Although I love playing my guitar whenever I get the chance, some of my favorite memories with a guitar are actually Rock Band memories. There’s something so satisfying about holding a guitar controller and feeling like I’m actually playing songs that I would never dream of playing on a real guitar.
While my own Rockband days ended a long time ago, the music goes on with the likes of Rock Band 4 and Fortnite Festival. And if you want to keep playing those games or get back into them, PDP released a new wireless guitar controller just last year that can help you do that. It’s pretty expensive, but Amazon has just dropped the price to a new low with a 20% discount.
PDP Riffmaster Wireless Guitar Controller Sale
When this controller first came out back in May 2024, it sold out very quickly. This is largely because there just aren’t really any new guitar controller options available outside of this one. The compatibility with Rock Band 4 and Fortnite Festival allow new and old players to experience and upgrade that feels more in line with modern controllers.
While it is normally priced at $129.99, the discount Amazon is running right now drops that all the way down to $104. This is the lowest-ever price we’ve seen on Amazon for the Playstation compatible version of this controller, and likely the lowest one we’ll see until sales events later in the year.
While this is a fairly unique controller, it’s the overall best PS5 controller you can buy if you’re looking to play Rock Band 4 or Fortnite Festival on your PS5 or PS4. If you’re interested in more PS5 accessories, however, we’ve gathered some below.
If you’ve wanted to give VR gaming a try but the cost of entry has kept you at bay, then you might be interested in the first great Meta Quest deal for 2025. For a limited time, Best Buy is taking $50 off the Quest 3S 256GB VR headset, now only $349.99. But that’s not all. You also get a bonus $50 Best Buy gift card and 1 month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for free. That essentially brings the price down to the same level as the base 128GB model.
To sweeten the pot even more, the package also includes a copy of Batman: Arkham Shadow VR game and a three-month trial of Meta Quest+. In IGN’s 8/10 review, Dan Stapleton wrote that “Batman: Arkham Shadow makes most of the Arkham series’ defining gameplay work respectably well in VR, and its mystery story pays off.”
Meta Quest 3S VR Headset with Batman: Arkham Shadow
The Quest 3S is an improvement over the original Quest 2 in every way and, amazingly, without a price increase. It also adopts many of the same features of the more expensive Quest 3, like the new and improved Touch controllers, the upgraded SnapDragon APU, and support for full color AR passthrough. In IGN’s 9/10 Quest 3S review, Gabriel Moss wrote that “raw processing power, full-color passthrough, and snappy Touch Plus controllers make the Quest 3S a fantastic standalone VR headset that also brings entry-level mixed-reality gaming to the masses for – arguably – the very first time.
What really sets this deal above all other VR deals is that the Meta Quest 3S can be played completely untethered. That means you can play games like Beat Saber or Pistol Whip without having to own a powerful gaming PC or a PlayStation 5 console. Try to find another standalone VR headset at this price and you’ll come up empty.
How Is the Quest 3S Different from the Quest 3?
Even at retail price, the Quest 3S comes in at $200, or 40% cheaper than the $500 Quest 3. Obviously, some compromises were made to get the 3S to its competitive price point. The spec comparisons are listed below:
Quest 3S vs. Quest 3 Similarities
Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor
Touch Plus controllers
120Hz refresh rate
Mixed reality passthrough (same cameras, different layout)
Quest 3S vs. Quest 3 Differences
Lower per-eye resolution (1832×1920 vs 2064×2208)
Fresnel lens vs. pancake lens
Lower FOV (96°/90° vs 104°/96°)
Smaller storage capacity (128GB vs 512GB)
Longer battery life (2.5hrs vs 2.2hrs)
In essence, the Quest 3S is nearly the same headset but with downgraded optics. On the plus side, since both headsets use the same processor, running at a lower resolution reduces the load on the APU, which could theoretically improve performance in games and also account for the increased battery life.
For the price, the Quest 3S is unquestionably a better value than the Quest 3, and a better choice for most gamers, especially if the Quest 3 was completely out of your budget in the first place. Compared to the previous generation Quest 2, the decision is even easier.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
The Monster Hunter Wilds beta is back, and it’s got a few new fights in tow. Beta players are already grappling with its big challenge, a fearsome new foe called Arkveld, and its eliciting both excitement and dread.
Arkveld is the new flagship monster for Monster Hunter Wilds. This means the beast is the cover star for the game, and stands to play a significant role in the course of players’ journeys through Wilds. As part of the new beta test, courageous hunters can try to tackle a hunt for the Chained Arkveld, with a 20-minute time limit and five “faint” limit.
As ambitious players are discovering, this new monster packs a punch. Arkveld is a massive winged beast, with electric chains stretching out from each of its arms. It can swing them around and make the air crackle with its thunderous attacks, and it’s surprisingly fast, too.
Experienced hunters are still finding themselves sent back in a cart by its powerful moves. It’s an impressive display of the new technology, as Arkveld uses its whips to move around, throw out long-reaching attacks, and generally be a menace. One attack in particular has Monster Hunter players in the beta thunderstruck, as it grabs the hunter and roars at them before slamming them down.
It’s a visually impressive fight and an incredibly dangerous monster. While the difficulty might be worrisome for some, the Monster Hunter faithful seem spurred on by it. Taking down big, dangerous monsters is the name of the game after all, and seeing Wilds’ flagship monster be so fearsome and iconic in equal measure is a reaffirming notion. Additionally, the “Chained” note — plus Arkveld’s flagship status — has some players consideringwhether there could be an even more terrifying “Unchained” version down the line.
The Monster Hunter Wilds Open Beta Test 2 runs February 6 through 9, and then returns February 13 through 16. Both Arkveld and returning monster Gypceros are available to hunt, and there are some other added features, like a Training Area and Private Lobbies.
Monster Hunter Wilds will be out on February 28, 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. You can read more about Capcom’s latest hunting expedition in our IGN First coverage, including our Monster Hunter Wilds Final Preview here.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has a strange black market where players are buying and selling the digital cards online via its controversial trading mechanic.
Myriad listings for Pokémon TCG Pocket cards have appeared on eBay, with players charging $5 to $10 per card. This is only possible through the game’s recently introduced trading mechanic, as these sellers are simply asking to exchange friend codes with the buyers and then sending a card over.
One $5.99 listing for a Starmie ex, for example, asks buyers to ensure they have 500 Trade Tokens, one Trade Stamina, and most importantly, an “unwanted Pokémon ex” to exchange for the card they actually want.
This is where things get a bit strange. While it’s already a blatant breach of the Pokémon TCG Pocket terms of service — as “buying or selling virtual contents or data on the service” is not allowed — the seller in these situations essentially loses nothing.
The buyer gives up a card they don’t need for a card they do, which is a regular trade beyond the price tag, but the buyer doesn’t lose stock. Per the restrictions on trading, only cards of the same rarity can be traded, meaning the seller gains an ex Pokémon when they sell one and can therefore just sell it again.
Myriad listings for ex Pokémon and 1 Star, alternate art cards, the two rarest available to trade, are listed on eBay, each with varying price tags. Entire accounts are on sale too, offering the likes of Pack Hourglasses and rare cards within them, though this is a fairly common for online games, breach of service or not.
Trading in Pokémon TCG Pocket proved controversial upon its release last week, though this trading online isn’t directly related to the complaints.
Alongside the standard mechanic that restricts players from opening packs or Wonder Picking or, now, trading too much without spending real world money, the feature was also introduced with an extra restriction called Trade Tokens. Players criticized the high cost of obtaining these, as they essentially had to delete from their collections five cards before trading one of the same rarity.
This black market would have spawned even if trading had been released with absolutely no restrictions, however. The only relation to what players have complained about so far is in how bare bones the mechanic is, as there is no way to trade without being friends with another player.
This is because some players, like siraquakip on Reddit, were hoping for “a pretty safe way for the community to connect more.” Players have called for the ability to put cards up for trade publicly within the app, alleviating the need for using external websites like Reddit and Discord, and now eBay, to find the cards they need.
The irony is that Creatures Inc. deployed the hated Trade Tokens mechanic in order to stop exploiting the system in ways exactly like these eBay sellers are doing. It’s therefore clearly not worked, but has turned much of the community against the developer.
This is also evidenced by the inability to trade cards of 2 Star rarity or higher, as if players could immediately trade for their missing cards, they wouldn’t need to spend $10 or $100 or more for a random chance of getting them. It cost one player around $1,500 just to complete the first set, for example, and the third in three months arrived last week.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
The IGN UK Podcast is here to guide you on a tour of historical violence (and occasional diplomacy). Jesse and Jen have spent far too long in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and Civilization 7 respectively, whereas Cardy has dabbled in both but is mainly here to promote new crisps he’s found on adventures to Lidl, before bringing the mood down with mini-reviews of new movies Nickel Boys and September 5.
Remember to send us your thoughts about all the new games, TV shows, and films you’re enjoying or looking forward to: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.
“The misguided Wario is back, and this time he’s in search of riches,” reads the synopsis. “Ignoring all warning signs, Wario decides to enter a cursed pyramid that’s rumored to house a bunch of gold and jewels. Our anti-hero quickly learns that the curse is now a joke, realizing that he’ll be lucky to escape alive.
“There are 20 massive stages to conquer in this adventure, and you can use all of the gold and treasure you find to purchase bonus items after each stage. You can even take a breather and play any of the title’s delightful mini games.”
The game was very well received upon its release in 2001, earning a 9/10 in IGN’s review. “There’s a lot of variety in the game design and it’s more challenging than the usual side-scrolling fare due to its focus on making players figure out how to get to certain locations in the level,” we said.
Wario Land 4 is the 24th Game Boy Advance game added to the library, joining the likes of Mario Kart: Super Circuit, The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team, and more.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai has re-posted the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct date and time announcement with a single sound of excitement and fans are freaking out about it teasing a new entry in the beloved brawler series.
As reported by Automaton, Sakurai shared the Japanese version of Nintendo’s announcement that it will fully unveil the Nintendo Switch 2 on April 2. “Ooh!” he said in the post, and while this could just be his own excitement, fans are hoping it means a new Super Smash Bros. game is coming to the next-generation hardware.
Nothing has been announced regarding a new Super Smash Bros. game, however, and Sakurai said previously he doesn’t know how the franchise can get any bigger or better than the Switch entry, which even includes characters from beyond Nintendo like Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7, Sora from Kingdom Hearts, Joker from Persona 5, Steve and Alex from Minecraft, and many more.
But it seems likely there will be a new Super Smash Bros. game for Switch 2, given the incredible sales success of Ultimate (35.88 million and counting). And it’s worth remembering Nintendo has released a new Super Smash Bros. game for each of its consoles ever since the launch of the original Super Smash Bros. for N64 in 1999.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Civilization 7 is out, and while the game has launched to a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam, the boss of parent company Take-Two believes hardcore fans of the series will eventually come to love it.
Firaxis’ 4X strategy sequel is currently available to those who pay more for advanced access, typically more hardcore fans of Civilization. And they’re certainly letting their voices be known in Steam user reviews, highlighting issues with the user interface, a lack of map variety, and a feeling that the game has launched without a number of features fans have come to expect.
Firaxis has responded to this feedback, promising improvements to the UI, the addition of teams to multiplayer games so people can play co-operatively, and a wider variety of map types, among other things.
In an interview with IGN ahead of the release of third quarter financial results, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick acknowledged that Civilization 7 had received some negative reviews from press and players, namechecking Eurogamer’s 2/5 review, but insisted that the “legacy Civ audience” will come around the more they play, and called Civilization 7’s early performance “very encouraging.”
“The Metacritic reviews are at 81, which is really solid,” Zelnick said. “We have more than 20 press reviews with a score over 90. We have some negative outliers as well, including a 40 from Eurogamer.
“We think that as people play the game longer, the sentiment improves because with every launch of a new Civ, the team pushes the envelope a little bit and our legacy Civ audience is a little bit nervous about what they initially see and then they realize, wow, this is actually really incredible, and they dive in.
“So we feel really, really good about it. We know we have a couple of issues. We have a bit of an issue with the UI, for example. We’ll address that. So I wouldn’t say the early access release is perfect in every way. I think it’s very, very encouraging and I think the areas that are concerning are areas that we can and will address, and as you can tell, we’re quite mindful of them.”
Zelnick’s mention of hardcore Civ players being a little nervous about Civ 7 at launch is no-doubt a reference to some of the dramatic changes Firaxis has made to the game.
A full campaign in Civilization 7 is one that goes through all three Ages: Antiquity, Exploration, and Modern. Once the Age is completed, all players (and any AI opponents) experience an Age Transition simultaneously. During an Age Transition, three things happen: you select a new civilization from the new Age to represent your empire, you choose which Legacies you want to retain in the new Age, and the game world evolves. The Civilization games have never had such a system. Clearly, Zelnick believes Civ fans will come to love it over time.
In the shorter term, Firaxis has work to do turning sentiment around, particularly on Steam. A game’s Steam user review rating is crucial for its success on Valve’s platform. Not only is it a very public indication of what a player base thinks of a game, but it affects visibility on Steam itself.
Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
For a limited time, Amazon has brought back one of its best power bank deals from Black Friday. The Anker Zolo 10,000mAh 30W USB Power Bank is back down to only $12.94 after you clip a 17% off coupon on the product page. This is an excellent deal for an Anker-branded 10,000mAh power bank that can fast charge a Nintendo Switch console at its maximum rate. The Zolo is compact, can completely recharge a Switch console more than once, and has a couple of unique nifty features, like a built-in USB cable and a discrete digital display. Plus, it’s decked out in pleasant pastel blue, pink, and white color schemes.
Anker Zolo 10,000mAh USB Power Bank for $12.94
There are two reasons why this power bank is a great battery backup for your Nintendo Switch console: capacity and charging rate. A 10,000mAh (37Whr) power bank can charge a Nintendo Switch OLED from completely empty to full about 1.9 times. Provided you fully charge your Switch from the get-go, that nearly triples your total playtime. At the same time, a 10,000mAh power bank still maintains a pretty small footprint; for example, this particular model is about the size of an iPhone and weighs under 8oz. The Anker Zolo power bank also boasts a 30W charging output over USB Type-C. The Nintendo Switch console accepts a maximum charging rate of 18W. That means this power bank will be able to charge your Switch at the same rate as the official Nintendo charger.
The Zolo has a built-in USB cable, however it’s not retractable. Instead, you plug it into itself so that it forms a secure loop that’s strong enough to be used like a lanyard. I have this power bank myself and I can tell you the loop is quite sturdy. There’s also a separate USB Type-C port that be used for either input or output. Finally, there’s a simple digital display that shows you the remaining battery charge as a percentage.
TSA-Approved
Note that the TSA requires all power banks to be brought in carry-on bags; power banks are not allowed in check-in regardless of capacity. The Anker power bank’s 10,000mAh capacity is well below TSA’s 27,000mAh carry-on limit, so it can be brought onto planes. It’s also low-profile enough that no one will take notice in the first place. If a TSA official actually does take the initiative to test the wattage on your power bank, you’re well in the clear.
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.
Hasbro has announced it will work to bring Magic: The Gathering to screens everywhere.
The Hollywood Reporter says Hasbro is working with Legendary Entertainment to create a shared Magic: The Gathering universe that will include both movies and TV shows, with the movie the first priority.
“We pride ourselves on being thoughtful caretakers of singular, beloved IP, and no property better fits that description than Magic: The Gathering,” says Legendary’s chairman of worldwide production. The studio is behind such films as Dune and the western Godzilla movies like Godzilla vs Kong, and Detective Pikachu.
While it’s not totally clear, based on the report it sounds like the movie and TV adaptations at Legendary are going to be unrelated to the Magic: The Gathering animated series announced for Netflix. Though it could also mean that plans have changed and the animated series is now part of this larger shared universe.
Magic: The Gathering is a card game created by Wizards of the Coast in 1993 and has since grown to become one of the most popular trading card games in the world. Wizards of the Coast was acquired by Hasbro in 1999.
Hasbro is no stranger to creating movie adaptations of its products, which range from G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Dungeons and Dragons. The company has several projects already in the works including new G.I. Joe movies, a new Power Rangers film, and even a Beyblade movie.
