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If you are one of the very few people left who are not affected by rising component prices and, in fact, want something even more expensive than a $10,000 RTX 5090, Aftershock PC might have just the thing.

Meet The Cherry Bloom, a $14,200 gaming PC with 70 handcrafted cherry blossoms made from heat-reactive titanium alloy that physically open as the system heats up during gaming and close again as it cools. No motors, no RGB tricks, no electricity powering the blooms. Just heat. AFTERSHOCK says all 70 flowers can open under load, while powering the system down returns the tree to its closed state.

The tree sits inside an APNX V2 chassis with 270-degree wrap-around glass, presumably so you can watch the flowers open rather than hide the whole spectacle under a desk. Under the sculpture, the hardware includes an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, a Zotac GeForce RTX 5080, 64GB of DDR5-6000 memory, a 2TB PCIe Gen4 SSD, a 1300W Platinum power supply, and a custom open-loop liquid cooling system.

Map images alone make it hard to grasp how big Vice City in GTA 6 will actually be, but a new video shared on r/GTA6 by u/HawkGuy gives fans the clearest sense of scale yet. Instead of placing two maps side by side, the video overlays the outline of Los Santos onto a reconstructed version of Vice City, and the difference is striking. Vice City appears to swallow up the space Los Santos occupies.

Based on the shared video, Vice City's land area, excluding water, comes in at about 16.6 km², spanning roughly 4.07 km by 4.07 km. Los Santos in GTA 5, measured at the same scale, covers around 9.1 km², or about 3.02 km by 3.02 km. That makes Vice City's city footprint nearly twice the size of Los Santos on land area alone, before accounting for anything outside the city limits.

It is worth noting that the Vice City outline used in the video is not extracted from an official Rockstar map. It is based on the community-run GTA 6 Mapping project, so the actual proportions might look different once Rockstar's real in-game map is available. The video also compares only the two named cities directly, ignoring that GTA 6's full map extends far beyond Vice City alone, covering large parts of the fictional state of Leonida, just as GTA 5's map expanded into the rural expanse of Blaine County.

id today announced surprise changes to Quake Champions amid Xbox's new layoffs and restructuring plans.

Quake Champions has dropped its free-to-play status and is now being sold as a paid game on Steam. The pricing is pretty reasonable, with the online shooter listed at $9.99, and id has also removed all paid microtransactions from the game while unlocking all playable characters and cosmetics from the store.

Existing players are grandfathered into the free-ninety-nine price tag, meaning if you played Quake Champions F2P, you can still play this version for free. "We're transitioning Quake Champions from a free-to-play game to a paid title on Steam only. Good news to anyone who's played the game on Steam: you've already been automatically upgraded to this paid version for free!"

Rebel Wolves is preparing the first major post-launch patch for The Blood of Dawnwalker, and game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz laid out much of what's coming in a chat with Eurogamer. The update is expected in early October, though there's no confirmed date yet.

The headline change is a new, easier difficulty tier. The current Story mode is getting renamed, likely to something like "Demanding," and a brand new Story setting will take its place as the easiest option in the game. That leaves five tiers total once it ships: Story, Demanding, Fair, Challenging, and Duelist. Tomaszkiewicz said the team heard from a lot of players who wanted an option focused purely on the narrative without the combat getting in the way.

Speaking of combat, that's getting tweaked too. Right now, stunning an enemy causes the camera to snap to a different target immediately, which players haven't been fond of. After the patch, that switch will only kick in after three consecutive hits. Escape mechanics are also being reworked, with a nav-mesh fix meant to make fleeing feel less clunky, and aggressive wildlife will be toned down so animals won't relentlessly chase players down.

Steam has added a new codec to its Remote Play streaming feature that was made by a single person from scratch, aimed specifically at reducing latency for game streaming across two PCs on a local network. The new codec is called Pyrowave, and requires at least 100Mbps of bandwidth to operate through Steam's game streaming Remote Play feature.

Pyrowave reportedly uses five to ten times the amount of bandwidth other streaming codecs use, but runs with an "extremely low" end-to-end latency on a good network, using the GPU to encode/decode each frame. Exact performance numbers were not given, but it is very likely Pyrowave provides lower latency than AV1 and H.265, two codecs that Remote Play already supports. Pyrowave also supports YUV 4:4:4 and HDR, keeping its functionality on par with AV1 and H.265.

For perspective, typical recommended bitrates for AV1 encoding range from 4Mbps to 50Mbps for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K video encoding and decoding. But with Pyrowave, the minimum bitrate you can set in Steam is reportedly 100 Mbps, with a maximum bitrate of 500Mbps.

Two community projects have unofficially brought NVIDIA's Smooth Motion frame-generation technology to GeForce RTX 30 GPUs. While NVIDIA officially supports Smooth Motion only on RTX 40- and RTX 50-series graphics cards, modders have shown that the driver-level technology can also run on RTX 30-series hardware.

NVIDIA Smooth Motion is a driver-level AI frame-interpolation technology that creates an additional frame between two rendered frames, making gameplay appear smoother.

Unlike DLSS Frame Generation, Smooth Motion can be applied to games without native frame-generation support. This is because it does not rely on game-engine-supplied motion vector data, making it work across a wider range of titles, including emulators.

Xbox is getting its own platinum trophy equivalent, and it's called the mythic achievement.

Microsoft is entreating Xbox fans with more ecosystem milestones, this time in the form of updated achievements. The new mythic achievement will be unlocked when a player 100% masters a game, completes all of its achievements, and attains max gamerscore. This update will add a new dimension to "cheevo hunting," a longtime practice of racking up Xbox gamerscore.

The info was actually found via the Xbox app, and Microsoft hasn't revealed official details about the mythic achievement just yet. These systems are a way to keep players engaged in games and content in a tangible, quantifiable way that can be shared and celebrated within Xbox social circles. Microsoft's new approach with Xbox is to deepen relationships with fans by giving them what they want and paying close attention to feedback.

New reports from a Halo leaker with a proven track record say that Activision's surprise Halo game will be a reboot.

Xbox is changing. Following years of controversial Halo releases, Xbox has now handed Halo over to Activision. The house of Call of Duty is taking this Mantle of Responsibility seriously--Activision says they want to make the best Halo game in the series. So...what does that look like?

Activision's new Halo game will reboot the series in some way, says insider TechnicalHalo, whose Halo leaks have been accurate in the past. "This is a reboot, a new chapter, lore is not going to be continued," they said on Twitter.

Undead Labs has made the unfortunate decision to conduct a "significant amount" of layoffs following its split from Microsoft.

State of Decay developer Undead Labs is now free from Xbox. They're an independent developer now and can run their own business. Microsoft chose to divest key studios like Undead Labs rather than shut them down, giving groups opportunities to find new deals with other partners. While Undead Labs has found a publisher for State of Decay 3, the Seattle-based studio is still making drastic cuts to stay operational.

"Undead Labs is becoming an independent, employee-owned studio. Unfortunately, today we are also saying goodbye to a significant number of our colleagues. It's difficult to reach this moment knowing that not everyone who helped get us here gets to make the rest of the journey with us," the studio writes on LinkedIn.

Meta's Muse agent has topped the app download charts in the US for a couple of weeks, with over 2.5 million downloads, and the autonomous AI agent can act like a personal assistant by sending emails, booking travel, shopping, and organizing calendars and meetings. One of Muse's features is phone calling, which lets the agent dial phone numbers in the US and talk to people on the other end to handle things like making bookings or checking whether a store has a particular item in stock.

According to a new report over at Reuters, Meta is reportedly testing outsourcing these AI agent calls to a real "human concierge." Yes, this would mean a human would make a call on behalf of a Muse AI agent, to increase the success rate based on the "lower percentage of AI calling."

This is one of the first reports of an AI agent's work being outsourced to a human, highlighting the reliance on human labor for autonomous AI.

AMD's open-source graphics card drivers for Linux have long been a great source of information on upcoming hardware releases, and one of the latest patches adds support for GDDR7 memory, suggesting this is for the company's next-generation RDNA 5-powered Radeon graphics cards.

For Team Red's RDNA 4-based Radeon RX 9000 Series, the company stuck with GDDR6 memory, even though the industry was moving toward GDDR7 and NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 Series would fully support the next-gen memory. At the time, this was seen as a mistake on AMD's part, especially when the switch to faster memory and increased bandwidth on the RTX 50 Series has led to some notable gen-on-gen performance gains.

Of course, with the current memory crisis, RDNA 4's GDDR6 memory configuration means Radeon GPUs haven't been hit quite as hard by price increases. Still, with multiple leakers already saying RDNA 5 will usher in a switch to GDDR7, this driver update from AMD certainly makes it seem that way.

When Valve lifted the lid on its long-awaited Steam Machine late last year, alongside the underlying hardware and compact physical design, the company confirmed that the device's front panel was customizable and replaceable. At the unveiling, it showcased several color options and a prototype faceplate with an integrated E-Ink display.

After its debut earlier this year, third-party peripheral and hardware maker JSAUX GAMING announced that its E-Ink Faceplate and Pixel Matrix Faceplate for the Steam Machine are now available for under $100.

Valve's original E-Ink teaser is now on full display with the 5.83-inch E-Ink Faceplate ($99.99 USD) from JSAUX GAMING, which transforms the Steam Machine's front into a retro monitor from the early days of Mac computing. The 640 x 480 monochrome display includes eight display modes, including time, weather, calendar, system performance, and game progress. Customization is also available via Digital Frame mode, which lets users showcase artwork, photos, and custom designs.

ASUS's new ROG G1000 is its latest flagship gaming desktop and all-in-one rig available with an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU and ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 GPU. Now, a prebuilt PC with one of the best processors and graphics cards for PC gaming is not uncommon, but what separates the ROG G1000 from the pack is its custom case that includes the new ROG Thermal Atrium cooling, which separates the CPU, GPU, and PSU for air intake and exhaust, as well as the world's first AniMe Holo holographic fan system on a prebuilt.

Yes, this is one of those features that you need to see in action, so be sure to watch the short social media clip above of the ROG G1000's AniMe Holo system from the ROG team. Essentially, you get fully customizable holograms on the front and side of the case that can sync, play their own 3D videos, or join together for a more panoramic display. Beyond existing themes with presets for games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Final Fantasy VII, the AniMe Holo system is versatile and supports MP4, GIF, JPEG, and PNG images.

Of course, that's just the aesthetic side of the ROG G1000's 104L ultra-tower chassis cooling, as the ROG Thermal Atrium system separates the PC's cooling into three chambers or zones. The CPU's 420mm AIO liquid cooler radiator sits in its own chamber with a dedicated intake. The RTX 5080-powered GPU zone gets dual 200mm front intake fans, a 140mm rear exhaust, and a 140mm bottom intake for premium thermal performance. With the PSU in its own shrouded chamber, it's also isolated.

Razer Mako is a new lineup of portable desktop speakers for those who want rich audio without the physical footprint of large speakers. The new Razer Mako X speakers, priced at $99.99 USD, feature a 2.0-channel configuration with two compact speakers and custom-tuned 2.75-inch full-range drivers. The spherical design also includes built-in passive radiators to enhance low-end frequencies and bass down to 60Hz.

The Razer Mako X speakers are also USB-powered, drawing up to 15W over standard USB or up to 30W when connected to a higher USB-C power source. The design also includes a 10-zone Razer Chroma RGB underglow, with Bluetooth 5.3 support and an analog 3.5mm connection. The custom-tuned drivers also deliver 7.1 virtual surround via a custom spatial audio solution, with angled speakers projecting audio directly to your ears.

Of course, when it comes to compact speakers, there's only so much you can do to create a rich and full sound; however, Razer notes that the Mako X speakers were specifically built for games, movies, and music, and in the era of impressive Bluetooth pill-style speakers, these could be a great option for those with limited desk space or who have their PC set up in a small room. For those wanting a bit more oomph, Razer is also launching the Razer Mako 2.1-channel variant that includes a dedicated, compact subwoofer.

Apple is quietly working on an anti-theft feature that would automatically lock an iPhone the moment it detects it has been snatched. New code spotted in iOS 27.2 beta 2 by 9to5Mac shows how the system will work.

The feature is called AutoLock internally, and it works by monitoring a combination of signals to determine whether a theft has occurred. Those signals include a sharp acceleration consistent with the phone being grabbed, a paired Apple Watch becoming unreachable for a sustained period, loss of connectivity to that Watch, prolonged loss of network connectivity, and the device remaining unlocked beyond a certain time threshold. The more of these signals fire simultaneously, the more likely the system is to conclude something has gone wrong.

To avoid locking itself every time someone tosses their phone on a bed or goes through a dead zone, AutoLock also has veto conditions. Successful biometric authentication, active foreground app use, detection of a familiar geographic location, and a backoff mechanism that prevents the phone from repeatedly triggering false locks can all suppress the lock request. The system appears to work like a vote, with theft signals requesting a lock and safeguards overriding that request when the context does not fit.

CXMT has confirmed its fifth-generation DRAM platform, called G5, has entered mass production alongside two new 24Gb LPDDR5X products. CXMT made the announcement at the 2026 World Manufacturing Convention in Hefei, and it is the latest in China's effort to close the technology gap with Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron.

The headline figure is a 50% increase in gross dies per wafer compared to CXMT's previous-generation platform, calculated on an 8Gb-equivalent basis. Gross die count is the number of potential chips cut from a wafer before screening out defective units. It is not a 50% improvement in manufacturing yield, and CXMT has not disclosed yield figures. The improvement in die density is real and significant for cost and output, but the actual number of functional chips that make it off the line depends on factors the company has not made public.

G5's technical foundation is self-aligned quadruple patterning, which has allowed CXMT to shrink the active-area half-pitch in its memory array to 11.95nm. The company has also achieved a 45:1 capacitor aspect ratio and reduced its core cell array height to 6,762nm using a high-k metal gate process adapted specifically for DRAM.

Raspberry Pi has confirmed it is deliberately locking its boards to the RAM configuration they shipped with from the factory, blocking users from swapping out the soldered memory even when the replacement chip is technically compatible.

The disclosure came from PhilE, a Raspberry Pi engineer and forum moderator, who was responding to a user on the official forums who couldn't get a 4GB chip to register after replacing the original 2GB package on a Compute Module 5.

According to the moderator, resellers were buying lower-capacity boards, swapping in higher-capacity chips of uncertain origin, and selling the modified hardware as factory units. Those boards were never validated by Raspberry Pi, and when buyers ended up with unreliable hardware, support requests landed on the company rather than the people who actually made the modifications. "We therefore remove the commercial incentive by locking devices to their original RAM size," PhilE wrote.

Ahead of Modern Warfare 4's October 22 launch, Activision's Team Ricochet published a breakdown of the global video game cheat economy. Citing research from threat intelligence firm Intorqa, it estimates the industry at between $5.1 billion and $13.8 billion annually, with a median of $8.5 billion.

Cheat subscriptions across just 15 popular titles generate around $3.5 billion per year. The remaining $5 billion comes from account trading, boosting services, hardware ID spoofers, and evasion tools, all sold through organized distributor networks that Activision describes as a "sprawling multi-billion-dollar marketplace". One case involved a single cheat developer earning an estimated $77 million from a service targeting one game.

Cheating tools aren't limited to simple aimbots and wallhacks anymore. DMA-based cheating hardware, external manipulation devices like Cronus, XIM, and Titan, generative AI-assisted cheats, and real-time problem-solving tools are all part of the modern cheating toolkit. Account theft has also become a significant business in its own right, with one in three gamers reporting their account was hacked within the last two years. The ongoing wave of bans has created strong demand for stolen accounts, Ranked Play-ready accounts, and boosting services.

At one point things were so bad that SEGA almost pulled the plug on Sonic the Hedgehog as a franchise.

It's hard to imagine SEGA without Sonic, but a recent interview with One More Game, Sonic series producer Takashi Iizuka reveals that he actually had to fight SEGA from cancelling the game series.

"There had been good times, and there had been bad times... during the worst times, I was told by the higher-ups that we should cancel the entire franchise. I had to fight within the organization to keep the franchise as long as possible," Iizuka, who has been working on the franchise since the 1990s, told the publication.

TechPowerUp has finally added hotspot temperature monitoring to GPU-Z months after other popular tools such as HWMonitor, HWiNFO, and AIDA64 added support for Blackwell's hotspot sensor. Patch notes for the latest version of GPU-Z, 2.71.0 have added RTX 50 series hotspot sensor monitoring and hotspot monitoring for the GDDR7 memory modules on Blackwell GPUs.

The app also features a plethora of other updates and bug fixes, including a new overclocking readout interface in the overclocking tab for NVIDIA GPUs that reports XBAR, SYS video clock, and boost lock status. PCIe bandwidth can now be measured in GB/s on NVIDIA GPUs through the addition of a new sensor. Support for several new GPUs has also been added, including the unreleased RTX 4070 10GB and Steam Machine's custom RDNA 3 GPU.

When Blackwell first arrived, NVIDIA put an artificial block on the RTX 50 series hotspot sensor through NVAPI, preventing customers and even its own AIB partners from seeing the hotspot temperature of its Blackwell GPUs for unknown reasons. Months after the RTX 50 series' initial release, a repair technician found a method to return the hotspot temperature back to Blackwell GPUs by modifying NVIDIA's proprietary internal diagnostic software.