The Ray-Ban Display features a heads-up-display embedded within the right-hand lens. The company teased them at the start of the presentation, seemingly livestreaming a video from Zuckerberg’s point of view as he walked to the event stage, with overlays showing things like his currently playing music and people sending text messages and images to him. Describing them later, he said they're the first smartglasses with a high-resolution display – they show images at 42 pixels per degree, a measure of pixel density in VR headsets – and that it's large enough to watch a video or read messages. Things like text messages will appear for a few seconds before disappearing, and you can look at pictures you've just taken with them. Naturally, they're AI-powered, so you can chat with Meta AI through them. They’re not full-on AR, so you won’t see the words on street signs morph or peoples’ names appear above their heads, Cyberpunk 2077-style, but they’re a step in that direction.
The Ray-Ban Display can be controlled with a new wristband device, called the Neural Band, that can interpret subtle movements from your hand. As part of that, Zuckerberg used his hand to mimic writing words out on a hard surface, generating text messages during a live demo. The company has been working on surface electromyography (sEMG) tech to pull off such a trick. The band's capability is similar to Apple Watch gestures like tapping your thumb and forefinger together to do basic things like answer calls. Time will tell how accurate it actually is in practice, but it looked impressive in an otherwise somewhat fraught demo that included Zuckerberg failing to answer a phone call.
Featuring that display is not without compromises. As seen in Meta’s demo of its Orion glasses last year, these new Ray-Bans need a lot more hardware to make a display work, and all that electronic junk has to go somewhere. That means very chunky frames that are 20 grams heavier than their screen-less predecessor, although Meta clearly did its best to move as much as it could to the temples. It’ll be key for the company to have balanced this right, as those sensitive to weight might not be able to stand them. They may not look out of place on your standard Jeff Goldblum head, but for the average person who isn’t used to calling that much attention to their face or bearing that much weight on their nose and ears, they’ll test just how adeptly life, uh, finds a way. The Ray-Ban Display will come in two colors – black and tan – and will be available September 30th for $799.
Then there are the Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses. They look more utilitarian than the existing Oakley Meta HSTN, departing from the Ray-Ban-like frames and taking on a sportier, wraparound design with bright, reflective tint and a big camera embedded in the center. The idea here is that these would be better for folks like cyclists, who might want a centered camera for taking video of their workouts, and value blocking sunlight in their peripheral vision too. The Oakleys are up for preorder now and will be available starting October 21st, for $499.
Zuckerberg also showed off new 2nd generation Ray-Ban Meta, which record video at 3K resolution using a 12MP ultrawide camera. They've got twice the battery life of the first-gen versions – the company says up to 8 hours on a charge, with a charging case that extends that by 48 hours. He also showcased new features such as Conversation Focus, which he said can amplify the voice of someone you’re talking with – in a busy restaurant, for example. The feature doesn’t work automatically; you have to pause your conversation and ask Meta AI to activate Conversation Focus. (Nothing awkward about that!)
He also talked about Live AI, which he said wearers can use for about an hour as its own conversation partner. In a demonstration, someone asked Meta AI to help him make a “Korean-inspired steak sauce,” then as it started telling him what to do, he interrupted it to ask what he should do first. The demo fell apart here, with Meta AI telling him he’d already combined some ingredients, and what to do next. (Zuckerberg and the demonstrator blamed the issue on bad Wi-Fi.) The 2nd-generation Ray-Ban Meta glasses start at $379 and are available now.
Developing...
Wes is a freelance writer (Freelance Wes, they call him) who has covered technology, gaming, and entertainment steadily since 2020 at Gizmodo, Tom's Hardware, Hardcore Gamer, and most recently, The Verge. Inside of him there are two wolves: one that thinks it wouldn't be so bad to start collecting game consoles again, and the other who also thinks this, but more strongly.
Fair warning: There is something deeply dangerous about opening up my deal pages with a full wallet and an empty weekend. Every time I tell myself I am just browsing, my cart ends up looking like a collector's backlog starter pack. Today's list is especially spicy, stacked with cult classics, fresh hits and a few games that gave me late night obsessions I still regret nothing about. End warning.
In retro news, I'm using a rolling Katamari that accidentally scooped up a campfire to light 16 candles on a cake for Katamari Forever, the PS3's wonderfully weird puzzler. At the time it felt like proof that video games didn't always need grit and guns to hook you in. Sometimes all you need is a booger sticky sphere and a bloody awesome soundtrack.
I remember firing this up and thinking it was basically a "best of" mixtape for the series, with old levels remixed, new cel-shaded flair, and the King of All Cosmos still being his gloriously unhinged self. The joy was still in the nonsense. One minute you're hoovering up erasers and pigeons, the next you're big enough to snatch skyscrapers. Timelessly entertaining stuff.
On Switch, the Ori games are the obvious standouts. Ori and the Blind Forest was created by a distributed dev team working remotely across the globe long before that became the norm, and the result is one of the most heartfelt metroidvanias ever made. Meanwhile, Persona 5 Tactica adds a cheeky tactics spin to the series that still drips with Shoji Meguro's signature music.
Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 (-12%) - A$79 Two classic 3D Mario adventures bundled for Switch. Still worth it for fans of Galaxy's inventive platforming and gravity-defying levels. Nintendo magic never ages.
Hades (-75%) - A$9.30 Superb roguelike dungeon crawler with addictive combat and Greek mythology flair. A steal at this price, especially if you enjoy replayable action games with style.
Persona 5 Tactica (-71%) - A$27.80 Turn-based tactics spin-off from Atlus' beloved series. Vibrant visuals and quirky Persona flavour make this a fun detour from the usual RPG grind.
BioShock: The Col. (-61%) - A$35 Three groundbreaking narrative shooters in one package. Explore Rapture and Columbia at their atmospheric best. A great way to experience the full saga.
Ori and the Blind Forest: Def. (-75%) - A$7.40 Stunning hand-painted visuals and tight platforming. Ori’s first outing is equal parts emotional and challenging. A beautiful must-play indie.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (-75%) - A$11.20 A refined sequel that builds on its predecessor with fluid movement and deeper combat. Gorgeous and heartfelt, one of the best metroidvanias around.
Series X has a monster set, but Hogwarts Legacy Del. remains impressive. Avalanche built it with such a love for the Wizarding World that even the toilet ghosts got in. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, meanwhile, is a chaotic D&D parody where Andy Samberg and Wanda Sykes improvise their way through tabletop insanity.
Hogwarts Legacy: Del. Ed. (-80%) - A$23.90 Open-world wizarding adventure packed with spells and secrets. The deluxe extras add flair, though the main draw is exploring Hogwarts and beyond.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time (-43%) - A$57.20 A tough but rewarding platformer that respects the series' roots while innovating. Expect challenging levels and cheeky marsupial antics.
Doom Eternal (-27%) - A$39.90 Rip and tear through hordes of demons in id’s frenetic shooter. Fast-paced, heavy metal action that rewards aggression.
EA Sports FC 24 (-88%) - A$12.90 Rebranded FIFA entry with the same addictive football gameplay. Huge roster of clubs and modes, great value for soccer fans.
Xbox One
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (-53%) - A$27 Retro-inspired platformer bundle including all expansions. Polished controls and charming pixel art make this a modern classic.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 (-65%) - A$24.50 Faithful remakes of the iconic skateboarding sims. Nostalgia meets slick new visuals and gameplay refinements.
Kingdom Hearts III (-79%) - A$20.60 Disney meets Final Fantasy in this flashy RPG conclusion. Big worlds, bigger keyblades, and plenty of heart.
PS5 owners should not sleep on Dead Space, the lovingly rebuilt survival horror classic where Visceral originally hid Isaac Clarke's girlfriend's name in the first letter of every chapter. Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin may be meme-worthy thanks to its Chaos obsession, but its combat system secretly outshines most modern action RPGs.
Star Wars Outlaws (-67%) - A$36 Open-world Star Wars adventure focusing on smugglers and scoundrels. A fresh angle on the galaxy far, far away.
Borderlands 4 (-17%) - A$99 Chaotic looter shooter returns with more mayhem, bigger guns, and over-the-top humour.
Dead Space (-78%) - A$24 Remake of the survival horror classic. Chilling atmosphere, grotesque necromorphs, and tense gameplay.
Stranger of Paradise FF Origin (-70%) - A$30.30 Dark, action-focused spin on Final Fantasy lore. A divisive oddity with brutal combat and meme-worthy dialogue.
One Piece Odyssey (-72%) - A$28 JRPG based on the legendary anime. Great for One Piece fans keen to explore a fresh island story with the Straw Hats.
PS4
Persona 5 Royal (-46%) - A$54.40 Expanded edition of the stylish JRPG. School life meets dungeon crawling with unmatched flair.
Red Dead Redemption (-53%) - A$34.90 Rockstar’s Western masterpiece finally on modern consoles. Slow-paced but immersive tale of loyalty and betrayal.
Far Cry 5 (-66%) - A$34.10 Open-world shooter set in rural America. Explosive action and cult takedowns in Ubisoft’s sandbox formula.
On PC, Hades is a masterclass in replayability from Supergiant, where every failed escape attempt is canonised into story. Civilization VI is the sort of game where you swear you will play just one more turn until the sun is rising and your empire still needs you.
Ni no Kuni: WotWW (-85%) - A$11.20 Charming JRPG with Studio Ghibli visuals. Heartfelt story and whimsical adventure.
Children of Morta (-85%) - A$5.30 Family-driven roguelike about legacy and sacrifice. Gorgeous pixel art and cooperative gameplay make it special.
Adam Mathew is a passionate connoisseur, a lifelong game critic, and an Aussie deals wrangler who genuinely wants to hook you up with stuff that's worth playing (but also cheap). He plays practically everything, sometimes on YouTube.
The Tomtoc Slim is one of the best compact Nintendo Switch 2 cases you can get and it's on sale today. Amazon is offering the Tomtoc Slim in Black for just $29.59 after a 20% off instant discount. Several other colors are also on sale, including the rarely discounted dazzling color fade models like Matcha Green, Ocean Blue, Iris Purple, and Cherry Blossom. This is a much better deal than the official Nintendo Switch 2 case which currently sells for $39.99.
Tomtoc Slim Nintendo Switch 2 Carrying Case From $29.59
Tomtoc has a history of making great cases for mobile electronics, including most current gaming handhelds like the original Switch and Switch Lite, Steam Deck, and Asus ROG Ally. Its signature trademark is the raised indent patterning for each handheld's unique analog joystick and button layout. This is mostly an aesthetic touch, but it helps set Tomtoc cases apart from the boring monochrome design you'll see for nearly every other case out there including the official case.
Material-wise, the Tomtoc is a hardshell case with a felt inner lining. It has an interior flap that can fit up to 12 game cards, a buckle strap, and durable YKK zipper that's smoother and easier to use than the Genki Sleeper case. Since this is a slim case designed for as minimal of a footprint as possible, there's no room to fit a charger.
Need something bigger?
If you're looking for something roomier, Tomtoc also has a sling-style case that's specifically made for portable gaming handhelds including the Switch 2. The padded compartment is shaped like a "W" to make room for a wide range of handhelds that have dual analog joysticks. It's not specifically designed for the Switch 2, so don't expect a molded fit, but there's plenty of room here to fit extra controllers, a charger or power bank, and more.
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.
ABC has suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! following comments its titular host made during his Monday night monologue about the death of conservative activist and podcaster Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated last week in Utah during a public debate appearance.
The network has pre-empted Kimmel’s show “indefinitely” after Nexstar, which owns 28 ABC affiliate stations across the United States, “said it will pre-empt the series for the immediate future,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
THR adds that there were rumblings that other TV groups were taking issue with Kimmel’s comments and that ABC feared “an affiliate revolt.”
In his monologue during Monday's episode, Kimmel said: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
Andrew Alford, President of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, issued the following statement Wednesday to announce the company’s decision to pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel Live!:
“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located. …
Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”
Kimmel’s comments also sparked the ire of Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr, a Trump Administration appointee who suggested on a podcast that the broadcast licenses of ABC and its affiliates could potentially be revoked over the matter.
THR points out that Nexstar’s move to pre-empt Kimmel’s show “comes as the broadcast station is seeking FCC approval for its $6.2 billion mega deal to acquire TEGNA.”
Editor's note: The original version of this article mistakenly said Kimmel's comments were made on the Tuesday broadcast. They were made during Monday's episode. We regret the error.
Nintendo recently raised the price of the new Nintendo Switch 2 Pro controller from $85 to $90, but here's an opportunity to get one for less than either price. AliExpress is currently offering import model Switch 2 Pro controllers for $80.06 after you apply $20 off coupon code "AEUS20" during checkout. Your order ships free locally from the United States.
This is a brand new, genuine model, most likely from Hong Kong, China, or Japan. All Switch hardware (including the Pro 2 controller) is region unlocked, meaning you can use the controller with any US-based Nintendo Switch console without any additional steps. The only caveat is that imported peripherals don't come with a Nintendo warranty but AliExpress offers a 15-day free returns window in case you get a lemon.
Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller for $80.06
The original Switch Pro controller is, for the most part, still compatible with the new Switch 2. However, the new Pro controller brings a host of improvements to the table, including:
The only disadvantage is that the Switch 2 Pro controller is not backwards compatible with the original Switch console. However, if you prefer a gamepad-style controller over the Joy-Con for the Switch 2, then there isn't any other controller you can order that will match the Pro controller's ergonomics and functionality.
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.
As has become tradition for The Boys and its spinoff, Gen V Season 2 returns to Prime Video with a three-episode block. It’s just as well the streamer opted for that approach with Season 2. As entertaining as the series still is, there’s a certain loss of momentum early on as the new season walks back some of the consequences of the Season 1 finale and reverts to the traditional superhero college formula. Fortunately, there’s still plenty to love here regardless.
The Season 1 finale certainly teased a very different tone, ending with Marie (Jaz Sinclair), Andre (Chance Perdomo), Jordan (London Thor and Derek Luh), and Emma (Lizze Broadway) imprisoned inside a Vought facility while Sam (Asa Germann) and Cate (Maddie Phillips) emerged as the undeserving heroes of the Godolkin U. campus massacre. Season 2’s first order of business is to put the toys back in the basket, as it were. No sooner are Jordan and Emma released than they find themselves returning to God U. to rematriculate. Even Marie, whom we learned already escaped beforehand, undergoes a short detour in these episodes before also finding herself back at school.
Was this shift back to the status quo inevitable? Probably. Did it need to happen? Hard to say, but either way, there is a bit of an adjustment here. The return to the college format robs the series of its early narrative momentum, and it takes a while to rebuild in these early episodes. Season 1 promised one thing by making Marie and her friends prisoners of Vought, and Season 2 - at this stage, anyway - doesn’t seem fully intent on delivering. There are certainly worse ways to justify Marie’s return to school than a brief team-up with Erin Moriarty’s Starlight, but even so, I would have liked to see the series focus more on her fugitive phase.
There is a huge ray of light in all of this, however. Returning to God U allows the series to focus a great deal on the school’s new dean, Hamish Linklater’s Cipher. With his predecessor exposed and brutally slain in Season 1, Cipher arrives to inaugurate a new era for the school, one in which humans are treated as second-class citizens. The Boys and Gen V both have never been shy about satirizing the current political climate, but here Gen V actually seems slightly ahead of the curve. With real-world American universities currently capitulating to the Trump administration and tamping down on free speech, it’s a little eerie watching a series where a college dean puts his school on lockdown and declares #MakeAmericaSuperAgain.
Cipher himself is simply a blast to watch. As I said in my full Season 2 review, he’s easily the best villain the franchise has produced this side of Homelander. That much is readily apparent even in this early batch of episodes. Linklater brings a unique combination of charm and outright menace to the role. It’s clear from the outset that Cipher is not all right in the head (is anyone in this world?), and that becomes even more apparent in the tense, thrilling scene where he nearly liquifies Cate’s sole remaining hand. It doesn’t hurt that Cipher, true to his name, is a real enigma. We know so little about his background, powers, and true goals, leaving plenty of room for Season 2 to drop some big reveals as it moves along.
The narrative momentum may be sluggish in these early episodes, but you can’t fault the main cast. Broadway’s Emma is easily the standout here, as she brings both a vivacious charm and a sense of pathos to the screen, but most of the main crew get their chance to shine. Phillips also deserves plenty of credit as Cate. Given where the character ended Season 1, it would be easy to loathe her, but Phillips helps ensure we still sympathize with Cate and what is clearly a very delicate situation for her. If this is Cate winning, I’d hate to see what losing looks like. Only Germann’s Sam feels a bit short-changed here, as he doesn’t enjoy as much screen time as the rest of the gang.
Finally, it’s worth taking a moment to acknowledge how Season 2 handles the Chance Perdomo situation. Perdomo died in 2024 while travelling to shoot Season 2, forcing the Gen V crew to halt production and write Andre out of the series. Their solution is to reveal that Andre died heroically during an earlier escape attempt at the Vought facility. That’s about as elegant a solution as could be hoped for, given the circumstances. I’d rather see Andre respectfully written out rather than a recasting, and this at least gels with the ongoing subplot involving Andre and his father Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas) struggling with the lethal nature of their powers.
Speaking of which, Andre’s death allows Polarity to step forward and play a bigger role in Season 2. Polarity is now a grieving father who wants revenge against God U and its ruthless new dean. Thomas delivers a compelling portrait of a father mourning his son, but there’s also room for some levity as he finds himself reluctantly paired with a drugged-out Emma for a high-stakes heist mission. Who knew that pairing would work so well?
The Witcher 3 is one of the best-selling and most acclaimed video games of all time, yet for all the countless play-hours that have been poured into its narratives and subsystems, there’s one in particular that stands out: Gwent. This is a mini-game within the game which sees the player collecting cards from diverse sources, building a deck and seeking out opponents, sometimes for money, often just for fun. Players loved it, swapped tips on where to get the best cards, how to beat the hardest foes, spent entire sessions just playing Gwent instead of furthering the game’s main plot and innumerable side-quests. Perhaps inevitably, it has now arrived in a stand-alone, physical version.
For clarity, there are actually two different versions of Gwent. There’s the one from The Witcher 3 game and a separate video game called Gwent: The Witcher Card Game, which is run by the gaming platform GOG and differs considerably from the original, leveraging online matchup play to let players go head to head. This physical card game is a faithful replication of the original Witcher 3 version, not the GOG version.
What’s in the Box
Just as the protagonist, Geralt, collects cards to play Gwent in the video game, so Gwent: The Legendary Card Game, is a box full of cards. It’s important to note that it contains versions of all the cards from the video game, plus its downloadable content, which amounts to almost 450 cards in total. They’re also very similar to the ones you’ll see on-screen, using the same layout, artwork and iconography.
While this is a little frustrating – some cards have explanatory text, which is very helpful, while others just have icons even though there’s room on them for a description – it does allow you to admire the art. Among the gorgeous polygons on the video game, it’s easy to overlook how good and how varied the card art for Gwent is. Here, it’s front and center, and it’s delightful, full of life and detail, and every card is different, even if they’re functionally identical copies.
Aside from the cards, there’s a tiny punchboard of tokens and a paper play mat to organize your cards during the game. These are both terribly disappointing, flimsy and prone to wear and tear. The play mat doesn’t lie flat easily, and the creases make the cards slide. Among the tokens is a score tracker and it’s often easier just to use that and organize the cards during play yourself.
Rules and How It Plays
Gwent is actually a pretty weird game, although you might not immediately pick that up from scanning the rulebook, which is overly terse and offers little in the way of examples. It’s played over three rounds and the first player to win two wins the whole match. At the start of the first round, you draw 10 cards and – this is the odd and critical bit – that’s all you get for the entire game. You don’t draw any more cards in rounds two or three. Your initial 10 has to last you the whole match, and learning when to dole them out and when to retain them is a central plank of the game’s strategy.
Gwent is actually a pretty weird game, although you might not immediately pick that up from scanning the rulebook.
Your play area is divided into three rows, for melee, missile, and siege units. Most cards have a symbol indicating which row they’re played into. Playing a card is often as simple as placing it into its marked row. Such cards generally have a strength value, and you’ll add that value to your growing total of strength in play. This continues until one player passes instead of playing a card, whereupon their opponent can carry on playing cards until they, too, pass. Then, the player with the highest strength total wins the round.
While this sounds simple, it immediately throws down some challenges for the players. In the first round, either player can likely win if they just keep on playing cards, but doing so leaves them less likely to win the other two rounds and thus the game. So, you’re trying to read each other, considering the cards in your hand and deciding when to pass and when to push. There’s a Poker-like element to this, muddied by the fact that there’s no statistics to rely on in terms of predicting what your opponent is holding, which means there’s no real bluff element. In fact, if they’ve built the deck themselves, you might have no information at all. There’s a definite thrill of venturing into the unknown with each decision, but your choices to pass or play are being made in a frustrating vacuum.
To combat this, the game offers various cards with special abilities, which are denoted by an icon on the card rather than text, a minor speedbump to overcome while learning the game. They’re mostly very simple. Tight Bond multiplies the strength of the card by the number of other cards on your side with the same name. Cards with the Spy ability are played into your opponent’s half of the field, adding their strength to their side, but allowing you to draw two new cards in return. A Medic lets you retrieve and play a card from your discard, and so on.
These muddy the waters somewhat. You won’t want to play a Medic on the opening turn, for a simple example, as there probably won’t be any discards available.
In addition to unit cards are various categories of special cards. The easiest to handle are heroes, which behave largely as units do but are immune to special abilities, making them harder to destroy or nullify. Weather cards are played to the side of the board and affect both sides, reducing the strength of all cards (except heroes) in one of the three areas to one. These can produce huge swings, as can some other special cards like Commander’s Horn, which doubles the strength of all cards on its row, or Scorch, which sends the highest-strength cards in the game to the discard pile. These add to the excitement and anticipation of the pass-or-play mechanic and also give some tactical structure to play around. If your opponent is laying down ranged combat cards and you’re holding a Fog weather card that’ll reduce that row to strength 1, you can save your own ranged cards for next round and hope to spring a nasty surprise.
While the full span of card types and powers do make your turn to turn decision making more interesting, and up the stakes considerably given that some of them can be game changing, you’re still very much making decisions in the dark. That Fog card, for instance: the strategy is pretty basic, and isn’t actually all that useful if your opponent only has one ranged card in hand and it’s useless if they also have a Clear Weather card to counter it. You have no way of knowing what’s in their hand or deck. Gwent is an exciting game, but it’s not a particularly strategic one.
It is, however, a deck construction game, and deck construction games mostly draw their strategy from deciding which cards you’re going to include in your deck before you play. There are various rules about what you can include. A legal deck includes a single leader, who offers a special ability you can use one time during play, at least 22 unit cards, and up to 10 special cards like heroes and weather. There are five factions included in the game, each of which has a particular play style and set of powers, and you can only build with cards from your own faction. Nilfgaard, for example, specializes in card draw while the Skellige deck includes berserkers that can be triggered and replaced with much more powerful alternatives. And since you have all the cards from the video game at your disposal, you have a lot of deck-building options.
The trouble is that, however you choose to construct your deck, the game is eternally held back by that sense of randomness. You can put all the work you want into your carefully-curated cards but if your opponent just happens to have a card that counters your best abilities, you’re probably screwed. Or not, if they just happen to play it at the wrong time because they’re as clueless about what you’re holding as you are about their hand. Worse, it seems fairly clear that some cards and factions are better than others. That 10-card limit over the entire game is so brutal that the two extra cards drawn by a spy can be absolutely game-changing. Thus, factions that are good at generating card draws – Northern Realms, Nilfgaard, and Monsters – are better than those that don’t. And within those factions, you’ll generally want to include abilities that draw cards over those that don’t.
In addition, there’s a considerable frustration around tracking the game state. You’re given counters to mark your strength total in tens and ones, which is fiddly to start with. But as soon as you get effects like commander’s horn and tight bond, strength totals can rise and fall explosively, and there’s no way to mark this other than recalculating your total strength with each and every card play. In the original video game this was all done automatically, making it easy, but here’s it’s a right royal pain, especially given the way card effects can pile on card effects, making it easy to miss something and calculate a wrong total.
The PlayStation Portal was released back in November of 2023, but I still haven't ever seen a discount on a brand new unit, even during Sony's Days of Play Sale back in June. Fortunately, there is a way to get a used one at a huge discount. Amazon Resale just dropped the price of the "Used: Like New" PS Portal to $140.41 after a 25% off coupon that's automatically applied during checkout. Amazon Resale is Amazon's official outlet for used items. "Like New" items are usually brand new and never used with damage to the packaging but not to the contents themselves. You still get the 30-day Amazon return policy so it's a much safer option than buying a used controller off Facebook Marketplace.
PlayStation Portal (Used: Like New) for $140.41
The PS Portal, Sony's handheld gaming accessory for the PS5 console, looks very much like an extended split-pad DualSense controller with an 8-inch 1080p LCD screen in the middle of it. It turns your PS5 into a gaming handheld by letting you stream games from your console at up to 60fps. The controller mirrors the same features found on the DualSense, including haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, and a touchscreen interface that replaces the Dualsense's touchpad. The Portal can stream your games even when you're outside of your home, with the caveat that you have access to very stable, very fast internet connection. Keep in mind that the PS Portal is not a standalone device. This is strictly a remote player for the PlayStation 5, so you will need a PS5 to use it.
You no longer need a PS5 to play games on the PS Portal. Now, rather than being limited to simply streaming games from a $500 console to a $200 handheld, Sony has introduced a feature that lets owners stream games directly from its PlayStation Now cloud streaming service. No PS5 required. Portal owners can either connect the Portal to their PS5 or directly to Sony’s cloud servers (with some new quality of life beta updates that launched in April). Choose the latter and suddenly you have access to a library of more than 120 games, including Ghost of Tsushima, Resident Evil 3 Remake, The Last of Us Part 1 Remastered, and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. It’s worth noting you must be a subscriber to the highest tier of PlayStation Plus, but $18 a month is much more attractive than paying for every new game.
It should be said that the PlayStation Portal isn’t the only way to stream your PS5 games over Wi-Fi within your home. You can mimic its functionality by downloading the PS Remote Play app on a mobile device, including other gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck. That said, it's more complicated to set up and you'll lose out on some of the Dualsense's features.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
I don’t think there’s ever been a fighting game that I have played more of so long before release than 2XKO. Between three Evo demos and two “alpha lab” tests, Riot’s exciting League of Legends-themed 2v2 tag fighter has repeatedly popped into my life for a couple days, then faded from existence until the next time I get to throw down with my buddies Ekko and Ahri. But finally, with the recent closed beta, 2XKO is here to stay (if not fully available to everybody yet), which means it's time for some extended thoughts on why I’ve been looking forward to this exciting tag fighter.
There’s a whole lot to unpack, so let’s start with the focus on simple controls. Unlike most fighting games that offer at least the option of using traditional command inputs for special moves (like those dating back to the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat’s arcade cabinet days), 2XKO simplifies all of its special and super moves to single or simultaneous two-button presses. So instead of doing a quarter circle forward motion for a fireball, all you have to do is press the S1 button; If you wanna do a super, you press an attack button and one of the special buttons at the same time; and if you want to do your ultimate attack, you press both special buttons at the same time.
This is a double-edged sword, because while it does make it a little easier for a complete newcomer who has trouble with quarter-circle or Dragon-Punch inputs, it also turns what should be a four-button game – with light, medium, and heavy attack buttons, plus a tag button – into a six-button game, at minimum. Most people will be using a dash and parry macro as well, putting every single button on a standard controller to work.
As a result, I’ve felt my hands getting lost on my controller in 2XKO moreso than any other fighting game I’ve played because my brain has to parse which special move is tied to which special button, and which direction I had to hold for it. Ultimately, it’s just easier for me – someone who has committed thousands of hours to train my muscle memory on how fighting games have always worked – to compartmentalize a punch or kick related special move input to the punch or kick button than it is to try and remember whether they’re arbitrarily placed on S1 or S2. It’s a learning curve that I was eventually able to overcome, but one that nonetheless made me yearn for a classic/modern control scheme split like what Street Fighter 6 uses.
The second big thing is that 2XKO uses an active tag system much like what’s been used in games like BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle and Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid. The idea is that every character has two assist moves that they can be called in to execute, and once they finish the attack they’ll remain in a pose for a few seconds before retreating back off screen. At any point while the assist character is on screen, you can press the tag button to swap control to them. This opens the door for potential tricky mix-up opportunities, especially when you’re able to sandwich your target between your assist and point characters.
That system works incredibly well here in 2XKO, especially since so many of the characters have special moves that seemed designed specifically around it. Vi and Ekko for instance, both have specials that allow them to cross to the other side of their opponent, with the downside being that they are typically punishable. But if you cover them with an assist, not only do you make the crossover safe, but you get a free left/right mix-up opportunity by swapping to the other character. This is just a basic example and, once you start digging deep into the tech of some of these characters, you can find some absolutely dirty stuff that you can do to your opponent.
Experimenting with each fuse to find which fits my playstyle has been a lot of fun.
And all of that is before even bringing fuses into the mix. Much like Grooves in the Capcom vs SNK series, Fuses are an extra little bonus that you take with you into a match that allow you to break one of the established rules. For example, typically, once you use your super, your combo is over. But with Double Down you can do a super, then tag in your partner character for them to do their super to add on extra damage, and switch characters in the deal. You normally are only allowed one active tag per assist call, but with the Freestyle fuse you can call in your assist, active tag to them, do a couple of hits, and then active tag again back to the point character. These Fuses can totally change your approach to how you use your team and spend your meter, and experimenting with each to try and find which one fits my playstyle and my team best has been a lot of fun.
If you don’t want to learn two characters and instead just want to focus on one, there are also two Fuses that allow you to do just that. Juggernaut and Sidekick both have you playing as only one character with just one life bar, but to make up for that they have increased health, higher defense, start with two bars of super instead of one, and can have a maximum of five bars of super instead of three.
Juggernaut also has the added advantage of being able to forcibly swap an opponent’s character to focus on the one with less health and prevent them from regaining gray life, while Sidekick gives you the ability to reduce the amount of damage you take by timing button presses with enemy attacks. You can also charge up your assist moves by holdingthe tag button, letting them travel a distance before actually committing to their attack. You do lose the ability to do active tags, which is one of the most fun aspects of 2XKO, but nonetheless, I love it when tag fighters find ways to let us just focus on mastering a single character instead of having to be equally good with two or three.
Perhaps the best unique feature of 2XKO, though, is the fact that it’s a fighting game that can be played cooperatively with a friend. In Duos mode, each person controls their own character, with the off-screen player being the one that can call the assist, and the other being the one that has to do the active tag to give up control to their partner. It works both as a fun way to experience a fighting game with a similarly skilled friend that doesn’t involve having to beat each other up, and also as a way to introduce someone new to the genre and be able to give them real time feedback.
If there's one glaring weakness of 2XKO's beta right now, it's the slim roster size.
If there’s one glaring weakness of 2XKO right now, it is its slim roster size. There are currently only nine characters, and Riot has promised just one more to be added for launch. Ten isn’t even a lot even for a 1v1 fighter, but even worse for a tag fighter where you need to find two characters that fit your playstyle (unless, again, you decide to go with Juggernaut or Sidekick as your Fuses). And while that does suck, and leads to a lot of repetition where you’re fighting against the same characters and the same teams over and over again, it is a blow that is at least softened by the excellent design of that handful of characters. Whether it’s Ekko and his tricky clone mind games, Yasuo’s wild combo routes that have him stance-cancelling his way into bouncing his opponent all over the screen, Vi’s insane movement and whiff-punishing ability, or Illaoi’s tentacle set ups, these are some of the most fun fighting game characters I’ve ever played around with. And the beauty of it is that due to the flexibility of 2XKO’s combo and Fuse systems, rarely do I ever see any of these characters being played exactly the same way by two different people.
All that said, It’s still too early to call this a proper review of 2XKO because of all that we haven’t seen yet. There’s ranked mode, for instance, and that final tenth character on the launch roster – and I’ll definitely want to see how the free-to-play progression feels once the shops are more fully populated with cosmetics to purchase with in-game currency. But for now, 2XKO is shaping up to be one of the most exciting fighters on the horizon, during a time when there are a lot of exciting fighters on the horizon.
Mitchell Saltzman is a senior guides producer at IGN. You can find him on twitter @JurassicRabbit
Paramount+ has had a pretty significant sale on its annual plans this month. Until September 18 (tomorrow, by the way), both new and existing subscribers can save 50% on a full year of the plan of their choosing. You can either grab the Paramount+ Essential annual plan for $29.99 (regularly priced at $59.99), or the Paramount+ Premium annual plan for $59.99 (regularly priced at $119.99).
50% Off Annual Paramount+ Subscriptions for New and Returning Subscribers
Besides whether or not you get ads, the big difference between these plans is whether you care about the Showtime library, which includes the likes of Yellowjackets and Dexter: Resurrection. For context: What was previously the Paramount+ with Showtime package has been rebranded as the Premium subscription.
The discount only applies to annual subscriptions, so no free trials and no big savings on the monthly plans. That said, a year of the ad-supported subscription at this price is what you would for about four months of the service on a monthly plan, which is still priced at $7.99/month. The Premium plan also continues to cost $12.99/month.
Unlike most streaming deals these days, the discounts apply to both new and returning subscribers. So, if you do happen to be enjoying the monthly plan and have some extra cash, it’s well worth considering grabbing the annual discount as an upfront cost.
What’s on Paramount+?
Paramount has a bit of a unique library compared to the likes of Disney+ or Netflix, but I’d like to think there’s a little something for everyone in there. Right now, it’s where you’ll find new episodes of South Park the day after they air (and cause whatever controversy) as well as the new season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
The list of Paramount movies is pretty much endless, but some highlights there include Gladiator, the Transformers movies, and the Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy. The studio will also be developing the live-action Call of Duty movie.
Paramount has been slowly expanding its live sports offerings. It's where you can watch the NFL on CBS as well as the UEFA Champions League. Most recently, the service signed a deal to acquire the streaming rights to the UFC franchise, which will be moving away from the PPV model used by ESPN starting in 2026. In other words, if you subscribe with the deal now, you’ll get to watch all the fights your heart desires next year.
Blythe (she/her) is an SEO Coordinator at IGN who, when she isn't following streaming news, spends way too much time in character customization screens and tracking down collectibles.
Casting is currently underway for a 2026 production start. Miami Vice will be shot in IMAX.
The film is produced by Dylan Clark (The Batman) and Kosinski and written by Dan Gilroy and Eric Singer, based on characters created by Anthony Yerkovich from the series executive produced by Yerkovich and Michael Mann.
Unlike the 2006 feature film adaptation directed by Michael Mann and starring Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell, this Miami Vice movie will be a period piece that Universal says “explores the glamour and corruption of mid-80’s Miami,” the decade when the original NBC TV series aired.
Kosinski’s movie is particularly inspired by the series pilot and first season (1984-85). In the pilot, New York City cop Ricardo Tubbs travels down to Miami in search of his brother’s killer and eventually teams up with local undercover detective James “Sonny” Crockett, who’s also after the same drug dealers since they killed his partner.
A recurring villain in the first season was Columbian cartel lord Esteban Calderone, whose drug trafficking operations stretched from New York City to Miami and into the Bahamas. He first appeared in the pilot episode, “Brother’s Keeper”, and returned later in the season when an undercover Crockett and Tubbs went to the Bahamas to finally stop Calderone. John Leguizamo later appeared on the series as Calderone’s vengeful son.
Although the show was episodic, the hunt for Calderone was a main throughline of the first season so it stands to reason that might also serve as the spine of Kosinski’s film. Even Mann’s film borrowed a good portion of its plot from the show’s first season, particularly the “Smuggler’s Blues” episode.
“The big-screen version of Miami Vice is in a no-win scenario. Purists will decry its variations from the 1980's TV series that inspired it,” I wrote in my Miami Vice review from 2006. “Those wanting a nostalgia trip will be denied it. Viewers expecting a big, bombastic Bad Boys or Fast and the Furious-style romp will also come away disappointed. Fans of writer-director Michael Mann, as well as those who love their cop movies dark and gritty, will respond favorably to the movie, which is nothing short of a di-Vice-ive affair. You will either love it or loathe it.”
Who do you want to see play Crockett and Tubbs in Kosinski’s Miami Vice movie? Let us know in the comments.
Gen V has returned for its second season on Prime Video. The Boys spin-off aired its first season in 2023, introducing us to a particularly hormonal new generation of supes attending their first year at God U. Now we follow the gang as they head into their sophomore year, which, from personal experience, is when you can really start doing things for the plot.
If you’re tuning into the new season, here’s when you can expect new episodes.
Everything You Need to Know to Watch Gen V Season 2
Gen V continues to stream exclusively on Prime Video, which is included in general Amazon Prime memberships alongside a pretty wide spread of perks (including free shipping). Amazon also recently rolled out a new Prime for Young Adults plan with a 50% discount for anyone between the ages of 18 and 24.
New episodes of Gen V’s second season will arrive on Prime Video every Wednesday. While the first three episodes dropped all at once on September 17, subsequent episodes will be released one at a time. These episodes will become available to stream at 12am PT/3am ET, so you could theoretically pull a late night on Tuesday to watch them.
Here’s the full release schedule for this season, which will include eight episodes total:
Episode Release Schedule
Episode 1: “New Year, New U” - September 17
Episode 2: “Justice Never Forgets” - September 17
Episode 3: “H is for Human” - September 17
Episode 4: TBA - September 24
Episode 5: TBA - October 1
Episode 6: TBA - October 8
Episode 7: TBA - October 15
Episode 8: TBA - October 22
IGN’s review of Gen V’s second season describes a slow start, but that “the series only improves as it moves forward and deepens the drama for Marie and her circle of wannabe superhero friends.” Jesse Schedeen’s review also hints at a Homelander-like villain, so that’s terrifying. But, thankfully, our protagonist Marie seems to be getting some serious power-scaling.
Season 1 of Gen V took place after Season 3 of The Boys, and the spin-off’s second season follows The Boys Season 4. The time skip is a bit larger here, though, with the second season kicking off over a year after the most recent episode of The Boys. We have no confirmation about a third season for Gen V quite yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if these worlds collide in the final season of The Boys, slated for 2026.
Blythe (she/her) is an SEO Coordinator at IGN who, when she isn't following streaming news, spends way too much time in character customization screens and tracking down collectibles.
The professional grade PlayStation DualSense Edge wireless controller is rarely discounted from its list price of $200. Fortunately, here's a way to get it for a much lower price. Amazon Resale currently has "Used: Like New" DualSense Edge controllers in Midnight for $145.73 after a 25% off coupon that's automatically applied during checkout. Amazon Resale is Amazon's official outlet for used items. "Like New" items are usually brand new and never used with damage to the packaging but not to the contents themselves. You still get the 30-day Amazon return policy so it's a much safer option than buying a used controller off Facebook Marketplace.
Update: I just fixed the link (it was originally going to the PlayStation Portal).
PS5 DualSense Edge Controller (Used: Like New) for $145
The DualSense Edge is Sony's high-end controller for the PS5 console. It offers pro-level features like grips, adjustable analog sticks, mappable rear buttons, profiles, and more. You can swap out the standard analog stick tops with convex replacements that come in two different heights. If your analog sticks crap out, you can buy replacements for $19.99. There are also two sets of interchangeable back buttons that can be mapped to any button on the DualSense Edge controller. One of the most important features of any pro controller are the triggers, and they’ve gotten attention in the DualSense Edge as well. Next to each trigger is a stop slider that lets you adjust how far you have to press the trigger down to make it register. You can choose standard, medium, or short travel distances.
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.
As someone who doesn't actually work at LEGO, it can be hard to judge just how popular new sets are for any given month. One of the easiest ways to gauge general audience interest is to keep track of whether or not LEGO puts a set on backorder. Usually this only happens to one or two sets each month, but for September that number is already up to six. This latest batch of LEGO sets already seems to be incredibly popular and we're only halfway through the month
When you look at the list of what's already on backorder, it shouldn't really be all that surprising. These are some of the coolest new sets we've seen all year and many of them are targeted specifically at adults. Some of these are LEGO exclusives, like the Arkham Asylum set, which means that anyone looking to buy it would only be able to snag one from the LEGO Store directly. However, other sets on this list are actually available at other retailers and still managed to get put on backorder – which is a testament to just how popular they are.
Popular New LEGO Sets on Backorder
For fans of LEGO and Disney, it's not hard to see why the first two sets on this list are here. It's been eight years since the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie, but when we first announced this Captain Jack Sparrow Pirate ship, the response from that fandom was incredible. Even with the massive price of $380, that set went on backorder almost immediately after it became available to buy. With that set being exclusive to the LEGO Store, it was inevitable that LEGO wouldn't be able to keep up with initial demand. The Wall-E and EVE set is an entirely different story because it's been available at every major retailer since day one and is still on backorder at LEGO. With a lower price point and it being made specifically for adult builders, however, it's not surprising just how popular that set has been so far.
As for the two Wicked sets, it would seem that being aimed at an adult audience has really helped that specific theme this time around. I actually noticed that both of the 18+ LEGO Wicked builds were already on backorder only days after they first released and it would seem that trend has only continued. As a theme, the LEGO Wicked line has only been around since last year and most of the sets have been made for a younger audience. The popularity of the two new sets in the adult market have proven that LEGO has found the right audience for such a collaboration. As someone who got the chance to build the Wicked bookends, it warms my heart to see just how many fans of Wicked and LEGO seem to be lurking out there.
LEGO popularity continues to be fueled by adults
You may have noticed that almost all of the sets on this list are specifically LEGO sets for adults. And if you haven't been paying attention to LEGO releases over the past few years, that may come as a surprise. LEGO has always been marketed as a toy meant for "all ages", but in 2020 LEGO officially started labeling some sets as 18+ builds. Since then more and more new releases have been targeted at adults, including entirely new themes like LEGO Art and LEGO Architecture. Even looking ahead to next month, two of the biggest upcoming sets are the LEGO GameBoy and a massive LEGO Death Star set that are specifically meant for adult builders. This trend isn't going away any time soon.
It's looking more likely that the Asus ROG Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X handhelds will be priced at $549.99 and $899.99, thanks to former IGN staffer, Destin Legarie. In a YouTube video, Legarie claims to have confirmed the pricing with his local Best Buy, which "spilled the beans" when he called to ask. Just be sure to take this with a grain of salt.
The console will also apparently get demo stations at Best Buy stores, according to Legarie, who provided images, provided by an anonymous source, of one of the stations from a Tennessee store. One image shows an RGB-laden kiosk with the ROG Xbox Ally X sitting in the middle on a clear plastic display stand. Behind it, a screen appears to be in the middle of a looping demo for the handheld and is flanked by promotions of its compatibility with all manner of Windows PC games. Another image shows a closeup of the $899.99 price tag.
This is as close as we've gotten to confirmation of the Xbox version of Asus' Ally handheld PC consoles, which are due for release on October 16, but until things are official, don't go taking out that second mortgage or taking a third job to pay for the near-$900 Xbox Ally X just yet. It's very possible it's not true, for one thing. But even if it is, tarriffs could change matters more than they already have, including for handheld gaming PCs like the Legion Go 2, which will be as much as $1479. On the plus side, the rumored price for the vanilla Xbox Ally is $100 little cheaper than what retailers like Best Buy are asking for the non-Xbox version; hopefully, for anyone who wants to get in on this more user-friendly PC handheld without destroying the bank, that rumor holds.
The price for the higher-end Xbox Ally X is likely to disappoint anyone who was already taken aback by the pricing for its Ryzen Z1 Extreme-powered predecessor. At the same time, despite keeping their launch prices of $799.99 on Asus' website, retailers have already been selling the first-gen handhelds at higher prices, and if Legarie's sources are correct, the entry-level Ally will be a better deal than the $649.99 Ally, with the non-Extreme Z1.
Wes is a freelance writer (Freelance Wes, they call him) who has covered technology, gaming, and entertainment steadily since 2020 at Gizmodo, Tom's Hardware, Hardcore Gamer, and most recently, The Verge. Inside of him there are two wolves: one that thinks it wouldn't be so bad to start collecting game consoles again, and the other who also thinks this, but more strongly.
Paradox Interactive has announced that all six clans for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 will be available in the game. This means that the two clans that were locked behind a DLC will now be free to everyone. This means that the base game will offer all six clans from the get-go. These are … Continue reading Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 will now have all 6 clans→
Earlier this month, we shared 12 minutes of gameplay footage from Human Head Studios’ canceled PREY 2. Since then, the videos have been taken down. Thankfully, though, we have 11 minutes of new gameplay footage from it. This cancelled version of Prey 2 was meant to be a first-person shooter set in an open alien … Continue reading 11 more minutes of leaked gameplay footage from PREY 2→
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