Released in two parts, Kill Bill was originally envisioned as a single experience, which has been teased since at least 2008. Now, audiences can finally get a taste of The Whole Bloody Affair across a gargantuan 275-minute runtime (including an intermission), as the unified version of Quentin Tarantino’s sprawling revenge saga roars into theaters after having been screened only sporadically over the decades.

The film is as vicious, fun, and sentimental as it’s always been, and although you could technically rewatch Vol. 1 (2003) back-to-back with Vol. 2 (2004) for a similar experience, nothing rivals the delights of watching Tarantino’s cross-cultural mash-up the way it was meant to be seen. At a micro level, the changes between the duology and the complete epic vary from a few shots to an entire 2D animated sequence (as well as a Fortnite-centric “lost chapter” that plays after the credits). However, the story’s emotional rhythms are also cemented far more firmly this time around. Watching Uma Thurman’s “Bride” — a.k.a. Kiddo, Arlene, Black Mamba, or B-[REDACTED] — tear her way through masked henchmen with a katana in Vol. 1 always felt like a markedly different experience from the more introspective sequel, but the two halves echo each other in more meaningful ways when watched in the same sitting.

For the uninitiated, Kill Bill traces the Bride’s non-linear, globetrotting journey after she awakens from a four-year coma and begins exacting bloody vengeance on her former assassin squad who tried to kill her on her wedding day. Adding to the emotional stakes is the fact that she was pregnant at the time, and now believes her child to be dead – a flourish Tarantino added when Thurman, his Pulp Fiction star, became a mother herself. The result is a fiery lead performance that lives on the edge of melodrama but never tips over into irony. No matter the mayhem on screen, it always feels personal. Recurring images of the wedding chapel massacre add fuel to the fire, but the story remains just as much about a vengeful killing spree as it does about the nature of revenge itself, as well as the way violence curdles the soul.

Of course, Kill Bill is the kind of movie that tries to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to this central theme. It’s a film that revels in the cartoonish blood spatter of classic samurai fare while also featuring harsh close-ups of a bruised and battered bride, presenting two dueling forms of bloodshed. On the one hand, there’s the righteous and ludicrously enjoyable violence of hacked limbs and severed scalps; on the other, the wince-inducing, unapologetically evil violence that robs a woman of her autonomy. It’s a cognitive dissonance the movie never fully resolves, but by the end, neither does the Bride. In fact, she seems consumed by this contradiction, and watching all ten chapters laid out end-to-end practically justifies Tarantino’s refusal to untie these emotional knots. Each vignette works perfectly in and of itself, and if that makes the whole thing a thornier predicament, then so be it.

Two decades on, the story, designs, and characters are as vibrant as they’ve ever been, from the Bride clad in Bruce Lee yellow slicing her way through the House of Blue Leaves (a sequence now entirely in color, emphasizing Robert Richardon’s resplendent cinematography) to the slick charms of David Carradine’s titular villain, who warps the whiz-bang saga into something far more melancholy whenever he’s on screen. Lucy Liu’s icy yakuza boss O-Ren Ishii remains a particular highlight, especially now that she receives an expanded backstory courtesy of an additional anime sequence that adds to her ruthless drive. An additional shot of a sliced hand is really the only major visual update in live action, but the movie’s structure is also impacted by the placement of a key reveal. What was once a cliffhanger at the end of Vol. 1, meant to hook audiences for a sequel, is now a shocking plot twist near the end. This may not change things for long-time fans, but going forward, it ensures that new viewers will never have more information than the Bride, resulting in emotional beats that perfectly map onto her journey.

A handful of theaters are showing the new release on pristine 70mm and 35mm film prints, which – if you’re lucky by way of geography – only adds to the splendor of Tarantino’s cinematic remix. It’s perhaps the mash-up maverick’s most overt work of cultural bastardization-slash-homage, a thin line he traipses with gusto by combining the sounds and styles of spaghetti Westerns, spy B movies, Japanese chanbara (or swordplay) and Chinese wuxia, all choreographed by Hong Kong stunt legend Yuen Woo-ping. However, the long-overdue release is also a more mournful tribute to bygone eras of cinema, simply by virtue of the passage of time: Many of its stars have since departed, including David Carradine, Sonny Chiba, Michael Madsen, and Michael Parks, as well as the film’s editor, Sally Menke. Kill Bill should have always been this way, but it’s better late than never.

Over the past few console generations with built-in storage, gamers were typically stuck with however much space that came with the console. With the PS5, Sony made a surprising move by including an internal M.2 PCIe slot to install an off-the-shelf SSD to supplement the internal storage. Given that this is the same company that paired the PS Vita and PSP with ludicrously expensive memory cards, this was a welcome change of pace, especially given the paltry 825GB of storage you have to work with. Now you can install high-end PC SSDs like the Corsair MP600 Pro LPX, our No. 1 pick, to load even more games nearly as fast as the extra-special drive that's built into the console itself.

TL;DR - These Are the Best SSDs for PS5:

There are a few restrictions. First, you need a PCIe 4.0 or Gen 4 drive or better. This interface allows for SSD speeds up to 7,500MB/s, which is a huge improvement over the 3,500MB/s for Gen 3 M.2 SSDs. You're also going to need an M.2 drive. The actual physical size of the drive doesn't matter, with the PS5 having screw holes for every size of M.2 drive on the market right now. However, most of the time you're going to want to stick with an M.2 2280 drive – they're the most common M.2 drives on the market.

We also recommend getting an SSD with a built-in heatsink. There are size restrictions on the heatsink itself; it can't be taller than 11.25mm. Luckily, there really aren't many SSDs out there that won't fit. Your PS5 SSD needs a heatsink because PCIe 4.0 SSDs have a tendency to create a lot of heat when under load, and the little cubby where the SSD slot is located isn't exactly ideal for passive airflow over the drive itself. So, you'll need a heatsink just to make sure your drive doesn't overheat and throttle its performance. You can either get an SSD with a built-in heatsink, or get a seperate heatsink – either way will work just fine.

As for capacity, choose however much storage you think you'll need. Most people will probably be fine sticking with a 1TB drive to supplement their system. This will essentially double your available storage, and can store a ton of games, or at least allow you to install Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and, like, two other games. You can, of course, splurge for a giant 4TB drive and create a huge archive of games, just be aware that these capacious drives have a much higher price tag.

• If you're an Xbox owner, see our roundup of the best SSDs for Xbox Series X

PS5 SSD Basics

A healthy amount of SSDs are available that pair perfectly with the PS5’s M.2 slot. Given there’s more competition in the space than even just a couple of years ago, you’ll find plenty of high-speed, low-cost drives for a sub-$100 price tag. If you’re looking to amp up storage, you’ll find the price of these drives rises exponentially; bigger drives, like the 8TB SSD from Western Digital, will run you well over $500.

You’ll want to ensure you install an NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD with maximum dimensions of 110mm x 25mm x 11.25mm or 4.33" x 0.984" x 0.442", including the heatsink. Clearly, the PS5 has some cramped, shallow quarters, leading to high temps, rendering a heatsink necessary to prevent bottlenecking or damage to the drive. Luckily, most drives come with an optional heatsink, but if you need to venture out on your own to grab one, be sure it fits height requirements of under 8mm above the SSD or 2.45mm below.

Beyond size requirements, you'll need at least a PCIe 4.0 SSD, that can reach sequential read speeds of 5500MB/s or faster. Most SSDs will have a rated sequential read speed and write speed advertised, so you can get a pretty good idea of how fast it'll be by looking at the box. When you go to install a PS5 SSD, it will run the drive through its own speed test, which will tell you definitively if it's fast enough to run PS5 games. In my experience, this speed test peaks at around 6,500MB/s, so drives that are significantly faster than this aren't really worth getting for the PS5. These days, most PCIe 4.0 drives are rated for aroun 7,000–7,500MB/s, so you'll be spoiled for choice.

Another thing you're going to want to take a look at is the warranty of the drive. This is more than just marketing hype, most SSDs will be rated for an amount of time, usually five years, along with an endurance rating, measured in TBW. This stands for 'Terabytes Written' and measures how much data can theoretically be written to the drive over its lifespan before it fails. This doesn't mean that a drive rated for 700TBW will fail after you fill it 700 times, but instead that it should last at least until that point.

You'll also want to look at the type of NAND memory the SSD is built from. There are three types of NAND that are typically used: QLC, TLC and MLC. The main difference between the three are endurance, with QLC lasting the least amount of time, and MLC being the most durable. Of course, this will also affect the price of the drive, with QLC drives usually being the most affordable drives on the market, with MLC NAND typically found on the most expensive SSDs on the market, and are generally meant for creative professionals, rather than gamers. All of the drives on this list are using TLC NAND, which naturally falls somewhere in the middle.

Given the PS5 only offers 825GB of space and the PS5 Slim has 1TB, you’ll more than likely want and/or need more storage. Games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Baldur’s Gate 3 take up well over 100GB each when installed, so your storage will fill up quickly. The M.2 expansion slot lets you add 250GB–8TB of speedy internal storage. 1TB seems to be the sweet spot between capacity and price, but if you’re looking to put your massive gaming library on one console, you’ll want even more space. Luckily, most mainstream PCIe 4.0 SSDs come in capacities up to 4TB, so you can really build up a library if you have the budget for it.

Beyond an internal SSD, which should be your preferred storage option, you can use an external hard drive. Some external SSD offerings hit relatively high speeds. You can’t run PS5 games on them. However, it will save you the hassle of redownloading larger games, and PS4 titles can be played right on the drive.

Looking for assistance in installing your PS5 SSD after puchase? Be sure to check out our guide on how to upgrade your PS5 storage. Luckily, you don't need to be hardware aficionado to figure it out.

1. Corsair MP600 Pro LPX

Best PS5 SSD

2. Crucial T500

Best Budget PS5 SSD

The Crucial T500 is the best-value SSD around, with nice performance bump from P5 Plus, which previously held this spot. For just over $100, it's a drive offering 1TB of storage with a heatsink attached – only $15 more than the non-heatsink model – and is perfectly sized to slot into the cramped quarters of the PS5. Not only does this drive double the storage on the console, but the hassle of finding and spending extra cash on an absolutely necessary heatsink that fits can be avoided.

Afraid of losing fast speeds with such a great-priced SSD? Don’t be: The T500 keeps up with the best high-performance drives thanks to the Micron TLC 3D NAND flash memory – a solid step up from the QLC NAND seen in many budget SSDs. Max read speeds of up to 7,300 MB/s can be expected from the 1TB drive. Write speeds aren’t shabby either, hitting up to 6,800MB/S. So, everything from game boots and saves to transferring massive gameplay clips will be fast and seamless.

If 1TB doesn’t seem like enough storage, bumping up to the Crucial T500 2TB SSD sees a big increase in storage space and even faster speeds. The TBW rating is also doubled to 1,200 compared to the 1TB drive, though it still offers the same five-year warranty found on most SSDs. Unfortunately, a 4TB option isn’t available for the biggest game library.

3. Samsung 990 Evo Plus

Best PS5 SSD Without Heatsink

While you can spend a lot of cash on a PS5 SSD, I’ve always preferred drives that deliver excellent performance without a bloated price tag. That’s essentially what the Samsung 990 Evo Plus provides. It does have a lower endurance rating than the more expensive 990 Pro, but that’s not something you really have to worry about if you’re plugging an SSD into a console. Plus, the 2TB drive I tested is still rated for 1,200 TBW, which is more than most gamers will ever actually use.

What’s more important is speed. While the drive is rated for up to 7,250MB/s sequential read speeds, the PS5 storage test that runs when you install a new drive rated it at 6,137MB/s. That’s still more than fast enough for PS5 games to run on it, and in my testing, it loaded Metaphor: Refantazio in just 4.37 seconds, a bit faster than the native drive at 4.47 seconds. That’s just a 10ms difference in loading time, but hey, at least you know it’s not going to load your games slower, right?

One thing to keep in mind is that the Samsung 990 Evo Plus is a DRAM-less SSD, which means lower peak performance in pro workloads. However, while it does mean this drive has lower peak performance than it would with a dedicated DRAM cache built-in, the PS5 can’t take advantage of its full rated speed anyways, so it really doesn’t matter. What does matter, though, is Samsung doesn’t currently sell the Samsung 990 Evo Plus with a heatsink attached, which means you’re going to need to pair it with one of your own. Luckily, SSD heatsinks are generally just a few bucks on Amazon, and you could probably get away without one, too.

4. Samsung 9100 Pro

The Overkill PCIe 5.0 SSD for PS5

5. WD_Black P40

Best External SSD for PS5

PS5 SSD FAQ

Is an SSD worth it for PS5?

A good chunk of the PS5’s internal 825GB SSD is taken up by system files, leaving you with a little over 650GB of usable storage space. The PS5 Slim adds a bit more storage, and the PS5 Pro further increases the storage up to 2TB. If you dedicate yourself to only a few games at a time, those smaller storage amounts should probably be enough. But if you like having several games on the go, or are a fiend for live service games that tend to balloon in size as more updates and content packs are added, you’ll soon find yourself hitting the limits of the PS5’s storage. At that point, get yourself an SSD. It's one of the best PS5 accessories you can invest in.

What speed SSD should I get for PS5?

You’ll need an SSD that’s rated with a read speed of at least 5,500MB/s. In practice, it’s difficult not to find a PCIE 4.0 drive that ticks that box. The higher the speed the better, but keep in mind that the PS5 only really supports speeds up to 6,500MB/s. Getting a faster drive than that certainly won't hurt anything, but the system will bottleneck faster drives, especially PCIe 5.0 SSDs that can have read speeds that reach 14,700MB/s or more.

When is the best time to buy a PS5 SSD?

PS5 SSDs are a surprisingly expensive add on to any PS5 console purchase. Prices have dropped pretty signicantly over the years, but if you're hoping to save as much money as possible, there are a few different times that are best for buying an SSD. The first big one is Amazon Prime Day, which usually takes place in July every year. After that, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are an excellent time to find big discounts on PS5 SSDs online.

Are PCIe 5.0 SSDs worth it for the PS5?

Not really. The PS5 supports PCIe 4.0, and though PCIe 5.0 drives are backward compatible with PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 3.0, the console can’t take advantage of the full read and write speeds of the latest drives. That means it’s not worth the extra money, especially when you can often find PCIe 4.0 SSDs for far less.

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

Addditional contributions by Danielle Abraham and Callum Bains

We’re in the final weeks of 2025, and if you’re looking to start up the new year with a fresh selection of PC games, the Humble Choice December lineup is here to provide. This month’s selection features eight games - including Nine Sols, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, Streets of Rage 4, and more - alongside a month of IGN Plus for $14.99 when you sign up for a Humble Choice membership.

Humble Choice December 2025 Game Lineup

Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be over, but Sonos has decided to continue the deals extravaganza with a new 48-hour Cyber Sale. For Tuesday and Wednesday, you can score some new discounts on select certified refurbished soundbars, speakers, and subs. Sonos refurbished products come like new, in pristine packaging with all the original accessories. They even come with the same one year warranty as a brand new product.

Sonos Era 100 Smart Speaker

Do you have an insatiable titan-sized appetite for anime and live music? Then you'll be happy to know The Wild Faery Company is bringing back the "Attack on Titan - Beyond the Walls" tour to the United States in 2026. There are 18 cities on the menu, starting in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on February 28 and ending in Salt Lake City, Utah, on March 29.

2025's "Attack on Titan - Beyond the Walls" world tour brought thousands of Attack on Titan fans together for a night of live orchestrated music accompanied by clips of epic titan battles from the hit anime that ran for 10 years starting in 2013. There were 51 performances in total, capped off with the finale at New York City's Carnegie Hall on November 1. The tour visited other venues of note, including the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, OVO Arena near London, and the Sydney Opera House.

"Attack on Titan - Beyond the Walls" combines live orchestra and hard rock to bring new life to the music from series composers Hiroyuki Sawano (composer for seasons 1, 2, and 3) and Kohta Yamamoto (composer for the final season). You can expect to hear fan-favorite tracks like "Counter Attack-Mankind," "At'aek ON Taitn," "Apple Seed," and "Footsteps of Doom."

Check the list of shows below to find the performance that's closest to you.

For tickets & more information, visit HERE !

Event Calendar:

• Ft Lauderdale, FL – Broward Center – Au Rene – February 28, 2026
• Tampa, FL – Straz Center –March 1, 2026
• Charlotte, NC – Ovens Auditorium – March 3, 2026
• Durham, NC – DPAC – March 4, 2026
• Washington, DC – DAR Constitution Hall – March 6, 2026
• Columbus, OH – Palace Theatre – March 7, 2026
• Cleveland, OH – State Theatre – March 10, 2026
• Detroit, MI – Fox Theatre – March 11, 2026
• Milwaukee, WI – Riverside Theatre – March 12, 2026
• St Louis, MO – The Fabulous Fox – March 13, 2026
• Kansas City, MO – Music Hall – March 14, 2026
• Sugar Land, TX – Smart Financial Centre – March 17, 2026
• Austin, TX – Bass Concert Hall – March 18, 2026
• Denver, CO – Bellco Theatre – March 21, 2026
• Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre – March 23, 2026
• Sacramento, CA – Memorial Auditorium – March 26, 2026
• Portland, OR – Keller Auditorium – March 27, 2026
• Salt Lake City, UT – Abbravanel Hall – March 29, 2026

To get the latest updates, you can follow:

• The Wild Faery on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
• Innovation A&E on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren has called on the Justice Department to examine Netflix's $82.7 billion buyout of Warner Bros., and branded the deal as "like an anti-monopoly nightmare."

The prominent politician is among the first to speak out against the proposed deal, which Netflix and Warner Bros. announced early this morning, and said would provide better value to subscribers and shareholders.

In contrast, Warren has highlighted the risks of the potential merger — which, if approved, will be finalized in the second half of 2026. In a statement, Warren said a Netflix-owned Warner Bros. risked job losses and higher subscription prices, and said that the Justice Department must now enforce the country's anti-monopoly laws "fairly and transparently."

Jessica Alba got real about her least favorite scene to shoot as Sue Storm in the 2005 film Fantastic Four 20 years later — a “humiliating” one where her character reappeared completely naked over a bridge.

“I thought that was awful,” she said while giving an expansive talk on her career at the Red Sea Film Festival. “It was very humiliating in real life. I grew up with a pretty conservative family, and I am a pretty modest person. I dreaded that scene for weeks. I have a lot of whiplash from those days.”

That said, Alba went on to say that she “loved” playing the character and breaking gender stereotypes in superhero media with the role. “She was a woman I looked up to,” she explained. “She was very maternal and very kind, but also not a pushover; she spoke her mind. She had a great moral compass. No matter who you are, you can look up to her. Oftentimes, the women in these stories need to be saved by a guy or the villain, the problem in the story. This was back then. It’s different now.”

Interestingly enough, Alba hasn’t had a chance to catch her successor, Vanessa Kirby, try her hand at Sue Storm in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. “I usually watch those movies with my kids, and if Sonic was out, my son wants to watch it 85 times in a row. When it comes to movies that are for the family, my kids dominate what we watch for sure,” she revealed during the talk. “But I have to convince him because we have to see it! I love Marvel, and they’re so fun.”

Alba took on the role of Sue Storm in the 2005 entry and the 2007 sequel film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. After her, Kate Mara played the role in the 2015 reboot film. Last year, Alba said she would "jump at the chance" to reprise her Fantastic Four role, but confirmed Marvel Studios has yet to approach her about a return.

Marvel rebooted The Fantastic Four with Vanessa Kirby taking on the role of Sue Storm alongside Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch.

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

XD released Sword of Convallaria, a tactical RPG for iOS, Android, and PC to audiences in the west in August ’24 (around a year after the game’s East Asian launch). Heavily influenced by Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics, the game has captivated fans with its meticulously crafted war story and highly strategic battles, all played out to a beautiful soundtrack.

Just over a year following its release, a truly major collaboration between Sword of Convallaria: For This World of Peace and CD PROJEKT RED's open-world RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has been fully realised and delivered to gamers. Geralt, Yennefer, Triss, and Ciri now appear in Sword of Convallaria as playable characters; allowing players to enjoy collaborative stories and quests surrounding the Lord of the Forest from another world.

The studio behind the Postal franchise just announced that it will be publishing a brand new Postal game, to be developed by Goonswarm Games. Unfortunately, it even more recently announced it would be cancelling said game, due to accusations that Goonswarm had used generative AI in its development. And now, Goonswarm is shutting down.

The game, entitled Postal: Bullet Paradise, was announced earlier this week on Wednesday with a reveal trailer and press release. It purports to be a "timeline-hopping, dystopian bullet heavne first-person shooter" set in the Postal universe, where players can select from 11 unlockable Postal Dudes from different timelines and, well, shoot people.

However, not long after the trailer debuted, Postal fans began pointing out that the game had a lot of hallmarks of assets made with generative AI. When we went to embed the trailer into this article for you to watch, our access to the video file had been cut off and the official version had been removed from YouTube. You can still watch it through the Steam page here and judge for yourself.

Checking in on the Postal subreddit, you can see some of the feedback. Fan spoint out that the pixel sprites' mouths "don't make sense", and elements such as shading and pixel placement are off somehow. They also point out that Goonswarm has almost certainly used generative AI in its games before (a close watch of this trailer has a number of pretty obvious indicators), making it not impossible that it would do so again.

When accusations initially began flying, both Goonswarm and Running With Scissors denied the use of generative AI. As Goonswarm told PCGamesN in a statement:

No generative AI was used for the reveal trailer or for the game. All assets were created by our human artists using standard tools. We've already shared layered PSDs, work-in-progress files, and other materials to confirm this. Any mistakes or rough spots in those files are being misinterpreted as 'proof' of AI, but they simply reflect the normal, human art-creation process

Meanwhile, while Running With Scissors initially promised to investigate further, studio co-owner Mike Jeret angered the Postal audience further by not just vehemently denying there was generative AI in the game, but also using fairly strong language toward the accusers, referring to them as "ignorant assholes" and telling anyone who thought the game used generative AI to "excuse yourself from our Discord."

But finally, today, the publisher has taken a definitive stance. Running With Scissors announced it would be canceling the game entirely, saying that the audience feedback had caused "extreme damage to our brand and our company reputation" and that it no longer trusted the development team.

Here's Running With Scissors' statement in full:

After revealing Postal: Bullet Paradise, a title Running With Scissors was planning on publishing but not developing, we've been overwhelmed with negative responses from our concerned Postal Community. The strong feedback from them is that elements of the game are very likely AI-generated and thus has caused extreme damage to our brand and our company reputation.

We’ve always been, and will always be, transparent with our community. Our trust in the development team is broken; therefore, we've killed the project. We have a lot of good things coming (some you know and some you don’t).

Since forming Running With Scissors in 1996, we’ve always said that our fans are part of the team. Our priority is to always do right by the millions who support the Postal franchise. We are grateful for the opportunity to make the games we want to play, and will continue to focus on our new projects and updates coming in 2026 and beyond. We can’t wait to share more!

Fan feedback in response to this seems generally positive, with a number of people suggesting they were excited about the premise of the game and hoped it could be passed on to a different developer. Some are still hoping for an apology from Jeret for his language toward the community, but that has not yet manifested.

But there's one group of folks who aren't happy, and that's Goonswarm. In a statement posted to Twitter, the studio announced it would be shutting down due to the cancellation of its game. Here's their statement in full as well:

Our project, and everything we built over the psat six years, was canceled in just a few days.

Our studio was mistakenly accused of using AI-generated art in our games, and every attempt to clarify our work only escalated the situation. In the last few hours, we've received a large number of threats, insults, and mockery, which pushed us toward a very difficult decision.

We're truly sorry for the artists who put their soul into this and supported our studio, only to face false AI accusations. It's tough to pour so much energy into a game and end up caught in the middle of an AI war by accident.

We've decided to shut down the studio and end all future activities.

Thank you for being with us. Stay strong, play games.

This is far from the first time the Postal games, which are essentially about various guys committing mass shootings, have been embroiled in controversy. The last mainline game, Postal 4: NoRegerts, released in 2022 to a rare 2/10 from us. Our reviewer said that "the comedy is lazy and embarrassing, the combat is messy and painfully unsatisfying, and it runs so poorly on high-end hardware that it can scarcely be enjoyed at all even by those just hoping for some campy shock humor." Running With Scissors has also released multiple spinoffs in recent years, such as 2022's Postal: Brain Damaged by CreativeForge Games and a 2023 April Fool's joke in POOSTALL Royale.

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

GTA fans finally have their first look at Grand Theft Auto 5 character Michael in the Grand Theft Auto universe since the game launched back in 2013.

We can see Michael in the trailer for GTA Online DLC A Safehouse in the Hills, below. In the teaser for the upcoming expansion, which adds a luxurious new home for the most successful of online criminals to the online mode, a noticeably older, greying, Michael De Santa and his wife Amanda can be seen greeting a player at the front door of their fancy new Hollywood Hills crib. This is the first time that Michael, played by Ned Luke, has been seen in the Grand Theft Auto universe since GTA 5 launched back in 2013.

The update also settles any lingering questions around the canon ending for GTA 5, confirming once and for all that Option C, otherwise known as “Deathwish”, is how the story should end.

It now means that all three playable protagonists, with Franklin and Trevor being the other two, have appeared in GTA Online. Naturally, this means the “Deathwish” ending is now canon in Online’s version of Los Santos, as this is the only way that all three characters remain alive at the end of GTA 5’s final mission “The Third Way” — one of three possible last levels available depending on the player’s choice. For reference, “Something Sensible” is Option A, which leaves both Franklin and Michael alive, but kills Trevor, and “The Time’s Come” is Option B, resulting in Franklin and Trevor’s survival, but Michael’s death.

In all three possible endings, Franklin lives to walk the streets of Los Santos, so it always felt natural that he’d be a part of GTA Online, which takes place after the events of Grand Theft Auto 5. Trevor has also been present since 2013, giving the online protagonist missions and calling to berate them over the phone in his own peculiar manner, but this is the first time we’ve seen Michael’s face since.

Eagle-eared online players would’ve heard a small reference to the professional bank robber back in 2021, though, which, although it definitely alludes to Michael, didn’t 100% confirm he was still around. This occurs when Franklin is chasing two golfers through the Richards Majestic Studios film lot in the centre of the city. This is one of the places Michael works in order to achieve his Hollywood movie-producing dreams in the main game’s campaign. Franklin remarks, “I know one of the producers around here. I hope his ass ain’t work today…”, suggesting De Santa is still employed there after all this time.

It is curious that Rockstar has chosen to put Michael back into the world of GTA so many years after we saw him last, and it does beg the question of how long this was planned for, seeing as this update has dropped so close to GTA 6’s previous release date of November 19, 2025. Is this the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption developer saying their final goodbye to these characters before gearing up to unleash Lucia and Jason into the world in 2026?

How do you feel about the “Deathwish” ending being chosen by Rockstar as the canonical one for GTA 5? Let us know in the comments below. And, of course, for everything GTA 6, stick with IGN.

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

Netflix's $82.7 billion deal to buy Warner Bros. will see the streaming service gain access to a vast vault of content — which, according to a new report, could be used as a potential "AI trove."

Speaking today on an investor call attended by IGN, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos repeatedly mentioned future "innovation" as one of the reasons why the streamer was so keen to own Warner Bros.' 102-year-old back catalogue, which includes movies in the Harry Potter and DC Comics franchises, as well as TV series such as Game of Thrones, Friends and The Big Bang Theory.

Now, insider sources have told The Hollywood Reporter that the subtext behind Sarandos' mentions of innovation was the huge boost to Netflix's AI plans that Warner Bros.' library of content could bring — both to train future AI models and to allow subscribers access to generate their own creations using licensed assets.

Viewed through this lens, the Netflix and Warner Bros. deal makes even more sense. For its part, Netflix has already built a finely-tuned content algorithm based on machine-learning and granular knowledge of its millions of subscribers. Warner Bros., meanwhile, has a enormous back catalogue of content that can be plugged in to Netflix's existing service — and used to create more content in future.

Netflix has long been accused of producing new TV series and movies designed by algorithm, using past viewing data to greenlight projects it can safely expect will be enjoyed by swathes of its subscriber base. Even on a base level, having access to Warner Bros.' catalogue will undoubtedly help Netflix's algorithm learn even more about its users' viewing habits, with such a large library now part of its own service.

But beyond that, content companies are clearly keen to experiment further with AI generation and offer licensed access to their own franchises as a premium feature. Last month, Disney boss Bob Iger stated that he expected to see user-generated AI content appearing on Disney+ in the near future, as part of what he described as one of "the biggest and the most significant changes — from a product perspective, from a technology perspective — since we launched the service in 2019."

The suggestion is that Disney will let its paying customers create videos using its licensed characters and share them with others via the platform — as a more official version of what happened when AI generation platform Sora 2 launched a few months ago and briefly allowed users to create mash-ups featuring Mickey Mouse, Pokémon, and Star Wars, before copyright rules were enforced.

Considering the vast back catalogue at Disney's fingertips, it's perhaps no surprise to see Netflix keen to obtain a similarly historic library for itself, as the streaming wars heat up further.

"Our mission has always been to entertain the world," Netflix's Sarandos said earlier today. "By combining Warner Bros.’ incredible library of shows and movies — from timeless classics like Casablanca and Citizen Kane to modern favorites like Harry Potter and Friends — with our culture-defining titles like Stranger Things, KPop Demon Hunters and Squid Game, we'll be able to do that even better. Together, we can give audiences more of what they love and help define the next century of storytelling.”

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

Fresh from announcing it has bought Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion, Netflix has confirmed the release date of the upcoming film Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man in theaters as well as on the streaming platform itself.

The upcoming continuation of the story of the Shelbys makes its debut with a theatrical rollout in select theaters beginning on March 6, 2026, two weeks before it hits Netflix on March 20.

To coincide with the announcement, Netflix released a poster, below, showing star Cillian Murphy, who will reprise his role as Tommy Shelby, sitting on a horse with his eyes in shadow under the brim of his signature hat.

Noah Schnapp, one of the stars of the beloved Netflix hit Stranger Things, seemingly accidentally revealed two crucial spoilers during a recent episode of the Hot Ones YouTube show, which were promptly edited out.

Warning! Spoilers (we think!) for Stranger Things Season 5 follow:

Schnapp — alongside costars Gaten Matarazzo, Finn Wolfhard, and Caleb McLaughlin — appeared on an episode of Hot Ones Versus (the version of the iconic interview series that doesn’t feature host Sean Evans), where he dropped a couple bombs, namely that Vecna is controlled, or, as he put it, "is run" by the Mind Flayer, while recapping the entire series in just 30 seconds.

Trying desperately to condense the events of each Stranger Things season in half a minute, Schnapp also let spill that in Season 2, his character, Will, built the tunnels under Hawkins after he was kidnapped and possessed by Vecna in Season 1, something the show has yet to confirm.

As for the Vecna reveal, there is a little leeway here for Schnapp’s transgression. Technically, the notion that Vecna has been controlled by the Mind Flayer was first presented in the Broadway play Stranger Things: The First Shadow. In the theatrical exploration of the show, it is suggested that the Mind Flayer gave Henry Creel (played by Jamie Campbell Bower) his powers, which in turn led him to become Vecna. So if you’ve seen the play, you’d have at least a baseline knowledge of that idea — but most fans have not and were otherwise dark about the connection until now.

Despite Hot Ones editing the video pretty quickly, fans latched onto the spoilers and grabbed clips of the video before it was removed, which are now all over social media and Reddit.

said will built the tunnels and that vecna is run by the mindflayer… these are absolutely spoilers that accidentally slipped through 😭 https://t.co/SmbfBxEzbZ pic.twitter.com/PvpPDcchYx

— 🐰 (@c_tviz) December 2, 2025

“They Barbara Streisand-ed the Hot Ones video,” one fan wrote on the Stranger Things subreddit, to which another user replied, “Lol, that’s sorta funny considering they used a Barbara Streisand song about 'memories' in the show.”

“THEY CUT IT OUT I CAN'T BREATHE,” another person wrote on Twitter/X, while another fan remarked about the faces Wolfhard and McLaughlin make during the interview, suggesting that they realized Schnapp was airing out spoilers. “I didn't notice Finn and Caleb's faces, omg u might be right,” they wrote in response to a fan who shared the clip. “​​wow, that’s not subtle at all…” one tweet read. “someone’s getting the wrath of the internet.”

Of course, Schnapp may have simply got all this wrong, and his version of the events of the series may not be entirely accurate. But the fact his "spoilers" were edited out of the show does suggest Netflix isn't happy with them being out there.

Needless to say, we’ll see how this all shakes down in the next four episodes of Stranger Things, which will continue the three-drop release strategy. The first four episodes of Season 5 were released on Netflix for Thanksgiving and the next four will arrive on Christmas. The final episode of the series will drop both on the streamer and in theaters nationwide on New Year’s Eve.

Stranger Things Season 5 release dates:

• VOL 1 - November 26, 5pm PT
• VOL 2 - Christmas, 5pm PT
• THE FINALE - New Year’s Eve, 5pm PT

We’ve got plenty more on Stranger Things, including Ross Duffer’s call to arms for fans to turn off “garbage” TV settings before watching Season 5. And be sure to check out our Stranger Things: Season 5, Vol. 1 spoiler review to find out what we think of how the show is going.

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

It’s that time of the year when a flurry of new video game trailers and gameplay reveals are shown as part of the annual Game Awards. And while who wins Game of the Year will steal some of the headlines on December 11, a lot of the excitement also comes from the secrets and surprises that get unleashed in the form of new game announcements.

So we’re keeping tabs on what has been confirmed to make an appearance so far, what has been teased, and some of the pie-in-the-sky dream games we know deep down in our brains won’t be there, but our heart tells us there might just be a chance. Don’t worry, we’re not going to be quite as far-fetched as to say GTA 6 will be at The Game Awards, nor The Witcher 4, which CD Projekt Red has already confirmed won’t be. But that’s enough of that. Let’s head straight into what you can expect from The Game Awards 2025.

What We Know Will Be There

Regal. Inspiring. Thickness. No, not words often used to describe me, but the ones that accompanied Geoff Keighley’s social media post of a mysterious demon-covered monolith that appeared in the Mojave Desert last week. Theories have been flying out as to what it could be teasing, but much of that speculation has been debunked, with Diablo, God of War, and The Elder Scrolls 6 all supposedly not what it relates to. What do you think it is?

regal.inspiring.thickness pic.twitter.com/lY1duUcE1B

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) November 29, 2025

We do know that Resident Evil Requiem will be showing up on the 11th with a new look at the long-running horror series’ latest entry. Arriving early next year, rumours have been circulating ever since its original reveal that Resident Evil 4 hunk, Leon Kennedy, will make an appearance in Requiem. Is now the time for Capcom to confirm his inclusion?

A new playable character will be revealed for Invincible VS, though. The fighting game adaptation of the cult-favourite comic and animated TV show has garnered a lot of attention since its summer reveal, so who do you think this character will be? We’ll also get a good look at Exodus, the upcoming sci-fi action RPG from Archetype Studios, formed by former BioWare developers. With that sort of Mass Effect pedigree behind it, it's certainly one we’re looking forward to seeing a lot more of. We also know that a new Total War game will be revealed by developer Creative Assembly, following the series' 25th anniversary.

And finally, we know that one of the musical performances on Thursday night will be from Evanescence, who will be showcasing their song “Afterlife” from the Netflix adaptation of Devil May Cry. Would I prefer they did “Bring Me to Life” with Nathan Fielder dressed as an airline pilot on backing vocals? Yes, of course, but we can’t have everything in this world.

What Might Be There

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 broke the record for the most nominations of The Game Awards, and looks set to be one of the big winners of the night. Could we see a release date announcement for the upcoming free update that will add a new dungeon, among other treats? Who knows, maybe even a cheeky little shadow drop…

Another announcement we could see from one of the big nominees of the night is a wider console release for Hades 2. Currently only on PC and Switch, could one of 2025’s best games come to PS5 and Xbox?

Fallout Season 2 arrives on Amazon Prime Video on December 17, and given Geoff’s penchant for having stars of the big and small screen on stage at The Game Awards, we wouldn’t be shocked to see some combination of Ella Purnell and Walton Goggins arrive to give us a sneak peek of what’s to come.

Speaking of stars of the big screen, things don’t come much more cinematic than James Bond. 007 First Light is the upcoming action-adventure from Hitman studio IO Interactive, and it's shaping up very nicely, as you can read in my big preview. With it coming out in March 2026, surely we’re due for another hit on the Bond pipe soon. Could a big reveal, such as who the villain will be, or who is performing the game’s theme, be at The Game Awards? The stage certainly seems set for the latter to come with a live performance at the show.

Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, which is being helmed by Uncharted’s Amy Hennig, moved out of early 2026. The delay may mean that we’ll be waiting a little longer to play Captain America and Black Panther’s WW2 adventure, but is now the time for a full gameplay reveal?

Speaking of Marvel, Insomniac’s Marvel’s Wolverine is due late 2026, and while we’ve had some teases of what it will look like in action, we’d certainly love to see more. As for other PlayStation exclusives, Housemarque’s Saros looks set to follow in the sci-fi shooter footsteps of breakout hit Returnal when it arrives in March. Again, we’d love to see more. And one PlayStation Studios game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, may well be a while off yet — if you think you’re playing this in 2026, keep dreaming — but seeing as it got its big reveal at last year’s Game Awards, it wouldn’t be a stretch to see a bigger look at Naughty Dog’s next project very soon.

On the Xbox side of things, could we finally get a good look at some Fable gameplay? Or maybe see Gears of War: E-Day in action? There’s also Forza Horizon 6 on the way next year, of which we’ve seen nothing but the smallest of teasers. We know it's set in Japan, so we would love to see just how beautiful Playground Games’ depiction of Tokyo is. Plus, let’s face it, driving games can never resist pulling out all of the stops and placing their cover car centre of stage at events like this.

It also wouldn’t be a Geoff Keighley show with a sprinkling of Hideo Kojima into the mix. The Metal Gear Solid creator is up for a few awards thanks to Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, but might we also get a look at what is coming up next from him? Xbox horror exclusive OD: Knock continues to be teased as it conjures up unsettling memories of P.T, so we could see more of that. There’s also Physint, his PlayStation espionage action exclusive. That may well be far away at this point, but not beyond the realms of possibility for Kojima to tease further.

Another legendary developer, Ken Levine, continues to work away on Judas. It’s been over 12 years since he last released a game, 2013’s Bioshock Infinite, so who really knows if now is the time to finally give us a launch date for this one. I’m very excited about it, but I won’t let myself get carried away until I have any idea when I’ll actually be able to play it. Something I have already been able to play a little of is Phantom Blade Zero, a quite punishing sword action game from Chinese developer S-Game. It was originally meant to arrive in 2025, but could a release date finally be unveiled on the 11th?

And, finally for now. FromSoftware’s Switch 2 exclusive, The Duskbloods, has been very quiet ever since its initial reveal back in April's Nintendo Direct. Due for 2026 – and seeing Keighley has had several previous Hidetaka Miyazaki-related reveals at The Game Awards in the past – maybe now is the time for an in-depth look at exactly what this co-op action RPG is.

What We Can Dream Will Be There

Well, at least we don’t have to close our eyes and cross our fingers in hope of a Hollow Knight: Silksong release date anymore. But will Team Cherry tease DLC for one of 2025’s best games? Even I won’t go as far as to genuinely suggest that.

Another one of this year’s best games is Donkey Kong Bananza, which served as Nintendo’s big launch window 3D platformer. That may have come as a surprise to some who thought Mario would have that position nailed down. Could we see a new 3D Mario game announced at The Game Awards? It’s admittedly a long shot, but with the new Super Mario Galaxy Movie on the way next Spring, it sure would be nice to have a new game to play alongside it.

What might be more likely is a look at what Cory Barlog has been cooking up at Sony Santa Monica. A new game from the God of War director outside of that universe has been rumoured for a long time now, and it feels like we may be getting closer to seeing what it is. The Game Awards has a pattern of bringing back past winners of the Game of the Year award to tease their next projects. So this gives us a little hope here.

Following on from that train of thought, two recent recipients of the big prize have been Elden Ring and Baldur’s Gate 3. The former’s creator, FromSoftware, may well bring The Duskbloods with them, as mentioned earlier, but what about a new single-player action RPG in the mould of what has made them so well-renowned? Bloodborne 2, anyone? I almost feel bad for mentioning it. As for Baldur’s Gate 3, developer Larian is surely now working on its next game, although seeing as BG3 did take many, many years to make, we won’t be expecting to play this one soon. Could we see a tease of what’s to come, though? Do you think it would be Baldur’s Gate 4 or something altogether different?

Baldur’s Gate’s original developer, BioWare, has its sights set on the stars, as the EA studio returns to the beloved sci-fi RPG series, Mass Effect. Could we be given a glimpse into where the story may be heading next? Or dare we even dream of some Mass Effect 5 gameplay? That may be a little too far, but I do like to dream.

And speaking of dreaming, I can’t not mention Half-Life 3. Rumours have been circulating over recent weeks that the long, long-awaited FPS sequel might actually be in development, with an announcement imminent. Could it actually be at The Game Awards? Geoff Keighley does have a long history with Valve, but these days it operates more like Rockstar does, with outside help rarely called on for its big marketing beats. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see Gordon Freeman pop up on that giant screen, but I won’t believe it until I do.

What would be your dream Game Awards reveal? Let us know in the comments below. Mine, as ever, would be a full Burnout reboot from the original Criterion team, but I may have to admit that I’m not living in 2005 anymore.

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

Tim Cain, one of the creators of the original Fallout video game, has rejoined Xbox studio Obsidian Entertainment to work on a mystery project.

In a video published on his YouTube channel (which he's used to tell a lot of fun stories about the making of the first Fallout game), Cain said he was now a full-time member of staff at Obsidian, last seen releasing The Outer Worlds 2, Grounded 2, and Avowed. This means he’s not a contractor anymore, and so is not working at other studios, although there is a game set to come out at some point in the future that will have his name on it.

Cain wouldn’t say anything about the project he’s joined Obsidian to work on, and told fans not to even bother guessing what it is.

“I also can’t talk about the project I’m working on at Obsidian, just because that’s covered under NDA,” he said. “Don’t bother guessing. You’re not going to guess right. I would say that I’m probably a lot less retired now than I was before, so that whole video I have on being semi-retired, I guess I’m not.”

Cain last worked at Obsidian as a full-time employee on Pillars of Eternity and The Outer Worlds. He then moved to being a contractor, contributing to The Outer Worlds 2. Obsidian has yet to announce its next project. Last month, Obsidian developers said they were well aware that whenever the studio announces a new game, people ask where Fallout: New Vegas 2 is, but they also love how they’ve been able to create new IP and even release sequels to them.

Fallout Season 2 is set to hit Prime Video this December, and while Bethesda has a new Fallout: New Vegas bundle up its sleeve, there’s no word yet on a Fallout remaster or a Fallout: New Vegas 2 to capitalize on the surge of interest in the franchise. Obsidian is of course the developer of the much-loved 2010 RPG Fallout: New Vegas, so fans often wonder whether it will return to the setting for a sequel, especially given it’s now owned by Bethesda parent company Microsoft.

Obsidian, though, has focused on making brand new games, and it is prolific in doing so. It’s released Grounded (Grounded 2 came out this year), fantasy RPG Avowed (which came out this year), and sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds (The Outer Worlds 2 came out this year). Pentiment, which came out last year, was another brand new game, although I wouldn’t expect a sequel to that any time soon.

Last month, the Fallout 3 remaster that leaked back in 2023 was said to be still in the works. In response to Bethesda development chief Todd Howard’s recent interview with GQ, in which he talked about The Elder Scrolls 6 still being some way off and “some other things we're doing” in the Fallout franchise, VGC reported that a remaster of Fallout 3 along the same lines as this year’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is among them.

There are all sorts of rumors floating around about potential Fallout remakes, and certainly a growing expectation among fans that Bethesda will turn to its older Fallout video games to keep fans on-side while they wait for The Elder Scrolls 6.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Last month, Avatar writer and director James Cameron set the cat among the pigeons when he revealed he was ready to walk away from the franchise if Avatar: Fire and Ash doesn’t make enough profit to convince Disney to bankroll Avatar 4 and 5.

The special effects-heavy Avatar films cost a huge amount of money to produce, but they have historically made billions of dollars at the box office. Avatar: Fire and Ash, due out in December, is expected to follow suit — and the pressure is on to deliver for Disney so Cameron can realize his vision and release Avatar 4 and 5 over the next six years.

Speaking on The Town with Matthew Belloni podcast, Cameron admitted he was feeling nervous about Avatar: Fire and Ash’s box office performance, and was mindful of the “forces” working against theatrical releases in 2025.

There’s the potential for “sequelitis,” Cameron noted. "People tend to dismiss sequels unless it’s the third Lord of the Rings film and you want to see what happens to everybody, which in my mind this is — this is the culmination of a story arc, but that may not be how the public sees it.”

And there’s the “one-two punch” of streaming and Covid, which means fewer people are going to the movies — 75% of the number in 2019, Cameron suggested.

When pressed on how much Avatar: Fire and Ash cost to make, Cameron wouldn’t be drawn into divulging a figure, only suggesting it was a lot of money, and so the movie will have to make a lot of money to turn a profit.

“It is one metric f**k ton of money, which means we have to make two metric f**k tons of money to make a profit,” he said. “I have no doubt in my mind that this movie will make money. The question is, does it make enough money to justify doing it again?”

As Netflix confirms plans to buy Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion, the streaming service has said it expects shorter theatrical runs for movies in future "to meet the audience where they are, quicker."

Today's announcement by Netflix that it will acquire the Harry Potter, DC Comics and Game of Thrones owner came with an acknowledgement that it plans to continue releasing Warner Bros.' films theatrically — at least, for now.

Speaking on a just-finished investor call, Netflix boss Ted Sarandos was asked how the company's plans for theatrical releases might change post-merger. And while Sarandos stopped short of confirming any concrete plans, the CEO made clear that he believed shorter theatrical windows were the future — and what consumers wanted.

"We've released about 30 films into theaters this year, so it's not like we have got this opposition to movies into theaters," Sarandos began. "My pushback has been mostly in the fact of the long, exclusive windows that we don't think are that user friendly."

Speaking about HBO's current output, which includes some movies released in theaters, Sarandos said the brand's content "includes a life cycle that starts in the movie theater" for some productions, "which we're going to continue to support."

"I wouldn't look at this as a change in approach for Netflix movies, or for Warner movies for that matter," Sarandos continued. "I think over time the windows will evolve to be much more consumer friendly, to be able to meet the audience where they are, quicker. All those things we'd like to do. But I'd say right now you should count on everything that is planned as going to the theaters through Warner Bros., will continue to go to the theaters through Warner Bros."

Of course, Netflix has also released a small number of its own films in theaters, though wide releases are few and far between. The recent Frankenstein had a limited release, while KPop Demon Hunters got a short theatrical release only after it arrived and became a huge success on Netflix itself first.

"Netflix movies will take the same strategy as they have, which is some of them do have a short run in the theaters beforehand, but our primary goal is to bring first-run movies to our members, because that's what they're looking for," Sarandos confirmed.

"Up until now, this was not our business model," he concluded. "I've said that many times. We're acquiring a business that... it is part of the business model, and we're intending to continue with that."

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

Introducing Silent Road, a first-person psychological horror game where you play a taxi driver working the night shift in a forested region of Japan known for an unusually high suicide rate and sights of supernatural phenomena. The further you get into the night, the scarier it gets. It's in development for PC.

Developer Endflame describes Silent Road as such: "What begins as routine work becomes a descent into psychological horror as passengers grow stranger, roads grow colder, and forces beyond the natural world draw closer. Through tense rides and disturbing encounters, you must uncover the mystery that haunts the forest before it consumes you completely." Take a look at the reveal trailer above and the first screenshots in the gallery below.

You'll need to assist passengers with their very unsettling requests, navigate through haunting foggy roads, and uncover the mysteries on the road and beyond it.

Silent Road is due out in 2026. Wishlist it on Steam if you're interested.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

Netflix has confirmed it has entered into a definitive agreement to buy Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO, and HBO Max, in a deal worth $82.7 billion.

In a statement, Netflix said the buyout would be completed in Q3 2026. Post-acquisition, the streamer said that it still expected Warner Bros. movies to continue being released in theaters.

Celebrating its momentous acquisition of Warner Bros.' vast content vault, Netflix said the deal would bring its global reach and streaming capabililties to a century of movies and TV franchises, as well as the studio's biggest ongoing franchises. These notably include the DC Universe which is now being overseen by James Gunn, the Game of Thrones franchise which now has an expanded slate of spin-offs, and Harry Potter, which will soon be rebooted via an ambitious new TV series.

Netflix said it plans to add Warner Bros.' "deep film and TV libraries", as well as its HBO and HBO Max shows, to its own streaming service, which will mean the arrival of series such as Friends, The Big Bang Theory and House of the Dragon alongside countless movies, from Citizen Kane to this year's Superman.

At the same time, Netflix said it would also support theatrical releases for future Warner Bros. movies — but for which titles, and for how long? Today's announcement does not go into detail, and there will undoubtedly be questions on the extent to which Netflix will support Warner Bros.' theatrical output, after previously saying it wouldn't change its long-standing view on theaters versus streaming.

Word that Netflix was now a frontrunner in the race to buy Warner Bros. first emerged earlier this morning, following weeks of speculation around an imminent deal and significant interest from other parties, not least fellow Hollywood studio Paramount.

As yet, no specific mention has been made of Warner Bros.’ video games. The company owns Mortal Kombat developer NetherRealm, Batman: Arkham maker Rocksteady, and Hogwarts Legacy studio Avalanche. Next year, Warner Bros. is set to release Traveller's Tales’ Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, while Rocksteady is believed to be back making a new Arkham title. As for Avalanche, following the breakout success of Hogwarts Legacy, a sequel now seems all but assured.

"Our mission has always been to entertain the world," said Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix. "By combining Warner Bros.’ incredible library of shows and movies — from timeless classics like Casablanca and Citizen Kane to modern favorites like Harry Potter and Friends — with our culture-defining titles like Stranger Things, KPop Demon Hunters and Squid Game, we'll be able to do that even better. Together, we can give audiences more of what they love and help define the next century of storytelling.”

"Today’s announcement combines two of the greatest storytelling companies in the world to bring to even more people the entertainment they love to watch the most,” added David Zaslav, President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery. "For more than a century, Warner Bros. has thrilled audiences, captured the world’s attention, and shaped our culture. By coming together with Netflix, we will ensure people everywhere will continue to enjoy the world’s most resonant stories for generations to come."

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

Fallout TV series star Walton Goggins has said he's not played the franchise's video games and is "not interested" in doing so — because it would upset his method for playing The Ghoul.

Goggins, who also portrays his character's pre-nuclear war counterpart Cooper Howard, told PC Gamer that he wanted to "believe" the show's Wasteland setting was real when going to work — a level of immersion that would be broken by seeing its original video game form.

"No, I haven't sat down to play the games," Goggins said. "And I won't. I won't. I won't play the games. I'm not interested.

"All of a sudden, I'm looking at this world from a very different perspective, and as something on a screen in which I am an avatar in," he reasoned, discussing why he hadn't played any of the Fallout series to date.

"I don't believe that I'm an avatar," he continued. "I believe The Ghoul exists in the world. I believe that Cooper Howard exists in the world. The best way that I can serve this world and serve the fans of this game, I think, is to go to work every single day and believe the circumstances that I'm presented with."

As part of the same interview, Ella Purnell, who plays former Vault-dweller Lucy MacLean, said she had spent some time playing Fallout 4 before shooting the series' first season as it "heightened the enjoyment and the experience" of then going on set and seeing the show's Vault set for real.

Aaron Moten, who plays Brotherhood of Steel soldier Maximus, meanwhile said he wanted to be "done with the work" before playing the games. "And who knows," Moten suggested, "maybe we'll be working on this so long that Bethesda will have a new Fallout number for us to jump into."

Could Fallout's TV series run long enough that the world gets a brand-new Bethesda game to play? It seems unlikely, since Bethesda is still years away from finishing The Elder Scrolls 6, which it intends to launch first. But rumors persist that Bethesda won't wait quite that long to launch something more for Fallout fans to play, with some form of remake expected.

Fallout's second season is set to begin airing from December 17, and will take a "fog of war" approach to how it juggles Fallout: New Vegas' various endings. A third season has already been confirmed, and is expected to begin filming next year.

Image credit: Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/WireImage via Getty.

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

Nintendo fans are unhappy about a $30 Metroid Prime 4: Beyond amiibo figurine that lets you turn on your motorbike's radio.

As previously announced, the Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Samus amiibo unlocks a range of in-game features, including an energy shield that blocks 99 damage — limited to one use per day. But fan discussion has now centered on the fact this amiibo also unlocks a jukebox feature for Samus' Vi-O-La motorbike, which allows you to hear other themes from the game.

Amazon has revealed fresh details about the upcoming Prime Video Spider-Man spinoff series, Spider-Noir, and released new posters for the show.

Spider-Noir is a live-action series based on the Marvel comic Spider-Man Noir. It tells the story of Ben Reilly, played by Nicolas Cage, who is described as “an aging and down on his luck private investigator in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life as the city’s one and only superhero.”

This is our first official confirmation that Cage is playing Ben Reilly as opposed to Peter Parker. In the Marvel comics, Ben Reilly, also known as Scarlet Spider, is a clone of Peter Parker/Spider-Man initially tasked with fighting him, but he eventually becomes an ally. Created by writer Gerry Conway, the character first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #149 (October 1975). Ben Reilly as the Scarlet Spider appears in 2023 animated movie Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, voiced by Andy Samberg.

Amazon said Spider-Noir will be available in both black and white and color, and released new posters, below, reflecting the difference in look audiences can expect.

Expect a release at some point in 2026, debuting domestically in the U.S. on MGM+’s linear channel, then globally on Prime Video the next day in more than 240 countries and territories thereafter.

The cast includes Nicolas Cage, Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li, Karen Rodriguez, Abraham Popoola, Jack Huston, and Brendan Gleeson. Guest star cast includes Lukas Haas, Cameron Britton, Cary Christopher, Michael Kostroff, Scott MacArthur, Joe Massingill, Whitney Rice, Amanda Schull, Andrew Caldwell, Amy Aquino, Andrew Robinson, and Kai Caster.

Harry Bradbeer (Fleabag, Killing Eve) directed and executive produced the first two episodes. Oren Uziel (The Lost City, 22 Jump Street) and Steve Lightfoot (Marvel’s The Punisher, Shantaram) serve as co-showrunners and executive producers. Uziel and Lightfoot developed the series with the team behind Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal.

Speaking of Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, the third film in the animated trilogy, is currently set for release on June 18, 2027. Daniel Kaluuya, who played Hobart "Hobie" Brown / Spider-Punk in Across the Spider-Verse, is set to play the same character in Beyond the Spider-Verse (he’s also reportedly set to reprise the role in a Spider-Punk animated spinoff).

Marvin Jones III, who voices supervillain Tombstone in Into the Spider-Verse, is also set to reprise his role for Beyond the Spider-Verse. (He’ll play a live-action version of the character in next year’s MCU movie Spider-Man: Brand New Day, too.)

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who played Shang Tsung in the original Mortal Kombat movie as well as video game Mortal Kombat 11, has died aged 75.

The star of The Last Emperor, Memoirs of a Geisha, and The Man in the High Castle, died Thursday in Santa Barbara due to complications from a stroke, Deadline reported.

Tagawa famously played evil sorcerer Shang Tsung in the 1995 adaptation of the Mortal Kombat video game, becoming an instantly recognizable face for an army of fans. In the movie, Shang Tsung points to a helpless Liu Kang while holding his brother, Chan hostage, and declares: "your brother's soul is mine!" Tagawa would go on to make his 'Your soul is mine!' line an iconic part of Shang Tsung lore, and it has endured in the 30 years since. After the original Mortal Kombat movie, Tagawa went on to play Shang Tsung multiple times, including in 2019’s Mortal Kombat 11, where his voice and physical likeness was used — much to the delight of fans.

As Nintendo finally looks set to acknowledge a certain secret character's presence in Donkey Kong: Bananza, fans are taking the moment as further evidence of upcoming, unannounced Mario Kart World DLC.

As everyone who has completed Donkey Kong: Bananza will know, the game's final boss is King K. Rool (and if you haven't played the game yet, you should, it's great). While he's hinted at numerous times during the game, King K. Rool's reveal is kept as a late surprise — and Nintendo has hidden the crowned reptile from all of its marketing around the game. That is, until now.

Dataminers who have peered into the files of the Nintendo Today smartphone app have spotted that Rool will finally be acknowledged on December 15, when the scaled royal figure is set to star in the software's daily intro animation (as recorded and already visible via the Mario Wiki). And now, fans are putting Rool's reveal together with a certain other event happening in the very near future, along with some previous hints, to suggest we'll be seeing much more of the character very shortly.

Because, of course, next week is The Game Awards on December 11, and Nintendo has used the show to reveal some more minor announcements in the past — though, it has to be said, not for the past few years.