Watch out, Steam Machine! One who would claim your throne comes forth from the sun-kissed streets of France. He might have your number, once he's figured out what he's comfortable being called. He's the PC Box from French tech sellers LDLC, and he was originally dubbed the Stim Machine because no parody can be too… read more

Stardew Valley creator Eric 'ConcernedApe' Barone has released his latest reminder that yes, he's still working on Haunted Chocolatier, the action-RPG and life sim in which you run a sweetshop in a realm of ghosts. This particular blogpost is notable for a mildly agonised aside about the game's recipe book interface, which needs to be… read more

Ranked isn't glorified pubs. It's meant to be Apex's competitive mode where casuals can play pubs and farm badges in Wildcard. Sadly the line has been blurred so much so that enforcing a mandatory solo queue in ranked may be what it needs to have a slither of the competitiveness we see in pro league.… read more

Philips Hue products don’t often see major discounts, which makes this year’s Prime Day deals especially notable. Prices have dropped significantly across much of the company’s smart lighting lineup, with deals on everything from smart bulb starter kits and sleep lamps to smart buttons. If you’ve been thinking about investing in Philips Hue, now is… read more

After a rollercoaster negotiation process with the Trump administration that dragged on for two weeks, Anthropic's Mythos 5 is finally back in action – at least, somewhat, for a select group of organizations, according to a letter from the government to Anthropic that was viewed by The Verge. Fable 5, however – the public-facing Mythos-class… read more

We’ve arrived at the final day of Prime Day, which at this point should probably be called “Prime Week.” We’ve found discounts on all manner of gadgets, including TVs, smart home tech, chargers, headphones, and more. Some of the best deals have started selling out at some retailers, so if you’ve been craving a popular… read more

I would like to say this missive is brought to you from a dark, ventilated room where I lay upon a bed of ice packs. However, if all goes according to masochistic plan, I will already have been cycling for a few hours when this goes live. I need to get out of the house… read more

Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little about the games we've been playing. This week, Victoria waves a fond farewell to Eurogamer, and us to Victoria; Connor dabbles on Guild Wars on mobile; Sherif tackles yet another Soulslike; and Bertie discovers he's lost any skill he had at playing… read more

Meta is, by and large, a company built on other companies' ideas. It has almost perfected the strategy: wait for a new platform or social mechanic to take off, then either buy or clone it, put it next to Meta's unmatched user base and advertising engine, and watch the money pile up. Well, the next… read more

Creative Assembly have announced the first six playable factions for historical strategy bash Total War: Medieval 3, while also sharing a little insight on the process of choosing Total War factions. Of course, the optimal way to select Twarieval 3 factions would be to mock up a grand tournament, where designers adorned with the heraldry… read more

This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they're going to change your life. Opt in for Optimizer here. About three years ago, a doctor told me I had to lose abdominal fat. She didn't care about my lower… read more

Urgh. Have you seen memory prices lately? If you somehow haven’t, make sure to look through your fingers, as they are truly terrifying. DDR5 RAM sticks are ungodly expensive, older DDR4's not much better, high VRAM graphics cards are ridiculous, and any PC hardware that includes at least one of these (which is a lot)… read more