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index.feed.received.today — 14 mars 20253.3 🎲 Jeux English

Avowed Patch 1.3.0 Released, Featuring Over 350 Fixes & Tweaks

14 mars 2025 à 12:15

Obsidian has released Title Update 1.3.0 for Avowed, which has over 350 fixes and tweaks, and shared its full patch notes. So, let’s take a look at some of its improvements, shall we? Patch 1.3.0 will allow players players to receive an additional talent point at levels 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Players with … Continue reading Avowed Patch 1.3.0 Released, Featuring Over 350 Fixes & Tweaks

The post Avowed Patch 1.3.0 Released, Featuring Over 350 Fixes & Tweaks appeared first on DSOGaming.

Rise of the Ronin March 14th Update Released, Full Patch Notes

14 mars 2025 à 11:50

Team Ninja has released the March 14th Update for the PC version of Rise of the Ronin, and shared its full patch notes. So, let’s see what this latest patch brings to the table. The March 14th Update, also known as Patch 1.09.0.1, adjusts the in-game graphics settings. Settings that heavily affect performance have been … Continue reading Rise of the Ronin March 14th Update Released, Full Patch Notes

The post Rise of the Ronin March 14th Update Released, Full Patch Notes appeared first on DSOGaming.

Upgrade Your PC to Windows 11 Pro from just $10 With This Limited-Time Discount on Keysfan

14 mars 2025 à 11:29

Full Disclosure: This is a sponsored article Written by Keysfan Building a new PC or upgrading an old one is about more than just hardware. All the latest cards and chips mean nothing if you don’t have the software to power it, and if you’ve looked into Windows 11 Pro you’ll know it costs a whopping $200 when buying … Continue reading Upgrade Your PC to Windows 11 Pro from just $10 With This Limited-Time Discount on Keysfan

The post Upgrade Your PC to Windows 11 Pro from just $10 With This Limited-Time Discount on Keysfan appeared first on DSOGaming.

The Atomfall Developers Knew It Would Be Compared to Fallout as Soon as It Was Revealed, Average Playthrough Around 25 Hours

14 mars 2025 à 10:34

At first glance, you might mistake Atomfall for a Fallout-style game. Perhaps, even, an actual Fallout game set in a post-apocalyptic England rather than a post-apocalyptic America. Atomfall is first-person, it’s post-nuclear (it’s called Atomfall for a reason), and it has an alt-history design, as Fallout famously does.

Ryan Greene, art director at developer Rebellion, totally understands where the Fallout comparisons are coming from. Not only that, but the development team knew Atomfall would be compared to Fallout as soon as it was revealed.

“Once you play the game, you realize it's not Fallout, but yes, we knew,” Greene told IGN.

“And one of our owners, Jason Kingsley, he's a big Fallout fan, so inevitably there was going to be some parallels in that any kind of survival in the apocalypse, immediately Fallout's going to come up as a thing. And those guys are great at what they do. And that's cool.”

But Atomfall isn’t really like Fallout at all. This is something IGN pointed out August last year when we reported that Atomfall is something much more interesting than a British Fallout.

Indeed, Greene warned that the Fallout comparison is “misleading.”

“Once you play it for a bit, you're like, oh, this is its own thing for sure,” Greene said. And, Greene pointed out, Rebellion isn’t Microsoft-owned Bethesda. The independently owned British studio behind the Sniper Elite franchise has created an ambitious game, relative to its other games, but we’re not talking about an Elder Scrolls or Fallout-sized experience here.

“The reality is, here’s this very successful franchise and we're version 1.0,” Greene continued. “To be compared to those guys… thank you very much… Yes, we appreciate it because that’s a skillful team that's making that stuff.”

An average Atomfall playthrough, Greene said, is “probably 25-ish hours.” However, completionists can stretch that “a long way.”

To find out how the game plays, be sure to check out IGN’s most recent Atomfall hands-on preview, in which our Simon Cardy went off the deep end and killed everyone during his playthrough.

It turns out, you can go through the entire game killing everyone and it will cope with that. “You can kill anyone or everyone if you choose,” Greene confirmed. “That's fine. We have multiple finishes to the game, so some of those would shut down if you were supposed to work with them throughout, but you'll find multiple other routes to finish the game and achieve a result.”

Atomfall doesn’t have a main quest or a side quest in the traditional RPG sense. Rather, “it's a spider web of connected story,” Greene explained.

“So even if you sever one thread, you can usually find another thread that leads you back to the overall mystery.”

Conversely, you can play through Atomfall without killing anyone. At least, Greene is “fairly certain” you can. “I've made it about nine hours in, probably close to halfway running at a pretty fast dev play speed and killed no one,” he said. “I'm fairly certain you can do it and there's no gating of having to kill anyone ever.”

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.

Speedrunners Left Scratching Their Heads After New Discovery Suggests the SNES Works Faster as It Ages

14 mars 2025 à 10:18

The speedrunning community is trying to wrap its head around a technological phenomenon that is seemingly causing the SNES to run games faster as it ages.

Alarm bells rang in early February when Bluesky user Alan Cecil (@tas.bot) spread the word that the Nintendo's iconic console seemed to be running games slightly faster now than when it left production lines in the 1990s. It’s a theory that would mean the nearly 50 million SNES units sold may now feature improved performance with games like Super Mario World, Super Metroid, and Star Fox instead of wearing down as the years go on.

The idea of a video game console — or any kind of technology — working more efficiently simply thanks to the passage of time sounds ludicrous, but Cecil’s findings suggest a single component may be what’s setting the SNES apart from the rest.

The Fastest Thing Alive

As explained in an interview 404 Media conducted with Cecil, official Nintendo specs say the SNES’s audio processing unit (APU) SPC700 has a digital signal processing (DSP) rate of 32,000Hz dictated by a ceramic resonator that runs at 24.576MHz. Retro console fans have documented that these details aren’t quite accurate, with recordings from the last few decades showing slightly altered DSP rates depending on the physical conditions — such as temperature — the SNES is recorded in. It means the console is often processing audio and sending it to the CPU at a different rate than Nintendo has communicated, and as the DSP fluctuates, so too does the game’s speed even if it’s in small, unrecognizable ways.

That’s all fine and good, but where things get interesting is how that number has changed in the last 34 years. Cecil asked SNES owners to record data related to their SNES units after noticing slightly higher DSP rates that were even more out of the ordinary than previously documented. The more than 140 responses gathered so far show an undeniable trend in increased DSP rates in recent measurements.

Some previously recorded average DSP numbers for the SNES’s SPC700 hovered at 32,040Hz in 2007 — Cecil’s findings raise that average to 32,076Hz. Factors such as hot and cold environments do play a part in higher and lower stats, too, but not by enough to alter DSP in the way needed to yield these results. In other words, it looks like the SNES is processing audio faster as time goes on.

Therefore, temperature is less significant. Why? How does it affect games? We do not know. Yet.

“Based on 143 responses, the SNES DSP rate averages 32,076Hz, rising 8Hz from cold to warm,” Cecil explained in a follow-up Bluesky post fit with a layout of the data. “Warm DSP rates go from 31,965 to 32,182Hz, a 217Hz range. Therefore, temperature is less significant. Why? How does it affect games? We do not know. Yet.”

Any%

Cecil admits that, while fascinating, more research is needed to determine not only how much faster SNES units are processing game audio but what exactly the cause is. Data related to how consoles performed in their first decade on the market, for example, is limited. For now, at least on the surface, Nintendo’s second major home console appears to be aging quite gracefully as it nears its 35th birthday.

Regardless of what exactly might be behind these bizarre circumstances, the prospect of a popular gaming console gradually causing games to run faster has made waves in the speedrunning community. An SPC700 progressively processing audio to the CPU quicker than intended could, in theory, impact game performance by shortening load times in certain sections. Audio processing faster in 2025 than it did in an identical speedrun from 1990 could potentially send more than three decades of leaderboard rankings and records into question. Thankfully, how a wiser SNES might affect a Super Mario World speedrun isn’t so straightforward.

APU speeds aren’t a one-to-one translation to visual game speed. In reality, even the most extreme circumstances related to these new findings would likely only shave off less than one second of your average speedrun. How each game might benefit from altered audio processing is also up for debate, and there’s no indication of how significantly longer speedruns could be impacted at the time of this story’s publication. The speedrunning community's research is in its infancy, but even as further experimentation is conducted, the consensus for now is that players have little to fear.

While Cecil continues digging into what makes the SNES tick, Nintendo’s console is charging through its 30s and feeling better than ever. For more on the SNES, you can see where the device landed on the list of best-selling consoles of all time.

Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP.

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

How to Activate the Hulu + Live TV Free Trial in 2025

14 mars 2025 à 02:10

Navigating the world of live TV alternatives can be a daunting task as there are so many options to choose from. One of the best options available today is Hulu + Live TV, which features everything Hulu has to offer plus a robust library of channels that includes popular live sporting events and entertainment. Even better, Hulu + Live TV also bundles in Disney+ and ESPN+ at no additional cost, giving you access to even more streaming options that include the very best of Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and more!

If you're interested in checking out Hulu + Live TV, you're in luck. Scroll down for information on the current free trial offer, as well as details about what's included in the service, pricing, and where it's available to stream.

Does Hulu + Live TV Have a Free Trial?

Yes, Hulu + Live TV offers a three-day free trial that allows you to take the live TV streaming service for a spin. You'll gain access to more than 95 live TV channels that include sporting events and the most popular entertainment channels. Hulu + Live TV also includes the Disney Bundle, which means you'll also be able to enjoy the entire Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ catalogs at no additional cost. It's the only streaming free trial offering a total of four services at once.

When you're ready to sign up, click the link below to sign up for the free trial. After your trial period ends, you'll be automatically charged for your subscription if it's not canceled.

What Is Hulu + Live TV?

Hulu + Live TV takes the base Hulu streaming service and slaps a live TV service on top of it, while adding in the entirety of Disney+ and ESPN+ for good measure. It features over 95 channels, unlimited DVR space, and a hassle-free monthly subscription fee that doesn't include any hidden fees.

Since Hulu + Live TV includes the base Hulu service, you'll have access to Hulu's rich library of TV shows and movies. This includes Hulu Originals such as Paradise and Only Murders in the Building as well as popular FX programs such as The Bear, Shōgun, and What We Do In The Shadows. Plus, you can watch thousands of additional TV shows and movies from Hulu's extended streaming library.

And, with the Disney Bundle included as part of your Hulu + Live TV subscription, you'll have access to the massive Disney catalog that includes popular Marvel movies and TV shows, Star Wars movies and TV shows, Pixar movies, and so much more. If you're looking for a great replacement for cable that ticks just about every box, well, Hulu + Live TV is one of the best options available.

With Hulu + Live TV, you can watch over 95 of your favorite channels live, or catch up on some of the best programming that you may have missed on demand. You can record as much live TV as you'd like with the included DVR service, as well, to ensure you don't miss the shows or movies you're currently watching. By default, you can watch Hulu + Live TV on two supported devices, but you can upgrade to have unlimited simultaneous screens if you'd like the whole family to have access.

How Much Does Hulu + Live TV Cost?

The price for Hulu + Live TV is $82.99 per month and also includes the base Hulu (with ads), Disney+ (with ads) and ESPN+ (with ads) streaming services as part of the overall price—a $16.99 bundle on its own. If you're looking for a mostly ad-free service (aside from commercials on live TV and portions of ESPN+), then you can upgrade to Hulu + Live TV that includes Hulu and Disney+ without ads for $95.99 per month.

In addition to the more than 95 channels includes, you can also add on Entertainment, Sports, and Spanish channel packages if you're missing some of your favorites. Hulu + Live TV also features popular premium channels such as Max, Paramount+ with Showtime, Cinemax, and Starz as optional add-ons if you want to expand your streaming library. Additionally, you can upgrade your subscription to include unlimited screens at home and up to three screens on the go so everyone can watch.

How to Watch Hulu + Live TV - Available Platforms

Similar to base Hulu, you can enjoy Hulu + Live TV on a variety of digital platforms including Apple TV (4th generation or newer), Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Sticks, select Roku models, Chromecast, select smart TVs from Samsung, LG, and Vizio, popular consoles such as PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Switch. You can also watch on mobile devices such as iPhone, iPad, and Android, as well as on Hulu's website.

For more live TV streaming guides, check out our overview of Sling TV and Fubo.

Matthew Adler is a Commerce, Features, Guides, News, Previews, and Reviews writer for IGN. You can follow him on the site formerly known as Twitter @MatthewAdler and watch him stream on Twitch

AU Deals: The Absolute Must Buys From the Steam Spring Sale, AAA Console Greats Reduced, and More!

14 mars 2025 à 01:42

Thank your own personal deity—possibly Kratos—it’s Friday! Even though it’s Autumn for Aussies, it’s time to spring into ludicrous Spring Sale savings on Steam. If the picks of that litter don’t interest you, I’ve sniffed out console-based bargains on grand adventures, pulse-pounding action, or quirky indie gems; there’s a little something for everyone.

This Day in Gaming 🎂

In retro news, I'm (somehow) celebrating the 23rd birthday of the OG Xbox, a console that blew my mind at launch (even though I was happily married to a PS2). This was the chunky vehicle that brought Microsoft into the console gaming world. And while it didn't have the prettiest design or the greatest library of games, it gave us two important contributions to gaming: Halo and Xbox Live.

While some N64 enthusiasts may argue that GoldenEye paved the way for quality console first-person shooters, it was Halo that revolutionised the genre. Almost every FPS that came after Halo utilised its control scheme and a modified version of its health system. But where Halo truly succeeded was in providing console gamers with the first-of-its-kind 16-player LAN battles. This was the first shooter that made my PC gaming mates jealous, and I still own and adore my Limited Edition Crystal Xbox. Even though ants once tried to take it over and turn it into a very expensive vivarium.

Aussie bdays for notable games

- Mortal Kombat Trilogy (N64) 1997. Get

- Xbox console launch, 2002. eBay

- Jet Set Radio Future (XB) 2002. eBay

- Amped (XB) 2002. eBay

- Halo: Combat Evolved (XB) 2002. Redux

- Dead or Alive 3 (XB) 2002. Get

- Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee (XO) 2003. Get

- Ape Escape 2 (PS2) 2003. eBay

- Journey (PS3) 2012. Get

- God of War: Ascension (PS3) 2013. Sequel

- Dark Souls II (PS3, X360) 2014. Redux

Contents

Nice Savings for Nintendo Switch

On the Nintendo Switch, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is a jaw-dropping $7. That’s a pittance for one of the best action RPGs in ages, with its deep pawn system that lets AI companions learn from your tactics. Meanwhile, a 36 buck Octopath Traveler delivers an old-school JRPG experience with a modern HD-2D glow-up that Square Enix has since turned into a signature visual style.

Expiring Recent Deals

Or gift a Nintendo eShop Card.

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Purchase Cheap for PC

PC gamers can grab Red Dead Redemption 2 for just 20 clams, and this sweeping Western epic comes with a staggering 500,000 lines of dialogue. For those who enjoy a bit of madness, Undertale ($2) will delight you with its fourth-wall-breaking humour and eerie meta twists.

Expiring Recent Deals

Or just get a Steam Wallet Card

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Exciting Bargains for Xbox

Over on Xbox Series X, Destroy All Humans! 2 lets you embrace your inner chaos-loving alien, complete with ridiculous weapons and satirical 1960s pop culture jabs. And Dragon Age: Veilguard Deluxe Edition is a must for Bioware fans itching to dive back into rich RPG storytelling.

Xbox One

Expiring Recent Deals

Or just invest in an Xbox Card.

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Pure Scores for PlayStation

Finally, PlayStation 5 boasts Star Wars Outlaws at $49. It’s Ubisoft’s first open-world Star Wars game, where you can even gamble your life away in Sabacc. Lastly, a reduced God of War Ragnarök will deliver you a mythic Norse adventure that is one helluva great sequel.

PS4

Expiring Recent Deals

PS+ Monthly Freebies
Yours to keep from Mar 4 with this subscription

  • Dragon Age: Veilguard (PS5)
  • Sonic Colours: Ultimate (PS4)
  • TMNT: Cowabunga Col. (PS5/PS4)

Or purchase a PS Store Card.

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Legit LEGO Deals

Expiring Recent Deals

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Adam Mathew is our Aussie deals wrangler. He plays practically everything, often on YouTube.

$1 Million Roblox The Hunt: Mega Edition Event's Games Revealed

14 mars 2025 à 01:20

Earlier this month Roblox announced that its The Hunt: Mega Edition Event would come with a $1 million grand prize for one super skilled gamer, and today the event officially started, revealing the 25 different Roblox experiences players will need to compete in to walk away a millionaire.

Roblox's last event, The Hunt: First Edition, attracted 34 million users without promising enough money to buy 1,428 PlayStation 5 Pros and still have money left over for a decent library of games, so expect The Hunt: Mega Edition to be the focus of the Roblox community until the event hits its live-streamed final in April. For that final the top ten The Hunt: Mega Edition competitors will be invited to Roblox HQ for their shot at the jackpot.

The full list of 25 different Roblox experiences that make up The Hunt: Mega Edition Event are:

  • A Dusty Trip
  • Arsenal
  • Basketball Legends
  • Bayside High School
  • Blade League
  • Clip It
  • Car Crushers 2
  • Chained [2 Player Obby]
  • Drive World
  • Eat the World
  • Fisch
  • Hell's Kitchen
  • Infection Gunfight
  • It Girl
  • Metro Life
  • Natural Disaster Survival
  • Pet Simulator 99
  • PRESSURE
  • Regretevator
  • RIVALS
  • SpongeBob Tower Defense
  • Tower Defense Simulator
  • Untitled Boxing Game
  • Untitled Tag Game
  • World Zero

That's quite the variety, meaning to get to the big prize players will need to show their skills in games like life sim Bayside High School, cook up a storm as Gordon Ramsay's next executive chef in Hell's Kitchen and survive zombie FPS Infection Gunfight.

The only catch is to win the money you need to be 13 years-old or over, but even if you out of the running for the cash there are still special ultra-rare digital items created exclusively for The Hunt: Mega Edition to win. For all the terms and conditions head on over to the official The Hunt: Mega Edition site.

Rachel Weber is IGN's Managing Editor.

The New AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Is the Best Gaming CPU, and It's Back in Stock on Amazon and Best Buy

13 mars 2025 à 23:40

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

Back in Stock: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Desktop Processor

AMD's X3D series processors are optimized for gaming. In that respect, they bench better than even the most expensive of AMD's standard lineup of CPUs thanks to AMD's 3D V-Cache technology. Although perfectly capable of handling multitasking, rendering, and creation, the limited number of cores means they aren't the ideal processors for those tasks. At its retail price of $479, the 9800X3D is $110 cheaper than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K ($589) and $170 cheaper than the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, even though it outperforms both of them in gaming. Unless you're a staunch Intel fan, or you're still on AM4 and don't want to upgrade all of your components, the 9800X3D is the obvious choice for your next gaming rig.

AMD is on a hot streak with its new CPU and GPUs

If you decided to hold off on Nvidia's Blackwell GPUs to see if AMD's new offerings were up to snuff, then you made the right choice. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT graphics cards are the new mid-range champions of this generation. Both cards offer phenomenal performance while undercutting their Nvidia competition in price. The Radeon RX 9070 starts at $550 and the 9070 XT starts at $600 (although it turns out that manufacturers are hiking the price again). Chect out our Radeon RX 9070 GPU review and Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU review for our benchmarks.

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.

The Best Dell & Alienware Deals and Coupons: Gaming Laptops, PCs, Monitors, and More

13 mars 2025 à 23:30

Not everyone is the DIY type. If you're in the market for a prebuilt gaming PC, Dell is one of the best brands we'd recommend. Alienware desktops and laptops feature solid build quality, top-of-the-line gaming performance, excellent cooling (further improved on the newer models), aggressive styling, and pricing that is very competitive with other pre-built options. Best of all, there are plenty of sales that happen throughout the year, so it's not difficult to grab one of these computers at considerably less than their retail price. This page includes all of the best deals that are currently available.

Dell and Alienware Coupons

Dell and Alienware Gaming PC Deals

Dell and Alienware Gaming Laptop Deals

Dell and Alienware Monitor Deals

You can quickly browse through all of the listed products on sale above. See below for our favorite picks.

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5080 Gaming PC

Starting today, Dell is offering an Alienware Aurora R16 gaming PC equipped with the new GeForce RTX 5080 GPU for just $2,399.99 shipped. This is one of the best prices you can get right now for an RTX 5080 equipped prebuilt, especially since most other brands seem to be jacking up prices steadily since the RTX 50 series launch in January. The only other prebuilt you can get at Dell with an RTX 5080 GPU costs over $4,000. Good luck trying to find a standalone GPU to build out your own DIY PC; you'll probably spend as much for the GPU as you would this entire system.

Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 4090 Gaming PC

This Alienware Aurora R16 gaming PC is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 7 265F CPU, GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, 16GB of DDR5-5200MHz RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD. The processor can also be upgraded up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K. If you're getting system with a focus on gaming, then the upgrade is unnecessary. Gaming at higher resolutions is almost always GPU bound, and besides, the default Intel Core Ultra 7 265F is a solid processor with a max turbo frequency of 5.3GHz and a total of 20 cores. It's cooled by a robust 240mm all-in-one liquid cooler and the entire system is powered by an 1,000W 80PLUS Platinum power supply.

Dell Tower Plus RTX 4090 Gaming PC

The other option looks more unassuming, but it's what's inside that really matters. The Dell Tower Plus gaming PC is equipped with very similar specs - an Intel Core Ultra 7 265F CPU, GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, 16GB of DDR5-5200MHz RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD. In this particular instance, I'd recommend upgrading the processor to the Intel Core Ultra 7 285K for $100. Not only is it a superior processor, but it automatically upgrades the CPU cooling from "standard air cooling" to "advanced air coling", which is a more robust tower heatsink fan that is rated for 125W TDP instead of 65W TDP. The entire system is powered by an 1,000W 80PLUS Platinum power supply.

Alienware Area-51 RTX 5080 Up for Preorder

New Price Drop

Dell dropped the price on a maxed out Alienware Area-51 system by a decent amount. This particular config has been upgraded with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor, 64GB of RAM, and a 4TB M.2 SSD for $4.649.99 after a $400 off instant discount. The CPU is cooled by a 360mm all-in-one liquid cooler and the entire system is powered by a massive 1,500W 80PLUS Platinum power supply. Dell estimates this system to arrive at door in early April.

New for 2025: The Alienware Area-51 Chassis

Dell unveiled the new Alienware Area-51 gaming PC at CES 2025. The chassis looks similar to the 2024 R16 system with some minor aesthetic and cooling redesigns and updated components. The I/O panel is positioned at the top of the case instead of the front, and the tempered glass window now spans the entire side panel instead of just a smaller cutout. As a result, the side panel vents are gone, and instead air intakes are located at the bottom as well as the front of the case. Alienware is now pushing a positive airflow design (more intake than exhaust airflow), which usually means a less dusty interior. The internal components have also all been refreshed, with a new motherboard, faster RAM, and more powerful power supply to accommodate the new generation of CPUs and the RTX 50 series GPUs.

Alienware m16 Gaming Laptops

Dell is offering an Alienware m16 R2 RTX 4060 gaming laptop starting at $1,599.99 shipped (no discounts currently available). The m16 R2 is Alienware's most popular gaming laptop, which isn't surprising considering its excellent build quality, top-of-the-line gaming prowess, and reasonable price point. The "R2" is the second generation model that was released in 2024; it's 14% lighter and more compact than its predecessor without compromising on performance.

Alienware x16 R2 Gaming Laptops

The Alienware x16 gaming laptop is a slimmer and lighter redesign of the traditional m-series laptop. It's the thinnest 16" Alienware laptop ever and compares in build quality and performance to other high-end ultra-thin laptops like the Razer Blade. This Alienware x16 R2 laptop is built with premium materials, like a magnesium alloy chassis and palm rest, anodized aluminum lid, stainless steel keyboard tray, and Micro LED RGB accent lighting. It's only 0.73" thin and weighs in at 6 pounds. That's impressive considering the fact that this laptop can be equipped with the most power NVIDIA GPU.

Alienware m18 R2 RTX 4080 Gaming Laptop

The Alienware m18 is the biggest Alienware laptop you can buy with an imposing 18" 2560x1600 display and top-of-the-line components. Currently theres only one model on sale, which is equipped with an Intel Core i9-14900HX CPU, RTX 4080 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD for $2,699.99 after a $400 instant discount.

Dell G-Series Gaming Laptops

Dell has dropped the prices on the G16 16" gaming laptops. Dells G-series laptops are great options for budget gamers. They offer excellent gaming performance equal to a comparably equipped Alienware laptop but at a much lower price point. They also have better build quality than Dell's Inspiron lineup, with nicer materials that include anodized aluminum, and an aggressive cooling design borrowed from Alienware laptops.

Not all laptop GPUs are the same, even if they share the same name.

There are two important tidbits that deserve mention concerning graphics cards found in laptops. First, mobile GPU variants are not as powerful as their desktop counterparts. For example, a mobile RTX 4060 doesn't perform as well as a desktop RTX 4060. The mobile versions are generally about one to two tiers lower in performance. Using the same example, the mobile RTX 4060 performs more similarly to a desktop RTX 4050.

Second, not all laptops feature the same performance out of the same GPU. For example, the RTX 4060 found in the Alienware m16 will be more powerful than the RTX 4060 found in the Alienware x14. In order to roughly tell how good a GPU will be, you can look at the TGP rating. That's basically the amount of power supplied to the GPU. A higher TGP rating means more power will be delivered, equating to stronger performance, however the wattage consumption and heat generated will be higher. Here are the maximum TGP rates for the RTX 40 series graphics cards:

  • Mobile RTX 4050: 115W
  • Mobile RTX 4060: 115W
  • Mobile RTX 4070: 115W
  • Mobile RTX 4080: 150W
  • Mobile RTX 4090: 150W

Dell just dropped the price of one of its best gaming monitors to the lowest price ever, better than even Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Right now you can pick up an Alienware AW3423DWF 34" QD-OLED gaming monitor for only $552.49 after 15% off coupon code "MONITORS15". This is one of Alienware's highest end monitors, with a gorgeous QD OLED panel, WQHD resolution, and a respectable 165Hz refresh rate.

Why Pick a Dell or Alienware Gaming PC?

If you're in the market for a prebuilt gaming PC, Dell is one of best gaming brands we'd recommend. The Alienware gaming desktops offer a staggering array of options, all built into a custom chassis. Alienware gaming laptops in recent years have been redesigned to be thinner and lighter while still offering the same immense power under the hood. Consistent build quality, available inventory, frequent sales, and solid customer service are the main reasons why Dell is at the top of our buying list for gaming laptops and PCs.

Some other resources you might be interested in:

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.

WWE 2K25 Review

13 mars 2025 à 23:20

Few sports feel more primed for the whole “being a video game” thing than professional wrestling, but it’s also kind of a weird pairing when you stop to think about it: While undoubtedly a feat of athleticism, the WWE is more akin to an elaborately choreographed fight sequence in a movie than it is an actual competition, whereas the goal of the games based on it is to fight to win. But inherent contradictions aside, I can confidently say — thanks to its much-improved Showcase and MyRise modes, several smart additions like intergender matches, “they’re always good” modes like WWE Universe and MyGM, and generally great game feel — that WWE 2K25 is pretty grand. There is a new guy on the undercard called The Island, and he sucks, which kinda drags the whole thing down a little — but not enough to get me to stop watching.

Even though I’ve been playing wrestling games since the N64 days, my first stop in an annualized series like this is usually the tutorial because, unless things have gone very wrong, something is always a little different (this year, for instance, sees the long-requested return of Chain Wrestling). WWE games have had a good introduction for a while now, especially compared to other sports game franchises. (Hi, Madden! Your skills trainer is great, but it needs to be about three times its current size!). WWE 2K25 has an incredibly detailed tutorial that will walk you through everything you need to be a champ in the ring, with in-depth explanations of what moves do and how to execute them. The Performance Center is a great teaching tool whether you need a quick refresher or you’re learning to do an Irish Whip for the first time. This may seem like an odd thing to spill ink over, but every version of a game is someone’s first – or maybe their first in a while – and I’m glad developer Visual Concepts seems to remember those people.

Once I’d refreshed my memory, I spent a while just looking around. WWE 2K25’s got an absolutely stacked roster, whether you’re here for classics like Bret “Hit Man” Hart, wrestlers-turned-movie-stars like Dave Bautista and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, megastars like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, or weirdos like Doink the Clown. I also appreciate that there are several versions of the same dudes from across their history in the WWE. Why yes, WWE 2K25, I do need a handful of Triple Hs, each with their own different stats, thank you! Did you know that, compared to the modern version of The Rock, the 1997 version is kind of a bum? Me neither, but that’s what the stats say! Remember what Rhea Ripley’s visual style was in 2020? Or 2017? When was the last time you thought about “Ravishing” Rick Rude? This granularity is great, and what’s better is you can edit just about every aspect of these wrestlers, from how the crowd reacts to them to tweaking individual stats and changing out moves if you don’t like Visual Concepts’ take on them. The ability to tweak individual wrestlers is not new, but as this roster gets bigger, it’s good to be reminded of how impressive all of it is.

WWE 2K25 has got an absolutely stacked roster.

That goes for the in-ring action, too. WWE 2K25 doesn’t deviate much from WWE 2K24, which is one of those “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” deals, but it does include the welcome return of Chain Wrestling. This is a minigame that mostly takes place early in the match, where you advance through (or fight to get out of) a series of increasingly impressive holds and maneuvers before landing a signature move or finisher to wrap things up. The system can be confusing initially as you have to move the analog stick around a circle to find a sweet spot before your opponent does, but once you learn it, it’s a neat addition that replicates some very cool, complex moments in pro wrestling. If anything, the only bummer here is that it’s generally relegated to the beginning of a match and extremely situational at any other time.

I’ve also really enjoyed the new match types. Intergender matches aren’t functionally different than any other kind of match beyond “you may have a dude and a lady in the ring at the same time,” but it’s cool that you can do that now – and I, for one, enjoyed having Rhea Ripley fight Kevin Nash. I can say similar things for the Underground matches, which are more like a traditional fighting game (there are no ropes on the ring, and you win by either KOing someone or depleting all their health), and the more chaotic Bloodline Rules bouts. These additions are fun in and of themselves, and match/mode variety can make or break a game like this, so more is good.

Speaking of good, let’s talk about this year’s Showcase mode, which follows the Bloodline and the Anoa’i, Fatu, and Maivia families. Paul “The Wiseman” Heyman hosts the thing this year, and he’s clearly having a very good time chewing the scenery and providing the backstory that explains who the players are and why these matches are significant. There’s a lot of archival footage here, as in years past, though the problem of awkwardly blurring out some folks’ faces (maybe due to rights issues?) persists.

Regardless, Showcase feels better than last year’s version, partially because we’ve got full ring entrances and the mid-match commentary is really excellent for every fight. A fun twist this time around is that you’re sometimes asked to change the outcomes of matches that members of these families lost in the real WWE storyline or create new “what if?” matches entirely. There are also no longer any cuts to match footage that interrupt your gameplay – big moments are instead recreated in-game, which means they play out more organically, even if you’re not following the checklist (though there’s something to be said for showing what happened through archival footage). That said, it’s a net positive overall, and I had a blast doing things like beating the ever-loving snot out of Hulk Hogan with Yokozuna or pitting “High Chief” Peter Maivia against George “The Animal” Steele in a steel cage match.

Showcase feels better than last year’s version.

The optional in-match objectives, especially timed ones, can be irritating. Yeah, I get that in the real match, X wrestler might’ve done Y thing so many times in Z seconds, but recreating that in-game means hoping that the computer doesn’t pull a reversal or we don’t get caught in the “you hit me and then I hit you and then you hit me until one of us screws up” mini-game. At that point, you’re better off restarting the match. It’s still worth doing these optional objectives because of the rewards like new wrestlers and arenas, but man, some matches are easier than others in ways you’ll feel.

The other problem with this year’s Showcase is how much of it boils down to “the Bloodline is great because they win all the time, but if they didn’t win, we have to correct that injustice because of how great they are.” That’s fine, but it’s thematically inconsistent in a weird way. Great wrestlers lose all the time and that doesn’t make them less great. I don’t know what the answer to this is since nobody likes playing a game where you’re forced to lose, but I think I would have rather had more real matches with real outcomes.

The other standout mode is MyRise, where your customized character (WWE 2K25 still has one of the best character creators in the world) battles an infiltration by NXT Superstars who are trying to take over the WWE and be the last brand standing. In my run, my “bold and brash” technical wrestler teamed up with his “comedic and fun” ex-girlfriend to fight back against the invasion. The voice acting is… questionable in MyRise, but the scenarios are goofy fun that alternate between “this is a business that combines soap operas and combat sports and we’re going to approach it like that” and “this is serious business” with alarming frequency. But it’s fun to make decisions that change the flow of what happens and it’s cool that you can re-import your characters to start again fresh and make different choices.

The MyGM and Universe modes also return, and they’re largely unchanged from last year, but there’s a couple of nice additions: MyGM is online now, which is great for those who wanna compete against their friends to book the best shows, and Universe finally gets the long-awaited return of promos. I prefer to run with a single wrestler (I have already made Randy Orton the WWE Undisputed Champion, because RKOing people even more fun when you have a big belt that says “look at me, I’m great”), so Universe is more my bag, but if you’re looking to book matches across the WWE, you can’t really go wrong with either option.

MyFaction is also back, and… look, man, it’s a card game, okay? You’ve seen this a million times before. You collect wrestlers and do challenges or take your faction online and compete against other players so you can get new cards and watch the shiny pack-opening animations designed to make your brain produce dopamine and…. Jesus Christ, I’m tired just describing it, please end my misery. It’s Ultimate Team but wrestling, and it’s designed to separate you from your hard-earned cash. The challenges can be fun, and I imagine if you’re really into this kind of thing you’ll enjoy WWE 2K25’s version of it, but I’m not, and the more I play modes like these, the dirtier I feel.

But wait, it gets worse! When I say that MyFaction makes me feel sparkling clean compared to when I played The Island… yeah, that should tell you something. There’s a cool idea here somewhere — WWE God-King Roman Reigns invites you to come to an island and compete for a WWE contract by earning his favor, because apparently That’s a Thing That Happens — but the actual execution made me want to walk straight into the sea. This is really, really bad, folks. Like NBA 2K25’s The City, The Island is a big, open PvPvE space, but it’s mostly quiet, empty, and boring, filled with single-player challenges that are book-ended by static JPGs and text-boxes that get old fast. Meanwhile, the multiplayer in this mode exists to do one thing: Part people from their money, particularly whales who will spend inordinate amounts to make their customized wrestlers beasts off the bat. If you don’t do that, well… you’re gonna have a bad time. I didn’t want to spend long here, as it feels like it exists solely for 2K’s shareholders. It also makes me worry WWE 2K as a series might incorporate more of this in the future at the expense of everything else that makes these games great (hi, Ultimate Team!) as publishers continue to nakedly chase the almighty dollar.

But even The Island, as terrible and money-grubbing as it is, wasn't enough to ruin my fun with WWE 2K25 because everything else about it is great. Visual Concepts deserves their flowers for proving that an annual sports (sports entertainment?) game can feel excellent to play and look good year over year. The WWE series has always been a looker, but this iteration has managed to make things noticeably prettier than ever. Bruises, blood, and sweat are more realistic, and you can tell how long a match has been going, who is winning, and where the guys in the ring are taking the most punishment at a glance. It’s really impressive.

Silent Hill Transmission March 2025: Everything Announced and Revealed for Silent Hill f

13 mars 2025 à 23:14

Konami's latest Silent Hill Transmission has arrived and it was focused completely on Silent Hill f, the upcoming entry in the beloved horror franchise that will take players to 1960s Japan.

Silent Hill f was was first announced in 2022 and was described as a game that looks to take place in a "beautiful, therefore terrifying” world. It was also confirmed Silent Hill f was being written by Ryukisshi07, the acclaimed Japanese visual novel writer behind the Higurashi and Umineko series.

After almost three years, we are finally learning a lot more about Silent Hill f, and you can read all about it below.

Silent Hill f Aims to 'Find the Beauty in Terror' and Present Players With a Beautiful Yet Terrifying Choice in 1960s Japan

Konami shared a brand-new trailer for Silent Hill f and a ton of new details, including that it will aim to "find the beauty in terror" and present players with a beautiful yet terrifying choice in 1960s Japan.

The team wasn't ready to spoil what the decision would be, but it did unveil a bit of the story, and we'll leave it to Konami to set the stage;

"Shimizu Hinkao was living her life as an ordinary teenager," the official description reads. "That is, until her town is suddenly shrouded in fog and begins to change in a horrific way. Now, she must explore a town she no longer recognizes while solving puzzles, fighting strange enemies, and doing everything she can to survive... in order to face the ultimate decision that she must make. This is a tale about a beautiful yet terrifying choice."

This new game will be an original story that will be a great place for new players to jump in, but there will be certain Easter Eggs waiting for series veterans. Konami also discussed a few more details on the game, including that it will take place in the fictional Japanese town of Ebisugaoka - which is based on a real place called Kanayama, Gero, in the Gifu Prefecture.

Next, creature & character designer kera presented a message that should excite fans, as it teases what horrors await them in Silent Hill f.

"I love the Silent Hill series, and it's been a big influence on me," Kera said. "In particular, I am constantly remembering Silent Hill 2, and the messages on the walls, the music, and the monster designs. So, when it came to Silent Hill f, and bringing the setting to Japan, we had to come up with something that felt just a little different, and I had to really think about how to get that feeling.

"The monster designs were the hardest. I had to consider everything that's come in Silent Hill before, and figure out how to take this game in a different direction, but still be Silent Hill. It might not be the exact same blood-smeared, rusting scenery, but I sincerely hope you'll enjoy our vision and the world we've created."

Music will also be a very important part of Silent Hill f, and the team is bringing together long-time Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka and Kensuke Inage (Dynasty Warriors series and more) to create music for both the Fog World and Otherworld, respectively.

"I have composed music for an unsettling yet beautiful world that uses imagery from shrines, blending ancient Japanese court music with ambient echoes," Inage said. "I wove in various techniques that will connect the player to the protragonist's agony, internal conflict, fear, and other emotions."

While we didn't get a release date, it was confirmed that Silent Hill f will be released on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.

Save Thousands off LG's Top End 83" Gallery Series 4K OLED Smart TV at Walmart and Amazon

13 mars 2025 à 23:10

I don't post very many deals on LG's Gallery Series OLED TVs because they're usually obnoxiously expensive. Today's deal isn't exactly "cheap", but it's one of the best deals I've seen for one of the nicest TVs you can get. For a very limited time, Walmart and Amazon are offering the 83" LG Evo G3 Gallery Series 4K OLED Smart TV for under $2,700 with free delivery. To emphasize just how good of a deal this is, the 2024 83" LG G4 TV currently sells for a whopping $5,300. The Gallery Series TVs are LG's highest end OLED TVs and perhaps the best OLED TVs, period.

83" LG G3 Gallery Series 4K OLED Smart TV for $2,634.21

The G3 launched in 2023, so it's one generation behind the latest model (no "G5" TV has been released) yet) but it's still better than any other TV in LG's inventory - OLED or otherwise - with the sole exception of the 2024 G4 that succeeds it. The LG G-series OLED is better than the C-series. Although they both feature an "Evo" panel that's brighter than traditional W-OLED TVs, the G-series goes one step further by incorporating MLA (micro lens array) technology, which increases brightness. This significantly adds to the cost of the TV, but it brings image quality up to the same level as or even better than Samsung's quantum dot OLED TVs.

Generally speaking, OLED TVs are considered the best TVs you can buy right now. Compared to traditional LED LCD TVs, they offer better image quality, deeper blacks, better contrast ratio, wider color gamut, and super fast response times. Because of these advantages, the OLED TV are easily the best type of TV for viewing 4K HDR content in all of its intended glory. LG OLED TVs particular have been out for years and benefit from several generations of optimizations.

We picked the LG G-series TV as our favorite TV for gaming. It has all the features you'd want in a current generation gaming TV, including a native 120Hz panel and four HDMI 2.1 ports that can run games in 4K at 120Hz on a PS5 or Xbox Series X console. It supports variable refresh rate (VRR) and auto low latency mode (ALLM).

One note to keep in mind is that none of the LG G-series TVs include a stand. They are meant to be mounted on the wall like an art installation (hence the "Gallery" monikor). Instead, a flush mount wall bracket is included.

Looking for more options? Check out all of the best TVs of 2025.

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.

The Best Battery Cases for Smartphones in 2025

13 mars 2025 à 22:00

The best portable chargers are an effective way to extend the battery of your smartphone or other devices. Unfortunately, many of these bricks can get a bit clunky. A battery case provides a sleeker solution tailored to your phone, and you’ll get to skip the cable management that often comes with traditional power banks.

TL;DR – The Best Smartphone Battery Cases:

Battery cases must be able to add extra juice to your phone and provide damage protection. You’ll also want something that doesn’t interfere with your phone's features, like NFC or ports, nor add too much bulk. Wireless charging and quick charging make battery cases even more convenient. However, there are some duds out there that either make your phone a little too chunky or fail to deliver a reliable charge. To help you in this search, we've rounded up five battery cases for the top phones on the market.

1. Mophie Juice Pack Battery Case

Best iPhone 16 Pro Battery Case

The iPhone 16 Pro’s 3,582mAh battery shouldn’t have a problem lasting throughout the day with moderate usage but when taking pictures, doom scrolling, or gaming, its juice depletes much quicker. The Mophie Juice Pack Battery Case for iPhone 16 Pro will keep the phone lasting even longer thanks to the 2,800mAh battery it’s packing. The case simply slots onto the phone and into the USB-C port. An indicator light is on board to let you know the battery levels and stand-by mode will stop the battery from topping off your device.

Admittedly, the Juice Pack doesn’t offer as much extra battery life as some of our other picks. Still, the 50% battery boost to the iPhone 16 Pro makes a major difference while allowing the case to still be surprisingly compact, adding minimal bulk and weighing about 3.5oz. The phone with the case attached is still easy to handle and slips right into a back pocket or bag, making it one of the best iPhone accessories you can grab.

This case provides excellent protection for the iPhone too, as it’s rated for falls up to 6ft. Thus, you can avoid the minor heart attack that occurs every time the device slips from your grip. Raised edges also help prevent scratches and cracks to the screen and camera. Mophie includes an integrated passive magnet to attach the iPhone to various accessories, but it doesn’t support wireless charging.

2. ZeroLemon Battery Case

Best iPhone 16 Pro Max Battery Case

Given the absolute behemoth 4,685mAh battery, you might not think the iPhone 16 Pro Max needs extra juice. But there’s a case to be made if you want to go wild in Cinematic Mode or game in Apple Arcade without worrying about it conking out. ZeroLemon’s battery case gives you peace of mind thanks to its two 5,000mAh batteries that add about 1.5 extra charges to your phone. LED indicator lights on the case even let you know the charging status and battery levels.

ZeroLemon’s case is built tough, coming with military-grade protection and shockproofing to protect your phone from damage. Keeping your phone safe and the extra 10,000mAh of juice makes this option significantly bulkier than other cases, so it’s best for someone with larger hands. When you plug in your device to the case via USB-C, speedy 18W fast charging will get your phone from 0% to 100% in about two hours. Unfortunately, there isn’t support for data passing through or wired headsets via the USB-C when the case is attached.

3. Mophie Juice Pack Wireless

Best iPhone SE Battery Case

The iPhone SE (2022) is a mighty little budget smartphone, especially considering its stellar performance while running on the latest version of iOS for such a low price. However, its 2,018mAh battery will struggle to make it through an entire day if you plan to use the phone intensively. A solution? The Mophie Juice Pack Wireless delivers a full charge to your phone, keeping you away from power outlets for longer.

In addition to extending the daily usage of your phone, this Mophie case potentially expands its lifetime by wrapping it in a slim, protective shell that doesn’t add too much bulk. Short-circuit, over-charge, and temperature protection keep your device safe. And when you need to top the case back up, you can just set it on a wireless charger and your phone will get juiced up too. Passthrough technology also lets you connect a lightning cable or headphones, so you’ll never need to remove the case.

4. Newdery Battery Case

Best Samsung Galaxy S25 Case

The Samsung Galaxy S25 has a surprisingly high-capacity 4,000mAh battery for such a compact Android phone. But when you use it all day, the juice will deplete quicker than you think. That’s where the Newdery Battery Case steps in to be a potential gamechanger. You’ll get an extra 8,000mAh of juice –almost two full charges from this battery case – ensuring you never run out of battery when using the phone’s more taxing features, like the cameras or gaming capability, without adding too much extra bulk.

The Newdery Battery Case slides onto your Galaxy S25 and plugs into the USB-C port to deliver juice. Even with the case attached, the USB-C port still offers NFC and data transfer. If you’ve got a wireless charger, you can charge up the case and phone that way, but fast charging via the USB-C means you can get back to 100% quicker. Of course, beyond charging your phone, the TPU and PC materials used in this case add a healthy dose of protection against potential damage.

This case is also available in the Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 Ultra models.

5. Mophie Juice Pack Connect

Best Battery Case for Any Phone

Having a battery case is great, but once you upgrade your phone, that case will likely be rendered useless. The Mophie Juice Pack Connect is a battery solution that works for your current phone and probably your next one as well. This battery option isn't exactly a case, as it doesn't cover your phone, but it does attach a battery to it.

With the Juice Pack Connect, you'll stick a small anchor point to your phone or phone case and then you can slip on the 5,000mAh battery pack whenever you need it. The battery itself uses Qi wireless charging, so it supports a variety of smartphones and can recharge wirelessly. It even comes with a stand to prop up your phone when watching clips or reviewing documents.

How to Choose the Best Battery Case

You might think picking the right battery case for your phone is just a matter of finding an option with the biggest capacity. That's a surefire way of buying something too big to fit in your pocket. Choosing an ideal charging case comes down to hitting the right balance between battery capacity, size, and price.

If you're looking for a battery case to just throw in your bag when you need it, you might as well grab a portable charger. There's no point in buying something molded to fit your phone if you're never going to use it with the charging case, which leaves space that otherwise could have been used for more energy cells. With that in mind, you need to find a battery case that'll actually fit into your pocket or bag without adding too much weight or bulk while adding protection to your phone.

Another problem with choosing the highest capacity battery is that it's often its only feature. Most of the highest capacity battery cases we've seen sacrifice quick charging and Qi charging capabilities for storing more energy. That latter feature is important if you like to keep the charging chase on your phone at all times. It’s also especially handy for wirelessly charging your phone and battery case simultaneously.

Battery Case FAQ

Are battery cases safe for your phone?

Yes, a battery case shouldn’t damage your phone’s battery, as long as it’s used properly. Your phone takes power directly from the battery case, and after the case is drained, it’ll start using the phone’s battery. Smartphones also come with the ability to monitor your battery as it charges, preventing overloading. The only major issue you could run into is overheating if the case doesn’t offer proper ventilation.

Should you drain your battery case before charging?

No, it isn’t necessary to drain the lithium-based batteries found in battery cases. If you let your battery fully drain completely, it may even damage it, reducing the capacity over time.

Mark Knapp is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything electronics and gaming hardware. He has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry with bylines at PCMag, Reviewed, CNET, and more. Find Mark on Twitter @Techn0Mark or BlueSky at @Techn0Mark.

Danielle is a Tech freelance writer based in Los Angeles who spends her free time creating videos and geeking out over music history.

SILENT HILL f gets official PC system requirements

14 mars 2025 à 00:29

Konami has revealed the official PC system requirements for its new SILENT HILL game, SILENT HILL f. Moreover, the publisher has shared a new in-engine trailer, which you can find below. SILENT HILL f promises to blend psychological horror with a haunting Japanese setting. In the game, players will assume the role of Hinako. Hinako … Continue reading SILENT HILL f gets official PC system requirements

The post SILENT HILL f gets official PC system requirements appeared first on DSOGaming.

Jeff and Annie Strain Sue NetEase for $900 Million, Alleging It Erroneously Told Investors They Committed Fraud

13 mars 2025 à 22:24

Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet and co-creator of State of Decay, along with his wife Annie Strain, are suing Marvel Rivals creator NetEase for $900 million, alleging that NetEase caused the devaluing and ultimate closure of their studio by spreading rumors among investors that the Strains had committed fraud with their most recent venture, Prytania Media Group.

In a case filed in January in the civil district court for the parish of Orleans in Louisiana and since moved to federal court, the amended complaint seen by IGN opens with a hefty accusation: "This case is about the destruction of the careers of two gaming industry veterans and their company by a Chinese entity seeking to avoid compliance with United States law."

The story told by the Strains in the complaint is a complex one that does not fully fill in the many questions left last year when Prytania Media's subsidiaries unexpectedly shut down, one by one. Per their account, NetEase invested early in one of Prytania's subsidiaries, Crop Circle Games, taking a 25% share and seating Han Chenglin on the company board, with Jeff and Annie Strain taking the other two positions.

At first, they say, the relationship was a positive one. However over time, they say that NetEase leaders and representatives began to express concern about compliance with U.S. laws regarding foreign investment, including in at least one email asking the Strains to keep their investment "low profile" so as to avoid having to comply with rules laid out by The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The complaint says they were asked to open branches in Canada or Ireland in order to make it easier for NetEase to invest.

A significant portion of the complaint endeavors to outline NetEase's alleged ties to the Chinese Community Party, suggesting NetEase wanted to keep those connections confidential from the United States government, and citing both Tencent's declaration as a "Chinese military company" by the U.S. government earlier this year, and reports that NetEase CEO Ding Lei allegedly used the threat of CCP retaliation against Activision Blizzard back in 2023 in its dealings with the company over licensing.

The pair also claim they were told that Lei was in the process of immigrating to the United States into a $29 million Bel-Air mansion sold to him by Elon Musk in 2020. They say that Lei expressed concern that his immigration would be threatened if NetEase's investments were publicized.

The Strains say that they continued to ask questions and push the company about regulatory compliance, and over time their relationship with NetEase began to break down. It also seems that the company began to have money troubles at some point during this period, because in early February of 2024, Crop Circle Games laid off some of its staff and furloughed others, and IGN understood at the time from sources close to the studio that internally there was significant confusion, fear, and later anger internally at how the situation was handled.

In the Strains' complaint, they say that on February 22, Jeff Strain received a text from a managing director of one of the venture firms that invested in Prytania saying that Crop Circle Games was being accused of fraud and misuse of funds. The Strains claim they traced the rumors back to its source, saying that the director claimed he had heard this from NetEase. In a board meeting in March, Han Chenglin admitted that he told his coworkers "I'm really surprised that the company is running out of runway so quickly," and suggested this was where the rumor had come from.

The Strains allege that following this incident, other investors began to pull funding from Prytania, and the company could not find any new investors to work with. According to the complaint, in the ensuing weeks and months Prytania Media and all its subsidiaries came to be "worth nearly nothing," having once been estimated to be worth $344 million. Prytania shuttered Crop Circle Games entirely at the end of March last year.

Then, in April, Annie Strain published a lengthy letter on the company website in which she blamed the recent industry economic downturn and inability to find funding for the company's struggles. She also repeatedly mentioned an alleged article being written by Kotaku reporter Ethan Gach that she claimed would have outed her own personal health struggles without consulting her. The letter was taken down not long after, and Kotaku never published the article in question. However, Prytania subsidiary Possibility Space shuttered a week later, with Jeff Strain blaming employees leaking information to the press for the closure. Neither NetEase, nor allegations of fraud were mentioned at this time.

Jeff Strain, Annie Strain, and Prytania Media are suing NetEase for defamation, unfair trade practices, tortious interference with business relations, and negligence. They are seeking damages in excess of $900 million, triple their company's prior valuation.

NetEase shared the following statement with Polygon in response to the suit:

The allegations by Prytania Media and its founders Annie and Jeff Strain are wholly without merit, and we emphatically deny and will vigorously defend ourselves against them. Our record as a global gaming company speaks for itself, and we remain committed to conducting business with integrity. We are confident that the legal process will vindicate our position and shed light on the real reasons behind the demise of the Strains’ studios.

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

Invincible Season 3 Episode 8 Review – “I Thought You’d Never Shut Up”

13 mars 2025 à 22:15

This review contains spoilers for season 3, episode 8 of Invincible, “I Thought You’d Never Shut Up.”

After “What Have I Done” ended on a high – promising action hand-in-hand with vital advancement for the characters – the season 3 finale “I Thought You’d Never Shut Up” drops the ball. Narratively scattered and thematically incoherent, it’s the first bad episode Invincible has ever had, one that draws on familiar sights and stories from the show and other superhero media, but presents them with little to nothing beneath the surface.

The arrival of the elderly, one-armed Viltrumite warrior Conquest, at a time when Mark is caught once again between killing or not, sets the stage for a moral dilemma that never arrives, but whose conclusion is presented as though it were agonized over for 40 minutes. Instead, we’re treated to a finale centered entirely around Conquest, who’s better suited to playing a transitional bad guy, rather than the final boss of such an emotionally loaded season. Not only have we never seen Conquest prior to last week’s closing moments, he’s also devoid of any real ideology. Claiming to love only death and destruction makes him a useful foil to Mark, but as an exclamation point on season 3, he’s a giant shoulder shrug with little connection to anything meaningful within Invincible.

Conquest’s antics force Mark to put civilians in danger once again, a development our hero doesn’t even acknowledge, despite it being such a potent part of his recent arc. “I Thought You’d Never Shut Up” ignores any left over angst from the Powerplex saga despite reenacting the supervillain’s origin story: A Viltrumite big bad using Mark as a battering ram to slaughter innocent bystanders. But Conquest ending season 3 the way Nolan ended season 1 lacks weight. Rather than Mark feeling each death, the people are merely collateral damage, and the guy forcing Mark to kill them isn’t someone he knows. It’s Invincible doing an encore of one of its greatest hits, but in completely uninteresting fashion, making it damn near impossible to invest in the climax of this uneven season.

Oliver veers in and out of the final battle, and Eve arrives as well the moment she wakes up from her coma. That they’re both at risk of being killed at least lends some stakes to the fight, but when Eve is gravely injured (she has her jaw broken and her insides strewn about), it’s hard to get on board with the idea that she might actually die – the GDA possesses near-magical technology capable of healing any injury, after all. But even before we’re faced with this reality, the air is let out of “I Thought You’d Never Shut Up” when Eve heals herself thanks to a power-up rooted in actual magic, pretty much out of the blue.

Mark wailing away on Conquest is, therefore, a purely physical act with no emotion behind it. The Viltrumite is a complete stranger, and giving him lengthy monologues this late into the season (and so soon after his arrival) feels entirely pointless, as though Invincible were straining to grant him some semblance of heft or relevance. The results are dull, and they ensure that the edges of the episode’s violence are all sanded down. While the question of Sinclair’s work for the GDA (which now extends to Invincible cyborgs) looms, it exists only as a hint for later seasons, rather than something that matters in the moment.

Similarly, when the finale wraps up, it points towards vague, oncoming developments for numerous side characters like Battlebeast and the demon detective Damien Darkblood, though there’s still no sign of the all-important, absent-for-several-weeks Nolan. When “I Thought You’d Never Shut Up” is near its end, we finally learn that Rex actually did, in fact, die – it’s hard to tell who’s dead for real, given the sudden resurrections of late. But before anyone (let alone his girlfriend, Rae) really has time to grieve, the focus shifts back to Mark and Eve’s relationship. Mark claims to have been deeply affected when he believed Eve was dead, but since this lasted for only a handful of minutes, and because this is the last we’ll see of Invincible until season 4, we’re left to wonder what impact it’ll actually have on him, and on their dynamic. Things wrap up neatly for Debbie, who’s happy to have her kids back, and the finale features a few ominous hints of how far Cecil is willing to go. But for the most part, “I Thought You’d Never Shut Up” leaves Invincible in stasis, with little resolution, and only nominal, minor developments toward what comes next.

Are You Willing to Pay for a Streaming Service With Ads?

13 mars 2025 à 22:15

One of the earliest appealing factors of streaming services when they first became popular was convenience. You could binge all of your favorite shows all at once and not get interrupted by commercial breaks like you would watching linear TV. But as more and more companies have moved over to a streaming model, ads have made their way into streaming. If you want an ad-free experience now, you need to pay for the "premium" service.

Obviously it isn't ideal to have to pay more just to keep the streamlined experience you had before. But where do you draw the line? Are you willing to pay more for the ad-free experience of your go-to streaming service, or do you just ignore and mute the commercial breaks to keep your streaming bill down?

I've always been willing to pay more for the ad-free experience, but the first time I broke from that was when Amazon Prime started to include ads. My Amazon Prime subscription is something I mostly use for shopping and Prime Video always felt like a bonus add-on. So when the option came to pay more to avoid ads, I chose to just ignore the ads. For a streaming service like Hulu or Netflix where I am specifically paying to be able to watch things, I will most likely cancel before I ever downgrade to the ad-filled experience – especially when there are so many free streaming sites that don't cost me anything.

What Do You Think?

Where do you stand on ads in streaming? With prices constantly going up across services, are you willing to stomach some commercials to continue your subscription? There is currently a Disney+ promotion going on right now that bundles a subscription with Hulu for $2.99 a month for the first four months, but is that a low enough price to even consider dealing with ads? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

index.feed.received.yesterday — 13 mars 20253.3 🎲 Jeux English

Best GPU 2025: Pick the Best Graphics Card for Your Gaming PC

13 mars 2025 à 21:15

When you’re setting out to build or upgrade your gaming PC, the best graphics cards are often the first thing that comes to mind. There’s a simple reason for that: When it comes to PC games, GPUs are the most impactful component in determining your rig's raw frame rates. Quite simply, most of the time, a better graphics card directly results in better performance – at least up to a point. With Nvidia's RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 cards out now (though it's nearly impossible to actually get one), here are the best graphics cards on the market.

TL;DR: These Are the Best Graphics Cards:

These days, GPUs have legitimately become a luxury good. With graphics cards like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 costing upwards of $1,999, you can expect to pay top dollar for top performance. Prices are still way higher than they were when the GTX 970 blew my mind in 2014 – even when adjusted for inflation. However, if you temper your expectations, you can still get a solid gaming experience for a fraction of that price, especially if you're okay with gaming at 1440p or 1080p.

I’ve been reviewing graphics cards for the last four generations, and I’ve personally benchmarked, built with, and played games using every GPU on this list. However, if none of these strike your fancy, feel free to comment below what kind of gaming experience you’re looking for, and I’d be happy to help you find the perfect card for your build.

What to Look for in a Graphics Card

While it would be easy to just tell you to get the most powerful graphics card on the market for the best gaming experience, the truth is that picking a GPU is something you need to put a bit more thought into. not all graphics cards are created equal, you see, and everyone is going to need something a little different out of their PCI-E brick.

The resolution you play games at is going to be the first thing you want to figure out. Whether you already have a gaming monitor you love or you're looking to build up an entire gaming battlestation, decide on your resolution first. This is because a graphics card that's great at 4K isn't exactly going to translate to an amazing 1080p graphics card. Just take a look at the Nvidia RTX 5090. While the new flagship flies at 4K, it can actually be slower than much cheaper graphics cards at 1080p, due to CPU bottlenecking. Instead, if you're playing at 1080p, something like the Intel Arc B580 is going to be a much better fit. You're still going to get solid gaming performance, but at a much lower price, which you can use to, well, buy more games. Likewise, 1440p gamers are probably best off buying something like the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT or the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super.

Budget is also a huge concern, and graphics cards are only getting more expensive these days. It would be awesome if everyone could afford an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, but that's just not the world we live in. These days, the floor sits around $200-$250. For that price you can get a solid 1080p graphics card, without having to go back to a previous generation. If you have a bit more cash, something like the Nvidia RTX 4060 will unlock all of Nvidia's exclusive bells and whistles – though they're much less important on a lower-end GPU.

If you really want to go all-out, you can get an amazing graphics card for around $1,000. Both the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 will provide an awesome 4K gaming experience, and the one you choose should ultimately depend on how much you care about ray tracing. For most people that just want raw gaming performance, the Radeon RX 9070 XT is probably going to be a better option, but you're going to want to wait a minute for AMD's next-generation offering. I don't know how well the Radeon RX 9070 XT is going to perform until I benchmark it, but it should prove to be great for 4K gaming, especially with the upcoming FSR 4.

Luckily, it looks like this generation of graphics cards is going to make 4K gaming much more accessible. When I reviewed the Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti, I found that it had no problem breaking 60 fps in even demanding games like Black Myth Wukong. However, more expensive and powerful cards like the RTX 5080 and 5090 are going to give you more breathing room for future PC games.

With more expensive graphics cards, however, power is going to be a big concern. You're going to want to make sure you check which power supply you have, and check it against the power requirements for the graphics card you're looking at. Something like the Intel Arc B580 can get away with a 450W PSU, but you're going to want to make sure you have something much more powerful for the Radeon RX 7800 XT, for instance. You don't need to go overboard and fork over the cash for a power supply that offers twice the recommended power, just make sure you have enough juice to keep your GPU going.

1. AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

The Best Graphics Card for Most People

For the last few years, high-end graphics cards have been getting more expensive than ever before. In just a few generations, the top-end Nvidia graphics card went from being $699 for the GTX 1080 Ti to $1,999 for the RTX 5090, far outpacing inflation. And while the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT isn't quite the most powerful graphics card on the market right now, it still provides an excellent 4K gaming experience at a much lower price than the RTX 5070 Ti it directly competes with.

In my testing, I found that the $599 RX 9070 XT often beats the $749 RTX 5070 Ti, sometimes by double digits. Even in games like Cyberpunk 2077, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT has no problem maintaining 71 fps at 4K with the Ray Tracing Ultra preset, only trailing the RTX 5070 Ti by 4 fps. That's a marginal difference and only goes to show that while AMD graphics cards still trail behind Nvidia GPUs in ray tracing, they've come a long way since the RX 6000 generation introduced RT to Team Red a few years ago.

This new generation of AMD GPUs also brings an improvement I've been begging AMD for – AI upscaling via FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 4. This new upscaler doesn't necessarily provide better performance than FSR 3, which is based on a traditional temporal upscaler, but it does provide much better image quality, especially in scenes with fine detail that can get muddied up by less elegant upscaling solutions.

The only downside is that because AMD isn't its own version of this graphics card, the market is completely made up of third-party cards that could see much more volatile pricing. However, if you can get a Radeon RX 9070 XT at or around its MSRP, it's easily the best graphics card out there for most people.

2. Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

The Best Mainstream Graphics Card If You Want to Spend a Bit More

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti is a lesson in pricing. At its suggested price of $749, it is one of the best bang-for-your-buck graphics cards of this entire generation. However, with the graphics card just having launched recently, it remains to be seen how available it will be at that suggested price. It is distinctly possible that the only RTX 5070 Ti graphics cards that are available will cost much more than the suggested price, which will make it much harder to recommend.

If you can find the RTX 5070 Ti at $749, or even up to $800, it is one of the best 4K graphics cards for most people. When I reviewed the 5070 Ti, I found that it stayed within reaching distance of the RTX 5080, consistently sitting just 13-15% behind it, while having a 33% lower asking price. It's not hard to see why it's the best value high-end graphics card of this generation, so far at least.

The elephant in the room, however, is Blackwell's tepid generation-on-generation improvement over the RTX 4000 graphics cards. The Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti has the best generational gain out of any of the RTX 5000 cards, and its still limited to being just 11% faster than the RTX 4070 Super and 21% faster than the original RTX 4070. That's not a huge jump, but its still a bigger improvement than the RTX 5080, which is just 15% faster than the RTX 4080 in the same test suite.

3. Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090

The Best Nvidia Graphics Card

There's no way around it, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 is the most powerful graphics card on the market right now. Full stop. While it doesn't mark the same kind of generational growth that the RTX 4090 or even the RTX 3090 did, there's no getting around the fact that it provides the best gaming performance you can get right now – especially when you take DLSS multi-frame generation into account.

Not only is the RTX 5090 bigger than the 4090, now coming with 21,760 CUDA cores and 32GB of GDDR7 memory, but it also has a much higher power budget. When I reviewed the RTX 5090, I found the next-gen graphics flagship would peak at a staggering 578W, a huge increase from the 448W of the RTX 4090. With all that extra power, Nvidia needed to find a better way to dissipate heat, and introduced a new cooler for its Founders Edition. Instead of doubling down on the triple-fan design of the last couple of generations, Team Green actually found a way to slim the design back down to a dual slot cooler, something I haven't seen in a flagship Nvidia graphics card since the RTX 2080 Ti.

The company was able to do this by shrinking down the circuit board where the GPU is located, placing it at the center of the card. Each side of that PCB is bookended by pass-through heatsinks, where fans pull cool air through the bottom of the card, and shoot it straight through to the top of your PC case. The thermal engineering of it all is a bit more complicated than that, but even with all that extra power, I only ever saw the RTX 5090 reach up to 87°C. That's a high temperature, but its still low enough to game at full blast.

On average, I found the RTX 5090 to be about 26% faster than the RTX 4090, when looking at 4K games and synthetic 3DMark benchmarks. That number does diminish at lower resolutions, of course, and you really shouldn't be forking over the $1,999 (or more!) for this GPU if you're not going to play at 4K. Even at 4K, there were certain games that simply didn't have much of a performance uplift due to the limitations of the CPU – and I used the Ryzen 7 9800X3D. For better or worse, then, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 shines in the exact kind of workload it's designed for. No holds barred, everything maxed out at 4K, and with minimal upscaling. Gone are the days where DLSS on 'Performance' mode is necessary at 4K – at least for this beastly GPU.

4. AMD Radeon RX 9070

The Best AMD Graphics Card

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 launched in a weird place. At $549, it's theoretically just $50 cheaper than the excellent 9070 XT at $599. And while the performance lines up pretty perfectly with that price difference, it can be hard to justify opting for the 9070 when you can just spend $50 more and get one of the best GPUs in years. However, get past that, and the RX 9070 makes a lot of sense if you play games at 1440p.

When i reviewed the AMD Radeon RX 9070, I found that it outperformed the Nvidia RTX 5070 – another $549 GPU – in almost every test by an average of 12%. Considering both are current-generation cards that launched just a day apart, that's a huge difference at the same price point. There are some games where AMD's lead is less pronounced, of course, particularly in ray tracing-heavy games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth Wukong, but the RX 9070 still pulls ahead in those games, too.

The AMD Radeon RX 9070, like its XT sibling, also introduces FSR 4, bringing AI upscaling to AMD graphics cards for the first time. Just like with the 9070 XT, this upscaling solution isn't necessarily faster than the temporal upscaling of FSR 3, but it is much more accurate, producing cleaner images with less ghosting and artifacting.

5. Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060

The Best GPU for 1080p

According to the Steam Hardware Survey, 1080p gaming displays are still the most popular monitors out there, and it's not close. So, despite how hyped up 4K displays are, if you’re comfortable with 1080p, you don’t need an extremely powerful graphics card to play even the most demanding games. That’s where the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 really shines.

The RTX 4060 can power any game at 1080p, even with all the fancy ray tracing settings that are coming out these days. And thanks to DLSS, it can even stretch to higher resolutions in certain games. And for a current-generation graphics card that you can find under $300, that’s not a bad deal.

When I reviewed the RTX 4060, I found that it was able to run most games extremely well at 1080p with all the settings cranked at more than 60fps, even if it just barely got there in some games. For instance, in Cyberpunk 2077 on the ray tracing ultra preset, the RTX 4060 scored just 62fps at 1080p. That is the golden frame rate, but you’re not going to be doing much high-refresh gaming on this card.

The RTX 4060 does have a weak side, though, and that’s how it compares to the RTX 3060 Ti that came out before it. You can still find the RTX 3060 Ti at most retailers, and for a comparable price, but yet it manages to beat out the RTX 4060 in most of my tests. There are some features you’d be giving up by going with a last-generation card, DLSS 3.0 being chief among them, but that may be worth it for the slight edge in performance you can get. However, at this price range, a feature like DLSS 3.0 that can stretch performance out in supported games is worth it, and can really stretch out the value of the card.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 isn’t perfect, but if you want a current-generation graphics card for under $300 that runs any PC game above 60fps, I’d have a hard time coming up with an alternative – certainly not the Radeon RX 7600.

Upcoming GPUs

The new generation of graphics cards has almost completely landed. With the most recent launches, the entire market is covered from the high-end with the RTX 5090 to the budget market with the Intel Arc B580. While there are some new cards that will trickle out over the coming months – looking at you RTX 5060, wherever you are – we probably won't see the market shake up again until at least 2027.

Still, now might not be the best time to jump in and buy a graphics card, especially if you already have a passable gaming PC. Most of the best graphics cards are sold out right now, and demand is making the ones that remain much more expensive than they should be. My advice is to wait until you can find one of these graphics cards reasonably close to their launch price, even if it means waiting a couple of months. It'll be worth it.

Best Graphics Cards FAQ

AMD or Nvidia? Or Intel?

When it comes to which brand of graphics card you should get, it ultimately comes down to your personal preference – even if each brand has its own unique advantages. Intel graphics cards are the most affordable option on the market right now, but its graphics cards aren’t exactly the fastest in the land. On the other hand, Nvidia makes the most powerful GPUs around, but you’re going to have to pay out the nose for that performance.

AMD graphics cards strike a pretty good balance between the two, but while the company loves to use open-source graphics APIs, it means you don’t get access to some of the exclusive features that Nvidia owners enjoy – features like DLSS (and the new DLSS 4). AMD has alternatives for literally every Nvidia software feature, but some of them simply aren’t as good. See our guide to AMD vs. Nvidia GPUs for more info.

What power supply should I get?

Graphics cards, especially high-end ones, are sucking up more electricity with every passing year. If you’re looking to build a new gaming PC, or even upgrade from an older graphics card, you should really consider upgrading to one of the best power supplies.

Some of the graphics cards out there right now can take upwards of 450W of power by themselves, so you may want to consider a 1,000W power supply – especially if you’re going for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090.

GTX vs. RTX

Nvidia has both an RTX, or Ray Tracing Texel eXtreme, and GTX, Giga Texel Shader eXtreme graphics cards series, with the RTX offerings being newer, more powerful, and more expensive.

That boosted performance is thanks to the architecture of RTX cards, which offer both Tensor and RT cores alongside CUDA cores for better graphics and rendering. Tensor cores enable AI and high-performance computing tasks bringing support for DLSS tech to help with upscaling and sharpening. RT cores are dedicated to ray tracing, allowing for more realistic lighting and shadows in scenes. Nvidia’s GTX graphics cards have a much simpler architecture and don’t offer Tensor or RT cores. Though they still work for budget builds, GTX cards will soon be obsolete.

Where to Get the Best Graphics Cards in the UK

There aren't too many differences when it comes to the graphics cards you can pick up in the UK, but the main takeaway is where you can purchase them. All of the following links have been updated with UK vendors, saving you some time and money if you're interested in picking up any of the graphics cards we've mentioned.

Jacqueline Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN. When she's not helping her friends and family buy computers, you can usually find her tinkering with her own PC.

HeroQuest Buying Guide

13 mars 2025 à 20:41

One of the original dungeon-crawling board games that sought to recreate the excitement and danger of tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, HeroQuest was first released more than 30 years ago. Putting players into roles like the mighty Barbarian and spell-slinging Elf, HeroQuest let a group of friends play out their heroic fantasies right at the kitchen table in a matter of only a couple hours compared to the afternoon-long sessions a traditional TTRPG may take. With its massive amounts of plastic miniatures that came packed in its iconic box and multi-quest long story, HeroQuest established a passionate fan base that would continue to sing its praises decades later and rally behind it when Hasbro asked if folks wanted it to return through its HasLab crowdfunding platform.

And here we sit, several years after the campaign, and new and old fans alike have plenty of HeroQuest to enjoy in the form of the new release and all of its expansions! To help folks who may be interested in working together to slay the evil Zargon and stop his machinations in their tracks, this buyer's guide will help you plan adventures!

HeroQuest Game System

MSRP: $134.99 USD

  • 1-5 players (solo play requires the free HeroQuest companion app)
  • Ages 14+

Contents

  • Quest book w/ 14 new quests
  • 65+ miniatures (31 monsters, 4 heroes, 15 furniture pieces, 19 skull pieces, 4 rats, 21 doors)
  • Gameboard
  • Game Master screen
  • 93 cards

Before anything else, you must secure yourself a copy of the main game, the HeroQuest Game System. Every additional piece of content released so far requires you to have this first - no stand-alone expansions here!

HeroQuest First Light

MSRP: $49.99 USD

  • 1-5 players (solo play requires the free HeroQuest companion app)
  • Ages 14+

Contents

  • Quest book w/ 10 unique quests
  • Game system rulebook
  • Double-sided gameboard
  • Game Master’s screen
  • 5 miniatures
  • 1 pad of character sheets
  • 6 combat dice
  • 2 movement dice
  • 39 cardboard pieces
  • 102 cards
  • 52 plastic movers
  • 31 monster tokens
  • 15 furniture tokens
  • 41 cardboard tiles
  • 21 dungeon door tokens

As much fun as HeroQuest is, for new players who are interested in checking the game out, the hefty price tag can be a big deterrent. But now with HeroQuest: First Light, that bar to get into the system is easier than ever. First Light provides fresh faces with a perfect chance to try out the core game system of HeroQuest while slimming things down a bit on the production side of things to cut the cost.

Outside of the core cast of hero characters for players to pick from and the impressive dragon miniature, much of the game that had previously been represented as plastic minis are now cardboard tokens instead. For fans who already own the core box of HeroQuest, there isn’t much of a reason to pick up First Light unless you’re a completionist, you’re desperate to check out the unique quests, or want more hero figures to paint.

To sweeten the deal even more, First Light is fully compatible with all other HeroQuest content that has been released in the past few years, making this smaller box the recommended jumping in point unless you already know you love HeroQuest.

The App

MSRP: Free

For player groups that can’t decide/ don’t want to have a game master or adventurers that enjoy dungeon-diving solo, the official HeroQuest companion app for phones automates that roll of Zargon. With fully voiced descriptions, the app is a great way to experience the game and all of its expansion modules, too. The best part is that it’s free, so no harm in checking it out.

The Online Quests

MSRP: Free

Avalon Hill has released online a number of free to download special quests that add the lore and backstory on the world of HeroQuest and your heroes such as the prequel quest, "A New Beginning." These special one-off quests are fun little bonuses that utilize the resources from different HeroQuest products and are great ways to get a little extra HeroQuest goodness.

These free quests can be found over on HasbroPulse’s website.

The Boxed Expansions

Kellar’s Keep

MSRP: $33.99 USD

  • 1-5 players (solo play requires the free HeroQuest companion app)
  • Ages 14+

Contents

  • Quest book w/ 10 new quests
  • 19 miniatures (8 orcs, 6 goblins, 3 abominations, 2 doors)
  • Sheet of cardboard tiles
  • 14 cards

As the first of the expansions for HeroQuest, Kellar’s Keep is one of the lighter offerings among the options available today and its a faithful rerelease of the Kellar’s Keep expansion for the original HeroQuest from the 90s. Kellar’s Keep feels very much like a continuation and extension of the base HeroQuest, thanks in part to a lot of similar monster minis being included. It’s still a fun time and an easy way to understand how expansions work. Kellar’s Keep is the perfect offering for anyone who isn’t necessarily looking for a spike in difficulty but just more HeroQuest.

Return of the Witch Lord

MSRP: $33.99 USD

  • 1-5 players (solo play requires the free HeroQuest companion app)
  • Ages 14+

Contents

  • Quest book w/ 10 new quests
  • 18 miniatures (8 skeletons, 4 mummies, 4 zombies, 2 doors)
  • Sheet of cardboard tiles
  • 14 cards

That dastardly Witch Lord you dealt with in the base Game System is back with his armies of the undead! Return of the Witch Lord is very similar to the Kellar’s Keep expansion, giving players more miniatures from found in the base game, but this pack also includes some pretty cool looking new tiles that are used in over the course of its 10 quests - including the menacing skull on the ground! Return of the Witch Lord is a classic quest that longtime players of the game will recognize and brings about a nice feeling of conclusion carried over from the Game System an Kellar’s Keep storylines. The three together really feel like the beginning trilogy of the HeroQuest series.

Prophecy of Telor

MSRP: $33.99 USD

  • 1-5 players (solo play requires the free HeroQuest companion app)
  • Ages 14+

Contents

  • Quest book w/ 13 new quests
  • New Warlock class
  • 15 miniatures (13 translucent orange enemy minis, 2 warlock character minis)
  • Set of 6 translucent orange D6 Dice
  • 14 cards

Previously one of the two expansions exclusive to the Mythic tier during its crowdfunding phase on Haslab, Prophecy of Telor is now available to everyone in this new premium release. With a menacing set of translucent orange monsters, dice and a brand new character class in the Warlock to play as, the Prophecy of Telor expansion give all players a chance to experience this story. The new Warlock class is particularly fun, being able to change into a demonic form to do battle, making for some wonderful new party composition options for all of your HeroQuest adventures.

Spirit Queen’s Torment

MSRP: $33.99 USD

  • 1-5 players (solo play requires the free HeroQuest companion app)
  • Ages 14+

Contents

  • Quest book w/ 14 new quests
  • New Bard class
  • 15 miniatures (14 translucent teal enemy minis, 1 bard character mini)
  • Set of 6 translucent teal D6 Dice
  • 15 cards

Spirit Queen’s torment is very much similar to the Prophecy of Telor - both being premium mass market releases of previously mythic tier exclusives, awesome translucent monsters and die (this time in an icy teal), and a brand new character class with the Bard. You will deal with dark magics and explore mysterious locations like the Wyvern Keep over the course of the 15 adventures included. And now, at long last, you can play out all your greatest bard fantasies in HeroQuest, singing your magical tunes that will put your enemies to sleep, heal your friends, and grant bonus attack dice to your friends. You will need to homebrew rules to try and seduce monsters though, so be sure to work with your Zargon for all your flirty needs.

Against the Ogre Horde

MSRP: $44.99 USD

  • 1-5 players (solo play requires the free HeroQuest companion app)
  • Ages 14+

Contents

  • Quest book w/ 10 new quests
  • New Druids class
  • 28 miniatures
  • 2 sheets of cardboard tiles
  • 29 cards

For the group that likes to fight and kill a lot of enemies, Against the Ogre Horde will be right up your alley. This latest expansion to release is also a remaster of one the classic modules released for the original HeroQuest back in the day. For fans of the original, much of it will feel incredibly familiar, but there have been slight tweaks and adjustments to account for modern tastes. The miniatures included are some of my favorite offerings so far, with the giant Ogres and massive throne that are included. The new enemies help make this a fun box to snag if you enjoy creating homebrew quests to send your friends on too.

The Mage in the Mirror

MSRP: $44.99 USD

  • 1-5 players (solo play requires the free HeroQuest companion app)
  • Ages 14+

Contents

  • Quest book w/ 10 new quests
  • 33 miniatures
  • Sheet of cardboard tiles
  • 35 cards

With the Realm of Reflection to explore, the Mage in the Mirror expansions tasks your heroic group of heroes with saving a princess, finding a legendary sword, and contending with an evil archmage - basically some good ol’ classic high fantasy goodness. Mage in the Mirror includes a new body type and set of cards for the Elf class that comes with the base Game System in addition to a number of highly detailed environment objects, new tiles, and monster minis. This expansion tells the first part of a story that concludes in the Rise of the Dread Moon set, so it may be worthwhile to get both at once.

Rise of the Dread Moon

MSRP: $44.99 USD

  • 1-5 players (solo play requires the free HeroQuest companion app)
  • Ages 14+

Contents

  • Quest book w/ 10 new quests
  • New Knight class
  • 29 miniatures
  • Sheet of cardboard tiles
  • 58 cards

Picking up where The Mage in the Mirror questline left off, Rise of the Dread Moon brings with it a number of brand new mechanics like the Elven mercenaries but also a new character class as well with the sword-and-board wielding Knight. With a bunch of cool new tiles, objects and monster minis, Rise of the Dread Moon is great for fans that like to make their own quests too. However, if you plan to play through the story and not just utilize the pieces the come in the box, be sure to get and playthrough the Mage in the Mirror expansion first to get the best experience!

The Frozen Horror

MSRP: $44.99 USD

  • 1-5 players (solo play requires the free HeroQuest companion app)
  • Ages 14+

Contents

  • Quest book w/ 10 new quests
  • 23 miniatures
  • Sheet of cardboard tiles
  • 35 cards
  • 6 combat dice
  • 2 movement dice
  • 1 pad of character sheets

Bundle up heroes as the Frozen Horror will send you into the Frozen Wastelands. For Barbarian fans, this expansion will be for you, being a very focused experience tailored to the class - even including a new barbarian miniature with a new body type. There are a bunch of really neat monster sculpts present too with icy blue war bears, and the incredibly imposing title monster, the Frozen Horror, along with a host of mercenaries too. One particularly interesting aspect to the Frozen Horror expansion is that the adventure starts with a series of solo character quests before the group quests resume. If smacking things really hard is your style (and you want a cool new set of blue dice to play with) then The Frozen Horror expansion may be for you.

Jungles of Delthrak

MSRP: $44.99 USD

  • 1-5 players (solo play requires the free HeroQuest companion app)
  • Ages 14+

Contents

  • Quest book w/ 16 new quests
  • 29 miniatures ( 8 orcs, 6 goblins, 3 abominations, 2 doors)
  • 39 cardboard pieces
  • 36 cards

Poisonous snakes, menacing spiders, and ruins aplenty await heroes that wish to journey into the Jungles of Delthrak. This quest pack takes players tasks players with retrieving a powerful artifact and get to the bottom of the Dread Blight that has seeped its way into the roots of the jungle. In addition to a bunch of brand new enemies to face and some pretty nifty new effect parts (the green fire a personal favorite), Jungles of Delthrak introduce the new Berserker and Explorer hero classes to pick from. With its 16 quests to check out, this quest pack offers a lot of value for those that want to take their Hero Quest game out of the dungeons and under canopies of trees instead.

Character Packs

Hero Collection: Rogue Heir of Elethorn

MSRP: $14.99 USD

Contents

  • New Rogue class
  • 2 miniatures (2 different body sculpts for the Rogue)
  • 13 cards (12 game cards, 1 story card)

Every good adventuring party needs the sneaky stabbing rouge character, and with the Rouge Heir of Elethorn character pack, that’s exactly what you get. This box comes complete with models and cards featuring two different body types and has skills that utilize throwing daggers, attacking multiple times, and dealing more damage when a foe is already engaged with a teammate. The only downside is the lack of any real story or quests that explore more of the character.

Hero Collection: Path of the Wandering Monk

MSRP: $14.99 USD

Contents

  • New Monk class
  • 2 miniatures (2 different body sculpts for the Monk)
  • 8 game cards
  • 1 scroll prop

One with the elements and with fists as deadly as any blade, the Monk is one of the more unique classes you can pick from in HeroQuest. By utilizing the elements of wind, water, earth and fire – each with two special effects associated with each element - the monk has a lot of utility that can prove helpful in a pitch. From sailing over traps with the power of the wind to blasting an energy blast from their hands with the power of fire which can hit a large number of enemies at once, the Monk could fill that spot as a last-ditch trump card. In order to use those powerful Fire attacks though, will have required you to have the other three elements expended first. As a master of unarmed combat, the monk doesn’t come with starting armor or a weapon, but with three defend dice and getting two attack dice when attacking unarmed, doesn’t mean they are a pushover. Much like the the Rogue Heir, the main downside to this small character pack is that it doesn’t come with a quest or two that dives into their story.

The End

Hasbro and Avalon Hill show no signs of slowing down their support for the heroes and their questing anytime soon. A whole new generation of players are getting to dungeon dive and learn from the wise Mentor, creating memories they will cherish for the rest of their lives. While HeroQuest may be a bit light on mechanics for an older and more experienced crowd trying out this legacy for the first time, the community has created a wealth of custom rules and unique quests that may help with that.

HeroQuest remains a classic in the board gaming hobby, and its future looks bright.

For more, check out our picks for the best escape room board games, as well as the best board games for teens. And if you have a sizable group for game night, also see the best board games for 6 players.

Scott White is a freelance contributor to IGN, assisting with tabletop games and guide coverage. Follow him on X/Twitter or Bluesky.

Rainbow Six Siege X First Hands-On Preview: The New Dual Front Mode Reinvigorates the 10-Year-Old FPS

13 mars 2025 à 20:00

When I was in high school, I would stay up ‘til all kinds of ungodly hours of the night playing PC games. I even stayed up five days straight once, just to get to the end of Baldur’s Gate II ‘Throne of Bhaal,’ but what fascinated me about PC games most was how inventive they could be.

One that struck my imagination powerfully was Red Faction, which caught my eye because it had some of the hallmarks of DOOM (a high-tech, first-person shooter set on Mars, you say?) yet it added an essential wrinkle; terrain deformation. Red Faction is set in the mines of Mars, and I could fire explosive weapons at walls, creating holes or destroying them, and even tunneling through rock to circumvent checkpoints. It was all about charting your own course and finding your own path to accomplish your goals. It was incredible.

Unfortunately, not a lot has been done with that idea in the intervening years, but when Rainbow Six Siege came out, the ability to freely climb and rappel up and down buildings, and shoot through or destroy walls and ceilings sent a delightful little tickle through my Red Faction-loving brain.

While Siege began as a far more focused (and less exploratory) affair than the old Volition shooter, that (and quite a bit more) is about to change with the arrival of the upcoming Siege X update. Apart from gameplay, graphical, auditory, and UI enhancements, it introduces what is shaping up to be a fantastic new permanent multiplayer mode: Dual Front.

In Dual Front, a predetermined seasonal Operator pool will dictate who you can play, and team sizes are bumped up to six per side. Instead of spawning directly inside (or outside) one target area, there are three large areas to choose from, each with its own objective, so your team of six will need to split up to focus on both defending and attacking different locations simultaneously.

While the scope has expanded, much of the great core gameplay remains the same. When a match starts, each team will spawn in their squad HQ and one of two locations in your team’s sector will start a countdown to a Defend mission. The is true for your opponents, so each team will need to defend one spot while attacking another. How you handle that, and where you decide to go, is up to you.

What’s more, there is a neutral zone in between the mirrored zones held by each team, and extra objectives will appear there. Completing those objectives, such as rescuing a hostage and getting them to an extraction point, will give your team a big boost in the back-and-forth struggle for supremacy, so even if you fail to defend your first location or attack the enemy base, victory is still possible.

Since Dual Front expands the contested space so significantly, I was moving between attacking and defending to suit the team's needs, creating a more free flowing experience with way more variation between matches than your standard Siege match. What results is a fluid, chaotic mess I had a blast with.

Dual Front Mode is, so far, a fluid, chaotic mess I had a blast with.

The seasonal Operator pools will be updated every month, and because your squad will need to do a little bit of everything, you’ll have access to both Attacker and Defender Operators on the character select screen. When you die during a match, you’ll quickly respawn and re-select your Operator, so changing strategies on the fly to counter your enemies is a central (and delightfully fun) part of the game now.

Several times during my preview, it looked like my current (attacking) team was in a great spot, so I would rush across the map to help my other beleaguered comrades who were fighting for their lives to defend our own base objective. Sometimes, everything was as it seemed: I arrived in time, and our team brought home a victory. Other times, I got separated from my team only for them to be ambushed by reinforcements. Each match was tense, because in maps as large as Dual Front’s, it’s difficult to know where the enemy is until they become a capital “p” Problem.

Speaking of navigating larger areas, I should mention some of the new gameplay additions. You can now rappel around corners of buildings and even sprint while rappelling, so it’s easier to poke around and find ways to get inside structures. New fire extinguishers create concussive blasts and visual obfuscation when destroyed, gas pipes can be shot or damaged to create jets of fire before exploding and scattering fire around on the ground, and metal detectors can be disabled temporarily or permanently. Overall, it’s more fun to play in the space, and there is a lot more space to play in on Dual Front’s mirrored map.

Siege X also marks a shift in monetization. After the update, Siege will adopt a free-to-play model, and for casual versus competitive stuff, here’s the skinny: casual and onboarding playlists, unranked quickplay, and Dual Front are all free, and will grant access to up to 26 Operators and skins. Siege Cup and Ranked modes will be pay-to-unlock, and grant access to all 50 Operators. So if you are jumping in as a casual player, there are no barriers to entry, but new players who want to get more serious on the competitive side will need to fork over some cash. If you already have Siege, don’t worry; you will keep everything you have, and retain access to all modes (and as an added bonus, Siege players will get a badge showing off the year they started and a little bonus for each year of Siege they played).

Some other updates in the Siege X package include five modernized maps (Clubhouse, Chalet, Bank, Kafe, and Border), enhanced visuals, audio, first-person shadows, new menus, better player onboarding, the ability to inspect weapons, and a lot more. The dev team has also committed to introduce a new Operator (or remastering an existing one) each season, and a bunch more.

But all those enhancements pale in comparison to Dual Front, which is on track to become my favorite mode for Siege, and once Siege X launches, it’s likely to be the only mode I’ll play as Siege marks its upcoming tenth birthday in an incredibly fun way.

Arkham Horror: The Board Game Buying Guide

13 mars 2025 à 19:38

The Arkham Horror universe has a whole lot of games in its catalogue. In fact, there are so many to choose from that we’ve had to separate them into two guides. In this buying guide, we will go through the several families of board games. If you’re seeking information about the many deck-building card games also under the umbrella, you can click on over to our Arkham Horror: The Card Game Buying Guide.

Arkham Horror is an long-running franchise of horror board games. You and your fellow players embark on missions that involve a lot of communication to win. The games each have several pathways that can be taken depending on which roles, expansions, and campaigns you employ. These also make terrific solo board games for when you don't have a group on hand to spend an hour-plus playing a board game.

Featured in this article

Want to skip the blurbs and go straight to the various games and expansions? Scroll through the catalog above. If you're interested in the nitty gritty of how all the items relate to one another and to the broad Arkham Horror universe in general, read on below.

Arkham Horror: The Board Game

Arkham Horror is a cooperative board game in which player teams work collectively against different sorts of terrors. You can take the journey through Arkham as one of six investigators to solve mysteries and defeat horrific beasts. The game has several campaigns to explore, and given the sizable luck component, whereby you have to roll to see if you pass certain objectives and bosses, along with the chance of chaos and occult trickery, well, the games are highly replayable.

But be warned: this is not an easy game. It takes a bit of time to set up and to teach to your group. The gameplay itself can last for multiple hours, or can be done fairly quickly if you and your ensemble of investigator partners aren’t lucky. (If you or your mates lose and there are fewer players than six, you can select another investigator to play as, but you’ll start over with that one, losing any additional stats that you’ve gained along the way. Dying kinda sucks, to be honest.) My first adventure with friends on the easiest campaign was disastrous. I’ve played it as a solo board game (yep, you can also do that here, too), but that didn’t go well, either. When you complete that first winning game, your whole party will cheer.

Arkahm Horror: The Board Game Expansions

There are three expansions for the Arkham Horror: The Board Game. Each unlocks a different layer of depth to the base game.

Arkham Horror: Under the Dark Waves Expansion

The largest of the expansions is Under the Dark Waves. As the name suggests, this expansion is about the horrors that exist under the water. This big expansion brings eight new investigators on board for four new scenarios. It takes you out of the city and into the sea.

Arkham Horror: Secrets of the Order Expansion

This is a medium-sized expansion that includes three new scenarios and three more investigators to travel through Arkham. Secrets of the Order opens up another neighborhood, so you'll explore French Hill while being mindful of the ghosts and monsters that may make your visit the opposite of a quaint French getaway.

Arkham Horror: The Dead of Night Expansion

Dead of Night is a smaller box expansion with a smaller price point to match. It has two more scenarios to add to your base game, plus four more investigators to help you navigate the horrors in the dead of the night.

Other Arkham Horror Board Games

There are a few other board games that act as their own separate Arkham universes. The games are not directly connected to Arkham Horror, so you don't need that base game to play them. Each of these games allows you and your friends to experience a different, stand-alone adventure within Arkham, using characters you may recognize from other iterations. Some of these titles are big enough to have expansions of their own.

Elder Sign

Elder Sign was one of the first games in the Arkham Files franchise. It's a dice-rolling board game that can be played by one to eight players. Of all the games in the Arkham Files, it’s the most accessible chance game. It is a separate standalone game with six physical companion expansions.

Gameplay is primarily governed by dice. While it’s not entirely like Yahtzee with monsters, rolling dice is the core driver of the game. You’ll have to roll dice to complete tasks and to work through six encounters. You roll dice depending on the stats of your chosen investigator to fight monsters, find clues, and work toward solving the mystery before time runs out.

Elder Sign Expansions

Elder Sign has six expansions: Unseen Forces, Gates of Arkham, Omens of Ice, Grave Consequences, Omens of the Deep, and Omens of the Pharaoh. Grave Consequences is a standalone deck and can be played with or without the core game. The last expansion was released in 2018. It is currently unknown if there will be any more.

Mansions of Madness (2nd Edition)

This is an app-driven dungeon crawler board game take on the universe. The second edition is a standalone game that exists in the same universe as Eldrich Horror and Elder Sign. You can play it with one to five players using an app to help you through the narrative. The app guides you through setting up and playing the game. Narrative, roll results, and play direction can all be done in the app.

Personally, I dug playing with the combination of the tactical pieces and the app. And if you have to pause the game experience, the app allows you to come back later to finish where you left off. You’ll still have to set up your physical board game pieces when you play again, however, so you may want to take a picture to remember where everything should be.

Mansions of Madness Expansions

There are two expansions for Mansions of Madness. Both of them are cooperative games that are guided by the app.

Mansions of Madness: Path of The Serpent Expansion

This expansion takes you to the depths of the jungle, where serpents and other Lovecraftian horrors will bring peril and pain to your adventure. Like the original, it is guided by an app, and you do need the base game to play it.

Mansions of Madness: Beyond the Threshold Expansion

This expansion is significantly cheaper than the other one above. Beyond the Threshold opens two new investigators, two new scenarios, and an insanity gameplay element. Its low price point makes it the most accessible expansion to add to your game.

Unfathomable

Unfathomable is about escaping a sea of monsters on a boat. It can be played with three to six players, though it’s best suited for groups of five or six. This game has a social deduction component, making it an immersive experience for larger groups. Someone is designated to be a traitor, and you won’t know who. It has Battlestar Galactica vibes to it, but in a Lovecraftian mythos atmosphere. Sessions take multiple hours while you navigate the game trying to figure out who among you is there to help and who wants you dead, while simultaneously trying to escape alive.

Unfathomable is a completely different experience than other games in the Arkham catalogue, making it sort of a love-it-or-hate-it type of deal. If you like Battlestar Galactica or other social deduction games, this may be a good option to explore.

Unfathomable: From the Abyss Expansion

This expansion introduces new prelude cards that offer varied starting conditions, as well as three new monstrous horrors (Shoggoth, the Drowned Spirit, and the Grasping Tendril), plus new skills, items, and boon cards.

Eldritch Horror

Edrich Horror is a different, more worldly experience than the Arkham Horror board game. While Arkham Horror primarily exists in neighborhoods within the city proper (and the sea), Edrich Horror has players navigating cooperatively around the globe to complete objectives. Some have said that Eldrich Horror is like a sequel to a movie.

Some things have been changed and adjusted in Eldrich Horror that make it more accessible to beginner and mid-range gamers. It involves a far quicker setup than Arkham Horror does, which is an immediate plus for gamers who want to get things out and get playing quickly. Eldrich Horror also has simpler rules than Arkham Horror, making the "teach" a bit more entry-level-friendly.

That said, Eldrich Horror is more about strategy and solving puzzles. Its first in the series was released in 2013.

Eldritch Horor Expansions

There are eight expansions possible to play in Eldrich Horror. Those expansions are Forsaken Lore, Mountains of Madness, Strange Remnants, Under the Pyramids, Signs of Carcosa, The Dreamlands, Cities in Ruin, and Masks of Nyarlathotep.

Other Ways to Play

There are a couple of other ways you can play in the Arkham universe outside of these standard board games. You can play a couple of the board games online. You can also try the franchise's first foray into the world of tabletop roleplaying games.

The Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying Game

Arkham Horror released its first TTRPG late last year, with a starter set followed by a rulebook. I recommend trying the starter set first. Once you’ve gotten a feel for the rules and the game, you can choose to grab the rulebook to start your own journey.

Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying Game - Hungering Abyss Starter Set

The core starter set is super accessible for beginning players. It has a sample campaign to play through for folks who may be new to the TTRPG world, and does not require an experienced Game Master.

Arkham Horror: The Roleplaying - Game Core Rulebook

Once you've taken the starter set for a spin with your gaming group, you can pick up the Core Rulebook if you want to keep going on new TTRPG adventures in the Arkham Horror universe.

Video Game Versions

A digital version called Arkham Horror: Mother’s Embrace was released on Steam in 2021. It’s a single-player game that some might find similar to the Mansions of Madness board game expansion. Unfortunately, it only plays as a solo game. If you're open to solo treks into this universe, you can get this digital adventure on Steam or on Switch for an MSRP of $19.99.

Solo or not, the digital version has gotten mixed reviews. IGN's Arkham Horror: Mother's Embrace review scored it a 5 due to lacking story execution. It fumbles with some heavy topics, which may deter some players from enjoying the Lovecraftian mythos.

There is also a digital version of Elder Sign available on Steam and mobile platforms. Elder Sign: Omens was released in 2011, but has received mostly positive reviews on Steam. It's quite affordable at only $5.99.

The Bottom Line

If you are a fan of Lovecraft mythos-themed games, as I am, Arkham Horror is absolutely worth exploring. One awesome thing is that you can play several of these games solo as well as with friends. They are each different and offer a unique presentation of the Lovecraftian worlds.

That said, these games are on the more difficult side. They have quite a bit of chance, which can drastically increase replayability as well as frustration. Setup and learning time can also take some time. You’ll find that the card games are easier to set up than the board games, even without expansions.

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

Split Fiction Hits 2 Million Sales After Just 1 Week

13 mars 2025 à 19:09

Hazelight Games says its latest co-op adventure game Split Fiction is continuing its roaring start after selling 2 million copies in just one week.

The dual-protagonist story dropped March 6 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S and quickly managed to secure itself as yet another success story for the studio. Hazelight took to social media to celebrate the strong launch, saying that it’s “blown away” by the support from fans both new and old.

The team’s previous update on Split Fiction sales numbers revealed that a whopping 1 million players picked up Mio and Zoe’s sci-fi story only 48 hours after its initial launch. That means another million have each picked up a copy in the five days since.

Meanwhile, Split Fiction’s status as a co-op game means the actual number of players engaging with the experience is surely much higher than the number of copies sold. Bolstering its impact with gaming fans is its Friend’s Pass feature, which allows one player to purchase the game while granting a friend access at no additional cost. As Hazelight’s adventure continues to make waves on social media, that 2 million sold number will surely only increase.

Hazelight’s previous title, 2021 Game of the Year winner It Takes Two, saw similar success after selling around 1 million copies a few weeks after its launch in March 2021. That number ballooned to 10 million copies by February 2023 and 20 million by October 2024.

In IGN's Split Fiction review, we called it “an expertly crafted co-op adventure that pinballs from one genre extreme to another.”

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

The Best Deals Today: New PlayStation 5 Astro Bot Console Bundles, PS Portal, and DualSense Controllers

13 mars 2025 à 19:05

Here are the best deals for Thursday, March 13. Highlights include newly released PlayStation 5 Slim console bundles featuring Astro Bot, PlayStation Portal and PS5 DualSense controllers, a super popular Bose soundbar, an Apple Watch stainless steel model, the 83" LG Gallery Series OLED TV, and more.

Playstation 5 Slim Astro Bot Console Bundles Available Today

Starting today, PlayStation Direct is offering two PS5 console bundles that include a digital download voucher wonderful Astro Bot game, which won the coveted Game of the Year at the Game Awards this year. The PS5 Slim Disc Edition console bundle is priced at $449.99 and the Digital Edition bundle is $399.99. All PlayStation 5 consoles also come with Astro's Playroom, the original game/tech demo that kicked off our infatuation with the adorable robot.

60% Off Bose Smart Soundbar 550

If you bought a brand new TV over the holidays and you're looking for a good audio solution at an excellent price, then one of the best Black Friday deals is back. Walmart is currently offering the Bose Smart Soundbar 550 for just $199 with free shipping after a massive $300 off instant discount. At this price, it's certainly one of the best soundbars you can get, especially if you're looking for an affordable soundbar that supports Dolby Atmos.

PlayStation Portal (Used: Like New) for $161

The PlayStation Portal has never been discounted, but at least you can save on a used one. Amazon Resale (a rebranded Amazon Warehouse) currently has Used: Like New condition PS Portals in stock for only $161.37 shipped. It retails for $199 new, so that's a substantial 20% in savings. A Sony warranty may or may not be included, but Amazon Resale items benefit from the same 30-day return policy you get for buying a new item. We expect this item to sell out pretty quickly.

Sony PS5 DualSense Controller for $54

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

The Hobbit Illustrated Edition (Kindle Edition) for $1.99

Pick up a digital copy of The Hobbit on the cheap and have it ready to read on your Kindle digital reader or a mobile device using the Kindle app. The Illustrated Edition from HarperCollins includes 50 paintings, maps, and drawings made by Tolkien himself.

Apple Watch Series 9 45mm Stainless Steel LTE for $356

Looking for one of the more premium Apple Watches for a great price? For a very limited time, Walmart is offering the Apple Watch Series 9, upgraded with a 45mm stainless steel case and LTE cellular connectivity, for only $355.65. Note that stainless steelmodels are a lot more expensive than their aluminum counterparts. Stainless steel models also come with a more durable sapphire crystal watch face, compared to the softer Ion-X material on the standard Apple Watch.

83" LG G3 Gallery Series 4K OLED Smart TV for $2,634.21

Wow this is a great deal for a really high-end TV. Walmart is currently offering a 2023 LG Gallery Series 4K TV for $2,634.21. To compare just how good of a deal this is, the 2024 LG Gallery Series TV currently sells for a whopping $5,300. This is LG's highest end OLED TV model and features Evo panel technology that increases brightness and improves image quality that you won't find in the mainstream C-series models. Yes it's expensive, but it's the best TV you can get, period.

Samsung 990 Evo Plus 2TB PS5 SSD for $129.99

4TB for $259.99

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

Apple AirPods Pro for $169.99

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

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

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

New March Humble Choice Bundle Starts Now

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

Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

The Justice League Meets Team Sonic in DC x Sonic the Hedgehog Crossover

13 mars 2025 à 18:48

The Justice League has crossed paths with everyone from Godzilla and King Kong to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe in recent years, but when heroes gotta go fast, there's only one ally that fits the bill. Now DC and IDW Publishing have joined forces to release DC x Sonic the Hedgehog.

Check out the slideshow gallery below to see cover art and interiors from DC x Sonic the Hedgehog #1:

DC x Sonic the Hedgehog is helmed by two Sonic the Hedgehog mainstays, writer Ian Flynn and artist Adam Bryce Thomas. The first issue features cover art by Pablo M. Collar and Ethan Young.

This crossover opens as Darkseid makes the jump from the DCU to the Sonic universe, sensing a great power for the taking. The Justice League and Team Sonic will have to band together if they have a hope of stopping the ultimate evil from conquering a new dimension.

DC x Sonic the Hedgehog is part of a larger collaboration between Warner Bros. and Sega. The companies are teaming for a series of toys and collectibles sold exclusively at Target, starting off with a line of T-shirts and hoodies featuring Shadow the Hedgehog dressed as Batman.

DC x Sonic the Hedgehog Chaos Controller Shadow X Batman Youth Crew Neck Short Sleeve T-Shirt

DC x Sonic the Hedgehog #1 will be released on Wednesday, March 19.

In other comic books news, Marvel revealed a new Thunderbolts team with a killer roster, and we've got an exclusive preview of the TMNT: The Last Ronin II finale.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.

Critical Role Video Game Announcement Could Arrive 'Any Day,' Travis Willingham Confirms

13 mars 2025 à 18:29

Dungeons & Dragons show Critical Role is on the verge of releasing its first big video game, and CEO Travis Willingham says it could be announced “any day.”

The group spoke about its big plans for the future during an interview with Business Insider. There’s no word on what the video game will be called or how exactly it will tie into the Critical Role universe quite yet, but Willingham said the team behind it remains “hard at work.”

"They'll actually be getting their hand on the stick and controlling the outcome of the story, changing what might be possible from not just some of their favorite characters, but new offerings in the world of Exandria," he said when describing the video game spinoff.

Willingham, an actor who also serves as one of Critical Role’s stars, co-founded the business alongside other familiar voice acting faces like Liam O'Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, Matthew Mercer, and more. Since its inception, the D&D show has grown into an entire universe of ideas, with one of the more popular outings being its hit Amazon Prime Video spinoff, Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina.

A Critical Role video game would exist alongside its other projects but not necessarily directly tie in with them. In December 2024, Willingham told Rolling Stone that the crew was in “active pursuit” of creating a Critical Role video game spinoff, saying they were “starting to come to the end of a long road that we’ve been undertaking for the last couple of years.” It’s unclear if the story might follow one of the group’s different campaigns or tell an original story within its world.

At the time, he and the rest of the Critical Role team expected to make an announcement before 2024 came to a close or in the beginning of 2025. Now, nearly three months into the year, it sounds like an announcement really could arrive any day.

“Those collaborations we’ve had with various partners have been little toe dips in the pool just to see how it feels,” Willingham said to Rolling Stone. “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.”

No release date for the Critical Role video game has been released yet. In the meantime, you can check out first details on The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4.

Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video.

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

Invincible Season 3 Ending Explained: How Does It Set Up Season 4?

13 mars 2025 à 18:23

This article contains spoilers for the Invincible Season 3 finale.

After eight episodes featuring huge character deaths, multiple Invincibles (Steven Yeun), and so, so much blood and guts, Invincible Season 3 is in the books. Unlike Season 2, which ended with a relatively quieter tag for the finale, Season 3 not only teed up a ton of storylines for the already-in-production Season 4… It also included a mid-credits scene that sets up a storyline Invincible co-creator Robert Kirkman never got to do in the comic books.

Before we get to that closing montage – and mid-credits scene – a bit of explanation about the finale itself. It’s for the most part one, long fight scene as Invincible, Oliver (Christian Convery) and Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs) take on the vicious Viltrumite warrior Conquest (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Conquest is ostensibly on Earth to prepare the world for Viltrumite, er, conquest, but as he explains repeatedly to Invincible, he really loves destroying and torturing things.

Invincible Season 3 Ending Explained

After Conquest seemingly kills Eve, Invincible, who has had both hands broken, absolutely loses it and bashes Conquest to “death” with his own head. Some might say this is sweet, sweet vengeance for Negan (also Morgan) famously bashing Glenn Rhee’s (also Yeun) head in on The Walking Dead, but it comes straight from the Invincible comics, which came out in 2009. So incredibly satisfying to watch if you want #Justice4Glenn, but also mostly just a nice coincidence.

In any case, Eve is not dead and reveals – as fans who watched the Atom Eve Special learned – that when she’s put in moments of extreme stress, she’s able to get past the mental blocks that otherwise stop her from transmuting living matter, instead of just inert materials. However, eagle-eyed fans will also note that when she transmutes Invincible’s costume later in the scene when they’re about to have sex, it’s made of plants… So she may have broken through these blocks in a bigger way than she realizes.

The final conclusion of the episode, and the arc of the season, is that Invincible visits his half-brother Oliver in a hospital bed. And while Oliver thinks Invincible is going to tell him that killing is wrong… Invincible has decided that if anyone threatens his family again, just as Angstrom Levy (Sterling K. Brown) did in the previous episode, and Conquest this week, he won’t hesitate to kill them.

It’s a surprising move from the show, though again one pulled directly from the comic books, almost word for word. While the large majority of superhero media, from TV shows to movies, to the original comics wrestle with the “should heroes kill?” debate, Invincible has firmly fallen on the side of “yeah, when necessary.” Still, an ominous musical sting played under Invincible’s pro-death penalty statement points to more challenges coming the way of his realigned moral compass. So expect that this debate might not be as open and shut as the finale indicates.

Beyond that, the real eyebrow-raising moments are saved for that montage. So let’s break those Season 4 teases down, one by one.

Return of The Sequids

Last seen in Season 2, Episode 6 “It’s Not That Simple,” the Sequids are incredibly dangerous Martian brain slugs who almost beat the Guardians of the Globe in their last encounter, including Invincible and Atom Eve. They had taken over the brain of an astronaut named Rus Livingston (Ben Schwartz), who was finally freed and brought back to Earth after a horrifying, harrowing ordeal. Unfortunately for Rus, after he returned to his apartment, which had been trashed by Shapesmith (also Schwartz), he threw up a Sequid in the sink – which immediately took over his body, again.

That plotline has been on hold since the aforementioned episode, but looks like it’s coming back in a big way in Season 4. While everything else has been going on this season, the Sequids have been steadily building an army in the sewers, including what looks like hundreds of human workers and others. Given we were told that if the Sequids ever made it to Earth it was game over for humanity… Yeah, that’s bad! “Not long now,” says Russequid. Uh-oh!

Battle Beast Is Back

At the end of Season 3, Episode 4, “You Were My Hero,” the unstoppable Battle Beast was fighting a Viltrumite in the cold, dark reaches of space. We catch up to him here, as well as the scattered remains of the Viltrumite… BB is in suspended animation but is quickly picked up by an alien ship. And a few seconds after that, he wakes up, ready for battle. He wants “more!”

If things pan out on the TV show the same way they do in the comic, the ship was part of the Coalition of Planets, the group fighting back against the Viltrumites. Alongside Allen the Alien (Seth Rogen) and Nolan Grayson (J.K. Simmons), it looks like the Coalition finally has a fighting chance against the unstoppable aliens.

Greater Delights Await

In one of the best casting coups on the show, the creepy, Cenobite-esque Technicians who fixed up Angstrom Levy, as first seen in Season 3, Episode 7, are voiced by Doug Bradley. You might know him better as Pinhead from the Hellraiser series. And in this teaser of coming attractions, we get to hear Bradley say something extremely Pinhead.

After revealing that Angstrom has a new arm thanks to them (Invincible accidentally amputated it last episode), Angstrom asks what they want in return. “Angstrom Levy, you have witnessed what our ambitions have done to our world, and what we have had to do to ourselves to survive here,” a Technician explains.

To explain what the Technicians are up to is to spoil one of the great plot twists of the Invincible comics

Angstrom thinks they want a new home, but the Technicians have other ideas. “That is only the beginning of the delights we will achieve together,” the Technician says. Now, the classic Hellraiser line is “We have such sights to show you” while the 2022 remake employed “greater delights await.” But come on, if you weren’t Leo Dicaprio pointing at the screen meme at that line, what are we even doing here?

In any case, to explain what the Technicians are up to is to spoil one of the great plot twists of the Invincible comics. Suffice it to say that they will tie into the action, and we have not seen the last of either Angstrom or the not-Cenobites.

Conquest Of The Planet Of The Marks

Despite Invincible demanding Cecil Stedman (Walton Goggins) show him Conquest’s dead body, it turns out that the dead body was a fake. In fact, Cecil has Conquest locked in a massive, underground chamber as the Viltrumite’s body reconstitutes itself.

Donald (Chris Diamantopoulos), Cecil’s right-hand man, protests that this is a mistake. And if you’ve read the comics, you know that Donald is correct: you cannot hold a massively powered Viltrumite like Conquest with mere Earth materials, no matter how secure Cecil makes the facility. Unfortunately for Cecil, as well as the world, in this case, Invincible was correct: Conquest should have been killed.

Invincible Season 3 Post-Credits Scene Explained

That brings us to the mid-credits scene. While everything else we’ve explained above happens in the comic books by Kirkman, Ryan Ottley, and Cory Walker, this scene is completely new. And in fact, it’s something Kirkman always wanted to do in the comics, but never found room for. Oh, and there’s a fantastic, surprise voice actor involved.

Right after the end credits begin, we cut to Damien Darkblood (Clancy Brown), the demon detective we haven’t seen since Season 1, Episode 4, “Neil Armstrong, Eat Your Heart Out.” In case you forgot – it aired back in 2021, after all – Damien was investigating Omni-Man, then set up by Cecil and sent back to Hell. As he was sucked down to the inferno, he threatened vengeance on Cecil… And that’s (potentially) what we’re seeing here.

Now missing his trenchcoat, Damien creates a summoning circle, which calls a demon lord voiced by none other than Bruce Campbell. And Damien hails to the king, baby, by bringing “the great beast… welcome news.” Damien explains that he has the means to restore the demon to his former glory, and the “infernal throne.” The key? A “surface dweller of great power, likes of which this planet has not seen for eons.” And furthermore, Damien explains that “his blackened heart will be bound to your service.” And how will they do that? By conjuring “him” to Hell.

In the comics, Damien Darkblood was even more of a blink-and-you-miss-him character than he was on the TV show. But as Kirkman explained to the Cartoonist Kayfabe podcast in 2020, there was originally more planned.

“The thing that I really regret is I never had an adventure where the superheroes went into Hell,” Kirkman explained. “There’s been so many superhero comics where it’s like, they got to go fight Mephisto or something, and I was like, ah jeez, I never got around to that. And the Damien Darkblood character was there so I could eventually do a story like that, and I never got around to it.”

Part of the reason for this may be that the initial storyline and reveal of Omni-Man as a bad guy was supposed to go nearly double the length that it did in the comic. It ultimately came to a head in issues 12 and 13, versus the planned 25. That meant there just wasn’t as much room for Darkblood to be investigating Omni-Man, because… Well, there was nothing left to investigate. So credit to Kirkman and company for letting that planned story play out on the TV show in a way we never saw in the books.

The big question here is: who is Damien Darkblood referring to? Is it Invincible? Omni-Man? Cecil? We’ll know more when Season 4 of Invincible premieres on Prime Video.

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