AMD has released FSR "Redstone," bringing a set of new upscaling tricks to the company's collection of ML-powered upscaling tools. Unfortunately, as was the case when it was just FSR 4, Redstone is only available for current-generation cards like the Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9060 XT – two of IGN's favorite GPUS.

One such feature is Ray Regeneration, which AMD says can "clean up noisy ray-traced reflections and shadows before upscaling and interpolation." Gamers Nexus tried the feature in the only game that supports this feature, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and it's impressive, resulting in much sharper lighting bouncing off of, for instance, the surface of a pool or glossy floor tiles. Surprisingly, the differences are actually less apparent in an AMD comparison video hosted by Jack Huynh, SVP and GM of AMD's computing and graphics group, showing the same game running in native 4K and with FSR Redstone on.

Here are a couple of screengrabs from that:

AMD promises the feature will be available in "more titles coming soon."

More players will get FSR Upscaling and Frame Generation – that's the latest version of features that employ generative AI to create frames between traditionally rendered frames to improve framerates. The new Frame Generation update works with 32 games, according to a list on AMD's website, as The Verge points out. As that list also shows, more than 200 games – including AAA titles like Black Myth: Wukong and ARC Raiders – get general FSR Redstone support.

The last big trick up Redstone's sleeve with this update is Radiance Caching, a trick that the company says can predict light behavior to beef up ray tracing in a more efficient way. But that feature... isn't available in any games. AMD says it'll come to games starting in 2026.

If you have one of the GPUs that Redstone works with, you can the update that brings it – AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 25.12.1 – is available on AMD's website.

Wes is a freelance writer (Freelance Wes, they call him) who has covered technology, gaming, and entertainment steadily since 2020 at Gizmodo, Tom's Hardware, Hardcore Gamer, and most recently, The Verge. Inside of him there are two wolves: one that thinks it wouldn't be so bad to start collecting game consoles again, and the other who also thinks this, but more strongly.

iFixit might be a familiar brand name for you from all of the helpful teardown videos of various electronics that are hosted on YouTube. But did you know that they also sell high quality toolkits to facilitate your own DIY electronics projects? For the holiday season, Amazon is offering the popular iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit for electronics, smartphones, gaming consoles, PCs and laptops, and tablets for just $59.96. It normally retails for $75. This is one of the very best tool kits you can buy for disassembling and repairing your electronics – including your Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck – without spending hundreds of dollars on a commercial kit.

iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit for $59.96

There are a lot of different versions of the Harry Potter books. There's the original hardcovers, paperbacks with stencilled edges, and even a full-on Hogwarts trunk filled with the books you can buy. If you're looking for a gift to buy the Potter fan in your life while there's still time before Christmas, it can be a little overwhelming to decide exactly what set of books is worth purchasing for their collection. If you're buying for someone who has already read the entire series multiple times over, however, I'd suggest going with the illustrated editions that Amazon currently has in its buy 2, get 1 free book sale once again. This is the same exact deal we saw during Black Friday book sales this year, so it's definitely worth checking out.

Surprise, surprise, though, there are actually two different illustrated editions to choose from in this sale! There's the larger hardcovers (illustrated by Jim Kay) and the interactive illustrated editions (from MinaLima). Of the two, only the interactive illustrated editions are all included in Amazon's promotion.

Harry Potter Interactive Illustrated Edition Sale

Amazon's buy 2, get 1 free sale is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is add three items to your cart and the least expensive of the three will be discounted from the final price at checkout. Since there are currently four of the illustrated interactive editions available, you'll need to choose which three to add to your cart to get the discount. Whatever you choose, you'll be looking at an additional $21 off by purchasing three at once. Since each of these books is already reduced in price, that comes out to $89.90 for the full collection of four if you buy them all at once.

As you may have noticed, only the first four books in the series have gotten the interactive illustrated treatment so far. The first three books feature illustrations and papercraft from MinaLima while the Goblet of Fire was taken over by Karl James Mountford (Illustrator) and Jess Tice Gilbert (Designer). This discrepancy between artists is due to MinaLima announcing that she wasn't going to continue with the project. The most recent edition, The Goblet of Fire, was the first new book in this line of special editions since 2023 and was released a only two months ago in October 2025. The change in artists means that there are still plans to finish giving the rest of the series the same treatment in the coming years.

What is the "Interactive" element of these illustrated editions?

I actually own all of the MinaLima editions and have had the chance to read through them myself. The interactive element here refers to papercraft hidden within the pages. These are essentially illustrations that spin, open up, or can be played with in some way. It actually makes for a really fun experience as you make your way through the story. The only issue I've had with it is that it's not really meant to be used too heavily. The paper elements are obviously quite fragile and this isn't a book that you're supposed to be reading over and over again. As a collector's item and an occasional read, however, they are pretty cool. For an idea of what to expect you can check out some of the interactive elements featured in my copy of The Sorcerer's Stone.

Is Now the Best Time to Buy These Books?

Right now, this is the best deal on these books anywhere. It's certainly possible that prices could drop further before Christmas, but it's unlikely that this buy 2, get 1 free promotion will still be around by then as they usually only last about a week. This is the same exact deal we saw during Black Friday deals this year, so it's as good as it's going to get unless Amazon drops a surprise discount.

Amazon's "3 for 2" sale offers a unique opportunity to save on the entire collection. Even if Amazon further discounts the individual titles, you'll most likely end up saving the same amount as you would purchasing now while the promotion is on. This type of deal is especially great for buying full collections at once and these Harry Potter books are the best deal in the whole sale for doing just that.

West Coast fast-food chain In-N-Out will no longer call for order “67” after the nearly inescapable viral 6-7 trend became overwhelmingly popular in its stores.

If you’ve been online anytime in the last few months, there’s a good chance you’ve heard references to 6-7 at least six or seven times. It’s an uncomplicated gag that’s been especially popular amongst younger audiences on TikTok and usually involves simply moving one’s hands up and down while repeating 6-7 over and over (and over) again.

@epic38603 . #fyp #67 #innout #trending #foryou ♬ original sound - joe_rdan

There’s no limit to where the incomprehensible meme may appear, but restaurants that divvy out customers’ orders by assigning them a specific number have been impacted more than many others. In-N-Out may be the most notorious hub for 6-7 activity, with the store sometimes crowded with an audience not only ready to celebrate when the number is called but groan when any other number is said over the speaker.

Viral videos, which have amassed millions of likes on TikTok alone, likely contributed to the uptick in memes at the burger joint, but In-N-Out has had enough. Reddit user luckycowgirl_1 posted about the potential removal of order 67 nearly two weeks ago, with many others chiming in with their own comments, suggesting the infamous number won’t be showing up in any In-N-Outs anytime soon.

An employee at a Los Angeles location also confirmed to People that order 67 has been completely removed from its system. It’s a move that seems to stem from the disruption the 6-7 meme has caused, with the same employee adding that order 69 has been pulled for good measure.

@stopsignpros #InNOut ♬ original sound - stopsignpros

While In-N-Out opts out of the 6-7 craze, others have taken the opportunity to double down on a meme that just won’t seem to go away. Rapper Skrilla said in October that his hit song Doot Doot (6 7), which helped spawn the meme, is set to be featured in next year’s Grand Theft Auto 6. Wendy’s even dipped its toes in the 6-7 waters with a Black Friday deal that saw the fast-food restaurant selling small Frostys for 67 cents.

In the gaming world, Fortnite got a quick laugh out of fans when its explosive Zero Hour event paid tribute to the meme when transitioning from Chapter 6 to 7. Overwatch 2, meanwhile, launched into Season 20 by giving Soldier: 76 a Soldier: 67 emote.

Photo by Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty.

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).

Lenovo's most powerful Legion gaming PC is back in stock, but not only that, it's also the least expensive RTX 5090 prebuilt that i can find from any retailer. The Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 10 gaming PC equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor and RTX 5090 graphics card is marked down to $3,752.49 after coupon code "EXTRAFIVE".

This is Lenovo's highest-end gaming PC. What's even better about this deal is this system includes 64GB of DDR5 RAM which commands an exorbitantly high price by itself in today's market.

Lenovo Legion Tower 7i RTX 5090 Gaming PC for $3,752

The Nintendo Switch is going out in a blaze of glory, with some exciting games launching to make way for the console's successor, the Switch 2. Whether they’re exclusively developed for the Switch or ported over from other platforms, these upcoming Switch games are wrapping up the Switch era while also being compatible with the Switch 2.

In 2026, we'll hopefully be getting our hands on well-known in-development titles as well as a host of new games announced at the most recent Nintendo Direct. Here are all of the new Switch games we can look forward to close out this year and kick off the next one.

All Upcoming Switch Games With Release Dates

Dunjungle (December 11, 2025)

This side-scrolling 2D roguelite launched in early access back in 2024 and is now make its way to the Nintendo console. Play as a monkey hero, encountering new characters and unlocking new classes in each run across procedurally generated dungeons. No checkpoints here!

Oppidum (December 18, 2025)

This multiplayer survival game launched on PC earlier this year before making its way to Switch. Craft materials and expand your base to help defeat corruption on the island of Insule.

Softly Placed (December 25, 2025)

This wouldn't be a solid Switch list without some cozy gaming. Softly Placed blends cooking, organizing, and pretty much the full range of cozy tasks, with each level offering a new dopamine-filled challenge.

Starsand Island (February 1, 2026)

The coziness continues with Starsand Island, a Starew Valley-esque simulation sandbox game. Escape from the city to harvest crops, go fishing, protect local ruins, and, of course, befriend all your new neighbors in the countryside.

Deus Ex Remastered (February 5, 2026)

Announced at the September State of Play, the iconic action RPG originally developed by Ion Storm is getting a new remaster in 2026, bringing the game to modern-gen consoles. Rick Sanchez didn't hold back the praise in his 9.4 review for IGN back in 2002: "Deep story, awesome graphics, and intense fun. You must play this game!"

Dragon Quest VII Reimagined (February 5, 2026)

Dragon Quest is really going at it with the remakes. It started with HD-2D remakes of the first three games, and now we’re skipping a few installments to go straight to Fragments of the Past. This next ‘revamp’ goes for “Reimagined,” and features a pretty substantial overhaul of the graphics and gameplay from the original JRPG released in 2001.

Blazblue Entropy Effect X (February 12, 2026)

Next up, we're getting an expanded, console version of the Blazblue spin-off originally released for mobile and PC in 2023. The action roguelite sets you on an adventure into the Sea of Possibility with new characters and story additions.

Never Grave: The Witch and The Curse (March 5, 2026)

From PocketPair, Never Grave is a new 2D roguelite where you harness magic powers (as a hat, of course) to journey into the deep, working to help a young witch retrieve her soul. You also have a home base you can build and upgrade into your own little village.

Coffee Talk Tokyo (March 5, 2026)

We finally have a release date for the next iteration of Coffee Talk, a cozy cafe series developed by Toge Productions. Manage a new but familiar cafe while learning more about your human and yokai customers.

Upcoming Switch Games With Unknown Release Dates

There are plenty more Nintendo Switch games in development that don’t have a solid release date yet. Here are some more Switch games we know are on the way:

• Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope DX - 2025
• The Eternal Life of Goldman - Winter 2025
• Suika Game Planet - Winter 2025
• Witchbrook - 2026
• Professor Layton and the New World of Steam – 2026
• Rhythm Heaven Groove - 2026
• Tamadotchi Life: Living the Dream - 2026
• The Adventures of Elliot: The Millenium Tales - 2026
• Danganronpa 2x2 - 2026
• Haunted Chocolatier - TBA

What About Switch 2 Games?

Most upcoming Switch games will be supported on the Switch 2, but we're already seeing announcements of Switch 2-exclusive games. You can check out our full guide on Switch 2 games, but in the meantime, here's some highlights of what you have to look forward to on the new console:

• Animal Crossing: New Horizons Switch 2 Edition - January 15, 2026
• Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition - TBA 2026
• Reanimal - TBA 2026
• Resident Evil: Requiem - February 27, 2026
• The Duskbloods - 2026
• Pokemon Pokopia - March 5, 2026
• Yoshi and the Mysterious Book - 2026
• Mario Tennis Fever - 2026
• Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection - March 13, 2026

Christmas is still over a month away, but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying classic Christmas movies right now. And is there anything more classic than Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas? If you're wondering where to watch any of the iterations of the Grinch movies online in 2025, we've got you covered with details below.

Jump to:

• How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)
• Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
• Dr. Seuss' The Grinch (2018)

How Many Grinch Movies Are There?

There are 3 main Grinch movies that have been made based off the original Dr. Seuss story. First, there's the original 1966 animated classic called How the Grinch Stole Christmas! There's also the 2000 Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas movie starring Jim Carrey. Finally, the most recent 2018 film simply titled: The Grinch. This version stars Benedict Cumberbatch.

There was also an indie film in 2022 called The Mean One that features the Grinch as a horror villain, but we limited this list to Grinch movies with at least some Christmas spirit.

Where to Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)

If you're wondering where to watch the original animated Grinch movie, there are a few different streaming options available, but a Peacock subscription is your best bet. TNT and TBS will also start likely air the movie at certain dates and times in December, but those dates have not yet been announced. I'd recommend checking out the TV Guide page for the film a Christmas draws near.

Where to Watch Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

If you're wondering where to watch the live-action Grinch movie with Jim Carrey right now, you can currently stream the film on Peacock. Seeing as 2025 is the 25th anniversary of this movie, there is a new 4K steelbook available to buy if you'd prefer to own it rather than rely on streaming this year.

Where to Watch The Grinch (2018)

If you're wondering where to watch the latest animated Grinch movie, the short answer is that you can't right now as it isn't available with any streaming service. You can choose to rent the film from various platforms for $3.99 or watch it on TV at certain times on FX. There are currently some TV listings for this movie available, but we'll likely start seeing more of them pop up closer to Christmas.

Grinch Movies on DVD and Blu-ray

It's not easy to find the Grinch movies online. If you're a particularly big Grinch fan, or want to make sure you and your family will always have the movie night option, you can check out the (impressively large) quantity of Grinch-related DVD and Blu-ray sets that have been released through the years.

Games Workshop has revived the Siege of Terra: End of Ruin special edition book after scalpers descended upon its pre-orders, forcing Warhammer.com itself offline.

In June, Games Workshop pulled its own website, Warhammer.com, offline after scalpers caused chaos during the launch of pre-orders for the Siege of Terra: End of Ruin special edition book.

Siege of Terra: End of Ruin is an anthology of short stories set during the aftermath of the Siege of Terra and the Horus Heresy. For the uninitiated, the Horus Heresy is the Space Marine civil war that took place 10,000 years before the current Warhammer 40,000 setting. It is the foundation of 40K’s grimdark universe, and reveals how the carrion Emperor ended up on the Golden Throne.

Fresh from receiving a custom piece of artwork showing his fan-favorite character Captain Jack Sparrow in the style of One Piece drawn by the anime's creator, Pirates of the Caribbean actor Johnny Depp is set to produce and potentially star in an English-language adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita.

The film does not currently have a director attached, but will be produced by Depp’s IN.2 Film alongside producers from Jeanne du Barry, the 2023 film he starred in. The project was announced at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival and is expected to go into production in late 2026, according to Variety.

This is the most recent output in the collaboration between Depp and producer Svetlana Dali, who will work alongside producer Grace Loh on this project, which will be produced in association with Tribune Pictures. Dali has executive produced the Depp-starring film Jeanne du Barry, and his directorial effort Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness.

An official synopsis for the film, which is based on Bulgakov’s posthumous novel published in the 1960s, reads: “Set between 1930s Moscow, where the devil returns with his talking cat to cause havoc amongst its corrupt citizens, and Jerusalem during the time of Pontius Pilate, The Master and Margarita tells a fantastical, satirical tale of love, artistic freedom and the eternal battle of good versus evil."

It continues: “A third intertwined story follows a struggling writer and his lover, Margarita, who is willing to do anything to save him from the totalitarian system. What follows is a darkly comic, wildly imaginative tale of inexhaustible energy, philosophical depth, and spiritual rebellion — a work that remains ferociously relevant today and a timeless reminder of art’s power to challenge, illuminate and endure.”

Casting will be announced at a later date, specifically whether or not Depp will actually star in the project. As far as an expected release date, there isn’t any news there just yet, but it appears to be sometime in 2027.

Yep, I found a way to save $15 on Pokémon Legends: Z-A and the Mega Dimension DLC just as the expansion drops, proper legend I am. Not just that, but Woot has gone mad with discounting loads of First Party Nintendo Switch games, many of which have Switch 2 upgrades. More on that below.

TL;DR: Deals for Today

I've also been on the lookout for stocking fillers, and Tomy's Club Mocchi Mocchi Plushies are just awesome. There's a few Mario, Sonic and TMNT ones discounted across the web at the moment, so don't miss those.

Happy Cyberpunk 2077 5th anniversary! There's some very cool colaborations releasing for it too thanks to CD PROJEKT RED, Viture, Corsair and of course Secretlab put their Cyberpunk 2077 Titan Evo Gaming Chair in their holiday sale. Happy days, let's get into it.

Oh yeah, and Skyrim came out for the millionth time on a new console, so turn that Nintendo Switch 2 on:

Allpowers R600 299Wh LiFePO4 Power Station

Allpowers is the most popular power station on brand on AliExpress for good reason: it's generally less expensive than other brands while offering the same features. Even the least expensive power station - the compact R600 - boasts a LiFePO4 battery that lasts at least 10 years before you even need to start worrying about battery degradation. Other features include both AC outlets and USB ports, solar panel hookups, and smart app functionaliy. All of the power stations listed include a 5 year warranty and have plenty of reviews commenting on the responsiveness of their customer service. If you're looking to get the highest capacity at the lowest price possible, Allpowers is legit.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A + Mega Dimension DLC

Haven't played Legends Z-A yet? Well I can save you some money on Switch 1 and 2. Kick things off with the Woot deals on the region free copy for $44.99. If you're playing on Switch 1, just buy the Mega Dimension DLC for $29.99 and you're fixed up for $74.98.

For Switch 2 owners, you'll need to also buy the Switch 2 upgrade pack for $9.99, which brings the total price to $84.98. That's a $15 Switch 1 or Switch 2 savings, you're welcome!

Skyrim: Anniversary on Switch 2

I'd love to say that I found a magical way to knock some money off getting Skyrim for the 15th time, but it would require you to already have the game. Here's how it works, if you have Skyrim Anniversary for Switch 1 already, the Switch 2 upgrade is free. If you have the base version of Skyrim, you need to get the $19.99 Anniversary upgrade that will include upgrading to Nintendo Switch 2.

If you don't have it at all, it seems the only way to get hold of Skyrim Anniversary on Switch 2 currently is buying the full fat digital code. Nintendo Online and all retailers are rocking that $69.99 price tag, so make of that what you will.

Sadly it's still 30 FPS even when docked but it's a night and day difference when it comes to sharp and crisp visuals in a portable form factor. So if you're on Switch 2 and don't have a gaming PC handheld, you'll get a ridiculous amount of mileage from it!

Woot Nintendo Switch Game Sale

If you've got some gaps in your backlog for Nintendo Switch games you've missed, now's the time to top your shelves up. There's plenty of games here with Switch 2 upgrades also, and a lot are either free or included with Nintendo Switch Online. Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild are big ones, with their Switch 2 enhancements locked behind a $10 pass per game or included in Nintendo Switch Online.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet has practically been remade thanks to a free Nintendo Switch 2 update, although I don't think Game Freak would have got away with a paid update thanks to the goodwill lost on S&Vs Switch 1 performance issues. We now get a smooth 60 FPS which clocks at 4K when docked, more Pokémon appear on screen and it's a pleasure to play. The dull textures still remain, but it's the fix we were looking for.

Games like Super Mario Wonder will be getting new content and a Switch 2 performance / visual upgrade in January also. Other games will generally run and load a little better, so it's well worth having a look through and checking which titles you're missing.

Club Mocchi Mocchi Plushie Sale

Tomy actually came up with a product to rival Squishmallows when it comes to feathersoft huggage plushies, and I'm a big fan of Mocchi Moochi. It's rare you see discounts this good on them, plus you can pretend you're tucking Super Sonic into bed when you get up in the morning, just expect your bed to set on fire in the process. Sorry, it's still a bargain though!

Cyberpunk 2077 5th Anniversary Gear

I've only gone and found the perfect setup for playing Cyberpunk 2077 on PC! Let's start with Secretlabs TITAN Evo Cyberpunk 2077 edition, which matches the box art perfectly and represents Johnny Silverhands band logo, "Samurai" on the back cover. Awesome right? Both the regular and XL models are on offer, that goes for accessories too.

VITURE and CD Projekt RED have teamed up to bring the most savage set of XR glasses i've ever seen. Limited to 100,000 units, these bad boys project a 152-inch virtual display at 120hz with 1,500 nits of brightness. That's all packed into Sony's latest MicroOLED panels, one for each eye. Forget a gaming monitor or TV, this is a one-stop solution for Street Kids, Corpo and Nomads.

Corsair have shown up and killed it too thanks to a new mechanical keyboard, wireless mouse and massive cloth gaming mouse pad. You can get all three at a discount for $269.99, or you can buy them seperatley. If you can I'd go for the bundle and save nearly $50, but these aren't just gimmicks budget products, they're based on the below Corsair products:

• MM300 2XL Anti-Fray Cloth Gaming Mouse Pad
• K65 Plus Keyboard
• M75 Wireless Mouse

Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle

X-Arcade Arcade2TV-XR

Elgato Streaming Gear Sale

The gold brand in streaming and content creation is Elgato, and there's plenty of its high-end gear on sale here such as the power-streamer Stream Deck XL down to $204.99 to one of the best budget-focused condenser microphone options in the $84.99 Wave Neo. Even the Facecam Mk.2 has been knocked down to $126.34, allowing streamers to stop worrying about mirrorless XLR camera setups and have a quality wcamera solution that plug and play. And who doesn't want an Elgato prompter for a marked down $228.99?

Excentric Christmas Gift Deals

So I thought i'd have a bit of fun today with some cool Christmas or White Rabbit gift ideas with some brilliant discounts. I've already touched on Sony InZone wireless earbuds, but they really are the best all-rounder earbuds i've tried in recent memory, and the included USB-C dongle fits in the charger case and is ideal for connecting to PC and PlayStation 5. And they're $42.99 off, bargain.

Saving over $100 on a 300W Kareoke machine with an included 10.1" tablet and wireless microphones is a cracking deal too. Ikario has RGB lighting and hooks up to YouTube or Karaoke app via WiFi for absolute endless banter for house parties this holiday.

Creative might not be the front and center of PC audio like it used to be, but it haven't lost its eye for quality. $69.99 for a soundbar and subwoofer combo is an awesome shout for a gaming setup or smaller home theatre setups.

If you've spotted a loved one forever filming themselves for TikToks or video calling to their friends, the Maono wireless lavalier microphone is USB-C compatible and clips to a users clothes for a pro sound wherever they are.

Stationary cameras are great for keeping an eye on a room in general, but cats and dogs don't like staying still. Enabot EBO Rola PetPal provides 2.5k video and allows owners to roll about the house to check what their pets are really up too. Attachable feeders and cat toys allow for owners to interact with their pets more than ever before and is a great gift for the craszy cat person in your life.

I've been using the HOZO NeoBlade for a while now whilst cleaning up my 3D prints and creative projects. It's an ultrasonic knife that can take different microblades and is rechargable. This bit of kit just makes cutting jobs miles easier of toucher materials with acrylic, PLA, wood and softer metals. I use it to cut supports off my prints and clean up projects, and I can't go back to regular scalpels and blades. Plus this bundle is $10 off and you get a self healing A3 matt.

Switch 2 Games Releasing This Holiday

December is stacked for Nintendo Switch 2. We gave Metroid Prime 4: Beyond a solid 8/10 for nailing the Prime vibe whilst introducing some interesting mechanics and a pseudo open-world sandbox to explore. Considering how long we've been waiting for it, Metroid 4 is a solid comeback.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A Mega Dimension DLC drops on Wednesday, which adds a post-game story, brand new Mega Evolutions and new mechanics such as an alternative dimension Lumioise City and Pokémon hitting over the long-standing level 100 mechanic. Insane.

Audible Holiday Sale

Fancy knocking a $14.95 per month subscription to 99 cents for three months? That's what's on offer for Amazon Prime members right now, which can easily be cancelled down before the discount dries if you don't want to continue, win-win.

Whilst Audible Plus, the cheaper membership tier, has 10,000 audiobooks to listen too, Premium Plus has 500,000. Premium Plus members get to pick an audiobook to keep in their library indefinitely too, with 30% off purchasable Audiobooks. Usually this crops up as a free 30-day trial, and these trials are only for new subscribers, so this is the best deal you're going to get.

Mega Evolution Booster Box

Secretlab Holiday Sale

It's no secret that Secretlab is one of the most premium gaming chairs and brands available right now, and the brand tax is real. But straight off the heels of Black Friday, Secretlab have dropped their Christmas Holiday Sale across all the favorites. The super premium Titan Evo Nanogen Edition features a Secretlab-exclusive NanGen Hybrid Leathette seat covering and NanoFoam Composite cushioning for one of the best feeling gaming chairs on the market,

Even the budget-minded Titan Evo Lite has premium features and coldfoam cusioning to make sure you're comfortable all day working and all night gaming. They even do an erganomic recliner add on now, featuring multiple angles of support to keep your legs comfortable for different posture types.

Alienware and Lenovo Gaming PC Deals

It's easy to get carried away with mad specifications on gaming PCs, and if you can afford it that's awesome. But builds like Lenovo's LOQ RTX 5060Ti build has a cracking budget price of $949.99 after using the discount code "EXTRAFIVE", capable of DLSS 4 upscaling and the latest Nvidia AI frame generation. The Ryzen 7 8745HX CPU backs up the 5060 Ti well, making this a lean and mean 1080p gaming monster.

Out of the two Alienware builds, i'd save the money and go for the Intel Core Ultra 7 265 build. Both of these builds are going to kill it when it comes to high frame rate 4K gaming, and I simply don't think the extra $350 is worth it for the extra gains of a Core Ultra 9 285K CPU. Of course it's faster and better, but I think the $3,899.99 build is far better value for money.

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

Someone has calculated exactly how many hours of recorded dialogue there are in Baldur's Gate 3, a task so unnecessarily large that even Larian Studios hadn't done it before.

As reported by PC Gamer, Everwhite-moonlight put together a spreadsheet breaking down all the dialogue in the game: who spoke it, how long the dialogue is, even how many files they speak in.

This survey results in some interesting facts surfacing: it's unsurprising that the narrator, Amelia Tyler, has the most dialogue at 14 hours, 43 minutes, and 55 seconds. Behind her, though, is Astarion, voiced by Neil Newbon, with 13 hours, six minutes, and 23 seconds. And behind him is Shadowheart, with 12 hours, 25 minutes, and 26 seconds. The smallest amount of dialogue is a many-way tie between numerous NPCs that all have only one second of dialogue, including four different Mind Flayer NPCs. In total, the game contains 236 hours, 55 minutes, and 45 seconds of spoken voice lines.

Every voice actor is catalogued in here, including small lines by random NPCs and even cut dialogue. One mystery that's arisen, per Everwhite-moonlight, is who exactly voices which Giant Rat NPC in the game. "There are four instances of a character named 'Giant Rat,' and there are four actors credited to have played 'Giant Rat.' I have separated the Giant Rat UIDs and could tell they are played by four different people, but I don't know which one is which." Those actors are Akbar Kurtha, Joseph Capp, Leemore Marrett Jr., and Sean Baker. Now we just have to sort out which actor is which rat.

Another fun bit that's surfaced from this is that Larian Studios actually didn't know how much dialogue, time-wise, was in the game. On Twitter/X, Larian boss Swen Vincke shared the news about the finding, saying, "We weren’t really keeping track which I think was for the better."

Vincke did, however, know the word count of the game's script, as we learned back in 2024, saying that Baldur's Gate 3 has triple the word count of The Lord of the Rings, and its cutscene runtime is twice as long as HBO's Game of Thrones. Holy moly.

For lovers of Baldur's Gate 3's particular brand of delightful wordiness, it might be worth tuning into The Game Awards tomorrow, as Larian seems to be teasing a brand new Divinity game for reveal at the show.

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

McDonald's has pulled a new ad created entirely with generative AI following a major backlash online.

The 45-second clip was released on the McDonald's Netherlands’ YouTube channel on December 6 — with comments turned off — and was removed from the platform on December 9. It depicted "the most terrible time of the year," and showed increasingly disastrous Christmas fails before suggesting people hide out in McDonald's until January.

Viewers were quick to hit out at the tone and quality of the video, pointing out a number of telltale generative AI signs. One user on social media called the video "god-awful" and "cynical." Another social media user added: "the future is here, and it's not looking good." "If they were going for creepy, depressing, deeply unfunny, clumsily shot, poorly edited, and inauthentic — nailed it!" another said.

McDonald's unveiled what has to be the most god-awful ad I've seen this year – worse than Coca-Cola's.

Fully AI-generated, that's one. Looks repulsive, that's two. More cynical about Christmas than the Grinch, that's three.

I don't wanna be the only one suffering, take a look: pic.twitter.com/lRYODLkkBJ

— Theodore McKenzie (@realTedMcKenzie) December 6, 2025

The message of this ad is “the holidays suck” and it’s solution is to spend as much time in McDonald’s as possible. Forget your friends and family…have a Big Mac.

The song is poorly written, almost certainly written by AI because it doesn’t fit the original rhythm at all and at… https://t.co/MTR2i7XG6y

— The Art of SpongeBob (@ArtofSpongebob) December 8, 2025

The fast food resturant chain issued a statement to BBC News, saying the backlash served as "an important learning" as the company explored "the effective use of AI."

The ad was a collaboration between Dutch company TBWA\Neboko and American production company The Sweetshop. Melanie Bridge, CEO of The Sweetshop, went on to defend the ad after it was released publicly.

“For seven weeks, we hardly slept, with up to 10 of our in-house AI and post specialists at The Gardening Club [our in-house AI engine] working in lockstep with the directors,” Bridge said, as reported by Futurism. “We generated what felt like dailies — thousands of takes — then shaped them in the edit just as we would on any high-craft production. This wasn’t an AI trick. It was a film.”

She added: “I don’t see this spot as a novelty or a cute seasonal experiment. To me, it’s evidence of something much bigger: that when craft and technology meet with intention, they can create work that feels genuinely cinematic. So no — AI didn’t make this film. We did.”

The people who made the AI McDonald's ad want you to know they put more man hours into it than a traditional production.

Like Coca Cola, in their attempt to prove they worked hard, they've instead shown AI is hard to control, still expensive, and uglier. What's the point again? https://t.co/lXrdO8U8ok

— Reid Southen (@Rahll) December 9, 2025

The McDonald's backlash follows a similar response to Coca-Cola's entirely AI-generated Christmas ad and a similar justification. Jason Zada, founder and chief creative officer of AI studio Secret Level, defended his company’s work on Coke’s Christmas promo. “The haters on the Internet are the loudest. A lot of the people complaining last year were from the creative industry who were just afraid — afraid for their jobs, afraid for what it did. But I think the spot tested really well and average people really enjoyed it.”

Pratik Thakar, global vp and head of generative AI at Coca-Cola, added: “Last year we decided to go all in, and it worked out well for us… Yes, some parts of the industry were not pleased we were using a 100% generative AI film, but that’s part and parcel of doing something pioneering. We understand that concern. But we need to keep moving forward and pushing the envelope. The genie is out of the bottle, and you’re not going to put it back in.”

At the time of this article's publication, the Coca-Cola advert remains live.

The use of generative AI to create videos both commercial and non-commercial is one of the hottest topics in all entertainment. OpenAI’s Sora 2 app, for example, has caused significant controversy after it was used to flood social media with videos containing depictions of copyrighted characters including those from popular anime and game franchises such as One Piece, Demon Slayer, Pokémon, and Mario. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has called Sora 2 videos using copyrighted characters "interactive fan fiction."

And in September, SAG-AFTRA issued a strongly worded statement in response to the emergence of Tilly Norwood, the AI-generated “actress” that has enraged Hollywood.

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

If you hadn’t already heard, there’s a weird, spiky monolith in the Mojave Desert. Adorned with a massive eye-like orb and a legion of demonic creatures, it’s a hint at something due to be revealed as part of The Game Awards 2025. And, following the registration of a few new trademarks, it seems like we already have the answer as to what it is: a brand new game from Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios called “Divinity”.

If you are one of the millions of players who first learned of Larian through the gargantuan success of Baldur’s Gate 3, then the word Divinity may not mean much to you. Fans of the studio, however, will tell you that BG3’s success is rooted in Divinity, a series of six games that Larian worked on almost exclusively between 2002 and 2017. If this monolith and trademark leak really do point towards Divinity, then the Belgian studio is returning to its original fantasy universe… and likely bringing a whole new fanbase along with it.

If such a currently-very-much-hypothetical game would mark your first foray into the Divinity universe, then you may want a quick primer on what to expect. Let us be your guide to Divinity, and be the first to (very pre-emptively) say…

Welcome to Rivellon

Much like how Baldur’s Gate takes place in the Dungeons & Dragons setting of the Forgotten Realms, Divinity has its own rich, original setting: the world of Rivellon. There are broad similarities between the two; both are rooted in Tolkienesque fantasy tropes, with classically styled medieval landscapes and locations. There are multiple races; like in D&D, you can expect to meet humans, elves, dwarves, lizard-like beings, and the living dead. Magic is commonplace in Rivellon, although sorcery is considered more dangerous and is more heavily regulated there than it is on D&D’s Sword Coast.

Like Baldur’s Gate, Divinity also features a number of more esoteric elements, from steampunk to sci-fi and beyond, that make its world a little quirkier than the lands explored in more traditional fantasy like The Lord of the Rings. Rivellon can also often be a very silly place, and the influence of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels has frequently been felt in Divinity’s writing. In fact, Terry’s daughter, Rhianna Pratchett, even wrote a tie-in novella for the second game. But that’s not to say Rivellon is frivolous – there’s a deep vein of fascinating lore that has been mined over the series’ six installments.

In short, Rivellon is the stage for stories similar to those you enjoyed in Baldur’s Gate 3, but is beholden only to Larian’s rules, rather than those set by the owners of Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast.

What is Divinity?

Divinity is an RPG series, but its evolution has been far from usual. Take a quick look at each of the six games, and you’ll find at least four different approaches. Divine Divinity, the very first game in the series, and its sequel, Beyond Divinity, are Diablo-influenced action RPGs. Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, meanwhile, is a third-person RPG that feels a little closer to the likes of Dragon Age and The Witcher. Divinity: Dragon Commander is a slightly Total War-flavoured strategy game, and the Original Sin duology – the most recent games in the series – are classic-style RPGs that bear the most resemblance to Baldur’s Gate 3. Larian has experimented wildly over the years, and so there’s no clear indication as to what format the next game in the series will use (although considering the success of Baldur’s Gate 3, the sensible bet would be on something similar).

Another unusual element is its approach to the timeline. While Rivellon does have a coherent history and storylines that are threaded across the series, each game is set years (sometimes even centuries) apart, meaning each one is something of a standalone experience. Similar to how Baldur's Gate 3 demands no experience of the series but has plenty of nods to the two earlier games, you can play Divinity: Original Sin 2 without any experience of its predecessors. I suspect any future game in the series would continue this tradition, especially since Larian now has a legion of new fans who are unfamiliar with the studio’s previous work. If the leaked trademark is to be believed, this new project is simply called “Divinity” – a name that has likely been chosen since it comes with no suggestion that you need to have played multiple other games.

What Does “Divinity” Mean?

Even with Mike Mignola's Hellboy and BPRD saga having concluded in 2019, there are always new stories to tell in this sprawling horror universe. That's where the Miss Truesdale series comes in. These books reveal the early origins of the Hellboy-verse, and that process continues in the new sequel series Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man.

IGN can exclusively debut a new preview of Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man #1. Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:

Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man also has the distinction of being the latest project illustrated by Lonergan, whose recent graphic novel Drome is on our shortlist for the Best Comic Book or Original Graphic Novel of 2025 award.

Here's Dark Horse's official logline for the new series:

Fans first met unassuming Miss Truesdale in Victorian England when she discovered her shocking connection to the ancient gladiator, Anum Yassa. She is thrown into her past life to battle an ancient evil and protect the future. Now in Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man, Anum Yassa wanders the forest in search of answers about her past, present, and future lives - only to discover a dark entity on her trail and threatening all of mankind.

My ending the Hellboy world (sort of) in the B.P.R.D. series, I now find myself fascinated by the very beginnings of it,” said Mignola in a statement. “Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man is not a story I would even attempt to tell without the storytelling genius of Jesse Lonergan. For me, coming up with the story was a rollercoaster of strange surprises and Jesse has made it even stranger, more beautiful than I could have imagined. This is the deepest dive yet into the world and how it all works.”

“With Miss Truesdale and the Fall of Hyperborea, we explored this past life relationship between a woman in Victorian England and the ancient gladiator she was in a past life,” said Lonergan. “Now, in Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man, those two characters are merged, a Victorian woman in this powerful gladiator body, exploring a new world and battling all manner of monsters and beasts. These travels and battles culminate in a confrontation that reveals deep truths about the Hellboy Universe.”

Miss Truesdale and the Rise of Man #1 is available in comic shops now. You can find a copy at your local comic shop.

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

IDW Publishing has just kicked off a new era for the flagship Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic. Issue #13 marks the debut of the series' new creative team, writer Gene Luen Yang and artist Freddie E. Williams II. It also serves as the first appearance of a major new villain known as Ujigami. And this villain is carrying a terrible secret.

Read on to find out what happens in this issue and learn the shocking truth of Ujigami's true identity, but beware of full spoilers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #13 ahead!

Who Is TMNT Villain Ujigami?

Easily one of the biggest plot twists in IDW's long-running TMNT universe came with issue #100 of Vol. 1, which featured the death of the Turtles' father and mentor, Splinter. That death has continued to cast a shadow over the franchise ever since. That is, until the previous creative team, writer Jason Aaron and artist Juan Ferreyra, ended their run by bringing Splinter back.

That's a pretty major development for Yang and Williams to build upon in their new story, and they waste no time in doing just that. Issue #13 opens with the mysterious, masked Ujigami interrupting a heated Triad meeting and murdering Xiang Fei Tong, the leader of the Ghost Boys gang. The Turtles begin investigating the murder and discover a connection between the Triads and Baxter Stockman, now the newly elected mayor of New York.

Meanwhile, Splinter is shown eking out a meager existence in the slums of New York. He may be alive, but he's far from well, as he struggles with amnesia and a pervasive sense of dread.

The Turtles fear it's only a matter of time before the Ghost Boys confront Mayor Stockman, and their fears are proven correct when the gang's new mutant leader attacks him. But once again, the battle is interrupted by the arrival of Ujigami, who seriously wounds Stockman and claims to be a true, faithful ally to the Hamato family. Ujigami then escapes into the night.

It's there that the big reveal happens. Ujigami is Splinter. In his addled condition, he seems to think he's helping his sons by assassinating their enemies. Check out the slideshow gallery above to see the big reveal play out.

As it stands, the Turtles aren't aware that their father is alive, and they certainly don't know that he's masquerading as Ujigami. But it probably won't be long until the terrible truth comes out.

What This Means for TMNT's Future

Both Yang and TMNT group editor Jake Thomas spoke to IGN about this big twist and how it'll shape the series going forward. For Yang, fatherhood really is one of the driving themes of his TMNT run, drawing on his own personal experiences.

“Splinter's return to IDW's TMNT universe is huge – what an incredible way for Jason Aaron and Juan Ferreyra to end their run! Freddie and I wanted to make sure it was meaningful," Yang tells IGN. "I thought a lot about my own experience of fatherhood. My wife and I have four kids, and I've been tempted again and again to do everything in my power to make their lives as easy as possible, to keep them safe. But then... that's not always what's best for the kids, is it? Especially after they become teenagers."

Yang continues, "Great Turtles stories have always been about family, so Freddie and I are leaning into that. Can't wait for fans to read what else we have in store! And it's not just Splinter. There's another character who will soon be making an appearance – their first in the IDW incarnation of TMNT!”

Thomas explains that the goal with bringing back Splinter wasn't simply to restore the traditional TMNT statuis quo, but to do something drastically different with the character and reexamine his relationship with his sons.

“There is something undeniably powerful about the loss of a parent. When the Turtles lost Splinter – their master, their teacher, their father – back in TMNT (2011) #100, it changed the brothers and their world forever," Thomas says. "When we discussed bringing Splinter back, we knew the family couldn't just return to business as usual. The far-reaching story Gene and Freddie are just starting here is not about resetting the status quo, it is about questioning and examining the nature of family, fear, loss, love, and sacrifice, all through the incredible action, hijinks, heart, and humor that give these Turtles their power. Buckle up, this is going to be a wild ride."

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #13 is available in stores now, and issue #14 will be released on January 14, 2026. You can pick up both issues at your local comic shop.

For more, learn how you can start reading the TMNT comics in 2025.

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

Netflix has released the debut trailer for Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 alongside first look photos, confirming a 2026 release window.

The teaser for the live-action series showcases fan-favorite Earthbender, Toph (Miya Cech), the newest member of Team Avatar that includes Aang (Gordon Cormier), Katara (Kiawentiio), and Sokka (Ian Ousley).

Welcome to the Earth Kingdom.

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER Season 2 is coming in 2026. pic.twitter.com/94av2BPOFF

— puɐlǝɹI ⅋ ʞꓵ xᴉlɟʇǝN (@NetflixUK) December 10, 2025

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a live-action reimagining of the beloved Nickelodeon animated series. It follows Aang, the young Avatar, as he learns to master the four elements (Water, Earth, Fire, Air) to restore balance to a world threatened by the Fire Nation. In Season 2, after a bittersweet victory saving the Northern Water Tribe from the invading Fire Nation, Avatar Aang, Katara, and Sokka regroup and set off on a mission to convince the elusive Earth King to aid in their battle against fearsome Fire Lord Ozai.

Christine Boylan (Poker Face, Once Upon a Time) serves as executive producer and writer. Jabbar Raisani (Lost in Space, Stranger Things) is executive producer and director, alongside directors Anu Menon, Amit Gupta and Hiromi Kamata.

Season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender made its Netflix debut on February 22, 2024 and, according to the streamer, was the number one English TV show with 41.1 million views in just the first 11 days. The series was number one in 76 countries and in the top 10 in 92. Just a month later, Netflix announced that Avatar: The Last Airbender had been renewed for Seasons 2 and 3, which will conclude the story.

“We’re looking forward to working with all of our actors again and digging into the deeper, more complicated relationships that develop as their journey continues in Season 2,” executive producers Christine Boylan and Jabbar Raisani said. “We are going to show the real-world versions of iconic scenes from the original, and explore some of the stories that the animation didn’t. Mainly, we’re looking forward to seeing our gang all together again.”

New cast members rounding out the Season 2 line-up include:

• Terry Chen (Lucky Star, Jessica Jones, House of Cards) as Jeong Jeong
• Dolly de Leon (Triangle of Sadness, Between the Temples, Ghostlight) as Lo and Li
• Lily Gao (Blue Sun Palace, Twisted Metal, Slip) as Ursa
• Madison Hu (The Brothers Sun, The Boogeyman) as Fei
• Dichen Lachman (Severance, Jurassic World: Dominion, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) as Yangchen

Also announced are two new cast members joining in Season 3: Jon Jon Briones (Ratched, Hadestown, The Last Voyage of the Demeter) as Piandao, and Tantoo Cardinal (Dances with Wolves, Legends of the Fall, Killers of the Flower Moon) as Hama.

IGN’s Avatar: The Last Airbender review returned a 7/10. We said: “The live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series enriches the original story with meaningful new material, but its breakneck pacing, exposition-heavy dialogue, and hit-or-miss effects aren’t precisely in balance.”

For more, check out IGN’s recent feature, I Hope Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender Gets the Chance to Be Better, as well as Avatar: The Last Airbender's Biggest Changes From the Animated Series.

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.

Rockstar's controversial recent firing of 31 Grand Theft Auto 6 staff has now reached UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who has described the matter as "deeply concerning" and pledged that ministers would invesigate.

The layoffs, which took place at the end of October, were raised in the UK's Parliament during today's session of Prime Minister's Questions, by Rockstar North's local MP Chris Murray.

"The video games company Rockstar in my constituency last month fired 31 employees without providing evidence or union representation," Murray told the Prime Minister. "The [Independent Workers Union of Great Britain union] IWGB alleges union busting. Having met Rockstar they failed to reassure me they are following employment law and I share concerns about union busting.

"Given this government is responsible for the biggest increase in workers rights in a generation," Murray continued, "does the Prime Minister agree all companies regardless of profit size must follow UK employment law and all workers have the right to join a union?"

"It's a deeply concerning case," Starmer replied. "Every worker has the right to join a trade union and we're determined to strengthen workers rights and ensure they don't face unfair consequences for being part of a union. Our ministers will look into the particular case that he [Murray] raises and will keep him updated."

For its part, Rockstar's parent company Take-Two Interactive previously described the firings as due to "gross misconduct, and for no other reason" after employees were found to be "distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum" against company policy. IGN has contacted Take-Two again for further comment today.

Sometimes, the best thing you can do is pick a goal and move towards it. You might have no idea how to get where you wanna go; you might have no idea where you are when it comes to accomplishing it; and you might not have much outside help, but you’ll do it anyway. What other choice is there? Just keep moving forward, and maybe something good will happen. That philosophy guided me through my three hours with Outward 2, a video game that mostly wanted me dead and was very good about making it happen. Everybody needs goals, right?

After making a character in Outward 2’s fairly (at least right now) limited character creator and choosing different elements of my backstory, which altered my starting stats – the RPG standard Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence, and Willpower – my journey started in the city of Haboob, which has been recently reclaimed from the Scourge. I don’t know what that means, exactly, but it sounded good. Anyway, my recently arrived character won the housing lottery when a guy named Sebastian decided to move. Here I was, less than five minutes into the game and already a homeowner. Talk about a fantasy. We chatted before he left, and he seemed nice enough, and then I headed out to explore the city.

Haboob is gorgeous – a multilayered city of stone, with these giant rotating fans (there’s one in my house, near the bed) and I enjoy walking around it for a bit, grabbing an “on the house” (pun intended) drink at the local tea shop, and enjoying the vibe. Outward 2 isn’t the most visually sophisticated game out there – the character models kinda look like they stepped out of an Xbox 360-era Bethesda RPG – but its environments are pretty grand. After wandering around for a bit and speaking to the local Chamberlord, who hands over the deed to my new house, I call it a night. There’s not much else to do.

I’m awoken when a guard breaks in and tries to rob me (rude!) and whacks me in the head with a mace. Sebastian shows up to kill him, takes whatever it is, and then places the pistol he used to take care of the guard in my hand. At least he looks sorry about it, but because all the evidence of the murder points to me, I’m exiled with little more than what’s in my possession. The Chamberlord suggests I find Sebastian to prove my innocence.

Back to Square One

Outward 2 is a survival game, which means I need to find, craft, or buy my supplies. Out in the world, there’s nothing to guide you. I had no map and no leads. The only thing around was a big, dead bird under what looked like some sort of mystical lamp post. I decided to head east. Always into the east. I got into a couple fights, one of which was against a dude that really didn’t seem to want to be there. Outward’s combat isn’t going to blow anyone away, but it’s weighty and generally pretty solid. I’m doing all right even though I only have an ice pick and a bow I picked up in the city until I fall into a small, rocky hole. I can’t walk or roll out of it and Outward 2 has no jump button. I end up starting a new run. I ran into a lot of bugs in my time with my preview build of Outward 2 – items would duplicate or not be usable, characters would float in mid-air, and so on – but that’s to be expected of something this early.

I tried to use it as an opportunity. This time, I spent more time in Haboob because I knew I was going to get kicked out, found some new people to talk to, and was generally better equipped when I was framed for murder. Again. I just bought a house in real life, so I was particularly upset about this. How dare this dude? Who does he think he is?

But I was lucky in other ways. Remember that dead bird from last time? In its place, I found a woman named Oliele who helped me out by offering me some supplies, including a tent and a map, and told me where I might find Sebastian. There were a couple possibilities. I opted to head northeast to the True Levantines. Even with my supplies, life wasn’t easier. Drinking river water made me sick to my stomach, and my ice pick wasn’t a force in combat. I scavenged enough wood to build a shield and mostly tried to avoid fights. Even the map wasn’t much help. Oh, yeah, it was nice to see what the region looked like, but the map doesn’t track where you are, so… you know, it works like a real map. Outward 2 is willing to let you get lost, and I appreciated that.

Second Chances

This time, I didn’t fall into a hole, but I did run into other problems. Combat was risky, and when I camped for the night because my character was exhausted, I got attacked and… I couldn’t fight back. I could move, but I couldn’t swing my weapons. I opted to die, thinking that would be the end of it. Instead, I got a special little sequence because I died near a river, and washed up on its banks, my gear close by. Minus my tent.

Soon after, I spotted a weird ghost and tried to pick a fight. That was a bad idea. Not only could I barely hurt him with my ice pick, he never stopped following me when I tried to run away, so I followed the path I was on, the spectre hot on my heels, until I just happened to run into the True Levantine settlement and the guards finished him off for me. No sign of Sebastian, but I had a lead: south. Okay.

Then I got back on the road and died a whole bunch. I died to a big bird. I died to a weird bat thing. I fell over once and died. I died because I bled out. Each time I was rescued. Sometimes by a nice guy named Gep who I never met but left me a drink at his campfire. Sometimes by the healers at the True Levantine camp. Eventually, I decided it was time to buy a sword. I sold what little I had, and from there, things got easier. I made progress south. I found a weird tower where everything wanted to kill me. I killed an exiled mercenary and stole *his* tent. Ha! I explored a weird little cave and did some mining.

At this point I was rolling, and I figured I’d keep going until I died. Then I ran into one of those weird bat things again, and that was that. Three hours had flown by. Outward 2 doesn’t hold your hand, and I admire that. Exploring its gorgeous world is a lot of fun. I wish it was a little less buggy, and I wish that there was a bit more to do in a world that can sometimes feel big and empty – gathering materials in the areas I explored was difficult, and I didn’t get to craft as much as I wanted; I really wanted some linen, and I could not find or buy any of me for the life of me – but I did enjoying just picking a direction, setting off into the world, and seeing what I could see. There’s something special in that, and if the full release of Outward 2 can capture it, it might just make you want to go for a stroll.

Another day, another Skyrim port — this time The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Anniversary Edition is out on Nintendo Switch 2 after a shadowdrop — and even Bethesda can see the funny side.

Skyrim’s release on Switch 2 has resurfaced jokes about Bethesda milking the life out of its open-world fantasy role-playing game by releasing it on all the platforms under the sun. Skyrim has been ported and remastered so many times that it’s become one of the internet’s most enduring memes.

"It's a bit of a joke at this point how often we release Skyrim, but it's a great game," Bethesda's Matt Carofano, creative director of the Switch 2 version, said while talking to Nintendo Life. "We want everyone to be able to play it in the best way possible."

And that, it seems, is at the crux of Skyrim's numerous ports. With each new hardware generation, Bethesda has an opportunity to reach a whole new generation of players who get to experience its RPG for the first time. This time, it's Switch 2, giving the development team the chance to "take advantage of the new hardware."

A few years after Skyrim's original release in 2011, Bethesda worked on a "remastering process," improving the lighting and graphics features. Now, on Switch 2, it can make use of things like volumetric lighting and improved weather conditions, fog, and clouds.

"We had previously done the version for the Switch, so this was going back to that and making improvements on it," Carofano said. "So it was really an easy development process and actually pretty quick in terms of our timelines. Making the game takes years and years and years, but bringing it to this new console was a much, much faster process.

"A lot of it was really just focusing on taking advantage of the new hardware. We can use DLSS now and get better resolution, better performance, and the game loads faster. Switch 2 has the Joy-Con 2 controllers that let you use mouse controls, so we added that. A lot of it is really just, 'How do we take advantage of the Switch 2? What can it do? And [how can we] give players the best version of Skyrim for that console?'"

Of everything, though, Carofano says it's the general performance that most impresses him, as the game "performs better, runs smoother, and loads faster. So it's just a better play experience on the Switch 2."

Reflecting on why so many people continue to play and enjoy Skyrim over a decade after its release, lead designer Bruce Nesmith recently said: "I think Skyrim did the open world in a way that nobody had ever done before and very few people have really tried to do since. By all rights, a year later, some other game should have eclipsed it. And then two years later, three years later, five, 10. It’s like ‘what the hell is going on here?’

"Todd [Howard, Bethesda boss] would even go to these meetings and show us information, which I can’t give you the details of, about how many people are playing it. It’s like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me?’ Seriously, still, 10 years later."

Bethesda is, of course, working on its hotly anticipated Skyrim follow-up, The Elder Scrolls VI, but it has said next to nothing about it. We do know it will include a character designed in memory of a much-missed fan, after a remarkable charity campaign that raised more than $85,000 for Make-A-Wish.

Interestingly, Todd Howard recently refused to rule out the possibility of an Elder Scrolls TV adaptation, but did suggest the post-apocalyptic sci-fi franchise Fallout — the second series of which debuts on December 17 — was better suited to an adaptation.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

A six-minute prologue for next year's Christopher Nolan epic The Odyssey will air in select IMAX theaters this weekend, and again next week before screenings of Avatar: Fire and Ash.

To be in with a chance to watch this special presentation, you'll need to be sitting down in an IMAX theater this Friday, December 12, for 70mm screenings of Ryan Coogler's Sinners or the Leonardo DiCaprio-starring One Battle After Another.

From next weekend, the prologue will also air ahead of IMAX screenings for Disney's new Avatar threequel.

As reported by Variety, Nolan has chosen to release this prologue now during the busy holiday season while attention is high, and in IMAX 70mm as it is his preferred format. The Odyssey was previously announced as being the first blockbuster to be fully shot using IMAX cameras.

Due for launch on July 17, 2026, The Odyssey features an all-star cast including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Robert Pattinson, John Leguizamo, Mia Goth, Charlize Theron, and Jon Bernthal.

Damon recently recalled an incident during filming where Holland personally called the head of Sony Pictures to arrange for one of the company's pristine 70mm prints of the classic film Lawrence of Arabia to be shown to The Odyssey's cast. "Tom Holland, because he’s Spider-Man and he’s everybody’s favourite at that studio, called [Sony Pictures boss Tom] Rothman and he arranged for us to screen it on a Sunday, the full four hours," Damon said.

The Odyssey is Nolan's 13th film, after previously helming Following, Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, Oppenheimer, and The Dark Knight Trilogy. Such is the anticipation for the movie, that a limited number of The Odyssey tickets went on sale during the summer — a year in advance of the film opening.

While Nolan has long been celebrated as one of the great directors of modern cinema, The Odyssey is expected to perform particularly strongly following the breakout success of Oppenheimer, the Cillian Murphy-led biopic that fuelled one half of the Barbenheimer phenomenon, earned a staggering $975 million during its theatrical run, and walked away with Best Picture at the Oscars.

The Odyssey will adapt the epic Greek story of the same name, which follows heroic king Ithaca (Damon) on his way home from the Trojan War (which famously ended with Troy conquered after the use of the wooden horse). The tale is based on myth rather than historical fact, so expect witches, Sirens, and the Cyclops to appear — as soon as this weekend.

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

Ah, the licensed video game. Once a collection of underwhelming retellings of big-screen blockbusters, littered with haunting polygonal nightmares (Hagrid, that’s you) and aimless Atari attempts (yes, E.T., that’s you), we’ve seen an uptick in actually good adaptations in recent years, with the upcoming Terminator 2D: No Fate looking like a promising attempt at turning James Cameron’s classic into some enjoyable retro action. So, we thought we’d pick out the best of the bunch.

We do have a few little rules, though, that stop just any old film-adjacent game from making the list. They need to either be:

• A direct translation or adaptation of a feature film
• An official movie sequel or prequel.
• Or a game that attempts to continue the story or provide backstory and additional canonical lore.

So, for example, Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man is not eligible as it takes place in a Marvel universe separate from the movies and is much more rooted in the original comic books, but the PS2’s Spider-Man 2 would be allowed due to it being directly based on the Sam Raimi film of the same name. Make sense? I hope so. Let’s rank the top 10 best licensed games based on movies.

10. Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie

Console launch games come with the power to stun thanks to the leap in technology they inherently are unlocked by. The Xbox 360’s Peter Jackson’s King Kong definitely benefited from this, as the Lord of the Rings’ director’s epic retelling of the classic monster movie made a huge splash at the dawn of gaming’s HD era. With Rayman and Beyond Good and Evil creator Michel Ancel helming it at Ubisoft Montpellier, King Kong felt more than a standard movie tie-in thanks to its many interesting and novel ideas. You had the freedom to explore its vast jungle spaces, which offered an unprecedented sense of cinematic immersion and was a breathtaking contrast against the previous generation’s more limiting, corridor-like spaces. King Kong not only ushered in a whole new generation of hardware but also a new way of thinking about how licensed games could be approached.

9. Scarface: The World is Yours

Scarface: The World is Yours has balls. Not only does a “Balls Meter” fill up as Tony Montana causes mayhem across an open-world ‘80s Miami, allowing for him to slow down time, enter first-person mode, and gain infinite ammo as he guns down as many gang rivals as possible, but it also has an audacity to position itself as a sequel to a film in which its protagonist dies at the end. In this alternative universe, Al Pacino’s antihero coke fiend survives the ambush at his mansion thanks to a certain little friend and escapes out of the back door, free to continue building his drug-running empire. Yes, it's largely a GTA-clone, as was commonplace in the era — see the also actually quite good The Godfather adaptation for further evidence — but its wild concept alone is enough for it to deserve a place on this list.

8. Rockstar’s The Warriors

In terms of creating immersive worlds and capturing a tone, not many do it quite like Rockstar. The Warriors comes from an era when we’d get more than one game a decade from the developer, and sometimes multiple in one year. A much smaller-scale project than the likes of GTA: San Andreas or Vice City, The Warriors acts as both a prequel and a retelling of the cult ‘70s thriller of the same name, focusing on the titular New York gang. Taking the form of a beat 'em up, it successfully drenches you in the seedy underworld alleyways that its characters inhabit, as Rockstar once again displayed their world-class world-building credentials. And that grimy tone is what The Warriors achieves most successfully, making it an adaptation that shouldn’t be overlooked, even when compared to the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption studio’s other headline-stealing projects.

7. Mad Max

Avalanche Studios’ Mad Max is the perfect example of taking the essence of a film series and turning that into the driving force behind a video game adaptation. In this case, it's the exhilarating car combat witnessed all the way back in the original 1979 movie, through Road Warrior, and into Fury Road’s landmark action. When Max is on foot in the 2015 game, it's perfectly good as it apes the successful melee formula concocted by Warner Bros. stablemate Rocksteady for its Batman Arkham series, but it's when the Australian drifter gets those hands out of raiders’ jawbones and behind the wheel of his iconic Interceptor that it really comes to life. Now a cult favourite, much like the original film that inspires it, Mad Max is one of a kind and a fantastic translation of George Miller’s vision in video game form.

6. Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Years before the Rocksteady Batman: Arkham and Insomniac Marvel’s Spider-Man games, the prospect of a successful comic book game was bleak. Even rarer was the thought of a genuinely fun movie tie-in. Treyarch’s Spider-Man 2, based on the Sam Raimi film of the same name, flew in the face of both those ideas. An incredibly detailed New York City (for the time, at least) felt like a revelation to swing around in, and Peter Parker’s web-slinging provided a whole new way to explore the sort of 3D open world that the PS2’s Grand Theft Auto games had pioneered. In a legitimately impressive technical revelation, Treyarch’s Spidey actually attached his webs to buildings rather than empty skyboxes. Flying between skyscrapers and thumping petty criminals was a thrilling sensation back in 2004, and, while it has since been far eclipsed by more modern Peter Parker and Miles Morales adventures, it certainly paved the way for those to exist.

5. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

It’s difficult to think of a movie series that’s had more games to its name than Star Wars. Classics such as TIE Fighter and Rogue Leader were contenders for this pick, but we just think there’s nothing like the fulfillment of the Force fantasy that is delivered by Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Bridging the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, this 2023 action-adventure is part of the official canon, with references to Order 66 and clashes with Darth Vader fuelling Cal Kestis’ story, but with an originality that doesn’t just lean on Star Wars cliches. An improvement in pretty much every way over its predecessor, Fallen Order, it's an easy pick for our representative of the most famous of film universes.

4. GoldenEye 007

It may not be the best to play now, but there’s just no denying the impact that GoldenEye 007 had when it arrived in 1997 on the Nintendo 64. Perfect Dark, shortly after, would go on to expand on the ideas established in its campaign, and games like TimeSplitters would borrow from its revolutionary approach to FPS multiplayer, making it so much more than just a movie adaptation. Yes, it featured a whole host of famous James Bond heroes and villains — including a truly broken Oddjob, who takes the term “sharply dressed” to its extreme —- and successfully captured the globetrotting exploits of 007 as much as a console with the limited power of the N64 could at the time, but it also shaped the next three decades of online shooters. This makes it so much more than just a movie tie-in, and something developer Rare should never be forgotten for achieving.

3. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay

A video game prequel to the 2000 Vin Diesel vehicle, Pitch Black, has no right to be as good as The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, yet here we are. Taking a heap of Half-Life campaign design and a healthy dose of Thief-like stealth, the Swedish Starbreeze Studios and Vin Diesel’s own Tigon Studios transformed a perfectly decent film series into a genuinely great video game, and one that many believe surpasses its source material. Its smart level design is enhanced by intelligent translations of Riddick’s abilities from the film, such as his trademark “eyeshine”, which lets you see in the dark, and a healthy amount of improvised blunt and sharp weaponry that fits perfectly with the movie’s grimy aesthetic. The plot’s premise — a prison escape — is fundamentally cinematic, but it's the ways in which Butcher Bay asks you to play intelligently in its world that pushes it beyond the big screen and into a truly great game.

2. Alien Isolation

The original Alien film from 1979 is a haunted house movie in space, with lone survivor of the Nostromo, Ripley, aiming to survive its dark corridors and the roaming Xenomorph threat until the credits hit. As such, it would become a natural inspiration for many survival horror greats, from Dead Space’s infested spaceship, to SOMA’s unnerving futurism, and, of course, Resident Evil 2’s stalking Mr X threat. So, naturally, when the time came for yet another Alien game to be made, survival horror seemed a logical choice for developer Creative Assembly, who would be the next in a long line to take up the challenge of translating the unique atmosphere of Ridley Scott’s original film.

What the studio made was beyond what could have been expected, as it evolved the idea of RE 2’s Tyrant into an ever-present danger that scuttled along the map’s sprawling web of vents. The Xenomorph, and the tech powering it, are the jewel at the centre of Isolation’s crown, and are what make it such a faithful recreation of Alien. By stepping into her daughter’s shoes and sneaking around the Sevastopol, you get as close a feeling as to what it would’ve been like to be Ripley and walk those Nostromo hallways yourself. It may not quite make the number one spot on our list, but it is the entry that most successfully captures the overall tone of its source material, embracing its terror to astonishing effect.

1. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

We wouldn’t have the likes of Tomb Raider or Uncharted without Indiana Jones, and in 2024, the king came back to claim his throne. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle took everything that made the original trilogy of Steven Spielberg films so special and managed to translate it into a lovingly designed video game from Wolfenstein developer MachineGames — perhaps not so coincidentally, a studio formed by former Escape from Butcher Bay developers. Not only is The Great Circle a fantastic, stealthy, puzzle-filled action-adventure that really places an emphasis on the adventure part, but it borrows all of the archaeological intrigue and, crucially, humour that makes the likes of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade so special. So much, in fact, that the story told here would slot in nicely between them and act as a superior third of that trilogy than Temple of Doom ever did.

Throw in a fantastic pitch-perfect Harrison Ford impression from Troy Baker, a suitably swarmy performance from Marios Gavrilis for the villainous Emmerich Voss, and a healthy amount of Nazi punching, whipping, and shovel-smacking, and you’ve got all of the ingredients you need. But it’s so much more than just a playable film, instead grounding itself in flexible immersive-sim-esque gameplay systems that emphasise using brain over brawn. Violence is rarely considered a first option, and gained knowledge is always a much sharper weapon. It makes for a truly fantastic game in its own right, but one that is as referential as it is transformative, and a true-to-life version of what the Indiana Jones character is — a doctor, not a soldier. The Great Circle is as thought-out a licensed game based on a movie as you could wish for, and a perfect fit for the top of our list.

And those are our picks for the best games based on movies. What game that you love didn’t make the cut? Let us know in the comments! And for more licensed games, check out our list of the best Marvel games of all time.

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

Doom co-creator John Romero has revealed that while his previous shooter was canceled, "elements" of it live on in his latest secret project.

Romero Games, the studio founded by John and Brenda Romero, was left "heartbroken" this summer after Microsoft reportedly pulled funding of its next project as part of the company's latest round of cuts and mass layoffs. The cuts also affected other internal Xbox studios, leading to the cancellation of the likes of Everwild and Perfect Dark, as well as other unannounced titles Microsoft had been funding.

Despite some reports, the studio did not close, and the Romeros assured fans they were "evaluating opportunities" from publishers that had been in touch since the funding issues were announced, but very little was known about the game other than it was a first-person shooter.

Now, in a new interview at Salón del Videojuego de Madrid (thanks, Eurogamer), John Romero revealed, to rapturous applause, that he had "survived the cancellation of a huge game." And while his current project "has nothing to do with the previous game," it "incorporates a lot of the elements that we had in the previous game."

"We're ahead — we're not starting at ground zero," he explained. "We have 50 million worth of a game. We can take pieces out and put [them] into a brand new indie game, so we have a lot of stuff to put in the game, and the design is completely different, but the team is really excited.

"It's a very much smaller game," he added. "It's more fun for us because the people working on it were all directors of different departments, and they didn't actually get to code or design or whatever — do it themselves — and so now we get to actually do that, do the thing that we're really good at ourselves. That's why small teams are great."

Fans believe we're just days away from our first proper peek at Avengers: Doomsday, as Marvel reportedly readies the movie's debut trailer.

A listing for the trailer has now popped up on the Korean Ratings Board, which mentions the look at Avengers: Doomsday with a runtime of 1 minute and 25 seconds.

The emergence of this rating, amid fevered speculation from Marvel production scoopers, certainly suggests our initial glimpse at Avengers: Doomsday footage is now imminent. And then there's the other solid reason why we're likely to get a trailer soon: next week's launch of fellow Disney blockbuster Avatar: Fire and Ash.

Attaching a new trailer for Avengers: Doomsday to the new Avatar movie would inevitably drive further interest in the blue alien threequel, with some cinemagoers likely attending just to see Robert Downey Jr. and co. on the big screen again after all these year.

And while Avatar: Fire and Ash is certainly expected to do well, there's added pressure for this chapter in the franchise to succeed. Recent comments from franchise creator James Cameron suggested the filmmaker would be content to step away from the series if Fire and Ash didn't do as well as expected, leaving plans for an Avatar 4 and 5 in doubt.

Avengers: Doomsday is now almost exactly one year away — another milestone that a trailer might celebrate. Due for release on December 18, 2026, the movie is expected to be Marvel's biggest launch since 2019's Avengers: Endgame — which itself will get a re-release next year to remind audiences of the MCU's last major climax.

With the return of Downey Jr. and directorial duo Anthony and Joe Russo, many fans believe Doomsday will be pitched as something of a direct sequel to Endgame (and, obviously, it is the first Avengers-branded follow-up since). Rumors abound that another major Endgame star has also been tempted back for a big role, inverting the relationship they had with Iron Man, now Downey Jr. is playing the villainous Doctor Doom.

To date, Marvel has only released its infamous cast reveal "chair" video showing off the film's enormous ensemble cast that takes in surviving members of the old Avengers, the Thunderbolts (AKA The New Avengers), the Fantastic Four and several high-profile members of the Fox-era X-Men. A few production photos have leaked out over the film's shoot, and fans certainly have their theories over where Doomsday's story is headed, but much of the movie remains officially under wraps.

Perhaps we'll get hints at all of that, when the first Avengers: Doomsday trailer does land... soon.

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

South Park looks set to bring Season 28 to a close with the long-awaited(?) delivery of Satan and Donald Trump’s ‘butt baby.’

Today, December 10, South Park Season 28 Episode 5 airs at 10pm ET / PT on Comedy Central, before streaming tomorrow, December 11 on Paramount+ from 6am ET / 3am PT. Episode 5 is expected to be the season finale and bring to an end South Park’s current biweekly schedule of new episode releases until the new season starts.

For the uninitiated, the overarching storyline in South Park Season 27 and Season 28 has been Trump trying and failing to convince Satan not to go through with having their baby, aka the Antichrist. Now it’s actually happening, although vice president J.D. Vance, who has conspired with Trump to try to murder the baby in recent episodes, may end up having the last laugh.

The episode itself is appropriately called The Crap Out, and Comedy Central's episode description declares: "Satan's due, Stan's praying, and only a Christmas miracle can deliver the Antichrist on time." How will Stan factor in all of this? It’s unclear, but the clip below shows Trump and J.D. Vance working as bell ringers for the Salvation Army, so there is that...

Watch an all-new episode of South Park December 10th at 10/9c on Comedy Central and stream next day on Paramount+. pic.twitter.com/s7wYziizaJ

— South Park (@SouthPark) December 9, 2025

Also unclear is what happens with South Park from here. South Park abruptly brought Season 27 to an end after just five episodes, and the expectation is that Season 28 will end with the same number. Could we see Season 29 sooner rather than later?

Traditionally, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone create each episode week by week, which makes for a chaotic production but topical shows. Comedy Central had delayed the Season 27 ender just hours before it was due to air, with Parker and Stone insisting the blame lay at their door. “Apparently when you do everything at the last minute sometimes you don’t get it done,” the pair told Variety. “This one’s on us. We didn’t get it done in time. Thanks to Comedy Central and South Park fans for being so understanding. Tune in next week!”

As far as we at IGN are aware, Parker and Stone had missed the scheduled release of South Park just once before, due to a power outage, but never for not getting an episode done in time.

It’s worth noting that during their San Diego Comic-Con 2025 panel, which took place the day after the Season 27 opener aired, Parker said he and Stone were unsure what the next episode would be, revealing the decision was “super stressful.”

South Park has enjoyed big ratings and sparked much debate ever since the Donald Trump-skewering Season 27 opener in July, which you can read the details of here. It roasted Trump to such an extent that it sparked a rebuttal from the White House. Parker and Stone have said they were attracted to “new taboos” and a fear of speaking out against the Trump administration.

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.