I went 1-for-2 again at Magic today, winning the first game with my (mostly standard) Fallout “Hail, Caesar” deck by creating a swarm of soldiers and slapping people across the face with them (LOL!), before quitting the 2nd game for lack of time after my board got wiped (I mean, I might have lucked into something eventually, but it was getting late, so I dropped out).

I hope to play more regularly going into the summer, but who knows.

More Videogames Developers Consider Unionization - Some Spurred By Changes to Remote Work Policies
Developers for several top videogames have joined unions under the Communication Workers of America — including Call of Duty, Fallout, Overwatch, Diablo and World of Warcraft. Last month workers on the online game Magic: The Gathering Arena team announced their own CWA union.

T … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Flight Simulator’s new collaboration with NSW Rural Fire Service
The NSW Rural Fire Service has teamed up with Microsoft for a new aerial firefighting mission in Flight Simulator. 9news.com.au spoke to the game’s director, Jörg Neumann, to learn all about it, and how they’ve used a million-dollar camera to capture real life locations for the game. ⌘ Read more

Dopingspektakel auf ideologischem Grund
In Las Vegas steigt am Sonntag ein gladiatorenhaftes Sportspektakel gemäß der derzeitigen Silicon-Valley-Ideologie: die „Enhanced Games“. Ziel sei es, das „menschliche Potenzial in Übermenschlichkeit zu verwandeln“, sportliche Leistungen sollen per Doping grenzenlos gesteigert werden. Investoren wie US-Präsidentensohn Donald Trump Jr. dürften sich vor allem über die Steigerung ihrer Vermögen freuen: Die „Enhanced Games“ sind durch den Verkauf von Medikamenten und Hormonen eine Geldmaschine. ⌘ Read more

Best Power Banks (2026): My Picks After Testing Over 100
Keep your phone, laptop, handheld gaming console, and other electronics running with these travel-friendly power banks. ⌘ Read more

Newegg Promo Code: 10% Off in May 2026
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Valve removes free game from Steam after players discover it contains malware
Article URL: https://www.pcguide.com/news/valve-removes-free-horror-game-from-steam-after-players-discover-it-contains-malware-that-steals-your-data/

Comments URL: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48235033](https … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Hires Analyst With Influential Video Game Blog To Fix Xbox
Microsoft has hired games analyst and investor Matthew Ball as Xbox’s new chief strategy officer. With a long track record of analyzing the video game market and industry’s biggest shifts, Ball’s background could help Xbox rethink its hardware and console strategy at a moment when competition is tougher than ever. Engadget reports: Ball i … ⌘ Read more

Election Officials Are Getting Ready for ICE to Show Up at the Polls
The Trump administration keeps threatening to send federal agents to oversee elections. State and local officials are preparing, and even gaming out what happens if they’re arrested. ⌘ Read more

OneXPlayer Configuration Driver Destined For Linux 7.2
The latest Linux gaming handheld driver work by Derek Clark of Valve’s Linux efforts is the OneXPlayer Configuration Driver that is now set to premiere in the upcoming Linux 7.2 kernel cycle… ⌘ Read more

PlayStation Exclusives Aren’t Coming To PC Anymore
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Sony reportedly won’t release its major single-player PlayStation games on PC anymore. According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, Hermen Hulst, who heads up PlayStation’s studios business, informed employees in a town hall on Monday about the change in strategy. Schreier had previously reported on the shift in March, saying … ⌘ Read more

索尼：PlayStation 独占游戏将不再登陆 PC
来自 theverge、ign 的报道：索尼的 PlayStation 独占游戏（单人叙事类游戏），未来不会再推出 PC 版本了。 感谢 @窝法乙烷、@窝法乙烷、 的提醒。 彭博社记者 Jason Schreier 称，PlayStation Studios 负责人 Hermen Hulst ⌘ Read more

Nintendo Tries To Obtain Touchscreen-Specific Patent On Monster Capturing
Nintendo is trying to secure a touchscreen-specific monster-catching patent that could be relevant to Palworld Mobile. Japan’s patent office has initially rejected the application for lacking an inventive step over prior art, but the company could appeal or amend the claims. Games Fray reports: The Japan Patent Office (JPO) has no … ⌘ Read more

America’s Library of Congress Officially Inducts… the Soundtrack for the Videogame ‘Doom’
America’s Library of Congress “is preserving a little piece of Hell,” jokes Engadget, “by inducting the soundtrack to the original Doom into the National Recording Registry.”

The album of demon-slaying tracks is joined by several other notable 2026 additions to the registry, like Weezer’s self-ti … ⌘ Read more

Drained – a toolkit for the mental load
Drained, a self-help book aimed at helping women reduce their mental load, claims it will change women’s lives.

It didn’t find it so much of a game-changer, but it is useful on many fronts. ⌘ Read more

Longtime Leading AMD Linux GPU Driver Developer Now Working For Valve
It seems that Valve isn’t done expanding their open-source Linux graphics driver team and securing top talent for enhancing the Linux GPU drivers for a better gaming experience. One of the foremost leading Mesa developers has left AMD to join Valve… ⌘ Read more

Steam Controller Mapping Merged To SDL Library
A few days ago the widely-used SDL library added support for the new Steam Controller without depending upon the Steam client. Now another improvement for the new Steam Controller has been merged to this widely-used library for cross-platform games/apps with software/hardware abstractions… ⌘ Read more

Bill To Block Publishers From Killing Online Games Advances In California
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A bill focused on maintaining long-term playable access to online games has passed out of the California Assembly’s appropriations committee, setting up a floor vote by the full legislative body. The advancement is a major win for Stop Killing Games’ grassroots game preserv … ⌘ Read more

SDL Library Adds Support For The New Steam Controller Without Depending On Steam
Valve’s new Steam Controller, which began shipping earlier this month for $99 USD, is a great piece of hardware. This high-end gaming controller is great hardware wise but what some may not enjoy about it currently is the tight integration with the Steam controller and no native OS drivers currently for use outside of Steam. As a big win today, the widely-used SDL3 gaming software/hardware abstraction library has added support for t … ⌘ Read more

SDL Library Adds Support For The New Steam Controller Without Depending On Steam
Valve’s new Steam Controller, which began shipping earlier this month for $99 USD, is a great piece of hardware. This high-end gaming controller is great hardware wise but what some may not enjoy about it currently is the tight integration with the Steam controller and no native OS drivers currently for use outside of Steam. As a big win today, the widely-used SDL3 gaming software/hardware abstraction library has added support for t … ⌘ Read more

MSI Claw Configuration Driver For Linux Coming Together With The Help Of AI
One of the latest Linux gaming handheld drivers being worked on is the MSI Claw Configuration Driver for controller configuration… ⌘ Read more

eBay Coupons: 20% Off in May 2026
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Newegg Promo Code: 10% Off in May 2026
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@bender@twtxt.net I sound like I’m dumping on the game, but it really is alot of fun, especially with the right people. It’s just a whole different beast from D&D.

@bender@twtxt.net Apologies, I’m still working through some layout issues with TwtStrm and frequently miss mentions…

Magic: the Gathering does not use a Game Master (although professional referees are often used in sanctioned events). While the game has alot of thematic crossover with with D&D (or fantasy games in general), the system is much more of an abstract, card-dueling system involving things like “the stack” and insanely specific rules on card timing and interactions.

Like, we joke about “I’m sending my army of (goblins / elves / angels / whatever) at you,” but that’s about as far into the “role-playing” element most magic games get in my experience (and most of the “official” competitive games I’ve played at my FLGS were even more abstract and less thematic, although it’s been years since I played in one of those).

Corsair Discount Code: 50% Off on Gaming Gear in May 2026
Upgrade your gaming setup or PC build for less with these verified Corsair coupon codes, student discounts, and refurbished deals. ⌘ Read more

DXVK-NVAPI 0.9.2 Further Improves NVIDIA Integration For Steam Play Linux Gaming
DXVK-NVAPI 0.9.2 is now available for this implementation of NVIDIA’s NVAPI/NVOFAPI interfaces atop DXVK and VKD3D-Proton that is used in turn by Valve’s Steam Play (Proton) for enhanced NVIDIA Linux gaming support… ⌘ Read more

Linux Scheduler Work Helping Boost Gaming Performance On Old “Potato” Hardware
Prominent Linux kernel engineer Peter Zijlstra of Intel has been working on a set of scheduler patches to help with enhancing the behavior and delivering better results, especially for aging hardware he described as a “potato” – an Intel Sandy Bridge desktop CPU with AMD Radeon RX 580 Polaris graphics. Benchmark results are promising from this work for gaming on old hardware while other workloads may ultimately stand to benefit too… ⌘ Read more

Epson Lifestudio Grand Plus Review: Rich Colors, Gemini Support
The Lifestudio Grand Plus isn’t without quirks, but the ultrashort-throw home cinema projector delivers a rich picture quality in movies and games, up to a 150-inch screen size. ⌘ Read more

There’s an Unhinged New Video Game About Trump and the Iran War
The game, developed by the group of anonymous artists known as Secret Handshake, is available online and in person in Washington, DC. ⌘ Read more

PlayStation3 Emulator Devs Politely Ask Contributors to Stop Submitting ‘AI Slop’ Pull Requests
Open-source PS3 emulator RPCS3 “has been around since 2011,” Kotaku notes, and has made 70% of the PlayStation 3’s library fully playable, “bolstered in part by the many users who contribute to its GitHub page.” But their dev team “took to X today to very kindly and civilly request that … ⌘ Read more

FEX 2605 Brings Performance Improvements, Initial Snapdragon X2 Elite Fixes
FEX 2605 is out this weekend as the newest monthly feature release to this emulator for running Linux x86_64 binaries on ARM64 (AArch64) devices. This is the open-source project sponsored by Valve and planned for use with the upcoming Steam Frame as well as being relevant to Linux gaming on other 64-bit ARM laptops and other devices… ⌘ Read more

The Best Mobile Gaming Controllers for iPhone and Android (2026)
Your iPhone or Android phone can work overtime as a full-on gaming console with the help of these mobile controllers. Backbone makes my favorite. ⌘ Read more

D7VK 1.9 Brings Some Hefty Performance Improvements
D7VK continues advancing for this Vulkan-based implementation of Direct3D 7 that also supports D3D 6 / 5 / 3 APIs too for vintage games ultimately rendered using the modern Vulkan API… ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Gives Up On Xbox Copilot AI
Microsoft is winding down Xbox Copilot on mobile and ending development of Copilot on console, reversing plans to bring the gaming-focused AI assistant to current-generation Xbox consoles this year. “The move follows [new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s] reorganization of the Xbox platform team earlier on Tuesday, which added executives from Microsoft’s CoreAI team – where Sharma worked before taking ove … ⌘ Read more

Vivid Seats Promo Codes and Deals: Get 10% Off
Whether you are heading to a sold-out concert or a championship game, use a Vivid Seats discount code to secure your seats for less this May. ⌘ Read more

Kids Bypass Age Verification With Fake Moustaches
A new Internet Matters survey suggests the UK’s Online Safety Act age checks are easy for many children to bypass. Reported workarounds include fake birthdays, borrowed IDs, video game characters, and even drawing on a fake mustache. The Register reports: The group surveyed over 1,000 UK children and their parents, and while it did report some positive effects from changes ma … ⌘ Read more

@itsericwoodward@itsericwoodward.com is there a Gamer Master, or Dungeon Master in Magic? My kid plays DnD, and such person is decisive for many outcomes, and for the quality of the game in general.

Congratulations! :-)

What soccer dads see after a game ⌘ Read more

Meta Quest Promo Codes: $50 Off | May 2026
Experience cutting-edge VR and save up to 20% with coupons for the latest games, Meta Quest 3, Ray-Ban AI glasses, and more deals. ⌘ Read more

My first game of Magic ended with a truly EPIC TURN yesterday…

It was a 5-player game, and I was running my (unpublished) Superfriends deck (mostly Planeswalkers and counter manipulators). After some ups and downs, I was able to pop the ultimate abilities on a handful of PWs all on a single turn, pumping my Bioessence Hydra to 110/110 (!) before tapping it twice to kill 2 opponents, and then following that by destroying all of the lands of a 3rd opponent and stealing all of the creatures from the 4th, at which point the survivors decided to quit. As I said, EPIC TURN!

Game 2 ran long, so I dropped out. But that first game…

Valve’s Steam Controller Now Shipping
For those eager to get their hands on Valve’s new Steam Controller, the gaming controller is now shipping… ⌘ Read more

NetHack 5.0.0 released
Version 5.0.0
of the NetHack
dungeon-exploration game, a distant relative of Rogue and
Hack, has been released. NetHack’s code is now compliant with the
C99 standard, and the release includes more than 3,100
bug fixes and changes, detailed in doc/fixes5-0-0.txt
… ⌘ Read more

Omarchy 3.7 Linux Distribution Overhauls Gaming Support, Adds Unified CLI
Omarchy as the Arch Linux based desktop distribution using the Hyprland compositor and led by David Heinemeier Hansson “DHH” is out with a big OS update… ⌘ Read more

Dating Is a Rich Person’s Game Now
The problem isn’t just the apps. People actually can’t afford to date anymore. ⌘ Read more

NetHack 5.0 Released
“So yesterday the Devteam (it is always the Devteam) released version 5.0 of legendary and venerable rogueike compuer game NetHack,” writes the Rogue-like games column @Play. “It is 39 years old…”

MilenCent (Slashdot reader #219,397) writes: In addition to play changes it’s left for players to discover, this version updates the code to compile with C99, makes it much easier to cross compile the code for other systems than the one … ⌘ Read more

Former Nintendo Executive Says Amazon Once Requested ‘Illegal’ Price Discounts
Amazon once tried to pressure Nintendo to break the law, says former Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé. At a recent NYU lecture, he describes a conversation with an Amazon executive, Kotaku reports:

“Amazon was looking to get bigger into the video game space,” said Fils-Aimé. “Amazon’s mentality back then … ⌘ Read more

Many people started to become distrustful of big tech in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. I began feeling pessimistic back in 2016, when AlphaGo beat master Go player Lee Sedol four games to one. Something about that event has soured me on the future of technology ever since.

Linux 7.1 Fixes Audio For The Steam Deck OLED After Being Broken 2 Years On The Upstream Kernel
It turns out the Steam Deck OLED gaming handheld has not had working audio support with the mainline (upstream) Linux kernel since a change in late 2023 that was merged for Linux 6.8. There was an AMD ASoC audio change that inadvertently broke audio support for the Steam Deck OLED handheld but not affecting the original LCD model. Valve’s downstream Steam OS kernel has compensated for this known breakage and other dis … ⌘ Read more

Marvel, DC, Game Publishers Launch Rival Events Saturday for Free Giveaways
The once-a-year free comic book giveaway “is splitting in two,” according to a local news report.

Launched in 2002 by Diamond Comic Distributor, comic book giants like Marvel and DC have historically participated together. But things changed after Diamond Comic Distributors went bankrupt in 2025, “leaving other companies to s … ⌘ Read more