A shiny new set of Valorant patch notes have just dropped, and while there isn't much for PC players to write home about when it comes to balance changes, one of the tactical shooter’s casual modes is getting temporarily removed. Due to an unspecified bug, Escalation will be disabled until at least two patches time. Continue reading Valorant is disabling an entire game mode due to a mysterious bug MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Valorant Night Market dates, Valorant ranks, Valorant crosshair codes

Atrocious D (Bags): Jack Black and Kyle Gass Have One Wish ... 'Don't Miss Trump Next Time'

The second Card Evolution for this season of Clash Royale is already out and Supercell is letting everyone give it a whirl with the Drillin' Time event. It's Goblin Drill's turn to get its Evolution now, and everyone is trying to find the best deck to get the most out of it.

Elden Ring has many ways to unlock new weapons, incantations, spells, and more. You can purchase the like from merchants around the Lands Between, find them in caverns and dungeons, or even gifted from various NPCs. But one way that tends to fly under the radar is finding books you can give to your mentors.

Know Your Enemy's Tech: NGP VAN

Image: Porsche Porsche announced two new rear-wheel drive versions of the forthcoming Macan electric SUV, including a higher-powered, lighter-weight 4S model. Porsche said deliveries are expected to begin later this year. When it was announced earlier this year, Porsche said the Macan EV would come in two trims: the Macan 4 and the Macan Turbo, both of which sport dual motors for all-wheel drive. Now, the company is adding two more versions in the hopes of widening its appeal. Image: Porsche The RWD Macan will only have one motor located in the rear axle. It’s the same motor as the one used in the Macan 4, with an output of 250kW, or 335 horsepower. Porsche says it will use a 480-amp pulse inverter with silicon carbide... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge I don’t know how people wear headphones in the summer heat. I’m strictly in earbuds mode when the temperatures climb this high. But no matter your preference, Amazon Prime Day is a great opportunity to upgrade your aging gear (and declining battery life) with the latest and greatest from Bose, Samsung, Sony, and plenty of other brands. For Prime Day 2024, expect plenty of deals that’ll have you considering an impulse purchase. Many of our favorite earbud and headphone picks are on sale at some of their lowest prices yet during the two-day event. Some products (like Apple’s AirPods and AirPods Max) are due for a refresh in the coming months, but there’s nothing wrong with picking up the current version — especially at some of these... Continue reading…

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge The photos aren’t blurry! As a longtime iPhone user married to a longtime Android user, I’ve spent years sending and receiving photos that come through both postage-stamp small and about as sharp as a pointillist painting. But a few minutes after I installed the iOS 18 beta on my iPhone 15 Pro, I asked Anna to send me a photo, and what came through was the blissfully high-res photo I’d hoped for. That, right there, is what I call an upgrade. RCS support is just one of the new things coming in iOS 18, of course. At WWDC a few weeks ago, Apple talked a lot about homescreen customization, improvements to Siri, a revamped Photos app, and more. The company seems to have added support for RCS, a more modern and powerful messaging protocol that... Continue reading…

It’s your phone. On your Mac. That’s really the whole thing. | Image: David Pierce / The Verge One of the surprise hits of Apple’s WWDC 2024 was a new feature for desktops and laptops. In Sequoia, the new operating system due this fall and now in public beta, you can mirror your phone to your Mac. I’ve been testing the new feature for a bit, and it really is what it sounds like. You open up the phone mirroring app, and it presents you to… your iPhone. Rounded corners and everything. You click on the bottom bar to go home and click and drag to go between apps, click with your mouse, and type with your keyboard. The only chrome in the app appears when you hover your mouse up at the top; there’s a button for going home and a button for opening the app switcher. You can’t even resize the window, which is currently way too small on my... Continue reading…

The Verge UK regulators are now formally investigating Microsoft’s hiring of Inflection AI staff, months after most of Inflection’s staff joined Microsoft’s new AI division. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is now opening up a phase one merger investigation into the partnership, with a September 11th deadline over whether the investigation will progress into a second phase. If the case progresses to the phase two stage then it could present a stumbling block for Microsoft’s AI ambitions. The CMA last signaled a more in-depth review of Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2022, eventually forcing the company to restructure its deal and give up key cloud gaming rights in the UK and many other markets... Continue reading…