We all know there will be millions of families across the world spilling into arguments over the holiday and Christmas period, when it comes to money, politics, TV and movies, gaming, technology, and virtually everything in between.

But don't worry, Amazon is here to the rescue with its virtual assistant receiving a new upgrade that will settle family disputes. Amazon Alexa's new feature is called a "distraction technique" and will be voice activated by saying "Alexa, change the subject!" The perfect distraction, right?

Amazon researched into the subject, finding that at 6:30PM on Christmas Day is the peak time for when family arguments begin. Once it has been activated with "Alexa, change the subject", the Amazon Alexa will distraction feature by asking other triggering questions like "Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?" An easier question posed by the newly-powered Alexa is "What would your superpower be and why?"

Microsoft might have just discounted what could be a great last-minute Christmas gift, with the Xbox One X discounted by over $150 from its original $499 price.

The Xbox One X is being offered for $350 by both B&H and Walmart, while I found it for just $339 on Amazon. Walmart has discounted the Xbox One X by $150 down to $349, while also sweetening the deal with game bundles including Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the Gears 5 bundle, and then an NBA 2K20 bundle. B&H is offering the same Xbox One X bundles for $349.

But it's Amazon with the cheapest price overall, at just $339. If you didn't purchase a gamer in your life a new Xbox One X console yet, now might be your time. If you've got a PC enthusiast in your life, then I would suggest reading my article on that here.

LG unveiled a slew of new monitors ahead of CES 2020 around the corner, with a new 27-inch 4K 160Hz monitor leading the super-fast, high-res pack. But there was also an UltraWide monitor unveiled, with LG's new UltraWide 38WN950.

The new LG UltraWide 38WN950 monitor packs a 37.5-inch Nano IPS-based UltraWide panel, with native resolution of 3840 x 1600 and refresh rate of 144Hz. It too has DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync support, and is NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible, with height and tilt adjustment on tap as well as the ability for the UltraWide 38WN95C to swivel.

LG will be showing off its new UltraWide 38WN950 at CES 2020 in early January 2020, joined by its also-impressive UltraGear 27GN950 which is a 27-inch 4K monitor with 144Hz refdresh, and overclockable up to 160Hz. It matches the new UltraWide 38WN950 in virtually every other area with 450 nits, 98% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, 1ms response time and VESA DisplayHDR 600 support.

LG has just teased some of its upcoming 2020 monitors, with the new UltraGear 27GN950 standing out from the crowd with its native 4K resolution and up to 160Hz refresh rate.

The new LG UltraGear 27GN950 rolls out with a 27-inch Nano IPS panel, native 3840 x 2160 resolution, and stock 144Hz refresh rate. LG allows for this to be overclocked, with the 144Hz capable of being driven up to 160Hz -- if you can find a graphics card capable of pushing 160FPS at 4K, that is.

We have a 1ms response time, VESA DisplayHDR 600 certification, DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync and G-SYNC Compatible, with 2 x HDMI ports, 1 x DP port, and 2 x USB ports joined by a 3.5mm headphone jack. LG provides the ability of height adjustment, pivot and tilt adjustable.

It seems Nintendo is in some hot water over a Switch user installing a SanDisk microSD card into his Nintendo Switch, which then promptly melted and destroyed his portable gaming machine.

Nintendo Switch owner 'NefariousZhen' said on the Nintendo Switch subreddit that he installed a brand new SanDisk Extreme PLUS 1GB microSD into his Switch, which then burned a hole in it. He said: "I thought that I was getting a good deal on Black Friday when I bought a 1TB micro sdxc card. Apparently not! It melted the switch the first time I turned it on after installing (it was off as required). Switch is at version 9.1.0".

The microSD card that he used wasn't a cheap one either, with the SanDisk - Extreme PLUS 1TB microSDXC UHS-I costing $400, more than the Nintendo Switch on its own. The Nintendo Switch was out of warranty, but good guy Nintendo has stepped up and said they will replace the burned-out Switch.

Apple's new Mac Pro might cost over $50,000 and even has optional $400 wheels and hell, even the ProDisplay XDR can only be cleaned by a special-made Apple cleaning cloth -- it is a rendering beast.

In a new test with Apple's freshly-baked Mac Pro, it can handle 16K video playback using the new Afteburner add-in card. Jonathan Morrison used his new Apple Mac Pro and the $2000 additional Afterburner card, throwing 4 x 4.5K ProRes RAW videos into a single timeline without a problem.

The four separate 4.5K video streams combine into an effective 16K video, whcih boasts a huge resolution of 15360 x 8640. This is 16x the pixels of 4K. Morrison created 9 separate 4.5K ProRes RAW video streams in separate windows, something that shows just what an add-in card built for content creators can really do. But Apple, about those $400 wheels for the Mac Pro...

It seems like 2020 could be the year of VR hitting the mainstream, with both the Oculus Quest and Valve Index headsets both backordered through to February 2020.

UploadVR is reporting that Facebook has told customers ordering Oculus Quest headsets that they won't get their new all-in-one VR headset until February 2020, while other online stores are out of stock. The higher-end Valve Index is no different, where even if you buy it from Steam direct, you won't receive it until February 2020 -- just in time for Half-Life: Alyx.

Could it be that 2020 is the year VR really takes off? With both the Oculus Quest and Valve Index headsets effectively sold out until February 2020 in the United States, it seems so. Has the hype of Half-Life: Alyx driven VR headset sales this much? I would dare say so, and even as an Oculus Rift and HTC Vive owner, I'm wanting to pull the trigger on a new Valve Index just for Half-Life: Alyx alone.

Intel has been going through all sorts of issues over the last couple of years, with its troubled modem division selling to Apple for $1 billion, the constant world of hurt AMD is hitting them with in the consumer/HEDT/server CPU markets, and now it seems their discrete GPU is in trouble.

A fresh new rumor has floated online saying that Intel's upcoming DG1 is in trouble, cementing in some of the whispers I've been hearing from my own industry sources. A new post on Reddit suggests that "DG1 is not shaping up very well at all", and that the thermals and power is "looking to be dismal as Koduri is having a hard time reigning in DG1's power envelope. Anyone that has followed his GPU designs know that this has been his downfall forever".

A new graphics card with a 25W TDP isn't going to get anywhere near even the lowest-end Radeon or GeForce graphics card from competitors to Intel in AMD and NVIDIA, and if DG1 is this bad at this long away from release -- Koduri won't look good at all. He was the man behind the failed launch of Radeon RX Vega under AMD and Radeon Technologies Group at the time, with the Reddit post continuing: "The real question now is should we expect to see Koduri still be working for Intel after Q3'20? If not, you can expect to never see DG2 make its way to a retail product".

Talented designer Pope has created some impressive mock-ups teasing special edition Xbox Series X consoles.

The Xbox Series X's unique shoebox chassis design is prime real estate for custom designs. The case itself is a talking point that'll attract lots of attention when it releases (people are calling it a fridge, a monolith, etc). But with a special skin or wrapper thrown on, the system will take on a whole new kind of personality.

Now we get our first taste of how the system will look with special edition first-party themes. Artist Pope made four special edition Xbox SX mock-ups: one for Halo Infinite, another for Gears of War, a very striking and tribal Senua's Saga model, and a very pristine white model for Cyberpunk 2077. They all look pretty spiffy.

On the heels of shipping its big blockbuster Death Stranding, Kojima Productions just celebrated its four-year anniversary.

Hideo Kojima has come a long, long way in just four years. First his next game Silent Hills was cancelled, then Konami fired Kojima, kicking off a big industry-wide controversy. His name was scrubbed from Metal Gear Solid V and the alum was left to fend for himself. And fend for himself he did. Kojima fired up a new studio, Kojima Productions, and pulled a good portion of his old Konami team with him--including the president of Konami. After negotiating with Sony and getting the greenlight to use Guerrilla's Decima Engine, Kojima started work on Death Stranding, reining in big talent like Norman Reedus and Mads Mikkelsen for the project.

Now four years after the studio was founded, Kojima Productions celebrates some pretty big milestones. It's shipped a AAA game. It's iterated on one of the best-looking games engines in the industry. It's solidified a multi-platform deal with 505 Games to bring Death Stranding to PC for long-term sales. And now Kojima is already planning his next series of projects.