They don’t make them like Danny Dolinski anymore. As played with characteristic off-kilter charisma by Christoph Waltz, the aging contract killer at the center of Old Guy swaggers around in a vintage leather jacket, exchanges playfully cutting banter with his criminal associates, and sports a shaggy coiffure. That all prompts a disappointing indicator of this crime-comedy’s joke-telling ability: “The ’90s called: They want your haircut back.” In short: Dolinski is another era’s idea of cool, something that’s made abundantly clear when he’s assigned to train the overzealous upstart (Cooper Hoffman) who could take his place as London’s top hired gun. And once our homicidal odd couple picks up a third wheel played by Lucy Liu, Old Guy starts to feel like a bygone era’s idea of a cool movie, the sort of thing Quentin Tarantino or Steven Soderbergh would’ve populated with underworld smart alecks and crate-digging needle drops when Dolinski was at his peak. And I say this as someone of the age to have a sense of nostalgia for such things. This just doesn’t land.

The throwback vibes are subtle, but the exploration of aging is not: Just as Old Guy director Simon West has fewer opportunities to pull out his old Con Air flash these days, Dolinski is frustrated by his employer’s lowered expectations and a bum shooting hand. That seems like it should be enough for a diverting-but-unmemorable caper, but this one unfortunately crams in a whole buddy-movie arc and a halfhearted romance, too. And even then, it needs to pad out a plot involving an ill-fated trip to Belfast and a hostile mob takeover to get across the 90-minute mark.

There are times when Old Guy mimics the rope-a-dope tactics of its protagonist, its outward doddering giving way to a level of surprise and impact it doesn’t seem capable of – a target’s relative pulled out of the line of fire with a little How the Grinch Stole Christmas routine, or a briefly pulse-elevating car chase. But scenes like these are exceptions; so many others are driven by characters and relationships, and those are dragged down by Dolinski's failure to convincingly or meaningfully click with Hoffman’s Wihlborg or Liu’s Anata. (You have to hand it to screenwriter Greg Johnson: His script may not be particularly novel or memorable, but the character names sure are.)

At least Old Guy has a firm grasp on its actual old guy. Much of that credit goes to Waltz, who’s in his element – and sporting an immaculate mustache – as the underestimated charmer talking his way through sticky situations. There’s a lot of work put in to earn our sympathy for him, which makes sense given his line of work: He’s a professional murderer, but he’s a professional murderer in a vulnerable state, recovering from surgery and threatened by the presence of young gun Wihlborg. In one of Old Guy’s few moments of filmmaking panache, West breaks the slow-motion, party-hearty euphoria of Dolinski’s post-work drinks, drugs, and dancing routine to show us what he looks like from an outsider’s perspective. As Wihlborg approaches his reluctant partner in a bar, what we see is a rhythmless boob dancing with women half his age. It’s a funny image, but it’s also a little sad. But the script keeps such emotions in reserve, turning them off and on with a plot-centric inconsistency that’s also applied to Dolinski’s supposedly debilitating injury. Sometimes he’s hobbled, sometimes he’s an action hero, and it makes no sense.

But Old Guy just can’t settle for being a decent character study of a GOAT in decline. In the scenes between hit men, I heard a yearning for (and, in the case of Waltz, the voice of) the downtime banter of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Jackie Brown. The love story in the midst of all this aspires to the fireworks of the George Clooney-Jennifer Lopez scenes in Out of Sight, but only gives off a few sparks – the chemistry just isn’t there between Waltz and Liu or their characters.

Old Guy is at least aware enough of its limitations to keep its action sequences sensible, showing Dolinski’s particular set of skills through on-the-fly ingenuity rather than any superhuman gun-fu. It doesn’t make for the most thrilling shootouts, and his deadly accuracy eventually robs any standoff of its suspense, but it is amusing to see him take out multiple adversaries at once by applying his skills with munitions in the kitchen.

The generational warfare, meanwhile, has all the depth and heat of a newspaper op-ed about millennials’ financially ruinous appetite for avocado toast. Dolinski debates whether Wihlborg is a member of that touchy-feely cohort, or if his strident teetotaling and hypebeast fashions mark him as a member of Gen Z – a quasi-quip that only emphasizes Old Guy’s sweaty uncertainty about its wunderkind assassin. It’s possible that the hardline stances he spouts are signs of someone who’s not sure who he is, either, but for all of the sincerity Hoffman lends to his character’s unearned convictions, Wihlborg never really comes into focus. It’s fitting, then, that our first glimpse of his killer instincts takes place in the fuzzed-out background of a close-up on Waltz.

Pity poor Lucy Liu, stranded in an extraneous subplot that’s only there to deliver her character – one who runs a karaoke joint and into Dolinski’s arms. Around the midway point, Old Guy bafflingly mucks with its own momentum by cutting between Dolinski and Wihlborg’s most trying job and Anata’s date with a nice doctor. What could possibly be going on here that’s as important as the high-stakes hit on one of their rival organization’s top men? Whatever the reason, it speaks to the amount of filler bulking up the story because it has precious little to say. The dancefloor interludes really pile up across this hour-and-a-half, though none are as flagrantly drawn out as Dolinski and Wihlborg’s arrival at their handler’s dog-track HQ, where they pause to watch a hairy metaphor for their relationship do a slo-mo lap through the dirt.

There’s no real tension here, just inevitability: When Dolinski instructs an injured colleague to look at a picture postcard of a tropical paradise, a clock ought to pop up onscreen, counting down to the shot of that mope’s blood splattering across the postcard because there’s no subversion of cliche to be found here. Uneasy alliances will be struck, fragile trusts will be betrayed, and the full range of our main hitman’s righteous fury will be uncorked.

It’s certainly not impossible for these previously loved puzzle pieces to be taken out from the box and arranged in such a way that they can still come together into something cohesive. But here it’s hard to get too invested in the outcome, or what happens to any of these characters, when most of their interactions are stitched together from hermetically framed shots that seal Waltz, Hoffman, and Liu off from one another. It’s just one more facet of Old Guy that makes this ensemble piece feel like several parallel one-man shows.

Surface season 2 premieres Friday, February 21 on Apple TV+. New episodes debut through April 11.

Considering Surface is an amnesia thriller, it’s on theme (and maybe a tad on the nose) if you can’t remember what happened in the first season finale. After all, it aired over two and a half years ago. Struggling to recall plot points would be a detriment to other shows, but this one stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a woman trying to figure out her past – add to that a change of setting from San Francisco to London, and this second season counts as both a soft reboot and a worthy jumping-on point.

Back in 2022, Surface fell into the meandering traps that affect so many streaming series, treating its first season like one long pilot episode. Thankfully, its sophomore outing is more urgent in its quest for the truth – and much less forgettable as a result. Memory loss from the accident that kick-started Surface still clouds a lot about Sophie, but the mystery stretches back to her childhood; she’s gone to England to crack the mystery of her mother’s death and its connection to a beautiful heiress. In London, where she goes by Tess, Sophie still travels in the same upper-class circles, and leaving behind the rich, Californian embezzlement victims of season 1 in favor of the ultra-wealthy Huntley family ups the ante for season 2 considerably. The money here is old, and the sizable closets are stuffed with skeletons. When Sophie’s ongoing probe intersects with a reporter’s investigation of abuses tied to the Huntleys, the puzzle at the heart of Surface takes on a new weight..

Having stolen millions of dollars from her husband, James (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), Sophie doesn’t have to ditch her life of luxury: Plush hotels, designer clothing, exclusive clubs, and expensive booze are still on the menu. How quickly she reconnects with the youngest Huntley sibling, Eliza (Millie Brady), reminds us of how good Sophie is at faking it until she makes it, and Mbatha-Raw expertly walks the line between drawing attention and slipping beneath the radar. While Brady portrays Eliza like a frayed nerve, Ted Lasso’s Phil Dunster plays troubled Huntley scion Quinn with a sinister edge, ditching the lovable-idiot aura that made him an AFC Richmond fan favorite – and showcasing his range in the process.

The Huntleys are preparing for Quinn’s lavish wedding, and his relationship with fiancée Grace (Freida Pinto) takes some surprising turns throughout the eight episodes. Grace’s uncertainty about becoming a permanent member of the family stirs up some conflict, but Pinto’s time on screen ebbs and flows and the role ultimately feels like a wasted opportunity. (What brief flashes we see of her complexities are far too fleeting.) Pinto isn’t the only one to get a short shift story-wise: the material for family members played by Joely Richardson and Tara Fitzgerald is similarly meager, but the actors make the most of it. Dunster gets the meatier part, juggling Quinn’s own follies and those of his father and grandfather.

Giving Sophie a part-ally, part-foil in the form of journalist Callum Walsh (Gavin Drea) brings us closer to the truth about what happened to her mother. Sophie’s amnesia means we’re learning everything at the same time she is, and vital information is frustratingly withheld until later in the season. You might be able to figure out the broad brushstrokes from the clues strewn about season 2, but it isn’t an entirely predictable outcome, fortunately – the finale culminates in some unexpected twists

Sophie had her therapist to confide in in season 1, but the keepers of her secrets are more fluid this time around. Considering Eliza hasn’t seen Sophie for a decade, it’s hardly surprising that she’s less than thrilled to see her former friend. The push-pull between the two is explored in some depth, but this thread unravels as the season progresses – disappointingly lost amid other, flashier developments like the fallout of Sophie fleeing San Francisco. Jackson-Cohen is listed as a season regular and appears briefly in the season 2 trailer, so it’s no spoiler to say that James eventually re-enters the picture. When he does, the season kicks up a gear, because it isn’t immediately clear whether he’ll be friend or foe to Sophie. The actor has a knack for playing a menacing husband with layers, and once again, he hits different notes between arrogance and vulnerability.

Having seen the whole season, I can assure you that answers are forthcoming, and there’s far less withholding and fewer bloated misdirects on the horizon. The second season improves on the first, and another tantalizing cliffhanger promises there’s still more of this story to be told. There’s more to Surface than its slick and seductive appearance, and Mbatha-Raw mines Sophie’s potent mix of grief and rage to new, satisfying depths in season 2.

The next Tom Holland Spider-Man has been delayed by one week, and probably for good reason.

Sony updated its release calendar today and shared that the fourth Spider-Man movie will now be released on July 31, 2026, a week later than its previously announced July 24, 2026 release. The likely reason is to give the next Spider-Man movie some breathing room from Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.

Thanks to the date shift, the fourth Spider-Man movie is now coming out two weeks after The Odyssey hits theaters, whereas before it would only be one week removed. Not that Tom Holland would complain considering he’s starring in both movies.

This buffer will give both films a chance to premiere on Imax screens, something we know Christopher Nolan loves to do.

Marvel announced that a fourth Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland is officially in the works and will be the next Marvel movie following Avengers: Doomsday which is coming out on May 1, 2026. The next Spider-Man film will be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton who directed Shang-Chi for Marvel and was previously set to direct the next Avengers movie before storylines changed as a result of the situation around the Kang character.

Now the Russo Brothers are back to direct Avengers: Doomsday with Robert Downey Jr. stepping in as Doctor Doom. Wild. Check out our complete list of upcoming MCU projects here and get ready for the Oddy-Man 4 or whatever combo word people will come up for The Odyssey Spider-Man 4 double feature.

Matt Kim is IGN's Senior Features Editor.

Iconic horror novelist Stephen King has had a ton movies adapted from his work -- and that's not counting TV shows and miniseries. And there's simply no sign of slowing down, what with the recent Salem's Lot movie, the new adaptation The Monkey, and more adaptations in the pipeline.

With so many films to choose from, what are the best Stephen King adaptations? We've whittled this massive catalogue down to 13 movies. From ghosts to psychics to... ghosts wanting to feed on psychics, these are truly the movies that not only captured the best of King's work, but also became cinema classics in their own right.

Here are the top Stephen King movies ever, ranked from #13 counting down to #1. Keep scrolling for the list or view the slideshow for a visual countdown!

How Many Stephen King Movies Are There?

There are 54 film adaptations of Stephen King stories, according to the author's official website. The first King adaptation was Carrie in 1976, while the most recent is The Monkey.

The Best Stephen King Movies, Ranked

13. The Dead Zone (1983)

There are very few young adult novels as successful as the Hunger Games books. Suzanne Collins released the first book in 2008 and has since released three more books and a total of five movies. And it doesn't stop there as just last year Collins announced yet another book in the series with a movie already in the works.

The next Hunger games book, titled Sunrise on the Reaping, is set to come out on March 18, 2025. Despite only being a preorder, the hardcover edition has already jumped into the top five on Amazon's best-sellers list of books. It has officially surpassed Onyx Storm on this list, which had a wildly successful debut last month and topped last year's Amazon charts ahead of its release.

The hardcover edition of Sunrise on the Reaping is currently receiving a 30% discount on Amazon, dropping the price under $20. You can find a similar discount on the Kindle version of the book.

Sunrise on the Reaping Preorder Deal

When you want to escape to virtual worlds, having a VR headset that connects to a great gaming PC can unlock even more possibilities. Some of the top VR games work on standalone headsets, but those devices are few and far between. Most games look and play better if your VR headset is hooked up to a capable PC.

TL;DR - The Best VR Headsets for PC:

The best VR headsets for PC offer sharp displays, comfortable designs, accurate tracking, and a seamless connection to a gaming PC or gaming laptop. Admittedly, finding a headset with all these capabilities doesn’t come cheap. However, the Meta 3S, an alternative to the Meta Quest 3, is a great cheap VR headset for PC for those on a tighter budget. But if you have a little more wiggle room, the Valve Index is the simplest option for Steam integration and even PS VR2 supports PC VR with minimal caveats.

Unfortunately, you often don’t get to try out these headsets for fit and functionality before purchasing. So, our experts have done the hands-on testing and research for you, ensuring you get the best VR headset for PC that suits your needs. Whether you’re after versatility or something ready to push graphics to the extreme, one of our five picks will fit your PC VR needs.

1. Valve Index

Best VR Headset for PC

2. Meta Quest 3S

Best Budget VR Headset for PC

3. HTC Vive Pro 2

Best VR Visuals

4. HTC Vive XR Elite

Best VR Headset for Work and Play

5. PlayStation VR2

Best VR for Console and PC

How to Choose the Best VR Headsets for PC

We’ve chosen these PC VR Headsets based on our expertise and experience with VR, as well as IGN reviews and consumer feedback. When buying a VR headset, there are more than just digital specifications to consider, with physical comfort being an essential facet of the experience. For example, comfort dials, airflow, and build quality impact how the headset will feel when used. However, it’s also necessary to consider the technology under the hood, with the efficacy of a headset’s parts correlating with performance in the games you wish to play.

Then there are quality-of-life features to consider, like the efficacy and style of a headset’s tracking solution or passthrough and refresh rate, which governs the fluidity you experience inside a given game.

PC VR FAQ

Do I need a powerful PC to use VR?

Like PC games, VR headsets and VR games have minimum and recommended system requirements that you’ll need to meet to get the associated applications working smoothly. If you’re jumping into PC VR to play a specific set of games, it’s worth investigating the system requirements before making any big purchases to ensure you’ll be able to make the most of your proposed headset. Generally speaking, you will need high-end hardware in your gaming rig, such as potent graphics cards and processors, to play the most demanding VR games. If building a gaming rig for PC VR is out of your budget, it’s worth considering some of the standalone headsets on the market, which work wirelessly without needing an external computer.

What VR headsets don’t require a PC?

VR headsets for PC are mighty capable, but if you’d like to play away from home or even in a different room from your computer, you’ll need to find another option. The Meta Quest 3S and the entire Quest lineup are great hybrid options that excel as standalone VR headsets. The Pico 4 works similarly to the Meta Quest and is great for those who don’t want a tether. We’d be remiss not to mention the Apple Vision Pro; it’s wildly powerful solo, and it seamlessly integrates into the Apple ecosystem, proving an innovative way to work on the best MacBooks.

PlayStation VR2 doesn’t require a PC. However, you’ll need the PS5 to enjoy the truly spectacular VR experience. Some ultra-cheap VR headsets also use the screen of your smartphone for a fun, more immersive experience that’s especially well-suited for children.

How do you ensure the best VR headset for PC experience?

Beyond having a powerful gaming PC and a capable, comfortable VR headset, consider these other factors too. A well-lit space ensures you have the most accurate tracking. You’ll also want the freedom to move around the area you’re playing in, so the space should be free of obstacles or furniture that could trip you up or get tangled in wires. It may be helpful to place a rug or other objects that indicate when you’re leaving the dedicated play area. Luckily, some headsets come with their own indicators.

When do VR headsets usually go on sale?

Almost all of the best VR headsets that are PC compatible will drop in prices a few different times every year. One of the overall best shopping events for VR discounts is Amazon Prime Day, which takes place in July every year. After that, Black Friday and Cyber Monday tend to have the best overall deals consistently. Both events tend to primarily offer Meta Quest deals, but sometimes other headsets are available at a discount.

Sarah Thwaites is a freelance tech writer at IGN, with bylines at GameInformer, TrustedReviews, NME and more.

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

If you're in the market for a new Switch console, here's a deal worth consideration. AliExpress is currently offering a Nintendo Switch OLED console for only $223.61 after coupon code: USAFF30 is applied during checkout. This product is also stocked in a US warehouse, so it ships free and arrives within about a week. AliExpress has a 15-day free return policy and guarantees a refund if your order doesn't arrive within 20 days.

This is a brand new, genuine Nintendo Switch console, but keep in mind that it is imported from either Japan or Hong Kong. What that means is that the warranty it comes with will most not likely be valid in the United States. The packaging and materials (like the manual) might also be written in another language). Functionally, however, Switch consoles are region unlocked so you'll be able to play them in the US without any problems. You'll be able to select English as your default language just like any console you buy here. A US power plug adapter is also supplied.

Nintendo Switch OLED for $223.61

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

TL;DR: These Are the Best Graphics Cards:

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

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

What to Look for in a Graphics Card

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super

The Best Graphics Card for Most People

2. Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti

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

3. Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090

The Best Nvidia Graphics Card

4. AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX

The Best AMD Graphics Card

5. AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT

The Best GPU for 1440p

6. Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060

The Best GPU for 1080p

Upcoming GPUs

Now that the latest generation of Nvidia graphics cards is out, starting with the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080, 2025 seems to be a packed year for graphics cards. Team Green followed up its flagship-level cards with the RTX 5070 Ti, which really helps bridge the gap between the mid-range and the high end. However, because this is still an expensive 4K card, anyone looking for 1440p gaming is probably better off waiting for either the Nvidia RTX 5070 or AMD's upcoming cards.

Because Nvidia isn't alone in new graphics cards. AMD's Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT are right around the corner, launching in March 2025. I got a chance to sneak in a benchmark of the 9070 at AMD's CES 2025 booth, and while those are preliminary results you should take with a heaping of salt, it looks like it's going to give the Radeon RX 7900 XT and RTX 4080 a run for their money.

Best Graphics Cards FAQ

AMD or Nvidia? Or Intel?

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

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

What power supply should I get?

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

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

GTX vs. RTX

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

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

Where to Get the Best Graphics Cards in the UK

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

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

The Mario company's latest hardware release is Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo. Previously exclusive to the Nintendo Store and only available for Nintendo Switch Online members, it’s now available to everyone. You can purchase your very own Alarmo at Best Buy right now for $99.99.

Where to Buy Alarmo

Alarmo is an interactive Nintendo-themed alarm clock. From a hardware perspective, it looks nice and cartoony, like something straight out of the Mushroom Kingdom. It has a full-color display that shows you the date, day, and time in a font and style based on your choice of five (or more) games.

Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo Games

Here are the games whose themes come pre-loaded:

• Super Mario Odyssey
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Splatoon 3
• Pikmin 4
• Ring Fit Adventure

If you connect your Nintendo account to your Alarmo, you can download additional game themes for free, including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

To set it, you pick the game you want for the display, select a “scene,” and set the time and an alarm. When it’s time for the alarm to go off, you’ll hear music and sounds based on the game and scene you picked.

You can use Alarmo like a normal alarm clock, pressing the button to turn it off. Or you can use the interactive features, which make sounds play and characters on the screen react as you move around in bed after the alarm goes off. In this mode, getting out of bed turns the alarm off automatically.

In addition to setting alarms, you can have Alarmo play music from your chosen game every hour. Or, if you like to use sleep sounds, you can have it play calming music when you go to bed.

More Nintendo Hardware

This isn’t the first weird Nintendo release by a long shot. You can still buy a Pokemon Go Plus+ at some retailers, and you can go to bed with it, too. We're also following every development about Nintendo's next piece of hardware: the Switch 2.

Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Bluesky @chrislreed.com.

Entertainment has hit critical mass over the last decade, with more shows and movies being produced and released than ever before. It’s impossible to keep up with everything hitting the digital space, whether it be Premium Video on Demand (PVOD) or a traditional streaming network. With that in mind, we figured it was well past time for us to whip up a little something to help you keep up (and catch up) with all there is to watch in the big, wide world of digital viewing. And thus, the Streaming Rewind was born!

We’ll update this list at the end of each week so you can check out what you may have missed, and what’s coming up on the weekend. We’ll keep it a mix of popular releases and noteworthy lesser-known titles to help you find what’s worth taking the risk on as well as dive into a few things that we loved and why we loved ‘em, or just break down a show or movie that left us with some opinions. Sometimes, we’ll even have guest entries from other members of the IGN staff. If you’re not interested in all that and just want to see a bulleted list of what’s out there, pop on down to the New and Noteworthy and ICYMI sections.

It’s a Big Week for Digital and Demand

Lots and lots of rentals (or digital purchases) are coming your way this week, with Oscar nominees continuing to flood the digital market as The Brutalist joins last week’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Better Man and Hard Truths. While it was snubbed despite predictions favoring Pamela Anderson for a leading actress nomination, The Last Showgirl is also available for your at-home viewing pleasure. Mufasa, the sequel to the “live action” Lion King adaptation hits digital this week as well (but will also eventually end up on Disney+).

Gotta Go Fast to Paramount+ For Sonic 3

If you missed the little blue speedster during his theatrical run, you can now check out Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow and multiple Jim Carreys in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 on Paramount+. Sonic and his friends face their greatest challenge yet as they square up with Shadow, tragic past and all. Fair warning for those unfamiliar with Shadow’s backstory: this Sonic entry might require some tissues.

Suits L.A. Continues the Phenomenon on NBC

While Suits was never a particularly remarkable show, it was always incredibly watchable. This is something younger audiences discovered in 2023 as the series saw a resurgence on Netflix, leading to this new spin-off starring The [expletive] Green Arrow himself, Stephen Amell. Tune in this weekend if the coastal change works for the series, and see how the former super hero holds up in court.

New and Noteworthy This Week:

• Mufasa: The Lion King, February 18 — Digital and demand
• Sonic the Hedgehog 3, February 18 — Paramount+
• The Last Showgirl, February 18 — Digital and demand
• The Brutalist, February 18 — Digital and demand
• Companion, February 18 — Digital and demand
• Reacher, February 20 — Prime Video
• Zero Day, February 20 — Netflix
• The SAG Awards, February 23 — Netflix
• Suits LA, February 23 — NBC

ICYMI:

If you had too much going on last week, here are some of the notable things that premiered or debuted on streaming and digital that you may have missed.

• The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, February 11 — Netflix
• The Seed of the Sacred Fig, February 11 — Digital and demand
• Nickel Boys, February 11 — Digital and demand
• Hard Truths, February 11 — Digital and demand
• Better Man, February 11 — Digital and demand
• The Simpsons, The Past and the Furious, February 12 — Disney+
• Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, February 13 — Peacock
• Cobra Kai’s final season, February 13 — Netflix
• The Gorge, February 14 — Apple TV+
• SNL50: The Homecoming Concert, February 14 — Peacock
• Yellowjackets Season 3, February 14 — Paramount+ w/ Showtime
• The BAFTAs, February 16 — BritBox
• SNL 50: The Anniversary Special, February 16 — NBC/Peacock
• The White Lotus, February 16 — Max

2025 marks 17 years since Suzanne Collins debuted the brutal world of The Hunger Games and its heroic rebel leader, Katniss Everdeen. With a new prequel set to release in just a couple of weeks, now is the perfect time to revisit the original books that started it all.

Set in a dystopian world where kids kill each other annually as a way to quell a rebellious and fractured nation, The Hunger Games sparked a YA frenzy and inspired women all over the world to take up archery. If you're feeling like you want to revisit the franchise but don't know where to start, we're here to guide you through the Hunger Games books in order. You can also check out our guide to The Hunger Games movies as well as our list of the best books like The Hunger Games.

How to Read the Hunger Games Books in Order

While the newest edition to the series, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, is set before the original trilogy, the context provided by the three Hunger Games books is key to truly enjoying the prequel. With that in mind, we recommend reading the originals before that entry. But if you want a chronological journey through Panem, then feel free to begin with Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes before hitting the others.

1. The Hunger Games

The best projectors let you enjoy a cinematic viewing experience at home. The only problem is most projectors are large, bulky, and sometimes require mounting, making them difficult to move around. Not all projectors are so limiting; plenty of portable options exist for a movie night under the stars during a camping trip or some binge-watching in a cramped dorm room.

Many portable projectors come with streaming apps and Wi-Fi built in for simple setup. Even when you’re away from an internet connection, with Bluetooth and HDMI support found on most projectors, streaming from a phone, tablet, or laptop could be a viable option. You might not even need a wall outlet, as the top portable projectors often include a battery ready to last through an entire feature-length film, or can at least be powered by the best power banks.

TL;DR – The Best Portable Projectors:

With all the good, a few caveats come with grabbing a compact option. A smaller projector’s brightness and picture quality typically just can’t compete with their larger counterparts, so it’s best to use these devices in dark environments with minimal ambient light. High refresh rates, low input lag, and specialized modes that come with the best gaming projectors also won’t be available. Still, when you’re tight on space but are after big-screen viewing, nothing competes with a portable projector.

Take a look at our favorites below. Whether you’re after something tiny and cheap or a slightly bulkier option ready to deliver rich details and accurate color, we've chosen some top-tier portable projectors.

1. Xgimi Halo+

Best Portable Projector Overall

2. ViewSonic M1X

Best Budget Portable Projector

3. Nebula Capsule 3 Laser

Best 1080p Portable Projector

4. Nebula Mars 3 Air

Best Portable Projector for Sound

5. Xgimi Horizon S Max

Best Portable Projector for Brightness

6. Optoma ML1080

Best Laser Portable Projector

What to Look for in a Portable Projector

Space: Consider your most regular viewing spaces before buying a portable projector. Look at the throw range of each model to make sure it reasonably fits the dimensions of your space for the image size that you want. For outdoor spaces, you will need to see whether you have a level enough environment for the projector to sit on, though automatic keystone correction might help with this.

Brightness and resolution: Especially for outdoor viewing, brightness is hugely important. This is difficult to gauge for indoor environments where it might be in use during daytime hours. Brightness is measured these days in ANSI lumens. We recommend a projector capable of at least 800 ANSI lumens to use outdoors at night. As for resolution, projectors support anywhere from 720p to 4K resolution. Your target resolution should account for your intended image size: The larger your image, the higher resolution you should go. That said, a 60-inch image projected at 1080p resolution, for example, would be just fine.

Battery: If you only plan on viewing in your backyard with access to your home’s outdoor DC power outlets, maybe you don’t need a battery. But, if you’re planning on taking the projector elsewhere without that kind of outlet access, consider one with a battery. Generally, these batteries will last for at least a 90-minute movie, but some can last for hours.

Joe Osborne is a writer and editor with more than a decade of experience in games and tech media. You can find his work elsewhere at Insider, TechRadar, Laptop Magazine, Tom’s Guide, and more.

Shure is one of the most respected audio brands and over the last few years, it's had gamers and content creators right in its sights, and it just launched its latest product for this audience: the Shure MV7i. It’s an update to its popular line of streaming mics but thanks to its built-in audio interface, excellent recording quality, and high-quality DSP audio FX, it’s easily one the best mics yet. At $349, it’s not cheap, but with everything it offers it still might wind up saving you money.

Shure MV7i – Design and Features

The MV7i looks virtually identical to the company’s other MV7 microphones. It has a sleek black cylindrical body that's half metal and half foam pop filter. There is a bright RGB strip along the middle of it indicating whether it's live or muted and what your current levels might be, though this can be configured in the software or mobile app. The whole thing is mounted on a U-bracket that can attach to any stand or microphone arm, whether it uses the smaller 3/8-inch thread or the larger 5/8-inch.

But let’s call a spade a spade. Its design is meant to evoke Shure’s legendary SM7B, one of the most popular broadcast and recording mics in the world.You’ve probably already seen it even if you didn’t know which mic it actually was as it’s seen on some of the most popular video podcasts. The MV7i differentiates itself with prominent “Shure” branding on both sides and that RGB strip, and is also a touch smaller – but there’s no doubting that the design is intentional.

Unlike that microphone, the MV7i connects through USB Type-C. You can use it plug-and-play with Windows, Mac, Android, or iOS, and there’s no need for additional hardware, unlike the SM7B. This mic is designed to be used on a computer or with a smartphone, so you’ll find that it gets plenty loud and sounds great straight out of the box.

Its claim to fame is that it features a built-in audio interface that allows it to connect to a second source. If you look at the back of the microphone, you'll find a USB Type-C port to connect to a phone, tablet, or computer and an XLR combo jack that can also accommodate a ¼-inch instrument cable. In combination with its software, this essentially makes it a microphone, audio interface, and mixer all in one package.

The majority of streaming microphones today use condenser capsules. Condensers can sound great and they have a wider frequency response which can make them sound more natural in crystalline. At the same time, they will pick up just about any sound in your room, including the clack of your keyboard, the fans on your PC, ambient reverberation, and any background noise that might exist.

The MV7i, on the other hand, uses a dynamic microphone capsule, which is much less sensitive and doesn't pick up nearly as much unintended noise. If you happen to be streaming in a room with hardwood floors or f bare walls, a condenser microphone will capture almost all of that reverberation (or room noise) and send it directly into your stream. The MV7i, with its dynamic capsule, will cut that out and minimize how much makes its way to your audience.

Don't mistake this lack of sensitivity for a lack of quality – dynamic microphones are incredibly popular for broadcast purposes for a reason. They have a more limited frequency response range that's perfect for capturing the human voice and this bit of frequency crunch allows it to deliver a classic “radio voice” type of sound signature. If you want it to, that is.

Within the Motiv Mix app, you're able to craft its sound profile using its built-in digital sound processing (DSP). This audio processor opens the door to a lot of different customizations and studio FX. I’ll dive more into this in the software section, but for starters you can choose whether you are recording speech, singing, or an instrument, set automatic gain levels, and customize the tone to be dark, natural, or bright, ensuring it matches your voice.

Being able to mix two sources is a powerful bit of functionality. For example, this is great if you want to record a two-person podcast or stream, but it’s also capable if you want to record an instrument. I was able to plug my guitar directly into the microphone and then send that through to my DAW of choice (which is Reaper).

Its second channel also offers its own range of DSP customizations. Like the microphone itself, you can set it to either speech mode or singing mode, have it automatically adjust levels (or set them manually), adjust tone controls, reverb, a real-time de-noiser, pop filter, and more.

The LED strip along the center also serves a purpose. By default, it's set to indicate the levels of both sources. If you are too quiet and your second channel is too loud, you'll be able to see that visually right away. This can also be customized within the software if you'd rather have it be a static color or act as a meter for only your voice.

If you are a solo broadcaster and don't play an instrument (or don't have a need to run a second XLR or 1/4-inch source into your mix), you don't need to worry about the MV7i. If you do, however, and don’t mind doing your mixing on a PC, it will save having to buy an interface and/or mixer separately (and save desk space in the process).

The only thing you’ll need to buy is a stand. The mic only includes a U-bracket, which doesn’t support the mic alone for immediate use. Given its price, I would have liked to have seen something included, but packaged stands are usually pretty poor and leave you shopping for a better one anyway. Still, out-of-the-box usability should be a more important consideration in the microphone market.

Shure MV7i – Software and Customization

While the microphone is plug-in play across every platform, I would definitely recommend picking up the Motiv Mix software or app depending on what you’re using it for. I was able to test it on both the PC and Android and the experience was straightforward for both devices. You have access to all of the customization features for both sources right on the app, but when you download the PC version, you also get the ability to mix sources and record all in one place.

When you open the PC software, you’re greeted with a mixing board that includes your headphones and a channel specifically for the mix coming from the software. You can view all of the sound sources connected to your computer as well as the MV7i and whatever is connected to its XLR port, and then add these individually to the mix. Every channel has its own meter and gain slider. You also have the ability to monitor your mix, so you can hear what you’re sending to your stream or podcast in real time.

Despite looking similar, this doesn't have the same kind of functionality as a number of other streaming mixers like the GoXLR. While you can add different audio sources, Motiv Mix doesn't create multiple virtual devices that you can direct game audio and music toward. Instead, it only creates a single input and output for the mix that you're making. It is a mixer that can be used for streaming, but it's not necessarily a stream mixer as we've come to know them.

Clicking the gear icon next to the MV7i's panel takes you to its settings menu. This is split into three parts, one that applies to all of its audio output and separate settings menus for the mic itself and whatever audio device you have running into it. The Global Settings Menu gives you a noise gate that captures everything and limits what can make it through, an audio output method (stereo, mixdown, and multi-track), adjustments for the realtime monitoring from its headphone jack, reverb settings, and customizations for its LED strip.

Clicking through to the mic or secondary input settings reveals even more options which are largely mirrored between the two. Both offer the ability to designate whether you are looking at speech singing or recording an instrument. Selecting one of these can alter which options are available but doesn't change the function and characteristic of the recording.

Need to upgrade your audio gear?

Check out our roundup of the best gaming headsets!

The DSP is powerful and gives many different effects that go above and beyond what you'll find built into software like OBS. You can set the gain manually with up to 36dB of headroom or allow the microphone to adjust levels on its own. There’s a compressor with light, medium, or heavy settings to ensure you don't get too loud or quiet at any given time and a limiter which prevents clipping. There’s a real-time denoiser that removes white noise from the background and works in conjunction with a high-pass filter that catches low frequency noise like an HVAC unit humming in the background. There’s also a digital popper stopper which prevents the capsule from picking up the distortion of plosives. Lastly, there are tone settings, which I talked about before, to make sure your voice comes through with the character you would prefer it to have.

The only difference between the two that's worth mentioning is that the input menu has an option for phantom power. This can be necessary for condenser microphones and allows the MV7i to interface with different types of gear, even outside of Shure’s product family. If you’re not a fan of constantly using software, don’t worry. All of your settings for both inputs are saved to the mic itself. After setting it up the first time, you don’t need to use it again unless you want to make a change.

Shure MV7i – Performance

The MV7i is an excellent microphone that shouldn't come as a surprise because every MV7 so far has been very good. What does stand out, however, is that it is much more expensive than any other model in the family currently. As a flagship product at $349, it is close to perfection – close, but not quite.

First off, I love the versatility this mic offers. Its built-in DSP is excellent, and I find that its automatic level adjustment is better tuned than any of its previous models. The last generation of MV7 microphones were already very good, so the baseline going into this one was high. Either way, it’s responsive but not jarring in how it shifts, and no matter what type of content you plan on creating, a natural sound is going to be ideal and probably what you’re shooting for. If you’re sitting quite still and don’t want to risk unintended fluctuations, however, I like that you can easily turn it off and lock the gain to your preferred level.

When I first tested it, I expected it to have a dark sound signature with a wide low-end and was surprised to find that it actually sounded quite natural. That's because the tone slider defaults to its middle setting, fittingly titled “natural.” Adjusting this slider makes a meaningful difference in the character of your voice or the subject you’re recording. For a rich broadcast style, I tipped the slider to the Dark setting and touched it up about 20% to preserve some crispness to my speech. For recording my acoustic guitar, natural or bright was a better fit. I like that these aren’t toggles but that you can freely slide along its range until you settle on what sounds best to you.

Its noise rejection is very good, too. My clicky mechanical keyboard (with Kailh Box Navy switches, the clickiest of the clicky) barely made its way into my recordings and my air circulator was cut out entirely. Likewise, the sound of my kids playing downstairs – elephantine though their little bodies sound – also rarely made its way through and was quiet when it did. After testing it for a while, I did toggle the smart noise gate back on. Its default setting was effective yet remained natural and eliminated the aforementioned sounds (though did need to be tweaked depending on the situation).

My favorite feature was the real-time denoiser. It works incredibly well and has almost no impact on your voice. Turning it off didn’t seem to impact the overall quality of my vocal capture and immediately demonstrated how much room noise it actually removes – it’s impressive. Think of active noise cancelling on a gaming headset and the digital, compressed, almost nasally effect it has on quality – it imparts on your voice to limit background noise. Those detractors are completely absent here while also being way more effective.

Taken as a whole, the MV7i feels like a broadcast mic for the masses. Unless you’re recording in an echoey bathroom, it virtually eliminates the need to use sound treatment. You can worry far less about your roommate or family member making a guest (vocal) appearance on your stream; unless they’re talking at full volume in the room with you, they likely will be quiet at worst and probably not audible if you also use the noise gate. You can use a gate with a condenser mic too, sure, but even when you’re speaking and the gate isn’t in effect, the MV7i will simply block out far more than any condenser capsule microphone is able to.

The audio quality is fantastic and the versatility provided by its software and built-in DSP is next-level.

So, why isn’t it perfect? The lack of a stand is one. Second, it comes with reverb enabled and way too loud by default and you have to download the software just to turn it off. The biggest reason is that there aren’t any onboard controls outside of muting the microphone. The original MV7 allowed you to adjust gain levels with a simple swipe, but Shure has moved away from that with each model since.

While the software is fine, the mic also saves your settings to its onboard memory, so once you’re configured, you don’t need to use it again. But adjusting gain, that’s something you’ll almost certainly be doing. And without any kind of onboard controls like the original MV7 had, you just have to open the software or fiddle with settings in Windows to dial in your level.

Whether it’s Snake’s elevator ascent to the rainy cliffs of Shadow Moses or the climactic battle between student and mentor in the final moments of Snake Eater, Hideo Kojima and Konami’s epic spy thriller franchise, Metal Gear, is home to some of gaming’s most iconic moments. Telling a story that spanned multiple console generations and pushed the creative capabilities of video games to their limits, Solid Snake and Big Boss’ adventures are legendary, so much so that many claim they’re among the most important releases the medium has ever produced.

Back in 2015, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain seemingly ended the franchise for good, with Kojima leaving Konami and the Metal Gear Solid IP behind to form his own studio. However, Konami has started resurrecting the series through re-releases and remakes, like Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater coming out later this year. With so many new players experiencing this world of undercover espionage, shady government conspiracy and gruff-voiced dudes with cool eyepatches for the first time, we’ve laid out the chronological order of the Metal Gear Solid series so newcomers and returning fans can catch up.

Jump to:

• How to play in chronological order
• How to play by release order

How Many Metal Gear Solid Games Are There?

Not including remakes, ports or remasters, there are 17 total Metal Gear games: 11 mainline games, five on handheld devices and one on mobile. Although that’s a lot of games, a decent chunk of them are considered non-canon, with their stories overriding events from the main saga and spinning off into their own unique takes on the universe.

2018’s Metal Gear Survive takes place in an apocalyptic reality where a zombie virus has overtaken the world, so it falls outside the main canon. As for the PSP’s Metal Gear: Acid and Metal Gear: Acid 2, they veer from the timeline and tell a new story, making them alternate-timeline spin-offs. Then there’s the Game Boy Color’s Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, which is an alternate-universe Metal Gear sequel that wipes away the events of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, thus removing it from the timeline. And finally, Metal Gear Mobile and Snake’s Revenge have since been deemed non-canon by the community and Kojima himself in interviews.

That leaves 11 games within the main storyline. Each game is considered part of the true Metal Gear Saga, spanning from a fictional alternate-history 1960s to the late 2010s. So, let’s run you through all the games in that story.

Which Metal Gear Should You Play First?

We recommend two potential starting points for Metal Gear. For those interested in the complete saga, we recommend 2023's Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, which includes the best available versions of Metal Gear Solid 1–3. Alternatively, for those interested in simply trying out the franchise (and for those with a lower tolerance for older games), we recommend starting with the series' most contemporary iteration, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Whether you’re just beginning a health journey or looking for more insight into your workouts, a fitness tracker is a way to gamify exercise and receive helpful data along the way. Luckily, many of these wearables – which are typically versions of smartwatches – aren’t prohibitively expensive. From feature-rich options offering capabilities that can rival the best smartwatches to ones that cover just the basics like step counting and heart rate monitoring, there are plenty of budget-conscious fitness trackers to choose from for all wrist sizes.

TL;DR – The Best Budget Fitness Trackers:

Contributions by Kevin Lee

1. Fitbit Inspire 3

Best Budget Fitness Tracker

2. Xiaomi Smart Band 9

Best Ultra Cheap Fitness Tracker

3. Xiaomi Smart Band 9 Pro

Best Budget Fitness Tracker with GPS

4. Amazfit Band 7

Best Budget Fitness Tracker With Health Monitoring

5. Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen)

Best Budget Apple Watch

6. Garmin Venu 3

Best Budget Fitness Tracker for Workouts

What to Look for in a Budget Fitness Tracker

When evaluating fitness trackers, it's important to keep in mind they're not just about counting steps or keeping tabs on your sleep habits. The total experience includes the quality of the hardware, overall comfort, the software package, and how well it does the tracking that you bought it for in the first place.

As the price goes up, so do a tracker's features, including things like heart rate monitoring, GPS, OLED display as opposed to LCD, etc. Still, there are plenty of basic trackers that don't cost a lot of money and can still provide you with an avalanche of health data.

What kind of fitness tracker do I need?

The type of fitness tracker you need depends on how you want to use the device. You can get by with an ultracheap, compact band like the Xiaomi Smart Band 9 if you just want to track your steps, check your heart rate, and get the time. Most of these super low-cost options come with color displays and long battery life while adding different sports modes, sleep tracking, blood oxygen sensors, phone notifications, and more.

For those who plan on running, biking, and hiking, you might want to spend slightly more to get GPS support. But if you’re looking for the most functionality and features beyond fitness and health tracking, a smartwatch is for you. You’ll get a bigger screen, built-in storage, access to more apps, along with the ability to answer calls, texts, and other phone notifications.

If you're an active runner or gym-goer, you may want to also get equipped with a great pair of earbuds to ensure you're finding the perfect fit for your lifestyle.

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

In landmark entertainment news that left James Bond fans feeling shaken, not stirred, Amazon MGM Studios has taken full control of the 007 franchise from long-time producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. While there are plenty of reasons to worry here, the fact of the matter is that there are already spinoff books, games, comics, etc, etc, not to mention the original novels by Ian Fleming. Dozens of writers, actors, artists, and more have tackled James Bond and his extended cast. And with Amazon’s reported ambitions to turn James Bond into a “universe,” a la Marvel and Star Wars, and billions of dollars at stake, the Bond franchise has no time to die.

Naturally, this was one of Broccoli’s concerns in giving up the rights, that Amazon MGM would try to expand too quickly or cast a name actor in the role of the secret agent. Will Amazon hold true to these ideals, or are we about to get Timothée Chalamet as the next 007? Likely not the latter (all apologies to Chalamet), but Amazon has already tried to create their own spy franchise with the Russo Brothers produced Citadel, and international spinoffs Citadel: Diana and Citadel: Honey Bunny. Those have generally lacked critical acclaim (except for Honey Bunny), and at least domestically haven’t really broken through to audiences in the same way as other Amazon hits like The Boys.

…Or more to the point, Amazon’s dudes with guns shows like Reacher, Jack Ryan, and Bosch. In fact, one could posit this is a large part of the reasoning behind Amazon shelling out a billion dollars more to own Bond: some of their most successful series have already been white men, with guns, their names in the title, based on book series. Unlike the money Amazon plunked down for Lord of the Rings (your mileage may vary on how successful Rings of Power has been), buying James Bond outright based on the data available is one of the safest purchases Amazon could make. Prime Video audiences already flock to shows about guys like James Bond, so why not James Bond himself?

One other detail you might not be aware of: Amazon already made a James Bond TV show. Seriously. Titled 007: Road to a Million, the reality game show streamed in 2023, was hosted by Brian Cox, and was picked up for a second season before the first even hit Prime Video. Only tangentially related to Bond by the idea that Cox is playing a pseudo-Bond villain while contestants race to win one million pounds, the series wasn’t a big hit but it does show that Amazon has already played in the TV space with 007. And as just one extra funny tidbit, Cox thought he was signing up for the next Bond movie. He was not, so maybe Amazon could do right by him in the future.

But wait, there’s more! Back in 1954, an anthology series titled Climax! aired the first-ever adaptation of “Casino Royale,” the Ian Fleming novel, before it was later committed to film multiple times. Point being, there’s not much of a history of TV for James Bond, but just as the franchise has had some of its most lauded installments in video games (have you ever played GoldenEye for the N64?), comics, and more, James Bond isn’t quite the sacred cow we think of, when it comes to adaptation.

Mind you, there have been no announcements that Amazon is forgoing film entirely, and likely they won’t. MGM isn’t the studio it once was, but for every Red One that hits theaters, they still have the Oscar-nominated Nickel Boys. There’s plenty of reason to believe that even without the Broccolis, Amazon MGM will aim to do right by the Bond franchise.

And frankly, is there anything that is out of left field about the idea of a franchise extension? While perhaps cutting Bond theatrically entirely and instead doing a TV streaming version of Bond might be the ultimate nightmare of cinephiles, there is a wealth of fascinating characters who revolve around Bond that often have far more chance of character growth than the main character himself. Bond, over decades, has remained relatively static – the recent Craig movies aside – while Q, M, Moneypenny, and even Felix Leiter always seem to have a lot more going on between the scene or two Bond spends checking in with them per film.

Would a series where Q has to go out of the lab and use his own gadgets be so terrible? How about Felix having to deal with the fallout of Bond blowing up the latest supervillain plot on the American side? And given the wealth of villains and henchmen in the Bond universe who have inspired dozens of fanfics, tributes, and knockoffs, an anthology series that gave them each more time in the sun could be a lot of fun. Who hasn’t wondered how Jaws got those jaws?

There’s also an opportunity here to flesh out the character of James Bond through a serialized TV show in a way that has not, for the most part, been afforded the character on the big screen. Aside from the rare instance where Bond suffers a sprained ankle at the beginning of the movie, the character has been functionally immortal, down to switching his face like a Time Lord. It wasn’t until the recent Daniel Craig films that Bond was allowed to have some sort of growth, though even then it was relegated to “bummed about the death of his girlfriend” for the majority of the Craig movies, and “old” in the last one.

The lone exception is Skyfall, arguably the best Bond movie of all time… Because it truly challenged James emotionally and moved the series forward to almost a logical conclusion. The next movie reset things in many ways, but imagine being able to see that kind of arc over 10, 20, or even 30 episodes (we’re not going to go crazy and suggest a streaming show go a full 22 episodes a season or anything like that)? You likely won’t get 10 Skyfalls in a row, but if you can get some nods to the ambition of that film in there, viewers could be in for something truly special.

The flip side is that Amazon could not look to the obvious – i.e. their dudes with guns shows – and instead take the route of Lord of the Rings, and deliver a prequel all leading up to the birth of James Bond. To that, perhaps they need look no further than Pennyworth, a goofy show with a host of loyal fans that nevertheless confused casual viewers as to why we were getting a show about Batman’s future butler. Or, for example, The Rings of Power, a show with a hot Sauron and virtually no rings in the first season that tested the patience of even the most loyal fans.

That’s the potential nightmare scenario, that Amazon will think with their algorithm instead of their heart. Even at their worst, there’s a charm the Broccoli family and others managed to bring to the Bond franchise, with the same rhythms, the same big explosion, the same good girl gone bad and bad girl gone good, time and again. In the streaming era, we’re far from the place where you could deliver the poetry of a Bond movie on an episodic basis. To turn it into yet another serialized spy drama (or worse, a serialized prequel spy drama) risks making it lose that specialness and instead slot in with Netflix’s The Night Agent, The Diplomat, and The Recruit, or god help us Citadel, instead of being its own, unique thing.

This is the trick, really, and it is with any potential cinematic universe: what makes it different? In Bond’s case, up until now, it was that it existed mostly on the big screen, every few years, and delivered a level of action spectacle and plot comfort that TV has been creeping on for decades. If Amazon does want to turn the house Ian Fleming built into a multi-platform franchise, then they need to reckon with what makes Bond so unique. If they can figure that formula out, and perhaps build out that supporting cast, too (Ben Whishaw in a Q series? Come on!), then rather than the death sentence some fans have called this deal, the Bond franchise will die another day.

Here are best deals for Friday, February 21. The highlights today include an excellent deal on a Nintendo Switch OLED (so long as you're comfortable buying an import model), and the popular Final Fantasy Magic the Gathering crossover.

Check out "the best deals under $30" for any impulse buys on items that you never knew you needed until you visited this page. Read on lower for some great deals that cost over $30 and may require a bit more involved decision-making.

Nintendo Switch OLED for $223.61

After the breakout success of Longlegs, writer/director Oz Perkins returns with another horror adaptation from the works of Stephen King. The Monkey stars Theo James as a pair of twins haunted by a cymbal-smacking monkey toy. Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), Elijah Wood (Lord of The Rings, Yellowjackets), and Adam Scott (Severance) also get roped into the creepy monkey mess.

In his review for IGN, critic Tom Jorgenson calls The Monkey “one of the best horror-comedies (and Stephen King adaptations) in recent memory, exploding off the screen with both gory kills and big laughs.” Sounds like a true horror comedy to me.

If you’re planning to catch The Monkey in theaters or wondering when it will be available to stream, check out the details below.

How to Watch The Monkey - Showtimes and Streaming Release Date

The Monkey just released in theaters on February 21. You can check out showtimes near you at the main theater links below:

• Fandango
• AMC Theaters
• Cinemark Theaters
• Regal Theaters

The Monkey Streaming Release Date

The Monkey will eventually stream on Hulu instead of Netflix or Max. The Monkey is being distributed by Neon, which has an agreement with Hulu that gives the streaming service rights to its theatrical releases.

In contrast to the recent trend of "straight-to-streaming" movies, Neon’s independent releases take quite a while to end up on the service. For example, Oz Perkins’ previous movie, Longlegs, was released in theaters on July 12, 2024, and didn’t appear on Hulu until February 14, 2025, around seven months later.

While you might have to wait several months for The Monkey to appear on Hulu, the new Oz Perkins movie should still be available to rent or buy through digital marketplaces like Prime Video by early May.

What Is The Monkey About?

The Monkey is based on Stephen King’s short story by the same name, originally published in 1980 before being revised for the Skeleton Crew collection in 1985. Here’s the movie’s official synopsis:

Does The Monkey Have a Post-Credits Scene?

While The Monkey doesn’t technically have a post-credits scene, there’s a “surprise” worth waiting around for. Beware spoilers, but you can learn more about that in IGN’s guide to The Monkey’s ending.

The Monkey Cast

The Monkey was written and directed by Oz Perkins. The movie stars the following cast:

• Theo James as Hal and Bill Shelburn
• Christian Convery as young Hal and Bill
• Tatiana Maslany as Lois Shelburn
• Colin O'Brien as Petey
• Rohan Campbell as Ricky
• Sarah Levy as Ida
• Adam Scott as Capt. Petey Shelburn
• Elijah Wood as Ted Hammerman
• Osgood Perkins as Chip
• Danica Dreyer as Annie Wilkes
• Laura Mennell as Hal's ex-wife and Petey's mother
• Nicco Del Rio as Rookie Priest

The Monkey Rating and Runtime

The Monkey is Rated R for strong bloody violent content, gore, language throughout and some sexual references. The movie runs for a total of 1 hour and 38 minutes.

NetEase's Marvel Rivals can't be described as anything less than a hit, netting ten million players in just three days from launch and raking in millions for developer NetEase in the weeks since. But a new report suggests that NetEase CEO and founder William Ding nearly canceled the game due to a reluctance to use licensed IP.

The report comes from Bloomberg, and describes the current situation at NetEase: Ding is actively cutting jobs, closing studios, and withdrawing from investment overseas. The goal, per the report, is a smaller, tighter portfolio that can stave off a recent growth decline and compete with rivals Tencent and MiHoYo.

Part of that shrinking, Bloomberg reports, almost included canceling Marvel Rivals. According to one source, Ding didn't want to pay for the use of licensed Marvel characters, and tried to persuade artists to use original designs instead. An attempted cancelation allegedly cost NetEase millions, but the game released anyway to its current success.

However, the shrinking continues. Just earlier this week, we learned that the Marvel Rivals Seattle team was laid off, with the company claiming this was for "organizational reasons." And over the last year, Ding has ceased investment in overseas projects, having previously invested heavily in Japanese and Western studios like Bungie, Devolver Digital, and Blizzard Entertainment. The report suggests that Ding believes games that won't generate hundreds of millions per year are not worth the company's time, though a company spokesperson told Bloomberg that NetEase doesn’t set "arbitrary blanket numbers for determining the viability of a new game."

Workers speaking to Bloomberg also painted a portrait of trouble internally at NetEase, centered around Ding's volatility as a leader. Per this account, Ding is quick to make decisions and changes his mind often, has pressured staff to work late, recently hired a number of recent graduates into prominent leadership roles, and has allegedly shut down so many projects that NetEase may not release any games in China next year at all.

NetEase's withdrawal from games investment comes at a time of ongoing uncertainty in the games industry, especially in the West. Multiple years running have seen mass layoffs, cancellations, and studio shut downs, alongside a number of expensive and high-profile games flopping despite high company expectations.

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.

AHOY Comics made waves in 2024 by reviving cult hero The Toxic Crusader in comic book form. This year, they're celebrating an event dubbed "Toxic Mess Summer" by having Toxie team up with the heroes of the AHOY Universe. And that includes Jesus Christ.

Toxic Mess Summer kicks off in May with the release of The Toxic Avenger Pinup Special, featuring various artists lending their own takes on Toxie and the gang. From there, AHOY will release the miniseries Toxie Team-Up, which pairs Toxie with Project: Cryptid's Jersey Devil, My Bad's Acid Chimp, The Wrong Earth's Dragonflyman and Stinger, Justice Warriors' Swamp Cop and Schitt, and, yes, Second Coming's Jesus Christ.

Max is home to some incredibly high-quality films and shows, including House of the Dragon, Succession, The Penguin, Dune: Prophecy, and The Last of Us, which has season 2 coming this year in April. If you've been hoping to start up an account to dig into that library, we're here to help! We're keeping track of the best price right now for Max subscriptions, along with any deals as they appear.

This includes bundle deals like the Max, Hulu, and Disney+ bundle, which is one you absolutely don't want to miss out on. This mega bundle starts at just $16.99/month, which is an astonishing price to have three very popular streaming services right in the palm of your hand. You can learn more about that bundle deal and Max's subscription plans below.

How to Get the Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max Streaming Bundle

It's official, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery have launched the brand-new Disney+, Hulu, and Max streaming bundle. The bundle can be purchased on any of the three streaming services and starts at $16.99/month for the ad-supported tier or $29.99/month for ad-free access across all three platforms. If you're looking to cut down on streaming costs and currently own all three of these, this is an excellent bundle to invest in. It'll save you quite a bit compared to what you'd pay for the three of them separately – 43% on the ad-supported plan and 42% on the ad-free plan.

To learn more about how to get started with this bundle as a new or existing subscriber, head to our guide on how to get (or switch over to) the Disney+/Hulu/Max streaming bundle. It's worth signing up for this right now as well, given Hulu and Disney Plus have increased their prices, so you'll ultimately be saving money with this bundle.

Subscribe to Max

If you're a fan of Catan, you definitely don't want to miss out on this Kickstarter campaign for the Catan Masterpiece Series. FanRoll Dice has created official upgrades for Catan's components so you can bring your board to life. Per FanRoll Dice's Kickstarter page, "Each element has been reimagined with a range of materials including wood, metal, resin, and gemstone to provide an unforgettable gaming experience." The Catan Masterpiece Series includes upgrades for "dice, robbers, hexes, number discs, ports, and frames," bringing exciting new pieces to one of the best strategy board games of all time.

Back the Catan Masterpiece Series on Kickstarter

If these upgrades have caught your eye, you can pledge to back the project and start building out your new board. The link above will bring you to the main Catan Masterpiece Series page on Kickstarter, but if you're curious to see a breakdown of the different pledge tiers, we've included the graphic from their Kickstarter page just below as well.

In regard to pledge tiers, the Catan Masterpiece Series Kickstarter page also states that, "These curated packages offer a variety of ways to combine different pieces and save on your overall investment. But the customization doesn't stop there - once you select a tier, you can further tailor your bundle using our add-ons." This is an excellent investment if you're a Catan fan or know someone in your life with a big love of the game, allowing you to build out your board in a unique way.

More Strategy Board Game Recommendations

Outside of this Kickstarter, if you're looking for more tabletop games to add to your collection, it's worth having a look at our roundup of the best board games to play in 2025. This list features some of our favorite board games we've reviewed, including Wingspan and Cascadia.

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

I think the first time I really understood what Moroi was, I mean the down-in-your-bones feeling you get when you’re playing something and the lighting bolt of understanding strikes you right on the noggin, was when my character fed himself to a talking meat-grinder because “something inside [him] screams let's do it!” Admittedly, it would have probably been funnier if Moroi had flashed a game over screen, and most games might’ve as a gag, but Moroi plays it straight. Into the meat-grinder you go, head-first. It chews for a bit and spits you out. You taste terrible, you see, and the grinder’s palate for manflesh is, for whatever reason, a bit more refined. Later on, you can offer it a severed hand (don’t ask) and it’s happy about that, and to grind up the bones and turn the leftover dust over to you so you can use it to help an old woman make “soup” (again, don’t ask), but eating the hand causes it to explode. “You are on fire,” your character remarks glibly as the machine spits binary. But you have your bone dust and it’s not your job to save sentient meat grinders who have developed a taste for longpig, so off you go to break some more stuff. And I said, out loud, “Ah, it’s a game like that.” And I was intrigued.

The word moroi comes from Romanian folklore; it’s used to describe a vampire or ghost, or in some cases, a phantom that rises from the grave to draw energy from the living. I don’t know which part of the definition Moroi the game draws from. What I do know is this: your character, a bearded bear of a man, wakes up in a strange prison, in pain, with no memory of how he got there. Everyone else seems to know him, but he doesn’t recognize any of them. But maybe, as a very tall man in a very strange hat tells him, that’s for the best.

Your first order of business is to get out, and that means solving simple puzzles, many of which boil down to “acquire item, take it somewhere.” Go talk to the cannibal eating himself as performance art who asks that, if eating himself isn’t his magnum opus, lightning strikes him dead. When lightning strikes him dead, take his severed hand and bring it to the sentient meat grinder, who gives you bone dust before catching fire. Then you take that to the tall man in the funny hat, who tells you to take it to the old lady making soup (she needs some salt; you have bone dust. Same thing, right?) before reminding you that “Death will meet you soon enough” and weirdly offering up that his name is Edgar. So it’s off to the old woman, who gratefully accepts your “salt” and is pulled headfirst into the cauldron by the soup to see what’s on the other side. “I'm starting to think that wasn't soup,” your character says. Noticing a pattern here?

On and on it goes, whether it’s a toenail from an overfed corpse still being pumped full of… something, or taking the old woman’s spoon and using it to wake up the rat with the important job of running in his wheel and powering The Horrors (and the doors). But then something strange happens. Moroi gives you a sword, and throws a bunch of enemies at you, and that’s where the magic happens. Combat is simple — the top-down, twin-stick perspective seems a little weird when you’re solving puzzles, but then you get to a combat section and it’s like “Oh” — but it’s fast and hits feel weighty and satisfying and it’s got Doom’s Glory Kills, which quite literally teleport you across the screen for very satisfying slow-motion executions that drops health. And then you get a minigun that shoots harpoons. And that’s rad.

When Moroi is flipping between the two — quick, simple puzzles like using the number of corpses in a freezer to work out a door code, and combat sections against multiple enemies howling for blood like it’s Black Friday and you’ve just snatched the last George Foreman grill — it’s pretty grand. But there’s also plenty of weird stuff beyond that, too. At one point, you save a duck with human teeth from being turned into a wide variety of duck-based cuisine and he rewards you with his teeth so you can reinforce your weapon, and then explains the way out through bloody gums.

Sometimes messages pop up on-screen offering cryptic hints at something more. Other times, story details are left to collectibles scattered around the environment. I particularly liked the one that listed Duck of Eternal Torment as a type of potential meal prepared from our toothy friend, and the one where the cleaning lady resigns because the furniture is upside down every day and she’s convinced the place is cursed and/or haunted.

And it’s never afraid to be weird. One of my Moroi demo’s last segments thrust me into the role of a strange, winged doll tasked by his mother (another doll) with helping his brothers – an increasingly rude group of trees – survive some incoming horror that’s killing all of them by literally giving away pieces of himself to do it. It’s an odd segment, but a compelling one, and when the credits rolled shortly thereafter, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, but I am interested in seeing where it goes from here.

There are some things about Moroi that concern me: my demo was buggy (It crashed once;I got stuck between a door and a bookcase a couple times; once I fell through the floor) and some of the writing is uneven. But those are things that can be ironed out. Moroi marries the macabre and the mysterious, and it often went to places I didn’t see coming in my half-hour demo. I’m still not sure what a moroi is in this context, but I would like to find out. After all, who can resist a game with a meat grinder that lusts for the flesh of men and a duck with human teeth?

January is always a quiet month for video games, and 2025 was no exception. With only one new game release cracking the top 20 and the predictable domination of Call of Duty, there's little to crow about from last month... except, perhaps, what may be a comeback story for one of last year's alleged sales disappointments: Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth.

Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth debuted February 2024 to No.2 on Circana's charts, which rank video games by dollar sales in the U.S. It dropped to No.7 the following month, and finished out the year at No.17. While those numbers are respectable, post-launch there were numerous questions about whether or not the game had done well enough for Square Enix's tastes, or even especially well in comparison to other major RPGs in the same year like Dragon's Dogma 2 or its predecessor Final Fantasy 7: Remake. Square Enix ultimately came out saying the game failed to meet its sales expectations, and never even announced a sales figure, suggesting it hadn't done well enough to brag about.

But notably, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth launched as a platform-exclusive on PS5, and exclusives usually face an uphill battle compared to cross-platform releases when it comes to sales. As of January 2025, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is exclusive no more, finally debuting on Steam and shooting up to No.3 on the Circana charts for the month from No.56 in December. The Final Fantasy 7: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack similarly rose from No.265 in December to No.16 in January thanks to the Steam release.

That's not all. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella pointed out on Bluesky earlier this month that Rebirth had a "fantastic" Steam launch: "Across physical & tracked digital, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth was the best-selling game of the week ending Jan 25th in the US market ($ sales), while the FFVII Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack ranked 3rd."

Now that's just the U.S., but it's likely this is emblematic of similar sales abroad, which when combined could signal to Square Enix that change is needed. This success inevitably invites speculation that swelling sales thanks to a PC launch may shift the company's plans for future Final Fantasy releases to a cross-platform launch. I asked Piscatella for his opinion on the situation, and here's what he said:

"I mean it's hard for me to say what impact the Steam release has on publisher perception of overall title success. That's subject to all kinds of internal planning and expectations I'm not privy to, of course. But purely looking at consumer response, it was a very good launch month on Steam. This launch does provide yet another benchmark that shows releasing on PC makes a ton of sense at this point regardless of genre or historical release strategies.

"For 3rd party publishers, it's looking harder and harder to release exclusively on a single platform without significant incentives provided by the platform holder."

We'll just have to wait and see what Square Enix's reaction is at its next relevant earnings call...in May. Stay tuned.

As for the rest of the charts, it will surprise no one that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was the best-selling game of the month again, followed by Madden NFL 25. The only new release cracking the top 20 in January was Donkey Kong Country: Returns on Nintendo Switch, which reached No.8 purely on the basis of physical sales (Nintendo does not share digital sales data for its eshop).

Also notable was the return of It Takes Two to the top 20, in spot No.20. There's no single reason for this, Piscatella told me. "There has been promotion happening during the month, including the last week of Jan on both the PlayStation store and eShop," he said. "But really, It Takes Two had pretty steady sales all month. But it was in December that It Takes Two really started its latest rally with both sales and engagement upticks that extended into January."

Notably, much of the promotion for It Takes Two comes ahead of the release of Hazelight Studios' next game, Split Fiction, releasing in March.

Overall, games spending numbers actually look a bit sad in January compared to last January, but there's one potential reason for that. This year's tracking period for January was four weeks long, while 2024's January was five weeks long, so that's a whole extra week to make money. But as a result, overall spending was down 15% to $4.5 billion for the month this year (it was 0.3% ahead of January 2023's four-week period). Accessories spending was down 28% year-over-year.

Content spending was down 12% compared to last year, with console content down 35%. Hardware spending was down 45%. PS5 hardware spending was down 38% year over year, Xbox Series was down 50%, and Switch was down 53%. PS5 was the best-selling hardware of the month in dollars and units, with the Xbox Series second in hardware spending, and Switch barely second in unit sales.

The top 20 best-selling games in the U.S. for the month of January 2025, based on dollar sales:

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
2. Madden NFL 25
3. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
4. EA Sports FC 25
5. Minecraft*
6. Marvel's Spider-Man 2
7. EA Sports College Football 25
8. Donkey Kong Country Returns*
9. Hogwarts Legacy
10. Sonic Generations
11. Helldivers II
12. Astro Bot
13. Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
14. Super Mario Party Jamboree*
15. Elden Ring
16. Final Fantasy VII Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack
17. Mario Kart 8*
18. The Crew: Motorfest
19. UFC 5
20. It Takes Two

* Indicates that some or all digital sales are not included in Circana's data. Some publishers, including Nintendo and Take-Two, do not share certain digital data for this report.

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.

Genshin Impact is getting an official cookbook later in 2025, and IGN has an exclusive first look.

Genshin Impact Official Cookbook: Culinary Journeys Across Teyvat, by Thibaud Villanova, comes out September 2, 2025 and “invites readers to explore, taste, and experience the fantasy world of Teyvat in an entirely new way.” There are even prefaces from Michelin star chefs Paul Pairet and Mory Sacko.

As you’d expect, the cookbook lets Genshin Impact recreate dishes from the game, accompanied by cooking quest givers the Gourmet Supremos. There are 60 recipes designed to take budding chefs on a culinary journey through the first four major regions of Teyvat: Mondstadt, Liyue, Inazuma, and Sumeru.

The images, below, show recipes for ‘Dinner of Judgment,’ a speciality of Rosaria, the ‘Lighter-Than-Air Pancake,’ and the tantalisingly named Nutritious Meal (V.593). If you’re curious, Nutritious Meal (V.593) revives a character and restores 20% of Max HP, then restores an additional 1,500 HP to the target fallen character with a 120-second cooldown in Genshin Impact itself.

Chef Villanova, who goes by @gastronogeek on Instagram, is no stranger to creating recipes based on video games, and has published more than 16 cookbooks that have sold over 500,000 copies.

As for Genshin Impact, if you’re low on ingredients, take a look at our Genshin Impact codes for some freebies (in-game only, though, not actually edible). For your next trip to Teyvat, here are the current Genshin Impact banners for Version 5.4, and our guide to the best Sigewinne build if you get lucky on her banner.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

The Pokémon Company was awarded “substantial” damages as part of a settlement in a long-running lawsuit with the developers of Chinese copycat mobile game Pocket Monster: Remake.

Pocket Monster: Remake launched in 2015 and appeared fairly popular, having earned upwards of around $42 million in a single year according to The Pokémon Company, as reported by The South China Morning Post in 2022.

The game featured seemingly unaltered Pikachu artwork from the Pokémon Yellow box as the app icon, while other branding for the game featured what appeared to be Ash Ketchum, Pikachu, Tepig, and Oshawott, again unaltered. Gameplay of Pocket Monster: Remake from perezzdb on YouTube shows myriad other familiar characters and Pokémon in what appears to be intended as a remake of the original games.

Perhaps inevitably, The Pokémon Company filed a lawsuit back in 2021. Three years later, in September 2024, the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court ruled in favor of The Pokémon Company, awarding around $15 million. But both companies appealed the ruling, leading to this week’s settlement announcement.

As reported by Automaton, The Pokémon Company also published a public apology letter from Pocket Monster: Remake maker Guangzhou Maichi Network Technology Co., Ltd., which was issued across all major social media platforms. In it, the company admits ripping off Pokémon characters, promises never to do it again, and confirms it has now shut down Pocket Monster: Remake entirely.

Here’s the apology in full:

Guangzhou Maichi Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "the Company") has launched and operated the self-developed mobile game "Pocket Monster: Remake (口袋妖怪：复刻)" (alias “The Pocket Journey (口袋之旅)”, hereinafter referred to as "the Game") since July 2015 through the Company’s subsidiaries (including but not limited to Khorgos Fangchi Network Technology Co., Ltd., hereinafter the Company and its subsidiaries collectively referred to as "We") and various online game operators.

In December 2021, The Pokémon Company (hereinafter referred to as "TPC") filed a lawsuit with the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court in Guangzhou Province, alleging that the Company infringed its copyright and engaged in unfair competition. The first-instance judgment ruled that the Company was liable for the claimed copyright infringement and unfair competition, and ordered the Company to pay damages in the amount of 107 million Chinese yuan to TPC. The case was heard in the second instance on December 18, 2024, and under the mediation of the High People's Court of Guangdong Province, TPC and We reached a settlement on the issue of compensation.

Under the guidance of relevant precedents and judicial documents issued by the High People's Court of Guangdong Province, We have deeply realized that our acts had violated relevant laws during the second-instance trial and settlement process. The Game has extensively used design elements of the well-known Pokémon Video Game Series, infringing the copyrights related to the Pokémon Video Games, and has unfairly taken advantage of the fame and reputation of the Pokémon Video Games, thereby constituting acts of unfair competition. Our copyright infringement and acts of unfair competition have caused significant economic losses to the rights holders and severely damaged the image of the original Pokémon Video Games. We hereby sincerely apologize to TPC and other rights holders, as well as the vast number of players, consumers, and the general public.

The Game has now been completely removed from the market and operations have ceased. At the same time, We have paid a substantial economic price and incurred significant reputational damage. We have deeply reflected on it and learned our lessons. In our future operations, We will place a high priority on intellectual property protection, refrain from infringing upon any related intellectual property rights or interests of the Pokémon Video Games and their rights holders, and avoid engaging in any related acts of unfair competition.

While The Pokémon Company has found success with this copycat video game, it's still embroiled in a lawsuit with Palworld maker Pocketpair, which it sued for patent infringement last year. Pocketpair has vowed to fight the case in the Japanese courts.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Corsair has clarified recent comments from one of its executives who claimed Grand Theft Auto 6 would release on PC early 2026.

During a financial call, Corsair Gaming’s VP of finance, Ronald van Veen, said: “Yeah, GTA 6 is probably the one everyone is talking about. And we’ll get a glimpse of that, I think, later on in the year for console. My understanding now it’s going to come out in the fall for console, and then early 2026 for PC.”

That was enough to spark a number of headlines about Corsair’s apparent insider information on GTA 6’s release window, but a representative of the company told IGN that Ronald van Veen’s comments were speculation, and confirmed Corsair does not have release dates supplied from Rockstar or Take-Two.

Take-Two recently committed to launching GTA 6 fall 2025 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S only, despite concern around a potential delay. But what does this mean for the PC version, which remains unannounced?

It’s an omission in keeping with developer Rockstar’s playbook for its previous games, but in 2025 feels outdated. And, given the increasing importance of the PC for a multiplatform game’s success, is GTA 6’s no-show on PC a missed opportunity or even a mistake?

IGN put that question to Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick ahead of the company’s recent financial results, and in his response he teased GTA 6’s eventual release on PC.

“So with Civ 7 it's available on console and PC and Switch right away,” Zelnick said of Firaxis' recently launched Civilization 7. “With regard to others in our lineup, we don't always go across all platforms simultaneously. Historically, Rockstar has started with some platforms and then historically moved to other platforms.”

Rockstar fans have noted the studio's historical reluctance to release other past games on PC day-and-date with console, as well as its fraught relationship with the modding community over the years. Still, some had hoped that a game as big as GTA 6 could be a turning point for the studio's PC gaming attitude.

Big Rockstar titles tend to get to PC eventually, but the question of how long PC gamers will have to wait for what could end up being one of the biggest games ever remains. Given GTA 6’s fall 2025 release window, it seems likely PC players won’t get to play the game until 2026 at the earliest.

In December 2023, a former developer at Rockstar attempted to explain why GTA 6 is coming to PC after it hits PS5 and Xbox Series X and S, and called on PC gamers to give the studio the “benefit of the doubt” over its controversial launch plans.

We’ve got plenty more on GTA 6, including Zelnick’s response to concern about the fate of GTA Online once GTA 6 comes out.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Marvel Television has reportedly paused work on three shows: Nova, Strange Academy and Terror, Inc.

Sources told Deadline that the projects were never greenlit and may still come out, but Marvel has shifted its priorities.

The change in strategy comes as Marvel Studios prepares to launch Disney+ show Daredevil: Born Again. This week, Marvel Studios’ head of streaming and TV Brad Winderbaum revealed the company is exploring the opportunity of reuniting the street level heroes of Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist, better known as The Defenders.

Marvel Studios is now taking the approach of developing more shows than it makes, but, as Winderbaum told Screen Rant last year: “We’re really being careful about what we choose to do next.”

The news about Nova is particularly surprising, given just two months ago we heard that former Criminal Minds showrunner Ed Bernero was on board as a writer and a showrunner, with Nova confirmed as a series for Disney+. Check out IGN’s article on everything you need to know about Nova for more.

Strange Academy was expected to revolve around a magic school founded by MCU mainline character Doctor Strange, with Wong in charge. There’s no information on Terror, Inc., however.

Here’s what we know for sure when it comes to Marvel TV shows: Daredevil: Born Again hits Disney+ on March 4, Ironheart, on June 24, and Wonder Man is due out in December. Three MCU films are due out this year following the launch of Captain America: Brave New World: Thunderbolts in May and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

Image credit: Marvel via Getty Images.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Overwatch 2 Season 15 appears to be going down well, improving sentiment around what was once the worst ever user-reviewed game on Steam.

We're now nearly nine years out from the debut of Overwatch in 2016, and two-and-a-half from the launch of Overwatch 2. In August 2023, Overwatch 2 became the worst user-reviewed game on Steam ever, with most of the negative reviews focused on monetization after developer Blizzard was heavily-criticised for forcing its premium predecessor to update into a free-to-play sequel, rendering the original Overwatch unplayable back in 2022.

Overwatch 2 subsequently endured a number of controversies including the cancellation of its long-awaited PvE Hero mode — the one feature, players said, that justified the sequel's existence.

But while Overwatch 2 still has a ‘mostly negative’ user review rating on Steam for all reviews, recent reviews have shown an improvement to ‘mixed.’ That means 43% of the 5,325 user reviews left in the last 30 days were positive.

That might not sound like much to crow about, but for Overwatch 2, which has endured overwhelming negativity since its release on Valve’s platform, it’s a significant milestone.

This improvement has to do with the recent launch of Season 15, which made a number of dramatic changes to Overwatch 2. While the roadmap ahead includes much of what you'd expect to see in terms of new content, the core gameplay itself has seen a seismic shift, including the additions of hero perks and the return of loot boxes.

“They just released Overwatch 2,” reads one recent positive review. “The recent update is what the game should always have been before corporate greed got in the way.”

“For once, I must come to Overwatch's defense and say they really have stepped up their game,” reads another. “Going back to what worked in Overwatch 1 while introducing new and fun mechanics to the game. A certain game made them LOCK IN and I couldn't be happier. Now we just gotta wait for next season with an actual cooler battlepass.”

That’s a reference to the hugely popular Marvel Rivals, a similar competitive multiplayer hero shooter from NetEase that’s seen 40 million downloads since launching in December.

In a recent interview with GamesRadar, Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller discussed the new reality Blizzard finds itself in, with Marvel Rivals now out in the wild and attracting tens of millions of players.

"We're obviously in a new competitive landscape that I think, for Overwatch, we've never really been in before, to this extent where there's another game that's so similar to the one that we've created," Keller said.

You’d think this would be a bad thing for Overwatch, then, but Keller called the situation “exciting,” and even said it was “really great” to see Marvel Rivals take ideas established by Overwatch in a “different direction.”

Still, Keller admitted Marvel Rivals’ success had forced a change in attitude within Blizzard when it comes to Overwatch 2, saying: “this is no longer about playing it safe."

Of course, it’s way too early to declare Overwatch “back,” and there is a push and pull with Overwatch 2’s Steam user reviews that suggests it’ll be extremely difficult for the game to improve upon ‘mixed,’ no matter what Blizzard does. Meanwhile, Season 15 has caused an uptick in players on Valve’s platform, with peak concurrent player numbers almost doubling to 60,000. It’s worth noting that Overwatch 2 is available on Battle.net, PlayStation, and Xbox, and neither Blizzard, Sony, nor Microsoft make player numbers publicly available.

For context, Marvel Rivals, which launched a new mid-season update itself recently, had 305,816 peak concurrent players on Steam over the last 24 hours.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

George R. R. Martin has issued the strongest tease yet that an Elden Ring movie may come to pass, but has acknowledged a significant blocker to his potential involvement with it.

The Game of Thrones creator famously dreamed up the world and history of FromSoftware’s Elden Ring, which went on to become one of the best-selling games of 2022. FromSoftware and publisher Bandai Namco leaned heavily on Martin’s involvement in promotional material, and the game credits begin by saying the Elden Ring world was created by FromSoftware chief Hidetaki Miyazaki and George R. R. Martin.

So, would George R. R. Martin be interested in coming back for a sequel to Elden Ring, if he’s asked? That’s the question IGN put to the man himself as part of IGN Fan Fest 2025. In his response, Martin sidestepped Elden Ring 2, but did drop a big hint that an Elden Ring movie could be in the works.

“Well, I can't say too much about it, but there is some talk about making a movie out of Elden Ring,” Martin said.

Following the shock news that Amazon has taken full creative control over James Bond, with long-term Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson stepping back, the question on everyone’s lips is: who should be the next 007?

That’s the question Amazon boss Jeff Bezos asked his followers on X / Twitter, and the answer was loud and clear.

Yes, some are calling for the likes of Venom star Tom Hardy, the MCU's Idris Elba, Professor X actor James McAvoy, Magneto actor Michael Fassbender, and Kraven’s Aaron Taylor-Johnson (who was previously rumored to be top of the list) to be given the role. But the clear fan-favorite is Henry Cavill.

It didn’t take long after Bezos’ tweet for Henry Cavill to trend online, and that’s because of the sheer number of James Bond enthusiasts calling for the Superman and Witcher actor to take over where Daniel Craig left off.

Some are now wondering whether Cavill’s odds of playing the world’s most famous spy have risen now Amazon is pulling all the strings. Cavill signed on to star in and produce Amazon’s hotly anticipated Warhammer 40,000 project. Could he also sign on to star as Bond?

Of course, Cavill famously auditioned to play James Bond during casting for 2006’s Casino Royale (and you can even see that audition online). Casino Royale director Martin Campbell has called the audition "tremendous,” but the then 23-year-old Cavill lost out to Daniel Craig because he was deemed too young.

During a 2023 interview with The Express, Campbell said of Cavill: “He looked great in the audition. His acting was tremendous. And look, if Daniel didn’t exist Henry would have made an excellent Bond. He looked terrific, he was in great physical shape… very handsome, very chiseled. He just looked a little young at that time back then.”

“It was ultimately down to, and this is what I’ve been told, it was just down to me and Daniel, and I was the younger option,” said Cavill in an interview with Josh Horowitz.

“They obviously went with Daniel and I think it was an amazing choice to go with Daniel. I probably wasn’t ready at the time and I think Daniel did an incredible job over the past movies, so I’m happy they made that choice.”

It’s no secret that 007’s producers were on the lookout for the next James Bond after Daniel Craig left the franchise behind with No Time to Die. But could Cavill now play Bond? “By the time Daniel got to [No Time To Die] really he was at an age where one more would have been too old for him,” added Campbell.

“I think they sign on for three Bonds, I’m not absolutely 100% certain of that. I know with Pierce [Brosnan] he had to sign on to three when we did him. So, that’s going to take, what, six years of your life maybe? I suspect Daniel [had] the same deal. And the next guy’s going to have to do that.

“Henry’s 40, so by the time he’s done the third one he’s going to be 50. Anything beyond that’s two, three years per Bond. He’s in good shape Henry, he’s a good guy. He did very well in the audition, but ironically, he was too young.”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Cardy, Matt, and Mat are back for some February Friday fun and frolicking as a range of delights are explored, including first impressions of the multiplayer spin-off Elden Ring Nightreign. There's also time for a look at awards contender The Brutalist, new Adult Swin animation Common Side Effects, and visual novel dice-roller Citizen Sleeper 2.

Remember to send us your thoughts about all the new games, TV shows, and films you're enjoying or looking forward to: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.

IGN UK Podcast 788: Singing in the Nightreign

• IGN UK Podcast 787: Are We Wowed by Avowed?
• IGN UK Podcast 786: A History of Violence
• IGN UK Podcast 785: Our Xbox Games Series Tier Lists
• IGN UK Podcast 784: Doom, Doom, Doom, Doom, I Want You in My Room
• IGN UK Podcast 783: The Switch 2 is Finally a Real Thing

2025 is definitely shaping up to be a huge year for DC's flagship Batman comic. Current writer Chip Zdarsky just ended his run with Batman #157, paving the way for Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee's Hush 2 storyline in March. And once Hush 2 is over, DC will be relaunching Batman with a new #1 issue, new writer, and new costume.

As revealed at the ComicsPro retailer event, the new volume of Batman will be written by Matt Fraction (Uncanny X-Men, The Invincible Iron Man). Current Batman artist Jorge Jimenez is remaining on board, though as mentioned, he and Fraction have designed a new costume and new Batmobile to ring in the new series. Batman is trading in the black and gray suit for a more vintage-inspired blue and gray costume. Check out the new Batsuit below:

If you’ve been waiting for an opportunity to plug your PlayStation VR2 headset into a proper gaming PC and dive face first into SteamVR’s rich back catalog of games, your options have been disappointingly limited. Previously console-bound PS VR2 owners are in luck, however, as Sony released a $60 adapter last fall that enables the PlayStation VR2 to be used with any modern gaming PC – that is, as long as your PC meets the headset’s minimum specs. But connecting the PS VR2 to a PC isn't as simple as just plugging in the adapter and calling it a day. Despite being marketed as a plug-and-play device, there are some tricky omissions in its built-in features that may make it require some additional setup, depending on your existing PC configuration.

How to Connect to Your PC With the Adapter

Before you dive into the step-by-step setup instructions, it’s important to make sure that you have everything you need. Via the adapter, the PS VR2 is fully compatible with most SteamVR games, but you’re going to want to make sure your PC has sufficient Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, a spare DisplayPort 1.4 cable, a free AC power outlet nearby, and both the PlayStation VR2 and SteamVR apps installed on Steam. The two Sense controllers packed in with the PS VR2 are charged through USB-C, so you’ll need two USB-C charging ports and USB-C cables to keep both controllers charged between uses – though there is a Sense controller charging station available on Sony’s website for $50, which is much simpler to use.

What You'll Need

After over two dozen mainline games, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to innovate and stay relevant in an era where a great game is coming out every few weeks, but that’s exactly what KOEI TECMO aims to do with the next entry in its long-running Atelier JRPG series, Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land. After spending over six hours gathering resources, doing Sailor Moon-esque magical dancing rituals, and riding around on a motorbike, I’m inclined to believe they’ll pull off just that, yet again. With more engaging combat, improved visuals, more convenient crafting, and an entirely new building system that lets you put your own personal touch on the world, there’s quite a bit to be optimistic about, even if what I saw of the story and characters was, at least so far in the opening hours, pretty boilerplate stuff for the genre.

If you’ve played any of the recent Atelier games, then you probably won’t be shocked by Atelier Yumia at first glance. All three of the pillars that have been around since its conception are still alive and well: exploration, where you run around collecting resources and solving puzzles; combat, where you fight baddens with a party chock-full of pretty anime friends, and synthesis, where you combine your hard-won resources into alchemical creations that make you stronger. But each has been given a substantial overhaul (not to mention a serious facelift) that breathes new life into a familiar formula.

Combat seems to be getting the biggest rework, with action-based systems that let you perfect parry, dodge out of the way, and switch to different range bands depending on whether you’d like to thwack enemies in melee or take them down from a distance. At lower levels, combat seemed fairly undemanding, as I was able to just unload every ability I had, swap to other characters to do the same, then repeat it all again, ending most encounters in a matter of seconds, but later on (and especially when I wasn’t properly leveled) I seriously got rinsed if I wasn’t paying attention to enemy attack patterns and working on my timing. It never got especially challenging so long as I was properly leveled, but it was nice to see a less passive combat system that I couldn’t just steamroll through while on autopilot.

Exploration also had some improvements, like having a gun to stun enemies and collect resources at a distance, ziplines that help you navigate the map more easily once you find and activate both sides of the line, and, crucially, a badass motorcycle for you to speed around on that makes getting around much easier. Finally, there’s Synthesis, which in typically Atelier fashion is so dang complicated, you could spend quite a bit of time customizing and min-maxing every aspect of your gear and crafting new items and attacks to use in battle. Or, if you don’t have the patience like me, you can just hit “auto mode” and it’ll automatically optimize all of it for you. Not that I don’t enjoy this aspect of the series, but it’s certainly nice to have the option of leaping back into the action quickly for times where I wasn’t in the mood to tinker.

Atelier Yumia also shakes things up by adding a fourth fairly significant activity to the list of things to do as you explore and level up: the ability to build and customize settlements throughout the world map. That’s right – Atelier Yumia seems to be leaning into the cozy craze, so now you can have a little bit of Animal Crossing or Sims with your JRPG by constructing your fantasy cottage on a patch of land and spending some quality downtime with your party members. I was only able to dabble in this a bit, given the constraint of the resources available to me in the early part of the story, but I could definitely see myself sinking quite a bit of time into taming the wilds with an elaborately decorated home.

With all Atelier has going for it, I will say that it did very little to make itself stand out in terms of story. The characters and foreshadowing of the undoubtedly epic and convoluted story that starts to develop in the opening hours aren’t bad by any means, but at least so far everything has been quite predictable and retreads a lot of ground we’ve seen from JRPGs of the past. This is especially true of the characters I met during my explorations, like the ditzy by wholesome Isla and the stoic and no-nonsense Viktor, both of whom I feel like I’ve seen half a hundred times already. But this is the beginning of a JRPG, so in all likelihood it’s just going to take a while for the story to start rolling or for characters to show their true colors to any level of satisfaction, leaving plenty of opportunity for my concerns to disappear given more time.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Atelier Yumia marks the first time the series will appear on the Xbox platform, and as a Westerner who would quite like more JRPGs to be readily available, that’s pretty awesome to see. Achievement unlocked!

Here are best deals for Thursday, February 20. Check out the best deals under $30 for any impulse buys on items that you never really knew you wanted or needed until you visited this page. Read on lower for some great deals that cost over $30 and may require a bit more involved decision-making on your part.

Sonic X Shadow Generations for PS5 for $26.99

As our world has grown more interconnected, so too has our awareness of how fragile all of this is. Our money, our electricity, our water – they could be taken from us in the blink of an eye. Netflix’s Zero Day is ostensibly interested in how people would react to a devastating attack on that delicate web. What truths would we choose to believe? How do we keep ourselves and our people safe? Are we doomed to repeat our past mistakes in the name of justice? All of that sounds fascinating; unfortunately, it’s all surface-level themes layered on top of an incredibly dumb political thriller (with no genuine political convictions) that’s never exciting or crazy enough to justify turning off your brain enjoying the ride.

The problems present themselves early with the introduction of George Mullen, our main character and, according to the script, “the last president in modern memory who was able to consistently rally bipartisan support.” Mullen stepped down after one term to pass the torch to the current president, Evelyn Mitchell – and if that doesn’t have enough of a real-world ring to it, perhaps the fact that these characters are played by Robert De Niro and Angela Bassett will help you out. Given that De Niro has stayed away from American television his entire career, you’d assume the role that lured him to Zero Day must be pretty meaty. But even if he weren’t coming off the late-career high of Killers of the Flower Moon, his portrayal of George would be disappointing. For the majority of the six episodes, he’s phoning it in, occasionally getting the chance to turn on the charm or yell, but mostly stuck in a rote mode that gives us precious little insight into who the former president is as a person. Episode 1 has him joining a commission to investigate the titular attack, which disabled power grids, transportation and communication systems, and other critical infrastructure across the U.S. (you name it, it was hacked) and displayed the menacing message “THIS WILL HAPPEN AGAIN” on cell phones across the country.

After this initial opening blip of excitement, Zero Day slides into a default tedium. It opens up storylines that seem like they could be, if not exciting, then at least thematically engaging, but these always seem to wrap up quickly in order for something else to be thrown into the mix. There’s very little sense of discovery or even conspiracy and at their worst, the creators – Narcos showrunner Eric Newman, former NBC News head Noah Oppenheim, and national-security reporter Michael S. Schmidt – pull it directly out of their collective asses.

Perhaps the most eye-rolling thread is George’s frequent attacks of dementia and memory loss (again, with more exhaustion this time: sound familiar?), which Zero Day represents as staticky droning and the – admittedly neat – disappearing and reassembling of objects in his office. Real-world analogues aside, this actually attempts to grapple with the ideas at the show’s core: How much of George’s investigation – including the sighting of a woman killed in episode 1 – is just in his mind? Can he even admit to himself that he’s unwell, and could that affect the investigation? Unfortunately (and without going into spoilers), the show chooses the most insulting route to the answers.

Like a lot of other Netflix miniseries, Zero Day is hampered by too many characters and not enough time to devote to them. Making matters worse: They’re all played by actors who are overqualified for such a tepid potboiler. Jesse Plemons reunites with his Killers of The Flower Moon co-star De Niro as George’s right-hand man. Lizzy Caplan plays George’s daughter, a congresswoman who becomes a part of the oversight committee watching her dad – a conflict of interest that Zero Day tries to shove aside despite being almost unprecedented. Joan Allen is George’s (ex?) wife Sheila, looking into a government position on her own. Connie Britton, Matthew Modine, Bill Camp, McKinley Belcher III – none of these very talented actors turn in a bad performance, but you’ve definitely seen them do much better work elsewhere. The bigger problem is that characterization as a whole is scant, and the antagonists especially come off as confusingly drawn.

The height of that incoherence is Dan Stevens’ Evan Green: In dialogue and performance, Evan appears to be a riff on conspiracy-spouting fearmongers like Alex Jones. But he appears to be broadcasting a largely left-wing populist show on some sort of cable channel whose name positions it as an equivalent to the conservative outlet Newsmax – a conflict of worldviews that has not and will not ever exist anywhere in any reality. Without spoilers, both Evan’s storyline and that of Elon Musk stand-in Monica Kidder (Gaby Hoffmann) point to real-world issues, but that’s all they do: Get you to say “Oh, I see what you did there” without ever feeling satisfying narratively or making some actual statement in the ideological soup. (For example: The fact that power-grid sabotage is a distinctly right-wing cause seems to have entirely passed this writers’ room by.) This would all be less galling if Zero Day weren’t so baldly dedicated to a certain level of verisimilitude – news networks with their actual anchors are featured heavily, someone mentions Axios at one point – while also getting shockingly hand-wavey when it comes to the actual details of the zero-day attack.

It would take an entire review full of spoilers to really catch all the ways in which no one involved with Zero Day seemingly understands how computers and technology work. Suffice it to say, Mr. Robot this ain’t. That extends beyond the depiction of hacking though; that show had its ups and downs but it was always distinctively stylish, gripping, and well-acted, interested in the ramifications of technology on the world at large and what it meant for the people having to live under the weight of capitalism. For a show that’s constantly talking about how the attack was a huge wound to the nation’s psyche, Zero Day shows very few actual impacts. There’s a train crash, a couple of riots, some fires constantly in the background – but for as big as this attack supposedly is, everything looks pretty normal.

Zero Day’s fatal flaw is that it’s lazy, both in its worldbuilding and in the plot itself. It would rather remind you of one news item or another rather than actually building a story around it, and over the course of six hours it becomes exasperating. There’s an overbearing sense of the show being written mainly by D.C. and machine insiders (which certainly aligns with Schmidt’s and Oppenheim’s claims to journalistic infamy), and often leads to the most obnoxious moments when it spinelessly tries to spread the blame for the attack (and the paranoia it spawns) across the political spectrum.

Zero Day almost seems to rally back in its second half. It’s not that it suddenly becomes good, but rather it gains something of a pulse, to the point where I actually wanted to learn the truth behind all these grand plots and conspiracies. That is, until I did, and the answers were so offensively stupid that I had to hold my head and take a deep breath. It’s not so much that it comes out of nowhere – though it kind of does – but that the villains have the absolute barest of motivations, and their plan itself is so idiotic and full of holes that it’s a wonder it didn’t implode at the very first keystroke. On top of that, it drowns itself in so much self-satisfying “both sides are bad” speechifying and stance-taking that even Aaron Sorkin would tell them to tone it down. It would be laughable if it weren’t so intent on trying to sound smart.

The streaming service that retains the streaming rights to an abundance of multi-million dollar movie franchises, Disney+ came late to the game but towers over much of the competition. Home to Marvel, Lucasfilms, Pixar, National Geographic, Star Wars, and the multitudes of Disney classics and modern hits, Disney+ can be difficult to compare to other streaming services. What makes Disney+ truly special though, is that there is a large selection of content for the whole family to watch, including the kids. As Disney continues to push out more and more content, the youth section grows every day with kid-friendly spinoffs of Star Wars (Young Jedi Adventures) and Marvel (Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man) as well as unique, quality cartoons like Bluey or Disney Channel classics like Phineas & Ferb. Overall, Disney+ packs a punch and appeals to families in a big way, making it one of the most popular streaming services available.

Because of all that, looking for an alternative to Disney+ can be quite challenging. Below are some options of the best streaming service free trials that can offer at least a somewhat similar experience. If you're hoping to remove Disney+ from your monthly bill, you can test drive these services before making the switch. You can also take a look at our guide to cancelling Disney+ if you're ready to leave.

Amazon Prime (30-Day Free Trial)

Attracting more of an adult audience with their latest films and series (like Reacher, Fallout, and Invincible), Amazon Prime has been consistently releasing original content mostly not suited for a younger audience. The overall selection of original content is ever-expanding and available with a membership after a 30-day free trial. After the 30-day trial is concluded, users will be charged only $14.99 a month (or $139.00 a year) to continue viewing and enjoy free shipping on orders from Amazon’s shopping center. There is also a student discount of $7.49 a month (or $69 a year).

Read our review of Prime Video.

Hulu (30-Day Free Trial)

Now fully owned by Disney, Hulu is streaming service with a known reputation for streaming a vast library of popular shows and original movies. Relating to Disney+ and their National Geographic section, Hulu also has a quality selection of original documentaries to dive into. After exploring the vast library that Hulu has to offer in this generous 30-day trial, there are a wide range of subscription options to opt into from $7.99 a month up to just over $100 a month–if you want to include live TV or premium add-ons such as MAX, ESPN+, Disney+, Cinemax, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, STARZ, and more. If you are interested in watching the first season of Shogun or the most recent season of What We Do in the Shadows, Hulu is the only place you can.

Read our review of Hulu or check out all of the Hulu bundles available.

Paramount+ (7-Day Free Trial)

The studio that already boasted a large portfolio even before the establishment of their streaming service, Paramount+ offers exclusive access to original content such as the Mission Impossible movies, the Halo series, and the entire Star Trek film/series universe. They also have the rights to classic Nickelodean shows like Spongebob Squarepants and Fairly Odd Parents. With new movies and shows being regularly released, Paramount+ is catching up to its original content competitors and is also the only place to watch Yellowjackets. After the 7-day free trial of their services, the recurring monthly amount to stay subscribed will be as low as $4.99 (or $59.99 a year) with limited ads, or $11.99 a month (or $119.99 a year) to add SHOWTIME’s full library and remove almost all ads.

Read our review of Paramount+.

Apple TV+ (7-Day Free Trial)

With a growing library of original, blockbuster-sized films and series, Apple TV+ doesn’t match the quantity of Disney+ but has much quality to offer. Featuring some highly appraised, original shows (Severance, Ted Lasso, Masters of the Air) and movies (Killers of the Flower Moon, Spirited, Napoleon), Apple TV+ blindsided the streaming competition with their impressive offers and final products from filmmakers. After the 7-day free trial has expired, the monthly subscription will cost $9.99 at base cost, depending on how many users are added to the account. If you recently bought any other Apple product, like the new iPhone 16E, you'll get access to a three-month free trial to Apple TV+. As a disclaimer for those without Apple products, you will have to create a verified Apple ID to access the premium Apple TV+ streaming library.

Read our review of Apple TV+.

Mubi (7-Day Free Trial)

While the genre and overall tone of the options on Mubi differ greatly from the selection on Disney+, Mubi has a good amount of quality, original content available to stream. Outside of the Mubi-produced content available (The Substance), there are plenty of arthouse films to watch on this unique streaming service. Presented as a movie theater in a subscription, users can pick from a limited selection of films–every day one is added and one is removed. After the 7-day free trial, subscribers will be charged $14.99 a month to retain their membership.

Read our review of Prime Video.

Disney+ FAQs

Can you Watch Disney+ Shows and Movies Without a Subscription?

Since the rights to many blockbuster film sagas/series and animation studios such as Lucasfilms, Marvel, Pixar, and more now belong to Disney, most of this content is available exclusively on Disney+. Unfortunately, Disney+ no longer offers the free trial option. As mentioned above: certain streaming services such as Hulu and Amazon will sometimes temporarily be given streaming rights to some high-demand films, making it possible to catch some Disney+ content without a subscription. However, if their wide array of animated classics and modern marvels is too great to ignore, Disney+ offers bundle deals that are worth looking into.

You can also purchase physical copies of some of the more popular shows, like The Mandalorian, allowing you to sidestep the need for a subscription.

Does Disney+ Have a Free Trial?

Although Disney+ did have a free trial when the service first launched, the service no longer offers this benefit to new subscribers. For more information about what Disney+ can offer, check out their help center page.

Connor Sheppard is an Oregon-grown culture writer for IGN with previous work on The Manual. Intrigued from a young age by pop culture and movies, he has developed into an experienced critic and consumer of all things media. From his time earning a bachelor's degree in digital communications at Oregon State University, he found a love for writing and appreciating specific actors and directors in the many films he watches. When he's not tapping away on his computer, you can find him watching new movies, practicing Muay Thai, or spending time with great friends and family.

Since its launch in the summer of 2020, Peacock has expanded its catalog of shows and movies (The Wild Robot, Nosferatu, Twisters) to compete with the big names in streaming. With their exclusive access to all things owned by NBC (including every season of The Office), Peacock is starting to gain some traction in the streaming wars.

As streaming has evolved and changed throughout the years, streaming services have also changed in layout, content rights, and pricing. Despite the increase in competition, Peacock does not offer any sort of free trial.

Can You Get Peacock for Free in Other Ways?

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii releases today on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, so it's time to get you savvy on the cheapest copies. This latest in a long line of Sega games about Japanese organised crime is centred on a beloved miscreant, Goro Majima, and got praised heartily by our reviewer to the tune of 8/10.

Not only is the game available to be yours now in a variety of storefronts, but we've also found some collectable side curios related to this title. Some of them reside in collector's editions, others can be bought as side promotions, and one is just a cool custom thing that Sega seems to have whipped up purely to raise pirate awareness in general. Read on to see what's out there on the high seas.

Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii - Standard Edition

Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Collector’s Edition

The collector’s edition costs A$229.95 and comes with the game itself, plus the following extras:

• 15cm Acrylic Standee
• Eye Patch
• Treasure Coin Pin
• Digital Deluxe Content: Legendary Pirate Crew Pack, Legendary Outfit Pack, Ship Customization Pack, and Extra Karaoke & CD Pack

Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Digital Deluxe Edition

• PS Store (digital) - A$122.95
• Xbox Store (digital) - A$122.95
• Steam - A$122.95

Those ready to embrace the all-digital lifestyle and want more than just the game can pick up the digital deluxe edition. It includes a digital copy of the game, plus the following digital extras:

• Legendary Pirate Crew Pack
• Legendary Outfit Pack
• Ship Customization Pack
• Extra Karaoke & CD Pack

Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Preorder Bonus

Preorder any version of the game, and you’ll get the following digital items for free:

• Ichiban pirate crew set
• Ichiban special outfit set

What Is Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii?

Goro Majima is back in this installment, with a memory that’s been wiped as clean as the chalkboard in your granddaddy’s kindergarten classroom. He’s also in Hawaii, so he hops aboard a ship and sets out to do pirate things. As you can probably tell, the series’ goofy humor remains fully intact in this installment.

Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Merch

Seadrift Distillery Limited Ed. Rum

Seadrift 0% Spiced Rum is a bold Aussie classic with deep molasses, caramel, and tropical fruit notes. You’ll catch hints of vanilla and oak, with a spicy kick and a warm, lingering finish. It’s rugged yet smooth, perfect over ice or splashed in cola.

Capacity: 700ml

Get it here

Aloha Beer - Captain's Mug

A wooden mug with protective sealant exterior, stainless steel inner lining. Chug in style!

Capacity: 650ml

A$125

Get it here

Shipwreck Tee

Live the Pirate's Life with the exclusive Aloha Beer collaboration Shipwreck Tee!

Sizes Small - 2XL available in White or Black

A$50

Get it here

Cosplay Costume

Includes coat, trousers, belt x 2, gloves, hat, and eyepatch

A$379

Get it here