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This $21 Power Bank Can Fast Charge Your Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, or Asus ROG Ally Multiple Times

If you're looking for an affordable power bank that will fast charge your Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, or Asus ROG Ally gaming handheld, then check out today's deal. Amazon has the INIU 20,000mAh Power Bank with up to 65W of Power Delivery over USB Type-C for only $21.59 after you clip the 40% off coupon on the product page (if you don't see it, try applying promo code "WN9GQJRA"). INIU power banks have solid reviews and are less expensive than equivalent Anker models. This particular model has 2,600 reviews on Amazon with a 4.5 star average and a Fakespot "B" rating.

Iniu 20,000mAh 65W USB Power Bank for $21.59

This Iniu power bank boasts a generous 20,000mAh, or 74Whr battery capacity. If you factor in 80% power efficiency, here are the approximate number of times you can fully recharge each gaming handheld:

  • Nintendo Switch (16Whr) about 3.7 times
  • Steam Deck (40Whr) about 1.9 times
  • Asus ROG Ally (40Whr) about 1.9 times
  • Asus ROG Ally X (80Whr) about 1 time
  • Lenovo Legion Go (50Whr) about 1.5 times

The Iniu power bank has three output ports: one 65W USB Type-C port, one 36W USB-Type-C port, and one USB Type-A port with up to 18W of power. The 65W USB port is enough to charge most gaming handhelds at their fastest rate. For the ones that can accept an even greater charging rate (ROG Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go), it at least matches the same charging rate as the offical power brick that they come with. Normally power banks in this price range only support up to 20-30W of Power Delivery, which is why this is a better than average deal.

On a related note, this power bank is also a solid choice for charging your Apple iPhone 16, since ChargerLAB has shown that the maximum charging rate caps at about 30W, even for the Pro Max model.

Need something even cheaper?

You can grab this 10,000mAh power bank for only $8.99 after you clip the 10% off and 40% off clippable coupons on the product page. We very rarely see 10,000mAh power banks listed for under $10 so grab this one while you can. This will charge a Nintendo Switch from 0% to 100% about 1.9 times.

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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Amazon Has the Least Expensive GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Prebuilt Gaming PCs Right Now

The GeForce RTX 5070 Ti graphics card was released in late February for $749.99, but good luck finding one at that price. As with the rest of the Blackwell lineup, everyone from personal sellers to the manufacturers themselves have joined in on the price markup bonanza. You'd be hard pressed to find a 5070 Ti for anything lower than $1,000.

Fortunately there's a way to get around these shenanigans, and that is by purchasing a prebuilt gaming PC instead. Amazon is currently offering CyberpowerPC RTX 5070 Ti gaming desktops starting at $2,069.99. That's a reasonable price considering the fact that the RTX 5070 Ti has proven to be nearly identical in performance to the RTX 4080 Super, without even factoring in DLSS 4. The best deal currently on an RTX 4080 Super gaming PC is one I've found at HP for $2,299.99, and unless you have a brand preference, getting one of these PCs is probably a better option.

CyberPowerPC RTX 5070 Ti Prebuilt Gaming PCs on Amazon

My preferred config is the CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme gaming PC equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU, RTX 5070 Ti GPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD. In our AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D review, Jackie Thomas wrote that "the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is extremely powerful in games, which makes it easier to recommend than other recent processors like the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K or Ryzen 9 9900X. Especially if you’re building a rig with a powerful graphics card, the 9800X3D is going to be the best way to get the most performance."

Of all the Blackwell cards released thus far, the RTX 5070 Ti offers the best bang for your buck, especially when pitted against the previous generation GPUs. It performs neck-and-neck with the RTX 4080 Super and already marginalizes the RTX 5080, which is only about 10%-15% faster but costs 33% more. This GPU is capable of high framerates in nearly all games, even at 4K resolution with ray tracing enabled. Heck, even if you plan on using this card for AI, the RTX 5070 Ti might be the better value than the RTX 50870 since both are equipped with the same 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM.

Alternative: Lenovo Legion RTX 4080 Super PC for $2,260.99

Lenovo has dropped the price of its powerful Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 RTX 4080 Super gaming PC to only $2,260.99 after coupon code: "EXTRAFIVE" . In our recent Legion Tower 7 review (the sample we received wasn't as powerful as this one), Jacqueline Thomas wrote that "The Legion Tower 7i is an incredibly powerful gaming PC, especially for the money you’re likely going to be paying for it. If all you want is a powerful, upgradeable machine without having to go through the trouble of building it yourself, it’s hard to find many gaming PCs better than this one."

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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Arkham Horror: The Card Game Buying Guide

Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a series of deck-building card games that you can build and curate to your dark heart’s delight. It's a cooperative game, so you and your fellow players are working together to take on the horrors that await.

It's also part of the extensive world in the Arkham Horror Files family of board games, card games, and the newest, the nicely accessible Arkham Horror: The Role-Playing Game (see on Amazon) and subsequent newly released matching expansive rulebook.

The card deck-builder Arkham Horror card game has been around since 2016. It has seen multiple expansions and revisions since its original printing. Buying the game is also not entirely straightforward outside of the base deck and campaign, as there are multiple ways to build, curate, and personalize your experience.

Featured in this article

Here's a swipe-able, all-in-one carousel of everything discussed in the article, for those who feel confident enough about their Arkham Horror: The Card Game knowleged to skip the blurbs. For everyone else, keep on reading.

The Base Game

The core set contains all you need to get started. It contains five pre-built investigator decks that let you dive into the first scenario: the Night of the Zealot campaign. This will give you a great, replayable taste of the Arkham Horror Card Game world. And if you like it, you have a huge selection of expansions to consider.

Arkham Horror Card Game Expansions

Arkham Horror’s card game expansions are a bit different than the board game version. For the board games, expansion boxes include the full stories and scenarios as well as the new investigators to join in on the fun. The card game operates a bit differently. You can buy campaign expansions to add new stories to your game, and/or you can buy investigator expansions to add new characters. In other words, the new stories and new characters are sold separately. This might not be ideal for everyone, but it allows you to choose how much of an experience you want to invest in at a certain time, since you can play an expansion scenario without the newer investigators if you want to.

The Dunwich Legacy

The Dunwich Legacy was the first expansion released. It’s meant to be a gentle step up from the base game, with a user-friendly set of scenarios. In it you search for lost investigators, which coincidentally seems to tie into how the entire card game franchise builds upon itself by adding new investigator sets in each expansion release.

The Path to Carcosa

A theatre production comes to Arkham in this expansion. The added rules in this one are fairly user-friendly for new playersm but the expansion isn’t easy enough for vets to dismiss. If you have the older first edition of this expansion, you may still find the differences in this second edition engaging enough to warrant a purchase.

The Forgotten Age

This expansion has you explore the ruins of an Aztec city, with a mystery that threatens to unravel the fabric of time iteslf. This is a very difficult campaign, so it's not recommended to newcomers until they've played through some of the others first. It’s also on its second edition version now.

The Circle Undone

This expansion has affectionately been called “the witches pack.” The new investigators introduced in this expansion have some powerful bonuses that are a delight to use. That's a relief, because the campaign is one of the tougher ones of all the expansions as well. If you plan to get this campaign, you should absolutely consider getting the investigators.

The Edge of the Earth

The antarctic tundra is a classic location for Lovecraftian horrors to reside. So that's exactly where this expansion brings you and your fellow players: to the deep freezing cold. Peril lurks around every corner, so choose your steps wisely, with or without the coordinating investigators.

The Scarlet Keys

This campaign expansion has you traversing the world as you delve into an international conspiracy involving the collection of keys and a race against the Red Coterie. With or without the investigators, this expansion is less linear to explore than most of the others.

The Dream Eaters

This campaign includes two four-part storylines: Dream Quest and the Web of Dreams stories. You can play these separately if you're tight on time, or you can combine them together into a longer eight-part story.

The Innsmouth Conspiracy

This expansion puts you and your fellow players in an ever-changing world that morphs based on water levels that can flood various locations. This adds a dynamic layer to the strategic decision-making you'll need to employ as you play through it.

The Feast of the Hemlock Vale

The Feast of the Hemlock Vale is a newer expansion that brings players to Hemlock Vale, where residents are preparing for a festival while somehow remaining blissfully unaware of dangers like mutated wildlife and a sinister presence lurking around them. You have three days to investigate the strange happenings, with different dynamics depending on whether it's day or night.

The Drowned City

The newest expansions for Arkham Horror is The Drowned City. In this one, the big squiddy lord from Lovecraftian lore has awakened, and it's up to you and your team to save the day.

Other ways to expand your deck-building adventures in Arkham

Starter Decks

Interested in adding another character to your roster but aren’t sure if you’re ready to jump into a full expansion? You can buy a few starter investigator decks. These decks are less expensive and will give you more investigators to help you through your game.

That said, these characters may not be as great as the investigators that you’ll find in the larger boxes that are connected to campaigns (see above). There are five to choose from: Harvey Waters, Nathanial Cho, Jacqueline Fine, Winnifred Habbamock, and Stella Clark. All of them are $16.99 but can be found cheaper and on sale from time to time.

Scenario Packs

There are also several standalone scenario packs available to purchase. These offer a smaller dose of action than the full expansions above. They cost $21.99 each. Murder at the Excelsior Hotel has been regarded as one of their more entry-level scenarios, so if you’re looking for something smaller before committing to something bigger, like an expansion, you might want to check that one out.

Other scenario packs include Fortune and Folly, Machinations Through Time, War of the Outer Gods, Labyrinths of Lunacy, and The Blob That Ate Everything.

Return to Boxes

Return to boxes are revamps and additions to select campaigns. They require the base campaign set to play them, and while they are a bonus, they are best suited for folks who are serious about Arkham Horror: The Card Game. They are considered to be luxury items, essentially. And some of them are not the easiest to get a hold of. In fact, when going to create this list, I found that some were discontinued or not easily found through sites like Amazon or even Asmodee itself.

Five return-to-boxes are currently available: Night of the Zealot (the campaign in the original starter box), Dunwich Legacy, Circle of Carcosa, Circle Undone, and Forgotten Age. Some enthusiasts say that Forgotten Age fixes some of the complexities in the original expansion. As you can see, when you click the name of Night of the Zealot, these are out of print, so collectors may find them difficult to come by.

Parallel Investigator Packs

Parallel investigators are alternate versions of investigators that have abilities different from those of their original counterparts, including enhanced abilities and stats. Like Return to Boxes, these are not as easily found at big retailers. Collectors will have to look around for them to get them.

The Bottom Line

If you are a fan of Lovecraft mythos-themed games, Arkham Horror is a universe you’ll absolutely want to explore. One awesome thing about Arkham Horror: The Card Game is that you can play it as a solo game, as well as with friends. The universes and iterations of games make for lots of capacities for adventure, with seemingly endless replayability for several of them.

That said, like the board games, the card games absolutely veer on the more difficult side. They have quite a bit of chance, which can drastically increase replayability as well as frustration. Setup and learning time can also take a few minutes. You’ll find that the card games are easier to set up than the board games, even without expansions, which makes the journey through less painful.

Jennifer Stavros is a contributing freelancer for IGN, covering everything from comics, games, technology, and nerd culture. She has over 15 years of experience in the gaming industry, including testing and writing for Wired, Inverse, and more. Follow her on Twitter or watch her on Twitch under the handle @scandalous.

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Drop Review

Drop opens in theaters Friday, April 11. This review is based on a screening at the 2025 SXSW Film and TV Festival.

Usually, the most harrowing thing that might happen if you fail to modify your AirDrop settings is a bunch of teenagers sending you random dick pics – a scenario that’s tweaked in the new Christopher Landon-directed techno-thriller Drop. Landon, who also made Happy Death Day and Freaky, loves a gimmick. And “What if phone, but scary?” sure seems like one. Fortunately, Drop is more interested in thrilling the audience than winking at us, and is a more entertaining film as a result.

Drop makes harassment-by-Bluetooth scary by pivoting away from the prankster angle early on. At first, Violet (Meghann Fahy) is annoyed when someone starts sending her random memes as she waits for her date to arrive at a swanky restaurant on the 38th floor of a Chicago skyscraper. Then the messages start getting more personalized, and Violet realizes that whoever is targeting her – she’s not sure who, but it has to be someone within 50 feet, given their weapon of choice – is watching her, setting a locked-room mystery plot into motion.

The obvious question here is, “Why doesn't she just switch off her phone and leave?” And that’s where the kid in peril comes in. Violet is a single mother, widowed in an incident that’s teased in the movie’s cold open but whose traumatizing details aren’t revealed until the very end. Violet has spent most of the five years since holed up at home with her son, Toby (Jacob Robinson), who was a baby when his dad died and is now a precocious kid with glasses and intense separation anxiety. When she pushes back, Violet’s mystery contact starts threatening Toby, and Drop is just mean enough that we can’t be certain that the little guy will make it out of this alive.

Violet isn’t handling her first time away from Toby since his infancy very well either, compounding her jitters about meeting Henry (Brandon Sklenar), the handsome photographer she’s been messaging on a dating app for the past three months. Henry is patient and understanding, and genuinely interested in building a relationship; without revealing too much, it’s very unlikely that he’s the one provoking Violet. And in a movie landscape choked with well-meaning but hacky takedowns of monstrous men hiding behind friendly façades, it’s kind of refreshing to have a movie where the nice guy is actually, well, nice.

Drop’s tight structure and compounding twists are reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan, with the major difference being that Shyamalan would never get as snarky as Landon does in the first act. Search Party’s Jeffery Self carries much of the comedic burden as an oversharing, eager-to-please waiter, who loses patience with Violet’s increasingly bizarre requests but has to keep smiling and accommodating her. (This is a very expensive restaurant.) There are some sick giggles to be had later on, one of them an R-rated Spielberg bit involving Toby, a loaded handgun, and a remote controlled car. But for the most part, Drop abandons the wisecracks once the stakes reach life-or-death heights.

Not every part of this more earnest approach works: Even when it’s not a-joke-a-minute, a Christopher Landon movie is probably not the place to be exploring themes of domestic abuse. But the fundamentals of action, tension, and escalating suspense are strong, and Landon makes great use of the claustrophobic central location and its vertigo-inducing heights. This unpretentious thrill ride is a fun diversion, and a surprisingly good date movie – providing your date isn’t too triggered by a lounge-piano rendition of “Baby Shark.” Parenthood is difficult, y’all.

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Captain America: Brave New World’s Real Budget? You’ll Never Know… and This Is Why

It’s no secret that the latest Marvel film, Captain America: Brave New World, didn’t exactly light the world on fire in terms of critical response, fan response, or box office. In fact, on the latter front some folks have been doom-watching as Brave New World limps along, making money each weekend since its release, but not really making MCU money.

The thing about Hollywood movie budgets is it’s always difficult to track how much money actually went into a film. Yes, budgets will be cited by “studio insiders” and the like, but there’s no real way to know how accurate those figures are unless you’re a number-cruncher on the inside - in this case at Disney or Marvel. And sometimes damage control and image perception will impact the budgets that are reported. Damage control and image perception? In Hollywood? Who knew!

Captain America: Brave New World Box Office Numbers

In the case of Captain America: Brave New World, which as of this writing has been out for four weekends and earned $371 million worldwide (according to Box Office Mojo), there was definitely damage control to do. Amid increasing doom-and-gloom reports surrounding the MCU overall, there’s also the apparently troubled production history of the film to consider, which was said to include difficult test screenings, expensive reshoots, and even the addition of a new villain character (Giancarlo Esposito’s Sidewinder) to the plot.

The Brave New World budget that has been reported by trade outlets like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter is $180 million, but that seems low considering the reported (at least) 22 days of reshoots, and indeed, some well-sourced industry observers indicate that the final budget was significantly higher. According to The Hot Mic, the budget was in the range of $300 million, while Joanna Robinson and Dave Gonzalez, who wrote the book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, have said their sources peg the movie as costing closer to $380 million. Bear in mind there’s also the matter of P&A (prints and advertising) costs, which would be in the tens of millions at the very least if not higher for an MCU blockbuster (Variety pegs P&A for Brave New World at $100 million). And then there’s the revenue split that the studio has to share with theater owners!

When Marvel Movie Budgets Stop Mattering

So take the $300 million figure as an example. If that was the total cost for Marvel, then the common wisdom in Hollywood bookkeeping is that the film would need to make $600 million before the studio has even broken even. That clearly will not happen in theaters as the film is slowing down substantially and nearing the end of its theatrical run.

Now all this said, things get much hazier when it comes to the value of having, say, Captain America: Brave New World always available as one of the titles on your streaming service. Or when you can keep selling merchandise based on these characters. Or when you’re setting them up for their next big Avengers movie, which is likely to make way more money than Brave New World has.

This is Hollywood magic, folks, only not the good kind. As underwhelming as the bulk of the post-Endgame MCU has been, there’s a safety net component to being part of a shared universe. It’s also why budgets vs. box office comparisons are both unknowable and not the real issue. While an MCU movie can tank, it still serves the purpose of keeping the series moving and hence is easier to excuse in the grand scheme of things. A standalone movie with no franchise ties, however, has to stand on its own two feet. This is why things are that much harder for the Mickey 17s of the world these days.

Is releasing a stinker like Brave New World the cost of doing business for a shared universe mega-franchise these days?

Is releasing a stinker like Brave New World the cost of doing business for a shared universe mega-franchise these days? You gotta keep the factory line running, as Lucille Ball learned all those years ago. And if that means every now and then stuffing your face full of chocolate that you don’t really even want, at least you know it comes out in the wash in the end.

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O'Dessa Review

O’Dessa streams on Hulu beginning Thursday, March 20. This review is based on a screening at the 2025 SXSW Film and Television Festival.

What happens when you mix Streets of Fire and O Brother, Where Art Thou? with the look and vibes of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon? You get a bold, vibrant, catchy, romantic cyberpunk rock opera with memorable performances and rocking musical numbers seemingly destined for infinite fan edits once it drops on Hulu. One of the best scenes in all of Stranger Things involves Sadie Sink and a great song, but that doesn’t prepare you for just how great her singing voice is in O'Dessa. Director Geremy Jasper tasks Sink with carrying his follow-up to 2017’s Patti Cake$ – and fortunately, she (and the considerable shoulder pads of her retro-cool wardrobe) are more than up for it.

Sink plays O’Dessa’s title character with a stoicism that hides raw vulnerability: She’s a girl who acts tough, moves and dresses like Elvis, and sings like Hank Williams. In her mother’s words, she’s a "dirt farmer," and the last in a long line of "ramblers" – troubadours who once traveled around a now-ravaged landscape lifting spirits and providing hope through song. All O'Dessa wants is to fulfill her dreams of going to the dystopian metropolis of Satylite City to experience all its chaos and grandeur, accompanied only by Willa, a legendary guitar made from a tree that was struck by lightning.

It’s a story that’s powered by an alluring grab bag of mythology: What initially appears to be a grimy Americana take on Homer’s Odyssey – with its long shots of countryside, train-hopping, and colorful side characters – quickly gives way to a cyberpunk retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice once O'Dessa reaches Satylite City and meets the beautiful dancer Euri Dervish (an electrifying Kelvin Harrison Jr.). Sink and Harrison have ample chemistry, and they truly sell this doomed romance drenched in neon and set in opposition to the dictatorial rule of a TV host named Plutonovich (Murray Bartlett).

Read what you will into Jasper creating a villain who’s a media-savvy tyrant running a high-stakes televised talent show, but any commentary in his script is less overt than this implied Trump analogy. The filmmaker prefers to make O’Dessa’s most powerful statements with its dazzling visuals and loaded costume choices. The central romance is one big middle finger to gender norms, with Sink playing humanity’s prophesied savior as an androgynous pop star with slicked-back hair and white tuxedo, opposite Harrison as her tender, graceful, gown-wearing lover.

There’s gusto in the songs, too, a soundtrack of 16 original numbers by Jasper and co-writer Jason Binnick that map O'Dessa's journey onto the evolution of American popular music. Bluesy ballads with personal lyrics eventually give way to rockabilly and even acid-rock psychedelia. Sink finally gets to show off her Broadway-honed pipes on screen; it’s a shame it took this long for her to find this kind of role, because her vocals are simply enchanting. At a time when studios are still making musicals but appear hesitant to sell them as such (who puts together a trailer for Wicked with barely any footage of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande singing?), here’s one that boldly proclaims what it is, with little time to rest in between music numbers. It joyfully goes from one song to the next, with the music keeping the story aloft.

Accompanying the catchy tunes is a strong visual aesthetic that makes O'Dessa stand out in a sea of indistinguishable cyberpunk stories. A sense of naturalism in the early scenes mingles with the look of a lost video-store favorite from the 1980s in Satylite City. There’s an environmental message in there, too, via the constant sight of oil pipelines in the countryside and the iridescent look of the oil that powers Plutonovich's empire.

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Split Fiction Sells One Million Copies in 48 Hours

Hazelight's latest co-op adventure, Split Fiction, has officially surpassed one million copies sold in the first 48 hours, setting a new record for the studio.

This news was announced on BlueSky, with the official account saying, "The love you all show for our game is overwhelming! 😍 Everyone here at Hazelight are beyond happy - and we can’t stop enjoying your amazing reactions! 🤩"

Notably this is one million copies sold, which means it's possible that far more than that are playing Split Fiction. Every copy of the game comes with a Friend's Pass that lets a friend play the entire game in co-op with the purchaser for free. While not everyone will take advantage of that option (some will play local co-op, some may play with someone who already owns the game, etc), that's still a whole lot of people playing Split Fiction.

This is a huge sales jump from Hazelight's last game, It Takes Two, which didn't reach the one million milestone until a month after launch. But that in and of itself was deemed an impressive milestone, with studio head Josef Fares saying at the time that it proved players want co-op games.

We really dug Split Fiction, calling it "a rollercoaster of constantly refreshed gameplay ideas and styles – and one that’s very hard to walk away from" in our 9/10 review.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

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Score a Metallic PS5 DualSense Controller for the Lowest Price Ever

Lenovo has just dropped the price of the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller to slightly lower than what we saw on Black Friday. Right now you can choose Sterling Silver, Volcanic Red, or Cobalt Blue for only $54 plus free shipping after you apply coupon code "PLAY5" in cart. This is probably going to be your last chance to get a DualSense controller at this price for quite a while, especially one that's decked out in a eye-catching metallic colorway.

Sony PS5 DualSense Controller for $54

The original PS5 DualSense controller is decked out in the same white color scheme as the console itself and retails for $69.99. Since then, Sony has consistently released more and more colors, some of them more striking than others. In late 2023, Sony launched the Deep Earth collection, "a new metallic colorway for PS5 accessories" with aptly sounding names like Sterling Silver, Volcanic Red, and Cobalt Blue. These controllers retailed for $79.99 and were (and still are) one of the more striking color schemes. We rarely see these on sale compared to the other colors.

Color aside, the Dualsense is oft regarded as the best PS5 controller under $100. It also makes for an excellent controller for your PC. The DualSense is modeled after the tried and true design and layout of previous PlayStation controllers, but it also packs in modern features such as haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, a built-in microphone and speaker, integrated touchpad, internal gyroscope and accelerometer for motion sensing, and USB Type-C charging.

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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The Last of Us Season 2: Three Reasons Spores Need to Return

Warning: This piece contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part II game.

The second season of The Last of Us is premiering on April 13, 2025, and we just got another look at the series in a new trailer over the weekend. But amidst all the excitement for the acclaimed game adaptation’s next entry, something stood out to us in the latest trailer: the confirmation that spores will be included. This might seem like a small detail to the uninitiated, but it was actually one of the show’s biggest deviations from the source material. Instead of spores, the first season primarily used tendrils emerging from infected individuals as the way the cordyceps infection spreads. When asked by Variety (during Season 1’s run) about the shift to tendrils, series creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann said they wanted to try new things with the show’s version of events. So why the change of heart?

Well, there are several important scenes in The Last of Us Part II game that hinge on the spores, and perhaps the writing team didn’t anticipate how much they’d need that story element eventually before making the change for the first season. Let’s take a look at why the spores are so important to Part II and how this speaks to the care creators need to take when making sweeping changes in adaptations.

What Are Spores in The Last of Us?

If you’ve only seen the show and not played the games, a quick refresher: the cordyceps infection in the games is primarily transmitted through bites or scratches from infected, but can also be transmitted via fungal spores, typically in underground areas where the fungus can fester unabated. Many sections of the games feature the characters moving through such areas while wearing gas masks to prevent breathing in the deadly spores. This was purely for story and not gameplay (you can’t lose your gas mask and die, for example), but the spores were an important atmospheric element, serving as a visual metaphor for how the fungus was changing and taking over the world right from the root, if you’ll pardon the pun.

Getting rid of the spores felt like an arbitrary choice, especially since it raises multiple questions about the world-building in Season 2.

In The Last of Us Season 1, the spores were omitted, with the creators recycling the tendril idea from concept art for the first game. Not that there’s anything wrong with making changes in adaptations (we’ve previously made the case for that about The Last of Us here at IGN), but such changes should be purposeful. Getting rid of the spores felt like an arbitrary choice, especially since it raises multiple questions about the world-building now that they’re being included in Season 2. To be fair, Mazin said in the Variety interview that “to say that our world is devoid of them would not be accurate. We don’t quite know yet.” But that doesn’t change that the world as presented in Season 1 doesn’t have them, so Season 2 including them feels odd.

So much of daily life as a survivor in the world of the Last of Us games revolves around doing everything possible to avoid infection, including being aware of how to detect and avoid spores, that their never coming up in the last season is a bit jarring. The case could be made that the show’s fungus recently evolved the spores, but that’s hard to justify when we’re dealing with such a short period of time (a small handful of years at most) passing between seasons. Regarding the inclusion of spores in Season 2, Druckmann claimed at SXSW that there is a “dramatic reason” why the spores are returning. We won’t know exactly what he means until we see the new season, but looking at the second game, there are multiple big scenes where not having the spores would be a serious obstacle to try to write around.

The Biggest Spore Scenes That Could Appear in The Last of Us Season 2

With Season 2 jumping right into adapting The Last of Us Part II, it’s worth examining the ways the spores are likely to be used in telling that game’s story. We already know Part II will take multiple seasons to adapt, so we might not see all of these scenes in the upcoming season, but they’re good to keep in mind either way.

Ellie and Dina’s Subway System Attack

The earliest is when Dina, Ellie’s companion and love interest in Part II who will be played by Isabela Merced in the show, learns that Ellie is immune to infection. While being attacked by infected in the remains of the spore-filled Seattle subway system, Ellie’s mask is damaged, leading her to take it off in front of a shocked Dina. Once they’re out of danger, Ellie tells Dina that she is immune, which is a massive turn in their relationship. This would not be easy to replace with a bite or tendril scene because a huge part of it is Dina saying she can share her mask with Ellie (proving how much she cares for Ellie), which is what prompts Ellie to take her own mask off and save Dina’s life.

Ellie’s mask is damaged... and Ellie tells Dina that she is immune, which is a massive turn in their relationship.

Nora’s Infection and Ellie’s Quest for Vengeance for Joel

Later on, Ellie confronts Nora, one of Abby’s friends and a target on Ellie’s hit list. While holding Nora at gunpoint in a confrontation with Washington Liberation Front soldiers, Ellie purposefully tosses herself and Nora into the spore-filled basement, knowing that it will make it difficult for the WLF to chase her. With Nora infected by spores, Ellie corners her in the basement and demands to know Abby’s location. When Nora asks why she should give Abby up when she’s effectively already dead, Ellie says she can make Nora’s death quick or make her final moments as tortuous as possible. Again, the spores are what makes the scene function on an in-universe level, but this is also a crucial moment dramatically because it cements how hardened Ellie has become from Joel’s death and how dark she’s willing to go in her quest to avenge him.

Abby, Lev, and the WLF vs. the Seraphites

There’s also a spore-related scene that’s critical to Abby’s arc. While traveling with new character Lev on a search for surgical supplies, Abby (who will be played by Kaitlyn Dever in Season 2) has to find an extra mask for Lev so they can travel through a spore-filled section of a hotel. The fact that Lev doesn’t have a mask is a peek into the mentality of the island-dwelling Seraphite nation he comes from, where they have no need to worry about infection from “demons” (as they refer to the infected), but it’s also a moment where Abby takes significant risk to help both Lev with the mask and Lev’s sister Yara with the medical supplies. Abby softening towards Lev and Yara despite them coming from an enemy faction (Abby is a member of the WLF, which is at war with the Seraphites) gives her new dimension after the game initially establishes her as Joel’s cold-blooded killer.

Now, we don’t know for sure if the creative team on the series looked at Part II and thought “what have we done?” for not including spores. But the fact that they’re walking back a not-insignificant creative choice from the first season indicates that they realized the spores are a critical part of the game’s lore and narrative. Again, there’s nothing inherently wrong with making changes in adaptation; different mediums have different priorities. But it’s also important to consider the long-term ramifications of making big changes to in-universe lore in case they become roadblocks down the line. At least for now, it looks like The Last of Us has folded on the spore front, but hopefully its creators and those of other adaptations think twice before throwing away such important world-building elements of the source material.

Carlos Morales writes novels, articles and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on Bluesky.

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Monster Hunter Wilds March 10th Update Released, Patch Notes

Capcom has released the March 10th Title Update for Monster Hunter Wilds, and shared its full patch notes. So, let’s see what this latest update brings to the table. The March 10th Patch, which is known as Hotfix Patch Ver.1.000.05.00, fixes an issue that could cause effects to be displayed continuously when using certain skills. Some … Continue reading Monster Hunter Wilds March 10th Update Released, Patch Notes

The post Monster Hunter Wilds March 10th Update Released, Patch Notes appeared first on DSOGaming.

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The Angry Miao Infinity is a Top-Notch Gaming Mouse with Swappable Batteries

Angry Miao is best known for its bespoke, and very expensive, mechanical keyboards. They’re great and usually packed with innovative features, but they’re so pricey that they’re out of reach for most people, which is what makes the Infinity gaming mouse so refreshing. Taking inspiration from the Logitech G Pro Wireless and the Razer Viper Mini, it’s lightweight and designed for competition with its high-performance sensor and 8,000Hz polling rate. Unlike those other mice, however, it’s able to ostensibly run forever without needing to be plugged in thanks to its swappable battery design, helping it stand out even among the best gaming mice today. It’s not perfect, but it's the exact kind of product that makes you wonder why no one thought of it sooner.

Angry Miao Infinity Mouse – Design and Features

Angry Miao isn't a household name, but if you have paid attention to the custom mechanical keyboard scene over the last several years, you may very well have seen some of its products. It made its name delivering premium boutique custom mechanical keyboards that blended art with functional peripherals. In fact, it refers to its community as a “future art” community, and it only takes a glance at the Infinity Mouse to see its design inspirations made manifest.

There's clearly Angry Miao DNA throughout, but its size and shape borrow equally from the Razer Viper Mini and Logitech G Pro Wireless – the company hasn't been shy about sharing which competitors it’s targeting either. And that makes a lot of sense because even though it looks very different, the feel and performance are very similar and the mouse has the added benefits of a lightweight, but exceptionally sturdy frame and practically unlimited battery life.

It's the exact kind of product that makes you wonder why no one thought of it sooner.

Like the Razer Viper Mini SE, it uses a frame made of skeletonized magnesium-aluminum alloy. There’s a surprising amount that has been removed for weight reduction, including the very bottom of the palm rest. This is a mouse that hides nothing. Unlike the Viper’s design language, however, the Infinity Mouse leans into contours more than aggressive angles, citing the Lotus Evanora Concept car as an inspiration.

Despite having so much removed, it's quite comfortable to use. It honestly surprised me because when I saw that the bottom of the palm rest was completely absent, I thought for sure that it would be distracting but it really wasn’t. The company has shared that it studied grip styles in the development of this mouse and that most people with average or large hands don’t contact this area very much, which is where I land. If you have very small hands, however, the company has suggested this cutout may become noticeable and that you might be better suited looking at other mice.

The use of magnesium aluminum alloy is smart. Angry Miao isn't the only company to have done that and neither is Razer. But this particular combination is naturally very light as well as being very strong. At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Infinity Mouse is going to feel cheap and likely to break. Nothing could be further from the truth. The cutouts can be a little unnerving for dust and spills, but the structural integrity is very strong, and there is no flex whatsoever. It’s as sturdy as gaming mice come – it's also very lightweight. My sample was an early prototype and weighed in at 49 grams. On the company's Kickstarter page, it shares that it's looking for ways to reduce this weight further and isn't prepared to share the final weight at this point. but even at 49 grams it's one of the lightest weight gaming mice available without paying significantly more and shrinking down in size. The Razer Viper Mini SE weighs the same so even shaving off a gram or two will allow Angry Miao to claim the advantage.

The company has outfitted it with a top-tier sensor and specs for competitive gaming. It uses a modern sensor in the PixArt 3950 which features a maximum DPI of 30,000, a top speed of 750 IPS, and 50G of acceleration. The tracking is also fantastic – it was reliably pixel-perfect accurate throughout my testing, which really comes as no surprise given PixArt’s track record.

Angry Miao has gone for TTC V2 micro switches, which are also great. They have a satisfying, just sharp enough click that competes well with Razer and Logitech. They are optical switches, so there are no mechanical contacts to cause the dreaded double-click issue over time and allows them to avoid debounce delay for faster performance. They’re rated for 100 million clicks each, so long-term durability shouldn’t be a concern.

The Infinity Mouse comes with tri-mode wireless connectivity. You can connect over Bluetooth, 2.4GHz, or use the included USB Type-C cable, though there’s usually no reason to. While Bluetooth is traditionally limited to its 125Hz polling rate, 2.4GHz can be set to 8K polling in perpetuity.

Which brings us to the Infinity Mouse's main party trick: hot-swappable batteries. The mouse comes with a polling dock that doubles as a battery charger. Every mouse will come with two 350mAh batteries, so when one runs low, you can pop it out and swap it with the other in just a few seconds. Both the dock and the mouse use strong magnets that draw the batteries into place. Because of the hole in the palm rest and another in the dock, ejecting each battery can be done with a finger and exchanged with the other in less time than it takes to respawn in a match of Call of Duty.

This system completely sidesteps the usual limitation on 8K wireless mice, where setting such a high polling rate usually chews through the battery much faster than 1K, 2K, or even 4K polling. While you might get upwards of a week with a 1kHz polling rate, 8K might limit you to a single day depending on how much you play. Here, you can swap batteries on the fly, and even though the mouse turns off while this happens, it turns on and reconnects immediately after the new battery is inserted. That makes this the only gaming mouse that you can leave on 8K 24/7 without worrying about plugging it in. Unless you're taking it on the go and don't have the extra battery with you, it's just not necessary.

Each battery lasts for around 15 hours in my experience and is rated for 17 hours. Even with this system, I didn't have to swap more than a couple times a week with my usual gaming schedule. The hot-swap battery feature does require that you have the charger out on your desk at all times. It's not that different from other 8K polling dongles, but it is a bit bigger to accommodate the charging slot. It lights up with an RGB glow, which looks good, but if your goal is to avoid extra things on your desk, it’s still not going to be the best fit.

Looking to upgrade your audio game?

Be sure to check out our roundup of the best gaming headsets!

The final thing to consider is software. This is an area where I unfortunately couldn't do much testing. The mouse does support software and I was able to take a tour of its settings — DPI and polling rate settings, RGB controls for the light, and other simple but necessary features — but on my early sample, settings wouldn’t save yet. It is still being actively developed, however, and a representative for the company assured me that it will be ready by the time people receive their units. Given where it’s at in development now, that seems reasonable, but again, it isn’t something I was able to test myself.

Angry Miao Infinity Mouse – Performance

The Angry Miao Infinity Mouse is more comfortable than it has any right to be. All of the cutouts in its frame make it look like it would be distracting and even a bit uncomfortable to use, but that's just not the case. In fact, when you're actually using it, those cutouts aren't noticeable at all. It's quite comfortable, in fact, despite looking like something out of a sci-fi movie.

I can see the inspiration from the Razer Viper Mini here, and the fact that it's more gently curved definitely harkens back to the Logitech G Pro Wireless. The blend of those two design styles as well as Angry Miao's unique chassis design make it at once familiar while also feeling fresh. I like it and how it allows you to see every component that makes it tick. You’d better believe I keep liquids far away from it, though – one spill and there’s no going back.

It’s an impressive peripheral on multiple levels.

That trade-off is worth it for its light weight, however. It's so light that without a magnesium shell, it would almost certainly feel cheap. As it is, you can almost forget it's there, allowing it to become an extension of your arm. Its PTFE glide feet allow it to move effortlessly across soft or hard surfaces, but I especially liked it on my hard Razer Firefly mouse pad. It feels downright rapid with how fast it is, which is a perfect fit for an ultralight design such as this.

As I alluded to earlier, tracking was stellar with a sensor such as the PixArt 3950 driving the experience; a high-performance sensor if ever there was one. I wasn't able to get it to spin out or feel less than pixel-perfect, even as I scaled DPI and sensitivity settings, integrating these configurations sensibly. Even side by side with my different generations of Razer Viper, the Infinity lacked absolutely nothing.

The battery system is easily the best thing to come to gaming mice since the Logitech PowerPlay charging mousepad. The batteries are so lightweight that they don't detract from the experience at all, and swapping them out is so quick that you essentially never have to worry about plugging in again. You could be in the middle of a match – in the middle of a firefight, even – and if the low battery indicator came on, you could be swapped and back to full battery before running from cover.

For competitive gaming, this is excellent. With the Infinity Mouse, you don't need to choose between battery life and the mouse at its full responsiveness (that 8,000Hz polling rate), allowing you to focus on the game consistently. And if you're paying this much for a mouse, no longer needing to consider that trade-off is a pretty big perk.

Frankly, there's just not a lot to criticize about this mouse. You can tell that a lot of attention and iteration went into its design, and that Angry Miao understands the target audience. You'll either love or hate the skeletonized spaceship-like design, and it may not be suited for those with smaller hands, but it’s an impressive peripheral on multiple levels.

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The Best Deals Today: Cheap iPad, PS5 DualSense Controllers, Samsung SSDs, Power Banks, and More

Here are the best deals for Tuesday, March 11. HIghlights include rare discounts on PS5 Dualsense controllers from Lenovo, an Asus Chromebook for just over $100 from Best Buy, the coveted AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D back in stock on Amazon at a non marked-up price, big savings on speedy Samsung SSDs, power banks for your handheld gaming PCs, and more.

Sony PS5 DualSense Controller for $54

Lenovo has just dropped the price of the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller to slightly lower than what we saw on Black Friday. Right now you can choose Sterling Silver, Volcanic Red, or Cobalt Blue for only $54 plus free shipping after you apply coupon code "PLAY5" in cart. This is probably going to be your last chance to get a DualSense controller at this price for quite a while, especially one that's decked out in a eye-catching metallic colorway.

2021 9th Gen Apple iPad 10.2" 64GB for $179

Last year the 9th generation iPad was the least expensive iPad you could get brand new and with warranty. It was regularly priced at $179, but it went out of stock pretty much everywhere starting from Black Friday. Fortunately, it's back for one final harrah; right now, Walmart has it available for delivery for only $179 shipped. Seriously though, this deal probably won't last much longer so don't hesitate.

Iniu 20,000mAh 65W USB Power Bank for $21.59

Amazon is offering this Iniu 20,000mAh 65W USB Power Bank for only $21.59 after you clip the 40% off coupon on the product page (if you don't see it, try applying promo code "WN9GQJRA"). This is a great price for a high-capacity power bank that can deliver more power than other power banks at the same price point. The 65W of power delivery is enough to charge the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally, and iPhone 16 at their fastest rates.

Samsung 990 Evo Plus 2TB PS5 SSD for $129.99

4TB for $259.99

Samsung's newest SSD - the Samsung 990 Evo Plus PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe solid state drive - is on sale today. Pick up the 2TB model for $129.99 or, if you can swing it, the 4TB model is an even better deal at $249.99. It's currently $40-$70 cheaper than the Samsung 990 Pro and most (if not all) gamers won't notice the difference in performance.

Back in Stock: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Desktop Processor

If you're in the process of building out a new gaming PC and you're looking for the best gaming processor, this is it. Right now, the recently released AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D AM5 desktop processor is back in stock on Amazon and Best Buy at its retail price of $479 shipped. This is the official launch price with zero markup, and it's not bundled with anything you don't want or need. The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the best gaming processor currently on the market (across both AMD and Intel) and a better choice for gamers than the more expensive Intel Core Ultra 9 285K.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 / 9070 XT Gaming PCs on Amazon

AMD's new Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT graphics cards have been released , but just like their Nvidia counterparts, they're mostly out of stock and impossible to find at retail pricing. Don't fret, however, because you can still get these GPUs equipped in a prebuilt gaming PC for a reasonable price. The Radeon RX 9070 GPUs are the new mid-range champions of this generation. Both cards offer phenomenal performance while undercutting their Nvidia competition.

Apple AirPods Pro for $169.99

Apple's best earbuds are on sale today. Amazon is offering the second generation Apple AirPods Pro wireless noise-canceling earbuds for only $169.99 shipped, a savings of 32% and the best AirPods deal so far this year. That's about $20 more than the Apple AirPods 4 with ANC, down from its usual $70 price premium. Between the two, the AirPods Pro is still the superior earbuds because it offers better sound quality and noise cancelation.

Best Buy Deal of the Day: Asus 14" Chromebook for $119

Chromebooks aren't exactly gaming-minded PCs, but they're compact, lightweight, great for productivity on the go, and in this case, a bargain. As part of Best Buy's Deal of the Day, you can pick up this Asus 14" Chromebook for just $119 shipped after a $180 off instant discount, although I'd say the MSRP is a tad inflated. Even so, that's still a fantastic deal for a chromebook that features a relatively recent 8-core MediaTek processor which pairs well with Google Chrome OS.

INIU 10,000mAh Power Bank for $9

You can grab this 10,000mAh power bank for only $8.99 after you clip the 10% off and 40% off clippable coupons on the product page. We very rarely see 10,000mAh power banks listed for under $10 so grab this one while you can. This will charge a Nintendo Switch from 0% to 100% about 1.9 times.

4 Months of Hulu and Disney+ for $2.99/mo

For a limited time, Hulu is offering four months of Disney+ and Hulu Basic (Ad-Supported) Bundle for just $2.99 per month. The normal cost of this subscription is $10.99 per month. This deal only comes around a handful of times per year and worth it for just the Disney+ subscription alone.

5-Pack of Lisen USB Type-C Cables for $8

Pick up a five pack of USB Type-C cables for a grand total of just $7.96 after you apply promo code "UNWEXMFD". That averages out to about $1.59 per cable. Lengths include two 3.3ft, two 6.6ft, and an extra long 10ft cable. They're all rated for up to 60W of USB Power Delivery and are encased in a durable braided nylon sheath.

New March Humble Choice Bundle Starts Now

If you're searching for your next new game to play, Humble Choice March is now live, and this is the perfect bundle to discover something new! This month, Homeworld 3 headlines the bundle, with other PC games like Wild Hearts, Pacific Drive, Zau, and Gravity Circuit also included. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars to grab these games individually, you can get all eight games for just $11.99 at Humble Bundle for this month only.

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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Best Buy's Deal of the Day Is an Asus 14" Chromebook for Only $118 with Free Shipping

Chromebooks aren't exactly gaming-minded PCs, but they're compact, lightweight, great for productivity on the go, and in this case, a bargain. As part of Best Buy's Deal of the Day, you can pick up this Asus 14" Chromebook for just $118 shipped after a $180 off instant discount, although I'd say the MSRP is a tad inflated. Even so, that's still a fantastic deal for a chromebook that features a relatively recent 8-core MediaTek processor which pairs well with Google Chrome OS.

Best Buy Deal of the Day: Asus 14" Chromebook for $118

The Asus CM1402 Chromebook is equipped with a 14" 1080p display, MediaTek Kompanio 520 processor, 4GB of memory, 64GB built-in eMMC storage, and runs off the Google Chrome operating system. If you're not familiar with the Mediatek Kompanio 520, rest assured you are getting a god CPU for this price point. Most chromebooks under $200 are equipped with the aging Intel Celeron N4500, N4020, or lower-end chip. The Mediatek Kompanio 520 is a newer (2023) chip that has more cores (8 cores vs 2 cores) and consumes less power than the Intel Celeron 4500. The Google Chrome OS is optimized to make sure of multiple cores, so the CPU and OS complement each other well. It's not quite as powerful as the newer Intel N100 CPU, but that would run you at least $200 or more.

If this wasn't already obvious, keep in mind that this $118 chromebook is not designed to play the latest and greatest games. This is purely a productivity laptop that's great for web browsing, streaming 720p or 1080p videos, word processing, other mundane tasks, and maybe some light browser-based gaming.

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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MCU Star Scarlett Johansson Casts Doubt on Black Widow Return: 'She's Dead'

Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) veteran Scarlett Johansson says Black Widow is "dead" and doesn’t seem interested in returning to the character anytime soon.

The star touched on the Avenger's future in the MCU during an interview with InStyle. While she looks ahead at leaving her mark on another big-budget franchise with this summer’s Jurassic World Rebirth, Marvel fans have speculated about what it might take to see her revisit Natasha Romanoff. Black Widow no doubt played an important role in Johansson’s career, but it doesn’t seem like she has much interest in returning to the character anytime soon.

“Natasha is dead. She is dead. She's dead. Okay?” Johansson said in response to fans calling for her return.

We’re going to have to let it go. She saved the world. Let her have her hero moment.

Although Johansson last portrayed the character in 2021’s Black Widow standalone film, the assassin actually met her in-universe demise in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame when sacrificing herself to save Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton a.k.a. Hawkeye. It was about as unambiguous a death as Marvel could possibly cook up, but that hasn’t stopped fans from theorizing about how she — and others — may return.

“They just don't want to believe it," Johansson added. "They’re like, ‘But she could come back!’ Look, I think the balance of the entire universe is held in her hand. We’re going to have to let it go. She saved the world. Let her have her hero moment.”

MCU fans have mused about bringing back dead fictional characters long before Black Widow made her sacrifice for the Soul Stone. Event movies like the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars have been propped up not only as the next chapter for the MCU but as potentially cameo-filled blockbusters, too.

We already know Robert Downey Jr. will hang up his Iron Man suit to play the first new live-action Doctor Doom in more than a decade, but there are also rumors that other recognizable faces will appear. In December, The Wrap reported that Chris Evans would return as Captain America. It's a claim he later denied, but it’s also sent Marvel fans spinning as they wonder how he may play a part in a future MCU film.

Meanwhile, Hayley Atwell’s Agent Carter has died in MCU movies not once but twice and is still rumored to show up in next year’s Doomsday project. With so many names in the running to reappear, it’s hard to blame fans for speculating about potential inclusions even with Johansson outright denying that Black Widow has another shot at life. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until May 1, 2026 for Avengers: Doomsday and May 7, 2027 for Avengers: Secret Wars to see who, living or dead, makes the cut.

For more on the MCU, you can check out our list of every upcoming movie and show Marvel has in the works. You can also catch up with the comic book company’s most recent project, Daredevil: Born Again, which will premiere its third episode tonight.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

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FragPunk Review in Progress

With all the trailers, showcases, and dev diaries that often lead up to a game’s launch nowadays, it’s harder than ever for one to be a real surprise – and that’s especially true of a multiplayer first-person shooter when, like me, you are a Certified Old Gamer™ who’s been playing them since the genre began. Yet FragPunk has done just that. What I worried might end up being a Valorant clone with a card gimmick and a big list of other buzzword features has instead impressed me with how fresh it all feels. It's still early, and I'm far from ready to say if this is a definite winner, but so far, I’m having a hard time putting FragPunk down.

In many ways, FragPunk reminds me of a reverse Ship of Theseus. If every component of a game came from somewhere else, does it eventually become something original? It’s hard to say, but the result is at least a lot of fun. Like Overwatch, it has very distinct characters with big personalities and unique tools to match them. Like Valorant or Counter-Strike, the primary game mode, called Shard Clash, revolves around teams of five competing to plant or defuse a Converter (aka bomb) or eliminate one another across multiple rounds. And like Fortnite, it has a deep bag of cosmetic items like costumes, weapon skins, stickers, and emotes to entice you to spend some money on this otherwise free-to-play shooter.

FragPunk’s playable characters are called Lancers, and so far this is a fun group to choose from. Some are relatively typical archetypes, like a sniper named Hollowpoint with her abilities that help reveal enemies. Others are way out there, like the punk rocker Axon, who shoots lightning from his guitar. Unlike Valorant, where abilities can give you an edge but are rarely what win a fight outright, Fragpunk places a much bigger emphasis on using them to dominate the map, which I like. When abilities like Broker’s rocket launcher can instantly erase enemies, it feels good to use it yourself or devise a counter on the fly as you see it coming, like throwing down a wall of Fungi as Pathojen to provide cover and then returning fire from a remote controlled combat drone.

Naturally, Fragpunk isn’t all lightning guitars and rockets. Your standard assortment of shotguns, SMGs, assault rifles, and more forms the backbone of combat. I don’t mind that the guns really aren’t the star of the show here, but I do wish there was more variety to choose from. There are two options in each category you can select as your primary weapon, and they all shoot pretty much exactly how you’d expect. Most of the maps seem to favor medium-range engagements, so I’ve been gravitating toward the SMGs. The gunplay is smooth and responsive, and the fast time-to-kill does a good job of emphasizing the importance of positioning over raw gun skill.

The star of the show is the Shard Card system.

The other aspect of shooting that stands out is how little movement affects your aim. Unlike Valorant, where stopping and popping is often essential if you want to be accurate, Fragpunk fully embraces running and gunning. I found myself repeatedly lagging behind my squad in kill count until a teammate pointed out that I’m better off treating gunfights like Call of Duty with powers, advice that put me right at the top of the next match’s leaderboard. That style of shooting isn’t necessarily better than the more deliberate action of other games, but it does stick out as atypical for an objective-based tactical shooter in a way that seems like a perfect fit with the general FragPunk vibe.

The star of the show, however, is the Shard Card system. Before every round, each team has three random cards pulled that players can then put Shard Points into, effectively voting on which ones will be active. The costs of effects vary, and you earn more Shard Points by either getting kills or picking them up off the ground mid-round. Some Shard Cards are simple, like one that increases your movement speed, while others are extremely powerful, like another that forces the next round to play out as a melee battle – or one called Big Heads, which (as advertised) gives the entire enemy team overgrown, easy-to-hit craniums. A few are even downright weird, like Egg King, which causes you to lay an egg after crouching for ten seconds, which you can then eat to regain health. It’s hilarious, utterly bizarre, and unlike anything I’ve ever seen in a shooter before.

I’m surprised by how much I enjoy the card-collecting aspect of FragPunk. You start with less than a third of the 169 total Shard Cards in your inventory and can earn more after completing matches. Getting more matters, as the cards that are randomly selected before each round are based on what each team member has unlocked. It’s pretty exciting getting a new card and reading what weirdness it’s going to introduce. I also appreciate that you can easily see your collection, read the effect, and, in some cases, watch a quick video showing you exactly what it does.

Rounds of Shard Clash go by fast – possibly too fast. In theory, one team is trying to plant the Converter on one of two objective points, which the other team would then need to defuse… but in practice, the overwhelming majority of rounds end when one team wipes out the other, often in just a few minutes. That means that matches rarely have the same sort of strategic back and forth that makes hard-fought games of Valorant so engaging. It also means that Lancers with abilities that have more of a nuanced, tactical focus have seemed less viable overall so far. I’d love to hunker down with Nito’s turrets and drone to hold a point, but that’s just a recipe to have all the action happen elsewhere. Hopefully some balance tweaks will arrive to make the objectives a more relevant part of the action.

Matches end when one team wins four total rounds, but if both teams reach three wins before that happens, it activates one of my favorite twists: Duels. This has each team face off in a series of 1v1 fights in a small arena, and whoever survives sticks around to face the other team’s next champion until every member of one has been eliminated. Health and abilities don’t regenerate round to round, which makes it tough for one great player to run the table. The action is as exciting as it is tense, and spectating while you root on your teammate and wait for your own turn is thrilling, especially when you get the win that clinches the Duel and, by extension, the entire match for your team.

So far, I am really enjoying FragPunk, though there are still some unanswered questions before I can render a final verdict. I’m still a few levels short of being able to compete in ranked competition, which is an important mode for this sort of game. Likewise, as much as I’m enjoying both the action and the hilariously mad Shard Cards, I wonder if that novelty could wear off sooner rather than later. There are still more matches to be fought, Lancers to unlock, cards to collect, and quite a few in-game currencies to figure out. For now, I can say that FragPunk is very fun, and while it is pulling a lot from games that came before, it goes against the grain and mixes in twists in a way that feels original, which has me looking forward to playing more.

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The Best Max Deals for March 2025

Max is home to some incredibly high-quality films and shows, including House of the Dragon, Succession, The Penguin, The White Lotus, and The Last of Us, which has season 2 coming this year on Sunday, April 13. If you've been hoping to start up an account to dig into that library, we're here to help. We're keeping track of the best price right now for Max subscriptions, along with any deals as they appear.

This includes bundle deals like the Max, Hulu, and Disney+ bundle, which is one you absolutely don't want to miss out on. This mega bundle starts at just $16.99/month, which is an astonishing price to have three very popular streaming services right in the palm of your hand. You can learn more about that bundle deal and Max's subscription plans below.

How to Get the Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max Streaming Bundle

The Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle can be purchased on any of the three streaming services and starts at $16.99/month for the ad-supported tier or $29.99/month for ad-free access across all three platforms. If you're looking to cut down on streaming costs and currently own all three of these, this is an excellent bundle to invest in. It'll save you quite a bit compared to what you'd pay for the three of them separately – 43% on the ad-supported plan and 42% on the ad-free plan.

To learn more about how to get started with this bundle as a new or existing subscriber, head to our guide on how to get (or switch over to) the Disney+/Hulu/Max streaming bundle. It's worth signing up for this right now as well, given Hulu and Disney Plus have increased their prices, so you'll ultimately be saving money with this bundle.

Students Get 50% off Max Basic With Ads

If you're a student, you can score the Max Basic With Ads plan for just $4.99/month. That's 50% off the usual price, which is a very nice deal to take advantage of. In order to get the discount, you'll need to verify your student status with UNiDAYS, then you'll get a unique code that you can use to redeem the discounted plan.

Subscribe to Max

If you're just looking to sign up for a Max subscription, you have four different options to choose from:

  • $9.99/month Basic With Ads
  • $99.99/year Basic With Ads
  • $16.99/month Standard (ad-free)
  • $169.99/year Standard (ad-free)

The Standard tier also allows users to download shows and movies to watch on the go. Both of the tiers allow up to two concurrent streams.

Max also has an additional Premium tier. The details are as follows:

  • $20.99/month, ad-free with four concurrent streams
  • $209.99/year, ad-free with four concurrent streams

There is currently no Max free trial available as of March 2025.

Max: Bundle to Best

Alongside the big Max/Hulu/Disney+ bundle deal, Hulu also offers its own bundle deal with Max if you just want to have those two services. Simply pick out your Hulu base plan, which starts at $9.99/month, and then add Max to your account for an additional $9.99/month with the ad-supported plan or $16.99/month for the ad-free plan. If you'd like to learn more about Hulu's bundles, visit our page on Hulu's best bundles and deals right now.

What Is Streaming on Max?

Max brings together content from the old HBO Max service and Discovery+ under one roof. From Discovery, this includes programming from brands like HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Magnolia Network, and more. Some of the shows include Property Brothers, House Hunters, Fixer Upper, among others.

The service also maintains much of the content from HBO Max, including its slate of HBO Originals like The Last of Us, Euphoria, Succession, Barry, Curb Your Enthusiasm, White Lotus, House of the Dragon, and more. It also includes DC's slate of movies like Black Adam and The Batman, as well as other popular films like Dune: Part Two and Barbie. Plus, Max continues to house popular streaming series like Friends, Full House, and the Harry Potter movie collection.

In our updated 2024 review of Max, we gave it an 8/10, stating that, "For all its problems and an app that still runs a little too heavy, the extensive selection of well-curated choices make Max a worthwhile investment for cinema and TV lovers."

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.

Original article from Logan Plant.

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Rockstar Owner Take-Two Sues PlayerAuctions for Allegedly Selling Hacked GTA Online Accounts and Currency

Rockstar owner Take-Two Interactive is suing online marketplace PlayerAuctions, alleging it contains "thousands of listings for unauthorized, infringing GTA V content – including heavily modified player accounts, in-game assets, and virtual currency – all gained by using hacking software, cheats, and technical exploits."

The lawsuit was filed last week in the U.S. Central District Court of California against the Chinese company that owns the website, Paiao Network Technology. It accuses PlayerAuctions of operating "with full knowledge that its sellers are engaged in rampant infringement and other unauthorized conduct," while it "reaps millions in revenue by taking a cut of every transaction on its marketplace."

Specifically, Take-Two alleges that PlayerAuctions hosts listings of modded accounts that have been manipulated to give high game levels and in-game currency, or to unlock content normally unlocked through playing or purchases. Take-Two also claims PlayerAuctions sells money drop services that work using hacking software to give purchasing players large amounts of in-game money, and account boosting services where sellers use hacking software or glitches to inflate a purchasing player's in-game level or currency total.

Take-Two further argues that PlayerAuctions goes out of its way to "lull its users into buying illegitimate GTA V content from its sellers" by offering refunds if the hacked accounts purchased are caught and banned post-purchase. According to the complaint, Take-Two has "repeatedly confronted PlayerAuctions with evidence of infringement" and has issued a cease and desist, but PlayerAuction has refused to shut down these listings.

The GTA publisher is claiming relief for multiple different types and levels of copyright infringement, as well as intentional interference with contract. Take-Two is seeking a permanent enjoinment on PlayerAuctions from continuing to directly or indirectly sell accounts, currency, or items in any Take-Two game, or participating in or assisting hacking efforts, or infringing the GTA trademarks. It's also seeing damages for trademark infringement, costs and attorney fees, damages, and restitution.

Take-Two isn't the only company going after PlayerAuctions. Early last month, Roblox filed a similar suit in the Northern District of California Court covering roughly the same accusations, attempts at a cease and desist, claims, and prayer for relief. Notably, PlayerAuctions offers similar sales and services across many other games, including World of Warcraft, Genshin Impact, Valorant, Path of Exile, Final Fantasy 14, Call of Duty, and Fortnite. In total, PlayerAuctions claims to sell various boosts, items, and benefits for over 200 games.

While the Take-Two suit is still early in the process, the Roblox case has its first hearing set for March 20 in Oakland, California, where Roblox is seeking a preliminary injunction to stop PlayerAuctions from selling Roblox-related products and services while the case proceeds.

The lawsuit comes ahead of the fall 2025 launch of GTA 6, which Take-Two recently reaffirmed. The hope is of course that any new version of GTA Online that launches alongside GTA 6 will be as free from cheaters as is possible, and the lawsuit may go some way to helping.

We’ve got plenty more on GTA 6, including Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick’s response to concern about the fate of GTA Online once GTA 6 comes out.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

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The Samsung 990 Evo Plus 2TB and 4TB SSDs Are On Sale Today: Great for PS5 and Gaming PCs

Samsung's newest SSD - the Samsung 990 Evo Plus PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe solid state drive - is on sale today. Pick up the 2TB model for $129.99 or, if you can swing it, the 4TB model is an even better deal at $249.99. It's currently $40-$70 cheaper than the Samsung 990 Pro and most (if not all) gamers won't notice the difference in performance.

Samsung 990 Evo Plus 2TB PS5 SSD for $129.99

4TB for $259.99

The Samsung 990 Evo Plus is an excellent drive for both your gaming PC and your PlayStation 5 console. It exceeds Sony's minimim speed recommendation for the PS5, boasting sequential speeds of up to 7,250 read and 6,300MB/s write. This is a much faster drive than the 990 Evo non-Pro but not quite as fast as the 990 Pro. The main difference between this drive and the more expensive 990 Pro is that this is a DRAM-less drive. For PS5 performance, it makes no difference. For gaming PCs, the 990 Evo Plus supports HMB (host memory buffer), which makes up for the lack of DRAM by using an inconsequential amount of RAM from your system memory. Gamers will not notice any difference between the two.

The Samsung 990 Evo Plus does not have a preinstalled heatsink. However, the 990 Evo Plus SSD is a newer single-sided SSD design that is power efficient and doesn't generate as much heat as SSDs from before. That means you probably don't need to use a heatsink and it should still work perfectly fine in a PS5 console without any thermal throttling. That said, you certainly could for peace of mind and I wouldn't see any disadvantage to that aside from spending an extra $7.

More SSDs for PS5

Looking for more options? Check out our favorite PS5 SSDs for the PS5 console.

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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Get a Brand New Apple iPad for Only $179 at Walmart

Last year the 9th generation iPad was the least expensive iPad you could get brand new and with warranty. It was regularly priced at $179, but it went out of stock pretty much everywhere starting from Black Friday. Fortunately, it's back for one final harrah; right now, Walmart has it available for delivery for only $179 shipped. Seriously though, this deal probably won't last much longer so don't hesitate.

2021 9th Gen Apple iPad 10.2" 64GB for $179

For most people, the iPad (not the Air, Mini, or Pro) is the best model to get. Despite its very low price tag, the 9th gen Apple iPad is a fully featured and capable tablet. The 10.2" Retina display is bright and crisp, and the Apple A13 Bionic chip offers good CPU and GPU performance. The iPad is also equipped with both a front-facing camera for voice chat and rear camera for taking photos and videos. This is a great option for school, work, or simply relaxing with your favorite movie.

Check out our other iPad resources:

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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New Fallout Season 2 Set Leaks Offer a Look at New Vegas and the Lucky 38

Fallout Season 2 is set to head to New Vegas, and some new set videos are teasing what it might look like, potentially across different eras.

Warning! Potential spoilers for the Fallout TV show follow.

Videos shared by TikTok user onzo1313 (thanks, Eurogamer) give us a tantalizing look at the Fallout show's adaptation of New Vegas. One video shows part of New Vegas, including the iconic Lucky 38 resort and casino, all bright and lit up. It's certainly far from the rusty place you might expect, but there's likely a good reason.

@onzo1313 #fallout #falloutseriestv #lucky38 #filming #falloutnewvegas #fypシ #fypシ゚viral #casino ♬ Original Sound - Unknown

In a separate video, we can see a welcome sign for the strip and another for The Tops, among other locales, that are a bit more worn, weathered, and cobbled together. The easy conclusion to draw is that we'll see the strip both pre- and post-war.

@onzo1313 Backstage #fallout #fallouttvshow #fypシ゚viral #backstage #dalloutnewvegas #falloutseriestv #fyp #falloutseriesedit #fypシ゚ ♬ Welcome to Las Vegas - Freccero

It's an exciting prospect, especially for Fallout: New Vegas fans and those eager to see the glitz and glamour of the strip before the bombs dropped in the Fallout universe.

The show is confirmed to be heading to New Vegas for Season 2, and it's not just about the location itself. Mr. House is set to be a part of the new season, though how involved he'll be is still unclear. We've already seen the tease of some familiar sights thanks to previous set leaks, and all that indicates the Amazon series is going to journey to quite a few notable spots in the Mojave.

In February, Walton Goggins — who plays The Ghoul in the series — said Fallout Season 2 will blow Season 1 "out of the water." A lit-up New Vegas strip certainly doesn't dissuage his claims. We'll see more as information rolls out on the next season of Amazon's adaptation.

To help tide you over until Season 2 premieres, be sure to check out our interview with Todd Howard and Jonathan Nolan covering all our burning questions after the end of Season 1.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

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The Best Gaming PC Deals Today: Enjoy Discounts at Dell, HP, and Lenovo

For most PC gamers, buying a prebuilt gaming rig is far more attractive than it used to be. Years ago it was inarguably cheaper to build your own gaming PC than to buy a boutique gaming rig. That's not the case anymore. It's not uncommon for major brands like Alienware, HP, and Lenovo to offer quality pre-built PCs for cheaper than the cost of building your own PC with the exact same specs.

We've compiled a list of the best current gaming PC deals, both from the manufacturers themselves like Dell (Alienware), HP, and Lenovo, as well as from reliable 3rd party retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. This includes an incredible deal on a Dell Tower Plus RTX 4090 Gaming PC for $2849.99. These PCs are significantly discounted from their normal retail price and are going to be less expensive than comparable models from other brands.

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5080 Gaming PC for $2,400

Alienware Area-51 RTX 5080 Up for Preorder

New Price Drop

Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 8 RTX 4080 Super Gaming PC for $2,260.99

More Dell and Alienware Gaming PC Deals

If you're in the market for a prebuilt gaming PC, Dell is one of the brands we'd recommend. Alienware gaming desktops offer a staggering array of options, all built into a custom chassis that's both easy on the eyes and easy on the wallet. Consistent build quality, available inventory, frequent sales, and solid customer service are the main reasons why Dell is at the top of our buying list.

Dell Tower Plus RTX 4090 Gaming PC for $2849.99

More HP Gaming PC Deals

Of the big three OEM PC manufacturers, HP usually offers the lowest price on equivalently configured items. HP carries several different models of gaming PCs depending on how much power you need. At the upper end of the scale, the HP OMEN 45L offers a massive tower chassis with space for up to a 360mm all-in-one liquid cooler as well as a total of four additional 120mm case fans for ventilation. This is also the only model that can be configured with the latest RTX 40 series GPUs. On the other end of the scale, the HP Victus, Envy, and OMEN 25L gaming PCs feature understated aesthetics and a bargain price point. These PCs can still be configured into formidable gaming rigs.

HP Omen 45L RTX 4080 SUPER Gaming PC for $2,499.99

HP OMEN 35L AMD Radeon RX 7600 Gaming PC for $999.99

HP Victus 15L RTX 4060 Gaming Desktop for $899.99

More Lenovo Gaming PC Deals

Lenovo Legion gaming PCs may be the priciest of the big three OEM manufacturers, but they are also generally the highest praised among gamers and reviewers alike. The Legion gaming PCs are highly rated for their build quality. People like the fact that Lenovo does not use proprietary components in their rigs, so they're much easier to upgrade with easily obtainable, off-the-shelf components compared to some other popular prebuilt PC brands. Lenovo gaming rigs generally also utilize solid cooling, especially for the CPU, even if you opt for the base models.

Legion Tower 5i Gen 8 (Intel) with RTX 4070 Ti Super for $1,799

Legion Tower 5 Gen 8 (AMD) with RX 7600 for $999.99

Things to Consider When Buying a Gaming PC

Which video card is enough for me?

As a general rule of thumb, you want to size your gaming rig based on (1) the resolution, not size, of your monitor and (2) the games you play. A 4K monitor has 2.25 times more pixels than a QHD (2560x1440) monitor and 4 times more pixels than a 1080p (1920x1080) monitor. Simply put, the more pixels on your monitor, the more power your GPU needs. Some games are also more performance intensive than other games, but that's often scalable by tweaking your settings. This is a rough recommendation:

  • 1080p - RTX 3060 to RTX 3060 Ti (RX 6600 XT to RX 6700 XT)
  • QHD - RTX 3060 Ti to RTX 3080 (RX 6700 XT to RX 6900 XT)
  • 4K - RTX 3080 to RTX 4090 (RX 6900 XT)

If you have a gaming PC already and want to simply upgrade the GPU yourself, check out our picks for the best graphics cards in 2025.

Console vs Gaming PC?

Consoles may have come a long way in terms of graphical improvements, but gaming PCs still remain uncontested when it comes to absolute technical performance. A PS5 or Xbox Series X might be the most powerful consoles ever created, but they seem antiquated compared to the likes of a PC equipped with GeForce RTX 4080 or 4090 video card. Unlike consoles, gaming PCs are also infinitely backwards compatible, and the thousands upon thousands of games available at your disposal via Steam, Xbox Live, Origin, Battle.net, and more puts any console library to shame. Even better, most games that are released for the current gen consoles are often also available for the PC as well, often with even more extensive customization and graphics options.

Gaming PC vs Gaming Laptop?

Gaming laptops have become more and more popular in recent years, but they certainly don't make gaming PCs obsolete. First and foremost, a gaming laptop simply isn't as powerful as an equivalently priced gaming PC. Gaming laptops require more delicate (and thus more expensive) engineering; because the laptop is such a compact form factor, and gaming components generally draw a lot of power and heat, compromises need to be made. The most powerful gaming laptops are about as powerful as a mid-range gaming PC. The highest end gaming PCs use video cards that are larger and heavier than your average laptop and can draw up to 600W of power all by itself. If you're on the fence between getting one or the other, you will have to weigh your priorities. If you want to know more, check out our in-depth article on the gaming laptop vs gaming desktop dilemma. If price isn't a factor and you're only concerned about getting the best PC for your needs, check out our picks for best gaming PCs of 2025. If you've picked up a new gaming PC, check out the best PC games to play in 2025.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.

Original article from Eric Song.

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BlizzCon Returns to Anaheim Convention Center...in 2026

Blizzard has announced today that it will once again hold an in-person BlizzCon convention at the Anaheim Convention Center. However, it won't be happening until 2026.

In a press release today, Blizzard revealed the next in-person BlizzCon dates: September 12 and 13, 2026. It also promised to bring back favorite convention elements such as the opening ceremony, panels, the Darkmoon Faire, competitions, and hands-on gameplay. Additionally, Blizzard says it will "aim to meaningfully elevate this iconic celebration and create an unforgettable experience for all who take part in it."

Blizzard did not provide an explanation for why it was skipping 2025, or if it has plans for any sort of online celebration this year.

BlizzCon's status has been rocky the last few years. Formerly an annual event, it was, like many other similar events, canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It returned in 2021 as a digital show in 2021, then went on hiatus again in 2022. In 2023, BlizzCon was held once again in person with plans to follow it up in 2024, but the event was then canceled for that year as well. While no reason was given at the time, the 2024 cancellation followed its acquisition by Microsoft, and a rash of mass layoffs company-wide.

The question of what BlizzCon will look like under Microsoft's oversight remains, and we won't find out the answer until at least next year. At least we have loads of time to plan our cosplay.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

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Mickey 17 Is Now Available To Preorder on 4K UHD and Blu-Ray

Bong Joon-ho's latest film, Mickey 17, led by Robert Pattinson as the titular character (and many more Mickeys) is officially up for preorder in a physical format. If you've been hoping to get your hands on a copy of this film after checking it out in the cinema, there's a 4K steelbook up for preorder for $39.99, a standard 4K for $34.99, and a Blu-ray for $29.99. There's no official release date for these yet, but by putting your preorders in now you'll set yourself up for success when it's officially announced.

Preorder Mickey 17 on 4K UHD and Blu-Ray

If you don't want to wait to pick it up on 4K or Blu-ray, have a look through our breakdown of how to watch Mickey 17 to find a showtime at a movie theater near you. In this article you can also find information on when the film will be available to stream and which service it will land on when it is.

In our Mickey 17 review, writer Siddhant Adlakha gave the film an 8/10 and said, "Bong Joon-ho follows up his Oscar win for Parasite with Mickey 17, the right movie for our current political moment: A bleakly hilarious sci-fi comedy starring multiple Robert Pattinsons as the space-faring pawns of an all-powerful corporation." If you've already seen the film and want to learn more about it, have a look at our breakdown of Mickey 17's ending explained and our look at the differences between the film and its book, Mickey7.

If you're looking to pick up more physical media, have a look at our roundup of upcoming 4K UHD and Blu-ray releases. There you can see what's releasing over the next few months, from exciting films to thrilling TV shows.

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

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