Best Buy is offering a great deal on a powerful gaming laptop ahead of Black Friday. For this week only, you can pick up the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16s GeForce RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptop for just $1,499.99 with free delivery after a $400 instant discount. This is a well-equipped laptop, boasting a gorgeous 16" 240Hz OLED display and a high-end Intel Core Ultra 9 HX series processor. The RTX 5070 Ti is a powerful mobile GPU that can run any game you throw at it.

Acer Predator Helios Neo RTX 5070 Ti Laptop for $1,499.99

If you're seeking the absolute best of the best in PC gaming performance, look no further. Just for Black Friday, Dell has kicked off the best deal I've seen on a top-shelf Alienware Area-51 RTX 5090 equipped gaming PC. Right now you can get a very well-equipped configuration for $4,299.99 after a massive $1,200 off instant discount. Complementing the uber powerful RTX 5090 GPU is a liquid cooled Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and a generous amount of RAM and SSD storage.

Alienware Area-51 RTX 5090 Gaming PC From $4,299.99

This system is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor with upgraded 360mm liquid cooling, 32GB of DDR5-6400MHz RAM, and a 2TB SSD. The 1,500W 80Plus Platinum power supply is generously rated to take on even the most power hungry of gaming PCs, and that's important in this case because a GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card has a minimum recommended rating of 1,000W. A 1,500W power supply will leave you plenty of room for upgrades down the road.

New for 2025: The Alienware Area-51 Chassis

Dell unveiled the new Alienware Area-51 gaming PC at CES 2025. The chassis is a super-sized upgrade to the 2024 R16 system with aesthetic and cooling redesigns and updated components. The I/O panel is positioned at the top of the case instead of the front, and the tempered glass window now spans the entire side panel instead of just a smaller cutout. As a result, the side panel vents are gone, and instead air intakes are located at the bottom as well as the front of the case. Alienware is now pushing a positive airflow design (more intake than exhaust airflow), which means a less dusty interior. The internal components have been refreshed with a new motherboard, faster RAM, and bigger power supply to accommodate the new generation of CPUs and GPUs.

The RTX 5090 Is the Most Powerful Graphics Card Ever

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 has emerged as the most powerful consumer GPU on the market. Although with this generation Nvidia has prioritized software updates, AI features, and DLSS 4 technology to improve gameplay performance, the 5090 still boasts an impressive 25%-30% uplift over the RTX 4090 in hardware-based raster performance. If you want the absolute best performance for your gaming PC, there is literally no other option from any other brand.

Check out more of the best Alienware Black Friday deals.

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

Apple products are always some of the most sought after items every Black Friday. Pretty much every major retailer tries to jump in on the Apple train and compete to offer the best possible deal. With both the Amazon Black Friday sale and Best Buy Black Friday sale already live for 2025, the race for who has the best discounts has officially begun. There are plenty of price drops on AirPods, MacBooks, and iPads readily available pretty much everywhere now—except for the Apple Store.

Apple did announce its Black Friday plans alongside all of the new sales this week, but they were exactly what you'd expect from Apple. Starting on November 28, you'll be able to earn different quantities of Apple gift cards when you purchase select products directly from the Apple Store. As exciting as that promotion sounds, you can find better Apple deals at Amazon much earlier than that. Right now in fact.

Apple Black Friday Deals at Amazon Today

The most notable Apple deal we've seen so far at Amazon is the latest Apple AirPods Pro 3 dropping a new low price. These new earbuds were announced back in September during Apple's iPhone 17 event, so its pretty surprising to see them already getting such a substantial discount. The older AirPods 4 are also getting a pretty substantial price cut down to just $79.99, which is also the lowest we've seen them go since they first came out.

Outside of the AirPods deals, there's also a pretty good deal available on the 2025 MacBook Air with the M4 chip included. We reviewed the latest MacBook Air refresh back in the spring when it first came out and called it "a gorgeous laptop that’ll get you through all of your daily tasks without breaking a sweat or even needing to be plugged in for long periods of time." This Black Friday discount drops $250 off its usual, which matches the lowest price we've ever seen on it.

As for tablet deals, the 2025 11-inch Apple iPad has dropped back down to its lowest price of the year. This is a discount that has been available off and on pretty much sense they came out back in March, so it's not as exciting as some of the other deals here. Still, if you're in the market for a new iPad during Black Friday this year, this deal is still worth considering.

Should you wait for better Black Friday deals?

Although both Amazon and Best Buy have already launched their official Black Friday sales, it's still pretty early. Both Target and Walmart Black Friday sales are set to kick off early next week and will potentially feature Apple discounts that we haven't seen yet. It's also possible that Amazon could potentially drop prices even further on actual Black Friday, which is something we've seen the retailer do in the past. So if you want the best possible prices, you may want to wait until next week before you buy.

If you've been waiting for the right time to bulk up your gaming library, now's your chance. While we're still waiting on Nintendo's deals, Xbox and Amazon launched Black Friday sales earlier this week. Now PlayStation has entered the fray with a spread of discounts on games, accessories, and even PS5 consoles.

While it's worth checking your wishlist and doing some scrolling, as a starting point, we're seeing great discounts for anyone looking to start or fill in the gaps on a Final Fantasy collection.

Final Fantasy Games on Sale for Black Friday

Overall, you’ve got options. The PlayStation Store offers the best discounts on the FF7 Remakes, but Amazon is actually offering physical copies. It really comes down to how much you care about having those games lined up on your shelf vs. sitting in your digital library. If you’re on the PC side, Steam is also running a PlayStation publisher sale that includes roughly the same discounts.

The Final Fantasy Pixel Collection is pretty unreal bang for your buck. It includes the pixel remasters of the first six Final Fantasy games for just $30 total with the current price drop, making it a great choice for something you can really dig into over the holidays. The discount also applies to the Nintendo Switch version.

While we wait for news on the third and final part of the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy, you can pick up the first two games at a discount. Remake Intergrade (Intergrade just meaning the PS5 version) has dropped to $19.99 for physical and $14.99 for digital.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, released just last year, has dropped to $39.99 for the physical copy on Amazon and $34.99 through PlayStation. Michael Higham's 9/10 review of Rebirth for IGN describes how it "impressively builds off of what Remake set in motion as both a best-in-class action-RPG full of exciting challenge and depth, and as an awe-inspiring recreation of a world that has meant so much to so many for so long."

The most recent mainline release, Final Fantasy XVI, has dropped to its lowest ever price on Amazon, which happens to be $5 cheaper than you can find it on the PlayStation Store. While outside of Black Friday deals themselves, Amazon does have a teensy tiny 5% discount on the most recent spin-off release, Final Fantasy Tactics: Ivalice Chronicles.

More PlayStation Black Friday Deals

PlayStation has knocked $100 off both its PS5 and PS5 Pro consoles, the only real console deals we’ve so far this Black Friday. There’s also PlayStation Plus discounts and a spread of DualSense controllers on sale, including my personal favorite, the limited edition Ghost of Yotei version.

Blythe (she/her) is an SEO Coordinator at IGN who spends way too much time in character customization screens and tracking down collectibles.

I've had a Kindle Unlimited subscription for a couple of years now and can honestly say it's worth every penny. As someone who reads a lot of books on my Kindle Paperwhite, I realized I was spending way too much on Kindle ebooks. Sure, there are plenty of ways to read free books online, but the convenience of being able to just tap a button and start reading was too much for me to pass up. This especially became a problem when I started getting really into a series and each new book was $4.99 or more.

I decided to try out Kindle Unlimited when Amazon offered this same 3 months for $0.99 deal two years ago and it's been awesome. The full-price subscription is $11.99 per month, so if you're someone who is reading three or more books a month it pretty much pays for itself. And if you just want to test it out and see what books are available, you only need to spend $1 to get three months of access.

Black Friday Kindle Unlimited Deal

Note: This review specifically covers the Multiplayer modes in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. For our thoughts on the other modes, see our Zombies review or our campaign review.

It's autumn, 2025, and I have played enough of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 multiplayer to settle into my annual camo grind. I have prestiged, both in character level and my assault rifle, and after about 20 hours I feel confident declaring that the multiplayer portion of Black Ops 7 is great. I've had an absolute blast thanks to solid maps, the awesome updated omnimove system, and the choice to play either skill-based or traditional matches. It’s not without flaws: mid-match leavers have been a real problem in the default matchmaking, and while all the guns feel really good, none of them are standout stars – but the things I like, and some parts I downright love, far outweigh the things I don't this year.

Since skill-based matchmaking is the most contentious subject around this year's Call of Duty, I'm going to address it right here at the start. I believe swapping out SBMM as the default setting is great… and also it sucks. It's a real Schroedinger's CoD situation here. The biggest win for everyone, however, is the fact that you have a choice. Treyarch could have only done it one way or the other, but it gave us both, and the freedom to switch between these modes whenever you want is fantastic – especially because I often found traditional, non-SBMM to be a very humbling, and sometimes even frustrating, experience as a CoD player of medium skill.

First, a little background for those unaware: SBMM has been the default matchmaking mode for a while now, and very vocal portion of the CoD faithful hate it. When you'd queue up in a lobby for a multiplayer match, some Activision supercomputer somewhere would run the numbers and match you up with people of roughly the same level of skill. The criticism of this system is that you don’t really know whether or not you are good or bad, because SBMM made it so players never had to face too great a challenge. If you dominated for a few matches, you just got moved up to another lobby to match your skill, and lobbies weren't persistent. Same thing if you stunk up the joint, you'd drop down, but there was no real way to tell where in the power ladder you were at any given time.

So, this year, Treyarch made lobbies where "skill is minimally considered" be the default, but kept the option open to still play SBMM in the matchmaking menu (though it's not really apparent unless you know what to look for). Again, I really like that they give you the option for either, but I do wish the distinction was made a little more obvious, because the difference in terms of play experience is substantial. My gut tells me the vast majority of CoD players don't even know about this change, and there are surely a lot of non-competitive people wondering why in the hell they suck all of a sudden this year.

I've been playing both modes but using the default non-SBMM lobbies the majority of the time, and let me tell you: you don't know what the hell you're in for when you first enter a new match. You might find yourself in a lobby of complete boneheads who you can easily dominate for the win. I found this situation to be a frequent enough occurrence to be noticeable, but not a majority one. No, most of the time, I'd seem to load into a lobby with the god-tier Call of Duty players who this matchmaking change had in mind. And when that happens, it tends to not be very fun.

There is something to be said about playing against people above your skill level if you want to get better. Michael Jordan didn't get so good at basketball by only practicing against a high school team. But on the flipside, I am the high school basketball player, and now I'm loading into a lobby with the 1996 Chicago Bulls.

It's quite hard to learn what you’re doing wrong when you're facing people with skill levels that completely dwarf your own. By the time my reflexes register an opponent, I'm already dead. Don't get me wrong: I love being able to witness this level of play. It's super human. Sometimes I'll watch a replay of my own defeat just to be amazed by how good the other player is. In some instances, getting completely smoked has opened my eyes to what's possible and given me something to aspire to. But all that promise of self-improvement is short lived, because after a match or two of coming in dead last, I'm ready to find a new lobby.

And I know I'm not the only one – I at least finish matches like that, but others aren’t usually so courteous. In one extreme case, my team had multiple players of exceptional skill, one of whom had the Nuke calling card. You can't get that calling card without scoring 30 uninterrupted kills in a single match. You gotta be real good, and this person was truly incredible. So, rather than get shot down over and over again, the other team just quit. By the end of the match, it was six versus one, which turned an exciting win into a huge letdown, with the latter half of the match spent running around the map trying to find the one brave hanger-on.

Even when the imbalance isn’t quite that drastic, I see at least one or two people drop out frequently in the default lobbies. Some of those are going to be people who went AFK or lost their connection, sure. Maybe that's the case more often than I am assuming, but it sure does feel like other players are getting frustrated faster and more consistently than when SBMM was the norm, especially when it happens to five out of the six members of the opposing team – something I’ve never seen occur in a CoD before this one.

Does this mean I think including non-SBMM is a mistake? No, but only because you can still go back to the old style. The best part of the change is we can finally see what it’s like after years of debate, but better still, there's a choice between the two systems. I don't think having non-SBMM as the default has proven to be the right move, and I hope Treyarch decides to flip it back at some point in a post-launch patch. But at least the option means everyone can be happy. (Just kidding! This is Call of Duty, there's going to be unhappy people no matter what.)

One of the side benefits to this new system is that once you get your ass kicked a few dozen times and go back to the SBMM lobbies, you will feel like a god for the first few matches. The persistent lobbies carry through on both modes, so you can stick with the same group or back out to find a new lobby. It's actually super easy to swap around, which is a real time saver if you're burning a 2XP token.

Weapons and Loadouts

Black Ops 7 is the first CoD I can think of where I haven't gravitated toward a single dominant weapon for my playstyle. Last year it was the XM4 assault rifle. It just felt good from level one on up, and by the time I had all the attachments, it cemented itself as my go-to option. In the years before that, I gravitated towards SMG and even marksman rifles (I'm weird but I love the Kar98 in Modern Warfare). This year, none of the guns are really jumping out at me, nor giving me that past feeling of "oh yeah, this is the one I'm going to grind first." But that’s more a testament to how they generally feel really good across the board more than anything else..

One surprise for me, though, is the MK.78 LMG. I've always enjoyed the LMGs, but this one is ridiculous. I can score kills from halfway across a map like Retrieval with ease. The only real weakness is in those tight interior sections of a map, which is to be expected given its slow aim-down-sight speed, but even then I find myself getting the jump on people more often than not. It isn't until they're almost in melee range that it fails me. It's my favorite gun at the moment, and I expect some manner of nerf in the future honestly, as it feels a little too easy to use right now.

I feel the same way about the M8A1 marksman rifle, a burst-fire gun that I also really like and sometimes seems a little too accurate. A well-aimed three-round burst can usually dispatch an opponent with ease no matter where you are on a map. The same holds true for the Shadow SK sniper rifle. If you've read any of my past reviews, you know I hate sniper rifles and the people who use them – but, for whatever reason, I'm actually pretty capable with the Shadow SK. Sniper is a class of weapon I've historically only really played to satisfy some daily challenge or on the camo grind, but this year I find it to be well within my capabilities as a CoD player. I dropped on iron sights as an attachment and ended up getting Play of the Game at one point. It's fun and I'm good at it, which makes me naturally assume there's something wrong with it.

While even the best weapons don't really stand out to me like in years past, the notable exception are the SMGs, but they stand out because they feel bad. It's usually one of my favorite weapon classes, but this time none of them have felt like anything I want to use long-term. Traditionally they've always excelled at close-to-medium range, but this year's don't seem to work at anything but super-close range. I'm going to have to revisit them, but of all the unlockable SMGs, I didn't find a single one I’d consider for a daily driver. I'm hoping when I get deep into my camo grinds I'll find some combination that feels right, but for now, they're very uninspired.

Here's the thing about Call of Duty: the guns are always good. They figured this formula out a long time ago, which makes it hard to significantly improve on them. This year is no exception. With the exception of the SMGs, this relative equality of quality across the board is one of the more impressive parts of this series, even if it means there are no true stars this year. It's a ultimately good problem to have. "Oh no, I like almost all of these guns, boo hoo to me, they're nearly all fun and good."

Omnimovement Rules

Omnimovement is a relatively new addition to CoD, one that I liked last year but found generally favored controller players. The best thing about the addition of omnimovement, however, was the ability to functionally move and aim while prone. It's a very legit strategy in multiplayer to fling yourself backwards into a corner and reduce your target footprint while maintaining full aim. Before omnimovement, you'd lay prone and were extremely limited in how and where you could aim. All the cool stuff from Black Ops 6 is still here, and I do think for the most part it helps controller players more than mouse and keyboard nerds like myself, but that doesn’t mean I’d trade it away.

What's new for Black Ops 7 is the ability to wall run and wall jump, and that changes everything in the best possible way. When you come around a corner, you best be keeping an eye on the sky, because the move now is for people to try and get the jump on one another, literally. It's a whole new axis you need to be aware of, and it seems like it should be overwhelming to try and keep track of, but it's not. It's actually awesome, especially when the situation is flipped and you fly out from behind a wall and dispatch an opponent before you even hit the ground.

You can bounce up to three times, and there are precious few places where this can be consistently maxed out, but in Cortex I got smoked by someone who made full use of that to bounce back and forth between the giant sci-fi holding tanks. I even watched him do it in awe, something that no doubt cost me the L – but hey man, respect where respect is due.

The maps are purposefully designed with this new system in mind, and Blackheart and Imprint in particular have spots where CoD is practically begging you to wall run and jump. It doesn't feel tacked on or unnecessary, either. It feels as natural as any other movement on any other map in any other CoD. It's just done so well, and in some ways legitimizes traditional bunny-hopping. Now, instead of spamming jump like an idiot, you can parkour off the walls to both avoid getting hit and nail that perfect trick shot of your own.

What I find technically impressive is I've yet to encounter any glitches or exploits to the improved omnimovement system. It seems like letting players bounce 30 feet in the air would expose some cracks in the geometry, but so far, so good. It does feel a little weird when you jump higher than the top of a structure but an invisible wall keeps you from landing on it. I would like it if there were more areas only accessible with smartly timed jumps. Right now, there's a floating shipping container in Exposure that requires good timing to reach, but that's about the only one that springs to mind. And getting to it is so fun: timing your jumps with the sway of the container. Give us more hard-to-reach places, please!

More Multiplayer Modes

Skirmish, the 20v20 mode, is new this year – but outside of the purposes of this review, I don't think I'll play it again. It's just not fun. The maps are too small for Warzone-type play, but too big for the normal objective-based play. It's pure chaos, but not in a way I enjoy.

Since you respawn from the air in a wingsuit, you're a prime target to get shot out of the sky and go right back into a 10-second cooldown to spawn again. On the flip side, if a sniper has you pinned down, you can just respawn and fly toward wherever they are sitting to take them out. Either way, I can't figure out a strategic approach to Skirmish that’s any fun, which is something I value greatly in my multiplayer modes. The quick turnover rate means you don't get the opportunity to flank an entrenched player or team, or really make any strategic moves at all other than land, shoot, die, repeat.

Gunfight returns this year and it's another mode I don't really care for. They're 2v2 matches where you get random guns at the start of each round, taking place on small maps, and it's not for me. Playing with a random person isn't very fun, unless you end up with someone REALLY good. It just doesn't jibe with the way I want to play Call of Duty and, in my experience, whichever team gets the first win is going to be the one that wins the whole match more often than not. But I'll never advocate for fewer modes, and I know some people really enjoy Gunfight, so I’m at least glad it’s available.

Most of the more traditional multiplayer modes from last year are back as well, including Kill Confirmed, Domination, Hardpoint, Control, and Team Deathmatch, and I don’t really dislike any of them. Search & Destroy is also back, but I have not once been dropped into a map for it in regular matchmaking. In fact, I found myself dropped into Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, and Overload way more than any of the other modes, and I’m not totally sure why that is.

Overload is new this year, and it's basically capture the flag. There's an EMP device that spawns on the map, and the goal is to pick it up and run it into the opposing team's zone to get the win. I actually really like this mode, especially on maps like Flagship. Unlike Skirmish, the chaos is fun, and doing a diving leap into the enemy team's zone when you have the EMP is an excellent feeling.

Overload is definitely my favorite objective-based mode, while Team Deathmatch and Free-for-All remain my favorite modes of all. When I'm on the grind, I'll uncheck all modes except those two, and only select them all again when I'm teaming up with friends for some generalized multiplayer chaos. Both of these modes have always been my favorites because the objective is simple: get as many kills as possible during a match to win. I'm a simple man of simple tastes. When there's only one thing to do, there's less chance your team will screw it up – especially since my occasional frustration with objective-based modes in CoD arises when people treat them like Deathmatch anyway. For example, you might have a team in Hardpoint that completely dominates the field, scoring kill after kill, but also ignores holding the Hardpoint, and you end up with a sour-tasting loss.

That's not the case in Team Deathmatch or Free-for-All. You just run around shooting people until the match is over. No pick-ups like Kill Confirmed, no holding an area like Hardpoint, no rushing the EMP device to the enemy's base like in Overload. They're my favorite modes because I can shut off my brain and focus on getting better with my weapons. And, best of all, any skill improvements made during Team Deathmatch and Free-for-All carry over to the objective-based modes.

Mapping it Out

Black Ops 7's first batch of multiplayer maps are really good. They all do an excellent job showing off the new wall run and wall jump mechanics, with some areas on the maps specifically designed to let you run and jump over pits or around corners. I don't think there's a dud in the bunch. Even the ones I didn't really care much for at first, like Scar or Homestead, I warmed up to quite a bit after a few matches.

I think my favorite maps are Retrieval and Hijacked. Retrieval is a medium-sized map with a melting glacier on one end, a frozen river on the other, and plenty of structures and different levels in between. It's where I was able to get my first "moonshot," an 86m shot with the MK.78 LMG. Apart from being a really fun map, it's also visually one of my favorites. I love the winding tunnels of sparkling ice inside the base of the glacier.

Hijacked takes place on a yacht with two lanes down either side, a middle area where they all meet, and different levels of the boat both above and below deck. It's a great map to rack up multikills, especially if you're playing against a team of less experienced players. You can post up on one of those lanes and wait for people to come around the corner in a group and just go crazy. At the same time, it's a snap to flank those positions, so you can't stay for too long unless you want to get smoked.

All of the maps are built expertly. There's no annoying sniper nest or hidey-holes in them, which means campers have a really hard time spending half the match in one little area. If you stop moving, someone's going to get you, because there's nowhere to hide that doesn't have some angle of attack. You might find a place to back into a corner, sure, but we all know to check the corners in Call of Duty. It boggles my mind to think about the know-how involved in designing maps like the ones here, with a level of expertise that brings the quality of all the maps to a consistently high standard. None of them rise too high above the pack but, just like with the guns, that’s not a terrible problem to have when I’m having such a good time with all of them.

Black Friday is theoretically one of the best times to buy just about anything, but with ongoing price hikes, I’ll be the first to admit it’s getting harder to figure out what’s an actual deal. Rest assured, there is one certainty: Black Friday is always when you’ll find the lowest prices on streaming subscriptions.

While I expect plenty more streaming deals to go live closer to Black Friday, Apple TV has joined Crunchyroll in announcing a discount sooner rather than later. From now until December 1, you can grab six months of Apple TV for $5.99/month.

Save Over 50% on Six Months of Apple TV

The Steam Machine was announced just over a week ago now, and while we don’t know how much the Steam Machine will cost, we also don’t know when it’s actually going to come out. Right now, the only official release date information points to a vague “Coming In 2026” message in the Steam store page.

When I was at Valve trying out the Steam Machine, the company narrowed things down a bit when it told me that the console-PC-hybrid would be launching in Q1 2026, but wouldn’t commit to a specific date. The good news is that either way, we won’t have to wait too long – after all Q1 2026 ends on March 31, so it’s going to be here sometime in the next few months. But can we narrow it down further?

The CES Equation

CES, or the Consumer Electronics Show, is happening from January 6-9, 2026. It’s a show where we generally see all the tech and hardware that’s going to be coming out in the first half of the year. And it’s very possible that the Steam Machine is going to be a major topic there – even if it’s indirect.

You see, I just re-checked the exhibitor list for the tech event and Valve is not going to show up. That’s not surprising, it’s not like Valve has a habit of attending the event in an official capacity. However, Valve representatives were there last year showing off the Lenovo Legion Go S running SteamOS. I don’t know if that’s going to happen again this year, but I do expect Valve could still make some noise at the show.

The Steam Machine is probably the biggest thing in gaming hardware right now, and Valve could capture a lot of attention by announcing the price or the release date during CES. This seems especially likely when you consider that this is a Q1 2026 product that doesn’t have a release date heading into Q1 2026. But, looking at how Valve handled the Steam Deck, it seems more likely that the company will let things cool down for a few weeks before making its announcement.

Playing Preorders Safe

Back when Valve first showed us the Steam Deck in July 2021, it gave us both pricing and a release window, claiming that the handheld would be out for the Holiday season of that same year. However, the release date slipped. The first units didn’t launch until February 2022, and most preorders didn’t make it out the door until that Spring or even later. I know my Steam Deck didn’t show up until the Summer, and I preordered it as soon as I was able.

But Valve is already handling this launch much differently than it did the Steam Deck. Valve opened up reservations for the Steam Deck extremely early – just a day after the initial reveal – asking potential buyers to put down $5 to put their name on a list, along with estimated shipment timing that wasn’t entirely accurate. By being more conservative with its preorder timing, it looks like Valve is trying to avoid some of the confusion that plagued the Steam Deck launch.

What Valve should have done with the Steam Deck is wait until it has a release date before taking preorders. Because while the Steam Deck was up for reservation nearly a year before most people were able to actually get their hands on it, Valve didn’t actually announce its actual February 28, 2022 release date until the end of January 2022. The way I see it, Valve is probably going to do the same thing this time around.

The big difference between the Steam Deck and the Steam Machine launch, then, is probably that Valve’s living room console will go up for preorder about a month before launch – if it goes up for preorder at all. Unless Valve delays the Steam Machine like it did with the Steam Deck, it is starting to look like the Steam Machine release date will get announced at the end of January or the beginning of February, with the actual launch happening a few weeks or a month later. Just don’t expect that actually buying the Steam Machine is going to be a walk in the park.

The NAND Of It All

What sucks about a big PC release in the next quarter is that the PC market is currently going through a massive NAND memory shortage. Essentially, these are the chips that make up RAM, and are causing massive price increases and shortages, according to a post from Bontech Labs. So, one of two things will likely happen. Either Valve has already manufactured a bunch of Steam Machines in the months leading up to the announcement, which would result in a relatively smooth launch. Or, Valve has entered mass production recently, and will have to contend with the massive NAND price hikes that have led to PCs in general getting more expensive to produce. If the latter is true, it’s possible there won’t be many units available for early adopters.

This is one of the major reasons why the Steam Machine probably isn’t going to be a $500 competitor to the PS5, but because costs are so high right now, I could see Valve going for another staggered release. Anyone that’s gone through the pain of trying to get a graphics card shortly after launch knows what to expect here. There will likely be an initial launch of limited inventory, with aftermarket sellers ramping up the Steam Machine price significantly until Valve can catch up with the demand.

It’s likely that even if Valve hits a March 2026 release date, most people won’t be able to get their hands on the Steam Machine until at least June or July. I’d love to be wrong, though. After all, it’s possible that Valve has already made a huge amount of Steam Machines that are ready to go out the door the second the release date hits. Let’s all collectively hope that’s what happens.

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

Season 2 of Netflix's live-action One Piece sets a course for the Grand Line on March 10, 2026. So far, we've only gotten a couple of trailers: a minute-long teaser, and a fourth wall-breaking introduction to Tony Tony Chopper, which Eiichiro Oda gave his personal endorsement. And Season 3 won't be far behind.

We're hyping ourselves up by building another of the LEGO One Piece sets. We already built the Going Merry Pirate Ship and the Baratie Floating Restaurant this past August. Today, we're building and discussing Battle at Arlong Park, which depicts the climactic battle that capped Season 1.

At 926 pieces, this is not a LEGO set for adults display piece; it is a large playset with mechanical functions that reinforce those play elements. But it's large enough and detailed enough to be displayable, and it's not entirely dependent on its play functions (in the way that, say, the Super Mario playsets rely on their play elements) to make itself interesting.

Before we get started on the build, we should discuss a LEGO packaging change, which began over the summer. The majority of new sets – rather than using clear plastic bags to organize their pieces – use eco-friendly paper bags, with smaller eco-friendly paper bags inside of those. This is a welcome change. With the old plastic bags, pieces had an annoying tendency to get trapped in the bags' creases when you dumped them on the table.

Every LEGO builder knows the frustration of searching for a missing piece, worrying that you might have accidentally tossed it out with the rest of the garbage. Anything that mitigates that risk is a win. With the paper bags, the pieces simply slide out, no shaking required. Plus, the paper is sturdy enough and thick enough that the pieces don't puncture through it.

You begin building Battle at Arlong Park with four smaller builds. There's the log that Usopp hides behind when he's trying to escape the clutches of Chu.

There's a beach lounge area with an umbrella and a snail phone. And finally, there are two gallery style amusement park games. In the live-action One Piece, Arlong's lair is a theme park. The manga and anime give better context and explain that Arlong Park is modeled after Sabaody Park, an amusement park which discriminated against fish-men and merfolk.

One booth is a Shooting Gallery, complete with two hinged targets and a gun/launcher that shoots studs.

The second booth is called Shark Attack, which has been reappropriated as a throne room for Arlong.

Then you build the main pagoda building, which contains Arlong's map room. There's a chain on the floor – which Nami spent her childhood shackled to while she drew maps – and East Blue maps on the walls.

I appreciate the detailing on the pagoda. There's lined bricks mixed in with smooth bricks, which give the appearance of weathering and erosion. Jagged holes in the walls add to this perception, as do the uneven and jagged pagoda roofs.

Playwise, the pagoda is destructible. The second and third levels are each composed of two halves that are independently separable from the whole, and the fourth level is halved and hinged in its middle. When you push down on the top of the building, the different levels are gimmicked to slide outwards, which triggers the walls on the ground floor to collapse. It results in an immediate, splashy destruction of the whole structure.

Because the building is intended to come apart, the LEGO designers did a great job of individually reinforcing each piece of the building, and the cleanup to put the building back together is minimal. The very top of the build is a lock of sorts, which holds the building together when you're not actively using its play feature.

Battle at Arlong Park comes with five minifigures: Luffy, Nami, Usopp, Arlong, and Chu. The minifigures are extremely well-detailed: Luffy comes with stretched out, bendable arms, Nami has a bandage over her left arm (where she cut off her slave tattoo), Usopp has his slingshot, Arlong has a fin on his back, and Chu is carrying the whiskey bottle that leads to his demise. All of this adds up to some great roleplay scenarios.

Thus, this set overdelivers on its play elements, even though it slightly underdelivers on its display elements. If the designers intended to straddle the line between both, they largely succeeded.

Your kid will definitely love this set. You might love it; it's pretty cool in its own right, but its scale is dwarfed by both the LEGO Baratie Floating Restaurant and the LEGO Going Merry Pirate Ship. But at $80, Battle at Arlong Park is underpriced for what it is, and it's the best bargain out of the three major One Piece sets.

LEGO One Piece: Battle at Arlong Park, Set #75638, retails for $79.99, and it is composed of 926 pieces. It is available now at Amazon and LEGO Store.

Kevin Wong is a contributing freelancer for IGN, specializing in LEGO. He's also been published in Complex, Engadget, Gamespot, Kotaku, and more. Follow him on Twitter at @kevinjameswong.

It's Friday! And I'm not sure how you're all going to have any money left for Black Friday proper, these deals are getting out of hand. Best Buy has added even more deals, Amazon Early Black Friday deals are off the charts, including a big push for extra savings with renewed games and tech.

TL;DR: Early Black Friday Deals

There's loads of PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 1 and 2 Early Black Friday deals knocking around too that myself and the team have rounded up. There's even a good deal on a relatively new handheld gaming PC with Lenovo Legion GO S, $250 off to be exact. I'm not going to waste your time, let's dive straight into the Early Black Friday deals for today:

Xbox Controller Deals

If you're not looking at getting the Sky Cipher or any of the Breaker series controllers, we can't be friends. These are all usually over $70, so this is a cracking time to pick one or all of them up for your collection. The standard Carbon Black and Robot White controllers are available too for $15 less, but where's the fun in that?

Early Black Friday Best Buy Deals

FFVII-Rebirth for $29.99? Say less. That's a banging early Black Friday deal, not to mention Silent Hill f avoiding the new game tax at $49.99 instead of $69.99. Deals aren't just locked to PlayStation 5 either, with Battlefield 6 being available on Xbox Series X too. By the way, this is the better Meta Quest 3S bundle, but that's just my opinion. Which is correct. Sorry not sorry.

Amazon Early Black Friday Deals

Beats Studio Pro for $169.99, game over. That's a lovely $30 savings, but Sony WH-10000XM6 is over $60 off. They feature best-in-class noise cancelation and are all around beasts, but they're more than double the price of Beats Studio Pro, so it all depends on your budget. Either will work great with the ridiculous deal that is the Nvidia RTX 5060-powered CyberPowerPC Gamer Xtreme pre-built gaming PC for under $800. Granted, it's not the most powerfull DLSS 4-enabled GPU, but it has it, which means 1080p gaming with decent frame rates is well within reach.

PlayStation Early Black Friday Deals

I've got PlayStation 5 deals coming from all over the place, from an NBA 2K26 console bundle on Amazon for $449.99 to a Ghost of Yotei Gold Limited Edition console from PlayStation Direct from $499.99. PS Portal is also down to $179.99, which comes in black and white flavors. If you're after a Dualsense controller, Amazon has what must be nearly all of them at this point and in their early Black Friday sale. My favorite is the Chroma Indigo, rocking a $59.99 price point.

Save $250 Off the Lenovo Legion Go S Handheld Gaming PC

Nvidia RTX 5060 / 5060 Ti Early Black Friday deals

These are selling quick, so get on these deals ASAP. Getting a DLSS 4 5000 series card for under $500 was unthinkable just a few months back, but here we are. There's brass tax graphics cards selling solo to prebuilt gaming PCs all ready to go with a 5060 Ti inside already, any they're all early Black Friday deals.

Nintendo Switch 2 Early Black Friday Deals

You could save a couple of dollars on the Onn Micro SD Express cards, or pay pretty much the same price for the equivalent Samsung ones. I know which ones I'm going for, but they're bound to run out of stock sooner rather than later at this price. So I left an alternative for those who came late to the Black Friday party.

Amazon Resale Black Friday Deals

Amazon resale is brilliant for those who don't mind tech and games that aren't sealed and classed as new. They might be a customer return or simply have a damaged box, but all of this gear is checked over before it makes its way with you and comes with all the usual free returns and Prime delivery goodness Amazon is known for. Everything here has been picked because it's an insanely good deal, so don't miss out.

Prismatic Evolution Figurine Collection

Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender Collector Booster Box

Final Fantasy I-VI Collection Anniversary Edition

Dragon Quest HD-2D Remakes

Dragon Quest I, II and III HD-2D remakes are all out now on Nintendo Switch, with I and II also out on Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo Switch titles can be played on Nintendo Switch 2 if you want the full game on-cart rather than a game-key card, which requires a sizable content download to play. Of course you'll miss out on graphical fidelity and other upgrades.

JVSCAM 130,000RPM Cordless Electric Air Duster with Adjustable Tips

AstroAI P10 Car Battery Jump Starter

Up to 50% off Pokémon TCG and Free $60 Gift Card

Imagine getting Pokémon TCG Booster Bundles for free, or paying $20 to $30 for an Elite Trainer Box, cool right? Well it's a real deal, and here's how to do it. Start by applying for a Amazon Visa card, then if accepted you'll get an instant $60 Amazon gift card added to your account, which means free Booster Bundles, Premium Collections and Booster Blisters.

If you're after something more expensive and want to knock the price down before using the $60 gift voucher, you'll need an AMEX or Discovery card. By paying $1 on your Pokémon TCG items in your basket, you'll receive an automatic discount up to 50%. So whatever you need to pay after the gift card is cut in half. That's not bad when you're talking Elite Trainer Boxes and Booster Boxes. If this discount doesn't apply, check the loyalty page on Amazon to see if you're eligible.

TCGPlayer 10% Cashback Black Friday Event

You read that right, everything is eligibe too. Buy something, get 10% back as in-store credit. With sets like Mega Evolution and Phantasmal Flames finding new floors, this is 100% the best time to fill those gaps in your binder. The sale kicks off on Black Friday, November 28. and ends on Cyber Monday December 1.

Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra Resin 3D Printer Deals

The Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra line of Resin printers are perfect for anything that needs intricate detail, especially the 16k model, although the standard ultra does an amazing job too. The Saturn 4 Ultra and Mercury V3.0 wash is a perfect starter kit for anyone wanting to get into the hobby.

Elegoo FDM Printer Deals

What if I said I printed a full sized Stormtrooper helmet on a Neptune 4 Max in one go? It was such a fun project and this printer can handle some insane projects on the large and small side. In fact all of these FDM 3D printers are great for printing anything practical. I'm looking at you cosplayers.

Meta Quest 3S 128GB (Gorilla Tag Bundle)

TMNT: The Last Ronin Box Set

It’s been a couple weeks since the reveal and our hands-on experience with the new Valve hardware trio of the Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and Steam Frame. And while we interviewed Valve’s engineers about the creation of all three, which are due to launch sometime in early 2026, the biggest question that they still don’t have a definitive answer for is price. We won't know for certain until we get closer to release, but it's arguably the most concerning aspect for us, and anyone interested in these devices. Hardware lives or dies based on its price, so in the meantime we're trying to give our best educated guess as to how much the Steam Frame will cost.

The Cost of Other VR Headsets

In our Steam Frame interview with Valve team members, they didn’t give any indication of what they’re thinking in terms of price. According to UploadVR, however, their conversations mentioned that it will be cheaper than the full Valve Index VR kit (headset, controllers, and base stations), which launched at $999 and remains that much. That still doesn’t give us much to work with, but with the state of VR today compared to where it was in 2019, I would suspect the Frame to be more affordable than that even with its internal hardware and more advanced tech.

When simply looking at a spec sheet, the Steam Frame roughly stacks up to the Meta Quest 3, with comparable internal specs and the ability to run software locally on the headsets themselves. They trade blows here and there spec-wise, with the Frame using a 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 CPU with 16 GB of RAM while the Quest 3 has a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 CPU with 8GB of RAM. And for reference, a 512GB model for the Meta Quest 3 goes for $499 at regular price. If we're trying to triangulate some sort of educated guess, that lands us anywhere between $500 to $1000; and yes, I know that's a wide range that could still make or break the Steam Frame in terms of appeal and success.

There is going to be a 256GB model and 1TB model of the Steam Frame, and it's fair to assume that the gap in storage space will necessitate a roughly $100 difference between the two. When I'm thinking about what the Steam Frame does better than other VR headsets, I consider the 6GHz wireless PC tethering tech as one of its key advantages – this lets you play VR games running off of your PC without the messy cables attached to your head or getting tangled up in your room. It gives no perceptible latency, which is something no other VR headset does.

The internal hardware – an ARM processor that can run Steam games natively – isn’t as powerful as a proper gaming PC, but the fact that it has ARM compatibility at all is state of the art stuff. And whether or not you're running the built-in hardware, you can seamlessly play non-VR games in a simulated theater in the headset's virtual space, which also looks crisp from my experience. There's a lot of versatility that comes with the Steam Frame, along with the fact that its controllers do all the things you need in VR while also being built with parity with traditional controllers. That’s all to say that the Steam Frame packs premium features and new tech that may demand a higher price within that particular range mentioned above.

How Valve Prices Its Hardware

As of now, the Steam Deck goes for $399 for the 256GB LCD model, $549 for the 512GB OLED model, and $649 for the 1TB OLED model. It’s sort of an apples to oranges comparison with other console handhelds given the openness of SteamOS/Proton and the closed nature of consoles, but they are reference points for where we should expect like-minded devices to land in terms of price. With the Nintendo Switch 2 at $449 and the aging specs of the Steam Deck, you could say that Valve’s hardware comparatively demands a slightly higher price tag (depending which model you’re looking at, too). Pitting it against other PC gaming handhelds, it falls relatively in line as a lower-end device compared to the Asus ROG Ally, ROG Xbox Ally X, and the Lenovo Legion Go 2, all of which are much more powerful, but also much more expensive.

So, this tells me we can expect the Steam Frame to cost more than its console counterparts. The PlayStation VR2 is a very different device as it requires a PS5 console and is tethered to a closed ecosystem, so it’s not a perfect comparison, but for reference the PSVR2 goes for $399 at regular price (currently $299 on sale). The Steam Frame will certainly hit market at a much higher price than that.

With all these comparisons and the history of Valve’s hardware, where does that leave us for speculation? If you ask me, I would guess $599 for the 256GB model and $699 for the 1TB model of the Steam Frame. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see both of those predicted prices to be $100 higher at launch given the premium nature of the Steam Frame and how Valve is operating in a space carved out by enthusiasts who are looking for a more sophisticated device.

If you're interested in Valve's upcoming console-like PC, check out our analysis on how much the Steam Machine is going to cost. And for our comprehensive coverage of all of Valve’s new hardware, check out our hands-on preview with the Steam Frame and Steam Machine, or our analysis on Steam’s meteoric rise as a gaming ecosystem.

Black Friday is right around the corner, and Lenovo is kicking it off with one of the best 4K-ready gaming PC deals of the year. Right now you can score a Lenovo Legion Tower 5 RTX 5070 Ti gaming PC for just $1,499 after you apply a $995 off coupon code: "HOLIDAYGAMES10". Free delivery is included. This is the first time I've seen a Legion RTX 5070 Ti prebuilt drop below $1,500 and it's highly unlikely the price will drop even further next week.

Lenovo Legion RTX 5070 Ti Gaming PC for $1,499

This year, PlayStation is clearly taking the lead in the Black Friday console wars. From Nov. 21 to Dec. 1, the official PlayStation sale is offering $100 off all PS5 consoles, including the PS5 Pro, and popular bundles like the new Ghost of Yotei, NBA 2K26, and Fortnite editions.

Meanwhile, both Xbox and Nintendo are completely holding back on major console discounts, at least for now, leaving PlayStation with the only major console hardware deals of the season.

While Nintendo's official Black Friday sale doesn't go live until November 23, the gaming giant included no references to any kind of Switch or Switch 2 offer in its recent sale announcement.

Xbox's sale has since gone live, and while it features plenty of discounts on games and controllers, there are no Xbox console deals to be found. This is especially noticeable since it now costs 650 big ones for an Xbox Series X. That's the same price as a PS5 Pro right now!

While this premium console still isn’t for everyone, Sony’s most powerful console (and indeed, the most powerful console in the world) is actually discounted, and down to $649 Black Friday. This matches its best price from the Days of Play sale earlier this year.

In his review for IGN, Michael Higham said, "PlayStation 5 Pro is an impressive console with noticeable boosts in performance and graphics for games that take advantage of its powerful hardware. But for $700, you’ll need to think twice about whether or not the upgrade is worth the price tag."

It's also worth noting that the PS5 Pro also went up in price since then, rising to $749 earlier this year, so the $100 Black Friday discount cancels this out and then some.

But it's still an expensive console, even with the new discount, so echoing Michael's point, this is a purchase you need to be certain about, especially for $649, plus tax.

Still, it's the best price we're getting for the rest of the year, and at least there's a discount for anyone who has been holding out. Xbox and Nintendo fans, bad luck, and maybe next year!

With the so many different reasons to celebrate Star Wars sprinkled throughout the year, there's never a wrong time to shop for Star Wars merch. If you're a fan of the franchise or know someone else that is, we’re here to make your Star Wars gift shopping a lot easier in 2025.

We’ve assembled a list of some of the best Star Wars gifts we’ve found online, from books and Blu-rays to video games, shirts, and LEGO gift sets. So, without further ado, here are some of the best ways to bring a galaxy far, far away into your home.

Top Star Wars Gift Ideas for 2025

Star Wars Gifts for Gamers

There’s an absolute ton of great Star Wars video games available right now on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC, whether that’s Star Wars Jedi Survivor or LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. But if you’re looking to get a friend or family member the most recent major Star Wars game on the market, you’ll want to look into Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws. Offering a sprawling open-world adventure with hours of content, It’s a gift that’s sure to give any Star Wars fan plenty to do over the holiday break. There are also quite a few great Star Wars games for the Nintendo Switch if you're looking to play there.

Best Gifts for Fans of the Books

When it comes to Star Wars novels, there are plenty of great choices out there, both from the current canon continuity and the non-canon Star Wars Legends books timeline. If you’re buying for a current fan wanting to keep up with the latest Star Wars lore though, there’s no better place to look than the High Republic series, which has been a key focus for Disney as they establish the latest new notch on the franchise’s timeline. If you’re gifting for a reader who’s new to the High Republic era, check out the High Republic: Light of the Jedi trilogy boxed set, which contains all three novels from the first phase of the series. If you don't mind placing a preorder, there's also a Revenge of the Sith deluxe edition coming out in October that's worth checking out as well as Star Wars: The Last Order which explores a post-Rise of the Skywalker universe.

For Comic Book Fans

Classic recommendations for Star Wars comics include the following (as found in our best Star Wars comics shopping list).

Gifts for Fans of the Movies and TV Shows

Want to grab the cinephiles in your life a shiny new Star Wars collection? There are a lot of good options out there, with the most premium of the bunch being the Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Complete Collection. This absolute unit of a boxset comes with all nine movies in Blu-ray format as well as 26 hours of bonus content and special features. In short, it's the collection to end all collections, and a great pick-up for any diehard fans of the Star Wars movies.

You can also pick up more recent seasons of the live-action Star Wars TV shows in 4K and Blu-ray. With Andor season 2 now available on Disney+ right now, picking up the first season in 4K is an excellent option.

Gifts for Adult LEGO Fans

When it comes to buying a Star Wars LEGO set, you’re absolutely spoiled for choice, with this last year alone bringing us incredibly popular builds like Jabba’s Barge and the TIE Interceptor. However, if you’re looking for a fun set to pick up without breaking into the much pricier line of UCS builds that LEGO dropped last year a great option is the Imperial Star Destroyer play set. Retailing at $159.99, it offers a full star destroyer with a buildable interior, as well as the very first official Cal Kestis mini-figure, making it a great choice for young and veteran LEGO fans alike.

The brick-built Star Wars Logo set looks great on shelves and home office setups, while the Grogu and Hover Pram set has been constantly on sale during Amazon's Black Friday sales.

Star Wars Gifts For Board Game Fans

For those on the hunt for a fun Star Wars board game, you can’t go wrong with Star Wars: Outer Rim. Casting you and three other players as intergalactic outlaws, your mission is to venture across the galaxy and strategically build your reputation by smuggling cargo, hunting bounties and meeting various iconic Star Wars characters. If you reckon your friends or family would jump at the chance to become a legendary scoundrel, Outer Rim is a safe bet. But it’s far from the only option on offer, with other great board games like Star Wars Rebellion and Star Wars Imperial Assault sure to bring hours of intergalactic entertainment.

Gifts for Puzzlers

If you or someone you know just so happens to be a chronic puzzler on top of being a Star Wars fan, there are quite a few options. Our overall top pick for the best Star Wars puzzle for adults is this 2,000-piece jigsaw we've featured above. It depicts numerous different characters from episodes 1-6 along with a variety of machines, ships, and the Death Star looming in the background. It is a pretty big puzzle, however, so you may want to be sure whoever you're giving it to has a decent puzzle table or board that can hold it.

Alongside this puzzle, there are quite a few other options. There are even model kits that act as 3D puzzles you can check out,

Apparel and Accessory Gifts

If you’re looking for clothing-related gifts, Star Wars has a nigh-on endless range of wearable merch that make for great presents. Whether you’re searching for Star-Wars-inspired Hawaiian shirts, tees sporting iconic poster graphics or a funny festive jumper that will stand out from the crowd, here are some of our favorites.

Gifts For The Home

Much like with shirts, Star Wars has plenty of novelty homeware that make for great gifts. Whether you’re on the hunt for a Darth Vader Waffle Maker or an R2-D2 lava lamp, we’ve assembled some fun kitchenware, lights, mugs, and other homeware that are sure to put a smile on any Star Wars fan’s face.

Gifts for Toy Collectors

There are a lot of different Star Wars toys you can buy. There are lightsaber replicas, plushies, and even Nerf blasters. But if you're a collector of Star Wars toys, then you're probably most interested in Star Wars action figures. Our overall top pick is from the Black Series line of toys, but there are quite a few other great options from other brands to check out as well. There are even new Jedi: Survivor figures that were just recently announced for fans of the video game series.

Myles Obenza is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Bluesky @mylesobenza.bsky.social.

Sonos doesn't discount its popular speakers very often, so it's a wise investment to jump on a good sale when you see one. The Sonos Arc was discontinued last year to make way for its successor, the Arc Ultra. It's no longer available new at Sonos direct, however for Black Friday you can pick up a certified refurbished model for just $399. That's $500 less than its original retail price of $900. It's a heck of a better value than picking up the Arc Ultra, currently "on sale" for $879.

Sonos refurbished products go through rigorous testing; they come with all accessories, manuals, and documentation and are reshipped in "pristine" packaging. Most importantly, Sonos includes the same 1-year warranty as buying new. I like when retailers offer the same warranty as new because that means they have faith in the reliability of their refurbs.

Sonos Arc Soundbar (Refurbished)

PlayStation Direct UK is killing it in their early Black Friday deals right now, even the 30th Anniversary PS5 Digital (Slim), DualSense controller and PS Portal are back with a Black Friday discount. There's also up to 33% off PlayStation + depending on which tier you pick, but all of them get an extra 5% off with PlayStation Direct.

PlayStation Direct Black Friday Sale

All of the deals I've picked out are the Black Friday price and doesn't include the PS Plus discounts, so expect so save some more if you're a member. I'm not going to waste anytime here, let's jump straight into these epic deals on consoles, accessories, games and more:

30th Anniversary PS5 Deals

I can't believe the 30th Anniversary Edition gear is back, I'm proper chuffed. And £49.99 for the DualSense alone is a steal, and you know you want the full set with the PS5 Slim and PS Portal to go with it, again all discounted. Don't forget that cheeky 5% PS Plus discount, which will add up if you're buying all this in one go.

Save up to 33% on PlayStation + 12m Subscriptions

PS5 Console Deals

We've got everything from the 2 TB PlayStation 5 Pro to the Ghost of Yotei Black Limited Edition that isn't black. By the way, The PS Pro deal is the same price as a standard price Xbox Series X, so I'll just let that deal sink in (What the hell is happening!?).

The Fortnite bundle is great for anyone who plays it, which is a lot. You'll get 8 exclusive cosmetic items, including a skin and 1,000 V Bucks, which is "epic" if you're in the loop (Nope, not sorry and I miss Unreal Tournament).

The winner for me (again) is the Digital 30th Anniversary Slim console. £334.99 for such a unique bit of kit that takes me back to buying three preowned games for £10 from Game when I was a kid and having my mind blown by the original PlayStation graphics. Tell me you don't want to turn on your PS5 and see the original boot screen and audio if you're over 30. Exactly.

DualSense Controller Deals

These Black Friday deals make me either want to buy every single controller and put them on a cool shelf or re-shell my Dualsense once a week. Getting controllers like the Chroma Indigo for less than a standard black or white Dualsense on a normal day is a great deal to me.

Dualsense Edge has also dropped to £169.99, a cheeky £30 off and it's worth it. I love a heavy controller, it feels like you've bought something worthwhile. It has adjustable triggers, swappable thumbsticks and caps, full re-map functionality and all the bells and whistles of the original Dualsense with a better battery life.

PS:VR 2 and Accessory Deals

If you fancy trying out PS VR2, now is a great time to get stuck in, just make sure you get the bundle with Horizon Call of the Mountain instead of the solo hardware. It's the same price and you get a great game for free, so it's a no-brainer Black Friday deal.

The Pulse Elite headset is also £20 off, and includes a hanging charger to boot. It rocks 30 hours of battery life, cracking audio that you'd expect from Sony and a decent mic setup that can noise-rejection technology.

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.

The season of savings has officially kicked off. A few different retailers have started up their Black Friday sales, including Amazon. If you're on the hunt for video game deals in particular, we've already found quite a few that are worth your time and money at the retailer, including a whopping 50% off Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (see it here for PS5 and Xbox Series X).

This discount has dropped the price of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 down to just $30 on both platforms. What makes it even better, though, is it marks its lowest price to date on both PS5 and Xbox Series X, according to price tracker camelcamelcamel. No better time to grab it if you've had your eye on it.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Drops to $30

If you're hoping to find a deal on an unlocked Google Pixel phone for Black Friday, I've got some good news: Both Amazon and Best Buy has already started slashing prices on all of the latest models from the Pixel lineup. The Google Pixel 10, 10 Pro, 10 Pro XL, and 10 Pro Fold have all dropped to their lowest prices ever ahead of Thanksgiving weekend, with a whopping 25% savings. These deals launched earlier this month and have come back just in time for Amazon's official Black Friday sale.

Google's line of smartphones is mostly known for its high-quality camera and helpful AI features, both of which make them great iPhone alternatives. As someone who has owned a Pixel for well over a year now, I have no problem recommending them to anyone looking for a smartphone upgrade at a reasonable price.

The Best Google Pixel Phone Deals at Amazon Today

The only exception to the 25% discount is the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, which is only getting 17% off the retail price. But even that is still substantial when you consider that this is the best discount we've seen on Google's latest foldable phone since it was released in October. With these price drops, right now is the best time we've seen all year to pick up an unlocked Google Pixel phone at a discount. None of these price drops are attached to a carrier plan, so you don't need to sign any sort of contract before you buy. You can currently find these savings at Amazon or at Best Buy as part of its Black Friday sale.

Which phone should you buy?

Pixel 10 Pro vs. Pixel 10

Deciding which Google phone to buy really comes down to what features you want and how much you're willing to pay. My Google Pixel 8 is a few generations old at this point, but I decided to grab the Pro because of the increased screen size and bigger battery. I'd highly recommend picking up either the Pro or Pro XL if you plan on using your phone to watch videos or play games at all. Otherwise the cheaper Pixel 10 is probably your best bet at this price.

We reviewed the Google Pixel 10 Pro earlier this year and found that it didn't offer that many improvements of the Pixel 9 Pro. However, with the discount right now, the latest model is definitely the one worth buying over the previous generation.

The Google Pixel 9 deal is the best value option

The latest Apple iPad just dropped to the lowest price of the year for Black Friday. Amazon is offering the 11th generation Apple iPad, featuring the A16 processor, for just $279 with free shipping after a $70 off instant discount. This is the first time I've seen this particular model drop below $299 since its release back in March of 2025.

Apple iPad 11th Gen for $279 (Originally $349)

The Pokémon TCG: Mega Evolution - Phantasmal Flames set was just released on Nov. 11, 2025, and with it, an elusive Pokémon TCG: Mega Charizard X ex Ultra-Premium Collection. As a huge Charizard fan, I had to have it, even with its pretty high $119.99 USD MSRP (or a lot higher on resale sites!)

I’ve always collected Pokémon trading cards, but I only just started playing using the official format in the last two years. A few decks have crossed my playmats, but variations of a Charizard ex deck have continued to be my main.

I knew I’d need the Phantasmal Flames’ Mega Charizard X ex and Oricorio ex cards to experiment with new deck builds, so that was a good enough excuse as any to try and grab this collection… even if I might try and get the non promo-art versions to play with instead.

Click through the slide show above to see everything included in the Pokémon TCG: Mega Charizard X ex Ultra-Premium Collection, plus some of the cards I pulled from the booster packs.

Here’s a complete list of what’s included in the Pokémon TCG: Mega Charizard X ex Ultra-Premium Collection:

• 1 foil full-art promo card featuring Mega Charizard X ex
• 1 foil full-art promo card featuring Oricorio ex
• 65 card sleeves featuring Mega Charizard X
• 1 playmat featuring Mega Charizard X
• 1 deck box featuring Mega Charizard X
• 1 metal coin featuring Mega Charizard X
• 6 damage-counter dice
• 18 Pokémon TCG booster packs:
  • 2 Surging Sparks TCG booster packs
  • 4 Journey Together TCG booster packs
  • 4 Destined Rivals TCG booster packs
  • 4 Mega Evolution TCG booster packs
  • 4 Phantasmal Flames TCG booster packs
• A code card for Pokémon TCG Live

I pulled a few playables from the Phantasmal Flames and Mega Evolution booster packs (still searching for more Lillie’s Determinations), but I didn’t get any Phantasmal Flames “chase” cards, like any of the rare cards listed on this Phantasmal Flames most expensive cards list.

My favorite random pull is absolutely the Destined Rivals illustration rare Team Rocket’s Houndoom, another one of my favorite Pokémon of all time. Fire and Dark-type Pokémon are my favorites, so I’m stoked for the Charizard X and Houndoom cards and Charizard-themed TCG accessories, what can I say.

The playmat included in this set features nice stitching around the edges that many other official playmats lack, too, so I see it lasting quite a while, and the Mega Charizard X coin is beautiful.

This should go without saying, but I don’t think this collection is worth it unless you aim to use the exclusive TCG accessories that come with it.

I would have preferred some variety between the playmat, deck box, and card sleeves, but at least the art they chose for the set is sick.

The coin brilliantly shines in an array of rainbow colors, and it makes for a neat easter egg balanced on top of my Charizard figure by First 4 Figures.

Though this absolutely is not new as far as Pokémon TCG collections go, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed by the dated array of included booster packs. I would have loved to see more Phantasmal Flames, and even Mega Evolution, booster packs.

But maybe I’m just salty about this because one Mega Charizard X ex Ultra-Premium Collection was the only Phantasmal Flames product my partner and I could purchase between the two of us. I'm lucky I was also sent a press copy of this particular collection so I didn't have to share! For reference, we succeeded in buying one at The Pokémon Center website, but failed everywhere else for everything else.

But, that’s an entirely different conversation. Even with the $119.99 price tag, I’m happy with the Mega Charizard X ex Ultra-Premium Collection as both a huge fan of Charizard and the TCG.

Best Phantasmal Flames Cards Chase Cards

According to marketplaces like TCGPlayer, certain Phantasmal Flames cards have already skyrocketed further in price, and, following up from our Mega Evolution round-up, we’ve ranked the ten most expensive cards so far just above. From aggressive Mega attackers to powerful evolution support, Phantasmal Flames brings a fiery mix of competitive threats and high-demand pulls.

Casey DeFreitas is the Deputy Editor of Guides at IGN and loves all things Pokémon. Catch her on all socials as @ShinyCaseyD

The holidays are here, which means it’s time to find gifts for all your loved ones. That can be easier said than done, so we’re here to help. If someone on your list is a big fan of games of the non-video variety (like board games and card games), then Game Nerdz has a bunch of options to choose from.

If you’re not already familiar with Game Nerdz, it’s a site that specializes in tabletop games, TCGs, miniatures, and collectibles. It has a huge selection of more than 50,000 in-stock items, including games set in the worlds of massive franchises.

That’s a lot to choose from, and we know it can be a little intimidating trying to find the right game for someone. So we curated a list of just some of the many games you can find on Game Nerdz, along with some info about them and what kinds of people they might be right for. We've also included some general tips to think about to help you figure out what type of game your loved one might like.

Arcs

• Game type: Board game
• Number of players: 2–4
• Challenge level: Moderate to high
• Who it’s right for: Strategy enthusiasts, experienced gamers, sci-fi fans

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Trick-Taking Game

• Game type: Co-op card game
• Number of players: 1–4
• Challenge level: Low
• Who it’s right for: Lord of the Rings fans/collectors, gamers who want to work together, fans of narrative-focused games

Dune: War for Arrakis

• Game type: Board game with miniatures
• Number of players: 2
• Challenge level: Low to moderate
• Who it’s right for: Dune fans, strategy enthusiasts, those who like having lots of thematic miniatures

Gwent: The Legendary Card Game

• Game type: Card game
• Number of players: 1–5
• Challenge level: Low
• Who it’s right for: The Witcher fans, those who want a game that's quick and replayable, those who like games that are easy to grasp but harder to master

Unmatched Adventure: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

• Game type: Co-op board game / card game
• Number of players: 1–4
• Challenge level: Low
• Who it’s right for: Fans of other Unmatched games, TMNT fans, those who want a game that can be played with their kids (ages 9+)

Slay the Spire: The Board Game

• Game type: Co-op board game / deck builder
• Number of players: 1–4
• Challenge level: Moderate
• Who it’s right for: People interested in the structure of a roguelike in board game form, those who want a game with multiple possible ending points, those who like evolving their deck over time

Star Wars: Battle of Hoth

• Game type: Board game with miniatures
• Number of players: 2–4 (best suited for 2)
• Challenge level: Moderate
• Who it’s right for: Star Wars fans, those who enjoy tactical games, those who enjoy games with movable miniatures

Stardew Valley: The Board Game

• Game type: Co-op board game
• Number of players: 1–4
• Challenge level: Low
• Who it’s right for: Stardew Valley fans, those open to longer game times (up to 3 hours), fans of cozy vibes

The Last of Us: Escape the Dark

• Game type: Board game
• Number of players: 1–5
• Challenge level: Moderate
• Who it’s right for: Fans of The Last of Us and its characters, narrative game lovers, those who like games with dynamically changing goals

Dorfromantik: The Board Game

• Game type: Co-op board game
• Number of players: 1–6
• Challenge level: Low
• Who it’s right for: Families, those who want to build something together, those who like games that evolve with each playthrough

This is just a small selection of the many games you can find on Game Nerdz. There are also a bunch of popular trading card games available, from Magic: The Gathering to Pokémon to Yu-Gi-Oh! and beyond. And there are Forged gaming accessories for TTRPG players, including dice, arenas, and this detailed Call of Cthulhu Idol Dice Tower. And there’s an extensive collection of miniatures and collectibles too. It’s a one-stop shop to find something for the gamer in your life who wants to unplug.

Police in Japan have accused a man of unauthorized reproduction of an AI-generated image. This is believed to be the first ever legal case in Japan where an AI-generated image has been treated as a copyrighted work under the country’s Copyright Act.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun and spotted by Dexerto, the case relates to an AI-generated image created using Stable Diffusion back in 2024 by a man in his 20s from Japan’s Chiba prefecture. This image was then allegedly reused without permission by a 27-year-old man (also from Chiba) for the cover of his commercially-available book.

The original creator of the image told the Yomiuri Shimbun that he had used over 20,000 prompts to generate the final picture. The police allege that the creator had sufficient involvement in the AI image’s creation, and the matter has been referred to the Chiba District Public Prosecutors Office.

Japan’s Copyright Act defines a copyrighted work as a “creatively produced expression of thoughts or sentiments that falls within the literary, academic, artistic, or musical domain.” In regard to whether an AI-generated image can be copyrighted or not, the Agency of Cultural Affairs has stated that an AI image generated with no instructions or very basic instructions from a human is not a “creatively produced expression of thoughts or sentiments” and therefore not considered to meet the requirements to be copyrighted work.

However, if a person has used AI as a tool to creatively express thoughts or feelings, the AI-generated output might be considered a copyrighted work. This is to be decided on a case-by-case basis. The process behind the creation of the specific AI-generated image has to be looked at in order to determine whether it can be considered to be creative enough to be termed a copyrighted work. Key criteria are the amount of detailed prompts, the refining of instructions over repeated generation attempts, and creative selections or changes to outputs.

However, this case is the first of its kind, with no legal precedent. Speaking to Yomiuri Shimbun, a legal expert in AI and copyright from the Fukui Bar Association said that if prompts are detailed and specific enough, then an AI-generated output might be considered a copyrighted work. Basically, the resulting final image is evaluated on how closely it is deemed to match the creator’s original vision, which is determined by how detailed and specific the prompts and their revisions are. “It is vital to determine whether or not the person provided prompts to reach a specific, predicted outcome,” said the attorney.

On the flipside, AI-generated content that closely resembles existing copyrighted works has prompted much furore in Japan lately. This is especially the case with Sora 2 generated video clips that have featured well-known Japanese characters. The Japanese government and an organization representing major creative powerhouses like Bandai Namco, Studio Ghibli and Square Enix have demanded that OpenAI cease unauthorized training on Japanese IPs.

Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for IT: Welcome to Derry Episodes 1-4!

Fans of Stephen King’s novels will know that these tales of small-town terror and tortured souls aren’t simply standalone stories. They’re all part of a larger storytelling multiverse, and crossovers can and do frequently happen. That’s certainly true for IT: Welcome to Derry – not only is this series a prequel to the It movies, it also includes nods to other King characters and storylines.

With the first two episodes having premiered on HBO Max, we figured now is a great time to break down the key Stephen King easter eggs in Welcome to Derry and explore how the series is taking advantage of the King multiverse. Keep checking back, as we’ll update this piece as more episodes air.

What Is Bill Skarsgård’s Villain Pennywise?

With Welcome to Derry taking place 27 years before the events of 2017’s It, it should come as no surprise that there aren’t many returning actors for this prequel. In fact, the only confirmed veteran of the series is Bill Skarsgård, who is once again playing the demonic, shapeshifting villain, It (whose favorite form is Pennywise the Dancing Clown). We don’t actually see Skarsgård in the first four episodes, but the character’s nefarious influence is certainly felt. If there’s any takeaway from the pilot, it’s that Derry was a cursed place long before the Losers Club clashed with Pennywise for the first time.

With Pennywise being such an important part of the series, it’s worth taking a step back to explore what exactly this character is and how he fits into King’s monster multiverse. The It novel establishes that It is an alien entity created in the void outside the universe. It eventually crashed on Earth via an asteroid millions of years ago, at which point it took up residence in the area that would become Derry, Maine. We see this origin story play out during Episode 4's flashback sequence.

Ever since people began to settle in Derry, It has shown a pattern of emerging for a year or two to seek victims and feast on their fear; it is essentially a psychic vampire. After gorging itself, It then goes into hibernation for 27 years before reawakening and starting the cycle all over again. It tends to target children because their fears are more primal and easier to exploit.

It/Pennywise is easily one of the most terrifying creatures in King’s massive library, but it’s not necessarily unique. King’s Dark Tower novels establish that the multiverse was once bathed in a mystical energy source called the Prim. When the Prim receded like an ocean tide, it left behind a great many supernatural creatures embedded in the worlds of creation; Pennywise is just one of many of those monsters. One of the Dark Tower books even introduces a cousin of sorts – a similar psychic vampire who feeds on laughter rather than fear.

The Hanlon Family

Welcome to Derry may not feature many returning characters, but it does feature one family that should be very familiar to fans of the films. The first episode introduces Jovan Adepo’s Leroy Hanlon; Leroy is the grandfather of Mike Hanlon, who was played in the films as a child by Chosen Jacobs and as an adult by Isaiah Mustafa.

Welcome to Derry shows us how the Hanlon family first came to settle in Derry in 1962. Leroy is a decorated and well-respected Air Force major who is recruited by General Shaw (James Remar) to work on a top-secret program. Little by little, Leroy is becoming exposed to the darkness lurking beneath the idyllic facade of Derry and the racism still rampant in the ranks of the military. In Episode 2, Leroy learns that Shaw is working to harness a weapon that can instill absolute fear in America's enemies. Apparently, Shaw wants to weaponize It.

Episode 2 introduces Taylour Paige as Leroy’s wife, Charlotte, and Blake Cameron James as his son, Will, neither of whom seem particularly enamored with their new home. But however bad things get this season, it’s not going to drive this family out of Derry.

The Shining’s Dick Hallorann

Welcome to Derry is going to draw on more than just the It movies and novel; that much has been apparent ever since an earlier trailer included a shot of a Shawshank Prison bus. But in what is easily the most significant King easter egg so far, the series’ cast includes a major character from The Shining: Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk).

Fans of The Shining and its sequel, Doctor Sleep, will remember that Dick is the head chef at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. Because he has the psychic aptitude known as “the shine,” Dick is more sensitive than most to the many ghosts haunting the Overlook’s halls. Dick becomes rightfully concerned when he senses that young Danny Torrance, the son of winter caretaker Jack Torrance, shines especially brightly, and is therefore a ripe target for those ghosts. Eventually, Dick is forced to brave the harsh Colorado winter in order to rescue Danny and his mother from the hotel’s wrath.

Welcome to Derry takes place nearly two decades before The Shining; at this stage, Dick is serving on the same Derry air force base as Leroy Hanlon. We only catch a brief glimpse of Dick in Episode 1, but he seems intently interested in Leroy, as if he can sense something is supernaturally amiss with the major.

Episode 2 provides more context for Dick's presence in Derry and his interest in Leroy. Dick is using his psychic abilities to help the Air Force dig up and harness the slumbering It. Dick seems to sense that Leroy is special in his own way. A bullet to his brain has robbed Leroy of the ability to feel fear, which may make him the only person capable of standing up to It. And by Episode 4, Leroy is starting to come to terms with the fact that Dick truly does have supernatural abilities.

We fully expect Dick to play a central role in battling It in this series. Just as at the Overlook, Dick’s powers will make him more aware than most adults of the danger lurking underneath the town. It may even target Dick specifically, hoping to draw extra sustenance from his psychic abilities, much like the vampires in Doctor Sleep.

The Shining's Calumet Baking Powder

Episode 2 incldues another fun The Shining Easter egg, as we see a stack of Calumet Baking Powder cans in the grocery store, all displaying that iconic logo of an Indian chief. These cans were also seen in Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of The Shining, part of the Overlook Hotel's extensive larder.

The exact significance of the cans and the Indian logo has been the source of much debate over the years, with some arguing (like in the documentary Room 237) that Kubrick was trying to include subtle commentary about American imperialism and the genocide of Native Americans. The Indian chief image may also speak to the ancient history of the supernatural terrors in this world. Again, It has been in Derry for a very long time.

Juniper Hill Asylum

Episode 2 also introduces another iconic King landmark in Juniper Hill Asylum. We learn that Susie (Matilda Legault) was previously committed there after the death of her father, and she's forced to return at the end of the episode after suffering through another of It's terrifying hallucinations. That means we'll surely see inside its dark halls as the season unfolds.

Juniper Hill appears in the original IT novel as well as numerous other King works, from Insomnia to Needful Things to The Dark Half. It's a place every bit as twisted as you'd expect from a mental institution in Stephen King's multiverse.

Shawshank State Prison

Alongside Juniper Hill, the series is also introducing another very recognizable facility in the form of Shawshank State Prison. The wrongfully imprisoned Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider) looks doomed to be imprisoned there, even as Charlotte fights to clear his name.

Shawshank was most famously featured in King's 1982 novella "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," which was later adapted into the 1994 movie The Shawshank Redemption. Both versions of the story follow the pliught of Andy Dufresne, a man imprisoned for decades at the hellish prison after being convicted of murdering his wife. Shashank was also heavily featured in Castle Rock, another series notable for bringing together pieces of the King multiverse.

The Importance of the Turtle

Welcome to Derry’s first episode includes another important, albeit more subtle, easter egg in the form of a charm on Susie’s bracelet – a turtle, a creature with deep significance in King lore. We see another turtle reference in Episode 4, when the Indian tribe buries one of the pieces of the meteorite inside a turtle shell.

Getting back to It’s cosmic origins, this demon was created at the same time as a benevolent turtle entity; the Turtle is It’s polar opposite and a sign of strength to the members of the Losers Club. The Turtle is also one of the 12 animals featured in the Dark Tower books who guard “The Beams,” invisible energy forces that lead directly to the titular tower at the center of existence.

We’d expect to see multiple turtle references in this series, all meant to serve as reminders that there are other forces at work in Derry beyond It/Pennywise…and not all of them are so sinister.

The 12 Pillars

Episode 4 reveals a lot about the history of It in Derry and how this demonic entity was clashing with the local Native American tribe long before white settlers came to the area. We even learn that the tribe has a legend about the heroic warrior who imprisoned It centuries ago. According to the story, the tribe buried 13 pieces of the meteorite that originally carried It to Earth. 12 of these pieces form a ring around It's woodland territory, while the 13th is located at the center of the ring. As long as that circle remains unbroken, It's evil is contained to the Derry area.

This circular structure is almost definitely meant to be a reference to King's Dark Tower novels. In Mid-World, the place where heroic gunslinger Roland Deschain carries out his long quest to find the titular tower, there are 12 portals forming a great ring around the planet. The beams mentioned above start at these portals and move inward, converging on the Dark Tower in the center. Each of the 12 portals is protected by a Guardian of the Beam, like Maturin the Turtle and Shardik the Bear. It's prison is clearly mimicking the structure of the Dark Tower itself.

We probably won't see any more overt references to the Dark Tower books than this, as Warner Bros. doesn't hold the rights to those stories. Instead, The Haunting of Hill House's Mike Flanagan is currently developing a Dark Tower TV series for Amazon. Still, it's a fun nod for hardcore King fans.

The Second Hand Rose

Episode 2 establishes a key throwback to 2019's IT: Chapter Two with the scene at the Second Hand Rose thrift shop. In the movie, that shop is run by Stephen King's character (that same character cameos as a younger man here), and it's where Bill Denbrough buys his beloved Schwinn bicycle. Back in 1962, it's where Leroy purchases a telescope for his son Will.

Like the turtle, the rose is an image with special significance in King's work, and it also ties back to the Dark Tower books and their central protagonist, Roland Deschain. The rose is a symbol of goodness and purity, though we definitely get a slightly creepy vibe from the shop in this series. If anything, we can't help but be reminded of Needful Things and its infamous shop of horrors.

On the other hand, the shop's current owner, Kimberly Norris Guerrero's Rose, has become a major focus of the series, and she seems to be one of the few genuinely good people in Derry. We'll see if Rose survives the entire season.

For more on IT: Welcome to Derry, check out our review of the series premiere and see director Andy Muschietti break down the shocking ending to Episode 1.

Note: This article was originally published on 10/27/2025 and updated on 11/21/2025 with the latest information about IT: Welcome to Derry.

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

We're in the seemingly endless saga that is Black Friday season. The Crunchyroll Store has been having Black Friday sales all month long, discounting its spread of DVDs, figures, and anime merch. However, the service has now announced an incredibly rare deal on what I think most people actually use it for: anime streaming. Right now, you can get $20 off annual Mega Fan subscriptions, which already offer some savings over the monthly price.

Get $20 Off 12 Months of Mega Fan Crunchyroll