winners Archives

AppWizard

July 22, 2026

What ‘long tail’ should you expect for your PC game in 2026?

GameDiscoverCo hosted the 'Scrappy Saves The Animals' game jam in collaboration with the Oakland Ballers on Itch.io, with the top game being Scrappy’s Rescue Run, which will be showcased at an upcoming event. GDCO Pro reported on trending unreleased Steam games, with Dear Passengers leading in wishlists, followed by Paper Shredder and Guildrun. An analysis revealed that AI-flagged games achieve around 3,000 sales, which is 55% of the rate of non-AI titles. The Binding Of Isaac Complete Bundle sold nearly 4 million additional units after a 90% off sale during the Steam Summer Sale. A developer was arrested for injecting malware into Steam games, affecting around 8,000 users and stealing approximately 0,000 in cryptocurrency. Roblox announced a UGC-centric Build feature, raising concerns about predatory offers to creators. Xbox Game Pass added titles like Halo: Campaign Evolved and Beast of Reincarnation. Valve updated SteamVR with a more VR-native interface. Epic Games and Google withdrew a lawsuit settlement attempt that could impact Android app stores. GameDiscoverCo Pro introduced automated graph annotations for Steam demo launches. An analysis of games released between July 2023 and July 2025 showed cumulative sales increases over time, with higher-priced titles having better long-term sales. Multiplayer and co-op games are experiencing promising sales trajectories. The GameDiscover Show has returned, discussing trends in game discovery and insights from GDCo’s AI survey.

AppWizard

July 11, 2026

Minecraft Movie Build Challenge winner announcement

The Tree Village Build was removed from Grand Prize consideration due to an oversight in the admission process, as it incorporated blocks from multiple biomes. However, it will receive a special mention and be featured in the movie alongside the finalists and overall winner. The Tranquil Taiga Tower, another semifinalist, will also be included in the final movie. A Minecraft Movie Squared is set to release on July 23, 2027. All Finalist Builds will transition to the movie, with minor adjustments possible. The exact placements of the Builds in the movie are not disclosed, and the Tree Village Build is included to honor its popularity within the community. Warner Bros. will determine the placement of the Build in the movie.

AppWizard

June 26, 2026

Steam Summer Sale 2026 Is Live: 90% Deals on PC Games as Machine Lottery Closes

Valve's Steam Summer Sale 2026 began today at 1:00 PM ET and will run until July 9, 2026, featuring discounts on over 4,000 titles. The average discount is around 45%, with reductions of up to 90% on older catalog titles. New releases like Gothic 1 Remake, Resident Evil Requiem, and Crimson Desert are included in the sale. Discounts are locked for the entire duration of the sale, and there is a minimum 30-day cooldown between promotional events for specific games, except for the four major seasonal sales. The Steam Machine lottery closed today, with invitations for winners to purchase starting the week of June 29. Those who missed the deadline will be placed on a waitlist, with processing expected by the end of 2026.

AppWizard

June 26, 2026

New York Has a Gamer Mayor Now — and a $2.6 Billion Game Industry to Match

In June, New York City celebrated the NYC Battle of the Boroughs Champions at a press conference on June 10, recognizing the winners of the 2026 Minecraft Education Battle of the Boroughs. Among the winners was Team Hyper Pigmentation, an all-girl squad that won back-to-back titles. The city's digital games sector supports approximately 7,600 jobs, contributing billion in wages and generating a total economic output of billion. The NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment (MOME) has established the Game Development Industry Council, launched the NYC Summer of Games campaign, and funded grants for developers. New York City's digital gaming ecosystem has an annual economic impact of .6 billion, with around 380 digital gaming firms, 65 percent of which are small or indie studios. The share of open roles in the gaming industry increased from 15.1 percent to 29.2 percent between Q3 2024 and Q1 2026. The Summer of Games features events from May through September, including the NYC Video Game Festival and the Tribeca Games Gallery. Mayor Zohran Mamdani is recognized as the first "Gamer Mayor," engaging with gaming culture and platforms like Twitch. Jones-Harvey emphasizes the importance of addressing affordability issues to retain talent in the gaming industry. She advocates for recognizing video games as a vital part of New York City's cultural landscape, alongside music, film, and theater.

Winsage

May 14, 2026

Microsoft MDASH finds Windows security flaws with AI | ETIH EdTech News

Microsoft has developed an AI security system called MDASH that has identified 16 vulnerabilities in Windows networking and authentication frameworks, with four classified as Critical, allowing for remote code execution. MDASH uses over 100 specialized AI agents to analyze code from multiple perspectives, improving the accuracy of vulnerability detection. The system has successfully detected all 21 planted vulnerabilities in a private testing environment without false positives, achieving a 96 percent recall rate against historical cases and an 88.45 percent success rate on the CyberGym benchmark. The identified vulnerabilities include issues in tcpip.sys and IKEEXT, which can be exploited remotely without needing credentials.

AppWizard

May 13, 2026

You could win a $500 Amazon gift card by playing Subnautica 2 this month, so remember to send us your best video clips!

Subnautica 2 is the most wishlisted game on Steam and will be released this week. Gamers can win a 0 Amazon gift card by recording and sharing their gameplay clips. PC Gamer Clips showcases user-generated content and highlights the best submissions on social media. Monthly winners receive a 0 Amazon gift card. Submissions must be under 10GB and are limited to residents of the US and UK.

Tech Optimizer

May 5, 2026

Intego ONE

Intego has released Intego ONE, a rebranded antivirus solution for Mac users that combines antivirus capabilities with a firewall. The product has received a 97.1% malware detection score in independent lab tests, although it lacks phishing protection, a feature offered by competitors like Norton and Bitdefender. Intego ONE has a tiered pricing structure, with the Essential tier costing .99 annually and providing antivirus and firewall protection, while the Advanced tier, which includes the SmartClean system cleanup tool, costs .99. The top-tier Complete subscription, which includes a VPN, is priced at .99 annually. Intego offers a 7-day free trial for potential customers. The software installation is straightforward, requiring Full Disk Access for optimal functionality. Intego's firewall is integrated into the main application for easier user interaction. The SmartClean feature aims to optimize system performance but may not justify its additional cost for all users. The VPN included in the Complete tier is user-friendly but may be priced higher than standalone options.

AppWizard

April 30, 2026

EVE Online dev pays out $80,000 to mod contest winners for its experimental survival MMO

CCP Games has announced the winners of its latest hackathon for EVE Frontier, a blockchain-based survival MMO. The main winner, CradleOS, received a prize of ,000 for its civilization-building tool. An additional ,000 was awarded to other notable projects. The winning projects include: - CradleOS: A user interface and system for managing in-game resources and territory with a narrative involving a mysterious AI. - Blood Contract: A bounty system for player-versus-player quests. - Civilization Control: A user interface for managing territory and assets in the game. Secondary category winners were Bazaar, which received the "Most Creative" award for transforming the marketplace menu into a playable social space, and Shadow Broker Intel, which won the "Weirdest Idea" accolade for a marketplace trading player activity intelligence. EVE Frontier is currently in early access, allowing players to participate in its modding experiment.

AppWizard

April 27, 2026

The secret to Supermassive Games casting two Oscar winners is its focus on human-made art: ‘They know that their performance is going to come across really well’

Directive 8020 is a horror game from Supermassive Games set aboard the Cassiopeia, a spaceship filled with scientists seeking humanity's next home. The game features a cast led by Lashana Lynch, praised for her performance, and continues the studio's tradition of exceptional casting, having previously included talents like David Arquette and Rami Malek. The game emphasizes a human touch in its development, despite advancements in AI, and aims to deliver a visually stunning experience using Unreal Engine. The team focuses on high-quality cinematic storytelling and immersive gameplay, with a commitment to excellence in both performance and technical aspects.

AppWizard

March 13, 2026

Ever complained about Overwatch matchmaking? There’s a chance Jeff Kaplan checked your account and all he has to say is: ‘There’s gotta be winners and there’s gotta be losers’

Matchmaking in Overwatch is challenging for players trying to escape "Elo-hell," with a tendency for win-loss ratios to hover around 50% for most players, except for the elite top 500 or those struggling significantly. Former Overwatch lead Jeff Kaplan describes matchmaking as a complex design task that inevitably results in winners and losers. Players often express frustration over losing streaks, which can be psychologically impactful. Kaplan notes that players tend to complain more about losses than celebrate wins, highlighting a contradiction in their expectations for fair matches. Despite the difficulties, Overwatch has made progress in matchmaking and hero balancing, indicating a strong player connection to the game.