Black Beacon is the newest title from publisher Glohow that recently launched on mobile devices. It’s a mythic sci-fi action RPG with a story that sees you travel through time and visit different eras of history to try to prevent catastrophe.
In this world, there are mysterious substances known as beacons that seemingly defy logic — they change size, shape, and texture depending on who’s observing them and how they’re observed. What stays consistent is their abyssal black color (which gives the game its name) and the fact that anomalies accompany them wherever they’re found.
Throughout human history, the phenomena these beacons created have been considered miracles or revelations, causing them to be worshipped as sacred objects. Ancient humans embedded them in obelisks, sealed them under temples, or cast them into stained glass frames.
That’s the background lore, but the story of Black Beacon picks up with you playing the Seer. You’ve been entrusted with the key to the Library of Babel, which is essentially an endless labyrinth that contains all possible permutations of the past, present, and future. You get a vision of a disastrous future, setting you on your time-traveling path to prevent it.
To accomplish that, you’ll need to gather a team of heroes. That starts with Zero and Ereshan, who will join up with you at the beginning of the story. Zero is a mysterious guardian of the Library of Babel who shows little emotion and doesn’t seem to care about worldly events. Ereshan is the granddaughter of the former director of the Library of Babel who was stripped of her inheritance when Zero showed up, leading to loathing that has since cooled.
You’ll have the opportunity to add plenty of other characters to your crew, from the affable Nanna to the intimidating Shamash to the elegant Viola. There’s more than 10 characters available at launch, with more to be added in the future.
You’re able to take three characters into each combat encounter; you only control one at a time, but can switch between them on the fly. Each character’s abilities are on individual cooldowns, so you need to swap them in and out quickly and efficiently to chain their attacks and abilities together in fluid combat.
The main story progresses in chapters that are further broken down into several stages, some of which are purely cutscenes while others are combat stages. Both advance the story forward and include full voice acting.
As you complete stages, you’ll earn rewards that can be used to improve characters or their weapons. Skill books are used to level up characters, and they each have unique abilities you can also level up. Once characters reach a certain level threshold, you’ll need certain items to let them “breakthrough” that threshold and continue gaining levels.
Weapons have a similar system. Each weapon starts with an innate rarity measured in a star level, up to 5 stars. You can level up weapons to a certain threshold, then use items to “breakthrough” that threshold and both power up the weapon and increase its star rating.
You can earn more of the items necessary for character and weapon progression outside of the main story in the Resources mode, which you can select from the main menu. You can choose to focus on items to level up, increase skills, or break through thresholds. Whichever version you choose, you’ll get new combat encounters that provide rewards for completion as well as goals specific to that stage, like completing it within a certain amount of time.
There’s also an EX mode, which basically acts as a tutorial to teach you how to use particular characters and a practice space to get better with them. And if you want to take a break and just hang out with some of the characters in your squad, you can do that too.
Black Beacon is available now for free through the App Store on iOS, Google Play on Android, and through Google Play Games if you prefer to play on a PC client. For more info, you can check out the game’s official website or follow along with the community on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, or Discord.
Nintendo fans in the U.S. may be feeling pretty hard done by now as the rest of the world fights for a Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order, but some are fighting back by challenging and reporting every Nintendo Switch 2 auction listing they can find.
On eBay.com, Nintendo Switch 2 consoles are, at the time of writing, listed from anywhere between $468 to $855, with a lot listing Buy It Now prices of around $700-$750 — that’s $300 over the recommended retail price.
United in their frustrations both about the pre-order delay and the preponderance of over-priced pre-orders on eBay, however, players are working to take scalpers down together.
“If anyone wants to do their bit for society, go on eBay and report the scalpers,” said one Redditor. “I’ve had about 15 listings removed, spent literally minutes reporting them.”
“Reminder that preselling an eBay item is not allowed unless it will be shipping within 40 days of purchasing off eBay, (impossible for the Switch!), at least in the UK anyways,” said another, racking up almost 6,000 upvotes. The image attached showed a long list of confirmation emails from eBay stating that the content they had reported was removed.
Another jumped on Reddit to confirm they’d had “15 more scalpers removed from eBay,” while another player posted to say their actions saw 20 Switch pre-order listings scrubbed from the site.
So, just why are players having so much luck combating scalpers this time around? Well, that has to do with eBay’s very own terms and conditions concerning pre-sale items, which say “pre-sale listings must clearly state that they are ‘presale’ in the title and description, and guarantee shipment within 40 business days of purchase.”
“You’re not allowed to sell pre-orders on eBay because the seller doesn’t have, and it’s possible they will never actually get, the item they’re selling,” explained rmajor86 on a post that’s also been upvoted hundreds of time. “Just report the listing, and eBay will remove it.”
That said, things may change soon. As formerlyDylan pointed out, June 5 is 40 business days from today, April 10 (excluding Easter), and eBay’s terms and conditions state pre-sale items must “guarantee shipment within 40 business days of purchase.”
While this means scalpers may soon be able to legitimately list their pre-orders for sale across parts of the world where the console will release on June 5, fans may be able to continue to fight scalpers across the U.S. and Canada right up until those countries have a shipping date.
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
IGN’s Schedule 1 map is here! Our interactive map tracks essential locations across Hyland Point, including Customers and Dealers for players wanting to maximize their business empire. It also includes markers for ATMs, Cash for Trash machines, and more, so you know where to go when you need to make a transaction in Schedule I.
Schedule I Interactive Map
The available map filters for our Schedule 1 interactive map include:
Locations, such as ATMs, Dead Drops, Cash for Trash Machines, and Payphones.
Businesses, including Taco Ticklers, the Car Wash, and the Post Office.
Properties, including the Motel, Bungaloo, and Docks Warehouse.
Shops, such as Dan’s Hardware and Gas Mart, so you always know where to go to purchase essential items for Mixing.
NPCs, including Customers and Dealers.
Schedule 1 Guides
There’s a lot to do in Schedule I, whether that’s mixing up a new strain or saving up to move into a new property. IGN’s Game Help is here to assist with informative guides to help you keep on track. Our coverage includes:
Meg Koepp is a Guides Editor on the IGN Guides team, with a focus on trends. When she’s not working, you can find her playing an RPG or coloring to unwind.
Ubisoft has insisted that buying a game doesn’t give players “unfettered ownership rights” to it, only a “limited license to access the game.”
The megacorp’s comments come as it sought to dismiss a case brought by two unhappy The Crew players who took the company to court for shutting down its original racing game last year.
At the end of last year, two gamers took Ubisoft to court, stating they had been “under the impression” they were “paying to own and possess the video game The Crew instead of paying for a limited license to use The Crew.”
“Imagine you buy a pinball machine, and years later, you enter your den to go play it, only to discover that the all the paddles are missing, the pinball and bumpers are gone, and the monitor that proudly displayed your unassailable high score is removed,” the initial lawsuit read.
As spotted by Polygon, the claimants accused Ubisoft of violating California’s False Advertising Law, Unfair Competition Law, and Consumer Legal Remedies Act, as well as “common law fraud and breach of warranty claims.” They also suggest Ubisoft broke California’s state law around gift cards, which are not allowed to expire.
The gamers also provided images that depict the activation code for the racer clearly shows that it does not expire until 2099, which they believe implies “that [The Crew] would remain playable during this time and long thereafter.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ubisoft does not agree.
“Plaintiffs allege that they purchased physical copies of The Crew under the belief that they were obtaining unfettered access to the game in perpetuity. Plaintiffs also take issue with the fact that Ubisoft did not offer to create an ‘offline, single-player option of the Game, otherwise known as a ‘patch’ when it shut down The Crew’s servers in March 2024,” Ubisoft’s lawyers wrote.
“The [essence] of the plaintiffs’ complaint is that Ubisoft allegedly misled purchasers of its video game The Crew into believing they were purchasing unfettered ownership rights in the game, rather than a limited license to access the game. But the reality is that consumers received the benefit of their bargain and were explicitly notified, at the time of purchase, that they were purchasing a license.”
The response further adds that the Xbox and PlayStation packaging contain a “clear and conspicuous notice — in all capital letters — that Ubisoft may cancel access to one or more specific online features upon a 30-day prior notice.”
Ubisoft has now filed a motion to dismiss the case. If that fails and the lawsuit does proceed, the two plaintiffs have demanded a jury trial.
It’s worth noting that the new law still doesn’t prevent companies from yanking your content away from you, but at least they’ll have to warn you about the true nature of your purchase before you click that buy button.
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Path of Exile 2 developer Grinding Gear Games has issued more emergency changes to the action role-playing game amid a backlash to the nerf-heavy Dawn of the Hunt update that has caused recent Steam user reviews to plummet to ‘mostly negative.’
Dawn of the Hunt launched earlier this month and quickly sparked a backlash among the Path of Exile community. The expansion added the new Huntress class, a Spear and Buckler user specialising in hybrid melee and ranged combat. Elsewhere, there are five new ascension classes: the Ritualist, Amazon, Smith of Kitava, Tactician, and Lich. And along with all that are mechanical overhauls, over one hundred new unique items as well as significantly expanded crafting options.
What should have been a hugely positive moment for Path of Exile 2, its developers and its players became something else entirely, however, as the community complained that GGG had slowed the pace of the game down to the point where it became a “total slog.”
The ‘most helpful’ review of the last 30 days on Steam is a negative one that outlines the current problems with the game:
Every boss fight is incredibly longer than it needs to be. Most of the skills do little to no damage. I understand they said they wanted to slow gameplay down, but I don’t think I will even make it more than one week in this league at this point. It just feels incredibly awful right now, IF you can even get the game to run and be stable. That is a HUGE if.
“If you’re a masochist who enjoys being punished for little to no reward, this game is for you,” reads another negative review. “If you’re not, it’s likely that you won’t enjoy the game.
“The release version (0.1) already had a lot of issues in relation to the size of the areas (too large), the slow movement (which makes those large areas feel even worse) and forced combo gameplay (which was optional thanks to some “unintended” build options found by players).
“However, in this new version (0.2 – Dawn of the Hunt), just as many other reviewers have mentioned, the game was slowed down considerably.
“The loot, which wasn’t too common in 0.1, but acceptable, was nerfed by quite a lot, to the point where you kill a rare monster or boss and get no rare items or crafting currencies.
“The forced combo gameplay is back in full force, with the developers wanting to pigeonhole us into this type of gameplay, which is in direct contrast to what an ARPG of this kind is supposed to be. You’re supposed to have freedom to make your build how you like to play it and not be forced to play only the way the developers have intended.
“Players keep complaining about the map size and slow movement and the developers largely ignored these comments until the community backlash was too much to keep ignoring.
“I have 5k hours in PoE 1 and it’s my favorite game of all time. I love GGG but honestly, I cannot recommend this game to almost anyone as it is now.
“Hopefully they will be able to fix these issues in the future and make the game more enjoyable.”
The question for Path of Exile 2 players now is, are these changes meaningful enough to stem the tide of complaints and get the game back into a positive setting? It’s worth noting that Path of Exile 2 has been a hugely successful release for GGG, to the point where it struggled to cope with the sheer number of players at launch. But this success has brought with it additional problems that have even impacted the development of Path of Exile 1, which retains a sizeable and loyal audience.
Path of Exile 2 update 0.2.0e patch notes:
Monster Speed Changes
Many players have been reported being overwhelmed by monsters. The cause of this is a variety of factors and we are addressing them on a case by case basis. We have listed monster changes act by act below, but we also made the following changes more generally.
Many human monsters including the Cultists in Freythorn, the Faridun and the Tribal Humans in Act Three have behaviour where they can interrupt their melee attacks if the player moves too far out of range during the attack, especially for attacks that have multiple hits like a swipe left into swipe right. These interrupt events have been primarily removed especially on things that were attacking very fast as it caused the monsters to be relentlessly able to pursue and attack you giving you no time to engage or use skills between their attacks.
The Haste Aura monster modifier no longer appears on monsters that are already fast.
Act 1
Werewolf Prowlers and Tendril Prowlers now will enter a walking stance (as opposed to running) after performing a melee action, they will only begin running again if you get a certain distance away from them. This behaviour has been applied to many faster monsters.
Hungering Stalkers now have 12% less Life and Damage, they were already relatively weak but we have lowered it a bit further to account for their high movement speed and attack speed. They are intended to engage and attack quickly, but be weak and die fast.
Reduced the number of Bloom Serpents in The Red Vale.
Halved the number of Venomous Crabs in the Hunting Grounds.
The Cultists in Freythorn no longer have interrupt events on their attacks as described above.
The Cultists in Freythorn wielding Axes and Maces in Freythorn now walk after performing a Melee Action, only running again once you exit a certain distance.
Blood Cretins on death Blood Pools have had their duration decreased from 6 seconds to 4 seconds, and fixed the area of effect to match the visual more closely.
Reduced the overall density of more challenging monsters in Ogham Manor.
Act 2
The Boulder Ants in Titan Valley have been replaced by Risen Maraketh, as the area had too many monsters that had irritating movement.
The Faridun have all been modified to remove the interrupt events on their attacks as described above..
Act 3
Diretusk Boar and Antlion Charger’s are now more likely to push you to the side instead of pushing you along with them when they charge you.
The Lost City monster pack composition has been adjusted to result in less ranged monsters
Massively adjusted the Azak Bog, firstly by the aforementioned changes to interrupt events, but also changed the monster composition of the area to have less Ranged and Elite monsters.
Fixed an issue where the Slitherspitter’s poison spray in Venom Crypts was dealing Chaos Damage instead of Physical Damage unintentionally.
We have also identified another issue that affects some areas in which potential monster spawn locations have inconsistent density in different rooms. This leads to situations where some rooms are much denser with monsters than others in an unintended way. We have a fix for this problem but it did not make it into this patch, and will be deployed in a later patch.
These are not the only changes that we will be making to monsters. Further changes will come in later updates. Some changes we didn’t get time to make today, and others require new animations that will take a little longer.
Boss Changes
Viper Napuatzi is one of the more challenging bosses for players, so we made the following change.
Lowered the amount and size of Chaos Rains (the purple ones) in the Viper Napuatzi fight, and cleaned up the visual left afterwards faster to make the following drop locations more obvious.
Uxmal had various quirks that made him somewhat annoying to fight. We have made a few changes.
Reduced the number of times Uxmal changes locations through the fight
Uxmal can no longer recharge Energy Shield while in the air.
Uxmal uses his Flame Breath less often
Xyclucian had some issues with visibility of his effects
The arena of Xyclucian has had its ground foliage removed in order to make his effects more visible
Player Minion Changes
We have changed the way that minion revive timers work. When your first minion dies, it sets the revive timer to 7.5 seconds as before, but each successive minion that dies increases it by less and less (still capped to a max of 7.5 seconds). This should heavily mitigate the situation where most of your minions are dead, but the revive timer keeps resetting to 7.5 seconds over and over.
Disenchanting a Bind Spectre or Tame Beast gem will unbind them, allowing you to use them again.
Tamed beasts can now fit through gaps of the same size that the player can.
Other Player Balance
We don’t have a lot of other player balance changes on top of the ones described yesterday, but we did manage to sneak in the following additional changes:
Rally support is no longer restricted to Strikes or Slams, and can now support any Melee Attack you use yourself.
Glory (Used by Hammer of the Gods and Spear of Solaris) is now no longer consumed if you are interrupted while using the skill.
Fixed a bug where Blood Boils from the Ritualist ascendancy didn’t propagate if the monster exploded on death, such as when using Herald of Blood.
Crafting Changes
We have now finished adding all of the mods to runes for caster weapons. Desert, Glacial, Storm, Iron, Body, Mind, Rebirth, Inspiration, Stone and Vision runes all now work on Wands and Staves, with their own set of modifiers.
Renly’s abandoned shop in the Burning Village now also has a Blank rune which Renly can forge into any elemental rune of your choosing in case you didn’t find any up to that point. As mentioned yesterday, 12 Artificers Orb’s now drop at fixed locations through the campaign in addition to the random drops and salvageable ones.
Performance Improvements
The ground foliage in many areas has had an optimisation pass to improve performance.
0.2.0E Deployment Timeline
And that’s all that made it for 0.2.0E. The patch will be deployed at around 10AM NZT. We have also made some more changes internally, but they didn’t make it in time for the patch.
The following lists the changes that will be deployed after the weekend. These are not the only changes that will be in that patch. These are just the changes that we already have.
Charm Changes
Charms are a system that we never adequately expanded on, and have had several problems that we will finally be addressing. Overall we want charms to be more useful, and for you to be more easily able to use more of them.
First, the changes to charm slots
Charm slots on belts are now granted by implicit mods that are added to belts depending on the level of the area that dropped them. The number of slots is random up to a cap depending on how high level the belt is. You can use a Divine Orb to reroll the number of slots.
Belts have 1 charm slot until level 32, up to 2 until level 64 and up to 3 from level 65 and onwards.
Unique Belts can always have up to 3 charm slots.
For now, Unique Belts with mods that increase the number of charms will still be capped to 3, later on we will remove the cap.
Then changes to the charms themselves.
Several charms were not protecting you from the hit that activated them, these cases have been fixed to work properly.
We have also done a pass on Charm mods to make them more powerful and rewarding.
Stash Tab Affinities
We are adding Stash Tab Affinities for the following categories of items
Socketables
Fragments [Which includes Tablets and Trial Keys]
Breach
Expedition
Ritual
We will also be allowing Charms to go in the Flask stash tab or any tab with the Flask affinity.
Atlas Bookmarks
We have added the ability to bookmark locations on your atlas to find them easily later.
Right clicking a node will allow you create a bookmark by picking an icon and optionally adding a label you can type in.
You can have up to 16 bookmarks at a time.
They will appear as icons around the outside of the screen with a direction allowing you to scroll to them easily, or you can click on them to instantly take you there
You can also view a list of bookmarks under the legend and click them to go there.
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.
Nintendo has confirmed that Switch 2 Edition games contain both the game and the upgrade on the cartridge itself.
Confusion arose after conflicting reports based on comments from customer service staff suggested Switch 2 Edition games may not include the game itself.
However, in a statement to Vooks, Nintendo clarified this is not the case, although pointed out that some publishers may release Switch 2 Edition games as download codes in physical packaging with no game card.
Here’s the Nintendo statement:
“Physical versions of Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games will include the original Nintendo Switch game and its upgrade pack all on the same game card (i.e. they are exclusively Nintendo Switch 2 game cards, with no download code). Alternatively, some publishers may release Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games as download codes in physical packaging, with no game card.”
These Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games improve upon their original Switch versions in various ways. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, for example, gain additional support for the Zelda Notes service in the Nintendo Switch App that provides game help. They also have achievements on Switch 2.
Switch 2 game-key cards are physical cards that only contain a key to download your chosen game. That means there’s no actual game data on the card you insert into your Switch 2, so you’ll need to download it once the card is inserted. Every game-key card case will be appropriately labeled on the lower portion of the front of the box, so if you’re concerned about what exactly you’re purchasing, you should have a heads-up right away.
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.
I’m not saying today’s deals are going to ruin your budget, but I wouldn’t open your banking app until tomorrow. Stellar Crown is back in stock (finally), and Amazon also has the Terapagos ex Ultra-Premium Collection if you’re feeling like a true Tera master. Meanwhile, Lenovo quietly dropped Xbox Wireless Controllers to $39.99, and I’m just over here trying to convince myself I don’t need one in every color.
Stellar Crown Boxes and $25 off Xbox Series X/S Controllers
On top of that, there’s a new Humble Bundle that looks like someone dumped every neon-drenched game into one lineup, and somehow Fallout fans are getting a $200 Pip-Boy replica that actually works as a clock. It’s a chaotic mix of gaming greatness, and I’m into it.
Pokémon TCG: Terapagos ex Ultra-Premium Collection
I want this box purely for the overkill. Eighteen booster packs, three promo cards, and enough accessories to make a Magic: The Gathering player cry. Terapagos ex, Lapras ex, and Cinderace ex look gorgeous, and the display-worthy gear (card protector, playmat, deck box) makes this feel like more than just another TCG drop. It’s overstuffed, overpriced, over the top and exactly what I want from a premium Pokémon box.
Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet Stellar Crown Elite Trainer Box
I think the Stellar Crown ETB is one of the best recent Pokémon releases, and not just because it includes a full-art Noctowl. The sleeves featuring Stellar Form Terapagos are slick, and you get nine booster packs — nine! For under $55, that’s a solid entry point into Scarlet & Violet or just a fun rip session waiting to happen. If you missed the last drop, now’s your shot at redemption.
Neon Lights Game Bundle
This bundle is like a cyberpunk fever dream. Ghostrunner, Neon Abyss, and The Red Strings Club all in one lineup? I don’t even care that I’ve already played half of these. For $14, I’ll happily double-dip just to have them in one place. I want more game bundles that feel like a hacker curated them at 3 a.m. while jacked into a mainframe.
Microsoft Xbox Wireless Controller – Various Colors
In my opinion, Xbox controllers never go on sale when you need one — only when your current one starts drifting mid-match and your rage googling leads you here. $39.99 is a no-brainer price, especially with options like Astral Purple and Deep Pink in stock. I already have two, but I want a third just because Microsoft had the audacity to make them this pretty.
Fallout – Pip-Boy Die-Cast – Replica
Look, I don’t need a $200 Pip-Boy replica with a functioning LCD screen, clock, and radio. But I absolutely want it. It’s absurdly detailed, looks screen-accurate, and would make a great desk flex or cosplay showpiece. I think if you’re the type to own a vault jumpsuit, this is your holy grail.
Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet Booster Display Box
I think of this as the “no regrets” box. Thirty-six booster packs is a full-on dopamine factory for collectors or anyone building out a Scarlet & Violet deck. You’re getting the Tera Pokémon ex mechanics, fan favorites like Koraidon and Miraidon, and honestly, more chances at pulls than I usually trust myself with. I want this in my cart and hidden from my partner. It’s a big upfront price, but when you break it down, it’s solid value for serious collectors.
Monster Energy Zero Ultra, Sugar Free Energy Drink, 16 Ounce (Pack of 15)
I want to believe I drink Monster Zero Ultra for the energy, but deep down I know it’s just my gamer juice of choice. $26.11 for a 15-pack works out to about $1.74 per can, which is cheaper and less effort than running to a 7-Elevan. Bonus points for the Subscribe & Save option, which is where this deal kicks in.
Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet – Surging Sparks Booster Bundle
I’ve been tracking the Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet – Surging Sparks Booster Bundle for weeks, and while this $45.02 price on Amazon is still above the original MSRP of $26.94, it’s the most reasonable listing I’ve seen that doesn’t involve a sketchy seller or a mystery warehouse. You get six booster packs from the latest set, which is hard enough to find in stores, and I appreciate not having to overpay a reseller just to get in on the new pulls. For anyone trying to keep up with the expansion, this is as straightforward as it gets.
INIU 140W Power Bank
I think the INIU 140W 27,000mAh Power Bank is the backup battery I actually trust when I know I’ll be away from an outlet for more than a few hours. It’s currently $74.56, which isn’t exactly pocket change, but for something that can charge a MacBook Pro or a Steam Deck without breaking a sweat, I’d say it’s well-priced. The digital display is genuinely useful, and having three ports (two USB-C and one USB-A) makes it easy to keep everything charged without doing the cable shuffle.
Fallout – Lucys Vault 33 – Backpack
I don’t usually get excited about merch, but the Fallout – Lucy’s Vault 33 Backpack from the IGN Store actually feels like something I’d use. It’s $199.99, which sounds steep until you realize it’s a legit replica built from the same patterns used on the show. This isn’t a cheap cosplay throw-in, it’s got a full 20L capacity, a 16-inch laptop pocket, and more compartments than I know what to do with. Plus, it comes with that massive yellow fleece blanket for the full Fallout-core vibe. I’m not planning on trekking across a wasteland anytime soon, but it’s good to know the bag is ready just in case.
INIU Power Bank, 20000mAh 65W
INIU 65W 20,000mAh Power Bank is the one I reach for when I need power without the bulk. It’s $39.99 and still strong enough to fast-charge my laptop, but compact enough to throw in a backpack without thinking about it. The extra port flexibility is nice, and the built-in phone stand is one of those small features I didn’t think I’d care about until I started using it constantly. It just does its job well without getting in the way.
Humble Heroines Game Bundle
Humble Heroines: Rebels, Curses, and Mystery bundle is exactly the kind of thing I buy and then spend the next six months working through. For $12, you get seven games including Control: Ultimate Edition, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, Darksiders III, and a few smaller indie gems that deserve the attention. The lineup is solid, the value is obvious, and part of the money goes to Girls Who Code and Girls Make Games, so I don’t even have to justify it to myself. It’s a good excuse to grab some character-driven games that don’t all feel like the same recycled formula.
INIU Power Bank 100W
I picked up the INIU 100W 25,000mAh Power Bank because I wanted one charger that could handle everything without fuss. For $53.98, I get enough power to charge two larger devices at once, thanks to dual USB-C outputs, and it still recharges fast when it’s drained. It’s well-balanced in size and performance, and I haven’t run into overheating or throttling issues even during heavy use. That’s more than I can say for a few others I’ve retired.
INIU Portable Charger, Slim 45W
Then there’s the INIU Slim 45W 10,000mAh Power Bank with Built-In USB-C Cable It’s currently $22.49, but the real win here is the integrated cable. It charges both the power bank and my phone, which is ideal when I want to carry as little as possible. The compact build doesn’t compromise on speed, and I like that I can toss it in a jacket pocket without it feeling like dead weight. It’s simple, efficient, and takes up no mental space.
ASUS ROG Cetra True Wireless Gaming Headphones
I’ve tried more wireless earbuds than I care to admit, but the Cetra lineup actually gets it right for gaming. I want latency low enough that my killshots sync with the sound of glory, not a second later. These deliver that, with the added bonus of active noise cancelation that’s good enough to block out my neighbor’s saxophone practice. The 27-hour battery life doesn’t hurt either, especially for marathon gaming sessions — or, let’s be honest, Netflix binges. Wireless charging is just the lazy cherry on top.
ASUS ROG Harpe Gaming Wireless Mouse
This thing weighs 54 grams. Fifty-four. I’ve had granola bars that were heavier. I think it’s illegal to call something this light a “mouse” without an asterisk. The Harpe’s low-latency tri-mode connection and snappy AimPoint sensor make it feel like an extension of my brain. If you’re the type to tweak DPI mid-match just because you can, this one’s built for you. Also, shout out to ASUS for not naming it something ridiculous like “ShadowFang X69 Ultra.”
Vampire Hunter D Book Bundle
Here’s the deal: for less than the price of a mediocre pizza, you get 29 volumes of vampire-fighting, post-apocalyptic drama illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano. I want this bundle just so I can say I finally read the source material instead of quoting the anime like a poser. And since it supports World Central Kitchen, I’ve checked off my good deed for the day whilst reading about bloodthirsty aristocrats. Win-win.
ASUS ROG Spatha X Wireless Gaming Mouse
If the Harpe is the Ferrari of gaming mice, the Spatha is a tank with RGB. I mean, 12 programmable buttons, a magnetic charging stand, and enough battery life to outlast the apocalypse? I think this one’s for the MMO players and spreadsheet warriors who want their macros locked and loaded. The hot-swappable switches are a nice bonus for anyone who treats mice like seasonal accessories.
Street Fighter Trading Cards
I grew up spamming Hadoukens, and now I can channel that energy into shiny cardboard form. I want the Collector Box because ripping open packs and chasing rare inserts scratches an itch I didn’t know I had. But if you’re a “go big or go home” kind of collector, the Inner Case ($240) or Master Case ($960) options are basically loot crates for adults — minus the digital regret.
ASUS ROG Falchion NX 65% Wireless RGB Gaming Mechanical Keyboard
I don’t always want a full keyboard taking up half my desk. The Falchion understands that. It’s compact, mechanical, and still manages to squeeze in arrow keys and a weirdly satisfying touch panel for volume and macros. I love that it’s wireless but still offers USB-C when I’m feeling traditional. Bonus points for the cover case—it makes me feel like I’m carrying a fancy typewriter to a LAN party.
ASUS ROG Strix Scope RX TKL Wireless Deluxe
This one’s a mouthful in name and a handful in features. I think this keyboard is perfect for anyone who wants their setup to scream “I game and I have taste.” The wrist rest is plush, the switches are fast and precise, and the tri-mode connection lets me hop from work laptop to gaming rig like some sort of digital nomad. It’s absurdly overbuilt, and I kind of respect that.
MainGear North RTX 5070
I think this is one of the smartest ways to get your hands on an RTX 5070 without building from scratch or skimping on quality. MAINGEAR’s setup skips all the common bottlenecks — no mismatched parts, no airflow nightmares, no “good enough” corners cut. For $2,095, you’re getting a clean combo of a Ryzen 5 7600X CPU, 16GB of DDR5 RGB RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD, all assembled by people who care about things like cable management. It’s future-ready, quiet, and fast enough to leave your current rig feeling like a potato in comparison.
Pokemon TCG: Azure Legends Tin – 5 Packs
This tin is pure Pokémon chaos in the best way. You get one random promo card—Kyogre ex, Xerneas ex, or Dialga ex—and five booster packs; 2 x Surging Sparks, 1 x Stellar Crown, 1 x Temporal Forces and 1 x Obsidian Flames. It’s a fun, low-stakes gamble for collectors or casual players who want a shot at good pulls without needing to take out a second mortgage.
Humble Bundle: Earth Defense Force Collection
EDF is the kind of game where logic goes out the window and fun takes over, and this $25 Humble Bundle gives you the best of it — EDF 5, EDF 4, World Brothers 2, plus a ton of downloadable content. I think this is worth it just for the laugh-out-loud co-op mayhem alone, and it doesn’t hurt that part of the proceeds go to charity while you blast oversized bugs into space.
SanDisk 256GB microSD Express microSD Card
If your current microSD card loads like it’s on a coffee break, or if you need to expand your Nintendo Switch 2 storage on launch day, this one’s a serious upgrade. I want this SanDisk Express card purely for the ridiculous transfer speeds — up to 880MB/s read and 650MB/s write. It’s built for 4K video, gaming, and surviving every possible disaster short of lava, and it’ll likely outlive every other accessory in your bag.
Pokémon TCG: Shining Fates Collection Pikachu V Box
The Shining Fates Pikachu V Box is a great grab if you’re chasing shiny cards or just really into oversized electric rodents. You get a Pikachu V promo, a jumbo card version for display, and four Shining Fates booster packs. It’s pricey, but Shining Fates is out of print.
The Elder Scrolls Skyrim – Dragonborn Helmet – Replica
This Skyrim Dragonborn helmet replica isn’t going to protect you in battle, but it will absolutely level up your desk setup. At just under six inches tall, it’s small enough to display but detailed enough to show off. I think it’s a solid collectible if you’re still emotionally tethered to Skyrim and have no shame in displaying that fact proudly.
Pokémon TCG: Scarlet and Violet Shrouded Fable Elite Trainer Box
This Shrouded Fable ETB is the kind of set that makes you feel like you’ve got your TCG life together. It comes with nine booster packs, a Pecharunt promo, energy cards, dice, and a nice little collector’s box to keep your chaos organized. Shrouded Fable is a slept on set, perfect for trainers who are sick of chasing Journey Together and Prismatic Evolutions stock.
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of “Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior”. Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
The former boss of Sony Interactive Entertainment America has commented on the backlash to Nintendo’s Switch 2 pricing, saying the desire for exclusive Nintendo games “mitigates the sticker shock.”
Last week, Nintendo confirmed the Switch 2 price at $449.99, which is around $50 more than some analysts had predicted, and, more controversially, the $10 jump to $79.99 for some Switch 2 games, including Mario Kart World.
It’s worth pointing out that Nintendo is bundling Mario Kart World with a Nintendo Switch 2 for $499.99, cutting the cost of the game by a huge $30 in the process. However, Nintendo has indicated this bundle is a limited-time offer, and it remains to be seen if the bundle holds at $500, given the uncertainty surrounding the tariff situation and Nintendo’s pre-order delay in the U.S.
IGN has plenty of reaction to Nintendo’s jump to $80 for the Switch 2 generation, including from analysts who have helped us understand why this has happened. Now, Shawn Layden, who used to run PlayStation in the U.S., has offered his thoughts, pointing to the fear of missing out on Nintendo exclusives as justifying price hikes.
Speaking on the PlayerDriven YouTube channel and podcast, Layden highlighted the contrasting strategies of Sony and Microsoft, and Nintendo, where Sony and Microsoft are downplaying exclusive games as they move to PC and rival consoles, but Nintendo is keeping its games on its own consoles.
“But right here you see, ‘wow, that’s kind of a hefty price hike from Switch 1 to Switch 2 and, wow, 80 bucks for a game?’ ” Layden said.
“But if it’s the only place where you can play Mario, then you get your wallet out and you buy into it… and Donkey Kong and Zelda. That first-party exclusivity kind of mitigates the sticker shock, if you will, of these price hikes, because you want that content so bad.”
Nintendo Switch 2 pricing in the U.S.:
Nintendo Switch 2 by itself: $449.99
Nintendo Switch 2 with Mario Kart World bundled in: $499.99
Mario Kart World by itself: $79.99
Donkey Kong Bananza: $69.99
Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller: $79.99
Nintendo Switch 2 Camera: $49.99
Joy-Con 2 Controller pair: $89.99
Joy-Con 2 Charging Grip: $34.99
Joy-Con 2 Strap: $12.99
Joy-Con 2 Wheel pair: $19.99
Nintendo Switch 2 Dock Set: $109.99
Nintendo Switch 2 Carrying Case and Screen Protector: $34.99
Nintendo Switch 2 All-In-One Carrying Case: $79.99
Nintendo Switch 2 AC Adapter: $29.99
Layden also talked about the price of video games generally, which, he insisted, have actually gone down over the years when you take into account inflation. Layden said console manufacturers should have hiked the price of games by $5 with each new console generation so that they would cost around $90 now.
“In 2025 dollars, $59.99 in 1999 is equivalent to $100. Your purchasing power compared to your cost of living, it’s much smaller now than it was before, but still companies have been reluctant to push that price up.
“I was in it at the time — probably every generation they should have baked in a $5 software price hike, and make that the typical, ‘well every generation it’s another five bucks.’ And you would have been up to $90 already by now.”
This week, IGN published its interview with Nintendo of America’s Vice President of Product and Player Experience, Bill Trinen, conducted at a recent Switch 2 preview event in New York, but before Nintendo announced the delay to pre-orders due to Trump’s tariffs.
In the interview, Trinen insisted Mario Kart World justifies its $80 price tag, and pointed to the upcoming dedicated Mario Kart World Nintendo Direct where fans will learn more about the game and what it has to offer.
“I would say it’s less about the strategy of pricing Mario Kart World, it’s more just whenever we look at a given game, we just look at what is the experience, and what’s the content, and what’s the value?” Trinen said.
“Mario Kart World, I think especially as you see from the Nintendo Direct, not to give you any hints or anything, but I did read your article this morning and I think you had mentioned that you didn’t find a lot to discover when roaming around. So I would say tune into our Mario Kart Direct to see what, maybe you’ll be able to find out about that.
“But honestly, this is a game that is so big and so vast and you will find so many little things in it to discover. And there’s still some other secrets remaining that I think as people end up buying and playing the game, they’re going to find this to be probably the richest Mario Kart experience they’ve ever had.”
We also asked Trinen about the $80 cost of some of the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games. While there is a $10 upgrade path for existing owners of these games on the Switch, and both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition ($69.99) and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition ($79.99) are available as part of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership, Nintendo is not offering any sort of discount to newcomers on Switch 2.
Trinen’s answer here echoed his Mario Kart World response, pointing to the value Nintendo sees in its games.
“Well, again, what I would say is that we just look at each individual game and we look at the content and the value of that game, and then we say, ‘what is the right price for the value of this entertainment?’ ” he said.
“What I would probably counter to some of that is that really what you’re looking at is for the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, that’s the physical price for somebody that has not bought the base game. For somebody who has bought Tears of the Kingdom or Breath of the Wild, the upgrade packs for those are $9.99. And if you happen to be a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack member, both of the Zelda upgrade packs are inclusive within that membership. So there’s no additional charge for those.
“But I think overall, our general approach is really just focus on what’s the content, what’s the value, and what’s an appropriate price based on that.”
As for the current $450 price tag of the Switch 2 itself, Trinen again pointed to value, but also highlighted the increasing costs associated with releasing a video game console.
“Obviously the cost of everything goes up over time, and I personally would love if the cost of things didn’t go up over time,” he told IGN.
“But I think any time you’re building a new system that’s got new features and new tech, there’s costs associated with that. So again, we look at what is the experience on Nintendo Switch? What’s the experience on Nintendo Switch 2? What are the new features that it offers? And certainly there’s the cost of goods and things that factor into that, but we try to find the right appropriate price for a product based on that.”
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.
Former Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aimé has pointed to the story of Wii pack-in game Wii Sports in thinly-veiled tweets addressing the controversy surrounding Nintendo’s decision to charge for Switch 2 tutorial game Welcome Tour.
Nintendo revealed Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour during its Nintendo Direct last week. It’s a game set to launch alongside the Switch 2 in June that offers a guided tour of the console itself in video game form.
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is described as a “virtual exhibition” of the new hardware. Per Nintendo: “through tech demos, minigames and other interactions, players will get to know the new system inside and out in ways they may never have known about otherwise.”
The Nintendo Direct showed footage of a small player avatar exploring a super-sized Switch 2, reading about the different features and facts about the console. It also includes mini-games such as Speed Golf, Dodge the Spiked Balls, and a Maracas Physics Demo.
Now, Fils-Aimé has tweeted three clips from IGN’s two-year-old interview with the former Nintendo executive in which he discussed the internal battle he had with legendary developer Shigeru Miyamoto to get Wii Sports as a free pack-in for the hugely successful Wii console.
In the first clip, Fils-Aimé says “it is an understatement to say that Mr. Miyamoto pushed back” on the call to make Wii Sports a Wii console pack-in. As we know, this is a battle Fils-Aimé won to a degree, with Wii Sports bundled with the Wii everywhere except Japan.
The second interview clip Fils-Aimé tweeted pointed to a similar battle to bundle Wii Play with the Wii Remote. In the clip from our interview, Fils-Aimé revealed he “pissed off” Miyamoto once again with the suggestion. “He was not happy about that either.”
And finally, tweeting “and the results,” Fils-Aimé clipped out the section from our interview in which he reveals that all this was, ultimately, the right call.
“In the Americas and in Europe Wii Sports was packed in with the Wii proposition. It was not in Japan, which created a bit of a test market. It was obvious that in the markets where Wii Sports was packed in that we became much more of a phenomenon. Wii Sports itself became much more of a phenomenon.
“We did pack the Remote with Wii Play. And it became the fifth best-selling piece of software in the history of the Wii.”
It’s clear to see what Fils-Aimé is doing here. Although he’s not directly commenting on Nintendo’s Switch 2 strategy, he is making the point that free pack-ins have worked in the past for Nintendo consoles,so it stands to reason that it would do so again for Switch 2.
Fans know what’s up, too. “Hahaha, guys I think Reggie is watching our comments about the Switch 2,” said one X / Twitter user. “We know you would have packed in Welcome Tour,” said another.
This week, IGN published its interview with Nintendo of America’s Vice President of Product and Player Experience, Bill Trinen, conducted at a recent Switch 2 preview event in New York, but before Nintendo announced the delay to pre-orders due to Trump’s tariffs.
Trinen said there’s more to Welcome Tour than it appears based on the showing during the Nintendo Direct and even during recent hands-on opportunities the media had access to. Based on what’s actually in the game, Nintendo decided $9.99 “is not an exorbitant price,” he continued.
“It’s an interesting product,” Trinen began. “We’re actually getting ready today, we’re going to be doing some Nintendo Treehouse Live segments and covering a lot of games in detail. That’s one of them. And I think people will be able to see through Treehouse Live probably a little bit more maybe than you were able to see on the show floor. It’s a pretty robust piece of software. There’s a lot of great detail in there.
“For some people, I think there are people who are particularly interested in the tech and the specs of the system and things like that, for them I think it’s going to be a great product. It’s really for people that want more information about the system rather than necessarily a quick intro to everything it does.
“And for that reason and just the amount of care and work that the team put into it, I think it was decided that, ‘Yeah, this feels like $9.99 is not an exorbitant price. It feels like a good value for what you’re getting out of the product.’ “
Photo by Susan Goldman/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.
It’s that time again, that glorious time of year when Amazon runs a mega-sale on board games. This particular sale is a “Buy 1, Get 1 50% Off” sale that applies to a massive selection of games. Sweetening the pot, many of the games that qualify are already on sale on their own. If you buy two already-discounted board games and save an extra 50% off one, that’s called “deal stacking,” and it’s a pro move. You can view the whole sale here, or scroll on to see our picks, divided into board games for kids and board games for adults.
B1G1 Half Off – Board Games for Adults
Some of the most popular modern tabletop games are available in the sale, ranging from games everyone should have on their shelf (like Azul and Catan) to some slightly more niche picks (like Camel Up and Horrified). Then there’s the beloved Ouija Board, which, what’s the worst that could happen when you commune with the dead?
B1G1 Half Off – Board Games for Kids
Please know that, if you’re an adult, that doesn’t mean you can’t play the games for kids. Some of these games are really fun, whether you played them in your childhood (looking at you, Mouse Trap) or not because they’re newer (Exploding Kittens, Hedbanz). These classic and newer games for kids are simple and quick to learn, which can be nice when you’ve been maxing out your brain power figuring out the rules of some of the strategy board games aimed at smarty-pants adults.
Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Bluesky @chrislreed.com.
