Samsung's next-gen 990 PRO SSD has been listed by the PCI-SIG (Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group) confirming Samsung's PCIe 5.0-ready SSD of the near future.

We saw the first tease of Samsung's next-gen 990 PRO SSD nearly two weeks ago now, which appeared in the customs database with the Samsung 990 PRO PCIe 5.0-powered SSD in both 1TB and 2TB capacities, with the model numbers: MZ-V9P1T0 and MZ-V9P2T0. We should expect much bigger Samsung 990 PRO SSDs in the future, but the 1TB and 2TB capacities were teased first.

But now, the PCI-SIG listing teases that the Samsung 990 PRO SSD will use an M.2 interface, but we don't know which capacity PCI-SIG is testing. Samsung has already launched its enterprise-class SSDs with their first PCIe 5.0 SSD being the Samsung PM1743 SSD, which uses Samsung's own in-house 6th Gen V-NAND technology. Samsung's PM1743 SSD has sequential read speeds of up to 13GB/sec (13,000MB/sec) and sequential writes of up to 6.6GB/sec (6600MB/sec). We're looking at improved power efficiency, with around 608MB/s per watt, which is a decent 30% improvement over its predecessor.

AMD will be attending Gamescom 2022 in Cologne, Germany this year... in-person after a two-year hiatus driven by the pandemic. The last time a GPU was launched there was in 2018 when NVIDIA unleashed its Turing-based GeForce RTX 20 series graphcis cards.

The news is coming directly from Milosz Bialas, the Senior Developer Relations at AMD who has tweeted that AMD is attending Gamescom 2022, and he is going as well. There's nothing official in terms of what to expect from AMD, given that they're driving into the launches of their next-gen Ryzen 7000 series "Zen 4" processors, and Radeon RX 7000 series graphics cards powered by the next-gen RDNA 3 GPU architecture.

As for Gamescom, it runs between August 24 and August 29 in Cologne, Germany. During the event, we have hardware announcements, game unveilings and so much more. I was there in-person for Gamescom 2018 thanks to NVIDIA, and it was one of the best events I've attended. It was truly an awesome experience, but now that AMD is going... right as they're leading into new hardware announcements... I don't think we could be more excited.

AMD's next-gen Radeon RX 7000 series graphics cards will begin their journey into our lives, benchmark charts, and hearts later this year... but in flagship Navi 31 GPU form first, and then comes Navi 32 aka "Wheat Nas".

The next-gen Navi 32 GPU is codenamed "Wheat Nas" with some new purported details on the smaller version of Navi 31, which will be re-using the same MCDs (Memory Chiplet Dies) as the Navi 31. AMD will be using its flagship RDNA 3-based Navi 31 GPU for desktop Radeon RX 7000 series graphics cards (Radeon RX 7900 XT, and others) while the Navi 32 GPU will be offered in mobile, and high-end desktop GPU form as well.

Angstronomics reports that Navi 32 was planned with 128MB Infinity Cache (as a 1-hi version) but AMD is reportedly going with just 64MB of Infinity Cache for Navi 32, down from the 128MB on the upcoming Navi 31 GPU. While the current-gen RDNA 2-based Navi 21 has 128MB of Infinity Cache, and Navi 22 has 96MB of Infinity Cache, meaning Navi 32 comes with less Infinity Cache than Navi 22... interesting.

THQ Nordic has revealed that it will be publishing the new South Park game that's in development.

In 2021, Comedy Central announced a $900 million South Park deal that includes a brand new 3D South Park game developed alongside South Park studios. Then in January developer Question Games put up a job listing confirming they are working on a new Unreal Engine-based South Park game.

"Question and South Park Digital Studios are seeking a Lead Level Designer for work on a new video game set in the world of South Park," the still-live job listing reads.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken to Twitter to post a meme poking fun at the number of new agents the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is hiring.

Musk took to his personal Twitter account last night to share a meme that pokes fun at the purportedly debunked claims that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will be hiring 87,000 new tax agents with its new $80 billion in funding received through the Inflation Reduction Act.

Many outlets such as BusinessInsider have written that these claims were debunked, but it has been proven that the IRS will be hiring a substantial number of new employees to improve taxpayer services as well as assist law enforcement with tax evasion from wealthy individuals and large companies. According to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, who wrote a letter to the Senate in August, the IRS has fewer front-line experienced examiners in the field than at any time since World War II, while also having fewer employees than at any time since the 1970s.

A new report from Angstronomics says that AMD's next-gen RDNA 3-based Navi 3X GPUs were finished in 2019, finalized sometime in 2020, and have had "no changes since".

AMD's upcoming Navi 31 is the flagship GPU based on the RDNA 3 graphics architecture, which will reportedly feature 1 x GCD (Graphics Chiplet Die) and 6 x MCDs (Memory Chiplet Dies). Each of them will contain 16MB of Infinity Cache, joined by GDDR6 memory and 64-bit wide PHYs according to the report. Navi 31 is expected to rock out with 48 WGPs (Work Group Processors) and a 384-bit memory bus using GDDR6 memory.

According to this new information, Navi 31 will have a total of 96MB of Infinity Cache, which is actually lower than the current-gen RDNA 2-based Navi 21 GPU which has 128MB of Infinity Cache in total. Angstronomics adds that there will be a cut-down SKU that will be made available, packing 42 WGP and 5 x MCD (80MB of Infinity Cache in total, on a 320-bit memory bus using GDDR6 memory).

Hogwarts Legacy, the new Harry Potter RPG, is the latest game to get delayed.

Hogwarts Legacy will no longer release in 2022, and has instead been pushed back to February 10, 2023 on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. The upcoming Switch version has been delayed indefinitely and developer Avalanche says a date will be revealed shortly.

"The team is excited for you to play, but we need a little more time to deliver the best possible game experience," developer Portkey Games succinctly said on Twitter.

SEGA management says that there currently are no plans to delay Sonic Frontiers even as the game faces criticism from fans.

Sonic Frontiers' original gameplay footage was widely panned for its strange world design that seemed empty and disparate, but SEGA isn't ready to push the game back. The company is taking feedback to heart however SEGA is primarily a games business and is relying on Sonic Frontiers to help make earnings throughout its current fiscal year.

In a recent Q1 FY23 earnings call with investors and analysts, SEGA executives affirm that it will be more transparent with Sonic Frontiers and that the game should get new content in 2023 and beyond.

The Grand Theft Auto franchise has made nearly $8 billion since GTA V launched in 2013.

Take-Two Interactive's new Q1 FY23 report delivers an update on total GTA earnings. According to the data provided by the publisher and compiled by us, Grand Theft Auto has earned $7.68 billion in revenues since GTA V's original release in late 2013.

The report shows that GTA earnings hit $202 million during the quarter and dropped to pre-pandemic levels. The games industry is largely correcting itself after abnormal earnings spikes during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Sony's new gaming hub may hint at features coming to new PlayStation games on PC.

Sony recently put up a new PC gaming section on the PlayStation website, and at first glance it seems like an unremarkable (yet useful) listing of first-party PC games. Scrolling down to the FAQ section gives us some interesting possibilities.

The site may hint at two very important features coming to PlayStation games on PC: PSN integration, which is valuable for Sony's metric tracking and engagement systems, and cross-saves between console and PC. Based on industry trends and the stark contrast between consoles and PCs, we're betting these two features will principally (and perhaps exclusively) apply to Sony's new live games.