FX announced today that the FX, Hulu and Disney+ series Alien: Earth has been renewed for a second season as part of an overall new deal that FX and Disney Entertainment Television have sealed with showrunner Noah Hawley.

Alien: Earth, Season 2 begins filming in London in 2026.

“It has been our great privilege to work with Noah for more than a decade on some of FX’s best and biggest shows, and we are thrilled to extend our partnership well into the future,” said FX Chairman John Landgraf in a statement.

“Noah never stops surprising us with truly original stories— and his unique ability to bring them to vibrant life as a director and producer as well as writer makes him extraordinary. We can’t wait to get to work on the next season of Alien: Earth, as well as some equally exciting future projects in advanced development."

“I’m thrilled that this expanded deal opens the door to new opportunities across all of Disney Entertainment Television,” said Hawley. “FX has always supported bold, character-driven storytelling. From the very beginning with Fargo, they’ve encouraged me to take creative risks and follow the story wherever it leads. I’m grateful to continue exploring the world of Alien: Earth alongside our partners, cast, and crew as we begin the next chapter.”

Back in September, Hawley said, “Obviously, none of us — Disney or myself — want a single day longer than necessary to get a second season on the air, in success. Everyone wants to get this decision right. But we also want to be ready to go. I certainly know where I’m going. The moment they fire the starting gun, I’m out of the block."

IGN’s Clint Gage was a big fan of Alien: Earth, Season 1; be sure to read all of his Alien: Earth reviews here.

For more coverage of Alien: Earth Season 1, find out what actress Sydney Chandler had to say about creating the Xenomorph language and be sure to check out Alien: Earth Season 1 Ending Explained – How It Can All Fit Into the Bigger Alien Movie Universe feature.

FX’s Alien: Earth is created for television and executive produced by Noah Hawley. Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Clayton Krueger, Emilia Serrano, Bob DeLaurentis, Peter Calloway, Monica Macer, John Campisi and Simon Emanuel also serve as executive producers. Alien: Earth is produced by FX Productions.

Ahead of Black Friday, Walmart just dropped on a powerful current generation gaming laptop. The Asus ROG Strix G16 RTX 5070 Ti gaming laptop has dropped to $1,849.99 with free shipping after a $500 off instant discount. This is the lowest price I've seen for this exact config by $150. In addition to the excellent graphics card, this laptop features the AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX processor, which is one of the most powerful AMD mobile CPU available right now.

Asus ROG Strix G16 RTX 5070 Ti Gaming Laptop for $1,849.99

Dogma first came out back in 1999, but if you've ever tried to find it on streaming platforms, you've likely uncovered a rather complicated history. The Kevin Smith film was purchased by Harvey and Bob Weinstein a year after its initial release, and until recently, the movie has not been allowed to come to streaming or VOD. In fact, there hasn't been any sort of release for the films since the first Blu-ray came out all the way back in 2008.

Thankfully all of that changed when Iconic Events purchased the theatrical rights for the film back in 2024 and Kevin Smith licensed the home video rights to Lionsgate. Since then Dogma has been having itself a "Resurrection" tour with theater re-releases, and most recently, a 4K Blu-ray home release.

Preorder Dogma in 4K - Out December 9

The mark of a truly stellar multiplayer game is when you and your friends are having as much fun in your 50th hour as you were in your first, and that’s a test ARC Raiders passes with flying colors. This is without question the most hooked I’ve found myself on an extraction shooter (and I’ve played a lot of them), with clean and tense gunplay, an incredibly satisfying progression system, and a loot game that has me sweating over what to put in my backpack and what to leave behind. Even with a few bugs to gunk up the gears, just about every journey topside to scavenge from the wastes and battle devious robotic overlords has been a complete blast, especially when accompanied by friends. After years of promising but uneven attempts, ARC Raiders feels like the first to fully realize this genre’s potential, and has set a new standard for it in the process.

ARC Raiders follows the usual extraction shooter formula of dropping you into a hostile zone to take down NPC enemies and scramble for loot, all while looking over your shoulder for rival crews who would love nothing more than to crack you open like a meat pinata and take everything you’ve collected, and then getting back out before they can. It doesn’t do much to iterate or expand on those fundamentals, but it does absolutely nail them, and that’s harder to do than it might sound – for example, big budget attempts like Battlefield 2042’s Hazard Zone mostly fell flat and the alpha for Bungie’s Marathon landed with such a thud it was delayed indefinitely. Even some of my favorites, like Hunt: Showdown and Escape From Tarkov, have always felt like rough drafts of what these daring high-risk, high-reward multiplayer games could be, so it’s long overdue for us to get a highly competent and very polished version like ARC Raiders.

One of the main ways it succeeds is in its stressful gunplay, where weapons only have a few rounds in each magazine, take a good deal of time to reload, and the robot NPCs you’ll face are either much faster than you or can rain down missiles to take you out in a single blast. This means I’m usually feeling like a rodent sneaking around to scavenge food and supplies from the world before slinking back to base – but when a fight does break out, it’s charged with delightful anxiety thanks to the knowledge that you’re about to either lose everything you’ve fought for or grab some awesome gear off the corpses of those you’ve bested. That’s true against both AI-controlled opponents and human players, though it’s smartest to avoid all of them unless you know you’ve brought the gear and skills required to throw down. That’s because firing a shot has a good chance of drawing all robot enemies and loot-hungry raiders to your position, taking advantage of your vulnerability to do as much damage as possible.

That said, I’ve been genuinely shocked by how nice much of the community has been, as I’ve often run into helpful strangers who are more interested in working together than fighting me. Especially when playing solo, where other solo players are prioritized in your matches, I’ve found it downright commonplace to encounter friendly folks who don’t just shoot me on sight like they do in every other extraction shooter out there, which has been a really nice change of pace from the normally sweaty matches. Granted, I’ve also run into plenty of people who say they’re friendly, only to shoot me in the back of the head as soon as I turn around (and then top it off with a racial slur), but hey, it’s still better than that being the norm. It remains to be seen how long the positive tilt of this community will last, as I’ve watched too many other games get overrun by cheaters and toxicity in short order, but at least in these past two weeks it’s been kinda inspiring to see the better angels of the ARC Raiders community win the day.

And if I do find myself interested in some good ol’ PvP, the non-solo queues tend to be a lot more aggressive, which gives a chance for these high stakes bouts to shine. Dodge-rolling to avoid incoming gunfire and ducking behind cover to heal up before returning fire on an enemy squad is some of the most fun I’ve had in an extraction shooter, especially when you’ve got an arsenal of interesting gadgets, grenades, and leveled up guns you’ve bled for over the course of numerous matches. For example, I did a number on my opponents with my Torrente light machine gun before losing it tragically after falling off a ladder (courtesy of a weird bug), and coming locked and loaded with a handful of Wolfpack grenades that send homing missiles everywhere to take down drones before they can become a threat made me feel like an unstoppable god on the battlefield. It might not have the mechanical crispness of something like Remnant 2 or Gears of War, but it’s leagues above what we’ve seen in a live-service extraction game, and scratches the same kind of itch but in a multiplayer game type where that’s extremely hard to pull off.

Of course, if you’re battling online foes, there are moments where you’ll come up short and lose it all to a rival player. That stings, but at least also allows your beloved weapon to live on in the hands of a worthy successor – plus it just wouldn’t be as fun without that level of risk. The beauty of ARC Raiders, and what makes it far more approachable than most other extraction shooters, is how effortless its easy-come, easy-go loot feels. One way it accomplishes this is by providing pretty substantial free loadouts to use when you’re down on your luck, which are just powerful enough to get you back on your feet after a successful run or two. Plus, it gives you lots of ways to regain better equipment, like crafting and upgrading your own using spare parts you’ve collected, or by just buying some hardware from a vendor using cold hard cash. Even when you’re getting shipped home to your base in pieces, it’s hard to feel like you’ve been set back for very long, since a single good run can reverse your fortunes, and that’s definitely worth the occasional gut punch when you get taken for all you’re worth by some basement-dwelling troll who screeches into their mic after getting the jump on you.

There are still some instances where losing your hard-fought loot just sucks, though, like how you’ll occasionally get matched against an organized crew of three while playing solo. There were also times where I fell victim to unfortunate bugs that resulted in me losing some of my most cherished items. Once my character became stuck in the environment until enemies picked me off, and even after being revived by teammates I was unable to dislodge myself. That time where I fell off a ladder was because I phased through the environment while climbing it, falling to my death and causing me to lose my most prized possession up to that point. These occurrences were extremely rare, and I can count on one hand the amount of times I found myself pissed off at the injustice of it all across the 50 hours I’ve played – but when the stakes are as high as they are, even a tiny amount of this kind of stuff can be downright infuriating. Thankfully, specific bugs aside, one really impressive part of ARC Raiders is just how well it runs overall. In addition to being the prettiest extraction shooter to-date, it also maintained a rock-solid 60 FPS when I played on Xbox Series X, and pushed well beyond that on my high-end PC.

The main reason its hyper-competitive dynamic manages to never sting for long is its incredibly well-designed progression system, which brilliantly makes every match an opportunity for forward momentum, even when you’ve just lost all your best loot. ARC Raiders accomplishes this by giving you a whole bunch of treadmills to run on at the same time, whether it’s the quest system that unlocks bits of story and introduces you to various mechanics by giving you a checklist of stunts to pull off, character XP you gain just by playing matches that grants skill points to dump into skill trees, crafting stations that can be upgraded with the right materials brought back from expeditions, weekly trials that grant all sorts of powerful rewards upon completion, and the Expedition Project that lets you prestige and reset your character in exchange for vanity rewards. There’s so many different ways to make satisfying progress that even being robbed of my favorite weapon wasn’t the end of the world, which goes a long way toward making ARC Raiders more approachable than its peers, in which the rich tend to get richer and the poor almost always get poorer.

That said, not all the pieces of the progression puzzle are created equal. While completing quests and taking part in weekly trials does an awesome job of giving you specific tasks during matches with worthy rewards to match, the skill tree is less exciting, as it's weirdly littered with a bunch of filler perks that do little to power you up. Many of them offer unexciting bonuses like making your stamina return slightly faster while crouching – a node I fully leveled up and could still barely tell the difference it made. Meanwhile, others are pretty significant game changers, like one perk that let me craft consumable items while out in the field. The pacing between these two tiers of skills isn’t very well tuned unfortunately, and it felt like I was waiting to buy an ability I was actually excited about every 10 levels or so, which takes quite a bit of grinding to get through.

The story told through those quests doesn’t impress either, not that it’s really what you are here for in the first place. The worldbuilding actually has a lot of promise, as I’m still genuinely curious about the post-apocalyptic surface world that’s been ravaged by environmental disasters and the mysterious origin and motives of the robots that now control it. But there’s almost nothing to flesh it out beyond a few dialogue snippets while chatting with vendors and some small drips of lore about the mechanical minions you’re fighting. I hope they'll dig into that stuff more in the future, because it’s a neat foundation in theory, but it's pretty clear developer Embark Studios didn't care much about the story at all – that’s perhaps best exemplified by the fact that many of the voices are done by AI, which is extremely apparent in their flat and unremarkable deliveries and makes listening to vendors talk about whatever mission they're sending you on basically a waste of time.

One place that worldbuilding does get to shine through a little bit is across the four maps that are currently available, all of which are very cool and have distinct vibes to them – from the ruined husk of a waterlogged dam to a city buried in red sand. It’s a good thing that they’re so great to look at, too, because you’ll spend a whole lot of time trekking back and forth through them in search of loot. With only a handful of areas to explore, it wasn’t terribly long before I felt like I’d seen the vast majority of the zones, but there’s also tons of hidden nooks and crannies and secret areas that can only be accessed with the proper know-how or a rare keycard drop, which did a great job at keeping me interested in retracing my steps through each area.

Another thing that makes exploring each zone really rewarding is learning how to best the various NPC opponents you find along the way. What start out as tiny drones that can be fairly easily brought down quickly turn into swarms of dangerous hovering robots and their more intimidating siblings that can only be destroyed with the aid of some serious firepower. Some of the interactions between these robotic foes are pretty impressive, like how hovering little surveillance cameras called Snitches will mark you for execution for all their friends, who then fly in to attack you or, worse yet, rain in ballistic missiles from a distance that turn the area around you into a blast zone. The way the enemy is able to work together to overwhelm you with superior numbers and instantaneous coordination makes getting caught out in the open an incredibly scary situation that I lost many a loot haul to. There’s also a nice mix of your basic roly poly enemies that shoot fire or explode (but die when they’re so much as sneezed at) and massive, scary robots like the marauding Queen enemy that can only be dealt with by a fully-loaded group of raiders.

That said, these automatons aren’t the most critical of thinkers and often lose track of you the second you duck behind a tree or turn a corner. They also seem to have trouble navigating some of the environments, and you can sometimes see them look like they’re confused, wandering off or getting stuck on the corner of a building before giving up the chase. Another nitpick I have with fighting the NPC enemies is just how long it takes before you stand a chance against any of them aside from the weakest drones. I probably played for over 20 hours before I felt properly geared to take down one of the spiderlike Leapers or deadly Rocketeers, instead spending much of that time hiding like a rat in the shadows and largely avoiding drawing any attention. I would have liked for a faster climb towards being able to confront some of these baddies, because for a stretch there it felt like I’d never be able to, and tip-toeing around for tens of hours can get old after a while.

Sony has announced a Japanese-language only PlayStation 5 Digital Edition just for Japan.

Revealed during its State of Play Japan broadcast, the cheaper 825GB PS5 Digital Edition costs 55,000 yen (approx. $350) and comes out on November 21, 2025.

Elden Ring: Nightreign is getting its first meaty, proper, named DLC next month, including new bosses, new shifting earth, and new playable Nightfarers. The DLC is called The Forsaken Hollows, and it's out on December 4, 2025.

This comes from a trailer shown during today's State of Play, which showed off a lot of clips from what's to come, albeit without a lot of context. There's a clip showing what seems to be a new Shifting Earth known as The Great Hollow, which opens up a huge hole in the middle of Limveld with temples, towers, and crystals sticking out. We see two new Nightfarers: the first is the Undertaker, which uses strength and faith as her primary stats, and the Scholar, which seems to be an arcane-focused magic-user.

There are also two new bosses that should be familiar to FromSoft veterans. Most notable is a glimpse of Artorias, subject of the original Dark Souls DLC Artorias of the Abyss.

A voiceover that sounds a lot like Duchess also refers to "the aftermath of the Long Night," perhaps implying that this DLC takes place after the "end" of Nightreign when the Nightfarers have defeated all the Nightlords. There's also something at the beginning about the "Dreglord". As usual, Souls fans will probably have to wait for the post-release lore videos to make sense of this one. It's unclear how much story content this is really going to add, or if it's just the bosses, the characters, and the shifting earth.

Elden Ring: Nightreign is Bandai Namco's multiplayer riff on Elden Ring, where 1-3 players can fight their way through three nights of exploration, loot hunting, and bosses as they try to take down powerful Night Lords. The game launched back in May, and we gave it a 7/10, saying "When Elden Ring Nightreign is played exactly as it was designed to be played, it’s one of the finest examples of a three-player co-op game around – but that's harder to do than it should be, and playing solo is poorly balanced."

Since its release, FromSoftware has made a number of balance tweaks, added a duos mode, and updated with an ultra-hard difficulty mode called Deep of Night for those who for some reason didn't think the game was hard enough as-is. However, the last few months have been quiet, and fans have grown agitated at the lack of news or updates, with FromSoftware leaving them to just fight the same bosses over and over. FromSoftware moved to reassure everyone just yesterday in a financial report, and today's DLC announcement should help matters as well. It looks like the DLC will cost $15.00 if you don't already own either the Collectors or Deluxe edition of the game.

You can catch up on everything announced at today's State of Play right here.

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.

Sony has announced a 27-inch PlayStation-branded gaming monitor for launch in the U.S. and Japan.

Revealed during tonight's State of Play Japan broadcast, footage of the screen in action boasted that it would offer "vivid visuals at QHD with high refresh rates and VRR support." Pricing is yet to be confirmed.

"Today, we're also announcing a gaming monitor which will launch in Japan and the US," Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Hideaki Nishino said, "featuring vivid visuals and a built-in charging hook for your DualSense wireless controller."

While the screen itself supports 240 Hz and can also be hooked up to a PC, accompanying text confirmed it "supports a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz when conntected to a PS5 console," though caveated that "design and specifications are subject to change."

In a post on PlayStation Blog, Shuzo Kikuchi, VP of Product Management at Sony Interactive Entertainment, said the new PlayStation monitor was "built for desktop gaming with a PS5." Kikuchi also outlined the features of the monitor.

PlayStation 27” Gaming Monitor features:

• A Quad High Definition (QHD) IPS display up to 2560 x 1440 resolution, so players can game at a comfortable viewing distance from their desk.
• High Dynamic Range support with Auto HDR Tone Mapping that automatically adjusts HDR settings during setup on PS5 and PS5 Pro consoles, ensuring rich and vivid picture quality.
• VRR support and refresh rates of up to 120 Hz for smooth and seamless gameplay on PS5 and PS5 Pro consoles, and 240 Hz on compatible PC and Mac devices.
• A built-in Charging Hook for a DualSense or DualSense Edge wireless controller (sold separately) that makes it easy for players to get right into gaming.

Kikuchi said the new PlayStation gaming monitor supports VESA mounting and also has a full suite of audio and connectivity options, including USB ports for your PlayStation Link adapter:

• Two HDMI IN port (ver 2.1) and one DisplayPort IN port (ver 1.4) for compatibility with PS5, PC, Mac, or other devices
  • HDMI IN port (ver 2.1) supports up to 2560×1440, 240Hz, FRL, VRR; DisplayPort IN port (ver 1.4) supports up to 2560×1440, 240Hz, DSC
• Two USB Type-A and one USB Type-C port that can be used with PlayStation Link Adapters or other devices
• Built-in stereo speaker and 3.5mm audio output
• Compatibility with select VESA mounting systems for a more flexible display setup

PlayStation’s 27” Gaming Monitor with DualSense Charging Hook will launch in 2026 in the U.S. and in Japan, Sony said, with more information on a release date coming soon. There's no word yet on price.

As part of the same broadcast, Sony also confirmed it would launch a Japan-only version of the PS5 Digital Edition with a more competitive price point. The move follows Nintendo's launch of a Japan-only region-locked Switch 2 model, also at a cheaper price.

Of course, this new monitor is only the latest in a long line of PlayStation-branded hardware accessories that Sony has launched over the years. Indeed, the company announced a set of wireless gaming speakers for your PS5 and PC back in September, that can also connect to a PlayStation Portal or your smartphone.

For the rest of the news announced during tonight's livestream, head over to our recap of everything announced during Sony's State of Play Japan November 2025.

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

The Carpenter’s Son will be released in theaters on November 14.

The Carpenter’s Son is a religious drama knocking on the door of effective psychological horror. Written and directed by Lotfy Nathan, the period piece is loosely based on the non-canonical Infancy Gospel of Thomas (written, as the opening crawl denotes, to retroactively fill in the gaps of Jesus’s life years after his death) and seeks to re-center the oft-ignored Joseph (the legal father of Jesus Christ) in religious myth. The result is a fascinating film of committed performances and violent imagery that hits in occasionally challenging ways, if you can ignore its conservative ideas surrounding modern gender norms.

The characters remain unnamed for the most part. Nicolas Cage plays the eponymous Carpenter, a man plagued by religious visions that take the form of harsh spotlights streaming into darkened spaces, while trip-hop artist FKA Twigs plays his emotionally distant wife, the burdened Mother, and Noah Jupe plays the Boy, a fifteen-year-old whose true nature and significance have been thus far hidden from him. These are, even to the most untrained eye, obvious stand-ins for Joseph, Mary, and a teenage Christ. However, the film doesn’t avoid naming them just to play coy; rather, it understands the power of names and monikers, and reserves these explicit mentions until specific moments of dramatic significance.

In the meantime, the Carpenter takes his family between small villages in the sprawling Roman Empire, ensuring that the Boy remains hidden while the Carpenter and the Mother can successfully teach him the ways of the Torah (courtesy of local Rabbis who take the teenager under their wings). Beyond that, the Carpenter’s plan remains a mystery even to himself, but he prays desperately and passionately, his hands outstretched and fingers crinkled, as though he were trying to pull divine answers from the ether. Cage delivers a deeply heartfelt performance, as a father completely lost when it comes to raising his son, modulating his signature outbursts for a story of tremendous significance. Both he and the Boy are plagued with visions of the future, and the emotional effect this has on them is one of the movie’s central elements amidst its soundscape of harsh whispers and the frequent serpent imagery that injects eeriness into every other scene.

As the family, believing themselves to be persecuted, stops by their umpteenth village, the Carpenter takes a job sculpting pagan temple idols. Before long, a mysterious, androgynous child dubbed “the Stranger” (Isla Johnston) begins tempting the Boy in unusual ways. That this character appears shortly after the Carpenter teaches him about Satan is a crystal-clear tell, but the Stranger exhibits more shades of gray than one might expect. In fact, although she starts out impish, she eventually urges the Boy to use his abilities to heal people, exposing himself to the world in the process.

The drama therein allows Jupe to play a fascinating version of the young Christ: He’s angsty and sharp-tongued, albeit slightly less so than in the actual Infancy Gospel. When challenged to introspect about his true nature, the character begins to slowly unravel the more he understands his purpose – a doctrine he learns not through divine intervention, but by observing suffering up close. The Carpenter’s Son is filled with images of sickness and state torture, ideas that would eventually become key to biblical stories, but presented here at their most disturbing. If Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was about feeling Jesus’ physical suffering, then The Carpenter’s Son is geared more towards understanding the tremendous emotional burden placed upon him.

If the film has a major weak point, it’s Twigs’ glassy-eyed Mother, who can’t help but feel like a distracting fixture of the backdrop. Although the actress bursts to life when her character is finally granted an impassioned monologue or two, she tends to sap the energy out of a scene. Thankfully, she isn’t nearly as major a part of the story as Joseph, the Boy, or even the Stranger, the latter of whom becomes a surprising emotional centerpiece thanks to Johnston’s troubled performance as a character not only labelled “evil,” but one who questions the very religious binaries that would lead to her being canonized in this way.

Unfortunately, the various forms the Stranger takes – her two human avatars in particular – seem ill-thought out at best, given how they both center on the character’s androgyny. Intentionally or otherwise, ambiguous clothing and hair, and even breast-binding, become symbols of horror and evil, speaking to the conservative trans panic that has taken hold among American evangelicalism this past decade. In a film about subverting religious norms to come to a greater understanding of scripture and allegory, this distinctly backward framing is hard to ignore.

That said, The Carpenter’s Son remains an effective piece of genre cinema, one whose primary aesthetic is less a midnight movie and more a straightforward historical drama despite its ethereal happenings. Any time that Jupe becomes the frame’s focus, cinematographer Simon Beaufils’ camera takes on an intimate, almost introspective quality buoyed by a naturalistic palette and soft focus. However, there are plenty of jolting delights to be found in the film’s occasional body horror, Cage’s emotional shimmies toward unhinged furor, and even some expressionistic flourishes that turn the environment blood-red and oppressive when the story nears its climax. It may not be likely to change one’s entire outlook on faith, but when it comes to introducing tactile new dimensions that might lead to a closer analysis of the stories one holds dear, it’s a damn fine bit of filmmaking.

Sony's official professional grade PlayStation DualSense Edge wireless controller is on sale ahead of Black Friday. You can get the Midnight Black color from Amazon for just $174.99 with free delivery after a $25 off instant discount. The last time I saw a new (not refurb) DualSense Edge marked down was during Sony's Days of Play sale back in June.

PS5 DualSense Edge Controller for $175

Apple's really leaning into its assertion that there are normal people who want to wear their phone on their body as a fashion accessory all by itself. First, with attachment points for crossbody straps on its first-party iPhone 17 cases, and now with the iPhone Pocket, a stretchy, knitted phone sack which Apple is calling "a beautiful way to wear and carry iPhone."

The new strap is designed by Miyake Design Studio, a studio started by Japanese designer Issey Miyake, who, as MacStories' John Voorhees notes, is credited with designing the black turtleneck sweater Steve Jobs so famously wore. And as he and others have pointed out, it's also pretty reminiscent of the $29 iPod Sock, which was a fun, silly product that Jobs smirkingly introduced back in 2004. (It also reminds me of those colorful cases for the iPhone 5c, which I genuinely liked.)

Apple's announcement is so much more serious than Jobs was then; according to it, the iPhone Pocket was inspired by "a piece of cloth," or the "concept" of one, anyway. The company labors to point out that this "understated design fully encloses iPhone," and that, when stretched, it "subtly reveals its contents and allows users to peek at their iPhone display." You know, like some sort of precious bauble you've been charged with keeping secret and keeping safe, but that you can't help but sneak peeks at, compelled by a growing obsession.

Apple quotes Miyake Design Studio director Yoshiyuki Miyamae as saying the iPhone Pocket is meant to be "universal in aesthetic and versatile in use," so I guess it'll fit everything from the smaller iPhone 17 and 17 Pro to the wider, taller iPhone Air to the gargantuan iPhone 17 Pro Max. I'm sure you could slip anything from a Pixel 10 to a Galaxy Z Fold 7 into the iPhone Pocket. A New Nintendo 3DS XL, too, I bet.

Look, I've heard the arguments for wearing your smartphone. That it keeps you from dropping the phone, or that it makes it easier to get to when you need it. It's not for me, but hey, whatever works for you. I'm not sure the iPhone Pocket does either of those things, but I'm very clearly not the target demographic for this product. I can't wait to see one in real life.

The iPhone Pocket comes as either a short strap version in eight colors, or as a long-strap version in three colors. Oh, and it costs $150 or $230, depending on strap length.

Wes is a freelance writer (Freelance Wes, they call him) who has covered technology, gaming, and entertainment steadily since 2020 at Gizmodo, Tom's Hardware, Hardcore Gamer, and most recently, The Verge. Inside of him there are two wolves: one that thinks it wouldn't be so bad to start collecting game consoles again, and the other who also thinks this, but more strongly.

The inaugural State of Play Japan presentation came to a close after bringing new announcements for Elden Ring Nightreign, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, Gran Turismo 7, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, and more.

The 40-minute broadcast came packed with information about upcoming games created in Japan and Asia. There were almost too many games to count, with highlights including appearances from Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined, Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly, and Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. Even FromSoftware showed up to announce the first Elden Ring Nightreign DLC, The Forsaken Hollows.

As host and Attack on Titan voice actor Yuki Kaji brought everything the presentation had to show, we were here to gather up all of the biggest announcements, as well as a first look at a new PS5-themed gaming monitor. You can see everything announced at the State of Play Japan below.

Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined Reemerges With New Gameplay Trailer

The State of Play Japan kicked off with a fresh look at Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined. It comes with another new look at its diorama visuals as it heads toward its February 5, 2026, release date.

Cozy Games Take State of Play

Inkobini: One Store. Many Stories and Coffee Talk Tokyo are two cozy games coming to PlayStation in the near future. Both showed up to give players a sneak peek at heart-warming gameplay as they immerse themselves in two visually distinct worlds.

BrokenLore: Unfollow and Ascend Scare Up New Gameplay at State of Play

Serafini Productions made an appearance at the State of Play Japan to show off BrokenLore: Unfollow and reveal the series’ newest entry: BrokenLore: Ascend. Gameplay for both titles highlights psychological horror elements to look forward to when Unfollow launches January 16, 2026 and when Ascend launches summer 2026.

Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake Gets 2026 Release Date

Koei Tecmo's portion of the State of Play saw the studio reveal a new trailer for Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly. It’s more than just a tease of what’s to come, though, as the footage promised a March 12, 2026, release date.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins Gets Visions of Four Heroes DLC This January

Just after providing a schedule update for Fatal Frame fans, Koei Tecmo revealed the Visions of Four Heroes Dynasty Warriors: Origins DLC will arrive January 22, 2026. Arriving alongside the release date is a first look at footage for the upcoming, action-packed add-on content.

Gran Turismo 7 Players Get Spec 3 and Power Pack Trailer Ahead of 2025 Launch

Series producer Kazunori Yamauchi took the stage for today’s presentation to talk more about Gran Turismo 7 the upcoming, celebratory Spec 3 update, and reveal the Gran Turismo 7 Power Pack. He says the Power Pack brings “real racing” to the series, including races such as a 24-hour race.

“We wanted to bring this realistic and hardcore racing to Gran Turismo at least once,” Yamauchi said. “So, we created this Power Pack, which will be released for sale along with Spec 3 at the end of the year.”

Bandai Namco Unleashes Gameplay DLC Footage for Four Games

Once Upon a Katamari, Pac-Man World 2: Re-Pac, Digimon Story: Time Stranger, and Super Robot Wars Y all have DLC packs on the way. While Katamari players can look forward to a treasure trove of new cosmetics and sounds, Pac-Man fans are getting a full-on Sonic the Hedgehog crossover. Digimon, meanwhile, gets new monsters with Episode Pack 1: Alternate Dimension, and Super Robot Wars Y gets collaboration DLC featuring three titles: Galactic Whirlwind Bryger, The Big O, and Futo PI: Portrait of Kamen Rider Skull.

Monster Hunter Wilds Sets Free Title Update 4 Release Date

Capcom didn’t have much to share during today’s State of Play, but it did turn up to announce that Monster Hunter Wilds Title Update 4 has a release date of December 16, 2025. Little footage of the next major content drop was revealed, with Kaji reminding fans to look forward to new endgame additions and seasonal events.

NiGHTS, Super Monkey Ball, and SpongeBob Characters join Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

Sega’s crossover racing game, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, is bringing even more familiar faces into the fray, with the SpongeBob pack now set to arrive November 20, 2025. NiGHTS, Super Monkey Ball’s AiAi, and Tangle & Whisper are also set to join as free characters in December, January, and February, respectively.

Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse Gameplay Trailer Sets 2026 Release Date

Pocketpair Publishing and developer Frontside 180's Never Grave: The Witch and the Curse made an appearance at the State of Play Japan to unveil their Metroidvania roguelike has a release date of March 5, 2026. Gameplay revealed alongside the announcements highlights the animated action game's many bosses, enviornments, and abilities.

Fate Trigger Blends Animated Visuals With Tactical Hero Shooter Gameplay

Fate Trigger is a new tactical hero shooter built in Unreal Engine 5 that is coming to players in 2026. Like so many of the other hero shooters it takes after, this fast-paced, third-person action game lets players control a number of unique characters, each with different abilities. Additionally, Kaji confirmed he is involved with Fate Trigger as the voice actor for Ryoin.

Octopath Traveler 0 Demo Out Today Ahead of December Release Date

As Square Enix moves closer to its December 4, 2025, release date for Octopath Traveler 0, it has decided to entice players with a new demo. A trailer for the announcement highlighted more of the story from the publisher’s latest HD-2D adventure, while promising that the demo allows players to try out the first three hours of the game, with progress carrying over to the full release.

Arc System Works Talks Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls Beta Plans

Arc System Works’ Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls might be one of the most-anticipated fighting games in years, and come December 5 - 7, players will get to go hands-on as part of another closed beta test. Characters highlighted during the no-breaks beta gameplay reveal trailer include Spider-Man and Ghost Rider, promising three days for players to play to their heart’s content.

Elden Ring Nightreign: The Forsaken Hollows DLC Revealed

FromSoftware and its multiplayer spinoff, Elden Ring Nightreign, are back with new DLC called The Forsaken Hollows. The first trailer for the new content premiered as part of the State of Play Japan, revealing elements both familiar and new for fans of everything from Elden Ring to Dark Souls. It’s undeniably FromSoftware, and with a release date of December 4, 2025, it’s only a few weeks away, too.

Japanese Language Digital Edition PS5 Coming to Japan

【State of Play 日本】
「PlayStation®5 デジタル・エディション 日本語専用」11月21日（金）発売！

・希望小売価格55,000円（税込）
・本体言語は日本語のみ
・日本のPS Storeのみ利用可能

詳しくはこちら⇒ https://t.co/z2VHEekqDh
#StateofPlay pic.twitter.com/C7M59Goh2b

— プレイステーション公式 (@PlayStation_jp) November 11, 2025

PlayStation fans in Japan will soon have be able to purchase an all-digital Japanese language PS5. Available November 21, 2025, the slightly discounted device costs 55,000 yen (or about $350) and features 825GB of storage.

Sony Unveils PlayStation 5 Monitor for the U.S. and Japan

Sony is keeping up its run of PS5 hardware accessories with the announcement of a sleek new PlayStation-branded monitor. The 27-inch device is said to feature “vivid visuals,” VRR support, and even has a built-in charging dock for the DualSense controller. Pricing details and a release schedule have not been announced.

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

After lying dormant for a number of years, the V for Vendetta franchise is suddenly heating up in a big way. First, we learned that the V for Vendetta movie is being rereleased in theaters in 2026 as part of its 20th anniversary. Then, news broke that HBO is developing a V for Vendetta series written by Somewhere Boy’s Pete Jackson.

This is certainly great news for fans of the film and Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s timeless graphic novel. But even if you’ve never experienced V for Vendetta before, you should be thrilled. This project - or what it stands for - represents DC’s greatest asset in the never-ending conflict with Marvel Studios. Let’s explore why.

DC’s Rich History of Standalone Stories

As much as any other DC adaptation released in the past few decades, V for Vendetta speaks to the stark difference between DC and Marvel’s Hollywood strategies. This is a completely standalone superhero film geared toward an older audience, one not tied to the larger DC Universe at all (unexpected Pennyworth connections notwithstanding). In other words, it’s very much like the Alan Moore and David Lloyd graphic novel that inspired it. And if not necessarily a box office smash, V for Vendetta still found a sizable audience that’s endured over the course of 20 years.

V for Vendetta is much like the Watchmen movie and TV series, 2005’s Constantine, and shows like Preacher and The Sandman. All of these projects are based on standalone, mature readers-focused graphic novels. They aren’t connected to the DC Universe. They simply focus on telling self-contained stories that draw on DC’s rich publishing history. They represent a type of storytelling Marvel is far less likely to explore.

Marvel, for its part, tends to focus more on ongoing narratives and longer runs that weave into the larger Marvel Universe. On the comics side, Marvel has comparatively fewer graphic novels and limited series than DC. They’ve made ongoing, monthly comics their bread and butter. On the film and TV side, so much of their focus is on continuing to expand the many-headed hydra that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even comparatively standalone films like 1998’s Blade and 2017’s Logan now have their specific place in Marvel’s vast multiverse.

It’s interesting to see how that strategy works both for and against Marvel on the comics side of things. In terms of single-issue sales, Marvel tends to dominate the market every month. You can see that in ICv2’s October 2025 sales chart, which becomes progressively more Marvel-heavy the further down you look. But graphic novel sales are a completely different story, with DC utterly dominating the top 20 between its Absolute Universe books and its hugely successful Compact Comics line. Those books appeal to a very different sort of comic reader from the one snatching up new issues of The Amazing Spider-Man and Uncanny X-Men each month.

It’s always felt like Marvel is leaving money on the table by not catering more directly to that audience. Marvel doesn’t really have its own version of V for Vendetta or Watchmen, either on the publishing side or the film/TV side. Everything is part of a bigger, ongoing storyline. Everything has to have its place in the Marvel multiverse.

Cinematic universes are fun and all, but there’s a lot to be said for just telling a good story and leaving it at that. Not everything needs to intertwine and interconnect. That’s something the new DC regime under James Gunn and Peter Safran seems to understand. Even as they establish the new DCU, Gunn (who, with Safran, is serving as an executive producer on V for Vendetta) is placing an emphasis on individuality with these new movies and shows. Superman doesn’t bend over backwards setting up spinoff projects. There’s room for smaller, more self-contained, and more stylistically divergent movies like Clayface in the lineup. And as this V for Vendetta announcement shows, there’s still ample room for DC projects that aren’t tied to the DCU at all.

Is HBO’s V for Vendetta the Next Watchmen?

It’s hard not to be excited for the new V for Vendetta series based solely on the pedigree of the original graphic novel. It’s one of the best books in Moore’s voluminous library, which itself is arguably the most acclaimed in all of comics. The 2005 film adaptation is a solid take on that source material, but it’s hardly something that couldn’t be improved and expanded upon. Comic book adaptations have come a very long way in the last 20 years.

That said, the prospect of a V for Vendetta series is all the more exciting in this post-HBO Watchmen climate. The Watchmen series is easily one of the best comic book shows ever released. In fact, IGN’s staff voted it the best live-action DC series of all time. It’s a show with something truly meaningful to add to the original Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons graphic novel. It expands on the characters and themes in bold ways. It adds entirely new layers to the story, examining America’s dark legacy of systemic racism through the lens of this alternate superhero universe. As good as DC’s Doomsday Clock comic is, it’s hard to argue that the HBO series isn’t the truly worthy sequel here.

At this point, it remains to be seen if HBO’s V for Vendetta series will be a direct adaptation of the comic or more of a sequel/spinoff like the Watchmen series is. There’s merit to either approach. There’s certainly room for a direct sequel that explores what happens after the end of the comic and the collapse of the dystopian Norsefire government. But there’s also ample room for the series to succeed solely by adapting the comic and exploring these characters in a depth that simply wasn’t possible in the 2005 movie.

Either way, there’s potential for V for Vendetta to continue where the Watchmen series left off. It can become another critical smash for HBO, proving just how much depth there is to mine from DC’s back catalog on the small screen. Again, it doesn’t necessarily matter if V for Vendetta is an adaptation or an expansion of the source material. What matters is how much weight and significance this story carries in the 21st century. Moore may have written the comic as a response to Thatcherism in the ‘80s, but the comic remains deeply, depressingly relevant in 2025. In an era where authoritarianism is again on the rise, there’s a lot we can learn from the eccentric vigilante V and his crusade against Britain’s oppressive rulers.

However the V for Vendetta crew choose to execute this new series, it’s good to see that Gunn understands the value of adaptations like this. The show may not be the next crucial piece of the DCU puzzle, but it’s something more important - a fresh look at a classic DC story at a time when that story has never been more urgent. It’s the kind of standalone, prestige TV show that Marvel doesn’t really give us. They’d rather give us a Wonder Man show nobody asked for. And that’s how DC can leave its mark in this ongoing war.

Do you want V for Vendetta to be an adaptation of the comic or a sequel like the Watchmen series? Vote in our poll and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

For more, brush up on every DC movie and series in development.

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

The Christmas season used to start after Thanksgiving, but this year some retailers (and homes in my neighborhood) kicked it off right after Halloween. That’s cool – Christmas is a fun time of year. If you’re ready to hop on the holiday bandwagon, this 2-in-1 LEGO Christmas Tree set is just the ticket. It normally retails for $44.99, but right now Amazon and Target are selling it for 40% off, meaning you can pick it up for just $27. However, the sale ends tomorrow, Wednesday, November 12, so grab it before it's gone.

LEGO Christmas Tree

That’s a great deal, considering most LEGO sets traditionally sell for about 10 cents per brick. If you do the math on this one, you’ll find this sale price breaks down to 3.44 cents per brick. So this is a deal even Ebenezer Scrooge would have to think twice before passing up.

So, you can build this set as a single Christmas tree, which when built stands nearly a foot tall. But as stated above, this is a 2-in-1 set, meaning you can use the same bricks to build a second configuration. In this case, the second build is two smaller Christmas trees, which stand roughly 9 inches and 6 inches tall.

I’m a big fan of LEGO sets for adults, so I appreciate sets that act as decorations, and this one certainly qualifies. You can set it out with the rest of your decorations to add some holiday cheer to your house. It’s also a nice addition to a growing number of LEGO Christmas sets available to purchase now (I particularly enjoy the LEGO Star Wars Gingerbread AT-AT Walker).

More Christmas LEGO Sets

So if your house or apartment could use a little buildable Christmas decor, now is a great time to pick up this miniature Christmas tree. You get two builds out of it, and when you pick the one you like best, you can set it out for all to see. Happy ho-ho-holidays.

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN's board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.

The holiday season is here and AliExpress is kicking off is early Black Friday Sale with some incredible deals on hundreds of its locally shipped products, including best sellers like electric bikes and scooters, gaming handhelds, imported Switch 2 and PlayStation 5 consoles, brand name 3D printers, and more. These deals are roughly 10%-20% cheaper than previous lows thanks to a combination of coupon codes, a Retailmenot cash back offer, and a discount for checking out with Paypal. All the products listed below ship from a local US warehouse, which means you don't need to worry about tariffs or obnoxiously long shipping times.

AliExpress Coupon Codes (Tested and Verified)

Most of these deals are made better by using one of these tiered coupons:

• AEUS04 ($4 Off Orders $20+)
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• AEUS10 ($10 off Orders $50+)
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• AEUS20 ($20 Off Orders $100+)
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• USDEAL44 ($44 Off Orders $220+)
• AEUS56 ($56 Off Orders $280+)
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• AEUS80 ($80 Off Orders $400+)
• AEUS100 ($100 Off Orders $500+)

Extra 15% Cash Back at Retailmenot

Imported Nintendo Switch 2 Consoles, Controllers, and Games

If you still haven't yet picked up a Nintendo Switch 2 because it's too expensive, there is an opportunity to get one at a discounted price. AliExpress is offering a Nintendo Switch 2 Mario Kart World console bundle for as low as $4100 (normally $500). It ships free locally from the United States (which means no tariffs and no obnoxiously long wait times).

Note that the console is a Hong Kong import. All international Switch consoles are region unlocked, meaning they can be used in the US without any problems and without any modification. Likewise, all Switch 2 hardware (like controllers) and physical games are also region unlocked.

1,000W Electric Bikes Starting at $251

350W Electric Scooters Starting at $109

3D Printers Starting at $170

Portable Gaming Handhelds

AliExpress is widely regarded as the best online store to pick up a portable gaming handheld at an outrageously low price. These portable gaming handhelds feature small 3.5" displays, 32-bit or 64-bit processors, and usually run off Android or Linux. Despite the low price, these gaming handhelds are well built and feel like a professionally engineered product.

Arzopa Z1C 16" 1080p USB-C Portable Monitor

Allpowers 299Wh LiFePO4 Power Station

Sofirn SP36 Pro 8,000-Lumen EDC LED Flashlight

Licensed JoyToy Warhammer 40K Figures

Games Workshop has sparked shock and anger among Warhammer 40,000 fans after it killed off two main characters from Space Marine 2 via a brief lore update posted on its website.

Last week, Games Workshop announced that Titus, the main playable character from last year’s blockbuster hit video game Space Marine 2, had been promoted with a cool new trailer that set up the next narrative expansion for the Warhammer 40,000 setting, dubbed 500 Worlds.

Captain Demetrian Titus, Master of the Watch, is now once again Captain of the Ultramarines Second Company, a position he had already held before he was taken into custody on suspicion of heresy by the Inquisition after the events of the first Space Marine game.

In the context of Titus’ promotion, fans had expressed concern over the fate of Sevastus Acheran, the former captain of the Second Company and Master of the Watch who dishes out missions (and can never spare enough men) in Space Marine 2. Now we know what actually happened.

In a lore update post on Warhammer Community, Games Workshop revealed what Acheran got up to following the events of Space Marine 2. And yes, as fans feared, he’s dead.

Confirmation comes from a four paragraph lore explanation in the article itself, which reveals Acheran went out in a blaze of glory fighting a Genestealer Cult on the hive world of Trygg. That’s that. Acheran is dead. But it gets worse.

Among the many, many items that will go on sale on (and in the lead-up to) Black Friday 2025, LEGO sets are sure to get discounts. In fact, LEGO has already announced its Black Friday sale that will run on the LEGO Store. But plenty of other retailers also sell LEGO sets, and they’re sure to drop prices as well. What kinds of deals can you expect to see? You’ve come to the right place.

Up to 40% Off LEGO Sets

LEGO sets deals are somewhat unpredictable – except at the LEGO Store. The LEGO Store is the brick-building company’s own online storefront, and it always sells sets at MSRP unless there’s a sale going on. Meanwhile, other retailers, like Amazon, might have certain sets at MSRP while others are pretty much always available with a discount of some kind. For Amazon specifically, you can check the price history of all items on Camelcamelcamel, a site I use all the time in the world of deals.

Whenever Amazon or Target have a LEGO sale throughout the year, you can generally expect to see prices drop about 20%. However, for Black Friday, the scale of the sale will be significantly bigger. More sets will get discounts, and the discounts will be deeper. You can expect to see some rarely-discount sets drop to 20% off, while older or more common sets will drop to 30% or even 40% off. Target, for example, had an early Black Friday sale with 40% off LEGO sets over the weekend. You can expect similar deals to return later this month.

LEGO’s Black Friday Set

The Running Man will be released in theaters on November 14.

If you’re trying to make a new adaptation of a Stephen King book that’s also a kind-of remake of a cult sci-fi classic from Arnold Schwarzenegger ’80s heyday, you might end up a kind-of child of two worlds. Edgar Wright’s version of The Running Man aims to do just that, but the trick with trying to hit the center of a Venn diagram is that you might accidentally end up in the middle of the road.

The Running Man of 2025 is the product of a few iterations that came before it. Most of its DNA is from the Stephen King novel from his days in the early ’80s using the pseudonym Richard Bachman. It was a heady piece of speculative sci-fi that’s dark and brooding without a lot of room for hope. But The Running Man is also an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie from 1987, the glory days of campy one-liner action flicks that left most of the meat of their source material off the screen (see also, Total Recall) in favor of a little extra flash and sizzle. Now, all of this makes The Running Man primed for a revisiting but it also makes the latest version of the story difficult to talk about out of context of the book and previous film. On one hand there’s the much darker source material that this movie is trying to honor in ways Arnold’s ’80s version didn’t come close to, but on the other hand there’s a fun action movie that needs to happen in there somewhere. Balancing these two factors is where The Running Man doesn’t quite keep up.

There is plenty in the movie that works though. For starters, there’s Glen Powell. The guy is one of the biggest stars on the rise at the moment and his performance in The Running Man isn’t going to change anybody’s mind about that. This is effectively his first time out as a proper leading man action hero and it suits him for the most part. He tops off his anger-forward take on Ben Richards with just the right amount of vulnerability. It’s the thing that Harrison Ford made his whole career on. Strong and capable and all of that, but also not trying to hide the fact that he’s in over his head. I think I like the cockier-than-he-deserves-to-be version of Glen Powell, the one from Top Gun: Maverick and Twisters, a little more than this angry everyman, but he still does a solid job.

But for me personally, my experience watching The Running Man was another lesson in coming in too hot. I have been crazy excited to see this movie since it was announced. Edgar Wright directing this specific movie at this specific time felt almost too specifically perfect. It ticked all my boxes, so the film had a lot to live up to, fair or not. And while his signature is still on parts of this movie, I think it was missing a full dose of Edgar Wright.

The title sequence for example is full of slick shots that very effectively communicate a lot of information visually. There’s one in the trailer, with Ben walking through the street past a line of people waiting for a chance to buy medicine. It’s great movement and blocking and composition and it tells a story all by itself. It’s vintage Edgar Wright. The drone shot following Ben through the halls of a building the hunters have him trapped in is another one like that. The move is not for movement’s sake; it’s rooted in the TV broadcast the film is portraying and there’s a motivation to swoop and dive through the halls that’s both cool to look at and furthers the story. It’s that kind of visual language that’s made Edgar Wright one of my favorites. But it’s also the sort of storytelling that only happens in fits and spurts throughout the film, with Wright’s fingerprints not really being too visible for most of the movie.

I will say, though, the other real standout in the cast is Colman Domingo, who is having an absolute blast as Bobby Thompson, the ringmaster to The Running Man’s circus. For every bit of the film’s color palette that feels a little drab, going from a gray and imposing near-future dystopian city to the brown and barren countryside, there’s a sparkly jacket draped over Bobby Thompson. Domingo’s a bright spot to be sure, and serves an important function for the movie. He’s heartless enough to write off the hardships the runners have to endure and the lies that he’s telling about them to stir up the masses with a “hey, that’s showbiz, babe” cockiness. But he’s also savvy enough to navigate the dangerous waters he’s swimming in. Plus he’s charming as hell and looks incredible. He’s a ton of fun deployed in exactly the right way.

There are also a ton of great details in the production design that flesh out the world. Little things like a gender-swapped, pin-up girl version “Auntie Sam” on the cover of a magazine and a fun Easter egg about who’s on the New Dollar bills depict a society given over to its baser instincts. They’re a smart brand of throw-away jokes that try to keep the mood light where they can.

But that’s also the biggest issue with The Running Man of 2025. Thematically, it seems to work against itself sometimes. Like I mentioned up top, there’s a danger when you don’t pick a lane that you might end up in the middle of the road. King’s novel was bleak science fiction that went hard, Schwarzenegger’s film was a campy explosion of satire, and Wright’s version is a little of both but not fully either one. My read is that it’s a movie doing three things well enough, but not doing any of them as well as it could have had it just focused on one of them.

First of all, it’s not bombastic or absurd enough to feel like a proper, biting satire. For sci-fi satire to really work, you need to create a little bit of distance between the work and the real world. The Running Man 2025’s near-future dystopia is a little too near to the present to have a lot of fun with. It’s a world of enormous wealth inequality, health crises and authoritarian governments that doesn’t just feel “dangerously possible” like it did when King first wrote about it 40 years ago so much as “uncomfortably familiar.” So the film’s conceit feels a little too mundane to cast our current society in a different, more questioning light like a truly effective satire should do.

Secondly, on the opposite side of the coin, it’s not subtle enough to work as a thrilling melodrama. Every time the film gets heavy, they double down on the weight. Like I said, the world of Co-Op City on screen is a dark one, filled with every kind of problem we’re currently facing, from affordable medicine to deep fakes lying to us. They’re the kind of problems that deserve some weight. When Powell’s Ben Richards goes to an intense “this is about my family” place of earnestness, however, there’s no release valve on it. Michael Cera has a moment of lightness in the middle of everybody’s despair during his brief stint in the movie, but it comes and goes pretty quickly.

I think you can see the thriller part of this movie not fully working in Josh Brolin’s villain, Dan Killian. As a network executive tasked with distracting the masses with a modern gladiator arena with a more open-world flavor, he’s a solid son of a bitch who’s easy to hate, bright white veneers and all. But by the time he has his inevitable come-apart, I didn’t really buy it. There wasn’t much of an arch to his villainy that might have been there had he been able to have as much fun as Colman Domingo was having chewing up some scenery. Either way, had Killian arrived at the end of his story in a bit more of a believable way, I think the whole film would’ve been classed up a bit.

Thirdly, I don’t think the action is inventive enough to make The Running Man really sing as an action film. There are fun set pieces for sure, the aforementioned drone shot for one, and the big bridge explosion from the trailers is another, but it’s hard out there to make an action movie memorably action-forward these days, and I don’t think The Running Man quite gets there. And this in particular is not a foreign idea to Edgar Wright’s work. Take Baby Driver, for example. It was a good enough excuse to make incredible car chases. I actually couldn’t tell you much about that movie outside of, “Loved the car chases, I bet they had fun making it.” I don’t think the action in The Running Man has that kind of staying power.

Ultimately, this is a movie that wants to have sharp teeth. The subject matter deserves them and Glen Powell’s performance as an angry everyman becoming a reluctant revolutionary icon does as well. The statements Stephen King made more than four decades ago about the fickle nature of truth in the media and mass consumption and unequal distribution of wealth are every bit as relevant today as they were back then, so they ought to be taken seriously. The story of The Running Man, in all of its now three iterations, is a great piece of sci-fi that I, for one, really enjoy. I’m glad it’s being retold. Edgar Wright’s film seems to be caught in-between two very different versions of it.

NetEase Games has published an X-Men animated series-inspired trailer for Marvel Rivals Season 5: Love is a Battlefield, revealing Rogue and Gambit as its newest playable characters.

The trailer for the latest season of NetEase’s popular hero shooter features a romance theme that puts everyone’s favorite X-Men couple center stage. It includes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it tease featuring none other than Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops. It also sounds like original X-Men ‘97 voice actors A.J. LoCascio (Gambit) and Lenore Zann (Rogue) will be heard voicing the two lovebirds when Season 5 launches November 14, 2025. Gambit gameplay is below.

“This season centers on Mr. and Mrs. X, Gambit and Rogue, after the Timestream Entanglement interrupted their dream wedding,” Marvel Rivals creative director Guangyun Chen a.k.a. Guangguang said in its Season 5 Dev Stream. “To make up for the disruption, Gambit has planned a honeymoon full of surprises for Rogue. But when their journey leads to a world built by the Elders of the Universe, can their love survive the ultimate cosmic test?”

Gambit leads Marvel Rivals Season 5 as its first playable hero and its next Strategist. The card-throwing, staff-wielding X-Men is said to blend his kinetic abilities and combat skills to offer a unique playstyle for players. Expect to see his powers healing allies, cleansing negative effects, and even applying anti-heal to enemies. Gambit kicks things off later this week, but we’ll have to wait to learn more about Rogue. Expect to see her and her power-absorbing abilities debut at the Marvel Rivals Season 5 mid-season update in around one month.

Alongside its new X-Men heroes, Marvel Rivals Season 5 is set to introduce a new 18 vs. 18 Conquest (Annihilation) mode in the new Grand Garden map come November 27. A new non-combat map, Times Square, is also on the way for Season 5, allowing up to 100 players to gather, dance, and mingle in between tense matches.

NetEase will also soon celebrate one year of Marvel Rivals with a special anniversary update. Those who join the festivities when they begin November 27 will be gifted 2500 Units, as well as a free, school-themed Legendary Jeff the Land Shark costume. More gameplay adjustments, accessories, anniversary costumes, and other updates will arrive as Marvel Rivals Season 5 rolls on.

Marvel Rivals Season 4 previously introduced Daredevil as a Duelist and Angela as a Vanguard. For more on the NetEase hero shooter, you can read about the Marvel Zombies-inspired PvE mode introduced last month. You can also check out our original 8/10 Marvel Rivals review.

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

The first round of Walmart Black Friday sales starts this weekend, but one noteworthy discount has already kicked off: For a limited time, new subscribers can pick up one year of Walmart+ for half the price. So instead of paying $98, you'll pay just $49 for the first 12 months of your subscription.

This may not seem like a streaming deal at first glance, but once you factor in the benefits of a Walmart+ membership, this discount starts to look pretty great. With a membership you'll get a choice between a Peacock Premium subscription or a Paramount+ subscription in addition to free shipping and grocery delivery. It's one of the best streaming bundles out there for anyone who shops at Walmart and the 50% discount makes it worthwhile for just the streaming savings alone.

Marvel Studios has made a casting announcement for upcoming Disney+ series VisionQuest that just might surprise one or two fans.

British actress and comedian Diane Morgan, who is best known for her comedy character Philomena Cunk, will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe as part of VisionQuest, Variety reported. Apparently she’ll play an associate of Todd Stashwick’s character, Paladin. Not Philomena Cunk herself, then — although that would be amazing.

For the uninitiated, Philomena Cunk is a fictional character who presents mockumentary series, most notably Cunk on Earth (Netflix/BBC), Cunk on Britain, and Cunk on Shakespeare. She's an ill-informed, deadpan, and clueless investigative reporter whose hilarious questions often leave the real-world experts she interviews struggling to come up with appropriate answers.

Cunk On Earth starts tonight at 10pm on ⁦@BBCTwo⁩ and ⁦@BBCiPlayer⁩ pic.twitter.com/KluTZ8cTJ9

— Diane Morgan (@missdianemorgan) September 20, 2022

Meanwhile, newcomer Lauren Morais is also in VisionQuest. Variety said Morais plays Lisa Molinari, a character described as “closely connected” to Scottish actor Ruaridh Mollica’s adult Tommy Maximoff, the son of Vision and Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch.

At at New York Comic Con, Marvel Television showed the first footage from VisionQuest. Here's how we described it:

[It] follows White Vision as he adjusts to having the memories of the late (Red) Vision but no emotional attachment to them. [Head of Marvel Television and Marvel Animation Brad Winderbaum] called VisionQuest the conclusion of a trilogy that began with WandaVision and continued with Agatha All Along.

The footage shows White Vision, in human guise, entering a mansion where he’s met by servants who turn out to be AI characters previously seen in the MCU in human form. There’s James D’Arcy reprising his role as Jarvis. He’s joined by human incarnations of Friday, who was Jarvis’s replacement, and Edith, the AI program from Tony Stark’s sunglasses in Spider-Man: Far From Home.

But the biggest reveals were saved until the end of the VisionQuest footage: the return of Ultron, but in human form and played once again by James Spader (with a big bushy beard). You’ll recall that (Red) Vision killed Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

At the end of the footage, Ultron reveals the son this Vision hasn’t known: Tommy Maximoff, played by Ruaridh Mollica. Tommy is known in the Marvel Comics as Speed.

In May, T’Nia Miller was reported to be set to play Jocasta in VisionQuest. Deadline reported that Miller (Hannah Grose in The Haunting of Bly Manor, Victorine LaFourcade in The Fall of the House of Usher, and Zephyr Halima Ifa in Foundation) will play one of the lead roles.

Miller’s Jocasta is described as “cunning and powerful” and “driven by revenge.” In the comics, Jocasta was made by Ultron so that he would have a spouse. He managed to upload Wasp’s consciousness into the robot, but Wasp alerted the other Avengers and they removed it. Jocasta was reactivated by Ultron but betrayed him and joined the Avengers to defeat him.

IGN has reported that VisionQuest is being made by a team of veteran Star Trek writers and production staff. The series, which has quietly been in development now for over a year, was previously announced as having gained Star Trek: Picard writer and later showrunner Terry Matalas. Matalas will act as showrunner for VisionQuest — and reunite with a number of other Star Trek writers in the process.

VisionQuest launch on Disney+ in 2026.

Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images.

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

60% off anything is a great deal, but when it's off one of Samsung's best-in-class OLED 4K TVs, you know it's a banger of a deal. I've been running a Radeon RX 9070 XT for a few months now on a 1440p-focus build, and it absolutely slaps. It's a piece of kit I'd fully recommend, and now it's at the lowest price ever on Best Buy ahead of Black Friday.

TL;DR: Best Deals Today

How about an Nvidia RTX 5080 gaming PC build for under $2,000 instead? Well Cyberpower has you covered there too. Prefer having a gaming laptop? Well how about an MSI 5070Ti build for under $1,300? I got you. Also, Samsung just dropped its first 512GB Micro SD Express card, and it's cheaper than most right now. Let's get straight into it:

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144hz refresh rate screams gaming TV to me, especially when it's on a quantum dot OLED screen. That 144hz refresh rate is supported on all four of it's HDMI 2.1 ports, which is insane. There's no worries about getting the best performance from you Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 and even gaming PCs.

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Up To 50% off Pokémon TCG

You might want to check if your AMEX and Discovery is eligible for up to 50% off Pokémon TCG on Amazon right now. All you have to do is add a sealed product to your basket sold directly by Amazon, use your AMEX or Discovery and pay either $1 or use 1 loyalty point to apply the discount. You could also be extra savvy and get a $60 Amazon gift card by being accepted for an Amazon Store Card. Of course, none of this is financial advice, and if you're going to struggle not spending on credit and store cards, make the right choice.

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Here's two 4K gaming beasts that will stay that way for a long time. If you're just focused on having a RTX 5080 for now with a view to upgrade in the future, go for the $2,099.99 build. If you can stretch the extra $650, you're getting a far better processor, double the DDR5 RAM and double the M.2 SSD space. Either way, you win with a cheeky 14% off.

LG Evo C5 4K TV Bundle Deal

Need a beast of a TV that can handle proper gaming performance and the Thanksgiving football game in style? 77" should do the job, and this is LG's C5 4K 2025 model that's half-price. You'll also save over $300 snagging the S40T Soundbar and Subwoofer combo alongside a slim wall mount. This is one of the best early Black Friday deals.

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Former Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime has said he "scratched his head a little bit" after seeing the company's first line-up of Switch 2 software.

Speaking to The Game Business, the ex-Nintendo veteran shared his thoughts on the company's handling of the Switch 2 this year, as well as Nintendo's position in the video game market overall compared to Microsoft and Sony.

Discussing the dominance of PlayStation, Fils-Aime, who left Nintendo in 2019, said he expected the company to continue to thrive alongside Nintendo as the latter would never position itself as a direct competitor. As for Xbox, Fils-Aime expressed surprise that Microsoft hadn't already released more games for Nintendo's new console.

LEGO has teased a new Legend of Zelda set for 2026, featuring Link, Princess Zelda and... an ominous silhouette.

A brief teaser video posted on social media today appears to recreate a scene from N64 classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, where Link and floating fairy Navi face down Ganon. Princess Zelda can also be seen in the background.

🔥Do you realize who you're dealing with?#LEGOTheLegendofZelda pic.twitter.com/NCl84ydZ3a

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) November 11, 2025

Nintendo of America's social media account accompanied the clip with the tease: "Do you realize who you're dealing with?" This is further confirmation of Ganon's appearance, as the dialogue is part of a longer quote from Ganon in Ocarina of Time: "Pathetic little fool! Do you realize who you're dealing with? I am Ganondorf! And soon, I will rule the world!"

The clip concludes with the phrase "Build the Legend: Coming in 2026" — and that's all we have to go on for now.

A previous leak by BrickFanatics suggested the set will be a diorama featuring Ganon, Link and Zelda in their Ocarina of Time incarnations. Set for launch in March 2026, the box will reportedly include 1003 pieces.

This should mean the new set will be priced lower than LEGO and Nintendo's initial Legend of Zelda offering: the 2500-piece Great Deku Tree which launched in September 2024, priced $299.99. That set was especially large as it offered two builds in one: a version of the Deku Tree as seen in both Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild.

2026 looks set to be a busy (and likely expensive) year for Nintendo and LEGO fans, as the companies' LEGO Pokémon range is also due to roll out in the coming spring. A recent leak suggested one LEGO Pokémon set would comprise a chunky 6,838 pieces, and sell for almost $650.

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

As a lover of puzzle games, what can elevate my puzzle-solving experience more than having horrifying monsters breathing down my neck and ready to snap said neck if I fail to solve their puzzle in time? I love these types of games that keep me on edge for hours on end, so Routine is exactly the type of aesthetically pleasing and brutally tense kinds of horror experience I’m always on the lookout for. And with a deeply cool 80’s-tech lunar setting and the beginnings of a story that has me interested in seeing more, I’m willing to overlook some of the things I was less impressed by during the roughly 90-minute demo, like the fact that the monsters searching for me were about as bright as the desks I hid behind and underneath. It remains to be seen if the story will pay off as much as its promising setting and compelling vibe might imply, but I’ll definitely be diving deeper in the future to see how it shakes out.

Routine is one of those horror games where you’re forced to run around solving little puzzles while absolutely horrifying monsters stalk the halls, ready to kill you on sight if you fail to avoid their notice – you know, in the same vein as something like Alien: Isolation or My Friendly Neighborhood. That comes with all the same pros and cons as its genre peers, where you have these really tense moments as you manage to solve a puzzle and rush through a door just before the bad guy you can’t possibly hope to kill catches up with you. But you then also have plenty of instances where you’re stuck in a room waiting for the dumb bad guy to turn around and walk away, leading to lots of moments where the tension sours into a monotonous waiting game. I tend to really enjoy these kinds of protracted hide and seek sequences, even if they do occasionally involve a bit of waiting, so this was right up my alley.

In this particular case, I found myself on a moon base that had been taken over by killer humanoid robots, whose lidless, unblinking eyes searched for me as I repaired various broken electrical systems and tried to get through each area unnoticed. The ambience of this dilapidated lunar base with an ‘80’s tech aesthetic really worked for me, clearly drawing inspiration from fellow retro-tech science fiction worlds like Alien. But Routine also brings with it a unique sense of humor, with silly arcade games to play in between sweat-inducing horror sequences and cheeky, non-murderous robot helpers to find along the way.

This is one of the biggest ways in which Routine sets itself apart, as its immaculately creepy vibes, unique retro aesthetic, and tongue-in-cheek jokes in between bouts of utter terror, all coalesce in a way I haven’t seen before. I didn’t get a very strong sense of whether or not the story will deliver something worth all the stress and jump scares along the way, but hopefully all this neat worldbuilding will translate into something as awesome as the setting. With some solid environmental storytelling and hints at some kind of mysterious viral disease at work, it has certainly piqued my curiosity.

The areas I explored ranged from= fairly unremarkable metallic hallways filled with busted droids and signs of something catastrophic having happened recently to really neat areas like an abandoned arcade with janky retro games to play and a shopping mall littered with debris. And, of course, since the whole thing takes place on a base on the moon, they take every opportunity to give you a nice view of the beautiful majesty of good ol’ Selene. Gotta love that. I’m a tad skeptical that they can manage to keep things interesting when you’re stranded on a fairly generic space station on a barren rock in outer space, but hey, so far so good.

Although much of the demo I played featured some fairly by-the-numbers puzzles, like finding codes around the world to enter into a keypad to unlock a door, it also had some neat mechanics built around the C.A.T device you’re given early in the story. This tool is basically just a handheld camcorder that can also do things like fire an electrical bolt at targets in your path. What’s cool, though, is that it evolved as I progressed, like when I unlocked an ultraviolet mode called the Ultraview Module that allowed me to see trace substances like bloodstains that helped me solve some of the space station’s more unintuitive riddles. I only unlocked two modes in my time with it, but it’s clear that upgrading this bad boy is going to be the primary way in which you power up, and so far I like that idea quite a bit. It’ll be interesting to see what clever new uses they find for it.

While you upgrade your C.A.T., read snippets of lore around the space station, and solve puzzles, you’ll find yourself almost constantly hunted by extremely violent robots that chase after you on sight with intent to kill. Naturally, that makes even the most simple brain teasers that much more stressful, as you spend every other second double-checking over your shoulder, or wincing when you hear a robotic sound come from somewhere nearby. It’s not exactly an original premise, but it’s certainly the classic type of horror gameplay I’ve come to know and love over the years – and something we could definitely use more of.

One thing that was a bit disappointing, at least during my extremely early time with the story, is just how easy it was to outsmart the fairly dim robots hunting for me, to the point where I never actually was killed during my time playing. They make a ton of noise as they march around electronically, give up the chase as soon as you start running away since they can’t hope to compete with your speed, and don’t do a very thorough job searching for you if you’re hidden in an obvious corner they haven’t bothered exploring yet. What’s more, one of the abilities you unlock for your C.A.T. early on, is a mode where you can tase the robots chasing you, shorting them out for a second or two to buy valuable time you need to get away, as if it weren’t already easy enough as-is. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t still as intimidating as hell – the robotic shrieks they make every once in a while made my skin crawl, and the few times where they were able to get close without me noticing sent me screaming in the opposite direction. They may not actually be very deadly killers (at least early on), but they’re still pretty damn stressful to be around nonetheless.