The Lord of the Rings has already earned more than $5 million in ticket pre-sales ahead of the trilogy's new theatrical re-release this weekend.

Peter Jackson's classic fantasy films will return to theaters from tomorrow, with showings of Fellowship of the Ring's Extended Edition — originally released on home media. Subsequent days this weekend will see The Two Towers and Return of the King's Extended Editions shown in theaters nationwide, before the trilogy's standard editions are shown over a similar schedule next weekend.

Fan interest in reconnecting with the Fellowship has been high, with ticket pre-sales up 65% on those for Lord of the Rings' last theatrical outings, back in 2024. But perhaps this is to be expected, as the movies have likely benefited from a big 25th anniversary marketing push — and word of new introductions to each film from Jackon himself.

Earlier this week, Warner Bros. and re-release production company Fathom Entertainment revealed that Jackson has recorded new messages to fans set to be played ahead of each of the trilogy's titles. In one clip posted online by Entertainment Weekly, Jackson recalled filming the cave troll battle sequence in Fellowship, and having to hide the fact that Aragorn actor Viggo Mortensen had gained a black eye over the weekend.

"The Lord of the Rings trilogy re-release is off to record start for the franchise at Fathom," said the company's CEO Ray Nutt. "We could not be more pleased that the large Lord of the Rings fanbase will have the benefit of hearing in-depth and exclusively in theatre from Peter Jackson himself prior to each of these three remarkable films."

Variety has reported that roughly 407,000 tickets have been sold so far, which will add on to the $3 billion in worldwide revenue earned by the trilogy to date.

And, of course, the Middle-earth movie franchise is far from over. Jackson is currently working as a producer on the upcoming The Lord of the Rings prequel The Hunt for Gollum, due for release next year on December 17, 2027. Frodo actor Elijah Wood — who looks likely to reprise his role on the project — previously praised the movie for reuniting Jackson Jackson with his Middle-earth scriptwriting team Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, as well as Gollum actor Andy Serkis, who is set to both star in and direct the film.

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

It's official: "several" new Ecco the Dolphin games are in development.

Last summer, the creator of Ecco the Dolphin pleased many fans by announcing that not only were remakes of the original games underway, but a "third" instalment was also in development. Ed Annunziata — the original creator of the famed and fiendishly difficult action-adventure games — was interviewed about raising awareness of ocean conservation, his life as a developer, and, right at the end, he dropped his bombshell revelation.

California-based developer A&R Atelier, at which Annunziata works, revealed in a press release that it is remastering Ecco the Dolphin and Ecco: The Tides of Time, as well as that all-important third game.

“It has been years in the making, and we’re honored to bring Ecco back,” Annunziata said (thanks, Gematsu). “Ecco has always been more than a game about a dolphin — he’s a bridge between worlds.” Sadly, that's essentially where the details stop, but the developer said to keep an eye on both its website and the official Discord for more information.

Ecco the Dolphin originally launched in 1992 on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, and was followed by a sequel, Ecco: The Tides of Time, in 1994. Ecco Jr. and Ecco Jr. and the Great Ocean Treasure Hunt were released in 1995, although they were "edutainment" games and primarily developed as learning tools.

You play as the titular dolphin, your underwater world now devastated by a swirling gust of air and water. You must help him navigate back through treacherous tropical reefs and freezing polar ice floes to reunite him with his dolphin pod. There have been a few remasters since: we thought the 2000 remake was okay, writing: "Ecco the Dolphin is a classic from SEGA, but sometimes classics should stay in the past," and of the 2007 remake, we wrote: "For those who have played Ecco before, there's really no reason to come back to it."

The last Ecco the Dolphin game — ostensibly the "third" game, although Annunziata wasn't involved — fared much better, however, getting a 7.6 in IGN's Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future review. A further sequel, Ecco 2: Sentinels of the Universe, which had been written as a direct sequel to Defender of the Future, was cancelled.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Fallout Season 2 Episode 5 contained a number of revelations for the ongoing storyline of Amazon’s adaptation of the post-apocalyptic video games — some of which have ramifications for what we understand of the overarching Fallout lore. And, as you’d expect, fans have a number of theories about what it all means.

Warning! Spoilers for Fallout Season 2 follow:

Episode 5, called The Wrangler, features a flashback to pre-war Las Vegas, where Cooper Howard meets the real Mr. House. This scene has got the Fallout community talking for a number of reasons, chief among them the suggestion that there is a secret player at the table, a variable pulling the strings that Mr. House can’t quite figure out, much to his annoyance.

The Fallout TV show has highlighted the influence and power of pre-war corporations in determining the fate of the world, and a meetup between them in Vegas provides the backdrop to Episode 5’s flashback scenes. Mr. House is aware of his role via his company, RobCo, of course. He knows about Vault-Tec, West-Tek, and Big MT. That’s four megacorps meeting secretly to plot the end of the world. But Mr. House believes there is an unknown organization at play, one that is also behind the Deathclaw seen in the flashback to the Battle of Anchorage. Mr. House believes this mystery player will trigger the nuclear war he himself is preparing for.

Fallout’s nuclear apocalypse was thought to have been triggered by China dropping the bombs first. Tim Cain, co-creator of Fallout, has said this was the developers’ original intention. The Fallout TV show, however, had heavily suggested that Vault-Tec, the evil corporate manufacturer of Fallout’s famous vaults, triggered the nuclear war by dropping bombs of its own — essentially for profit. But Mr. House casts doubt on this possibility. He knows Cooper Howard will end up having something to do with the end of the world, but exactly how… well, he’s clueless.

“The bombs will not be dropped by me or any of the idiots in that meeting,” Mr. House insists, referencing the representatives of the big four megacorps. “I believe there is another player at the table. The same unknown entity responsible for your demon in the snow.”

So who, or what, is this “unknown entity?” The theory picking up the most traction right now is that it is The Enclave. For the uninitiated, The Enclave is the secretive faction from the video games that was formed by pre-war members of the U.S. elite. It claims to be the true successor of the United States government across the wasteland, displaying the same fascist tendencies pretty much all the factions in Fallout do.

The Enclave actually appeared in the Fallout TV show at the beginning of Season 1, when Doctor Siggi Wilzig defects from the organization and sets the plot in motion. And in Fallout lore, The Enclave are thought to have played a part in the creation of some of the Deathclaws, which Mr. House ties to this “unknown entity.” It’s not confirmed, but fans believe The Enclave fits the bill.

Either that, or there’s a brand new faction that’s never been seen in the video games, one that was secretly in charge of world events but known by no-one. The introduction of a brand new faction seems a bit much for the Fallout TV show, and would call into question pretty much everything fans have come to understand about the history of the world.

If it is The Enclave, then which characters are involved with them? Some believe Hank to be secretly working for The Enclave, rather than Vault-Tec, and his work in the Vegas vault for management to be about continuing the group’s secretive work. Indeed, some believe Hank’s message to an unknown recipient earlier in the season was directed at someone at The Enclave, not Mr. House.

How does the revelation that FEV is part of the tri-vault experiment factor into all this? It’s unclear. In Fallout lore, The Enclave is not revealed to be behind the supermutant-creating virus, but perhaps the show will confirm that they were.

“I could buy the Enclave being the overall antagonist of this show,” said one fan, “the ones who ended it all and are attempting to control the wasteland for their idealized America.”

With just three episodes of Season 2 left, we’ll hopefully get some answers soon. Season 3 is already confirmed, so perhaps we’ll see The Enclave play a prominent role there. And what does this all mean for Fallout 5, which Bethesda development chief Todd Howard has confirmed will take into account the canon events of the Fallout TV series?

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.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer actor James Marsters has said there's been "interest" in him reprising his iconic role as Spike in the upcoming Hulu continuation series Buffy: New Sunnydale.

Speaking on Charisma Carpenter's The Bitch is Back podcast, Marsters revealed he had recently rewatched the classic Buffy series to try and "get back" into the headspace of playing beloved British vampire Spike — though cautioned that any on-screen return as the character would likely still not be for some time.

Buffy: New Sunnydale — the franchise's upcoming continuation series that's being worked on by Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar — is still finalizing plans for its first season having shot its pilot episode last summer. Now, Marsters has said that while he expects to return, he would be "surprised" if it was before the show's first season finale.

Cast your mind back to the end of last year, and you may remember we reported that a group of volunteer modders had united to develop an online mode for Rockstar's Bully (also known as Canis Canem Edit in some parts of the world). Fast-forward just a few short months later, however, and now the Bully online project is "shutting down forever."

Bully was a humorous action game that put players in the role of high school outcast Jimmy while attending a pretentious private school. Fans have long called for a sequel, which was once in development at Rockstar’s New England studio in the late 2000s, and while Bully 2 was obviously never released, some of its ideas made it into other Rockstar games like Red Dead Redemption 2.

Though the game was developed to be a single-player experience, the mod, which has been in development for years and fully released only last month, allowed players to team up for minigames, roleplay, compete in racing, and face off against NPCs, instantly drawing the attention of fans… and IP owner Rockstar, it seems.

"Coming with sad news today," wrote one of the Fat Pigeon Development team on the project's Discord. "The Bully Online project is shutting down forever, which unfortunately means all the following is going to happen in 24 hours."

The post reported that the Bully Online server would shut down, development of Bully Online scripts would stop, the source code would disappear, and all webpages referencing it would be removed, along with the launcher (which has seemingly already happened). All Bully Online account data will also be "permanently deleted" and even Discord channels related to the mod are getting nuked.

The team held off on detailing why this was happening, only confirming that lead dev SWEGTA hopes to upload an explanatory video to his YouTube channel. "For now, though, know this was not something we wanted," the statement added.

Rockstar parent company Take-Two has a history of clamping down on fan projects, although after it acquired the modding team behind the wildly popular Grand Theft Auto 5 roleplay servers FiveM and RedM back in 2023, it was felt a change in approach might have been in place. In fact, just yesterday (January 14), we reported that Rockstar had even launched an official marketplace where creators can sell mods... which could be the issue, as some players suggest.

"I think we all know the reason, it's got everything to do with Rockstar's new CFX launch mod site where they make more greedy profit for [publisher] Take-Two Interactive by putting pay-walls on mods," posited one unhappy player. "I expect more mods to be shut down as the months go on with this new CFX marketplace."

That said, as this commenter points out, Bully Online was already effectively paywalled to donors of the project, which is widely frowned upon across the modding space. "Not surprising at all," they said. "Dude was pretty much asking to get shutdown the moment he paywalled early access to this."

As for if there'll ever be an official Bully 2? Dan Houser, Rockstar Games co-founder and the writer behind the studio's biggest games, including the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption series, recently sat down for an exclusive interview with IGN, revealing Bully 2 didn't happen because of "bandwidth issues."

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Days after Avengers: Doomsday's directors issued a cryptic tease regarding the movie's recent teasers, one fan believes they've "cracked the code" hidden in their countdown clocks.

The past month has seen Marvel unveil four Avengers: Doomsday teaser trailers, focusing on Steve Rogers, Thor, the X-Men and then Wakanda. Along the way we've seen our first look at the former Captain America and his newborn baby, an elderly Charles Xavier and Magneto, and The Fantastic Four's The Thing meeting the new Wakandan king.

But after the last trailer released, Joe and Anthony Russo teased there was more to these clips than met the eye. "What you've been watching for the last four weeks... are not teasers. Or trailers," the pair insisted. "They are stories. They are clues... Pay attention." Just days later, a theory has arisen arounds what these clues could be — and it's now gaining popularity among fans.

So, here's what Marvel fans think is going on. At the end of each teaser, a countdown clock shows the remaining months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds to Avengers: Doomsday's theatrical release (set from the moment the trailer was first available).

But each clock doesn't start immediately — instead, the numbers appear in stages, so there's a moment where a shorter timestamp is visible. And now, in a search for answers, fans have been cross-referencing these shorter timestamps with Avengers: Endgame — looking to see which scenes or snippets of dialogue they correspond with.

In a reddit post collating fans' findings, Marvel aficionado Fear_Itself has listed out each timestamp and their respective moment in Endgame, beginning with the Steve Rogers trailer that features a timestamp of 1:24:20. This matches with the scene where Tilda Swinton's Ancient One warns Hulk about removing Infinity Stones during the Time Heist, which will create branched realities — something that seems crucial if Doomsday, as is expected, explores the multiversal fallout of the Avengers' past actions.

"This confirms that Steve’s mission to return the stones (and his subsequent decision to stay in the past) is central to the conflict," Fear_Itself wrote. "It suggests his actions may have inadvertently triggered an incursion."

The timestamp in Thor's trailer points to 1:17:20, which corresponds to the moment Loki steals the Tesseract and escapes, creating the variant seen in the Loki series. Again, this highlights a multiversal shenanigan which created a branched reality.

Next up, the X-Men trailer's timestamp, which corresponds to 1:11:20. This is the scene in Asgard where Rocket asks Thor: "Are you crying?" Fear_Itself suggests this could be a pointer to Thor's mental state, but I really like a second suggestion by elbatcarter, who links this line with Deadpool's potential flashforward seen in Deadpool & Wolverine. "Why is Thor crying?" Deadpool says in that movie, looking at what appears to be an event from the future. It's a loose plot thread that fans expect Avengers: Doomsday to wrap up.

Finally, the timestamp in the Wakanda trailer is for 1:04:20, which is the scene where the Avengers plan and test the Time Heist. Again, this could be a pointer to when the team first test out the technology that's set to meddle with the multiverse.

"The Russo Brothers have told fans to 'pay attention' because these aren't just trailers; they are 'stories.' The code tells us that Doomsday is the direct consequence of the Time Heist," Fear_Itself wrote. "Every timestamp points to a moment where the Avengers meddled with time, creating the fractured multiverse that Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) will likely seek to repair or rule."

While it's a fine theory, it is just that — and other fans have suggested the timestamps could apply to other Marvel films, or simply point to relevant moments in Endgame out of sheer luck.

And why Endgame? It does make sense to try this movie first, as Doomsday increasingly feels like a sequel to that film's story — picking up Steve Rogers' life in the past, and likely exploring the ramifications of the Avengers' dabbling in the multiverse, something which has only increased over the course of the recent MCU saga. (Also, making a movie that's essentially an Endgame sequel also helps reintroduce the MCU to lapsed Marvel fans, who may have checked out of the franchise in the years since.)

So, what's next? Well, this week Marvel began a live countdown clock to the release of Avengers: Doomsday that's set to run for more than 11 months. So far, fans haven't seen any further clues there, but hundreds are still watching at the time of writing. Fans had hoped for a fifth trailer to arrive in theaters this week, though it now looks like we'll have to wait a little longer for that — until the Super Bowl on February 8, perhaps.

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

Terraria 1.4.5 will release on January 27.

In an excitable post, Re-Logic's Loki confirmed that while the team "did have to resubmit a few things, which pushed us back a bit further than expected," the release date is now locked in and will include "things that got left out of 1.4.4" plus crossover events with Dead Cells and a second collab with Pocketpair's Palworld, this time for Terraria players.

While we're on the topic of "cross," no, unfortunately crossplay will not be a part of this update. The team does hope it'll be "made available some time after 1.4.5," but didn't hint at a timescale for that.

"The ReLogic team has ALWAYS went above and beyond for the Terraria community," writes one happy player. "For well over a decade, you guys have given us update after update for free. You guys even created a comic book AND a board game for us. On top of that, you've held tons of contests for us and have always kept us well-informed and up to date on everything relating to Terraria. What's crazy is that's not even close to all the amazing things that you guys do for us. That's why the Terraria community is the greatest gaming community on Earth."

To get an idea of just how long ago Terraria released, IGN reviewed it in 2011. Even then, though, we thought it was amazing, scoring it 9/10 and writing: "Though on the surface it looks like just another "me too" indie game seeking to ride the coattails of Minecraft's success, Terraria expands on the familiar sandbox gameplay with a greater emphasis on combat and adventure that proves very satisfying. That's rare indeed."

Here's the full update. Brace yourself — there's a lot to read!

Terraria Update 1.4.5 — January 27, 2026

New items

• Items from Dead Cells, including:
  • A vanity outfit of the Beheaded, the protagonist of Dead Cells.
  • Hanging flasks that can display items in a similar way to Item Frames.
  • Weapons for all damage types, including:
  • The Flint, a melee weapon.
  • The Killing Deck.
  • The Mushroom Staff, which summons a Mushroom Boi minion and is crafted with some combination of Glowing Mushrooms. The minion's eyes are visible in the dark.
  • A Barnacle sentry.
  • The Swarm.
  • The Ram Rune.
  • The Wings of the Crow.
  • A Health Fountain furniture item that gives the player a buff when interacted with.
• A summonable Digtoise from Palworld that can mine through blocks. It is unknown whether or not it is a pet.
• Several whips, including:
  • A whip dropped by the Moon Lord.
  • A Stardust-themed whip.
  • A Corruption-themed whip called the Soulscourge.
  • A Crimson-themed whip called the Vasculash.
  • A Duke Fishron-themed whip.
  • A Meteorite-themed whip called the Starcrash.
  • A Plantera-themed whip that releases homing petal projectiles after hitting an enemy.
  • A white whip.
  • An early-game whip called the Slime Whip. It is crafted from Gel and inflicts the Slime debuff.
• An early-game spear called the Slime Spear. It is crafted from Gel and inflicts the Slime debuff.
• Several furniture sets, including:
  • A Hallow-themed set inspired by the look of Hallowed armor.
  • An Aetherium-themed set.
  • A Fallen Star-themed set.
  • A Feywood-themed set inspired by Fairies and the Fallen Logs they can spawn at
  • A Corruption-themed set.
  • A Crimson-themed set.
  • A Gothic-themed set.
  • A Stone-themed set.
  • A modern-looking set.
  • A Moon-themed set.
  • A Snow-themed set.
  • A Flinx-themed set.
  • A complete Pine set.
• Fallen Star Bricks and Walls.
• Music Blocks that play notes.
• Several Boulder-related items or features, including:
  • A type of Boulder that "falls" upwards.
  • Boulder Rain, where Boulders fall from the sky during a Thunderstorm.
  • A Rainbow Boulder (initially teased as "🌈🪨") found in secret seeds combined with Celebrationmk10. When activated it will bounce between ores and chests while passing through blocks and not hurting the player.
  • A Poo Boulder.
• A Shimmer Water Gun that allows the player to transform an NPC into their Shimmered form without submerging them in Shimmer.
• A potion or food item whose crafting recipe involves Bottled Water.
• Several transformation mounts (similar to the Wolf mount summoned by Lilith's Necklace), including:
  • A transformation mount that resembles a velociraptor. The mount can be dyed and displays vanity items equipped in the head slot.When the player is flying, the velociraptor is carried by a pterodactyl. The mount-summoning item is crafted with some combination of Sturdy Fossils.
  • A transformation mount that resembles a bat
  • A transformation mount that resembles a Rat.
  • A transformation mount that resembles a Fairy.
• A roller skate mount which allows the player to scoot on surfaces and grind on Minecart Tracks.
• Paintings made by several members of the Terraria community, including:
• GreyL1me
• KirbyTG
• Artyrian (previously Timburr471)
• Orange Dude
• Shadouette
• Lady Forestia
• JzBoy
• BionicBandit
• Runic Pixels
• Waasephi
• A painting of the r/place 2023 art created by the Terraria community.
• An axe fairy pet harvesting wood from a tree.
• An Axe Fairy pet that looks like Cenx's avatar and can harvest wood from trees.
• A pufferfish pet.
• A frog-themed accessory.
• An accessory resembling a Tamagotchi on a chain.
• A Silly Balloon-themed accessory.
• An item resembling a blue ribbon with a heart on it.
• A Stress Ball accessory that makes the player automatically attack when not moving and their inventory is closed. It has some type of interaction with the Extractinator.
• A Magic String accessory that causes yoyos to fly off the string and deal damage. It can be combined with the Yoyo Bag to make the Magic Yoyo Bag.
• Several vanity accessories that change the sound the player makes when hurt. These include:
  • The "Goat's Tuft" which makes the player sound like a goat and can be found in Gold Chests. Its tooltip is 'Quite the gruff tuft'.
  • An accessory that makes the player sound like a Zombie.
  • An accessory that makes the player sound like a turkey.
  • An accessory that makes the player sound like a chicken.
  • An accessory that makes the player sound like an arcade machine.
• A chest piece to complete the set of the Moon Lord Mask and Moon Lord Legs.
• An item whose sprite resembles the Cobweb's with added sparkles.
• Cloud platforms.
• A variant of the Living Wood Wall that allows placing an unsafe wall (similar to the Forbidden Lihzahrd Brick Wall, Cursed Dungeon Brick Walls, etc.).
• An "Axearang" (a combination of axe and boomerang) that is capable of chopping down trees when thrown.
• A pink crafted banner.
• Throwable mud balls that place a Mud Block when they land. These deal 8 classless damage, inflict "Average" knockback (4–6), and have a "Very fast" use time (9–20).
• Placeable versions of background objects, including:
  • Demon Altar. It only drops "in the most extreme of circumstances and is not going to be easily obtained/readily available".
  • Fallen Log.
  • Life Fruit.
  • Shadow Orb.
• An item that resembles a clay furnace.
• A placeable CRT Television that applies a visual filter when turned on like Monoliths.
• A developer set for Chicken Bones.
• An item called the "Mitey-Titey" that can place stalactite and stalagmite ambient objects in a similar way to the Rubblemaker.
• Hoppers that can pick up dropped items and store them in Chests.
• A stick-like item that kites can be attached to and flown from.
• A Freeze Bomb which turns water in its blast radius into Ice Blocks.
• A Bomb that can destroy Hardmode ore.
• Beach wear vanity sets.
• The Heroicis vanity set.
• Upgraded versions of Mining armor and Angler armor.
• Another headpiece option for Chlorophyte armor.
• Jungle Juice, a recovery potion which restores 180 health upon use. A stack of 3 Jungle Juices is crafted from 3 Greater Healing Potions and 1 Life Fruit.
• Infused Fertilizer, an upgraded version of Fertilizer which can be used to grow tall trees. Its tooltip is 'It's got what plants crave!'
• An "Acorn Slingshot" that shoots Acorns. When the acorn projectile lands on soil it turns into a tree sapling, in a similar way to how the Sandgun places sand.
• Rock Candy, a food item that can be crafted from Gem Bunnies or Gem Squirrels.
• A pylon.
• An RC Car that can be remote-controlled by the player, similar to the Kwad Racer Drone. It can move on both blocks and background walls.

Other new content

• Entities, including:
  • Several slime variants that carry items. The item inside the slime's body changes its behavior. They are also more common in the new skyblock seed. These slime variants include:
  • "Cloud Slime", a slime variant that jumps extra high and carries a Cloud Block.
  • "Dirt Slime", a slime variant that carries a Dirt Block.
  • "Granite Slime", a slime variant that spawns underground and carries a Granite Block.
  • "Slush Slime", a spiked slime variant that glows in the dark, spawns in the Ice biome, and carries a Slush Block.
  • A slime carrying Moonglow that emits light and plants herbs.
  • A slime carrying a Dart Trap that can shoot darts at the player.
  • A pufferfish enemy/critter.
  • The Orca returning from the Old-gen console version Old-gen console version and Nintendo Nintendo 3DS version version, with updated sprites.
• A Seeds Menu that allows players to mix different secret world seeds together. Some seed combinations will trigger additional changes. Some examples include:
  • The player becoming a vampire, spawning underground, and burning under sunlight. The player can prevent burning under sunlight by holding an Umbrella or wearing a hat.
  • The water in the Ocean being replaced with Shimmer.
  • Flooding whenever there is heavy rain.
  • A functional use for Stink Potions.
• Slimes change their color when standing over painted blocks.
• A "skyblock" secret world seed, where the player spawns on a customized Floating Island in an empty world with very limited resources available to them.
• Meteor showers that cause Meteorite to fall from the sky. This may or may not be exclusive to the new skyblock seed.
• Players with bad luck will be pooped on by Birds and attacked by Squirrels.
• At least one hairstyle.A minion count underneath the buff icon that displays how many minions the player has summoned.
• An ambience effect of small cosmetic insects flying through wild grass plants.
• An effect that converts placed Torches to their biome variant.
• New boss music for the Eater of Worlds.
• New boss music for The Twins.
• At least 10 music tracks, including new themes for The Twins, the Eater of Worlds, the Torch God, King Slime, Skeletron, and Skeletron Prime.
• Achievements.
• A status message in multiplayer that tells how much damage each player did during a boss fight and how long the fight lasted.
• Content for the thunderstorm weather event. This includes lightning that strikes enemies and the tops of trees.
• A shader inspired by the "film noir" style.
• The ability to place critters as a small furniture item with the ⚷ Open / Activate button. The placed critter will stay near the furniture item.
• When reforging the best weapon modifiers like Legendary cannot be accidentally skipped. This is accompanied by a rainbow text effect and rainbow particles.
• More biome backgrounds.
• Modifiers for summon weapons, such as Eager, Focused, Loyal, Worthy, Rabid, Ballistic, and Fabled.
• Two Dungeon entrance variations that have a chance to replace the original Dungeon entrance during world generation.

Miscellaneous changes

• Localization for Japanese, Korean, and potentially Traditional Chinese.
• Possible improvements to localizations.
• Pumps in item form no longer burn in lava.
• Updated sprites for:
  • Multiple banners.
  • Multiple trophies.
  • Weapon Rack.
  • Demon Altar.
  • Slime Staff along with the Baby Slime it summons and buff icon.
  • Crimson Heart light pet.
  • Shadow Orb light pet along with its buff icon.
  • Shadow Orb background object.
  • Imp Staff along with the Imp it summons and buff icon.
  • Moon Lord.
  • Bewitching Table.
  • Alchemy Table.
  • Bar.
  • Bar Stool.
  • Banquet Table.
  • Jim's set.
  • Lihzahrd Brick.
  • Lihzahrd.
  • Dungeon, Lihzahrd and Tundra Pots.
  • Mini Minotaur pet.
  • Pine Door, Pine Table, Pine Chair, and Pine Tree Block.
• More inclusive and customizable character creation that allows players to mix and match different character styles and voices. A third new voice type and the ability to change the voice's pitch are also being added.
• Improvements to the Smart Cursor to relieve frustration when placing platforms.
• New graphical effects for the sun and clouds.
• Characters and worlds in the main menu are sorted by when they were last played, with the most recently played ones at the top. Additionally, all worlds that the selected character has visited before are marked with a small flag icon.
• A glitch was fixed which allowed creating almost any item. It involved the de-syncing of door tiles in multiplayer and placement of a Bast Statue.
• Liquid being stored inside Bubbles.
• Liquids can be stored inside Bubbles.
• The Rubblemaker and Echo Coating are available in pre-Hardmode.
• The different types of Planter Boxes are no longer unlocked by defeating specific bosses.
• Wormhole Potions and Potions of Return are easier to obtain.
• Moon Lord Boulders are in For the worthy.
• Flairon can be swung like thrown flails. It can still be used as a launched flail as well.
• Phaseblades can be thrown and stick to the ground where they land, dealing damage to any enemies that walk into them. They can be called back by the player.
• Zombie Arm creates Zombie gore when swung.
• Changes to the Harpoon.
• Several changes to town NPCs and their houses:
  • The Classy Cane can hit NPCs, which causes them to drop coins.
  • NPC houses no longer require a solid block for the NPC to stand on.
  • NPCs no longer require a house in order to appear. However, NPCs without a house will leave temporarily during the night.
  • The dialogue window of NPCs has a "Housing" option which includes hints on how a house can be built.
  • It is more transparent how a house is scanned.
• Slimes have a chance to drop Grass Seeds, Jungle Grass Seeds, and Acorns.
• Dungeon Bricks can be crafted with Hardmode ore.
• Stackable weapons, tools, and Clothier Voodoo Dolls.
  • Multiple items cannot be reforged at once, however.
  • Increased Rainbow Slime spawn rate.
• Changes to yoyos.
• Changes to the Paladin's Hammer.
• Fish will appear in the water while fishing.
• In multiplayer, players can spectate other players while waiting to respawn after dying.
• The style of Party Presents and Presents can be manually set before placing, instead of being determined randomly when placed.
• Cannons and Snowball Launchers can deal damage when activated by Wires.
• Cannons also no longer require Cannonballs to be fired.
• Cannonballs can be placed as tiles. They can also be hammered to different shapes.
• Conveyor Belts can move enemies. They also can move items vertically.
• Earned banners no longer drop from their respective enemies. Instead, they can be claimed via a new menu in the inventory.
• Jungle Grass can be planted on Lihzahrd Brick.
• Improved Control Banners (the areas showing button mappings) for controllers on Console version Console and Mobile version Mobile, which display related buttons near their respective UI elements instead of displaying all buttons at the bottom of the screen.
• New graphical effect for when the Paladin's Shield activates.
• New visual effect for pop-up texts when obtaining new items.
• New visual effect for pop-up text when crafting weapons and armor.
• Improvements to the Mobile version Mobile touch control editor:
  • Instead of placing buttons with a fixed size then editing their function, the user now places a type of button on the screen, then edits its function and size.
  • Control configurations can now be copied and pasted across loadouts.
  • New default presets.
  • New optional control scheme which removes the right virtual joystick.
  • New option of toggling "multi-touch" for a button, which has the following effects when turned on:
    • The button will remain pressed if the player drags their finger away from it, and will only be released when their finger leaves the screen.
    • If the player drags their finger onto another button that also has multi-touch enabled, that button is also pressed down. Dragging the finger away from this button will stop pressing it.
• Armor pieces now display their set bonus in gray text when not active.
• Hooks now mention their keybind in their tooltips.
• Mannequins (and Womannequins) can have their posture changed (e.g. sit down), hold items, and ride on mounts.
• The Slime debuff increases the damage of fire related debuffs, such as On Fire!.
• The defense icon shows how much damage is reduced by the player's defense stat when hovered on, and has different sprites in Expert and Master Mode.
• Updated crafting features:
  • New UI screen for the Guide's "Crafting" option and regular crafting, similar to the duplication menu in Journey Mode: listing all craftable items while having category tabs to show items by types, and a search bar to search for individual items.
  • Pressing ⚷ Open / Activate on a crafting station also opens the crafting UI.
  • Items in all nearby storage items can be used in crafting, instead of only a single opened one.
• New animation for the Barrel when a player interacts with it, indicating if it is open or closed, similar to Chests.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Avatar writer and director James Cameron has discussed the possibility of moving forward with Avatar 4 and 5 following the release of the third film, Fire and Ash, saying he must find a cheaper way to produce the movies in order to continue.

The special effects-heavy Avatar films cost a huge amount of money to produce, but they have historically made billions of dollars at the box office. 2009's Avatar 1 remains the highest-grossing movie of all time (not adjusted for inflation), and has earned a staggering $2.9 billion across several theatrical runs. 2022's Avatar: The Way of Water has earned $2.3 billion, meanwhile, cementing its place as the third-highest grossing film of all time.

Latest figures indicate Avatar: Fire and Ash has now grossed $1.231 billion globally after four weekends in theaters. It is trailing both its predecessors at this point in its run. After weekend four, Avatar: The Way of Water had made $1.713 billion, and Avatar had made $1.335 billion. It looks increasingly unlikely that Fire and Ash will end up matching Avatar 1 or 2 by the end of its theatrical run. But the bigger question is whether it will end up doing well enough to convince Disney to greenlight Avatar 4 and 5. Disney has given both sequels release dates already: Avatar 4 currently has a December 21, 2029 release date, with Avatar 5 due out December 19, 2031. Cameron, now 71, would be close to 80 years old by the time it all wraps up.

In a new interview with Taiwanese outlet TVBS News, Cameron stopped short of confirming whether Avatar 4 and 5 would definitely happen. But he did say Avatar 3 will need to make a lot of money, and he’ll need to figure out a way to make Avatar 4 and 5 for less money, in order to get the thumbs up from Disney.

Cameron was asked about the chances of Everything Everywhere All at Once star Michelle Yeoh appearing in future Avatar movies, which is where talk of 4 and 5 came up.

“Michelle [Yeoh] is definitely going to be in 4, if we make 4,” Cameron began. “Here’s the thing: the movie industry is depressed right now. Avatar 3 cost a lot of money. We have to do well in order to continue. We have to do well and we need to figure out how to make Avatar movies more inexpensively in order to continue.

“If we continue and we do 4, we also do 4 and 5 together. So we made 2 and 3 together, one big story. And then 4 and 5 is another big story. And Michelle will be in 4 and 5. And she will play a performance capture character. Her character name is Paktu’eylat. She will be a Na’vi.”

Cameron’s comments here echo those he made in the run up to Fire and Ash’s release, where he admitted he was feeling nervous about the film’s box office performance and expressed concern about the “forces” working against theatrical releases in 2025. Speaking on The Town with Matthew Belloni podcast, Cameron said there was potential for “sequelitis.”

"People tend to dismiss sequels unless it’s the third Lord of the Rings film and you want to see what happens to everybody, which in my mind this is — this is the culmination of a story arc, but that may not be how the public sees it,” he said. And there’s the “one-two punch” of streaming and Covid, which means fewer people are going to the movies — 75% of the number in 2019, Cameron suggested.

When pressed on how much Avatar: Fire and Ash cost to make, Cameron wouldn’t be drawn into divulging a figure, only suggesting it was a lot of money, and so the movie will have to make a lot of money to turn a profit.

Magic: The Gathering’s new Lorwyn Eclipsed set is getting closer, but we can already expect another trip to New York not long after.

After the mildly disappointing Spider-Man set, though, we’re hoping the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collab will be a little more tubular.

And, if you’re already sold on meeting up with cardboard versions of the Heroes in a Half Shell, their friends, and their foes, then good news - Amazon is once again discounting boxes of Play Boosters, now down to their lowest ever price.

I went into this deals sweep with the best intentions. A quick look, maybe one recommendation, definitely no reinstalling. Two hours later I was deep into patch notes, storage management, and that familiar internal lie of “I’ll just sample it”. These discounts are not subtle. They are the kind that turn sensible adults into backlog hoarders with the confidence of someone who absolutely will find the time later.

Contents

• Retro
• Nintendo
• Xbox
• PlayStation
• PC
• PC Gear
• LEGO

This Day in Gaming 🎂

In retro news, I'm celebrating the twin 38 year birthdays of some NES greats. The original Metroid needs very little introduction, as it's a franchise that continues to kick goals and acquire new fans today. Conversely, the bodaciousness of Rad Racer might be lost on many of you. It was basically one of the best racers on the system and featured prominently in a 1989 film—Nintendo's 1h 40m advertisement called The Wizard.

Aussie birthdays for notable games.

- Metroid (NES) 1988. eBay

- Rad Racer (NES) 1988. eBay

- Kirby's Pinball Land (GB) 1994. eBay

- Devil Dice (PS) 1999. eBay

- WoW: The Burning Crusade (PC) 2007. eBay

- Assassin's Creed III: Liberation HD (PS3) 2014. eBay

- Dr. Luigi (WiiU) 2014.

Nice Savings for Nintendo Switch

• Batman: Arkham Trilogy (-57%) A$39 Rocksteady's trilogy remains the gold standard for superhero games, and Arkham City still embarrasses half the genre.
• Sonic Origins Plus (-48%) A$32.90 The cleanest way to replay classic Sonic without digging out ancient hardware or excuses.
• Red Dead Redemption (-50%) A$29 Rockstar storytelling at its peak, now playable wherever you feel like ignoring responsibilities.
• Katamari Damacy Reroll (-75%) A$7.40 Joyful nonsense elevated into art, and still one of the best vibes per dollar deals around.
• GTA Trilogy (-63%) A$29 Three cultural touchstones with rough edges, but the freedom still hits like nothing else.

Or gift a Nintendo eShop Card.

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Exciting Bargains for Xbox

• Assassin's Creed Shadows (-55%) A$49.90 Ubisoft finally commits to the ninja fantasy fans have begged for, and it mostly rules.
• Wild Hearts (-78%) A$24.30 Monster hunting with wild construction gimmicks that feel clever, chaotic, and occasionally genius.
• Assassin's Creed Valhalla (-54%) A$46.10 Enormous to a fault, but oddly comforting if you want to live inside a game for weeks.
• Star Wars Outlaws (-65%) A$39 A rare Star Wars story that remembers smugglers and scoundrels exist.
• Mortal Kombat 1 (-62%) A$29 A reboot that actually understands its characters instead of just yelling lore at you.

Xbox One

• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 (-56%) A$30.60 The rare remake that understands exactly why the original mattered.
• Hogwarts Legacy (-72%) A$28 A theme park RPG that nails atmosphere even when systems feel safe.
• Dying Light 2 Stay Human (-53%) A$46.90 Parkour remains the real star, and it still feels great leaping through zombie chaos.

Or just invest in an Xbox Card.

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Pure Scores for PlayStation

• No Man's Sky (-29%) A$49.50 Years of updates later, this is now the game people wanted at launch.
• Tekken 8 (-41%) A$49.90 Welcoming enough to learn, brutal enough to humble you immediately.
• Need For Speed Unbound (-56%) A$48.40 Stylish, fast, and finally confident about being a bit weird.
• NBA 2K24 Kobe Bryant Ed. (-61%) A$46.30 Still absurdly deep, still dangerously good at stealing evenings.

PS4

• Sifu (-74%) A$14 A beautiful lesson in patience, muscle memory, and getting absolutely wrecked.
• DOOM Eternal (-75%) A$13.70 A shooter that treats aggression as a lifestyle choice.
• Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy (-67%) A$14.80 Ridiculous courtroom drama that somehow becomes genuinely gripping.

Or purchase a PS Store Card.

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Purchase Cheap for PC

• Disco Elysium The Final Cut (-75%) A$14.20 Still unmatched for writing, mood, and making you question your own choices.
• Rebel Galaxy Outlaw (-80%) A$8.50 Space trucker energy with just enough grit and guitar riffs.
• Animal Well (-30%) A$25.80 Quietly brilliant, deeply strange, and impossible to forget once it hooks you.
• Resident Evil Village (-75%) A$14.90 Horror, action, and tone whiplash blended into something weirdly confident.
• Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Col. (-50%) A$37.90 Button mashing chaos elevated into an art form.

Or just get a Steam Wallet Card

Legit LEGO Deals

• Knuckles Vs. Dr. Eggman Egg (-27%) A$44 Loud colours, classic rivalry, and a surprisingly fun build.
• Minecraft The Baby Pig House (-27%) A$22 Bacon worth makin', and absolutely destined to live on a shelf forever.
• Technic Lamborghini Revuelto (-24%) A$229 A serious build that exists purely to be admired.
• U.S.S. Enterprise (-23%) A$599 Expensive, iconic, and impossible to justify without passion.

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Another year is over, which means a ton of LEGO sets were just retired as of December 2025. One of the best times of the year to buy LEGO is right before the sets are officially retired, but one of the worst times is after. Once a set is retired, it becomes increasingly difficult to find it available at MSRP anywhere. This is especially true for popular themed-sets like the Harry Potter line.

There were quite a few LEGO Harry Potter sets that got the axe at the end of 2025, but many of them are still in stock at or below MSRP at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Multiple sets that are part of the massive Hogwarts Castle build are included here for the first time, so now is your last chance to pick them up for your collection before they are only available at resellers.

Recently Retired LEGO Harry Potter Sets in Stock

Of the LEGO Harry Potter sets that were recently retired, I was only able to find eight of them still available at a major retailer at regular prices. Surprisingly, Barnes & Noble seemed to have the most retired sets still in stock. Most notably, the Hogwarts Express & Hogsmeade Station set is only available at the online bookstore. Amazon seems to be a more reliable place to find the cheaper sets, though.

If you're looking for a full list of all of the recently retired LEGO sets, I'd suggest checking out the list over at Brick Economy. The website also keeps track of price increases on sets that are no longer in circulation.

New LEGO Sets for 2026

With older sets getting retired, newer sets are arriving to take their place. We saw a ton of new LEGO sets get released for January 2026 and there's plenty more to expect throughout the rest of the year. The upcoming LEGO Pokémon sets have recently gone up for preorder (out February 27) and the Star Wars Smart Brick sets are up as well (out March 1). For a full look at all of the new LEGO sets already available for 2026, check out the carousel below:

Matthew McConaughey has heard his iconic “alright, alright, alright” catchphrase repeated back to him since it first left his lips in 1993, and a recent trademark filing from the actor will help ensure AI doesn’t steal any of his thunder.

The Interstellar star took steps to protect himself from theft when working with attorneys at law firm Yorn Levine to secure trademarks related to some of his catchiest lines (via The Wall Street Journal). The goal is to maintain ownership over his voice, likeness, and delivery as the use of unauthorized artificial intelligence material becomes more prevalent.

Attention Everyone: Animal Crossing: New Horizons has a jump button now!

You can also walk backwards, and sideways!!!

Why am I freaking out over this? Look. This is almost as exciting as when we all learned New Horizons would give us the ability to sit down on the ground.

This comes as a part of Animal Crossing: New Horizon's 3.0 update, which dropped a day early today, giving access to a new Hotel area, loads of new decorative items, some quality of life features like bulk crafting, and Dream Islands you can build alongside friends. But as players have discovered since, it's also added a subtle new feature to aid in construction and placement: essentially, a controlled way to step in the cardinal directions in very precise ways.

This feature is now tutorialed as part of obtaining the Construction App, though it's possible it may be available prior to that, and it's very easy to activate. You can use it any time by pressing the L button. Pressing it once will snap your character into place with a tiny little hop. Holding it down and moving the stick in a direction will let you take exactly one step in that direction, effectively the size of one "square" of space. This is ideal for activities such as precise furniture placement, or lining yourself up perfectly to hit rocks or even catch bugs.

So, sure, it's not actually a huge deal - just a fun quality of life feature. It's not like a REAL jump (and you can already jump small gaps automatically anyway). But Animal Crossing's audience has historically gotten very excited about little touches like this, such as the wave of excitement when sitting on the ground was confirmed to be in the game, or the love for any number of other tiny details players have found over the years.

Anyway, if they ever add jump attacks it's over for you people.

There are other small details in the new update worth celebrating, such as the ability to save individual custom designs to Slumber Islands (effectively giving you even more slots), and the fact that former Islanders visiting the Hotel will remember you.

We've got a comprehensive guide to the 3.0 update, including how to unlock everything and what's included, as a part of our Animal Crossing: New Horizons Wiki guide. If you're just getting back to New Horizons today after a long hiatus, we also have a number of tips for people getting back into the swing of things.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Umamusume: Pretty Derby's anime film spinoff, Beginning of a New Era, released in theaters in Japan way back in May 2024. And now, it's coming to the U.S. for a one-night-only theatrical release on February 27, 2026.

As shared by Crunchyroll, the film will hit select, to-be-announced theaters in the U.S. for a one-night screening next month, and shared an English-language trailer and poster alongside the news. Tickets will be available at a later date via the official English website, though it's unclear how broad a release this film will actually get.

Disney+ pricing has been a bit all over the place recently. The service raised prices across all of its streaming plans (including Hulu) last October, before offering a pretty solid Cyber Monday deal in November. Over the holidays, the streamer returned to its aforementioned increased pricing.

Fortunately for anyone trying to cut down on subscription costs this year, Disney+ has already unveiled its first streaming discount for 2026.

Get 1 Month of Hulu and Disney+ for $9.99

After more than 10 years in development, Hytale early access is here! If you’re just getting started, we’re writing a variety of early-game guides on smelting, setting up servers for friends, and plenty more.

I preferred to go in blind. Hytale is quite obviously heavily Minecraft coded, but developer Hypixel is also doing its own thing in ways big and small, too. Below are seven things in Hytale's early game that surprised me, coming at it specifically from a Minecraft’s player’s perspective. Anything I missed? Have some early-game observations of your own? Leave a comment!

1. Punching down a single tree knocks down the entire thing at once, giving you a pile of wood, sticks, and sap along with it. No floating tree trunks here!

Hytale is very clearly heavily Minecraft-inspired, but one area in which it does feel quite different is in that time-honored opening crafting survival game moment of punching down your first few trees. In Hytale, like Terreria and plenty of other survival games, the whole tree collapses and explodes like a little piñata of wood and resources once you disconnect it from the ground. You'll need all that sap, trust me.

2. Early overworld mobs are tankier than expected

Considering what it offers, Disney+ is one of the best streaming services on the block. From classic Disney animated films to the latest Marvel shows, Star Wars movies, and so much more, Disney+ puts an incredible range of high-quality viewing options at your fingertips. There's tons to watch, but after another round of price hikes, you might want to revisit your streaming subscriptions. We're here to help.

At the moment, one of the best Disney Plus bundle deals available is the massive Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max streaming bundle. This starts at $19.99/month (after a recent price hike) to get you all three streaming services with ads. Bundles are definitely worth considering, especially following the news of Hulu eventually fully integrating into the Disney+ app.

Limited-Time Deal: One Month of Disney+ and Hulu With Ads for $9.99

Amazon MGM Studios and Sony Pictures Television have announced their upcoming Prime Video God of War show has cast God of War Ragnarok veteran Ryan Hurst to play Kratos.

Amazon MGM Studios ended its search for a star for the latest live-action video game adaptation today, kick-starting the casting process with one of the biggest (and angriest) names in the history of PlayStation. Many details about the God of War TV series’ plot remain under wraps, though it is said to fall in line with the 2018 game reboot, which follows Kratos and his son, Atreus, as they travel in hopes of spreading their loved one’s ashes.

With Best Buy's Winter Sale in full swing, we're seeing some solid discounts on tons of video games, electronics, and accessories. One particularly nice deal to check out today is on Sony’s DualSense Controller, which is only available on sale occasionally. If you’re looking for a budget TV that can keep up with your PS5 or Xbox Series X, the Hisense 65” U6 MiniLED is also seeing a nice price drop during the Winter Sale, and Amazon is price-matching at the moment.

Those aren’t the only deals worth checking out. A 100W charger from Anker is at its lowest price ever; it’s perfect for topping up the discounted Asus ROG Xbox Ally. There are even a few remasters of classic video games on sale that will be nice additions to your gaming library, while collectors will want to jump on these cheap Star Wars figures. Below are all the top deals I found today:

TL;DR: Best Deals Today

Save $13 on Sony’s DualSense Controller

The Anker Nano Charger 100W is 33% Off

Save 40% on Raidou: Remastered - The Mystery of the Soulless Army Launch Edition

Hisense 65" Class U6 Series MiniLED QLED UHD 4K Smart Fire TV (2025) Hits Lowest Price Ever

Star Wars Action Figures Drop to Lowest Price Ever

Action figures have played a massive role in the Star Wars fandom from the get-go, and if you’re just joining the party or looking to add a few more to your collection, a few figures have gotten their prices seriously slashed. From Hasbro’s The Black Series Collection, this Prince Xizor 6-inch figure from the Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire 1996 video game is over $12 off. Otherwise, Star Wars: The Mandalorian fans will want to grab this Imperial Armored Commando 3.75-inch figure from the Vintage Collection. It’s currently 31% off. For more information on Star Wars action figures, check out this guide.

20% Off Coupon Deal for The Lord of The Rings: Duel for Middle-Earth

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake for PS5 Is Nearly Half Off

Turtle Beach Rematch Wired Gaming Controller for Switch 2 Is Lowest Price Ever

tomtoc Slim Carrying Case for Nintendo Switch 2 Is Down to Lowest Price

$50 Off the AOC Q27G40XMN Mini-LED Gaming Monitor

3 for $33 4K UHD Movies

Best Buy Video Game Winter Sale

The New Year's Sale may be over, and now we’re on to the Best Buy Winter Sale. Luckily, the savings are similar, bringing solid discounts on tons of popular titles. From Borderlands 4 for Xbox Series X getting 40% knocked off its price tag, to NINJA GAIDEN 4 for PlayStation 5 seeing a $30 price drop, there are some pretty awesome deals worth checking out.

Danielle is a Tech freelance writer based in Los Angeles who spends her free time creating videos and geeking out over music history.

After about 10 hours in Hytale, the new survival crafter from some former Minecraft modders, there really isn't a better way I could describe it other than to say it's basically Minecraft 2. From the block-by-block breaking and building, to the stylized environments and enemies, to the procedural world generation, this feels like the, "What would we change if we had the chance to start over again?" version of the now legendary 2009 classic. Many games have been influenced by Mojang's trendsetter, but this is more of a cover song than a subgenre from what I’ve seen so far (though I’ve got plenty more to play before my final review). And while developer Hypixel Studios’ lawyers might not love hearing me say that, I honestly don't think it's a bad thing. Even in Early Access, it's a good cover!

All of the gameplay will be pretty familiar if you've put any time at all into Minecraft, but with some streamlining here and there. You no longer have to begin your journey punching trees, for instance, since basic tools are made with sticks and rubble that can be collected easily with your bare hands. Also, breaking the trunk of a tree will cause everything above it to collapse and drop its resources, which was almost enough to win me over on its own. I still to this day hate having to chop upwards to hollow out a tree in Minecraft!

Movement is also a lot more modern and fluid. You can jump up to three blocks high and pull yourself up, which feels like such a huge quality-of-life improvement over the one-block jump limit in Minecraft. It's even possible to take a running leap at a ledge, hit the side, and pull yourself up. We've got proper parkour now, and I don't know that I would ever want to give it up.

It also just runs better than Minecraft on my Ryzen 7 3700X, 32GB RAM, and RTX 4070 Ti-powered system. Even with the draw distance cranked up, my framerates sit comfortably above 60. We'll see how long that lasts when I start building elaborate megastructures, but for now it's like butter.

Combat is fine. There are a handful of different weapon types, from swift-slashing double daggers to a classic sword and shield setup with more defensive options, and every one has its own unique charge attack and a special meter that can be filled up to release a devastating finisher. I'm impressed with the enemy variety so far, with everything from goblin bomb-throwers to really terrifying lava toads that can catch you with their tongues and pull you in for a very painful bite attack.

Building can be a little bit fiddly. We have more pieces to pick from, like proper roofs that make Minecraft's classic stair tricks redundant. But sometimes I had to do silly stuff like building a dirt "mold" to make sure all the pieces were facing the right way. Still, once I got the hang of its quirks, I was able to start making some pretty neat-looking stuff.

There's very little direction in this Early Access version of Hytale, currently. The main hub area, the Forgotten Temple, is a rotunda of literal Under Construction signs. I even stumbled into some dungeons out in the world where I'd be excited to throw the doors open only to find one of these disappointing barriers. It's not clear what the larger, overarching goal is supposed to be, although I'm happy enough to build cool stuff and seek out new ores for higher-level tools at the moment. But I'm not sure if there will eventually be a story or bigger bosses to find or anything like that. I haven't run into them yet if they exist already.

Overall, I'm quite enjoying my time with Hytale so far, though. Even if it is just Minecraft again, it's an enjoyable rendition with some thoughtful tweaks and additions. It's almost like someone's wishlist of things Mojang will never do, or can't do with its legacy tech. I plan to put in at least a few dozen more hours before I give it a final evaluation, but check back for more updates on my progress in the coming week.

The first Paramount+ price increase since 2024 is set to go live on Thursday, January 15. The basic and premium subscriptions will both be receiving a $1 bump while the annual plans will see a much larger increase. In addition to the price increases, the Paramount+ free trial for new subscribers is also coming to an end. All of these changes are coming to the service just ahead of the first UFC fight being streamed on the service on January 24, 2026.

Paramount announced the increased prices back in November 2025 during its Q3 2025 earnings report. The timing of the price increase definitely makes it seem they likely due to the addition of UFC fights coming to the platform, starting with UFC 324 on January 24. Previously, all major UFC fights were following a PPV model and were only available through an ESPN+ subscription. Now that ESPN+ no longer exists (it's ESPN Unlimited now), new fights will be shown live on Paramount+. You can check out the full schedule of upcoming fights directly from the Paramount+ website.

Last Chance to Avoid the Price Hike for UFC Fights

We've entered the final week of Amazon's huge 4K UHD movie sale (it ends January 19). Some titles have gone out of stock, but a wide selection of movies is still available. You can check out the whole list here. To get the discount, all you need to do is add three eligible movies to your cart, and they'll drop to $11 each at checkout.

Get 3 4K Movies for $33 in Massive Amazon Sale

Finding three movies to buy shouldn’t be a problem, because many of the eligible titles are all-timers. We’re talking stone-cold classics like The Big Lebowski, Inception, The Shining, and Inglourious Basterds. Additionally, a number of new releases are in here as well, like Sinners, F1: The Movie, and Jurassic World: Rebirth.

To risk sounding like a used-car salesman, that’s not all, folks. If you want more than three movies, additional picks ring up for $11 apiece as well. So, as far as I’ve seen, there’s no limit to how many movies you can pile on here to get them at a hefty discount

Basically, anyone interested in bulking up their 4K movie collection will likely find plenty of interest here. Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is on here, alongside other Stephen King adaptations like Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread is on here, as is Spielberg’s Schindler’s List.

Horror movies are well represented here, with stand-outs like The Conjuring: Last Rites, HIM, and Megan 2.0, alongside classics like The Thing and The Shining. All sorts of Batman movies are in here, including the 1989 Tim Burton original. If you’re interested in having a few laughs, you can pick up cringe comedies like Meet the Parents and American Pie. Thriller fans can grab The Fugitive, The Town, and The Sting.

Basically, whatever kinds of movies you’re into, you’ll find plenty of excellent examples on the list to pick up. I’ve seen lots of these sales over the years, and the best movies do tend to sell out well before the sale ends, so you’d be well advised to grab what you want sooner than later. In any case, the sale ends January 19, so be sure to make your selections before then.

In other 4K movie news, a trio of excellent new Arrow releases are also on sale right now: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trilogy, The Mask, and Spawn. Solid '90s bangers all.

Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN's board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.

Hellboy star Ron Perlman has expressed his bemusement at the Fallout franchise and his legendary status within it as narrator of all the video games, joking he was paid "$40 and a sandwich" to record his iconic “war never changes” line for Fallout 1.

Perlman first recorded the "war never changes" line as part of the intro for 1997's Fallout video game. He's played the narrator for pretty much every Fallout video game since, with the "war never changes" line becoming seared into the memories of a legion of fans. It’s a line that even made it into Amazon’s Fallout TV show, although Perlman didn’t say it himself.

Marvel's Star Wars: Legacy of Vader series has been busy filling in the yearlong gap between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. Past issues have revealed what the Knights of Ren were up to during this period and even chronicled a surprise reunion between Kylo Ren and the ghost of Luke Skywalker. Now, as the series reaches its conclusion, we learn what happens when Ben Solo enters his grandfather's secret vault in Fortress Vader and actually battles Darth Vader himself.

What ultimate prize lies within the vault? How does this issue set up Ben Solo's redemption in Episode IX? Read on to learn more, but beware of full spoilers for Star Wars: Legacy of Vader #12 ahead!

From the start, this series has followed Kylo Ren as he assumes control of the First Order and attempts to kill his past and become the all-powerful ruler he believes he's destined to be. That quest has taken Ben to Mustafar and the abandoned halls of Fortress Vader, where only Vader's former manservant Vaneé remains to carry a torch for the former Dark Lord of the Sith.

Now, even Vaneé is dead, and nothing is stopping Ben from entering the mysterious vault at the heart of Fortress Vader. When he does, he finds not some terrible Sith artifact or ancient power source, but Darth Vader himself. Echoing Luke's journey into the cave in The Empire Strikes Back, Vader tells Ben that the only voices he'll hear in the vault are those he brings with him.