The newly released $599 MacBook Neo might be an iPhone chip slapped into a low-cost Mac chassis with passive cooling, but it's shockingly competent as long as you accept its limitations. YouTuber and PCGamingWiki founder Andrew Tsai rejects those limitations and put Apple's new entry-level laptop through its paces to see exactly what thisJason Rubin has left Meta after 12 years, having been VP of Content at Oculus, Facebook, and then Meta, with various official titles.
Rubin was the second longest standing executive from the 2014 era of Oculus still at Meta, with Michael Abrash (still at Meta) being the first.
In a statement, Rubin described the decision to leave as "difficult", saying that he has "nothing but deep appreciation" for Meta leadership, and stating that he's "incredibly proud" of his work and excited for the future of VR and Horizon.
"This was a difficult decision and I have nothing but deep appreciation for Mark and Boz’s leadership, gratitude to the company, love for my coworkers, and excitement for our Horizon and VR roadmap.
I’m incredibly proud of multiple eras of my work at Meta. I helped to build the Oculus Content team, Meta’s first content production and dev rel organization, and producing a lot of highly reviewed and industry applauded titles. I’m also proud of building the Metaverse Creative Team, empowering Design and Art, and raising our quality bar.
Why now? And the answer is relatively boring: This seems like a good time. I am going to chase animals with a camera. You can follow the results on my Instagram."
In 1984 Rubin co-founded Naughty Dog, the game studio behind Rings of Power, Way of the Warrior, Crash Bandicoot, and Jak and Daxter, as well as (after Rubin left) Uncharted and The Last Of Us.
He left Naughty Dog in 2004, and became the president of publisher THQ in 2012. However, by this time THQ was already almost dead, and Rubin was unable to save it, with the company going bankrupt less than a year later.
In 2014, Rubin joined Oculus VR, a few months after Facebook announced it was acquiring the startup.
UploadVRIan HamiltonInitially Head of Worldwide Studios, by 2016 Rubin's title had shifted to VP of Content. He managed the first and second party content initiatives for the Oculus Rift, delivering a strong launch content lineup for both the Xbox gamepad the Rift was originally shipped with and the Oculus Touch controllers that shipped eight months later.
His official title changed multiple times over the years as Oculus was absorbed into Facebook and then as the company rebranded to Meta, and his role expanded to cover more of the company's gaming and content initiatives.
In 2018 he became Facebook's VP of AR/VR Content & Partnerships, in 2019 the VP of Special Gaming Initiatives, in 2020 the VP of Play, and in 2021 the VP of Metaverse Content / Creative.
In these expanded roles, as well as Quest, he became responsible for gaming on Facebook Portal, Messenger, and Facebook Cloud Gaming. Essentially, Rubin was Mark Zuckerberg's gaming chief.
UploadVRDavid HeaneyOf course, while Rubin's stated reason for leaving is to pursue wildlife photography, the timing is notable. The departure comes just two months after Meta shut down three of its acquired VR game studios, conducted significant layoffs at a fourth, and canceled the Batman: Arkham Shadow sequel. Rubin had worked closely with these studios for the better part of a decade, and while we won't put words in his mouth, it seems unlikely that his departure after so long is entirely unrelated to Meta's strategy shift.
In an unexpected move, Google announced it will be bringing some of its mobile catalog to PC. There's now a PC section in the Play Store Games tab, which will serve as "your dedicated home for (Android) games optimized to play on Windows PCs." This doesn't apply to every cross-platform game on the platform, but for at least "Select paid games"One month and a major update later, Orcs Must Die! By the Blade has gone from a shaky VR debut to a fun and frantic melee brawler.
When Orcs Must Die! By the Blade launched in mid-February, combat felt unsatisfying, the user interface could be annoying, and limited movement options disrupted the game's flow. With a recent patch that addresses most (if not all) of those early issues, the game deserves a second look.
Developed by Teravision Games, the VR-exclusive entry in the long-running Orcs Must Die! franchise attempts to translate the series’ chaotic trap-based strategizing into a more tactile, immersive experience.
It does this by placing greater emphasis on first-person melee combat than on the series’ more traditional tower defense mechanics. While I find the result to be fun and engaging, players looking for the more strategic elements of previous Orcs Must Die! games may feel a bit underserved.
Combat wave in Orcs Must Die! By the Blade captured by UploadVR
My first thought when Orcs Must Die! By the Blade came to life in the lenses of my Quest 3S was, “Wow! That’s beautiful!” And it is. The environments are gorgeous and carefully crafted cartoon fantasy zones. The visuals lean heavily into the series’ signature exaggerated style, in which everything is slightly oversized and a bit ridiculous. You’ll move through a land of worn and weathered stone, hefty, aged wood, chunky tankards of mead and even chunkier weaponry.
Enemies, too, are delightfully stylized; muscly orcs brimming with spiky armor and gruesome, snarling scowls, who become truly menacing in VR. When a towering ogre charges from the depths of a shadowed portcullis, or a fresh wave of speedy little orcs comes rushing over your traps, there’s a physical presence that’s far stronger than in the series’ flat-screen games.
Sound design is wonderful, too, with atmospheric tunes backing a soundscape of medieval foley. The stone halls echo with your bootsteps. Lava bubbles and pops in the dungeons. Rusty hinges creak achingly. Your sword rings against steel, or squelches horribly as it slices through meaty goblins. Over all this, our heroes do their best to provide quippy commentary. While these voice-acted lines can get repetitive, I don’t find it egregious.
In short, Orcs Must Die! By the Blade looks great, sounds great, and presents as a highly polished experience.
Story elements captured by UploadVR
The gameplay loop will be familiar to fans of the series, even if its priorities have shifted. Across three chapters of four levels each, played single-player or co-operatively with one other player, you’ll explore an environment in a way reminiscent of dungeon-crawlers.
You’ll move through corridors and castles, at various points encountering areas where you must defend yourself or other objectives (such as treasure chests) against waves of attacking orcs. To do this, you’ll place traps in the environment and supplement this destructive power with your own formidable melee skills.
Each of these instances has a set-up period during which you’ll choose your traps and place them where you think they’ll be most effective. There’s a wide variety of traps, such as floor spikes, springboards, and wall-mounted arrow launchers, and more continually unlock as you work through the game.
Once a wave starts, you’ll use your handheld melee weapons, or weapons scavenged from the environment, to slice and dice your way through the onrushing orcs. While combat felt bland and janky when the game launched, the most recent patch has set things right. In its current form, combat feels great. Attacks are weighty and responsive, with color-coded prompts for enemy attacks that may be parried or ones which are unblockable, and additional prompts for the most effective counterattacks.
Swinging your weapons harder creates more damage, and with just a few minutes of practice, body parts are flying in all directions. While these dismemberments are a bit violent, they retain an exaggerated, cartoony unrealism that keeps the visuals from descending into true gore.
Movement has also been improved in the latest patch. An optional smooth-turn control scheme has been added which makes the game feel far more fluid than before, though users prone to VR motion sickness may struggle with the constant movement demanded by levels which can take up to 40 minutes to clear.
By clearing a level, smashing boxes, and dispatching enemy orcs and bosses, you're awarded treasure and coins which can be spent in the game’s armory. Here you can upgrade your weapons and traps, or buy entirely new weapons, traps, and equippable items.
This gradual progression keeps things moving in the right direction. There’s always a new weapon to unlock, or an interesting upgrade for your existing arsenal. By the end, there’s almost no limit to the many ways you can kill orcs.
But to say that there’s much strategy would be a lie. While there’s great variety of weapons and traps, the core of the gameplay really comes down to flailing away with your melee weapons. Traps soften enemies up, and can even dispatch them entirely, but most of your time in Orcs Must Die! By the Blade will be spent hacking and slashing by hand.
Unlocking weapons and traps captured by UploadVR
Orcs Must Die! By the Blade uses stick-based movement with options for smooth or snap turning. It also has motion vignettes that can be turned off for experienced players. The game also can be comfortably played seated.
At launch, Orcs Must Die! By the Blade felt like a missed opportunity. There was a sense that there was a good game in there, but it was weighed down by some strange design decisions. Though the core idea was strong, reimagining a compelling franchise as a VR combat game, technical issues kept it from reaching its full potential.
The recent patch changes this considerably. The improved combat responsiveness, expanded movement options, and general polish have made the game much more enjoyable.
That said, the shift toward melee-heavy gameplay means the strategic depth of earlier Orcs titles isn’t as prevalent in the made-for-VR game. While By the Blade’s melee action is certainly fun and engaging, it presents an experience that’s far from strategic. Players who loved creating elaborate trap corridors and carefully implementing a torture chamber for onrushing orcs may feel unfulfilled by the melee focus of By the Blade.
Still, for VR players looking for an energetic blend of action and light strategic elements, Orcs Must Die! By the Blade will deliver plenty of hack and slash fun.
UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.
The security researchers at Kaspersky have detailed a new malware campaign targeting Android users, which aims to take over a victim’s device to abscond with user data while simultaneously putting it work mining cryptocurrencies. This new malware, dubbed BeatBanker, deploys several interesting techniques for its distribution while flying under
The space of budget laptops has seen continuous improvements thanks in great part to AMD and Qualcomm's efforts, but the announcement of Apple's MacBook Neo for just $599 has proven one of the biggest disruptions in years. Even while writing up this article of alternative picks (four cheaper, two more expensive), it's hard to outright downplay
If you're reading this right now, there's a very good chance that you were one of many millions of children to grow up with LEGO as one of your favorite toys. The Danish plastic connecting bricks are a timeless classic, and no doubt many of you, like me, spent countless hours pretending that our Lego minifigs were in fact working on very important
Microsoft has had a big presence at this year’s Game Developer’s Conference, providing fans with a glimpse of the future of Xbox with a sneak peek at a potential Xbox Development Kit alongside detailing its partnership with AMD. However, the company hasn’t forgotten about the legion of gamers that call a Windows PC home, who will soon be seeing
Mighty Coconut's Don Carson and Shane Rhodes take us on a tour of Walkabout's ode to the golden age of filmmaking.
UploadVRMike JohnsonWe previously reported that Walkabout Mini Golf's new Hollywood DLC, the third in its Passport series, was inspired by Mighty Coconut's origins working in effects and animation for Hollywood productions. We had a chance to tour the course with Mighty Coconut Senior Art Director Don Carson and 3D modeler Shane Rhodes. That video from our Youtube channel is linked here:
After the tour, I sat down with Don to get more in depth about Passport Hollywood and Walkabout's overall process for building courses. The following is a full transcription of that discussion:
UploadVR: So, multiple people, yourself included, talked about Mighty Coconut's background in the film industry, including some people who are still currently on the team have backgrounds working in animations and special effects on Hollywood films. So, given the personal connection that some of the team has, did that make this course easier or harder [to build] because of their personal connections and their backgrounds?
Don Carson: I think easier. I think initially the idea of doing the Hollywood course was it seemed like a kind of an obvious one that was sort of a wish fulfillment location to hang out in. But I think as soon as we started scratching the surface, we realized that we all had sort of deep connections to that business and those places, especially Lucas Martell and Laura Krauss, both of them have had offices on backlots at Hollywood studios in their careers. So everything from the lot cats that wander around and keep the rodents down to the commissary and being able to sort of sneak around and look inside of soundstages. All of that sort of created this long wish list of things we wanted to make sure that we included when we were designing out all the places you visit.
UploadVR: Have you ever had to, in this course or any other, scale back some of the production design specifically because the hole had to be reconfigured?
Don Carson: Yeah, the place often happens before the hole. We usually start in Gravity Sketch as all the design team will meet up in VR and start scribbling to scale. And we have sort of placeholders for all 18 holes. And so we know there'll be a hole here, but the placeness will start to sort of come together. And then we'll have to move the furniture around a bit to make sure that the hole fits as opposed to the other way around.
UploadVR: Okay. So, that happens pretty often after you get the okay?
Don Carson: Yeah. Yeah. There's no room or there's an opportunity we hadn't thought of. Like especially on the Hollywood one, we wanted the holes to sort of represent the departments that are part of the film making process. So there's the model shop and there's the props department and there's the the Foley sound department. So, uh, the the places were designed first and then the holes came to sort of support the theme of the places.
UploadVR: Was there an element in the overall design, like music design, art, or whatever, that was easy that came together fairly quickly? And conversely, was there one that was like a pain to get right?
Don Carson: I think the coming up with the style of the we call it a shape language. You know, what's different not only about the gameplay, but what's the what what do the borders look like? And I know we wanted to do sort of an art deco look for the the the edges of the holes. So, there was a lot of back and forth trying to get that right. I think we did a good job, but I think it it went through a lot of iterations before we we hit on the style that we have in that course now.
UploadVR: Timeline wise, was this in line with your usual 15 to 18 month turnaround?
Don Carson: I think we came up with this January of last year, so it's a little over a year to do it.
UploadVR: Wow.
Don Carson: Yeah.
UploadVR: Is there anything that you can say there was an idea that just hit the cutting room floor? Like you really wanted it in or there was like an idea for a hole that just didn't make it in.
Don Carson: I think we crammed it all in really. I don't think we missed a thing, which it tends to be true of all the courses that we inevitably have a list that we are constantly pushing the limits as to how many polygons we can get squeezed into an environment and so we rationalize, especially with a course like the Hollywood course, is that luckily a lot of those props exist in a building, so that when you leave the building, we don't have to render those anymore. So, like the props department is just full of objects that are great when you're in there, but you don't want to have to be rendering them all the time.
UploadVR: One of the things that came up when we were taking our tour was we were in the film projector room that's over the screening room and you said that someone on the team chimed in and said when they saw it, "This looks kind of dull." And then someone else came back and said, "No, that's pretty much how this room looks."
Don Carson: That's right.
UploadVR: How do you straddle that line between authenticity and still like making it aesthetically pleasing and entertaining?
Don Carson: Well especially with the passport courses, our first one was Venice, is we desperately wanted to make sure that it fulfilled people's sort of bucket list idea of what it would be like to go to these places in the world. So for people who haven't been, it needs to represent what they think it's going to be like. And for the people who have been and love it, we wanted to make sure we hit all the high points. So they felt like they had "oh you caught everything that I love about Tokyo or or or Venice." So we did the same thing with Hollywood. We wanted to make sure that we didn't leave anybody out. And then I think because of our own personal experience and this is true of Venice, Tokyo, and Hollywood. There's enough people on the team that have have lived in that world that they could make sure that not only were we being honest to the design, but also we were able to put little anecdotes and little personal experiences. Like I mentioned during our walkthrough, I think that Laura really wanted to make sure that the art department was really rich because that was the world she lived in. But also the fact that the art department is usually the unloved cousin who always gets shoved in some, you know, unwanted building. So those two things are represented and I think that really adds a level of sort of human touch to the courses.
UploadVR: Even in that specific room you talked about lowering the ceiling. It was too high. Like no, no art department has had a ceiling this tall. They feel like they're in a closet basically.
Don Carson: Exactly right. Exactly.
UploadVR: Do you have a specific section that you specifically are proud of? Like you really pushed for an idea and they made it?
Don Carson: Probably my absolute favorite part of the process is the research part and I tend to research by drawing it and so I got to do a lot of research on the sort of vintage equipment that was used. So the editing machinery, the Foley and sound props. That was my favorite bit is the you know what are we going to fill this with? Always with this sort of keeping in mind what the audience is going to experience. You want to give them something that's going to be interesting. Kind of make them want to go find out more about it, but also you don't want to to be wrong. You don't want to foolishly recreate a Venice that doesn't exist. You want it to be something that people go, "Yeah, that's how I felt when I was there."
UploadVR: Did that play into your decision to make it more of an older studio feel as opposed to the more modern digital lots?
Don Carson: We talked about doing sort of silent era. Then we talked about sort of musical era and then we talked about the 70s and the 60s and then we decided we were just going to sort of do our greatest hits of what we remember was wonderful about the uh the Hollywood system and a lot of that's going away. I mean certainly with the digital content and also the idea that Hollywood is the place where is the only place where movies are made is kind of out the window. They're being made everywhere.
UploadVR: I've got to ask this. Who has the best score on the course right now on the team?
Don Carson: I pretty much would guess it's Lucas. Lucas and Henning are the are the top players. I'm sort of neck and neck with Emma as the worst players, I think. But I think that the thing is that we're not doing it for the high score. We're just doing it for the good conversation.
UploadVR: Do test sessions ever get competitive?
Don Carson: No, no. We're often willing to sacrifice good shots for just to see what happens if we knock it against that wall and see if it bounces off the ceiling.
UploadVR: What was your first course with the company? You joined in I think it was 2021?
Don Carson: Yes. Yes. About four and a half years now. My first assignment was the nautilus for the first Jules Verne course was working on that. But we simultaneously work like on at seven at the same all at the same time. We're constantly working on stuff at various stages. So I think I was doing Around The World right next to doing the drawings for the nautilus. I personally love, you know, pile it on just give me more diversity and then I love to draw, but sometimes I love to stop drawing and build stuff and sometimes I want to stop building stuff and go back to drawing. So I get to jump back and forth between those tasks.
UploadVR: Is there a course that kind of precedes your time with Mighty Coconut that you personally looked at and went, "Man, it'd have been really cool to work on that one.
Don Carson: Yeah, it was when Bogeys Bonanza came out and mutual friends it was during Covid we're playing it and we just saw the connection between our work in the theme park industry and what Mighty Coconut was doing and so we just we had to tell them like you guys are rocking it. There's something really special happening here. And then I was lucky enough to get hired to get to play with this team. And at the time I think there were six coconuts at the time and we blossomed from there.
UploadVR: From a guest column you wrote on Upload in early 2025, you said, "First impressions matter. Establishing shots set the tone and align with what players expect when they step into a new course." How quickly did you land on that entryway in the water tower as like the gateway to the Hollywood course? And were there any other ideas that you kind of played around with?
Don Carson: No, that was it. That was we knew that you had to end. You had to There's always sort of a where am I question as soon as you touch down like okay, where am I? How do I relate to this? And is it fulfilling my expectation? And so someone getting to go to a studio is going to do have any experience that actually anybody's been to a studio, you've got to go through security and security is inevitably beyond a gate. And sort of that that Paramount arch although it's been replicated in at other studios is the perfect establishing shot for "I get to go into this sort of magical place that not everybody gets to go to."
UploadVR: You said building the course start to finish takes anywhere from 15 to 18 months. Recently, unfortunately Mighty Coconut went through a staff reduction. We, of course, wish everyone affected well in their future endeavors. One of the notes in that announcement was that there was going to be a reduction in courses from seven down to six. Is that just to give each course a little bit more breathing room because of the tightly compacted schedule?
Don Carson: Well, yes, that's one of them. I mean, unlike a game company where you're in crunch mode until the the game ships, ours, we ship seven times a year. So, we're constantly crunching. So we are good about our own personal time, but when we're working, we're it's nose to the grindstone all year long. I think the other thing too is that we wanted to make sure that people weren't going crazy, but at the same time, we wanted to make sure that we had the luxury to be able to to go through what we call the icing phase, which is for all intents and purposes, everything is done except wouldn't it be great if we could add this one extra detail or this one extra effect. And I think that sometimes those little extra bits uh get left behind if you're completely slammed to get something done. And when when they are added often those are the things that the players notice as being the kind of magical like "I can't believe you went so far as to add this detail because it just makes it for me."
UploadVR: Have you ever worked on your part of a course and thought "I don't know if this going to work." And then when you see the finished product with the sound design and everything coming together, you're like, oh, okay, now now it's magical?
Don Carson: Yeah. I think every every single course is like that because I tend to work on the front end. So I'm doing the drawings and building the first versions of things. Then it's handed to the art team and I think we mentioned is as part of the conversation um after our walkthrough that it's always better than you expected it because it's gone through so many hands and each of them have been sort of anointed with the permission to make it as good as they want to make it and so everybody brings their own perspective and so I'd say that the final bake where the shadows are all baked in and everything's come together happens at the 11th hour, so even a couple of weeks before we launch, wandering through it, I'll go this is nice, you know, this is good. I think it's a good example of what we can do. And then we release it and it's like, oh boy, like, oh, this is way better. And it's all those pieces coming together. The tech art team is especially good at making sure that we cross all the Ts and dot all the Is to make sure that we're producing the best possible finished product.
Walkabout Mini Golf Passport Hollywood Concept Art provided by Mighty Coconut
UploadVR: That's got to be a great feeling though, because you put this thing to bed, you're working on, like you said, six or seven other courses, then you come back to this thing you worked on months ago and you're like, "Oh, wow."
Don Carson: Yeah. Yeah. This really came together. Also there's another thing and I'm sure this is true of all of us at the on the team is that you'll go well this one little thing isn't isn't working for me, but do I make a fuss about it or do I trust that it will get it will get seen to sort of magically as that quote from Shakespeare In Love is that you know it's a mystery. I don't know how it all comes together, but you go in and sure enough someone came in and not only did they do the thing you hope would happen. They did it better than you thought it could have been done. Then when you walk around when it releases, you just go, I am just so proud of the collective choices that were made that made this as nice as it is.
UploadVR: Last one. We'll end on a lighter note. Are there any Easter eggs or hints you want to give to the players to look out for while they're playing through the course?
Don Carson: So whenever we work on a new course, we understand there's going to be a specific heavy lift for that course. Like when we knew we were going to do Tiki Coco, we knew it was going to be populated with lots of animated characters. We knew that animation job was going to be a hefty job, but it was worth it because we felt that the whole the success of the level was going to be based upon how charming those characters are. And so when it came to doing the Hollywood course, we thought this will be a piece of cake because we'll just use all the stuff we already have to populate, you know, like the prop room is all stuff from our other courses. We ended up, of course, building a whole bunch of stuff. Shane, who was part of the walkthrough, built a lot of the vehicles and a lot of the hero props. It is packed full of things from um, past courses, but there are a couple things from future courses in there, too. Things we haven't announced yet.
UploadVR: That's a nice little hint for the future. All right. Anything you want to say to the audience as we wrap up?
Don Carson: Well, thank you for continuing to play it. Each DLC purchase allows us to build the next DLC. So we are really really dependent upon delivering the best we possibly can, but in the end it's people voting with their with their dollars. We're really lucky because people love the courses, not just for the courses, but also our main intent is to create a place for people to be together in. And I think that people acknowledge that that some of the quality time they have with friends and family have been happening inside the courses we produce. And that's just makes getting up in the morning and doing more of them all the better.
Walkabout Mini Golf is available on Steam, PSVR2, Quest, Pico, Samsung Galaxy XR, and Apple App Store. The game is also available as part of Meta's Horizon+ subscription service. The Passport Hollywood course is available now for $4.99.
When most people think of esports, they picture players sitting behind monitors tapping keyboards and controllers. At a recent Global Gaming League event, the competitors were throwing real punches instead, while immersed in VR.
Misfits Boxing champion Chase DeMoor stepped into a VR ring to fight podcast host Gillie da Kid live in The Thrill of the Fight 2, turning a virtual boxing game into a physical match played in front of an audience.
UploadVRK. GuilloryThe crowd jeered and cheered much like fans at a live boxing event, reacting to every punch thrown in the virtual ring. Both competitors, wearing Meta Quest 3 headsets, traded blows for several rounds before DeMoor finally landed a knockout. By the end, both fighters were breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. The crowd roared its approval.
“When the punches started flying you could feel the crowd react to every hit,” said Global Gaming League founder Clinton Sparks.
In that moment, VR boxing worked as a live spectacle.
The match was part of an event hosted by the Global Gaming League, an organization trying to rethink what competitive gaming can look like for live audiences. Sparks prefers the term “gaming entertainment” rather than esports to describe the league’s format. While the lineup also included traditional titles like Call of Duty, Tekken, and Tetris, the VR boxing match closed out the evening as the main event. Instead of watching players hunched over controllers, the audience saw live competitors ducking, weaving, and throwing real punches as their avatars fought inside the virtual ring.
“We wanted something that felt physical and exciting for people watching in the room,” Sparks said. “VR boxing gave us that.”
“Most esports are fun if you’re playing them, but they can be harder for a live crowd to connect with,” Sparks said. “With VR boxing, people immediately understand what they’re watching.”
The game used in the match, The Thrill of the Fight 2, is a VR boxing game designed to track real punches, head movement, and defensive actions from players inside the headset. Unlike arcade-style fighting games controlled with buttons, competitors must physically move, throw punches, and pace themselves throughout the match. That physical element is a big reason the game works in a live event setting, where audiences can see the action.
Edward Vasquez, creative director on The Thrill of the Fight 2, said seeing the game used in a live competitive setting was a different experience from watching players compete online or at home.
“From the beginning we thought this could work as an esport because it’s so tactile and easy for people to understand when they watch it,” Vasquez said.
For professional boxer Chase DeMoor, it stopped feeling like a novelty pretty quickly. Inside the headset, the fight turned into a physically demanding contest.
“I was sweating way more than I expected,” DeMoor said. “You think it’s just a game until you’re in there throwing punches.”
“It’s actually a workout,” DeMoor told me. “You’re moving, you’re throwing punches, you’re ducking. After a few rounds you’re breathing hard.”
“After a couple rounds you forget it’s a game,” he added. “You’re just trying not to gas out.”
Unlike traditional fighting games where players rely on controllers, The Thrill of the Fight 2 requires competitors to throw real punches and move their bodies throughout the match. By the final rounds, both fighters were breathing heavily after trading punches in the virtual ring.
For DeMoor, that physical effort made the experience feel closer to a real competition than a typical video game. As a professional boxer, he said the game captures more of boxing’s movement and rhythm than he expected, even if it can’t replicate the physical contact of a real fight.
“It’s probably the closest thing you can get to boxing without taking a punch,” DeMoor said.
VR has struggled as a spectator esport, largely because it’s hard for an audience to follow what’s happening inside a headset. Boxing may be one of the few exceptions. When players are ducking, weaving, and throwing punches in real space, the action is easy to read even for people who have never used VR.
Whether VR boxing becomes a regular feature of competitive gaming remains to be seen. But for one night, two fighters throwing real punches inside a virtual ring showed what immersive esports might actually look like.
Cooler Master has secured four iF Design Award 2026 honours. The Hamburg-based awards, which recognise global excellence in product innovation and user experience, highlighted Cooler Master's ability to blend high-performance engineering with the creative needs of the PC building community. The winning entries span the company's entire ecosystem, ranging from modular chassis to cooling solutions.
Starting with the award-winning cases, the Cosmos Alpha marks the latest evolution of Cooler Master's flagship lineup. Built upon the proprietary FreeForm 2.0 modular platform, this full-tower chassis is designed for enthusiast-grade hardware that requires significant space and flexible internal architecture. Its design allows builders to reconfigure the interior to accommodate complex liquid-cooling loops or massive multi-GPU setups while maintaining the premium material quality and sweeping lines the Cosmos series is known for.
Breaking away from traditional “box” enclosures, the MasterFrame 360 Panorama was also awarded for its open-frame design, which serves as a visual stage for the components. It features three-sided, tempered-glass panels that provide an unobstructed view of the internal hardware. Beyond its aesthetics, it includes a dedicated “display stage” for showcasing collectibles or custom-branded hardware.
One of the most innovative wins for Cooler Master this year is the Custom GPU Fan Cooling Kit. Recognising that GPU fans are often the first point of failure or the source of system noise, this kit provides a high-performance retrofit solution. Utilising the company's Mobius fan technology, the kit allows users to replace stock GPU fans with quieter, more efficient versions without the complexity of a full custom liquid loop. This design bridges the gap between basic air cooling and high-end mods, allowing gamers to replace the cooling solution of their existing graphics cards with relative ease.
Rounding out the award-winning quartet is the MasterFan A120. While a 120mm fan may seem standard, the iF Design jury recognised the A120 for its refined blade geometry. Optimised for both restrictive radiator cooling and general case ventilation, the fan integrates a sophisticated ARGB lighting system into a frame designed for near-silent operation.
KitGuru says: Do you agree with the awards given to these Cooler Master products? What other products do you think would deserve this award?
The post Cooler Master wins four iF Design Awards first appeared on KitGuru.With chip shortages set to drive PC hardware prices up further in 2026, the current Spring sales might be a good time to upgrade to avoid higher prices and stock shortages down the line. There are a number of good deals to be found right now on the graphics card front.
Earlier this week we covered a lengthy list of MSI deals covering graphics cards, cases, PSUs, coolers and gaming monitors. Now, Nvidia has sent us a couple more UK graphics card deals to highlight, bringing RTX 5070 GPUs back down below MSRP levels for the first time in months.
The Asus RTX 5070 Dual OC 12GB graphics card is back down to £499.99 at both OverclockersUK and CCL Computers. Right now, this graphics card is also part of Nvidia's Resident Evil Requiem promotion, so you can get a free copy of the game on Steam along with the graphics card.
If you are after something else, like an RTX 5070 Ti, or an RTX 5060 series GPU, then there are some deals to be found there too via MSI.
KitGuru Says: Are you planning on upgrading your gaming PC this year?
The post RTX 5070 graphics cards drop back below MSRP in UK sales first appeared on KitGuru.The first major expansion for Borderlands 4, Story Pack 1: Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned, is officially launching later this month. The first of the paid DLCs adds a new vault hunter for players to master, alongside a whole new explorable zone, new bosses and story content.
The update sends players to The Whispering Glacier, a frozen region threatened by a cosmic entity and home to derelict ships, eldritch growths, and a new alien monolith. Players team up with Ellie and the returning Mancubus Bloodtooth to uncover the secrets of the glacier and enter the Vault of the Damned.
Story Pack 1 adds new missions, activities, and collectibles, along with a late‑game mechanic that lets players destroy massive fleshy growths to unlock new areas and puzzles. A new World Boss system transports players to a nightmare dimension where a random boss awaits. The pack also debuts C4SH, a CasinoBot turned rogue gambler who wields a magical deck to unleash randomized spells. C4SH features three Action Skills and three branching skill trees, with a full gameplay reveal coming next week.
Players can expect two major boss fights, 16 minibosses, and new enemy factions across the glacier. Loot drops include three Pearlescent weapons and 11 new Legendary items, plus 28 cosmetic additions ranging from Vault Hunter heads and skins to weapon, vehicle, and ECHO‑4 customisations.
Alongside the launch, Borderlands 4 will roll out shared progression across characters, with cross‑platform saves planned for a later update. Gearbox’s 2026 roadmap confirms free monthly content drops through the summer, including a raid boss in April, a Takedown in May, and Story Pack 2 arriving in Q3.
KitGuru Says: Are you returning to Borderlands 4 for the new DLC?
The post Borderlands 4 gets its first story DLC this month first appeared on KitGuru.Amazon has refreshed its Luna lineup for March 2026, giving Prime subscribers a new wave of cloud‑streamable titles alongside a batch of PC games to claim permanently.
Prime members can jump into eight Luna games this month, including Control: Ultimate Edition, Wobbly Life, House of Golf 2, ClayFighter, Mortal Shell, and Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, offering a mix of action-adventure, retro fighters, Souls‑likes, and accessible multiplayer picks.
Prime Gaming’s claim‑and‑keep catalogue expands as well, headlined by Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon’s Keep, Total War: Rome II – Emperor Edition, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, Total War: Three Kingdoms, and Deep Sky Derelicts, with additional titles expected throughout the month.
Luna remains included with Prime at no extra cost, allowing members to stream games instantly without installs or dedicated hardware.
KitGuru Says: Will you be playing any of this month's new Prime games?
The post Amazon Luna adds Control Ultimate Edition and more first appeared on KitGuru.
Valve has taken exception to the New York Attorney General's lawsuit alleging that its mystery boxes run afoul of New York's gambling laws. In a lengthy, public response, Valve voiced its disappointment in the Attorney General's decision to file the lawsuit, and defended loot boxes as being similar in concept to opening up a pack of baseballMSI has cut prices across the board for its UK Spring sale, offering sizeable discounts across gaming monitors, as well as components like graphics cards, motherboards and power supplies.
On the gaming monitor side of things, we have always highly recommended the upgrade to OLED. MSI's QD-OLED line-up has seen some notable discounts, including the MPG 321URXW QD‑OLED, which is now down to £649, offering 4K resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate for ultra-smooth gaming.
The Ultrawide MPG 491CQPX QD‑OLED is also discounted right now, down to £899 from £1199. If you prefer a QHD option, then the MAG 272QPW QD-OLED X28 is a fantastic option at under £450, offering a 27-inch 1440p display with 280Hz refresh rate, along with all of the natural benefits that an OLED display provides.
On the components front, those looking to upgrade to an RTX 50 series GPU can find a few deals at the moment. The RTX 5070 Ti Gaming Trio is down to £849.99, while the RTX 5060 Ti Gaming Trio is down to £454.99. An MSI RTX 5060 can also currently be had for less than £290.
If you are going for a full new system upgrade, then you may also want to pick up a motherboard, case, power supply or CPU cooler. Fortunately, MSI has plenty of discounts there too, from the MPG A1000GS PCIE5 power supply at £129.99, to motherboards like the X670E Carbon WiFi at £279, or the Z890 Tomahawk WiFI at £239. Cases like the MPG Velox 300R and MAG PANO are also discounted right now, alongside MAG CoreLiquid AIO CPU coolers.
You can find all of MSI's Spring Sale deals, alongside a list of participating retailers for each product, HERE.
If you do end up buying some new hardware during this sale, then be sure to check out MSI's other promotions. Currently, select motherboards ship with a free copy of Crimson Desert, while QD-OLED monitors are eligible for a free copy of Resident Evil Requiem. There are also other promotions for Steam Store credit and more.
KitGuru Says: Are you planning a new PC build at the moment? Will you be looking to get anything during the Spring sale?
The post MSI cuts prices on gaming monitors and more for Spring sale first appeared on KitGuru.
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