As glimpsed at the end of the new Mortal Kombat II trailer, Scorpion will confront Noob Saibot, aka Bi-Han, in the highly anticipated sequel. As Sub-Zero, Bi-Han (played by Joe Taslim) was slain by Scorpion/Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada) at the end of the 2021 movie reboot. But Mortal Kombat fans always knew they hadn’t really seen the last of Bi-Han, especially since Taslim had previously confirmed he’d signed a multi-picture deal to play the character.

Considering that Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage is the main protagonist of Mortal Kombat II, just how much will the Scorpion-Noob Saibot subplot figure into the sequel, especially since Hiroyuki Sanada has become an even more in-demand (and award-winning) actor since the first film thanks to the success of Shogun?

“Without giving any plot points away, they have a very strong history that was unresolved in the first movie that probably needs to be resolved at some point and may or may not be resolved in the second movie,” Mortal Kombat II producer Todd Garner recently told IGN. “But their storylines are instrumental in the plot of the movie, which overall, does involve a tournament.”

Director Simon McQuoid confirmed that Scorpion “plays a pivotal role in this movie,” but added during his interview with us that “it's really just about giving every character a strong reason to exist in the world and giving them a way that each of them can start in one place and end in another. So we did that with Scorpion as well. He does an amazing job, Hiro again, and there's some pretty wild stuff he does with Noob, and it's very satisfying. It's exciting to know that the fans have got them waiting for them this wonderful epic fight that plays out.”

Garner cautioned that Scorpion is in the movie as much as Hiroyuki Sanada’s busy schedule allowed: “We would love to have had him even way more than we had him [in the sequel], but he has a huge career. He's a legend, and so we understand the importance of his character and wanted to give him his due, but also understand that this is for the most part in this movie Johnny Cage's journey, and that therefore, then we had to use Scorpion in the smartest way we possibly could think of to have the most impact on the story, which we hopefully have done, and give him his due in the fighting and the actual turns and twists of the story.”

“Making movies involves physics, it involves real life, it involves actors, it involves schedules, and it's not like we can just pick and choose the schedules of people and get them as much as we would hope,” the producer added.

While Johnny Cage is the biggest of the games characters introduced in Mortal Kombat II, he’s not the only fan favorite making their debut in the rebooted movie franchise. Kitana is played by Adeline Rudolph in the sequel, while Tati Gabrielle plays her best friend and bodyguard Jade.

“Kitana is the ‘daughter’ in inverted quotes of Shao Kahn and Sindel. We tell that story,” McQuoid said of his movie’s incarnation. “So we play out her journey and from very early on to what that then means for our story we have.”

“Then we have Jade,” McQuoid continued, “and they're just bringing a new feeling and a new tonal ingredients to the story and to the atmosphere of what we're creating. And it just made it feel more exotic and beautiful and interesting and brutal. Not to say that our existing characters, I really wanted to respect them throughout it as well. So it's just about fitting it all in and calibrating and balancing up all their stories.”

Given that the first film teased Johnny Cage’s character would be in the sequel, should fans expect a post-credits scene in Mortal Kombat II that could set-up another iconic games character that could be in a third film?

“No, it's not that kind of movie. There is a coda, but again, what we're very aware of, and this really comes to a real theory of New Line and why they're so great, is they don't expect to make a sequel. We have to earn that right,” Garner said.

“So we don't assume that we're going to get another shot at this because who knows, right? If we've done our jobs like we hope we have given the, again, restraints of physics and budget and everything else, and the audience tells us they enjoyed it enough to support it and give us the opportunity to make the sequel, then we will. But we're not going to give you some post-sequence to be like, ‘Oh, this is going to happen in the sequel.’

Because hopefully, look, I will say in the same way that the first movie said, ‘Hey, we got to go find Johnny Cage,’ there is that idea at the end of this movie that this could continue. It's not like we're peeling off all the characters and saying, ‘Okay, we're done.’ Obviously we could do more and we obviously have plans to do more and know what we would want to do if we're given the opportunity to do more, and so if we're given that opportunity, then we will, but we don't want to assume that we can.”

Read our exclusive Mortal Kombat II cover story for more revelations from the filmmakers and star Karl Urban.

Mortal Kombat II opens in theaters October 24, 2025.

70 years ago today, Walt Disney woke up in his now-iconic apartment above Main Street, U.S.A.'s Town Square Fire Station and, after accidentally locking himself in his bedroom, he welcomed the world into Disneyland. Just a few days ago, I had the immense honor of sitting in that exact same apartment to exclusively speak with Disneyland President Thomas Mazloum for his first national interview about the past, present, and great big beautiful DisneylandForward of the only Disney park Walt ever stepped foot in.

While Mazloum first joined the company in 1998 as a hotel director for Disney Cruise Line and was most recently the president of Disney Signature Experiences, he's only been at the helm of Disneyland for the past few months. Still, he more than understands the weight of guiding over 36,000 employees, two theme parks, hotels, Downtown Disney, and the ambitious DisneylandForward development plan, and he couldn't stop smiling as he told me, "when you lead Disneyland, it's not a job. It's a real privilege."

"Just think about that, right? 36,000 people come to work here every day," Mazloum continued. "Beyond that, think of the impact that it has on Orange County and Southern California. We recently did another study with Tourism Economics, which found that we directly and indirectly support more than 102,000 jobs in the region and annually generate $16.1 billion in economic impact in Southern California. So, Disneyland has changed so many things economically, and it has changed the way people look at family entertainment."

To All Who Come to This Happy Place: Welcome

And just think, it was all started by a mouse. I obviously had to throw that line in there, but the truth of the matter is it all began back on a park bench in Los Angeles' Griffith Park, where Walt Disney was sitting one day and had a very important dream that would change everything.

"It came about when my daughters were very young, and Saturday was always Daddy’s day,” Walt said, as presented in The Official Walt Disney Quote Book. “I took them to different places and as I’d sit while they rode the Merry-Go-Round and did all these things – sit on a bench, you know, eating peanuts – I felt that there should be something built where the parents and the children could have fun together. So that’s how Disneyland started.”

We’re now used to outlandish popcorn buckets for Hollywood movies. Who can forget the Deadpool & Wolverine popcorn bucket from last year, which let people eat out of Wolverine's head? Speaking of popcorn bucket heads, The Fantastic Four: First Steps’s Galactus head is a gargantuan $80.

Now it’s time for video games to get in on the act. Upcoming PlayStation 5 exclusive Ghost of Yotei is getting its own official popcorn bucket as the video game crosses the divide into blockbuster movie territory.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is working with Sony to showcase five classic samurai films inspired by Ghost of Yotei on the big screen in a programming series called Way of the Samurai, and as part of that it will launch a custom Ghost of Yotei-themed menu featuring appetizers, desserts, and cocktails “crafted to complement the mood and mythology of the films.”

But the big draw is the exclusive, 100-ounce Ghost of Yotei popcorn bucket modeled after a traditional Japanese rice bucket. The popcorn bucket launches today, July 17, at AlamoMart.com and will be available in theaters from August 2 to September 4.

The special Ghost of Yotei menu will be available at Alamo locations nationwide during the Way of the Samurai screenings.

The movies are:

• LADY SNOWBLOOD (1973, dir. Toshiya Fujita) – A blood-soaked tale of revenge that
• influenced KILL BILL and countless others.
• LONE WOLF AND CUB: SWORD OF VENGEANCE (1972, dir. Kenji Misumi) – A
• brutal, beautiful saga of a disgraced samurai and his infant son on a path of vengeance.
• THE TALE OF ZATOICHI (1962, dir. Kenji Misumi) – The first installment of the
• legendary blind swordsman series.
• 13 ASSASSINS (2011, dir. Takashi Miike) – A modern epic of strategy and sacrifice that
• redefined large-scale action.
• RAN (1985, dir. Akira Kurosawa) – The master's sweeping tragedy of power, madness,
• and betrayal.

As for Ghost of Yotei, Sony recently revealed more information on the game during a dedicated State of Play. Ghost of Yotei launches October 2, 2025 on PS5.

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.

Eyes up, Zelda fans, because The Legend of Zelda movie has its stars. Shigeru Miyamoto officially announced that Bo Bragason and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth will be taking up the iconic roles of Princess Zelda and Link respectively in director Wes Ball’s live-action Legend of Zelda film, currently set for release on May 7, 2027. It’s the first major update we’ve received on the film in quite a while, and the news plus the images provided by the studio of the pair are sure to stir up plenty of excitement from fans.

That said, the casting of young and relatively unknown performers in such iconic parts has raised some eyebrows. Still, it might actually be the best possible sign for the movie’s prospects.

Let’s take a look at why going this route is exactly what the Zelda movie needed.

Character Over Celebrity

Although both Bragason and Ainsworth are not making their debut here (Netflix viewers may recognize them from Renegade Nell and The Haunting of Bly Manor respectively), neither of them would at this point be classified as household names. This is a sharp contrast to Nintendo’s last theatrical franchise offering, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which filled its animated voice cast with known quantities like Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black. Going for big names worked perfectly well for that entry, to the tune of over $1.3 billion at the box office, but Zelda needs a different touch, especially because this film will be live-action and not animated. Although IGN’s Logan Plant previously made the case that the Zelda film should have been animated, Nintendo obviously felt differently.

There's no shortage of variety in today’s deals. You’ve got Berserk’s original 1997 anime series on Blu-ray for under $36, which is about as cheap as it gets for a proper high-def release of that run. All 25 episodes, English dub and subs included. If you’ve been meaning to revisit it or watch for the first time, now’s not a bad moment.

TL;DR: Deals For Today

Beyond that there’s some surprisingly hefty discounts on proper desk gear. Anker Nano charging station is down to $35.99, which is decent considering it handles up to seven devices at once. And if you’re chasing a gaming monitor upgrade, LG’s 39-inch UltraGear OLED is sitting $550 off. 240Hz, G-Sync support, webOS built in. Let's get into it:

Destined Rivals Elite Trainer Box

Where To Buy Japanese Pokémon Cards

Japanese Pokémon TCG booster boxes have far better odds at pulling chase cards, have far less bulk and are often half the price of English booster boxes. This also mean said chase cards are worth significantly less, but Japanese cards are far easier to get perfect grades in given they're always busting out of booster packs in perfect condition. Want a Pokémon card collection on a budget? Go for Japanese cards.

Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Preorders

This is it, the beggining of a new expansion for Pokémon TCG. Best Buy have gone live with their preorder allocation for Mega Evolutions today, which mean Target and Walmart won't be far behind. Here's all the links you need and good luck trainers!

Pokémon TCG Price Updates

I can't believe I'm writing this, but Amazon has quite a bit of sealed Pokémon TCG product for under market value. Whilst that unfortunately means it's still way above MSRP, some of these sets are at the best prices they've been in the last month.

This Weeks Crashers and Climbers

Scarlet and Violet base set prices have been shifting noticeably ahead of the final sets Black Bolt and White Flare, with Psychic-type Illustration Rares like Ralts 211/198 and Kirlia 212/198 each climbing 28 percent this month while Gardevoir ex 245/198 now sits at $54.99 after a 25 percent jump. Miraidon ex and Koraidon ex are both trending upward as well, holding value around $23.99 each. At the same time several cards are sliding down as Fidough 213/198 dropped 15 percent, Armarouge 203/198 is down 11 percent, and Pachirisu 208/198 fell 19 percent. The steepest dips hit Dondozo 207/198 and Starly 221/198, now around $9.99 each after dropping 30 percent and 37 percent respectively, reflecting a market that is narrowing in on long-term playability and collector interest.

Last Weeks Crashers and Climbers

As newer Pokémon TCG sets grab the spotlight, Paradox Rift is seeing its high-rarity SIR ex cards drop in value while several Illustration Rares quietly climb due to shifting collector interest and low inventory. Cards like Altaria ex, Gholdengo ex, and Steelix have dropped between 16% and 25%, while Illustration Rares including Morpeko, Plusle, Minun, Groudon, and Iron Valiant ex are climbing fast, with Morpeko leading at a 43% increase. This mirrors earlier trends where less flashy cards gain traction as availability tightens.

MTG Edge of Eternities Preorders

Magic: The Gathering’s next set, Edge of Eternities, officially launches August 1 with preorders now live on Amazon for bundles including Play Booster Boxes, Commander Decks, and Collector Booster Boxes. Blending Magic’s iconic gameplay with science fantasy themes such as flying space whales and alien races, Edge of Eternities introduces four new mechanics: Void, Warp, Station, and Lander Tokens. Fan-favorite tribes like Eldrazi and Slivers return alongside reprints of coveted Shock Lands. Wizards of the Coast is gradually revealing more details, with a full card gallery arriving July 18 and prerelease events happening July 25 through 31, so now is the time to lock in your preorder if you want first access.

MTG Pricing Updates

It's a bit of a mixed back for Magic: The Gathering prices this week, so it's always worth double checking eBay before TCG Player and Amazon for a last minute bargain. Also, whoever thinks a Theros Beyond Death booster is worth north of $700 needs to have a word with themselves.

Berserk Complete 1997 TV Series Blu Ray

Anker Nano Charging Station(100W Max)

JBL Xtreme 3

39 Inch UltraGear OLED

Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD 2TB

Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle

SanDisk® 512GB GamePLAY microSD Express Card

Superman (2025) (4K Ultra HD Steelbook)

USB Type-C to A Cable 5 pack

INIU Portable Charger 10000mAh 45W

TCL - 55" QM6K Series

INIU 140W Power Bank

Fitbit Charge 6 Fitness Tracker

Personal Fan with LED Display

9-Outlet Anker 332 USB C Power Strip Surge Protector

INIU USB C Charger Block x 2

Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection (Switch)

Superman (Blu-ray + Digital)

Split Fiction (PS5)

Apple AirPods Pro 2 Wireless Earbuds

DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake (Switch)

The Lord of the Rings Illustrated (Tolkien Illustrated Editions)

Suikoden I & II HD Remastered (Switch)

Julian LeFay, former chief engineer at Bethesda and co-founder of OnceLost Games, is stepping back from game development due to his ongoing battle with cancer, the company announced yesterday.

In a video from OnceLost Games, producer Victor Villareal announced the news. "Our technical producer Julian LeFay, who I'm sure needs no introduction, has been fighting a battle with cancer for the last several years," said Villareal. "He's fought bravely and strongly, but it seems he doesn't have very much time left. He has stepped away from the project to spend that remaining time with his family and loved ones."

LeFay is often referred to as the "father of the Elder Scrolls" series, as he joined Bethesda Softworks after its founding in 1987 and led the company as Chief Engineer through games like The Elders Scrolls: Arena, The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, and Battlespire. Julianos, the God of Wisdom and Logic, and one of the Nine Divines in The Elder Scrolls, is named after LeFay.

Dabbling in various projects over the years, LeFay co-founded the studio OnceLost Games in 2019 with former Bethesda colleagues Ted Peterson and Vijay Lakshman, to work on a Daggerfall spiritual successor called The Wayward Realms.

Peterson penned a statement, released in the description of the announcement video from OnceLost games, tracing his history with LeFay.

"I could talk stories about our friendship and how we’ve worked together recently with our team on Wayward Realms as creative and technical directors, but I need to come to the point of this," wrote Peterson. "Julian has been courageously battling cancer. His doctors have informed us that his time with us is limited, and we are preparing to say goodbye to a true legend of the industry."

Peterson invited fans to share thoughts, prayers, well-wishes, memories, or simply the impact LeFay's life and work has had on them.

"To me, this is deeply personal, and I regret every second I didn’t spend with one of the most charming, smart, funny, and interesting people I’ve ever met," wrote Peterson. "It’s also a spur to action for me: I will not let down his legacy.

"That said, a final quote from the eminently quotable Julian LeFay," he continued. "He said this at our last team meeting, and I believe it represents him and his beliefs well. 'It is personal. And if it’s not personal, then you’re just doing work for hire and you’ll never have the motivation to accomplish a significant goal.'"

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Jeopardy’s got one of us, folks. Current reigning champion Scott Riccardi just completed an insane 10-day streak on the beloved game show — and it turns out he’s an active Super Smash Bros. competitor online. Can we get a W in the chat for Scott, please?

Riccardi has amassed a whopping $262,101 over the course of his streak so far, and it seems he isn’t showing any signs of hitting the breaks in the competition. He beat the record for the most wins in season 41 back on July 15 when he hit his 9-day streak, so he’s really giving his other competitors a run for their money at this point.

The Epic Games Store is giving away Sid Meier’s Civilization 6 Platinum Edition away for free on PC for an entire week starting today.

The latest addition to the Fortnite maker’s free game offerings is no doubt one of the biggest deals of 2025, giving players a chance to pick up 2K and Firaxis Games’ 2016 strategy title at no extra cost from July 17 – 24. It’s an $80 value that nets players the base experience along with a whopping six DLC packs and two premium expansions, all free to own even after the offer expires. You can click here to claim the offer for yourself.

Everything Included in Sid Meier’s Civilization 6 Platinum Edition

• Sid Meier’s Civilization 6
• Civilization VI: Rise and Fall expansion
• Civilization VI: Gathering Storm expansion
• Civilization VI – Vikings Scenario Pack
• Civilization VI – Poland Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Civilization VI – Australia Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Civilization VI – Persia and Macedon Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Civilization VI – Nubia Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Civilization VI – Khmer and Indonesia Civilization & Scenario Pack

Firaxis launched Civilization 6 nearly 10 years ago, with the historically based 4X strategy game now available to play across PC, mobile devices, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It’s an experience we gave a 9.4/10 in our review upon its release, saying at the time that it was “fully loaded with features and makes some very smart changes to its winning 4X strategy formula.”

The project was the primary way for fans to enjoy the Civilization franchise all the way up to February of this year, which saw Firaxis release its long-awaited follow-up, Sid Meier’s Civilization 7. Although the 2025 iteration adds new features, updated visuals, and more tools from across history to play with, it’s still got a few scratches to buff out. We gave it a 7/10, and in May, Take-Two addressed its “Mixed” Steam reviews (which have now dropped to the “Mostly Negative” for recent reviews), promising that Firaxis' work will result in a better game in the future.

Civilization 6, meanwhile, remains a complete experience, boasting “Very Positive” overall Steam reviews and a 4.7/5 stars from players on the Epic Games Store. If you play your PC games through the latter – or even if you don’t – there’s no reason not to pick up the Platinum Edition for free now that the deal is live.

While you wait for Civilization 6 to download, you can read up on how the first human Neuralink patient and how he used the experimental technology to stay up playing Firaxis’ 2016 video game. You can also check out its Android update trailer, which premiered just last month.

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

IGN is excited to share with you the brand new trailer for Mortal Kombat II, which you can watch via the player embedded below. The trailer debuted during a live stream Thursday morning between IGN, Warner Bros. Pictures, and IMAX. Ahead of the trailer’s global online debut, I was able to chat exclusively with actor Karl Urban – who brings the iconic Johnny Cage to life in Mortal Kombat II – as well as director Simon McQuoid and producer Todd Garner in their first extensive interviews about the highly anticipated sequel.

The 2021 reboot of Mortal Kombat, also directed by McQuoid, was released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max during the COVID-19 pandemic, where it became the streamer’s most successful movie launch ever.

“When we made the [first] movie, Warner Bros. didn't know how people were going to react. They didn't know. We didn't have a huge budget to do whatever we wanted to do,” Garner recalled. “We certainly couldn't compete with the huge superhero movies by any stretch of the imagination, so we were limited by the scale and scope of that movie because they didn't really know what they had.”

“The fact that the movie did so well on HBO Max, and obviously now that we have Mike De Luca at Warner Bros. and Pam Abdy, they really knew not only what they had from the numbers from HBO Max, but they also knew, Mike knew because he has such a fondness for the series. They gave us more scale, more scope to do the fights, more fighting, which is expensive quite frankly.” (De Luca, it should be noted, was a young executive at New Line Cinema in the 1990s where the original Mortal Kombat movies were produced.)

Watch the new red band Mortal Kombat II trailer:

"Most franchises don't start with the prequel. Most franchises start with the movie and then you do the prequel, because we have a movie that sets up the rules and sets up the world. It doesn't have a tournament, and now we wanted to make sure that we did the tournament and what people expect from the Mortal Kombat franchise," Garner explained. "And so coming into the movie with Johnny Cage being new to the tournament, [it's] not hard to follow."

Director McQuoid said a very large percentage of the film was shot in IMAX, which allowed for the scale of not just the fight scenes but the world of Mortal Kombat itself to level up.

“We've got some new characters coming in and some of those new characters are wild and otherworldly, like Shao Kahn. And when you've got characters like that, you have to swing for the fences, really,” McQuoid said. “I wanted to use what Mortal Kombat had by going to new realms and giving it a bigger, more wild [feel], more scope, and use the material that's just sitting there ready to be used. And so, in pushing into those new realms, and we go to Edenia and we spend a lot of time there, and that was exciting because it hasn't really been portrayed all that much… It was great to bring massive scale to that. And also some of the levels from the game, we were able to take those things and scale them up to a big and beautiful place.”

The director added that “there's some things in the IMAX version, some little story moments and little gems for the super fans that, if you see the IMAX version, you'll see something in that version that you won't see in the regular theatrical version. I just wanted to try and innovate and use the format in a way that really makes it a rewarding experience for the audience.”

With McQuoid back in the director’s chair and a script by Moon Knight’s Jeremy Slater, the next step was finding the right actor to play Johnny Cage, a fan favorite character from the games who was only teased at the end of the first film but is the main protagonist of the sequel.

“We didn't know if the general audience would buy an arrogant actor as the lead of the first movie, or would it be strange that it would be this arrogant actor in this basically martial arts movie? Did it feel weird?,” Garner said.

“For people who didn't know the game and didn't know the franchise, would it just feel like, ‘Wait, you have these guys with these superpowers that are doing incredible martial arts and this arrogant actor from the nineties? What is this?" It just felt like it was all over the place. So Liu was used in the first movie as the sage, the teacher, the wise one, which he is, and we knew we had to ultimately get to Johnny Cage because he's such a big presence in the franchise.”

Garner was candid about the challenges of casting Johnny Cage while also keeping fans happy. “I get it. Everybody comes to the franchise with their own love of it and their own feeling of what it should be,” the producer admits. “I'd have to make a hundred thousand different movies to please everybody.”

Garner specifically cites the factions of fans who lobbied for wrestler-actor The Miz, martial artist-actor Scott Adkins, or movie stars like Ryan Reynolds and Glen Powell. “Those two gentlemen have massive careers and schedules and they make untold lots and lots of money that probably wouldn't have necessarily fit into our budget, let alone our schedule,” Garner said.

“What we tried to do with this movie in the casting from the get-go is not have celebrity casting of like, oh, it's so-and-so playing Liu Kang. We wanted it to be Liu Kang, we wanted it to be Scorpion, we wanted it to be Sub-Zero, Jax, and so forth. So it wasn't like we were going for the biggest star. We wanted to try to bring the best to the characters, and Karl, he's an incredible actor. I'll put him up against anybody, and for this journey of this movie, we needed somebody to embody Johnny Cage, and he did that.”

The Johnny Cage of Mortal Kombat II, however, is not quite the same blowhard typically depicted in the Mortal Kombat games or past film and TV adaptations. Not initially, anyway. “When we first discover Johnny, he is sort of lacking a lot of that quintessential spark that I think fans of the game will know,” Urban told IGN.

“We start him at a very low point. His career is completely in the dumps. He has no self-confidence. He has neglected his martial arts training. And at his lowest point, he gets called up to, essentially, be a warrior that represents the Earthrealm and fight for the very future of humanity. And as I read the script, I found it just such a compelling, interesting, dynamic journey. We start this character in one place, and as an audience, we get to see him evolve and grow.”

“A wonderful facet of the writing is they really humanize the character of Johnny and he's not some [two-dimensional] character, not that he ever was, but he has room to grow. And he certainly does that as he gains his confidence and gains his belief in his self, [and] some of that sort of cockiness and swagger starts to come through.”

While Urban has long known of Mortal Kombat, he credits playing the game with his kids – and losing soundly to them – with making him fall in love with the franchise. “When Mortal Kombat first came out, and I think it was around '92, I was so broke, I couldn't even afford a PlayStation, let alone the game, so I sort of missed out on the initial wave in it,” the Star Trek and The Boys actor recalled.

“When I heard that they were doing a second installment of the film and that Johnny Cage was going to be a huge part of it, we were very proactive about seeking out the director and the producers and getting a hold of the script, which was fantastic,” said Urban. “Jeremy Slater wrote an amazing script. And yeah, I just couldn't be more thrilled, not only to portray this version of Johnny Cage, but just to be a part of the Mortal Kombat world.”

To prepare for the role, Urban consumed everything he could about his iconic character and the Mortal Kombat franchise and he also underwent training that he described as “the most difficult fighting that I have ever done in my career.” But while the physical aspects were “a huge challenge,” Urban said his main objective as an actor was making Johnny Cage feel like a real person.

“For me, the challenge, really, was to ground the character in a reality and to give him a backstory. And my research, apart from absorbing everything I could about Mortal Kombat and what had been done with Johnny Cage previously and what had been done with him in the games, was to then really formulate a backstory,” Urban said.

“Part of my research is I went along to a bunch of karate tournaments and looked at young kids coming through and just absorbing myself in the culture and imagining young Johnny before he was plucked out of that into movie stardom, what that was like. And I found that just a really wonderful and fascinating experience and a real eye-opener.”

Urban assured me that “fans of Johnny Cage are going to be super delighted by the signature moves and all the nods and elements that we've worked so hard to infuse into the movie.” While Urban spoke of the reverence and fan service the filmmakers have put into Mortal Kombat II, he also acknowledged that “the objective is also to make it accessible to a new audience. We are making this film also, not only for fans of Mortal Kombat, but for fans of cinema and for fans of fun, action, adventure, martial art movies. And you don't have to have even played Mortal Kombat or even seen the first film to jump straight into this.”

Urban then paid the film one of the highest compliments an action movie could receive: “I think Mortal Kombat II is to Mortal Kombat what The Road Warrior is to Mad Max. I think that everybody across the board has leveled up in a significant way right across the entire production. And I think this representation of this world and these characters is the best we've seen. And I'm super excited for an audience to see it. As you've seen from the trailer itself … it looks like a significant level-up.”

Mortal Kombat II opens in theaters October 24, 2025. Look for more from IGN’s exclusive interviews with the filmmakers soon.

We hope you’ve been testing your might and practicing your combo moves and animalities, because Mortal Kombat 2 is nearly upon us. This sequel to the 2021 reboot features many returning characters, like Lewis Tan’s Cole Young and Hiroyuki Sanada’s Scorpion, but it also introduces a brand new kast of kombatants. That includes Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage, who looks to be the star of the show this time around. That’s judging from the first Mortal Kombat 2 trailer, which features a lot of Urban’s Cage along with several other new players.

Are you a little rusty on your MK mythology? Are you having trouble making sense of the many colorful characters in this new footage? Not to worry. Let’s break down the characters we see in the new Mortal Kombat 2 trailer, along with the others confirmed to appear in this sequel.

New Characters in Mortal Kombat 2

Karl Urban as Johnny Cage

Johnny Cage was probably the most significant MK character not to appear in the 2021 movie. Fortunately, the sequel looks to be making up for lost time. All signs point to Karl Urban’s Cage being the central protagonist of Mortal Kombat 2, perhaps even pushing Tan’s Cole Young into a secondary role (we’ll get to him in a minute).

Urban’s Cage is introduced in a way that will be familiar to fans of the franchise. He’s played as a middle-aged, washed-up action hero long past his moviemaking prime and the days of box office hits like Uncaged Fury. (Warner Bros. even released a fake trailer for Uncaged Fury this week too.) But unlike most Hollywood action stars, Johnny actually has the moves to back up his bravado. That’ll come in handy as he’s reluctantly drawn into the conflict between Earthrealm and Outworld.

“We start him at a very low point,” Urban told IGN. “His career is completely in the dumps. He has no self-confidence. He has neglected his martial arts training. And at his lowest point, he gets called up to, essentially, be a warrior that represents the Earthrealm and fight for the very future of humanity. And as I read the script, I found it just such a compelling, interesting, dynamic journey. We start this character in one place, and as an audience, we get to see him evolve and grow.”

We also see a shot of Cage flirting with Jessica McNamee’s Sonya Blade in the trailer. That’s significant, as in the games their romance eventually results in a daughter named Cassie Cage, a very formidable fighter in her own right.

Cage was first played by Linden Ashby in the 1995 movie. The character also appeared in the web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy, played by Matt Mullins in Season 1 and Starship Troopers' Casper Van Dien in Season 2.

Adeline Rudolph as Kitana

Another fan-favorite hero is joining the cast in MK2, as Adeline Rudolph plays the steel fan-wielding Kitana. In the games, Kitana is the princess of Edenia, the daughter of Queen Sindel, and a love interest for Liu Kang. She’s also one of the most important figures in the fight to stop Outworld from conquering all of reality. We don’t get the impression any of that will be changing for Mortal Kombat 2, though with a cast this large, we’ll see if there’s much room to build a romance between Kitana and Liu.

Kitana was originally played by Talisa Soto in the 1995 movie, while Samantha Jo played Kitana on both seasons of Mortal Kombat: Legacy.

Tati Gabrielle as Jade

The masked bo staff expert Jade will now be portrayed by Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’s Tati Gabrielle. In the games, Jade is Kitana’s bodyguard and best friend, meaning she’s got her work cut out for her.

Jade was originally played by Irina Pantaeva in 1997's Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.

Damon Herriman as Quan Chi

Since Skate’s announcement way back in 2020 (originally dubbed Skate 4) we’ve seen an influx of skateboarding games, from sims like Session, to the arcadey Tony Hawk remakes, and unique experiences like VR Skater and Olli Olli World. No matter how you look at it, skateboarding video games are definitely back, but they’re still missing that open-world sandbox feel that the Skate series popularized back in the late 2000’s. When I got the chance to play an alpha build of Skate 3’s long awaited sequel, I was excited but also skeptical of how the Skate revival would work as a live service game, and most importantly, would it be able to recapture the magic from the first three entries?

Within minutes of my nearly six hours with Skate and after a few moments of me spectacularly ragdolling around San Vansterdam, I was able to reactivate my long dormant muscle memory to find myself grinding and kick flipping my way around Skate’s sandbox world. From the extremely intuitive and easy-to-digest first handful of missions that smartly taught me its gameplay mechanics in small digestible chunks, to its cleverly designed world that never slowed me down when I was cursing around, and its unique traversal system that plays more like an Assassin’s Creed and Spider-Man game than what I would expect from a skateboarding sim, it’s obvious that developer Full Circle took an “if it ain't broke, don't fix it” approach to this and made sure that Skate is a game that can be played and understood quickly.

In addition to the classic control scheme, Skate offers two variations of controls that can make the difficulty curve easier for new players as well as a multitude of quality-of-life features that, quite frankly, are a welcome addition. While I stuck with the original control scheme and didn't mess with any of Skate's accessibility features outside of a few less button presses, there's definitely a way to make Skate’s unique playstyle a little easier for both series newcomers and die-hard Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater fans. Regardless of how you want to play, Skate’s controls make pulling off gravity-defying tricks an easy and really fun process, thanks to its flick controls and intuitive movement system.

Simply put, I had a ton of fun with my time cruising around San Vansterdam discovering cool things to skate on while riding from objective to objective. At its core, Skate is a big open sandbox where you jump on and off of things and do cool tricks in-between that. Because of this, I never felt pressured to complete any nearby objectives on my map, I never paid much attention to my score, nor did I feel stuck in that carrot-on-a-stick gameplay loop so many live service games rely on. While you are encouraged to complete objectives in order to unlock new areas and level up your character, I found myself ignoring that and just vibing around to the in-game soundtrack and finding new cool places to skate on.

Thankfully, discovering those spots is extremely simple thanks to the ability to hop off your board and parkour around the map. I was able to easily scale buildings with Skate’s easy-to-use climbing controls and drop markers wherever I needed to spawn back to, which happened whenever I tried something stupid – like attempting to heelflip off a skyscraper onto a park bench. Which never worked out, by the way, but I still found myself trying over and over again. A movement system like this makes Skate less frustrating to mess around with and find fun and ridiculous areas to skate on all over the map. That being said, there are a hefty amount of objectives and story quests to complete that range from following a premade line, to getting a high score, and even one where I had to skydive off a building into a nearby bridge.

Tonally, Skate looks and feels a bit different than the direction the original trilogy had. While I'm definitely nostalgic for the pseudo-realistic look of the originals, the world in Skate seems to be a bit more exaggerated and saturated. Early on in my session I had to complete a mission where I jumped off a building into a dumpster. The in-game narrator explained that nobody in that world feels pain when falling because a tech start up called ImpervaTEK figured out how to make people invincible. When asked to further elaborate, I was told to not worry because its science and the topic was never mentioned again. That’s pretty dumb, but OK, whatever. Let’s me keep skating, I guess. And while I loved the simple world building of Skate, the character models took a bit of time to get used to, since they kind of look like next generation Sims. But eventually, after a few costume adjustments, I was happy with how my bleach-blonde, mullet-wearing self looked, and I was back to landing triple kick-flips in no time.

If you weren’t already aware, Skate is a free-to-play live service game, and while that is a major departure from the previous titles, its heavy focus on multiplayer gameplay really makes this version of Skate seem like it could be a game I would return to long after its release. The developers on site told me that there could be well over 100+ players on the map at once, and while proximity chat was not featured in my demo, I never really felt like I needed to speak out loud to anyone whenever I ran into another skater. Seeing other people casually mess around in Skate’s sandbox world is a unique experience that very few live service games seem to get right, and with its numerous customization features and evolving world, I’m pretty optimistic about the world feeling alive once it's released and I can absolutely see a map full of people hanging out and skating.

Finally, there is a level progression system where you can earn in-game cosmetics, one of which is that same pair of Vans a lot of us have been wearing for the past twenty-something years, notable decks from major skate brands, emotes, and a ton of cool and weird clothes to put on my custom character. As expected, there is also an in-game store full of cosmetic items and costumes, but I never felt like I needed to buy anything and was reassured that there are no “pay to win” microtransactions in Skate. While this is only from pre-alpha gameplay and that can all change, I didn't seem to find any of the typical trappings from other free-to-play live service offerings. Let’s hope it stays that way.

After playing Skate for well over five hours, not only I can clearly see the direction developer Full Circle is taking the series, but I can also say that Skate is shaping up to be a game worthy of being the long-awaited sequel to 2010’s Skate 3. The gameplay seems refined and lives up to its predecessors, the world is big and fun to explore, and the overall sandbox’s “do what you want” vibe is really making me look forward to diving back into Skate – and hopefully add it to my rotation of games that I can pick up and relax to after a long day.

It's never difficult to stay busy at San Diego Comic-Con, but Comixology has something new in store for this year's event. IGN can exclusively reveal that Comixology and Kindle are partnering up to create a unique scavenger hunt game at Comic-Con.

Dubbed the "Comixology x Kindle Colorsoft Scavenger Hunt," this promotion tasks fans with traveling to the booths of various participating publishers to find and scan hidden QR codes. These codes unlock free comics, discount codes, and even the chance to win a Kindle Colorsoft.

The list of participating publishers includes:

• Abrams ComicArts
• BOOM! Studios
• Comicraft
• ComicMix
• Dark Horse Comics
• Fantagraphics
• Ghost Machine
• IDW
• Image Comics
• Kodansha
• Mad Cave Studios
• Oni Press
• Red 5 Comics
• Silver Sprocket
• Titan Entertainment
• Top Cow Productions
• Zenescope Entertainment

"We’re thrilled to be teaming up with Kindle for SDCC 2025,” said Jeff DiBartolomeo, GM and CTO of Comixology, in a statement. “We’re excited for fans to join us and our many publishing partners in our first-ever in-person scavenger hunt. The Comixology x Kindle Colorsoft Scavenger Hunt is a celebration of comics, of reading, and the massive, diverse library of comics – from classics to today's newest releases – available through more than 150 publishers on Comixology and Kindle.”

The Comixology booth (#1935) will also have plenty to keep attendees busy, including a giant gumball machine whose prizes include exclusive enamel pins and more chances to win Kindle Colorsoft devices. The booth will also feature Kindle demo stations, creator signings, and live drawing sessions featuring artists like Michael Avon Oeming and Tula Lotay. In addition, Comixology is hosting no fewer than seven panels at SDCC, with panelists including Thomas Jane, Taki Soma, Marc Bernardin, Tula Lotay, Paul Cornell, and Scott Snyder.

San Diego Comic-Con 2025 runs from Thursday, July 24 through Sunday, July 27. You can check out the list of panels for more on what to expect from this year's show.

In other comic book news, Cult of the Lamb is returning to comics for the new Schism Special, and Marvel introduced David Colton, the forgotten post-9/11 Captain America.

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

Developer Cherrypick Games and publisher Frozen District have announced Quartermaster, a new management sim/base-builder where you run a secret spy agency where you develop gadgets, train agents, and manage your staff. It's in development for PC and due out late this year or in early 2026.

It's your job to research gadgets, equip your agents, and make sure their gear is good enough that they don't die in the field. Cherrypick gave some examples of the gadgets you can expect to craft in Quartermaster: "Under-the-coat jetpacks. Top-tech spy glasses. Robots disguised as attaché cases. Hologram-generating devices. Watches that shoot glass-cutting lasers. Undetectable latex disguise masks." Check out the announcement trailer above and the first screenshots in the gallery below.

Cherrypick sums up Quartermaster as such: "Research, develop, prepare, monitor mission success rates, and adapt to build the most efficient and commercially successful top-secret agency in the world!" In short, it seems as though fans of Q from the James Bond films who never thought that character got their due can now play a whole game built around them.

You can wishlist Quartermaster on Steam if you're intereseted.

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

Netflix is finally ready to move forward with its live-action Assassin's Creed series, five years on from when the project was first announced.

In a press release today, Netflix said it had now officially greenlit its Assassin's Creed project, which will now be headed up by Roberto Patino and David Wiener, previously showrunners on DMZ and Halo, respectively. Both will serve as creators, showrunners and executive producers on the series, alongside input from Ubisoft.

"Beneath the scope, the spectacle, the parkour and the thrills is a baseline for the most essential kind of human story — about people searching for purpose, struggling with questions of identity and destiny and faith," Patino and Wiener said in a joint statement.

"It is about power and violence and sex and greed and vengeance," the pair continued. "But more than anything, this is a show about the value of human connection, across cultures, across time. And it's about what we stand to lose as a species, when those connections break."

So, what's been taking so long? Over the past five years, several creatives have joined and left the project — including Die Hard writer Jeb Stuart — though details of what's been happening behind the scenes remain scarce.

There's little to go on now, either, regarding a potential historical focus for the series, or how deeply it may tie into the franchise's established video game universe.

"When we first announced our partnership with Ubisoft in 2020, we set out with an ambitious goal to bring the rich, expansive world of Assassin's Creed to life in bold new ways," said Peter Friedlander, Netflix's Vice President, Scripted Series. "Now, after years of dedicated collaboration, it's inspiring to see just how far that vision has come.

"Guided by the deft hands of Roberto Patino and David Wiener, the team has carefully crafted an epic adventure that both honors the legacy of the Assassin's Creed franchise and invites longtime fans and newcomers alike to experience the thrill of the Brotherhood as never before."

Of course, this isn't the first live-action Assassin's Creed adaptation. The franchise's big budget Michael Fassbender-starring movie launched in 2016, albeit to something of a mixed reception — and Ubisoft has subsequently reflected on the lessons it learned from making that.

Back in the world of video games, the main Assassin's Creed series shows no signs of slowing down. The feudal Japan-set Assassin's Creed Shadows is due its first major expansion before the end of 2025, and fans are now awaiting the highly-anticipated announcement of an Assassin's Creed: Black Flag remaster. After that, the witchy-looking Assassin's Creed Hexe is already in development, for launch sometime in the back half of this decade.

When will Netflix's own Assassin's Creed effort debut, in amongst all of that? Today's announcement does not say, but things do at least seem to be moving in the right direction.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Razer has brought its officially licensed Pokémon collection of accessories to territories outside of Asia, meaning you can now get your hands on an official Pokémon mouse, keyboard, headset, or deskmat.

Razer announced today that it has partnered with The Pokémon Company to bring an official line of Pokémon accessories to the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Previously, official Pokémon x Razer accessories were only available in Asia.

The initial set consists of a Razer BlackWidow V4 X keyboard, a Razer Kraken V4 X headset, a Razer Cobra mouse, and a Razer Gigantus V2 deskmat. All four items feature the same theme, solid yellow and a pattern of Pikachu, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charmander's faces similar to the art used in mobile game Pokémon Shuffle.

Prices are as follows:

• Razer BlackWidow V4 X – Pokémon Edition: $169.99 USD / €199.99
• Razer Kraken V4 X – Pokémon Edition: $99.99 USD / €109.99
• Razer Cobra – Pokémon Edition: $59.99 USD / €69.99
• Razer Gigantus V2 - Medium – Pokémon Edition: $29.99 USD / €39.99 MSRP

All four items are now available for purchase.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered development studio Virtuos has said it remains "fully committed" to ongoing work on the game, as well as its contributions to Cyberpunk 2077 and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, despite shedding up to 270 staff.

In a statement today, Virtuous said it was "evolving to meet the changing needs" of its partners and the wider video games industry by cutting several hundred staff members, predominantly from its Asian workforce.

Describing the job losses as a "rebalancing of roles across our studios and geographies," Virtuos said its changes would impact 200 roles in Asia and a further 70 roles in Europe.

Still, the company has made clear that its team behind the recent, well-received Oblivion Remastered is not among those hardest hit. "Fewer than 10" roles will be impacted in France, Virtuos continued, "where the core team working on Oblivion Remastered is located." Oblivion Remastered update 1.2 will soon be released widely.

Ongoing work on Cyberpunk 2077 — which only today received its latest patch — will continue, Virtuos assured. The same is also true of its team working on Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, due out on August 28.

Discussing its staffing changes in more detail, Virtuos said the company's focus had shifted over the past 12 months after acquisitions of teams in North America and Europe, and it was now "selectively exiting service segments where demand is weakening."

"We are grateful for the contributions of those impacted," Virtuos concluded. "We are providing separation packages, career transition assistance, and opportunities for redeployment across our global network where possible. The company's immediate focus is on managing this transition with care, transparency, and respect."

Headquarted in Singapore but with studios across the world, Virtuos employed 4,200 staff before these latest layoffs. The company is a renowned co-development partner that has contributed to a laundry list of recent blockbuster games, from Hogwarts Legacy to Call of Duty, and Horizon Zero Dawn to Mortal Kombat 1.

Virtuos' Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.3 is available today for all platforms and adds new vehicles, jobs and a photo mode to CD Projekt's futuristic open-world, while CD Projekt itself is busy building Cyberpunk 2.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Joker star Joaquin Phoenix recently returned to The Late Show after a whopping 15 years — but something else also happened: he apologized for his infamous David Letterman interview from 2009 that took place on the show before Letterman turned the reins over to Stephen Colbert.

“When I came on this show with Dave, I originally did the pre-interview in character and I realized that it was just a little silly, so I called them back and I said, ‘Listen, this is what I’m doing. I’m coming out here and I’m doing this whole thing. And I just want Dave to like, lacerate me. I just want it to be really dangerous,'” Phoenix told Colbert on July 16.

“That was the kind of intention,” he continued. “I just always wanted to get this reaction and see how I would respond to that. So it was beneficial for no one to know, except when needed.”

Horror fans have an exciting new 4K steelbook coming their way, and just in time for Halloween this year. The 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead, directed by horror special effects legend Tom Savini, is getting a 35th anniversary 4K steelbook (see here at Walmart). It's set to release on September 23 and is available to preorder at a few different retailers. This steelbook is also filled to the brim with exciting bonus features, which you can find listed in further detail below.

Preorder Night of the Living Dead 1990 4K Steelbook

• Amazon | Walmart | Target

The movie is available for $39.99 at Walmart, and for a buck and a half more at Amazon and Target. Amazon will likely price match Walmart prior to release, but there's no guarantee.

Night of the Living Dead 1990 4K Steelbook Bonus Features

Not only does this steelbook come with exciting interviews and featurettes, but it also comes with an Uncensored Cut of the film in 4K alongside the original theatrical cut. It's a real treat for fans. Here's the full list of bonus features that come with the Night of the Living Dead 1990 4K steelbook:

DISC ONE - 4K BLU-RAY

• NEW 4K RESTORATION OF TWO VERSIONS OF THE FILM
  • NEW: Uncensored Cut – supervised by director Tom Savini, the Uncensored Cut restores moments of graphic violence and delivers an alternate vision of this horror classic
  • 1990 Theatrical Version
• DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
• NEW: Commentary with director Tom Savini on the Uncensored Cut, moderated by Michael Felsher
• English Dolby Atmos (both versions) + English 5.1 (both versions) + English 2-Channel Surround (Theatrical Version only)

DISC TWO - BLU-RAY

• 1990 Theatrical Version of the feature presented in HD resolution, sourced from the 4K master
• NEW: Interview with Actor Bill Moseley
• NEW: Interview with Actor William Butler
• NEW: Interview with Actors McKee Anderson and Heather Mazur
• NEW: Interview with Producers John Russo and Russell Streiner
• NEW: Interview with Editor Tom Dubensky
• NEW: Interview with Zombie Performers Greg Funk and Dyrk Ashton
• Archival commentary with director Tom Savini
• Savini's Night with Director Tom Savini Featurette
• Being Barbara with Actress Patricia Tallman Featurette
• Return to the Living Dead with Special Makeup Effects Supervisors John Vulich and Everett Burrell Featurette
• The Dead Walk: Making-of Featurette
• Theatrical Trailer
• English 5.1 & 2-Channel Surround

If you're looking to pick up some more movies to add to your library this year, it's worth having a look at our breakdown of upcoming 4K UHD and Blu-ray releases. Here, you can see a wide variety of films and shows that are set to release in a physical format over the next few months, so you can plan ahead to grab the ones that catch your eye. There are other popular zombie movies coming out with 4K releases worth checking out as well.

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

When you picture a tablet, chances are that something like the iPad comes to mind: a bright, colorful screen, pages of apps, social media, games, and video all at your fingertips. But if you’re the kind of user that needs to buckle down and get work done, or are looking for a reading tablet experience that’s easier on the eyes, the Boox Note Air 4C might be for you. Featuring a color e-ink screen, paper-like writing experience, and Android 13 for Google Play Store access and app compatibility, it’s one of the most fully featured, minimal distraction devices I’ve tested. Its oodles of apps put it in a different class than many of its competitors, like the Remarkable Paper Pro, basically making it the e-ink equivalent of a Galaxy Tab with a few extra features for writers, readers, and artists.

Boox Note Air 4C – Design and Features

The Boox Note Air 4C is a multifaceted device, at once a digital notebook, sketchpad, typewriter, Android tablet, and e-reader. It uses a 10.3-inch e-ink screen, which is the company’s current niche in the tablet market, and is one of its latest releases to feature a full color display. It’s designed to minimize, if not obliterate, distractions, making it a compelling choice for students, teachers, and mainstream users that enjoy the e-ink experience and the reduced eye strain and paper-like reader experience it can offer.

The Note Air 4C uses a Kaleido 3 display, which is the most recent release from E Ink, the company behind ePaper displays. This allows the 4C to display a full range of hues while still maintaining its parchment-like reading experience. It has natural benefits for reading PDFs with graphics and browsing the web, rendering color for a more accurate and engaging reading experience, and because the Note Air uses Android 13 for its operating system, it also makes using apps feel clean.

In short, it effectively brings together a normal tablet experience with the ePaper format… with one key exception: video.

As the technology stands right now, e-ink displays are simply not ideal screens to watch video. They don’t need to refresh like LCDs do. Because the technology works in a fundamentally different way to other types of screens, once the ink is charged and positioned, it can theoretically stay there forever, maintaining the image even after the device is turned off. Boox tablets refresh more frequently and include different modes that control how quickly it refreshes. Even at its fastest, however, watching videos is bad. At best, you’ll make out what’s going on with a perpetual sense of motion blur. On the other hand, it’s fast enough where you can use one of its faster refresh modes and scroll webpages or play a game of Threes easily.

Somewhat counterintuitively (compared to what you would normally look for in an Android tablet), this low refresh rate is one of the qualities that makes it so appealing. It’s just not feasible to use the device for distracting videos, and though you can use it for things like browsing social media, your phone will always provide a superior experience.

It goes without saying that the technology is completely different from other displays. A layer of ink particles below the screen form into text and images through electromagnetism. Above this layer is a color filter and another layer for its EMR stylus. There’s also a tiny degree of separation to accommodate its color-temperature controlled backlight. Compared to a black and white e-ink display, like the Boox Note Max or Viwoods AiPaper, there’s more depth to the screen here, so ink isn’t as immediately pooling under your stylus tip. The image is also darker, which is why that backlight layer is important when many monochrome e-ink tablets leave it out entirely.

The specs are solid for a digital notebook. It’s a bit more compact than much of the competition at 10.3 inches. The Supernote and Viwoods AiPaper each have 10.7-inch screens and the Remarkable Paper Pro is a chonker at 11.6 inches. Its screen measures 8.3 x 6.1 inches, though its full footprint is a bit more square at 8.9 x 7.6 inches. Either way, it’s slim and exceptionally easy to carry, and while it's still heavier than a paper notebook, it weighs in at 420g / 0.93 lbs while sporting both a case (when purchased through Boox) and a pre-applied paper-like screen protector.

Because of the layer-and-filter approach to colorizing its display, the Air 4C has two different resolutions and pixel densities. The black and white resolution is 2480x1860, or 300 pixels-per-inch (PPI), while color is only 1240x930 150 PPI. This was concerning at first, however it doesn’t make a huge difference in real-world use. Since black and white makes up text and, most often, the sharpest details you’ll perceive anyway, the lower density of the color filter wasn’t even that noticeable to me.

Memory and storage – 6GB of memory and 64GB of storage – aren’t the highest but they don’t need to be for a minimalist tablet like this. Since you’ll primarily be storing ebooks, documents, and productivity apps, this should last you quite a while, but it also comes with a microSD card slot to add additional storage.

The processor is a Snapdragon 750G, octa-core, with a top speed of 2.2GHz but frequently runs much slower than that. Despite it being a 5-year-old processor, it gets the job done. Still, for a new, expensive e-ink tablet, I really would have liked to have seen something a bit more modern. It works, but there are times when heavier Android apps can feel a little sluggish (like Office 365) when booting or transitioning screens, and a newer chip would have definitely helped with that.

While its purpose, display, and related specs differ from a normal Android tablet, in other ways it’s right in line with what you would expect. It supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.1. You can enter the menu system and find most of the same categories and options, which is especially useful if you’re already familiar with the operating system and significantly reduces the learning curve. It also means that you can customize the home page, organize notes and files, and navigate its file system more intuitively than something proprietary. Again, that’s if you already have experience as an Android user. If you’re new to Android, getting used to its layout, features, and menu systems will take some getting used to (but it’s not difficult if you’ve used a tablet or larger smartphone in the past).

It also has access to the full Android ecosystem and has the Play Store installed by default. Obsidian, OneNote, Google Drive, Office 365, ChatGPT… all of these things are readily available and, for the most part, work very well. This allows the Air to be much more versatile than something like the Remarkable Paper Pro, more easily integrated into different workflows, and offer wider support for backup to any service supporting Android.

Boox includes a fairly basic pencil with the tablet and outfits it with a high friction nib. There’s no eraser, which bothered me until I discovered that scribbling over what you don’t want erases every stroke beneath it. There’s a nice scratchiness to writing on the bare screen that makes it feel a bit more like paper (no tablet is a perfect match, in my experience) and improves the accuracy of your strokes. If you do want to change out the stylus, that’s easy to do thanks to the widely adopted Wacom EMR technology standard. There are lots of options out there, including premium options from LAMY, Pilot, and Staedtler, but anything with EMR will do. Because the technology works with magnetism, none of them need to charge either, so they’re always ready to go.

Boox Note Air 4C – Performance

A huge part of the user experience comes down to the software and features that Boox bakes into the device. While this could be broken down within the Design and Features section, it's so critical to using the Air 4C that it makes up a core portion of its performance and my impressions having used it for the last month. Simply put, this tablet offers a ton, from reading to writing to planning, documenting, collaborating, and more.

Before getting to that, though, let's talk about how it actually feels to use physically. Because the tablet is relatively compact and lightweight, it's easy to carry through the day and hold with one hand. The texture on the screen is good and makes for an enjoyable writing experience. However, Boox's newer Note Max is a bit better for writing, in my opinion, due to the reduced layers on the screen making the ink appear minutely closer to the tip than the 4C.

In fact, it's fair to say that the display is probably the Air's biggest selling point and its biggest concession. Because of the additional layers in its design, it's noticeably darker than its monochrome counterparts, especially the Viwoods AIPaper. This can be made up with the backlight, and I have to give Boox credit for allowing you to customize the color temperature from cool white to nearly amber, but I feel like it loses a small piece of the newspaper-like e-ink appeal. I found that keeping the backlight relatively low helped mitigate this while still maintaining good visibility, even in poorly lit environments.

For writing, these layers also result in ever so slightly more distance between the tip of your stylus and the e-ink below. While minor, it is noticeable, especially when A/B comparing it against non-backlit Carta 1300 displays. Don't get me wrong: It's still perfectly functional as a writing and sketching device and remains pleasant to use, but the difference is there and worth considering if writing is your primary purpose above all else.

For color content, such as PDFs with illustrations and ebooks like graphic novels, this display is a major upgrade from monochrome. While color rendition is nowhere near as vivid as an LCD or OLED display, it still offers a much better viewing experience for any kind of imagery. Graphics are clearer and more engaging, and contrast is much less fiddly.

Reading through one of my collected editions of classic Tales from the Crypt, the difference was night and day. If normal e-ink is similar to reading a page in a paperback, reading a graphic novel is akin to the colors of a newspaper comic strip. On the Note Air 4C using the Vivid color setting, it’s a hair more saturated than Peanuts might be, but not much. Compared to black and white displays, however, it’s a big improvement.

The normal reading experience is similar to that of any other e-ink e-reader. Taken as a whole, its color performance allows it to be a more versatile reading companion if you consume more than pure text, and unlike the recent Kindle Colorsoft, there’s no color bleeding.

The colorization also improves its performance in note-taking and with Android apps. Let's face it: Many apps, including those designed explicitly for taking notes, rely on color — choosing an appropriate highlighter, for example, comes down to muscle memory on a monochrome tablet when everything is varying shades of gray. Here, you can choose your tools with confidence and also pick up on any visual indicators the developers may have baked into their UI.

The Note Air 4C excels in writing and note-taking, but there's still room for growth. Like many other e-ink tablets, it offers a palette of writing tools, including pencil, pen, brush pen, ballpoint pen, and marker. Each of these allows you to control the width of the lines and, in the case of the pencil, the texture that you're writing with.

To support different writing styles, it comes preloaded with templates, encompassing everything from lined paper to to-do lists, schedules, brainstorming sheets, notes, comic panels, grid paper, and more. You can also load your own and, with a recent update, even use PDFs with hyperlinks for in-depth, touch-navigable planners.

The device supports OneNote and it works fine, but the best experience is certainly within this proprietary Boox Notes app. The responsiveness of writing is easily the best, and it includes tools such as layering, inserting keywords and links, AI analysis, text transcription (handwriting to text), and deeper control over what touch gestures will be supported at any given time.

There's a lot here, and it comes along with a fairly deep learning curve. For a good while, I didn't realize that I could disable the bottom gestures (typically used for navigation like a normal Android tablet) and would inadvertently turn the page or zoom in when I lifted my stylus. Experience makes a huge difference in how powerful Boox's note-taking app can truly be, and all it really takes is time logged on simple exploration. When you're done, you're able to export and share these notes or sync them to Boox's servers to use between compatible devices.

Elsewhere on the device, you'll find other tools, like a built-in e-reader (you can download Kindle and other apps that all work fine as well), calendar and task management, an integrated AI assistant, and Android staples like a calculator, clock, and sound recorder. You can even load and listen to music on it or download Spotify if that's more your flavor. The speakers aren’t great for music due to their lack of bass, but since you can connect Bluetooth earbuds, listening to music while you read remains a viable option.

There are also easily overlooked features like the NaviBall tool that adds a collapsible radial of shortcuts to the screen that follows you between apps. A number of different gesture controls and e-ink settings also reduce ghosting and improve animations. Elsewhere, you can choose when the screen completely refreshes to wipe away any traces of ghosts and set the refresh mode for each app individually based on what you decide works best.

Compared to e-ink tablets from most other brands, this one has significantly more functionality. You do trade some of its distraction-free nature for that, but I honestly didn't find that to be a very big sacrifice for the additional versatility. At the same time, this "kitchen sink" approach does mean that the Note Air 4C doesn't offer some smaller but very important features, like the deep intra-note linking of the Supernote.

The quality of the writing tools could also use improvement. While entirely functional, they all feel pretty basic. The pencil in particular leaves a lot to be desired, consistently looking a bit dull and not working nearly as well as it should for shading. Likewise, I've yet to test an e-ink tablet that makes my handwriting look quite as pleasant as the Remarkable Paper Pro with its calligraphy pen. Its handwriting refinement is a special kind of magic that I wish the Boox had.

Prime Video has renewed Invincible for Season 5 ahead of Season 4’s premiere in 2026.

The streamer announced its long-term calendar update today, signaling that the team behind Robert Kirkman’s animated series adaptation feel good about the direction Mark Grayson’s story is heading following Season 3’s conclusion earlier this year. Invincible Season 4 remains without a release date outside of the promise that it will arrive in 2026, so it’s no surprise to see Season 5 has yet to lock down its own date or window.

Season 5, Mark... this is GOOD NEWS pic.twitter.com/Kft2aTuS5S

— INVINCIBLE (@InvincibleHQ) July 17, 2025

Prime Video wants to continue its gruesome superhero show for at least a few more years, and it’ll do so with new talent. Alongside confirmation that Invincible is officially renewed for Season 5 is news that Matthew Rhys (Watchmen: Chapter I and II, The Americans) has joined the cast for the upcoming season. No information about which character he will play has been announced.

Remember Secret Level, that Amazon Prime mini-series of short films inspired by popular video games? You know the episode that recast Pac-Man as a marooned warrior abducting strangers to help it fight its way out of a prison planet? Well, Bandai Namco fleshed that idea out into a lengthy metroidvania called Shadow Labyrinth – a rare Street Fighter: The Movie-type beat – and this bizarre reimagining of the industry’s oldest eater has been a truly challenging experience for me so far. Not necessarily because it’s difficult, as it’s not a cake walk but I’ve thrown myself against the rocks of more tortuous games in the past. No, my biggest struggle after 10 hours with it has been with staying interested in Shadow Labyrinth’s cryptic, slow, and frankly boring story while also fighting through some brutal checkpointing.

I’m not completely against the idea of a gritty reboot of Pac-Man in theory, but the execution here has not made a great case for it in practice at this point. The story, which drapes you in the rags of Puck’s (read: Pac-Man’s) sword swinging goon, sort of exists around you. It makes some sense given you’ve woken up without any memories or understanding of the wreckage of war that you’re being lead through by your scheming yellow companion, but Shadow Labyrinth’s insistence on making you stand around and watch broken, vague, trope-bloated dialogue between the handful of active characters is arduous.

The 10-minute Secret Level episode does a much more effective job of weaving an interesting parable by using the “cycle of survival” story as a parallel of the cyclical nature of Pac-Man’s eat-die-repeat gameplay. As a direct sequel to that short, Shadow Labyrinth expands on the story exponentially, but seems to fill that new space with dense, rote sci-fi lore that has so far had very few compelling plot happenings sprinkled throughout. I will hedge all of this by saying that, at the time right before writing this, the journey of Puck and the Swordsman took a pretty major turn that could unlock a lot more potential for a real compelling tale to be told – but based on what I’ve seen up to this point, I’m not going to hold my breath.

Shadow Labyrinth looks pretty good, though. The sort of moving paper doll animation used so well in games like Salt and Sanctuary is mostly solid here, too. There’s a surprising level of detail in many of the monsters I’ve encountered, especially the mechanical ones with all of their bits and doodads. Animations can feel a little stilted and floaty, like a marionette on strings, but it doesn’t affect the action in any meaningful way. The levels themselves make good use of color in their fore and backgrounds, but I wouldn’t call its renditions of the depths of a lava filled cavern or the many stories of a high tech tower all that unique. I haven’t found a zone that really has that kind of evocative wow factor, yet.

The actual task of moving through these expansive areas has become progressively more engaging. Platforming has yet to be much of a challenge, with some side paths occasionally leading to more dangerous mini-puzzles and obstacles that’ll test your timing and reflexes. I was regularly presented with rails that morph you into the round yellow chomp machine we all recognize. These tracks allow you to waka waka waka up designated walls, around corners, and across ceilings, munching on pellets (which is a currency to spend on perks and upgrades) as you go. Hopping from line to line or launching Puck at foes with a spinning sword attack is funny at first, but I haven’t really encountered a section of this that feels truly clever outside of the fact that the gimmick exists in the first place. These are such isolated experiences at this point that if you removed all of these sections from Shadow Labyrinth, I wouldn’t miss any of them.

While on foot, obscure signposting and an abundance of crossroads often makes it unclear where the critical path lies and has had me regularly stumbling into side paths by accident, which sometimes leads to goodies like bonus health, and other times leads to a roadblock that I don’t yet have the upgrade to surmount. Sauntering around these corners has also felt oppressively dangerous as death will jettison me back to a checkpoint that almost always feels miles away from where I fell. It’s made more stressful because the checkpointing system is actually two-tiered: there are larger Miku Sol points that you can upgrade your warrior with and teleport between, and smaller pylons that are checkpoints in the strictest, old school sense of the word. As resources dwindle and the paths to explore splinter and multiply seemingly endlessly, a little misstep here or there could erase so much of my progress that I can feel just as trapped in these places as Puck does. Maybe that's the point, they don’t like it and neither do I.

So far, combat is full of your standard fare for a game like this. You can dodge around and swing a sword in a basic combo from the start. You unlock a power attack that is used alone for large ranged damage or linked to the end of your basic combo as a satisfying finisher. There’s an air dash, a grappling hook, a parry, etc. all waiting to be found and added to your repertoire as well, each of which cost a little bit of your ESP gauge to use. Running that meter to empty puts you in a Street Fighter 6-style burnout condition, meaning you can’t do anything but attack until it recharges again. This is a heavy penalty, but a meaningful one and requires you to really pay attention to how much offense you’re attempting to unload at once. Perks can alter you in smaller ways, like making your dodge cost less ESP or showing the remaining health of the last enemy you hit, but I haven't found enough of them to determine if their effect on combat is significant. At about 10 hours in, all of these elements have not yet combined to create a stylish flow or skill checking scenarios to spice up the act of turning enemies into dust beyond much more than rote button mashing.

Puck can get in on the action on occasion, combining with your swordsman to become a sort of mechanical dragon creature that rips and tears until its timed energy bar is done. It’s fun to be big enough to ignore enemy damage and adverse terrain for a short period of time, but you are still largely just mashing the basic attack button until you can’t anymore. To recharge this mode, you have to devour fallen foes, which also give you various crafting materials that I have quite literally never looked at outside of the one time it was prudent to - the only time I’ve seen the vendor that deals with them was in passing early on.

I’ve run into quite a variety of different types of enemies to use all of this offense on, but you spend so much time in large zones that baddies turn from new challenges to nuisances pretty quickly. Enemies that you can’t simply whack to death at first sight are few and far between, and they’re rarely arranged in a way that makes them a real threat to progress, the occasional archer standing on a platform you need to jump up to hit notwithstanding. Bosses as of right now haven’t required much strategy outside of basic pattern recognition, either. A giant rooster mini-boss gave me an opportunity to use my air dash optimally just after unlocking it, but no other boss has nudged that kind of extra technical layer out of my combat strategy, yet.

I am certainly a bit down on my time with Shadow Labyrinth so far. I’m leaving my expectations open for the possibility that its just a slow starter, even if 10 hours is a long runway to give a game like this in hopes it will take flight (we are told a playthrough could take 30+). I like but do not love its combat, which sticks to the melee-heavy metroidvania formula dutifully. I’m hopeful that the levels themselves evolve both in how they look and how they challenge my platforming and swordswinging skills, as they are showing small signs of ramping up the intensity. I'm not as optimistic for more compelling storytelling from the characters and spaces I'm presently in, as my brain has been wandering this seemingly endless maze of lore chasing the ghosts of the intense, affecting promise that the Secret Level short this is based on is teased.

The production of HBO's new Harry Potter TV series will include the construction of a temporary school that can house up to 600 pupils.

Cast members will attend classes alongside their filming duties, with around 150 children expected to attend daily lessons, and space for up to quadruple this amount at peak periods, BBC News has reported.

The need to juggle filming with school time was also a consideration for the stars of the previous Harry Potter films — but the creation of a temporary school goes further, and speaks to the enormous size of the TV show's production, which is due to feature a cast of hundreds and last for the "next decade."

The school, housed in portable buildings at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, and overseen by the Three Rivers Disctrict Council, will be open from 5.30am each weekday morning until 8.30pm each evening, in order to fit studies around day and night filming. It's there that children, including the series' core stars, will attend lessons while being available to film when needed — swapping arithmetic for arithmancy as appropriate.

According to planning application documents seen by the BBC, the school will be in place "for the next 8-10 years" but be dismantled afterwards.

HBO marked the beginning of the series' filming this week with the release of a photo showing Dominic McLaughlin, the young actor now playing Harry Potter, in costume for the first time. This was then followed by a first look at Shaun of the Dead star Nick Frost in costume as Hagrid.

The production plans to adapt each of the Harry Potter books into a full season of TV episodes, with the first set to air in 2027.

Alongside a small army of children, veteran actor John Lithgow will play Albus Dumbledore, with 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

The Pokémon World Championships in Anaheim, CA are just around the corner in August, and with it comes an exclusive line of cute Pokémon merch, which IGN has an exclusive first look at. Each year, the Pokémon World Championships hosts a special Pokémon Center pop-up shop, and we’re getting three uniquely themed exclusive lines out of the event this time. Last year, we got a tropical, Hawaiian-themed Pokémon line. Check out the unique new Pokémon items, including a first-ever Pokémon bodyboard, below.

“In honor of this year’s Anaheim, CA location, Pokémon Center will be releasing three product lines – the Varsity Line, SoCal Beach Skater Line, and Rockabilly Line,” said Cindy Ruppenthal, senior director of Pokémon Center and e-commerce at The Pokémon Company International. “This year’s collection draws inspiration from bright, retro-diner design, blending vibrant colors and nostalgic elements that capture the spirit of our SoCal location.”

Check out a large selection of the exclusive merch that will be at the Pokémon World Championships in the slideshow above, but keep in mind, this won’t be everything!

The 2025 Worlds Pikachu Plush sporting a varsity jacket, revealed at this year’s North America International Championships in New Orleans, is sure to be a popular item along with the other SoCal-themed plush of Fennekin, Machamp, and Jigglypuff, but there’s a lot more to look forward to.

The standout premiere item this year is the SoCal Bodyboard, which is fully functional for riding waves at the beach, and is priced at $79.99 USD.

Ruppenthal “expects strong demand” for the SoCal Bodyboard along with other functional items from the SoCal Beach Skater Line, like the SoCal Beach Towels.

“Additionally, following popular reception from Pokémon Worlds in Honolulu, we teamed up with Reyn Spooner to create a Pokémon Aloha shirt, bucket hat, tote, and more to celebrate the event in Anaheim,” Ruppenthal said.

Off The Grid, the fast-paced, third-person cyberpunk battle royale from developer Gunzilla Games launches today on Steam, meaning more players can experience the game’s high-octane multiplayer combat and gritty near-future setting. Alongside its PC launch, the release delivers full cross-play support with Xbox, PlayStation and PC, so no player is left behind.

Since its initial release, the free-to-play game has steadily built a strong following, thanks to its slick third-person combat, fast-paced gameplay, and a deep looting system. Frequent updates keep things fresh and bring players back for more. One of the game’s most unique features is the cyberlimb system; players can swap out limbs to gain special abilities, adding a layer of unpredictability and strategy to every match. These limbs can be looted, earned through trades, or taken from defeated enemies, offering plenty of ways to customize your loadout and playstyle.

Creatively led by film director Neill Blomkamp, writer and director of films District 9, Elysium and Chappie, Off The Grid has become “one of the most dynamic and responsive battle royales on the market” according to Gunzilla Games’ Executive Producer David Nicholson. Recent updates have been made to the game in direct response to community feedback, and it is that “commitment to player-driven development” that will help Off The Grid continue to build momentum as it prepares to roll out even more content.

The launch of Off The Grid on PC opens the door to a larger and broader player base that can become part of the community and continue to improve the game through active engagement. Player feedback continues to be an integral part of Off The Grid with key features such as limbs, weapons and maps all receiving tweaks in response to community involvement.

As the game prepares for its next phase, new and active players can expect to see Off The Grid’s packed roadmap unfold over the course of the next few months, including new gameplay elements and community-driven experiences.

Play Off The Grid on Steam by downloading here. To stay up to date on new announcements and information, join the active community on Discord or follow the X page for future updates. Want to see more, check out the Steam launch trailer here.