Outside of having some of the best gaming headsets, Turtle Beach’s roster of peripherals has expanded over the years to include mechanical keyboards, high-end controllers, and gaming mice. I recently reviewed the Kone II and was impressed with its comfort and versatility, and its wireless version in the Kone II Air shares an identical build, but with some slight differences aside from cutting the cord. Unfortunately, most of those changes make it less desirable than its wired counterpart, even though it still strikes a decent balance between ergonomics and performance.
Turtle Beach Kone II – Design and Comfort
The Kone II Air still rocks the somewhat garish design with sharp contours and RGB strips along the sides to let you know this is a gaming mouse. By no means is it obnoxious, though – especially because it is appropriately shaped to fit my hand like a glove. One thing about its design is that I just wish the RGB strips were more transparent since the lighting looks a bit muddied from the slightly opaque material.
What’s more important is that it’s a comfortable mouse to hold, mainly with a full-on palm grip. This is one of the larger gaming mice and with its added weight, coming in at 110g as opposed to 90g for the wired version, it’s a little more challenging to wield in claw- and fingertip-style grips. This highlights one of the small yet noticeable differences between the two models – the Kone II Air’s added weight also contributes to a change in weight distribution. It isn’t quite as balanced since most of the added weight is on the backend of the mouse, making it less ideal in gaming situations where tight control of the mouse impacts performance. While it’s not exactly a dealbreaker, it’s worth mentioning as a notable difference.
The Kone II Air is an ergonomic workhorse that’s capable for gaming, striking a respectable middle ground.
The deep-set grooves work well for letting your thumb and pinky comfortably hold the mouse, and with just enough stickiness to the mouse’s material, holding onto the Kone II Air feels right. The mouse’s wider base adds to stability but it also works as extra surface area for your thumb to rest, so you don’t need to fully grip the mouse when using it in a more casual setting, which helps take some of the pressure off in long-term use.
The two side buttons are positioned and shaped the same as they are on the wired Kone II, which is to say they’re easy to use thanks to a slight gap between the two to help distinguish one from the other. The extra button below the thumb grip is the Easy Shift feature by default – when held down, your other mouse buttons double up for other functions, which you can program in the Swarm II software. It’s super useful for getting more utility out of your mouse if you prefer mapping in-game actions to mouse buttons or want more shortcuts for productivity or work environments. This additional thumb button is easy to hit, but not so much that you’ll accidentally activate it when using the mouse normally.
Another neat feature of the Kone II mice, wired and wireless, is the “4D” scroll wheel, which means you can flick it left or right as additional inputs. Like the thumb buttons, it's intuitive to actuate and isn’t prone to errant presses. One difference with the Kone II Air is that instead of up and down DPI buttons by the scroll wheel, there’s a DPI cycle button and a switch to swap between traditional tactile and frictionless scrolling. The tactile scrolling is quite a bit stiffer on the Kone II Air, and while I wouldn’t use the frictionless option normally, it’s well-implemented as a feature. However, the scroll wheel itself is loose in place regardless of which setting you use, so you can feel it jiggling as you’re swiping the mouse. It’s more of an annoyance than something that impacts performance.
As an ergonomic workhorse, it’s nice that the Kone II Air also includes Bluetooth connectivity, making it versatile and suited for casual use. There's also a convenient slot on the bottom side of the mouse to store the 2.4GHz wireless dongle so you can still get the best responsiveness even when taking it on the go.
Turtle Beach Kone II – Software, Customization, and Battery Life
Like all of Turtle Beach’s gear, the Kone II Air uses the Swarm II app, which is a streamlined software program that’s simple to use. Programming each button and setting the button mappings for the Easy Shift feature is straightforward since the app’s UI is clean and responsive, clearly laying out your options despite them seeming pretty sophisticated at first glance.
You can customize the RGB profile which is pretty neat for the Kone II Air considering it has five distinct lighting zones (one on the scroll wheel and two on each lighting strip), letting you set some cool looking color patterns – I just wish the material on the RGB strips let it shine more. You’ll also be able to set five DPI points up to 26,000 (in increments of 50), set debounce time and polling rate (which should be left at the max of 1000 Hz), and tweak the rest mode timer to save battery.
In terms of battery life, the Kone II Air is rated to last up to 350 hours via Bluetooth and 120 hours with 2.4GHz wireless, but those are under ideal conditions. After fully charging the mouse and using it three days straight for work and gaming (roughly accounting for 40 hours), the battery life was sitting around 60% which I’d chalk up as a win considering I had the RGB lighting on full blast and was using a rather modest rest mode timer.
Turtle Beach Kone II – Performance
The Kone II Air is comfortable and focused on providing an ergonomic experience while holding up in gaming, and all its features make it a well-rounded mouse. But when solely accounting for gaming, its performance depends on what you’re playing and the intensity of the gaming scenario. The Kone II Air uses the Owl-Eye 26K optical sensor and it's fast and accurate, and the Titan optical switch for its left and right mouse buttons are springy and responsive. While there were compromises to consider with the wired Kone II, some of those are exacerbated by the changes made for the wireless Kone II Air.
Again, it’s not a bad mouse for shooters, but I wouldn’t recommend it for competitive gaming. The ergonomic design also comes at the cost of being more nimble, since the wider base and added weight means you’re less agile. Such is the case with even another favorite in the Logitech G502. With the Kone II Air in particular, the extra 20g in weight and the slight imbalance you feel when lifting it up and swiping holds it back from being ideal for fast-paced shooters. It may seem like a nitpick, but when compared to other FPS-minded mice such as the Razer Deathadder V3 or Glorious Model D 2, for example, the difference can be stark. I didn’t have issues with the sensor or buttons because they’re still high performance parts, but if I’m diving into ranked matches in Valorant or Counter-Strike 2, I’m not going to use the Kone II Air.
I frequently swapped between the Kone II and Kone II Air when playing Final Fantasy XIV, and since I don’t need to have pinpoint accuracy in moments where split-seconds matter, the mouse held up really well. Being able to map so many frequently used actions to the extra buttons was clutch, even though I tend to rely on keyboard bindings for most things. Tinkering with Easy Shift to get more utility took some getting used to, but I definitely saw the benefits especially in an MMORPG. You’d probably consider something like the Corsair Scimitar if you want to go all-out on an MMO-centric mouse, but again, the Kone II Air excels in striking a balance between various use-cases.
It’s not a bad mouse for shooters, but I wouldn’t recommend it for competitive gaming.
As I mentioned at the top, I’d only recommend using a palm grip with the Kone II Air given its size and weight, which will also help mitigate its somewhat odd weight balance. And while its PTFE mouse feet help it glide across any kind of surface, the extra weight adds a bit more friction that can feel like dragging a hulking mouse around. These are the kinds of compromises that come with the territory of using a larger ergonomic-style mouse with a ton of features on top.
Earlier this week, Sony announced a limited edition PS5, PS5 Pro, and other accessories as part of a celebration of its 30th anniversary. And now, we've got some up-close photos of the consoles and the limited edition DualSense controllers that show off an incredible level of detail work on the hardware.
The photos in question show off the anniversary PS5 Pro and PS5, and the limited edition DualSense and DualSense Edge controllers and case. Up-close photos show off incredible detail on the Edge controller, showing little triangle, circle, X, and square patterns on the touchpad. There's ultra-tiny "30th anniversary" text hidden on the Pro itself, and further tiny patterns on the inner "fold" of the console.
The PS5 Pro bundle will come with the Pro itself, a vertical stand, a charging station, a DualSense Edge controller and case, an original PlayStation controller style cable connector, four cable ties styled after the sacred symbols, and a sticker, poster, and paperclip. Pricing has not been announced for the bundle yet, nor has it been announced for the other console, which is a PS5 Slim Digital Edition that comes with a regular DualSense controller, vertical stand, and the original PlayStation controller style cable connector, four cable ties styled after the sacred symbols, sticker, poster, and paperclip. Preorders will be available beginning September 26 to individuals with PSN accounts, as well as at participating retailers.
This article is part of IGN’s Fantastic Fest coverage and contains detailed spoilers for its opening night film, Never Let Go, starring Halle Berry and directed by Alexandre Aja.
Are you wondering if Never Let Go has a post-credits scene? We’ll tell you right here: It doesn’t have a mid- or post-credits scene of any kind. Again, spoilers follow from here…
A common misconception over ending explained…s… — that term was never meant to be pluralized — is that they are definitive when, really, it’s just another critic offering you another opinion in a format that doesn’t happen to be a review. I say that because many films do not have a clear cut-and-dried ending that means the same thing to everyone who watches it. Alexandre Aja’s latest, Never Let Go, falls so much into that camp that Halle Berry (the film’s star) introduced it at Fantastic Fest with the note “decide what it means for yourself.” And, anecdotally speaking, everyone I spoke to after the screening had a completely different take so far as what the film’s ending actually means.
With that tremendous grain of salt in mind, let’s dig in!
Never Let Go: What Is the Evil?
A decent hunk of what makes Never Let Go successful is that you believe Mama (Berry) is completely off her rocker right up until you realize she isn’t. Except she is. Or maybe not? Let me explain.
Mama lives alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with her two sons Samuel (Anthony B. Jenkins) and Nolan (Percy Daggs IV). The family must stay in their home at all times unless they are grasping a rope tied firmly to the cabin’s foundation. You see, when the Evil started taking over the world, her father built the house for her mother and gave her the ropes so that she could wander the forest. We’re not going to talk about the logistical issues there — they come up in the film — but what you do need to know is that the Evil always has some kind of snake-like quality, regardless of what form it takes, and that neither of Mama’s boys can see these creatures. Only Mama says she can.
Rather than be touched by the Evil and thus, she believes, be forced to murder her sons, Berry's Mama chooses to slit her own throat instead.
Now, the biblical implications here are clear from the start, as is the warning of what can happen when one holds too tightly to their beliefs without asking healthy questions. We know that Mama killed her husband, her mother, and her father when the Evil touched them; we know that Mama had a dark past and was “saved,” leaning into the trope of “born again” Christians becoming unwaveringly devout; and we know that Nolan is starting to have questions about the rest of the world.
Those questions, and Mama’s decision to kill the family dog so they don’t starve (he’s actually OK, don’t worry) result in Nolan hacking through Mama’s rope, leaving her exposed to the Evil. (Note: Nolan, at this point, does not believe in the Evil and is trying to show Mama that they can venture farther for food if she would simply believe him.) Rather than be touched by the Evil and thus, she believes, be forced to murder her sons with her own hands, she chooses to slit her own throat instead.
Never Let Go Ending Explained
After Mama’s death — which occurs about halfway through the film, leaving young Jenkins and Daggs IV to carry the film on their own to remarkable success — things start to go downhill. And know that’s saying something, because this family is literally starving to death. There is a glimmer of hope when Nolan runs as far and screams as loud as he can while remaining tethered in a last-ditch effort to save his brother, who is dying of starvation faster than he is.
The boys are given their first real glimpse of the outside world when a hiker follows Nolan to the house after hearing his calls. But while Nolan sees the hiker as their savior, Samuel immediately believes he has started to see demons as his mother had. The two argue, Samuel shoots the man through the belly, and Nolan ultimately steals his pack to for the food he knows the man has.
It’s at this moment where Never Let Go shifts gears. Nolan eats the food freely, savoring it so that he may share it with his brother. Samuel adamantly refuses at first, but later greedily scarfs down the food while Nolan sleeps. You wonder, in this moment, if the can of ravioli and the other foods are the proverbial forbidden apple, and if Nolan and Sam — who have strong Cain and Abel vibes from the jump — have just given in to the Evil’s temptation.
But they didn’t. Life-saving food is simply life-saving food, and the hiker was murdered for nothing.
Later, the hiker’s daughter shows up and kicks off the beginning of the end. Samuel, now apparently thinking clearly because he has food in his belly, chases the hiker’s daughter while apologizing for killing her father. She runs past the end of the rope, Samuel believes that she is real and untethers himself, but then she goes creepy-crawly up a tree and jumpscares him from behind, vomiting a centipede at him which goes down his throat. The Evil was real.
Except it wasn’t. But it was. (I swear I have a point.)
Was Mama crazy? Was she not crazy? Is the Evil real or is it fake? The answer to all of that is “yes.”
Now touched by Evil, Samuel returns to their home and sets it ablaze, locking Nolan in his mother’s room. Later, he takes a selfie with his mother’s old polaroid with the burning cabin in the background as his brother — he believes — burns to death. However, Nolan stows away in the cabin’s crawl space after confronting the Evil disguised as his mother. Instead of choosing hatred or fear, Nolan hugs Mama-Evil, who then morphs into regular Evil (a sort of snake humanoid) and hugs him in return. Both boys survive the fire and are airlifted out of the woods, with the family dog chasing after the helicopter safe and sound.
So! What does all that mean? Was Mama crazy? Was she not crazy? Is the Evil real or is it fake? The answer to all of that is “yes.”
Firstly, Berry noted in the post-screening Q&A that it’s up to you to decide if “the Evil is generated from her because she is a schizophrenic” or if she is simply the way that she is because “motherhood is crazy-making.” Given that her mother before her saw the same things that she did, and schizophrenia runs in families, it seems pretty likely that Mama (and Grand Mama) needed psychiatric help that they weren’t receiving. As for the Evil, and the boys eventually seeing it, that boils down to a few things — all of which were key to my enjoyment of the film.
One of the last shots of the film is the developed polaroid of Samuel and the house sitting in the cabin’s ashes. In it, you see the Evil’s serpent hand on his shoulder, ruling him. It is real to him because he manifested it. Just as he manifested the young girl who claimed to be the hiker’s daughter. When he is dying, the hiker calls out a woman’s name, but it is never confirmed that he is calling for his daughter, nor does he mention having a child waiting for him while begging for his life.
Samuel and Nolan have different reactions to the Evil because they choose to. Samuel is devout and unquestioning, and insists on rigidity in the same way Mama did (and showed no schizophrenia symptoms prior). Nolan is curious and hopeful, asking healthy and reasonable questions about the world surrounding him throughout the film. The Evil isn’t in question. It’s everywhere, just as Mama said. But Mama and Samuel chose to give the Evil power over them — it ruled their every waking moment. Meanwhile, Nolan chose curiosity, and when looking the Evil in its face, chose love.
Does Never Let Go Have a Post-Credits Scene?
As stated earlier, there are no additional scenes once the credits start rolling.
But what do you think of Never Let Go? Let’s discuss in the comments!
Woot! (owned by Amazon) is offering some huge discounts on Keychron's Q-series Keyboards. These are brand new, unused units with a full 1 year manufacturer's warranty. These top-of-the-line mechanical keyboards usually retail for $180 or more and are rarely discounted, but Woot! has them for up to 60% off. They have a lot of premium features you won't find on your standard gaming keyboards, like a full metal body, QMK/VIA support, pre-lubed mechanical switches, a double gasket design, and more. I myself use the Keychron Q2 as my daily driver, and it is the best keyboard I've used.
Featured in this article
Up to 60% Off Keychron Q-Series Keyboards
The Keychron Q-series models differ in their keys layout. The differences are as follows:
Q1 - 75%
Q2 - Exploded 65%
Q3 - Tenkeyless (80%)
Q4 - 60%
Q5 - Exploded 96%
All Q-series keyboards feature a full aluminum CNC machined body. They are heavy, sturdy keyboards that are built like tanks. The shell will easily outlast any other part of the keyboard. These keyboards have a double gasket design which helps produce a pleasant sound profile while you type. Additional sound-absorbing foam is added to reduce any vibrations from the chassis. A polycarbonate plate allows some flex when typing to reduce fatigue and a softer bottom-out feel. PCB-mounted screw-in stabilizers are installed on the big keys like the space bar, shift, enter and delete keys. The keycaps are made from a PBT material that won't become oily or shiny with prolonged use. The legends aren't see-though, but the LEDs are south-facing so you still get a nice subtle RGB LED effect from the perimeter of the keys.
You can choose from Red, Brown, or Blue mechanical switches depending on your preference. These are all pre-lubed Gateron G Pro switches with up to 50 million keystroke lifespan. The Q-series keyboards have a hot swappable design that's compatible iwth most 3pin and 5pin MX mechanical switches on the market (including Cherry, Gateron, Kailh, Panda, etc). The keys are also all mappable via the open source QMK/VIA firmware. Every key can be remapped and macros are supported in Windows, macOS, and Linux. It's all browser based so there's no bloated software to download.
These Keyboards Are Moddable
The Keychron Q-series keyboards can be completely disassembled so you can perform your own mods or simply to clean it out. Keychron sells acoustic upgrade kits which includes even more foam to help improve the sound signature of your keyboard even further. They also sell replacement plates made of different materials (like brass, aluminum, or FR4) if you want to try someting other than the stock polycarbonate. You can also buy other compatible switches (for example, my favorite is the Kaihl Midnight Pro Silents since my computer is in the bedroom).
Who Is Keychron?
Keychron might not be as well known amongst the gamers compared to brands like Razer, Corsair, Logitech, or SteelSeries, but they are a familiar brand amongst the keyboard modding community. Several of their keyboard models start out as crowdfunded ideas on Kickstarter. They offer a huge range of keyboards with features that you wouldn't find in most mainstream keyboards like pre-lubed hot-swappable mechanical keys, gaskets for improved sound profile, south-facing RGB LEDs, a hefty all-metal chassis, wired and wireless dual connectivity, and more. If you're unwilling to jump into the rabbit hole of diy-ing your own modded custom keyboard, Keychron is pretty much the next best thing.
The recently released Ecoflow River 3 245Wh LiFePO4 Power Station is already on sale on Amazon. Right now it's $160.55 shipped after a $70 off instant discount and 5% off coupon code "I9TSDTDK". That's actually less expensive than the River 2 that it replaces. An even better deal is if you choose the bundle with a Ecoflow 45W foldable solar panel. It drops to $199, which means you're only paying an extra $40 for the solar panel. The River 3 is lightweight, compact in size, and is equipped with safe and reliable LiFEPO4 batteries.
Update: You can get a FREE Ecoflow Travel Bag with the purchase of either the Ecoflow River 3 or River 3 with Solar Panel Bundle. All you need to do is add it to your cart along with the power station and a $79 discount will automatically be deducted during checkout. This is a 30L roll-top travel backpack that can hold your River 3, or just use it as a regular laptop backpack. Note that if you do choose the free bag, the coupon code "I9TSDTDK" will no longer work.
New Release: Ecoflow River 3 Power Station for $160.55
Add a foldable solar panel for only $30
The Ecoflow River 3 has a 245Wh battery capacity similar to the River 2, yet it is 30% more compact. Like the River 2, it has two AC outlets, two USB Type-A ports, and one USB Type-C port. The USB Type-C output supports up to 100W of Power Delivery. Although each AC outlet is capable of up to 300W of sustained power output, Ecoflow's X-Boost technology allows it to handle up to 600W of surge power for certain electronics and appliances that require a temporary power boost to start up. Also, thanks to its use GaN technology, it offers extended runtime (Ecoflow claims double) for devices that consume less than 100W. The River 2 can be recharged using traditional AC or up to 110W of solar. If using grid power (AC), the 360W input will fully charge the River 2 from 0% to 100% in only one hour. Although it's typically used as a mobile backup power solution when you have no available grid power, it can also work as an always-on passthrough AC power strip as well. It has an EPS function that will automatically swap to battery power when there is a power outage. The shutoff delay is less than 10ms - faster than the River 2's <30ms delay - which is fast enough for even sensitive electronics like PCs to remain on the entire time.
The 245Whr battery can power your PC or appliances for several minutes or mobile elecronics (including your laptop) for several hours to days. The River 2 uses the newer LiFePO4 cells instead of the traditional NCM sells you find in the original River. LiFePO4 cells have inherently safer chemistry and have a much higher cycle lifespan than NCM cells. They also have lower calendar aging. The only negative of LiFEPO4 is the lower energy density (heavier weight). That said, the River 3 weighs only 7.8 pounds, which is very respectable for a battery capacity of this size.
Standard "UPS" battery backups like APC and CyberPower are cheaper because they use traditional lead acid batteries. As opposed to lithium batteries like LFP and NCM, lead acid batteries are super heavy, have a much shorter lifespan, and are far less efficient. This is the primary reason why your UPS battery backup should be replaced every 3-5 years. An LFP battery will generally retain at least 85% of its charge even after 10 years of service.
The River 2 is a smart battery and thus you can change settings, check on its status, and power on or off outlets remotely, all from your phone. In my personal experience, Ecoflow has good product support.
In celebration of One Piece anime's 25-year anniversary, Highground - a boutique keyboard manufacturer - has released a new lineup of licensed One Piece themed gaming keyboards. These keyboards are available in three trims: a base model for $145, a performance model for $175, and their flagship summit model for $260. Shipping costs an extra $9.
Featured in this article
The new Higround x One Piece keyboards all feature a 65% condensed layout. This is a great compact size for gaming use, but if you need a numpad, you'll need to look elsewhere. The keyboards are adorned with dye-sublimated keycaps that depict your favorite characters from the One Piece anime, including Monkey D. Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, Tony Tony Chopper, Nami, Vinsmoke Sanji, and Trafalgar Law. These keycaps use 1.5mm thick PBT, which is the highest quality material you'll find short of artisan keycaps.
One Piece x HG Summit 65 Keyboard
The flagship "Summit" model costs $260 with your choice of Monkey D. Luffy or Roronoa Zoro keycaps. Most of the cost premium is baked into the full CNC aluminum chassis (the other two models are plastic). This keyboard also features pre-lubed TTC Neptune linear switches, an FR4 flex-cut plate, gasket mount with silicone socks, and triple dampening layers with generous use of poron foam.
One Piece x HG Performance 65 Keyboard
Our recommended pick in terms of value
The mid-tier "Performance" model costs $175 with your choice of Zoro, Chopper, Nami, Sanji, or Law keycaps. The performance model is considerably less expensive because of the polycarbonate housing. What's interesting is that this model is the only one equipped with pre-lubed Gateron magnetic switches with Hall Effect technology. Magnetic switches work by detecting changes in magnetic field intensity. The two features exclusive to magnetic switches are Dynamic Actuation and Rapid Trigger. With Dynamic Actuation, you can set how far the key travels before it actuates and you can set different commands for a "half-press" and a "full-press". You can do that both ways (during both the press and the release), for up to four different commands from a single key press. Rapid Trigger allows you to re-press the key without having to wait for the key to reset. This keyboard has a firmer feel than the Summit model because it has an aluminum plate and less foam dampening.
One Piece x HG Base 65 Keyboard
The Base model costs $145. It's mostly identical to the Performance model except for the switches. The Base model has the same pre-lubed TTC Neptune linear switches as the Summit model instead of the magnetic switches in the Performance model. I'm not personally familiar with TTC switches, but the spec sheet mentions that these are linear (non-tactile) switches with an operating force of 41gf with a pre-travel distance of 2mm and total travel distance of 3.8mm.
One Piece x HG Mousepad XL
One Piece themed jumbo mousepads are also available for $50. These mousepads are big enough for you to place both your keyboard and mouse on, measuring 90cm x 40cm or about 36" x 16". They have all the features you'd expect in a well-made mousepad, like a tracking-friendly surface, flat stitched edging and a grippy rubber base.
If you're a One Piece fan, and I know many of you are, then you don't want to miss this opportunity to grab some officially licensed paraphernalia. Your only other options is getting some potentially shoddy unlicensed options on Amazon or a custom set off Etsy.
Here's an interesting deal on a seemingly useful desk lamp. Right now LumiCharge is offering its flagship Lumicharge IIl Desk Lamp for $64.99. That's 50% off its original $130 MSRP but it gets even better. There's also a 25% off coupon code "LUMI25" floating around that drops the price even further to only $48.75. Shipping is only $2.99. As a comparison, this exact desk lamp currently sells for $69 from Amazon.
Lumicharge III LED Desk Lamp + Wireless/Wired Charger + Bluetooth Speaker + Digital Clock
The Lumicharge III has a bunch of features beyond its main role as a desk lamp. It's like the swiss army knife of desk lamps. At its core, it's a dimmable LED desk lamp with several different color temperature and light intensity settings. There's a mobile app you can connect to (if you don't mind yet another app on your phone) that allows you to change the settings without having to fiddle with the buttons. It also easy to swivel and adjust for proper light placement that won't blind you.
But that's definitely not all. At its base is a 10W inductive charger for your smartphone. If for some reason it doesn't work for your phone, there's also a USB Type-C / Lightning connector as well as another USB Type-A port for wired charging. There's even a pop up stand for your phone so that you can still use the screen if you need to. Is that all? Absolutely not. There's also a digital screen built into the arm that displays the date, time, and indoor temperature. If that's not enough to sate your appetite, the lamp can even play music with its built-in Bluetooth speaker.
At its retail price of $129.99, I would say that this desk lamp is overpriced even with all of these buzzworthy features. But at over 60% off, it's a good value compared to other options out there, especially if you're already looking for a do-it-all desk lamp on steroids. It'd probably make a pretty awesome holiday gift idea as well, if you want to kickstart that early.
Looking for desk lamp options? We've picked out a few affordable options we like ourselves, although none of these are nearly as multi-functional as the desk lamp listed here.
For three days, LG has marked down the popular 34" LG UltraGear 34GP63A gaming monitor by 35% off. It's normally priced at $399.99, but today you can get it from LG for only $259.99 after a 35% off coupon code "ULTRA35". The GP63 has all the features you'd want in a gaming monitor, like a big ultrawide form factor, sharp resolution, fast response time, high refresh rate, wide viewing angles, and accurate color reproduction, all at an affordable price.
34" LG UltraGear Ultrawide Gaming Monitor for $259.99
The LG GP63A is a generously sized 34" curved display with a 3440x1440 ultra-wide resolution. Although it's not a true 4K monitor, it's still very sharp for just about any use case. In fact the pixel density (ppi) is identical to a 27" QHD monitor, which is considered the gold standard in terms of screen size to resolution. There's also another benefit; a 1440p resolution is less taxing on your GPU than 4K, so you can get away with a cheaper video card like an RTX 4060 or 4070.
The GP63A is equipped with a VA panel with a sub-1ms response time and 99% sRGB color gamut. It has wide viewing angles and a more uniform backlighting (less hotspots on a black screen) than an IPS panel. It supports VRR and MBR and is FreeSync Premium certified. Although it isn't officially G-SYNC certified, it is G-SYNC compatible just like every other FreeSync monitor. There are DisplayPort and HDMI ports, but you'll want to use DisplayPort for the 160Hz refresh rate.
If you're specifically looking for this size and aspect ratio, the GP63A is a great option. This has been one of LG's best selling 34" monitors for a long time and for good reason. It offers great features at a fair price that is made even better with this 35% off coupon. Nowadays monitor prices are getting out of hand with some top-end models selling for over $1500, potentially more expensive than your entire gaming setup. Don't hesiste, though, because this coupon ends soon.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that 25 people comprising the entire staff of Annapurna Interactive walked out the door in a group resignation. But while some of the circumstances around their departure emerged in the reporting, one pressing question was left unanswered: why?
Having spoken to multiple individuals close to the situation who requested anonymity due to fear of reprisal, as well as an Annapurna spokesperson, IGN has pieced together a somewhat complex answer. Disagreements over the direction of the Interactive division, chaotic departures, communication breakdowns, and a perceived lack of leadership transparency at Annapurna Interactive led to a staff walk-out that has left 25 individuals jobless, Annapurna leaders scrambling, and numerous developers concerned about their contracts with the publisher.
A Company Divided
Though the collapse of Annapurna Interactive as we once knew it started earlier this year, its roots lie in the company's historical leadership structure. Annapurna Interactive was initially conceived as the gaming division of Annapurna Pictures, which was founded by film producer and billionaire Megan Ellison in 2011. Annapurna Interactive itself was spun up in 2016, tapping a staff of industry veterans including including former Sony creative director Nathan Gary, former Sony executive producer Deborah Mars, and former Sony producer Hector Sanchez for leadership roles. Sanchez left the company in 2019, and former Capybara Games co-founder Nathan Vella was brought on that same year.
The film side of Annapurna's business has undergone well-publicized struggles. In 2018, it was bleeding enough money to prompt Ellison's father, multi-billionaire Larry Ellison, to step in. By 2019, Annapurna Pictures was reportedly teetering on bankruptcy, and in the ensuing years its film and TV output slowed significantly. Variety reports that Ellison disappeared from public life in 2019 almost entirely, leaving her business to largely run itself during the height of the pandemic. She reemerged in 2021, only to name Gary president over all of Annapurna, with Mars and Vella stepping into co-head roles at the Interactive division.
In the ensuing years, Annapurna Interactive continued to grow, releasing financial and critical successes such as Stray, Outer Wilds, What Remains of Edith Finch, and Cocoon. While the company claims the Annapurna Pictures side of the business hasn't struggled in recent years, saying that film and TV were more profitable than Annapurna Interactive in 2023, a spokesperson alleged to IGN that Gary was a less-than-ideal steward of Annapurna Pictures. Under his guidance, they claim, resources were pulled away from film and TV, key executives were pushed out, and the company was largely refocused on gaming. Annapurna tells IGN that Gary also elevated co-founder James Masi to chief administrative officer, a role the spokesperson suggested was unnnecessary at a company of Annapurna's size. Notably, Annapurna did launch an animation division under Gary's tenure that released the critically-acclaimed film Nimona just last year, though an Annapurna spokesperson reached out to IGN post-publication with the assertion that it was Ellison who brought in Nimona as the foundation for what would become the animation division. IGN has reached out to Gary, but he declined to comment.
IGN understands that opinions of Ellison within Annapurna Interactive prior to 2024 varied from indifference to latent mistrust given previous reports on her behavior toward employees. Anonymous sources I spoke to all cited a strong fear of reprisal from Ellison in particular, given her resources, history, and reach. A few people referenced creative or compensation disagreements during their time at Annapurna that contributed to a general feeling Ellison would not keep promises. Multiple sources we spoke to described Ellison as a largely hands-off leader and rarely present in the gaming division, an attitude that for years suited many of Annapurna Interactive's employees just fine.
Ad-Verset effects
This was the state of things at the start of 2024 according to our sources. Prior to March of this year, work at Annapurna Interactive was business-as-usual, they say, until employees were suddenly informed mid-month that James Masi had been unexpectedly let go. An Annapurna spokesperson confirmed Masi was made redundant, saying that Ellison had chosen to step back in at the company and oversee the Annapurna Pictures side again in an effort to re-invest in the film and TV side of the business. As a part of this, Annapurna claims that Ellison reinstalled Gary as head of Interactive, and deemed Masi's role unnnecessary.
However, at this time, Gary also left the company. Annapurna claims he left of his own accord in response to Masi's firing and his change in role. But sources say employees were told in the following days by leadership within Annapurna Interactive that Gary had been fired along with Masi. The belief that two of their leaders had been fired seemingly out of the blue sparked confusion and fury, and a handful of individuals quit in protest, including at least one other Interactive leader.
The sudden resignation of multiple key individuals came as a shock to the company, and IGN understands that Ellison held a video call with Annapurna employees to discuss what had happened and find a way to move forward. On the call, Ellison allegedly expressed a desire to keep the entire group, including those who had been fired or resigned, together. In the following days, all the departed staff returned, including Gary and Masi, and discussions began for a potential spin-off of the company that would allow Gary and Ellison to achieve their respective visions with minimal disruptions to partner developers.
Roughly, the plan was for Gary and the Annapurna Interactive staff to become a new company called Verset, with ownership split between Annapurna and Verset's leaders. Verset would oversee all currently existing signed Annapurna Interactive projects, with revenue split between itself and Annapurna proper in Annapurna's favor. It would also be free to sign its own, independent deals. Developers IGN spoke to report being made aware the spin-off was happening in the following months, and were reassured their contracts would be fulfilled.
While employees understood such a venture would take time to get off the ground, in the ensuing months a number of events occurred that made some skeptical of Ellison's commitment to parting with Annapurna Interactive. In early summer, sources tell us that employees discovered Hector Sanchez had been quietly rehired back at Annapurna by Ellison and was working on gaming projects without the knowledge of the rest of the Interactive staff. The news wasn't made official until August that Sanchez had been appointed president of interactive and new media at Annapurna — a title that seemed to some as potentially at odds with Vella and Mars' roles at Interactive.
Annapurna, for its part, claims that talks between Ellison and Sanchez began as far back as February for Ellison to fund a new venture Sanchez was planning after departing Epic Games. As talks continued, Annapurna says Sanchez began negotiating with Remedy Entertainment for a deal related to film and TV spin-offs of its properties. However, when spin-off negotiations began to crystalize at Annapurna Interactive, Ellison offered Sanchez a position at Annapurna. The intent, per the spokesperson, was for Verset to become the company's indie arm, and for Sanchez to lead efforts in the AAA and AA-gaming space, including transmedia properties.
Which is how, months later, Annapurna announced it was partnering with Remedy Entertainment on film, TV, and other projects including funding support for Control 2. The press release, which IGN received, referenced both Sanchez and Ellison. But it doesn't reference Annapurna Interactive at all, and IGN understands Annapurna Interactive employees were only informed the deal was happening that morning. Employees, unaware of Ellison's plans or the status of the spin-off, were confused, concerned, and frustrated about the direction of the company and the future of its Interactive division, Verset or no Verset.
While all this was going on, sources say that discussions with Ellison regarding the spin-off appeared to have stalled out, and in August Annapurna officially terminated discussion. Annapurna claims this was due to Gary's lack of response to requests for feedback on legal drafts, and in a statement sent to IGN after publication, doubled down. "Any implication Annapurna was backtracking on the deal is false. We agreed to high-level deal terms and signed a term sheet in early April, which makes it all the more surprising that we never got a response."
Meanwhile, multiple people told IGN that in those final months, they began to see signs of Ellison exercising greater involvement over Annapurna Interactive's deals, projects, and budgets in a way that began to make them further uncomfortable with the direction the company was taking overall.
All of this came to a head at the end of August when all 25 Annapurna Interactive employees including Gary, Vella, Masi, and Mars signed a joint resignation letter. The group gave two weeks notice and departed the company together on September 6 leaving Ellison, Sanchez, and newly-hired chief strategy officer Paul Doyle working on a semblance of Annapurna's gaming efforts. Sources tell IGN that up to the letter being sent and after, the group asked Ellison to work with them on other possible solutions such as the aforementioned spin-off, but did not receive any interest.
IGN also understands that despite the two-week notice, partner developers did not learn about the sudden exodus of all their Annapurna contacts until a day or two before it occurred. Annapurna claims they didn't have enough time to collect developer contact information to alert them sooner, while Annapurna Interactive sources say they received no guidance from the company during that period as to who should tell developers, when, and how. An Annapurna spokesperson reached out post-publication to IGN to deny this, claiming it had active and open conversations with the Interactive staff on how to communicate the news.
Annapurna Aftermath
While IGN couldn't glean any details on the future of the 25 departed employees, there are some indications that the group is collectively working on some new venture together. A website for Verset appears to be online at the time of publication with a PR alias, which IGN reached out to for comment. IGN was also unable to find any posts or other discussions from the departed members indicating they were looking for employment elsewhere. Whatever their future plans, IGN understands that the group did not have a ready-made venture waiting when they left, as some have speculated. If they build anything new, it will be largely from scratch.
Meanwhile, at Annapurna itself, efforts are underway to right the ship. Multiple developers I spoke to expressed a mixture of frustration and confusion at the sudden departure, but several told me they felt confident in Sanchez's ability to honor existing obligations. Several individuals with projects at different stages of development told me about meetings they'd had with Sanchez in the wake of the event that they reported had reassured them. Sanchez has previously stated his intention both to backfill roles as well as work with outside agencies to fulfill Annapurna's contractual obligations, and IGN has confirmed this process is ongoing. Earlier this week, Annapurna also posted an open role for a QA Manager overseeing "multiple external QA teams."
The unusual situation appears to have impacted a few specific projects in unique ways. On August 30, iam8bit shared an announcement that an upcoming PlayStation 5 physical edition of Outer Wilds: Archaeologist Edition had suffered from a manufacturing error, and did not include the Echoes of the Eye expansion as expected. Annapurna Interactive at the time said it would "continue to investigate", while iam8bit offered either a digital DLC voucher to impacted customers, or a replacement corrected physical copy. Both Annapurna and Interactive sources have told IGN that this issue is unrelated to the resignations, and Annapurna reassured that it will not be impacted by the upheaval at the company.
Then there's Blade Runner. Last summer, Annapurna Interactive announced it would be developing its first in-house game, based on the Blade Runner franchise, titled Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth. However, game director Chelsea Hash appears to be one of the 25 individuals who resigned, per LinkedIn, and IGN understands that all other full-time members of the development team joined her. Annapurna has told IGN that development on Blade Runner 2033 will continue despite the departure of its entire team.
An Annapurna spokesperson also shared the following statement when asked for further comment:
"The whole situation is a baffler, but now we're focused on moving forward. We've had really great conversations with an overwhelming majority of our existing development teams and are grateful for their partnership. If our inbox is any indication, a ton of developers continue to want to be a part of what we're building, and we look forward to seeing their pitches. We've also had an influx of quality job applicants and are excited to build a team passionate about our mission to tell original stories that aren't being told elsewhere. P.S. We're hiring."
The whole situation is a baffler.
Annapurna has splintered into two groups, both of which are now working to pick up the pieces. The remains of Annapurna Interactive (or perhaps a future Verset) consist of 25 individuals who felt strongly enough about perceived mismanagement, poor communication, apparent spontaneous layoffs of leaders, and one another that they were willing to give up paychecks and stability at a time of overwhelming industry job and funding uncertainty. When IGN approached its sources close to this group about Annapurna's version of events (specifically, the conflicting information around Masi and Gary's alleged resignation/firing and the collapse of spin-off discussions), they reacted with skepticism, but did not feel they could safely provide more specific details.
Meanwhile, at Annapurna, a tiny leadership team is struggling to ensure that around 40 projects have the support they need, while the company's partners have been left at various stages of development and uncertainty as to what comes next.
Annapurna Interactive as we once knew it — a beloved publisher of critically-acclaimed, unique, beloved indie games — is no more. What, if anything, will rise to take its place?
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Additional statements from an Annapurna spokesperson were added to this piece post-publication.
Each Friday, we round up the latest items at IGN Store! This week, IGN Store opened orders for new Warahmmer, Uzumaki, and Little Nightmares products. Additionally, the hottest items of the week included the Warhammer, Fallout, and Cyberpunk collections. Finally, items from Challengers, Tomb Raider, and The Witcher 3 are set to leave IGN Store very soon. Take a look at this week's roundup below!
What's New: Warhammer, Uzumaki, and Little Nightmares
Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2 - Original Soundtrack - 2LP Vinyl
If you enjoyed your time with Space Marine 2, you can now take home the impressive original soundtrack on vinyl! Nima Fakhrara and Steve Molitz have created a score that is sure to be a great addition to your collection. This vinyl includes 29 tracks pressed on two black heavyweight LPs. The sleeve art was created by Saber Interactive, with a deluxe gatefold sleeve that is both durable and stylish. This item is set to ship out in January 2025.
Uzumaki - Pocket Curse Blind Box - Complete Set of 8
The highly anticipated anime adaptation of Uzumaki is just around the corner, and there's never been a better time to celebrate! Right now, you can pre-order this Uzumaki Pocket Curse Blind Box on IGN Store, which contains a complete set of eight figures, one of which being a glow-in-the-dark or normal variant! Manufactured by Good Smile Company, this item is set to ship out in October or November. Don't miss out!
Little Nightmares - Mini Figure Collection Box Original Color Ver. - Mini Figures
This Little Nightmares Mini Fugure Collection Box is perfect for any fan of the series! Created by Grecco, each figure has an immense amount of detail, capturing everything seen in the games. This set includes Six, Nome, The Janitor, The Twin Chefs, The Guest, and The Lady, with an amazing collector's box to display alongside your figures. Be sure to get your pre-orders in now, as this item will ship out in July 2025.
What's Hot: Warhammer, Fallout, and Cyberpunk
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 - Limited Edition Merch Collection
First up, we have the Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Limited Edition Merch Collection, which is the ultimate collection for any Warhammer fan. This package includes a Space Marine 2 Collector's Box with a magnetic sealing lid, an exclusive limited edition cotton hoodie, a limited edition t-shirt, an Ultramarines stainless steel water bottle, and more! You can only pre-order this collection until September 30 at midnight UK time, so don't miss out.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 - Ultramarines Varsity Jacket
For the glory of Ultramar! The Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Ultramarines Varsity Jacket is the ultimate collector's item for any Warhammer fan. Multiple embroidered patches can be found on the back, front, and sleeves, representing the Ultramarines from the Space Marine 2 game. This jacket is crafted from high quality 65% polyester and 35% rayon woolen fabric, which provides both warmth and comfort wherever you may be.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Action Figures
Next, JoyToy has brought the Ultramarines to life with its new 1/8 scale figures! Sergeant Gadriel, Lieutenant Titus, Brother Chairon are all here, with detail like never before! These members of the Ultramarines can be added to your collection with these high quality action figures. These figure includes multiple weapons to hold, with an optional mask and armor pieces included as well.
Fallout Pip-Boy Replica
This week, the Fallout Pip-Boy 3000 Mk V was one of the hottest items available at IGN Store. You can use this die-cast replica as a Pip-Boy, display piece, or even an alarm clock! As of now, this collectible is set to ship out in January 2025, and shipping is free!
Fallout S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Pinfinity Box Set
Next, the Fallout S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Pinfinity Box Set was also one of the hottest items of the week. This item is exclusive to the IGN Store, so you won't find it anywhere else. With seven pins and an exclusive serialized Vault Baby Pin, this is one collectible you do not want to miss out on! Only 1000 units of this set are available globally, with a 5% chance to get a set that contains a Glitter Vault Baby Variant!
Cyberpunk 2077 Skippy Gel Blaster Deluxe Edition
This blaster from Zing Toys has numerous features to create the ultimate replica you won't want to miss. First, the blaster features push button voice activation utilizing voice lines from the Cyberpunk 2077 game. These sound bytes make it seem like the blaster really is alive. Additionally, a light up stand is hidden in the charging station, illuminating the Cyberpunk 2077 logo.
What's Leaving: Challengers, Tomb Raider, and The Witcher
Challengers - Original Motion Picture Score - Vinyl
One of the biggest films of 2024 was Challengers, starring Zendaya. For the first time, you can now take home the acclaimed score on vinyl! This score was composed by Academy Award-winning composers Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross. As for the vinyl, the score is pressed on 180 gram black audiophile vinyl, with exclusive extras in addition to the 16 tracks.
Dark Horse - Lara Croft Statue
Additionally, this new Lara Croft statue from Dark Horse is set to leave IGN Store. Sitting at 9.2 inches tall, there is a significant amount of detail captured in this statue. Lara sits on top of a base that's modeled after ruins, with the Tomb Raider logo front and center. Don't miss out on this unique statue if you're a Tomb Raider fan! Currently, the Lara Croft statue is set to ship in March 2025.
The Witcher 3 Figures
Lastly, two figures from The Witcher 3 are set to leave IGN Store soon. The Rock Troll and The Werewolf are both formidable foes within the game, and these figures both capture that with a height of 10 inches. Be sure to get your pre-orders in before these items leave IGN Store! Both figures will ship out in Q4 2024.
About IGN Store
IGN Store sells high-quality merch, collectibles and shirts for everything you're into. It's a shop built with fans in mind; for all the geek culture and fandom you love most. So, whether you're into comics, movies, anime, games, retro gaming or just want some cute plushies (who doesn't?); this store is for you!
Lenovo is offering an Lenovo Legion Tower 5i Gen 8 gaming PC equipped with a GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER graphics card for only $1349.99 after coupon code: "CRAZYLEGION1". That's a $950 price drop from its $2300 MSRP. The RTX 4070 SUPER GPU is an outstanding card that excels at 1080p and 1440p gaming, but has the chops to run most games in 4K as well. I personally gamed on a 4K monitor with a RTX 3080 GPU before I finally upgraded to a newer card.
Lenovo Legion RTX 4070 SUPER PC for $1349.99
The Lenovo Legion Tower 5 Gen 8 is equipped with an Intel Core i7-14700F CPU, GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER GPU, 32GB of DDR5-4400MHz RAM, and dual storage (1TB M.2 SSD and 1TB HDD). The 14th generation Intel Core i7-14700F Raptor Lake Refresh CPU boasts a max clock of 5.4GHz with 20 cores, 28 threads, and a 33MB cache. It's a great processor for both gaming and workstation tasks (on par with the newest Ryzen 7 CPUs).
The RTX 4070 SUPER video card is a significant improvement in performance over the 4070 (about 10%-15% faster at 1440p). Like all RTX 40 series cards, the RTX 4070 SUPER supports DLSS 3.0, which gives it an edge in performance over similarly priced AMD GPUs. Check out our RTX 4070 SUPER review for more details. This is the best NVIDIA card to get for 1080p or 1440p gaming; the RTX 4070 Ti/SUPER starts to get a little overkill at a higher price, and the RTX 4060 Ti is considerably underpowered compared to the 4070. It's also a perfectly capable card for 4K gaming, although at that point a RTX 4070 Ti or higher will give you noticeable gains. The RTX 4070 SUPER also has 12GB of VRAM compared to the 4070's 8GB, which makes it a better card for AI.
Why Choose Lenovo?
People like the fact that Lenovo does not use very many proprietary components in their rigs, so Legion gaming PCs are generally DIY upgrade friendly with easily obtainable off-the-shelf components. Lenovo gaming rigs generally also utilize solid cooling, especially for the CPU, even if you opt for the less expensive air cooled option. Check out our best budget gaming PCs of 2024 to see what other alternatives we recommend.
Sony has released God of War: Ragnarok on PC. Powered by Santa Monica’s proprietary engine, it’s time to benchmark it and examine its performance on the PC. For our benchmarks, we used an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 32GB of DDR5 at 6000Mhz, AMD’s Radeon RX580, RX Vega 64, RX 6900XT, RX 7900XTX, NVIDIA’s GTX980Ti, RTX … Continue reading God of War: Ragnarok PC Performance Analysis→
The return to the office has been unrelenting, but that hasn’t slowed brands down from releasing new products for content creation to enhance your streams and virtual meetings. The Obsbot Tiny 2 is a unique little webcam – and I mean that literally. At less than two inches square, it’s as unobtrusive a webcam as we’ve seen that offers 4K resolution and advanced features like AI framing. At $129.99, it’s a great value.
Obsbot Meet 2 – Design and Features
The Obsbot Meet 2 is designed to fade into the background of any environment. It’s tiny, measuring only 1.78 x 1.4 x 0.87 inches, smaller than a large paperclip. It’s unobtrusive compared to many other webcams, and that’s especially impressive for the kind of quality it offers. At the same time, Obsbot has aimed for style with three different colors available at launch: white, gray, and teal. It’s minimalist, but in an Apple-esque kind of way that’s nicer to see perched upon your monitor.
The simple, sleek design lets the lens take up the majority of its front. Two pinholes signal the dual microphones it houses on either side. In the upper corners is a small Obsbot logo to the left and an LED to the right that indicates when the camera feed is on. The only other design feature is the USB Type-C port on the back and a ¼-20 mounting thread on the bottom.
Even with its minimalist design, there are still some interesting aspects outside of its tiny build. For example, it uses magnets for mounting to its monitor stand, so there’s nothing to screw in. The same goes for the lens cover, which is a bit less appealing since it’s incredibly easy to lose. The chassis is metal and conducts heat away from the camera’s internals. It gets warm but was never hot to the touch. It comes with an angle-adjustable monitor mount. The magnets inside the camera are surprisingly powerful – it snaps in place and doesn’t move on its own. Making small adjustments can be a bit finicky, however, as it’s hard to avoid touching the camera and shifting its angle when you’re adjusting the mount.
With good lighting, the Meet 2 shines – it’s crisp and clear.
The internals of the camera are respectable for the price. It uses a 1/2-inch CMOS sensor, which is significantly larger than what’s in typical webcams, and is paired with an f/1.8 aperture lens. Together, they allow the camera to gather more light so it performs better in darker scenes, as well as provide a small amount of natural bokeh (depth of field). In practical terms, this design means you won’t need to keep a ring light on for every meeting just to avoid looking dark and grainy.
Spec-wise, the camera can record video up to 4K30 or 1080p60 with or without HDR. It has a 79-degree field of view, which is narrower than competitors like the Logitech MX Brio and Elgato FaceCam Pro (both top out at 90-degrees) but it’s still wide enough, similar to the kit lenses packed in with mirrorless cameras and DSLRs. The FoV also stops short of image warping (a distortion that comes from a wider FoV), which is nice because that’s usually a dead giveaway that you’re using a webcam. I don’t mind it, but if you’re looking to show off a lot of your streaming area, this may not be the camera for you.
Where Obsbot pulls ahead is with its AI features and software. Obsbot leans heavily on AI in its cameras – I know, the most overused term of 2024 – but it’s actually used to good effect here. Within the software, you can enable smart object tracking. This isn’t uncommon by itself, but the Meet 2 allows you to designate the type of shot, or even the part of your body, you would like it to track. Looking for a pulled-back view so you can present standing up? There’s a toggle for that and the shot will adjust its FOV under its maximum range to capture your upper body. Looking for a punched-in headshot for your face cam? It’s one button away, and the camera keeps that subject centered in the frame, even as you move around. It’s also able to recognize when multiple people are in the frame and adjust if one of them should walk away.
There are also some fairly excellent picture and beauty enhancements you can apply. The best of these is adding background blur while the AI engine intelligently tracks you and ensures you remain in focus, leaving the background blurred. It’s leagues better than the built-in blurs in Zoom and Google Meet. If you look close, you can still sometimes see where the transition happens. But for the most part, it’s something you need to actively look for to notice, and is implemented very well overall.
Similar to Snapchat and countless photo apps, you can also apply an array of cosmetic filters. Skin smoothing, coloring, eye size, and more can all be adjusted. It’s not revolutionary or something I would ever use personally, but I could definitely see others finding this to be a useful feature. When used in moderation, the enhancements are pretty convincing.
Elsewhere in the software, you’ll find a wide array of picture settings. Simple sliders allow you to adjust the brightness, contrast, sharpening, color temperature, and exposure compensation. You can set focus manually or leave it set to auto. If you’re familiar with camera settings, you can even manually adjust the ISO (100 to 6,400) and shutter speed (1/30 to 1/6,400s). There are also options to capture in portrait or landscape modes if you need vertical video.
The autofocus is one of the best available in a webcam today. It uses phase detection, similar to Sony mirrorless cameras, and can reliably swap between your face and something held close to the camera within just a few seconds. It can also be set to focus on faces or have it apply to objects in the scene more universally, and in face latch mode, the swap back from the near-held object is almost instant.
The Meet 2 also comes with a pair of omnidirectional microphones for capturing audio. They’re on the quiet side but offer good clarity and detail. Sitting about two feet away, people on the other end of the line reported that they could hear me very well. In test recordings in Audacity, it never approached the level of a standard desktop mic (-12 to -9dB when properly configured). But, there was also a minimum of ambient room noise. There’s a trade-off there, but they are high quality for built-in webcam mics.
Obsbot Meet 2 – Performance
The Obsbot Meet 2 is a great camera overall, offering great picture in most situations. With halfway decent lighting and the bokeh effect applied (lightly), it could pass as video from a mirrorless camera. That’s high praise for a webcam that only costs $130 and is as portable as it is.
When I test webcams, I start with three different lighting scenarios: well-lit, normal room lighting, and low light. For the well lit scenario, I have two key lights bouncing light from the ceiling and walls, a normal lamp, and a third light off-scene in the back. The “normal” scene involves a single floor lamp in the corner of the room and the light from my monitor. The low light scenario is completely dark except for whatever illumination is shed from my monitor.
With good lighting, the Meet 2 shines – it’s crisp and clear. At 4K, you can make out fine details in my hair and beard, and my cat’s fur. The white balance, saturation, and contrast are all very good, creating an accurate image. With just a lamp, it still performs very well. This image is still accurate and really doesn’t lose much detail at all.
Turning off all of the lights brings about the expected graininess, but it still offers a surprising amount of detail and accurate color. The 6,400 maximum ISO and ½-inch sensor allow it to gather enough light to still be very usable. Exploring this mode, I also realized that the camera cannot drop to anything lower than 30 FPS, so motion remains smooth as well. In the same scenario, more common webcams for streaming like the Logitech C922 become very blurry with any kind of motion. It’s less of an issue on modern 4K webcams, especially those with STARVIS sensors like the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra, but they’re usually significantly more expensive.
Its HDR implementation is a bit more mixed. It usually just seems to brighten the image and drop some of the contrast so it appears flatter. For the most part, I like the picture better with HDR turned off. Under bright lights in SDR mode, hot-spots of skin glare can sometimes be an issue (like most webcams). HDR mode tends to cut these out and lead to a more balanced image, so it has its uses.
I mentioned it up top but it bears repeating here – the autofocus on the Meet 2 is phenomenal. It can be set to Global or Face modes, and under both settings, you can still hold objects up and the camera will shift focus. The big difference is that in Global mode these focus changes are almost instant whereas Face mode tries to hang on your face for a few seconds and is only instant when returning. And crucially, the close-up detail it can deliver is excellent.
The biggest disappointment is how it integrates portrait mode. Instead of cropping the image to 9:16 like you would expect a social media-friendly mode to do, it just adds unsightly black bars on the top and bottom. A letterboxed landscape isn’t what anyone has in mind for portrait mode.
It also isn’t great with handling bright background lighting. In the most challenging scenario, where you have sun shining in a window behind you, exposure drops as low as possible, leaving your face obscured in darkness. This is a hard scenario for any webcam, but it’s a key situation you’ll want to avoid.
And if you demand a built-in privacy shutter, you’ll need to look elsewhere. It comes with a lens blocker, but it’s a small magnetic disk that will almost certainly get lost over time. It’s better than nothing but it’s certainly no integrated shutter like the MX Brio.
Warning: This story contains potential spoilers for Gladiator 2's ending.
It took Ridley Scott more than 20 years to bring Gladiator 2 to life, but that isn’t stopping him from getting a head start on Gladiator 3.
The director spoke about the future of his Roman Empire action series during a conversation with French magazine Premiere (via Variety). While the upcoming sequel won’t arrive in theaters for more than two more months, Scott has high hopes that he'll be able to continue the story with Gladiator 3. It’s all early stages and it seems nothing is set in stone, but the filmmaker is at least excited about the series enough to spark a few ideas.
“I’m already toying with the idea of Gladiator 3,” Scott teased. “No, seriously! I’ve lit the fuse. The ending of Gladiator 2 is reminiscent of The Godfather, with Michael Corleone finding himself with a job he didn’t want, and wondering, ‘Now, Father, what do I do?’ So the next [film] will be about a man who doesn’t want to be where he is.”
Scott is giving moviegoers clues about a third film when the second has yet to make its way to the public, so it’s hard to make out exactly what he’s setting up. What we do know about Gladiator 2 is that it stars Paul Mescal as Lucius, an individual with ties to the original 2000 film seeking redemption as a gladiator in Rome’s bloody colosseum. He’ll be joined by an all-star cast upon its premiere, including Joseph Quinn as Emperor Geta, Denzel Washington as Macrinus, Pedro Pascal as Marcus Acacius, and Connie Nielsen as Lucilla.
Whether Gladiator 3 manages to claw its way to theaters relies on how Gladiator 2 fares at the box office. We’ll know if we should expect Scott’s Godfather-esque story will manage to play out with a third film when the second arrives on its November 22, 2024 release date. Until then, you can read more about why Gladiator 2’s rhino is so important. You can also check out why some fans were impressed by an early clip from the film.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
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Transformers One is a major change of pace for this long-running Hasbro franchise. Not only is it the first feature-length animated movie starring the Robots in Disguise since 1986’s Transformers: The Movie, it’s also one set far earlier in the Transformers timeline. Rather than taking place on Earth, this film flashes back to the glory days of Cybertron, when Optimus Prime and Megatron were still close friends and allies.
This change of pace is just what the Transformers series needed after what could politely be described as an uneven track record on the big screen. In fact, Transformers One serves as a reminder that animation, not live-action, is where this franchise tends to succeed best. Here’s why animation should be the priority for Transformers movies going forward.
Why the Live-Action Transformers Movies Have Failed Critically
Given that it deals with giant, talking robots transforming into massive vehicles and battling one another to the death, it should probably come as no surprise that it took the Transformers franchise as long as it did to make the transition from comics and cartoons to live-action. Director Michael Bay brought the Autobots and Decepticons to life in 2007’s Transformers, before following up that film with a further four sequels.
But while those movies certainly delivered on spectacle (particularly 2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon and its depiction of a devastating battle in Chicago), story-wise the live-action series was basically dead on arrival. The Bay movies are widely derided for their paper-thin characters, storytelling cliches, cultural stereotypes, and overly juvenile humor (we’re looking at you, 2009’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen). All five Bay movies were rated rotten on Rotten Tomatoes, with Transformers leading the pack at 57% and 2017’s Transformers: The Last Knight bottoming out at 16%.
The Bay movies are widely derided for their paper-thin characters, storytelling cliches, cultural stereotypes, and overly juvenile humor.
Critically, things definitely improved with the release of 2018’s Transformers: Bumblebee. This prequel/pseudo-reboot took the series in a much different and more character-driven direction, resulting in a far more respectable 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes (check out IGN’s Transformers: Bumblebee review for our thoughts on the film). However, 2023’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts failed to continue that critical momentum, sliding back down to 51%.
And commercially, there’s been a clear case of diminishing returns with the Transformers franchise in recent years. Where both Dark of the Moon and 2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction crossed the $1 billion mark globally, The Last Knight barely broke $600 million. Bumblebee and Rise of the Beasts made even less money, with both coming in at less than $500 million globally. Yes, that is still a lot of money, but it’s clear that fans aren’t as enthusiastic about the franchise as they once were.
At some point, audiences seem to have grown bored of watching CGI robots punch each other repeatedly. The spectacle of these films is ultimately hollow. We’ve seen Peter Cullen’s Optimus Prime stabbed, blown up, and shot countless times, yet it never seems to make a difference in the end. He just shrugs it all off and keeps on trucking (pun intended).
Nor have these films built a compelling, ongoing narrative over the course of seven installments and counting. The characters are still cardboard cutouts. The mythology fueling these films is more convoluted than compelling, particularly as the most recent movies have become trapped in that “not quite a prequel, not fully a reboot” limbo. Hasbro and Paramount’s solution for revitalizing the live-action movies seemingly isn’t to simplify and refocus, but instead coast on the fan-service appeal of a Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover movie. But with the G.I. Joe franchise facing its own major problems in live-action, can we really count on a crossover movie to solve the woes of both franchises?
Clearly, a more fundamental overhaul of the Transformers series is needed to address these serious flaws. And that’s where Transformers One comes in.
What Transformers One Gets Right
Simply put, Transformers One is the clean, fresh start the franchise needed on the big screen. While One could be viewed as a distant prequel to the live-action movies, it also stands completely on its own. It flashes back many years in the past, when the Autobots and Decepticons still had a society of their own on Cybertron.
Immediately, this clean break from the other movies is a welcome relief. There’s no need to worry about how One connects to the other films or that convoluted mythology. The movie doesn’t have to worry about shoehorning in one-dimensional human characters. It can actually develop the Autobots and Decepticons for a change.
While the live-action Transformers movies aren’t alone in their habit of teaming the Autobots with a band of plucky human sidekicks, they’ve tended to lean on those human characters to an unnecessary degree. Whether it’s Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky in the first three Bay movies or Mark Wahlberg’s Cade Yeager in Age of Extinction, the human heroes are a distraction from the robotic ones, soaking up what little character development time there is. If Transformers One proves anything, it’s that you can tell a good Transformers story without any humans involved. That’s a lesson the series needs to keep firmly in mind going forward.
And that it certainly does. Characters like Chris Hemsworth’s Optimus Prime and Bryan Tyree Henry’s Megatron feel far richer and more developed than they ever have in the live-action films. We get to see Prime back when he was simply Orion Pax, a humble miner with dreams of becoming something greater. We get a better sense of why the Autobots are so faithfully devoted to their leader, and an appreciation for what was lost when Prime and Megatron’s friendship devolved into a bitter rivalry.
Could the same emotionally affecting story have been told in live-action? Probably, but we don’t know if it would have connected quite as well as it does. One is a reminder that the Transformers franchise just seems to work inherently better in animation than it does live-action. A lot of that has to do with the character designs. In the live-action movies, the Transformers are little more than amorphous bundles of mechanical parts. The character designs have a very generic quality to them, to the point where it often becomes difficult to tell what’s happening and who’s being injured when two characters fight.
True to the classic animated series and comics, the characters in Transformers One are far more sleek and colorful than their live-action counterparts. They aren’t over-designed or burdened with excess details. There’s none of that confusion over who’s who and what’s going on during the action scenes. The characters actually express and emote, with well-defined facial expressions assisting in the cinematic storytelling. It’s simply a night and day difference over the live-action movies.
The Transformers One characters actually express and emote, with well-defined facial expressions assisting in the cinematic storytelling.
Even after seven films, the live-action series hasn’t established a clear and cohesive sense of visual style. The robots are incredibly detailed, yet soulless. With Transformers One, the characters actually feel more real and more alive in every way that matters.
A Fresh Start for the Franchise
It remains to be seen what, exactly, the future holds for the Transformers franchise on the big screen. We know that Hasbro and Paramount are planning a direct sequel to Rise of the Beasts that brings in G.I. Joe characters. However, that sequel is still in the development stage, suggesting there wasn’t a clear plan in place for how to follow up Rise of the Beasts’ surprise ending.
Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura has also suggested that Transformers One could spawn an entire trilogy, one that continues to trace the twin journeys of Optimus Prime and Megatron on Cybertron and the civil war that threatens to consume the planet. But obviously that depends largely on how well One performs at the box office.
We can only hope that Transformers One makes enough money to justify sequels, both because we’d like to see this origin story continue and because the Transformers franchise badly needs more movies of this type - movies that emphasize the characters and don’t get lost in the mindless spectacle of robot vs. robot carnage. We need movies that know how to find the heart of the Transformers, and animation seems to offer a better foundation for telling those kinds of stories. It’s telling that even Bumblebee, the one true gem in the live-action series, was directed by Travis Knight, a filmmaker best known for working on animated films like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings.
The good news is that di Bonaventura at least seems to recognize the need for a more character-driven approach to the live-action movies. The producer told Collider that one of the current challenges with the Transformers/G.I. Joe crossover is finding the emotional core of the story.
"Where it will be particularly affected is the fact that we now know what these robots are capable of emotionally in a way," he said. "So we're going to have to figure out how to create that room, that we can afford that, and create a story that you can take more advantage of that. So one of the things that I'm particularly interested in doing … [is] we need to do more now from the robot point of view in the live-action because that's the only way you're really going to get inside them."
Hopefully that bodes well for the next live-action movie. But I’d still argue that animation is where this franchise truly shines. With any luck, Transformers One will prove successful enough that Hasbro and Paramount will pivot more in that direction in the years to come. Hopefully, One is the beginning of a better era for Transformers fans.
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