Author: News Room
Valve is pulling physical Steam gift cards from retail stores, bringing an end to a program that has been around since 2012. The company confirmed, as spotted via SteamDB, that it will no longer send new stock of Steam gift cards to retailers once current supplies run out. Digital Steam gift cards are not going away. Valve says users will still be able to buy them directly through Steam, and existing physical cards can still be redeemed whenever users choose. Retail stock, however, is expected to disappear by the end of 2026. Why Valve is cutting off retail gift cards…
The Xbox brand is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, a key theme of its summer showcase. However, the brand has not exactly had a ton to celebrate lately. Following a huge splash with the original Xbox, a dominant generation with the Xbox 360, and a strong turnaround during the Xbox One era, the Xbox Series X/S have struggled to find an audience. Despite a spending spree that saw the platform acquire major publishers like Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, it has not translated into console sales.While blame could be placed on any number of questionable initiatives and decisions, including but…
Instagram has been quietly shaping your feed for years without ever really asking what you wanted. That changes now. Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced that Your Algorithm, a feature that lets you see and edit the topics Instagram thinks you are into, will soon be available across your main feed. It was already live on Reels and the Explore section, and this week’s update brings it to the one place most people spend the most time. What is Your Algorithm and how does it work? Your Algorithm shows you the topics the system thinks you care about most and lets…
The Gears of War franchise was previously among the tentpole series for Xbox, but believe it or not, there hasn’t been a new mainline entry since before the pandemic. Gears 5 continued telling the story of a new generation of COGs in 2019, complete with wide-open exploration areas and an emphasis on Kate Diaz’s familial ties. While the next evolution of Gears brought some intriguing ideas, the story didn’t seem to resonate with the wider player base as widely as the original story focused on Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago. With Gears of War: E-Day, The Coalition is returning to…
Sixteen years ago, The Social Network turned the origin story of Facebook into one of the most acclaimed films of the century. Now, Aaron Sorkin is back, and this time he is writing and directing. Sony Pictures dropped the first full trailer for The Social Reckoning today, and it is exactly as intense as you would hope. This is technically not a direct sequel but a companion piece, and it is focused on what happened after Facebook grew from a dorm room idea into a platform that reshaped the world, and not always for the better. What is The Social…
The Fable franchise has always been about making choices and living with the consequences. These consequences ranged from reputational damage to actual physical changes. While the physical changes are a thing of the past with Playground Games’ 2027 interpretation of the long-dormant franchise, player choice and consequence seem just as integral with this new entry.In the behind-closed-doors demo, I don’t see anything about the story and very little regarding combat. Instead, I watch the developers toy around with the various systems at play in Fable. The hands-off demo I watch takes place entirely in Oakshire, one of the six regions…
McDonald’s is bringing AI back to the drive-thru with a new Google-backed system called ArchIQ, also known as Archy. It’s starting in five locations under the company’s broader “> NEXT” technology push, with a franchisee claiming the system has already handled more than 1 million orders. The bigger number is the one McDonald’s needs people to trust. About 90% of those orders reportedly needed no human intervention. That sounds promising, but this is not a clean reset. Its earlier IBM-backed AI drive-thru experiment ended after viral mistakes turned automated ordering into a public punchline. McDonald’s is also not testing this…
One of the most exciting announcements of Summer Game Fest’s 2026 live show arrived near the end of the stage presentation when Capcom announced its fourth year of downloadable fighters for Street Fighter 6. After showing off Yasmine, Arjun, and Bosch, we learned that the fourth character is Tifa, the extremely popular Final Fantasy VII party member. While Tifa isn’t the first crossover character to appear in the Street Fighter franchise, she could very well be the most popular.”Tifa is a character that is beloved by all sorts of different games like RPG fans and general gamers,” Street Fighter 6…
Most phones accessories are built to be useful, but some look pretty while doing it. And Nomad’s latest limited-edition drop is trying a little harder. The company has launched Stellar Orange collection, which includes new versions of two existing products, namely Tracking Card Pro and the Stand One charger. The best part? The color is matched to Apple’s latest Cosmic Orange iPhone. This already tells you exactly who this is for. People tend to color-match their gadgets to seem more coherent or seamless, and your wireless charging stand and wallet tracker want to join in as well. While it might…
This has been a big year for video game adaptations. With titles like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Mortal Kombat II, and Iron Lung already out, fans have been treating to a wide spectrum of game adaptations. However, it isn’t slowing down, as we still have Resident Evil, The Angry Birds Movie 3, and Street Fighter to look forward to before the year closes. That last film, Street Fighter, is of particular interest to many, thanks in large part to its zany cast, but also due to the pitch-perfect trailers that showcase a fun balance of zaniness and excitement.During my…