"Fame and fortune seekers have journeyed far and wide in search of the fabled Lost World," reads the official synopsis. "Eager to find it first, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong set off to discover its entrance, unaware that Baron K. Roolenstein and his Kremling Krew are hot on their tail.
Join Dixie Kong and Kiddy Kong on an adventure to try to find the Lost World!
"Meanwhile, Dixie Kong is left behind to babysit her younger cousin, Kiddy Kong. But that won't stop her from answering the call of adventure! Help Dixie Kong and Kiddy Kong through 36 Kremling-infested levels, each containing their own secret areas and bonus levels."
Nintendo periodically adds a handful of classic titles to its myriad Switch Online libraries, which also includes games from the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy Advance, and more.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
Voldemort actor Ralph Fiennes wants Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy to play the iconic villain in the HBO reboot series of Harry Potter.
As reported by Deadline, Fiennes responded to a viewer on Watch What Happen's Live who suggested Murphy should play the Harry Potter villain in the series. "That's a wonderful suggestion," he said. "I'd be all in favor of Cillian, yeah."
Whether or not Murphy is open to the role remains to be seen, as HBO is yet to reveal any of its casting for the upcoming series. It's already committed to a 10 year run of the show, however, so any actors who do join will be in for the long haul.
PlayStation co-CEO Hermen Hulst has said artificial intelligence will never replace the "human touch" of video game development but still expects AI to feature prominently in the industry.
Hulst told the BBC he believes AI has the potential to "revolutionize" video game development but studios will have to strike the right balance between using it and creating games through the traditional route.
"I suspect there will be a dual demand in gaming: one for AI-driven innovative experiences and another for handcrafted, thoughtful content," Hulst said. "Striking the right balance between leveraging AI and preserving the human touch will be crucial."
Striking the right balance between leveraging AI and preserving the human touch will be crucial.
This comes as many fans and creators of video games are growing increasingly concerned with the use of AI-generated content, though executives at various publishers have shared different perspectives on it so far.
Myriad voice actors have commented on the threat of AI already, including Metal Gear Solid and Mass Effect actress Jennifer Hale. "The truth is, AI is just a tool like a hammer," she said. "If I take my hammer, I could build you a house. I can also take that same hammer and I can smash your skin and destroy who you are.”
That's right, some of the best ear buds on the market right how are heavily discounted, but these Beats UK deals won't last forever. If you've been on the fence about Apple's infamous brand tax, this is the best time to avoid it and get some solid personal audio equipment. Starting from as little as £39.96 for Beats Solo Buds to £134.99 for Beats Fit Pro there's something for everyone including the mid-range star Beats Studio Buds down to £71.96. Apple forogt about Dre, don't do the same. Here's a breakdown of todays UK Deals:
Beats Ear Buds Range In Todays UK Deals
As of Dec. 4, you can save up to 49% on select Beats earbuds and wireless earphones at Amazon, including discounts on Studio Buds, Powerbeats Pro, and more.
Beats Studio Buds
Beats Studio Buds deliver powerful, balanced sound with Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) and Transparency modes. They're great for workouts and commutes, and their IPX4 rating for sweat and water resistance means they're great for workouts and commutes. They offer up to 8 hours of listening time (24 hours with the charging case). Don't forget to apply the £12.53 voucher for the full discount.
Beats Solo Buds
These compact, Bluetooth-enabled earbuds pack a punch with 18 hours of battery life and noise isolation. They're ideal for everyday use and come with customizable ear tips for a comfortable fit. Apply the £9.04 voucher at checkout to decrease the price to £39.96.
Beats Fit Pro
The Beats Fit Pro earbuds are designed for all-day wear and feature secure-fit wing tips and ANC. Spatial Audio and dynamic head tracking are perfect for music, movies, and gaming. These sweat-resistant earbuds also come with the Apple H1 chip for seamless pairing with iOS devices.
Beats Studio Buds +
The Beats Studio Buds + is an upgraded version, offering even better call quality with voice-targeting mics and extended battery life (36 hours total). These earbuds are sweat-resistant and equipped with ANC, which are great for fitness enthusiasts and audiophiles alike.
Beats Powerbeats Pro
The Powerbeats Pro is built for performance with up to 9 hours of listening per charge and sweat resistance for tough workouts. Adjustable ear hooks ensure a secure fit, while the Apple H1 chip and Class 1 Bluetooth provide excellent connectivity. Use the £23.04 voucher to maximize your savings.
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of "Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior". Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
Path of Exile 2 developer Grinding Gear Games has confirmed plans to make the Early Access launch available to pre-download, and announced the game’s global release times.
Path of Exile 2 is GGG’s hotly anticipated free-to-play action role-playing sequel set years after the original game. Players return to the world of Wraeclast and seek to end a spreading corruption, with six character classes, each with two Ascendancy Classes, available to play at the launch of Early Access later this week. There’s co-op for up to six players, but you can play solo. Check out IGN’s Path of Exile 2 preview, where we gave the Mercenary class a whirl and got a first look at the endgame, for more.
In a forum post, GGG said it’s making the standalone PC client available to download at 5pm PT on December 5, or 1am GMT on December 6 in your local time. The developer noted that when patching begins for the Early Access, players may also have a few remaining files they’ll need to update as well.
Once you’ve downloaded the client, you won’t be able to log in until the Early Access launch itself, which is set for 11am PT on December 6, or 7pm GMT on December 6 in your local time. You can get the client download through the Path of Exile 2 website, but GGG said it’ll make a torrent available with the client download at the same time.
The pre-download is already available on Xbox, although GGG said there will likely be updates on launch. As for PlayStation, Founder’s packs should go live 24 hours before Early Access starts (so, 11am PT on December 5). If you buy one of these packs, you’ll be able to pre-download on PS5.
Path of Exile 2 Early Access Global Release times
PT: 11am, December 6
ET: 2pm, December 6
GMT: 7pm, December 6
CET: 8pm, December 6
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.
In a recent behind-closed-doors demo, we played a section of Monster Hunter Wilds and asked the developers about changes made to weapons and other systems, the biggest being the separation of Equipment Skills between weapons and armor. Read on for more details.
As I played the demo, I realized major changes have been made to the Skills system, where damage-increasing skills and weapon-specific skills like Attack Up and Focus can only be found on or applied to the weapons themselves – a pretty impactful change.
Watch new gameplay of Monster Hunter Wilds above, including footage of Seikret and camp customization.
This is the new Equipment Skill system. In interviews, the dev team referred to skills for your weapons casually as Weapon Skills. Running with that unofficial terminology, let’s call equipment skills for weapons Weapon Skills, and equipment skills for armor Armor Skills. This means that equipment skills in Wilds are split up into these two categories. Weapon Skills generally include skills that affect actions and damage output, while Armor Skills assist in other ways.
Armor Skills include support skills like Speed Eating and Divine Blessing. This new system also affects slots, and the devs confirmed that weapons can only use decorations with skills categorized as Weapon Skills, while armor can only use decorations with skills categorized as Armor Skills.
This really opens up a lot of new ideas. I asked director Yuya Tokuda about his intentions here, and he replied, “Only armor had [built-in] equipment skills until now, but when a piece of armor had a type of skill only effective when used with a certain weapon type, that meant you would have to choose the corresponding weapon. This led to an unavoidable situation where it was harder for people to use those kinds of armor pieces.” The new system solves that issue.
Monster Hunter Wilds now lets you take two weapons with you on a hunt, which must have been another reason behind the change. Since you can now swap to a sub-weapon mid-hunt, it's great to be able to keep on hunting while maintaining the skills you need to increase your damage to a suitable level or handle your weapon better.
There is one thing I'm still curious about. While I was able to confirm that skills like Guard are indeed on weapons that can block, I'm still not sure which type of equipment utilizes skills like Evade and Evade Distance.
Weapon Balance
Next up is weapon balancing. Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto confirmed that there will be significant weapon balance changes in Wilds. He told me, “There will be major changes not just after what we saw in the open beta, but also in the form of changes we had always intended to add to the final product.”
Tokuda said, “In particular, we plan on putting quite a lot of work into the Lance, Switch Axe, Insect Glaive, and Sword and Shield based on feedback from the open beta.”
He continued, “We've tweaked values across the board relating to weapon damage and overall balance, including balance regarding endgame content.” In addition to these numerical changes, the four aforementioned weapon types have (quote) “plenty of work put into how they feel to use."
While the development side is certainly listening to the voices of the players, they were already taking a proactive stance toward weapon balance changes, and it seems that a proper announcement about the topic will come at a later date. Seeing their attitude put me at ease; the game is clearly in good hands. We’ll see how their intentions pan out when the final game is released in February 2025.
Next, the team told me about the direction and concept of the Switch Axe and the Insect Glaive.
Insect Glaive Changes and the Return of Vaulting Dance
The Insect Glaive is one of my main weapons, and my very first impression was that there were fewer aerial attacks available. It made me wonder if the concept was to reduce the relative number of aerial attacks and make it a primarily grounded weapon. I brought this up with Tokuda, and he began by revealing to me that Vaulting Dance is making a return! This is one of the actions that was so important to opening up possibilities for aerial combat with an Insect Glaive.
As to why it wasn't there before, Tokuda said, "We were concerned that putting it in this time around would cause players to use nothing but existing movements, rather than focus on the new parts of the game. That's why we decided to remove Vaulting Dance for a time."
As for the reason it was brought back, he replied, "Many players at gamescom and Tokyo Game Show told us that it's not about how strong or weak it is, but that Vaulting Dance is part of the Insect Glaive's very identity. We realized that we weren't on the same page as our players there, and so we immediately decided to bring Vaulting Dance back while balancing the ability."
I was happy to hear about this balance decision as an Insect Glaive user. That said, I did have difficulty during the open beta with the controls for its new charge attack, and I'm hoping that they'll make it easier to use as well.
Updating the Switch Axe to be More Attractive to Players
I then asked about what direction they want to take with the Switch Axe. Tokuda told me the concept of the Switch Axe had not fully gotten across to players, and that the dev team is balancing it in order to convey what makes it a good weapon. Specifically, he said, “The Full Release Slash that comes at the very end of an attack didn't fully stand out, both in terms of feel and numbers, making it less attractive when compared to similarly positioned attacks for other weapons. We'll be sure to address that."
After hearing about the developers' plans to balance the Switch Axe to make it a more attractive weapon, it's clear to me that it's being properly discussed. Their process to come to the decision to make changes to the Switch Axe backs that up even more, so I don't think that should be a point of concern any longer.
I'm sorry to admit that I can't go into as much depth on the Switch Axe as with the Insect Glaive, as it isn't one of my main weapons, but other media outlets were also present at this hands-on session, and I’m sure some of them include players who go hard on the Lance, the Gunlance, the Bow, the Long Sword and more, so keep an eye out online for more information on your favorite weapon!
Ubisoft is officially discontinuing XDefiant in 2025, the publisher announced Tuesday, with all new purchases and registrations being discontinued immediately. As part of the shutdown, the publisher plans to shut down its production studios in San Francisco and Osaka while ramping down its site in Sydney, with up to 277 employees losing their jobs. Roughly half of the XDefiant team will be assigned roles elsewhere.
Chief Studios and Portfolio Officer Marie-Sophie de Waubert revealed the news in an email sent to Ubisoft employees that was subsequently posted online, saying that the shooter was "not able to attract and retain enough players in the long run to compete at the level we aim for in the very demanding free-to-play FPS market."
The full message can be found below.
Today, I wanted to share with you that we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue development on XDefiant.
Despite an encouraging start, the team’s passionate work, and a committed fan base, we’ve not been able to attract and retain enough players in the long run to compete at the level we aim for in the very demanding free-to-play FPS market. As a result, the game is too far away from reaching the results required to enable further significant investment, and we are announcing that we will be sunsetting it.
Concretely, that means that as of today, new downloads, player registrations and purchases will no longer be available. Season 3 will still launch, and the servers will remain active until June 3, 2025, out of appreciation for both our dev teams who worked on it and for XDefiant’s active players.
Unfortunately, the discontinuation of XDefiant brings difficult consequences for the teams working on this game. Even if almost half of the XDefiant team worldwide will be transitioning to other roles within Ubisoft, this decision also leads to the closing of our San Francisco and Osaka production studios and to the ramp down of our Sydney production site, with 143 people departing in San Francisco and 134 people likely to depart in Osaka and Sydney. To those team members leaving Ubisoft, I want to express my deepest gratitude for your work and contributions. Please know that we are committed to supporting you during this transition.
Developing Games-as-a-Service experiences remains a pillar of our strategy, and we’ve achieved significant successes, like Rainbow Six, The Crew, and For Honor, among others. It’s a highly competitive market, and we will apply the lessons learned with XDefiant to our future live titles.
Globally, we are determined to take the necessary steps to put the company back on a path to growth, innovation and creativity and make sure we can set you up for success. This means continuing to radically evolve our mindset for Production and Business practices, which we will share more about soon, and doing targeted restructuring when necessary. I know that the situation brings questions and expectations, and we will share regular and transparent updates.
My sincere thanks for your continued dedication as we navigate these trying times together.
XDefiant Executive Producer Mark Rubin also shared a message thanking fans and saying he was "heartbroken." He also shared refund details, saying that any purchases made within the last 30 days will be fully refunded and that those who purchases the Ultimate Founder's Pack will also get their money back. Refunds should happen automatically with 8 weeks, he said.
I am unfortunately here today to announce that XDefiant will be shutting down. Starting today (December 3, 2024), new downloads and player registrations will no longer be available. We will still release our Season 3 content in the near future (exact date TBD) and the servers will remain active until June 3, 2025.
For those who purchased the Ultimate Founder’s Pack, you’ll receive a full refund. Players who made any purchases within the last 30 days will also be fully refunded. Those refunds should happen automatically within 8 weeks of today and you can find more details on our official website, https://XDefiant.com.
A few years ago, Ubisoft and the SF Dev team embarked on a bold adventure to develop a new arcade shooter called XDefiant. It was from the start, an incredible challenge. Not only were we trying to shake up the genre by removing Skill-Based Matchmaking (SBMM) while bringing back a more “old-school” arcade shooter experience, but we were also diving into the high-risk, high-reward realm of free-to-play. And for that I want to applaud not only the Dev team but also Ubisoft leadership for taking that chance!
Free-to-play, in particular, is a long journey. Many free-to-play games take a long time to find their footing and become profitable. It’s a long journey that Ubisoft and the teams working on the game were prepared to make until very recently. But unfortunately, the journey became too much to sensibly continue.
I am, of course, heartbroken to have to be writing this post. Yes, this game has been a personal passion for me for years and yes, I know that not all challenges lead to victory, but I also want to recognize all of the developers who are being affected by this closure. Each and every one of them is a real person with a real life separate from our own and they have all put so much of their own passion into making this game. And I hope that they can be proud of what they did achieve. I know that I will always be proud and grateful to have worked with such a great team! A team that really punched above its weight class.
And what they achieved is truly remarkable. The early response from players when XDefiant launched was amazing—we broke internal records for the fastest game to surpass 5 million users and in the end we had over 15 million players play our game! That is something to be extremely proud of, especially considering how tough this genre is. So, thank you to all of the developers who put their passion into making this game!
If there’s one thing, I hope we can all take away from this experience, it’s the importance of open, honest communication between developers and players. This “player-first” mentality along with respectful, non-toxic conversations between developers and players has been one of the standout differences that made XDefiant so special. From my very first post about XDefiant, this was the vision I wanted to champion, and I hope it leaves a positive mark on how the game industry treats its players and communities.
To our players, THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, I want to express my deepest gratitude for the incredible community that has grown around XDefiant. Your passion, creativity, and dedication have inspired us every step of the way.
With the utmost of love and respect,
Mark
XDefiant joins Concord as the latest service game to abruptly shutter not long after launch. Unlike Concord, though, XDefiant will be given a bit of grace, with its servers not due to shut down until June 3, 2025. Ubisoft also plans to go forward with releasing Season 3, though downloads and purchases will no longer be available.
Hello XDefiant Fans,
I am unfortunately here today to announce that XDefiant will be shutting down.
Starting today (December 3, 2024), new downloads and player registrations will no longer be available. We will still release our Season 3 content in the near future (exact date…
First announced in 2021, XDefiant endured several delays before finally launching in May. We wrote in our review, "XDefiant joins the free-to-play shooter crowd as a respectable competitive FPS built around various Ubisoft franchises, but little makes it really stand out."
Despite middling reviews, XDefiant got off to a fast start, pulling in a million unique players within two and a half hours, but its momentum soon dissipated. In October, Rubin acknowledged that players numbers were down while denying persistent shutdown rumors.
Nighdive Studios seems to have quietly announced a The Thing: Remastered release date of December 5, 2024.
It’s a launch plan that will see the survival horror reimagining arriving later this week if the release date promised in a recent Xbox Wire post is accurate. The post, which was published late last week, specifically covers new Xbox game releases from December 2 through December 6, mentioning titles such as The Thaumaturge, Marvel Rivals, and early access for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Considering Nightdive has yet to announce a proper date and its official Steam page still says launch is simply “coming soon,” The Thing: Remastered’s inclusion should raise some eyebrows.
Nightdive announced its latest remaster at IGN Live in June of this year, promising to deliver a bone-chilling upgrade for the classic 2002 adaptation before 2024 came to a close. A post from the studio’s X/Twitter account promised that the release date is in December earlier today but did not clarify whether the December 5 date shown in the Xbox Wire post is accurate. If it is, then we shouldn’t have to wait much longer before the full experience is available for everyone to play for themselves. In addition to Xbox One and Xbox Series X | S, The Thing: Remastered is currently set to come to PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
Nightdive has made a name for itself as an experienced remaster studio throughout the last few years. Other titles in its catalog include remasters for the Turok trilogy, Star Wars: Dark Forces, System Shock, Shadow Man, and more. The Thing: Remastered promises a suite of additions to help bring the original experience to modern platforms. These include dynamic lighting, up to 144fps, 4K resolution, antialiasing, and other general gameplay improvements.
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.
Sonos is offering an extra 25% off a few of their already discounted lineup of certified refurbished Sonos speakers and soundbars. This deal was actually unavailable on Black Friday and Cyber Monday (it started later).
Sonos refurb products go through rigorous testing; they come with all accessories, manuals, and documentation and are reshipped in "pristine" packaging. More importantly, they include the same 1-year warranty as buying new.
Featured in this article
You can quickly browse through all of the listed products on sale above. For more information on each product and why they are worth your consideration, read through below.
Sonos Arc and Arc SL
The Arc is Sonos' flagship product. This is a premium soundbar and it shows. This 45" soundbar houses eleven precisely engineered internal speakers, including two dedicated height channels. It's Dolby Atmos ready, and there's enough power here that you can probably get away without a subwoofer. However, the Sonos Arc can be wirelessly paired up with other Sonos speakers and subs to add even more sound distribution. The Arc has a built-in mic so it can accept voice commands and is Amazon Alexa compatible. The Arc SL is the identical product but without the mic.
Sonos Beam (Gen 2)
The Sonos Beam is a smaller 26" soundbar that houses four elliptical midwoofers, one central tweeter and three passive bass radiators. It's also Dolby Atmos ready. Unlike the Arc SL, the Beam is equipped with microphones, so it can function as a smart speaker that supports both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Sonos Era 100
The Sonos Era 100 is a direct successor to the Sonos One. Sound quality is equivalent to a Sonos Move, which isn't surprising considering they have similar internal components: two tweeters, a mid-woofer, and three class-D digital amps. The Era 100 also supports Dolby Atmos when it is paired with an Arc or Beam soundbar. It has a built-in microphone and can be voice controlled; it can also be used as a smart speaker for both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Why Is Sonos So Popular?
If you're looking for an easy solution to add great sound to your home, then you've probably already heard of Sonos. Sonos speakers are very easy to set up, don't take a large amount of space, and most importantly, offer distortion-free room-filling audio. We picked Sonos as our best soundbar of 2024.
Sound Quality for Its Size
Despite the fact that Sonos products are compact and don't take up much space in your house, they offer surprisingly loud and distortion-free audio. They're definitely pricier than budget options, but the sound quality is more akin to audio products that cost hundreds more or take up much more space.
Easy Setup
Sonos devices are usually simple plug and play. All you have to do is plug in a power cable (if even that's necessary) and one connection to your TV (if even that's necessary), download the Sonos app, and you're done. Generally a receiver isn't required; the soundbars are designed to plug right into your TV and the speakers are designed to work wirelessly. For something like a 5.1ch home theater setup, you don't have to deal with a mess of cables. Individual Sonos speakers can pair with your soundbar and be used as rear satellites, and the subwoofer is also wireless so it can be positioned virtually anywhere in your room.
Communication Between Devices
Practically all Sonos speakers can communicate with each other. That means you can pair different Sonos speakers in different rooms for multi-room capability. Or you can pair two speakers for stereo output. Or you can pair speakers to your soundbar to be used as a 5.1ch setup. It's all seamlessly done through the app.
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.
Cyber Monday is over, and with it over 90% of the deals. But that means there are some deals left over. There are also a few deals that had previously expired and have come back. If you've missed the entire show, or you realized just a bit too late that you needed something else, check out this list and see if there's something you are after.
These Deals Were Supposed to End on Cyber Monday
Sony released its entire set of Cyber Monday PlayStation deals on November 21 and most major retailers have followed suit. These deals have an official end date of December 2 (Cyber Monday), however the consoles are currently still available. The PS5 Slim Disc Edition has dropped to $424.99 (originally $500) and the PS5 Slim Digital Edition has dropped to $374.99 (originally $450). I would choose the Disc Edition because it's only $50 more and then I have the option to buy (and later sell or trade) physical disc media. Although the Fortnite Cobalt Star bundle has a fancy-looking box, no actual game is included.
The Best Xbox Console Deal
Best Buy is offering the new Xbox Series X All-Digital Edition console, which normally retails for $449.99. for $399.99 after a savings of $50. That was pretty much the only decent price on a fully powered Xbox Series X for Cyber Monday. If you''re looking for an actual deal on an Xbox Series X console, this might be the best one yet.
One of the Best 34" Gaming Monitors Under $400
Today Dell is offering its gaming-oriented 34" Dell S3422DWG monitor for only $299.99. It sports an ultra-wide 3440x1440 16:10 resolution with an 1800R curve. A 34" monitor with a 3440x1440 resolution boasts a pixel density of 110ppi, which is more than sharp enough to make games look great, but it also won't tax your system nearly as heavily as a true 4K display. You can pair it with a GeForce RTX 4070 or equivalent card and that will give you plenty of power to spare for max graphic settings or ultra high framerates.
The Best Price on Xbox Controllers
Lenovo had the best deal on Xbox controllers for Cyber Monday and a few are still available now after you apply coupon code "BFCMXBOX". The $35 controllers are all sold out, but a number of $39.99 controllers can still be purchased for a day or two longer. These controllers are compatible with Xbox Series X and S consoles as well as your PC.
The Best iPad Deal for Cyber Monday
Amazon has once again dropped the price of the 10th gen Apple iPad back down to $249.99. This deal was available during Black Friday, but Amazon had raised it to $279 on Cyber Monday. This is the best price we've seen for the current gen iPad 10th gen ever since it was launched back in 2022. On a related note, you can also get a 4-pack of Apple AirTags for $72.99 right now, which is a pretty good deal, too.
The Least Expensive Adjustable dumbells
Bowflex isn't the only option when it comes to adjustable dumbbell sets. FitRX is another popular brand at a much lower price point. Today, you can pick up a pair of FitRx Adjustable Dumbbells for only $139.97. A comparable set of Bowflex 551 adjustable dumbbells costs three times more. Walmart even offers free shipping, which is great since the package will weigh in at well over 100 pounds. This was one of the most popular deals during Walmart's Cyber Monday Sale.
The Best Gaming PC Deal on Cyber Monday
This might very well be the best gaming PC deal of Cyber Monday. Walmart is offering this iBuyPower Y40 gaming PC with AMD Ryzen 7 7700 CPU and the excellent RTX 4070 GPU for only $1199. 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). I personally gamed on a 4K monitor with a RTX 3080 GPU (less powerful than the RTX 4070 Super) before I upgraded. The system is contained in a nice looking Hyte Y40 midtower chassis (iBuyPower and Hyte are sister brands).
The Fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD Available
Amazon released this excellent best SSD deal very late into Cyber Monday, and it's still available today. Get a blazing fast Samsung 990 Pro 2TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe solid state drive (SSD) with preinstalled heatsink for only $149.99. There are other, cheaper SSDs out there, but the 990 Pro is widely considered the fastest PCIe 4.0 SSDs on the market. It makes for an outstanding drop-in storage expansion for your PlayStation 5 console or as a boot drive for your gaming rig.
Top sellers include Metaphor, Sonic X Shadow, Astro Bot, and Stellar Blade
A surprising number of PS5 and Xbox Series X video games have survived past Cyber Monday. Most of these deals are now going through Amazon since Best Buy, Walmart, and Target have expired the vast majority of their deals. Notable pickups include Metaphor: Refantazio, Sonic X Shadow Generations, Astrobot, Stellar Blade, and Gran Turismo 7.
Top sellers include Tears of the Kindom, Prince of Persia, and Mario Maker 2
More Nintendo Switch games have met the axe than PS5 and Xbox games, so there aren't too many deals left. The best Switch game deal of Cyber Monday, however, is still available. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is still only $30 from Walmart if you opt for a digital copy. This 10/10 "Masterpiece" rated game is well worth that price.
A great power bank for Steam Deck
Woot's Cyber Monday Sale is mostly over, but one of their most popular deals lives on for a bit longer. Right now, you can score an Anker PowerCore 737 24,000mAh 140W Power Bank for only $69.99. Amazon Prime members get free shipping, otherwise pay $6. This is the best price we've seen for one of our favorite Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally X chargers. I have owned this power bank for over a year; it has been on multiple flights and road trips and is still lasting strong.
Another great power bank for Steam Deck
Woot! is also offering the Anker Prime 27,650mAh USB Power Bank for only $99.99. This is again the best price we've seen for 2024 (the previous lowest price was $119.99). The Anker Prime is the successor to the Anker 737 with a couple of noticeable upgrades like a higher power capacity (but still within the limit for TSA eligibility), higher power delivery output (250W vs 140W) and a higher charging rate through USB Type-A (65W vs 18W).
From now until December 31, non-current Audible subscribers are eligible for three months of Audible Premium Plus for $0.99 per month and a bonus one-time $20 Audible credit. Premium Plus is Audible's best plan and three months would normally cost you about $44.95. You also get a free audiobook of your choice each month that you get to keep indefinitely.
Audible is a subscription service that gives you access to hundreds of thousands of the best audiobooks without ever having to purchase them. Premium Plus is Audible's highest tier plan and it gives you access to a whopping 500,000 audiobooks. These include all-time classics like Frank Herbert's Dune, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire), The Witcher, The Sandman Series, and The Lord of the Rings.
The Least Expensive RTX 4070 laptop
Walmart is offering a Lenovo LOQ RTX 4070 gaming laptop for only $879.99. Yes you read that right. The LOQ is Lenovo's lineup of budget-oriented gaming laptops. This system features a 15" 1080p display, a low-voltage AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS CPU, GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. The RTX 4070 GPU is a fully powered (115W TGP) model, not a throttled one like on some other budget laptops. Despite its low cost, this laptop will perform almost as well as the best RTX 4070 gaming laptops. You should be able to play any game comfortably on the 1080p display.
One of the Few 17" Gaming Laptop Deals on Cyber Monday
Here's another excellent gaming laptop deal from Walmart. The Asus ROG Strix G17 gaming laptop, which is equipped with a 17" FHD display, AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX CPU, RTX 4070 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD, is down to $1199 shipped. That's an excellent price for an RTX 4070 equipped gaming laptop, even better for a laptop with a larger 17" display. Like the Lenovo above, the G17 is equipped with a 115W TGP RTX 4070 GPU that should be able to handle any game comfortably on the 1080p display. It's paired with a powerful, high-end Ryzen 9 CPU that effectively turns it into a mobile desktop replacement for all your workstation tasks.
The Biggest, Sharpest Gaming Monitor
Amazon is offering the massive 57" Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 Dual 4K UHD gaming monitor for $1482.99. This is one of the first 57" Dual 4K UHD monitors on the market, boasting an eye-watering 7680x2160 resolution, or the equivalent of two 4K UHD monitors stacked next to each other. Despite the display being so large, you're treated to a pixel density of 140ppi. To put that into perspective, it's as sharp as a 32" 4K monitor and the size is equivalent to two of these monitors placed next to each other.
These JLabs JBuds Lux are an incredible value. First of all, they feature both wireless connectivity and noise cancellation for under $30. Better yet, unlike virtually all other headphones at this price point, they're actually very good! SoundGuys recently reviewed the JLabs JBuds Lux and gave it an absolutely glowing review, mentioning that they were one of the best headphones under $100. SoundGuys considered them an extremely good value at their retail price of $79. Imagine their opinion at the current $29 price point.
20% off the best entry-level espresso machine
Amazon has dropped the price of the super popular and well-reviewed Breville Bambino Plus Espresso Machine to $399.95 after a 20% discount. This machine is rarely discounted, even on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. You can read the reviews online, but the Bambino Plus is well-regarded, even among the coffee snobs, as an incredible bang for your buck at retail price, especially if you like pouring yourself lattes or other milk-based coffee drinks. To get something appreciably better, you'll have to pay north of $1,000.
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.
Microsoft has announced the games coming to Xbox Game Pass in December 2024, headlined by Indiana Jones and the Great Circle but also including the likes of Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the highly anticipated release from Wolfenstein developer MachineGames and is Indy's first proper foray into the video game space. Players are tasked with uncovering one of history's greatest mysteries in the first person single player adventure, and arrives as a day one title on December 9.
"Generations of gamers both new and old should care [about this game]," IGN said in our preview. "Because as good as the studio’s recent Wolfenstein reboots were, The Great Circle might be even better."
Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled is something quite different as a colorful kart racer akin to Mario Kart. "Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled’s difficulty, memorable track design, and addictive power-slide mechanic make it a kart racer worth playing but it's not without its frustrations," IGN said in our 8/10 review.
Also on the racing front, EA Sports WRC is available December 5 and brings its rally championship action to Game Pass subscribers. It didn't review as well as previous entries, however. "EA Sports WRC feels like a great racing game trying to fight its way out of an unfinished one," we said in our 6/10 review.
Overthrown arrives the same day. "Lift and throw anything as you build and manage your kingdom in this chaotic city builder for one to six players," the synopsis reads. "Harness the power of your soul-stealing crown to defend your citizens from bandits and mutants, farm the land, and gather resources."
Aptly arrived in the midst of winter, Wildfrost is a tactical roguelike deckbuilder set in the town of Snowdell. The sun has frozen over and its survivors stand as the last bastion against an eternal winter.
Flipping the traditional hero saves the day narrative on its head is the next entry, the side scrolling action game Carrion. "Carrion nails the power fantasy of being a horror movie monster, but makes exploration a chore that pads the adventure," IGN said in our 7/10 review.
Finally, wrapping up the month is Road 96, the wild and wacky procedurally generated game about taking a road trip. "Road 96 is a fascinating and frequently tense adventure that manages to keep its story on track despite the odd bump in the road," IGN said in our 8/10 review.
Those not subscribed to Ultimate can look forward to some new titles too, as Xbox Game Pass Standard is getting the likes of Forza Motorsport and Humanity while Xbox Game Pass core is getting DayZ and Goat Simulator.
Amazon has once again dropped the price of the 10th gen Apple iPad back down to $249.99. This deal was available during Black Friday, but Amazon had raised it to $279 on Cyber Monday. This is the best price we've seen for the current gen iPad 10th gen ever since it was launched back in 2022. On a related note, you can also get a 4-pack of Apple AirTags for $72.99 right now, which is a pretty good deal, too.
Apple iPad 10.9" 10th Gen for $249.99
For most people, the iPad (not the Air, Mini, or Pro) is the best model to get because it offers nearly all the benefits of the iOS operating system and snappy performance at an affordable price. This model has significant improvements over its predecessor. For starters, it boasts a larger 10.9" screen without adding to the overall dimensions thanks to a slimmer bezel. It also has a faster A14 Bionic chip, which is a 20% increase in CPU performance and a 10% increase in GPU performance over the A13. It's now compatible with the Magic Folio keyboard so you can convert it into a mini laptop for better workflow (making it one of the best iPads for students). Other practical upgrades include the transition to a universal USB Type-C port, a better camera, and an updated Wi-Fi 6 protocol.
The model on sale right now is equipped with 64GB of internal storage and Wi-Fi (not LTE) connectivity. All color options (Silver, Blue, Pink, and Yellow) are discounted and ship out in November. Choosing a model with more storage or cellular connectivity will cost you a lot more. Value-wise, keep it simple and go with the base model.
Looking for more iPad resources?
If you're not sure which iPad is best for you, we have an iPad guide which details which iPad is ideal for which use case. If you intend want to get an iPad for schoolwork, we have an iPad guide for students as well. If you're looking for options outside of iOS, check out the best Android tablets of 2024.
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.
Microsoft has revealed the games leaving Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass in December 2024, with titles such as Rise of the Tomb Raider and The Quarry both leaving.
Those looking to continue playing the departing games, with the exception of Forza Horizon 4, can buy them outright for 20% off their full price until their delisting date in the next two weeks.
All Games Leaving Xbox Game Pass in December 2024
Amnesia: The Bunker
Forager
Forza Horizon 4
The Quarry
Tin Hearts
Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan
Rise of the Tomb Raider
All Games Leaving PC Game Pass in December 2024
Amnesia: The Bunker
Forager
Forza Horizon 4
Tin Hearts
Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Forza Horizon 4 is perhaps the most beloved game leaving the service and digital stores, as it earned a 9/10 in IGN's review. Developer Playground Games revealed its delisting comes as a result of "licensing and agreements with our partners."
Rise of the Tomb Raider, meanwhile, is the middle chapter in the modern Tomb Raider series. Rise of the Tomb Raider takes its predecessor's winning formula and improves on it in every way," IGN said in another 9/10 review.
Correction: A previous version of this post incorrectly asserted that 13 games were leaving Game Pass, and that Rise of the Tomb Raider was the final chapter of the modern series.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
IGN can exclusively debut eight minutes from The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, New Line Cinema’s upcoming anime feature film directed by Kenji Kamiyama (the Blade Runner: Black Lotus and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex TV series). The footage – first screened at New York Comic Con 2024 – can be viewed via the player above or the embed below.
The film’s voice cast is led by Brian Cox (Succession) as Helm Hammerhand, the mighty King of Rohan. These ominous scenes establish a pervasive sense of dread and superstition. The following official synopsis sheds light on when exactly the film takes place in the official movie timeline and what’s at stake for the kingdom of Rohan:
“Set 183 years before the events chronicled in the original trilogy of films, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim tells the fate of the House of Helm Hammerhand, the legendary King of Rohan. A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg—a mighty fortress that will later come to be known as Helm’s Deep. Finding herself in an increasingly desperate situation, Héra, the daughter of Helm, must summon the will to lead the resistance against a deadly enemy intent on their total destruction.”
Gaia Wise (A Walk in the Woods) voices Héra, while Luke Pasqualino (Snowpiercer) voices Wulf. Miranda Otto – reprising her role as Éowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan, from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy – serves as the film’s narrator
The stellar voice ensemble also includes Lorraine Ashbourne (Bridgerton), Yazdan Qafouri (I Came By), Benjamin Wainwright (World on Fire), Laurence Ubong Williams (Gateway), Shaun Dooley (The Witcher), Michael Wildman (Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw), Jude Akuwudike (Beasts of No Nation), Bilal Hasna (Sparks) and Janine Duvitski (Benidorm).
Behind the scenes, Oscar winner Philippa Boyens – part of the screenwriting team behind the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies – produces The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim with Jason DeMarco and Joseph Chou. Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Sam Register, Carolyn Blackwood, and Toby Emmerich serve as executive producers.
Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews and Phoebe Gittins & Arty Papageorgiou penned the screenplay, from a story by Addiss & Matthews and Boyens, based on characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien. Other returning creative collaborators from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy include Alan Lee, Richard Taylor, and Tolkien illustrator John Howe.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is a Warner Bros. Animation / Sola Entertainment production. Warner Bros. Pictures will release the film in cinemas nationwide on December 13, 2024, and internationally beginning December 11, 2024. Tickets are now on sale.
Editor's note: This article originally referred to the footage as the opening scenes of the film in error.
Critical Role, the company behind a Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game series of the same name starring voice actors such as Matthew Mercer, Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, and more, is in "active pursuit" of creating a video game.
Critical Role CEO and main cast member Travis Willingham told Rolling Stone that an announcement could be imminent, though didn't clarify if it will be an adaptation of one of its series akin to the animated show on Prime Video or something completely fresh.
"I would say it’s an active pursuit on our end," Willingham said. "The last few years we have been having necessary conversations to figure out how to do that smartly. It's an entire enterprise that’s separate from what we do on Beacon, Twitch, or YouTube; it’s separate from the animated series and it comes with its [own] understanding that has to be undertaken.
"Those are all things that we’ve been actively pursuing. But the concise way of saying it is that we are starting to come to the end of a long road that we’ve been undertaking for the last couple of years.
"Hopefully we’ll have something really exciting to share, maybe around the end of the year, maybe at the beginning of 2025, just in time for our 10-year anniversary. But it’s something we’ve definitely had our minds on.
"Those collaborations we’ve had with various partners have been little toe dips in the pool just to see how it feels. You know, there’s a lot of upheaval in the interactive space right now. And we’ve seen studios sort of bear and weather those strains. It’s trying to become smarter about it and find out how we might fit into that larger ecosystem."
Critical Role began in March 2015 as a video series through Geek & Sundry, though went independent in 2019. The show follows the adventures of the cast's own D&D game, and while they're now in the third full campaign, countless spin-offs and specials have been released over the years.
This has included expansions into other games, with Critical Role even developing its own tabletop RPG called Daggerheart, and the aforementioned animated show with Prime Video.
Image Credit: Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
“First-person shooter” is a broad term. It can mean everything from a monster-filled horror game like F.E.A.R., to a sci-fi adventure like Metroid Prime, to a demon-eviscerating romp like Doom. Even narrowing it down to a label like “military FPS” still puts the linear campaign of Call of Duty, the enormous PvP clashes of Battlefield, and the white knuckle extractions of Escape from Tarkov under a single umbrella. Delta Force, the latest entry in a now 26-year-old shooter series, is probably best defined as a bit of each of those last three – with a dedicated large-scale PvP mode, a separate extraction shooter mode, and an (as yet unreleased) campaign, it sits somewhat awkwardly at the center of a that Venn diagram. It is still too early to render a final verdict, but my initial hours playing ahead of launch have already left me intrigued enough that I’m looking forward to my next deployment on the live servers later this week.
Because this release is technically the start of an indefinite “open beta” (which, for a free-to-play game, really just means it’s out), only two of the three main modes are currently available, with the campaign planned as paid DLC somewhere down the line. Of the two that are here now, the Warfare mode is Delta Force’s answer to the big team combat of Battlefield. 64 players duke it out for supremacy across one of a handful of massive, sprawling arenas. The matches I played in the early review period were focused on the Attack and Defend option within Warfare, though King of the Hill and some other time-based modes are apparently going to be available at launch.
Attack and Defend puts one team on offense, tasked with capturing some strategic points before running out of a finite number of respawns, while the other team defends those areas with limitless lives. If the offense succeeds, they refill their respawns and the cycle begins anew on another part of the map until all of the field is seized or the defense stops them in their tracks. It’s a good setup; initially, the offense has the advantage thanks to favorable terrain and an abundance of vehicles, but things even out as the match progresses and the defense retreats toward their home base. This means each side typically gets to spend some time as both the figurative hammer and the nail.
The battles certainly do feel big, which is a good thing. Fast respawns mean both teams are dense with soldiers. Once the bullets and rockets start flying, the chaos and confusion on the battlefield is exciting. It’s particularly fun when you get behind the controls of a vehicle and start running roughshod over the other team. A tank fully loaded with gunners can dominate, but don’t sleep on the impact of a simple machine gun turret on the top of an armored car.
Abilities are helpful in battle, but won't outright win a skirmish.
Thankfully, the times I’ve found myself on the wrong end of that tank barrel I haven’t been totally helpless thanks to the varied operatives you can choose from mid-match. These named characters act as a sort of hybrid between a simple loadout choice and a bespoke hero, which fits the jack-of-all-trades theme persistent throughout Delta Force. If you are being overrun by vehicles, it might be a good idea to spawn with a rocket launcher, or if the fight is taking place in open spaces, it could be time to bust out the trusty sniper rifle. Each character has unique abilities that are helpful in battle too, like Luna’s Detection Arrows that can periodically be fired to reveal enemies, but none are so powerful as to outright win a skirmish, let alone a whole match, for you.
I just wish the actual action felt better. Bullet arc and trajectory factor heavily into shooting, so leading your targets is essential for firing accurately at a distance. That, combined with a fast time-to-kill, makes for gunplay more in the spirit of a military sim like Arma. That’s all well and good on its own, but feels deeply at odds with the aggressive pace of play that the objective-based Attack and Defend mode drives. Slow bullets at the mercy of gravity that kill you instantly feel a little too airsoft-like for an intense battle over a key chokepoint.
Get in, get loot, get out
On the other side of things, the Operations mode follows the familiar extraction shooter framework; you and up to two friends can form a three-person squad to enter an area, shoot, loot, and scoot. Whatever you bring back to your base between rounds you can either sell, store, or use in the next attempt, and whatever is on you if you die or don’t escape in time is lost for good. It’s a tried-and-true formula that Delta Force follows to the letter, but the high quality of its execution makes up for that unoriginality. q
Each level is an open sandbox that is dense with potential objectives. Maps easily highlight points of interest for things like bounty targets, safes to plunder, and intel to decode. That might seem like a small detail to praise, but in a genre dominated by games like Escape from Tarkov that are designed to be intentionally opaque, making important information accessible is a nice differentiator. I like being able to just drop a waypoint and know what I’m in for when I get there without having to memorize the maps.
So far I’m a fan of the enemy variety in the Operations mode.
Once you pick your destination, you’ll need to shoot your way through squads of AI soldiers, and occasionally human-controlled enemies. You never know who’s around, or in what numbers, so every enemy encounter starts with some fast risk assessment: do you take the shot and risk letting everyone know where you are, or do you sneak by for the stealthy approach, leaving a potential threat on the field? Making quick decisions with limited information does a good job of keeping the action strategic and interesting. That’s particularly true if you see other people, as they are certainly more dangerous than the bots, but could be loot-rich targets worth taking on.
So far I’m a fan of the enemy variety. My squad has taken down roving bands of riflemen, ducked into buildings to avoid sniper fire, and executed on-the-fly flanking maneuvers to get around riot shields. One memorable moment saw my team pinned down by a massive armored baddie blasting at us with a minigun as we lobbed grenades from behind cover. Another time, a member of our trio was cracking a safe while the other squadmate and I provided cover, and I almost jumped out of my chair when a giant alligator came around the corner and tried to put a stop to our fun.
My primary worry about Operations at this point is the loop loot. There are all sorts of containers everywhere, like file cabinets, coat pockets, fallen enemies, etc. – but after just a few hours with the mode, I rarely bother to check them anymore now that I have a good idea of where to go for the actual high-ticket items. I’m hopeful there won’t be a point where the maps feel “solved” anytime soon, but they are already feeling less dynamic with each run.
The time between them is spent at the Black Site, which functions as your home base. This is where you buy, sell, and make upgrades, particularly to the amount of storage space in your stash. It’s also where you manage the well-built loadouts option. This lets you save a few different kits you can take into battle and rebuild them with just a few clicks. Pieces will be pulled from your inventory first, and then automatically purchased from the store as needed. It’s a fast and slick way to get back in the action, which helps take the sting out of a failed extraction.
Of course, these are all still just my initial impressions - it takes time to get a comprehensive feel for how well a PvP mode like Warfare is working, and there are still a few Operations I haven’t explored, so I’m not quite ready to give a final verdict until I’ve played on the live servers. However, I can say that the extraction mode is a lot of fun in the early going, and I enjoy the scale of Delta Force’s PvP encounters even if I’m not yet sold that this style of gunplay is the right match for that action. It’s at least clear this is a competent free-to-play shooter that can cater to a few different FPS tastes, but it remains to be seen if it has the staying power to keep my interest once the initial novelty wears off.
Intel has finally announced the Intel Arc B580 and B570 next-generation graphics cards. Built on its 'Battlemage' architecture, they are both budget-friendly GPUs aimed at making PC gaming just a bit more accessible.
The Intel Arc B580 and B570 follow in the footsteps of the A770 and A750, which were both aimed at 1080p gaming, with some light ray tracing thrown in for good measure. With these next-generation cards, Intel has introduced a new architecture, along with new XMX AI cores that should make the next iteration of XeSS (Xe Super Sampling) much more competitive with Nvidia's DLSS and Sony's PSSR.
The Intel Arc B580 features 20 Xe-Cores across 5 compute units, or as Intel calls them 'Render Slices'. Each Xe-Core features 8 Vector Engines, Intel's shader core, and 8 XMX AI cores. That means the Arc B580 has both 160 shader cores, and 160 AI accelerators. This is coupled with 12GB of GDDR6 memory, which is high for a $249 GPU.
As for the Arc B570, it has 18 Xe-Cores, for a total of 144 Vector Engines and AI accelerators. That's paired with 10GB of VRAM, which is still more than the 8GB offered by the $299 Nvidia RTX 4060.
Intel is claiming these new graphics cards are significantly more powerful than their last-generation counterparts, with the B870 being up to 80% faster than the A750 in some games. With that greater performance, Intel is also targeting 1440p gamers, which demands a more powerful graphics card than a 1080p gaming monitor would. However, we won't know how these new graphics cards actually perform until I get them in the lab for in-depth testing, so stay tuned on that front.
Both of these Battlemage graphics cards will be out soon, with the B580 launching on December 13 for $249, and the Arc B570 launching on January 16th, starting at $219.
Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is estimated to have generated more than $200 million in revenue in its first month, already overtaking Pokémon Sleep and Pokémon Unite.
PocketGamer.biz cited figures from AppMagic that estimated the digital card game hit $208 million November 29th, just a month after it launched on October 30. Pokémon TCG Pocket is free to play but allows players to buy extra booster packs, cosmetics, and a monthly pass that awards one extra pack a day.
Pokémon TCG Pocket follows the standard mobile and free to play game model, flooding players with rewards in the opening few days before soon drying up, with spending real world money the only real way to re-experience that early thrill.
It tasks players with opening booster packs to complete a collection of cards and build decks to battle, though the latter of these is fairly barebones at the moment with only the collecting aspect fully realised. Pokémon TCG Pocket offers players just two packs a day without spending money, however.
Getting every card in the game is already impossible without spending money, however, as an additional set of promo cards is also available and so far includes two which can only be obtained through the $9.99 a month Premium Pass.
It's time to upgrade your gaming TV, yes you. TCL has just kicked off a limited-time sale on their gaming ready TVs in the UK and there's something for everyone. Need a budget upgrade from that old 1080i TV you've been rocking for years? We've got you covered. Finally really to be 4K 120Hz ready? You know we've got a solid deal for you too. Let's get into it.
Featured in this article
TCL TVs are a budget brand with big specs. It's actually insane to look at some of their regular prices and wonder how they've crammed this much tech into something thinner than a gaming artwork coffee table book. Here's the best deals from this limited time offer, so dodge the brand tax and lets break this down.
TCL 65C745K 65-inch QLED Television 144Hz Full Array Local Dimming 4K UHD Smart TV
When only the best will do, the TCL 75C805K delivers. Its 75-inch screen uses Mini LED technology for incredible brightness and contrast, turning games like Cyberpunk 2077 into an eye-popping masterpiece. Add Dolby Vision IQ, which adjusts brightness to match your room’s lighting, and Dolby Atmos audio for theater-quality sound, and you’ve got an all-in-one entertainment powerhouse.
The real MVP here? A native 144Hz refresh rate paired with FreeSync Premium Pro ensures ultra-smooth gameplay with no lag or tearing. At this price, it’s a serious contender for gamers chasing top-tier performance.
TCL 65C645K 65" QLED 4K Ultra HD HDR Android Smart TV
Still, trying to decide whether to go premium? The TCL 65C745K is the perfect middle ground. Its QLED display and Full Array Local Dimming offer sharp contrasts and vibrant colors that bring titles like Horizon Forbidden West to life.
Gamers will love the 144Hz refresh rate for silky-smooth action and Game Master Pro for optimized gaming settings without the hassle. This TV proves you don’t need to splurge for high-end performance.
TCL 55V6BK 55-inch 4K Ultra HD, HDR TV
Who says budget TVs can’t be gaming-ready? The TCL 65C645K features a QLED panel and HDR support for rich colors and immersive visuals. Its 120Hz Game Accelerator keeps motion smooth enough for casual gamers to enjoy titles like Elden Ring without sacrificing performance.
It’s not the brightest display, but for the price, it’s a great pick for anyone seeking value.
TCL 40S5400AK 40-inch Television
Need more space? The TCL 55V6BK offers 4K HDR visuals in a compact form. While its 60Hz refresh rate won’t wow competitive players, it’s perfect for enjoying story-driven games like The Witcher 3.
Dolby Audio adds a little extra to your experience, making it a solid choice for smaller setups.
TCL 75C805K 75-inch QLED Mini LED
If you need a secondary TV or something for a compact space, the TCL 40S5400AK fits the bill. It’s not 4K, but the Full HD resolution and HDR support still deliver solid visuals for relaxing games like Minecraft or Animal Crossing.
As a smart TV, it’s ready for streaming when you’re not gaming.
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of "Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior". Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
Elden Ring director and FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki has said the developer is not currently considering making Elden Ring 2 but won't shut down the possibility in the future.
Miyazaki said at the PlayStation Partner Awards 2024 Japan Asia, attended by IGN Japan and translated by Automaton, that FromSoftware has several projects in the works but none are continuations of Elden Ring, its most successful game to date.
"We’re not really considering developments such as an Elden Ring 2," Miyazaki said, though made clear FromSoftware is open to returning to the Elden Ring franchise "in some form in the future." The projects in development are works in progress at the moment but diverse in genre, with some directed by Miyazaki himself, he said.
FromSoftware has a varied history in game development but has become known for defining the Souls genre over the last 15 years. These games have varied in theme somewhat though are all role-playing games with a similar format of, at their most simple, progressing through an area before taking on a challenging boss.
None of the incoming projects have been revealed by FromSoftware as of yet, though one of them is almost certainly the next signature Souls game akin to Elden Ring. Many fans are hoping for a return to the Dark Souls franchise, which has been dormant for close to a decade, while others are desperate for a Bloodborne sequel (and think an announcement is imminent).
Elden Ring would have been the most obvious choice for a continuation, not just because its FromSoftware's best received game so far but, perhaps more significantly, it sold a staggering 25 million units.
In our 10/10 review, IGN said: "Elden Ring is a massive iteration on what FromSoftware began with the Souls series, bringing its relentlessly challenging combat to an incredible open world that gives us the freedom to choose our own path."
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
<h3>5. Elden Ring</h3>
In just the few short months since its release, Elden Ring’s reputation has only grown, which is insane to even think about considering that its reputation right when it came out was one of the highest reviewed games of all time. It’s all deserved praise, because Elden Ring truly is a monumental achievement in the open world genre.
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Its world is a wonder to explore, with memorable experiences, valuable rewards, and imposing boss fights covering nearly every square inch of its absolutely enormous map. The only thing that holds it back on this list is the fact that it still struggles a bit performance-wise on the PC. But that doesn’t stop it from being an easy pick for our top five best PC games of all time.
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<i><a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/elden-ring-review">Read IGN's full Elden Ring review here.</a></i>
Developer Infold Games has revealed the preload and global release times for Infinity Nikki, the open-world dress up role-playing game from former The Legend of Zelda director Kentaro Tominaga coming to PlayStation 5, PC via the Epic Games Store, iOS, and Android.
The highly anticipated sequel, which logged more than 35 million pre-registrations in its lead up to launch, is now available to preload, meaning players can download it ahead of time to begin playing the moment becomes available on December 5, or even December 4 in some locations.
Infold Games released a story trailer to celebrate this preload availability, which can be watched below, and also announced some bonuses players who pick up Infinity Nikki at launch can enjoy in the game.
Infinity Nikki: Official Release Trailer - About Wishes💫
This journey, designated "INFINITY", marks both a new beginning and a long-awaited reunion. We look forward to seeing all of you stylists in Miraland!… pic.twitter.com/Y2imNAm4oQ
"With over 35 million pre-registrations, and even more players signing up today, Infinity Nikki and the development team are incredibly excited to welcome players with open arms to the breathtaking world of Miraland," Infold Games said of the imminent release.
Bonus items include a special stylist background, a camera pose, two 4-star outfits, and enough crystals to fuel up to 126 total pulls across the limited and permanent banners. These come alongside a handful of rewards made available for hitting so many pre-registrations, including 50,000 Blings, 300 Threads of Purity, 20 Resonite Crystals, and a 4-star outfit.
GSC Game World creative director Maria Grygorovych shows me a message on her phone. It’s proof, she says, that she’s telling me the truth about Stalker 2’s A-Life 2.0 system. The message is about why mention of A-Life 2.0 was pulled from Stalker 2’s Steam page and replaced with a generic description about the way AI works in the game. It turns out that Maria found out the description had changed when she saw players complaining about it on Reddit.
Stalker 2 launched late last month to a positive reception on Steam and one million sales. It’s a success for the Ukrainian studio, a miracle, really, considering the harrowing circumstances that followed Russian’s full-scale invasion of the country in 2022. Stalker 2 suffers from well-documented bugs; GSC knows this and is working as hard as it can to fix them. But it’s A-Life 2.0 — or its apparent absence — that has gained the most attention from fans.
A-Life was a key feature of the first Stalker game that governed AI behavior across the game world. At a high level, it is a system for simulating life in the Zone that works its magic seemingly independently of the player’s actions or whereabouts. It helps to create convincing AI and the emergent gameplay Stalker is famous for.
GSC had said A-Life 2.0 would make the Zone feel alive as never before, that it would fuel emergent gameplay on a scale previously thought impossible. Indeed for some fans, A-Life 2.0 was Stalker 2’s biggest selling point. Unfortunately, now Stalker 2 is out in the wild, A-Life 2.0 hasn’t quite lived up to that billing.
In fact, it feels as if A-Life 2.0 isn’t even in the game. Players have found little evidence to suggest anything approaching a life simulation is in operation at any scale, with NPCs and enemies spawning around the player and sometimes in obvious ways. This, players have said, lends Stalker 2 a more scripted feel than its predecessor, with emergent gameplay sorely lacking.
So, what happened? GSC CEO Ievgen Grygorovych and creative director Maria Grygorovych offer an explanation during our interview, which takes place at BAFTA in Piccadilly, London following a screening of War Game: The Making of Stalker 2. The 90-minute documentary, which includes interviews with GSC’s Ukrainian staff as they contend with the invasion, reveals the remarkable circumstances surrounding the extremely difficult development of Stalker 2.
It’s with this in mind that Ievgen and Maria explain what went wrong with A-Life 2.0, revealing for the first time how the studio's battle to optimize the performance of Stalker 2 in the months before release caused the feature to break down. A-Life 2.0 is in Stalker 2, the pair insist, it’s just bugged. Massively bugged.
Ievgen offers a technical explanation of what happened. In short, optimization issues ahead of launch forced GSC to shrink the area around the player in which A-Life 2.0 works. It is supposed to extend much farther in virtual distance terms than it currently does, but to get Stalker 2 into a decent place performance wise across PC and Xbox Series X and S, the developers had to reduce this distance. Then came the bugs on top.
“This system to work properly requires a much larger area for spawn NPCs, and it requires much more memory resources," Ievgen says in English, which isn't his first language. "We were fighting with optimization. To optimize, you have a lot of things that need your resources, and you try to cut things from different directions to properly optimize the game well.
“But to make it work we had to optimize some things, and they make A-Life work in many situations not as it should. Also, we created some bugs not long ago before release with NPCs spawning in the air and dropping back to the bottom. They should actually spawn in the terrain. Why it happened, I don’t know! And also we had some bugs with AI behavior.
“So, all these things connected make it look like it's very broken and not working. But we are now continuing working on the optimization part to bring more resources for the A-Life system, to increase the range where A-Life is actually visualized.
“There are NPCs outside of the range of the player and they are in offline mode. And when the player reaches some distance, they are going to online mode and they pop back up. The distance is dictated by our optimization range, where we stream the real world and not real world with all the collisions. It was tough work, and because of these optimization problems and bugs, it's become broken.”
OK, so now we know what went wrong with A-Life 2.0. The question is, can GSC fix it? Or, can it get A-Life 2.0 into a place where it realizes the developer’s ambition and makes good on that initial promise? Absolutely, Ievgen and Maria insist. In fact that’s exactly what the developer is working on now.
“For now we committed to players to make it work and it can be done from directions both optimizing, giving more resources to A-Life, fixing bugs, making it work properly, and then putting more efforts to make it more advanced,” Ievgen says.
All this brings us nicely back to A-Life 2.0’s mysterious disappearance from Stalker 2’s Steam page upon the game’s release. Its original description, which mentioned A-Life 2.0 by name alongside promises about how game-changing it would be, was removed and replaced by another description that fails to mention A-Life 2.0 at all. "Advanced artificial intelligence systems that will keep engaged even the most hard-boiled players,” it now reads. That’s not particularly exciting to fans, who are at best worried about the future of A-Life 2.0, at worst accusing GSC of misleading them.
He did that without any discussion or permission. He didn’t ask, ‘Do we have some bugs with A-Life or something?’ Because we had.
Maria tells me someone on GSC’s marketing team took it upon themselves to change the A-Life 2.0 description to make it easier to understand. The thinking, apparently, was that Stalker newcomers wouldn't have a clue what A-Life meant and might dismiss it. But this marketing person didn’t run the change by Maria first before pushing it live.
“He told me there will be a lot of new players who don’t know what A-Life is,” Maria says. “They need to understand what we’re talking about in this description. So I will try to change it to a more understandable form. He did that without any discussion or permission. He didn’t ask, ‘Do we have some bugs with A-Life or something?’ Because we had. We knew that. It’s a really huge and difficult system. But, when he did that before release, it was a surprise for me, because I noticed it because of Reddit. We did the Steam page in 2021. So for me, I was shocked, honestly.”
Maria admits her explanation of events might sound unconvincing or suspicious, and suggests I probably don’t believe a word she’s saying. “People think it looks like it’s connected to us releasing the game with broken A-Life,” she says. “But it’s not. Even now, I’m talking about it to you, and you’re thinking, 'Hmm, yeah, yeah, it was some guy in the marketing team.' I understand it sounds suspicious!”
So she pulls out her phone and scrolls for a bit before showing me a screenshot of the inter-company message proving she was telling the truth about this marketing person changing the Steam page without her knowledge. I tell her I believed her anyway, but she insists on showing me her phone screen and yep, it’s there, in black and white.
So, will GSC put that A-Life 2.0 description back on Stalker 2’s Steam page? Not until the feature itself is fixed, Maria insists. But there’s no timeframe for that, and it’s hard to push for one given half the development team is still working in Ukraine and faces week-long power cuts that blanket the country in darkness and cut off internet access.
"We have a relationship with our players and players wanted to see something," Maria says. "We have to do it for them."
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.
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