Technologies

Here Are the Best Steam Wargames Fest and Star Wars May the 4th Be With You Deals

Save money and grow your gaming backlog with these Star Wars deals and Steam Wargame Fest discounts.

Steam is one of the most popular PC gaming platforms, selling more than 400 million total games in 2023, according to Statista. The digital PC gaming service boasts a massive catalog of over 76,000 titles. I first discovered Steam in university — until then, I’d never had my own computer, so the allure of PC gaming proved irresistible. What started as a humble dozen games (like Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life) blossomed into a collection of over 220 titles, thanks mainly to Steam sales. (Please don’t ask me how many items from my library I’ve actually played.)

Currently, you can snag some discounted war games at the Steam Wargames Fest, or load up on Star Wars titles for a May the 4th sale. Whether you’re trying to save a few bucks on one of the latest big-name AAA games, want to add more indie games to your digital shelf or need to fill up your Steam Deck hard drive, here’s everything you need to know about Steam sales and how to save money.

Best Steam May the 4th Star Wars game deals

Steam’s May the 4th Be With You sale slashes prices on a slew of Star Wars games. Here are some of the best deals we saw:

Best Steam Wargames Fest deals

You won’t have to resist reaching for your wallet with these deep discounts.

When are the next Steam sales?

There are four main Steam seasonal sales. The next major Steam Sale — the Steam Summer Sale — runs June 26 to July 10, 2025. There are also smaller sales, called Fests. Typically, the Steam Winter and Summer Sales last about two weeks, whereas the Spring and Autumn Sales last for one week, give or take.

Steam Summer Sale (June 26 to July 10, 2025)
Steam Autumn Sale (was Nov. 27 to Dec. 4, 2024)
Steam Winter Sale (was Dec. 19, 2024, to Jan. 2, 2025)
Steam Spring Sale (was March 13-20, 2025)

How often are Steam sales?

Steam Sales are pretty frequent, with at least one per month. While the big seasonal sales are quarterly — winter, fall, spring and summer — there are dozens of smaller sales or fests. Typically, these Steam discount days revolve around a particular theme, with lowered prices on titles within a certain genre, like fighting games or role-playing games.

Here’s how I save money with Steam sales (and you can too)

Take advantage of your wish list

Adding games to your Steam wish list simplifies figuring out what to snag — or skip — during a sale. You can sort your wish list by discount, so finding the biggest savings is a breeze.

Add a game to your wish list whenever you see one you like the look of but don’t immediately want to play. Then, during a Steam sale, pop in, sort by discount and see which prices have plummeted the most. Or, you can arrange your wish list in order of your most wanted titles, then choose what to buy that way during one of the upcoming Steam sales.

Use SteamDB to find the largest discounts

SteamDB is an excellent source for uncovering deals. Its many filters let you sort attributes, including discount percentage, rating, price or reviews, making it a helpful Steam sales tracker. You can even narrow down a list based on platform — Windows, Linux or MacOS — and features like controller support. I’ve even used SteamDB to nab free games, like a no-cost copy of Tell Me Why.

I typically hop into SteamDB during a Steam sale to look for hefty discounts on highly rated games. It’s worth checking SteamDB even outside of seasonal sales and fests if you want to expand your Steam collection.

Shop for older titles, indie games, DLC and complete catalogs

Often, newer AAA games get heavy markdowns — but because of their usually high price tags, even the discounted cost isn’t cheap. However, you can find wallet-friendly older games, indies or downloadable content. For instance, I picked up a copy of The Sum of All Fears for just $2, which wasn’t even during a Steam sale.

Complete publisher catalogs or franchise bundles save you a ton of money. I’ve seen the Activision Collection bundle — typically $900 — for as low as $355. While over $350 might not be pocket change, the per-title breakdown is pretty cost-effective when you’re getting 53 games. Similarly, I’ve seen the Call of Duty Franchise bundle for $443, a steep drop from its usual $1,010.

You can often get DLC packs pretty cheap during Steam sales, which provide more in-game content to enjoy. On the other hand, these comprehensive bundles might lead you to overspend if you’re not actually planning on playing, say, every single Call of Duty game under the sun.

Check your other game libraries to make sure you’re not double-dipping

Although Steam is incredibly popular, it’s not the only source for digital game purchases. Check your other libraries on GOG, Epic, EA Origin and Xbox Game Pass, for instance, to ensure you’re not double-dipping. While you could buy Cyberpunk 2077 on Steam and GOG, you probably don’t need two copies.

Cross-shop deals on other platforms

With many Steam alternatives, including GOG, Epic, Origin and Fanatical, you can find sweet discounts from several outlets. While you can — and should — check those individual storefronts, IsThereAnyDeal is a comprehensive source for savings. So you might notice a great deal on Skyrim from Steam, but it might be available at an even lower price at Epic at the same time.

Set a budget

Adding a bunch of games to your cart can be tempting, especially with prices slashed by 75% or more. However, lots of cheap games can still add up. I typically set a budget — whether it’s monetary or a limit on the number of games — and stick to that.

Don’t feel compelled to buy anything

The best way to save money is by not spending it in the first place. I know, it’s tempting to load up your cart with $5 or $10 games, which is nearly as gratifying as an in-game loot grab. But only buy what you’ll play now or soon after purchasing. While there are rare instances where games get delisted on Steam, chances are if you pass up on a sweet deal, it’ll still be available during the next Steam sale.

A complete list of Steam sale dates

Outside of Steam’s seasonal sales, there are different genre-themed sales or fests. Steam fests revolve around a genre or game theme. Here are the upcoming Steam fests for the remainder of 2024 and the first half of 2025 as announced by Steam, along with examples of Steam games on sale you might find:

Wargames Fest (April 28-May 5, 2025): Get your fight on with slashed prices on titles that may include Six Days in Fallujah, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 and Europa Universalis IV.
Creature Collector Fest (May 12-19, 2025): If you like Pokémon, you’ll love these discounts on games like Palworld, Digimon World: Next Order and Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin.
Zombies vs. Vampires Fest (May 26-June 2, 2025): Unreal deals on the undead and living dead — titles you may see on sale include Resident Evil 4, The House of the Dead Remake and Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines.
Steam Next Fest June Edition (June 9-16, 2025): Demos, livestreams and developer chats showcasing upcoming games.
Fishing Fest (June 16-23, 2025): No fishing license required for these great games. You could see prices sink for games like Bassmaster Fishing, Fishing Planet, Bass Pro Shops Fishing Sim World or Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos.
Real-Time Strategy Fest ( was Jan. 20-27, 2025): Reap the rewards of discounted RTS strategy games — you might find Hearts of Iron IV, Manor Lords or DOTA 2 on sale.
Idler Fest (was Feb. 3-10, 2025): If you want to play a video game that lets you progress without too much demanding effort, an idler is a great choice. Examples of what you could find on the cheap include Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realm, Firestone and Rusty’s Retirement.
Couch Co-Op Fest (was Feb. 10-17, 2025): Couch co-op games let you play with friends in the same room. You may see games like It Takes Two, Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection for wallet-friendly prices.
Steam Next Fest February Edition (was Feb. 24-March 10, 2025): Demos, developer chats and livestreams featuring up-and-coming games.
Visual Novel Fest (was March 3-10, 2025): Stock up your Steam library on graphic novel and anime-adjacent games without breaking the bank. You might see Persona 3 Reload, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy or Vampire Therapist at attractively low costs.
City Builder & Colony Sim Fest (was March 24-31, 2025): Build your own virtual worlds, and cop titles like Anno 1800, Ages of Empires IV or RimWorld on sale.
Sokoban Fest (was April 21-28, 2025): Pick up some puzzle games like Isles of Sea and Sky or Schein.

When is the next Steam Next Fest?

There’s an upcoming Steam Next Fest running February 24 to March 3, 2025. The Steam Next Fest highlights upcoming game releases, featuring developer chats, free playable game demos and livestreams. Some of the most played demos from the June 2024 Steam Next Fest included Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, Once Human and Level Zero: Extraction.

Here’s what I bought on Steam recently

So what did I stock up on at a recent Steam Sale? Mass Effect Legendary Edition — three games for $2 apiece was too good a deal to skip. I also snagged Middle-earth: Shadow of War. While I picked up Shadow of Mordor at a previous Steam Sale, I’ve not yet added its sequel to my metaphorical shelf. As a big cinephile and fan of movie tie-in games (like Peter Jackson’s King Kong), I was excited to get Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine alongside Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb for $4 total. Although I own it in EA Origin, I snagged a $1 copy of Alice: Madness Returns, because at that price, it was too juicy a discount to pass up.

How to get the most out of Steam once you’ve ravaged your wallet during a Steam sale

Once you’ve drained your bank account dry on games you’ll likely never play, there’s a lot more you can do with Steam, like sharing your library with friends or family, using Remote Play Together and adding non-Steam games. I suggest installing the Steam Link app on your phone, tablet or streaming device for playing your games away from your PC. You can also game on the go with the Steam Deck or another handheld gaming console like the Asus ROG Ally. Or, you can share your Steam library with up to five family members using Steam Families.

Technologies

Google Takes Aim at Duolingo With AI Tools to Help You Learn New Languages

The tech giant is the latest company to adopt AI tools in order to teach foreign languages — but it isn’t the first.

Google is debuting three new AI experiments that are intended to help users learn foreign languages on the go. The tools utilize Google’s Gemini large language model to identify objects and situations in a user’s immediate environment and provide translations that could help users ask for help or spark a conversation.

If you want to give the new experiments a try, you can find them on the Google Labs webpage. Google experiments aren’t applications, which means you don’t have to download anything to get started. You can just click into the experiment you want to try and begin typing in your prompts.

Read more: Best AI Chatbots of 2025

In debuting these new features, Google is going head-to-head with other foreign language-learning services that are also focusing on AI tools. Duolingo’s CEO recently announced that the company «will be going AI-first,» and OpenAI’s ChatGPT has the ability to begin new foreign-language conversations at any time upon request.

Tiny Lesson: Describe a situation

Google’s new Tiny Lesson tool allows users to describe a situation they’re in to learn vocabulary and grammar that can help describe a problem to the locals. Using the provided context, the tool will provide suggestions that aid users in understanding how to ask for help if they haven’t learned specific phrases tailored to their current issue.

Slang Hang: Casual talk

The Slang Hang tool promotes casual conversation over rigid sentence structure and grammatical agreement, teaching users how to drop the formalities and adapt a more colloquial way of speaking a foreign language. Slang Hang simulates conversations between native speakers and lets users discover what any words or phrases in the series of messages mean. The AI model sometimes misidentifies or hallucinates words, so you’ll need to double-check with another source when using this feature.

Word Cam: Detect items in photographs

The third and final new tool, Word Cam, uses Gemini to detect objects in photographs you take — providing you translations for your surroundings in the foreign language you’re learning. This feature helps you describe the world around you, but it’s possible that Gemini may not accurately label every single object in a picture you take. It’s still worth double-checking the translations you’re provided against another source while using Word Cam.

The language-learning experiments were created as a way to «inspire developers using Gemini for building different use cases and experiences,» Google representative Maggie Shiels told CNET.

This particular set of experiments is meant to focus on using the multimodal LLM as a way to promote bite-sized lessons on the go.

Google’s new features aren’t launching for every language — at least, not yet. Tiny Lesson, Slang Hang and Word Cam currently support translations for the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish languages.

Shiels said that Tiny Lesson, Slang Hang and Word Cam — like other Google Labs experiments — are not products and are not meant to be permanent features.

«This is a limited-time tool that will eventually sunset,» she told CNET. «We hope that developers have fun playing around.»

Technologies

With ‘Hey Meta,’ Ray-Ban Wearers Will Unlock All-New AI Abilities — and Privacy Concerns

The Meta smart glasses from Ray-Ban will soon be able to hold conversations about exactly what you’re seeing or hearing

As Google starts to revive its Google Glass concept, Meta is already a step ahead with new artificial intelligence functions coming to glasses this summer. The Ray-Ban smart glasses, in partnership with Meta, are getting several powerful AI updates for US and Canadian users.

Operating the Meta View app on a connected smartphone, users of Ray-Ban smart glasses will also be able to use the «Hey Meta, start live AI» command to give Meta AI a live view of whatever they are seeing through their glasses.

Similar to Google’s Gemini demo, users will be able to ask Meta AI conversational questions about what it sees and how it might solve problems. Meta provided the example of Meta AI giving possible substitutes for butter based on what it sees when you look in the pantry.

Even without live AI, you’ll be able to ask specific questions about objects that you’re looking at.

In addition to new seasonal looks, Ray-Ban’s smart glasses also will be able to use the «Hey Meta, start live translation» command to automatically translate incoming languages including English, French, Italian and Spanish. The glasses’ speakers will translate as other people talk and you can hold up your phone so the other party can see a translated transcript too.

Meta AI and concerns about being filmed

When I reached Inna Tokarev Sela, CEO and founder of AI data company illumex about privacy issues with smart glasses like these, she mentioned that in her own experience with Ray-Ban smart glasses, people usually reacted when they noticed the recording indicator light, which meant the glasses were watching. That can make some people uneasy, whether they are concerned about being filmed by a stranger or by what Meta may be doing with all that visual data it’s collecting.

«In the new models you can control the notification light, which could pose a privacy risk,» Sela said. «But everyone films everyone all the time anyway at touristy landmarks, public events, etc. What I expect is that Meta will not divulge any information on anyone, unless they register and explicitly give their consent.»

This could lead to other consent headaches too, depending on if users are recording for other purposes. «For example, users should be able to opt in and choose the type of information to expose when they’re in someone’s frame — similar to LinkedIn, for example,» Sela said. «Of course, any recording resulting from the glasses should not be admissible to use in a court of law, as with any other kind of recording, without explicit permission.»

Additional updates and rollout schedules

Along with the AI upgrades, Ray-Ban’s smart glasses will be able to post automatically on Instagram or send a message on Messenger with the right voice commands. New compatibility with music streaming services also will allow you to play songs through Amazon Music, Apple Music and Spotify on your glasses in lieu of earbuds.

Meta reports that the rollout of these new features will happen this spring and summer, along with object recognition updates for EU users arriving in late April and early May.

Meta and Ray-Ban didn’t immediately respond to a request for further comment.

Technologies

Amazon Prime Day Is Coming Back in July, With Tariffs Looming Large

Amazon’s big annual sales event for Prime members could be dampened by price hikes on imported goods. Here’s what to look for.

Amazon Prime Day will return in July. Amazon on Tuesday announced the 2025 edition of the summer shopping event, which typically brings some of its best Amazon deals of the year.

The mega retailer isn’t yet announcing specific dates, according to Amazon spokesperson Alicia Hopkins, who responded via email to questions about the timing. The two-day sales event, which is exclusively for Prime members, took place last year July 16-17.

Looming price hikes due to tariffs could impact how much savings shoppers can expect.

According to some reports, Amazon will start displaying the original prices of products alongside how much the Trump administration’s tariffs add to a product’s price, although the company denied this to Reuters.

The White House immediately denounced any such plan by Amazon.

«This is a hostile and political act by Amazon,» Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a White House press briefing on Tuesday. Amazon did not immediately respond to a follow-up request.

So what could tariffs mean for your Prime Day shopping?

How could tariffs affect Prime Day deals?

Prices on everything, including electronics, are expected to rise as a result of Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which he originally announced on April 2. He quickly followed with a 90-day pause for most of the tariffs, but left triple-digit tariffs in place for China and a 10% baseline tariff for goods imported from other countries.

The administration has since said that it’s in the process of making deals with many countries to ease tariffs, but no official announcements have been released yet. Some companies, including Apple, have taken steps to reduce the impact of tariffs on their products, including reportedly moving some manufacturing operations to India.

If the 90-day tariff pause is lifted before agreements can be reached, they would take effect in July — the same month as Amazon’s Prime Day event.

If retailers pass along the full cost of the tariffs, it could mean we’ll be paying double (or more) for products manufactured in other countries. Shoppers on bargain sites Temu and Shein have already seen prices skyrocket as much as 377% ahead of the tariffs.

After launching the original Prime Day in 2015, the retailer has expanded the number of its sales events, including a Big Spring Sale in March and Prime Big Deal Days in October.