Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin has discussed his broken relationship with House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal, which the author has candidly described as "worse than rocky" and "abysmal."

While Martin's displeasure with House of the Dragon's ongoing story development is nothing new, a profile piece published today by The Hollywood Reporter includes eye-opening new detail from Martin on the breakdown of his relationship with Condal — and the extent to which HBO executives had to manage the pair behind the scenes of the show's production.

Martin's unhappiness with Condal appears to have reached its zenith during a contentious Zoom call where the showrunner laid out his vision for House of the Dragon's third season. Martin said he responded to Condal's plan with numerous objections, and ultimately stated: "This is not my story any longer."

"I hired Ryan," Martin said, reflecting on happier times. "I thought Ryan and I were partners. And we were all through the first season. I would read early drafts of the scripts. I would give notes. He would change some things. It was working really well — I thought."

The profile piece notes an initial display of support by Martin for Condal towards the end of season one, when the latter had a falling out with his fellow co-showrunner on the series, Miguel Sapochnik. Martin says Condal asked for his support, which he gave, and Sapochnik departed the show shortly afterward.

"Then we got into season two, and he basically stopped listening to me," Martin continued, discussing how his relationship with Condal began to deterioate. "I would give notes, and nothing would happen. Sometimes he would explain why he wasn't doing it. Other times, he would tell me, 'Oh, OK, yeah, I'll think about that.'

"It got worse and worse, and I began to get more and more annoyed. Finally, it got to a point where I was told by HBO that I should submit all my notes to them and they would give Ryan our combined notes."

Even after the holidays and the many sale events leading up to them, January has had some surprises up its sleeve when it comes to video game deals, particularly over at Best Buy during its Winter Sale. The retailer has quite a few discounts worth checking out right now, including a particularly solid deal on Ninja Gaiden 4.

As part of Best Buy’s Winter Sale, Ninja Gaiden 4 has dropped to $39.99 for both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. Compared to its retail price of $69.99, this saves you $30 overall. Keep in mind that this sale only runs until January 19. Be quick to grab it before the discount disappears.

Ninja Gaiden 4 for $39.99

If you're seeking the absolute best of the best in PC gaming performance, look no further than Alienware's flagship Area-51 prebuilts. Following CES 2026, Dell has discounted an Alienware Area-51 AMD Ryzen X3D Edition RTX 5090 gaming PC to below $5,000 for the first time ever after an $800 discount. The Ryzen X3D Edition is essentially the second generation version of the Area-51 with a more powerful CPU replacement from AMD instead of Intel.

Alienware Area-51 Ryzen Edition RTX 5090 Gaming PC

The Alienware Area-51 is Dell's flagship gaming PC. Unveiled during last year's CES, the Area-51 is a super-sized upgrade to the mainstream Aurora R16 system. The significantly larger chassis features more premium build quality and a redesigned cooling system with greater net airflow. In fact, this is the only model that Dell feels comfortable enough to equip with the hot and power hungry GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card. The first wave of Area-51 systems featured Intel CPUs exclusively, with AMD X3D options only available since late November.

This particular configuration is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU, GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card, 32GB or DDR5-6400MHz RAM, and a 1TB SSD. Additional system details include a 360mm all-in-one liquid cooling system for the CPU and a massive 1,500W 80Plus Platinum power supply that allows plenty of headroom for future upgrades.

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the best gaming CPU for most people

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is considered to be the best gaming processor currently on the market and outperforms any Intel or AMD non-X3D chip in games thanks to AMD's 3D-V-Cache technology.

Although the 9800X3D is an absolute speed demon for gaming, it only has eight cores. If you regularly use your PC for non-gaming applications that benefit from as many cores as possible, then you can upgrade to an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D 16-core processor, which doubles the core count while offering similar gaming performance, for an additional $300.

The RTX 5090 is the most powerful graphics card ever

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 has emerged as the most powerful consumer GPU on the market. Although with this generation Nvidia has prioritized software updates, AI features, and DLSS 4 technology to improve gameplay performance, the 5090 still boasts an impressive 25%-30% uplift over the RTX 4090 in hardware-based raster performance. If you want the absolute best performance for your gaming PC, there is literally no other option from any other brand.

Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

HBO is in "very early development" on a Game of Thrones spinoff starring Arya Stark, following the collapse of a previous sequel idea that would have featured Jon Snow.

The Hollywood Reporter broke word of the project today in a detailed profile of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, who declined to comment on the unannounced project in detail.

Still, the report makes clear that this idea is being developed by HBO with a writer already on board (Quoc Dang Tran, who previously worked on Apple TV series Drops of God). No actors are cast, however — including Maisie Williams, who played Arya previously.

The report suggests the project is something of a replacement for the network's previous hope at mounting another Game of Thrones sequel series, this time starring Kit Harington's character Jon Snow. Details of that show's on-and-off development have sporadically come to light over the years, though today's report includes some significant new details.

Firstly, it's reported that Harington personally pushed for a dark take on the series which saw Snow living alone "as a broken man with PTSD." After discarding his sword Longclaw and chasing off his direwolf Ghost, Snow would have spent time building cabins only to burn them down.

Most surprising of all was Harington's idea that he didn't want to play a hero, and wanted Jon Snow to ulimately die. Today's report states that it was HBO who ultimately baulked on continuing the project, considering Harington's take as too downbeat.

The years since have seen Harington say the project didn't happen as no story good enough could ever be agreed. Last month, the actor then suggested he was done with Jon Snow altogether, replying the following when asked if he'd reprise the role for an audiobook: "No, god no. I don't wanna go anywhere near it. I spent 10 years doing that. Thanks, I'm alright."

Still, Snow's character would have provided an easy route into the Game of Thrones world for new viewers — geographically separate, and alone from the rest of Thrones' surviving cast. Now, HBO reportedly hopes to pull off a similar trick with Arya — last seen by herself, setting sail for adventure — with a tale based in the continent of Essos.

How far this project develops still remains to be seen, but with a Marvel-style roadmap of upcoming seasons announced for House of the Dragon and new spinoff Knight of the Seven Kingdoms until 2028, it's clear HBO sees Game of Thrones as a major franchise for years to come.

Image credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for HBO.

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 sequel to Todd Phillips’ smash hit Joker, the movie musical known as Joker: Folie a Deux, was far from the hit the original was, but some people liked it, namely Warner Bros. heads of film Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca, who stand by the 2024 box office flop despite its reception.

“I really liked the movie. I still do,” Abdy told TheWrap in a recent interview alongside De Luca, who added: “It was really revisionist. It may be that it was too revisionist for a global mainstream audience, but I thought that Todd and his screenwriting partner Scott (Silver) did the thing that most people making sequels don’t do, which is they decided to not repeat themselves. I do give them immense props for not repeating themselves, but it just turned out to not connect with the audience.”

The negative critical reception and financial failure of the film, which featured returning star Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, led to rumors that the two WB execs were potentially going to be ousted from their high profile positions at the time.

The shift in tone from gritty crime drama to introspective courtroom drama jukebox musical didn’t resonate with audiences, according to the box office. It amassed $207 million worldwide, which is a far cry from the original film’s enormous $1 billion box office. Plus, the film had a reported budget of about $200 million, so the gross alone is an easy financial failure before you even take the first film’s returns into account.

Reviews were wholly negative for the project — IGN said the film “[wasted] its potential” at the time of release — and it failed to receive any major awards nominations, unlike its predecessor, which was recognized for two Academy Awards out of a solid nine nominations.

However, according to these execs, these incidents come with the territory of their jobs. “You get a veteran’s thick skin,” De Luca said. “I’ve certainly had flops in my history. I have been lucky enough to have hits in my history. But I try to remember something someone told me once: Everyone has flops, but not everyone has hits. You just try not to torture the ones that don’t work.”

In January last year, Lady Gaga opened up about the negative reception to Joker: Folie à Deux after a period of silence following its release. “People just sometimes don’t like some things,” Gaga said. “It’s that simple. And I think to be an artist, you have to be willing for people to sometimes not like it. And you keep going even if something didn’t connect in the way that you intended.”

“When that makes its way into your life, that can be hard to get control of,” Gaga said of the fear of failure. “It’s part of the mayhem.”

For more on Joker 2, you can see why Quentin Tarantino says he loved the sequel, and why Hideo Kojima believes the movie’s reception will change over time.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

Elaborate movie tie-in popcorn buckets are all the rage these days at movie theaters. These buckets are pricy — clearly a cash grab in the era of dwindling ticket sales — but they’re often cleverly designed, and they act as collectibles for fans of the franchises they represent. It seems that the people at Amazon have noticed this trend and wondered: what if we made an expensive popcorn bucket for a TV show? The result is a Fallout-themed popcorn bucket (see it at Amazon) for fans of the popular Prime Video show.

Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of Super Smash Bros., has revealed the reason why the series' food various items each heal your character by a specific amount.

Writing this week on Twitter/X, Sakurai simply dropped the detail out of nowhere — 25 years on from when food was first introduced to Nintendo's hit fighting series, back in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

In short, the more calories a piece of food is likely to have, the more it has been programmed to heal. So, while a bunch of healthy grapes might heal your character by 4% in Smash Bros. Ultimate, a pizza or stack of pancakes will heal by 7%.

While some had guessed the logic previously, this is fans' first official confirmation why Smash Bros.' foodstuffs act this way. And, peering at the Smash Bros. Wiki page on food, the theory generally stands up to reality.

Super Smash Bros. Melee introduced 28 food types, a total that increased to 36 in Smash Bros. Ultimate — though the actual range has varied over the course of the franchise.

Looking just at Ultimate, then, low healing items include cherries (1% damage healed), kiwis, lemons and tea (all 2%), a lollipop (3%) and cola (3% — guess it's diet).

Mid-tier healing items include squash soup (4%), cheese, chocolate and dumplings (all 5%), plus a hot dog, corn dog, cherry pie and popcorn (all 6%). Curiously, a salad heals by 5% — though its image shows it is covered in some kind of dressing.

Undo your top button and we're onto the top-tier foodstuffs by damage healed, such as the hamburger, pancakes and pizza (all 7%), spaghetti (8%), strawberry shortcake (10%), steak (11%) and turkey (12%). Curiously, bread is also in this category (at 10%) — though it is the whole loaf.

So, next time you're playing Super Smash Bros. and food items spawn on-screen, head for the tastiest-looking, highest calorie option. Wombo combo? Popcorn combo, more like.

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

With 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (review) now hitting theaters, audience members might be scratching their heads regarding the character known as Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal. Played by Sinners' Jack O'Connell, Jimmy leads a gang known as, well, The Jimmys... and he is not to be trifled with.

After showing up briefly in the previous film, last summer's 28 Years Later, Jimmy and his band of "Fingers" take center stage in The Bone Temple, along with Ralph Fiennes' Dr. Ian Kelson, who also returns from that earlier film. Other Jimmys include Erin Kellyman as Jimmy Ink and Alfie Williams as newcomer to the gang Spike, also back from 28 Years Later.

But why does O'Connell's character dress the way he does, and who is Jimmy Savile, the real-world and highly controversial British celebrity who he's based his identity on? We've got the lowdown right here...

Note that the following does NOT include spoilers for The Bone Temple!

If you’re not from the UK, 28 Years Later's bizzare final sequence probably (and understandably) meant very little to you. But anyone who does call the island kingdom home will instantly recognise who O’Connell and his pals are cosplaying as: Jimmy Savile, one of Britain's most prolific sexual predators. During the 60s, 70s, and 80s, Savile was a household name, having hosted some of the country’s most-watched TV shows, Jim’ll Fix It and Top of the Pops. The former saw him work extensively with children for nearly two decades. Savile’s crimes only became widespread public knowledge after his death in 2011. Extensive investigation by both the police and BBC reporters led to hundreds of allegations of abuse, involving both children and the elderly. There have since been multiple documentaries about his criminal activities, including the Netflix show Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story.

O’Connell’s character is the grown-up version of Jimmy, the little Scottish boy who had a quite terrifying ordeal while trying to enjoy an episode of the Teletubbies during 28 Years Later’s opening sequence (he still wears the crucifix pendant that his dad gave him before being attacked by the infected). The credits of that film reveal that as an adult he goes by the name Sir Jimmy Crystal, and interviews from around the time of the film's release explained that he’s a cult leader with a dark past. The cast list also notes that every member of his cult is named after Savile in one way or another. There’s Jimmy Jimmy, Jimmy Ink, Jimmy Jones, Jimmy Fox, Jimmima… you get the idea.

Amazon has revealed a first look at Sophie Turner as Lara Croft in the new Prime Video Tomb Raider series.

The image, below, was released to coincide with the start of production. Turner, famous for playing Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones, plays a new take on Lara Croft, although with many of the features fans of the world famous archaeologist and adventurer as she appears in the original Tomb Raider games will know well.

The last few years have marked a very strange journey for Norman Osborn in Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man comics. Once the undisputed king of the hill when it comes to Spider-Man villains, Norman has seen his sins erased and his mind restored, becoming an unlikely ally to Peter Parker in the process. That relationship will continue to evolve in The Amazing Spider-Man: Spider-Versity, as the former Green Goblin becomes a mentor to heroes like Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Spider-Versity is a five-issue series that spins directly out of Joe Kelly's ongoing The Amazing Spider-Man series. The book is co-written by Kelly and Jordan Morris (Predator: Bloodshed), with art by Pere Pérez (The Amazing Spider-Man: Torn) and covers by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Todd Nauck.

Update: With the final order cutoff for Mind MGMT/Fort Psycho FCBD 2026 Special happening on January 19, IGN can exclusively debut the first preview of this intriguing, mind-bending new comic. Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:

Here's Oni Press' official logline for the new issue:

First: Congratulations! You have been selected to join the ranks of MIND MGMT – the secretive agency rumored to influence global affairs from the shadows through assassination, sabotage, and psychic espionage. In the hands of our elite instructors, you will be schooled in the exotic arts of mental manipulation, information warfare, subliminal conditioning, and more. This comic book is part of your training. Read on to discover who we are, who we are fighting, and why our lives are no longer our own in this self-contained, educational introduction to the vast underground network we call MIND MGMT: NEW & IMPROVED #1, as written and drawn by Matt Kindt.

Then: BOOM! BANG! DUCK! For the international commandos codenamed SHIV, LYCAN, and DRAGONFLY, a routine mission to catch-and-kill a fugitive from the world's most wanted terror sect is about to go very, very wrong. Who are THE SEVEN SEALS? And what terrible price will the men and women of FORT PSYCHO pay to bring them to justice? Master storytellers Matt Kindt and Brian Hurtt present an all-new, high-octane prelude to the events of FORT PSYCHO #1 – the action comic so extreme, it just might catch on fire.

IN 2026, THE COUNTDOWN TO THE MUST-READ CREATOR-OWNED COMICS EVENT OF THE SUMMER BEGINS ON FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! Don’t miss a moment as FLUX HOUSE launches in full force with three shrapnel-laced new series across summer 2026: MIND MGMT: NEW & IMPROVED #1 in June, FORT PSYCHO #1 with co-creator/artist Brian Hurtt (The Sixth Gun) in August and FLUX HOUSE PRESENTS #1 series with new stories from Kindt, Jesse Lonergan (Drome, Man’s Best), and more in October.

The original story is below:

The next Free Comic Book Day may be half a year away, but that's not stopping Oni Press from revealing what they've got in store for 2026's big event. And it's a big one, as it offers a double dose of new stories from acclaimed writer/artist Matt Kindt and his Flux House imprint.

IGN can exclusively reveal that Oni Press will release Mind MGMT/Fort Psycho FCBD 2026 Special. This issue will offer readers a glimpse of both Kindty's Mind MGMT sequel Mind MGMT: New & Improved and Fort Psycho, his upcoming collaboration with The Sixth Gun artist Brian Hurtt. Check out the cover to the FCBD special below:

Games Workshop has confirmed that a recently released Warhammer 40,000 army set a sales record for the company, reinforcing this Space Marine chapter as among the most popular in the setting.

Delivering Games Workshop’s latest financial results, CEO Kevin Rountree confirmed that the Space Wolves secured a new record for army set sales at the company. This relates to the Space Wolves army set that launched in May last year, and which you can see in the image below. It contains 28 brand-new miniatures, a Codex Supplement for the Great Companies of Fenris, a set of datasheet cards, and a new transfer sheet. In terms of minis, the army set includes a Wolf Guard Battle Leader, a Wolf Priest, three Wolf Guard Headtakers, 10 Blood Claws, and 10 Grey Hunters.

LEGO is very fun. But as anyone who's wandered into the LEGO aisle can attest, that fun comes with a hefty price tag.

Many of the best LEGO sets for adults that trend on social media will run you about $150-$200 on the low end, and a massive set with third-party branding can run even higher. The 7541-piece LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon, long considered to be the gold standard of LEGO builds, costs $849.99. That's approximately what the average American, in an entry-level position, makes in a week.

But LEGO has sets for every budget, and it pays to be a smart, frugal shopper. Here are the best cheap LEGO sets that you can buy in 2026 for under $25.

Looking for some more impressive sets at a higher price? Check out our guide to the most expensive LEGO sets for some of the most amazing builds you can buy.

Playful Cat

Donut Truck

Mario Kart - Yoshi Bike

Darth Maul Mech

Wild Animals: Surprising Spider

Happy Plants

Simba the Lion King Cub

LEGO Japan Postcard

LEGO Cherry Blossoms

LEGO 3-in-1 Retro Camera

Featured in this article

Daisies

Love Letters

Spider-Man vs. Ghost Rider Motorcycle

Speed Champions Time Machine from Back to the Future

Optimus Prime Robot & Vehicle

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.

Back to top

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: