ReportWire

Tag: PC games

  • 5 Great Games You Might Have Missed This Year

    It’s hard to keep track of every game launch. While a handful of titles like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Hollow Knight: Silksong, or Death Stranding 2: On the Beach are sure to top the year’s Best Of lists, many more will go unrecognized for their brilliance, fun, or sheer absurdity.

    The good news is we’ve got you covered. Whether you’re stuck at home for the holidays and itching for something to play, or you just want to make sure you don’t let any hidden gems slip under your radar, here are five games from this year’s slate you should not miss.

    Blippo+

    Courtesy of Yacht; Telefantasy Studios; Noble Robot

    If you’re in the mood for something a little out there, start with Blippo+. First released in May on the handheld Playdate console, the game arrived on PC and Switch in September.

    At first blush, it’s a game about channel surfing. You browse different broadcasts, each of which feature bizarre, retro, live-action transmissions about a minute or so long, from nightly news and soap operas to quiz shows and fuzzy softcore. Every channel runs according to a schedule, which means you’ll need to decide which broadcasts to watch as they run live, and which to try again the next night. The more you watch, the easier it becomes to piece together the overall strange, sci-fi story of Blippo+, which plays out across these endearingly weird channels. Think ‘80s TV show Max Headroom, but with those vibes sprinkled into everything—including the retro soundtrack by Jona Bechtolt of Yacht and the composer Rob Kieswetter.

    Blippo+ is one of the year’s most original games, so much so that it almost defies explanation. The less you know, the better. Best to embrace its absurdity by diving directly in.

    Buy for $15: PC, Nintendo Switch, Playdate ($10)

    Blue Prince

    Dogubomb’s Blue Prince (a play on “blueprints”) is for puzzle lovers. In House of Leaves fashion, players explore a mansion whose rooms are constantly changing in search of Room 46. Things are made even more difficult by the fact that, to start, you’ll only be able to take 50 steps per day, and your path will be redrafted anew every cycle depending on which rooms you choose to explore.

    Megan Farokhmanesh

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  • The Alienware Aurora Gaming Desktop Punches Above Its Weight

    It also came with two sticks of Kingston Fury 16-GB RAM and a Wi-Fi 7 card. All that for $1,550 is a really solid deal. There are cheaper ways to get RTX 5070-level performance, such as this iBuyPower system, but the Alienware Aurora is also far from the most expensive either. The Asus ROG G700, for example, is hundreds of dollars more, even when similarly configured. I haven’t tested these yet myself, so I don’t know how equivalent the performance or fan noise is. But the Alienware Aurora Gaming Desktop is a great deal, especially if you catch it on sale.

    The Alienware Aurora Gaming Desktop performs fine enough. It’s about 5 percent behind the typical RTX 5070 scores in 3DMark Steel Nomad, a standard benchmark for measuring gaming PCs. The RTX 5070 is considered primarily a 1080p video card that can occasionally jump up to 1440p, depending on the game. You can see the frame rates in the chart below, all of which were tested at max settings without ray tracing, frame generation, or upscaling. Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong are both more GPU-intensive, while Marvel Rivals and Monster Hunter Wilds are more bottlenecked by the CPU.

    The performance in Cyberpunk 2077, in particular, felt impressive. I was even able to average 71 fps (frames per second) in the Ray Tracing Ultra preset in 1080p without relying on DLSS. It’s really too bad that it couldn’t get Black Myth: Wukong over 60 fps at 1080p, though. It’s a heavy game, but when you spend over $1,500, you hope that you can play modern games at 1080p at smooth frame rates. You can always drop the graphics preset in the game settings or sprinkle in some light DLSS upscaling for better performance. It was also around 5 percent behind our testing of the RTX 5070 Founders Edition on our test bench.

    While performance didn’t blow me away, I was overall impressed by what’s on offer with the Alienware Aurora Gaming Desktop. This isn’t the PC to buy if you want ultimate control over upgrades in the future or even the most powerful gaming desktop. But if you want a pretty computer that you can upgrade the graphics for in the future, it does the job—just make sure to get it with the 1,000-watt power supply.

    Luke Larsen

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  • Activists Are Using ‘Fortnite’ to Fight Back Against ICE

    SteveTheGamer55 is live on YouTube. He’s streaming a session to his 4.6 million subscribers of GTA 5 RP, a Grand Theft Auto 5 mod that allows people to role-play with other players. “Really wanna show you guys some real-life scenarios,” he says, offering a little background on his character, a man headed to his job while on a work visa.

    His character doesn’t get far before an SUV swings onto the sidewalk in front of him; masked ICE agents spill out of the vehicle. “Stop right there,” one of the uniformed players says. It isn’t long before SteveTheGamer55 is surrounded by agents. He hands over his ID while bystander players yell at the agents and demand his release. “Why are you harassing people?” one says, before the worker is finally let go. Later in SteveTheGamer55’s play session, he stands in front of a large iron gate reminiscent of those in ICE detention centers seen in cities like Chicago. More in-game ICE agents have gathered. He records from his phone. Just in front of him, a player in a red suit demands to see a warrant for his client.

    The “special event” held on November 20, where players took on different roles that reflect real-life ICE raids, was the first initiative by New Save Collective, a baker’s dozen of gamers with backgrounds in activism and organizing, whose goal is to educate gamers and teach people about their rights when dealing with ICE in real-world situations. On November 21, at 7:30 pm ET, gamers will gather in Epic’s massively popular battle royale, Fortnite, to hold a closed scavenger hunt that will serve as a more casual educational opportunity. The group is working with several immigration advocacy groups, as well as collaborating with content creators, to spread their message online.

    Online gaming spaces have long appealed to the right as a place to push conservative or even extremist ideologies. The US military has been open about its attempts to use games as a recruitment tool, and immigration authorities are no different. In October, the Department of Homeland Security posted an image aping marketing for the Halo series. “Finishing this fight,” the agency’s official account tweeted—a reference to Halo 3’s tagline—alongside an image with the text “Destroy the Flood” slapped over a blurry depiction of the game’s supersoldiers; the Flood are Halo’s alien antagonists. DHS has also riffed off of Pokémon’s “gotta catch ‘em all” tagline,” going as far as to post a video of ICE agents destroying property and arresting people, interspersed with the show’s opening.

    A spokesperson previously told The Hill that the DHS “will reach people where they are with content they can relate to and understand, whether that be Halo, Pokémon, The Lord of The Rings, or any other medium.” But where movements like Gamergate peddled in harassment, hatred, and exclusion, New Save Collective’s goal is to foster a community that is kind, authentic, and oriented towards doing good.

    “Most of us are immigrants, or children of immigrants, or children of refugees,” says one organizer who goes by PitaBreadFace online. (The organizer requested WIRED not use his name out of safety concerns.) “We’re here at this stage in the political climate to cultivate some belonging, but also move people towards a shared purpose that everyone seems pretty hungry for.”

    Megan Farokhmanesh

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  • GOG Autumn Sale discounts Cyberpunk 2077, Silent Hill 2 and Fallout: New Vegas

    GOG kicked off its annual Autumn Sale today with some discounts on excellent PC games that can carry you through the end of 2025. The sale runs through November 4, and notably also includes discounts on several older games maintained as part of the GOG Preservation Program.

    The Autumn Sale includes sales on newer games like Cyberpunk 2077, which normally costs $60 but is available during the sale for $21, and the open-world game’s excellent DLC, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, which you can pick up for $21, down from $30. GOG is also offering Silent Hill 2, the 2024 remake of the classic horror game, for 50 percent off, bringing its price down to $35. And if you’re looking for something a little more ruminative, Disco Elysium – The Final Cut is 75 percent off, taking it from $40 to $10.

    Image for the mini product module
    Image for the mini product module
    Image for the mini product module

    GOG is best known for selling old games, and the Autumn Sale includes some great options there, too. While it’s not that old, Doom (2016) for $4, which is 80 percent off its normal $20 price, is pretty hard to deny. There’s also classics like Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition, which you can get for $10, down from $20. And EA gems like Spore Collection and SimCity 3000 Unlimited are also both 50 percent off, at $15 and $5, respectively.

    New Vegas, Spore and SimCity 3000 are all part of GOG’s Preservation Program, which was formally launched in 2024 as a way to guarantee classic titles run on modern hardware, support controllers and more. Maintaining the program has apparently led to its fair share of headaches, though. “To be perfectly honest, it’s harder than we thought it would be,” Marcin Paczynski, GOG’s senior business development manager, shared in an interview with The Game Business. “what we’ve found out is that the games and how they work has deteriorated way faster than what we thought. And we are not talking only about the game not launching. We are talking about more subtle things as well.”

    Ian Carlos Campbell

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  • Should You Cancel Xbox Game Pass? Everything to Know on the Price Hikes and New Features

    Like it or loathe it, we live in a subscription economy. Music, movies, meal boxes, and more are no longer things you buy once. They’re a constant draw on your wallet. Gaming is no exception, and while every major player in the sector has some form of sub for players—from PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Switch Online for consoles to Apple Arcade on phones—none of them offered quite as much for a modest monthly fee as Xbox Game Pass.

    Depending on the subscription tier, the service gave players access to a significant library of titles and was available on Xbox consoles, PC, or via cloud gaming. While most of its competitors focused on back-catalog titles for their gaming subscriptions, Game Pass stood apart by including major first-party titles on their day of release for subscribers to its Ultimate tier.

    Microsoft long claimed it was “the best deal in gaming,” and with new releases costing upwards of $70 per title versus a $19.99 monthly price tag on Game Pass Ultimate, it was hard to argue. Recent changes to the service, however—including some hefty price rises—have upset users in a big way, sending so many people rushing to cancel their subscriptions that the membership site crashed.

    What’s Happened?

    On October 1, Microsoft revamped the entire structure of Game Pass. Previously, and following an earlier rejig in September 2024, players had essentially four options—Game Pass for PC, Game Pass Core, Game Pass Standard, and Game Pass Ultimate. Going forward, Core is replaced with Essential, and Standard is replaced with Premium, while Ultimate retains its name. All tiers are now accessible on PC, although a dedicated PC-only plan remains available.

    It’s not the rebrand that’s had people canceling, though—it’s the hefty price hikes that have come with the upper tiers. While Essential keeps the almost totemic $9.99-per-month pricing of Core, Premium jumps to $14.99 from Standard’s $11.99 (a 25 percent increase), and the PC-only offering goes from $11.99 to $16.49 (a 38 percent increase). It’s Game Pass Ultimate that’s proven the most contentious, leaping from $19.99 to $29.99. Price increases on subscription services routinely boil the frog and creep up in price slowly—just look at what you used to pay for Netflix—but a massive 50 percent spike overnight, the equivalent of $120 more a year, has caught many off guard.

    It doesn’t help that it follows two price hikes on Xbox consoles themselves in the span of less than a year, at least in the US. In May 2025, the 512-GB Xbox Series S went from $299.99 to $379.99, the 1-TB Xbox Series X from $499.99 to $599.99, and the 2-TB Series X from $599.99 to $729.99. These prices rose globally, with prices reflected in each territory. But then, in September, prices rose again for buyers in America, taking those same models to $399.99, $649.99, and $799.99, respectively. Microsoft cited the increases being “due to changes in the macroeconomic environment”—read: tariffs—but the combined effect on pricing across the whole Xbox ecosystem really challenges that “best deal in gaming” idea.

    Matt Kamen

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  • You Can Get Lenovo’s Gaming Handheld for $120 Off Right Now

    Excited by the fervor of new gaming handhelds hitting the market but don’t want to shell out the big bucks? The Legion Go S with SteamOS installed offers an easy entry into the space, is great for occasional travelers and couch gamers, and is marked down by $120 at Best Buy.

    Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

    Lenovo

    Legion Go S (SteamOS)

    Having spent time with both the SteamOS and Windows models, I prefer the one running Valve’s custom handheld software. While Lenovo does a good job bridging the gap with extra buttons and control options, trying to use a desktop operating system with just a controller and touchscreen can often be a frustrating experience. With SteamOS, you turn on the device, scan a QR code with your phone, and within minutes you’re downloading your games and save files from the cloud.

    This Legion Go S is fairly bulky, which I actually found more comfortable than slimmer options. It has built-in controller grips, and a spacious button layout, plus triggers and bumpers that are luxurious and well-placed. The screen is nice and bright, and features a 120-Hz refresh rate, although it’s an IPS panel instead of the OLEDs we’re starting to see elsewhere. This model comes with 1 TB of storage and 32 GB of memory, plus a MicroSD card slot if you want to really load up on games.

    Like with most of the non-Nintendo gaming handhelds, you’ll probably need to tweak settings or even resolution to get the latest games running smoothly. I did find it more powerful than my aging Steam Deck, and in games like Vampire Survivors and Trackmania 2020, the kinds of games I often play on the go, it had no problem and required very little tweaking. A lot of that is thanks to the SteamOS support, which helps games automatically understand the device’s capabilities better than Windows often does with custom hardware.

    I’ve got the new Legion 2 in hand and am working on a full review, but know that it’s a larger and more expensive device and also runs Windows out of the box. If you’re looking for a more compact device and plan on using SteamOS for your gaming, this is a solid deal on a capable handheld.

    Brad Bourque

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  • The ASUS TUF T500 Is a Great Gaming PC for Beginners

    Because it’s so easy to build a gaming desktop at home, companies making prebuilt machines need to offer either a great value or something unique. That’s why the Asus TUF T500 isn’t technically a desktop PC, at least in the classic sense. Instead, it leverages a smaller motherboard and laptop CPU, reducing the overall footprint but dropping the ability to upgrade or repair some of the individual parts.

    Most notably, the T500 is sporting a full-size desktop GPU, which is the biggest determining factor when it comes to gaming performance, and also the part that gets replaced the most often. That should give this desktop a much longer lifetime than gaming laptops that are similarly-equipped, at least on paper. This version came with an RTX 5060 Ti installed, a card that generally hits 60 to 90 frames per second at 1080p, a good match for a living room console replacement.

    I’m pleasantly surprised with the execution, and the T500 offers a solid value and a unique upgrade path, with some expected compromises around cooling and ports. It’s a solid choice for the tech-averse or television-bound gamer looking to move from consoles to PC, but I think more savvy users will still want to build their own.

    A Unique Appeal

    Photograph: Brad Bourque

    The upside to Asus’s approach is that the T500 is a relatively compact machine, around six inches wide and twelve inches deep, or just a little bigger than two Xbox Series X consoles sitting side by side. With gaming handhelds increasingly capable even for newer titles, I imagine the people who have room for a desktop and monitor, but only just barely, aren’t a huge audience. Asus specifically calls out college students, but I’d think a gaming laptop would get you through at least four years, and you could take it to class with you. At this size, it seems more likely you’d find one tucked into an entertainment stand in a living room or home theater.

    Brad Bourque

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  • I’ve Been Reviewing Gaming Laptops for Over a Decade. Here’s What to Look for When Shopping

    ROG Strix is Asus’s performance-focused subbrand. This is where the company’s thicker, more conventional gaming laptops are found. Pricing can range widely, as it includes affordable options like the ROG Strix G16 with the RTX 5050, which starts at just $1,300.

    TUF Gaming is the company’s entry-level gaming laptop subbrand. These TUF gaming laptops used to be some of the most affordable gaming laptops you could buy, but they’ve gone up in price over the past few years. There aren’t any Asus gaming laptops under $1,000 that feature the latest RTX 50-series GPUs, though you can find plenty of older models for less on Amazon or Best Buy.

    Dell’s gaming laptop lineup is fairly sparse these days. All of Dell’s gaming laptops fall under the Alienware brand, which the company acquired back in 2006. Alienware has been through many cycles of reinvention with its gaming laptops, but in 2025, there’s really only four laptops in the stack right now: the Alienware 16 Aurora, Alienware 16X Aurora, Alienware 18 Area-51, and Alienware 16 Area-51. I like the simplicity of the new lineup, which focuses on what Alienware has always been known for: its brash, gamer style and higher-end performance.

    The Alienware 16 Aurora is the company’s attempt to reach a cheaper demographic, starting the laptop at just $1,100 right now for an RTX 5050 configuration.

    HP’s Omen gaming brand has been around for over a decade, but it really feels like the company has started to build some momentum around it over the past few years. Interestingly, HP breaks down its options into three categories of thickness and performance. Omen Max is the chunkiest at almost an inch thick, and supports up to an RTX 5080. Omen 16 is the middle ground, capping out at an RTX 5070. Omen Transcend, which offers a 14-inch model, still supports up to an RTX 5070, but brings the thickness down to 0.7 inches. There are 16-inch size options available across all three subbrands; however, none of the laptops are as thin as some of the competition. There’s also an Omen 16 Slim, which blurs the lines a bit.

    Apart from Omen, HP also launched its “Victus” subbrand in 2021, which represents its budget-oriented options. HP only has a few configurations of the HP Victus 15 and Victus 16 available right now.

    Razer, MSI, Acer, and Others

    Photograph: Luke Larsen

    • Razer is solely committed to PC gaming, unlike many of the laptop brands on this list. Its Blade gaming laptops have become iconic in the industry for their minimalist aesthetic. Like many companies, Razer has a Blade 14, Blade 16, and Blade 18, which all have an identical design, but scale up in terms of size and performance.
    • MSI has made quite a name for itself in the gaming space, especially with its high-end, performance-focused, monster gaming laptops like the MSI Titan HX. Beyond Titan, MSI has a mind-boggling amount of other options, though, including the Raider, Stealth, Vector, Katana, Sword, and its budget-oriented Cyborg series. There’s a lot to dig into.
    • Acer’s Predator line has its own fanfare about it. Predator Helios is its high-end, performance-driven line with tons of options across 14-inch, 16-inch, and 18-inch sizes. Triton is its thin-and-light sub-brand, but it hasn’t been updated in 2025 so far. The company also has its Nitro budget brand, which comes in 14-, 15-, and 16-inch options and with support up to an RTX 5070.

    Beyond these mainstay brands, you also have PC gaming companies that have dipped into gaming laptops, such as Gigabyte, Origin, and Maingear. Just stay away from the no-name brands that have popular listings on Amazon despite lacking discrete graphics cards—like this.

    Gaming on Non-Gaming Laptops

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    While there’s an entire ecosystem of laptops marketed toward gamers, that doesn’t mean you can’t play games on other devices. Laptops with dedicated graphics cards can often play games just as well as gaming laptops, but they’re often targeted more at creatives who need better graphics to run creative applications. These include laptops like the Dell 14 Premium, Acer Swift X 14, and the Asus ProArt P16.

    If you’re buying a laptop primarily to play games, though, I wouldn’t recommend one of these. They usually don’t support the higher-tier GPUs like the RTX 5080 or 5090, and you won’t get super-fast refresh rates beyond 120 Hz. If you’re more of a casual gamer and just want a high-end laptop that can do it all, these are good options. They’re especially good if you despise the “gamer” aesthetic and want something a bit more subtle.

    Luke Larsen

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  • Save $50 on Our Favorite Budget Graphics Card

    If you’re building a new gaming PC, I’ve got a sweet deal for you on a graphics card. The PNY Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti OC (7/10, WIRED Review) is currently marked down to just $379 at Walmart. While prices have been in flux since launch, this is anywhere from $50 to $100 off the usual price, a discount that makes it a much more appealing purchase for gaming at 1080p.

    Photograph: Brad Bourque

    PNY

    GeForce RTX 5060 Ti OC

    This is the most modest entry from Nvidia’s 50 Series that I think is worth your time, but that doesn’t mean that you’ll be disappointed. The 16-GB card can chug right along in most modern games at 1080p, beating 60 fps in every game in our test suite with the settings cranked up and the ray tracing turned on. It struggled to keep up at 1440p, at least with everything set to ultra, but a little tinkering, or Nvidia’s latest tech, can help with that. Common games like Minecraft, Helldivers 2, and Marvel Rivals all ran over 90 fps, which is great news for weeknight Squirrel Girl enjoyers like myself.

    As an RTX 50 Series card, the 5060 TI supports the latest version of DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) which includes Multi-Frame Generation. For every traditionally rendered frame of gameplay, the GPU can use machine learning to generate up to three extra frames with low overhead. The result is a much smoother experience, with big fps jumps each time you turn up the setting. The tradeoffs are a slight increase in input lag, as well as the occasional tiny artifact, which I feel makes this a great option for slower, cinematic games, but less optimal for twitchy shooters.

    This PNY example isn’t the flashiest, with a plastic housing and only two fans, but I think a lot of gamers will be satisfied with it. It does feature the classic 8-pin PCIe power plug, so it could be an upgrade for an older system too, but I don’t think the performance jump would be that noticeable from the higher-end 30 or even 20 Series cards. If you want to check out your other options, I’ve got a full GPU buying guide that covers the latest from both AMD and Nvidia, from this card all the way up to the $2,000 RTX 5090.

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    Brad Bourque

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  • ‘Baby Steps’ Is a Hiking Game That Trolls ‘Slightly Problematic’ Men

    Illinois Tech digital humanities and media studies professor Carly Kocurek says that while masculine tropes aren’t inherently bad, “they can limit the types of stories that get told and the kinds of ideas that make it to market, which can really dampen creativity and innovation.”

    “A lot of pop culture stories and media rely on a shared pool of influences,” says Kocurek. She points to movies like Star Wars that follow the hero’s journey, or fantasy characters like dwarves and elves that have been popularized by J.R.R. Tolkien and other writers. “We get certain ideas about what a hero is, what a man is, and we see them again and again.”

    Consider iconic game characters like Halo’s Master Chief, Metal Gear’s Solid Snake, or even Nintendo’s mustachioed plumber, Mario. “Even Spider-Man is kind of represented as a jock in video games,” says Foddy.

    Foddy, who developed Baby Steps alongside Ape Out developers Gabe Cuzzilo and Maxi Boch, says that most often, players adopt this role of a savior character—someone capable and self-sufficient who reflects a heroic ideal. Gender doesn’t always matter; Aloy, the heroine from the Horizon series, exhibits just as many masculine ideals as Nathan Drake of Uncharted. When it came to Baby Steps, the team wanted to go in the opposite direction: a character who’s trying to live up to those expectations but just isn’t capable of it.

    Still, Foddy says the game is sympathetic to its lead. He’s up to the task and by the game’s end will have scaled an entire mountain; he just doesn’t begin his journey very well equipped.

    “He’s a nerd, as is everybody who made the game,” Foddy says. “We’re also gamers, so you know, we’re not out to get gamers.”

    Part of Baby Steps involves Nate, who comes from a wealthy family with plenty of opportunity, grappling with his own troublesome behavior. “He’s part of the privileged, white-male default group,” Foddy says. “That’s making his situation more burdensome for him because it underscores that his failures to accomplish success are of his own making.” But the team was not interested in parroting stereotypical bootstrap advice. “We really wanted to resist the kind of boomer morality play of ‘what you really need to do is get a job and start meeting your responsibilities,’ and ‘you’re just lazy and you’re too oriented to pleasure.’”

    In playing this character, Foddy hopes people might reflect more on their own motivations and behavior, the why of what they’re doing. During his time as a developer, Foddy has noticed that there is a certain subset of gamers who refuse to take help. They’re the stereotype of a guy who won’t ask for directions or, for example, skips every in-game tutorial.

    Others, he says, are of the “git gud” mindset—a slang way to say that you suck at video games and should try harder. Discussions around difficulty and skill have haunted video games spaces for more than a decade, whether it was about playing in online spaces or challenging series like Dark Souls; arguments about player skill versus how hard a game should be are already taking place in the Silksong community, roughly a week after its launch. “Many games really lean into competition as the primary experience,” Kocurek says, “and there is a kind of feedback loop because you get games that embed certain ideals and values that attract certain players who like those.”

    Foddy’s games often challenge what he calls “masculine pride” by repeatedly subjecting players to failure. Baby Steps is just a little more open about it in its narrative. Will the lesson land? Hard to say. The playtester determined to conquer the mudslide never did manage to brute-force it. “He started to feel like he was boring us after, you know, half an hour of it,” Foddy says.

    Foddy can relate; he too has found himself climbing difficult areas with no reward in other games. “Did I do that for masculine pride,” he says. “Or did I do it because I was actually taking pleasure in the moment-to-moment play? I don’t think we even know why we’re doing it half the time.”

    Megan Farokhmanesh

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  • ‘Hollow Knight: Silksong’ Is Already Causing Online Gaming Stores to Crash

    After six years of waiting, Team Cherry’s long awaited Hollow Knight sequel, Silksong, launched globally today at 10 am eastern. Unfortunately, fans may have to wait a little longer to play the action-adventure game. Online retailers such as the Xbox and PlayStation stores, Steam, and Nintendo eShop, are rife with loading screens and error messages as people rush to buy it.

    On Steam, players trying to add the game to their cart or complete their purchase are being met with the same message: an image of a frustrated blob with the caption “Something went wrong.” Switch players on Bluesky say the eShop hangs on loading screens or error messages. On the PlayStation store, the game appears to have disappeared entirely for some players, while it’s not available to purchase for others. According to Verge reporter Tom Warren, fans trying to buy the game on Xbox Game Pass should remote install it via the console’s website.

    In lieu of playing the game, many fans are turning to social media to vent their frustrations.

    “STEAM, LET ME PLAY SILKSONG,” posted one Bluesky user. “First boss of #Silksong is really tough,” wrote another with a picture of Steam’s error message. Twitch streamers trying to play the game for their viewers are running into similar problems. On X, user @HaydenSchiff posted a screenshot of many streamers encountering the same Steam error message.

    Players who’ve successfully managed to buy the game, meanwhile, are gloating about their success. “God’s favorite,” wrote one with a picture of Silksong on their Switch 2.

    Silksong, announced in 2019, is the followup to Team Cherry’s debut title, Hollow Knight. A winning combination of Dark Souls-like difficulty and cartoonish charm, Hollow Knight became an award-winning indie darling that sold over 15 million copies—an impressive feat for its tiny, Australia-based developer. While the team initially planned to release Silksong as downloadable content, the project eventually ballooned into a full-fledged title that took seven years to finish.

    Despite years of few updates and little news, the Silksong fanbase has remained active. Some fan communities have even turned waiting into a game, while others dedicated their time to (mostly non-existent) daily news updates.

    The weeks leading up to Silksong, available today for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, have been chaotic for both gamemakers and fans. After developers made a surprise announcement in August that the game would launch in two weeks, at least half a dozen fellow indie developers delayed their own games to make way. “Dropping the GTA of indie games with 2 weeks notice makes everyone freak out,” wrote one developer, Demonschool developer Necrosoft on Bluesky after announcing its own delay.

    The game’s popularity is undeniable. As of writing, Silksong is Steam’s top-selling game; it already has more than 100,000 concurrent players on that platform alone. For the rest still waiting to buy a copy, it turns out years of waiting may have been good practice for launch day.

    Megan Farokhmanesh

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  • The Rad ‘Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4’ Remasters Are $15 Off Right Now

    Looking for a healthy dose of gaming nostalgia? You can save $15 on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4, freshly remastered for basically every gaming console, including the Nintendo Switch 2. It’s relatively uncommon for newer titles to get a discount, especially on the latest Nintendo console, so this is a good time to scoop them if you’re interested.

    Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4

    If you’ve never played a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game, you’re missing out! The first game dropped in 1999, and they have steadily evolved over the years with bigger tricks, more points, and an ever-growing cast of real professional skaters. In recent years, Vicarious Visions and Iron Galaxy have buckled up the proverbial helmet and remastered the early games in the series, starting with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 in 2020.

    Notably, the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 remasters don’t include the career mode, a big shift made by the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 that gave quests to NPCs around each map. Instead, both games use more traditional two-minute rounds, with a list of objectives to try and complete during that time.

    There are three entirely new maps for the remaster, my favorite of which is set on a huge pinball machine, complete with an even larger Tony Hawk looking down on you as you skate. I like that it feels unique and new, while still having that fun, slightly off-kilter vibe that made the games great in the first place.

    All of the existing maps have been revamped as well, with updated textures and models, new objectives, and fun little Easter eggs to find as you play. In addition to create-a-skater, and the original cast of pro skaters, there are new additions as well, like Andy Anderson, Bam Margera, and even Doom Guy from Doom. There are even remixed soundtracks with both classic tracks and new songs that fit the THPS vibe.

    After beating the career mode, there’s a surprising amount of replayability here, with tons of extra challenges and achievements to complete. I sunk countless hours in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 working on the “Get There” challenges, trying to perform precise combinations of tricks and gaps on each map. I’ve already worked my way through the regular and pro goals for each map in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4, and I’m slowly chiseling away at the hardest challenges in the game, which ask for combos in the millions of points.

    Brad Bourque

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  • One of Our Favorite Graphics Cards Is Finally on Sale for MSRP and Comes With ‘Borderlands 4’

    If you’ve been hunting for a new GPU, you already know that getting one for its suggested retail price isn’t guaranteed. High demand, low supply, and a constantly shifting economic space have caused the new 50 Series graphics cards to hit the market well above the expected price, at least at launch.

    Thankfully, the situation seems to be stabilizing a bit, as indicated by this deal on PNY’s overclocked example of the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, which is available on Amazon for its MSRP of $750. Even better, your purchase includes a copy of the upcoming Borderlands 4, potentially saving you $70 if you were planning on picking it up.

    PNY

    Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB Overclocked

    I spent some time with the Asus Prime version of the RTX 5070 Ti and was seriously impressed with its performance at multiple resolutions. It managed to stay above 120 frames per second at 1080p in almost every game I tested, making it a great choice for gamers who are still at the lower resolution and looking to max out their screen’s refresh. It also beat 90 fps in all of the test games at 2,560 x 1,440, which is great news for new system builders targeting the higher resolution. This version is overclocked by PNY, which should give you a couple more percentage points on these numbers.

    A bar chart for Asus Prime GeForce RTX 5070 Ti video card showing ultra quality mode resolution comparison of 1080p...

    Screenshot courtesy of Brad Bourque

    As part of the newest generation of Nvidia GeForce GPUs, you also get access to DLSS 4 and the landmark feature, Multi-Frame Generation. The RTX 5070 Ti can leverage machine learning to produce up to three extra frames between each traditionally rendered frame, shooting your frame rate into the stratosphere in exchange for a bit of quality. While I wouldn’t rely on it for every game, I did an in-depth look in my review of the RTX 5090 Founders Edition (7/10, WIRED Recommends) that shows some of the effects it has on both image quality and frame rate.

    If $750 sounds like a lot to spend, make sure to check out my full GPU buying guide, which lays out the different options from the latest generation of both Nvidia and AMD cards. As soon as you move past those sub-$400 budget cards, I think the RTX 5070 Ti offers the best balance of performance and price as an upgraded pick. It’s rare to see these cards listed for retail, and the included copy of Borderlands 4 really sweetens the deal, assuming you were going to play anyway, so I wouldn’t sleep on this if you’ve been considering an upgrade.

    Brad Bourque

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  • The 16 Best Gifts for the PC Gamer in Your Life

    The 16 Best Gifts for the PC Gamer in Your Life

    Shopping for a PC gamer is a perilous endeavor. What might look like a great sale on a GPU or gaming keyboard can turn out to be a bad deal because of some arcane spec that only the most die-hard forum-dwellers understand. If you’re shopping for the gamer in your life who lives that nerd life, we have a simple, accessible guide to what they might like.

    Be sure to check out our many other gaming guides, including Best Gaming Laptops, Best Gaming Headsets, Best Keyboards, Best Gaming Mice, and Best Game Controller. If your giftee is more of a console gamer, read our Best PS5 Accessories and Best Switch Accessories guides.

    Updated October 2024: We’ve added the LG Ultragear Gaming Monitor, Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless, Elgato Stream Deck+, Steam Deck OLED, and HyperX Quadcast 2 S.

    Power up with unlimited access to WIRED. Get best-in-class reporting that’s too important to ignore for just $2.50 $1 per month for 1 year. Includes unlimited digital access and exclusive subscriber-only content. Subscribe Today.

    The best advice I can give when shopping for a PC gaming enthusiast is simple: If you’re unsure, just ask. Ask if they have a favorite mouse, keyboard, or headset brand they’ve been eyeing. Ask if there’s anything else they’ve been thinking about picking up for themselves. If you’re still not sure, and you don’t want to get them the wrong thing, there’s another one-size-fits-all gift that no PC gamer will dislike: a Steam gift card. With this, the PC gamer in your life will be able to pick out a game from a vast online store. Most popular titles are around $60, so use that as a baseline for how much to add to the card.

    Eric Ravenscraft

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  • Microsoft Envisions Every Screen as an Xbox. How’s That Going So Far?

    Microsoft Envisions Every Screen as an Xbox. How’s That Going So Far?

    The problem isn’t bandwidth though, it’s latency. Video games are built on instant feedback. Some games can fudge the definition of “instant” a bit, but anything more than half a second of delay between input and action would be unplayable for even the most forgiving games.

    This is the problem I faced when trying out Xbox Cloud Gaming on an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max. On paper, this is one of the most accessible ways to get into Xbox gaming. With this $60 streaming stick and a Bluetooth Xbox controller, you can stream games from the cloud to any device that has an HDMI input.

    In practice, the input lag was problematic. I tried playing Starfield on the Fire TV, and I was able to role-play just fine, but as soon as combat began, I felt like I was learning how to control a marionette in real time. Under gunfire. I’d briefly flick my control stick in a direction for a moment, let go, and watch the stick snap back to its default position, and then my character would move. That’s not a good way to dodge bullets. It worked a bit better for more casual games like Donut County, but even then it felt a bit like dictating an email to someone who’s a slow typer.

    Bluetooth is fine for basic things like streaming music, but when you need to sync visuals and inputs to audio, the cracks start showing. Add that to the natural latency that comes from pinging a remote server somewhere in the world, and it can feel pretty bad. Even when playing locally, console manufacturers either use proprietary wireless protocols or add custom enhancements on top of Bluetooth to deal with the latency problem.

    One fix is to use a controller that skips Bluetooth and connects directly to Wi-Fi. This is something Google’s ill-fated Stadia tried—and Microsoft may also be working on—which takes out one link in the chain. Currently, my Xbox controller connects via Bluetooth to my Fire TV Stick, which then passes that signal onto my Wi-Fi router, each step adding precious milliseconds.

    A Wi-Fi controller could help cut that down. But until Wi-Fi—or some version of low-latency—controllers are common, cloud streaming is always going to struggle. It might still struggle even with such a device, as long as internet speeds vary so widely by region. This means there will probably still be a need for a console to play games locally. But does it have to be an Xbox?

    The Windows Factor

    Microsoft may own Windows, but Valve has dominated the PC gaming space for more than a decade. Valve operates the Steam gaming storefront, and while its dominance is slowly (very slowly) eroding, it’s almost a guarantee that you have a Steam library with hundreds of games if you play on a desktop or laptop.

    There’s little reason for PC players to buy games via the Xbox Store instead of Steam (or Epic or GOG), but Xbox Game Pass changes that equation. For $10 to $20 a month, players can get access to a generous library of games. It’s a compelling deal that’s brought in over 34 million subscribers, which may even be more than the total number of Xbox Series X/S units sold.

    Eric Ravenscraft

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  • The MSI Vision Elite Gaming PC Is a Sight to Behold

    The MSI Vision Elite Gaming PC Is a Sight to Behold

    If the MSI Vision Elite RS could walk, it would walk into every room like it owned the place. It’s got attitude, it’s got flair, and it’s got the horsepower to back it up. It’s also got a price to match. If you’re looking for a desktop gaming PC to last for years, but still leave room for upgrades, this one is a strong contender.

    The Vision Elite boasts powerful hardware, but a spec sheet doesn’t tell the full story. This desktop’s gorgeous curved glass panel houses a spacious interior, lit up with a cornucopia of RGB LEDs. While there are other curved glass cases on the market, most either use multiple glass panels to achieve the effect or add distracting button panels. MSI’s approach is minimalist, drawing focus directly to the internals. It’s not just a desktop. It’s a statement piece.

    Photograph: Eric Ravenscraft

    Under the hood, the unit I tested comes with an Intel Core i9 14900KF CPU, 64 GB of DDR5 RAM, and the beastly Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics card. In terms of storage, there’s a 2-terabyte M.2 NVMe solid-state drive, with an extra slot for another M.2 SSD, plus four SATA 6G ports, giving you plenty of options to expand storage in the future.

    As someone who’s been upgrading the same PC for 20 years, this thing ticks all my boxes for a prebuilt gaming PC. It’s powerful out of the box, has style that’s hard to replicate with off-the-shelf parts, and plenty of room to grow over the years.

    Flourish and Flair

    As soon as I turn on the Vision Elite RS, it commands attention from anyone in the room. The curved glass panel encompasses two sides of the PC, giving it almost an aquarium look. I half-expected to see exotic fish swimming around inside this thing. The striking RGB LEDs are crammed into every corner of the rig, with two rows of three RGB-laced fans along the side and top of the device, with a seventh light-up fan on the rear. The CPU uses a 360-millimeter liquid cooling system, but these fans still help ensure the system stays cool.

    All the RGB lighting is a bit much. I wouldn’t recommend putting this thing in any room where people are likely to sleep or want to relax and watch TV unless you switch the lighting off. However, with a little tweaking to turn down the impact, it’s easily one of the most eye-catching PCs I’ve ever used.

    It’s slick, eschewing the angular, edgy Gamer Aesthetic, and its open design makes it feel like it takes up less space than it does. This is particularly helpful since the Vision Elite RS is huge. At nearly 50 pounds, it’s a monster to lug around, so wherever you put it in your home, you’re probably going to want it to stay there.

    Eric Ravenscraft

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  • ‘Metaphor: ReFantazio’ Is the Future of RPGs

    ‘Metaphor: ReFantazio’ Is the Future of RPGs

    Atlus’ new game from Persona designer Katsura Hashino is about to transform fantasy games—with anxiety.

    Megan Farokhmanesh

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  • The Best Crossplay Games for Consoles and PC

    The Best Crossplay Games for Consoles and PC

    However, as shooter veterans know, playing with a keyboard and mouse provides a considerable advantage in terms of aiming. So if you’re on a console, you can choose to turn off crossplay and stick to players on your own platform. PC players, on the other hand, are stuck with the feature turned on, so just hope you’re better at clicking heads than someone with a control stick.

    Available on PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Nintendo Switch.

    Deathloop ($60)

    Courtesy of Bethesda

    Arkane Studios, the team behind widely popular games like Dishonored and Prey, introduced Deathloop as a whole new franchise in 2021. In this game, you take on the role of an assassin named Colt who finds himself stuck in a time loop while trying to take out eight different targets. Fail to take out even one, and the loop starts over, but this time you start with more knowledge and experience.

    As a bonus, Deathloop also has an invasion system that, in WIRED staff writer Will Bedingfield’s opinion, is the game’s best feature. Invasions let players, well, invade each other’s games. After a certain point, you can play as Colt’s rival, Juliana, and try to prevent other players from succeeding. This feature has some limited crossplay. Xbox players can play with PC players who bought the game via the Microsoft Store, while Steam users can play with Epic users.

    Available on PC (Steam, Epic), Xbox, PlayStation.

    Genshin Impact (Free)

    Image may contain Legend of Zelda

    Courtesy of Mihoyo

    In developer miHoYo’s action RPG gacha game Genshin Impact, players can join each others’ adventures to tackle challenges together by sharing a UID code. This works across all the platforms the game supports, including Windows, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Android and iOS. The company has also announced a Switch version but hasn’t announced a release window. When it does arrive, it should also be cross-compatible with all the other platforms.

    Eric Ravenscraft

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  • Only Microsoft Can Save Windows-Powered Handheld Game Consoles

    Only Microsoft Can Save Windows-Powered Handheld Game Consoles

    Microsoft also requires some software to come bundled with their licenses, which is how you end up with the baffling inclusion of things like Microsoft Teams, Office 365—complete with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint—and [checks notes] … Microsoft Clipchamp … on a device that is, ostensibly, a gaming handheld. I know everyone has their preferences, but I feel pretty safe in assuming that 95 percent of the people who might be interested in the ROG Ally X aren’t interested in it for its middling video editing capabilities.

    Hope on the Horizon

    In late 2023, Microsoft introduced a preview of a version of its Xbox app called Compact Mode. It gives gaming handhelds running Windows a Steam Deck–like interface designed primarily for controller input, and there have already been some pretty substantial updates. Most notably, the Jump Back In feature lets players immediately launch their most recently played games.

    On competing devices like the Steam Deck or the Switch, this feature is known as “just how the thing has always worked,” but it’s still a welcome addition. Even if apps like Asus’ Armoury Crate already do this. Also, at the moment, the Xbox app only lists games you purchased via Microsoft. Which means my Jump Back In consists of … Solitaire. Baby steps, I suppose.

    There are rumors Microsoft might be working on a gaming handheld console, which, if true, would be great news since it means Microsoft is likely to keep optimizing Windows for the category. Simultaneously, it might be awful news for competing manufacturers if they’re not also allowed to benefit from that work.

    Photograph: Nena Farrell

    Switch

    $300$278

    AmazonBuy

    Put more simply: If it comes down to an official Xbox gaming handheld that can run all Windows-based games with an interface comparable to the living room console versus a janky handheld with an interface glued together, it wouldn’t be hard to guess which one is more likely to succeed.

    It seems unlikely it would come to that. Since Microsoft has thus far failed to compete in selling console hardware. The company has instead adopted an “Xbox everywhere” strategy. Where Nintendo and Sony sell boxes that run their games, Microsoft wants to make Xbox a platform where you can play games on every desktop, laptop, tablet, phone, and television you have.

    I would argue that none of these are quite as important as getting gaming handhelds right. The Switch demonstrated just how much people want to take their games with them, and the Steam Deck showed that even some major AAA games can run well on portable hardware. If Microsoft wants Xbox to be everywhere, it might need to adopt the model Google uses for Android. Google makes and sells its own Android phone but allows competitors to build on its platform and, quite often, beat them at their own game. Google still benefits from its services running on competitors’ devices, so either way, Google comes out on top. A similar strategy could work for an Xbox handheld built on a platform of work that Microsoft shares with third parties.

    Right now, Windows handhelds are struggling. Even the best options still drain more power, have jankier interfaces, and cost more than devices like the Switch or the Steam Deck. With every update that makes these devices moderately better, the impenetrable wall of Windows becomes more obvious. Until Microsoft steps up, it doesn’t seem like this status quo will change soon.

    Eric Ravenscraft

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  • The Hacker Who Hunts Video Game Speedrunning Cheaters

    The Hacker Who Hunts Video Game Speedrunning Cheaters

    The night before Cecil’s Defcon talk, Maselewski wrote in a final email to WIRED that he believes those alleging that he cheated are using faulty tools with an incomplete picture of Diablo‘s complexities. “Dwango is out to tell a story. Did I cheat? No,” Maselewski writes. “But what is true or not does not matter at this point, because the wonder of exploration has already overstayed its welcome for a small group of people, and the script has already been written.”

    When WIRED reached out to the Guinness Book of World Records to ask if it would take down Maselewski’s record, a spokesperson responded noncommittally that “we value any feedback on our record titles and are committed to maintaining the highest standards of accuracy.” An administrator for Speed Demos Archive or SDA, another speedrun record-keeping website where Maselewski holds a similar Diablo record, seemed to be more persuaded by Cecil’s evidence. That administrator, who goes by the handle “ktwo” and asked that WIRED not include their real name, says that SDA hasn’t officially reached a verdict and is still waiting to hear Maselewski’s explanation.

    Things are not looking good for groobo, however. “To be clear, we have made a preliminary decision, based on the available information,” ktwo writes “The staff agrees that the analysis raises questions about the validity of the run that need to be addressed, or else the run will be unpublished from SDA. The admin team is currently discussing these questions with the runner. Once that discussion has concluded, a final decision will be made.”

    Cecil’s involvement in investigating gaming records began in 2017, when the speedrunner Eric “Omnigamer” Koziel, who was writing a book about speedrunning, began re-examining a record set by Todd Rogers for the Atari 2600 racing game Dragster. Rogers’ record time, 5.51 seconds, had persisted for a remarkable 35 years. But when Koziel reverse engineered Dragster’s code to try to understand how Rogers had achieved that time, he found that tricks Rogers said he’d used—such as starting the game in second gear—wouldn’t have provided the advantage Rogers claimed.

    “The goal was never to point to someone and say, ‘Hey, they’re cheating,’” says Koziel. “It was to try to find the truth.”

    Cecil, who knew Koziel from the speedrun community, offered to help develop a tool-assisted speedrun they could replay via TASbot on a real Atari 2600 to show that, even on that original hardware, Rogers’ record was impossible. They found that TASbot’s theoretically perfect performance was 5.57 seconds, slower than Rogers’ alleged time. Despite Rogers’ objections, his three-and-a-half-decade-old record was erased from the annals of the gaming records keeper Twin Galaxies—along with all his other records on the site—and Guinness stripped his world record for “longest-standing video game record.”

    “Although I disagree with their decision, I must applaud them for their strong stance on the matter of cheating,” Rogers wrote in a lengthy public Facebook post responding to the Twin Galaxies decision.

    Andy Greenberg

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