Yesterday's Pokémon Legends: Z-A gameplay reveal flooded us with new information about the upcoming Pokémon games set in a futuristic Lumiose City, including looks at dozens of Pokémon we should expect to see there. But one trio of monsters that fans were really hoping to see did NOT appear: the elemental monkeys Panpour, Pansage, and Pansear.

Why are fans so hung up on the monkey trio? It's a bit complicated. The three monkeys and their evolutions have been a part of an increasingly shrinking list of Pokémon that are currently unavailable in any Nintendo Switch game. If you want to truly catch 'em all, you still can, by transferring them from other Pokémon games pre-Switch to Pokémon Home. But at the moment, the following Pokémon are unavailable for capture natively in any Nintendo Switch Pokémon game:

• Panpour
• Pansage
• Pansear
• Simipour
• Simisage
• Simisear
• Patrat
• Watchog
• Furfrou

This list used to be much longer, but Game Freak added a ton of new Pokémon in the DLC for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet that culled the list down to these nine. What's more, the trailer we saw yesterday showed both Patrat and Furfrou, confirming these two at least will be available in Legends: Arceus. And since Watchog evolves from Patrat, it's a safe bet it will be in the game too. So that just leaves the three monkeys.

The elemental monkey trio was first introduced in Pokémon Black and White, and are somewhat beloved by fans due to the unique way the player obtains them. In Black and White, the first Gym the player encounters will use a typing that the player's starter Pokémon is weak against. However, if the player visits a certain person in the Dreamyard, they'll receive the monkey that has an advantage against that Gym, making it easier to tackle. Their designs are also memorable for being based on the "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" wise monkeys of Japanese folklore.

No matter which platform you prefer, there's an excellent variety of video game deals to check out right now. Whether you're gaming on PS5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, or PC, we've rounded up the best offers to help you get more for your money. And while not a deal, we've also included where you can preorder Elden Ring Nightreign, in case you're itching to return to The Lands Between. Best Buy's also offering a free $10 gift card with your purchase. What can be better than that?

Preorder Elden Ring Nightreign

Best PC Game Deals

Best Physical Video Game Deals

If you're looking to save on physical games right now, there are plenty of deals worth checking out across PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. We've included just a few of our favorites above, but if you'd like to see more game deals for each platform, check out our individual roundups for these consoles: the best PlayStation deals, the best Xbox deals, and the best Nintendo Switch deals.

Best PS5 SSD Deals

Best Xbox Accessory Deals

Asus ROG Ally Z1 Extreme Gaming Handheld for $449.99

HP Omen 45L RTX 4080 Gaming PC for $2,199.99

Do you prefer to play on a dedicated PC tower? Navigating the options online can be quite the ordeal. Desk space, portability, and price point are often factors in the decision. However, there are some great PC deals that pop up every now and again that are worth jumping on. One of our favorite deals at the moment is on this HP Omen 45L RTX 4080 gaming PC for $2,199.99. To see even more PC deals, check out our roundup of the best gaming PC deals.

Yellowjackets is back, just in time for Valentine's Day. What's more romantic than cannibalism and betrayal? With looming threats in both timelines, Season 3 might finally offer some answers about the Man With No Eyes and certain people's accountability for their actions. The new season also introduces even more cast members, so get ready to take notes on who's who. Before you dive into Season 3, I’d recommend a solid rewatch, or at least checking out a recap of the Yellowjackets story so far.

If you’re wondering where to stream Yellowjackets online, we've collected everything we know about the new season below.

Where to Stream Yellowjackets Season 3

Yellowjackets Season 3 Cast

Yellowjackets was created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson and features a pretty large ensemble cast across its two timelines. Here are some of the main actors that star in the show:

• Melanie Lynskey and Sophie Nélisse as Shauna
• Tawny Cypress and Jasmin Savoy Brown as Taissa
• Christina Ricci and Samantha Hanratty as Misty
• Simone Kessell and Courtney Eaton as Lottie
• Lauren Ambrose and Liv Hewson as Van
• Sophie Thatcher as Nat
• Kevin Alves as Travis
• Steven Kreuger as Ben
• Warren Kole as Jeff
• Sarah Desjardins as Callie
• Elijah Wood as Walter
• Ella Purnell as Jackie

It's also been reported by Rolling Stone that Hilary Swank and Joel McHale will be joining the cast of Season 3.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 developer Saber Interactive and publisher Focus Entertainment have published early 7.0 update patch notes, while teasing the long-awaited Horde mode.

In a community post, the companies said the 7.0 update is in the works and a release date is coming. But it also outlined several awaited features it’ll bring:

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Update 7.0:

• One Chapter Pack
• One Champion Pack
• Private PvP lobbies
• A new weapon (only in PvE for now)
• New Operation
• Weapon perks rebalance
• Class weapon loadouts rework
• PvE Prestige Rank

The PvE Prestige Rank is perhaps of most interest to veteran players of Space Marine 2 looking for a new challenge or goal to work towards. Here’s how it works: once you reach level 25 on a class, you can buy a Prestige Level that will unlock a unique Prestige Perk.

“Choose them wisely,” Focus and Saber said, “because you won’t be able to change your selected Prestige Perks before unlocking the four Prestige Levels.” On top of that power boost, each class will have a unique cosmetic reward that emphasizes the class’ iconic armour part.

Space Marine 2 will get Public Test Servers (PTS) on Steam only in March before Patch 7 comes out. This will give fans early access to the upcoming features and the chance to share feedback so the developers can refine the content ahead of launch.

Meanwhile, Focus and Saber teased the upcoming launch of Horde mode, a feature Space Marine 2 players have been looking forward to ever since the game came out last year.

“You’re very eager to get more info on the Horde Mode, it’s one of our top priorities right now,” Focus and Saber said.

“One thing we can say is that it will be very different from the Space Marine 1 Horde Mode, and that there are surprises we can’t wait for you to find out about.

“Once we get really interesting things to show you about it, we will do it!

“Bear with us.”

In the same post, Focus and Saber also stamped out live service game talk amid a backlash to 'FOMO' Community Events. Last month, Focus and Saber addressed growing frustration over a lack of content and outlined what players can expect from Space Marine 2 in the coming months.

Space Marine 2 enjoyed a record-breaking launch late last year, eventually shifting 5 million copies while becoming the fastest-selling Warhammer video game of all time.

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.

Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy has called the scrutiny Star Wars movie development comes under “troubling and frustrating,” while revealing how many projects she's confident will come to fruition.

In November, Lucasfilm owner Disney announced yet another trilogy of Star Wars films was in the works, and some fans said they were getting a bit sick of perpetual announcements with no releases in the legendary sci-fi franchise.

Disney hasn’t released a Star Wars film since the universally panned Star Wars: Episode 9 - The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, but it has cancelled several films in that time, such as one from Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and another trilogy from Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff. In November, a Star Wars movie that had previously staked out a late 2026 release date was pulled from Disney's calendar.

At 2023's Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm announced three new Star Wars feature films: a Dave Filoni-directed New Republic film set in his Mando-verse, a Dawn of the Jedi movie led by James Mangold, and a New Jedi Order feature directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy that's set to have Daisy Ridley reprise her role as Rey after the events of The Rise of Skywalker.

That Obaid-Chinoy project has gone through several changes, with screenwriter Steven Knight recently departing after taking over for Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson. Still, Rey as a character is still apparently a major priority for Disney moving forward, with a recent THR report saying that she's set to appear in several upcoming Star Wars films.

And, believe it or not, that's not even all Disney has on the Star Wars docket moving forward. It was revealed late last year that X-Men producer Simon Kinberg is set to write a new trilogy that isn't, contrary to initial reports, a continuation of the Skywalker Saga.

Also announced is a film from Thor Ragnarok and Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi, one from Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy, an entire trilogy from Star Wars: Episode 8 - The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, a Donald Glover-starring Lando Calrissian film, and another from Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins. The Mandalorian & Grogu is the only Star Wars movie with a release date: May 2026.

Speaking to Deadline (to which she addressed recent retirement reports), Kennedy responded to a question about the challenge of dealing with so much public scrutiny by Star Wars fans.

“What’s troubling and frustrating is that our development gets scrutinized, and I don’t know any other production company where their development gets scrutinized like that,” Kennedy replied.

“It’s very hard for anything to happen within Star Wars without some aspect of it becoming public before you even want it to become public. So I guess managing the message in some way is also quite a challenge because, of course, not every single thing we put in development we [are] going to make. That’s not unusual. We want to make those things that we feel are the best. We want to make those things that, as time passes, feel relevant to what the audience is responding to. So there’s constant discussion around that. So yeah, that’s a tricky one because a lot of the scrutiny around Star Wars and the negativity has been about development. Of course, we’re going to develop lots of different things with an understanding that not everything gets made.”

So how many in-development Star Wars projects will actually end up as something? Kennedy said there are three or four right now that she’s confident will end up coming to fruition.

Kinberg’s trilogy “has gone exceptionally well,” Kennedy said. “We’re really excited about where that’s headed.” Shawn Levy is working on a script for his Star Wars film. There is of course The Mandalorian & Grogu, due out next year. Kennedy is waiting for Mangold after a delay due to his work on the Bob Dylan movie, A Compete Unknown, and the awards season. Similarly, Kennedy said she’s still waiting for Taika Waititi, saying “if we ever do get a script from Taika, it’s going to be fantastic.”

Kennedy said part of the challenge is that Lucasfilm is having to wait for "top talent" as they juggle their busy schedules. Star Wars, she insisted, is a major commitment of two to three years, and there can be no competing work going on during that time. So, she said, it's hard to get talent to carve out that sort of time.

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.

Monster Hunter Wilds is now out in the wild, and monster hunters are logging on in droves to start exploring the Forbidden Lands. Before they go, though, a few are taking a moment to remember some beloved NPCs from games past who kept their bellies full for every hunt.

Over on the Monster Hunter subreddit, posts have popped up reminding players to leave well-wishes for the chefs of previous Monster Hunter games, specifically Monster Hunter World and Rise. Cooks aren't just the NPCs you tend to interact with pretty often, ensuring you've got good food buffs before heading out to fight against a scary beast; they're also, broadly, pretty well-liked in the community.

The Grammeowster Chef from Monster Hunter World Iceborne, for instance, is a sweet elderly Felyne all bundled up in scarves, since she's the head chef at Seliana's Canteen. One post reminded players to let her know they'd be away for a while, because of Wilds' launch.

Similarly, another post jokes about letting Monster Hunter Rise's dango chef Yomogi know that they'll be gone for a bit, saying they're "going out to get cigarettes." Though, the chef certainly made some decent revenue on all those dango. "Bro it's fine, I've paid her entire college tuition by this point," said one commenter.

We can't talk about chefs without mentioning the classic one from Monster Hunter World, the Meowscular Chef, either. He's a personal favorite NPC, with his eye scar, giant knife, and incredible poses every time he served up a new meal. The "best, most muscley boy", as one commenter so aptly said.

It might seem silly to get sentimental over this, but chefs are a core part of the Monster Hunter loop. They're the NPCs you tend to visit often, and you always get little cutscenes of them serving up the food that fuels your hunts. It doesn't hurt that their designs are often fantastic, from a burly Felyne chef to the sweet Grammeowster.

A nice meal before heading out was routine for my own multiplayer ventures, and it might even be why Capcom is adding a new "place to gather" in its first Title Update for Monster Hunter Wilds. Having those little zones adds a lot, and having the right character in place only helps, if it wasn't clear from all the players of previous Monster Hunters wishing the chefs goodbye before heading to Wilds.

Players are certainly digging into Monster Hunter Wilds too, with player numbers hitting massive peaks within 24 hours of its official launch. It hasn't all been perfect, as PC players have been reporting concerns over performance, prompting Capcom to issue an official response.

To help get your Monster Hunter Wilds adventure started, take a look at what Monster Hunter Wilds doesn’t tell you, and a guide to all 14 weapon types in the game. We’ve also got a detailed Monster Hunter Wilds walkthrough in progress, a Monster Hunter Wilds multiplayer guide to explain how to play with friends, and if you’ve played one of the open betas, here’s how to transfer your Monster Hunter Wilds Beta character over.

IGN’s Monster Hunter Wilds review returned an 8/10. We said: “Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge.”

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Diablo general manager Rod Fergusson opens his talk at DICE Summit 2025 by talking not about success, but about one of Diablo’s most high-profile failures: Error 37.

Error 37 was an error that appeared to players at the launch of Diablo 3, preventing them from accessing the game due to extremely high numbers of players all trying to join at once. The issue, which impacted massive amounts of players, resulted in widespread criticism of Blizzard’s handling of the launch, and even became meme-ified. Blizzard eventually fixed the error and Diablo 3 was ultimately (with a lot of time and work) a success.

But understandably, Blizzard and Fergusson have been eager to avoid anything like that ever happening again, especially as Diablo evolves into a more complex live service endeavor than it’s ever been before, with frequent small updates, ongoing seasons, and major expansions planned at regular intervals. Diablo 4, moreso than any of its numbered predecessors, has embraced live service.

Another Error 37, or something like it, would be catastrophic. Especially if Blizzard wants Diablo 4 to persist beyond its major content releases: a true live service juggernaut.

Diablo, Immortal

At DICE Summit 2025 in Las Vegas, I spoke with series general manager Rod Fergusson following his talk entitled: “Evolving Sanctuary: Building a Resilient Live-Service Game in Diablo IV.” On stage, Fergusson covered four key components to ensuring the resilience of Diablo 4: successfully scaling the game, keeping the content flowing, not getting too attached to purity of design, and keeping players updated on what’s coming at the expense of surprising them.

Throughout his talk, Fergusson reiterated the team’s goals of keeping players around regularly, consistently, and for the long haul. His descriptions of content roadmaps and seasons-ahead planning is a stark contrast to past numbered Diablo games - while the series is certainly no stranger to expansions and updates, Diablo appears to be committing to a live service trend that’s seeing massive AAA games stick around for much longer and change more rapidly and significantly than they ever have before, rather than leaning on new, numbered releases every few years.

So I asked him what the plan was: is Diablo 4 eternal, or rather, immortal? Is there a marker Fergusson is looking for to know when it’s time to move on to Diablo 5, or will Diablo 4 simply be the Diablo forever, similar to Blizzard’s endlessly popular MMO World of Warcraft?

Maybe not forever, Fergusson replied. But certainly for a very long time, if he has his way.

“We want it to be around for years,” he said. “I don't know if it's eternal. I think Destiny tried and did that like, ‘This is a ten-year game,’ and then they quickly were not. We want people to see the road ahead, because we know that, to play a Diablo game, you're probably putting hundreds of hours in and we want people to know that we're respecting their time and that we're not just here and gone.”

Fergusson reminds me that there was over a decade between the release of Diablo 2 and 3, and another decade between Diablo 3 and 4. Granted, neither of these games had anything near the aggressive update cadence that Diablo 4 is planning. But they also didn’t have Fergusson at the helm, as he joined in 2020 after years of leading the Gears franchise. And Fergusson, for his part, believes in looking ahead…but not too far ahead.

For instance, Fergusson announced in that same DICE Summit talk that Diablo 4’s second expansion would not be arriving until 2026. Despite originally planning for an expansion a year, the team’s timeline for Vessel of Hatred was extended when they moved staff working on the expansion onto necessary, immediate updates to the live game when Diablo 4 launched, and again when the first season dropped. There were 18 months between the launch of Diablo 4 and Vessel of Hatred, not 12 as planned. But when I ask Fergusson if 18 months is the new normal for expansions, he’s not willing to commit to a specific time frame. He knows better now.

“I learned my lesson about calling the shot too early. So I think giving, ‘Hey, you can relax for the next 11 months,’ is about as far as I want to go in this right now…We're not at a place where we want to put a stake in the ground and call it. Because we're still building it and learning from it…Our process is generally that we get internally to a place where we have the certainty to make a call, and then you get to a place where you publicly want to make that call. We're not at the public part yet.”

Ruining the Surprise…on Purpose

Fergusson’s caution is warranted here, especially as his team prepares to be more transparent than ever before about their future plans. Part of that is the aforementioned content roadmap, due to be shown off in April. Another element is the Public Test Realm, or PTR, where players who opt in can play through a version of upcoming patches before it’s pushed live to the wider public. Fergusson says in his talk that the team initially struggled with the decision to use features like a PTR or content roadmaps, for fear of spoiling the surprise for players. But he’s overcome that fear.

“You just realize that it's better to ruin the surprise for 10,000 people so that millions of people have a great season,” he said during his talk. “And even if you mess up PTR, even if whatever you're offering to them in the mechanics is bad, I would much rather have a bad week of a PTR than a bad three months trying to recover from putting in something that we were surprising players with and it turned out to be wrong.”

“You can get really spun up on it,” he added to me later in our conversation. “And we've had it in the early days. We're like, ‘Oh, this got data mined, people know this.’ Okay, how many people saw it? And it’s on this Reddit thread, and there’s probably 8,000 people there. But we are going to have millions of people. So at the end of the day, it’s okay. We haven’t ruined the surprise for everybody.”

One challenge Fergusson’s facing now is that he wants to offer the PTR to more people, via consoles. Right now, players can only access the PTR via Battle.net on PC, which Fergusson says is due to certification challenges and the general difficulty of releasing new builds on consoles. But he says it’s something Blizzard is investing in, now with the support of parent company Xbox.

Another perk of Xbox, he says, is Diablo 4’s presence on Game Pass. Put simply, it lets Diablo amass as many players as possible. He compares it to why Blizzard decided to release Diablo 4 on Steam in addition to Battle.net - it was simply a matter of reaching more people.

“One of the things that's different from when you think of a live service that's behind a pay gate, like a premium live server, which is what Diablo is, versus a free-to-play live service like Diablo Immortal is, there's an opportunity easier to grow Immortal because there's no barriers to entry, right? Whereas, buying the boxed product or buying the main game is a barrier for some. So that's what Game Pass gets rid of, that barrier. You have this opportunity where you can see new Game Pass players coming in all the time, because they're just like, ‘Oh, I just got Game Pass. Oh, cool, that's in there?’ And off they go. So it is interesting in terms of sustaining continued new players.”

All Hours Diablo

As we wrap up our conversation, I ask Fergusson about what he’s been playing lately, in hopes of getting a grip on what he’s inspired by. I ask if he’s picked up Path of Exile 2, and how he feels about people comparing it to Diablo 4. Fergusson disagrees with the comparison. “They’re very different games,” he says.

But he’s still trying to keep folks who love both games in mind for future updates. “A lot of people actually tell us, ‘do what you're going to do, but just do us a favor and don't line up your seasons over top of each other. Let me play one season for three weeks and let me play another season for three weeks. Don't make me have to pick and choose.’ So I get that. As a person who plays lots of games, I totally understand that.”

So what is Fergusson playing right now? He tells me his top three games of 2024 by playtime. In third place, NHL 24. In second, Destiny 2.

And in first, no surprises here, it’s Diablo 4. He has 650 hours of Diablo 4 playtime on his home retail account alone, not counting work time. He tells me he’s currently playing Companion Druid, but he also just rolled a Dance of Knives Rogue. He just loves Diablo that much. Always has.

“It's something about the habit of the game,” he says. “I get interrupted from- I'm halfway through Cyberpunk, I'm halfway through Witcher 3, I'm halfway through Space Marines 2000. I get to these points where I am into a non-service game, then I get distracted by something shiny. But I have this habit of, I got to go do my daily in NHL to go open my free pack of cards, and I have to go play with my brother in Destiny 2 because this is what the game we play together on. And then I just...The reason I came to Diablo five years ago was because it was my favorite game to play. So just because I work and I work doesn't stop me from going home and playing it for hours and hours too.”

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.

Looking for a new board game to bring to game night? Amazon's offering a great discount right now on strategy game Red Rising, based on the books by Pierce Brown, that's worth picking up for your collection. It's currently on sale for just $10.99, 54% off its list price of $24. That's only a couple dollars more than its lowest price that it hit over the holiday period last year, according to price tracker camelcamelcamel, so if you've had your eye on it now's a great time to scoop it up.

Stonemaier Games: Red Rising Board Game for $10.99

Last year, Asus debuted its 16-inch Zenbook to great acclaim. When I reviewed the Zenbook S 16, I awarded it top marks for all but heat, crowning it as one of the best ultrabooks of the year so far. With the Zenbook S 14, Asus has shifted from Team Red (AMD) to Team Blue (Intel), addressed the heat issue, and once again delivered one of the best premium Windows ultrabooks available today.

Asus Zenbook S 14 – Design and Features

The Zenbook S 14 shares a lot of DNA with its larger sibling. It’s clear that they’re both from the same product line as, aesthetically, the only difference is the S 14’s smaller screen. This, in my opinion, is a wholesale win because this year's Zenbooks have been some of the best-looking laptops to release in years. There are a number of changes under the hood, however, that make this a compelling option and, at least in one core way, a significant upgrade over the AMD-bearing S 16.

Starting with the fit and finish, Asus really deserves kudos for the new direction it went with the new Zenbook series. The S 14 has the same Ceraluminum lid as the S 16 and it's just as striking as before. This new lid is a composite of ceramic and aluminum alloy and has a silky-smooth texture that's impressively resistant to fingerprints. It's criss-crossed with diagonal stripes that catch the light and gleam with their glossy finish. It's elegant, eye-catching, and unique, allowing it to stand out from the masses of other gray, black, and silver productivity laptops.

The entire frame is made of metal and feels durable and premium. Open it up and you'll find the same on the keyboard deck, as well as the intricately CNC-milled vent just below the screen. Each circular recess has two miniature circles offset from one another. Asus claims this helps improve airflow and cooling and I have no reason to doubt that; however, it also seems clear that this was a design decision intended to elevate the appeal and premium nature of the laptop.

The S 14 is available in either gray or white colorways – sorry, Zumaia Gray or Scandinavian White. I was sent the white version, a nice change from the gray S 16 I tested. They both look great in their own way; however, the white version has that extra something that’s reminiscent of Apple and I very much enjoy it.

Internally, it appears this model is only available in a single configuration. Our sample was sent with the following specs:

When it comes to specs, the Zenbook S 16 is no slouch. It uses the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor, the most recent generation of Intel's AI-enabled processors, code-named Lunar Lake. It's a significant advancement over the first generation of Core Ultra processors in both performance and power efficiency and is more than up to the task of any productivity application you would care to throw at it. It's even able to take on content creation in the form of photo editing and even some video editing. That said, video editors will still be better served by a notebook with a dedicated graphics card or Apple’s latest M4 processor.

Still, the S14 is nothing to shake a stick at. Its 32GB of LPDDR5X memory is more than enough to handle web browsing, the Microsoft office suite, the Google suite, and the majority of the most popular photo and video editing software in use today. Unfortunately, it’s not upgradeable (as is usually the case with such thin, lightweight notebooks), so if you anticipate needing more than 32GB, the S 14 probably isn’t the best choice for you. It also comes with a large, 1TB nVME SSD, so you can store all of your projects and important files without resorting to the cloud or an external drive right away.

It also offers expanded connectivity with an array of ports that exceeds most other ultrabooks. It features dual USB-C ports, Thunderbolt 4, each spec’d to 40 Gbps and capable of DisplayPort and power delivery for charging. There is a full-size USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, which is handy for connecting a flash drive, an HDMI 2.1 port for full-speed video output, and a 3.5mm audio combo jack. While you will still receive much better connectivity with a full-size laptop, this is a welcome expansion that improves its usability in different scenarios.

The screen is downright gorgeous. It uses Asus's Lumina OLED technology and is exceptionally color rich, detailed, and accurate. It has a very crisp 2,880 x 1,800 (3K) resolution, which translates to 243 pixels-per-inch (PPI) for an impressively sharp image. It also excels up to 120Hz for smooth motion both in games and on long websites and documents. Like a smartphone, it can be set to change the refresh rate dynamically to save on battery or locked to either 60Hz or 120Hz to match your preference.

It's a good choice for entertainment as well as productivity for this reason alone, but it also packs an impressive pair of speakers. Given its small size, you wouldn't expect to have the level of volume that it does, nor its surprisingly full-bodied sound. While it won't replace a good pair of speakers (it does distort a touch at its highest volumes), it's perfectly fine for watching videos or even playing single-player games.

For typing and mousing, it features an impressive keyboard. The aluminum deck is firm and didn’t flex under my hammering keystrokes. The keys have been designed to offer 1.1mm of key travel, which is noticeably deeper than many other chiclet-style keyboards. They also have a defined bump when pressed and have a crisp bottom out that makes it a pleasure to type on.

The S 14 also brings back the oversized glass touchpad from the S 16. Measuring 5 x 3 inches and centered on the bottom of the deck, it’s positioned directly underneath your thumb anytime you’re using the keyboard. It feels good to use and is reliable with the bare minimum of misclicks. Like last time, it uses integrated buttons with tactile feedback so you can easily tell when clicks are registered. There are also touch controls along the top and sides to control brightness, scrubbing video timelines, and adjusting volume. These can be disabled inside the software, though they're not difficult to get used to and proved to be very convenient in my testing.

Asus Zenbook S 14 – Software

As with the ZenBook S 16, the S 14 uses MyAsus for all of its configuration options. This software suite is designed to be easily accessible even if you’re not computer savvy, so don't expect overclocking options or highly-detailed system monitors, though it does provide basic readouts for CPU use and temperature, battery level, memory usage, and available storage.

The software is broken into several different tabs for easier navigation. The main Home tab provides the aforementioned information as well as one-click options to run diagnostics if you find the system is encountering performance issues. It also provides the warranty date, so you can tell ahead of time if you’re covered by its warranty or not.

The majority of its core settings are found within the Device Settings tab. This page is broken into three scrollable categories: Power & Performance, Audio & Visual, and Input Device Settings. Power and Performance details battery options, fan profile, which is essentially the device settings tab, and how much memory is dedicated to the integrated GPU.

The Audio & Visual tab provides options for the noise canceling microphone and speakers, and EQ settings (including custom EQs through the Dolby Atmos app). To customize the screen, it provides a handful of different modes that include sRGB, Display P3, and DCI-P3, as well as normal and Vivid color modes, a color temperature slider, and a blue light filter. There’s also a Tru2Life settings which is supposed to intelligently adjust sharpness and contrast of video content to increase clarity and a Target Mode that darkens everything but your active window to protect the OLED panel. You can also toggle several different OLED care settings and choose between a dynamic refresh rate or locking the screen to 60Hz or 120Hz.

Finally, the Input Device Settings tab houses all of the options for the touchpad and keyboard. This is where you can enable or disable the touchpad or the keyboard's backlight. Choose how the function row operates and decide whether you want to keep or disable the Smart Gestures on the top and sides of the touchpad.

One area that I especially like for mainstream users is the System Diagnostics tab on the left. Clicking this takes you to a menu that allows you to do a one-click system checkup, targeted problem diagnosis for each of the laptop’s systems (memory, battery, SSD, etc.), or to do a checkup based on different use scenarios. For example, if your computer is running sluggishly, you can simply use the checkup option under “Slow System” and the appropriate diagnostic will run. The available scenarios cover the most frequent issues you might encounter. While power users will likely know their way around diagnosing different issues, if you are coming to this laptop purely from a productivity standpoint, these options provide a helpful gateway to diagnose and solve performance issues you might encounter.

The biggest issue I have is that the software will sometimes demand updates without allowing you to adjust settings. It can be quite frustrating to sit down to work and just want to change your power setting, only for the system to force you to do a BIOS update before you can even toggle a single option. Thankfully, this doesn't happen often, but it has happened frequently enough that I dread having to open the software just in case.

Asus Zenbook S 14 – Performance

The Zenbook S 14 is a fantastic laptop if you value portability and don’t want to sacrifice performance. Its Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor is a tiny powerhouse for productivity, entertainment, and general day-to-day use. It even offers relatively good gaming performance as long as you're willing to adjust the resolution and settings accordingly.

The first generation of Intel Core Ultra processors caught a lot of flack, and understandably so, but I'm happy to report that most of those issues have been addressed with this latest generation. The processor offers snappy performance and, thanks to its fast memory and storage, that applies across the board. I’ve been using the S 14 for around two months and haven’t encountered a single situation where it felt laggy or unreasonably slow. On the contrary, it has felt consistently high-performance for its price point. If anything, it over delivers.

While that might seem like high praise, I assure you that it's deserved. Assuming you can get on with its smaller form factor, it's hard to find much fault with this system. Unlike the Zenbook S 16, its larger AMD-bearing counterpart, it doesn't get exceptionally warm to the touch. It doesn't get loud either, even under full load (although it does get louder). Its screen looks just as gorgeous, if not slightly more so thanks to its higher pixel density. The build quality is fantastic, and the Ceraluminum lid is just as good here as it was on the S 16. In fit, finish, and performance, it knocks it out of the park.

As seen in the benchmarks above, it offers great performance in the majority of cases. It excels well beyond the Snapdragon X Elite in the Surface Pro 11 and is natively compatible with all standard Windows apps. The presence of a physical GPU offers major benefits to gaming frame rates and rendering benchmarks, but at the expense of weight and heat. I’ve included those results here to show what’s possible in the thin and light form factor if you care more about fps and less about unplugged battery life. (For that, check out our list of the best gaming laptops.)

The most interesting comparison is against AMD’s equally AI-centric competitor, and the results are good for Intel. The Core Ultra 7 258V trades blows with the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, winning across the board in 3DMark’s synthetics as well as a handful of games. In others, the HX 370 pulls ahead. The AMD processor does have a significant advantage in games that support AMD Fluid Motion Frames (i.e. frame generation). When I initially tested the laptop, that feature wasn’t supported yet, but it is now, so certain games will indeed play better – with a caveat. AFMF works best when you’re able to maintain a high enough base frame rate to begin with (45-60 fps minimum), so real world performance is going to vary game by game.

When it comes to gaming, it's best approached like a handheld. That might sound counterintuitive, but the same principles apply since it's using an integrated GPU. This means leveraging power by turning the laptop onto its highest performance mode and plugging into a wall outlet if at all possible. It also means dropping the resolution 1200p – which still looks great on its display, and brings many games to playable frame rates – as well as adjusting graphics settings and using Intel XeSS upscaling whenever possible. Even with those considerations, you might be surprised at how well it runs games while still maintaining strong visuals.

Or, you could game over the cloud. Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming both work very well. GeForce Now is especially good, with crisp visuals, 120Hz gameplay, and a large, ever-expanding library of supported games.

Tying it all together is the Zenbook S 14’s outstanding battery life. In synthetic testing using the PCMark Modern Office Battery Test, I was able to log upwards of 16 hours of uptime at 50% brightness. If you’re mainly watching video and doing lower intensity tasks, that can reach to around 20 hours. In real-world use running at 80% brightness with near-constant internet use, I averaged around ten hours. That’s upwards of a full work day without much regard for battery conservation. That’s impressive.

The developer and publisher of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 have insisted they’re not trying to turn the game into a “full live service” after a backlash to community events described as promoting “FOMO.”

FOMO, or the fear of missing out, is a tactic often used by live service game developers and publishers to encourage rapid engagement and spending on virtual items that are released for a limited time. The suggestion with these sorts of events is that if players do not obtain the items while they’re available now, then they will lose the chance forever.

This practice is often criticized for creating an unhealthy relationship between a video game and its community. In 2021, new research commissioned by the UK’s GambleAware charity said many games use a "psychological nudge" to encourage people to buy loot boxes - such as the fear of missing out on limited-time items or special deals.

Space Marine 2 does not contain loot boxes, of course, but it does have community events that were recently introduced as a way to unlock coveted cosmetics. And it’s these community events that have triggered a backlash, with some applying the dreaded “live service” label to Space Marine 2.

In a post addressing the complaints, Space Marine 2 publisher Focus Entertainment and developer Saber Interactive admitted the community events had received “cold feedback” since their introduction, and “we saw that many of you mentioned FOMO generated by the events.”

But the companies promised all the items made available in these events will be released again later, for everyone. Here’s the statement:

We have noted that the Community Events have received cold feedback since we introduced them as an additional way to unlock cosmetic items. We saw that many of you mentioned FOMO generated by the events. Rest assured, we are not looking to transform Space Marine 2 into a full live service game. The items available through events WILL be available later, for everyone. We want Community Events to be a way to unlock the items in advance, for the most dedicated players, and not to be a source of frustration and stress for everyone.

However, that means we must provide a smooth experience in unlocking said items, which has not been the case so far. We deeply apologize for the trouble, and are currently working on a simplified process to unlock the items, to make the experience less constraining.

To that end, Focus Entertainment is giving away the much-wanted emblem-less Mk VIII Errant Helmet for free to all who link their PROS account (Focus Entertainment’s account system) to Space Marine 2. This helmet is a part of the Imperial Vigil community event that ends on March 3, and was previously only available to those who achieved a victory with each of six classes in Operations Mode by the end date.

Space Marine 2 players are currently awaiting its 7.0 update, which is set to add a new weapon, a new Operations map, and PvE Prestige Ranks. Last month, Focus and Saber addressed growing frustration over a lack of content and outlined what players can expect from Space Marine 2 in the coming months.

Space Marine 2 enjoyed a record-breaking launch late last year, eventually shifting 5 million copies while becoming the fastest-selling Warhammer video game of all time.

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.

Microsoft has confirmed plans to shut down Skype in May and replace it with a free version of Microsoft Teams.

Confirmation comes at a time when the likes of WhatsApp, Zoom, FaceTime, and Messenger dominate communication via voice over IP (VoIP), consigning direct calls to cellphones from the likes of Skype to the history books.

As reported by The Verge, current Skype users will be able to log into the Microsoft Teams app and have all their content (message history, contacts etc) available without the need to create another account. Meanwhile, Microsoft will phase out domestic or international call support.

Skype users also have the option of exporting their Skype data, including photos and conversation history, and Microsoft has made a tool to help those who don’t want to move to Teams view their current Skype chat history.

You have 60 days to decide, as Skype goes offline from May 5. Either way, Microsoft will honor existing Skype credits, but will no longer offer new customers access to paid Skype features that let you make or receive international and domestic calls.

What’s truly lost with the Skype shutdown, then, is the ability to make calls to cellphones. Speaking to The Verge, Microsoft said that while telephony functionality was useful at the height of Skype’s popularity, it is now less so.

“Part of the reason is we look at the usage and the trends, and this functionality was great at the time when voice over IP (VoIP) wasn’t available and mobile data plans were very expensive,” said Amit Fulay, vice president of product at Microsoft. “If we look at the future, that’s not a thing we want to be in.”

Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion back in 2011, saying at the time the deal was about “deepening the company’s longstanding focus on real-time video and voice communications, and providing new market opportunities serving Skype’s 160-plus million active users.”

At one point Skype became an important part of all Windows devices and was even touted as an Xbox console selling point. But, by Microsoft’s own admission, the Skype userbase has been flat in recent years. The focus now is on Microsoft Teams for consumers.

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.

Streaming Wars is a weekly opinion column by IGN’s Streaming Editor, Amelia Emberwing. Check out the last entry Severance May Have Just Laid the Groundwork For the Greatest Betrayal Yet

This column contains spoilers for Severance Season 2, Episode 7.

I try to avoid column entries focusing on the same show two weeks in a row, but Severance has been on one lately so we’re absolutely headed back to Lumon this week.

“Chikhai Bardo” takes us back in time (sometimes), weaving flashbacks with what appear to be current events as we learn about Gemma (Dichen Lachman) and Mark’s (Adam Scott) relationship alongside Gemma’s fight to free herself from Lumon. On our journey with the two, we learn about her miscarriage and their subsequent struggles to conceive even after consulting with a fertility clinic. But, while the glimpse into their past lives makes us feel closer to Gemma, it’s what’s happening in the (presumed) present that blows the lid off things.

While we knew Gemma was alive, we weren’t sure how or to what extent. Her presence at Lumon indicated that perhaps it was only her Innie’s brain that survived, but we never knew how she had an Innie persona to begin with. Additionally, the episode’s title gives us hints as to what might actually be going on while also potentially adding more questions, and we may be closer than ever to learning what the hell is going on with Miss Huang (Sarah Bock).

Buckle up, we have a lot to talk about.

What Does Chikhai Bardo Mean?

In the episode, Gemma and Mark briefly talk about a set of cards. It doesn’t go well.

“Chikhai Bardo… it looks like two guys fighting,” Mark quips.

“No, it’s the same guy fighting himself, defeating his own psyche. Ego death,” Gemma responds. She adds later that she "thinks she got onto the mailing list at the clinic.”

Mark makes fun of her for doing something he thinks is stupid, she responds in kind that he’s being an asshole, and their brief argument ends with him telling her that maybe they should just stop trying to conceive. It’s a rough moment in the couple’s life, but what’s most interesting here isn’t their fight, it’s what Chikhai Bardo actually means.

Tibetan Buddhism breaks down the cycle of existence into six states, called bardos. Each bardo represents a different stage of life, death and rebirth. Chikhai Bardo is the fourth stage — the bardo of dying. This begins when the body internally and externally senses signs that death is close and results in what is known as the “clear light of death.” The goal in the midst of the clear light of death is to maintain lucidity, but many black out during the process. Meditation and training help with the aforementioned lucidity, but ultimately it’s not something that everyone can achieve.

The above is, of course, a very brief look at this complex and layered aspect of Buddhism; I highly recommend you read up more on the subject if you’re curious, but that’s about as much as we can discuss here without getting too rabbit hole-y. It’s also important to note that the other bardos may very well have their part to play in this story as well, but more on that in a bit!

Was Gemma the First Severed Person?

The structure in “Chikhai Bardo” intentionally keeps the timeline of events muddy and difficult to follow as we experience disorientation alongside Mark, but Gemma is far from the first person severed. The severance procedure was introduced 12 years ago to the public — though recent events imply that it could have been started as early as 20 years ago in the series. Mark joined Lumon and elected to have the severance procedure done only two years prior in the show’s timeline, which means Gemma has been held hostage during that period.

However, it does seem likely that Gemma may be the first severed person of her kind. What I mean by that is the fact that she seems to have multiple severed personas. We have the most experience with Ms. Casey, who is relegated to the severed floor, but we see a new kind of severance with Gemma while she’s deeper in the Lumon facility. There, it’s not severed floors but severed rooms. We see a host of them as she walks down the hall to a room called Wellington, where she meets with her “dentist” (who is presumably playing with severance technology in one way or another), with others including Cairns, Dranesville, Siena, Loveland, and Tumwater. She then passes Rhodes immediately when she leaves with her handler (Sandra Bernhard), and eventually passes Cold Harbor — a room featuring the code name of Mark and MDR’s actual work. It’s later confirmed that Gemma has visited six rooms during the day that the episode takes place: Billings, Locknau, St. Pierre, Cairns, Zurich, and Wellington.

We see Gemma visit one final room before her daring attempt to escape: Allentown. It’s here where Robby Benson’s “Doctor” plays house with her, forcing her to write hundreds of thank you notes for fake Christmas gifts the “happy couple” recently received.

What’s most interesting on Gemma’s home floor is that it seems like different rooms may bring out different personalities even further beyond Ms. Casey and whichever personas she’s meant to be during Lumon’s experiment below the severed floor. In Wellington, she seems almost frightened, asking if she may please have a break. In Allentown, her frustration with “her partner” is evident alongside her pain. In an undisclosed room, she’s seemingly on a flight and experiencing extreme turbulence that seems likely to lead to a plane crash. Additionally, each room that we’ve followed her into includes Benson’s The Doctor, with no questions as to why she keeps meeting different versions of him. How many different ways has Gemma’s brain been severed? And what do her teeth have to do with it?

Was Gemma Ever Really in a Car Accident?

At the beginning of the episode, I didn’t think so. It was my assumption that they found Gemma through the fertility clinic and tricked her by dangling the potential of a child in front of her. However, knowing what we now do about Chikhai Bardo, I absolutely believe that Gemma was, indeed, in an accident. But I also believe that it was Lumon who caused it.

Earlier in the season, Mark also insists that he “saw the body!” when people are trying to convince him that Gemma is alive, making those cloning fan-theories seem more likely than ever. Especially given the fact that they had access to Gemma’s DNA thanks to the fertility clinic which, at this point, I feel pretty confident that they either own or partner with.

Why Is Lumon Holding Gemma Hostage?

Y’all… The possibilities feel endless at this point. What are those little freaks doing with her?

Right now, a prevailing fan-theory posits that Ms. Huang is somehow Mark and Gemma’s kid. Obviously, the math doesn’t math with there only being two years since Mark saw Gemma last, but given that we’re looking at clones, metaphysics and an all-powerful global cult, Lumon’s walking child labor violation sure does seem like she could somehow be their offspring. That would certainly answer the “to what end” aspect of the question, but not necessarily the why part of it.

But the why aspect is likely ultimately pretty mundane. As far as the outside world is concerned Gemma Scout died in a car accident two years ago, Lumon proffered a fake body, and if she (literally) resurfaced, people would start asking a lot of questions. Especially given the fact that keeping Gemma’s outie consciousness seems imperative to their research. She goes outside and you bet she’s going to tell the world what the Eagans and their cult empire are up to.

What at first seems to be a throwaway line ultimately ties everything together in a neat little bow. There are two separate scenes where Gemma notes that she has visited six rooms on her no-good-very-bad-day, and it sure does appear as if each room has a corresponding Bardo, and whatever the Eagans are up to is intrinsically tied to Buddhism and a bastardization of its tenets for their own means.

These are the six bardos:

Kyenay Bardo (Life)

Samten Bardo (Meditation)

Milam Bardo (Dream)

Chikhai Bardo (Death)

Chonyid Bardo (Dharmata)

Sidpa Bardo (Existence)

And these are the six rooms Gemma confirms she’s entered that day:

Billings

Locknau

St. Pierre

Cairns

Zurich

Wellington

Kyenay Bardo (life) explains why they need Gemma’s core personality to remain. Throughout the episode we see her doing yoga (Samten Bardo/meditation). Milam Bardo (dream) remains in question, but Chikhai Bardo (death) goes beyond her car accident and explains the near-death plane ride we saw her on, despite us not knowing the corresponding room. That leaves her dentist experience as well as Chonyid Bardo and Sidpa Bardo in question. Allentown — her thank you card nightmare with Dr. McCreepy — is not one of the six rooms corresponding to a Bardo, which feeds into the idea that it isn’t part of the experiment. The guy just wanted some extra time to be a predator.

What’s particularly interesting when it comes to the “to what end” aspect of the why is what Lumon needs her for and how the bardos play into it all. They’ve made it abundantly clear that Mark’s participation in and completion of Cold Harbor is imperative, but is Gemma there for whatever Cold Harbor is or something else entirely? Is Mark somehow killing the last vestiges of the wife he knows? Are they trying to grow an army of child laborers so they don’t have to deal with the question of Outies vs. Innies ever again? Or is it an army of clones for the same purpose? AND WHAT DO THE GOATS HAVE TO DO WITH ALL OF THIS?!

All we know at this point is that the introduction of the bardos all but confirms the longstanding theory that the master plan here involves helping Kier Eagon continue eternal life, but I suspect we’re gonna get a good amount of explanation on the “how” real soon.

Who Is the Doctor?

The Doctor, as seen in different personas for each room we’ve met him in, including Gemma’s private chambers where she bludgeons him with a chair and makes her escape, is key to everything involving Gemma. He’s in love with her, but that seems to be more of a complication that came later rather than a reason for her current incarceration.

I have no evidence to support it yet, but there’s something about this guy that just screams Eagen descendent. Perhaps much of that is tied to the fact that Eagens seem to be the only people at Lumon allowed to show emotion, or maybe it’s just because (bless you, Robby Benson) he’s got hardcore cult leader face.

Ultimately, I have no idea if this guy is anything more than just a creepy mad scientist. But I mostly just hope Gemma hits him with a chair again.

PlayStation is no stranger to releasing unique colors for its accessories throughout its 30-year history. Since the PS5 launched in November 2020, PlayStation has expanded the DualSense controller line to include 12 additional standard colors, along with a swath of limited edition controllers featuring popular PlayStation characters and vibrant patterns. Whether you're looking to replace an existing controller, add to your collection, or just want to take a trip down memory lane, we've rounded up every PlayStation 5 DualSense controller for you below in order of release date.Every DualSense Controller Color

If you're in the market for a Dualsense alternative, our guide to the best PS5 controllers features a variety of different options we've reviewed.

All Dualsense Controller Colors by Release Date

White DualSense Controller

Release Date: November 12, 2020

Midnight Black DualSense Controller

Release Date: June 11, 2021

Cosmic Red DualSense Controller

Release Date: June 11, 2021

Starlight Blue DualSense Controller

Release Date: January 14, 2022

Galactic Purple DualSense Controller

Release Date: January 14, 2022

Nova Pink DualSense Controller

Release Date: January 14, 2022

Grey Camouflage DualSense Controller

Release Date: October 14, 2022

Cobalt Blue DualSense Controller

Release Date: November 3, 2023

Volcanic Red DualSense Controller

Release Date: November 3, 2023

Sterling Silver DualSense Controller

Release Date: January 26, 2024

Chroma Pearl DualSense Controller

Release Date: November 7, 2024

Chroma Indigo DualSense Controller

Release Date: November 7, 2024

Chroma Teal DualSense Controller

Release Date: January 23, 2025

White DualSense Edge

Release Date: January 26, 2023

Midnight Black DualSense Edge

Release Date: February 20, 2025

Special Edition DualSense Controllers

In addition to the standard DualSense controller colors, Sony has also released several limited edition controllers over the over the past few years. Arguably the most popular limited-time offering was to celebrate PlayStation's milestone anniversary where it launched an entire PlayStation 30th Anniversary collection in November 2024 that included a standard DualSense controller, PS5 Slim, PS5 Pro, PlayStation Portal, and DualSense Edge controller, each sporting the iconic grey color of the original PlayStation console.

While you may still be able to get your hands on some special edition controllers, it's often well above retail as Sony only manufactures a limited amount. In addition to the 30th Anniversary collection, Sony has also released limited edition DualSense controllers celebrating the release of God of War: Ragnarok, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, the ill-fated Concord, and Astro Bot throughout the years.

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

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has responded to reports that she is set to retire later in 2025.

Earlier this week, Puck News claimed the veteran film producer was looking to retire at the end of her contract this year. Additionally, Puck claimed Kennedy previously considered retiring in 2024, but decided to hold off on making a decision.

While Variety reported that a source close to Kennedy called Puck’s story “pure speculation," The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the report.

Now, Kennedy has responded herself. According to Deadline, Kennedy is working with Disney boss Bob Iger on a succession plan 13 years into the job, with Star Wars Rebels creator and current Lucasfilm chief creative officer Dave Filoni apparently in a “strong position” to take on the role. However, she insisted: “The truth is, and I want to just say loud and clear, I am not retiring.”

"I will never retire from movies," she continued. "I will die making movies. That is the first thing that’s important to say. I am not retiring."

While Kennedy confirmed that Lucasfilm has “every intention of making an announcement months or a year down the road” on an eventual succession, she is “continuing to stay at Lucasfilm.” That involves producing the upcoming Mandalorian movie and a Star Wars film from Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy.

It sounds like plans are very much in the works for Kennedy to step down from her current role as president of Lucasfilm, but that doesn’t mean she is leaving the company behind or retiring from the movie business.

“I’m not going to be here forever,” she said. “George [Lucas] asked me 13 years ago to step in, and now I’m looking at who’s going to replace me. And as I said, we have a bench of people internally to handle the business, the creative side. The job has grown also since I stepped in. There was no streaming, there weren’t a lot of the things that we’re involved in right now going on. So it has grown.”

AMD has finally released more information about its upcoming graphics cards, the Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070. Both the Radeon RX 9070 XT and the Radeon RX 9070 launch on March 6.

The Radeon RX 9070 XT was unveiled at CES 2025, the same time as the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090, though Team Red was a bit more cautious about revealing detailed information about its next-generation GPU. Now, though, AMD has released everything there is to know about these new GPUs.

Both of the new AMD graphics cards are built on the new RDNA 4 graphics architecture, which improves performance across the board, but the biggest uplift is in ML, or Machine Learning performance. This is largely thanks to new AI Accelerator units that are much more powerful than their counterparts in RDNA 3 GPUs like the previous-generation Radeon RX 7900 XT. These new AI cores are also the driving force behind FSR 4, which finally brings AI upscaling to Radeon graphics cards.

Just like DLSS, FSR 4 – short for FidelityFX Super Resolution – uses a machine learning algorithm to accurately upscale lower resolution images to your native resolution. Though, keep in mind that accuracy is the name of the game here. Because while FSR 4 is going to be much faster than rendering a game at your native resolution, any machine learning solution will have a bigger performance impact than something like FSR 3.1. We don't know how much performance will be impacted, but don't expect it to be faster than the more traditional upscaling in FSR 3.

While both graphics cards pack 16GB of GDDR6 memory, the Radeon RX 9070 XT is significantly more powerful, packing in 14% more compute units than the regular RX 9070. Combined with a higher power budget, the 9070 XT is going to be a much better fit for 4K gaming, where the 9070 will fit comfortably at 1440p. We went ahead and listed the specs below:

Luckily, you won't have to wait long to get your hands on one of these graphics cards. Both the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and the Radeon RX 9070 launch on March 6, starting at $599 and $549, respectively. However, because AMD is not launching a reference design, like it did with its last generation of graphics cards, you can expect prices to fluctuate drastically at launch. However, give it a couple weeks and it should calm down a bit.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra

Cosmic horror, along with sci-fi in general, is a difficult genre to get right. It thrives on the unknown, the creeping sensation that something is just out of sight, not entirely clear, itching at your reality. But, if you don't get the balance right, you'll end up with a galaxy wide narrative that's as deep as a puddle. Shroud understands this well, twisting its story in ways that leave you adrift in its dark world. It’s a book that revels in disorientation, pulling you deeper into its mysteries the more you struggle to grasp them. When it’s at its best, it makes you feel lost in all the right ways.

Shroud is an utterly gripping story of alien encounter and survival from Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Children of Time, and paints a grim and grotesque vision of the future, where humanity’s expansion into the cosmos is as much a test of endurance (and capitalist hell) as it is a descent into existential dread.

The descriptions of Shroud itself—its tendrils curling through the void, the sensation of alien briar tightening around the atmosphere—are striking. The opening chapters, in particular, are a masterclass in setting the tone, so much so that I found myself rereading them just to soak in their gnarly brilliance again and again.

Tchaikovsky’s writing heavily leans into ambiguity, using a mix of perspectives and deliberately vague language to reinforce the unknowable nature of Shroud and its horrors. The book constantly shifts, leaving you unmoored in a way that mirrors the characters’ own descent into fear and uncertainty. Alien encounters are presented in strange, fragmented imagery rather than overtly explicit detail, making them all the more unsettling.

The prose itself even feels unstable at times, as if the words are bending under the weight of something beyond comprehension. Tchaikovsky does his best at making the sci-fi elements accessible, but it’s still a style that won’t work for everyone—those looking for clear explanations or firm resolutions may find themselves frustrated at times—but it’s undeniably effective at immersing you in a world that feels utterly alien.

The characters, particularly Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne, are an interesting study in detachment. They begin as almost intentionally blank slates, their personalities stripped down to what’s necessary to survive in their assigned roles. There’s a sense that they’re meant to be shaped by their time on Shroud, and they do develop more emotion as they struggle against its horrors. Yet there's also moments they also regress, hollowed out by their experiences for the faceless corporate machine that sent them there in the first place.