The Xbox Series X has the flexibility, software, and storage hardware to shrink game sizes...but there's no catch-all solution that will reduce every game. It's up to developers to find that compromise.

Games are getting way, way too big. Warzone is over 100GB, Red Dead Redemption 2 is the same, and even Final Fantasy 7 Remake clocks in at 80GB. The Last of Us II could also be 100GB on two Blu-ray discs. Next-gen consoles like the Xbox Series X have the potential to dramatically reduce the size of games through a combination of hardware and software, both of which revolutionize how console data is managed, stored, and processed.

Speed is a big part of how storage will be revolutionized on Xbox Series X. The console's new ultra-fast 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD can blast compressed data through at 4.8GB/sec to the new SoC-based decompression block, which then rapidly decompresses the data and sends it to the RAM, CPU, and GPU for processing. Once it's decompressed, the SSD can deliver stored uncompressed data at 2.4GB/sec to the rest of the system.

Microsoft has officially announced its new Surface Book 3 hailed as its most powerful Surface laptop yet. Microsoft brags that the laptop combines speed, graphics, and immersive gaming with the versatility of a laptop and tablet combination. The machine can be figured with 10th generation Core i5 and i7 processors paired with up to an NVIDIA GeForce 1660 Ti GPU.

Buyers can get up to 32 GB of RAM and up to 2 TB of storage. Surface Book 3 comes in 13.5-inch or 15-inch screen sizes. With the new high-end hardware, Microsoft brags that the Surface Book 3 is 50% faster than its predecessor. Microsoft promises up to 17.5 hours of runtime per charge.

The machine has the graphics muscle to act as a digital canvas for creating in Adobe Creative Cloud and other applications. Book 3 will connect with the Surface Dock allowing users to output video content to dual 4K displays. Connectivity options include both USB-C and USB-A ports along with an SD card slot. The 13.5-inch unit has a native resolution of 3000 x 2000 and supports multitouch. Native resolution for the 15-inch version is 3240 x 2160.

Facebook doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to privacy, safety, and security. Sometimes errors that Facebook makes impact apps from companies that aren't owned by Facebook. That is precisely what happened with popular iPhone apps like Spotify, Venmo, Tinder, TikTok, DoorDash, and Pinterest this week. All of those apps experienced persistent crashes due to a bug in the Facebook SDK earlier this week.

Reports of the crashes began pouring in around 6:30 PM Eastern on May 6. Facebook has since resolved the issue. A Facebook spokesperson issued a statement that said a new release of Facebook included a change that triggered crashes for some apps using the Facebook iOS SDK. According to the spokesperson, Facebook identified the issue quickly and resolved it.

The Facebook SDK is used by app developers for multiple reasons, including the ability for users to sign on using their Facebook account. The apps that experienced the persistent crash issues were attempting to communicate with Facebook servers and crashing as a result. The apps were reportedly crashing even if users were not logged in to Facebook and didn't have apps made by Facebook installed.

As digital superiority is becoming a foregone conclusion, it's honestly rather embarrassing that we so stubbornly hold on to something so impractical, and by something, I mean physical discs. I love DVDs and have a huge collection. That said, for years, I have to settle for the inconvenience of carrying piles of DVDs around with great care. Therefore, it may not come off as much of a surprise that I can hardly contain my excitement when I come across a perfect DVD to MP4 solution to fit in the new status quo.

If you want to convert your DVDs, you have a few options to choose from. For example, the famous Handbrake may well rule the roost in home DVD converting. Or if you need a specialist who can handle brittle, decade-old discs from various studios, just like me, turn to WinX DVD Ripper, the free but powerful DVD video conversion program for Windows.

First, the DVD ripper accepts almost all the DVDs I throw to it (I'm a big movie fan, so I have a motley crowd of discs). Unlike Handbrake, which requires Libdvdcss to be installed to circumvent CSS used on DVDs, it has no problem reading DVDs with 99 titles, region DVDs, homemade DVDs, damaged & old discs, non-standard DVD, TV series, new releases, etc.

Tile is a company best known for creating small tags that allow users to find things they've lost, such as laptops, bags, and car keys. Tile has announced that it will be collaborating with Intel to bring the Tile "finding power" to PC OEMs. The collaboration means that coming Intel-powered laptop and notebook computers will be findable if misplaced or stolen.

Tile says that the updated Intel solutions are expected to be available later this year for OEM adoption. The technology will allow PC users to find their laptop or notebook even if the device is in sleep mode. Both the Tile and Intel teams are working closely with PC manufacturers to determine the best Tile experience for their customers.

"This collaboration with Tile is an exciting addition to our world-class wireless connectivity solutions. We are always looking for ways to further enhance PC platform experiences and in this case, we enable new capabilities including enhanced security by simplifying device tracking and recovery for both consumer and commercial PCs," said Eric McLaughlin, Vice President, Compute Client Group, General Manager Wireless Solutions Group, Intel.

Capcom plans to start leaning out and trimming the fat from its books with a new digital diet.

Capcom just reported its third straight year of record profits, and digital sales helped spark the milestone. Now that Capcom has had a taste of digital, it wants more. The company confirms it will double-down on digital games in an effort to reduce costs.

The plan is simple: Capcom wants to reduce overall expenses by reducing physical media costs. Selling retail games requires manufacturing costs, shipment costs, and warehouse costs--all of which add up fast. Capcom won't stop selling physical games, and retail games won't simply dry up, but it's making a conscious effort to lean into digital.

Microsoft has gone official with its latest set of headphones called the Surface Headphones 2. They are offered in light gray or matte black colors for $249.99 with the release date set for May 11. The next-generation Surface Headphones support voice, touch, and fingertip controls with 13 levels of active noise cancellation.

The levels of noise cancellation are controlled using a mechanical dial on the left ear cup that can control the noise cancellation between blocking out and being able to hear the outside world. The headphones promise omnisonic sound with volume controlled by the dial on the left side ear cup. Each ear cup has its microphone to ensure clear calls.

Microsoft promises all-day battery life with up to 20 hours of listing per charge and almost an hour of run time with only a five-minute charge. Details on the Surface Headphones 2 were leaked ahead of the official unveiling. The Surface Earbuds were also unveiled and will also launch on May 11 for $199.99. The Surface Earbuds promise a comfortable and stable fit with four anchor points that sit inside the ear to hold them securely. The earbuds come with three sets of interchangeable silicone tips for the perfect size.

Capcom just reported its third consecutive year of record profits, raking in a strong $150 million in net income in FY2019.

Although Capcom only released a few games last fiscal year, its total FY2019 earnings have once again beat expectations for the third year running. The Resident Evil maven generated a total of $767.3 million in net sales, down nearly 20% year-over-year. Capcom says this drop was the result of lower packaged sales in the year, which makes sense considering Monster Hunter: World was the only game Capcom released in FY2019. Less games means less purchases in the critical holiday period. Digital sales of key games helped offset the thin slate.

Operating income and total profits both spiked by over 25%, though. Operating income jumped to $214.7 million, up 25.8% YoY, driven by continued strong monetization in Monster Hunter World as well as digital purchases of hits like Resident Evil 2 Remake (remember, RE3 Remake released in April, outside of the fiscal year cutoff period).

One of the biggest challenges that people around the world face right now due to the coronavirus is helping kids to learn and stay occupied. People without children in the home don't understand how difficult it can be to get any work done with a rambunctious child wanting attention. Another challenge for parents is helping their kids to learn while at the same time trying to focus on their work so they can pay the bills.

Google has a new app that's available for Android users called Read Along by Google: A fun reading app. The app is designed to keep children entertained with short stories and other learning games. The key component of the app is that it has an in-app reading buddy that listens to the young reader as they read aloud and offers assistance when they struggle.

When the young reader does well, they are rewarded with stars. The app is aimed at kids who already have basic knowledge of the alphabet. Google has made the app for offline use without the need for an Internet connection after the initial download. Kids will be greeted with a fun game-like experience that features hundreds of stories and word games available in nine languages.

Here at TweakTown we've hyped up next-gen consoles quite a bit. With the impressive 8-core Zen 2 CPU specs, high-end RDNA-powered Navi 2 GPUs, ultra-fast PCIe 4.0 SSDs, and 16GB of GDDR6 RAM, it's hard not to get excited. But it could be a while before we see proof of amazing third-party games running on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles.

Today's Inside Xbox event drove one point home for me: Developers aren't ready to show off their major next-gen game innovations just yet. And until they are, it might be harder to get totally excited about next-gen.

Every single game shown at the event came with a disclaimer warning consumers that hardware hasn't been finalized, and the footage wasn't actually captured on an Xbox Series X console. "Game and console in development, footage representative of expected Xbox Series X gameplay," reads the disclaimer.