If you’re from the South like I am, you know the sound: a light, echoing hum that softly screams whenever the temperature gets above 75. A sign of summer. Of languid days filled with both dread and possibility. Cicadas - those insects found all across the Eastern seaboard of the United States – are singing their song, which is both suffocating and soothing at the same time.
In Netflix’s new limited series His & Hers, based on the bestselling novel by Alice Feeney, cicadas are omnipresent whenever the characters step outside. It’s a small detail but one that reinforces the consistent, relentless Southern gothic nature of the show. Led by Tessa Thompson (Creed, Thor: Ragnarok) and Jon Bernthal (The Punisher, The Bear), His & Hers is the latest offering from Netflix’s seemingly unabated conveyor belt of glossy murder mysteries starring A-list talent.
But whereas many of those shows leave something to be desired in terms of execution and storytelling (see The Beast in Me, Pieces of Her), His & Hers, helmed by showrunners Dee Johnson (Fellow Travelers, Nashville) and William Oldroyd, blows past the usual paint-by-numbers whodunnit trap and quickly develops into something much more than the sum of its parts.
Thompson and Bernthal star as Anna and Jack, an estranged married couple reeling after the death of their young daughter. Anna, a news anchor in Atlanta, disappeared a year prior to the events of the show in an attempt to deal with her grief, leaving Jack (a detective) to move in with his sister in their hometown of Dahlonega, GA. Anna reappears to cover the story of a local woman who was stabbed to death, with Jack assigned to lead the investigation.
Plotwise, what follows is a pretty typical mystery that sees bodies pile up, secrets revealed, and more than a few expository flashbacks. But that’s where the similarities between His & Hers and most psychological thrillers end.
Bernthal and Thompson are at the top of their game here. Every scene they share crackles with yearning, grief, and a million layers of personal history. After losing their daughter, they lost each other, and being reunited both rips open old wounds and creates new ones.
Thompson projects a quiet strength, constantly balancing the sorrow of a mother who’s lost her only child with the persistent drive of someone destined to make a name for herself career-wise. For his part, Bernthal (with a subtle but impeccable Southern accent, something woefully absent in many a movie and TV show - I’m looking at you Benoit Blanc) shines as a man teetering on the brink. It just so happens that Jack was having an affair with the murder victim and was with her the night of the killing. This revelation leads to a cascade of poor decisions that compromises the investigation and paints Jack as one of the prime suspects.
While many of Jack’s attempts to hide his involvement border on the ridiculous (he swabs his niece’s mouth for DNA instead of his own, he constantly shouts down Priya, his investigation partner, when she asks simple questions) these lapses are forgivable - this is a soapy murder mystery after all.
To understand what truly makes His & Hers great, we have to dig into what the show is actually about. And to do that, we must talk spoilers. So turn away (and be sure to come back later!) if you don’t want to know who the murderer is and how the show ends.
Full Spoilers ahead for all six episodes of His & Hers.
When you approach a show like His & Hers, it’s easy to take it on its face as a bingeable, glossy mystery where everything is wrapped up by the finale. And it is! But it’s also much more.
The central mystery (who killed Rachel Hopkins?) is laid out at the very beginning of the show and resolved in an entertaining, if fairly typical fashion.
But Anna and Jack’s involvement, while unclear at the beginning, is slowly revealed to be much more than meets the eye. In short, Rachel was part of a high school “Mean Girls” group that also included Anna, Jack’s sister Zoe, eventual school headmistress Helen, and outcast Catherine. One by one, the girls, now adults, are murdered. The series leads us to believe that they’re all killed by a grown-up Catherine, now calling herself Lexi and posing as Anna’s rival news anchor.
In between the action, we’re treated to scenes of Jack and Anna leaving a thousand things unsaid with sparing glances and fleeting moments together. By the final episode, everything neatly fits together. Lexi, who supposedly killed out of revenge for the bullying she suffered decades ago, is dispatched by Priya after a brutal fight with Anna.
Pretty clean resolution, right? Well, there’s still almost an entire episode to go at this point so you know nothing is as it seems.
We flash forward to a year later. Anna and Jack are back together. She has her dream job and is pregnant. They’re co-parenting Jack’s orphaned niece and all seems right with the world. They go back to Dahlonega to visit Alice, Anna’s mother, who’s showing signs of dementia. Alice leaves a letter for Anna and - TWIST - it’s revealed that Alice, not Lexi, is the real killer. After viewing a video tape of Anna being raped as a teenager and the other girls doing nothing to stop it, Alice decided to hunt down all of the girls as payback.
This in and of itself is not exceptional. Red herrings in murder mysteries are nothing new. But the end of His & Hers both elevates the wow factor and sends a message with a capital M. Alice - who spent her life overlooked and discarded by everyone in her community, was accidentally responsible for the death of Anna and Jack’s daughter, and faked her dementia as a cover story for the murders - decided to give her daughter the life and opportunity she never had herself. As she says to Anna when explaining her motivations:
“Killing Rachel brought you home.
Killing Helen kept you here.
Killing Zoe gave you the family you lost.”
Twisted as they were, Alice’s actions are a macabre meditation on motherhood itself. And thus the true nature of His & Hers comes into focus: the lengths parents will go to protect their children and the devastation that comes when they’re unable to do so. This theme gradually builds throughout the series and explodes in a truly shocking denouement that makes you want to go back and re-watch the entire show.
His & Hers doesn’t reinvent the murder mystery. But it does kick it into a gear that’s far too rare in the genre nowadays. It’s entertaining, gripping, and heartbreaking from beginning to end, and achieves the rare feat of making you think long after the credits roll.
Actor, stuntman, and Jackass co-creator Johnny Knoxville has today confirmed that a fifth Jackass film is coming to cinemas this year, on June 26, 2026. Knoxville announced the news via Instagram.
“Well a wang dang and hot damn doodle, we are starting the year off with a bang,” wrote Knoxville. “We wanted to let you know that this summer Jackass is back! We will see you in theatres June 26th. More to come but wanted you to hear it from us first!”
A fifth Jackass film (or perhaps… eighth, if you feel like counting the .5 sequels built with unused footage that came in the wake of the second, third, and fourth Jackass movies) follows 2022’s Jackass Forever. The successful fourth instalment was certainly pitched as a last hurrah for the core crew of the trailblazing, slapstick stunt comedy series, but precisely who is on deck to return in Jackass 5 (and in what capacity) is still unknown in the wake of this initial announcement.
IGN’s Jackass Forever review, which has now erred in dubbing it the “final chapter in American comedy’s most chaotic saga”, declared it “a hilarious last hurrah for its original crew,” and noted “few recent films have been funnier or more delightfully nostalgic.”
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
EB Games has made a proposal to close all its remaining stores in New Zealand, as well as its NZ distribution centre, reports The New Zealand Herald.
The proposal came as a letter sent to employees which explained “[t]his proposal is not final, and no decision will be made until we have completed a full consultation process in good faith with affected team members.”
The letter did, however, go on to confirm that if the proposal proceeds, all employment roles at EB Games New Zealand will vanish. The total number of job losses this will result in has not been reported. Employees have until January 12 to respond to the closure proposal.
EB Games’ Australian and NZ operation consists of 374 stores across the two countries, with 38 of them in New Zealand. The chain remains a part of US video game retailer GameStop, which acquired the EB Games business back in the mid-2000s. However, while EB Games locations in the US were rebranded as GameStop, stores in Australia and NZ remained identified as EB Games only.
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon X and X2 processors may finally have access to Fortnite and Epic’s Easy Anti-Cheat, but despite how much Qualcomm is trying to push gaming on the Snapdragon platform this year, I just don’t care.
Fortnite runs on smartphones, after all. And while Easy Anti-Cheat opens up a whole new slate of games for Snapdragon X-series laptops, most of the titles we’ve seen running on Qualcomm systems aren’t exactly GPU intensive. Baldur’s Gate 3 was one of the bigger games shown on the original Snapdragon X Elite platform, though performance on Qualcomm’s reference designs hardly held up when compared to actual consumer systems.
And at CES 2026, Qualcomm was showing off its new high-end Snapdragon X2 Extreme chip running Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider in 2026?
Look. I love Shadow of the Tomb Raider. It’s a great game. It’s a great benchmark. But the game hit gaming PCs way back in September 2018 – over 7 years ago. It was a graphically intense game back on the RTX 2080. While it is impressive to see how smooth the game runs on integrated GPUs at 1080p and High graphics settings these days, it’s not exactly a bragging point.
Especially when AMD was running Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 at over 30 fps native on the Lenovo Legion Go 2’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme last year, and Intel is showing off thin and light Panther Lake laptops running Battlefield 6 with frame rates hitting over 200 fps (though that is with multi-frame generation).
While Qualcomm’s reference design Snapdragon X2 Extreme laptop did haveCyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong installed, neither game was running for the press demos. Instead, the company wanted to talk about using AI voice changing features while gaming, rather than talk performance.
Integrated GPU Performance Matters Most on Handhelds
When it comes to iGPU gaming, handheld gaming PCs are king. While I love being able to play some games on a general consumer or business laptop because I’m a monster, few people are going to use a Lenovo Yoga or Dell laptop for gaming.
And when it comes to handhelds, well. AMD got an early lead in the handheld market, and Intel is still trying to claw out space for itself. Qualcomm hasn’t even tried. At this point, it’s probably too late. Between the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme, Intel Lunar Lake, and the recently teased Intel Panther Lake handheld chips, Qualcomm’s opportunity to get a Snapdragon handheld out on the market has passed.
iGPU Gaming Only Goes So Far
While every gaming handheld around right now is an iGPU machine, no one is going to buy a general consumer laptop for gaming. Since Qualcomm doesn’t have a handheld, this makes the Snapdragon X platform’s lack of discrete GPUs even more obvious.
After all, a Microsoft Surface Laptop isn’t a gaming device. If it can run games, cool. But it’s not a gaming platform. Sure, Qualcomm laptops can now utilize AMD FSR and Qualcomm’s custom Snapdragon Game Super Resolution upscaling features, but it’s just not enough reason to care. Between having no handhelds, using reference design laptops that won’t hit the market, and not talking actual performance expectations using modern game titles, Snapdragon gaming isn’t any more compelling than it was last generation.
Madeline (She/Her) is a contributing writer at IGN. She’s been writing about comics, tech, and gaming since 2013. Her byline has appeared at sites like Laptop Mag, PCMag, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, CGMagazine, and Bleeding Cool.
Every car absolutely needs a tire inflator as part of an emergency kit to be readily available at any time. If the only reason stopping you is the cost, then this deal should give you no more excuse. Ahead of Black Friday, Amazon is offering Prime members the Neverland cordless tire inflator and air compressor for just $14.99 after you clip the 18% off coupon and apply coupon code "NDKCVOXM" during checkout. Any brand of tire inflator you find on Amazon at around this price point was probably made from the one of few overseas factories. They might not have as many fancy features as other more expensive models, but they get the job done and that's what matters.
Neverland Cordless Tire Inflator and Air Compressor for $15
The Neverland tire inflator and air compressor features an internal lithium-ion battery. Cordless inflators are much more convenient to use because they don't need to be plugged in and can be charged with a standard USB Type-C cable. The compressor is rated for a maximum pressure of 150 PSI and can refill a 195/65 R15 tire from 25 to 36 PSI in about one minute. It also has an essential auto-stop feature to prevent you from dangerously overfilling your tires.
Like most tire inflators, this model can also be used as a cordless compressor to inflate other things as well, like bicycle tires, balls, inflatables, and more. The digital display is easy to read and can switch among four different units of measurements: psi, kpa, bar and kg/cm². It's also equipped with a USB output so that it can also be used as a 16,000mAh power bank to charg your phone or mobile electronics in a pinch.
Most people will get this tire inflator to keep their tires topped up, however it will come in handy during the real emergencies when you get a flat. Keep in mind though that If your tire has a puncture, there's no point filling it back up if it's going to leak again. So make sure you also have a tire patch kit on hand.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
I have spent more hours than I care to admit scrolling digital storefronts, convincing myself I am only looking. This week’s batch finally justified the damage. There are some genuinely smart buys here, not just filler discounts dressed up as generosity.
In retro news, I’m ensuring we all Don’t Starve by baking a 11th birthday cake for said indie great. When I was famished for things to play on my newly acquired launch PS4, I was surprised when this out-of-nowhere roguelike nourished me for dozens of hours. Being a masochist, there was so much to love about this—the complete lack of farming direction, the Burtonesque atmosphere of a storybook gone bad, and that increasingly bunghole-puckering stress of keeping shadow beasts and stomach grumbles at bay. Holds up quite well today, and you really ought to play this with a mate in the Don’t Starve Together co-op variant.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (-24%) A$68 Retro Studios finally returns to first-person bounty hunting, blending classic Prime atmosphere with modern controls and a heavier narrative focus than earlier entries.
Sonic Frontiers (-51%) A$49.10 Open-zone Sonic that launched rough but matured beautifully, especially after free updates reworked combat, difficulty and traversal.
EA Sports FC 26 (-46%) A$49 Still the gold standard for licensed football, with career tweaks and Ultimate Team refinements keeping it dangerously addictive.
Blasphemous (-75%) A$9.30 A grim, pixel-perfect Metroidvania inspired by Spanish religious iconography and brutally precise combat.
Octopath Traveler (-50%) A$45.10 Eight intersecting stories, HD-2D visuals, and a turn-based battle system that still rewards experimentation.
Adam Mathew is a passionate connoisseur, a lifelong game critic, and an Aussie deals wrangler who genuinely wants to hook you up with stuff that's worth playing (but also cheap). He plays practically everything, sometimes on YouTube.
If you're in need of at-home printing but you don't want to deal with the upfront cost of buying a printer or the hassle of purchasing ink cartridges when they run out, then HP is offering a plan that might be perfect for you.
HP's All-in-One Plan is a convenient service that leases you a printer for a low monthly fee. Along with the printer, you get an unlimited supply of ink, continuous warranty coverage, and a monthy allotment of prints. There are several plans to choose from, with each offering a different printer and print allotment depending on your needs.
The four recommended plan tiers are as follows:
Basic - HP Envy inkjet printer with 20 pages of printing for $7.99/mo
Versatile - HP Envy Photo inkjet printer with 20 pages of printing for $9.99/mo
High-Volume - HP Smart Tank all-in-one printer with 100 pages of printing for $12.99/mo
Professional - HP OfficeJet Pro all-in-one printer with 50 pages of printing for $14.99/mo
The "High Volume" plan is marketed as the best value. It includes the HP Smart Tank 7602 all-in-one printer (retails for $470) and up to 100 pages of monthly printing. At $12.99 per month, it's not much more expensive than the "Basic" and "Versatile" plans, which come with a lower-end printer (with no all-in-one capabilities) and significantly less pages of printing per month. The one caveat is that it requires a three year commitment compared to two years for the other plans. Fortunately, HP offers a 30-day trial period during which you can test out the service with the freedom to opt out.
Is the HP All-in-One Plan worth it?
The big question is whether or not HP's All-in-One Plan is worth it in the first place. We can first break this out monetarily. The "High Volume" plan will run you $12.99 per month for 3 years, or a grand total of $467.64. As mentioned above, the printer you get retails for $469.99. That's about the same cost, but there are other factors to consider.
By buying the printer outright, you could probably find a discount. For example, it's currently on sale at Amazon for $349.99, saving you $120 right off the bat. Also, after 3 years, you'll still own the printer so that you can use it for many years after. If you subscribe to the plan, then you're out of a printer after 3 years unless you re-enroll.
However, by signing up for the plan, you avoid having to pay $400+ instantly, which is replaced by a more manageable monthly fee. You also essentially get three years of warranty service, as opposed to just one year if you bought the printer outright. You don't need to pay for ink during the life of the subscription. This is important because ink refills can get pricey very quickly to the point where it's often cheaper to just buy a new printer.
All things considered, it really depends on your situation. If you can justify the upfront cost, you plan to keep the same printer for more than three years, and you feel comfortable enough sourcing cheaper third-party ink, then just buy your own printer. If you'd rather stick with the convenience of letting HP worry about the printer along with its refills and maintenance, and you know that you can stay within tothe monthly printing allotment, then it's worth checking it out.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Not every good gaming mouse costs more than $100. There are plenty of perfectly capable options that you can find for an absolute steal, like our favorite budget gaming mouse, the SteelSeries Rival 3 Gen 2, with its reliable performance and durable build for under $50. Here are five of the best budget gaming mice money can buy right now.
TL;DR – These Are the Best Budget Gaming Mice:
These mice all nail the basics, delivering accurate tracking, a comfortable grip, dependable controls, and a reliable connection. You may miss out on features like saving profiles, RGB lighting, or rechargeable batteries, but those are hardly a sacrifice considering the savings. Instead, you can put that extra dough toward other peripherals like a nice gaming keyboard orheadset.
1. SteelSeries Rival 3 Gen 2
Best Budget Gaming Mouse
The wired version of the SteelSeries Rival 3 Gen 2 is our budget King: For less than $50 you get a fast, accurate mouse that stands up to more expensive devices in multiplayer matches. As we explain in our review, it's well-built, its clicks are bouncy, its tasteful RGB lighting is fully customizable, and while we wouldn't recommend it in palm grip it's comfortable for both claw and fingertip grippers. The Gen 2 is a step up on the original, adding slicker feet and a cord that's harder to tangle.
The wireless version performs just as well: its connection is stable in both Bluetooth and 2.4GHz modes and its sensor is slightly more powerful than the wired version, tracking your movements precisely. If you pop two AAA batteries in you canget a whopping 450 hours of battery life on Bluetooth, falling to a still-respectable 100 hours on 2.4G Ghz and a 1,000Hz polling rate. For casual single-player games, you can drop the polling rate to extend its life.
The big drawback of the wireless version is its weight: more than 100g with two AAA batteries, or around 95g with one. For those used to lighter mice, it might feel clunky. It's also more expensive and lacks RGB. For those reasons, the wired version is the one we'd recommend for most people.
2. Logitech G305 Lightspeed
Best Budget Wireless Gaming Mouse
If you’re on the hunt for a cheap yet reliable wireless gaming mouse, our testing of the Logitech G305 Lightspeed has proven it's the best option in that category. It just can’t be beat when it comes to performance versus price. For around $40, it’ll connect to your gaming PC or gaming laptop using a 2.4GHz wireless dongle. Even though it’s wireless, the Lightspeed tech ensures an ultrafast 1ms response time. Battery life shouldn’t be a concern either with it managing 250 hours of continuous play before you need to change the single AA battery.
The Logitech G305 Lightspeed comes packing a HERO optical sensor with an impressive 12,000 DPI sensitivity, 400 IPS precision, and up to 40G of acceleration. That means this mouse can track your speediest movements with incredible accuracy, giving you a leg up in FPS games. The six programmable buttons also mean you can customize the mouse to games or activities you’re performing, and t’s also super durable and compact.
3. Razer DeathAdder V3
Best Budget Ergonomic Gaming Mouse
The Razer DeathAdder V3's ergonomic design and tall dome shape, which provides extra support for resting your palm, is wildly comfortable. However, the bulkier build might not be the best for smaller hands. At least the matte finish and special finger ledge make this mouse suitable for various grip styles. All the buttons are easy to reach, while the low 59g weight and PTFE skates allow it to move at high speeds.
The Razer DeathAdder V3 is comfortable, but it also has the performance chops you want. The Focus Pro 30K Sensor is capable of some accurate, fast tracking and can handle accelerations up to 70G and speeds up to 750 inches per second; it’s probably overkill for most. An 8,000Hz polling rate means a quick response time and the optical switches are super dependable. You can also store up to five profiles on the mouse, so you can adjust the six programmable buttons to the perfect settings for all your favorite games.
4. Roccat Burst Pro
Best Ultra-Cheap Budget Mouse
You don't expect much mouse for $20/£15. But the Roccat Burst Core – the cheaper version of the excellent Roccat Burst Pro – is deceptively capable.
It is lightweight and comfortable, with a crowd-pleasing shape that fits hands of most sizes and grips. Its sensor won't win awards but it feels snappy, and its two thumb buttons are perfectly positioned. You even get customizable RGB in the scroll wheel.
At this price, compromise is inevitable. The left and right clicks feel and sound rattly, the cord never lies perfectly straight and, when I first took it out of the box, one the two feet on the bottom actually fell off.
But the clicks, while mushy, are reliable. They've never failed to register and I can spam them with no problems. And after I hastily stuck the mouse foot back on and whispered a prayer, it didn't fall off again and it glided fine across my mousepad. That feels like a low bar to clear – but then again, this is a low, low price.
5. Glorious Model O Eternal
Best Budget Ultra-Lightweight Gaming Mouse
It's obvious just from looking at the Glorious Model O Eternal where the weight has been trimmed: Its top and bottom are pocked with honeycomb holes, its bright RGB lighting leaking in to saturate the whole of its hump. It's a bold look, and not for everyone – but even if you don't like the design, you'll love how it feels in your hand.
At 55g, this is one of the lightest budget mice you can buy, and moving around your mousepad is effortless. The shell is surprisingly sturdy: despite the holes it feels solid in the hand and doesn't creak or bend under pressure. Just maybe don't eat cookies above it.
The side buttons are too small, the Glorious app is limited, and the cable feels cheap, but everything else is wonderful. The left and right clicks are crisp and reliable and the scroll wheel is one of the best I've ever used. Its sensor isn't top of the range but it's good enough for most gamers, and it'll serve you well whatever type of game you play. Best of all, you can regularly find it on offer for $30 or less. That's an absolute steal.
What to Look for in a Budget Gaming Mouse
When grabbing a budget gaming mouse over their more expensive counterparts, you’ll probably have to sacrifice a few features, whether that’s extra programmable buttons, a lower DPI sensitivity, or wireless functionality. One thing you should never settle for is subpar performance, and all of our picks are ready to game. But if you’re looking to branch out on your own when purchasing an affordable gaming mouse, we discuss what to seek out below to ensure the mouse is up to snuff.
To start, you want an comfortable mouse that feels great in hand. Some people grip with their fingertips, while others use a claw or palm grip, so the shape of the mouse is important. For left-handers, you’ll have a far more limited pool and often be stuck with ambidextrous options, but there are a good amount of ergonomic right-handed mice.
Next, you need to decide on wired versus wireless. These days, the differences between the two are negligible, though the price will increase to drop the wire. You’ll have to consider battery life and weight as well when going wireless. A lighter mouse allows quicker and more free movements, while a heavier option adds precision.
The DPI of a mouse is important, and you want an option that lets you switch between sensitivities. If you want to cover your bases for all games, a setting between 400 to 3,600 should be good, and almost every gaming mouse – cheap or expensive – should cover that range.
Beyond that, you’ll want the typical basic controls and maybe a few more inputs that you can also assign macros to perform different functions. A dedicated DPI button comes in handy for those who want to switch from speedy movements to more precise ones, while those into MOBA and MMO games could use a few extra programmable buttons on the side of the mouse.
Other features like RGB lighting can be a cool addition but unnecessary when trying to save. Overall, you want a mouse that fits into your budget and works well with the games you play.
Best Budget Gaming Mouse FAQ
How to Choose a Budget Gaming Mouse
The first and most important thing about choosing the right mouse for you is its shape. For the most part, mice come in exactly two shapes: ambidextrous or ergonomic. While it might seem like a simple choice that all right-handed users should pick an ergonomic shape while left-handed are left with whatever is ambidextrous, the way you hold the mouse is just as important too.
To that end, there are also two primary types of mouse grip: palm and claw. For the former palm grip technique, you'll want a mouse with a tall back that can support your hand, as well as some level of pinky and ring finger support. Claw grippers, on the other hand, should look for a mouse that's relatively short and has a small footprint.
Is it worth buying a cheap gaming mouse?
In this day and age, you really don't have to sacrifice a lot when you're trying to save a buck on a gaming mouse. Many of the cheap options out there offer a high level of DPI and polling rate to keep up with even the best premium gaming mice. That said, not all mice are built equal; some offer more buttons with others are ergonomically designed for a certain handiness (usually for right-handed users), so there are a few things to consider when buying something more affordable.
How much should you spend on a budget gaming mouse?
Although some of the best gaming mice brands have a budget option these days that offer decent quality, that doesn't mean you should buy just any cheap option. Although there are sometimes discounts that drop the price of some good wired mice down near $20, you'll usually want to spend a little bit more to get something you won't be disappointed in. The best budget mice tend to cost anywhere between $30 and $60.
Should you buy a PC controller instead of a mouse?
Honestly, it's completely up to you and your preferences, but some games are more . Most PC games support the use of PC controllers, and it can be cheaper than buying both a mouse and keyboard. It's also worth noting that if you already have an Xbox or PS5 controller, you should be able to connect that to your PC via a Bluetooth adapter.
Additional contributions by Danielle Abraham, a tech freelance writer based in Los Angeles who spends her free time creating videos and geeking out over music history.
Disney's upcoming Tangled live-action film has found its Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, in Teagan Croft and Milo Manheim.
As reported by THR, these key roles are the first two to be finalized following Disney's decision to move forward with casting last month, after it became clear that Scarlett Johansson was no longer available to take on the role of Mother Gothel.
Croft and Manheim will step into the roles originally voiced by Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi. Croft is an Australian actress known for her appearances as Rachel/White Raven on Titans from 2018 to 2023, and starred as Jessica Watson in the Australian biographical drama True Spirit.
Manheim is best-known for his role as Zed in the Disney TV film franchise Zombies, and currently plays Wally in the Paramount+ series School Spirits. He also took second place on Dancing With the Stars in Season 27.
The role of Mother Gothel is still vacant following Johansson's departure, and is expected to be the next one to be cast. The Tangled film will be directed by Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), produced by Kristin Burr (Freakier Friday, Cruella), and with a script by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Thor: Love and Thunder).
Disney's attempt at a Tangled live-action was first reported in December of 2024, after the animated film garnered plenty of positive reviews and grossed $592.5 million worldwide back in 2010, earning it a spot as a popular classic. The struggles of this year's live-action Snow White reportedly gave Disney brief pause on live-action adaptations more generally, but the subsequent success of Lilo & Stitch appears to have gotten the ball rolling again. Other Disney live-action films in development include a Beauty & the Beast spin-off about Gaston, adaptations of Hercules, Bambi, and most notably a Moana live-action set to release in July of this year.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
If you're looking for an absolute monster of a gaming PC, you can't go wrong with Alienware's new Area-51 prebuilts. Deals have been scarce since the recent surge in RAM and GPU pricing, however you can still get sizeable discounts from Dell's official outlet store. For now, clearance, like new (refurbished), and scratch and dent models equipped with your choice of GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 graphics cards are still on sale for considerably lower prices than buying new.
All PCs purchased through Dell Outlet include the same warranty as buying new. Dell's certified refurbished systems are submitted to a rigorous refurbishing process. These previously owned products could have observable minor blemishes that do not affect performance, or could look as good as new.
Alienware Area-51 RTX 5090 Gaming PC Deals
Alienware Area-51 RTX 5080 Gaming PC Deals
The Alienware Area-51 Is Dell's Flagship Gaming PC
The Alienware Area-51 is Dell's flagship gaming PC. Unveiled during last year's CES, the Area-51 is a super-sized upgrade to the mainstream Aurora R16 system. The significantly larger chassis features more premium build quality and a redesigned cooling system with greater net airflow. In fact, this is the only model that Dell feels comfortable enough to equip with the hot and power hungry GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card.
The RTX 5090 is the most powerful graphics card ever
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 has emerged as the most powerful consumer GPU on the market. Although Nvidia has prioritized software updates, AI features, and DLSS 4 technology to improve gameplay performance, the 5090 still boasts an impressive 25%-30% uplift over the RTX 4090 in terms of pure, hardware-based raster performance. The 5090 also has a whopping 32GB of VRAM (33% more than the 4090), making it the ideal candidate for a hybrid rig looking to do both gaming and AI work on the same machine. Check out our Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 FE review.
The RTX 5080 GPU will also run any game in 4K
Performance-wise, the RTX 5080 is no slouch. It's one of the fastest cards on the market, bested only by the $2,000 RTX 5090 and the discontinued $1,600 RTX 4090. This is a phenomenal card for playing the latest, most demanding games in 4K resolution at high settings and ray tracing enabled. Check out our Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 FE review.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Audible's first sale of 2026 is now live. Now through January 21, new and returning Audible subscribers can sign up for three months of Audible Premium Plus for just $0.99 per month. This time around it doesn't look like you need to be an Amazon Prime member either. After the three months is up, your subscription will convert to the standard $14.95/mo, so make sure to cancel beforehand if you don't want to continue with the service. You also get a free audiobook of your choice for each of those three months that you get to keep indefinitely.
Note that if you recently signed up for an Audible Premium Plus promotion, you may not be eligible even if your subscription has ended. There's usually a wait period (about 3-6 months) before you are re-eligible.
3 Free Months of Audible Premium Plus
Audible is a subscription service that gives you access to hundreds of thousands of the best audiobooks without ever having to purchase them. There are two paid membership plans: the lower tier Audible Plus ($7.95/mo) and the higher tier Audible Premium Plus ($14.95/mo). The biggest difference between the two is the size of the audiobook library. Whereas Audible Plus only lets you listen to a selection of about 10,000 audiobooks, the Audible Premium Plus plan gives you access to a whopping 500,000 audiobooks.
Premium Plus includes other perks as well. Every month Premium Plus members get to pick one audiobook to keep in their library indefinitely, even after the membership expires. Also, Premium Plus members can get 30% off any additional audiobooks they wish to purchase in addition to exclusive limited-time discounts.
If you were already planning to purchase a couple of audiobooks, then it makes more sense to pay less than $3 to get three audiobooks you get to keep indefinitely and enjoy all the benefits of Audible Premium Plus for three months. This deal only pops up a few times per year, so don't waste your "first-time subscriber" eligibility status on a short 30-day trial.
Catch up the the latest novel releases, audiobook style
Several best-selling new and recent releases are available in an audiobook format and part of Audible's Premium Plus subscription plan. Rebecca Yarros' The Empyrean Series romantasy novels have consistently hit the top of the New York Times' best seller list throughout all of 2025 and they're all available in audiobook format. Sunrise on the Reaping, the latest Hunger Games novel, is narrated by Jefferson White, who you may already know from Yellowstone where he played Jimmy Hudstrom. The audiobook has a listening time of about 12 hours and 48 minutes. Stephen King released his Never Flinch crime novel in May 27 and it's also available as a nearly 15-hour long audiobook narrated by veteran Jessie Mueller. If you're a fan of Brandon Sanderson, check out Wind and Truth, book five of the popular The Stormlight Archive series. It was released in December of 2024 and runs an epic 63 hours long.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
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