The 2026 edition of Summer Game Fest just wrapped up, and it was surprisingly hectic. The nearly week-long event came at a challenging time for the games industry, and for the most part the big keynotes were used as a chance to show some strength through major announcements, while largely ignoring pesky details like hardware … Read more
This year’s Summer Game Fest turned out to be a good one for fans of Japanese RPGs. First, the conclusion of the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy was announced at SGF Live, and now we have the long-awaited return of the Persona series. Atlus confirmed Persona 6 exists with a brief teaser, but aside from … Read more
Microsoft has created a special edition Xbox Series X to celebrate 25 years of the console. The Xbox 25th-anniversary console takes design cues from the original Xbox console, with both the console and controller featuring a translucent green design. “For the first time, we’re bringing a translucent design to Xbox Series X, drawing inspiration from … Read more
Minecraft Dungeons 2, a sequel to Microsoft’s dungeon crawler spinoff Minecraft Dungeons, will be released on September 29th. The company originally revealed the game in a brief trailer in March, promising a fall 2026 release window. Here’s how Microsoft described it at the time: Return to the world of Minecraft Dungeons in an all new … Read more
Just a few days after pushing Fable out of 2026, Microsoft showed off more footage of Fable, the first new entry in the storied RPG franchise since 2010’s Fable III, at its Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday. The company also announced a specific release date: February 23rd, 2027. Though if you get the Premium Edition, … Read more
The console industry is in a weird place, and both Xbox and PlayStation have a chance to change the narrative a bit with their showcases at Summer Game Fest. Sony did that by focusing on the single-player titles it’s known for, and now it’s Microsoft’s turn. The Xbox Games Showcase airs on June 7th at … Read more
A look at how Jennifer’s yard gets a brightness boost thanks to Govee’s smart outdoor lamp post. | Photo: Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge If you have an outdoor space that needs some extra lighting, either for fun or security reasons (or a mix of the two), the Govee outdoor lamp post light is … Read more
I’ll give the usual caveat: The horror novel Japanese Gothic is best experienced going in with as little information as possible. Content warnings for graphic gore, scenes of domestic violence, self-harm, and mental illness. If you’re okay with that, then consider pausing here. While I will try to keep this relatively spoiler-free, there will be … Read more
Coherent and Flex OS, to Lisa and Mac OS. | Image: Virtual OS Museum The Virtual OS Museum isn’t a physical place, it’s a collection of over 1,700 distinct installations of over 600 operating systems for over 250 platforms that you can download and run via emulation right on your computer. It’s largely the work … Read more
Back from the dead. | Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge The 2026 XPS 14 is the best premium laptop we’ve seen from Dell in a while, with incredible build quality in a thin machine and good performance thanks to Intel’s Core Ultra Series 3 “Panther Lake” chips. A bonus: Dell killed its … Read more
Constantly being plugged into the news grind is mentally exhausting. Sometimes we just need to take a break, unwind, and do something fun. That’s why we’ve built up a collection of distracting time-wasters for when we need a break from being obsessively online. We figured you might enjoy these harmless rabbit holes, mildly addictive browser … Read more
Aitana Lopez, AI avatar by creative agency The Clueless. | Image: The Clueless This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on AI confusion, follow Robert Hart. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it … Read more
The N3 Ultimate doesn’t mind being off center. | Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge Sorry Anker: JMGO now makes my favorite flagship portable projector. The N3 Ultimate is an excellent portable 4K projector that defeats moderate ambient light at severe placement angles and can rival more expensive home theater installations at night. After … Read more
Fellow Traveller, the publisher behind games like Titanium Court and 1000xResist, just wrapped up its Story-Rich Showcase, which featured a bunch of narrative-driven indie games. With more than 20 games on display, there was a lot to follow, but we’ve pulled together some of the most notable announcements below. You can also catch the full … Read more
Good ol’ games? | Image: GOG GOG sent a newsletter about the game The End of the Sun on June 5th that included symbols associated with the Nazi SS. The Steam competitor issued a statement attributing the inclusion to a “series of mistakes,” including miscommunication with the German QA team, inconsistent font rendering, and being … Read more
Every year at Summer Game Fest, nestled in between the splashy blockbuster showcases, the Wholesome Direct provides a nice change of pace. It’s similarly packed with games – this year’s edition had more than 50 – but the vibe is more chill and, well, wholesome. As in years past, I’ve pulled out some of the … Read more
Director Damien Chazelle went from La La Land directly into First Man, the latter of which is included in this sale. | Photo by Daniel McFadden / Universal Studios If you know a dad with a predilection for physical media, he might really dig what you buy for him with this deal at Gruv. Ahead … Read more
A proposed $2 billion data center has become a political flashpoint in the small city of Shelbyville, Indiana. And the controversy has only grown more intense after the mayor, Scott Furgeson, was caught on camera saying of the “No Data Center” signs going up that, “I’ve seen a lot of these all over town, but … Read more
Benn refuses to be pigeon holed. | Image: Benn Jordan Benn Jordan may have initially gained notoriety for his music as Flashbulb and later, reviewing synths and effects pedals on YouTube under Benn and Gear. But about five years ago, Benn decided to take his YouTube channel in a different direction. He didn’t stop covering … Read more
Can you go undefeated? | Screenshot: The Verge 82-0 marries the stat nerd fun of fantasy basketball with instant gratification and a bit of dumb luck. The goal is to draft a team of players that could (theoretically) have a perfect 82-0 season. Obviously, if you just had free rein to pick whoever you wanted … Read more
An AI-generated image of the royal family featuring two Queen Elizabeth IIs. | Image: Meta AI Facebook has long been filled with feeds of clickbait articles. Now, Meta is making its own clickbait articles with AI. The standalone Meta AI app now has a “For You” section that populates a list of clickbait-style stories for … Read more
There are a lot of games that remind me of summer – hot days in the backseat with a copy of Dragon Warrior III, cooling off in the basement while grinding Gran Turismo races – but there aren’t a lot of games that are actually about summer. That’s part of what makes Kabuto Park so … Read more
Our first glimpse of the new AI Siri came all the way back at WWDC 2024. Apple has been on its back foot, AI-wise, for the past few years. But in a strange way, playing from behind might not be such a bad move. At WWDC on Monday, Apple appears to be getting ready to … Read more
Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 131, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, happy last week of productivity before the World Cup starts, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been reading about the World Cup … Read more
Back in 2015, the two-person studio Metanet released N++, a brutally hard 2D platformer that was a decade in the making, building off of previous releases dating back to the freeware Flash title N. At the time, cofounder Raigan Burns issued some famous last words: “We hope it’s not another 10 years before we come … Read more
Who’s afraid of the next GTA? Based on the last few days of Summer Game Fest, just about everyone. Grand Theft Auto VI hasn’t been present at any of the keynote events, but its presence was felt every time a release date was announced. The month of November, when GTA VI launches, is virtually empty. … Read more
Square Enix has officially announced the third and final game in its Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy: Final Fantasy VII Revelation. It will release on all platforms simultaneously. In footage shown onstage at Summer Game Fest Live 2026, there was a lot to take in: you’ll get to fly the Highwind airship (and jump off … Read more
Chronologically, Control Resonant is a sequel to 2019’s Control. But in most other ways, the games aren’t directly connected. To developer Remedy, they’re more like two sides of the same coin. When Resonant was first revealed last year, creative director Mikael Kasurinen said you can play the games in any order. The world of Control … Read more
The deadline to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is coming up a week from now on June 12th, and legislators seem no closer to reaching a deal. If this sounds like deja vu, it’s because we’ve been here before. Congress reauthorized Section 702 in late April – but only for 45 … Read more
Geoff Keighley’s annual June celebration of games is here. Summer Game Fest Live, the big live show that will feature a whole bunch of gaming news and announcements, begins at 5PM ET and is set to run for two hours. The event itself will take place in person at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, … Read more