As the previously leaked launch date of Sony's upcoming PlayStation 6 approaches, leaks and rumors abound, with many claiming that the upcoming gaming console will launch later than initially expected. Now, reputable leaker, KeplerL2, has taken to the NeoGAF forums to dispel some of the doom and gloom surrounding the launch date and potential delays of the PS6. The leaker's reasoning stems not from some insider information, but rather from a simple application of logic, asking a fellow commenter "What copium? You think AMD is gonna waste resources doing validation on something they think will get delayed?"

The reasoning seems to be that, based on information like prior leaks, that AMD has already been working on custom APUs for both the living room version and the handheld model of the PlayStation 6, and that AMD would not continue validation of those APUs if it thought there were supply constraints that would lead to a delay ahead of the console family's expected launch date. It's also possible that AMD and Sony signed the supply contracts for the Canis and Orion APUs before the current DRAM crisis was in full swing, effectively making a launch delay impossible or at least less likely. However, this would mean that the console makers would have a batch of hardware ready for launch followed by intermittent or delayed supply—at least as long as the DRAM shortage holds. There have also been rumors that Sony will be drastically increasing the price of the PS6 consoles compared to the PS5 generation, although this appears to be at least somewhat contingent on Microsoft's Xbox Helix pricing strategy.

Microsoft has been addressing the recent wave of "Microslop" criticism that has emerged online in response to the forced integration of AI into its products. Specifically, Microsoft has been promoting its Copilot applications, products, and even Copilot-branded hardware like Copilot+ AI PCs to consumers. However, this is just the scratching the surface, as the actual number of Copilot variants is much higher than what the average PC enthusiast might consider. If you've ever wondered how many Copilot applications exist, the official count stands at 80 Copilot applications, products, services, and hardware that the Redmond giant has developed. Across every Microsoft vertical, there is a Copilot icon in some form, even present on Copilot+ PCs with its own dedicated Copilot key. This represents the biggest branding overhaul in Microsoft's history, as the company traditionally distinguished products with unique features and names.

However, the popularity of its ecosystem is at an all-time low, particularly within the PC community, which interacts most with the Windows 11 operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of applications, formerly known as the Office package, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and others. Regular consumers are largely unaware of the extent of the Copilot branding, as Microsoft has extended its AI narrative to consumer and business chatbots, developer tools, desktop applications, Copilot applications within other applications, enterprise platforms, hardware, and business software serving the enterprise sector. At some point, the community narrative suggests that the branding is being pushed a bit too aggressively, as Windows 11 users, who interact daily with the world's most widely distributed operating system, have openly discussed the drawbacks of the forced Copilot integration.

Intel's upcoming "Nova Lake" CPU generation, part of the Core Ultra 400 series, will be a major refresh of the company's P and E-core hybrid design. While many specifications have been largely leaked, the exact integrated GPU configuration remained a mystery until now. One of the most reliable Intel leakers, Jaykihn, has revealed that Intel plans to use the Xe3 generation of graphics, which is found in the current "Panther Lake" Arc B300 series of integrated GPUs. The display and media engine will come from the Xe3P "Crescent Island." Previously, we reported the source's claim that the "Nova Lake" display and media engine would incorporate some IP elements from the Xe4 "Druid" generation of graphics. However, the actual underlying hardware is not related to Xe4 and instead borrows IP from Xe3P.

Intel's plans for "Nova Lake" are focused on late 2026, with the entire lineup expected to roll out in early 2027. The platform will support DDR5 memory at 8,000 MT/s out of the box, without any overclocking. This indicates an improved integrated memory controller on the Nova Lake platform, which seems ready to handle those speeds even before XMP or factory-overclocked modules are considered. It also suggests that Intel is pushing memory support further than its current controller, which reaches DDR5-7200 on the current "Arrow Lake Refresh," alongside the new core IP and updated configuration.

Intel has quietly added the Core Ultra 7 251HX to its Arrow Lake HX lineup, skipping any formal announcement. The chip simply appeared on the Intel website a few weeks after it surfaced in Lenovo Legion 5i 2026 and MSI Raider 16 HX listings. The 251HX is an 18-core, 18-thread part with 6 Performance cores and 12 Efficient cores, slotting between the Core Ultra 5 245HX and the Core Ultra 7 255HX. Compared to the 255HX, it drops two P-cores and loses two threads, but keeps the same 12 E-cores and 30 MB of Smart Cache. TDP range stays identical at 55 W base and up to 160 W maximum turbo power. Max Turbo comes in at 5.1 GHz, 100 MHz below the 255HX, but the E-core base clock actually jumps 700 MHz to 2.5 GHz, and the P-core base is up 500 MHz as well at 2.9 GHz. Memory support goes up to DDR5-6400.

The integrated graphics drop to three Xe3 cores clocked up to 1.8 GHz, down from four on the 255HX, which also trims AI performance from 33 TOPS to 30. Not a dramatic difference, but worth noting if NPU performance matters for a specific workload. As an endnote, the Core Ultra 7 251HX sits between the Core Ultra 5 245HX with its 14 cores in a 6P+8E layout and 24 MB of cache, and the 20-core Core Ultra 7 255HX and 265HX sitting above.

Steam is reportedly in the process of adding a "Frame Estimator" tool that can estimate your PC's performance before you purchase a game. As you know, Valve's Steam platform is the largest gaming platform in the world, with access to millions of PCs. The Steam Client application offers an option to include your PC in Valve's telemetry system, which processes data such as your PC's specifications and game information, including your library. Using these data points, Steam will estimate how many frames per second your PC can generate in any game, depending on your configuration. For example, for a specific CPU, GPU, and available system memory, the Steam Client will indicate whether a game can reach 60 FPS at 1440p using high settings, or whatever your preference is. We can only speculate at this point about what the feature will look like, as Steam is still refining it before the public beta release.

Additionally, Valve has already started asking users for anonymous FPS data collection about a month ago whenever they run a game. With this data pool, likely involving millions of participants, Valve aims to build a system that estimates your FPS output based on your specific PC configuration, without needing to run a game first. Reportedly, this feature will appear in the Steam Client and show how much performance your PC can deliver before you even purchase a game. This is a classic recommendation system that will indicate what your configuration typically delivers at specific game settings and resolutions.

Intel will continue to ensure production of its 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake Refresh" desktop processors, 700-series motherboard chipset, and ensure continued availability of the Socket LGA1700 platform. In an interview with Club386, Intel's VP and GM of client segment technical marketing, Robert Hallock, said that Raptor Lake remains a big part of Intel's client segment strategy, and that these processors will continue to be "abundantly available." Hallock also hinted that Intel could get motherboard vendors to innovate boards with both DDR4 and DDR5 memory slots, so consumers can choose between the two memory types, picking cheaper DDR4 memory, and upgrading to DDR5 down the line.

"Raptor Lake is a big part of our strategy - I want to be very clear about that," says Hallock. "It's still really, really good, even with multiple generations of hardware from other vendors coming after it, so it's not going anywhere. I want people to understand that Raptor Lake will continue to be abundantly available," Hallock said. "You've also seen some new motherboard announcements that support both DDR4 and 5 on Raptor Lake, as kind of like a bridge between worlds for people," he added. "That is reflective of our overall confidence and expectations." Companies like ASRock are already innovating such boards, and we could expect more such products in 2026.

Seasonic teased the Japan-exclusive FOCUS ATX 3.1 Sakura Limited Edition power supplies. These are design variants of the FOCUS ATX 3.1 line of PSUs that feature a white housing with cherry blossom printed design, Sakura-pink lettering, and a matching white 135 mm cooling fan. The PSU includes white, individually-sleeved modular cables. The PSU offers 80 Plus Gold switching efficiency, and meets both ATX 3.1 and PCIe 5.1CEM specifications, a native 12V-2x6 connector, Seasonic's innovative OptiSink cooling design, and a segment-leading 10-year product warranty. The company didn't reveal pricing or availability information, the PSU is likely to be Japan-exclusive.

Canadian online retailers have started putting up early listings of the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition desktop processor, which was launched earlier this month, but without a price announcement. The processor will start selling from April 22, 2026. Ahead of this date, Canadian retailers, ShopRBC and PC-Canada, listed the processor. ShopRBC listed it for CAD $1,375, while PC-Canada had it up for CAD $1,374. It so happens that these prices convert to approximately USD $990, confirming the popular theory that AMD could give the 9950X3D2 Dual Edition an MSRP of $999, making it the Ryzen-branded desktop processor with the highest launch price, not counting Threadripper HEDT SKUs.

The Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 is designed to be a flagship 16-core/32-thread Socket AM5 desktop part with 3D V-Cache memory on both its 8-core "Zen 5" chiplets, for a combined L3 cache of 192 MB, and total cache of 208 MB. The chip should, in theory, offer better gaming performance than the regular 9950X3D, since game workloads could be executed on either of the two CCDs. Multithreaded productivity workloads that are heavy on streaming data should benefit from the large caches, too. The chip comes with a feisty TDP of 200 W.

Intel has recently released a new video showcasing its latest Texture Set Neural Compression (TSNC) technology, which delivers textures up to 18 times smaller while maintaining visual quality with little to no noticeable difference compared to the industry-standard compression. Using AI-based neural networks, Intel's graphics team processes input data from industry-standard BCn textures. These textures are compressed through an AI model encoder, encoded in the latest space values, and then decoded by a network decoder to decompress the textures. The result is output data textures that are up to 18 times smaller, with some quality loss at maximum compression settings. As with any neural technology, TSNC is trained on millions of standardized textures to create an AI model that can replace traditionally compressed textures in the BCn format. This results in new, much smaller game textures that load faster, use less VRAM, and perform better thanks to modern GPU technology.

There are several ways to apply TSNC neural compression, depending on the desired outcome, whether it's saving game installation size, reducing VRAM usage, or improving performance. Variant A, as Intel calls it, can achieve up to 9 times compression of the standard texture set, with little to no difference in visual quality—almost an unnoticeable drop. However, when the goal is maximum efficiency and requires up to 18 times texture compression, Intel offers Variant B of the TSNC neural network. This variant provides a significant performance boost, with the trade-off being a modest visual change. Using NVIDIA's FLIP tool to measure quality drop in generated images, Intel notes that Variant A experiences a 5% visual quality drop, while Variant B sees up to a 7% quality drop, which is noticeably more.You can judge for yourself by viewing the comparison images below.

Intel has unexpectedly discontinued the official XeSS plugin for the Unity game engine, leaving the Unity ecosystem without XeSS frame generation, temporal super sampling, and antialiasing technology. This decision comes just a month after Intel released its official XeSS 3.0 software development kit for game studios, which includes features like multi-frame generation and the ability for XeSS 3.0 to use external memory heaps for GPU memory allocated by the game engine. This allows XeSS and the engine to operate on the same VRAM blocks instead of each reserving separate ones. However, it is unclear if XeSS 3.0 works with the latest Unity 6 engine, as official support has been withdrawn and the repository now serves as a public archive on GitHub. Similarly, AMD abandoned the Unity platform years ago, leaving only FSR 2.0 support since the last update. The focus now seems to be on other game engines like Unreal Engine 5 and its future versions, which are receiving all the latest advancements from both Intel and AMD.

Intel on GitHubIntel will not provide or guarantee development of or support for this project, including but not limited to, maintenance, bug fixes, new releases or updates. Patches to this project are no longer accepted by Intel. If you have an ongoing need to use this project, are interested in independently developing it, or would like to maintain patches for the community, please create your own fork of the project.

Sapphire introduced two new China-specific graphics cards, the Radeon RX 9070 GRE Pulse Pro, and the Radeon RX 9060 XT Pulse S. The two feature a price-performance ratio that's highly optimized for the Chinese market, banking on the success of China-specific products from previous generations. The RX 9070 GRE Pulse Pro features a board design that's similar to that of the RX 9070 series Pure brand from the company, but colored black overall. The card appears high-end when installed, with a meaty triple-slot cooling solution, and a board length of 32 cm. It uses a pair of 8-pin PCIe power inputs. Sapphire has given this card a Game clock of 2920 MHz boost, and 2340 MHz Game clock. Display outputs include two each of HDMI 2.1b and DisplayPort 2.1a.

Carved out from the 4 nm "Navi 48" silicon, the RX 9070 GRE has 48 RDNA 4 compute units, for 3,072 stream processors. It gets 12 GB of 20 Gbps GDDR6 memory across a 192-bit wide memory bus. The RX 9070 GRE is hence positioned between the global RX 9070 and RX 9060 XT 16 GB. Next up, is the Sapphire Radeon RX 9060 XT 8 GB Pulse S. This is a compacted version of the global RX 9060 XT 8 GB Pulse. While the global card has a 24 cm board length with 12.4 cm height, the China-specific Pulse S card is just 20 cm in length, with 12.2 cm height. Both cards are 2 slots thick.

Happy Easter to those of you that celebrate and for whatever reason, Wednesday this coming week is crammed full of new releases. We kick off the week with a Finnish hardcore post-apocalyptic survival game, which is unlikely to be everyone's cup of coffee. Monday kicks off with what might end up becoming a lawsuit with Nintendo, followed by a dark fantasy dungeon crawler and by Wednesday we take a hard left with an action adventure game that also includes racing. Thursday we veer right with a tree city builder and the week ends with trying to end humanity. We got a few more games that didn't quite make the list, of which most are early access games.

Road to Vostok / This week's major release / Early access / Tuesday 7 April
Road to Vostok is a hardcore single-player survival game set in a post-apocalyptic border zone between Finland and Russia. Survive, loot, plan and prepare to cross the border into Vostok, a permadeath zone where one mistake can end it all. Steam link

Microsoft is now force-installing the latest version of Windows 11, the 25H2, for users of the older 24H2 version of the operating system. Through what Microsoft calls a "machine learning-based intelligent rollout," the company is automatically updating 24H2 users to Windows 11 25H2 when their devices are ready. This forced update is part of a staged update plan for Windows 11, where Microsoft is gradually updating systems worldwide to phase out the 24H2 version, as support for this operating system will officially end on October 13, 2026. It makes sense to upgrade users to an operating system with a longer support period. However, Windows 11 users might be frustrated with the constant forced upgrades that Microsoft is pushing, which seem to offer little real-world benefit beyond regular security maintenance.

Regarding Windows versions, the situation has been a bit confusing recently. Microsoft has dedicated the 26H1 update exclusively for Windows-on-Arm devices, supporting new silicon, including the Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Plus platforms, as well as the potential launch of NVIDIA's N1/N1X laptop SoCs. The latest feature and security updates have been delivered through both the 24H2 and 25H2 versions, which have been the primary focus for x86-based PC systems. However, as support for 24H2 is coming to an end, the focus is gradually shifting to 25H2. There is still time before October of this year, and Microsoft is using AI for a staged rollout. Importantly, users cannot refuse this update. They can only schedule the restart for the update to be applied or postpone it slightly before it is finally installed.

NVIDIA has released more details about its Neural Texture Compression (NTC) technology, which significantly reduces GPU VRAM usage by up to seven times. In a technology demo presented during one of the GTC 2026 sessions, NVIDIA revealed that its Neural Texture Compression can reduce VRAM usage from 6.5 GB to just 970 MB in certain scenes. This was demonstrated in a video comparing a Tuscan Villa and its interior. With virtually no difference in texture appearance, Neural Texture Compression represents a major advancement in maintaining graphics fidelity while freeing up GPU memory for more game content. For instance, in both the exterior of the Tuscan Villa and the interior demo showcasing detailed tableware, NTC technology provides users with high-quality textures while maintaining excellent material quality.

NTC technology is an AI-driven texture output that allows games to feature high-quality complex materials without a performance penalty. Games can benefit from the substantial VRAM reduction that NTC offers while maintaining the same texture quality. Traditionally, games use block-compressed formats like BCn, such as BC5, BC6, or BC7, which are commonly applied in 4x4 pixel formats and rendered by the GPU. However, NVIDIA has trained small neural networks that can produce the desired pixel format and texture appearance at a fraction of the size of traditional texture compression formats. Instead of using gigabytes of VRAM for textures, NTC drastically reduces VRAM usage by emulating textures, allowing for either much lower VRAM consumption or significantly enhanced material appearance, depending on the game developer's goals. This enables games to incorporate much more complex scenery without any performance penalty, relying on NVIDIA's AI technology to handle the workload. Below is the demonstration of Tuscan Villa, which shows just how the scene looks.

Intel's long-awaited gaming CPU king, the Core 200 "Bartlett Lake-S," is an intriguing CPU generation that isn't actually meant for gaming. The top version, the Core 9 273PQE, is a 12-core, 24-thread processor launched exclusively for commercial and industrial PC OEM markets as an edge/embedded design, and it's not available for the DIY PC crowd. Intel didn't plan for these CPUs to run on commercial motherboard chipsets, and major motherboard manufacturers have confirmed this. However, a modder has achieved something remarkable by booting Intel's "Bartlett Lake" Core 9 273PQE processor into the Windows operating system on a standard Z790 motherboard. Previously, these chips could only reach the POST stage on consumer LGA 1700 boards, but they couldn't run a fully functioning operating system.

Built on the Intel 7 node and designed for Socket LGA1700, "Bartlett Lake" is a non-hybrid chip featuring up to 12 "Raptor Cove" P-cores without any E-core clusters. It was not intended to be compatible with consumer Intel Z790 chipset motherboards. However, main issue was never the socket itself. "Bartlett Lake" shares the same physical LGA 1700 layout as Intel's "Raptor Lake" chips, but that doesn't automatically make it compatible with consumer boards. Typically, the absence of official BIOS and microcode support prevents proper CPU initialization. Earlier attempts usually resulted in startup failures, blank screens, or error codes before progressing further. This recent success changes that narrative. By modifying the motherboard firmware to accept the processor during early boot, the modder overcame the hurdles that had previously caused failures. Once the system accepted the chip at initialization, Windows loaded successfully.

Lightbulb Crew is thrilled to announce that Ex Sanguis, their blood- and strategy-rich game, will release on Steam in Early Access on May 21st! So what's Ex Sanguis all about? You're here to lead elite warriors, called Stillae, to save a dying world from the forces of stasis. And how do you do that? Through many blood-filled turn-based battles, of course!

While engaging in turn-based combat, you'll be able to strategically trigger a chain of events across the battlefield to turn the tide. Use Timeline Effects that can hasten, delay, or swap time positions to impact the turn order in a way that favors you and disadvantages foes.

Intel is reportedly preparing yet another CPU price hike, adding to the previous increases implemented in February and March. According to the latest research and channel checks from Chinese market research firm Minutes Logic Society, Intel plans to add another price increase to its existing ones. In February, Intel implemented a first round of CPU price increases ranging from 10% to 15%, depending on the segment and SKU. Just a month later, the company introduced another increase in March, around 15%, with earlier reports suggesting a 10% hike for the consumer CPU sector, like the Core Ultra family of CPUs. This time, we are expecting another increase in May across the overall CPU portfolio, meaning that Intel will again raise prices by a few more percent, depending on the CPU sector, whether it is a Core Ultra CPU or a Xeon server processor.

The total cumulative goal for the price hike is about 30% higher compared to 2025 pricing. Interestingly, Intel is facing a significant problem with CPU supply that it can't address immediately. While a large portion of CPU production is internal, with Intel Foundry handling a bulk of orders, some CPUs require TSMC's silicon for Intel to ship these CPUs. Especially with multi-die packaging, where some parts are manufactured on Intel's node and others on TSMC's node, shipping is impossible until every part arrives and Intel assembles it with its advanced packaging.

GMKtec has launched the NucBox K17, a compact mini PC featuring an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V processor, a Lunar Lake chip built on TSMC 3 nm process with 8 cores, a 2.1 GHz base clock, and up to 4.5 GHz boost on the performance cores. Total AI compute comes in at 97 TOPS across the CPU, Arc 130V iGPU, and dedicated NPU, with the NPU alone rated at 40 TOPS. The Intel Arc 130V handles graphics, clocking up to 1.85 GHz and supporting ray tracing and XeSS upscaling. Triple display output is available via two HDMI ports and a USB4 port, with support for resolutions up to 8K. That same USB4 port runs at 40 Gbps and supports eGPU connectivity, Power Delivery, and display output simultaneously.

For memory, it features 16 GB of LPDDR5X at 8533 MT/s, soldered and non-upgradeable. Storage ships as a PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280 SSD in 512 GB, 1 TB, or 2 TB, and there's a second M.2 slot that accepts a PCIe Gen 5 x4 drive for a total expandable storage of 16 TB across both slots. Note that SATA SSDs are not supported. Networking covers Wi-Fi 6E at up to 2.4 Gbps, Bluetooth 5.2, and a 2.5G Ethernet port via an Intel i226-V controller. The Mini PC measures 127.5 x 127 x 44.5 mm, weighs around 460 g, and is powered by a 100 W adapter.

Rowhammer attacks exploit vulnerabilities in DRAM hardware by causing targeted bit-flips, allowing attackers to bypass memory isolation and gain control over a device. These attacks were initially focused on CPUs and their associated DDR memory, such as DDR4. However, recent research indicates that NVIDIA GPUs are also vulnerable due to the fragile nature of the GDDR6 memory they use, which directly compromises the CPU host. Two independent research teams have discovered ways to exploit this decades-old memory vulnerability against modern graphics hardware, with trouble extending beyond the GPU itself. The "GDDRHammer" and "GeForge" groups have each developed functional exploits that use Rowhammer bit-flips in NVIDIA GPUs with GDDR6 memory to gain complete control over the host CPU's memory. This attack can perform bit-flips on some NVIDIA GPU models, ranging from the "Ampere" to "Ada Lovelace" families of cards.

An attacker who succeeds in this can read and write anything stored in the machine's main memory. Both teams have also introduced new Rowhammer techniques specifically designed for GPU architecture, achieving a significantly higher rate of bit-flips on GDDR6 memory than previous methods. The critical step in both exploit chains involves targeting the GPU's memory allocator, using controlled bit-flips to corrupt the GPU's page tables. Once these page tables are compromised, the attacker gains arbitrary read and write access to CPU memory, breaking down the security boundary between the graphics subsystem and the rest of the machine. The end result is a full system compromise, as the attacker can manipulate memory at will and gain root access, achieving total control without interacting with privileged software paths. The affected GPUs include the GeForce RTX 3060, which experienced 1,171 bit-flips, and the RTX 6000 "Ada" GPU, which saw 202 bit-flips from the attack.

MSI today introduced the Herald BE9400, a PCIe network adapter that provides Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity to any PC with a vacant PCIe slot and USB 2.0 header. The card supports 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7), 802.11axe (Wi-Fi 6E), 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6), and older standards, across the 6 GHz, 5 GHz, and 2.4 GHz radio bands, with a peak Tri-Band bandwidth of 5764 Mbps. The adapter offers a channel width of 320 MHz. Other features include MLO (multi-link operation) and 4K QAM. Under the hood, the Herald BE9400 appears to be based on the MediaTek MT7927 controller, with a PCI-Express 4.0 x1 host interface. MSI includes an antenna module with a magnetized base that sits firmly on top of your PC case. The company didn't reveal pricing information.

Intel Corporation today announced the appointment of Aparna Bawa as EVP, chief legal & people officer. Bawa will report directly to CEO Lip-Bu Tan and will lead Intel's global legal, ethics, compliance, people, and culture organizations as the company accelerates its transformation and execution agenda.

"The role of legal and people leadership has never been more critical as Intel drives cultural transformation with discipline, speed, and integrity," said Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan. "Aparna brings a rare combination of operational rigor, business judgment, and people-first leadership. Her experience helping scale global technology companies through periods of significant change will be invaluable as we build a stronger, more agile Intel."

Canonical increased the recommended system memory for the upcoming Ubuntu 26.04 LTS "Resolute Raccoon" to 6 GB of RAM, a first major change since 2018. According to the release note, the 26.04 LTS now lists 6 GB of RAM as the baseline for a comfortable desktop experience, alongside a 2 GHz dual-core CPU and 25 GB of storage, unchanged from previous generations. This represents a 50% increase over Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, which in 2018 raised the bar to 4 GB, and a notable shift from earlier releases that ran on as little as 1 GB. The change is not caused by a heavier core OS. Instead, it reflects the reality of modern workloads. The GNOME desktop, now updated to newer revisions, along with current web browsers (i.e., Firefox) and everyday apps like LibreOffice, demand more memory in multitasking scenarios.

Importantly, 6 GB is not a hard requirement. Ubuntu 26.04 LTS will still install on systems with less than 6 GB of RAM. However, performance may suffer. Early testing shows that the OS remains functional even on 2 GB systems although with significant slowdowns. As before, the 25 GB storage requirement remains mandatory for the desktop edition. As Ubuntu 26.04 LTS is expected to be the next long-term support release from Canonical, the Ubuntu ecosystem provides many options for those using lower-end hardware. Lighter flavors such as the official Lubuntu or the Linux Lite distro, and manual installations with a minimal base remain available and viable options. Also, Ubuntu Server can be deployed on systems with around 1-1.5 GB of RAM, depending on the use case. Ubuntu 26.04 LTS is currently in development and scheduled to be released on April 23.

Valve's next-generation Steam Deck 2 handheld console is reportedly planned for release in 2028, with significant manufacturing changes expected for this sequel to the highly successful handheld gaming device. According to a well-known industry leaker, KeplerL2, posting in the NeoGAF community, Valve is targeting a 2028 refresh for the second-generation Steam Deck. However, the ongoing supply chain shortages of DRAM and NAND Flash could cause disruptions to these plans, potentially leading to delays. Interestingly, this period is when the shortages are expected to start easing, so the Steam Deck 2 could still be released on time, depending on Valve's sourcing capabilities.

One of the most significant procurement shifts for the Steam Deck 2 is Valve's choice of the computing base that will power the handheld. Instead of using a semi-custom AMD APU, Valve is expected to use an off-the-shelf AMD APU that won't require any custom tuning from AMD to meet Valve's needs. This is welcome news, as the latest Steam Machine showed that Valve's reliance on a semi-custom APU solution made the hardware "obsolete" quickly while the rest of the industry advanced. With any semi-custom solution, stockpiling silicon and waiting for DRAM/NAND modules to arrive puts pressure on Valve to ship a product that is significantly underpowered or too expensive. However, with an off-the-shelf solution, Valve could use the best available option at the time of shipping and optimize SteamOS around it.

Imagine you're a web hosting vendor leasing out specific number of CPU cores of a large core-count processor. You'd want to specify QoS limits on the shared L3 cache performance for those cores, so they don't hamper performance of other tenants. AMD this week released a technical document detailing the Platform Quality of Service (PQOS) ISA extensions for its next-generation Zen 6 microarchitecture. These ISA enhancements provide sysadmins and cloud providers with greater control over processor and memory subsystem performance. The latest document outlines three primary additions to the Zen 6 PQOS feature set, Global Bandwidth Enforcement (GLBE), Global Slow Bandwidth Enforcement (GLSBE), and Privilege-Level Zero Association (PLZA). These features are designed to scale performance management across complex multicore environments by allowing software to regulate bandwidth and execution privileges more effectively across expansive groups of logical processors. The development shows that AMD is steering toward a more closely collaborative hardware QoS solution for its multicore processors.

A highlight of the Zen 6 PQOS updates is the implementation of Global Bandwidth Enforcement (GLBE), which allows system software to specify L3 external bandwidth limits for groups of cores that span across multiple traditional QoS Domains. By grouping these into a unified "GLBE Control Domain," AMD enables a competitively shared bandwidth ceiling for specific Classes of Service (CoS). This upgrades older architectures that only provided L3 external bandwidth enforcement on a strictly per-domain granularity. Next up, AMD introduced Global Slow Bandwidth Enforcement (GLSBE), a parallel feature that applies the exact same multi-domain bandwidth limiting principles to system memory explicitly designated as "Slow Memory." Both GLBE and GLSBE provide granular controls via specific model-specific registers.

On your Windows PC, the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) uses Secure Boot certificates to ensure that only trusted software initiates the startup sequence. The certificates currently in use were originally issued in 2011 and are set to expire in late June 2026. To address this, Microsoft has been quietly rolling out updated certificates through Windows Update. Starting in April 2026, users can check their device's status via a new indicator in the Windows Security app. By navigating to Device security and then Secure Boot, a color-coded badge will show whether your device is fully updated, awaiting an update, or requires immediate attention.

The badge system is simple yet significant. A green checkmark indicates that the new certificates are installed and no further action is needed. A yellow caution badge, which will start appearing in May 2026, means the update is either pending or has been blocked by a hardware or firmware limitation. A red stop icon is the most serious state and could appear as early as June 2026, once older certificates start expiring. When this occurs, the device will no longer be able to receive critical boot-level security updates. The same status is reflected in the Windows Security system tray icon, so warnings are visible even when the app is closed.

As we enter a new month, Steam's Hardware and Software Survey data has been processed, providing us with a clearer view of the overall gaming market that uses Steam platform. Today, the most notable change in the Steam Survey is the increase in Linux gamers, who have moved from their historically low single-digit market share to mid-single digits. As of March, Linux-based operating systems were running Steam on 5.33% of all polled systems. This represents an impressive 3.10% increase over February's data, which showed a dip in Linux market share from January's 3.5%. Fortunately, the numbers have now been revised upwards, marking a significant improvement for the community that has been steadily implementing improvements and making Linux-based gaming more accessible to everyone.

What might not be surprising is that a large portion of those 5.33% Linux installations run on Valve's customized SteamOS operating system. With a 24.48% share, the use of SteamOS grew by 0.65% last month alone, while other Linux distributions also contributed significantly. Other Windows alternatives like macOS are gaining momentum as well, with Apple seeing a 1.19% month-over-month increase to 2.35%. Although Linux now holds more than twice the market share of macOS, its growth within the Steam install base is a significant change, nearly doubling in just a month. Perhaps these alternative operating systems are now attracting enough attention from big game studios to encourage them to release native ports instead of relying on translation tools like Wine/Proton.

Urban Ascend is a city-building game centered on continuous expansion, system-driven design, and long-term optimization. Players grow a small town into a highly efficient metropolis by placing buildings, managing resources, and refining interconnected systems that evolve over time. The full version launches on Steam on April 3, 2026, following a public demo that introduced its core progression loop. The full release expands on those systems with additional buildings, upgrades, and mechanics designed to deepen strategic decision-making and long-term planning.

Urban Ascend features nearly 100 buildings and hundreds of upgrades that reshape how the city functions. Players manage citizen needs such as happiness, safety, and governance to unlock powerful bonuses, while responding to dynamic incidents that introduce new challenges as the city grows.

Solidigm, a pioneer in enterprise data storage, today announced it has exceeded initial investment goals for its Greater Sacramento initiatives, including the company's Rancho Cordova headquarters and surrounding research and development (R&D) campus. Announced in September 2022, Solidigm committed to investing $100 million into regional R&D facilities. Approximately three-and-a-half years into the build out, the company has surpassed this figure and will continue to invest in local talent and technology to help fuel global AI advancements.

In addition to $75 million in local lab investments, Solidigm has introduced close to 100 new NAND tools through the development of more than a $5 million world-class NAND lab and R&D center. "We have the most robust data storage product line for AI data centers," said Greg Matson, SVP, Head of Products and Marketing at Solidigm. "Our industry leading SSDs help our customers achieve the highest levels of efficiency, density, and performance in storage for their AI demands. And all of the innovation for us starts right here in Rancho Cordova."

No joke—GFN Thursday is skipping the tricks and heading straight into the games. April kicks off with ten new titles, bringing fresh adventures to GeForce NOW, including the launch of Capcom's highly anticipated PRAGMATA.

A dozen new games are available to stream this week, including Arknights: Endfield, which expands the acclaimed series into a full 3D real‑time strategy adventure. On GeForce NOW, every battle flows with precision and every mission looks sharper than ever. So gear up, grab a controller or gaming device of choice, and get ready to stream—another month of great gaming is now underway.

8BitDo has released a limited edition version of its Retro 68 mechanical keyboard to mark Apple's 50th anniversary. Called the AP50, it takes direct visual inspiration from the Apple II color scheme with the familiar beige and brown colors of that era of computing. The keyboard uses a 68-key compact layout built around a gasket-mount system for better typing acoustics and a softer key-press feel. Construction is all-aluminium, chassis, plate, and keycaps, and the 323.3 x 138.5 x 46.5 mm body reflects that, with the keyboard weight reaching 2.2 kg. Switches are Kailh BOX Ice Cream Pro Max, and the PCB is hot-swappable if you want to try something else without soldering. RGB backlighting is included, and the keyboard is programmable through 8BitDo Ultimate Software V2 or via fast-mapping directly on the keyboard without any software.

Connectivity covers all three modes: wired USB, 2.4G wireless, and Bluetooth LE. It's compatible with macOS, Windows 10 and above, and Android 9.0 and above. The 6500 mAh battery is rated for up to 300 hours of use with a 9-hour charge time. The package also includes a set of Wireless Dual Super Buttons (160.2 x 75.3 x 32.6 mm, 270 g), a 2.4G adapter, and a USB cable. At $499.99, the 8BitDo AP50 keyboard is clearly aimed at collectors and enthusiasts rather than anyone shopping on a budget.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a strategic collaboration with Arm to develop new dual‑architecture hardware that helps enterprises run future AI and data intensive workloads with greater flexibility, reliability, and security.

IBM's leadership in system design, from silicon to software and security, has helped enterprises adopt emerging technologies with the scale and reliability required for mission‑critical workloads. As AI moves deeper into core business operations, IBM continues to invest in hardware platforms such as the Telum II processor and Spyre Accelerator, which are designed to bring AI from experimentation into everyday enterprise use.

AMD's RDNA 4-based Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT graphics cards have finally reached reasonable pricing, as German retailers report that these GPUs are now selling below MSRP. In Germany, the European MSRP for Radeon RX 9070 cards is €629, including 19% VAT. For its bigger sibling, the Radeon RX 9070 XT, the European MSRP is listed at €689, also including the sales tax. However, according to multiple listings from German online retailers, both cards are trading below their European MSRP pricing, marking the first occurrence since the memory shortage fiasco began, which took a toll on the gaming community. The cheapest Radeon RX 9070 non-XT model is listed at €539.00 in the form of the ASUS Prime Radeon RX 9070 OC SKU, while the cheapest Radeon RX 9070 XT model is listed at €640 for the ASRock Radeon RX 9070 XT Challenger GPU. Do note that this is not the first time that these GPUs are priced below MSRP in Germany, but just the first time since the memory shortages started.

Interestingly, this price drop in Germany is not consistent with the markets in the United States, where GPU pricing for the Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT still ranges around $810-$820 for the non-XT SKU and about $880-$890 for the Radeon RX 9070 XT model. This represents a large premium in the U.S. market, considering that the Radeon RX 9070 and Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics cards have MSRPs of $549 and $599, respectively. Perhaps a fresh supply of GPUs has hit the German market, causing supply to overwhelm demand and significantly pushing prices down. In the U.S., that is not the case, where prices remain high and on an upward trajectory, according to PCPartPicker. In contrast, the German market is experiencing some of the lowest pricing in recent months, finally giving gamers a break.

Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, today marks a defining moment in computing aesthetics with the introduction of the X870E AERO X3D DARK WOOD—a groundbreaking motherboard that transcends technological achievement to become a true design statement. Building on the acclaimed success of the X870E AERO X3D WOOD, the X870E AERO X3D DARK WOOD carries that legacy boldly forward, deepening the experience into something more immersive and emotionally resonant.

Guided by the philosophy of Technology with Warmth, the X870E AERO X3D DARK WOOD envelops the user in a quiet, grounded mood that feels less like a hardware upgrade and more like coming home. The authentic dark wood texture finish brings natural warmth and character into high-performance computing; the supple leather pull tab adds tactile intimacy; and the understated dark metal tones offer calm and breathing room—a deliberate counterpoint to the noise of modern life.

Alphacool International GmbH from Braunschweig is a pioneer in PC water-cooling technology. With one of the most comprehensive product portfolios in the industry and over 20 years of experience, Alphacool is once again expanding its portfolio with the long-awaited Apex Monoblocks. The monoblocks combine high cooling performance with an elegant design that is perfectly matched to the respective motherboard. In addition to the CPU, they also cool the voltage regulators (VRMs) and the M.2 NVMe SSD located below the CPU socket. This allows the waterblock to cover all key motherboard components.

As with the Apex 1 CPU cooler, the Apex Monoblocks feature an offset cold plate. This directs the coolant flow straight to the thermal hotspot of the AM5 CPU. Combined with the proven Cross-Slot structure and 3D Jetplate 2.0, the design generates high water pressure for particularly efficient heat dissipation. The Apex Monoblocks were developed for demanding systems that require both high cooling performance and seamless integration into the motherboard design. Their combination of technical precision, targeted coolant flow and clear design language makes them ideally suited to modern custom water-cooling setups.

Intel's next-generation mobile processor for gaming notebooks and portable workstations, the Core Ultra Series 4 "Nova Lake-HX," will come in two distinct core configurations, according to a leak by Jaykihn, a reliable source for Intel leaks. "Nova Lake-HX" is segmented from the mainstream "Nova Lake-H" with a wider I/O that supports configurations with discrete GPUs. The top-of-the-line "Nova Lake-HX" processor will come with a CPU core configuration of 8P+16E+4LPE, that's eight "Coyote Cove" P-cores, and 16 "Arctic Wolf" E-cores, both of which are upgrades over the current "Cougar Cove" and "Darkmont" core architectures, respectively. The Compute tile features 8P+16E cores sharing an L3 cache, while the chip's 4 low-power island E-cores, also based on "Arctic Wolf," will be located in the SoC tile.

Intel is also planning a performance-segment "Nova Lake-HX" core configuration, with 6P+8E+4LPE under the hood. This will likely reuse the 6P+8E Compute tile from the mainstream "Nova Lake-H" processor, but with the SoC + I/O tiles Intel plans to use for the "Nova Lake-HX". This would give the chip a maximum core count of 6P+8E+4LPE. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of both these chip types is the iGPU, and its Graphics tile will be the tiniest variant in the series, with just 2 Xe cores. The iGPU of "Nova Lake" family is based on the Xe4 "Druid" graphics architecture. These chips feature a basic iGPU because they are expected to come with a full fat PCI-Express 5.0 PEG interface for discrete GPUs, and ideally you'd want the iGPU to be as small as possible.

In its MLPerf Inference 6.0 submission, AMD did not simply revisit familiar benchmarks with a faster GPU. It expanded into first-time workloads, crossed the 1-million-tokens-per-second threshold at multinode scale and showed that partners can reproduce the results across a broader ecosystem. That combination matters because our customers no longer evaluate inference platforms on one metric alone. They want competitive single-node performance, efficient scale-out, faster bring-up on new models, reproducible results across partner systems and confidence that the software stack can keep pace. MLPerf Inference 6.0 let us show all of that in one submission.

Just as important, we showed that these results are not isolated. A broad partner ecosystem submitted across four AMD Instinct GPU types that closely reproduced numbers submitted by AMD and the first three-GPU heterogeneous MLPerf submission demonstrated that AMD hardware and AMD ROCm software can orchestrate meaningful inference throughput even across systems in different geographies.

EK by LM TEK, is proud to introduce the EK-Quantum Vector³ TUF RTX 5070 Ti/5080 - Plexi, a high-performance full-cover water block compatible with both the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5080 and the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. Designed to deliver exceptional thermal performance across the GPU core, VRAM, and power stages, the EK-Quantum Vector³ TUF RTX 5070 Ti / 5080 features an optimized open split-flow cooling engine, next-gen pre-cut thermal pads,and a full-coverage black anodized aluminium backplate. Now available now at the EK Shop and local resellers.

Engineered for the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5080 and the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, the EK-Quantum Vector³ delivers high performance liquid-cooling for enthusiasts who demand more. Featuring EK's expanded next-gen cooling engine, pre-cut high-performance thermal pads, and an advanced gasket design, this block ensures your GPU stays cool and efficient - even under the heaviest gaming, rendering, or overclocking loads.

Worldwide 300 mm fab equipment spending is expected to increase 18% to $133 billion in 2026 and 14% to $151 billion in 2027, SEMI reported today in its latest 300 mm Fab Outlook. This strong growth reflects surging AI chip demand for data centers and edge devices, as well as the growing commitment to semiconductor self-sufficiency across key regions through localized industrial ecosystems and supply chain restructuring. Looking further out, the report projects investment will continue to increase 3% to $155 billion in 2028 and another 11% to $172 billion in 2029, respectively.

"AI is resetting the scale of semiconductor manufacturing investment," said Ajit Manocha, President and CEO of SEMI. "With global 300 mm fab equipment spending projected to exceed $150 billion in 2027 for the first time, the industry is making historic, sustained commitments to the advanced capacity and resilient supply chains needed to power the AI era."

Hooded Horse, Unfrozen Studio, and Ubisoft are excited to announce the news that everyone has been waiting for - Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era will release on PC via Steam Early Access and the Microsoft Store (via Game Preview) on April 30, 2026. It will also be coming to PC Game Pass day one.

Made for series veterans and newcomers alike, Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is built on the familiar foundations of one of the most critically acclaimed strategy series of all time, introducing new and classic game modes that will let people play solo or with friends however they please. Engage in strategic empire building, epic turn-based tactical battles, and in-depth RPG mechanics, all while exploring a vibrant, never-before-seen land full of secrets and dangers.

Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC) and Apollo (NYSE: APO) today announced a definitive agreement for Intel to repurchase the 49% equity interest in the joint venture related to Intel's Fab 34 in Ireland not held by Intel for $14.2 billion. The agreement reflects Intel's continued business momentum underpinned by the growing and essential role CPUs play in the era of AI, a significantly strengthened balance sheet and the strong partnership between Intel and Apollo.

In 2024, Apollo-managed funds and affiliates led an $11.2 billion investment to acquire a 49% equity interest in a joint venture entity related to Fab 34, providing Intel with equity-like capital while preserving balance sheet strength. This transaction provided Intel with significant financial flexibility and enabled the company to unlock and redeploy capital to advance its strategic priorities including accelerating the buildout of Intel 4 and Intel 3, the most advanced processes manufactured in Europe, and of Intel 18A, the most advanced process developed and manufactured in the U.S. today.

NVIDIA and Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRVL) today announced a strategic partnership to connect Marvell to the NVIDIA AI factory and AI-RAN ecosystem through NVIDIA NVLink Fusion offering customers building on NVIDIA architectures greater choice and flexibility in developing next-generation infrastructure. The companies will also collaborate on silicon photonics technology.

In addition, NVIDIA has invested $2 billion in Marvell.

One could be forgiven for thinking it's an April fools, but alas, Raspberry Pi has announced yet another price hike due to the increasing costs of DRAM. Its CEO, Eben Upton announced in a blog post that the company has seen a seven-fold increase in the cost of LPDDR4 DRAM, which is used in both the Raspberry Pi 4 and 5. All 4 GB and up SKUs of the aforementioned products will see a price hike that ranges from US$25 to US$100. Other products will also see an increase in price and you can find all the price bumps in the table below.

At the same time, the company is launching a new 3 GB SKU of the Raspberry Pi 4, which will launch at US$83.75. The new SKU is available today from all authorised resellers globally. The price increases mean that the 16 GB SKU of the Raspberry Pi 5 now comes in at US$305, which is more than what a lot of mini PCs set you back six months ago. The 16 GB Raspberry Pi 500+ keyboard computer comes in at a whopping US$410, suggesting that some products are unlikely to sell, as they've simply become uncompetitive. The only good news today is that the 1 and 2 GB SKUs for the Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 won't see any price hikes this time around, alongside the 4 GB SKU of the Raspberry Pi 400. Raspberry Pi is promising to lower its pricing as soon as the cost for DRAM goes down at some point in the future.

Late last week, Microsoft released its KB5079391 non-security feature update for Windows 11, which was officially pulled due to widespread installation errors. Today, the company is issuing the out-of-band KB5086672 update to address this problem, as Microsoft has identified the source of the issue and the update can now be safely applied. This latest out-of-band KB5086672 update includes the KB5079473 package released on March 10, KB5085516 released on March 21, and the previously pulled KB5079391 released on March 26. Microsoft has combined all of these into the new KB5086672 package, which addresses the issues that appeared and introduces a variety of new features. Finally, the old installation error message, "Some update files are missing or have problems. We'll try to download the update again later. Error code: (0x80073712)," has been resolved for good.

Microsoft notes that this out-of-band update is available through Windows Update for devices running Windows 11 that have already installed KB5079473 or a later update. It is also available for manual download from the Microsoft Update Catalog. Currently, there are no known issues with this update, and if any arise, Microsoft will highlight them on their support documents website. Interestingly, KB5086672 is one of the first steps by Microsoft toward resolving the issues users have experienced with Windows 11 updates, and hopefully just the beginning of the overhaul that Microsoft has promised. Future non-security feature updates could also focus on other quality-of-life improvements, and installation errors should become less common.

ASUS today announced the UGen300 USB AI Accelerator—the first AI USB device from ASUS, bringing inference performance directly to any device. An M.2 version is also available. This slim AI accelerator measures 105 x 50 x 18 mm and features the Hailo-10H AI processor that delivers 40 AI TOPS of dedicated power to support large language models such as LLMs, VLMs, and more. UGen300 includes 8 GB LPDDR4 dedicated memory and connects to other devices via a USB-C interface, consuming just 2.5 watts of power under typical workloads. The convenient plug-and-play design ensures cross-platform compatibility with Windows, Linux, and Android. UGen300 also supports major AI frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, and ONNX—right out of the box.

"By integrating the Hailo-10H into a ubiquitous USB device, ASUS brings the full power of AI and generative AI to everyone" said Max Glover, Chief Revenue Officer of Hailo. "We're excited to see how our developer community will use this plug-and-play accelerator to push the boundaries of on-device AI. This is exactly how Hailo envisions the future of AI: accessible, affordable, and designed for anyone to build with."

Continued investment in AI infrastructure by major CSPs, including purchases of GPUs and deployment of in-house ASICs, has driven strong growth among AI-related chip designers, according to TrendForce's latest findings. In 2025, the total revenue of the top 10 fabless IC design houses exceeded US$359.4 billion, up 44% YoY. NVIDIA maintained its leading position, while Broadcom moved up to second place due to increased involvement in AI, overtaking Qualcomm, which continues to depend more heavily on consumer electronics.

Industry leader NVIDIA delivered another year of record revenue, supported by its strong AI chip portfolio and computing ecosystem. The company's fourth quarter revenue from data centers accounted for as much as 90% of its total. Full-year revenue rose 65% YoY to $205.7 billion—the fastest growth among the top players—with its share of total top-ten revenue increasing further to 57%.

If you've been following the Stop Killing Games movement, you'll know that Ubisoft shutting down The Crew, a fairly modern video game by most standards, having launched in 2014, has ruffled some feathers. Now, as reported by Reuters, Ubisoft has been taken to court by French consumer action group, UFC-Que Choisir, who argues that the contractual practices that Ubisoft engages in when it sells games may be abusive and deny consumers their rights.

Ubisoft, as is the case with many gaming companies, argues that players buy limited licenses to play the games they pay for—not an actual product—and that the license can be revoked at any time. With lawsuits like the one brought against Ubisoft, UFC-Que Choisir intends to put an end to these "harmful practices," remove the relevant clauses from sales contracts, and make Ubisoft recognize the collective harm done to the collective interests of consumers.

After previously announcing an April 24 launch date, Capcom moved the launch of Pragmata forward to April 17 and subsequently celebrated hitting 2 million demo downloads and game wishlists. Now, in another stroke of positive news, Capcom has announced that Pragmata has gone gold, meaning that the game is in a stable, functional state and ready for launch on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows.

Pragmata was originally announced in 2020, with the release date originally slated for 2022. However, the game went through multiple iterations during that time and ended up being pushed back to 2026. Pragmata was Capcom's first new franchise since the launch of Dragon's Dogma in 2012, and it seems to be attempting to implement an interesting combination of third-person shooter combat and hacking mechanics, alongside sci-fi, narrative- and exploration-driven core gameplay.

ZA/UM, the indie game studio famous for the avant-garde Disco Elysium, has officially announced that its next game, Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, will launch on May 21, 2026 on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GOG, with a PS5 release planned for later in 2026. The announcement was made alongside the release of an appropriately eerie release date trailer.

Zero Parades: For Dead Spies is a story-rich indie spy thriller RPG that follows a renowned spy, Hershel Wilk, on one last mission. According to the game's Steam Store page and the published imagery, it will have a customizable skill tree, a strong narrative in which choices matter, and a decent bit of tactical gameplay, all wrapped in a surrealist aesthetic.

There were rumors of a new The Lord of the Rings game in development late in 2025, but not much else was known about it other than that it had a sizeable budget of around $100 million and was to compete with Hogwarts Legacy when it came to game design and mechanics. Now, Insider Gaming has reported that the new The Lord of the Rings game is being developed by Crystal Dynamics, not Warhorse Studios, although the report claims that there may be another LOTR game in development at Warhorse.

The game said to be in development at Crystal Dynamics is a third-person action RPG that was claimed to be funded by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office, and it has already been in development for a while. Neither Crystal Dynamics nor Embracer Group have confirmed that the game is in development, but it may be welcome news to The Lord of the Rings fans that were looking forward to the Lord of the Rings MMO that Amazon recently cancelled.

Before its global rollout, Lenovo first launched the Yoga Mini i mini PC in China, a few months after its introduction at CES 2026. The Yoga Mini i is built around the Intel Panther Lake platform, with configurations listed up to a Core Ultra X7 385H processor at a 45 W TDP. Graphics are handled by integrated Intel Arc B-series GPUs, with the top configuration reaching Arc B390. The system also includes an NPU rated at up to 50 TOPS, aligning it with Microsoft Copilot+ PC requirements. Memory goes up to 32 GB of LPDDR5x, paired with up to 2 TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage. Despite its compact footprint, measuring 130 x 130 x 48.5 mm and weighing around 600 g, the mini PC offers a relatively complete I/O setup. This includes multiple USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 and DisplayPort support, HDMI 2.1, USB-A, and 2.5 GbE, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. The system integrates basic audio hardware with a 2 W built-in speaker and dual microphones. Security features include a fingerprint reader built into the power button, Human Presence Detection, and Walk Away Lock. Power comes from a 100 W adapter.

At this moment, Lenovo is only offering a lower-tier configuration in China equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 5 325 processor with 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. This model is priced at CNY 5,499 (around $800), indicating that earlier references to a $699 starting price will likely apply to similar entry-level SKUs rather than higher-end Core Ultra X7 variants. Lenovo still lists the Yoga Mini i as "coming soon" in other regions, with a broader rollout expected later this year, presumably even before this year's Computex, which is held on June 2-5.

Intel's "Wildcat Lake" processors, part of the Core 300 series non-Ultra family, have been leaked by a reputable source Jaykihn0 on X, revealing the entire lineup across various configurations and SKUs. The lineup includes six SKUs across the Core 3, Core 5, and Core 7 tiers, all designed to operate within a 15 to 35 W TDP range. Each model features a hybrid core configuration, pairing two "Cougar Cove" P-cores with four low-power efficiency cores, completely omitting the traditional "Darkmont" E-cores. Boost clocks range from 4.3 GHz on the entry-level Core 3 304 up to 4.8 GHz on the Core 7 360. All six SKUs share 6 MB of L3 cache, a single NPU tile, and integrated Xe3 graphics. The leak suggests that Intel is bringing architecture closely related to the Core Ultra 300 "Panther Lake" mobile platform into the embedded and industrial space, or perhaps into low-cost laptop configurations that don't require the power of "Panther Lake," appealing to buyers seeking budget-friendly options.

The 2P+0E+4LPE core layout is a deliberate trade-off, prioritizing efficiency over raw multithreaded performance, which suits the thermal constraints common in edge and IoT deployments. NPU performance figures range between 15 and 17 TOPS across the lineup. While this won't power the largest LLMs, it may be more than sufficient for on-device inference in industrial or automation settings. The Core 3 304 deserves special mention: it reduces to a single P-core and one Xe graphics unit, creating a clear cost-optimized option at the bottom of the lineup. SIPP certification, important for buyers needing stable, long-lifecycle platform support, is available on the Core 7 360 and Core 5 330 but not consistently across the lineup. Notably, there is no vPro support on any SKU, clearly distinguishing "Wildcat Lake" from Intel's enterprise mobile portfolio.

The NVIDIA App update today introduced some interesting features, such as DLSS 4.5 dynamic multi-frame generation and a 6x mode. Additionally, the app now includes a new beta version of NVIDIA Auto Shader Compilation (ASC). This feature takes DirectX 12 shaders from games and quietly compiles them while the system is idle or not running any graphically intensive tasks. Typically, when you start a game, you have to wait for all assets to load and shaders to compile before you can begin playing. However, with ASC, NVIDIA aims to shorten this process by pre-compiling shaders to reduce loading times and, interestingly, decrease in-game stuttering, which can occur when shaders don't load properly. NVIDIA states that this feature is opt-in within the NVIDIA App and can be enabled by navigating to the Graphics Tab > Global Settings > Shader Cache. Once in the menu, users can access a range of settings, including the option to turn on Auto Shader Compilation.

Since ASC uses a separate folder, users will need to allocate sufficient disk space to store the shaders that ASC will access. In the NVIDIA App, gamers can choose the "Compile Now" option to pre-compile all game shaders immediately by clicking on three dots, or they can wait for the system to do it automatically when it becomes idle. As compiling shaders requires some computing power, there are settings to control system utilization, with the default set to medium. The NVIDIA App will also display the date of the last compilation. Interestingly, ASC will perform its functions once a game is downloaded and after a new driver update is installed for optimal performance. NVIDIA requires GeForce Game Ready Driver 595.97 WHQL or newer for ASC to work, and more optimizations are expected as the beta testing concludes in the coming weeks.

Sony Corporation ("Sony") and TCL Electronics Holdings Limited (together with its subsidiaries, "TCL") today announced that Sony and TCL have entered into legally binding definitive agreements for a strategic partnership in the home entertainment field. This follows the memorandum of understanding announced on January 20, 2026, pursuant to which both parties have been conducting discussions.

Under this partnership, Sony will establish a wholly owned subsidiary (the "Preparatory Company") to assume its home entertainment business, and TCL will subscribe to a portion of the Preparatory Company's shares, forming a joint venture (the "New Company") with TCL holding 51% and Sony holding 49% of the shares. The New Company will succeed to Sony's home entertainment business, which includes product development and design, manufacturing, sales and logistics, and customer service for products such as Consumer TVs (BRAVIA), B2B Flat Panel Displays (B2B BRAVIA), B2B LED Displays, projectors, and home audio equipment such as home theater systems and audio components. The New Company is expected to operate this integrated business globally.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today unveiled the Razer Pro Type Ergo, an ergonomic wireless keyboard designed to make long hours at the desk feel more natural and less fatiguing, while helping users get more done with less effort.

Pro Type Ergo is Razer's answer to a productivity market that has barely moved: a split-ergonomic keyboard that feels familiar from the first keystroke, cuts strain over time, and builds powerful workflow tools directly into the layout. For professionals who live on their keyboard, it is built to support comfortable, focused work all day, every day.

Eidos Montreal announced earlier this week in a LinkedIn post that it was laying off 124 of its employees and that its studio director, David Anfossi was leaving. The studio explained that the layoffs are a result of necessary cost-cutting measures and evolving project needs. The layoffs would affect both production and support teams, and the studio says that they are necessary cuts to allow the studio to concentrate its efforts where it can be most effective. Now, new reporting seems to suggest that the layoffs may have been partially caused by a game whose budget had ballooned and caused financial strain in the studio.

Following the layoffs, Insider Gaming reports that Eidos, who had previously worked on Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, has also cancelled Wildlands, an in-development open-source action-adventure game that the studio had been working on for seven years. The publication reports that WIldlands had had a somewhat troubled development cycle prior to its cancellation, with the team having gone through four different game engines and burned through hundreds of millions of dollars in budget. These reports are further backed up by Jason Schreier's comments on Reddit. Further, according to Insider Gaming's sources, the game was in the debugging phase and nearing completion before Embracer, Eidos's parent company, shut it down.

The Intel Binary Optimization Tool (BOT) has been launched alongside the "Arrow Lake Refresh" series of processors, which includes the Core Ultra 5 250K Plus and Core Ultra 7 270K Plus models. While the tool is beneficial for gamers looking to extract a few extra frames from their setups, it may be a nightmare for makers of benchmarking tools like Geekbench by Primate Labs. Recently, Primate Labs testing found that BOT changes the way .exe applications run and concluded that Geekbench runs will now flag these BOT-enhanced runs. However, in deeper testing, Primate Labs discovered that Intel's BOT may deliver significant boosts in some applications like Object Remover and HDR, increasing performance by up to 30%. This is thanks to the deep vectorization that the BOT performs behind the scenes to optimize performance.

For example, Primate Labs used Intel's own Software Development Emulator (SDE) to measure how many instructions were executed and which types of instructions the program executed. Without BOT, Geekbench 6 required a total of 1.26 trillion instructions to finish, while a BOT-enhanced run completed with 1.08 trillion instructions. This is an impressive 14% reduction. However, when examining the execution by type, we see that BOT makes heavy use of vector instructions like SSE2 and AVX2. The number of scalar instructions needed to execute a program fell from 220 billion to 84.6 billion, while the number of vector instructions increased from 1.25 billion to 18.3 billion, a 13.7x increase. This means that Intel BOT finds a way to turn inefficient scalar code into vectorized instructions that are processed much more efficiently inside Intel CPUs. These techniques indicate a very complex behind-the-scenes process than was originally believed. The Geekbench v6.7 update will include a flag for BOT, allowing future Geekbench results to be easily distinguished as BOT-enhanced or not.

Blaze Entertainment is proud to announce the Evercade Nexus, the newest retro gaming handheld console from Evercade. Evercade continues to champion physical cartridges as the medium to relive the classic gaming experience, bringing more top-quality names to the ever-growing ecosystem with Rare's Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie included. The latest iteration of the Evercade gaming experience draws on the feedback of Evercade fans and the demands of gaming in the current age, while also keeping the simplicity and ease of use that Evercade provides, and the continuing commitment to the nostalgia and experience of using and collecting physical cartridge media.

The Evercade Nexus is built to play with an ultra-bright 5.89" screen, the biggest ever screen on an Evercade, with a peak brightness of over 500 nits. The new, larger design allows for dual analogue sticks, giving Evercade players the full experience of 64 and 32-bit games, and helping recreate the feel of arcade-style gaming in your hands. All of this in a new larger form factor that is still light and comfortable to use and travel with, and a sleek new look with a black color scheme and a customizable RGB light-up logo.

Since the launch of the Steam Deck and the subsequent competing Windows gaming handhelds, Microsoft has been working on improving its UI for gaming consoles, culminating with the recent adoption of the Windows Full Screen Experience, which was later renamed to Xbox Mode. The latest update to Microsoft's gaming experience, however, comes by way of the Xbox app and its overlay, as spotted by ROGAllyLife. These new features will be available to everyone using compatible hardware and the Xbox app, although they are still in the preview version of the app, so they may only reach mainline status in a few weeks. The biggest update is a new display widget that was added to the Xbox Game Bar overlay, which adds controls like display refresh rate, resolution, projection mode, and Auto Super Resolution, allowing users to test different display configurations without leaving their games.

Users can now also change notification placement in the Xbox app, allowing them to see notifications without completely disrupting the gaming experience. The Xbox app now allows for eight notification placement options—three positions along each screen edge—and this can also be customized from the Game Bar overlay instead of necessitating a potentially game-breaking app switch. These updates are just the most recent in Microsoft's efforts to make handheld gaming more feasible on Windows, but it remains to be seen how Microsoft will change the regular Windows 11 experience after its recent promise to address quality and usability complaints.

AMD has quietly renamed its Anti-Lag 2 technology as part of the FSR package, now calling it "FSR Latency Reduction 2.0." This move aligns with AMD's recent trend of rebranding FSR-related technologies. The AMD Radeon marketing team has successfully unified FidelityFX Super Resolution under the FSR branding, although Anti-Lag 2 was previously an exception, bundled with other AMD technologies. The advanced graphics technology, once known as FidelityFX Super Resolution, is now simply called "FSR." This change is reflected on AMD's official product page, which notes that FSR stands for "formerly AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution." However, AMD has not formally announced this rebranding. These changes occurred before the official launch of the FSR "Redstone" product in late December last year. Now, every new announcement features the standard FSR language, suggesting that this renaming might be part of a broader update to Anti-Lag 2.

Since FSR is aimed at gamers, it is now included in the FSR package as "FSR Latency Reduction 2.0." With FSR Redstone, AMD has already grouped four technologies under the FSR "Redstone" name: FSR Upscaling, FSR Frame Generation, FSR Ray Regeneration, and FSR Radiance Caching. If the renaming becomes more than just a label update, FSR Latency Reduction 2.0 could become the fifth component of the FSR "Redstone" suite. Technologies like AMD Anti-Lag 2 are specifically designed to reduce latency by improving CPU and GPU coordination. Even without frame generation, it can lower latency in a game, but it may be especially useful when synthetic frames are involved, helping to keep latency at a level where any added delay is far less noticeable.

We continue to improve our Kymera desktop line, not only in hardware but also in the way you can explore and configure each system. We are presenting new product pages for our lines, along with the return of one of the most requested formats by the community.

Kymera Cristal: power you can see
The Slimbook Kymera Cristal features a design that doesn't hide its power, it showcases it. Thanks to its tempered glass front and side panels, every component of the system becomes part of the design, proudly displaying the hardware with precision. This is a solution aimed at those seeking a system that combines extreme performance with striking aesthetics. From RGB-lit configurations to more understated setups, Kymera Cristal allows you to create an environment that reflects your style.

We recently heard from industry insiders that a $699 PlayStation 6 may still be theoretically possible, even with the current hardware market conditions resulting in steep prices for components like memory and storage. Shortly following that report, though, industry analyst, Matt Piscatella (via GamesRadar+) predicted that both the PlayStation 6 and the Xbox Helix consoles may cost as much as $999. He largely blames the AI industry demand and inflated hardware prices for the price increase, but noted that there isn't much certainty in the current hardware market, whether you're considering launch dates or pricing. Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Kantan Games, a consultancy firm, noted that, with the recent price increases to the PS5 line-up, Sony may have "baked in potential future fluctuations...instead of raising prices more frequently and over a longer period of time."

Toto goes on to say that "I think $999 at least for one variant of the PS6 is not impossible," potentially alluding to a PS6 Pro, if current industry prices are anything to go by, but Joost van Dreunen, a video games professor at NYU, argues that "we're quickly moving towards a world in which a $1,000 console will be the norm, and console gaming will be a luxury expenditure." Van Dreunen goes on to predict that we may see the next-gen consoles start at a 50% higher price than the current generation, which would mean a $600 starting price for the base PS6 digital edition and somewhere in the region of $750 for the disc drive model. On the Microsoft side of things, this would put the base model Xbox Helix somewhere around $450, while the "Series X" version would be around $750. Sony is also slated to release a standalone handheld game console that has been commonly referred to as the PlayStation Portable, but there is no indication of pricing on that.

Sony suspended orders for almost its entire lineup of SD and CFexpress memory cards. The company is citing the global semiconductor shortage that has made it impossible to meet demand. The move, announced by Sony Japan and spotted by PetaPixel, effectively pauses shipments to both partners and direct customers starting March 27. The suspension covers nearly the company's entire lineup, including CFexpress Type A and Type B cards, as well as higher-end SD offerings such as TOUGH-branded models. Lower-tier SD cards are also affected, suggesting the shortage isn't limited to premium components. Sony says supply is unlikely to meet demand "for the foreseeable future," and has stopped accepting new orders from distributors and through its own store.

A few exceptions remain. The 960 GB CFexpress Type B card is still in production, alongside some entry-level SF-UZ series SD cards, though the latter are already largely phased out in certain regions. More specifically, on the CFexpress side, all Type A capacities are affected (240 GB, 480 GB, 960 GB, and 1920 GB), along with the 240 GB and 480 GB Type B cards. On the SD side, the entire TOUGH lineup (64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB), standard V60 cards across all capacities, and even budget V30 64 GB and 128 GB options are suspended. Existing inventory is still moving through the supply chain, so cards will remain available at retail for now, but restocking will stop once that supply runs out. Sony hasn't provided a timeline for resuming production, stating it will monitor component availability before making a decision.

NVIDIA has finally launched its long-teased Dynamic Multi Frame Generation (MFG) and Multi Frame Generation 6x mode today through a new NVIDIA app beta update. This marks the full public release of NVIDIA's DLSS 4.5 technology suite, which enables the GPU to generate up to five additional frames following each traditionally rendered frame using generative AI. Using the new MFG 6x mode results in a 6x performance uplift, meaning a game that traditionally runs at 60 FPS can now reach 360 FPS. Users will need to enable "beta and experimental features" in the NVIDIA app's Settings menu, and the GeForce Game Ready Driver 595.79 WHQL or newer is required to access all features. This will give a limited set of games (for now) a massive performance uplift, which includes ARC Raiders Flashpoint, Marvel Rivals Season 7, 007 First Light, CONTROL Resonant, and Tides of Annihilation. More games will get the official support as NVIDIA is working with game studios.

However, for setups where a monitor is maxed out at 240 Hz or 144 Hz, as many gaming panels are, using 6x MFG would be overkill. This is where Dynamic MFG comes into play. The technology determines which MFG multiplier is needed based on the display's refresh rate capability and the input framerate from the upscaler. NVIDIA calls this the "automatic transmission" for MFG, drawing a parallel to modern vehicle automatic transmission systems that switch gears based on demand. In graphically intensive scenarios, the multiplier can scale up to 4x, 5x, or 6x, while lighter scenes like settings menus or static sequences may only require a 2x multiplier to hit the target frame rate.

Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation ("Toshiba") has announced the M12 Series of 3.5-inch nearline hard disk drives (HDDs) for hyperscale and cloud service providers operating large‑scale data centers. The new series uses Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) technology to deliver storage capacities ranging from 30 to 34 TB. Sample shipments have begun and Toshiba also plans to begin sample shipments of M12 drives that use Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR) to deliver capacities of up to 28 TB in the third quarter of 2026.

Today is World Backup Day, the annual international initiative to remind companies and individuals of the importance of backing up and protecting their data. That need is now greater than ever, as the constant expansion of digital services and video content distribution, the widespread adoption of cloud services, and, most recently, the increasing use of data-hungry AI and data science, are driving forward immense growth in the volumes of data generated and stored worldwide.

NVIDIA is reportedly experiencing manufacturing issues with its next-generation "Rubin Ultra" GPU design, one of the company's most ambitious chip development projects, due to the limitations of modern packaging technology. The world's largest company is already shipping customer samples of the standard "Rubin" GPUs, with mass shipments set to begin this summer. However, the current roadmap for the upgraded "Rubin Ultra" design may be encountering technological limitations, as NVIDIA's design goals are too ambitious for TSMC's packaging capabilities. Reportedly, NVIDIA plans to double the regular "Rubin" two-die package with 8 HBM4 modules into a new "Rubin Ultra" package that will include four silicon dies and 16 HBM4E modules in a single package. This configuration is scheduled for 2027, but the sheer volume of silicon may be too much for TSMC's packaging, according to Global Semi Research.

In a typical CoWoS package, TSMC usually combines multiple smaller dies and multiple HBM memory modules into a unified package that supports the entire AI build-out. However, with the ambitious "Rubin Ultra" design, NVIDIA planned to use CoWoS-L, which was expected to handle the design and concept that "Rubin Ultra" was based on. It is rumored, however, that in a 2+2 die package—meaning four dies as in this architecture—TSMC is encountering warping issues. The package—which includes a substrate—is bending in multiple directions, causing the compute dies of "Rubin Ultra" to not make complete contact with the underlying substrate. This instability means that TSMC has to explore alternatives within its packaging portfolio. One of these alternatives is a panelized approach called CoPoS, which stands for Chip-on-Panel-on-Substrate.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking, and storage solution innovator, today announced the launch of the QSW-M7230-2X4F24T, a new L3 Lite managed 100 GbE switch designed for enterprise network upgrades, high-performance storage environments, large-scale media production, virtualization, and AI-driven workloads. The new switch enables organizations to build a scalable 100 GbE core network while maintaining cost efficiency and protecting existing infrastructure investments.

As data-intensive applications continue to accelerate—from AI computing and virtualization to collaborative media workflows—enterprises are increasingly challenged to evolve beyond 10GbE networks without incurring disruptive, large-scale replacements. The QSW-M7230-2X4F24T addresses this transition by providing a flexible, multi-speed architecture that allows enterprises to introduce higher-speed connectivity where it matters most, while expanding the core network over time.

Since the announcement of their collaboration at Computex 2025, Noctua, a leading quiet PC cooling brand, and Asetek, a pioneer in all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooling, have continued to advance their flagship AIO liquid coolers. The products have now successfully completed the Production Validation Test (PVT) phase, confirming performance and manufacturing readiness ahead of the planned Q2 2026 launch.

The Asetek Emma (G8) V2 pump operates at a nominal speed of approximately 3,600 RPM (±300 RPM). Through collaboration with Noctua, several key performance aspects have been enhanced. Firstly, a triple-layer noise-reduction pump cover reduces both air-borne noise and structure-borne vibrations. Secondly, a dedicated mode switch allows users to choose between three different pump speed profiles to fine-tune performance-to-noise characteristics.

Advantech (TWSE: 2395), a global leader in IoT intelligent systems and embedded platforms, today announced the expansion of its SQRAM DDR5 7200 MT/s industrial memory module series. Designed to meet the escalating data demands of Edge AI, the new modules offer a 12.5% performance increase over previous generations and a groundbreaking 64 GB per-module capacity, setting a new benchmark for stability and scalability in outdoor deployments.

12.5% Faster, Up to 64 GB per Module
The DDR5 7200 MT/s delivers a 12.5% performance increase compared to the previous DDR5 6400 generation. In addition to higher bandwidth, each module supports up to 64 GB capacity using 32 Gb IC technology. This enables AI PCs and high-end workstations to scale system memory up to 256 GB, fully addressing the growing demands of data-intensive Edge AI and computing applications.

Intel Core 200 "Bartlett Lake" is probably the most interesting processor gamers can't buy—built on the Intel 7 node and designed for Socket LGA1700, "Bartlett Lake" is a non-Hybrid, pure P-core chip, a monolithic silicon, with 12 "Raptor Cove" P-cores, and no E-core clusters. The 12-core/24-thread chip was launched earlier this month as an exclusive for the commercial and industrial PC OEM markets, as an edge AI PC processor, it is not drop-in compatible with consumer Intel Z790 chipset motherboards, or at least that was the plan.

A motherboard UEFI firmware mod by "kryptonfly" got a consumer ASUS Z790-AYW OC motherboard to POST with an Intel Core 9 273QPE "Bartlett Lake" processor. The modder used Claude AI to mod the UEFI firmware of the board without tripping safeguards that prevent the motherboard from booting with modded firmware. The 273QPE is a 12-core/24-thread pure P-core processor with 2 MB of L2 cache per core, and 36 MB of shared L3 cache. Its uncore components and iGPU are carried over from "Raptor Lake-S." The 273QPE has a base frequency of 3.30 GHz, an all-core boost frequency of 5.30 GHz, and a single-core TVB frequency of 5.90 GHz. The chip has 125 W processor base power, and 250 W maximum turbo power. You can watch kryptonfly's firmware mod video from the source link below.

ASUS today announced ASUS ExpertBook P5 G1, a powerful and versatile business laptop—with 14-inch and 16-inch display options—designed to support the productivity needs of modern professionals. Combining dependable performance from up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor and a sleek and lightweight design, ASUS ExpertBook P5 G1 is engineered to deliver a reliable computing experience in offices, hybrid work environments, and for professionals on the move.

ASUS ExpertBook P5 G1, with its choice of 14-inch or 16-inch form factors, provides a flexible workspace in a highly portable design. The lightweight chassis starts at just 1.29 kg, making it easy to carry between meetings, offices or travel destinations. A 70Wh battery supports extended productivity throughout the workday, while the durable design meets MIL-STD-810H US military-grade standards, ensuring reliability in everyday business environments.

Intel earlier this month debuted the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Core Ultra 5 250K Plus desktop processors at launch prices of $299 and $199, respectively. At the time, the company hadn't launched "KF" variants of the two chips, which lack integrated graphics and are priced around $15 less than their regular "K" variants. It turns out, that Intel is planning to launch the Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus, while there's no sign of a "Core Ultra 7 270KF Plus." The 250KF Plus is almost identical to the 250K Plus, except it comes with the iGPU disabled—something you don't need if you plan on using a graphics card.

As with most "KF" SKUs from the past, the Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus will be priced around $15 less than the regular Core Ultra 5 250K Plus. Intel's own 1,000-unit tray quantity pricing for the chip ranges between $174 and $184. Given how tight memory pricing is, and given that you'll need an aftermarket cooler, the $15 saving might come in handy. Then of course the integrated graphics is nice to have if your graphics card is bricked due to a burnt power connector, and you need something to light your screen up for troubleshooting or during RMA. The Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus is based on the "Arrow Lake" microarchitecture, and packs a 6P+12E core configuration, with 3 MB of L2 cache per P-core, 4 MB of shared L2 cache for each of the three E-core clusters, and 30 MB of L3 cache shared among the six P-cores and three E-core clusters. The Core Ultra 5 250KF Plus should start selling from April 3, 2026.

Zero Latency VR, the undisputed leader in immersive entertainment and the mastermind behind the world's largest true location-based free-roam VR network, has announced a new collaboration with CD PROJEKT RED to bring the award-winning universe of Cyberpunk 2077 into its warehouse-scale VR format.

Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure role-playing game set in Night City, a dark future megalopolis obsessed with power, glamour, and body modification. Players take on the role of a cyber-enhanced mercenary named V, who faces the most powerful forces in the city in a fight for glory and survival. Created by the studio behind The Witcher series of games, Cyberpunk 2077 has reached a global audience since its launch in 2020, earning acclaim for its storytelling, gameplay, and the immersive nature of its open world.

The CZ.NIC Association, the Czech national domain administrator, presents Turris Omnia NG Wired - a rack-mountable model offering 10 Gbps connectivity and the Turris OS operating system based on OpenWrt/Linux. It builds on the security principles of the Turris project and features a quiet, passive-cooling design. The device is intended for businesses, institutions, and demanding users seeking a powerful and sustainable network foundation while supporting European technologies, open source, and digital sovereignty.

Designed for rack installation: 10G/2.5G connectivity in a compact package
Turris Omnia NG Wired is built for racks and spaces like server rooms and network cabinets. Wi-Fi can be provided by separate access points, while the router stays in the backroom.

The Behind The Scenes Trailer offers an in-depth look into the creation of Masters of Albion. It features personal and detailed interviews with Peter Molyneux, Mark Healey and Russ Shaw, as they reflect on their history as collaborators and the creative processes behind MoA, all supported by brand new in-game capture.

Created entirely in-house, the documentary showcases previously unseen areas of Albion's world, behind-the-scenes footage of key development moments, and candid stories from the team's past. Alongside this, viewers can expect new gameplay insights, a closer look at the game's evolving systems, and a tone that reflects both the humour and ambition of the studio… including, at one point, a rogue chicken.

MSI announced that its next-generation AI platform, MSI EdgeXpert, has officially become an NVIDIA-Certified System. This validation ensures the hardware has undergone rigorous testing by NVIDIA engineers for performance, functionality, scalability, and security. Most importantly, it brings MSI EdgeXpert into the supported ecosystem of NVIDIA AI Enterprise (NVAIE), strengthening its capability to support enterprise-grade generative AI, AI agents, and high-performance edge AI workloads.

Establishing Hardware Trust Standards through Rigorous Testing
NVIDIA-Certified Systems establish a broad hardware trust standard. MSI EdgeXpert has passed extensive evaluations, including deep learning training with TensorFlow and PyTorch, high-throughput inference with TensorRT and Triton, and system-level security testing. While the certification covers a wide range of hardware reliability, its support for NVIDIA AI Enterprise is one of the most significant values, helping organizations move efficiently from proof of concept to real-world deployment.

NVIDIA's latest GeForce NOW update has introduced 90 FPS streaming to various VR headsets, and Apple users are in for a treat. For the Apple Vision Pro headset, GeForce NOW will deliver 90 FPS at 4K resolution, offering a noticeable improvement for anyone using NVIDIA's game streaming service with their Vision Pro headset. The Apple Vision Pro features two displays, one for each eye, capable of running at a resolution of 3,660 × 3,200 and up to 120 Hz. It's great news that NVIDIA has updated its GeForce NOW service to officially support at least 4K resolution, running at 90 FPS. While it's unclear how many gamers use the Apple Vision Pro as their gaming display, the addition of support by NVIDIA suggests a significant number. Available as part of the Ultimate package, members can stream at 90 FPS on other VR headsets as well, but at lower resolutions.

Additionally, everyone can stream at 1080p and 90 FPS, while 1440p is reserved for Pico and Meta Quest. Currently, only the Apple Vision Pro can handle 4K and 90 FPS output from GeForce NOW. Although not many games can run at 4K resolution and 90 FPS on their own, NVIDIA's DLSS technology can boost the frame rate and deliver impressive visuals, ensuring a smooth 4K mode at 90 FPS. Finally, NVIDIA has also scheduled the rollout of H.265 video decoding support for browsers, which will greatly enhance streaming efficiency and visual quality from NVIDIA's virtual gaming server.

Acer today introduced the FA300, a mid-range M.2 NVMe Gen 5 SSD. The drive brings PCIe Gen 5 speeds to a wider audience, and is based on a DRAMless controller. The company doesn't specify the controller type. Popular DRAMless Gen 5 controllers include Phison E31T and Silicon Motion SM2504XT. The FA300 comes in 1 TB and 2 TB capacity variants, which differ in performance. Both variants offer up to 11 GB/s of sequential reads, but while the 1 TB variant offers up to 9.7 GB/s sequential writes, the 2 TB variant goes a bit further, posting up to 10 GB/s sequential writes.

In terms of random access performance, the 1 TB Acer FA300 offers up to 1.4 million IOPS 4K random reads, with up to 1.6 million IOPS 4K random writes, while the 2 TB variant offers up to 1.7 million IOPS for both 4K random reads and writes. The company does not specify the 3D NAND flash type used. The 1 TB model is rated for 750 TBW (TB written) write endurance, while the 2 TB model offers 1,500 TBW. Both models are backed by 5-year warranties. Acer did not specify pricing, because it tends to be dynamic in the current market environment, but expect the FA300 to be among the more affordable Gen 5 SSDs.

Rec Room, a social VR game that largely revolved around user-generated content and social mini-games for fun, has been added to the long line of games that will meet their doom in 2026. According to the game's developer, Rec Room will shut down on June 1, 2026, due to issues with sustainability and profitability. This is after the studio behind the game announced earlier this year that it was laying off roughly 50% of its development team and scaling back the game's scope due to similar issues. As the game studio explains in the announcements, it "never quite figured out how to make Rec Room a sustainably profitable business," and its "costs always ended up overwhelming the revenue" it earned.

This failure to find profitability is in spite of some rather impressive claims regarding player counts for Rec Room. According to the game studio, Rec Room reached over 150 million players and creators, and players spent a cumulative 68 thousand years in Rec Room. The studio blames a "recent shift in the VR market, along with broader headwinds in gaming," which have made profitability as a game studio all the more difficult. The game will officially shut down on June 1, 2026, along with the official website, servers, and player accounts, although players will be able to play the game until then, and all first-party content will be 80% off, while there will no longer be a requirement for a RecRoomPlus account for certain cosmetic features.

Microsoft recently revealed that Xbox Project Helix would be its next-gen gaming console and that it would play both PC and Xbox games, however, previous leaks tipped a rather high price tag for the upcoming console generation—some expect it to be upwards of $800. While this may have its effects on Microsoft's sales, it also has bigger implications for the wider console and gaming hardware market itself. According to notorious hardware leaker, KeplerL2, on the NeoGAF forums, the reduced pressure from Microsoft may be enough for Sony to raise prices on the PS6. There have also been rumors that Sony is planning a PlayStation 6 Portable, which would be a standalone device and could theoretically fill the gap left by Sony in the more affordable console space if this price prediction is true.

The leaker explains that their "current BOM estimate for PS6 is ~$760, so I would say $699 is still possible with a reasonable subsidy. The question is if Sony will even bother now that Xbox is not direct competition anymore." These comments come at a time when hardware prices have skyrocketed, and availability is low, thanks to the ongoing DRAM crisis largely caused by increased demand from the AI industry. This bill of materials cost estimate also assumes that there will be no decrease in memory or hardware costs, which is currently an unknown, with all the talk about AI being a bubble. Those same hardware shortages and price increases have been the justification for predictions of console delays and numerous cancellations by PC hardware manufacturers. It also recently came to light that Sony will be scaling back its PC port efforts, meaning fewer Sony exclusive games will end up on PC, giving players more of an incentive to buy the PS6, even if prices are somewhat inflated.

When Crimson Desert launched, its reviews—especially those from very early reviewers—were good, although less than stellar, however, the player retention figures painted a more positive picture. Now, it looks as though the reviews have caught up to those high early player counts, at least on Metacritic. As of the time of writing, the review aggregator site ranks Crimson Desert as the second highest-rated game of 2026 so far. With its 8.8 user score, Crimson Desert only trails Resident Evil Requiem, which has a strong lead, at 9.4 points. Following Crimson Desert are Pokémon Pokopia, with 8.5 points, Resident Evil Village Gold Edition, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Gold Edition, and Cairn, with 8.5, 8.4, and 8.3 points respectively.

When it comes to the Metascore, however, Pokopia still holds onto its number-one spot, with 89 points, trailed by Resident Evil: Requiem, at 89 points, and Mewgenics, with a score of 88. Meanwhile, Crimson Desert has not yet been reviewed enough for an overall review score, but it currently has a PC Metascore of 77, which is based on very divided reviews, some giving it as low as 50 points, while others give it as much as 100 points. It's clear Crimson Desert will have a lot of competition in 2026, though, given what a packed year it is stacking up to be in the gaming industry. Aside from the already-launched hits like Resident Evil, Pokémon Pokopia, and Slay the Spire 2, massive launches like GTA VI, Pragmata, and Gears of War: E-Day are also slated to launch in 2026.

It's no secret that the development of GTA VI has been a mammoth undertaking, but the exact figures have been a bit hazy, with previous estimates from early 2026 putting the game's total budget at around $2 billion. Now, thanks to an investigation by an internet sleuth, u/Due-Vanilla-8294 on Reddit, it seems as though Rockstar may have exceeded the $3 billion mark, with speculation putting the game's budget as high as $5 billion.

These estimations were based on recent financial filings by Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two, wherein it was revealed that Rockstar had spent as much as $2.1 billion on salaries alone at its Rockstar North location since GTA VI went into full-scale production in 2019. Given that this is only one location's figures and that Rockstar had already started work on GTA VI long before it went into full-scale production, it has been speculated that, by the time it launches, Rockstar may have spent as much as $5 billion on GTA VI. So far, it seems as though GTA VI's high budget may have been worth it, with the game's launch trailer racking up 275 million views since it launched in 2024. GTA VI is also expected to launch at a substantial price premium, with previous rumors floating a $90+ MSRP.

JetStor today announced the successful deployment of an 80 PB high-density archive for a government agency - one of its largest on-premises archive deployments of its kind in the public sector. Designed to meet rigorous security demands for long-term data retention, JetStor's POD-based architecture was paired with WD Ultrastar 26 TB enterprise-class hard drives to deliver a secure, high-density cost-efficient storage foundation built for long-term data retention at scale.

Public-sector IT teams face a distinct challenge at this scale: growing storage capacity economically without disrupting active production networks or retraining operations staff. JetStor addressed this by standardizing the entire deployment into repeatable POD building blocks—each anchored by WD Ultrastar DC HC590 26 TB SAS 7200RPM drives—across 132 JetStor XS3324D 4U 24-bay systems and 3,200 drives total. The result is a dual Fibre Channel fabric architecture that supports seamless expansion while keeping infrastructure management straightforward and predictable from day one.

Microsoft has officially announced its next Xbox Summer Games showcase, which will take place on June 7, 2026, showing off the latest of what Microsoft has in-store for gamers in 2026. While it's not yet been revealed what will be shown off at the game showcase, Microsoft did confirm that there will be a Gears of War: E-Day showcase immediately after the Xbox Games Showcase, in which we're likely to see at least a new trailer and maybe a release date for the upcoming Xbox shooter, which was revealed at the 2024 Summer Xbox Game Showcase and hasn't made much noise since, despite its 2026 release date.

The Xbox Game Showcase is slated to start at 10 AM PT on June 7, which is 14:00 UTC. It's already been all but confirmed via the game's Steam store page that Gears of War: E-Day will launch for both PC and Xbox, although not much else is known about the game other than that it will be a prequel set 14 years before the original Gears of War, and that it will be built on Unreal Engine 5.

PUBG: Blindspot launched at the beginning of February as a new 5v5 top-down shooter from the same studio and publisher as the original PUBG, but now, less than two months after the launch of the game, the developer, ARC Team, has announced that the new free-to-play tactical shooter will be shutting down on March 30, 2026. ARC Team says that, although the developers had tried to explore ways to improve the game based on player feedback, the studio is "no longer able to sustainably provide the level of experience we set out to deliver through Early Access."

PUBG: Blindspot has a fairly acceptable 72% positive rating on Steam, but player counts are rather low, with an all-time peak of just 3,251 concurrent players and a 24-hour peak of just 236 at the time of writing. PUBG: Blindspot is already delisted from Steam, and players will no longer be able to access the game. This is only one of a number of recent game closures, with other notable additions including Highguard and a number of other games that were in development, like those that recently got caught up in the Ubisoft reshuffle. Further, Riot recently laid off a number of staff from its 2XKO fighting game due to sustainability reasons, all of which seem to suggest that game studios are fighting for revenue more than ever and are unable to make it work long-term if their games aren't immediately successful.

Two fan favorites just got a serious upgrade. JBL Xtreme 5 and JBL Go 5 combine Legendary JBL Sound with a refreshed look and new ambient edge lighting to bring the party wherever you take them. JBL Xtreme 5 now features AI Sound Boost and Smart EQ Mode for rich, powerful sound whether you're listening to music or podcasts while the compact JBL Go 5 makes stereo pairing even easier with AirTouch. No matter the size, JBL brings next-level sound and the vibes to match.

Turn up the volume
Now with 10% deeper bass and louder sound than the previous gen, your most-loved songs hit harder than ever with JBL Xtreme 5. Its new acoustic design made up of dual tweeters, a subwoofer, and enhanced power output delivers powerful sound, while AI Sound Boost minimizes distortion at high volumes. Switching from your party playlist to a podcast? New AI-powered SmartEQ Mode optimizes sound settings for music or speech, so you'll hear the optimal version of whatever you're listening to.

Publisher Digital Vortex Entertainment (part of Utmost Games) and indie developer Firevolt are proud to announce Salvation Denied, a chaotic co-op building sim for 1-4 players where a crew of small, yellow, mischievous construction robots attempts to build massive structures with heavy machinery and absurd tools.

A time-limited open playtest is now available on Steam for one week, with the full game release launching Fall 2026 on PC via Steam and in 2027 on PS5 and Xbox Series X. In Salvation Denied, players work under contract for a mysterious and fanatical client. On a hostile planet filled with extreme environments, a crew of construction robots is tasked with assembling massive experimental structures, though only their obsessive employer seems to know what's coming next.

Gameplay Group International and PM Studios, in collaboration with Paramount, Skydance and Avatar Studios, Today announced a global publishing partnership for AVATAR LEGENDS: The Fighting Game. Developed together with Nickelodeon Animation Studios, the fast-paced 1v1 fighter is set to launch July 2 for $29.99 USD SRP on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam, with full cross-play support available at launch. The game's release date was unveiled live at the EVO Awards, marking a major milestone for the fighting game community. Players can pre-order now on Steam and wishlist the game on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S Today.

Set within the iconic worlds of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, AVATAR LEGENDS: The Fighting Game delivers fluid combat, expressive bending abilities, and competitive gameplay designed to engage both seasoned fighting game players and newcomers alike. Players are challenged to master the elements across a roster of fan-favorite characters, combining strategic depth with fast-paced, accessible action.

ASUS today announced the appointment of Shawn Chang as the General Manager of its North America System Business Group. Chang, a veteran ASUS executive with more than two decades of experience across global markets, will now lead the business development and strategic growth initiatives across the United States and Canada.

Under Chang's leadership, ASUS North America will continue to accelerate its momentum across consumer, gaming, and commercial segments. The company remains committed to delivering the award-winning hardware and innovation that has made it a leader in consumer and gaming electronics and delivering the level of advanced security, durability and processing power needed for its commercial line of electronics.

Spanish tech company Slimbook has refreshed its Creative laptop series, pairing an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 with an NVIDIA RTX 5070 in a noticeably smaller chassis that weighs just 1.9 kg. The display is a 15.3-inch IPS panel at 2560 x 1600, 16:10 aspect ratio, 180 Hz refresh rate, 100% sRGB, and 400 nits brightness. The Ryzen AI 9 365 brings a dedicated NPU, while the RTX 5070 runs at up to 115 W TDP with an additional 45 W headroom via Dynamic Boost. A MUX switch lets you toggle between the discrete GPU, integrated Radeon 880M, or hybrid mode depending on what you need. Memory goes up to 128 GB of DDR5-5600 across two user-accessible SO-DIMM slots, and storage tops out at 8 TB via two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots.

Connectivity is generous, Thunderbolt 4, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 on the right, one more on the left alongside a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, dual HDMI 2.1 outputs, a Mini DisplayPort 2.1a, gigabit Ethernet, and an SD card reader. Wi-Fi is 6E on Windows or 6 on Linux, with Bluetooth 5.2. The 99.9 Wh battery supports fast charging to 40% in 30 minutes. Slimbook offers the Creative with a choice of Linux, Windows, or both. The base configuration starts at €1,799 with 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) of DDR5 RAM and a 500 GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, with options to scale up memory, storage, and OS from there.

XGIMI has announced that its flagship TITAN Noir series 4K projectors—first unveiled at CES 2026—are now officially available for pre-order, with early supporters eligible to save up to $3,200 off the retail price. As XGIMI's most advanced and powerful flagship home theater lineup to date, the TITAN Noir series is engineered with cutting-edge RGB triple-laser technology and a precision Dual Iris system, redefining "absolute black" in home cinema and setting a new benchmark for professional-grade at-home projection.

Crafted for home cinema enthusiasts and power users who refuse to compromise on visual excellence, the TITAN Noir series is purpose-built for dedicated home theaters and high-end living spaces—where deep blacks, high brightness, and superior contrast are the cornerstones of an exceptional viewing experience.

Aurzen today introduced the EAZZE D1 air smart projector, a portable cinema designed for people who want the experience of a smart TV without being tied to a single room. Built for effortless viewing, D1 air runs popular streaming apps like Netflix and YouTube out of the box, fully licensed and ready to play—no extra sticks, no workarounds, and no complicated setup. Power it on, and your favorite content starts immediately, just like turning on a TV.

A recessed USB-C port with 65 W PD support allows D1 air to run from common laptop chargers or portable power banks, making it easy to move from room to room or take entertainment outdoors. The integrated 180-degree gimbal stand keeps cables neatly out of sight while allowing smooth transitions from wall to ceiling projection with a simple adjustment.

The latest research from Omdia shows that US PC shipments (excluding tablets) grew 3% year-on-year in Q4 2025 to 18.2 million units, reversing two consecutive quarters of annual decline. The return to growth was driven by a combination of the peak of Windows 11 commercial refreshes, holiday-season demand, and vendor efforts to secure inventory ahead of anticipated memory and storage supply constraints in 2026. Full-year 2025 shipments reached 71.5 million units, up 3% from 2024, but 2026 shipments are now forecast to decline 13% year-on-year due to highly constrained supply of memory and storage products.

"Q4 marked a meaningful inflection point for the US PC market," said Kieren Jessop, Research Manager at Omdia. "After two quarters of year-on-year decline, the market returned to growth driven by solid performances across both the consumer and commercial segments. Consumer shipments rose 6% to 8.2 million units - the fourth consecutive quarter of annual growth - underpinned by holiday spending and a product mix shift to more affordable price ranges. The commercial segment grew 4% as enterprises continued their Windows 11 migration, particularly in the final stretch before the Windows 10 end-of-support deadline in October."

The rumor mill has started grinding about NVIDIA's next-generation gaming GPU, and it looks like NVIDIA does not want to allow the current market environment to get in the way of implementing its product roadmap, with a roughly 2-year GeForce generation product launch cadence. The next-generation GeForce RTX 60-series will be powered by the "Rubin" graphics architecture. "Rubin" already debuted on NVIDIA's bread-winning AI GPU series, and is making its way to GeForce, reports RedGaming Tech.

The first slice of rumors about GeForce RTX 60-series predicts that NVIDIA will stick to a more conservative approach with foundry nodes, and not go with a sub-2 nm nanosheet-based node. GeForce "Rubin" will be built on some variant of the current TSMC 3 nm FinFET node. They need not be the same N3 node that's in use by Apple, Intel, and others; and NVIDIA might collaborate with TSMC on an exclusive variant just the way it created the NVIDIA 4N node, derived from TSMC N5. Chips in the series will follow the numbering scheme "GR20x," with examples being "GR202" for the biggest part powering the flagship product. The 3 nm node will allow NVIDIA to maintain GPU clock speeds ranging between high 2 GHz and low 3 GHz, which is a minor increase over the current "Blackwell."

QNAP Systems, Inc. (QNAP), a leading innovator in computing, networking, and storage solutions, today announced an expanded partnership with CyberLink Corp., a global leader in AI and multimedia software. Through this collaboration, QNAP has been officially selected as a recommended storage partner for CyberLink's PhotoDirector and PowerDirector workflows.

CyberLink's PhotoDirector, PowerDirector, and PowerDVD are trusted by creators worldwide for their AI-driven editing technologies. When paired with QNAP NAS, creators gain a private cloud storage solution that allows them to centrally store, manage, and protect their entire media library—without being locked into recurring cloud subscriptions. This seamless combination enables creators to edit freely while retaining full ownership and control of their content and files.

MSI is excited to introduce full support for the upcoming AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition processor, built on cutting-edge "Zen 5" architecture and powered by next-generation AMD 3D V-Cache technology. Designed for MSI's AM5 motherboard lineup, this 16-core, 32-thread powerhouse boasts a massive 192 MB L3 cache, up to 5.6 GHz boost clocks, and a 200 W TDP. Whether for intense gaming or heavy content creation, it delivers exceptional speed and efficiency, pushing performance to new heights.

MSI also introduces its new flagship MEG X870E UNIFY-X MAX, built for uncompromising performance. Designed with a specialized 2-DIMM layout and OC Engine, it caters to extreme overclocking enthusiasts seeking maximum potential. A powerful 18+2+1 power phase design (110 A SPS), combined with an advanced cooling solution featuring a Direct Touch Cross Heat-pipe and double-sided EZ M.2 Shield Frozr II, ensures stability under the most demanding conditions. The exclusive Tuning Controller simplifies advanced tuning and CMOS reset, making overclocking accessible even for those new to extreme performance tuning. Fully optimized for AMD Ryzen 9000 Series processors with AMD 3D V-Cache technology, and equipped with Full-Speed Wi-Fi 7 and 5G LAN, it delivers blazing-fast, low-latency connectivity.

Samsung has developed a new SSD controller based on the open-source RISC-V instruction set, moving away from the Arm ISA in some of its SSD controllers. With the introduction of the BM9K1 PCIe 5.0 QLC NAND SSD, Samsung has officially created a proprietary RISC-V IP that will serve as a foundation for many SSDs the company plans to release. Announced at the China Flash Market Summit 2026, the BM9K1 SSD has been showcased with just one metric: sequential read speed. Achieving a maximum sequential read speed of 11.4 GB/s, Samsung has reached impressive speeds for QLC NAND Flash. While the sequential write speed is unknown, it is expected to be around 10 GB/s, varying slightly depending on Samsung's design. Typically, high-performance SSDs use TLC NAND, as seen in Samsung's own 9100 Pro SSD, which we reviewed. It features 3D TLC V-NAND V8 with 236 layers. While this SSD uses TLC NAND and has a proprietary Samsung Presto 5 nm controller running on Arm-based cores, Samsung might transition a significant portion of its SSD lineup to a RISC-V based design with the BM9K1, offering satisfactory performance with QLC NAND.

Interestingly, Samsung has designed this SSD with considerations for size, power, and AI. For instance, the BM9K1 PCIe 5.0 SSD replaces the previous BM9C1 PCIe 4.0 SSD controller. Although both use QLC NAND, the newer BM9K1 features a new RISC-V controller and a fresh PCIe 5.0 interface, doubling the performance in sequential reads on average. The power efficiency of the new RISC-V design is also improved. Samsung claims a 23% increase in power efficiency, thanks to the flexibility of RISC-V, which allows for greater customization and optimization of the controller firmware to match I/O patterns with the QLC NAND, resulting in nearly a quarter less power consumption. This improvement is expected to have a significant impact on small form factor PCs and client laptops. The main drawback of the design is the use of QLC NAND, but Samsung may introduce TLC NAND SSDs with RISC-V controllers in the future. For now, these remain on the 5 nm Presto Arm-powered controllers.

Microsoft has withdrawn its latest KB5079391 non-security feature update after users reported significant problems and installation errors. According to Microsoft's official documents, the company has temporarily paused the rollout of this update while investigating the installation error 0x80073712. If you applied this late March update, your operating system might display errors like "Some update files are missing or have problems. We'll try to download the update again later. Error code: (0x80073712)." To prevent further issues, Microsoft decided to temporarily pull this Windows 11 update until the problem is resolved. Microsoft has reportedly identified the issue and will share more information soon as the bug is fixed. Once the fix is applied, Microsoft will reintroduce the update, possibly with a different KB package number, through the Windows Update process.

This is happening just days after Microsoft published its Windows 11 plans and roadmap for upcoming updates. This includes a promised focus on stability to restore Windows 11 to its full glory, but this has been insufficient so far, as this late March KB5079391 non-security feature update had been prepared a little longer before the promise. Hence, the time has been insufficient for the update plans and what Microsoft has in store for Windows 11. It seems we will have to endure a few more cycles of challenging updates and releases before the entire issue portfolio is resolved and an update becomes an actual improvement rather than a nightmare for users.

Welcome to the final few days of March and the first few days of April. We kick off this week with a very shiny looking game that wants to freak you out. This is followed by cleaning up the neighbourhood, killing off some vampires, getting the Star God's blessing, being a very smart octopus and finally playing jenga with a city in the ocean. We also have a bunch of other games that might appeal to you this week as well.

Subliminal / This week's major release / Tuesday 31 March
Subliminal is a psychological horror game inspired by the urban legend of The Backrooms. Bleeding edge lighting and rendering, handcrafted open-ended levels, light and perspective-based puzzles, nostalgic spaces, unfamiliar faces, and a rotting feeling that something is not quite right. Steam link

It was recently revealed that Xbox's new CEO, Asha Sharma, is planning to announce a new Game Pass subscription tier in order to draw in more gamers, and, although there has been no official announcement from Xbox itself, it seems as though those rumors have been confirmed by Better xCloud, an open-source service that adds features to Xbox Cloud Gaming, in a recent analysis of the Game Pass update code.

According to a post by the Better xCloud official X account, there is a new Game Pass tier that uses the codename "Triton" in the Game Pass update code, and all of the games in the new tier are from first-party Xbox Game Studios, as opposed to regular Game Pass, which features games from third-party developers as well. The exact pricing Xbox will use for the new Game Pass tier is still unknown, but there has been speculation that it will be an ad-supported free or low-cost subscription. This first-party approach could theoretically allow Microsoft to keep costs down, effectively eliminating licensing costs from the equation. It would also be a way for Microsoft to leverage the numerous studio acquisitions it has made during the last few years. There have also been talks of a partnership between Xbox and Netflix for bundled subscriptions, so this may be the groundwork for that.

Microsoft unceremoniously killed off the "This is an Xbox" marketing campaign in mid-March, shortly after the new CEO, Asha Sharma, took office, with all but a few traces of the campaign disappearing from the world-wide web in the blink of an eye. Now, in response to Windows Central, Xbox CEO, Asha Sharma, has explained why she decided to retire the unfortunate branding so soon after it was launched. The response issued by Microsoft, which is rather short, explained that "Asha retired 'This is an Xbox' because it didn't feel like Xbox," with the representative going on to say that Asha is "personally leading a reset of how we show up as a brand."

This isn't the first time we've seen mention of a reset from Asha or Xbox representatives under Asha's leadership. Since it was announced that Asha would be taking over from Phil Spencer, she has been pushing her messaging of a "return to Xbox," although her efforts have sometimes been more successful than others. In addition to the new messaging, Sharma recently confirmed the future of Xbox hardware with the announcement of Project Helix, which Sharma confirmed will be able to play both Xbox and PC games when it launches. It would not be surprising to learn that Sharma was also behind the simplification of other branding, like the switch from "Full Screen Experience" to "Xbox Mode" that was also recently revealed.

Alongside the official Nintendo Switch 2 launch of Warframe, Digital Extremes recently shipped its "The Shadowgrapher" update with a new quest, Warframe, and game mode for all platforms. Almost immediately after the update went live, gamers were online griping about the difficulty of the new mission, Follie's Hunt, with most complaints centering around the unkillable foe, and some even going so far as to say that the mission was impossible for most to complete. Now, having seen the feedback, Digital Extremes has shipped a hotfix with changes to Follie's Hunt that aim to make it more approachable and less punishing. Digital Extremes explains that it interpreted much of the feedback as a design mismatch—Follie's Hunt is a "deviation from regular Warframe gameplay...so understandably there may be some players who don't align with its design," reads the post announcing the upcoming changes, which will be implemented and iterated on in the coming weeks.

With the first Follie's Hunt update, Digital Extremes has made the Follies hunting players less brutal by removing their invulnerability. Players seeking reprieve can now shoot Follie, and she will retreat momentarily if enough damage is dealt. Further, Follie's Aura doesn't do as much damage to players, and Inky Walls will no longer damage players or inflict knock-down, increasing survivability. Resources are also now easier to find and gather: Atramentum balloons are easier to see; there are fewer balloons to find, and the Atramentum reward per mission has been increased from 5 to 15. The patch notes also contain a slew of unrelated changes, and Digital Extremes has already said it will be monitoring player feedback to see what more needs to be done to make the gameplay fun.

A recent leak claimed that Sony would be increasing the price of the PlayStation 5 across the board by as much as €100 in Europe, although it was unclear at the time whether the US and other international markets would see the same price increases. Now, thanks to an official PlayStation Blog post, Sony has confirmed the extent and details of the price increases, which apply the US, UK, Europe, and Japan. Starting on April 2, US buyers will pay $649.99 for the PS5, $599.99 for the PS5 Digital Edition, and $899.99 for the PS5 Pro, while UK buyers see the PS5 go up to £569.99, the Digital Edition increase to £519.99, and the PS5 Pro spike to £789.99. In Europe prices increase to €649.99, €599.99, and €899.99 for the PS5, PS5 Digital Edition, and PS5 Pro, respectively. In Japan, the PS5 increases to ¥97,980, while the PS5 Digital Edition and PS5 Pro increase to ¥89,980 and ¥137,980, respectively.

The price of the PlayStation Portal will also increase in all the aforementioned regions to $249.99 in the US, £219.99 in the UK, €249.99 in Europe, and ¥39,980 in Japan. Meanwhile, Sony has confirmed that price increases are inbound for South-East Asia—specifically Indonesia, Malaysia, the Phillipines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam—but it has not yet revealed the exact price changes, stating that the blog would be updated at a later date. Sony blames the price increases on "pressures in the global economic landscape," which is not particularly specific, but it's likely that at least part of the price increase is down to the current RAM and general hardware shortages and price increases caused by outsized demand from the AI industry.

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