It looks like I'm in the mood for nostalgic throwbacks, practical travel gear, and low-key upgrades for everyday life today. How about revisiting iconic games like Bioshock 1-3 and Mafia 1-3? Or perhaps McFarlene Spider-Man is your bag? There's even a (surprisingly) great Friends-themed coffee mug for under $7, there’s a bit of something here for everyone.

Featured in this article

I'm also weighing up a INIU portable charger that's compact enough to toss in a pocket but fast enough to power your phone. If you're traveling or just trying to get better rest, the WAOAW 3D contoured sleep mask seems like a solid pick with its soft feel and light-blocking design. And if you’re into Disney or LEGO, the Up House set is both fun to build and easy on shelf space. Plus, the upcoming Thunderbolts 4K combo is now up for preorder if you’re collecting Marvel releases. Let's get into it:

Coke Zero Sugar 12 Pack

Doritos Variety Pack

WAOAW Sleep Mask w/ 3D Eye Cups & Adjustable Strap (Black)

Thunderbolts* - UHD Combo + Digital

Mafia X Bioshock Game Bundle

INIU 10,000mAh 45W USB Power Bank

LEGO Disney and Pixar ‘Up’ House, Classic Disney Celebration

Silver Buffalo FRIENDS Central Perk Black Ceramic Mug

Spider-Man By Todd Mcfarlane: The Complete Collection

Donkey Kong and Pauline Amiibo Preorder

Pokémon Legends: Z-A (Switch 2)

Pokémon Legends: Z-A (Switch 1)

Tunise Rechargeable Portable Neck Fan

Symphonic Journeys Pokémon Red & Blue - IGN Exclusive Vinyl

Lies of P (Steam)

Lies of P: Overture

Borderlands 4 PC Preorders

September 12th is closer than you think, so get Borderlands 4 preordered from Green Man Gaming and secure your preload on Steam. Randy Pitchford reckons that it's co-op mode will be "The best ever", too.

Pokémon TCG Classic

The Sam's Club Pokémon TCG Classic deal is back, and it's massively undercutting other big box retailers and the secondary market. Just for comparrison, the top four cards from this set, Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur and Mewtwo, are worth the same price as this discounted offer. This deal is well worth it and should be snapped up as soon as possible.

Pokémon TCG Stock Updates

As usual we're looking at over-inflated pricing at big box stores, but it's a dependable source of sealed product for trainers looking to add to their collections or rip open boosters. Although we'd recommend checking out secondary market prices first, as big retailers are now regularly selling over market value now too. I've already done the hard work for you:

TCG Player and eBay Pokémon Sealed Product

The Most Expensive Japanese Black Bolt White Flare Cards

The most expensive cards from Pokémon TCG's Black Bolt and White Flare sets are already commanding serious prices in Japan. Top of the list are the Special Illustration Rares of Zekrom ex and Reshiram ex, both featuring intricate, hand-drawn artwork and fetching well over ¥20,000 (around $130–$150 USD) on the secondary market.

Also climbing fast are the new BWR (Black White Rare) cards and the full-art Victini promos from the themed file sets. With stunning clay and knitted art styles also making their debut, collectors are pushing prices up across the board, especially for low-population, high-style secret rares.

This Weeks Pokémon TCG Crashers and Climbers

With Black Bolt and White Flare wrapping up the Scarlet & Violet era, all eyes are now on what’s next—and Mega Evolution is officially back. The Japanese Championships 2025 confirmed MEGA Symphonia and MEGA Brave as the first entries in the new Mega Expansion Packs, launching August 1 in Japan. These sets reintroduce Mega Evolution ex cards in a powerful new form, now Stage 2 Pokémon worth 3 Prize Cards when knocked out. Cards like Mega Gardevoir ex, Mega Venusaur ex, and Mega Lucario ex are leading the charge, and collectors are already snapping up classic Mega cards in anticipation of their return to the spotlight.

MTG Live Preorders

Preorders are now live for Magic: The Gathering’s next major set, Edge of Eternities, ahead of its August 1 release. You can lock in Play Booster Boxes, Bundles, Commander Decks, and Collector Boosters, with prices already dipping below MSRP in some spots. With some chunky lore, borderless cards, and premium packaging teased, now’s a good time to grab your picks before stock tightens closer to launch.

MTG Stock Update

There's the usual suspects of insanely priced boosters such as Theros Beyond Death, but there's also some discounts such as 9% off a box of Assassin's Creed collector boosters and a massive 32% off a booster box of Lord of the Rings set boosters.

MTG Final Fantasy Chase Cards

I was going to say how insane MTG Final Fantasy's popularity is, but it's completely understandable. Whilst sealed stock is going up in value and becoming harder to get, there's plenty of option for the most in-demand cards for your deck or collection.

MTG Aetherdrift Chase Cards

Aetherdrift is one of Magic: The Gathering’s more experimental sets, blending high-speed vehicle mechanics with a bold visual style. Released as part of the Universes Beyond series, it introduced new archetypes and card types designed to shake up both casual and competitive formats.

3 Months for $0.99 Audible Deal

3 Months Free Kindle Unlimited

Sound Explosion Software Bundle

Alienware AW3423DWF Curved QD-OLED Gaming Monitor

The Legend of Zelda Master Sword by Proplica

Monster Hunter Wilds PS5 and Xbox Series X

Monster Hunter Wilds has hit its lowest price yet for the standard physical edition on PS5 and Xbox Series X at just $55.99, down from $69.99. This latest entry takes the series into a fully voiced narrative, dynamic biomes, and crossplay multiplayer. If you’ve been waiting for a price drop to jump into the Forbidden Lands, this is a solid time to grab a copy.

Symphonic Journeys Pokémon Red & Blue - IGN Exclusive Vinyl

Elden Ring Nightreign Official Strategy Guide

Donkey Kong Bananza

amFilm Switch 2 Tempered Glass Screen

Disney is officially working on a live-action Lilo and Stitch 2 following the success of its first remake, which premiered last month.

The House of Mouse confirmed its plans to develop another movie in its popular Lilo and Stitch movie series with a video on Instagram. It’s a bit fluffier than your usual sequel confirmation, as it shows its blue alien mascot driving around a Walt Disney Studios before finding inspiration in the number two. No further details about Lilo and Stitch 2, including its plot or release date, have been revealed.

"Should’ve known he couldn’t keep a secret," Disney says in its post. "A 626 day surprise: #LiloAndStitch 2 is now in development!"

The live-action Lilo and Stitch remake premiered May 23, 2025, and quickly became quite the box office success. Just before it crawled its way into theaters, Disney was already considering what sequels could look like. Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman went as far as to say, “It feels like it’s going to work very well, and it’s the kind of property that lends itself to more,” at the time.

If anything, it’s a surprise it’s taken this long to see a green light for a live-action Lilo and Stitch 2. Just one week after its premiere, the 2025 remake had managed to pull in $610.8 million globally. That number has only increased to be just shy of $1 billion mark at $914,396,949 (via Box Office Mojo).

We gave the 2025 live-action Lilo and Stitch remake an 8/10 in our review.

Developing…

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).

Bad Influence is a new manga-style sci-fi series from Webtoon. Created as a collaboration between HiHi Studios (co-founded by streamer Valkyrae and Range Media’s Kai Gayoso) and start-up Otherly Productions, Bad Influence follows a woman named Nel who rebels against the oppressive regime ruling over her dystopian home. As the series makes its debut on Webtoon, IGN can exclusively debut the entire first issue for your reading pleasure.

Check out the slideshow gallery below to read Bad Influence #1:

Bad Influence is drawn by artist Jor Ros and co-written by Orson James and Roman Calais. Here's Webtoon's official summary of Bad Influence:

In Bad Influence, the city of Weisshorn is a surveillance city, where life is a never-ending parade–literally. Mascots smile from every screen, propaganda loops in cheery jingles, and the people are kept docile by distraction. At the center of it all is Oswald, a charismatic dictator with a showman’s flair and a deep need to control the story everyone lives inside.

The series follows the adventures of Nel — a hot-headed and haunted young woman, who isn’t buying the dream sold to the masses. Nel joins a rebel gang to take the system down. But the deeper she digs, the weirder it gets. She unearths glitches, ghosts, and truths that no one wants uncovered. Reality’s falling apart. And Nel might be next.

“BAD INFLUENCE is about a reluctant rebel fighting back against the system,” said James in a statement. “Weisshorn is a broad-smiling dystopia where control is asserted through entertainment. The system doesn't just rule with fear — it distracts, dazzles, and scripts your life through spectacle. If everyone’s smiling, how bad can it be? It’s the surveillance state dressed up as a theme park.”

“Nel’s rebellion is an act of self-discovery,” added Calais. “Nel isn’t just fighting the regime — she’s trying to figure out who she is beneath the roles she’s been forced into. Life in Weisshorn is a mess of lies and trauma, and Nel’s ready to break out. But she’s not the chosen one. She feels lost, confused. Nel carries herself like a fighter, but behind that is a young woman patching over the cracks of doubt and insecurity with stubbornness and sheer will. And, in this world, holding it together might be the most radical act of all.”

The first three chapters of the series are now available as part of the Webtoon Originals program, with new chapters to follow each Thursday.

In other comic book news, the Phillipe Labaune Gallery is showcasing the work of Paul Pope, and DC has revealed the many variant covers for September's Batman #1 relaunch.

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

Kojima Productions fans can’t stop talking about Death Stranding 2: On the Beach load times, with many calling them the "fastest" they’ve "ever seen in a video game."

Hideo Kojima’s strand-game sequel launched to stellar reviews, including our own, where we called Death Stranding 2's post-apocalyptic take on Australia “hauntingly beautiful.” While there are many elements to praise, it’s the visuals that have been almost unanimously celebrated. Death Stranding 2 is quite the visual showcase, so seeing loading screens last less than a second before dropping protagonist Sam Porter Bridges into wide-open fields is quite the sight to behold.

Videos of players showcasing the quick load times have already flooded social media feeds since early access launch arrived June 24, and the results are hard to deny. Pressing the “Continue” button on the main menu presents a flash of a black screen before picking up exactly where players left off. Loading another save while already in-game presents similar results. Some of the phrases being thrown around include “blink or you’ll miss it,” “instant,” and “the fastest load times I’ve ever seen.”

Kojima’s secret to the unbelievable load times in Death Stranding 2 has yet to be revealed, but one popular X/Twitter post has a theory.

“Okay but actually how the f**k,” user @RealBugAubrey said. “Either everyone else is not so secretly terrible at their job or Kojima Productions is making deals with spirits and demons.”

Death Stranding 2 has the fastest loading time I've EVER seen in a video game.

Don't blink or you'll miss it. It's literally instant.#DeathStranding #DeathStranding2 pic.twitter.com/2PWkNN92JI

— KAMI (@Okami13_) June 23, 2025

It’s been mentioned already but the load times in Death Stranding 2 are unbelievably fast, like the fastest I’ve ever seen in any game ever.

Genuinely how did they do this?? pic.twitter.com/GmxbaF3ijH

— Synth Potato🥔 (@SynthPotato) June 26, 2025

The essentially non-existent Death Stranding 2 load times are only impressive because so many other games on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S still feature loading screens that can last for up 30 seconds or even minutes long. Even without sitting down for a side-by-side comparison, many believe Death Stranding 2 might feature the most impressive load times for a game of this caliber ever. However, there are a few other shining examples that players believe might give Sam Porter Bridges a run for his money.

Insomniac Games’ 2023 title, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, famously features similarly fast loading times on PS5, with players able to teleport to any location in New York City. All it takes is holding a button, which the developer has clarified doesn’t hide its own secret loading function.

On the Xbox side of things is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which many fans have noted features a main menu screen that is the actual game itself.

"Right on par with Indiana Jones new game - both seem to load the actual save file in the background as it boots up, so selecting to continue just essentially reveals the game in progress," one Reddit user said.

Indiana Jones: https://t.co/DOBj7maJk4 pic.twitter.com/LSSQ269mI2

— Luiz (@diasluizzz) June 24, 2025

It’s sparked some debate among those seeking to defend their favorite video game, but one thing is clear: many major games are starting to ditch loading screens altogether. We’ll have to wait and see just how long it takes before loading screens vanish from most games entirely. In the meantime, you can read up on why Nintendo is mentioned in the Death Stranding 2 credits. You can also check out how some players are reacting to its infamous "I won't do it" dialogue option.

Check out our Death Stranding 2: On the Beach guide for a full main story walkthrough, complete with checkmarks to track your exact progress, plus guides for Sub-Orders, Standard Orders, and Aid Requests - plus even more secrets and a cheat code! If you’re just jumping into the game, we have plenty of tips for what to do first, how to survive in combat, and how to make it through Brutal difficulty if you’re playing on the most challenging setting.

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).

Summertime has arrived, and plenty of great video game deals along with it. There are quite a few Xbox deals, in particular, that are worth checking out at the moment. With big sale events like Amazon Prime Day on the horizon as well, there are bound to be many more to come as we get closer to the sale's start day on July 8. Until then, though, some of our favorite Xbox deals at the moment include discounts on Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Sniper Elite: Resistance, and Monster Hunter Wilds (which has hit its lowest price yet at Amazon), but these just scratch the surface of what's out there.

If you're looking to stock up on new Xbox games or accessories, we're here to help. Here are the best Xbox deals available right now.

Best Xbox Game Deals

If you're looking to stock up on new Xbox games, there are quite a few on sale right now that are worth checking out. Some of our favorite deals at the moment are from Woot's Video Game Super Sale, which includes discounts on Metaphor: ReFantazio, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, and Sniper Elite: Resistance, but there are so many more to look through. Monster Hunter Wilds has even hits its lowest price yet at Amazon. You can check out those deals and more of our favorites above.

What's Coming Soon to Xbox Game Pass?

Game Pass has a nice rotation of new titles to play every month. If you're curious about what's in store for the end of June and start of July, we've got you covered. The Xbox Game Pass June Wave 2 lineup is:

• Star Trucker (Xbox Series X|S) – June 18 Now with Game Pass Standard
• Wildfrost (Console) – June 18 Now with Game Pass Standard
• Rematch (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – June 19 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Volcano Princess (Cloud, Console, and PC) – June 24 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Against the Storm (Cloud and Console) – June 26 Game Pass Ultimate
• Warcraft I: Remastered (PC) – June 26 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Warcraft II: Remastered (PC) – June 26 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Warcraft III: Reforged (PC) – June 26 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
• Call of Duty: WWII (Console and PC) – June 30 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard
• Little Nightmares II (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 1 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard
• Rise of the Tomb Raider (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 1 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, Game Pass Standard

Best Xbox Accessory Deals

Outside of games, there are a few different Xbox accessory deals that are worth your time and money as well. Walmart's offering a nice discount at the moment on the Elite Series 2 controller, while Amazon's got the 1TB Seagate Storage Expansion Card on sale. Woot has a couple of nice accessory deals to check out, too.

When Should I Buy an Xbox?

In general, it is advisable to keep an eye out for sales and restocks throughout the year, as availability has improved since the initial launch of the console. Unlike the Nintendo Switch, there is no specific recommendation to wait for a sale regardless of the time of year. Instead, it's a good idea to monitor various retailers and online platforms for restock announcements and promotional offers.

However, certain events like Black Friday or other holiday seasons may bring about unique bundles, discounts, or promotional deals specifically for the Xbox Series X. These bundles may include additional games, accessories, or exclusive limited editions. While quantities for such promotions might be limited, they can provide an opportunity to get more value for your purchase.

It's worth keeing in mind that Xbox recently increased console prices as well, which you can read more about here.

Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S?

Choosing between the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S ultimately depends on your gaming preferences, budget, and specific requirements. Let's compare the two consoles to help you make an informed decision:

1. Performance: The Xbox Series X is the more powerful option, offering native 4K gaming, higher graphical fidelity, and faster loading times. It has more advanced hardware, including a larger storage capacity. On the other hand, the Xbox Series S targets a lower price point and offers a less powerful performance, targeting 1440p resolution gaming and upscaling to 4K.

2. Price: The Xbox Series S is more affordable compared to the Xbox Series X. If budget is a significant factor for you, the Xbox Series S provides a cost-effective option while still delivering a next-generation gaming experience. For example, the Series S can play Starfield at 1440p 30fps (vs 4K 30fps on Series X).

3. Storage: The Xbox Series X comes with a larger internal storage capacity, allowing you to store more games directly on the console. The Xbox Series S, however, has a smaller storage capacity, which means you may need to manage your game library more actively or rely on external storage solutions.

4. Disc Drive: The Xbox Series X includes a disc drive, enabling you to play physical game discs and enjoy a wider range of media options, including Blu-ray and DVD playback. The Xbox Series S, in contrast, is a digital-only console, meaning you can only play games downloaded from the digital store.

5. Graphics and Performance: While both consoles support ray tracing, the Xbox Series X provides a more immersive and visually impressive experience due to its superior hardware capabilities. If you prioritize cutting-edge graphics and want the best performance available, the Xbox Series X is the preferable choice.

Consider your gaming preferences, budget, and whether you prioritize top-of-the-line performance or cost-effectiveness. If you have a 4K TV, want the most powerful console, and are willing to invest more, the Xbox Series X is the recommended option. If you have a lower budget, a 1080p or 1440p TV, and don't mind sacrificing some performance, the Xbox Series S offers excellent value for money.

With how expensive gaming is getting in 2025, we're trying to save you as much money as possible on the games and other tech you actually want to buy. We've got great deal roundups available for all major platforms such as Switch and Xbox, and keep these updated daily with brand new offers. If you're trying to keep costs down while maintaining your favorite hobby, stay tuned for more incredible discounts.

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

There are many ways to play games these days. Consoles and gaming PCs are still popular options with loads of power, and gaming handhelds have surged lately, but the ability of everyday phones and specialty gaming phones to tap into all sorts of games is hard to ignore. It’s a device you likely have on you all day, every day, and that alone can make it an ideal gaming device. But how do you ensure you’re getting a phone that can game well? That’s what we set out to explore when we test phones, whether they’re mainstream options or those niche options designed specifically for gaming. Here’s an inside peek at the testing we perform to sift the wheat from the chaff.

Benchmarks

Benchmarks are a staple in hardware testing. They hit a machine hard with a heavy workload and provide a simplified score or metric (like average frames per second) at the end of the test. The results provide a key reference for directly comparing the performance from one device to another.

For all phones, I run Geekbench 6 to measure single- and multi-core CPU performance. I also run Geekbench 6’s GPU test using Vulkan on Android and Metal on iOS. Since gaming combines both CPU and GPU performance, we also run some gaming-specific benchmarks, including 3DMark’s Wildlife Extreme, Steel Nomad Light, and Solar Bay (for compatible phones) tests. These 3DMark stress tests both the CPU and GPU, but with a different balance. So, a phone with a strong CPU and modest GPU, for instance, may perform well in Wildlife Extreme but underperform in Solar Bay compared to a phone with a modest CPU and strong GPU.

I run each benchmark several times and average the results. This helps ensure consistency, but it can also help reveal inconsistency. A phone may be able to perform well in the first run of a benchmark, but if heat builds up too quickly, it’s very common to see performance drop.

Game Tests

Benchmarks are generally designed to push a device to its limit, often beyond what is practical in everyday operation, so I also test phones with actual games available today. These remain demanding, of course, but powerful phones generally won’t struggle with them. In the past, this has included games like Call of Duty Mobile, Sky: Children of the Light, and Genshin Impact. Recently, Wuthering Waves has proven a suitable challenge for the latest phones. I attempt to run the game at its highest graphics settings with a 60fps frame rate limit (the max available). I play 30 minutes, watching for any hitches in performance or inability to maintain a steady 50-60fps in both the short and long term. If a phone struggles significantly with this, I may reduce the graphics settings and resume testing, noting the settings level ultimately tested at.

At the end of this playtest, I also evaluate the external temperature of the phone, looking for hotspots and the temperature around the edges where I hold it. After all, a phone that runs games incredibly fast may not be worth much if it also burns your hands in the process.

After gaming, I also switch back and forth between apps to see how much the phone's memory retains and to check whether it’s possible to step away from a game briefly and then resume play without needing to reload the game.

Additional Testing

Beyond the benchmarks and gaming tests, each phone is evaluated on its everyday operation, the quality of its screen (clarity, brightness, color, smoothness, etc.), wireless connectivity speeds, day-to-day battery life, physical design, special features, and camera quality.

While gaming phones tend to offer quality displays and solid battery life, they can struggle when it comes to features and design. So even though my process for testing gaming phones and non-gaming phones is largely the same, I end up weighing them differently.

What Are the Best Gaming Phones Right Now?

IGN's overall top pick for the best gaming phone right now is the RedMagic 10 Pro with its excellent performance and a great display. Below are the rest of our top-reviewed options for gaming in 2025.

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.

The appeal of a console like the Nintendo Switch 2 or gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go S, etc., is obvious: They provide a portable gaming platform you can bring anywhere so you can enjoy games wherever and whenever you want. But you’re already carrying a phone around with you everywhere you go. What if it could check the same boxes that a gaming handheld does?

That’s the question that might send you down the gaming phone rabbit hole. Depending on what you’re after from your gaming hardware, there’s a good chance a gaming phone could be a good fit for you. But first, you’ll want to understand what makes a standout gaming phone so different from your typical smartphone, what limitations a gaming phone will still have, and how you plan to use it.

What Makes a Great Gaming Phone?

A gaming phone is going to have all the same core elements as an everyday phone, but it will likely have souped-up versions and extra hardware enhancements to help it perform better at its core task: gaming.

On the iPhone side of the fence, the best gaming phone will pretty much just be the latest Pro model, as it will include the most potent system-on-chip and highest quality display of the options Apple makes.

On Android, it gets more complicated. Many flagship phones will feature the latest Qualcomm or MediaTek chipset, so it might seem like they should all perform on an even footing. To some extent, they can perform quite close to one another. In our phone tests, we often find the same system-on-chip performing neck-and-neck to one another in short tests. But in longer, more demanding tests, we get to see just how the gaming phones’ enhancements help set them apart.

Sustained performance

When we test phones, we put them through long-lasting gaming and benchmarks that give them plenty of time to see their temperature climb and their performance tank. A phone that can run a benchmark once at 30fps might sink down to just 15fps after running that benchmark 20 times. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra demonstrated this well; its performance halved over the course of 3DMark’s Steel Nomad Light stress test. By contrast, the RedMagic 10 Pro implemented active cooling, allowing it to run the same benchmark and see its performance only sink by 21% over the course of the test (or even hold stable at a slightly lowered ceiling). That sustained performance is crucial for longer gaming sessions. The last thing you want from a gaming phone is to start playing and watch your game get slower and slower as you go.

Heat management and ergonomics

It’s not just the heat of the chipset tanking performance that matters. Where that heat goes is also important for a gaming phone. Unless you’re using a phone controller, you’re going to be holding the phone in your hands while you play. The heat generated by the phone can result in hotspots and go beyond merely uncomfortable to touch. Gaming phones tend to have enhanced cooling systems that aim to prevent heat buildup in the first place located in spots that keep it away from the areas of the phone you’re likely to hold while gaming. The Asus ROG Phone 9 positions its chipset at the center of the phone, for example. A gaming phone ought to have rounded corners as well so that hard edges don’t stab into your palms.

A fast screen

60Hz is a thing of the past on great phones. Gaming phones, even on the affordable end of the spectrum, almost invariably offer at least 120Hz refresh rates. That helps make everyday use feel smooth, but it’s especially applicable to games for more detail in motion. That’s not the only element of speed that matters here, though. Gaming phones also tend to have an elevated touch sampling rate. This helps register touches on the display sooner, which may be hard to detect in practice but can make a difference in fast-paced games where every millisecond counts.

A big battery

A super-powered phone with a massive display could be wonderful to game on, but if it’s carrying a tiny 4,000mAh battery, it probably won’t be all that useful for gaming in general. Playing games sucks down a lot of juice between the screen being on and chipset running at high speeds. Combine that with the burden of regular use throughout the day, and you could be running for a charger frequently if you try to game on a phone with a small battery. Most good gaming phones will feature a sizable battery pack. For example, the RedMagic 10 Pro offers one of the biggest batteries we’ve seen in a phone that wasn’t outlandishly thick with its 7,050mAh pack.

Additional features

Scoring high marks in the areas above can set up a phone for success while gaming. But to go above and beyond, a gaming phone should have a few extra features tailored to enhance the gaming experience or provide even more options while playing. This can include bonus software or hardware features, like OnePlus’s HyperRendering tool for upscaling and frame interpolation. Many gaming phones will feature dedicated shoulder buttons to give gamers more input methods. Support for pass-through power is also a common and useful tool for gamers, as it lets the system-on-chip draw power directly from a cable connection, skipping the battery and the extra heat generation that comes with it.

Gaming Phone Limitations

Getting a gaming phone to serve its core purpose tends to come with some trade-offs. Some of those are because the design necessitates it, and others are simply because a manufacturer can only put so much into a phone before its price spirals out of control.

Missing features

A few features of modern smartphones you’ve probably come to expect aren’t always present on gaming phones. Wireless charging might be absent. That extra layer of coiled wire necessary for wireless charging not only takes up precious internal space, but can get in the way of the phone’s ability to transfer heat into the back of the chassis. To make up for it, a lot of gaming phones will at least support very fast wired charging (like the RedMagic 10 Pro’s 100W charging). Water protection can also fall short of competitors. A gaming phone that uses active cooling won’t have the same sealed chassis that other devices do, so it’ll be exposed to potential ingress of water and dust.

Cameras

The camera system on many smartphones can be one of its biggest selling points; take the triple-sensor arrays on the iPhone 16 Pro or OnePlus 13, or even the quad-sensor array on the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, for instance. Meanwhile gaming phones tend to divert their efforts elsewhere. The Asus ROG Phone 9, despite costing as much as these competitors, offers a much more meager camera system with one wide camera, one ultra-wide, and a throwaway macro lens. It’s a similar story for the RedMagic 10 Pro. Even if the amount of cameras tacked onto a gaming phone is the same as a mainstream phone, we’ve yet to see one come near the quality of the mainstream competition.

Game selection

Even if a gaming phone has gobs of power to run games, it is still limited to the selection of games available on its native operating system (more than likely, that’s Android). While there are tons of games available on mobile, you’ll still be missing out on many of the biggest games around. AAA games tend not to launch on mobile platforms. There are means of playing PC and console games on your phone via cloud gaming and game streaming, but these rely almost entirely on the quality of your wireless connection and can run on very modest hardware – meaning, a gaming phone provides little benefit over any other phone. The performance of phones has leapt substantially recently, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we started to see more attention given to mobile, but until then, the benefits of a powerful gaming phone will be limited to the selection of games available directly on the phone itself.

Does a Gaming Phone Make Sense?

Ask yourself this series of questions before buying a gaming phone. If you answer any of them with a “no,” then you’ll probably be able to skip a gaming phone and opt for a normal smartphone instead.

Do you like to play games available on Android and iOS?

If so, then a gaming phone might make sense. If most of the games you want to play are on PC or console, though, there’s little reason to get a gaming phone, as it won’t provide any particular benefit. For PC games, a gaming handheld may make more sense. For console games, you’ll likely be looking at game streaming or cloud gaming.

Do you play games with intense graphics?

Realistic 3D graphics can be a heavy lift for gaming hardware, and that’s when the performance of a gaming phone might come in handy. But many mobile games aren’t terribly demanding. Games like Among Us, Hearthstone, Stardew Valley, Subway Surfers, etc., don’t seriously tax recent smartphone CPUs and GPUs. If that’s your preferred gaming fare, then you can probably get by perfectly fine with a normal smartphone.

Do you like to dial up graphics settings to the max and game for long stretches of time?

Even though they’re not made specifically for gaming, recent flagship phones like the OnePlus 13 can still perform wonderfully in demanding games. It’s the extra performance and thermal management of gaming phones that helps them outperform their mainstream counterparts when it comes to going balls to the wall, sustaining performance for extended periods, and maintaining acceptable temperatures while doing so. But if you just jump into a game here and there for 5-10 minutes at a time and don’t care about cranking up graphics settings or the differences between 30fps and 60fps, plenty of phones are up to the task.

If you answered yes for those last three questions, then a gaming phone could be a smart pick. You’ll get stronger performance, longer battery life, and fewer heat issues than you would from most everyday smartphones. In any other case, you’ll probably be better served by a standard smartphone, gaming handheld, cloud gaming, or some combination of the three.

Which Gaming Phone Should You Buy?

IGN's overall top pick for the best gaming phone right now is the RedMagic 10 Pro with its excellent performance and a great display. Below are the rest of our top-reviewed options for gaming in 2025.

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.

Gareth Edwards, director of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, has said he's "very happy to move on" rather than return to a galaxy far, far away.

Rogue One received mostly positive reviews when it launched in December 2016, while spin-off Disney+ series Andor has become one of the franchise's most critically-acclaimed projects ever.

Still, Edwards, whose next project Jurassic World: Rebirth launches on July 2, has said he is unlikely to ever return to direct another Star Wars project. "I'm very happy to move on and do my thing," Edwards told Business Insider.

"It's the thing that was in my life before I knew what a film was," Edwards said, suggesting he still held a fondness for the Star Wars series in general. "It's like your mom; it's like something that's a part of you. I'm always fascinated by what they're doing. I never stop loving that trilogy."

Despite Rogue One's reception, production on the film — as with fellow Star Wars spin-off Solo — experienced a few bumps along the way. Indeed, Rogue One required five weeks of reshoots after principal filming wrapped, with additional story and a tweaked ending added by Tony Gilroy, who also joined the project as a second-unit director. (Gilroy, of course, also then went on to create Andor.)

"I'm very grateful that people say nice things," Edwards said of Rogue One's general reception among audiences now. Does he concur that the film is the best Star Wars project under Disney's ownership? "I don't agree with it, but I appreciate it," he noted.

Keen to see what Edwards is up to now? Well, the latest Jurassic World: Rebirth trailer involves a prickly scene with a Spinosaurus that's well worth a watch — though it probably also deserves a spoiler warning.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Get your webbing ready, because you’re going to want to swing by your local theater this fall to see Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy when it returns for a limited weekend showing courtesy of Fathom Entertainment.

The engagement begins on September 26 with Spider-Man, but the next day has a special treat. On September 27, theaters will screen Spider-Man 2 — but in a new 4K edition of the extended cut, newly retitled Spider-Man 2.1. This is the first time that the cut, which includes deleted and extended scenes, will be screened theatrically. Finally, the trilogy will conclude on September 28 with screenings of Spider-Man 3.

“The success of Spider-Man in 2002 helped launch the modern era of superhero films. To this day, Tobey Maguire’s take on Spider-Man resonates across generations,” Chief Executive Officer of Fathom Entertainment Ray Nutt said in a statement issued to Variety.

“At Fathom Entertainment, we celebrate fandom and I am delighted that ‘Spider-Man 2.1’ in 4K will make its theatrical debut, a true gift for longtime fans and a thrilling discovery for new ones.”

The engagement will have encore screenings the following weekend, October 3-5, just in case you miss the original weekend or need to get in for a second marathon.

Fathom has been doing a lot of cool theatrical rereleases engagements lately — and it has even more on the horizon. It rereleased Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in June and has Clueless coming up after that. Additionally, it plans to show Rocky IV, The Sound of Music, Sunset Boulevard, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in the near future.

Tickets for the Spider-Man trilogy engagement go on sale on July 25.

Photo credit: CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty Images.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

A Fortnite player who consistently cheated in competitive tournaments has been handed a huge fine and banned from the game "forever," developer Epic Games has said.

Sebastian Araujo from Lomita, California, was sued by Epic after participating in 839 cash tournaments within just four months, while using a device designed to evade Fortnite's anti-cheat detection.

According to Epic, which won its legal action against Araujo this week after he attempted to ignore the lawsuit, the player's winnings amounted to "at least $6,850." That's no small amount, but his fine now is 25 times higher: an enormous $175,521.

How has Epic landed on such a figure? Court documentation shared with IGN shows the developer demanded the statutory minimum $200 fine for each violation of the game's copyright for all 839 tournaments Araujo took part in — for a total of $167,800. The remainder of the fine is then mostly attorney fees and costs.

"While the Court notes the amount sought by Plaintiff exceedingly surpasses Defendant's alleged actual gain, $6,850, Defendant took significant measures to conceal the true scope of his cheating activities by creating multiple fake accounts and employing a hardware spoofer to circumvent detections," the court documentation reads.

Further examination shows Epic had pushed for an even higher fine — with an additional $100,000 penalty in statutory damages for copyright infringement — though it's here that the judge decided this amount would have been "excessive" versus Araujo's actual ill-gotten gains.

If it feels like Epic is making an example out of Araujo, then it wouldn't be the first time. Back in February 2025, Epic humiliated another Fortnite tournament cheater by forcing them to post a public apology video acknowledging they had cheated, and were similarly now banned for life.

As with that case, the money Araujo must now pay will be donated by Epic to Child's Play, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing access to toys and games.

Both cases follow a promise made back in November 2024, when Epic said it was "ramping up legal action against both players who cheat and cheat sellers," as it sought to bolster "competitive integrity in tournaments."

This latest public announcement, eye-watering fine and lifetime ban are all likely designed to act as deterrants for any other players with ideas of doing the same.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

It’s easy to forget these days that actor John Cena has his roots elsewhere — but the now beloved movie star recently opened up about whether or not he’d ever return to the WWE after his upcoming retirement tour.

"There is no way," Cena recently revealed on Good Morning America. "There is absolutely... I don't want to speak in absolutes, because I don't want to close any opportunity, but I made a promise to the fans who've allowed me to be here for a quarter of a century. They allowed me to sit with you today. I wouldn't want to disrespect them like that. This is an event — when people attend, it's very exclusive."

The wrestler, who is considered one of the greatest of all time, also noted that he didn’t want to “ruin” the connection he’s built with fans throughout his career for the “selfish gain” of picking back up again after announcing his decision to step back from the sport.

What’s the worst Terminator movie of all time? Fans have debated this question for years. James Cameron’s 1984 thriller The Terminator, and its blockbuster follow-up, 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, are considered two of the greatest sci-fi films ever made, and neither should be considered here. But that still leaves four Terminator sequels to sort.

Here are all the Terminator films released so far:

• The Terminator October 26, 1984
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day July 3, 1991
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines July 2, 2003
• Terminator Salvation May 21, 2009
• Terminator Genisys July 1, 2015
• Terminator: Dark Fate November 1, 2019

So, this really comes down to four movies: Terminator 3; Salvation; Genisys; and Dark Fate, all of which were poorly received. Terminator fans have been ordering this list of films from best to worse for years, but now Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Terminator himself, has had his say — although I think his answer is packed full of bias.

The 77-year-old actor and former Governor of California declared a winner (loser?) on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen while promoting Fubar Season 2.

"I would say the worst was probably the No. 4, because that was done during the time I was governor and I was not in it," Schwarzenegger said.

That’s Terminator Salvation, which stars Christian Bale and Sam Worthington but not, as Arnie points out, Arnie himself. Well, Arnie didn’t act in the movie — a CGI version of Arnie as the Terminator turns up briefly to throw Bale around a room. It's the best bit of the film.

“How do you do a Terminator movie without me being in the Terminator movie?” Schwarzenegger wondered. “It doesn’t make any sense. It’s impossible!”

Not only was Terminator Salvation poorly received, but it made less money at the box office than expected. It wasn’t until 2015 — six years later — that another Terminator movie came out (the similarly poorly received Genisys), this time with Schwarzenegger in it. But that made little difference to the film's reception, which was savage. Salvation is currently the only Terminator film to date not to feature Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In the interview, Schwarzenegger joked that in response to Salvation, he threatened to pass a law while governor forbidding movies that “suck.”

“I called immediately,” he laughed. “I said, ‘I’m gonna pass a law that says it’s forbidden to do movies that suck!’”

In truth, Schwarzenegger’s pick here comes as no surprise, and it’s not even the first time he’s criticized Salvation. Whatever your pick, it seems there’s little life left in Terminator, despite similar 80s and 90s sci-fi franchises such as Alien and Predator enjoying a resurgence. The last movie Cameron directed in the franchise was Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He had no involvement with the three sequels that followed but returned as a producer on Terminator: Dark Fate — a movie he said he was "reasonably happy" with, though he admits it might have worked better without the original stars.

In 2022, Cameron said another Terminator reboot was "in discussion," but nothing was set in stone, and we’ve heard nothing since. He said at the time: "If I were to do another Terminator film and maybe try to launch that franchise again, which is in discussion, but nothing has been decided, I would make it much more about the AI side of it than bad robots gone crazy."

Photo by Tolga Akmen/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

I have been shopping Amazon's Prime Day sale every year since it first started back in 2015 and professionally writing about the deals it brings for almost as long. Finding the best discounts during a sale as vast as this can be difficult, especially if you're going in blind. Some of the biggest price cuts are hidden in coupons, promotions, and lightning deals that can shift at the drop of a hat. Amazon is even adding new midnight deal drops into the mix this year, only furthering the mayhem.

That being said, there are a few things you can keep in mind to find the best Prime Day deals available in 2025 without going over budget. With a bit of planning ahead and the help of a deal-hunting expert, you can come out of Prime Day feeling like you've won something. With higher tariffs set to resume in August, there's a lot riding on this year's Prime Day deals if shoppers want to save as much as possible this year.

1. Set a Spending Budget

Whether you're doing holiday shopping way early or just looking to buy a few items you've been needing this summer, budgeting is perhaps the most important thing you can do ahead of Prime Day. Online retailers like Amazon set up their pages to ensure you spend as much money as possible, and if you aren't careful, your cart can quickly become a lot fuller than you originally planned. Deciding how much you can realistically spend during Amazon Prime Day is a great way to limit yourself.

2. Make a List of What You Actually Want to Buy

One of the biggest dangers of deals shopping on Prime Day is that Amazon will customize your experience to maximize how many purchases you make in one session. One second you're browsing the best TV deals and the next second you're buying a whole pile of discounted socks and an electric toothbrush. This can quickly become expensive if you aren't careful, so making a list of things you specifically want to buy on Prime Day ahead of time is a great way to combat this. And if a Prime Day deal doesn't seem as good as Black Friday pricing, then it's okay to wait a few more months to make that purchase.

3. Compare Sale Prices and Check Historical Pricing

One of the dangers of shopping Amazon Prime Day sales is that you end up looking only at Amazon. Just because something is currently discounted on Amazon doesn't mean it isn't cheaper somewhere else or won't drop in price later on. You can usually compare prices on products across various retailers with a simple Google search. Most of the major retailers also price match if you can find it cheaper somewhere else. Both the Walmart Deals event and Target Circle Week will be running concurrently with Prime Day this year, and they will often match or lower prices on products to compete with what Amazon is putting on sale during that two day period.

4. Don't Hesitate on a Good Lightning Deal

Prime Day can be a fairly competitive time for consumers, especially when it comes to lightning deals. Although there are some deals and sales that stay consistent throughout both days during Prime Day, many of the biggest discounts may only exist until they are fully claimed. If you see a really good deal on something, you should try to snatch it up before it's gone. Lightning deals can appear on just about every item during Prime Day, but some of the most common ones are on physical media, TVs, phone accessories, and workout equipment.

In addition to ligtning deals, 2025 will also bring new midnight deals drops every day of the sale. Amazon has stated you can expect these to be brand-themed from popular companies like Levi's, Samsung, and Kiehls and that the deals will only last one day or until stock is depleted.

5. Do Your Own Research

If you have a general idea of what you want to buy on Prime Day but don't know specifically what brand or product to get, it's very important to take the time and do your own research. This can be done fairly with a few simple Google searches such as "best TV for gaming" or "best budget gaming laptop". From there you should be able to narrow down the brands and models that fit your needs best. You should apply this same thinking once you find a decent deal on a product by looking up professional reviews of those products. This will usually give you a better idea of what you're buying versus relying on Amazon reviews that are built into the shopping experience.

6. Follow a Trusted Source on Social Media

There are many deals that come and go fairly regularly, and unless you plan on keeping tabs on all of the major retailers ongoing, you may end up missing out on some great discounts and lightning deals. It may be overwhelming to keep up, but one way to avoid this is to follow a trusted deals source on the social media platform of your choice. This can help you stay up to date on the latest Prime Day deals without having to constantly dig for them yourself.

7. Don't Forget to Check for Coupons

A fairly common mistake online shoppers can make on Amazon is to miss obvious savings simple because they forgot to check a box before putting something in their cart. Amazon will often have coupons available that make a sale even better, so make sure you check the price details before you make a purchase. There will also sometimes be really good promotions, like Amazon's buy one, get one free sales that they often run as early Prime Day deals that you won't want to miss.

8. Follow Safe Shopping Guidelines

What do we mean by "shop safely" exactly? When you're busy adding things to your wish lists and to your online carts for Prime Day and beyond, you may be eager to quickly check out and move onto the next thing. Before you make your online purchases, here are some safety tips to consider:

• Ensure there's a secure connection in your browser's URL field, especially if you're on public and/or free Wi-Fi. (In Chrome, there's a locked icon for example to the left of the URL 🔒).
• As always, be cautious of new phishing and spam emails landing in your inbox. Don't trust any email that looks off to you whatsoever, and avoid clicking any links in emails that appear even somewhat spammy. It's getting harder to recognize what's real from what's a scam, so be careful, especially during popular deals days like Amazon Prime Day.
• Another piece of advice when online shopping is to ensure your auto-populated passwords and your security settings are up-to-date in whatever browser you use. As a Google user, you can manage your passwords and strengthen your security at Passwords.Google.com, which we'd definitely recommend doing before you get to shopping! You can also consider selecting "Sign in with Apple" or "Sign in with Google" when relevant for creating accounts so you don’t have to create yet another new login. Lastly, there's always 2-Step Verification, a proven way to protect your Google account when logged in and keep the internet safer from cyberattacks in general.
• Another autofill-related tip is to try using virtual card number (in Chrome), which allows you to use your autofill payment card information when checking out. Google will allow the option to generate the unique virtual card number which keeps your actual payment card number hidden. This can be especially important when making a transaction on a new site you haven't visited prior.

Jacob Kienlen is a Senior SEO Strategist and Writer at IGN who has spent a good chunk of his career finding deals on tech and physical media online. He has been professionally working in commerce journalism since 2017 when he first broke into the industry.

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has seen a big boost in players after launching its first new class, but complaints over monetization have continued especially after developer Fatshark released a version of the Arbitrator's default helmet with its visor up for $5.

This week’s Battle for Tertium update, which arrived alongside the new Adeptus Arbites class DLC, reworked the core player experience to provide a new, clearer narrative focus for the co-op first-person melee / shooter hybrid.

Players now experience a linear campaign with new mission debriefs and embedded cinematics. It’s designed to “ease in new players and gradually unlock features that were previously gated by character level,” Fatshark has said.

But the big draw for veteran players was the release of the Adeptus Arbites class, and it appears to have done the trick. This $11.99 DLC looks like it’s sparked the interest of players who have stuck with the game since its troubled launch, as well as convinced lapsed players to dip back in.

Following the launch, Darktide hit a peak concurrent player count of just over 43,000 on Steam, the highest it’s been on Valve’s platform for over two years. And this doesn’t even paint the whole picture of the game’s success, given it’s also out on console.

In a statement provided to IGN, Product Marketing Manager Rodrigue Delrue said Fatshark had noticed the uptick, but failed to say exactly how many were playing Darktide across PC and console.

“We’ve seen a high level of engagement across all platforms, even if we don't have exact numbers to share at this time,” Delrue said. “What’s important is that the community remains active and passionate, and we’re incredibly thankful for that.”

There's a brand new update for your Xbox console — but probably not the one you're expecting.

If you still have an Xbox 360 plugged in, Microsoft has issued a fresh system patch that makes a couple of tweaks to the aging console's main dashboard — most notably, the addition of a big advert for Xbox Series X/S.

Microsoft now seems keen for anyone still using an Xbox 360 to leave the classic console behind, with adverts showing the company's range of Xbox Series X/S models alongside the suggestion that users "upgrade today" to "experience next-gen performance." Shouldn't that technically be next-next-gen?

The update even provides a handy QR code to scan, so you can quickly load up the Microsoft Store and browse the company's recently-increased console prices.

Microsoft finally shut down the Xbox 360's Marketplace last year, stripping out Xbox 360 dashboard elements linked to the store in the process. Today's update makes the whole thing look a little neater.

Happy to stick with the Xbox 360? The update also includes a welcome fix for the console's main game tile, which previously displayed stretched artwork.

Xbox 360 turns the ripe old age of 20 later this year, having originally launched on November 22, 2005. But while Microsoft has long since moved on from the console, it's seemingly aware there are still some owners with the veteran console plugged in.

Response to the surprise update has been positive for those still making use of their Xbox 360 consoles. "Finally it looks better!" wrote one fan on reddit. "At least it doesn’t look depressing anymore," wrote another.

"I had to jump on and see if myself," wrote a third user. "It is why I love Xbox. They could have easily left us with a s****y dashboard. But they listened. They didn’t have to do it but they did."

Earlier this month, Xbox lifted the lid on the next Xbox-branded bit of hardware, the handheld Xbox Ally X from Asus, and here's everything you need to know. It's also working on brand new, next-gen consoles, although we don't have a release window yet.

Image credit: Trackwalker

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Funcom is updating Dune: Awakening almost faster than we can write about it. No sooner had we introduced you to its Public Test Client and news that the studio was trialling extending the PvE zone of the Deep Desert from about 10% of the map to 50%, Funcom has dropped an update to confirm that the change will be rolling out for all players from today, June 26.

"The PvE area has been adjusted to encompass the entire southern half of the Deep Desert map," Funcom confirmed in its latest patch notes, below. "This means that players who have no interest in PvP should be able to find what they want without engaging in PvP. Imperial Testing Stations, caves, and so forth found in this area are thus now PvE."

"Rest assured that we will continue to listen to your feedback and make adjustments in the future," the team said.

It follows an AMA in which the studio told players frustrated by the endgame experience that it was "formulating a plan" to improve PvP in the Deep Desert. Previously, players branded the endgame as "toxic" due to griefing even after patching out the ability for players to squish other people with their Ornithopter

"We want PvE players to be able to play the endgame and have access to the content of the endgame," said creative director Joel Bylos. "Our goal is not to force PvE players to interact with a PvP system that they may have no interest in.

"We still believe in the core concept of the Deep Desert — an endlessly renewing location that resets every week and creates an activity loop for great rewards. The tension of heading out there, head on a swivel, eyes peeled for foes as you enter the most dangerous part of the most dangerous planet in the universe. Our wish was that players would embrace this loop, forming guilds to work together to overcome the bleakness of the Deep Desert."

For those wondering, yes, Control Points and Shipwrecks will continue to be PvP "throughout the entire map," which means you will find "localized pockets of PvP within the PvE section still. Similar to how Shipwrecks are PvP in Hagga Basin." Work has also begun on changing the Ornithopters; equipping a rocket launcher module will now decrease the top speed of your Scout Orni by 20%, and Assault Ornis by 10%.

After the patch has been applied, players will also be able to report other players’ messages from the text chat or report them by using the Inspect menu.

Dune: Awakening Patch Notes 1.1.0.17

Deep Desert

As outlined in A message from the Creative Director on PvE and PVP » Dune: Awakening, this hotfix will see the first iteration of the changes to the balance between PvE and PvP in the Deep Desert. Rest assured that we will continue to listen to your feedback and make adjustments in the future.

• The PvE area has been adjusted to encompass the entire southern half of the Deep Desert map.
  • This means that players who have no interest in PvP should be able to find what they want without engaging in PvP. Imperial Testing Stations, caves, and so forth found in this area are thus now PvE.
  • Control Points and Shipwrecks will, however, continue to be PvP throughout the entire map, which means you will find localized pockets of PvP within the PvE section still. Similar to how Shipwrecks are PvP in Hagga Basin.
• To retain the Risk vs Reward setup for the Deep Desert:
  • The density of resources increases the further north you go. This includes high-density clusters of valuable resources.
  • The largest spice fields will also spawn in the north.
  • The majority of Control Points will exist in the northern part.
• As part of these changes, we have made some balancing adjustments in the Deep Desert:
  • The lower half of the Deep Desert now offers PvE loot that is balanced toward shared loot and PvE activities. You may find better loot in the more dangerous PvP area located further north on the map. In the PvE area, for example, each player gets their own loot and can expect to receive one schematic. In the PvP area, loot is distributed on a “first come, first served” basis, with higher quantities of everything. Players can expect to find 2–6 schematics there, which are among the rarest.
  • Plasteel plates can only be found in PvP zones.
  • The amount of active medium spice fields has been reduced from 8 to 5.
  • The number of active small spice fields has increased from 20 to 22.
  • The spawn rate of Titanium and Stravidium has been reduced in the PvE areas so that large quantities only spawn in the far-out PvP areas.
  • The number of nodes in resource hotspots in the PvE part of the map has been reduced.
  • The respawn time of Titanium and Stravidium has increased from 30 to 45 minutes.
• Some Imperial Testing Stations are still in the PvP region, and players who want all schematics available each week will want to visit both the PvP and PvE Imperial Testing Stations. Keep in mind the loot in them rotates each week, so even if you’re not interested in PvP, you could obtain it at a later date if you’re not able to trade for it or buy it off the Exchange.

Vehicles

• We have begun work on the outlined changes to the Scout Ornithopters.
  • Equipping a Rocket Launcher Module will now decrease the top speed of your Ornithopter.
    • For Scout Ornithopters, the reduction is 20%.
    • For Assault Ornithopters, the reduction is 10%.
  • Infocards for the modules now reflect this change.
• Exiting ornithopters mid-air will now cause them to drop straight down instead of gliding away. This should decrease the chance that you lose your ornithopter upon disconnecting from the game or exiting by accident your ornithopter mid-air (yes, we have seen the videos).
  • Known issue: There is an edge case that if your vehicle ends up in the quicksand you might not be able to interact with it if you are in the quicksand. The workaround is to try to get on top of the vehicle to interact with it. This will be fixed in the very next patch.

Visiting

• We removed the restrictions when visiting other sietches. Before this change, players had their “home” sietches, and could visit other sietches in their world but couldn’t claim land. Now, any player can go to any sietch in their world and claim land wherever they want.

Technical and stability

• Increased game stability.
• The latest NVIDIA driver was added to the GPU driver check at the game launch.

Other

• We have introduced Player Reporting, allowing players to now report other players’ messages from the text chat or report players from the Inspect menu on players.

FIXES

Technical and stability

• As a continuous effort, we have closed several exploit vulnerabilities.
• Fixed an issue where a specific type of network issue would cause players to be stuck in an infinite loading screen.
• Fixed an issue where some players could experience a client freeze when traveling between Deep Desert servers.

Combat

• Fixed an issue where players performing a melee attack could get obstructed by corpses lying on the ground.

User Interface

• Fixed an issue where the guild faction alignment was not localized on the Guild Overview tab.
• Fixed an issue where players could encounter a black screen if they skipped the cinematic at “The Wreck of the Hephaestus”.
• Fixed an issue where several Sandbike research schematics failed to mention the Imperial Testing Stations as the primary source.

Travel

• Fixed an issue where players could use an ornithopter pilot service to fly from the cities to Hagga Basin if they had arrived in a city with their ornithopter.

Miscellaneous

• You will no longer lose learned emotes when respec’ing your skill tree.

Dune: Awakening has enjoyed a superb launch, with a 'very positive' user review rating on Steam. Within hours of going live on June 10, Funcom's survival MMO had clocked up over 142,000 concurrent players on Valve's platform, and hit a new high earlier this month of 189,333 players. And it's already clocked up over 1 million players, too, making it Funcom's fastest-selling game ever, and securing a Great 8/10 in our review.

If all that's got you interested but you're not sure where to start, make sure to check out all the Dune: Awakening classes you can choose from, and keep an eye on our Dune: Awakening walkthrough for a step-by-step guide to the story. We've also got Dune: Awakening resource guides that'll help you find iron, steel, aluminium, and a Dune: Awakening Trainers locations guide to help you survive on Arrakis.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Mark Hamill has spoken in detail about the backstory he made up for Luke Skywalker as we see him in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, after moving to clarify his dissatisfaction with Rian Johnson’s story.

Hamill has made no secret of his disagreement with Luke’s on-screen motivations for exiling himself and becoming the hermit Rey meets in 2017’s The Last Jedi. As Skywalker explains in the movie, he blames himself for Ben Solo turning to the Dark side of the Force, which drives him to quit the Jedi. When Rey tracks Luke down in a bid to recruit him into the Resistance, he refuses.

Now, eight years after that movie came out, Hamill has gone into detail on his head canon for why Luke abandoned the Jedi.

Speaking in an interview on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn to promote his new movie, The Life of Chuck, Hamill was asked about how uncomfortable he was when he found out Luke had exiled himself in The Last Jedi.

Hamill’s response started with him insisting he’s a big fan of Rian Johnson, and indeed thinks he made “a great movie.”

“Here’s the thing, and I’d love to clear this up: Rian Johnson is one of the most gifted directors I’ve ever worked with,” Hamill said. “He’s amiable, he’s fun on set, he’s smart. He made a great movie. I think the staging of the stand-off between Kylo Ren, Adam Driver and I at the end, is so well staged. The foreshadowing that I’m not really there. Adam wipes the snow away and you see the red planet beneath, I wipe the snow and it’s just snow. That’s so subtle. I love Knives Out and Brick and Looper. He’s one of my favorite directors.

“And the fact that I went public with my dissatisfaction with the motivation for Luke becoming a suicidal hermit might have colored things in a way that, maybe I should have kept that to myself. But I kept saying to Rian, ‘This would just make Luke double down even…’ and he said, ‘Well, your class at the Jedi Academy were wiped out.’”

This is in reference to the scene in which a young Ben Solo brings a building down on Luke Skywalker, tears a Jedi temple apart and murders his students before running away to eventually become Kylo Ren.

“I said, ‘Rian, I saw entire planets wiped out! If anything, Luke doubles down and hardens his resolve in the face of adversity.’ So that’s all,” Hamill explained.

“I said, ‘Can I make up my own backstory of why he is the way he is? I don’t want to just say that I have bumped my head and I have brain damage.’ He said, ‘Yeah, do whatever you want.’ So I made up a much, much darker backstory that I thought could justify him being that way.”

Hamill then revealed this backstory, which certainly goes places:

“I thought, what could make someone give up a devotion to what is basically a religious entity, to give up being a Jedi?” Hamill began. “Well, the love of a woman. So he falls in love with a woman. He gives up being a Jedi. They have a child together. At some point the child, as a toddler, picks up an unattended lightsaber, pushes the button and is killed instantly. The wife is so full of grief, she kills herself.”

This head canon, Hamill explained, would have justified Luke’s actions and proven an adequate motivation for going into self-imposed exile.

“I thought, that would be… because I hear these horrible stories about these children who find unattended guns and wind up dead,” he continued. “That resonated with me so deeply that, that could possibly… but he didn’t have the time to tell a backstory like that, I’m guessing. He just wanted a brief thing to explain it. And to me, it didn’t justify it.

“That said — and I told him [Johnson] this — despite the fact that I disagree with your choices for Luke, I’m going to do everything within my power to make your screenplay work as best as I can. And the only thing unfortunate about that is, I’ve heard comments from fans who think that I somehow dislike Rian Johnson, and nothing could be further from the truth.”

The comments also come hot on the heels of Hamill’s confirmation that he will not return to Star Wars in a future movie, insisting: “There's no way I'm gonna appear as a naked Force ghost.”

Rey is set to return to the world of Star Wars in the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy-directed sequel to the universally panned Star Wars: Episode 9 - The Rise of Skywalker. It will tell the story of Rey as she looks to rebuild the Jedi Order roughly 15 years after the events of that film.

In the shorter term, The Mandalorian and Grogu is due out 2026. Star Wars: Starfighter, Shawn Levy's Star Wars movie starring Ryan Gosling, is due out in 2027.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

You may remember that Funcom recently assured Dune: Awakening players in an AMA that it was already "formulating a plan" to improve PvP in the Deep Desert, which players have previously branded as "toxic" due to griefing even after patching out the ability for players to squish other people with their Ornithopter.

In a candid letter, creative director Joel Bylos said "we want PvE players to be able to play the endgame and have access to the content of the endgame," insisting "our goal is not to force PvE players to interact with a PvP system that they may have no interest in."

"We still believe in the core concept of the Deep Desert — an endlessly renewing location that resets every week and creates an activity loop for great rewards. The tension of heading out there, head on a swivel, eyes peeled for foes as you enter the most dangerous part of the most dangerous planet in the universe. Our wish was that players would embrace this loop, forming guilds to work together to overcome the bleakness of the Deep Desert."

Bylos admitted that the "extremely competitive nature" of the Deep Desert was forcing players to engage when they may prefer PvE, and consequently, "some areas" of the Deep Desert will now be flagged as "Partial Warfare (PvE)" where players can grab rare resources without getting ambushed. The largest spice fields, shipwrecks and Landsraad control points will remain "War of Assassins (PvP)" as "high reward, high risk" areas.

And now, just two days later, Funcom's already testing some pretty radical changes.

It all comes as Dune: Awakening unveils its Public Test Client, where players can try out the latest patch and features in exchange for accepting builds may have bugs or be a little unstable. As part of efforts to make the endgame more enjoyable, the PvE area near the shield wall has been expanded to cover row A, B, C, D and half of E within the Deep Desert.

Compare that to how the PvP and PvE are balanced now where only row A is PvE, and that's essentially switching half of the Deep Desert from PvP to PvE.

As PC Gamer points out, this doesn't necessarily mean this will be applied in the final game — trying out new ideas is what test servers are for, of course — but it does at least indicate that Funcom was serious about revising the endgame experience.

Dune: Awakening has enjoyed a superb launch, with a 'very positive' user review rating on Steam. Within hours of going live on June 10, Funcom's survival MMO had clocked up over 142,000 concurrent players on Valve's platform, and hit a new high earlier this month of 189,333 players. And it's already clocked up over 1 million players, too, making it Funcom's fastest-selling game ever.

We gave Dune: Awakening a Great 8/10 in our review, writing: "Dune: Awakening is an excellent survival MMO that captures Frank Herbet’s sci-fi world incredibly well, mostly to its advantage and occasionally to its detriment. The survival climb from dehydrated peasant to powerful warlord of Arrakis is a joy almost every step of the way, and the story and worldbuilding filled this nerd with absolute joy. There’s still plenty for Awakening to work on though, as its combat never really hits its stride, the endgame is a bit of a chaotic mess not worth the effort."

If all that's got you interested but you're not sure where to start, make sure to check out all the Dune: Awakening classes you can choose from, and keep an eye on our Dune: Awakening walkthrough for a step-by-step guide to the story. We've also got Dune: Awakening resource guides that'll help you find iron, steel, aluminium, and a Dune: Awakening Trainers locations guide to help you survive on Arrakis.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Nintendo has updated Mario Kart World to change how the game handles online course selection, in a move that has gone against many fans' wishes and highlighted the mixed response to the game's open world overall.

Mario Kart World version 1.1.2 was released last night, and patch notes from Nintendo state that it has "adjusted courses selected in Random when selecting next course in a wireless VS Race."

While confusingly phrased, this change looks to be a deliberate move by Nintendo to nerf the game's Random course selection option when playing in VS mode — something many fans had been using to opt out of 'intermission tracks' whenever possible.

What is an intermission track? This fan term relates to the often long stretch of open world players must travel through to get from their current location to another nearby course, before playing just one lap of its track. It's these nearby courses that the game will usually suggest as options for the next race, meaning players typically must play an intermission track, alongside the Random option which alternatively picks a course from elsewhere.

Fans had been using the Random option to deliberately skip intermission tracks where possible, hoping instead to be transported to a far-away course where they are plonked at the starting line. In these cases, players are then given the classic three-lap Mario Kart course experience.

Now, with this change, Random also picks from the nearby courses the game suggests — meaning far-away courses are no longer guaranteed to appear, and intermission tracks are now more likely.

As a lengthy thread on forum Restera states, the change goes against how many players want to play Mario Kart World online, with the ability to consistantly play three laps of a course in VS mode, rather than only one lap after a long open-world drive through an intermission track.

Nintendo seems to have made this decision in response to player behavior as, anecdotally at least, use of the Random option seemed to be on the rise. And now, the patch is prompting a backlash.

"Nintendo has basically stepped in and said 'no, you're supposed to play this way,'" wrote fan GreenMamba. "They saw players clamoring for a more traditional online mode and did... the exact opposite of what they wanted."

The change will likely also make Mario Kart World's brilliant Rainbow Road track even rarer, the user noted. Perhaps World's best course, it is only accessible from the game's main open-world when selecting its specific Grand Prix, meaning fans hoping to play it online must rely on the Random choice option and hope it eventually gets picked.

"Good luck to ever even playing Rainbow Road online anymore," GreenMamba continued. "Thanks I hate it," wrote another fan. "Let people just play three-lap courses if they want to." "I get the impression that Nintendo isn't open to feedback on this," wrote a third.

Fans have suggested Nintendo should add a bespoke three-lap VS option for those who want it, alongside the game's current offering. Others say intermission tracks should be kept to the game's Knockout Tour mode entirely.

Mario Kart World's open world is not without its charms — it can be a relaxing place to cool off after heated races, and it holds a decent number of things to discover — but fans have consistently said its lengthy sections between main track locations just aren't as good.

"The highways aren't bad — in fact some of them can be very fun — but they're often extremely wide and straight, leading to long portions of each race that aren't as demanding or enjoyable as the twists and turns of the dedicated levels," IGN wrote in our Mario Kart World review.

For now, it seems users will be seeing more of these open highways in VS mode play — though it remains to be seen what Nintendo's wider plans are for Mario Kart World over time.

Check out our Mario Kart World guide and learn how to unlock every hidden Mario Kart World character, plus how Kamek Unlocks work — you’ll need them to unlock NPC Drivers. We’ve also got a guide to all the Mario Kart World food scattered across the open world and where to find it, which will help you get all the Mario Kart World outfits and costumes permanently.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

We already knew that Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced was on its way to PS5, and now we have a release date: August 12.

Ninja Theory's game will be available in two editions: a $49.99 standard edition, which includes the base Hellblade 2 alongside the upgrades and new features available in the Enhanced update, and a $69.99 deluxe edition, which also includes Hellblade 1 upgraded for PlayStation 5, as well as the Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice Original Soundtrack, "making it the perfect entry point for Senua’s journey."

Those who already own the PlayStation 4 version of Hellblade 1can upgrade to the PS5 version for free.

Don't forget that the Enhanced release and all the associated extras coming to PS5 players will also arrive as a free update on PC and Xbox Series X and S, too, including performance mode, dark rot mode — which adds an "additional challenge" — an enhanced photo mode, and developer commentary for those interested in the "craft and creative decisions" behind Senua's Saga. Here are more details on each new feature and upgrade:

• Performance Mode – Where the original release was optimized for 30fps to deliver an immersive, cinematic experience, the Enhanced update will include a ‘Performance Mode’ to optimize for 60fps. On PC, the game will offer a “Very High’ preset to push fidelity even further based on personal hardware.
• Dark Rot Mode – The Dark Rot from Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice has returned and offers an additional challenge for Senua in this optional game mode. The Dark Rot will grow each time you fail, and if it reaches Senua’s head, her quest is over and all progress will be lost.
• Enhanced Photo Mode – the Enhanced update will include an expanded and improved toolset, including a new ‘Motion’ tab for custom cinematic video capture.
• Developer Commentary – for those interested in the craft and creative decisions behind Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, the Enhanced update includes over four hours of developer commentary from a variety of voices involved in the making of the game.

We thought Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 was Great, slapping it with a well-earned 8/10, writing: "Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 is another Viking-worthy feast for the senses that meets the high bar set by its predecessor, even if it never really manages to clear it."

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.