Latest News - Page 150

Lenovo is working on multiple new laptops powered by NVIDIA's new N1X and N1 Arm-based processors, representing the first Windows on Arm gaming laptops from Lenovo.

NVIDIA has been cooking up its new Arm-based N1X and N1 processors for a while now, combining power-efficient Arm-based CPU cores with Blackwell-based GPU cores onto an SoC. The new N1X and N1 processors will be capable of playing new games smoothly on gaming laptops, making them the first "true" Windows on Arm gaming laptops.

In a now-deleted post on X from dataminer @Huang514613, Lenovo has listed some of its upcoming NVIDIA N1X and N1-powered gaming laptops, which will arrive in new Ideapad Slim, Yoga Pro, and Legion 7 gaming laptops that I'm sure will be unveiled at Computex 2026 in a few months' time.

Samsung will debut its next-gen HBM4 memory at NVIDIA GTC 2026 in March, reportedly passing all of NVIDIA's strict verification stages, and will arrive on NVIDIA's next-gen Vera Rubin AI platform.

Samsung has spent the last couple of years struggling with its HBM memory division, leaving its South Korean rival -- SK hynix -- to enjoy providing NVIDIA with all of its HBM3 and HBM3E needs. Samsung completely overhauled its HBM and semiconductor division in the last few years, with the fruits of that labor now showing.

NVIDIA will reportedly use its first allotments of HBM4 memory for Vera Rubin from Samsung, as Samsung's new HBM4 memory is the best of the HBM4 offerings from its rivals in SK hynix and US-based Micron. Samsung's new HBM4 memory is rated for above 11Gbps, much higher than JEDEC standards for HBM4, and was pushed and requested at those higher pin speeds from NVIDIA direct.

Master Chief's voice actor shares a rare behind-the-scenes story about Halo 5, acknowledging the controversy around the game's bait-and-switch advertising while saying he actually pushed back against some of the decisions that were made.

Halo 5 has gone down in history as having one of the most misleading advertisement campaigns of all time, but things might have been even more confusing if Master Chief actor Steve Downes hadn't expressed his thoughts while recording.

In a new video celebrating 25 years of the Halo franchise, Downes answers fan questions for a good 38 minutes, and one of them was about the different promos like the misleading Hunt the Truth campaign that were used to advertise the game in the Xbox One's earlier days.

Ubisoft recently announced a third round of cost-cutting measures that included the closure of several studios and the cancellation of titles, including the highly anticipated reboot of the original Prince of Persia game. To go along with the studio closures and development cancellations, thousands of employees are likely to be jobless, and we are now hearing that they are making their feelings known in internal chat rooms/threads that are equivalent to Slack messages.

In a recent episode of the Insider Gaming podcast, Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson, a well-known Ubisoft insider, explained that the publisher is really not in a good position at the moment and that upper management has positioned itself in such a way that they will always have control of the company, regardless of whether current performance metrics call for a leadership change. Henderson pointed to Ubisoft's stock price being incredibly low and its valuation being under $1 billion, even though it was nearing $10 billion.

Notably, many of the employees at the publisher's studios were made aware of the third round of cost-cutting measures through Ubisoft's public announcement, and given the headcount reduction of 3,633 people from 20,729 in 2022 to what is now 17,097 as of September 2025, they are understandably annoyed with upper management. Henderson said that it is "fascinating" seeing employee messages from Ubisoft's internal communications systems "slagging off the Guillemot brothers. It's actually insane. It's not nice stuff as well, alright, it's really hard stuff."

Microsoft just wrapped up an Xbox Developer Direct where several upcoming titles were showcased, including the highly anticipated Fable from Playground Games and Forza Horizon 6.

The Xbox Developer Direct was an overall success, with the YouTube video posted to the official Xbox channel raking in more than 1 million views, and many positive comments about the contents of the showcase. The highlights were Playground Games' Fable reboot and Forza Horizon 6, with Fable really taking the spotlight following the unveiling of the new morality system, living population, and image fidelity.

The success of the Xbox Developer Direct has now spawned rumors, as Windows Central editor and well-known Microsoft insider Jez Corden said during a recent episode of The XB2 podcast, "I have heard that they are exploring doing another one this year. So like don't be surprised if we do get another dev directly share at some point." Corden went on to mention that Xbox has quite a lot to show off this year, and said he has heard Xbox specifically is discussing a second Developer Direct, and not a "Partner Preview".

Microsoft has marked another milestone for gamers with its Xbox app now available on all Arm-based Windows 11 PCs, paving the way for NVIDIA's new N1X and N1 Arm-based processors expected to be baked inside of new waves of gaming laptops later this year.

Players are now open to download and enjoy a huge range of games from the Xbox PC app game catalog on Arm-based Windows 11 systems, with over 85% of the Game Pass catalog compatible on these PCs. Microsoft is also actively working with partners to expand support for Arm-based games "even further".

For titles that aren't supported locally just yet, Xbox Cloud Gaming remains an "easy way to jump in" while Microsoft works with partners to broaden compatibility.

Sony's next-gen PlayStation 6 won't be out for a while--longer than gamers are expecting, one analyst predicts.

Right now isn't a great time to produce a major video games console. Hungry AI datacenters are eating up the critical memory and storage chips needed to make PlayStation consoles, and while Sony says it has procured short-term supply, what does the future look like? Will these shortages impact PlayStation 6 production?

Mindful of these disruptions, analysts predict that Sony could delay the PS6 console and elongate the current PS5 lifecycle. Indeed, that does seem to be what Sony is doing; company CFO Lin Tao says that the PS5 is currently in "the middle of its journey," indicating the PS5 could be supported until 2030. Does that mean gamers will have to wait until 2030 for the PS6, though?

Xbox exclusivity is dead as Microsoft seeks greater profits through expanded sales, but there's a better, more PR-friendly way to say that.

Microsoft telegraphs that it will keep releasing all of its future Xbox games on PlayStation, further burying the idea of first-party Xbox game exclusives. In a recent interview with Games Radar, Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan echoes a sentiment that we've heard everyone at Xbox say: Developers want as many people playing their games as possible. That means releasing on more platforms.

For Microsoft, it's all about growth through sales and players; Xbox products can often be infused with online elements and microtransaction hooks to ensure the spending can continue long after the game is purchased. Microsoft is reportedly stressing the Xbox games unit to deliver more profit, leading to the games division to make radical changes like breaking exclusivity in the hopes of selling more games--and generating more profit by virtue of boosted revenue.

Developer Undead Labs and Xbox haven't given an update on State of Decay 3 since a short trailer was released at 2024's Xbox Games Showcase. Now that Xbox has wrapped up its 2025 showcase without providing an update on the title, many fans are wondering about its current status.

However, Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan recently commented on State of Decay 3 during an interview with GamesRadar, confirming that the title, which has been in development for six years now, is still undergoing development and that what he has seen of it makes him quite excited. Duncan was asked whether fans would see more of State of Decay 3 sometime in 2026.

Tesla has announced it will put a paywall on its lane-centering feature for both the Model 3 and Model Y.

This decision has effectively killed standard Autopilot, with the company now putting a basic safety feature behind the Full Self-Driving (FSD) subscription, which costs $99/month. Notably, Tesla included this feature in its vehicles for 7 years under the name "Basic Autopilot," which consists of two key mechanics: Traffic-Aware Cruise Control, which matches your vehicle's speed to the vehicle ahead, and Autosteer, which maintains the vehicle's center position within a lane. Autosteer is now being moved behind a paywall.

Why is Tesla now pay-walling Basic Autopilot features? Reports are pointing to Elon Musk's near $1 trillion pay package, approved by Tesla shareholders in November 2025, specifically the stipulation that Tesla must increase the total number of FSD subscribers by 10 million.

Ubisoft's announcement of an internal restructuring, which involves numerous studio closures and game cancellations, has sent shockwaves through the publisher and its subsidiaries, with reports now indicating talent is now shaming upper management in internal chat channels.

Ubisoft's reshuffling is entirely due to the company's financial situation following several lengthy development cycles, delays, and underperforming releases. According to the company, this latest restructuring is the "third and final phase" of its plan to get the company back on course.

It's estimated that Ubisoft will save as much as 200 million euros by the end of March 2028. Notably, Ubisoft entered its second phase in 2022, where it remains, and it is projected to save as much as 300 million euros. Since 2022, Ubisoft has significantly reduced headcount, reducing from 20,729 in September 2022 to 17,097 as of September 2025. Additionally, Ubisoft studios such as Osaka, San Francisco, Leamington, Halifax, and London have all been closed.

The new Fable game doesn't have a good and evil morality system, therefore players won't change appearance based on good or evil deeds, Playground Games has officially confirmed.

In the original Fable games, your choices changed the world...and they also changed you, giving you devil horns or pristine halos depending on your actions in-game. But the new Fable game that's coming out this year removes this feature entirely. The trailer's tagline seems to make it clear; "your choices change the world," but they don't change you. At least not this time.

In a recent interview with IGN, Fable game director Ralph Fulton explains why the feature was removed, saying that there is no stark black and white good and evil in Albion. Plus, being a majestically glowing hero or sinister villain would conflict with Fable's new location-based reputation system, which technically lets you start anew every time you visit a previously undiscovered location.

Epic's exclusivity deals have received criticism across the industry, and recent comments from a Baldur's Gate 3 developer have prompted a response from one of Epic's key partners--Remedy Entertainment.

Epic has made multiple exclusivity deals, and the co-financing deal with Remedy was noteworthy.. Epic funded 100% of Alan Wake 2's development and publishing costs, a typically rare opportunity. In exchange, Alan Wake 2 would be exclusive to the Epic Store and not launch on Steam, and be digital-only on consoles. Restricting sales from PC's biggest storefront leads to less sales, yet the game has sold 2 million copies as of February 2025 and finally started turning a profit, leading to royalties for Remedy.

Epic exclusives have been controversial in the past, and this time, Larian publishing director Michael Douse to openly call out one of Tim Sweeney's Tweets about "altruistic pro-developer talk." The exchange was an interesting back-and-forth that doesn't often happen in the games industry.

Battlefield 6 was officially the #1 top-selling game in the US throughout 2025, beating out Call of Duty and other competitors.

EA's Battlefield 6 has conquered its rivals, emerging as the best-selling game of the year in one of gaming's biggest regions. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella confirmed the news on Bluesky in the firm's monthly games industry sales breakdowns. According to the data, Battlefield 6 was the #1 seller of 2025 in combined physical and digital sales across consoles and PC.

"Battlefield 6 finished as 2025's best-selling video game in tracked full game dollar sales. Battlefield 6 ranked 1st on both Xbox and the aggregated PC storefronts for the year while placing 2nd on PlayStation behind only NBA 2K26," Piscatella said.

Is Samsung jacking up the price of its RAM by an earth-shattering 80%? No, thankfully, this rumor has been clearly shot down as untrue.

Tom's Hardware reports that there was a buzz of speculation around the idea that an 80% hike was in the cards for Samsung's entire catalog of memory products, but this isn't the case. The rumor came from a Samsung distributor which supposedly penned a memo claiming the hike was incoming thanks to "significant changes in the global semiconductor market" (see the above post on X).

United Daily News, a newspaper in Taiwan, said that Samsung, as well as its memory making partners, are saying that this 80% price increase claim is a complete fabrication.

Big tech companies are throwing billions of dollars at developing sophisticated AI models, and in order for them to turn a profit, those AI models need to be used by as many people as possible. So, what better way to get AIs into more hands than have a new AI-dedicated device available?

Well, the Humane AI Pin attempted this, along with the Rabbit R1 and the Friend. Each of these products was designed to be wearable AI-powered devices that users interact with through voice commands and gestures. However, none of them were successful, despite at least one of the companies stating it was going to be the smartphone replacement.

However, perhaps none of those attempts had the magic that Apple does when it comes to making products, or at least that is what The Information is reporting, with the publication stating that Apple is working on a new product that is approximately the size of an AirTag, but a little thicker, that will be worn as a pin, and be dedicated to accessing AI models.

Ubisoft announced on Wednesday that it was canceling several of its games in development and closing multiple studios in a sweeping move under the banner of company restructuring.

The next day, Ubisoft stock awoke to a price seemingly in freefall as the company's share price dropped by 34% by the end of Thursday. At the time of writing, Ubisoft's share price is continuing to fall, reaching a low not seen since 2011, and the last time before that was 2004, before the company released the first Far Cry game, which was the title that put the publisher on the map.

It has been known that Ubisoft has been struggling financially for quite some time, especially following the disappointing launch of several titles, prolonged development cycles, and overblown budgets demanded by some of its IPs. The financial strain was assisted by Tencent, which injected $1.2 billion into the company for a 25% stake in Ubisoft's new company that manages its most-valuable franchises, Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six Siege.

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is patiently waiting for company investors to approve the $108.4 billion all-cash offer to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, following the announcement that Warner Bros. Discovery is being gutted and sold off in portions to Netflix.

Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery announced that Netflix was acquiring many key parts of Warner Bros. Discovery for a healthy $82.7 billion. The announcement was made in December 2025, and only a few weeks later, Paramount Skydance made a competing offer of $108.4 billion.

The difference between the Netflix offer and the Paramount offer is that Netflix wants portions of Warner Bros. Discovery, while Paramount Skydance is willing to take the whole company. Warner Bros. rejected Paramount Skydance's offer, citing concerns with how the company would be able to fund the acquisition.

The upcoming Fable was recently showcased at the Xbox Developer Direct, where fans of the franchise got to glimpse at the reboot of the classic title.

The showcase of Fable marks the first time a new Fable has unveiled since 2010, and to pair with the showcase, developer Playground Games has sat down with IGN to provide more details about the upcoming title. During the interview, founder and general manager of Playground Games, Ralph Fulton, revealed the reboot will axe the ability to make dogs companions.

Fulton said, "Yeah, I did know I was going to get this question. And do you know what? There are some folks on the team that were relishing me getting this question because I cut it a while back. You know what? For development reasons, right?" Fulton didn't provide any more details as to why he decided to cut the mechanic from the new Fable, but he did recognize that many people, including people within the development team, are upset with the decision.

ASUS has responded to accusations that at least five reports of ASUS AM5 motherboards were responsible for AMD Ryzen 9800X3D systems failing to boot correctly.

The association with failing to boot 9800X3D systems and ASUS motherboards followed five Reddit posts over the last two weeks linking ASUS motherboards to the failing systems. The commonality among these posts was users reporting a Q-Code 00 as the problem. Additionally, the problem isn't limited to one SKU of the ASUS motherboard; it appears to affect boards from the B850 to X870E models.

Users affected by this issue have reported the same thing: a system running normally, then a reboot, sleep wake, or seemingly nominal desktop event occurs, and the system goes to a black screen with the aforementioned 00 code appearing on the motherboard. However, none of the reports are conclusive in blaming ASUS boards.