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There's no such thing as the Matt Mercer Effect

Jody Macgregor — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 02:16:09 +0000

RPG rulebooks sometimes open with an "example of play" where players with whitebread names like Arthur and Samantha go through a scripted scene and probably some combat to give you an idea what roleplaying is like. Tabletop roleplaying games are a weird hobby, and back in the day if you didn't have an existing group to join and were just going off the rulebooks like me, the only way to learn what they were like was by reading the adventures of Artie and Sam.

Now, you've got it easy. There are like 400 episodes of Critical Role online, not to mention Dimension 20, the Adventure Zone, Acquisitions Incorporated, and Dungeon Masters with Neil Newbon and Devora Wilde out of BG3. I would have killed for this many examples of how to play RPGs when I was a kid in a country town with no game shops around. All I had was ads in comics promising "The fantasy adventure of a lifetime!" Now I've got more hours of Matt Mercer saying "How do you want to do this?" than I'll ever have time to watch.

Which is why it's baffling that the YouTube algorithm and Reddit have spent several years vomiting headlines at me like "How to beat the Matt Mercer effect" and "The Mercer Effect is real and can be extremely toxic to your game."

The idea of "the Matt Mercer effect" is that not only are actual-play series like Critical Role a bad introduction to roleplaying, they give new players dangerously high expectations, which are ruining people's games. A generation of kids think every Dungeon Master will be as good at accents and creaky door noises as professional voice actor Matthew Mercer, goes the claim, and they will leave your table in a huff because you are just an ordinary human GM who can maybe do one Cockney goblin at a stretch.

I'm not saying nobody has ever complained their GM isn't doing a good enough job and maybe even used Matt Mercer as an example of how to be a better one. I'm saying the problem goes back way further than Critical Role, and is one that's been playing out for years before anyone was making a living as a professional Dungeon Master.

One of the most important tools in a GM's bag is session zero. It's the part before the game where you make sure everyone's on the same page about what kind of game you're about to play. It's where you talk about whether there will be more action or roleplaying, whether player-versus-player conflict is allowed, which house rules you'll be using, and so on. Are you down with adversarial play, or with romance, or with safety tools? Are you going to get narky because I'm neurodivergent and sometimes looking at my phone makes it easier for me to concentrate even if it looks like I'm distracted? These are the things you hash out in session zero so they don't come up when play begins.

But the game taking place in the back room of a game shop probably doesn't have time for that, and the game being run by your friend's brother who let you join in this week but only because his parents made him probably doesn't either.

Overwhelmingly, rants about the Mercer Effect end with the revelation that the person running the game was running it for a group that included strangers, usually at their local game store, without a session zero. And while it's nice that those pickup introductory sessions exist, that someone who is curious about roleplaying can test it out in the back room of a comics shop then buy a rulebook on the way out the door, it's almost always a terrible first experience.

Roleplaying is best eased into with friends. It's a trust exercise where you need to feel comfortable spending a few hours pretending to be a gnome among people who aren't going to make fun of you for it, with a GM who isn't going to decide it would be fun if your character had to fight off a sexual assault, or had a magical pregnancy inflicted on them, or one of the many other nightmare scenarios that fill conversations like the Creepiest Person You Ever Gamed With topic on RPGNet.

That topic eventually reached 3,000 posts and was split into six separate subthreads if you want to understand how many gross dudes are out there. But anyone saying "You're not as good at GMing as Matt Mercer" probably isn't doing it because their first GM's an absolute creep. They're doing it because of a problem that's even more prevalent if less fun to vent about online—a simple mismatch of expectations.

A clash between expectation and reality is inevitable, whether those expectations come from watching an actual-play show or just imagining what it's going to be like. People who want more roleplaying being let down to discover the game they've joined is just another dungeon crawl is not a new phenomenon. Disappointment has been a common reaction to your first time roleplaying for decades. It was my reaction too, and all I had to build up my expectations were ads in comics and the adventures of Arthur and Samantha. Poor old blameless Matt Mercer had nothing to do with it.

I ran 45 idle game demos from Steam Next Fest all at once for a desktop companion battle royale

Andrea Shearon — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 02:12:24 +0000

Steam Next Fest is back and bigger than ever, but I'm not so sure that's a good thing as I struggle to sift through its thousands of demos in search of my next second-screen idler. If anything, I kind of hate the current structure: we've gone from browsing a bespoke, quality selection of gems to navigating the world's busiest Costco where every aisle has a dozen free samples to shove in your mouth.

The free food is nice, but sometimes I take a bite and instantly regret it. Sifting through today's Steam Next Fest feels a lot like that, and with nearly 500 idlers in the showcase, filters aren't that helpful either. I don't have time to even read that many store descriptions, let alone play them, so I did what any sane, totally normal person in this situation would do:

I downloaded 45 demos, launched them all at once, and started narrowing my selection down by closing the ones that didn't entertain me for more than a few seconds.

Extremely normal Steam activity feed. (Image credit: Valve)

Well, I say all at once, but what I really did was flood my second screen with as many idlers as I could fit before culling them to just my favorites. The results were a hellish mixture of lo-fi beats to get overstimulated to, cats meowing, and every farm noise imaginable. It took about two or three rounds to go through them all, but the strategy worked, and I have a nice little list of desktop idle games to wishlist.

Coincidentally, I also have the worst video I've ever recorded.

As you can imagine, my PC wasn't particularly thrilled to have a billion chirping idle games all sounding off at the same time, but ol' faithful handled it like a champ. And out of the 45 idlers I downloaded, I only have 11 desktop distractions to recommend.

The surviving Steam Next Fest idler demos

Black Cat Book Club - Improve feline literacy, decorate a magical tower
Cozy Mining - Dig a hole, find treasures in the hole, then keep digging
DeskFarm - Manage a teensy tiny farm grid
Duelist: Idle Expedition - A surprisingly robust auto battler
Grandpa's Bee Haven - Bee-keeping sim, kind of like Rusty's Retirement
Idle Bookstore - Decorate and manage a little bookstore
Idyll Isle - Adorable, pastel farming sim
LootBorne - Simple auto-battler with PvP
PawMart Tiny Market - Manage and restock an animal-run grocery store
Succulent Break - Make cute and simple succulent arrangements
Tiny Farmie - Another farm sim with a cute art style

I've got the attention span of an overcaffeinated toddler, so I love the brief yet satisfying distraction found in a good idler. I don't need something that takes me away for long, so I go for the desktop companion-style games that fit nicely in the corner of my screen. They give me something to do for a minute or two before it's back to work, and I like seeing my finished collections or completely decorated spaces when I'm done with them.

My Steam Next Fest list is a mixed bundle of idle farm sims and passive shop management, but I tossed a couple of auto-battlers in there for fun. I'm not interested in AI slop or idlers filled with microtransactions either, so you (hopefully) won't find any of that included. It's all just games made by people. People who understand that some of us just need to pause for a little brain treat sometimes, and that we're only going to finish a big task if we have several smaller tasks to serve a bit of serotonin on the side. Just don't open them all at once—it has the opposite effect.

If you want to see the full list of idlers featured in Steam Next Fest, you can check out the filtered results from now until Monday, June 22. And if you find any idler gems I missed, let me know.

I need you to play this unbelievably tense 2 hour horror about descending into hell with a grappling hook

shaun.prescott@futurenet.com (Shaun Prescott) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 23:42:28 +0000

Idols of Ash looks like another of the droves of low-poly first-person horror games oozing from the 21st century collective consciousness, but it's actually more of a climbing game. I meet the nameless protagonist at the mouth of a mysterious, fathomless pit. For some reason it's my objective to reach the bottom of it.

At first I start to drop down from one platform or outcrop to the next like I would in any other first-person game, or like I would down a well, or the inside of a giant tree, in a Dark Souls game. Idols of Ash reminds me a lot of FromSoft's games, especially of the recurring Miyazaki motif of dropping carefully into an abyss that seems to widen and contort the further I go. The atmosphere here is pure melancholy murk until, with the flip of a dime, it turns skin crawling.

Crucially, I have a grappling hook. This is the trick that Idols of Ash's two hour runtime orbits around. If I hook into where I'm standing I can descend safely into the pit to my rope's full extent. Or, more daringly, I can drop without an anchor and hook onto a surface during my fall. I can also swing with this grappling hook, gaining enough momentum to allow me to make leaps of faith towards distant platforms.

I do this extremely slowly at first, all the better to get a handle on a movement system that becomes more flexible and expressive the more I interact with it. Ain't this nice, I thought: a slowburn exploration game for nyctophiles!

But then a ginormous freaking centipede appeared from the gloom above, snapping me in half with its trunk-sized mandibles. Game over.

(Image credit: Leafy Games)

The tonal whiplash made me rage quit, if I'm honest, but the promise of that grappling hook and the eerily cylindrical subterranea brought me sulking back. I learned to go fast. The further downward I charted the less I could dare rely on hooking and descending: I had to jump and catch, swing and leap. A growing understanding of the expanse was useful, yes, but so was better knowledge of what kind of surfaces the grappling hook can grapple to, and how much slack I need to make quick scurrying leaps. Sometimes I'd just have to hope for the best.

(Image credit: Leafy Games)

I reckon that giant centipede had my arse at least a dozen times. Dealing with it became easier when I realised that it doesn't really move much faster than I do, at least on the game's normal difficulty. The centipede forced me to use my instinct and be dextrous. From a design perspective it's basically a manifesto: Leafy Games doesn't want you to descend this hellscape methodically, stopping to take in the depressing sights now and then: It wants you to play this like an arena shooter without a gun.

Like I said, it took me about two hours to complete Idols of Ash, though some people in the Steam forums reckon it took them 20 minutes. Once you've finished it you unlock Nightmare mode which removes checkpoints and speeds up the centipede. A lot of people seem to think this is the right way to play it, but I'm not going anywhere near it, thanks. Much more my speed is the sandbox mode, also unlocked post-completion, which lets me explore without the centipede and play around with a bunch of modifiers, like shorter and lengthier ropes, heightened or reduced fall damage, etcetera.

There is a cryptic story threaded through Idols of Ash. The game's climax is oddly impactful despite the determined vagueness of the exposition up until that moment. I think I'll need to play it again to make sense of it, but overall I think that climactic moment landed because I genuinely felt like I'd escaped a horrible, high stress scenario. Idols of Ash feels like a feverish nightmare. But don't worry too much: it's also an extraordinarily fun first-person platformer. It's on Steam and Itch.

Bungie will let Destiny 2 'near infinite damage' bug ride for a week: 'Do your thing'

tyler@pcgamer.com (Tyler Wilde) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 22:22:18 +0000

Destiny 2's final content update threw so much into the shooter that something was bound to break, and break it did. An upcoming patch will fix a "near infinite damage" bug introduced by the Monument of Triumph update, but the developers at Bungie have decided to drag their feet on the fix to let more players have a taste of godlike power.

"While we're planning a fix (next week likely), we think this is a bit fun," the Destiny 2 team said on X. "Go ahead. Get out there, beat up on Atheon. Destroy some bosses. Do your thing."

The bug, which Rory describes how to exploit here, allows players to stack multiples of the same seasonal Artifact perks, achieving unreasonable damage output.

Bungie is disabling Artifacts in PvP modes for now so that players aren't falling victim to what the studio is calling "The Artifactening," but the game's bosses aren't so lucky.

"Do some crazy stuff," Bungie concluded. "Send us your videos. Have some fun. Be Brave."

Stacking 7 artifacts mods is completely broken. The start of the chaos reach clip shows the damage of a normal chaos reach compared to having stacked 7 thunderous retort. The pack tactics speaks for itself pic.twitter.com/4Rglp7491FJune 16, 2026

The Monument of Triumph update brought back another way to cheese bosses, too: Punting them into the abyss.

The beloved technique is being deployed in The Pantheon, in which players fight a series of raid bosses back-to-back. As our friends at GamesRadar spotted, player Esoterickk has demonstrated how to send The Pantheon's version of Morgeth sailing over the edge of the arena for an uncontested victory.

"It wouldn't be a Destiny release if you couldn't bump a boss off a ledge," Bungie comms manager dmg04 said on X.

Attention former 2000s youths: A second Beyblade-inspired roguelike has hit Steam Next Fest

lincoln.carpenter@futurenet.com (Lincoln Carpenter) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 20:32:15 +0000

Back in January, I wrote about From the Top, a roguelike designed for those of us who had experienced the unparalleled childhood thrill of detonating your older brother's Beyblade with an imported Japanese Driger V2 that your parents had given you earlier that day on Christmas morning of 2003. (Many such cases.) From the Top was a promising omen: a sign that a subgenre precision-targeted at a specific vintage of millennials might soon emerge.

Today, I am pleased to report that the dream of the burgeoning Beyblade-like space is alive and well in Slayblade, a top-battling roguelike with a demo in this month's Next Fest.

(Image credit: Henry's House)

Compared to From the Top's darker vibe, Slayblade is leaning even harder into Y2K nostalgia. It's all airy Toonami-core soundtrack and pixelated overworld sprites, and the designs of its pseudo-Beyblades are right in line with the era's chunky, gratuitous plastic molding sensibilities. Except you might end up with a Wu Tang logo as one of your battle top components. Don't worry about it. It's for the children.

You play as a nameless Slayblade battler, aiming to secure the Slayblade World Championship title—an achievement which will, obviously, allow you to discover why your father disappeared after inventing perpetual motion Slayblade technology "that would have solved the energy crisis." To get there, you'll have to complete a days-long run of skating between cash prize Slayblade battles, exchanging your winnings for top parts and tournament entries.

You can also use your Slayblade to mow lawns for extra money and experience if you want. Or you can partake in "illegal," high-risk Slayblade battles. I don't know what would render a battle top match illegal, but I do know I'm too afraid to ask.

(Image credit: Henry's House)

As you'd expect, each of the available Slayblade parts—divided between top heads, bodies, and tips—have their own attributes and effects. In addition to a weight stat that affects the Slayblade's impact, handling, and momentum, each part has an active effect that'll trigger if you fling your top into a "power up cube" during a match.

The combinations can be pretty potent. For example, that Wu Tang logo I mentioned will halve the time until the next power up cube appears when triggered. On its own, that might not seem like much—but pair it with a Buster body that summons a spin-draining ghost to chase your opponent when you collect a cube, and you could flood the Slayblade arena with vampiric phantoms that can quickly leave the other top lifeless.

In one of my runs, I matched a Slayblade body that placed a landmine in the arena with a "Flat Earth" tip that flattened the typically bowl-shaped arena into a level plane: When my opponents slid into my explosives, there was nothing keeping them from immediately skittering out of bounds, earning me an easy victory.

(Image credit: Henry's House)

Slayblade's Next Fest demo is fairly short and rough around the edges: The available part selection isn't particularly deep, each run will abruptly cut off at the point you'd enter your initial Slayblade tournament, and there's a healthy amount of placeholder art and menu text waiting for another pass. But as an early playtest, it's another promising take on a proof of concept that I'm pleased to see.

Slayblade doesn't have a release date, but the demo is available on Steam now.

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'World of Warcraft Camelot' is a mysterious new branch of the MMO that Blizzard fans are convinced is the first real evidence of a remixed WoW Classic

Tyler Colp — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 20:08:59 +0000

A new version of World of Warcraft was just discovered and it's called "World of Warcraft Camelot". Instead of some kind of Arthurian spin-off, however, the dataminer who found it theorizes that it's just a codename for an enhanced version of World of Warcraft Classic.

Dubbed "WoW Classic Plus" by hopeful players over the years, this hypothetical version of the MMO would branch off from the original and become something new based on something old—just like Old School Runescape.

Wowhead dataminer Stiven found licenses for two versions of "World of Warcraft Camelot" on Blizzard's servers, suggesting that it will have multiple editions available to purchase. They also said that this branch of WoW is on the July 2006 patch that introduced a raid you might remember from the viral Leroy Jenkins video.

That happens to be the same patch a version of WoW was mysteriously running on last year. With BlizzCon coming up in September, it would make sense for Blizzard to start testing WoW Classic Plus so that it's ready to be playable on the show floor. Not to mention that it recently invited a bunch of WoW Classic streamers to its offices in Irvine to see something new under an NDA.

Blizzard has a track record of letting things slip by way of their internal server updates. Most WoW players know to start preparing for a new patch when a PTR server shows up on there. And sometimes big announcements, like Diablo 4's new paladin class, are accidentally leaked by poorly named internal builds.

New Heroic and Epic Licenses for the "World of Warcraft Camelot" were pushed. Not much information about it, but it looks like a brand new WoW Game unrelated to the current Midnight / Titan. I suspect Classic+ everyone talks about?June 16, 2026

At this point, WoW Classic Plus has been talked about so much that it would be hard to imagine Blizzard won't give it a shot. It already dabbled with the idea of mixing things up with the original MMO via Season of Discovery, and it's hinted that something similar could happen again.

With WoW Classic's popularity waning these days as the MMO gets closer and closer to catching up with the regular version, a WoW Classic Plus could be Blizzard's solution to the problem. I'd like to see it try because playing a version of the game without the conveniences of modern WoW always puts me off of it. I'd be way more inclined to try something that isn't so beholden to the kind of suffering players went through a decade ago.

All Grow a Garden 2 codes for June 2026: Earn sheckles with free seeds

Andrea Shearon — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 19:13:23 +0000

It's time to abandon your old flowerbeds and plant something fresh—one of Roblox's most popular games officially has a sequel in Grow a Garden 2. The new Roblox experience is a lot like the original, but with a few quality-of-life tweaks and added threats as other players can now steal your hard-earned seedlings. That means you'll need more resources than ever to stay safe from player heists, so we're tracking all active Grow a Garden 2 codes below.

All active Grow a Garden 2 codes

TEAMGREENBEAN - 3x Green Bean Seeds

Expired Grow a Garden 2 codes

There are no expired Grow a Garden 2 codes at this time.

How to redeem Grow a Garden 2 codes

(Image credit: Roblox / Strawberreh Squad)

Using your codes in Grow a Garden 2

With no leveling requirements or mandatory Roblox groups to join, Grow a Garden 2 codes are easy to redeem. You can immediately use active codes upon joining the lobby in just a few simple steps:

Launch Grow a Garden 2 via Roblox.
Select ⚙️ Settings in the top left.U
Enter any active Grow a Garden 2 code in the text box.
Select Claim and you're done—check your inventory for the goods!

Less than a month before launch, survival RPG Outward 2 delayed into 2027

clivingston@pcgamer.com (Christopher Livingston) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 18:20:15 +0000

Survival RPG Outward 2 has been delayed from a July 2026 release into next year. Developer Nine Dots Studio delivered the news on Steam today, with Nine Dots CEO and Outward 2 creative director Guillaume Boucher-Vidal saying "I apologize that we couldn’t give you the game you guys deserve on time."

There's no specific revised release date for Outward 2: at the moment, the release date on Steam simply says "2027."

That's disappointing for sure! I had a fine time in a build of Outward 2 not long ago and the RPG has been in open beta since June 7, so it looked to be on track for an early access release this summer. Alas.

"I know that this might seem sudden as not that long ago we released a trailer inviting people to explore Aurai during summer, but the truth is that if we just stick to the plan stubbornly, we’re delivering a product that might not satisfy your expectations," Boucher-Vidal said on Steam.

"The last thing we want to do is disappoint fans of Outward and there has been a lot of comments stating that they wish for the game to spend more time in development before the launch. The point of a beta is to listen to feedback, and so we will."

Boucher-Vidal's post did not say specifically what the feedback was from players that convinced the studio to delay.

"It’s hard to gauge what is the appropriate degree of stability expected for early access. The best we can do is take a hard, honest look at the game, and at our team, and ask: in a few weeks, will this be good enough to charge money for?" Boucher-Vidal said.

I definitely ran into some rough edges in my time in the beta, but nothing that seemed like it couldn't be addressed with patches—and besides, Outward 2 was going to be an early access game, so issues are expected. However, I only spent a couple of hours in the build, so players who dove in a bit more deeply may have seen other, more serious problems with the RPG.

"Dropping this news is especially painful knowing that some of our most dedicated players actually planned their summer break around the release date. It sucks for you and I personally apologize to everyone affected this way," Boucher-Vidal said.

"However, it would be even worse if you ended up playing something over your vacation that you were not even happy with."

Overwatch season 3 kicks off with the gift of Jetpack Cat nerfs after the Apache helicopter meta dominated the World Cup

Elie Gould — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 17:54:27 +0000

It's finally over, we're free. Overwatch players no longer have to live in fear, cowering from the skies in anticipation of what is essentially an AH-64 Apache appearing overhead and gunning us all down, because Jetpack Cat has been nerfed yet again.

This comes as part of Overwatch season 3's patch notes, where Jetpack Cat has undergone some decent changes, including a reduction in the shield minor perk, a speed decrease, and crucially, a fuel regeneration penalty while carrying a target, which has been increased from 2x to 3x slower.

(Image credit: Blizzard)

The latter is big news for anyone who's fallen victim to Jetpack Cat's ability to carry allies into enemy backlines. What started as a goofy joke graduated to a viable strat as Jetpack Cat and Bastion quickly became meta. Jetpack Cat is one of the most mobile characters in Overwatch, so she's pretty hard to hit as is, but add a flying Bastion in the mix, which can switch to turret mode and mow down any poor soul that can't duck for cover, and then you have a server admin-level threat.

"While Jetpack Cat's win rate and play rates remain low, Lifeline is highly effective at higher ranks when continuously carrying certain heroes," the patch notes explain. "Increasing the fuel regeneration penalty while carrying a target and reducing the strength of Transport Shielding weakens this strategy, while weapon improvements increase effectiveness outside of Lifeline."

If you're still not convinced of the sheer power of Lifeline then just look at the recent Overwatch World Cup, where teams were forced to either ban Jetpack Cat or play into the Cat and Bastion meta—it was pure chaos.

(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

This isn't to say Jetpack Cat has just been left in the dirt, though, as she has got a couple of buffs. Damage and healing from Biotic Pawjectiles has been increased from 4 to 4.5 per pellet and the Headbutt major perk has had its damage increased from 30 to 50.

I'm not opposed to making Jetpack Cat stronger in these areas; so far my biggest issue with her has been her ridiculous mobility and the Lifeline ability, both of which have been addressed to some extent. Although, I'll still probably ban her in competitive matches—I don't want any of that smoke.

Sega says it made a 'life-sized figure containing Sonic's DNA,' and I have a few questions

lincoln.carpenter@futurenet.com (Lincoln Carpenter) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:37:17 +0000

This year marks the 35th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sega is pulling out all the stops as it celebrates its successful three and a half decades of international brand marketing: There's exclusive Sonic merch from limited edition fashion collabs, a "musical odyssey" featuring live orchestral renditions of Sonic music, and—of course—a life-sized statue of Sonic featuring a fluid-filled chamber allowing fans to gaze lovingly at his DNA.

Wait, hold on.

No, yeah, I'm reading that right.

Announced yesterday with a reveal video on YouTube, Sega has unveiled the "Sonic the Hedgehog DNA Figure," which it describes as "a life-sized figure containing 'Sonic's DNA'"—a claim that would already invite a number of unsettling questions without the company's haunting deployment of quotation marks.

According to Sega, the figure was created in collaboration with the Lom Baby project from Transeeds, a self-described "science collective comprised of artists, engineers, scientists, and other members" specializing in "bio art." Claiming to employ "cutting-edge biotechnology," Lom Baby's previous works include the exhibition of "dragon meat" at Tokyo's National Art Center and recreating the T-Virus from Resident Evil in partnership with Capcom, a thing that is apparently fine and cool to do.

(Image credit: Sega)

With that same biotechnology, Sega says "the essence of Sonic—who has raced through the ages—has been brought into the real world as 'DNA.'" Unfortunately, that does little to answer some fundamental questions I have about this whole process. For example, what methods does a bio art collective utilize to secure the genetic information of a fictional hedgehog? Or did they fabricate a chimeric simulacrum of Sonic's genome from assembled components? What's in Sonic's genes?

That last bit, at least, I have an answer for: Based on what's shown in the video, Sonic's genome evidently includes components like "velocity cells," "exploration DNA," and a "boost system." You know, like hedgehogs have.

To complete this act of blatant scientific hubris and genetic idolatry, Sega and Lom Baby have placed Sonic's synthesized "DNA" within an emerald, which has itself been submerged in a milky suspension inside the translucent thoracic cavity of a chrome Sonic effigy. After all, if we couldn't see the DNA jewel, how could we be expected to believe Sonic's genetic essence was actually in there?

"The DNA encapsulated within the Chaos Emerald symbolizes that 'Sonic's core' will endure, never fading, into the future," Sega says. Great!

Unfortunately, if you want to admire Sonic's "DNA" in person, you'll need to travel to Japan to do it. The Sonic the Hedgehog DNA Figure exhibition begins on Tuesday, June 23 at the Tokyo Sega Store.

Silicon Motion says 'the retail SSD market has almost disappeared' as NAND shifts towards AI servers and OEMs scoop up the drives that usually sit in our gaming PCs

Jacob Fox — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:29:24 +0000

The RAMpocalypse whooshes ever on, and while it can sometimes be hard to put into perspective exactly what that means, sometimes an insider gives a little insight. To this end, Silicon Motion VP Nelson Duann recently told Tom's Hardware that the retail SSD market is all but kaput.

"The retail SSD market has almost disappeared... The controllers we sell to module makers are now largely ending up in SSDs that are shipped to PC OEMs. The reason is that OEMs cannot obtain enough NAND directly from memory manufacturers, so they are increasingly sourcing SSDs from module makers instead."

In other words, where OEMs (think Dell, HP, and so on) would usually bulk-buy NAND from memory makers and turn it into bona fide PC storage themselves (with the help of other bulk-bought parts like microcontrollers), they are no longer doing this. Instead, they are buying SSDs from module makers (think Samsung, SanDisk) because of the increased demand for AI servers.

This means more module maker SSDs like the kind you and I get in our gaming PCs are going to OEMs, which means less in the retail SSD market. And Duann is here suggesting that this is to such an extent that the latter market has almost disappeared.

This has apparently been occurring "since late last year and into this year."

As end-users, we don't get to see all the stock and inventory gubbins that DRAM, SSD, and memory controller companies do. But we do see retailer prices and out-of-stock labels, and it probably goes without saying at this point that things aren't looking good from an end-consumer perspective.

While NAND makers are doing better than they ever have done and SSD companies are purchasing memory from them years in advance, little ol' gamers like you and I are being faced with ever-more expensive storage.

RAM, of course, hasn't been faring any better. RAM and SSD maker Team Group recently gave us all a stark recommendation: "If you need memory, we recommend purchasing it as soon as possible."

Normally, I'd consider that a simple case of 'company encourages people to buy its products', but while that is almost certainly what's going on to an extent, it also rings true—the two things can be true at the same time. The situation doesn't seem like it will improve any time soon, and even if the company was mainly referring to RAM, with Silicon Motion's revelation here, it looks like Team Group's recommendation was apt for storage, too.

An obscure new game-breaking Destiny bug lets you one-hit bosses, and I don't think Bungie's gonna let this one slide (Update: Bungie is letting it slide... for a little bit)

Rory Norris — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:28:26 +0000

Destiny 2's live service ambitions have come to an end with its final update last week. And with it, Bungie added everything and the kitchen sink, from new catalysts for every Exotic weapon to broken perk combinations. With no new endgame to grind or necessarily protect the sanctity of balance, Bungie's set us free with some of the most broken—and fun—tools we've ever had.

Despite that, I don't think Bungie ever expected returning to the infamous 'Craftening' levels of bonkers builds. For those who weren't around then, this was a bug with the crafting system where you could pinch the perks of one gun onto another, including Exotics.

More specifically, players have found a new bug where you can have multiple of the same seasonal artifact mods active at the same time. It's really easy to do but, as always, so obscure that I'm baffled it was ever discovered:

Queue for a competitive or Trials of Osiris match, which disables your artifact.
Once it disables your artifact, inspect it and equip whatever mods you like.
Leave the queue, and it'll stay broken.

You'll notice you can now equip max-level perks in any slot, including multiple of the same one. This has led to some game-breaking combinations that let you absolutely rinse bosses in a matter of seconds.

Stacking 7 artifacts mods is completely broken. The start of the chaos reach clip shows the damage of a normal chaos reach compared to having stacked 7 thunderous retort. The pack tactics speaks for itself pic.twitter.com/4Rglp7491FJune 16, 2026

For example, Kindling Flame can stack, giving you an ignition on any hits against unscorched enemies. You can use seven Pack Tactics mods and Warlock's Mataiodoxia Exotic to have a ravenous Threadling army. Or how about seven Thunderous Retort mods and max Super stat to turn Titan's Thundercrash into a nuclear bomb.

There is a bug that lets you equip multiple of the same artifact perk from r/destiny2

Despite living in the 'do what you want' era of Destiny, I've no doubt this bug will still be squashed very quickly simply due to how broken it is. Still, it feels so right that a bug like this would crop up at the end of the game's lifecycle. Poetic, really. Some things never change.

If you've got some raids or dungeons you're yet to clear, now would be a good time to blitz through them. In fact, you can even solo some encounters using some of the builds mentioned above.

Thanks for the Soup is the most fun I've had in a horror game in a long time, and that's owing to the broccoli

Elie Gould — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:20:09 +0000

I went into the immersive horror sim, Thanks for the Soup, with few expectations—I certainly didn't think it would hurl me into the complex world of organic broccoli farming, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.

The premise of Thanks for the Soup is simple: you deliver soup from 5pm to 1am to patrons who are stuck inside by some vague lockdown or just because their work is too hectic for them to make a trip to the store and turn the oven on. The more orders you fill, the more money you get, which can go towards a few different things: food, fishing, or farming.

(Image credit: Solshade Games)

I decided my wages would best be spent on setting the foundations for an organic broccoli farm. What started out as a simple bid to grow enough food to keep me peddling soup orders sprouted into my dream job—the soup delivery became a side hustle.

Yes, the town in which I find myself delivering soup is more than slightly unnerving. The occupants are kind of weird, the neighbourhood gets super dark, flashes of light and thick white fog descends on the town at random, and occasionally you experience a heavenly vision. But a job's a job, and I find cycling around on my bike surprisingly peaceful. All I have to do is think of my broccoli, oh, and eat a mushroom or two—did I mention there's a wide variety of mushrooms found across town?

On my travels across town I found five different types of mushrooms, and because of my dedication to science and—recently—farming, I decided to eat all of them. From what I found, Zuzu mushroom takes a hammer to my depth perception, the Tolid Mushroom makes me super fast, the Folor mushroom makes everything wavy, and as for the Ulod and Cranim mushrooms, I'm not sure yet—I ate a ton of both of them and nothing seemed to happen.

Solshade Games

These mushrooms are a big help, especially when things get a bit spooky—it's hard to be scared of whatever may be lurking in the shadows when I'm fighting the mushroom waves trying to stay on my bike. Although I do have to admit that I likely haven't reached peak horror yet as I haven't entered the kitchen.

On my first day as a soup delivery person I was told by my manager not to go into the kitchen. Apparently, if I did I would disturb the chefs and they also don't want their secret recipe getting out. I've watched enough SpongeBob SquarePants to suspect that they're probably using humans as the secret ingredient, but that's honestly none of my business. They can keep on cooking humans as long as I can keep farming organic broccoli. Because if I can farm broccoli, then what's this all been about? What have I been working toward?

Steam sale dates: When's the next event?
Epic Store free games: What's free right now?
Free PC games: The best freebies you can grab
2026 games: This year's upcoming releases
Free Steam games: No purchase necessary

Rode NT1 5th Generation microphone review

Hope Corrigan — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:07:04 +0000

Between online video calls, streaming, content creating, and messing with music, I really appreciate a good microphone for my PC setup. Once upon a time I'd be hard pressed to find a high-quality USB mic, but with many gamer brands stepping into the space great PC mics have become more commonplace.

What I haven't seen before is an exceptional quality PC mic that can also switch over to XLR interface for analogue use like Rode's NT1 5th generation release.

Rode may not be super familiar to gamers, but for those into music production and other content creation, the brand is a household name. Known for putting out excellent recording options, Rode has often been revered as delivering audiophile quality, often a bit cheaper than some of the other contending brands like Sony. The NT1 5th Generation microphone is yet another example of this, but in a mic that's so flexible you can use it for basically anything you can dream of.

Unboxing the mic is a neat experience as it's immediately obvious by the heft that this is a premium product, which you'd want for $259 USD. There's a lot more metal than I'm used to, including an aluminium body and full mesh over the actual mic portion.

NT1 5th Generation specs

(Image credit: Future)

Type: large-diaphragm cardioid condenser
Connectivity: USB Type-C and XLR
Recording Sample Rate: 48 / 96 / 192
Frequency response: 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz
Features: Rode software, pop filter and mount
Price: $250 USD | $420 AUD

The box also includes a shock mount, pop filter, and USB C and XLR cables that are thicker than the oceans (seven Cs) so it's usable straight out of the box. There's no stand, but it'll work with the standard threading for anything you already own. I've also had success on a box with a hole cut out for the cable and simply holding the mic.

The first thing I noticed when recording is how low the sound floor is on this microphone. Being a large-diaphragm cardioid condenser microphone, it is designed to pick up every little noise, but I also realised that my voice wasn't coming across as much louder than many ambient noises around me. Still I was impressed with the plug and playability across every device I tried it with. This noise gate issue isn't ideal for things like streaming but that's where Rode's free software comes in.

(Image credit: Future)

While there are no controls on the microphone itself, when plugged in via USB you get access to extra functionality through the free Rode Central app. This lets you set a gain input to raise the volume so your voice is crystal clear as well as manage the high pass filter to get rid of those background noises and it works a treat. Using it I managed to get my stream sounding like this in only a few tweaks.

Rode offers a few other apps to do even more, but for most this is probably all you'll need to play with. Though, after all this tampering I was worried about clipping, but that's another thing this mic handles wonderfully.

As low as the sound floor is, the ceiling appears to be just as high with a frequency range from 20Hz to 20kHz which outdoes our current fav mic the Shure MV6. Rode boasts that the NT1 5th Gen is an unclippable mic, and under the right circumstances they might be right. It's pretty hard to make this thing clip without the gain turned up a fair bit. If you're using Rode's suite of apps you can even recover sounds when this happens or alter them. The pop filter and mount also do a great job of keeping harsh sounds away, and the microphone itself is dead quiet which makes for very clean recordings.

(Image credit: Future)

This is partially because of high quality the recordings are, but also just thanks to the classic sound this mic offers. It really does have a lovely warm tone to it, which has been loved by singers since Rode started offering the NT1 mic. This same timbre applies to spoken voice, so if you're a streamer who values the tone of your talk, this will likely bring out the best in it. Though it's worth noting there's no native mute button on the physical mic, so you may need to setup a digital option.

Buy if...

✅ You ever go analogue: Being able to go from USB Type-C to XLR is seriously a massive boon that makes this mic feel like two. If you ever need an XLR mic or wanna really tune in your setup with a mixing board this mic gives you the flexibility to move between the analogue and digital worlds.

✅ You care A LOT about audio: This mic gives a lot of options with that massive range and lovely tone. There's not a lot you could point this at and not have it sounding lovely out the other end.

Don't buy if...

❌ It'll live at your PC: There's not much point forking out the extra cash on this microphone if you're not going to take advantage of its flexibility. You might do better to get something more specific to your purpose for less money.

❌ You're on a budget: Seriously, for streaming, videocalls, and most content creation you can spend a fraction of this and be set. Don't blow your whole budget on a fancy mic you're not really using.

The lack of on-mic controls seems odd, but it's because this isn't a mic designed for PC gaming, it just happens to be one that works excellently with it.

Instead, this mic is designed to be plugged into other things that control it which can take some setting up, but it also allows you to take this mic to different projects with different settings held to the computer, rather than accidentally layering things onto the microphone. It keeps it clean, so when you take this mic to a gig and plug it in via XLR you don't have to worry about your gamer settings getting in the way.

It does mean this isn't the right choice for many gamers. Most would be fine with something a fraction of the price like the budget friendly Amazon Basics USB Condenser Microphone or even a midrange option like NZXT's Capsule Elite.

But if you're a gamer who in any way dabbles in other content creation this could be the answer for you. It's a steep price difference, but the NT1 5th Gen almost feels like getting multiple mics in one package. By no means does it seem unfair for a studio quality mic with massive range, a fair bit of customisation, and the ability to use it wherever you want.

I've been waiting 20 years for a worthy sequel to my favourite life sim, but THQ Nordic has other ideas

Fraser Brown — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 15:40:18 +0000

I usually expect blank stares when I wax nostalgic about The Guild 2, a rough diamond that's part management game, part life sim, part RPG. It's the kind of game that does well in central Europe but not remotely as well elsewhere. Your classic eurojank romp: big on ambition, not so much on optimisation or clarity. This is the Stalker of life sims.

For the uninitiated, imagine Anno—or any other detailed economic sim—but instead of playing some omnipresent administrator, you're just some guy. Some guy, though, who can climb the ranks of medieval society, forging a lasting dynasty with the power to change history. Or you could just open a successful tavern or become nothing more than a moderately successful gravedigger.

So many life sims fall into the cosy game category, and while I like Animal Crossing and Pokopia, it's sometimes hard to shake the feeling that these games aren't for me—a middle-aged man who loves boring things like historical accounts of terrible monarchs or the rise of the industrial revolution. I was not yet a middle-aged man when The Guild 2 came out in 2006, but I was still a bore, and this game felt made for me.

A gloomy street in The Guild 2. (Image credit: THQ Nordic)

I craved more, and the monkey paw curled. In 2017, The Guild 3 was released in early access. It largely seemed to be more of the same thing, but fancier. I was thrilled, right up until after I had to play it. Back then I ran Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Premature Evaluation column, exploring new early access games. Here's what I wrote at the time:

I craved more, and the monkey paw curled.

Disappointment has hounded me at every turn. Nothing I do feels like it matters, and the simulation that ostensibly drives the game is very, very slight. Relationships, jobs, the economy that’s meant to lie at the heart of the game—all of them are half-baked at best, and I’ve seen little evidence of any dynamism.

Things didn't improve much throughout early access. The release date kept getting pushed back, promised features never materialised, and the initial developer, GolemLabs, was given the boot, to be replaced by Purple Lamp. The Guild 3 eventually left early access in 2022. But it never actually got finished. Updates continued for a year, but not ones that could salvage it.

But now a new Guild is on the horizon! Except it's not really new. It's The Guild: Europa 1410, inspired by the first game in the series. Unfortunately, this was before it became a life sim/RPG. This is disappointing, but I still love economic sims, so I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

I shouldn't have bothered.

(Image credit: THQ Noric)

The Guild: Europa 1410 is, in its current incarnation, just a bunch of flavourless menus and repetitive notifications. It's a little bit less abstract than a lot of economic sims, in that you are technically playing a person, as well as the head of a dynasty, and they technically exist within the world. However, you exclusively control them through menus, and how they interact with the world is extremely limited. You also can't name them, any of their family members, or their business. The game does that for you. And while you do have RPG-like stats, there's no character creation.

So! I guess I'm Jan Hirschfeld, the owner of The Fat Goose, the only tavern in all of Kuttenberg—which, if you're not from the Czech Republic, you might remember from Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. And for 17 days—where each day is also a season—I am tasked with diligently moving ingredients from one menu to another menu. Such is the life of an innkeep.

Occasionally I move some sliders, attempting to stop my employees from hating me by increasing their wages and treating them with more kindness. And when I start to get annoyed with how few items I can sell at once, I upgrade my bar and storage facilities. More exciting upgrades are available, like a stage for shows and a dark corner for spying on customers, but I don't have the relevant skills to construct them.

Every day is the same. My workers keep inexplicably injuring themselves, no matter how much training I provide—an event that is always accompanied by a voiceover letting me know how rubbish my employees are. And when they aren't just falling over, they make beer and gruel, which another employee sells. I can actually make more money selling beer at the market, though, so I usually send the cart out with any beer I've not already sold.

I guess folk really like a frothy beverage while they're doing their groceries.

(Image credit: THQ Noric)

During the 17-day demo, a few events occur that sort of break up the monotony of running an inn. At one point, I'm reminded that it would be handy to have an heir. I click on the first woman I find in the courtship menu. I flirt with her four times and a day later we are married. And a day after that we have our first child.

Now, I'm not really a fan of children. They're pretty useless. So when Satan shows up at my house and asks me to sacrifice my first-born child, with the promise that this will strengthen my bloodline, I go ahead and murder Jan Junior. Nobody seems to mind, and a day later I have another kid anyway. God, parenting is so easy.

I go ahead and murder Jan Junior.

Yes, making a deal with the Devil sounds pretty neat—but again, this is all happening in menus and text popups, and the result is just that I have slightly better kids, I guess? This is not Crusader Kings 3, where you've got playful text accompanied by striking art and characters with actual personalities. It's the bare minimum.

One afternoon, I agree to hold onto a sacred relic for a pilgrim. He says he's being hunted for it, and that I should deliver it to the church. I now have an artefact in my possession, and the game tells me I could sell it for 800 gold—I'm calling it gold just for convenience, but it's actually referred to as "local currency". I need the money, but there's a problem. Items from your personal inventory can be gifted, but not sold—which makes me wonder why it even has a price in the first place.

Since there's no objective listed, and no obvious way to deliver it to the church, I instead gift it to the local archbishop. He takes it, nothing happens. Thrilling quest!

(Image credit: THQ Noric)

The life of an innkeeper is clearly not for me, and I start dreaming of an exciting career in politics. Unfortunately, I'm not even considered a citizen yet. That will cost me 1,000 gold—which is actually not too much. Except I need to have 20,000 gold in my bank account first.

No politics for me, then. Instead, I just watch as increasingly bizarre laws are passed. Theft becomes legal. Then beating people up. And witchcraft. It sure sounds like someone powerful in Kuttenberg is a magical thief. Not that anything going on in the city really seems to affect me. Though it might be affecting how much I can sell my beer for. The price keeps fluctuating, and the economy is dynamic, but it's not clear how external factors affect my business.

17 days isn't much time to get to grips with the game. Even at the default speed, a day goes by in minutes. But even with this meagre offering, I duck out early. It's all just so gruelling—a joyless grind, one day to the next.

The Guild: Europa 1410 has the appearance of a deep, complex, systems-driven sim, but playing it is a shallow, repetitive experience that fails to capture any of the series' former magic. It's due to hit early access on July 16, but I'd give this one a miss, folks.

One lone legend waiting for GTA 6 to launch has decided to make the game from scratch themselves: 'The goal: beat the real GTA 6 to launch'

Jacob Fox — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 15:40:15 +0000

If you were waiting for GTA 6 to drop when it should have done on May 26 (well, on console at least), you were probably more than a little perturbed by its delay to *checks watch* no time soon, i.e. November. That's to allow Rockstar to "finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve." Frustrating, but fair enough, we can wait.

But if you aren't content waiting, what's to do? 'Nothing at all' is what probably comes to most people's minds. But not Ziwen's. No, that would be far too simple for the AI start-up entrepreneur, who has decided to "beat the real GTA 6 to launch" (via X user Fashion Ruined My Life).

"Day 1 of building GTA 6. Still feels fake typing that out. Upgraded to Claude Max 20x just for this... No studio, no publisher. Just whoever shows up... The goal: beat the real GTA 6 to launch. Ambitious, probably stupid, doing it anyway. If you can model, code, build levels, or write music and lore, come join. Looking for a couple contributors to cook this."

This is it; this is what the brave new world of AI and vibe coding has brought us. The sheer brass, the gall, the bravery to stand up and say, 'I will make GTA 6, and I'll do it before November.' I love it. I hate that I love it, but I do.

I won't spoil the whole journey, which is of course still ongoing, but just to give some teasers for Ziwen's project:

Day 2 of building my GTA 6 agent in the loop.It's working better than yesterday, genuinely. But two things are bugging me. The Godot version still looks cheap, or might be because half of it isn't finished. The agent built downtown LA skyscrapers, which is a problem,… https://t.co/M49nMSoYvN pic.twitter.com/TBvAOab7DDJune 11, 2026

After progressing from day one's Tic-Tac-on-a-field, day two takes a Roblox-esque character to a Roblox-esque world with jittery floors.

Day 4 of building GTA 6 with a loop of AI agents.Today's drop:- Shipped the first version of the collapsion system- The game's got an intro video now- Reworked the movement. - Controls like a real person now, not a placeholder.- Wasted screen is in.next up: Buying real… https://t.co/utcg2Ks3Ni pic.twitter.com/dA3KxMGqI2June 14, 2026

Day four involves a cinematic with alligators falling from the sky. And gameplay of a character doing his best impression of Edward Cullen in daylight.

Day 6 of building GTA 6 with a loop of AI agents.Today's drop: - intro cinematic- a real main menu (start game actually works)- loading screen- the whole front-end wired end to end.So the look is done. Menu → load → you're in. it boots like a real AAA game.We've been… https://t.co/Ng2kSZhVeI pic.twitter.com/nP1QTljojKJune 15, 2026

Day six—the latest update as of the time of writing—is more of the same, but there's a "real main menu", a loading screen, and the "whole front-end wired end to end."

Things are already at a point where they're requiring development to get a little more serious, though:

"We've been building in Godot the whole way, it's starting to show its limits on the AAA stuff. So this week I'm going to go test Unity to see if we can get the actual game into AAA stuff as well. For a game built by a loop of agents, the only question that matters is which one they can read, edit, and push on their own. Godot's good at that. Unity might be better, with way more assets off the market. I'm going to find out... I'll report back which engine they build faster in."

Godspeed, Unity. May the AI agents treat you well.

A new flip phone that blocks social media at a system level is coming out, and you'll never guess which retro gaming company is making it

Jess Kinghorn — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 15:31:52 +0000

When I buy a new phone, it's not going to be, say, the Ayaneo Pocket Play or one of those pricey RedMagic gaming smartphones with the ridiculous refresh rate. For the sake of both my wallet and my soul, I'm looking at a less capable bit of kit. Thankfully, an unexpected source is now offering a throwback mobile phone with one eye on modern software flexibility.

Enter Commodore, of all classic computing brands, with the Callback 8020. The $500 flip phone sports that classic clamshell look without all of the same drawbacks associated with using actual vintage hardware (via Tom's Hardware). For starters, this Linux-based phone works with 99% of Android apps, but social media and even web browsers are blocked at a system level. Instead, it comes pre-loaded with "a modest selection of classic and modern, mindful Commodore 64 games"—plus Snake.

You can still sideload some apps using APK installer files, though that does go against the phone's philosophy. "For so many in the rapidly growing digital minimalism and dumbphone communities, app 'screen time' timers, grayscale modes, and 'I’ll just be more disciplined' were not enough," The company writes, "If the temptation is always in your pocket, it keeps winning."

The company continues, "Callback removes the trap door, so you can keep the useful parts of a phone without carrying the whole attention economy around with you. Think of it as a trusted friend who helps you keep a promise to yourself. Not by judging you, but by quietly sidelining the things you already decided you do not want in your day."

The Callback 8020 is pitched as a privacy-first phone, sans sneaky data-sharing (to quote the official website, "Finally, a phone that minds its own flippin’ business"). There's also zero AI within the phone's custom software, which was designed by the Sailfish OS team.

(Image credit: Commodore)

The phone's bespoke OS means you won't have easy access to the Google Play store, with apps instead available via the Commostore app store. I guess the Callback is a phone that 'minds its own business' right up until it tells you what you can and can't do.

Users can request certain apps be whitelisted for the Commostore. It's oddly reminiscent of the 'walled garden' approach that has earned Apple its fair share of criticism for years—though as our James put it, the Commostore isn't so much a walled garden as a bush. The app store's offerings may one day include a select number of AI apps, though the company stresses, "We like apps that explicitly vow not to scrape and train on copyrighted creators’ work without permission."

While I appreciate the Callback 8020 pitching up halfway between a smart and a dumb phone, I'm not sure the system-level social media block would work for me; for my sins, as a journalist, it does help to be able to open my emails or DMs no matter where I am. There's still plenty else to love, like the Callback 8020's removable 1550mAh battery, or its choice of "swappable back covers in gloriously techno-optimistic colors."

However, when it comes to a flip phone that balances both looks and capabilities, my one true love remains the Samsung Galaxy Folder2. Unfortunately, that 2017 phone is no longer smart enough to keep up with my daily demands…but the Callback 8020's MediaTek Helio G81 SoC is potentially still wise enough to change my mind about whether this throwback deserves a place in my heart. If you're already in love, you can sign up to the waitlist here and get $50 off the Commodore Callback 8020 when pre-orders go live June 30th.

Embark is finally cracking down on Arc Raiders' cheaters and duplication antics: 'Our commitment to anti-cheat initiatives remains a top priority'

Rory Norris — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 15:31:00 +0000

Arc Raiders has had its fair share of cheaters and game-breaking exploits, so much so that some players and big-name streamers have sworn it off. There are your usual wallhacks and whatnot, as well as exploits to spawn endless rubber duckies and equipment. Just recently, TheGamingMerchant put the duping exploits to the test, discovering just how bad it can be in high-end PvP.

But the time has finally come when we might start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Towards the end of May, Embark added Denuvo Anti-Cheat to "initially to a limited player pool" after finding success in The Finals. In the new update 1.33 patch notes, which brought the surprise Forgotten Relics event and Converging Paths project, Embark has confirmed it's ready to kick things up a notch.

"As part of our ongoing efforts against unfair play, we’re continuing to expand Denuvo Anti-Cheat to more players," the developers explain. "We’re pleased with the progress so far, and expect further improvement as we scale up." For what it's worth, I had to accept it when I downloaded the update today.

"Our commitment to anti-cheat initiatives remains a top priority, and we will keep you informed as we work to maintain a fair environment. We appreciate your ongoing feedback and reports, and we thank you for being a part of the incredible journey through Topside."

Embark is also specifically honing in on the duplication exploits that have been undermining the item economy, noting that it's "taking strict measures against those involved." This includes detecting issues and addressing them directly, but also "building safeguards to prevent them from happening in the future." It's a little vague, sure, but it's good to know that it's a priority for Embark, given how disruptive it's been for many players. It's an extraction shooter after all, it's literally all about the loot you find and risk.

On the flip side, if you've faced off against a cheater, there are a few improvements you'll be glad about. There's now a messaging system to let you know when a player you've reported has been banned, and/or when any loot you lost thanks to a cheater is returned to you. You don't necessarily need to report the player to get your lost loot back, so long as Embark has taken action against them it'll happen automatically.

Arc Raiders guide: What's hot this week
Arc Raiders roadmap: New and improved
Arc Raiders best skills: Survive the surface
Arc Raiders best weapons: Just don't lose them
Arc Raiders Expeditions: Retire your Raider
Arc Raiders quests: All the missions and how to beat 'em

Phanteks XT View Matrix case review

Zak Storey — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 15:03:36 +0000

I know, I get it. I've waxed lyrical quite a lot recently about Phanteks' current line of cases. It's genuinely becoming mildly problematic from a tech journo standpoint. But I do think the company's on to a bit of a winning streak with its latest line-up of big metal boxes that we put very expensive memory into. The XT View Matrix is another golden boy in big P's arsenal, and for good bloody reason.

By definition, technically, this isn't really a new chassis. Phanteks launched the XT View back in 2024 to pretty broad acclaim. In fact, I wrote about it in Maximum PC magazine back in the day, and, to plagiarize myself, it was frustrating to write about because it was almost too good. Bit of an inside-line here, but tech journalism on the whole? Generally a lot easier to write a review when you've got things to complain about.

Back then, this thing rocked in at just $80 or so. It had broad compatibility with AIOs, supported E-ATX, and more impressively came with an extraordinary amount of shiny, shiny lights baked in it as well. You got two 120mm RGB reverse blade intake fans, one 120mm exhaust, and a full-size 16-inch ARGB light strip tucked away nicely down by the side of that glass window, chucking up some gorgeous internal illumination directly into your machine. Oh, and that's all controllable via a single button on the front I/O (or integrated into your mobo's RGB header of choice).

Good news is, that's all still there.

XT View Matrix specs

(Image credit: Future)

Form factor: Mid-tower
Dimensions: 45.4 x 22.8 x 58.8 cm
Motherboard support: E-ATX, ATX M-ATX, ITX
Expansion slots: 7 horizontal + 2 Vertical
Front IO: 2x USB 3.0, 1x USB 3.2 Gen2x2, 1x Microphone/Headphone Combo, D-RGB Color Button, DRGB Mode Button
Total fan support: 9
Fan count: 2x 120 mm SIDE 3x120 mm or 2x140 mm TOP, 1x140/120 mm REAR, 3x120 mm FLOOR
Radiator support: Up to 360 mm TOP, 240mm SIDE
Graphics card support: 415 mm length
Storage: 2x 2.5-inch; 2x 3.5-inch
PSU support: ATX
Weight: 7.91 kg
Price: $120/£80

So, what's new? Massive dot-matrix configurable LED strip hidden behind a beautifully clean mesh panel situated along the external PSU cover (and breathe). Better yet, the price is still ridiculous. The XT costs £80 in the UK and $120 in the US (thanks, tariffs). That is utter madness for what you're getting here. This is the best budget PC case of the year, I have no doubt. Although that comes with one minor caveat.

Now, let me talk the positives before I get to that. The XT View Matrix? Beautiful. Paint job? Lush. Glass panels? Multiple. Glistening with a seamless edge. RGB fans? Check, check, check. And then you get to the matrix strip.

It's hidden behind a stunning piece of grey mesh canvas that absolutely looks the part. If you've seen a modern fabric gaming chair, same stuff basically. And I've never stroked a PC case more in my entire life. I know that sounds ridiculous. It's not exactly a sentence I thought I'd be writing after 11 years in this profession, but here we are. It's so soft.

Future

But it's the panel behind it that's most controversial. Purely down to taste. Like it's 2001 all over again, and we're all pretending we're Dominic Toretto in that film with all the cars in it.

Now, I built in this thing, set it all up, got the beauty powered on, stuck the RGB lighting to what I liked, then called in arguably the second most well-experienced tech reviewer I know, my long-time fiancée. I went, "phwoar, look at that, that's bloody sick, ain't it?" She responded, and I quote: "I hate it, it looks like the pc case equivalent of a crushed velvet sofa". Thanks Dani.

Future

She has a point, though, as much as I hate to admit it. Take a quick glance at this thing, configured how you like it, and there's this semblance of gauche about it that's sort of hard to ignore. You can, of course, configure it all up in Phantek's NexLinq software quite easily, and it'll showcase date, time, hardware temps, loads, etc., but it is such a bold addition to the overall aesthetic, you'll either love it or hate it, and honestly, I'm torn now.

Panel shenanigans aside, the build process is generally super easy. Chuck your motherboard in, then your power supply, get all that wired up first (trust me, you'll thank me when it comes to CPU power), then pop your cooler in and finally your graphics card, and you're good to go. There's plenty of space around back, and plenty of cable tie-off points too, with a comfortable number of mounting locations for those inevitable 2.5-inch SSDs we're all going to be dusting off in the coming months.

Future

Buy if...

✅ You're after a budget chassis, live in the UK, and want a bit of style: The XT View is a solid all-round entry level chassis. Combined with that dot-matrix panel, it's an absolute looker too, as long as you can get behind the aesthetic.

Don't buy if...

❌ You're looking for something a bit more sophisticated: That dot matrix is big, bold, and surprisingly in your face. If you're not a fan of the over-the-top dot matrix, you'd be better off grabbing the standard model instead.

I'm also convinced someone at Phanteks made an error in the shipping manifests when they built these things, because the accessory box came with no less than 30 cable ties (that's not hyperbole, I can confirm, I counted them). Which makes a big difference in the build process, compared to the time I had with the Silverstone FLP02 I reviewed last month, and its two included ties.

So any other negatives then? Aside from the do-or-die display? Well, it really could use a GPU anti-sag bracket built in somehow or included somewhere, and my one and only major complaint is that, with the included fans, the cables are a bit "eugh", to say the least. You can daisy-chain them, but that does mean you've got random headers popping out near the 24-pin ATX motherboard connector and the rear I/O, which looks a bit awkward.

Otherwise, though, it's a stellar piece of work, and for the cash, you won't be disappointed. Good news doesn't stop there either. If you have the View but want the display, Phanteks sells it separately, and if you're like future Mrs Storey, and detest it with every fiber of your being, the stock model is still available too, without it.

Mistfall Hunter's demo might finally convince me, a souls sicko, to give extraction games a proper go—even if it's more modern God of War than Nightreign

harvey.randall@futurenet.com (Harvey Randall) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 14:40:26 +0000

Mistfall Hunter is a promising, if curious little creature of a game—with a playable demo for Steam's Next Fest available now, it seems to market itself as an extraction soulslike. Well, the Steam page says it's a "dark fantasy extraction ARPG," but it's clearly trying to capture soulslike vibes. There's a shrine maiden equivalent, combat is deliberate and positioning-based, its inspirations are on the sleeve, the forearm, and right up to the elbow.

So colour me surprised when I get stuck into a match and I'm having flashbacks to 2018—in practice, Mistfall Hunter plays a lot more like a slower-paced version of the God of War (the 2018 reboot) than something like Elden Ring Nightreign. Movement is slow and methodical, your camera's over-the-shoulder, and environments are a claustrophobic series of rooms and corridors.

I don't hate it, though! I especially don't hate the fact there's no lock-on system, because the intent of developer Bellring Games becomes pretty clear: Mistfall Hunter is a game about positioning. Most of my attacks lunge me forward in some way, tasking me with playing footsies and stringing my abilities together.

Which means that PvP is a heck of a lot more interesting than their soulslike equivalents, which I've never enjoyed—I know some people love it, but the lag-laden backstab roulette of games like Elden Ring has always felt so irritating that I've never been able to get into it. Not so here.

It helps that all the fighting feels very competently designed, if a little slow-paced. Everything has a sense of weight and impact as I shield-slam and carve up the NPC zombies that litter the map. And while the baseline's simplistic and relatively non-punishing, I get the sense I'm far too early-days to actually pass judgement on the game's complexity.

Mistfall Hunter, otherwise, is 100% an extraction game—and I feel almost targeted by exactly how up my alley it is, as though somebody knew I'd had trouble getting into the genre before and went "right, we're gonna get Harvey with this one".

All the hallmarks of the genre are there—you drop into an exploration zone, you knock over monsters and grab loot, and you potentially run into other players. Your objective's to get out with your spoils (weapons, armor, consumables, and a ton of very specific crafting gubbins) without dying, which'll rob you of all of 'em. To make said getaway, you activate a shrine, track down a little bell goblin, and merk it, ascending through a portal.

Bellring Games

But what really has me hooked are the secondary systems. Mistfall Hunter's meta-progression doesn't just involve gear, it also has skill trees and unlockable, class-based abilities. And I'm weak for that kind of thing. There's even a perfect block, and we all know how I feel about parrying.

In other words, it all looks very promising, and it seems like I'm not necessarily alone in that. Mistfall Hunter's already gathered a promising 16,000 players and rising per SteamDB, and I'll be curious to see if it'll carve out a niche in the genre; among soulslike action game freaks like me, Nightreign enthusiasts who wished FromSoftware had added PvP, extraction shooter hobbyists who are tired of all the guns, or all of the above.

Arc Raiders is finally testing a ban on free loadouts, and I'm here for it

Rory Norris — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 14:39:05 +0000

Literally since launch, free loadouts have been a source of contention in Arc Raiders. They're great if you just want to chill, shoot some things, and not have to worry about losing loot. But on the flip side, their prevalence undermines the loot economy and incentivises everyone to avoid risk. Why use your best gear when your opponent has nothing on the line, and you've got nothing to pilfer?

Well, alongside the surprise Forgotten Relics event and Converging Paths project, update 1.33 finally looks to address this issue with an experiment. Free loadouts have been outlawed specifically on Night Raid and Close Scrutiny—two of the hardest map conditions.

"We are disabling free loadouts for Night Raid and Close Scrutiny to increase the barrier of entry," the patch notes read, "so that players commit to appropriate risk and reward in these scenarios that have better loot."

However, this is only for the next three weeks, ending on (presumably) July 7. Judging by how this experiment goes, "We may add this limitation to more map conditions in the future after we’ve observed its impact," the devs explain.

I'm surprised it took this long to run a test like this—maybe I'm just too used to Bungie's willingness to experiment with every Marathon update—but I'm glad it's here. Night Raid and Close Scrutiny are among the hardest activities in Arc Raiders, and it was always a bit silly that you could face off against players with free kits. Even if you beat them, you'd have nothing to gain. It undermined the difficult and risk-reward balance that these modes were aiming for. Now you'll at least have to pony up something of value.

On the topic of free loadouts, Embark has also made a number of quality-of-life improvements. Firstly, your current loadout is no longer cleared when you choose to use a free loadout until you're loading into a match, in case you need to make a last-minute change. And when you are ready, your inventory will now display the free loadout's equipment, rather than an empty inventory. Small but neat changes for those who love running with the basics.

Intel's first chip with Nvidia graphics is coming in early 2028 according to the latest leak and it could mark a new era for handheld PC gaming

Jeremy Laird — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 14:38:13 +0000

Intel and Nvidia are on the record regarding plans to combine graphics chiplets from the latter with CPUs from the former. When this is going to happen, however, now that's a question.

And the answer, according to a new leak, is early 2028 and maybe just in time for a launch at the CES show that year. Even more exciting, the new chip is set to have stiff competition from both Nvidia itself and AMD, perhaps heralding a new era of high-performance handheld PC gaming.

Tech journalist Erdi Özüağ claims that, "according to Intel's current roadmap, the targeted date for next-generation processors featuring Nvidia graphics units is the first quarter of 2028, and if plans do not change, the CES 2028 show could serve as the launch event."

That's not all that far away and, at the rate things are going in the stand-alone graphics card market, could align with new desktop GPU generations. Indeed, an early 2028 launch would make it very likely that Intel processors with Nvidia chiplets would get the upcoming Rubin graphics architecture.

Nvidia recently revealed that a Rubin-based version of its own new RTX Spark CPU-GPU superchip will be launched in 2028. It's not known when RTX Rubin desktop graphics cards, perhaps to be branded the RTX 60 Series, will arrive. But the latest rumours point to late 2027 or early 2028, which does indeed line up with this new "leak."

(Image credit: Future)

If this information is accurate, 2028 could be the year that APUs or chips combining CPU and GPU in a single package make a really big impact on PC gaming. These APUs are the class of chip used in handheld gaming PCs like the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally, of course. Along with these new Intel-Nvidia chips, we'll have Nvidia's own second-gen RTX Spark offering in 2028.

It's possible AMD could also launch new APUs in 2028, codenamed Grimlock Point and Grimlock Halo. Those APUs are not actually next-generation, which are the Medusa Point and Medusa Halo chips due later this year or in 2027, but the generation after that.

There are various rumours around what silicon production nodes all these chips will be using. By 2028, TSMC's upcoming N2 node will be quite mature and its A14 silicon could even be an option. Meanwhile, Intel's 14A node will supposedly be in full production by 2028.

Whatever, it seems safe to say that all of these new APUs will at least benefit from significantly more advanced silicon than anything available today. And that should allow both a high transistor budget for more performance and better efficiency.

Dare we hope for Steam Deck 2 in 2028? (Image credit: Valve)

So, it's pretty exciting to think about the levels of performance and battery life that might be possible in a handheld PC when all these new APUs come online in 2028. Indeed, 2028 is also a plausible launch date for the second coming of Valve's super-popular Steam Deck handheld.

Just like the OG Deck, Steam Deck 2 is likely to get custom silicon. Valve has spoken repeatedly about wanting, essentially, to wait for a really major advance in both performance and efficiency before releasing a follow up to the Steam Deck. And it very much looks like 2028 could be the year that such technology finally becomes available.

Watch this space, but 2028 could well be the year that handheld gaming makes a big leap forward. Let's just pray that the memory crisis is more or less over by then, otherwise these fab new devices might be too expensive to really matter.

SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7X Wireless Gen 2 review

Reece Bithrey — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 14:11:36 +0000

SteelSeries' original Arctis Nova 7X Wireless was one of my favourite gaming headsets when it launched a few years ago, so I was certainly very excited to see what had changed with this flashy second-gen model to hopefully keep it towards the top of my own headset rankings.

Having tested this shiny new model for the last couple of weeks, I've been simultaneously surprised and disappointed at what's changed. On one hand, the list of changes isn't that substantial, with things such as improved battery life and added support for SteelSeries' Arctis companion app, which I'll get into more in a minute, while the fit and finish and audio drivers inside haven't changed one iota as far as I can tell.

Depending on your perspective, it's either laziness or refinement—for me, I'm going to be positive and choose the latter.

The fact is that there wasn't anything wrong with how the original Arctis Nova 7X Wireless sounded, so cocking about with it for this second-gen model would have been a bit of a shock to the system if you're already coming from the original. It means we're still getting the excellent all-round audio I liked so much from the previous model, which is characterised by more low-end grunt than typical headphones, helping its chops for listening to my movable feast of rock tracks from Marillion, Rush, Steven Wilson and others, plus adding a more immersive quality for explosions and gunfire in Counter-Strike 2.

Arctis Nova 7X Wireless Gen 2 specs

(Image credit: Future)

Operating principle: Closed-back
Connectivity: Wireless and wired - 2.4 GHz/Bluetooth 5.0/3.5 mm wired
Drivers: 40 mm neodymium magnetic
Frequency response: 20 Hz - 22,000 Hz
Microphone: Cardioid retractable
Battery life: Up to 54 hours (2.4 GHz)/up to 38 hours (Bluetooth)
Weight: 332 grams | 0.73 lbs
Price: $200 | £180

Moreover, we're still getting some lovely detail retrieval and a crisp mid-range that helps to accentuate details such as footsteps in Counter-Strike and well-handled vocals in mellower tracks from the likes of Jimmy Buffett or James Taylor, helping to make the Arctis Nova 7X Wireless Gen 2 a versatile headset for music, games and more besides.

There is also quite a wide soundstage for a set of closed backs (open back and wired cans at this price, such as the new Sony Inzone H6 Air, will be stronger, though) with good imaging for things such as footsteps, distant chatter and gunfire or nearby grenade explosions in CS:2.

Likewise, SteelSeries has retained the same retractable ClearCast Gen 2 microphone as the original model, which I liked for offering clear and decently clean comms with surprisingly decent body and noise rejection, and it's much the same story with the Arctis Nova 7X Wireless Gen 2. Of course, a dedicated USB or XLR microphone will provide you with better definition and a fuller sound, but in a pinch, this headset mic is perfectly cromulent.

Future

Where this headset has upped its game, especially, is on the front of software support, which is evidently where SteelSeries has spent a lot of its time. SteelSeries GG handles desktop duties for customisation of things such as the EQ and surround sound settings, plus it comes with over 200 game-specific presets to optimise the headset's sound for whichever game you're playing.

What is new with the Arctis Nova 7X Wireless Gen 2 is that it'll also work with SteelSeries' Arctis companion app, which I've used with some of its other, more recent headsets. This sizes down the desktop app into an even lighter and slicker medium, providing a lot of the same presets and such that can be quickly selected before you jump into a mobile or console game. There isn't more granular EQ control in the companion app, though, which is a little bit of a shame.

(Image credit: Future)

On the point of connectivity, this -X suffixed model maintains its edge as the model variant of this headset that'll work with the most things. It connects either via Bluetooth or the bundled 2.4GHz wireless USB-C receiver, allowing it to work with both modern Xbox and PlayStation consoles, PC, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, Android and iOS mobile devices, VR and more besides. That's a lot of devices; oh, it'll also work with both simultaneously if you're a power user, and you can connect via 3.5 mm wired to boot.

The Arctis Nova 7X Wireless Gen 2 also benefits from increased battery life over its predecessor, promising up to 54 hours over the 2.4 GHz receiver and up to 42 hours over Bluetooth—connected via both means, it'll go for up to 38 hours. By contrast, the original could only muster up to 38 hours over 2.4 GHz and up to 26 hours over Bluetooth. In my testing, I found SteelSeries' claimed improvements to be about right, getting about 50 hours or so on a charge before I needed to charge it back up again.

(Image credit: Future)

If you're caught in a pinch, there is a 15-minute fast charge available via USB-C that takes you back to six hours' worth of run time, while a full charge will take around 90 minutes if you can wait a little longer.

I'm a big fan of the new magenta colourway that my sample of the Arctis Nova 7X Wireless Gen 2 shipped in. There are more conventional colour choices available with black and white, but for an added splash of colour, it looks fantastic, perfectly matching the QcK Heavy mousepad and SteelSeries Aerox 3 Wireless Gen 2 rodent, which I also have knocking around.

The fit and finish of this headset haven't changed much from its predecessor, though. This means we're getting a hard-wearing plastic finish for the outer chassis at a price I'd expect to see a little more metal, although it feels reasonably sturdy. The earcups are made of a breathable fabric and feel decently roomy around my ears, alongside providing decent passive noise isolation for a headset with no ANC. They also fold flat for easy stowage.

(Image credit: Future)

SteelSeries' classic suspension headband also makes a return with a semi-elastic suspension strap with some adjustment with the pins on either side to make it looser or tighter depending on the size of your noggin. By default, the headset felt on the smaller side, so I adjusted it to the next level to get a more comfortable fit, a better seal and a more optimal clamping force. It doesn't clamp down too much on your head and is quite pleasant.

Buy if...

✅ You want very versatile connectivity: The Arctis Nova 7X Wireless Gen 2 impresses with its ability to work with virtually anything over wireless or wired means, plus has nice-to-haves such as better battery life and stronger software support.

Don't buy if...

❌ You want a better mic: The unchanged ClearCast Gen 2 microphone is reasonable for in-game comms, but it can sound a little thin at times, and we have gotten better with headset mics since the original model of this headset.

The dedicated multimedia controls are well distributed across both earcups and take the form of tactile buttons and wheels. On the left, you'll find a volume wheel and a microphone mute button, while on the right, there's a game and chat mixer dial, plus dedicated power and Bluetooth pairing buttons. Intriguingly, the volume dial on the headset works independently of the system-wide volume, so you’ve got that little bit of extra control.

I think it's fair to think of the Arctis Nova 7X Wireless Gen 2 as a further optimisation of a headset that worked especially well the first time around, rather than an outright reinvention. After all, it still sounds good with powerful and surprisingly precise audio, is decently comfortable and has some of the most versatile wireless connectivity you'll find on any gaming headset, beating out the likes of the wired-only Sony Inzone H6 Air and the Logitech G522 Lightspeed.

SteelSeries has made upgrades where it matters, such as extending the battery life, adding a fetching new colour option and adding in some new software options to complement the versatile connectivity on offer. I appreciate that this is still quite an expensive set of cans at £180/$200, but I think you'll be hard-pressed to find a more versatile wireless headset than these in 2026.

There are stirrings in the VR industry that much better displays could be in the pipeline

Jacob Fox — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 14:00:12 +0000

Forthcoming Steam Frame aside, It's been a while since we had anything actually shake up the VR space with any kind of scale. But if "insider reports" that the usually reliable VR leaker SadlyItsBradley (Brad Lynch) relays are anything to go by, we could have some greatly improved VR headsets in the pipeline thanks to industry movements towards more Micro-OLED tech.

That pipeline isn't too short, unfortunately, as Lynch explains that mass production won't be here for a couple of years:

Insider Reports are indicating that Samsung Display has initiated talks with equipments suppliers to build a fab that can produce these ultra high brightness Micro-OLED displaysSDC will order the equipment this year, install it in 2027, with mass production starting in 2028 🥹 https://t.co/2zVNgEHmISJune 15, 2026

"Insider Reports are indicating that Samsung Display has initiated talks with equipment suppliers to build a fab that can produce these ultra-high brightness Micro-OLED displays. SDC will order the equipment this year, install it in 2027, with mass production starting in 2028."

Our Jacob Ridley got to try out Micro-OLED tech earlier this year in a Pimax VR headset. And the long and short is that he found it really impressive, preferring it to traditional QLED optics. That one was using a Sony panel with a lower vertical resolution but still-high pixel-per-degree clarity of 53 thanks to reduced FoV.

While he noticed a little more glare than usual, it wasn't too distracting and has the benefit not only of the usual vibrancy of OLED, but also of being crystal clear and having no discernable screen door-ing at all. The only real downside is the extra few-hundred dollars slapped on top.

(Image credit: Future)

Micro-OLED's quality mostly comes down to the sheer pixel density that is possible because the light-emitting diodes are put into silicon rather than glass as would usually happen with an OLED. Manufacturing on silicon wafer substrates can be much more precise, so the number of pixels per inch can be orders of magnitude higher with a Micro-OLED than with a standard high-density PC monitor.

It's a process that's still very much in its infancy, even if it has been used in some places, such as for the Apple Vision Pro and the aforementioned Pimax headset. Sony has been the big player in this space until now, but it seems Samsung is pushing to get things up and running too.

With displays being one healthy bastion during a global memory and storage crisis, it's good to hear news like this, even if any big projected industry shifts are still a couple of years out.

Viewsonic unveils the world's first 24-inch 4K gaming monitor for super crispy visuals in a smaller form factor

Jeremy Laird — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:14:04 +0000

Viewsonic has taken the wraps off a new 24-inch 4K monitor in what is likely to be a world's first. We've seen plenty of 4K monitors before, of course, just not in this relatively compact form factor.

Strictly speaking, the Viewsonic VX24G26J-4K measures 23.8 inches across its panel diagonal. But that puts it firmly in the 24-inch class. Combined with the 3,840 by 2,160 pixel native resolution, the result is a pixel density of 188 DPI.

That's well beyond the 140-ish DPI of a 32-inch 4K monitor and even a fair step up from the 163 DPI of a 27-inch 4K panel. However, in terms of currently available PC monitors, 5K 27-inch monitors like the Asus ROG Strix XG27JCG remain the pixel density kings at 218 DPI.

If you're wondering what the gaming relevance of all this is, well, that's a fair question. However, the new Viewsonic VX24G26J-4K is being pitched as a gaming monitor, rocks a refresh rate of 160 Hz and is also rated at 1 ms for response. So, this is a decently quick panel.

The benefits for gaming are still questionable. For sure, the heightened pixel density will make for sharper images. The extent to which you'd actually notice those extra crispy visuals actually in-game, on the other hand, that is a little dubious, especially compared to a 27-inch 4K monitor, which most would argue is plenty sharp enough for gaming.

The ultimate in pixel density remains in the 27-inch 5K class, such as the Asus ROG Strix XG27JCG (Image credit: Future)

More likely, this monitor will appeal to someone who wants really high-quality font rendering in a smaller package than was previously possible. That said, one intriguing possibility, given the 24-inch form factor and 4K resolution, is a 1080p alt mode using pixel doubling and running at a much higher refresh rate.

On paper, that would make for a 1080p 24-inch gaming panel, which is the preferred form factor for really serious esports types, that could switch into a higher resolution mode for day-to-day computing with nice fonts and crisp visuals instead of the blocky, pixellated experience you normally get on the Windows desktop from 24-inch gaming monitors.

However, as far as we can see, there's no mention of dual-mode support on Viewsonic's website. Indeed, it's only listed on Viewsonic's Chinese website (via TFT Central) for now, so perhaps that early listing isn't complete. But if it's accurate, this seems like an opportunity missed.

Whatever, what we definitely don't have right now is pricing right. However, this monitor is part of Viewsonic's value-oriented VX range and lacks USB-C connectivity, so it's likely to be relatively affordable. There's no word on when the Viewsonic VX24G26J-4K will get a broader release outside China, but we'd expect to see it land later this year.

I already like the new survival horror Hellraiser game more than the movie

wesley@pcgamer.com (Wes Fenlon) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000

I don't know exactly when it changed—when I changed—but over the last half decade, I realized I really like horror movies. Before that I thought I mostly liked movies that leaned harder on suspense than jumpscares, or horror comedies that poked fun at the dumb slashers of the '80s. But it turned out my love of Scream and Cabin in the Woods was just a gateway drug to unabashed enthusiasm for the camp, costuming, and incredible practical effects of a Nightmare on Elm Street or Scanners or Exorcist. I now think Possession is right up there with The Thing as one of the best films ever made and oh my god, why did I wait so long to watch The Blob? Every October I put a few more cult classics on my watch list and find a new horror favorite I never thought I would love but absolutely do.

Anyway, Hellraiser sucks.

Terrible movie! Amazing, flesh-tearing makeup and special effects. Those Cenobite designs? Immaculate nightmare stuff. But every scene in which characters talk is more painful than the kinky BDSM stuff the hell dimension creatures get up to. "This is a movie without wit, style or reason, and the true horror is that actors were made to portray, and technicians to realize, its bankruptcy of imagination," Roger Ebert wrote about it at the time in a withering review.

As a noted lover of videogames, I'm sure Ebert would agree with me that Saber's singleplayer Hellraiser: Revival is already better than the film the second it hands you a shotgun.

(Image credit: Saber Interactive)

I had a great time playing about 40 minutes of Hellraiser: Revival, most of which I spent thinking "Oh this game is like, nasty nasty." The level I explored, set in a cult's fetish club, was littered with BDSM flyers and sex toys, bear traps (the metal kind), and cultists in kink suits that doubled as effective armor plating. I chopped one's arm off with a Jagged Messer, a giant machete the in-game tooltip notes is "a perfect weapon for disembowelment." Another kept knocking me off my feet with shotgun blasts until I used the magical capabilities of the Lament Configuration, Hellraiser's iconic puzzle box thingamajig, to suck the fire essence out of a lit brazier and blast it out like a flamethrower.

I don't want to exaggerate Hellraiser: Revival's complexity by calling it an immersive sim, but at a surface level it feels very BioShock. There are tight environments littered with details to look at, drawers to open for ammo and other scraps, audio diaries scattered about, light puzzles gate your progress from room to room, and the Lament Configuration's ability to temporarily take on certain powers doesn't feel too far off from BioShock's elemental plasmids. Unlike BioShock, however, Hellraiser is full of ball gags, vibrators, and what is definitely the first time I've seen the words "face fuck" written in a videogame.

It's absolutely not shying away from the horniness of Clive Barker's film. Thankfully, the game does not take place almost entirely in an attic: after shooting my way through the cultists I got teleported to the hell dimension, where I ran through spooky transforming corridors until I could use the Lament Configuration to rotate the walls and floors of an Escher-like room to arrange a walkway to a pedestal awaiting the cursed cube. What followed was one of the best button prompts I've seen in years: Press F to Increase Suffering.

Maximum Suffering Increased? I'm not sure what more you could hope for from a horror game, really.

Saber is calling Hellraiser: Revival "survival horror action," which feels apt: it fits somewhere in between the horror and action flavors of Resident Evil. I never had more than a magazine or two of spare ammo for my pistol and shotgun, encouraging me to use the Lament Configuration to kill enemies instead of bullets, or to sneak through a vent to get behind one and stick my machete in their skull. It's got some of the grunginess of a 2000s horror game like Condemned: Criminal Origins, though I think its over-the-top sex and drugs tone might prove so edgy that it's actually closer to The Darkness by the end.

It's not scary horror, at least to me, and I expect tropes more than breaking new ground. In one less fun bit, I played through a looping nightmare in my character's house, where I had to go looking for my missing girlfriend (now a captive of the Cenobites) again and again, repeatedly resetting the room until I found the right interactive bits to move the sequence forward. Not the most creative bit of horror game design—then again, Hellraiser: Revival is the first time I've ever seen ASCII dick and boobs drawn on an old Nokia phone, so I have to respect its commitment, even if it ends up lacking much of the original's queer themes. Games are never this horny.

(Image credit: Saber Interactive)

If not outright scary, Hellraiser: Revival does deliver a constant supply of "well that's fucked up" and guns that kick hard, which is enough to put it on the level of a fun '80s slasher in game form. I'm not sure it's a B movie-style cult classic just yet, but I did chop a cultist's legs off with a bear trap after he yelled "I'm gonna nail him from cover!" so I'd say the odds are, at least, in its favor.

Noctua's AIO liquid cooler is here but hooo boy is it expensive

Jacob Fox — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 11:59:46 +0000

Amidst a sea of other companies' AI-related tech, Noctua graced us with some new, bona fide PC hardware at this year's Computex. In addition to a particularly exciting pumpless liquid cooler, the company also unveiled its first regular AIO cooler in collaboration with Asetek. And as of today, it's now available to buy.

It's called the NL-LC1 and is based on the Asetek Emma V2 platform. The fans are, of course, Noctua's, but in addition to this, the beige-and-brown company has created a pump cover that's designed to absorb noise and keep things nice and quiet. As someone with an occasionally rather noisy AIO pump, I can definitely imagine the benefit.

Available now! With first-class cooling performance, superb quietness of operation and industry-leading reliability, our new NL-LC1 series brings classic Noctua virtues to the world of all-in-one liquid cooling: https://t.co/9KJREnY3rC pic.twitter.com/4wKynuHe0NJune 16, 2026

"Leveraging a three-layer acoustic soundproofing structure and the tuned-mass damper effect, the NL-PNA1 reduces both air-borne noise and structure-borne vibrations, which can yield significant improvements in pump acoustics."

Sounds complicated, but looking at the diagram, it just looks like a lot of very specifically tailored foam. Noctua is a dab hand at spending a ton of time tailoring things to get acoustics just right, so I don't doubt they've done the job here, though we'll have to see and hear it in person to be sure (TechPowerUp is pretty impressed with it, but we'll have our own first-hand thoughts up on the cooler before long).

This pump cover comes with a magnetically attaching metal faceplate by default, but that can be swapped with a mini fan (sold separately) if more cooling is required.

Noctua

Future

The radiator fans are the NF-A12x25 G2 and NF-A14x25 G2. The former is, we reckon, the best PC fan on the market, so you won't hear any complaints here. It outperforms all other fans we've tested in balancing stellar airflow with low noise levels.

When combined with the AIO, these fans apparently "utilise a speed-offset to avoid undesirable harmonics phenomena such as periodic humming or vibration build-up due to beat frequencies."

So, what's the downside? Well, the 360 mm version costs $250, the 240 mm one costs $220, and if you need a 420 mm version, that will cost you $280.

Those are some very steep prices, even compared to some other high-end AIOs like the Be Quiet! Light Loop. Let's just hope those quietening design choices really are as effective as we'd hope.

Today I learned the real reason Warhammer 40k's iconic 'Land Raider' got its name and it ain't because it raids the land

Sean Martin — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 11:54:38 +0000

The universe of Warhammer 40k is not a very nice place to live. Everyday there are a thousand potential ways you could die and none of them particularly pleasant, but it's easy to forget that, despite its grimness and its darkness, 40k can also be goofy as hell. Take the Land Raider for instance, an iconic Space Marine tank capable of unleashing devastation as it rolls across the land, raiding, if you will.

What if I told you that the Land Raider and Land Speeder are both actually named after the person who discovered their blueprints, a Tech Priest named, I kid you not, Arkhan Land. So no, not because they raid or speed over the land, but because they are Land's Raiders and Land's Speeders. It's a detail mentioned in the Horus Heresy novel, The Master of Mankind (where Land features as a character), but I'd somehow forgotten it until I was reading the short story collection, The Burden of Loyalty, specifically, Into Exile by Aaron Dembski-Bowden:

"One side of the briefing display is given over to data relating to Arkhan Land, the Arkhan Land. The explorer and scholar responsible for so many expeditions into the ancient Data-Crypts of Mars's crust and mantle. The man that brought back the beginnings of an anti-grav technology to the nascent Imperium. The man responsible for unearthing and sharing the schematics that lead to the mass production of the raiders and speeders, now seen in their thousands among the legions. Land Raiders, Land Speeders, the war machines are even named for him now."

Land pops up a few times in the Horus Heresy—an irascible Technoarchaeologist who's most memorable for his pet Simian (psyber-monkey) which rides around on his shoulder, but I didn't realise that when this detail emerged it lead to the creation of the popular 40k meme, Jimmy Space, you know, The Emperor's real name since he created the "Space" Marines.

The funniest part is that a lot of people originally assumed this was a retcon, until it emerged that Arkhan Land was actually named as the founder of the Land Raider in White Dwarf issue 129 in 1990. That's right, only three years after the creation of Warhammer 40k, this somewhat minor Tech Priest character had already stamped his name on both Space Marine vehicles. It's hilarious to consider that some of the oldest 40k lore surrounds this goofy-ass naming convention.

Not to say that Warhammer 40k doesn't also have some silly naming retcons. The Legiones Astartes project (which saw The Emperor make the Space Marines themselves, the 'Adeptus Astartes') was later revealed in the Valdor novel to be named after Amar Astarte, a human scientist who worked with The Emperor. Many previously assumed they were named for Astarte, a god of war worshipped in the ancient Mediterranean, which would make sense when you consider The Emperor is from ancient Anatolia. But nope, turns out they're just named after a person.

I guess it's not technically a retcon so much as a lack of info and unreliable narration. There's still so much we don't know in Warhammer 40k, and I, for one, am glad I don't have to say Raider Pattern Main Battle Tank whenever I want to refer to a Land Raider. It does make you wonder if there's anything else yet to be named for someone, though. John Primarch, creator of the Primarchs? Frank Chaos, the original Chaos god?

Best Warhammer games: Fantasy epics
Best Warhammer 40K games: The complete ranking
Best Warhammer TTRPGs: Across all three settings
Best Warhammer 40K books: Grimdark novels

Modular laptop maker Framework forced to push SSD prices even higher but says DDR5 is 'stable'

Jeremy Laird — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 11:54:14 +0000

Framework has posted another blog post detailing its price updates, and the bad news is that storage prices are going up. However, the modular laptop specialist says DDR5 prices have remained "stable." That immediately begs the question: Have RAM prices peaked?

Regarding SSD prices specifically, Framework says, "the biggest change for the month is on storage. We’ve consumed most of our inventory of drives we brought in earlier at lower costs across most capacities. The new costs we are sourcing drives at are substantially higher, and the weighted average inventory cost drives us to need to set higher prices."

Framework doesn't say exactly how much it is putting SSD prices up in the blog post. However, as a guide, it is currently charging $135 for a Sandisk SN7100 500 GB drive with its Framework 13 laptop, $265 for the same drive model in a 1 TB configuration and $505 for the 2 TB option.

The situation concerning storage, meanwhile, is bad enough that Framework is pausing production of its own Storage Expansion Cards.

"We also use NAND flash in our Storage Expansion Cards, and see the costs jumping massively there. The costs have increased to a level that we’ve paused production of the 250GB Storage Expansion Card for now rather than build new inventory at a price many times higher than the original. We’ll continue to sell through the remaining inventory that we have on hand, and we hope to be able to restart production as we find alternative NAND sources."

The 128 GB version of the Framework Desktop now lists at $3,449 and that's before you include storage. (Image credit: Future)

As for DDR5 memory for the same laptop, the situation is pretty grim. You're looking at $160 for a single 8 GB stick of DDR5-5600. You can double that for two 8 GB SoDIMMs, or pay $235 for a single 16 GB stick. Yuck.

Framework says it has also had to put the price up on the 128 GB version of its Desktop PC, which now comes in at $3,449, and that's before you've added any storage. Yikes.

Still, if DDR5 prices from Framework are mostly unchanged, might this signal that the memory crisis has peaked? It's probably too early to call that.

"This month, DDR5 costs have remained stable, and we’ve been able to keep pricing the same month over month," Framework says. In other words, there's no change this month. But we'd want to see that remain the case for many more months to come before assuming that the price rises are over, let alone that prices are finally coming down.

How to complete Arc Raiders Converging Paths project

Rory Norris — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 11:43:31 +0000

Arc Raiders gave us a surprise player project in the latest update to keep us busy for a few weeks while Embark is cracking on with Frozen Trail coming in October. The Converging Paths project works in tandem with the Forgotten Relics event, asking you to donate your new trinkets to build a display stand for them.

I'll outline everything you need to do below, but I'll warn you now that it's a limited-time event, running from June 16 through to July 27. I do wish we could customise our den and show off our achievements long term, though. You're teasing us, Embark.

How to complete the Arc Raiders Converging Paths project

The Converging Paths project has six stages to complete, but unlike most projects, it actually starts and ends with a simple quest objective—I recommend you save the mine and trap rewards for the final stage. You'll also need to find a bunch of the new trinket items, which you'll also need for the Forgotten Relics event.

The best place to find these new relic trinkets is in Residential or Commercial areas, since they commonly spawn on shelves, and inside cupboards, drawers, and other containers. I recommend searching Grandioso Apartments, Santa Maria Houses, and the Plazas in Buried City, and inside the chimneys during the Bird City event.

Embark

Train Model (common - 10 Merits)
Sextant (uncommon - 15 Merits)
Vintage Steering Wheel (uncommon - 15 Merits)
Equatorial Sundial (rare - 25 Merits)
Colorful Shoes (rare - 25 Merits)
Tellurion (epic - 50 Merits)
Colorful Shoes (epic - 50 Merits)
Colorful Shoes (legendary - 150 Merits)
Elephant Obelisk (legendary - 150 Merits)

Here's everything you need to do, and what you'll earn:

Secure safe passage (1/6)

Embark

You need to deal 1,200 damage to Arc enemies in the Swamp, which is on the west side of Dam Battlegrounds. You can complete this task anywhere between South Swamp Outpost and presumably Hydroponic Dome Complex, and there's no shortage of machines roaming this area, including Rocketeers.

A great way to complete this step quickly would be to take advantage of the Close Scrutiny map condition when it's active on Dam Battlegrounds, as the Arc Assessor's spawn waves of bots to kill.

Rewards: 3x Pulse Mine, 3x Lure Grenade Trap, 25x Raider Tokens

Collect supplies (2/6)

(Image credit: Embark)

From here on out (until the final step), it's back to the usual 'collect items and donate them' objectives that we're used to from projects.

Required Item	Where to find it
3x Train Model	A common trinket found inside cupboards, shelves, drawers, and similar containers in Residential and Commercial areas.
2x Vintage Steering Wheel	An uncommon trinket found inside cupboards, shelves, drawers, and similar containers in Residential and Commercial areas.
2x Air Freshener	An uncommon trinket found inside cupboards, shelves, drawers, and similar containers in Residential, Commercial, and Mechanical areas.
9x Arc Thermo Lining	A rare material found by looting mid-tier Arcs like Comets, Fireballs, Pops, Snitch, Tick, Turrets, and Wasps.

Reward: 3x Smoke Grenade Trap, 3x Explosive Mine, 25x Raider Coins

Procure relics (3/6)

(Image credit: Embark)

Required Item	Where to find it
4x Sextant	An uncommon trinket found inside cupboards, shelves, drawers, and similar containers in Residential and Commercial areas.
3x Equatorial Sundial	A rare trinket found inside cupboards, shelves, drawers, and similar containers in Residential and Commercial areas.
5x Metal Brackets	An uncommon recyclable found inside containers in Mechanical and Electrical areas.
7x Arc Performance Steel	A rare material found by looting high-tier Arcs like Bastions, Bombardiers, Leapers, Sentinels, Hornets, and Surveyors.

Reward: 3x Blaze Grenade Trap, 3x Jolt Mine, 1x Rascal II, 50x Raider Coins

Create emergency caches (4/6)

(Image credit: Embark)

Required Item	Where to find it
3x Tellurion	An epic trinket found inside cupboards, shelves, drawers, and similar containers in Residential and Commercial areas.
1x Elephant Obelisk	A legendary trinket found inside cupboards, shelves, drawers, and similar containers in Residential and Commercial areas.
6x Light Bulb	Best found under the hood of cars, such as the two cars on the south side of the Electrical Substation and next to the extraction lift at Generator Hall on Dam Battlegrounds.
9x Arc Coolant	A rare material found by looting mid-tier Arcs like Comets, Fireballs, Pops, Sentinels, and Surveyors.

Reward: 3x Surge Coil, 3x Blaze Grenade Trap, 3x Explosive Mine, 50x Raider Coins

Finish the cabinet of curiosities (5/6)

(Image credit: Embark)

Required Item	Where to find it
6x Colorful Shoes (rare)	A rare trinket found inside cupboards, shelves, drawers, and similar containers in Residential and Commercial areas.
3x Colorful Shoes (epic)	An epic trinket found inside cupboards, shelves, drawers, and similar containers in Residential and Commercial areas.
2x Colorful Shoes (legendary)	A legendary trinket found inside cupboards, shelves, drawers, and similar containers in Residential and Commercial areas.
10x Arc Synthetic Resin	A rare material found by looting Arcs, especially tougher machines like Leapers, Shredders, and Queens.

Reward: 1x Combat MK.3 (Flanking) augment, 1x Photoelectric Cloak, 1x Bobcat II, 50x Raider Coins

Use nomad tactics to fight Arc (6/6)

(Image credit: Embark)

The final task is to deal damage to Arc using mines or traps, including Blaze Grenade Traps, Pulse Mines, Jolt Mines, Explosive Mines, and Surge Coils. You'll have earned a bunch from completing the stages so far, so now it's time to put them to use. You can do this on any map and mode, so pick your poison.

Reward: Sextant backpack charm, Red Black Saltwalker outfit colour, 100x Raider Coins, Surge Coil blueprint

How to complete the Forgotten Relics event in Arc Raiders

Rory Norris — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 11:43:30 +0000

Arc Raiders' latest update has given us the Forgotten Relics event and the Converging Paths project, both of which intertwine slightly. It's not super complicated, but they're intended to be a snack to tide us over until the big Frozen Trail update in October.

Below, I'll explain how to earn Merits to complete the Forgotten Relics event, as well as the rewards you'll get for being such a diligent treasure hunter.

Like Converging Paths, this is a limited-time affair (June 16 through to July 27), so get in while you can.

How to complete the Forgotten Relics event in Arc Raiders

Embark

To progress the Forgotten Relics event, you need to earn Merits, which is done by:

Earning XP during a match—Looting, killing bots and players, and time spent increase how much you'll earn.
Looting and extracting new trinket items.

There are nine new trinkets you can find, which give an increasing number of Merits based on their rarity. You can also donate these relics to the Converging Paths projects once you've returned to Speranza with them, so it's two birds with one stone.

The best place to find these new trinkets is in Residential or Commercial areas, on shelves, or inside cupboards, drawers, and the like. I recommend searching Grandioso Apartments, Santa Maria Houses, and the Plazas in Buried City, and inside the chimneys during the Bird City event. Here's what each is worth Merit-wise:

Train Model (common - 10 Merits)
Sextant (uncommon - 15 Merits)
Vintage Steering Wheel (uncommon - 15 Merits)
Equatorial Sundial (rare - 25 Merits)
Colorful Shoes (rare - 25 Merits)
Tellurion (epic - 50 Merits)
Colorful Shoes (epic - 50 Merits)
Colorful Shoes (legendary - 150 Merits)
Elephant Obelisk (legendary - 150 Merits)

Since XP is the main source of progression in the Forgotten Relics event though, you'll want to maximise your earnings. Map events like Night Raids are a great opportunity to rack up high scores, and you can do this while looting for valuable trinkets, too.

Merits are automatically converted and redeemed in the events page, so head there to track your progress.

All Arc Raiders Forgotten Relics rewards

(Image credit: Embark)

There are 21 rewards available, including an exclusive outfit and 100 Raider Tokens, requiring you to earn 3,150 Merits to unlock them all:

Merit Milestone	Reward
150	Saltwalker outfit
300	25x Raider Tokens
450	Speaker Bag customisation for the Saltwalker outfit
600	Antler Talisman backpack charm
750	Sleeve customisation for the Saltwalker outfit
900	Camo customisation for the Saltwalker outfit
1050	Deer Skull customisation for the Saltwalker outfit
1200	Scarf customisation for the Saltwalker outfit
1350	25x Raider Tokens
1500	Shoulder Pad customisation for the Saltwalker outfit
1650	Cultist backpack
1800	Leather Bag customisation for the Saltwalker outfit
1950	Tribal face paint
2100	Helmet customisation for the Saltwalker outfit
2250	25x Raider Tokens
2400	Mask customisation for the Saltwalker outfit
2550	Nomad Jug backpack attachment
2700	25x Raider Tokens
2850	White Green customisation for the Saltwalker outfit
3000	Helmet customisation for the Saltwalker outfit
3150	Skull Pantomime emote

DualSense PC gamers have been vindicated at last, as haptic support is finally here—though no thanks to Sony

Jess Kinghorn — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 11:28:06 +0000

I spent a decent chunk of my early career writing about all things PlayStation. But despite all of that, I wouldn't call Sony's DualSense controller my go-to gamepad for PC gaming. Well, the latest DSX beta update might just make it a real contender.

Traditionally, you can use a DualSense controller on PC via a wired connection or over Bluetooth via an extra adapter. What a faff! Furthermore, there's no official support for the pad's detailed haptics on PC—so the team behind DSX are now extending unofficial support over both Bluetooth and wired connections. The v3.2 Beta 01update adds "Virtual DualSense with Audio support, allowing games to send native DualSense audio and haptics through DSX over Bluetooth or USB" (via WCCFTech).

There is a catch, though. The update post notes that haptic and controller-based audio support will require "DSX+ to create a virtual DualSense as it always has been." Essentially, that means you're going to have to pay $7.99 for the base software on Steam, and then another $3.99 for the DSX+ 'DLC'. In short, paying over 10 bucks for functionality that's standard on PS5 does feel a wee bit cheeky to me. That said, small teams providing unofficial support like this have gotta eat too.

This update also introduces the handy option to launch the controller software manually outside of Steam. Neat! This does use "a 28-day ownership cache" system, though, so you'll still need to futz with Steam at least once a month to continue enjoying support. To enjoy this functionality alongside haptics support, you'll need to set up access to the DSX Beta branch via Steam anyway.

I've not yet had a chance to go hands-on with DSX's haptic support, so I can't comment on how refined the feedback feels on PC versus console. But given that Sony has u-turned on bringing its tentpole releases to PC, such as God of War: Laufey, the case could be made that this unofficial haptic support comes a little too late. Still, if you're curious about what you're missing, this could be a great excuse to finally pick up 2023's Returnal (we've even got a robust beginner's guide).

(Image credit: Housemarque)

I'm also fond of all the subtle haptics that have since been added to the PS5 version of Final Fantasy XIV Online, though there's no guarantee you'd get this in the PC version of the game. In my humble opinion, the best showcase for the DualSense's haptics are the last two AstroBot games. Unfortunately, Astro's Playroom—a game which I've heard at least one game developer describe as 'the five-hour hand massage'—was a free pack-in release for the increasingly expensive PlayStation 5 console, so it feels like the bot has a snowball in Hell's chance of ever making it PC-side.

As a PlayStation girlie, I'd kind of already accepted I'd be stuck with unrefined rumble at best on PC. It's a shame Sony has missed a trick by not offering official haptic support on PC itself, but it's also unsurprising given their doubling down on PS5 exclusives. Still, when a major player closes a door, you can bet a small team with a fraction of the resources will crack open a window. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to chill out in a rainy, forested corner of Atropos and soak up some DualSense ASMR.

Autonomous ErgoChair Ultra 2 review

Nick Evanson — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 10:51:16 +0000

If the thought of buying an office chair from an AI-focused company is giving you pause for concern, then let me allay those fears now. The Autonomous ErgoChair Ultra 2 is a good chair that's well-built, comfortable, and genuinely fine to use for a full day of work, followed by a night of gaming. It's not perfect, and the price tag doesn't quite match what you're getting, but those are criticisms that can be cast at any gaming chair these days.

I am getting ahead of myself, though, so let me start with the basics. Autonomous has designed its chair with the 'all-day PC enthusiast' very much in mind, and the ErgoChair Ultra 2 (sometimes listed as the Chair Ultra V2) ticks off every box you'd expect for such a product, such as 4D adjustable arms and an expansive seat.

One difficulty with reviewing chairs, office or gaming, is that there is a considerable degree of subjectivity to it all, rather like with keyboards and mice. What's comfortable or convenient for one person can be awkward and annoying for someone else, so it's worth knowing my own specifications before I discuss those of the Autonomous chair.

Autonomous ErgoChair Ultra 2 specs

(Image credit: Future)

Chair dimensions: 71 x 71 x 104-117 cm / 28 x 28 W x 41-46 inches
Max user weight: 145 kg / 320 lbs
Seat height range: 46-58 cm / 18-23 inches
Seat depth range: 46-52 cm / 18-20.5 inches
Seat recline range: 25°
Weight: 16.6 kg / 36.5 lbs
Price: $499

With a height of 184 cm (72.8 inches) and a weight of 68 kg (149.9 lbs), I'm the human equivalent of a giant stick insect, all arms and legs, and not much in the way of any padding around my posterior, if you catch my drift. I generally avoid mesh chairs, favouring dense foam ones, because they often lack enough support for my bony frame.

The ErgoChair Ultra 2 is the first mesh chair I've used where I've had no problems with back or seat comfort, and in the case of the former, the flexible spine helps by no small degree. Rather than using a rigid steel or aluminium frame, Autonomous designed a polymer structure that looks like alien cartilage.

That holds the seat back in place but also permits it to twist and flex slightly, and along with the polymer back itself, the whole thing does a good job of supporting my frame. There are no dials, knobs, or levers for adjusting anything: You just sit back, and the whole thing effectively moulds to, and fully supports, your shape. By not using metal here, the chair is also quite a bit lighter and easier to move about than your average gaming chair.

Future

A similar approach has been used for the seat, in that underneath the foam pad, there is an array of polymer 'springs', though it's not quite as supportive as I'd like. I can sit all day in the ErgoChair Ultra 2 without too much issue, but I'd prefer a few more centimetres of foam in the pad. As it is, the seat doesn't feel as plush as the back, even though it's very spacious.

One function I do appreciate about the Autonomous design is that the seat depth is adjustable. Simply pull out a handle in the seat base, and the whole thing can easily slide back and forth by a few inches, giving taller people more thigh support. The only thing I don't like about this system is that shuffling the chair around while sitting in it causes the seat to 'clunk' about. That movement is only very small, but it does reduce the overall feeling of sturdiness.

Speaking of which, while the overall build quality is very good, the 4D adjustable armrests let down the package a touch. They're altered for height by pressing a small catch on the underside, but everything else (lateral and horizontal location, rotation) is done by simply pushing or pulling the rest into the desired position.

Future

That's very easy to do, but it's actually too easy, and if you grab or lean on the armrests to move the chair about on a thick carpet, the rests will quickly slide out of position. Conversely, the height adjustment is quite stiff, and the arms tend to stick a little in the housing. A dose of silicone spray helped, though a better design would remove the problem altogether.

If you've just spent a good amount of time setting up the arms to suit your needs, you'd be rather annoyed that you'd have to do this all over again, simply because you needed to move the chair by pushing on the arms. On a smooth floor, tiled or laminated, this doesn't happen, but if your office/gaming den is carpeted like mine, it's something to be aware of with the Autonomous chair.

There are a couple of rough edges on parts that have been manufactured using injection moulding, too. Nothing to cause any harm, and unless you look for it, you're unlikely to notice it. But it's just one more thing that takes a little bit of shine off the Autonomous' otherwise high levels of quality.

Buy if...

✅ You want a comfortable, well-built office chair that won't ruin your spine: By using a clever, self-flexing design for the back, you don't need to fiddle about with dials and levers to get the support you need

Don't buy if...

❌ You want top value for money: The ErgoChair Ultra 2 lacks features that the competition includes for the same price or less, such as head/footrests.

More so when you consider it costs $499. That's not super expensive for the market sector Autonomous is targeting, but neither does it have the playing field to itself. For example, ThunderX3 and Flexispot both make excellent mesh office chairs and are highly competitive on price and features. Meanwhile, the ErgoChair Ultra 2 doesn't sport footrests, and if you want a headrest, then you'll need to spend $50 more for the Plus model.

With $75 to $100 knocked off the price tag, you'd have no reason at all to complain, and I'd recommend the Autonomous ErgoChair Ultra 2 without hesitation. At a dollar shy of five hundred bucks, however, I'd suggest that you weigh up the chair's strengths—flexible back support, low weight, adjustable seat depth—against your specific needs and what the competition offers first.

There's no shortage of great chairs to choose from these days, after all.

Destiny 2 comes full circle as players honour the tradition of pushing bosses to their deaths—this time by becoming a porcupine and smacking them with a void football

harvey.randall@futurenet.com (Harvey Randall) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 10:35:40 +0000

Destiny 2's sun is setting, and it's perhaps fitting that one of the oldest traditions of the franchise—that is, pushing bosses to their doom—is happening once again. Except this time, they're becoming porcupines holding void light footballs which smacks bosses so hard they fall to their deaths.

🚨 SOLO 1-min Pantheon Farm for free Tier 5 drops.Watch till the end 💀 pic.twitter.com/Lyw66WZhBpJune 15, 2026

The method, as explained here by YouTuber InSaNeGaMeR300, involves combining a crossbow with high Persistence (to make the bolts stick for longer) and the Sentinel Titan's Ward of Dawn ability.

See, Ward of Dawn creates a protective dome of void light which you can pick up and reposition—turns out, when you do that, any crossbow bolts you've stuck into the central orb will travel with you while you carry it under your arm like a football. Hit an enemy with the Ward of Dawn while you're all porcupine'd up, and they'll go flying.

The game just assumes you beat the bosses in question fair and square, which means players have been using it to farm the Pantheon raid gauntlet, which returned in Destiny 2's final update.

It's something of a full-circle moment, as back in the Destiny 1 days, players would push the Vault of Glass boss, Templar, into the void with pulse grenades.

I'm not sure Bungie'll simply let this stand even if D2 is in its end-of-life era—or perhaps specifically because it's in its end-of-life era. Simply allowing players to yeet some of the game's hardest bosses for fat loot is funny, but also probably not what the developer envisions as the sunset of its game. Even if it is appropriate.

Until then, Sentinels can enjoy their free boss kills and potential god rolls—and, as one of our very own Destiny 2 players Sean Martin calls it, one of Destiny 2's paradoxically best updates yet, full of long-requested quality of life features. And deadly porcupine sportsballs, as it turns out.

Social media is awful but the UK under-16 ban won't solve anything: 'Instead of punishing children, the government needs to target the source'

Fraser Brown — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 10:26:32 +0000

Following in the footsteps of our friends in Australia, the British government is getting ready to ban under-16s from accessing social media—specifically Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, X and Facebook. The ban is expected to be enforced by spring 2027.

"Social media is making children unhappy, it’s making it easier for bullies to harass and abuse them, and it could even be harming their mental health," Prime Minister Keir Starmer said during the announcement of the ban.

As extremely online former teenagers ourselves, some of whom are now parents, we've got some thoughts on the ban.

Fraser Brown, Online Editor

(Image credit: Getty Images)

I stopped using social media several years ago. I kicked Facebook to the curb after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and I got out of Twitter when it refused to take action against Trump's deployment of misinformation and fascist propaganda, before it was purchased by Musk. I will occasionally use Linkedin and YouTube for work, but that's it.

Kids aren't to blame for the tragic state of affairs the country now finds itself in.
Fraser Brown

Social media is a curse. Rather than being a tool for sharing information and uniting disparate people across the globe, it's just found new ways to divide us, radicalising children and adults alike. Social media tramples on the truth and makes everyone using it dangerously stupid. I am not a fan.

But the British government's solution is not going to work. Children are among social media's most vulnerable, malleable users, but we keep seeing how it's used to indoctrinate adults just as effectively. During the Brexit campaign, it was adults being targeted by political lies, not children. Kids aren't to blame for the tragic state of affairs the country now finds itself in.

Instead of punishing children, the government needs to target the source. People like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. The rich assholes who think they are untouchable need to start paying for the damage they cause. These companies need to be bled dry. Social media will never improve unless they are forced to dramatically change how they work, and the only way to do that is by fining them into oblivion if they don't.

Harvey Randall, Staff Writer

(Image credit: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

"Think of the children!" one might cry in response to the idea that the UK's incoming social media ban for under-16s—or indeed the catastrophically boneheaded, hobby forum-snuffing, privacy-violating Online Safety Act—is ill-advised. The issue is, absolutely no-one involved is actually doing that.

Children are smarter than you give them credit for. They're more technologically literate than the adults in the room, too. All legislation like this does is push them to shadier sites where they're out of sight, out of mind, and far more vulnerable than a properly-moderated social media website or an actually-informed parent population would make them.

The reason social media is rotten for kids is because it's rotten for everybody.
Harvey Randall

The issue is enforcement, something the UK government has given me absolutely zero faith it'll be able to do sensibly or with any actual understanding of how this shit works. Mark me: They will mess it up. It'll be easy to get around. They'll do embarrassing news interviews where they try to tether adults verifying their age with the safety of children, and it'll be exactly as condescending now as it was back then.

And look: I don't think social media's good for our brains, it's why I barely use it, but cutting under-16s off from a world they are right to be disenfranchised by doesn't smack me as a great way to make them feel more connected to it. We used to tell kids to be careful online, now we're asking everybody to open their mouth for the camera so Palantir can know what our teeth look like. For the children, of course. For the children.

The reason social media is rotten for kids is because it's rotten for everybody. We've sat idly by while tech giants have made a torment nexus of misinformation and division that's literally built to make you angry and scared and tired—and we could do something about that, sure, but we aren't. And we're shocked that under-16s are a little messed up? We're the example we're setting for them, and we're doing a terrible job of behaving ourselves.

Rory Norris, Guides Writer

(Image credit: Getty Images)

You'd be naive to underestimate the potential negative effects of various social media on children and young adults—hell, even full adults, as Fraser rightly points out. Still, a full-on ban and curfews aren't a nuanced solution to a nuanced situation.

I'm not a regular user of most social media. I don't care for Facebook. I use Instagram to chat with friends. I mainly use X for work. But YouTube, which I don't necessarily consider a social media in the same vein, is a substantial part of my day.

I wouldn't be where I am or who I am without it. My interest in media, specifically games, was fuelled by watching let's plays years ago, and now video essays—how else am I supposed to learn how the rivers work in Skyrim? This can lead to careers, as it has for me, or (to name a few) creators like MrRolfWaffles (who has spoken on the topic) and Kane Parsons, who was 16 years old when he created The Backrooms for his YouTube channel, Kane Pixels. Now 20, Parsons has become the youngest director in history to get a number one film at the box office.

I wouldn't be where I am or who I am without it.
Rory Norris

This touches on a very important aspect of the platform. YouTube is, in many ways, an educational tool. Sure, there are plenty of bad apples, but I'd argue this is something the platform should be pressured into controlling and providing people with more rigorous controls over their algorithms, rather than a government crackdown.

I grew up watching VSauce's science videos. I remember using YouTube to revise for my GCSE and A-level exams. For one reason or another, I don't think I'd have managed without it growing up. This generation will be forced to.

Dave James, Hardware Dad

Control and regulation has failed, so the UK government is attempting the last desperate thing left to it, an almost impossible-to-enforce ban on social media for the under-16s. And honestly I'm a little conflicted. I disengaged with social media a decade ago, and will be passing my feelings on to my kids as they grow up. Though I will need to prepare for the inevitable desire to rebel against me.

This proposed ban, alongside the Online Safety Act, relies heavily on third-party age verification outfits, and that means you are giving a whole bunch of different people the keys to your personal details. And that means a lot of points of failure and opportunities for bad actors to get in-between and make off with a ton of sensitive, and powerful information, such as your image and passport information.

There are better ways to do this age verification stuff, such as zero knowledge proofs (ZKP). As Jacob spoke about in his piece on age verification's privacy nightmare last year, ZKP is a cryptographic method of providing proof of something without actually handing over specific data in that transaction. The idea is that you hold onto all your data on your device, and then that generates a proof token for the places that need it.

There are better ways to do this age verification stuff.
Dave James

Basically, I feel it needs to be implemented in a more considered way.

OK, but that's actually just how it will impact those trying to navigate the restrictions they will now need to bypass to access their social media accounts, but what about the children? I'm a dad of a couple of young boys, both inevitably very tech literate for their age given what I do, but also both kept very much at arm's length from anything actually online.

Is this ban really going to keep them from finding a place or platform online where their friends are all gathering? No, probably not. But it's my job as their dad to explain the dangers of both and hope I can raise them to be smart and sensitive enough to understand why there is a need to step up and take the social media companies to task. They will find other digital playgrounds, and they will need to be just as prepared for the dangers there, too. As there's no proposed restriction in place for Signal or Whatsapp there will still be easy access to cyberbullying for everyone.

So, I guess my take is that this ban doesn't really change anything at all. In my role as a father of young kids, it is still my responsibility to make sure they're given all the information they need to make sure they can stay safe online and can understand where the dangers lie in the different platforms they may or may not interact with. As it was when they could freely access social media without being asked to hand over valuable private information to potentially unregulated age verification outfits.

Elie Gould, Staff Writer

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Bans like this don't work. Take the similar restriction levied in Australia for example: research states that over 60% of teenagers are still using social media. This should surprise no one, not when the workarounds are just so easy.

As someone who grew up in the early days of the internet I know all too well just how easy it is to bypass restrictions. I also know that when kids are backed into a corner, they'll go to any lengths to do whatever they want; this rebellion will often land them on sites which are considerably worse than those they would initially browse.

Bans like this don't work.
Elie Gould

But again it shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone that this ban likely won't make kids safer. It's just not what it's meant to do. The onus should be on the platform to regulate and restrict harmful content, and platforms should be heavily penalised for not policing themselves effectively, and the billionaires who profit off it should be forced to cough up some of the money they made from selling this addictive substance. But this ban shifts the responsibility. Now platforms can point their finger at children and parents who simply don't know better and blame them when their child inevitably encounters egregious content.

Let me be clear, I don't think children should be on social media; I don't think anyone should. Sure, those cat videos are funny, but not when it comes at the cost of rewiring the dopamine centre of your brain. But this ban is insincere in its aims, lets platforms off the hook, and will likely only make protecting children harder.

A lost Dragon Ball Z fan RPG has resurfaced after mystery user drops it in a seven-year-old forum thread

shaun.prescott@futurenet.com (Shaun Prescott) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 04:02:08 +0000

About seven years ago user pikablu of the Resetera forum started a thread about an old Dragon Ball Z fan RPG that had long fallen into obscurity. It was an MS-DOS game that "used a lot of sprites from the Super Butōden games", which were Dragon Ball Z games released for SNES consoles in the '90s. According to the user, this rugged fan RPG was available on a Dragon Ball Z site called Planet Namek.

The thread attracted 14 responses. No one could help.

But everything changed today when new user BenjiBrew entered the fray. They too have spent years looking for this Dragon Ball Z RPG, and luckily had some success finding it. BenjiBrew "stumbled across an old backup CD of one of my old PCs from 2004" and found the strange artefact, whose full title is Dragon Ball Z - Wish for Immortality. Not only that, they offered a MediaFire link and some screenshots so that the game won't "vanish into the void again".

Here are the screenshots BenjiBrew posted:

(Image credit: BenjiBrew)

It wasn't long before the thread creator confirmed that the game is indeed the one they were seeking. "I've 100% confirmed it is it," pikablu wrote. "I streamed the game with my friend who also played it before and we both lost our collective minds when we found Icebox is in the game!!!"

(Icebox, as the user explains earlier in the thread, is the RPG's name for its equivalent to the Cooler character.)

Thanks to BenjiBrew's discovery the game now has a home on archive.org, where a little bit more information is provided. The game was made in O.H.R.RPG.C.E., or Official Hamster Republic Role Playing Game Construction Engine. This is a free and open-source game creation engine first released in 1997 and most recently updated in January 2026. While RPG Maker predates it, it wasn't until 2005 when RPG Maker XP made its PC debut in the west, so for a long time O.H.R.RPG.C.E. was the go-to option for home made 8-bit style RPGs in the west.

To play Wish for Immortality, you'll need to download the O.H.R.RPG.C.E. client, which is available here. Then you can head to the archive.org page to grab the game itself.

I don't know whether the game is worth playing if you weren't there, but the story of its re-emergence reminds me that the internet remains indispensable for some things. I played countless throwaway DOS games as a child, a handful of which I have later struggled to put a name to, let alone find. One of these was Trugg, the vague memory of which haunted me for years before a chance online encounter. There's still an old third-person mech PS2 game that I haven't managed to find (and no, it's not an Armored Core game).

So I guess the moral of the story is: if you can't find anything, post something. Someone later Googling with a similar itch may be able to help.

The new NBA game's street balling is strong, but it's way too sweaty for its own good

Justin Wagner — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 23:16:05 +0000

Basketball was one sport I loved playing as a kid—not only to compete or spectate, but just for fun. I was not good at it. So I stopped playing, partially because I hated feeling like my teammates were stuck with me. When I got benched, that bummed me out. But when I got put in, the responsibility to not let my friends down made my heart race, even if it supposedly didn't matter if we won. Now I realize I shouldn't have been so hard on myself.

NBA The Run saddled me with the same existential questions I had back in those days. It's a 3-on-3 throwback to arcadey classics like NBA Jam, Street, and my personal favorite, the one where you can play as a horse. These games trade the simmy mechanical depth of more buttoned-up ball 'em ups for easily executed moon jump dunks, gaudy tricks, turbo buttons, and commentary from guys yelling stuff like "Boom shaka-laka!" It’s basketball as only videogames could envision it.

In other words, if classic 2K was Ball Turismo, NBA Street was Midnight Dunk Club. Much chiller, just as killer. But just imagine if Midnight Club had no arcade modes, no offline play of note, and instead shot you right into competitive online races without so much as a tutorial. As much as I'm having fun with it, that's the rough start you get with The Run, which released on Steam last week.

I soured on that setup while playing the default mode, squads. Instead of one player controlling an entire trio, six players each control a different character on the court. The playable cast includes a mix of real pro players, each of whom are outfitted with different stats and some personalized animations, as well as unlockable "street legends" with wackier playstyles, like the 7'7 El Gigante.

This format works great when you're on the same couch as your teammates, or in a game like last year's Rematch where clearly defined roles nudge each player toward what they should be doing. In 3-on-3 basketball though, it's a mess of point-hungry buffoons rushing at the ball, shooting Hail Marys from half-court with every possession, and sprinting around aimlessly.

Squads might be great fun with a premade squad or in rare moments where you click with strangers, but an uncoordinated team is comically nonfunctional. I found myself longing for voice chat or a ping system, which just felt wrong. Shouldn’t digital street ball be an escape from the two-bit esports I endure in games like Overwatch?

That said, the core action still hooked me. It's not as pure as Jam or as expressive as the trick-centric Street, opting for a nice balance between the two: dunks, blocks, and steals are simple button presses, but you can swerve around defenders with stamina-guzzling ankle breakers and shove other players as you please (street rules—it’s legal!). Go for a dunk without the ball to give your teammate an opportunity for an alley-oop, and you can even pass using the backboard or an opponent's face with an off-the-heezay.

It’s all narrated by Bobbito Garcia (AKA DJ Cucumber Slice), who you might remember as the ultra-charismatic announcer from NBA Street Vol. 2. He furnishes the game with a fun-forward sensibility befitting its stylized look.

(Image credit: Play by Play Studios)

But because The Run gives you the tools to play stylishly without much fuss and celebrates you for doing it, the emphasis on matchmade online tournaments—the only way to play outside of private lobbies—feels at odds with everything on-screen.

The flair is there, but the competitive context emphasizes performance and mastery over expressive plays and all-in-good-fun antics. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it made me wonder why it’s a street ball game and not a deeper simulation with a more involved metagame to explore. In real life, street ball is a rejection of stuffy structure, but The Run adds it right back. And taken as an esport, this will get old fast… there’s a reason goaltending and shoves are illegal in "real" basketball.

(Image credit: Play by Play Studios)

It does have one trick up its sleeve to keep things fresh, and it’s my favorite part of the game: the changing win conditions. Every match has different rules around points which cleverly upend go-to playstyles. In one game, every shot that wasn’t a three-pointer was only worth a single point. Funnily enough, this made dunks a lot easier to pull off, since defenders kept gravitating toward the 3-point line. In another match, dunks were worth three points, turning the game delightfully aggressive.

Still, I found myself wishing for even wackier gimmicks and tricks to toy with, but The Run's team format emphasizes playing to win. Sure, I can pass to a teammate in hopes they'll see my alley-oop and send it back to me in time, but nothing feels as reliable as rushing in for a dunk or pump faking to bait out a block and secure a 3-pointer. The game's "in the zone" meter tries to reward you for flashy maneuvers, but games are often over before it can make a real impact, and at least one of the random rulesets removes it from play entirely.

At that point, why risk losing the ball just to do something cool? A question like that feels counter to the spirit of The Run's predecessors, but in a game that's throwing rank points at you after every match and tracking your win rate percentage, it feels unavoidable.

(Image credit: Play by Play Studios)

This is less of a problem in the game's solos mode, which I'm liking a lot more than squads. It's a 1v1 where both players control their entire team, swapping between them with passes. Not only does this mean you don't have to rely on silent randos, but you can also choose a spread of pros that cover each other's weaknesses. I can keep a tall center like Victor Wembanyama in the paint, confidently block an opponent's shot, and dish the ball to Jaylen Brown for a reliable swish. All of a sudden, I'm actually playing basketball! And if I want to go for off-the-heezays and alley-oops, my successes and failures are mine alone.

Once you focus on the fundamental balling (which may take some losing at first as, again, the game has no tutorial at all), The Run reveals itself to be a revival worthy of its inspirations, for the most part. That said, I still wish it had a singleplayer campaign like NBA Street Vol. 2's Be a Legend mode, or at least something along the lines of NBA Hangtime's create-a-player, which let you create custom ballers and boost their stats with each win in offline matches. Instead, there's nothing meaty for a solo player, and the online modes don't lend themselves to casual enjoyment.

The unfortunate result is that there's not really a way to unwind while playing The Run, which feels absurd to say about a game which strips away basketball's depth so it can focus on the cool, flashy stuff. It's a bit of frantic fun, but the games it’s taking after and the riffs that arose in their absence, like the Jam-inspired fantasy Supergiant RPG Pyre, have proven that arcade basketball can be bigger and better.

Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and other Xbox studios could close

tyler@pcgamer.com (Tyler Wilde) — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 21:43:14 +0000

Bloomberg reports that Compulsion Games isn't the only Microsoft studio fighting to stay open during the great "Xbox reset" announced last week by new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.

Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and "several other studios" are at risk of closure, reports the publication, which cited undisclosed sources who are familiar with Microsoft's plans.

According to The Verge, Ninja Theory will close unless it finds a buyer, despite just having announced a new Hellblade game at the recent Xbox showcase.

Double Fine is "in active negotiations to spin off," Bloomberg says, but job losses are expected even for studios that manage to buy their independence.

Double Fine was founded 26 years ago by former LucasArts developer Tim Schafer, and is best known for Brütal Legend, crowdfunded adventure game Broken Age, and the Psychonauts series, as well as candid documentaries about the gamemaking process. The studio recently released Kiln, a multiplayer party game, and Keeper, a puzzle adventure game about a sentient lighthouse.

Microsoft acquired Double Fine in 2019 under the direction of former Xbox CEO Phil Spencer, who oversaw a spree of studio purchases, including the landmark Bethesda and Activision Blizzard acquisitions.

Schafer and Spencer appeared together at a media summit last year, a few months before Spencer announced his retirement. At the event, Schafer praised Spencer and Microsoft for respecting Double Fine's creative independence.

"When we talked about becoming acquired, it was a big thing for me, like, 'How do we keep our culture intact?'" Schafer said. "And everyone was like, 'No, we really want you to stay who you are.' And that's been true all these years … You know, creatively, we can be like, 'Hey, we want to make this game about a walking lighthouse,' and they're like, 'Cool. Sounds cool.'"

Now Xbox is "over extended," according to Sharma, although Microsoft as a whole made nearly $32 billion in profit last quarter, and has invested billions into AI.

We also learned today that the head of Xbox Game Studios and its chief of staff have stepped down.

Finding a great new Discord hangout game that's not a roguelike still feels like striking gold

wesley@pcgamer.com (Wes Fenlon) — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 21:09:36 +0000

Last year's explosion of 'friendslop' games inspired by Peak's phenomenal success may be a recession indicator, but I'm still here for it: I love seeing indie developers focusing on small, cheap, creative games built around the idea of hanging with the pals. But the game industry's tendency to pile onto a promising trend does mean that if you go looking for a new co-op game on Steam, the selection is likely to be dominated by what's been most successful in the last couple years. Lo-fi 3D games riffing on Peak; survival crafting; roguelike mechanics slapped onto anything from gambling to cowboys to Dark Souls.

I've got nothing against those games, but they don't get me gassed up the way finding a purer—and if I'm being totally honest, more old-fashioned—form of Discord hangout game does: the linear, 7/10 co-op first-person shooter.

That was exactly the description that crossed my mind when I played Turok: Origins at Summer Game Fest last week. It may sound like damning with faint praise, but I truly mean it as a compliment.

The prequel to the dino-shooting '90s FPS is a three-player co-op game that lets you switch between first- and third-person at will; I played two missions and shot a whole bunch of both dinosaurs and aliens, frequently popping off abilities that launched volleys of magic missiles or beam attacks at them instead of bullets. It wasn't until we fought the boss of the second mission that I figured out how the health system worked, because up to that point I'd mostly been mashing buttons, watching shit explode, and chatting with one of the game's developers over a headset mic that was trying valiantly to filter out a whole lot of background noise.

There's something reassuring in the confidence of a game that knows exactly what it is and executes on what it promises with workmanlike precision. Call it the opposite of eurojank, where you admire the ambition of a game reaching for more than it can really deliver on. Turok: Origins, at least from the bit I played, isn't attempting to tell a nuanced story (though there is one) or deliver the most amazing-feeling FPS guns you've ever used (though they feel pretty good!). It's also, crucially, not built around the lure of keeping you playing forever with procedurally generated guns or a roguelite progression system.

I think it might be my perfect Discord hangout game.

I should probably be clear about what exactly I mean by "Discord hangout game." The definition will naturally vary depending on the size of your Discord group, of course, and how much time you have to play games. To me, there are a few key characteristics:

Co-op support for 3-5 players
Story should be minimal, but it can still be valuable for creating structure and giving co-op sessions a sense of accomplishment
A Discord hangout game should be playable while only half paying attention the majority of the time
You should only have to really lock in 10-20% of the time; the rest of the play session should allow for idle chit chat
One player being less engaged than the rest of the group, or more engaged than the rest of the group, will not spoil the experience for everyone

All of these factors are important, but I think the last one especially is. Overcooked, for example, is not a very good hangout game because one player can easily ruin the whole vibe by either taking it too seriously or not doing their part.

(Image credit: Aggro Crab / Landfall)

As PC Gamer's Morgan Park pointed out to me when we were discussing our shared love of co-op shooters, one of many reasons "friendslop" feels like a poor descriptor for games like Peak is that they're actually fairly demanding of the player. You can goof off in Peak and have fun without taking it seriously, but to succeed you do need to be pretty engaged. The climbing stamina system demands patience, caution and good timing; one or two falls and you're almost certainly dead. Peak's use of proximity voice chat is a fantastic design touch, but further pushes it out of casual hangout game territory for me. It's hard to chat with a friend about what they made for dinner or what's going on with their job when you wander out of earshot and have to break off the conversation.

This isn't a criticism of those types of games—it just means they're at their best with a degree of attention I don't think is always ideal for a casual Wednesday night Discord hangout when we're all kinda tired but want to play a game together. Similarly, I find roguelites and survival games often aren't the best fit for a small Discord server that has a busy-adults-with-many-important-things-to-do vibe: the promise of infinite possibility and hundreds of hours of game is often not that appealing.

A game like Turok, on the other hand, with set missions, just enough story to give each one a bit of flavor, and a class system where we can each specialize in a role and unlock more gear as we go? The promise that we can replay levels on harder difficulties with our souped-up gear if we want, but we could also just finish the game and be satisfied instead of just kinda trailing off when someone gets busy for a few days?

(Image credit: Saber Interactive)

In a different context, I might have more gripes about Turok: Origins—that its moving or shooting could use a bit more friction, that objectives like "enter this arena and blow up these five glowing plants" aren't exactly the most engaging. But while playing it I was mostly having a good time, because nothing in the game got in the way of having a fun chat while the shooting lit up the "bad guys go boom" bit of my lizard brain.

It's flashy. It moves fast. A few times I threw down a shield to help my teammates; most of the time we were each just running around blastin'. You can do some cool finishing moves on the dinosaurs that are guaranteed to elicit some hooting and also hollering in the chat.

(Image credit: Saber Interactive)

I don't particularly like the phrase "turn your brain off" as it's often applied to the dumbest big-budget games or Hollywood blockbusters, because the best examples of either form manage to be engaging or novel in some way that puts them a cut above the average. I haven't played enough of Turok: Origins to say exactly how it will land, but playing it made me appreciate the art required of making a game that demands precisely enough from its players. I mean, just imagine trying to hold a conversation while playing Doom Eternal. Ridiculous!

But between Space Marine 2's class-based mission system and what I've played at Turok: Origins, I think Saber Interactive has found a very welcome niche in making shooters that know when to make you focus on surviving for the next 30 seconds, and are otherwise content to let you blab about your latest sourdough success. I'm blessed that both a legendary line of dinosaur hunters and King Arthur have my back.

Xbox Game Studios head and chief of staff step down as 'Xbox reset' looms

tyler@pcgamer.com (Tyler Wilde) — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 20:52:26 +0000

Xbox Games Studios head Craig Duncan has stepped down after just over a year-and-a-half in the role, reports The Game Business.

Duncan led Sea of Thieves developer Rare for nearly 13 years before being promoted to head of Xbox Game Studios in 2024, which put the rest of Microsoft's studios under his stewardship, including Double Fine, Halo Studios, inXile, Obsidian, Playground Games, and The Coalition.

Xbox Game Studios chief of staff Louise O'Connor has also resigned, according to the publication. O'Connor also hails from Rare, which she joined all the way back in 1999 as an animator. O'Connor was promoted to Xbox Game Studios chief of staff in August last year.

The news comes as Xbox's new leaders, Asha Sharma and Matt Booty—who took over after Phil Spencer retired earlier this year—begin to implement an ominous-sounding "Xbox reset."

In an open letter last week, Sharma and Booty said that Xbox's studio acquisitions have left it "over extended," and Bloomberg reported that "significant" layoffs are being planned. Word on the street is that award-winning studio Compulsion Games is on the chopping block, and Bloomberg reports that Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and others are also at risk.

I have reached out to Microsoft for comment on the reported departures.

It would take you 90 straight days to play each of Steam Next Fest's demos for just 30 minutes

lincoln.carpenter@futurenet.com (Lincoln Carpenter) — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 20:32:49 +0000

Today marks the beginning of Steam Next Fest, the thrice-yearly, week-long smorgasbord of delectable demos served up by game creators of all sizes as samplers for their in-development delights. And unsurprisingly, as the Steam catalog adds tens of thousands of games every year, that translates into a lot of demos.

To be precise: This season's Next Fest is, at time of writing, featuring 4,347 demos. And that number will increase throughout the week.

(Image credit: Codex Interactive)

That's already a big number, sure, but the scale of the available selection becomes a lot clearer—and more staggering—when you put it in terms of playtime. Let's say you wanted to conduct a thorough survey of Steam's immediate future by giving each Next Fest demo a half-hour of your time. An admirable undertaking! And one that would demand at least three months.

Spending 30 minutes with the 4,347 demos on the current slate would take you 2,173 and a half hours, or roughly 90.6 days. And that's without breaks for food, sleep, biological necessities, or even the time it would take to switch from one game to another. If you started today, many of those games would be released by the time you finished as part of this fall's frantic glut of pre-GTA game launches.

Still, you'd get to enjoy plenty of variety along the way: As is ever the case, Next Fest has something for everyone. If you've spent years hoping for another Titanfall, you could try Empulse, an FPS with spiritually similar wall-running and mech-dropping. Maybe an isometric spaceship extraction shooter about building a starbase in the aftermath of cosmic horror is more your speed. If so, Omen has a demo open.

(Image credit: Nick Nieuwoudt, Dominik Latos)

Or you might just want to shoot a very, very big cannon. In that case, let me point you at the steam-driven hydraulics and hand-calculated firing solutions of Iron Nest: Heavy Turret Simulator.

As explored above, that's just scratching the surface of the playable previews available this week. We'll be writing up our favorite Next Fest demos across the site, so keep checking back for our thoughts on games that you might have overlooked. Your wishlist can never be too full.

My new daily game is like Wordle but for minigolf

clivingston@pcgamer.com (Christopher Livingston) — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 18:32:51 +0000

I've pretty much lapsed in my Wordle devotion. Once a fanatic who would crawl through broken glass to make sure I kept my daily streak alive, I now only remember to play Wordle maybe a few times a month.

Hey, it happens. Five empty boxes can only remain appealing for so long.

So I'm always on the lookout for a new daily fix, a game like Wordle that isn't actually Wordle, and I'm happy to say I've found my latest morning go-to game. It's not about words at all, unless you count a couple four-letter words like GOLF and PUTT.

My new daily game is called putt.day, and it's a new hole of minigolf each and every day. You already know how to play, probably: click and drag behind the ball (or press and drag if you're on mobile). The further you drag, the harder your shot will be. Drag anywhere else on the screen to look around, zoom in and out using the mouse wheel (or by pinching on mobile) and try to get your ball to the hole in as few shots as possible.

I'm terrible at it, and seemingly most of the PC Gamer staff is too, but the important thing is we've found something new to do with a couple minutes of our time every morning. You can share scores, Wordle-like, on social media or in chats, and you can replay a hole if you want to beat your own score.

There's no sign-in, though it'll keep track of your streaks and scores as long as you don't clear your browser data. There's also an archive of past holes that goes back about two months if a single hole per day isn't enough for you.

Putt.day is made by ell.dev, using public domain minigolf models created by Kenney. Give it a try! I got 20 in today's course, which is a par 12 (I told you I was terrible) but I'm sure you can do better.

Xbox is reportedly closing South of Midnight studio Compulsion Games after bragging about its award-winning developers earlier this year

lincoln.carpenter@futurenet.com (Lincoln Carpenter) — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 18:18:15 +0000

Just days after signalling that large-scale layoffs at Xbox are imminent as part of its ongoing overhaul, Microsoft's gaming division is reportedly planning to shutter Compulsion Games, the award-winning studio behind South of Midnight and We Happy Few (via Kotaku).

Neither Xbox or Compulsion Games have yet made an official statement regarding the studio's closure or associated layoffs, but multiple Compulsion Games employees have posted on LinkedIn and other social media platforms that they are looking for work.

(Image credit: Compulsion Games)

Based in Montreal, Canada, Compulsion was founded in 2009 and released its first game, Contrast, in 2013. We Happy Few followed in 2018, and its most recent release, South of Midnight, launched in 2025 to an impressive critical reception: We scored it 83% in our review, saying "its poignant tale of hope and sorrow tailored to Deep South mythos keeps its head raised high," and it won the Games for Impact award at the 2025 Game Awards, Best New Intellectual Property at the BAFTAs, and a Peabody Award for interactive media.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has warned recently of major changes coming to Xbox, including a refocusing of resources on its major franchises. A Bloomberg report last week said major layoffs were going to be a part of that overhaul, in numbers that all but guaranteed at least one studio closure.

Sharma came close to confirming that in a message shared with Xbox employees: "We expanded our studio system when we needed a pipeline of content to meet multiple strategies across subscription, streaming, and devices. In the process, we have found ourselves over extended as we executed on changing strategies in a landscape of more readily available content."

Congratulations to the @CompulsionGames team on their Peabody award. A well-deserved recognition for storytelling that truly matters! pic.twitter.com/LmWV1CgafFApril 23, 2026

Compulsion's reported closure comes just months after Xbox's new bosses bragged about the studio's achievements: In April, Sharma posted on X to congratulate Compulsion on its Peabody award, calling it "a well-deserved recognition for storytelling that truly matters." In a Game File interview published the next day, she said "the big things that we’re thinking about are we want to make great games," naming South of Midnight as an example of the kind of quality Xbox would supposedly be pursuing.

"South of Midnight today won a Peabody Award, which I think is such a validation of the storytelling capability of games these days," Matt Booty, Xbox's new chief creative officer, said in the same interview before elaborating that Microsoft is "dedicated to places where new [intellectual property] can come to life and where these stories can be told."

If Compulsion is the first closure to happen since Sharma's letter to Xbox employees was posted, it quite possibly won't be the last: With fewer than 100 employees listed on the company's LinkedIn page, it represents only a small percentage of the total cuts Xbox is expected to make over the next several weeks.

Blizzard almost put Devil May Cry's style rank into Overwatch for its newest combo-heavy hero Shion

Tyler Colp — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Overwatch's next hero might carry twin pistols and has a quick dash, but she's no Tracer. Tomorrow, when Shion makes her debut, Overwatch will have a hero who fights like a Devil May Cry character.

In fact, the character action game series was so much of an inspiration that Blizzard originally gave Shion a Devil May Cry-esque style rank meter to measure your moves.

"We did have a style meter," lead hero producer Kenny Hudson said in a recent group interview with PC Gamer. "We had this little style meter UI in the beginning and it would start at D or E and then move its way up to S, depending on how [many abilities] you could link together."

Hudson said it "would've been cool," but it was too stressful to manage in combat. The team also had troubles figuring out how to reward you for earning an S rank. "At one point we had it so she has super speed or she has double the run speed of other heroes in the game," Hudson explained. "That was kind of wild, and we felt that the bike [was] going to be enough of a challenge."

Even without the style ranks, Shion still has some Devil May Cry DNA in her kit. The motorcycle he mentioned isn't just for racing around the map. Shion can take off with it into the air, hang for a beat, and then kick it towards enemies. Some characters have rocket launchers or grenades; Shion has an explosive bike—a core part of her design that everything else was built around.

The rest of Shion's abilities are made to be used interchangeably so you can combo them together based on what you need in the moment: Each pistol shoots a three-round burst before she swaps to the other, they can both be unloaded in an X pattern for a huge chunk of damage, and she can use her dash to move in or out of the fray.

I can already see several ways you can optimize Shion's abilities for the different heroes you'll face in a match, like forgoing the accuracy you gain from charging up her pistol volley when fighting a bulky tank hero. This flexibility extends to her ultimate ability, which gives her three charges of an AoE barrage that she can use in place or after a short dash. In the brief demo Hudson gave us, it looks like Shion will be particularly good at pouncing on weak targets before they can react, but will struggle to survive anyone prepared for her arrival.

Blizzard Entertainment

That also might mean Shion's about to become the most banned hero in ranked. Erratic movement abilities can be as much of a pain as a hero with auto-aim. Hudson said a problem in early playtests was that it was nearly impossible to take her out while she was riding the bike because her hitbox became smaller than intended. That's fixed now, but I still expect it's going to take some practice to stop her before you've been turned into roadkill.

Shion will Akira slide into the hero roster tomorrow when Overwatch season 3 begins.

Meccha Chameleon lives up to the hype as the next great party game—so if you haven't played it yet take this as a sign to check it out

Elie Gould — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:55:08 +0000

The latest entry in the wonderful genre of friendslop, Meccha Chameleon, launched onto the scene with an impressive 1,000,000 copies sold in just four days. The hype for this multiplayer game has been growing exponentially, and after watching countless videos of artistic skill I was eager to try it myself, even if I have zero skill with a paint brush.

But that's never stopped me before, so after a week away from my PC, I managed to get a few good games in with some of the PCG lot in which I discovered just how severe my lack of creativity is compared to my colleagues.

lemorion_1224

By and large, the games are just as fun as all the chaotic videos on social media make them out to be, with the only limit on fun being your own creativity. I disguised myself as a balloon (a classic), the floor of the Backrooms map, and an upside down parking sign, which was actually my best hiding attempt to date. Given more time and perhaps a drawing pad I reckon I could make some real masterpieces, but for now I think I'll have to stick to lying on floors or curling up inside a bin.

On the flip side, the most impressive disguise has to go to staff writer Harvey Randall who managed to seamlessly blend in with some plant pots, if you approached at a certain angle, that is. Unfortunately, we did not approach at the angle needed so that gave the game away pretty quickly, but still, massive props for the vision—they out did my sad attempt at becoming a balloon, for sure.

Other than my lack of artistic skill, I will admit that Meccha Chameleon is a little rough around the edges. My biggest gripe is with its dropper tool, which is meant to copy any selected colour. This was pretty temperamental for me, which certainly limited what things I could mimic in a limited amount of time.

lemorion_1224

But it's still an absolute blast. I've always used games as a medium to hang out with friends, so my Steam library is full of creative and goofy multiplayer games like REPO, Lethal Company, and Content Warning—Meccha Chameleon is the latest addition to this list.

For now it seems like there's endless possibilities for fun, which I always find is a good test of whether or not a game like this has legs. Combine the different modes, maps, and all the modding potential, and Meccha Chameleon has the potential to become one of the giants in this genre, and a game that people stick with and come back to for a good long while.

Uni researchers plan to build a low-carbon data center hivemind from 2,000 Pixel smartphones—with Google's help, no less

Andy Edser — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:34:22 +0000

E-waste is a massive environmental problem. So are current data center plans, if recent reports are to be believed. However, a team of researchers from the University of California, San Diego, have come up with an intriguing idea: They plan to use 2,000 Google Pixel smartphones to build a cloud computing data center with already-existing tech.

According to a Google Research blog post, on average, people replace their smartphones every four years (via Hothardware). However, many modern (yet outdated, in terms of our constant desire for shiny new things) examples have processors, memory, and storage chips that are relatively powerful, particularly when you chain them together.

That's wasted hardware, and an ecological concern when you think of the extra carbon emissions created by manufacturing their replacements. By putting the existing chips to good use, it prevents them from going to landfill—and might even negate the need for new hardware in certain applications.

The post's authors say that the single-threaded performance of a modern smartphone's processor cores is on par with (or better than) many multicore server chips. However, modern servers are made up of dozens of multithreaded processor cores with access to a huge amount of memory, whereas a typical older smartphone only has a handful of cores and around 8-12 GB to play with.

Not only that, but recycled smartphones have a lot of extra components that would be inefficient (or hazardous) to deploy en masse, like the batteries and displays.

(Image credit: Akos Stiller - Getty Images)

So, the first step is to remove everything but the motherboard and the attached chips (which represent the most embodied carbon of all the components), before chaining them together to create a server cluster for university usage, targeting relatively lightweight applications.

The phones are orchestrated together by Kubernetes, an open-source system for managing containerized applications. Each has a Linux distro installed, bypassing Android systems that wouldn't be suitable for mass-server deployment, like memory-saving features.

While the current iteration seems to be pretty small-scale, the eventual 2,000-phone data center is planned to be used for grading and research applications within the universities' existing software infrastructure.

"Early experiments show that even a moderately-sized cluster of 20 phones is capable of supporting peak submission rates for a 75+ student class, with grading latencies below the default AWS backend," say the researchers. "A 2,000 phone deployment will be capable of supporting a hundred such classes at once."

The post's authors say that Google will be supporting the project, and that the aim is to provide "hundreds of researchers and students with low-cost, low-carbon cloud computing, reducing the need for newly manufactured hardware and their associated emissions."

(Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Which is such a neat idea, I'd like to see more officially supported projects like it in future. In my own home, I can think of at least five smartphones sitting in drawers doing absolutely nothing, all of which contain chips that could be used for something useful.

And while plugging them back in would of course lead to unused chips drawing power from the grid once more, I suppose it beats them being trampled by bulldozers at my local dump at some point in the future. Although it must be said, I doubt this work will do much to offset the ecological concerns around Google's own huge data center plans in the near future.

It looks like more handhelds will soon be able to run SteamOS if this MSI Claw gameplay test is anything to go by

Jacob Fox — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:10:47 +0000

SteamOS, once the purview of the Steam Deck alone, eventually opened itself to other handhelds. Officially that extends only to the the Legion Go S, but beta versions of the operating system have since supported the Asus ROG Xbox Ally and "Other AMD powered handhelds."

The key term there being 'AMD', because until very recently, SteamOS had only supported handhelds running an AMD processor. Now, though, a new SteamOS beta seems to have added support for Intel and one YouTuber has got it up and running on an MSI Claw (via VideoCardz).

The 3.8.7 beta lists "Improved compatibility with recent Intel and AMD platforms" and, more conspicuously, controller support for MSI Claw devices and "SD card readability improvements" for the same. Excluding a recent deviation, the MSI Claw is of course an Intel-based handheld.

This, on its own, doesn't imply that Intel-based handhelds will actually run SteamOS well and have games playable on the platform. But thankfully ETA Prime on YouTube has actually tested it out using a Claw 8 AI+ with a Lunar Lake CPU, the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V.

They struggle to bring up the menu with the left-side button, meaning they have to go into desktop/mouse mode to do so, and they also note an inability to adjust TDP, meaning a third-party plugin is required to do so.

Apart from this, everything seems to work just fine, although games will need some optimisation, as ETA PRIME says Cyberpunk, for instance, does run better on Windows on the handheld.

We should remember this is only a beta, but it's a promising look at what's to come. I doubt Valve would be working on it if it didn't plan on getting the release out there officially for Intel handhelds.

It's certainly a good time for Valve to be working on adding Intel support to SteamOS, not least because of MSI's upcoming Panther Lake-powered Claw 8 EX AI+. That handheld certainly impressed our Dave when he tried it, and in the beta notes Valve does mention new "initial firmware for upcoming Intel handhelds", so it's exciting news on that front, too.

Well, assuming anyone will be able to afford the new Claw in the first place, that is—pricing isn't looking pretty.

Sony Inzone H6 Air review

Reece Bithrey — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:03:41 +0000

2026 seems to be the time of the open-back gaming headset. After years of not seeing much in this sector (bar the Corsair Virtuoso Pro), we've seen a return to form for this admittedly niche sector that I'm all for. First, it was the turn of Asus with the Hifiman-collab Asus ROG Kithara with its audiophile credentials, huge planar magnetic drivers, and an equally hefty price tag that m'colleague Phil liked, although with the caveat that it's $300/£285 and misses some very basic features for a headset. Y'know, like physical controls or any form of software control.

Now it's the turn of Sony with the lightweight and breathable Inzone H6 Air, which immediately wins against Asus in my head for coming in at virtually $100/£100 less. Granted, the $200/£180 price tag is still dear for a strictly wired headset when versatile wireless choices such as the Beyerdynamic MMX 150 and Logitech G522 Lightspeed exist. Whether it can match in features or quality is a different matter entirely against any of these, though, which is why hardware overlord Jacob is paying me for these very words.

The first thing that was immediately noticeable for me when plonking the Inzone H6 Air on my bonce is how lightweight it is. It's technically under 200 g at 199 g without the additional boom microphone affixed to the front to make it look more like a conventional pair of headphones (adding the mic adds an extra 12 g—I know, immense) and the lack of a more avant-garde design, a la Kithara, means you're less likely to get funny looks on Zoom calls or if you bravely decide to use this as normal headphones out and about.

The sub-200 g weight makes these cans supremely comfortable for my head for extended periods, and it almost feels like you don't have them on your head half the time. My only criticism is how light the clamping force feels, as the headset feels as if it's resting on your head more often than not, arguably due to the suspension-style headband Sony has opted for.

Inzone H6 Air specs

(Image credit: Future)

Operating principle: Open-back
Connectivity: Wired
Drivers: 40 mm drivers derived from Sony's MDR MV1 headphones
Frequency response: 10 Hz – 20,000 Hz
Microphone: Cardioid detachable
Weight: 199 grams (0.44 lbs)
Price: $200/£180

It adjusts in the same funny way as on the Inzone H9 II, requiring you to pinch a hinge and adjust each side independently. It's fine, but I think that's where the clamping force issue derives from.

To be clear, I don't mind the lighter force afforded by the Inzone H6 Air, but some folks may prefer a tighter fit, which can mostly be achieved if you take a few moments to adjust the headband properly.

Outside of this, this Sony headset carries a clean and modern look, with strong build quality thanks to a combination of metal earcup outers and some solid plastics used elsewhere. The headset also folds down for easy stowage, although there isn't an egg bag to store the cans in if you want to take them out anywhere.

(Image credit: Future)

One area where Sony has improved over Asus is that this gaming headset actually has on-board controls! Granted, it's only two, with a mic mute button and a volume wheel, but there are controls, and they are present. Otherwise, it's just jacks for connecting the detachable 3.5 mm wired cable, and for affixing the boom mic to the front of the unit.

Strictly wired connectivity is handled by the 3.5 mm jack with devices that support it, although Sony also bundles a similar external USB-C DAC and 'audio box' with the Inzone H6 Air, as it did with the Inzone E9 IEMs. This opens up USB-C compatibility for PlayStation and for Windows, opening up access to Sony's Inzone Hub software—again, righting the wrong of Asus' Kithara that's bereft of software controls. That's two for two, Sony—well done.

Software control is similar to the Inzone H9 II, minus the ANC settings, as there isn't any (this is an open-back headset after all), but there is still a wealth of settings for things such as fiddling with different EQ presets for different types of games alongside a 10-band EQ for more custom options, toggles for spatial audio settings and a couple of bits for microphone. What's here is a little more basic, but it's fine for most folks.

(Image credit: Future)

And now the important bit, sound quality, and it's here where things get particularly tasty. The Inzone H6 Air isn't using huge planar magnetic drivers like the Kithara does, and instead goes for more typical 40 mm dynamic drivers. With this in mind, they aren't just any dynamic drivers. Sony has taken a leaf out of its own book and uses drivers from its vast range of headphones, opting to use drivers derived from its MDR-MV1 studio monitoring headphones for this headset.

Normally, these more reference-style, monitoring cans will be tuned for a flat curve so studio engineers get the truest representation of the music possible to make mixing as painless as possible. I believe Sony has tuned the drivers a smidgen here to make them more suitable for the target audience of gamers rather than audio engineers.

Likewise, being open-back should give these cans a greater sense of width and space against the more traditional closed-back headsets out there, yielding a greater sense of immersion at the expense of disturbing those around you with audio seepage.

(Image credit: Future)

The upshot of all of this preamble is that I love how the Inzone H6 Air sounds. They're an entertaining listen, not least with a surprising amount of meat on the bone when it comes to the bass. Human hearing may not be able to strictly hear the 10Hz these cans can go down to, but you can certainly feel it with a tight low-end, complete with good extension. I found strong punchiness in my usual array of rock testing tracks, be it the brooding Invisible Man from Marillion or Luminol from Steven Wilson, the latter of which has a relentless bass groove in the track's opening couple of minutes.

Combined with this, there's a rich and detailed mid-range for elements such as vocals in the above tracks and in mellower stuff from James Taylor or Jimmy Buffett. On the gaming side, it meant footsteps and voices in Counter-Strike 2 were crisp and clear, helping this headset to emerge as a strong choice for more competitive gaming.

If there's one area where I expected these cans to perform, it was on the front of the soundstage, especially given the mere fact that these are open-backs. Nonetheless, the precision and sheer width are what set these apart from the closed-back cans at this price. It was very easy to place things in Counter-Strike 2, be it far-off gunshots, nearby grenade explosions (helped also by the tight bass) and footsteps.

Future

Buy if...

✅ You want wonderfully immersive audio: The Inzone H6 Air impresses with the width of its soundstage and the richness of its audio to make it a fantastic choice for FPS titles.

Don't buy if...

❌ You want more versatile connectivity: For a similar price to this Sony choice, there are wireless options from Beyerdynamic, Logitech and others; they may sacrifice the power of open-back audio, but arguably make up for it in versatility.

In addition, in Forza Horizon 5, the sense of width and space was excellent for discerning between different folks I was racing against, making it a little bit easier to give cars I overtook (or was overtook by, I'm not that good, don't judge) the space, so neither of us got punted by someone with no racecraft or the ability to use the brakes.

The Inzone H6 Air's cardioid microphone is a tale of two halves, offering clear and surprisingly full-bodied pickup in my testing, meaning this headset could happily be used for voiceover work and streaming without much hassle. Noise rejection from things immediately in front of the cardioid capsule, be it my loud mechanical keyboard or music I had in the background, was reasonable, although I did find the pop filter and such didn't do the best job with plosives. In my test audio, there are some noticeable thuds with letters such as P or B, which is just something to bear in mind.

So, where does all this leave us? The fact is that I'm a large fan of the Inzone H6 Air for a myriad of reasons, and I think it may well be one of the best gaming headsets you can buy: the comfortable fit, the immersive and surprisingly bassy sound that helps games, music and more besides. Plus, it rights the key wrongs of the Asus ROG Kithara in that it has physical controls, it costs less (although it is still quite expensive for a wired-only headset), it has some software, and you probably won't get as many funny looks with these on in meetings. That's a win in my book.

Here's when Shion and the new Overwatch season release in your region

Rory Norris — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Why bring guns when you can throw motorbikes? Overwatch's Season 3 plans to answer that important question with the new hero Shion. She brings both, so guns and weaponised motorbikes must fill different, invaluable niches, I suppose.

Below, I'll explain when Overwatch Season 3: Into the Tiger's Den releases in your time zone, as well as what you can expect from the new season. Of course, that includes a rundown of Shion's abilities and perks, which are seriously cool.

When does Overwatch Season 3 start?

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Overwatch Season 3 begins on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, at 12 am PT / 3 pm ET / 7 pm GMT, and runs until mid-August. You'll be able to preload this update on PC and console (now including Switch 2) to save you time.

This coincides with the end of the current season, so you've still got a little time left to finish your battle pass.

Here's everything arriving in Season 3:

DPS hero Shion
Neon Junction (Hybrid) map, set in Tokyo
Anima Strike event
Summer Games event returns
Stadium hero reworks and tweaks for every character, "with about half the cast getting minor reworks."
Illari mythic skin
Hanzo mythic weapon
Yaosobi collab skins for Kiriko, Hanzo, and Genji
Hero ban updates

As always, there will also be a new battle pass and store bundles, and another mythic skin coming in the mid-season update.

Overwatch Shion abilities and perks

Releasing alongside Season 3 (there are no hero trials anymore) is Shion, the newest hitscan DPS to join the roster, and the leader of the Hashimoto. She's similar to Tracer in that she dual-wields semi-automatic pistols and has a dash, but she's also got a motorbike. And it's as outlandish as it sounds, letting you drive around and then launch your ride at enemies.

I predict she'll be a very strong flanker due to having two mobility tools and an execute in her base kit, which is something Anran, another recent flanker, has been lacking. You'll have to wait and see where Shion lands on our Overwatch tier list once she's settled in.

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Here are Shion's abilities:

Ability	Type	Effect
Kira Pistols	Primary weapon	Rapid-fire anima pistols, best suited to close range.
Execution	Ability	Fire an X-shaped volley. You can hold the ability to tighten its spread.
Evade	Ability	Dash and briefly gain overhealth.
Joyride	Ability	Activate to start riding a motorbike. Reactivate to dismount and launch your bike forward.
Satsuriku Spree	Ultimate	Rush forward three times in a storm of gunfire. This is omnidirectional.
Flanker	Subrole Passive	Health packs restore more health.

And here are Shion's perks:

Minor:

Rapid Reload: Evade reloads nine ammo.
X Machina: Execution does 20% more damage to enemies below half health.

Major:

Refuel: Joyride instantly restores 50 health and regenerates 20 health per second while active.
Faces of Death: Gain all other Damage subrole passives (Recon, Specialist, and Sharpshooter).

The elephant in the room is the Faces of Death perk, which has the potential to be incredibly broken. But chances are, you don't remember all the subroles off the top of your head, so here they are:

Recon: Detect enemies below half health through walls after damaging them.
Specialist: Eliminating an enemy briefly increases your reload speed.
Sharpshooter: Critical hits reduce your movement ability cooldowns.

These come in addition to her default Flanker passive. The end result is a DPS that will be blazingly quick, so long as you're hitting headshots and scoring kills. With two mobility skills and an execute, that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

I'll probably be picking X Machina as the minor perk to gank low-health enemies before they inevitably get healed up, and Faces of Death as the major perk to become supercharged. However, I'm interested in testing Refuel. Depending on how quickly you can get on your bike and fling it at the enemy, that burst of healing could be very handy.

BioWare's co-founder fought to make Baldur's Gate 3 for over a decade, then Larian did it instead: 'I don't really get jealous'

Jeremy Peel — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 15:56:32 +0000

"We could not convince people to fund Baldur's Gate 3," says Trent Oster. It's a stunning statement to hear now, on the other side of Larian's smash hit bear sex extravaganza. But for two decades beforehand, other developers tried and failed to get Baldur's Gate 3 made.

The first was Black Isle, which slapped the title on a doomed D&D game in the early noughties, when the ailing RPG studio was slipping from one cancellation to another. Then, half a decade on, Obsidian took a shot at Baldur's Gate 3—starting work on a third-person, party-based RPG that in some ways would have resembled Mass Effect, only with a much more expansive style of exploration. Atari Europe's sale to Bandai Namco put paid to that plan, ending Obsidian's discussions with the publisher. But a third studio began its own push soon afterwards: Oster's own Beamdog.

(Image credit: Beamdog)

If Oster was persistent in pursuing Baldur's Gate 3, it's because it was personal. As a co-founder of BioWare, he worked on the 1997 original, before directing Neverwinter Nights. Even now, he's best known as the de facto custodian of BioWare's early works. If you're playing those games today, you're probably running Beamdog's Enhanced Editions.

But Beamdog always intended to be more than museum curators. It was 2014 when Oster first told me he was hoping to make a Baldur's Gate sequel. And in 2016, Beamdog put out an expansion to the original game, Siege of Dragonspear. Unfortunately, the majority of the team behind it fell apart in the wake of targeted Gamergate attacks.

"We were sailing down the river and then all the cannons opened up so we just shut all the hatches," Oster told me a few years ago. "And you could hear cannonballs bang the hull, and everybody was just huddled down inside. It basically fractured that team. It drove some of them out of the industry."

(Image credit: Beamdog)

Nevertheless, Beamdog regrouped, and recruited Dragon Age scribe David Gaider as creative director. During his two year stint at the company, Beamdog proposed a version of Baldur's Gate 3 to Wizards of the Coast.

Our Baldur's Gate 3 wasn't as big picture as what Larian pitched.
Trent Oster

"Our Baldur's Gate 3 wasn't as big picture as what Larian pitched," Oster says today. "Obviously, we were doing it at a much smaller scope. It wasn't going to be a $100 million game. I think we were pitching it in the $20 million range."

The game would have mimicked the original's isometric view, but in a 3D engine—Unreal, specifically. "It would have stayed pretty close to the formula," Oster says. "I think we were pretty tight with just carrying forward what worked."

Rather than adopt a turn-based system, as Larian later would, Beamdog intended to stick with Baldur's Gate's original combat style: real-time with pause. "At its heart, real-time with pause is a compromise," Oster admits. "It's allowing things to flow until the moment you get worried, and then you need to pause it. And the pausing allows you to take the time to make those decisions and execute at a higher tactical level. But because you can pause, the entire game has to be balanced around the fact that you could pause at any time. Which then forces you to pause all the time. So it's a sticky mess."

(Image credit: Future)

Still: a compromise is better than the alternative, according to Oster. "I have an Achilles heel, which is that the older I get, the less patience I have for slow-moving games," he says. "To me, real-time with pause walks a line that I kind of like. If you're rolling into a fight and it's just some goblins, you mow them down, it takes six seconds. Whereas in a turn-based game, you allocate 20 minutes to just beating up six goblins."

I have an Achilles heel, which is that the older I get, the less patience I have for slow-moving games.
Trent Oster

So why didn't Beamdog's Baldur's Gate 3 move forward? Wizards of the Coast wasn't up for footing the bill itself, and other publishers weren't biting. "It came down to funding," Oster says. "All the companies out there were like, 'It's a singleplayer RPG, it's not going to do that big in numbers, and Wizards owns the IP. So why are we spending our money to increase the value of their IP? Why don't we do our own IP?'"

As a result, Beamdog wound up pitching a different RPG named Cold West. "The idea was that all the fairies and monsters of Europe fled west to the New World as Europe continued to become overpopulated," Oster says. "The humans just came behind them, and they finally decided, 'Well, screw it, we're going to make a stand here'. And it was basically Wild West fairies, vampires and ghouls, against gunslingers and spellslingers."

(Image credit: Larian)

Publishers remained reluctant, however, and Oster notes that the launch of Larian's Baldur's Gate 3 didn't necessarily help other developers get singleplayer RPGs greenlit. "Now everybody's like, 'Oh, well, sure, RPGs will sell a lot, but they have to be huge, and you've got to put a ton of money into them, and you've got to have seven romanceable characters and full fidelity conversations, and it's got to be all performance captured and super high-res.' You're like, 'Yeah, I'm not sure about that.'"

I suggest that, after so long spent chasing his own Baldur's Gate 3, Oster must have mixed feelings about Larian's new pop cultural dominance. "I don't really get jealous about things," he says. "I'm like, 'Hey, you guys had the same opportunities we had, but you just happened to have a bunch of capital behind you that allowed you to roll in on it. And then you had enough capital that you're able to execute at a very high scale, and you were able to pay the costs of chasing the vision that you had.'"

Today, much of Beamdog's staff are wrapped up in co-development with Obsidian, with whom they worked on Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2. There's something poetic about these two would-be Baldur's Gate 3 studios banding together to make singleplayer RPGs regardless. "It's kind of neat," Oster says. "It's like having a big brother, and you can peek in. Working with Obsidian, we've run across a lot of things that they did better than we ever did. And it's like, 'Oh wow, that's really smart, we're totally stealing that.'"

(Image credit: Obsidian Entertainment)

It's just a little too mainstream and acceptable right now.
Trent Oster

Meanwhile, a small team within Beamdog tinkers quietly with new experiments. Oster talks with enthusiasm about emergent design, and tabletop D&D campaigns that go sideways after the party burns the starting tavern down.

"I was waxing nostalgic the other day, and describing playing D&D as a kid to somebody," he says. "I liked it when it was weird and dangerous. You were talking about demon summoning and hell and the hierarchy of devils, and you didn't want to tell too many people because they might get freaked out by it. It felt like you were in this little subsection of society. It's just a little too mainstream and acceptable right now. I want to lean into something like that."