Latest News - Page 127

PC gamers took a hit this week after rumors surfaced that Sony was pulling back from the PC market, and now Bluepoint Games' head of technology, Peter Dalton, has provided an explanation of the situation.

For those who don't know, Bluepoint Games was the studio that handled many of Sony's remakes and remasters. For example, Bluepoint was behind the renowned Shadow of the Colossus remake, as well as Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, God of War Collection, Demon's Souls (PS5, 2020), and the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. Sony acquired the company in 2021, but this past February officially closed the developer, reportedly leading to the cancellation of a multiplayer God of War project slated for a 2025 release.

The studio's closure affected approximately 70 employees, and the former head of technology for Bluepoint has now commented on recent reports that Sony is pulling back from the PC market. These rumors, from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, sparked a lot of speculation, given that Sony has made billions from the PC market. Much of the speculation was based on Sony being scared of Project Helix, Microsoft's next-generation Xbox, which is slated to be a console/PC hybrid.

The annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) is wrapping up. Although the event is focused on game developers and networking for their projects, it's also home to game technology companies and hardware makers who discuss what's on the horizon, what's next, and new technologies. At GDC 2026, Microsoft began its first public deep dive into its next-generation Project Helix console that will play both Xbox and PC games.

For NVIDIA and the GeForce RTX team, we got a release date for DLSS 4.5's impressive Dynamic Frame Generation technology, first looks at a suite of new titles with RTX-powered path tracing like 007 First Light and Control Resonant, new GeForce NOW cloud-testing tools, and ComfyUI AI video generation for developers. Plus, it's bringing Microsoft's Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) to GeForce RTX users later this year.

For AMD, specifically Radeon, RDNA 4, and the recent launch of FSR Redstone, there was nothing to confirm or announce. Granted, AMD announced that it was developing its own version of AI-powered Multi Frame Generation, but this was for Project Helix and its suite of FSR Diamond technologies - with no word if it's coming to Radeon gamers on PC.

This year, the iconic GeForce 3, introduced in February 2001, is celebrating its 25th anniversary. More than just an interactive update, the GeForce 3 introduced programmable pixel and vertex shaders, paving the way for modern PC and console gaming. Some of the PC games that defined the GPU and that generation include id Software's Doom 3, with its groundbreaking per-pixel lighting, and Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, which featured incredible water effects for its time.

And with that, taking a break from preparing for his big NVIDIA GTC 2026 opening keynote, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang sat down with senior members of the GeForce team to discuss the importance of the GeForce 3 and its legacy. Not only that, but the GeForce 3 was instrumental in transforming NVIDIA into a computing company and the global leader in AI.

"Every game looked the same, looked heavily filtered, everything was bilinear and trilinear filtered," Jensen Huang says of the era before the GeForce 3 arrived in 2001. "We felt that games weren't like CAD; games are a medium for artistic expression, and if you look at all these different games, we wanted them all to look different."

The International Data Corporation (IDC) has published a new report stating that the current "memory and supply chain" issues facing the consumer technology and PC markets are much worse than expected. Back in November 2025, the firm published a report that stated that global shipments would shrink by 2.4% in 2026, which it's now revising to 11.3% - a substantial downturn.

"These reductions are driven by a convergence of memory shortages, rising component prices, and broader supply constraints, all of which are expected to limit production well into 2027, making recovery timing a challenging and shifting target," the latest IDC report reads. Also adding that the unforeseen escalation of conflict in the Middle East has introduced a new layer of challenges driven by the seemingly insatiable appetite for building AI data centers and infrastructure.

IDC's Ryan Reith says this revised forecast and updated outlook will result in "massive disruption," meaning it will be "nearly impossible" for some companies to survive the memory crisis affecting all corners of the consumer PC market.

It's no secret that the unprecedented memory crisis and supply constraints affecting the consumer market have made building a new gaming PC or upgrading an existing rig much more expensive than before. And that's putting it mildly, as we've all watched the price of 32GB DDR5 memory kits increase dramatically in recent months.

And with that, V-COLOR is launching a new line of DDR5 memory specifically for gamers seeking a flexible, affordable solution for upgrading an existing rig or building a new gaming PC. And it's doing so by introducing new DDR5 memory kits with "one active DDR5 memory module" and one matching "RGB Filler module." This allows gamers to achieve a dual-DIMM look with RGB, albeit with only one of the two modules containing actual working memory.

This "1+1 DDR5 Memory and RGB Filler NON-DRAM Solution" is an interesting approach to the rising costs of DDR5 memory. V-COLOR is set to offer 24GB and 16GB DDR5 memory plus RGB Filler kits, with the company stating that they're "well suited for AMD Ryzen" systems powered by PC gaming champs like the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and Ryzen 7 9800X3D, where a single DDR5 module is a practical solution for most gaming workloads.

Microsoft is opening the floodgates regarding its next-generation Xbox console, Project Helix. The company has confirmed long-standing rumors that it will play both PC and console games, and will be powered by a custom AMD SoC built to leverage the latest DirectX and AMD FSR technologies.

"It delivers an order of magnitude leap in ray tracing performance and capability, integrates intelligence directly into the graphics and compute pipeline, and drives meaningful gains in efficiency, scale, and visual ambition," Jason Ronald, Vice President of Next Generation, Xbox, recently said at GDC 2026. "The result is more realistic, immersive, and dynamic worlds for players."

Although that statement might not include technical details, further comments from Jason Ronald and Jack Huynh, SVP & GM of Computing & Graphics at AMD, have outlined the new 'FSR Diamond' technology that will make real-time path tracing possible on a home console. Technology, which until now has been limited to NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 40 and GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs on PC.

Microsoft's Xbox Backwards Compatibility Program was a major win not only for the Xbox One and subsequent Xbox consoles, but also because it kick-started a new 'backwards compatible' era for all consoles by making older titles playable (and often with improved performance) on modern hardware. And even though the program was put on hold as we entered the Xbox Series X|S era, a console that played all Xbox One titles, it's set to make a comeback later this year.

At GDC 2026, Jason Ronald, Vice President of Next Generation, Xbox, said that "as part of our 25th anniversary later this year, we'll be rolling out new ways to play some of the most iconic games from our past." And since this confirmation arrived as part of a long-form discussion about the company's next-generation Project Helix console, which will also play PC games, it makes sense that this would be a PC-focused update rather than simply bringing more long-lost Xbox and Xbox 360 games to Xbox Series gamers.

"We're committed to keeping games from four generations of Xbox playable for years to come," Jason Ronald also said. Again, as Project Helix is set to be a PC-console hybrid that will run an Xbox-optimized version of Windows 11 focused on gaming, the only way to ensure four generations of Xbox games are playable on Project Helix would be through a mix of emulation and native PC/Helix apps.

SK hynix has announced that it has developed and validated the world's first 1c LPDDR6 memory, with 16Gb LPDDR6 DRAM that is reportedly 33% faster and 20% more power efficient than LPDDR5X. Built on sixth-generation 10nm-class (1c) process technology, mass production is on track for the first half of the year with supply expected shortly thereafter.

SK hynix notes that LPDDR6, like LPDDR5X before it, is designed for mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and even PC gaming handhelds. And as we're in the age of generative AI, it's memory purpose-built for on-device AI where speed and efficiency are key. Plus, with speed improvements, odds are it will also end up in data centers.

This new 16Gb LPDDR6 DRAM will deliver speeds over 10.7 gigabits per second, which, right off the bat, makes it faster than all existing LPDDR5X devices on the market. And when it comes to the improved power efficiency, SK hynix chalks this up to DVFS (Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling) technology.

New reports say that another Microsoft-owned game dev team may have been working on a new Fallout project, but that game has apparently been cast into the phantom zone.

Veteran games journalist and former Giant Bomb alumni Jeff Gerstmann recently shared an interesting behind-the-scenes tidbit on his podcast show. According to Gerstmann's sources, there was some sort of Fallout project in the works at an internal studio at Xbox before being put on ice. It's unclear who was behind the project, and whether or not it was a traditional game or maybe some sort of new interactive experience for the cloud.

Last year, it was reported that there were multiple new Fallout games in development, and one of them turned out to be the Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition that we predicted. The other is expected to be Fallout 3 remastered, which was recently outed by a McFarlane Toys product listing, yet Bethesda hasn't announced any concrete details, only confirming that it has hundreds of people working on Fallout, including Fallout 76.

NCSoft is moving away from MMORPGs, instead leaning towards casual mobile games as it faces harsh scrutiny over 2024's annual losses. The company is also making a pledge to ease the pay-to-win microtransactions in its online games.

South Korean MMORPG-maker NCSoft has announced ambitious earnings targets and the plan it will take to get there. NCSoft promises to make 5 trillion won (about $3.4 billion) in revenue "with a 15% return" by 2030, and to make it happen, the company is making big investments into mobile games while also trying to improve its relations with fans and players.

NCSoft is already taking action with a major ownership stake purchase in German mobile games company JustPlay, with the Korean group buying a 70% stake worth $202 million. NCSoft will use JustPlay's expertise to fuel its mobile strategies. It's also been reported that the Korean live service giant purchased a 67% stake in another mobile games company, the Singapore-based Indygo Group, for $104 million.

Nintendo's latest Pokemon game is a huge hit, selling over 2 million copies in just a few days' time.

Pokemon's new worldbuilder spin-off Pokopia is a certified best-seller, amassing 2.2 million copies in 4 days on the market. Numbers-tracker Pierre485 puts Pokopia's performance in context, noting that Super Mario Odyssey sold 2 million copies in 3 days, Pokemon Legends Z-A sold 2.9 million copies in 4 days, yet the record-holder is Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, which amassed 10 million copies sold in 3 days.

"We are pleased to announce that global sales of Pokemon Pokopia for the Nintendo Switch 2 system have surpassed 2.2 million units (including 1 million units sold in Japan) in the first four days since its worldwide launch on March 5, 2026," Nintendo announced.

After lackluster sales and a confusing ad campaign, Microsoft now doubles down on Xbox consoles, saying that they are core, integral parts of the brand's DNA--in other words, consoles will "always be around."

Microsoft has made a clear commitment to support and invest in the Xbox ecosystem, and at GDC 2026, the company delivered much-needed clarification that showed a more cohesive plan for the future. The next generation of Xbox is centered around Project Helix, ambitious new hardware that's designed to play both Windows PC and Xbox console games in a single device--all powered by new, thoughtfully-designed silicon and performance-accelerating tools for developers.

During Xbox's keynote speech at GDC, Xbox hardware VP Jason Ronald reiterated the importance of consoles while also touching upon Microsoft's other focal points--handhelds and accessories.

Sony and LEGO are reportedly teaming up to release a set based on the original PlayStation console from 1994.

A new specialty PlayStation LEGO set has reportedly been unearthed by renowned leaker on Instagram. The set itself is modeled after the first PlayStation system released in the 90s and will come with at least one controller. PlayStation LEGO set leaked, coming in Holiday 2026 with $160 price tag

The design of the PS1 is somewhat straightforward, with the main contours coming from the controller, which may be the OG non-analog controllers and not the DualShock revisions released later.

As it lays out the future of Xbox gaming at GDC 2026, Microsoft also pledges to support four generations of games and content from previous consoles.

Microsoft unveiled tons of new details about its next-generation Project Helix console at this year's Game Developers Conference, including some technical information as well as assurances on the "future of play." Project Helix will play both Xbox console and Windows PC games in one device, Microsoft says.

The past is just as important to Xbox, though, and hardware VP Jason Ronald hints at "new ways to play" these yesteryear titles in a recent blog post. "We're committed to keeping games from four generations of Xbox playable for years to come. As part of our 25th anniversary later this year, we'll be rolling out new ways to play some of the most iconic games from our past."

Renowned leaker KeplerL2, who gained notoriety in the GPU-watching community for posting early device IDs, memory configurations, die names, and accurate performance estimates, recently revealed in a forum post when Sony and Microsoft anticipate releasing next-generation consoles.

KeplerL2 has been a very strong leaker within the GPU community and has obtained most of the early information by scrubbing GPU drivers, which can include hardware identifiers for unannounced products. From this information, KeplerL2 can detail other aspects of the product, such as core counts, product segmentation, and more. KeplerL2's digital detective work and validated breadcrumb information have led multiple media outlets to dedicate coverage to advancements in the GPU space and to validate KeplerL2's predictions.

Now, KeplerL2 has taken to the neoGAF forums to share an update on the PS6, PS handheld, and the next-generation Xbox, codenamed Project Helix. KeplerL2 wrote that Sony and Microsoft are both currently on track to release their new consoles sometime throughout the holiday season in 2027. Additionally, the leaker revealed that Sony is also targeting this release window for the PS handheld.

NVIDIA has confirmed that the RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell will ship with 160 ROPs, not the 176 ROPs previously reported.

It appears the previous reporting was based on unlocked specification entries in the database, rather than NVIDIA's locked specification sheet for the product. The discrepancy between the previously reported figure and the official figure arose after a Reddit user noticed that his 48GB variant displayed 160 ROPs, despite reports citing that it would ship with 176 ROPs. In a statement provided to TechPowerUp, NVIDIA explained that a bug in GPU-Z is the cause of the discrepancy and that the new workstation card officially ships with 160 ROPs.

As for the other specifications, NVIDIA reveals in its official materials that the new RTX PRO 5000 Blackwell utilizes the latest Blackwell architecture, and sports 14,080 CUDA cores, 48 GB or 72 GB of GDDR7 ECC memory, 1,344 GB/s of bandwidth, a 512-bit memory interface, PCIe 5.0 x 16, and 300W of total power. Furthermore, NVIDIA states that the card comes with a Graphics Processing Cluster of 10, which verifies the 160 ROPs figure, as 1 GPC equals 16 ROPs.

NVIDIA GTC 2026, the company's long-running AI conference, kicks off next week in San Jose, and KIOXIA will be there, showcasing its cutting-edge memory and SSD storage solutions built to meet the demands of AI workloads head-on. GTC is all about bringing the AI industry together, from researchers to developers and businesses, with KIOXIA's focus centered on how its flash storage can play a critical role in empowering scalable and efficient AI infrastructures.

KIOXIA's booth will feature a wide range of demonstrations, including the company's groundbreaking AiSAQ (All-in-Storage ANNS with Product Quantization) technology. With the large volumes of data required for modern generative AI systems, this open-source solution offloads large-scale AI vector search from increasingly expensive DRAM to SSD storage - like KIOXIA's CM9 Series Enterprise NVMe SSDs.

This plays into KIOXIA's "Redefining Vector DB Management: Uniting Massive Scalability with GPU-Accelerated Indexing" theater session on Wednesday, March 18, presented by Rory Bolt, a senior fellow and principal architect at the company.

It wasn't long ago that Microsoft rolled out "This is an Xbox" marketing to demonstrate its future vision for the Xbox brand: that every device is technically an Xbox.

The marketing campaign generated more confusion than intrigue, as Xbox fans wondered why they would ever get an actual Xbox if Xbox titles are available on every platform. Microsoft and the Xbox brand are still suffering from that brand hit today, and now we have discovered that Xbox is attempting to silently remove that marketing from the internet as Game Developer attempted to revisit the "This is Xbox" landing page on the Xbox Wire website, which is Microsoft's Xbox-focused news repository.

Game Developer discovered that the landing page only provided a 404 error message and a bland screen. Upon searching Xbox News Wire for "This is an Xbox" within its search, the only article that popped up was one regarding the ROG Xbox Ally. The removal of this press release is somewhat telling considering the recent reporting that the "This is an Xbox"marketing campaign was championed by outgoing Xbox president Sarah Bond, and was one of the reasons for her departure.

Valve announced the Steam Frame and Steam Machine in November last year, and since then, users have been waiting to see where each device will land in terms of performance. Now, Valve has revealed the requirements for a title to receive the Steam Frame Verified and Steam Machine Verified labels.

For those who don't know, Valve has a Steam Deck Verified label, which means the title has been tested by Valve to run smoothly on the device. Additionally, the title would meet all of Valve's requirements, including full controller support, performance at the device's native resolution, and performance targets. The idea is that a Steam Deck owner can browse the Steam Store, discover a title with the Verified badge, and begin playing without having to worry about any settings tweaks or changes.

The same system is being expanded to the Steam Machine and Steam Frame, and according to Valve, the Steam Machine Verified badge requires at least 30 FPS at 1080p. The Valve slides reveal that Steam Machine Verified is simply an extension of Steam Deck Verified, and that titles that are Steam Deck Verified will also be Steam Machine Verified, as long as they maintain the same input expectations as the Deck. Additionally, the slide states that Valve will not be testing display resolution or legibility, and that an updated API to detect hardware is also required.

BlizzCon 2026 will see the in-person return of Blizzard Entertainment's long-running celebrations of its franchises, games, and community, later this year. With the event scheduled to take place on September 12-13 at the Anaheim Convention Center, there's some great news for fans of some of Blizzard's older, classic games.

With the company planning a robust "esports slate" for the event, the first competition-based announcement of the show is the confirmation that it'll be home to the first-ever Blizzard Classic Cup. This will include "all-star teams" battling it out across a wide range of classic Blizzard games, including the real-time strategy masterpiece that defined esports - StarCraft.

First released in 1998, StarCraft was the sci-fi-themed follow-up to the iconic Warcraft II, expanding the scope, speed, and intensity of the studio's real-time strategy games. And its robust multiplayer mode made it a phenomenon in Korea, where it drew large crowds and created celebrities. Professional StarCraft defined the modern era of esports, so it's great to see it making a comeback at BlizzCon 2026.