We've seen multiple PCIe NVMe SSDs connected on a card connected via a traditional x16 host interface. Microchip Technology's impressive Adaptec SmartRAID 4300 Series RAID storage accelerator card is a little different. The Adaptec SmartRAID 4300 accelerator not only supports up to 32 NVMe SSDs but also provides each drive with a direct channel to the CPU.

This means there aren't any bottlenecks, and each SSD can operate at peak performance, delivering fantastic throughput and IOPS for data-intensive enterprise applications. And today we've got word that KIOXIA SSDs are now compatible with and supported by the Adaptec SmartRAID 4300 Series RAID storage accelerator card.

The verified and compatible list includes KIOXIA's CM7 Series and CD8P Series of data center storage, which are PCIe 5.0- and NVMe 2.0-compliant, as well as KIOXIA's CD8 Series of PCIe 4.0 SSDs.

2026 will be a huge year for Microsoft with some big gaming anniversaries: Xbox turns 20, Bethesda turns 40, and Blizzard turns 35.

Blizzard Entertainment will celebrate its 35th anniversary next year (it will also mark the third year that the games publisher has been a part of Xbox). The division has some pretty big plans set for 2026, including World of Warcraft's anticipated Midnight expansion, as well as a new playable hero with Diablo IV's upcoming Lord of Hatred expansion.

Blizzard president Joanna Faries tells Variety that the group is aiming for 2026 to be their biggest yet--on a revenue basis, this is unlikely to happen, as Blizzard's earnings hit their highest point of all time in 2016 with $2.4 billion in revenue.

Earlier this year, KIOXIA introduced the world's first compact 250TB NVMe SSD with its new LC9 Series. As a storage solution that conforms to the 2.5-inch datacenter form-factor standard, KIOXIA achieved this thanks to its 8th Gen BiCS FLASH with CBA (CMOS Directly Bonded to Array) technology. Basically, this means you're getting 32 2-Terabit (Tb) dies stacked together in a way that hasn't been seen before.

Throw in PCIe Gen 5 speeds, and you only need a handful of these SSDs to have a whopping 1 Petabyte of data. This is how one of the latest videos on the popular YouTube channel Linus Tech Tips begins. Even though we were aware of KIOXIA's LC9 Series of SSDs and the underlying technology, seeing how an SSD like this is made and the sheer amount of cutting-edge technology and impressive engineering that go into it is something else.

With access to KIOXIA's massive Yokkaichi plant in Japan, Linus Sebastian presents an informative and entertaining look at how silicon is transformed into flash memory chips that power SSDs and the everyday tech we use, like smartphones.

Back in September, sources told Bloomberg that Nintendo was phasing out all Switch 2 ROM cartridges except for the expensive 64GB flash models. Now reports indicate that Nintendo has changed its mind and will start selling lower- and middle-tier capacity carts.

Nintendo will reportedly produce lower-capacity Switch 2 game cartridges for developers. Sources have told Nintendeal that Switch 2 ROM carts less than 64GB in size are being manufactured, but there are some downsides that may deter game devs: The carts will still be expensive, because they're made out of similar flash memory, and they'll also be a bit slower than the 64GB models.

"I can confirm that smaller capacity Switch 2 game cards are in production but due to chip shortages it will take time before we see widespread availability. Despite the smaller capacity, these cards will still be expensive due to rising cost of materials. Game-Key Cards are not going away," Nintendeal said on Twitter.

KIOXIA's open-source AiSAQ (All-in-Storage ANNS with Product Quantization) has been a game-changer for running complex AI models by offloading vectorized data from expensive DRAM to SSD storage. With memory limitations and costs playing a significant role in which AI workloads can or cannot run, AiSAQ delivers a low-latency, scalable solution for Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines.

This week, KIOXIA announced that AiSAQ has been integrated into Milvus, one of the world's most widely adopted open-source vector databases. Starting with version 2.6.4, AI developers and enterprises can tap into the power of AiSAQ to scale AI applications with SSD storage. With the growth in RAG demands and the size of vector databases for inference, scaling DRAM is often not an option due to the exponential increase in cost.

KIOXIA's open-source AiSAQ is groundbreaking because it dramatically reduces DRAM requirements for running complex AI workloads, opening the door to large-scale system deployment that's more affordable and easier to scale, thanks to large capacity and fast SSD storage.

20th Century Fox has apparently greenlit another game set in the Alien franchise, and the devs of Deus Ex and Tomb Raider could be working on it.

Two Alien games could be in development, and both of them are said to be horror games. New reports from Insider Gaming indicate that a new unannounced Alien project has re-entered development.

The game is described as a singleplayer arcade-like experience with horror survival elements, and gameplay is said to emphasize tactical stealth and puzzle-solving. It's not all passive, though--gamers will get to take on enemies with direct combat as well as platforming elements.

Hogwarts Legacy is one of the fastest-selling video games of all time with 40 million copies sold in less than three years.

WB Games today announced that Hogwarts Legacy has sold 40 million copies across consoles and PC, making it one of the best- and fastest-selling single titles in modern gaming history.

So how does Hogwarts stack up against other games? The single Harry Potter title has actually outsold some entire video game franchises that have been on the market for decades, including the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series, Kingdom Hearts, Devil May Cry, and even Sony's Horizon franchise.

Circana's latest games industry report reveals that Electronic Arts currently has 6 out of the 20 top best-selling games in the United States.

EA is enjoying success in the US, where it has captured a top position as the best-selling publisher for the year in terms of dollar sales. According to new data from analyst firm Circana, not only does Battlefield 6 reign as the top-selling game of the year, but EA titles represent nearly one-third of the best-selling games of 2025 in the US.

A quick comparison shows that EA made up 6 out of the 20 best-sellers of the year so far, which runs from January to the end of November. Microsoft/Xbox follow up in second place with 5 titles on the list, and both Take-Two Interactive and Sony Interactive Entertainment/PlayStation have three titles each.

The recent reports of an incoming Xbox PC hybrid system may be affecting current-gen Xbox console sales, at least in the United States.

Things aren't looking great for the games industry. On the heels of significant cutbacks, layoffs, and project cancellations, the US games market just had its worst November console sales in the last 20 years. Typically, this month sparks hardware adoption as the Big 3 will discount their respective machines--but economic pressures have changed buying habits of consumers.

As a result, people simply purchased fewer consoles during November 2025 than previous years. The Xbox Series duo was hit particularly hard, with US-based analyst firm Circana noting that Xbox console sales were down -70% year-over-year. This tidbit needs a bit of context.

The Fallout TV show takes place in the same world and timeline as the games, making it fully canon. This will also be the case for future games, including Fallout 5.

Fallout is everywhere right now with Amazon Prime's second season having just premiered, and Bethesda makes an interesting confirmation that locks the studio as multimedia stewards: The Fallout TV show will affect future Fallout games--and vice-versa.

In a recent interview with the BBC, Bethesda's head honcho Todd Howard confirms that the show will influence new games in the series: "In short, yes. Fallout 5 will be existing in a world where the stories and events of the show happened or are happening. We are taking that into account," Howard said.

Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls 6 seven years ago, and the studio says that it's prepared to spend as much time as it takes on development in order to make the new RPG adventure as good as it possibly can be.

Following Starfield's release in 2023, Bethesda Game Studios is now full steam ahead on The Elder Scrolls 6...but it still could be a while before we actually get to jump into the game world (it's Hammerfell or High Rock, depending on who you ask).

In a new interview with Game Informer, key Bethesda devs give updates on TESVI's development, with Todd Howard himself saying that project overlap and the studio's desire to have a strong creative foundational base of pre-production content and ideas are core reasons on why the game has taken so long to make.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has lost to Electronic Arts' Battlefield 6 for the best-selling game of 2026, with recent data from Circana indicating the latest Battlefield entry continues to top the charts.

The data was released by Mat Piscatella, the Senior Director & Video Game Industry Thought Leader at Circana, who published the above chart on BlueSky, showcasing that Battlefield 6 has maintained its top position on the most-sold chart since it debuted in October this year. The chart states the reporting period is between 1/5/2025 and 11/29/2025, and Battlefield 6 is sitting at the number one spot, followed by NBA 2K26 and then Monster Hunter: Wilds.

In the fourth position is Borderlands 4, followed by EA Sports College Football 26, Madden NFL 26, and then finally in seventh position, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Notably, Black Ops 7 has only been available to purchase since November 14, meaning Battlefield 6 has had more than a month more time to be sold than Black Ops 7. However, given the current climate and market sentiment surrounding Black Ops 7, it wouldn't be surprising if the title only crept up a few spots on the chart before the end of the year.

Steam Machine took the internet by storm when Valve surprised and announced it alongside the new Steam Controller, Steam Frame, and now the startup for the upcoming PC/console hybrid has emerged online.

In a recent post by Brad Lynch to his personal X account, the XR project manager for EOZ VR wrote, "Steam Machine's Startup Video," and in a separate post said the video is official and not a mockup as it was datamined from Steam.

When asked why there was no audio, Lynch wrote that he guesses the video wasn't finished yet. Since this video isn't directly from Valve, or has received multiple verifications from individuals who have seen Valve's upcoming PC/console hybrid boot up, we should still take it with a grain of salt.

NVIDIA is reportedly planning on adjusting the production capacity for GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs in the first half of 2026.

The information has come from Board Channels and backed up by Benchlife, which reported the supply for the GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs may be cut by 30 to 40% compared to what it was in the first half of 2025. According to the report, the reason for the production change by NVIDIA isn't just GPU VRAM, but also memory used in the DIY channel, including motherboard-related memory.

Benchlife backed up the rumor by writing it has been informed by several AIC partners and component suppliers that NVIDIA will first adjust the supply of the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB GDDR7. It should be noted the Board Channels report states the information isn't confirmed, and that it's rumored.

Financial documents spotted by an X user have revealed that Dambuster Studios is currently working on Dead Island 3, and when it expects it will be released.

According to the documents, the title is currently in "early production," which includes its design, character design, world design, and narrative. As for when it's expected to release, the financial documents state the studio expects to have everything wrapped up by Q1/2 2028, which, if everything stays on track, will mean Dead Island 3 will release five years after the last title in the franchise.

The documents state that Dambuster's primary focus is currently Dead Island 3, and that all developers are assigned to the project. Additionally, once the Luna and Mac versions of Dead Island 2 are complete, the Dambuster QA team will be moving to Dead Island 3 to begin testing. Other than that, there isn't much more information about Dead Island 3 within the documents, but this information does come after Dead Island 3 was teased earlier this year via a Steam post.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's Season 01 has kicked off, and it's being described as the biggest Black Ops season ever. And it's not hard to see why, as it includes nine maps, including remasters like Nuketown 2025, Standoff, and Meltdown, as well as newcomers like Fate and Utopia. Season 01 also introduces a slew of new game modes, new Zombies maps and modes, as well as Warzone's Black Ops 7 integration that introduces the New Haven's Hollow map.

And with AMD lifting the lid last week on its AMD FSR overhaul that formally introduces the company's new FSR 'Redstone' technologies for RDNA 4 owners, Black Ops 7 Season 01 also brings three out of four of these new AI-powered bits of tech to the game. This means Radeon RX 9000 Series owners can now enable AI or machine learning-powered upscaling, frame generation, and ray regeneration in the game.

FSR Upscaling (ML), formerly known as FSR 4, is AMD's latest and greatest version of its Super Resolution technology, delivering crisp, detailed visuals at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. Exclusive to RDNA 4 GPUs, such as the Radeon RX 9070 XT, it finally offers a viable alternative to NVIDIA DLSS as FSR Upscaling (ML) presents a dramatic improvement to image quality when compared to FSR 3.

Colorful has launched new GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards specifically for Mini-ITX builds and compact rigs. The new Colorful iGame GeForce RTX 50 Series Mini lineup includes three models: an iGame GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Mini OC 8GB, an iGame GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Mini OC 16GB, and an iGame GeForce RTX 5070 Mini OC 12GB.

All three sport the same compact dimensions of 180 x 123 x 39.8mm, making the GeForce RTX 5070 variant one of the smallest we've seen to date, especially for an OC model with a Boost Clock of 2557 MHz, a small but notable bump from the 2512 MHz reference spec. And with a GPU length of only 180mm, all three models feature a cooling solution with a single 95mm fan.

Both GeForce RTX 5060 Ti variants are also OC models, sporting a Boost Clock speed of 2632 MHz, which is a notable increase over the 2572 MHz reference spec. The all-black design of Colorful's new Mini range of GeForce RTX 50 Series graphics cards also includes minor RGB lighting on the side and a reinforced metal backplate.

ChatGPT users will soon be able to make Apple Music playlists within the app by simply asking ChatGPT to do it for them, as OpenAI's CEO of applications revealed in a recent Substack post that Apple Music has joined the list of upcoming partners that will integrate into ChatGPT.

OpenAI unveiled in October that apps are coming to ChatGPT, which opens the door for many popular apps to integrate directly into the service and enable ChatGPT users to take advantage of the interoperability. For example, Spotify, Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Figma, Expedia, and Zillow are all coming to ChatGPT as first-round partnerships, with even more popular apps being on the horizon as well.

According to Fidji Simo, OpenAI's CEO of applications, Adobe Airtable, Apple Music, Clay, Lovable, OpenTable, Replit, and Salesforce are also joining the list. So, how will Apple Music work within ChatGPT? Presumably, it will be very similar or even identical to how Spotify already works within the app.

Warner Bros Discovery will be informing shareholders to reject the offer made by Paramount Skydance, which is more than the $72 billion deal that Warner Bros struck with Netflix.

Reports indicate that despite Paramount's $108.4 offer, Warner Bros will be telling its shareholders to reject the offer and go with Netflix, as Warner has multiple concerns with Paramount's bid, including how it would be financed, according to a report from the Financial Times.

For those who don't know, Warner Bros Discovery put itself up for sale in October, which garnered many expressions of interest, including a bid from Paramount. However, on December 5, Warner Bros Discovery announced it had agreed to sell its film and streaming businesses to Netflix, which prompted a new offer from Paramount for the whole company and its television networks.

Steam Replay 2025 is here, which is Valve's annual wrap-up, so you can get a detailed breakdown on all of the games you've played this year. All you need to do is head to the Steam Replay 2025 page, and you'll be presented with a personalized breakdown of your 2025 PC gaming habits alongside how your stats compare to the rest of the community and a very cool calendar view of your 2025 PC gaming journey.

From the number of games played through to the achievements you've unlocked, you'll also get some interesting insights. For example, according to the Steam Replay 2025, PC gamers spend, on average, 40% of their playtime playing games released 8 or more years ago. Which, surprisingly, makes sense when you realize that popular titles like DOTA 2 and PUBG: Battlegrounds fall into this category.

And when you add in that 44% of all Steam users' playtime was spent playing games that were 1 - 7 years old in 2025, that only leaves 14% of all playtime on Steam spent playing new PC games released in 2025.