14th International Games and Playful Media Festival from May 14-17, 2025. Award submissions and selection committee registration are open now, until January 31, 2025.
A MAZE. / Berlin 2025 will be back with a fantastic line-up of games and playful media, an exhibition, talks, workshops and parties. The festival will be at silent green and Panke Club, Berlin Wedding. As in the previous years, A MAZE. / Berlin invites game designers and artists to submit their games or playful media works until January, 2025. People with expertise and interest can also register for the Selection Committee, which helps reviewing all entries. For details and the submission: award.amaze-berlin.de
The winners are selected by an interdisciplinary, international and 100% independent jury.
A MAZE. / Berlin in the categories for: “Most Amazing Award”, “Human Human Machine Award”, “Long Feature Award”, “Digital Moment Award”, “Explorer Award, “WINGS Award” and “Audience Award”.
A MAZE. / Berlin 2025 officially opens on Wednesday May 14 at 8pm at silent green. We are also welcoming back in the same week to Berlin the annual Deutsche Computerspielpreis (DCP). Don’t miss the A MAZE. Awards on May 16 at 8pm and add some more travel days to join our festival program and the business opportunities at our games and playful media production market the A MAZE. Bazaar on May 15 and 16.
“A MAZE. / Berlin 2025 is already in full preparation and I’m excited that today we start the submission for the A MAZE. Awards that are defining milestones of our A MAZE. journey to positively influence the games industry and the culture business. I’m so very happy with what we have accomplished in the last 14 years by creating a festival that weaves together different cultures, artforms and talents with their stories and passion for games became my life and I’m very grateful for that. So let’s kick it off!”, says Thorsten S. Wiedemann, artistic director of A MAZE. .
Matthias Löwe, head of the A MAZE. / Berlin Awards, adds: “With the rise of artists using playful formats in interactive theatre, performances, role plays and immersive spaces, games gained a lot of new voices. And if something is really needed in current times, it’s diversity in perspectives, expression and discussion. We hope to be this space once more and I’m very much looking forward to welcome everyone at our festival.”
TIMELINE A MAZE. / BERLIN AWARD SUBMISSION
Dec 16: Start of Submissions and Jury-Registration
Jan 13: Judging starts
Jan 31: Submission Deadline
Feb 24: Judging ends
Mar 10: Announcement Nominees
May 14: Opening A MAZE. / Berlin 2025
May 16: Award ceremony
Submissions: award.amaze-berlin.de – Submission for the 14th edition of the A MAZE. Awards are open until Jan 31, 2025
Greetings, event goers! We have been looking to present to you all sorts of useful industry event statistics throughout the year. While word salads are scrumptious and certainly have their place, when it comes to statistics and facts about the game industry event industry, we want to up the ante and present these fun facts in a more convenient format.
Enter the Featured Events of 2024 Infographic! We keep close tabs on which events you find interesting each month. This past year has had no shortage of events to highlight with over 300 listed in the calendar from January to December – wow! The infographic is a simple top-down list of a spotlighted event for each month. 12 of 350+ overall industry events (primarily B2B conferences and B2C conventions) doesn’t scratch the surface of what’s out there, so keep a watch for future stories about these other events.
Check out the infographic below for our top event picks. After having a look, let us know on Twitter, Facebook, or join our Discord on what events you plan to attend in 2025. Be sure to also visit the calendar for additional events from your favorite event months!
SAN FRANCISCO – December 3, 2024 – The Game Developers Conference (GDC), the world’s largest and longest-running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games, is joining The AI Summit New York to present the GDC Stage, a series of presentations and discussions around generative artificial intelligence (AI) in game development, and GDC Zone, an exhibition space with interactive demos and networking opportunities with top developers. GDC will be partnering with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME), New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and New York City Tourism + Conventions at The AI Summit New York, which takes place at the Javits Convention Center on December 11-12, 2024.
GDC @ The AI Summit New York takes place in two parts, the first is the GDC Stage, a two-day track of programming featuring talks from esteemed industry experts from a variety of companies, including The New York Times, Google Cloud and many more discussing the future of AI in game development, exploring case studies of successful deployment of generative AI, discussions around regulatory updates and sharing knowledge and tools to help guide smarter and more informed game development. The GDC Stage will also host an on-site Game Developers reception for the gaming ecosystem to gather and connect. The second part is GDC Zone, an adjoining area that will feature AI emote creator Kinetix and software company Couchbase, with more exhibitors to be shared in the future. GDC @ The AI Summit New York is also playing host to sponsorship opportunities, letting brands align with innovators in the game development and AI space, with opportunities to engage with industry leaders and position companies as key players in the future of game-making.
“Since GDC began more than 35 years ago, the event has served to expand teaching, learning and full recognition of the craft of game development. With the emergence of new and exciting generative AI technology, there’s never been a better time to explore the uncharted future of machine-assisted creativity than The AI Summit New York,” says Stephenie Hawkins, Event Director of GDC. “NYC itself is a hotbed of incredibly skilled talent and technical resources, with a thriving game development community of its own. We’re excited to see what the future of NYC game development holds, and we hope that GDC Zone and GDC Stage will present the first steps towards that future.”
“New York City has always been a global center of innovation, and this administration is laser focused on taking that to the next level by partnering with GDC as they join The AI Summit New York for the first time,” said the NYC Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, Pat Swinney Kaufman. “The Digital Games industry is a major job creator and contributor to NYC’s economy, and the summit is sure to inspire new ideas and open doors to career opportunities at the intersection of game development and AI.”
“As the digital gaming community in New York City continues to grow, we’re excited to partner with the Game Developer’s Conference at this year’s AI Summit,” said New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) Executive Vice President, Innovation Industries Jonathan Schulhof. “As we dive into the future of artificial intelligence throughout the five boroughs, NYCEDC is thrilled that the game development community will play a central role in 21st-century innovation.”
The flagship GDC event, the Game Developers Conference 2025 in San Francisco, will take place at the Moscone Convention Center from March 17-21, 2025. The week-long conference will feature more than 1,000 experienced speakers, 700 insightful sessions, workshops, roundtable discussions and networking events alongside 345 exhibitors on the GDC Expo floor.
For more details on the GDC @ The AI Summit, please visit the official website. For more details on the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, please visit GDC’s official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook or Twitter. Official photos are available via the Official GDC Flickr account: www.flickr.com/photos/officialgdc/.
We’ve come to expect great things from webcams in the last few years, given the pandemic forced everyone indoors to buy one for their work or other needs. This mass increase in use of webcams spurred companies to develop new and improved versions. What has been striking to us though is that even though webcams are a necessity for anyone working remote these days, they still haven’t been developed to the degree that matches phone camera quality, by a long shot. It’s rather depressing how webcam technology just hasn’t caught up to the tiny devices in our pockets yet.
Perhaps that sentiment will change with today’s review of the budget offering from Poly Studio, the P5 Webcam. Budget doesn’t necessarily mean ‘cheap’… but let’s find out.
The package deal
The Poly Studio P5 Webcam (P5 Webcam for short from here on) didn’t really look like a lot when we opened up the packaged, but then again that’s not what we are buying it for… looks matter little to us as long as it isn’t downright ugly. Because webcam’s are just that, a camera, unique features tend to go towards the physical features and the software. The Poly Studio P5 Webcam is no exception here, though it keeps the physical features reasonable but still unique (some webcams border on the obscene in their design to try and distinguish themselves from the rest… don’t do that, it just makes your product look childish).
While it’s a convenience, the P5 Webcam does come with a lens cover in case you want to ensure no one is watching you through the webcam and don’t trust software to do it.
Official Specs
1080p resolution
Max focal length: 4
Max aperture: 2f
Flash Memory type: SDXC
Screen Size: 2 inches
Connectivity: USB
Color: Speckled white
Setup and usability
Setup wise it’s a webcam that plugs into the USB port of a computer or laptop (the camera is great for portability in this way) and was automatically detected on our latest macOS, Windows 11 and Windows 10 machines.
A neat feature we don’t often see with webcams were the P5’s lighting indicators:
Green means a call is active (or the camera is enabled on some software)
Red confirms the lens covered is enabled
White means the camera isn’t doing anything but is able to be activated
The software (called Poly Lens) serves the user’s needs well enough, allowing all basic adjustments you would expect for a webcam. We don’t cover that part of the P5 Webcam in this review because it’s all common settings and features. It just works… for the most part. We had some weird issues getting it to preview properly at times, but this was most prominent on our non-Windows PC. It worked flawlessly on Windows 11.
Performance
The P5 Webcam performed well enough at 1080p, but like all other webcams, we unfortunately didn’t experience any dramatic breakthrough with other budget webcams. It needed some tweaking of various settings like contrast and gamma, but surprisingly it was one of the better webcams to be ready out-of-the-box. I also tried it at my office at KingsIsle Entertainment and it worked great.
Here is a single front-face view. I purposefully positioned myself along the sunny window side of the house to show how it treats lighting extremes:
In short, the P5 Webcam will do you just fine, especially if you’re traveling and need a quick plugin solution… just don’t expect any miracles.
Pros
Easy to set up and simple to manage
Good video out-of-the-box with one caveat below
Clear and neutral audio
The lens cover is a nice bonus
Portability (it’s small and light-weight)
Cons
Camera sharpness in some low light situations is a bit blurred ever so slightly. We couldn’t seem to improve it, though it’s minor.
It isn’t the prettiest (if you care about that sort of thing)
The value of the P5 Webcam is quite good at currently just $29.49 on Amazon.com.
Author: Mathew Anderson, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Events for Gamers, Community Manager for the computer game industry (KingsIsle, Portalarium, Petroglyph), and Public Relations Manager and Communication Specialist for various other industries.
Happy December Destinations! We’ve put together yet another great list of events you can attend for the month. December is the wrap-up month of the year with seasonal special offers within many of the event’s official webpages, so be sure to check them all out.
Due to the holidays, this time of year contains only a sprinkling of events. There are some good ones out there though nonetheles, so take a look! Many of the listed events are included in the calendar from your contributions in submitting events to the calendar. Thank you for continuing to support us!
You can also click here for the main calendar that includes events throughout the rest of the year and beyond.
Which events are you attending this month? Let us know by commenting on this article here or on Twitter and Facebook!
New Beta View!
We’ve made some additions to the overview, including a new test view of the events right from the calendar itself listed below.
There are no upcoming events at this time
Author: Mathew Anderson, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Events for Gamers, Community Manager for the computer game industry, and Public Relations Manager and Communication Specialist for various non-profits.
Lexar NM790 PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD with Heatsink, 4TB
Lexar PLAY microSDXC UHS-I Card, 1TB
Lexar Professional SILVER PLUS microSDXC UHS-I Card, 256GB (2pk)
Lexar Professional SILVER SDXC UHS-I Card, 256GB
Lexar 256GB (2-Pack) Professional SILVER PLUS microSDXC Memory Card
San Jose, CA, USA, November 21, 2024—Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, is offering great deals on holiday tech through the Lexar store on Amazon. From portable SSDs to memory cards, DRAM to USB flash drives, shoppers will find deals for up to 50% on products for everyone on their gift list. Products are on sale November 21 – December 2.
Customers will find the ARMOR 700 Portable SSD which delivers rugged IP66-rated protection along with USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 performance of 2000MB/s max read/write speeds.1 The drive also features a unique Thermal Control Design to ensure the drive maintains optimal temperature even at high speeds.
The SL500 Portable SSD allows users to shoot Apple ProRes video straight to the drive when used with an iPhone 15 (or higher). It offers incredible USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 performance of up to 2000MB/s read and 1800MB/s write1 in a thin, lightweight, and durable metal design easily fits in a pocket.
The NM790 PCIe Gen 4 NVMe M.2 SSD with Heatsink offers exceptional performance of 7400MB/s read and 6500MB/s write – up to twice as fast as PCIe Gen 3 SSDs. Compatible with PS5, it includes a heatsink to keep systems cool for better performance and power efficiency.
The PLAY microSDXC UHS-I Card comes in capacities up to 1TB to store more games. Compatible with Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, Legion Go, and other portable gaming devices, it’s designed to score big with gamers on anyone’s gift list.
The Professional SILVER PLUS microSDXC UHS-I Card offers 205MB/s max read speed1 to expedite transfers and reduce wait times and 150MB/s max write speed1 and a V30 rating to ensure stutter-free 4K 60FPS videos.
The Professional SILVER SDXC UHS-I Card also delivers 205MB/s max read speed1 to expedite transfers and reduce wait times and 150MB/s max write speed1 and a V30 rating to ensure stutter-free 4K 60FPS videos.
“We’re always excited to be able to offer our customers deals on great products for holidays,” said Joey Lopez, Director of Brand Marketing. “Our high-performance products are sure to delight recipients while these great prices will thrill gifters.”
For more than 25 years, Lexar has been trusted as a leading global brand of memory solutions. Our award-winning lineup includes memory cards, USB Flash Drives, card readers, solid-state drives, and DRAM. With so many options, it’s easy to find the right Lexar solution to fit your needs.
The organizers of the Game Developers Conference (GDC), Informa, issued a supplementary report with fresh insights about generative AI usage by game developers. The responses are derived from the 2024 State of the Game Industry Survey. The results of the 2025 State of the Game Industry survey will be revealed next year at some point, and those sentiments may or may not correlate with the findings from next year’s survey.
Among some of the highlights from this report are pros and cons related to the usage of GenAI. And, given the potential for GenAI to take root in game development, there’s a lot of perspectives on how GenAI should be used, in what ways, and with which restrictions.
For example, overall, over 30% of developers say they’re already using these tools in their work, with a further segment of developers interested in bringing them into their tool and platform portfolio. Regionally, East Asian developers appear to be more receptive than North American developers to using GenAI (70% vs. 42%). GenAI can serve a lot of roles in a studio, from writing drafts, to editing them, to developing procedurally generated levels, and much more. However, most developers would prefer to see AI used as an assistive tool for creatives, presumably not empowered to take over entire roles or teams.
For folks who want the entire 2024 State of the Game Industry Survey report, it can be access for free from here. For interested parties who want to check out game developer perspectives on GenAI, the full “What Game Developers Want From: Generative AI” report is available for free from here.
To learn more about the next Game Developer Conference, follow this link to our GDC 2025 page as a starting point! We’ll be sure to share the results from the 2025 State of the Game Industry Survey report as well!
Last month, we took a look at a documentary-style longer-form video about the SoCal Gaming Expo. This time around, we shift our focus to the United States East Coast, where we have a shorter video to share that’s focused on boosting what made the Southeast Game Exchange video game culture-centered event in Greensville, South Carolina special from one content creator’s perspective.
The creator in question is Caleb, who owns the Phoenix Resale channel on YouTube and a secondary channel, Renix Pesale, where this walkthrough-style video is hosted.
In the 17-minute video, right at the start, Caleb compares the Southeast Game Exchange show favorably to the SoCal Gaming Expo. But what makes this event stand out from his perspective? It’s a huge event, with over 200 vendors, and it’s something of a hidden gem to find in South Carolina. Any show featuring over 100 vendors is particularly large. Caleb prefers shows with a high ratio (like this one, with 50% or over) of tables focused on video games instead of collectibles or cards. Also, the video game pricing featured there, he noted, is reasonable for a coastal event.
Huge aisles for such a large show are also a bonus, he notes, which gives plenty of room for exploring and navigating a show floor. The day he recorded, it was toward the wind-down on a Sunday afternoon, where there’s usually more room than usual for a weekend show.
While walking through the expo, sharing anecdotes from his experience as a frequent event-goer; dropping several high points for the Southeast Game Exchange; connecting with familiar faces; and showing off few of the features to be found on the expo floor; like the booths, some of the merchandise, voice actors, and more.
Scope out the entire video to get a closer look at the Southeast Game Exchange event!
Feel free to let us know in a comment below if you may have attended the Southeast Game Exchange, and some thoughts about what you might have experienced if you did!
Whether you are an event coordinator, press, or general attendee, if you have an event video to share with us, please let us know and we’ll be happy to feature it!
PHILADELPHIA – Oct. 24, 2024 – Show organizers ReedPop and Penny Arcade have revealed the first panel and event schedule for PAX Unplugged 2024, the East Coast’s most-attended tabletop gaming event, ahead of its return to the Pennsylvania Convention Center from Friday, Dec. 6, through Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024.
Kickstart PAX’s 20th-anniversary celebration on Friday, Dec. 6 with a keynote speech from Elizabeth Hargrave, Game Designer of the award-winning title Wingspan. The keynote is part of a stacked lineup with panels featuring fan-favorite internet personalities and game developers.
This year’s schedule features three full days of panels, with Critical Role’s Matthew Mercer and Ashley Johnson offering a first look at the upcoming TTRPG Daggerheart. Hear from the team publishing a lost tabletop game from a legendary sci-fi author in “Kurt Vonnegut’s GHQ: The Lost Board Game” on Friday at 4:30 pm in the Kelpie Theatre. Former NFL player Johnny Stanton and former professional fighter Tank Tolman will talk about how to join disparate enthusiast worlds in “Athletes in Tabletop: Walking the Jock/Nerd Binary” on Saturday at 10:30 am in the Kelpie Theatre, with more announcements anticipated before the show kicks off.
The fun continues on Friday and Saturday nights, with the latest live edition of Acquisitions Inc., the long-running Penny Arcade Dungeons & Dragons show full of surprises and ornate costumes from the players on stage. Saturday night will also feature the first concert in PAX Unplugged history, headlined by Jonathan “JoCo” Coulton (“Still Alive” from Portal, The Spongebob Musical, “Code Monkey”, and more), alongside long-running comedy music duo Paul and Storm performing live.
Illustrious tabletop game developers and publishers also take over the show floor including Games Workshop (Warhammer), Dice Throne (Marvel), Ravensburger (Disney Lorcana), CATAN Studio (CATAN), and R.Talsorian Games (Cyberpunk franchise). Check out a curated selection of up-and-coming titles as part of the PAX Rising Showcase.
Round out the weekend and experience Classic Cardboard, a collection of renowned board games attendees can play together. Witness high-stakes gaming tournaments including the Omegathon, a weekend-long tournament featuring multiple games. Newcomers to the tabletop gaming world can visit the Learn & Play area, led by a group of the industry’s biggest names.
“PAX Unplugged is the perfect end to a year of great shows, and there’s so much to do and see this year,” said Jerry Holkins, co-founder of PAX, Penny Arcade, and the Child’s Play Charity. “I’m glad we have the rest of the press release, because it would be hard to fit it all here in the quote.”
Attendees can purchase three-day badges for $91 (almost sold out), and pick up single-day badges for $43 each. Families can pick up Sunday Kids Day badges for children aged 7-12, for $14 each.
Media and content creators can apply for a media badge here before registration closes on Thursday, Oct. 31.
Happy November Opportunities! We’ve put together yet another great list of events you can attend for the month. November is one of the last month’s of the year packed with events. December does have some event life to it, but if you’re an event go’er, you’re paying attention still to this month.
Many of the listed events are included in the calendar from your contributions in submitting events to the calendar. Thank you for continuing to support us!
Check out this month’s event list below. We’ve made some additions to the overview, including a new test view of the events right from the calendar itself. Click in the event for even more details. You can also click here for the main calendar that includes events throughout the rest of the year and beyond.
Whether working from a coffee shop, at home, an office, or on the road (like from a game conference), a good set of wireless earbuds for phone calls, video or audio meetings, and so on can be a connected traveler’s best friend. Bring on the Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds as one possible solution to that need from global communications company, Poly (owned by HP).
These earbuds arrive at the mobile accessories table with a couple particularly distinctive features, such as a touchscreen smart charging case. But can these earbuds deliver the value users would expect from their current $329.95 MSRP? We’ll dig in and take a look (or listen, rather)!
The top of the Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC box (image: E4G)The Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds, cables and earbud tips in their white box, and manuals and other docs. (image: E4G)
The package deal:
The Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC Earbuds come in an efficient brown cardboard box with branding, certifications and other basic product info. Inside, the documentation is what you’ll find first, a quick start guide, a multilingual guide, among other paperwork. The earbuds, BT700 Bluetooth adapter, and case are nested inside a fitted insert, with the earbuds wrapped in plastic featuring the QR code for the Poly Lens app. A small white cardboard box contains two different sets of earbud tips for larger or smaller ear shapes, a USB-C charging cable (just shy of 12 inches or 30.5 cm) long and a USB-to-3.5mm audio cable about 33 inches (84 cm) long.
The Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds in their opened case. Note the USB dongle in the upper half of the case. (image: E4G)
The Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds in their closed case with the power off (image: E4G)
The Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds themselves are packaged inside a smart-looking black case with a rubberized semi-gloss feel to it. Inside the case are, of course, the earbuds with medium ear tips attached in the bottom of the clamshell and the BT 700 Bluetooth adapter neatly wedged into the top half. The included adapter allows for multipoint connectivity, so that connecting between more than one device is possible, such as a PC or smartphone. They’re rated at the IP54 standard, protecting them from water spray or limited dust ingress. In other words, you definitely shouldn’t take them into a pool or the shower, but they’d probably survive a little dust or water exposure.
Main screen turn on on! The Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds outside of the powered-on smart case (image: E4G)
The exterior of the touchscreen charging case is where the “+” comes into play over its $100 less expensive Poly Voyager Free 60 ($229.95) counterpart. But, it’s pretty darn cool to be able to interact with the 1.4” color screen for multipoint connectivity, volume and playback controls, and Bluetooth device connection.
Setup and usability:
The first step to getting the Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds online is to charge them in their case. It’s easy enough to do, if you can plug in the USB-C adapter into any USB outlet or charging port or a USB-enabled AC adapter. The earbuds set I was working with came with a 75% charge from the outset. Charging the buds was quick, and charging is doable either via the USB-C cable or Qi wireless with the case.
After initial setup, when updating the Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds and case to the latest software version, the release notes links for the case and earbuds updates went to “404 not found” pages on the Poly website from both the app and website. Hopefully, it was only a temporary hiccup and that information is usually available to customers who want to know what their device updates include.
Speaking of the Poly Lens web portal, it does allow for some sorts of control and enterprise-type device management features (many of which are shared in common with the mobile app). It’s possible to track usage, notification settings, sensor-based activity controls, muting and audio tones, and more. It’ll likely take a while to get used to the wide variety of options to customize the user experience with these earbuds, when accessing the Poly Lens web and mobile app.
From the desktop Poly Lens app, it’s possible to activate anti-startle and volume-capping controls for hearing and safety considerations. (image: E4G)
The mobile app has the lion’s share of the controls you’ll want to use, allowing you to follow a helpful walk-through for setup that shows some of the basic pairing and functionality. The app also allows you to manage notifications through the mobile device, such as for the battery, charging, pairing, software update statuses and more.
The main screen of the Poly Lens app, from which you can access battery and status info, plus online documentation and settings. (image: E4G)
Performance:
Once you get the Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds up and running, wanting to know how long they’ll hold up when used for calls is going to cross your mind.
In terms of battery charge, the officially listed capability for listening is 8 hours, but you can get 16 hours more when charging again through the case. Talk time is chalked up to 5.5 hours, with an extra 11 hours when charging with the case. My own experience had the numbers skewed a bit lower, by about half an hour to 45 minutes, but overall the battery life met my expectations. Especially handy to be able to use the case as an extra battery source, with up to 2x charges over the earbuds’ battery storage capability.
Audio quality projects well, and it’s definitely bass-heavy, which is great for music with those kinds of strengths, but the sound quality is ever-so-slightly less refined in the mid-range and treble ranges. Still, I was pleasantly surprised with the power those earbuds could produce.
While these earbuds have what’s described as “WindSmart” wind reduction technology and active noise canceling capabilities for minimizing sound, in my testing, I’d emphasize it only cuts some of the background sound, not necessarily most of it. Using the earbuds, I conducted a phone call with a fan on nearby (registering at about 75 decibels from where I was seated, according to a decibel-measurement app). To the caller, they described the sound that filtered through as “distracting” and like the sound of a “car driving nearby.”
In another test, to see how well the active noise canceling (ANC) held up, I played background music while listening to music (at about 55 decibels) while my phone played
The Poly Lens app (or the case) offers granular control over the earbuds’ ANC capabilities, but the effects are sometimes subtler than expected. (image: E4G)
music through the earbuds at 40% volume. I heard fragments of the background music, but it wasn’t distracting enough to negatively affect the music experience. Under 50 decibels, though, the background music didn’t affect my listening experience at all. I also had a podcast (spoken word) running in the background, registering at about 55-60 decibels. From the case’s controls, it was easy enough to switch between the adaptive and standard ANC controls, as well as the more specific environment, speech, and off modes. However, aside from changing the sound profile a bit, the effect on muting audio, whether music or speech, seemed inconsistent over 50 decibels.
So, a gamer might say, “All in all, these wireless earbuds sound good, have wireless control, and a whole bunch of other cool features. But are they good for gaming?” The answer is, unfortunately, probably not for gaming where latency is an issue, like for first-person shooters. The Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds don’t include low-latency capability, so if you use them for gaming, keep in mind your audio may not keep synchronized with the action.
Does the BT700 Bluetooth adaptor work as advertised? Yes, it’s basically a plug-and-play USB-C dongle that enables simple connectivity between more than one device. It works as advertised, jumping, in my case, between a YouTube sound source, podcast, and a phone call fairly effortlessly.
Official Specs:
Design: True wireless earbuds
Color: carbon black or white sand
Active Noise Cancellation (ANC): Hybrid and adaptive ANC with Transparency mode
Microphones: 3-mic array per earbud with WindSmart technology
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.3 for audio streaming
Charging: Qi wireless charging with a touchscreen charging case, 15-minute fast charge for 1.2 hours of talk time
Battery Life: Up to 24 hours of playback, 16.5 hours of talk time
Multipoint Connections: Connects to up to 2 devices simultaneously
Compatibility: Includes USB-C to 3.5mm cable, eartips, charge cable, and BT adapter
Certifications: Microsoft Teams Certified
Value:
The Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds are listed at $329.95, but they can be found for noticeably less with a little research. HP and Amazon, for example, periodically offer discounts, such as a recent low price of $209.99 through HP. In fact, for example, at the time of publication, HP offers a cost-saving bundle that’s almost 50% off, totaling $189.99 for both the Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds and the HP 635 multi-device wireless mouse. So, there are definitely deals to be found for these earbuds.
If a touchscreen case is not important in a buying decision, earbud options broaden considerably and are available for under $200 or less at retail.
For gamers, it’s possible to find true wireless gaming earbuds from ASUS, Razer and Sony for around the $175 mark, but they will have a different mix of strengths vs. the Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds and its feature set, which is optimized for business and mobility use cases.
Pros:
The touchscreen charging case is a gimmick — but it’s a useful and cool gimmick
Very good sound quality and range overall
The earbuds stayed put in my ears more reliably than I’d expected, which, in my personal experience, is not common
Overall, the earbuds offer a very solid offering of features and capability
Including the BT700 USB adapter, either in the USB-A or USB-C flavor, which is a helpful value-add
Cons:
While the ANC was reasonably effective, the wind reduction on the microphones wasn’t as good as one might expect for earbuds at this price point.
High price for the value proposition the Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds can deliver on — but the caveat is the earbuds can be found for notably less than MSRP.
Given that it’s a strength, it would be nice to customize the music and other sound output.
Ideal for:
The Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds offer a unique variation of a familiar product to mobile folks: earbuds. The combination of features, such as the touch-screen charging case, ANC, punchy and clear audio, multi-device simultaneous connectivity, will be appealing for frequent travelers, business and event mavens, and music lovers. I say “music lovers” because the sound quality is definitely on the top end of sound quality for Bluetooth wireless earbuds. I’d also add casual gaming, if device-to-earbuds latency between the sound and gaming action isn’t a negative factor.
Now, you can find competing earbuds with most of these features, with some features delivering more effectively, for a fair amount less. But, if the combination of these features bundled into a Poly brand product is appealing to you (especially at a discount), the Poly Voyager Free 60+ UC earbuds will be a solid choice for your needs.
Ever wonder what it’s like to create a complex, large video game event from scratch? Or, what might you do if you bought a game expo? How would you build it, launch it, grow it, make it your own kind of an event in one year?
If you asked an event planner that second question, they’d probably agree that it’s no simple thing to accomplish. But it can be done, and that’s what this recent YouTube documentary from Phoenix Resale and PixelGameSquad explores in some detail.
In 2023, the SoCal Gaming Expo was sold to four buyers, all of whom had never run a gaming event in California before. But they didn’t just want to only launch it, they were aiming to make it the largest gaming expo in California, featuring a three-day length for thousands of attendees, hundreds of vendors, athletes, cosplay, (oh, and the Tetris World Championship) and more. The SoCal Gaming Expo was held on June 8-9, 2024 at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California.
The 50 minute-long video has a polished documentary feel, with slice-of-life moments, interview snippets of the process — from planning and organizing ahead of the SoCal Gaming Expo event, to executing the event from the unloading, managing and multitasking through the hectic days of the event itself, to the teardown at the end. There’s moments of excitement, joy, conflict, stress, and more. In watching the video, event planners might see themselves in the experiences of the organizers. Event attendees may learn a little more about the behind-the-scenes process how an event is planned for, launched, and run. At the very end, like any good cinematic-like story, you can find out how the journey ends, whether the organizers met their objectives or not.
Feel free to let us know in a comment below if you may have attended the SoCal Gaming Expo, and some thoughts about what you might have experienced if you did!
Whether you are an event coordinator, press, or general attendee, if you have an event video to share with us, please let us know and we’ll be happy to feature it!
