New gaming gear is always promising to shave milliseconds off latency or response time. The improvements usually aren’t obvious. But the Glorious GHS InfinitePlay wireless headset, on the other hand, could save you far more than just milliseconds: It has the fastest hot-swap battery system I’ve ever used, and the headset doesn’t die when you swap out its battery either. 

Glorious improves on the formula popularized by SteelSeries, which made swappable, rechargeable batteries a feature worth caring about in a high-end headset. Its new $229.99 headset has zero audio downtime while swapping batteries because it has a fallback battery that can run up to three hours. This is a big upgrade over competing headsets, like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni and the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro 2, which disconnect the moment their batteries are removed for swapping.

Glorious GHS InfinitePlay headset

Where to Buy:

• $229.99 at Amazon
• $229.99 at Best Buy
• $229.99 at Glorious

The InfinitePlay’s battery-swapping system is faster and more foolproof, too. Its batteries insert into the right earpiece’s open slot like a cartridge, and you can’t install them incorrectly, so long as their grippy edge faces down. It’s easy to slot it in without breaking eye contact from my screen, and the audio never stops. Removing and inserting the batteries is fun, too — though battery life is long enough that I rarely had to swap them during my monthlong testing period. 

Almost every aspect of using the InfinitePlay is satisfying. The notched metal knobs facing toward the back of each ear cup make it simple to adjust volume and game/chat mix, or pick up phone calls and pause music when connected to my phone via Bluetooth. I’ve been using the headset mostly with a PC, where the battery-charging base station always has a full battery ready for use. But I can yank out its USB-C 2.4GHz transmitter when I want to play on my PlayStation 5 or the Steam Deck.

Sound quality is better than I expected from a company that’s fairly new to the audio space. Its bass, clarity, and soundstage yield a pleasant listening experience. You can get better audio quality at this price point if that’s your priority (the Fractal Scape is a good alternative). But Glorious nails a lot of the basics. The headset’s near-180-degree rotating ear cups don’t pinch my head, even with glasses on, and its bungee-style headband and adjustable side arms should let most people find a comfortable fit.

The InfinitePlay doesn’t have everything going for it. There’s no active noise cancellation, nor does it ship with a nice hard case, and its built-in mic sounds pretty lousy (use its detachable boom mic when at all possible). There’s a companion app that’s serviceable, but I wish there was a browser-based app to make it simpler to adjust settings. There are pricier headsets that do a better job at ticking more boxes. But if you’re looking for something that’s good and just won’t die, this $230 headset embarrasses pricier options with its no-look, no-downtime swapping process.

Photography by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

You probably know the signature PlayStation boot sound. Did you know that it’s technically a multi-part chime? There’s the synthy section where “Sony Computer Entertainment” shows onscreen with a white background. You only get to the next screen with the echo-y chimes and the color-filled PlayStation logo if your console recognizes the disc. How badly I wanted my sorta-broken console to get to that second screen.

My console’s disc spindle came apart pretty early into me owning it. As an eight-year-old kid, fixing the spindle was the riskiest undertaking of my life yet. The internet wasn’t really a haven for how-tos yet, so I superglued that thing, and it worked, sort of. But the spindle is supposed to be flexible to let the disc on and off (it had a rubber ring with small ball bearings in there, too — the mechanisms were blowing my mind at the time). So, pieces came off regularly, and I would just glue them back on and keep gaming.

The wait for the second part of the boot chime to activate on my console was agonizing. It would sometimes take close to 10 seconds, or not happen at all. The upside is that it my gaming time more precious, and it made Hallmark’s new Keepsake ornament of the console hit harder than I expected it to.

The company’s running series of console replicas is great, and its previous one was the Xbox 360 replica last year. It’s cool to see one made for a console with an even bigger legacy (one that’s not tainted by a widespread hardware issue). The PlayStation changed my relationship with gaming, as well as my relationship with tech.

The ornament celebrates the pre-DualShock version of the console. There are a lot of lovely details, like the ridged sides, the power plug, and the A/V port that Sony stuck with through the PlayStation 3. The controller is glued to the disc lid of the console, and its flexible cable is partially glued to its side. Upon pressing the power button, a green LED lights up, and the PlayStation chime plays in full — both parts. There are a few little imperfections that I noticed on my unit out of the box, and the power button’s font is a little crooked, but nothing that’s easy to notice at a couple feet away.

$28.99 for the ornament will either seem a bit steep, or totally acceptable, depending on how nostalgia-addled you are for this era of gaming. I’ve always been the kind of gamer who likes what I like without having to be loud about it. The ornament, like Hallmark’s other Keepsake models, is elegant and not too flashy. It’s just a PlayStation that can chill in a tree come time for the holidays. It’s also a fun memento that represents a great console that I played to pieces that I can display whenever and wherever I want.

Hallmark Keepsakes – PlayStation

Where to Buy:

• $28.99 at Amazon
• $28.99 at Hallmark

Discounts on the Nintendo Switch 2 are rare, but they do happen on occasion. There’s one happening now, actually, on the company’s $499.99 console bundle that includes a digital game (Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, or Pokémon Pokopia). Usually, the bundle saves you $20 or $30, depending on the game you choose, but for $449.99 at Amazon (discount reflected at checkout), Nintendo is effectively giving you a game for free.

Nintendo Switch 2 “Choose Your Game” bundle

Where to Buy:

• $529.99 $449.99 at Amazon

If you’re considering grabbing a Switch 2, I highly recommend doing so now. The biggest motivator (aside from its great selection of new games and near-complete compatibility with original Switch games) is that the console will get a price hike in September, going from $449.99 to $499.99. Also, it’s not clear if it will continue to include a discounted game with purchase at that point. So, you’re getting more value at $449.99 here than ever before.

Almost all gaming laptops have gone up in price over the past year. Curiously, the surprisingly fast Asus ROG Flow Z13 gaming laptop/tablet combo has not. It’s actually gotten quite a bit cheaper recently. Best Buy has the lowest price on the configuration that includes the AMD Ryzen AI Max Plus 395 “Strix Halo” chipset, a whopping 64GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. Originally $2,999.99, it’s down to $2,099.99. Amazon has a version with half the RAM selling for $100 less, but the 64GB model is, obviously, a far better deal.

Asus ROG Flow Z13 (2025)

Asus’ latest gaming tablet opts for integrated graphics over a discrete GPU. That sounds like a downgrade, but its AMD Strix Halo APU gives it solid battery life and graphics performance on par with RTX 4060 laptops. Read our review.

Where to Buy:

• $2299.99 $1999.99 at Amazon (AMD Ryzen AI Max Plus 395 + 32GB)
• $2999.99 $2099.99 at Best Buy (AMD Ryzen AI Max Plus 395 + 64GB)

The Flow Z13 isn’t for those who want 100-plus frames per second in every game running at the 13.4-inch tablet’s 1600p native resolution. Though, that’s not to say it doesn’t have chops. In Antonio’s review, he saw an average of 50 to 60 frames per second in even graphically-intensive games with low to medium settings. It can run Elden Ring’s high settings at around 50 frames per second at native resolution. Games that support FSR 3 and frame generation can go even higher. In a world where the Steam Deck OLED is a few hundred shy of $1,000, the portable (yet more powerful), stand-equipped Flow Z13 is a compelling alternative.

The novelty of the first Flow Z13 in 2022 was that it looked like a Surface tablet but could actually play games. The 2025 model looped into this deal actually delivers the gaming performance we were hoping for with the debut. Beyond gaming, its “Strix Halo” processor delivers incredible performance and battery life regardless of the task. While it can’t stack up to bulkier, pricier 16-inch gaming laptops like the Razer Blade 16 or Asus’ own Zephyrus G16 in GPU-focused tasks, it comes shockingly close considering its thin, take-anywhere form factor.

Some other great Verge-approved deals

• Nintendo’s Switch 2 USB-C camera is a tough sell at its regular $54.99 price because its video quality isn’t great, and there just aren’t that many Switch 2 games that take unique advantage of it (and the pay-to-access GameChat feature hasn’t really taken off for most people). However, the accessory is much easier to justify buying for just $9.99 at GameStop. While it hasn’t been difficult to find affordable webcams compatible with the Switch 2 since its mid-2025 launch, Nintendo’s own model is nevertheless tempting because of its sleek stand, adjustable design, and physical privacy shutter.
• Despite the unreasonably high costs associated with building PCs, I choose to believe that there are still some of you out there that are venturing to go down that path. No shade at all if you choose to build a cheaper DDR4-based system. There’s actually a good deal happening on the “new” AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D processor. The company re-released the 10-year-old processor in late June for $349, and it’s among the best models you can slide into a DDR4 / AM4 socket motherboard. Newegg is including a free MSI MAG Core 240mm liquid cooler (a $70 value) with the CPU to keep it cool. It’s one less component you have to worry about shelling out for.
• One of my favorite cables ever is $15.99 at Amazon. The Anker 2-in-1 USB-C cable is a frequent star in our deals coverage, reappearing once every couple months. The price doesn’t wiggle much (it spent a few weeks costing $19.99), but I enjoy shouting about it whenever I get the chance. The braided six-foot cable can support up to 140W passthrough if you connect your gadget to a charger that supports the speed. Although, the main attraction is being able to charge two devices at once. The cable can divide the power coming from your charger as needed, giving more to a product that’s more demanding of power.

If you’re the type of person who could always use a little extra positive affirmation, or you have a weakness for weird gadgets, the Talking Flower might be of interest. I’m only kind of serious. The toy is based on a character from Super Mario Bros. Wonder that guides Mario through levels with quippy, whimsical remarks. It’s a little weird that it even exists, but, then again, this is the company that made Alarmo.

The Talking Flower debuted for $34.99, but it got a small price reduction at Amazon and Walmart. It’ll instead cost you $29.99 to buy the cute talking toy.

Nintendo Talking Flower

Where to Buy:

• $34.99 $29.99 at Amazon
• $34.99 $29.99 at Walmart

The Talking Flower doesn’t have much utility. Unlike the $110 Alarmo, it can’t serve as an alarm even though it asks when you go to bed and wake up (so that it knows when to keep quiet). It’s there to call out every passing hour when you’re awake, and to say random stuff unprompted. It can make comments about the general time of day, as well as the temperature thanks to its built-in thermometer. The Talking Flower lacks a microphone, and it doesn’t connect to the internet. However, it has a button that’ll make it say things, if you don’t want to wait for it to randomly blurt out its pre-programmed thoughts. Like in the video game, you can select the language it speaks.

My colleague Andrew Webster went hands-on with the Talking Flower, and his takeaway was that it’s a drip feed of whimsy. However, it would occasionally say something that reminded Andrew to take care of himself, whether it be to slow down and relax or to take a lunch break. I’m entertained by many reviews on Amazon, which highlight that buyers are split on being annoyed with the Talking Flower, but loving it anyway — just like the character in Wonder.

It’s not a great time to shop for a gaming laptop. The unprecedented rise in cost for RAM (and storage to a slightly lesser extent) has made laptops with low-to-midrange specs cost much more than they should. Recent deals on gaming laptops worth your attention have been uninspiring, but one recently caught my eye: MSI’s Katana laptop with a 15.6-inch 1440p display, Nvidia’s RTX 5060 GPU, a fast Intel Core i7 CPU, and the pairing of 16GB DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD costs $1,133.67 at Amazon.

MSI Katana 15 HX (2025)

Where to Buy:

• $1499.99 $1133.67 at Amazon (Core i7 14650HX, RTX 5060)

It’s a little painful to be able to recall a time when you used to be able to sometimes find the 4070 or the 5070 GPU variants in laptops around this price point, but those times are behind us for now (but hopefully ahead of us, too, sooner than later). Regardless, the Katana is a good value if you’re shopping in the $1,100 ballpark. I particularly like that its screen has a fast 165Hz refresh rate, and that it’s not hurting for ports. In addition to its barrel plug charging port, it has three USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, a single USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port that can output video, an HDMI 2.1 port supporting up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 120Hz output, Ethernet, and a headphone jack.

While RAM is bananas expensive right now, the Katana supports up to 96GB of DDR5 RAM clocked at 6,000MHz via two user-accessible slots. It has just one M.2 SSD slot, though. All of the specifications are listed on MSI’s site.

Other Verge-approved deals for your consideration

• You might already have a good Ethernet switch, but maybe you’ve been kicking around the thought of upgrading. Ugreen’s 10-port gigabit switch doesn’t seem all that remarkable, if not for the fact that eight of its ports support power over Ethernet (PoE). More smart home devices are launching with support the tech, which lets you power devices and supply internet connectivity with a single cable. The switch — now down to $37.97 at Amazon (it fluctuates between this price and around $50) — can deliver up to 60W to certain devices, and it’s over $20 less than TP-Link’s similar model. If you don’t envision using this feature, you can get a switch without PoE for much less money.
• Hold onto your shells: the limited edition bundle of the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trilogy from the 1990s is down to $39.09 at Amazon and Walmart. Containing each of the films in 4K Blu-ray (Dolby Vision and HDR10-compatible) would be enough for me at this price, but the set contains a bunch of extras that fans like me will likely enjoy. It contains posters, cards, and other physical trinkets, plus director’s commentaries, interviews, and lossless audio. I wonder how young is too young to show these movies to my kid. I adored The Secret of the Ooze as a youngster.
• Lastly for today, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is $55.99 at Steam during the platform’s summer sale through July 9th. But you can get it for $10 less at Newegg. The online retailer is offering this price when you use the code 5DSUMMER at checkout. The PC port came out several months after the PlayStation 5 version launched, yet it’s great to see that it’s already more affordable to buy on Steam than a physical pre-owned copy for PS5 at GameStop. PC players can enjoy 21:9 aspect ratio support, plus a host of graphical improvements not present in the console version. Read our review.