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Game Updates

Harry Potter Monopoly Is Nearly 50% Off In Amazon’s Early Big Deal Days Sale

by admin October 4, 2025

This remixed take on the iconic board game features characters, locations, and artwork from the Harry Potter books and movies. It supports 2-6 players and is recommended for kids 8 and up. The six metal player tokens include the Hogwarts Express, Hagrid’s Motorbike, The Knight Bus, Hippogriff, Thestral, and Firebolt.

Harry Potter Monopoly retains the core premise and progression of the classic game with some Wizarding World-themed modifications. Instead of paper money, players vie for points for their Hogwarts House: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff.

As players make their way around the board, they can use House Points to acquire familiar locations from around Hogwarts Castle, Hogsmeade Village, Diagon Alley, and other notable spots such as Malfoy Manor and the Dursley home on Privet Drive. House Crests can be added to properties to increase rent. Hogwarts House Common Rooms serve as railroads, but surprisingly the jail isn’t named Azkaban.

Owl Post cards replace both Chance and Community Chest cards. Each card is designed to look like a letter sent from Hogwarts by owl. The cards are held on a custom stand with a Hedwig figurine.

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October 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked rolls the dice on a release date and lands on this November

by admin October 4, 2025

I could probably quite safely bet some money that many of you are still happily ticking away at Baldur’s Gate 3, but for those of you that would like newer pastures to get your TTRPG fix in video game form, there’s some good news. The board game-esque tactical RPG Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked at long last has a release date!

You won’t be waiting long for it, as it’s slated for release this coming November 20th. No pound sterling or euro pricing for the game yet, but in USD it’ll set you back $30 – it’s also cross-platform and cross-device compatible, so no biggie if your friends aren’t on PC! And if it being more Dungeons & Dragons something or other, relatively affordable, and cross-everything isn’t enough for you, when Steam Next Fest kicks off next October 13th you’ll be able to try out a demo for yourself.

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This demo lets you try out a couple of encounters, with four heroes to choose from, including Jessix, a “human ranger seeking retribution” that is apparently a new reveal alongside this release date announcement! Plus, playing the demo will unlock an exclusive cosmetic for your d20s in the full game. Free stuff! Nobody hates free stuff!

If you haven’t even heard of Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked before, well, it’s a crossover between Demeo, which is also a fantasy, board game-esque tactical RPG, albeit set in its own world, with (you guessed it) D&D! You move little figures around a board while going through different campaigns, a big selling point being that it has online multiplayer, something Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked will also have. And you’ll be able to play it in VR too if that takes your fancy!

Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked is out November 20th, later this year.

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October 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Ditch Your iPad, Amazon’s New Gaming Tablet at 40% Off Is Flying Off the Shelves

by admin October 4, 2025

Gaming on tablets has exploded in popularity, with more players discovering that pairing a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi controller with a portable screen creates an incredibly flexible gaming setup. The problem? A decent iPad Pro will set you back $800, and even the base iPad hovers around $400. If you’re looking for a capable tablet experience without the Apple tax, Amazon’s Fire Max 11 represents the company’s most powerful tablet to date, and it’s currently hitting an all-time low at $139, down from $229 (64GB model, with lockscreen ads). This is the newest model in Amazon’s lineup, and seeing it drop 39% during Prime Big Deal Days makes it an accessible entry point for streaming and casual gaming.

See at Amazon

Fire Max 11 is all about its huge 11-inch screen, packing 2.4 million pixels into a 2000 x 1200 screen. That means text is readable enough to read ebooks or browse web pages, with videos and games benefitting from clear detail that does not force you to squint at blurry images. The screen is blue light low emission certified, which is something that stops eye strain when viewing for extended periods.

Performance That Keeps Up With Your Entertainment

Underneath the aluminum shell is an octa-core processor and 4 GB of RAM to offer a seamless experience for multitasking scenarios like keeping multiple browser tabs open while streaming background music. The eight cores divide the load evenly and never permits stuttering and lag that plagues lower-end tablets when jumping between applications. Wi-Fi 6 connectivity offers quicker data transfer rates and improved performance in busy network conditions so you can stream 1080p content on the couch even while family members are bandwidth-thirsty on their own devices.

The build quality of the tablet is a balance of portability and ruggedness through the aluminum frame and reinforced glass display. Amazon states it’s three times more durable than the iPad 10.9-inch in tumble tests which involve dropping the tablet repeatedly from specific heights onto hard surfaces.

Battery life is 14 hours of continuous use, or a couple days’ worth of normal usage patterns if you’re not watching a whole season in one sitting. You get 64 GB of storage built-in at this price point, and you can expand capacity to 1 TB with a microSD card.

The stylus pen and keyboard case option turn the Fire Max 11 into a productivity tablet able to do email, note taking and document editing. The tablet includes a three-month trial of Microsoft 365 Personal so you can use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint with full cloud syncing across all your devices. The 8 MP front camera provides excellent video quality when using Zoom calls, so it’s perfect for remote work or keeping in touch with distant family members.

This is a great value for budget-minded customers who want current features without premium prices, make sure you don’t miss that Prime Day deal on Amazon.

See at Amazon

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October 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Save 50% On New Hunger Games Hardcover & Deluxe Edition Box Sets

by admin October 4, 2025

The Hunger Games returned in a big way earlier this year with Sunrise on the Reaping, the fifth novel in Suzanne Collins’ wildly popular dystopian book series. More than 1.5 million copies were sold worldwide during launch week in March. If you haven’t read it or are interested in snagging a nice box set for yourself or as gift, Amazon has a fantastic deal on The Hunger Games 5-Book Hardcover Box Set ahead of Prime Big Deal Days. Released in June for $125, the slipcased collection is on sale for only $60.90. Alternatively, you can snag the gorgeous collectible paperbacks that were published ahead of Sunrise on the Reaping’s release. The Deluxe Hunger Games Collection comes with an eye-catching display case and is only $36.74 (was $70). All four Deluxe Editions are also on sale individually for less than $10 each.

We’ve rounded up the best Hunger Games book deals below. Beyond the two box sets, Amazon has The Hunger Games: Illustrated Edition for nearly 50% off, which is great timing considering Catching Fire’s Illustrated Edition releases Tuesday, October 7. We also detailed notable deals on the film adaptation series, including The Hunger Games 5-Film Collection for only $25.

$60.90 (was $125)

The Hunger Games 5-Book Hardcover Box Set includes the original trilogy starring Katniss Everdeen and the two prequel novels. The Hunger Games was published in 2008, and the two sequels, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, followed in 2009-10. After a 10-year hiatus, Collins returned in 2020 with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Set 64 years prior to Katniss volunteering as tribute, the novel focuses on Coriolanus Snow as a young man and the 10th Hunger Games. Sunrise on the Reaping follows Haymitch Abernathy, one of the District 12 tributes for the 50th Hunger Games, which takes place roughly 25 years before the original novel.

This box set would make for a great gift for longtime Hunger Games fans and new readers who enjoyed the movies. Together, the five novels are 2,112 pages. If you haven’t read the full series, it’s generally recommended to read them in the order they were published, but you can also read them in chronological order: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, then Sunrise on the Reaping, then the original trilogy.

The box set is a bit cheaper than buying hardcover editions of all five books separately. All five hardcover editions are also available separately for low prices right now. It’d cost you around $67 to buy all five, and you’d miss out on the display box.

The Hunger Games Hardcover Editions

The Hunger Games — $10.21 ($23)
Catching Fire — $9 ($23)
Mockingjay — $11.07 ($23)
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes — $17.79 ($28)
Sunrise on the Reaping — $19.17 ($28)

$36.74 (was $70)

The 5-Book Hardcover Box Set offers excellent value, but you should also check out the budget-friendly Deluxe Edition paperbacks that were published in February, a month before Sunrise on the Reaping’s release. Available to purchase individually or together in a display-worthy slipcase, the Deluxe Editions have exclusive cover art that pays homage to the original covers. Instead of being commemorated on pins, the mockingjay on these covers is alive and surrounded by foliage. The scene wraps around to the back covers thanks to the stained page edges with stenciled artwork.

If you buy the Deluxe Box Set, the four books form a beautiful mosaic when inside the display case. Each Deluxe Edition is on sale for roughly 50% off; buying all four separately would cost you about $1 less than the four-book set. But again, you’d miss out on the display case that completes the scene.

It seems likely that Sunrise on the Reaping will eventually receive a matching Deluxe Edition. For now, you’d have to settle for having one mismatched book in the series. But with Sunrise on the Reaping available for $19.17, you’d be spending roughly $56 total on the series, slightly less than the 5-Book Hardcover Box Set.

$18.15 (was $35)

Longtime fans who have already read The Hunger Games series multiple times should check out the Illustrated Edition of Book 1. Published in October 2024, The Hunger Games: Illustrated Edition is on sale for only $18.15 (was $35). This oversized hardcover edition is 368 pages and includes over 30 highly detailed black-and-white illustrations by artist Nico Delort.

$29.59 (was $37)

Catching Fire’s Illustrated Edition releases October 7 and is available to preorder for $29.59 (was $37). The 384-page hardcover also features 30-plus black-and-white illustrations by Delort.

$25.69 (was $42)

If you want to add all five movies to your collection, the 5-Film Blu-ray box set is your best bet in terms of value. Released last June, the 8-disc set comes with three Blu-rays and five DVDs. It also includes a voucher for digital editions from Vudu, though it’s possible the codes have expired by now.

The Hunger Games (2012)
Catching Fire (2013)
Mockingjay: Part 1 (2014)
Mockingjay: Part 2 (2023)
The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)

The collection is packaged with the slipcover shown above. All five movies support DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.

Alternatively, The Hunger Games 4-Movie Collection is available for $18 at Amazon. You’d need to buy The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes separately, but this could be a good option for those who want the Steelbook Edition of the latest Hunger Games movie.

$84.68 (was $94)

The 5-Film Collection hasn’t received a 4K Blu-ray release in the US, but the Australian edition is region-free. Amazon has been stocking more and more international editions lately, and The Hunger Games 4K Blu-ray box set is an example of that. If you pick up the 4K Blu-ray edition, your order is sold and shipped directly from Amazon.

The downside here is that the 4K Blu-ray set is priced substantially higher. Even with a 10% discount, the 5-Film Collection is $84.68 (was $94), which is roughly equivalent to the cost of buying all five 4K Blu-ray editions separately. The 4K editions of the films are available for $14-$19 each. Before buying The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes on 4K Blu-ray, make sure to check out Walmart’s exclusive Steelbook Edition, which is in stock for only $25.

The Hunger Games on 4K Blu-ray

The 4K editions have HDR10 and multiple surround sound audio formats: Dolby Atmos and Dolby TrueHD 7.1. The audio and visual enhancements are significant, so it’s worth considering the box set or standalone 4K Blu-ray editions.

With Sunrise on the Reaping’s film adaptation not releasing until November 20, 2026, many fans will want to refresh their memory by rewatching the series, so the box sets would make for great gifts this holiday.

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October 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Is Nine Sols currently hiding an entirely new game within itself? Yes, but I don’t know why yet

by admin October 4, 2025

Remember last month when Nine Sols developer Red Candle Games started teasing… something… related to the Metroidvania? That something leaned much more into the studio’s horror origins, and as it turns out has developed into a whole entire ARG. I won’t dive into every last detail of said ARG, you can go down that rabbit hole yourself. However it has led to something interesting: Red Candle Games have hidden an entirely new game within Nine Sols.

To unlock this game within a game isn’t particularly complicated. After making sure you have the game installed, head to the Betas tab in the game’s properties. Here, just type in “shanhaiarchive” and a download will start letting you play what is essentially a completely different, relatively short, first-person horror game. According to the devs themselves, this strange little game tasks you to save someone called Yuuki – the beta branch itself is titled “yuukimindscape.” It’s also worth noting that this appears to be a limited-time event, so if you might want to carve out some time for it.

Also worth noting is that this game-within-a-game may spoil some story elements of Nine Sols, so if this has you so curious that you want to play it even if you haven’t played the original, keep that in mind if you’re particularly spoiler averse. I’ll avoid going into any of that here so that you can experience it all as fresh as possible.

It’s still not particularly clear if this is leading to something else, like a sequel or a spin-off of some kind, but I’m deeply into it. Nine Sols felt like quite the change in tone for Red Candles Games, their first two works Detention and Devotion both sitting in the horror genre, so I’m finding this quite a clever use of their own skills.

In any case, Nine Sols is half off on Steam from now until October 6th as part of the autumn sales, so it’s a good time to get on board the mystery train.

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October 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Developers using Unity warned to patch games ASAP following the discovery of a serious security vulnerability

by admin October 4, 2025

Developers who have created their games using Unity have been warned to patch them as soon as possible following the discovery of a security vulnerability in Unity versions 2017.1 and later.

In a statement, Unity said a “security vulnerability was identified that affects games and applications built on Unity versions 2017.1 and later for Android, Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems”, but insisted “there is no evidence of any exploitation of the vulnerability, nor has there been any impact on users or customers.”

The “Best Deal in Gaming” Just Keeps Getting Worse.Watch on YouTube

“We have proactively provided fixes that address the vulnerability, and they are already available to all developers,” Unity continued. “The vulnerability was responsibly reported by the security researcher RyotaK, and we thank him for working with us.”

Unity just sent out an email telling everyone who released a game between 2017 and today that they need to recompile and republish their games due to a security vulnerability. Yikes. CVE-2025-59489 pic.twitter.com/uXgGFMsvFV

— George Deglin (@gdeglin) October 3, 2025

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The company added that it has now released an update for each of the major and minor versions of the Unity Editor, starting with Unity 2019.1, and a binary patcher to patch already-built applications dating back to 2017.1. It also warned developers that “it is imperative that you review [its] guidance to ensure the continued safety of your users”.

As spotted by VGC, the news resulted in some developers temporarily pulling their games from sale as they work over the weekend to get the patch implemented as soon as possible, including Obsidian, which removed a number of games from digital stores while it worked on the updates.

“Unity is dedicated to the security and integrity of our platform, our customers, and the wider community,” Unity concluded. “Transparent communication is central to this commitment, and we will continue to provide updates as necessary.”

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October 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Harry Potter’s Heirs Would Hate This, LEGO Is Selling the Hogwarts Castle Set for Pennies on the Dollar

by admin October 4, 2025

Harry Potter is one of LEGO’s most beloved franchises, and the Hogwarts Castle and Grounds set has earned a stellar 4.8 out of 5-star rating on Amazon with over 1,800 reviews backing it up. LEGO’s official website shows zero discounts on this flagship model and maintains the strict pricing the company is known for. But Amazon isn’t playing by those rules.

Right now, this 2,660-piece castle has dropped from $169 to just $135, marking an all-time low for the best-selling Harry Potter LEGO set. This deal is accessible to everyone, including non-Prime members, which makes it even more appealing.

See at Amazon

A Complete Miniature Replica of the Wizarding School

It is the first LEGO brick model that includes the entire Hogwarts Castle and its grounds in a single build. Earlier sets focused on a solitary tower, classroom, or section, but this 2,660-piece model presents the entire campus to you in one continuous display. The construction includes the Main Tower with its signature pointed roof, the Astronomy Tower where the students study the stars, the Great Hall where banquets and ceremonies take place, as well as several courtyards and cross-bridges that lead to various sections of the castle.

The scale allows the LEGO designers to include recognisable details without overwhelming builders with tens of thousands of pieces. You will construct the Chamber of Secrets hidden beneath the school, the Winged Key room of Harry’s first-year nightmare, the Potions Classroom where Snape taught in the dungeons, and the large Chessboard Chamber from the Philosopher’s Stone challenges. The grounds surrounding consist of the Boathouse where students arrive by boat, the Black Lake in front, the greenhouses for Herbology class lessons and the Whomping Willow that attacks anything getting too close.

Other features recreate scenes from around the film series: The Durmstrang Ship comes out of the lake just as it did when Durmstrang participants arrived during the Triwizard Tournament in Goblet of Fire. The powder-blue Beauxbatons Carriage is present on the grounds, representing the arrival of the French school of magic. The crashed Ford Anglia is a part of the Forbidden Forest trees after the failed flight by Ron and Harry in Chamber of Secrets.

The finished model measures 13.5 inches wide, 10 inches in depth, and 8.5 inches in height, large enough to be seen on a shelf or desk but not big enough to require special furniture. The build is supported on a highly detailed baseplate that is sculpted as the grounds of the castle with textured areas representing grass, pathways, and water. There is a gold mini-figure statue representing the Hogwarts architect which you can put near the nameplate “Hogwarts Castle” or in the corner of the baseplate to give it an extra visual touch.

For $135 for 2,660 pieces, you are paying around 5 cents per brick which is excellent value in the price system of LEGO.

See at Amazon

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October 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

The Shining’s New Numbered Limited Edition Is Up For Grabs At Amazon

by admin October 4, 2025

Stanley Kubrick and Stephen King fans will want to check out the newly released limited editions of The Shining before Amazon sells out. The retailer just listed The Film Vault’s Steelbook Special Edition and Solus Steelbook Editions of the classic 1980 horror movie on 4K Blu-ray. The regular Steelbook Edition comes with an acetate slipcover and is currently priced at $48.86. The Steelbook Special Edition is $87.07 and includes the following extras: a themed cigar box, two posters, five character cards, and three behind-the-scenes cards. Each Special Edition has a holographic sticker numbered to 6,000, so don’t expect it to remain in stock for long.

The Shining’s Film Vault collectible editions were manufactured in the UK and come with region-free 4K Blu-ray and 1080p Blu-ray discs. Even though you’re ordering from Amazon’s US storefront, both editions are sold by Amazon Global Store UK with free shipping to the US. It looks like it could take roughly two weeks for orders to be delivered, but you’re getting free international shipping, which is quite nice.

The Shining Steelbook Special Edition (The Film Vault)

Before these Amazon pages popped up, The Shining Film Vault editions were exclusive to Walmart in the US. Technically, they still are, as Amazon US isn’t “officially” selling either edition. Notably, the prices were higher at Walmart: $65 for the Steelbook and $100 for the Steelbook Special Edition. Walmart sold out at those prices in August. In early September, the retailer canceled a bunch of orders due to inventory shortages. The Special Edition never returned, but Walmart restocked the Steelbook Edition last week–and sold out again on launch day (October 3). Note: The prices are even higher now at Walmart due to resellers.

The Shining is one of two early ’80s horror films in The Film Vault Wave 3. The Shining launched alongside the 1982 supernatural horror film Poltergeist. Just like The Shining, Poltergeist is exclusive to Walmart in the US, but the retailer is sold out of both editions. Once again, though, Amazon has Poltergeist Special Edition Steelbook and Solus Steelbook in stock for $87.68 and $46.79, respectively. Both editions ship from Amazon UK and include 4K Blu-ray and 1080p Blu-ray discs. Walmart was charging $100 for the Special Edition and $65 for the Solus Steelbook.

The Shining and Poltergeist Film Vault limited editions come with region-free 4K Blu-ray and 1080p Blu-ray discs. All four releases were designed by Vice Press in partnership with Warner Bros. UK.

$87.07 (was $100) | Available Now

The Special Edition’s cigar box features a large silhouette of Jack Torrance with the fireman’s axe overlooking (sorry) the Overlook Hotel. On the back of the box is Jack’s typewriter with a half-finished page from the play he was working on–just kidding, it’s the same sentence over and over again: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

The envelope that holds the eight art cards is a replica of the “All Work and No Play” page from the film. The five character cards showcase memorable shots from the movie. The other three cards are behind-the-scenes production photos, including one that shows Kubrick on the set.

The steelbook artwork is also featured on the new movie poster created by Matt Ferguson and Florey of Vice Press. The second poster is a retouched version of Saul Bass’ iconic promotional poster for The Shining’s 1980 theatrical release.

With the Special Edition, the acetate slipcover goes over the cigar box. The title and logos are printed on the slipcover, so you can choose to display the artwork with or without text.

Steelbook with exclusive artwork
Cigar Box with new artwork and Acetate slipcover
- Remove slipcover for text-free display box
2 Posters
- New artwork by Matt Ferguson & Florey
- Retouched version of Saul Bass’ 1980 Theatrical Poster
Art Cards
- 5 Character Cards
- 3 Behind-the-Scenes Cards
“All Work and No Play” Envelope for Art Cards
Numbered Holographic Sticker
The Shining on 4K Blu-ray
The Shining & Special Features on Blu-ray

The Shining Solus Steelbook (The Film Vault)

$48.86 (was $65) | Available Now

Since the Solus Steelbook Edition doesn’t include an outer box, the acetate slipcover goes directly on the steelbook case. Once again, the movie title and logos are printed on the transparent slipcover, so the case can be displayed with or without text. To be clear: This is the same steelbook case found in the Special Edition.

The new artwork by Matt Ferguson & Florey from Vice Press recreates the scene where Jack Torrance trudges through the hedge maze. The back cover features the bathroom door Danny wrote “Redrum” on in red lipstick. The interior artwork shows the hedge maze from the movie on both sides.

Steelbook with exclusive artwork
Acetate sleeve
- Remove sleeve for text-free display case
The Shining on 4K Blu-ray
The Shining on Blu-ray

The Shining’s 4K Blu-ray originally released in 2019 and remains one of the best restorations of a film from its era today. Displayed in native 4K (2160p), The Shining supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+. For audio, it has DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound.

The Shining Special Features

All 4K and Blu-ray editions of The Shining come with a handful of great special features. The 4K and 1080p discs include an optional commentary track with Kubrick’s biographer John Baxter and Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown. The other bonus features, including a behind-the-scenes documentary, are only found on the standard Blu-ray disc.

Audio Commentary: John Baxter & Garrett Brown
The Making of The Shining (35 minutes)
View from the Overlook: Crafting The Shining (26 minutes)
The Visions of Stanley Kubrick (15 minutes)
Wendy Carlos, Composer (7 minutes)

If you’re unfamiliar with The Film Vault, it’s a series of collectible editions of classic movies from the Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures film catalogs. The Film Vault was created in 2022 by Vice Press, a UK company specializing in officially licensed movie collectibles and artwork. All of the 4K Blu-rays released by The Film Vault are region-free discs, but as a UK company, these limited-edition versions of all-time classics aren’t regularly found at US retailers.

The Shining & Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

The Shining and Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (Scribner)

Kubrick’s The Shining was adapted from Stephen King’s classic 1977 horror novel. King rather famously doesn’t like the adaptation. This eventually led to a new miniseries adaptation that aired on ABC in 1997. The miniseries is more faithful to the book, though it’s not as highly regarded. It’s definitely worth watching, though. Shout Factory released a The Shining miniseries on Blu-ray in 2024.

In 2013, Scribner published Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining that stars a grown-up Danny Torrance. Mike Flanagan directed the 2019 film adaptation of Doctor Sleep. The novel and the movie are great, but neither reaches the same heights as the originals (unsurprisingly).

Both novels are available for cheap in hardcover and paperback at Amazon. The Shining’s trade paperback edition is on sale for $11.30 (was $20), while the vintage hardcover is $19.80 (was $45). Doctor Sleep, meanwhile, is only $13.78 in hardcover and $10.49 in paperback.

Stanley Kubrick fans have another 4K Blu-ray to look forward to. Eyes Wide Shut, the director’s final film, is joining The Criterion Collection on November 25.

$125 | 2-Book Hardcover Box Set (1,396 Pages)

If you are interested in a $100 edition of The Shining, it’s a safe bet that you or someone you know is a huge fan. As a massive fan myself, I can say that if I had to choose between a fancy new edition of The Shining on 4K Blu-ray or the recently released compendium about the film, I would pick the compendium without thinking twice.

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is a two-volume, 1,396-page box set that offers a staggeringly comprehensive look at the making of the film. This beautiful slipcase collection was designed by M/M Paris and published by Taschen earlier this year.

Written by J.W. Rinzler and edited by Pixar director Lee Unkrich, this compendium is based on hundreds of hours of interviews and mountains of investigative research. The first book, which includes an introduction by Steven Spielberg, chronicles every step of the production. When I received my copy earlier this year, I was astounded by the level of detail provided throughout the roughly 900-page hardcover book. If there’s a more thorough making-of book about a single movie, I would be shocked. This book is nearly as long as all three volumes in Rinzler’s The Making of Star Wars series, which is also fantastic.

The box set also comes with a gorgeous scrapbook filled with a wide array of photographs, artwork, and documents related to the production of The Shining.

To put it simply: This compendium is the best collection of behind-the-scenes material–across any medium–I’ve ever read.

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is in stock at Amazon for $125, but it’s unknown how many copies the publisher printed and whether it will receive additional print runs. Amazon sold out when preorders opened last summer, and the box set remained out of stock until a few months ago.

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October 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Why does Helldivers 2 have such a bloated install size on PC? Old hard drives, says dev

by admin October 4, 2025

Even the most fervent Super Earth bootlicker wouldn’t deny that Helldivers 2 has been suffering some technical problems, especially after the performance-sapping Into the Unjust update. Developers Arrowhead say a patch is coming, and in the meantime, have shared the first in a series of techy blog posts burrowing into the engineering side of how the co-op bugshooter comes together. Entry number one doesn’t deal with framerates, though: instead it explains the game’s longer-running issue with its increasingly gargantuan, 150GB-ish install size.

Earlier this year, players had already discovered the most immediate cause of Helldivers 2’s swelling: its installation is stuffed with duplicate files, spanning weapon models to tree and rock textures. This had not only ballooned the install size over time, as successive updates added more and more assets, but left PC players with the unanswered question of why their SSDs were filled with photocopied rocket launchers. Especially as the PS5 and Xbox versions, weighing in around a third of the size, exhibited no such duplication.

As the post (credited to deputy technical director Brendan Armstrong) now explains, including multiple file copies was Arrowhead’s solution to the slow loading times of creaking old hard drives. A lingering inconvenience to some PCs, but not the exclusively SSD-equipped consoles.

“The main issue with a mechanical HDD is seek time,” Armstrong writes. “An HDD stores data on a spinning platter, and a physical arm with a read head has to move across the platter to find and retrieve data. The time it takes for this arm to “seek” or move to the correct location is a significant performance bottleneck.

“Imagine a large game level with various objects – trees, rocks, buildings, props. If the data for these objects is scattered all over the hard drive, the read head has to physically jump around the disk, which adds a lot of time to the loading process.”

I know the feeling – I recently flooded my flat with spare scissors, having tired of never remembering where I put our sole original pair. Hard drives might have more reliable memories than me but when it comes to Helldivers 2, Arrowhead evidently don’t consider the time they would spend searching for individual, non-duplicate files to constitute an acceptable loading speed.

The post also considers alternate solutions, including removing or repacking certain duplicates – which would make HDD loading slower, but potentially cut the file size – or split off 4K textures as an optional download, something Armstrong says is not “natively” supported by the game’s engine but could still be made possible.

It’s tempting to mutter “Or everyone could just be sensible and get an SSD.” I’d probably be muttering it myself, had almost every facet of gaming PC building and ownership not become so miserably expensive in the past few years, in turn making cheap mech drives genuinely harder to upgrade from on tight budgets. Hopefully Arrowhead can find a fix that works for everyone.

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October 4, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

HP Is Quietly Clearing Its Stock Through Amazon, With Its 17″ 1TB Laptop Going for 71% Off

by admin October 4, 2025

Many people don’t need the latest MacBook Pro with its $4,000 sticker shock but they also can’t do real work on a $300 Chromebook that chokes on anything beyond web browsing. The middle ground does exist, and HP has hit it out of the park with this 17-inch laptop that offers real productivity features without the premium price.

The brand appears to be clearing inventory and rather than advertising these savings on their own site, they’re unloading units under the radar on Amazon at historically low prices. This HP 17″ laptop (Intel Core i3, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Windows 11 Pro) has been chopped from $2,399 down to $699, a 71 percent discount that puts professional-grade computing in the budget of students and remote workers.

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The 17.3-Inch Display Changes Your Workflow

This is driven by the Intel Core i3-N305 8-core processor up to 3.2GHz and Intel UHD Graphics. This configuration handles everyday multitasking, web surfing, document editing and media playback without frustration or lag. The i3-N305 is Intel’s energy-efficient hybrid architecture designed for laptops that balances performance and battery life by dynamically shifting workloads between the performance and efficiency cores based on what you’re doing. You won’t be rendering 4K video or playing AAA games on max settings, but for office work and streaming entertainment, this processor delivers smooth performance.

Screen size matters more than many people realize until they’ve actually worked on a larger display: The 17.3-inch HD+ screen gives you much more workspace than standard 15.6-inch laptops, reducing the constant window juggling and tab switching that breaks your concentration. The 1600×900 resolution packs approximately 1.4 million pixels and delivers crisp text rendering and sharp graphics for documents and videos. The anti-glare coating reduces reflections from overhead lighting and windows.

The 32GB of RAM changes how you work by eliminating the performance limitations of heavy multitasking. You can have dozens of browser tabs open, several Microsoft 365 applications open simultaneously, be in video calls as you work on presentations and still have apps running in the background without noticing the slowdowns.

The 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD provides fast and spacious storage with Windows boot times in seconds and instant app opening. PCIe NVMe technology provides read and write speeds up to 15 times faster than traditional mechanical hard drives, which transfer files quickly and make opening large documents instant.

At $699, you’re getting a genuinely capable laptop that performs real work without compromise.

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October 4, 2025 0 comments