most of us have now in our living rooms.

There's a certain charm I've warmed to for the early days of 3D graphics. The weird math that made the PS1 polygons look uneven and out of place, and the simplicity of the low-poly Mario face at the beginning of Super Mario 64 is an aesthetic I absolutely love. And as much of a vibe as early 3D is, it doesn't have the lasting charm of the pixel art of the 8- and 16-bit eras. Playing these classics in the best possible, modern way definitely exposes how rudimentary those days were.

Combing

The scanline filters do an excellent job approximating the look of an original, analog tube display, but one problem I ran into on some N64 games is noticeable combing. Initially, I didn't see it at all as I was playing games with the filters turned on. It wasn't until I tried capturing video using the Clean display mode that I first caught it. It's especially noticeable during the dancing N64 logo at the start of Donkey Kong 64. The rotating Rare logo also shows these artifacts. After Clean mode made me acutely aware of the issue, I went back to check again with the filters on and yep, it's there, it's just much more difficult to notice.

If you don't know what combing is, you've almost certainly seen it on home video tapes someone digitized. Basically every other line is slightly mismatched, so you get a "comb" effect, especially on the edges of an on-screen object.

That said, with the filters turned on, you might not even notice it at all. And it's not ever-present: I haven't had it show up during gameplay in a way that ruined the experience. It's also not noticeable on smaller displays. Or even in every game.

If you're trying to use the Analogue3D as your go-to device to capture or stream N64 carts, it might be an issue. If you're using your Analogue3D to revisit your library of classic games on your modern TV, it's barely worth mentioning. Still, it's the only real complaint I have on what's otherwise an excellent machine.