↩ Accueil

Vue normale

Reçu aujourd’hui — 5 septembre 20253.3 🎲 Jeux English

The Best E-Ink Tablets to Improve Your Reading and Productivity

4 septembre 2025 à 22:41

While Apple’s iPad might be the most well-known tablet out there, it’s not always the best choice if you’re prone to eyestrain, distractions, or just plain prefer a more paper-like reading or writing experience. If that sounds familiar, then an e-ink tablet might be exactly what you’re looking for. With their low-distraction designs, easy readability, and frequently excellent handwriting experience, they’re a standout alternative for students, professionals, and anyone who craves a bit more focus in their life.

E-Ink tablets have been on the rise for years and there’s no shortage of options to choose from these days. I’ve done the testing and am a verified lover of all things e-ink, so if you’re on the hunt for anything from a paper replacement, to a “second brain,” to a simple e-reader, I’ve got something in mind.

TL;DR – These Are the Best E-Ink Tablets

E-Ink first came into the mainstream with the Amazon Kindle. Like many people, it was my first experience with it, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Compared to traditional tablet LCD displays which use bright backlights and quickly flashing images to display motion, e-ink displays don’t have lights behind the screen to shine into your eyes and only refresh the image as much as necessary to display the content – even if that’s only one time to change the page you’re reading.

Modern e-ink tablets have evolved from simple e-readers into feature-rich alternatives to normal tablets. Many run on modified versions of Android for their operating system and some even offer Google Play Store access. Most offer an array of reading, writing, planning, and productivity apps to support your needs through the day, even if you can’t freely download any app you’d like. The handwriting experience is often much better too, as the screens most often utilize Wacom EMR technology and micro-textured surfaces to deliver a more paper-like writing experience.

Even with these advancements, the limited nature of the display technology makes them much less likely to distract you while you read or take notes. While you can browse the web or load a video on some models (not all), the experience isn’t as fast, seamless, or tempting, allowing you to focus and accomplish more.

How to Choose the Best E-Ink Tablet

E-Ink tablets aren’t new anymore and as the technology has advanced, there are more factors to weigh when it comes to best meeting your needs. I’ve done the research and testing to find the best picks for most people, but if you’d rather consider options on your own, these are the things to look out for.

Stylus Support

Just like with traditional tablets and tablet PCs, stylus support can vary between brands and models. The most common stylus technology for e-ink tablets is Wacom EMR (electromagnetic resonance). Wacom styluses are a popular choice for their natural and responsive writing experience and exceptional palm rejection, and they don't actually need to be recharged since they don't run on batteries. Any EMR stylus will work with any EMR tablet, but the same can’t be said for capacitive styluses, which are the second option.

Capacitive styluses are commonly found on traditional tablets. But, just like that world, there are multiple standards applied between brands. You'll need to do research to ensure any aftermarket option you consider is compatible. Right now, the leading options are Bluetooth, USI, and USI 2.0. USI 2.0 is backward compatible with USI, but the opposite isn't true. As you can see, things can get confusing if you’re not careful. In general, however, if the tablet you’re considering offers stylus support, go for Wacom if possible.

Tablet Size

From the smartphone-like Boox Palma to the paper-sized Boox Note Max to middle-ground options like the Viwoods AI Paper at 10.3 inches or the Remarkable Paper Pro at just over 11 inches, there is a wide range of size options. If you're looking for a simple e-reader, a smaller tablet may be a better choice for its increased portability. If you read a lot of large PDFs or want to write on a sheet that's nearly the same as physical paper, a 13.3-inch option would be a good fit. In my experience, if you're not sure, opting for something in the middle is the safest bet, such as one of the 10.3-inch options in this list.

Color or Monochrome

Do you want color on your screen, or will black and white suffice? Color can be an important feature if you read files with color imagery or highlighters, download apps, or spend a lot of time browsing the web. If you'll mainly be using your tablet for reading, writing, or sketching, then monochrome is a fine choice and often comes with benefits, such as a lower price. One important thing to remember is that color e-ink is significantly less vibrant than color on an LCD tablet. Think of it more like color newsprint, and you'll be on the right track.

OS and App Support

As you consider what you would like to do with the tablet, one of the most important aspects to think about is whether you want access to an app store or if you'll be content with the features and functions provided by the manufacturer. While many e-ink tablets are deliberately designed to avoid downloadable apps for their propensity to distract, others, like those from Boox, aim to offer a full Android experience in an e-ink format. Just because a tablet runs on Android doesn’t mean that it will offer Google Play support, though. Be sure to verify that the tablet you’re considering offers access to the tools you’ll need to make it through your day.

Screen and Resolution

As you look into different tablets, you'll surely notice different screens highlights in feature and specification lists. Unless you’re shopping the used market and are considering a tablet more than 2 or 3 years old, you don’t need to get too hung up on this. For e-reading and writing, most displays will work similarly. Instead, I recommend paying closer attention to the resolution of the display and its pixel density (measured in Pixels Per Inch or PPI). As of this writing, the gold standard is 300 PPI, which offers a crisp reading experience with enough resolution to fully enjoy illustrations and photos.

As with most things, doing your research is still important. In the world of color e-ink, panel technology is advancing quickly, so a newer screen may offer more vivid colors and less ghosting. As always, take a gander at user reviews before pulling the trigger if you’re shopping for prior years’ models.

Reviews, Reviews, Reviews

I can't stress this enough: Even if you feel totally confident in a certain tablet being a great fit for you, take the time to read and watch different reviews to get a better idea of its strengths and weaknesses. Ghosting performance, app performance, update cadence, and battery life are all qualities with an element of subjectivity to them and aren’t things you can typically clean from product listings. Depending on your preferences, any of these qualities could turn a tablet that’s popular among others into a frustration for you. Do yourself a favor and do your research before pulling the trigger. You'll be glad you did.

1. Boox Tab X C / Boox Note Max

Best E-Ink Tablet

In the e-ink space, the current best contenders for all-around performance come from the same manufacturer, Boox. If you're looking for the best color e-ink tablet, go with the Boox Tab X C. If you don't need colors for the best handwriting experience in an extra-large form factor, go with the Boox Note Max. Either way, you can count on one of the best reading, writing, and minimal distraction tablet experiences available today.

I usually avoid doubling up on picks for the top spot, but the Note Max is the ying to the Tab XC's yang. Both tablets are very similar, with a couple of core differences. They each offer an A4 paper-sized 13.3-inch display with a high resolution, 300 PPI pixel density. But, as the slight differences in their names make clear, the Tab X C is intended more for traditional tablet use (i.e., typing, web browsing, and applications), while the Note Max emphasizes handwritten notetaking.

No matter which one you choose, both tablets promise a great experience. Boox has been quietly refining its operating system for years now, and its head start on many of its competitors is evident in the level of functionality and polish. It's even come up with solutions to common issues like writing latency in Microsoft OneNote, which means both tablets can offer wider compatibility with third-party applications.

The Boox Note Max is the perfect fit for anyone that's doing a lot of reading and writing. Its screen is high enough resolution that text is crisp and clear, and microtexturing on the screen makes handwriting feel satisfyingly tactile. The Tab X C, on the other hand, offers full color, but with a glossy screen that enhances its clarity and vividness.

The biggest downside to this pick is that the Tab X C does not use a Wacom EMR stylus. Instead, it uses a capacitive stylus with haptic feedback compared to other capacitive styluses. The implementation is quite good, especially if you keep the haptics a notch or two below their max. Still, the Note Max is better in that department, so consider picking up a Bluetooth keyboard or its official keyboard case for a great typing experience.

2. Viwoods AI Paper

Best for Students

The Viwoods AI Paper has been one of the biggest surprises of the year in the world of e-ink tablets. It launched strong with a solid feature set that emphasized handwriting and AI integration, but it has leaned into a rapid update cadence that has dramatically expanded its functionality and features since its release. It's now the unquestionable leader for e-ink tablets for students.

This tablet comes with a comparatively large 10.3-inch screen with a 300 PPI pixel density, so text looks crisp and clear no matter what you're doing. Its presentation is relatively unique with different sections dedicated to writing, sketching, planning, and organization. It covers all the bases you would hope for from an e-ink tablet and then adds layers on top to make it so useful it's likely to become an indispensable companion for any student.

For starters, updates have allowed it to integrate into existing planning systems like the Google Drive suite. Its Calendar app can tie into Google Calendar and pull down any scheduled events as well as sync events that you might add from the tablet. You can back up to Drive and utilize Gmail. Outlook is another option if your school uses the Microsoft suite instead.

Viwoods has expanded its ability to utilize tags and keywords to sort and connect your thinking. This is exceptionally useful for students to be able to connect different ideas and tag them with keywords to quickly search and retrieve lines of connected information and notes. This also applies to handwritten notes, as its AI functionality allows it to recognize handwritten characters for searchability and text conversion.

I was impressed at what it offered months ago in my original review. With the number and quality of updates, it’s much, much better today.

But it's the AI Papers' ability to leverage ChatGPT and several other LLM services that makes it the best overall fit for students. A dedicated AI button and microphone allow you to call up and talk to your AI assistant at any time. It's able to interpret what's on the screen and offer feedback and context.

In simpler terms, you can organize conversations into a personal knowledge base that the AI can use for reference. The AI integration is able to offer you additional insights, suggestions, and context to act as anything from an editor to a research assistant or tutor and can have knowledge bases for each class you're taking.

While other tablets offer you the ability to use AI in set applications or for set purposes, Viwood's significantly deeper integration makes it far more useful and a part of the core experience. All of this in addition to its great handwriting experience and ability to install applications from the Google Play Store. And did I mention that it’s great for sketching?

This tablet is the perfect choice for students but it’s also one of the best e-ink tablets out there period, so consider this one a wholesale recommendation.

3. Boox Note Air 4C

Best Color E-Ink Tablet

The Boox Note Air 4C is the little brother to our shared top pick, the Tab X C. Unlike that tablet, however, the Air 4C features a textured screen and Wacom EMR stylus support for an even better writing experience. It’s smaller too, which makes it more portable and useful as an on-the-go e-reader.

At 10.3 inches, it offers ample screen real estate for reading and note taking. One of my favorite things to do on it is read graphic novels. While e-ink is inherently less vibrant than LCD, it’s great to be able to experience those colors and have outdoor sunlight make the viewing experience better rather than worse.

Like many other Boox tablets, the Note Air 4C offers the full Android experience, including providing access to the Google Play Store. The company has developed its own suite of apps for reading, writing, planning, and web browsing, but you’re free to download anything you’d like if you would rather use it instead. Microsoft One Note even works fine thanks to some clever behind the scenes workaround Boox has applied to get around the input latency that plagues other e-ink tablets.

The Air 4C is one of the Boox’s most popular tablets and for good reason. It’s blend of high-resolution color screen, great writing experience, and responsive performance make it hard to beat – in fact, when the Tab X C released, many people were disappointed that it wasn’t just a bigger Air 4C! In my review of the Air 4C, I was a big fan of the writing experience and that it was fast enough to play Threes In my downtime.

There are some quirks, like minor ghosting in apps with regular animations and a charging port that required you to take the tablet out of its protective case to recharge. Overall, though, it’s a stellar pick if you plan to do a lot of handwriting but still want to best color e-ink experience.

4. Kindle Colorsoft (2025)

Best E-Reader

There is no e-reader as well-known as the Amazon Kindle, and with its latest release, the Amazon Kindle Colorsoft has slid into the top spot for anyone that doesn't mind purchasing their e-books from Amazon's vast library. Of course, if you don’t care about color, the Kindle Paperwhite is the next best, but either way, Amazon continues to have the e-reader market on lock.

The Kindle Colorsoft is the latest version of the Kindle to come to market, and it’s a welcome one. The original Kindle Colorsoft was plagued by yellow banding issues distorting colors along its bottom edge. With this release, it appears that Amazon has officially solved those issues, making it one of the most cost-effective and easy to use e-ink tablets out there.

Unlike most of the other devices in this list, the Colorsoft isn’t trying to be your do-it-all tablet. Instead, this is a purpose-driven device, designed to provide you with easy access to your ebook library anywhere you might be. You’ll need to be in the Amazon ecosystem or use a tool like Calibre to add non-Amazon ebooks, but if you are, you’ll find that this is the hands-down easiest way to access your entire library.

Like the other color tablets on this list, the Colorsoft’s plentiful assortment of hues adds a new dimension to anything with color pictures or illustrations. It makes a strong first impression, too, rendering all of your book covers in full color. As is the case with all e-ink screens right now, they won’t be as vibrant as an LCD reader can produce, but the few other places benefit from a paperlike screen than good, old-fashioned reading.

The new Kindle Colorsoft goes for $250 but tends to go on sale whenever there’s a major shopping event. If you don’t need color, the Kindle Paperwhite is only $160.

5. Ratta Supernote Manta

Best Digital Notebook

The Supernote Manta from Ratta is one of the most popular digital notebooks out there. It has a dedicated fan base, which is true of many options on this list, but few are as enthusiastic as the Manta's. Thanks to an existing customer-first approach to business and a design that emphasizes interconnecting your thoughts in a way that few others do, it's as close to a "second brain" as e-ink tablets have been able to deliver so far.

Here's the thing: While many, if not most, of the leading e-ink tablets on the market allow you to organize your notes and add tags, the Manta allows you to link between ideas more deeply and easily than anything else out there I'm aware of. You can add links to previous notes, categorize them with keywords, and search handwritten text. Notes can be linked to documents, images, and web pages. It’s also smart enough to create outlines for your documents on the fly, so even mid-note, it puts organization at the forefront.

In addition, it highly emphasizes the quality of the writing experience. The Supernote Manta uses a soft surface with a proprietary screen protector to give a gel pen-like writing experience. It comes with lots of purpose-built templates you can use to create your notebooks and allows you to sort everything into your choice of custom or pre-made folders, including subfolders, to really personalize your workflow.

Ratta has also implemented its own dedicated art application called Atelier. While basic note-taking still has a relatively limited pen selection, there are significantly more options built into Atelier, including different pencil hardnesses to shade with just gradients.

It never ceases to impress me what actual artists can create using the Manta. While I would never classify myself as an actual artist, I've still had a lot of fun using it for impromptu drawing and practicing new handwriting techniques. If you’re an art major, though, or just enjoy sketching, the Manta provides a lifelike drawing experience with an easy ability to move your draws off of the device into the cloud or directly to your PC.

While some people will find its lack of Google Play Store support limiting, it's one of the few devices that allows you to create a Wikipedia-like web of connection between your thoughts, which impressed me in my review. It should be on your radar if you’re looking for a digital notebook that can become integral to your day and be genuinely helpful to supplement your memory and planning.

6. Remarkable Paper Pro

Best Paper Replacement

In the e-ink space, Remarkable is probably the most well-known brand out there. The original Remarkable and its successor, the Remarkable 2, were very highly regarded and brought the idea of digital notebooks to a large mainstream audience in a way that shook the industry and made many of these other tablets possible. The Remarkable Paper Pro continues its legacy of delivering a class-leading writing experience and feels the most premium of any e-ink tablet I've used thus far. As far as paper replacements go, it’s great.

One of my hands-down favorite qualities about it is its excellent handwriting experience. Not only does the screen feel great to write on with its subtly textured surface, Remarkable is pulling some software magic behind the scenes to make your handwriting look better than anywhere else. Impressively, the changes are small enough that your handwriting still looks like your own, but looking back at it, it's satisfyingly refined in a way that will leave you wishing other tablets did the same.

There's also something about the way colors render on the screen, initially black and then chased by a colored line that's oddly satisfying. Its color presentation is quite good and is one of the more vibrant options out there today. It's perfect for reading PDFs and color coding within your own notebooks and templates.

Remarkable has never hid the fact that it is a handwriting-first device. Over the years, its "first to the mainstream" bona fides have allowed the company to occupy a somewhat luxurious space. That's evident in the weighty, metallic build of the Paper Pro, and, it must be said, its comparatively high price.

Whether or not this is a good fit for you will depend entirely on whether you are looking for a pure paper replacement. While there are lots of downloadable templates and resources to aid in your writing and organization, there are no outside apps, no dedicated art functions, and there's not even an ability to access Kindle, so your e-reading needs are limited to PDFs and ePubs. You can view Microsoft Word and Powerpoint files, too, so you can still access and review those files.

Overall, the Remarkable Paper Pro is limited in comparison to many other e-ink tablets but is a good example of choosing one thing, replacing paper, and doing it well.

E-Ink Tablet FAQs

Are e-ink tablets better for your eyes?

Many people think so! E-Ink displays work differently than the LCD or OLED displays found on traditional tablets. Those displays project light outward and flash their images many times per second. Both qualities are known to cause eye strain, and some people are more susceptible to this than others.

E-Ink tablets can refresh a single time to display a static image, and rely on outside light or edge lighting for illumination. Both qualities tend to make them easier on the eyes and much more like traditional paper.

Are e-ink tablets good for drawing?

That depends on the specific tablet in question, but many of them are. A large amount of e-ink tablets use the same electromagnetic resonance (EMR) technology found in Wacom art tablets, which is currently one of the leading brands among digital artists. This stylus, in combination with a well-implemented screen and drawing tools, can provide a near paper-like sketching experience.

Art isn’t a primary concern of every e-ink tablet, however, so pay attention to what features and apps the model you’re considering supports. If you’re on the hunt for a great e-ink art tablet, definitely consider the Boox Note Max or Viwoods AI Paper, as both offer a robust selection of art tools and Photoshop-like canvas layering.

Why are e-ink tablets so expensive?

There are several reasons for this, but the biggest is that e-ink, while consistently rising in popularity over the years, is still a small market with less awareness than traditional tablets like the iPad. They’re also not for everyone as their screen technology is inherently more limited than similarly priced LCD or OLED options.

Other reasons include a limited supply chain (branded “e-ink” displays are produced solely by the E Ink Corporation) and the company’s themselves are frequently smaller. This translates into a reduced ability to operate at scale, which usually allows for lower prices.

Can e-ink tablets play videos, games, or browse the web?

Yes and no. Remember, e-ink displays don’t refresh as much as LCD displays and both movies and games rely on fast refresh rates to deliver smooth motion. E-Ink tablets that can refresh faster than once per page turn are comparatively very slow. Videos and games are often plagued by blurry motion and ghosting that make the experience less than optimal.

With that in mind, the door isn’t completely closed. Newer tablets like the Boox Tab X C can play YouTube videos well enough to make out what’s going on and can refresh quickly enough for simple games like Threes to be very playable. It still won’t compare to a normal tablet, but it’s possible on some tablets. Also, if you’re more concerned with hearing the video than seeing what’s on screen, the refresh rate may not matter at all.

Web browsing is another matter and many e-ink tablets can handle that just fine. Ghosting is still sometimes an issue, but many tablets offer different performance modes or even come with their own browsers to improve performance. If the tablet you’re considering comes with a web browser, it’s usually safe to assume that web browsing and checking up on social media won’t be an issue.

Christopher Coke has been a regular contributor to IGN since 2019 and has been covering games and technology since 2013. He has covered tech ranging from gaming controllers to graphics cards, gaming chairs and gaming monitors, headphones, IEMs, and more for sites such as MMORPG.com, Tom’s Hardware, Popular Science, USA Today’s Reviewed, and Popular Mechanics. Find Chris on Twitter @gamebynight.

Stardew Valley Creator ConcernedApe has a Cameo Role in Hollow Knight: Silksong

4 septembre 2025 à 22:33

Stardew Valley creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has a cameo role in Team Cherry’s new mega hit indie game, Hollow Knight: Silksong.

The sequel to Team Cherry’s original bleak and beloved metroidvania game finally launched across PC and consoles earlier today, bringing an end to more than six painful years of anticipation. As what is sure to be millions of fans swarm to see if the wait was worth it, The Verge has pointed out that the Hollow Knight: Silksong credits tease a special cameo from one of the most notable indie developers of the last decade.

Those who navigate to the Hollow Knight sequel’s credits – which can be found in the “extras” option on the main menu – will notice that Barone is featured among the shortlist of names included under “Additional Character Voices.” It means that, if you know where to look, you’ll be able to hear the mastermind behind farming sim sensation Stardew Valley among those lending their voice talents to the land of Pharloom and all of its insect inhabitants.

Unfortunately, it’s a bit unclear how exactly Barone is featured in Hollow Knight: Silksong. ConcernedApe’s head of operations and business development, Cole Medeiros, confirmed with The Verge that, while the Stardew Valley creator does indeed play a role in the Hollow Knight follow-up, they aren’t ready to reveal who he plays. Medeiros added that Barone would “rather not say which character(s) so as not to spoil any surprises for anyone.”

Although hundreds of thousands of players have already logged in to Steam to play Hollow Knight: Silksong on a Thursday morning, it might take some time to find how Barone is featured. Team Cherry made the metroidvania sequel available for players today, September 4, 2025, for $19.99 for PC, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S, and it immediately helped cause digital storefronts like Steam and the Nintendo eShop to crash. As fans continue to pour in, they’ll be met with a game that appears to be substantially bigger than the already quite large original Hollow Knight.

As fans continue to turn over every bug boss and creepy enemy in search of Barone, you can see how players can take advantage of enhanced features in the Switch 2 version of Hollow Knight: Silksong. You can also see why the announcement of Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release date had a few other developers ready to change their own schedules.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer 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).

South Park: One Small Change Has Worked Wonders in Season 27

4 septembre 2025 à 22:11

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the first four episodes of South Park Season 27.

We may only be four episodes into South Park’s latest season, but it seems safe to say Season 27 is one for the history books. Rarely has the series been this witty, this timely, and this downright angry in its takedown of the current political climate. For proof, look no further than the Season 27 premiere, which shocked the world with its scathing, nudity-filled parody of Donald Trump.

There are any number of reasons why Season 27 is resonating in a way few have before it. The series certainly picked a great time to make its long-awaited return, given how bizarre and infuriating the news headlines are of late. But more than anything, it seems to be the new release format that has reinvigorated the series. Staggering new episodes two weeks apart is the best thing that ever happened to South Park.

South Park’s 2016 Woes

South Park is renowned for its ability to reflect current events and breaking news at a speed that is simply impossible for other animated sitcoms. The show’s intentionally crude animation style allows creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and their team to craft new episodes in a matter of days, not months or years. That’s allowed South Park to be extremely topical over the years, whether it’s poking fun at Steve Irwin’s tragic death in 2006 or the series getting itself banned in China for making fun of Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. The teams behind The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Rick and Morty only wish they could work that quickly.

But for all South Park’s timely humor is a constant source of amusement, it does have its drawbacks. As the series has shifted in a more continuity-driven approach to storytelling in recent seasons, the South Park crew have attempted to balance timely humor with the need to build coherent, season-long narratives. It hasn’t always entirely worked out.

Season 20 is probably the most glaring example of the show being tugged uncomfortably between these two opposing forces. Season 20 followed an ongoing narrative centered around Internet trolls, the dangerous allure of nostalgia in the form of “Member Berries,” and the 2016 presidential election. That narrative hit a major pothole midway through when Trump defied expectations and won the election, an event reflected in the November 2016 episode “Oh, Jeez.” Even Parker and Stone were taken aback by that turn of events, which forced them to substantially rework an episode that was originally titled “The Very First Gentleman” (obviously referencing Bill Clinton).

Even as it propelled Trump stand-in Mr. Garrison into the White House, Season 20 arguably never fully recovered from that surprise turn of events. Like they had in 2008 and 2012, Parker and Stone gambled on the outcome of the election, only this time they bet wrong. As entertaining as Season 20 was, it never managed to tie its disparate plot threads together into a satisfying conclusion. It was a reminder that there are risks to trying to keep pace with current events and constantly rewriting and reconfiguring a show on the fly.

Surely, there were lessons learned in 2016, and the series seemed to take a step back from aggressively tackling every news headline it could in subsequent seasons. South Park’s release cadence has also slowed of late, with a more than two-year gap separating Seasons 26 and 27. At some point, the novelty of seeing current events play out in animated sitcom form cooled a bit, leaving the show to focus on crafting coherent storylines and a slightly more timeless form of satire. And, much to the chagrin of many viewers, the series has been really fixated on Randy’s Tegridy Farms phase lately.

The Secret of Season 27’s Success

Now Season 27 is here, and with it comes a revamped release schedule. Rather than airing weekly in one or two blocks, South Park is being spaced out in biweekly doses. The series is tackling current events and headlines with a zeal it hasn’t shown since 2016, but at the same time, it’s doing so at a more methodical pace. That pace has really made all the difference.

Certainly, South Park hasn’t been holding back in its attacks on the Trump administration. Where the show relied on Mr. Garrison as a Trump surrogate during his first term, now the series is directly lampooning Trump himself, depicting him as Satan’s latest abusive boyfriend (leading to the repeated refrain in Episode 4, “Trump is f***ing Satan.”) Other Trump administration officials like J.D. Vance and Kristi Noem have been in the show’s crosshairs of late. In the first four episodes of Season 27, the series has tackled everything from ICE immigration raids to ChatGPT to the Labubu craze.

There’s no longer the all-consuming sense of urgency to reference current events as soon as they happen and pivot with every new plot twist.

But the key is that the series is doing so in a much more cohesive and narratively satisfying way than it did back in 2016. There’s no longer the all-consuming sense of urgency to reference current events as soon as they happen and pivot with every new plot twist. Given the nonstop deluge of disturbing headlines these days, that way lies madness. Parker and Stone seem more willing to take a step back and consider how all of these elements fit together. Having an extra week in between new episodes gives the South Park team more time to focus on storytelling. If they aren’t able to immediately satirize some new development, so be it. It’s more important to get the jokes right than get them out fast. And, mind you, two weeks is still pretty darned fast.

The result is that Season 27 is already shaping up to be one of the show’s best in a long time. The political humor is bold and insightful. At the same time, there’s a clear story being told about the latest crisis brewing in South Park, CO. Everything, from South Park Elementary’s Christian makeover to Cartman’s “woke is dead” disillusionment to the reveal that Satan is pregnant with Trump’s child, feels like a logical piece of a larger puzzle. If the series has been a bit scatterbrained and unfocused in the past, it’s showing a real laser sense of focus in 2025.

There’s always a danger that things could eventually go off the rails. One has to assume the writers were sweating a bit this past weekend when rumors briefly swirled of Trump’s death. There’s no guarantee that some new political crisis won’t come along to blow up the overarching plans for the season. That’s the inherent risk of the show’s “ripped from the headlines” approach.

But still, with this added buffer between new episodes, there’s more room to do what wasn’t always possible in 2016. There’s time to think and consider the best path forward. There’s a greater emphasis on quality over speed. And in an age where more and more people and organizations are afraid to speak truth to power, it’s all the more important that South Park be on its A-game. It’s good to have the series back, and especially when it’s in top form.

For more on South Park, find out how you can stream Season 27.

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

Street Fighter: Full Cast, New Release Date and Distributor Revealed for New Live-Action Movie

4 septembre 2025 à 22:05

Legendary has announced the full cast for their upcoming live-action Street Fighter movie, which will be released by Paramount Pictures on October 16, 2026.

Street Fighter is the first Legendary title to be released as part of the company’s new distribution deal with Paramount.

Bad Trip’s Kitao Sakurai directs Street Fighter, which has begun filming in Australia and is filming in IMAX.

See the full Street Fighter cast list below:

Legendary also released side-by-side images of the actors opposite their game characters, which you can see by scrolling the slideshow below.

“Set in 1993, estranged Street Fighters Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) are thrown back into combat when the mysterious Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament: a brutal clash of fists, fate, and fury,” according to the official plot synopsis.

“But behind this battle royale lies a deadly conspiracy that forces them to face off against each other and the demons of their past. And if they don’t, it’s GAME OVER!”

This will be the third live-action feature film based on the iconic Capcom video game franchise. The first Street Fighter movie, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia, was released in 1994. A much loathed reboot, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, was released in 2009. Numerous Street Fighter television series and online shorts have been produced over the years.

This new Street Fighter movie was originally going to be directed by Talk to Me and Bring Her Back filmmakers Michael Philippou and Danny Philippou, who ultimately exited the project to focus on original projects.

Video game adaptations have found a new lease on life in recent years, with streaming series like The Last of Us and Fallout finding critical success and A Minecraft Movie and Super Mario Bros. striking gold at the box office. Also aiming for a commercial win is Mortal Kombat II, which has postponed its release date until next summer.

A new Resident Evil movie is also in the works from Weapons director Zach Cregger, while Return to Silent Hill will hit theaters next year.

Meanwhile, Prime Video’s live-action Tomb Raider series starring Sophie Turner begins filming next year while Netflix’s animated series Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft will end with Season 2 this December. Beyond the final season of Tomb Raider, Netflix’s new big animated video game adaptation is Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, which premieres in October.

We Build the LEGO Emerald City Wall Art, a Delightful Build Ahead of Wicked: For Good

4 septembre 2025 à 21:43

With Wicked: For Good preparing to fly into theaters this November, LEGO is dropping a few different Wicked-themed LEGO sets in September for musical theater fans to get their hands on before the film's release. One of these sets is the Emerald City Wall Art, which is now available. As a big Wicked fan myself, I was excited to piece this set together. Not only is it filled with bright pinks and greens in honor of the show's leading ladies, but there are plenty of smaller details throughout it that are a joy to find.

In total, there are 1,518 pieces in this LEGO set that come together to create this incredibly detailed piece of wall art. It's recommended for adults, which I do agree with since there are a lot of smaller pieces that go into the complex layering of this set. However, if you have a younger Wicked fan in your life who's dying to build it, just give them a closely-supervised hand and they'll be golden.

This set comes with 14 bags (plus an additional bag filled with some larger pieces) and a full-color instruction manual, which features some little blurbs and shots from the film in the first few pages. In these initial pages you'll also find an image that points to some of the different easter eggs that can be found throughout this set, from the yellow brick road, to the train leading to the Emerald City, to a hidden compartment that will soon hold some very familiar faces about to journey through Oz in Wicked: For Good.

The first few bags of this set focus on piecing together the backdrop portion of this wall art. A lot of pieces layer together to create a sturdy structure, which is good news for those hoping to hang it up when they're all done. There are even two mounting holes in the back that are perfectly placed for that purpose. The first bag also sees you putting together Dorothy with little Toto, and they get placed on a white platform that will fill up with some other friends from later bags.

By the time you get to bag four, you'll get to start filling in more of the background for the wall art, which is mostly vibrant pinks and a little touch of green in the corner. You also get the Scarecrow minifigure to place next to Dorothy on the white platform, and your first little easter egg of a flying monkey below the green. Don't worry, he'll have a little place to hide behind later.

Bags five and six focus on building out the frame edges around the wall art, alongside a little cut-out in the top right corner for where Elphaba will be attached later, and building up the base of what will soon become the Emerald City. From bag six you'll also start to construct the first tower in the Emerald City, which houses The Wizard's mechanical face. The cool part about this is you also create a little cover to go over him, so it's a nice surprise to take off later and reveal him underneath.

Also in bag six are some nice little touches for around the tower, alongside a little cloud build to cover the flying monkey from earlier. Most importantly, though, the top right corner of the wall art is built out into a beautiful display for Elphaba to be in (who you will also put together from this bag), surrounded by golden details that frame the green background.

Bags seven and eight build out even more buildings in the Emerald City, including another fun little easter egg of Glinda and Elphaba in the center tower, alongside the start of Shiz University on the far left. Bag eight also sees the Tin Man join our merry band of travelers who are off to see The Wizard (but stuck on the white platform for now).

Bag nine focuses on adding more details around the Emerald City, including little tulips popping up around its base, while bag 10 moves you down to the lower part of the wall art. Here, you'll get to build up more of the bottom part of the piece and add in some fun details. One of these is a very small track on the right side that'll hold the train to the Emerald City later on.

There are plenty more small details to add to this wall art, and bag 11 is packed with pink tulips to build out the fields near Munchkinland alongside more pieces to create a river flowing from Shiz University and part of the yellow brick road. And with bag 12, you'll create a little compartment at the bottom that can hold our minifigure friends against a yellow brick backdrop. Speaking of minifigures, you also get the Cowardly Lion from bag 12, completing the line-up of new characters from Wicked: For Good (or familiar favorites from The Wizard of Oz).

But this Wicked wall art wouldn't be complete without Glinda. She's the last (though certainly not least) minifigure to be pieced together from bag thirteen. This bag also comes with pieces to build out her little bubble in the bottom left hand corner, placing her at the opposite end of the set from Elphaba, and comes with the Emerald City train to put on the tracks you built earlier.

And finally, with bag 14, you piece together the cover for the hidden compartment housing Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. On this cover, you build up Munchkinland and continue the path of the yellow brick road and the river to connect with the main piece of the wall art. There's also a little Wicked logo you can place on it, which is a nice touch to finish everything off with.

But that's not all. There are more clouds to piece together and place on the set alongside the Wizard's hot air balloon towards the top. And with that, the completed set looks like this:

And here's how the hidden compartment looks with Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion on the inside:

The Emerald City Wall Art Lego set is a fairly decent size once it's fully pieced together, coming to just over 12.5 inches (32 cm) high, 10 inches (25 cm) wide and 3 inches (8 cm) deep. It's one I'd definitely recommend if you're a big fan of Wicked and The Wizard of Oz. It took me a few days to finish completely, so if you're looking for a lengthy, detailed LEGO set to dig into, this is a great pick.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.

The Solo Leveling Season 1 Limited Edition Blu-ray Just Dropped to a New Low Price

4 septembre 2025 à 21:36

I've watched a lot of anime in my adult life, but some of my very favorites include the RPG elements I've come to love from video games. My first experience with the genre was Sword Art Online, and I've been hooked ever since.

When I heard about how popular Solo Leveling was, it was a good enough reason for me to get a Crunchyroll subscription just to watch it. I was pretty tempted by the limited edition Blu-ray when it first went up for preorder, but the price was too steep. Now that Amazon has it at a discount, it may finally be worth picking it up for my collection.

Solo Leveling Season 1 Collector's Edition Discounted at Amazon

This limited-edition Blu-ray did get a discount from Crunchyroll before it was released, but the latest Amazon price drops it even lower than that. At $63.69, this is the lowest price we've seen so far. It's also discounted at the Crunchyroll Store, but will cost you $8 more.

If you aren't familiar with the series, it's pretty straightforward to explain. The setting takes place in a modern society centered around the idea of magical portals (Gates) filled with monsters and individuals (Hunters) with the inherent power to conquer the dungeons inside. Each hunter is locked at a specific threshold of power, but when the main character encounters a unique monster he is imbued with the power to level-up beyond his means. It has many of the same elements I've come to love from LitRPG books and the first season is incredibly easy to binge.

What comes with this edition?

This limited-edition Blu-ray comes with a total of four discs that include various special features. It's also essentially a gift set that includes an art book, art cards, and stickers. Below are all of the details of what's included:

Special Features

  • Textless Opening & Ending Songs
  • Promo Video Collection
  • Character Video Collection
  • 7-Day Countdown Videos
  • Episode Previews
  • Recap Episode 7.5
  • The Leveling of Solo Leveling Documentary

Limited Edition Features

  • 68-page art book featuring:
    • An exclusive with Action Director Yoshihiro Kanno
    • Japanese cast & staff interviews
    • Hand-selected stills
  • 4 art cards
  • Sticker sheet

When Will There Be a Season 3?

If you're wondering when new episodes of Solo Leveling will arrive, the answer to that question is unfortunately not yet clear. Season 2 of the series wrapped up in March 2025 and we haven't received any details about a third season just yet. That being said, it's unlikely that the show won't continue given it's popularity. The most recent news we've gotten about the upcoming season is a new investment from Netmarble that has fueled speculation about when production will begin.

Reçu hier — 4 septembre 20253.3 🎲 Jeux English

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft to End With Season 2

4 septembre 2025 à 20:51

Hot on the heels of the news that Prime Video’s live-action Tomb Raider series starring Sophie Turner begins filming next year comes word that Netflix’s animated series Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft is coming to an end.

Variety reports that Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft’s upcoming second season will also be its last. Season 2 launches on Netflix on December 11.

“When adventurer Lara Croft (voiced by Hayley Atwell) discovers a trail of stolen African Orisha masks, she joins forces with her best friend Sam (Karen Fukuhara) to retrieve the precious artifacts,” according to the season’s official plot synopsis.

“Lara’s thrilling new adventure takes her around the globe as she delves deeper into the hidden secrets of Orisha history, dodging the machinations of a dangerous and enigmatic billionaire who wants the masks for herself, while discovering these relics contain dark secrets and a power that defies logic. Power that may, in fact, be divine.”

Season 1 debuted in 2024. IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey wasn’t overly fond of the show, writing in his Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, Season 1 review that it "isn’t terrible, but it’s well below the high bar set by other animated video game adaptations on Netflix."

Prime Video’s live-action Tomb Raider series begins filming in January 2026, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge serving as creator, writer, and executive producer. Chad Hodge is co-showrunner, while Jonathan van Tulleken (Shogun) will direct and executive produce.

Beyond the final season of Tomb Raider, Netflix’s new big animated video game adaptation is Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, which premieres in October.

Firaxis Lays Off Employees, Despite Publisher Claiming Civilization 7 Sales Are 'Consistent With Expectations'

4 septembre 2025 à 20:11

Civilization VII developer Firaxis has laid off an unknown number of individuals today, despite the insistance of Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick that the game's sales are consistent with expectations.

Today, a number of Firaxis employees announced across social media that they had been let go, including members of production, narrative, and art. Civilization VII publisher 2K confirmed the layoffs to Game Developer, saying the studio was restructuring and optimizing its development process for "adaptability, collaboration, and creativity." The company did not confirm the number of individuals impacted.

Firaxis released Civilization VII earlier this year, and the game has since received a mixed reception on Steam amid player complaints about the game's user interface, lack of map variety, and that it was missing expected features. Since then, Firaxis has released a number of updates to the game to improve it in these areas.

In the meantime, Strauss Zelnick, CEO of 2K parent Take-Two, has said that while Civilization VII did get off to a "slow start", the company's internal projections for the "lifetime value" of the game still match initial expectations.

“I think the key thing is that Civ has always been a slow burn. It's always been a title that had — I'm not really a big believer in the long tail theory of the entertainment business — but Civ is an example of that theory. And right now our projections for the lifetime value of the title are very consistent with our initial expectations for the title.

“So while we were off to a slow start and while we have had to make changes — and there are more changes coming — I feel like consumer uptake is better and better and we feel really good about the title. I think over time it's going to take its place in its civilization pantheon in a very successful, credible way.”

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.

The Best Streaming Services for Watching NFL Games Live in 2025

4 septembre 2025 à 19:42

The 2025 NFL season officially kicks off this week and if you're hoping to stream all of the games online, it is once again unnecessarily confusing. There is no single place where you can watch every NFL game live, and it gets even more confusing when you start factoring in some streaming exclusives coming later this year. If you're looking for the best way to watch as many NFL games as you can this season, you're likely going to need to be subscribed to multiple streaming services.

TL;DR – These Are the Best Streaming Services for NFL Games

For those who are only looking to watch the occasional game, most of the popular sports streaming services should do the trick. You can also get some games through other streaming services depending on the day. I'd recommend checking out the NFL website for an up-to-date schedule of games to find out where you can stream each one.

Fubo

Best Option for Most People

If you're looking for a live TV streaming service with a focus on sports, Fubo is likely your best option. It will give you online access to all of the normal local channels and also includes access to the new ESPN Unlimited service. Both of the available subscription plans include Unlimited DVR, but if you want access to RedZone you'll need to go with the Elite with Sports Plus package.

Fubo comes in two different tiers, Pro and Elite with Sports Plus. The Pro plan will get you access to most of what you need to watch NFL games as well as 241 total channels for $84.99 per month. Upgrading to the next tier will get you access to more channels, RedZone, and 4K streaming for $104.99. There's also a free trial available for Fubo that will let you test out the service for seven days before you have to pay.

Disney+, Hulu, ESPN Unlimited, NFL+ Premium Bundle

Best All-Around Streaming Bundle with NFL Games

If you're not interested in adding a live TV service to your monthly bill, Disney+ recently launched a new bundle offer that can help you save quite a bit. This was announced alongside the new ESPN Unlimited service last month and includes access to Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions as well. As of September 3, you can also choose to bundle NFL+ Premium in as an add-on, making it the best new streaming option for watching NFL games.

The base bundle is currently priced at $29.99 for the first 12 months of your subscription, and you can choose to add on NFL+ Premium for an additional $10. This will get you access to most regular season NFL games as well as RedZone for $39.99 per month. The biggest downside is that NFL+ Premium will only let you stream games via your phone or tablet.

Prime Video

Best for Thursday Night Football (and Free Shipping)

Prime Video is maybe not the most ideal one-stop shop if you're looking for a comprehensive NFL streaming service, but it does get you access to most Thursday Night Football games (and already comes included with any Amazon Prime subscription). The exception to this is the very first game of the season happening tonight. So if you're hoping to watch the Eagles take on the Cowboys, you won't find that here.

An Amazon Prime membership costs $14.99 per month or $139 per year. Thursday Night Football games will be streamed live online via the Prime Video app or directly from Amazon's website. The main reason to get an Amazon Prime subscription is still the free shipping on stuff you buy from Amazon, but watching the occasional NFL game is a bonus. Amazon Prime currently has one of the best free trials in all of streaming that lets you access the service for 30 days before paying anything.

Paramount+

Best Streaming Option for CBS Broadcasts

Similar to Amazon Prime, Paramount+ is really just a streaming service that also happens to have some NFL games. The only games you'll be able to stream are the ones that are also being broadcast on CBS, which you could also watch on live TV if you wished to avoid paying for this service. The Paramount+ website has a full schedule of what games will be available for the first week and beyond that I'd recommend checking out.

The main draw of Paramount+ outside of NFL games is the original content that is only available there. This streaming service is the home of the Sonic the Hedgehog movies and also where you can currently stream new South Park episodes. There are two tiers of Paramount+ available, with the cheapest starting at $7.99 with ads. There's also a fall promo going on that takes 50% off the price when you subscribe annually.

NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV

Best for Out-of-Market Games

If you're specifically looking for a single service that has every single NFL game, YouTube TV with NFL Sunday Ticket is probably your best bet. The YouTube TV part of this bundle will include any in-market local and national NFL games streamed live, while NFL Sunday Ticket will get you all of the out-of-market Sunday games as well. The add-on is the only way to get access to those non-local games and YouTube is the only place that currently offers it.

The main downside of this option is that you'll need to add on other services to watch additional NFL games. Access to ESPN is required for Monday Night Football games and Prime Video is required for Thursday Night Football games. You can add these on for an additional cost, but it will start to get expensive compared to some other options on this list. YouTube TV is offering new users an NFL Sunday Ticket bundle for only $83.40 per month for the first two months before that price goes up.

NFL Streaming FAQs

Can you watch NFL games without a streaming subscription?

You don't need a streaming or cable subscription to watch some NFL games, but you will need one to watch all of them. There will be games available on live TV every week on ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC that you can access with a TV antenna for free. In addition to these games, Twitch will stream Thursday Night Football games for free. The games you won't be able to access for free are anything playing on ESPN or out-of-market Sunday games.

What's the cheapest way to watch every regular season NFL game?

Because of how NFL streaming rights are set up, there is no cheap way to watch all of the games in 2025. To watch every game for the lowest possible price you'll need access to ESPN Unlimited, NFL+, Netflix, Peacock, and Amazon Prime. This is due to both Netflix and Peacock having exclusive rights to some games later in the season. For a full breakdown of what you'll need to subscribe to and when, I'd suggest taking a look at this comprehensive Reddit thread breaking it down.

Where will Super Bowl 2026 be available to stream?

Super Bowl LX will be available to watch live on NBC on February 8, 2026. This means if you’re hoping to stream the game online you’ll need to do it through Peacock, which is owned by NBC.

Hollow Knight: Silksong Shoots Up Steam's Most-Played Games Chart Hours After Launch, With Huge Concurrent Player Numbers as Storefront Issues Ease

4 septembre 2025 à 19:19

Hollow Knight: Silksong is already a huge hit on Steam despite causing Valve’s storefront to crash, posting massive concurrent player numbers.

At the time of this article’s publication, and as those storefront problems ease, Silksong was on a huge 453,993 concurrent players on Steam, making it the third most-played game on Valve’s platform behind only Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2.

This number looks set to rise, too, as more people download the game ahead of its first weekend on sale. The question now is, just how big will it be? It’s already the 29th most-played game on Steam of all-time, with the likes of Helldivers 2 in its sights.

Silksong is one of the most anticipated games of 2025. Over six years after its initial announcement and as the most wishlisted game on Steam, Silksong finally launched today, September 4, across PC, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and S priced $19.99 and weighing in at 7.62GB.

Of course, Silksong’s true player count will be much bigger across all platforms. Neither Sony, Nintendo nor Microsoft make player numbers public, but Silksong crashed those storefronts, too, so it will be massive everywhere. And let’s remember Silksong is a day-one Game Pass title. Yep, this one’s enormous, perhaps even the biggest indie game launch of all time.

Little was known about Silksong ahead of launch, so players are only now discovering its secrets. One of the first revelations is the achievements list (Silksong has 52 Achievements and 53 Trophies to unlock and discover).

Be sure to check out IGN's Silksong coverage, which includes the story of the superfan behind the YouTube Channel Daily Silksong News, who can finally rest after an incredible 1,693 days of videos.

Be sure to stay up-to-date with all the latest from IGN by clicking here and setting IGN as a preferred source in Google.

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.

Lady Gaga's Wednesday Music Video Caught Up in Viral Creepy AI Doll Accusation

4 septembre 2025 à 18:39

We now live in an era where we can’t always trust our eyes — and that has led none other than Lady Gaga to come under fire for potential AI usage in her latest music video for “The Dead Dance,” her new song for the Netflix show Wednesday.

So how did this happen, exactly? Let’s break it all down all the way from the beginning, including whether or not the signs actually do point to AI being used in the visual directed by Tim Burton himself.

First of all: Gaga on Wednesday! Yes, it’s happening. Lady Gaga was previously announced as a guest star for Season 2 of the beloved streaming series, and was revealed to be showing up in the second half of the season, which would air on September 3. A couple days before the release date on September 1, the show’s official social media accounts shared the first glimpse of her in costume as Rosaline Rotwood.

She rocked a spooky white dress with ghostly makeup and hair, as well as Thing, or another disembodied hand similar to Thing, on her shoulder. The show’s social media accounts called her “a vision in venom,” but didn’t give much else as far as details about her character — despite a rumor that she would play a teacher at Nevermore Academy.

Then, once release day rolled around, the floodgates opened for Gaga’s new track and the music video was released. It wasn’t a complete surprise, as the news that the song was dropping and would be featured in Season 2, as well as the fact that there would be a video directed by Burton, had already been announced. But that didn’t make the video and song any less exciting.

In the video, Burton employs a black and white gothic aesthetic that fits in perfectly with Wednesday, both the character and the show. Gaga is dressed in a very detailed white gothic gown and dances erratically along to the chorus lyrics, “Dancing until I’m dead.” However, there’s one particular production design choice that eagle-eyed fans concerned.

The video also prominently features some creepy dolls who at first are stationary and then start to move as the chorus of the song sets in — and that’s where those AI accusations started to swell.

“The Dead Dance” music video directed by Tim Burton out now! https://t.co/efrvtHCfQJ pic.twitter.com/m1kjJWD6Tx

— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) September 3, 2025

The rumor kicked off on Twitter when one fan retweeted the video directly from Gaga and wrote, "I didn't think we’d ever be in a timeline where a tim burton x lady gaga collab would turn out to be AI slop… but here we are.” The user went on to add multiple replies to their own tweet trying to justify why they felt the moving dolls in the video were animated using AI. Their particular reference point was the hands of the dolls, which appear to be morphing into themselves in clips this user singled out from the visual.

Other fans flooded the replies to the tweet, which has since gone viral with over 5.8 million views and over 70,000 likes. Some fans agreed with the poster, but even more fans came to both Burton and Gaga’s defense. Ultimately, the tweet ended up getting a community note with some very important receipts.

i didn’t think we’d ever be in a timeline where a tim burton x lady gaga collab would turn out to be AI slop… but here we are https://t.co/mSffur61DQ

— Graveyardguy (@graveyardquy) September 3, 2025

The community note leads us to an Instagram post with the music video’s full credits from The Roots Production Service, which claims to have produced the music video. Not only is a VFX supervisor listed as part of the crew, there’s a second key piece of the puzzle that checks out here.

A man with the YouTube handle @CarlosLlergo commented on the official video upload the day it was released. “Proud beyond words to have been part of the producers that made this video with Lady Gaga and Tim Burton. A true dream project. Thanks to every single person on the team who made Dead Dance possible.”

Many fans left kind replies to his words, but one user bluntly asked, “Are the dolls AI?” Llergo responded, “Noooo. Of course the ones moving were animated in a VFX studio.”

Back to that list of folks who worked on the video. Llergo is credited on that list as the project’s line producer, which means he would be fully aware of measures taken during production to make the final product come as close to the directorial vision as possible. Line producers quite literally keep things running on set and do a lot of off-set work to make sure things run smoothly and on budget, so Llergo is someone worth listening to. Plus, it has been confirmed that the video was shot on-location in Mexico, specifically the Island of the Dolls in Xochimilco, just south of Mexico City, which bolsters the validity of the project being human-created, not AI-generated.

The community note also touches on Burton’s public comments about AI. “What it does is it sucks something from you,” he told The Independent in a September 2023 interview. “It takes something from your soul or psyche; that is very disturbing, especially if it has to do with you. It’s like a robot taking your humanity, your soul.”

Though the proof seems to be here in black and white (literally and figuratively), the fan who made the original post seemed unconvinced by both the evidence and other fans’ defenses — but at the end of the day it seems as though Gaga, Burton, and their crew did not partake in the usage of AI for this project.

pic.twitter.com/vPmikRTt7Y

— Graveyardguy (@graveyardquy) September 4, 2025

And it’s a good thing they didn’t. That would be just too creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky, and altogether ooky.

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

Hell is Us Review

4 septembre 2025 à 18:25

The old cliche is that war never changes, but what happens when the hellish actions of war manifest as monsters that trap people in time loops of their worst deeds? Well, even then it turns out the cruelty of mankind itself are still worse than any supernatural destruction, and Hell is Us uses its fantastical near-future setting to take a dark, authentic look at the horrors of war. While the actual act of fighting your way through the monsters of this devastated nation isn’t doing much that’s new to the action-adventure genre, Hell is Us kept me entertained throughout my 38-hour adventure nonetheless. Its combat is simple but satisfying and its world is full of puzzles that push you to really pay attention, which makes for a campaign filled with intrigue, grief, and sometimes a little frustration.

Hell is Us is equal parts exploration, combat, and puzzle solving. It’s a familiar formula if you’ve played games like God of War or Resident Evil before, but roaming the fictional country of Hadea as Remi, an exile smuggled out of the country as a child, proved to be a different kind of challenge. You're told upfront that there is no map, waypoint system, or indication of where to go next. I had to retrain my brain in the early hours of Hell is Us as I adapted to how it does things, like I was riding a bike without training wheels for the first time. While frustrating at first, that annoyance seemed to fade away around the midpoint of Act One, and I could feel myself more quickly pinpointing the necessary clues I needed to progress.

What starts as a quest for answers about Remi’s missing family, his whole reason for returning to Hadea, quickly becomes a series of puzzles and scavenger hunts that reveal a bigger picture. With both that mystery and a large number of items to collect, the lack of a traditional map or waypoint system meant I found it almost mandatory to keep physical notes on what I had seen. That was especially true as I assembled a lengthy list of puzzles and NPCs that required specific items I had yet to find, with some items that wouldn't even become available until later portions of the story.

At first, I was caught off guard by how front and center the puzzle component is in Hell is Us – not because I disliked that, but because it just wasn't what I expected going in. There are plenty of puzzles to solve with all the usual suspects represented: aligning symbols to open doors, delivering specific items to NPCs, deciphering safe codes, finding color-coded keys, stepping on pressure plates, and more. While I've only solved about three-quarters of them so far, most solutions have ranged from obvious to mild head scratchers – this is nice place for them to land because there are a lot of things to keep track of on your own at once, but I never got stuck in one place for too long (and the rewards typically were worth the effort).

You could end up running in circles if you don't take detailed notes.

The only mildly frustrating part of some puzzles is that you don't always know upfront if you have everything you need to solve them, or if certain key pieces are even available yet, as many items don't show up until you progress further. That would usually be such a minor inconvenience that it wouldn't even be worth mentioning; however, because Hell is Us takes pride in not automatically tracking the specifics of stuff like quests and puzzles, if you don't keep detailed notes or if you happen to take a few days off from playing, it can lead to running around in circles searching for an unknowable solution.

Speaking of running in circles, while the first act is initially pretty straightforward, I found myself getting a bit lost after a few hours. Without a map, it was tough to figure out where I had and hadn't been. You can't progress to new locations without uncovering specific clues or NPCs that give you information about those zones, so I began to lose steam towards the midpoint of Act One. However, this pain point completely went away in the following two acts thanks to the combination of more characters that reliably offer information about the quest and my own acclimation to how I was meant to decipher the bread crumbs of the story.

As Remi, you are a firsthand witness to Hell is Us’ themes of hate, violence, brutality, and humanity being its own worst enemy. They are seen in every NPC conversation, location, and piece of lore you find on the search for Remi's family. You would think that the worst of what you have to face are the Hollowed monsters plaguing the streets and countrysides of Hadea, but if history has told us anything time and time again, our worst enemies are always ourselves. It wasn't those haunting enemies that stuck with me past the credits, but the imagery of the world, the harrowing events described by its survivors, and the vitriol characters often had for one another.

It’s almost impossible not to draw parallels between the horrors portrayed throughout Remi's journey and current events happening in the real world. Hadea's towns are ravaged by war, filled with imagery of civilian executions and propaganda as two fictional races of people, the Palomians and Sabinians, constantly blame the other for everything wrong in the world. Add in the rise of those terrifying new Hollow creatures, which are impervious to traditional weapons, and it culminates in a believable alternate history with horrors rooted in our own.

Grim conversations paint an effective picture of how this world came to be. 

Hell is Us wears its grim view of a collapsed civilization and its struggling population on its sleeve. Every major NPC can be asked about Hadea, the war, peacekeepers, the Hollow creatures, and both the Palomians and Sabinians. And unlike the obscure puzzles and riddles throughout the world, the characters speak plainly about their feelings on each topic – be that a young girl who wishes everyone on the other side would die or a member of the military who has no issues whatsoever with collateral damage. While these conversations won't progress any storylines or assist in sidequests, they all help to paint an effective picture of the current state of the world and how it came to be.

These conversations were enlightening, but they were also tough to swallow in today's world, especially when myself and many others use video games as a means of escapism. There were times when it often felt like too much, but the thought of ignoring these kinds of experiences felt cynical and disrespectful to those enduring similar tragedies daily. Even minor NPCs struck a chord as I encountered small settlements of survivors, many of whom have lost families, limbs, and more. Hell is Us never strays away from showing the cost of war, and it’s better for it.

These tragedies aren't just there for show, either, as they also feed into the important time loop mechanic. Time loops appear as concentrated spheres of negative energy derived from truly heinous actions such as public executions, murders, and other tragic events, and they can only be cleared by removing an area of its time loop guardians. Though most are optional, clearing them provides rewards like key items for certain puzzles or NPCs and various weapon upgrades, and also stops enemies from respawning in that vicinity, which was enough incentive for me to tackle them when convenient. The guardians appear as regular Hollow enemies at a glance, but are slightly tougher fights due to their higher health and attack power – although, more often than not they were still so easy I would only realize I had just faced a guardian after the fact, so they didn’t stand out as meaningful or memorable fights to match the somber moments around them.

Combat not quite scratching the itch I hoped it would was a consistent theme throughout most of Hell is Us. It has all the staples you'd expect in an action-adventure game: attack combos, charge attacks, parries, dodges, and special abilities that improve both your weapons and a drone that fights alongside you. But while it has the ingredients of a great combat system, they never come together to make something more impressive than the sum of those parts. That isn't to say combat is bad in any way, because is can still be quite fun – but it never really wowed me, either. Even the special executions for certain enemies, which shift the camera perspective in an attempt to punch up the stylishness of those moves, didn't amaze me despite being functionally useful.

Hell is Us' different approach to healing is a double-edged sword.

Early on, Remi learns that standard weapons are useless against the Hollow enemies and quickly builds up an arsenal of limbic weapons with special properties – swords, twin axes, polearms, and more, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. As you explore and solve various puzzles or help the citizens of Hadea, you unlock glyphs that can be equipped to weapons to augment them with properties such as Rage, Ecstasy, Terror, and Grief. Upgrading weapons with different properties will not only change their appearance, but also change which abilities they can equip. I was a big fan of Rage as it supercharged my aggressive playstyle, allowing me to stagger enemies and giving me some range options. Meanwhile, Terror ended up being the augment for my second weapon as it allowed me to drain enemies of their health at a safe distance.

Hell is Us also takes a different approach to healing while in combat: dealing damage refills your health, but only if you cash in after landing an attack or combo without taking damage. This was a double-edged sword for me, as it’s an interestingly unique system, but one that meant I would often not worry about how much damage I was taking because I knew that landing one or two combos would be enough to heal me back up in a pinch. It allowed me to be more aggressive in the hopes of outhealing any damage I took, but occasionally my bravado would get the best of me and lead to either death or finishing a fight with critical health. My strategy had to change as I reached the later acts, with specific enemies that could chain attacks to interrupt or stagger me, preventing me from retaliating or causing me to get overwhelmed by a group.

That said, Hell is Us lacks enemy variety overall, with only five types of visually distinct Hollow enemies. That is a letdown, because I really liked their designs – which range from a humanoid with an eerie black void of black in place of its face and chest, to a mage with large ribbed wings that creates damaging zones on the ground – and was hoping to see the team behind them flex their creative muscles even more. It is similarly lacking in the boss department, with only two traditional bosses across the three acts. It does have a few gauntlets of enemies to fight through that act as pseudo bosses for certain areas, but they just don't have the same impact after delving through multiple floors of a dungeon.

Thankfully, the roster is padded out with 12 Haze-type enemies in addition to the Hollows. These don't have the same cool, distinct designs, instead looking like more generic shapes or creatures made of smaller colorful blocks. But what they lack in visual flair, they make up for in challenge, as these enemies were often the ones to either overwhelm me or give me a better fight. Early on, Hollow enemies become entwined with each other and various Haze enemies, preventing them from losing health until the attached Hazes have been subjugated. This creates a small dance of taking down the Haze and then attempting to defeat the Hollow before that Haze could respawn, adding a nice layer of complexity to the otherwise simple combat.

Tron: Ares - The 5 Coolest Things We Saw On Set

4 septembre 2025 à 18:00

Get ready, users: Tron: Ares is on its way to becoming a reality, and I phrase it that way for a reason. Tron: Ares is poised to make good on the open ending of 2010’s Tron: Legacy with a plot focused on programs from the digital world making their way into the real world.

In early 2024, Disney invited IGN to visit the set of Tron: Ares to share a wealth of details about what a modern Tron movie looks like, and how it attempts to establish an identity (disc) of its very own.

Tron: Ares Is Proud Of Its Legacy… But May Keep It At Arm’s Length

Our set visit began with a roundtable discussion with the film’s producer, Justin Springer, whose involvement with the franchise began as a co-producer on 2010’s Tron: Legacy, and naturally, one of the first questions was about how Ares would continue that film’s story. Reports on the then-untitled Tron 3 had pegged it as more of a reboot, centered around a new program called Ares coming into the real world. That was especially confusing, seeing as, on paper, that sounds like a very logical continuation of the events of Tron: Legacy, which you’ll remember ends with Sam Flynn (son of Jeff Bridges’ Kevin Flynn) bringing the sentient program Quorra back with him into the real world.

Springer essentially confirmed Ares as a soft reboot of Tron, mentioning a feeling on Disney’s part that Ares represented a “good time to move on” from the events of Legacy. But as our set visit continued, and certainly as we learned later in 2024 that Jeff Bridges would indeed return as Kevin Flynn (or whatever biodigital spirit version of him we see in the trailer), that sentiment felt more and more like semantics shmantics. No, it’s safe to say based on what we’ve seen up to this point that Tron: Ares is firmly a sequel to Tron: Legacy, even if the Flynns are no longer the center of attention.

When talking about how Ares, Springer put this into the context of how the Tron series has evolved since 1982, saying that if Tron asked what the inner world of a computer would look like, and Legacy followed that on with considering how that world would evolve in isolation, Ares should be focused on the question of what happens when the lines of the computer world and our own start to blur? Which, hey, when artificial intelligence is dominating the global conversation, feels like an obvious thing to dig into.

Lightcycles Are Practically-Built For The First Time Ever

When it comes to Tron imagery, it doesn’t get more iconic than the lightcycle. The sleek, rounded edges of the originals, and the glassy hardlight trails they leave in their wake, got a serious glow-up in Tron: Legacy. In both of those films, lightcycles were entirely digital creations, but with Tron: Ares all about bringing the digital creations of the Grid into the real world, it was time for lightcycles to shift into another gear.

Along with producer Justin Springer, we spent most of our set visit with Darren Gilford, Tron: Ares’ production designer, who returns from having worked on Legacy. Gilford’s done impressive work over the last twenty years updating the visual language of established IP for the 21st century, and not just for Tron.

Gilford was also the production designer for the Star Wars sequel trilogy, and he designed The Dark Knight’s rad-as-hell Bat-pod motorcycle. He carried that experience directly into Tron: Ares, tasked with creating practical, working lightcycles for the first time so they could be towed on filming rigs for some of the chase scenes we’ve seen represented in trailers and in the footage debuted during the film’s Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con this past summer.

The design of the Ares’s lightcycle is more iterative than evolutionary, hearkening heavily to the Legacy design, and definitely favors cool over comfort. I can be sure of that because each of the journalists in attendance got a chance to mount the thing while it was on its hydraulic rig and yeah, going belly down on a cyberpunk speeder looks a lot cooler than it feels. But hey, the pictures are sweet.

Gilford mentioned the importance of the lightcycle illustrating Tron: Ares’ theme of combining man and machine in its design, and the way you slot into it does evoke a sense of putting on a bike as opposed to getting on a bike. In a world where companies like Meta and Apple are pushing consumers towards wearable AR/VR tech that blurs the line between the digital and the corporeal, it makes a lot of sense for Tron: Ares to be finding ways like this for the action to reinforce those themes.

The Grids

During our walkthroughs with Justin Springer, we saw a lot of storyboards for what’s to come in Tron: Ares (perhaps even a little more than intended…) and one of the most intriguing elements hinted at is how the film will be approaching the idea of “The Grid”, the digital frontier which characters often find themselves rezzed into (never turn your back on a laser in a Tron movie, kids.) Now that we have footage from the trailers to back this up, I think I’m safe saying that there will be multiple Grids in the film.

Before we continue, though, there’s some canon context that may be helpful to reinforce, because Tron and Tron: Legacy’s digital worlds are actually not one and the same. The “grid” in 1982’s Tron is firmly ensconced within ENCOM’s computer intranet. That is to say, the digital world of the original Tron is a closed system under the control of the Master Control Program, an efficiency-focused artificial intelligence visualized as a spinning conical face. After Flynn finds himself zapped into that system, he overthrows the Master Control Program, ostensibly freeing all of the subjugated programs from their pre-determined functions and roles.

Can you imagine if you hit play on your favorite podcast on Spotify and your computer started stress-testing your GPU? Neither could the creatives behind Tron, because it was 1982 and no one was interested in diving that deep into the questions implied by that kind of revolution. The MCP was destroyed, the good guys get proof that Dillinger had stolen the credit for Flynn’s Space Paranoids game; a classic “story over, movie over” ending.

Tron: Legacy drills down on the metaphysical aspects of that ending a little bit more, as we learn Kevin Flynn created his own Grid outside of ENCOM to test the limits of digital creation, tests which eventually lead to the genesis of the ISOs, an immaculately conceived digital race of programs which weren’t written by Users. It’s this Grid which Kevin Flynn, his estranged son Sam, and the ISO Quorra liberate from the reign of Clu, Kevin Flynn’s authoritarian digital avatar. So that’s two Tron movies, each with their own Grid.

Without giving too much away, Tron: Ares seems poised to acknowledge these branching digital realities with at least three separate systems: one belonging to the Dillinger Corporation, one belonging to ENCOM, and one that’s still a bit of a mystery but is sure to get fans of the original Tron aesthetic excited (again, all three of these are represented in the trailer!).

Blending Real and Digital Worlds

The Tron franchise has a reputation of being at the cutting edge of filmmaking technology: the 1982 original is widely considered the first movie to extensively use computer-generated imagery, and Legacy helped pioneer 3D filmmaking in the 21st century, shooting on a custom stereoscopic rig. Legacy is also remembered for being on the bleeding edge of photorealistic digital character design… and a solid reminder of why we use the phrase “bleeding edge.” From a story perspective, the villain Clu being a clone of Jeff Bridges’ Kevin Flynn at his most ambitious makes a ton of sense… but the execution has aged worse than anything else in Tron: Legacy.

As for Ares’ technological raison d’etre, our time on the set didn’t afford us much sense of what that is. Recent comments from Tron: Ares director Joachim Rønning suggest that the film as a whole is the “holy grail of computer graphics”, and the footage we’ve seen so far certainly looks sharp as hell, but the jury’s out on whether or to what degree we can expect any brand-new tech to help bring the story to life.

What was well-represented during our time on set though was that Tron: Ares is using every method under the sun to bring its story to life. Though there was definitely some on-location filming, our set visit was restricted to the soundstages we toured in Vancouver, where we got to watch a scene being shot against the volume digital set technology that’s been rapidly adopted by studios in recent years. That scene was set in the real world, featuring Greta Lee’s Eve Kim at the base of a communications tower, which itself was on top of a snowy mountain. Lee was hauling a long cable over to a console in the tower, so this seemed like it was a piece of a larger action sequence being grabbed.

Cool as the volume may have been to behold though, sometimes the old ways are best. We got to walk through the bridge of Ares’ command ship, a massive red-and-black chamber that definitely communicates the austere power and focus the Dillinger programs wield. After that, Darren Gilford brought us through the set of an executive suite at Encom headquarters, the centerpiece of which was an office walled in on all sides by glass. It belongs (belonged?) to Kevin Flynn, and Encom seems to have preserved it as a monument to their lost president (sometime around the year 1989, according to Gilford).

Flynn’s office is full of easter eggs, like a rolodex I spotted opened to the contact info of Tron’s “user” Alan Bradley… Gilford mentioned my flagging of that may make me the first person to spot an easter egg in Tron: Ares, and if there’s an award for that, I have not seen it come through the mail.

Star Wars: Jedi’s Cameron Monaghan Wields Dual Lightsabers In A Fight Scene

Finally, we also observed a rehearsal for a fight scene that incited a true “holy sh!t” moment for the Star Wars fans among the assembled journalists… and given we’re the nerds that got sent to the new Tron movie set, that was most of us. My colleagues and I were brought onto a blue screen stage where a dozen or so stunt performers were practicing fight choreography for a battle with Caius, a program played by Cameron Monaghan, who our audience may know for his role as Cal Kestis from the Star Wars: Jedi games.

The worlds of Tron and Star Wars collided in a big way when Monaghan walked out onto the stage duel-wielding a pair of lightsaber-esque batons and ready to kick all kinds of ass, with eerie similarity to his Jedi: Survivor character Cal Kestis. It was an especially surreal moment for me: I had just beaten the recently released Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and used the dual wield stance nearly exclusively. Was this some kind of glitch in the system? Had I been digitized into a computer world somewhere along the way? Am I still in the computer right now!?

I hope not, because then I won’t be able to see Tron: Ares when it comes out on October 10th. Are you excited for Tron: Ares? Let me know in the comments, and for more on the movie, check out my reaction to the footage they debuted at San Diego Comic-Con and for everything else, biodigital jazz or otherwise, keep it here on IGN.

The Best Streaming Deals Today: Bundles, Discounts, and Free Trials

4 septembre 2025 à 17:49

Streaming has made entertainment more accessible than ever, but that doesn't mean it's cheap. Most streaming services have continuously hiked their own prices and limited password sharing, and confusing licensing deals sometimes make it surprisingly difficult to find an entire franchise in the same spot.

Nowadays it's common to debate, as I'm doing constantly, which subscriptions are worth keeping for the long haul. Plenty of streaming services – particularly the newer ones – offer free trials, bundles, and discounts to try and attract new subscribers. "New subscriber," of course, meaning "different e-mail address."

The best time to save on subscriptions is undoubtedbly Black Friday, when most streaming services offer their biggest discounts of the year. But if you're trying to find savings sooner rather than later, these are some of the best streaming deals available right now.

TL;DR: These Are the Best Streaming Deals Right Now:

Save With Bundles: Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, and ESPN Unlimited

Home to the MCU, Star Wars, Pixar, and every niche Disney Channel show you could have watched as a kid, Disney+ is one of the only streaming services to offer actual deals, though a free trial isn't one of them. Instead, Disney+ is all about the bundles, which are the most consistent opportunities for savings. The Disney+ bundle with Hulu and HBO Max is one of the best on the market, offering over $300 in savings a year for the ad-free plan.

For sports fans, Disney+ also just launched a new bundle with Hulu and ESPN Unlimited, which is available at a discounted price for new subscribers until January.

Otherwise, Disney+ with ads is $9.99, versus $15.99 for the ad-free plan, and Disney+ also allows adding "Extra Members" to an existing plan at discounted prices.

Other HBO Max Bundles and Deals

HBO Max is naturally home to HBO Originals like The Last of Us, The White Lotus, and Game of Thrones as well as the DC Universe (including all of the Batman movies). Right now, DoorDash's Dash Pass Annual memberships include an ad-supported HBO Max subscription, which can be upgraded to the ad-free version for $10.99/month, compared to the $16.99/month standard price. Students can sign up for HBO Max at a 50% discount.

Hulu Free Trials and Discounts

Hulu does offer a 7-day free trial for the standalone service. Students can sign up for Hulu at a 75% discount with the ads plan costing just $1.99/month, and they can also pair the Hulu benefit with Spotify Premium, getting both for $5.99/month. Eligible U.S. service members, veterans, and their dependents can also save 25% on Hulu with ads. Outside of these discounts, the best Hulu deal is still the bundle with Disney+ and Max.

Disney+ also recently announced a joint venture with Hulu, which the company already owns, making a bundle even more reasonable (for reference, the Disney+ bundle only costs $1 more than a standalone Hulu subscription).

Limited-Time Deal: Starz for $4.99/Month

Starz currently has a special offer that seemingly doesn't have a specific end date, at least not yet. New subscribers can sign up for a monthly plan at $4.99/month (for three months), 55% off the regular price of $10.99, or a full annual plan for just $29.99, 57% off the regular price of $69.99.

The already relatively affordable streaming option is home to Starz originals like Outlander, classic movies like Back to the Future and The Breakfast Club, and even recent horror hits like M3GAN and Five Nights and Freddy's. It's also where you'll find last year's Borderlands movie, if experiencing that's of any interest to you.

Limited-Time Deal: 50% Off Annual Paramount+ Subscriptions

Starting at $7.99/month, the ad-supported Paramount+ Essential plan is one of the cheaper subscriptions on the market. Live TV and Showtime aren’t available as a standalone subscription, so if you’re interested in watching, say, the newest season of Yellowjackets, you’ll have to check out the Paramount+ Premium bundle, which starts at $12.99/month.

Until September 18, both new and returning subscribers can get a 50% discount on either one of Paramount's annual subscription plans. The discount only applies to annual plans, so no free trials. Otherwise, Walmart+ memberships, which cost $12.95/month, include a Paramount+ subscription, though upgrades to the Premium bundle cost an additional $5.49/month. Walmart+ memberships also offer a 30-day free trial.

Best Peacock Deal: Bundle With Instacart+

NBC Universal's Peacock appeared on the scene back in 2020, but didn't really start to get any traction until the service reclaimed NBC-owned shows like The Office from Netflix. Peacock is also where you'll find Nickelodeon shows, Universal movies (most recently The Wild Robot), and plenty of live sports coverage. Peacock recently announced a new round of price hikes, which launched it from one of the more affordable streaming options to, well, prices a lot like the others.

Peacock itself doesn’t offer a free trial, but there are a couple of ways to get access to the service. Instacart+ subscriptions, which offer $0 delivery fees and additional InstaCart perks, are $9.99/month and include Peacock Premium. For reference, a standalone Peacock subscription now starts at $10.99/month, so you actually save money while getting the InstaCart perks.

Other Ways to Get Peacock

Like Hulu, Peacock offers a 75% discount for students. The NBC-owned service also offers lesser-known discounts for first responders and medical professionals, as well as teachers. To be eligible for these discounts, you’ll have to verify your identity and occupation.

Best Anime Streaming Deal: Crunchyroll Free Trials

As the ultimate streaming service for anime, Crunchyroll is where you'll find every episode of One Piece, the new Dragon Ball series, and pretty much any other anime you can think of.

As a starting point, Crunchyroll is one of the few services that still offers a free plan, albeit with limited viewing options. If you’re looking for the full experience, Crunchyroll offers a 7-day free trial for its Mega Fan subscription, which includes ad-free access to the service’s entire streaming library, free shipping on orders from the Crunchyroll store, and offline viewing.

Other Ways to Get Crunchyroll

While Crunchyroll itself offers a 7-day trial, the streamer has partnered with Best Buy to offer extended Crunchyroll trials on select purchases. For example, I got two months of Crunchyroll's Mega Fan streaming plan for free when I bought a ROG Ally X. A 30-day Crunchyroll trial is also included in My Best Buy memberships.

Apple TV+ Free Trials

Apple TV+ offers more random deals throughout the year than most streaming services, usually to support its own releases like Severance and Mythic Quest. Apple TV recently had a limited time deal where you only pay $2.99/month for your first three months, and we'll likely see that deal return.

In the meantime, AppleTV+ also offers, at minimum, a 7-day free trial to new subscribers. If you’re subscribed or have considered other Apple subscriptions, signing up for Apple One extends that free trial to 30 days. As a hub for Apple subscriptions, Apple One also includes AppleTV+ in its $19.95 monthly cost.

Other Ways to Get AppleTV+

Apple being Apple, one of the “most popular” ways to access AppleTV+ is by picking up an Apple device. A three-month Apple TV+ trial comes with new iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, and Macs. AppleTV+ subscriptions are also included in T-Mobile’s G50G plan, Sprint's Max plan, and Xfinity's StreamSaver bundle. Otherwise, for students, the Apple Music Student Plan includes an Apple TV+ subscription.

Prime Video Discounts

With a growing library of original shows like Reacher and Invincible, Prime Video is included in an Amazon Prime membership, which students and young adults can get with a 50% discount. Otherwise, you can sign up for Amazon’s 30-day free trial and you’ll have access to Prime Video. Amazon also currently offers a 50% discount on Prime for eligible recipients of EBT and other government assistance programs.

Other Deals on Prime Video

Besides being a streaming service, Prime Video is also a digital marketplace, with plenty of movies and shows outside of Amazon’s empire available to rent or buy. If you’re trying to avoid another streaming subscription, or can’t find a specific niche movie, sometimes it’s worth flipping through the Prime Video deals.

Streaming Deals FAQ

Does Netflix ever have deals?

You might have noticed one major streaming service missing from this list, and that’s for a reason. Netflix has never really offered deals; the streamer doesn't even offer a discounted "annual plan." One of the only ways to get around those prices is through phone and internet plans, as Netflix with ads plans are available through T-Mobile, Verizon, and Xfinity.

What’s the best streaming bundle right now?

The best streaming bundle depends on what services you already have and which ones you’ve been looking to join. For example, if you’re already paying for Paramount+, the "cheapest" streaming bundle would technically be adding a Showtime subscription.

That said, if you’re starting from scratch, I highly recommend one of the newest bundles that includes Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max. I pay for this bundle and pretty much nothing else, and between all three libraries, I can always find something good to watch. You can also check out our full list of streaming bundles for a full breakdown of what’s available.

Where can I find promo codes for streaming services?

Outside of specific deals, plenty of streaming services accept promo codes for particular events, sales, and from other vendor partners. These change frequently, but some regularly updated lists of streaming service promo codes can be found on Retailmenot and Coupons.com.

When do streaming services offer deals?

Streaming service deals can be a bit irregular, but there are some things to look out for. Streaming services may offer disounts or extended trials ahead of new exclusive releases, like the AppleTV+ deal ahead of Severance Season 2. Summer specials, holiday deals, and big TV events like the Super Bowl are also common times for new deals.

The best time to check for streaming deals is undoubtedly Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Last year’s Cyber Monday streaming deals were some of the best I’ve ever seen, including Hulu for less than $1/month and Paramount+ with Showtime for $2.99/month.

What phone and internet plans include streaming deals?

One of the best ways to save on streaming is to look for phone and internet plans that include specific services. T-Mobile offers plans that include Netflix with ads, Hulu with ads, and AppleTV+. Verizon offers plans that include the Disney+/Hulu/ESPN bundle as well as plans that come with Max and ad-supported Netflix. On the internet side, you can get Peacock, AppleTV+, and Netflix through Xfinity's StreamSaver bundle.

❌