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Operation Epic Furious Invades D.C.

Plus Board Game Geek announces the winners of the Golden Geek Awards

Jason Dean

Jason Dean

— 5 min read
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Operation Epic Furious Invades D.C.
Screenshot from Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell

An arcade-style video game recently appeared in the National Mall. Find out the details including the game’s theme and why it is there. Also, BoardGameGeek announced the winners of the 2026 Golden Geek awards, and four new video games were elected to the Hall of Fame. All this and more of the latest headlines. Let’s go!

Operation Epic Furious

Screenshot from Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell

Visitors to the Washington D.C. War Memorial found something they may not have expected: an arcade cabinet with a playable video game. 

The game is called Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell, and is an art installation by the guerrilla art group The Secret Handshake. According to the artist, the game is meant to criticize the U.S. invasion of Iran. In the game, users play as President Donald Trump as he initiates war in the Middle East. The game uses Trump’s own Truth Social posts to describe what is happening. Many of the President's cabinet members also make an appearance in the game. 

According to the Washington Post, over 14,000 people have played the arcade version of the game. For those who are unable to check out the art installation in person, The Secret Handshake also created a browser-based version of the game available for anyone to play.

The Golden Geek winners are announced

The 20th annual Golden Geek Awards announced their winners, with The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship taking home three awards.

The Golden Geeks are voted on by members of the BoardGameGeek website. While Fate of the Fellowship was the biggest winner taking home three awards, Vantage and Hot Streak also did well, winning two each. 

Below is the complete list of winners. You can also check the runners-up in each category at the BoardGameGeek website. 

The 2026 World Video Game Hall of Fame Inductees

2026 Video Game HOF inductees via Strong Museum

The Strong National Museum of Play recently induced four new games into its World Video Game Hall of Fame. 

Qualifications to be inducted include games that “enjoyed popularity over a sustained period and have exerted influence on the video game industry or on popular culture and society in general.” The 2026 inductees include:

Click on the links above to see The Strong’s writeup on the 2026 inductees, or check out all the games elected to the Hall of Fame since The Strong started it in 2015.

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Garfield comes to Magic: The Gathering

🎞️Our latest Game Trailer Friday featured Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, The Talos Principle 3 and KingFish, among others. Check it out! 

🎶 The developer of the game Mixtape dismissed claims that the game will delist eventually for its use of licensed music. 

🧑🏾‍⚖️ A bill to block game publishers from killing online games has advanced through the California Assembly. 

👋🏻 Meanwhile, Lego 2K Drive is being delisted from digital storefronts May 19, and its servers are shutting down May 31, 2027. 

🎮 Images of two new Xbox controllers have leaked online, including a new Elite controller and one designed for cloud gaming. 

🐈 Garfield, the famous cartoon cat, is coming to Magic: The Gathering. 

🔫 Bungie provided updates on the next season of their game Marathon, which will include a PvE-only mode. 

⛔ Surprising no one, eBay rejected GameStop’s takeover bid.

🚕 Sega cancelled development of its “super game,” and is instead focusing on developing its classic franchises like Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Golden Axe, and Streets of Rage.

🤖 Amazon pressured one of its game studios to build a game using generative AI. The studio closed before anything was released. 

🖥️ Capcom says 93% of its game sales are now digital. 

📺 A Wordle game show hosted by Savannah Guthrie and produced by Jimmy Fallon is coming to NBC. 

🥽 Virtual reality exclusives Moss and Moss: Book II are being remade for consoles and PC, and should be out this summer. 

🆓 Discord Nitro subscribers will receive a "starter edition" of Xbox Game Pass through a new partnership with Microsoft. 

🧑🏻‍⚖️ Nintendo sent a cease and desist letter to WWE wrestler Cody Rhodes for wearing boots that featured a Zelda Triforce logo. 

📈 Round numbers: pirate game Windrose sold over 2 million copies Invincible VS hit 1 million players and Subnautica 2 sold 2 million copies in 12 hours. 

New Releases this week:

LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

Check out our article on 10 new games to play in May for a more detailed look at some of these titles: 

5/19: Forza Horizon 6 (Xbox and PC )
5/19: R-Type Dimensions 3 (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
5/20: Thick as Thieves (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)
5/20: Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core (PC)
5/21: Coffee Talk Tokyo (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
5/21: Yoshi and the Mysterious Book (Switch)
5/22: Bubsy 4D (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
5/22: LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)

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