AMD is preparing its third-gen Ryzen CPU family that will be a true next-gen Zen 2 CPU core, with the original Zen architecture powering both the Ryzen 1000 and Ryzen 2000 series processors. According to a forum post on HardOCP by '_mockingbird', Radeon Technologies Group has "just received its first Zen 2 sample (to optimize for) and it's really impressive".

RTG is a weird place for the very first Zen 2 CPU engineering sample to go, but the posted said in a reply "Zen team brought the processor over so that the RTG teams can make changes to the video card's drivers that make them work better with the processor". This is good news for gamers as it would hopefully mean AMD is keen to see just how their next-gen Zen 2 architecture is holding up with gaming on a prototype Ryzen 3000 series CPU.

The test rig was using a custom motherboard with an AMD logo on it, with the HardOCP forum member saying the "Zen team is being awfully secretive, that's for sure". I'm not surprised given it's an unreleased CPU. The poster added: "It crashes all the time. Some of the tests have to be run multiple times because they crashed before finishing". This isn't uncommon: the first prototype of a new processor, with a heavily tuned architecture, on a totally new 7nm node process... crashes happen.

At this year's Minecon, Mojang announced Minecraft: Dungeons, a brand new spin-off adventure game that sounds a lot like a voxel-style Diablo.

As a big Diablo fan I'm always looking for new ARPGs to play, and I never thought I'd see a Minecraft-themed game roll out. But that's exactly what Mojang is doing with Minecraft: Dungeons. The game is a standalone four-player dungeon crawler that uses core combat mechanics of the original game but with a top-down twist. Gamers will blast through dungeons in the search for epic loot, and we should expect classes and some sort of adventure-style story line too. Since Microsoft is involved don't be surprised if Minecraft: Dungeons is monetized with microtransactions, too.

"This is a brand new game from Mojang," said Mans Olson, game director of Minecraft Dungeons. "It's a re-imagining of Minecraft as a completely different experience."

Intel is expected to unveil its new Core i9-9900K processor in less than two weeks time, with some "accidental" listed prices hitting Silicon Lottery. We're looking at a much more expensive 9th generation CPU series from Intel, but as usual the prices were removed - yet this is the internet, we all know whatever is posted is forever.

Well, it looks like we're looking at around $480 for the upcoming Core i9-9900K processor... a price hike of around $100 over the Core i7-8700K. Remember the new 9900K is an 8C/16T chip while the current-gen 8700K is a 6C/12T processor. The new 9th gen Core i7-9700K should debut at $370, which is the same price as the 8700K (but it is an 8C/8T chip with HyperThreading disabled). The upcoming Core i5-9600K is a 6C/6T chip (also with HT disabled) and should debut at around $250.

Intel's new Core i9-9900K will rock a base clock of 3.6GHz and boost clock of 5GHz (in single- and dual-core tasks). Intel should be listing the 4-core boost as 4.8GHz, while the higher-end 6- and 8-core boost is a huge 4.7GHz. This should really put the boot into AMD's neck... yet AMD's Ryzen sales are out of this world right now and Intel needs everything it can just to fight a battle that two years ago, it thought it didn't need to fight. 10nm is a mess, and now the Core i9-9900K has to take things to the next level for Intel to take the spotlight away from AMD... temporarily.

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How to Win

What do big publishers and devs want from next-gen consoles like Sony's PlayStation 5 and Microsoft's upcoming Xbox Scarlett? More space for their games, for one. And beefier CPU/GPU power wouldn't hurt.

One of the most frustrating things about modern gaming is running out of space for your games. Games are so big these days--Halo 5 was over 90GB last time I checked, and Red Dead Redemption 2 will start out at 105GB on PS4--as devs pummel our hard drives with higher-end effects, 4K textures, and tons of content. The average game is about 40-50GB, which is over 10% of a default console's hard drive space. Devs are squeezing out every last GB on traditional Blu-ray discs...but a single disc may not be enough. This typically forces two outcomes: gamers have to download the remaining data online or publishers have to add in an extra disc, which could drive up prices. But the alternative, using dual-layer UHD Blu-rays (up to 66GB) or triple-layer discs (100GB+), could raise prices too.

2K Games exec Mark Little expressed that devs are simply running out of room on current media:

Tencent's upcoming Call of Duty mobile game takes aim at both enthusiast and casual FPS gamers with decent visual fidelity.

A batch of new Call of Duty mobile screenshots have leaked from a beta test, showing that Tencent is taking its responsibility quite seriously for the Chinese market. The visuals seem to rival that of the Xbox 360 console era which is both surprising and predictable given the power of today's smartphones. Just look at Razer's higher-end gaming handset that rocks some serious hardware, including a Snapdragon 835 chipset and 8GB of RAM to boot.

The HUD looks a bit messy, and we're wondering what it's like to play a tense shooter like Call of Duty on a touchscreen...but then again Epic Games has done wonders with Fortnite on iOS and Android.

Rocksteady's big new project may be centered around not one but many superheroes in DC's Justice League series.

We know Rocksteady, the team responsible for the excellent Batman Arkham series (except for Arkham Knight on PC), is working on a brand new game. Past rumors say Superman is the focus, but nothing's been confirmed. It should be pretty huge, though: devs say the game will make us "lose our minds" once it's revealed.

Now an anonymous 4Chan user with purported inside sources says the game is centered around Justice League. The game will have singleplayer and co-op, the user says, and the story will chronicle the rise of heroes like Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Flash. Live service elements will enable multiplayer action and a selection of massive cities like Gotham and Metropolis, all of which should expand over time via updates/DLC.

PS4's new cross-play feature was being tested, plotted, and implemented a while before it was officially announced.

Cross-play is a difficult thing to roll out. PS4 gamers can enjoy cross-play in some games like Final Fantasy XIV, but the majority of games are locked to the PSN ecosystem. Enabling cross-play was always in the works, though, and Sony's exec Shawn Layden discusses why it took so long.

"This is something that's been taking probably 65% of my Twitter feed over the last few months. Cross-play is something we know about. We know [cross-play] is a want, is a desire. We want to be able to deliver that in the best way possible. Enabling cross-play isn't just about flipping a switch and there you go," SIE Worldwide Studios Chairman Shawn Layden said in the recent PlayStation Blogcast.

Vivendi will soon shed itself of all controlling stake in Ubisoft.

A bit ago Vivendi wanted to buyout French games-maker Ubisoft, and started buying up shares en masse. Luckily (for both gamers and Ubisoft) the corporation cancelled the hostile takeover plans and agreed to relinquish control of all stake in the publisher. Now Vivendi outlines exact details of this plan, which sees it selling the remaining 7.5 million shares (about 6.7% of Ubisoft's total shares) by March 2019.

Vivendi will sell its shares for 500 million euros in the following ways: "This 6.7% interest will be sold by Vivendi to two financial institutions as follows: approximately 0.91% on October 1, 2018 as planned, and 5.74% deferred to March 5, 2019."

Bungie may be moving on from Destiny to a new IP called Matter.

Destiny and Halo developer Bungie has filed trademarks for something called Matter on the European Union Intellectual Property Office. The trademark, which is classified under gaming software and services, was filed just yesterday and has yet to be registered. Sources say Bungie has been working on a new IP for quite some time, and Matter could be it.

Bungie recently signed a big $100 million partnership with Chinese gaming juggernaut NetEase which will allow it to remain independent while creating new worlds. The funds will be used on an ambitious new plan and bold vision at Bungie, which may include a new game--or series of games--outside of the current Destiny universe.