Epomaker may be more known for its mechanical keyboards, like the Luma40, but the keyboard maker has recently delved into other gaming peripherals, starting with gaming mice and now launching its first wireless gaming headset in the GX1. The Epomaker GX1 is available from Epomaker's online store for an MSRP of $49.99.

At a basic level, the GX1 is an open-back over-ear gaming headset with 50 mm dynamic drivers that have a frequency response of 20-20,000 Hz. The GX1 has a detachable boom mic with environmental noise cancellation (ENC), but it also has a built-in mic for basic communication. The headband has seven levels of adjustment for maximum comfort, and Epomaker says that the ear cups promote airflow, although the brand doesn't specify a cup material. The backs of the cups feature customizable RGB lighting that can be controlled in Epomaker's custom Windows-only driver software.

Linux gaming is once again getting gaming performance improvements, this time thanks to scheduler changes scheduled to launch with Linux Kernel 7.3. The merge request noted in a kernel mailing list archive post note several changes to the scheduler that make it more efficient, improve latency, and add support for asymmetric CPU architectures, like Intel's modern mix of P-Cores and E-Cores.

The result of the changes is that low-power PC hardware should see notable improvements to average game FPS, 1% and 0.1% low FPS, and to frame time consistency, all of which should make gaming feel more fluid. In the Shadows Awakening benchmark running via GOG and GE-Proton 10-34 on an Intel Core i7-2600K and AMD Radeon RX 580, average frame rates were improved by 25%, while average frame times were 50% better than before, and minimum FPS jumped from 4.0 to 29.0—a 7.25× boost.

Welcome to another week of new games releases and we start off the week with a sequel to a fairly popular ARPG game from 2020 that is currently in open beta for those that want to give it whirl before it's released. This week's general releases starts off with an ARPG set on a remote island, followed by a survival horror game set in the roaring 20's and this is followed by a medieval city builder. Up next, we have a WW1 FPS and we end the week with a melancholic first-person parkour adventure. We have a few other games that might be of interest as well.

Mortal Shell II / This week's major release / Thursday 20 August
Mortal Shell II is a standalone sequel to Mortal Shell that significantly expands on the original with unrestricted, adrenaline-charged combat, deeper weapon design with extensive upgrade options, and an emphasis on free exploration. This action-RPG offers an immersive, interconnected open world, expansive yet deliberately compact, designed to unfold its twisted landscapes and hidden structures while respecting the player's time. Steam link

It turns out the Injustice game series is a lesson in how concurrent player counts don't necessarily predict a game's commercial success. Despite only drawing a peak concurrent Steam player count of 2,131 players, the 2017 superhero game has sold 9 million units since launch. This was confirmed by the game's co-creator, Ed Boon in a post on Bluesky, where he was responding to a fan trying to settle an argument about whether the Injustice series has been a "flop."

This is significantly higher than the current ~1.1-2 million unit sales estimates for Injustice: Gods Among Us, which topped US sales charts for several months in a row following its launch. Injustice 3 was also leaked to be in active development by a leak in early 2026, indicating that the series has been a financial success. For what it's worth, game sales targets have changed drastically since Gods Among Us launched, with AAA launches now expected to see millions of sales within the first few months of launch in order to be considered a success, and even then, that's not necessarily enough to avoid developer layoffs following high-profile launches.

Payday 2 launch in 2013, but the co-op shooter still regularly brings in over 30,000 concurrent daily players, despite its age. Now, 13 years on, the developer, Overkill, has announced the official launch of the V3 game engine for main Payday 2 branch.

The new Diesel Engine V3 improves the game in a number of ways, but the highlights include moving to a 64-bit architecture, adopting DirectX 11, improving CPU utilization for modern multithreaded CPUs, improving load times and the installed game size, and adding native VR support. Of course, this hasn't come without some trade-offs, one of the most impactful of which is the loss of the native Linux build of the game.

Duskfade, a new 3D action platformer from indie studio, Weird Beluga, has officially launched on Steam. The developer describes Duskfade as "a love letter to classic 3D action platformers." It follows the main character, Zirian, and his mechanical Cuckoo companion, as they embark on a journey to save his sister after the world was plunged into darkness by a mysterious clock tower.

Duskfade has simple, stylized visuals, and the game previews show off fluid, skills-based hack-and-slash combat. Much of the gameplay pays homage to classic PlayStation 2-era platformers, like Jak and Daxter, Croc, Spyro, and even Crash Bandicoot. Aside from the usual hopping from platform to platform, the game appears to provide a decent amount of verticality in its traversal, with wall climbs, double-jumps, gliding, rail grinding, and a grappling hook adding to the fun.

Subnautica 2 launched to massive success in mid-May, quickly racking up hundreds of thousands of concurrent players on Steam. Now, three months after launch, Unknown Worlds has announced a new experimental build for the Early Access game, much like it had with the original Subnautica and Below Zero later. The studio says that the experimental branch is part of its dedication to a transparent development process for Subnautica 2.

The experimental build is optionally available on both Steam and Xbox and will allow players to try out upcoming in-game content before it lands in the mainline build of the game. The goal of the experimental build is to crowdsource issues and bugs before new features, changes, and mechanics hit the mainline version of the game, and players will be able to freely switch between builds without affecting their main savegame. At the time of writing, the main focus is on major updates, meaning experimental build players will receive major updates "shortly before" the main branch, but the game studio may also test smaller patches in the experimental branch.

Following a round of layoffs and the apparent cancellation of an in-progress Lord of the Rings MMO, Amazon has officially cancelled active development of both Throne of Liberty and Lost Ark, announcing that it would hand off server management to each game's respective dev team. This is only Amazon's latest move in what was previously revealed to be a shift in strategy away from game development.

This means that Throne of Liberty will be fully in the hands of NCSoft's Western division, FirstSpark Games, and Lost Ark will be handed over to Smilegate. Lost Ark is expected to transition to its new management in early 2027, while Throne of Liberty will move over in Q4 2026, although no specific dates have been set. From a player perspective, there will be changes, but both studios have promised to minimize interruptions.

When Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls launched towards the end of July 2026, online spaces were littered with complaints about everything from PlayStation's online services crashing to PC performance issues that seemingly affected gamers on both brand-new high-end PCs and aging hardware.

Following those complaints, PlayStation and Arc System Works have issued an update to Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls that they claim has corrected those issues. The update notes on Steam say that the August 10 update reduced CPU usage with multiple fixes, corrected an issue whereby continuous audio device scanning resulted in random frame rate drops, and fixed a bug that resulted in low frame rates at certain resolutions.

It seems as though the tide is turning on Souls-like game developers eschewing difficulty and accessibility settings, with Capcom recently confirming granular difficulty settings in Onimusha: Way of the Sword. Following that revelation, Cold Symmetry recently revealed that Mortal Shell 2 would also feature a unique twist on difficulty settings.

Instead of difficulty sliders, Mortal Shell II will effectively allow players to add or remove buffs with in-game special items. A recent Bluesky post from the developer's official account shows off the Slayer Seal, which helps players regain health to make encounters easier, and the Gloombound Flame, which amps up the game's combat difficulty.

In the last year or so, we have covered at least two game industry worker surveys—one from the GDC and the other from Skillsearch—that found that generative AI remains a divisive topic within the industry. A more recent Gamescom Dev Speaker Survey has echoed previous findings, although there is a lot of agreement that AI is changing the game development landscape at some level, regardless of how popular or unpopular it has become.

The survey contained a number of questions about AI usage in games. When asked about which industry development would have the biggest impact in the following three years, AI-assisted development came back as the top response, with 47% of developers voting for that option. The current RAM crisis was a distant second, with only 28% of the votes. "Code and Production" came up as the area where developers saw the most value in generative AI, but 30% stated that they "would like to see as little AI involvement in game development as possible."

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced the Razer Naga V3 Pro, the latest evolution of its iconic MMO gaming mouse. Built to adapt across game genres and playstyles, it features three swappable magnetic side plates, more ways to customize controls, upgraded performance, and the classic ergonomic Naga shape players know and trust.

A Legend, Evolved
Since 2009, the Razer Naga has helped define what an MMO mouse can do. Its 12-button thumb grid has become a signature feature for players who need instant access to abilities, commands, and macros across popular MMO game titles.

Keychron previously announced its MagOpt switches alongside a new G6 HE, a lightweight gaming mouse that features a flagship PAW 3955 sensor and seven retro color options. Now, the peripheral maker has revealed that it is refreshing its unorthodox M4 gaming mouse with that same MagOpt tech and a handful of similar retro colors to match.

The Keychron M4 is a compact gaming mouse aimed primarily at fingertip grip users, and the most recent version of the M4 has a PixArt PAW 3950 sensor and regular Huano mechanical switches. Keychron hasn't yet announced pricing on the M4 MagOpt version or confirmed whether it will have the new open-source firmware or the updated PAW 3955 sensor, but it has confirmed that the mouse will be available in Frosted Lavender, Frosted Ice, Frosted Smoke, and Frosted Mint colorways.

Xbox recently announced a number of changes to its Game Pass offering, lowering the price, for one, and it seems as though some open-source developers have grown tired of PC Game Pass being exclusive to Windows PCs and handhelds.

Some of the developers behind Heroic Games Launcher have started development on Xodus, a new open-source project designed to bring support for PC Game Pass games to Linux and macOS. At the time of writing, the project is still in its infancy, but it aims to use Valve's Proton and custom, reverse-engineered runtimes to get Game Pass and potentially Xbox PC Games running on the alternative operating systems.

Welcome to week two of August and this week kicks off with an online PvP war game featuring the conflict between the United States and Vietnam. If that's not your kind of game, then how about being the leader of a totalitarian colony or maybe a secret agent? You can even get to relive your high school days—assuming you went to high school—or do your own DIY repairs, alternatively you could loot a dungeon. We've got a few other games launching this week too, if none of the above is for you.

Hell Let Loose: Vietnam / This week's major release / Thursday 13 August
Enter the explosive conflict of the Vietnam War and fight your way through some of the fiercest clashes in modern history. Join the battle raging across an extreme landscape of vast mountain gorges and thick jungle, where the North Vietnamese Armies clash with the military strength of the US Armed Forces. Build tunnels, fly helicopters, drive patrol boats, use historically accurate weapons and work with your team to achieve victory. Steam link

Gaming peripheral brand Attack Shark has announced the upcoming launch of the F1 AIR, a new flagship ultra-lightweight gaming mouse designed for competitive esports players seeking top-tier performance, responsiveness, and precision. Weighing just 39 g (±3 g), the F1 AIR is engineered to minimize hand and wrist fatigue during extended gaming sessions while maximizing agility and control. Its ultra-lightweight design enables faster flick shots, quicker stop-and-shoot adjustments, and more responsive aiming, giving FPS players the speed and precision needed to react instantly in high-pressure competitive scenarios. The F1 AIR will be available for order on attackshark.com starting from August 17, 2026.

Equipped with the latest PixArt PAW3955MAX sensor, the F1 AIR combines cutting-edge tracking technology with ultra-responsive wireless performance. The sensor features native support for HP 1K, 2K, and 4K polling rate modes, enabling more efficient integration with modern high-polling-rate wireless transmission systems. Supporting polling rates of up to 8K, it delivers rapid data communication and highly responsive tracking, while fine-grained 1-DPI adjustment allows players to tailor sensitivity with exceptional precision. The result is smooth, accurate control designed to keep pace with the speed and demands of modern competitive gaming.

ASUS today announced a major update to the ASUS DisplayWidget Center monitor management software, providing users with a more intuitive way to control compatible ASUS and ROG displays. This latest release adds AI-based automation, deeper personalization with App Tweaker and OLED Care, and broader device integration—all while keeping monitor management simple with a mouse or keyboard instead of physical monitor buttons. Available as a free download from the ASUS website, DisplayWidget Center supports Windows 11 or later and macOS on compatible devices. Additional improvements include a firmware update notification feature and one-key product registration that automatically fills in the device serial number.

AI agent-ready display control
This latest update to DisplayWidget Center moves it into the AI agent era. With ASUS Display Control Command Line Interface (CLI) and Agent Skill installed, compatible AI agents can adjust monitor settings through natural-language requests. Users can manage brightness, color mode, color temperature, and OLED Anti-Flicker without having to manually navigate through menus.

JSAUX GAMING today announced Voidjoy, a new JSAUX sub-brand focused on gaming controllers and controller accessories. The announcement marks JSAUX GAMING's move into a dedicated controller category in its tenth year.

Voidjoy will be showcased at IFA 2026 in Berlin from September 4 to 8, where JSAUX will preview three Voidjoy product areas: portable controllers, pc controllers, and controller accessories.

Following months of anticipation, Pwnage has finally unveiled Vanta, a lightweight wireless gaming mouse that introduces what the company describes as the world's first mechanically adjustable click geometry. In a detailed video, Pwnage explained that unlike conventional gaming mice, where the click feel is fixed during manufacturing, their Vanta mouse allows users to physically adjust how the buttons engage the microswitches. By changing the button geometry, users can modify the force curve and choose between lighter or firmer click responses to better suit different games and personal preferences. In simpler terms, with a tiny screwdriver (included in the package), it allows users to change the click force, initial resistance, force curve, actuation feel, break point and return feel. Besides this, the mouse adopts a symmetrical design, measures 120 x 60 x 39 mm and the shell is made from a magnesium alloy, keeping the mouse weight at just 49 g. Internally, it combines a Nordic nRF54L15 wireless controller with the Pwnage custom XERO sensor that is based on the well-known PixArt PAW3950.

The Vanta also features an adjustable sensor position, enabling users to actually move and reposition the sensor to match their grip style and aiming preferences rather than relying on a fixed position. The Pwnage Vanta is available for preorder starting at $159 with PTFE skates, while the version equipped with glass skates is priced at $179. Four limited-edition color options are also available: Black, Platinum, Nacho, and White.

Welcome to the month of August and it brings with it a somewhat more regular scheduling of new game releases. This week's major release is an ARPG set in a Sci-Fi/fantasy universe that blends martial arts, dogs and robots. The regular releases this week kicks off with a presidential rogue-like action game, followed by a game that sounds like an office team work exercise, an Asian-inspired metroidvania, a 4v4 Marvel fighting game and we round things off with a world where anything can catch on fire and kill you. We also have a few additional games that might pique your interest as well.

Beast of Reincarnation / This week's major release / Monday 3 August
Set in a post-apocalyptic Japan, humanity's only hope lies with Emma, an outcast shunned from society for her affliction, and Koo, the blighted dog. Together, they embark on this expansive adventure in this one-person, one-dog action RPG. Experience a journey where you feel moments of loneliness, and also the reliability and comfort of your companion. Savor a world of impermanence, where forests suddenly burst forth amidst the wasteland. As Emma and Koo travel through this beautiful yet harsh world, their bond and abilities blossom. Steam link

It was recently revealed that Xbox would be leaning into inter-studio collaborations to increase output and efficiency at its in-house game studios, and this seems to be the case now. In a recent podcast, Windows Central journalist and notable industry insider, Jez Corden, commented that he had heard rumors that inXile Entertainment, the studio behind Clockwork Revolution, was already working on its next game after Clockwork, and that the next game would be "Fallout-adjacent."

"We know inXile's working on Clockwork Revolution, but they're already incubating the next project...and I've heard some interesting rumors that that could potentially be Fallout-adjacent as well." He goes on to explain that the project is still in the very early stages of development and could still be abandoned or change in the not too distant future. This would also make it the fifth Fallout game on the cards, with Bethesda announcing four other Fallout games currently in the works. The full interview is available below.

We previously reported that iFixit may have been discontinuing Steam Deck LCD battery replacement parts, after which iFixit CEO, Kyle Wiens, issued a formal response indicating that the replacement batteries would be back in stock soon. This has since come to pass, and the Steam Deck LCD batteries are once again available at iFixit, however, the spare parts have received a significant price increase.

Before the restock, the original OEM Steam Deck LCD battery kit cost $84.99, while the battery alone cost $79.99. After the restock, the OEM battery kit with iFixit's tools included costs $134.99, and the battery alone costs $129.99. That's a $50 price increase across the board on a part for a four-year-old device. What's more, the OEM battery for the Steam Deck OLED still carries the same $79.99/$84.99 pricing as the original, Steam Deck LCD battery. It's currently unclear if the OLED model's battery will also see a price increase.

Keychron has been on a roll expanding its gaming mouse and peripheral line-up, recently announcing both the pre-sale of the Nape Pro trackball and the imminent launch of the G6 HE gaming mouse with magnetic switch tech and swappable batteries. Now, the company has teased a fingertip variant of the G6 HE that has the back of the mouse chopped off to reduce weight and make it more compact.

The fingertip concept of the G6 HE still includes the removable battery, HE switches, and programmable side buttons of the regular G6 HE, but, aside from the removed back, the design appears to have been adjusted to further reduce weight, and the battery has been moved forward in the shell compared to the regular G6 in order to balance the weight better. Keychron mentioned that the fingertip G6 HE would weigh in at around 30 g. Theoretically, it could also be run in wired mode without the battery to reduce the weight to 23 g. Keychron is seeking feedback on the design before it goes to tooling, so it doesn't seem like the design is fully finalized yet, but Keychron appears to be fairly committed to making it a reality.

In Microsoft's latest financial results from Q4 2026, the tech giant reported that Xbox content and services saw a 10% decline in revenue compared to the previous year, while Xbox hardware revenue declined by 13% YoY. This is no surprise, as Xbox CEO, Asha Sharma previously shared that Xbox revenue was plummeting, which was part of the reason the gaming division resorted to such intense layoffs in early July. Following the financial report, Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella commented that Microsoft has adjusted its strategy so that Xbox's publishing and hardware business so that the gaming division can see growth in 2027.

Satya Nadella, CEO of MicrosoftWhen it comes to Xbox, we are making the necessary decisions required across our content portfolio platform and operations to reset the business for long-term growth. We have the best IP in the industry and talented studios around the world and believe we can bring these strengths together and expect to return the business to growth in fiscal 2027.

DrunkDeer, a peripherals brand known for affordable Hall effect gaming keyboards that are often recommended as alternatives to premium brands like Wooting, revealed in late June that it is working on its first gaming mouse. After drip-feeding gamers specs and information about the upcoming mouse, Drunkdeer has finally revealed the shape, rounding out just about all we need to know about the new mouse except for its price.

The DrunkDeer Glacier X—not to be confused with the Chilkey Glacier LW—looks to be playing it safe when it comes to shape, opting for the familiar potato shape of the Logitech G Pro. It's unclear what the exact size of the Glacier X will be, but the mouse appears to have similar proportions to the Logitech G Pro family, even if it does look a little taller than something like the G Pro X Superlight 2.