The ubiquity of 4K in the TV market hasn’t quite reached gaming monitors in the same way. But there are more popping up each day, and the new HDMI 2.1 connections allow them to support more setups than before. The Gigabyte M32U is one of the latest offering an extra-sharp 4K resolution alongside the high refresh rates demanded for competitive gaming. At $800, you don’t get that pairing cheaply, so let’s take a closer look and make sure it’s doing more to earn your money than just shrinking pixels so it can fit more of them.

Gigabyte M32U – Design and Features

The Gigabyte M32U sits on a beefy stand that looks like a boomerang made by Batman – not a batarang, though. It’s much like you’ll find on other Gigabyte monitors, and it offers a modest range of tilt, swivel, and height adjustment. I didn’t struggle to get it to fit in with my deskspace despite the imposing size of the display and stand, and routing cables through a hole in the stand helps keep things tidy. The monitor does support VESA mounting with 100×100 adapters, so you can make it even more flexible, but the included stand is stable enough to stick with.

There’s not a lot of style to speak of from the Gigabyte M32U. There’s no RGB ornamentation. Gigabyte has offered a smart design with its joystick for on-screen display navigation, which makes it easy to change settings on the monitor. Gigabyte also included a pair of 3W speakers that are passable for getting a bit of audio in a pinch, but they’re majorly lacking on the low-end – no getting your groove on.

Ports abound on the back of the monitor. There’s a DisplayPort 1.4 connection geared up for PCs to take advantage of the 3,840 x 2,160 resolution at the monitor’s max 144Hz refresh rate with HDR, 10-bit color depth, and VRR a la FreeSync Premium Pro. A pair of HDMI 2.1 can also get the monitor up to speed, but will be limited to 4K/120Hz with 4:2:0 chroma-subsampling on Xbox Series X and PS5. That same limitation didn’t apply when I connected over HDMI to an Nvidia RTX 3070.

There’s also a USB-C port with DisplayPort capability for connecting to a laptop. The monitor can connect to your PC with a USB-A-to-B connector as well. Those two connections can both access a three-port USB hub on the rear of the monitor, and a KVM switch above the OSD control joystick makes it a one-button procedure to switch which host device is in control, although it takes a couple of seconds to complete the handoff.

At the price, the Gigabyte M32U predictably uses a SuperSpeed IPS panel. It’s boasting a wide color gamut alongside a 1ms response time to help justify its premium pricing. It’s also touting VESA DisplayHDR400, which doesn’t quite feel good enough for the price. That’s basically the ground floor of HDR, and it’s nowhere near as dazzling as you’ll get from much bigger TVs even at this same price, some of which even support 120Hz and VRR. There’s no advanced local dimming to help it at least offer an improved contrast ratio either, just the typical 1,000:1 ratio of IPS panels.

Gigabyte M32U – Testing

A lot of manufacturer claims can’t be measured by the human eye unless there’s something horribly wrong, so I’ve turned to trusty calibration hardware and software to put the Gigabyte M32U to the test. This is performed with a SpyderX Elite colorimeter and SpyderX’s corresponding software.

The monitor comes out of the box running at pretty much the best visual performance I could get out of it. With default settings which see the gamma set to 2.2 and brightness at a neat 65%, the monitor scores solid points. It fully covers the sRGB color space and manages 83% of Adobe’s and 88% of the DCI-P3 color spaces. That’s pretty good if you want vivid color from HDR content, though it’s a far cry from the $1100 Gigabyte FV43U and I’ve gotten better results from a $200 Monoprice gaming monitor. On the plus side, the colors displayed are largely accurate, with an average deltaE of 0.57, meaning the human eye shouldn’t be able to perceive inaccuracies in color. Even the maximum deltaE value was only 1.56, which is still well within the bounds of what’s considered good.

At the out-of-box settings, the display also offers a bright enough image at 348 nits (close to the 350-nit typical brightness Gigabyte suggests) while achieving a 1,020:1 contrast ratio.

Pretty much every other setting I tweaked saw the monitor perform worse. Dialing up the brightness to 100% harmed accuracy. Turning on HDR with local dimming shrunk the color gamut, dropped max brightness to just 187 nits and tanked the contrast ratio to 410:1. It also saw the max deltaE value hit 4.71, which would be perceptible. Trying to use the built-in tools to tweak the HDR by adjusting the Light Enhance, Color Enhance, and Dark Enhance slightly improved brightness and contrast ratio, but it offered unacceptable color accuracy and presented color fringing on text.

I also used Blur Busters’ UFO Test to catch any poor behavior as relates to pixel response time. Given the good but unimpressive results in the other metrics, this was a chance for the Gigabyte M32U to regain some ground. But, it’s a little hit and miss. The monitor provides a number of Overdrive settings, and the fastest Speed setting sees considerable ghosting and coronas around moving elements on the screen – not so distracting on a test pattern, but it can drive you mad in games, especially the bright inverse-ghosting of coronas. The Picture Quality and Balance modes didn’t have as noticeable ghosting or coronas but may not be hitting that same 1ms metric.

Despite being a FreeSync Premium Pro display with no noted G-Sync compatibility, the monitor performs well connected to an Nvidia graphics card. Enabling G-Sync in Nvidia’s Pendulum Demo saw it effectively eliminate tearing and stuttering.

Gigabyte M32U – Gaming

The Gigabyte M32U can keep up well enough if you can drive it. 4K isn’t nearly as easy for a system to drive as 1440p or 1080p even with the mightier RTX 30-Series graphics cards. When the monitor is cruising at its full 144Hz, it is largely a fluid and crisp experience.

I took it for a few rounds of Apex Legends which let me keep up a regular 110+fps throughout play at 4K. The visuals pop and the details on the characters and scenery are clear. The screen’s ample space also puts a lot in front of me, letting me get a better look at small details in the distance. At 32 inches, the Gigabyte M32U is about the size where increasing resolution may start to make sense.

Playing Call of Duty: Vanguard’s open beta, performance was more varied. I predictably saw my frame rates jump around a bit more, but thankfully the G-Sync capabilities of the monitor kept that from becoming distracting. I didn’t notice any stutter or tearing in gameplay. What I did notice was the awful pixel overshoot rearing its head. The overdrive settings produced even more pronounced coronas at lower refresh rates. Though the coronas of Speed mode were still visible and distracting even while running at high refresh rates.

Sticking to the display’s Picture Quality overdrive mode kept ghosting and corona concerns to a minimum. But, at $800, this feels like a bit more fiddling and fuss than a high-performance gaming monitor should present. Gigabyte’s own G34WQC offers similar performance in a lot of respects while dropping the resolution in favor of a 34-inch ultrawide experience, and it costs half as much. And then there are monitors like the $830 Alienware AW2721D, which stays with 1440p but cranks it up to 240Hz with little response-time issue and DisplayHDR600 to boot. It raises the question of whether 4K as a feature is worth it, particularly when missing out on better response time. To the M32U’s credit, it is on the more affordable end for a 4K monitor offering a high refresh rate. Many alternatives cost over $1,000, though the Eve Spectrum and Acer Predator XB273K are two exceptions that fall in a similar ballpark to the M32U with similar performance capabilities.

The Gigabyte M32U’s flexibility to serve as a display for PC gaming and console gaming (as well as a work display for a laptop using its USB-C port) may earn it some points. And it’s certainly a sharp display that’s more than bright enough in everyday use (almost too bright without some bias lighting in play). But, it’s not standing out from the crowd quite enough. And, if your system isn’t going to consistently hit 144fps at 4K, the artifacts that crop up from rendering at a lower resolution and then upscaling will become your worst enemy as they’re all too easy to see with this display’s clarity.

Dune Part 2 is almost certainly on the cards, as Warner Bros. teases that the upcoming sequel to Dune is bound to happen.

Ann Sarnoff, WarnerMedia CEO of Studios and Network, hinted to Deadline that, despite not yet being green lit, Dune Part 2 is on its way:

“Will we have a sequel to Dune? If you watch the movie, you see how it ends. I think you pretty much know the answer to that,” she said.

Dune, which opened yesterday in theatres across the globe, is based on the book by Frank Herbert and tells only the first part of the story – the film even opens with a title card reading "Dune: Part 1", making it obvious that there's more story to tell.

It seems that it’s only a matter of time until Part 2 is officially confirmed, and director Denis Villeneuve recently told IGN’s Jim Vejvoda that he’s ready to start filming Dune Part 2 “as soon as possible”.

“I would be very ready to go quite quickly,” he confirmed. “To go quickly in a movie of that size, you still need to make sets, costumes, so we are talking about months. But if ever there's enthusiasm and the movie is greenlit sooner than later, I will say that I will be ready to shoot in 2022 for sure.”

That doesn’t mean the production will be rushed, however, as Villeneuve confirmed that the emphasis is always on quality.

“I am ready to go, and I will say that I would love to bring it to the screen as soon as possible,” he explained. “The first film, I really had time to make sure that it was exactly the way I wanted it to be. I would love to have the same feeling when I make the second part. That would be the priority. Quality will be the priority.”

Dune is already off to a promising start, with a $36.8 million international opening. If Warner Bros. is waiting to see how the film performs before green lighting Dune Part 2, this certainly looks promising, and with Dune opening today across North America, it likely won’t be long until the sequel is officially announced.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

This is an advanced review from the London Film Festival. King Richard opens in the U.S. and U.K. on Nov. 19 while it hits AUS screens on Jan. 13.

Will Smith made the transition from box office star to Oscar-nominated actor playing “The Greatest” in boxing biopic Ali. Now – some 20 years later – Smith delivers another powerhouse performance in a very different kind of sporting story, playing the guy behind the greatest in King Richard.

The self-styled sovereign in question is Richard Williams, father to tennis champions Venus and Serena, and the man who masterminded their meteoric rise to the top. And while there are times when the film feels like a sanitised version of his story, Smith nevertheless shines in the lead, combining charm, charisma, and a few less likable qualities to bring this complicated and at times inscrutable man to life.

Always a controversial character, Williams was outspoken in interviews and lively in the stands, while he developed a reputation for self-promotion that those running the sport frowned upon. But he was also the pushy parent with a plan. It all began when Williams saw Romanian player Virginia Ruzici on TV, heard how much she was earning, and decided to turn his family into a “champion-raising business.”

So before Venus and Serena were born, Williams wrote a 78-page manifesto plotting their path to glory, then forced the girls to live by those rules and regulations. The rest is sporting history, with Venus winning seven Grand Slam single titles, and Serena picking up 23 on her way to becoming one of the all-time greats. As she herself recently put it, “There would be no Venus and Serena if it wasn’t for Richard.”

The story starts in Compton, where Dad coaches his daughters by day, and pounds pavements as a security guard at night, in the process teaching them the value of money, and instilling a work ethic as strong as their serves. There are times when Mr. Williams seems like a South Central Mr. Miyagi, dispensing homespun wisdom concerning sportsmanship, giving media training so they are ready-made for the spotlight, and using Disney films to teach the girls about modesty and humility.

Richard isn’t all sweetness and light, however. He’s stubborn, has a temper, and carries a chip the size of a tennis racquet on his shoulder, attributes that drive his search for a coach early in proceedings, then again later when dealing with managers, agents, and sponsors who all want a piece of his girls.

The benefit of hindsight makes both sets of scenes hilarious, with the tennis establishment writing Richard off as either huckster or hustler, losing millions of dollars in the process. But racism also seems to be at work, and becomes a central theme of Zach Baylin’s script as Richard battles stigma and judgement on a daily basis.

There are times when this aspect of the screenplay is a little too on the nose, most notably when Rodney King is in the news, and a character states, “At least they got them on tape this time.” But it’s also a blast watching Venus and Serena infiltrate the white country clubs of Los Angeles, then destroy all-comers on their courts.

Baylin’s script isn’t afraid to question Williams' motives either. There’s no doubt Richard projected his hopes and dreams onto the girls, but when he pulls them off the junior tournament circuit in favor of a less traditional path, one wonders if it’s to stop the duo from burning out – as happened to many tennis stars of the time – or because he’s worried the exposure will drive them away. The even-handed screenplay argues both sides, then lets the audience decide.

Yet while King Richard is two parts character study, the third part is sports movie, and on that front, it delivers. There are early glimpses of the tennis duo’s talent, but director Reinaldo Marcus Green wisely keeps his powder dry until he’s good and ready. Then the girls start hitting for real – just as Kris Bowers’ music pays homage to Jerry Goldsmith’s Rocky score – and the result is a moment of pure movie magic as their supreme skills are finally unleashed.

It helps that Saniyya Sidney (Venus) and Demi Singleton (Serena) can play as well as they act, the lack of cutaways making for truly exhilarating tennis. Both actresses light up the screen and make you believe in their bond as much as their talent, and they share entertaining scenes with coaches Paul Cohen (Tony Goldwyn, all tight shorts and business) and Rick Macci (Jon Bernthal, all moustache and inspiration).

But the film’s secret weapon is Aunjanue Ellis as Brandi, Richard’s loyal and ultimately long-suffering wife. In public Brandi stands by her man and supports her girls, and it’s nice to see someone who has largely been written out of history celebrated in such a way. But behind closed doors it’s a different story, and Ellis is outstanding in the scenes where Brandi is calling Richard out, for both his ego and his infidelity.

It’s the only mention of Richard being less committed to his family than the rest of the film suggests, while his personal business dealings are also briefly questioned, then just as quickly forgotten. That’s hardly surprising when Venus and Serena are producers on the project, but there’s a sense that we aren’t getting the full picture when it comes to the title character’s behaviour.

In spite of those shortcomings, Smith does his best to get inside Richard Williams’ head. It isn’t a subtle performance, with both his stoop and Louisiana drawl exaggerated, but there are times when it feels like he’s giving us the very essence of the man.

Smith captures the swagger and bravado when Richard is in salesman mode, but he’s even better when suggesting the fear that underpinned the patriarch’s actions; fear of being disrespected, fear of being made to look like a fool, and ultimately, fear of being wrong. It’s complex, nuanced stuff, giving us a sense of Richard’s inner turmoil, and going some way to explaining both his insecurity and unpredictability.

That all adds tension to a tale where superficially there is none. The world knows the Williams story, and because both girls were so successful so fast, the film is forced to find conflict off-court, in offices and hotel rooms, through meetings and negotiations. But just when it looks like King Richard will climax with a double fault rather than an ace, the filmmakers craft a tennis match that’s filled with suspense and surprises, combining action and emotion so this remarkable origin story ends with the grandstanding finish it deserves.

Sony has announced a State of Play broadcast for Wednesday, October 27. The show will be around 20 minutes long, and will focus on "upcoming third-party releases headed to PS5 and PS4".

The showcase will begin at 2pm Pacific / 5pm Eastern / 10pm UK (that's October 28 at 8am AEDT). The show will include new looks at games we've already heard about, and "a few reveals from our partners around the world."

A new State of Play is heading your way next Wednesday, October 27 starting at 2:00pm PT / 10:00pm BST.

Full details and what to expect: https://t.co/EnDyyYGqBc pic.twitter.com/MeUjdW7wIa

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) October 22, 2021

A short PS Blog announcement makes no mention of what games could appear at the show, but notable upcoming third-party PlayStation games include Final Fantasy 16, Little Devil Inside, Forspoken, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Stray.

Sony's last State of Play event came in July, and included a release date for Death Stranding: Director's Cut, a reveal for Moss 2, and more.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Invasion's first three episodes — "Love of My Life," "The Probe," and "Goodbye, Teacher!" — are now streaming on Apple TV+. Below is a spoiler-free review.

Apple TV+’s Invasion is a wildly ambitious series, described by co-creator Simon Kinberg as a fusion between the Oscar-winning, globe-spanning political drama Babel and H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. While the effort is admirable, the pieces don’t quite fit together well enough in the show’s slow-moving three-episode premiere.

Invasion takes its time in introducing its large cast of characters scattered across the world experiencing the alien assault in very different ways. Yet in an effort to avoid recreating the typical alien attack plots, Kinberg and co-creator David Weil wind up just producing a mashup of prestige drama cliches.

The first episode, “Love of My Life” is the roughest part of the premiere, focused mostly on Jim Bell Tyson (Sam Neill), a small-town sheriff on the cusp of retiring looking to solve one last case to bring meaning to his life and career. It feels like the writers are striving for the mood of No Country for Old Men, with an aging lawman confronting evil he’s largely powerless to fight, but juxtaposing an extraterrestrial mystery atop scenes of white supremacist meth dealers and Neill’s mournful monologues about faith feels terribly forced. That plot pauses with a cliffhanger at the end of episode one, with Neill not reappearing in the following two episodes, and the show is stronger for it.

Also too ponderous is the show’s pair of big relationship dramas. One focuses on Mitsuki Yamato (Shioli Kutsuna), a Japanese aerospace technician having an affair with an astronaut about to leave Earth for the International Space Station. It has the feel of a moody indie flick, filled with mooning, brooding, and poor coping mechanisms. Considering how the space narrative feels like it has the most potential to push the plot along, it’s frustrating to watch Mitsuki spend so much time paralyzed by her emotions, even if those feelings are understandable. At least when she snaps into action, the show comes into focus, transforming into a compelling thriller.

The other rocky love story surrounds Aneesha Malik (Golshifteh Farahani), a Syrian refugee living in America with her pathetic husband Ahmed (Firas Nassar) and their young kids. Their plot feels like part of the recent wave of dramas like Marriage Story and Scenes from a Marriage, chronicling the melodramatic disintegration of a relationship where the messy emotions all have to be put aside to protect the children from descending chaos.

The early part of the drama is especially rote, filled with over-the-top scenarios and dull lines like Ahmed telling Aneesha the primary reason he’s attracted to the Instagram influencer he’s having an affair with is “she’s not you.” But once unexplained explosions start racking their neighborhood, the plot takes a turn reminiscent of the classic The Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.” Numerous films like The Avengers and Godzilla have used invading aliens and monsters as a metaphor for the trauma of Sept. 11, 2001, but Invasion makes the comparison explicit as Malik’s neighbors start questioning if the damage is a result of a terrorist attack and looking with suspicion at their Middle Eastern neighbors. Centering the impact on Americans who are effectively doubly victimized shows the real potential of Invasion’s vision.

The second episode kicks off two new plots, a sort of Lord of the Flies tale of a British prep school field trip gone horribly wrong and a war story following Trevante Ward (Shamier Anderson), an American soldier stationed in Afghanistan. That later plot instantly dates the show, but after 20 years of war, the writers had presumably felt confident any near future would still involve Americans fighting there.

These plots provide a bit of desperately needed comic relief through the crude humor of young British boys and the bored antics of the soldiers. Even when the tone shifts, Trevante’s story remains incredibly compelling, showing tense chaos as the American soldiers confront equally perplexed Afghans trying to find the source of an attack. Anderson delivers the best performance of the show so far, whether he’s joking around with his men or quietly bonding with a bedouin as they share intimate details of their lives in languages the other man can’t understand.

Invasion looks great, making the most out of its highly varied settings and blockbuster-quality special effects. It’s also doling out plenty of unsettling hints at what’s happening, from kids having spontaneous nosebleeds to odd messages from space. Hopefully the slowly unfolding plot will prove worth the wait.