Two summers ago, the Santa Monica-based company behind the popular video game "Call of Duty" sent a letter to a 24-year-old man in Antioch, Tenn., who went by the online handle "Lerggy." Known in real life as Ryan Rothholz, court filings say, he is the creator of "Lergware," hacking software that enabled Call of Duty players to cheat by kicking opponents offline. A lawsuit filed in May against Rothholz and others allegedly involved in the hacking scheme is the latest salvo in years-long campaign by Activision-Blizzard and other companies to rid their games of cheating. The war is being waged in the Central District of California civil courts, but the defendants are scattered across the country and as far away as Australia. An immersive "first-person shooter" game, Call of Duty takes players into simulated, realistic military combat.

A Ukrainian video game is shattering records since its release on November 20, despite many delays and its being a target of a Russian disinformation operation. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is the latest edition of a game series that started in 2007 with S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chornobyl, developed by GSC Game World, a Ukrainian video games studio. The game surpassed one million downloads and 117,000 concurrent players within 48 hours of its release, making it the most successful Ukrainian-developed title to date. Yet, that landmark achievement in the country's gaming industry was bittersweet. Former GSC Game World developer Volodymyr Yezhov, who worked on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and was known by the nickname "Fresh", was killed in combat near Bakhmut in December 2022, while serving in the Ukrainian military.

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. The gaming mouse you choose can profoundly impact your gaming experience. A good gaming mouse has three core qualities: they're impeccably accurate, are responsive enough that your actions feel instantaneous, and feel good to use--from the comfort and ergonomics of their shape to the crisp click of their buttons. But, just like when shopping for any computer peripherals, the market for these mice is inundated with choices, some much better than others. Don't let marketing terms and misleading Amazon reviews steer you wrong. We've done the research to help you find the mouse for your favorite games--like our best overall, the Razer Viper V3 Pro Wireless--and have the go-to tips to help you focus on what matters most in a gaming mouse. TL;DR, these are the best wireless gaming mice (plus two wired ones). I've been writing online since 2008. Before I was a tech writer, my forte was video games. I covered the wide world of PC and console gaming for five years before incorporating tech coverage into the mix.

I was reminded of the understated farcical comedy masterwork that is Untitled Goose Game recently, after walking through Regent's Park and seeing Canada geese and their goslings honking at tourists. I was with a friend who had never heard of it, and so a couple of hours later we were playing it on the Switch in a pub, honking and flapping and making life difficult for any human unfortunate enough to cross our path. The sheer physical comedy of the game – the goose's waddling gait, the appalled reactions of the villagers, the mischievous glee of running away from a gardener with a trowel in my beak and throwing it into the pond – is delightful. If anything, it's even funnier now, because you can play with two geese (one of you can run interference while the other steals sandwiches). When people talk about funny video games, they often mention Monkey Island or Sam and Max – games with quippy writing and witty characters, wordplay, and self-referential puzzle design.

It looks like footage from a news report. A cop approaches a graffiti-covered, seemingly abandoned building, the sound of his own footsteps and his uniform brushing the mic and disturbing the silence. Only 30 seconds in does the trailer start to look more like a video game: the exaggerated gun reload, the way the cop effortlessly vaults a barrier. But at a passing glance – even at close examination, on a phone screen – it looks as if it could be real. Unrecord, a "bodycam first-person shooter" being created by French independent developer Drama, made an impact with its shockingly realistic trailer last week.

Two beloved games from the past have been rereleased in the last week: 2008's nauseating sci-fi horror Dead Space has been resurrected with modern technology, and 1997's first-person-shooter gamechanger GoldenEye 007 (pictured above) has arrived on Nintendo Switch and Xbox, looking somewhat less fresh. Dead Space (pictured below) was not my thing – I'm too sensitive for horror (I sometimes cry at adverts). But GoldenEye 007 brings back a host of great memories for me, as it does for anyone who was playing games during the Nintendo 64 era. Try to find a millennial who doesn't have fond recollections of gathering at that one friend's house after school for split-screen death matches, or a Gen Xer who didn't nearly miss a university essay deadline because of it. My first thought, whenever a game such as this arrives anew, is always: what if it's terrible now?

While 2022 may not have enjoyed as many AAA releases as in past years, the ones that weren't delayed into 2023 were stellar and the indie development scene more than made up for the lack of big-budget titles. Some of our favorite releases this year came from small, ambitious teams that delivered fresh ideas. As is tradition, the Engadget team came together to extol the virtues of our favorite releases from the past 12 months. Bayonetta 3 is a delicious amplification of the series' most ridiculous themes. It indulges in absurdity without disrupting the rapid-fire combat or Bayonetta's unrivaled sense of fashion and wit. Bayonetta 3 is joyful, mechanically rich and full of action, plus it allows players to transform into a literal hell train in order to take down massive beasts bent on destroying the multiverse. The Bayonetta series just keeps getting weirder, but that doesn't mean it's losing its sense of satisfying gameplay along the way. In the franchise's third installment, Bayonetta is powerful, confident and funny; she's a drag queen in a universe loosely held together by witchcraft, and the chaos of this combination is truly magical. Sure, you've played Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, Hades and The Binding of Isaac – but what if you could play all of them at once, in a single adorable demonic package? Cult of the Lamb is part social and farming simulator, part dungeon-crawling roguelike and all-around fantastic. After being sacrificed and resurrected, you're instructed by a grand, dark deity to start your own cult, managing worship services, agriculture, cooking, marriages, deaths and much more.

CD Projekt RED's open-world epic is probably not the genre-defining revolution rather a lot had hoped for, however the Stadia model performs nice. Whereas the PS4 and Xbox One editions presently undergo from horrible efficiency points and tons of bugs, the Stadia model is corresponding to enjoying on a gaming PC and is arguably one of the best ways to play the sport. I loved it rather a lot in my evaluation and am excited to see it get higher. Though it is nonetheless in Early Entry, Larian's Baldur's Gate 3 is already shaping as much as be one other RPG masterpiece from one of many style's greats. The builders behind the critically-acclaimed Divinity: Unique Sin sequence have taken the reins of the long-lasting Dungeons & Dragons universe on this wonderful feast of turn-based techniques and great storytelling.

Microsoft's Xbox video game console celebrates an important milestone this month. On Monday, the Xbox marks its 20th anniversary since launching in 2001. Fans of the console likely recall then Microsoft CEO Bill Gates appearing on stage at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with a rising star in the WWE, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (maybe you've heard of him). On Monday, Microsoft commemorated the anniversary with a special live stream. There are also several items available for purchase to honor the anniversary, including this special Gucci bundle for $10,000.

See if this premise sounds familiar: You're a soldier aboard a far-flung space installation, forced into combat against a confederation of aliens, all centered on the same goal of apparently killing every human they find. As you fight, collecting a variety of weapons, you enjoy the aid of an artificial intelligence who is much, much more talkative than you are. You learn more about the aliens, work to fight off the attackers, and ultimately concern yourself and your unrealistic military prowess with trying to protect the human race however you can. In the broadest strokes, this sounds like Halo, right? The Marathon trilogy of first-person shooters was developed by the company at the earliest stages of its existence, with the first game coming out in 1994, just a year after Doom codified what first-person shooters would be.