eBay is getting up some hot Black Friday TV deals early, starting with this excellent deal on one of our favorite gaming TVs. Right now Electronic Express (an authorized LG reseller) is offering the 65" LG Evo C5 4K OLED Smart TV for a historically low price of $1,117.59 with free shipping after you apply 20% off coupon code "TOPGIFTPICKS". The code expires on November 16. Electronic Express is a reputable seller on eBay with over 200,00 reviews and over 99% positive rating.

65" LG Evo C5 4K OLED Smart TV for $1,117.59

As part of its early Black Friday Doorbuster Sale, Best Buy just dropped the best deals we may see this entire month on the Meta Quest 3S VR headset. Not only do you get $50-$70 off in instant discounts ($249 for the 128GB model and $329 for the 256GB model), you also get a bonus $50 Best Buy gift card with your purchase. That's basically getting a Quest for as low as $199. This is the best deal I've seen this year on a Quest 3S headset with warranty. Recently we've seen deals on refurbished models, but in this case the advantage of buying new is that you also get a couple of free games.

Note: The 128GB model includes two games, Batman: Arkham Shadow and The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners. The 256GB model includes one game, Batman: Arkham Shadow.

Meta Quest 3S Starting at $249 Plus $50 Best Buy Gift Card

The War Between The Land And The Sea, the next chapter of the Doctor Who universe, has now been given a UK-specific launch date — but viewers have been left in the dark about its release elsewhere, following the break-up of Disney's co-funding deal.

UK viewers will get to watch The War Between The Land And The Sea's first two episodes via BBC iPlayer and BBC One on Sunday, December 7 from 8.30pm. Further episodes will then release weekly, with the finale due on Sunday, December 28.

Despite today's announcement by the BBC, however, Disney has remained silent on when it will add the series to its streaming service. The BBC has simply said it expects the show to arrive on Disney+ sometime in 2026 — a sea change to previous episodes of Doctor Who which were released simultaneously with the BBC worldwide.

Is Disney holding back the series for a reason, or is it simply no longer prioritizing its release now it has no plans to fund any future Doctor Who content? It's unclear. But, as of yet, Disney has made no announcement of when it intends to air the show alongside the BBC's own press release. Similarly, Disney did not issue any form of statement when the BBC recently confirmed the two company's partnership was over.

The five-part miniseries was part of Disney's original commitment to co-fund the future of Doctor Who, alongside two seasons of the show featuring Ncuti Gatwa as its star. But a recent report claimed that the relationship between the two soured as viewing figures failed to make an impression, and Disney tightened its purse strings.

Doctor Who fans have spent much of this year waiting for an answer on the franchise's future, after the writing appeared to be on the wall late last year that a recommission of Disney's partnership for a third full Doctor Who season was taking longer than expected. As the year began, the BBC reworked the ending of the show's most recent finale into a farewell to Gatwa, who quit the show, and added a last-minute cliffhanger starring Billie Piper.

Last month, the BBC finally announced Disney had also quit Doctor Who, and said it would fund a one-off episode of the series due to air in December 2026 that's expected to wrap up the series' current storyline predicament. Beyond that, nothing is yet known.

Until then, The War Between The Land And The Sea will be fans' final slice of the Whoniverse for 12 months. Centering on alien intelligence agency UNIT and featuring several characters previously seen on Doctor Who, the series will feature a conflict between humans and the classic series' Sea Devils.

Earlier this month, current showrunner Russell T Davies said that the series would introduce the concept that the Sea Devils name is actually racist, and therefore the species will be re-canonized as 'homo aqua'.

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

Rian Johnson’s TV whodunit Poker Face has officially been cancelled by Peacock after just two seasons, though the director has said he will now attempt to save the show by shopping it to another streamer — with a completely different actor in the leading role.

Any future plans for the show will no longer feature Natasha Lyonne leading the cast as gumshoe Charlie Cale. Instead, Johnston has cast none other than Game of Thrones' Peter Dinklage in the same role, though Lyonne will stay attached to the project as an executive producer.

From there, The Hollywood Reporter reports that Johnson wants to have a new actor take over the helm as Charlie every two seasons — you know, if the show gets picked up again, of course.

The show’s cancellation comes just four months after the second season of the series came to an end. Though it was one of Peacock’s most watched shows this season and the buzz around it continued to be positive, ratings data suggests that its sophomore year didn’t perform as well.

THR's report also notes that the show was expensive to produce, and an easier choice to cancel as it was outsourced to MRC Television by NBCUniversal, rather than an internal production.

“We’ve been germinating this next move together since writing the season two finale,” Johnson and Lyonne revealed in a recent statement about the decision to try to keep the show running elsewhere. “We love our Poker Face and this is the perfect way to keep it rolling. Give us a beat and we may just see Charlie Cale again down that open highway.”

Poker Face's first two seasons remain available to stream on Peacock.

Image credit: Gilbert Flores/WWD via Getty Images

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

If you're after a new PC gaming rig or laptop that packs a punch without beating up your wallet? I've got you with awesome deals on a Cyberpower build and two "like new" refurbished Alienware 18 Area 51 laptops. If you're also looking for a solution to stop your tech from suffering power surges from power cuts, keeping them going whilst going through an outage? Well i've got some fantastic deals on portable power stations.

TL;DR: Deals for Today

Calvin and Hobbes are also joining in with an early Black Friday deal on it's hardcover box set, and we currently have no confirmation if this deal will return when Black Friday proper hits. There's even a set of noise cancelling earbuds for $19.99 from Baseus, how's that for another early Black Friday deal? Let's get into it:

Apple AirPods Pro for $169

Gaming Laptop and PC deals

An Nvidia RTX 5080 gaming rig for under $2,000 is the best deal we've seen this year, nevermind Black Friday. I'm hedging my bets on this being the best gaming PC deal across Black Friday. Then we have Alienware scrapping its brand tax for a RTX 5090 laptop for under $2,900 and a RTX 5080 model for under $2,400. They're refurbished, but they're like new, so save yourself some money and play games maxed out for less.

Baseus Bass BP1 Pro Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Hardcover Box Set

LEGO Technic 2022 Ford GT 42154

Sonic Nintendo Switch Sale

The best Sonic the Hedgehog games on Nintendo Switch are here, including Sonic Superstars, Mania and Frontiers. Sonic Origins and Sonic Frontiers come as a double bundle for $49.59, and Sonic Mania is bundled with Team Sonic Racing for just $23.64. Want to see how Sonic 4 shoudl have looked? Sonic Superstars will scratch that itch for $19.93.

Acer Nitro V Gaming Laptop

Corsair Vengeance i7500 Gaming PC

ASUS ROG Harpe Ace Extreme Wireless Esports Gaming Mouse

ASUS ROG Azoth Extreme Wireless Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

LG 34GX90SA-W 34-inch Ultragear Curved Gaming Monitor

8Bitdo Ultimate 2 Bluetooth Controller for Switch/Switch 2

Horizon Forbidden West Standard Edition - PlayStation 5

PlayStation 5 Pro Console (Renewed)

Sign Up for Walmart+ For MSRP Pokémon TCG

Want to make sure you get one of these on the day? Well the max buy limit is 5, and Walmart+ is half price until 2nd December, so it's the perfect time to get signed up and make sure you're ready for tommorow, 13th November at 4 pm PT / 7 pm ET (or five hours before for Walmart+ members). One thing's for sure, 8 booster packs for $24.99 is a great deal in this climate.

Xbox Early Black Friday Deals

These deals are Black Friday level bargains. $60 off an Elite Series 2 Core controller? Bargain. A cheeky 512GB of extra storage for $10 and change off? Believe it. Even if you don't have an Xbox, the Xbox Controller, Fire Stick and Game Pass Ultimate bundles are heavily discounted too.

PlayStation 5 Early Black Friday Deals

You can actually buy a PS5 Pro for around the same price as a standard Xbox Series X right now, let that sink in. Already got a PlayStation 5? Some of the best games on the console are marked down right now. Even newer releases such as Rise of the Ronin is down to $44.70. Don't miss out on these early Black Friday deals.

Electric Scooter Deals Starting at $109

60% off Samsung S90D 65" and 77"

144hz refresh rate screams gaming TV to me, especially when it's on a quantum dot OLED screen. That 144hz refresh rate is supported on all four of its HDMI 2.1 ports, which is insane. There's no worries about getting the best performance from your Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 and even gaming PCs.

MSI Vector HX 16" AMD Ryzen 9 8940HX RTX 5070 Ti Gaming Laptop

Samsung P9 512GB MicroSD Express Card

ASRock Steel Legend Radeon RX 9070 XT

iBuypower Y40 Pro RTX 5080 Gaming PC

Up To 50% off Pokémon TCG

You might want to check if your AMEX and Discovery is eligible for up to 50% off Pokémon TCG on Amazon right now. All you have to do is add a sealed product to your basket sold directly by Amazon, use your AMEX or Discovery and pay either $1 or use 1 loyalty point to apply the discount. You could also be extra savvy and get a $60 Amazon gift card by being accepted for an Amazon Store Card. Of course, none of this is financial advice, and if you're going to struggle not spending on credit and store cards, make the right choice.

Audible Premium Plus

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5080 Gaming PCs

Here's two 4K gaming beasts that will stay that way for a long time. If you're just focused on having a RTX 5080 for now with a view to upgrade in the future, go for the $2,099.99 build. If you can stretch the extra $650, you're getting a far better processor, double the DDR5 RAM and double the M.2 SSD space. Either way, you win with a cheeky 14% off.

LG Evo C5 4K TV Bundle Deal

Need a beast of a TV that can handle proper gaming performance and the Thanksgiving football game in style? 77" should do the job, and this is LG's C5 4K 2025 model that's half-price. You'll also save over $300 snagging the S40T Soundbar and Subwoofer combo alongside a slim wall mount. This is one of the best early Black Friday deals.

Samsung S84F 4K OLED Smart TV

Nintendo Switch 2 Mario Kart World Console Bundle

Just like pretty much everything else these days, the prices of gaming monitors have risen significantly, especially if you’re looking at displays with OLED panels, massive screens, and high refresh rates at sharp resolutions. Luckily, there is still an excellent pool of affordable monitors out there that don’t sacrifice image quality and features as much as you’d think. Just look at the AOC Q27G40XMN with its impressive mini-LED screen for around $300, which feels like a minor miracle in the age of tariffs. It's my top pick for a reason: It competes with monitors that cost hundreds of dollars more and is an object lesson in the kind of quality that's available on a limited budget... if you know where to look.

TL;DR – These Are the Best Budget Gaming Monitors:

The best budget gaming monitors may lack certain technology and features, but they still provide an excellent display to enjoy all the capabilities of your gaming PC. Even mid-range graphics cards and CPUs can be pushed to the extreme, as high refresh and 4K monitors can go for relatively cheap. While there are often trade-offs, like height-adjustable stands on the low end and value-adds like KVM switches on the high end, by focusing on performance and your personal "must haves," you can find truly great values at every price point.

Now, not all budget gaming monitors are created equal, and if something appears too good to be true, it probably is. A $100 monitor might be a great deal upfront, but chances are good it’ll die quickly and/or strain your eyes as you game, doing more harm than good in the end. Our picks may cost a bit more than $100, but their solid builds, excellent panels, and gaming features make for a better experience. However, just like any other gaming accessory, nicer gaming monitors are available if you’re willing to spend more.

1. AOC Q27G40XMN

Best Overall Budget Gaming Monitor

2. Asus TUF Gaming VG277Q1A

Best Budget 1080p Gaming Monitor

3. LG UltraGear 27GN800-B

Best 1440p Budget Gaming Monitor

4. KTC H27P22D

Best 4K Budget Gaming Monitor

5. Dell S3422DWG

Best Ultrawide Budget Gaming Monitor

6. Acer Nitro EDA270U Pbmiipx

Best Curved Budget Gaming Monitor

7. KTC MP27P6

Best Value Budget Gaming Monitor

How Much Should You Spend on a Gaming Monitor?

If you're looking for a budget gaming monitor, a good sweet spot to aim for is around $200-$300. You can find plenty of gaming monitors that are cheaper than that, but then you start running into issues with quality. You're going to have to make compromises either way, but in general, a gaming monitor should last 3-5 years, and a $100 gaming monitor probably isn't going to do that.

In order to find a gaming monitor that hits that price tag, you'll need to know what to look for in a gaming monitor, and figure out which areas are most important to you, so you can make the right compromise for your needs.

Gamers on a tight budget don’t have to make as many sacrifices as they once did, but there’s still a need for some compromise. In general, you can go for a higher resolution, or you can go for a higher refresh rate, but you sadly won’t be able to snag both in a budget gaming monitor.

Resolution

1080p remains the standard go-to resolution in budget displays. It certainly lacks the clarity of modern 4K TVs, but on the plus side, the low display resolution means you won’t need high-end hardware to play new games and achieve high frame rates. 1440p resolution is a nice upgrade, and a better overall value if you can stretch your budget. A 1440p monitor with a 27" screen actually has a higher pixel density than a 48" 4K television. However, this means a 240Hz refresh rate will no longer be affordable.

4K is available on a budget but you should expect to pay closer to $400 or to make bigger sacrifices in brightness or screen size. You should also bear in mind the higher system requirements to run 4K resolution at high frame rates. In any case, this is the compromise you must make if you want to play at 4K for as little cash as possible.

Refresh Rate

The refresh rate of budget gaming monitors is generally 60 to 240Hz, with most landing at 144Hz or 165Hz. A refresh rate of 144Hz is a great all-around choice that can handle most games with ease, but 240Hz is a noticeable upgrade for players who only care about competitive games. 360Hz is also now more in reach for cheaper gaming monitors than it used to be.

It’s important to note that a monitor’s maximum refresh rate may not be supported by every input. For example, many monitors that reach up to 165Hz will only support 144Hz over HDMI. DisplayPort is the best bet if you want to use a high refresh rate.

Panel Type

A monitor’s display panel technology is an important and often overlooked factor. All the monitors we recommend use either an IPS or VA panel. IPS panels are prized for motion clarity, vibrance, and responsiveness, all of which makes them great for competitive gaming. VA panels have a much better contrast ratio and far superior dark scene performance, so they’re better for games with immersive, high-end graphics.

Screen Size

Screen size is less of a limitation than it used to be. Our budget gaming monitor guide focuses on 27" options, alongside a 34" ultrawide. Smaller monitors (24") tend to be less expensive and are also preferred by competitive gamers, who want the entire display to be firmly within their focus. Larger monitors (32" and up) are more immersive, but will start to lose detail if not accompanied by a higher resolution. With that said, it is possible to buy a monitor that’s too large for your desk, so make sure to measure if you’re unsure. If in doubt, a 27" monitor with a 16:9 aspect ratio is a safe bet.

It’s wise to buy a monitor with Nvidia G-Sync or AMD FreeSync support, depending on whether you have an Nvidia or AMD video card. Many budget gaming monitors support both. My preferred picks all list the standards they support.

Finally, a note about HDR. While HDR is marketed on many affordable monitors, it unfortunately remains unimpressive on most as they only get up to a maximum 400 nits of screen brightness. A maximum brightness of 400 nits is considered "HDR compatible" because it will technically display this content but it will lack the dynamic range required to display more than SDR.

Budget Gaming Monitor FAQs

What is the best type of panel?

Budget gaming monitors typically come with either a VA or IPS panel. One of my picks is an IPS monitor with a mini-LED backlight and trumps both other panel types due to how the technology is implemented. Go with that if your budget and needs allow for it. Otherwise, the choice between VA and IPS comes down to three things: response time, colors, and contrast.

For response time and color accuracy, IPS panels are the way to go, though the former is much less of a concern than it used to be. These days, 1ms panels exist for both types. IPS monitors still tend to offer the most vivid and accurate colors, however.

For contrast, unless the monitor uses a mini-LED backlight like my top pick, VA has a major advantage. Because it doesn't use edge-lighting like IPS panels do, dark colors and blacks look much more rich. Because of this, VA panels can offer a better dynamic range.

While there is no "best," there are certainly better choices depending on what you value most in a gaming monitor.

When are gaming monitors most affordable?

The best time to buy a gaming monitor for a reasonable price (or a budget gaming monitor for even cheaper than usual) is during shopping events like Amazon Prime Day and Black Friday. Gaming monitor deals can also pop up during Back to School sales, and major retailers usually lower the price on older models to make way for new releases.

What size gaming monitor should I get for gaming?

It’s really a matter of personal preference when choosing a gaming monitor, but there are some general rules of thumb to keep in mind. The first is the most obvious: Consider your available space. You don't want to get excited for your new monitor to arrive only to find that it won't fit into your gaming space. Next, consider the resolution of the monitors you're considering and how it relates to pixel density. A 24" monitor is more compact and is a good fit for 1080p gaming. For 1440p, 27-32" is a good fit, offering plenty of detail and a bigger-screen gaming experience. For 4K, I recommend a minimum of 27" to take advantage of its higher pixel count. Also beware of 1080p monitors larger than 27" as each pixel becomes visible at this size, leading to a screen door effect.

Christopher Coke has been a regular contributor to IGN since 2019 and has been covering games and technology since 2013. He has covered tech ranging from gaming controllers to graphics cards, gaming chairs and gaming monitors, headphones, IEMs, and more for sites such as MMORPG.com, Tom’s Hardware, Popular Science, USA Today, and Popular Mechanics. Find Chris on X at @gamebynight.

Black Friday deals season is fast approaching. It's the biggest shopping holiday of the year and overall the best time to find discounts on just about everything. If you're hoping to save some money on gifts and essentials in 2025, this upcoming sales event is your best bet.

With that in mind, Black Friday has evolved well beyond a single day of deals. While plenty of shoppers still tend to do the bulk of their actual shopping over Thanksgiving weekend, you will definitely be able to find good deals well before then. Best Buy has already launched its early Black Friday sale and Walmart has its first Black Friday deals this weekend, so you don't even need to wait.

Early Black Friday Sales Live Now

When Do Black Friday Sales Actually Start?

Black Friday is November 28 this year, but we expect most sales to drop much earlier than that. Now that we're a full week into November, we're already seeing a ton of early sales go live at major retailers. These early sales are a great chance to save, but we expect the main Black Friday event to arrive later this month.

Best Buy was the first retailer to reveal its sale dates for 2025, and it looks like its Black Friday sales will start on Thursday, November 20 this year. Amazon has also recently revealed its official sale start dates for November 20 as well. Before either of those sales begin, Costco has will kick off part of its sale on November 17 this year with more deals arriving online on Thanksgiving.

Best Buy, Costco, Target, Amazon, and Walmart have all made an announcement about sale dates, so it's probably safe to say that you'll be able to do most of your online Black Friday shopping the weekend before Thanksgiving in 2025. For many brick-and-mortar stores, you may be able to expect the full discounts even earlier. Some sales will still only take place on actual Black Friday, like at the LEGO Store, but for the most part the discounts will start ahead of then.

When does Cyber Monday start?

Cyber Monday lands on December 1 this year, we expect the official Cyber Monday deals to start dropping a little bit earlier than that. In the past, retailers like Walmart have started offering early Cyber Monday savings on Sunday afternoon while people are still searching for Black Friday discounts. This means you'll most likely be able to begin shopping Cyber Monday deals at some point on November 30 this year. Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are pretty much the same thing these days, so it shouldn't matter too much if you start shopping early.

What Deals to Expect From Major Retailers

With the ongoing tariffs and recent price increases in the U.S., it's difficult to predict exactly what discounts we'll see during the 2025 Black Friday season. The IGN Deals team has been covering shopping events all year and we have a decent idea of what you can expect, even if the prices will be higher than what we saw last year.

Amazon Black Friday

Amazon has one of the biggest Black Friday sales every year and tends to have discounts on just about everything. Based on previous Amazon sales like Prime Day and Prime Big Deal Days, you can expect the same discounts on Amazon devices we saw earlier this year. Amazon has even gone so far as to offer a sneak peek of some of these discounts ahead of the event. The lowest prices will most likely be on Kindles and Fire TV sticks, as well as Echo speaker bundles. Amazon has also been pushing a pretty steep discount on the Luna controller and subsequent bundles during every major sale this year. These particular discounts will most likely be exclusive to Prime members.

Outside of Amazon devices, the online retailer will also automatically match prices on popular products that are offered at other retailers. That means you can expect discounts on things like Apple devices, LEGO sets, laptops, TVs, and just about every other brand not exclusively owned by another major retailer. Amazon's Black Friday sale will usually be offering the same low price (or lower) as any of its competitors for these types of items.

To get a better idea of what to expect this year, you can take a look at last year's Amazon Black Friday ad or check out our guide to Amazon Black Friday 2025 for our own predictions.

Walmart Black Friday

After Amazon, the next biggest Black Friday sale you can expect is at Walmart. The first deals event has already begun and will last through the weekend. These discounts will be both in store and online, but the online savings should start a bit earlier. Walmart usually has some of the best deals on Apple devices like iPad and AirPods. You'll usually also find some of the lowest prices of the year on Walmart-exclusive products like Onn electronics, select Vizio TVs, some gaming PC configurations (see: the recent GeForce sale), and certain home appliances.

In the past, Walmart has also had some great Nintendo Switch deals that Amazon wasn't able to offer. We'd expect to see this again this year, most likely on newer Switch 2 games or Pokémon cards. Expect some of these discounts to be available early for Walmart+ members, which has been the case for other major sales this year.

In addition to popular tech and games, Walmart also tends to have deals on groceries, clothing, and toys. Walmart has been especially known to offer particularly good LEGO discounts, but stock tends to be fairly limited.

You can check out the full Walmart Black Friday ad from last year for more information. You can also check out some of the top early deals from the sale below:

Best Buy Black Friday

The Best Buy Black Friday sale is usually the best collection of tech deals during the holiday season. Many of these discounts will be price-matched by Amazon and Walmart, but it will still likely have all of the same Apple devices, TVs, and video games on sale as everywhere else. You can also likely expect some sort of video game console deal on the PS5/PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X. With the continued price increases, this could just mean getting a free Best Buy gift card with your purchase, but it will still be a better deal than paying full price with no additional benefits.

In addition to consoles, video games, and video game accessories, Best Buy also tends to be one of the best places to buy handheld gaming PCs and laptops. With the recent release of the ROG Xbox Ally X, Best Buy has been the only retailer to keep stock. You can likely expect price cuts on the previous generation ROG Ally devices at Best Buy this year, as well as other popular handhelds. We also expect competitive pricing around newer laptops with the latest 50-series GPUs.

For more information on what to expect, check out the Best Buy Black Friday ad from last year. Best Buy has stated that it will have new doorbuster deals dropping every friday starting on Halloween this year, so expect more deals to arrive early as the sale continues.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launches on November 14, and we’re hosting a launch day livestream to celebrate. The latest entry in the long-running FPS franchise is set in 2035, 44 years after the events of Black Ops 6. Omnimovement is back, but there are added movement options and new game modes in both multiplayer and Zombies.

The livestream is presented by Xfinity, where you can get reliable Wi-Fi at a reliable price for five years. And with Unlimited Data, you won’t miss a moment of action. It’s powerful and secure with fast downloads. Gaming is better with Xfinity.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Livestream Date, Time, and Where to Watch

The livestream will start on Friday, November 14 at 5 p.m. Pacific / 7 p.m. Central / 8 p.m. Eastern. It will stream across IGN’s channels, and you’ll be able to watch it at any of these places:

IGN.com

IGN’s Facebook

IGN’s Twitter

IGN’s Twitch

IGN’s YouTube

If you’re not able to watch it live, that’s alright. You can still watch it in its entirety on our YouTube page after it’s over.

What to Expect in the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Livestream

The stream will run for an extended period, but we don't have a specific amount of time in mind. We’ll feature as much as we can during the stream. You’ll see extended gameplay, get a look at what’s new in Black Ops 7, and different game modes to get a sense of everything on offer. See you there!

On its face, Nouvelle Vague couldn’t be any more different than anything Richard Linklater has ever made. The movie, which hit select theaters a few weeks back and debuts on Netflix today, is black and white, primarily in French (a language Linklater doesn’t speak) and isn’t even shot in a widescreen aspect ratio. But the film is still a hangout movie through and through.

Nouvelle Vague follows the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 classic film Breathless, a movie that signaled the triumph of French cinema’s New Wave and a fundamental shift in filmmaking from Europe to Hollywood and beyond. But at its core Linklater’s film is about a group of coworkers enjoying each other’s company and hanging out while trying to fulfill their director’s often frustrating demands.

I spoke with Linklater about making Nouvelle Vague and he says that, despite all of the stylistic differences from his previous beloved works like Dazed and Confused, Slacker, and Everybody Wants Some!, he couldn’t help but make another hangout movie.

“It's so funny from my perspective, I try to push myself to do different things,” Linklater says. “I couldn't be doing something more different. (Nouvelle Vague is) in French, it's black and white, the aspect ratios I haven't shot in before. But you're stuck with yourself. I go back and I make a French hangout movie! I wanted to feel like you time-traveled back to ‘59. That’s the vibe of the movie.”

Linklater says that the French New Wave has been an inspiration throughout his career. “The first film I made that anyone wanted to see was Slacker,” he says. “I made that very much like a French New Wave film. I didn't have a traditional script and shot it very unconventionally. I had trouble like Godard in (Breathless). He had kind of trouble explaining what the film means to everybody. I was in that position.

“It was very personal to me, capturing all the exhilaration of making a first film with all the volatility in the air (and) insecurity. If you're going to do something different, it's okay to do it differently, even if it does push the boundaries of everyone around you.”

Guillaume Marbeck, who plays Breathless director Jean-Luc Godard in Nouvelle Vague, says the movie is a good primer for anyone unfamiliar with New Wave Cinema. “I think it's definitely an entry point for discovering the New Wave and also maybe artistic films or more art house movies,” Marbeck says. “And I think it's really a joyful hanging out movie with people making their first film. I think it's a great entry point on how you free yourself and make your stuff your own. (The movie) is not just about discovering the New Wave.”

For her part, Zoey Deutch, who plays American actress Jean Seberg, used her experience as one of the few Americans on set to tap into Seberg’s experience making Breathless. “The language barrier was very helpful for me,” Deutch says. “But the actual energy of our set was very different obviously from her experience. I couldn't have been supported more. I was the least skeptical actress in the world making this movie. And (when it came to Godard’s style of filmmaking) Jean (was) definitely the skeptic in Nouvelle Vague.”

Nouvelle Vague marks the first movie for Aubry Dullin, who plays Seberg’s on-screen costar Jean-Paul Belmondo. The actor says that working with Linklater was an educational experience. “I've learned so much because of the way (Linklater) works,” he says. “It's new for me. I hadn't worked like that before Richard, and so I think he helped me for the rest of my career. When you arrive on the shooting day, you just know what you have to do. And so you don't have to be stressed, you just have to follow everyone and just have fun.”

Nouvelle Vague is streaming now on Netflix.

Earlier this year, theaters were blessed with the return of Paul Thomas Anderson. The auteur finally got to work with Leonardo Dicaprio while introducing a new star, Chase Infiniti. One Battle After Another, a very loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, is already a frontrunner for next year's Academy Awards ceremony and one of the only 10/10 reviews at IGN in all of 2025.

If you’ve been itching to watch the movie at home (perhaps with a few small beers), OBAA is now available to rent or buy digitally.

PTA's One Battle After Another Is Now on Digital

Pixel Quest is a brand new 2D bullet hell RPG, where you'll face an onslaught of foes across biomes that range from the beach to the desert. The Third Dimension has been destroyed by 1x1x1x1, and now the Robloxians will need to work together to protect the pixelated 2D land of Robloxia. There are over 70 quests to complete, and legendary loot to obtain that will make it far easier to eviscerate hordes of enemies. With so much to do, you'll want some codes to make use of.

Working Pixel Quest Codes

Here are all the currently active Pixel Quest codes. Be sure to redeem them before they expire!

• PQ - Rewards (NEW)

How to Use Pixel Quest Codes

Redeeming Pixel Quest codes is a straightforward process. Launch the experience and complete the tutorial if you haven't already done so. When you're in the main hub, here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Locate the chat box on the bottom left of the screen. It says "To chat click here or press / key".
2. Click or press the / key and then press / again. This will bring up a list of commands.
3. Type code, so it now says /code in your text box.
4. Copy and paste the code from the article and enter it into the box, e.g. /code PQDISCORD2025
5. Hit enter.
6. You'll then see a message in the chat that tells you if the code has been redeemed successfully, and what the reward is.

How to Claim Gifts from You Gift Box

Some codes will give you rewards that you need to claim from your Giftbox. On the righthand side of the screen, you'll see a yellow and red gift box. Click on this and you'll be automatically transported to the southeast corner of the main hub. The Gift Box menu will also automatically open, so you can drag them into your inventory.

How to Find Skins

If you receive a skin via a code, then you'll want to find the icon on the left side of the screen that shows a person and says Wardrobe. When you open the Wardrobe, you'll see three sub-menus: Skins, Badges, and Titles. You can then scroll through and see any Skins, you've unlocked.

Expired Pixel Quest Codes

• DUPEGANG
• DESERTREE
• LUCKYDAY
• PQDISCORD2025

Why Isn't My Pixel Quest Code Working?

Codes for Roblox experiences are usually case-sensitive, so the best way to ensure you've got a working code is to directly copy it from this article. We check all codes before we upload them, so you can guarantee they're working. Just double-check that you haven't copied over an extra space!

When Is the Next Pixel Quest Update?

Pixel Quest is currently in Alpha release, but that doesn't mean that the Pixel Quest! group isn't already working hard to bring new content to the RPG. The next update is planned for Sunday, 26th October. This mini update will introduce a new dungeon and new Legendary items.

Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.

99 Nights in the Forest is a survival horror Roblox experience that will see you scavenging for supplies by day and protecting your camp at night. While the main aim is to explore the forest and rescue four missing children, it's not quite as simple as it seems. Entities will stalk you at night, and there's the addition of cultists that will periodically visit your camp and attack.

Updates often bring new enemies to contend with and new ways to enhance your base. One of the earliest updates that the popular experience launched was the Classes Update. There are now over 20 classes in 99 Nights, all with their own perks. To buy new classes, you need Diamonds, and that's where the 99 Nights in the Forest codes come in handy!

Working 99 Nights in the Forest Codes (November 2025)

These are the currently working codes for 99 Nights in the Forest:

• afterparty - 15x Gems

Expired 99 Nights in the Forest Codes (November 2025)

Here are the currently expired codes for 99 Nights in the Forest that will no longer work. Since they're expired, you won't be able to get rewards from attempting to redeem them anymore.

• happyhalloween

How to Redeem 99 Nights in the Forest Codes

When you launch into 99 Nights in the Forest, these are the code redemption steps you need to follow:

1. Locate the Diamond icon next to the green plus in the bottom left corner
2. When the Diamond menu opens up, find the blue codes button on the right
3. Click codes
4. Copy and paste the code from this article
5. Hit submit

Why Isn't My 99 Nights in the Forest Code Working?

Code not working? Here's our advice. Codes for Roblox experiences are usually case-sensitive, so the best way to ensure you've got a working code is to directly copy it from this article. We check all codes before we upload them, so you can guarantee they're working. Just double check that you haven't copied over an extra space!

When is the Next 99 Nights in the Forest Update?

The next update is scheduled for November 15, with a teaser on the Roblox page that says the deer is hurt and may need help. The previous one added Daily Quests as a new way to get Diamonds.

Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.

The adorable Animal Crossing-like Pokémon game, Pokémon Pokopia, is now available for Switch 2 owners to preorder. It's currently live at various retailers - including Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, and the Nintendo eShop - with a price tag of $69.99 and is set to be released next year on March 5, 2026.

If you simply can't wait to jump into this new release as a Ditto who has taken on a human form, head to the links below to secure a copy. Keep in mind that the physical edition comes as a game-key card, so will not have the full game loaded on to the cartridge.

Preorder Pokémon Pokopia

• Also at Amazon - $69.99
• Also at Best Buy - $69.99
• Also at GameStop - $69.99
• Also at Nintendo eShop - $69.99

Pokémon Pokopia Early Purchase Bonus

For those who purchase the game early - whether it's the game-key card or digital version - you'll get a Ditto rug that you can use as a decoration in the houses you build in-game, which you can see above. You'll have until January 31, 2027 to claim it.

What Is Pokémon Pokopia?

Pokémon Pokopia was announced back in September during that month's Nintendo Direct. You play as a Ditto that's taken on the form of a human with goals of building a cozy new life for yourself and the Pokémon you meet. As you progress in the game, you'll meet new Pokémon who can teach you different moves to aid in your quest to build-up the world around you, allowing you to create homes for the Pokémon you befriend, grow crops, and more.

Other Preorder Guides

In the realm of upcoming games, there's plenty more worth keeping on your radar right now alongside Pokémon Pokopia. Below you can see a full list of even more games that are available to preorder at the moment, from 007 First Light to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and many more.

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

A man has been charged after popstar and actress Ariana Grande was grabbed by a member of the public who rushed onto the red carpet at the Singapore premiere of Wicked: For Good.

Johnson Wen has been charged with public nuisance, according to BBC News. If he is found guilty, he faces a fine of up to $2,000 Singaporean dollars, which is the equivalent of $1,540 American dollars. The outlet also notes that local media in Singapore has reported that Wen will be pleading guilty.

In a now-viral video, a man can be seen jumping over a barricade as Grande and fellow Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum walk down the red carpet together through a sea of fans. The man then rushes at Grande and forcibly puts his arm around her while Erivo — and then members of the event's security team — quickly pull the man away.

Wen, a 26 year old Australian man who goes by Pyjama Man on Instagram, is known via social media for his attempts to get close to celebrities at various events. Indeed, videos of him jumping up on stage at Katy Perry and The Weeknd concerts have surfaced online as a result of the Wicked incident.

The cast of Wicked: For Good are currently on a major world tour promoting the film, which includes press junkets and premieres like the one it's alleged that Wen crashed. The next stop on said tour will be New York City on Monday, November 17, according to Variety, which will be the final stop for the musical movie.

Just a few days later on November 21, Wicked: For Good will arrive in theaters nationwide.

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

Hands-on impressions of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond have hit the internet, bringing stinging criticism of an early human sidekick. And now, a new trailer published by Nintendo shows Samus will also interact with a wider cast of human characters throughout the game.

In IGN's just-published Metroid Prime 4: Beyond hands-on preview, we described Galactic Federation trooper Myles MacKenzie — who Samus gets lumbered with for a lengthy chunk of the game's opening area — as "mildly annoying to downright infuriating" with "cringey" dialogue and contstant chattering through gameplay.

Alongside Myles, three other human troopers are highlighted in Nintendo's new 7-minute Overview Trailer (which feels as close as we're going to get to a dedicated Direct) seemingly from later sections in the game.

Beyond is structured with four major areas accessible via its desert hub (a forest area where you meet Myles, then an electrical power plant, frozen research center, and firey volcano area). The suggestion is that Samus will meet more of the main quartet in each.

"Like Samus, some Galactic Federation troopers were also transported to Viewros," the trailer states. "Follow distress signals to help the troopers, and occasionally battle alongside them. They can provide useful upgrades. Teamwork is key if any of you hope to escape the planet alive."

A montage then shows the other troopers in action, chatting away about getting back to their families, donning a mech suit to smash a wall for Samus, and even prising open a door. Huh — couldn't Samus have just done that with a new suit upgrade?

Of course, Metroid games have featured other human characters before — even while Samus is typically a silent protagonist. But the real concern here, beyond it interrupting the core solitary exploration of most Metroid adventures, is that the human characters on offer in Beyond are simply too distracting, and too unlikable.

As we discovered in our hands-on preview, gameplay with Myles features escort-style sections and moments where you need to defend the hapless trooper while he hides behind the rock. Allow him to perish in a firefight and you're given the chance to revive him using Samus' psychic powers. Fail to do so (or try and refuse) and you get a Game Over screen.

"Of all the things Metroid Prime 4 could’ve been, I never would’ve guessed it would include outdated escort missions with a companion that never stops talking," we wrote. For much more on the impact of playing alongside the game's NPC characters, check out Metroid Prime 4: Beyond hands-on preview now.

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

Uma Racing is based on the popular anime and game franchise, Umamusume: Pretty Derby. In this Roblox experience, you'll play as an uma rather than a trainer – hopefully to victory. You'll start with just one uma, so use these Uma Racing codes to give you a big cash bonus. In doing so, you'll be able to purchase new uma to strengthen your team, MVPs, and intros. You never know, you might get lucky with your pick and get a Legendary uma.

Working Uma Racing Codes (November 2025)

The following codes are all active and working and can be redeemed for cash.

• RELEASECUH - 1,500 cash
• MBFORANOTHERDELAYBRO - 2,500 cash
• UFFUEWANTTOMATO - 1,000 cash
• FIRSTBUGFIX -1,500 cash
• THANKFORSUPPORTIN - 4,500 cash
• FIFTYTHOUSANDLIKES -3,000 cash
• IOOKMEMBERS - 3,000 cash

How to Use Uma Racing Codes

Ready to redeem the active Uma Racing codes listed above? Here are the steps you need to take:

1. First, you'll need to join the group Uma Racing Community
2. Then, launch Uma Racing on Roblox
3. Click the Menu button at the bottom of the screen
4. Press Codes (it's the fifth option on the Menu, next to Settings)
5. Copy the code from this article and press redeem

Expired Uma Racing Codes (November 2025)

These codes no longer work. We test all of our codes on a regular basis, so, as soon as a code is expired, we'll move it into this section:

• CINDERELLAGRAY
• PLAYTEST
• DELAYMBBRO
• SORRYFORBUG

Why Isn't My Uma Racing Code Working?

Codes for Roblox experiences are usually case-sensitive, so the best way to ensure you've got a working code is to directly copy it from this article. We check all codes before we upload them, so you can guarantee they're working. Just double-check that you haven't copied over an extra space!

Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.

After eight years of waiting, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is just three weeks away, and honestly, writing that still doesn’t feel real. Maybe that’s partly because Nintendo has kept a pretty tight lid on specifics surrounding Samus Aran’s next adventure – we’ve only seen a small handful of trailers, and much of Prime 4 has remained a total mystery. That’s caused a lot of fans to think that they must be preserving some special surprise, right? Well, while playing over an hour of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on Nintendo Switch 2, I discovered a seemingly major component that’s been completely absent from any footage we’ve seen so far: an extraordinarily talkative companion who’s constantly spewing unwanted hints, quippy jokes, and cries for help, breaking the isolated, atmospheric themes Metroid is known for.

His name is Myles MacKenzie, a specialist from the Galactic Federation stranded with Samus on the planet Viewros. Myles tagged along for a significant chunk of my play session, and the way Retro Studios has implemented this NPC companion is far and away my biggest concern about Prime 4 after my time with it. But we’ll get to him a bit later.

OnePlus is back for another round in the fight for dominance of the Android smartphone space with the OnePlus 15. The OnePlus 13 before it was a shimmering success, offering extreme performance – even among gaming phones – a stunning and study design, extensive battery life, and excellent cameras. With the OnePlus 15, the brand has changed up the design for something more distinct from its predecessors, but it has also dropped some bigger aspects, like its Hasselblad camera partnership and its three-way Alert Slider. The internals may be on the right path, but how well the other changes shift from the great heights OnePlus previously held is the big question.

OnePlus 15 – Design and Features

The OnePlus 15 redesign makes the device a little less bold and original (not that earlier designs could really be called original, as they borrowed heavily from the Oppo phones they’re based on). At the heart of the redesign is a new camera bump, squared now instead of circular, which comes by way of the OnePlus 13T that never saw release in the US. This bump just has a bit too much in common with every iPhone from the last five years, excepting the iPhone 17, with a little sprinkling of the Pixel line’s flat edges. It’s a little plain, especially next to the shimmery design on the prior model.

Another big shift is the removal of the Alert Slider, which to my recollection has been on OnePlus’s flagship phones forever. In its stead is a single small button much like Apple’s Action button. Here it’s called the Plus Key. You can customize it to do a handful of different things (including adjust alert settings like the Alert Slider) with single, double, and long-presses, though there’s no option to make up actions you want it to perform on your own. By default, it will work with a special AI-powered “Mind Space,” with the ability to take a screen grab and scan it for info with a tap, to record an audio note while holding the button, and to access the Mind Space with a double tap.

The phone itself is only modestly shifted away from the earlier model. The OnePlus 15 is flatter, with flat aluminum sides and a flat glass back – a shimmery black-sand-like look to it on the Infinite Black model, which still manages to look bland compared to the woodgrain of the black OnePlus 13. Though the OnePlus 15 is actually a touch smaller than its predecessor, it ends up feeling slightly larger in the hand due to the flat edges where the OnePlus 13’s edges curved.

The OnePlus 15 still feels nice in the hand, especially with the smooth texture of its back glass. It also feels sturdy, and OnePlus has gone well beyond just a robust feel. The OnePlus 15 offers IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K protection, keeping dust out and standing up to close-range, high-pressure, and high-temperature water jets and submersion in up to 2 meters of freshwater for 30 minutes. The OnePlus 13 was already pretty ridiculous in this area, and the OnePlus just nudges those protection levels even further.

The phone’s display is excellent, but it makes some trades from its predecessor. The OnePlus 13 offered a 6.82-inch, 1440x3168, 120Hz display. The OnePlus 15 bumps up to a 165Hz display but drops negligibly to 6.78-inches and lowers the resolution to 1272x2772 (a resolution OnePlus oddly keeps on calling “1.5K” despite the use of K in the resolution naming convention tending to reference horizontal resolution and neither of the dimensions having a 5 in it. In any case, it would seem more appropriate to call it a 2.5K display given it’s a higher resolution than DCI 2K at 2048x1080.) Thankfully, in spite of the resolution downgrade, the display remains very sharp and smooth, even if the speed bump is also hard to notice in day-to-day use.

The screen is a bright and colorful OLED that looks predictably wonderful whether gaming, watching movies, or just scrolling the web. It is also paired with solid speakers that pump out impressive volume. The speakers easily passed my test, letting me clearly hear a podcast while showering, and did so without noticeable distortion.

OnePlus has made its thinnest bezels yet at 1.15mm, though it’s hard to appreciate them with most flagship phones also getting their bezels so thin they go almost unnoticed. OnePlus has fitted the display with a pre-applied screen protector, but it’s perhaps the worst in recent memory, clinging to finger oils and scratching easily. Removing it reveals the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 front, which should handle scratching a lot better (though I’d still recommend a screen protector).

The OnePlus 15 offers an under-display fingerprint scanner that works reliably quickly, though not noticeably faster than the OnePlus 13’s.

While the phone supports 80W wired and 50W wireless charging (and includes that 80W charger in the box), it doesn’t add Qi2 support for magnetic attachments. First-party cases from OnePlus do support magnetic attachments, though.

The OnePlus 15 has a dual-SIM tray, but it can also support eSIM, providing some nice flexibility for network connections. I got good reception in Chicago on T-Mobile’s network and saw some astounding speeds, with one speed test showing a download speed of 853Mbps and a decent 80Mbps upload speed.

The phone also continues to support IR remote control functionality, letting you set it up to serve as something of a universal remote. This time around, the IR blaster is hidden on the back of the phone instead of the top edge.

OnePlus 15 – Software

The OnePlus 15 comes running Android 16 right out of the box, an impressive bit of pace-keeping for a non-Google phone launched so soon after the launch of Android 16. OnePlus is promising four years of software updates and six years of security patches, but after clarification on the OnePlus 13’s update policy, that first year of updates is likely counting the out-of-the-box Android 16, so expect updates through Android 19, but likely not Android 20.

The phone uses the OxygenOS 16 skin of Android, which remains a very flexible option. There’s plenty of customization available to get things like the home screen, app drawer, notification and quick settings shades, navigation, and much more looking and feeling just how you want.

One big addition OnePlus has made on the software front is Mind Space. This seems to work much like Google’s AI screenshots app, letting you create a repository of screenshots and voice recordings that it can use AI to search through and glean information from. With a screenshot of my calendar, I was able to query it about upcoming details, like which airline I had a flight on, and it successfully used the flight number to tell me the details of the flight. However, I also caught it guessing with limited context, as one calendar entry was cropped and it tried to fill in the blanks. The full entry said “Flight to Chicago,” but the cropped version showed just “Flight to Ch.” The AI interpreted this to mean “Flight to Charlotte” and started producing some confused responses to questions as a result. To its credit, it did note the inconsistency in my itinerary, but didn’t use that inconsistency to deduce that I was not, in fact, going to Charlotte.

Despite more and more AI hardware coming to devices in the form of specialized cores and NPUs, Mind Space still processes data remotely. This means it won’t work offline or when you have spotty service, and there is a slight delay to responses, though not a long one. OnePlus says that all data involving cloud processing is encrypted and that even OnePlus cannot access the information. But you should still be mindful of what you’re doing with private or sensitive data. The reliance on remote processing also means this may not be a permanent feature or even a permanently free one.

OnePlus 15 – Gaming and Performance

The OnePlus 15 is one of the first devices on the scene with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC on deck, and that gives a nice boost on what was already phenomenal performance from the prior generation. In day-to-day use, the phone hasn’t once felt anything other than perfectly fluid. It also has abundant memory for multi-tasking, letting me switch back to apps I hadn’t used for a couple of days almost as seamlessly as if I were switching back to the previously used app.

The OnePlus 15’s full potential is really only unleashed when hammered with a heavy task, like gaming. Even then, it keeps up steady performance. It maintained a steady 110-120fps in Call of Duty Mobile with the graphics maxed. Even after some lengthy gaming, the phone was comfortable to hold, albeit warm. That said, I kind of expected more, as Call of Duty Mobile was listed as one of the games supporting native 165fps. I found it was able to reach a stable 165fps with the graphics dropped to their lowest and second-to-lowest (medium) settings, but the game already looks a bit low-res at even max settings compared to the PC version of the game.

Firing up Wuthering Waves, the phone is happy to run that game at a stable 60fps with everything maxed out, but this also fails to run faster than that, even after OnePlus’s OP Gaming Core badge pops up when the game launches and proudly announced “165 OP FPS MAX,” which would lead me to think maybe it will somehow get past the game’s 60fps limit, perhaps with interpolation at the very least. This also deviates from the “Industry-First Always-On 120fps gameplay" claim OnePlus made of the new phone, which appears to only apply to the game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Claims like that are no fun when they come with unclear caveats. Considering the phone doesn’t build up much heat while gaming, it seems that most games simply aren’t taking full advantage of the hardware just yet

Unsurprisingly, the OnePlus 15 benchmarked very well. In GeekBench 6, the phone achieved a single-core score of 3683 points – this highest score we’ve seen from a phone yet, including the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Its multi-core score also proves exceptional at 10,100 to again beat the iPhone. The only device to exceed it is the RedMagic 11 Pro, a phone that runs on the same chip but applies two forms of active cooling: air and liquid.

In 3DMark’s graphical benchmarks, the OnePlus 15 continued to show excellent performance with a nice average uptick over the OnePlus 13 of 9.3% and what would be the best performance results we’ve seen, again save for the RedMagic 11 Pro, which is proving to be something of a showstopper where performance is concerned. Both phones still show a huge lead over the iPhone 17 Pro Max, with the OnePlus 15’s 7,111-point score in Wildlife Extreme creating a huge gap between it and the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s 4,795 points. The OnePlus 15 also boasts a wide performance lead over the Pixel 10 Pro, with 58% better performance in both Geekbench single-core and multi-core tests and a 116% edge in Wildlife Extreme and 182% in Steel Nomad Light. Even the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra lags behind by an average of 26.8% in our 3DMark tests.

When the OnePlus 15 is really grinding in these benchmarks, it suffers from thermal throttling. This is a common occurrence for phones, so the more important question is how badly does that throttling come into play. A phone with active cooling like the RedMagic 11 Pro may be able to sustain peak performance largely over a long period, but most devices I’ve tested will lose about 30% of their performance over the course of a 20-run stress test with 3DMark’s Steel Nomad. The OnePlus 15 saw its performance sink by a third, with speeds quickly dropping after the SoC exceeds 30 degrees Celsius. It’s not a bad result, as most phones see similar results, but it does undercut OnePlus’s hype for its “360 Cryo-Velocity Cooling System” some.

Beyond the gobs of performance the phone has to offer, it also has heaps of battery life from its 7300mAh battery. I am generally a light phone user, and can often stretch most phones through one full day with some charge to spare into the second day. For phones with large batteries, I can often even get through that second day without plugging in. With the OnePlus 15 in operation as my primary phone, I made it through four full days without touching a plug. This included plenty of texting, browsing, a ton of podcast listening (both through Bluetooth earbuds and the phone’s own speaker), and even 20 minutes of gaming. The phone was at 2% charge when I finally plugged it in at 2am at the end of the fourth day. And when I have to juice the phone back up, its 80W charger makes the job super quick.

OnePlus 15 – Cameras

When I heard the updates OnePlus had in store for its camera system, I was a bit worried. The company’s Hasselblad partnership bore fruit with some excellent photography, especially on the OnePlus 12 and OnePlus 13, which offered not only crisply detailed shots but lovely color. The OnePlus 15 not only drops that partnership but also swaps out all the cameras on the rear for models with smaller sensors and tighter apertures, a double whammy for light-gathering potential. Here’s a rundown of what the phone includes:

• 50MP wide, f/1.8, 1.0-micron, 1/1.56”, OIS, EIS, Sony IMX906 sensor
• 50MP ultrawide, f/2.0, 1/2.88”, 115-degree FOV, OV50D sensor
• 50MP telephoto, 3.5x optical zoom, f/2.8, 0.64-micron, 1/2.76, OIS, S5KJN5 sensor
• 32MP Selfie w/AF, f/2.4, Sony IMX709 sensor

To my surprise, the camera system ended up proving solid. While there’s the occasional, obvious difference between a shot taken on the OnePlus 13 and the OnePlus 15 (like the color of the sky), side-by-side shots tend to look nearly identical. The OnePlus 15 can capture excellent detail and color, and it proves consistent across the three sensors.

The triple sensor setup offers a good range of shooting options, going from very wide to a nicely punched in 3.5x. That extra bit of zoom over the OnePlus 13’s 3x telephoto also makes a surprising difference in clarity for distant subjects, especially when stepping up to a 7x zoom level. That said, it still falls short of the 5x telephoto camera on the Pixel 10 Pro.

While it’s great to see the clarity and color hold up on the OnePlus 15 after the strong showing from its predecessor, the change in sensors and apertures does impact low-light performance. It opts for higher-ISOs (more grain) and longer exposures (more risk of blur), and this can make for lower-quality photos in dim settings. It’s a minor setback, but a setback all the same.

All told, the OnePlus 15’s camera system is a great one, but it’s more of a side-grade than an upgrade over the OnePlus 13’s. I wouldn’t consider it a reason to upgrade from the OnePlus 13 or 12 even.

A new Dungeons & Dragons lore book has provided fresh details on the fate of everyone's favorite Baldur's Gate 3 barbarian tiefling — and officially confirmed a happier canon ending than the game itself provides.

Warning! Baldur's Gate 3 spoilers follow...

Within Baldur's Gate 3 itself, a range of possible finales are possible for Karlach, your companion whose mechanical heart always seems on the brink of shutting down.

Indeed, without intervention, players can watch Karlach tragically burn up as her infernal engine finally combusts, or alternatively sacrifice herself and become a Mind Flayer. Another option, meanwhile, sees the player convincing Karlach to depart Faerûn to live in Avernus and hope for a more permanent cure — leaving the character's ultimate survival open to debate.

Now, fans think they finally have an answer for what happens next if Karlach does go back to Avernus, thanks to the canon Astarion's Book of Hungers D&D Expansion. This book confirms that a pair of other D&D installments that feature Karlach are set post-Baldur's Gate 3. Therefore, canonically, Karlach survived for several years after the game's epilogue, and is back in Faerûn.

"Progressing the year to 1501 and having Karlach in the city again implies she gets her engine fixed in canon," social media user RenMasaoAnkoku wrote, as spotted by GamesRadar+.

Them progressing the year to 1501 and having Karlach in the city again implies she gets her engine fixed in canon https://t.co/A8akZTyUzQ

— Ren Masao Ankoku (@RenMasaoAnkoku) November 12, 2025

The post shares an official timeline of fellow companion Astarion's life that places "the events of Baldur's Gate 3" in 1492, by Dalereckoning (DR). Meanwhile, the events of Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn and Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn — in which Karlach appears — take place three years later, in 1501 DR.

This fits with what we already know of Karlach's possible future should she be convinced back to Avernus. In the game's epilogue, set six months later, Karlach mentions a recent adventure where she obtained a set of blueprints offering a possible solution for her infernal engine. Seemingly, then, these worked — for another few years, at least — to allow her back to Faerûn and hopefully another reunion with your party.

Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian may be done with major updates, but it's still releasing occasional hotfixes. The bulk of the studio is meanwhile working on what's next for the company — though it won't be Baldur's Gate 4. Still, it's expected that another studio will eventually make a sequel to the hugely-successful role-playing game. Here's hoping Karlach once again pops up in that.

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

Road-Side Shawarma has released its first code, giving you a free revive just in case you ignored the rules for surviving each night.

This horror Roblox experience sees you join the kitchen at a popular shawarma spot, where you'll work through three night shifts. If you follow the rules set by the mysterious stranger on the phone, keep your serving station restocked, and fulfill each customer's order, you should survive until the end. But if you do get tempted to look up when the ceiling starts leaking, then this Road-Side Shawarma code for a free revive will help you out.

Working Road-Side Shawarma Codes

The following codes have been tested and can be redeemed:

• SHAWARMATHEBEST - 1x Revive

How to Use Road-Side Shawarma Codes

Launch Road-Side Shawarma on Roblox and then follow these steps to redeem codes:

1. In the waiting lobby, click on the icon that looks like a bird on the left of the screen
2. Copy the code from this article
3. Press Redeem and brave your shift!

Expired Road-Side Shawarma Codes

Road-Side Shawarma has just launched codes, so there are currently no expired codes. Make the most of the ones available and redeem them before they disappear.

Why Isn't My Road-Side Shawarma Code Working?

Codes for Roblox experiences are usually case-sensitive, so the best way to ensure you've got a working code is to directly copy it from this article. We check all codes before we upload them, so you can guarantee they're working. Just double-check that you haven't copied over an extra space!

When Is the Next Road-Side Shawarma Update?

Road-Side Shawarma has just extended their previous update, which was the Halloween event. This will run until November 9th, 2025, and has introduced new monsters you can encounter while serving up shawarma. You've got until November 9th to participate and earn yourself a special badge.

Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.

Arco will be released in select theaters on November 14, with a wide release coming in early 2026.

What if we didn’t have to save ourselves from the future, but instead needed to protect the future from ourselves? It’s an interesting change in perspective, one that’s usually presented the other way around in time travel movies. Instead of a doomed future the protagonists have to prevent, the implication is that the present is the biggest problem facing a more utopian future. Arco, the gorgeously animated sci-fi film from French writer/director Ugo Bienvenu and producer Natalie Portman, uses that premise to become not just one of the best animated films of the year, but one of the most engaging, heart-warming and bittersweet movies, period.

Arco follows the story of a young boy from some 900 years in the future, where humanity lives in the clouds (in a not-unlike-The-Jetsons sort of way) and have unlocked time travel through the manipulation of light and moisture and the resulting rainbows. When Arco, too young to “fly” with his family through time, takes an impatient first trip on his own, he accidentally winds up in the year 2075 where he meets a kindred spirit in Iris. The pair have an instant connection, giving each other hope in each other's dark hours that highlights a hopeful undercurrent that runs through the whole movie.

While the film will immediately bring to mind Hayao Miyazaki, as it seemingly has for nearly everybody who’s seen it since it premiered at Cannes, Arco turns into something decidedly Spielbergian as well, as an E.T.-like adventure to get Arco home wraps around the adolescent friendship developing between the pair of lonely pre-teens, all against a backdrop of dramatic climate change events.

But as heartbreaking as the emotional core of this story is, the real brilliance of the movie lies in the two futures that it portrays. One, so far-flung that it’s more fantasy than sci-fi, the other just far enough in front of us to be populated with robots and holograms and everybody in AR headsets, but close enough to still be recognizably us. Iris’ parents are away at work, leaving an android nanny-bot behind to co-parent with her folks dialing in via hologram to share a meal and tuck Iris in at night. It’s a future that doesn't seem too distant or even unlikely at this point.

And though it is not a future that Iris is happy or thriving in, it’s not a completely unpleasant one. This is not Wall-E where humanity has become dependent on automation to the point where we’ve lost self-sustainability, or The Terminator where we’ve given our decision-making over to AI. The 2075 of Arco is simply one where we just haven’t changed that much. In one striking image early in the film, we see glass domes over every house in the suburbs and, while a storm rages outside, families are barbecuing in their backyards, blissfully ignoring the obvious dangers just outside their bubbles. It’s the kind of effective and efficient visual storytelling that gets me writing crazy things like “maybe the best movie of the year, period.”

As for the distant future, while humanity is living in the clouds, it’s clearly the result of environmental catastrophe, even if it’s a beautiful and idyllic place. Arco’s family is supportive, if not a little stern, leaving only a youthful determination to grow up too fast to send him on his journey, which is another thing I really loved about the film. There’s an argument to be made that Arco’s motivations are a little underdeveloped, but this is where the Miyazaki comparison really enters the chat for me.

Often a movie will use a sort of language-of-cinema shorthand, assuming the audience is familiar with how tropes work so they don’t spend a lot of screentime explaining every little thing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but when a film uses an emotional shorthand, like how it feels to be a little kid in a big world where you just want to find your place, it nearly always works. Arco, like Spirited Away or Kiki’s Delivery Service, excels at this sort of universal understanding. By the end of the movie, when a happy ending is looming on the horizon but there’s a heavy price to be paid for it, emotional nuance like that is crucial and Bienvenu nails it.

Elsewhere in the movie, the English language cast is great, packing in resonant performances from Natalie Portman, Mark Ruffalo and Will Ferrell – even Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and Andy Samberg bring humor and a surprising amount of pathos to their comic relief. The music composed by Arnaud Toulon is lovely as well, soaring and gorgeous in moments that give way to more contemplative and dramatic beats. But in the year of KPop Demon Hunters, it’s just nice to also be gifted some hand-drawn, 2D animation with original science fiction design like Arco. The style is increasingly rare (and always refreshing), but the real strength of this film is the change of perspective it asks of the audience. It might just make you a little more hopeful the next time you see a rainbow.

Switch 2 owners report being unable to reliably reconnect third-party console docks following the release of Nintendo's version 21.0.0 console update earlier this week.

Officially, Nintendo has made no mention of any change to the Switch 2's compatibility with third-party dock hardware, and there's nothing referring to the move in the company's official patch notes for the firmware update.

Now, there's confusion among fans over why the third-party hardware they've bought has seemingly, and suddenly, been blocked from working without warning. And there's also fear, too, that Nintendo could block support for more third-party accessories without notice. IGN has contacted Nintendo for comment.

Kotaku has reported on the numerous threads on reddit and social media posts from fans complaining that third-party Switch 2 docks are now unreliable, or totally broken. At least one manufacturer has already updated the firmware for their dock to fight back against Nintendo's apparent move, though it's unclear if this will be possible for other third-party alternatives.

Some of these devices are created to provide extra design flexibility that Nintendo does not, such as squeezing the dock's hardware into a simple cable, or making it into a smaller, folding unit. And many are sold for far cheaper than Nintendo's own official Switch 2 dock (which retails separately for $124.99).

"I finally got around to ordering a dock cable for travel, it arrived today," wrote reddit user eschatonik, who bought an unofficial Switch 2 JEMDO 4k/60hz cable dock (which Amazon sells for around $20). "Plugged it in, happy it worked right out of the box. Launched a game, update alert, update, cable's borked."

Nintendo has never officially supported third-party Switch docks, but such a move — if deliberate — has once again sparked discussion among fans of what knobs and levers the company is quietly able to pull when looking to shut off access to things it may disapprove of.

Earlier this year, Nintendo was seen to be deliberately bricking the consoles of players it detected as having inserted the piracy-enabling MIG Switch device. While there's no suggestion that Nintendo will do similar here for simply using a third-party dock, there are calls once again for greater transparency from Nintendo — especially on the usage of simple third-party alternatives.

Earlier this month, Nintendo raised its profit forecast for the year after announcing that Switch 2 had already sold an astonishing 10.36 million units, up until September 30. It's a record-breaking amount that sees Switch 2 continue its run as the fastest-selling console ever.

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 story campaign in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has numerous restrictions tied to its always-online nature, with no method of pausing levels. You'll also be booted from your game if you're idle for too long.

As detailed in IGN's just-published Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 campaign review (which rates the offering as a 6/10), the story experience — traditionally offered as a solo affair — is really more geared to being played via online co-op, which it supports for up to four people.

The downsides of that, however, are that the game offers no AI companions to fill in if you have missing spots on your four-person squad, no checkpoints, no difficulty options, and the need to repeat tasks clearly designed for completion by multiple players if you are playing solo.

"Playing solo is borderline tedious due to having to repeat multiple objectives, such as placing C4 on a building yourself four times rather than splitting them up as is intended," our review notes as one example of this.

Set in 2035, Black Ops 7's campaign features a starry cast that includes Gilmore Girls and This is Us star Milo Ventimiglia as the returning David Mason, alongside Guardians of the Galaxy hero Michael Rooker and Sabrina the Teenage Witch actress Kiernan Shipka.

Long-term Call of Duty fans may raise their eyebrows at some of the more fantastical sequences presented in the mode, with trippy visuals and towering bosses more often seen in something like Activision's former stablemate Destiny. But it's here that the offering also provides some variety.

"Dodging giant falling machetes like you’ve stumbled into a Looney Tunes cartoon is a one-off joy, as is taking control of a lavish luxury boat and ramming into the side of a building," our review continues. "Moments like this feel pinched right out of Christopher Nolan's back pocket and sit perfectly in the Call of Duty mold."

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 arrives just 12 months on from last year's Black Ops 6 — the first time that the veteran shooter franchise has gone back to the same well of the Black Ops sub-brand for a second year running. The tight turnaround comes just as EA's rival Battlefield franchise makes its own big return, amping up the pressure on Activision's new shooter installment.

IGN's Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 multiplayer review so far is still in-progress though, initially at least, sounds more positive.

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

Plants Vs Brainrots is a Roblox experience that combines elements of Tower Defence with mechanics from Roblox's two most visited and played games – Grow a Garden and Steal a Brainrot. You'll buy seeds, place them in your garden, and then wait for your plants to attack brainrots as they make their way down the catwalk.

As well as combining gameplay elements from both experiences, Plants Vs Brainrots also has codes. So, if you're getting ready to plant crops, earn brainrots, and fuse them, here are some codes to give you a little boost.

Working Plants Vs Brainrots Codes (November 2025)

These are the currently working codes for Plants Vs Brainrots:

• STACKS - 1x Lucky Potion
• frozen - 1x Frost Grenade
• based - $5,000

Expired Plants Vs Brainrots Codes (November 2025)

There are currently no expired Plants Vs Brainrots codes.

How to Redeem Plants Vs Brainrots Codes

When you launch into the Plants Vs Brainrots experience, these are the steps you need to follow to redeem codes:

1. Complete the tutorial of buying a seed and placing a brainrot
2. This will unlock the Shop icon on the left of the screen. It's red and looks like a shopping basket.
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the shop and click "Codes" under rewards
4. Enter the code and press Claim!

Why Isn't My Plants Vs Brainrots Code Working?

Codes for Roblox experiences are usually case-sensitive, so the best way to ensure you've got a working code is to directly copy it from this article. We check all codes before we upload them, so you can guarantee they're working. Just double check that you haven't copied over an extra space!

When is the Next Plants Vs Brainrots Update?

The next update scheduled for Plants Vs Brainrots is on Saturday November 15, which is an unknown update. The previous update was Merge Madness, which introduced a new fusion machine alongside other content like new weather, brainrots, story missions, an dmore.

Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.