In 2005 I received a copy of World of Warcraft for my birthday. The game clocked in at 3 gigabytes--a behemoth by the standards of the early 2000s, so big that it had to be distributed across four different CDs. I installed those discs onto our creaking, overworked family PC and, hours later, created my first avatar: a humble dwarf paladin named Pumaras, who set off to explore a realm he would soon call home. World of Warcraft was a singular experience, and completely unlike the lonesome corridors of Halo or Call of Duty. Millions of living, breathing human beings logged on to the game at the same time.

Microsoft is doing more to tackle toxicity in multiplayer Xbox games. The company is introducing a feature that allows Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One players to capture a 60-second video clip of abusive or inappropriate voice chat and submit it for moderators to review. "This feature is purpose-built to support the broadest arena of in-game interactions between players and works across thousands of games that offer in-game multiplayer voice chat, including Xbox 360 backward-compatible titles," Xbox Player Services corporate vice-president Dave McCarthy wrote in a blog post. Microsoft designed the tool for both ease of use and to minimize the impact on gameplay. When you capture a clip for reporting, it will stay on your Xbox for "24 online hours."

Abusive Valorant players could soon have their verbal tirades come back to haunt them. In a blog post published on Friday, Riot Games outlined a plan to begin monitoring in-game voice chat as part of a broader effort to combat disruptive behavior within its games. On July 13th, the studio will begin collecting voice data from Valorant games played in North America. According to Riot, it will use the data to get its AI model "in a good enough place for a beta launch later this year." During this initial stage, Riot says it won't use voice evaluation for disruptive behavior reports.

Fred, a trans man, clicked his mouse, and his tenorful tones suddenly sank deeper. He'd switched on voice-changing algorithms that provided what sounded like an instant vocal cord transplant. "This one is'Seth,'" he said, of a persona he was testing on a Zoom call with a reporter. Then, he switched to speak as "Joe," whose voice was more nasal and upbeat. Fred's friend Jane, a trans woman also testing the prototype software, chuckled and showcased some artificial voices she liked for their feminine sound.

Quarantining during the coronavirus pandemic has helped us discover our inner video game fan. Sales of video games have surged this year, as both adults and kids stuck at home turn to gaming to stay entertained and connect with friends. During the second quarter, between April and June, total consumer spending on video games in the U.S. hit a record $11.6 billion, research firm NPD Group reports, up 30% from last year. "During the pandemic, many have turned to video games not only to keep them preoccupied, but also to stay in touch with family and friends," NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said. For many parents with tweens and older children, video games can serve as an outlet to maintain fledgling relationships with classmates unable to physically connect at school.

If you have kids who love video games, then you have likely heard of the name Fortnite. It's the cooperative mutliplayer game surging in popularity in recent months, right at the time publisher Epic Games launched a version called Fortnite Battle Royale. It's been available for owners of PCs, Macs, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles. Recently, Epic confirmed Fortnite is coming to mobile devices. Celebrities including Drake have jumped on the Fortnite bandwagon, helping Twitch set a record for most concurrent viewers on one stream with 628,000 after he teamed up online with Fortnite veteran player Ninja.

Being a Nintendo fan is often an exercise in managing expectations. For years, we've watched the company just miss the mark with online services, third-party game availability and outdated hardware specifications. The frustration of seeing a company you like make so many odd decisions can wear you down. Now, Nintendo is about to release a new game console, and as always, it's far from perfect. For the most loyal Nintendo fans, these imperfections can evoke one of two responses: anger that the company has failed to live up to their expectations, or denial that the company is doing anything wrong at all.