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Still getting dunked on in Dota 2? Don't worry, even Gabe Newell gets called a noob once a week, apparently
Game Updates

Still getting dunked on in Dota 2? Don’t worry, even Gabe Newell gets called a noob once a week, apparently

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I don’t play online games particularly often, mostly the only ones that I do enjoy are the kind of games I can play with just my friends. People are mean, you see, and I have a sensitive soul, and also I often find them deeply boring conceptually and in practice. Take of that what you will in relation to this story about Dota 2! Moving on swiftly to a topic that I promise connects to this intro, Gabe Newell! He is a co-founder of Valve, and a noted Dota 2 lover. He also, apparently, is someone who is often subjected to ridicule while playing the very same game his company makes.


The man himself made a pre-recorded experience at this year’s Dota 2 International, opening exactly how you’d expect him to: “Hi, I’m Gabe Newell.” After clearing that up, he waxes not quite poetically about how he fell in love with the MOBA quite deeply thanks to the first International. But, he says says, “It’s not just the game I love, but the community.

Watch on YouTube


“Sure, people talk s**t at me in chat, and about once a week people say, hey noob, uninstall the game and [censor blip]. But that’s really about their enthusiasm, and the energy that they bring, and that’s why, after all these years, I still play Dota every day.”


Now, I do feel I have to say that this is a pretty subtly horrendous way to endorse quite toxic behaviours that many people are often subjected to in online games. I don’t care if you’re enthusiastic! We’re all here to have fun, right? Try a friendly word of advice before you make your way to the arcade’s basketball machine for some easy dunks.


On the other hand, I find it quite an amusing, if brief, anecdote about the ways in which we don’t know who we’re playing with online. I fully believe that Newell regularly gets lambasted by strangers online, and it tickles me to imagine how they might change their behaviour if they had the relevant context.


Not to say that it’s good many of them would likely be kinder with said context, I just think there’s a lesson to be had here in how we encourage certain kinds of communication in game spaces. One that Valve, even now, still should probably learn how to do better.



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Defense Department Scrambles to Pretend It’s Called the War Department
Product Reviews

Defense Department Scrambles to Pretend It’s Called the War Department

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The Pentagon’s website and social media channels were overhauled Friday at President Donald Trump’s behest to reflect the United States Defense Department’s new “Department of War” persona, shifting from Defense.gov to War.gov—a symbolic rebranding that highlights the administration’s preference for projecting strength through the language of war rather than the idiom of defense.

Trump on Friday signed an executive order directing the Pentagon to once again be named the so-called Department of War, reviving a name retired after World War II to mark America’s turn to deterrence as the principle bulwark against nuclear annihilation.

At an Oval Office ceremony, Trump said the change was about attitude, declaring, “It’s really about winning.”

“We won the First World War, we won the Second World War, we won everything before that and in between,” Trump said during the order’s signing. “And then we decided to go woke and we changed the name to the Department of Defense.”

The order authorizes defense secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials to use titles such as “secretary of war” in official correspondence, though Trump also instructed Hegseth to recommend steps needed to make the change permanent.

“We’re going to go on offense, not just on defense. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct,” Hegseth said during Friday’s signing ceremony. “We’re going to raise up warriors, not just defenders.”

Every prior name change—from the War Department created by Congress in 1789, to the National Military Establishment in 1947, to the Department of Defense in 1949—came through legislation. Allies in Congress quickly introduced a bill to back Friday’s change to the so-called Department of War, but the administration appears to be seeking a workaround anyway, as it has done in the past, whether by invoking sweeping emergency powers or withholding congressionally approved foreign aid. Currently, “Department of War” is a “secondary” title after the Department of Defense.

Within hours of Trump’s order, Pentagon officials rebranded the department’s social media platforms. The Department of Defense’s official Facebook, Instagram, and X accounts quietly rolled out the “Department of War” name and seal, adopting labels at odds with its legal identity.

As of around 6 pm ET on Friday, the new Department of War page still lists all the department’s other social channels and its website as using the “Defense” name, as did its YouTube channel.

How far the rebranding might go is unclear, but any comprehensive effort would saddle taxpayers with costs in the hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars, as every sign, logo, uniform, computer system, and piece of official paperwork tied to the Pentagon’s identity across the globe would need to be replaced.

A prior effort to recommend changes at military installations commemorating the Confederacy carried a projected cost of $39 million and covered only nine bases. The Defense Department’s real property portfolio spans hundreds of thousands of facilities, from major bases to small outposts worldwide.





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I called the MSI Claw an embarrassment, so imagine my surprise: its successor is the best Windows handheld yet
Product Reviews

I called the MSI Claw an embarrassment, so imagine my surprise: its successor is the best Windows handheld yet

by admin


I wrote that no one should buy MSI and Intel’s original handheld gaming PC. I literally called it an embarrassment, and the company blacklisted me after that. MSI stopped pitching me news, and stopped answering my emails, even after the company began to write off its dud of a handheld.

So you can imagine my surprise to find: MSI and Intel have gone from worst to nearly first. In many games, it’s twice as fast as the original Claw. And with new drivers that bump its performance up to 30 percent higher since launch — I tested — the newer $1,000 MSI Claw 8 AI Plus might just be the best Windows handheld you can buy.

The Claw 8 has become a fixture in my life as I carve and puzzle through the hauntingly beautiful painted worlds of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Blue Prince, respectively. I have a lot of other handheld review units floating around, but I rarely want to reach for a different one.

Let’s get this out of the way: it’s called the “AI Plus” because this “AI Engine” is supposed to automatically configure performance using Intel’s NPU. But it’s very dumb in practice and not a reason to buy.

Yes, it runs Windows, and if you’ve read any of my handheld reviews you’ll know how I feel about that. Windows 11 has become a bloated mess filled with annoying upsells and unwanted AI cruft, is annoying to navigate by controller alone, and often wakes up poorly from sleep. I can’t count the number of times I’ve sworn at Windows handhelds for popping awake in the middle of the night, or spontaneously deciding it was time to turn their remaining battery life into hot exhaust in the middle of my sealed backpack.

But the MSI Claw 8, with Intel’s Lunar Lake, isn’t as bad as the Windows norm. When you combine that with the newly improved performance, the longest battery life of any handheld in all but the most lightweight games, and an excellent 8-inch 120Hz VRR screen, it’s enough to knock the Asus ROG Ally X off its high perch — at least until the Xbox version arrives this October.

$999

The Good

  • Best battery life in a handheld
  • Excellent performance after updates
  • Great variable refresh rate screen
  • Fewer Windows annoyances than usual

The Bad

  • $1,000
  • Windows is bloated and can’t be trusted to sleep
  • Iffy rumble for games
  • AI tuning feature doesn’t work well

The MSI Claw 8 AI Plus is the biggest mainstream handheld, at nearly a foot long, 5 inches tall, and an inch thick, and it’s the only current-gen handheld with an Intel chip. Last year, both size and Intel pedigree were liabilities — but thankfully every handheld maker is paying more attention to ergonomics this year, and Intel’s Lunar Lake is a big improvement.

Scalloped grips and balanced weight distribution make the Claw comfortable for me to hold, it no longer looks like a ROG Ally knockoff, and while it isn’t light at 1.75 pounds (795g), that’s only a quarter-pound heavier than the Ally X. That’s despite the Claw having an extra inch of diagonal screen real estate and the same 80 watt-hour battery capacity as Asus.

The MSI Claw is wider, taller, and roughly as grippy as the Asus ROG Ally X…

And it’s bigger and grippier than the Lenovo Legion Go S, which also has an 8-inch screen.

I honestly found it tough to go back to playing Expedition 33 on the Asus ROG Ally X after using the Claw 8, partially because its 8-inch 120Hz 1920 x 1200 VRR IPS screen is more colorful and more spacious (with a far smaller bezel), and partially because the game ran smoother. (I beat the game, including the entire Endless Tower and four of the game’s toughest boss fights, on the Claw 8.)

But before all that, I had to tangle with Windows 11 — and was surprised how little detangling was needed.

The first time I fired up the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus, I couldn’t believe how fast Windows setup had become. Instead of the typical 45 minutes of annoying upsells and mandatory updates, I was able to get to the Windows desktop just seven minutes after I pressed the power button.

MSI’s “Quick Settings” are now part of the Xbox Game Bar in Windows.

That’s still slower than setting up a SteamOS handheld, but fast enough I thought there must be some mistake! (Did this really get past Microsoft certification?) Another curiosity: When I hit the button that pulls up the Claw’s quick settings menu to adjust brightness, volume, and my processor’s TDP (giving it more wattage/gas), it launched a new widget in the Xbox Game Bar with those handy controls instead of a dedicated MSI process! Did somebody accidentally slip me a preview of Microsoft’s “best of Xbox and Windows together” that’ll ship on the Xbox Ally later this year?

But I won’t lie and say the Windows experience was flawless after that. MSI’s Game Bar widget turned out to be incredibly sluggish and unreliable out of the box. It got better after I changed the Windows power mode from “Balanced” to “Best Performance,” but it still isn’t nearly as fast as Asus’ Armory Crate, which has gotten extremely responsive since the Ally first launched, or as reliable as SteamOS, which doesn’t require a separate utility at all.

Here’s how much MSI has improved:

Game and power mode

MSI Claw 8 AI Plus (Aug ’25)

MSI Claw 8 AI Plus (Jun ’25)

Claw 8 3-mo improvement

Claw battery drain (August)

Claw battery drain (June)

Claw 7 (Meteor Lake, Jun ’24)

Claw 8 Lunar Lake vs. Claw 7 Meteor Lake

AC Valhalla, 15-watt TDP664934.69%20.5W (~3.9h)23W (~3.5h)N/AN/A20-watt TDP785932.20%25.5W (~3.1h)29W (~2.8h)33136.36%25-watt TDP846921.74%32W (~2.5h)36W (~2.2h)5358.49%30-watt TDP85797.59%38W (~2.1h)39.5W (~2h)5457.41%Plugged in86833.61%N/AN/A5459.26%Cyberpunk 2077, 15-watt TDP51486.25%20W (~4h)20.5W (~3.9h)N/AN/A20-watt TDP60575.26%25W (~3.2h)26W (~3.1h)3287.50%25-watt TDP71659.23%31.5W (~2.5h)31.5W (~2.5h)4944.90%30-watt TDP76725.56%37.5W (~2.1h)37W (~2.2h)4185.37%Plugged in7779-2.53%N/AN/A4957.14%DX: Mankind Divided, 15-watt TDP796619.70%22.5W (~3.6h)21.5W (~3.6h)N/AN/A20-watt TDP938114.81%29.5W (~2.7h)27W (~3h)45106.67%25-watt TDP1059115.38%31W (~2.6h)32W (~2.5h)49114.29%30-watt TDP11410014.00%37W (~2.2h)37W (~2.2h)48137.50%Plugged in11910711.21%N/AN/A58105.17%Returnal, 15-watt TDP403033.33%20W (~4h)22W (~3.6h)N/AN/A20-watt TDP483633.33%26.5W (~3h)27W (~3h)2965.52%25-watt TDP524126.83%36W (~2.2h)32W (~2.5h)3836.84%30-watt TDP544325.58%42.5W (~1.9h)37.5W (~2.1h)3938.46%Plugged in564427.27%N/AN/A3751.35%Shadow of the Tomb Raider, 15-watt TDP55517.84%21W (~3.8h)23W (~3.5h)N/AN/A20-watt TDP666010.00%27W (~3h)30W (~2.6h)32106.25%25-watt TDP73687.35%35W (~2.3h)35.5W (~2.2h)3892.11%30-watt TDP81749.46%42W (~1.9h)41W (~2h)39107.69%Plugged in81758.00%N/AN/A4292.86%HZD Remastered, 15-watt TDP31310.00%21.5W (~3.6h)24.5W (~3.3h)N/AN/A20-watt TDP37370.00%28W (~2.9h)30W (~2.6h)Did not testN/A25-watt TDP42412.44%34.5W (~2.3h)36W (~2.2h)Did not testN/A30-watt TDP44424.76%40W (~2h)39W (~2.1h)Did not testN/APlugged in46452.22%N/AN/ADid not testN/A

Average frame rates at 720p and low settings, save Cyberpunk at “Steam Deck” setting.

And no, I can never, ever trust the Claw 8’s power button to keep it asleep. I always have to explicitly put the system into hibernation mode instead, which is thankfully the first option in that Game Bar widget. (Microsoft really needs to get out of its own way and let manufacturers set the power button to hibernate instead of Modern Standby.)

It’s also a little frustrating to go back to a world where I have to manually download the latest Intel graphics drivers because they never showed up in MSI Center’s updates tab. But once I installed those new graphics drivers and learned to avoid the power button, I was rewarded with some of the highest performance and the best battery life I’ve seen from a handheld yet. It’s just better at the whole turbo mode thing, with higher frame rates and higher TDP options than the Ally X with Windows, and it’s more power-efficient than the SteamOS Lenovo Legion Go S, even if Lenovo’s Steam handheld got higher frame rates in half my benchmarks.

Claw 8 vs. Ally X vs. Legion Go S vs. Steam Deck performance

Game and power mode

Claw 8 fps

ROG Ally X (Windows, Z1E) fps

Legion Go S (SteamOS, Z1E) fps

Steam Deck OLED fps

Claw 8 vs. Ally X

Claw 8 vs. Legion Go S

Claw 8 vs. Deck

AC Valhalla, 15-watt TDP6652665726.92%0.00%15.79%20-watt TDP787184N/A9.86%-7.14%N/A25-watt TDP848092N/A5.00%-8.70%N/A30-watt TDP858996N/A-4.49%-11.46%N/APlugged in86899257-3.37%-6.52%50.88%Cyberpunk 2077, 15-watt TDP5141575024.39%-10.53%2.00%20-watt TDP605973N/A1.69%-17.81%N/A25-watt TDP716579N/A9.23%-10.13%N/A30-watt TDP767182N/A7.04%-7.32%N/APlugged in777186508.45%-10.47%54.00%DX: Mankind Divided, 15-watt TDP7959746133.90%6.76%29.51%20-watt TDP938492N/A10.71%1.09%N/A25-watt TDP1059199N/A15.38%6.06%N/A30-watt TDP11493100N/A22.58%14.00%N/APlugged in119931026127.96%16.67%95.08%Returnal, 15-watt TDP4031242529.03%66.67%60.00%20-watt TDP484030N/A20.00%60.00%N/A25-watt TDP524332N/A20.93%62.50%N/A30-watt TDP544633N/A17.39%63.64%N/APlugged in5646342521.74%64.71%124.00%Shadow of the Tomb Raider, 15-watt TDP555262575.77%-11.29%-3.51%20-watt TDP666583N/A1.54%-20.48%N/A25-watt TDP737089N/A4.29%-17.98%N/A30-watt TDP817693N/A6.58%-12.90%N/APlugged in817696576.58%-15.63%42.11%HZD Remastered, 15-watt TDP3128373310.71%-16.22%-6.06%20-watt TDP373047N/A23.33%-21.28%N/A25-watt TDP422850N/A50.00%-16.00%N/A30-watt TDP443452N/A29.41%-15.38%N/APlugged in4634553335.29%-16.36%39.39%

Average frame rates at 720p and low settings, save Cyberpunk at “Steam Deck” setting.

We’re not talking about a step change in performance here: this pricy $1,000 handheld still doesn’t have near the frame rate of a similarly priced gaming laptop. It’s just enough extra power to make games feel smooth on this handheld that were borderline choppy on its peers, like Expedition 33 (even then, these handhelds need AI upscaling to get there).

But I didn’t have to sacrifice battery life to get that extra power. I often even push the Claw 8’s chip to 30 watts, a power mode that the Asus ROG Ally X doesn’t offer unless plugged in, for an extra frame rate advantage — while getting roughly the same battery life as the Ally X gets at its 25W unplugged maximum.

MSI Claw 8 vs. Asus ROG Ally X ports and width. The Claw still has handy raised dots on each port to find them by feel.

And though the Steam Deck has long reigned as the efficiency champ, I found the Claw 8 can even beat the Steam Deck on both performance and power use when set to the same 15-watt TDP, often draining its battery 2 or even 3 watts slower. When you combine that with its big 80-watt-hour pack, it handily beat competitors in my Dirt Rally drain test, lasting nearly 19 minutes longer than the Asus ROG Ally X with Bazzite, 28 minutes longer than the Steam Deck OLED, and 80 minutes longer than the Legion Go S with SteamOS and AMD’s Z1 Extreme chip.

Below, you can see how battery life might compare at each performance tier. For example: the Claw 8 and Legion Go S with SteamOS both offer the same 66 frames per second when you offer their chips 15 watts of electricity, but you’ll probably get 3.9 hours of battery from the Claw versus 2.3 hours from the Legion. That’s because MSI’s Intel chip is drawing less power from a larger battery.

Battery life vs. performance

Game and power mode

Claw 8 fps

Claw battery drain

ROG Ally X (Windows, Z1E) fps

Ally X battery drain

Legion Go S (SteamOS, Z1E) fps

Legion Go S battery drain

Steam Deck OLED fps

Deck battery drain

AC Valhalla, 15-watt TDP6620.5W (~3.9h)5224W (~3.3h)6624W (~2.3h)5723.5W (~2.1h)20-watt TDP7825.5W (~3.1h)7130W (~2.6h)8430.5W (~1.8h)N/AN/A25-watt TDP8432W (~2.5h)8036W (~2.2h)9236W (~1.5h)N/AN/A30-watt TDP8538W (~2.1h)89N/A9643.5W (~1.3h)N/AN/ACyberpunk 2077, 15-watt TDP5120W (~4h)4122W (~3.6h)5725W (~2.2h)5023.5W (~2.1h)20-watt TDP6025W (~3.2h)5929W (~2.7h)7332W (~1.7h)N/AN/A25-watt TDP7131.5W (~2.5h)6535W (~2.2h)7938W (~1.4h)N/AN/A30-watt TDP7637.5W (~2.1h)71N/A8244.5W (~1.2h)N/AN/ADX: Mankind Divided, 15-watt TDP7922.5W (~3.6h)5922W (~3.6h)7425.5W (~2.2h)6122W (~2.2h)20-watt TDP9329.5W (~2.7h)8430W (~2.6h)9232W (~1.7h)N/AN/A25-watt TDP10531W (~2.6h)9136W (~2.2h)9938.5W (~1.4h)N/AN/A30-watt TDP11437W (~2.2h)93N/A10045W (~1.2h)N/AN/AReturnal, 15-watt TDP4020W (~4h)3123W (~3.5h)2425.5W (~2.2h)2523W (~2.1h)20-watt TDP4826.5W (~3h)4030W (~2.6h)3032W (~1.7h)N/AN/A25-watt TDP5236W (~2.2h)4336W (~2.2h)3238.5W (~1.4h)N/AN/A30-watt TDP5442.5W (~1.9h)46N/A3345.5W (~1.2h)N/AN/AShadow of the Tomb Raider, 15-watt TDP5521W (~3.8h)5223W (~3.5h)6225W (~2.2h)5723.5W (~2.1h)20-watt TDP6627W (~3h)6530W (~2.6h)8331.5W (~1.7h)N/AN/A25-watt TDP7335W (~2.3h)7036W (~2.2h)8937.5W (~1.5h)N/AN/A30-watt TDP8142W (~1.9h)76N/A9343.5W (~1.3h)N/AN/AHZD Remastered, 15-watt TDP3121.5W (~3.6h)2823W (~3.5h)3725W (~2.2h)3323W (~2.1h)20-watt TDP3728W (~2.9h)3030W (~2.6h)4732W (~1.7h)N/AN/A25-watt TDP4234.5W (~2.3h)2836W (~2.2h)5037.5W (~1.5h)N/AN/A30-watt TDP4440W (~2h)34N/A5244W (~1.3h)N/AN/A

Average frame rates at 720p and low settings, save Cyberpunk at “Steam Deck” setting.

All this said, you still can’t ease off the gas quite like with AMD chips, at least not out of the box. Officially, the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V is a 17W–37W chip, and while MSI lets you set the chip’s TDP as low as 8 watts, I still saw the Claw empty my battery at a rate of at least 11W in Balatro, the magic poker game I use as my best-case-scenario test. That means at minimum screen brightness, with wireless off, I’m getting around seven hours max — whereas the Steam Deck OLED can get nine hours and the Asus ROG Ally X can manage 10 in such lightweight games.

I have some quibbles with the Claw’s hardware. Though the speakers are above average, the rumble is annoying and weak. Hall effect joysticks and dedicated gyro modes are nice, but aiming felt sloppy out of the box, like MSI didn’t bother tuning either to a console controller standard, and I still haven’t quite nailed it with tweaks in either individual game settings or MSI Center. It’s also not the fastest handheld to charge or download games, despite its two Thunderbolt 4 ports and Wi-Fi 7, though not slow either.

But the real hurdles for the Claw 8 are that $1,000 price — and that MSI might only have one more whole month atop the Windows heap. Microsoft and Asus’ Xbox Ally is coming October 16th, with a revamped OS, and it could reshape the whole handheld market.

Handheld power, explained

You might have noticed I write about two different kind of wattage measurements (W) in my handheld reviews: 1) the TDP of each handheld’s chip, which basically translates to how much power you’re letting it use, and 2) the handheld’s total battery drain.

That’s because of a sea change in how portable gaming works. Unlike traditional laptops, today’s handhelds let you configure their processor’s TDP at a moment’s notice, even while you’re in the middle of a game, to give you more oomph. But when you do that — or when a manufacturer sets a higher default TDP so their handheld seems faster out of the box — it’ll drain your battery faster.

How much faster? You can find the answers in my charts, along with estimates of how quickly your battery will go from 100 percent to zero if you choose that TDP in a given game. And make no mistake, some games won’t run well on a handheld unless you choose a high TDP.

But the battery drain wattage is not the same as TDP, because it doesn’t account for all the rest of the handheld’s systems, including its storage and screen, that each game might push differently. Frame rate per watt drained is what to look for if you care about battery.

Photography by Sean Hollister / The Verge

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GTA 6 Called First 'AAAAA Game' In Sign Of Industry Confidence And Panic
Game Reviews

GTA 6 Called First ‘AAAAA Game’ In Sign Of Industry Confidence And Panic

by admin


Grand Theft Auto 5 is the second best-selling game of all time. Only Minecraft beats it. No other game even comes close. So it’s not surprising that after more than a decade, people expect big things from Grand Theft Auto 6. But the growing gravity well around the game’s impending release transcends fan hype and bullish proclamations from LinkedIn-pilled industry watchers. The vibes keep intensifying to the point of bordering on desperation. GTA 6 will be huge. GTA 6 must be huge.

Out of this uniquely volatile cocktail comes statements like the following. “I mean, there are AAA games and then there’s AAAA games and I’d argue that Grand Theft Auto is potentially the AAAAA game, it’s just bigger than anything else both in the scope and scale of the game and the kind of cultural impact that it has and the attention it demands,” Devolver Digital co-founder Nigel Lowrie told IGN this week.

It was in the context of a conversation about how smaller companies navigate the minefield of modern release dates, where at any moment all of the oxygen could be sucked out of the room by bigger hits, suffocating a game’s chances of finding an audience before players even give it a try. Hardly anyone was staking out release dates for the fall until Rockstar announced that GTA 6 had been delayed to May 2026. Even now, Silksong‘s surprise release date announcement just last month drove scores of other indie games to get out of the way of its September 4 launch.

Lowrie suggested GTA 6 has the power to “blot out the sun” when it comes to attention in the gaming world. “AAAAA” isn’t just a reflection of the long-awaited open-world game’s budget, suspected to be over $1 billion, or its marketing, which by some estimates is likely to cost another half-billion. Nor is it just a testament to the consumer spending crater that will be left in the wake of its sales, projected by one analyst to be $10 billion over the life of the game, not including any new GTA Online component.

GTA 6 being the first “AAAAA game” is also a prediction about the way it will funnel humanity’s collective boredom and curiosity into a cultural singularity that trumps everything from 2023’s Barbenheimer to this year’s viral “Coldplay couple.” That’s the growing consensus at least, which grows more conventional with each passing month. And like the bond ratings that gaming’s triple-A shorthand for blockbusters is borrowed from, “AAAAA” is as much a prediction about possible futures as a measurement of current facts.

Publishers want their games to sell lots of copies and fans want those games to be great or even, in the rarest cases, life changing. But with GTA 6 there’s as much a hope that it will be transformative as there is a sense of potential panic if it’s not. After years of being in the driver’s seat, console gaming has stalled out. While industry boosters tout the size of the overall gaming market compared to Hollywood and sports, growth over the last five years was effectively flat. Social hubs like Roblox surging in popularity is great for their investors, but another sign that traditional gaming is on the back foot.

Even outside of the numbers, the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S console cycle has felt surprisingly unexceptional. There have been plenty of great games, sure, but nothing hardware-defining the way some of the biggest hits from the second half of the PS4 and Xbox One era felt. Fans searching for that unmistakable feeling of “next-gen” magic from years past are left to comb over Digital Foundry forensics like lapsed believers threatened by a crisis of faith.

Consoles increasingly struggle to distinguish themselves in much the same way smartphones keep adding more camera lenses to convince you you’re upgrading more than just RAM. The latest leaks suggest the new hardware from from Sony and Microsoft is just a couple of years away and will be even less of a generational leap. And why should they bother if half of their current install base won’t be updating anytime soon? I can’t wait for system architect Mark Cerny to show me how much better Joel and Ellie’s hair looks in The Last of Us Part 1 when it gets ported to PS6.

What an “AAAAA” rating for GTA 6 really means is that it’s the only game people believe can single-handedly shift those trends. Proof of what the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, the only consoles it’ll be available for at launch, are truly capable of, from cutscene-level shooting animations to mouth-watering condensation on beer bottles. A best-seller that doesn’t just move copies of the game but reignites sales in a flagging console race to once again grow the total install base. A sign, perhaps, that the most polished and sophisticated craftsmanship money can buy can once again capture the imagination as much as a crudely reskinned Cookie Clicker in Roblox.

Even if GTA 6 can shower shareholders with a historic new windfall, if it can’t do those other, grander things it’ll be the surest evidence yet that the “AAA” rating, and the aura farming it does in the video game industry hype cycle, was a junk bond status all along.



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Genshin Impact 6.0 isn't actually called that, will instead be known as "Version Luna 1", and is coming in early September
Game Reviews

Genshin Impact 6.0 isn’t actually called that, will instead be known as “Version Luna 1”, and is coming in early September

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We’ve been waiting for this one! After a few teasers, including as recently as gamescom – featuring a very hot anime man, MiHoYo has finally lifted the veil off the major upcoming Genshin Impact chapter.

This is what you may have been expecting would be called version 6.0. Its official name was revealed to be Version Luna 1, which could signal a change in what these will be called going forward.

Song of the Welkin Moon: Segue is the name of this particular episode, and it’s only the first part of what the developer says will be a year-long Song of the Welkin Moon saga.

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Version Luna 1, or Song of the Welkin Moon: Segue, will arrive in Genshin Impact globally on September 10. If you’ve been following the action RPG with any regularity, you’ll no doubt be aware that it introduces the new Nod-Krai region.

After you install the update, you’ll be able to sail north towards the new region – provided you’ve completed Mondstadt’s main story and and reached AR 28. Nod-Krai is made up of three islands. This kicks off the new Archon Quests, where you’re going to accompany Lauma of the Frostmoon Scions and learn more about the conflict with the Fatui. The same quest can be started after finishing Liyue’s storyline.

Hot boy Flins is the second ally in this story, who, with your help, may resist the Wild Hunt. There’s a major story thread about a plot to claim the moon’s power (!) by the Fatui, and that’s where Fatui Harbinger, Marionette, comes in. There’s another Harbinger in this story, too, one who’s retreated to her birthplace in Nod-Krai. She’s referred to as The Damselette, and she’s worshiped as the Moon Maiden. And you do want to meet her, because you may get a buff or two to help you out.

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Nod-Krai is home to an elemental force called Kuuvahki, which you can draw upon. It can sometimes take the firm of the Kuuhenki, an elemental lifeform. Kuuvahki, of course, can be used in combat, with the big new special being Lunar Reactions.

Three new companions, who hail from the same region, will join the roster. Lauma is a 5-Star Moonchanter and Catalyst wielder. She’s the first to utilise the new Lunar-Bloom reaction, which grants her her Verdant Dew that she uses to boost the team’s Bloom damage.

The recently-teased Flins is another 5-Star companion. A Polearm wielder, Flins fires Lunar-Charged strikes that can either be delivered in a massive single attack, or turn into a storm of smaller spear attacks. If you bring him along with you as you explore, he may lead you to some discoveries, thanks to his ability to hear the whispers of the Wild Hunt

The third and final new addition is Aino, a 4-Star Hydro Claymore wielder. Aino is something of a genius, with her mechanical contraptions doing a lot of the heavy lifting. The list includes a duck-shaped device she calls Knuckle Duckle, which is just delightful. Aino will join your team for free if you progress the new Archon Quests in Nod-Krai.

It doess look pretty cool! | Image credit: MiHoYo.

Did we mention that this is a stacked update? Meeting Points is one of the new features arriving with Version Luna 1. MiHoYo says it will let you “step into the daily lives” of your companions, which sort of sounds like royalty missions from Mass Effect and other RPGs.

Lauma will be available immediately upon the update’s release, who will arrive with the rerun of Nahida in the Event Wishes. The update’s second half is what’s going to add Flins, Aino, and bring back Yelan.

Elsewhere in this episde, you can look forward to a few big tweaks to Adventure EXP, which can now be earned from more sources. MiHoYo is adding materials to the battle pass rewards, too. It will also now be possible to preview the locked affix of any Artifact in advance. If you have too many parties already, you’ll be happy to learn that you can save more team presets. One of the biggest additions is a new item – Masterless Stella Fortuna – which lets you use any extra 5-Star Stella Fortuna you might have acquired over the years — available retroactively from when you opened your account! — to push a character beyond the cap and up to level 100.

If you log in when the update arrives, you’ll find a host of freebies waiting for you, such as a free 5-Star character of your choice (from the Standard Wish Pool), Primogems, and more.

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HoYoverse also took this opportunity to reveal more details about Miliastra Wonderland, which brings UGC gameplay elements into Genshin Impact. Creators can create stages using the Miliastra Sandbox editor for all players to enjoy.

You can pull from the game’s many existing assets to create your content. We’ll have to wait until Version Luna 2 before we can get our hands on it, but the trailer above shows off some of what’s possible.



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Two Japanese men attack Kick streamers.
Esports

Police called on Kick streamer ‘pranking’ at Home Depot & Asmongold wants them charged

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Police were called on a group of content creators after they ‘pranked’ innocent shoppers at a Home Depot. The incident has since gained traction on social media, with Asmongold chiming in, pushing for those involved to be charged.

A group of internet influencers, including Steven Garcia, known online as ‘Konvy’, and ‘Myhouseisdirty’, among others, have landed in hot water after attempting to ‘prank’ Home Depot shoppers.

Konvy, who was broadcasting it all live on Kick, captured one of the group members pretending to work at the shop in Miami, Florida. This group member then turned their water hose on an innocent shopper, continuously spraying them for multiple seconds, and then doing it again.

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The agitated woman stormed off, yelling, “This is not ok!” However, she got even more frustrated upon seeing a camera, eventually calling the police and having the group questioned.

Kick streamer banned for Home Depot prank

Kick has since banned Konvy’s channel, removing it from the platform. Various clips have nonetheless spread across social media, revealing the situation in full.

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After being ‘pranked,’ the shopper questioned those involved, first asking, “Are you filming this?”

The cameraman responded, lying that he was a “journalist. I walk around and I journal everything.” He even tried to argue that the other member of the group simply “didn’t see [her] while spraying the hose.”

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Police were called and soon arrived on the scene, questioning the group. Myhouseisdirty has since uploaded an Instagram story picturing two police officers on the case. At the time of writing, there are no further details on whether charges have been pressed.

Instagram: myhouseisdirteMultiple police officers arrived at the Home Depot to question the group.

Asmongold calls for Kick ‘pranksters’ to be charged

With clips from the incident blowing up across social media, one such post caught the attention of fellow influencer, Asmongold.

The mega-popular streamer pushed for the group to be “charged with assault,” arguing these types of ‘pranks’ “need to stop. They won’t until there are actual consequences.”

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Based, hopefully charged with assault

These “pranks” need to stop and they won’t until there are actual consequences

— Zack (@Asmongold) August 25, 2025

We’ll be sure to update you here with further details as the story develops.

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