Sega is auctioning off Shadow the Hedgehog’s real-life Dark Rider motorcycle and giving the proceeds to charity.

Shadow the Hedgehog finally got his time to shine in the Sonic 3 movie, where he faced off against Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails in an explosive adventure that dominated the box office.

To promote the character, Sega launched a campaign called 2024 Fearless: Year of Shadow, which saw the developer commission a custom motorcycle themed after the antihero that appeared at events like Gamescom to advertise his silver screen debut.

Manufactured by Bourget's Bike Works in collaboration with Sega, Oil Sweat & Gears, and Atmospherics SFX, the bike is different from the one that appears in the movie, though it sports Shadow’s signature red-and black-color scheme and iconic symbol.

As detailed by vehicle auction service Bonhams, the bike is equipped with a 1,750cc S&S Super Stock engine, Edelbrock cylinder heads, and an Ultimate six-speed gearbox. Unfortunately, it can’t actually run, as its fuel tank is just a foam dummy and it would take considerable work to make it operable.

That being said, it’s a remarkable piece of video game history and film memorabilia, and it’s going up for auction on October 10-11, 2026 as part of The Autumn Stafford Sale. The proceeds from this auction will benefit the Luca Guintoli Foundation, a nonprofit founded by French World Superbike Champion and back-to-back Le Mans 24 Hours winner Sylvain Guintoli.

The charity was created in honor of Sylvain’s late son, Luca, who died from cancer at six years old last year. It aims to promote the physical and mental health of children with autism or cancer in England and Wales by providing them with financial assistance, education, and practical support.

Sega gifted the bike to the Luca Guintoli Foundation after its time in the spotlight was complete. According to Bonhams, it's believed to be the very first time a piece of memorabilia straight from Sega has been put up for auction, representing an “opportunity for the discerning collector to own a unique piece of Sega history while at the same time helping a most worthy cause.”

Sega is spreading the news on its social media channels, where it shared an interview with Guintoli and its Senior Partnerships Manager, Aaron Kirby.

@sonic_hedgehog Shadow's Dark Rider is going to auction! This unique piece of SEGA history will be auctioned in support of the Luca Guintoli Foundation. Catch the bike up close at the British MotoGP, Silverstone this weekend! Register to bid here: https://bit.ly/DarkRiderAuction #sonic #sonicthehedgehog #shadowthehedgehog #lucafoundation #bonhams #motogp #sega ♬ original sound - Sonic the Hedgehog

"We're trying to stay positive," Guintoli said. "We wanted to start the foundation in [Luca's] name, to try and help people and do something positive, and Sega was super helpful."

"We were aware that we had this bike in storage, so it was just really a bit of a mad idea," said Kirby. "The fact that it can raise money for such a good cause is fantastic to us."

This isn’t the first time Guintoli has gotten Sonic involved in raising money for the foundation; in April 2026, he completed the London Marathon wearing a racing suit emblazoned with the blue blur, setting a world record time for running in motorcycle leathers.

Image Credit: Bonhams

Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.

Fans of author Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach quadrilogy will be pleased to know that it's not going to be a quadrilogy much longer. VanderMeer took to social media to tease the fifth and final book in the series, dubbed Abdication.

"Pleased to finally announce... Abdication, the last Southern Reach novel!" VanderMeer wrote on Bluesky. He also posted the following teaser text:

There will come the days of the watcher, the drowned woman and the shadow of a man who keeps falling apart with each step, but first comes the moment the birds appear at night from the gaps between the stars, far from home.

VanderMeer followed up that news with a photo of the manuscript's table of contents page:

The Southern Reach series began with 2014's Annihilation, which was quickly followed by the release of the sequels Authority and Acceptance. The series then continued in 2024 with Absolution. All four books revolve around the titular secret agency, which controls access to a remote, dangerous realm known as Area X.

Annihilation was famously adapted into a 2018 film directed by Alex Garland and starring Natalie Portman. In IGN's Annihilation review, Jim Vejvoda wrote, "Annihilation isn’t always as consistently well-executed or involving as it might have been, and it’s told in a manner that robs the story of some much needed life-or-death suspense, but overall it’s a bold undertaking that doesn’t play it safe and features some strong performances."

Abdication will be published by Macmillan Publishers and is scheduled for release on October 12, 2027. You can preorder a copy on Amazon.

In other book news, you can check out our full guide to reading the Dungeon Crawler Carl books in order.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls stumbled onto Steam with "Mixed" user reviews as players complained of PlayStation account requirements, anti-cheat roadblocks, and other technical issues.

With a unique art style, a roster of heroes and villains that includes everyone from Spider-Man to Doctor Doom, and the developers at Arc System Works behind it all, the new Marvel fighting game stood out as one of the most highly-anticipated games of the year. Now, after finally reaching its August 6, 2026, release date, Steam users are reporting more negative experiences than positive ones.

At the time of this piece's publication, just 44% of the 2,561 Marvel Tokon reviews on Valve's digital PC storefront are showing as positive across all languages. Of those user reviews, three topics seem to appear more than any others: PlayStation's PSN requirements, Linux, and anti-cheat.

"There is no good technical excuse for shutting out Linux here," one highly rated Steam review said, referencing a lack of Linux support. "Easy Anti-Cheat already supports Proton when developers enable it, and games like Marvel Rivals prove that an online Marvel title can make that effort. Instead, Tokon treats Linux players as disposable before they even reach the character select screen."

"45fps for a fighting game is embarrassing," another user complaining of low framerates for Marvel Tokon said. "If I can run Tekken and Street Fighter, I should be able to run this."

The issue related to PSN, meanwhile, is one players expected to run into weeks before Marvel Tokon's launch date. Steam users noted the fighting game would be blocked in more than 100 countries back in early July, with many putting the blame on Sony's requirement for PC players to create and link a PlayStation account in order to play.

Mandatory PSN linking infamously caused similar controversy in the Helldivers 2 community back in 2024, though Sony eventually walked back the requirement after the uproar. Like Helldivers 2, Marvel Tokon was published by PlayStation. However, its PSN account linking requirement remains.

"Get this Sony PlayStation account bs OUTTA here bro, I'm sick of that garbage," one reviewer said. "Always online in 2026 is insane."

"Game doesn't work on Steam Deck and Linux because Sony is trying to pull some dumb shenanigans on this game," another said. "Get that crap out of here and this review changes to a positive one. Oh yeah, you still have to create and sign in using a PlayStation account, really annoying."

Marvel Tokon has spent the months leading up to its launch showing off stylish new takes on classic characters like Wolverine, Storm, Magneto, Carnage, Ghost Rider, Ms. Marvel, Iron Man, Deadpool, and more. Now, technical issues have put a damper on the launch weekend PC players have been looking forward to. That's why many of the more popular negative reviews aren't just begging Arc System Works for fixes – they're praising the game.

"Such a fun game," one of the most popular Steam reviews said. "Of course, Sony has to ruin everything. The PC port plays miserable. The settings don't even display correctly. Either the netcode or the poor performance makes the online play very bad, with rollback spikes."

"First and foremost, Arcsys made an INCREDIBLE game," another said. "I was excited about this game ever since it was announced and played the game the minute I could. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that even despite how good the game is, SONY insists on making it as bad of an experience as possible. Forcing the PSN login- effectively blocking the game from play in over 100 countries, making it impossible to play with my friends who live in said countries."

Tōkon Warriors,

Thank you for an amazing launch day! Seeing you all jump into the fight has been unreal.

We're aware that some PC players are experiencing performance issues.

The team is actively investigating these reports. Please keep your feedback coming in, it helps.…

— MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls (@MARVELTokon) August 7, 2026

There's no telling how Arc System Works plans to address some of the more prominent issues with Marvel Tokon will be fixed. For now, the studio has published a statement encouraging players to continue leaving feedback as PC players "experience performance issues."

"The team is actively investigating these reports," the studio said. "Please keep your feedback coming in, it helps."

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls launched for PC and PS5 yesterday, August 6. At the time of this story's publication, IGN has yet to publish our full review. In the meantime, you can read our review so far. For more on the Marvel fighting game, you can read how Arc System Works' version of Spider-Man made his way into Insomniac Games' open-world series. You can also check out IGN's full breakdown for the evolution of Marvel fighting games.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer 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).

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson shared his thoughts about the negative reviews for Disney's live-action Moana remake after it floundered in theaters.

The Black Adam actor, who reprised his role as Maui in last month's reimagining of the animated Disney flick, touched on some of the biting criticism it received around its premiere. From the WWE to Fast & Furious, Johnson has decades of experience in show business, and for him, that means learning to roll with the punches, too.

"Our first two reviews came out," he told People. "I'll never forget it… They were amazing. I was like, wow."

He then said, as "it sometimes happens," reviews "went another way." The new Moana movie, a remake of the original 2016 animated Disney movie, currently shows favorability ratings of 31% from critics and an 88% from audiences on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. IGN wasn't too impressed with the movie either, awarding it a 6/10 review ahead of its premiere.

"That’s just the way it goes because we’re in this business," Johnson said.

He continued: "The challenge was, okay, let's remember, though, what's going to be beyond this opening weekend. Let's remember what's happening right now and the noise that's happening right now."

Johnson went on to explain his feelings, saying, "If you love it, great. If you don't, no problem." As Moana struggles to reach a wide audience in theaters, what John said meant the most to him was that "the culture really stood up." For him, bringing Polynesian culture to the big screen in this way was "why the movie was made."

"Because of me and our kids who can now look at the big screen and go, 'That's us for the first time on a big screen,'" he said. "'That’s us up there. How cool is that?'"

"The whole community, the whole culture really showed up and they understood," Johnson's wife, Lauren Hashian, added. "Even if you’re not Polynesian, I think we can understand family and love and loss and perseverance — especially as a mom. Having kids and watching it through their eyes, for me, it's very magical."

The seemingly overwhelming positivity from some online moviegoers also failed to translate to revenue in theaters. Moana's opening weekend saw it bomb at the box office with just $95 million globally. It has a budget of $250 million, according to Variety, and as of last weekend, its fourth in theaters, it had accumulated just $261 million.

The live-action Moana may have failed to perform on the level of something like the Lilo & Stitch remake, but it doesn't look like Disney is putting the brakes on its remake pipeline. A reimagining of classic fairytale movie Tangled is currently in production, with recent set leaks showing a first look at some of its cast. For more, you can read about how Johnson laughed off comments about his Maui wig.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer 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).

Brandon Sanderson, author of the beloved Cosmere universe, has some strong opinions about the Speed Racer movie.

During Sanderson's weekly podcast, he and cohost Dan Wells often create different tier lists, and this week's theme focused on the greatest overlords of all time. Before the two could even get into the ranking of any notorious movie villains, Sanderson made a bold statement about the 2008 Speed Racer movie.

"The movie Speed Racer is unironically a 10 out of 10," said Sanderson quite emphatically. "This is the Wachowskis at their A game, and it was underappreciated when it came out."

For reference, the Speed Racer movie is currently sitting at 42% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.1 out of 10 on IMDB. Despite these lower scores, IGN's review of the movie back in 2008 seems to agree with Sanderson by giving it a near-perfect 9 out of 10. Here's a quick snippet of what Todd Gilchrist thought of the film in our review:

"Overall, this anime adaptation is not merely the best film that it could be, it's pretty much exactly what it should be: full of exciting, brilliantly-conceived races, primary-color characterizations and an irresistible sense of fun. Loud, fast and always in danger of veering out of control, Speed Racer is a masterpiece of its kind, and a definitive benchmark for film not only as a special effects extravaganza but as the moment when the Wachowskis went from wunderkind directors to true auteurs. In other words, as a summer distraction, a singular work of art or just as sensory overload, Speed Racer is a movie you absolutely must see."

Sanderson went on to address the poor initial reception of the film by saying, "The reason it did so poorly, I think, is that it was so over the top and its just simple. It's not like a complicated morals system, It's a cartoon made live action — but it's fantastic."

While the Speed Racer movie only grossed a measly $94 million at the box office back in 2008, it's had the chance at new life recently thanks to a physical media release. The film received a limited-edition 4K and Blu-ray steelbook earlier this year alongside additional theatrical screenings, and fans supported the new release in droves. The steelbook has long since sold out, but you can still buy the film in 4K for $24.99 at Amazon.

Demon's Souls almost had an option to play the game in first-person, as shown in newly-discovered footage from a 2007 presentation brought to light by famed Elden Ring dataminer Lance McDonald.

McDonald shared the early gameplay footage, images, and presentation materials on August 7, 2026 — nearly two decades after it was shown at Gameshare 4, a Sony Computer Entertainment event where developers exhibited their current projects to get feedback and share progress updates.

The slideshow, created by Japan Studio PD#3 in Microsoft PowerPoint 2007, lists the game’s working title as Demon’s Souls, something that remained the same throughout development up to its launch. It dove into the game’s premise, promising an environment full of "ruined castles, lone wastelands, and other cursed locations," fraught with "enemies, twisted mutants, and creatures."

While several game mechanics remained mostly the same and made it into the final product, a few stand out as starkly different from what Demon’s Souls ultimately ended up being — particularly, its camera system.

In Demon's Souls, players control their character in third person with an unfixed camera, meaning they can turn it any direction they choose to get a better look at their surroundings and keep track of enemies in battle, though they can lock on to opponents if they want. However, footage recorded within the game’s prototype state shows a player fighting enemies in first-person, with McDonald saying this was an option that could be chosen to switch up the experience.

Additionally, the game’s third-person mode originally had a fixed camera, which followed the player in whatever direction they turned. The left stick was used for strafing and backsteps in what McDonald called a "deliberate" similarity to The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion's third-person control scheme, though this eventually changed.

It also showed off creatures that didn’t make it to the final version of the game, which included men with snakes for heads – who would later appear in Dark Souls locations like Sen's Fortress – and a regular, plain old crocodile, as well as delved into the ghost system that the studio ended up keeping and has appeared in subsequent Souls titles.

However, one of the more interesting tidbits from this presentation didn’t have anything to do with gameplay mechanics — instead, it’s a hilarious reference to South Park that Japan Studio PD#3 seemingly included in the slideshow. The slide used a screenshot from 'Make Love, Not Warcraft,' which depicts an overweight, acne-ridden Eric Cartman addicted to World of Warcraft.

Japan Studio apparently used the screenshot as an example of a "stereotypical image of MMORPG gamers," which they hoped to avoid by combining elements of both offline and online RPGs for a more balanced experience.

This is just the latest gem uncovered by McDonald after he discovered an unused cutscene in Elden Ring’s game files that shed new light on its plot, growing the award-winning title’s already expansive lore even further.

Image Credits: Lance McDonald, YouTube / FromSoftware

Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.

From the first pregame animation I watched, Madden NFL 27 had a presence I haven't felt in this series a while. The expression of the players, the roar of the crowd, and even the coaching staff on the sidelines felt right, as if I was watching Week 1 six weeks early. I've only played a few hours of this year's Madden so far, but I've already noticed some immediate improvements, while other aspects will likely be a slow burn before I fully understand what's going on as I work toward my final review. Still, Madden 27 has already made a better impression on me than its predecessor, which gives me confidence that EA Sports may be on to something here.

For starters, the reworked passing game is instantly impactful thanks to a new Timing-Based Catch mechanic. After passing the ball to a receiver, when I hold down the catch button, a meter will appear over my receiver's head. If I release the button in the meter's green zone, the receiver gains an advantage over the defender, which usually results in a completed pass. Conversely, if I hold the button too long or release it too quickly, I run the risk of dropping the pass, or worse, deflecting it to a defender.

This is an ingenious system that emphasizes how the quarterback and receiver should work in tandem on every pass play. I've been able to aim my passes and adjust the strength of the throw, but now I can also give my receiver the chance to make a spectacular play with clear and direct inputs, which makes it feel more like I was the one who brought the big catch to fruition. When that meter turns green, and the pass is completed, it's a genuine rush.

However, this new system takes time to lock down, as the timing can be very precise. Bullet passes are very difficult to land with this method, simply because the ball is coming at the receiver quickly, and my window for holding the catch button is smaller. Additionally, in modes like Quick Play where I control both the quarterback throwing the pass and the receiver catching it, it starts to feel like I'm entering fighting game move sequences with all of the button presses and directions that are required.

Thank goodness for the Skills Trainer mode, which conveniently groups all of Madden 27's changes into one tutorial mode and lets me try them as many times as I need. This is a great place to work out the timing on both the throws and the catches, along with other changes like a new tackling system that adds Conservative and Dive tackles to the mix, as well as new pass rush moves designed to get past the offensive line and into the quarterback's face.

The marquee change to Madden 27 is the Persona Engine, a new approach to Franchise mode that gives every player on your team motivations, goals, and desires. Pay your top stars well, and they'll be happy; neglect them, and you'll begin to hear words like "trade" and "holdout." While my franchise hasn't progressed enough yet to really see the engine in action, I have begun to see elements of what lies in front of me; Zack Baun, a starting linebacker for my beloved Philadelphia Eagles, is already talking about a new contract, and I don't look forward to negotiating that one.

Madden Ultimate Team also returns for another season, and of course it would as one of Madden's most popular modes. So far, my Philadelphia Cream Cheeses are slowly building into a fine team, with young studs like Cooper DeJean, locker room leaders like Calais Campbell, and legends like Kam Chancellor among my top players.

However, the MUT experience continues to be distilled into a simple pattern: Open packs, complete challenge, accrue packs, open packs, complete challenges, accrue packs, etc. I can take my team online against other MUTers, but other than the unique roster I've fostered, it's just the core Madden 27 gameplay again. Granted, "don't fix what isn't broken" certainly applies to a mode that many people enjoy, but I find it lacking after so many years of the same experience. Hopefully, with more time put in, I'll come around.

I've done a little bit of everything in Madden NFL 27, and so far, the on-field gameplay shines as usual. The new passing game is a tough nut to crack, but once I did, I really felt powerful under center. The new Persona Engine is already making itself known in Franchise mode, and I am excited to see more of it. So far so good, Madden; Expect my full review to hit early next week.

Survival games have been wildly popular for years now. I’ve dabbled here and there to see what the fuss is about, but I’ve always fallen off after a few hours. Usually, I get tangled up in one meagerly explained system after another until I lose track of what I’m supposed to do, and my time with the game peters out.

When Palworld 1.0 came out to rave reviews, I figured I’d give the genre another shot – and I’m glad I did. Palworld’s gradual, newbie-friendly onboarding helped me see what a whole lot of people have loved about survival games all along. Palworld made me a believer.

The best time to buy a LEGO set is usually right before it retires. It's around this time that retailers start offering discounts to unload older stock and make room for newer builds. But if you miss that window, the next best time to buy a set is right after it retires. You're unlikely to find any sort of discount, but you can often still find popular sets at MSRP outside of the LEGO Store.

Once a LEGO set gets retired, it quickly becomes a scarce resource. There isn't going to be more stock coming down the line, so it's either buy now at full price or find a third-party seller selling it at a markup later on. With so many LEGO sets getting retired recently and many already out of stock everywhere, Amazon is one of the last places you can still find these builds available online.

Recently Retired LEGO Sets Still Available at Amazon

Of the many sets that were recently retired in July, there are only about 12 still available at Amazon. There are some third-party sellers outside of Amazon that sell LEGO through the retailer, but many of these are being sold at a markup. To ensure you're not overspending, you can always check the official listing on the LEGO set to see what the original MSRP was before you buy.

One of the most popular retired sets still available is the LEGO Transformers Bumblebee build. This is one of three total transformers sets and is one of the coolest builds we've ever done. Similar to the actual Bumblebee from the movies, this set can transform back into a car once it's fully build. We saw the last discount on this set during Prime Day sales back in July, but now it's only available at Amazon.

LEGO also recently retired one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Great Pyramid of Giza. This LEGO Architecture set was first released back in 2022 and is surprisingly the only LEGO Pyramid you can buy. With it's recent retirement and disappearance from the LEGO Store, we can only hope it gets some sort of replacement down the line. Given the recent announcement of the massive Sagrada Familia set, it would seem LEGO is still committed to celebrating historical landmarks in LEGO form.

There are a couple of Star Wars sets still available after retirement as well, and you can still get Obi-Wan Kenobi's Starfighter or an AT-ET Walker for your collection. Both sets are targeted at younger age groups, rather than the 18+ crowd, but they are still cool and come with notable minifigures from the Star Wars universe.

Which Popular Sets Are Already Out of Stock?

The Legend of Zelda movie has reportedly picked up Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' actress Lydia Peckham to its steadily growing list of cast members.

It's yet another update to the cast list for the live-action Nintendo movie after a flurry of new names joined the adventure yesterday (via Deadline). Like some of the other names who have boarded The Legend of Zelda, details about her role in the project remain a mystery for now.

Peckham will travel to Hyrule alongside stars Bo Bragason (Three Girls) and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (House of the Dragon), who are playing Zelda and Link, respectively. Whether you're into movies, TV, or both, there's a decent chance you've seen her pop up on your screens in some capacity before.

The New Zealand actress first started to show up on-screen in the late 2010s with projects like Only Cloud Knows and Take Home Pay. In 2021, she appeared in Apple TV's Mr. Corman and Netflix's live-action Cowboy Bebop series.

Peckham then went on to provide her talents as Soona in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in 2024. That film was directed by Wes Ball, who also happens to be the director behind The Legend of Zelda.

Peckham is the fifth new face to join the live-action video game adaptation in the last day. First we learned about Uli Latukefu (Black Adam), who completed the Triforce casting as series antagonist Ganondorf.

As previously rumored, Dichen Lachman (Severance) is also involved and will play Impa. The other two recent additions are Yvonna Strahovki and the late Sam Neill. While their roles have yet to be disclosed, Deadline reported that the former will be playing a "queen" character. Nintendo and Sony announced they wrapped filming for the live-action Zelda movie earlier this year, so while we're only just now hearing about much of its cast, many of these roles seem to have been locked up quite a while ago.

The Legend of Zelda movie has an April 30, 2027 release date. For more while we wait to see how Hyrule will come to the big screen next year, be sure to leave your thoughts on who Peckham is playing in the comments below. You can also see what Ainsworth had to say about his part as Link here.

Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for MGM+.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer 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 original Pokémon TV series is officially streaming on Disney+. Some of it, at least.

Of the 80ish total episodes that comprise the original Indigo League arc, only 27 are now available on Disney+. That's not an entirely random number — the first season of Pokémon was split into three parts when it was brought to DVD in North America, and Disney's episode count lines up with what was included on Viz Media’s first compilation.

To know something's name is to understand it — at least just a little, be it the thing itself, or the world around it. In Big Walk, there are lots of things yet unnamed. You will certainly recognize trees, mountains, that dang cowbell. But there are plenty of things you won’t: the red, peanut-shaped objects my group calls a bean, which makes the structures they must be delivered to the bean towers. To us, the underground tunnel system is the backrooms, and the glowing medicine balls that light paths throughout the world are simply orbs – but not to be confused with the Big Orb, a mysterious and ominous structure looming in the distance. Big Walk is a co-op-only puzzle adventure that relies heavily on shared experience, shared language. Its genius lies in how it pushes you to decipher the logic behind the clever puzzles spread around its open world in a way that only you and your companions will understand. With all the twists and limitations it imposes, it’s unlike any other multiplayer game out there.

Big Walk is a puzzle game, and the puzzle is communication. Everyone is initially dropped into a playground of sorts with some colorful, blocklike structures to climb on, light switches to flip, and your controls pinned up as posters. I call this place home. Crucially, you are given no objective. We fiddle about with the buttons, obnoxiously clang the cowbell. We test out our movement options – mostly arm gestures – by looking at our shadows. Eventually, we head out into a lifelike world with lush foliage and waves breaking on the beach; it's a direct contrast to our charming, goofy characters, who are, essentially, a stack of three colored balls with googly eyes, stick arms, and twig legs (and a nose that moves like a mouth as we speak in-game).

When someone asked what we're supposed to do, what the objective of this game was, I couldn’t really answer that. And so we walked. But here's what I knew at this point: Big Walk has walking and puzzles. That, and outside of arm flailing or typing out written messages, we can only communicate through proximity-based voice chat. This means your voice is muffled when you're behind a wall, and echoes when you're in a vast tunnel. If someone wanders too far off, I can no longer hear them, and as a game that can only be played with others, it’s “cooperative” in the very sense of the term. There's no way to play Big Walk alone, and it supports up to 12 players with different settings for different sized groups: two, three, or four-plus, which adjusts puzzles slightly to suit the number of people in a session. Big Walk cleverly takes advantage of the essential limitation of proximity chat, and it wouldn't be the same without it.

Venturing out, my group of three walks together along desert terrain and up a cliffside until we find a button on a platform. We originally think nothing happens when it's pushed, but someone notices a faint red light flashing in the distance. It illuminates each time it's pressed, so we send someone in its direction to see what’s out there. There's a red bean in a box, which opens when the button is pushed. He grabs it and rushes back. No one knows what to do with it but it seems important, so we hold onto it (or try our best until someone drops it while falling off a cliff). Through that simple opening task, we start to get it: This puzzle, this bean, they’re teaching us something about the world and what we need to do within it. We're starting to create our own language.

Each piece of this map is cleverly designed to nudge your group to build something together, forms of communication that feel like only you understand. We keep walking, keep exploring and finding puzzles that require real teamwork, and continue to build our language. My group played in several sessions across a few days: a core group of three, with some stragglers jumping in here and there. We spent nearly 20 delightful hours romping around. It's easy for people to jump in and out of the session, popping in to adventure for a bit. There is a kink in this system, though. The save file is tied to the player who originally hosted the game. For my group, that was me. If my companions wanted to play when I wasn't there, they'd have to start a new save file—and a new big walk. This may very well be by design; developer House House wants a group to stick together. But I felt bad when someone wanted to play, but I couldn't.

Big Walk's world runs on a day-night cycle, with sun-soaked days and pitch-dark nights. And in the latter, a different kind of communication is built. Early on, my friend Riley dropped our only flashlight off a cliff, immediately after I accidentally kicked our walkie-talkie down the same one. We spent a not-insignificant amount of time looking for our tools because, without them, we could easily lose each other in the dead of night. (Even more so when looking for Riley, who got stuck in a hole while searching for our gear). Perhaps in another game, losing your tools or falling in a ditch would be frustrating. Not so here. While movement can be finicky at times, and you will briefly get stuck in spots, Big Walk often felt even more impactful when things were going very, very wrong.

We spent plenty of time doing Big Walk's actual puzzles, which are scattered around the map and usually embedded in big, brightly colored structures: a green horror movie house, an orange colosseum, a blue sound stage. Some of them are relatively easy, like throwing an orb into a basketball hoop multiple times, or playing a game of telephone to identify a specific sequence of shapes or buttons to push. But there are mechanical challenges as well, ones that require platforming and precise movement or throws. There's an entertaining puzzle that requires one person to put on a blindfold (which is actually a big, weird gold head that blocks their view) and navigate through an obstacle course. The others then have to yell instructions at them about where to go and what to do; the scariest part of this was figuring out how to time a jump over a gap. These challenges don't necessarily get progressively harder, because you're free to do whichever puzzle in whatever order you discover them. Some are certainly difficult, but never cruelly so. Big Walk always gives you the tools you need to solve them, so there's no danger of a dramatic learning curve.

One particularly inventive puzzle had my friend Chris locked in a soundproof room trying to relay little musical jingles to us so we could match that to stereos playing the corresponding melodies. Another forced us to split up onto three platforms that were pretty far away from each other and correctly time a synchronized button push. There are a couple puzzles with similar ideas, and the problem was often that we only had two walkie-talkies amongst us. So, we used our laser pointer to signify a countdown or our arms to send a silent message. Little by little, we created a sort of body language cipher to help solve matching puzzles and timing-based challenges alike, and it was a thrill to naturally develop our own system of visual cues.

Each of these puzzles rewards us with another red bean we have to take care of as we bring it back to a bean tower for deposit. Once you've found enough beans for a given tower, you get a special key to unlock something new and helpful: stuff you otherwise couldn't figure out how to operate, like a stalled train or an island-spanning chair lift. And in this progression, Big Walk further embeds the ethos that these discoveries are yours to make.

Big Walk's puzzles are always sharp, and always fun. The use of proximity chat makes the process of solving them feel special in a way I haven’t experienced in a game for a long time. Despite the recent wave of co-op games with an emphasis on hanging out with your friends, it feels so new to play in this particular way, as if we were all physically in this virtual space together. Video games often make us feel like superheroes, like the world revolves around our individual characters. In Big Walk, relationships and language are that superpower. The world doesn't revolve around me, but us.

So much of Big Walk's fun is found in the spaces between the puzzles, too. One of my favorite moments was this time Riley and I wandered away from Chris to go gallivanting in nature without care. This would not have been a big deal… if Riley and I did not have both walkie-talkies. Notoriously bad at navigating, we got wildly lost, even more so after we tumbled down the mountains once again. We were lost for nearly an hour, maybe longer. We went to the train to honk its horn. We tried to follow the coastline, then the train line itself, to make our way back to the place where we first realized we'd lost Chris. Then, a flare shot up in the distance. We walked toward the sound and eventually the direction of the green hue the blast gave off. That's where we found him, at a bean puzzle, firing off flares. Eventually, we sent Chris off to follow the curve of the flare and the bean was waiting at the end of it, like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Riley and I certainly couldn't have been trusted to go find it.

I spent a lot of time playing Big Walk over the last week, but I also spent a lot of time thinking about it, and talking about it with the folks I played with. I'm thinking a lot about names, and the power they hold. In the book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, author and scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer writes that names are how we, as humans, build relationships with each other and "the living world." She muses on what it might be like to not know the names of things around you. Kimmerer writes, "I think it would be a little scary and disorienting – like being lost in a foreign city where you can’t read the street signs." Big Walk's opening feels a little bit like that. Its island is not yet a place with which we've built a relationship, or developed a language. The moment you understand this, Big Walk changes. And what a special thing it is to name this world with friends.

Mick Gordon, the composer of Doom 2016’s award-winning soundtrack, is taking the game’s music tp a festival for the first time ever — and he’s bringing the Doom Machine with him.

Doom 2016 set the standard for the iconic shooter’s musical profile. Famously sampling real chainsaw noises to pull off the unique guitar riffs that made the game’s soundtrack so famous, Gordon’s unorthodox methods have earned him a place in the highest pantheon of gaming legends.

Now, Gordon is bringing the music he composed for Doom 2016 and 2020’s Doom Eternal on tour, marking the very first time the soundtracks have been played by a live band for a live audience in a full-fledged concert (not counting the short medley of Doom's tunes he performed at The Game Awards in 2016).

Gordon and co. are set to headline RADAR 2027, a music festival based in Sheffield, UK that's focused on contemporary tunes, tech-metal, and progressive rock. Gordon himself will be performing the tracks alongside the band, with RADAR announcing the news in an Instagram post in late July. “This isn't a DJ set. It isn't a tribute. It's the music that redefined video game soundtracks, performed live, properly loud, exactly as it deserves. Mick has never performed this music live like this,” the post reads.

It’s been ten years since Doom 2016 came out and subsequently put every metal fan in a chokehold, and six years since Doom Eternal added to the hype with even more music from Gordon’s magnificent musical mind. He’s wanted to perform these soundtracks live for some time now, and says RADAR has finally provided him the opportunity to make this dream a reality.

“For a long time, I’ve wanted to take what I love about video game music and put it into a live setting that matches the energy you would get from a live rock or metal show,” he said in an interview with GameSpot. “Radar feels like the absolute perfect [festival] to do it. There’s no better.

“Ever since Doom 2016 … there’s been rumblings and multiple attempts to try and get some version of this into a live setting. I’ve been trying for a number of years to get this thing off the ground. Then out of the blue Joe [James, Radar Festival organizer] came to me with a really awesome opportunity through Radar.”

Gordon also confirmed that he’s bringing the Doom Machine with him to these performances, an instrument he famously crafted all on his own to bring the sounds of Hell to life. “We’re looking at all options to make it epic,” he told Gamespot. “Fire, screens, projection mapping are all on the table.”

RADAR music festival takes place from July 30 - August 1. While he’s certainly excited about performing his music live next year, his relationship with Doom Eternal’s development team at id Software remains a tenuous one, and no updates regarding their public falling-out have been shared at the time of writing, making the technical rights of this concert a wee bit confusing.

Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.

The widely popular queer hockey drama series, Heated Rivalry, has just added to its cast for Season 2, with Crave announcing the casting of the fan-favorite characters Harris Drover and Troy Barrett in Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie.

Fans have been discussing their dream cast for the past eight months for these two specific characters, who are loved across the Game Changers book series by Rachel Reid, and are the main focus of book 5, Role Model.

Smith will play Harris, the social media manager for the Ottawa Centaurs hockey team, as well as a bright light to everyone around him. Gillespie will play Troy, who's a fellow hockey player in the league, along with main characters Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. Troy has gone through challenging times as of late in the series, and finds himself at a new team without many friendly faces.

“Rachel Reid has given us two beautifully layered characters in Harris and Troy who you can’t help but root for,” the show's producers, Jacob Tierney and Brendan Brady, said in a press release. “From the start of the casting process, we knew we were looking for actors who could create something truly special together and bring that same depth and heart to the screen. Justice and Charlie do exactly that. They immediately connected with the vulnerability and resilience at the core of these characters, bringing an instinctive understanding of who Harris and Troy are.”

Tierney intentionally planned Heated Rivalry with Shane and Ilya being the main characters, but he wanted to work in other books and characters to the series as well, since they all intertwine. He did this in Season 1, Episode 3, with the entirety of the episode covering book 1, Game Changer, featuring Scott Hunter and Kip Grady. Whether Season 2 will have a similar episode with Troy and Harris, or if they will be woven throughout the season, is yet to be known.

Heated Rivalry Season 2 will release in spring 2027 and began production this week, according to various cast members showing clips on social media that they were gearing up to shoot. This includes Dylan Walsh, who playes Shane's dad in the series, and revealed that he believes Season 2 will consist of 12 episodes – this has not been confirmed though.

Heated Rivalry smashed records with Season 1, which released November 28, 2025. It quickly became Crave's top original show of all time, and increased viewership by 400% on the platform. Prior to the premiere, HBO Max aquired streaming rights for U.S. audiences, and as of February 2026, Heated Rivalry hit 10.6 million views, with over a 100% increase of the audience following the finale.

The series is now streaming in 130 countries globally and have won a slew of awards, including 16 Canadian Screen Award wins, which set a record for "the most wins by a series in a single year."

Stay tuned to IGN for more news and coverage of Heated Rivalry as we get closer to release!

Jessie Wade is Associate Director of Editorial Programming at IGN. You can find her watching the latest rom-com and drama shows, getting lost in way too many fantasy romance books, and going down major rabbit holes on YouTube.

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has officially passed $1 billion at the global box office after just three weeks in theaters.

It's an inevitable but welcome update for the sprawling, nearly 3-hour epic after it first premiered in theaters July 17 (via Variety). Reaching the milestone makes it Nolan's first film to do so in more than 14 years, with his last movie to achieve such a number being The Dark Knight Rises in 2012.

Of the $1 billion, $429.65 million was earned domestically and $578.8 million was earned internationally. Its total actually sits at $1.008 billion, meaning it won't be long before it passes The Dark Knight Rises' $1.08 billion record to become Nolan's highest-grossing picture of all time.

Variety added that Imax's portion of The Odyssey ticket sales amount to a whopping $257 million. As the director's choice to film the movie entirely in Imax continues to drive audiences to theaters, it's now on track to become the company's biggest release in history before the weekend is out.

There have been a few $1 billion movies to emerge throughout 2026 as the summer continues. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and Toy Story 5 both represented the power animation has in theaters when they crossed the mark earlier this year. Spider-Man: Brand New Day reached the number just days ago and broke a few records along the way. Music biopic Michael also passed the $1 billion mark.

The Odyssey raked in $264 million in its opening weekend and dropped just 19% in its second. Now heading into its fourth weekend in theaters, it shows no significant signs of slowing down, meaning Nolan will have his work cut out if he wants to deliver another highest-grossing movie when he eventually releases his next project.

While audiences everywhere are turning up to theaters to see how The Odyssey adapts the events of a 3,000-year-old story, not everyone has fallen in love with this version of the tale. Greek translator Emily Wilson launched a scathing review of the film one week after its premiere and went back for a second attack earlier this week. For more, you can read about stars Tom Holland and Zendaya's recent run in theaters, as well as Nolan's take on amateur film criticism.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer 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 internet’s favorite final girl says she’s branching into voice acting and would love to play a role in Capcom’s flagship horror franchise, Resident Evil.

Navarrette opened up about this new career path during an interview with Variety's Tiana DeNicola in late July, saying she’s been getting into the Resident Evil games lately.

When asked if she’s been approached to do any voice acting for games, Navarrette confirmed that yes, she has, and she’s starting that journey “soon,” though she didn’t mention any specifics about the projects she’ll be working on.

“I wanna try something smaller to kind of test the waters, and then later, [do something] different, because video games are obviously a big interest of mine,” she revealed. “I love that world, specifically — the Resident Evil world.

“I would die inside,” she continued when DeNicole described the possibility as “perfect” for her before turning the conversation toward a film adaptation of the series.

“I don’t think they’ve made a Resident Evil movie yet, have they?” she asked, prompting DeNicole to bring up Zach Cregger’s upcoming film, which hits theaters this September.

“Okay, I will buy a ticket,” Navarrette said. “That’s exciting!”

Navarrette’s love for video games is well-chronicled at this point, with her Twitch channel going viral (before she scrubbed all of her VODs) after her breakout role in Obsession launched her to international fame.

Speaking with GQ, she said she grew up playing party games on the PlayStation 2 with her mother and older brother before transitioning into narrative-driven titles like Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Last of Us. She’s also a massive Call of Duty buff, which prompted one fan to gift her a sealed 2009 copy of Modern Warfare 2 in a wholesome moment that took social media by storm.

Navarrette essentially has carte blanche in terms of roles she’d like to pursue at this point, given the outstanding critical reception to her performance in Obsession. Resident Evil isn’t the only franchise she’s been publicly wishlisting lately; she also mentioned meeting with Jake Schreier, director of the upcoming X-Men film, saying she’d love to play Mystique in a future movie.

For now, news of the actress’s forthcoming roles are still under wraps, but that isn’t stopping fans from bugging Schreier and Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige about fitting her in the X-Men universe somehow — and having her play the shape-shifting Mystique doesn’t sound too bad, given the hauntingly convincing way she was able to switch between Wish Nikki and Real Nikki in Obsession.

Image Credits: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures/CAPCOM

Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.

From a Pokémon TCG Booster Bundle below market value to Fanatical’s Summer Sale, there are a whole slew of deals to get excited about heading into the weekend. If you’re looking to make a few purchases in the Nintendo eShop, you may also want to snag Newegg’s gift card deal. Speaking of Nintendo, don’t forget to check out the refurbished Switch 2 console at Woot and the Nintendo Switch Sports Resort preorder.

TL;DR - The Best Deals for August 7

Scroll through all of today’s top deals, and then read the blurbs to find out even more.

Pokémon TCG: Chaos Rising Booster Bundle for $31.99

Save $64 on an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU

Get DOOM: The Dark Ages - PC for Under $21

$26.50 Off a $200 Nintendo eShop Gift Card

Dragon Quest VII Reimagined for PS5 Hits New Low on Amazon

20% Off the LEGO Star Wars: Andor K-2SO Security Droid

$10 Off a Physical Copy of Nintendo Switch Sports Resort Preorder

Pokémon Deluxe Character Guide Preorder Discount

$60 Off the Apple AirPods Pro 3

Save $50 on a Grade A Refurbished Switch 2

MTG x Marvel Super Heroes Play Booster Box Hits New Low

65” Hisense U6 Pro Series Mini‑LED 4K TV Drops to New Low

35% Off the JBL Charge 6 Portable Bluetooth Speaker

Save 48% on 007 First Light - Legacy Edition for PS5

Even though it was recently retired, the LEGO Icons Transformers Bumblebee set is still in stock at Amazon. It isn't on sale, so you'll still see at its sticker price of $89.99, but it's not every day you see a retired set in stock at big retailers without some sort of mark up. If you're interested in picking up this set at MSRP, this is likely your last chance to do so.

LEGO Icons Transformers Bumblebee

Warning! Spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day follow.

Sadie Sink has finally opened up about her mystery role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and it sounds like she's already had conversations with X-Men director Jake Schreier about what's next.

Now that the new Tom Holland Spider-Man movie is out, so is Sink's big secret: She plays Jean Grey. The lead-up to the big reveal was filled with more than a year of speculation from fans, and now that the news is finally out, the new member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was able to sum up her feelings with a single sentence.

"What a relief," Sink told Variety regarding her role as Jean Grey.

Comic book movie fans spent months picking apart interviews and braving teases from Marvel Studios as they theorized what Sink's role would be. Now that everything is out in the open, the actress said she's spent so much time "thinking about what I can't say" that she isn't quite sure how to handle talking about what has quickly become one of the most important roles in the MCU.

What she could talk about, though, is how little she knew about the all-powerful telepath going into Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

"Honestly, I knew nothing about her," Sink said. "People had started rumors about me playing that character — for like years, it had kind of been circulating online — so that was all I knew about her. But I had never seen X-Men, so I was just like unfamiliar."

It wasn't until Marvel's Kevin Feige and Louis D’Esposito got in touch to set up a meeting that she started to look into Jean Grey and her role in comic book history. From that point, Sink felt the role was a "no-brainer" for her.

The Jean Grey we got in Spider-Man: Brand New Day serves as the film's troubled antagonist. Sink noted that she's "very flawed," calling her a character that she doesn't think "wants to harm, but she herself has been harmed, so that's all she knows."

"They told me that I was the villain, but that you’re not actually the villain, which is how I played her," she added. "I don’t really want to lean into, like this bad guy aura. Because in her brain it’s totally justified. Which I mean, I agree. I think it is."

Sink's role in Spider-Man wasn't a mystery to everyone, though. Matt and Ross Duffer, the creative duo behind Stranger Things, were some of the first people she told about her part.

"You have people that you can trust within the industry to talk about it," Sink said. "So, my family knew and everything, and then I slowly … like the Duffers were some of the first few people I told. Because I was filming with them, and they’re obviously huge influences in my career and life, and have watched me grow up, so I wanted them to know that that’s what I would be doing next. And they were so excited."

This version of Jean Grey seems to be without the team of mutants she's been known to fight crime with in the past, but that doesn't mean there isn't already a plan for how the X-Men member will fit into the MCU going forward. There is, of course, already an X-Men movie on the way from the director behind 2025's Thunderbolts*, and as recent casting announcements for Emma Frost and Cyclops have shown, the team is assembling.

Sink's Jean Grey is one of the first real members of the team to show up in the MCU, so it should come as no surprise to hear she's already talked to Schreier about how her character will fit in.

"It’s been really exciting all the conversations we’ve had, and I feel really lucky that I have this introduction through Spider-Man and [her] backstory," she said. "I think that’s what X-Men is all about, too. The more I’ve gotten into it and researched, what makes them special is that they are all incredibly flawed and maybe have done bad things.

"That makes them more compelling, complex characters and a more complex hero if they don’t start out that way. And they have to find their relationship to their powers. Because it’s not like they’ve asked for this or that these strengths make their lives easier; they make them a lot harder, actually. So, knowing Jean’s struggle will be important in the future of her character and where she goes, just makes her really well-rounded, which I’m excited for."

For now, X-Men has no release date but is expected to premiere in a post-Avengers: Secret Wars world sometime after 2027. It's unclear if Sink's Jean Grey will reappear before her mutant team-up movie arrives, but for now, audiences are still very much enjoying her surprise presence in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

The new MCU Spidey flick managed to secure the biggest opening weekend in domestic box office history earlier this week, securing its place above 2019's Avengers: Endgame. IGN gave the film a 7/10 review, saying it "effectively refocuses on the most reliable pillars of the webslinger: battling inner turmoil, swinging around NYC saving the day, and looking cool while doing so." For more on Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Sink's role as Jean Grey, you can see why Feige said Marvel did its best to keep her role a secret.

Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer 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).

While August is already looking stacked with exciting new LEGO releases, a selection of older sets have been receiving some big discounts lately. The delightful LEGO Icons Natural History Museum set is one of the latter, with Amazon dropping it down to $299.99 from its original list price of $349.99.

This marks a 90-day low for the set, according to its store page, but it's also just a few cents away from its lowest ever price point at the retailer (which was $299.95). That's a fantastic discount, and on top of that, it's even temporarily out of stock on LEGO's own website right now, so if you want it before LEGO restocks, Amazon is the perfect place to pick it up.

Save $50 on the LEGO Icons Natural History Museum Set

This build falls into the category of LEGO sets for adults, probably because of its high number of pieces - 4,014 in total! - and more detailed assembly. It certainly looks like a fun set to put together, though. All of those bricks assemble to create a detailed Natural History Museum, including a Jurassic gallery, space exhibit, and a very cool brachiosaurus skeleton that towers over both the museum's levels.

There's also a rooftop section where the curator’s office is, which features two skylights to let light shine into the display.

To really help bring this museum display to life, it also comes with seven minifigures you can place throughout it. From the curator to guests touring around, they each look like they have a fun personality to add into this awesome setup.

Given it's currently out of stock at the LEGO Store, this is a great opportunity to grab this set at an even lower price than usual. And while it may not have a 'limited time deal' sticker on its store page at Amazon, it also may not be live for long, so be quick to scoop it up on sale while you can.

Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.