We've got tons of deals to get through today and not much time to detail them. Obviously, the biggest ones on my radar include the headliner deals of Monster Hunter Wilds andSniper Elite Resistance, but also Assassin's Creed Shadows (which was too verbose a title to fit in there). As always, I've even sprinkled in some old gold gems going for next to nada. Get amongst it all below!
In retro news, I'm celebrating the twin 37 year birthdays of some NES greats. The original Metroid needs very little introduction, as it's a franchise that continues to kick goals and acquire new fans today. Conversely, the bodaciousness of Rad Racer might be lost on many of you. It was basically one of the best racers on the system and featured prominently in a 1989 film—Nintendo's 1h 40m advertisement called The Wizard.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League just received its final update, which along with the promised offline mode, adds an official ending to the game's story that wraps everything up in a tidy, if rather uninteresting, way.
As previously announced, Episode 8: Balance is the final update planned for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Alongside some new armore and exotic weapons, the biggest feature in the update is a new Offline Mode that will allow players to continue playing Suicide Squad Game by themselves without requiring an internet connection.
As a reminder, Episode 8 will be the final update to #SuicideSquadGame. The title will remain playable in both Online and the recently released Offline Mode for players to continue to wreak havoc in Metropolis 💥
— Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League (@suicidesquadRS) January 14, 2025
The Offline Mode was announced in December 2023 as part of Rocksteady's post-launch plans, but the studio was also committed to releasing its promised DLCs and additional characters, leaving the Offline Mode for its final update.
There's also a big comic book ending to wrap up the story of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, so if you're okay with spoilers feel free to read below the break. You've been warned.
Okay so Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, as the name implies, is about taking out members of the Justice League who have been brainwashed by Brainiac. One of the biggest shocks in the game was when Harley Quinn shoots Batman point blank in the head.
However, Batman was actually still alive. In his masterful gambit, he allowed Brainiac to create clones of the Justice League and then oversaw the events of the game from the shadows as he worked to take down Brainiac in secret.
The ending is told via the comic book illustrations that the different post-launch episodes have been presented in and in true comic book fashion, your favorite heroes are still all alive and the bad guys are defeated. Woo-hoo.
Is this how Rocksteady envisioned the end of Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League? Who can say. The game released to mixed reviews and Warner Bros. said the game fell short of expectations when it came to sales, and the developers announced that it was ending future updates on the game after Season 4.
You can read our full review of Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League here and for anyone looking to play the game, the Offline Mode means you're able to fully. So if you see it on sale next time, don't worry about picking it up as the game will still run just fine.
Alienware's best high-end gaming monitor deal during Black Friday is back. The 32" Alienware AW3225QF 4K QD OLED gaming monitor has been marked down to $899.99 after a saving of $300 off the retail price. If you're looking for the best 4K gaming monitor, this should definitely be on your short list. This is the monitor I personally use and I absolutely recommend it.
32" Alienware AW3225QF 4K OLED Monitor
The Alienware AW3225QF was first announced during CES 2024 and is actually Dell's one and only monitor that combines a 4K resolution with an OLED panel. It incorporates Samsung's QD OLED technology; QD OLED panels are brighter than traditional OLED panels while maintaining near infinite response time, contrast ratio, and black levels. The Alienware AW3225QF is HDR True Black 400 certified with up to 1,000 nits of peak brightness. It also boasts a 99.3% DCI-P3 color range and is factory calibrated. Other specs include a 1700R curve, 240Hz refresh rate, and G-Sync certification.
Connectivity-wise, the AW3225QF has two HDMI 2.1 ports (one with eARC) and one DisplayPort 1.4 port, all of which are capable of 4K at up to 240Hz. There are also a couple of USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports for attaching peripherals and a single USB Type-C port for charging. Dell backs this monitor up with a three-year warranty that includes burn-in protection.
Something to keep in mind is that 4K monitors require a pretty powerful GPU. 4K resolution has 2.25 times more pixels than QHD; if you want to play games in 4K, especially at frame rates of up to 240fps, you'll want a gaming PC equipped with an GeForce RTX 4070 at the minimum. If your PC is equipped with something as powerful as an RTX 4080 Super, RTX 4090, or RX 7900XTX, then this monitor would be the perfect complement.
Check out the best Alienware deals if you're looking for a good gaming PC deal to complement your purchase.
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.
NetEase Games is telling Marvel Rivals players that a new hero will launch every month and a half as additional seasons roll out.
The studio’s creative director, Guangyun Chen, clarified the team’s post-launch plans during an interview with Metro. He doesn’t mince words, promising to release a playable character every half-season. That equals out to at least one new hero every month and a half, or roughly every six weeks.
“Every season we’ll be rolling out fresh seasonal stories, new maps, and new heroes. We’ll actually be breaking down each season into two halves,” Chen said. “The length of one season is three months. And for each half of the season, we will introduce a new hero. We just eventually want to continue to enhance the experience, and, you know, keep everyone excited in our community.”
It’s a tall order that will leave fans with one question as every season winds down: who’s next? Marvel Rivals Season 1: Eternal Night Falls already kicked things off with a strong start by introducing both Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman for the first half, with The Thing and the Human Torch primed to launch with the second half in a few weeks. These are Marvel mainstays who have undeniably earned their place as legendary superhero characters, but keeping up that momentum over time will be quite the challenge.
Marvel Rivals already launched with a strong list of playable heroes that includes names like Wolverine, Magneto, Spider-Man, Jeff the Landshark, and Storm, but there are so many other faces to include. Blade is one character rumored to appear in Season 2, for example, with fans also hoping to see characters like Daredevil, Deadpool, and other X-Men at some point. It’s unclear how NetEase will expand upon the Marvel Rivals roster in the future, but with the success it’s seen so far, the team is showing no signs of slowing down.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.
Food has been depicted as an important part of the Monster Hunter series from the start, whether it comes to defeating enemies or depicting its world. In the games up until now, you could order a tasty meal from a Felyne before heading out on a quest, or hunt an herbivorous monster in the field and roast it until it's well-done.
Food remains as important as ever in the newest installment in the series, Monster Hunter Wilds. Hunters can use the Portable BBQ Grill to cook up a meal with their Palico, wherever and whenever out in the fields. Once it's ready, you can scarf down some hot and fresh meat. Seeing this gives the powerful sense that the hunter, which is to say the player controlling that hunter, is really living within the world of the game.
Depicting the act of eating, a central part of life, is more important than anything when giving a sense of reality to the ecosystems of these monsters and the world that they share with hunters. That belief has been also held by the development team ever since the very first Monster Hunter.
First we dine
Kaname Fujioka, Executive Director and Art Director for Wilds as well as the Director of the first Monster Hunter game, tells IGN: "Ever since the first Monster Hunter, we've put a ton of focus in our designs on what it means to live in its world. Even the monsters drink water, and they hunt prey to eat. Humans also feel hungry if they move around a lot, and they get sleepy if they're tired. We thought that maybe we could make a game that makes you feel like you're living in it if we did a good job of incorporating these elements based on real-life senses."
Food remains as important as ever in the newest installment in the series.
The concept goes that being able to eat a delicious piece of meat when you're hungry makes you happy. And if that piece of meat is gigantic, you feel all the happier. The element of eating in the series, something so filled with primitive desires, became a part of the gameplay as time went on, buffing a hunter's stats.
"Tokuda likes meat, so meat plays a pretty central role in any titles he's involved in, says Fujioka, referring to Wilds Director Yuya Tokuda. “We put fruit and vegetables on the menu as well in the past, but it's become pretty meat-centric ever since Monster Hunter: World."
"You just want to feel stronger before you go hunting, right?” adds Tokuda. “I thought it'd be intuitive to eat meat and become stronger.”
While Tokuda says he has absolute confidence in Fujioka's guidance as someone who has been involved in the series from the start, it seems that at times, he'll sometimes advise him when it comes to meat. "It might be more exciting if you made that meat a little bigger..." and so on.
There are of course difficult elements when it comes to depicting eating in a game, but Fujioka, as the game’s Art Director, says he creates graphics that are entirely focused on what looks delicious. If a piece of food shows up in Monster Hunter that makes players think it must taste good, you can be sure that the development staff has already felt the same way.
The art director says he creates graphics that are entirely focused on what looks delicious.
"Something isn't necessarily going to look delicious just because it's realistic,” he says. “We have to think quite a lot about what kind of depictions we need to use to make it look tasty. We have paid close attention to lighting and effects in particular since World, and we may exaggerate the food's appearance too."
In fact, during the November 2024 open beta test of Wilds, so many food videos flooded social media that they even reached demographics who don't normally play Monster Hunter. The sound of sizzling fat and the golden shine of honey dripping on top of cabbage were filled with detail that would make anyone's mouth water. Was that delicious-looking meat and cabbage based on real footage of something actually cooked by the development team?
"While I'm not aware of the fine details, we don't cook dishes for real and use them as-is as models,” says Fujioka. “Simply recreating something that exists in reality wouldn't actually look that tasty when placed inside a game. We do of course create high-resolution meat textures and so on, but what we want to focus on in the end is how we depict it, which means essentially creating it from scratch."
In that sense, it seems that creating tasty depictions of vegetables, like those similar to cabbage in the game, was far more difficult than with meat.
"After a great deal of research, we created an exaggerated depiction where the cabbage puffs up for a moment when the skillet's lid is popped open in-game,” says Fujioka. “That doesn't happen in real life, and while it is a small detail, that feeling of it expanding makes it look incredibly delicious."
Yes, it may be a lie if you're comparing it to a real-life depiction. But as an artistic expression, it just looks so delicious. Fujioka and the development team studied every depiction of food that they could, from how food scenes are exaggerated in anime to the lighting used when food is shot for commercials.
"Depicting eggs is incredibly difficult too,” he says. “Creating the feeling of the white being cut from a dripping soft-boiled egg was so hard, but our designers drew on all their knowledge to make it work.
Fujioka continues, "My ambition is for Tokuda to hopefully see something aside from meat as delicious. That's why the staff making the food models also say they get hungrier and hungrier as the game nears completion. We've prepared quite a lot of different dishes this time as well, so I hope players enjoy each and every one."
The unique food system in Wilds
In Wilds, a game where the situation in the field changes in real-time, the buffs and enhancements provided by food have gone from being quest-based to time-based. Hunters also no longer eat inside a canteen run by Felynes, but rather inside camps or with the Portable BBQ Grill set up on their own, allowing them to now prepare a meal whenever and wherever. This change apparently is the result of changes to Wilds' gameplay loop.
The buffs and enhancements provided by food have gone from being quest-based to time-based.
"In World and the games before that, lots of different elements were decided based on your quest, so you would eat an appropriate meal before you went on one,” says Tokuda. “Since this game focuses more on a seamless experience, hunters will have time to freely play around in all kinds of different ways, especially after completing a quest. As players choose one target to hunt after the next on a seamless map, we decided that food should be time-based, not quest-based. When doing this, we considered amounts of time that would keep it from feeling too much like a chore while also tuning it to seem realistic."
Hunters will receive rations from the Felyne at the Ingredient Center found in the base camp, then use them to make food in the field. Tokuda explains that if you have rations, you can use them as meat, fish or even vegetables. "If we separated them into items like vegetables, meat and fish, we wouldn't be able to avoid tendencies toward one or the other, so you could end up with something like too many vegetables,” he says. “That's why we've made it so that you can use rations as meat, vegetables or fish so that there's no waste and players can choose according to their preferences."
Dishes made by hunters use both main ingredients based on the rations provided by the aforementioned Felyne as well as spices and other additional ingredients. These can, for the most part, be acquired while in the field. Meanwhile, it's interesting that the rations delivered by Felynes to the hunter's base is differentiated by having a long shelf life, like smoked meat or pre-cleaned fish. In the cutscene where Quematrice is encountered, you can even see Felynes who refuse to let go of their meat.
We ask Fujioka if Felynes are natural-born cooks. "They cook food in the canteen because they're creatures with an incredible sense of curiosity, and because they become so engrossed in their interests, absorbing so much about them,” he replies. “While some Felynes may follow the path of cuisine, others may look up to hunters and pursue the path of supporting them. I think they're a species where you can still see that strongly."
After hearing all this talk about the effort the team has put into food, a long-held question pops into my head. In Monster Hunter, you hunt herbivorous monsters, get their raw meat, and cook it until it's well-done. But do they have any plans to ever let us hunt a large carnivorous monster for its meat to eat? Or is using large monsters as ingredients not a part of the food culture in the world of the series?
"It comes up during the planning stages of every game,” replies Tokuda. “We talk about how it'd be interesting to hunt a monster and also get an ingredient of sorts as a bonus, but the world is already full of so many attractive ingredients that it makes us wonder if you'd really go so far as to make a meal out of portions of a monster that can be used as valuable materials (for equipment). It's possible that if you could get all the food you need from large monsters, and if that food had incredibly powerful effects, there would be no need for anything else, making the game's loop less attractive. That's why we discard the idea. We are trying a lot of different things, though, like Motley Mixes in World would let you hand over extra monster tails to get well-done steaks and other special items."
Mr. Fujioka adds to this, saying, "In the game's lore, at least, there are legendary chefs of a sort. We haven't depicted them yet, but there should of course be some people in its world who pursue that kind of field."
Cultural connection of cuisine
In addition to the food that you can make inside a pop-up camp, there are dishes you can find in villages you visit all around Wilds. Tokuda explains that food in the game belongs to two major categories: camping meals and village feasts.
"We wanted to design the game in a way that you could keep on playing it without interruption within an environment that continues to change in real time,” he says, comparing the meals you can create yourself with portable ingredients and the sumptuous feasts you can eat when invited to a village. “That's why we decided to add a feature where hunters could prepare very simple meals from an early stage. In contrast to that, we also looked into a way to add meals that let players understand the relationships between people and local food cultures. We thought of a kind of meal that could only be possible now that the game loop is based on time and not quests, as well as one that provides different in-game benefits."
"Interacting with the different species that live in the Forbidden Lands and coming to understand one another is an important part of the game's world and its story to us,” adds Fujioka. “We're putting a ton of work into depicting those interactions."
As you progress through the story in the Windward Plains, your hunter will be invited to a meal in the village of Kunafa, where those who live in the desert reside. These villagers who know nothing of hunting and haven't even seen weapons before treat you to a dish that resembles a freshly baked cheese naan. As you bite into its crispy surface with charred spots, both steam and melted cheese come pouring out. The meal is an unbelievable feast for a hunter from the outside world, making it a scene that shows just how much you're welcomed by these villagers.
As you bite into its crispy surface with charred spots, both steam and melted cheese come pouring out.
The developers filled this short yet memorable food scene with attention to detail, as close care is paid to how it helps form the game's world.
"We spent quite a lot of time coming up with what those villagers eat,” Fujioka explains. “Since they aren't a hunting people, what could they normally be eating? When we thought about how they get animal-based nutrients, we decided that they must raise livestock and eat dairy-based foods. You're able to get a grain similar to wheat when you go out to a more wide-open part of the map, right? So maybe they make something like naan using that grain. On top of that, we wanted it to be something made from simple ingredients, and not too complicated. We thought that a dish like cheese naan would be simple yet possible to depict in a delicious way, and so we put a good amount of effort into that."
So while it may appear to be a casual dining scene, it seems that a lot of labor went into showing this dish similar to one that exists in real life, cheese naan, in a delicious and meaningful way.
"It's actually incredibly difficult to depict something that's crispy on the surface but springy on the inside using CG,” says Fujioka. “We'd been making attempts at the food scene in Kunafa from early on in development, even at the prototype stage, and we just couldn't get it to look the way we wanted. Still, the Wilds development team is incredibly talented, and I was shocked to see them ultimately reach the way it looks in the released version after a lot of trial and error. It really does look tasty..."
Serious motion capture technology was used in the development of Wilds, and it seems that this change in the development environment helped broaden the range of expression when it comes to the game's food.
"While we of course wanted to focus on the food itself, we also wanted to put effort into depicting the way someone eats and their expression as they do so, which is why we used facial capture and other technologies as well,” says Fujioka. “It's not as if we used all of the data we filmed, but we did have actors eat actual food like bread during motion capture sessions. It's not easy to rely on your imagination alone to come up with the expression of someone who just finished eating or someone savoring the aroma of food through their nostrils. We had the actors think about these details as they performed in our attempt to depict everything, even the act of eating, as delicious."
We did have actors eat actual food like bread during motion capture sessions.
These thoroughly created food scenes do add a dramatic effect to the Wilds experience. Hunters can see just how much the villagers care as they show you incredible hospitality, sensing the way they live in the unknown Forbidden Lands while also feeling as though you've become a part of the land despite being a foreigner.
"You can continue to deepen your relationships with people in settlements even after you've completed the main story,” adds Tokuda. “Being offered food by them isn't a one-time thing, and they'll come to invite you to eat every now and then. Accepting these invitations will provide you with powerful food buffs that last for a long time, so even from a gameplay perspective, you'll receive more frequent offers by creating stronger bonds with villages. Also, while it is possible for you to gather local ingredients yourself, trading with locals can allow you to get lots of cheese. We've intentionally designed the game so that changes in your relationships that take place through food help deepen the world."
By the way, the game has settlements aside from the one in the Windward Plains, and Tokuda says that they will treat you to food as well.
"There are villages in lots of different areas this time around where locals live their lives,” he says. “Each of those peoples eat different things, and there are rather unique monsters in Oilwell Basin. The dishes made with those monsters are pretty novel, so we hope you'll see them for yourself and be surprised."
Even after hearing all of this about food and eating, I still find myself with one question. In that case, is there nothing like a canteen where Felynes show off their culinary skills in this game? Not being able to stop by a place where Felynes enjoy serving you food so much would feel a little sad.
When I ask this, Tokuda replies, "You're right about that. We are aware that this may weaken the sense of everyone gathering together, exchanging vouchers for food, and enjoying a meal as a means of communication, that players have experienced in the past. I hope you'll wait for further information when it comes to that."
For more on Monster Hunter Wilds, check out our exclusive 4K gameplay videos battling Ajarakan and Rompopolo in the new Oilwell Basin area, and our interview with the development team on how Monster Hunter has evolved over the years. And keep an eye out for more exclusives throughout January as part of IGN First!
Shuka Yamada is a freelance writer for IGN Japan. This article was translated by Ko Ransom.
Lenovo is kicking off the new year with some great deals on several of its Legion gaming PC and laptop models. Most of these configurations have coupon codes that are automatically applied in your shopping cart, plus you get free shipping. Check out all the deals below.
Lenovo Gaming PCs
Lenovo Gaming Laptops
You can quickly browse through all of the listed products on sale above.
Lenovo Legion Tower 7 RTX 4080 Super Gaming PC
The Legion Tower 7i RTX 4080 Super gaming PC is currently available for just over $2,200 shipped. The 4080 Super is a second generation card that supersedes the RTX 4080. It's Nvidia's second most powerful card and a superior GPU to AMD's Radeon RX 7900 RTX if you factor in DLSS and ray tracing performance. In our RTX 4080 Super review, Jacqueline Thomas writes, "If you're in the market for a 4K graphics card around $1,000, it's hard to think of any GPU that's a better purchase right now."
Lenovo Legion Tower 5 RTX 4070 Ti Super Gaming PC
This Legion Tower 5 gaming PC is equipped with an RTX 4070 Ti Super GPU for under $1,600. The RTX 4070 Ti Super is a second gen RTX 40 series GPU; it's about 10% more powerful than the RTX 4070 Ti and 15-25% faster than the RTX 4070 Super. This is a great card for both 1440p and 4K gaming. The VRAM count is upped to 16GB compared the the RTX 4070 Ti's 12GB, which means it has the same amount of VRAM as the RTX 4080 Super. With this level of GPU power, enabling ray tracing is also a very real possibility in many games.
Lenovo Legion Tower 5 i7 RTX 4070 Super Gaming PC
This Legion Tower 5 gaming PC features an RTX 4070 GPU for $1,425. The RTX 4070 Super is one of the best graphics cards for most people; it's affordably priced and yet it's powerful enough to run games at up to 4K (although 1440p is its sweet spot). In her RTX 4070 Super review, Jacqueline Thomas wrote that "the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super is the mid-range card we should have got back when the RTX 4000 generation launched. It's around 16% faster in most games at the same price. If you've been waiting to make your GPU upgrade, now's the time."
Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16" RTX 4090 Gaming Laptop
If you're looking for an incredibly powerful gaming desktop replacement, this laptop is a strong contender. The Lenovo Legion Pro 7 gaming laptop features a 16" QHD+ display, Intel Core i9-14900HX CPU, RTX 4090 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD. The Intel Core i9-14900HX is Intel's most powerful CPU and excels at both gaming and workstation duties. The RTX 4090 is still the most powerful mobile GPU on the market, and by a very substantial margin. It's roughly equivalent to a desktop RTX 3090 GPU. It has more than enough power to run most games at well over 60fps on the 2560x1600 display. In fact, it could probably hit 240fps (the display has a 240Hz refresh rate).
Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16" RTX 4070 Gaming Laptop
This Lenovo Legion Pro 7 gaming laptop offers a lot of upgrades for a very reasonable price. Unlike most laptops at this price point, it's equipped with an Intel Core i7-14700X, RTX 4070 GPU with the maximum TGP rating, 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD. The RTX 4070 mobile GPU performs on par with the RTX 3080 and should provide ample horsepower to power games on the QHD+ display.
Lenovo Legion Pro 5 RTX 4060 Gaming Laptop
This Lenovo Legion Pro 5 gaming laptop features a 16" QHD+ display, a fully-powered AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX CPU, RTX 4060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. Performance-wise, the RTX 4060 mobile GPU sits right in between the RTX 3070 and RTX 3070 Ti. It should run most games smoothly on the QHD+ display, especially with DLSS enabled.
Lenovo Legion Slim 16" Gaming Laptops
The Lenovo Slim 5 Gen 9 is a current generation 2024 model. It weighs in at only 4.63 pounds and measures 0.78" at its thinnest point. The Legion Slim model is thinner than your typical gaming laptop, and yet is still equipped with a GPU that has the same high-wattage TGP as the full-sized Legion Pro.
Why Choose Lenovo?
Lenovo Legion gaming PCs and laptops generally feature better and more rugged build quality than what you'd find from most other prebuilt PCs. For desktop PCs in particular, people like the fact that Lenovo does not use many proprietary components in their rigs, so the PCs are much easier to upgrade with easiy obtainable, off-the-shelf parts. For laptops, Lenovo generally does not throttle the GPU on most of their Legion laptops, so you should expect maximum performance from a given GPU. Lenovo generally includes a solid one-year warranty with the option to extend.
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.
Amazon is currently offering a SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless gaming headset for only $258.99 after a 26% off discount. Only the Xbox model is marked down, however this is the best model because it's actually compatible with the Xbox, PC, and PlayStation 5 console via USB Type-C. The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro is rated the best gaming headset, and as someone who owns and uses this headset on a daily basis, I wholeheartedly agree.
26% Off SteelSeries Nova Pro Wireless Gaming Headset
The Arctis Nova Pro is the highest-end gaming headset in SteelSeries' repertoire. It combines excellent sound quality with comfortable ergonomics, a high-performance mic, and unique yet extremely practical features. One of the biggest standout features of the SteelSeries Nova Pro wireless headset is the ingenious hot-swappable battery system. SteelSeries was generous enough to includes two batteries: one that's in use in your headset and the other that's charging in the separate DAC controller. This way, you get wireless freedom with no waiting to recharge. Each battery lasts for up to 22 hours of continued use, so you won't be constantly swapping them out either.
Other great features include an OLED base station with volume control knob, active noise cancellation (rare in a gaming headset), retractable boom microphone, all-day comfort thanks to the suspension headband and leatherette ear cushions, simultaneous 2.4GHz WiFi and Bluetooth pairing, onboard audio presets, and the versatile Sonar software for creating your own custom sound profiles (for PC gamers).
In our "Masterpiece" 10/10 rated SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro review, Kevin Lee writes, "SteelSeries’ Pro Wireless headsets have always been a bit of a unicorn in the gaming headset world thanks to their outstanding sound quality, uniquely removable batteries, simultaneous connection support, and other rare features. The Arctis Nova Pro Wireless truly elevates this line of gaming headsets to another level: spatial sound and audio quality are fantastic, batteries can be hot-swapped for uninterrupted use, and you can make your gaming audio experience even more nuanced thanks to very noticeable changes in the equalizer and Sonar settings. The revised design accommodates all heads – large and small – comfortably, even for extended sessions. And to top things off, the more premium design and hybrid active noise canceling make the headset even more usable as a daily pair of wireless headphones."
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.
"There's always going to be a little hallucination" with machine learning, says PlayerUnknown Productions' engine team behind Preface: Undiscovered World.
VG Entertainment has announced a new story-driven survival FPS with RPG elements called Forest Reigns. For those who don’t know, VG Entertainment is made up of former STALKER and Survarium developers. So, if you are a fan of these games, you should definitely check this out. According to the devs, this will be a solid … Continue reading Forest Reigns is a new survival FPS from former STALKER devs→
Bethesda originally planned to include gore and dismemberment mechanics in Starfield but had to remove them due to technical limitations.
Former employee Dennis Mejillones, who was a character artist on The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Starfield, told Kiwi Talkz that Bethesda had to cut the feature because the interaction with space suits became too complex.
"There was a lot of implications with the different suits from a technical perspective," he said. "There's a lot that has to go with it. You have to cut the helmet in a certain way and it's got to come off, you have meat caps to the bottom where the flesh is.
"We had systems for all of that and it turned into a big rat's nest. All these things you have to count for now with all these crazy hoses on the helmets and all that kind of stuff that we added. Or now you could change the body size significantly. The character creator had evolved quite a bit."
Some fans lamented that Starfield, which was the first full single-player role-playing game from Bethesda in eight years, didn't have the gore and dismemberment mechanics that were present in Fallout 4. Mejillones said these mechanics make more sense in Fallout than in Starfield, however, given their "tongue in cheek" humor. "It's part of the fun," he said.
When Microsoft launched Update 24H2 for Windows 11, it broke compatibility with a number of Ubisoft games. To be more precise, Assassin’s Creed Origins and Valhalla could not run on the latest version of Win 11. Thankfully, Ubisoft has released patches that address these compatibility issues. Steam will now download these small patches for these … Continue reading Assassin’s Creed Origins & Valhalla will now work with Windows 11 24H2→
Looking to get into virtual reality? Meta Quest 3 represents a significant step forward in virtual reality (VR) and a great starting point for everyone. The new Meta Quest 3S also offers a cheaper price tag for the model, making it an easier starting point for your wallet, too. It's the best way to get into VR, and even offers exciting exlusive new games like the Batman Arkham Shadow game, which requires a Meta Quest 3 or 3S to play.
We're keeping an eye out on any Meta Quest discounts as they appear, like this deal on the 256GB Meta Quest 3S at Amazon, which has gotten a $50 price drop to $349. It's also worth noting that if you buy a Meta Quest 3 or 3S, you'll get a free copy of Batman: Arkham Shadow and a free three-month trial of Meta Quest+.
Meta Quest 3S is a cheaper alternative to the Meta Quest 3, with the 128GB model coming in at $299.99 and the 256GB model available for $399.99. That's up to $200 less expensive than the Quest 3, making it a fantastic point to jump in on the VR fun with their latest release. The 256GB model is currently enjoying a nice discount right now at Amazon, down to $349. Not to mention, you'll get Batman: Arkham Shadow and a three-month trial of Meta Quest+ for free with your purchase.
Outside of that deal, you can get a Meta Quest 3S with those freebies at the following retailers: Amazon, Best Buy, Target, or Walmart.
With the recent reveal of the Meta Quest 3S, it appears the company has begun to phase out the 128GB model of the Meta Quest 3, though the 512GB is still available with an excellent price tag of $499.99. This is a whole $150 off its original list price and also comes with Batman: Arkham Shadow and a three-month trial of Meta Quest+ for free with your purchase.
We gave this VR headset a 9/10 in our Meta Quest 3 review. Writer Eric Song stated that, "The Quest 3 continues Meta’s legacy of offering a cost-effective headset that doesn’t require an expensive gaming PC, but can still benefit from one if you have it." He continued on to say that, "The Quest 3 goes even further by offering us a ticket to mixed-reality gaming with a full-color passthrough mode that’s sharp enough to read things in the world around you, the lightest and most precisely tracked controllers available, and more."
Best Meta Quest 3 Accessory Deals
In addition to the hardware itself, there are some great Meta Quest 3 accessory deals at the moment. You'll get the most bang for your buck with a battery-equipped head strap that adds both comfort and playtime to your VR experience.
What Games Are Available on Meta Quest 3?
It's interesting that you ask; eight years after the last Batman: Arkham game, Warner Bros. announced the next installment: Batman: Arkham Shadow. This VR game is exclusive to the Meta Quest 3 and is developed by Camouflaj, the creator of the Iron Man VR game, and Oculus Studios, in collaboration with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC.
Otherwise, we have a handy list available of all the games available on the VR headset via IGN Playlist. Highlights include games like Asgard’s Wrath 2 and Assassin's Creed Nexus, alongside more titles like Metal Hellsinger VR or Metro Awakening.
Batman: Arkham Shadow Is Great
In case you're wondering whether a new Batman Arkham game works in VR, the answer is "yes." While it was develped by Camouflaj rather than Rocksteady, it offers almost all of what fans of the core series appreciate about it. From our Batman: Arkham Shadow review:
"Batman: Arkham Shadow does an admirable job of adapting almost everything I love about the Arkham series to work in a full-fledged VR game, and it’s impressive looking for a game that’s exclusive to the standalone Meta Quest 3 headset. There are a few hitches and aggravating bugs that mean some parts don’t work quite as well as others, but its vigorous brawling, exploration, tricky puzzle solving, and stealth are all in full effect as you sneak and punch your way through Blackgate prison in a twisting undercover pursuit of a mysterious cult leader where just about everybody’s a suspect. It’s certainly smaller in scale than any full game since Arkham Asylum, but it’s far larger and more built-out than you might expect after Batman: Arkham VR, and a return to an enclosed prison setting makes it feel dense and intricate."
What Types of Deals Are There on Meta Quest VR Headsets?
Outside of deals like the above, Meta Quest offers usually fall into three kinds of discounts. Events such as the holiday season, Prime Day, Black Friday and announcements of newer models tend to push prices down, alongside:
Discounts: Direct price reductions are the most common deals, especially during major sales events or as part of clearance sales, to make room for newer models like we're seeing right now.
Bundles: Occasionally, retailers bundle a Meta Quest with popular VR games or essential accessories such as additional controllers, charging docks, or travel cases. These bundles provide extra value and enhance the VR experience out of the box.
Refurbished Units: These units have been returned and restored to like-new condition. They typically come at a reduced price and include a warranty, offering a way to save money without compromising on quality too much.
What to Consider Before Buying a Meta Quest VR Headset
Unfortunately, Virtual Reality isn't for everyone. Those with severe eye health issues or those who suffer from motion sickness might have problems using this particular bit of kit. Meta Quest 3 focuses more on pass-through VR, which overlays virtual reality elements on real-life surroundings. Here are some more points to consider:
Compatibility: Ensure any additional accessories or hardware purchases are compatible.
Space Requirements: VR gaming requires physical movement, so ensure you have adequate space to use the device safely.
Future Models: Make sure to check out the features and specs on newer models before buying older ones to ensure it's a good fit.
We're keeping track of all things VR on the dedicated IGN VR hub, including the latest game releases. We're also keeping the VR hardware market on lockdown with our best VR headset in the 2024 guide, which is worth a look for those who want to shell out on the latest VR tech.
Christian Wait is a UK-based freelancer for IGN, you can follow him @ChrisReggieWait on Twitter/X.
Includes contributions from Robert Anderson and Hannah Hoolihan.
New Marvel Rivals character the Invisible Woman is proving useful when it comes to detecting what fans believe are bot enemies in their lobbies.
Bots are an issue Marvel Rivals fans have obsessed over for weeks, with many believing that developer NetEase Games may be pitting them against low-level AI opponents to help keep players engaged. Discussion on this topic has only ramped up since Season 1 introduced Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman last Friday, but the hero additions brought more than changes to the current meta.
As players began to tap into what made these new Fantastic Four characters tick, Reddit user barky1616 shared a video showing an off-the-wall use for Invisible Woman’s trademark ability. The clip shows Sue Storm turning invisible and, somehow, blocking the path of half of the enemy team by simply standing in front of them. They don’t try to walk around or fight her until she is booted out of invisibility mode, at which point the battle continues as you’d expect. It’s a bizarre video that many are using as additional evidence to suggest that bots are quickly becoming a bigger issue for Marvel Rivals.
The idea is that, because the other team is supposedly made up of bots, they are unable to realize their path is blocked by this new hero. Your results may vary if you choose to try this Invisible Woman trick on your own, but it’s still a strange clip that has the community scratching their heads at best and fearing a more substantial bot problem at worst.
Without confirmation from NetEase, it’s unclear if AI enemies are truly sneaking their way into Marvel Rivals matches or if there’s something else going on. IGN has reached out to NetEase about the alleged existence of bots in Marvel Rivals.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.
Doom has been ported to devices like toasters, a fridge, and pretty much everything else you can think of, so the frontier for truly remarkable things that can run Doom is wearing thin. But one high-schooler has managed to port Doom into an actual PDF file that you can run inside your browser.
Sure, it’s missing minor elements like “text” and “sound” — but who really needs that when you can play E1M1 while pretending to do those taxes you’ve been ignoring?
Github user and “high school student” ading2210 was inspired by a recent port of Tetris, named TetrisPDF, to the humble PDF format, and resolved to make one of the world’s most celebrated shooters playable in a Chromium-based browser near you.
ading2210 harnessed the way Javascript is used inside a browser’s PDF reader to port Doom to a .PDF file. While the official specifications for a PDF allow for more sophisticated scripting, security concerns in browsers cut things down a bit. But it was enough to still port Doom over to the format.
The Javascript capabilities within the PDF specifications allowed ading2210 to “do whatever computation we want,” and the results are glorious. Using a six-color ASCII grid to represent sprites and graphics, the high-schooler managed to deliver a legible port of Doom, so long as you’re happy with a lengthy response time of 80ms per frame drawn on screen.
You might not want to throw out your PS5 just yet, but seeing Doom ported to the inside of a .PDF file is pretty remarkable, especially considering just how legible the overall result is.
TetrisPDF creator Thomas Rinsma posted on Hacker News that he had also made his own version of PDF Doom, but added that ading2210’s version was “neater in many ways."
While you might not want this version of Doom to be the way you first experience the game, the novelty of seeing Doom run on all kinds of ridiculous devices, files (or even living gut bacteria) is endlessly entertaining.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
It's a brand new year, and it's already kicked off with some excellent PS5 deals. If you've been on the hunt for some discounts after the holidays, you've come to the right place. Here we've gathered up some of the best PlayStation deals available at the moment, including a sale on first-party PS5 games at Best Buy that only lasts through today.
This sale includes a great deal on Stellar Blade alongside a few other PS5 games that are worth picking up for your physical collection. You can see those deals and more below. Here are IGN's top picks for the best PlayStation deals today.
Best Buy Deal of the Day: First-Party PS5 Game Sale
Today only, Best Buy's offering discounts on a selection of first-party PS5 games, including Stellar Blade, Until Dawn, LEGO Horizon Adventures, and a few more. This sale is part of Best Buy's Deal of the Day program, so act fast to pick up your favorites!
Best PS5 Video Game Deals
Alongside the selection of discounts above from Best Buy's Deal of the Day sale, there are quite a few more PS5 game deals that are worth checking out at other retailers. Here we've included a few more of our favorites that are currently on sale, from Metaphor: ReFantazio to Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Best PlayStation VR 2 Deals
The PSVR2 Horizon: Call of the Mountain bundle is down to $374 right now at Walmart, which is just $25 away from its Black Friday and Cyber Monday price. It's currently listed as a flash deal, so act fast to take advantage of this limited time offer.
This package is a great value for everything you're getting (the PSVR2 headset and controllers alongside the Horizon Call of The Mountain game), and pushes the PSVR2 as a strong contender against budget-friendly options like the Meta Quest, delivering a premium virtual reality experience without the eye-watering cost.
Sony also recently gave the PSVR2 a new lease on life by adding PC VR support, allowing owners of the second-generation headset to play PC VR games like Half-Life: Alyx, providing they have the new Sony-made adapter.
Best PS5 SSD Deals
PS5 games continue to grow in size, and with SSD prices climbing, finding the right storage at a great price is more important than ever. We've listed our favorite deals just here, but ensure you're checking back for more updates as often as possible, as new SSD deals pop up all the time.
Keep in mind that not all SSDs are compatible with the PS5. To ensure optimal performance on the best PS5 SSD, you'll need a PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 drive with a minimum read speed of 5,500MB/s to match the console's internal storage.
Where to Buy: PS5 Pro
Launched with widespread availability – unlike the infamous scarcity of the original PS5 launch – the PS5 Pro is currently still in stock across major retailers.
The PS5 Pro is designed for gamers who prioritize graphics and performance, especially those with high-end TVs that can take full advantage of its power. But it comes at a premium: At $700 plus tax (and minus a disc drive), it’s an investment that makes sense if you’re looking to elevate your gaming experience.
Not everyone needs it, of course; if you’re satisfied with your current visuals or aren’t particularly sensitive to frame rates, the PS5 Pro may be more of a luxury than a necessity.
Where to Buy: PlayStation Portal
The PlayStation Portal has come a long way since its launch. Initial skepticism surrounded the device, but over time, it has proven itself as a handy companion for PS5 owners.
Despite stock challenges and surges in demand, a new feature is now making it even more appealing to potential buyers.
Sony recently rolled out an update for the PlayStation Portal, currently in opt-in beta, allowing PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers to stream games from the cloud.
This means you can now enjoy a library of games on the go—even if you don’t own a PS5. The update adds another compelling reason to consider the PlayStation Portal.
How to Trade in Your Old PlayStation Consoles
If you're looking to trade in your old PlayStation consoles, you can do so at select retailers in-store and online. Often, the most widely available retailers are GameStop and Best Buy. However, you can also trade your used devices online at retailers such as Amazon and Microsoft.
Some retailers will offer you cash for your used goods, while others may provide you with a gift card that can be used in-store and online. This is a great way to offload your old gaming gear and get some money that you can put towards a newer console and games.
While trading devices in at retailers will often net you the lowest amount for your used consoles, there are also online marketplaces such as eBay, Craigslist, and OfferUp that may fetch higher prices, but you'll often be responsible for packing and shipping costs, or be required to meet someone in person for the transaction, the latter of which poses its own risks.
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.
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![](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/3ApM5N4gNnuXhoNb3H8KjV.jpg "LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 17: Hideo Kojima attends the UK premiere of "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" at the BFI IMAX Waterloo on May 17, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)")
