Govee Gaming Pixel Light Review: These Lights Make My Dumb Gamer Brain a Little Too Happy
The bare walls of my bedroom—bedecked as they are with sporadic small prints but devoid of lights—demand I add some flair to my usually nerdy living space. The Govee Gaming Pixel Light seemed to fit the bill a little too well when I saw it back at CES 2025. The specialized display doesn't support enough colors to show all my favorite 8- or 16-bit artwork at their best quality, and it won't produce strong enough audio for anything more complicated than classic chiptunes. If the digital art and speaker for my desk didn't sport cringey decals and a frame that would make visitors assume I chugged Mountain Dew Game Fuel for breakfast, it would be the perfect antidote to my dull apartment.
Govee sent me a pair of pre-release Gaming Pixel Lights long before the company finally made them available on May 19. It sat on my desk for ages, showing me a 32-pixel version of Samus from Super Metroid. Her staunch, visored visage helped me get through the hectic days. Both the $120 32×32 and $140 52×32 pixel frames don't take much effort to set up, though the digital wall or desk art lacks a battery and needs to be plugged into an outlet. Once it's connected through the Govee Home app, you'll have a wide variety of default and user-made effects to add to the screen. Yes, you can stick a static image on the screen, but the real fun comes from displaying GIFs of scenes from your favorite 8-, 16-, or perhaps a few 32-bit retro games.
Govee Gaming Pixel Light
It does what it needs to do, but limited colors limits what it can show.
Pros Bright enough to work in most environments
Bright enough to work in most environments Wide variety of art in the app
Wide variety of art in the app 30 fps on GIFs offers speedy 8-bit images
Cons Gamer aesthetic isn't for everyone
Gamer aesthetic isn't for everyone Low-fidelity speaker
Low-fidelity speaker Limited color range for pixel art
Depending on how complicated your image is, the pixel light may have a harder time displaying every pixel with perfect color accuracy. The smaller device contains 1,024 lights, while the 52×32 version sports 1,664. The $155 Divoom Pixoo-64—a competing pixel light with a 64×64 pixel field—supports 4,096. Considering the limited lights, a 32×32 pixel image of ET might look great on the smaller Pixel Light, but a fan-made 8-bit portrait of Arielle from The Little Mermaid that appears fine on my phone lacked the color definition necessary to show fine features on her nose or hair. The more stark the colors, the better each image or GIF will appear. The screen is bright enough on its highest settings, but you can set it to dim or turn off on a timer if you want to sleep without a rainbow of pixelated light shining at you.
Images look marginally better on the larger display thanks to its wider range of colors, but you'll still need to try out various images until you find one that fits your style. You can also upload your own artwork to the Govee app, though any of your photos you take from your phone will turn out splotchy and incoherent on the Pixel Light. You may find that uploading your own pixel art could produce mixed results. I had to try several different versions of Samus before I found a Metroid image that didn't look half bad. The GIFs play at 30 fps, which made a GIF of Sonic's classic spinning leg running animation look extra smooth. Divoom's similar offering runs at 24 fps.
The device includes a rear 3W DSP speaker made for pairing your favorite chiptunes with this artwork. The built-in speakers aren't enough to fill a room with sound, but even without much bass, it's just enough to offer a retro feel, as if I was listening to a game on the age-old mono Game Boy speaker. The device itself has a single button for controlling volume and no physical mute button, which means you're forced to load into the app just to adjust your sound. All this meant I was more likely to eschew music entirely. After all, if you're planning to use your Govee Pixel Light to spruce up your gaming room, you'll end up listening to the game you're playing anyway.
If you're the type to pick up a brush, you could create your own art and animated GIFs with the sketch mode. It's certainly easier to use with a stylus, but I don't have the time, patience, or ability to sketch something that will look any nicer than the artists who do pixel art for a living. The device has almost too many modes, from a clock feature to a stock ticker. There's even a counter to tell you the current price of bitcoin, as if you really need to pay attention to crypto prices on your fun, cute pixel monitor.
The Pixel Light seems to think gamers want a very specific aesthetic, one full of cyberpunk-esque hard-edged contours with decals reading 'loading' and 'game.' A black frame is all I really need. The art is the reason you buy Govee's first real gamer product. But damn me if I enjoy it blaring the Magmar Caverns theme from my desktop, as if my bedroom had any more need for even more Metroid artwork.
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Women Who've Rejected Marriage Proposals Are Sharing Exactly Why They Said No, And Honestly, Thank Goodness They Did
Reddit user rosieposiepoo333 recently asked, "Women who have turned down proposals, how did you do it?" We also asked women of the BuzzFeed Community to chime in with their stories. Here's what they shared: 1."I broke up with my ex on the day we were supposed to go ring shopping. He tearfully told me how he had inherited enough money from his great aunt to buy the ring of my dreams, and I told him it didn't matter because our relationship wasn't meant to be. It was not an actual proposal, but the closest I got to marriage before I met my now-husband." —question_girl617 2."It wasn't pleasant. I walked him further down the beach and explained why the proposal failed. They were things we agreed upon, or so I thought. We wanted and agreed on a private moment, but he invited everybody. We wanted something very quiet, but he had a whole band playing and photographers. I wanted a simple, low-key necklace, maybe something simple with moonstone, mother of pearl, or opal, which he seemed excited about. But he gave me a very expensive amber chunky ring with a dead bug in it. Only our entomology friend liked the ring; everyone else was very confused or grossed out." "Then I asked him to try again. He took it well until he saw our friends. Then he sobbed loudly and complained to everybody about how I rejected him. We were engaged for like eight years. He never tried again, by the way." —Not-A-SoggyBagel 3."I did it in the worst way. I said, 'That will never happen.' To be fair, we were not in love; he was my boss, and he told me he had a list of things he looked for in a woman, and I checked off the boxes." —After-Carpenter-4089 4."It was the wrong ring. I know that sounds super shallow, but I have a very specific ring in mind and am very vocal about it. My friends know, my family knows, my colleagues know. There is no hiding my particular style. I like yellow gold, and I detest diamonds. Anything that fit that description would have worked. Instead, I ended up with a sterling silver ring with the ugliest cut diamond I have ever seen. My partner was obviously not listening to me and had not discussed proposing to me with my father (I'm a little traditional) or my friends. So I said no. Now, I'm in a relationship with a man who has already talked to me about ring choices, discussed his engagement plan with my closest friends, and had the conversation with BOTH of my parents regarding the proposal and his plans to marry me." —Anonymous 5."I was proposed to three times before I met the man I eventually married. In those days, a proposal was considered a private moment between two people, not a public performance. In each case, I told them that, while I cared for them and was honored that they cared enough for me to want to marry me, I did not think we had the foundation for a compatible and happy marriage. In all three cases, they were not surprised that I said no. They were just hopeful that, if I saw how serious they were, I might be more willing to compromise on what I wanted for my future." —readbackcorrect 6."It was not in public, and it was not done politely. A lot happened between us, and it was mostly not good. I may have laughed and told him that he'd lost his mind, and maybe he should've asked one of his side pieces (he didn't know I knew). I knew he was never going to be the person I married. He was toxic, and he turned me into the worst version of myself, and I was finally starting to see it. He just didn't realize the same thing." —GiveMeAlienRomances 7."My ex gave me a ring that he picked up from his mom's house as she was going through her jewelry and getting rid of some stuff. 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I had never taken drugs other than trying weed as a teen, so I wasn't able to read the signs correctly. He was doing it at night when I went to bed. That was the end of that." —Poullafouca 11."My partner has 'proposed' four times to me and I've always said no. He proposed the first time after two years of being together. I said no because we were long-distance at the time. Then I finally got a job near his place, so we moved in together, and I soon got pregnant. We had our son, and our relationship turned very sour. I think we both had postpartum depression. This is when he decided to propose for the second time. Of course, I said no. We worked on our relationship. It took us a very long time, but we managed to get through our problems — at least it felt like it. Fast forward seven years, and we got pregnant with our second son. I thought we were in a good place, but I found out he was chatting with other women during the first few months I was pregnant with our second son. When I confronted him, after a week of arguments, we agreed to go to a restaurant to have a 'neutral' place to talk, without our sons, and he proposed again. I said no." "It's been eight years since then, and I've been in survival mode for my sons. He proposed once again last year. The ring has changed, but not my answer. As I type this, I realize how toxic we are for one another, and we are both to blame. I guess he proposes to me for the wrong reasons, and I keep saying no because I probably know deep down he's not the one for me, and I'm not the one for him. We've been together 19 years; our sons are nearly 16 and 9. The proposals were always casual, but they always came with a ring. I'm turning 40, and I know my sons deserve better because both my partner and I are unhappy in our silent relationship." —Anonymous 12."I knew he was planning to propose because I overheard him talking to his mother about redesigning family heirloom rings. I wasn't sure how much I even liked him, let alone if I'd commit to marrying him! I tried to talk to him about how good it was to take things slowly, but a week later, the proposal came regardless. I said how I felt honored by the rings, but couldn't accept them because it felt too soon for me, and then I returned them. He became very pushy, saying things like I was just overwhelmed, and of course, I wanted to be with him forever. I said I wasn't overwhelmed, I just didn't think he was 'the one.' It was sudden, and we hadn't even discussed our core beliefs." "He said I'd never get anyone better than him, and he'd give me a week to think about it. I had many possessions at his house but packed everything and left when he went to work. He was furious, so I stopped taking his calls. I spent the next decade dating, loving, and losing, and then I found a guy I knew I had a good future with. 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