Sony's latest patent could pave the way for native advertising in PlayStation games.

A newly-published patent shows that Sony has very forward-thinking plans about how it will use the valuable visual space in its games, especially during downtime sequences like loading screens. The patent (Delivery of Alternate Content During Video Game Wait Times, 20260138036) was actually filed in late 2024 but only recently published this month.

It's important to note that the main reason this patent even exists isn't for ads, or at least that's not the cause given. Sony created the patent in an effort to preserve total immersion in its games by giving players something to do, look at, or engage with during loading screens or match-up transitions. The patent calls this "alternate content," and there's even mention of generative AI models being used to make this content.

After a decade of fan requests, Jason Voorhees is finally joining the lineup of killers in Dead by Daylight. Developer Behaviour Interactive officially announced the iconic Friday the 13th slasher as part of the game's 10th anniversary celebrations, with Jason set to enter The Fog on June 16, 2026. Players on Steam's public test build can get an early taste of the hockey-masked killer from May 26.

Jason enters Dead by Daylight with two major abilities. The first, Omnipresent Evil, is a stealth-based power that allows him to vanish from the map entirely, moving at increased speed while tracking survivors through subtle footstep cues. To reappear, Jason must target environmental points like pallets, vault points, or breakable walls, appearing seemingly out of nowhere for a perfect jumpscare.

The second ability, Improvised Carnage, lets Jason throw makeshift projectiles scattered across the map, including locker fragments, broken generator parts, shattered pallets, and hooks. A successful throw staggers a survivor, and hitting an injured survivor near a wall pins them in place, letting you savor the kill even more.

It seems like Microsoft still hasn't figured out how it wants Copilot to fit into Windows 11, as it is reportedly going back to the original idea of docking the AI assistant directly alongside your desktop. As first spotted by Windows Latest, a new Copilot update is currently rolling out to Windows 11 users, introducing a proper sidebar docking mode that physically pushes your open apps aside to make room for itself.

This comes at a rather ironic time, given that Microsoft has been actively working to make Windows 11 a better experience for users under Project K2, an internal initiative built around three pillars: performance, craft, and reliability. As part of that effort, Microsoft had previously been scaling back Copilot's footprint in Windows 11, removing it from apps like Notepad, and allowing users to remap the Copilot key.

According to Windows Latest, the new behavior is triggered through a dropdown menu in Copilot's title bar, which now reveals a set of dedicated snapping layouts. These include the existing standalone app view and picture-in-picture mode, plus two new options to dock Copilot to either the left or right edge of the screen. Once docked, Windows 11 automatically resizes and repositions everything else around it, including any open apps such as File Explorer, which get compressed to fill the remaining space.

Yujiro Hanma is the second Ogre to join Tekken's character roster, and Bandai Namco plans to add the villain into the game.

Megalomaniac father figures Heihachi and Kazuya might get one-upped by Tekken's latest combatant. The terrifying and legendary Yujiro Hanma will be a playable fighter coming to Tekken 8's new season 3 pass in early 2027. The news was made at the Combo Breaker 2026 fighting game expo, and while no actual gameplay footage of the strongest creature on Earth was actually shown, fans are still reeling from the surprise reveal.

Yujiro Hanma will cost $7.99 when he launches as a standalone DLC character in early 2027, and the Ogre will be included in the Tekken 8 Season 3 Character Pass for $39.99, including three other characters--Kunimitsu, Bob, and Roger Jr.

Last year, AMD launched the Radeon RX 9070 GRE in China with a starting price of 4,199 yuan. Like other GRE cards before it, the launch was China-exclusive. However, rumors now suggest that AMD may be preparing to launch the graphics card globally.

Videocardz has obtained a picture of the English box art for a Sapphire Pulse version of the card, which immediately stands out since Sapphire typically uses Chinese product names for its China-market cards.

Adding weight to the rumor, Videocardz has also spotted Newegg listings for prebuilt systems featuring the Radeon RX 9070 GRE, alongside unofficial listings for the card itself. The PULSE and PURE RX 9070 GRE models are both listed on Newegg, though these are currently from Chinese third-party retailers rather than official US distributors. This suggests that these GPUs are already available to distributors and system integrators in the US.

There are plenty of signals pointing toward NVIDIA's rumored N1X chip. The latest comes from Lenovo, whose internal ADFS authentication system has been spotted referencing an "NVIDIA N1x Portal," confirming the OEM is actively working on N1X-powered laptops ahead of Computex 2026.

The discovery, spotted by VideoCardz, shows two entries in Lenovo's public sign-in system: "NVIDIA N1x Portal PROD" and "NVIDIA N1x Portal Test." These labels suggest production and test environments for an internal Lenovo portal, confirming that N1X hardware is moving through Lenovo's internal systems. No product specs, model names, or launch dates were revealed.

Interestingly, this isn't the first time N1X has broken cover. Earlier support page leaks listed several unreleased Lenovo systems with N1 and N1X labels, including the Legion 7 15N1X11, suggesting a Legion 7 gaming laptop built around the N1X chip. Yoga Pro 7, IdeaPad Slim 5, and Yoga 9 2-in-1 models were also listed, suggesting Lenovo is preparing a wide range of N1X-powered devices across different categories. We also recently covered a laptop motherboard with an N1 chip and 128GB of memory that appeared on Goofish.

Star Citizen has broken a new sales milestone, and it's as big as they get in the games industry.

Cloud Imperium Games has finally done it: Star Citizen has officially broken $1 billion in player funding. The news was confirmed on the official RSI website, which shows the game has generated over $1 billion in crowdfunding across just 6.5 million users, which is no small feat to say the least.

CIG also has the benefit of owning the Star Citizen IP on a development and publishing label, that Star Citizen has its own private launcher, and that the studio has a rare direct digital monetization stream that can deliver high-margin earnings. In short, Star Citizen is less of a game than it is a bustling economy within itself that facilitates ship purchases and the like after the main game is bought--it's not unlike most live games in this way, but it's proven to be highly durable with resilient revenues.

After recently putting a Linux-powered PS5 setup through a path tracing test, the experts at Digital Foundry are back with another experiment, this time to show why Sony has never officially delivered PlayStation 3 emulation on the PS5. Using RPCS3, the most advanced PS3 emulator available, running natively on a hacked PS5 with firmware 6.02 or earlier, Digital Foundry tested a variety of games, with some running great while others struggled to achieve even PS3-level framerates.

Games that don't heavily rely on the PS3's exotic Cell processor and its Synergistic Processing Units (SPU) ran surprisingly well. Ridge Racer 7 ran at a locked 4K 60 FPS, while Resistance: Fall of Man hit 4K 30 FPS with only minor frame pacing issues. Heavenly Sword was arguably the most impressive result, scaling from its original sub-30 FPS 720p performance to a near-locked 30 FPS at a staggering 5120x2880, a 16x increase in pixel count over the original output.

The MotorStorm trilogy also held up well. The original MotorStorm ran at 1440p 30 FPS, Pacific Rift reached 4K 30 FPS, and Apocalypse also hit its performance target after MLAA was disabled through RPCS3 patches. In short, for games that didn't push the Cell processor's complex SPU architecture, the PS5 delivers a genuinely impressive upgrade in visual fidelity.

More information has surfaced regarding Intel's next-generation Core Ultra 400 "Nova Lake" processors. We know that Nova Lake is in advanced stages of production, as engineering samples have already started shipping. Now, we have more information about what the lineup might look like, at least on the embedded side.

According to a report by leaker Golden Pig Upgrade Pack on Weibo, corroborated by Videocardz, Intel is preparing a Nova Lake processor with an unusual 8E+12Xe configuration. This means the CPU lacks any performance cores and relies solely on the computing power of its "Arctic Wolf" E-cores. This CPU is apparently meant for Edge applications only.

We have known Intel CPUs to have a hybrid P-core + E-core configuration for a few years now, but this is the first rumored SKU we have seen with such a bizarre layout. Instead of going for P-cores, Intel is pairing the CPU cores with a large integrated GPU that has 12Xe units. This sort of configuration would not be very effective in normal computing, but it makes sense for Edge applications where the CPU takes a back seat to the GPU.

New information has surfaced about AMD's future Zen 7 architecture, and it is coming straight from Taiwanese supply chain sources. According to Commercial Times Taiwan, AMD has proactively begun preparations for its next-generation Zen 7 platform well ahead of schedule, and the process-node picture is now quite clear.

The Zen 7 Core Complex Die (CCD), internally codenamed "Grimlock," is reportedly set to be manufactured on TSMC's A14 process node, which represents the foundry's 1.4nm-class technology. As a refresher, AMD is currently ramping up production of its Zen 6 EPYC "Venice" processors on TSMC's 2nm node, meaning Zen 7 would be skipping over several intermediate nodes, including N2P, N2X, and A16, going straight to A14.

The production timeline also aligns with TSMC's plans for its Fab 25 P1 facility in Taichung, which is expected to enter trial production in 2027 before scaling to mass production in 2028. That puts Zen 7 on track for a late 2028 launch window, which also happens to be when Intel's own 14A node is expected to reach volume production. Intel's 14A node has been gaining traction recently, with Tesla and Apple already confirmed as customers. This makes the 2028 period a particularly competitive battleground for both companies.

The future of gaming might see consumers interacting directly with some sort of generative AI that changes gameplay on-the-fly

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has an interesting idea about the future of gaming, and how LLMs could be used to power bustling engagement in online games.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Zelnick shares his thoughts, teasing that such experimental tech is actually in the works. It's hard to tell if Zelnick is referring to this tech being used at one of his own studios--maybe Rockstar Games, or 2K Games?--or if he's nodding to EA's new gen AI chatbot revealed to investors in 2024.

AI, generative or otherwise, hasn't really affected the staggeringly-high video game budgets. The CEO of one of the industry's biggest companies explains why.

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has a level-headed take on AI as it pertains to game development budgets. It's an understanding rooted in history, with an emphasis on how advancements tend to create more complexities as new opportunities are opened.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Zelnick says that AI hasn't really helped budgets so much--nor does he expect it to. Instead, he expects AI to drive up costs in order to meet consumer demand.

After months of speculation, it looks like Sega is officially reviving the classic Crazy Taxi franchise. The Crazy Taxi X account just dropped a short teaser hinting that the game may be coming back. Just to put it into context, the Crazy Taxi Twitter account had been dormant for nearly seven years, with its last tweet being in 2019.

The teaser itself is quite short and does not provide much detail. We see a taxi sign lighting up against a dark background, which signifies the series coming back to life. The art style is quite different from what we have come to expect from Crazy Taxi, but that might just be a completely separate video unrelated to the game's design.

The new Crazy Taxi was teased at The Game Awards 2023, and we haven't heard much about the game since. However, it looks like the game is nearing completion, given that Sega is confident enough to drop a teaser. Considering the fact that we are close to State of Play and Summer Game Fest, it wouldn't be out of the question to see Crazy Taxi being revealed at one of those events.

During Championship Sunday at the RLCS Paris Major, Epic Games and Psyonix took the stage and dropped what might be the biggest Rocket League announcement in the game's history: it is making the jump to Unreal Engine 6. The announcement landed just before the semifinal clash between Team Vitality and Karmine Corp, and the crowd inside Paris' La Défense Arena absolutely lost it.

What made it even more surprising was the engine that they chose. For years, fans and pros alike had been anticipating a move to Unreal Engine 5, so when UE6 was announced as the destination instead, it genuinely caught people off guard, including players who were right there on-site at the event.

A trailer came with the announcement, giving fans a look at in-game footage running on the new engine, though no release date was shown. From what people saw, the visuals are borderline photorealistic, which is a pretty wild thing to say about a game that still runs on decade-old technology.

Market pressure is finally softening for AMD's flagship RX 9070 XT, as sluggish demand forces retail prices to align more closely with MSRP. This downward shift, largely attributed to lackluster demand, has seen UK retailers list cards at around £600. Select variants in Japan have fallen below the ¥90,000 threshold, according to VideoCardz.

The RX 9070 XT had a rocky debut last year, struggling to meet AMD's $599 MSRP for months. When prices finally stabilized, the ongoing DRAM supply crunch took effect. However, it seems that pricing for a handful of models in several regions is finally cooling down.

As noted by OC3D, several UK retailers, including Overclockers UK, have a selection of triple-fan models from ASUS, XFX, and PowerColor priced at £599.99 ($800). This puts them just 5% shy of AMD's official £569 ($750) MSRP. While these variants are a welcome shift, it's worth noting that they remain the exception. The majority of premium board partner models continue to trade well into the £700 ($950) territory. Note that these prices include the VAT.

We've all been there. Your character suddenly starts moving on its own; you look down at your controller in despair and find the left stick perfectly centered. Stick drift is one of the most common reasons behind a controller upgrade, and it is actually a really complicated problem to solve. Most of the time, you will need to crack open your controller and replace the internals, and even then, the problem often does not fully go away.

However, we may have a solution on our hands that does not involve any hardware tweaks. Controller repair specialist @Modyfikator89 on X (formerly Twitter) just published a new way to calibrate an Xbox controller with stick drift using the free tool DriftGuard. Apparently, you can now use the DriftGuard utility to unlock manual and automatic calibration for any Xbox controller, writing the patch directly onto the controller's memory.

Modyfikator is calling this a "historic breakthrough," and there may be some truth to that exaggeration. The fix is reported to be unpatchable and permanent because it is written directly into the controller's memory. It looks like all Xbox controllers are supported, including Xbox 360, Xbox One Standard, Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox Elite V1/V2, and the SCUF Instinct Pro Controllers.

TSMC employees are reportedly pushing back over rumors that the company may cut employee bonuses, even as the chipmaker continues to post record profits driven by the global AI boom. The company's net profit jumped 58% year over year in the first quarter of 2026, making the timing of any potential bonus reduction particularly tone-deaf from an employee perspective.

The frustration has spilled onto social media, with dedicated Facebook communities for TSMC staff reportedly flooded with angry complaints. Employees are venting about working high-stress, exhausting shifts while the company prioritizes investor returns and capital expansion over workforce compensation. Some are now openly discussing tougher action, with ideas of deploying Samsung-style strike tactics gaining rapid traction across the company's ranks in Taiwan.

The Samsung comparison is not accidental. This week, Samsung Electronics narrowly avoided a catastrophic factory shutdown by signing a last-minute deal with its union, creating a record $26.6 billion performance-based bonus pool. The deal prevented a strike that could have cost Samsung upwards of $66 billion and disrupted global memory chip supply chains. TSMC employees appear to be watching that outcome closely and drawing their own conclusions about what organized pressure can achieve.

HP has started listing configurations for its new HyperX Omen 15 gaming laptop, giving us a clearer picture of what to expect when it starts shipping. First announced at CES 2026 in Las Vegas over four months ago, the Omen 15 is a smaller alternative to the Omen 16 and appears to be exclusive to North America for now.

The Intel version of the Omen 15 is now listed with up to the Core Ultra 9 386H, with another configuration using the Core Ultra 7 356H. Both chips belong to Intel's Core Ultra Series 3, known as Panther Lake, and share the same 16-core layout with 4 Performance cores, 8 Efficient cores, and 4 Low Power Efficient cores. The Core Ultra 9 386H boosts up to 4.9GHz while the Core Ultra 7 356H reaches 4.7GHz. Both carry 18 MB of Smart Cache, 25W base power, and up to 80W maximum turbo power.

It is worth noting that the standard 386H and 356H use only 4 Xe3 cores for integrated graphics, unlike the Core Ultra X models, which feature stronger Arc B390 graphics with 12 Xe3 cores. However, the H SKUs are better suited for gaming laptops with discrete GPUs due to their higher PCIe bandwidth, which is exactly how HP is positioning the Omen 15.

Ayaneo has taken the wraps off its next retro gaming handheld, with a design that draws heavily from Nintendo's original Game Boy. Called the Kronkr Pocket Block, the handheld feels like yet another Game Boy-inspired device, but this time Ayaneo is leaning into AI so hard that it's calling it the "world's first AI gaming handheld."

Ayaneo debuted the Kronkr Pocket Block during one of its streaming sessions, where CEO Arthur Zhang showed how much smaller it is compared to previous devices like the Pocket Vert and Pocket DMG. The reveal was light on details, with two color options and a design that blends retro aesthetics with a cyber-inspired look.

On the AI front, Ayaneo states that the Kronkr Pocket Block will provide a smarter, more engaging gaming experience while maintaining the feel of portable gaming. Despite Zhang showing off a working unit, the company offered no specifics on what these AI features actually are or what makes it the world's first AI handheld. Since there is no mention of the actual hardware inside the Pocket Block, it's hard to even guess what those AI features might be related to.

Microsoft Office is finally letting you move the Copilot button after acknowledging that the new floating button was getting in the way of users' workflows in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. According to Windows Latest, starting in the last week of May 2026, an update will give users the option to move it back to the ribbon where it belongs.

The button, officially called the Dynamic Action Button, has been part of Microsoft Office apps since December 2025. It floats above the bottom right section of spreadsheets and documents, causing problems for users. Excel users were hit hardest, with the button floating directly over spreadsheet cells and blocking data with no easy way to dismiss it.

Once the update rolls out, users can right-click the Copilot icon and move it back to the ribbon. Microsoft already added a docked mode that reduces the space the button takes up, and that option is staying. Users will be able to switch between the floating button, the docked version, and the ribbon placement depending on their preference.