Category: IGN

Marc Laidlaw wrote 400 Boys in 1981 aged 21, long before he ended up Valve’s lead writer and one of the chief creators of the Half-Life games. The short story was published in Omni magazine in 1983, before it was picked up for Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology and enjoyed a wider audience. On Marc’s website, at the bottom of the short story itself, he points out 400 Boys has probably been read by more people than anything else he’s written, except perhaps Dota 2 seasonal ad copy. Yes, the video game world knows Marc Laidlaw as the lead writer of the Half-Life series. But he’s done a lot more than video games. It’s funny how things work out.

In a post-apocalyptic city where warring gangs follow a bushido-like code of honor, a new gang, the 400 Boys, forces them to unite. A blend of beauty and brutality from Canadian director Robert Valley, whose LDR episode “Ice” won the Emmy for Outstanding Short Form Animation.

“The inspiration for it just came out of walking around,” Marc remembers. “I lived in Eugene, Oregon and there was always the phone poles with the names of bands that were playing in town, and it was just name after name of super cool bands, and I just wanted a way to do that. I just wanted to make up lots of band names. So I came up with the idea of, if I have all these gangs in the story, I can come up with names for all these different gangs and that would be fun. And it was funny. That was kind of the thing that drove a big part of the story, just wanting to make band names.”

Naughty Dog chief Neil Druckmann has revealed the studio has a secret, unannounced second game in the works other than Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.

In an interview with the Press X to Continue podcast, Druckmann discussed his ongoing roles at Sony-owned Naughty Dog. On Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, Druckmann works with two game directors: Matthew Gallant and Kurt Margenau, and is co-writing the game with narrative director Claire Carré. Druckmann did not say which director is working on the second game, however.

“There’s another game that’s being worked on at Naughty Dog where I am more of a producer role and I get to mentor and watch this other team and give feedback and be like the executive in the room,” he said.

“I enjoy all those roles, and the fact I jump between one to the next, it makes my job very exciting and always feeling fresh. I’m never bored.”

It is unclear at which stage each game is in production. Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is announced, so you’d imagine it’s further along. But what is the second game?

There are some obvious candidates. Could it be The Last of Us 3? Druckmann has expressed his uncertainty in the past about being able to make the game, but has said he has an ending in mind for what the game would be. Based on Druckmann’s comments about having more of a producer role on this mystery second game, it doesn’t sound like it’s The Last of Us 3, as you’d imagine he’d want to be heavily involved and take on a director role for that game.

Alternatively, it could be another Uncharted game. There hasn’t been a brand new Uncharted game since 2017’s The Lost Legacy. Could it finally be time for a return? And there’s always a chance this second game could be a brand new intellectual property, as Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is.

It’s worth noting that there’s always a chance this second game never comes out, or is never properly revealed by Sony. Naughty Dog has endured a tumultuous time in recent years, with the cancelation of its The Last of Us multiplayer game to focus on single-player games coming amid an apparent pull-back of live service titles at Sony.

Naughty Dog stopped development on The Last of Us Online in December 2023, saying it would have needed to put all its resources into post-launch content for years to come — an approach that would have severely impacted its ability to develop future single-player games.

Historically, Naughty Dog has struggled to work on two big games at the same time, with one tending to end up top of the tree internally. The studio hasn’t released a brand new game since 2020’s The Last of Us 2, with remakes and collections in the interim.

This list contains spoilers for the Mission: Impossible franchise.

A new Mission: Impossible film is hitting theaters this month – the final one in the franchise, if we’re to believe Tom Cruise and the suits at Paramount – and if you’re like us, you’re probably knee deep in a series rewatch right now.

The focus of the films, spectacular action set pieces aside, has been Cruise’s lead spy, Ethan Hunt. Fellow team agents have often come and gone, and supposedly impossible missions have varied time after time, but Ethan has remained. The only other constant has been a steady supply of villains – men and women with big plans fueled by greed and/or malice, who think they’ll be the one to outwit, outsmart, and outrun Hunt. Fools.

It might seem counterintuitive ranking the Mission: Impossible villains under the banner of “best,” but every great hero needs an equally great villain. Numerous elements come into play when determining the best villain, but we’re zeroing in on the scale of their threat, the weight of the violence (both physical and emotional) they commit against Hunt and his team, and the palpable degree of villainous charisma they exhibit.

So cue up that classic Lalo Schifrin theme, here are the 10 Best Mission: Impossible Villains, Ranked!

10. A.I. The Entity (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One)

“A self-aware, self-learning, truth-eating digital parasite infesting all of cyberspace” sounds like a pretty cool threat in any other high-octane thriller, but in the Mission: Impossible franchise it’s only good enough to land at number ten. It underwhelms compared to its human counterparts, because let’s be real – zeroes and ones ain’t got shit and madness and guns – but its power and immense reach are undeniable. The Entity began “life” as a digital weapon designed by the U.S. government before going rogue and hopping through cyberspace with the giddiness of a puppy experiencing its first snowfall.

Most villainous act of villainy: While toying with and killing a submarine filled with Russian sailors is an act of murderous cruelty, it’s the Entity’s bigger, broader acts of deception that mark it as a true villain. Its early days of online manipulation saw it shifting public opinion and behavior through social media, and it’s a brutal reminder of events in the real world. We live in a present where people with nefarious agendas are influencing easily shaped minds, and with the increased use of A.I. in our online dealings, it’s not hard to imagine something like the Entity stepping in and really turning our daily lives into a nightmare.

9. John Musgrave (Mission: Impossible III)

Not every villain has direct blood on his hands, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less dangerous. Musgrave is Hunt’s Operations Manager at the IMF, and it’s suggested they may even be minor friends – understandable as he’s played by Billy Crudup, and who wouldn’t want to be friends with Billy Crudup. He brings Hunt in on a mission to rescue one of his proteges, Lindsey Farris, and when that goes wrong and Hunt is blamed for the fallout, it’s Musgrave who helps the agent escape to pursue justice. See? A friend.

Surprise! It’s all a ruse, and Musgrave is actually a traitor working with a man named Owen Davian on some elaborate plan to retrieve a piece of tech nicknamed “the rabbit’s foot.” Musgrave’s a hero in his own mind, though, as he’s hoping to use this as motivation for first strikes against enemy forces. He wants the U.S. and the IMF to play a more aggressive role in the fight against terrorism, and if that means supporting terrorists along the way, well, he’s all for it.

Most villainous act of villainy: Musgrave might think his heart is in the right place here, but in addition to enabling a murderous terrorist in Davian, he crosses an equally big line by pulling Ethan’s wife, Julia, into danger. Worse, he lets Davian shoot Julia in the head right in front of Hunt. Sure, she’s revealed to have been a minor henchwoman in a mask, but the emotional damage is real.

8. Kurt Hendricks (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol)

While some villains act out of greed and others cause misery simply for the fun of it, Kurt Hendricks is a man who only wants the best for humanity. What is the best, you ask? Well, in Hendricks’ mind, our species would benefit from something of a cleanse. From the great biblical flood to the atomic bombing of Japanese cities during World War II, immense disasters lead to rebuilding, recovery, and real improvement… apparently.

Sounds logical, so Hendricks sets out to trigger just such a global debacle starting with a massive attack on the Kremlin in Moscow and leading to the acquisition of nuclear codes. He proves himself to be one of the greatest threats Ethan Hunt has faced to that point.

Except, and this is where casting comes into serious play, the film wants us to see him as a physical threat to Hunt – but that’s nearly impossible. Michael Nyqvist was a fantastic actor, and he makes for a compelling villain through dialogue and intent. But a serious contender in a fight with Cruise? It’s difficult to buy, but that doesn’t stop director Brad Bird from letting him go toe to toe with the film’s star for a weirdly long fight. (To be fair, Chad Stahelski started it by letting Nyqvist seemingly hold his own for a bit with Keanu Reeves in John Wick.) So, while Hendricks is a grand threat on the world stage, he tumbles some in the ranking here as an unserious brawler against the highly trained and in far better shape Hunt.

Most villainous act of villainy: Like Musgrave above, Hendricks seriously thinks he’s doing the world a favor by causing harm. His final act results in a nuclear missile being fired towards San Francisco, something that would have killed tens of thousands of people immediately before triggering the death of millions more. That’s no small thing, and he would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn’t been for those meddling IMF agents.

7. August Walker (Mission: Impossible – Fallout)

Hunt and his IMF team have been betrayed by double agents and traitors on numerous occasions, but most of them are greedy middle-aged men in suits who don’t pose an immediate physical threat to our intrepid hero. August Walker is something different entirely. He towers over Hunt and is jacked from his mustache on down. Henry Cavill’s portrayal ensures that he’s already menacing even while pretending to be on Hunt’s side, but once the truth comes out, the gloves come off.

Walker is revealed to be working in cahoots with the brilliant Solomon Lane, and together they frame Hunt and once again pull the love of his life, Julia, into harm’s way. His motivation for it all is a bit over the top and dramatic – he wants the old world to implode and give rise to something better – but what else would you expect from a man who seems to cock his arms like guns during fist fights.

Most villainous act of villainy: Walker and Lane are planning to detonate nuclear bombs, and while the latter stays behind to die in his greatest act of terror, Walker is on a chopper heading to safety. Hunt, of course, catches up to him in pursuit of the detonator that’s needed to stop the countdown. While Walker could have easily escaped by giving up the detonator, his desire to cause suffering – especially Hunt’s suffering if Julia were to die – leads him to a one-on-one fight to the death with the agent. It’s a decision built on rage and self-righteous justification, and it rightfully ends in his painful demise.

6. Paris (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One)

When it comes to villains in the Mission: Impossible universe, few can touch Pom Klementieff’s Paris on style and charisma points. A henchwoman to Gabriel, she lets her gleefully murderous skillset do most of her talking, and it’s a refreshing change of pace from baddies who seem compelled to share their life stories before pulling a trigger.

Her costume and face makeup see her stand apart from the crowd, but don’t let her doll-like appearance fool you. Paris is a merciless fighter who refuses to quit despite the odds, as evidenced by a shootout and car chase in Rome that sees her literally plowing through obstacles both human and otherwise in her pursuit of Hunt.

Most villainous act of villainy: While Paris makes mincemeat out of numerous threats, she ultimately succumbs to Hunt during an alleyway brawl. He spares her life, though, and after being punished by Gabriel – he basically tries to kill her – she chooses to betray both him and her villainous tendencies by saving Hunt’s life. Maybe I’m stretching the definition here, but it takes a real badass to turn your back on villainy with the discovery of unexpected morals and a change of heart.

5. Gabriel (Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning)

The mysterious Gabriel arrives in the penultimate entry of the franchise, and he’s a man with deadly skills and an alliance with the Entity. He also comes with a backstory suggesting an integral role in Ethan Hunt’s life. It seems Gabriel killed a woman named Marie thirty years ago, someone Hunt was apparently fond of, and it’s that murder that landed Hunt at the IMF – where he went on to save thousands of lives. Hundreds of thousands, even. So maybe Gabriel is a hero? I kid, I kid.

He’s obviously a villain, and he may even be something of a seer (?), but while his late-to-the-party franchise arrival unavoidably undercuts his dramatic weight, the character’s casting lifts Gabriel right back up again. Esai Morales brings real charm and a calm menace to the character, and it’s immediately made clear that he’s not someone to be trifled with. You believe both his physical abilities and deadly intentions, and Morales’ added dramatic weight makes him a real threat to Hunt. He also earns a bump in the rankings by gifting viewers with the best, most unforgettable villain death in the entire franchise.

Most villainous act of villainy: Gabriel’s killed a lot of people, and he even destroyed a rolling Agatha Christie landmark, so it’s clear he’s a bad guy. His most vicious act, though, comes as a bookend to having “fridged” Marie three decades earlier. Gabriel threatens to do it again by killing either Ilsa or Grace – Hunt’s current love interest or the woman who just landed in his lap mere hours ago – and while the film wants to trick viewers into thinking it’s going to be the latter, it’s Ilsa who dies by Gabriel’s blade instead. McQuarrie and Cruise are obviously the real villains here for introducing this tired trope of a woman’s death being responsible for a man’s life, but it’s ultimately Gabriel who thrusts the knife into Ilsa’s gut. It could have been Grace who died. Hell, it should have been Benji. Instead, Gabriel extinguishes the franchise’s brightest flame this side of Hunt himself. J’accuse!

4. Jim Phelps (Mission: Impossible)

Jim Phelps wasn’t the only friend/fellow agent to betray Hunt over the years, but he was the first – and arguably the most shocking. The character, as played by Peter Graves, was the IMF’s lead agent for the bulk of the television series’ seven-season run from 1966 to 1973. He was unquestionably a good guy, so there was no reason to suspect that his presence in the first Mission: Impossible film would be anything different – well, Jon Voight in the role was probably a clue.

Audiences expected Phelps to essentially hand the reins over to Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, but while he did just that, he did so with a major act of betrayal. As he tells Hunt once his ruse is discovered, the end of the Cold War threatens to end the need for the IMF – this is as naive a statement as ever uttered in the entirety of the franchise – and he was worried about becoming a relic barely scraping by on sixty-two thousand dollars a year.

Most villainous act of villainy: The betrayal itself is already brutal as Phelps turns his back on friends and agents who’ve risked their lives together over the years, but it’s the specifics of his traitorous act that hits hardest. In his effort to frame someone else for his crime, Phelps kills off three members of his team during an operation and then fakes his own death. What could have been a simple theft, instead becomes an act of cruelty making his betrayal sting even more.

3. Sean Ambrose (Mission: Impossible II)

“That was always the hardest part of having to portray you,” says ex-IMF agent Sean Ambrose to a beaten and angered Ethan Hunt, “grinning like an idiot every fifteen minutes.” That line alone makes Ambrose a top villain as it’s a terrific zing at both Hunt and Cruise himself. He’s equally dismissive of women as evidenced by his comment that they’re like monkeys when it comes to the men in their lives, that they “won’t let go of one branch until they get a grip on the next.” Say what you will about his greedy desires, but Ambrose (Dougray Scott) understands the assignment when it comes to being a charismatic villain.

That greed has led him to steal a deadly plague with plans to unleash it on whole populations if his demands aren’t met. While cash money is his primary motivator, though, Ambrose also seems fueled by a splash of jealousy towards Hunt. That makes their faceoffs all the more entertaining whether they’re jousting on motorcycles or sharing beatdowns in the sand as only the great John Woo can capture it.

Most villainous act of villainy: The film opens with Ambrose masquerading as Hunt in order to acquire the Chimera plague, but rather than just kill one man, Ambrose and his team crash an entire passenger jet filled with innocent civilians. Acts of terror would claim higher body counts in later films, but this puts faces to the dead in a far more direct way making it more personal and affecting.

2. Solomon Lane (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation)

Whether due to low pay or poor benefits, the world is seemingly overflowing with ex-government employees ready and willing to betray their nations and jump on the train to villain town. Solomon Lane is one such agent, but he goes a step or three further by helping create an organization called The Syndicate that’s built entirely on those bitter, trigger happy ex-agents. They want to sow chaos and reap financial rewards, and they’ve been doing it for years.

Lane is introduced killing a young, unarmed female agent right in front of Hunt, and it’s soon revealed that he’s responsible for thousands of deaths over the years through events made to look like accidents or the work of wholly unrelated perpetrators. Lane’s history of manipulating trust and the world’s various systems makes him one of the most dangerous villains in the franchise. He’s ahead of Hunt at every step, and his mantra – “The greater the suffering, the greater the peace.” – marks him as a man willing to do anything to accomplish his goals.

While many actors go big playing villains, Sean Harris takes the opposite approach and makes Lane a weasel of a man who you just want to see get beaten senseless. It’s an unusually bold choice that leaves him without a darkly appealing persona or personality – he’s just a very bad man who couldn’t care less about you or your loved ones.

Most villainous act of villainy: As the rare villain to be an active threat across more than one film, Lane inflicts plenty of pain, suffering, and stress on Hunt and his team. The bulk of his evil acts were committed before Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation even begins, but his cruelest and most personal action unfolds during the followup, Fallout. Along with August Walker, Lane manages to activate two nuclear bombs threatening not only the water supply for billions of people, but also the life of Hunt’s greatest love, Julia. Seeing her in harm’s way is the kind of gut punch that Hunt felt only once before, and it’s clear just how sorry he is that his choices have once again brought her so close to dying.

1. Owen Davian (Mission: Impossible III)

There’s a lot of competition when it comes to selecting the best villain in the Mission: Impossible franchise, but there was never any doubt who’d land at the top of the heap. Davian doesn’t care about much beyond his own wants and needs, and the film reflects that by never revealing exactly what his end goal is – we know he wants the so-called rabbit’s foot, but what it is and what it does are never made clear. We just know that Davian will cut through anyone and anything to get it, and that makes him an exceptionally dangerous man.

J.J. Abrams’ Mission: Impossible III is unfairly maligned, but even those underwhelmed by the film itself can’t help but applaud Philip Seymour Hall’s frighteningly effective and highly entertaining portrayal of Davian. His blistering stares, his lightning quick shifts from dead silence to raging outbursts, and his deceptively calm way of threatening everything that Hunt holds dear all work to make him a villain who commands the screen and even steals every scene from Cruise himself.

There may not be a big, global threat at play here, but Davian is the man who arguably gets closer than any other villain to actually killing Hunt. He injects the agent’s head with an explosive device that gets within seconds of churning Hunt’s brain tissue into ground beef, and he even gets some serious licks in while brawling. You wouldn’t think a Cruise versus Hoffman fight would convince, but the latter’s pure ferocity paired with Hunt’s incapacitation due to the pain in his head makes for a viciously compelling bout.

Most villainous act of villainy: Davian is a mean bastard who, while still in restraints, coldly threatens to murder Hunt’s fiance Julia. “I’m gonna make her bleed and cry and call out your name”, he says, and it’s one of the few times where Hunt’s legendary control tips into real fear and emotion. Davian later comes close to doing just that after abducting Julia, tying her up, and appearing to shoot her in the head. Hunt’s pain is palpable, and it’s enough to damage his heart to the point that he’d go on to never let someone that close again. Davian has literally halted Hunt’s ability to connect with someone on a deeply personal level, and it’s the kind of attack that bullets and bombs just can’t compete with.

Amazon dropped one of the best games of 2024 to the lowest price I’ve seen. As part of the Amazon Memorial Day Sale, you can pick up a physical copy of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 for PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X for just $39.99. That’s 43% off the $70 list price and beats the previous price low (during last year’s Black Friday) by $10.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (PS5, Xbox) for $39.99

The Crunchyroll Store is currently offering a 30% discount on all Viz Media books. Anyone familiar with manga knows Viz is a primary publisher of official English translations, so the sale includes a wide range of individual tankōbon volumes, as well as deluxe editions, art books, and even coloring books. With more than 2,000 volumes of manga on sale, every type of manga reader should be able to find something. While there are plenty of options for reading manga online, there’s always something special about flipping through the pages of your favorite series and getting to see it on your shelf.

Although Crunchyroll usually struggles to match Amazon prices, many of the manga deals I’ve listed here have actually gone lower. Otherwise, you can shop the full sale here. It ends tonight, so if you’re trying to stock up, now’s your chance.

30% Off Viz Manga at Crunchyroll Store

The sale is a great opportunity to try out a new manga or pick up new volumes of something you’ve already been reading (online or otherwise). Highlights include every single volume of Dan Da Dan, which is about to start airing its second anime season. In general, the sale is a great opportunity to check out the manga that inspired recent anime hits like Sakamoto Days and Frieren.

Of course, if we’re talking about iconic anime, you’ll also find discounts on classics like Dragon Ball, One Piece, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. One series I personally recommend that hasn’t gotten an anime adaptation (at least not yet) is Kagurabachi. Otherwise, your best bet is scrolling through the full sale, which you can sort by individual series.

Art Books Also Included

Viz Media also publishes a substantial amount of art books and other physical merchandise. Aside from the standard slate of popular manga, these publications highlight authors like Junji Ito and animation giants like Studio Ghibli.

Do You Need a Crunchyroll Account to Shop the Sale?

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2025, and developer CD Projekt is already giving fans a taste of the concerts, merch, and more it has in store.

The third Witcher video game undeniably left an impression on gamers when it launched May 19, 2015, so the studio behind it is pulling out all the stops to make sure today’s milestone feels special. Included in its list of festivities are videos that fondly look back at The Witcher 3 as well as special events and unique merch.

It all starts with the trailer, below, celebrating the series’ monster-hunting protagonist, Geralt, highlighting some of his most memorable moments as fans are treated to actor Doug Cockle’s gravelly delivery. It’s not quite a Witcher 4 update, but it does do a good job of reminding viewers of what made The Witcher 3 so special in the first place.

Meanwhile, Cockle joined the latest installment in CD Projekt Red’s REDstreams to reminisce about the 20 years he’s spent providing his voice for the English version of Geralt while sharing how he helped shape the White Wolf.

If you’re looking to join in on The Witcher 3’s 10th anniversary celebration, CD Projekt has further outlined its plans to bring The Witcher concerts to fans this summer. The first is in Boston at the Emerson Colonial Theater, come May 31, with the second following in Poland at Poznan’s Sala Ziemi. Tickets for both events, as well as the European leg of an upcoming tour, are available now, and more tour dates will be revealed in the future.

CD Projekt said more surprises, including art from 10 different Witcher artists, are on the way in the form of a Displate collaboration, T-shirts, and mugs. The vibrant The Little Witcher comic series and Embody’s Immerse Gamepack, which were both recently released, are also included in CD Projekt’s recommended list of goodies for fans looking to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Witcher 3. More details about what to expect will be revealed in the near future.

Each item, stream, and event will help die-hard fans celebrate the critically acclaimed 2015 RPG, but it should also help with the wait for The Witcher 4. Since pulling back the curtain on the Ciri-focused follow-up at The Game Awards 2024, CD Projekt has (mostly) kept its head down when it comes to its progress. It’s not scheduled to arrive for quite a while, so don’t expect any serious updates anytime soon.

For more on The Witcher 3, you can read our original 9.3/10 review. You can also click here for our thoughts on how the team at CD Projekt Red became masters of choice and consequence.

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

The Pokémon TCG market is moving, and not quietly. With Black Bolt and White Flare coming in hot, many Black and White-era cards are suddenly on every collector’s radar again.

We’re seeing massive jumps on cards that have sat stable for years, all because Gen V is back in style. If you’re looking to trade, cash in, or just gawk at how weird card prices can get, I’ve got you covered.

Here are five cards that are flying and five that are faceplanting. Some of these are smart buys. Others? Let’s say I wouldn’t want to be the one who paid full price three weeks ago.

Pokémon Card Crashers

Fortnite’s Star Wars season has just dropped its biggest new skin yet from a galaxy far, far away — and stunned fans by locking it behind a 1.28 million XP grind.

Darth Jar Jar became available to buy from Fortnite’s Shop over the weekend, but only after you earn the ability to do so. And even then, after accruing that 1.28 million XP, Darth Jar Jar still costs 1500 V-Bucks (around $13).

Fortnite has locked skins behind an XP requirement before, but only done so once in recent years and not with a skin that had been anticipated as one of the key cosmetic releases of this shortened Star Wars season.

Several weeks in, there’s now less time for players to get the XP needed to nab Darth Jar Jar (Fortnite’s Star Wars season ends on June 7), and anyone who had managed to finish their battle pass already now has a fresh chunk of level grinding to go.

“I was so hyped for this skin and was fine with it being behind a pay wall, after all it is just another skin,” wrote one fan on reddit, in a long thread dedicated to Darth Jar Jar’s release. “But this whole locked behind an XP wall is ridiculous. You want me to earn the right to give you money? I immediately closed the game.”

Another common complaint is the fact that Darth Jar Jar has been released alongside a regular Jar Jar Binks skin, which does not have an XP requirement but still costs a separate 1500 V-Bucks.

Together with the various accessories for both Sith and Gungan variants of this skin, you could choose to pay 6,500 V-Bucks for everything Jar Jar Binks. Which is a lot.

“Regular Jar Jar alone is 20 dollars,” another fan wrote. “If you want both that s**t is 52 entire ass dollars for something that ought to have just been 1 skin with 3 styles.”

Others, meanwhile, have countered to say that Jar Jar is simply a cosmetic option — and there’s no need to buy him at all if you don’t want to. Ignore him, and your Fortnite locker will be as free of the character as George Lucas wanted to be after the backlash to Phantom Menace hit.

“It wasn’t that hard to earn the XP took me around 8/9 hrs,” wrote a third fan. “I had no plans on Saturday. I did it in 3 sittings, but all in one day. I played Rocket Racing and Ranked and did Alignment Challenges to farm as much XP as possible.

“Nothing is making anyone get every item in the Shop you can just pick and choose, and the fact he was just 1500 V-Bucks when Deathstroke was 1,800 V-Bucks I wasn’t bothered at all by the price. I was pissed off at first than I realised after a couple hrs that I had over 300,000 XP already.”

Fortnite’s Star Wars season continues this week with a focus on Mandalorian warriors, and the highly-anticipated release of a new customisable Mandalorian skin in the game’s Shop next.

Epic Games’ battle royale will conclude its time in the Star Wars galaxy with a live narrative event on June 7 — which fans believe will see them boarding the Death Star that has been hovering ominously over the game’s Island since the start of the season.

Earlier this month, Epic Games’ ongoing feud with Apple escalated after Fortnite was “blocked” from returning to the iPhone App Store in the US.

Nintendo has confirmed it will return to Gamescom to showcase Switch 2 this year, after skipping 2024’s event.

Gamescom, the biggest games show by attendance in the world, will this year run from August 21 to August 24 at its usual home in Cologne, Germany.

A post by Nintendo on its German-language social media account has confirmed the company will be back on the show floor at the event. But does this mean we’ll get a new Nintendo Direct for Switch 2 at the same time?

Nintendo has not yet said what it plans to showcase at Gamescom 2025, but it’s worth bearing in mind that its two main titles for the Switch 2 launch window — Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza — will have been out for some time by that point.

What could Nintendo focus on next? Well, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 shooter Metroid Prime 4: Beyond currently still sits with a vague “2025” launch date, and seems likely to arrive this fall. We may see more of that, and a longer demo than the one previously shown to the public at the Nintendo Switch 2 Tour events made available.

There’s also Pokémon Legends Z-A, another title set to arrive for both Switch and Switch 2, which is down for a “late 2025” launch.

And while Nintendo could sail through the second half of 2025 with those two games, it seems possible the Mario maker may also have something else for this year still tucked up its sleeve.

Last year, Nintendo raised eyebrows by skipping Gamescom’s 2024 event — an ususual move that many saw as indication its aging Switch hardware was running out of steam, and the company did not have much else to show.

Gamescom is one of the key dates on the gaming calendar, with its in-person event regularly attracting more than 300,000 attendees. Online, the show is now accompanied by the Geoff Keighley-fronted Gamescom Opening Night Live, which in 2024 included looks at Borderlands 4, Monster Hunter Wilds and Dune: Awakening.

Last week, WizKids’ Baldur’s Gate 3 miniatures arrived, and they didn’t exactly garner rave reviews. The public response seems to have been heard, and now WizKids is offering refunds to anyone who feels dissatisfied with their minifig boxes.

“As a company, WizKids seeks to create products that enhance and add to the enjoyment of game play,” the company said in an announcement. “We want our customers to build long-lasting, fond memories around game nights with friends and family using our products.

“Unfortunately, we missed the mark on this goal with the D&D Icons of the Realms: Baldur’s Gate 3 Character Boxed Set. If you purchased this set through our online stores, we will be offering a full refund to those who are unsatisfied with their set.”

pic.twitter.com/pKkkroQrWt

— Gale-LOD 😏 (@HighLODLar) May 13, 2025

WizKids went on to say it’s aware of the reports, and its team is investigating the issues and taking action to both “make this right” and to ensure issues do not pop up again in future products.

The $49.99 pre-painted D&D Icons of the Realms: Baldur’s Gate 3 Character Boxed Set started rolling out to buyers last week, and the results surprised more than a few. Opening the box to strange paint jobs, off details, and a seemingly melting Withers left purchasers feeling frustrated.

WizKids is offering refunds through two options. If you bought the set online, you can contact customerservice@wizkids.com to start a request. If you went through a local retailer, you can return it at the point of purchase for a full refund. The company is also offering a product replacement through its replacement site, where WizKids says it will work to provide a replacement that “meets the standards expected.”

It’s not exactly the happiest ending for those hoping for a nice new set of Baldur’s Gate 3 miniatures, but it’s at least something for those disappointed with the outcome of their box of minis. Hopefully those affected can find some other figure-makers to fill the miniature-shaped hole in their hearts.

Larian just bid farewell to Baldur’s Gate 3 with Patch 8, its final major patch for its 2023 RPG that took the world by storm. The studio’s CEO Swen Vincke has dropped some hints about what’s next for Larian, but aside from it not being Baldur’s Gate nor Dungeons & Dragons, there’s not too much more to go on.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.