Remember Hytale? The sandbox RPG blew up big when it launched into early access back in January, making so much in preorders that it secured funding for two more years of development. It was a real triumph because the game had been canceled by Riot after nearly 10 years in development, but was saved from the jaws of death by its creator, Simon Collins-Laflamme, who bought the rights to the...

Programmer Christopher Green has had a long career in the games industry, with a development history that included Amiga's Flight Simulators, Ultima Underworld, and Magic: The Gathering Online before ultimately working at and retiring from Valve—twice. Green had previously made a six-year attempt at retirement starting in 2017, but returned to Valve for another go in 2023.Earlier this week, Green announced on his blog that he's once again had the...

The living room PC is a certified thing now, and not just for those of us with extra long HDMI cables. The Steam Machine is "out" for the dozens of people who've picked up the $1,000 cube, but before that, folks were already making their own living room machines that run SteamOS.Anyone can make a Steam Machine, which is exactly how Valve likes it. That's one reason it priced its...

It took nine months, but Battlefield 6 is about to get its most requested feature. Naval warfare returns to the series on July 21 with the introduction of Tsuru Reef—BF6's new biggest map—a pair of boats, and more guns.Perhaps more interesting is what's coming in phase 2 of Season 4 on August 18: OG Battlefield map Wake Island gets a modern update, complete with its aircraft carrier spawn points and...

It's always interested me what people will accept as a playable frame rate for their games. It's almost an intrinsic part of being a PC gamer, because most of us have had to live with compromise for our entire gaming lives. If you're Scrooge McDuck, swimming through piles of cash and can drop five grand on a gaming PC, sure, you don't have to worry about digging around in the...

Ever since Overwatch let the 5v5 cat out of the bag in 2022, it's spent most of its time trying to get it back in. The format has been met with a lot of backlash over the last four years from those who don't see it as a good alternative to the classic 6v6. It's a problem Team 4 has tried to solve by bringing in 6v6 open queue as...

So comfortable you'll never want to take them off, the hotswappable batteries and DAC that doubles as a charging dock may mean you never have to. That said, I really wouldn't recommend sleeping in these…Key specs: 40 mm drivers | Fully retractable mic arm | Active Noise Cancellation | 2x 30 hr battery packsPrice check: Newegg $263.99 | Best Buy $399.99 | SteelSeries $379.99View DealOne of the reasons I love...

I was pretty excited when I read about Marathon's Vault Breaker PvE mode in June: I like shooting things, and I love the Marathon aesthetic, but the grind of extraction shooters just isn't my thing. In an update released today, ahead of next week's mid-season update, Bungie revealed more about the upcoming "experimental" PvE mode, including that its initial iteration will only be available for two weeks.Vault Breaker will go...

If you've ever seen Path of Exile you probably noticed that all its gear has red, green, and blue circular sockets on them. Those sockets are the basis of its character build customization: You don't learn skills in PoE, you pick up skill gems and insert them into your gear. Skill gems–and multi-colored sockets—have been core to PoE ever since it was released.They're also the first roadblock for new players...

A man who was found liable for multiple high-profile hacks including a major leak of Grand Theft Auto 6 footage in 2022 has reportedly been released from the secure hospital where he'd been held since 2023, and is now in prison awaiting a retrial.Arion Kurtaj, who was 18 at the time, was found by a UK court to be part of the Lapsus$ hacking group that had carried out attacks...