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Prime Day might be over, but someone clearly forgot to tell the discounts. In a twist that’s as welcome as it is unexpected, a hefty stack of deals has survived the retail storm, with prices still slashed across Switch, Xbox, PlayStation and PC. Whether it’s leftovers from the main sale or publishers riding the hype wave a little longer, there are still some proper gems worth pouncing on.
In retro news, I'm celebrating the 27th birthday of Point Blank, a PS One lightgun classic that's tied to one of my fondest gaming memories. For those of you unfamiliar with it, Point Blank is basically a collection of carnival target mini-games that's best played competitively with two players. Arguably the trickiest task is a sniper challenge with one bullet and a five second window to blast an object out of a distant figure's hand. I'll never forget the time when a mate of mine went full Billy the Kid and quick-drew a shot from his hip to nail said target in 0.5 of a second. Arsiest gaming feat I've ever witnessed.
Aussie birthdays for notable games.
- Point Blank (PS) 1998. Ebay
- Crusader Kings (PC) 2004. Get
- Killer 7 (GC,PS2) 2005. Get
- God of War III Remastered (PS4) 2015. Get
Contents
Nintendo's highlight reel kicks off with Super Mario RPG, a remake that had original composer Yoko Shimomura return nearly three decades later to update the soundtrack. Right alongside it is Pokémon Legends: Arceus, the experimental curveball that Game Freak quietly built as a prototype for open-world evolution. Turns out fans loved it more than Brilliant Diamond.
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Or gift a Nintendo eShop Card.
Over on Xbox, Baldur’s Gate 3 is flexing its RPG dominance and remains the first game ever to let you romance a sentient brain in a jar. And if you missed Wild Hearts, that’s EA and Koei Tecmo’s monster-hunting spin on feudal Japan where building a spring-loaded hammer trap is just as viable as using a katana.
Xbox One
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Or just invest in an Xbox Card.
For PlayStation, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion brings Zack Fair’s story back with re-recorded lines and a combat system that finally ditches its PSP-era slot machine mechanics. Tales of Arise also stands tall, being the first in the series to win Game of the Year at The Game Awards, and features charming character banter about everything from porridge to political insurrection.
PS4
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PS+ Monthly Freebies
Yours to keep from Jun 1 with this subscription
Or purchase a PS Store Card.
Lastly, PC users should grab Marvel Midnight Suns, which is free. Yep, free. Its 13-character roster is packed with some awesome inclusions and you can DLC expand it to loop in Deadpool, Venom, Morbius, and Storm.
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Or just get a Steam Wallet Card
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Audiophilia for less
Do right by your console, upgrade your telly
Adam Mathew is our Aussie deals wrangler. He plays practically everything, often on YouTube.
Samsung already had a lineup of solid phones on its hands with the Galaxy S25 series, and it opted to round out the collection by making an extra-thin model: the Galaxy S25 Edge. Where the other phones can push up to 8mm thick, the S25 Edge trims down to just under 6mm. That sure is thin for a phone, but if a matter of millimeters doesn’t sound like a major difference, you’re already catching on to the biggest issue the S25 Edge faces. The Galaxy S25 Edge may be built like a high-end smartphone, but that pursuit of thinness comes with several key compromises that impact the phone's overall quality.
Samsung has undeniably managed to trim down the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge compared to the rest of its recent phones, not to mention most of its competition. The S25 Edge is just 5.8mm thick, down from the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s 8.2mm. The difference is subtle in the pocket but plain to the naked eye. There’s also a tangible weight difference, with the phone weighing 2 ounces less than the S25 Ultra at just 5.7 ounces.
But the S25 Edge still isn’t razor sharp, in part because it has flat edges. After I dug out some old phones for comparison, I found it really doesn’t feel meaningfully thin compared to where smartphones were about nine years ago. My old OnePlus 5 felt about as thin thanks to its curves (even if it’s 7.3mm thick), and the original Moto Z still has the S25 Edge beat by 0.1mm. Of course, the S25 Edge is the only of these phones packing the latest hardware. That comes with caveats of its own, though.
The S25 Edge might look like the S25 Ultra, down to the color scheme, but flipping it over to the back, the simple two-camera setup is markedly lacking next to the quad-camera setup that the Ultra offers. Of course, there’s no S Pen either.
Samsung did opt for a large, 6.7-inch display, giving it more room to squeeze in other crucial internals, like the 3,900mAh battery – albeit a bit small for a phone these days. It is at least a quality LTPO AMOLED display, offering a sharp 1440x3120 resolution that runs smooth at up to 120Hz. It also gets plenty bright for easy visibility in most cases, though doesn’t have the same anti-glare coating of the S25 Ultra either.
While the screen is pretty good, I did notice some odd color shift when viewing it from an angle. It’s warmer straight on, but at angles of even just 10-20 degrees, it gains a cooler tone. It’s most perceptible in large areas with a solid color, though it can otherwise be hard to detect. Thankfully, this means most media isn’t going to be impacted. And with the potent stereo speakers the S25 Edge has on board, movies and TV are still easy enough to enjoy on the phone.
Like its siblings, the S25 Edge offers a fingerprint scanner built into the display along with facial recognition for unlocking the phone. Both have worked quickly and reliably in my testing. Other stowaway features from the S25 Ultra: The S25 Edge kept the titanium frame and 15W wireless charging, though wired charging peaks at 25W. It can survive dips into 1.5-meter deep water for up to 30 minutes. It has some different blends of Gorilla Glass, but it’s still tough stuff. Alas, even that's not immune to blemishes, with the rear of the phone exhibiting unsightly scratches after the couple weeks I spent with it.
Detailing the design and features of the S25 Edge eventually begins to feel a bit like discussing things Samsung packed into the S25 Ultra and gave up for the Edge. And that brings us to a key point: All you’re really getting is a phone that shaves hairs of the size of the phone and its weight, and leaves a lot on the table in the process. Never mind that the camera bump almost doubles the thickness of the phone at its corner. The camera also has a small recess around it that is likely to accumulate dust and gunk over time, and I can only hope it doesn’t pop off as easily as the camera housings on the S25 Ultra, as Zack from JerryRigEverything demonstrated so well.
The Galaxy S25 Edge comes running Android 15 and will get seven years of OS and security updates. Samsung’s One UI is pretty customizable, even allowing for things like mirror navigation buttons at the bottom of the display for folks who haven’t switched to gesture navigation. I’ve always respected Samsung’s flexibility but been annoyed by its insistence on signing in with a Samsung account in the past. Thankfully, the S25 Edge can be set up with just your Google account. The phone will still come with some of Samsung’s take on various apps though, like Contacts, My Files, Calendar, and its own internet browser.
Like other flagship Android phones this year, the Galaxy S25 Edge runs on a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. For other devices, this chip has enabled extreme performance, and the Galaxy S25 Edge is no exception. Here's the thing: Heat has been an issue on just about every device I've tested with the Snapdragon 8 Elite. They pretty much all end up throttling a bit when performing heavy loads for a long time, even if they have active cooling or large vapor chambers. Because of the Galaxy S25 Edge’s size, it has neither of those things and experiences thermal throttling issues much sooner and more severely than other phones.
Though it performed well in single benchmark runs, largely keeping pace with the Galaxy S25 Ultra and other high-end Android phones, its performance throttles quickly in sustained loads. In 3DMark’s Steel Nomad Light Stress Test, which repeats the benchmark 20 times in a row, the phone had one good run and then quickly dropped, losing 16% of its performance after the first run and over 50% by the end of the 20 runs. Another benchmark saw the CPU temps rise from 84.2 degrees Fahrenheit to 105.8 degrees after a single run. Running the same benchmark immediately after, temps rose even further and the performance dropped by 20%.
While this doesn’t prevent the phone from being a speedy device in everyday operation, especially with 12GB of memory keeping frequently accessed apps readily available, it does mean that heavier workloads will prove problematic. Aside from light games, you can expect performance to sag quickly and temperatures to rise just as fast. The heat is largely localized near the camera sensors, so the S25 Edge at least avoids becoming uncomfortable to hold in a one-handed grip.
As mentioned earlier, the slim design comes with a smaller battery than you’d expect in a phone with this big a screen. Thankfully, this hasn’t prevented it from managing a reasonable all-day battery life. But with phones like the OnePlus 13 readily pushing into two-day territory, the S25 Edge’s battery performance certainly doesn’t feel that impressive.
The Galaxy S25 Edge isn’t quite the camera powerhouse that its siblings are. It borrows some of the same sensors, but not some of the best ones. With just two rear sensors, it’s not offering the same kind of versatility that even the base Galaxy S25 provides. Here’s a quick rundown of the cameras onboard the Edge:
Unsurprisingly, the Galaxy S25 Edge has an excellent main camera sensor, borrowing the same one found on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The phone snaps sharp photos, though it bins down from 200MP to just 12MP. Samsung’s processing tends to boost color saturation, which can have a fun and lively look to it, but doesn’t always lead to the most lifelike images. The large sensor and wide aperture have good light-gathering potential, allowing the phone to take photos fairly quickly in darker environments. That, combined with the night mode, makes for surprisingly bright photos without as much risk of motion blur.
What the Galaxy S25 Edge especially lacks is quality zoom. Its main sensor can crop in to produce a digital zoom, but the quality drops tremendously further out. At 2X zoom, photos look reasonably close to the quality of the sensor at 1X, and they certainly look sharper than a 1X blown up to 200%. Push to 4X, though, and weird digital zoom artifacts like softer details and bizarre auras around some objects and people in the shot begin to noticeably crop up.
The ultra-wide is a downgrade from the S25 Ultra. It doesn’t have as high a resolution nor as much light-gathering potential, which can result in softer-looking details, especially in dimmer scenarios. Taking photos in the same conditions, the ultra-wide sensor will produce more noise than the main sensor.
Unfortunately, the main sensor struggles to get very close to subjects, so in those tight shots, the phone will try to switch over to a Macro mode that crops in on the ultra-wide sensor. The result is a photo that’s in focus, but with softer details and a greater likelihood of noise.
The selfie camera is the same shared among the S25 family. It produces reasonably crisp photos and offers the same vibrant colors you’ll find from the main sensor. It won’t be as sharp or capable in low-light settings, but it gets the job done otherwise.
As part of its Black Friday in July Sale, Dell has dropped the price of the new 2025 Alienware Aurora 16 gaming laptop equipped with an GeForce RTX 5060 mobile GPU for just $1,099.99 with free delivery. That is a big $400 discount from its official launch price and currently the best deal I can find on an RTX 5060 equipped laptop from any brand and any retailer. If you're specifically looking for a gaming laptop at the $1,100 or below price point, you'd be hard pressed to find a better deal on a "budget" gaming laptop during Amazon Prime Day.
The Alienware Aurora 16 is equipped with a 16" 2560x1600 120Hz IPS display, Intel Core 7 (Series 2) 240H processor, GeForce RTX 5060 GPU, 32GB of DDR5-5600MHz RAM, and a 1TB M.2 SSD. The Intel Core 7 Series 2 240H is an energy efficient CPU with a max turbo frequency of 5.2GHz with 10 cores. It's paired with an RTX 5060 GPU. The RTX 5060 is about 15%-20% more powerful than the RTX 4060 that replaces, making it a perfectly capable GPU for most games at up to 1600p. It approaches the performance of the RTX 4070 and overtakes it in games that support DLSS 4 with multi-frame generation. At a sticker price of $1,100, you'd bet won't find another laptop with a better GPU.
Compared to other Alienware laptops, the Aurora 16 is designed to look less like a gamer's laptop. It boasts a sleek, understated design with the absence of extraneous visual-only embellishments or unnecessary RGB lighting outside of the keyboard's white-only illumination. It's also priced more affordably than the higher powered Alienware 16X and Alienware 16 Area-51 laptops. Those laptops are more powerful, but they're also bigger and heavier.
Alienware is a brand I would recommend for anyone looking for a quality gaming laptop. Alienware laptops feature solid build quality, top-of-the-line gaming performance, and excellent cooling (further improved on the newer models). Best of all, there are plenty of sales that happen throughout the year, so it's not difficult to find a good deal.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
The Apple Back to School Sale officially kicked off on June 17 and runs through September 30. This sale happens annually, but the promotional details change each year. For 2025, Apple is offering an accessory worth up to $179 - or up to $179 off more expensive accessories - when you purchase an eligible iPad, MacBook, or iMac that qualifies for an Education discount. The Apple Education Store is open to faculty, staff, students, or parents of currently enrolled students and typically offers discounts of up to 10% off standard Apple Store pricing. The promotional items offered during the Back to School Sale can be combined with these discounts.
Not all of the latest iPad models are eligible for the promotion. The specific promotional details are as follow:
If you like buying your Apple products directly from Apple and you are eligible for the Education discount, there's hardly a better time to shop there than during Apple's Back to School promotion. The deals here rival what we usually see from the Apple Black Friday Sale, the only difference being that the Black Friday sale is usually open to non-Education shoppers as well. The Education store by default gives you a 10% discount on most iPads, MacBooks, and iMacs, but this is your opportunity to pick up an additional accessory that you might have wanted to buy anyways. Even if you end up going with a premium accessory that involves paying a bit more, it's still worth it. For example, you'll need to pay an extra $120 to get the AirPods Pro 2 when you buy an iPad. However, that still beats out arguably the best Amazon Prime Day deal for 2025, which saw the same AirPods Pro for $129.
Unfortunately, the Apple Education Store has never offered any kind of discounted pricing or promotional gift for iPhone purchases and 2025 is no different. If and when an iPhone discount shows up, that will be big news indeed. You are better off taking advantage of carrier-specific sign-up offers and trade-in credits than going through the Apple Education Store. The best time to buy and iPhone is usually closer to fall.
Apple has a wide variety of iPad models available, and it can be challenging to determine which one is best for you and your needs. There are four main models of iPad: the standard iPad, iPad Air, iPad Pro, and iPad Mini. If you just want a tablet, the standard base iPad is the best bang for your buck. However, if you care about screen quality and processing power, I would recommend jumping to the iPad Air, which packs in an M-series processor. The M3 is more than powerful enough to handle anything you throw at it, and attaching a keyboard can really start to make the Air feel like a laptop. Check out our iPad guide for a more detailed breakdown of which iPad best fits your needs or see a list of all of the generations to see what older models are still available.
Apple’s MacBooks have a track record for being the best laptops out there. With their consistently reliable performance, sleek designs, and top-notch software, you know you’re getting a quality product that’ll last for years. And if you’re already deeply entrenched in Apple’s ecosystem with your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, grabbing a MacBook over a MacBook alternative just makes the most sense. But figuring out exactly what you need from your device has its challenges, so we're here to help with this handy guide. In short, the MacBook Air is the most popular model for good reason, but creative professionals looking for a primary workstation should upgrade to the MacBook Pro.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Book nooks are a great way to add some flair to your book collection and pad out some empty space on your shelf. The best part is that they're typically DIY kits made of parts similar to any other miniature model kit. These are the perfect time sink for a rainy day, with podcast or your favorite movie on in the background, or even for a date night. Looking online, there are seemingly endless options when to brands and styles, but I've gathered some of what I think are the very best. Below are my top picks by brand in terms of style, design, and cost.
The LEGO book nooks recently released in June, and thet have already been extremely popular. I got the Lord of the Rings: Balrog set, and both the Harry Potter Hogwarts Express and Sherlock Holmes book nooks are already hard to find. Not only do they function well as a typical book nook, but ech one unfolds into classic scene from their respective properties; you have Gandalf facing off against the Balrog in the iconic "you shall not pass" scene, a recreation of Baker Street where Sherlock calls home, and King's Cross Station and Platform 9 3/4 where Harry and Ron are boarding the train back to Hogwarts. These range in cost from $100 up to $130. LEGO prices in 2025, am I right?
Funpola book nooks stand out from the rest in that they offer a lot more modern and sci-fi themed nooks than others. The Endless Dimensions kit is a cool neon Cyberpunk-like aesthetic, and the Automobile Shop is a nice addition. The New World kit is my favorite of the bunch; it has all kinds of nautical decor, treasure, dead pirates drinking rum. What's not to like? Funpola does still have the more fantasy-leaning kits, too, if none of these catch your eye. These will set you back $50.
The CCCDF brand book nooks pay homage to some of literature's best works. The Alice Down the Rabbit Hole kit shows off the whimsical setting you'd expect from Lewis Carroll's timeless tale, and the Phantom of the Opera kit is a neat recreation of the novel as well. CCCDF also offers oversized book nooks, like the Beyond Library Max, if you're looking to fill more space or just prefer them like this. They cost a bit more than the regular kits, coming in around $60.
Cutebee book nooks offer a more storybook style, which I like. The Amazing Toys Store kit gives Pleasure Island vibes from Pinocchio, while the Darkness Common Room is surely inspired by the Slytherin common room from Harry Potter. The Rose Detective Agency would look great on the shelf next to any edition of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books. These all hover around $40, so you won't break the bank too hard if you go the Cutebee route.
Rolife book nooks are a bit more minimalist than the others. The Sakura Densya is a quaint replica of a Japanese train station, and the Sunshine Town reminds me of something you'd see in a Nicholas Sparks novel. They also seem to be a bit narrower than the rest, so you should have no problem fitting these into your bookshelf. The size might also contribute to their $40 price tag.
While Amazon is clearly the best bet to find these book nooks, other retailers offer them as well. Naturally, you can find the three LEGO book nooks directly on LEGO's website (and even earn points towards rewards this way), and Walmart and Target have a handful for sale. But other than Amazon, the best place to buy book nooks online is Book Nook World, a fitting title. This site carries all the other brands mentioned here and then some, so if you're looking for a themed nook not listed here, this is where I'd suggest you go.
Myles Obenza is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Bluesky @mylesobenza.bsky.social.
Back in November 2023, we shared a fan remake of Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 in Unreal Engine 4. And even though almost two years have passed, Ruppertle is still working on it. In fact, a few weeks ago, he shared a brand-new video. So, make sure to watch it if you are … Continue reading Star Wars: Dark Forces 2 Fan Remake in Unreal Engine is still alive →
The post Star Wars: Dark Forces 2 Fan Remake in Unreal Engine is still alive appeared first on DSOGaming.
In today’s world of seemingly endless streaming platforms and bundles, shopping for the right one(s) can be a trying ordeal. Since so many have their own expansive media libraries, it can be hard to commit to a monthly payment for one, or even multiple options. Do you want access to every Transformers movie? Paramount+ would be your best bet for taht. How about all the anime your heart desires? You’ll want to try out Crunchyroll to satisfy that craving. Luckily, most streaming services these days offer a sneak peek via free trials into their cache of goodies. So whatever you’re looking to watch in 2025, these nine free trials are a great way to test the waters of the streaming landscape. They are also a great way to save on your monthly streaming bill if you time them right.
The mecca of popular series both original and classic, Hulu has almost everything a series-binger would need. Adding to its impressive library over the years with some quality, sought-after films as well as TV shows, Hulu also has a wealth of groundbreaking, interesting, original content to dive into. This includes The Bear and Shogun, just to name a few recent hits. After exploring every nook and cranny that Hulu has to offer in this generous 30-day trial, there are a wide range of subscription options to opt into, from $9.99 a month (with ads) all the way up to just over $100 a month – if you want to include live TV or premium add-ons such as Max, ESPN+, Disney+, Cinemax, Paramount+ with Showtime, Starz, and more.
It's worth noting that Disney now offers a bundle that combines Hulu, Disney+, and Max into a single streaming package. While that bundle does not have a free trial, it is arguably the best streaming bundle deal currently available.
If you're looking for a more robust option, the Hulu + Live TV free trial gets you access to a lot more content. This service includes live TV channels, Hulu, ESPN+, and Disney+ all in one subscription.The free trial only lasts three days, but it's still worth a try considering it's the best live TV streaming services out there right now for the price.
Read our review of Hulu or check out all of the Hulu bundles available.
Much like Hulu, Paramount+ has dug deep into the nostalgia bin while also offering a breadth of modern shows and movies to choose from. Paramount+ offers exclusive access to media such as the Transformers movies, the Halo series, the Mission Impossible movies, and the entire Star Trek film/series universe. With new shows and movies added every week along with some well-made originals of its own, Paramount+ is quickly becoming a contender with the big names in streaming. After the seven-day free trial of its services, the recurring monthly amount to stay subscribed will be as low as $7.99 (or $59.99 a year) with limited ads, or $12.99 a month (or $119.99 a year) to add Showtime’s full library and remove almost all ads. You can also get access to Parmount+ via a Walmart+ membership if you're hoping to avoid a free trial all together.
Read our review of Paramount+ or dive into our explainer of the Paramount+ free trial.
An up-and-coming streaming service in the streaming wars, Apple TV+ takes exclusivity to a whole new level. Featuring some highly praised original shows (Ted Lasso, Foundation, Severance, Shrinking, The Morning Show, Masters of the Air) and movies (Killers of the Flower Moon, Spirited, Napoleon), Apple is quickly gaining momentum in the race against its competitors. After the seven-day free trial has expired, the monthly subscription will cost $9.99 at base cost, depending on how many users are added to the account. As a disclaimer for those without Apple products, you will have to create a verified Apple ID to access the premium Apple TV+ streaming library. With season 2 of Severance and season 4 of Mythic Quest happening right now, this is a great service to try out.
Read our review of Apple TV+.
For viewers looking to expand their Anime horizons and join in on the millions of viewers worldwide, Crunchyroll free trial is an offer that is hard to beat. While there are three different membership tiers to choose from ($7.99/mo to $14.99/mo), Crunchyroll also has a decent amount of anime content streaming for free. With the various membership packages available, subscribers can also gain access to Crunchyroll games as well as discounts at the Crunchyroll online store. Any fan of anime knows that Japan is the leader in anime production, which is why Crunchyroll gives users premium access to brand-new episodes shortly after its initial release in Japan. It's arguably the best place to watch anime online in 2025. The service also has a free tier if you're just looking for places to stream anime for free.
Read our review of Crunchyroll.
Another streaming service targeted on live TV streams with a focus on sports, fubo is the leading streaming service for sports fans across the globe. While it may be most popular for streaming sporting events, fubo has subscription packages that offer up to 10 screens, 1,000 hours of Cloud DVR space, 4k streaming quality, up to 448 TV channels, and even a premium Showtime add-on option. Besides these features, there is also a catalog of popular shows and movies available for on-demand streaming. Once the seven-day fubo trial has expired, subscribers will pay as low as $59.99 for the first month, then $79.99 for the remainder of the membership.
Disney recently struck a deal to combine its service with fuboTV, so while you can still access the free trial now, it may eventually become merged with other Disney properties down the line. Because you're getting a full seven days with the free trial, this is overall the best live TV service free trial you'll find online.
Although many may remember DirecTV only as a satellite TV service, the company also offers a pretty solid streaming service. DirecTV Stream has an array of streaming options that include various movies, series, and live TV access. Though the trial may be a short one at five days, DirecTV sweetens the deal with some premium content offered upon subscription. When customers sign up for one of three packages ranging in content and priced from $79.99 a month to $119.99 a month, it includes Max, Paramount+ with Showtime, Starz, MGM+, and Cinemax in the first three months of the subscription.
It's worth noting that DirecTV was able to reach an agreement with Disney over various channels. Because of this DirecTV subscribers now has access to ESPN channels again in 2025. The service is now once again of the best places to stream NBA games and many other great sports depending on which bundle you choose.
An additional option for those looking to stream premium TV channels from their living room, Philo TV offers similar options but for a bargain. While many consider this simply an alternative to cable TV (considering its 70+ channels for a much cheaper rate), it also has over 70,000 titles to stream on-demand even without utilizing the DVR capabilities. Set at a constant monthly rate that includes everything Philo has to offer, subscribers only pay $25 a month after their seven-day free trial to keep using one of the more underrated TV services the internet has to offer.
A streaming service catered to the arthouse/foreign film cinephiles, Mubi takes streaming subscriptions to a whole new level. Headlining with some of the more obscure and cerebral films to date, Mubi takes pride in its appreciation of the auteur and the directors who made it happen. Presented as a movie theater in a subscription, users can pick from 30 available films – every day one is added and one is removed. After the seven-day free trial, subscribers will be charged $14.99 a month to retain their membership. With the add-on of a fairly new premium feature called MubiGo, users (in select cities) have access to one movie theater ticket every week – a movie chosen by Mubi – and the Mubi library for $19.99 a month.
As one of the biggest competitors in the streaming wars, Amazon Prime offers a surprisingly long trial of 30 days to decide if you enjoy what it has to offer. Responsible for the production of more high-quality films and series every year (including Rings of Power and the new Fallout series), it’s hard to look away from the Amazon Prime catalog. With access to exclusive content as well as a vast library of established films, much of the content is included with the membership but with an option to rent much newer releases. After the 30-day trial is concluded, users will be charged $14.99 a month (or $139 a year) to continue viewing and enjoy free shipping on orders from Amazon’s shopping center. There is also a student discount of $7.49 a month (or $69 a year).
Read our review of Prime Video.
YouTube TV is the live TV version of standard YouTube, and offers over 100 channels that cover everything from major live sports to family-friendly entertainment. It’s generally a good option for families (or roommates) because single subscription can be shared with up to five additional users, and each user gets their own personalized recommendations and unlimited DVR storage. You can stream on up to three devices at once, or pay a little extra to enable streaming on unlimited devices.
If you're an NFL fan, YouTube TV is a must as it’s the exclusive home of NFL Sunday Ticket making it a solid choice during the fall season. The platform also offers unique features for live sports, including real-time scores and stats on your TV, a “key plays” view to quickly catch up on the biggest moments, and even fantasy sports integration to help you track your players and teams.
YouTube TV does offer a free trial, but the length varies depending on your Google account and overall situation. Trial periods currently range from 2 to 21 days, so your mileage may vary.
If you're looking for a streaming service that is permanently free, there are actually quite a few. One of the biggest names in free streeming is the Roku Channel, which offers tons of movies and shows without the need for a paid subscription. Tubi is also a great option for free movies, TV shows, and live TV channels. Alternatively, if you just want access to live TV directly from the air, you can buy a TV antenna and get access to local channels.
Unfortunately, if you're looking to get a free trial to Netflix, you're out of luck. Netflix does not offer any free trials and is unlikely to ever do so. If you're hoping to add Netflix to your list of subscription services, however, you can take a look at our guide to Netflix plans and prices for more info or dive into some of the best Netflix alternatives.
When Disney+ first launched, there was in fact Disney+ free trial. That is no longer the case, and you will need to pay for a subscription to get access to the service in 2025. That being said, it's possible to bundle Disney+ with other services to save some money. You can check out our guide to Disney+ bundles for more info or checkout some of the best Disney+ alternatives.
Similar to Netflix and Disney+, Max does not currently offer a free trial. However, the HBO/Discovery streaming service has been known to offer discounts on its service at various points throughout the year. You can check out our guide to Max deals for more info.
Although it's offered free trials in the past, Peacock does not currently have a free trial option in 2025. So if you want to watch Oppenheimer or shows like The Office, you will have to pay for the subscription.
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A lot is changing for DC's lineup of movies and shows in the years ahead. James Gunn and Peter Safran, co-CEOs of DC Studios, have a strategy for a more cohesive and interconnected lineup of content moving forward. It all starts with Chapter 1, dubbed "Gods and Monsters."
It can be very difficult to keep track of all the big changes at DC these days. And Gunn is always dropping updates and news it seems! That's why we've put together this comprehensive list of everything currently in the works, as well as the major projects that have either been officially canceled or gone dormant.
Come join us in the reborn DC Universe. Click on through the slideshow below for a glimpse or read on for even more details...
For those keeping track, here's the full lineup of upcoming DC movies and TV shows:
Here are some of the most notable projects that are currently in the works:
Despite widespread critical acclaim and what appears to have been a very successful debut on Netflix, it took several months for the streamer to announce that The Sandman was renewed. Netflix did finally confirm that new episodes are in the works, though they shied away from describing it as "Season 2" initially. That may suggest Netflix plans to release new episodes in smaller batches, similar to how Season 1 was followed up by the surprise release of an eleventh episode.
No matter the case, Season 2 will be the last for the show. Netflix says that was the plan even prior to abuse allegations against creator Neil Gaiman going public.
Not everything is being completely rebooted for the new DCU. James Gunn's Peacemaker is getting an Amanda Waller spinoff series as well as a second season. We don't know much about Season 2 yet, though Gunn did tease a mystery character on social media in October, 2024. We also know that Frank Grillo's Rick Flag, Sr., previously seen in Creature Commandos, will be an antagonist on the show.
The new DCU will also have a new Supergirl. Supergirl (previously titled Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow) is a movie based on Tom King and Bilquis Evely's comic. This Supergirl is one who spent much of her early life living on a fragment of Krypton that was dislodged in the planet's destruction, what Gunn describes as a "horrible situation where she watched everybody around her die." House of the Dragon's Milly Alcock plays Supergirl, and Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya, Cruella) directs the film.
A Clayface movie scripted by Mike Flanagan is moving fast at DC. Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep, etc.) previously voiced a desire to make a Clayface movie as a "horror/thriller/tragedy." However, due to his various TV commitments, he won't direct the film, with Speak No Evil's James Watkins expected to direct for a Fall, 2026, release. Tom Rhys Harries stars as the titular villain. Safran and Gunn promise a body horror picture that is R-rated as well.
Given Deadline's previous report that Clayface is one of the major villains debuting in The Batman Part II, and the fact that the Clayface movie is being produced by Matt Reeves and Lynn Harris' 6th & Idaho Productions, it had been assumed that this movie would be set in The Batman universe rather than the DCU. But Gunn has since said that it is in fact unrelated to The Batman Epic Crime Saga and is definitely part of the DCU. Presumably, those earlier reports of the character being in The Batman Part II will wind up not panning out at this point.
Of course The Batman Part II is in the works with Matt Reeves returning to write and direct and Robert Pattinson putting on the cape, cowl, and eyeliner (!) again as the Dark Knight Detective. The film is confirmed to have survived the recent turmoil at Warner Bros. Discovery, and Reeves has even signed a multi-year first-look deal with the studio. There's no word yet on what it will be about, so begin your Joker speculation now. The release date of the film has been pushed a couple of times now, first from October 2025 to October 2026, and then to October 2027.
James Gunn has also confirmed that Pattinson will not be the DCU's version of Batman.
According to James Gunn, Dynamic Duo will tell the origin story of not one but two Robins -- Dick Grayson and Jason Todd. The film will be directed by Arthur Mintz, who's making the picture with his new animation studio Swaybox using a mix of animation, puppetry, CGI, and live-action performance. Huh.
We're finally getting that oft-promised Green Lantern show. Lanterns is a high-concept detective drama in the vein of True Detective that revolves around Hal Jordan and John Stewart. Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) has been cast as Hal and Aaron Pierre (The Underground Railroad) has been cast as John.
Mister Miracle is the second animated series to be produced under the DC Studios banner, following 2024's Creature Commandos. The series will be helmed by showrunner and producer Tom King, who previously penned 2017's Mister Miracle comic. The animated series looks to be directly based on that comic, which deals with Scott Free's attempts to make sense of his reality during a destructive war between Apokolips and New Genesis.
DC has confirmed that we'll have two cinematic versions of Batman going forward, as the DCU will get its own Dark Knight alongside the standalone movies of Matt Reeves' The Batman series. The Brave and the Bold looks to deal with the full Bat-family, centering specifically on Bruce Wayne's 10-year-old son Damian. The movie will draw heavily from Grant Morrison's Batman comics. It is unclear how the film will connect to the events of The Flash movie, if at all (probably not?), but that film's director, Andy Muschietti, was at one point confirmed to be directing The Brave and the Bold.
More recently, it seems that Gunn and Safran have put some distance between the project and Muschietti, with Gunn taking point on it. “Everybody knows I love Batman and it’s important to me so I’m working very closely with the writer on Brave and the Bold,” he told a group of reporters in February, 2025. Once the script is completed (it is not currently known who the writer is), Gunn and Safran said they will take it to Muschietti "and see if it's a fit for him."
James Gunn's latest band of misfit superheroes, the Creature Commandos, kicked off the new DCU with the first season of their animated series on Max, and a Season 2 is already in the planning stages. What the new version of the team will look like remains to be seen, though the Creature Commandos Season 1 finale did give us some hints...
DC's anti-Justice League were a big part of the initial announcement line-up that Gunn and Safran made back in 2023, but it seems like the project has been a tougher script to crack than they expected. The Authority is a group of powerful heroes who take a far more proactive approach to meting out justice, but Gunn said in February, 2025, that it's been “the one that's been the hardest, both because of the shifting overall story and because of getting it right in a world with The Boys and a world with all the things that The Authority influenced that came out after it.” The project is now on the “back burner,” he says.
Swamp Thing may not have found much success on the short-lived DC Universe app, but DC was betting big on this lumbering monster for their new cinematic universe when they announced their plans for the new movie slate in 2023. The Swamp Thing movie was to explore the dark origins of Alec Holland's monstrous alter ego, with Logan and Indiana Jones 5 director James Mangold writing the script for the film.
However, more recently Gunn and Safran have said that Swamp Thing hasn't had much movement as Mangold was working on his Bob Dylan movie, A Complete Unknown. "We hope that he'll come back to Swamp Thing when he's ready, because again, that was one of those ones that we love him as a filmmaker, so we're happy to wait for him," said Safran. Gunn added that the main reason they pursued the project was because "James came to us with it, frankly."
The Teen Titans are returning to live-action following the conclusion of Max's Titans series. As reported by THR, a new Teen Titans movie is in the works, with the screenplay being penned by Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow writer Ana Nogueira. It's unknown whether the movie is meant to be part of the DCU or a standalone project.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that DC Studios is developing a villain-centric team-up movie featuring Bane and Deathstroke. The film is being written by Matthew Orton (Captain America: Brave New World). It's unclear whether the project is set in James Gunn's DCU, the world of Matt Reeves' The Batman, or an entirely standalone universe a la Joker.
Gunn recently confirmed to EW that a new Wonder Woman movie is in the works as part of the DCU, saying, "Wonder Woman's being written right now." The movie is a separate project from the previously announced Paradise Lost series. Presumably, Wonder Woman will reboot the franchise with a new lead actress rather than bring back Gal Gadot's Diana.
This Peacemaker spin-off is intended to feature Viola Davis reprising the Amanda Waller role, with several other Peacemaker alums also returning. However, the series “has had a couple of setbacks" according to Gunn. Safran added that "Waller has been a bumpy road," so it remains unclear where the series stands at the moment.
The lovably goofy Booster Gold is getting his own series as part of the new DCU. Booster Gold will explore the character's impostor syndrome as he travels back in time and uses the technology of the future to make himself a present-day superhero.
While a new Wonder Woman movie isn't on the immediate horizon, DC is moving forward with a TV series set on the island of Themyscira. Paradise Lost will explore the origins and political intrigue of Diana's home. The series is billed as the DC equivalent of Game of Thrones.
A Blue Beetle animated TV show is reportedly in development. Xolo Maridueña, who played the title hero in the live-action movie, says he'll be back to voice Jaime Reyes for the series.
Warner Bros. has a variety of animated properties in various stages of development as streaming series (in addition to their never-ending DTV animated movie releases). That includes a fifth season of Harley Quinn which debuted in January, 2025, on Max, a possible ninth season of Teen Titans Go!, a third season of Adult Swim/Max's My Adventures With Superman, Season 2 of Amazon Prime's Batman: Caped Crusader (from Bruce Timm, J. J. Abrams, and Matt Reeves), and upcoming series such as Blue Beetle, My Adventures With Green Lantern (featuring the Jessica Cruz Lantern), DC Super Powers, Starfire, and Mister Miracle.
After decades in development hell through various studio regimes and stars attached to it, it seemed like Sgt. Rock was finally coming to the big screen. DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran acknowledged the project was in development with Luca Guadagnino directing. Guadagnino (Queer, Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria, Challengers) isn't exactly the first name you'd expect to hear for a Sgt. Rock movie so it made it an even more exciting prospect.
After rumors of Daniel Craig playing the title role in the WWII movie were shot down by Gunn, it was reported that Colin Farrell was cast instead. The project was to shoot in Summer 2025 for a Fall 2026 release but as soon as Sgt. Rock finally came together, the project fell apart. Still, Gunn has said that the film is still in development, though it remains to be seen who would star or direct if it happens.
Keanu Reeves was reportedly going to reprise his iconic DC role at one point. A sequel to 2005's Constantine was in the news in 2022, with Reeves set to star and Francis Lawrence returning as director. The screenplay was being written by Akiva Goldsman, and Goldsman was also producing the film alongside Bad Robot’s J.J. Abrams and Hannah Minghella. Lawrence gave IGN an update on the project when we spoke to him in May 2025 for The Long Walk:
"Constantine 2 is a real thing. It is something that we have been working on and trying to crack and figure things out over the years. And with all the various regime changes and things at Warner Brothers and who has rights to DC characters/Vertigo characters and DC Dark and all that, the character of Constantine has kind of changed hands over the years, which became roadblocks for us. We now are past those roadblocks, and so Keanu and Akiva ... who I did Constantine and I Am Legend with, have an idea, and Akiva is actually writing a script. And I'm really excited about the idea, and Keanu is really excited about the idea, but we've all collaborated on it and he is off writing, and so fingers crossed we can really get that going. I think we're all super excited and this is definitely the closest we've been in the 20 years since the movie came out."
Note: This story was updated on 7/14/2025 with the latest DC movie news. It was originally posted on 7/29/2021.
One of the best deals to come out of the LEGO Insiders Days Sale just got extended. LEGO Shop is currently offering the LEGO Milky Way 31212 set for $159.99. This discounted price is available exclusive at LEGO Shop, and the set is currently $200 everywhere else. At this price, you're only paying about 7 cents per brick, which is an outstanding value for a themed LEGO build. You'll need to be a LEGO Insiders member, but fortunately signing up is free. I purchased this set at full price and it was one of my favorite, if not my most favorite, LEGO build of 2024.
The LEGO Milky Way Galaxy set 31212 is part of the LEGO Art series, which includes other notable sets like Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night and Hokusai's The Great Wave. This is one of the bigger sets, measuring 15.5" tall and 25.5" wide and consisting of 3,091 brick pieces. What's unique about this representation of our Milky Way galaxy is that the set uses a generous amoutn of greebles, which are random LEGO pieces you wouldn't expect in a typical space-themed build. Some greebles used include brush combs, cherries, flowers, hearts, whisks, bicycle helmets, purple carrots, and some really unique pieces like something that I would best describe as transparent blue french fries. The Milky Way build also makes use of an intensely colorful palette of bricks, something that's sorely missing in recent LEGO builds, and the layering makes the finished art piece look like a mesmerizing 3D display. You can even scan a QR code in the building instructions booklets to discover more about the Milky Way through the set’s specially curated soundtrack.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Bomb Busters was recently awarded the highest honor for board games as it was named the 2025 Spiel des Jahres in Germany, beating out Flip 7 and Krakel Orakel for the top honors this year.
The Spiel des Jahres may not be a household name in the U.S., but it's the most prestigious and influential board game award in the world, similar to winning an Oscar for film. The Spiel des Jahres (literally "Game of the Year") has been awarded to the best overall board game by an independent jury in Germany since 1979.
This year's winner, Bomb Busters, is a strategic cooperative game for up to five players that requires everyone to work together to defuse a bomb by cutting the correct wires. It's basically the tabletop equivalent of the video game Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.
This is a great game for families as it's not too difficult to learn and includes 66 unique scenarios to conquer together. Typical games take around 30 minutes, making it a quick board game to get to the table and play.
Following the news of its big win, Bomb Busters is currently out of stock in the U.S. at Amazon and at the Pegasus Spiele North America store with no anticipated restock date.
Despite not having a big ceremony, winning the Spiel des Jahres is still a massive achievement and helps many board games achieve worldwide recognition. Historically, some of the best modern board games have been awarded the Spiel des Jahres, including Azul, Cascadia, Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, and Codenames, just to name a few.
In 1989, a second award was added, the Kinderspiel des Jahres, that recognized the best children's game of the year. The most recent award, the Kennerspiel des Jahres, was added in 2011 to recognize the best "connoisseur," or expert, game of the year.
This year, the cake-building game Topp die Torte! won the Kinderspiel des Jahres and the cooperative ocean exploration game Endeavor: Deep Sea won the Kennerspiel des Jahres.
For more board game coverage, check out our roundups of the best strategy board games, the best classic board games, and the best board games for adults to play in 2025.
Matthew Adler has written for IGN since 2019 covering all things gaming, tech, tabletop games, and more. You can follow him on the site formerly known as Twitter @MatthewAdler and watch him stream on Twitch.
One of my favorite pastimes on the playground growing up was having heated debates with my friends about which of our favorite TV or video game characters would win in a fight. While it’s been a few decades since those days on the swingset, pitting two individuals from different properties against one another in a deathmatch is no less relevant today – just look at games like Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Magic: The Gathering. One trading card game has been doing it far longer. It's called UniVersus, and the team at UVS Games has recently released the final set in their Attack on Titan line – Apocalypse – featuring cards and characters from the final arc of the manga and anime. At last, we can find out if Eren Yeager, in his final form, can take on Godzilla or the various members of Critical Role’s Vox Machina.
For those unfamiliar with UniVersus, previously known as “UFS - Universal Fighting System”, it's a card game akin to games like Magic: The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh, but whose identity is based around creating wild cross-over fights. Players construct decks, picking a Character to lead their deck, which also dictates how much life they start with and their maximum hand size. UniVersus’ mechanics are centered around checks that players make to play their various kinds of cards, from attacks to other resources. Each card has a challenge value on it that must be met or exceeded for the card to be successfully played, requiring the player to flip the card on top of their deck and compare its check value against the challenge value of the action to be played.
Successes allow the action to be taken, such as attacking your opponent, while a failure ends your turn. A player’s turn continues until either they pass or fail one of these checks, with each subsequent check increasing the challenge value. It’s an interesting system, and adds an extra element of tension with every check from the top of your deck. However, it can be a bit overwhelming at times, especially when you get to blocking attacks, which have their own set of similar checks to deal with. UniVersus as a whole, I feel, is one of the more complex card games out there on the market today.
This latest set is focused around the final arc of the Attack of Titan series. It continues to build on the previous sets that UVS released – Battle for Humanity and Origins of Power. Much like those other sets, Apocalypse retains the unique manga-esque card art, with most of the artwork framed in manga panels, with brand new artwork done by series creator Hajime Isayama. While his art style may not be everyone’s cup of tea, I personally prefer the art of the anime more, but there is no denying that it is neat to have these unique prints included in the set.
From a gameplay standpoint, not much sets Apocalypse apart from the other AoT sets UVS has released in the past year, but that isn’t really a bad thing, as I’ve enjoyed the previous sets quite a bit. I am especially fond of the double-sided Titan cards that allow characters to shift from their human form into their Titan form during the game, allowing for deeper strategies and tense moments in my games, and it feels just as good here in this final set as it did in the first. I have my fingers crossed that the team will find ways to incorporate this feature in future non-AoT sets.
Coming in at over 180 cards, Apocalypse offers players roughly the same amount of new cards as the previous Origins of Power set did, so unfortunately, if you were hoping for another large set like the titanic (pun intended) Battle for Humanity and its 300+ list, you’re out of luck. It is a bit of a bummer that there aren’t more cards. One feeling, though that I couldn’t escape as I looked through this set, was how it felt more like a set aimed more at collectors than at players. Maybe it’s just my imagination, resulting from the marketing focus on the new Isayama artwork and special chrome cards, but I feel like with the set's release, and even before, I heard more about those parts of this release than specifics on new cards or abilities of the set. To Apocalypse’s credit, the cards are all very neat and the chrome cards are beautiful, but for prospective new players, I don’t know what they could really learn about the set from a quick google search about specifics outside of “look, new art” which leads into the biggest issue that continues to hound UniVersus as a whole – learning resources.
Again, this is a complicated game and on the spectrum of simple to complex card games, I would put UniVersus somewhere around 3 out of 4 mark. Even after dabbling in the game for the past year or two, there are still a number of areas – resource symbols for example – that seemingly make little sense to me. To the team’s credit, they realize the game has an onboarding problem. I’ve played Magic a long time, so the idea of color identity, the idea that a specific color is tied to a style of gameplay, is something that makes sense to me, and symbols are, in essence, the UniVersus version of this idea. But UniVersus has 12 symbols, with abstract things like “All”, “Good”, and “Chaos” as just a few examples. I haven’t progressed far past the idea of just using the same symbols as the character who is leading my deck, but I wish the learning resources available did far more to help explain the systems, or were presented better.
While some resources are available, examples such as the phase breakdown and play-by-play of a turn are walls of text without a single accompanying image to help. The symbols guide features outdated card art and symbol designs, and the currently available basic “How to Play” video that teaches the most basic concepts of the game doesn’t touch on half of the card types that the game uses or even mention those resource symbols. In fact, they are omitted completely even from the art on the cards used in the demonstration. Thankfully, various content creators have published resources that potential new players can watch to learn the game, but the bright side of things is that they know that this is an issue and are working to address it, slowly but surely. I enjoy my time when I play, but finding good information on how to play or build decks in this game is so hard to come by that it makes UniVersus a hard sell to my card-game-playing friends.
Alienware's Black Friday in July Sale runs for this month only, and one of the best deals I've seen so far is this Alienware Aurora R16 RTX 5080 gaming PC for just $1,999.99 shipped. Despite the fact that the Alienware brand usually commands a higher price premium, this was less expensive than any RTX 5080 prebuilt we saw on Amazon during Prime Day. The Alienware Aurora R16 is a well-engineered and compact gaming rig with 240mm AIO water cooling, sensible airflow design, and a generous 1,000W 80Plus Platinum rated power supply. In the current market, buying a prebuilt gaming PC is the only way to score an RTX 5080 GPU without paying an exorbitant markup. If you were to try to find a 5080 GPU for your do-it-yourself PC build, you'll probably spend $1,400 for the graphics card alone.
This system is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 7 265F processor, GeForce RTX 5080 graphics card, 16GB of DDR5-5600MHz RAM, and a 1TB M.2 SSD. Note that this is a customizable configuration so you can upgrade the CPU and GPU or increase your memory or storage capacity. It's pre-configured with a 240mm all-in-one liquid cooling solution.
The Core Ultra 7 265F is part of Intel's newest Arrow Lake-S lineup released earlier this year and boasts a max turbo frequency of 5.3GHz with 20 cores and a 36MB L2 cache. This is a good all-around CPU for gaming, multi-tasking, and general workstation performance. For gaming, you won't see any improvement upgrading to a Core Ultra 9.
If you want an RTX 5080 gaming PC with all of the bells and whistles, there's another config on sale right now for $2,675. It is upgraded with a top-end Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor, a whopping 64GB of memory, and double the storage.
The RTX 5080 is the second best Blackwell graphics card, surpassed only by the $2,000 RTX 5090. It's about 5%-10% faster than the previous generation RTX 4080 Super, which is discontinued and no longer available. In games that support the new DLSS 4 with multi-frame generation exclusive to Blackwell cards, the gap widens. This is an outstanding card for playing even the latest games at 4K resolution with high settings and ray tracing enabled.
Not everyone is the DIY type. If you're in the market for a prebuilt gaming PC, Dell is one of the best brands we'd recommend. Nowadays, the best Alienware deals are competitive compared to the cost of building your own PC with equivalent specs. Alienware desktops and laptops feature solid build quality, top-of-the-line gaming performance, and excellent cooling (further improved on the newer models). Best of all, there are plenty of sales that happen throughout the year, so it's not difficult to grab one of these computers at considerably less than their retail price.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Nearly all of the best SSD deals we saw during Prime Day are over, with the exception of one. Right now Amazon is still offering the Samsung 990 Pro 2TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe solid state drive (SSD) with pre-installed heatsink for the excellent price of $149.99 after a 30% off instant discount. The Samsung 990 Pro is widely considered one of the fastest PCIe 4.0 SSDs on the market. It makes for an outstanding drop-in storage expansion for your PlayStation 5 or gaming rig.
The 990 Pro is the successor to the venerable 980 Pro and a huge upgrade in speed. Samsung claims a 50% improved performance per watt over its Samsung 980 Pro predecessor. It boasts blazing sequential speeds of 7,450MB/s read and 6,900MB/s write and random speeds of 1400K/1550K IOPS. Unlike most other SSDs, the components are manufactured in-house. The 990 Pro utilizes the new Samsung Pascal controller and 7th gen TLC NAND flash chips. The Samsung 990 Pro has a built-in DRAM cache. Most other SSDs at this price point (including Samsung's own 990 Evo Plus) are DRAM-less and rely on HMB, or system memory, as a cost cutting measure. Nowadays there are faster PCI Gen 5 drives on the market (like Samsung's own 9100 Pro), however they are considerably more expensive and overkill for most PC gamers.
The Samsung 990 Pro is an excellent SSD for your PS5. From a purely performance perspective, it's overkill; the stock SSD in your PS5 will be the limiting factor. You'll want to pick up an PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 solid state drive with a rated 5,500MB/s read speed to match the PS5's internal drive and the 990 Pro is much faster. However, at the current price point, this SSD is cheaper than many slower options, so you might as well get it anyways. Sony recommends a heatsink attached to your SSD. Fortunately, this particular 990 Pro does include a heatsink, and a nice thick, all-metal one at that. It's also slim enough to fit perfectly in the PS5 SSD.
Looking for more options? Check out our favorite PS5 SSDs for the PS5 console.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
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