It's often said that Jaws created the modern summer blockbuster movie. However, one thing the original film didn't create was a huge merchandising empire. Jaws hit theaters in 1975, a couple of years before Star Wars really cemented the idea of bombarding fans with action figures and various other collectibles. Even 50 years later, there's an almost surprising lack of Jaws-themed toys and collectibles on the market. That's something Mondo set out to change with its Jaws Capsule Collection, a line of exclusive collectibles that includes vinyl records of the iconic John Williams score, a new poster, and a very cool vinyl figure of Bruce the shark.
You can check out the Jaws Capsule Collection on Mondo's website, though do note that many of the items are timed exclusives that will no longer be available for sale after July 18 at 9am PT.
IGN had a chance to chat with several of those involved with the Jaws Capsule Collection, including Mondo's Mondo Sr. Director, Creative and Product Development Hector Arce, Sr. Creative Director, Art Peter Santa-Maria, concept artist James Groman, and sculptor Brandon Gnash. Read on to see exclusive behind-the-scenes photos of Mondo's Jaws Vinyl Designer Figure and learn more about how the figure and Danny Haas' poster were created.
Again, there aren't a lot of Jaws figures and collectibles out there (though other companies like NECA and McFarlane Toys have certainly been doing their part in recent years). Arce explains that Mondo wanted to create a vinyl toy that could both serve as a replica of the iconic "Bruce" shark design while still have the stylized feel and the fun factor that vinyl collectors tend to expect.
"The main thing we set out to do here was make this an undeniable Jaws figure," Arce tells IGN. "It had to have tons of easter eggs, capturing big moments in the film like when the shark busts through the cage, the barrels, and even found a way to represent most of his victims! The challenge was combining all these elements, having it still feel true to the original design while having fun with it. We reached out to the amazing James Groman with our idea and he really turned it into a fun concept that was both a high end collectible, and something that would look killer on your shelf, but also including a fun play factor when it comes to all of Jaw’s victims body parts and what not being able to be placed in and out of his mouth."
Arce continues, "The stylization really lends to those grotesque moments in the film that feels a bit more whimsical, something that as a Jaws fan would make you smile if you saw it. In addition to all that, we made it a truly customizable figure, allowing fans to display him in a multitude of ways, perfect for whatever floats, or, uh, sinks their boat in this case.”
While the exaggerated proportions mean this isn't a 100% movie-accurate collectible, Arce reveals that Mondo's designers did consult the original model and reference materials from the film to ensure that all the finer details are there. The goal is to create something that doesn't just look like a great white shark, but specifically the movie villain who's haunted our nightmares for the last 50 years.
"Even though this is a stylized piece, we wanted to make sure the landmarks were there, Arce says. "The shark isn’t just your average great white. I think some artists and companies forget that. Bruce is the result of so many engineering choices and honestly limitations that led to a design that can easily be picked out of a shark lineup. I always look to the cheeks and, well, jaws to see if it feels like the shark in the film. When we got that dialed in, we knew we were on our way!”
Once the Jaws Capsule Collection was greenlit, it fell on Groman to create a concept design for the vinyl figure and Gnash to translate that design into three-dimensional reality.
“[This was] major milestone in my 40+ year career," Groman says. "Jaws is one of my favorite films ever, so naturally I threw myself into it hook, line and sinker. This unique collectible is an amalgam of many of the film’s most thrilling moments all happening at once. Being such a 'student' of the film, I loved working with Hector Arce on nailing down everything we wanted this figure to be. Something great for ourselves, and something great for the fans.”
“James Groman is on my Mt. Rushmore is a legendary artist in the toy industry," Gnash says. "To sculpt from his designs is always an honor and I have to pinch myself each time I get projects like this. The pressure is always on to not just translate into 3D what James has designed but also pay tribute to the property to which he put his own personal spin on. Its a challenge to pull off both but its beyond rewarding to get James's feedback and the response from the Mondo team when I get it right.”
The new Jaws movie poster created its own set of challenges. Put simply, the original Jaws poster painted by Roger Kastel might be the most iconic movie poster ever created. It casts a massive shadow over everything that's come since. And given that Mondo's artists have lent their own takes to Jaws several times already over the years, it's no small task to create a new design worthy of the film's 50th anniversary.
Even so, Haas seems to have suucceeded with his new design, one that shows a massive Bruce emerging from the sea to devour the puny Orca. Santa-Maria explains that he had two goals in mind when commissioning this piece - "classic and contemporary."
“Roger Kastel’s original artwork for the classic Jaws poster is so iconic and influential that it felt wrong to not refer to it for the 50th anniversary," Santa-Maria says. "The spirit at Mondo is about creating original interpretations of these classic films and franchises but always acknowledging that we are standing on the shoulders of giants when we do. This was a daunting task, but I knew that turning to my friend and storied artist, Danny Haas was the right move because his style is built on strong composition and striking color palettes that allow the subject matter to take center stage. All I asked was that he create something that felt classic and contemporary (easy enough, right?). Danny created a beautiful piece that is a nod back to the original where the shark is preparing to breach the surface of the water but in this case, he already has! AND his stylistic use of scale reflects the enormity of the task shared by the Orca’s crew; I couldn’t be prouder of it.”
In other Jaws news, the film was recently rereleased as a 50th anniversary 4K steelbook set. You can also see where Jaws falls on IGN's Top 25 horror movies list.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
Valve is tightening its guidelines around 'adult only' content to satisfy rules set by Steam's payment processing partners, with dozens of sexually explicit games removed from the platform throughout the week.
As spotted by GameSpark and shared by Automaton, SteamDB logs show a flurry of activity behind the scenes as Steam updated its 'Rules and Guidelines' policy, making it clear that publishing "certain kinds" of adult-only content could violate them.
The newly added clause 15 of the policy now explicitly states "content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers" shouldn't be posted on Steam.
The X / Twitter account for SteamDB revealed a long list of pornographic games recently delisted from Steam.
This is possibly related to PayPal because people in certain regions have not been able to use it to pay on Steam for the past five days.
— SteamDB (@SteamDB) July 16, 2025
Perma link to list of removals from the store: https://t.co/Vy44Q0hVGN
It follows a public outcry earlier this year when UK technology secretary Peter Kyle slammed Steam for hosting a sexually explicit visual novel in which the protagonist engaged in non-consensual sexual contact, including rape and incest. Developer Zerat Games eventually announced it would voluntarily withdraw the visual novel after it was removed from sale in the UK, Canada, and Australia.
However, Valve's new guidelines were criticized by some who have expressed concern over censorship and the vagueness of Valve's language around its rules.
Earlier today, we reported on Valve co-founder and boss Gabe Newell, who offered a rare insight into his days living, working, and enjoying life on a superyacht he calls a "boat."
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Why did Nintendo offer Switch 2 preorders through a lottery system in Japan, but via “first-come, first-served” invites in the U.S. and other countries? A paper published by a Japanese university this month sought to answer this question, looking into why Nintendo decided to handle Switch 2 presales differently in Japan and the U.S. One of the factors it examined was the differences between what is perceived as “fair” in Japan and the U.S., which may have influenced Nintendo’s approach to getting its latest console into the hands of gamers.
The study was a collaboration between researchers at The University of Osaka’s Research Center on Ethical, Legal and Social Issues (ELSI Center) and Mercari’s R&D Department. It’s worth noting that Nintendo was not involved in the study.
First of all, the researchers looked at the points that both the Japanese and U.S. launches had in common, namely supply and demand. In both markets, there were not enough Switch 2 consoles to meet pre-launch demand, a situation that prompted both Nintendo Japan’s president and Nintendo of America’s COO to make respective statements reassuring fans that the company would produce a steady flow of units to meet demand post-launch.
The study pointed out that in such a short-supply, high-demand situation, Nintendo could have capitalized on the limited number of Switch 2 consoles available. For example, by using dynamic pricing or official auctions, Nintendo could have maximized its profits from their new hardware by making Switch 2 only available to those who were willing to pay big bucks (or heaps of yen) for a launch day console (thus balancing out demand and supply).
However, Nintendo did not go with this method. After all, for console makers the usualy focus is not on making money from hardware sales, but on the long-term profits from game sales and subscription services related to that console. Nintendo’s approach to handling official Switch 2 preorders suggests it was more concerned about purchasers’ “willingness-to-play” rather than “willingness-to-pay.”
To enter Nintendo’s Switch 2 preorder lottery in Japan, you needed to be a holder of a current Nintendo account for at least a year and to have over 50 hours of play on Switch 1. The same restrictions were in place for Nintendo of America’s invitation emails, which were delivered to eligible registrants who met these criteria, giving them 72 hours to complete their purchase. In this way, Nintendo allocated its limited supply to consumers who were likely to want to use rather than resell their shiny new Switch 2. Nintendo took this a step further in Japan, working with online marketplaces to combat price gouging and fraudulent Switch 2 listings.
However, why did Nintendo choose to implement a “first-come, first served” pre-order system in the U.S. but opted for preorder lotteries in Japan? The paper presents several hypotheses that cover various factors that may have influenced Nintendo's decision. These center around the company’s reputational risk, as well as perceived cultural and societal differences in the two different markets.
If customers have bad experiences with a console launch, this can negatively impact the reputation of the company and subsequent profits. Although it seems Nintendo was conscious of appearing fair in its handling of Switch 2 launch consoles in both Japan and the U.S., with its restrictions that limited preorders to its existing “willing to play” customer base, the paper highlighted that it took extra steps to appear “fair” in Japan.
Even though lotteries are more costly to run, Nintendo decided to offer Switch 2 preorders using this method in Japan. The researchers pointed out that Japanese consumers tend to have high expectations that companies will implement a well-managed system that gives people an equal chance of obtaining a high-demand product. Lotteries are often used for presales in Japan (for example, advanced concert ticket sales are usually allocated via lottery). Therefore, Nintendo probably implemented a lottery system because it's a socially accepted and common way of handling presales in Japan, and gives all entrants the same chance of snagging a Switch 2.
The paper also suggested that cultural perceptions of “fairness” may also have played a role. Whereas Japanese customers might be more likely to find the equality of lotteries more fair, customers in the U.S. may have perceived ‘first come first served’ as fairer as it rewards the efforts of the individual.
Over a month after launch, Nintendo Japan is still only selling Switch 2 via lottery on its official site, with its July lottery currently open. There are still some restrictions: one entry per person, with the rules forbidding people who have won previous Switch 2 lotteries and people who aim to resell the console from entering. However, this pattern is changing in retail stores. Japanese chain Geo announced that it will start offering some Switch 2 consoles to members on a first-come, first-served basis on July 19. So it seems that Japan may move towards “first-come, first-served” as the Switch 2 console supply increases.
Photo by KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
The first set photos showing filming of HBO's Harry Potter TV series have hit the internet, giving fans a look at the series' young star and his Muggle family, the Dursleys.
Filming took place this week at London Zoo, the setting of a key scene in the first Harry Potter book where Harry (now played by Dominic McLaughlin) magically frees a snake and sets it loose on his spoiled cousin Dudley.
The images are our first look at Dudley (Amos Kitson), Aunt Petunia (Bel Powley) and Uncle Vernon (Daniel Rigby) in costume, wearing notably dated clothes. Dudley is dressed in a shellsuit, while Vernon wears a patterned shirt and thick glasses, while sporting a bushy moustache.
The characters' looks fit with the original setting of the books, with Dudley's 11th birthday being in June 1991, a couple of months before Harry goes off to Hogwarts for the first time.
While the original Harry Potter novels were launched from 1997 onwards, the series' story is set a few years prior. The events of the final book wrap up in 1998, before a flashforward epilogue featuring the main characters as adults with their own children, set in 2017.
London Zoo guests got a close-up look at the cast as they were filmed while wandering around various exhibits. The zoo setting will likely be one of the first book/season's only scenes to be filmed in public, with the bulk of the action due to be shot on the series' vast base of operations at Warner Bros. Leavesdon Studios.
Indeed, it's there that a real-life school with room for up to 600 young cast members is now being constructed, as production ramps up.
FIRST LOOK AT THE DURSLEYS pic.twitter.com/1mIHKsJv5P
— Wizarding World Direct (@WW_Direct) July 17, 2025
Warner Bros. and HBO's plan is to turn each Harry Potter book into its own TV season, and film the series for the next eight to 10 years. The first season is due to air in 2027.
HBO marked the beginning of the series' filming this week with the release of a photo showing Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter in his Hogwarts robes. This was then followed by a first look at Shaun of the Dead star Nick Frost in costume as Hagrid.
Yet to glimpsed in costume are veteran actor John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch and Katherine Parkinson as Molly Weasley.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Valve co-founder and boss Gabe Newell has offered a rare insight into his life, talking about his days living, working, and enjoying life on a "boat."
In conversation with a YouTuber called Zalkar Saliev, who had just 19 subscribers at the time the interview clips went live (they've since acquired several hundred more), the 62-year-old Newell said he worked seven days a week from his bedroom on his superyacht, because it's "fun" and he still "likes working."
Asked to describe his daily routine in an interview Valve has confirmed to PC Gamer is real, Newell said: "I get up, I work, I go scuba diving, work some more. I either go on a second scuba dive or I go to the gym and work out. Then I work. I live on a boat, so I just hang out with everybody on the boat."
"I work seven days a week," he added. "I'm working from my bedroom, as you can tell. I like working. It's fun. To me, it doesn't feel like work. The kinds of things that I get to do every day are super awesome. I've said it before, but when you retire, you want to stop doing your horrible job and then go do what is most fun and entertaining. And so in that sense, I've been retired for a long time."
Expanding on the types of work that keep him busy these days, Newell said: "Getting to work with Drew and Jeremy on AI stuff or Chris on Steam stuff... In one of the companies, we're working on an aerosol pathogen detection device so you can see all the pathogens that are in the air. Brain computer interfaces are incredibly cool, and all of the associated neuroscience is incredibly cool. So, I just work all the time.
"But it's not like, 'Oh my God, I'm up late at night slaving away on stuff.' It's more like I can't go to sleep because I'm having fun, you know?"
Valve, the studio behind seminal hits like Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike, is also the company behind the industry-leading Steam online game platform, plus the acclaimed Steam Deck handheld system. As of 2021, it employed 336 people across its hardware, Steam, and development divisions.
Newell previously worked at Microsoft, where he helped create the first versions of the Windows operating system, but left in 1996 to found Valve with Mike Harrington and develop the studio's first game, Half-Life.
Photo by Olly Curtis/Future Publishing via Getty Images.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Pokemon and Skyrim fans, here is something special for you today. Modder kuroishitam has released a new cool Pokemon-like mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that allows you to become a Beastmaster. So, let’s take a closer look at it, shall we? Going into more details, SkyPal will allow you to catch, fight, and … Continue reading SkyPal is a cool new Pokemon-like mod for Skyrim that lets you become a Beastmaster and collect monsters in your pocket →
The post SkyPal is a cool new Pokemon-like mod for Skyrim that lets you become a Beastmaster and collect monsters in your pocket appeared first on DSOGaming.
A new Alien: Earth trailer has finally shown a xenomorph on earth — and there’s a quite horrible shot of a sheep with a serious eye problem.
The upcoming FX show revolves around the mysterious deep space research vessel USCSS Maginot, which crash-lands on earth. Wendy (Sydney Chandler) and a group of tactical soldiers make a “fateful discovery” that puts them face-to-face with the xenomorph fans know well, but also a number of other alien species, too.
FX’s Alien: Earth. OFFICIAL TRAILER 2: GREENER WORLD. Prepare. Before it’s too late. Premieres August 12. pic.twitter.com/8KfO4Yr3N0
— 20th Century Studios Canada (@20thCenturyCA) July 17, 2025
Let’s start with the final shot in the new trailer, below, which reveals Alien: Earth’s xenomorph quietly contemplating its fate from within what may be a crater formed by the crashed ship. This is not the kind of place we’re used to seeing the Alien franchise’s famous xenomorphs. Across the mainline films, we mostly see xenomorphs ripping humans (and the odd synthetic) to shreds aboard spaceships. Alien: Earth, however, asks the question: what if a xenomorph came to earth? I suspect things won’t go well.
The xenomorph is but one of five alien monsters found aboard the Maginot. We’ve seen glimpses of these in previous trailers, including the bizarre plant-like alien we see again in this new promo. But the focus this time is on a creepy eyeball-loving monstrosity that appears to be having its way with a poor sheep. The sheep is hooked up to what looks like a monitoring device, so perhaps it was the subject of some nefarious study to determine the effect this new alien has on its victims.
We actually see a very brief shot of this alien later in the trailer, where a woman is desperately trying to fend it off. It looks like the alien is trying to get into the woman's eye, which, well, please no.
Overall, it’s a super cool trailer for Alien: Earth, which is looking more impressive with each new clip. How this all ends up tying into the events of the first Alien movie and evil mega corp Weyland Yutani’s plans for the xenomorph is anyone’s guess.
Speaking of Weyland Yutani, at this point in the Alien timeline (Alien: Earth is set in 2120, well after Prometheus and just two years before Alien and the unfortunate events that befell the crew of the Nostromo), Earth is governed by five corporations: Weyland-Yutani, Prodigy (they own this city, it seems), Lynch, Dynamic, and Threshold. Cyborgs and synthetics coexist with humans, but then the boss of Prodigy invents hybrids (humanoid robots with human consciousness). Wendy is the first hybrid prototype, and is part of the established push for immortality that is a running theme in the Alien franchise.
Alien: Earth premieres its first two episodes on August 12 on Hulu at 8pm ET, and on FX and Disney+ at 8pm PT / ET (August 13 in the UK and internationally on Disney+). New episodes of the eight-episode season debut each following Tuesday.
In January last year, showrunner Noah Hawley explained why he is not using the backstory provided in Prometheus for Alien: Earth, saying he likes the "retro-futurism" of the original films. Hawley said he spoke to Alien chief Ridley Scott about "many, many elements" of the Alien series, including its ties to the prequels, but ultimately decided to cut loose and move away from the bioweapon backstory because he preferred the lore of the original films.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Modder ZunaSW has made a cool new mod for STALKER 2. This mod adds a brand-new crafting system to the game. STALKER 2 didn’t have crafting before, so it’s great to see fans adding new ways to play and improve it. Going into more details, Craftable Zone lets you craft lots of different items. But … Continue reading This STALKER 2 Mod adds a new crafting system to the game →
The post This STALKER 2 Mod adds a new crafting system to the game appeared first on DSOGaming.
As the world waits for Grand Theft Auto 6, Rockstar has finally released GTA 5 and GTA Online in both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Despite launching almost 12 years ago and selling 215 million copies elsewhere in the world, neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE had previously cleared Rockstar's 2013 blockbuster for sale — until this week.
Issues over the game's age rating and local regulations banning games with violence, sex and drug use have long stood in the way of local fans playing GTA 5 legally — though as a Niko Partners report highlighted, some fans have previously got around restrictions by quietly importing boxed copies, or downloading the game via PlayStation or Xbox accounts linked to other regions.
Now, fans can simply buy a copy of GTA 5 legally, which has finally been released under the two countries' new 21+ age rating. The launch of this higher age restriction, following the earlier introduction of localised age ratings in 2016, has helped smooth GTA 5's belated path to release — alongside a bit of help from Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive to grease the wheels.
A recently-agreed partnership between Take-Two and a Saudi firm, the Advanced Initiative Company, will see the latter now act as the local distributor for all Take-Two titles, including GTA 5, WWE 2K, NBA 2K and Red Dead Redemption.
The countries, with a combined population of around 44 million, will presumably now also become a market in which Rockstar can sell GTA 6, when it finally arrives.
After more than a decade in development and a recent major delay, GTA 6 is currently set to launch on May 9, 2026, pending any further hold-ups.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Hands up if you remember Captain Planet and the Planeteers? The early 90s American animated environmentalist superhero television series is fondly remembered by a generation of kids who absorbed its eco-friendly message — and toys.
Now, 30 years later, it’s coming back as a live-action series for Netflix.
Variety reported that Captain Planet and the Planeteers is on its way to being adapted into a live-action series at Netflix, with Greg Berlanti and Leonardo DiCaprio as executive producers. Netflix declined to comment.
There have been various efforts to adapt Captain Planet over the years, including a movie for DiCaprio, but they never went anywhere. This Netflix adaptation, however, feels more certain, although we know nothing of plot details, casting, or a release window.
The original television series, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, is an environmentally conscious show that tells the story of five kids from different areas of the world who are each given a magical ring that grants them the ability to control a specific element. When all five join forces, they can summon an environmental superhero named Captain Planet.
Captain Planet was a form of edutainment that advocated the United Nations as an organization, and the concepts of globalism, multiculturalism, and environmentalism.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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