Video Games News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

Valve's Steam Deck is a massive success, and has kick-started an entirely new product category of handheld gaming PCs. But it's easy to forget that this isn't Valve's first attempt at a PC-console hybrid, so perhaps it's time for them to try again.

The best way to supercharge a PC game, especially after you're mostly done with it, is to install some mods. They can be a great way to make a game fun again. They're usually unofficial, which is why a lot of people stray from them, but what if you could have sanctioned, official "mods" that aren't made by the game developers, but otherwise have an official stamp of approval? This is exactly the concept Minecraft is currently trying out, with "add-ons" coming soon to players.

As video games continue to get bigger and more expensive, buying new ones can feel like a huge commitment. It's more important than ever to be confident that a new game is worth your money. Fortunately, you can try out many games before you buy them (even if you have to be a little creative).

You don’t think twice about snapping a photo with your smartphone, but how often do you take screenshots in games? Not often enough, probably.

The PS5's Create button makes it easy to capture screenshots of videos while you're playing, but this media doesn't have to live on your console. Here's how to transfer your gaming memories for sharing, backup, or simply to free up space.

Steam is by far the most popular digital game storefront on the PC. Despite its popularity, there are some features hidden in its depths that you might not know about. Here are seven of the most useful.

Wine is the compatibility layer for running Windows applications and games on non-Windows platforms, including Linux, Mac, and Android. Wine 9.0 has now been released after a year of development, improving compatibility and adding some great new features.

Since its founding in 2006, ASTRO Gaming has been known as a premium consumer electronics brand with a particular prowess in audio gear. A part of Logitech since 2017, ASTRO Gaming has continued to push the envelope in premium audio gear, culminating in their latest release, the Astro A50 X, part of the Logitech G Gaming Gear lineup.

Converting regular flat video games into VR is usually something that takes developers a significant amount of time and money, but the UEVR mod promises to instantly convert thousands of games to VR without any effort from the developers themselves.

You can’t upgrade your Xbox like you can a PC, but that doesn’t mean you can’t improve your experience. Here are some tips for squeezing as much performance as possible from Microsoft’s home consoles.

Did you buy a used or refurbished Steam Deck and want to check its battery health? Perhaps you've had your Deck for a while and want to see how the battery is holding up. Let's take a look at how to check your Deck’s battery health, and a couple more battery-related tips to keep things in good condition.

The Nintendo 3DS may be over a decade old at this point, but even without the cutoff of official support from Nintendo, it can be a robust piece of hardware for emulation and retro gaming. This guide will inform you on the steps to create your own handheld retro machine out of your old 3DS, whether it's the "New" model or the original.

Xbox controllers are great. Not only are they the best choice for an Xbox console, they also happen to work great on many other gaming platforms, whether that's your phone, your PC, or even other other consoles with the use of unofficial adapters. Microsoft also likes to release them in several different colorways. These new options, however, are perhaps among the best-looking ones if you're not completely convinced by previous designs.

The best Xbox Series X headsets will allow you to hear everything in your game while carrying your voice with crystal clarity to your teammates. Finding the perfect one can be a challenge, but these are the headsets that stand above the rest.

There's nothing worse than the sinking feeling of disappointment you get after purchasing a shiny new graphics card when you realize that it doesn't work correctly. Before you lose your cool and return it, follow these troubleshooting tips to make sure the card was installed correctly.

Video game demos used to be a staple of gaming, from discs and floppies included with magazines to downloadable trials that could be played indefinitely. But when the digital age came along, demos seemed to fall out of fashion. Fortunately, that trend seems to be reversing.

Choosing where to put your new TV is a big decision. You want an immersive and comfortable viewing experience, and you don’t want more holes in your wall than necessary. Here are some pointers to get it right the first time.

The best gaming headset needs to be affordable, comfortable, sound sharp, and have a microphone that won't make your voice chat companions wince. Our top picks manage to do it all with some extra features on top.

Purchasing a flashy new graphics card is exciting, but with so many factors to look at, excitement can easily turn into frustration. Today we'll help figure out which card to buy based on your unique scenario and budget.

Gaming microphones are useful not only for chatting with teammates, but also for producing crisp audio during livestreams. If you want to move on from the middling microphones built into gaming headsets, take a look at our favorite gaming microphones.

Nintendo Switch now supports a wide variety of headsets and headphones. Whether you need the functionality of a wireless connection or something affordable and durable for your kids, here are our five favorite headsets for Switch.

With the eShop gone and much of its online functionality severely cut down, you'd be forgiven for thinking the Nintendo 3DS was dead in the water. But the system still thrives on the resale market, even though some of its more notable titles have made it to the Switch.

In a bid to improve fidelity and motion, NVIDIA is continually pushing the envelope when it comes to gaming monitor technology. G-SYNC Pulsar is the next step towards a tear-free and smooth gaming experience from the market-leading GPU manufacturer. Here's how it works.

As retro gaming continues to grow in popularity, so do cheap handheld retro gaming consoles from brands you've never heard of. Many of these devices are not worth your time or money. Here's how you can separate the wheat from the chaff.

Do you see a "Steam Cloud Sync" error when launching a game through Steam? Without cloud sync your game saves won't backup properly, so let's get that error patched right up before you lose any progress!

Everyone seems to be offering some form of cloud gaming solution these days, despite the high-profile failure of Google Stadia. There are even dedicated cloud streaming handheld devices that aren't cheap! But cloud gaming kind of sucks, and here's why.

No matter what industry you work in, there is always a chance for layoffs. In many ways, it’s one of the biggest things people fear. After all, they could be happy and think they have a long-term solution to their money problems one day, and then the next day comes, and they’re told it’s their last day at work due to “corporate changes,” or “cost-saving moves” or some words of the like. One might feel that the Video Game Industry, with its various successful studios and titles, would be immune from this. But as the website Video Game Layoffs has noted, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Games have ballooned in size in the last few years, and many people have multiple Steam installations on their local network. Thankfully, Steam now lets you install games from other nearby computers which is perfect for moving things from your desktop to a Steam Deck or ROG Ally.

Whether you're nostalgic for a bygone era or want to experience a period of gaming that's older than you are, playing retro games on modern hardware is easier than ever. Best of all, there's a platform to suit every taste, budget, and form factor.

Whether you're creating an account or logging into an existing one on Steam, you may be asked to fill out a CAPTCHA. However, it can be impossible to proceed if you run into the "Your response to the CAPTCHA appears to be invalid" error message.

If you're a PlayStation 5 player, you have probably noticed the all-new PlayStation Plus tiers the company rolled out in recent years. The highest tier gets you get access to exclusive discounts, a selection of free current-gen games and the biggest selling point: the Classics Catalog. So considering it's over twice the price of the Essential tier, is it worth the extra cost?

ScummVM is a game engine recreation that allows many old games, from "The Secret of Monkey Island" to "Myst," to run on modern devices without emulation or compatibility layers. ScummVM 2.8 has been released with support for new games and game engines, online multiplayer support, and more.

Have an Intel CPU? You'll need a quality motherboard that's compatible with it. The motherboard is essentially the central nervous system of every PC, and the right one will make sure your rig will work flawlessly without overworking the other components.

A brand new year means brand new tech being showcased at CES 2024. We were on the ground in Las Vegas, scouring the show floors for cool gadgets and impressive innovations. We've highlighted some of our favorite products from the event, giving you a taste of what to look forward to this year.

Planning on assembling a gaming PC with an AMD Ryzen processor at its heart? If that's the case, your rig should pack a motherboard compatible with AMD processors, which will let your rig perform at the best possible level.

Steam dropped support for PCs running Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 earlier this week. Now, the games store and platform is preparing to cut off older macOS releases as well.

Microsoft ended extended support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 in 2023, and many applications that still worked on those releases have made the same move over the past year. Now, the game store and launcher Steam has officially ended support for Windows 7 and 8.

Lenovo makes some of the best laptops and desktops, competitive tablets and smartphones, and has a solid presence in gaming with its Legion brand. It's only natural then that Lenovo would try and apply that depth and breadth of expertise to the burgeoning handheld PC gaming market.

Want to rediscover retro classics from PlayStation 1, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Game Boy, GameCube, and more? This guide covers everything you need to download and play old-school console games on your Android phone or tablet.

Have you ever purchased something so close to being definitively perfect that you couldn’t fathom having to replace it until necessary? While it may not be perfect, as no product ever really is, the Secretlab MAGNUS Pro standing desk for gamers teeters on the edge of impeccability, suffering in so few ways that I can’t imagine ever replacing it with something better.

Keeping your PlayStation 5 up to date ensures a smooth gaming experience on Sony's ninth-generation console. It pays to know how to manually trigger updates, whether it's the system software, games, or controller. Here's what you need to know.

Handheld gaming PCs offer both portability and performance so you can take your gaming sessions anywhere. Whether you're looking for a certain operating system or an option that fits your budget, there are plenty of handheld PCs to choose from.

The Steam Deck OLED is a substantial upgrade over the original model, but if you already own another handheld, is the Steam Deck OLED worth replacing your current device with? And when choosing between the Steam Deck OLED and LCD, does the former justify the price difference? Let's find out.

Long gone are the days when Windows was the only option for PC gamers. With options like Wine and Proton, or even running native titles, Linux users can join the fun. But which distro is the best for gaming?

Steam Overlay enhances your gaming experience with streamlined communication, in-game purchases, web access, and more. Let's take a look at how the overlay works, how to turn it on, and talk about some of the features that can improve your gaming experience.

Have you tried to open Steam Overlay using the default hotkey, but nothing happened? This could be caused by the overlay being disabled or the wrong shortcut being used, but other factors could also be at play. Here are some solutions that may help you resolve the issue.

The upcoming DC Universe media franchise helmed by James Gunn is going to include more than just movies, and the development of video games within the DCU sphere is coming at a particularly interesting time. DC already has a long history of video game adaptations, from the widely mocked to the celebrated titles. Considering the lack of any major games set in the recently concluded DC Extended Universe, there's not much precedent for the venture into DCU games, raising a lot of interesting questions about what the slate will look like.

Over the next two weeks, GamesIndustry.biz will be exploring ways to find the right career in the video games business and how you can get started as part of our Get into Games special.

For decades, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has been the platform to announce some of the most influential innovations in gaming. 2024 is no different as big companies like Xbox, PlayStation and Samsung made some giant gamer-related announcements at the conference, which took place in Las Vegas, Nevada from 9 - 12 January.

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The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), an American labor union which represents thousands of media professionals, has announced what it describes as a “groundbreaking AI voice agreement” with artificial intelligence voice technology company Replica Studios. 

For a long time, video games have been the top dog when it comes to entertainment revenue, having been the most lucrative industry for well over 10 years. You'd have thought that with how good we had it with video game releases last year that this trend would continue, but it turns out revenue from video-based content was higher than that of video games in the United Kingdom for the first time in over a decade.

The the first time in over ten years, video games is not the UK's biggest entertainment medium.

China removed an official at a government body overseeing its press and publications regulator, five sources who were briefed on the matter said, days after Chinese gaming stocks were hit by proposed rules to curb spending on video games. Feng Shixin was removed last week from his position as head of the publishing unit of the Communist Party's Publicity Department, the sources said. The department oversees the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) which in turn regulates China's vast video games sector.

Even in today’s modern age, video games are an often underappreciated art form when it comes to wider society. The majority of gamers know the impact and value that video games can offer, but folk who aren’t interested in games often miss why they’re so special to fans. 

Playing multiplayer video games together as a family can be a wonderful way to spend time with one another in a fun and relaxed way, and there are many games that all ages can enjoy participating in, from to . Whether the group consists of little ones, teenagers, grown adults, or all of the above, these games are perfect for getting cozy in the family room together, especially during the cold winter months. Even once family members have moved away and spread out across long distances, playing video games together online can help keep relationships strong and lines of communication open in a relaxed way.

As the sun sets on 2023, it’s time to look back at the year’s digital masterpieces. From groundbreaking graphics to storytelling that tugs at the heartstrings, here are the 20 best video games of 2023.

Regulators in China announced on Friday a wide range of rules aimed at curbing spending and rewards that encourage video games, dealing a blow to the world's biggest games market, which returned to growth this year.

Several upcoming film projects are being lined up for video game adaptations by the Sino-American fund Stars-Hana.

The recent Insomniac Games hack saw over a terabyte of the Spider-Man developer’s data illegally distributed online after it refused to pay a $2 million ransom to the Rhysida ransomware gang. The leak includes employees’ personal information, which means developers are not only experiencing the heartache of seeing their works-in-progress stolen and uploaded, but also, they just got doxxed. It doesn’t get worse than that. And I wish it didn’t take such drastic and devastating measures to get a look behind the curtain at in-development AAA games.

Narcotics police the world over are sprucing up their video game skills, as cartels go increasingly online to sell drugs and recruit dealers.

It’s hard to believe, but we’re already nearing the last bit of 2023 before we bring in the New Year. It was a thrilling year for new video game releases. We had several titles across all the platforms that players likely were eagerly awaiting to pick up. However, that doesn’t mean every game released was a gem. Instead, there were some games that most would tell you to pass up. Today, we’re finding out that Metacritic has unveiled the worst video games of 2023. 

Review aggregation website Metacritic has revealed the 10 worst games of 2023, according to weighted average review scores from its approved critics.

The year 2023 is about to come to an end and what a fantastic year it was for gamers as they got to play some really awesome games such as Starfield, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur's Gate 3, and more. We also saw the first trailer for GTA 6, which came after a long wait of 12 years. While GTA 6 will not be released next year (it is expected for 2025), the year 2024 does have a great lineup waiting for gamers. From Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and Tekken 8, to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, it is set to be another exciting year. So, let us take a look at the most anticipated video games of 2024 and take a closer look at some of these titles.

2023 may be one of the best years in gaming history. It seemed like an endless parade of AAA titles launching one after another, with none of them disappointing. While 's game of the year is , there are so many games that deserve a spotlight that we've assembled a list of our editor's individual choices. Really hammering home how diverse and interesting this year in gaming has been, all seven editors ended up picking different games.

China's video games market returned to growth this year as domestic revenue rose 13% to 303 billion yuan ($42.6 billion), putting Beijing's 8-month crackdown two years ago in the rear-view mirror.

What, precisely, is the value of an actor's face in the world of video games?

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Netflix has shown that it can handle animated adaptations with releases like Castlevania and Arcane, both top-performing shows. But what else would they be able to bring to life now that we know what it is capable of?

Chinese internet technology firm ByteDance is restructuring the video games side of its business.

Andrzej Sapkowski is quite the renaissance man. He studied economics in college, and knows 20 languages. However, the world primarily knows him as the author behind The Witcher book series, a Polish 1990s low fantasy series that itself became famous thanks to the video game franchise based on it, and after that, the two television series.

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might have set a new standard in video games, but it's far from the only title associated with the tabletop game to offer a unique and rewarding experience. video games have a rich history, from the unlicensed 1975 RPG to huge projects from major developers. Not every experience has aged perfectly, but the best video games are still plenty of fun today and can make for great alternatives to

Sure, romantic dinners at fancy restaurants and long walks on the beach are great ways to get to know someone, but engaging in virtual challenges of multiplayer video games like or can really show one's true face, and, eventually, put every relationship to the test. Besides, it's a witty option for love birds who can't spend much time together, such as in the case of a long-distance relationship. For long-term couples who are avid hobbyists, video games can be a perfect recipe to spice things up as well as for practicing communication and teamwork.

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Why ride a bike in person when you can ride one in a video game? We’ve compiled some of the best bike-related titles from over the years, including some iconic franchises from the original Nintendo Entertainment System days along with some more recent title releases. This list is in no particular order and includes both games focused specifically on racing and other with more platforming elements–and everything in between.

Embracer has revealed that they are writing down 15 of the video games they are working on.

Kids get all the fun, don’t they? There is such a wide selection of games for kids to play these days, far more than what we had as part of the older generations, and they should count their lucky stars if this is the case. But with such broad variety comes a selection headache that will test your kid’s nerves, which is why we are here to help. We have the knowledge of countless games that you can play on the PC – it’s the one that seems to have the most variety – and we will tell you which are the best PC video games for kids. This is a long one so strap yourself in.

With Black Friday on the horizon, it’s a great time to start looking around for deals on video games, hardware, and accessories. When it comes to the former, you can find an excellent variety of games discounted during this sale event. But what happens if you miss your shot to pick up a game you wanted while it was discounted or it ran out of stock? Don’t worry, sale events actually happen all throughout the year, so there are plenty of other opportunities to get games at a cheaper price. No matter which platform you prefer to play on, there’s always a deal to find somewhere, whether that’s during a sale event or at a retailer.