The Verge Gaming

T he The  only voice I can hear running through my head after watching the  Game of Thrones  series finale is Jeremy Irons as Scar in  The Lion King:  “Long live the king.” I won’t speak for our Three-Eyed Raven readers who guessed the series’s conclusion weeks or even months ago, but it’d be an understatement to say I was caught off-guard. Bran Stark, King of Westeros! Elected to the Iron Throne (well, Iron Slagheap) through a democratic process of a few elite wealthy white people secretly choosing who should lead! It’s progress, sort of! It’s not exactly the battle of the Mad Queens that we were promised. Neither Daenerys nor Cersei ended up on the Iron Throne. The throne, and all it represented, was melted down into a pool of lava by an emotionally distraught dragon. No one said symbolism had to be subtle. Regardless of how people felt about the episode (the next big battle is playing out on Twitter right now as people defend why they liked the outc...

Epic Games will occasionally require users to enable two-factor authentication before redeeming free games on its digital storefront between now and May 21st. The goal is to encourage “players to take steps to strengthen their Epic account security,” the company wrote in  a blog post . To enable two-factor authentication, users have to log into the Epic Games Store and head into their account settings. Two-factor authentication typically requires users to confirm their identities while logging into an account using a PIN sent to their email address or phone number. Having two-factor authentication activated provides an extra security measure to prevent your account from being compromised if your password is stolen. In January 2019, a security flaw in  Fortnite  allowed hackers to access the Epic Games accounts of users who clicked a suspicious link. A few days ago, Nintendo acknowledged that 160,000 Nintendo accounts were impacted in hacking ...

I t has been one of the many cruel ironies of lockdown: we all have time to read more, but the constant uncertainty and worry, together with the endlessly transmogrifying news narrative, have made it difficult to concentrate on novels. A few keen readers have turned to essay collections, short stories or diaries, which are less demanding on the memory and attention, but video games may also offer a way back into reading during these difficult times. Here are 12 interesting puzzle and adventure games that play with words, text and narratives in innovative ways, which may well guide you back into a reading frame of mind. Hypnospace Outlaw  (PC/Mac) If you’re spending a lot of time aimlessly browsing the web right now, this might be the perfect narrative game for you; you’re a new moderator on a weird alternative 1990s version of the internet, trying to block malicious software and hunt cyberbullies through a range of retro web sites. Blackbar  (iOS/Andro...