Latest News - Page 100

The latest Windows 11 Insider Preview Build is definitely noteworthy for PC gamers, as it expands "Xbox mode" to cover all Windows 11 PCs. This includes desktops, laptops, and tablets, with the Xbox full-screen interface and experience designed to offer a streamlined console-like experience similar to an Xbox console, without all of the background tasks and features of the operating system getting in the way.

This mode debuted last year with the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds from Microsoft and ASUS, and is widely viewed as the first step toward offering a fully featured Windows 11 'Xbox Edition' operating system for the upcoming Project Helix console. In its current form, it's more like a Steam Big Picture mode than an alternate version of the main Windows OS; however, there is an option to boot straight into this new Xbox mode on startup.

This is handy not only for the upcoming Project Helix console, but for those building or using a Windows-based PC connected to a TV or display as a pure gaming device. The Xbox App allows you to link and connect your Steam account, too, so you're not limited to the Xbox PC library or PC Game Pass titles.

After months of rumors and speculations, Intel officially unveiled its Core Series 3 "Wildcat Lake" processors on Thursday. Intel's Core 300 series mobile CPUs will not carry the "Ultra" branding and will be targeted at the low-end to mid-range mobile and edge AI market. This lineup is set to counter products such as Apple's new MacBook Neo, while the new Panther Lake competes at the high end of the mobile market.

There are three segments in the Wildcat Lake lineup with the usual Core 3, Core 5, and Core 7 split. There is only one Core 3 chip, three Core 5 chips, and two high-end Core 7 chips, for a total of 6 SKUs in the lineup (as of right now). As previously leaked, Intel's Wildcat Lake CPUs feature a hybrid core configuration, with "Cougar Cove" P-cores and "Darkmont" LPE (low-power efficiency) cores, completely omitting traditional E-cores.

The lineup starts with the most basic Core 3 304, which differs slightly from the others, as it has only one P-core paired with four LPE cores for a total of 5 cores. It has a P-core boost of 4.3 GHz and a TDP of 15W. It has only one Xe GPU core, another difference from the rest of the pile.

Intel has been updating the Intel ARK database with a few new CPU models lately. They recently launched the Core Ultra 7 251HX from the Arrow Lake-HX lineup without any official announcement. They also silently launched the "Panther Lake" Core Ultra X9 378H a couple of weeks ago, and now it looks like they have added yet another SKU to their database.

Apparently, Intel has quietly launched a new chip in its mobile CPU series, the Core 7 245HX. What's bizarre about this particular CPU is that it lacks any Core "Ultra" branding, making it the first non-Ultra SKU in that lineup. However, the weirdness with this new CPU does not end with its branding.

If we look at the detailed specs of the Core 7 245HX, we don't see anything extraordinary at first glance. Sure, it's another decent budget mobile chip with 14 total cores in a 6P+8E configuration along with 14 threads. It has a P-core boost of up to 5.1 GHz and an E-Core boost of 4.5 GHz. Intel has provided 24MB of L3 cache on this chip, and its TDP is 55W with a maximum turbo power rating of 160W.

ASUS has announced a new line-up of all-in-one PC, which are those machines that include the PC hardware and chassis as part of the display or monitor, and one particular model stands out from the pack. And would be the new ASUS V400 AiO (VM441QA), which is powered by Qualcomm's first-generation Snapdragon X chip, which debuted with the first wave of Windows on Arm laptops, known as Copilot+ PCs.

ASUS calls this new sleek PC the "first all-in-one desktop built on the Snapdragon X platform," which includes a Qualcomm Adreno GPU and Hexagon NPU. Looking at the hardware specs, which also include 16 or 32GB of LPDDR5X memory, and up to 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen4 storage, it's an interesting use of the Snapdragon X APU in what looks to be a sleek, power-efficient, productivity PC for those looking for a machine that can handle the basics.

Naturally, as a desktop PC, it offers advantages over Copilot+ PC laptops, namely a larger display and more ports for secondary devices and expansion. The ASUS V400 AiO includes multiple USB and audio ports as well as an HDMI 2.1b port for connecting a second display.

We are slowly approaching WWDC, and iOS 27 is shaping up to be one of the major highlights of the event alongside new iPhone models. Leaks about the iOS 27 upgrades have been trickling in from various sources, and now a new leak details four features set to arrive in the new version, including Apple Intelligence, Apple Wallet, and key design changes. The features were discovered in backend code by Nicolás Alvarez and confirmed by MacRumors.

Apple is reportedly adding two new capabilities to Visual Intelligence on iPhone. First is the ability to scan a nutrition label and learn more about its nutritional value, a feature Bloomberg's Mark Gurman also flagged in a recent newsletter. The feature is also expected to integrate directly into the Apple Health app for food tracking. Secondly, you'll be able to add new contacts by scanning details such as names, phone numbers, and addresses. This would work similarly to the existing ability to add calendar events by scanning them.

The leaked code also suggests a long-overdue upgrade to Apple Wallet that would allow users to convert physical passes, such as gym memberships, event tickets, or rewards cards, into digital versions. This means users can access passes more quickly and store everything in one place, reducing the need to carry multiple cards or paper tickets. Apple is late to this party, as third-party apps have supported this for years, and Google added a similar feature to Google Wallet back in August 2024. But at least it's here.

Capcom launches an interesting new stylized virtual storefront to sell PC versions of its games.

When Capcom launched Capcom Town, a colorful, pixelated digital cityscape meant to be an interactive way to celebrate its 40th anniversary, I kept thinking "I hope this sticks around." Stuck around it has, and now Capcom Town has a fully-fledged storefront where fans can buy games directly from the Japanese publisher.

The so-called Capcom Town Store currently only sells Steam and GOG versions of PC games, including brand new releases like Pragmata and Resident Evil 9 Requiem. There's always some sort of licensing to work out with these kinds of storefronts, so it's possible that Xbox and/or PlayStation games may not show up as purchasable options on Capcom Town until a later date (if at all).

The Game Pass model has issues, and Microsoft is trying to fix the service...unfortunately, some of these plans may not actually work.

Xbox's new CEO Asha Sharma wants to lower the price of Game Pass. The service is too expensive in the short term, Sharma says, and too rigid and inflexible for the long term. She's right; the service's myriad problems have seemingly compounded over time, facilitating the knee-jerk price hike response, what appears to be a dead-end for the service. Regardless of how much value is offered, if Game Pass gets too expensive, people will simply stop paying.

New reports say that Microsoft could introduce a lower-cost Game Pass tier that only has first-party games. A dataminer believes they have uncovered evidence of this tier, which could be codenamed Triton, named after the Greek god of the sea (possibly purely coincidental). It's a great bet for gamers, but for Microsoft, this tier won't actually do much to solve the subscription's biggest issue: Immediate frontline devaluation of video game software.

Graphic designers and casual users are still figuring out Canva's new AI 2.0, which can generate full designs from simple text prompts, and Anthropic is already showing off its own take. The company announced on Friday that it's launching Claude Design, a new experimental product that allows subscribers to use Claude to generate designs, prototypes, slides, and more.

As you might expect, users describe what they want, and Claude will create an initial version. From there, users can directly edit or ask the chatbot to further fine-tune. Claude will also generate custom sliders that users can push and pull to modify corresponding elements. In the demo video, Claude lets the user adjust the glow and density of arcs it uses to illustrate a connected network.

Claude Design can also apply a team's design system to every project it creates by reading a company's codebase and design files. "Every project after that uses your colors, typography, and comments automatically," according to the company.

Nintendo's latest release is expected to significantly elevate game sales as investors eye a Pokopia-like success streak for the new cross-generational Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream.

Based on strong initial demand and excited buzz among fans, it appears that Nintendo investors may have identified the company's next big hit and are rallying behind the firm's stock in response.

Nintendo's shares saw a notable uptick on the Japanese Stock Exchange following the launch of new multi-gen Switch game Tomodachi Life, as stock value increased by 3.5% to 8,615 yen per share throughout the day. Japanese games analyst Dr. Serkan Toto notes that this jump is likely the result of the launch of the popular title.

Unlike Intel, which is just now realizing the value of socket longevity, AMD has practiced this philosophy for years with its AM4 socket, even after moving on to AM5. The red team has kept AM4 alive with strong 5000-series CPU options. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D, once celebrated as a top gaming CPU, was a standout. However, AMD discontinued the 5800X3D last year, leading many to think it was gone for good. That may not be the case.

AMD is reportedly relaunching the Ryzen 7 5800X3D very soon. Hardware leaker HXL on X spotted a leaked photo of an AMD presentation showing the Ryzen 7 5800X3D alongside a special AMD AM4 10-Year Anniversary Edition plaque, with a line of Chinese text that translates to "available starting Q2 2026."

At CES 2026, AMD hinted at the return of popular Zen 3 CPUs, as they use more affordable DDR4 memory modules amid soaring DDR5 prices. With the 10th anniversary of the AM4 socket approaching, it makes perfect sense for the red team to bring back the crown jewel of the lineup as an anniversary edition.

Pearl Abyss stock has taken a hit, dropping over 6% in the last 5 days despite a major sales milestone announcement from the company.

Crimson Desert, the first-ever AAA singleplayer game from the South Korean live service gurus at Pearl Abyss, is doing quite well insofar as full game sales. The open world action RPG mash-up has accumulated a whopping 5 million sales to consumers in less than a month, solidifying Crimson Desert as not only a substantial best-seller during the lackadaisical Q1 calendar period, but also one of the most popular games of the year.

Investors seem to be unimpressed with the achievement, with the company's stock dropping -3.39% since the announcement, and it's possible that shareholders were expecting more from Crimson Desert's sales. Indeed, this isn't the only game that Pearl Abyss is releasing and maintaining, but it's currently the highest profile and most immediate title from the group.

From fake GPUs missing their cores and VRAM chips to a box of rocks instead of an RTX 5080, the internet is never short of scam stories. Now we can add another one to the list. This Redditor ended up receiving a fake Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU from a returns company that handles Amazon stock, not from Amazon's regular retail channel, for just €163 after VAT.

On the PCBuildHelp subreddit, Bimagical420 shared the story, spotted by VideoCardz, of buying an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D for $180 US, which seemed like a steal since the retail chip sells for over $600. The chip came from a local Amazon returns warehouse, where the buyer was not allowed to inspect the box before purchasing, meaning they had to take the risk. Unfortunately, it didn't pay off.

Upon opening the box, they found an unusual plastic wrapper beneath the CPU's heat spreader. Removing it from the clamshell revealed a 3D-printed backplate with no CPU inside whatsoever. The entire PCB, housing the two Zen 5 CCDs and the I/O die, was completely missing. The IHS was from a real Ryzen 9000-series chip, which was apparently enough to fool Amazon employees into thinking the product was untampered.

The gaming hardware scene seems to be peddling backward. NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3060 12GB is now rumored to return as early as June, and rather than pushing ahead with a new entry-level RTX 5050 9GB variant, the green team is apparently prioritizing a two-generation-old GPU architecture.

The rumor comes from well-known hardware leaker MEGAsizeGPU on X, who claims NVIDIA is pausing the transition from its 8GB RTX 5050 to a 9GB model specifically due to the reintroduction of the 12 GB RTX 3060. That lines up with previous chatter around the RTX 3060's return and reports that Samsung has resumed production of NVIDIA's 8nm GeForce RTX 3060 at its Pyeongtaek factory.

It does feel a bit bananas that NVIDIA is reaching back two generations instead of just refreshing the RTX 4060, but there is a logic to it. The RTX 40 and 50 series use TSMC's 4nm process, meaning that producing more RTX 40 series GPUs would reduce capacity reserved for the newer RTX 50 series. The RTX 30 series, on the other hand, runs on Samsung's 8nm node and uses GDDR6 memory instead of GDDR7, which may simply be easier to source now.

Apple's $599 MacBook Neo ($499 for students) has sent shockwaves through the budget laptop segment, and Microsoft is the first to respond. The company has announced a new "Microsoft College Offer," a bundle that gives students Microsoft 365 Premium, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, a custom Xbox controller, and a discounted laptop, potentially aimed at swaying students away from Apple's highlight.

As announced in a blog post and spotted by The Verge, students can choose a qualifying Windows PC from top makers including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. Surface devices, including the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, are also getting discounted, despite Microsoft recently hiking prices on those same models. The bundle includes the following for US students with an eligible PC purchase:

The laptop deals include a 15.3-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x for $499 at Best Buy, about $250 off its usual $750 price, and a 16-inch HP OmniBook 3 for $429 at Walmart, a $270 discount off its usual $699 price. Other retailers have similar deals.

Overwatch 2's long-awaited Nintendo Switch 2 debut hasn't exactly gone to plan, as fans have spoken out about performance issues on Nintendo's latest console, sparking a response from Blizzard.

Fans had been eagerly anticipating a smoother, more capable version of the free-to-play shooter on Nintendo's next-gen handheld, but the launch has been met with noticeable performance issues. Reports of unstable frame rates and general lack of polish have quickly spread across the community, dampening what should have been a strong platform arrival for the hero shooter.

Overwatch director Aaron Keller has now addressed the situation, confirming the team is actively working on improvements. In a recent post, Keller said, "We're working on it and hope to have a fix out in the next few days," indicating a rapid response from Blizzard.

The long-awaited Call of Duty movie finally has a release date, but fans are going to be waiting a while to see where the iconic gaming series is going on the silver screen.

Xbox and Activision have officially confirmed that the Call of Duty film is set to hit theaters on June 30, 2028, marking the franchise's first big-screen debut after years of speculation. The project, which is being developed in partnership with Paramount, was first announced last year, with momentum building behind the scenes as key talent joined the production. However, the newly revealed release date highlights just how early the film still is in its development cycle.

Behind the camera, the movie already has some notable names attached. Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan and director Peter Berg are co-writing and producing the adaptation, suggesting a grounded, military-focused tone. Interestingly, reports previously indicated that Activision declined an offer from Steven Spielberg to direct the film, opting instead to retain full creative control over the project. While story details remain under wraps, it's widely expected that the film will lean into the franchise's signature tactical, yet arcadey action.

Ubisoft's long-rumored Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag remake now has a release date, and it's arriving sooner than expected, as Tom Henderson from Insider Gaming has learned when Ubisoft is planning on launching the highly anticipated title.

According to a new report from Insider Gaming, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced is set to launch on July 9, 2026, marking the return of Edward Kenway's pirate adventure with a fully reworked experience. The report also reveals that Ubisoft had originally planned to announce the game on April 16, but has since delayed the reveal until next week. Despite the delay, media and content creators have already been given a behind-closed-doors look at the project through a roughly 30-minute presentation.

While full details are still under wraps, early impressions suggest this is far more than a simple remaster. The game has reportedly been "completely reworked," featuring new content and updates across the board. One key detail confirmed during the presentation is that Black Flag Resynced will not follow the RPG direction seen in more recent entries, such as Assassin's Creed Valhalla or Shadows.

Battlefield Studios has finally unveiled its 2026 roadmap for Battlefield 6, and it's a major push to win players back amid a declining concurrent player base.

After a hugely successful launch in 2025 that saw Battlefield 6 become the year's best-selling game, interest dropped sharply heading into 2026, with players frustrated by a lack of maps, features, and meaningful updates. Now, Battlefield Studios has outlined what's coming next, revealing a full year of seasonal content updates, returning fan-favorite maps, and long-requested features to breathe life back into the title.

Season 3 kicks things off in May with two reimagined classics: Battlefield 4's Golmud Railway, now "Railway to Golmud"-and Battlefield 3's Grand Bazaar, reworked as "Cairo Bazaar." Railway to Golmud is set to be the largest map in the game, designed to showcase Battlefield's signature large-scale warfare.

Metro 2039 has officially been unveiled, and it's shaping up to be the darkest, most personal entry the series has ever seen. Previous reports stated Metro 2039 is being shaped by the Ukraine war, and now that more details have emerged, we can see that sentiment has been doubled down on by the studio behind the title, 4A Games.

Revealed during an Xbox First Look presentation, the next mainline entry from 4A Games brings the franchise back to its roots in the Moscow Metro after the broader scope of Metro Exodus. This time, players step into the role of a new protagonist, "The Stranger," the first fully voiced lead in the series. Set in a Metro now controlled by a fascist regime, the story leans heavily into psychological horror and trauma, with the reveal trailer showcasing fragmented nightmares and a grim return to the underground tunnels.

Beyond its narrative shift, Metro 2039 is doubling down on the immersive gameplay the series is known for. Early footage shows a mix of exploration and blood-pumping combat, including run-ins with various iconic enemies. Weapons appear just as unreliable as ever, with misfires and maintenance playing a role in survival, while the game continues its signature approach of a minimal UI, forcing players to rely on in-world objects and items, such as watches and the environment.

GIGABYTE's looking to protect modern PC gaming graphics cards that make use of the 12V-2x6 power connector with its new 'T-Guard Active GPU Protection' technology. This can be found in its new power supplies, the GAMING 1000GM PG5 and GAMING 1000GM PG5 ICE. And as you have probably guessed, it's all about safeguarding hardware and adding layers of protection to prevent issues such as 12V-2x6 power cables overheating, melting, or even damaging components.

GIGABYTE notes that its T-Guard technology adds "precision thermistors" inside the 12V-2x6 connector, enabling active monitoring and stable power delivery. Built-in sensors also monitor cable and pin temperatures in real time, with alerts when issues or abnormal power delivery are detected. Of course, alerts are one thing, but T-Guard goes a step further by "intelligently" reducing GPU power to prevent connector burnout. This ensures that other PC components remain operational, avoiding sudden power loss caused by a GPU issue.

One final feature of this new system is the ability to switch to a CPU's integrated graphics (if available) to save any work and safely shut down. GIGABYTE calls it a triple line of defense. With the sheer number of cases relating to 12VHPWR and 12V-2x6 power connectors melting and damaging hardware, it's a very welcome addition to GIGABYTE GAMING PSUs.