Latest from TweakTown

With the Steam Hardware and Software Survey results for August 2026 here, when it comes to discrete gaming GPUs, NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5070 has become the second most popular card among PC gamers. Sitting behind the GeForce RTX 3060, the mid-range GPU is now more popular than the GeForce RTX 4060, making it the undisputed winner of the current generation.

That said, AMD's RDNA 4 generation is proving to be a success, as the flagship Radeon RX 9070 XT is now the most popular discrete AMD Radeon graphics card on the Steam Hardware and Software Survey. This is a milestone because the mainstream RDNA 2-era Radeon RX 6600 has been the top AMD GPU on Steam for a while, while RDNA 3-era cards have failed to gain real traction.

In terms of market share, the Radeon RX 9070 XT might sit below its direct competitor, the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti; it's slowly but surely moving up the ranks. In fact, as long as people are still able to purchase GPUs like the Radeon RX 9070 XT in the 'current memory' crisis climate, the Radeon RX 9070 XT could become AMD's most popular discrete PC gaming GPU in several generations by the end of the year.

Microsoft has announced Project Zenith, which is a stripped-down version of Windows 11 for AI developers. It's built for devices with at least 64GB of unified memory and 250+ GB/s memory bandwidth, with the goal, as Microsoft puts it, of delivering a "ready-to-code distraction-free Windows experience" on "developer-class" devices.

With that, AMD confirms that its Ryzen AI Halo systems (aka AMD's answer to NVIDIA's DGX Spark mini PC) will be the first to support Project Zenith out of the box, with this customized, developer-focused version of Windows pre-installed with Visual Studio Code, WSL, GitHub Copilot CLI, Python 3.14+, WSL 2+ Ubuntu, PowerShell, and more to help streamline development, testing, and iteration. Microsoft confirms that more devices from its OEM partners will support Project Zenith in the coming months.

Even for enthusiasts who aren't AI developers, some of Project Zenith's out-of-the-box features and settings sound like an improvement over vanilla Windows 11. For example, by default, File Explorer in Project Zenith shows file extensions, hidden files, full paths in the title bar, and details. Also, Start menu tips and account notifications are turned off to "reduce distractions."

At IFA 2026, Lenovo showcased a wide range of new products, but its Project AeroBlade Concept could be a game-changing breakthrough in ultra-thin, portable laptop design. It all comes down to its custom Active Flow thermal solution, developed in partnership with Frore Systems.

And sure, calling it 'Active Flow' sounds like one of the many names companies give their laptop cooling systems, but here it's more than a catchy tagline. And that's because it's the world's first ultra-thin laptop that replaces traditional fan-based cooling with solid-state active cooling. It uses Frore Systems' AirJet cooling, which replaces fans with a module that has no moving parts. Instead, it uses "ultrasonic membranes" to generate airflow.

The result for the Lenovo Project AeroBlade 14-inch design is a laptop that measures under 10mm thick and weighs under 830 grams. It manages this impressive ultra-thin form factor without sacrificing the performance you expect from a premium ultra-thin laptop. It's not the first fanless design, but it is the first for a performance-focused laptop.

Sony's decision to end game disc production for new games after January 2028 is expected to boost gaming operating profit by multiple percentage points, offering tangible growth for the PlayStation business.

From day one, PlayStation has always had discs. These were much easier and less expensive to produce in the early CD-ROM era due to the prevalence and demand for optical disc readers. That high demand doesn't exist today, and worse, companies like Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft are all facing major shortages for console parts, leading to 5x to 7x cost increases. Sony has now decided to stop producing discs to squeeze out more profit from PlayStation, but also to create a new growth point for the business at a dire time when costs are eating into everything.

Analysts are quantifying how much money that Sony could actually recognize from the disc phase-out. According to a new report from Nikkei Asia, analysts like Goldman Sachs' Minami Munakata tell investors that discontinuing discs could increase Sony's Game & Network Services operating margin by 3% in FY28. For comparison, G&NS had a 9.9% operating profit margin over the last yearly period, FY25.

SEGA president Shuji Utsumi explains the company's thinking around its Super Game strategy, and reveals why the plan was cancelled.

Years ago, SEGA revealed plans to create what they called a Super Game. The idea was confusing even back then, but the gist of it was centered around a live game that would continue belting out paid content to millions of players across an array of devices. SEGA's wildly popular Phantasy Star Online 2 would be the inspiration for a Super Game. SEGA actually wanted to have multiple Super Games out by 2030.

Over the years, and across multiple SEGA reports, I noticed that the Super Game plan simply didn't ever coalesce. SEGA became more vague on what it was actually referring to, and without a proof-of-concept ideation, the Super Game concept became more intangible before it fizzled out entirely. So what exactly is a Super Game? What was SEGA trying to do? Company president Shuji Utsumi reveals new details in an interview with Nikkei Gaming.

Square Enix could turn Final Fantasy 7 into a sub-franchise with different games, content, and possibly even transmedia.

It sounds like Final Fantasy 7 could be expanding with new games that sit outside the traditional trilogy. At a recent PAX West panel, Square Enix's Naoki Hamaguchi hosted a 54-minute presentation on the Final Fantasy 7 remake project, talking about all three chapters and their influences. One of the slides in the presentation deck explicitly mentions turning Final Fantasy 7 into an "IP with an ever-evolving future."

Specifics are unclear on what this means exactly, and Hamaguchi didn't really discuss this at length, but it's possible that Square Enix may be trying to channel its own plans for Final Fantasy 15 with this new endeavor. Years ago, the publisher established the Final Fantasy 15 Universe, which set FF15 at the heart of a solar system of games, content, and transmedia. The FF15 Universe included the base game, spin-off titles on mobile, an online-based PVE survival game, DLC/expansions, and even films.

Windows 11 looks to be getting a useful new addition to the widget panel that'll help you keep an eye on the battery life of your devices.

Zac Bowden of Windows Central spotted that there are references to a battery widget in the latest preview builds of Windows 11 - as flagged on Discord - although this functionality isn't actually live in testing yet.

We can see how the widget will work, though, and it will display the battery life of the host device if it's a laptop (of course), as well as the battery levels of any connected peripherals such as Bluetooth keyboards or headphones.

Polish dev team Rebel Wolves channel Geralt's ghost to achieve platinum sales on a brand new game set in a fresh, vampire-slaying IP.

New action RPG Blood of Dawnwalker has proven to be a big success, achieving platinum sales in just two days. That's no easy feat for an unproven new IP, and the team at Rebel Wolves were able to contrast Witcher influences with innovative and surprising game mechanics, like how hunger works in the dialog system.

The head of Rebel Wolves, Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, commented on Blood of Dawnwalker hitting 1 million+ sales in 2 days. The milestone also makes the new bloodthirsty RPG one of the fastest-selling games of 2026, mirroring the sales momentum of games like How to Fish, as well as Capcom releases Pragmata and Onimusha: Way of the Sword.

Capcom's long-dormant Onimusha series makes a triumphant return, raking in 1 million sales with the latest release.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword has sold 1 million copies in its first day of release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Switch 2. The news sees another platinum feather added to Capcom's cap--a befeathered headdress that grows and grows as the publisher eyes its ultimate ambition: 100 million game sales per year (it sold 59 million last year).

"Capcom Co., Ltd. (Capcom) today announced that worldwide sales of Onimusha: Way of the Sword, the latest title in the series, have surpassed 1 million units on the first day of its release. Driven by the performance of this title, cumulative sales of the Onimusha series have now surpassed 10 million units," Capcom said in the press release.

With credible rumors pointing to Blizzard developing a new 'AAA' first- or third-person shooter set in the StarCraft universe, alongside the potential return of its genre-defining RTS action in StarCraft 3, it looks like we're only days out from finding out what's going on with Blizzard's dormant sci-fi franchise.

Right now, if you visit StarCraft's official site, which hasn't really changed since 2017's StarCraft Remastered, you'll notice that it briefly starts glitching as it attempts to display an "incoming transmission." Although it doesn't confirm any details about a new StarCraft game, fans have noticed hidden text in the website's code pointing to a major in-universe event in the year 2575.

This is about 70 years after the events of StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void, the third installment and last cinematic, narrative-driven release in the series. The text is also Terran-heavy, hinting that the unannounced StarCraft game rumored to be in development will let players take control of Terran soldiers.

AMD's new Threadripper Halo Station might look like a desktop PC. Still, it's actually a powerful AI workstation powered by the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9995WX processor and AMD Instinct-class HBM workstation accelerators that can handle trillion-parameter models. It offers up to 576GB of HBM3e GPU memory, up to 2TB of RDIMM system memory, and a CPU with 96 'Zen 5' cores.

As the demand for powerful local AI continues to increase, it makes sense that AMD would leverage its leadership in the processor and workstation GPU space to create the Halo Station. In fact, with the AMD Threadripper Halo Station on track for a 2027 release, it's set to go head-to-head with NVIDIA's recently announced DGX Station, which pairs an Arm-based 72-core NVIDIA Grace processor with an NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra (GB300 Superchip) and RTX PRO GPUs.

With a whopping 2.6TB of total system memory, AMD notes this is a 3.4X increase versus the NVIDIA DGX Station, with up to 16.4TB/s of total memory bandwidth (up to 16 TB/s on the GPU side and up to 410GB/s on the RDIMM/DDR5 side). AMD showcased a prototype of the Threadripper Halo Station at IFA 2026, where it said it will offer "datacenter-class AI compute in a single deskside workstation."

We went hands-on with the impressive Predator Atlas 8, a new gaming handheld powered by the Intel Arc G3 Extreme processor, at Computex 2026. With its integrated Intel Arc B390 graphics, it's easily one of the most powerful portable gaming GPUs out there, capable of playing modern games like Forza Horizon 6 at 1080p with High or even Ultra graphics settings thanks to XeSS 3.

The Predator Atlas 8 also sports an 8-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200-pixel) display with a 120Hz refresh rate with VRR support, 500-nit brightness, and 100% sRGB color coverage. That makes it sit on the larger side for a gaming handheld, which is probably why Acer has announced the more portable Predator Atlas 7. As the name suggests, it sports a 7-inch FHD touchscreen with a 120Hz refresh rate, VRR support, and 100% sRGB color coverage.

Beyond the more compact 7-inch form factor, the Predator Atlas 7 should deliver performance similar to its larger 8-inch sibling, as it's also powered by the Intel Arc G3 Extreme processor with Intel Arc B390 graphics. As another Windows 11 handheld, it's also paired with an Xbox Game Pass subscription for immediate access to a wide range of titles.

As seen in our review of DLSS 5's official launch in NBA 2K27 last week, when you enable the impressive DLSS 5 3D-Guided Neural Rendering tech in the game, GPU power usage increases substantially. For the GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition, power usage climbed from around 465W with DLSS 5 off to a maximum of 575W with DLSS 5 on.

It's similar with DLSS 5 on a GeForce RTX 5080; power draw also increases by around 100W to hit the GPU's 360W power limit. With GeForce RTX 50 Series cards from the RTX 5070 up, all using the newer 12V-2x6 power connector, we've seen a steady stream of cases where the cables have overheated and melted, damaging cables, connectors, and even GPUs.

With the consensus that the higher the power draw, the more likely a cable is to overheat and fail, technologies like DLSS 5 that push GPUs like the RTX 5090 to their power limit may add another layer of risk. VideoCardz reports that one of its readers experienced exactly that when testing DLSS 5 in NBA 2K27 on their MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Gaming Trio OC graphics card.

At IFA 2026, Dell announced a new budget laptop set to go head-to-head with Apple's popular and affordable MacBook Neo devices. As an alternative to the impressive Dell XPS 13 (2026), check out our review of the Dell XPS 14 (2026) here: the new Dell 14S (2026) will arrive in multiple colorways, promising all-day battery life and performance for students and professionals, powered by Intel's 'Wildcat Lake' Core 5 and Core 7 Series 3 processors.

Although Apple's MacBook Neo series was able to hit its impressive price-to-performance target by repurposing iPhone processors, Intel's 'Wildcat Lake' series was explicitly designed for everyday use, all-day battery life, and multitasking performance. This means the Dell 14S (2026) series probably won't be great for PC gaming, but it will offer more than enough power for multitasking, running apps, video conferencing, and more.

Multiple Dell 14S (2026) configurations will also be available, with the entry-level variant set to run on the 6-core Intel Core 5 320 processor, 8GB of LPDDR5X memory clocked at 7,467 MT/s, and 256GB of PCIe NVMe SSD storage. At the high end, the more powerful Dell 14S (2026) models will sport the faster Intel Core 7 350 processor, 16GB of LPDDR5X memory clocked at 7,467 MT/s, and up to a 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD.

Gamers can use last-gen Xbox One consoles to authenticate current-gen game discs in the new disc-to-digital program.

YouTuber Austin Evans found an interesting quirk in Microsoft's new disc-to-digital initiative. The program essentially allows users to put a game disc into their console and unlock a free digital version of the game. It's a big deal right now, and reflective of the times, as Project Helix and PS6 are poised to be disc-less, digital-only consoles.

Gamers have favored the plan, seeing it as an extension of Microsoft's Play Anywhere--another initiative that seems primed for a digital-dominant landscape. Xbox consoles are now being used as authentication machines to digitize game libraries, and Evans discovered that gamers can put in current-gen Xbox Series X games into a last-gen Xbox One to unlock the entitlement.

The likelihood that the next-gen Xbox console will have a disc drive is slim, according to new reports from Digital Foundry.

New reports give potential insight into why Blu-ray game discs are being phased out. Sources recently told Windows Central that the supply chain for physical games is breaking down due to the scarcity of optical disc drives. Microsoft is having a tough time getting them, the report goes on to say, which could be why Xbox CEO Asha Sharma wouldn't confirm or deny Project Helix would have a disc drive.

"I was told it's less about the discs themselves and more about the supply chain around optical disc drives collapsing. Demand for optical disc drives revolves entirely around Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 right now, with laptops, Blu-ray devices, and other formats essentially phasing out the tech," Windows Central's Jez Corden said in the report.

Traveling today means packing lots of charging cables for the various devices we carry or use over 24 hours. For example, if you're on an overnight work trip and use each device heavily, you would need to pack your iPhone charger, Apple Watch charger, and AirPods charger. That is quite a lot of cables, not to mention the inability to charge each device simultaneously over the same port.

To solve that issue and make a jetsetter's life easier, KUXIU has debuted the X40 Turbo, a 3-in-1 Qi2.2 wireless charging station that can charge each of the aforementioned devices at the same time in one 64mm x 64mm x 18mm device. The X40 Turbo can also charge compatible iPhone models at up to 25W, while the Apple Watch and AirPods charging locations provide up to 5W each. This means the latest-generation iPhone models and any other Qi2-compatible device can reach their maximum charging speeds with the X40 Turbo.

The X40 Turbo is designed to simplify charging for someone who regularly travels with multiple devices, as it comes with a charging case, USB-C cable, and wall port. The idea here is to remove the need for multiple chargers or a bulky multi-device charging station. The X40 Turbo weighs just 148g and can fold down to about the size of a DSLR lens cap. Additionally, the phone can be adjusted to different viewing positions, giving you a helpful bedside StandBy display that continuously shows the time, date, etc.

Owners of Apple's latest iPhone generation, particularly those who are heavily using some of the device's most powerful features, such as the camera, navigation, and constant connectivity to other apps, services, or devices, may have noticed their battery being quite low before the end of the day. Obviously, a power bank is the solution, but most are bulky, heavy, or just awkward to handle.

INIU has released the SnapGo Air, a 10,000mAh battery that is designed to solve that exact issue. The SnapGo Air supports 25W charging via its Qi2.2 wireless charging protocol, so compatible devices can fast-charge without a cable. Additionally, INIU has squeezed this 10,000mAh capacity into a 13.7mm slim design, which is 57% thicker than the iPhone 17 Pro (8.75mm) and Pro Max (8.75mm), 72% thicker than the iPhone 17 (7.95mm), and 143% thicker than the iPhone Air (5.64mm).

So, when attached to any iPhone model this generation, the total width will be no more than 23mm, making the SnapGo impressive given its 10,000mAh capacity. That charging capacity breaks down as follows: iPhone Air = 2.0 charges, iPhone 17 = 1.8 charges, iPhone 17 Pro = 1.5x, and iPhone 17 Pro Max = 1.3x. Additionally, INIU claims, based on internal testing, which I can verify after testing the SnapGo, that it can charge an iPhone 17 Pro to 50% in around 33 minutes wirelessly.

Microsoft has reorganized its business into two segments: one focused on enterprise, Azure, and AI, and the other on consumer devices. Xbox now belongs to the latter.

The home of Xbox is changing how it is structured. Microsoft is shrinking its wider organization into two main segments: Agents & Infra (AI and cloud) and Devices & Consumer (Windows and Xbox). The company says no adjustments will be made to the metrics themselves, so Microsoft should keep revealing a scant amount of Xbox info every quarter.

"With these segment changes and to provide transparency to investors, we are updating our product and services reporting definitions to better represent the businesses as we manage them today, which will be used in our SEC filings going forward."

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated releases for cinephiles, and even the general public who haven't yet made it to the theatre to watch it. To showcase that anticipation, thousands of pirates downloaded several torrents titled "The Odyssey," only to be greeted with a movie that on IMDb is currently rated 1.8/10.

The torrent circulating on numerous popular torrent websites gained attention after it was uploaded under the familiar YTS/YIFY branding and was titled "The Odyssey (2026) 1080p WEBRip x264 5.1 YTS YIFY." The torrent weighed just 1.59GB, and on one torrent website I viewed, the file had 5,800 seeders and 4,597 leechers. However, the movie within the torrent wasn't Christopher Nolan's, but an 86-minute movie directed by Marcel Walz and produced by The Asylum, a studio known for releases called "mockbusters". Notably, Walz's The Odyssey stars Myrom Kingery and was released on July 3, 2026, while Nolan's version was released on July 17, 2026.

To add even more confusion, a YTS mirror listing has appeared and includes details from Christopher Nolan's version, including Nolan as the director, a synopsis of the plot, and actors such as Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, and Zendaya. That mirror torrent offers a movie length of 86 minutes, the same as Walz's version of The Odyssey. To spur things along even further, comments have taken to these torrents to encourage users to download them, with some even writing that the acting from Damon, Hathaway, and others was superb.