Welcome back to a Tuesday filled with hidden treasure. If you’ve been meaning to bulk up your pile of shame without gutting your wallet, now’s a stellar time to do it. Across Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, today’s crop of digital (and physical) discounts is stacked with bangers. Grab 'em while they're hot and set yourself up for a memorable holiday.

This Day in Gaming 🎂

In retro news, I'm celebrating the 15th birthday of Patapon 3, a PSP great and the highest point of an all-time franchise. Best described as a musical RPG where four-beat patterns and rhythmic button taps produce heroism, Patapon 3's catchy-arse songs still live rent free in my head a decade-and-a-half later.

• Sonic Frontiers (-53%) - A$47
• Joy-Con Pair Blue/Yellow (-26%) - A$89
• Burnout Paradise Rem. (-84%) - A$6
• Mortal Kombat 1 (-64%) - A$21
• Sonic Forces (-29%) - A$42
• Apollo Justice Tril. (-24%) - A$58

Expiring Recent Deals

• Neon White (-40%) - A$20
• Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes (-50%) - A$39
• Persona 5 Royal (-35%) - A$64
• Burnout Paradise Remastered (-25%) - A$29
• Fez (-66%) - A$7
• NFS Hot Pursuit Rem. (-80%) - A$11
• Batman: Arkham Tril. (-60%) - A$35

Or gift a Nintendo eShop Card.

Back to top

Although it may not be a household name like Netflix or Hulu, Sling TV has played an important role in the streaming wars as it became the first service to offer live TV when it was unveiled back in 2015. Since then, it's positioned itself as a great low-cost alternative to a traditional cable subscription that offers its subscribers dozens of popular channels, a DVR service, and the ability to watch at home or on the go on up to three devices. Check out the full rundown below to learn more about Sling TV including which channels it includes, available sports (like MLB games), and how much it will run you per month.

What Is Sling TV?

Sling TV is a subscription-based live TV service that offers a number of popular channels, live sports, news, and more, with no long-term commitment. It's a popular first choice for cord cutters since it's more affordable than some of the bigger names in live TV streaming such as YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV, and features different plans that cater to specific interests instead of a one-size-fits-all approach to its content lineup. All plans include 50 hours of DVR, which allows you to record live TV and your favorite shows and movies to watch later.

One notable difference (and much of the reason Sling TV is a less expensive option) is that it doesn't include local channels such as ABC, CBS, and NBC. Instead, Sling recommends you pair your subscription with an HD antenna (sold separately) to receive your local channels.

Sling TV is available on just about every device including Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV devices, PS5, PS4, Xbox consoles, select Samsung, LG, and Vizio smart TVs, Google TV, Xfinity devices, TiVo, and more.

Does Sling TV Have a Free Trial?

Amazon is currently offering a SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless gaming headset starting at only $257.55 shipped. The least expensive model is the Xbox edition in White. The Xbox edition is the only one that will work with the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. The PS5 edition is also on sale, but for $269.99, and it won't work with the Xbox console. The Nova Pro is our top rated gaming headset of 2025; I've personally use headset on a daily basis for the past few years and love it.

SteelSeries Nova Pro Wireless Gaming Headset for $258

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of the biggest RPGs out there. While there are many iconic items and locations in the game, perhaps none comes close to the Dragonborn Helmet worn by your character. For a limited time at IGN Store, you can pre-order this brand new Dragonborn Helmet Replica from Fanattik. If you're a huge fan of Skyrim or just looking for a new item for your gaming collection, the Dragonborn Helmet is the perfect choice!

Pre-Order The Elder Scrolls V: Skryrim Dragonborn Helmet Today at IGN Store

Astro Bot fans have all heard the story of the creation of the sponge power-up, but did you know developer Team Asobi also prototyped even wackier powers, like a coffee grinder and a roulette wheel?

We didn't, until IGN attended GDC 2025, where Team Asobi studio director Nicolas Doucet gave a talk simply titled, "The Making of 'ASTRO BOT'". In his talk, Doucet went in-depth on the process of creating the PlayStation mascot platformer, including showing off a number of early prototype images and cut content.

Doucet began his talk by talking about the initial pitch for Astro Bot, which was written in May 2021, just a few months after Team Asobi began prototyping it. According to him, there were 23 different revisions of the pitch before it was shown to top management. Their pitch was apparently initially given as an adorable comic strip showing off the main pillars and activities of the game. Clearly, it was a success.

Whether you’re quitting your office job to grow a farm in Stardew Valley or setting aside your warrior days to work at a tea shop in Wanderstop, sometimes you just want to take a break and embrace a simpler way of living. I didn’t expect to find this same sense of cozy escapism in a game about manufacturing and selling drugs in a grimy city, but with Schedule 1, that’s exactly what I got. Instead of the GTA-like chaotic romp through the criminal underworld I anticipated, I found myself peacefully packaging homegrown ganja into tiny baggies, building bonds with my local community by handing out free samples, and experimenting with new and novel narcotic recipes while my expanding drug empire flourished. The 40 hours it took me to perfect my dope dealings did have some downers mixed in with the uppers though, as I encountered plenty of bugs and an unfinished endgame as of this Early Access launch – both signs Schedule 1 is still getting baked. But I overwhelmingly enjoyed my surprisingly zen time as a friendly neighborhood poison pusher regardless, and can’t wait to see how it continues to evolve.

This goofy, first-person management sim asks you to turn your burgeoning small business of peddling drugs into a massive enterprise that employs dozens of hardworking chemists, botanists, and dealers. After finding yourself down on your luck in an unfamiliar city, you do the only thing your scoundrel of a main character has ever been good at: slinging that OG kush, of course. What starts out as a solo operation where you’re growing maryjane in a crummy hotel room can eventually become a fully automated manufacturing and distribution process that moves large volumes of high quality narcotics. As you spread the tendrils of your illicit venture throughout the city, you’ll meet and build relationships with the extremely impressionable locals, learning their pharmaceutical preferences and supplying their fix, which unlocks new dealers to help push your product and suppliers who can hook you up with new raw materials – and that process of building stacks of cash and finding ways to improve, expand, and optimize your business operations is as satisfying as any of the best management sims I’ve played.

Running around town expanding your network by introducing yourself (and your product) to the locals, then converting them into repeat customers who text you for their next hit, is habit forming in more ways than one. And since you can improve your chances of converting a stranger into an ongoing customer by understanding the high they’re looking for and cooking up something to match that preference, you’re encouraged to try out daring mixtures back home to see what new flavors you can concoct. Maybe mixing adderall from the local gas station with crystal meth will result in an energizing product, or perhaps mixing your fancy purple cannabis with *checks notes* horse semen will be a good idea? Amusingly, the names of the resulting product variants seem to be randomly generated by mashing two vaguely drug-sounding words together, so you could end up selling a product called Dream Queef or Aspen Smegma – juvenile humor, I know, but just dumb enough to fit well with Schedule 1’s extremely silly vibe.

Even repetitive tasks like harvesting reefer and packaging it into little jars for distribution are oddly enjoyable. Watering crops, mixing ingredients, and breaking a freshly baked tray of crystal all feel really satisfying and lulled me into a contented meditative state that almost made me forget I was committing numerous felonies. Eventually though, you’ll develop the means to automate a lot of this and effectively never have to touch the production pipeline with your own two hands ever again, except to sell those goods (and even that you can mostly offload to your subordinate dealers). This is where Schedule 1 dips its toes into automation found in the likes of Satisfactory – a pivot that replaces the quiet meditation of bagging hemp with becoming an efficiency obsessed floor manager that appealed to my love of logistics.

What’s unexpectedly absent from this felonious undertaking is any kind of pushback from law enforcement, who act as a flimsy guardrail to keep you from doing your dealings out in the open more than anything else. They’ll set up street barricades that you can simply walk around, or try to arrest you if you deal drugs right in front of them – but they are woefully unequipped to actually catch you as they run slowly, won’t shoot you, and give up the chase almost as soon as you disappear around a corner. This seems to be an intentional move to keep things light while maintaining the illusion of your actions having real stakes, but you’ll never actually find yourself at risk of exposure. The cops don’t bust down the doors to your very obvious drug facilities, even if they see you run away inside them, and there aren’t any rival gangs or saboteurs to worry about breaking up your operations.

Theoretically, you could buy a gun and decide to go on a rampage around town harassing the cops, but you’re given no incentive to do so, and Schedule 1 seems to make you go out of your way to play this way if you want to. In fact, I never even got close to getting myself arrested, and never found any use for the baseball bat or revolver I had in my safehouse. I kept waiting for things to take a horribly violent turn, but as of now, that doesn’t appear to be the focus of Schedule 1, and I’d say it’s all the better for it.

Instead, you spend your time indoors harmoniously tending to your garden of hallucinogenic flora and cheerfully skateboarding around town to deliver your goods, and the surreal dichotomy between Schedule 1’s subject matter and how tranquil it feels to actually play never stops being hilarious. Honestly, it has a whole lot more in common with Animal Crossing than GTA, except instead of playing as a villager indebted to a malevolent raccoon, you’re the one putting the unenviable financial squeeze on your neighbors, like an entrepreneurial Walter White shouting “I am the one who Nooks.” You can even make your cozy schemes collaborative by inviting a friend to join you in co-op to help out around town! What’s more heartwarming than you and a buddy dealing bricks of cocaine on the streets together?

The main issue with Schedule 1 is a familiar one for many Early Access games, which is that I ran out of things to do somewhat quickly. After unlocking the last of the three currently available base drug types with about 20 hours of optimizing my business, I didn’t have a whole lot to shoot for other than stockpiling stacks of cash with nothing meaningful to spend it on. Sure, I could buy a better skateboard, a car to drive around in, or some legitimate businesses to launder my money through, but there’s little reason to do so beyond vanity after a certain point. Presumably, there will eventually be some kind of endgame added with more reasons to keep playing, but I was able to unlock all the properties, dealers, and suppliers that are here now in short order, then spent the rest of my time just grinding – until I took a look at the progression menu and saw there wasn’t anything in the latter half of it yet. The minimal story about your colleague showing you the ropes of becoming a drug kingpin drops off after a while as well.

In the same Early Access vein, Schedule 1 also has bugs, performance issues, and some of the other usual jankiness you’d expect, though none of it is particularly egregious – in fact, I’d say this is actually fairly above average compared to the many the work-in-progress games I’ve reviewed. I ran into some framerate issues and had my dealers bug out and stop selling product until I reset the world twice, but most of these problems were pretty minor and had minimal impact on the glee I felt while pulling off my criminal dealings.

Starting this week, Dell is offering a Dell Tower Plus gaming PC equipped with a GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super graphics card for only $1,649.99 with free shipping. This PC can comfortably run games at up to 4K resolution, and it's considerably less expensive than a RTX 5070 Ti prebuilt, which would cost you well over $2,000 no matter where you buy it from.

Dell Tower Plus RTX 4070 Ti Super Gaming PC for $1,649.99

If you're looking for a larger capacity power bank at an affordable price, then check out this new deal from Amazon. Right now you can get the Iniu 20,000mAh 22.5W Power Bank for only $11.99 after you clip the 50% off coupon on the product page and apply coupon code "UDC86U7K". A 20,000mAh power bank at this price is uncommon, especially one that can also deliver up to 22.5W of power over USB Type-C (enough to fast charge a Nintendo Switch). Iniu power banks have solid reviews and are less expensive than equivalent Anker models.

Iniu 20,000mAh Power Bank for $11.99

Anthony Mackie believes Avengers: Doomsday – in which he will reprise his role as Sam Wilson/Captain America – is “going to give the audience that old Marvel feeling that they always had.”

While chatting with Mackie today about the upcoming second season of Peacock’s Twisted Metal, I asked the actor when he starts filming Doomsday. “Yeah, man, we're kicking on down the road, so everybody's getting excited and we're getting the band back together,” said Mackie.

“We're supposed to go out this week and we'll be out there doing it. Everybody's excited. I feel with the script and having the Russo brothers back, it's going to be great.” Mackie added, “I'm really excited for what this project is going to be. It's going to give the audience that old Marvel feeling that they always had.”

“That old Marvel feeling” is probably exactly what fans are hoping for from Avengers: Doomsday given the lukewarm reactions from both critics and audiences to the MCU’s Phase Five, including Mackie’s own recent outing, Captain America: Brave New World, which underperformed at the box office.

Mackie is the latest Doomsday cast member to go on the record about the upcoming Marvel epic following Ant-Man’s Paul Rudd and Human Torch’s Joseph Quinn.

In addition to Mackie, Rudd and Quinn, the Avengers: Doomsday cast includes Robert Downey Jr. (Doctor Doom), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Vanessa Kirby (Invisible Woman), Pedro Pascal (Mister Fantastic), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Thing), Letitia Wright (Shuri / Black Panther), Winston Duke (M'Baku), Tenoch Huerta Mejía (Namor), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Danny Ramirez (Joaquin Torres / Falcon), Sebastian Stan (Winter Solder), Wyatt Russell (John Walker / U.S. Agent), Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), Lewis Pullman (Robert Reynolds / Sentry), David Harbour (Red Guardian), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost), Kelsey Grammer (Beast), Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), and James Marsden (Cyclops).

And while that’s certainly an epic lineup of talent, it’s notable which Avengers and X-Men characters are not in Doomsday (well, at least so far) while also begging the question how many minutes of screen time can each Avenger actually get.

For more on Avengers: Doomsday, check out the fan theories produced by a recent set photo leak and the 75 Marvel comics that Doomsday will pull from.

The PlayStation Portal has never been discounted, but at least you can save on a used one. Amazon Resale (a rebranded Amazon Warehouse) currently has Used: Like New condition PS Portals in stock for only $148 shipped. It retails for $199 new, so that's a substantial 26% in savings. A Sony warranty may or may not be included, but Amazon Resale items benefit from the same 30-day return policy you get for buying a new item. We expect this item to sell out pretty quickly.

Update: Price has dropped to $150.23, the lowest we've seen for a Used: Like New unit.

PlayStation Portal (Used: Like New) for $148

Make sure to select the "Save with Used - Like New" option

Streaming has gotten expensive. We're no longer living in the era of subscribing to a single streaming service and getting almost everything. The biggest streamers like Netflix, Disney+, and Max all have exclusive content that you can only watch by subscribing. Realistically, the only way to cut down the cost of your streaming bill each month while still being able to watch your favorite shows is to bundle your services together.

The overall best streaming bundle right now is the Disney+, Hulu, and Max bundle. This option, which starts as low as $16.99 with ads included, combines all three services into one subscription. This saves you quite a bit of money while letting you watch some of the best new shows on streaming: Daredevil: Born Again and The Last of Us Season 2. Here are all of the details you need to know about this bundle in 2025.

How to Get the Disney+/Hulu/Max Bundle

LEGO enthusiasts, here's a massive Star Wars set to add your collection at its lowest price ever. Amazon is currently offering the massive LEGO UCS Star Wars The Razor Crest 75331 for only $439.99 with free shipping after a 27% off instant discount (it's normally $600). This is the best deal so for in 2025 on a coveted Ultimate Collector Series set.

$160 Off LEGO UCS Star Wars The Razor Crest

After a small leak last week, EA has confirmed the title of its next Star Wars game, as well as who's making it. It's called Star Wars: Zero Company, and it's being developed by Bit Reactor with support from Lucasfilm Games and Respawn.

Hulu has been around for a while and, for our money, it's one of the absolute best streaming services available. From great movies like Anatomy of a Fall and Prey to excellent television series like the Golden Globe-winning Shogun, Abbott Elementary, and The Handmaid's Tale there is always something awesome to watch. Oscar Best Picture winner Anora is also now available to stream on the service, so there's no better time than now to get set up with a plan.

Below, we've detailed all of the best Hulu deals and bundles so you can get started on your streaming adventures with its library right away. This includes the Hulu, Disney+, and Max streaming bundle, which starts at just $16.99/month and is currently the best value available for the streaming services following the Disney Plus and Hulu price hikes. To see even more streaming deals, make sure to check out our roundups of the best Disney Plus deals and the best Max deals.

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

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

Hulu deal for students — Get Hulu (With Ads) for just $1.99/month

If you're a student enrolled in a university (a US Title IV accredited college or university, per Hulu's website), you can sign up for Hulu (With Ads) for $1.99 a month. That's an excellent deal if you're a student, saving you $8 on the usual monthly price.

Hulu subscription tiers

Hulu: Bundle to Best

If you want a more affordable option when it comes to a Hulu subscription, you can't go wrong with a bundle, and Hulu has several to choose from:

• Hulu + Live TV (With Ads) — Hulu + Live TV (With Ads) is $82.99/month and includes Disney+ and ESPN+. It also gives you access to more than 75 channels with live TV and unlimited DVR functionality. The Hulu + Live TV plan also has a three-day free trial to test out the service.
• Hulu + Live TV (Ad-Free) — The ad-free version of Hulu+Live TV is $95.99/month and comes with ad-free versions of Hulu and Disney Plus, although ESPN still shows ads.
• Disney+, Hulu Bundle Basic — This is the most economic bundle. It will set you back $10.99/month and comes with subscriptions to Disney+ and Hulu. It lets you stream on multiple devices at once and comes with ad-supported versions of both Disney+ and Hulu.
• Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ Bundle Basic — This bundle adds ESPN+ into the mix alongside Disney+ and Hulu, bumping up the price to $16.99/month. You can also download and watch select content on ESPN+ at this level.
• Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ Bundle Premium — This bundle is $26.99/month and comes with ESPN+ (with ads) and ad-free versions of Disney+ and Hulu. You can also download select content across all three streaming services.

What can you watch on Hulu?

There is a bonkers amount of shows and movies you can watch on Hulu. Let's start at the top and simply talk about the verticals on offer with the base subscription, because if we also talk about what is available via Disney+, ESPN+, or live TV, we'll be here forever. (You can also sync up Hulu with Max to gain access to things like Succession and House of the Dragon.)

Here's what you get:

• Network and Hulu Original television shows (AMC, Adult Swim, ABC, A&E, FX, etc.)
• Movies (HBO, Hulu Originals, anime films, etc.)
• Sports (NHL, Soccer, MLB, Auto Racing, NFL, College Football, PGA, Tennis, etc.)
• News (ABC News Live, Good Morning America, World News Tonight, 20/20, The View, etc.)

Hulu television

Hulu has some amazing shows, both those that are finished and many which are ongoing. For comedy, there are plenty of options to choose from, including New Girl, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, What We Do In The Shadows, Modern Family, Cougar Town, Broad City, Abbott Elementary, and so much more.

There are also some big Hulu originals to watch, including The Bear, The Old Man, The Handmaid's Tale, and Only Murders In The Building.

As far as animated fare, there are modern adult classics like Rick and Morty and Bob's Burgers, as well as Futurama, Family Guy, and King of the Hill. Anime staples like Cowboy Bebop are also available. And if you want to bring more youth-friendly fun, Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, Adventure Time, and Curious George are just a small sample of what Hulu has available.

The future of Hulu

Hulu isn't going anywhere. As a matter of fact, beyond it being awarded the best streaming service by us and receiving a 9/10 in our updated Hulu review, it was bought in full by Disney in November 2023 and the House of Mouse has created a one-app experience for those bundling Hulu and Disney+. With an FX partnership, Hulu is also home to those shows, including the latest drama miniseries, Shogun.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.

Original story from Brian Barnett.

Samsung's newest SSD - the Samsung 990 Evo Plus PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe solid state drive - is on sale today. Pick up the 2TB model for $129.99 or, if you can swing it, the 4TB model is also discounted to $259.99. It's currently $40-$70 cheaper than the Samsung 990 Pro and most (if not all) gamers won't notice the difference in performance.

Samsung 990 Evo Plus 2TB PS5 SSD for $129.99

4TB for $259.99

Looking to get into virtual reality? Meta Quest 3 represents a significant step forward in virtual reality (VR) and a great starting point for everyone. The Meta Quest 3S also offers a cheaper price tag for the model, making it an easier starting point for your wallet, too. It's the best way to get into VR, and even offers exciting exclusive games like the Batman Arkham Shadow game, which requires a Meta Quest 3 or 3S to play.

We're keeping an eye out on any Meta Quest discounts as they appear. At the moment, you can score a great deal on a Meta Quest 3S (both the 128GB and 256GB models) with $30 off, which we've listed below. You'll also get a copy of Batman: Arkham Shadow and a three-month trial of Meta Quest+ for free with your purchase, which is a great bonus.

Meta Quest 3S Deals

Best Meta Quest 3 Deals and Bundles

Best Meta Quest 3 Accessory Deals

In addition to the hardware itself, there are some great Meta Quest 3 accessory deals at the moment. You'll get the most bang for your buck with a battery-equipped head strap that adds both comfort and playtime to your VR experience.

What Games Are Available on Meta Quest 3?

Eight years after Batman: Arkham Knight, Warner Bros. announced the newest installment in the series: Batman: Arkham Shadow. This VR game is exclusive to the Meta Quest 3 and is developed by Camouflaj, - the creator of the Iron Man VR game - and Oculus Studios, in collaboration with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC. It's arguably the headset's best game, and a must for fans of the caped crusader.

Beyond a virtual reality trip to Gotham, there are many, many other games to play on the Meta Quest. We have a handy list of all the available games on the VR headset via IGN Playlist. Highlights include Asgard’s Wrath 2, Assassin's Creed Nexus, Metal Hellsinger VR, and Metro Awakening.

Batman: Arkham Shadow Is Great

In case you're wondering whether a new Batman: Arkham game works in VR, the answer is "yes." While it was develped by Camouflaj rather than series creator Rocksteady, it offers almost all of what fans of the core series appreciate about it.

Our Batman: Arkham Shadow review explains: "Batman: Arkham Shadow does an admirable job of adapting almost everything I love about the Arkham series to work in a full-fledged VR game, and it’s impressive looking for a game that’s exclusive to the standalone Meta Quest 3 headset. There are a few hitches and aggravating bugs that mean some parts don’t work quite as well as others, but its vigorous brawling, exploration, tricky puzzle solving, and stealth are all in full effect as you sneak and punch your way through Blackgate prison in a twisting undercover pursuit of a mysterious cult leader where just about everybody’s a suspect. It’s certainly smaller in scale than any full game since Arkham Asylum, but it’s far larger and more built-out than you might expect after Batman: Arkham VR, and a return to an enclosed prison setting makes it feel dense and intricate."

What Types of Deals Are There on Meta Quest VR Headsets?

Meta Quest offers usually fall into three kinds of discounts. Events such as the holiday season, Prime Day, Black Friday and announcements of newer models tend to push prices down, alongside:

• Discounts: Direct price reductions are the most common deals, especially during major sales events or as part of clearance sales, to make room for newer models.
• Bundles: Occasionally, retailers bundle a Meta Quest with popular VR games or essential accessories such as additional controllers, charging docks, or travel cases. These bundles provide extra value and enhance the VR experience out of the box.
• Refurbished Units: These units have been returned and restored to like-new condition. They typically come at a reduced price and include a warranty, offering a way to save money without compromising on quality too much.

What to Consider Before Buying a Meta Quest VR Headset

Unfortunately, virtual reality isn't for everyone. Those with severe eye health issues or those who suffer from motion sickness might have problems using this particular bit of kit. Here are some more points to consider:

• Compatibility: Ensure any additional accessories or hardware purchases are compatible.
• Space Requirements: VR gaming requires physical movement, so ensure you have adequate space to use the device safely.
• Future Models: Make sure to check out the features and specs on newer models before buying older ones to ensure it's a good fit.

We're keeping track of all things VR on the dedicated IGN VR hub, including the latest game releases. We're also keeping the VR hardware market on lockdown with our best VR headsets guide, which is worth a look for those who want to shell out on the latest VR tech.

Christian Wait is a UK-based freelancer for IGN, you can follow him @ChrisReggieWait on Twitter/X.

Includes contributions from Robert Anderson and Hannah Hoolihan.

The Nintendo Switch 2 versions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are getting a few upgrades, and one of them looks to be a way to repair equipment.

As spotted in the recent Nintendo Treehouse Live stream by YouTuber Zeltik, the Zelda Notes app—a mobile companion app exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2 versions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom—has a Daily Bonus feature. When the user opens this up, they can roll for a number of in-game bonuses, including helpful meal effects, health and stamina recovery, and one labeled Equipment Repairs.

Both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom use durability meters, where weapons, shields, and other items will break after enough uses. It's been a controversial mechanic, so having a workaround for keeping your favorite Flameblade intact certainly has its appeal.

For those worried about this completely changing the game though, there is at least one notable limitation: chance. The Daily Bonus uses a roulette wheel to randomly select which bonus the player gets, so it's not guaranteed to always hand you an Equipment Repair. The bonus is also daily, with a built-in timer you'll have to wait on until your next spin. While this may be extremely effective in a pinch, it's unlikely to become a massive game-changer.

The Zelda Notes app looks to have many other interesting features alongside some free Equipment Repairs. Both Zelda games are also getting their own form of achievements through the mobile companion program, and special audio memories will add new lore and background to different parts of Hyrule.

These additional upgrades certainly seem like they'll enhance the open-world Zelda experience, alongside the performance improvements, especially for people who really disliked breaking their favorite weapons.

For more, read up here on how the Nintendo Switch 2 is improving on certain Switch 1 games.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Warner Bros. and HBO have confirmed the first six cast members set to deliver new takes on classic Hogwarts teachers in the upcoming Harry Potter series.

The lineup was officially revealed today following months of theories about how the Wizarding World retelling will offer an updated look at Harry, Hermione, and Ron’s story. This first official look at the cast includes John Lithgow (Conclave, Dexter), who had previously spilled the beans that he’d be playing Albus Dumbledore, along with other names that have either been heavily rumored or speculated about for the last few months.

Two faces that fans shouldn’t be too surprised to see included are Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz), who will appear as Rubeus Hagrid, and Paapa Essiedu (I May Destroy You, Black Mirror), who has been tapped to play Severus Snape. Rounding out the group are Janet McTeer (Me Before You, The Menu) as Minerva McGonagall, Luke Thallon (The Favourite, Present Laughter) as Quirinus Quirrell, and Paul Whitehouse (The Fast Show, Alice Through the Looking Glass) as Argus Filch.

With the weather getting warmer, Best Buy is throwing a little Spring Sale to celebrate the seasonal shift. While there are plenty of great tech deals included in the sale event, it's the selection of video game deals that caught our eye. The retailer is offering some great discounts on a wide variety of games for PlayStation, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch, including Silent Hill 2 for PS5 (down to $49.99), Alan Wake 2 Deluxe Edition for Xbox Series X (down to $44.99), and Sonic X Shadow Generations for Nintendo Switch (down to $39.99).

Some games are even marked down 50% right now at the retailer, like Star Wars Outlaws and Unicorn Overlord, and some have been discounted even further. It's a real springtime treat if you've been looking to stock up on some new games to play this year. We've included just a few of our favorites below, but to see the full list of available games, check out Best Buy's sale page here.

Best Buy’s Spring Sale Video Game Deals

These aren't the only gaming deals that have crossed our radar at Best Buy, though. At the moment you can also score a great deal on the Meta Quest 3S VR headset (with similar deals available at Amazon and Target). Both the 128GB model and the 256GB one have received a $30 discount, which is worth taking advantage of if you've been waiting for a good time to jump into VR.

To see even more of the best gaming deals at the moment, have a look through our individual roundups of the best PlayStation deals, the best Xbox deals, and the best Nintendo Switch deals. In each of these we've highlighted the best discounts on games, hardware, and accessories that we've found. Our overall breakdown of the best video game deals also shows off some great PC gaming deals we've come across alongside our favorite PS5, Xbox, and Switch deals.

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

Long before Bethesda took the reins of the series and Walton Goggins smeared on the ghoul make-up for his spellbinding turn in its adapted TV show, Fallout was an isometric action RPG viewed from a bird’s eye perspective. It’s that classic style of wasteland-wandering that the upcoming Survive the Fall appears to be using as its reference point, at least if the first few hours of the game I got my hands on are anything to go by. This deadly post-apocalyptic tale of survival builds on the original Fallout’s template – quite literally in the case of its robust camp development system – and its squad-based combat and scavenging help it craft an experience that feels fresh, even if the somewhat static story presentation prevents its personality from totally shining through.

Unlike so many other post-apocalypses, Survive the Fall’s ruined world wasn’t caused by man’s own nuclear negligence. Instead, it seems that humanity got a dose of the sort of disaster that made the dinosaurs drop dead, when a comet collided with the earth and wiped out a significant slice of the world’s population. It also left a smoldering crater that leaks a toxic mist called Stasis, and those who survived either avoid it like the interplanetary plague it is or embrace it, absorbing its otherworldly power to mutate into stronger forms at the expense of their own humanity. Throughout Survive the Fall, your growing squad of scavengers must build bonds with the various factions found scattered around its three biomes in order to survive and thrive, from the Stasis-huffing Shroomers to the mysterious cult known only as the Sighted.

As I undertook each new task from Survive the Fall’s countless quest-givers, I took an instant liking to its squad-based setup. As you steer your party of up to three survivors around the sprawling national park area that serves as the setting for the beginning of the story, you can either manually search through abandoned chests for chemical compounds or chop down trees for lumber, or you can just tap a button to delegate the gruntwork to one of your cohorts allowing you to divert your attention elsewhere. It just feels more natural to divide each task up rather than forcing you to be hands-on with everything yourself while your AI companions stand around like bored children, and it speeds up the process of ransacking each settlement you come across. The only downside is that my view did become a little cluttered with button prompts anytime there were a number of interactive elements bunched together too closely in the environment, but thankfully those occasions were rare.

Combat is also team-based. I tended to approach each encounter with the various marauders and ghouls with stealth as my priority, given that rifle and shotgun ammunition seemed so scarce at least in this early part of Survive the Fall’s story. Thus I treated each infiltration of an enemy camp not unlike a careful stalk through the recent Commandos: Origins – hiding in long grass, throwing stones to create distractions, crouch-walking around the clearly marked enemy vision cones and finally slitting their throats before ordering one of my post-apocalyptic pals to hide the body for me. There are also some satisfying environmental hazards to take advantage of, from obligatory explosive barrels to dangling cargo pallets that can be dropped onto a patrolling guard with a well-timed rifle shot.

It felt good to carefully clear out each cluster of cultists, but during the instances that my cover was blown things did get a little bit fiddly once the firearms were drawn. I suspect there would have been a bit more precision offered with mouse and keyboard, but with a controller I found it overly fussy to get a bead on an enemy’s bonce using the lasersight, and more often than not resorted to hammering the melee attack and dodge move to chip away at their health bars in close quarters. Thankfully I was at least able to make good use of the ability to pause the action and direct my squadmates to focus on certain targets – reminiscent of similar systems in Wasteland or Mutant Year Zero – relying on them to wear down the beefier cult leaders while I mopped up the flamethrower-toting support crew.

After a hard day’s mutant-murdering and loot-harvesting out in its deadly badlands, Survive the Fall shifts gears into a base-building management sim back at your camp. Documents recovered out in the world can be researched in order to earn knowledge points, which can then be invested in a sizable technology tree to unlock the ability to craft everything from bunk beds and kitchen areas to water filtration systems or even an armoury. Resources like timber can be crafted into planks which are then assembled into frames for new structures like plant boxes or gates to block nighttime raiders, while foraged herbs or meat salvaged from wolves and deer can be prepared into meals and stuffed into the backpacks of whichever group of adventurers you choose to send out on your next expedition. There seems to be quite a lot of depth here, and I can definitely see myself spending a considerable amount of time transforming my settlement from rusty rubble to cozy bubble in the finished game.

Outside of my own base I found a number of intriguing areas to explore. From a crashed passenger plane that had been converted into an enemy fort to a farmstead that was crawling with Stasis-infected ghouls, Survive the Fall seemed to reward me with distinct locales in any direction I pointed my compass in. The impressive level of detail in some of these areas was also to its detriment, however, such as the swamplands of Mycorrhiza which dazzled with luminescent mushroom clusters but also dragged with a framerate that was more volatile than any of the toxic substances oozing from the earth. It was also plagued by the occasional game-breaking bug, and on a handful of occasions during my play session I was forced to quit and reload my save after getting stuck in an inventory screen or building menu. Thankfully there’s still another month or so before Survive the Fall’s release for developer Angry Bulls Studio to optimise the performance further.

That’s probably not quite enough time to draft in actors to record lines of dialogue, though, and that’s a slight shame because interacting with your squad or the various NPCs you meet along the way feels a little flat when it’s done exclusively via onscreen text. Although I did get a few laughs out of the odd character here and there – particularly from a quirky character named Blooper who referred to the Stasis smog as “fart wind” – much of my conversations just served to cue up the next fetch quest rather than really give me any lasting impressions of each faction member I met.

Perhaps the bonds will deepen over the course of the full journey, and we won’t have to wait long to find out. Survive the Fall is due for release on PC this May and it’s full of post-apocalyptic potential. Assuming that the existing rough edges found on its controls and performance can be polished up by then this could well be a survival-based action RPG worthy of your hard-earned bottlecaps.

Tristan Ogilvie is a senior video editor based in IGN's Sydney office. He can occassionally be found wandering the wasteland of social media here.