HP is offering the lowest price we've seen for an RTX 5080 equipped gaming laptop with its new 2025 Omen Max 16. Right now you can pick up a pretty decked out model for just $2,609.99 shipped after you apply coupon code "PC10DEAL". This is the only RTX 5080 laptop I've found so far for under $3,000. The Omen Max is HP's new gaming laptop that replaces the now discontinued HP Omen 16. It is upgraded with a beefier cooling system to accommodate more powerful hardware.

HP Omen Max 16" RTX 5080 Gaming Laptop for $2,610

The Nintendo Switch 2 is coming out incredibly soon, and while we know a lot about it, its steep $449.99 price tag and $79.99 games make me less likely to invest than expected. After all, I’ve barely used my Nintendo Switch since getting an Asus ROG Ally, and my problems with the original console are only exacerbated in its successor, especially in a post-handheld gaming PCs world.

Asus ROG Ally Is All I Need

I’ve been a handheld gamer since childhood, having jumped between the Game Boy, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable. It's still my favorite way to play games, as there’s nothing cozier than snuggling beneath a layer of blankets and playing from the comfort of my bed. I was even among the painfully few PlayStation Vita believers, and played it during my college train commute every day.

The Nintendo Switch blew my mind in 2017, yet even though I bought mine close to launch, I only used it for exclusives. Playing on PC isn’t comfortable, so when a game seemed mechanically or graphically suited for handheld, I wanted it on the Switch. Those games entered a mental drawer in my head labeled “Reserved for handheld,” and it’s as if my brain was incapable of letting me play them elsewhere.

But if that game was available for free on Epic Games Store, Game Pass, PlayStation Plus, or Humble Choice, I felt guilty repurchasing it on Nintendo Switch. It didn’t help that Switch games are notoriously less likely to receive discounts, and when they do, they’re nowhere near as steep as on other storefronts. This painful cycle of “Why waste money on a game I already own” into “I want to play this on a handheld” yielded the same result every time: I wouldn’t play the game at all.

The launch of the Asus ROG Ally in 2023 broke my curse. It’s a handheld gaming PC that runs on Windows 11, so it has access to Steam, Game Pass, Epic Games, and more. Those games I’d never play on PC due to discomfort could now be enjoyed from the comfort of my own bed.

Nowadays, I play a treasure trove of indie games on my Ally, and I’m still catching up on my backlog. If it wasn’t for the Ally, I would’ve never played Celeste, Little Nightmares II, or Resident Evil Remake. Those are now amongst my favorite games ever, and I didn’t need to spend additional money on any of them, whereas I would have had to repurchase them on Switch. The Ally has become my go-to handheld of choice and has saved me tons of money.

Regardless, I was still excited for the Nintendo Switch 2 announcement, as Nintendo games hold a special place in my heart. But after the Switch 2 Direct, I’m uncertain where the console fits in my life anymore.

When the original Switch launched, it held significance beyond exclusives. The versatility of its design and lower price of entry compared to the competition made it an excellent ecosystem to get into. It was the only viable handheld at the time: It was cheap, had great exclusives, and nothing else like it existed.

The Switch 2 Isn’t Alone Anymore

Priced at $449 (to start), the Nintendo Switch 2 finds itself in competitive waters. That launch price brings it close to the $499 PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. In fact, the PS5 technically launched cheaper with its $399 digital edition. What’s worse, in the last eight years since the Switch’s launch, its design has inspired competition. Steam Deck started the trend in 2022, but manufacturers have released handheld gaming PCs like the Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and MSI Claw. There are even rumors that Xbox is working on its own handheld. Switch 2 is no longer one-of-a-kind, and it’s only a great investment if you don’t already own another handheld, and I do.

Handheld gaming PCs have powerful hardware, and are more than capable of playing indies and third-party games. With a far larger library, and the ability to access all of the games you already own, it’s an excellent place for everything. The chipsets powering handheld gaming PCs are only getting better with time, too. The AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme is waiting to be implemented into something powerful, and it won’t take long before Switch 2 finds itself outmatched by the competition.

Handheld gaming PC owners who want to play new Nintendo exclusives are faced with a steep price of entry and the promise of little use. If a machine like the Asus ROG Ally is more than capable of playing everything from third-parties to indies, then handheld gaming PC owners investing in a Switch 2 are only going to use it for first-party games.

The high price of exclusives makes the Switch 2 an even more painful endeavor, with Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza launching at $79.99 and $69.99 respectively. Considering Nintendo Switch games, especially first-party games, are rarely discounted, it’s hard to get excited about the prospect of having to buy them.

To be fair, there is plenty of value to be found in Nintendo exclusives. The company is responsible for some of the greatest games in history, and for many, there will be plenty of Switch 2 games over the next few years to make the system worth its high price. But for handheld gaming PC owners like me, we just need a little more.

The Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t a worthwhile investment for everyone, especially if you already have a handheld gaming PC. Systems like the Legion Go deliver excellent performance, and an enormous library of indie and third-party games. My Asus ROG Ally does everything I used to need a Switch for, and with a wide range of storefronts available, it’s just a better place to play games.

Claire finds joy in impassioned ramblings about her closeness to video games. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Media Studies from Brooklyn College and seven years of experience in entertainment journalism. Claire is a stalwart defender of games as an artform and spends most days overwhelmed with excitement for its past, present and future. When she isn't writing or playing Dark Souls, she can be found eating chicken fettuccine alfredo and gushing about handheld gaming PCs.

A great laptop allows you to take high-quality computing on the go. That's an appealing prospect no matter what kind of user you are, but there's a breathtaking amount of options to choose from. For many of us, a versatile all-arounder like my top pick, the MacBook Air, is going to be all you need. Or, if you're a student that's interested in blending portability with performance and a dash of entertainment on the side, the Microsoft Surface Pro 11, may be a better pick. I review laptops for a living, so whether you're looking for something to enhance your workday, carry to classes, or something to play the latest games at high settings, I'm here to help you cut through the noise and find the right pick for you. These are the best laptops of 2025.

TL;DR – These Are the Best Laptops We've Tested:

Laptops come in many different forms and have designs that cater to a wide range of needs. The best seamlessly integrate into your day without constantly reminding you that you're carrying them. They offer great battery life and performance that won't leave you disappointed after making such a large investment.

No matter what you're looking for, I've done the testing to make sure you get the best value, and best performance, for your money.

1. Apple MacBook Air (M4, Early 2025)

The Best Laptop

Apple's MacBook may just be the most ubiquitous laptop of all time, and year after year, it earns top marks for performance, portability, and battery life. This year, the company released its latest iteration on the ultra-portable MacBook Air, featuring its latest and most powerful processor, the M4. This new chip powers the experience, allowing users to do everything from crank out projects for work or school to creative work, and it does these things faster, using less battery than competing Windows laptops around its price.

All of the most appealing qualities of the MacBook Air line make their return here. We once again see Apple challenge convention by offering reliably great performance and battery life in such a thin and light body. Apple even managed to shave a smidge of weight off of this year's release even while improving its capability. It only weighs 2.7lbs, too, making it almost effortless to carry.

As we've come to expect from Apple, the Air is all about evolutional refinement. In her review, our own Jackie Thomas dubbed it an "oldie but a goodie" in the most loving way possible. It has the same fanless internal design that relies entirely on passive cooling (in part through its metal frame). This allows it to run completely silently while also adopting a clean aesthetic, unbroken by fan vents.

This does mean that it won't compete with the MacBook Pro in the kind of performance it's able to put out, which does have active cooling, but you wouldn't expect it to. The MacBook Air is about being a daily companion and all the computer that you'll need this side of being a creative professional or gamer.

That doesn't mean it's a slouch in the performance department. The prior M3 MacBook Air, released in March of last year, already offered impressive performance in benchmarks and real world use, and the M4 chip is a step ahead by roughly 20%. Groundbreaking? No, but it does mean that the MacBook Air can handle just about anything you might throw at it on an average day.

Like many of its other qualities, the display is very similar to its predecessor, but that's not a bad thing. While I would have loved to see an upgrade, it's 13- or 15-inch screen offers a 2560x1664 resolution which translates to high pixel density and a crisp, color-rich image – another point Jackie loved.

On the flip side of things, it offers limited connectivity. Sad as it is to say, it's one of the things you just have to accept with the MacBook Air series, at least so far. (It's never too late to change, Apple!) It offers two USB Type-C ports on the left, a MagSafe connector, and a headphone jack on the opposite side. If you have lots of accessories to connect, you'll need to invest in a dock.

The MacBook Air so nails the basics of being silent, satisfying, and delightfully responsive, that it truly begins to feel like a natural part of your daily life. It's no good for gaming, sure, but as a daily driver, it's the best choice for most people.

2. Asus VivoBook S 15

Best Budget Laptop

3. Razer Blade 16 (2025)

Best Gaming Laptop

4. Asus ZenBook S 16

Best Laptop for Work

5. Microsoft Surface Pro 11

Best Laptop for School

How to Choose the Best Laptop in 2025

Shopping for a new laptop can be a complicated affair if you don't know what you're looking for. Thankfully, there are key specs that can clue you in to whether or not a laptop is prepared to meet your needs. This is what to look for when choosing one of the best laptops in 2025.

• Display: Your laptop's display is one of its most important qualities. These come in multiple different forms. The average laptop comes with an IPS display, which essentially means that it has a backlight around the edges of the screen. It's also possible to find laptops with OLED or mini-LED displays, which offer improved visuals at the expense of a higher price. If all you need a laptop for is getting work done, it probably doesn't make sense to pay extra for the latest and greatest screen technology. But if you plan to use your laptop for gaming or entertainment, an OLED can offer a massive upgrade to your viewing experience.
  • The other thing to consider here is the resolution and refresh rate of this screen. For most laptops, 1,080p, or Full HD, is going to be sufficient, especially for school or work. Higher resolution screens offer crisper visuals but tend to cost more and are more difficult to run for gaming.
  • Refresh rate, on the other hand, is how many times the screen flashes in a second. Most productivity laptops refresh at 60Hz, or 60 times per second. It's not uncommon to find laptops that offer higher refresh rates, however, up to 120Hz, 144Hz, or even higher at an increased cost. While higher refresh rates offer the most benefit in games by enhancing the perceived smoothness of motion, they can also enhance productivity and web browsing by making fast motions such as scrolling feel more fluid.
  • Higher-end displays, such as OLEDs, frequently offer high refresh rates to bring the viewing experience full circle. Whether or not it's worth paying extra for depends on how you'll be using your laptop, but for productivity, 60Hz is most common and typically fine.
• Platform/OS: A computer's operating system, or platform, is the interface you'll interact with every day when using it. The two key choices in this space are Windows or Mac. Mac is only available on Apple systems, like the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.
• Processor: Think of the processor like the brain of your computer. It handles all of the computations that allow you to complete everything from day-to-day tasks to intense gaming. The two big brands of processors today are Intel and AMD, with Snapdragon recently entering as a third option. In general, for Intel and AMD, I recommend choosing a processor a bare minimum of six cores with eight or more recommended. This will help to ensure snappy performance and easy compatibility with applications well into the future. A six core processor can still be good, though is likely to need to be upgraded sooner and will be more limited for intense applications and multitasking.
• Memory: Memory, or RAM, allows your computer to hold more things in its most rapidly accessed storage at a time. Choose a laptop with at least 16GB for school and productivity, and 32GB for gaming or more intense tasks like video editing or streaming.
• Storage: Storage represents your laptop's capacity for maintaining files locally, for maintaining files locally, and is usually measured in gigabytes (GB) and terabytes (TB). The smallest capacity available today tends to be 256GB, which is very small and should only be chosen if you plan on keeping most of your files in the cloud. Photos, videos, or large files can quickly take up this space. I recommend a minimum of 512GB for productivity in school and 1TB for gaming, and anyone that plans on keeping most of their files locally.
• Graphics: Laptop graphics are responsible for rendering everything you see on the screen. They come in two forms: integrated and dedicated. The first form means that the graphics processing is built into the CPU and will generally be less capable for tasks like gaming. Dedicated graphics means that there is a separate component entirely dedicated to graphics rendering. These come in different tiers denoted by numbers and could occupy an entire article of their own. Generally speaking, for productivity, an integrated GPU will be fine. For gaming, however, a dedicated graphics card will offer the best performance.
• Portability: When looking at a laptop, it's always important to consider how much it weighs. While five pounds may not seem like much on paper, if you're carrying it on your shoulder every day or hefting it in the crook of your arm, it can quickly begin to feel like more. Thin and light laptops typically weigh 3.5lbs or less and are a good fit for productivity. Gaming laptops tend to be heavier due to their higher performance components and more advanced cooling solutions. If you're on the fence, I recommend visiting a local electronics store and seeing if you can feel a few different types of laptops firsthand.

Laptop FAQ

Which laptop is best for work, school, or gaming?

While each of these questions stand on their own, they can also be addressed together when looking at which laptop is best for work or school. The things you're going to be looking for are mostly the same. You don't need to spend extra on a laptop with a dedicated GPU unless you're doing art or rendering as part of your job or curriculum. Instead, I recommend focusing on at least an 8-core processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. Spend more on additional RAM and storage as your budget allows.

For gaming, things get a bit more complicated. While I would still recommend the same base specs for an entry-level gaming laptop, you'll want to consider laptops with a dedicated GPU if you want to turn graphics settings up. While it's possible to play games on laptops with an integrated graphics card, dedicated GPUs simply perform better and give you more room for better visuals and higher resolutions.

Why do laptops get slow?

This can happen for a number of different reasons. Depending on the specs of your laptop, it's possible that its hardware is no longer up to the requirements of modern Windows and applications. If that's not the case, you should look into dust buildup in the vents and fans, as heat will cause your system to throttle, lowering performance. As a rule, it's important to remember that laptops often have a lower usable lifespan than full-size desktops due to their form factor.

Should I get a laptop or a desktop?

If you're looking for a gaming computer that you can easily take with you on the go, a laptop is a no-brainer. But if you only intend to play games at home, a desktop is probably a better choice. The portability of a laptop often comes at a higher price compared to a similarly specced desktop. Additionally, laptop hardware, even if it has a very similar name – as is the case with laptop graphics cards – often does not run as fast as the desktop version of that component. In the end, the choice comes down to how much you need a portable system versus one that can remain in a single place at home and take up more space.

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

The LEGO Mario Kart: Mario & Standard Kart, available for preorder right now, is a build that everyone can love. Casual builders will appreciate its bright primary colors and its big, chunky parts, which make for a surefire crowd-pleaser. Experienced LEGO builders will appreciate the intricacy of the Kart's construction and the absence of stickers; every piece of visual flair is printed directly onto the bricks themselves.

The new set's long, official name – LEGO Mario Kart: Mario & Standard Kart – denotes that LEGO Mario Kart is a subgenre under the larger LEGO Mario banner. By that logic, can we hope for more Kart sets of this size and scope? Yes, there are playset-scaled Kart sets (see at Amazon). But surely, there's an audience for a large Luigi in a Sports Coupe or a large Princess Peach on a Cat Cruiser.

Divided across 17 bags, Mario & Standard Kart is two separate builds. The first build is the Standard Kart. You construct a LEGO Technic mesh, held together by pins and reinforced by bricks, to form the Kart's floorboard. Then you attach the individual parts of the body shell via rods and clamps, including its rockets/exhaust pipes, its side panels, and its steering mechanism, which also forms the Kart's front exterior.

The steering mechanism deserves special mention because of how it marries form to function. One end fastens to the front of the set via clamps, and then you 'fold' it onto the hood, as if it were a storm door on a hinge. You rig it so that when you turn the steering wheel, the front wheels also turn accordingly.

The Kart construction process is more involved and detail-oriented than you might think. The build looks simple, but it takes a lot of tiny, little steps to create that big cumulative effect. It's a delightful contradiction that the build manages to look sophisticated – like labor went into its creation – despite its inherent childishness and whimsy.

Once you're done with the Kart, you build Mario, whose construction follows the same general procedure as The Mighty Bowser's from three years ago. First, you build the torso, with ball-and-socket connections at its extremities. Then you build two legs, which attach at the bottom. Then two arms, which you attach at the sides. And finally, the head and hat, which you attach at the top. Interestingly, the hat is the most complex part of the Mario build; you attach two separate, smaller builds to the top of Mario's head to create its signature, bent appearance.

Mario is ubiquitous, but building him meant that I also had to flesh out his smaller, less iconic details – the hair sticking out from under his hat, the marking on his gloves, the rolled up cuffs on his jeans. My 10-year-old son and I love building jigsaw puzzles together, and whenever we put together a famous painting, we notice colors and brushstrokes that we wouldn't otherwise notice or appreciate. That's what it's like to build Mario out of LEGO – you see little things that contribute to the whole, even if they don't stand out on their own.

Unfortunately, Mario is not separable from the Kart. He has no butt; his torso anchors directly onto a gray plate, which in turn attaches to the Kart seat. It is both frustrating and understandable why LEGO did this. A solo Mario build, with fully articulable limbs, would sell like hotcakes, and LEGO and Nintendo wouldn't give it away so easily.

No doubt, thousands of LEGO fans will figure out a way to modify this model and make it stand independently of the Kart. But for now, there is no official way to make this happen. Maybe it would be a good DIY project for a rainy weekend?

Regardless, the final result looks fantastic. The Kart mounts on a buildable stand, which you can tilt upwards or downwards and rotate 360 degrees. This gives you some flexibility; you can pose the Kart any way you wish, whether going uphill, or going downhill, or sliding into a banked turn. I pose my Mario by having him grip the steering wheel with his left hand and pump the air with his right hand. You can almost hear the "Whoo-hoo!"

If this is the direction LEGO's heading? I'm all for it. Two of the most impressive LEGO sets from the past three years have been Mario-themed. The Mighty Bowser debuted in 2022. The Piranha Plant debuted in 2003. The Mario & Standard Kart reaches that same high standard by balancing build quality with visual presentation. And the more big replicas of Mario iconography that we get, the better.

LEGO Mario Kart: Mario & Standard Kart, Set #72037, retails for $169.99, and it is composed of 1972 pieces. It will launch exclusively at the LEGO Store on May 15. Preorder now.

Kevin Wong is a contributing freelancer for IGN, specializing in LEGO. He's also been published in Complex, Engadget, Gamespot, Kotaku, and more. Follow him on Twitter at @kevinjameswong.

LEGO has released a lot of realy cool Disney and Star Wars sets over the years, but never has there been a crossover quite like this. A LEGO fan has decided to take the seemingly innocent young Simba set and turn it into a Millennium Falcon.

Reddit user Minute_Food_2881 (Brad Barber) took to Reddit last week to unveil his creation, which takes the fairly cheep LEGO Simba set and turns it into a Millennium Falcon. It's a rather impressive build considering the Disney set he's working with is only 222 pieces and costs less than $20. Although the finished set looks like some sort of sci-fi horror where flesh meets spacecraft, it is undeniably shaped like a Millennium Falcon and is priced incredibly reasonably compared to other Millennium Falcon LEGO sets (though the most recent one happens to be on sale right now for $67.99 at Amazon).

A big part of the fun with Star Wars Day each year is seeing a new wave of toys and collectibles revealed by companies like Hasbro, Sideshow, and Hot Toys. This year's event certainly didn't disappoint, as we got glimpses of a wide range of upcoming products, ranging from less than $20 to over $1500. What can we say? Being a Star Wars collector is nothing if not an expensive hobby.

From Sideshow's epic Luke Skywalker Red 5 statue to Hasbro's nostalgia-heavy Episode III figures to Hot Toys' mind-bogglingly detailed Jar Jar Binks figure, these were the coolest figures and collectibles revealed during Star Wars Day 2025.

Hot Toys' Star Wars Figures

Hot Toys revealed quite the impressive lineup of 1:6 scale figures for Star Wars Day, including a couple of major characters who have surprisingly never gotten the Hot Toys treatment before now. The real surprise is definitely the Jar Jar Binks figure. Love him or hate him, there's no denying that this Jar Jar looks like he walked right off the screen. He's even got seamless arm joints and two swappable face sculpts for recreating all those wacky poses.

Hot Toys is also filling a glaring hole in the Sequel Trilogy lineup by finally releasing a Poe Dameron figure. Fittingly, Poe is wearing his Resistance X-Wing jumpsuit. We're also getting another of the fan-favorite Republic Commandos in the form of Clone Commando Boss, and the company's new Star Wars Rebels-inspired line of animated figures is getting a Darth Vader to accompany the previously announced Stormtrooper figures.

Hasbro's Star Wars Toys

Hasbro revealed a number of new figures in both the 6-inch Black Series line and 3 3/4-inch Vintage Collection line. Hasbro continues to capitalize on the 20th anniversary of Revenge of the Sith by releasing new Black Series figures in packaging based on the classic RotS toy line. Next up are Aayla Secura and a Magnaguard droid. Black Series collectors can also augment their Imperial trooper collections with a Rogue One-themed 2-pack that includes both a Shoretrooper and a Death Trooper.

On the Vintage Collection front, Hasbro has a couple very interesting multi-pack releases in the works. The "Stormtroopers of the Empire 3-Pack" features a Snowtrooper, Scouttrooper and a Sandtrooper. The "Cantina Adventure 4-Pack" includes four aliens from the iconic Mos Eisley sequence, including Hammerhead, Walrus Man, Greedo, and Snaggletooth. It should go great with Hasbro's crowdfunded Mos Eisley Cantina playset.

Finally, Star Wars prop collectors will be happy to know that a new ForceFX Elite lightsaber based on the weapon used by Rebels' star Ezra Bridger is in the works.

Sideshow's Star Wars Figures and Posters

Not to be outdone,. Sideshow Collectibles had a wide lineup of figures, statues, and art prints to reveal. Undoubtedly the showpiece of their Star Wars Day lineup is the Luke Skywalker: Red Five, Standing By Premium Format Figure. This massive 1:4 scale, mixed media statue features Luke decked out in his X-Wing jumpsuit and climbing up the ladder to his trusty ship. What really makes this piece special (and especially expensive) is that Sideshow went to the trouble of actually sculpting a portion of the X-Wing so that it hangs in mid-air.

Sideshow is also continuing to release 1:6 scale figures alongside distributing Hot Toys' releases. Sideshow is focusing on its "Scum and Villainy" line, which highlights the many aliens and creatures that don't necessarily receive attention from Hot Toys. The second wave of Scum and Villainy figures is focused on characters from Jabba's Palace in Return of the Jedi, like Bib Fortuna, Klaatu, and Vizam.

Finally, Sideshow showed off the latest 1:10 statue from Iron Studios, which happens to be a shrunken-down version of their 1:4 scale Darth Vader statue. This Empire Strikes Back-inspired piece still looks mighty cool in the new, smaller scale.

Let us know in the comments below what your favorite Star Wars Day 2025 reveal was, and why it's Hot Toys Jar Jar.

For more Star Wars collecting fun, check out our ultimate guide to Star Wars figures, and check out the many Star Wars Collectibles available on the IGN Store.

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

With streaming prices going up and movies and TV shows hopping from one service to another without warning, it's a good time to own your favorites on physical media. Whether it's to ensure you can always watch them regardless of what streaming services you subscribe to, or you just enjoy the act of collecting, it's good to know when the newest releases are coming out on 4K UHD and Blu-ray. You know, as long as you have a good way to play them (see our list of the best Blu-ray players for help on that front). Below, you'll find a full rundown of release dates and buy links for all the upcoming home releases you're likely to care about.

Biggest New and Upcoming 4K UHD and Blu-ray Releases

If you want a TL;DR of the biggest upcoming home movie and TV show releases, look no further than the list above. We keep it updated and change out the featured items regularly. Below, you'll find all the notable upcoming release sorted by release date.

May 2025: 4K and Blu-ray Release Dates

May has some big home releases of movies both new and old. On the new front are Captain America: Brave New World, which releases alongside a new Captain America 4-movie collection. Soderbergh's Black Bag is also out this month, as is Woman in the Yard. Tons of classics are also getting the 4K treatment this month, including the OG animaged Lilo & Stitch (ahead of the upcoming live-action version), as well as Zemeckis's creepy What Lies Beneath, Jason Goes to Hell, Wayne's World 2, and more.

May 6

• Gladiator 2-Movie Collection (4K) - Buy It
• Lilo & Stitch (4K) - Buy It
• What Lies Beneath (4K) - Buy It

May 13

• The Andromeda Strain (4K) - Buy It
• Black Bag - Buy It
• Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy - Buy It
• Captain America: Brave New World - Steelbook | Standard
• Captain America 4-Movie Collection - Buy It
• Demolition Man (4K) - Buy It
• Landman: Season One - Buy It
• Mad Max 5-Film Collection - Buy It
• Masters of the Universe: Revelation/Revolution - Buy It
• Mickey 17 - Buy It

May 20

• Jason Goes to Hell (4K) - Buy It
• Jason X (4K) - Buy It
• A Knight's Tale - Collector's Edition Steelbook (4K) - Buy It
• Oliver! (4K) - Buy It
• Presence - Buy It

May 27

• The Day the Earth Blew Up - A Looney Toons Movie - Buy It
• Kingpin (4K) - Buy It
• Last Tango in Paris (4K) - Buy It
• Scent of a Woman (4K) - Buy It
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (4K) - Buy It
• Starman (4K Steelbook) - Buy It
• Street Fighter: The Animated Series - Buy It
• Wayne's World 2 (4K) - Buy It
• The Woman in the Yard - Buy It

June 2025 4K and Blu-ray Releases

The entire Jurassic Park/World series is getting new 4K steelbook editions, divided into the Park and World trilogies. Speaking of Spielberg, Jaws is getting a big 50th anniversary release, complete with a 4K steelbook. Also out this month are Longlegs, The Monkey, and A Working Man.

June 3

• Brazil (Criterion) - Buy It

June 10

• 007: James Bond - Sean Connery 6-Film Collection (4K) - Buy It
• Dan Da Dan: Season One - Steelbook | Standard
• The Dead Zone (4K) - Buy It
• Dexter: Original Sin - Buy It
• Drop - Buy It
• The Friend - Buy It
• Lord of Illusions - Buy It
• The Return of the Living Dead (4K Steelbook) - Buy It
• Swordfish - Buy It
• The Wiz (Criterion) - Buy It
• A Working Man - Buy It

June 17

• Jaws: 50th Anniverary Edition - Steelbook | Standard
• Jurassic Park Trilogy (4K) - Buy It
• Jurassic World Trilogy (4K) - Buy It
• Looney Tunes: Collector's Vault Vol. 1 - Buy It
• Sabrina (4K) - Buy It

June 24

• Bring It On (4K) - Buy It
• Dark City (4K) - Buy It
• Doctor Who: The War Games in Colour - Buy It
• I Know What You Did Last Summer (4K) - Buy It
• JFK: Director's Cut (4K) - Buy It
• Lethal Weapon (4K) - Steelbook | Standard
• Longlegs - Buy It
• The Monkey - Buy It
• Mouse Hunt (4K) - Buy It
• Novocain - Steelbook | Standard
• Palindromes - Buy It
• The Peacemaker (4K) - Buy It
• Road Trip (4K) - Buy It
• Sonic Prime: The Complete Series - Buy It
• St. Elmo's Fire: 40th Anniversary Edition - Buy It

July 2025 4K and Blu-ray Releases

July 1

• Primary Colors (4K) - Buy It

July 8

• Abigail - Buy It
• Barry Lyndon (Criterion 4K) - Buy It
• Clueless: 30th Anniversary Edition (4K) - Steelbook | Standard
• Fallout: Season One - Steelbook | Standard
• Grave of the Fireflies - Steelbook | Standard
• See: The Complete Series - Buy It

July 15

• Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection (4K) - Buy It

July 22

• Carnal Knowledge (Criterion, 4K) - Buy It
• Cobra (4K) - Buy It
• Small Soldiers (4K) - Buy It
• Strangers with Candy - Buy It
• You Can Count on Me (Criterion, 4K) - Buy It

July 29

• Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (4K) - Buy It
• The Jet Li Collection - Buy It

August 2025 4K and Blu-ray Releases

August 5

• 1923: A Yellowstone Origin Story - Season Two - Buy It

TBA 4K and Blu-Ray Releases

• Flow (Criterion Collection) - Buy It
• A Minecraft Movie - Steelbook | Standard
• Queer - Buy It
• Sinners - Buy It

Want more release dates? Check out our mega-post of all the biggest video game release dates to see what's coming to consoles and PC this year and beyond.

Best 4K TVs

If you're looking to buy a new TV that will make your 4K movies shine, you'll definitely want to take a look at our favorites. Our tech editors have selected the best 4K TVs for gaming, which will also work great for movie-watching. And since both the PS5 and Xbox Series X have 4K Blu-ray play-back built in, you'll probably be doing plenty of gaming on them as well.

LG C3 OLED Smart Gaming TV

The LG G4 is currently our top pick for a gaming TV, but the price on those refelcts their quality. Which is to say they're really expensive. If you want a deal on a terrific TV in a more reasonable price range, you might want to consider picking an LG C3, which costs significantly less for the same size TV. Get the one that best fits your needs and your budget.

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert at IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

The best Alienware high-end gaming monitor deal just got even better is on sale for this week. The 32" Alienware AW3225QF 4K QD OLED gaming monitor has just dropped to $899.99 with free shipping after a $300 off instant discount. If you're looking for the best 4K gaming monitor, this should definitely be on your short list.

32" Alienware AW3225QF 4K OLED Monitor

Peacock TV just launched another seasonal coupon code. Get one year of the ad-supported Peacock Premium plan for only $24.99 - or about $2.08 per month - when you apply promo code: "SPRINGSAVINGS". That's 70% off the normal annual price of $79.99. Anyone who isn't currently subscribed to Peacock TV is eligible, and that includes past subscribers with expired accounts. This actually beats out its previous winter sale promotional price of $29.99.

1 Year of Peacock Premium for $24.99

Rockstar Games has revealed that Grand Theft Auto 6's release date is May 26, 2026, and indie game publisher Devolver Digital says it’s already making plans to be there with a new game of its own.

The company took a lighthearted shot at what is indisputably set up to be the biggest game launch of 2026 with a release date announcement of its own on X/Twitter. Now that GTA 6 has a proper release date, Devolver Digital has announced plans to release a mystery title on that same May 26 date. It’s a chaotic marketing strategy that Devolver Digital seems serious about following through on at least for now.

The mystery game’s release date arrives after the company previously made the promise to launch a game of its own when Rockstar finally announced its long-awaited GTA 6 release date. We now know that date to be May 26 of next year, so naturally, Devolver Digital has a message: “You can’t escape us.”

You can’t escape us.

May 26, 2026 it is then. https://t.co/eVa5bB1vrh

— Devolver Digital (@devolverdigital) May 2, 2025

Devolver Digital has an extensive library of smaller-scale titles such as Hotline Miami, Enter the Gungeon, The Messenger, Katana Zero, Cult of the Lamb, and more. Whether the company plans to release a follow-up to an existing series or something new entirely remains to be seen. Upcoming entries in its catalog of games include Baby Steps and Stick It to the Stickman, two projects that are due out before 2025 comes to an end. There’s also Enter the Gungeon 2 and Human Fall Flat 2, which are both expected to arrive sometime in 2026, though developer No Brakes Games has already assured fans that it has no intention of releasing the latter on May 26.

We can confirm that Human Fall Flat 2 will NOT be releasing on May 26, 2026 https://t.co/zl3GbjSmia

— Human Fall Flat (@HumanFallFlat) May 2, 2025

More than a year out from launch, GTA 6 is already positioned to be a juggernaut video game. It’ll be Rockstar’s first numbered entry in its critically acclaimed sandbox series since 2013, with many doing everything they can to ensure they’ll be able to play on day one. Devolver Digital is doing its best to get a slice of that pie in a very Devolver Digital way, but we’ll have to wait to see exactly how it will do so.

For more, you can read up on Rockstar’s history of delaying it big-budget releases. You can also learn more about how a game like GTA 6 affects more than just Rockstar’s plans by clicking here.

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

Spoilers ahead for Marvel’s Thunderbolts*.

Marvel Studios has officially retitled Thunderbolts* as The New Avengers. The studio made the announcement on social media Monday with a change to the title on the film’s poster. And lest you think this is just a social media stunt on Marvel’s part, the New Avengers poster is already being used by AMC Theaters and Fandango to promote Thunderbolts ticket sales.

Marvel also posted a video of the cast peeling the Thunderbolts title off the poster to reveal The New Avengers underneath it at last week's Hollywood premiere as well as a video of Sebastian Stan changing posters at a bus stop.

The asterisk in the title of Thunderbolts had long been a matter of speculation until the ending of Thunderbolts revealed that Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, U.S. Agent and Sentry/Bob Reynolds were the New Avengers lineup spontaneously announced by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.

Marvel Studios' #̶T̶h̶u̶n̶d̶e̶r̶b̶o̶l̶t̶s̶* #TheNewAvengers is now playing only in theaters.

Get tickets: https://t.co/bFq0RNfp6K pic.twitter.com/HWfzmFBANq

— Marvel Studios* (@MarvelStudios) May 5, 2025

Rebranding Thunderbolts as The New Avengers in its second week of release is a shrewd commercial calculation by Marvel Studios and Disney. While Thunderbolts performed well in its opening weekend, topping the domestic box office with $76 million, the Avengers films were billion dollar-grossing blockbusters.

Perhaps the movie will perform even better in the coming weeks now that general audiences know that the film is really a restart of the Avengers franchise.

The New Avengers – along with Sam Wilson/Captain America, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men – will return in Avengers: Doomsday, which is now filming in London. Doctor Doom star Robert Downey Jr. let the New Avengers reveal slip in an Instagram post over the weekend about him and his Doomsday co-stars going to see Thunderbolts but he later deleted the “New Avengers” mention from it.

What do you think of Marvel officially retitling Thunderbolts* as The New Avengers? Let us know in the comments.

Happy Monday! Microsoft just announced Gears of War: Reloaded, a remaster of the original 2006 game that will launch on August 26 on Xbox, PC and PlayStation. The shiny new version will come with improved visuals and audio, cross-play and cross-progression, and all the DLC from the Gears of War: Ultimate Edition.

"As we approach the 20th anniversary of Gears of War in 2026, we’re reflecting on what this franchise means. It’s about the stories we’ve told, the friendships we’ve built, and the unforgettable moments we’ve shared together. With Gears of War: Reloaded, we’re opening that door to more players than ever," said Mike Crump, Studio Head at The Coalition in the announcement post.

Not only do PlayStation owners get to play, the love can be shared across the console barricades.

"Gears of War: Reloaded is built for shared play — whether you’re teaming up in split-screen or jumping online. The Campaign supports two-player co-op, and Versus Multiplayer allows up to 8 players. With cross-play across all platforms, you and your friends can squad up no matter where you play — no Microsoft account required," confirmed Crump.

However, signing in with a Microsoft account unlocks full cross-platform functionality. It enables cross-progression, so your Campaign and multiplayer progress carries across devices. It also allows you to send invites and play with friends across platforms — like Xbox to PlayStation or Steam to Xbox."

Microsoft also delivered a full list of the improvements that all players - whatever the console - can expect to see:

• 4K resolution
• 60 FPS in Campaign
• 120 FPS in Multiplayer
• High Dynamic Range (HDR)
• Dolby Vision & 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos
• 7.1.4 3D Spatial Audio
• Variable Refresh Rate (VRR)
• 4K assets and remastered textures
• Enhanced post-processing visual effects
• Improved shadows and reflections
• Super resolution with improved anti-aliasing
• Zero loading screens during Campaign

As a little treat for the Gears of War faithful, Gears of War: Reloaded will be a free upgrade for any players who purchased the digital version of Gears of War: Ultimate Edition ahead of today's announcement. If you're one of the special ones expect a code via Xbox DM ahead of the release.

Rachel Weber is the Senior Editorial Director of Games at IGN and an elder millennial. She's been a professional nerd since 2006 when she got her start on Official PlayStation Magazine in the UK, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, and French Bulldogs. Those extra wrinkles on her face are thanks to going time blind and staying up too late finishing every sidequest in RPGs like Fallout and Witcher 3.

The Pokémon Trading Card Game singles market has taken a sharp dive, making it an ideal time to pick up high-value cards for less. With prices on many chase cards falling below recent norms, collectors can now complete sets or grab favorites without relying on luck from booster packs.

TL;DR: Deals For Today

Interested in sealed products? Amazon is discounting a selection of TCG boxes and bundles. From legacy boxes to recent releases, many of these products are coming in over MSRP, which is why I want to let readers know that retailers putting pricing up isn't their only option during Pokémania 2025. TCG Player is a secondary marketplace that is widely used in the US for the gold standard on current Pokémon TCG values thanks to its value tracking across the secondary market. Let's get into it, regardless of ripping open booster packs or finding that dream chase card:

Infernape V Box

Azure Legends Tin

Clair Obsur: Expedition 33 Merch

Surging Sparks Booster Box

Doom & Wolfenstein Mayhem Game Bundle

Terapagos ex Ultra-Premium

Prismatic Evolutions ETB

Shrouded Fable ETB

Paldean Fates Booster Bundle

Prismatic Evolutions Surprise Box

2004 Pokéball Bundle

2004 Pokéball Bundle

Surging Sparks Booster Bundle

151 Poster Collection

Elden Ring Nightreign is IGN's cover story for the month of May. We got to spend two days at From Software's office in Tokyo, and came back with a heaping of reveals, interviews, hands-on impressions, and more.

To kick things off though, we've got the exclusive reveal of one of the eight Nightlords players will be facing off against at the end of a run in Nightreign. Introducing Libra: Creature of Night. This madness inducing boss packs some really interesting mechanics, including a decision you must make at the beginning of the fight where you can decide whether or not to make a deal with the boss to gain some sort of benefit, like gaining more strength, or more elemental resistance, or a very powerful weapon. Be careful, because the better the deal, the steeper the price, and the cost of the deal is never known until you actually take it.

Check it out in the gameplay video above, and stay tuned all May long for more exclusive Elden Ring Nightreign IGN First coverage!

Mitchell Saltzman is an editorial producer at IGN. You can find him on twitter @JurassicRabbit

Actor Tony Todd, who died last November at age 69, makes his last screen appearance in Final Destination Bloodlines wherein the horror icon reprises his franchise role as the enigmatic William Bludworth. IGN has an exclusive clip from Todd’s scene in the new film, which can be viewed via the player above or the embed below.

“It's actually a really special moment in the movie. A lot of people who've seen the film talk about how surprised they are, the level of emotion they feel during that scene,” Zach Lipovsky, who directed Final Destination Bloodlines with Adam Stein, told IGN last week.

Tony Todd made his first appearance as the mysterious undertaker and later coroner William Bludworth in the original Final Destination in 2000. He reprised the role in Final Destination 2 and Final Destination 5 (only Todd’s voice is heard in Final Destination 3). Bloodlines will reveal new information about Bludworth's past.

Bludworth’s function in the series has been to explain the rules of death and the consequences of trying to cheat it to the doomed protagonists, and it’s what he does for the characters in this exclusive clip from Final Destination Bloodlines. But this time there’s a poignancy to Bludworth’s inclusion as the ailing Todd appears visibly frail and thin. Working with the filmmakers, Todd helped craft what would be his farewell to the franchise and his fans.

“We're really grateful that we had the ability to, from the beginning, design that experience for the audience with Tony and with all the writers and everybody. We knew he was ill for quite a while and he was extremely excited to be in the movie,” said Lipovsky.

“He was very grateful for the ability to participate in the film and he was so joyful on set when he was there and he was cracking jokes and really excited to just have his ability to be in the film and give his character a lot more backstory. We give a lot of answers to who Bludworth is in the film, which is something that during the franchise, people have been clamoring for for a really long time. But we also knew, like you said, that this was also going to be a goodbye of the character. And that's something that we worked very closely with him to figure out really the best way of doing that because these films are about death and his mortality was very present as we were working with him.”

Lipovsky continued: “One of the unique opportunities that came up was as he is at near the end of that scene, we asked him to actually throw away the script for a moment and just speak from the heart as to everything that he was thinking about as far as what the movie was about, what the franchise has been about, but also just what life's about and what is it all about in the end.

And the take that's in the film where he says, ‘Life is precious. Cherish every second because you never know when.’ And the earnestness that he says that with [it] all came in the moment from him. And I think you really feel that when you watch the movie that he's obviously speaking as a character who knows that their death is coming, but he's also speaking as an actor who's speaking to the audience as far as what's important in life. And that was a really powerful moment on set when we filmed that with him.”

(L-R) Owen Patrick Joyner as “Bobby”, Kaitlyn Santa Juana as “Stefanie”, Director Adam Stein, Tony Todd as “William Bludworth”, Teo Briones as “Charlie”, Director Zach Lipovsky, Rya Kihlstedt as “Darlene”, and Richard Harmon as “Erik” in New Line Cinema’s “Final Destination Bloodlines,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. (Photo By Eric Milner)

Fellow director Adam Stein said that Todd “relished” the chance to inject some dark wit into the scene and that those on set that day were moved to tears watching the terminally ill actor deliver what everyone knew would be his final big screen performance.

“A lot of the actors, ourselves, the crew, everyone was tearing up in that moment, except for him,” Stein recalled. “He sort of relished it. He had this sort of mischievous smile and even when he delivers that line and then says, ‘Good luck’ in the way that he has, that sort of dark, mischievous way as he goes out the door. He knew exactly what he was doing and he relished the opportunity to kind of have that goodbye and have that bit of a wink and have that message work on multiple levels. And it was a lot of fun. But I think he also really was excited about the opportunity to have a platform to say goodbye to his fans.”

Final Destination Bloodlines opens in theaters on May 16th.

When it comes to PC gaming, 4K is the wave of the future. You no longer need an ultra-powerful PC to enjoy it thanks to features like Nvidia DLSS and AMD Fluid Motion Frames. Monitors like the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDM, my number one pick, can display extremely detailed images, incredible colors, and high frame rates all while still offering excellent responsiveness. And if you look and find that the price or PC requirements are too high, there are a ton of great gaming monitors out there.

TL;DR – These Are the Best 4K Gaming Monitors:

A 4K gaming monitor is the ultimate way to experience your favorite PC games, providing incredible sharpness with four times the resolution of a 1080p gaming monitor. I've been reviewing more and more displays featuring this high resolution, and more graphics cards are able to run it well, making it more accessible than ever. They also make for some of the best monitors for PS5. To help narrow your search, we’ve tested and researched dozens of options, bringing you our top five 4K gaming monitors.

Additional contributions by Danielle Abraham and Matthew S. Smith.

1. Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDP

Best 4K Gaming Monitor

If you're looking for the best of the best and don't mind paying for it, the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDP is the monitor for you. At 32 inches, it's the perfect size to take in all of the details of its crisp 4K resolution. Its WOLED – that's white OLED, not to be confused with QD, or Quantum Dot OLED – panel is exceptionally bright and offers incredible colors that are factory calibrated, making it a great choice for creative work as well as top-tier gaming. And because it has a dedicated white LED, it's more power efficient and should last longer than competing QD-OLED monitors.

As I noted in my review of this Asus ROG Swift monitor, what truly sets this monitor apart is its versatility. You're able to game in 4K in exquisite detail up to 240Hz, but it also offers a special 480Hz mode for next level clarity and responsiveness. This mode drops the resolution to 1080p, allowing more graphics cards to achieve that frame rate and enjoy its benefits. It also offers Extreme Low Motion Blur (ELMB) that improves motion blur even further. It's one of the only monitors on this list that offers a measureable improvement to motion blur and clarity so much that you'll be able to tell the difference right away even if you're a casual gamer. I've been a longtime Battlefield player but far from a pro and the difference was immediately noticeable, even without pixel-peeping.

There's also a massive suite of gaming features that can also offer an advantage in competitive matches. Some even push the line on what's ethical to use, like the Sniper Mode, which gives you a reticle and a zoomed in window, right in the center of your screen. We'll leave that up to you, but the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDP is easily the best 4K monitor right now.

2. Arzopa M3RC - 32" 4K 144Hz Gaming Monitor

Best Budget 4K Gaming Monitor

3. Gigabyte M27U

Best 4K Gaming Monitor Under $500

The Gigabyte M27U may stretch the definition of "budget," but not by much. Compared to most 4K gaming monitors around this price, it offers a better picture and great HDR experience thanks to its high peak brightness and edge-lit local dimming.

Picture quality is what you're after with a 4K gaming monitor and the Gigabyte M27U is best in class at this price point. In SDR, it tops out right around 400 nits, but turn on HDR and that jumps to just under 700 nits. That means brighter highlights and colors that jump off the screen for a more enjoyable gaming experience. It also features an array of local dimming zones which help improve contrast beyond what typical IPS panels are capable of.

The monitor also has a delightful range of gaming features. You can turn on an on-screen reticle for games that lack them, peek into the shadows with Shadow Boost, and more. It's impressively easy to access these features, and all of its picture settings, using Gigabyte's OSD Sidekick software, saving you from fumbling through menus with its physical controls. It's also a great choice if you plan to use it with more than one system or enjoy swapping to a console, as a built-in KVM allows you to switch inputs and take your mouse and keyboard with you with a push of a button. I often use this feature to quickly change between my laptop and desktop, work and play.

The only downside is that you'll have to choose between those local dimming zones and peak brightness. With the local dimming feature enabled, full screen brightness is reduced and you'll only see those high figures in highlights. Turning off local dimming unlocks it for the whole screen. In my opinion, it's a fair trade-off but you can count on a great gaming experience either way.

4. LG UltraGear GX9 (45GX950A-B)

Best Ultrawide 4K Gaming Monitor

5. Dell Alienware AW3225QF

Best Curved 4K Monitor

What to Look for in a 4K Gaming Monitor

If you're in the market for a new 4K gaming monitor, consider the features and type of image you hope to enjoy and compare that with your budget. Over the last couple of years, 4K gaming monitors have really come into their own. Ultra HD displays with high refresh rates are easy to find when they used to be rarities. Today, you can find options well below $400 and still enjoy refresh rates up to 144Hz with support for gaming features like Nvidia G-Sync and HDR support. While all decent 4K gaming monitors should deliver a crisp image, if you're willing to pay more, you can expect better image quality, brightness, features and settings, and panel types. Depending on what you're looking for, it can be wise to wait and save just a little longer than you planned to acquire the best monitor for your particular needs.

• Size: Generally speaking, anything below 27 inches will see less of a benefit from jumping to 4K for most users. While it's true that smaller sizes result in higher pixel densities, remember that 4K resolution equates to more than 8 million pixels and beyond a certain point, improvements to picture clarity become much less perceptible. As a rule, 27-to-32 inches is a sweet spot for Ultra HD, but there are options up to 48 inches if you prefer a "big screen" gaming experience. The larger the screen, the softer the image, however, so keep that in mind if you're the sort to go big or go home.
• Panel: What type of panel does the display use? Many use IPS panels, which are known for their accurate colors and wide viewing angles but relatively low contrast. VA panels are another option, which offer better contrast but can show ghosts (image trails) if they're not fast enough. OLED panels are an increasingly popular choice, as are Mini-LED backlights, and both have their pros and cons.
  • OLED (organic light-emitting diode) panels offer infinite contrast and rich colors. They're also incredibly fast, offering response times as low as 0.03ms, compared to the 1ms typical of IPS or VA panels. They can offer a stunning picture but also run the risk of image retention, otherwise known as burn-in. While many displays offer safety features to prevent this and warranties that cover burn-in should the worst happen, it's an ever-present risk and something you'll need to take care to avoid.
  • Mini-LED isn't a panel type by itself and is instead a backlight technology. Gamers often refer to gaming monitors using this tech as "Mini-LED monitors," however, so it's worth understanding what it has to offer. Unlike traditional backlights, which are placed around the edges of the display or directly behind it, Mini-LED backlights are tiny LEDs placed in an array behind the entire viewing area. The monitor can turn these on or off in set zones, allowing them to offer much better contrast and brightness at the expense of "blooming" or a glow around light objects on dark backgrounds. The amount of zones can make a tremendous difference in how noticeable this is, but beyond 1,100 it tends to be much less noticeable. As an added bonus, Mini-LED displays usually offer better sustained brightness than OLED panels and don't carry the same risk of burn-in.
• Refresh rate: For gaming, we recommend a minimum of 120Hz with 144Hz or more being preferred. Higher refresh rates allow the monitor to display more frames per second and lower its input latency and motion blur. This is especially beneficial for competitive shooters where milliseconds can make the difference between a win and a loss. For competitive shooters, 240Hz monitors are a good choice, though there are options that go even higher than that.
• Connectivity and supporting features: If you plan to game on a console, you'll need to ensure that the monitor supports at least HDMI 2.1 for full 4K 144Hz resolution. Other features, like Dolby Vision support, Nvidia G-Sync or AMD FreeSync support, built-in KVMs, USB hubs, speakers, and gaming features are all things to consider before pulling the trigger.

4K Gaming Monitor FAQ

Are 4K gaming monitors worth it?

While 4K gaming monitors can deliver stunning visuals and will be a good choice for many gamers, they're not the best choice for everyone by default. If your PC is aging and has an entry-level graphics card, trying to play in 4K will likely result in games with unplayably low frame rates. There's no way around the higher demand such a high resolution places on your PC.

If your system is running a mid-range GPU from this generation or a high-end GPU from last generation, there's a good chance that upgrading to 4K could make a substantial difference for the better in your gaming experience. Upscaling technology has advanced a great deal over the last several years, allowing a much wider range of hardware to play well with it. You no longer need the best system on the block just to hit 60fps. If you're using an AMD or Nvidia graphics card that falls into the range described above, it's definitely worth considering.

Is 1440p better than 4K?

1440p can be a better choice if you prefer higher frame rates over crisp visuals. Because it is much less demanding to run, it's possible to push games to higher frame rates on higher settings than is possible with 4K. However, with upscaling technologies like Nvidia DLSS and AMD Fluid Motion Frames, you no longer need a powerhouse PC to play many games at 4K. Those same technologies can push 1440p frame rates even higher, however, so it's wise to consider what you value most and what type of frame rate you hope to achieve.

Do you need an expensive graphics card to run a 4K gaming monitor?

Not necessarily. Thanks to advanced upscaling features like Nvidia DLSS and AMD Fluid Motion Frames, it's easier than ever to play games at 4K without having a top-of-the-line graphics card. If you want to play games in native 4K on ultra settings, you will still need a top-tier GPU. But, if you take advantage of either of the two technologies above, you can enjoy great visuals and frame rates with only a midrange GPU, like the AMD Radeon 7700 XT or Nvidia RTX 4070.

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

Developer Ice Code Games (Hard West II, Rogue Waters) have announced Nightmare Frontier, a tactical turn-based strategy game that's also an extraction looter. Think "XCOM meets Hunt: Showdown with a dash of Cthulhu thrown in." Check out the announcement trailer above and the first screenshots in the gallery below.

The developers describe the setup for Nightmare Frontier as follows: "The story of Nightmare Frontier unfolds in an alternate version of 19th-century America, shortly after a mysterious event that forever changed the world. The line between reality and an unknown horror has started to fade, and those who remain are left to uncover what truly happened that night – and what’s behind the titular Nightmare. The streets were overrun by monsters emerging from the dark abysses of the terror dimension – the survivors called these creatures Dreadweavers. These beings are the physical embodiment of people's deepest fears. Players will step into the shoes of the ringleader, who, despite overwhelming terror, finds a chance for survival in this new reality. Leading other scavengers, they venture deep into the city, risking everything they have left in search of loot."

Nightmare Frontier aims to mix turn-based "gun-n-slash" gameplay with gameplay-altering horror, an enticing risk-reward system, and alluring loot. Wishlist Nightmare Frontier on Steam if you're interested.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.

This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2, episode 4 and the video game The Last of Us Part 2.

The calm-yet-ruthless leader of the Washington Liberation Front was an imposing character in The Last of Us Part 2 video game. Isaac Dixon, played by the ever-fantastic Jeffrey Wright, cast a long, dark shadow over the conflict between the militaristic WLF and the religious Seraphites. But that’s largely all it was: a shadow. Isaac has very little screentime in the game, with less than a handful of scenes through which to make his required impact. The game’s restraint provides a great opportunity for HBO’s television adaptation, though, and The Last of Us season 2 leaps at the chance to delve deeper into the life of Isaac Dixon, once again played by Wright, in its strong fourth episode.

I’ve previously expressed my reservations about alterations made for the show, as I feel HBO’s depiction of Abby is an awkward half-change that only serves to weaken the story’s impact rather than strengthen the adaptation. The very opposite can be said for Isaac, who in episode four is introduced and examined across two powerful new scenes written for the show. Not only do they provide a strong introduction to Isaac for newcomers, they also open a larger window into the life of a character longtime fans have been held at arm’s length from. It’s not quite the dedicated episode treatment Bill and Frank got in season one, but it does a similar job.

Grand Theft Auto fans, there is some good news and some bad news. The good news is finally, after all these years, we have an actual day-and-date release time for GTA 6. The bad news? It’s around six months later than the ‘Fall 2025’ we were originally told. To many in the video game industry, the new date of May 26, 2026 is a welcome sigh of relief – dozens of publishers and developers of all sizes were fearful of meticulously planning their release campaigns only to later discover they’d be releasing in the same month as this herculean title. However, there are many undated heavy-hitters due to land next year that will now be frantically searching for a new date.

What’s clear is that Grand Theft Auto 6 has found itself touted as the lynchpin to the video game industry’s near future – any news on the project’s development has a huge ripple effect. So how does a six-month delay reflect a significant change in Rockstar’s corporate culture, call into question this year’s console market revenue, and potentially affect the Switch 2?

Last year, the video game industry’s total revenue hit $184.3 billion, a 0.2% increase from 2023. Contradicting analyst predictions of a slight downturn, it prompted a sigh of relief for video game manufacturers and publishers. However, in the console space, revenue dropped by 1% – and we’re already seeing the consequences. A downturn of console hardware sales combined with a heightening technology tariff war has forced prices up for both Microsoft and Sony. This generation needs a definitive console-shifting title – it needs Grand Theft Auto 6.

Research groups estimate the crime sequel to make $1 billion off pre-orders alone and $3.2 billion in its first year of launch. It took Grand Theft Auto 5 three days to make $1 billion, could it take Grand Theft Auto 6 just 24 hours? Circana analyst Mat Piscatella believes that “there’s probably never been a more important thing to ever release in the industry,” because the game’s impact will help define our understanding of the video game industry’s potential growth over the next decade. There are rumors that it could be the first-ever $100 video game, making it a new watershed moment for the industry. That new benchmark could give the industry the shot-in-the-arm growth many analysts say it needs. However, it’s also possible Grand Theft Auto 6 is simply too much of a monolithic outlier to create progress outside of itself.

In 2018, Rockstar Games had a publicity crisis on its hands. Reports of 100 hour weeks alongside formerly mandatory overtime whilst developing Red Dead Redemption 2, plus former and current employees speaking on intense crunch periods stemming from Grand Theft Auto 4, painted a stark picture of one of gaming’s titans. Since then, the company has reportedly undergone an internal reinvention of sorts – according to a Bloomberg report, contractors being converted to full-time employees and a ‘flexitime’ policy enabling workers to take time off for every hour of overtime worked are just two of the many more compassionate policies enacted. Earlier this year, Rockstar’s old reputation threatened to rear its head as staff were made to return to the office five days a week to close out Grand Theft Auto 6’s development – a move which makes the reason behind the delay pretty clear. Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier confirmed as much on BlueSky, explaining that his own Rockstar sources said that there’s “Too much work, not enough time, and what appears to be a real desire from management to avoid brutal crunch.” Rockstar can’t properly deliver a game that will change the video gaming world if it slips back into old habits; while the delay is disappointing to those playing, it’s undeniably a huge relief to those developing.

If you’re a publisher, releasing your game at the same time as Grand Theft Auto 6 is akin to throwing a bucket of water into a tsunami. Discussing the formerly scheduled ‘Fall 2025’ release window, a report by The Game Business highlighted how such a nebulous date was affecting publishers worldwide. One studio boss called Rockstar’s game “a huge meteor and we’ll just have to stay clear of the blast zone,” while another questioned “if we move out of 2025, what if Rockstar do, too?” (An unsurprisingly predictive worry). We even have the likes of EA CEO Andrew Wilson implicitly commenting on the game’s looming shadow in the context of the new Battlefield, citing “some things happening in the year that may cause us to think differently about our launch timing.”

However, huge releases don’t always overshadow those around them. Despite launching at the same time as Bethesda’s Oblivion remake, Kepler Interactive’s original RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 still sold over one million copies in just three days, with senior portfolio manager Matt Handrahan even joking that it was the video game industry’s Barbenheimer moment. It’s hard to believe such a moment can exist for Grand Theft Auto 6, of course, and so it goes unsaid that such a quirky idea will not be part of any publisher’s campaign plans. Don’t expect a Grand Theft Fable moment in 2026.

Currently, it’s unclear to what extent the new May 26, 2026 release date will shake up the plans of other publishers and developers. There are still many heavy-hitter titles that are undated including the likes of Fable, Gears of War: E-Day, EA’s new Battlefield title, Mass Effect spiritual successor Exodus and more. There will certainly be some developers now scrambling to change their internal release date plans, but the wider public will be none the wiser. However, this flag planting by Rockstar no doubt means that developers and publishers will feel more confident in announcing their release plans to the world. But they might want to hold on a minute.

It seems very unlikely that this will be the final date for Grand Theft Auto 6 for two reasons. Both Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 were subject to two date delays, with the first delay being to the second quarter of the next year, followed by a second delay to the third quarter of that same year. Right now, Grand Theft Auto 6 is replicating that exact same timeline, delayed from Fall 2025 to May 2026, so one more delay to October/November 2026 seems a reasonably educated prediction.

That October/November window seems even more likely when you consider the potential for both Microsoft and Sony to create a new console bundle including the crime sequel, which will surely shoot up sales around the holiday period. Sony sold 6.4 million PlayStation 4s during October - December 2014, more than double the consoles they sold between April and September of that year. Of course there would have been the classic Christmas boost, but what else happened in that time frame? Grand Theft Auto 5 released on PS4.

What could be the bigger surprise, though , is that Nintendo may be one of the parties most affected by this delay. Recently, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick pledged full support for the Switch 2, leading fans to speculate about if Grand Theft Auto 6 may also be eyeing a Switch 2 launch. Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy’s Definitive Edition saw a surprise launch onto the Nintendo Switch, so there’s precedent for an adult franchise on a typically family-friendly console. Many believed the Switch technology wasn’t powerful enough to run a game like Grand Theft Auto, however last year modders released a video showing off an in-progress port of GTA 5 running on Switch using the game’s leaked source code. While it does seem unlikely that Nintendo would have factored Grand Theft Auto 6 into the Switch’s first-year success, there’s a clear, strong relationship between publisher Take-Two and Nintendo that shouldn’t be ignored. When looking at the console market as part of the overall video game industry, Nintendo is still a huge part of that no matter how much of an island they may seem. The Nintendo Switch was still host to an array of generation-defining games including The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption, Metal Gear Solid, Crysis and more. And with Cyberpunk 2077 arriving on Switch 2 at launch, complete with its current gen-only Phantom Liberty expansion, we shouldn’t ignore the potential for “miracle” ports.

What’s clear is that there is a hell of a lot riding on Grand Theft Auto 6. Many different head honchos of the video game industry, from studio heads to chief analysts, believe that this generation-defining game will be the one to break the industry’s growth stagnation. It’s hard to deny the global feverish demand and anticipation for a game that has effectively been in the works for over a decade. There are impossibly high expectations on the teams at Rockstar Games to deliver something that not only single-handedly restores the video game industry back to its pre-pandemic growth, but also presents an entirely new kind of video game experience that will become the new benchmark for developers and publishers moving forward. Rockstar only has one shot to get this right – what’s six more months after 13 years?

Sab Astley is a freelance writer who has written for IGN, Polygon, TotalFilm, Rolling Stone, Radio Times, and Metro UK.