As part of today's Far Out event, Apple has announced a model refresh of its more affordable wearable, the Apple Watch SE.

Alongside Silver, Midnight, and Starlight color options, the second-generation Apple Watch SE features a redesigned back case with nylon composite materials that will match the color you choose, and Apple has even improved manufacturing to reduce its carbon footprint by 80%

The Apple Watch SE 2 has 30% larger screen than the Apple Watch Series 3, and it includes a new S8 SiP advanced dual-core processor that is 20% faster than previous models, and yes, that is the same one found in the Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra. It also features Crash Detection, international roaming, heart rate notifications, Fall Detection, Sleep Stages, Multisport Workouts, Apple Pay, Activity Tracking, and more. Oh, and it's water resistant.

The Apple Watch SE 2 serves as the new lower-cost option after Apple discontinued the Apple Watch Series 3, which was previously hinted after the company announced that its next major watchOS update would not come to the Series 3.

Starting at $249 for the GPS model and $299 for GPS + Cellular, the Apple Watch SE 2 will be released on September 16, 2022.

The Apple Watch SE 2 is one of many products announced as part of Apple's Far Out event that also saw the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models, and AirPods Pro 2. Check our roundup to see everything announced during today's event.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Apple has officially announced the Apple Watch Series 8 at today’s September hardware event. The newest iteration of one of the best smartwatches on the market offers a similar design but with some new and interesting features. This comes alongside announcements of the Apple Watch SE 2 and new Apple Watch Ultra.

Apple Watch Series 8 Price and Release Date

The Apple Watch series will be sold in 4 different colors: Midnight, Starlight, Silver, and Product Red for Aluminum versions. The stainless steel colors will be separate from the aluminum version as well.

The Apple Watch Series 8 will retail for $399 for the standard version and $499 for the cellular version. It will release on September 16.

Specs and Features

The Series 8 has all of the things you like about the Series 7, but with some additional new features. One of the most notable new features is the brilliant always on display. The Series 8 also takes a deeper dive into the health features that the Apple Watch has become known for. With the addition of temperature sensing, the Series 8 can sample your wrist temperature and track changes over time even going so far as tracking ovulation cycles.

In addition to the new health features, the Series 8 also includes new safety features that could potentially save your life in a car crash. Various sensors, including a force sensor, is able to detect crashes and can send alerts if you are to find yourself in a crash.

Low Power Mode and Battery Life

The Apple Watch Series 8 offers the standard 18 hour battery life with the addition of a new low power mode that will increase that by reducing certain features. It also

Apple just finished holding its annual iPhone event and that of course meant new iPhones. There were plenty of surprised with a larger iPhone 14 Plus replacing last year's mini model and a pair of extremely well equipped iPhone Pro models. Though, the biggest surprise was perhaps the Apple Watch Ultra, which is basically Apple's wearable on steroids with a bigger screen and an extremely rugged build. In case you missed it we've rounded up every major product announcement you need to know about

Apple Watch Series 8

Apple kicked off the show with its latest wearable, the Apple Watch Series 8. This new model brings even more features for health, safety, and connectivity. The new Apple Watch features a new temperature sensor for women’s health and a cycle tracking feature. This fills a big hole left by the security concerns around period-tracking apps.

For cycle tracking the Series 8 samples will check your wrist temp every half second and observe nightly shifts in baseline temp. Cyclical patterns can reveal the biphasic shift, which can indicate ovulation. Apple promises all cycle data is encrypted end-to-end on the device and the iCloud and it’s only accessible with a passcode or biometric ID, so even Apple can't read it.

Beyond that Series 8 also features a new gyroscope and an accelerometer, the latter of which samples motion 4 times faster than the previous sensor. With these new sensors, the Apple Watch can now detect car crashes and will call emergency services.

The Apple Watch Series 8 also features 18-hour battery life for all day use. Also activating the low-power mode extends battery life to 36-hours.

The Apple Watch Series 8 retails for $399 with GPS while cellular models run for $499. Both models come with three months of Fitness+ and they’re available to order today and it arrives September 16.

Apple Watch SE

Apple introduced its second-generation Apple Watch SE. Similar to the iPhone SE to the mainline iPhones, the Apple Watch SE features many of the same internal components of the Apple Watch Series 8. The SE model shares the same S8 processor as well as the new motion sensors.

The Apple Watch SE starts at $249 with GPS and then $299 for the cellular model. You can order today with general availability on September 16th.

Apple Watch Ultra

The Apple Watch is finally getting the Pr – err…Ultra treatment today. It’s essentially a high-end Apple Watch that’s larger and more durable, plus it offers longer battery life. The Apple Watch Ultra features a 49mm case, cellular connectivity by default, and a new programmable action button. All the buttons and crown on the Apple Watch Ultra have also been enlarged to use while wearing gloves.

The Apple Watch Ultra is built rugged to go after extreme activity watches from brands like Garmin. As such it’s built to an 810 military standard. This will be a watch you can take into the arctic and into the depths of the ocean without needing a case at all.

The Apple Watch Ultra will start at $799, it’s available to order today and it ships on September 23rd.

AirPods Pro

The second generation AirPods Pro is here at last. They look practically the same and the only new physical feature is a lanyard slot on the case, but there’s a lot new on the inside. The new AirPods Pro features a H2 chip with high-bandwidth connectivity for "exceptional sound quality." Additionally, the H2 chip powers advanced computation active noise cancellation for double the noise cancellation.

The new AirPods Pro’s also features a new touch capacitive layer for swipe controls on the stems. Battery life has also been extended to six hours in the buds and another 30 hours in the case. MagSafe has also come to the AirPods Pro case, so you have a third way of charging them on top of Lightening and Qi charging.

The second-gen AirPod Pro will retail for $249 when it becomes available to order September 9th and available September 23rd.

iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus

The new iPhone 14 is here and the notch remains the same. Also, the iPhone Mini has truly gone the way of the dodo and it’s been replaced by a larger iPhone 14 Plus with a 6.1-inch screen. The new 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch screens have also been upgraded with new brighter 1200-nit OLED displays that support Dolby Vision.

Of course, the handsets feature the A15 Bionic chip with a six-core CPU, built with two high-performance cores and four efficiency cores.

Moving onto cameras, the iPhone 14 sports a new 12MP main camera with larger 1.9micron pixels and a wider f1.5 aperture lens, plus optical image stabilization. The iPhone 14 is also headlined by a new amazing camera system called the photonic engine to give low-light photography a 49% improvement.

In an odd change, the iPhone 14 is completely moving away from physical SIM cards to eSIM with its US models. So if you buy this new phone you won’t be able to simply move your sim card to this device.

Similar to the new Apple Watch models, the iPhone 14 features crash detection, and thanks to new satellite connectivity, you’ll be able to send out an Emergency SOS via satellite. The emergency satellite service launches in November and it comes free for two years with iPhone 14, but Apple didn’t mention how much it will cost after that.

The iPhone 14 starts at $799 and the iPhone 14 Plus costs $899. You can order either model starting on September 9th, but the iPhone 14 arrives on September 16 and the iPhone 14 Plus is available on October 7th.

iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max

The smaller notch that’s been rumored forever has come to the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. But instead of calling it a hole punch or notch, Apple is calling it a dynamic island now. iOS 16 basically has a bunch of new animations that incorporate the black space of the notch such as extending into a long line for Siri searches or a black box to show what’s playing now.

Aside from the new dynamic island, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max’s 6.1- and 6.7-inch screens now feature thinner bezels, a peak 2000-nit brightness, and a minimum 1Hz refresh rate. It’s also the first iPhone to feature an always-on display.

The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max also get a new A16 Bionic chip built from a 4nm processor to feature nearly 16 billion transistors. The chip features six CPU cores, including two high-performance cores that use 20% less power while the four efficiency cores use 1/3rd the power of competitor chips.

The iPhone series has used 12MP cameras for a long time but the new iPhone Pro is finally stepping things up with a 48MP camera with a 24mm focal length and f1.78 aperture. Aside from being higher-resolution, it’s a quad-pixel sensor that’s 65% larger than the previous Pro model. Additionally, with pixel binning, Apple can crop the sensor into a true 2x zoom camera with a 48mm focal length. And you can also shoot ProRAW at the full 48MP resolution.

The iPhone 14 Pro starts at $999 while the iPhone 14 Pro Max starts at $1,099. Preorders begin September 9th and the phones will be available September 16th.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Kevin Lee is IGN's SEO Updates Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are introducing a brand new way to battle with other pocket monsters that doesn't require any input from the trainer whatsoever.

Auto Battles take place through a new feature called Let's Go that lets players send off their partner Pokémon to explore the nearby area, during which they can take on wild Pokémon in their own fights.

Announced on the Pokémon website following a new trailer (below) being released, Auto Battles (as the name suggests) take place independently of the player's involvement. This means that, while you can stick around and watch your Pokémon battle another, you can also walk away and explore the area.

"You can have one Pokémon out and walking with you in the Paldea region’s great outdoors," the website reads. "When you have a Pokémon exploring with you in the field, you can use the 'Let’s Go' feature to send that Pokémon off in the direction you indicate. The Pokémon you send out then independently picks up items in the area and even has Auto Battles with nearby Pokémon."

Auto Battles also let the Pokémon earn experience points, though it's unclear if there's a limit to the time or number of battles it can engage in before requiring another command from the player.

This isn't the only news that came out of the new trailer, however, as Nintendo also announced a new limited edition Pokémon Scarlet and Violet OLED Nintendo Switch console. It also showed off the three major stories that players can pursue in the new games, taking advantage of the series-first open world.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Fans may have waited two decades for a Final Fantasy 7 remake – but a new PC mod has reverted 2020's uprezzed heroes back to the original PlayStation game's low-poly graphics.

As reported by PC Gamer, Nexus Mods user FantasyRaider has created a mod that turns Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret and Yuffie back to their original, pointy Final Fantasy 7 appearances.

The characters will appear in their low-poly forms - which are technically taken from the Windows 1998 version of the game (evidenced by their mouths that don't appear in the original) throughout both gameplay and in-engine cutscenes. They won't appear in Remake's full cinematic cutscenes, however, but can still be enjoyed for most of the game.

Everything else remains in full HD, of course, with just the character models of playable characters being sent back in time. This includes Sonon Kusakabe, who wasn't in the original game and was instead introduced in Remake's Intermission chapter –but the mod also gives him a low-poly model too.

Similar wacky mods will likely be released for Final Fantasy 7 Remake's sequel, Rebirth, which has finally been confirmed by Square Enix as a late 2023 game. It will continue the story of Remake - though perhaps not exactly as Final Fantasy 7 told it - as the second game in the remastered trilogy.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has revealed he once pitched a Hitman movie.

Appearing on Twitter, the 56-year-old filmmaker revealed that he pitched a movie about Agent 47 just weeks before he boarded Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

“Weeks before I got Guardians I pitched a HITMAN movie,” he said. “The studio really wanted to hire me, but a producer on the project did not. I was bummed then, but thank God, because I would have never been able to do [Guardians of the Galaxy] if they had said yes!”

Weeks before I got Guardians I pitched a HITMAN movie. The studio really wanted to hire me, but a producer on the project did not. I was bummed then, but thank God, because I would have never been able to do GotG if they had said yes! https://t.co/0JYQGBsuGY

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) September 6, 2022

Gunn has discussed his Hitman pitch before, with the director previously confirming that it would have been “R-rated” – but we didn't realise quite how close it was to his milestone work on the MCU.

Whether or not the Hitman series will get another adaptation remains to be seen. But for now, it looks as though James Gunn won’t be the filmmaker to bring it to the big screen.

Timothy Olyphant starred as Agent 47 in Hitman, the mildly entertaining action thriller. But compared to the beloved video game series, it left a lot to be desired. IGN’s Hitman review gave it 6/10 and said: “Ultimately, Hitman is less a ‘videogame movie’ than it is a rather generic but nevertheless engaging action flick. Hitman could have been even better had we'd gotten to know more about The Organization and Agent 47.”

Hitman: Agent 47 was Hollywood’s second run at a Hitman adaptation in 2015, starring Rupert Friend as the iconic assassin. Again, it wasn’t quite up to scratch, with IGN giving the film 6/10 and saying: “Hitman: Agent 47 is almost certainly going to be too much of a generic action film for those heavily invested in the game franchise, and too video game-like for those who aren't..”

Want to read more about Hitman? Check out our full Hitman III walkthrough if you’re having trouble with a target, or get some essential hints and tips to take your assignments to the next level.

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

Marvel’s Daredevil star Rosario Dawson wants to return in Daredevil: Born Again.

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actress explained that she would love to see her character make her way into the MCU after debuting as part of Netflix's short-lived Marvel experiements.

“Oh yeah,” she said. “For sure. You don’t even see her in that last ‘tell Claire to go home’ moment on Luke Cage. So, what is that? You know it’s terrible. So, yeah, I’d be super curious,”

Dawson debuted as Claire Temple on Marvel’s Daredevil back in Season One, helping patch up Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock after an altercation that left him bleeding out in a dumpster. A nurse who seems to constantly find herself helping out superheroes, Temple also appeared in Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and even the team-up that brings them all together, Marvel’s Defenders.

As Dawson makes clear, Temple’s fate was left unknown the last time she appeared – and Dawson is happy to see Daredevil return, in case she can come back too.

“I’m just so stoked for everybody, though,” she added. “It’s been a long time coming. I was really excited to know that all of our shows are actually part of the MCU now, with Charlie and Vincent [D’Onofrio] coming over into these different projects now. So, yeah, 18 episodes [of Daredevil: Born Again]? I’m there! Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, they know where I am.”

Dawson is already busy, given that she's now the live-action version of Star Wars' Ahsoka Tano, and will be getting her own solo show.

Meanwhile, Daredevil is due to make his costumed debut in Marvel’s She-Hulk after Matt Murdock was seen giving legal aid to Peter Parker during the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Daredevil: Born Again was announced earlier this year at San Diego Comic Con, with both Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio confirmed to return here, as well as in a new MCU Echo show on Disney+.

Dawson herself made headlines recently after claiming that Marvel’s Punisher would be heading to the MCU… only to walk back her comments days later.

Want to read more about Daredevil: Born Again? Check out where Daredevil might appear next, as well as what to expect from Daredevil’s MCU appearances.

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

UPDATE November 4, 2022: The Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Edition Switch OLED is out now, and if you missed preorders, the good news is it's not too late to grab one. Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy currently have available stock of the limited-edition Pokémon Switch, but Best Buy is pick-up only.

Nintendo has announced a new Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Edition Switch OLED.

The new Pokémon-themed console launches on November 4, 2022, and features art inspired by the upcoming Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet games with the legendary pokémon Koraidon and Miraidon pictured on the system dock.

Additionally, the console’s joy-con controllers are scarlet and violet colored, with the emblems of the games' Naranja and Uva Academies taking pride of place. The console itself is covered with purple and red graffiti, which includes drawings of the new starter pokémon – Fuecoco, Quaxly, and Sprigatito.

Other symbols are “ones the player might recognize throughout the game” which seems to include the new logo for the game’s Team Rocket counterpart, Team Star. The Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Edition Switch OLED will be available in stores and on My Nintendo Store from November 4 for around $359.99.

Meanwhile, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet have been making waves with a new trailer that gives us a bit more detail about the upcoming Paldea region, as well as what trainers can expect there.

New trainers will take on three unique storylines in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, including traditional gym challenges, a face-off with Team Star, and a quest to discover new mystical plants.

IGN’s Nintendo Switch OLED review gave it 8/10 and said: “The Nintendo Switch OLED Model’s brighter, more vibrant, and slightly larger screen has made me want to take it out of docked mode much more often – and not just when I am about to travel. I feel more encouraged to lounge around on the couch or even in direct sunlight in the yard and play games handheld. The revised kickstand makes playing on any flat surface easier, and the Ethernet-enabled dock makes downloads quicker. While it’s a tougher sell for current Switch owners, particularly those that mostly keep their console docked, there are enough revisions to make it an easy recommendation for anyone who doesn’t own a Switch already.”

Want to read more about Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet? Check out the new 4-player co-op coming to the games, and find out about the new terastallizing mechanic.

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

Batman: Hush is a perennial bestseller for DC Comics. This iconic storyline has been reprinted in just about every format imaginable, from various hardcovers and trade paperbacks to a massive Absolute Edition collection. But for the latest Hush collection, DC is offering something no previous version can boast - a brand new story from the original creative team.

Batman: Hush 20th Anniversary Edition reunites original writer Jeph Loeb and artist Jim Lee for a 5-page story set after the events of 2003's Batman #619. DC is keeping the exact plot of this new story under wraps, but IGN can exclusively reveal two panels. Check them out in the slideshow gallery below and start speculating now:

DC also provided a brief but intriguing summary for this new story:

Ever wondered exactly what happened after Batman: Hush ended 20 years ago? This 20th Anniversary Edition provides the first clues to Hush’s fate on that dark night. An all-new story from the original creative team of Jeph Loeb, Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Alex Sinclair, and Richard Starkings!

Batman: Hush 20th Anniversary Edition will collect the entire storyline (including the interlude originally published in Wizard Magazine), along with a hefty selection of sketches, annotations and other behind-the-scenes material curated by Lee.

Batman: Hush was originally serialized in Batman #608-619. The storyline introduces the titular bandaged villain and features many of Batman's most popular villains in supporting roles. Batman: Hush is also notable for introducing Bruce Wayne's estranged childhood friend, Dr. Tommy Elliot, and featuring a whirlwind romance between Batman and Catwoman (laying the groundwork for their eventual marriage in Tom King's Batman series).

Hush himself has gone on to appear in various other Batman comics, as well as video games like Batman: Arkham City and TV shows like Batwoman and Gotham. The original comic was also directly adapted in the 2019 animated movie Batman: Hush, albeit with a significantly altered ending.

Batman: Hush 20th Anniversary Edition is priced at $49.99 and is slated for release on October 18, 2022. You can preorder the book through Amazon and various other retailers.

Find out exactly how Batman: Hush measures up to the classics in IGN's Top 27 Batman graphic novels list.

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

Microsoft is introducing a new version of its popular Xbox Elite Series 2 controller today. And outside of it being a new color variant, it also comes with a cheaper retail price but does not include a lot of stuff found in the standard Elite 2 controller.

The Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 - Core is a two-toned controller with matte black grips and a primarily white body. Retailing at $129.99, the Elite 2 - Core is more competitively priced when compared to the standard Elite 2 controller, which costs $179.99.

However, that cheaper price tag also comes with some caveats; the main ones include the lack of a carrying case, paddles, extra thumbsticks, and a standard D-Pad. You can see the infographic below that shows the clear comparisons between both Elite Series 2 controllers.

Fortunately, there is an option to buy the additional parts that are included in the standard Elite Controller. Microsoft confirmed in a press release that it will sell a new "Complete Component Pack," which includes the carrying case, charging dock, additional thumbsticks, a USB-C cable, and a standard D-Pad for just $59.99.

While this is convenient for those that purchase the Xbox Elite 2 - Core controller and want to get more customization out of their controller, the complete component pack is also ideal for current Elite 2 controller owners who may need replacement parts. Thus increasing the lifespan of the current controller in the event a part goes missing or breaks.

Microsoft also confirmed that it would bring the Elite 2 controller to the Xbox Design Lab sometime this holiday season. Marking the first time an Xbox Elite series controller will be available in the Xbox Design Lab since the customization program launched back in 2016.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.